One Step Beyond: The Cadence Leadership Podcast

We’re very pleased to have Mike Gitter join Aram Arslanian on this episode of One Step Beyond. Mike ran the xXx fanzine from 1983-1988, before making the jump into the world of A&R in the music industry. Today, Mike is the Vice President of A&R at Century Media Records, and he has spent time at Atlantic, Roadrunner, and Razor and Tie, among other record labels. It’s rare to find someone with the t...

On this episode of One Step Beyond, we brought on Carlos Ramirez to discuss the process of taking a project all the way from the idea to the finish line. Carlos is the co-founder of Fascination Street Films, a TV/film production company, and the founder of No Echo, a punk/hardcore music site. Carlos and Aram discuss the arduous process of making TV programming, and they compare that to the Do It Y...

As the trend of veganism continues to grow worldwide, large corporations are entering the market. What role do consumers have to continue to support the small businesses that kept the movement alive up until now? On this episode of One Step Beyond, Aram is joined by Rich Labbate of Rocco’s Sweet Shoppe, an all vegan bakery in Gilbert, Arizona. Rich tells us of his time growing up in punk, playing...

On this episode of One Step Beyond, we’ve brought on Giancarlo Talarico to discuss his experience and expertise in the world of a family business. Giancarlo is a fourth-generation Talarico at QTG – a company founded in 1909. QTG has shifted several times over as it changed hands through the generations, until 2008, when Giancarlo stepped into the office as President. He was faced with a choice – l...

In this episode of the One Step Beyond podcast, Aram Arslanian is joined by three young leaders, each with a unique perspective and story to tell. Steph Jurek is a Visual Designer in the financial tech industry, Logan Madden is a Specialist/Field Sales Trainer at BD, and Nikki McEachnie is the Director of Corporate Communications at Talisker Resources. We put together this panel to talk with Aram...

On this episode of One Step Beyond, Aram is joined by Dan Smith. Dan is a British born, New Zealand raised artist and musician who has spent his life playing in bands, tattooing and traveling the globe. From a young age, Dan loaded up on inspiration and set sail to take on the world and as a result is now one of the biggest names in modern tattooing. After relocating to Southern California in 2004...

On this episode of One Step Beyond, Aram is joined by Brandi Wells. Brandi works in the world of corporate finance, including previous positions at Amazon and Colliers. While many industries have opened up to tattoos in past decades, the same cannot be said for the corporate world, including that of finance. Both Brandi and Aram challenge this culture everyday – simply by working as professionals....

On this episode of One Step Beyond, Aram sat down with Alice Bag to discuss the role that art has in social change and activism. Alice has been active in music since 1977 when she co-founded the first wave LA punk band The Bags, famously captured in Penelope Spheeris’ 1981 punk time capsule The Decline of Western Civilization. Alice went on to perform with Cholita, Las Tres, and Castration Squad,...

James Tsaptsinos was born in Brooklyn, NY and entered the world of music at the age of 12 with his first drum set. From that day on he knew music would be his life but didn’t know it would be his career. James spent his teen years skateboarding and enveloping himself in the NY Punk and Hardcore Music scene while learning the lessons of work ethic through his family business. This led to years of r...

Chris Anthony is the Vice President of US Consumer Goods at Salesforce (#190 on the Fortune 500), he stays active in charity, is the Civilian Co-Lead of the Navy Seal Future Foundation, and he very recently passed the 15 year mark on his journey of sobriety. Chris and Aram connected on this episode of the One Step Beyond podcast to discuss just what vulnerability is in one’s career. The perceived...

Fred Waks has been the President and CEO of the Trinity Development Group since 2015. Most recently before that, he was the President and COO of RioCan, which saw a growth from $100 million to $15 billion in assets during Fred’s tenure, making them the largest retail landlord in Canada. While Fred has been in real estate since the 1980s, his rock and roll roots go back far longer than that. Fred i...

Tom Couture is the national sales manager for BD Home Care, specializing in interviewing, hiring, and talent strategy. His incredible insight into the process of interviewing can help improve anyone’s approach. Having spent the last 17 years working his way up at BD, his diligence to team strategy has not gone unnoticed. With more than 20 years of sales experience, Tom has an intrinsic knowledge o...

Christopher Horsethief is a research professor and organizational theorist who focuses on the group dynamics of collectively traumatized communities. Spending much of his career (and life) in Indigenous and First Nations communities along the Columbia River Tribes, including the Ktunaxa, Ksanka, Spokane, Colville, and Flathead. Christopher shared just some of his immeasurably deep expertise and ex...

Finn McKenty is a social media marketer, a Youtuber, and the founder of the Punk Rock MBA. With over 17,000,000 plays on Youtube, he has become the go-to source for deep dives into some of the most niche and obscure corners of the music world. Finn joined us on this episode of One Step Beyond to discuss the idea of bringing one’s whole self to work. Through Finn’s personal and professional experie...

Billy Bones is the owner and founder of Clampdown Record Pressing, one of the greenest vinyl record pressing plants in the world. He joins One Step Beyond at Cadence HQ to discuss his part in making vinyl records in a sustainable and environmental innovative way. We go deep into Billy’s intriguing past – He shares how he first got into vinyl records, his adventures touring with his bands and his e...

Almost anything is possible if you’re willing to make it possible. Having the grit to push through obstacles along the way is the difference between making things happen and standing still. On this episode of the podcast Aram talk to Emma Smith of Zimt Chocolate about how she created an ethics company that provides a high quality product and her endless drive to overcome any challenge thrown her w...

Your company is only as strong as its brand – whether it’s only you, or you and 1000 other people, your ability to build and maintain relationships is dependent on how people view you. We get into the topic of building a trusted brand with Scott Kaplan of HQ Milton for his perspective on how to get into that trusted space. HQ Milton is a niche watch company that focuses on vintage Rolex and Patek...

On this episode of the podcast, Aram sits down with Matt Saincome, co-founder of the punk-themed satirical news site, The Hard Times and OutVoice, a new payment product for publishers and freelancers. Matt talks about how punk played a huge role in developing his entrepreneurial spirit. He shares some incredibly insightful and powerful lessons he learned and applied from his experience touring in...

There’s a perception that a leader should have all the answers, but the truth is, no one knows it all. In fact, leaders need to grow and learn just as much as anyone else. Hiding that fact isn’t being vulnerable with people and being vulnerable is what makes a great leader. On this episode of the podcast we talk about the experience of learning while leading. Our guest, Mike Rolla, Director of U.S...

This episode of the podcast took us to Atlanta where Aram sat down with Paul Zani, a Senior Leader at one of the World’s top 5 largest Medical Device companies, to discuss unlocking personal and professional potential. Often, we focus on the hard times to teach us the big lessons about what we’re made of, however more can be unlocked through the challenges we choose to take on and lean into. Paul...

How often do we think of all our experiences in life when it comes to our professional careers? Who we are in our day to day work has a lot to do with where we’ve been and who we’ve been in the past. Being able to bring our whole selves into our work and succeed is at the core of this episode – as every past experience is an important piece of the story. This is true for our guest, Jonathan Anasta...

Change doesn’t come easy and when faced with difficult feedback or challenging self-reflection, being willing to push through the discomfort and grow personally and professionally can be just as hard. We explore the willingness to change with our guest, Rob Hanson. Rob is a senior leader and no stranger to embracing change. We talk about the ups and downs in his career, his commitment to lifelong...

On this episode of the podcast we connect with Senior Leader, Sandy Thompson about addiction in the workplace. Sandy and Aram share their personal experiences around this topic and consider why addiction is so prevalent in high performance culture. They discuss the importance of vulnerability and accountability and share steps people can take to support each other in the workplace. On this episode...

Client retention is both an art and a science. It’s about keeping clients happy and delivering, but there’s another piece that isn’t quite as tangible. On this episode of One Step Beyond, we get to the heart of Client Retention with Michael Mendillo, President at FirstService Residential East and Robert Francis, President & CEO Planned Companies, two leaders who we consider to be experts on the su...

On this episode of One Step Beyond, we chat with Alex Nguyen, SVP of Strategy and Corporate Development at FirstService about leading through acquisitions. Acquiring companies is not for the faint of heart and we uncover what has made Alex and his team so successful. We discuss best practices and challenges, then we flip the script and get into Alex’s personal story and how that has informed his a...