Paper Napkin Wisdom · Leadership & Entrepreneurship Insights for Founders and Executives

Best-selling author, world renowned customer service expert, founder of the DiJulius Group, business success – John DiJulius III has tapped into something special . On this podcast, John discusses applying his methodology beyond business, and why his life purpose is to "live an extraordinary life, so that others will." Stating your purpose isn't enough. You have to deliver what you say and what yo...

"Great leaders set high expectations for their teams, but even higher expectations for themselves," says Mandy Burage, Director of Operations at Petra Coach. She explains that through the course of her childhood and early career, she encountered many personal and professional disappointments stemming from the fact that she set very high expectations for herself, while others did not set the same e...

How are you doing on your goals for the year? Your New Year's Resolutions? Do you even remember what they were? So many times we're hard on ourselves for the early misses. We say we're going to eat low or no carbs, three weeks in we've eaten some delicious pastry, fries, or even cake and abandon ship. We say we're going to work out every morning, wake up earlier, go to sleep earlier, read more, wa...

The goal of Carey Anne Nadeau, founder of Open Data Nation, is to "bring expertise in open data and data science to bear on the most pressing urban issues." What compelled her to start the company was that she "wanted something to exist that just didn't exist." She was frustrated, dissatisfied, and complaining. The industry tended to be a "boys' club," and she experienced this firsthand when she w...

A client is calling and they want a discount because something went wrong. An employee is missing on targets and results are slipping, they need to be realigned. The bank just called and a supplier took payment of a delivery early via automated transfer and there's a cash crunch. As a leader things come at us from all directions all the time – but how do we cope? Well, usually we need a little hel...

On this episode of Paper Napkin Wisdom, entrepreneur and author Damion Lupo makes his case for the gift of errors, "Mistakes are the universe gifting us wisdom, wrapped up inside the struggles in life."  Damion further explains that throughout our lives, we make mistakes, and as we do, we are taught that mistakes are bad . As a result, we revere people, who we believe, do not err or who are perfec...

Life and leadership is a contact sport. You need to make contact with people every day as a leader and in life. There's no avoiding it. So how do you build protection for the energy vampires that surround us? They are every where now. More and more. In the sea of all of that – remember that you need to bring protection with you. But where do you get it? How does that start? It's starts when you wa...

The Johari window was created by two psychologists in the mid-1950s as a tool for personal, group, and relationship development. Peter Mellen uses the Johari window as the framework for discussing how individuals and groups act, and how communication and relationships can grow. There are four sections to the Johari window: Arena or Open: This is information we know about ourselves that's also know...

This has nothing to do with an ACTUAL well. It has to do with the structure and support systems we need as leaders, as entrepreneurs. It's such a roller-coaster of ups and downs out there that we need support to help keep us a little more level and a little more in the zone to be in flow … to capture the momentum around us. The challenge is that we tend not to do that when things are good – we're...

Small business marketing expert and entrepreneur Jim Palmer's fifth book is entitled, "Stop waiting for it to get easier, create your dream business now!" The sentence explains itself. "There is no perfect time," Jim says as he recounts his own experience: broke and heavily in debt, on unemployment for 15 months, suffering from a serious health issue. Jim started in a very low place, and he knows...

It's so important to build transparency in the life of the entrepreneur, leader, and difference maker. Too often we don't hold space for our most important relationships, the ones with our spouses, life partner, and families. We need to save space for them, and us, to share our dreams, our challenges, our hopes. Structure time in the evening to debrief on the day, and more importantly to brief on...

Being second in command is tricky terrain to navigate; just ask Adventure Links COO Adam Trautenberg.  Co-host, Miranda Barrett joins Govindh Jayaraman to get the inside scoop on how this COO takes charge of a demanding job that's constantly in flux. "The role is defined by the relationship with the CEO," explains Adam. That relationship isn't something that simply grew overnight. For him, "it was...

As leaders we discuss holding space for our team. We all recognize that we need to give them time and space to succeed, for their mindset.  How clear are you, as a leader, however, that you too need time and space? Former  Paper Napkin Wisdom guest and Big Data Expert John Johnson  says that we are bombarded by more than 30 tractor-trailer loads of information each day. With all that noise (and mo...

The title says it all:  Think Big, Start Small . This is the philosophy behind many accomplishments and dreams that individuals and entrepreneurs bring to fruition. Every big endeavor requires a step-by-step process of achievement. Innovative ideas are the big picture, each step turns that idea into reality is the small . Thinking big keeps eyes focused on the prize. Small achievements along the w...

Are you looking for uncommon results in your company? Or maybe just for yourself? There's a structure to build the uncommon results you crave for yourself and your team and it starts with transparency. I'm not just talking about 2% or 5% growth from year to year. I'm talking about double digit year-over-year growth. Even triple digit growth! This comes from taking your SMART 2  goals to another le...

Being a good manager and effective leader is not just about making decisions on your own, but about understanding how much decision-making depends on the customer's behavior. In this podcast, we talk with Chris McGoff, founder and chairman of The Clearing, who has been helping big brands and the federal government drive change and find success for 30 years. Chris provides a simple visualization of...

Ever wonder how there are some small teams that just get it done time and time again? They are tight and nothing comes through the cracks in their communication, organization, service, or delivery? How do they do it? I call this the X Org Chart – or the Exponential Org Chart. It's the way that teams (small and large) can create more dynamic and important communication, collaboration and accountabi...

Tom Bilyeu, the co-founder of Quest Nutrition and life-long entrepreneur, chooses to focus on "everything being in my control." While most people would agree in principle, they don't often put it into true practice. Once you start working on the things that you believe in, it will not only be a motivating process, but will bring promising results. Much like the movie The Matrix, Tom's philosophy i...

It's vitally important for leaders to feel like that they can trust their teams. Trust them to complete their tasks, to be strong for the team, complete tasks well, execute on the priorities we have set individually and collectively. If we do this well, we are delegating tasks to them and they are getting them done. If that is going REALLY well – the team has a sense of ownership and they feel emp...

In this week's Leading Behind the Scenes, Marlou Hermsen makes the case (without laughing) that those who wish for a better world should seek to, "CHANGE the world without being a smug twat." If the statement makes you smile, and does not offend, it means you're probably on the right track, because, as Marlou further explains, smugness, besides being a deterrent to team collaboration, is also a cr...

This is the time of year when so many of us start to take stock of the year that passed and the one that's coming. It's that time that we start to think about what could be for the year ahead. There have been studies done that show that most people only accomplish a small fraction of their goals from year to year. Yet there are others that do much much more. There's a simple way that you can make...

  If you're a long term Paper Napkin Wisdom listener, you may remember Christina Harbridge's last visit EPISODE 47, when we had a lively discussion about shifting focus towards things that are enjoyable. If you're just tuning in, Christina has a very interesting background. She has co-authored software, built a company that hit national revenue success, practiced acrobatic swing dancing, been a NA...

In a society where people expect things to materialize instantly, many would be entrepreneurs expect the same, as it relates to success. However, in today's podcast, founder of RYSE Media, Jay Jackson discusses how his view of entrepreneurship has evolved over the years and provides tips for the next generation of entrepreneurs. "Some people dream of success, some people wake up and work hard at i...

Too often we get stuck. Caught. Stopped dead in our tracks. Usually we end up blaming ourselves for something we did or got wrong in the past. Or because we "wish" we were doing something else right now. Remember one thing: You are frekkin' unstoppable … Remind yourself ever day, all the time. And take epic action … Move forward, you can do it. In fact, you're the only one who can. Take Action is...

As entrepreneurs, it's often tough to take time to smell the flowers. Learning how to juggle endless to-do lists, a budding business and loved ones can be difficult for even the most seasoned entrepreneur. However, in this week's podcast, Trackmaven's CEO Allen Gannett explains why he is making it a point to take time to be appreciative. The 25 year old helms the fifty person B2B software company...