Growth Think Tank

The journey of increasing team confidence requires that you lead by example. This means your confidence level has to rise higher than your team. The energy that you have when your confidence level is high will give you a chance to increasing team confidence. My guest today is Mark Ellis, co-founder of Liftoff. Liftoff was #8 on the 2017 Inc 500 List. Mark gives the critical principles of getting a...

People first leadership is rare. Putting your team before your clients are tough. After hundreds of interviews with fast-growth leaders, I see that most of these leaders know the value of their people. They are willing to invest in their people and create an employee experience that drives a customer-centered workforce. People first leadership is a way to ensure that your people know you care abou...

Vulnerability is often seen as a weakness. When it comes to leadership vulnerability, it is a strength. Those that dare to have leadership vulnerability will say I don't know the answer. They will share from their heart. My guest today is Thomas Donohue, founder of Level Agency. Level Agency ranked #190 on the 2014 Inc List. Thomas shared his challenges with leadership vulnerability during the int...

Getting your employees to want to do the work is very different than just getting them to do the work. You may think it is semantics, but getting your employees to want to do the work has tremendous power. Leadership is a journey of getting your employees to see their highest potential and live their best lives. I find that employees that want to do the work when they feel that that work will alig...

One of the most important jobs for you as a leader is getting employees to think for themselves. You want them to see the challenges of the organization internally and externally. You want them to think for themselves instead of following the playbook. The reason is that the steps in the playbook are likely to change. When they think for themselves, you will see their work proactively and innovati...

Employees with an entrepreneurial spirit have the capability to be more resilient, resourceful, and innovative. Those with the entrepreneurial spirit have the ability to create new areas for growth. This interview is with Kyle Goguen, founder of Pawstruck. This company was #87 out of 5,000 on the 2018 Inc List. They grew at 3,891 percent in the previous three years. Kyle gives us the real reason w...

Developing entrepreneurial employees may scare you. This is more than just embracing intrapreneurs. Entrepreneurial employees have the ability to create massive value for the organization. Today's guest is Sean Elan, President of Affordable Luxury Group. This company was #55 out of 5,000 on the 2018 Inc List. They had a growth rate of 4,797 percent in the previous three years. Sean and I talk abou...

I remember exactly where I was when I heard the term "operationalize your values." A speaker asked the audience of more than a thousand if they had done the work beyond creating values. The process of operationalizing your values will take the company values from a project to a way of living the values. Today I am talking to Zach Smith, CEO of Funded Today about the steps to operationalize your va...

Most leaders don't think about how to make work fun. A few evolved leaders do think about adding fun into the work environment. Today's interview is with Adham Yusupov, founder of Ecology Mir Group. Adham gives the reasons behind making work fun especially important when you have such a critical mission. When you make work fun, you give your team a way to connect to more than just the work. They r...

Companies want better communication. They really want to improve collaboration amongst their team members. You hire smart people so they can create amazing results. When they collaborate, you see terrific contributions and buy-in. Today's guest is Brad Griffith, co-founder with GameTime.co. Brad shares with me a specific strategy that aligns his team together and improves collaboration. Tune-in to...

In the start-up world, there is a famous saying, "move fast and break things" that comes from the speed of action and their comfort with failure. This is the same mantra that Mark Zuckerberg used to align the Facebook team to the early days of growing to more than 1 billion users and beyond. Today, I am talking to Shay Berman, President of Digital Resource. Shay shared with me why move fast and br...

Every leader thinks about how to improve the process of communicating with your team. The word and the tone of our communication have so much to do with how we interact together. Teams that communicate well will outperform those that don't. Today I am talking Nir Polak, the CEO of Exabeam. Exabeam was #12 on the Inc 5000 list in 2018. They had a 14,032% growth rate in the three years prior. Exabea...

Having a nimble culture is a requirement when you want to have a fast-growing company. A nimble culture is one where people move fast, break things, and challenge the old way. Being nimble becomes a way of doing everything. Fast decision and quick pivots are natural. Today I am talking to Jan Bednar, Founder, and CEO of ShipMonk. ShipMonk has exploded in growth to reach 29th out of 5000 on the 201...

When you have a fast-growth culture, you have a team that will move with agility and one that embraces change. Culture is often claimed to be important to company stability. It is critical to company growth. Today, I talk with Kevin Lustig, CEO of Scientist.com to discuss the power of a fast-growth culture. Kevin shares details about leadership and team that will help you develop your fast-growth...

Discover how to hire the best employees with one of the fastest-growing companies in the 2018 Inc Magazine List. Founder and CEO, Ben Wright, shares how Velocity Global grew so fast. He decided only to hire 10s. He wanted a culture of the best employees. Get the details on how to hire the best employees in this interview with Ben. He shares the five steps and why he does not start with looking at...

Growth Think Tank is the new name. Welcome to the podcast. For five years this show has been called, Leaders in the Trenches. The change to Growth Think Tank is to represent significant changes happening. Tune in to this episode to see what is different and what is the same. Growth Think Tank is here to help you grow your company and grow as a leader.   Get the show notes for New and Improved - Ne...

Flexible working arrangements are the new craze. Employees want to work from home or coffee shops on their time. Employers want to embrace flexibility and yet get the work done too. Beyond flexible working, arrangements are the notion of working less than 40 hours in a week. I found Natalie Nagele, co-founder of Wildbit. They are a digital agency that has embraced the idea of a standard 32 hours w...

Mental barriers for leaders can stop even the strongest most committed. We all have mental barriers or if you prefer psychological obstacles. We can do the work to go beyond them, or we can let those mental barriers prevent us. I sought out someone that has pushed past many mental barriers and who has helped millions do the same. Today we have the founder of Spartan, Joe De Sena. Spartan is the wo...

Creative ideas are necessary for companies that are evolving quickly and innovating in their market. Creative ideas don't come from just the good ideas. You have to have bad ideas too. I talked with Zvi Band, co-founder of Contactually, the CRM that provides unique features to enhance relationships. Zvi shared with me how bad ideas become creative ideas. He shared that some of those bad ideas are...

Discover how to create team alignment that improves your company growth. One critical factor for a leader is to create team alignment so that each person is going in the same direction. Most companies find it easy to alignment when they are small (less than five employees) and tend to struggle in creating team alignment as the team grows. Our guest today is Diedre Paknad, co-founder of WorkBoard....

Improving your leadership skills is required in today's professional world. The pace of change drives us to think of new ways to activate people. Improving your leadership skills will make you more valuable to your company. Joel Beasley is the founder of Leader Bits, a company that creates bite-sized training that aims to improve your leadership skills. The company mainly focuses on technical empl...

Leading a turnaround will challenge even the best leaders. The momentum is going the wrong way, and there is never just one thing off. In my decades of leadership, leading a turnaround for a company is hard. Today I'm talking with Steve Lucas, former CEO of Marketo. Adobe acquired Marketo in late 2018. Steve is now SVP, Business Development, Digital Experience at Adobe. Steve led the turnaround of...

Developing a content strategy is often overlooked. Either we become reactive and create content when we feel like it. Or we fail to create content that aligns with our goals and leads people through the customer journey. I generate a ton of content. Over the years, I have discovered the power of developing a content strategy. Today's guest is Michael Brenner, who is an expert in content strategy f...

Better 1 on 1 meetings with your direct reports starts with a better understanding of the person that you are talking too. If you understand what they want to accomplish, the progress they have made lately, and the challenges they are facing, your 1 on 1 meetings with each employee will improve. There are many ways to tune in to them before the meeting. Today's guest is David Hassell, CEO of 15fiv...

Operationalizing Your Values is a process that takes understanding and application of values to the deepest levels in the company. When you operationalize your values, you create a way for the people to live and work according to the values of the company. Operationalizing your value is often skipped. Most of the time it is overlooked. Entrepreneurial leaders are often optimistic. They are so opti...