The Great Conversation

The Great Conversation
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  • BUSINESS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
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. 12/31/2024

    The Map to Better

    In this Great Conversation podcast we excavate the human and organizational need for better. For organizations that employ people, this is about the alignment of people, purpose, and organization. We turn to one of the former leaders responsible for learning and development at Microsoft. We learn about the “data-informed” approach that transformed technology leaders that has been transcended with a significant developmental innovation at WiLD Leaders: the ability to measure personal, team, and organizational trust. Once measured a "Map to Better" can be realized.

    52 min

  2. 12/28/2024

    Reading Our Times: A Conversation with an Artist and a Macroeconomic Thought Leader

    Most of us have experienced the gnawing doubt of our purpose. Few have leaned into that doubt and set out on a journey of exploration, knowing they are seafarers navigating the risks and opportunities of the voyage. This Great Conversation is with a woman who pursued formal education in business and economics at Harvard. It became her future core competency. She is now acknowledged as a thought leader in macroeconomic analysis and multi-asset capital allocation. But before that she said the great “Yes” to a passion centered in music earning her Doctorate in Musical Arts from the Cleveland Institute of Music, as well as an Artist Diploma and a Master’s degree in vocal performance. She has won honors and accolades from international competitions and been featured as a soloist at the Kennedy Center. Now Anna Rathbun, CFA, CAIA is the Chief Investment Officer of CBIZ, Inc. (NYSE:CBZ), a leading professional services advisor to middle market businesses and organizations nationwide. Anna and I spend our time getting to the Yes of her journey which leads us to a discussion of the journey of the business owner. We agree it is a journey that transcends the P&L. It is a journey of the wants and needs of another through relationship and trust. (See the podcast “The Key Performance Indicator We Don’t Measure…But Should”.) And trust, according to Anna, is fragile. It has a face, the other. It has a heart. And it has a mind. And this unique chemistry cannot be parsed or siloed. If we only focus on profit optimization, we will not build a sustainable and lasting relationship with our customers, suppliers, and employees. The bad news: we are in a time of shifting business models and shifting value systems for world markets. And that will impact the business owner here at home. The good news: if we harness what we know about ourselves and others, we can navigate these times to advantage both. Anna will be speaking on Thursday, January 30, 2025 at The Economic Update Breakfast at the Madison Centre Building Conference Center in Seattle, Washington. I will be there to meet her, physically, for the first time. Anna oversees a team conducting global economic research. She also produces the CBIZ Small Business Employment Index and the CBIZ Main Street Index, which are proprietary indices that keep a pulse on the small business employment conditions and other Main Street trends in the United States. Anna’s opinions on global economic and market trends as well as monetary and fiscal policies are sought after by media outlets, and she is a regular guest contributor on Fox Business, CNN Money, Bloomberg, Reuters, Wall Street Journal and others. Anna is also an experienced professional in alternative investments, focusing on private equity, private credit and private real asset investing for institutional clients.  With a unique background that embraces both finance and the arts, Anna is dedicated to the issue of financial sustainability for organizations serving a mission. Enjoy this conversation with this master of the “Yes” in Life.

    23 min

  3. 12/17/2024

    The Key Performance Indicator (KPI) We Don't Measure...But Should

    If you are a data driven organization and measures of performance are important to you, it might be helpful to understand the measure that influences all other measures…. This great conversation is about cracking the code in creating a persistent measure of organizational trust that impacts the engagement and performance of your people. To paraphrase our guest: Leadership=Trust. Now you can measure it. Now you can build it.

    25 min

  4. 11/26/2024

    Upgrade: The Birth of an Investor

    I have often said that worldview is a predictor of behavior. What is a worldview? A worldview is the narrative you absorbed through your family, education, and experience that act as a toolbox of beliefs, assumptions, and values elements. by which you interact with the world. It is the story of you and your place in the world. The Great Conversation is really about worldview creating the soil for ideas and actions that change the world. This great conversation starts with a young man who was seeking his place in the world from humble beginnings, oldest of seven kids in a lower middle class family that often struggled. This formed the foundation of responsibility and the agency that life could be better. He could have gone into professional baseball after his junior year in college, but had the foresight to see the lure of the game was not going to pay off. He finished school, and like many of us, took a job to pay the bills. The first one was with a general contractor. The second one was in sales. Each of them was formative. However, he was a voracious learner. He dove into books by Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger about value investing. He quizzed his father-in-law about commercial real estate. This created the foundation for his venture into commercial real estate. And the rest is a fable you must listen to because he went from a net worth of $50,000 to a portfolio of business interests between $15-$20M in 14 years. Along the way he left his mind and spirit open creating the opportunity for mentorship and learning. And now he is giving back by seeking to upgrade others as he himself was upgraded by his mindset and fortuitous connections along the way. Operation Upgrade is all about him identifying the learners and providing tools and a hand as they strive to see the possible upgrades in themselves. .. This was a great conversation with a man with a worldview that is upgrading the world around him.

    26 min

  5. 11/19/2024

    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

  6. 11/01/2024

    The Gentle Art of Navigating Risk and Opportunity

    Your team is in the room. It is a strategic moment. High risk, high reward. And you are the team leader. How do you help them navigate this moment of risk and opportunity? This is happening in board rooms, executive management team meetings, and in organizational teams throughout your company. Do you have the language, processes, and tools embedded in your people so they can meet the moment that matters? A different mindset is needed. One you vet for before hiring. One you ensure is part of the onboarding process. One that is persistently refreshed and used. In this Great Conversation, we tease out whether Dr. Gav Schneider might have the recipe for this and whether it can break out from being a “security” program and into the mainstream toolbox for leaders up and down the corporate ladder. It is called “Presilience”. Enjoy another Great Conversation on the future of work.

    40 min

  7. 10/08/2024

    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

  8. 09/11/2024

    A Story Can Save You and Your Company

    I have seen it before. So have you. A disconnect: with your people with your stakeholders in your market with your prospects and customers with your board And most important of all, you have compartments within you that are silos of excellence but are not integrated into a highly compelling story of you. We invited Chris Hare, the Founder and Principal of The Storied Future, to our Podcast to discuss his journey in creating a story for himself, his company, and those he serves. This portion of his quote next to his picture, above, grabbed me: “I have the privilege of working with values-driven C-Suite leaders who have the audacity to believe they can bend the future to their will.” We discuss what “values-driven” means as well as “bend the future to their will”, and why they are both key in creating a storied future personally and professionally. Chris is highly transparent. It is because of the psychic pain he experienced that he was able to use this as a powerful transformational tool for others. As the founder of The Sage Group, a value transformation firm, I know how powerful “story” is in building a successful company. This is more than marketing. This is an existential and strategic tool for those that dare to think they can change the world. Enjoy this Great Conversation. Ron Worman, The Sage Group

    21 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Creator
    The Great Conversation
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2024
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2021 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    The Great Conversation

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