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We’ve all been there, listening to a presentation that just doesn’t drive your interest, or seem to deliver the tools that you need in order to take action. What’s even worse is when you are the person giving that presentation. Our guest today, Nancy Duarte, helps us expound on the idea that the role of a presenter is to mentor, with the main purpose of transferring information to your audience that they did not have before. In order to deliver, she discusses the Duarte Method, where communicating your ideas as three-act stories will only strengthen your power of persuasion.  Nancy is a communication expert who has been featured in Fortune, Time Magazine, Forbes, Fast Company, Wired, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Cosmopolitan, LA Times, and on CNN. Her firm, Duarte, Inc., is the largest communication firm in Silicon Valley, one of the top woman-owned businesses in the area and is the global leader behind some of the most influential visual messages in business and culture. As a persuasion expert, she cracked the code for effectively incorporating story patterns into business communications.  Nancy has won several awards for communications, entrepreneurship, and her success as a female executive. On the list of top 250 Women in Leadership, Duarte ranks #67 and on World’s Top 30 Communication Professionals for 2017, Duarte ranked #1. She has been a speaker at conferences and a number of Fortune 500 companies, and counts many more among her firm’s clientele. Her TEDx talk has over two million views. She speaks at business schools and has lectured at Stanford University several times, and has written six best-selling books, five of which have won awards.

When you come from a hard-working family, your ambitions are expected to be high. Though many obstacles and struggles will present themselves, you have to remember that where there is determination, there is hope. We must keep persevering and strategically fighting, and in the words of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, 'Keep hope alive.'"Our guest today, J. Derek Penn, author of Diary of a Black Man on Wall St., uses his personal experiences to break down for people of all colors the systemic inequality he has witnessed and why continuing that conversation can lead to the deep rooted change necessary to shatter the ceiling.Penn’s story of determination is peppered with his own racial struggles and triumphs, from his elementary and middle school years in Youngstown, Ohio, to his acceptance at Duke University, where he excelled in athletics as one of the university’s standout players, to his tryout for the NFL, to his acceptance into Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, and his eventual 34-year success on Wall Street.

Kids soak up information like sponges. With most schools not teaching financial literacy, our young generations are left to their own devices to filter through all they see and hear, with the majority of it stemming from what they witness at home. Kids see their parents argue over and tiptoe around money, as well as base their expectations and sometimes limitations of their own futures off their parents lives. This all culminates into young adults having little to no knowledge on how to manage their finances, break through self-derived limitations and plan for their future responsibly. That’s why our guest today, Chad Willardson, wrote Smart, Not Spoiled, which lays out ways in which money can become more comprehensible and familiar to children, allowing them to make and learn from mistakes when the stakes are low instead of when they are older and the damage less repairable.   Chad is the President and Founder of Pacific Capital, a financial management business based in Corona. Before founding Pacific Capital, Chad spent 9 years at Merrill Lynch, where he ranked in the top 2% of Financial Advisors nationally as a Senior Vice President and member of the Chairman’s Club. He is a certified member of the National Ethics Association and serves clients as a Certified Financial Fiduciary®, entrusted to manage money for families and businesses. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, and NBC News and is the best-selling author of two personal finance books, “Stress Free Money” and “Smart, Not Spoiled.” He was elected Corona City Treasurer in 2016 and 2020. In 2012, he earned the White House Volunteer Service Award and appreciates the opportunity to make an impact through donating his time and resources to worthwhile causes both in the community and with the church his family attends.  While attending Brigham Young University for a bachelor’s degree in economics, he worked directly with a portfolio manager responsible for $10 billion of investor funds. He also completed the two-year Financial Planning program at Boston University. He is a Guest Lecturer on Investments at Chapman University and has been designated a 5-Star Wealth Manager in both the Inland Empire and Orange County every year since 2012. 

Globally, there is currently about a half of trillion dollars in dry powder, or capital that has been committed by investors but has not been invested or allocated, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.  This means there is a tremendous amount of opportunity for business leaders who are looking to grow their business portfolio or sell their company via the private equity asset class.  However, to be effective at maximizing value in the private equity space, business leaders need to have a playbook and understand exactly how it works and who are the players.  That's why I'm looking forward to my conversation with Adam Coffey, a CEO who has two decades of experience building businesses for private equity companies.   Adam is an inspiring and authentic leader who creates high-performance cultures and drives transformative growth. Over the past 21 years, he has had the honor of serving as President and CEO of three national private equity-backed service companies, each in different industries.  Adam is an active mentor to MBA candidates and is a regular guest speaker at UCLA. With a diverse background, he has led several commercial and industrial service businesses, is a licensed general contractor, a pilot, a former GE executive, an alumnus of the UCLA Anderson Executive Program, and a veteran of the US Army.  Adam’s first book, The Private Equity Playbook, was released in 2019 and became an instant #1 Amazon Best Seller and private equity cult classic. His second book, The Exit Strategy Playbook was released in September of 2021 and also was a #1 Amazon Best Seller. He was named one of the “Most Influential Leaders” by the Orange County Business Journal for 3 straight years, and in 2021 was named to their prestigious "OC Top 50".  Coffey makes his home in Westlake, TX with his wife and young daughter. 

When it comes to shaking old habits, we quickly remember the reasons why they became habits in the first place. Whether it’s always been done this way or the risk is low and it leads to a shortcut, marketing is truly it’s own dimension of truths and fallacies. Our guest today, Atul Minocha, author of Lies, Damned Lies and Marketing, backs the notion that while marketing data will certainly show the disappointments of oversold performances, the quality of finesse at which you conduct your marketing strategy is where the value and returns really emerge.  Atul is a partner at Chief Outsiders, a marketing consulting firm that helps CEOs accelerate growth through strategic planning, customer insight, and disciplined execution of well-crafted marketing plans. With experience in startups and Fortune 500 companies like Honeywell, Kodak, and Toyota, Atul works in a wide range of industries, from automotive and healthcare to industrial goods and technology.  Atul has a degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and an MBA from Yale University. He is a professor at the Hult International Business School, a mentor and an angel investor with Sierra Angels, a Vistage speaker, and a Forbes contributor.

Taking risks, especially when it involves money, is not for the faint of heart. As a society, we are taught to save up our money dollar by dollar until we need it for a rainy day or retirement. However, our guest today, Yusef Alexander, disproves this notion. With inflation and the constant of change, sitting on money is only a disservice to your future self. Rather, that money should be working for you to further invest in yourself by diversifying your assets, feeding into your curiosities and learning from your mistakes.  As co-founder of REAP, Yusef brings over 20 years of experience in the successful development of commercial and residential assets. His work includes negotiating, evaluating, and sourcing opportunities and creating added value in properties. Serving as REAP’s asset financial manager, Yusef fosters relationships with regional, leasing, and on-site managers to ensure consistent alignment with the company’s values and principles. Yusef’s philanthropic concerns are early childhood literacy and financial literacy for adults. He is the author of Deal by Deal: A Practical Guide to Real Estate Investing and holds a degree in business economics from UCLA. He has also served as a guest professor at the UCLA School of Public Policy as well as been an invited event panelist for the Department of Economics.

In this day and age, we are bombarded with to do’s, to haves, and a ton of noise that distracts us from what truly matters most. In life, it's not that we don't know what's good for us to pursue, rather it’s knowing what to cut in order to focus on the most essential activities. However, once we strip our lives down to the most essential things, the demands on our time and energy can still be overwhelming.  That’s why I’m excited to have today's guest on the show, Greg McKeown. What you’ll learn about today is not only how to pursue the most essential, but also, how to give yourself permission to take the path of least resistance at times to achieve your most meaningful goals.  Greg McKeown has dedicated his career to discovering why some people and teams break through to the next level—and others don’t. He is the CEO of McKeown Inc. whose clients include Adobe, Apple, Google, Facebook, Pixar, Salesforce.com, Symantec, Twitter, VMware and Yahoo!. As the author of New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, his writing has appeared or been covered by The New York Times, Fast Company, Fortune, HuffPost, Politico, and Inc. Magazine. He is among the most popular bloggers for the Harvard Business Review and LinkedIn’s Influencers group: averaging a million views a month. An accomplished public speaker, he has spoken to hundreds of audiences around the world.  He serves as a Board Member for Washington D.C. policy group Resolve and as a mentor with 2 Seeds, a non-profit incubator for agricultural projects in Africa.  Prior to this, McKeown collaborated in the research and writing of Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter and worked for Heidrick & Struggles’ Global Leadership Practice assessing senior executives. His newest book, , Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most, delves into the simple principle that not everything has to be so hard. 

We hear it time and time again: having the right attitude will take you far. Definitely an easy lesson to roll your eyes at when times get tough, but when you find yourself starting a new business or looking for a new career or job, having the right mindset is what sets apart the successful from the missed opportunities.  Our guest today, Bryan Cressey, discusses how he has wired his brain after years of experience in the world of investing. He’ll delve into the times he uses intuition versus analytics, how a good leader takes credit for the failures and gives credit where credit is due, and how risk taking is built into the foundation of our economy, so you might as well go for it.  Bryan Cressey is a pioneer in the field of private equity investing and is co-founder of four of the largest private equity firms in the United States. He has managed billions of dollars of private capital and is well known for generating consistently strong investment returns.  A member of the Chicago Business Hall of Fame, and Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame, Bryan received his BS in Economics at the University of Washington and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a JD from Harvard Law School. With over 40 years of experience, Bryan’s leadership has been recognized by Fortune and Time magazines and was the subject of a feature article in Harvard Law Today. He is highly sought out to speak nationwide on healthcare, its future, and private equity investing. He serves on the board of many companies and was Chairman of Belden, a NYSE company.

Unlike 30 years ago, business today doesn’t take place behind closed doors. Or at least it shouldn’t. As the workplace becomes more of a community rather than a monetized entity, your team and customers are becoming your most important attributes as a leader.  Our guest today, Jeff Cobourn, tells us how the company he works with, Gusto, takes this idea and goes all in. Setting the playing field straight with no titles, running extensive peer reviews twice a year and operating in full transparency, Jeff and Gusto are reaping the rewards from this shift in management.  Jeff was born and raised in Toronto, Canada and graduated from Ivey Business School. He currently empowers the Revenue Finance team at Gusto. Prior to Gusto, he was a growth equity investor at Silver Lake. He's been at Gusto for over three and a half years and in addition to helping to define, defend, and accelerate Gusto, he's supported fundraising, M&A, and company strategy. When he's not thinking about Gusto's revenue, you can usually find him backpacking, cycling, or skiing!

Life is becoming a lot less predictable, meaning businesses need to start evolving their preparation for the future by turning unforeseen circumstances into something they already saw coming. However, with Excel spreadsheets really requiring a master of both the program and finance to undertake such a project, many are deterred away from including uncertainty in their number crunching.  Our guest today, Taimur Abdaal, introduces his product, Causal, a clearer way to tackle those frustrating spreadsheets, and reasons for why every employee should be up to speed with the finances at hand.  Taimur is a graduate of the University of Oxford with a degree in Mathematics and Statistics. He’s been awarded the OxTALENT Student Innovation Award, for his online arthritic game Speedsums,  as well as the CREST Gold Award. He currently serves as the founder and CEO of the start up Causal, an all-in-one FP&A tool for modern finance teams. 

Technology and business over the past 20 years have seen such a quantum leap in innovation, that it’s about time we changed our strategies to match the present and future. No longer can we just focus on mastering one discipline, but rather find a way to weave topics like technology, science and finance, together. Dr. Vinay Nair discusses with us today how through complex and creative contemplation, putting the customers needs and your employees growth ahead of the product is the new wave of thought that will lead to big results in these modern times. A serial entrepreneur, investor, and academic, Dr.Vinay Nair has taught at several business schools, has a portfolio of venture investments and has started several companies in financial services.  He started his career as a finance faculty member at The Wharton School. After launching and managing a quantitative hedge fund which led him to start 55ip, which was successfully sold to JPMorgan Chase, he started TIFIN to tap into the potential that science and technology have to deliver better investor experiences and outcomes. His 2008 book, “Investing for Change”, published by Oxford University Press, reflects his recognized expertise in the areas of sustainable and responsible investing. His academic background includes a Ph.D. in Financial Economics from the Stern School of Business at NYU with an award for the best thesis, and a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras with the Governor’s Gold Medal, an award for all-round excellence.

One could argue that entrepreneurship is the purest form of business: Building the idea, team and strategy from the ground up, all while having the freedom of being your own boss and setting your own expectations. But this freedom doesn’t come without major roadblocks. The odds of a start up getting past the early stages is slim, and maneuvering around all the unforeseen tribulations makes the odds of a long-term success story slimmer.  That’s why today’s guest, Tom Eisenmann, is a much needed voice on this topic. In his new book, "Why Startups Fail: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success", Eisenmann goes through his six patterns of failure that startup’s make throughout their course, and when to take the leap and when to call it quits.  Eisenmann is the Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He teaches the MBA elective Entrepreneurial Failure and the MS/MBA core courses Technology Venture Immersion and Launch Lab. With colleagues, he launched the MBA electives Making Markets, in which students specify and supervise development of a software application. He also created the January Term Startup Bootcamp for first-year MBAs and the MBA electives Launching Technology Ventures and Managing Networked Business, which surveyed strategies for platform-based businesses that leverage network effects.  Professor Eisenmann received his Doctorate in Business Administration, MBA, and BA from Harvard University. Prior to entering the HBS Doctoral Program, Eisenmann spent eleven years as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he was co-head of the Media and Entertainment Practice. He currently serves as a director on the board of Harvard Business Publishing.

We are all given 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But when it comes to leadership, how we prioritize that time is what separates the innovative from the disoriented. With each decision triggering a domino effect, everyone, from your team behind you, all the way to your customers, feels the aftershocks. Our guest today, Aaron Sallade, tells us how by looking through the windshield, rather than the rear view mirror, your choices will prove both strategic and constructive to your employees, mission, and overall happiness of your customers. Aaron Sallade is a seasoned finance, strategy, and operations leader with over 15 years of experience in enabling value creation.  Before becoming the Chief Financial Officer at BiggerPockets, Aaron led multiple strategic initiatives and category expansion opportunities at HomeAdvisor and Cinch Home Services.  Prior to these roles, he held various positions in corporate finance, private equity, and investment banking.  He is also an Army veteran who served in both Bosnia–Herzegovina and Afghanistan. Outside of work, he is an avid mountaineer who has climbed 5 of the 7 world’s highest summits and numerous other peaks throughout the continental US.

Be it the cost of living continuing to climb while salaries remain stagnant, or the hope of owning a house and retiring becoming more far fetched, managing our personal finances feels like an incredibly daunting task. We are told we need to prepare for the future with its abundance of confusing options while trying to also account for unforeseen circumstances. But with the lack of early education, few of us actually come into this system knowing anything about it. That’s why our guest today is here to ease the stress. Alok Deshpande educates us on how with baby steps, one can grab hold of their finances with better understanding of their decisions and capitalism as a whole.  After earning degrees at Emory and Harvard University, Alok began working at Bain & Company as a consultant and later manager. Recognizing that only 4 of 50 states require financial education to graduate from high school, he eventually left his job to follow his passion of teaching personal finance.  Inspired by his mother, who immigrated to the US, and watching her grow her $8 into a million, Alok published his own system called Financial Fuel and the 7-Tank System, which has since transformed into what is today SmartPath, where he is Co-Founder and CEO.

Nothing in life is strictly black and white, and the same goes for the world of business. No more are profits just ‘good’ and loss is ‘bad’, or does higher salary equal a happy employee. Our guest today, Ragu Bhargava, explains how success can reach a higher magnitude in your organization AND personal life by practicing empathy and balancing your focus on quality rather than just quantity.   Ragu is an experienced, award-winning entrepreneur, financial executive, and leader. He helps clients successfully navigate some of the world’s trickiest business environments. After immigrating to the US, Ragu co-founded his own company in 1999. Today Global Upside Corporation and it’s four brands operate in 150+ countries. With professional experiences ranging from being a CPA to heading dozens of international M&As, Ragu has leveraged his vast business expertise in scaling his companies to solve some of the most complex business challenges.

In the past 10 years, the work place and expected ‘work ethic’ has seen many alterations from what our parents had ingrained in them. No more is it the norm to grin and bear it in an unhealthy work environment in order to rack up the years, nor is it acceptable for leadership to cut corners. With Millennials and Generation Z entering the workforce, they don’t care about title and office size, but rather who you are and what makes you credible as a manager.  Our guest today, Vince Molinaro, discusses his newest book Accountable Leaders:  Inspire a Culture Where Everyone Steps Up, Takes Ownership, and Delivers Results, illuminating why accountability should be the #1 attribute to instill in every leader working in this modern-day environment. Vince Molinaro is Founder and CEO of Leadership Contract Inc. and is an author, speaker, leadership adviser and researcher. Molinaro has helped create one of the leading brands in the Human Capital industry, working in several key sectors including energy, pharmaceutical, professional services, technology, financial services, and the public sector. He is the author of four other books, Leadership Solutions, The Leadership Gap, The Leadership Contract, and the Leadership Contract Field Guide.  His work has been featured in many of the world’s leading business publications, including The Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and The World Economic Forum.

Brand isn't just a catchy name and a pretty looking logo. In fact, those two aspects should be positioned at the back of the list when coming up with a brand strategy. Going deeper than just aesthetics, your brand needs to be defined both internally with your staff as well as externally to your customers what you stand for and how you plan to accomplish that mission. Our guest today, Kyle Duford, helps us understand how differentiating between listening to the market, your competitors, internal staff, customers you have and the customers you want allow you to set your brand up for success.  Kyle is an executive specializing in crafting outstanding experiences for global brands. A former magazine editor, he has spent much of his career with a focus on the fashion, outdoor, and sports industries through the e-commerce and digital lens for brands such as Nike, Dr. Martens, KEEN, Lululemon, PowerBar, Ariat, Chrome Industries, and others.  Kyle is currently focusing on digital trends online, the future state of retail in a post-pandemic world, the complexity of global brand expansion, and branding post-pandemic.

When it comes to building a strategy for our organization, we tend to base it off of the fact that history repeats itself. But stopping there can still leave many of us blindsided. Because let’s face it, if we’ve learned anything from this past year, it's that planning for the totally unexpected is what separates the ill-prepared from the truly innovative and resilient.  But how do you plan and pivot for these surprise trials and tribulations? Our guest today, Jonathan Brill, is an innovation executive who through his new book, Rogue Waves, presents his ABC’s of resilient growth. His method allows insight into how the success of an organization can prevail in times of uncertainty with the skills and team already acquired, even when coming into the fight generally unprepared. Or better yet, avoiding the scramble altogether by building a  muscle memory of identifying and preparing for the problem before it ever takes place.  Holding a degree in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute, Jonathan has trained tens of thousands of executives in innovation, strategy, and decision-making techniques.  Formerly the Global Futurist and Research Director at Hewlett Packard, he has also served as managing partner of innovation consultancies that developed over 350 products for clients like Samsung, Microsoft, Verizon, PepsiCo and the US government.  He is currently a board member and advisor to the Chairman at Frost & Sullivan, a market intelligence firm that operates in 46 countries, as well as the managing director of Resilient Growth Partners. Additionally, he serves as a speaker and contributor for TED, Singularity University, Korn Ferry, J.P. Morgan, Forbes and the Harvard Business Review. 

I think it’s safe to say that a lot of us, when asked about our ideal career, would say it is one where our efforts play into a grander cause, giving back to society while also paying the bills. Seeing the news roll in everyday with reports and footage of injustice and inequality around the world, we want to do something about it, beyond throwing money at the problem in hopes that it will be put to good use. When looking to volunteer though, we often get stuck finding the time or the right opportunity, especially one that can involve the kids. Our guest today, Jessica Jackley, has cracked the code to incorporate financial inclusion, the sharing economy, and social justice, resulting in furthering entrepreneurial dreams and spreading knowledge and practice to the next generation. Over the past decade, Jessica has risen as an entrepreneur, investor, and speaker. She is the founder of the crowdfunding site for micro-enterprises, Kiva, cofounder of the early-stage venture capital firm Untapped Capital and founder of her latest project, Alltruists, an at-home, kid-friendly volunteer project aimed towards families.  Jessica’s work has been widely recognized by The Economist’s No Boundaries Innovation Award, Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Tech, Silicon Valley Forum’s Visionary Award and more. Additionally, Jessica teaches Social Entrepreneurship at the Marshall School of Business at USC. Jessica lives in Los Angeles with her husband, author Reza Aslan, and their four young children.

If there was ever a year that had us asking those overarching, existential questions at an accelerated rate, it was 2020. But over the past 20 years, the answers to those questions have seemingly become more complicated. As the paradigm of modern society shifts rapidly with the introduction of technology and new ideas, life here in the Western Hemisphere feels, in a way, simplified, compared to what our ancestors dealt with. So much so that ways of finding purpose, work life balance, and examining the rise of mental health awareness in this more ‘ simplified life’ is again newly explored territory. Our guest today, Clay Routledge, is just one of the many doing that exploring.   Dr. Clay Routledge is a psychological scientist, writer, consultant, public speaker, and professor. He studies basic psychological needs and how these needs influence and are influenced by family, social and community bonds, economics, work, and broader cultural worldviews. Much of his research focuses on the need for meaning in life. Dr. Routledge is a Professor of Management for the Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth and the Department of Management and Marketing at North Dakota State University, is senior research fellow at Archbridge Institute, nonresident scholar at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion, and faculty affiliate at the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science. He lives in Fargo, North Dakota with his wife.