CEO Coaching International Podcast

If your business is on fire and threatening to burn to the ground by a specific date, you need a turnaround. If there’s smoke -- the death of a key partner, the loss of a big customer -- but nothing has burst into flames yet, your business is distressed. Either way, you need to do something, now, before trouble sparks and ignites. On today’s show, CEO Coaching International coach Chris Larkins walks us through five steps to extinguishing trouble before it engulfs your business.

On this episode, Dr.  Marshall Goldsmith discusses the dangers of turning your business into a competition, and how effective CEOs learn to prioritize positive, impactful actions over winning trivial, and potentially harmful, victories.

Mikki Williams is a popular public speaker who regularly shares the stage with TED Talk luminaries and industry titans like Tony Robbins and Suzy Orman. Mikki purposely cultivates a BIG persona. Her personality is big, her speaking performances are big, and her brand is more than just big -- it’s OUTRAGEOUS. Is your company growing stagnant or complacent? If so, you may need some outrageousness to shake up your office and get your employees to Make Big Happen. And in this episode, Mikki shares some ideas on how to shake things up and get the energy flowing again.

Some people stay at the same company because it’s a perfect fit for their skill set, and their professional aspirations. Others just get complacent. In today’s episode, Feyzi Fatehi explains how his desire for learning, development, and professional growth led him to leave a cushy job at HP, strike out on his own to build cloud-computing leader Corent, and smack complacency in the face.

Leslie's first company, Value Health Sciences, was a big success and ultimately became part of a multi-billion dollar publicly traded company. From there, he realized the way to build successful businesses was to focus on an overlooked niche. Whenever he starts a new company, he finds a small niche that is being overlooked by the big players. As an entrepreneur, he said you're going to be playing the game with people who have more resources, more capacity to survive, and more capabilities than you're ever going to have. Following his own advice, he's now building his fourth company by focusing on delivering private healthcare to people of means who are willing to work outside the traditional medical system.

Long-time CEO Coaching International client Ron Carson grew up on a farm in a small town in Nebraska. He had few advantages. His dad was a workaholic who never spent any time with him. His mom and dad had a poor relationship. Scarcity thinking ruled the household. From those humble beginnings, Ron started selling insurance out of his dorm room in college. Soon, he was making so much money from selling that he decided to move full-time into financial services. Within a few years, he reached that elusive million-dollar producer level. Today, after compound annual growth of more than 28% for more than 30 years, his companies generate tens of millions of dollars a year in revenue. Recently, he sold a 29% interest in his companies for $35 million. Ron Carson shares his insights on accelerating growth.

Strategic planning is a relic from a bygone era. Today, the most successful companies create an "Execution Plan" that identifies then delivers on the company's key objectives and initiatives for the year. In today's episode, Sheldon Harris walks us through a specific process that your leadership team can use to implement your own "Execution Plan" and make your next 12 months the most profitable ever. 

We all want the best for our kids. And for many of us, this includes getting admitted to top schools. For decades, Mimi Doe, who holds a Master’s degree from Harvard University, has been teaching students and their parents the proven roadmap to get accepted to top schools. The truth is, the top schools admission process is not transparent and it is shrouded in myths. In today’s show, Mimi shines a light on this opaque process and describes in detail the things you can do today to help ensure your kids have the best shot at getting admitted to the top schools of their choice. 

Culmen International is like a company you'd expect to see in a James Bond movie. They help the government to detect and interdict illicit trafficking of weapons of mass destruction, explosives, narcotics, and other weapons. They train people in counter-terrorism, ordnance logistics, and border security. And a couple years ago, Culmen, founded and led by its long-time CEO Dan Berkon, made a major play to enter a new line of business. Success was immediate, but there was one problem. The company had to raise $11 million--and fast--or they'd lose the contract. You'll learn in today's podcast how they scrambled to raise money, secure the contract, and double the size of the company. You'll also learn how Dan pulled a Jerry McGuire-like exit from his first employer, took one employee with him, and went on to build a $50 million company with offices all over the world.

Brenda Jacobsen started in the family business right out of college and eventually rose to CEO of the company. After a "type-A driven business woman" told Brenda about the coach she was using and raved about the tremendous results she was getting, Brenda decided to contact the coach. Shortly after hiring CEO Coaching International coach Jay Reid, Brenda's company got an unsolicited offer to buy her company. The timing was perfect. Working with Jay and the team at CEO Coaching, Brenda was able to bring in another buyer to the table, play one off the other, and get a much higher sale price--all while negotiating a good payout for herself. This is the behind the scenes story of a business sale that can benefit all small to mid-size companies when it comes time to sell your company.