Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional

Show Notes: Will Bachman talks to Ammad Ahmad, founder and managing director of Atheneum, a top global expert network that works with management consulting firms and provides access to niche industry experts, and offers research as a service (RaaS). These experts have spent 20-25 years in a particular function or industry and can provide tacit knowledge and insights from industries. They help clients understand challenges when implementing AI-related solutions in healthcare, due diligence cases, or when a PE firm is looking to make an investment. Atheneum has about 11 offices across the world, ranging from San Francisco to Tokyo, with roughly 500-600 SDEs around the world, and they offer one-to-one expert calls, surveys, quantitative surveys, and reports. The majority of their business comes from the expert session side, where many clients want to meet the experts in person. Ammad started the firm in 2010 after working as a management consultant in Washington, DC. As a management consultant, a large part of his work was research and sourcing expert networks, and vetting the experts. When he moved to Germany, he contacted former colleagues from the consulting arena and suggested setting up a firm to help consulting firms access the industry experts they needed with the primary research required for each project. Founding and Scaling Atheneum Ammad and his co-founder Mathias set up in an incubator where they had access to laptops and interns and were able to get down to business. By week two they had secured projects from their old consulting firms. Every week they were getting requests for experts in Europe or the emerging markets. As time went on, word of mouth spread and they earned more and more clients. Today, Atheneum works with all of the top 10 management consulting firms, many private equity and corporates, and pharmaceutical companies. Atheneum's core focus areas include healthcare, with offices in New York, San Francisco, Santiago, Berlin, London, Lahore, Pakistan, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Korea. When they were setting up their firm, they found that there was a lack of insight and intelligence into many of those ex-U.S. markets. They recruit experts in the local language. They custom recruit on many projects. This allows them to better screen for quality and match experts for clients, and the expert database themselves are fresh and engaged, and meet requests in new markets. When COVID hit they were inundated with requests for experts which enabled them to differentiate and scale. Managing Client Relations Ammad discusses the importance of staying ahead of client needs and staying informed about their needs. He suggests that independent consultants should stay in front of clients and work hard to understand their needs and provide them with good solutions. He shares his thoughts on staying agile in solutions and products and on top of clients' needs. He believes that staying ahead of client needs and keeping them informed of possible problems and solutions they may face is crucial for a successful go-to-market plan. This can be achieved through thought leadership pieces, informal meetings, or casual notes about industry trends. This helps the firm be perceived as knowledgeable, has the network and relationships that can offer support, and willing to go the extra mile. Using AI in Sourcing Experts Ammad believes it's too early to tell how AI can help companies and expert networks, but he does mention that Ai can help provide better quality matches to clients, to ensure the expert is who they say they are, and perform better screening. AI can also be used internally to find the best experts in their network by using semantic search and searching through a broad array of research resources on a larger scale that allows the firm to build a larger network. Ammad's firm provides interview training to many clients, guiding them on how to conduct expert interviews, what to look for, and how to gather and triangulate data. He emphasizes the importance of researching the individual and providing guidance on the types of queries that may come up during a conversation. He discusses the increasing trend in questions and trends in different industries, such as AI in healthcare, ESG, and broad use cases of AI in industries such as automotive. He mentions that, over the last decade, corporates have started utilizing external resources for short-term project needs. This shift is driven by the need to innovate across various industries and seek external insight and information. Managerial and Leadership Skills When it comes to managerial and leadership skills, Ammad emphasizes the importance of understanding people's motivations and incentivizing them correctly. He believes that providing context and transparency around decision-making is crucial for helping moving people together within the firm. In his morning routine, Ammad wakes up early and takes advantage of the quiet and head space to organize his thoughts and think about what he has to do. He spends time observing the world outside his window, which provides context and puts things into perspective. It's a time to reflect on what he is doing and how to move forward. He also disconnects from Outlook, which allows him to focus on tasks and research. This practice helps him stay focused and avoid distractions. Timestamps: 01:52 Expert network and consulting firm Athenian Partners 03:11 Growing a consulting firm, go-to-market strategies, and client retention 11:18 AI's impact on expert networks and internal use of AI for better matches 15:14 Expert networks, interviewing, and industry trends 21:02 Leadership, productivity, and decision-making with Athenian CEO Links: Website: www.atheneum.ai Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes: In this episode of Unleashed, Will Bachman interviews Nancy Mackay, founder of MacKay CEO Forums (MC ACO), a peer advisory group that provides confidential peer support groups for CEOs and business owners across Canada. The group aims to populate the world with inspiring leaders by offering confidential peer support groups to hundreds of members. Nancy states that, in today's challenging fast-paced business-world, and with a growing mental-health crisis, leaders need more peer support and trusted advisors. The Mackay community includes over 1200 CEOs, executives, and business owners from various industries across Canada, participating in over 114 person peer learning groups. Over 60 consultants have been trained and certified to offer peer learning support to members, and the leadership team is focused on supporting form Chairs who offer peer learning support. Nancy started her group over fifteen years ago and still Chairs the group. Her group has 14 CEOs from various industries, with revenue sizes ranging from 5 million to 5 billion plus. Most of the groups are for entrepreneurial, privately held individuals who want to grow their businesses. The meetings are confidential, non-competitive, and require six meetings a year for a day, and they hold a 2-day annual retreat. Each meeting features a one-hour speaker, followed by confidential updates where CEOs discuss their biggest issues, challenges, and opportunities related to business, family, and personal. They place issues they want help with on the table, and after the issues are discussed, the group encourages sharing experiences. A Forum that Helps CEOs One of the biggest objections to joining a peer group is the lack of time. However, the reality is that everyone can make time, and having a group of 14 CEOs with a growth mindset can save time and provide support for all issues, including business, family, and personal. All the forum Chairs at MacKay are modern, trusted advisors with extensive experience working with CEOs, executives, and business owners, playing a crucial role in Chairing meetings and retreats, creating a confidential space for CEOs and executives to be vulnerable and succeed in their careers without sacrificing their health and important personal and family relationships. Nancy shares examples of how peer groups have helped individuals navigate their transitions, such as selling their business, scaling their business, finding talent, and recession and succession planning. Nancy highlights the importance of segmenting peer groups, with specific groups catering to different types of CEOs, CFOs, HR Rows, and cross-functional executives. These groups ensure that each member's background experience is taken into account, ensuring that everyone is a best fit for the group. The group also address personal and family issues, allowing members to discuss their challenges and successes without sacrificing their health or family relationships. Members can build lifelong friendships and support networks to help them navigate their careers and personal lives. Three Tips to Being an Effective Chair of a Peer Learning Group To be an effective Chair of a peer learning group, Nancy shares three key tips: not being the "star in the room", it should be all about the members. The second tip is to ensure that you create a space of vulnerability where members can share their experiences and mistakes, and remembering that no-one is the "smartest person in the room." The leadership philosophy is about judgment-free and sharing experiences, helping CEOs and executives become masterful at telling stories and being vulnerable; the third tip is to remember that being a Chair is focused on helping people and not just being nice. It's more about challenging them and holding them accountable. In conclusion, peer learning support provides valuable advice and mindset shifts for CEOs and executives, helping them navigate their transitions, find talent, and build successful cultures. By taking a step back and focusing on the members, Chair members can create a supportive environment for their peers and achieve success in their respective fields. Nancy explains who could apply to become a Chair with the organization. Chairs must have had their own independent consulting practice for at least three years and have over 18 years of experience working with CEOs, executives, and business owners from various industries. The most successful Chairs are partnering with the MacKay CEO Forums and signing up for their certification program to build world-class peer learning groups for CEOs and executives. The MacKay CEO Forums have launched over 100 groups and are constantly evolving and improving. The best fit Chairs have a proven roadmap to success on how to build these groups and achieve Chair mastery. The certification program is experiential learning, not a bootcamp approach, and includes one-on-one coaching, pure learning on a weekly basis, observation, co-Chairing, and they can move on to the Chair Mastery program. Nancy explains the benefits to joining the MacKay CEO Forums, which provides access to current, relevant, and high-level information through access to a peer group, an annual summit, conferences, content, and expand their business network. In summary, it provides connectivity across forums. Being part of the broader network of the MacKay CEO Forums provides a proven roadmap to success. Forum Chairs are highly rated speakers with MacKay CEO Forums, making it a lucrative opportunity for members to expand their business network and engage with people in the community. The Origin Story of MacKay CEO Forums Nancy shares the story behind founding the company. She was invited to speak at a CEO peer group meeting in Vancouver. She was the first female speaker invited into the CEO group, and after her presentation, the Chair asked her if she'd like to become the forum Chair. This was at a time when they didn't let women in. However, Nancy instigated the progression to allowing women into the forum. The organization has since grown to include multiple forums and an institution that supports successful consultants and business leaders. MacKay CEO Forums is a beneficial corporation. It takes a stand on diversity, equality, and inclusion. For the first five years, she ran the business together with her husband and business partner. She decided that the world needed more peer support and focused on building ten of these CEO groups across Canada. The goal is to populate the world with inspiring leaders, to find other like-minded consultants who have a passion for helping business leaders, and she wants to help them achieve success with their business. They are currently on the path to having 10,000 members across the world. The MacKay peer learning group for business leaders is primarily based in Canada. They have a Chair capability assessment that allows individuals to self-assess their suitability for the role. The forum is currently looking to partner with consultants based in BC, Alberta, and Ontario as its primary areas for growth over the next year. Common Mistakes Consultants Make Nancy shares the common errors consultants make and emphasizes the importance of sharing experiences and stories, rather than giving advice or telling people what to do. This creates a space for a different approach to influencing and creates more inspiration for people to take action. The forum's leadership philosophy includes the Mackay Mastery Model for Inspired Leadership, which focuses on inspiring oneself every day. Chairs are trained in time mastery, Eagle mastery, passion, mastering innovation, mastery, social contribution, mastery, and Health Mastery. To keep meetings on track, Chairs should use the right language when a conversation feels meandering or getting off track. They should start and end on time, respect people's time, and be intentional about how they spend their time. Time mastery and goal setting are part of the organization's culture, and members expect the Chair to use a timer during peer group meetings. For those interested in learning more about the forum, contact Nancy directly at Mackay CEO forums.com or visit their website. Timestamps: 01:11 CEO peer support groups in Canada 04:48 Leadership, business growth, and personal development for CEOs and executives 11:12 Running effective peer learning groups for executives 17:51 Building and leading peer learning groups for CEOs 23:41 Starting and scaling a peer learning group for CEOs 29:32 Leadership philosophy and effective meetings Links: Website: MackayCEOForums.com. CONTACT INFO: Email: Nancy@mackayceoforums.com Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

In this episode of Unleashed, Will Bachman and Pam Fox Rollin, author of Growing Groups into Teams, discuss the concept of a team and its benefits. Pam opens the conversation by defining what a team is. She emphasizes the importance of a shared promise and a commitment to coordinate to fulfill that promise. A team is not just a group of people who report to the same people but are a group of people who are committed to accomplishing a shared goal for their customers, whether internal or external. Pam also discusses the challenges faced by executive teams, where they may not be a team at all. For example, if a sales team is independent and not collaborating with other departments, it may not be considered a team. Instead, the best teams are clear on their promises and partner with each other to achieve them. The Importance of Diversity in Team Building Pam reveals what common beliefs about teams she disagrees with. She shares research on diverse teams and why it's not always productive to work with the smartest people. Pam emphasizes the importance of diversity of thought and cognitive diversity on a team. She explains that diversity doesn't necessarily mean being smart or not smart, but rather diversity of thought and perspective. This can come from different undergraduate majors, cultures, and cognitive backgrounds. Racial and gender diversity is also important, as it helps to create a more inclusive team environment. For example, women are more perceptive about power structures, while people of color are more perceptive about power structures. Responsibility and Accountability in a Team The conversation shifts to the concept of responsibility and accountability. Pam believes that responsibility involves taking a promise seriously and taking responsibility for the success of an event. This includes ensuring that everyone on the team understands what success looks like and can communicate with others when necessary. However, there are some problems with accountability, such as not being accountable to a promise you never made or not being able to recover the promise. In conclusion, diverse teams are essential for success in various industries, including sales, marketing, customer service, engineering, and more. They also require a balance between responsibility and accountability, as well as a willingness to learn and grow from each other. By embracing these values, teams can create a more inclusive and effective workplace environment. Pam talks about a chapter in her book, "When the Team You Need Doesn't Exist" and goes on to share a unique story of working with teams to diagnose issues and help them improve. She started her career at Bain and Company, where she met the people at Accenture's Healthcare Strategy Group. She fast-tracked to an associate partner, got married, decided to leave her job and become an executive coach. Altus Growth Partners Pam shares the genesis of Altus Growth Partners. The firm runs various engagements, including executive team work. Much of Pam's work takes place during a big change to the business, such as an acquisition or a new CEO. This opportunity allows the executive team to restructure their work and set new guidance for the organization. The practical work involves working with the executive team as their coach, often working directly with the CEO. Altus Growth Partners has been in the process of transforming from solo practitioners to a team, working on decision-making processes and building teams at various levels. She shares a case example when Altus worked with a healthcare organization with a new CEO coming in. Coaching for Organizational Development Pam emphasizes the importance of rigor and a model in coaching and the saying that "low trust leads to slow change" in organizational development. Trust is critical for decision making, and building trust starts with oneself. Pam shares a chapter about a CEO blocking team success, where she discovered that her job was to ensure everyone was on the same page about the promise, where they are going, what they're part of, and what they're accountable for. She also emphasizes the importance of delegating and getting people on a path to a common promise, rather than pretending to know more than they know. The conversation then moves to the topic of leadership, and discussing the book "Growing Groups into Teams". The book is about real-life stories of people who get results and thrive together. Timestamps: 00:15 Team definitions and common misconceptions 04:59 Team diversity and its impact on project success 09:37 Team dynamics, diversity, and accountability 17:23 Career transition and teamwork in consulting industry 21:31 Leadership development and team coaching for a healthcare organization 26:54 Building trust and decision-making in teams Links: The Company Website: https://altusgrowth.com/ The Book: Growing Groups into Teams CONTACT INFO: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamfoxrollin/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

David A. Fields, an expert in working with industry associations and other groups, discusses the value of trade associations as a source of prospects. He also talks about connecting with visibility partners, such as data providers and podcast hosts, to raise your profile. Tips for maximizing industry conferences and working with executive recruiters in consulting are also shared.

Show Notes Davina Stanley, a consultant and author, has recently published the book Elevate: How to Lift the Quality of Thinking in Your Team's Board Papers without Rewriting them yourself. She spent 15 years at McKinsey and coached consultants for 15 years. Her core work involves understanding the stakeholder environment and structuring messages based on the Minto pyramid principle. She brings her public relations and communications background, McKinsey Consulting experience, and her original background as a kindergarten teacher together to help people engage senior leaders and boards. ClarityFirst Communication Program Davina works with mid to senior level executives, often one-on-one or in small groups. She typically works with groups of 15 to 25 people. She helps build skills by giving them homework to do and working through the process together. She talks about how she works with senior executives and how she offers a structured program that can be tailored to budgets and ambitions. For groups with technical backgrounds with a fairly modest project, she might offer a three-hour workshop where they work through the process together and think through summarizing and synthesizing data and context. For groups with deep technical backgrounds, she might offer a six-week workshop with learning in advance. This allows the group to practice and learn, ask questions, and interact with the material. She explains how she structures the courses, why she adopted the drip model, and why she started teaching online. Davina currently offers books and online courses as preparatory work for people to use in their own work. Rise. Ready. Iterate. Settle Embed. Davina identifies key points that people should take away from her sessions. She focuses on two streams of work: collaborating to get the final messaging and document right, and getting the actual messaging right itself. She emphasizes the importance of clarity and quality of insight in structuring messages, beginning with understanding who this is for and what the core message is. Davina suggests that one message per slide should be embedded in the title of the slide, and other key lessons to be learned include understanding the stakeholder environment, getting ready to understand the communication strategy, iterating around the message as a one-pager to nail it with stakeholders, settling the document, and embedding learnings form both the process and outcome Clear Communication Skills for Leaders Davina's book, Elevate, helps leaders build their own foundations in understanding the importance of clear communication. She suggests that leaders should build their own foundations by thinking differently about their communication, lifting their own skills, and elevating the team. She talks about the importance of leadership involvement in building quality communication. She states that leaders should first lay foundations by understanding why it matters and learning their own approach to building clear communication. Davina defines the skills that she'd like participants to take away from her course, and how she helps them through the course. Davina talks about the design of her book. She wanted to create a visually appealing book that reflected her teaching principles and was designed with a clear vision in mind. Her goal was to create a book that was user-friendly, with plenty of whitespace and a mix of slide design, PowerPoint design, and book design. The book's shape was designed to be both visually appealing and easy to read. The book's layout was a mix of slide design, PowerPoint design, and book design, with a focus on illustrating concepts and making them relatable to readers. The portability of online books is important for the visceral experience of having a book, but she also believes that physical books are wonderful for having something on their desk as a reference. She talks about the difference between typesetting and book design. Her first book, The SoWhat Strategy, was written with Jared Castles and is targeted at senior leaders and boards, focusing on more complex stories. Davina has built a list of 10,000 email addresses through her marketing coach, who helped her learn Facebook techniques. She has kept building this list and has been sending out weekly emails to help people with their communication. She talks about the emailing system and tools she uses to link systems together and create online modules. For listeners interested in learning more about her practice, Devina suggests visiting clarityfirstprogram.com, which offers various resources, such as her podcast, Cutting Through, and her free course, Emails Basic. To subscribe to her thinking, visitors can visit the website and sign up. Timestamps: 01:53 Working with leaders 02:22 How Davina's coaching business serves executives 06:51 The process of preparing for a coaching session 11:26 The structure of a good communication plan 16:43 Embedding the operating rhythm 21:37 How the book was designed with the user in mind 31:49 Davina's email marketing strategy Links: Website: https://clarityfirstprogram.com/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Show Notes: In this episode of Unleashed, Dr. Michelle Drapkin, author of The Motivational Interviewing Path to Personal Change: The Essential Workbook for Creating the Life You Want, discusses her book and her work as a Board Certified Clinical Psychologist and behavioral scientist, focusing on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Michelle is known for her work at Johnson and Johnson and the Veterans Administration, and she shares science-based techniques on how to change behaviors beyond intuition or folk knowledge. CBT and Motivation Michelle explains cognitive behavioral therapy and her motivational interview technique. Her area of focus within psychology is the common sense approach of using intrinsic motivation to drive behavior change that aligns with an individual's values and goals. She also emphasizes the importance of aligning these values and goals with the context of the organization. Michelle addresses myths about what motivates people and how to overcome them. One myth is that simply telling people what to do is enough, but it's not always the case and doesn't always endure. She also discusses the importance of fostering a supportive environment and setting clear expectations. She believes that a supportive environment can help individuals feel more comfortable and confident in their decisions, leading to more effective behavior change. Discussing the McKinsey Change Model Will and Michelle discuss the McKinsey change model, which consists of four parts: understanding and skills, commitment, leadership modeling, and accountability. They agree the McKinsey model is mostly right, but Michelle also mentions the missing motivation component. She talks about the Combi model, which combines capability, opportunity, and motivation to achieve behavior change. However, the accountability mechanism and measurement are missing in the McKinsey model. She offers an example to prove the point. She suggests that the McKinsey model might not be the best fit for organizations, as it may not be suitable for adopting new habits or habits that require a different approach. She suggests using motivational interviewing, which is a more compassionate and empathic approach that helps people connect with their internal intrinsic motivation to change. Michelle explains what motivational interviewing is and how it was developed 40 years ago as an alternative to confrontational approaches in the addictions field. It is a gentle, compassionate approach that meets someone where they are at and helps them connect with their internal intrinsic motivation to change. By using motivational interviewing, organizations can help individuals change behaviors for themselves or at least for their own benefit. Michelle talks about the importance of self-compassion, the best-self, and various exercises and strategies for enhancing team alignment and organizational effectiveness. She suggests exercises on how to connect with the best-self and emphasizes the importance of motivational interviewing in behavior change, as it encourages people to talk about their reasons for change and commitment to change. This has been scientifically proven to result in the change. How to Prioritize Values She discusses the importance of prioritizing values, which can be challenging to identify. She suggests that individuals should first identify their values and then narrow them down to about 10, and then prioritize one value. This offers a map to their North star(s). These are the building block to purpose, and helps in making decisions about how to manage competing values and navigate conflicts. She talks about the importance of recognizing and valuing different aspects of an individual's life, such as their time and family, and how they can prioritize these aspects. They emphasize the importance of understanding and valuing different aspects of oneself to better understand and manage competing values. By focusing on positive experiences and addressing barriers, individuals can become more likely to make changes and improve their overall well-being. Michelle talks about chapter two in her book which focuses on finding their why which leads to the what. She helps them identify and prioritize what they want to focus on driving towards before identifying what needs to change. She moves on to explain how she motivates change and introduces the process to consolidate motivation to make change and then commit to the action. She stresses that this approach is not telling people why they should, convincing, persuading or cheerleading. What Is Motivational Interviewing The concept of motivational interviewing (MI) and its four components: focusing on motivation, consolidating motivation, consolidating commitment, and empowering employees. MI is different from other approaches as it is not persuasive but rather evokes motivation from inside the individual. It is important to consider the individual's needs and desires when making changes, as well as their ability and skills to achieve the change. MI can be applied to various settings, such as clinical settings or organizations where an individual is nested within an organization. The spirit of MI, which includes compassion, acceptance of autonomy, partnership, and empowerment, is crucial to understand. MI emphasizes the importance of recognizing that everyone is their own person with their own background. This is especially important in an organization where diversity and inclusion are becoming more important. By helping employees change in a way that aligns with their values and goals, leaders can help them improve, or find a new role, or exit the organization gracefully. MI can be complicated, but it can be done by being collaborative, and transparent in discussing the changes with team members. By focusing on specific areas of struggle and addressing any wiggle room, leaders can help employees find a solution that aligns with their values and goals. Michelle talks about why transformation efforts often fail within organizations. She mentions the assumption that change will just happen is not enough to enact change, and that communication with the team may be lacking or lack in engagement and empowerment. She also mentions common mistakes that leaders make when addressing the team. Timestamps: 00:05 What is cognitive behavioral therapy? 06:40 Mckinsey's four part model 09:31 Accountability mechanisms and motivation 14:07 How to determine your best self 19:09 Categorize your values into categories 21:50 Knowing your values and prioritizing 26:02 How to get started on making a change 31:23 Common characteristics of why transformation efforts fail 35:30 The importance of reflecting on your change Links: Book - https://a.co/d/4UbNT5h Website - http://drdrapkin.com/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelledrapkin/ CONTACT INFO: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelledrapkin/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

Joe Pope, Partner and Director of Business Development at Hinge Marketing, discusses the importance of understanding target audiences in cold outreach. He shares tips on social media cadence, marketing strategies, and tailoring messages to specific needs. Joe provides an example of expanding client circles for independent consultants and emphasizes the use of LinkedIn for valuable connections. The podcast also covers strategies for subject lines and email length, optimal wait time for emails, effective follow-up approaches, and successful cold outreach strategies.

Richard Langlois, author of The Corporation and the 20th Century, discusses the transition to multi-unit businesses, antitrust regulations, and the impact of the depression on financial institutions. He explores the success of large corporations, illegal contracts with beneficial outcomes, the evolution of holding companies, and recommended biographies of influential business executives. The podcast also touches on the gold and silver standard debate and its impact on the US economy.

Jon Cobb, a LinkedIn expert, shares his unique style of posts, which are short, concise, and impactful. His biggest post this year has received 236,000 likes and almost 18 million impressions. It highlights the importance of leadership and culture change, which resonates with many people due to the timing of layoffs and the appreciation for empathetic leadership. Jon also shares a few of the most popular posts, including one that emphasizes hiring someone with the right mindset over someone with the right resume, emphasizing the importance of understanding the motivations behind an individual's interest in a job. He shares posts that suggest people should focus on long-term growth opportunities rather than just the most lucrative job offers. Jon talks about his company called Jon Cobb Coaching, and an app he built called the Job Search Boot Camp. The app helps people identify mistakes they might be making in their job search process and adopt a more strategic approach. He advises people to step back, think more strategically about their job search, and focus on networking before applying. He encourages people to apply for companies they truly want to work for, as this will lead to a full-quality application. Jon's app includes an audio course that walks people through these stages, such as networking correctly, reaching out to new connections on LinkedIn, building a compelling resume, and interviewing effectively. By following this structured approach, people can increase their chances of success and happiness in the long run. Job Search Boot Camp offers resources, resume templates, cover letter templates, negotiation letter templates, and a community forum for users to connect with the author. The course is affordable and designed to help people get hired faster and make more. He left Deloitte consulting a few years ago and focussed on business consulting. He works with people across different elements of their life and challenges they face. He now runs a life coaching practice, helping entrepreneurs, relationship challenges, and developing a mindset of success, and career coaching is a significant part of this practice. Best Practices on LinkedIn Posts Jon's approach to LinkedIn posting began with posting on topics that matter to him. He has found that success involves trial and error, experimentation, and understanding what matters to you. He began posting about work culture and personal and professional progress, and over time, refined his voice by focusing on what mattered to him. He found that the overlap between what he cared about and what he had to offer was what resonated with people who appreciated it. When he committed to posting, he started using square image posts with quotes, which are thought graphics that are larger than text. This allows for more real estate on the LinkedIn scroll feed and makes it easier for people to read what they have to say. Additionally, making the idea or thought easy for people to quickly identify with is crucial. LinkedIn is not the place for long, complicated posts, but it is not as limited as Twitter, so it is important to make it easy for people to like, react, leave comments, or follow the author quickly. Jon shares how posting on LinkedIn has helped him grow his following. He tried different formats and polls. His goal is to post twice a day, but sometimes misses days due to lack of inspiration or commitment. Consistency is a key aspect of success, but it's not the number one priority in his life. Jon emphasizes the importance of nurturing posts and responding to comments within the first hour after posting. The first 20 minutes are the most important and recognised by the algorithms. He sets aside an hour after the post goes live to interact and respond to people, as the algorithm evaluates how much people are interested in your post. To avoid LinkedIn's algorithm evaluating links that take people off the platform, Jon recommends waiting five to 10 minutes after posting to leave comments or links to avoid lowering the exposure the post is given. When a post performs well, Jon uses a lesson learned from the value ladder from Russell Brunson of Clickfunnels to stay in touch with people, get them to sign up for newsletters or apps, and build an email list. He also suggests using lead magnets, such as offering free resources or digital books, to build an email list. He acknowledges the importance of collecting email addresses, as it allows you to control access to the audience and avoid penalizing you for marketing posts. He plans to launch webinars on digital courses and one-on-one coaching. Another way to collect emails is on your LinkedIn profile, where you can put a link to your best posts or other content and encourage viewers to sign up for the posts. This will help you stay connected with your audience and build a strong online presence. The ROI on LinkedIn Success Jon has gained 17 million views and is now reaching a steady stream of clients. However, the challenge lies in product market fit, as people who are unemployed or have been looking for work for three months without much success are less likely to invest in high-ticket items like coaching. To overcome this, he suggests understanding his customer base better and offering a digital resource at a reasonable price. He also suggests a webinar to help people understand the value of coaching and answer their questions. Jon responds to a high percentage of comments on LinkedIn, and he addresses the problem of finding comments that haven't been replied to due to the platform's lack of filtering features. To engage more clients, he offers three ways to help career transitioners: following him for insights, downloading his app, attending the job search bootcamp course, or contacting him about one-on-one coaching. By providing options and letting people decide what the best way is for them to help, Jon hopes to increase his conversion rate and reach more potential clients. LinkedIn's New Feature LinkedIn has a new feature called "Scheduled Posts," which allows users to schedule posts for the future. This feature is relatively new and may vary depending on the platform and device, but there may be different functionality for macs or pcs. Consistency is important as your audience is typically around the same time, and you want people who are used to seeing your posts. However, it's important to remember that engagement is not solely based on the number of people who engage with your post. The algorithm is looking for certain subjects and keywords related to what you're known for. Building a Niche Audience and Using Hashtags on LinkedIn To help identify and build your audience within specific niches, you can use the influencer option for your LinkedIn profile, called Creator mode. When you turn on Creator mode, LinkedIn recommends using two to four hashtags, which may be too many for some users. However, it's generally recommended to keep it to two or three. Some people argue that hashtags are dead, but they are still useful in posting well. In summary, LinkedIn's algorithm is designed to help users identify and build their audience within specific niches. Consistency in posting times and using relevant hashtags can help users build their audience and attract more followers. Developing Your Voice and Watching Your Tone Jon discusses the importance of being on target and on topic when posting on LinkedIn. He shares an example of a post about entrepreneurship that didn't perform as well as expected due to being irrelevant for a small subset of his audience. To avoid alienating them, it is crucial to focus on a specific message and avoid off-topic posts. Jon also shares his experience with using an edgy tone in his posts, which can make them more thought-provoking and controversial. He emphasizes the need to be careful what you say, as it might go viral and ruin your reputation. He also shares his experiences with posts that get only 12 likes, but he encourages people to learn from them by considering their tone, specific words, and timing. He acknowledges that not every post will be seen by 17 million people, and it is important to remember that not every post will be seen by everyone. In conclusion, Jon emphasizes the importance of being on target and on topic when posting on LinkedIn, and the importance of being genuine and sincere in your content. Timestamps: 06:48 The three qualities of an influencer 10:37 How Jon developed his LinkedIn posting approach 12:41 The importance of intentionality in influencing leaders 14:25 Nurturing social media posts 19:13 The power of appealing to shared objectives in influencing 20:38 How to create a lead magnet system 25:07 How others can help you develop influence skills 29:09 Time of day to post 34:19 How many hashtags you should tag Links: Website: JonCobbCoaching.com CONTACT INFO: Email: help@joncobbcoaching.com Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jondcobb Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.

In this episode of Unleashed, Will Bachman and Huijin Kong discuss her new book, Positive Influence, The First and Last Mile of Leadership, co-authored with Tsun-yan Hsieh. They talk about the basics of influence and how to present different influencing techniques. Huijin's book emphasizes the importance of focusing on both task outcomes and relational outcomes, as well as the impact of one's own heart and soul on others. Huijin emphasizes that people are influenced more by how they feel about the task and their purpose in influencing others. She explains that traditional consulting can be more powerful if professionals spend more time on mindshare and their own heart, rather than just defining and laying out the task. The book lays out three aspects of influencing: personal qualities that are universal, such as courage, care, and compassion. Courage helps us face difficult situations and fears, while care involves caring about people's experiences and challenges, rather than just the task itself. Compassion is crucial in challenging times, as it builds the basis for being more open to what people are resisting and why. Humility and curiosity are also central to creating a powerful common ground for discussing difficult issues. By focusing on these qualities, professionals can create a more powerful and impactful influence on their clients and clients. She also mentions 'state' which deals with composure and being present. It is important to align your state to your intent. These two-thirds can mean the difference between being a good influencer or a great influencer. Defining Influence Pathways Huijin talks about the importance of being deliberate in influencing others. Huijin emphasizes placing focus on positive outcomes and the importance of considering the context and pressures in higher stakes situations, in addition to the starting attitude of the people who need to be influenced. This intentionality allows for the development of an influence pathway, which involves guiding each person to think, feel, and do differently than their natural current inclination. She qualifies that being deliberate is not like military planning, but rather requires being conscious of how your influence attempt is going and how the person is responding to your actions. This allows you to adjust your strategy and align your being, state, and emotions with the person and desired outcomes. She also states that it is important to be open to changing outcomes and updating your own understanding of desired outcomes. Changing a Leader's Influencing Approach Huijin shares a case example of helping a leader change their influencing approach by coaching them through role plays. The example involves a transformational project where the key leaders' relationship has become a barrier to constructive participation. To help the leader change their approach, Huijin explores several angles, such as the degree of care one has for the project and the importance of setting ambitious influence outcomes. Huijin gives examples of the choices the executive has to move forward and understand the degrees of freedom in influencing situations, such as defining one's role as defining the technical solution or pointing out where the leader needs more leadership. This can be done in one-on-one or small group situations. The book also discusses the use of the deliberate conscious influencing process in MBA programs, where participants go through real-life situations and role play to learn how they show up in the heat of the moment. By adopting this conscious influencing process, individuals can internalize it and apply it in various situations, both in school and beyond. Expanding the Toolbox of Influencing Huijin emphasizes the value of building common ground and shared objectives. Engaging the person about them and not just their thoughts about the task at stake is highly effective. This is important in situations where people's motivation is in doing the difficult work. To build a strong connection with the client, it is essential to delve into their feelings about themselves, identity, attitudes, and inspiration related to their work and the task at hand. Another underused tactic is confronting, which involves acknowledging that they may not feel the same way about something, they may have different beliefs. Asking them to tell more about their point of view helps build a deeper foundation of shared understanding and feelings, and enables a stronger foundation on which to deal with difficult situations or tasks. Setting High Ambitions Huijin talks about Linhart's high challenge, high support model. This model involves setting high ambitions for oneself, which can apply to influence effectiveness, leadership, sports, parents, and business situations. High support often comes in the form of quality feedback, real-time feedback, as it helps improve self-awareness and confidence. She also mentions potential sources where freelancers can get high support. Huijin emphasizes the importance of reflecting on your why, and the positive outcome you want. This involves paying attention to purpose and ethos, and most importantly, individuals. She explains that this will introduce new horizons about what you are doing. High challenge and high support models can help individuals develop their influence skills and achieve greater success in various aspects of their lives. Timestamps: 06:48 The three qualities of an influencer 10:48 Basic tools of influencing 12:41 The importance of intentionality in influencing leaders 15:37 A case example of leadership challenges in influencing 19:13 The power of appealing to shared objectives in influencing 25:07 How others can help you develop influence skills Links: Website: www.positiveinfluence.life Book: https://www.amazon.com/Positive-Influence-First-Last-Leadership/dp/1944660569/ Company: https://www.linhartgrp.com/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com.