Elite Business Connector Podcast

Bryan Buckley
  • 5.0 (6)
  • Business
  • Updated Weekly

If you're in the people business then this podcast is for you. Learn how to develop and master business social skills. This podcast has both content-driven and interview-driven episodes to keep the podcast creative. High energy, fast-paced, and practical.

  1. 5d ago

    Book Breakdown - Question Your Question-Asking Ability: The ASK Method Meets the 1st 5 Minutes - 035

    How many questions do you actually ask in the 1st 5 minutes of a business conversation? In this episode, Bryan Buckley breaks down Jeff Wetzler's book ASK and maps its five-step method directly onto the 1st 5 Minutes framework, revealing why most professionals ask just one throwaway question — and how to fix it. If you want people to trust you faster and open up sooner, this episode gives you the playbook. Timestamps 0:00 – The One-Question Wake Up Call3:20 – Why Asking Guides The Conversation5:12 – Step One: Choose Curiosity8:43 – Step Two: Create Safety12:46 – Grab The Ask Field Guide13:59 – Step Three: Questions That Go Deeper17:23 – Step Four: Listen To Learn20:49 – Step Five: Reflect And Reconnect24:04 – The Hard Truth And The Edge26:49 – Three Actions To Practice TodayFeatured Book: Ask: Tap Into the Hidden Wisdom of People Around You for Unexpected Breakthroughs In Leadership and Life Download Free Cheat Sheet: here. Resources to Use: The System Elite Connectors Use to Remember Names If you’re serious about improving your business communication skills, I created a step-by-step system you can download right now — absolutely free. 👉 Grab it here:  30 Connection Questions for Stronger Business Conversations This is a proven question set to improve every conversation in the 1st 5 minutes. 👉 Grab it here:  Buy the 1st 5 Minutes Book: 1st 5 Minutes Book Follow Me on Social Media: LinkedInInstagramYouTube

    30 min

  2. Jun 25

    Interview Mashup Session One - 034

    In this special mashup episode, Bryan curates the best moments from five recent expert guests into one high-impact conversation on business communication and connection. You will hear twice from each guest, covering everything from name memory and pre-meeting prep to authentic curiosity and trust-building in the first five minutes. Perfect for newcomers and returning listeners alike. Topics Covered  The Time Check and why assuming someone has time to talk damages your reputation How sales leaders use memory and personal details to build team community The Five Before Five pre-meeting prep strategy A simple name memory technique that works in under 20 seconds Reading the room and leading with authentic curiosity Nonverbal and verbal trust-building cues in the first five minutes Why speaking fear is a self-focus problem and how to fix it Timestamps 0:00 - Introduction and Episode Format 2:10 - Chris Fenning [The Time Check and Why "Do You Have a Minute?" Hurts You] 5:56 -  Dr. Garland and Dorothy Vance [Memory, Community, and Building Team Trust] 9:58 - Ashley Siller [The Five Before Five and Name Memory Techniques] 15:02 - Keith Lewis [Reading the Room and Authentic Curiosity] 18:35 - Dr. Brenda Buckley Hughes [Trust, Nonverbals, and Overcoming Speaking Fear] 22:21 - Closing Thoughts Featured Guests Chris Fenning - Episode  024: How to Gain Clarity When the Business Conversation BeginsDr. Garland and Dorothy Vance - Episode 026: The 7 Issues Holding Sales Leaders BackAshley Siller - Episode 028: Why This AT&T VP Still Works on Her 1st 5 MinutesKeith Lewis - Episode 30: What a Mascot Turned Executive Coach Knows That Most Leaders Don'tDr. Brenda Buckley Hughes - Episode 32: What a PhD in Communication Says Great Connectors Do DifferentlyDownload the free cheat sheet: here. Resources to Use: The System Elite Connectors Use to Remember Names If you’re serious about improving your business communication skills, I created a step-by-step system you can download right now — absolutely free. 👉 Grab it here:  30 Connection Questions for Stronger Business Conversations This is a proven question set to improve every conversation in the 1st 5 minutes. 👉 Grab it here:  Buy the 1st 5 Minutes Book: 1st 5 Minutes Book Follow Me on Social Media: LinkedInInstagramYouTube

    23 min

  3. Jun 18

    Top Ten Questions Asked About the 1st 5 Minutes - 033

    Bryan Buckley answers the most common — and most skeptical — questions he gets about the 1st 5 Minutes Framework, straight from keynote audiences, DMs, and corporate workshops. From introverts to 15-year sales veterans, this episode tackles the real doubts people have about whether intentional connection actually works. Whether you're brand new to the framework or already using it, you'll walk away with sharper clarity and immediate action steps. Timestamps 00:00 – Why the First Five Minutes Matter 01:36 – The Framework and How It Works 03:47 – Why Five Minutes Beats First Impressions 05:28 – Introverts Can Win at Connection 08:04 – Using the Framework on Zoom or Phone 10:14 – Connection Prep vs. Company Research 13:08 – Names Build Trust Faster Than Faces 16:00 – Free Cheat Sheet and Quick Break 17:25 – Questions Without Sounding Like an Interrogator 20:31 – Locked-In Listening, Not Loading 24:37 – Three Signs Your Connection Is Working 26:52 – Why Veterans Still Need Structure 29:28 – The Science Behind Trust and Influence 32:24 – Leaders Use It Beyond Sales 34:14 – Teaching the Framework to Your Team 36:39 – Action Steps and Final Challenge  Featured Kits & Resources Mentioned 1st 5 Minutes Cheat Sheet — A free printable summary of all ten Q&A's with action items; perfect to keep handy before high-stakes meetings. Download it here.The 1st 5 Minutes: How to Leverage the Most Important Minutes to Build Connection, Trust, and Influence eBook — A free digital guide on how to train your sales team to connect quickly and confidently; available in the show notes. Get your copy here.Episode 015 — Deep-dive episode on how to get better with names (referenced for Q5).Resources to Use: The System Elite Connectors Use to Remember Names If you’re serious about improving your business communication skills, I created a step-by-step system you can download right now — absolutely free. 👉 Grab it here:  30 Connection Questions for Stronger Business Conversations This is a proven question set to improve every conversation in the 1st 5 minutes. 👉 Grab it here:  Buy the 1st 5 Minutes Book: 1st 5 Minutes Book Follow Me on Social Media: LinkedInInstagramYouTube

    40 min

  4. Jun 11

    What a PhD in Communication Says Great Connectors Do Differently [Interview with Dr. Brenda Buckley-Hughes] - 032

    What separates a good communicator from a truly great connector? In this episode, Bryan sits down with Dr. Brenda Buckley-Hughes — his sister, a PhD in Communication, and a lifelong student of how people truly connect — to unpack the science and art behind meaningful conversation. From the power of pitch, pause, and pace to why the first five minutes of any interaction can make or break a relationship, this episode is packed with practical, research-backed insight for anyone looking to communicate with more intention and impact.  Topics Covered: Is communication a skill, a gift, or both?The 3 P's: Pitch, Pause & Pace — and how to use your voice as a toolNonverbal cues most professionals underestimate (and one to avoid)The First Five Minutes framework for sales and business conversationsHow to overcome the fear of public speaking by shifting your focusWhat great connectors do differently in one-on-one vs. group settingsPresentation prep: what to practice and prioritize in 72 hoursCommunication advice for new professionals and seasoned speakers alikeTimestamps: 00:01 – Meet Dr. Brenda Buckley-Hughes & family backstory  02:09 – How growing up with two opposite communicators shaped Brenda's career  04:40 – Is communication a skill or a gift?  07:08 – Nonverbal cues most professionals underestimate  09:13 – The 3 P's: Pitch, Pause & Pace 15:18 – Overcoming the fear of speaking by shifting focus to the audience 19:35 – One-on-one vs. stage: strategies for every communication setting 25:46 – The first five minutes framework: personal, professional, problem 33:41 – Inside Dr. Brenda's book: Introductory Speech Communication  38:35 – Presentation prep: what to practice in 72 hours  42:33 – Advice for new professionals and seasoned speakers alike  44:52 – Rapid Fire Round  49:45 – Finish the sentence: "You lose a room when you..."  51:32 – FAM Edition: The Buckley family communication style  52:23 – Closing thoughts on becoming a better communicator  Featured Guest Dr. Brenda Buckley-Hughes is a communication scholar and educator with a PhD in Communication, based in Nashville, Tennessee. As Bryan's older sister (by 16 years), she has spent her career teaching oral communication at every level — from freshman speech classes to doctoral seminars and is the author of Introductory Speech Communication: Overcoming Obstacles, Reaching Goals. Known for her warmth, precision, and memorable delivery, Brenda brings both academic rigor and real-world insight to every conversation. Download Free Cheat Sheet: here. Resources to Use: The System Elite Connectors Use to Remember Names If you’re serious about improving your business communication skills, I created a step-by-step system you can download right now — absolutely free. 👉 Grab it here:  30 Connection Questions for Stronger Business Conversations This is a proven question set to improve every conversation in the 1st 5 minutes. 👉 Grab it here:  Buy the 1st 5 Minutes Book: 1st 5 Minutes Book Follow Me on Social Media: LinkedInInstagramYouTube

    57 min

  5. Jun 4

    5 Habits That Prove the 1st 5 Minutes Works — Every Conversation Counts | Book Breakdown - 031

    In this episode, Bryan Buckley breaks down Riaz Meghji's bestselling book Every Conversation Counts, revealing how its five core habits map directly onto the 1st 5 Minutes framework. Backed by seventeen years of television experience and thousands of real-world interviews, Meghji's insights confirm what Bryan has been teaching: the first five minutes of any business conversation are where trust, rapport, and opportunity are won or lost. Why every conversation is a business opportunity and how the first five minutes set the toneThe "Look at You > Look at Me" operating principle and how it drives the 1st 5 Minutes frameworkHabit 1: Listen Without Distraction — the difference between listening and loading, plus five strategies to sharpen focusHabit 2: Make Small Talk Bigger — how genuine curiosity and better questions move conversations from surface to substanceHabit 3: Drop the Perfect Persona — why authentic vulnerability builds more trust than a polished performanceHabit 4: Assertive Empathy — how to stay present in tense moments and honor emotions without losing momentumHabit 5: Make People Feel Famous — practical ways to give every person your complete, undivided attentionOne concrete action to change before your next conversation Timestamps: 0:00 – Why Conversations Create Opportunities 3:48 – Look At You Beats Look At Me 5:22 – Habit One – Listen Without Distraction 7:59 – Habit Two – Make Small Talk Bigger 12:36 – Free Review Guide and Application 13:59 – Habit Three – Drop the Perfect Persona 17:12 – Habit Four – Assertive Empathy in Tension 20:05 – Habit Five – Make People Feel Famous 24:04 – One Change for Your Next Conversation 27:11 – Subscribe, Review, and Bring Me to Speak Featured book Every Conversation Counts by Riaz Meghji - Drawing on seventeen years of television hosting and thousands of interviews across business, sports, and politics, Meghji distills the art of human connection into five habits anyone can practice. His central thesis — that genuine curiosity and presence transform ordinary exchanges into extraordinary relationships — is a direct challenge to the transactional way most professionals approach conversation. Essential reading for anyone who wants to connect faster, listen better, and leave every person feeling truly seen. Download Cheat Sheet: here. Resources to Use: The System Elite Connectors Use to Remember Names If you’re serious about improving your business communication skills, I created a step-by-step system you can download right now — absolutely free. 👉 Grab it here:  30 Connection Questions for Stronger Business Conversations This is a proven question set to improve every conversation in the 1st 5 minutes. 👉 Grab it here:  Buy the 1st 5 Minutes Book: 1st 5 Minutes Book Follow Me on Social Media: LinkedInInstagramYouTube

    29 min

  6. May 28

    What a Mascot Turned Executive Coach Knows That Most Leaders Don't (Interview with Keith Lewis) - 030

    What does being a mascot for a team on the longest losing streak in Division I college football history have to do with leadership, connection, and the first five minutes? Everything. In this episode, Bryan Buckley sits down with Keith Lewis — executive coach, keynote speaker, and former Northwestern Wildcat mascot — for one of the most unexpected and insightful conversations the podcast has produced. Keith draws a direct line from the sidelines of a 64–0 blowout to the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies, and the principles he uncovered along the way are immediately applicable for anyone in sales, leadership, or hospitality. Here's what Bryan and Keith unpack: The Mascot Principle — You represent more than yourself in every room; how that realization changed how Keith shows up and why it should change how you do tooInside Out vs. Outside In — The single most common leadership failure Keith sees across every industry: letting external demands author your day instead of deciding how you show up from the insideGuiding Principles — Why having your values written as one word is not enough; the difference between a core value and a guiding principle, and why specificity changes everythingBlind Spots — How mascots taught Keith about the cost of limited vision, and the practical ways to find the guides and jesters in your own life who will tell you the truthThree Levels of Listening — From listening for yourself, to listening from the other person's perspective, to full-body listening — and why the third level is where real connection and breakthrough questions liveEgo as the Universal Failure Pattern — Across every industry and title, Keith sees the same issue show up over and over; the leader who got defensive at his 360 feedback, waited three weeks, then came back ready — and improved 30 percentile points in 18 monthsTimestamps 0:00 — Introduction & How Bryan And Keith Met 1:50 — The Mascot Origin Story: Northwestern's 23-Game Losing Streak 4:15 — From Sideline To Boardroom: When The Connection First Hit 7:18 — Leading Inside Out vs. Outside In 10:47 — By Me Or To Me: Are You The Author Of Your Day? 13:39 — Reading The Room: Bryan And Keith Trade Frameworks 17:52 — Guiding Principles: The Four Groups And Why Most People Stop Short 23:14 — Core Values vs. Guiding Principles: What Changes Each Season 25:14 — Blind Spots: What Mascots Teach Us About Limited Vision 28:30 — Finding Your Guides And Jesters 29:03 — Asking Questions And The Three Levels Of Listening 36:06 — The Universal Communication Failure Pattern: Ego 39:55 — One Thing To Take From The Book 41:00 — Rapid Fire Round 49:51 — Where To Find Keith And His Book 50:59 — Sign-Off Featured Guest Keith Lewis —  Executive coach, keynote speaker, and founder of VeraSpark. Find his book Sparking Your Inner Leader on Amazon and connect with him at veraspark.com. Download Free Cheat Sheet: here. Resources to Use: The System Elite Connectors Use to Remember Names If you’re serious about improving your business communication skills, I created a step-by-step system you can download right now — absolutely free. 👉 Grab it here:  30 Connection Questions for Stronger Business Conversations This is a proven question set to improve every conversation in the 1st 5 minutes. 👉 Grab it here:  Buy the 1st 5 Minutes Book: 1st 5 Minutes Book Follow Me on Social Media: LinkedInInstagramYouTube

    53 min

  7. May 21

    The Morning Routine Nobody Talks About (But Every High Performer Uses) - 029

    The most successful people in business aren't winning because they work harder — they're winning because of what they do before 8 a.m. In this episode, Bryan Buckley breaks down ten specific, research-backed elements of an elite morning routine, plus a bonus element that high-level athletes and executives use that almost no one in the business world thinks to apply. This isn't about hacks or a $400 blender. It's about designing the first hours of your day with intention so that everything that follows — every meeting, every conversation, every decision — is built on the strongest possible foundation. Bryan organizes the ten elements across three key questions every morning should answer: Mind & Mental State — Am I mentally clear? Wake Up at a Consistent TimeAvoid Your Phone for the First HourLearn Something Small Practice Mental ClarityBody & Physical Foundation — Is my body ready? Hydrate ImmediatelyGet Some Movement In Fuel Your Body IntentionallyFocus & Intentional Action — Do I know what matters today? Review Your GoalsSet Your Big 3 Priorities Eat the Frog Bonus: Mental Rehearsal — Visualization — 2 to 3 minutes of intentional mental rehearsal activates the same neural pathways as physical execution; if you run the play in your mind before you walk in the room, you've already practiced it Timestamps: 0:00 - The Real Advantage Before 8 1:35 - Why Your Morning Sets Everything 3:30 - Three Categories That Guide The Routine 4:25 - Sleep Timing Phone And Water 11:35 - Learn Daily And Clear The Noise 19:27 - Movement And Smarter Breakfast Choices 25:02 - Goals Priorities And Deep Work Early 32:35 - Visualization For High Stakes Moments 35:35 - The Implementation Gap And Recap 38:12 - Three Action Items And Next Guest Download the free cheat sheet: here. Resources to Use: The System Elite Connectors Use to Remember Names If you’re serious about improving your business communication skills, I created a step-by-step system you can download right now — absolutely free. 👉 Grab it here:  30 Connection Questions for Stronger Business Conversations This is a proven question set to improve every conversation in the 1st 5 minutes. 👉 Grab it here:  Buy the 1st 5 Minutes Book: 1st 5 Minutes Book Follow Me on Social Media: LinkedInInstagramYouTube

    42 min

  8. May 14

    Why This AT&T VP Still Works on Her 1st 5 Minutes (Interview with Ashley Siller) - 028

    What happens when one of AT&T's top sales leaders — an Area Vice President, Double Diamond Club winner, and leader of a massive B2B organization across the East Region — reads your books, applies the principles, and comes back to tell you exactly what changed? You get this episode. Bryan Buckley sits down with Ashley Siller for a candid, high-energy conversation about what it looks like to apply the First 5 Minutes framework at the highest levels of leadership. Ashley doesn't hold back — sharing her own growth journey from self-described bad listener and name-forgetter to one of the most intentionally connected leaders in her organization. Here's what Bryan and Ashley unpack together: Observational Intelligence at the Leadership Level Look at You, Not Look at Me Nailing the Name at Scale The 2QM in Practice Me Too, But Back to You The Higher You Get, The More You Need People  Timestamps 0:00 — Introduction & How Bryan And Ashley Met 3:24 — Reading The Books: When Theory Becomes Real 4:39 — Observational Intelligence As A Leader 7:21 — Look At You, Not Look At Me: The Leadership Version 9:50 — Five Before The Five At The VP Level 11:26 — Nailing The Name: Ashley's Journey And System 16:59 — The Tom Brady Principle: The Higher You Get, The More You Need People 18:51 — Why Most People Don't Ask Questions 21:17 — The Two Question Minimum And Me Too But Back To You 24:18 — Personal vs. Professional: When To Go Deeper 27:25 — What Ashley Would Say To Every Level Of Leader 31:00 — What Ashley Wishes Someone Had Told Her Earlier 31:41 — Rapid Fire Round 36:43 — Closing Thoughts For Sellers And Leaders 39:18 — Sign-Off Featured Guest Ashley Siller — Area Vice President at AT&T, Double Diamond Club winner, and leader of one of the company's largest B2B sales organizations across the East Region. A longtime champion of intentional connection, Ashley leads with the belief that the higher you get, the more you need the people around you. Connect with her on LinkedIn. Download Free Cheat Sheet: here. Resources to Use: The System Elite Connectors Use to Remember Names If you’re serious about improving your business communication skills, I created a step-by-step system you can download right now — absolutely free. 👉 Grab it here:  30 Connection Questions for Stronger Business Conversations This is a proven question set to improve every conversation in the 1st 5 minutes. 👉 Grab it here:  Buy the 1st 5 Minutes Book: 1st 5 Minutes Book Follow Me on Social Media: LinkedInInstagramYouTube

    42 min
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Hosts & Guests

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

If you're in the people business then this podcast is for you. Learn how to develop and master business social skills. This podcast has both content-driven and interview-driven episodes to keep the podcast creative. High energy, fast-paced, and practical.

Information

  • Creator
    Bryan Buckley
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    36
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Elite Business Connector Podcast
  • Show Website
    Elite Business Connector Podcast

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