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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: November, 2016
Nov 23, 2016

George Wright has over thirty years’ experience as a management consultant and is the founder and President of WrightOne Consulting. He specializes in psychological assessment analysis, organizational assessment as well as leadership and team development. He has experience helping clients with selection, executive development, performance management, strategy formulation, change management, and organizational development.

George is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a Bachelor’s in Psychology & Sociology. He also has a Masters Degree from Radford University in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Economics. Additionally, he has studied Technology Management at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

He is an Adjunct Instructor in Industrial & Organizational Psychology, Social Psychology, and Positive Psychology at Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, NJ. He has also served on the faculty of the NJ Judicial College, lecturing on Cognitive Bias.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • George’s background
  • Why listening is the most important skill for leaders — and why you need to listen with more than just your ears
  • George’s two most influential mentors
  • Learning from your mistakes and looking for three lessons to learn from a mistake
  • Combating fear and giving yourself permission to try something
  • Why it’s so important to take care of yourself, especially as a leader
  • What emotional intelligence is and why it’s so important in the workplace
  • Why you need to get people to prove that they belong on your team
  • The fundamental characteristics that make up “A Players”
  • Building a plan that will help someone become successful inside your organization
  • How to prevent employees from leaving your company
  • How to lead from the top and challenge mediocrity
  • Why you shouldn’t fall in love with a candidate and ignore

Ways to contact George:

Resources:

Nov 22, 2016

Jason Treu is a business and executive coach and former lawyer. He’s an expert in leadership, human behavior, influence, networking, and culture-building. He’s helped his clients meet influencers such as Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Tim Cook, create more than $1B in wealth in last 3 years, and get on influential boards such as TED and Xprize.

His bestselling book, “Social Wealth, the how-to-guide on building personal and professional relationships,” has sold more than 45,000 copies on Amazon, has been #1 in four business and self-help categories, and has more than 125+ five star reviews.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Jason’s journey
  • “Social Wealth”: Jason’s bestselling book
  • Why you need to focus on soft skills the most — even though we typically focus on them the least
  • What Jason has learned from Brené Brown from her Ted talk and books
  • Why Jason had to part with his business partner to move his business towards the next level
  • Building a team that helps you see your blind spots
  • Why it’s so important to know what you’re doing what you’re doing right
  • Surrounding yourself with the right people
  • Practicing gratitude in your life
  • Why you need to get comfortable with your circle adapting to where you’re going
  • Creating a people-first culture
  • The difference between “A Players,” “B Players,” and “C Players”
  • How “C Players” kill organizations and zap productivity away from “A Players” and “B Players”
  • Why you need to have a succession plan
  • Why you have to invest in your “A Players” — and why people tend to focus on their “B Players”
  • Why you MUST invest yourself
  • Why keeping a tight calendar is so important

Ways to contact Jason:

Nov 17, 2016

Adrienne Garland is the founder of She Leads Media, a media company dedicated to leadership – both professionally and personally – for women, worldwide. The mission of She Leads Media is to inspire, educate and ultimately, to showcase women as the leaders we were all meant to be. Adrienne has an extensive marketing background and has helped media companies such as Cablevision, DIRECTV, SiriusXM, PR Newswire and PricewaterhouseCoopers with customer growth and digital transformation over the course of her career. She is a sought-after marketing consultant with expertise in bringing together and activating audiences and brands to achieve tangible results. Adrienne is a New York Business Journal 2016 class of Women of Influence honoree.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Adrienne’s background that led into the founding of She Leads Media
  • Why it’s so important to trust yourself
  • What Adrienne learned from her former business partner Laura — and how she’s moved on in her business since Laura left
  • What Adrienne learned from hosting a conference that she lost money on
  • The importance of thinking in a bigger way
  • How Adrienne works with vendors for her conferences
  • How to figure out what to outsource
  • How to vet your outsourcing partners
  • Why it’s so important to talk to yourself in the right way
  • Why Adrienne follows Ben Franklin’s “early to bed, early to rise” advice
  • Why you need to put everything in your calendar
  • Why women need to hold off on the perfect and think really big

Ways to contact Adrienne:

Nov 15, 2016

Jeff Jensen has been involved in recruiting and building companies for 30+ years in a number of industries and in a number of positions.

Jeff was President/Principal of two private placement companies, the Knapp Agency Seattle a Mgmt., & staffing company as well as The Lynnwood Placement Center that placed people in the Logging industry.

Jeff has held positions as Sr. V.P., Exec., V.P., Branch Manager and Sales Manager in the lending industry. He is a Past President of the Seattle Mortgage Bankers Association and a current director for the Washington Association of Mortgage Bankers. He has Chaired Non-Profit groups as well.

He recently published a book on recruiting called “What A HOOT! Let’s Recruit!” wherein he shares techniques that work in a number of industries to improve the performance of the recruiting initiative.

Jeff has been married to his wife Taryn for 40 years and lives in Woodinville, Wa.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Jeff’s background
  • Why integrity is so vital
  • What Jeff learned from his mentor Jim Moats
  • What Jeff learned from a time where he felt like he failed
  • Why Jeff hires for soft skills
  • How to avoid make a bad hire — and why this must be done at all costs
  • Why culture is so important
  • What “A Players” in Jeff’s organization look like — and what qualities he looks for in potential hires
  • Why Jeff loves using LinkedIn during his employee search
  • Jeff’s Six E’s for keeping his attention level where it needs to be to nurture employees
  • What Jeff does to take care of his body and mind
  • How to recognize and capitalize on momentum

Ways to contact Jeff:

Nov 10, 2016

Kelly Hatfield is co-founder of Enginuity Advantage, Advantage Staffing Group, Enginuity Virtual Recruiter and Impact Real Estate Real Estate Group based in Everett, Washington. She has been in the recruiting and HR field for over 20-years and loves serving others. Kelly and her business partner have built three successful companies with the purpose of helping others succeed and delivering remarkable results. Kelly and her team strategically align themselves as “The Partner of Choice” with clients and strive to be the first place clients call when they are looking for extraordinary service, quality, and reliability. The resulting outcome has been an outstanding referral network that has built and continues to build their companies.

As Co-Founder and Owner of Enginuity Advantage, Advantage Staffing Group and Enginuity Virtual Recruiter, April (together with her amazing partner) has created and developed three successful businesses aimed at matching exceptional talent with the top organizations. With 17 years in the human resources and staffing realm, April has experience, knowledge and a love for people and aims to offer solutions to all who are served. Being a natural problem solver, she prides herself on developing and leading a team of recruiting professionals whose mission is focused on connecting people to opportunity. Through creative and exhaustive methods, the Enginuity Group successfully matches the right talent with the right businesses each and every day.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • What an accountability partner is and why you need one
  • How April and I hold each other accountable
  • Why you will justify anything in your own mind if you don’t have someone else hold you accountable
  • Why the words you use create your reality — and why you need to have another voice to change what you say
  • How a good accountability partner can add objectivity
  • How to know who the right accountability partner is for you
  • What qualities to look for in an accountability partner
  • Being aware of when you outgrow your accountability partner
  • Making the accountability relationship fun by making a game out of it

Ways to contact Kelly:

Ways to contact April:

Nov 8, 2016

Kevin Chadwick is a Principal with FSi Consulting Engineers, and has been with the firm since 2005.

FSi Consulting Engineers provides HVAC, plumbing, and fire protection engineering for a wide range of buildings, as well as process systems for specialized industrial functions. FSi’s projects have been recognized by professional organizations, government agencies, and industries, for design excellence and for elegant solutions to complex problems. Their award winning projects range from airplane hangars to chocolate factories, to civic buildings.

Kevin is a licensed mechanical engineer and LEED Accredited Professional with more than 13 years of experience. Kevin has led FSi’s team on the firm’s largest contracts, with construction costs up to $185M, and prime contracts as large as $15M. Beyond the technical side of things, Kevin is part of the leadership team at FSI and a big contributor to the amazing culture they have.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Kevin’s story and how he ended up at FSi
  • Why caring about people is the best thing you can do as a leader — and what that looks like at FSi
  • What Kevin has learned from Larry Ransom, a business coach that FSi works with
  • Why people you work with need to buy into who you are and what you do
  • The benefits of being very intentional
  • Choosing who you’re going to be as a leader
  • The challenges of finding the right experienced people
  • FSi’s culture and why they focus on vision, value, and purpose
  • FSi’s recruiting process
  • What “A Players” look like to Kevin — and why they absolutely need to be coachable
  • The challenges of integrating 3D design into the construction world and other challenges that face the industry in the coming
  • Why you will have very little turnover if you hire people that fit your culture

Ways to contact Kevin:

Nov 3, 2016

Judy Robinett has led both public and private companies as CEO and served in management positions at Fortune 500 companies.

She is on the advisory boards of Illuminate VC, Pereg VC, and Springboard Enterprises. Judy previously served as a managing director of Golden Seeds Angel Network and as a member of the faculty of Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Business Program.

Judy’s book, “How to Be a Power Connector: the 5+50+150 Rule,” was named the #1 business book of 2014 by Inc. She has been profiled in Entrepreneur, Vogue, Fast Company, Forbes, CBS, Huffington Post, and Bloomberg Businessweek.

Judy also has a program called Crack the Funding Code for helping entrepreneurs obtain investor funding for their early-stage businesses and startups.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Judy’s background
  • What she learned when she ran out of money
  • Why you need to vet people before working with them
  • Utilizing people in your network
  • The reasons startup fail
  • Fighting your own worst enemy: you
  • Why you can’t do it all by yourself
  • How to outsource when you don’t have a lot of resources
  • Understanding your blind spots
  • Creating a safe place for your team and understanding what motivates them
  • How to get the right team for each stage of your business
  • Strategies Judy uses to lead herself
  • Judy’s Crack the Funding Code program

Ways to contact Judy:

Nov 1, 2016

Travis Snider is Co-President of BETS Consulting. He is a successful business coach and consultant focused on creating profit ideas for small business. As the Creator and Lead Instructor of the Small Business Accelerator at Everett Community College, he conducts a ten month workshop and coaching program for experienced business owners.

Travis has developed a collection of “Profit Strategies” of Successful Small Business Owners which guides his profit improvement coaching. This collection includes over 300 profit ideas to “supercharge” any small business. He has created a unique set of assessment tools that allow companies to identify and manage key profit drivers critical to growth.

Travis is a former CPA and partner in local and regional accounting firms. He has served as Chairman and Director of numerous business and social service organizations in the Puget Sound community. Travis writes frequently about growing small business and is a regular speaker on the subject. He received his MBA from Seattle University.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Travis’ background
  • The importance of seeking out coaching, mentorship, and mastermind groups
  • Why you need to have a vision for the future
  • Travis’ relationship with his wife and how they complement each other inside their business
  • Why you shouldn’t make assumptions without vetting them
  • Getting clear on your most important priorities — and acting upon them
  • How to find and hire the right people
  • Hiring for attitude — not skills
  • When is it time to part ways with an employee?
  • The characteristics Travis sees in “A Players”
  • How to keep your “A Players” around
  • What drives millennials
  • How to deal with employees leaving and how to have effective turnover
  • Keeping relevant through constant learning, embracing change, and making it fun

Ways to contact Travis:

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