SPEAK LIKE A CEO

Double Dynamite: Today’s episode features two entrepreneurs solving the biggest pain points for #freelancers: finding customers and managing finances. And to do this successfully, sustainably and on scale, both have built highly engaged communities. We talk to Vincent Huguet, Co-CEO and founder of Malt, an Airbnb-style marketplace that connects employers and freelancers across Europe, and Christopher Plantener, serial #entrepreneur, currently founder and CEO of Kontist, a banking solution for #freelancers that makes taxes easy. Eight companies ago, Christopher wrote his master thesis on communities and since then knows that to build a scalable community you need more than Google Adwords: you need time and patience. Vincent had the Airbnb founder team crashing on his couch back in 2009 when they were in Paris to meet with their community. This spirit has inspired @Malt from the get-go. Tune into this episode to get: 🪜 Key steps and all the lessons about how to build community to scale your business 👩🏽‍💻 Insights into the freelance sector 🎤 Tips to create an effective yet fun working environment and to fire up your team spirits (spoiler: involves Karaoke and danish drinking songs) Connect with Oliver Aust and Lena Carlson on LinkedIn. If you like the episode, please leave a five-star review on Apple podcasts and share with people, who might profit from the insights. Thank you!

How can I inspire as a CEO? How do I communicate in an age-diverse company environment? And do female CEOs face other communication challenges than their male colleagues? Irina Crisan, founder and president of the WHU Women in Business Club invited Oliver to answer these and more questions in depth in today’s special episode: the recording of a #StartTheConversation event from the Women in Business community at the WHU - the Otto Beisheim School of Management. After a brief introduction into the backstory of how the podcast Speak like a CEO came about and why communications is a hard skill, Oliver talks about the nine steps needed to successfully communicate as a leader. Then Oliver answers the student’s questions: As a junior, how can I effectively speak to a CEO? (00:30) How can a CEO inspire the team to execute the company’s vision and mission? (00:32) How can I ensure successful communication while maintaining my authenticity? (00:36) How can I effectively communicate as a female leader? (00:40) How can we communicate our personal values, even if they do not align with the company value priorities? (00:44) How do you get the CEO to see the long-term win of innovative ideas? (00:48) What tips does Oliver have to deal with the German failure culture? (00:51) How much time should one invest to become a great speaker and where do you start? (00:56) How do you communicate with coworkers that have a great age difference? (01:00) How to communicate as an introvert CEO? (01:02) When you enter a company to build a new department, how do you communicate with the other heads of department? (01:05) How can you establish a reputation at the beginning of your career to set the stage to becoming a leader? (01:06) How do you pitch your own topics as a junior to become visible at the leadership level? (01:08) How do decide, who to send in front of the camera: is it always the person who has the best communication skills? (01:11) Watch the whole event on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d48UtkLHOfQ You can download the e-book - From Business to Thought-Leader in Nine Steps - mentioned in the episode here: https://www.oliveraust.com/from-business-leader-to-thought-leader If you have feedback or questions, get in touch with Oliver: oliver@oliveraust.com

Amy Wilkinson is a lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business, a bestselling author, keynote speaker and former White House advisor. She is also the founder and CEO of global innovation company Ingenuity and Chair of the Board of Grover. We reached out to Amy because we are truly enjoyed her excellent and extremely well-researched book “The Creators Code“ for which she interviewed 200 high-growth entrepreneurs from Elon Musk to the founders of Airbnb, PayPal and LinkedIn. In our interview, she explains which 6 essential skills extraordinary entrepreneurs have and how they apply it to communications. Tune into this insightful episode to: 💪🏽 Get actionable ways to rock communications like an entrepreneur 🦻🏼 Hear what separates high-growth start-ups from corporates in communication 🏆 And why mistakes, if communicated in the right way, do not set you up for failure. If you like the episode, please leave a five-star review on Apple podcasts and share with people, who might profit from the insights. Thank you!

Robert Klanten, founder and CEO of gestalten, has been a key figure in the global creative industry for more than a quarter of a century. gestalten collaborates with the biggest names in the creative world and is known and loved by millions around the globe for its iconic illustrated books. In this wide-ranging episode Robert talks about books, the changing nature of creativity and his secrets to building a globally recognised and respected brand. Tune in to find out more about: 📚 What makes books such valuable medium of communication even though the end of print has been proclaimed many times 🎤 How to be a digital force with over 200k followers on social media 🇺🇸 The key to breaking into the US market as a German company 🎨 How the world is shaping creativity and creativity is shaping the world All of this and more on Speak Like A CEO, and if you enjoy, please leave a 5-star review and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

For top management working with a coach is the norm. The platform Sharpist makes this possible for others in an organisation, so that the entire corporate culture can change for the better. The Berlin-based startup uses artificial intelligence to match managers with coaches. Founder Hendrik Schriefer came up with the idea while working on his master's thesis at Oxford University. The psychology graduate (and later HR manager at Rocket Internet) investigated how personal contact helps with learning progress. He found that people without a coach performed worse than those with human help. Now he helps knowledge workers and organisations improve their performance and well-being at scale. In this episode we talk about: 🥎 How soft skills are finding more recognition in leadership. 📣 Get insights into what Sharpist is doing to spread the word globally 💸 And his secret on how to get investors on your page. All of this and more on Speak Like A CEO, and if you enjoy, please leave a 5-star review and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Her company is set to become Germany's first female-led unicorn. Eva-Maria Meijnen is the co-CEO of PlusDental. The Berlin-based start-up has digitalised the entire dental correction process: from making the appointment to planning the treatment, from follow-up checks to billing, each step is carried out on their self-developed digital dentistry platform. The goal is to make tooth straightening available to everyone at a reasonable price. PlusDental already has a presence in eight European countries and will now accelerate growth even further. Investors have recently invested millions, including World Cup football star Mario Götze. So Eva is well on her way to leading a billion euro company. In this episode, she talks all about her communication style. Tune in to find out more about: 🎳 How communication works in a team of three CEOs. 🎨 How to prepare for new market entries from a communications perspective. 🎤 How the consumer research the message-market-fit differs from country to country 🎯 How recruiting a quickly expanding team and talking to investors works during a pandemic and ⚽️ If it is helpful to have a big name among the investors. All of this and more on Speak Like A CEO, and if you enjoy, please leave a 5-star review and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

How to Become a Thought Leader: The 9 Steps to Level Up Your Communication Game and Become Unignorable. Traditional paths of corporate communications and public relations do not have the same impact as they did yesterday. Oliver prepared an episode for you packed with the information you need to turn yourself into a leading voice in your industry. Why is becoming a thought leader essential for business leaders today? Who can become a thought leader? And what exactly is a thought leader? These are questions, Oliver answers before giving you the nine steps from business to thought leadership. The nine steps to stand out in business today are: 1.  Know your strategy (4:10) 2.  Develop your narrative (6:22) 3.  Perform a digital makeover (7:56) 4.  Chose your platform (10:44) 5.  Craft your signature talk (13:23) 6.  Gain visibility (15:06) 7.  Inspire internally (16:06) 8.  Protect yourself (17:57) 9.  Become unignorable (19:43) You can download the e-book to the episode here: https://www.oliveraust.com/from-business-leader-to-thought-leader If you have feedback or questions, get in touch with me! oliver@oliveraust.com

You can directly improve your brain function with supplements, and Fabian Foelsch is here to tell us all about it. Fabian is the CEO and founder of BRAINEFFECT, which produces science-based natural supplements focused on improving sleep, well-being, concentration and energy. Combining a top product with educational communications, BRAINEFFECT helps costumers navigate the new world of supplements. Their message focuses on the effect rather than on the ingredients, because most costumers don’t have time to learn about all things nutrition before getting a good night sleep. By using essential communications tools and techniques, like social media, influencer marketing and digital events, BRAINEFFECT has built a strong community and reaches over 1 million hits on its digital magazine every month. Tune in to hear Lena and Oliver talking with Fabian Foelsch about: ·  How his leadership is driven by communications ·  How Fabian puts an emphasis on educating his customers about nutrition and well-being ·  How the company’s digital magazine reaches over 1 million hits a month with its content about well-being ·  How to combine physical products and digital coaching ------------------------ Did you enjoy this episode of SLACEO? Let us know what you think on our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can also email me at hello@oliveraust.com. If you want to learn how to build an unignorable personal brand in 30 days, check out my latest book Unignorable on oliveraust.com.

Tech is the fashion industry’s new avant-garde, and Anna Franziska Michel is its ambassador. Anna Franziska Michel is the CEO and Founder of Yoona, an AI-based technology that creates “objective fashion design”, or in other words, design that is proved to sell based on data. “This is a total revolution”, she says. “By creating optimal designs, we reduce time, cost, as well as waste – which allows us to use that time to explore our own creativity”. If designers don’t tend to listen to techies, they listen to other designers, which is why Anna Franziska is the perfect ambassador for her brand – as she is a designer by profession, and a machine-learning specialist by practice. As a winner of several awards, an international CEO working with high-flying clients, and a visionary backed by investors such as TechStars, she wants Yoona to be the Tesla of the fashion world – and something tells us that she will succeed. Tune in to hear Lena and Oliver talking with Anna Franziska about: ·  How she got top notch clients on her side ·  Her plans for Yoona’s international expansion ·  Her vision for the future of fashion ·  What kind of communication helps build strong bonds of trust ------------------------ Did you enjoy this episode of SLACEO? Let us know what you think on our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can also email me at hello@oliveraust.com. If you want to learn how to build an unignorable personal brand in 30 days, check out my latest book Unignorable on oliveraust.com.

How does Bruce Lee inspire a company with over $500M under management? And where does social action find its place in venture capitalism? Rainer Berak, operating partner and managing director of Project A Ventures, has all the answers. Having worked from FIFA to Adidas, and as proud members of Leaders for Climate Action, Rainer is a fount of ideas. His company, Project A Ventures, is an operational VC company which helps companies to fix any possible blind spot they may have. Rainer talks to us today about the agility that makes his company thrive. He tells us about his business philosophy, modelled directly around Lee‘s famous words “Be water, my friend”, and describes his vision of climate action and diversity. Tune in to hear more about Lena and Oliver talking with Rainer about: ·  How to build an authentic, non-engineered approach to communications ·  How Project A Ventures commits to social action ·  How Rainer tailors personal branding strategies to each founder he works with ·  How in Covid times, thought-leadership has never been easier ------ Did you enjoy this episode of SLACEO? Let us know what you think on our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can also email me at hello@oliveraust.com. If you want to learn how to build an unignorable personal brand in 30 days, check out my latest book Unignorable on oliveraust.com.