On The Brink With Andi Simon

Hear how to overcome the difficulties that block change In our podcast today, Linda Coughlin and I get deep into a conversation about the challenges of working with organizations that need to change. You are going to love this interview. Lin is an expert on how to help companies rethink their processes and develop new ways to bring together new teams, engage different generations and successfully build new cultures, often from the merger of different organizations. As you'll hear, she and I are on the same page. Enjoy. Watch and listen to our conversation here Some of the ideas Linda and I discuss include: Why it is so hard for people to see what is right before them — one of my favorite topics. The power of culture to support an organization or undermine its initiatives. How to help people develop new solutions on their own, so consultants can build the trust that is needed to move an organization forward. About Linda Coughlin As Founder/President of Great Circle Associates, Linda and her firm provide int

Hear how Blue Ocean Strategy helps you own your market! In this podcast, Brian Gladden and I go digging into the whys and hows of creating Blue Ocean Strategies®. Brian is a trained Blue Ocean Strategist who helps businesses find unmet customer needs and create uncontested market space by using the tools and methods of Blue Ocean thinking. After conducting 500 workshops and dozens of client engagements, I know the thinking of a Blue Ocean Strategist quite well, and Brian is certainly one of us. He just loves the methodology and objectives behind BOS, as do I. It really works! To learn how to do it, listen in.  Watch and listen to our conversation here It's all about going where the competition isn't When we talk about strategy, most people think that they must compete to build a viable business. Strategic differentiation seems to be the path they must follow. Yet, few really know how to successfully compete, differentiate themselves, or bring in new clients. They tend to be imitative, looking like others in

Hear how to launch your own business, successfully In this podcast you are going to meet Maggie Karshner. She loves to work with people who want to set themselves up in a new business or grow the one they currently have. She and I talk about how to help solo-preneurs take their ideas and become coaches, consultants, therapists, chefs, specialists helping kids get into college, branding experts...you name it and Maggie has done it. During our podcast, we want to help you see what is possible and make it happen. Listen in! Watch and listen to our conversation here The challenge of making it on your own What Maggie and I both know is that it is difficult leaving a career in a corporate job and launching your own business, successfully. My husband Andy and I have seen that among the students at Washington University during our Simon Initiative for Entrepreneurship summits. And at SAMC, we witness it every day as people come to us to help them frame their story, strengthen their brand, conceptualize their busines

Learn how to publish your very own book!  Are you interested in learning how to write your first book, or maybe your second or third? Listen in today to hear what Vikrant Shaurya, founder of BestsellingBook.com, will teach us about how to write a bestseller. Enjoy the journey with him. You will hear all about my favorite topics: story creating and storytelling. As humans, we all have this wonderful and unique ability to create meaning through our stories, which we then turn into amazing realities that we share and also live. Why not tell your story? Send it along to us and let’s hear it. We'll put it in our podcast, too. Watch and listen to our conversation here Who is Vikrant Shaurya An internationally renowned book launch expert, Vikrant is the author of the #1 bestselling business book, How to Write a Bestseller: Become a Bestselling Author, Attract High-Value Clients, and Skyrocket Your Authority. His specialty is helping people publish their own books, even if they don’t have the time or skills to write

Learn a new way of thinking for new types of solutions Have you ever really wanted to know how to think about a problem in a new way? Maybe you need to improve your company’s communications and conversations. Or your employees' motivation and productivity. Perhaps a Design Thinker could help you step back and objectively observe what the problem is and how you could conceptualize different ways to resolve it. Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Lisa Perrine. We have known each other for quite some time, and I am endlessly amazed at what she brings to our audience. Please listen, learn and share! Watch and listen to our conversation here Using Design Thinking to solve workplace problems in new ways Lisa and her colleagues focus on the human elements of communication: the interplay between workplace culture and communication, how people experience media, and how individuals interact with technology. As an anthropologist, I am particularly interested in the ROI of Design Thinking, in part because Design T

Learn how to amp up your sales process for amazing success!  In our podcast today, Doug Brown and I are going to help you sell better. As CEO of Business Success Factors, Doug has amazing ideas about how the sales process really works, and how to help you make yours deliver the results you have always wanted it to. We will also dig into the emotional blocks that hold people back from becoming the sales success they are meant to be. As you know, I am always looking for people to help you see, feel and think in new ways. Doug is just the guy for us today. In this current business environment, I really urge you to take a listen. Watch and listen to our conversation here Some of the areas we discuss include: Hiring sales superstars Optimizing your sales process And what I think is so important: conversational intelligence so you can overcome objections About Doug Brown Doug started working for his family’s business at the age of three. Since then, he has started and built over 35 companies. During college at N

Hear how change can really, actually happen for you While I have known Marie-Claude Stockl a long time and we are both devoted horse lovers, I never had the pleasure of really getting to know her back story, and how she became so successful doing interesting and important things in teaching people how to better communicate. Today we have a splendid conversation about the challenges women face in the workplace, and the slow pace of change taking place in our society today. Both Marie-Claude and I have experienced being the only woman in the room and we have both endured, determinedly overcoming challenges and bias. Yet, we are both optimists at heart and enthused by the possibilities and opportunities we see for women today, and going forward.Do listen in! Watch and listen to our conversation here Three themes we discuss which you will enjoy: We both grew up with strong women in our lives. They served as inspirational role models and taught us a great deal about how to thrive when we don’t always have a clea

Hear how fulfilling customers' needs can lead to a big success! Marsha Friedman is one of those women entrepreneurs who started with little and built a great business in the public relations and communications arena. She didn’t start with a plan. Her parents didn't enable her to go to college. She was simply supposed to find a wealthy man and get married. She never had much funding or capital. She just listened and believed in herself. As she shares with us, she learned over the years to care a lot, have the courage to try and try again, and to think about the customer as part of your team. Hers is an amazing story, one we should all listen to and learn a great deal from. Watch and listen to our conversation here Marsha's secret to starting and growing a hugely successful business In our podcast, Marsha and I speak at length about her own journey. As a fellow entrepreneur, I know the feeling of not being sure where to start and how to get going. She did as well. Throughout our conversation, we share with oth