The Great Conversation

The Great Conversation
The Great Conversation

The Great Conversation works with its community of leaders to source people who are bringing ideas to life. If ideas matter, actionable results also matter. Work can be purpose-driven and intentionally missional in empowering our path to value.

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    Saving Our Children from the Presumption of College

    In 2022, 39% of 18- to 24-year-olds in the United States were enrolled in college or graduate school. The total cost of attendance for a four-year degree includes tuition and fees, room and board, books, supplies, and other expenses. In 2022-2023, the average annual cost of attendance for first-time, full-time undergraduate students was:  Private nonprofit institutions: $58,600+ Private for-profit institutions: $33,600+ Public institutions: $27,100+ Most students borrow money to attend college, with the average federal student loan debt being $37,850. The standard repayment plan for federal student loans lasts 10 years, but the average student borrower spends closer to 20 years paying off their loans.  The median annual salary for a college graduate with a bachelor's degree is around $77,636.. (after 4 years and an average debt of $38K) This is the context for a discussion with a retired tradesman, Dennis Hamon. Dennis successfully sold his plumbing business a few years back and since that time has been serving his industry through the Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, Contractors Association. (PHCC). He himself was that 18 year old kid who was always dreaming and always learning, but was not attracted to formal education. He was one of the 61% who did not go to college. Instead he was mentored and apprenticed by tradespeople that helped shape his character and work ethic. And it eventually led him to building a successful practice. Now he has a podcast, “Dennis the Apprentice” that is intended to be one of the vehicles that allows him to keep investing in the next generation of plumbers. He is also on the board of directors of the national PHCC and is helping shape the growth trajectory of the PHCC Academy, a comprehensive contractor life cycle education model beginning with workforce development. Through the great conversation, he helps us understand the risks and opportunities in the plumbing industry. These will serve the next generation of plumbers represented by those 18 year old kids who have been taught to believe the only way to a quality life, a $100,000 annual salary and professional career development is through a 4 year degree. If you love to learn, are accountable, love to help people, and fix problems that are important to them, then this might be the profession for you. And you get paid to learn it with many companies offering compensation based on your performance. Plumbing services professionals are the doctors of the home. Educated, certified, professionally licensed, and well compensated. And they don’t spend 4 years to get a $50,000 job with a $50,000 debt hanging over them. Enjoy this discussion with a great entrepreneur, and statesman.

    32 min
  2. OCT 8

    Why No Demand for Your Products and Services?

    We had a great conversation with the Founder and CEO of The Demand Creation Institute, Sean Stormes. Sean had the good fortune of leading a Continuous Quality Improvement initiative within a Fortune 500 company. This led him to the world’s authority Dr. William Edwards Deming, the father of the quality movement. Deming was credited with revolutionizing Post World War II Japan’s manufacturing industry and making Japan one of the most dominant economies in the world.  In 1951 the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers established The Deming Prize that recognizes organizations that have implemented systems that promote quality, and individuals who have made contributions to quality. It is one of the highest awards int the world and the longest running national quality award. This formative experience led Sean to explore the world of variation, a symptom that eventually leads to defects. Once he began researching, he saw variation at every level of a company.   He saw variation in the articulation of purpose. He saw variation in the articulation of value to the client. He saw variation in the alignment of purpose, quality, and value throughout the company culture. To add fuel to the fire, he also saw an epidemic of sameness. He could take any number of company websites in any market and see no substantial differences. Finally, he saw that the measures of sales performance lacked the means to create a compounding effect, limiting the scale and impact of the company. Sean’s passion for excellence in demand creation creates the context for all of this. Enjoy this great conversation and then begin to question all the elements that add up to creating more from your go-to-market efforts.

    36 min
  3. JUL 23

    Access is Leverage

    Markets are ecosystems. They are unique to geographies, economies, and weather (seasons of change). Market participants later find they need to be represented as a single voice in representing their needs to the government or to coalesce around industry standards to uplift the quality of their industry. For example, the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) was born in 1955. The original members were meeting to share information with each other and to adapt the security regulations that were coming out of the Department of Defense. Many had come to their security positions from the FBI, which was frequently asked after the war to perform security surveys of industrial sites. Just as ASIS was launched to represent positional security authority within organizations, the Security Industry Association (SIA) founded in 1969 as a trade association representing global security solutions providers, including manufacturers, service providers, and integrators of electronic and physical security equipment. Two associations representing two different groups within a common ecosystem. Many more associations have been introduced within this market representing different interests and groups. Interesting enough, no one as yet connected the vital information from each source into a single syndicated channel. We talked with Michael Gips, JD, CPP, CSyP, CAE, the President of the recently reimagined Life Safety Alliance (LSA). He has served as both the Chief Security Officer and Chief Global Knowledge and Learning Officer for ASIS International, where he oversaw Learning, Content, Certification, Standards & Guidelines, Production, Enterprise Security Risk Management, and other departments. He developed the CSO Roundtable, an organization that includes hundreds of the most senior security executives at the biggest corporations around the world, as a membership group within ASIS. He also served as editor and publisher of Security Management, where he authored hundreds of articles. Mike is also a senior advisor for Cardinal Point Strategies, a senior advisor for the Network Contagion Research Institute, and a Partner in the Knowledgebase of Insider Threats. He also serves on the advisory boards of several organizations that provide technology and services in government security, executive protection, violence prevention, and emergency geolocation. A highly networked, highly knowledgeable, and highly generous man. As you listen to the conversation, you will see the hub of syndicated information he is attempting to aggregate, organize, and distribute as well as his vision for connecting the authors of the content with the moments that matter in the security market. If achieved this will be not only a content aggregator, but also a relationship generator which is the foundation of industry innovation and change. For those who join in this ground floor opportunity, it may represent a unique reciprocal opportunity to be at the table as a new syndication of relationship and content emerge. Enjoy the conversation.

    26 min
  4. JUL 19

    The Business of Before

    In the security industry, the ideal posture is to be proactive. To do this, requires a relationship with people, processes, tools, and the core values of the client. And ideally, the client is now able to identify risk, analyze and assess that risk, and then mitigate the risk down to an acceptable level.  If this is true, how do you assess the methodology and the core values of a vendor before they take on this central and significant task? We have a discussion with the co-founder of TorchStone Global, David Niccolini. David discusses the "Business of Before" in the context of their code of ethics. You can see why the company has won numerous awards and the respect of key industry insiders.  As a reference, the key elements of this code are: Above All, Do No Harm We endeavor to do no harm, and we actively work to do good. That statement might seem trite to some, but to those associated with TorchStone, we mean it sincerely. We try hard to form relationships of trust with the people with whom we work. We do all we can to develop and maintain that trust, to uphold professional standards, and to take full responsibility for our actions. Gut Check We refuse engagements or recuse ourselves from situations that do not pass these simple gut check questions: 1) Is this going to cause harm to someone or something? 2) Is this activity lawful? 3) Would I be comfortable if this work was made public? We expect and demand that employees and associates will consult with TorchStone leadership immediately if something seems amiss with any relationship or project. We Honor the Dignity and Worth of All People We deeply believe in the dignity and worth of all people. We treat others with respect, and we do not tolerate harassment or discrimination of any kind. TorchStone will NOT assist in any investigation or provide any services (paid or pro bono) that may have been requested with the intent to kill, injure, suppress, stalk, or harass an individual or group. TorchStone will NOT conduct any operations or provide any services that violate others’ rights or any fundamental freedoms. TorchStone will NOT use deception, coercion, or threats to obtain information or provide services. This reinforces that above all, we at TorchStone strive to do no harm. We Follow Laws and Regulations, and Foster Ethical Relationships We respect the laws and regulations wherever we do business around the world. TorchStone assesses and mitigates the risk of potential physical, cyber, and reputational threats through lawful open-source information collection, principled executive protection, and sound security consulting. We do not take on any work that may infringe upon another person’s or group’s fundamental rights. We are honest and transparent in our discussions with employees, partners, and clients about what we can and cannot do. We build positive relationships free from corruption, bribes, kickbacks, or any other unethical activity. If potential conflicts of interest arise, financial or otherwise, we immediately consult with all parties involved, both internal and external, to transparently discuss the situation and to identify, together, the best way forward. We Welcome Diversity TorchStone is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer for all qualified candidates. We welcome and support people from diverse backgrounds and experiences. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We Play Nice in the Sandbox We respect our competitors. While we are focused on growing our company, we want to do so in a way that reflects our values. We want to compete with our competitors fairly and honestly. How Can We Be Better? In order to improve, we need to know when we are fallin

    26 min

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

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The Great Conversation works with its community of leaders to source people who are bringing ideas to life. If ideas matter, actionable results also matter. Work can be purpose-driven and intentionally missional in empowering our path to value.

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