What's Next! With Tiffani Bova

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova.     This week I have the absolute pleasure of welcoming Olympic Medalist Bonnie St. John to the What's Next! Podcast. At the age of 5, Bonnie had her right leg amputated. And once you listen to this podcast, you will understand, there was no way that was going to stop her. At the age of 19, she became the first African-American to win medals at the 1984 Winter Paralympics in Innsbruck Austria. Bonnie was appointed by President Clinton as a director for Human Capital Issues on the White House National Economic Council and went on to represent the United States as a member of President Obama's official delegation to the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2016 Paralympic summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. Bonnie is also a Leadership Consultant for multiple Fortune 500 companies, the CEO of the Blue Circle Leadership Institute, and a best-selling author of seven books, including How Great Women Lead: A Mother-Daughter Adventure into the Lives

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova.     This week I have the pleasure of welcoming our first Grammy-nominated recording artist, record producer, and musician, Ryan Leslie. If that isn’t impressive enough, Ryan is also a technophile, entrepreneur, and genius Harvard graduate who conferred his degrees in political science and macroeconomics at the ripe old age of 19. While at Harvard, Ryan taught himself basic production skills and also developed a musical style all his own. This led him to produce music for a variety of prominent artists, including Usher and Britney Spears, in multiple musical genres ranging from R & B and hip-hop, to pop and gospel. But, it doesn’t end there, Ryan co-founded Super Phone to help track conversations via text and interact more personally and effectively with his fans. Now, he's turning Super Phone into a full-fledged CRM with a new app and funding from the likes of venture capitalist Ben Horowitz. I am very excited for you to learn more about Ryan Les

      Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova.  This week I have the pleasure of welcoming Allen Adamson to the What's Next! Podcast. Allen is a noted industry expert in all disciplines of branding and the Co-Founder of Metaforce. He is also a published author with multiple marketing titles including Shift Ahead, Brand Simple, and The Edge. Prior to co-founding Metaforce, Allen was the Chairman of  North America of Landor Associates, a global branding firm. Before joining Lander, Allen was an executive at Unilever and held senior management positions at Ogilvy & Mather and DMB&B. Allen is also a sought-after industry commentator and has appeared on shows such as NBC’s Today Show and Fox Business Network’s Closing Bell.   THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… individuals who are trying to build a memorable brand with advertising, social media, product design, and user interfaces to convey a story which resonates with employees and customers.   TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE…   Find your relevan

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova.  This week I have the pleasure of welcoming another Tiffany to the What's Next! Podcast. Tiffany Pham is the Founder and CEO of Mogul, an award-winning, worldwide platform that connects women to trending content and courses, and personalizes it to meet the needs of the individual users. Mogul is visited by millions of women from over 196 countries and territories and 20,000+ cities worldwide. Mogul was named one of the top sites for marketing your company online by Forbes in 2015 and Tiffany was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Media in 2014 as well as Business Insider’s 30 Most Important Women Under 30 in Technology in 2014. She is the co-author of the book From Business Strategy to Information Technology Roadmap and a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School. Her newest book You Are a Mogul, is in bookstores now.   THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… aspiring millennial moguls, parents of teens, or anyone who is interested in attracting

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova.  This week I have the pleasure of welcoming Mike Michalowicz to the What's Next! Podcast. Mike is an entrepreneur and author who launched three multimillion-dollar companies before his 35th birthday and was awarded New Jersey's SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year award at the age of 26. He is the author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, The Pumpkin Plan, Profit First, and now his latest book Clockwork. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… entrepreneurs who want to identify and amplify the seeds that make them unique, connect with a community who wants what they have to offer, and who wants to systematize their business to run like clockwork and scale to any size. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… This episode is all about the “Pumpkin Plan” and finding the seeds that will bring you colossal growth, as well as starting to put profit first and flipping your business plan on its head. Mike talks about focusing your passion and identifying the customer base that will keep you gro

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova.   This week I am excited to be chatting with retired army colonel and Silicon Valley Investor Peter Newell! Pete is the co-founder and a managing partner of BMNT, an innovation company that provides early-stage investment to companies developing technology for the commercial market that have relevant applications in solving national security problems. He is a co-author of Hacking for Defense, a platform that merged the rapid problem-solving techniques curated on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan with a lean startup methodology developed by Steve Blank in Silicon Valley. Pete is a former Army Ranger who has received numerous military awards and decorations, including the Silver Star and the Presidential Unit Citation. It's an honor to have Pete on with us today to discuss innovation, deploying, and forward-thinking.   THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… Leaders who are interested in identifying and fixing problems and who want to move their teams and compa

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova.  This week I am very excited to bring our first NFL coach, Michael Lombardi, to What’s Next! Michael is an American Football Executive and Media Analyst with over 30 years of experience who enjoyed front row access to football titans Bill Walsh, Al Davis, and Bill Belichick. He was an assistant to the coaching staff of the New England Patriots and is a former Analyst for the NFL network. He previously served as an NFL executive for the San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, Philidelphia Eagles, and Oakland Raiders. He currently works for sports and pop culture blog The Ringer and has a book coming out on September 11th!  THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… anyone who loves football and wants a masterclass in leadership and culture building.  TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE…   Culture is key. In an organization like football, the role of the Head Coach goes beyond making calls, training players, or winning games. It’s the culture that Head Coach develops that will ultimatel

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova.   This week, I have a great conversation with Andrew Grill.  Andrew is an experienced corporate leader and a former IBM Global Managing Partner. He has launched and run technology companies in Europe and Australia and worked with (and for) some of the world's leading companies including Vodafone, Nestle, BBC, American Express, and Unilever. He is also a seasoned speaker and has presented at four separate TEDx events. He speaks to and consults for organizations to develop their strategy around digital disruption, social selling, the workplace of the future, emerging technologies, and digital diversity.   THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… believers of Andrew’s motto: if you want to get digital, you have to be digital.   TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Andrew and I live in the thought leadership space and share similar viewpoints on innovation and disruption. We both believe that the nature of work is changing, especially as technology continues to lead our lives and as Mi

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I have a great conversation with Maria Konnikova. Maria graduated from Harvard, earned her Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia. She’s written two New York Times bestsellers: The Confidence Game and Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes. While she had zero poker experience before her first trip to Las Vegas in the fall of 2016, she has now won multiple tournaments, including the PCA National Championship, and finished second at an Asian Pacific Tour, Macau event. Her third book The Biggest Bluff explores how to play high stakes poker is due out in 2019. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… those looking to be confident when facing change. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… You might think that it’s all about luck when it comes to being successful in life, but Maria differs. The old adage that luck is opportunity and preparedness meeting sounds great in theory but is only applied to positive aspects of people’s lives.  Luck just happens. It’s not personal. It’s

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I have a great conversation with Steve Blank, a career entrepreneur and academic. Steve is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur in eight startups over two decades with four IPOs, and currently, he is an academic teaching at Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia, and NYU. Steve is also the author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany, which is credited with launching the Lean Startup Movement and the best-selling book The Startup Owner's Manual. Steve has been named to Thinkers50 top management thinkers, and recognized by the Harvard Business Review as one of 12 Masters of Innovation. He is also a senior fellow for Entrepreneurship at Columbia University. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… startups or those who want to be more innovative. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Steve begins our conversation by reminding us what a startup truly is: a temporary organization designed to search for and find a repeatable and scalable business model or repeatable and scalable sales model. Many

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I feature Steven Dennis on the show.  Steve is the president of SageBerry Consulting, a strategic advisory firm focused on innovation and growth strategy for retail, luxury, and social impact brands. Prior to SageBerry, Steve was SVP, Strategy and Multi-channel Marketing, for the Neiman Marcus Group and earlier in his career, he held senior leadership positions with Sears including Chief Strategy Officer and VP of Multi-channel Integration. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… sellers, retailers, and e-commerce marketers. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… It’s true - some retailers are getting left behind, which means there is no shortage of store closings. Yet, even with the volume of closures, some retailers are actually growing and opening new retail storefronts. Why is that? Those that are thriving are becoming much more experiential, customer focused and have a clear, differentiated value proposition. If you want to make sure you are not left behind, ask your

Double-Clicking on Diversity and Inclusion Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I feature Dr. Tony Byers on the podcast. He is best known for leading Global Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) at Starbucks where was responsible for developing and leading the strategic direction for D&I to drive engagement, innovation, and business growth. He's an accomplished inclusion and change management specialist with 20 years of demonstrated experience leading change in large, multinational organizations. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… people looking for more information on the power of diversity and inclusion to drive growth in business. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Tony begins our conversation by defining diversity simply as who you are (looks, background, etc). Inclusion, however, is a behavior driving people to be involved, respected, valued, and connected. In short, diversity is a noun and inclusion is a verb. These definitions not only encompass everything I (and my past guests have said all

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. Dr. Linda Hill is my latest guest on the podcast. She is the Wallace Brett Dohm Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and the chair of the Leadership Initiative. She’s is regarded as one of the top experts on leadership, is the co-author of Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation and Being the Boss. Dr. Hill is also the co-founder of Paradox Strategies and the co-creator of the Innovation Quotient. She was named by Thinkers50 as one of the top 10 management thinkers in the world in 2013 and received the Thinkers50 Innovation Award in 2015.  Her TED Talk, How to Manage Our Collective Creativity, has gotten more than 2 million views.  THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… leaders and aspiring innovators. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… There is a misconception about leadership and leading innovation.  Leadership is communicating a vision and inspiring others to fulfill that vision.  Leading innovation is about creating an en

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week I speak with Adam Grant.  Adam is the leading expert on finding motivation, meaning, living more generous and creative lives. He's been recognized as one of the world's 10 Most Influential Management Thinkers and Fortune's 40 under 40. He's the author of three New York Times bestsellers: Give and Take,  Originals,  and Option B.  Adam now hosts WorkLife, a TED original podcast after his TED talk got more than 12 million views. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… team members and team builders. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Adam’s research shows that interpersonal interactions that a difference in our success.  At various points of our day humans operate in three realms: (1) a giver, or people who ask what can I do for you?, (2) a taker, someone who asks what can you do for me?, and (3) matchers, who follow the law of reciprocity.  Yes, there are grey areas, but people usually fit in one of these categories. One would think that placing a group of givers on a t

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. Michael Chavez is my latest guest on the podcast. Michael Chavez, CEO of Duke Corporate Education, part of Duke University, joined Duke in 2006 and held various leadership roles before becoming the CEO in 2016. Before Duke, Michael spent over five years as the founding member of a successful startup and was the Director and Senior Learning Consultant at Coca-Cola Company. Today, Michael's research focuses on how leaders can most effectively shape, institutionalize, and lead from a shared organizational purpose. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… leaders, especially those in the middle of an organization, who want to reconnect with their own sense of purpose so they can inspire those around them to do the same. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Leadership and purpose are playing an even larger role than ever within a company looking to drive change. Because of this, a new kind of leader has emerged, the “center managers,’ meaning they are at the center of the organization,

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week I speak with Frans Johannson, author, entrepreneur, and the CEO of The Medici Group. Frans has inspired readers worldwide with his ideas on leadership and success, innovation, and diversity. His debut book The Medici Effect has been called “one of the most insightful books on managing innovation.” THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… Anyone looking to find ways to stimulate innovation. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… There are two main themes rising around the world today: Innovation and Diversity and Inclusion. That is not by accident. If you are able to combine concepts, perspectives, and people from different backgrounds, from different industries and fields, and from different cultures you can uncover new innovative ideas. Don’t get caught in the “we’ve always done it this way” trap or try to mimic another business model (the “Uber of X” or the AirBnB of Y”). Use your talents and ambition to try something new. Keep producing. Put out another product if the fi

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I have Liz Wiseman on the podcast. Liz is the author of New York Times bestseller Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, The Multiplier Effect: Tapping the Genius Inside Our Schools, and Wall Street Journal bestseller Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of Work. Liz is also the CEO of The Wiseman Group, a leadership research and development firm and in 2017 she was #35 on the Thinkers50 list.  THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… anyone looking to improve their leadership skills and build better teams. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… There are leaders who are “Diminishers,” while others are “Mulitpliers”. These ‘Diminishers’ tend to get less than half of people's intelligence or capability; whereas, these ‘Multipliers’ get all of it.  But that’s not all, there are also “Accidental Diminishers” - these are really well-meaning people trying to be good bosses but yet having a diminishing effect on those around them. WHAT I LO

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I have Bill Macaitis on the podcast. Bill served as the go-to-market executive for three of the fastest growing SaaS companies: Slack, Zendesk, and Salesforce. He has achieved five exits and now he enjoys helping other companies achieve hyper-growth by leveraging his cumulative knowledge and helping build go-to-market playbooks and teams. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… anyone who is looking to turbocharge business performance. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Customer experience plays a bigger role than you think in your company’s growth. You have to start with two key things: 1) Understand the top reasons your company is recommended 2) Then….understand why it isn’t. Your brand is the sum of every customer touch point, which means everyone, whether they are a salesperson, a customer service agent, a marketer, or in an entirely different group – everyone must have a clear understanding of the value they bring to a customer’s journey.  Once everyone is moving

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week I speak with Alex Osterwalder. Alex is a speaker, the author of Business Model Generation, and is the co-founder of a software company. He is, according to his website, “Obsessed with making strategy innovation and entrepreneurship simple, practical, and applicable.” THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… anyone who is looking to design an organization focused on innovating for growth. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… To understand the complexities of running a business, you can’t view the company through the lenses of antiquated spectacles. You need more than that — you need a team who can see how all of these puzzle pieces fit together to create unity. One company. One shared vision. Once you have those glasses adjusted, you can imagine ways to reinvent the business model without creating chaos across the company. If you do it right. Innovation goes further to improve the long-term health of a business more so than being efficient or sustaining what already works.

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I have Tendayi Viki on the podcast. He’s an academic, the co-designer of Pearson's Product Lifecycle, which won the Best Innovation Program 2015 at the corporate Entrepreneur Awards in New York, and is on the shortlist for the Thinkers 50 Innovation Award. He’s also a contributing writer for Forbes and is the author of The Corporate Startup: How Established Companies Can Create Successful Innovation Ecosystems. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… bigger companies who want to act like a startup. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… to act small, companies must first think about their innovation ambition.  The first step is to create an innovation thesis and understand your minimum viable ecosystem – maybe that means conducting a small workshop instead of jumping straight into a 2-day event. Second, become clear about key trends.  Ask, who do we want to innovate for? Then, run through problems and challenges that could make life easier for your customer. Throughout th