Unshakeable Influence Podcast

Julie Garlikov, Chief Commercial Officer of Sherlock Biosciences that is responsible for driving commercial strategy, product innovation and go to market plans to bring novel diagnostic products to the consumer market.  Here are some key moments from our conversation: Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:40) What did your transition look like that led you to this company? (02:54) You have an atypical background for what you do. What is your background and how do you think it serves in your current role? (05:37) How do you approach leadership? (07:15) How do you lead now in terms of the VUCA nature of the world today? (15:33) How do you support your people be successful and to be more resilient? (16:56) How would you describe your true north as a leader? (19:36) What are your style and tips to help others to do their best work? (33:30) What are some of your biggest challenges in your leadership journey? (35:05) How do you navigate disappointment? (36:42) How do you do your best as far as keeping yourself ready for a potential disruption in the market place? (40:29) What do you do to help yourself recharge and rejuvenate to stay on top of your game? (44:06) What one key piece of advice you can leave to our listeners? (46:16)

Kendall Holbrook, Chief Executive Officer of Dev Technology Group, Inc. Dev Technology is an information technology services company delivering mission-critical applications and systems that protect and serve American citizens. Here are some key moments from our conversation: Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:39) Where did you start your career and how did you get to where you at today? (03:50) How did you know if you were ready to make the transistion from Business Development to CEO? (10:05) How did you make the transition and get the right person in place to cover your role? (15:21) What are the challenges you face now today after 5 years as CEO? (18:24) What do you and Dev Technology do to help attract and retain and get the most out of the people that you have? (20:16) How do you describe your true north as a leader?(21:52) How do you make sure that your organization and yourself follow the organization’s stated values? (24:01) What do you do to do to make sure you have the highest functioning team? (35:35) What are you trying to be as the role model to people? (46:11) What do you do to help yourself recharge and rejuvenate and be at your best day-in and day-out? (49:00) What is one key piece of advice you can leave to our listeners? (50:13)

Jeffrey Harris, Co-Founder & CEO of SpringBig, Inc. Springbig is the leading provider of CRM and loyalty marketing solutions for cannabis dispensaries and brands. Here are some key moments from our conversation: •    Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:43) •    Can you tell us how you handle the growth, attract the right people, fill the right roles while maintaining the organization’s culture? (09:49) •    How do you describe your culture and how has it changed over time? (12:11) •    What are some of the challenges you have faced along the way? (15:25) •    How would you describe your true north as a leader? (17:20) •    What do you do to make sure your employees are happy and satisfied consistently? (19:36) •    What are your thoughts about the impact of VUCA on leadership, teamwork, and culture and what steps are you taking to lead in today’s world? (25:09) •    What’s been your experience as you’ve change from private company to public company? (42:58)  •    What do you do to help yourself recharge and rejuvenate to stay on top of your game? (45:42) •    What one key piece of advice you can leave to our listeners? (50:33)

John Holly, Chairman, CEO and President of Davidson Technologies Inc. For 25 years, Davidson has distinguished itself in the aerospace and missile defense industries with an outstanding reputation for excellence. Here are some key moments from our conversation: •    Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:41) •    What was your experience of leadership development within the army? (05:30) •    What is your true north as a leader? (15:10) •    What are some specific examples you might share about how you help the organization as far as the culture and leadership goes? (16:50) •    What did you learn in the military and how did you apply that to the VUCA World today? (21:40) •    How do you do your best to navigate disagreements within your team? (27:55) •    What are some of your biggest challenges along your leadership journey? (31:13) •    How did you know that it make sense to fire and find a team that was going to look for the right solution and accept the deadline? (39:03) •    What do you do to stay on the top of your game? (47:33) •    What’s one key piece of advice you can share with our listeners? (49:08)

Clint Rusch is passionate about helping his teams achieve breakthrough success, often in areas they didn't realize were possible. NorthPoint Logistics is a values-focused full-service international freight forwarder, customs broker, and domestic freight broker. It offers logistics management services and systems which centralize provider networks, automate shipment planning and tracking, and provide world-class service and expertise to help their clients navigate the uncertain waters of supply chains around the world. Here are some key moments from our conversation: •    Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:41) •    What has the growth curve of the company looked like? (02:18) •    How do you create a company and culture that was well prepared to succeed in the chaos of COVID? (05:37) •    Why did you choose Northpoint and why at this point of the time? (09:10) •    How do you do your best to assess, ahead of time, that the culture was everything you thought it was before accepting the CEO role? (11:43)  •    How would you describe your true north as a leader? (13:40) •    How do you translate consistent day to day operations? (17:48) •    What does psychological safety means to you? (20:53) •    What inspired you to join the army and how was it a formative experience for you? (27:03) •    What did you learn about leadership in the Army that you use in your day-to-day now? (30:37) •    How do you make sure that amongst your team and organization you have clarity around communication and shared understanding? (42:37) •    What do you do that to keep yourself at the top of your game? (54:01) •    What one key piece of advice you can leave to our listeners? (01:00:13)

Tommy Mello, CEO and Founder of A1 Garage Door Service Inc. As every entrepreneur, Tommy started out by doing everything himself from sales and marketing to accounting and hiring. But along the way, he learned that he didn’t need to work 14-hour shifts and sacrifice his family and friends to get his business to where he wanted it to be. Here are some key moments from our conversation: •    Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:44) •    What inspired you to put extra effort and extra time to get you where you at today? (03:44) •    What sets you apart from other players in your industry? (05:33) •    What inspired you to invest in your people so much? (07:54) •    When and why did you start the path of continuous learning? (10:04) •    How would you describe your true north as a leader? (15:30) •    What do you do to recharge and rejuvenate? (23:42) •    What led you to consider private equity investment and partnership? (34:03) •    With your private equity investment considerations, how did you know that it was a good fit to partner with this private equity firm? (39:47) •    What one key piece of advice do you have for our listeners? (41:58)

Krish Chopra, CEO/Co-Founder of NPHub. NPHub’s  primary focus is to automate and streamline the clinical rotation process required for Nurse Practitioner students to graduate. Here are some key moments from our conversation: •    Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:49) •    What was your motivation to start a company? (07:56) •    How would you describe your true north as a leader? (12:08) •    How do you keep your organization heading the right direction as far as living and speaking the company values? (16:12) •    How do you make sure people feel comfortable bringing their full selves to work? (20:22) •    What have been the major inflection points along your company’sgrowth curve? (35:09) •    What do you see in the next 3 to 5 years as far as the company and the growth curve? (40:09) •    What have been some of your learning points and challenges along the way? (42:02) •    What do you do to stay in top of the game? (52:07) •    What one key piece of advice you can leave to our listeners? (54:51)

Christopher Marentis, Chief Executive Officer of Surefire Local. Chris is a technology entrepreneur and business leader on a mission to help small businesses leverage the power of digital transformation. As the founder and CEO of Surefire Local, he has focused the company’s efforts to build powerful marketing solutions that give small businesses cost-effective, easy-to-use tools only available to the big guys. The motivation for Surefire Local was born out of Chris’s background in a multigenerational small business home. Here are some key moments from our conversation: •    Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:41) •    What led you to be more of an innovative person? (06:14) •    What inspire you to start your company? (12:20) •    What inspired you for writing your book? (17:40) •    What is it that you’re doing that is different and unique versus some of your competitors? (22:09) •    What are the five core values of your company and how do you do your best as a leader to keep the culture on track? (25:05) •    What steps do you take as a leader to make sure that these values are consistently lived into each day? (34:08) •    What is your true north as a leader? (42:52) •    What do you do to keep yourself rejuvenated and at your best? (45:15) •    What one key piece of advice you can leave to our listeners? (46:19)

Daniel Kenary, Co-Founder & CEO of Mass. Bay Brewing Company, Inc. Daniel is passionate about their company and beer, and they work each day to create great beer drinking experiences.  Here are some key moments from our conversation: •    Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:41) •    What inspired you to start a beer business? (02:50) •    For the first few years imagining probably with a lot of challenges, what was it like for the first three to five years? (08:17) •    What do you think has changed overtime in your industry? (10:01) •    As your company is now in a massive industry, what is your perspective on that? (13:23) •    As a leader when you’re leading the company, what did you consider to support the business as it continues to grow? (15:03) •    What are your visions for the company? (22:23) •    How do you do your best to make sure the culture is consistent and people are doing the right thing all the time? (28:11) •    What do you do to help the company do their best in hiring? (30:45) •    How would you describe your true north and key values as a leader? (38:50) •    What key piece of advice you can share for listener’s takeaway? (42:26)

Michelle Johnson is an Author, Racial Equity Educator, Yoga Teacher and Practitioner. She has years of experience facilitating various workshops, immersions, and retreats focused on dismantling racism, processing individual and collective grief, healing the collective, and working with people and groups who have experienced trauma. Michelle is the author of three books, with a fourth upcoming in 2023. Here are some key moments from our conversation: •    Brief introduction of yourself and what you do. (00:57) •    How you got started on this path and what are some of the inflection points along your journey? (02:55) •    What is the common thread that runs through everything that you do? (07:17) •    How did you cultivate your style of leading people? (21:15) •    Do you agree that there is a certain level of dance and sometimes when facilitating you are not going to have the impact you are aiming for? (29:15) •    What does it look like for you in cultivating and being in touch with your inner guidance? (31:14) •    What advice might you have for people who still figuring out how to get in touch with themselves? (35:37) •    What would you say to people who might want to improve their capacity to be with their own emotions more effectively? (52:27) •    What are you focusing on as far as your next level of growth and impact to the world? (54:50) •    What is one key piece of advice for the listeners on consistently becoming and being the best version of themselves? (1:00:06)

Lucas James Talent Partners is an On-Demand Talent Acquisition Services firm focused on providing clients a high quality, cost-effective, variable, and transparent talent acquisition experience. The most efficient, cost-effective way to perform talent acquisition activities is in-house - and they give their client partners a solution to help expand their internal offerings on an as-needed, cost friendly basis. Here are some key moments from our conversation: Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:43) How did you come up with your unique ways of addressing clients recruiting challenges? (03:49) What do you think is the reason why companies don’t invest more on talent acquisition? (11:10) What has your company’s growth curve been like, and the success factors and challenges you have seen along the way? (13:03) How would you describe your north star as a leader? (19:30) How would you characterize the culture of the organization now? (21:11) What do you do to recharge and rejuvenate? (43:10) What key piece of advice for people listening can you share? (44:59)

Patrick Dennis is the Chief Executive Officer of ExtraHop. Working alongside a world-class executive team and a seasoned board of directors, Patrick is responsible for driving company-wide strategy and priorities with a focus on customer success, innovation, and rapid, scalable growth. Here are some key moments from our conversation: Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:41) What drew you to this role? (02:27) Did you think maybe someday you will be a CEO? (06:38) How was your journey and transition into your first CEO role? (09:52) How do you go about making the best hiring decisions? (15:01) What do you do to get the best out of the organization’s people? (19:27) How do you describe your true north as a leader? (25:51) What is your practice about how you as a leader encourage and enforce accountability within your organization? (30:00) What are some of your biggest challenges as a leader and how you overcome them? (33:10) How did you know that you have enough confidence for your first CEO role? (38:57) What do you do to make sure you are getting quality feedback including feedback that might be difficult to hear? (43:33) What do you do to recharge? (47:32) One key piece of advice you want to leave to the listeners? (50:15)

Dan Fantasia, CEO & Co Founder of Treeline. It was founded in 2001 and is known for helping companies hire elite sales professionals in 30 days or less. Thousands of clients and tens of thousands of sales athletes have turned to Treeline to reach new altitudes. Here are some key moments from our conversation: Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:41) What is different and unique about how Treeline solves problems for clients? (02:00) What are the core values of Treeline’s culture? (08:20) Leaders are free to make mistakes. (11:37) Why was company culture a motivating factor to start your company?(13:15) Through the growth your company has experienced over the years, how do you keep the culture going to the direction you wanted it to go? (16:36) What have you done over the years to help the company and individuals improve one step at a time? (20:56) What do you do to be the better version of yourself? (25:20) One key piece of advice you want to leave to the listeners. (30:35)

David Berman, Co-Founder & CEO of Berman McAleer. David established Berman Financial Group in 1999 and realized his professional dream of partnering with his best friend in 2002 to form Berman McAleer. As CEO, he set the company’s strategic direction and chairs the executive committee. Here are some key moments from our conversation: Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:41) How does your unusual incentive structure provide better service to clients? (04:33) Value system that creates more fulfillment for employees and clients. (11:58) Three core values of the organization (13:07) How do you work with clients to help them get clear about what money really means to them? (18:43) How would you describe your true north as a leader? (24:53) How long have you been working with a coach and what benefits have you experienced? (33:24) What is it that will make you happy if it’s not just achievements or accomplishments? (38:59) What do you do to recharge and rejuvenate? (40:46) One key piece of advice you want to leave to the listeners. (41:49)

Aliyah Nance, VP of People at Paystand. Aliyah is an experienced Finance and HR Professional with a demonstrated history of working with high growth startups. She is a strong accounting professional skilled in Negotiation, Budgeting, Business Planning, Strategy, Team Building and Customer Service. Here are some key moments from our conversation: Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:39) How did you make the transition to VP of People when you didn’t come from that background? (03:22) What led you to be more people focused? (06:59) People drive the company more than anything else (08:05) What was the transition like as you accepted the role of full time VP of People? (09:26) How did Paystand successfully open their offices just two months after the pandemic started? And why? (12:35) What are your key values as a leader? (15:54) How do you do your best to hire the right people? (17:43) How do you lead by example and embody the leadership values? (18:54) How do you keep your company culture growing in the direction you want it to grow? (20:38) What were your key challenges along the way and what did you learn from them? (22:18) How do you recharge and rejuvenate? (27:04) One key piece of advice you want to leave to the listeners. (29:15)

Mike Zani, CEO of The Predictive Index. They develop systems and methodologies for talent optimization, and bring that discipline through a platform and the world’s largest network of talent optimization consultants. Mike helps leaders intentionally and strategically designs great teams and a successful culture. Here are some key moments from our conversation: Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:44) How has your company changed and grown over time and how do you manage that change and growth? (08:38) For you, what is a great teacher or coach? (12:50) What is your true north as a leader and how does it translate to your day to day behavior and how you lead? (16:16) What is your experience as far as the importance of consistency in your leadership conversations? (23:23) What predictive index does? (25:52) How can people engage with your tool and services? (28:21) What are some of your biggest challenges along the way and what have you learned from them? (29:54) Overlaps in leadership journey and personal growth. (34:20) Share something about your book. (36:59) What do you do to keep yourself at the top of your game? (39:09) One key piece of advice you want to share base from your experience? (40:35)

Alec Ford, Chief Executive Officer of Karius that envisions a world where infectious disease is no longer a major threat to human health. To achieve this, the Karius Test uses genomics and AI to map a patient’s microbial landscape from a single blood sample to enable clinicians to make rapid treatment decisions. Here are some key moments from our conversation: Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:40) What’s the typical process to identify infections? (04:23) How Karius improves outcome as the test is more holistic and timeliness of results is much more immediate (07:43) What drew you to this industry and what keeps you going? (08:52) Whatever you are trying to do, you should overestimate what is required and go above and beyond expectations. (17:58) Your career progression over the years. (20:30) How’s the current transition in your career going for you? (28:10) How did your vision change over time? (30:50) The more investment you’re willing to make, the more confident you become. (38:43) How do you recharge and rejuvenate? (47:58) One key piece of advice you want to leave to the listeners? (51:50) How do you maximize the chances of people to feel comfortable? (55:13) Any final or closing thoughts for the audience. (1:01:47)

Alex Frommeyer, CEO and Co-Founder of Beam Benefits. Beam Benefits simplifies and modernizes employee benefits through their intuitive digital platform, self-service tools, AI-powered underwriting, and unique Beam Perks™ program. Beam Benefits delivers a simple, smart, and wellness-focused experience for brokers, employers, and members that include dental, vision, life, disability, and supplemental health. Here are some key moments from our conversation: Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:43) What inspired you and your partners to start a business? (04:25) Why were you so clear at a relatively young age, the three of you wanted to partner and form a business together? (06:17) What are you doing to digitize and help your clients more effectively? (11:45) For 10 years now since you started, what’s the growth curve been like? (17:42) We deliberately took smoother and more linear path to make sure we didn’t grow too quickly. (19:56) What were the stepping stones along the way? (20:55) How do you describe your True North - key values as a leader? (23:16) How do you manage the company’s rapid growth curve? (29:03) Leadership growth is willingness to take feedback. (30:05) Why are you so clear about being laser focusd on your company culture? (34:35) How you keep your self going and high energy? (43:55) One key piece of advice you want to share to our listeners? (47:15)

Lalith Subramanian, Vice President, Product Development of DocuSign. Lalith has deep expertise in information security(endpoint, forensics, eDiscovery), data governance, AI/ML, BPM/data integration, content management, ERP, regulated vertical solutions (Healthcare, Pharma/Lifesciences, Fin.Svcs) and with proven success in building and leading distributed product management and engineering teams and managing global customer relationships. Here are some key moments from our conversation: Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:44) With your first leadership role, what was the transition like for you and how did you grow through that? (03:39) To deliver success, it’s about the combine output rather than individual output. (10:01) How do you navigate of letting go of the details of technology and then embracing more of your leadership ability? (10:50) How did you describe your true north as a leader and your key values as a leader? (13:26) What were the significant inflection points along your career progression and what did you learn from them? (18:55) Adaptation of your leadership style to accommodate cultural sensitivity was an important thing. (24:30) What key mentor have you experience in your career and how did that person impact you? (28:53) What do you do to recharge and rejuvenate? (31:41) One key piece of advice in leadership for people. (34:14)

DeLinda Forsythe, CEO & Founder of Innovative Commercial Environments (ICE). ICE focuses on developing the most creative office and hospitality spaces in San Diego - Creating Spaces to Transcend the Ordinary. Here are some key moments from our conversation: Brief introduction of yourself and your company. (00:40) What was the inspiration for you to launch a different way of approaching commercial furniture and office spaces? (04:50) In your experience, how do leadership, soft skills and mentorship translate to financial results? (07:42) Employees and clients value us as much as we value them. (10:50) Changing the conversation to being about the best value/ROI vs. just the best price. (24:04) What are some of the leadership challenges you have faced along the way and how did you overcome them? (25:41) What’s next for you and what does it look like? (32:27) One key piece of advice in leadership for people listening. (38:40)