This is the first of several podcasts on why truly great businesses find a way to strike the right balance between being Smart (right finance, technology, strategy, structure, etc.) AND Healthy (minimal levels of confusion, politics, meetings-after-the-meetings and high productivity and retention of high performing talent). Jeff Tibitts is the SVP of Operations for CESO Inc. Jeff shares why CESO's executive team has decided to take on the work to create a truly aligned and cohesive executive team. You'll appreciate Jeff's energy, passion and practical approach to this work. You'll thoroughly enjoy learning how this approach can help you and your business and executive team.

If you want to have highly engaged people, you need to build in each person a sense of loyalty. "A strong feeling of support or allegiance." Loyalty to either you as their boss or to the company. The secret lies in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. In this 5 minutes I'll share how you can get the very best from people for the long haul!

Building the best and most valuable business you can is the best insurance you can have to be able to exit the business on your terms, rather than someone else's. In this quick 4 minutes learn the 4 things you should prioritize to make your business worth the most!

 Meet Dan Barzcak one of the owners of STA and the Chief Creative Officer of Hyperquake, STA's sister company. Dan shares what makes us different, what an ideal client might be and how his vision for the business actually exceeds mine! This creative provocateur will tap into your passion for leadership and his eagerness to lean into "the hard stuff and difficult" conversations that make a team great.

Several Thousand Alliance (STA). As we are primarily a group of consultants that help businesses and CEO's find the best answers to the seemingly difficult questions that haunt them, we also have a couple of key people who help us run our business as a business. In this episode you will meet Lee Kersting, STA's CFO. He brings a decidely practical approach to the financial aspects of our business. Most importantly, like all of us at STA, he's extremely curious about the behaviors that drive the individuals and executive teams we serve. You'll enjoy hearing Lee's perspective about why he joined STA and what he sees for our future.

This is another in our series of podcasts to introduce the audience to people with whom I work and learn more about what we do at Several Thousand Alliance. Marty Kersting is the Chief Business Officer for STA. That means he gets to deal with all the details and paperwork that the business needs in order to satisify their clients and other stakeholders. As such, Marty brings a unique perspective about our work and how it impacts our clients. You'll enjoy his observations and his insights!

What do airlines, ski resorts, and organizational health have in common? Jeff Daniels! People often ask me how I came to do this work. It's very likely that had I not met Jeff, my journey would have taken a much different path. In this episode you will hear Jeff's story about how he impacted my journey, as well as, how he became part of Several Thousand Alliance. From planes, to ski lifts, to the C-suite, you will enjoy learning more about Jeff and STA!

I recently joined forces with Several Thousand Alliance and am eager to tell you all about it! Kicking off this new podcast series, I'll be introducing you to my new team at Several Thousand Alliance (STA), beginning with its Founder, Colin Crotty. You'll learn how our lives have been connected for over 20 years, and how our interactions have impacted the trajectory of my career. It is without a doubt that my passion has only been fueled because of him, and in this episode, you'll get an understanding of why I have aligned myself with Colin and STA. My guess is by the end of the podcast, you will see why I'm so lucky to call him both my colleague and my friend.

Here's the second in our series on energy and its importance to being a high performing executive. Rob Connelly is the CEO at Henny Penny, one of the leading makers of kitchen equipment for companies like Chick-fil-A and McDonalds. He's no stranger to this podcast and he's one of the CEO's I most respect. Turns out, he has thought more about the importance of energy in doing his job than I have. More importantly, he routinely talks to his people about energy's impact in their lives and performance. He believes there is a "flow" that highly effective executives create for themselves. I have no doubt this podcast will give you plenty of energy!

Woody Swink is one of the Co-Presidents at McCall Farms. Based in Effingham SC, they are the country's largest canner of southern vegetables. (Think Allen's, Bruce's Yams, Popeye Spinach.) I've had the pleasure of helping Woody, his other Co-Presidents and their other executives in creating their latest strategic plan. While working together it became clear to me that Woody brings an unusual amount of energy to his role and company. And it made me want to do a series of podcasts to learn what executives think about energy and its importance to their jobs and success. Like me, you'll enjoy Woody, especially his 3 kinds of Family that drive his energy!

The one thing they don't tell you when you become a manager is that there will always be more work to get done, than there will be time and resources to get that work done. So every great manager has methods by which they create clear priorities for themselves and their people. In this episode I share a classic tool you can start using today to make sure more of your time and energy go to the right things.

Changing the leader in any business is a challenge. Changing one after 18 years makes the process even harder. In this minilog I share how one of my clients had raised the bar for me and my clients going forward. Listen and learn some of the things you can do, when you change the leader to make this seismic event the positive step foward we all want.

I'm not an economist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express! Clients keep asking my opinion of the economy and whether my cleints are planning on a recession. Will the Fed engineer a soft landing or have they already gone too far with interest rates. In this minilog, I share my observations and predictions for how your business will be impacted.

Is Southwest a mere shadow of its former self, or was their "holiday meltdown" a one-time aberration? In this minilog I discuss Pat Lencioni's defense of America's largest leisure travel air carrier as well as Phil Baker's reasons why he thinks Southwest is no longer the role model for for purpose-driven organizations.

Jon Avery is the CFO of Necco Foster Care in Cincinnati. He joins me for this 2nd edition of discussions about how you can design a compensation system that will produce exceptional performance. Jon explains how the thinking of your people about their performance does not always align with how their performance is viewed by their boss or the company. That means that the compensation they receive may not send the intended message. Jon's top tip reminds us to dial in the compensation on what we are trying to make happen at the management level. Easier said than done!!

This is the first of three episodes dedicated to sharing best practices for designing a compensation system that produces the best results for your company. Rich Craig is the Managing Partner for the 415 Group, an accounting firm that does tax, audit and IT for its clients in the Canton, Ohio area. In his role, Rich has seen the compensation strategies of literally hundreds of businesses. He shares his experiences and recommendations to get the best return from the compensation you provide your people. Remember, people pay this gentleman hundreds of dollars an hour for his expertise and you're getting it for free!

Every one of us has someone who is marginally performing in some area of their job. The question is, what are we doing about it? In this minicast, I share key questions we should always consider to determine the root cause of the lack of performance and how the answer(s) should impact what we say and do as "the boss". When there's marginal performance on our team, we should be the most uncomfortable!

No executive with whom I've worked has ever admitted that they were a micro manager. Likewise, when I've told them I had evidence that they were micromamaging, each one doubted the feedback. Simply said, even if we are micro managers, chances are we don't think we are. In this minicast I explore what it looks like, feels like and how we can rationalize why it's in everyone's best interests when we micromanage. Even if you aren't a micromanager, this will be a great minicast to share with your managers!

If you think the last 24 months have been unusual, the next 12-14 months could be even harder to predict. Should you be cutting expenses? Should you be tightening up your supply chain? In this minicast I share what my clients are experiencing and doing to give your some additional perspective. Remember, one good thing about disruption of the status quo is that for many businesses, it creates significant opportunity.

Sound harsh? Then this mini cast is for you. A great leader takes literal responsibility for the performance of their people, especially when it's not what it should be. When we don't like the results a person gives us, do we assume it's their fault, or ours? This is five minutes to challenge how much of the marginal performance in your team is their fault, or yours.