Terry Brock is a communicator who helps individuals and organizations master technology and relationship marketing to build their business and be more profitable. He currently is a leader in the blockchain and cryptocurrencies space helping people make sense of and make money with these game-changing tools. You may remember Terry and the wisdom he shared during Episode 337. If you haven’t listened to, studied, and applied all he shared during our first interview...I highly encourage you to add Episode 337 to your list of vital priorities.
Tommy Breedlove is the founder of Choose Goodness, a company dedicated to helping executives and entrepreneurs focus beyond the financial bottom line. By empowering leaders, Tommy bridges the gap between humanity and profitably. He transforms organizations to attract and retain the best and brightest people, create a loyal customer base and promote goodwill within their communities. Choose Goodness provides both the rational and emotional perspectives to the strategic and financial decision making process.
Manoj Madhusudanan is the Co-founder and CEO of Ziligence, an AI-driven platform that reveals insights on businesses. Before starting Ziligence in 2017, Manoj led the creation of InsightBee, a platform for on-demand custom research. Earlier, he served as the global head of operations for corporate and professional services verticals at Evalueserve and was responsible for a global team of over 700 professionals serving clients a variety of sectors. You may remember Manoj and the wisdom he shared during Episode 444. If you haven’t listened to, studied, and applied all he shared during our first interview...I highly encourage you to add Episode 444 to your list of vital priorities.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
How best to connect with Manoj:
Website: www.ziligence.com
Marie White is the author of five books, including the award-winning #1 bestseller entitled, Strength for Parents of Missing Children: Surviving Divorce, Abduction, Runaways and Foster Care. She is also a missionary, traveler, entrepreneur and the host of Bible Stories for Adults on YouTube with over half a million views. She is also the owner of Zamiz Press, an inspirational publishing company.
Sander Flaum is CEO of Flaum Navigators, a consulting firm that helps companies accelerate business growth through transformational ideas that galvanize leadership, brand building, and innovation. He is chair of the Fordham Leadership Forum at Fordham University and Executive-in-Residence at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, and is the author of several books including “Boost Your Career: How to Make an Impact, Get Recognition, and Build the Career You Want.”
Carmine Denisco is a successful entrepreneur, inventor, author, podcaster, investor and sought after business startup consultant. Many of the products he has developed or aided in the design of over the years have sold in retail stores, TV shopping channels, online, and infomercials or have gone on to be licensed by major corporations. Along with his business partner, Rick Valderrama, Carmine co-founded Inventors Launchpad™, which is dedicated to helping inventors navigate the invention and manufacturing process to ensure their best shot at success. Carmine is also the host of the Inventors Launchpad Podcast.
Alex Charfen is the co-founder and CEO of CHARFEN. He has spent his life seeking to understand how to make businesses grow, which evolved into the question, “How do you help people grow?” Through his research and years as a top consultant the Fortune 500 and Global 100, this question led Alex to discover the long-misunderstood Entrepreneurial Personality Type or EPT. Alex is a highly sought-after speaker on entrepreneurial awareness and has spoken around the world in front of tens of thousands of entrepreneurs and top global businesses to help them identify and live within their strengths.
Linda Adams has over 40 years of experience as a Human Resources Executive with leadership roles at several marquee corporations such as Ford, PepsiCo, and Level 3 Communications. Abby Curnow-Chavez has over 20 years of experience as an HR leader and management consultant for several fortune 500 companies. In 2008, Linda co-founded the Trispective Group, an all female-owned leadership consulting firm based in Denver, and Abby later joined as a partner. Together with their partners, Linda and Abby co-authored the new book, “The Loyalist Team: How Trust, Candor, and Authenticity Create Great Organizations.”
Dixie Decker is a real estate investor and housing specialist who has extensive experience with complex real estate transactions having bought, financed, and overseen transactions in excess of $26 million. She specializes in student housing, turning regular single family homes into multiple units for students and now has over 200 tenants. Dixie also hosts multiple workshops and tours, even introducing her local competitors and their business models…in full transparency…to create an exceptional learning experience for all of her attendees. Dixie attributes her success to her team building, talent, and systems in place for automating the business.
Kevin Bupp is a Florida-based real estate investor and serial entrepreneur with over $40 million of real estate transactions. Today, you will find him educating investors to locate, acquire, and create “higher than average” returns in the Mobile Home Park investing niche through his Mobile Home Academy and sharing his expertise as host of the top-rated iTunes podcast “Real Estate Investing for Cash Flow”.
Vince Parry is a 30-year veteran of the health and wellness communications industry and a branding expert. He is the founder of the Parry Branding Group, and throughout his distinguished career, he has worked on many of the most well-known corporate, franchise, service, and product brands. Vince has appeared on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, guest lectures at the Rutgers Pharmaceutical MBA program on healthcare branding, and is the author of the new book Identity Crisis: Health Care Branding’s Hidden Problems and Proven Strategies to Solve Them.
Steve Weiss is the founder & CEO of MuteSix, a performance marketing powerhouse that has grown at a rate of 300 percent per year since 2013 and is the most awarded Facebook advertising agency, with more Facebook and Instagram marketing case studies than any other agency. In 2017, MuteSix was named one of Inc. Magazine’s “Best Workplaces” and also ranked #341 on the Inc. 500 list for being one of the fastest growing private companies. Steve is passionate about building and recruiting agile marketing teams that execute and can be heard weekly on the “Spend $10K a Day” Digital Marketing Podcast.
Kylie Wright-Ford is the co-author of THE LEADERSHIP MIND SWITCH, a C-level executive, board member, speaker, entrepreneur, avid traveler, and farmer. She was most recently the chief operating and strategy officer for World 50, a company that exists to connect executives with their peers for conversations about topics like leadership, sustainability, global politics, and how to keep up with digital innovation.
Andy Swann is the author of THE HUMAN WORKPLACE and leads the development and delivery of people-focused transition management for organizations undergoing change at BDG Architecture and Design. He is also the founder of Simple Better Human, a creative organization development consultancy specializing in helping employees thrive so their organizations can too. He runs the All About People conference and speaks around the world on the benefits of taking a more human approach to organizational development.
Dr. Glenn Livingston is a veteran psychologist and was the long time CEO of a multi-million dollar consulting firm which has serviced several Fortune 500 clients in the food industry. Disillusioned by what traditional psychology had to offer overweight and/or food obsessed individuals, Glenn spent several decades researching the nature of binging and overeating via work with his own patients AND a self-funded research program with more than 40,000 participants. You may remember Glenn and the wisdom he shared during Episode 251. If you haven’t listened to, studied, and applied all he shared during our first interview...I highly encourage you to add Episode 251 to your list of vital priorities.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
How best to connect with Glenn:
Website: www.NeverBingeAgain.com
Pam Wasley is the Co-founder & CEO of Cerius Executives and Cerius Advisors. She has personally sold companies, led a management buyout, and advised hundreds of companies on strategies for growth and higher shareholder value. She’s served on several private boards and has been featured in prestigious publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fortune, and Bloomberg Businessweek on the topics of mergers and acquisitions, the workforce of the future, and global contingent workforces.
Good Morning Onward Nation...and welcome to Episode 636.
Before we get to lesson I prepared for today’s solocast...I wanted to share with you that Onward Nation is now available on Amazon Echo -- holy bananas!
So if you have an Echo -- you just need install the skill called “AnyPod” -- and then the command goes like this, “Alexa...ask AnyPod to play Onward Nation” and then Alexa will play our latest episode.
You can even say, “Alexa, ask AnyPod to play Episode 636 of Onward Nation” to play a specific episode.
Rock solid awesome!
So for today’s solocast...I am going to focus our time and attention around how to become an excellent host – whether we are talking about you hosting your own podcast – vlog – or perhaps you are creating content for your rockin’ awesome blog and you will be interviewing guest experts.
It takes hard work to becoming good at interviewing – to hosting and facilitating a conversation – for some – like it did for me – it takes many hours of practice.
In full transparency, Onward Nation, it took me until Episode 77 with Mark Sanborn as my guest to really feel like I had gotten my sea legs and could do a good job as a host.
And fast forward, this is episode 636...and each and every day that I get behind the microphone and talking with a guest I am learning – so there is always room for improvement.
So my hope is that the recipe I have included within this solocast will shorten – or compress – the learning curve and accelerate your results and success.
This solocast can serve as your practical and tactical guide to becoming an excellent host. I will share several of my insights that I have learned along the way as well as what I learned from two Onward Nation guests and fellow podcasters: Drew McLellan and John Livesay.
Drew McLellan is the host of the brilliant podcast, Build a Better Agency. Drew is the Top Dog at the Agency Management Institute, host of the exceptional podcast Build a Better Agency, and has owned and operated his own agency over the last 20-years.
Drew also works with over 250 small to mid sized agencies a year in a variety of ways: peer network groups, workshops for owners and their leadership teams, on-site consulting, and one-to-one coaching with owners.
John Livesay is the host of the successful podcast, The Successful Pitch. Inc. Magazine calls John the “Pitch Whisperer.” He is also the author of the book also entitled, “The Successful Pitch.”
John helps CEOs craft a compelling pitch to investors in a way that inspires them to join a startup’s team and he is a phenomenal professional speaker.
Okay, Onward Nation...let’s get started.
In fiction, a “foil” is a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character.
In my opinion, your ability to play the role of the foil will determine if you are an excellent host or mediocre.
You need to use your interview (again – this could be for a podcast, vlog, or written article) to help your guests advance their agenda – share their wisdom and expertise – not yours.
Avoid telling stories about yourself even if they are validating what your guest just said.
Your role is not to validate what your guest just said. You guest doesn’t need you to validate their experience. Attempting to do so can be seen as arrogant or like you are trying to steal the show.
Don’t do that. And if you have been listening to Onward Nation for a while now – you know – it is a very, very rare occasion that I will tell a story during an interview. I tend to save those observations or lessons for a solocast...because during an interview with a guest...they need to be the star...not you.
Instead, summarize, reflect back to your guest the impactful highlights of what he or she just shared, add a comment or two from what you have seen in your experience, and then ask your guest if you got all of that correct.
By asking the question, “Did I get all of that correct, Sally?” you do three things:
Next, start out the conversation with some light questions and then build trust and rapport in the first few minutes of the conversation.
Be engaging, personable, and if you are able to make your guest laugh in the first couple of minutes, congratulations – you’re building rapport.
Avoid asking deep, emotionally charged questions early on in the interview. It will not go well. Your guest will likely think you are trying to move too deep too quickly.
I asked Drew McLellan for his insights on the most critical skill business owners need to master to be successful at podcasting. Drew shared that he believes it is a combination of skills — but — that the most important skill was for the host to check their ego at the door.
Drew said to me, “Stephen, my job when I'm hosting is to augment and put the spotlight on my guest and their expertise. I do that by listening really hard to what they say and running it through my filter of, ‘What else would an agency owner want to know about that?’ I'm not talking over them, I'm not trying it jump in and show how much I know about the topic.
“I am listening super hard. I am asking what I hope are great follow-up questions. I'm really trying to stay out of the guest’s way so they have as much airtime as possible to share their expertise.
“I think part of listening with real intent is to able to ask the question that, I'm always thinking, ‘If somebody is driving while they're listening to this, or walking on the treadmill, or whatever, what would they want me to ask?’
“Or, do I frustrate them by not asking the follow-up questions that they want me to ask? I'm always listening with that intent.
“What should I be asking next?
“What did somebody want to hear more about or how would they want to drill deeper into this?’
“I'm trying to ask those questions because I don't want any of my listeners thinking, ‘I can't believe he didn't ask X?’”
I asked John Livesay for his insights on the same questions of critical skills. John explained to me why and how he uses empathy and listening to make connections with guests.
John said, “Stephen, one of the investors on my show told me that the more empathy you show for your customer, the more the customer feels like you understand that customer and can solve that problem.
“I think what makes you have empathy for someone is your ability to listen to them and put yourself in their shoes.
“The more you can do that with your guests and respond to what they’re saying and make them feel heard and then summarize what you’re hearing for your audience as the takeaways, that, in my opinion, is what it takes to be really great as a podcast host.
“Stephen, you do it in spades. It’s easy for you. You’re probably not even aware that you're doing it, it’s part of who you are, but if you don't have that in your DNA, then it’s a skill that you really need to develop to be a successful host.”
Okay...so now, Onward Nation...let’s move on to one of the best ways to ensure your excellence as a host.
And that is in how you help a guest prepare to be a great guest on your show.
You can do that by implementing a solid guest advocacy system that shares all of the logistics of their interview multiple times in advance of the day and time of the interview...shares the questions you plan to ask...and give them tips on how to sound the very best they can.
And you ought to supplement your guest advocacy system by personally setting expectations with guests.
In my opinion, Drew does this masterfully well.
Drew shared with me, “Stephen, what I discovered is that the minute I checked my ego at the door, I realized the show wasn’t about somebody listening to me, it was about me cultivating this great list of guests and serving guests well, which serves my audience well.
“So, if I allow my guests to have the spotlight, and I allow them to really share their expertise, and I prep them properly, so it’s like, ‘Look there is no selling, this is not about you getting clients, this is about you generously sharing your expertise.
“Here are the kind of questions I'm going to ask, if you're not comfortable answering those questions, don't come on the show.’ None of that was about me. It’s about serving up the best content possible for my audience by putting my guest in the best possible light.”
So, Onward Nation...in addition to sharing insights from Drew and from John...I wanted to formalize this into a recipe – into a checklist that you could study before your next interview.
Okay, so here we go...the 10-point CHECKLIST FOR HOSTING WITH EXCELLENCE
“If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you like to win, but you think you can’t,
It is almost certain you won’t.
If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,
For out in the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow’s will –
It’s all in the state of MIND.
If you think you’re outclassed, you are,
You’ve got to think high to rise,
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life’s battles, don’t always go
To the stronger or faster one
But soon or later the one who wins
Is the one WHO THINKS THEY CAN!”
So with that said...
Thank you again for taking the time to be here today...I am grateful for you making Onward Nation what you listen to and study. We all have the same 86,400 seconds in a day and I appreciate you taking some of your invaluable time and sharing it with me.
Until tomorrow...onward with gusto!
Jacob Baadsgaard is the Founder & CEO of Disruptive Advertising, a company that helps businesses advertise and market themselves profitably and efficiently on Google and Facebook by leveraging their software and team of marketers. After starting Disruptive Advertising in 2012, the company grew to over 60 employees and $9 million dollars in annual revenue in just 3.5 years. They have worked with over 1,000 businesses and found that an average of 76% of AdWords and Facebook ad budgets are wasted.
Nicole has worked as a client-facing business executive for Fortune 500 companies in both sales and marketing for over ten years. Everyone from stay-at-home parents to small-business owners can access her affordable and entertaining webinars and private monetization coaching. Using her trademarked Pitch & Pray™ method, Nicole will help you embrace the #monetizethyself™ mindset and realize your brand’s fiscal goals.
Joe Vitale is President of Hypnotic Marketing, Inc., a marketing consulting firm and the author of many best-selling books, including “The Attractor Factor”, “”Life’s Missing Instruction Manual”, “The Key”, “Attract Money Now”, “Zero Limits”, and “The Secret Prayer!” He is also one of the stars of the hit movie “The Secret”, featured as an expert on the Law of Attraction. Joe recently released The Secret Mirror program, helping thousands of people to attract their desires using his newly developed Mirror Technique.