The Business of Meetings 25: Friday Forward with Robert Glazer
We are delighted to have the opportunity to talk to an amazing serial entrepreneur today, Robert (Bob) Glazer. Bob has a passion for helping individuals and organizations build their capacity to outperform. Bob is the founder and CEO of the global partner marketing agency, Acceleration Partners, where the mission is to drive the digital marketing industry to be performance-based and to change the work-life paradigm.
Bob is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for helping individuals and organizations build their capacity and elevate their performance. He started his company remotely, and grew it from 7 to 170 employees in just ten years, in eight different countries! He is with us today to talk about his upcoming book Friday Forward, which launches September 1, 2020 and is about how he made the decision to run his company remotely, and how he uses his unique methods of helping and motivating others. Be sure to join us to hear our fascinating and inspiring discussion!
Bob’s bio
Bob Glazer is the founder and CEO of Acceleration Partners, and the co-founder and Chairman of BrandCycle.
Under his leadership, Acceleration Partners has been recognized as a global leader in the affiliate and partner marketing industry and has received numerous industry and company culture awards, including Glassdoor’s Employees’ Choice Awards for two years, consecutively, Ad Age’s Best Place to Work, Entrepreneur’s Top Company Culture for two years in a row, Inc. Magazine’s Best Place to Work, Great Place to Work & Fortune’s Best Small & Medium Workplaces for three consecutive years, Digiday’s Most Committed to Work-Life Balance, and Boston Globe’s Top Workplaces for three years in a row. Bob was also named to Glassdoor’s list of Top CEO’s of Small and Medium Companies in the US for the past two years.
Bob writes for The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. He is the author of four bestselling books, Elevate, Friday Forward, Performance Partnerships, and How to Make Virtual Teams Work. He hosts the popular Elevate Podcast, and shares his ideas and insights via the newsletter, Friday Forward, which reaches over 200,000 individuals. Additionally, Bob is a regular columnist for Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur Magazine, and he speaks globally to companies and organizations on themes related to business growth, culture, building capacity, and performance.
Bob is a past recipient of the Boston Business Journal’s “40 under 40” award and he is an advisor/board member to several high-growth companies. He serves on the Board of Directors for BUILD Boston, and he has served as a global leader in the Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) and founded The Fifth Night charitable event.
Outside of work, Bob enjoys skiing, cycling, reading, traveling, spending quality time with his family, or overseeing a home renovation project.
An underachiever
Bob was an underachiever during his first seven years at school, and most of his report cards said that although he seemed smart and creative, he did not focus or apply himself.
Bob Glazer’s journey
When he found his way into business and marketing, however, he came to realize that he loved to learn! He became interested in fast-growing companies and entrepreneurship, and he started focusing on marketing and high-growth businesses. He was very entrepreneurial but also very risk-averse. So, although he had some strong opinions, he was not initially willing to put his money where his mouth was.
Leaning into non-conformity
Bob learned to lean into non-conformity. And he found that many of the things that make him successful today are the things he was told he had to fix or change, early on. He later came to understand that he only needed to change the way those things were applied.
Overcoming risk aversion
Once he finally overcame his risk aversion, Bob started to feel more comfortable depending on himself. So, he began to lean into his ideas, embraced diversity, and things started accelerating for him.
Starting two companies
About fourteen years ago, Bob left his last job and started two companies. He found that way more exciting than helping someone else grow their high-growth business. And he realized that although he enjoyed working in high-growth companies, he loved growing his own company more.
About Acceleration Partners
Acceleration Partners represents brands in the performance and partner affiliate marketing industry. It helps companies build affiliate programs, which are programs where brands partner with people in a similar way to digital business development instead of paying for a click or impression, they pay for an outcome.
About BrandCycle
BrandCycle has a smarter, more consolidated, user-friendly platform that removes the pain points from affiliate partnerships. While building Acceleration Partners, Bob saw an opportunity to represent brand partners. So, he started another separate company called BrandCycle, with the idea of gaining some traction with partners.
Some overlap
It was a successful venture, and even though there is a slight overlap between Acceleration Partners and BrandCycle, BrandCycle works with hundreds of brands that Acceleration Partner does not have as clients. Brand Cycle continues to grow as the demand in the industry increases.
Work/Life Balance?
Bob doesn’t believe in work/life balance. He says if you are looking for a work/life balance, you will always be disappointed. Bob uses an integrated approach to do many things simultaneously. Bob references Mark Zuckerberg’s sister, Randi Zuckerberg, who says she can’t focus and balance all things each day. Don’t do things half in and half out. Bob tells employees to focus 100% while at work and when home give your all there.
Bob’s New Book, Friday Forward
Bob’s latest book provides the inspiration needed to make meaningful, lasting changes in your life, and help others do the same. Featuring 52 inspiring stories, Friday Forward is a year’s worth of inspiration in one book. It can be bought anyplace books are sold and will come out on September 1, 2020.
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