The Iowa Business Podcast

Can you train Ai to recommend your small business? Iowa web CEO breaks down free steps.

Locals are using ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Grok to answer questions about where to find local products or services. As a business owner do you have any control over what they say or recommend? Yes. In fact, you can do a lot for free, says Drew Harden, CEO and founder of Blue Compass. 💡 Find this show on your favorite player: https://iowapodcast.com/drew-harden ⚖️ Get guidance from Dentons Davis Brown: https://www.dentons.com/en/dentons-davis-brown 🐖 Get a free $30 gift card from Jethro's BBQ: https://iowapodcast.com/jethrosbbq As your customers use traditional Google searches less, savvy business owners must look beyond traditional search engine pratices toward generative engine optimization (GEO).

New CEO of Bank Iowa: big national banks saturating Iowa is good for business

Bank Iowa has a new CEO. South Dakota farm kid, Jason Herrbolt grew up 10 minutes from Iowa and the state finally captured him. He answers Bank Iowa's crypto plans, and addresses rising competition from big National Banks saturating Iowa, stable coins and FinTech threats. 💡 Find this show on your favorite player: https://iowapodcast.com/bank-iowa-jason-herrbolt ⚖️ Get guidance from Dentons Davis Brown: https://www.dentons.com/en/dentons-davis-brown 🐖 Get a free $30 gift card from Jethro's BBQ: https://iowapodcast.com/jethrosbbq Herrbolt explains their investment mix, how they plan to stay competitive on rates, and how they're being proactive on Ai-driven cybersecurity threats and what businesses need to do right now to ward off threats—like adding dual control to their accounts. He also clearly answers their plans on dealing with crypto currencies.

Who's hiring who? Ai is now screening resumes but is that good? Adam Viet of Big Creek Growth pulls back the broken HR curtain.

Who's hiring who? Ai is screening resumes but is that good or bad for candidates and companies? Adam Viet of Big Creek Growth pulls back the curtain on broken HR processes and how Ai could help companies recruit better, but could just as easily hurt recruiting if CHROs aren't careful. 💡 Find this show on your favorite player: https://iowapodcast.com/Ai-scanning-resumes ⚖️ Get guidance from Dentons Davis Brown: https://www.dentons.com/en/dentons-davis-brown 🐖 Get a free $30 gift card from Jethro's BBQ: https://iowapodcast.com/jethrosbbq For years, recruiters have used machine learning to scan through resumes due to the volume of resumes they receive. But the discussion centers on the reason for the high volume, which is poorly written, vague job descriptions. Will recruiters use Ai to write better job descriptions and communicate better, or will they simply use it to further remove the most precious resource they have: the human?

As we celebrate apprenticeship week, why are most parents still pushing 4 year degrees?

As we recognize apprenticeship week and the massive opportunity it brings, we learned an alarming number of parents are still pushing students to get 4-year college degrees. Why? Tim Felderman, Chair of the Iowa Apprenticeship council and Superintendent of Hampton-Dumont school district is concerned. 💡 Find this show on your favorite player: https://iowapodcast.com/iowa-apprenticeship [http://iowapodcast.com/iowa-apprenticeship] ⚖️ Get guidance from Dentons Davis Brown: https://dentons.com/en/dentons-davis-brown [http://dentons.com/en/dentons-davis-brown] 🐖 Get a free $30 gift card from Jethro's BBQ: https://iowapodcast.com/jethrosbbq [http://iowapodcast.com/jethrosbbq] Felderman explains why Iowa's process is far more adaptive to business, and how apprenticeships have evolved into tech, food service, and other growing fields. He explains apprenticeship is essentially precision education, and says helping students find fulfilling careers can be a challenge, especially as parents still push 4-year degrees on students, adding to their debt-load.

Fractional executive roles surge 5400%. Is this the Iowa executive talent stopgap we need?

Iowa's talent gap has long been a headache for local businesses, but Michelle Book, CEO of Altus CXO, reveals a "shot in the arm" solution that is currently seeing a 5,400% surge in LinkedIn roles. Unlike traditional consultants who simply hand over a plan and leave, these fractional leaders embed themselves directly into the C-suite to solve high-stakes problems with "muscle memory" gained from decades of experience. As Book explains, "It gets hot when you want it hot, and it cools down fast when you turn it off". 💡 Find this show on your favorite player: https://iowapodcast.com/fractional-executives [https://iowapodcast.com/fractional-executives] ⚖️ Get guidance from Dentons Davis Brown: https://www.dentons.com/en/dentons-davis-brown [https://www.dentons.com/en/dentons-davis-brown] 🐖 Get a free $30 gift card from Jethro's BBQ: https://iowapodcast.com/jethrosbbq [https://iowapodcast.com/jethrosbbq] From $1 billion commodity giants to 30-year-old family manufacturers, companies are increasingly using this "gas range" approach to leadership to bypass the months-long hunt for full-time hires. Whether it's navigating a major tech implementation or professionalizing operations for a future sale, these seasoned pros offer high-impact results without the long-term overhead or benefits costs. "I certainly think that this is the way we're going to employ executives and get work done in the future," Book notes. Tune in to discover why she believes "these are people that want a dynamic work environment, status quo they get bored easily, so they're ready to go, hit it hard".