Success Beneath the Surface
Episodes
Wednesday May 24, 2023
EP16: The Power of Presence - Navigating Complexity as a Leader
Wednesday May 24, 2023
Wednesday May 24, 2023
Welcome to another episode of Success Beneath the Surface, where we uncover the secrets of effective business leadership. In our last episode, we had the pleasure of hosting Peter Schwartz, a seasoned Vistage chair with over 30 years of experience in nurturing early-stage concepts and companies to fruition. Peter's remarkable achievements, having won numerous awards twice over, speak volumes about his expertise.
During our conversation, Peter highlighted a topic close to my heart: the profound impact of a leader's presence and the essentiality of mastering inner and outer game skills in today's complex work environment. He emphasized that as leaders, we have full control over how we show up and shape the weather for our teams. Peter's fascination with leadership development began in the mid-90s and has since evolved into a passion.
Peter introduced the concept of the inner game, a term coined by Timothy Gallwey, which focuses on expanding the complexity of the mind to effectively navigate the increasing intricacies of the world. He discussed the importance of evolving our relationships with others, shifting from a focus on likability to respect and performance.
Join us as we continue to explore leadership journeys and the transformative power of personal growth with Peter Schwartz. Let's unlock the secrets to successful business leadership together.
Wednesday May 10, 2023
EP14: Reinventing for Growth in Uncertain Times
Wednesday May 10, 2023
Wednesday May 10, 2023
In today's episode of Success Beneath the Surface, we welcome back Herby Duverné, founder and CEO of Rise Development and Construction and principal and CEO of Windwalker Group. In last week's episode, we heard about his journey, starting from the trenches and growing his businesses. But today, I want to focus on one key lesson from our conversation - the importance of finding opportunities in challenges.
When faced with obstacles, it can be easy to feel defeated and give up. But Herby believes that challenges are a natural part of life and business and that there is always an opportunity to be found. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many businesses were struggling to survive, Herby's companies grew and thrived by focusing on internal investments and being prepared for the opportunities that would arise.
The full episode from this commentary is here.
And the previous half of this session with Deborah and Herby can be heard here.
Links from this episode:
Herby Duverné on LinkedInWindwalker
Deborah Fell on LinkedInChief Outsiders
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
EP12: From Homeless to Leading a $2.7B Development and Construction Empire
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
Tuesday Apr 25, 2023
In this commentary, Deborah emphasizes a key point that Herby made about his evolution as an entrepreneur, which was shifting from doing everything himself to focusing on company culture. Herby shares his belief that it's not enough just to make money, but you need to make an impact. He emphasizes the importance of creating an environment where employees can be themselves and enjoy what they do, which he believes results in unbreakable bonds and exponential growth for the business.
Herby's story of invention, disruption, and reinvention is truly remarkable, and next week's episode will delve deeper into his journey. Through his story, listeners can gain valuable insights into entrepreneurship, leadership, and the power of culture.
Herby Duverné is the founder and CEO of Rise Development and Construction and the principal and CEO of Windwalker Group. Herby shares his inspiring journey from being a young immigrant who didn't speak the language and was homeless to CEO of two companies and recently named as one of the 150 Most Influential Bostonians.
Listen to the full episode here.
Links from this episode:
Herby Duverné on LinkedInWindwalker
Deborah Fell on LinkedInChief Outsiders
Wednesday Apr 12, 2023
EP10: Measuring Marketing Effectiveness: Tips from a Google Expert
Wednesday Apr 12, 2023
Wednesday Apr 12, 2023
In this episode, Deborah gives commentary on our last episode's interview with Brian Williamson, the Brand and Video Leader, and Chief Story Seller at Google and YouTube. Brian shares his insights on modernizing brand strategies and the importance of a full-funnel data-driven approach in today's market. He emphasizes the need for companies to have a clear mission, vision, and values that are current and relevant to the current ecosystem, and to tell an authentic story that connects with customers across channels.
Brian also discusses the challenges of measuring the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and the importance of identifying signals and health indicators to track progress. He stresses the need for companies to focus on the top of the funnel, not just the bottom, to fuel growth and build a strong customer base.
Deborah highlights the importance of supporting prospects and customers throughout their research and buying process, even at the problem identification phase, to become their trusted advisor and gain a competitive edge. Join her for this episode of Success Beneath the Surface, "Measuring Marketing Effectiveness: Tips from a Google Expert.
Listen to the full episode here.
Links from this episode:
Brian Williamson on LinkedIn
Chief OutsidersDeborah Fell on LinkedIn
Wednesday Mar 29, 2023
EP8: Driving Profitability ThroughProcess Improvement and Engagement
Wednesday Mar 29, 2023
Wednesday Mar 29, 2023
In this episode, Deborah Fell interviews Chris Yeung, co-founder of Vimbley Group. This company acquires profitable but inefficient companies and optimizes them for even greater profitability. Chris shares his insights on seeking profitability, the synergy between business units, and identifying inefficiencies to improve operations. Deborah encourages companies to look for gold bricks that they may be stepping over and to seek out the wisdom of their employees in finding and fixing processes that can drive profitability and improve engagement.
Listen to the full episode here.
About Vimbly Group:
Vimbly Group is a technology-oriented business-growth company. We believe that technology is the key ingredient to better than linear growth. As such, Vimbly Group partners with businesses from an ever-widening range of categories to identify inefficiencies in their operations and then develop unique technologies that resolve them and realize significant sources of new revenue.
About Chris Yeung:
Chris's passion for automation started in asset management, where he was responsible for building portfolio management systems at BlackRock. His journey ultimately led to Vimbly Group, where he now takes pleasure in applying technology to build businesses across a variety of industries.
Links from today's episode:
Vimbly GroupChris Yeung on LinkedIn
Chief OutsidersDeborah Fell on LinkedIn
Tuesday Mar 14, 2023
EP6: Family Dynamics are Consistent Among Businesses of All Sizes
Tuesday Mar 14, 2023
Tuesday Mar 14, 2023
In this episode of Success Beneath the Surface, Deborah Fell gives commentary on last week's episode with Tom Zucker, president of EdgePoint Capital. Tom emphasizes that gross margin is becoming a critical indicator of a company's value and that sustained margins are a reflection of the company's worth. He stresses that businesses need to offer distinct value propositions that set them apart from competitors and resonate with their clients and customers.
To illustrate this point, Tom provides an example of a closely held family business that developed a unique friction-break product with superior intellectual property. The company should have traded for six times its value, but it traded for north of 11 times because it offered a distinct value that no one else had, enabling it to maintain and grow its margins.
Deborah and Tom discuss the fragility of business owners and the importance of ego fulfillment in M&A advisory services. They also acknowledge that family dynamics are consistent among businesses, regardless of their size and sophistication. Join us for this episode, "Family Dynamics are Consistent Among Businesses of All Sizes."
Listen to the full episode with Tom Zucker here.
About Deborah's guest, Tom Zucker
Tom Zucker serves as the President of EdgePoint Capital, managing client transactions, overseeing its day-to-day management, and executing strategic initiatives.
Tom uses his extensive business and financial experience to assist business owners in completing transition events, acquisitions, or recapitalizations. His diverse experiences range from executing corporate divestitures for General Electric to assisting small closely held businesses in executing family ownership transitions.
Links from this episode:
EdgePoint Capital
Tom Zucker on LinkedIn
Deborah Fell on LinkedIn
Chief Outsiders
Monday Feb 27, 2023
EP4: What the heck is sales enablement and why should you care?
Monday Feb 27, 2023
Monday Feb 27, 2023
Last week, my guest Deborah Overdeput emphasized the opportunity for sales and marketing to drive success when they work together vs when they act in silos. Deborah has a way of taking atmospheric statements like “sales and marketing alignment” and breaking them down into the practical day-to-day of what needs to be done and who needs to do what to move the business. She used the term “sales enablement” and I unpack what that means in this session. I also bring in my perspective on the importance of understanding and supporting the prospective client’s research and buying process vs a one-dimensional internal view of the sales funnel.
To hear the full interview with Deborah Overdeput, listen here.
About Deborah Overdeput:
Deborah has 20+ years of experience as a global marketing leader working with CEOs at financial technology (fintech), SaaS, business consulting, and technology companies to achieve double-digit revenue growth, turning flat businesses into growing enterprises. She applies modern marketing techniques to drive top-of-funnel activity and nurture leads, working collaboratively with sales to build revenue momentum.
Links from this episode:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahoverdeput/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahfell
https://chiefoutsiders.com
Wednesday Feb 15, 2023
EP2: Unique Value Propositions: Key to Maintaining Price Premium
Wednesday Feb 15, 2023
Wednesday Feb 15, 2023
We had a great discussion last episode with Gary Stockman about balancing the push and pull of driving new business and maintaining profitability. Today, I want to dive deeper into one particular aspect of our conversation that shouldn't be overlooked - the value proposition that a company offers to its customers.
As Gary mentioned, it's crucial to understand what matters to your customers and what attracted them to your company in the first place. If you're feeling pressure on prices from customers because of the economic environment, it may be time to go back and understand if your value proposition is still unique and if it solves their pain points in a way only you can solve. To do this, I recommend talking to four or five of your top customers and having a CEO-to-CEO level discussion about their pain points and the current environment. You can also talk to your sales team and even have an outside firm conduct one-on-one conversations with your core customers to gain insights about how their needs and wants may have changed.
Maintaining a strong value proposition is anti-commoditization and can help you maintain price premium and profitability even in uncertain times.
Next week, we will be speaking with Deborah Overdeput, a fractional chief marketing officer for Chief Outsiders, who will share her expertise on sales enablement and the importance of the alignment of sales and marketing. Subscribe to our podcast and join us next week for another insightful episode of Success Beneath the Surface.
The full episode is here.