In this talk we go a little deep into Kurt's story, how he his start as a pro BMXer, a small business owner and the lessons he learned as the son of a small business owner who was also a pastor. 

You’ll also get some great tips on how to be a better listener while networking, and you’ll get a great sense of how a purpose-led leader connects over empathy, honesty and desire to put good out into the world. 

Hope you like this convo with Kurt!

You can buy his book "the Little Book of Networking: How to Grow Your Career One Conversation at a Time" on Amazon, here. 

You can reach Kurt via:

• His website: https://kurtschmidt.me/
• His consulting group: https://schmidtconsulting.group/
• Foundry: https://www.foundrymakes.com/ 
• His podcast: https://kurtschmidt.me/schmidtlist/
  
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/schmidtlist

Alison offers coaching and cohort-driven classes for those focused onhuman-centered work like product leaders, designers and UX teams. Recently, she's introduced an "Accelerator" for design professionals. 

You can learn more about Alison and her offerings at designbydesign.co

• She knows innovation
• She knows product development and management
• She knows how to guide change in an org
• And, she’s seen the good and bad of digital transformation

I really appreciated this talk. The clarity of Leilani’s thinking, the empathy and intelligence she brings to her work shouldn’t be surprising given all the work she’s done in education and healthcare. 

She’s also got unique insights into doing transformational product work in highly regulated industries like healthcare and financial services. I think you’ll find that she’s got a cool ability to help teams be in two places at once: The practical reality of now, and the optimistic opportunity of the future. 

And, as someone that has a love/hate relationship with jargon I really liked her points on mentorship, helping teams find a common language to cut through the fog of jargon. 

We covered some of the  stuff you might expect, like briefs and why Olivia doesn’t use them - but we got some interesting answers to familiar questions. 

We talked about how the job of a strategist is to find the right problem to solve, and how digital strategy is becoming, ultimately, a holistic business strategy. 

We also talked about the benefits of working with private equity backed firms and the unique needs they’ve got. 

We also talked how startups inside large orgs are different than other startups. Finally, we talk about the transition to strategy leadership vs. being an individual contributor. 

This one was so good even I listened to it twice. 

Thanks for tuning in.

Scott is the vice president of interactive marketing and strategy at Ameriprise Financial. At Ameriprise, Scott leads a broad team that focuses on creating great digital experiences that drive results for clients and some prospects.

Disclosure here, Scott and I worked together on the same team at Ameriprise a while back, so we've got a working history. I love this conversation for a couple of reasons. One, it's a great example of how modern organizations are dealing with digital transformation, especially transformations that have been going on for a while.

Additionally, this is a good peek into how firms and highly regulated industries are working to build agility. We also get into the role of senior leaders and how in this case, they're doing a great job of providing support to the grassroots efforts to weave new ways of working into the org. There's also a super nugget in here about the rationale for moving to product orgs and how it came from the top hint. Your finance folks will get anxious listening to this, and you're gonna like it. So thanks for tuning in.

Pooja got her start in finance, but quickly moved into roles where change is apparent, but transformation is critical: Transformation of objectives, the process, the way people work. The majority of her recent work has been with tech orgs who are moving to product teams, while still managing a portfolio of projects

I loved this talk!  It’s rare to get a chance to go deep with a leader who understands all the drivers of organizational effectiveness. 

We talked about how to convince the marketing and finance orgs why its so important to move to the product model, and we got some really clear insights into the power of product teams that persist and stay together over time. And, we got a great set of answers about the issues of funding your product team, too. 

Pooja is super smart and I learned a ton from this talk. She gave me a little free coaching on how to develop my own EQ. 

We should all be so lucky to have such a versatile leader working with us when we’re driving change in the org. 

Maura is a consultant who focuses on Digital Product management, Product coaching, and helping leaders figure out how to make important business transformations. 

We cover a lot of ground, here, touching on organization awareness, getting more effectiveness as a team, and how leaders can learn to navigate through orgs (i.e. finding your way through matrix). We talk about how it’s actually possible to teach this skill! And, we also hit on the topic of how to talk to your team as the company is navigating hard org events. 

I might also pitch this discussion as another in what is turning into a miniseries of Business Drivers, liberal Arts people who ended up in digital leadership roles. So, english/writing/rhetoric majors, here’s another  case study of book nerds who made good. 

This interview has two parts, but only one of them was recorded!  

In the first part, the recorded one, we talked about the work of actually driving the program forward itself. Not the big fancy ideas *behind* a digital transformation effort, but the day to day of moving the actual work through the org. It’s not the sexy fancy stuff, but it’s the critical work that any good program needs. 

Turns out, successful program leadership requires the good old fashioned skills of relationship building, communication, gathering *everyone’s* input and a healthy dose of humor. 

After we turned off the mics, we ended up talking about a couple keys to success, that will sound familiar: Managing fear of failure, how to lead “up” via candor and direct conversations and why icebreakers should be in every program leaders toolbox. so we’ll probably need to do a part 2. 

Jason’s been in the center of a some really challenging transformation efforts, so I was glad to get him on the mic. Hope you enjoy this conversation!

I really appreciated all the practical useful wisdom here about the transition to digital product teams and how to make that transformation happen. She shares some great insights intoo  the role emotional intelligence plays, and how it’s required to stay resilient in the face of continuous change. And, i’m stealing her phrase “the frozen Middle”.  

You can find Jen at jenswanson.net and on twitter @jgswanson

At Fahren, we spend a lot of time talking with product leaders about how to get things moving in orgs, so Jason’s insights into the methods and approaches he uses were really helpful to me as we work to support product leaders and marketing teams. As a fellow liberal arts major, I appreciate his ability to make connections that others might not see and his thoughtful assessment of what’s going on in our space. 

He also shared some good perspective on how managers can evolve their leadership styles for new and smarter ways of working. 

Apologies in advance for the side-track into the world of Mellville, whaling and unreadable novels. But, that’s what happens when you get two english majors in a zoom. 

You can follow Jason on Twitter at @Searchlight5. Hope you enjoy this talk with Jason Scherschligt!

You can find Sue at sernasocial.com and on twitter @sernasocial  

This talk was another in my efforts to get smarter about social media - what’s happening, what’s new, what’s old, ahead of 2022. We talked a lot about governance, but also how to keep execs up to date on the landscape and to help them learn how to evaluate the work their team is doing. Sue made a point similar to Arik Hanson, that the social media team doesn’t get the support and recognition they deserve. So, send some appreciation to your social team.  And, just to prove some topics never get old, we talked about which budgets social media should come from.  

You’ll hear that Sue’s got a ton of energy and passion for this stuff. Learned a ton from her and I hope we get to do part 2, soon!

This talk was part of our efforts to get smarter about social media - what’s happening, what’s new, what’s old, ahead of 2022. Arik got me to re-think the role of a private community for brands, and he made some really good points about the way social drives your brand forward beyond acquisition. And, i love LOVE his reminder of how hard the role of a social media leader is. I’ve been harping on that since this talk.

You can find Arik at ArikHanson.com or on twitter at https://twitter.com/arikhanson. And, you can find Arik's podcast at https://hansonandhunt.com/

I wanted to talk with Kristen specifically because I wanted to get her take on the Google cookie depreciation situation. And, what it might mean for marketers and their budgets in 2022. Obviously, things have changed a bit since Google pushed their deadlines back a bit. But, still lots to learn from this conversation.

You can follow Kristen on twitter at @kdfindley

Clint Perez is a best Buy-bred Consumer Marketer who is experienced in generating demand across multiple consumer and B2B categories. Clint excels at finding and using consumer insights that drive truly differentiated brands and brand experiences. As a leader, he activates his team with purpose. He’s passionate about technology and growth oriented companies.

He’s led work at  Best Buy (retail), New Era (consumer brand), LivingSocial (ecommerce), Neustar (data, media planning, activation and measurement). Outside of work, he’s a volunteer and  board member, an active blogger, and a mentor to early stage companies.

You can find Clint on Twitter at @clintperez and on Medium at https://clintperez.medium.com/.

This was a pretty wide ranging talk, touching on test/learn, committing to your team and what NOT to focus on as you’re building your plan for next year. 

You can find Craig at: 

https://craigpladson.com/

@craigpladson

https://craigpladson.com/the-blend

You can learn more about Fahren at hellofahren.com. 

You can follow Fahren on Twitter at @hellofahren.com

Jim Cuene, the host, can be found at @jcuene