Info

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.
RSS Feed
Absolute Advantage Podcast
2021
May


2020
March
February
January


2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2018
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2017
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2016
December
November
October
September
August


All Episodes
Archives
Now displaying: March, 2019
Mar 27, 2019

Elise Keith is the self-described “Meeting Maven” and the author of Where the Action Is: The Meetings That Make or Break Your Organization. She is the co-founder of Lucid Meetings, a consultancy that helps organizations develop and scale effective meeting habits.

Elise is also the “Ask the Meeting Maven” columnist for Inc. Magazine, where she has written numerous articles on holding more effective and productive meetings. Prior to co-founding her company, Elise worked in the software industry for more than a decade.

Elise believes that it is possible to conduct business meetings that are engaging, enjoyable and productive. She has dedicated herself to helping other organizations turn their meetings from boring-but-mandatory workday intrusions into dynamic, energetic and useful tools to help simplify communications and get things done.

Meetings. We all know them as a “necessary evil” that we are forced to endure during our work week. The broadly-held consensus is that they are disruptive, pointless, tedious and only serve to interrupt us. No one is ever excited about a meeting… right?

Elise Keith loves meetings. Elise is the “Meeting Maven” and co-founder of Lucid Meetings, where she helps her clients conduct better, more engaging, and more useful meetings. Elise believes that well-structured and well-conducted meetings can be a valuable communication tool for businesses of all kinds.

In this episode, Elise discusses some of the common complaints about business meetings and offers solutions that can transform meetings into powerful opportunities for engagement. Elise is also an advocate for the Ripple Effect, and she believes that with appropriate time-management skills and proper direction from leadership, meetings can become strong cornerstones of company cultures and values. Listen to the episode and learn from Elise’s remarkable insights into what business meetings too often are and what they can become through effective leadership.

Ways to contact Elise Keith:

Mar 20, 2019

Andie Kramer is a partner at international legal firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP, where she serves as the head of the Financial Products, Trading and Derivatives Group. She is also the founding chair and current co-chair of the firm’s Gender Diversity Committee. She has previously served on the Management Committee and Compensation Committee at McDermott Will & Emery. Outside of her practice, Andie is a nationally recognized advocate for the advancement of women, having helped countless women navigate obvious and subtle gender biases in their careers.

Al Harris was a founding partner of the law firm Ungaretti & Harris, which later merged into the national law firm of Nixon Peabody LLP. All served as managing partner and as a member of the firm’s Executive and Compensation Committees. Al recognizes the barriers that women often are forced to navigate in male-dominated settings. Together with Andie, Al co-authored “Taking Control: Women, Gender Stereotypes, and Impression Management”.

Together, Andie and Al feel strongly that the visible and invisible gender biases in today’s workplace culture can be overcome, and they believe that education and mentorship are the key to doing so. Especially in today’s #MeToo environment, it is more important than ever that organizations be prepared to reflect on their company cultures and bring gender equity to their workplaces.

It is a fact that our modern society is more aware of the prevalence of gender bias and workplace discrimination than ever before. But are we, as leaders, doing all we can to tear down gender barriers and recognize our own biases, whether external or internalized?

Andie Kramer and Al Harris are subject-matter experts with two very different perspectives on gender bias, but they share the same conclusions and beliefs on how to make workplaces be more fair, open, and equitable. Both are legal professionals, but while Andie has had to personally experience gender bias in her career journey, Al has recognized the problem as an outsider looking in. Despite their different viewpoints, they are both dedicated to raising awareness and educating organizations on how to handle these challenging issues.

In this episode, Andie and Al share their own points of view on gender bias and its detrimental effects on workplace health, culture and morale. From obvious and blatant discriminatory statements to more subtle microaggressions, from pay inequities to gender differences in mentorship opportunities, our “enlightened” modern society still struggles with the specter of workplace discrimination.

The ripple effect of leadership is a powerful tool, and Andie and Al believe it can be used to bridge the gender gap in the workplace. But gender bias is a systemic habit that has a way of embedding itself deeply into organizations, and the true challenge comes from doing the necessary self-reflection to break out of the cycle of bias. Listen to the episode, and learn how to recognize and respond to gender bias in the most effective way possible.

Ways to contact Andie Kramer and Al Harris:

Mar 13, 2019

Elise Auxier is an expert in leadership development. Elise helps her clients transform their limiting beliefs, reduce stress and gain clarity, and channel their passion and energy into their work in powerful new ways.

Elise is the owner of Gulfcoast Coaching and an International Coach Federation-certified professional executive and life coach. Elise is a certified master practitioner of the “Energy Leadership Index”, which she uses to help her clients better understand themselves and how their perceptions, attitudes, behaviors and beliefs either enhance or detract from their leadership abilities.

Elise believes that when we are under stress, we feel powerless and lethargic or angry and trapped in conflict. These emotions can follow us into our roles as leaders… if we allow these thoughts to dominate our behavior. Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be the case. If we take the time to understand ourselves and where we are in the “seven levels of energy”, we can reframe our stress into a more positive thought process that can aid us in our roles as leaders rather than limit us.

—————

We all have stressful periods of our lives. Stress, in addition to its many well-documented effects on our health and wellbeing, can also reduce our energy levels. As business leaders, the last thing we need is a reduction in energy. But when we are feeling overwhelmed, what can we really do about it?

Elise Auxier has the solution. Elise is a life coach and expert in executive development, and she believes that we can learn to control our energy levels by deliberate internal awareness and action. We can reframe those stressors into positive motivators instead of anchors weighing us down. And as leaders, we can do the same for our team… if we know how to empower and support them.

In this episode, Elise shares the seven levels of energy that we move between throughout our day, and she explains how we can learn to control our thoughts to keep ourselves in the more productive higher levels, rather than being mired in powerlessness or anger over our frustrations. The energy we bring to our roles as leaders is critically important to our effectiveness, and another cup of coffee isn’t the solution when our energy levels begin waning.

You know how powerful the ripple effect can be, so it is incredibly important to break out of your old patterns and thought processes and bring high-energy focus to your interactions with your team. Listen to the episode and learn how to energize yourself and everyone around you!

Ways to contact Elise Auxier:

Mar 6, 2019

Karen Brown is an executive-level business and leadership coach, motivational speaker, author, and CEO. Her company, Velocity Leadership Consulting, brings exceptional leadership training to the C-suite with their high performance results-driven methods.

Karen knows a lot about performance. For almost thirty years, she dreamed of competing in the Ironman World Championships triathlon. Her internal voice kept telling her she couldn’t hope to compete, and so she continually set her dream aside… until the day she overcame her own limiting beliefs and challenged herself. She hired a coach and began training in earnest, and through passion and tenacity she crossed the finish line two years after she started her training.

In her journey from recreational athlete to world-class competitor, Karen was able to transform her limiting beliefs into “unlimiting beliefs” and unleash her potential by tapping into her subconscious mind. This became the foundation of Karen’s book, Unlimiting Your Beliefs: 7 Keys to Greater Success in Your Personal and Professional Life; Told Through My Journey to the Toughest Race in the World.

—————

What are you capable of? Do you know your own limitations, or do you believe you can break through them and achieve the seemingly impossible? How much does your internal monologue hold you back? Is that little internal voice helping you, or hindering you?

Karen Brown allowed her little voice in her head to hold her back, through limiting beliefs about herself and her capabilities. Karen’s business career was on a great trajectory but she kept finding herself wondering if she was capable of more. Watching the Ironman triathlon was profound for Karen, and she had a burning desire to become a competitor herself. But, as her little voice reminded her, surely she couldn’t hope to race against world-class athletes…

After 28 years of listening to her internal voice tell her she couldn’t, Karen had enough. She stepped out of her comfort zone, hired a coach to help her go from recreational athlete to true competitor, began tapping into her subconscious mind to change her internal voice, and turned her limiting beliefs into “unlimiting beliefs”. And two years later, she was crossing the finish line of the Ironman triathlon.

In this episode, Karen gives us a firsthand account of how she conquered her limiting beliefs and ultimately did the thing she had once thought impossible. She explains the control our subconscious minds have over us, and she outlines how she reprogrammed her little internal voice to support instead of hinder. I hope you’ll listen to Karen’s awe-inspiring journey of physical and emotional self-awareness and allow it to help you conquer your own “I could never do that” limiting beliefs!

How to connect with Karen Brown:

1