Voices - Episode 8: Artie Isaac

In this episode of Voices, I speak with Artie Isaac - marketing strategist, founder of Young Isaac, and professor at The Ohio State University and Columbus College of Art and Design.  Among other things, Mr. Isaac teaches MBA students at The Ohio State University how to be more creative.

According to Artie Isaac, creativity is about living a better life, having a more fulfilling job, connecting more deeply with friends and family, achieving flow, being more mindful, and embracing the present moment.  Isaac claims that all of us have the ability to be more creative by making an effort to enhance our creative potential - much like exercise can improve your physical health.  It is work, but there are clear, positive results.

Some of the thoughts Artie Isaac shares in the podcast are his reasons for blogging, how he named his site, what inspires him, how he utilizes technology to increase day to day productivity, the 3 types of days and how to approach them, why he lives in Ohio, and what people can do to be more creative.

Thanks to Artie for being kind enough to take the time to participate in the podcast, for being open enough to share his wisdom, and for being brilliant enough to inspire others to achieve greatness.  It was a pleasure to meet him.

Listen and enjoy!

Net Cotton Content / On Life and Marketing, Creativity and Ethics

Voices - Episode 7: Elizabeth Riley

Elizabeth Riley is one of the most well connected people I know.  She knows how to network; she knows people; and she knows what it takes to run a small business.  Elizabeth and her husband Michael own the West Carrollton based business, Insignia Signs.

In a time and place where the business climate is difficult at best, Elizabeth’s business is enjoying continued growth, largely due to her hard work as a sales professional and her husband’s expertise in the sign business.

In this episode of Voices, I speak with Elizabeth about her secrets for running a successful small business, her involvement in the community, some of trends in her industry, and her outlook on the future of Dayton and the Miami Valley.

Elizabeth and Michael are a great example to two young people who are making things happen in the community.  They prove everyday that “hustle” is a valid and effective strategy for growth.   Thanks to Elizabeth for taking the time to do the podcast.   It was a pleasure.

Guiding Growth

For my money, the best regularly scheduled networking event in Dayton is the Dayton Chamber Breakfast Briefing.  Month after month, the series delivers top notch speakers, attracts a great cross section of community leaders, and offers a chance to break bread and sip coffee while enjoying the picturesque view from the top of the Kettering Tower.  Admittedly I am biased, as I am on the committee for this event.  Still, the reason I wanted to be on the committee was precisely because the event is so great. This past Friday, my feelings about the event were confirmed yet again, as Joni Fedders, President of Aileron, spoke to the crowd about the Fundamentals of Business.

For those who are not familiar with Aileron, it is the brain child of Clay Mathile - the entrepreneur who built the Iams Brand and later sold it to P&G.  He formed Aileron as a way to “help fuel private business and free enterprise, providing business owners with the tools and support they need to mature and succeed.” The company works with business owners to help them “lead and manage their companies, driving growth, innovation and jobs.” The company recently opened a new campus north of Dayton, where they conduct seminars and offer business leaders a quiet place to think, plan, and create.

So, getting back to the Breakfast Briefing, Fedders speech was very concise, yet was full of valuable information.  She walked through the elements of the basic model that Aileron uses to assess the health of a business.  I did my best to feverishly scratch out notes to capture her thoughts.   Here are some key take-aways from her presentation:

Professional Management - Aileron uses a term called “poof management” to describe the natural progression that often takes place as extremely talented technical performers suddenly find themselves in managerial roles.  Often that shift from doing to managing can be difficult, and it is important to realize that great performers on one level are not always natural managers.

Business Life Cycle - According to Fedders, most businesses fail because of poor management.  She stressed the importance of properly aligning the business with where it is in its life cycle.  Early on, businesses tend to be more entrepreneurial - bouncing from opportunity to opportunity to pay the bills.  As time passes, management should begin to focus on areas of expertise.  She emphasized the importance of establishing a board of advisers from outside of the firm to assist in this planning on a quarterly basis.  She suggested that these meetings should be at least 75% forward focused - with discussion around working on the business and not in the business.

Leadership - Joni discussed the idea that a key function of leadership should be to set the vision and then create an environment to move the business in that direction.  She also stressed the importance of leading by example.  “If the leaders are late and sloppy, how do you think the employees will behave?”  She went on to discuss the idea that leaders should engage in continuous learning, should be pivotal in determining strategy, and should ultimately serve as “Keeper of the Culture.”

Strategy - Fedders spoke about the importance of utilizing a decision making process that looked at the following: 1.) Reality - what are they paying us for today  / tomorrow,  2.) Focus - Where is the market headed,  3.) Competency - can we do it?     These elements come together to build a framework for producing a successful strategy.

Mission - She moved quickly through this point, but basically it revolves around “what are you trying to accomplish.”  It is important to create and internalize a formal mission so that everyone is clear as to what the ultimate goal should be.

People Development - This goes much deeper than training.  Fedders stated that this is really about engaging people, and empowering them to become better.  She asserted that this is key in creating long term growth.

Culture - “The way we do things around here.”  The idea of culture is so important.  Joni spoke about both the stated culture of policies and procedures as well as the actual culture of norms and customs.  Culture should be a visible trait, and can be a powerful way to differentiate a company from its competition.

Structure - When speaking about this, Fedders suggested that structure should very closely follow strategy.  It is the idea of creating an org chart to match where the company is planning to go.  Then finding the right people to fill the boxes on the chart.

Control - Lastly, Joni addressed the importance of control or measurement.  She stressed the need to examine the concepts of “are we doing waht we planned” and “is the market doing what we expected.”  Finally are the results in line with what we anticipated.

Joni then spent 20 minutes answering questions from the crowd.  Her responses were both candid and insightful.  This was one of the best Breakfast Briefings that I have been to, and I think that they are all excellent.  Joni Fedders did a great job of sharing information about her business and providing information to help those who came improve their own businesses.

The next Breakfast Briefing is on September 12th at the Kettering Tower in Downtown Dayton.  I hope to see you there.

Were you at the breakfast briefing?  What did you think?

Aileron – Meeting the life-long educational and developmental needs of entrepreneurs, business owners, and executives.

One Hour with The One Minute Entrepreneur - Ken Blanchard Comes to Dayton

Ken Blanchard is one of the most prominent thinkers in modern business. He has written best selling books like Gung Ho, the One Minute Manager, Raving Fans, Whale Done, Know Can Do, Servant Leader and numerous other titles. (He was also a professor at Ohio University.) He is a firm believer in empowering employees, the power of positive thinking, practicing common sense customer service, and the concept of servant leadership.

Yesterday, in Dayton, Ohio he was the featured speaker at an event put on by the Dayton Business Journal and University of Dayton Center for Leadership & Executive Development. The event attracted what I would guess to be about 500 people, most of whom seemed to enjoy the presentation. I left with several great thoughts jotted down in my Moleskine notebook - some of which I would now like to share with you.

Blanchard’s 4 P’s -
Different from the familiar 4 p’s of marketing (product, price, place, promotion) Blanchard outlined for P’s necessary for running a successful business.

1. Passion - If you don’t love what you do, you will never be the best at it. Find your passion and do what you love.

2. Profit - Passion without profit is a hobby, not a business. Making money is important. In order to do this it is important that the people within an organization have a clear financial picture of the firm. If people know the challenges, and are tasked with creating solutions, time and time again they will succeed. A great quote was that Blanchard believes that “none of us is as smart as all of us.” A great take on the Wisdom of Crowds concept.

3. People - Blanchard suggested that leaders should adopt the motto of “you can do it, we can help.” This led into a lengthy and meaningful discussion on Servant Leadership. He stated that a popular misconception of Servant Leadership is the idea of the inmates running the asylum. In true Servant Leadership this is just not the case. There are 2 distinct parts to Servant Leadership. The Leadership part of Servant Leadership involves setting the direction and vision for an organization. Once this is established, Blanchard recommends flipping the organization pyramid upside down - with leaders constantly working to empower people to succeed in realizing the vision - the Servant part. He also stressed that organizations should encourage people to use their brains instead of relying solely on rules, regulations, and policies for decision making.

4. Priority - “At the end of the game it all goes back in the box.” It is important to keep life in perspective. Things like family, friends, and fulfillment should not be sacrificed for work sake. Blanchard recommended a great technique for helping to prioritize life. When facing decisions about what tasks to do, attach one of the following two labels - Important Forever / Temporary Stuff. Important Forever trumps Temporary Stuff every time.

I thought Dr. Blanchard was fantastic, and I even got a copy of his most recent book The One Minute Entrepreneur. I will let you know what I think of it once I finish it. Not only that, but I ran into an old high school friend from Kenton Ridge that I had not seen for at least 10 years. (Great to see you Rick) Thanks to the DBJ and the CLED for putting this event together, and to Dr. Blanchard for spending some time in Dayton.