Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional

Our guest today is Jay Charkow, President of International Tariff Management. For several years I’ve been wanting to understand the basics around tariffs. In the New York Times or Wall Street Journal, usually all you get is some very broad statement such as “the Administration has imposed a new round of tariffs on goods imported from China.” I wanted to ask some basic questions: do Americans pay tariffs on goods imported from any country? Does the tariff vary by country? How much are the tariffs, and how are they calculated? Does the tariff vary by the type of good? What if you import some parts, make a good, and then export it? What if you import a part into Mexico, do some processing in Mexico, and then import the good into the US? Do we have trade deals with every country? If not, which ones do we have a deal with? If we don’t have a special deal with the country, how much tariff do we pay? How much tariff do other countries charge when the U.S. exports goods? What are the details behind the Trump trade war with China. In this conversation, Jay answers many of these questions. To learn more about Jay’s firm, visit: https://www.tariffmanagement.com/

Our guest today is Andrea Bonime-Blanc, a leading global expert in the area of risk management, and the author of five books, including the recently published Gloom to Boom: How Leaders Transform Risk Into Resilience and Value. Gloom to Boom expands the traditional risk-management framework of ESG, which stands for environmental, social, and governance risks, by adding technological risks, so the acronym gets expanded to ESGT. In our discussion today we talk about her latest book and her work consulting to Board Directors on risk management. To learn more about her practice, visit https://gecrisk.com/

Our guest today is McKinsey alum Gaurav Bhatnagar. Gaurav is the Founding Partner of Co-Creation Partners, where he leads cultural transformations for his clients.  In this episode, Gaurav explains to me what a cultural transformation is, what you actually look at during a cultural diagnostic, and what sort of tools his firm uses to drive change in an organization’s culture. To learn more about his firm, visit http://www.cocreationpartners.com/

For executives who are thinking about becoming a consultant in a year or two, a time investment of two hours per week now can dramatically improve your chances of success when you launch your practice.

Our guest today is Jim McEachern, an independent consultant who has been working with the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (or ATIS) on developing technology to cut down on robocalls. For years I’ve been wondering why telecommunications companies haven’t done more to eliminate robocalls, so when I saw Jim quoted in a  New York Times article about this work, I reached out to him. I was so pleased that he agreed to be on the show to talk about his work and explain to me how spoofing works and why the existing technology has made it hard to fight robocalls. I also learned a practical tip: whenever I get a robocall, I have been blocking that phone number on my phone. Jim explained to me that I’m probably just wasting my time, since robocallers often use a different spoofed number on each outbound call. In the show notes, you will find a link to the NYT article where I first heard of Jim’s work, a link to the ATIS website that has more info on the protocols Jim discusses on this show, and Jim’s LinkedIn profile https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/technology/personaltech/robocalls-call-blocking.html https://www.atis.org/sti-ga/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-mceachern-9644591/

In this video edition of Unleashed, Michael Sorrentino provides Will Bachman with an introduction to media training.   No one is a natural in front of a videocamera, because you need to speak in an unnatural way and hold yourself in an unnatural position if you want to look normal. If you have invested time and effort to build up your visibility and expect to be appearing on camera, it is a worthwhile investment to obtain media training from a professional so that in your few minutes on screen you make a good impression. (Will Bachman will need a lot more than 1 session.) Michael Sorrentino's studio is located in the heart of Manhattan, and if you are interested in getting training from him for yourself or a member of your team, visit his firm's website: https://www.sorrentinomedia.com/

Our guest today is Liliana Petrova, who runs The Petrova Experience, a consulting firm that helps brands build differentiated experiences and leverage technology to increase customer loyalty, efficiencies and revenue. Liliana was previously the Director of Customer Experience at JetBlue Airways, and on this episode we discuss some of the culture driven behind-the-scenes decisions that set JetBlue apart – including the blue potato chips and the free wifi. Then we discuss some of her more recent work, including an effort to map out and then improve the experience of fans at a sports arena. To learn more about her firm visit thepetrovaexperience.com  Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lilianapetrova/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/LilianaPetrova Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepetrovaexperience/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Petrova-Experience-419743838814954/?view_public_for=419743838814954  

Today's guest is McKinsey alum and Umbrex member Tineke Keesmaat, who is based in Toronto. Tineke’s firm works with ambitious leaders and she is known for her unique blend of world-class strategy, organizational change, and people leadership. Tineke was recently awared with a MacKay Canada CEO’s Trusted Advisor Award, recognizes the contributions that Trusted Advisors make in the leadership field to enable Canadian businesses to succeed. You can learn more about her firm’s work on their website, which is extraordinarily well designed:  http://tiltco.ca/

In my conversations with independent consultants, a common question I get is how to generate more business. There are a lot of things one could POTENTIALLY do to generate more revenue, and some people flail around putting effort into initiatives that may have a low return on investment. Of course we all want to put our time and energy into areas with a relatively high return on investment, and I’ve found that it is useful to break down all the possible factors into what I call the Consulting Revenue Equation. Also check out Episode 221, in which I discuss with David A. Fields some ways to increase your conversion rate.

Our guest today is Michael Ryan, whose headline on LinkedIn is a great example of a fishing line: "Helping B2B Manufacturers Optimize Inventory and Operations to Increase Cash Flow" In this episode, we explore Michael’s work on inventory issues. Michael is certainly in the top 1% of people I know in how he has been using LinkedIn to build a brand. Michael has posted every day on LinkedIn for six months, and his posts are always on-brand, always related to inventory management. In the second half of this show we discuss how Michael has been using LinkedIn, and the impact this investment has had on this business. Definitely check out his profile – it is a fantastic example of someone who really gets LinkedIn and social selling: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isolveproblems/ To learn more about his business, visit www.mryangroup.com