People Business w/ O'Brien McMahon

Jim Connolly is Founder & CEO of ILR, LLC ( www. IndustryLeadingResults.com ), an organizational behavior consulting practice. Jim’s expertise in human behavior and organizational process helps companies hire the right talent and close the gap between performance and results. He has worked with over a hundred companies and completed more than 2,700 behavioral interviews. He has honed a process...

Scott Miller is a business leader, author, and podcast host as well as Senior Advisor to FranklinCovey . If that name rings a bell, it’s because their founder, Steven Covey , wrote the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Scott’s books include Management Mess to Leadership Success, Everyone Deserves a Great Manager, and Master Mentors, among others. On his podcast, On Leadership with Scott Mi...

Kristin Zhivago is President of Zhivago Partners , a digital marketing management company. She is an expert on the customer’s buying process and has spent years as a revenue coach, teaching CEOs and entrepreneurs how to sell more by understanding what their customers want to buy and how they want to buy it. She is the author of the 5-star book, Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customer...

Jason Lauritsen is transforming management as a keynote speaker, trainer, and author. He liberates managers from outdated and inhumane practices so they can cultivate human potential at work and improve people’s lives. Jason’s advice and teachings are informed by decades of experience as an entrepreneur, corporate executive, and employee engagement researcher. He also spent several years leading t...

Marion Abrams is a podcasting coach & consultant with deep experience in podcasting and content creation. She co-created Spartan Race’s official podcast, Spartan Up (now boasting over 35 million views & downloads) and has worked on a range of projects from social media advisor on a gubernatorial campaign, to creating the documentary film Flood Bound , to directing TV ads for Vermont Lotter...

Dr. Paul Spradley is a Certified Diversity Practitioner and the current Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Dollar Bank where he supports their ongoing commitment to an inclusive culture across the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia markets. Prior to joining Dollar Bank, Paul started the Diversity and Inclusion training firm, Care Based Leadership which is now being led by his wif...

Jen Alessandra is the Chief People Officer at FrontDoor . Starting in 2019, she guided the company through a rapid and complete transformation into a virtual-first workforce while preserving their strong, adaptable, and action-oriented culture. She is an expert in all aspects of people strategy, including learning, DEI, engagement, and more.  In this conversation, Jen explains how FrontDoor built...

Jo Marini is the CEO of Mother Superior , a venture foundry focused on bringing VC money and support to underrepresented entrepreneurs. The wheels in her head began turning during her MBA when she found out that 98% of VC investment goes to well-connected white men. Jo quickly realized that women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, individuals over 60, and disabled people barely figure in the stats. Mother Superior i...

Laura Aiken is a Consultant and Coach on a mission to end Corporate Trauma. She founded Thrive Leadership to help companies build cultures of resilience and inclusion that help their people thrive. Laura is also a registered yoga teacher and leads transformational retreats around the world where she helps leaders build self-awareness, empathy, and resilience. Mentioned in this Episode: Kaitlyn Lyo...

Danielle Crane is the Vice President of Global HR for  OneStream Software . She has been committed to modernizing the human resources field since her entrance over 15 years ago. Captivated by the art of recruitment early on in her career, Danielle was immediately drawn to how it made her feel – creative, results-focused, and value-added. Since then, she has strived to recreate that feeling in all...

Charlie Judy is the Chief People Officer at Intelligent Medical Objects (IMO). He leads a collaborative effort to manage a culture and employee experience that attracts, connects, and advances a world-class workforce. Charlie has over 26 years of experience as an HR executive with some of the world’s most prominent professional services firms, including Baker Tilly, Navigant, and Deloitte. Most re...

This special episode was previously aired on the Gut + Science Podcast in 2021. In it, host Nikki Lewallen interviews our own  O'Brien McMahon on The Hierarchy of Employee Needs and his perspective on what employers can do to meet the needs of their people. In the conversation, O'Brien outlines a basic framework and gives examples of how employers can use it successfully. The Gut+Science...

Loran Nordgren is the first repeat guest here on People Business. In this conversation, he talks about his book, The Human Element , and the framework he and his co-author have built for helping people reduce the friction that new ideas face when brought to life in the real world. Loran is one-part behavioral scientist, one-part professor, and one-part practitioner. As a behavioral scientist, his...

Chet Scott is the founder of Built to Lead , a band of coaches that believes creating sustainable high-performance teams is not only possible but also worthy of the effort. Together they awaken, challenge, and transform a few individuals, teams, and leaders. In this conversation, he explains the basic tenets of his work and shares a foundational exercise for understanding who you are and building...

Nicole Dessain is the Founder and Chief Employee Experience Designer at Talent. Imperative Inc , an employee experience design company. During her 19-year career in human resources, Nicole discovered design thinking while collaborating on a client project. She became a student of the method and got certified by IDEO U and LUMA Institute and is now a SESP Lecturer at Northwestern University’s Maste...

Claire Haidar is CEO and Founder of WNDYR and  Pattyrn , two companies focused on shaping the world of work. Through AI-driven data analysis of how and where teams work, Pattyrn is transforming organizations to work in ways that were inconceivable a mere few years ago. Claire has dedicated her career to rebuilding the workplace and reshaping the future of work across the globe.  Mentioned in this...

Dr. Erik Korem is a High-Performance pioneer that introduced sports science and athlete tracking technologies to collegiate and professional (NFL) football. He has worked with the National Football League, Power-5 NCAA programs, gold-medal Olympians, Nike, and the United States Department of Defense. Erik is an expert in sleep and stress resilience, and he is the Founder and CEO of AIM7 .  Mention...

Derek Gaunt is a lecturer, author of Ego, Authority, Failure© , and trainer with 29 years of law enforcement experience, 20 of which as a team member, leader, and then commander of hostage negotiations teams in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. As a member of the Black Swan Group , he is a negotiation trainer and personal coach. Derek has trained throughout the US and around the world, instruc...

At the age of 30, Jon Morris started a digital marketing agency called Rise Interactive . When Jon sold Rise 16 years later, it was one of the largest Independent Digital Agencies in the world. Through Ramsay Innovations , Jon’s new passion is to help 1,000 businesses grow and thrive, just as Rise did. Time Codes: (2:48) - What is Ramsay Innovations? (3:42) - What’s the origin story for Rise Inter...

  Debra Moritz is the Head of Strategic Consulting for Cushman & Wakefield , the third-largest commercial real estate broker in the world. She oversees a team of consultants helping clients reduce cost, increase revenue, and mitigate risk. Her team has represented Fortune 1000 and mid-cap clients in business transformation, portfolio analysis, workplace solutions, M&A, and headquarters eva...

Jill Pollack and Beth Nyland are the founders of StoryMode , where they help business professionals spice up their communications, connect with others, and drive results. With Beth's career in corporate communication and Jill's background in creative writing, they are the perfect team to help individuals tap into their creative confidence and craft messages that inspire the audience to a...

Tony Lenhart is a partner at Sales Empowerment Group (SEG). With a degree in Selling & Sales Management, he has worked on honing the art and science of sales through direct sales, sales leadership, and entrepreneurship. He spent the first decade of his career in various sales and leadership roles and the last ten years scaling a successful sales consulting and staffing organization. Since foun...

Lynn Thomas is a tax-attorney-turned-consultant who finds innovative and novel ways to create fiercely loyal clients and employees. She is an expert in client and employee retention and helping companies thrill the people they work with. Consequently, these businesses achieve higher levels of profits, growth, and retention. Mentioned in this Episode: Thomas Consulting Extreme Humanism by Tom Peter...

Jim Murphy is a performance and mental skills coach to Olympic and professional athletes and business leaders around the world.  He has coached some of the world’s best golfers including world champions, FedEx Cup champions, and world #1’s. His first book, Dugout Wisdom: Ten Principles of Championship Teams came from his 38 in-person interviews of pro baseball GMs and field managers for his master...

Debbie Vyskocil is the Founder and President of Optimal Edge Performance , a neuroscience-based, data-driven consulting firm that coaches clients to reach peak levels of achievement. With an electrical engineering background, a psychology degree, and extensive neuroscience training, Debbie's unique combination of scientific and emotional acumen leads her to work with some of the business worl...