Category Archives: Entrepreneurship

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492: Amazon, Walmart, and the Battle for Our Wallets with Jason Del Rey

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I’m old enough to remember a book from over 30 years ago called, The Late Shift, a chronicling of the wars between David Letterman, Jay Leno, NBC, and who would eventually end up with the Tonight Show Crown.

Jason Del Rey

Our featured book this week reminds of that book in many ways. The difference, however is the players. Instead of Letterman and Leno, we have Amazon and Walmart. And the battle is still raging, and likely will be for some time to come.

That book is called Winner Sells All: Amazon, Walmart, and the Battle for Our Wallets by Jason Del Rey.

For years, Walmart and Amazon operated in separate spheres—one a massive brick-and-mortar retailer, the other an online giant. But in 2016, Walmart aggressively moved into the world of e-commerce, while Amazon made big bets in physical retail.

The resulting rivalry is a bare-knuckle power struggle as each titan tries to outmaneuver the other to become the biggest omni-channel retailer in the world. As the two megacorporations have consolidated power, troubling consequences have also emerged—for consumers and small merchants faced with fewer buying and selling options, and for millions of workers paid meager wages for demanding and sometimes dangerous work.

Winner Sells All is a tale of disruption and big money moves, with legendary executives and fearless entrepreneurs in a battle—between rival corporations and sometimes even within the same company—to invent the future and cement their own legacies.

I hope you’ll click the play button below to learn more about Jason and his work. For a summary, just keep scrolling.

Join in on our chat below

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488: Always Make Your Future Bigger Than Your Past with Dan Miller

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One of my favorite guests of all time, and one of my favorite humans in general, is joining me again for this episode. His fourth visit thus far.

dan miller

I’m talking, of course, about New York Times bestselling author, Dan Miller.

His latest book, unconventional in that he made all the “wrong” choices during its creation, is called An Understanding Heart.

Some of those choices include:

  • A simulated leather book
  • 406 pages
  • 84 vignettes in all
  • Color pages
  • A satin bookmark
  • A gift box with key quotations
  • A bonus medallion
  • And more.

It’s about as excited as I’ve ever seen Dan about one of his projects. It’s the kind of book you can dive into for a few pages, put it down, and then come back to it later, without the guilt typically associated with approaching a book in that way.

For this reason and many others, it makes a fantastic gift! I loved it, and I think you will too.

I hope you’ll click the play button below to learn more about Dan and his work. For a summary, just keep scrolling.

Join in on our chat below

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481: How to See What Others Don’t with Constance Dierickx, PhD

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This week’s guest—someone who I once referred to as “a hoot”—makes her second appearance on the show, her first in nearly six years.

constance dierickx

Her name is Dr. Constance Dierickx. We last heard from her way back in Episode #190 to talk about her book High Stakes Leadership.

This time she’s here to discuss her brand new book, Meta-Leadership: How to See What Others Don’t and Make Great Decisions.

All top leaders make mistakes, she says, simply because they are human. In fact, the more senior and successful they are, the more susceptible they are to making errors due to over-confidence and perhaps, hubris. But, as Constance demonstrates, this doesn’t have to be your fate.

In her new book, she draws on a vast body of research from psychology and business to show how great leaders can improve their judgment for stronger, more profitable results. Incorporating leading-edge data and research on the science of thinking, emotional regulation, and behavior, Meta Leadership offers fascinating stories, incisive insights, and useful takeaways for better leadership and better outcomes.

Whether you are at the start of your leadership journey or have held a senior leadership role for years, Meta-Leadership will arm you with knowledge and insights to achieve the highest results from yourself and your team.

I hope you’ll click the play button below to learn more about Constance and her work. For a summary, just keep scrolling.

Join in on our chat below

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480: The Case for Good Jobs with Zeynep Ton

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Two years ago, my 81-year-old mother, fell in love with Turkish culture. Credit Turkish men. Suffice to say, there’s not a Turkish movie or soap opera she hasn’t seen at least twice. She’s even teaching herself the language.

zeynep ton

This means, of course, that possibly for the first time ever, she’ll be excited to give one of my episodes a listen because Turkey is from where my guest today originally hails.

Her name is Zeynep Ton (Zeynep, according to my mother, is a popular girl’s name in Turkey. It’s even the name of a leading character on one of her “shows.”).

And Zeynep’s new book, released just a few weeks ago, is called The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay & Meaning to Everyone’s Work.

From healthcare facilities to call centers, fulfillment centers to factories, and restaurants to retail stores, companies are struggling to find or keep workers, Zeynep says, because the jobs they offer are low-paying, stressful, and provide little chance for growth and success.

Workers want good jobs, and many leaders want to provide them.

But they don’t think they can offer higher pay and more motivating work without hurting the bottom line. Most business leaders want to win with customers, but their companies are hobbled by a host of service and operational problems largely driven by high employee turnover—turnover that’s partly driven by low pay.

With expertise drawn from spending time on the front lines with workers and their managers, Zeynep knows what’s keeping most companies mired in mediocrity and how implementing a good jobs system makes them more competitive, more resilient, and more likely to attract and retain loyal customers and dedicated employees.

I hope you’ll click the play button below to learn more about Zeynep and her work. For a summary, just keep scrolling.

Join in on our chat below

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468: Stop Writing Books Nobody Reads with Debs Jenkins

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Networks are an amazing thing. And to think I never even considered what a boon this podcast could be to my own network when I launched it nearly 10 years ago.

debs jenkins

There is Dan Horowitz of LinkedIn. He read my book and invited me to speak to his employees. Later, he introduced me to author Ann Latham. Ann would appear on the podcast twice in less than three months.

Ann, then introduced me to the person I have the privilege of speaking with today. Debs Jenkins.

Debs is a book writing coach, and author of Stop Writing Books Nobody Reads: The Dangerously Effective Way to Write and Publish a Book That People Read and Refer.

Debs says that you don’t need a long book published by a traditional publisher to get what you need. You need to get short valuable ideas out to your market in a professional way, as quickly as possible.

Many people, Debs says, don’t get their ideas turned into things (books written) because they skip an element in the process, reinvent the process or don’t even have a process to start with. When you have the process you can turn your thoughts into many different things. This book gives you the process so you can write your book that will be read and referred!

I hope you’ll click the play button below to learn more about Debs and her work. For a summary, just keep scrolling.

Join in on our chat below

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