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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: April, 2017
Apr 27, 2017

Mo Gawdat is the Chief Business Officer at Google’s [X], an elite team of engineers that comprise Google’s futuristic dream factory. In the past ten years, he has made happiness his primary topic of research, diving deeply into literature and conversing on the topic with thousands of people in more than a hundred countries. He is also a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded more than twenty businesses. He speaks Arabic, English, and German. In 2014, motivated by the tragic loss of his son Ali, Mo began pouring his findings into his first book, “Solve for Happy.”

Here are some words from Mo on his book:

“This book is my attempt to fulfill the task assigned to me by my happiness idol, my wonderful son, Ali. My hope is that by sharing his message, his peaceful way of living, I may be able to honor his memory and continue his legacy.” – Mo Gawdat

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Mo’s background
  • How his life was impacted by the loss of his son
  • 10 Million Happy: happiness initiative he started after the tragic loss of his son
  • Why we all start out happy, why that changes over time, and what we can do about it
  • The six grand illusions and what they mean about life
  • Why happiness exists inside yourself
  • Your brain’s blind spots
  • Why you need to focus on the present moment and live in the now
  • The ultimate truths of life
  • Mo’s belief that the universe is a product of meticulous design
  • Committing to make the changes that will make your life happier
  • Using technology in a way that aids in your happiness

Ways to contact Mo:

Apr 25, 2017

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:

  • Why feedback from your employees is so important
  • Building a culture where your employees feel safe giving feedback
  • Why not getting feedback from your employees will leave a bigger impact than you realize
  • Why you can’t say you will do one thing and do something else
  • Why you must express gratitude and take action when you receive feedback
  • Why you need a planned meeting for employee feedback (and how to prepare for that meeting)
  • How to respond to feedback you don’t see coming

Ways to contact Kelly:

Ways to contact April:

Apr 20, 2017

David Winter is the American Council of Engineering Companies Engineer of the Year. David is CEO of Hart Crowser. He has been with Hart Crowser for nearly 27 years total and steadily worked up through the ranks as a staff engineer, project manager, market leader, officer, and now President and Chief Executive Officer. Through those many years he has organized and led many company initiatives, targeted and overseen expansion into new geographic regions and into new technical disciplines, negotiated and integrated acquisitions, and mentored young staff in business, project management, and client development.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • David’s background
  • Hart Crowser’s culture where team members feel the freedom to try new things
  • Some of the biggest lesson David’s learned in his career from mentors like his cousin, his stepfather, and John Crowser
  • Why you need to get good at writing proposals
  • Why young engineers need to pay attention to those around them early in their career
  • The importance of not being afraid to try something new
  • A story of a time when Hart Crowser lost a lot of money on a project that they bid way too low and how that turned out well in the long run
  • Identifying the team members that you need to keep and creating a career path for them
  • Why expanding through acquisition is a strong strategy
  • What both successful and unsuccessful acquisitions look like and how to make sure your acquisition is one of the successful ones
  • How Hart Crowser has created a culture of stay and community and how they make sure their business isn’t just a job for employees
  • Some of the biggest economic factors that Hart Crowser competes with
  • Some of the biggest challenges that David is facing and will face

Ways to contact David:

Apr 18, 2017

It’s Steven’s job to set and execute GoDaddy’s vision of providing elegant, end-to-end technology solutions for their more than 14.5 million small business customers. He also heads up the Online Bookkeeping and WorkSpace teams.

Steven brings over a decade of experience from Intuit, where he built solutions to help small businesses use the Web to grow and run their stores. He also has small business experience as the founder of a Web company that simplified shopping for insurance. Steven earned an M.B.A. from Stanford and a B.A. in physics from the University of North Carolina.

After hours, Steven serves as President of the Board of the Bay Area Glass Institute, a non-profit glass studio, and enjoys spending time with his wife Allison and their son, Jackson, at many sports and arts events.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Steven’s background
  • Why you need a sense of urgency so that you solve problems today
  • Why you need to constantly ask yourself what your objective is
  • Why you need metrics to measure success by
  • What you need to think about when considering having someone acquire your company
  • Why you need to start from the customer’s point of view
  • Why you need to bring your whole self to work
  • Why Steven left Posit Science when he decided that he wasn’t the right fit for CEO of that company
  • Why — when you start a firm — it’s not about you
  • Why you need to spend your time in the right way
  • Questions that you need to ask your team members to further their career
  • Why you need to define why people would work for you
  • How to eliminate biases in your hiring process
  • How GoDaddy is tilting the world’s economy towards small business
  • What GoDaddy’s “A Players” look like
  • Why you must stay current with your industry and with yourself

Ways to contact Steven:

Apr 13, 2017

Lee Caraher is the CEO of Double Forte PR & Digital Marketing; an acclaimed communication strategist, she’s known for her practical solutions to big problems. Her company works with some of the top consumer and technology brands in the country. Lees the author of Millennials & Management based on her experience with failing and then succeeding at retaining Millennials. Her next book, The Boomerang Principle will be published in April 2017.

Lee has a reputation for building cohesive, high producing teams who have fun together at the same time. She is a straight talker who doesn’t hold too many punches, although she does her best to be pleasant about it. Her big laugh and sense of humor have gotten her out of a lot of trouble.

Lee is active in the community and currently serves on three nonprofit boards. A graduate of Carleton College with a degree in Medieval History, which she finds useful every day, Lee lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two sons, and a blind cat.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Lee’s career journey and how she came to found Double Forte
  • Double Forte’s four metrics for business
  • What Lee learned when she decided to hire millennials for the first time and all six of them left
  • Lee’s book “Millennials & Management: The Essential Guide to Making it Work at Work”
  • Why you need a strong personal brand
  • Lee’s new book “The Boomerang Principle: Inspire Lifetime Loyalty from Your Employees”
  • Why you can’t feel like employees that leave your business are dead to you
  • How “alumni” employees can bring back enormous benefits to your business
  • Why leaving is sometimes the most loyal thing an employee can do
  • Finding the words that people of different generations have different definitions for and peeling them back until you find pain points that arise
  • How to communicate to millennials that they’ve dropped the ball
  • The impact of showing your team that they’re appreciated
  • Why your first customers are your employees

Ways to contact Lee:

Apr 11, 2017

Hilary Laney is the President of Evia, Inc (formerly Tri-Digital). She has been at Evia for over 12 years, and she has held the position of president for nearly three years. During her time as President, she has been responsible for the growth of the company from 11 employees to over 35 today, and revenue growth 71%. Hilary has achieved this by anticipating clients needs and expectations for the future and working closely with her team to develop innovative solutions. Most recently, she has overseen the launch of Evia’s first product, a self-managed virtual events platform, as well as the first-ever rebranding of the 23-year-old company.

Hilary knows that every organization has a story to tell to their employees, partners, and customers. In a virtual world, these stories can be told through videos, social posts, blogs, infographics, and on and on. The problem most companies are faced with today, is there are TOO MANY options for releasing content to their audience, so it often feels disconnected. This is where Hilary and her team at Evia have made an impact. They are experts in sharing the stories of their customers, and she embodies the company’s mission: to unify people through access to relevant content.

Hilary has applied her talents to philanthropic efforts as well. She is always keeping her eyes and ears open to the community around her so she can work with them to help achieve their goals rather than simply donating checks. A few of the organizations she is most committed to are: Friends of Youth, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, TEDxSeattle, and the Museum of History And Industry (MOHAI), where she is a candidate to join the Board of Trustees.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Hilary’s background
  • Why you need to surround yourself with people who know what you don’t
  • The lessons of honesty and integrity that Hilary learned from her dad while working with him
  • How Evia took a massive failure at an event and turned it into a great business relationship with Microsoft
  • Why you need to work on your personal development and the development of your team
  • Why Hilary has a one-on-one with every employee in her company twice a year
  • The challenge Hilary faces in finding employees that fit into Evia’s culture
  • What Evia’s culture looks like
  • How Evia retains their “A Players”
  • Why you need to look for the positive in everything

Ways to contact Hilary:

Apr 6, 2017

Larry Ransom is founder and president of The Synergy Network and Brain on Future. He earned his master’s degree in applied behavioral science from Bastyr University. Larry worked for over 10 years with Jim Bergquist, founder, and president of bizFuture’s Consulting Company, coaches to the world-famous Pike Place Fish Market.

Larry has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies, including Microsoft, Starbucks, Hallmark, and more, providing his expertise as a trainer and coach in building high-performance cultures and teams. His clients also include a number of high-profile individuals such as a Platinum Recording Artist, an Emmy Award Winning Director, and a National Best Selling Author.

Larry’s passion is to empower individuals to take responsibility for their passionate purpose and creativity, so they can produce results beyond what they might normally imagine. Larry believes in the concept of ownership mindset where each team member not only takes ownership for his/her individual role within the team but also takes ownership of the overall success of the organization.

Once team members have been given the tools and strategies to tap into their power and passion, Larry gives them the opportunity to invest and commit themselves as a member of the team and to take a stand for the overall objectives and vision of the organization.

Larry’s focus is to produce results you can measure. Larry’s technology for aligning, engaging and inspiring your team equates to results that you can see.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Why you need to get really clear on your “why”
  • Why you need to build your business on purpose, vision, and values
  • What Larry learned from his three most influential mentors
  • Why you absolutely need a coach to learn and grow to your highest potential
  • Why you need to look at failure as an opportunity to grow
  • What will happen when you ask your clients “what’s missing?”
  • The five key elements to building a high-performance team
  • Why your business is an expression of who you’re being
  • What Larry does with Brain on Future

Ways to contact Larry:

Apr 4, 2017

Jonathan Martin was born in California but raised in Auburn, Washington. He graduated from the University of Washington with a business degree and started coolblueweb from his basement in 2009. He loves getting to see the impact of his work in the community and enjoys the hard-working, fun-loving culture at the company office. When he isn’t at the office, Jonathan can be found rock climbing or spending time with his wife, two daughters, and son. His favorite Seattle landmark is Alki Beach.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Why you need to build a team of exactly the right people
  • Why you need to be painfully honest with anyone you communicate with
  • The lessons Jonathan learned about taking care of your employees while an employee himself at Costco
  • Why you need to let go of the people that aren’t right for your business
  • The sales skills Jonathan learned as a real estate agent
  • Why you need to ask yourself “why” a lot
  • Teaching your team to deliver the most value for your customers
  • How to sustain a great company culture when your business grows past your ability to know every employee well
  • coolblueweb’s culture of character, passion, forward thinking, and quality
  • Their morning daily meeting where every employee shares what they’re working on and what they need help with that day
  • What coolblueweb’s “A Players” look like
  • Why having an interview at a restaurant is a great idea and what Jonathan learns during these interviews
  • Why listening to your “A Players” is a must if you want them to stick around
  • Why you need to celebrate your wins with your team
  • Why you need to surround yourself with a peer group
  • Why you should use a stand-up desk

Ways to contact Jonathan:

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