The Business Trendsetter Podcast

Only 6 weeks into the new administration and many small and mid-size business leaders are giving up on planning.  With Musk at DOGE sending out cost cutting measures, while other real department heads appear to be doing nothing – or doing something equally outrageous – it’s easy to say “there’s no reason to plan. Who knows what will happen next?”   That would be wrong. This podcast explains how the big trends have not changed. On the surface it may appear different, but if you know your customers’ needs you know to continue pursuing them.  What’s happening around you is not “disruption, “ but in fact chaos.  And during chaos opportunities abound. Surely you can see through the chaos to identify customers’ needs and how the cuts being made only create more opportunities to fill those needs.    Don’t be paralyzed by the loudness and outrageousness.  Don’t let poorly defined terms like “swamp” confuse you.  Instead recognize that chaos has happened before, and you can manage your way through it with good planning.  Lead like a winner during this period and you’ll be a winner as things reach a “new normal.”   Thinking Points: * Did you do scenario planning back in November, after the election, to prepare for what’s happening now? * Are you recognizing how the big trends have not changed?  Just how you can react to them in some markets. * Chaos creates opportunity - by definition.  Do you see it that way, or are you choosing to be paralyzed? * Do you realize great leaders create. They don’t tear apart. Are you ready to help your customers grow during their feeling of fear?

Starbucks succeeded for years by building out a fantastic Value Delivery System supporting its Value Proposition.  This podcast explains how leadership allowed a focus on the VDS to drift the company away from its VP, and recently hire a new CEO who’s doing enormous harm to long term value by implementing short-term VDS improvements. This podcast also overviews what SMB leaders need to know about DeepSeek and the evolution of AI. AI is getting better and cheaper, and like the internet did previously, is greatly improving business capabilities at lower cost. What’s been called “breakthroughs” are significant advancements that demonstrate all businesses will have no choice about using AI if they are to survive, thus it is imperative SMBs start using the technology now.  This podcast provides jumping off points to get started. Thinking Points: * Do you know your Value Proposition? Are your “improvements” enhancing your VP to customers, or detracting from your VP by focusing on how to lower cost? * Are you encouraging employees to seek out applications of AI to improve operations and enhance your Value Proposition? * Are you testing applications for both generative and reasoning AI? * Does your future planning include significant application of AI, or are you expecting AI to happen magically?

Netflix just blew out expectations for new subscribers, and the stock – one again – is at all time highs.  To understand why Netflix is so successful is to understand that the company keeps investing in entirely new markets and solutions, which drives new revenue streams.  Rather than focusing on how to do more of the same better, faster, cheaper Netflix keeps using trends to find new growth opportunities.   This podcast explains how attempts to defend & extend your business ultimately fail – like Sears.  And like the bad decisions McDonald’s made to grow the burger business rather than investing in Chipotles and Boston Market.  And how the CNN CEO killed CNN+ when the market was going digital.  Yet we all over-invest in our old business, and under-invest in doing the new thing.  Because we’re too comfortable thinking we can get away with it, when in fact we can’t.   Thinking Points: * How much of your time do you spend defending & extending your current business versus looking for new opportunities? * How many of your best people are working on defending your current business vs identifying new opportunities? * How willing are you to invest in something new for higher growth, even as returns on your existing business are declining? * Are you watching trends and figuring out how the world will create opportunites, or are you fixated on solving problems?

The episode of the Business Trendsetter Podcast Innovators Series features Manny Teran interviewing Frank Vidal, a development manager and founder of the Tucson Thrive virtual mastermind group. Frank shares insights into his community-building efforts through Tucson Thrive, which fosters open, vulnerable discussions and authentic relationships among members. The conversation explores mentorship gaps for entrepreneurs, the impact of social media and AI on networking, the importance of financial literacy, and the need for creating meaningful personal connections. Frank highlights the value of storytelling, vulnerability, and building community as cornerstones of personal and professional growth.

The administration is changing in 2025, and it’s sure to impact businesses. But you can plan for change. Looking backward, all the way to Kodak and Xerox and Amazon we can see that it is possible to plan your way to success, while avoiding pitfalls, decline and failure.  It’s important to plan for trends, rather than just looking at the past, realizing that big trends transcend politics offering the chance to grow regardless administrations.   This podcast overviews the big trends that will impact all businesses, and offers insights on how to plan for success.  Demographics have nothing to do with administrations, and by understanding those trends you can become a leader in your business – both by retargeting your hiring and better understanding customer needs.  And understanding that promotion is now completely different, yet still accessible if you put your money in the right place. Meanwhile, understanding your Value Proposition can keep you from backsliding into oblivion as you do more of the same, while those who overcome rigidity to their Value Delivery System move forward with new offerings meeting emerging needs.   Thinking Points: * Do you let your plans be jerked around by headlines and politician statements, or do you have a handle on how long-term trends will impact your customers needs and your suppliers? * Are you implementing processes that worked 10, 20, or more years ago failing to recognize that you need new processes to reach customers and effectively source? * When you meet a really tough problem do you become Don Quixote, fighting to continue despite the trends, or do you adapt to the inevitable? * Are you tracking the results of your existing practices and looking for “a better way?”