What's Next! with Tiffani Bova

Nir Eyal, author of Hooked, discusses creating habit-forming products. He emphasizes the four steps of habits: trigger, action, reward, and investment. Repeat customers are about exposure with an exciting user experience that understands customer wants. Understanding emotional triggers is key to engaging with customers.

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week’s awesome guest is Dan Pink, the author of six books, including When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. Thinkers50 named Dan as one of the Top 15 Business Thinkers in the World, and his TED talk The Puzzle of Motivation is one of the 10 most-watched TED talks of all time. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR…  anyone looking to improve their likelihood of success in both their personal and professional lives. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Did you know that a book about timing decisions didn’t exist until Dan Pink wrote it in early 2018? When you think about it, we make multiple “when” decisions in our life: When should I exercise during the day? When should I start a product? When should I quit a project? When should I quit my job?  Dan’s diligent research into the foundation behind our “when” decisions led him to discover that people mostly disregard the question of when and instead focus on what and who and how.  WHAT I LOVE MOST… Breaks are more important than you think. We need to start thinking about breaks as part of our performance not a deviation from performance. Dan’s research showed him that professionals are the ones who take breaks, and the amateurs are the ones who don’t. A break might look like a 10-minute walk outside, a nap, or a trip to your company’s meditation room. No matter what — your performance will improve. IF YOU WANT TO STEP UP YOUR GAME… Be more conscious of how the forces of time and timing are affecting how you behave.   Running time: 37:44   Subscribe on iTunes   Find Tiffani on social: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn   Find Dan on social: Twitter Facebook

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week’s guest is Roger Martin. Roger is the former Dean of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, has been named “The Most Influential Business Thinker” by Thinkers50, and he advises CEOs worldwide. Roger is the author of ten books, including Creating Great Choices, a follow-up to his 2007 best-seller The Opposable Mind. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… someone with a different style of thinking. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… is the play between strategy and making choices. Roger’s unique perspective combines strategy and making choices. Roger believes the two ideas are interconnected because, simply put, you cannot make choices if you don’t have a strategy. And you can’t have a strategy without making choices. Roger opines that strategy is what you do, whereas choices put you in the position to behave. Just like every organization has a strategy, so does every person, and strategy comes with a choice. Roger believes that execution happens because of choices made somewhere in the hierarchy.  Roger says the “gap between strategy and execution [is] the setting of the direction.” Past guests have said time and again that everything starts at the top— and Roger is no different.  WHAT I LOVE MOST… integrative thinking. Creating solutions is about taking what’s not good enough and creating something better, rather than compromising. IF YOU WANT TO APPROACH THINGS DIFFERENTLY…. follow Gandhi. This may not be what you were expecting, but the adage “Be the change” could not be more appropriate.  Don’t tell people what you’re going to do.  You actually have to do it.  Roger advises, “Don’t be a smarty pants.”  I couldn’t agree more.   Running time: 29:43   Subscribe on iTunes   Find Tiffani on social: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn   Find Roger on social: Website Twitter

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. I’m honored to have Arianna Huffington as this week’s guest.  Arianna is an author, mother, and businesswoman, most notably known as the co-founder and former Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post.  Most recently, Arianna has written Thrive and The Sleep Revolution. But what you may not know about Arianna is that she has a Master's Degree in Economics from Cambridge and was a candidate for California governor. She's been named one of the Most Influential Women in Media and one of the Most Powerful Women in Business. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… those hesitant about the future. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… We’re at a very interesting time in history – one that is currently being shaped in new ways every day. The next 20 years won’t look anything like today. But of course, 20 years ago doesn’t look anything like today either. We cannot predict what the future holds, but as Arianna says, we’re at an inflection point.  Careers are no longer linear. Passion and purpose have stronger meanings than ever before, and change is happening faster than humans can keep up. Arianna is concerned about our addiction to devices because data shows it makes us less empathetic. More and more people are ditching devices for real connection, which means putting phones away for dinners and seeing friends in person instead of over a video call.  Arianna calls this “thrive mode.” WHAT I LOVE MOST… As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that giving back and reflecting on my life is more important than I ever thought. In a tech-consumed world, Arianna warns that we need balance. The interconnectedness we appear to have doesn’t hold weight compared to investing in relationships.  Giving back and providing value is what gives us a full life. IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR BEHAVIOR… find your Thrive Tribe. Find the people who support you and want to see you grow but also know how important real relationships are.  They’ll keep you accountable.   Running time: 29:43   Subscribe on iTunes   Find Tiffani on social: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn   Find Arianna on social: Twitter LinkedIn Thrive Global                    

Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist at Canva, shares his social media strategies on the podcast. He emphasizes the need for thoughtful posts, taking risks, and being authentic online. While Tiffani Bova opts for caution, Guy believes in error correction and experimentation on social media. The discussion highlights the importance of high-quality content and standing out in the digital realm.

Shep Hyken, a NY Times and WSJ bestselling author and customer service expert, joins Tiffani Bova's podcast. They discuss the importance of customer experience and its impact on purchase decisions. They emphasize the need for customer-focused companies and creating a customer-centric culture. The power of convenience as a competitive differentiator is also explored.

Today’s guest is Peter Fader, professor of marketing at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and the co-founder of Zodiak. His expertise centers on the analysis of behavioral data to understand and forecast customer shopping purchasing activities. His insights are reflected in his great book, Customer Centricity. The highlight of the conversation is Peter’s story of his disagreement with Wall Street’s findings on Dish Network’s company valuations. Peter and his team analyzed the company valuations using the public data Dish provided to investors. They came up with company valuations that were within 3-5% difference of the forecasts Wall Street was making. Next, as a fun academic exercise, his students created forecasts for the next 4 quarters using various statistical methods. Peter compared his students’ numbers to Dish’s quarterly numbers and noticed two things: (1) the students were within .5% of the number that Dish announced, and (2) the Wall Street analysts were off by about 10%. You can read Peter’s article, “How Wharton marketing students beat Wall Street analysts at their own game,” on his findings.   In this episode:   2:00 – Can marketing can be taught or is it learned? 3:15 - What is the genesis of lifetime value and customer centricity? 4:08 – What happens if companies focus on the customers, not products? 5:38 - How do companies define, uncover, and identify the right customers? 9:00 – Wharton creates a new term, “customer-based corporate valuation” 12:45 – How to look beyond big, glitzy metrics 15:27 – Peter’s disagreement with Wall Street analysts 21:15 – Peter’s stock tip! 25:49 – Getting below the surface of the numbers to find the story 29:49 – The blend between data analytics and intuition 31:10 – What’s Next! for customer lifetime value, customer centricity, and the analytics side of growing business?   Running time: 33:43   Subscribe on iTunes   Find Tiffani on social: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn   Find Peter on social: LinkedIn Twitter  

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. Today’s guest is Jim Harris, author of Blindsided: How to Spot the Next Breakthrough that Will Change Your Business Forever. Jim is a principal at Strategic Advantage and has 20 years of experience as a professional speaker and consultant. Jim speaks internationally at more than 40 conferences per year on essential topics such as creativity, innovation, customer relationships, strategic planning, and environmental leadership.  THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… innovative thinkers. Innovation is coming here. Our professional lives are different than they were five years ago; our personal lives are drastically different they were ten years ago. How you approach change will determine your success. If you don’t want to be blindsided, pay attention to your systems and processes and keep the younger employees involved in strategy. Remember, diversity goes way beyond gender. Choose a team of bright people and create job opportunities. Innovation ultimately means that everything gets lighter, faster, and cheaper, and that’s ok. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE…  Change happens and if you want to keep up — whether that’s with social media, viral videos, staying agile, going direct to consumer, etc. — you’re going to have to figure out a way to be current. Think about Tesla’s integrated solutions: they have energy solutions, power walls, and cars. It’s more than filling one need. It’s about finding innovative methods to solve multiple problems via one platform.  WHAT I LOVE MOST… No matter how these conversations start, it comes back to being sure that we’re focusing on the right things. It’s not about thinking and talking; it’s about execution and putting your product in the hands of your customers. A PIECE OF ADVICE… create an ecosystem to bring your idea to fruition. People don’t work in a vacuum; it’s about the power of the whole, especially the employees.   Running time: ­­­35:51   Subscribe on iTunes   Find Tiffani on social: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn   Find Jim on social: Website LinkedIn Twitter

Welcome to the What’s Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. Today’s guest is Josh Linkner. Josh is a five-time tech entrepreneur and hyper-growth CEO, two-time New York Times Bestselling author, top-rated keynote speaker, and founding partner of Detroit Venture Partners. Josh lives at the intersection of tech and advertising. In this episode, he and Tiffani explore how this intersection includes hacking, reinvention, and creativity. They also share ways that you can use traditions to be more innovative. In this episode: 4:50 – How a small jazz ensemble is a perfect metaphor for business 6:53 – How Josh defines reinvention and what people can learn from reinventing 8:52 - What can people do to start reinventing their business? 9:40 – A simple, but powerful question Josh poses to help you change your daily traditions 10:55 – What inspired Josh to write Hacking Innovation 12:55 – Is hacking just duct taping a problem together? 14:10 – Do new startups need to have a hacker mentality? 16:02 – Josh’s definition of creativity and how innovation fits into creativity 20:52 – What to do if the organization isn’t willing to riff off of the bottom-up or external innovation 22:01 – What leaders can do to harness innovation and tap into the holistic creative minds of the organization 32:00 – Is it the responsibility of all people to think about what’s next?   Running Time: 33:45   Find Tiffani on Social Media: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn   Find Josh on Social Media Website LinkedIn Twitter

Welcome to the What’s Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I’m speaking with Frits van Paasschen, a seasoned global executive, and author of the new book, The Disruptors Feast. With 30 years of experience, he has a unique perspective on the current trends that impact businesses around the world. Frits served as the CEO of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, CEO at Coors Brewing Company, and have held several management positions at Nike.  Frits is one a few who have seen first-hand what it’s like to be in the middle of disruption. He was the CEO of Starwood when AirBnB started and the CEO of Coors when the craft beer industry launched. He shares how he handled disruption by changing from the inside out and leading when change broadsides a company. In this episode: 4:10 – How Frits defines disruption 8:52 – What it was like as the CEO of Starwood when AirBnB disrupted the hotel industry 12:21 – What other industries can learn from disruptors like AirBnB 14:08 – What do you do when disruptors come after your industry? 17:09 – What does it look like, culturally, when a company has to shift due to disruption in the marketplace? 20:06 – Frits’ three barriers to change 25:16 – Why Frits thinks that sometimes the best way to deal with disruption is to disrupt back 30:05 – Dissecting the interplay between the new digital side and how-we’ve-always-done-things 31:29 – Frits’ perspective on athletic companies calling themselves technology companies   Running Time: 35:08   Subscribe on iTunes   Find Tiffani on Social Media: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn   Find Frits on Social Media: Website LinkedIn Facebook