The Action Catalyst With Rory Vaden

DeVon Franklin is an award-winning film and TV producer, best-selling author, renowned preacher, and spiritual success coach. DeVon is the ultimate multi-hyphenate. With a commitment to uplifting the masses through entertainment, Franklin has quickly become a force in the media as well as a leading authority on faith, spiritual wellness, and personal development. Beliefnet has called him one of the "Most Influential Christians Under 40," Variety Magazine named him one of the "Top 10 Producers to Watch," Ebony Magazine has distinguished him as one of the "Top 100 Influential African-Americans in America," and even Oprah has called him "a bonafide dynamo...a different kind of spiritual teacher for our times." Franklin serves as President/CEO of Franklin Entertainment, a dynamic multimedia entertainment company with a first-look film deal at 20th Century Fox. As a filmmaker, Franklin is producing the inspirational true story Breakthrough, starring Chrissy Metz in theaters Easter of 2019. Additionally, he p

Stedman Graham is chairman and CEO of S. Graham & Associates. As a businessman, educator, and speaker, he presents, consults, and conducts training with corporations, educational entities, the military and veterans, non-profits, and the government. His identity message is grounded in the fact that the key to success is self-leadership capability. The Identity Leadership programs, driven by the proprietary Nine-Step Success Process™, are based on the philosophy that individuals hold the power to their educational, career, and personal success or failure. Graham has authored eleven books, including two New York Times bestsellers, You Can Make It Happen: A Nine-Step Plan for Success and Teens Can Make It Happen: Nine Steps to Success. His latest release, Identity: Your Passport to Success, was a Wall Street Journal bestseller. Clients have included Gulfstream Aerospace, Microsoft, Deloitte, Wells Fargo, Lenovo, General Dynamics, the US Departments of Labor, Education, and Agriculture, CVS Pharmacy, the Ind

Mary Anne Em Radmacher's words are on walls around the world, used in speeches and newscasts, and featured in ceremonies that welcome life and celebrate all the occasions in between. Radmacher has designed thousands of products, written over a dozen books, curated the spoken word of a president, taught writing to populations from primary school to prison, and is walked daily by two fine dogs. She is in the Oxford Dictionary of American Quotations. Since 9/11, one of her poems has been featured on the engine doors of firehouses throughout the US. Show Highlights: Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, "I'll try again tomorrow." - Mary Anne Em Radmacher Out of all of God's creations, the only animals that can put things into perspective are humans. -Dan MooreEvery individual has the responsibility to be absolutely clear on their own talents, skills, and abilities. - Mary Anne Em Radmacher There's one person on the planet who can be an unfettered

Jim Fannin is America’s ZoneCoach®, coaching more champions in sports, business, and life than anyone on earth for over 40 years. As one of the world’s foremost thought leaders, he is more than a life, business, or sports coach. He is a "change your life" coach. With the ONLY proven blueprint for attracting the Zone mindset, Jim has helped transform millions of people's lives by providing proven tools and techniques to create simplicity, balance, and abundance. In 1974, Jim Fannin discovered five markers for “thinking like a champion” and attracting the peak performance mindset called the Zone in all aspects of life, business, and sports. They are self-discipline, concentration, optimism, relaxation, and enjoyment. Collectively they form the acronym S.C.O.R.E.®, which is the cornerstone of Jim’s teaching that unlocks one’s full potential. With proprietary research on intuition, visualization, and self-awareness, Jim customized his S.C.O.R.E.® Success System with its powerful 90-Second Rule™ tools and te

Jim Cathcart is the author of 19 books and has been inducted into both the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame and the Sales and Marketing Hall of Fame (London). He is one of the most award-winning professional speakers in the world, having won the Golden Gavel Award, The Cavett Award, Legends of Speaking Award, The Quilly® Bestselling Author Award, Certified Speaking Professional, Past President of the National Speakers Association, and more. With over 3,200 professional speeches around the world, he has addressed every industry and profession imaginable. But with all of that, he’s also a regular guy: an avid motorcyclist, a mountain trail runner, and a professional guitarist/singer who performs often in clubs and at events. Jim’s specialty is Applied Behavioral Science, “practical psychology,” and he focuses on helping people succeed. His TEDx video now has over 1.5 million views and he has just returned from his tenth lecture tour in China! Show Highlights: The seed of your future success already l

Megan Murphy is a women’s empowerment coach, business mentor, kindness activist,  meditation instructor, author, and lecturer. She is a business mentor for SCORE and creator of the Kindness Rocks Project. She resides in Cape Cod, MA with her husband, three daughters, and two giant dogs. Megan is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) and Score certified mentor earning her coaching certifications through the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) and is a member of the International Coaching Federation ICF. Megan has been featured on The Today Show, Fox News, NBC Boston, WCVB Channel 5; 5 for Good segment, The Boston Globe, The Detroit Free Press, The Washington Post, Cape Cod Life Magazine, Conscious Life Magazine, Parents Magazine, Highlights for Kids Magazine, Country Living Magazine, First for Women Magazine, The Cape Cod Times, Today.com, The Huffington Post,  Southern Living Magazine, and many other regional news media outlets across the country where members of the project particip

Don Yaeger is a nationally acclaimed inspirational speaker, longtime Associate Editor of Sports Illustrated, and author of over 30 books, eleven of which have become New York Times best-sellers. He began his career at the San Antonio Light in Texas, and also worked at the Dallas Morning News and the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville before going to work for Sports Illustrated. As an author, Don has written books with, among others, Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton, UCLA basketball Coach John Wooden, baseball legends John Smoltz and Tug McGraw, and football stars Warrick Dunn and Michael Oher (featured in the movie The Blind Side). He teamed up with Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade to pen the 2013 best-seller George Washington’s Secret Six, a look at the citizen spy ring that helped win the Revolutionary War and then again in 2015 for Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War that Changed American History, and in 2017 for Andrew Jackson and the Miracle of New Orleans:  The Battle t

Dr. Gloria Mayfield Banks is an internationally renowned motivational success strategist and sales trainer who has consistently beaten the odds to achieve extraordinary success. Dr. Banks holds a bachelor's degree from Howard University, an MBA from Harvard University, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. She has built a multi-million dollar enterprise as an author, a founding partner of Charisma Factor, Inc. (a corporate event planning company), and an Elite Executive National Sales Director with Mary Kay, Inc. In 2016, Gloria became the first African American in the history of the company to be ranked #1 in North America.  These accomplishments provided the foundation for her recently published book, Quantum Leaps, with ten specific steps to help you soar. With her high energy and inspirational teaching style, Dr. Banks is best described as "Energy in Motion!" Dr. Banks has trained professionals on six continents to achieve new levels of success. She is expressly passi

Michael McMillan is a designer, best-selling author, public speaker, and business consultant. Throughout his career, Michael’s client roster has read like the Who’s Who of Business. Fortune 100 corporations, startups, nonprofits, and sports and music legends have all sought Michael’s leadership with award-winning results. While Michael’s work has been recognized by major design, marketing, and advertising organizations around the world, his bottom-line results have been recognized by clients, partners, and stakeholders. Michael’s creative direction on Michael Jordan’s New York Times best-selling pictorial autobiography, Rare Air, established a new niche in retail publishing. This success was followed by several more award-winning publishing initiatives including Mario Andretti and The NBA at 50. Michael’s leadership on Genuine Value: The John Deere Journey established a cultural framework and value catalyst for Deere’s future. After 20 consecutive years of growth, Michael sold his firm and began shar

Steve Siebold, CSP trains sales and management teams on how to increase sales through his unique blend of mental toughness training. Salespeople learn how to control their thoughts, feelings, and attitudes before, during, and after the sales presentation. Managers learn how to become mentally tough coaches and leaders with their sales representatives. Steve speaks from real-world experience as a former professional athlete, national coach, and international businessman. He began studying mental toughness training as a world-class junior tennis player in the 1970s. Steve’s clients include Fortune 500 companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Toyota, Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline—to name a few—as well as thousands of direct salespeople in ten countries worldwide. Steve has been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, BBC Television Europe, NBC Australia, CBS, FOX, and dozens of other television shows, radio programs, newspapers, and magazines around the globe. His books, videos, and audio prog

Leadership coach and tech pioneer Ellen Petry Leanse has spent 35 years driving innovation at Apple, Google, Facebook, and with dozens of tech startups. Her current role as Chief People Officer at Lucidworks positions her to help humanize the face of AI through forward-looking leadership and a commitment to "Honor People" through ethical technology. In her nine years at Apple, Ellen served on the Macintosh launch team (1984) and led the company's pioneering work with digital communities (1985). Her work since then has spanned entrepreneurship, investing, and strategy consulting. Today, combining decades of perspective with insights from neuroscience, design, and mindfulness practice, Ellen guides companies and individuals to “think different” about design, impact, and using business as a canvas for positive change. An author, Stanford instructor, and respected Silicon Valley influencer, Ellen is passionate about intentional living and how our brains can shape or interfere with our sense of purpose. She'

John J. Murphy is the founder (1988) and CEO of Venture Management Consultants, Inc., a firm specializing in creating lean, high-performance work environments. As a business consultant, John has delivered services to some of the world’s leading organizations, including ADP, AlliedSignal (Honeywell), BMW, Chase, the CIA, GE, GM, GSK, Hilton, Lockheed Martin, Merck, the Michigan State Senate, Perrigo, Prudential, Raytheon, Spectrum Health, Target Stores, Teva, and the US Navy. As an educator and Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, John has trained thousands of people from over 50 countries, including Fortune 500 executives, project leaders, military leaders, managers, and black belts. He has also mentored dozens of project teams in organizational development, operational excellence, business process innovation, and Lean Six Sigma applications. As a speaker, John has delivered keynotes and seminars throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Among those, he has shared the stage with Gener

Robin Crow is an American author, recording artist, and public speaker. Crow is best known for his 2002 autobiographical book entitled Jump and the Net Will Appear. He is the builder, owner, and operator of Dark Horse Recording Studio in Franklin, TN. Crow also speaks at seminars and clinics around the country. Crow is the Founder and CEO of three uniquely successful companies: Dark Horse Recording and Dark Horse Institute in Franklin, TN, and Luxury Mountain Rentals in Telluride, CO. As an RCA recording artist, he drew rave reviews for his musicianship while touring relentlessly. As an in-demand public speaker, he has delivered over 2,200 keynote speeches to major corporations and is the author of seven books, including the USA Today bestseller, Evolve or Die. In 2010, Crow founded Dark Horse Institute (DHI), an accredited, for-profit academy to teach Audio Engineering and Music Business to young entrepreneurs. In 2013, DHI relocated to The Factory at Franklin (a historic stove factory which has been r

America’s trusted voice on money and business, Dave Ramsey is a personal money management expert and extremely popular national radio personality. His seven bestselling books—Financial Peace, More Than Enough, The Total Money Makeover, EntreLeadership, Dave Ramsey’s Complete Guide to Money, The Legacy Journey, and Smart Money Smart Kids—have sold more than 10 million copies combined. By age 26, he had established a $4 million real estate portfolio, only to lose it by age 30. Using the wisdom he gained, Ramsey rebuilt his financial life and now teaches others how to be responsible with their money, so they can acquire enough wealth to take care of loved ones, retire with dignity, and give generously to others. In 1992, Ramsey founded The Lampo Group, LLC to provide financial counseling, through various means, to anyone who wants to better understand the principles of proper money management. Twenty years later, the company has grown from a card table in his living room to more than 600 team members and h

Terri Rickard is the Founder and President of Southwestern Travel. She began her career with the Southwestern Family of Companies in 2012 as the Executive Assistant to the CEO. In her role as Executive Assistant, she took on a major project to create an internally managed travel program for 16 operating divisions, managing over $5 million in annual travel spending. In just a few years of collecting company travel data, intense industry research, and perfecting the vendor contract negotiation process, she achieved savings of over $500,000. In 2016, armed with a detailed business plan and the support of the board of directors, Terri launched Southwestern Travel. Today as President, she focuses on the vision of the company, execution of the vision, and recruiting A+ people. She is also a hands-on team player actively saving clients money, training, negotiating, and ensuring all best practices are adhered to for every event or adventure planned. Terri graduated from Belmont University with a Bachelor of

Lars Tewes is the Managing Director of SBR Consulting, a leading sales performance consultancy. He has over 25 years of experience in creating sales force effectiveness in businesses around the globe. In 2002, his passion for professional selling and sales transformation led him to co-found SBR Consulting. He tackles the issues of business development from a strategic viewpoint through implementing tailored sales and BD programmes. He has worked directly with over 250 organizations from professional service practices and entrepreneurial start-ups to global financial and engineering firms, helping build sales cultures and inspiring individuals to develop sales habits for success, while having fun doing it! He also practices what he preaches and continues to be a sales practitioner: making sales calls, holding meetings, setting targets, negotiating and winning business, and leading by example in everything he does. In understanding his client’s challenges and inspiring them to achieve their goals, h

Bruce Black has over 40 years of C-level business experience building several high-performance companies as a founder, leader, entrepreneur, and CEO. For the last ten years, Black has used much of that prior business knowledge to help private middle-market business owners improve their company’s performance, lower their risk profile, and achieve maximum value in a sale. Black’s firm, IBG Business, was a national finalist in 2016 for middle market strategic sale of the year and awarded the M&A Transaction of the Year in 2015 by ACG of Arizona. From 2005-2008, Black spent three years organizing, leading, and managing a 444-unit ground-up condominium project in the Phoenix valley for Chicago-based Terrapin Properties. From 1980-2002, he co-founded McCord Travel Management at 29 and over those 22 years, he and his team grew McCord from $0 to over $600 million with 800 employees, becoming one of the largest corporate travel management firms in the US. Driven by a passion for service, McCord’s success came one c

Barry Gottlieb started out his career as an educator. First, he was an elementary school teacher, then a school principal, and finally an instructor at both Santa Fe Community College and at the University of Florida. During his time at the university, Barry experienced a life-altering challenge. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer and was given just 3 to 6 months to live. His story of recovery and the paradigm shift that it created in his life was the inspiration for his first book, TGIT - Thank God It’s Today. Shortly thereafter, Barry decided to make a career and lifestyle change and left teaching to enter the world ofbusiness. This, he says, “is where my real education began.” He and his partners built a very successful $75million international company from the ground up that they later sold for $55M. After that, Barry took on many different challenges in the business world. He was the Vice President of Sales for a billion-dollar international company. He also tackled another start-up company, buildi

Hailed as one of the foremost authorities on marketing, franchising, and retail, Tom Feltenstein learned his trade from the grill up – insisting he got his doctorate degree as a senior marketing executive from McDonald’s Corporation as Ray Kroc’s disciple. After scaling the Golden Arches, he served as senior vice-president for the international, billion-dollar advertising agency, Bozell & Jacobs. Tom is motivational, inspirational, informative, and completely commits himself to every audience. He’s “Tom the Lionhearted.” His approach is aimed at exposing outdated, conventional business thoughts and telling the TRUTH about mass media marketing approaches that often masquerade as marketing programs. Audiences find that Tom is entertaining, challenging, and always brimming with “Uncommon Wisdom.” He has been a featured speaker among superstars such as Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Barbara Bush, Larry King, Terry Bradshaw…just to name a few. He is the CEO and Founder of Power M

Martin Fridson is “perhaps the most well-known figure in the high yield world,” according to Investment Dealers’ Digest.  At brokerage firms including Salomon Brothers, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch, he became known for his innovative work in credit analysis and investment strategy.  For nine consecutive years, he was ranked number one in high yield strategy in the Institutional Investor All America Research Survey. Fridson received his BA cum laude in history from Harvard College and his MBA from Harvard Business School.  He has served as president of the Fixed Income Analysts Society, governor of the CFA Institute, director of the New York Society of Security Analysts, and consultant to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. The Financial Management Association International named Fridson the Financial Executive of the Year in 2002.  In 2000, he became the youngest person inducted up to that time in the Fixed Income Analysts Society Hall of Fame.  The CFA Society New York bestowed its Ben Graham