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According to a poll by Manta, the majority of small business owners agree that online marketplaces have positively impacted their sales. Nearly 70% of small business owners stated that marketplaces like Amazon and eBay have helped them increase sales, although about 30% believe they have had a negative impact. In addition, most small businesses (81%) believe that online sales are critical to their company's success, but most rely on their websites. Only around 20% of use e-commerce solutions as a growth strategy. So, what is a small or medium business to do? How can they implement their growth strategy through implementing technology that reflects the ever-changing consumer behavior? In this episode, we speak with the CMO of Vendasta, a Canadian based company which is on the cutting edge of technology that reflects consumer behavior and supports SMBs worldwide.

When people search online for products or services, if your website is not visible on the first page of the relevant keyword searches, you might not get traffic from the search engines. Google, the most widely used search engine, and other search engines provide the most significant area of opportunity for inbound marketers. According to SearchEngineWatch.com, websites on top grab 36.4% of the traffic missed by lower-ranked websites. If you don't rank highly in search results, you probably won't attract qualified leads and traffic to your site. And when your site doesn't get any traffic, you may also be missing out on valuable foot traffic. In this episode, we speak with two executives from Boostability about how businesses can get valuable online traffic and how SMBs improve their search engine ranking.

It is the fifth anniversary of GDPR, which went into effect and 2018. Since its passage, there have been significant efforts at compliance, At the same time, unfortunately, consumers still felt nudged or bullied by big tech companies into agreeing to business under the old rules, posing the question is the spirit behind the legislation on a level playing field. Then came the pandemic, and in March 2020, the world changed. Virtually every business was forced online and reached out to their consumers digitally. However, GDPR was not at the forefront of most business activities as companies focused on customer retention and not necessarily if they were compliant. Technology has also changed- it went into warp speed in 2020, forcing legislators to keep up with new technology channels. This episode talks about what has happened and what will happen in the upcoming years as countries try to formulate new ePrivacy Regulations.

Having honesty and integrity in the workplace is one of the essential qualities of outstanding leadership in business; we all know that but do we all know what that means. Like most things, we probably all have different understandings of what it means. Some may say it is not cheating; it is telling the truth or doing the right thing just because it is correct. There will be different interpretations because honesty and integrity are a state of mind and are not situational. If one compromises in small situations with little consequence, it becomes very easy to compromise on the larger ones, and leadership trust can be compromised. But honestly, in organizations is complicated. It draws on many dimensions, and our guest in this episode is an expert on forging honesty in organizations.

Broadcasting is challenging and competitive, but it can be gratifying and fulfilling. It has also changed drastically over the last 25 years. Technology has made media more accessible and widened coverage, regardless if it is sports or news. The people have also changed. Today broadcasting is accessible to almost everyone. From podcasters to influencers to reality TV, media is not what it was years ago. In this episode, we speak with a 25-year broadcasting veteran and award-winning camera operator. He talks about what has changed and will change in the future.

Can you combine a good employee experience with endpoint security? In 2020 most of us were forced into a virtual working environment. Unfortunately, companies and employees were not really aligned on how this would work because it happened so quickly. Cyber-attacks increased 500% as employees used personal devices, security policies did not cover remote work, and leadership did not know how to manage the transition of old employees, never mind the new employees they had never met in person. It is now two years later, and although we have become accustomed to virtual work models, the question is, are we good at it? What is the employee experience, and how is endpoint security? In this episode, our guest is an expert in helping remote and mobile workforces navigate the balance between staying motivated, feeling connected to the company, and ensuring that the technology they are using is secure.

In May 2020, just as SMBs worldwide struggled to get their businesses online because of the pandemic, Google introduced core web vitals. In addition, Google informed businesses that these vitals would soon be ranking signals worldwide. In other words, if a business did not get this right, their ranking would be affected. Finally, in August 2021, Google fully rolled out Core Web Vitals as a Google ranking factor. So we are now in April 2022, 6 months later, and what are we experiencing? Do businesses understand core web vitals and which vital is the most critical for ranking? Our expert in this episode comes to form one of the world’s leading website builders for SMBs and Enterprises. He talks to us about what he believes is the most critical core web vital companies need to pay attention to and how they can do that. In addition, he talks to us about how focusing on this web core vitals can improve ranking and conversions.

Women are underrepresented in most global companies, particularly among senior leadership teams—and companies are missing out on opportunities as a result. The pandemic also hit women employees more than men, with women having to return to the roles of educators and traditional family roles as work moved from the office to the home. The pandemic also put a new level of focus on how a sudden change disproportionately impacts certain underrepresented groups. Now companies are trying to fix this problem but very often try to fix it incorrectly. The center of their efforts usually lay solely on women, but this is not enough to bring about material change. Such a narrow focus labels gender diversity as a women-only issue instead of positioning it as a broader topic that significantly affects overall company performance. It very often excludes the focus on men. Our guest today helps companies and men focus on how they can get engaged in supporting gender diversity and help men define healthy masculinity.

Suppose you ask people what they’re most excited about as life begins to normalize after Covid. You’re likely to get a range of answers: a trip, a family reunion, a dance party, a favourite restaurant. But, of course, most people want to be “in-person” again. But ss people start to get out and about, the question we pose is what will happen to the virtual life we have become accustomed to over the last two years. Will digital services drop across most industries? We, as consumers, have picked up a lot of new habits in the last 24 months; will they stick? What will happen to industries like restaurants and food delivery? Have they forever changed, or will consumer behaviour return to a “pre-pandemic” norm? As the world opens up and consumers have more choices, are we moving to a hybrid model, combining pre-pandemic preferences for physical channels with digital channels? In this episode, we talk with a company at the forefront of digital change in a country that has long been the head of the digital transformation, France.

In this episode, we bring back a distinguished guest, not for a reportage of what is happening in Ukraine; we see the horrendous destruction every evening when we turn on the television. Instead, our interview talks about the motives behind the Russian attack and how history plays a role in today's conflict. We talked with an expert who is a retired Colonel from the US Army and an author, leadership expert, and a historian. This interview brings to light some things the average person may not have thought of or maybe has forgotten. This episode is insightful and informative.

On 21 of February, started aggression that all of us thought may happen but never really believed would happen. Russia attacked Ukraine, an independent democratic country. In the week following, the world changed, and so did the lives of millions of people. In this episode, we talk with a family that fled Ukraine. They talk about the long, trying 1800-kilometer journey. They talk about the happiness they felt reaching safe ground and the disappointment that they are still not united with their family in the USA. Finally, they speak to us about what we can do to help families like them. We will also hear about a great hero that unselfishly helped them along the journey.

In business and life, we sometimes have the inability to fully understand and tackle human emotions, impacting our behavior, especially in business. As leaders, we should exemplify the kind of behavior we want in our organizations, and without both emotional & social intelligence, we cannot do that. We need both emotional and social intelligence to make decisions, manage stress and set examples for others. We need to know and understand our own emotional state to impactfully lead others. In this episode, we speak with an expert who helps us understand what emotional and social intelligence is and its impact on leadership.

In the wake of significant social and political incidents, the emergence of a world economy, a changing workforce, and the focuses on “inclusivity: many companies are taking steps to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) through corporate programs. Yet, progress in most sectors remains slow because many of them do not change systems. Many times, HR staff often leads programs that do not really understand what DEI is or measure it by numbers thinking that numbers alone will change systems. Other times, leaders initiate programs they believe are fashionable or legally correct, but they delegate them downward and remain unengaged. Leaders and organizations find it challenging to focus on DEI solutions, and there is no silver bullet, no single solution. Yet, pushing ourselves to think outside the box and draw on the best empirical evidence that exists helps. We also must focus on systems. Our guest in this episode talks about what we have to do to get DEI right.

Many people do not like the term “Feminism”, but Feminism was the backbone of the women’s suffrage movement. In August 1920, because of Feminism, women won the right to political equality. But what has happened since 1920? Sure we have made some progress, but we have not moved the needle very far. Social, economic, employment and other types of equality have only made baby steps since 1920, and the question is why? We have equal employment laws that try to protect us once we are in a position, but doors are still closed on many opportunities. This is why we need to focus on changing systems and opening more opportunities to everyone. It is about opening markets, industries and companies to women and allowing women the opportunity to move ahead. Our guest in this episode has given a lot of thought to how we can change systems. She has looked at where we are today, why we are here and what we can do to move the needle in the right direction.

The stock market attracts millions of people from all over the world. It is a great way to earn money sitting at home by just investing a few hours of the day. The stock market is not just all about profit, but there is a risk where you might suffer losses. But to be successful in any field, it is imperative to have a good knowledge of that domain. Knowledge, in this case, can be observation, learning and practice. Our guest today understands the markets and help others understand them also. She not only helps people understand trading, but she supports trading, inspiring young women to enter the field.

Networks are considered one of the most critical resources in organizations, governments, social-cultural systems, and they are all around us, whether we’re aware of them or not. They are created to provide a means to satisfy an objective or need and diffuse information. Networks allow people to develop relationships with others they might not otherwise be able to connect with. In addition, networks can provide support systems for those in them. In the business world, networks can boost business productivity and help companies and leaders reach their objectives. But how can we become more aware of the networks around us and how can we better use them? Our guest in this episode is an expert that not only understands networks but helps us learn how we can get the best out of them.

According to Harvard Business Review, “90% of business leaders cite data literacy as a key to company success, but only 25% of workers feel confident in their data skills”. And then Harvard also notes some other statistics that suggest that nearly nine in 10 data science professionals are white, and only 18% are women. Research from General Assembly indicates “that data science lags behind even other tech-oriented disciplines”. Which brings us to the question if leaders see data literacy as a critical building block to a company’s success, why are they not focusing on it more? Moreover, why is the field not drawing a more diverse workforce of experts? Achieving data literacy is critical for a company to become more data fluent. It can be crucial to their success because it helps companies and employees make data-driven decisions regarding customer needs, products, and services. But how do we develop a diverse, data literate workforce? Today, our guest has given a lot of thought to how companies and individuals can become more data literate.

Why does it seem that adaptable people and organizations process change more quickly and with what is perceived as seamless effort? In March 2020, as the pandemic came into full force, the companies that grasped the new situation and were able to provide innovative solutions to their successful organizations succeeded. The individuals that embraced change and adjusted their expectations around how they needed to carry out their jobs and their lives that came out on top. What was the common denominator, adaptability? Though adaptability is an innate human skill, most people have lost it along the way. But it is possible to regain this ability. Adaptability helps us get through difficult times even when the situation seems hopeless. Its adaptability makes it possible to move smoothly through life and career changes. An adaptable organization has more engaged employees and fosters innovation. In this episode, we speak with an expert that helps individuals and organizations become more adaptable.

Fiction gives us the chance to provide power to or destroy cultural values, sensitivities, current or past issues and much more. We can learn from what characters do, where they are, how they behave and much more. Fiction is not just about a good story but also what we take away from the story. In this episode, we have a chance to talk with Suzanne Brockmann, the New York Times bestselling romance author. We talk about how she came about writing fiction that focused on Navy Seal Hero’s before they became popular in all kinds of fiction. Suzanne not only was writing about Navy Seals before it was popular, but her books are also informative. Weaved into her stories are history lessons, cultural values, diversity, family relations and social-economic issues that make us think. In this episode,Suzanne talks about her writing, characters, and her new movie coming out that aired in 2021..

A lot has happened in leadership since 2020. The workplace has changed, the general public has become more anxious and frustrated as lockdowns, and border restrictions continue. The roller coaster of heading back to the office only to be sent home to a virtual office two months later makes leadership challenging. Workers are frustrated in many jobs, such as in the travel and gastronomy industry because many customers are just plain old grumpy. So, what kind of leadership do we need to get through this all? In this episode, Kimberli Lewis has a conversation with Audrey Cavenecia, co-producer of Amplify Voices, about how leadership is transitioning and what leaders need to do in 2022, as the new normal in the workplace continues to form.