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Absolute Advantage Podcast

The Absolute Advantage is about learning from some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, leaders, and achievers at the top of their game. When chasing your dreams, a lot of times there isn’t a need to reinvent the wheel. Instead, shorten your path to success by learning from the stories, strategies and concepts shared by our guests. Then shorten it even further by learning about amazing resources (books, webinars, tools, software, events, coaching, etc.) that should be on your radar. You are not alone in the challenges you face! It's my mission to help you walk away with at least one idea you can apply each episode and to offer content that inspires, encourages and helps you grow and progress QUICKLY both professionally and personally.
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Now displaying: May, 2017
May 30, 2017

Heather Picken is The Entrepreneur Catalyst and renowned success and business coach, Bestselling author with her third book, "Woman On Fire Entrepreneur: How to Own your Power Profit from your Passion and create Prosperity." She leads teams and entrepreneurs worldwide on how to create a global impact through her brand, La Dolce Vita: The Formula For Fabulous Living™, which teaches the science, psychology, and philosophy of living the sweet life.

Heather combines the latest technology from neuroscience to online marketing in helping her clients create massive visibility with their product, service, and mission. She has appeared on many TV & Radio stations including ABC, FOX, and Hay House Radio.

Heather also hosts a national show called La Dolce Vita: The Formula For Fabulous Living™, where she interviews entrepreneurs and leaders across the world in demonstrating that there is a unique formula for life and business mastery, and each person on this planet has the ability to unleash their own creative genius. Heather says with this formula you can create your fabulous vision, mission, and purpose and live an inspired life.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • The relationship between getting clear on your purpose and achieving success
  • Creating strategies for balancing your emotions and not getting bogged down with the negative
  • Focusing on up to (and no more than) four vital priorities a day
  • How to start and end your day
  • Delegating away tasks you shouldn’t be doing
  • Measuring your money metrics
  • Why you need a coach/mentor to help you excel in the areas you want to excel at
  • How to negate the imposter syndrome by embracing who you are as a person
  • Understanding what your highest values are
  • The danger of setting “fantasy goals”

Ways to contact Heather:

May 25, 2017

With 30 years of leadership experience, Guy Neal serves as President of PBS Engineering and Environmental, recognized as a Top 500 Engineering Firm by Engineering News-Record. Guy’s engagement with the firm began 24 years ago as one of PBS first civil engineers. His unique background blends engineering with environmental science, assisting clients with the challenges of meeting regulatory standards as they expand. He later became Principal of PBS Engineering Division, overseeing environmental, geotechnical, and civil engineering services.

As President, Guy’s leadership has played an important role in assuring the growth of PBS amidst an economic recovery which heavily impacted the engineering design industry. Now in its 35th year, the firm has emerged as one of the Northwest’s premier engineering and environmental practices, with a well-diversified client base and expanding geography. Guy leads the firm’s efforts to reinvest in the local community through sustainable practices, environmental volunteerism, and participation in STEM education programs that support a new generation of engineers.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Guy’s focus on giving back and ushering in the next generation of engineers
  • The importance of diversifying your client base
  • The benefits of a culture where your team always asks “why?”
  • PBS’ formal feedback process every employee goes through
  • Quality: why this must be top of mind for engineers entering into a leadership role
  • Filling your team with quality people
  • How “A Players” inside PBS define themselves
  • Strategies PBS uses to retain their talent
  • The challenges of keeping up with new technology (like PBS’ recent use of drones)
  • Why you need to spend more time with your team

Ways to contact Guy:

May 23, 2017

Kathleen Trotter is the author of “Finding Your Fit.” Kathleen has been a personal trainer, Pilates specialist, and fitness writer for over fifteen years. Kathleen writes for publications including the Globe and Mail and Huffington Post, makes regular TV and media appearances, is the featured trainer in the Globe and Mails Fitness Basics video series, and blogs for Flaman Fitness. Kathleen holds a Master of Exercise Sciences from the University of Toronto and a nutrition diploma from the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Just making one change: the secret towards starting your path to fitness
  • The relationship between working out and improved mood
  • Combatting the overwhelmed feeling when beginning fitness
  • Setting the right health goals for setting yourself up for success
  • The three Cs: convenience, consistency, and clarity
  • Moving towards exercise bliss
  • Figuring out your exercise why
  • Why mindfulness + preparation = success
  • Sleep: why it really is so crucial and why you can’t afford to be sleep deprived
  • Analyzing the things that you’re certain of because certainty is the opposite of growth
  • Putting yourself in other people’s shoes
  • Kathleen’s book: “Finding Your Fit”

Ways to contact Kathleen:

Kathleen's articles:

May 18, 2017

Lolly Daskal is one of the most sought-after executive leadership coaches in the world. Her extensive cross-cultural expertise spans 14 countries, six languages, and hundreds of companies.

As founder and CEO of Lead From Within, her proprietary leadership program is engineered to be a catalyst for leaders who want to enhance performance and make a meaningful difference in their companies, their lives, and the world. Based on a mix of modern philosophy, science, and nearly thirty years coaching top executives, Lolly’s perspective on leadership continues to break new ground and produce exceptional results.

Of her many awards and accolades, Lolly was designated a Top-50 Leadership and Management Experts by Inc 100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference and Speakers at your next event by Inc. magazine. Her writing has appeared in HBR, Inc.com, Fast Company (Ask The Expert), Huffington Post, and Psychology Today, and others.

Lolly’s proprietary insights are the subject of her new book, “The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness.”

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Lolly’s journey that led her to become a leadership guru
  • The difference between someone who fixes problems and someone who navigates through them
  • Lolly’s upcoming book: “The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness”
  • The traits/archetypes we need to get to the next level and the gaps that are keeping us from them
  • How to fill those leadership gaps
  • RETHINK: the seven archetypes that are all about rethinking who you are
  • The truth-teller archetype and why its archetype is the deceiver
  • The best ways for leaders to build trust
  • Why the imposter syndrome is real and lives within the rebel archetype
  • The difference between virtue and skills and why the difference will make or break a leader
  • Why every single person has what it takes to be a great leader — and — what it takes to stand in your greatness
  • Tailoring the questions you ask the people you lead need to be tailored to the individual
  • Meditating on the things that went well and not taking them for granted

Ways to contact Lolly:

May 16, 2017

Tara Christopher has been in the health industry for 30 years. She started as a competitive AAU swimmer at the age of 5 swimming five days a week and completed her first swim-a-thon at age 9. She continued swim-a-thons annually to raise money for different nonprofit organizations. At 12 years old was the first 20-mile walk-a-thon. The understanding of the power of her own body to help others and be grateful for health began at a very young age.

Tara began teaching Aerobics and was part of a team that opened a health club at the age of 17. While opening the new health club McDonald’s was trying to incorporate the veggie burger and Tara hosted the McDonald’s commercial to launch the idea of a healthier choice. Always one that was up for the challenge, she did her first sprint triathlon at 21 years old. She was featured on the cover of Triathlon program as the cyclist.

After moving locations to teach weight training and classes she was invited to speak at the corporate office of Anheuser-Busch inspiring a room full of upper management and executives to educate them on exercise and better nutrition. This was the first of many engagements to teach health and wellness.

After she received her degree from Hunter College, she launched a successful career at a highly demanding gym on 57th street in NYC. Her strategy was to develop a roadmap for individuals to reach their goals based on their own health needs. With her rapid growth and success, she launched her own business on 57th street at Lift gym NYC. In the process of launching her business, she finished the NYC marathon. Since then, she has completed many endurance events including the Ford Ironman.

Throughout her career she was featured in many national publications, was in an exercise layout in fitness plus, wrote a TV clip for Life Time Live and featured in the episode, was chosen to represent a book Baby to Bikini traveling to many news morning shows. In 2012 she was on Dateline NBC as the coach, After the showing, the clip was featured on TMZ and the O’Reilly factor. With social media and the changing format, Tara was inspired to reach to many people with her message. This lead to her passion for spreading the word Just Keep On Movin!!!

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Tara’s story and how she caught the health and wellness bug at a very young age
  • Health: why it’s just as important for the mind as it is the body
  • Why what you define as success for yourself has to include your health
  • Just Keep On Movin!!!: Tara’s campaign for living a healthier life
  • Shifting your entire psychology around health and wellness
  • The importance of using repeatable systems
  • Hiring people to fill in the gaps of what you don’t know
  • Ways to get out of ruts so that you don’t spend too much time in a low point
  • The massive impact of meditation
  • Why you need to be uncomfortable to grow as a leader

Ways to contact Tara:

May 11, 2017

Eric Miller grew up in Everett, WA. When he was 6 he was diagnosed with a serious case of ecoli-0157, and through that experience became very close with his pediatrician and the process of medicine. From then, Eric became obsessed with the human body and how using science, testing, and insight can cure illnesses. He set his sights on becoming a doctor.

Fast-forward 12 years, Eric went to University of Washington to pursue a career in medicine. He made it through the Pre-Med undergrad curriculum with a degree in Medical Anthropology & Global Health. During that time, he was working for the eye-bank as a tissue harvesting as well as volunteering in a research lab gaining the experience he needed for the next step: Medical School.

However, as much as his brain loved science and systems, it was also equally creative and imaginative. Art has always been a huge part of Eric’s life, so when he picked up a video camera in high school, that unknowingly put the rest of his life’s plans of becoming a doctor in somewhat of an existential crisis. While pursuing his degree, Eric would film snowboarding, music videos, weddings, and short films. What started as a hobby turned into a burning passion. So when Eric graduated college, he made the difficult decision to put Med School on hold for one year, to see where video could take him.

It’s been 6 years since, and he hasn’t looked back. Vidbotz is a culmination of his science and art background — systematizing the production process, much like the scientific method.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • When to take the leap of faith in starting a business like Eric did with Vidbotz
  • Lessons that Eric’s learned in the early stage of his startup like boosting productivity by blocking time on the calendar
  • Being mindful of who you are today vs who you want to be tomorrow
  • A great resource for getting free mentorship from seasoned business veterans
  • Collaboration, communication, systemization, and delegation: how to exploit the power of people and technology to make your business efficient
  • Why video is so essential for both your marketing efforts and internally
  • How Vidbotz strips away the complexity for their customers so they don’t have to worry about the technological challenges of video
  • The importance of regularly checking yourself on being the best you can be
  • Not falling trap to the sunk cost fallacy
  • Networking strategies that the young entrepreneur needs to know

Ways to contact Eric:

Resources:

May 9, 2017

Rob is President and Co-Founder of imageOne, a Document Lifecycle Management company. Rob’s journey began in ninth grade when he and his current business partner, Joel Pearlman, launched their first business selling blow pop candy out of their school lockers. Rob and his partner realized early on that their passion for delivering an extraordinary customer experience would be key to their success. It is this passion that has become the driving force behind imageOnes success. Rob has completed 14 marathons and is an avid meditator and loves spending time in Northern Michigan with his family and friends.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Out of the basement to 52 employees: how imageOne was built
  • Defining core values: an absolutely crucial exercise for every business
  • Leadership lessons from Ari Weinzweig that shaped how Rob runs imageOne
  • The importance of putting the right person in the right seat when it comes to hiring
  • The challenges Rob has faced scaling salespeople and how he’s met those challenges
  • “What are you doing that’s uncomfortable?”: why you need to regularly ask your team — and yourself — this question
  • Getting out of the office to get feedback from your team
  • Building out your schedule so that you prioritize tasks that help you achieve your goals
  • The huge positive impact meditation can have on your life
  • What Rob does with imageOne: a Document Lifecycle Management company

Ways to contact Rob:

May 4, 2017

David Covey is the 3rd son of Stephen R. Covey, author of the groundbreaking book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” David was the chief operating officer of FranklinCovey. He then left Franklin Covey to start his own company, now called SMCOV. SMCOV works with the best intellectual property content experts on the planet and helps distributes their content globally through licensees. David loves working with impactful IP and setting up distribution systems around the globe.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Why David co-founded SMCOV with Stephan Mardyks
  • Leading by modeling the behavior you want to see in other leaders and extending trust to others
  • Struggling through the challenges unique to entrepreneurship
  • David and Stephan’s new book “Trap Tales: Outsmarting the 7 Hidden Obstacles to Success”
  • The four characteristics of a trap
  • How viewing your problems and challenges as traps will assist you in getting through them
  • The seven types of traps and how to avoid them
  • Turning a negative trap into a positive result
  • Why you will relate to the protagonist in “Trap Tales”
  • Epiphany Breakthrough: the unconventional approaches given in “Trap Tales” to help you get out of the traps that you fall into
  • Why most people don’t change until they’re forced to (and why you cannot wait that long)

Ways to contact David:

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