The Bizgnus Podcast

•  Jo Deaton offers 5 ways to stay resilient during the pandemic •  She says none of this is normal Total Recorded Time is 9:05 It's been more than a year since COVID-19 took hold in the United States. But finally massive inoculations seem to be cutting into the deadly toll.  So much so that states and localities are “opening up” although often with mask and distancing restrictions....

•  UC Merced researchers say covering the state’s canal matrix with solar panels generates savings, helps clear the air •  “Without taking a bit of farmland or a bit of natural land” Total Recorded Time is 11:34 You can’t miss them.  They are the canals that criss-cross California, moving water from one place to another. And almost all of them are uncovered, letting some 63 billion...

•  Action plan is adopted with two-year deadline •  “We know the challenges are daunting” Total recorded time is 13:40 With more than one out of every four homeless people in the nation calling the streets and underpasses in California “home,” the state may at last be onto a multi-pronged solution. The California Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council has adopted an “action plan” th...

•  How a Central Valley firefighter is trying to stop the wildfire of suicides in the ranks •  Firefighter suicides surpass on-duty death Total Recorded Time is 14:49 And if that sounds new, it’s not. It’s a trend that dates back nearly a decade now. But a Kern County firefighter is helping slow that trend.  This podcast helps tell his story. The Firefighter Behavioral Health Allian...

•  Former NFL player Dave Des Rochers offers some practical advice •  “A contracting career … may be replaced by artificial intelligence” Total recorded time is 28:40 For those at mid-career, making a transition to a new job, perhaps even a new field, comes with a tubload of troubling thoughts.  But perhaps one not immediately considered is whether the new job will even exist ten ye...

•   Everyone does it, but very few do it well •  “Great productivity comes from concentration” (Total Recorded Time is 25:10) To get to the top in your career, be quiet.  And listen. That’s the advice of Cash Nickerson, entrepreneur and author.  But while it sounds simple, listening – really listening -- like any skill takes concentration.  And few reach the top tier....

•  What is your former boss telling a potential employer about you? •  Allison & Taylor President Jeff Shane warns job hunters not to assume all is well with their references (TRT is 25:49) On paper, you may think you are a strong candidate for that job.  But even though the interviews seemed to go well, the phone remains silent.  Why? It could be that a former boss – someo...

•  But watchdog says it may be too little and too late •  “I wonder how much money is going to be in this pool” The Biden administration says the smallest employers will get two weeks of exclusive access to emergency payroll protection loans starting Wednesday, President Joseph Biden says it’s an effort to target minority-owned businesses and other companies that have struggled the most...

•  Unequal burden also for Hispanic communities •  Two scientists who revealed the problem are the guests on this Bizgnus Podcast Acres of asphalt parking lots, unshaded roads, dense apartment complexes and neighborhoods with few parks are taking a toll on the poor. As climate change accelerates, low-income areas in the Southwestern United States are 4 to 7 degrees hotter on average than...

•  Laura Brandao says it’s possible to keep saying “yes” despite adversity •  “It’s for the whole world to say ‘yes’ every day (Total Recorded Time is 13:36) Financial executive Laura Brandao is saying “yes” to showing others how to develop – and maintain – a positive mindset despite adversity. “We all transform. We’re all going through a transformation and ‘Say Yes Everyday’ has taught...

•  Corporate real estate expert outlines a new trend powered by technology and the pandemic •  “We’ve really got to start a proper debate” (Total Recorded Time is 21:17) Here are the ingredients for major change that have never been seen before: ubiquitous digital access, the gig economy and the demands of a multigenerational workforce mixed with the COVID-19 pandemic. Baked together the...

•  Mindfulness trainer Julie Potiker says it’s an age-old practice that applies to the 21st Century •  “It’s not weird; it’s not woo-woo” (Total Recorded Time is 19:10) After getting through 2020, one might be given some slack if they still feel things are spinning out of control.  But there is a very old way to come to grips with such new feelings. Author Julie Potiker says it’s mi...

•  The epiphany for a veteran salesman •  “Ethical behavior creates dedicated employees and loyal customers” After years of selling – used cars, lighting supplies, whatever—Joel Malkoff says he had an epiphany that changed his life. It brought him to the conclusion that ethical business decision-making is the way to sustained profitability, he says. He’s taken his thoughts a step further...

•  Visual marketing expert Amy Balliett on how to market to the Incredible Shrinking Attention Span •  What’s 60,000 times faster than the printed word? (Total recorded time is 31:31) The success of your marketing message might depend on its ability to attract and hold the attention of an audience that will buy in or reject it within seconds. So says marketing expert Amy Balliett, founde...

•  Why traditional authoritarian approaches no longer fit today’s leadership needs •  Revealed: The five “Cs” to success Do nice guys really finish last?  Not according to Ed Frauenheim in the new book Reinventing Masculinity. He says traditional aspects of masculinity actually inhibit progress in an organization, especially with Millennials filling more and more positions. “While a...

•  Today’s marketers were already facing exponential challenges. Then came COVID •  The authority on being agile in marketing offers tips, examples and ideas (Total Recorded Time is 23:48) It’s COVID, COVID, COVID. The pandemic is so serious, so widespread and an end to it seems so distant that it could make one wonder if marketing means anything today. But our Bizgnus Podcast guest says...

•  He wrote 60 books while working fulltime as a newspaper editor •  Wes Boyd gave away his novels •  “I’d rather keep working and keep writing rather than sit in a chair and rock” Wes Boyd knew how to work.  While working as the editor and publisher of the Hudson, Michigan, Post-Gazette, a weekly newspaper, he turned out 60 novels. Mr. Boyd has since died, but three years ago...

•  Why your organization’s culture may need to be changed – now •  Expert shows why some companies are dragged down by their corporate culture (TRT 22:49) When business finally emerges from the COVID pandemic, it will need leaders who recognize the corporate cultures entangling their organizations. David White, a cognitive anthropologist, is focusing on ways to change corporate cultures...

•  Veteran leadership consu,tant boils success down to seven key gears •  “Seventy-five to ninety per-cent of organizations fall short of achieving the results they expect from their strategies” (Total Recorded Time is 21:00) The world may finally be seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the very long COVID tunnel. But before emerging from that tunnel, many businesses might want to re-...

•  What happens post-COVID?  Our podcast guest talks with 140 top executives •  “What we heard was a kind of shift to humility” (Total Recorded Time is 10:30) The COVID-18 pandemic has brough deep changes to many businesses and not just the obvious, such as curbside meal pickups instead of inside dining. That’s according to a researcher who interviewed 140 chief executive officers f...

•  Expert shows why workplace diversity efforts fall short •  “If you want to hire diverse people, let them be diverse” (Total Recorded Time is 20:20) Despite decades of effort, workplace diversity still seems almost ephemeral. Michelle Silverthorn, an organizational diversity expert, is on a mission to change that. She says that no matter how much organizations say inclusion matters or...

•  Trying to publish that book? This podcast has insider info that you need to know •  “There are ways of making money. I don’t want to discourage anyone” (Total Recorded Time is 24:20) These days it seems like everyone with a keyboard is publishing a book.  But book sellers will tell you that a huge percentage of those books is, well, to use a technical term from the publishing wor...

•  Lost for decades, music recorded as WW 2 ended is found by a Central Valley teacher •  “This is the only recording of a frontline band unit made in the middle of WWII” (Total Recorded Time is 13:28) Few people have ever heard it.  Perhaps even the musicians who played the tunes never expected they would be heard 75 years later. Music recorded by a long-forgotten Army Air Force ba...

•  Survivors of trauma offer paths forward through the COVID pandemic •  “It is truly, ultimately, up to us to heal ourselves” (Total Recorded Time is 24:10) The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted people and businesses in many tragic ways.  Some firms have failed or are on the verge of shutting their doors permanently the human suffering is numbing. But some seem to be doing okay. &nbsp...

•  Strengthening your organization for the post-COVID world •  This solution is so simple it will need brave leaders (Total Recorded Time is 38:06) When the COVID pandemic finally ends, will the business world return to its customary form?  Our Bizgnus podcast guest hopes there will be a fundamental change… one that could save capitalism. Darren Dahl, a business journalist who has g...