Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional

Our guest today is Mary Kate Scott, a McKinsey alum who has been running her own boutique healthcare consulting firm, Scott & Company, since 2002. She has been a close friend and mentor of mine for years, and in this episode we cover a wide range of topics including: - Three things MK does before every proposal, including her five-factor rule for evaluating potential projects - The three phases her consulting practice has gone through over the past 17 years - Maintaining relationships with clients over time To learn more about MK's practice, visit: http://www.marykatescott.com/ To ask a question for me to answer on a future episode, or to sign up for the weekly Unleashed email, visit: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Our guest today is Robin Albin, a brand strategist and brand sherpa based in the New York area. Robin has invented – or reinvented – over fifty brands for startups and major corporations across many categories, with particular expertise in cosmetics, health and wellness, and fashion. In our discussion Robin shares some case studies of how she works with clients to help them express the promise that the brand wants to make to its customers. To learn more about Robin, visit her website, www.insurgents.io Submit your question to be answered in a future episode. Record and submit at: askumbrex.com The weekly Unleashed email includes the transcript of each episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips. Sign up at: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Our guest today is Jay Martin, who's got over 25 years of management consulting experience, including time at Arthur D. Little and IBM Global Services and nearly 18 years as an independent consultant. Jay has done a better job than anyone I've met at maintaining an exhaustive list of all his projects – the document is 18 pages long and includes the details on well over a hundred projects. In this episode, Jay discusses how he started building this list and the benefits of keeping such a document. To receive a copy of Jay's project list, sign up for the weekly Unleashed email at: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/ To learn more about Jay, visit his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-martin-99a69812/

Our guest today is Brad Clark, who is a former management consultant – he was a Principal at Oliver Wyman. Later, he was the Chief Marketing Officer at The Motley Fool, and he has now built a holistic financial planning and investment management service, where many of his clients are consultants. In our discussion, Brad describes the five financial planning tips he believes are essential for independent professionals: entity conversion, retirement planning, insurance, paying for college, and tax planning. You can learn more about Brad's services on his website: www.bradleyclark.com The weekly Unleashed email includes a transcript of each episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips. Sign up at: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

There are two types of products: Ones where we already know the story. Example: water. And ones where the customers needs to hear the story. Example: chicha. Are you selling water or chicha? The weekly Unleashed email includes a transcript of each episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips. Sign up at: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Our guest today is Michael Frankel who has an amazing background – he's been a corporate attorney at Skadden Arps, an investment banker, a private equity advisor, VP level business development roles at GE, LexisNexis, CFO of two companies, and held board positions. Michael is currently the Head of the Deloitte New-venture Accelerator. Michael shares his perspective on a range of topics including how large consulting firms are setting up talent pools of independent consultants interim CFO roles how consulting firms are investing in Artificial intelligence to enable experts with technology Here is Michael's profile on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankelmichael/ Sign up to receive the weekly Unleashed email that includes a transcript of each episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips, at: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Our guest today is Fredrik Thomassen, CEO and Co-Founder of Konsus.com, an on-demand creative outsourcing service. Fredrik shared his ideas on the future of work (hint: he says that it's remote work), as well as the way that he runs his own company using a hybrid structure where half his team is located in Oslo and the other half are based in San Francisco. We chatted about the tools he uses to coordinate his company's activities, how remote work is going to change the employee evaluation process, the challenges of being able to work 24/7, and how his team's ambition is for every company in the world to eventually have a Konsus subscription. Fredrik says he is always open to chatting, and he values the many interesting conversations that have started with a simple email. You can reach him at his website: www.konsus.com or email him directly at [email protected].

Our guest today is Alisa Cohn, an executive coach, a writer, and a member of Marshall Goldsmith's 100 Coaches. Marshall Goldsmith is considered by many to be the leading executive coach in the world, and Alisa shares the story of how she got to know him and get selected to join this exclusive group. You can learn more about Alisa through her website, www.alisacohn.com, and while you're there you can sign up for her newsletter, which she calls a "barrel of goodness." You can also reach out to her on Twitter, @alisacohn. The weekly Unleashed email includes transcripts of each episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips. Sign up here: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Today's guest is Lindsay McGregor, McKinsey alum and co-author of the book Primed to Perform. She and her co-author and former McKinsey Partner Neel Doshi created the concept of Total Motivation – or ToMo for short. Lindsay and Neel founded a consulting firm, Vega Factor, that works with clients to help implement the ToMo principles they describe in their book. In this episode, Lindsay talks about her path to understanding what drives motivation, and the impact that it has had on her own life. Lindsay views each day as an opportunity to play, and helps organizations see how that same mindset can drive productivity and profitability. Total Motivation is a measure of the degree to which individuals feel a sense of play, purpose and potential minus the degree to which they feel inertia and emotional and economic pressures. Lindsay talks about how we all can use Total Motivation techniques to manage our personal productivity and aspirations, shifting our focus from numerical, outcome-based goals to performance-oriented ones, including learning new skills to help us get where we want to go. Lindsay sand her co-author Neel Doshi are on a mission to introduce ToMo to the world, and hope that by 2050 everybody on Earth works in a high ToMo organization. To learn more about Total Motivation and Lindsay, visit the website: www.PrimedtoPerform.com. It has a short survey you can take to gauge your own ToMo, and a contact form that you can fill out to learn more about their company and their mission. To receive the weekly Unleashed email, that includes a transcript of each episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips, sign up at: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

This episode concludes our six-part podcast miniseries on how to improve the client experience. In this episode, I share tips on how to provide a great client experience during the post-project Episodes 129-133 cover the five phases of a project lifecycle: The proposal phase Onboarding / kickoff phase Project execution Wrap-up Post-project I learned this five-part framework from David A. Fields, and encourage everyone to visit his website: https://www.davidafields.com/ If you subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, you'll receive a summary checklist that includes the points from the whole miniseries https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

This is part five in a six-part podcast miniseries on how to improve the client experience. In this episode, I share tips on how to provide a great client experience during the wrap-up phase. Episodes 129-133 cover the five phases of a project lifecycle: The proposal phase Onboarding / kickoff phase Project execution Wrap-up Post-project I learned this five-part framework from David A. Fields, and encourage everyone to visit his website: https://www.davidafields.com/ If you subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, you'll receive a summary checklist that includes the points from the whole miniseries https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

This is part four in a six-part podcast miniseries on how to improve the client experience. In this episode, I share tips on how to provide a great client experience during the project execution phase. Episodes 129-133 cover the five phases of a project lifecycle: The proposal phase Onboarding / kickoff phase Project execution Wrap-up Post-project I learned this five-part framework from David A. Fields, and encourage everyone to visit his website: https://www.davidafields.com/ If you subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, you'll receive a summary checklist that includes the points from the whole miniseries https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

This is part three in a six-part podcast miniseries on how to improve the client experience. In this episode, I share tips on how to provide a great client experience during the onboarding / kickoff phase. Episodes 129-133 cover the five phases of a project lifecycle: The proposal phase Onboarding / kickoff phase Project execution Wrap-up Post-project I learned this five-part framework from David A. Fields, and encourage everyone to visit his website: https://www.davidafields.com/ If you subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, you'll receive a summary checklist that includes the points from the whole miniseries. Sign up here: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

This is part 2 in a six-part podcast miniseries on how to improve the client experience. Episode 128 introduces the series. In this episode I discuss 29 suggestions for how to improve the client experience during the proposal phase. In Episodes 130-133, I'll be covering the next four phases in a project lifecycle: The proposal phase Onboarding / kickoff phase Project execution Wrap-up Post-project I learned this five-part framework from David A. Fields, and encourage everyone to visit his website: https://www.davidafields.com/ If you subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, you'll receive a summary checklist that includes the points from the whole miniseries. Sign up at: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

This episode introduces a six-part miniseries on steps consultants can take to improve the client's experience across the five phases of a consulting project: The proposal phase Onboarding / kickoff phase Project execution Wrap-up Post-project I learned this five-part framework from David A. Fields, and encourage everyone to visit his website: https://www.davidafields.com/ If you subscribe to the weekly Unleashed email, you'll receive a summary checklist of all the suggestions from this client experience miniseries. To sign up, visit: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Our guest today is Ciaran Bossom, a digital marketing expert and independent consultant. Ciaran was the SVP of Strategy at VaynerMedia and most recently the Chief Digital Offier at Brown University. He has worked at several other digital agencies and held roles on the client side as well. Connect with Ciaran at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciaranbossom/ To receive the weekly Unleashed email that includes transcripts of each episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips, visit: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Not every job has a fixed location, but job-posting websites seem to think they do. There should be an option to list "Remote" as the location.

Best-practice email introductions.

Right before Christmas, I went with my family to an open rehearsal of the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. It was a lot more fun than going to the formal, black tie performance later that evening. It made me think - how can I make my interactions with clients more like that rehearsal - loose, creative, fun, authentic, human - instead of like the formal performance. If you haven't already, consider signing up for the weekly Unleashed email - you'll receive a transcript of each episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

I discuss four quadrants on a classic 2x2 matrix Vertical axis: willingness to take the initiative Chutzah = high willness Compliance = low willingness Horizontal axis: openness to new information Humility = high openness Arrogance = low openness

Adopting a five decade time horizon allows you to make rewarding investments in skills, relationships, knowledge, and your health that a shorter time frame would suggest won't pay off.

You probably wouldn't hire a graphic designer or a wedding photographer without looking at their portfolio. Independent consultants ought to have a portfolio as well - samples of sanitized work you can share with potential clients. I've found that many independent consultants do NOT have a portfolio, however, and here are some thoughts on how to create one. To receive the weekly Unleashed email, which includes the transcript of every episode, consulting tips, and book recommendations, sign up here: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Our guest today is Michael Zipursky, who runs a firm called Consulting Success. Michael has written multiple books on consulting and he serves as a coach to consultants, helping them grow their practice. You can learn more about Michael and get in touch via his website, consultingsuccess.com To receive the weekly Unleashed email, which includes the transcript of every episode, consulting tips, and book recommendations, sign up here: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Our guest today is Jonathan Mann, who holds the Guiness World Record for Most Consecutive Days Writing a Song. He began his Song-a-Day project on January 1, 2009, and the upcoming New Year's Day will mark an even ten years of writing, and recording, and publishing online, one new song every day. His story is an amazing and inspiring example of how showing up regularly, creating content and sharing it with the world, can open up opportunities that we have not even imagined. In our discussion, Jonathan shares what happened on the day one of his songs was used to open a Steve Jobs press conference, and how that breakthrough moment led to him becoming the Conference Troubadour. As the Conference Troubadour, Jonathan is hired to attend conferences. He listens to the sessions over the course of the day and composes a song that includes the key messages of the event, and he closes the conference by singing the song with the attendees, since he always includes a chorus that he teaches to the audience. About 90% of songs on the radio are about love, as if that was the only topic worth singing about. Jonathan's songs are incredibly inventive and cover everything else. He was attended conferences, and written songs about, topics as diverse as the National Apartment Association, medical case management, and internal company communications. One of my favorites of the songs he has posted to Youtube is the iOS Autocomplete Song, in which the entire lyrics are composed by the autocomplete function on an iPhone. You can learn more about Jonathan on his website: https://www.jonathanmann.net/ There you can reach out to him about attending your next conference, or for a person or a business commission. In addition to his conference work he will compose a song to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, or other special event, or a song about your company. In this episode we have a few samples of his work, and I hope you enjoy the discussion as much as I did. Side note: if you visit https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/ you can sign up to receive the weekly Unleashed email, that includes a transcript of every episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips.

Do the filenames you use demonstrate right-side-up thinking? That is, are you naming your files from your perspective, or from your client's perspective? Small cues matter.

We all have a choice. Is your business closed when closed? Or open when closed? How will you choose?

Our guest today is Robin Colucci, who is a book writing coach. If you are thinking of writing a non-fiction book to advance your career, Robin is someone who would help you think through the strategy of the book to increase the odds that all the effort you put into creating the book will have the impact you hope to achieve. In this episode, we discuss the questions that Robin asks her clients and how to think through who is the audience of a book, what that audience is already looking for, and how to serve that need. You can learn more about Robin's services and get in contact with her on her website: http://robincolucci.com/ If you like this episode, consider signing up for the weekly Unleashed email, which includes transcripts of every episode, book recommendations, and consulting tips. Sign up at: https://www.umbrex.com/unleashed-podcast/

Our guest today is Danna Staaf, an independent science writer and the author of Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods. Danna received a PhD from Stanford University in Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography, and then rather than continuing on an academic track, she decided to become a science communicator, rather than a science generator. In this episode we discuss what makes squid so fascinating and how Danna has created a successful career as an independent science writer. You can follow Danna on Twitter at @DannaStaaf and on her website: http://www.cephalopodiatrist.com/p/home.html

If you want to be contacted about opportunities, it helps to be contactable.

Our guest today is Nitin Rohatgi, who is the co-founder of Enroute Consulting, a research firm based in India. Nitin's firm supports independent consultants around the world, many of them McKinsey alums. I've been a client myself, and I've been very impressed by the quality of his firm's work. With about twenty employees, his firm typically will pull together background research using secondary sources as well as ten or so proprietary data sources they subscribe to. They have deep experience in the approach used by top consulting firms. You can learn more about Enroute and get in touch via their website: http://www.enroutellp.com/

Our guest today is Christopher McKenna, a Reader in Business History and Strategy at Said Business School at the University of Oxford. Chris is the author of The World's Newest Profession: Management Consulting in the Twentieth Century, which was an absolutely eye-opening book for me, and I'd say is a must-read for any management consultant interested in the history of our profession. Here is a link to Chris's bio page at Oxford: https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/about-us/people/chris-mckenna

Our guest today is Michelle Welsch, a social worker by training, who is leading an extraordinary life – she has organized major events in New York City for clients including Seth Godin, and for the past five years, she has been running Learning House. Learning House is focused on education and leadership. To learn more, visit www.learninghousenepal.com. I got to know Michelle through dinners that she organizes in New York City – we talk about those dinners on the show, and you can learn more about them on her website: http://www.michellewelsch.com. If you visit her site, you can download a free ebook that Michelle wrote: How to host a dinner party that gets everyone talking.

Our guest today is Rosina Samadani, a long-time friend who was my second Engagement Manager at McKinsey, and who provided me with invaluable advice when I was starting out as an independent consultant ten years ago. For a dozen years, Rosina ran a very successful boutique consulting firm, Capella Advisors, after leaving McKinsey. She is the founder of Truth On Call, which provides fast turnaround quantitative market research for the healthcare industry, and DocNews, which was acquired by American Medical Communications and relaunched as DocWire. Since 2015 Rosina has been the CEO of Oculogica, an innovative medical device company that is building devices that use eye-tracking technology to detect Traumatic Brain Injury. You can learn more about Oculogica at http://www.oculogica.com Her team members all work remotely, and in this short episode we discuss the tools her team uses to stay connected, in particular, Zoom and Slack.

So a professional comedian and management consultant walk into a bar... Actually, that's just Anish Shah getting a drink. Anish Shah is a McKinsey alum and professional comedian who does corporate gigs around the world as well as independent management consulting. In this episode, Anish shares the story of how he built his comedy career, and we'll hear a clip from one of his performances. Check out videos on his website, https://www.anishcomedy.com/videos, where you can also sign up on his mailing list to get notified of upcoming shows, or reach out to him about booking him for your corporate or charity event.

Earlier this month, I visited London, Amsterdam, Paris, Munich, and Zurich to meet up with independent management consultants. While I originally imagined I would fly from one city to another, I ended up taking the train from London all the way to Zurich, and it was fantastic. In this short episode, I share five reasons why you should take the train in Europe instead of flying between cities, and some tips from a train-riding novice.

Our guest today is Zachary Schrag, a Professor of History at George Mason University. Zach has been a close friend of mine for nearly three decades, and I asked him on the show to share some practical tips that management consultants can learn from a professional historian. Zach gives me some advice on how to read a non-fiction book to get the most value (hint – read the introduction and the conclusion first.) He also shares some book recommendations and discusses five core aspects of the historian's approach. Zach has prepared this list of recommended reading for the intelligent, generalist reader: https://historyprofessor.org/reading/a-laypersons-reading-list-in-american-history-2018/

How do you pay a subcontractor? In this episode, I try to answer that question, sharing ten years of lessons learned, covering: 1) How do you actually transfer the money, covering options including check, PayPal, wire transfer, ACH, and bill.com 2) Tax implications, W9, 1099, and 'nexus issues' you need to be aware of 3) What to ask your subcontractor for in terms of an invoice 4) How to track payments to subcontractors

For over five years, Marni organized "Go and See" events for McKinsey, in which McKinsey clients or prospective clients would take a field trip to visit other McKinsey clients that had gone through some kind of transformation project with McKinsey's help. On this episode, Marni shares her suggestions on what it takes to run a successful go-and-see, and the benefits to the past clients, the potential clients, and the consultant who organizes the event. After this episode, perhaps you'll consider connecting two or more of your own clients. And if you'd like Marni's help with that, she is now an independent professional. Her LinkedIn URL is: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marni-fechter/

Michael Brennan is the former CEO of the United Way of Southeastern Michigan, and now the Co-Founder and CEO of Civilla, a Center for Social Innovation rooted in human centered design to help courageous leaders tackle some of the toughest social issues. Michael decided to devote his energies to fixing a problem in Michigan: The entry point to Michigan's public benefit system is an application that is over 40 pages long. With over 1000 questions and more than 18,000 words it is the longest application of its kind in the United States. That application generated massive headache for residents trying to obtain benefits, many who got overwhelmed by the process and just never applied. It also generated unnecessary cost for the state to process the massive pile of paperwork. Michael tells a compelling story with valuable lessons for any consultant working to build alignment across multiple stakeholders. To communicate their findings and recommendations, Civilla set aside PowerPoint. They build an immersive experience in their office that senior state politicians, journalists, non-profit leaders, and other could walk through to really feel what applicants for public benefits got through. Do check out their website, for visuals and to learn more: www.civilla.com

Our guest today is Jeanne Martinet, the author of The Art of Mingling: Fun and Proven Techniques for Mastering Any Room. I've always been a pretty strong introvert and never enjoyed mingling-type events very much – until I read this book about fifteen years ago. The book was eye-opening for me, and while I would not say that I'm good at mingling, the techniques in this book at least help me survive and even enjoy myself. So it was a huge amount of fun to speak with Jeanne and discuss the advice in the book and how she came to write it. If you'd like to get better at mingling, I strongly recommend Jeanne's book.

Our guest today is Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the author of a fantastic new book titled The Public Health Crisis Survival Guide: Leadership and Management in Trying Times, published by Oxford University Press. This book is a great read for any leader, not just those in public health, since the lessons are so broadly applicable, and the stories are so fascinating. Also recommended for consultants who want to know how to advise a client through a crisis. Josh is a physician and a public health leader who has held senior leadership roles at the city, state, and federal level. He's been the Commissioner of Health for the City of Baltimore, the Principal Deputy Commissioner at the FDA, and the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. And he is currently a Vice Dean at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In this episode, Josh shares stories of crises he faced – include one on the very first day on the job. The Public Health Crisis Survival Guide is not a dry manual – it is full of absolutely amazing stories – including the story of Frances Kelsey, the heroine of the FDA, who saved an untold number of American children from being born with birth defects because of her courageous refusal to approve thalidomide, despite industry pressure. The book has very practical advice on how to recognize a crisis, manage a crisis, communicate through a crisis, and work to prevent the next crisis, and it is highly recommended.

Our guest today is a hero of mine, Ethan Rasiel, a McKinsey alum and the author of The McKinsey Way and The McKinsey Mind. I read The McKinsey Way before I got interviewed by McKinsey – it helped me understand the Firm, and, well, I got an offer. In this episode, Ethan shares the story of how he got the idea for the book, how he did the research, and the reaction of the Firm.

Our guest today is Jessica Rhodes, who runs a firm called Interview Connections. They help their clients get booked as a guest on podcasts. Let's say you want to raise your visibility by being on someone's show. Jessica's firm will come up with a list of podcasts that would be a good fit for your expertise and the audience you are trying to reach. And then they work to build relationships with hosts so they can get you booked as a guest. Their website is https://interviewconnections.com/

Tiffany Pham is a mogul, and she wants you to be a mogul too. Tiffany is the Founder and CEO of Mogul, a platform reaching 18 million women per week – users can read trending content, take courses, solicit advice from other members, find job opportunities. Visit onmogul.com Mogul organizes an annual conference called Mogul X, billed as the modern millennial classroom, and the next one is this Saturday, September 8 in New York City – topics include Finding your mentor, finding your purpose, Building resilience, building your financial future, side hustles, building a business to work remotely – looks like an awesome day. Registration fee is $250, but Tiffany kindly offered a discount code for listeners of this show – enter the code Unleashed at checkout and you can register for just $99. Or use this link: http://bit.ly/2wC5gAr Tiffany is ALSO the author of a new book out today, You Are a Mogul: How to Do the Impossible, Do it Yourself, and Do it Now. Tiffany is truly an inspirational leader, and I hope you enjoy this discussion.

Our guest today is Umbrex member and Booz alum Wissam Kahi, who's been a close friend of mine since we sat together in the same cluster at Columbia Business School. In parallel with running his successful consulting practice, Wissam, together with his sister, has started an amazing social enterprise called Eat Offbeat. https://eatoffbeat.com/ Eat Offbeat delivers authentic and home-style ethnic meals that are conceived, prepared and delivered by refugees resettled in NYC. Eat Offbeat was the recipient of WeWork's global creator awards and has been featured in dozens of major publications. At a time when refugees may not be feeling the most welcome in the United States, Eat Offbeat is creating jobs while also helping to build bridges. And their food is delicious – I've hired Eat Offbeat to cater several events that I've run and they always get rave reviews. Check them out online at Eat Offbeat – and if you've got an event in NYC, you can't miss by having them prepare your meal.

Nayla Bahri is a former Dean of Students at Columbia Business School who has a PhD in Adult Learning and Leadership. Nayla interviewed professionals who lost their jobs during the Great Recession, and studied their future trajectory. After that setback, some truly flourished, and ended up far better off than before they got fired. Some managed to get back to a similar role and their career plateaued. Some got derailed and didn't really recover. Nayla sought to identify the factors that differentiated those groups, and the good news is that it wasn't personality or something innate, but behaviors that are under our control. In today's episode, Nayla shares the key insights from her research on the five behaviors that differentiated those who flourished after a career setback.

Louis Hyman is McKinsey alum and Associate Professor of Economic History at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. In this episode we talk about his new book: Temp: How American Work, American Business, and the American Dream Became Temporary. The gig economy is not a new phenomenon – this book explores how we got to where we are today. It weaves together the stories of Manpower,Inc. McKinsey & Co., the Bracero program that legally brought seasonal farm laborers from Mexico to the United States. There is also the story of how accounting firms became the big technology consulting firms. And how consultants helped encourage the rise of big conglomerates and then the reorganization and restructuring of those same companies. Fascinating throughout. To learn more, visit www.LouisHyman.com.

Chara McGill runs The RMG Group, what has traditionally been called a bookkeeping firm, with about 20 employees based in New York City. Chara suggests a different term for the work her firm does instead of bookkeeping – she calls it "internal accounting operations," since the work goes well beyond the traditional bookkeeping tasks of general ledger entries. In this episode, Chara shares her advice for independent professionals on how to do the bookkeeping yourself, the signs that it may be time to outsource the work, and how to find a firm who will meet your needs. https://www.thermggroup.com/

Our guest today is Dirk Hanschur, the CEO of Log-hub, a firm that has created a range of supply chain analytics tools that work as Add-ons to Microsoft Excel. In this Episode, Dirk explains a selection of these apps which include geo-coding, distance calculator, live tracking, shortest path calculator, milk run optimization, and more. Log-hub is happy to partner with independent consultants, who can become authorized resellers of the software. A link to their website is in the show notes. https://www.log-hub.com/supply-chain-apps/

To bring her whole self to the game, the business athlete Stays physically fit, flexibility, strength, cardiovascular fitness – because in long days at work, physical fitness supports mental alertness She insists on getting enough sleep She practices some form of mindfulness, to remain centered in the midst of inevitable crises She finds a coach who will help her keep improving her game through deliberate practice She puts time into mastering the basics until they become automatic - She studies the competition to understand their moves She regularly reviews, with an objective lens, her own performance, identifying what went well and what can be improved She is motivated not by standing on the medal podium, but the satisfaction of performing at the highest possible level She compares herself, primarily, not to other athletes, but to her own performance yesterday She looks out along the full arc of her future career, and not just to the next competition. She phases out from her life acquaintances who are a drag on her energy rather than a contribution to it Thanks to Michael Feiner, who, in his course "High Performance Leadership" at Columbia Business School, introduced me to this concept of the business athlete.