Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional

In this in-between-isode, Will Bachman shares four tools useful for any independent professional: 1) DocuSign - to avoid the need to print/sign/scan/email 2) Expensify - to keep track of your expenses. 3) ScannerPro - to create multipage PDFs with your phone 4) Rev.com - quick and affordable transcripts

Sinisa Slijepcevic studied with Stephen Hawking, among other professors, while earning his PhD in applied mathematics at Cambridge University. Sinisa is a McK alum and independent consultant and runs a firm called Cantab Analytica, which is based in the UK and Croatia. Sinisa's firm leverages machine learning to help clients make better decisions and to focus energy on the right decisions. In our discussion, Sinisa provides several case examples to illustrate how machine learning can help make decisions in three ways: First: decisions that may be subject to unconscious bias, such as the investment decisions made by venture capital firms Second: decisions that are complex and also occur very frequently, such as dynamic pricing of hotel rooms. Third: focusing management attention on the most important decisions, such as figuring out which purchasing decisions are the most critical in a supply chain. You can learn more about Sinisa's firm on the website: cantab analytica.com

Our guest today is Karen McGrath, who runs a firm of virtual assistants called Awan's Assisting. If you are an independent professional and feel crunched for time, this episode is for you. Karen and I discuss why an independent professional should consider hiring a virtual assistant (a VA), the types of tasks that VAs are most commonly asked to do, how to find and screen a VA, and some tips on how to build an effective working relationship with a VA. Karen clearly knows her business, and you can find her firm at http://awansassisting.com/

Our guest today is Kenny Jahng, the founder of Big Click Syndicate LLC, a strategic positioning agency offering content marketing consulting & advisory to nonprofit, cause-driven & faith-based organizations and churches across the country. Kenny has an amazing list of clients that includes the Princeton Theological Seminary, California Baptist University, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, The United Methodist Church, & Wesleyan Investment Foundation, among many others. In our discussion, Kenny educates me on what content marketing is all about. The core of what he does starts with helping clients on their strategic positioning, building internal alignment on the mission and the vision of the organization. Often, this exercise has implications beyond communications and informs strategic decisions the client makes. We also discuss lead generation, and how Kenny helps clients build thirty or more custom landing pages that each focus on a niche audience, providing something of value to earn the right to continue a conversation with that visitor over time. I was incredibly impressed by the sophistication of what is going on behind the scenes, and we just scratched the surface. If you are intrigued by what you hear in this episode, you can learn more about Kenny's work at www.kennyjahng.com.

Sri Kaza, a former McKinsey partner who specializes in sales and service, left the firm to put his sales expertise to work as the SVP of Commercial Operations at Viking Cruises, and subsequently led sales for a company offering a SaaS-based solution to obtaining tax credits. Sri is now running his own independent consulting practice while also developing two separate SaaS startups. One of them is a tool to help companies hire the employees most likely to perform well and stick around, based on academic research and testing that looks at 70 personality traits. The other one helps companies optimize their incoming leads by routing that lead to the right sales person. Sri's consulting is focusing on these areas, allowing him to better understand unmet needs. So while he serves clients he is also doing market research for his startups. In our discussion we explore in some detail the concept of how to optimize incoming leads, and Sri shares some initial steps that you can help your clients with. Sri also mentions that he is happy to partner with other independent consultants, so if you are serving a client with a large number of incoming leads and more than, say, 10-20 sales reps, reach out to Sri to see if he might be able to help. Or if your client hires a large number of front line service personnel every year, Sri may be able to help your client reduce training and replacement costs with his recruiting solution.

Our guest today is Jason Korman, who entered the world of consulting via the wine industry. Jason is the founder of Stormhoek Winery, a South African wine label. While running that label, he retained Hugh MacLeod to blog and draw for Stormhoek, creating one of the the web's earlier social media campaigns. Even if you don't recognize the name Hugh MacLeod, you have probably seen his cartoons, which are absolutely distinctive. Hugh's cartoons are generally about the world of work and marketing, and the drawings are beautiful and abstract, often resembling a cross between Rube Goldberg and Pablo Picasso. I've been subscribing to his daily blog for years and years – check it out at GapingVoid.com My hero Seth Godin is a huge fan of Hugh, and I think that's how I first discovered him. Hugh is also the author of the book Ignore Everybody, which I highly recommend. So Jason hired Hugh, and the campaign that Hugh developed was widely successful and won all sorts of awards – while the work helped sell wine, they found it was also helping people have important conversations. One thing led to another, and the winemaker and the cartoonist decided to set up a consulting firm, and the Gaping Void Culture Design Group was born. In our discussion, Jason tells me about how his firm helps corporate clients use art to drive cultural change. The firm is happy to partner with independent consultants, so if you are working to drive cultural change at your client, check out the website to explore if it might make sense to collaborate – visit gapingvoid.com

Our guest today is Ahmad Munawar, who helps boutique professional services firms build actionable marketing plans that generate more leads so they can win more business. He's got a podcast that I encourage you to check out called "Forecast – Marketing for Boutique Professional Services & Consulting Firms" He's also got a free video course on lead generation that you can take at fiveleadgen.com In our discussion, Ahmad walks me through the five steps that he suggests we take to build a marketing plan, namely: identifying our target market; developing our positioning; establishing what solution we'll offer; building a marketing funnel; and creating an action plan. While those may sound like phases that our common to any marketing plan, we dive into what each step means for a boutique consulting firm. You can learn more about Ahmad's firm at boutiquegrowth.com

On today's episode, the tables are turned, and our guest, Sophia Dai, interviews Will Bachman. Sophia received her MBA from Kellogg and then spent the past two years at Boston Consulting Group. Now a Senior Associate, she's decided to leave BCG, and independent consulting is one path that she is considering. Two or three or four times a week Will Bachman has a conversation with a top tier management consultant considering this option. This episode captures one such discussion. In today's episode , Will does his best to answer her questions - including among others: why people decide to pursue the independent path, the first steps to take to start generating project opportunities, and the biggest mistakes people make when they start out.

Our guest today is Lisa Overton, a McKinsey alum and an expert on market research. Today Lisa is an independent consultant working on a range of strategy, marketing, and communications issues. Previously, Lisa ran a boutique qualitative market research firm that offered traditional services such as focus groups as well as more innovative services including customer intercept interviews. In our discussion today we focus in on how to do those customer intercept interviews, and Lisa shares a range of lessons learned that you and I can apply in our practice. We discuss the incentives you need to offer the customer, how to approach customers, the best time of day to get a good interview, how to record responses, how much it will cost to hire capable interviewers, how many they can do per hour, and the types of questions you might want to ask to elicit surprising insights. We also do a role play in which I play a grocery shopper and Lisa interviews me about my grocery shopping habits.

Our guest today is Geoff Wilson, a McKinsey alum who subsequently served as the SVP of Corporate Strategy and Development at Milliken & Company, a privately-held, diversified manufacturing company headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina with 7,000 employees worldwide. Geoff left Millikin in 2014 and started his own consulting firm. Geoff wanted to keep living in South Carolina and keep long-distance travel to a minimum, so he has taken an intentionally geographically-focused approach to building his practice. In this episode, Geoff shares some tips on building a geographically-focused firm, and we also discuss his work on corporate strategy and business unit strategy. Geoff has been a good friend of mine for several years. We've worked together, he has given training at events I've organized, and he is one of the most capable consultants I know. You can read more about Geoff and read his blog at WilsonGrowthPartners.com

Our guest today is Umbrex member Amanda Setili, and we discuss her new book that is being published today: Fearless Growth: The New Rules to Stay Competitive, Foster Innovation, and Dominate Your Markets Amanda has been a guest on the show before, on episode 8, when we spoke about the Strategic Agility Think Tank which she established, and her first book, The Agility Advantage. In today's discussion we dive deep into the content of her new book. In the first half of the show we discuss five strategic dilemmas that companies face. These dilemmas include tough choices such as: To what extent should we develop a carefully thought out plan vs plunging in and trying something new? and When new capabilities are needed, should we build them internally, acquire, or partner? Amanda's book suggests that these five dilemmas require seven new rules, and we touch on each one of those in the second half of the show. If you work on strategy projects, this book is full of fresh thinking and well worth reading. You can read more about Amanda's firm at www.setili.com

Our guest today is Alexander Petersen. He is a McKinsey alum and a successful entrepreneur, having started a pet care business called Wagly. After starting Wagly, he was able to attract private equity funding to grow the company and hire a strong full time leadership team. He is now the owner of a boutique consulting firm focused on animal health, which I learned in this episode is a $50 billion dollar industry. Alexander has built a thriving firm by tightly focusing on an industry where he's been able to get to know all the top players and build lasting relationships that continue on beyond individual projects. You can learn more about his practice at www.danashift.com

Larry Oglesby has been a close friend and mentor of mine for over a decade. I first got to know Larry when he was my Engagement Manager at McKinsey on a manufacturing lean operations project back in 2005, and we bonded over our shared service in the U.S. submarine force. Larry is a deep expert on operational transformation – after spending time in the Ops practice at McKinsey he joined the George Group – a boutique consulting firm focused on operations. After the George Group was purchased by Accenture, Larry stayed on and ended up as the Managing Director for North American Process and Innovation Performance Service Line. Larry has now started his own consulting practice, 440 partners – and we start our discussion with Larry explaining the name of his firm. A cliché in operational transformation is: To go fast, go slow. Larry has a different approach: To go fast, go fast. In our discussion, Larry talks about the importance of speed in a successful transformation; he also shares how he incorporated into the transformation a book club with weekly discussions. To learn more about Larry, visit his firm's website: Four40Partners.com

Our guest today is Mike Figliuolo, a McKinsey alum and West Point graduate. Mike is the founder and Managing Director of ThoughtLeadersLLC, which provides training to corporations that is inspired by the types of internal training that consultants receive at McKinsey and other top firms. He is also the author of three books One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership The Elegant Pitch: Create a Compelling Recommendation, Build Broad Support, and Get it Approved Lead Inside the Box: How Smart Leaders Guide Their Teams to Exceptional Results, which Mike co-authored with Victor Prince. I heard about Mike's firm from several Umbrex members, who have helped deliver some training sessions for Mike, and I recognized his name because Mike was the very first person to interview me when I applied to McKinsey, seventeen years ago. So it was nice to reconnect. In this episode, Mike gives an overview of his most popular courses and talks through lessons learned he has had in building a training firm. Lesson 1 – somewhat counterintuitive - don't customize your training! I like the metaphor he uses to explain why: you need to be at the baseline or at the net. Mike shares the business model of how the fees get split four ways each time a session is delivered: one share for the person who wrote the course; one share for the person who sold that particular session; one person who delivered the session; and one share for the house. Do take a look at his firm's website: thought leaders llc.com Mike is happy to write a check to consultants who help him develop new business, so if know some clients that could benefit from his firm's services, he'd love to hear from you.

Our guest today is Ravi Rao, a McKinsey alum and neuroscientist who is the author of Emotional Business. Ravi has led sessions at several professional development events for consultants that I've organized, and he always gets fantastic reviews. Ravi was my guest on the second episode of this show, and it remains one of the most downloaded episodes, so if you like this episode, go back and check out Episode 2. In this episode, we talk about one really creative framework that Ravi has developed that helps you think about customer experience in a new way. I used this framework on one of my own projects right after I learned about it from Ravi, and the client loved it. I was really pleased that Ravi agreed to come back on the show to walk us through it. Check out the show notes for a link to download the framework. Please do use the framework, and please do include a source line that credits the book Emotional Business by Ravi Rao.

Our guest today is Vivek Soman, a former McKinsey Engagement Manager who is the founder and Managing Director of The Ananya Group, which has completed over 300 projects since it was founded in 2008. Ananya is a Bengali word meaning "unparalled." Vivek's firm has a very clear focus: the client focus is large $1 billion revenue and up tech, media, telecom, and professional services companies The service offering includes three types of projects: 1) competitive intelligence 2) customer intelligence 3) focused strategy projects Vivek has worked to standardize the process of doing competitive intelligence, and we discuss that as well as a couple practices I found interesting: 1) found that obscure tech journals in the Middle East and Europe – executives of large tech companies sometimes talk more openly about their product strategy that you can find in the US 2) developed a process to source 80-100 interviews, with very specific questions, just 3-4, You can read more about Vivek's firm at www.TheAnanyaGroup.com Vivek is currently looking for someone to help with business development. If you are interested in that role, or just have other questions about his work, he invites you to contact him at [email protected]

Lauren Cole runs a boutique consulting firm specializing in strategy and operations for media-related businesses. Lauren got her start in consulting at Bain & Co. After getting her MBA at Stanford she entered the world of media and entertainment with a strategy role at Warner Brothers, where she worked for Umbrex member Steven Koltai, who has also been a guest on this show. She had an impressive career in the media world, which included launching, investing in, and/or overseeing 35 cable networks around the world. Then in 2002, she started her own consulting practice and has been a successful independent professional for the last 15 years, serving over 150 clients, covering everything from Broadway to sports to virtual reality. You can read more about Lauren's firm, Cole Media, at www.ColeMediaLA.com

Our guest today is Josh Spodek, the author of Leadership Step by Step. Josh is an independent professional who coaches individual clients teaches leadership and entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor at NYU does speaking engagements runs online courses in leadership and entrepreneurship on SpodekAcademy.com For the show we met at Josh's apartment in Greenwich Village, and in the first part of our conversation we discuss the blackboard in his room and the new course he is currently developing, which is sketched out in chalk. We also talk about what Josh has learned from blogging every single day since 2011, the impact on his fitness from doing 90,000 burpees over the past few years, and how he fits four months of garbage into one tote bag. Josh's approach to teaching leadership and entrepreneurship is very experiential and organized around a series of exercises. We discuss several of these, including what you can learn from three raisins. You can learn more about Josh and take his online course at http://spodekacademy.com/ And buy his book here: https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Step-Become-Person-Others/dp/0814437931

Our guest today is Esther Kim, an independent consultant based in San Francisco who focuses on serving clients in the social sector, including non-profits, philanthropies, and social enterprises. After getting her Masters degree in Environmental Engineering from MIT, Esther got her start in consulting at McKinsey, where she worked with energy, industrial, and nonprofit clients. She then spent nine years at REDF, a venture philanthropy firm based in San Francisco. In 2014, Esther set up her own consulting practice focusing on the social sector. In our discussion we talk about the similiarities and differences between serving for-profit and non-for-profit clients We discuss what it takes to transition into the social sector, the difference in vocabulary from the for-profit sector, and how Esther tweaks frameworks such as the Business Model Canvas to apply them in her work. She also shares an inspiring story of a social enterprise Esther helped to establish- a staffing agency- that has helped hundreds of formerly homeless individuals find stable jobs. You can find Esther online at www.estherkimconsulting.com

Our guest today is Steven Koltai, the author of "Peace through Entrepreneurship: Investing in a Startup Culture for Security and Development" Steven has had multiple careers. he has been a management consultant at McKinsey, the head of strategy at Warner Bros for ten years, and a successful entrepreneur. His most recent career began as a senior advisor to the US Department of State under Secretary Hilary Clinton, where Steven conceived and launched the Global Entrepreneurship Program, based on the principles that joblessness leads to violence and unrest; and one of the best ways to reduce joblessness is to foster entrepreneurship in emerging markets. After leaving the State Department, Steven has continued to advance that goal, and his consulting practice has supported entrepreneurship in over 30 countries, particularly Africa and Latin America. We discuss advice for independent professionals interested in working in international development process of getting funding for such projects key success factors for projects to encourage entrepreneurship how Steven staffs up projects in these markets some case studies, including an eight-sided box that increased revenue by 700% For more on Steven's work, go to www.koltai.co

Chris Fox, an alum of McKinsey and Marakon, has held executive leadership roles at Xerox and MeadWestvaco. Since 2014 he has been operating his own consulting practice, Meridian Strategic Consulting, based in Richmond, Virginia. In this episode, we discuss the range of Chris's practice, with a particular focus on strategy and due diligence assignments. Read more about Chris on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/chrisjfox

Our guest today is Ron Hubsher, the Managing Director of the Sales Optimization Group and the author of Closing Time: the 7 Immutable Laws of Sales negotiation." Ron's book is in print but not available on Amazon – he explains what happens when you buy his book from his website., and why he doesn't sell his book anywhere else. Ron has a multifaceted business – he does consulting projects to sales organizations, he provides training programs, he gives keynote speeches. In some cases he delivers his training programs himself; he'll also license the training program to a client and make money while he sleeps. In our wide-ranging conversation, Ron discusses several case examples of how he works with clients, and along the way I learn how a playing card in an Atlantic City casino is different than one used in Las Vegas. You can find Ron's firm on the web at www.salesOG.com

Our guest today is Michael Bendit, an independent professional based in NYC who started his consulting career as a principal at Booz & Co. Michael has two sides to his practice He runs a consulting practice, with a particular focus on strategy and pricing He also represents multiple software development shops, primarily focused on digital marketing agencies Michael has created a referral network in NYC that has been meeting every two weeks for several years. His group includes a range of independent professionals that all serve digital marketing agencies, with different specialties, and every two weeks they get together to share leads and look for ways to collaborate. Getting up a group like this up and running takes a lot of effort, but has been successful at generating a flow of work over time and is something that independent professionals might want to consider replicating. You can read more about Michael's software firm at http://softdevresources.com/

Martin Pergler is Founder and Principal at Balanced Risk Strategies, Ltd., in Ottawa, Canada. Previously, he was Senior Expert in Risk at McKinsey, where he was a leader in their Corporate Risk and ERM service lines, based at various times in their Chicago, Prague, Singapore, and Montréal office.

Soyini Coke is a McKinsey alum and independent consultant based in Atlanta, Georgia. She is also the host of CEO Exclusive, a radio show in which she interviews a mid-market CEO every week. In this episode we discuss how she has invested time to build her visibility and thought leadership, such that she now has CEOs reaching out to her to get on her show. You can learn more about Soyini's firm on her website: http://annonaenterprises.com/ And you can listen to her show at http://ceoexclusive.businessradiox.com/about/

David Burnie is a McKinsey alum and the founder of The Burnie Group, a boutique consulting firm based in Toronto. We discuss how we started as an independent professional and then proceeded to build a firm and how he has partnered with software firms to offer robotic automation. You can sign up for his firm's newsletter and read more about The Burnie Group at www.burniegroup.com

Our guest today is my friend Julie Gupta, who has a Masters in Material Engineering from MIT and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Julie started her consulting career at Bain & Company, and after a series of roles in the tech industry she started her own practice, Gupta Consulting, in 2006 – so she has been a successful independent professional for 11 years. In our discussion, we focus on Julie's pro bono work, which I find incredibly inspiring. She has done pro bono consulting work at fantastic organizations that include Guide Dogs for the Blind, NPR, the Girl Scouts of America, Boston Public Schools, City Year, the Humane Society, among others. Julie shares one question that has shaped her thinking and her life: "Are you optimizing your resume or your eulogy?" We talk about how as an independent professional to find those pro bono opportunities, and some best practices to make sure that you have impact and that your time is well spent. We also talk about the unanticipated benefits – such as relationships that have led to work with for-profit clients, and skills she has learned. Read more about Julie's practice at www.ConsultGupta.com.

In this in-between-isode, Will Bachman offers suggestions on 27 action items to consider as you set up your firm.

In this in-between-isode, Will Bachman offers a perspective on the questions you should answer to create a strategy for your practice, namely: What is your definition of success? Or in other words, What is winning? Where do you play? How do you win on the battlefields where you have chosen to play?

Our guest today is Mike Feiner, who has been an influential figure in my own life since I took his class High Performance Leadership at Columbia Business School. Mike is now on his fourth career. He was the Worldwide Chief People Officer at Pepsi – so the head of HR and the top advisor on all people matters to the CEO. Here is a factoid: in the last three years, according to The New CEO Report by Feigen Advisors, 81 individuals have ascended to the CEO role. in the Fortune 250. Of those 81, eight of the CEOs had worked previously at Pepsi, several of them while Mike was the head of HR. Something special was clearly going on. After Pepsi, Mike developed and taught one of the most popular courses ever at Columbia Business School. While he loved teaching, after ten years he wanted a new challenge and took the role of Senior Managing Director at Irving Place Capital where he Lead firm's efforts in guiding portfolio company management teams build, grow & develop their leaders & managers. And now Mike is an independent professional, serving as a consultant to CEOs and senior leaders. Mike is also the author of the bestselling The Feiner Points of Leadership: The 50 Basic Laws that will make people want to perform better for you. I've given out copies of this book dozens of times – it is the most practical book on what leadership is that I've ever read. In our wide ranging conversation, we talk about how to apply these basic laws of leadership as an independent professional We talk about the Law of Intimacy, the Law of Feedback, the Law of Professional Commitment, the Law of the Emperor's Wardrobe, and more. Mike's been a lifelong runner, running nearly every day for over 40 years, and we also talk about his suggestion that business professionals need to think of themselves as Professional Athletes. We're in a marathon, not a sprint, and we need to think about personal fitness, broadly conceived – exercise, diet, sleep, mindfulness all factor into our long term success as much, if not more than our knowledge of valuation methodologies or the latest digital marketing techniques. You can read more about Mike's work on his website, feinerconsulting.com

Our guest today is Matt Weill, who is my attorney as well as a good friend. Matt began his legal career as an Associate at Skadden Arps and then he became a partner at the firm of Golenbock, Eiseman, Assor Bell & Peskoe. His legal practice is primarily focused on business and transactional matters for a wide range of clients, including private equity and venture/growth capital funds and their related portfolio companies and investments. Matt routinely counsels entrepreneurs, startup and growth-stage companies and investors in connection with the structuring and formation of new business ventures, private placements, capital raising transactions, and agreements among founders. Matt has extensive experience working with independent professionals, and for Umbrex he has prepared three contract templates – a contract between an independent professional and a client; a contract that an independent professional can use to engage a subcontractor, and a non-disclosure agreement. If you email me at [email protected], I will send those files to you. Please note: these are just a starting point and don't constitute legal advice – you should get an attorney yourself to customize for your particular situation. That said, these templates can jump start that process and save you time and money. In the show today, Matt walks us through the contracts, explaining the key things we should watch out for. He also answers questions submitted by listeners, including steps you can take to get paid on time, how to negotiate non-circumvention clauses, and why you should read the fine print of the indemnity clause.

Our guest today is Dorene Stockman, an insurance agent with the Owens Group, an independent agency. Dorene helped me get my own insurance policy, and I thought she was very knowledgeable and a helpful advisor on that process, so I asked her to be on the show to share her advice for independent professionals on the types of coverage we need to consider getting. In our conversation we discuss the types of coverage that are applicable to most independent professionals, namely: Business owners insurance – closely related to General Liability policy Umbrella policy Professional liability policy Privacy / cyber policy We discuss policies that independent professionals should consider getting if you hire an employee or engage a subcontractor, including Workers comp Disability Unemployment insurance For those independt professionals that serve on the board of a non-profit or for-profit, we discuss directors & officers insurance Dorene also shares tips on how to select a broker, how often you should re-quote your policy, and how to work most effectively with a broker. Dorene prepared a much more exhaustive list of policy types that are applicable to narrower groups of independent professionals – if you email me at [email protected] I'll send you a copy You can find Dorene's firm at owensgroup.com Reach Dorene at: [email protected]

Four reasons why an independent professional might want to start a podcast, and 17 tips on how to get started.

Our guest today is Rick Condon, a former submarine officer and a former Engagement Manager at McKinsey. He has been running his own consulting practice since 2004. The majority of Rick's clients are privately held mid-market companies and he works on a range of topics including preparing companies for sale; turn-around efforts, and jump-starting growth. You can read about Rick's firm Inside Consulting at insideconsulting.net

Our guest today is my friend Amanda Setili, the author of two books: The Agility Advantage: How to Identify and Act on Opportunities in a Fast-Changing World, was published in 2014. Her latest book is coming out in the fall of 2017, Fearless Growth:The New Rules to Stay Competitive, Foster Innovation, and Dominate your markets. Amanda has an MBA from Harvard and started her consulting career at McKinsey & Co. She has been running her own successful consulting firm, Setili & Associates, in Atlanta for nearly twenty years. Her first book emerged out of something Amanda did which I think is pure genius: she created the Strategic Agility Think Tank, which brings together senior leaders from a blue-chip list of clients, several times per year for an in-person session that includes a panel discussion and then Q&A. The Think Tank keeps Amanda top of mind with the clients she has served in the past and is a reason to reach out to new ones. It gives her fresh material and case studies for her writing. It positions her as the go-to thought leader on how to navigate turbulent markets. It takes some real effort, long term dedication, and a willingness to invest to set up something like the Strategic Agility Think Tank – that's why most people don't do it. Those who do, like Amanda, are scarce and thus incredibly valuable.

Our guest today is Valia Glytsis, who runs The Paradox of Leadership, a leadership education firm based in New York and San Francisco. Valia works with leaders and organizations that yearn for a more meaningful and impactful way of working, communicating, and leading. She's got a blue-chip list of clients that includes HBO, McKinsey & Company, Digitas, Kiehl's, Soul Cycle, Edelman, New York City Economic Development Corporation, New York University (Stern), Georgetown University. In our wide-ranging discussion, we talk about the ways Valia builds her firm's visibility through writing, hosting events, and speaking engagements. We talk about the three main revenue lines of her firm, namely executive coaching, training seminars, and keynote speeches. She reveals her morning routine – and I've already adopted some of her practices myself. She discusses her three core values, how she chose them, and what role they play. On her website, theparadoxofleadership.com, Valia has some audio products for sale, and she was kind enough to offer listeners of Unleashed a promo code INSPIRE good for 20% off her audio program or her private coaching program.

Robbie Kellman Baxter served as a consultant to Netflix when all they did was mail out DVDs. That experience got Robbie thinking deeply about a new emerging business model. She developed these ideas over a period of nine years before publishing in 2015 her book The Membership Economy: Find Your Superusers, Master the Forever Transaction, and Build Recurring Revenue. In our discussion, Robbie goes into some detail of how the book came about, how she promoted the book, and how it transformed her practice from more traditional consulting projects to work that is more advisory in nature . She has made an investment in becoming a thought leader, and it has paid off: Robbie is regularly invited to give keynote speeches and she has clients who've read the book reaching out asking for her help. You can learn more about her work by reading her book, the membership economy, and by checking out her website: peninsula strategies.com Robbie studied at Harvard College and Stanford Business School, and started her consulting career at Booz Allen. She has been running her own consulting firm, Peninsula Strategies, since 2001, so she has been a successful independent professional for 16 years.

Several years ago, Srikumar Rao left a comfortable tenured position to set out as an independent professional. He now gives keynote speeches and offers his course to corporations and the general public around the world. His TED talk has been viewed nearly a million times. Learn more about Srikumar at https://theraoinstitute.com/ Srikumar created one of the most popular courses ever at Columbia Business School: Creativity and Personal Mastery. It is the only business school course that has its own active alumni group keeping the conversation going a decade and more after students graduate - including reunions, and Srikumar remains a beloved mentor by the thousands of students he has taught. Srikumar is the author of two best-selling books: Are YOU Ready to Succeed?: Unconventional Strategies for Achieving Personal Mastery in Business and Life and Happiness at Work: Be Resilient, Motivated, and Successful - No Matter What. In our show Srikumar discusses several practical exercises from his courses that students have found particularly powerful.

Lilly Liu Minkove is an expert in the luxury retail sector. She focused on the luxury retail industry as an investment banker at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, and as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. Then she gained experience in industry as a Director of Strategy at Coach and as a Director of Stores for Louis Vuitton. Presently she is a partner at ArtLogica Strategy Group which she co-founded with fellow McKinsey alum Jessica Zhu. ArtLogica is a marketing and strategy consultancy for the consumer, retail, and luxury industries. In our discussion, Lilly gives an insider's view into what she looks for when she does an in-store diagnostic. We also talk about how an independent professional can work with agencies to do large scale consumer surveys. Learn more about Lilly's work at http://artlogicagroup.com/

Susan Hamilton is a brand identity strategist and a member of Umbrex. She is an alum of Harvard Business School and Boston Consulting Group, and her firm, sh.BRAND, is based in New York City. We talk about what a brand identity is and how Susan helps firms define their brand identity. To learn more about Susan, check out her website at http://sh-brand.com/

Known for his wit, wisdom, and formerly purple hair, McKinsey alum, author and independent management consultant Ravi Rao reveals how we can improve the performance of individuals within the corporate culture through emotional intelligence. As a young man, Ravi wanted to be an actor but ended up in neuroscience. With a keen interest in the function and development of the brain, he obtained a PhD in neuroscience, became a resident physician in neurosurgery at Harvard, where he studied the emotional behavior of babies. After he made a career switch to management consulting to join McKinsey & Co., he used his training in how the brain works to bring new insights to corporate culture transformation. In our discussion, Ravi explains why the basic element of trust is behind all progressive and profitable businesses. From being open to ideas and receptive to growth, to mitigating the loss of high-performers and enabling staff to proactively anticipate and solve problems. Ravi talks about his process as an author for his book, Emotional Business: Inspiring Human Connectedness To Grow Earnings And The Economy: how he wrote it, published it, and how it has helped lead to further conversations. Ravi's got a unique morning routine that is inspired by his own neuroscience training, and he shares how he starts his day. Ravi is on Twitter @emobizguy. Unleashed is sponsored by Umbrex, the first global community of top-tier independent management consultants.

David Fields is the author of The Irresistible Consultant's Guide to Winning Clients: 6 Steps to Unlimited Clients & Financial Freedom, one of the best books available on business development for independent professionals. David runs a consulting consortium and serves as an advisor to independent consultants and boutique firms. In this episode, we dive into some of his key pieces of advice for client development, including right-side-up thinking, defining your firm's impact, building your visibility, how to have a context discussion, and tips on pricing. You can read more about David's work and sign up for free content on his website: http://www.davidafields.com/ David provided a list of books he recommends: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, by Robert B. Cialdini The Trusted Advisor, by David H. Maister and Charles H. Green The Go-Giver, by Bob Burg and John David Mann Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, by Chip and Dan Heath Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely Strategy and the Fat Smoker, by David H. Maister Managing the Professional Services Firm, by David H. Maister We'd love your feedback on this episode. Email us at [email protected] Unleashed is sponsored by Umbrex.