People Business w/ O'Brien McMahon

Dr. Tim Holcomb is the Chair & Director of the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship at Miami University (OH). Dr. Holcomb has more than 30 years of strategy consulting, international business, and startup experience, including work in the U.S. and more than 25 countries. He has founded eight startups, raising more than $20 million in venture funding for those companies. He has also been an advisor to over 100 startups and high growth companies over the course of his career.  In this episode, we discuss the elements that go into educating future entrepreneurs, how he and his colleague have rebuilt their department, and how companies can foster the principles of entrepreneurship within their organizations.  Mentioned In This Episode:TechStarsY-CombinatorRedHawk Venture Pitch CompetitionKroger's Zero Hunger | Zero Waste InitiativeAccenturePepsicoWalkers CrispsPitchBookOros ApparelDoubleClickMongoDBGoHealthCreditKarmaUberInstagramFacebookTwitterVirgin GalacticDuke Energy

Greg Tall is the Director of Learning & Development with JB Training Solutions, a training firm helping employees through the entirety of their career, from their first day on the job to leading high functioning teams. Greg is a high-energy facilitator and trainer with over 15 years of experience in Talent Acquisition and Development, including stints with Teach For America, a Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work employer, and a private university in Chicago. He has helped innovate in the areas of employer branding, talent acquisition, employee onboarding and engagement, and learning and development. In this conversation, we discuss Greg's work building and leading Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs. He helps define the current landscape, shares his personal story, and gives tips for employers looking to identify and overcome detrimental bias in the workplace.Mentioned in this Episode:Caste: The Origins of our Discontents

Desmond Clark spent 12 years as a Tight End in the NFL, playing with the Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins, and most notably, for eight years with the Chicago Bears, where he is second only to Mike Ditka in receptions by a tight end. After the NFL, Desmond got into business, working as a financial advisor before founding Desmond Clark Investment Group and The Insurance People.  He is the author of Principles of Winning: 5 Keys to Create a Standard of Excellence and speaks regularly to professionals and community leaders about what it takes to win in work and life. Also Mentioned In This Episode:The 12 Week YearDaniel Kahneman on How the Brain Preserves Energy

Sankar Venkatraman is Chief Evangelist at LinkedIn Talent Solutions. As part of this role, he is responsible for bringing the voice of the customer to the product development team and drive product development that helps connect talent with opportunity for LinkedIn’s members.  Sankar has a PhD in Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers University and an MBA from Cornell and is based out of LinkedIn’s Headquarters in Sunnyvale, CA office.   

Miranda Nicholson is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Formstack, a workplace productivity solution that empowers anyone to digitize what matters, automate workflows, and fix processes—all without code. With a decade of experience managing corporate HR activities, Miranda currently leads the acquisition, onboarding, and retention of current and future Formstack employees.Even prior to the Coronavirus pandemic, Formstack had made a commitment to be a virtual company. That's different than simply having a remote work policy. In this episode, Miranda talks about how that philosophy came to be, what it looks like in practice, and how the lessons learned along the way. 

Gary Noesner (pronounced "ness-ner") retired from the FBI in 2003 following a thirty-year career.  Twenty-three of those years were spent as an FBI hostage negotiator, where he retired as Chief of the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit, Critical Incident Response Group, the first person to hold that position. In that capacity, Gary was heavily involved in numerous hostage, barricade, and suicide incidents; covering prison riots, right-wing militia standoffs, religious zealot sieges, terrorist embassy takeovers, airplane hijackings, and over 120 overseas kidnapping cases involving American citizens.Following his career with the FBI, Gary joined Control Risks, an international risk consultancy, assisting clients in managing overseas kidnap incidents. Gary is the author of Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator, one of two books used as the basis for the television mini-series, Waco.

Alex Perry spent two decades as a Speech Language Pathologist, working with patients to regain their ability to speak after illness or injury. She then launched her business, Practically Speaking, to help professionals improve their communication skills and connect better with their audience. She hosts the Practically Speaking Podcast and is the author of Minivan Mogul: A Crash Course in Confidence in For Women. She’s a nationally certified Speech Language Pathologist, has a background in adult neurology and emotional intelligence and is an EQ-I 2.0 certified administrator. More importantly, Alex blends her scientific approach speaking with her love of storytelling, laughter, and humor into her work with individual clients and corporate teams.  

Byron Clymer is the Chief Information Officer for Lockton Companies, responsible for driving the people, process, and technology transformation taking Lockton into the next decade. In this episode, he shares best practices for aligning technology with the people functions of a business.Prior to Lockton, Byron ran Approach Logic, a consulting firm helping businesses navigate the complex IT landscape.  With the ability to engage at all levels of the organization, Byron provided short-term problem solving and long-term strategic thinking across the hospitality, manufacturing, telecommunications, healthcare, and financial services industries. Byron holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Nebraska and a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Nebraska Wesleyan University.  

On paper, Sonny Garg and Samir Wagle had achieved the American Dream. They were corporate executives, making lots of money, with great families and nice homes. The problem was, they were both miserable. This led each man on a journey of self-discovery that changed their lives. After meeting, the two decided to partner together to help others define their own lives in more meaningful ways.In 2015, Sonny launched the Energy division of Uptake Technologies, an enterprise software company named the #3 most promising AI company by Fortune in 2019. Prior to Uptake, Sonny was a member of the Executive Committee at Exelon Corporation, a Fortune 100 company, and served in a variety of senior executive roles including as the Chief Information Officer and the company’s first Chief Innovation Officer and the President of Exelon Power. He sits on the boards of the Invisible Institute, the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago, and the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, as well as the Advisory Board of the Aspen Young Leaders Fellowship. Samir Wagle is currently the CEO & Founder of the 11:eleven Partners, a strategic talent mapping firm focused on helping organizations build conscious cultures. Prior to 11:eleven, he spent over twenty years developing and growing brands in the retail food sector. This includes being President & CEO of The Protein Bar & Kitchen, COO of Andre Boudin Bakeries, expansion leader of Chipotle Mexican Grill in the Eastern Great Lakes region and as the Head of Operations for McDonald’s, India. Mentioned In the Episode: The Big Leap by Gay HendricksRustandy Center for Social Sector InnovationIkigai

Bobby Powers is the head of HR and Learning & Development for Gravity Payments in Seattle. Gravity became famous several years ago when founder Dan Price decided to take a 90% pay cut and raise the minimum wage at his company to $70,000 per year. That, along with several other "radical" business principles, has led to tremendous growth. It was this unique culture that led Bobby into HR in the first place. He is now responsible for perpetuating that culture as the company continues to expand. In addition to his day job, Bobby is a prolific reader (reading over 70 books each year) and writer (he is a top writer on Medium and has a personal blog at www.BobbyPowers.net). Books Referenced:Crucial Conversations - Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, SwitzlerMake to Stick - Chip Heath & Dan HeathWooden on Leadership - John Wooden & Steve JamisonEquip: The Gravity Leadership Playbook - Bobby PowersStart with Why - Simon SinekBlink - Malcolm GladwellHow to Read a Book - Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Von DorenDrive - Daniel Pink