Disruption / Interruption: Recent Episodes

View Details

Belle Walker has spent her career helping companies build and optimize their teams. Belle leverages her background as an engineer into a problem-solving approach that helps leaders assemble the right team for their organizations’ needs. She calls her approach “from friction to function.” Key Takeaways:

• Staffing a company is like building a bus: You need the right vehicle with the right mix of passengers sitting in the right places.
• Look at companies like an engineer would: Define the problem, assess the materials at hand, and figure out what obstacles and limits are part of the big picture. Then, make a plan around those facts.
• Building a team requires honesty: You have to be truthful about what you want, what resources you have, and what you’re unwilling to change.
• Taking companies from friction to function means removing obstacles that prevent workers from doing their best work.
• A leader is a person who motivates and inspires those around them. A manager who can’t achieve that can’t succeed.
• It’s not enough to promote from within. Leaders should create opportunities for newly appointed managers to grow and learn their new roles.
• Fast-growing companies should think strategically about how to structure teams: They need to make sure middle managers have a clear sense of their role, and leaders should have a clear sense of their managers’ strengths and goals.
• The best time to bring in Belle is when the company has crossed an “invisible threshold” before it starts to sprawl and get disorganized.
• When she’s not fixing businesses, Belle enjoys running Disney half marathons. She’s excited for her 6-month-old baby to cheer her on at the next one.

Quote of the Show (6:00): “In a perfect world, if you could have any talents at any talent mix, what is the bus that you would design that you would build? How would you lay out those seats in a way that works best for your industry right now, for your company, right now for your product? And then you look at the individuals that you have that you really want to empower and enable.” Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bellekwalker/ Company Website: https://belleviewconsulting.com/ Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA

View Details

The grandson of a British missionary in Zambia, David Kamwana, was inspired to invent and engineer by his grandfather’s workshop. He had the tools to do everything at the workshop - from fixing his car to wiring his house.

After graduating from John Brown University with a B.S. in mechanical engineering, David noticed how many students were crippled by debt but still lacked the skills to take on more than an entry-level job. He also noticed that job descriptions often fail to truly represent the requirements of a position.

After several years as a Corporate Engineer, David co-founded OneCrate with the vision of streamlining the job search process for businesses and job seekers. Phase one is to build a digitized database of job descriptions and resumes to allow AI algorithms to help with job matching. Phase two is to use the growing database to help businesses, students, job seekers, and educators map out clear career paths using real and relevant data.

Key takeaways:

• Most resumes and job descriptions are created in Word documents or PDFs and, except when and where actively posted, are out of the market and out of the flow. It’s only when a candidate actively looks for a job, and a company posts the job description that they might match up.
• There could be an outstanding candidate ready and interested but not visible to a company because the candidate has not seen the job posting. OneCrate looks to bridge that gap.
• Job boards like Indeed have started the process and provide more aim. However, there are still a lot of details on both resumes and job descriptions that are not formatted in an AI-friendly way. OneCrate improves the process with smart digital resumes and totally digitized job descriptions.
• Eventually, this digitized data will facilitate interesting predictive models that can help businesses, job seekers, and students making choices about their career paths.
• Just improving job matching is a significant step forward, but the future potential of digitizing this data is to streamline the education and training processes so that students step into the workforce with the precise skills and abilities needed by the companies who hire them.
• Companies who use OneCrate have access to a relevant, easy-to-update org chart that can be viewed and updated. Employees can contribute to their job descriptions, helping them be more accurate and robust.

Quote of the show: (15:08) “Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, they already have internship programs that allow you to join their programs out of high school and get into a position that could pay you a quarter of a million dollars a year. They already have that. So we already know that it's possible. So imagine going down that, that path and ask that person, how much did you spend to, to get the skills that you have that are getting you paid quarter million dollars a year? And then you, you know, Compare that with somebody who goes to a four-year computer science program learns a whole bunch of different things and spends $150,000+ to get through the program and then has to start from the bottom and probably still has to be trained by the company that they're gonna work for.”

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kamwana/ Company Website: https://www.onecrate.com/

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA

View Details

Dave Delaney is a speaker, author, podcast host, and leadership consultant. He uses his "Nice Method" to help companies use innovation to transform how they recruit and retain top-level talent. 

Too many business leaders get preoccupied with mission success and forget about the people helping them achieve it. Dave reminds leaders that engaging positively with staff will make them happier and make team members want to stick around. 

Key takeaways: 

• The golden rule still matters: treat others the way you want to be treated.
• There are three keys to successfully leading people:  (1) Lead with acceptance and empathy.  (2) Actively listen.  (3) Don't fear failure.
• Free speech doesn't mean you can say anything you want to your colleagues or subordinates without consequences. Being rude or inappropriate at work will have ramifications for you.
• Keeping employees is more cost-effective than managing turnover. It costs between six and nine months of an employee's salary to replace them if they quit.
• Giving employees consistent recognition, starting with the onboarding process and continuing throughout their tenure, creates a positive workplace culture.
• Leaders should conduct "stay interviews" to find out how employees feel and what would make them happier at work.
• In-person interaction helps build a stronger work culture. Even teams that work remotely should seek out opportunities for in-person events.
• Dave's other passion is entertaining people. He is an experienced improv performer and has recently turned his talents to stand-up comedy.

Quote of the Show (20:52):"I used to go to all these tech conferences and, or organize my own events to bring people together, and we would meet in person. And once you meet in person, the magic happens. That's when real relationships happen. That's what hugs and high fives and handshakes and human physical human touch, which actually does help scientifically, like solidify relationships. So the same can be said for in the workplace and bringing your team together."  

Links: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davedelaney/  Company website: https://futureforth.com/   

Ways to Tune In: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption 

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 

Google Play -https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw 

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD 

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption 

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA 

View Details

Steve is a serial entrepreneur with a proven track record for producing breakthrough revenue growth in brutally competitive marketplaces, having successfully helped grow seven startup companies from early stage to going public or being sold, resulting in nearly $5 billion in shareholder value.

Steve's new book, High-Velocity Digital Marketing: Silicon Valley Secrets to Create Breakthrough Revenue in Record Time, talks about how companies can maximize their marketing impact by adjusting their marketing strategy to better address who their customers are and how they make buying decisions.

Key Takeaways:

• Marketing has to focus on who your buyer is, not who you assume it is. Take the time to learn who makes buying decisions about your product.
• Companies need to have a true grasp of their customers' world. Understanding customer problems will help you present your product as the solution.
• Marketing should be bringing potential customers along a path from interest to purchase. Each marketing piece should encourage customers to move to the next step.
• The speed with which customers move along the path is marketing velocity. Faster velocity means faster sales and faster revenue.
• Providing a no-commitment point of entry into your product — like free access to a tool — changes the nature of your relationship with the customer. Your sales approach can be more consultative than persuasive.
• There is no substitute for doing hard work. Marketing and sales can't be automated. It's all about doing the work to get the results you want.
• When he's not helping professionals grow in their careers, Steve enjoys travel, food, wine, and spending time with his young grandchildren.

Quote of the show:

2:24"...what I've found, having led disruption at multiple places is hard work. And to me, the most important ingredient is realizing there's no substitute for hard work. I found that you just have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. Today, for example, I was called by a venture capital firm, asking if I felt that there was room in the market for a company on the low end. And it was a very simple question, but really to answer that question fully, there would be so much hard work ahead of them. And what I found is, is that no great achievements are possible or sustained without hard work. And, and hard work is the price you'll pay for the success that you desire to achieve."

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevekahan/

Company Website: https://www.insightpartners.com/

To pre-order High-Velocity Digital Marketing: Silicon Valley Secrets to Create Breakthrough Revenue in Record Time: https://www.amazon.com/High-Velocity-Digital-Marketing-Silicon-Breakthrough/dp/1637742169

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play -https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA

View Details

The COVID-19 pandemic rocked the world of B2B sales. Companies had to scramble to shift to digital, and buying the right technology was a race against the clock. In the aftermath, companies are slowing down and reassessing their purchasing process. How can vendors score new sales in this environment? 

Josh Bilow has been in B2B sales for decades. He is disrupting the status quo by asking clients to look any the big picture from a new angle. 

Key takeaways: 

• During COVID-19, companies were pouring money into new software solutions, but they were not the right solutions for the desired outcomes. Now sales professionals and companies are asking, "What's the desired outcome, and can this technology achieve it?"

• To be effective in B2B sales today, you must understand the product, the buyer's goals, and the industry environment as a whole. This guides your conversations with buyers so you can impact their thinking.

• Sales is like coaching. A good B2B sales professional can coach a buyer through the process of outlining outcome goals and company culture to determine the best product fit.
• Companies want to try before they buy. Demos, trials, and hands-on experiences are key to assuaging concerns about new products.
• The fears about the economy are creating instability for employees. Employees worried about looming workforce cuts are extra cautious in making buying decisions because they know a wrong choice could affect their future employment.
• Josh feels like his real job has been raising three kids. That's where he feels he's making the greatest impact.

Quote of the show (14:33): "Holistic approach is actually very, very relevant here because it's dealing with people that are unsure of their jobs. It's dealing with companies that are unsure of their future that you're selling to, and they can be fired at any moment. They don't wanna misstep. So if they're not believing in what you sell, and they're not kind of, you're not advising them and understanding that impact, like I said before, impact, right? You're not making an impact on them. They're not gonna buy anything from you."

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshbilow/ 

Company: https://www.redpointglobal.com/  

Ways to Tune In: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption 

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 

Google Play -https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw 

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD 

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption 

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA  

View Details

Some might say that data is the most valuable asset in business today. Information about customers and their behavior shapes every decision organizations make. Collecting data is relatively easy, but what happens once the data is collected? B2Bs are drowning in data, and processing that data into something useful is hard to do. 

Today’s guest, Lars Grønnegaard, has years of experience bringing products to market. He’s watched how companies use data to drive sales and realized that there was a problem: they used the right data incorrectly. 

Now he’s shaking up the B2B data market with Dreamdata, a new kind of data analysis company. 

Key takeaways 

• Old-fashioned sales numbers aren’t enough because 70 to 80% of the buying process happens before buyers even talk to the company. Customers prefer a self-serve model of research before they’re ready to buy. Organizations need to track what happens before the customer reaches out to sales.
• The customer journey from interest to purchase can take up to nine months. Finding out what inspires the journey and what steps customers take is critical data.
• Marketing teams today do the work that sales reps did in the past. They know the product, speak customer interest, and draw customers along with additional interactions.
• Looking at raw numbers isn’t enough to understand customer behavior. You have to apply context to the data to understand what it really means.
• Human analysis is key. Machine learning is a great tool for data analysis if you’re doing a huge number of transactions. AI doesn’t do a good job of understanding organizations that rely on fewer deals with bigger payoffs.
• Dreamdata does the work of analyzing all the key data and returning it to the client in a useful format.
• In addition to data, Lars’ current obsession is making the perfect pizza in his apartment’s wood-fired pizza oven.

Quote of the show: 

26:26 "...there are outcomes at the sort of strategic level, which is prioritizing between different marketing disciplines. So, you can move investment from say, different types of paid ads into or maybe organic content. So by demonstrating that actually organic content, even though it takes longer, is also driving revenue. You can reprioritize your budget." 

Links: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larsgroennegaard/  

Company Website: https://dreamdata.io/ 

Ways to Tune In: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption 

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 

Google Play -https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw 

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD 

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption 

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA  

View Details

Denny Bohs discovered project management while working for a small start-up he helped build from two to 5,000 clients. He and the team at Renteez realized that as the rental market explodes, today’s renters expect to pay digitally. However, most property management software targets large property management firms. Many owners are left without an affordable and accessible option.

In addition to creating an easy-to-use, integrated digital rent payment solution, the team at Renteez is adding the option to pay using cryptocurrency. They minted a coin to facilitate the process on the platform. Renters who choose to pay using the renteez coin will have the option to stake their rent payment and earn a return — something previously unheard of in the rental market.

Key takeaways

• The explosion of multi-family and built-to-rent properties combined with the ability to work remotely and the competitive housing market all contribute to a mushrooming rental market.

• The newer generation doesn’t use checks and expects digital payment options.

• Some landlords may own several properties, but many are smaller and independent and don’t have the software and support to manage their investments effectively.

• Many digital platforms like PayPal limit the dollar amount you can send for free. For many landlords, fees eat into profits.

• Many digital platforms also take several days to process the payments as they are transferred onto the platform and then have to be transferred into the landlord’s bank account.

• There are property management software solutions on the market, but many target larger companies or require technical expertise.

• For these and other reasons, there is a pent-up demand for landlords to have a better way to accept payments.

• Landlords with only one or a few properties who can't accept digital forms of payment are missing out.

• Renteez is creating a service that is affordable for landlords, easy to use, fast, and offers all the digital payment options that tenants want.

• In addition to standard payment options, renters can pay with cryptocurrency seamlessly using the platform.

• Renters who choose to use the coin will eventually have the option to stake their rent payment and turn their monthly rent into an investment.

Quote of the show:

11:05 “And if you're a landlord, you shouldn't have to necessarily be technically savvy in order to do what you're doing, right? So, you don't have to be, become like an expert in how all this technology works in order to do this. But some of the services that are out there, you know, they're, they're not very intuitive and people have to try to figure out how this works and it becomes a source of frustration...”

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennybohs/

Company Website: https://www.renteez.com/

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play -https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube - https://youtu.be/pbP9a8YYHJ4

View Details

Bryan Daugherty, Global Public Policy Director for the Bitcoin Association, is a subject matter expert in blockchain ESG & information security, cybersecurity, commercial blockchain development, and enterprise transformation. He's also a certified cryptocurrency investigator. Bryan is responsible for informing lawmakers of blockchain and noticing technology's latest research and innovation.

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the utility of blockchain and bitcoin. While the media links them to speculative crypto markets, the combination of bitcoin and blockchain has broad implications for data security and improved commercial transaction capabilities.

Key Takeaways:

• Status quo: People misunderstand the purpose of blockchain and assume it's inexorably linked with crypto mining. The focus is on the least important aspect of this technology: the tokens. It's created a mindset that blockchain tokens are a speculative financial instrument.

• The main ingredient for disruption: We can disrupt the status quo by reverting to the initial purpose of blockchain and Bitcoin, according to the original Bitcoin White Paper by Satoshi Nakamoto. It describes an honest network that provides microtransactions and data security. The tokens are a tool to get to the underlying technology: smart contracts, automation, data integrity, data storage, and data analysis.

• Most online users don't realize that all data is vulnerable. It can change and does change. Blockchain systems provide a highly secure, resilient system for data immutability.

• Blockchain systems have stagnated because they haven't been scaled up for mass use. If the technology could reach the kind of transaction processing capacity of companies like Visa, blockchain applications could expand dramatically.

• Environmental concerns about blockchain1 would actually decrease with greater use. It takes the same amount of C02 to process a thousand transactions as it does to process 10 million transactions. The per-transaction energy cost would decrease with increased transactions.

• Using blockchain for transaction processing would provide companies with real-time data about their customers and speed up customer service improvements.

• Creators could use blockchain-empowered social media to retain verifiable, monetizable ownership of their work without a middleman application like Facebook or Youtube.

• Scalable blockchain could be an upgrade to today's internet, allowing direct verification of data, eliminating the middleman, and reducing transaction fees for consumers.

Quote of the Show 12:19

"So, you know, there's so much misunderstanding about just the technology in general. And, you know, because of that early misunderstanding of maintaining one megabit blocks,... it incentivized others to find ways to scale, you know, other ways. And so now we see that all the, all the time with the Lightning network or, you know, these off-chain solutions or moving to a different consensus mechanism. But the reality is, any of those, you know, decisions really draw back from the benefits of what blockchain or Bitcoin specifically provides, which, you know, is this very secure, resilient system for data in, you know, immutability."

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bwdaugherty/

Company Website: https://smartledger.solutions/

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music — https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play — https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher — https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA

View Details

Janell Nelson became an engineer because she enjoyed the individual nature of the work but quickly found herself drawn to leadership. She accepted the challenges of working in a male-dominated field and having few women in leadership positions she could emulate. However, when she was already an experienced and successful manager and found herself pigeonholed based solely on gender, she decided to do what she could to bring more women into STEM leadership roles.

Currently a Senior Engineering Manager at Canon Medical Informatics, Janell is active in her local community. She works with engineering and STEM programs for girls and young women at every stage of education, from elementary school to college. The future of STEM leadership and global competitiveness is in the hands of today’s students.

Key takeaways

• I’ve only had one female leader that was in the engineering side above me in my 20-year career. Changing the status quo means reaching back into the community to encourage more girls to be interested in STEM programming and showing them the career path is possible.

• Graduation rates for female engineers are around 18%, which makes it hard. There are just not that many young women right now who have a background or an interest. Those who are interested face challenges in an industry where they may have to fight harder than their peers and may not always fit in.

• Diversity is not just a matter of equality; it’s critical for global success and competition. For example, if you only employ people who live in the Midwest, you only have a very small bubble of thought patterns you’re pulling from. You can’t be a global company if you’re only focusing on how you see the world.

• If we all think the same way, we run into problems such that the AI doesn’t recognize everybody who might use it. A classic example was AI which couldn’t see the facial features of somebody who wasn’t white. That’s a problem. That’s why diversity is not optional — it’s essential.

• The soft skills that many women bring are also essential to creating connections and building teams. If you step back and look at the whole reality, it’s never just one team that builds anything. You need to connect to other teams and the rest of the business, not just within engineering but with support teams, install teams, sales teams, and marketing teams. Soft skills are a great asset to making that happen, and that helps the whole company.

• Suppose we don’t have women in leadership roles, being role models for the next generations and helping to influence how we hire and who we bring in. In that case, we will never be able to increase our diversity and increase the number of women within this industry.

• To change something as fundamental as what people want to do for their career, you make connections and go to local schools. It’s hard to do it globally. Kids resonate with people who show up for them.

• Elementary school is the most critical time because middle school kids are heavily influenced by peer pressure, and most of the kids in STEM classes are boys. The solution is to get more girls in those classes and normalize it as a choice.

• I’ve seen it work, even with third through fifth graders who were economically challenged and going through difficulties at home. The presence of an encouraging adult may be all they need to follow through on their natural abilities and talents. Students who I worked with in elementary school are now receiving academic achievement awards in middle school and following through with STEM classes.

• You don’t have to do it all yourself. An employee resource group is a change to influence your company’s direction and make a lasting impact on children’s lives and the future of our country.

• There are great companies out there building leaders. I worked at an Aetna company. The Aetna trainings helped me be the leader that I am today. They focused on building their female leaders, which helped me understand how I should be doing things.

Quote of the show:

6:23 “If you don’t have diversity in thought patterns, let’s just say we’re only going to employ people that live in the Midwest, you only have a very small bubble of thought patterns that you’re going from. And you can’t be a global company if you’re only focusing on how you see the world… That’s why you need diversity..."

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janell-nelson-6376794/

Company Website: https://www.vitalimages.com/

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music — https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play — https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher — https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA

View Details

Emily Gabriele’s fascination with technology and love of people led her to customer success. In her work with multinational corporations, she realized the idea that the “customer was always right” could cause more harm than benefit. She also saw that, for customer success employees to succeed without burning out, they need the right kind of resources and support.

In her current position as customer success manager at Airtable, Emily helps reps get the support they need to be proactive rather than reactive. She advocates that what is best for the customer is the right solution, but not necessarily the one they think they want at the start of the call.

Key takeaways

• Great customer service includes a mixture of curiosity and listening.

• Everyone has their own unique perspective. Anytime we get into a stance of right versus wrong, we assume our viewpoint is the only valid or nuanced one. Listening and curiosity help us understand the other person’s viewpoint and more about what they truly need and want.

• No one walks away from a conversation where someone tries to understand their viewpoint, thinking, “that person really stinks because they tried to understand me.”

• Customer service reps face ridiculously high burnout rates. They need work-life balance and appropriate work boundaries to succeed long term.

• An employee’s well-being is powerfully impacted by company culture.

• Truly effective customer service includes the time and presence of mind to think proactively and reactively. Sometimes, that’s as simple as leaning into a pause.

• Customers are strategic partners to a company. Customer service needs to position itself as a strategic partner to a customer. If a customer is upset or disgruntled, it’s essential to remember that it is transitory. Of course, the same applies to a happy customer. Every interaction counts.

• Airtable offers its customer service reps supportive benefits, including mindfulness apps, professional coaching, and therapy. Reps have someone to listen to and be curious about them, just as they are to the customers. Talking about situations has also been hugely helpful in relieving stress and uncovering solutions. It strengthens the muscle they use to do their work well.

• Another way to improve employee happiness is to simplify their tools for basic and repetitive tasks, like timecards. Airtable reduces employee stress and improves their happiness by making all of those functions easy and accessible through one dashboard.

Quote of the show:

5:35 “It’s helpful to slow down to speed up. And what does that mean? Well, a customer can come to you with these fast and hard deadlines, which may not align with what you can produce or provideare capable of producing or providing in that short turnaround time. And if you go outside of your advised timeline and the customer is pushing you to do so, then maybe you end up with a band-aid fix instead of a fully functioning and appropriate solution.”

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-k-gabriele/

Company Website: https://www.airtable.com/

Emily Gabriele’s Music Website: https://www.egmusicnyc.com/

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music — https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play — https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher — https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube — https://youtu.be/pbP9a8YYHJ4

View Details

Shane Anastasi has been working in project management for over 40 years. Now, as the CEO and Founder of PS Principles — an organization focused on helping service providers and their customers achieve more successful outcomes from implementation projects — Anastasi is disrupting the way in which professionals approach project management.

Through his own professional experiences and his willingness to push the envelope, Anastasi is transitioning away from the age-old approach to project management. Now, Anastasi is leading the way in training a new generation of project management leaders to approach projects with a higher level of transparency, encouraging tough conversations and improved decision-making.

Key takeaways

• When it comes to the main ingredient of disruption, the intent must be kept pure. Too often, people become distracted by the excitement of the disruption itself. Thinking up new ideas and revolutionizing methods is only as successful as the focus on the pure intent of the disruption.

• Historically, project management has upheld the tenant that projects must be on time and on budget. However, this fails to encapsulate the intent of what a customer-facing project needs to achieve. The pure intent of the project has been lost.

• Project management strategies that are being applied in the world of software development and tech are standards handed down by the construction industry. While these strategies make sense when applied to construction projects, they begin to fall apart when you try to directly apply them to software development. There are simply more unknowns in tech development than in constructing a bridge.

• Customers will force project managers into feeling guilty for not meeting their expectations, and project managers are not being taught how to deal with that. As such, project managers are basically trained from day one that the objective of a project is to stay on time and on budget.

• Projects in software development are actually journeys of discovery. No project actually knows what it’s doing when it starts. It has a very feebly worked out idea based on the loose requirements that a customer provides when they know nothing about the realities of trying to execute that thing.

• It is critical for project managers today to set the tone for a project from the start, showcasing to customers how projects are a learning journey. Decisions about budget and time will need to be continually made as a project progresses. This changes the mentality of a customer and their expectations.

• With the right, pure intent at the core, a new approach to project management is not about trying to gain more money or more time from a customer, but rather ensuring that the end result of the project brings value to the customer.

Quote of the show:

10:43 “People don’t really care about time, as much as we say that they do, because at the end, what they want is a quality outcome... And if we focus on time, and I've seen this before in post-project reviews, I’ve seen teams basically say to me, we gave the customer a crap result because what they wanted was the deadline. And when I asked, did you go back and ask them about that choice? Which is it that you want? The answer is always no.”

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaneanastasi/

Company Website: https://www.psprinciples.com/

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube - https://youtu.be/pbP9a8YYHJ4

View Details

At age 19, Lauren Randall was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. Her doctor told her she would be on medications for the rest of her life. Refusing to accept the life sentence, Lauren became the CEO of her own healthcare. She researched all the information she could and made radical lifestyle changes. After six months, the disease had disappeared.

Lauren’s experience drove her to a career in employee health benefits, where she consults with CFOs and CHROs on their people and risk strategies to get the best care and rates possible. She does this while meeting cutting-edge needs such as addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and providing value and mission-aligned benefits to attract and keep top talent.

Key takeaways

• Over 50% of Americans have a chronic illness. The whole concept of insurance is that the many will take care of the few, and that starts to erode if all of us are carrying chronic conditions. That is one reason we struggle to maintain healthcare costs.

• The insurance industry has changed over the past 30 years. The Affordable Care Act added layers of compliance and penalties that changed the landscape for employers and insurance brokers. It created a need for analytics that wasn’t necessary before.

• Technology can serve the health benefits industry in several ways. It helps estimate costs and identify quality service providers. It can help measure the impact of the benefits plan and give employers and brokers insight into how to support employees in better health and productivity. It can also help employers and brokers identify benefits that attract and keep the specific demographic of talent they need the most.

• For example, attracting highly qualified women into a predominately male industry may include offering things like rich fertility benefits, childcare benefits, and equal paternity leave.

• Productivity during the pandemic was higher for employers with employees who aligned with the mission and vision of the organization.

• The mission and vision, and culture of your organization can drive lifestyle outcomes, maybe more than a wellness program, but they’re all tied together. Creating a culture around taking care of people can go a long way toward improving productivity, reducing stress, and decreasing burnout.

• You may not be a doctor. You may not have an M.D., but you are the only one who can make decisions about your own health. If one in three knee surgeries are unnecessary, are you getting a second opinion? There are programs we can implement with employers to allow employees to get world-class, peer-reviewed second opinions.

• You must be CEO of your own health because nobody else has the same skin in the game.

Quote from the show:

8:56 “20% of America’s GDP is healthcare. It’s this big sort of behemoth that encapsulates everything from private equity to hospitals and providers to our government. Everybody, including brokers, has their hand in the pot of this profit center. And that creates a lot of inefficiencies and waste...”

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenrandall1/

Company Website: https://www.marshmma.com/us/home.html

Women to Women Exchange: https://www.womentowomenexchange.com/

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA

View Details

Deep Trikannad, a former sales engineer, pivoted away from his role and started his journey into disruption when he experienced firsthand the frustrations around how productivity and quality are measured in the world of sales. Now, Trikannad is disrupting the status quo by using a new technology that combines data science and business intelligence to provide leaders with better insights into who their top performers are.

Key Takeaways

• There are all kinds of inefficiency in business with respect to the process. A one-size-fits-all approach often leads to business mediocracy.

• Currently, there is a lack of true insight into sales rep performance. For example, is a higher performing rep leaning too much on product marketing? How much is the rep individually bringing to the table? And how much are they leaning on other people in the organization?

• Collaboration in sales is not a bad thing. There is, in fact, a sweet spot for the right amount of collaboration, both internally and externally. The key is how does one measure this?

• Typically, the data that sales leaders use are lagging indicators, such as revenue or closed deals. The problem is that when a sales rep is struggling, sales management doesn’t know they’re struggling until the quarter hits and the lagging indicators are measured.

• Sales teams are still using the status quo to measure success. Management is looking at calls, emails, and simple touchpoints. They aren’t peeling the onion back and trying to figure out the quality of those touchpoints.

• Another key factor that indicates the success of a salesperson is the hierarchy of their contacts. For example, getting a janitor on the phone is easier than getting the CEO on the phone. Therefore, measuring a hundred calls with the janitor is not really an indicator of success.

• The future of measuring sales success is one in which business owners and leaders are looking to see what total contribution an employee is making to the company rather than measuring performance-based metrics alone.

• Becoming a successful sales rep is similar to getting to the top of a mountain. There are multiple paths to get there.

• Most underperforming employees do not want to be poor performers. They are simply lacking the road map they need to become a top performer, which is where the right data sets can help leaders leverage every employee’s strengths and help them overcome their weaknesses before it becomes an end-of-the-quarter sales number discussion.

Quote of the show:

15:47 “Unfortunately it happened to me, which is how I founded Acceledgy. Like I was on the losing end of a political battle. And because of that, I left. After I left, I was thinking this was the third time that happened to me in my 24 years. This is common. If it’s happening to me, it’s happening to everybody. And it’s hurting the business. When someone who’s a high contributor is making a strong impact when they leave, it’s hurtful to the business.”

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deeptrikannad/

Company Website: https://www.acceledgy.com/

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA

View Details

Neeraj Satija has been an innovative disruptor for more than 25 years. With extensive startup experience in many countries, including the U.S., New Zealand, Australia, and Saudi Arabia, Satija is a passionate technology leader, constantly looking for ways to push past the status quo. Now, Satija and his co-founders are building financial products people are familiar with, but in the metaverse — powered by both digital assets within and outside of the metaverse. Through this innovative technology, Satija is ultimately on the path to providing financial education to consumers while also offering improved transparency in the management of consumer financial data.

Key Takeaways

• One of Satija’s core beliefs around disruptive innovation is that it should be something that propels a space forward while helping humanity.

• Throughout his career, Satija has been driven by the urge to educate customers by demystifying some of the most complex concepts.

• The current status quo of financial services is that they are still very centralized. There is usually a middleman — or a number of middlemen — in between the customer and the service provider.

• Middlemen are sometimes a legal requirement, but most often are simply there to facilitate trade and make it easy for the end customers. Because financial literacy is poor, end users are reliant upon middlemen.

• Centralized financial services are error-prone and time-consuming. While consumers need to be offered these products and services, the controls remain with centralized entities. This allows these entities to jack up prices when they feel like it and allows them to have access to more of a customer’s data than they need. Additionally, there is a lack of disclosure around how that data is being sold and shared with third parties, including marketing agencies.

• Control is not with the customer. It’s a lopsided equation.

• Decentralization of financial services means that there is no centralized entity. Two peers, the customer, and the service provider can now deal with each other directly without needing a middleman. Each person decides who gets to access their data and how much of that data needs to be accessed.

• Decentralization is at the foundation of the new metaverse. Instead of viewing the internet as a collection of different websites, apps, and micro sites, the metaverse envisions a virtual world which is interactive. It’s 3D and places each user at the center of that universe. Because it’s built on blockchain technology, the metaverse will allow users to take their assets with them wherever they go.

• He sees the metaverse as the perfect opportunity to create a company where all the financial products and services that he wants to offer to customers are available in a transparent way that simultaneously enables learning.

Quote of the show:

42:40 “It’s not like this is something hidden, or this is not a secret sauce, but when you apply those principles of educating your customers of being fair to customers and your partners and your employees and yourself… When you apply those principles, you build a business where your brand represents trust. It represents openness and transparency. And that invariably leads to customers coming along and customers sticking to you. And customers then bring their friends and family into the fold…”

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neerajsatija/

Company Website: https://lucrisma.com/

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA

View Details

Laura Munkholm has been a yoga teacher, studio manager, and studio owner who knows firsthand both the joys of helping people improve their lives and the technical and business challenges faced by boutique fitness studios. She and her Walla co-founder integrate their passion for fitness with cutting-edge behavioral psychology research and technology tools to empower studio owners and teachers to attract and retain motivated clients.   

Key Takeaways 

• Existing studio software is not equipped to handle the complexity of the fitness business. Studio owners struggle to get the data they need to understand the profitability of individual classes, students, and teachers.

• Few people understand how complex many fitness business models are. Clients can select from various packages, each with a different per-class rate. Many studios offer a free unlimited period to attract new clients. Without detailed attendance and profitability tracking, it’s impossible to understand the financial impact of many business decisions.

• COVID transformed consumer expectations, and now 60% want a hybrid approach that allows them to take classes at the studio or online. This further complicates the tech demands on each studio owner.

• Without better insight into what motivated individuals to stick with a program, studios relied on discounts and deals. These have limited benefits and can be difficult to sustain financially.
• There’s a whole behavioral psychology movement around fitness, wellness, nutrition practices, and how people can ultimately create a habit.

• Skillpower is a company that worked with leading behavioral psychology researchers from MIT, Stanford, and Penn State because changing your nutrition, fitness, and wellness habits is a mental effort before it’s a physical one. These researchers identified four personality types that are each motivated differently.

• Walla integrates this research into its studio software. Clients take the survey. Teachers can see each student’s photo and profile and use it to communicate more effectively. Studios can adapt their marketing to match the individual’s motivation style.

• Another pain point for studio owners is easy access to critical data. They need to track the profitability of individual classes, teachers, and students to inform important decisions. Existing software makes this data collection very challenging. Walla brings it all to you.

Quote of the show: 

10:27 “Can we adopt this [behavioral psychology research] in a boutique fitness studio when people are walking through the door? And the answer is absolutely because it’s really based on customization, how you communicate, and how you motivate the individual. And we all need different types of motivation… It’s not necessarily what makes [clients] go to the gym. It’s what makes them come back [and] what makes them stick with it. That’s the challenge. So that’s the key.”   

Links: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauramunkholm/ 

Company Website: https://www.hellowalla.com/   

Ways to Tune In: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption 

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 

Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw 

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD 

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption 

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA  

View Details

Dimitri Yatsenko, CEO of DataJoint, already had an M.S. in Computational Engineering and Science (University of Utah) when he got his Ph.D. in Neuroscience (Baylor College of Medicine). This put him in a unique position to solve a significant challenge in neuroscience research.

The data neuroscientists have collected on the brain exceeds the technology, resources, and frameworks available to analyze and model it. To maximize the data’s potential, they need to collaborate across departments and teams. With DataJoint, Dimitri delivers a solution to bridge social and technical gaps in the research process.

Key Takeaways

• Obama’s 2013 Brain Initiative has directed a lot of research into mapping the brain, but neuroscientists now have to apply and model that data to understand the live brain and how it functions.

• Neuroscientists have historically worked alone, but the tsunami of data now available and the complexities of the problems being solved require they collaborate across departments and teams.

• Without a comprehensive framework for data analysis, collaboration, and communication, much of the software engineering and systems engineering falls on graduate students.

• When a graduate student leaves a project, continuity is lost because someone else has to come in and understand what they were doing and may not be looking at the same problem or taking the same approach.

• Neuroscience can help solve several severe medical problems, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, depression, and traumatic brain injury. However, the research is hindered by a lack of continuity in modeling, collaboration, and data analysis.

• The process of repeatedly engineering frameworks for data analysis drives up research costs through inefficiency.

• Understanding the brain requires a systematic approach to data and modeling.

• A commercial company can provide researchers with the tools and technology they need to execute things more efficiently and effectively. They can provide computation as a service, rather than having each lab reproduce the same computation with graduate students.

• A commercial approach can provide continuous fluidity in one unified framework.

• DataJoint started as an open-source project and evolved as different neuroscience teams adopted it in their labs.

• Using DataJoint for collaborative, multi-institutional projects, researchers can organize a computational data pipeline that spans multiple labs.

• DataJoint is cloud-compatible, containerized, and web-accessible so that it can be deployed across multiple labs simultaneously. In this way, it bridges both the social and technical gaps currently limiting neuroscience research.

Quote of the show:

20:16 “The only way we can solve the brain is … to bring the molecular people, the computational people, [and] the electrophysiology people into … solving the same problem.”

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitriyatsenko/

Company Website: https://www.datajoint.com/

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube - https://youtu.be/pbP9a8YYHJ4

View Details

With a background in business and investment banking, Oleg Teterin is ready to transform the biotech and anti-aging industries using AI to track 400+ essential health parameters. The emerging technology of AI has been applied to marketing, business, and software tasks, but it can also help individuals avoid disease and prolong their lives.

With his global startup, Longevity InTime, Oleg and his team of engineers and scientists are adding to 50+ years of G20 big data to amass the smartest, most complete online diagnosis technology to detect the early stages of diseases. Their goal is to help prolong individual lives to 95 to 120 years of happy, functional experience.

Key Takeaways

• Each person’s health risks include genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that the average individual or medical professional cannot accurately track.

• Diagnostic and blood tests are often expensive and only examine up to around 20 factors, while AI technology can track over 400.

• Even with diagnostic equipment and experience, doctors can make mistakes, miss problems until they progress, or diagnose incorrectly.

• AI powered with vast, global data and an individual’s medical history can aid doctors in their analysis and provide a valuable second opinion.

• By tracking over 400 factors and applying an individual’s medical and genetic history, an AI database can make 100% personalized predictions.

• What you don’t know about your health can kill you. Medical institutions are not implementing lifetime health tracking in the way current technology can.

• Predictive technology will help people live longer, healthier lives and reduce healthcare and insurance expenses.

• Oleg Teterin and his group are developing a longevity scientific resort in the Maldives. Customers will be able to visit for a month of scientifically based, longevity-focused treatments.

• The longevity tracking software is available through a mobile app to make it easy and accessible to people worldwide.

Quote of the Show:

36:35 “Lots of scientists are … losing this war with death. They’re underfunded... nations and governments … don’t understand that they need to invest in that. … So our mission is to make our own healthy life [and] earn on it, [so we can] invest the fruits of these revenues into fundamental science to get the product, which can really extend life.”

Links:

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/olegteterin

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TETERINOLEG

Website: https://t.me/LongevityInTime

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA

View Details

With more than 20 years of experience leading global organizations, Ray McKenzie knows a thing or two about workflow management, operational inefficiencies, and digital transformation.

The founder of Red Beach Advisors and StartingPoint, McKenzie, works with private and public sector organizations to optimize performance and drive transformation in all areas of business. His workflow management and customer operations platform are changing the way companies connect and support their clients and employees.

Key Takeaways

• STATUS QUO: The phrase, “This is how we’ve always done it,” creates an environment that lacks innovation and hinders the forward progress of a business.

• The problem with doing things the way we’ve always done them is that technology disruption keeps happening, and things change too rapidly in today’s society. You set yourself back if you don’t keep up with the pace.

• Innovation and disruption are happening across almost every industry, in part because customers want newer products, and they want them faster and easier to use.

• Adapting to changes doesn’t always require massive organizational restructure. Sometimes a quick fix is enough to shift practice, move quicker, innovate systems, expand markets, and pass the competition.

• Small companies can implement change more easily, and they’re developing and experimenting with technologies that can launch them to the front of the competition.

• The challenge for small businesses is overcoming their natural disadvantage when competing in the marketplace. They don’t always have the tools they need or the time to develop them.

• StartingPoint’s workflow management platform lets clients and team members of small- to mid-sized companies see all activity on an account, upload files, ask questions, and manage tasks.

• More than a project management platform, it combines service management ticketing, workflow automation, file storage, and CRM in a streamlined platform that can be set up in 20 minutes. There’s nothing to code, and everything can be done in five clicks or less.

• Companies are looking for ways to do more with fewer people, while employees want better work/life balance. If they can save two hours a week completing tasks at work, they have two more hours to spend with the people and activities they love.

• People want to be more productive and work more efficiently. The four-day work week is gaining traction, and companies want to keep employees happy while still meeting the needs of the customer and client.

• The good news is that there's always an easier, more efficient way to do things and achieve better results.

Quote of the Show

37:59 – “Employers almost have to equip their employees with the right tools to be successful, so they’re not spinning their wheels or doing as many redundant tasks. Instead of it taking 30 minutes, we could do this in three minutes, and so employees dictate what needs to happen inside of companies.”

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raymondmckenzie/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RayMc209

Website: https://www.startingpoint.ai/

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube - https://youtu.be/pbP9a8YYHJ4

View Details

Researcher, data scientist, and founder of a FinTech program, Arnav Sheth, started working as an economist with Deloitte Tax on September 15, 2008 (also known as the day Lehman crashed). Since then, Sheth has worked as a tenured professor, startup advisor, and director of a finance program. Now he’s using statistical and machine learning techniques to make predictions about financial markets.

Key Takeaways

• STATUS QUO: People believe that mathematical models and machine learning tools will be able to predict everything, including financial markets.

• Right now, the financial markets are being disrupted by rising interest rates, fears of a recession, COVID supply chain issues, and war. None of these are conducive to smoothly functioning markets.

• Tiny changes within a big machine have secondary and tertiary effects that change the whole machine. Over time, the entire machine becomes new.

• The current war affecting the markets is unlike other recent wars we’ve experienced. Ukraine is strategically located, and the world depends on key commodities that come from the country. Every war is different, but this one is a little more disruptive and has precipitated other fears.

• Most asset managers fail to perform. A small number of people can truly beat the market consistently over long periods of time.

• The U.S. markets have generally returned around 10-12% depending on how it’s measured—and that’s amazing. Some years it’s up 40%, while some years it’s down 40%, but few people can do better than that.

• The markets are what they are and imposing our own views on them makes us bad investors. Just because something is successful in one area doesn’t mean it will have the same success in another area.

• One current question is whether it’s possible to predict where we are in a business cycle. Twenty years ago, Microsoft was a growth stock, while today it’s a value stock. Knowing where we are in the business cycle may help people know what to do with investments.

• Everybody has a system for beating the market, but they can only do it for a short period in a specific area. Once the genie is out of the bottle, it’s not a profitable opportunity anymore.

Quote of the Show

13:36 – “People had this belief that these mathematical models, these machine learning tools are going to predict everything. They’re going to change the world. They’re very powerful tools. We have computational power that we’ve never had before, but it’s not magic because of the human element. We cannot predict the way humans will behave in large groups.”

Links

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arnavsheth/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/arnavsheth

Website: https://www.arnavsheth.net/

Ways to Tune In

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube - https://youtu.be/pbP9a8YYHJ4

View Details

Today's guest, Daniel Powers Jr., has been a disruptor for over 20 years. With a passion for helping others access music education, Powers has been on a mission to provide students with access to customized, results-driven instruction. As a result of the pandemic, he was forced to pivot from running a brick-and-mortar business to an online one, becoming part of the digital disruption of online education. During this interview, Powers shares how he carved out his own unique space in a crowded online market.

Key Takeaways

• To differentiate, it's imperative to be unique. Even in a market such as music instruction, where being unique is difficult, being a disruptor means finding the opportunity to stand out and provide a wholly different experience.

• With the pandemic came immense change. For those who are willing, this change has turned into an incredible opportunity to pivot business models and create a unique value.

• Simply relocating a business model to an online version wasn’t enough for Powers and his team. Everyone was moving online, which resulted in turning his business into the same service as every other online music school. From this, Powers saw an opportunity to create his own platform, a key differentiator in a crowded market.

• Through the unique platform designed for Real Brave Audio, students can now access a whole curriculum custom-made for their goals. Not only that, but this platform has empowered students by documenting their progress, providing a visible path for students to see.

• The homeschool market has grown immensely in the past few years, with around five million children being homeschooled. This has led Powers to embark on a mission to find those five million students and help them learn music through a powerful platform that delivers real results.

• A key differentiator for Real Brave Audio has been centralizing the learning process into one platform. While many online education systems require instructors to jump from one technology channel to the next, the Real Brave Audio platform has created a cohesive and all-encompassing experience for both student and teacher.

• Mirroring his own journey into music, Powers wanted to design a space where students could easily interact with instructors—learning through the process of recording their own practice. This platform is changing how students, young and old, can access the incredible benefits of music.

Quote of the show:

14:43 “ ... The road to riches for me is always paved with punches in the face.”

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danpowersjr/

Company Website: realbraveaudio.com

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

YouTube - https://youtu.be/pbP9a8YYHJ4

View Details

Today's guest has been disrupting markets as a serial entrepreneur and marketing leader for decades. From holding the position of CEO of a cloud contact center for the SMB market to co-founding a marketing agency dedicated to helping B2B SaaS companies accelerate growth, Stijn Hendrikse is a born disruptor. Today, Hendriske is focused on helping small business owners better manage resources, improve customer service, and save money.

How's he doing it?

Through the creation of Amy — an AI-powered conversation platform for small businesses. Amy is a unique chatbot solution as it was designed specifically for small businesses. Similar to a pile of Legos, Amy lets small business owners use templates to build incredibly powerful customer service workflows. From answering common questions around the clock to scheduling services seamlessly, Amy's goal is to disrupt the way customer service works.

Key Takeaways

• Hendrikse is a believer in starting things rather than waiting around for the perfect time to attempt a new idea. His modus operandi is to get going and build it, which has helped him as a disruptor. While sometimes the things built don't get as much traction as you originally hoped for, in the end, a lot of things stick.
• It has become especially important for small businesses to hyper-focus on their customer service in the last couple of years. Customer service is the new sales. For those who run a business, big or small, it is far more critical today to please an existing customer base than to attempt to capture new customers. The key is to make customers extremely happy, which will create engaged advocates and, in turn, earn those new customers.
• In the last two years, with the great resignation, small businesses have been left struggling with hiring, training, and retaining people. This has left small business owners facing a difficult struggle to provide a great customer service experience. This is where Hendriske believes the innovation of his technology solution can help bridge the gap — Amy.us.
• AI is a popular buzzword that gets thrown around a lot when discussing the technology behind chatbots. However, in order for AI to be effective, the training models behind the AI have to be optimized in a precise way. This is where Hendrikse is using his chatbot technology to change customer service for small businesses, such as locksmiths, breweries, funeral operators, churches, and more. Hendrikse is doing this through a process of templating questions to match these companies' unique needs — something previously not accomplished through enterprise chatbot solutions.
• To launch Amy, Hendrikse and his team took the time to interview and research hundreds of small businesses to figure out what the majority of questions being asked by customers were. This led to the creation of the templates that power the Amy chatbot.
• What drove Hendrikse to focus his life work on small businesses? In his words, it's the place where the path from problem to solution is the shortest. With small businesses, there's not a lot of overhead, not a lot of complexity, and not a lot of processes to get in the way. Hendriske loves working amidst that simplicity, where he can immediately see if something's working or not, where he can see if someone's happy, and where it is easy to measure whether or not a customer is coming back.

Quote of the show:

3:07 "I start things. I don't wait too long when I have an idea. I like to just get going and build it. And I don't worry about the right timing too much. Don't wait around. And that has helped me a lot. And sometimes you, you build things that don't get maybe as much traction as you originally hoped for. But in the end, a lot of things stick."

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stijnhendrikse/
• Company Website: kalungi.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/stijnh1

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/pbP9a8YYHJ4

View Details

Our guest today is David Lee, Co-Founder of Ebony Ascent. Through the creation of Ebony Ascent, Lee is disrupting the Black entertainment media industry, breaking down barriers, and opening a brighter future for African American voices to be heard. Authenticity, connection, and meaningful conversations are all at the core of the mission behind Lee’s media company Ebony Ascent.

This is where David Lee is shaking up the industry. Inspired by a desire to share his own in-depth knowledge of financing and entrepreneurship, Lee started Ebony Ascent as a platform for the African American community to come together to create meaningful content and conversations. Now, led by the inspiring vision of Lee, Ebony Ascent is continuing to grow into a place to discuss important topics ranging from financial security to mental health to the issues Black communities in America are facing today.

Key Takeaways:

• Many people feel forced into conformity, which cuts down on authenticity and valuable conversations. Until we are able to communicate in a way that is true to our core culture, we will miss out on significant insights and growth.

• The vision for Ebony Ascent has always been to cut through the noise and offer a space where the most important topics can be discussed in candid, even raw ways.

• Culture is much bigger than just race, and there is a critical value to communicating with your culture in the language and ways you understand. When people do not have access to information represented by their own culture, it creates huge limitations.

• Ebony Ascent is on a powerful journey to allow creators to showcase important stories that mainstream media is not telling. Not only that, but Lee is also passionate about creating a platform that will empower his community to speak openly and without conforming to societal pressures.

• Sometimes the most pivotal moments in life come from a place of personal introspection. Lee’s journey into disruption began when he realized his deep unhappiness in what, to an outsider, would have looked like a successful life. By being true to himself, Lee was able to innovate and shake things up in powerful ways.

Quote of the Show: 10:17

“Right. Culture is bigger than just race, and it’s this community-type field of how we connect and even goes back, anthropologically. If you start looking at when we were tribes and all this stuff or whatever, like each tribe had their own way of communicating. Something just feels like home, right? Yeah. Like if, you know, if you grow up with brothers and sisters, they just feel like home. There is a language that you and your brothers and sister have that nobody else has, but you automatically understand you walk into a room and see your brother.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hdavidlee/
• Company Website: https://www.ebonyascent.com

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/pbP9a8YYHJ4

View Details

Our guest today is a Business Development Executive who is transforming the way businesses and professionals build their brand image in a digital-first world. After COVID, how people network and build relationships have changed. What once took place over an in-person meeting is now transpiring across computer screens. What used to be a face-to-face networking event is now happening via digital handshakes.

Professionals need to adapt and take control of their own digital brand image.

This is where Grant McGaugh, Business Development Executive, is causing disruption to the digital networking industry with his innovative approach to building a professional brand image. Pushed into this arena through his own disruptive life moments, McGaugh sheds light on how the future will include creativity, storytelling, and a human approach to digital connections.

Key Takeaways:

• Brand development management is about becoming a brand master. Every individual needs their own brand. This brand will become a central platform for all future opportunities.
• Who one becomes a key differentiator and showcasing strengths and unique value across online channels is critical for networking. A network is money.
• Digital transformation is only accelerating. Therefore, it is critical to join in the conversation today and prepare for the continued growth of the social networking of tomorrow.
• Ongoing engagement and conversations are critical for building a true network beyond simply followers. Moreover, these conversations influence one’s network long after leaving the room.
• Those interested in building their digital network must step back, look in the mirror, and ask themselves what their real story is—what their journey is about. It is imperative to own the story.
• Through digital channels like LinkedIn, first impressions are built. It is critical to ask yourself whether or not the person being presented online is someone with whom another professional would want to do business.
• The future of digital transformation is going to include a shift from simply the analytical to the creative. As new channels launch—the metaverses blending the physical and digital realities—those who use innovation will lead the way.
• Everyone has their own story, their brand, and their voice. What they create with it is entirely up to them.

Quote of the Show:

13:13

“This is about you. It’s an opportunity to tell your story, you know, because what differentiates you? I know a ton of people who have a master’s degree or a Ph.D. where they’ve had, you know, different corporate jobs and that type of thing. That is not, you know, that’s not uncommon. What’s uncommon is who you are, though, because of who you are and how you have traversed this world. I want to know how you solve certain issues and problems and challenges in your life that tells me, like, that’s interesting because that might be something I find vital that I can utilize.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantmcgaugh/
• Company Website: https://www.volico.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/pbP9a8YYHJ4

View Details

Our guest today has a track record of producing game-changing results every year, even when the odds were stacked against him. He is a global sales leader and has spent 20+ years leading technology companies towards triple-digit revenue growth.

Remy Piazza Chief Revenue Officer at Cosaic has a unique ability in developing high-performing teams, penetrate new markets and integrate scalable sales operations and enablement. He disrupting the sales approach and is at the forefront of the digital sales revolution.

Key Takeaways:

• The main ingredient of disruption is to understand what could be better and faster. A company’s board members care about growth and how fast can they achieve it. Some old methods of conducting business may not work in achieving the targeted sales and revenue figures.
• Status Quo with sales is the buyer-seller relation. Previously, if a potential customer was interested in a product or service, he/she had to contact the salesperson in the initial stages of their buying journey. After the boom of digital media and COVID, the potential customer now has access to a lot of information and about 65% of them involve sales reps in their buying journey after making a decision.
• Understanding the buyer’s journey and adjusting to the new approach to selling has become a big effort for product & services marketers.
• The biggest change and challenge in the buyers’ journey is that now, customers are more educated and about 65%-70% do their homework & research about the industry, competition and whom they wish to speak to regarding their problem.
• There is more awareness about the need to sell consultatively. Consultative selling is setting up a strong foundation, building business acumens, asking the right questions, and knowing how to ask them and when to ask them, which can take years to perfect.
• Specialization is key, to understanding the client’s/customer’s problems and offering them value with your solutions. “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care”

Quote of the show:

10:18 to 10:53

“In my experience, we see a lot of folks coming to us when they have done a tremendous amount of research, they have a pretty good handle on their problem and they do understand who the players are in the industry and who they should be talking to. That’s called about 65% -70% of the way, right! That’s the biggest change I’ve ever seen, whereas before, buyers would be like, we think we have a problem, were not sure who we need to speak to. It’s different, they are much more educated now than they ever have been.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/remypiazza/
• Company Website: https://cosaic.io/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - Disruption / Interruption - YouTube

View Details

Our guest today fights fire in cyber-Security. A lot of healthcare peers are being attacked by hackers for ransom. Traditional hospitals that kick the can down the road are being forced to innovate at the risk of being sitting ducks.

Technology in healthcare needs to up its game and is being forced to upgrade.

Enter disruptor Todd L. Bell, Chief Information Security Officer & Executive Director of IT Compliance who is innovating the healthcare system with technology tools, leadership and a mindset to be agile, quick and responsive to navigate through challenges.

Key Takeaways:

• The main ingredient of disruption: Hackers are driving innovation and systems are at risk of being hacked. To counter this threat Todd identifies the venerable under pining issues of the technological platforms and addresses them through leadership and technology.
• When an IT system fails, it forces an organization to pen and paper which in turn affects the functioning of the firm. This causes peers to be inefficient at their jobs and impacts the revenue.
• The companies that have technically advanced employees, not only accomplish greater things but also produce higher results & better growth.
• Status quo: “Set it” “Forget it” mentality when it comes to technology. On average Healthcare refreshes its system every 10 years as compared to other industries/companies that do it every 3 years.
• Disruptors like Todd are also forced to make up for vendor shortcomings. There is a gap between the technologies used by some vendors – outdated systems, compared to prevailing industry standards.
• Usually, vendors are looked down on. Todd at Valleyhealth considers them as business partners to up their game and stay relevant with the latest tech.
• Todd identifies more efficient technology, less costly and more cloud transformation as the need of the hour.

Quote of the show:

8:33 to 9:08

“I would recognize that the companies that have more technical people, produced higher results, better growth, better top line improvements for the organisations compared to companies with lower tech and their performance was lagging. So, this goes back to the mindset of how you hire, how you operate, how you interact with others and so It’s not just about the great technology which we all think of. Technology is it’s one piece of a holistic picture”.

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddbell/
• Company Website: https://valleywisehealth.org/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - Disruption / Interruption - YouTube

View Details

Our guest today is a serial social entrepreneur who has been disrupting for over a decade. He is a mentor and an active angle investor.

Unmanageable debt is directly tied to mental health issues in America. Enter disruptor Jason Saltzman CEO & Co-Founder at Relief App, who is building a digital solution to overwhelming credit card debts.

As someone who has experienced the effects of toxic debt firsthand, Jason is on a mission to make financial relief accessible to everyone.

Key Takeaways:

• The main ingredient for disruption is caring about the people for whom you’re creating value. Money is a receipt of value.

• Solutions relating to debts are simple, however, the problem is extremely complex.

• Any debt has a stigma around it and it has systemic ramifications. Today, 1 in 3 Americans have an account that has fallen behind.

• It affects marginalized communities of color because not only there has been a lack of financial education but also, some of the largest creditors in the world with the highest interest rate go after these communities.

• The problem expanded because of the coronavirus, as the government started printing capital and giving it to people in need but as per the data as people had access to more capital, their savings shot up and that triggered the creditors to issue more credit.

• The problem compounds when you leverage credit in a society which needs it, people start spending on things they don’t need via credit cards.

• Last quarter, the national credit card debt recorded the highest number of credit card balances in the history of debt recording.

• Jason predicts that we will be seeing a major increase in defaulters as the compounded debt completely outweighs monthly income.

• The average credit card rate in America today is 29.73%

• The name of game is to get very expensive credit in the hands of people that don’t understand how to use it.

• Some of the highest individual balances are with people with advanced education e.g. Doctors, Lawyers etc. because even after the extra years of school not of the classes involve how to manage credit or books of accounts

• Credit card companies will issue more credit once professionals start making $200,00 - $300,000+ a year

• Because Jason worked in the credit card and debt space in earlier years, he started to get calls from friends and family to help with a walk through their credit-related problems. Jason says that” the solutions are there, they are so simple. They are just not being put in front of your face and many people hiding from this problem just don’t know”.

• A study by Mckenzie revealed that only 2% of people will call their banks or credit lenders and manage a payment plan. The other 98% hide from these calls.

• One of the biggest reasons for Jason in starting the Relief App is to normalize the credit debt problem and get individuals their dignity back

• Depending on your current situation, Relief App will make all options available for every person using the app to speak to your creditor and work out a solution.

Quote of the show:

14:22 to 14:50

“The system is gamified, every time you turn on the television, our whole country is set up to sell you something and you want a life that many people can’t afford and extending credit gives you that opportunity to get something that you cannot afford. Even look at those Visa and Master Card commercials of the lifestyle that they are selling people. It’s like oh s**t I want that! But I don’t have the money to pay for it! Now you do! With credit we are your best friend, but that comes with big shackles”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonsaltzman/
• Company Website: http://relief.app
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaltzmanJason

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2zbLqmHtSHQ7u1V-Is8cA

View Details

While the client onboarding process is intended to establish customer relationships that are long-lasting and mutually beneficial, it is woefully lacking.

Enter disruptor Srikrishnan Ganesan, Co-Founder & CEO at Rocketlane who is crafting a thoughtful experience by gaining a deep perspective and understanding of the client’s domain which resonates with their product and services.

Key Takeaways:

• The main ingredient for disruption is developing a deep perspective and understanding of a domain which can then spark insight and can help create a thoughtful experience.

• Since COVID, the demand for a customer-centric experience had escalated to a point that any small hitch is perceived as intolerable.

• Businesses are built to be customers centric but at times when companies optimize processes, the client may face frustration, especially when things are happening remotely.

• Status Quo of Client on boarding experience – it’s a hit or miss approach, processes are typically delayed. There is a lot of chaos and lack of communication, primarily as information is across different channels/places.

• While all companies should acquire new customers and clients, retaining old clients is more profitable.

• Rocketlane tries to address some key pain points like the status of the project & the sentiment of the customer, and consistency of delivery by following a series of steps with deep templating capabilities and streamlining the collaboration.

• If a company has invested in a lot of project management apps, Rocketlane helps you import/migrate all your projects.

• The biggest challenges today are – educating the market and the potential audience and the existence of the tool

Quote of the show:

8:38 to 9:13

“From what we have seen, the biggest impact is when your customer success team comes in after you on boarding are they able to have an offensive strategy, focus on expansion from get go or are they going to be on a back foot when they come in and need to be defensive, focus on churn, focus on keeping the customer and that largely determined by how well on boarding goes. If you did a great job, they can focus on expansion but if you did a sloppy job they are forced to build credibility all over again with the customer”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srikrishnang/
• Company Website: https://www.rocketlane.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/srikrishnang

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - Disruption / Interruption - YouTube

View Details

Our guest today helps the under-represented, under-estimated and underpaid talent land high paying jobs at the world’s best tech companies. He’s an ex-Google, ex-Facebook, ex-Sales Force and ex-American Express employee. 

Founder, CEO and Chief Accelerator of Kadima Careers, Alan Stein knows the inside out, the start to finish walkthrough of how to get hired with any of the giant multinational companies. He’s been there and seen what’s spoken and how to fix it. 

Key Takeaways:

• The main ingredient for disruption is questioning everything and how it can be done better. Things are done for irrational legacy reasons or miss-aligned incentives.

• Status Quo of the hiring process or recruiting talent – hiring process is a huge field and there are millions of jobs out there. Tech giants like Amazon, PayPal, Netflix, Google, Adobe, Spotify, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple etc. (considering Fortune 500 companies) open up roles and streams of applicants come in. These companies are hiring machines and recruiting employees the same way each year, sorting out thru the huge amount of applications as they are attractive brands.

• About a 1/3rd are hired via referrals at the top companies

• Most of these companies are looking to hire black talent as they are the most underserved. A lot of companies have between 2% - 4% of black employee base and in the USA the number has risen to ~13%

• There is a lot of social pressure to hire a diverse workforce like (including but not limited to) Native Americans, LGBTQ, Differently abled, Military vets, Latin ex, Women and Black

• The Big Problem – Recruiters are focused on hiring with speed & volume and the hiring managers are focused on speed and quality, very few companies are measured on their candidate experience. During this process, if they get black talented women, awesome! But these companies will fill in a role based on the candidates they meet first from some top universities.

• Alan’s main motivation to disrupt the hiring process was a combination of his recruiting/hiring manager role, which he took on as a passion to bring in a diverse workforce and expand the scope of his networking efforts.

• Alan’s advice to candidates applying to these tech giants is to understand the process because the companies are not going to change their hiring processes. One of the things to consider is to submit your application in the first week or two – if not you’re probably amongst the thousands who stay in the queue.

• Alan also advises to always check the careers/jobs page of the company you want to work with because, by the time a job listing comes on a third party job website, it’s about 4 weeks old with a pile of resumes rolling in on top of referrals.

• Cover letters are a BIG waste of time, it’s more effective to invest time in building relationships and networking instead of writing a cover letter which will have little or no influence on the hiring process.

Quote of the show:

6:29 to 7:01

“They are in some desire, a lot of these organizations say that they want to increase diversity and I do honestly believe most of the leader there actually do want to occur but what’s more important is the hire quickly, to fill these roles quickly. So if diversity can enhance the situation, GREAT! But it’s not going to slow down the machine of just gobbling up all this great talent that is interested in working for these top companies.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanjstein/
• Company Website: http://www.kadimacareers.com

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - Disruption / Interruption - YouTube

View Details

Our guest today works with architects, engineers, farmers, and city planners to create buildings that come alive and are a source of food for people living in the area. But growing thousands of plants indoors with building restrictions and putting together all the stakeholders quickly complicates things.

Enter disruptor Dawn Parks, CEO & Owner of The Alternate Edge Consulting, who is also a conductor of these big projects. She knows how and when to engage the different stakeholders to make food sustainability a reality.  

Key Takeaways:

• Nearly 19 million people in the US don’t live near a grocery store.
• For funding, people rely on the government agencies, which are very limited in what they can provide in terms of funding.
• The main ingredient for disruption is thinking outside the box and looking for technologies that could fit together which haven’t been thought about before.
• The government agencies have to provide an ROI back to the government, prove the budget every year and not get cut off.
• Status Quo of food sustainability remains its location/geographic specific. Because of the history of the low-income area, high crime rate or lower socio-economic area, a lot of retailers/grocery store owners don’t move in and/or take a risk doing so.
• The problem also remains with getting food to the consumer’s location in the US. In other cases like sending food outside the country, the food has to go through aid agencies that get caught up in a political situation where the food never reaches the people it’s intended for.
• Climate change also contributes to the problem and impacts the vegetation which has an impact on how the crops grow and what needs to be fed to the live stocks.
• Technology along with data can help make better decisions for everyone to be more productive and profitable.
• How’s the disruption happening now? Understanding the core problem, the local community and their needs and working towards what’s needed help to overcome the food deserts.

Quote of the show:

7:34 to 7:55

“The grocery stores aren’t moving in and those that do move in are taking bigger risk. Because there isn’t a lot of retailers, might be higher crime rate, might be a socio economic area, so then if you have $40 and need to feed 5 people, it’s easier to go to McDonalds’ than go buy broccoli and lettuce. “

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnparks/
• Company Website: https://edgesustainability.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/pbP9a8YYHJ4

View Details

Our guest today, Jesse Woodbury is a disruptor in SaaS sales and a host of a successful podcast show SaaS Sales Players.  

High dollar SaaS sales tend to involve at least half a dozen stakeholders with crazy competition and them being educated about the industry. Enter Jesse Woodbury, he has created 2 frameworks that help providers close over 7 figures in ARR. 

Key Takeaways:   

• The SaaS market currently growing by 18% each year and is expected to grow to 22% by end of 2022 and is being considered to transform the IT industry from a cost centre to a value centre.

• SaaS adaption in the Health care industry is growing at the rate of 20% per year.

• The main ingredient for disruption is being a thought leader while creating and putting out content regularly which roughly equates to making 100 cold calls or sending 100 emails a day.
• Content can be repurposed and packaged up in a way that your buyers consider you a thought leader in their industry.
• He also changes his mind-set and considered being a consultant or a partner instead of a salesperson as the main prospects are executive-level buyers like CEO, COO, CTO, CFO etc. which in turn increased the deal sizes and time.

• Tips for frontline SaaS salesperson – read and compile relevant articles to your industry and take snippets that might be relevant to your buyers. Package and share them with your potential clients, even in the middle of buying/deal cycles. This helps you build credibility, and value and position yourself as a partner in their business.

• Status Quo of SaaS Sales – One had to fix an appointment and sell the hardware or servers on company premises, usually a large multi-million dollar complex deal.

• With a lot of market automation techniques and more than 20,000 SaaS companies trying to sell their services, there is a lot of noise. Executives aren’t sure which tool is valuable and supports their business.
• Being in SaaS sales is an incredibly lucrative game if you play the game right. The best sellers have been figured from implementing content.
• Being a sales rep in a high ticket SaaS company, the role is to create valuable content for buyers. It can be specific about which tackles/handle a problem.

• With the current status quo, the average tenure for a Sales VP in SaaS companies is 18 months, and even shorter tenure with frontline reps, resulting in huge financial losses and potential revenue.

• Even if you have a small subset of your reps posting relevant content to your buyers, word gets around that they are available to partner with your business and solve problems.

• Jesse's advice to the sales rep is to “find the medium, platform or channel that works best for you, some people that are tweeting, for others it may be LinkedIn. As for me, I like recording podcasts. I know a lot of reps who have found success with video content.”
• The status quo was to update your name and numbers in the sales force and inform your manager about the next steps to close the deal. Jesse suggests making the deal more conversational and collaborative, that’s how you know make your deals more predictable and have more span of control.

Quote of the show: 

18:40 – 19:12   “Being in SaaS is an incredibly lucrative game if you play the game right, but if you’re not playing the game effectively. Sales is the highest and the lowest paying job in the planet. Sales is very much what you kill and if you can’t do that because you’re sticking to the status quo, then how you do continue hitting you’re numbers and continue on with the profession. So that’s been the challenge and that’s why the shift has to happen more broadly” 

Links: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessewoodbury/
• Company Website: https://www.kustomer.com

Ways to Tune In: 

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/pbP9a8YYHJ4

View Details

Matthew Owen has been solving problems as a Fractional Chief Technology Officer for 25+ years and is a Digital transformation leader, specifically with disruptive innovation of facial recognition. He is also a Twitter enthusiast, using it to ensure success at large scale events to gain valuable real-time consumer service feedback on new technology being implemented while it’s being experienced by the consumers.

Key Takeaways

• The main ingredient for disruption is extreme customer focus, taking into account the customer experience and their journey.
• Twitter could be a major feedback tool, where customer voices their opinion and experience about your product & services.

• Facial recognition technology is controversial but when used correctly can be incredibly useful.

• Facial recognition technology can help solve certain types of problems. Example: A Football stadium or a concert – 60 odd thousand people are trying to get in with an even smaller army of people helping them to get in, creating a bottleneck. Adding COVID to this mix makes it more challenging. Implementing Facial Recognition based express access or iPass allows fans and staff workers touchless access.

• Status Quo with Events and what consumers expect after COVID – Change is constant, with COVID regulations easing out consumers are confused with overlapping rules thrown by the authorities. Each event has its own set of rules & regulations, making it challenging for fans and employees alike.

• User education plays a pivotal role in making this technology scalable. The problem with educating the masses is that they are desensitized to marketing emails and half a short attention span.

• A proper protocol is followed with multiple layers of screening and judgment to ensure peace of mind and public safety.

• The challenge with this technology in the States is the regulatory environment. With privacy advocates for the consumers, the country is governed by laws making it difficult to navigate around them and still make sure the technology works for the consumers.
• The future of Facial recognition technology is going to be ubiquitous, inevitable and can be deployed at every location for the good of the customer.
• Part of the challenge is the myths surrounding the privacy and security of the technology – Consumers don’t really care as long as it’s convenient and saves them the Hassel. The real bottleneck it educating the end-users and making them aware of such technology.

• The major challenge is budgeting – who pays for such a tech? Because it’s a cross-functional tech, getting all departments to agree to possess a greater challenge, which slows down the process.

• It’s all about the consumer experience. When it comes down to it, any technology which is developed whether B2B or B2C, ultimately affects the end consumer. In the case of Facial recognition, it affects directly.

Quote of the show:

6:43 “The technology can it used for good or evil, just like any other technology we’ve invited as mankind. It’s incredibly useful if used correctly, there are things you can only do using facial recognition, like scanning a crowd of 66,000 people and picking out 3 people that shouldn’t be there”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mowenranger/
• Company Website: http://6bpartners.com

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/WAPMxIZmNJs

Links

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6923281101763268608

YT snippet: https://youtube.com/shorts/ADMv9X0IysE?feature=share

YT episode: https://youtu.be/5TadziWMP84

Podbean: https://www.disruptioninterruption.com/?s=%23+029

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755

Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD

Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

View Details

Dave Dein has been in logistics, trucking and now education for 30+ years. He has been in all positions in trucking, a driver, management and now is a CDL (Commercial Drivers License) instructor with Patterson High School, California

The trucking industry has been changing drastically over the years. Supply chain, logistics, technology, training but especially recruiting. Today, we have an enormous shortage of truck drivers.

Key takeaways

• Status Quo – Because there is a shortage of skilled and trained drivers, companies are now enticing drivers with more benefits packages, and paid time off, like salaried positions compared to per load or mile.
• The main ingredient for disruption is to create a pipeline of young well-trained talent and provide opportunities to get the education of the Industry, who are passionate about trucking and not in it for the dollar bills.
• There is always been a demand for well-trained drivers. With the current ageing workforce and about 25% of the current drivers are getting close to the age of retirement, that’s approximately 60,000 to 80,000 drivers.
• It’s estimated that in the next 7 years we could have a shortage of 125,000, as we don’t have a lot of young people going in the industry.
• The percentage of female drivers and role models have been stagnant over the years, at only about 10% of the total workforce. Dave with his program aims to reach out to young kids and adults with female role models to plant a seed and educate them about a possible career.
• When Dave and his student address some young students with a 30 mins presentation, 47% responded that they would either consider taking a class once they reach high school or were not considering trucking as a career.
• All of the industry partners have bridged the missing link by creating career pathways for the students by bringing them into the industry
• The average person entering the trucking industry today is 38 years, mainly because they have liabilities and the trucking industry can solve their financial problems. With more influx of younger people, the dynamics of the industry can be changed.
• Dave and his team's mission is to reach as many high schools students as possible to provide students with the opportunity and educate schools on how to market the programs, recruit and connect with them industry partners and get the program up and running.
• The driver shortage is going to continue unless more can adopt the program and create a new pipeline of drivers.
• With the new emission norms, the industry has to adapt to new technology like electric-powered trucks or hydrogen-powered trucks. But currently, we don’t have a sustainable infrastructure to support this.

Quote of the show:

4:22 “I have been in trucking since 1988, there is always been a demand for well-trained drivers. The problem is we have a driver’s shortage and an ageing workforce. 25% of our current drivers getting close to the age of retirement.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-dein-46b6873/
• Company Website: http://www.nextgentrucking.org

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - Disrupting The Trucking Industry | Dave Dein | Episode # 029 - YouTube

View Details

Brian Duncan is the Director of Business Development at HungerRush. We live in a golden age for food delivery but it can also be overwhelming with all the options. Brian wants to make sure that ordering online becomes simpler than ever. He sits down with host and fellow disruptor KJ Helms to talk about how he is disrupting the restaurant industry.

Takeaways:

• The biggest problem in tech startups is that people overcomplicate the solution to the problem. Consider high tech solutions for low tech problems.
• COVID has only expedited how many people are leaving the restaurant industry.
• We are overloaded with apps for each individual place to order, hence why Grubub and Uber Eats have taken off.
• The bigger restaurants can pay more money to be higher up on search results why smaller companies can’t keep up and that pushes them down the google list.
• Text based AI can learn based on the amount of data that is put into it. So the more often you text an order, the more it learns and it will correct any mistakes in an order.
• Text based ordering can be easier than calling to place an order if you are in a noisy environment, and the AI will remember your last order as well.
• 50% of all restaurants could be virtual by 2030. Human interaction will be limited to a special occasion.

Quote of the show:

2:36 “I think a lot of times when it comes to tech startups is people try and over-complicate the solution. How do we get food there faster? We build a drone, right? And like, wow, that's really impressive. But the amount of capital outlay you're going to need to buy them. Uh, people involved that are going to need to help you get there. What I always say is high tech solutions for low tech problems.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-j-duncan/
• Company Website: https://www.hungerrush.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/pbP9a8YYHJ4

View Details

Dano Ybarra is the CEO at MyHive.global and Certified Sandler Sales Performance Consultant. He’s also the author of “Guiding Your Raft”. He sees the issues with working remotely and aims to provide solutions to those issues. He sits down with fellow disruptor and host KJ Helms to talk about how he is disrupting the technology of working remotely.

Takeaways:

• The main ingredient for disruption in your market is a collision of ideas. Sometimes the best plans and ideas are put together from all the ideas from a group of people.
• You need a team around you that is as excited and inspired as you by your plans. A great team will help you build a better product.
• Working from home increased individual productivity but it also came with its share of challenges as well.
• Human interaction is an important part of the working environment. You need to be able to see and talk with others to feel that connection and warmth.
• Allowing employees to work remotely opens up your hiring pool to a broader audience. You can get the best talent from anywhere in the world.
• Whenever you introduce a new way of doing something, there will always be push back or people who don’t understand.
• If you don’t reach out and collaborate with others, you miss out on spontaneity and that could cause you to miss out on a great deal.

Quote of the show:

6:53 “We came up to the beginning of the pandemic, only between eight and 12% of the workforce worked remote or in a hybrid fashion, when the pandemic hit that number went to 88%, according to Gardner. The reports and the research shows that individual productivity did go up but innovation, creativity and the business went down.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danoybarra/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/danoybarra
• Company Website: https://myhive.global/en/
• Book: https://www.amazon.com/Guiding-Your-Raft-Dano-Ybarra/dp/1983445568

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/Jx_CSgZICA4

View Details

Chris Federspiel is the CEO and Co-Founder of Blackthorn. Everyday we all use apps and we never think about the work that goes into making sure the apps are easy enough to understand and use. That is where Chris comes in, and he wants to help shake up the user experience for all apps. He sits down with fellow disruptor and host KJ Helms to talk about how he is disrupting the user experience.

Takeaways:

• User experience is king. In today’s workforce, if you don’t have a user experience that is easy to get the hang of, you are quickly passed over.
• The main ingredient to disruption is speed. Being able to get things done quickly and with good results is a key aspect.
• People now want their business apps to look and feel like regular apps. They want them to be easy to use and understand like Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram.
• When it comes to the user experience, people have a sliding scale of what they expect. With every new advancement, people expect more to come.
• Everyone wants their information as fast as possible. Now more than ever speed is so important when it comes to UI.
• When you run a company, you want to have a positive impact on the world. If you are having a company and you’re only looking to make money it will be a challenge.
• There’s enough enterprise SaaS companies out there, what there needs to be more of is physical product companies.

Quote of the show:

5:15 “People now want their business apps to operate and feel like they're consumer apps. So the problem is it's really hard as you'll get these requests for proposals, these RFPs, where the deals are 50 K plus, like it behooves you to go after them. But you can't win them unless you check the box. There is no single RFP that will award you the RFP based upon how good the app feels.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisfederspiel/
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/chrisfeder/with_replies
• Company Website: https://www.blackthorn.io

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/VgIH3zRBg0I

View Details

Esben Friis-Jensen is the Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Userflow. He sees the importance of helping the underserved for SaaS companies and is shaking up the industry. He sits down with fellow disruptor and host KJ Helms to talk about how he is disrupting the SaaS industry.

Takeaways:

• The key to disruption is making sure you look around and seeing what can be improved upon through technology.
• The new way of thinking for SaaS companies is having the focus of having the product drive more of the growth.
• You want to make sure your technology is better but you also want to make sure it is simple to use, if it’s too complex then no one will use it.
• Make sure that you are able to focus 100% on the product and let others handle the onboarding of new clients.
• When you are disrupting, you are serving the underserved to help them get out their pent up frustration.
• You want to surround yourself with people you can trust and you know can get the job done.
• If you have tried to use a product and don’t understand it, then give a call to talk about it rather than immediately calling someone and setting up a meeting at the beginning.

Quote of the show:

8:01 “I think in general software makes things better. What then ends up happening is. You sometimes end up adding too many things, uh, and making it complex and that is of course not good. So then you have to rethink again and how can I make it smarter, better UX and so on. But in general I think software always makes things better, but then the next step is making the software better.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esbenfriisjensen/
• Company Website: https://userflow.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/8LjQpH4S4Mc

View Details

Christian Hyldahl is the President and Founder of Varium Investment Partners. He’s quick on his feet when it comes to investment management. He looks into the future and tries to stay one step ahead of the trends. He joins host KJ Helms to talk about how he has been disrupting the investment management industry.

Takeaways:

• The main ingredient for disruption is a radical focus on what you do and how you deliver what you do.
• Asset management firms haven’t had to share their economics before.
• The market has been gently rising for the past 12 years, but in 3 to 5 years that will change.
• We are no longer in a 30 year cyclical cycle where fixed income and rates have gone down from 8% to 50 basis points.
• Cryptocurrency has taken off recently and it has allowed some people the financial freedom to quit their jobs.
• We have more jobs available than people who are unemployed right now.
• Everything is being automated and it runs on a subpar performance, and people are ok with that when they really shouldn’t be.

Quote of the show:

16:14 ​​”Something like 4% of the working population is not going back to work because they made so much money in crypto that they don't have to work anymore. We've got this sort of weird, perfect storm of innovation and government intervention that have created an artificial what I call an artificial economy. That is going to be very difficult to transition out of in, and that is really going to hit the next three to five years.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-hyldahl-cfa-b55514/
• Company Website: https://www.variumip.com

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/IXmEIbxVWOE

View Details

Jeremy Smith is the Founder and CEO of Launchpad Group USA. He helps entrepreneurs of disruptive food brands break into Costco. The food brokerage model is just plain broken. He’s been listed as a consumer catalyst in Forbes magazine. He joins fellow disruptor and host KJ Helms to talk about how he is disrupting the food brokerage industry.

Takeaways:

• The buyers are the ones who will decide if your product makes it to the grocery store shelf. The consumer decides if you are a disruptor or not.
• It’s important to see the trends in the marketplace and try to get ahead of it. That will push you ahead of the competition.
• Consumers are really the disruptors. They are the ones who shape the market and dictate what lasts and what doesn’t.
• Food brands often start at a farmer’s market. They are being sold in the local areas to build up the name brand.
• You know you are creating disruption when people are saying out loud that you don’t know what you are talking about. You need to push through that.
• You want to do your homework. You want to make sure the buyer isn’t driving the conversation and your brand is appealing to the buyer.
• You have to remind your buyer what your brand is. Just because they had one meeting with you doesn't mean they’ll remember you, especially after seeing hundreds of other brands.

Quote of the show:

3:02 “Ultimately the most important person in the marketplace is the consumer because the consumer will decide whether you're a disruptor or you're not.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-smith-8aa3281/
• Company Website: https://launchpadgroupusa.com

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/OTy7oQSAQoU

View Details

Jerry Szatko is the CEO of Unitifi and he’s a certified Airline Transport Pilot. He understands numbers like a true guru. He joins fellow disruptor and host KJ Helms to discuss the assessment that a person can take to determine their financial behavior with 99.5% accuracy.

Takeaways:

• The one ingredient to disruption is understanding personality and behavior. It’s key to understanding how someone reacts in a given situation.
• As a financial consultant, you want to avoid litigation as much as possible. You want to make sure all your numbers and information are accurate.
• Unitifi came up with the idea that they aren’t there to change traditional risk assessments, but rather enhance the assessment.
• Once you understand your clientele and their needs, you can gear your communication and relationship towards them.
• There are years of learning behavioral data that can be put into business intelligence and that way another person can understand it.
• In the financial industry, typically 80% of your time is spent on 12% of your clients, and that doesn’t help you grow.
• The more communication that someone can have with their clientele, the more the relationship will be built and sustained.

Quote of the show:

2:10 “Disruption for us is understanding personality. Personality and behavior. How somebody reacts when risk is applied to their financial situation is the key in any relationship, especially in the financial services industry.

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerry-szatko-150040a0/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JerrySzatko
• Company Website: https://unitifi.com

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/5XO-NUh1rRU

View Details

Kaihan Krippendorff is the Founder at Outthinker Strategy Network. He believes the future belongs to those who are bold enough to take charge and embrace change. He sees the strategic patterns in businesses and uses it to increase their sales revenue. He joins fellow disruptor and host KJ Helms to discuss how companies can master innovation.

Takeaways:

• The main ingredient to disruption is having the right language. You want to have the right mindset and go into it with doing something your competitors won’t do.
• You need to be different in order to make noise. Your competitors all may go a certain way but that doesn’t mean you can’t go against the current.
• There’s been a big change from people at smaller companies to moving to larger companies because larger companies offer them more freedom.
• There are four major barriers to disruption; Leadership, talent, culture and structure.
• Coordinate the uncoordinated. Power comes not from control, but from coordination. You want to find ways that you can coordinate something that isn’t working as it should.
• Expanding into other unknown spaces can lead to successful disruption. Amazon took to the internet, Zappos focuses on customer service and Wal-Mart is more about advertising.
• There are a few advantages a large company can have over a smaller company, such as more resources and room for growth.

Quote of the show:

2:35 “It's not about doing something your competitors can't do, it's doing something they won't do something that they will ignore and laugh at. As Gandhi said, ‘first they ignore you, then they laugh at you. Then they fight you, then you win.’ So it really begins if we take it back, they're not going to copy me. First they won't conceive of it. Then they won't choose it. Then they won't be able to commit to it, but it starts off with them being able to do it and not doing it.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaihankrippendorff/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kaihan?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
• Company Website: https://outthinker.com

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/JOnsnmtvdKY

View Details

Jeff Hoffman is the Principal & Founder of RSR, LLC and the Fractional CRO of jeffhoffmancro.com. He has over 20 years of experience in disrupting and he developed a sales algorithm that elevates a company's offerings and how they are positioned in the market. He joins fellow disruptor and host KJ Helms to discuss how Jeff is breaking through to the other side of revenue generation.

Takeaways:

• The main ingredient for disruption is having a solution that the buyers at companies are trying to sell to.
• Most tech industries are small to mid sized. To make money you have to make sure your products are “got to have” products and not “nice to have.”
• You can’t assume that sales people will have amazing connections and they will close deals. You need a product that actually improves something for a company.
• Most tech companies are operating at less than $25 million in funding if they’ve generated revenue. Typically the amount is around $2 - $5 million.
• A knee jerk reaction for companies is that they hire sellers and they expect them to be able to go out and make deals, but they don’t put any proper set up for it.
• You shouldn’t focus on a playbook until you have truly mastered an understanding of who is buying from you and why.
• The three questions you should always ask is “why is this person interested, why would they want to buy from us and why would they want our services now?”

Quote of the show:

3:50 “I think a lot of companies make a mistake of assuming that the sales people they hire are going to have connections at companies with their own Rolodex and that they'll be able to just go ahead and make deals happen. But in reality, nobody buys like that. It's not a relationship industry. You've got to have something that's going to impact their business.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffalanhoffman/
• Company Website: https://www.rapidsalesrevenue.com

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/Q8PIIfkt3yE

View Details

Fabian Geyrhalter is the Principal at FINIEN. He spent years working at a different branding agency until one day he realized that he had it!! He decided to go against the grain of the dog and pony show and start his own business that gets right down to business. He joins the Host of Disruption / Interruption, Karla Jo, to talk about how he is disrupting branding agencies.

Takeaways:

• There are three key ingredients for disruption; Courage, determination, and perseverance. All of these skills are needed if you really want to disrupt an industry.
• Instead of being hungry for more work, it’s important to think about the direction of your company and where you want to go.
• The agency model is broken. Every agency wants to become agency of the year instead of actually focusing on what they want to do.
• In the time of the great resignation, people are looking at what skills they have and are deciding they want jobs that better fit that and make them happy.
• Don’t be afraid to say no to a client. A no can open a door to a better yes.
• A key approach to branding agencies is bucking the trend of the dog and pony show and instead let your work speak for itself.
• When working on a project, the vision comes down from the person that has hired you so you want to make sure that you get along with the person and agree with what they have in mind.

Quote of the show:

1:42 “I think there are three key ingredients, and the very first one is courage. You can't disrupt if you don't have guts, if you don't have Moxy. That leads me to my second point. it's determination. Disruption is swimming against the stream and it’s going to take everything out of you. So I really think courage, determination and perseverance are the three key ingredients to actually get to that point where you can disrupt.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geyrhalter/
• Company Website: https://www.finien.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/FinienInsights

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/EDJ4AUC-l64

View Details

Genefa Murphy, the CMO of Five9, has found her path to disruption by using her extensive background in technology. She prefers to take the road less traveled, and likes to bring people and technology and help create an engaging experience. She sits down with fellow disruptor and host KJ Helms to talk about how she is bringing her unique energy and background to disrupting technology marketing.

Takeaways:

• The key to disruption is differentiation. You need to find what makes you different from everybody else in order to begin causing your disruption.
• It’s better to be different than better. Just being better than your competitors isn’t enough to separate you from the pack.
• Now is the time for marketers to come to the forefront. There’s a greater degree and emphasis on them with the customer experience.
• There are more younger consumers of technology who have more disposable income, and they want their brands to be more open minded and give back to the community.
• Know your stuff and have your data. You should know who your ideal customer profile is and what is your intent as a marketer.Try to be ahead of the game.
• There are four factors for which most impact technology adoption; effort expectancy, performance expectancy, facilitating conditions and social influence.
• People will be more likely to adopt new technology if they believe important figures are advocates for the technology. Word of mouth matters.

Quote of the show:

1:48 ​​”Someone once said to me, it's better to be different than to be better. We could always be better, but it is better to be different than just being better. And I think you can apply that in so many different ways.

You can think about that. You talk about my road to marketing. My road to marketing was different. It didn't come up through a traditional marketing path. It came up through a product management and a technology path. And I think that has helped me be a better marketer. My road to living in the U S was different and I think that has helped me be more culturally aware and value things like cultural diversity in team diversity.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/genefamurphy/
• Company Website: https://www.five9.com

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/fnMckXe6fAw

View Details

Wes Wood, Executive Director at INvets, left the military in 2015, and upon leaving he realized there was a serious issue that needed to be fixed. He started his own nonprofit partnership in the state of Indiana, where he works to help struggling veterans find work. He joins fellow disruptor and host Karla Jo Helms, to discuss the struggles veterans face trying to transition from the military to civilian life and work.

Takeaways:

• Most people have a perception that there are plenty of valuable opportunities out there, but for veterans it can be a struggle.
• There are many issues for people who are coming from the military to civilian life and trying to find a job right away. It can be an adjustment process.
• Some of the issues veterans face are where do they move to after the military, do they go back home, do they search on job boards for local jobs, etc?
• Every year, between 200,000 and 300,000 veterans make the switch from military life to civilian life and get a civilian job.
• Most of the people leaving the military don’t have much experience in the civilian sector and are often unsure of where to go from there.
• The transition assistance program is a congressionally mandated program that everyone has to go through when they leave the military. It teaches you basic skills like how to write a resume.
• In the midwest, the economic growth has outpaced the population growth, so a good solution to finding employees is hiring former veterans.

Quote of the show:

23:56 “One of the key things that's plagued the veteran ecosystem for years is collaboration. So there are a lot of nonprofits, the nonprofit world is very competitive. Everyone's going after a certain amount of dollars that are given out by veteran focused foundations, endowments, entities.

A lot of times what you see is organizations trying to elbow each other out, not collaborating. I want to count that as my win…”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weswood11b/
• Company Website: https://www.invets.org/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/ZobtHnshI2k

View Details

Bob Moesta, President and CEO of the ReWired Group, has been a champion of disruption for over 30 years and earned the title “Disruptor's Mentor.” As a kid, he showed his natural inclination to mechanics and entrepreneurship by making ramps to ride his bike on outside of his house. Now, he’s helped to develop and launch over 3,500 products and services. Also author of “Demand Side Sales,” Bob joins Karla Jo to talk about how he is disrupting the demand side sales industry.

Takeaways:

• There are two essential steps that are needed for disruption to be successful; one is that people don’t buy products, they hire them. The second is being able to empathize with the struggling moments that lead to disruption.
• Disruptors come from the low end, meaning they don’t have much to go off, and they are often unrecognized at the time until they become larger.
• To understand a struggling moment, you need to understand not just who is struggling, but also the what, when, where, and why of the struggle as well.
• Entrepreneurs often get too fixated on making sure that something is perfect, which then slows down the entire process of trying to get the whole system to work.
• Demand exists whether supply is there or not. Demand is about where people want to make progress but they can’t.
• COVID forced people to think outside the box in terms of jobs that they had. It allowed people to make trade offs and find jobs that work better for them in different ways.
• Take note of what is happening in the world and try to solve some of the problems that people are facing but don’t quite know it yet (i.e. how Apple made better cameras in their phones).

Quote of the show:

4:08 “So the first part is understanding the progress. The second part is then understanding basically how to actually serve the low end, where you're just better than nothing. So almost all disruptors come from the low end and they are dismissed by the incumbents because they're just seen as well, they're just toying in something else. Like how banks looked at PayPal or Square as well, ‘they're just a payment processor.’

All of a sudden now they're bank. And they're going to actually be bigger than most banks very soon. And so disruptors come in from the low end and they serve the underserved.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmoesta/
• Company Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rewired-group/about/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/bmoesta
• Book: ​​https://www.amazon.com/Demand-Side-Sales-101-Customers-Progress-ebook/dp/B08FRRF68Q

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/C6APVF6jn2c

View Details

After founding his first sports coaching company at age 20, today’s guest has been on a journey to create opportunities that empower the creator economy. Coming all the way from Liverpool, he has always been obsessed with finding the value in things. He’s an ambitious business leader with an innovative way of thinking and he isn’t ready to slow down yet! Chris Lamontagne, CEO of Spring, says that most companies struggle to keep up because they fail to change themselves and keep up with the times. He joins the Host of Disruption / Interruption, Karla Jo, to talk about how he is disrupting the content creation industry.

Takeaways:

• The failure to reinvent is what dooms most companies. They need to see what is going on around them and adapt to the new times or get left behind.
• You’ve got to be willing to look at your company and make the tough decision to rip it up and try something new if what you are doing isn’t working.
• The social commerce movement was really started by the creator economy. A lot of these people had followers already from YouTube, Tik Tok and other platforms.
• We are now seeing that social media outlets want to take part in the commerce side of the business as well (ie Instagram Shopping or Shoppable pins on Pinterest)
• People are starting to realize now that they don’t have to do their 9-5 in the same way anymore, they can make money from home doing what they love by creating new content on different topics.
• The COVID pandemic has allowed people to really embrace the passions they have and be more creative with what they do.
• Today more so than any other previous time, people are able to get their own content out and reach any audience they want to.

Quote of the show:

2:13: “When I think about disruption and what that actually means for an organizations and companies, if you think about so many countless stories of companies that haven't made it, and I had just asked about companies that don't make it and why they don't make it, it was the failure to reinvent or the failure to spot that things were happening around them that they didn't react fast enough.

If you really go deeper into that source, I’d understand why didn’t a company reinvent. It's because sometimes there's an issue with not being able to recognize or be able to let go of the past and think about the future.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-lamontagne-a6754b28/
• Company Website: https://www.spri.ng/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/c_lamontagne1

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/0aaKo2UiYnc

View Details

David Brier, the President and Creative Director at DBD International has a knack for pulling things apart and getting to the root of an issue by asking a simple question: ‘Why?’ David joins fellow disruptor and host Karla Jo to talk about ways that he is disrupting the status quo of rebranding your company.

Takeaways:

• The most important ingredient to disruption is paying attention. Many companies show up and make a lot of noise, but few take notice of what good disruption and change is and where it is needed.
• Your brand should properly frame you. You must own your own dialogue and narrative. Your brand is a part of you and it should properly reflect that.
• People will not come to new conclusions based on old information. You need to make sure that you sound different in order to get your brand out there.
• Branding is the art of differentiation and not the art of looking like another brand in your category.
• There are three phases to branding; Pre-Sales branding, During the Sales Branding, and Post-Sales Branding. Most companies only focus on two of the three but all three are important.
• You want to be more connected to the solution to your customers problems and not your own solutions, that’s why Netflix is world wide and there is only one Blockbuster remaining.

Quote of the show:

2:10 “The biggest, most important ingredient to disruption, this may surprise you, my answer is paying attention in the first place. How can you disrupt if you don't even take a pulse of where the things are at. And that to me is the biggest secret. So many companies, CEOs, brands, thought leaders, et cetera. They're just going to show up screaming really loud.

Well, that's going to disrupt! Well, what if everybody else is already screaming loud, bozo? That would be my response to that person who chose to do that. So it's paying attention, so it's going, okay. Take a pulse where stuff is at, right? Because you could disrupt smartly. You could disrupt stupidly, right?”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbrier/
• Company Website: https://www.risingabovethenoise.com
• Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dbd-international/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidbrier?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/AFJH33euWIo

View Details

Our veterans are putting their lives on the line everyday to defend our country, but the fight doesn’t stop when they come home. Veterans are in need of legal aid and it can be too expensive, meaning that most have to represent themselves or not even have their legal needs met. Host of Disruption / Interruption, Karla Jo is joined by fellow disruptor Antoinette Balta, who is the Executive Director & Co-Founder of Veterans Legal Institute, to talk about how her non-profit is providing legal services to those who have given so much and need our help.

Takeaways:

• The key to disruption is courage. Change is hard but it’s worth the uphill battle to make others' lives better.
• The cost of legal aid for veterans today is too high. It can be upwards of $400 an hour, and if they can’t afford that then the veterans will have to represent themselves.
• The top 80% of veterans become entrepreneurs, but the bottom 20% struggle with mental health or injuries related to service and need legal help.
• 22 veterans a day take their own life, and that’s more than veterans who lose their life in combat on a daily basis.
• Veterans Legal Institute wants to make sure they aren’t turning anyone away, providing what services they can to those in need.
• While working at an emergency shelter at the national guard armory 15 years ago, Atoinette noticed that there were plenty of veterans that needed more help than others and they weren’t receiving it, and this prompted her to start the change.

Quote of the show:

6:38 “When I'm driving onto the on ramp of the freeway and I see someone holding a sign and it says homeless veteran, can you help? It makes my blood boil because I'll usually look at the veteran and it's almost always a Vietnam era veteran. It's mind blowing. Fortunately, the OEF OIF, the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, have a lot more resources at their fingertips. There's a lot more outreach to them, but I definitely don't want to forget our brothers and sisters that served in Vietnam and even Korea.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoinettebalta/
• Company Website: https://www.vetslegal.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/bfM2WLlQ_PI

View Details

After seeing how a lack of communication can hurt a business, today’s guest decided to learn more about business automation to better help businesses streamline their processes. Host of Disruption / Interruption, Karla Jo is joined by fellow disruptor Kevin Buckley, who is a Business Automation Executive at Technologent, to talk about ways that brick and mortar stores can compete with cloud based companies without breaking the bank.

Takeaways:

• Greenfield businesses are businesses that are born in the cloud and coming to market.
• For brick and mortar stores to compete with these Greenfield businesses they have to disrupt their own business without getting in the way of their daily business.
• Keeping your loyal customers is important, and it’s important to keep costs low while doing that.
• Automation is a way to keep costs down while also streamlining your business.
• Stakeholder input is important when it comes to trying to improve different processes at work. They understand the bigger picture and can see things in a different way.
• Healthcare and retail are the industries that are in need of a better automation system.

Quote of the show:

6:04 “They have to decide if they're going to embark on this journey to improve their business workflow processes, to automate them and to be able to deliver faster service, more timely deliveries, better customer service, better customer retention and do that without having to hire a lot more full-time equivalents, hiring more people. This is not about companies getting rid of employees and that's okay. What I hear a lot when I talk to the business. And then when I talked to the line of business, it's very different.

We need to disrupt ourselves. We need to drive efficiencies, lower our costs and provide a better customer experience. And the line of business person feels like you're trying to take my job away. And that's where I'm really seeing the pushback or the inability for the business to move forward with those processes."

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbuckleyit/
• Company Website: https://www.technologent.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/JRNnr-6kFD0

View Details

With almost 25 years of experience, today’s guest has taken the trucking industry by storm. Brad Ball, the president of Roadmasters Driver School, joins the Host of Disruption / Interruption, Karla Jo, to talk about how he is disrupting the trucking industry and making it more accessible to anyone!

Takeaways:

• The top ingredient for disruption is accessibility. You need to be accessible for people to find your company.
• Once COVID hit, the trucking industry started taking a big hit. Employees close to retirement age took their retirement early, and others left their jobs, all while the e-commerce boom demanded more from truckers.
• The trucks nowadays are much more comfortable and easier to manage than have been in previous years.
• Trucking is an industry where there is no pay gap tied to gender or race.
• Vocational fields are great opportunities. It takes about 4 weeks to learn how to drive a truck, and it provides a great opportunity for a career.
• Trucking is a career that is both recession proof and pandemic proof. While it was difficult during the pandemic, it was not shut down like restaurants or other lines of work.

Quote of the show:

9:54 “We can take people that are unemployed or underemployed, regardless of your education status and introduce a career opportunity where there is no pay gap tied to race or gender. So, essentially the opportunity is there for anyone that walks in our door, regardless of what your background is or your education history, because this industry is not looking for degrees.

This is an industry that is looking for people that have a great desire to work and are looking for an opportunity to improve their life. It's really accessible again to just about every aspect of society.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brad-ball-b0b75616/
• Company Website: www.roadmaster.com

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/JAGDhpXGPJg

View Details

When it comes to those who served on the frontlines of battle, their health and needs are often overlooked. With 23 years of combined experience in the Navy and Army, today’s guest is here to shake that up.

Nick Saifan, the chairman of Vendaval Corp, joins the Host of Disruption / Interruption, Karla Jo, to talk about his dedication in assisting military members and their families strive for a better outcome.

Takeaways:

• Charity and goodwill always play big motivators into the disruption of the status quo of day to day operations.
• Helping people at a time of need in their life is something that can go a long way. It doesn’t have to be financially, it can even be with food, housing or counseling. This can give someone an opportunity to live a better life.
• In Orange County, California, there are over 2,000 veterans that are homeless. You can’t just shut your door and excuse it away. They are real people that need help.
• The affordability of housing is a problem for older veterans. With the high prices of housing, they often can’t afford it and end up homeless.
• After you get out of the military it’s hard to transition to the civilian world. The hardest part is that you no longer have people that are with you every moment of your life. It is hard for veterans to make friends outside of the military.
• Nick’s idol is Danny Thomas, the founder of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and he wants to leave a similar legacy behind.

Quote of the show:

1:56 “When you really think about it these days, if you're really nice to people and you find somebody that is in need, not necessarily for money or for food or clothing, but sometimes some guidance, some help, a little push.

Showing them if they do a certain thing that’s how they could improve their life. That's the charity I'm talking about. It's talking about communications and helping people live a better life, giving them the opportunity to live a better life. And it doesn't have to be money. I know that we're trying to help other people with money and with housing and with food and clothing, but there's always, always that little counseling, that goes a long way.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicksaifan/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ECFCORP
• Company Website: https://vendavalcorp.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption

View Details

Marketing is an industry that has many different facets, but it’s easy to get stuck in the same old groove and go down the same path as everyone else. Today’s guest is here to break out of all the monotony!

KJ is joined by Casey Cheshire, the founder and CEO of Ringmaster Conversational Marketing. Casey is here to take the reigns of normal, boring marketing and steer it onto a whole new exciting path!

Takeaways:

• The key ingredients to disruption are frustration and passion. You have to be willing to get up and go and try new things. You have to call things like you see it.
• People tend to get stuck in their groove in terms of marketing. The best way to get your brand out there is to be different and unique.
• Marketing needs a purpose. Marketing for the sake of marketing and not really having a goal in mind defeats the purpose. You need to justify the use with revenue.
• Try podcasting as a way of marketing yourself and your business. Podcasting has exploded in popularity in recent years and it’s a fantastic marketing tool to reach a broader audience.
• Even if no one listens to your podcast, you still spend time talking with the guest and building that relationship and possibly gaining a customer. The most important thing is the guest.
• Podcasting is a great outreach to a wider audience, it’s not as expensive as you might think and it doesn’t require a massive following to do.

Quote of the show:

4:08 “It's like an Oreo. It's a disruption Oreo. I guess the cookie is the frustration and the cream is the passion. Surrounded by frustration. Yeah. But the disruption is sweet. So that's why you dip it in the milk of success.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseycheshire/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaseyChesh
• Personal Website: https://www.caseycheshire.com/
• Company Website: https://ringmasterlive.com/
• Book: Marketing Automation Unleashed

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/Fi8hnWuhleo

View Details

After dedicating 9 years to a company helping to manage start-ups, today’s disruptor, Paul Ford, found himself being suddenly let go. Ford, the Founder & Managing partner of DS9 Capital, decided it was time to fix what he saw as an issue in the world of insurance. Host of Disruption / Interruption, Karla Jo is joined by fellow disruptor Paul Ford to talk about levelling up insurance and healthcare technology companies through portfolio management.

Takeaways:

• The key ingredient to disruption is curiosity. It’s the thing that motivates you and keeps you fresh. It doesn’t make work feel like work, instead it feels like a hobby.
• Because of the way venture investing in private equity is structured, everyone tends to follow the pack and go down the same road.
• Everyone wants to be a millionaire and make a million dollar company, but you need to set realistic goals. Don’t try to be the next Uber, set achievable goals.
• 80% of the US economy is built on the back of the mom and pop company shops.
• Think about your first job as paid training. You will learn all sorts of different things about your field in your first job, don’t expect to be an expert right away.
• Don’t sit on your wisdom. There might be someone out there who could use your help, and it’s always beneficial to help others.
• Education only serves you well if you are curious. Sometimes the best education is on the job rather than spending extra money for more years of school.

Quote of the show:

1:52 “Curiosity, point blank, the single thing that will motivate you. It keeps you fresh, keeps you entertained. It just keeps you looking for opportunities.

When you're curious, your work doesn't feel like work, it feels almost like a hobby, a hobby or sport. You know, those close to me, I typically tell them, Hey, I operate in sport mode like this, like I'm already retired and just having fun, doing what I do. That's how it feels every day. But it's only because I'm just very curious and I just love going down rabbit holes and seeing what I can find.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paford26/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrpaford
• Company Website: https://www.ds9capital.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/LhUJBouuzGk

View Details

There are 100 years worth of studies showing the inequality of healthcare when it comes to minorities. This sounds like something is in desperate need of disruption!

KJ is joined by Maria Hernandez, the President and COO of Impact4Health and a fighter for inclusion and dismantling the biases facing minorities and under-represented populations. Maria is also a fellow podcast host and big fan of the San Jose Sharks! She’s here to shine a light on the inequalities in the healthcare industry.

Takeaways:

• The most important ingredient of disruption is understanding the unintended consequences. Look at the long term effects of what you plan on bringing to the table.
• The breakthroughs in healthcare come from those who are incredibly tenacious, focused and able to navigate all the structures of healthcare.
• Healthcare has only recently begun to really look at one hundred years of inequities for minorities.
• People are not all the same, but in healthcare everyone is treated as if they are. This doesn’t help but rather hinders people as everyone has different experiences and everyone’s bodies react to medicine differently.
• Serena Williams wasn’t listened to when she was complaining about having a possible blood clot until her c-section stitches burst. If someone as powerful as her struggled to get people to listen to a woman of color, how bad is the struggle for the average person?
• Last year, a law was passed in California that anyone working in the OB-GYN field has to take an unconscious bias course. This will prevent decisions that could influence the birth in a negative way.
• Hospitals need to be absolutely certain that people’s data is absolutely secure. Ransomware attacks can happen at any time so they need to be prepared.

Quote of the show:

12:50 “If you can fathom this, the United States has a maternal mortality rate for black women delivering a baby, that is similar to third world countries. They die at two and half times the rate of others. I’m going to give you an example and you’ll be surprised who it is. A black female giving birth to a child, who has a history of pulmonary embolisms.

She complains about feeling sick, and she thinks she’s got another blood clot because she’s had it before. She’s telling the nurses and staff look I think I’ve got this please do something. She coughs and coughs and coughs and coughs to the degree that she breaks the stitches from her C-section and then they finally do what they need to do, which is check all this stuff.

She did have a blood clot. That woman was Serena Williams. If you could fathom a person as powerful as Serena Williams can’t get heard when she’s concerned about her health, her status, what’s going on in her body, what happens to the average person?”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariahernandez/
• Twitter: drmghernandez
• Website: impact4health.com

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube -

View Details

All day long, people are communicating to each other through various ways, but does anyone stop to think about what makes communication actually work? Probably not. But if companies sat down to think about the most effective ways to communicate, they might reach more customers.

KJ is joined by Heather Gonzalez, who has over 20 years of experience with industry leading technology companies. She’s here to shake up the way companies view communication and provide valuable feedback to what really matters most.

Takeaways:

• Technology is not communication, it is the facilitator of communications. The definition of communication is the successful conveying or sharing of ideas or feelings.
• Organizations have forgotten that communication is a two way street. Pushing out products, offerings and solutions without asking what is keeping the client up at night.
• The formula for the best way to communicate is through situation, impact and resolution. Impact is often overlooked but plays a pivotal role.
• When speaking to a client, you need to create the value realization. Not everyone understands all the technical terms so you need to explain what you do in a basic way that they can understand.
• PR is the fire and marketing fans the flame.
• There is a human element that is often forgotten when tech companies are dealing with their employees. The human connection is extremely important and shouldn’t be overlooked. Connect with your employees on a personal and human level.

Quote of the show:

33:13 “You want things to sound great or sound technical using their terms. Even for myself who has been in the industry for 20 plus years, I know enough to be dangerous but I’m not technical. So I appreciate layman's terms, I appreciate the human aspect of that, I appreciate that someone is fearful that their jobs are going to be replaced by AI or robotics and that’s not the case.

So you have to communicate that we aren’t replacing you, we are enhancing something that is a monotonous activity and replacing it with the ability for you to go and spread your wings in the organization and create even more jobs. So I think I bring the human aspect to the structured, technical market.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heathers1/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeatherHSG
• Website: https://www.technologent.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/AEv3kVGMzuk

View Details

Would you be happy if you ordered packages online and they just don’t show up, or you’re having to pay more? Of course not!

KJ sits down with A.J. Hernandez, the president and CEO of Skypostal, who has over 30 years of experience in international logistics. He disrupts the industry by fighting against the challenges and complexities faced in the Latin American market of e-commerce. He’s also a former minor league baseball player!

Takeaways:

• The status quo for most of the world for shipping is postal service or express carriers, but in the underdeveloped parts of the world those don’t work.
• When shipping to Latin America, you lose 20 - 30% of your packages and the prices are exorbitant, which makes Latin Americans terrified to shop online.
• The corruption in Latin American countries has almost killed the e-commerce economy there.
• We are in the early stages of cross border e-commerce into Latin America.
• The postal world only works in industrialized countries, of which there are only 24 and doesn’t work in developing countries, which is what all of Latin America is considered.
• The gold standard for e-commerce is America, and the goal is to replicate the experience for the shopper no matter where they are.
• Always better to be proactive rather than reactive. You need to know if there is a problem before the customer tells you there is an issue.

Quote of the show:

39:39 “The gold standard is here for us. Our mission is to replicate that experience for the shopper no matter where they are.”

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/a-j-hernandez-38459b7
• Website: https://www.skypostal.com/blog

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZGlzcnVwdGlvbmludGVycnVwdGlvbi5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/disruption-interruption
• YouTube - https://youtu.be/VkdVMcTJb_4

View Details

Dr. Harsha Rajasimha, Founder & CEO of Jeeva Informatics Solutions, has been a disruptor for quite some time due to personal and professional experiences. In this episode, we uncover how he has utilized his experiences and education to bring disruption into the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry by listening to all stakeholders involved in the process of clinical trials.

Key Takeaways:

• Some people do not live through the process of clinical trials to receive the appropriate care needed for a cure.
• It is vital to remain empathetic to the customer and have the ability to imagine being in their shoes and feeling their pain.
• The possibility of expediting that due to FDA approving virtual clinical trials, which has been seen during our current pandemic, is not only possible but more beneficial for bringing drugs to market to those who are needing them sooner.
• There are 7,000+ rare diseases affecting over 350M people globally, and even more who have chronic and complex conditions.
• Money isn’t the barrier prohibiting drugs from coming to market. It is finding those who fit the criteria along with their enrollment process and retention.
• The biggest problem with clinical trials is the failure to identify the right patient, having them understand and enroll in the trial, and their ability to comply, whether it be due to lack of technology and other logistical problems they encounter.
• There are no shortcuts and those who opt to go down that path end up without a solution to their problem.

Links:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/harsharajasimha
• Jeeva Trials LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/jeevatrials
• Company website: https://www.jeevatrials.com/
• IndoUSrare: https://www.indousrare.org/
• IndoUSrare LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/indo-us-rare
• Email: ceo@jeevatrials.com

View Details

Dr. Craig Escudé, President of IntellectAbility, has been a long-time advocate for people who have IDD, or intellectual or developmental disabilities, and continues to find ways to assist those who work with them through education and technology. His work focuses on what’s not being said and more on what’s being shown to determine where IDD persons are at risk and the solution(s) to fix it. Dr. Craig Escudé believes that reducing unnecessary suffering can be avoided by just looking at things differently, learning more about IDD behaviors and utilizing their Health Risk Screening Tool.

Takeaways

• Mental health issues increase with isolation, which is why community support offers a better quality of life because they are more integrated into society.
• Dr. Craig Escudé recognizes humility came from his disinformation and miseducation. He utilized newly found knowledge through experience and more education to take the Health Risk Screening Tool to another level in assisting those with IDD.
• Education of looking at behaviors to determine underlying conditions is being distributed to all those who work with people who have a IDD diagnosis, from dentists and community healthcare providers to ER and primary care doctors.
• IntellectAbility has been able to prove the validity of their tool with decreasing risk, increasing health & wellness, and decreased ER visits.
• Those with IDD can have the simplest problems resolved when those who work with them know what needs to be done.

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-escude-md-faafp-40b5646/
• Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/intellectability/
• IntellectAbility: https://replacingrisk.com/

View Details

Financial advisors can be useful for lowering risks and creating an investment strategy. However, Jeff Mount, President of Real Intelligence LLC, discusses the downside of hiring advisors and his negative experience. Jeff shares details of his disruption app, Dynamic Map, which enables users to efficiently plan their finances for little to no cost. Avoid getting taken advantage of for your lack of financial literacy by identifying and distributing your liabilities effectively.

Takeaways:

• 85% of investors don’t have financial advisors. This is producing mass financial literacy nationally.
• Jeff’s app, Dynamic Map, enables families to manage their risks and view all possible projected outcomes which allows for strategic thinking in advance. Standard financial planners take weeks to set up and months to understand, but Dynamic Map is quick and efficient.
• Most people are unaware that in the financial services industry there is a wholesale layer of distribution which adds additional cost.
• When choosing advisors, ask yourself if they are ethical, if they have your best interest over their commission, and if they know more information than you.
• A growth in financial literacy would benefit our social society immensely. It would reduce taxes for social programs as everyone is doing better, and eliminate pessimism that goes from generation to generation regarding investing

Links:

• Dynamic Map App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dynamic-map/id1498914263
• Website: www.realintelligence360.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dynamic-Map-by-Real-Intelligence-105657214349521/
• Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6wSiopoQ8x4kTUfU09AbkE?si=lLvb3DpIT5GZVAMsSZ-taQ&dl_branch=1

View Details

Is your business struggling with workplace assholes that create an unproductive and stressful work environment? Stuart Long, CEO at InfoBionic, discusses his tactics and technology to disrupt bad employees and promote a positive work space. He shares with us his trademarked culture, TACIT, which consists of trust, accountability, creativity, innovation, and transparency in his business. Learn how Stuart prioritized his employees and made constant changes in order to build a successful business with his cardiac monitoring system.

Takeaways:

• Build a work environment that is centered around achieving results. It’s not about employees who put in the most time, it’s about what the employee accomplishes.
• Create a system for measuring your employees in the workplace in order to minimize asshole workers. Allow your employees to complete peer reviews to gather an understanding of what is going on behind the scenes in your business.
• Be in a constant state of trying to recognize change. Even if change comes with failure, it will lead you to an even bigger success.
• Your business will see the most growth if the company’s objectives and goals are aligned between the employees and the employer.
• It is essential for your business to have honest truth, investors that believe in you in order to grow confidence, and employees that are happy
• Employees need to be able to stick up to their managers. Give your workers an abundance of opportunities to voice their opinions, this builds trust

Links:

• Website: www.infobionic.com
• Email: stuart.long@infobionic.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartelong/