On the Brink with Andi Simon

Hear how fulfilling customers' needs can lead to a big success! Marsha Friedman is one of those women entrepreneurs who started with little and built a great business in the public relations and communications arena. She didn't start with a plan. Her parents didn't enable her to go to college. She was simply supposed to find a wealthy man and get married. She never had much funding or capital. She...

Learn how to make "hype" powerfully work for you This was an amazing interview. I met Michael Schein when he interviewed me for an article he was writing for  Psychology Today  about my podcast,  On the Brink with Andi Simon . That's right, the one you are listening to right now. Our conversation led to today's wonderful opportunity to interview him and share his big ideas about how to embrace "hy...

Hear how to really find more happiness in your life  What can one say about a man who is on a journey to bring better clarity and purpose to all of us who meet him? Interesting? Inspiring? Passionate? Of course. But what I love about Frank Schaeffer is that he has discovered the beauty in caring for others and the power of love, children and family to bring meaning into our lives. In today's podca...

Hear how to find your voice, even in the midst of change What a powerful conversation I had with Leslie Rasmussen, award-winning author of the novel  After Happily Ever After .  It is a book that tells a story about a woman, perhaps you or me, who realizes that it is time for her to rethink the woman she used to be and wants to become. Sounds both familiar and intriguing, right? It is. While Lesli...

Hear how happy employees can drive your bottom line  Todd Wheeler heard me speak at a Vistage International talk I was giving on Blue Ocean Strategy ®. While it was remote (I was in New York and he in Colorado), we hit it off. What we talk about today is his fresh approach to helping people see things that are all around them. We shared so many of the same ideas about what holds people back, their...

Hear how great execution is most often the key to growth At times I have the pleasure of meeting interesting people who bring their breadth of experiences to share with our audience. Jim Cornehlsen is just that type of person. We met through a networking group and found our interests so overlapping that we kept our conversations going. What did we talk about? Everything. It was a splendid conversa...

Hear how even bad times can open the door to success Melody Watts has an amazing story to share with you, but it was hardly a straight line. Rather, nine years ago she had a tsunami of tragedies confront her, pushing her in entirely new personal and professional directions. She was diagnosed with Lyme disease, was newly divorced, and lost her mother in a tragic car accident. Then something strange...

Hear what can take your idea from good to great! Listen in today to a woman who had a client searching for an unmet need and who then helped him open up a new market, literally  Blue Ocean Strategy ® in action. Jennifer Brazer, my podcast guest, has a  new book  out that you really should read because it's a "how-to" guide for building a great business, Blue Ocean-style. (It actually happened to b...

Hear how to grow your big idea into a big success  Please meet Gina Paoloni. Gina found me through her search for speakers for her upcoming virtual summit, " The Untethered Entrepreneur ." She herself is an exciting entrepreneur who is building her business to help others grow theirs.  Entrepreneurs , as you know, have an amazing way of seeing what is possible and then making it happen. Is that yo...

Hear how you can become a transformational leader! In this week's podcast, I bring you Tony Martignetti: leadership coach, change agent and entrepreneur. In our conversation, Tony shares with us his approach to helping people and their organizations change. You can guess why we connected from the get-go. As a fellow  culture change expert , I also help people and organizations change, either in th...

Hear how to make time for strategic thinking and strategic growth  Richard Medcalf describes himself as "what you get if you were to put a McKinsey consultant, a slightly unorthodox pastor and an entrepreneur into a blender." Richard is an executive coach and leadership consultant to CEOs and their leadership teams. What we hope you'll take away from our discussion is how to build your own career...

Hear how to embrace change so you can soar! As I have been working with women thought leaders and innovators, I've been struck by the number of them who are moving mountains during this pandemic and setting up new ways of life and work as we try to emerge from it. Kim Snyder and I met at Peter Winick's Tuesday Thought Leader gatherings and enjoyed our off-line conversations. They were deep and she...

Hear how we can all have a positive impact on the world  We often find that as we move through our lives, we come upon people who instantly become our friends, although we have little understanding of why or how this happened. Denise Meagles, Indrani de Silva and Angelia Allen are just these kinds of friends. Denise and Indrani were introduced to me by Todd Cherches, whom I met through a thought l...

Hear how to develop better leaders and better followers Kris Baird and I have known each other for a long time. We have both been involved in the healthcare world for many years, and Kris has developed a new program which I am very interested in, particularly for my hospital systems clients who are realizing the need to develop their middle managers, their nurse managers, and their leaders. Plus,...

Hear what you can do to end hate and foster inclusivity  Deborah Levine is an amazing woman. How excited I was to share her story with our listeners. Many people today are talking about the need to build a more accepting, diverse and inclusive society, not just in their business but all around them in their communities. How do you do that? And how can you make the value of diversity become a cultu...

Hear how gender equity is really, finally, happening  What an exciting podcast with Johanna Zeilstra. She has had a remarkable career as a business strategist and leader in start-ups and global corporations. Our talk was about her current passion: helping move the needle on gender equity in organizations through her platform, Gender Fair . Take a look at its website to understand the full scope of...

Hear how to understand your customers' needs, then fulfill them  It is always so enlightening to learn from other consultants how they do their jobs and how I could enhance my own consulting practice —as well as help you do the same. I was interviewed by Michael Zipursky on his podcast and thought it important to reciprocate and bring his ideas to you, our listeners. Michael speaks about his own j...

Learn how to craft a strategy that delivers the results you want Remember, my job is to help you get off the brink. How do I do that? By helping you see, feel and think in new ways. As a corporate anthropologist , I go looking for people who can help you do just that: see in new ways the things you may have done the same old way for a long time. Carol Poore is one of those people. We met through o...

Hear how to get diverse employees to value their differences It was a great pleasure to interview Laura Kriska for our podcast, On the Brink . Laura is an internationally recognizedexpert in cross-cultural relations. She and I have a lot in common. As a corporate anthropologist , I too often work with organizations where the old culture and the new are in conflict, where Boomers and Millennials sp...

Hear why brand storytelling is the key to business success This was a totally fantastic interview with Lisa Staff and Deevo Tindall. I had been on their podcast, Mind, Body, Business , and so enjoyed myself that I wanted to share them with you, our listeners. Lisa and Deevo are two terrific individuals who focus on connecting and collaborating. They also want to help you better deliver your messag...

Learn why employee well-being is key to a company's success  Mari Ryan and I met by chance through Peter Winick's Thought Leadership roundtables and became immediate colleagues and virtual friends. She brings to you her inspiring passion for helping organizations and the folks in them become healthier. This is so important, today and really always. What Mari has developed is a strategic approach t...

Hear how to turn your great idea into a successful business! This was a terrific podcast conversation with Carrie Peele. Her life's journey has been one of twists and turns, testing her smarts and her ingenuity. A serial business owner, she started a luxury transportation company on three credit cards in 1989 and built the largest woman-owned car service in the Carolinas. She sold the company in 2...

Learn how to find your voice and unleash your power In this podcast I had the pleasure of speaking with Kami Guildner. You will enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Kami believes that women have a strong voice and need to know how to use it. She is a storyteller, as we all are, but does it with passion and purpose. She is also a business coach for women. And, we delightfully have in common our...

Learn how to attract and retain the best staff for your business In this podcast, I was so excited to speak with Kip Wright about the work he has been doing to help corporations and businesses find the right talent and retain them with great performance. Having been an executive in banking and healthcare organizations, I remember far too well the pain of attracting and retaining the right staff. I...

Hear how to turn a jerk boss into someone you want to follow! Have you ever had an amazing boss or manager who was a leader in many ways yet always seemed to be a "jerk"? If so, you might want to read " Managing Brilliant Jerks: How Organizations and Coaches Can Transform Difficult Leaders into Powerful Visionaries " by Dr. Katrina Burrus, today's podcast guest. A wonderful speaker, author and exe...