System Execution Podcast

Episode 66: Creating Your Brand's Story, with Allen Adamson

Allen Adamson is a noted industry expert in all disciplines of branding. He is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Metaforce.co and the author ofBrandSimple,BrandDigital,The Edge: 50 Tips from Brands That Lead, andShift Ahead: How the Best Companies Stay Relevant in a Fast Changing World. Prior to Metaforce, Allen was Chairman, North America of Landor Associates, a global branding firm. What you’ll learn about in this episode: * Allen’s experience and the expertise he has around branding * The evolution of the term “brand,” what it has come to mean today, and why branding is all about getting your story out to the world * What has changed in the branding space with the omnipresence of technology * Why you need to constantly reinvent and re-sharpen your brand in today’s market * Ways to know whether your branding is working or not including the most important thing for a brand to focus on * The process Allen takes his clients through to determine what makes their brand different * What you need to get focused on in your brand’s story if you want to get it out there * One of the biggest challenges of working collaboratively as a company and who should be at the table when coming up with the brand’s story * What an editorial reduction process is and why that is really the important part of branding * The process Allen uses to help businesses figure out where to put their brand’s story and how to know whether the advertising channel you’ve chosen is the right one or not * An example of a brand that has been successful over time and why they have been able to accomplish this * Your best chance of breaking out against your competitors * The danger of trying to do too many things with your brand and how to avoid that trap * Why you should have a founder’s mentality * Reasons brands might want to look outside the digital space to get their name out there Ways to contact Allen: * Website:www.shiftaheadbook.com [https://www.shiftaheadbook.com/] * Website:metaforce.co [https://www.metaforce.co/]

Episode 65: Client Engagement with AR and AI, with Berkley Egenes

Berkley Egenes is the Vice President of Marketing for MERIDIUN. A results-driven strategic marketing leader solving business challenges at the intersection of consumers and technology, Egenes is committed to building brands, launching products and producing returns for his partners. With a strong entrepreneurial spirit for creating insights-based understanding using a data-first brand strategy and development process, he has delivered measurable cross-channel platforms and technologies in the global economy with brands like Kellogg’s, AB InBev, Alcatel, VIZIO, Walmart, Seiyu, ASDA, Sam’s Club, CVS Pharmacy, Ahold USA, A&P, Spartan Stores, Hy-Vee, Inc., Big Y and Weis Markets. Always focused on the impact of technology in the global consumer ecosystem, he has an extensive background in augmented and virtual reality, retail, IoT, consumer electronics and mobility, consumer packaged goods and shopper marketing experiences working on the brand side at NextVR, NASCAR, and creative agency and services with CSE, Envoy and IBM. A graduate of Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and certificate in international business, Egenes also earned his master in business administration from the University of Notre Dame. What you’ll learn about in this episode: * Berkley’s client engagement process with his AR and AI business, MERIDIUN * What exactly the AR and AI space is and how it creates personal experiences for users as well as how consumers are driving the convergence of AR and AI * What new clients should expect when they come to MERIDIUN (including the first thing they look at to help their business) * Reasons consumers aren’t buying merchandise in stores as much anymore and why mobile devices are now driving half of all revenue * The importance of methodically following a process and what MERIDIUN does during that process to ensure their solution is going to provide value to the client * How Berkley works with clients whether they know everything or nothing about AR and AI * Monetizing the content experience for retailers including ways AR can pay for itself * How long a typical engagement can last and what happens over that time, including handling periods when there is a lot of working going on but not a lot of communication with clients * Communicating with clients to constantly improve their experience as well as the end product and how actively engaging with clients and data helps with this * The concept of failing fast and how it can actually help you succeed along with real-world examples of how this can happen * Berkley’s plans to scale appropriately and how plans and processes are a huge part of that * Advantages of being forward thinking and jumping at good opportunities Ways to contact Berkley: * Email:berkley.egenes@meridiun.com [berkley.egenes@meridiun.com] * Twitter:@berkleyegenes [https://twitter.com/berkleyegenes] * LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/berkleyegenes [https://www.linkedin.com/in/berkleyegenes]

Episode 64: Attachment Styles in the Workplace, with Peter Lovenheim

Peter Lovenheim is an author and journalist whose articles and essays have appeared in the New York Times, New York magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Parade, Moment Magazine, The Washington Post, and other publications. His five previous books includeIn the Neighborhood: The Search for Community on an American Street,One Sleepover at a Time, winner of a Barnes & Noble Discover Award and the First Annual Zócalo Public Square Book Prize, andPortrait of a Burger as a Young Calf, a first-hand attempt to understand the food chain. Lovenheim holds a degree in journalism from Boston University and in law from Cornell Law School. He teaches narrative non-fiction at The Writers Center in Bethesda, MD and splits his time between his hometown of Rochester, NY, and Washington, DC. What you’ll learn about in this episode: * The attachment effect and its elements including how a knowledge of attachment can help managers and owners * The hunger we all have that drives the interest in attachment and how that stems from the nature vs nurture debate * What drives attachment from birth and how the quality of early attachment helps shape who we become * The types of attachments people can come out of childhood having * Why a person’s attachment style shows up a lot in the workplace and different ways of measuring attachment in adults * Why it’s advantageous for managers to know their employees’ attachment styles * Traits that different attachment styles bring to the workplace as well as what mix of styles is best to have in a business * What Peter found in his observations while observing different attachment styles in a real business * The attachment style that is best suited for a management position * Advice on how to best manage employees with insecure attachments and ways people with different attachment styles can help each other * All the areas of your life your attachment style can manifest itself Ways to contact Peter: * Website:peterlovenheim.com [http://peterlovenheim.com/]

Episode 63: Systematizing Your Onboarding Process, with Rami Jebara

Rami Jebara is the Co-Founder & CTO of Tuangru, a software provider of next generation data center infrastructure management (DCIM), designed for today’s hybrid IT environments. Whether a users application workloads reside on-premises, in edge data centers or in the cloud, Tuangru provides users with a holistic view of their entire infrastructure for management and optimization. The company was recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in North America by Deloitte Technology Fast 500™. What you’ll learn about in this episode: * What Rami’s company, Tuangru, is focused on as well as the premise and belief it was founded behind * How Rami got started in the IT world when the internet was still pretty new * Hybrid IT- what it is and what’s happening with it in the IT world including what stays the same and what the challenge is with this different IT management * The software system Rami uses to keep everybody in his company aligned and the agile process and system Rami’s team uses * Two things that processes are made out of with an example of a system and process that is more important than software tools * The most important aspect of onboarding to help you build a knowledge base to help the process * Reasons it’s so important to make sure you start with the right people and how to amplify and enable humans to work more efficiently * Two different types of missteps and examples of each * What happens if you have an imbalance of process in engineering * How software development has changed and become more systematized * The importance of reflecting and asking questions about your processes * Meetings and rituals that bring the team closure including weekly check-ins that Rami runs and who is involved in those * Why different departments need to communicate with each other Ways to contact Rami: * Email:rami.jebara@tuangru.com [rami.jebara@tuangru.com]

Episode 62: The Importance of Processes, with David Thomas

David Thomas, CEO at Evident, is an accomplished cybersecurity entrepreneur. He has a history of introducing innovative technologies, establishing them in the market, and driving growth with each early-stage company emerging as the market leader. Today, as CEO of Evident, he helps provide innovative business solutions to simplify interactions with personal data assets. What you’ll learn about in this episode: * Why David enjoys building a business from the ground up and prefers working as a smaller business instead of as a larger corporation * The importance of a rigorous process not only for businesses that specialize in data security but in all businesses seeking success * The role automation plays in David’s organization and why it is so important for smaller businesses to help them achieve the larger visions of the organization * Why David believes it’s important to hire quality people to handle the things that are outside of his expertise * The way David responds to problems, with a team approach * How David feels about having the customer’s best interest at heart and why he believes that philosophy has served his entire organization well * The importance of positivity even when dealing with sensitive topics that may be emotionally charged * The role of educating and training his workforce plays in David’s organization and why it’s important for all businesses that expect to grow * The necessity of auditing the effectiveness of workers and the quality of David’s organization’s work * How David’s organization prefers to focus on every single touchpoint of the customer experience rather than simply focusing on marketing or production * David’s words of advice to entrepreneurs starting their own businesses Ways to contact David: * Website:www.evidentid.com [https://www.evidentid.com/] * LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/company-beta/17901517 [https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/17901517/] * Twitter:@EvidentID [https://twitter.com/evidentid]