CEO Coaching International Podcast

The BIGGEST and best businesses are about more than just business. They’re an expression of the CEO’s professional and personal values that can impact the world for generations. Building that kind of enduring legacy takes clear vision and intentional planning. That’s why Mark Moses and the CEO Coaching International team have developed a series of exercises that CEOs can use to clarify goals and create missions that transcend profit. On today’s episode, Mark Moses walks us thorough those six exercises and explains how his own responses have shaped his approach to legacy planning. Mark also shares FREE tools that CEOs and entrepreneurs can download right now that will help you think about how you are living your life and what you may want to do differently to create a lasting legacy.

A good CEO is always looking for ways to inspire his team and encourage employees to take ownership of their work. One way to do that? Let your employees earn some real ownership. Top young talents want to feel like they’re a real part of the companies they work for. More and more CEOs are setting up Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) to provide that incentive, that motivation, and that feeling of being a part of something BIGGER than profit. On today’s show, Adam and Jason Svet discuss the business and culture fit issues that CEOs who are interested in an ESOP should consider. They also talk about the nuts and bolts process of setting up an ESOP and how going through the process helped them to put their company’s values in action and get their employees thinking and working BIG.

Most companies get customer service all wrong. They make a big show of designing shiny apps, building amazing showrooms, and rolling out cutting edge products. But they forget to put a laser focus on who actually pays for all that—the customer! When you deepen your customer relationships and focus on creating a memorable experience, you can charge a premium price and retain clients for life. “Technology is only 10% of the experience,” says customer service expert John DiJulius, while your person who delivers the service is the other 90%. “Technology can never build a rapport, show empathy, or make a brilliant comeback when we drop the ball, but you can,” he said. Many businesses are trying to de-emphasize the importance of the employee and replace them with chat bots and AI. But that technology will never outperform a well-trained human who steps in when your customer needs personalized help. In this presentation, recorded live at the 2019 CEO Coaching International Summit, John DiJulius explains how you can train your team to own every problem, make meaningful connections with every customer, and create a world-class customer experience that will drive BIG business.

If Emma Cohen and her collapsible, reusable straws sound familiar, you probably caught her appearance on the TV show “Shark Tank.” After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Emma stood face-to-face with sharks Mark Cuban and Mr. Wonderful himself, Kevin O’Leary, to try to secure an investment. And not only did Emma field multiple offers from the sharks … she actually turned them down! On today’s episode, recorded live at the 6th Annual CEO Coaching International Summit held in Santa Monica, CA, Emma Cohen and her coach, Chris Larkins, discuss where she got the courage to make such a difficult call and stand her ground against the sharks. Fans of “Shark Tank” are going to enjoy Emma’s  behind-the-scenes peek at how the show really works. But the lessons Emma learned are going to help all entrepreneurs who are fine-tuning their pitches and deciding how much an injection of much-needed cash is really worth.

Ron Carson’s family lost everything in the 1980s farm crisis. Instead of preparing to follow in his father’s footsteps, Ron had to watch his father cry for the first time and move into a trailer. Then, when he was studying at the University of Nebraska, Ron read a magazine article about becoming a Certified Financial Planner®. Thirty years later, Carson Wealth is one of the BIGGEST names in finance. And I’m proud to say that my good friend Ron Carson is a person who runs his business and his life with a passion we should all try to emulate. In this special episode, recorded live at the 2019 CEO Coaching Summit, Ron Carson discusses how his family’s hardships motivated him to push past fear, figure out his “Why,” and dedicate himself to things he loves doing.

Hiring the best people is always critical. Right now, it’s also very challenging. According to the staffing pros at Integrity Staffing Solutions, unemployment is near the lowest figure in decades. That translates to around 7 million open jobs, and only 6 million people looking. Add in the retiring baby boomer generation and the rise of the millennial workforce and it’s absolutely imperative that your firm is doing everything it can to make open positions as attractive as possible. On today’s show, Todd Bavol and Megan Couch of Integrity Staffing Solutions give some important tips on how to make your company a preferred destination for top talent.

About ten years ago, Josh McCarter was running a struggling SaaS business in New York. His company was generating about $700,000 in annual revenue, but burning through $350,000 a month. He didn’t have enough cash on hand to cover next month’s payroll. His customer base had flatlined. And just when it seemed like relief was on the way, a terrorist attack disrupted a critical investment. Not even his YPO forum mates thought Josh was going to make it. I should know – I was in that forum! Fast forward to 2019, and Josh is in charge of a company that was recently purchased for $2 billion. In this conversation, recorded live at the 2019 CEO Coaching Summit, Josh and I talked about how he kept cool during all this adversity and focused on a plan that pivoted his company to BIG. Josh also describes how turning around his original company and zeroing in on one key strategy prepared him to run a billion-dollar business.

Cole Zucker turned a sudden job loss into a BIG opportunity. He booked an eight-week stay at a hostel in China that turned into a three-year fact-finding and networking mission. Eventually, Cole spotted a market that he thought was ready to explode in the US: LED lighting. Green Creative was born, and five years later, Cole was riding a rocket ship from $0 to $40 million in growth that landed him a significant exit. On today’s show, Cole Zucker discusses those early years of explosive growth in terms of what he learned and what he would do differently. He also shares a couple of great insights on what he did to overcome a major challenge that he hit in the company's early days.

In 2017, Sarah Dusek came to CEO Coaching International looking for some guidance on how to get her glamorous camping (“glamping”) company to the next level. Two years later, thanks to some courageous decisions and a commitment to our processes, Under Canvas has grown BIGGER than Sarah dreamed, and recently secured a major private equity investment that will help expand its operations across US National Parks. In this special episode, recorded live at the 2019 CEO Coaching Summit, Sarah Dusek talks with her coach, Sheldon Harris, about her incredible journey, the importance of resilience, and how staying true to her company’s values helped her guide Under Canvas around some potential potholes and stay on course for BIG.

Blockbuster. Xerox. MySpace. And, yes, Kodak. These businesses are long gone, but they endure as cautionary tales to any CEO who’s complacent. But dealing with disruption isn’t just about planning ahead: it’s about cultivating a culture and a mindset within your team that prioritizes innovation, experimentation, and above all, BIG thinking. On today’s show, Jaime Szulc shares the steps you can take to position your company so it's on the giving end of disruption, not the receiving end. Jaime also discusses some warning signs he spotted during the end of his tenure at Kodak that all CEOs should be on the lookout for if they want to avoid a similar fate.