Manage Smarter

Over the past three decades, Don Long has founded/co-founded six different companies to total over $100 million dollars in lifetime revenue. The last company he built went into the top 1,000 companies in the United States in that particular industry. He is the author of two books The Blueprint of God and the international bestselling book Sell or Don’t Eat; as well as three courses The Blueprint Matrix, Selling from the Soul, and his World Class Business Assessment tool.  In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Don discuss:  ·      How to find Impact Areas that need addressing ·      COVID-19 Communication frequency and style changes internal and external ·      Incremental improvements over 12 months vs. once-a-year fixes ·      How to create “Aliveness” in all your employees “The best run companies are always working on the business in some way and developing constant and never-ending improvement in every area." –Don Long Join hosts Audrey Strong and C. Lee Smith every week as they dive into the aspects and conc

Jonathan Raymond is the author of Good Authority and the CEO at Refound. He learned the hard way what happens when you lose your way as an executive, the impacts it can have on your team, your business, and your life. More importantly, he learned how to turn that dynamic around, how to drive performance by becoming more human with a team rather than less. He has worked with a wide variety of leaders, and specializes in helping executives and senior leaders who are navigating periods of high growth or uncertainty. FREE HANDOUT FOR OUR LISTENERS: https://www.refound.com/managesmarter  In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Jonathan discuss:  ·      Definition of Good Authority & leaders impact on team performance ·      Why becoming “Deeply Human” is the essential quality of a good leader ·      The 5 steps to addressing poor performance in the moment it's occurring ·      How Good Authority relates to generations in the workforce and greater emphasis on company culture “I’ve learned that a manager can foster the per

Krister Ungerböck is a successful tech CEO who has been featured in national publications such as NPR, Forbes, Inc, and Entrepreneur for his practical, unconventional communication insights on compassionate leadership, emotional intelligence and employee engagement. His unique insights are informed by real-world experience leading teams in three languages while growing a global company 3,000% (from $1M to $30M). It was in his lowest moment that Krister was asked the question that ultimately led him to the discovery of the universal communication tools called Talk SHIFTs. In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Krister discuss:  ·      Definition of Talk SHIFTs. ·       How to increase employee engagement, leadership communication, and growth ·       Become a better boss using specific statements ·       Lead people to their solutions, not your solutions   TalkSHIFT QUIZ HERE: https://www.talkshift.com/intro1600517576462 “The 22 TalkSHIFTs are tools to change the tone in your relationships, your team and you family.

Reland Logan specializes in helping entrepreneurs + influencers turn their social media into scroll stopping money makers without the time suck. She is passionate about diversity in marketing and actively works to create change through her podcast and sitting on the American Marketing Association DEI subcommittee. If you really hope to have a money-making social media, massively increase revenue (no matter what you sell), and connect with your ENTIRE community then she can definitely help you. Also a podcast host of a show called Our Diverse Pineapple Tribe.   In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Reland discuss:  ·      Use a wheel approach to social media vs. a funnel ·      Explaining the MAKE acronym and the types of posts to create ·      How to monetize your social media and increase lead gen through it ·      Other ideas for Calls-To-Action to try “None of us want just pushy sales messages, they’re uncomfortable for everybody involved. That’s when you get deleted, blocked. When you’re going into social medi

Bretton (Brett) Putter is an expert in company culture development who is consulted by companies and leaders worldwide to help design, develop and build high-performing cultures. He is the CEO of CultureGene, a culture leadership software and services platform. Prior to founding CultureGene Brett spent 16 years as the Managing Partner of a leading executive search firm based in London working with startups and high-growth companies in the UK, Europe and USA. In 2018 he published his first book, Culture Decks Decoded and his second book Own Your Culture: How to Define, Embed and Manage your Company Culture in September 2020. In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Brett discuss:  ·      A twist on how you maintain company culture in remote working ·      The 6 Ways to Embed Culture ·      Decision Culture Checklists ·      Culture definition as people vs. task “I particularly like a broad definition of culture because the tentacles of culture are everywhere in business. " –Brett Putter Join hosts Audrey Strong and C.

Jean Kantambu Latting, DrPH, LMSW-IPR is President of Leading Consciously, LLC, and Professor Emerita at the Graduate College of Social Work (GCSW), University of Houston. As a consultant, researcher, and educator, Jean focuses on leadership in multicultural and diverse organizations. While at GCSW, the Jean Kantambu Latting College Professorship of Leadership and Change endowment was established in her name by the renowned philanthropist, Maconda Brown O’Connor. Latting received her master’s degree from Columbia University and a doctorate from the University of North Carolina. She coauthored Reframing Change: How to Deal with Workplace Dynamics, Influence Others, and Bring People Together to Initiate Positive Change. Through her organization, Leading Consciously, Jean helps individuals and organizations create resilient, sustainable, multicultural, and diverse settings In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Jean discuss:  ·      The definition of the racial divide at work ·      How to open difficult conversations

Clint Pulver is an Emmy Award-winning, motivational keynote speaker, author, musician, and workforce expert. A Professional Drummer for over 20 years, he's played with top headlining fellow musicians in venues like the Vivint Arena, the Stadium of Fire, and the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. In 2010 he founded the UVU Drumline known as the Green Man Group, which he directed for six years and went on to direct the Drumline for the NBA’s Utah Jazz until 2015. Clint was featured in Business Q Magazine as one of their “Top 40 under 40” as a premiere Corporate Keynote Speaker. He has appeared on America’s Got Talent and in feature films with actors such as School of Rock's Jack Black and Napoleon Dynamite's John Heder. Known as the Leading Authority on Employee Retention, Clint helps organizations retain, engage, and inspire their team members from the front desk to the board rooms and everyone in between. He expertly helps audiences navigate generational complexities, communication challenges, leadership missteps,

Michele Ashby is CEO & Founder of ACE LLC, Ashby Consulting Enterprises LLC. Her focus is on educating, supporting and teaching women how to attain corporate board positions through the ACE Board Certification Programs for Women. Ms. Ashby has a diverse background which includes 30 years as a gold specialist/analyst, financial expert, independent corporate director and successful entrepreneur. She was recently awarded, one of the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business in Colorado, for her work in training 1,000 women to get on corporate boards. She is a subject matter expert on Board Governance, Finance, and Strategy.  In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Michele discuss:  ·      Why there aren’t more women on corporate boards ·      What training and certifications she recommends for leaders who want to qualify to be on a board and what boards are looking for ·      Her advice to female leaders on the environment in the board room ·      Her advice on bitcoin as she is an expert in mining and commodities  “We ne

Ed Eichhorn established the Medilink Consulting Group in 2006 to provide management, marketing, sales and strategic planning advice to medical product and service companies. Ed provided strategic lobbying advice for medical societies during the writing of the Affordable Care Act. He also co-authored and published Healing American Healthcare, A Plan To Provide Quality Care For All While Saving $1 Trillion A Year in 2019. He is a speaker on universal healthcare issues and founded the Healing American Healthcare Coalition in 2020 to keep healthcare professionals informed on important research and industry issues. #healthcare #hiring #benefits #HR #medicine #pharmaceuticals   In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Ed discuss:  ·      How businesses can reduce healthcare benefits costs ·      Tips on how to pick an insurance broker and what questions to ask ·      How to manage large territories in complex organizations   “Corporate taxes have decreased from 4% to 1.9% while the cost of healthcare has grown from 4% to 1

Luis Gonzáles is a Master Facilitator for Fierce Inc. He is a communications consultant, coach, and trainer, with more than 25 years’ experience in helping improve business outcomes for organizations. He has successfully driven learning initiatives incorporating effective communication, cross-cultural communication, customer satisfaction and soft-skills training and has worked in India, Mexico and Brazil. #multiculturalism #international #internationalbusiness #employees #HR  In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Luis discuss:  ·      The top issues with intercultural communication ·      How to manage multicultural teams ·      Common communication misunderstandings among international professionals ·      How to have difficult conversations “I led a team of software engineers at Microsoft in India who were the help desk for large U.S. corporations. These were the cream of the crop. The Americans, the American side take things at face value, they don’t get curious and ask questions to get context, to get more fac

International speaker, author, and executive coach, Larry Olsen, has years of experience working with Fortune 50 companies, championship teams, and entrepreneurs on establishing their vision and sense of purpose. Larry understands that perception is truth, and his innate ability to customize his approach for each client’s success truly sets him apart. Every person is different, and Larry’s approach has proven that success happens when we team up with someone who listens, discovers what makes us unique, and shows us how to unleash our own greatness. Larry is passionate about providing individuals and teams quick, actionable guidance on how to break ingrained, ineffective habits that they did not even know were holding them back. His company Aperneo’s approach to professional development balances common sense, practical neuroscience, and personal accountability, enabling clients to gain insights and perspectives to live, work, and engage with more success. In addition to working with companies, athletes, and en

As the Founder and Principal Consultant for Social Construct Consulting, Katie Zink helps visionary leaders create a positive, dynamic culture that hears, recognizes, and supports all voices. Over the last 11 years, Katie has advocated for causes in the community affecting at-risk youth, career-readiness efforts, after school programming, and accessibility services. Her mission is to help organizations facilitate the change needed in the workplace for collective success. #diversity #inclusion #equity  “We are all capable of our own revolution.” – Katie Zink In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Katie discuss:  ·      How to recognize your organization needs to implement DEI ·      How to implement a DEI program ·      How to speak to your employees about DEI ·      Definition of Collective Culture Model Join hosts Audrey Strong and C. Lee Smith every week as they dive into the aspects and concepts of good business management. From debunking sales myths to learning how to manage with and without measurements, you'

Joining us today is Jonathan Kazarian, the founder & CEO of Accelevents, a one-stop shop for event organizers who want to create a unique and engaging virtual event experience. In the current environment, many companies are choosing to transition their live events to a virtual format and Jonathan is the expert when it comes to helping companies making this process as seamless as possible. #virtualevents #zoomevents #events #liveevents #meetings #businessmeetings #conferences   In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Jonathan discuss:  ·      2021 Expanding your reach virtually – best practices ·      How to boost engagement during your virtual events ·      Emerging trends for this year into 2022 ·      When he thinks live, in-person events will resume “We put a ton of emphasis and focus that for exhibitors on our platform, they are getting value, collecting leads and actually meeting people, as opposed to an in person experience where somebody might come by your booth, grab a rubber ducky and a t-shirt, grab a broc

Jon Berghoff is the Co-Founder and CEO of XCHANGE, a scientific approach to unlocking collective wisdom. Over 350 global thought leaders, community builders, and industry-leading coaches and consultants have leveraged the XCHANGE Approach to facilitate transformational group experiences with their clients. When companies like BMW, Facebook, NASA, and Keller Williams have wanted to bring large groups together to solve problems, accelerate learning, or create a new future, they’ve all relied upon Jon and the XCHANGE Approach.    In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Jon discuss:  ·      What aspects of traditional management are wrong and damaging to your business ·      How to boost engagement among your employees ·      Artful questioning technique to teambuilding and cohesive initiatives ·      Creating collective wisdom to push speed and scale “One reason managers make mistakes is they are prisoners of Management Paradigms (or an organizational culture that is prisoner to the same paradigms) that haven’t innovat

Our guest this week is Tracy Goodwin, whose company is called Captivate The Room. She is an expert at helping individuals find their voice and share it with the world. Over the last 30 years, Tracy has coached hundreds of people around the globe, including CEOs, leading Hollywood actors, entrepreneurs, and leading influencers on how to sound more confident and make a big impact with their message. In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Tracy discuss:  ·      The Psychology of your Voice ·      Voice Masking ·      The 5 Elements of Vocal Variety ·      The subconscious signals in your voice you’re sending out to others “Only 7 percent of communication actually takes place with words. The balance is made up by the quality of our voices (36 percent) and non-verbal communication (an incredible 57 percent).” – Tracy Goodwin #vocal #voice #leadership #speaking #speakers Join hosts Audrey Strong and C. Lee Smith every week as they dive into the aspects and concepts of good business management. From debunking sales myths

Kevin F. Davis is the founder and president of TopLine Leadership. Over the past 25 years, more than 20,000 sales managers from many of the world’s most successful companies have attended his 2-day workshop on sales management leadership. Kevin is the author of three books:• Getting Into Your Customer’s Head• Slow Down, Sell Faster!: Understand your customer’s buying process and maximize your sales• The Sales Manager’s Guide to Greatness: 10 essential strategies for leading your team to the top. He is also the architect of our Salesfuel Sales Manager Training program and a facilitator as well.  This episode is also available with VIDEO on The Sales Experts Channel! WATCH HERE: Sales Experts Channel: https://thesalesexpertschannel.com/smith-strong-show/ In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Kevin discuss:  ·      The simple, common mistake sales managers make when working with AEs that blocks productivity. ·      How to have difficult conversations with your team  ·      What is the #1 reason sales managers fail · 

Our guest today's mantra is "The Power of We Begins With Me" Leo Bottary is the Founder/Managing Partner of Peernovation, LLC and author of the new book, Peernovation: What Peer Advisory Groups Can Teach Us About Building High-Performing Teams. His mission is to prove that we learn better together. In this podcast, Lee, Audrey and Leo discuss: *Teams vs. Groups - Benefits of both models *How Peer Advisory Groups are a more effective model of teaching over other techniques *The 5 Factors and why they're essential to making for an effective peer group/Best structure *Best group size for Peer Advisory Groups "Once we open our minds to myriad possibilities, perspectives, and ways of thinking we abandon the "me" mentality and fall into the "we" mentality." - Leo Bottary Connect with Leo Bottary: Website - https://leobottary.com LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/leobottary/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/leobottary Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/leobottary Connect with Manage Smarter Hosts: ·         W

Seth Greene is a Nationally Recognized Financial Services Direct Response Marketing Expert. He is the author of eight best-selling marketing books, and book 7, Market Domination for Podcasting is on the shelves at Barnes & Noble, Target, and Wal-Mart now. Seth is the co-host of the #6 rated podcast in 2019, the SharkPreneur podcast with Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington, and the SharkPrenuer financial services edition. Seth has been interviewed on the news on NBC, CBS, featured in Inc magazine, Forbes magazine, and been on CBS MoneyWatch. Seth is the founder of one of the fastest growing direct response marketing firms in the country, www.MarketDominationLLC.com, that makes new clients appear for your business like magic.  "50% of success or failure is who your target market is. So if I just advertise to you because you're a woman, I'm going to have one bland level of effectiveness. If i narrow that down by how old y0u are, if you have kids, what magazines you read, what videos you watched yesterday and I get dow

In 2002, Kevin Harris underwent a dramatic change as husband, father, and believer through his experience as a mentee in a Radical Mentoring group. He is now the President of Radical Mentoring, a non-profit focused on encouraging and equipping churches and mentors to use Jesus-style relational mentoring to create environments for people to be real and develop authentic relationships. Before joining Radical Mentoring, Kevin led a sales team at Wells Real Estate Funds and served in sales positions at CNL and Atlas Energy.  "I'm privileged to connect my life purpose with Radical Mentoring’s purpose: encouraging and equipping churches to build better men through small group mentoring." - Kevin Harris  In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Kevin discuss:  ·      What is radical mentoring and how does it work ·      Harnessing the full power of servant leadership to boost your business and personal results ·      Identifying your authentic self and applying it to your work life/Leading with authenticity Join hosts Audre

Audie Penn is the Managing Partner with Faro Partners. He is a board advisor, executive consultant, and certified lean practitioner at the bronze, silver, and gold level. He represents the Society of Manufacturing Engineers as a member of the Lean Alliance where he participates in the certification oversight and appeals committee. "Leaders tend to spend too much time telling people how to do their jobs rather that clearly defining how successful outcomes will be measured." - Audie Penn  In this episode, Audrey, Lee and Audie discuss:  ·      Definition of Lean Principles ·      How leaders should prepare their teams for changes to come ·      At what point coaching crosses over into handholding management, slowing the lean process Join hosts Audrey Strong and C. Lee Smith every week as they dive into the aspects and concepts of good business management. From debunking sales myths to learning how to manage with and without measurements, you'll learn something new with every episode and will be able to implemen