Scaling Up Business Podcast

How can you learn to stay calm and deal with a VUCA — volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous — world? Perspective is the number one tactic, and today’s guest is a special operator and leader who has the developmental skills and methodologies that can assist anyone in dealing with a VUCA world.   Mark Divine is a former Navy SEAL Commander, best-selling author, and leadership expert. After a 20-year career in the Navy SEALs, he was tasked with creating a leadership program for the SEALs, which later extended to corporate, sports, and academic settings. Mark Divine is the author of five best-selling books, hosts a top-rated podcast, Mark Divine’s Unbeatable Mind, and has founded five successful companies. He believes in unlocking 20X performance through the right training and tools. From terrorist attacks and global wars to the COVID-19 pandemic and technological advances, the capacity for great violence to happen quickly is prevalent in today’s VUCA world. The need to remain adaptable, flexible, and cont

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Too many companies struggle to scale because they are stuck reinventing things that just don’t need to be reinvented. The companies that succeed are the ones that focus on and refine systems in a disciplined way that makes them better than they have ever been before.   JC Hite is the visionary Founder and CEO of Hite Digital, the fastest-growing digital agency in the U.S. With a deep-rooted passion for empowering small businesses, JC is dedicated to driving their growth through the realm of digital marketing. There are times when building any business is just really difficult. Within six months of launching Hite Digital in Nicaragua, the company found itself in the middle of a civil war. As they have scaled, they have had to learn how to survive physically, financially, and mentally during the harder seasons of growth. JC highlights some of the hurdles Hite Digital has faced, including political insecurity, addressing limited education in Nicaragua, the pandemic, and the recession. They have fine-tuned hiri

When people are really upset, there is a simple way to turn things around and bring them back into the game. Deeper listening is the key to understanding what is going on behind the complaint.   The complaint itself is rarely the problem. More often it’s the personal value that they care deeply about that has been attacked or triggered. When a leader can identify the value that is behind the upset, they can diffuse the situation. Call the value out and give it a name to create a reset that then allows the upset person to get back into the game. This approach can make a powerful, immediate change that, often, people can’t even see or articulate themselves. But great leaders know how to highlight the values that mean so much and turn a complaint into an empowering conversation. Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Short List (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish

No matter how successful you are, at some point, you may encounter a career setback. Instead of being devastated, you can turn that setback into a growth experience. Doug Lennick, co-author of DON’T WAIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO FIX IT, is the founding CEO of think2perform, a high-performance leadership development firm serving small and large organizations in a variety of industries. He has been in leadership roles for nearly 40 years and is widely recognized as an expert in the science of human behavior.   Obstacles happen to all of us, but the person who actually makes it to where they want to go doesn’t consider obstacles “in the way” but “on the way.” The winners are the people who know how to handle whatever comes their way. The premium isn’t on knowing what will happen — because no one does — the premium is knowing how to deal with whatever happens and then not waiting for someone else to do something about it. Doug shares his early career setback of being cut out of a publishing company, and the successes

Great leaders tend to be optimistic and positive, but that can come at a very real cost. When you don’t think about or listen to what could go wrong, you’re setting yourself up for guaranteed failure. There is value in giving a voice to the negative possibilities.   Bill once made a $2 million mistake by not considering what could go wrong. He quickly learned to balance his naturally positive approach with realistic and even negative possibilities. A great leader knows the value of empowering the voices on their team to play devil’s advocate once in a while. No plan survives contact with the enemy, or, as Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” Business has a way of punching us in the face on a regular basis. If you want your team and your business to be more successful, don’t shy away from conversations about the biggest things that could go wrong, and what you are going to do about it. Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach dur

When you can determine what your clients, donors, or sponsors want, you can persuade them to help you get what you need.   Lori Zoss Kraska, MBA, CFRE is Growth Owl, LLC’s Founder and CEO. She possesses over 22 years of expertise in revenue generation management, corporate sponsorship support, corporate cause marketing, fundraising, corporate social responsibility, nonprofit consulting, executive sales management, training, and marketing strategy roles earning her a reputation for establishing pathways quickly to exceeding revenue/fundraising goals, building high-performance teams, developing relationships quickly, and outpacing expectations.   Lori’s company, Growth Owl, works with purpose-driven organizations to help with fundraising and sponsorship dollars. That is an effort that requires a lot of persuasion, but Lori’s previous 10 years with PBS and NPR gave her the experience that has made her an expert in persuasion. Lori’s goal in starting Growth Owl was to apply the principles that are utilized in pub

For most of us, when looking to hear “yes,” what gets in the way is us. Our thoughts and feelings get in the way of our ability to effectively communicate with other people. When we’re stuck inside our heads, we worry that we may be too much of something, or don’t have enough skills in a particular area, and we dread hearing “no.”   All of these things are happening internally, and they all keep us from talking to and connecting with the other person in a way that encourages the “yes” we’re seeking. If you can get out of your head and get over what you think the other person is thinking, the more naturally you will get your “yes.” Instead of worrying about what might be going wrong in the conversation, focus on the other person. What about your conversation is of interest to them? Imagine the conversation going well. Get curious about what they want and ask more questions. When you do, you’ll find that you can hire, sell, fundraise, partner, and engage with greater ease. Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling U

Today’s conversation is all about being awesome, and there is no better teacher than John “Gucci” Foley, the legendary former solo pilot for The Blue Angels who flew in the original movie Top Gun,
who continues to inspire organizations to High Performance through a GLAD TO BE HERE mindset, operational excellence, team improvement, and high trust!   John is one of the Top 10 most sought-after keynote speakers and trainers on leadership, high performance, teamwork, trust, and a GLAD TO BE HERE mindset! From the night he watched the first moon landing in 1969 and the visceral energy he felt at his first air show, John knew from an early age that he was meant to be in the sky. Over time his dreams turned from astronaut to lead solo pilot, with a stop in college football along the way.  There is a huge difference between having a vision and executing it. Success happens when you are able to keep a dream alive, formulate a plan, and act on it consistently over time in a way that turns your dreams into success. O

Most of us have learned to control our emotions. We’re expected to look strong and be stoic. In the early years of his career, Bill was told to calm down and stop showing so many emotions when he was excited about possibilities at work.   So how is it possible that vulnerability can be powerful? Showing your vulnerabilities requires courage and strength. Whether people believe it or not, emotions are at the root of every decision we make. Even the rational, logical decisions we make also touch our feelings. When leaders can get in touch with all of their feelings — good and bad — they have access to powerful vulnerability. Yes, it takes courage to get in touch with your feelings, but when you can share those feelings with other people in a way that results in greater connections, the results are always powerful. Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Short List (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is th

What does it take to be successful? The underlying structures of your business craft the foundation that will make or break your success.   Patrick Esposito is an entrepreneur, business executive, attorney, advisor, and board member. He has helped to found, lead, and advise small- and medium-sized businesses in technology, consulting, retail, banking, real estate, and other sectors, as well as U.S. government organizations, for more than two decades. During his career, Esposito has advised start-up executive teams, family business owners, large publicly traded company executive teams, and leaders in the U.S. Department of Defense. He recently launched Initiative Labs LLC to help small- and medium-sized business leaders apply the approaches, methodologies, and tools from his book, The Structure of Success, to create the conditions for success in their business ventures.   A self-proclaimed jack of all trades, Patrick learned early on that, when it came to scaling up, employing the wisdom of an independent who

There is one simple secret to helping your team get unstuck. Powerful listening is the key to showing your team that you are interested in where they’re coming from, who they are, and what they need to do to level up.   The best way to get stuck people re-engaged is to listen to what they are saying to you. Listening leaders don’t leap into solving problems. Great leaders have engaged teams and can listen for ways to bring to light new approaches, better solutions, and ideas on how team members can get themselves unstuck. When a leader shows curiosity and a willingness to listen, they create a team that is filled with future leaders that they can someday pass the baton to. So listen longer, listen deeper, and take the time to show your team that you genuinely hear them and see them not only for who they are now, but who they have the potential to become. Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Shor

Great customer service is something that we can expect from restaurants and hotels, but rarely do we expect it from hospitals or emergency rooms. Today’s guest is on a mission to change that.   Stowe Shoemaker has served as an advisor to numerous hospitality service providers over the course of his career including IGT, British Airways, Accor, Hilton, Landry’s, and Hyatt. He has published two marketing textbooks and his newest book, Hospitable Healthcare: Just What the Patient Ordered! introduces hospitality principles to the healthcare industry.   Hospitality matters in every industry. Consider the last time you needed medical care. Did the customer service enhance your experience, or did it only make a hard situation worse? Healthcare needs to be fixed in more ways than one. Stowe and his coauthor aim to address the changes that need to be made in their new book.   Hospitality customer service standards are currently much higher than in the healthcare industry. A survey Stowe conducted indicated that health

If you were heading to the moon for the first time, or launching a brand-new product, you wouldn’t plan it in the same way routine events are planned. Achieving a brand new level of performance requires a different level of planning.   Stephen Covey called this beginning with the end in mind. Where do you want to be and what do you want to have accomplished? What would come just before that? And before that? If you don’t consider how you want the end to look, you might end up tackling the wrong problems or working on things that are better left alone or dropped altogether. Planning with the end in mind frees you up to work on what matters most. And with the right plan in place, great leaders can let their teams get their work done. Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Short List (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly

Search engine optimization can make or break your business presence online, but getting it right isn’t always easy.   Jason Hennessey is an entrepreneur, internationally recognized SEO expert, author, speaker, podcast host, and business coach. Since 2001, Jason has been reverse-engineering the Google algorithm as a self-taught student and practitioner of SEO and search marketing.   Jason shares the three key steps to optimizing your SEO. First, make sure your website is technically sound so that Google can easily access it. Second, create content that people actually want to consume. Solid content satisfies the problem people are looking to solve. And third, utilize backlinking to help boost the popularity of your website.   Ultimately, SEO comes down to helping people find the thing they are searching for. There is also an ROI attached to it, but it serves as a connector for people who need specific services with the people who can service that need.   AI and ChatGPT play a role in optimizing SEO as well. Wh

You want things and you need things, but Bill knows that there is a much easier way to get what you want than employing trickery, manipulating, or coercing. When you look for ways to hear yes, simply listen for what other people want.   When you listen for and think about what other people want, your proposals will go effortlessly because you will naturally be able to offer them what they are looking for. You’ll spend less time stressing about what you want because you know it will come to you while you are helping people get what they want. When Bill naturally connects what he wants with what other people want, everything works out. That’s the way to pass the baton and the way to be an inspiring, natural leader. Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Short List (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We shar

The United States is losing over 100,000 people and experiencing over half a trillion dollars of economic impact each year due to opioids, including fentanyl. That’s more than a 737 crash per day. This public health and national security issue is a supply-and-demand problem that, unlike previous epidemics, our nation is failing to resolve.   Admiral Winnefeld graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Aerospace Engineering and served for 37 years in the United States Navy. He flew the F-14 Tomcat and served as an instructor at TopGun and as senior aide-de-camp to General Colin L. Powell. He commanded a fighter squadron, the amphibious ship USS Cleveland, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, a carrier strike group, two NATO commands, the United States Sixth Fleet, the United States Northern Command, and the North American Aerospace Defense Command. He retired after serving as the ninth Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.   Admiral Winnefeld is a frequently-published author and a director or advisor t

Do you ever wish people were more inspired by you? Bill has a simple formula for leaders who want to light others up. When you share the vision of your company the right way, it is guaranteed to get other people excited about it too.   The formula is simple. First, talk about the problem area that you deal with in the world. Then, share what the predictable future will look like without change. Finally, talk about why you’re involved in solving the problem and the vision that you have for a new future. Employ storytelling, using real names, details, and feelings. Practice this recipe and keep sharing it wherever you can. Employees, investors, partners, vendors, customers, and the media will all benefit from hearing your story, and when they do, they will catch your vision and be more inspired by you. Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Short List (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selli

People are by far the most important, the most essential aspect of any business. People are also the hardest to find a perfect fit, but successful leaders know how to attract and focus on the right people in the right way.   Tali Rapaport is the co-founder of Puck, the people-first recruiting CRM. Puck helps businesses tell their team’s story and hire better, faster. Prior to Puck, she was the VP of Product at Lyft for nearly four years. During her tenure, Lyft grew 20x to become a big part of how people get around in North America. In 2017, Tali was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People. She graduated from Harvard College with an AB in Applied Math and a Master’s in Environmental Engineering. She was on the Dean’s Cabinet for Harvard’s Engineering School from 2018-2020. Tali worked with Lyft when they were in the middle of onboarding a million drivers. She witnessed the human side of employment and the reasons that people are motivated to take on this kind of work. Flexibility in scheduling a

People don’t need managers, they need great coaching. No one really likes being managed — they like being led and supported by effective coaching.   Often people want to work out their own problems with the support of their leaders. Rarely do they want to hand over their problems and expect the leader to create the solution. When people come in with a problem, they should come out with a project. A coach cheerleads, encourages, listens, and appreciates. They remind their team why they’re excited about the work they’re doing, they coach their successors, and they delegate powerfully. As a result, you as a leader have to work less hard. When you work less hard, your team rises. Coaching people — not managing or dominating them — is the source of powerful leadership. Resources: 20,000 Scaleups Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.) Bill on YouTube Recruiter.com Short List (use code scaleup) Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our tea