Unleashed - How To Thrive As An Independent Professional

Jenelle Sheridan, a former VP and GM at Athleta, discusses how to analyze a retail company. Jenelle has 15 years of experience in retail and e-commerce, working as a consultant and operating executive. She has experience in pre-revenue startups and larger enterprise businesses, and recently launched her consulting and advisory practice, Far View Partners, which focuses on helping consumer and retail companies unlock growth. Jenelle served on the leadership team at Athleta for almost 10 years, leading strategic growth from a $200 million business to over a billion dollars. She has also held functional roles in marketing, strategy, and business development.  Metrics to Measure for Success Jenelle emphasizes the importance of metrics in understanding success and how to look at performance in retail companies. She talks about the importance of evaluating company performance and effectiveness across various stages of maturity. Jenelle emphasizes that success depends on growth metrics like brand awareness, customer

Show Notes: Gerd Schenkel discusses his experience in creating new telco businesses and how to analyze a telecommunications company. Gerd has spent over 10 years as a consultant and 15 years as an executive in banking and telco. He aims to make a differentiation in consulting work by bringing together both worlds. Developing a Telco Company Gerd spent six years at Telstra, Australia's incumbent telco, and three years as the CEO. He talks about his experience there and moves on to his first experience at creating a business which was for National Australia Bank, where he launched a digital bank called EuBank. He later worked as the CEO of a digital team and was tasked with building a telco division. Gerd discusses the creation, development and success of a telco project. He talks about launching a project, what it requires, and what he learned through the process, including accepting and meeting a 10-week launch deadline. He talks about key learnings from his time there, managing the team, product pricing,  a

Show Notes: Dan Bauer, a Harvard Business School graduate and independent consultant, talks about the NSLC, or National Student Leadership Conference program, sponsored by Inc Magazine. The program offers a nine-day immersion in entrepreneurship for high school students aged 14 to 18 from around the world. The students are vetted on their GPAs, and the program takes place on six prestigious college campuses, including Yale, Columbia, Duke, Michigan, Cal-Berkeley, and UCLA. The NSLC Origins Story The origin story for the program began with Dan’s business, the MBA Exchange, which focused on career and education consulting. After selling the business in 2016, he decided to find another outlet for teen entrepreneurship education and found that there was room for a better resource with the pedigree of top colleges and a platform for engagement with real-world entrepreneurs from various industries. Dan chose to aggregate best-in-class offerings, such as curriculum, camp teachers, and sponsors, and worked with them

Jonathan Schwartz discusses how to analyze a manufacturing company. Jonathan's background includes working in operations improvement, starting with manufacturing and then transitioning to banking and non-manufacturing roles. He has worked with private equity firms and has been a lean champion at a private equity firm. Sales and Operations Planning Process One of the first types of analysis Jonathan talks about is the sales and operations planning process (SOP), which involves integrating what is being told to the sales team with what is being produced. This alignment and match is based on the equipment and production capabilities of the company. The main idea is to align what is going to make the plant the most money with how it is incentivizing the sales team.The main idea is to align what is being sold with what is being produced, and to charge more based on the value added services provided by the company. This aligns with the company's goals and equipment to make the most money. Production Scheduling Proc

Sanjay Iyer, a consultant for 25 years, discusses the evolution of telecommunications companies, focusing on network, infrastructure, quality, and coverage analysis. He explains that coverage is the first aspect of a network, determining the reach and number of homes it can deliver service to. The structure of networks has evolved over the years, with different types of networks for broadband, such as fiber to the home, hybrid fiber coax, and fixed wireless axis. Assessing the Infrastructure Quality Sanjay explains the process of assessing the infrastructure quality of a telecommunications company, which involves evaluating speeds, latency, and other factors such as the density of homes in the neighborhood. Speeds are rated at megabits per second, but factors like the number of people using television, density of homes, and latency can affect the speed of upstream and downstream packets. Latency is another factor that covers systemic network design quality. Sanjay also mentions that there are temporary issues

Matt Sobieski discusses the process of helping a manufacturing plant improve its performance by understanding the problem statement and 47 different analyzes. He suggests talking to the plant manager or head of operations to understand the biggest challenges, cost buckets, operational constraints, and capacity constraints. Diving into One of 47 Analyzes Matt explains more about the 47 analyzes, one of which is the cost of goods sold, breakdown, and margin analysis, which helps in understanding the cost structure of the plant. This includes examining production, backlogs, inventory levels, and other factors. In the case of an agricultural manufacturing company during the pandemic, the focus was on streamlining their ordering process to increase productivity. Matt also discusses the importance of understanding the big cost buckets, such as labor, materials, waste, and inventory management. He shares a case where a client had issues with their cost per unit, where they could not get their arms around their cost

Show Notes: Paul Millerd, author of The Pathless Path and Good Work talks about his books.  He explains the behind-the-scenes process of writing about work and the relationship to it. He explains the origin story of The Pathless Path, and how falling love with a woman and with writing led to a complete change in his professional direction.  Paul, who had worked in strategy consulting for many years, left his full-time job and became a freelancer. He talks about this experience and how he felt like he was wasting his talent and needed a new story to make sense of how he felt and identify the possibilities that were emerging. The book is not a how-to book, but a friendly companion or guide for people already on similar paths. The book offers mental models, frameworks, and inspirational stories to help them venture into their own work. The conversation turns to money earned and why Paul chose to make less as a freelancer than he had in an employed position.  He also talks about the impact of the money script and

Show Notes: Christian Hyatt, Founder of Risk3Sixty, discusses the top three or four things that chief information security officers at sub-enterprise firms are most worried about right now.  He explains that these concerns include the business environment, threat actors, cybersecurity regulation, nation-state actors like Russia and China, and phishing campaigns. He also highlights the unique bridge between cybersecurity and information technology coming to a head with the recent CrowdStrike incident. Advice to Clients on Cybersecurity  Christian suggests that independent consultants should ask clients questions or warning signs to raise their concerns and consider consulting a cybersecurity expert. He suggests that clients are looking for someone who is a good listener and not operating off fear, uncertainty, and doubt. By listening to clients' needs and concerns, consultants can offer advice on implementing best practices on their existing toolset and spreading security awareness. Christian emphasizes that m

Show Notes: In this panel discussion, Lisa Carlin, director of Future Builders and author of the newsletter Turbocharge Weekly, and strategy execution specialist  introduces the three panelists, who discuss the challenges of traditional strategy development, including volatility, uncertain business environments, and significant digital and AI disruption. The panelists,  Will Bachman, Founder of Umbrex, a global community of independent management consultants,  Alex M.H. Smith, breakthrough strategist and author of No Bullshit Strategy, and Rob McLean, investor, philanthropist and co-author of  two books on strategy, discuss the challenges of traditional approaches to business strategy.  The Problem of Business Strategy Rob emphasizes that, previously, strategies were deterministic and assumed certainty in business plans. However, increasingly, there is global uncertainty, and risk and probability should be included in a strategy. He mentions that there are assumptions about uncertainty that don’t hold true. H

Show Notes: In this episode of Unleashed, Will Bachman discusses cold outreach with David A. Fields. David advises that cold outreach is a last resort tactic and should not be included in the mix of marketing strategies. Instead, he suggests that consulting firms should focus on the five marketing musts to build their network. Why Cold Outreach is Inefficient David emphasizes that cold outreach is remarkably inefficient for most consultants, as it is often slow to close and has a long sales cycle. He suggests that firms should experiment with cold outreach to find the best approach based on client feedback and experience. David also shares some historical insights about cold outreach. Cold outreach tends to respond better when closer to product sales when hardcore selling messages works better. David states that, when selling expertise and experience which is trust driven, cold outreach doesn't work well.   The Aggressive Reframe Approach Aggressive reframe, which involves asking for something rather than jus

Tish Baldez, a leading expert in management consulting, has worked with small and mid-sized consultancies and 20,000 professionals worldwide. She shares the trajectory of her career from an independent consultant to a managing partner and leader at  P31 Consulting LLC, a training program for professionals in management consulting, life science, IT consulting, finance, banking and more, and how they became a 100% referral-only business. The Foundations of the P31 Training Program Tish introduced the foundations for consulting skills program about a year and a half ago, which enables small businesses hiring new analysts, consultants, and engagement managers without formal structure training on how to do consulting or work in a consultative way. The program focuses on providing foundational skills, storyboarding, and teaching how to synthesize data and communicate it meaningfully for clients. The program is currently running multiple sessions a year in the US, UK, and Latin America. The P31 Academy offer to help

In this episode of Unleashed, Michael Rubenstein discusses the importance of organizational culture in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Michael's expertise is broader than organizational culture; he offers a bird's eye view of an organization to help move it to the next phase in their evolution which includes: Strategy, M&A, Value Creation, People and Culture, etc.  It’s all about moving an organization to the next phase in their evolution and includes: Strategy, M&A, Value Creation, People and Culture, etc. He believes that culture is the key to a successful integration and that it often goes unnoticed. He suggests that when assessing a company's culture, it is essential to identify the culture elements of the current company and the target company, and identify any gaps. Key Points in Assessing Company Culture To do this, Michael recommends conducting self-assessments and assessments of both companies, as well as conducting interviews with stakeholders such as leadership, employees, customers, an

Lisa Carlin, founder of Future Builders Group, discusses her experience in consulting and the need for a more passive income stream. She has over 50 strategy execution projects and programs that focus on business strategy, project management, and change management. Lisa believes that achieving scale in these areas requires changing the focus of the business and execution messages to what is important to the culture. In this episode, Lisa talks about developing and running a membership community. Building a Subscription Business The TurboCharge Hub membership offers a platform for functional experts to learn how to develop and execute strategies. The group is currently launching its own website called TurboChargers.com, and she meets with members twice a month on Zoom. One of the biggest lessons learned from her experience is the importance of understanding the client's pain points and tailoring their solutions accordingly. As people join, Lisa learns about their ideal customer profile and their biggest pain p

Show Notes: Jeremy Greenberg discusses the AI-powered audience simulator built by the Avenue Group. The tool allows users to provide a set of custom instructions for different audience segments, like research or interviews. It allows users to ask questions of qualitative and quantitative nature, and within minutes, results from simulated respondents are obtained. The tool mirrors the sentiment of collective segments and audiences, similar to chats or LLMs on a one-on-one basis. This tool is useful for collecting the opinions of celebrities, for example, Steve Jobs, highlighting the immense power of LLMs in capturing the distributions of the underlying population. Creating an Audience Jeremy discusses the process of updating the front end and the first section of the tool. He states the importance of setting this to create an audience, which is the global population interested in a specific topic, such as Americans drinking Coca Cola. This audience is then used to create sub-segments within the audience, each

Show Notes: In this discussion, Professor Bryan Caplan discusses the science and ethics of housing regulations and the argument for housing deregulation, which he believes benefits everyone across the political spectrum, including lower costs and more equity.  Barriers to Radical Housing Deregulation Bryan believes that to achieve radical housing deregulation, it would require convincing a large audience of people that it is a good idea. He explains that most people don't see the connection between letting people build and low prices, and there is a hypersensitivity to the harms a building can cause. The conversation also explores issues of environmental regulations and renewable power, and opposing forces lobbying to keep current housing regulations in place, such as community activists and the construction industry.  Housing Developers and Zoning Laws The discussion turns to various types of regulation and barriers faced by developers, including zoning laws, which are often used to separate industry from co

Show Notes: Maria Isabel Rios discusses the importance of making a firm work for you, rather than working for your firm. She emphasizes that firm leaders often immerse themselves in their firm in service to growing the firm to make it successful. Maria Isabel suggests that a better way to be a firm leader is to make your firm work for you. This involves finding ways to evaluate your firm, add value to your life, and bring success into the picture. A Formula to Make Your Firm Work for You A formula for making a firm work for you includes identifying key areas of importance in your personal life, and looking at your consulting firm's purpose, values, and intentions. Then, you can look at how these elements can intersect. The formula should be tailored to your needs and preferences, and should be specific to your goals. For example, if you want to spend one weekend day with family, zero work, every week for the next 52 weeks, this can be a more specific goal. Another example is a firm leader setting their goals

Show Notes: Lindsay McGregor discusses her firm's focus on building high-performing organizations. She explains that the highest performing organizations motivate people in a specific way, unlocking play, purpose, and potential for the problem they're solving. The firm trains leaders to be inspirational and consults with organizations on designing their operating models. She shares a story about how the firm explained the deeper concepts of play at work and how implementing these concepts of play was worth millions of dollars to the fund's portfolio managers every year. Play is often seen as something we do during our hobbies, but when we feel engaged by what we're solving, we perform at our best.Utilizing Play Concepts for Growth ManagementLindsay talks about the tools used to facilitate the play process and shares a sample engagement with a client who was the founder of a tech company that had scaled rapidly and the former processes no longer worked. Lindsay shares examples of the challenges faced in managi

Dr. Ron Razmi discusses his book, AI Doctor: The Rise of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare, which focuses on the applications of AI in various areas of healthcare. Ron talks about AI as a foundational technology that uses statistical methods to analyze data and understand its meaning. It can be applied to various areas, such as coding and documentation, and can create algorithms to analyze heartbeats and detect abnormal rhythms.   AI Use in Diagnostics In diagnostics, AI can be helpful in analyzing clean structured data, such as radiology files from CAT scans or MRIs. AI can be trained to identify bleeding or abnormalities on these scans, but it must be trained on specific abnormalities. Currently, AI excels in radiology due to the digitized and structured data, but it's not as effective in narrative formats. Ron states that AI's applications in healthcare are vast and deep, and while it's still in its early stages, it has the potential to revolutionize various sectors, including healthcare. AI Tools in

Show Notes: The Benefits of Somatics Divya Agarwal, founder of Vivekam, explains what somatics is and what the benefits are. Somatics is a term used to describe ​body-based techniques that can be used with the body to build more body/mind awareness, manage emotions, and respond more effectively. ​T​hese practices involve using ​techniques such as breathing, generating heat, and visualization practices to sense oneself better and improve self-awareness.   These practices can help individuals feel more connected to their emotions and be present in various situations, such as negotiations or job evaluations. Mindful presence, which has been emphasized in mainstream literature and coaching, is another way to be present. However, there is a growing trend towards using “embodiment” (the quality of being/feeling the body) as a way to enter presence. Some simply techniques to build embodiment involved breathing exercises, visualization exercises, and body scans. Divya explains that somatics works at the nervous syste

Kathy Hines, former Chief Marketing Officer at brands like Dickies and Vice President at brands like North Face and Kipling ,shares her experiences. She started her career in career management consulting at Bain and later went on to Nike, where she gained foundational experience in lifestyle and sports marketing. At Kipling, she led marketing strategy and E-commerce. She then led marketing and strategy for the North Face in Europe. After a four-year stint in VF Europe, she returned to the US and took on the role of global chief marketing officer for Dickies in Texas, where she was also responsible for licensing. Her experience at VF has given her a broad range of skills and experiences. Developing a Professional Marketing Plan Using a sports and lifestyles brand as an example, Kathy shares her process for developing a professional marketing plan. She begins by identifying the brand's aligned corporate strategy and working closely with the leadership team to understand financials and operational opportunities.