The Third Growth Option with Benno Duenkelsbuehler and Guests

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Todd and Jannetta Litzman built, evolved, merged or sold and have been running a software business for the last 25+ years. In this episode, Todd shares their growth journey from cashier to CEO, from technology before laptops and handheld devices to giant handheld calculator-looking things and Palm Pilots to iPads, and most interestingly (to me at least...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? It’s one thing to develop a hugely successful product and build a company around it - Willow Tree is that product and industry leader DEMDACO is that company - it’s another to constantly reinvent yourself, going on three decades now. Demi Lloyd, CEO of (and the DEM in) DEMDACO, talks about the less than glorious early days, how a small group of people...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Post-acquisition integration is where most M&A acquisitions succeed or fail. Steve Nunn is CEO of Intista, a company that helps to integrate acquired small-to-midsize companies (“air traffic control for integrations”). As a follow up to Ep #18 with Steve, in this episode we’re having a chat about his journey of bottling his secret sauce - by buildi...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Preet Brar, global brand leader in consumer goods and guest on this episode, understands markets and teams. I asked her about changes in the external markets, and how to lead teams internally to bring ideas to reality.   External - new ideas in the market: 3:52 - “There was a lot of cross-category buying… people that were in one category historically,...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? My guest is John Lanman, a consumer products CEO/General Manager who cut his teeth in Marketing roles with well-known names like Thermos, Blyth Candle/Fragrances, and progressed to GM or CEO of Oriental Trading Co and Precious Moments. John and I both served as Board Members, and here John shares his thoughts on the importance of balancing growth initi...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? This episode evolved from a conversation I had with Tara Dikos, EVP at Transpac, in which she used the phrase “chasing leaders” - here, we talk about what that means, how to spot talent, learn from talent, and also to recruit and develop talent, especially in the world of consumer businesses that develop and sell products from factories to retailers. ...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Growth does not happen in a vacuum, we grow with others and do so in a thousand different ways. In this episode, Patrick Keiser, Executive Director of Heart on Main Street - a non-profit organization and community of retailers, for retailers to learn and grow their business - shares how he spearheaded building this particular community. The ‘why’ behin...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? My guest on this episode is Tom Ungrodt, a Gift & Home Industry Community Builder and sometime (re)ALIGN Sherpa. If you’re interested in growing by joining or intentionally building industry groups, this episode is for you. Tom shares his experience as a former Vistage Chair and current Community Builder of the Mission Possible group, what it takes...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Two entrepreneurs - Gary Levine, founder/CEO of Roaring Brook Art Licensing Company, and Benno, Chief Sherpa/CEO of (re)ALIGN Expansion Sherpas - are talking about how “superpowers” (both personal and a team’s or business’) are guiding their businesses, about the power of quiet confidence, about not selling but just showing up.   2:23 - “When I think o...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Michael Nieves shares an international expansion story: taking a UK company from a tiny six-figure USA footprint to the $25M to $30M range of US revenues within eight years, from a one-man-band to a 12-person team, required a certain mindset, a willingness to take the long view, and also the humility to accept failures along the way.    4:40 - “What ca...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? This episode is a tour de force with George Chanos, author of Millennial Samurai, a current futurist and former Attorney General of Nevada. George talks about his “secular bible for the 21st century”, values and talents needed to thrive in the current and coming decade, about AI, singularity, and what the potential of 10x-ing of global GDP means for yo...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Vic Clesceri is a uniquely well-rounded business leader, and we talk about helping people and companies to grow, by aligning corporate strategy and workforce strategy, by synthesizing both while translating confusing terminology into simple concepts people can rally around.   3:15 - “Strategy is a set of choices about winning.” - quoting A.G. Laffley,...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? In this episode two brand owners/founders and their sales agency partner share notes how they help each other to grow - by taking an informal yet intentional approach to grow, listen, and learn from each other to become better and stronger.    Lindsay DeMyer is president of Darrah & Co, a large manufacturers’ rep agency across the Southeast USA who...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Curious how a mid-sized B2B wholesale business - established decades before the internet - embraced digitalization and added a B2C channel? Sushil Arora, CEO of Danica and Now Designs, shares Danica’s growth story of going Digital First, in both customer-facing and operations-facing ways, with curiosity, step-by-sometimes-uncertain-step, but always goi...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Priya Klocek moved to Cincinnati from India as a 20-year-old, so she is no stranger to managing change. Now she works with leaders of businesses and organizations to help with change management and DEI issues – diversity, equity, and inclusion. She brings a refreshingly “real world” perspective to how we view and are viewed differently, and how to navi...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? How do you compete with commodity product in Big Box retail and direct to consumer? Sure, the glib answer is about vision and marketing and connecting the dots. But really, how do you get to 8- and 9-figure revenues, within years, not decades?   Dean van Zyl moved to Virginia, USA from Swaziland, Africa and founded National Adhesive, selling caulk and...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Sumeet Nath has grown his 3rd generation business into a leading group of factories with 6,000 employees. Each generation worked to keep the business relevant by updating product mix, customer mix, organization and indeed ownership.    3:52 – after Sumeet walked me through a short historic overview how the Indian region of Panipat became a trade center...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Jason Hauer co-founded the Garage Group in Cincinnati, OH a dozen years ago – to teach executives in big companies to hustle, innovate, and grow like small start-ups. I founded (re)ALIGN to work with midsized companies to grow into new categories, new channels, or grow faster with a cross-functional go-to-market approach. That is to say, Jason and I ta...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Edgar Blazona is the real deal: he grew and learned as a punk-ass kid designer and furniture rebel, went to college in corporate America, continued as a serial entrepreneur and founded several successful companies, including Benchmade Modern, the folks who make and sell Rebellious Luxury by the inch. We talked about Edgar’s journey, changes in 21st cen...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Four consumer executives shared their thoughts on how volatile consumer spending  (from lockdowns to supply chain chaos, increased demand and now 9% inflation) that affected 2020/21 is shaping up to affect the second half of 2022 and going into 2023.   Real insights from real-world leaders: Allison Barrows (VP at Ganz, a designer/distributor of gift, d...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Atul Vir is a study in opposites: an innovator and a CPA, an entrepreneur from a military school and family, an immigrant who came to the USA and built a global business. I found Atul’s insights on innovation, product development, risk assessment, and building a business to be thought provoking.   2:27 – talking about Steve Jobs’ influence on innovatio...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? What if developing people and teams in high pressure situations came down to being in the trenches with them, and food? OK, also about strategy, constantly evaluating yourself more than others, investing in them so they invest in you, and about food? Adding a dose of reality to what’s been said and written about leadership, growth, people, and winning...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? I learned a great deal in this episode from Brian Beck,  a leading 23-year practitioner, expert, and operator in e-commerce: we talked about the why, what, and how of growing revenue streams through B2B e-commerce. Brian also wrote the book on the subject – Billion Dollar B2B Ecommerce – and our conversation touched on breaking down the complexity of e...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? Scott Rollman is a deep thinker who listens, a strategist who is passionate about getting it done. In this episode, Scott shared his insights on e-selling (the intersection of digital marketing and personal selling), how digital marketing can best support sales efforts, and we also compared notes – from different cultural perspectives of Scott’s midwes...

Are you looking for a Third Growth Option ℠ ? It’s fun to learn from fellow travelers on the growth journey. Cliff Farrah and I share a passion (some might even say talent) for envisioning the right growth strategy and guiding the process from concept to successful execution. Cliff founded The Beacon Group in 2001, a growth advisory for Fortune 500 companies and their organic and inorganic growth...