Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional

Our guest today is Clark Beecher, the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Beecher Reagan, the largest U.S. executive search firm that exclusively focuses on current and former consulting talent. In this episode Clark provides tips on how to best work with executive recruiters – both when you are looking for a new role and when you aren't. He also provides his perspective on how recruiters and employers view a stint as an independent consultant. So if you are an independent consultant considering a return to the corporate world, his tips on how to position your recent work may be particularly relevant. To learn more about Clark's firm, visit https://www.beecherreagan.com/ If you are seeking an independent consultant to support a project at your firm, or if you are interested in joining our global community of independent management consultants, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

A five-minute investment in sending a recap email can significantly improve the effectiveness of meetings and the overall outcomes on a project. In this episode, we discuss two flavors: #1: The post-meeting recap email #2: The weekly recap email If you are interested in hiring an independent consultant for one of your project needs, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Avish Bhama, the CEO of Sonia, where the mission is to build Artificial Intelligence that interprets human intent, and use it to democratize access to information-flow at work. Sonia builds tools that empower you to focus on the interesting and creative nature of your work rather than the repetitive and mundane parts. When you sign up for a plan with Sonia, you get an AI tool that can dial into your phone calls, take notes, identify the action items that are agreed to in the meeting, and then send an email afterward. While this sounds a bit sci-fi, it seems that it won't be long before this sort of AI involvement in the work flow of knowledge workers will be the norm. Learn more about Sonia at Sonia.ai To request to join our global community of top-tier independent professionals, email host Will Bachman at [email protected]

Custom-made shirts and suits for men may cost a bit more than clothes off the rack, but are a much better value. Technical fashion designer Kazuki Kozuru-Salifoska explained the economics to me. For the last six years, I've bought all my shirts and suits from Latesh Kewalramani, who goes by Harry. He is making his annual swing through the United States to take measurements and orders for shirts, suits, and jackets for men. You can download his itinerary here. If you'd like to book an appointment with Harry, email him at [email protected] or call him at 662-639-1401. If your schedule doesn't permit a visit this year, email him to get added to his mailing list. Harry will be in the following cities: New York City: Sept 9-12, 2019 Philadelphia: Sept 13-14 Washington, DC: Sept 15-16 Fort Lauderdale, FL: Sept 17-18 Boston, MA: Sept 19-20 Atlanta, GA: Sept 21-22 Chicago, IL: Sept 23-24 Scottsdale, AZ: Sept 25-26 Houston: Sept 27 Dallas: Sept 28-29 Los Angeles: Sept 30-Oct 3

Our guest today Nir Eyal, author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, which has been a huge bestseller and is considered a must-read book in Silicon Valley. Nir's latest book is Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life, which is being released on September 10. I've read a review copy, begun putting his recommendations into effect, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever been distracted. In today's episode, Nir shares highlights from the book, and gives a summary of his four-part approach to becoming indistractable. Nir has a bunch of free downloads that go along with the book on his website at: www.NirAndFar.com/Indistractable While you are on his site, definitely sign up for Nir's weekly email - I love it. The schedule maker tool that Nir mentions in our discussion is at: https://nirandfar.com/schedule-maker/ And distraction guide here: https://www.nirandfar.com/distractions/ If you are interested in joining a global community of top-tier independent professionals, email Will Bachman at [email protected] and please include your resume and LinkedIn URL

The New York Phi Beta Kappa Association asked me to share some tips with recent graduates in the New York City metro area as a panelist at an event this evening. I came up with a list of 48 tips and figured I'd share them here first. Some tips are probably obvious; some non-obvious tips may also be not helpful. I hope the set of non-obvious + useful tips is non-zero. To get the weekly Unleashed email that includes a summary of recent episodes and bonus material, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Rima Nair, a McKinsey alum who is a Principal at IRI, a leading provider of big data, predictive analytics and forward-looking insights that help CPG, retail and media grow. In this episode, Rima explains why the largest consumer packaged goods companies subscribe to IRI's information sources, and how the world of customer insights is evolving. You can learn more about IRI at https://www.iriworldwide.com/en-US/ And if you want to reach out to Rima, Here LinkedIn profile is: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rima-nair-bb57295/ Have a questions about independent consulting? Email host Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Josh Spodek, who last joined us on Episode 25 of this show. I was very pleased that Josh agreed to return to discuss his new book, Initiative: A Proven Method to Bring Your Passions to Life (and Work). In today's episode, Josh shares some of the exercises from this new primer on how everyone can make change happen in the world. Josh is a busy professional: In addition to writing books, he writes a daily blog He is also the host of a podcast, Leadership and the Environment, with over 200 episodes, that feature an A-list of guests including Seth Godin, Dan Pink, Dominic Barton, Sir Ken Robinson, Ken Blanchard, Marshall Goldsmith, David Allen, Jonathan Haidt, and many other luminaries. To find links to all of Josh's activities, visit http://joshuaspodek.com/ To receive a weekly round-up of the most recent Unleashed epsiodes, plus bonus material, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Umbrex member and BCG alum Ilana Grossman, a marketing consultant based in New York City. Her firm is called B2Both, since she works with both B2B and B2C clients. Ilana has been the Chief Marketing Officer at several rapidly growing companies, and we discuss The role of the Chief Marketing Officer, and how it is changing Key performance indicators in the world of marketing And what it is like being an independent consultant focused on marketing You can learn more about Ilana's firm at b2both.com If you'd like to receive bonus content plus an update each week on the most recent Unleashed episodes, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Ray Carbonell, the CEO at Qnary, a company that builds out and grows the reputation and thought leadership of professionals. Qnary writes LinkedIn posts and tweets for busy professionals, typically senior executives, and then writes the replies to comments on those posts. In this episode, Ray shares how his firm works with their clients to identify the content pillars that the posts will focus on, what makes a compelling post, and best practices in engaging with those who comment on the post. Ray also shares the best times to post and how often to post (3-5 LinkedIn posts per week is optimal, and a minimum of one tweet per day is recommended.) To learn more about his firm, visit https://www.qnary.com/#visible For help on finding an independent consultant for your project, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Zbigniew "Spish" Rurak, who has served as a career transition coach to several thousand management consultants as they left top-tier global firms. In this episode, Spish shares observations on how to best prepare to transition out of a big firm and how to manage a successful job search. If you'd like to connect with Spish, find him on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zbigniew-spish-rurak-4131674/ If you are interested in joining a global community of top-tier independent management consultants, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Lee Frederiksen, Managing Partner at Hinge, a branding and marketing firm specializing in professional services. We discuss Researching your target client Developing a go-to-market strategy Benchmarking your marketing against that of high-growth firms How to differentiate your practice Visit the website of Hinge Marketing to learn more – at https://hingemarketing.com/ Click on Hinge University tab to see the firm's online course offerings – several of which you can sample for free, and on the Blog tab you may want to sign up to receive their thought leadership posts right to your inbox. If you've got a question about independent consulting you'd like Will Bachman to answer in a future episode, email [email protected]

Our guest today is Adam Braff, a former McKinsey Partner who has held senior executive roles responsible for data and analytics, and is today an independent advisor to private equity firms, corporate senior leaders, and boards in multiple industries on how to extract more business value from their investments in data and analytics. In this episode Adam shares several case studies of how he has helped clients get better results from their data, and he explains what roast chicken has to do with business intelligence. I enjoy Adam's blog posts, and you can sign up to receive his blog updates and read all about his work at https://braff.co If you'd like to receive the weekly Unleashed email which includes transcripts of each episode and bonus material, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Jason Bay, the founder of Blissful Prospecting, a firm that helps B2B sales reps, SMBs, and nonprofits create sustainable revenue growth. In our discussion, Jason explains to me the REPLY method that his firm created to guide the writing of cold emails to prospects. REPLY stands for Results, Empathy, Personalization, Laser-focus, and You. The way I connected with Jason is that he used his own methodology on me. Jason researched me and this podcast, and then sent me a personalized video message of himself speaking to me, in which he mentioned this show, and in fact a specific episode of the show. Here is a link to that episode Jason sent me: https://embed.vidyard.com/share/RgRyiMAMGugfYPERrm3jyp?autoplay=1&vyemail=will.bachman%40umbrex.com&vydata[email]=will.bachman%40umbrex.com&vydata[name]=Will%20Bachman&vydata[messageId]=41TvW5ar9WC0DOhTZ That is the first time anyone has ever reached out to me with a personalized video, and I thought it was a pretty powerful approach, partly because it is so unscalable. Sending out 1,000 uncustomized LinkedIn connection requests can be automated or outsourced, but researching a target and recording a custom video message has a high signaling cost, and I wanted to learn more about this approach. After having Jason explain to me how he creates and uses these videos using Vidyard, I think it is an approach that could work well for many independent professionals. You can learn more about Jason on his firm's website, https://BlissfulProspecting.com/ If you have questions you like me to answer on this show, or are interested in joining our global community of independent management consultants, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is David A. Fields, Umbrex member and the author of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom. David advises many boutique consulting firms, and over the years he has seen partnerships thrive and partnerships fall apart. On today's episode, David shares some observations on how to make a partnership successful. We also discuss the idea of adding an advisory board to your firm, and we spend a few minutes on how to select the right gift for a client. Got questions about how to thrive as an independent professional? Email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez is a thought leader in the area of project management. Antonio is the author of two books: The Focused Organization: How Concentrating on a Few Key Initiatives Can Dramatically Improve Strategy Execution And The Project Revolution: How to Succeed in a Project Driven World He has been awarded the title of Thinker of the Month by Thinkers50, and has presented on the topic of project management at more than 120 conferences around the world. To learn more about his work, visit https://antonionietorodriguez.com/#!/about If you are interested in joining our global community of top-tier independent management consultants, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Christina Ungaro, the Executive Vice President of Corporate Development at JLL. In case you aren't in the real estate world: JLL is the second-largest commercial real estate services firm in the world, ranked 189th on the Fortune 500, with revenue of $16 billion in 2018. Christina was hired by JLL to build the corporate development group, and she has completed 32 acquisitions (mostly professional services firms) since she joined JLL. In this episode, Christina gives me a quick primer on the commercial real estate services industry, discusses lessons learned in building her team, and – significantly if you are ever thinking of selling your practice, Christina shares what she looks for as a buyer when she is considering the acquisition of a professional services firm To learn more about JLL, visit jll.com To learn more about Christina, check out her LinkedIn profile, a link is in the show notes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-ungaro-0a17321/ If you are seeking to engage an independent consultant, or if you are an independent consultant and would like to join a global community, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Josh Miramant, the Founder of CEO of Blue Orange Digital, a full-stack data science agency using machine learning to simplify business decisions. In our discussion, Josh provides several case studies of how his firm is helping clients improve decisions through better predictions, including one project for a hedge fund that analyzes a wide range of data on job applicants to help the fund hire analysts who are likely to perform better. I also learn a new term: data lake Blue Orange regularly partners with consultants, and if you have a client you think you could benefit from their help, Josh would love to discuss it with you. You can reach Josh at: [email protected] And you can read more on their website: blueorgange.digital If you are seeking the support of a top-tier independent management consultant, or if you are interested in joining our global community of consultants, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Stephen Redwood, who has been a Partner in the Organization practices at PricewaterhouseCoopers, McKinsey & Co., Oliver Wyman, and Deloitte. He is now running his own firm, Redwood Advisory Partners, where he helps clients develop a high performing organization and an exceptional employee experience. In today's discussion, Stephen explains what an organizational design project is all about, and he also discusses his other business, Tri Endeavors, where he coaches elite triathletes. To learn more about Stephen's triathalon coaching practice, visit http://triendeavors.com/ And To learn more about Stephen's consulting practice, visit https://redwoodadvisorypartners.com/ If you are interested in joining a global community of top-tier independent management consultants, or if you are looking for support from an independent consultant, contact Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Seiya Vogt, the VP of Growth at Boxed – where he is responsible for Marketing and B2B Sales. Boxed calls itself "the easiest way to stock up and save for your household essentials." In today's discussion, Seiya provides a behind the scenes view of the tools available to the modern marketer, and along the way he explains why direct mail – that's right – good old hard-copy mail – is making a comeback. After this episode you may be inspired to stock up on a bulk order of household cleaners or snacks or health and wellness products – if so, check out their website: boxed.com Sign up for their emails to get some coupons and see Seiya's team in action. You can learn more about Seiya's background on his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seiya/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, the world's first global community connecting top-tier independent professionals with one another. To request to join, or to inquire about getting consulting from one of our members, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Tim Hughes, who has written the book on social selling; he is the author of Social Selling: Techniques to influence buyers and customers, as well as Smarketing: How to achieve competitive advantage through blended sales and marketing. As you'll hear from Tim, social selling is not actually about selling, or at least not about trying to sell – it is about building relationships. Tim's LinkedIn headline is: Should have played Quidditch for England, and in today's discussion he explains why he leads with that. Based on Tim's advice, I have updated my own LinkedIn Headline and Summary, and since I've done that I've received a couple unsolicited comments in favor – so I'll vote in support of Tim's recommendations. Tim's firm is called Digital Leadership Associates and you can learn more about their work on their website: dlaignite.com Unleashed is produced by Umbrex. If you are an independent consultant interested in joining our community, or if you are looking to hire an independent consultant, reach out to Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Brian Hecht, who freaked out his family in 1994, just two years after graduating from Harvard College, by leaving a perfectly fine job to join an Internet company – before that was a thing. Brian went on to have a successful career as an Internet entrepreneur, and today he is a Venture Partner at a NYC startup accelerator called Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator. Check them out at eranyc.com And as a hobby, he, along with his cousin Rachel Dodes, hosts the very popular and hilarious podcast This Week in Nope, in which they dissect the most abominable news of the week and shut it all down, usually over whiskey. Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, the world's first global community connecting top tier independent management consultants with one another and with clients. To inquire about joining our community or engaging one of our members on a project, email Will Bachman at [email protected] or visit www.umbrex.com

Our guest today is David A. Fields, the author of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom. David is leading an upcoming professional development program for independent consultants that I thought could be valuable for many of the listeners of this show, so I asked David if he'd share an overview of the Solo Practice Accelerator. The next one is August 18-19, 2019 in San Francisco, CA. Details: https://members.davidafields.com/solo-practice-accelerator If after listening to this episode you are interested in attending but those dates don't work for you, then subscribe to David's blog and you'll get notified of the next one. David kindly offered a bonus for listeners of Unleashed who attend the Accelerator – if you attend the program and let him know you heard about the program on this show, he will schedule an hour-long, private one-on-one phone call with you to discuss your practice. David has been a popular guest on the show three times before: Episode 001, where David shares highlights from his book Episode 170, where David discusses how to make outbound calls And Episode 172, where David shares his approach to setting up a CRM system. If you are interested in hiring an independent consultant or joining a global community of independent consultants, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Hi Leva, the SVP of Sales at Oasis Financial. In today's discussion, Hi shares key lessons learned from his career as a sales leader. We discuss recruiting a sales team, compensation, the importance of follow-up, CRM systems, how to get the most out of attending a convention, and other sales topics. You can learn about Hi's company at oasisfinancial.com And you can learn more about Hi's background on his LinkedIn profile, and a link is in the show notes https://www.linkedin.com/in/hileva/ If you are interested in hiring an independent consultant or joining the global community of independent consultants that I started, email me, Will Bachman, at [email protected]

Our guest today is Scott Friesen, the SVP of Strategic Analytics at Echo Global Logistics, a company which serves as a broker that connects companies who want to ship something by truck to the trucking company that will give the best rate, a non-trivial exercise considering that there are 40,000 trucking companies in the United States. In our discussion, Scott gives me an overview of the two major categories of trucking: less-than-truckload and full truck load. We then explore some of the ways that analytics is changing the trucking industry, and the entry of new players including, you guessed it, Uber. To learn more about Echo Global Logistics, go to echo.com And to learn more about Scott, check out his LinkedIn profile – the link is in the show notes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottpfriesen/ If you are interested in hiring an independent consultant or joining our global community of independent consultants, email Will Bachman at [email protected]

Our guest today is Liston Witherill, a sales coach and trainer who helps non-sales people sell more client services by staying curious and providing more help to their clients. Liston has a set of great resources available to download on his website, just go to liston.io and click on the Resources tab, where you'll find sales email templates, a CRM spreadsheet, a sales call checklist, a list of 32 ideas for lead generation, and more. If you are looking to hire an independent consultant, or if you would like to join the global community of independent consultants that I started, email Will Bachman at: [email protected]

Our guest today is Logan Sachon, an insurance expert at Policygenius who focuses on life insurance. In this episode, Logan explains to me the types of life insurance, how to select a life insurance company, how to get a quote, and some thumbrules on how much coverage to buy. After our discussion, Logan emailed me to clarify one thing she said. I asked her the chance of a healthy 35 year old man dying before he retires, and she told me less than 2%. After we spoke she looked it up and the actual chance is closer to 0.65%. Of course, your mileage may vary. Policygenius is a NYC-based tech startup who goal is to make "insurance shopping faster, friendlier and more transparent for online consumers." If you are shopping for insurance, you might check out their website: policygenius.com. They have a lot of useful info on their site, and a comparison tool that makes it easy to compare different providers. If you like this episode, consider signing up for the Unleashed email – each week I'll send you a summary of recent episodes, some recommended reading, and consulting tips. To sign up, visit askunleashed.com If you are trying to find an independent consultant to help on a project, or if you are interested in joining our global community of independent consultants, email me at [email protected]

Our guest today is Mark Metry, who started a YouTube channel when he was 13 that gained 35,000 subscribers, and who started a company when he was 15 that generated six figures of income and became the #1 Minecraft server in the world. Oh, just a couple side projects. Mark, now 21, runs a marketing agency and also happens to host a Top 100 podcast, Humans 2.0, whose guests have included some of my heroes such as Seth Godin. To learn more about Mark, you can search for Humans 2.0 or visit his website: https://www.markmetry.com/ If you sign up for the Unleashed email at askunleashed.com, each week I'll let you know about the latest episodes of the podcast, a book recommendation, and periodically, some amazing bonus materials.

Today's episode is a new feature here on Unleashed - a book recommendation. I really loved the recently published book: The Art of Noticing: 131 Ways to Spark Creativity, Find Inspiration, and Discovery Joy in the Everyday, by Rob Walker. Here is a link to Rob Walker's website page on the book: http://robwalker.net/noticing/ If you sign up for the Unleashed email at askunleashed.com, each week I'll let you know about the latest episodes of the podcast, a book recommendation, and periodically, some amazing bonus materials.

Jennifer Hartz sent me the following question: "Will, I send out a newsletter via Mail Chimp about six times a year. I also publish these on my website. I figure I ought to put them on LinkedIn as well – do you have an opinion about whether I should make them LinkedIn articles or Posts? If they are posts, I'd need to be regularly active to address comments, right?" I love Jennifer's newsletter - you can sign up to receive it on her website: https://corporatehartz.com/ I mention Mark Williams's podcast LinkedInFormed: https://linkedinformed.com/ And here are how to update your LinkedIn settings to get an email when there is a comment on one of your posts or articles: https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/communications-controls/email/updates-about-you To receive the weekly Unleashed email, sign up at askunleashed.com

A listener asked for advice on how to set fees, and here are my thoughts. In this episode I refer to, and strongly recommend, Chapter 22 of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom, by David A. Fields Visit askunleashed.com to sign up for the weekly Unleashed email - get a summary of each episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips.

Our guest today is Steve Woodruff, also known as the King of Clarity. Steve is the author of Clarity Wins. He helps individuals and businesses discover their professional DNA, define their offerings, target their ideal clients, and articulate their differentiating message. You can learn more about Steve's work at https://www.stevewoodruff.com/ Never miss an episode of Unleashed - sign up for our weekly email at askunleashed.com

Our guest today is David A. Fields, Umbrex member and the author of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom. In today's episode, we discuss how to set up a CRM system for an individual consultant or boutique firm. A bit more than a year ago, I attended a training session that David led on this topic, and I set up my CRM system exactly that way he describes on this show. I've found the simple setup that David suggests incredibly useful, and I highly recommend it. While you can use his suggested setup with just about any program, I happen to use Pipedrive, which is the system that David uses and recommends to his clients. David has a great blog that I highly recommend - check it out and subscribe at: https://www.davidafields.com/blog/

Our guest today is Becca Braun, an innovator and writer whose longtime passion is capturing the voices of executives, entrepreneurs, and others in new and interesting ways. Becca is an alum of Harvard Business School and Harvard College, and the President of Braun Ink, a ghostwriting firm that writes action-packed executive biographies and memoirs. Learn more about Becca's firm on their website, https://www.braunink.com/ To sign up for the weekly Unleashed email, visit askunleashed.com

Our guest today is David A. Fields, Umbrex member and the author of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom. David was my guest on the very first episode of Unleashed and it was great to have him back on the show. In today's episode, we discuss how to make outbound calls to the people in your network. It is so much more comfortable to send an email. It can be awkward to just pick up the phone and make a call. David argues that picking up the phone is an incredibly effective means to reach out. And that it is much more comfortable if you have a plan for how you want the call to go, and that's exactly what David offers in this episode. In our discussion, David mentions a script outline that he uses when making outbound calls – you can download a copy of that call outline for free on his website at https://davidafields.com/outreachscripts While you are there, you might want to get access to the full script bank that David has created, and if you use the code Unleashed, you'll get half off from now until June 1, 2019. If you like the show, I invite you to subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, where you'll get summaries of each recent episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips. To sign up, go to askunleashed.com, or just shoot me an email at [email protected]

Our guest today is Katrin Siebenbuerger Hacki, who runs a boutique healthcare consulting firm based on Switzerland. Katrin's firm works with medical device, biotech, and other life sciences clients by providing marketing, sales, business developing, and funding services. You can learn more about her firm's work on their website: http://www.medows.ch/ To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

Is your LinkedIn headline totally generic? Something like "Independent consultant" or "Freelance consultant"? This episode is about LinkedIn headlines that tell a story and capture the attention of potential clients. To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

This short episode is about the most powerful question for finding work - either a full time job or consulting projects. To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

Our guest today is Mark Minukas, an Umbrex member, McKinsey alum, and partner at the firm Co-Creation Partners. Mark studied engineering at the Naval Academy and spent six years in the Civil Engineer Corps in the U.S. Navy before McKinsey, where he developed expertise in lean operations. At Co-Creation Partners, he brings his hard-core engineering experience together with the deep cultural transformation expertise of his partner, Gaurav Bhatnagar. Combining their expertise, their firm helps clients improve operations through a close focus on cultural change, and Mark discusses that work on this episode. You can learn more about Mark's work on the firm's website: http://www.cocreationpartners.com/ To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

Our guest today is Nina Leffers, a McKinsey alum and partner in a boutique consulting firm Stahl Automotive Consulting. Nina's firm works with auto companies around the world on developing the vision and key specifications for their future models, and in this episode she walks us through some examples of how her team works with clients to design the key aspects of cars we'll see on the road five years from now. You can learn more about her work at http://www.sac-group.eu/ To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

The CEO might think that everyone in the organization is working on the CEO's top priorities. It is worth checking that assumption. To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

Complex projects need something more sophisticated. But for simple projects, this simple set of three questions forms the basis for a robust weekly or monthly update: 1. Last month, what did we promise to do over the coming month? 2. What did we ACTUALLY get done over the past month? 3. What are we going to do over the next month? This short episode elaborates. To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

I regularly speak with an executive leaving a corporate role, or a consultant leaving a firm, who asks me if it is possible to do independent consulting while doing a search for the next full time role. My short answer is: not a good idea My longer answer is: this episode To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

Our guest today is Cyndi Freeman, who has 20 years of experience as a storyteller and 8 years of experience as a storytelling instructor. At The Story Studio, she leads classes in storytelling for business, among other courses. In this episode Cyndi shares some of her own stories and we discuss the key elements that every story ought to have. You can learn more – and register for upcoming courses – at https://thestorystudio.org/corporate/ To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email which includes summaries of each show and other bonus features, visit askunleashed.com

Our guest today is Afua Branoah Banful, an Umbrex member and McKinsey alum with a PhD in Economics from Harvard. We discuss the spreading adoption of tele-health and other transformational medical technology. To learn more about Afua (who goes by B.B.), visit her firms' website: http://soundhealthadvisory.com/ To ask me a question, download transcripts of past episodes, or sign up for the weekly Unleashed email that includes bonus features of summaries of the latest episodes, go to askunleashed.com

The 70-30 squared rule says that when you are in an initial context discussion with a client, the client should do 70% of the talking, and you should do 30%. And of the time you spend talking, 70% of the time should be you asking questions, and 30% of your 30% should be you speaking declarative sentences. Visit askunleashed.com to sign up for the weekly Unleashed email - summaries of each episode and bonus features.

Time to make your April Fool's Resolution.

A listener asked me if I recommend independent professionals get disability insurance, and this short episode is my response. Short answer: yes, I encourage independent professionals to get long term disability insurance. In this episode I discuss short term and long term disability insurance, six different aspects of coverage, and the process to expect to go through to obtain insurance. Links I mention in the episode: Show notes: https://www.policygenius.com/disability-insurance/#whatislongtermdisabilityinsurance https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/06/your-money/life-and-disability-insurance/06money.html You can sign up for the weekly Unleashed email (summary of each new episode, links to download full transcripts, other bonus features) at askunleashed.com

Use this episode for meditation or perhaps just as some white noise when you need to focus: ten minutes of the waves lapping on the beach at Chuburná, Yucatan, Mexico, where we stayed for a few days in July 2018. Ask me a question, view transcripts of past episodes, and sign up for the weekly Unleashed email at: askunleashed.com

That is Matt Johnson, who runs a podcast production agency. If you have thought about starting a podcast, but don't want to deal with all the logistics and the marketing, his firm will take care of all the details so all you need to do is show up and share your wisdom, or interview the guests that Matt's firm will book for you. To learn more about Matt, visit his firm's website http://pursuingresults.com/ where there is also a link to schedule time to speak with Matt. Ask a question, download transcripts of past episodes, and sign up for our weekly email at: askunleashed.com