On the Brink with Andi Simon

If you can dream it, you can do it! We met Amanda Zuckerman when she spoke at the HER Summit (Helping Entrepreneurs Rise) at Washington University this past October. Amanda is a Wash U alumna who saw an unmet need and turned it into a great business, dormify.com , that has opened an entirely new market space—very Blue Ocean style. Named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2018, Amanda is a perfect exampl...

Hear how to make your impossible possible! How do you hire and retain the right staff? How do you scale or fail? If you feel like we bring you lots of folks who can help you get "Off the Brink," you are right. Today's interviewee, Allison Maslan, wants to help you scale your business for growth—which, as she tells us, it is not for the faint of heart. Allison was referred to me by a dear friend wh...

Hear how this entrepreneur brilliantly capitalized on unmet needs! Brit Arthur is one of those creative women who sees a problem and just wants to solve it. Who says women aren't as ingenious as men? They haven't met Brit. Back when she was in school at Pratt Institute studying fashionwear, she saw a problem. She hated the way bathing suits were made and how they fit women's bodies. Designers were...

Hear how strategy is the way to get to where you want to be! As you know, we are Blue Ocean Strategists . As such, we love to talk with like-minded folks who help companies and their staff re-think their strategies, fill unmet needs and carve out unoccupied market space. That's why Rich Horwath is such a great guest today. One of the biggest challenges for companies is how to craft an appropriate...

Learn how to lead and succeed, no matter your gender! I had the pleasure of interviewing Susan Chodakewitz about her own personal journey through aviation management, aerospace and defense work. It is unusual to find women in these industries. Part of our discussion was about this very topic: how do we get more women into the defense, aerospace and aviation industries? And why have these important...

Learn how to build a business and a life! What, you may ask, is a business sherpa? The answer is Tristan Wright, a Melbourne-based leadership coach and my On The Brink podcast guest this week. During our interview, Tristan talks about how he helps businesses grow, and also how he grew his own business from a start-up in his kitchen, literally, into a global operation. Quite a feat! You'll find tha...

Learn how to overcome discriminatory gender bias! As you may know, I am researching my next book about women and how they are smashing the myths of what they can or cannot do in this world. I was therefore thrilled to have the opportunity to interview Andrea (Andie) Kramer and her husband Al Harris about their new book, " It's Not You, It's the Workplace ." Our conversation digs into those lingeri...

Learn how to navigate tough conversations with emotional resilience ! Susan Steinbrecher has developed an approach that you should know more about. Focused on helping people better understand how to talk to each other, develop stronger relationships and overcome their differences, Susan is an expert in helping businesses and other organizations build strong teams. Her new book, " Meanin gful Allig...

Learn how to turn Millennials into engaged, motivated employees ! Want to understand Millennials better? Or at all? Listen to my podcast with Chris Tuff. His new book, " The Millennial Whisperer ," is a practical how-to guide which shows those of us who work with or manage this demographic (between 25 and 39 years old) how to better understand them—the world's largest generation—so we can turn the...

Hear how great things happen when you're willing to change ! Jake Manthei and his company, Aster Brands , was a client of ours when I led a Blue Ocean Strategy workshop for their manufacturers last year. These were very smart individuals who each knew it was time to find their Blue Ocean. They also knew they have to continue to innovate, find new ways to solve problems, and at times, pause and re-...

Hear how blockchain, IoT and big data are transforming our world ! This spring, I was a guest on Peggy Smedley's ConstructechTV , a highly influential TV show about technology, blockchain and the construction industry. It was such an enjoyable interview that I asked Peggy to share her ideas about technology and construction with our On The Brink listeners. In this podcast, we talk about the challe...

Learn why data privacy is a human right you deserve ! Do you ever worry about what personal information you are giving to a website you are buying something from? How is it using that data? What did Cambridge Analytica do with your personal Facebook data to harvest your information and use it for political campaign purposes in 2016? Did it matter to you? Should it? That was even more alarming, and...

Learn about the emerging technologies that are coming at us, fast ! Samantha Radocchia, or "Sam Rad" for short, is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, futurist and emerging tech advocate who combines the mindsets of an anthropologist and a technologist—which is why I was so excited to have her join me on our podcast. Did you know that On The Brink With Andi Simon is ranked in the top 9 futurist podc...

Learn about the future of your work and your life ! Futurist-technologist-entrepreneur Byron Reese is a lover of technology and history, which may sound strange. But he truly appreciates how the past and the future are deeply connected, and that if we don't look back, we will have a much harder time appreciating where we are going as we move forward, ever faster and faster...something he examines...

Learn what the incredible power of listening can do ! I received a copy of Benjamin Mathes' book, " Short Paragraphs on Listening ," as a gift after a speech I gave recently in Los Angeles. Not knowing much about Ben, I was curious about why an actor was teaching others about how to listen, even asking them to post signs on street corners encouraging strangers to come speak with them. But that is...

Hear how anthropology is bringing you better design! This was a wonderful interview with a fellow anthropologist . Amy Santee is a design research and strategy consultant working in product development, innovation and business strategy. Trained as an anthropologist, Amy incorporates a human-centered lens to help teams build products, services and brands through an understanding of people, context...

Hear how consumers have the power to drive marketing! Are you overwhelmed by the breakneck speed of change in business? Do constantly-shifting consumer trends, unrelenting technology advances and omnipresent digital marketing leave you feeling irrelevant and lost? Fear not. Mark Schaefer can help you stay ahead of the curve. A globally-recognized marketing and social media keynote speaker, busines...

Hear how to really bring about real change! Carsten Tams and I have a lot in common. We both work with organizations that need or want to change . And, we both know the challenges of helping people transform their company, unit, department, or just themselves. Human brains hate to change, even when they're facing a crisis or anticipating one coming soon. What to do? Carsten's process, deeply embed...

Hear how nonusers are waiting for you to fulfill their unmet needs! I had such an amazing conversation with Dr. Rita Gunther McGrath. I have been a fan of her thinking over the past twenty years, and have read and used each of her books, The Entrepreneurial Mindset , Market Busters , Discovery Driven Growth  and T he End of Competitive Advantage . Her new book, Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot I...

Learn how to completely transform how women are described! As so often happens, I found Sarah Soule as I wandered around the internet looking for women doing amazing work trying to dismantle the stereotypes that shackle women and keep them from rising. Dr. Soule co-authored an outstanding article in the June 2019 Harvard Business Review , " The Stereotypes in MBA Case Studies, " in which she descr...

Learn how to turn a failure into a phenomenal success! Todd Palmer loves the same things we do: how to help entrepreneurs and business leaders do better. As he says on his website, he helps business leaders Get S#!t Done. But how does he do this, differently than others might? And what can you and I learn from his approach, his own experiences, and his failures and successes? Turns out, a lot. In...

Learn how to bring real, lasting change to your organization! Welcome to Part 3 of the podcast series we've been doing on change management. (You may want to go back and listen to Step 1 and Step 2 .) Now you're ready to learn the steps you need to take to actually bring about real change in your organization. Yes, change is hard, and yes, your people will most likely fight it, but once you get go...

Learn how to overcome the pain of change! I hope you joined me for my previous podcast , the first segment in our series of three Ask Andi's on change management. I explained how to identify your archetype as well as the archetypes of the people in your organization, so that you can better understand what you're going to be changing your organization to and why this is going to be so challenging....

Learn actionable, lasting ways to manage change in turbulent times! At SAMC, we routinely receive requests to lead workshops or provide consulting support for companies that have been struggling with changing their organization, especially in these rapidly-changing times. Is managing change something you're struggling with too? To help you initiate a change process that will stick and that your em...

Now that you know the basics, it's time to go visually exploring! Last week, I shared with you my Ask Andi session, " How To Find Your Blue Ocean Strategy® Step 1 ," in which I explained how Blue Ocean Strategy shows you how to go after nonusers, carve out a new, unoccupied market space and make the competition irrelevant. "OK," you may be saying, "what do I do next? I've done my strategic canvas...