Business Excellence - TOP 5 Series Rael Bricker and Lindsay Adams

“I think we live in a world people are too, quick to throw stones throw sticks and point fingers. None of us are perfect. I certainly am not. I'm a very temperamental reactive sort of person. So, I have perfected the art of saying I'm sorry. So, I think it's really important that if you're doing something in the world, and you think, Oh, that wasn't very kind, or I could have spoken to that person in a better way, don't be afraid to go out and just say, Look, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to speak to you like that. Also forgive the people around you, they might have been under pressure they might have you don't know what's going on for other people.” 

Christine Denny Top Five Tips For Cultivating Joy In Your Life and Harnessing The Power It Brings
1.       Knowing your narratives
2.       Aligning with your values 
3.       Investing in self-care
4.       Surrounding yourself with supportive people
5.       Investing in forgiveness
 
TIME STAMP SUMMARY 
 01:59 Discovering your own narrative.
07:28 What are your values
12:32 The importance of self-care
20:40 Forgive others and yourself
 
Where to find Christine 
Website                               www.christinedenny.com
LinkedIn                               https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-denny-4a26232b3?  

Christine Denny Bio
Christine Denny is the creator, CEO, and director of TAPATAK OZ – the elite tap dance syllabus and mentorship programme for teachers and students, that launched in Australia in 2008. Since then, the syllabus has gained a reputation as being modern, technically challenging, and most importantly, relevant to today’s tap scene and as such it is now in use all over Australia, as well as in the UK, USA, Canada, France, Italy, Finland, New Zealand, Singapore, Brazil, South Africa, Dubai and more.
For the past 30 years Christine has been a well-known and respected figure in Australia’s tap scene, being invited to teach at many leading dance schools and Tertiary Dance Institutions, as well as providing master classes and setting choreography all over Australia.
For many years Christine was on staff at Brent St, ED5 International and NIDA to name a few. She has also been a regular guest tap tutor for many of Australia’s major dance events including The Australian Dance Festival, The Australian Tap Dance Festival and The Sydney Tap Festival. 
As an adjudicator she has worked extensively all over the nation including the prestigious McDonalds City of Sydney Performing Arts Challenge and BPAC, as well as in eisteddfods all over Australia including Bundaberg, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth, Launceston, Grafton, Melbourne, Adelaide, Cairns, Leeton, Nowra, Bunbury, Redcliffe, Wyong and Devonport!
As a columnist Christine has written featured columns for popular print magazine Dance Train { Let’s Talk Tap 2008 – 2012 } as well as being a regular contributor to online dance networking site DanceLife with her interview series On The Couch with Christine...

“There's much more to learn and a lot of research happening on what a healthy gut actually is. What it's starting to show us is that if your gut is healthy, then your overall well-being your overall health is pretty good.”
 
Stephanie Polson Top Five Tips To Improve Your Gut Health 
1.        Increasing fibre consumption and how to do this in a way that makes you feel good
2.        Get your liquids right (stay hydrated and what about alcohol?) 
3.        Prebiotic fibre & resistant starch - two components of food you need to prioritise
4.        What you need to know about probiotics & fermented foods
5.        Mix it up! Get variety with your food
 
TIME STAMP SUMMARY 
01:28 Why gut health is so important
05:10 Increasing your fibre consumption is crucial for gut health
13:22 Prebiotic are a great way to increasing good bacteria 
23:24 Food diversity is the key to good gut health
 
Where to find Stephanie?
Website                   https://linktr.ee/up_statuss 
LinkedIn                  https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-polson-upstatuss 
 
Stephanie Polson Bio 
Steph Polson is the Director and Lead Nutrition Consultant at up_statuss, a contemporary nutrition consultancy. Steph is a Registered Nutritionist in Australia and New Zealand and prior to up_statuss worked in Sanitarium’s nutrition department for 5+ years. 
She is a professional speaker being a full member of the professional speakers association NZ and associate member in Australia. Steph helps individuals with their health & nutrition, speaks at corporates, hosts the up_statuss podcast, advises food companies on their nutrition marketing, plus more! 
A highlight of her career so far has been helping ex-All Blacks on the television show “Match Fit” get their health back. 

 “We don't want to be learned know it all’s. Instead, we want to be learned balls.” 
 
Amber Perry Top Five Tips For Turning Small Steps Into Big Impact
1.      People remember how you leave more than what you did.
2.      Growth mindset. 
3.      Fail forward. 
4.      Daily discipline. 
5.      Leverage your gifts to serve.
 
TIME STAMP SUMMARY 
01:14   Exiting with excellence
05:29  Being a “learned ball” rather than a “know it all”
09:06  Turning small consistent steps into big impacts 
12:26  Using your natural talents to bring joy 
 
Where to find Amber?
LinkedIn                             https://www.linkedin.com/in/amber-perry-40a7a128 
 
Amber Perry Bio 
Hello! My name is Amber Perry. I’m a small-town girl who defied the odds and found her place in the corporate world. With tenacity and a dash of audacity, I stepped into the corridors of big companies that dared to give me a chance. Now, my mission is clear: I work tirelessly to make these corporate giants feel small—approachable, human, and relatable.
My Ultimate Goal: Unleashing God-Given Talents For My Purpose! To discover and harness my God-given talents. Every day, I walk in faith, seeking those unique abilities that allow me to better serve the world. The canvas of my career extends beyond borders; the world itself is my customer. Whether it’s a grand gesture or a small act of kindness, my love cup overflows when I make a difference.
Skills That Ignite And Impact My Craft! They revolve around service—to you, to colleagues, to clients. I’ve honed my craft in various sales positions, leaving a trail of success at technology giants like Dell and Microsoft. Over the phone or face-to-face, I thrive in call centre environments, striking a balance between digital connections and personal interactions. 
Achievements That Shine Bright At Microsoft! I achieved the prestigious Platinum Club status—an acknowledgment of consistent top sales performance. And while at Dell, I collected every trip available, turning business success into unforgettable adventures. My journey spans industries—Healthcare, Retail, Manufacturing—where I’ve been a steadfast supporter.
Entrepreneurial Teamwork And Family Moments Beyond The Boardroom! I’m a proud wife, partnering with my Auburn alum husband, Jonathan (War Eagle!). Together, we embrace entrepreneurial ventures, turning dreams into reality. As a family, we create cherished moments—traveling with our daughter, Auburn, to gymnastics competitions and cheering on our son, Jagger, as the quarterback for Brentwood Blaze.
Let’s Take Steps Together! Step 1: Teach me about you. Step 2: TBD. Because life is a journey, and every connection adds colour to our canvas. Let’s connect, collaborate, and create an impact! 

“...it can be done in inductions, but they're still moving to that portal because a lot of organisations are now either hybrid or remote. And so, it's not as easy as just kind of raising your hand or watching what you know Tom does and how he that he fills out a procedure or whatever it is. People need to be able to be empowered to work independently, as our businesses are evolving and still kind of adapting to what you know, the pandemic put us in. So, they need to have that independence, we can't learn in the same way that we used to learn just by osmosis and just observing other people. That's not an easy thing to do. Over zoom, so more and more businesses are moving towards that
 
Greg DeVore Top Five Tips For Training New Employees Without Pulling Your Hair Out 
1. Understand what they need to answer, do, and solve
2. Separate actionable from foundational knowledge
3. Build checklists, how-to guides, and decision trees (if you can) for all actionable knowledge
4. Teach them foundational knowledge, have them practice following guides for actionable knowledge
5. Never answer a "How do I?" question with your mouth
 
TIME STAMP SUMMARY 
01:48    Start with the end in mind when training employees, focusing on what they need to know       and do.
06:04    Training new employees without overwhelming them with information. 
11:08    Creating and using checklists, decision trees, and guides in business processes. 
15:54    Avoid answering "how do i" questions without pointing to a reference, empowering employees to improve resources and processes.
 
Where to find Greg?
Website                             http://www.screensteps.com/ 
LinkedIn                             https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregdevore 
 
Greg DeVore Bio 
Greg is not like most CEOs you have met. While he attended both Harvard and Berklee in Boston and California, Harvard was his middle school in Los Angeles, and Berklee was the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
In 2003 he co-founded his company ScreenSteps along with his brother. ScreenSteps is a company dedicated to helping businesses transfer knowledge to their employees faster. They do this through a combination of a software platform and a framework that guides organizations in reducing their reliance on tribal knowledge. This has resulted in onboarding programs that cut new hire times to proficiency from 12 months to less then 30 days. Greg is the co-author of the book, Find & Follow: Reduce Supervisor Burnout & Improve Employee Performance by Transferring Knowledge Faster.
Greg holds a degree in Composition and Film Scoring from the Berklee College of Music. He resides in McLean, Virginia, with his wife and four boys, which explains the abundance of broken items in their home.

“Usually when the business stops growing, it's my fault. And sometimes it's not that comfortable to admit that. But the truth is, if you want to get great talent to follow you, you have to be a great leader.” 
 
Kody Thompson Top Five Tips For Building Offshore Teams
 
1. Get your own mindset and leadership skills up to scratch, as the entrepreneur/leader is critical for building a successful team.
2. Hire staff in the same location to improve collaboration, productivity, and staff retention.
3. Have staff work from a serviced office space for better infrastructure, productivity, and culture.
4. Set rhythms for meetings, reviews, and projects to create consistency for the team.
5. Don't wait too long to hire, as it allows you to grow and implement initiatives faster. Start hiring even if systems aren't fully in place yet.
 
TIME STAMP SUMMARY
01:20  Importance of leadership mindset and having realistic expectations 
05:21 Benefits of hiring team members in the same location for better collaboration
11:02 Importance of setting clear rhythms through regular meetings and check-ins
16:56: Don't wait too long to hire and get your team growing


Where to find Kody?  
Website                                www.lightningsites.com 
                                                    www.wodsites.co

LinkedIn                                https://www.linkedin.com/in/thompsonkody 
 
Bio Kody Thompson 
Kody Thompson is a dynamic entrepreneur and visionary leader with a track record of success. He is renowned for his achievements as the founder of Lightning Sites, a web development company that he built from a $250 startup into a multi-million-dollar enterprise generating in excess of $5M profit  across eight years. Over that time Lightning Sites was able to build over 1,500 websites, servicing over 800 clients monthly and generating in excess of 500,000 leads for his clients.
In 2023 Kody was able to transition out of the day-to-day operations of Lightning Sites, when it was acquired by US technology company Sites At Scale. After successfully building his own remote teams to grow and exit Lightning Sites, Kody developed a reputation as an expert in building international teams and scaling businesses and launched the Business WrkPod in 2021, with Co-Founder Dale Beaumont. WrkPod specialises in helping companies build teams in  the  Philippines,  offering  comprehensive services that include talent recruitment, state-of-the-art co-working spaces, and extensive training and support for both clients and Filipino talent.
In 2 short years, Kody has facilitated the placement of over  650 remote staff for WrkPod  clients and grown enabling them to achieve greater efficiency, reduce operational costs, and strengthen their enterprises. Beyond his business endeavours, Kody is a devoted husband and father of two daughters. He is also deeply committed to philanthropy and has initiated the Love @ Scale project in the Philippines (see video), which supports 250 students. Kody's journey is a testament to his entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to making a positive impact in both the business world and the community.

“You can't delegate successfully, if you haven't followed tip number one, documenting, right. If you don’t that, you're going to spend hours on calls, trying to explain things to people, you're going to get frustrated team members, because they don't understand what they should be doing. And then you'll probably think that they're incompetent, and then take back the task yourself. And then you're in this vicious cycle of not really being able to delegate.”


Olivia Parkes Top Five Tips To Leverage Operations & Systematically Scale Any Business
1.       Document everything
2.       Analyze to Automate
3.       Delegate, delegate, delegate
4.       Think of each department as a system (& know its number)
5.       Simplicity is key 
 
TIME STAMP SUMMARY
01:12 The importance of keeping a record of everything 
04:16 Delegation and the link to tip 1 
11:41 Avoiding the downside of micromanaging 
16:55 Why over complicate, keep it simple 
 
Where to find Olivia?
Website                      https://thesystemsboss.io/ 
LinkedIn                      linkedin.com/in/olivia-parkes-b9b015187  
 
Olivia Parkes Bio 
Olivia Parkes was born in the United Kingdom, dividing her time between her hometown of Sheffield and the bustling capital, London. From a young age, Olivia displayed a strong entrepreneurial spirit and a penchant for system-oriented thinking. During her academic journey at University College London, where Olivia pursued a degree in Pharmacology, she embarked on her entrepreneurial journey, founding her first e-commerce business at the age of 19. Subsequently, Olivia ventured into the realm of digital marketing by establishing a successful digital marketing agency.
Olivia's career path took an intriguing turn as she decided to specialize in sales, becoming a high-ticket sales representative. This shift in focus allowed Olivia to achieve remarkable sales figures, consistently selling packages worth $100,000 per month. Her unique insights into the world of business brought her into close collaboration with CEOs in the online coaching and marketing sectors, many of whom boasted six to seven-figure incomes.
Observing a recurring theme among these CEOs—profits falling short of their potential due to inadequate systems, automations, and operational strategies—Olivia decided to intervene. Taking on the role of an operational leader, she implemented strategic changes, made crucial hires, and streamlined marketing and sales efforts. In just 12 months, her efforts propelled the CEO's business from $350,000 to an impressive $850,000.
This success led Olivia to extend her expertise to other clients, assuming the role of a fractional Chief Operating Officer (COO). Her mission became clear: to relieve entrepreneurs from the exhaustion of constantly burning out by implementing efficient systems that genuinely save time and boost profitability. Crucially, Olivia aimed to design systems that teams would enthusiastically adopt, recognizing that unused systems were ineffectual....