Manage Smarter

International speaker, author, and executive coach, Larry Olsen, has years of experience working with Fortune 50 companies, championship teams, and entrepreneurs on establishing their vision and sense of purpose. Larry understands that perception is truth, and his innate ability to customize his approach for each client’s success truly sets him apart. Every person is different, and Larry’s approach has proven that success happens when we team up with someone who listens, discovers what makes us unique, and shows us how to unleash our own greatness. Larry is passionate about providing individuals and teams quick, actionable guidance on how to break ingrained, ineffective habits that they did not even know were holding them back. His company Aperneo’s approach to professional development balances common sense, practical neuroscience, and personal accountability, enabling clients to gain insights and perspectives to live, work, and engage with more success. In addition to working with companies, athletes, and en

As the Founder and Principal Consultant for Social Construct Consulting, Katie Zink helps visionary leaders create a positive, dynamic culture that hears, recognizes, and supports all voices. Over the last 11 years, Katie has advocated for causes in the community affecting at-risk youth, career-readiness efforts, after school programming, and accessibility services. Her mission is to help organizations facilitate the change needed in the workplace for collective success. #diversity #inclusion #equity  “We are all capable of our own revolution.” – Katie Zink In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Katie discuss:  ·      How to recognize your organization needs to implement DEI ·      How to implement a DEI program ·      How to speak to your employees about DEI ·      Definition of Collective Culture Model Join hosts Audrey Strong and C. Lee Smith every week as they dive into the aspects and concepts of good business management. From debunking sales myths to learning how to manage with and without measurements, you'

Joining us today is Jonathan Kazarian, the founder & CEO of Accelevents, a one-stop shop for event organizers who want to create a unique and engaging virtual event experience. In the current environment, many companies are choosing to transition their live events to a virtual format and Jonathan is the expert when it comes to helping companies making this process as seamless as possible. #virtualevents #zoomevents #events #liveevents #meetings #businessmeetings #conferences   In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Jonathan discuss:  ·      2021 Expanding your reach virtually – best practices ·      How to boost engagement during your virtual events ·      Emerging trends for this year into 2022 ·      When he thinks live, in-person events will resume “We put a ton of emphasis and focus that for exhibitors on our platform, they are getting value, collecting leads and actually meeting people, as opposed to an in person experience where somebody might come by your booth, grab a rubber ducky and a t-shirt, grab a broc

Jon Berghoff is the Co-Founder and CEO of XCHANGE, a scientific approach to unlocking collective wisdom. Over 350 global thought leaders, community builders, and industry-leading coaches and consultants have leveraged the XCHANGE Approach to facilitate transformational group experiences with their clients. When companies like BMW, Facebook, NASA, and Keller Williams have wanted to bring large groups together to solve problems, accelerate learning, or create a new future, they’ve all relied upon Jon and the XCHANGE Approach.    In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Jon discuss:  ·      What aspects of traditional management are wrong and damaging to your business ·      How to boost engagement among your employees ·      Artful questioning technique to teambuilding and cohesive initiatives ·      Creating collective wisdom to push speed and scale “One reason managers make mistakes is they are prisoners of Management Paradigms (or an organizational culture that is prisoner to the same paradigms) that haven’t innovat

Our guest this week is Tracy Goodwin, whose company is called Captivate The Room. She is an expert at helping individuals find their voice and share it with the world. Over the last 30 years, Tracy has coached hundreds of people around the globe, including CEOs, leading Hollywood actors, entrepreneurs, and leading influencers on how to sound more confident and make a big impact with their message. In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Tracy discuss:  ·      The Psychology of your Voice ·      Voice Masking ·      The 5 Elements of Vocal Variety ·      The subconscious signals in your voice you’re sending out to others “Only 7 percent of communication actually takes place with words. The balance is made up by the quality of our voices (36 percent) and non-verbal communication (an incredible 57 percent).” – Tracy Goodwin #vocal #voice #leadership #speaking #speakers Join hosts Audrey Strong and C. Lee Smith every week as they dive into the aspects and concepts of good business management. From debunking sales myths

Kevin F. Davis is the founder and president of TopLine Leadership. Over the past 25 years, more than 20,000 sales managers from many of the world’s most successful companies have attended his 2-day workshop on sales management leadership. Kevin is the author of three books:• Getting Into Your Customer’s Head• Slow Down, Sell Faster!: Understand your customer’s buying process and maximize your sales• The Sales Manager’s Guide to Greatness: 10 essential strategies for leading your team to the top. He is also the architect of our Salesfuel Sales Manager Training program and a facilitator as well.  This episode is also available with VIDEO on The Sales Experts Channel! WATCH HERE: Sales Experts Channel: https://thesalesexpertschannel.com/smith-strong-show/ In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Kevin discuss:  ·      The simple, common mistake sales managers make when working with AEs that blocks productivity. ·      How to have difficult conversations with your team  ·      What is the #1 reason sales managers fail · 

Our guest today's mantra is "The Power of We Begins With Me" Leo Bottary is the Founder/Managing Partner of Peernovation, LLC and author of the new book, Peernovation: What Peer Advisory Groups Can Teach Us About Building High-Performing Teams. His mission is to prove that we learn better together. In this podcast, Lee, Audrey and Leo discuss: *Teams vs. Groups - Benefits of both models *How Peer Advisory Groups are a more effective model of teaching over other techniques *The 5 Factors and why they're essential to making for an effective peer group/Best structure *Best group size for Peer Advisory Groups "Once we open our minds to myriad possibilities, perspectives, and ways of thinking we abandon the "me" mentality and fall into the "we" mentality." - Leo Bottary Connect with Leo Bottary: Website - https://leobottary.com LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/leobottary/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/leobottary Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/leobottary Connect with Manage Smarter Hosts: ·         W

Seth Greene is a Nationally Recognized Financial Services Direct Response Marketing Expert. He is the author of eight best-selling marketing books, and book 7, Market Domination for Podcasting is on the shelves at Barnes & Noble, Target, and Wal-Mart now. Seth is the co-host of the #6 rated podcast in 2019, the SharkPreneur podcast with Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington, and the SharkPrenuer financial services edition. Seth has been interviewed on the news on NBC, CBS, featured in Inc magazine, Forbes magazine, and been on CBS MoneyWatch. Seth is the founder of one of the fastest growing direct response marketing firms in the country, www.MarketDominationLLC.com, that makes new clients appear for your business like magic.  "50% of success or failure is who your target market is. So if I just advertise to you because you're a woman, I'm going to have one bland level of effectiveness. If i narrow that down by how old y0u are, if you have kids, what magazines you read, what videos you watched yesterday and I get dow

In 2002, Kevin Harris underwent a dramatic change as husband, father, and believer through his experience as a mentee in a Radical Mentoring group. He is now the President of Radical Mentoring, a non-profit focused on encouraging and equipping churches and mentors to use Jesus-style relational mentoring to create environments for people to be real and develop authentic relationships. Before joining Radical Mentoring, Kevin led a sales team at Wells Real Estate Funds and served in sales positions at CNL and Atlas Energy.  "I'm privileged to connect my life purpose with Radical Mentoring’s purpose: encouraging and equipping churches to build better men through small group mentoring." - Kevin Harris  In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Kevin discuss:  ·      What is radical mentoring and how does it work ·      Harnessing the full power of servant leadership to boost your business and personal results ·      Identifying your authentic self and applying it to your work life/Leading with authenticity Join hosts Audre

Audie Penn is the Managing Partner with Faro Partners. He is a board advisor, executive consultant, and certified lean practitioner at the bronze, silver, and gold level. He represents the Society of Manufacturing Engineers as a member of the Lean Alliance where he participates in the certification oversight and appeals committee. "Leaders tend to spend too much time telling people how to do their jobs rather that clearly defining how successful outcomes will be measured." - Audie Penn  In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Audie discuss:  ·      Definition of Lean Principles ·      How leaders should prepare their teams for changes to come ·      At what point coaching crosses over into handholding management, slowing the lean process Join hosts Audrey Strong and C. Lee Smith every week as they dive into the aspects and concepts of good business management. From debunking sales myths to learning how to manage with and without measurements, you'll learn something new with every episode and will be able to implemen

Sky Stephens, co-founder of the Association of Professional Builders, a leading business coaching company dedicated to improving the residential construction industry for both builders and consumers. Since 2014 Sky has been helping builders double the size of their businesses through profitable growth. The Association Of Professional Builders excels in providing cutting-edge systems, world-class support, and sales & marketing training to the construction industry.   In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Sky discuss:  ·      Sales Training program she launched to drive greater lead gen and revenue ·      How she counsels clients on profitability, growing managing teams and margins ·      What is the #1 need her clients see in getting greater lead generation and success ·      Her advice to managers struggling with improving margins ·      Advice on rate integrity in a lull “The builders who thrived, the main difference was actually their sales ability. Margins is in your marketing and your sales process. A principa

Paul Katzoff is the CEO of White Canyon Software where he continues to drive growth at through direct sales, outbound connections and strategic partners. He is an expert on data breaches and on the physical destruction of drives, including environmental impacts and data security concerns. In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Paul discuss:  ·      Cost of physically destroying drives and environmental impact ·      Destroying data vs. wiping computers clean ·      Tips on improving security for your remote worker data access ·      Do’s and Don’ts on managing home computers networks via an office VPN “The new normal is going to open up a whole bag of issues and problems and the first issue there is data, where is it and who is responsible for it and if it gets out who is liable for it.” – Paul Katzoff Join hosts Audrey Strong and C. Lee Smith every week as they dive into the aspects and concepts of good business management. From debunking sales myths to learning how to manage with and without measurements, you'll

Bill Eckstrom is the founder and CEO of EcSell Institute, the world’s first and only organization to measure and quantify leadership effectiveness. He is considered one of the world’s top authorities in metric-based performance coaching and growth. His book, The Coaching Effect, coauthored by EcSell Institute president Sarah Wirth, helps leaders at alllevels understand the necessity of challenging people out of their comfort zone to create high-growth organizations. In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Bill discuss:  ·      How one moment of truth made Bill embrace discomfort to greater performance ·      Tips on how to force your team into discomfort and accelerated professional development ·      How to handle staff members who resist embracing the unknown and unpredictability ·      Definition of The Growth Rings ·      The Coaching Effect and how to implement it “There is a correlation between high-performing teams and managers who create healthy discomfort for those on their team.” – Bill Eckstrom Join hosts

Dennis Doran has successfully served the construction industry for over 30 years as a contractor, consultant, strategic trainer & facilitator, development coach and public speaker. He brings a multi-faceted perspective to people and organizations. There are two words that have continued to follow Dennis and capture his passion: people and service. His message on the vital importance of developing and valuing soft skills is the leading topic of his seminars and the very essence of the message in his highly praised book, Soft as Steel, written to equip readers with the tools to be successful, not just in business, but in life and relationships. In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Dennis discuss:  ·      How to recognize soft skills and cultivate them in your day-to-day interactions. ·      Recognize the value of soft skills from three generations with boots-on-the-ground perspectives. ·      How soft skills give you a better understanding of yourself. “Hard skills involve the mechanics of doing the job and soft sk

Ali Awad, also known as @ceolawyer on social media, is a successful lawyer/entrepreneur with his own multi-million dollar law firm (Ali Awad Law, P.C.) and media company where he teaches lawyers, doctors, and other professionals how to brand themselves digitally and generate clients through social media.   In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Ali discuss:  ·      His immigration into Georgia as a child and how he went from speaking no English to being one of the youngest JD/MBA graduates in Georgia State history ·      How he started his first businesses and his tips on how to scale up quickly ·      How he uses digital media and social media to drive leads "If you don’t have a seat at the table, then MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN TABLE! Sometimes you have to CREATE your opportunities, instead of shooting blindly in the dark and hoping one will come your way.” – Ali Awad Join hosts Audrey Strong and C. Lee Smith every week as they dive into the aspects and concepts of good business management. From debunking sales myths to

Bill Coletti is a reputation management, crisis communications, and professional development expert. Additionally, he is a keynote speaker, Wall Street Journal Risk & Compliance panelist, and best-selling author of Critical Moments, The New Mindset of Reputation Management. He has more than 25 years of global experience managing high-stakes crises, issues management, and media relations challenges for both Fortune 500 companies and winning global political campaigns. Bill has provided senior counsel in crisis management, corporate communications, and reputation defense to numerous clients including AT&T, Target Corporation, American Airlines, The Home Depot, Xerox, Nuclear Energy Institute, Cargill, as well as major universities and global NGOs. SPECIAL LINK TO PAGE FOR MANAGE SMARTER LISTENERS: kith.co/managesmarter   In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Bill discuss:  ·      How to clearly articulate crisis communication scenarios to plan for ·      Formal vs. informal command models and how to speed up your cr

Michelle Reines is a speaker, author, coach, entrepreneur, founder of MDR Coaching & Consulting, Inc., and creator of the unconventional Badass Leader brand. She is also the author of From Bad to Badass Leader: 12 Leadership Lessons. Early in her leadership journey, she was an absolute ASS as a boss, oblivious to the impact she was having on people! Perhaps, like many of you, she didn’t understand how to lead. Michelle shares her thrills of victory & agonies of defeat, with a goal of helping you unlock the art of leading like a Badass!  In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Michelle discuss:  ·      Evolution of businesses in covid-19 ·      Top pain points of remote work ·      Change management ·      No drama llama to navigate teams through pandemic--focus on working on your business as opposed to IN your business. THANK YOU GIFTS FOR OUR PODCAST LISTENERS HERE: https://badassleader.com/smarter/ "In a crisis everybody needs something different. We all react very differently when it comes to managing stress and

Chris White is Managing Director of DemoDoctor and author of "The Six Habits of Highly Effective Sales Engineers". If you're not familiar with DemoDoctor, it helps organizations fix sales demonstrations that delay and/or kill deals. They do this by 1) providing sales training for sales engineers, 2) facilitating sales-sales engineering collaboration workshops and 3) assessing and redesigning software demonstration messaging and mechanics. Due to COVID-19 and bandwidth in Zoom, this podcast has some minor audio dropouts. In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Chris discuss:  ·      What Sales Engineering is ·      Why sales engineers are starting to be involved in sales discovery now ·      The 6 Habits of Highly Effective Sales Engineers ·      Specific examples of what delays and kills deals "Organizations are realizing the earlier they bring in a technical expert into the process the more quickly those deals may come to fruition.” – Chris White Join hosts Audrey Strong and C. Lee Smith every week as they dive int

Jessica Katz is a trainer, mentor and coach through Liberated Elephant. Jessica is an expert at culture design within organizations that allow individuals to bring authenticity to work, bolstering internal engagement and revenue. Jessica's methodology is informed by Agile values, principles, and practices - creating a safe space for clients to be wholly themselves without judgement. Her company's name, Liberated Elephant has a tagline of "Make the elephant in the room work for you." In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Jessica discuss:  ·        The top 3 qualities needed in company cultures ·        How to deal with the “Elephant In The Room” in your company ·        Definition of Agile Values and how to implement them ·        Productivity without burning our your teams "The elephants I’m seeing right now, one of the big ones I’m seeing is Coronavirus has happened and folks are addressing their changes in revenue and the changes this brings.” – Jessica Katz Join hosts Audrey Strong and C. Lee Smith every week a

Cameron Herold is a world class executive coach, top rated speaker, and best selling author. He's also the founder of the COO Alliance, the world's leading network for seconds in command. He is known around the world as THE CEO WHISPERER. He is the mastermind behind hundreds of companies' exponential growth. Cameron's built a dynamic consultancy: his clients have included a "Big 4" wireless carrier and a monarchy. He's the author of five books including Meetings Suck: Turning One of The Most Loathed Elements of Business into One of the Most Valuable. In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Cameron discuss:  ·      Why meetings are awful and what % of professionals lead bad meetings ·      Tips to increase engagement in meetings in COVID-19 ·      Timing spacing tips of meetings ·      Accountability and engagement tests upon observing “checked out” behavior in meetings "You hear it all the time. It's the one thing that almost everyone in business can agree on. Except it's not actually true. Meetings don't suck, we