Game of Thrones is ending. Summer is coming. What will you do with your time? Here is a list of thought-provoking books by top business keynote speakers to fuel your brain and get you through your GOT depression. These keynote speakers have started Fortune 500 companies, stopped infamous spies, and turned around brand name organizations.
Whatever topic you are interested in, you’ll find it below. Our top 2019 reading list includes books on leadership, marketing, teamwork, cybersecurity, habits, storytelling, social media, meetings, and more.
The New York Times bestseller by personal development keynote speaker James Clear teaches readers practical takeaways on developing lifelong small habits.
In his new book, former Pixar story artist and animator Matthew Luhn shares the secrets of great storytelling he learned while making blockbuster films like Toy Story.
Leadership speakers David Komlos and David Benjamin crack the complexity code plaguing organizations and provide the tools to solve their thorny problems in days—not weeks or months.
In leadership keynote speaker Marissa Orr’s first book, she challenges the assumptions of why women aren’t succeeding in the workplace and offers a startling answer.
Former Associate Director of National Intelligence Eric Haseltine uses the story of a cold war double agent to show the human errors of national intelligence that persist today.
Former Navy Seal Commander Alden Mills teaches the same principles of leading high-performance teams that made his company Perfect Fitness successful.
The content writers at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau are Experts on the Experts. They hold doctoral, masters, and bachelors’ degrees in business, writing, literature, and education. Their business thought pieces are published regularly in leading business publications. Working in close association with the top business, entrepreneur, and motivational speakers, BigSpeak content writers are at the forefront of industry trends and research.
The power of positivity is real. We feel it in our everyday lives when a coworker’s smile gets us through a rough meeting, or a good car-karaoke session starts our day a little brighter. But until now, the effects of positive thinking always just felt like a hunch.
Bert and John Jacobs, co-founders of the Life is Good lifestyle brand, just teamed up with BigSpeak’s exclusive speaker Tan Le to use technology to prove the power of positive thought. As Chief Executive Optimists, the Jacobs brothers turned their business selling T-shirts out of a van into a globally recognized company with a focus on promoting positivity and helping others.
The Jacobs brothers attribute their success to one question their mother always asked around the dinner table:”What went right today?” They were raised on positive thinking and believe their positive perspective is what helped them grow their business—despite having no experience as entrepreneurs.
Recently, Life is Good showed how tangible positivity really is. The brothers teamed up with Tan Le’s team at Emotiv, a tech company who pioneered the first non-invasive headset that reads brain waves, to turn positive thoughts into actions.
They created a setup in which someone wearing an Emotiv headset could turn on a water spout and fill up a cup with water using positive thoughts alone. Watch the video below to see how thoughts of loved ones, special places, and even cupcakes metaphorically and literally filled up each person’s cup with positivity.
Jessica Welch is the Content Marketing Associate at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Anthropology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Her business thought articles often appear on Business 2 Community, Born 2 Invest, and YF Entrepreneurs.
BigSpeak is proud to welcome the man that turned Harley-Davidson Motor Company into a tattoo-worthy brand—Ken Schmidt. Ken is a customer loyalty expert who was brought on as Harley Davidson’s Director of Communications in 1985 when the company was on the brink of ruin.
Through his branding, storytelling, and marketing expertise, Ken was able to around the company’s image and transform Harley-Davidson into the success we know it to be. Now, Harley-Davidson is the most widely-known motorcycle company in the nation with a reputation people pay a lot of money to be a part of.
Ken served as the primary spokesperson to the media and financial communities, making him the face of the freshly branded company and a branding expert within the world of business media.
He has toured the world on two wheels, met with presidents and royalty, partied with movie and music legends, and appeared numerous times on network news.
In 2018, he put his expertise into a book—Make Noise:The Unconventional Road of Dominance that shares stories and insights on the road to building a fanatically vocal customer base, creating a passionately loyal corporate culture, and developing leaders who inspire and motivate. He has spoken to Fortune 500 countries around the world and given over 1,000 keynotes.
Ken speaks on…
Make Some Noise: Open The Throttle & Dominate Your Marketplace
Building A Great Corporate Culture That Leads To Revenue
Leading Winning Teams
Building Tattoo-Worthy Customer Relationships
Thrive Among Thorns: Untapped Growth Opportunities For Financial Services
Fierce Loyalty: Dominating In A Commoditized Market
The content writers at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau are Experts on the Experts. They hold doctoral, masters, and bachelors’ degrees in business, writing, literature, and education. Their business thought pieces are published regularly in leading business publications. Working in close association with the top business, entrepreneur, and motivational speakers, BigSpeak content writers are at the forefront of industry trends and research.
BigSpeak Speakers Bureau is fostering entrepreneurship in young women after contributing to the Central Coast Girl Scout troop 50886’s cookie sales and distribution. BigSpeak purchased over 500 boxes of cookies. The girls worked with the BigSpeak team to brand the cookies with BigSpeak’s marketing materials, gaining valuable insights into the marketing industry. The cookies will be sent out as tokens of appreciation to BigSpeak clientele.
Girl Scout Troop 50886 includes 35 girls from grades 6 through 12. The troop—made up of Senior Girl Scouts and Cadettes—is focused on leadership, earning badges, and outdoor activities. Recently, the Senior Girl Scouts hiked in the Eastern Sierras/John Muir Wilderness to Evolution Valley and back, a total of 45 miles. This summer, the Senior Girl Scouts will travel to Belize on a seven day trip, which will include a community service project at a local school. The Cadettes will travel to Catalina this summer for a hike and camp out as well.
Troop 50886 also has bimonthly meetings, monthly hikes, and community service projects such as canned food drives and singing holiday carols at retirement homes. They will participate in a weekend campout and skills competition called Kaleidoscope this spring. The proceeds from their cookie sales provide them with the funds to sponsor these opportunities.
BigSpeak is happy to support Troop 50886 in developing their life skills, while also working with them in marketing and distribution.“We are so excited to have the support of Big Speak! By purchasing cookies to send to your clients, you are supporting the leadership and skill building of our troop,” said Troop Leader Katelyn Rodeo.
Jessica Welch is the Content Marketing Associate at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Anthropology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Her business thought articles often appear on Business 2 Community, Born 2 Invest, and YF Entrepreneurs.
If you’re in the market to book a keynote speaker, you might be feeling overwhelmed. Who should you hire? How do you get in touch with that big-name keynote speaker you want? How do you know if the speaker is any good? Or maybe you’re wondering what is considered normal for fees, travel costs, and audiovisual requirements?
The keynote speaking market can be confusing. There’s no central database of all available speakers. Fee transparency is minimal. And there are many groups that represent speakers: speakers bureaus, talent agencies, and publishing houses. Not to mention the thousands of individual speaker websites you can find all over the web.
Finding a keynote speaker can be a daunting task. Most of us don’t have the time, money, and patience to do it on our own. However, if you want your life made easier, consider contacting a speakers bureau.
What is a speakers bureau?
Speakers bureaus are organizations that specialize in helping you book the perfect keynote speaker. Bureaus can be large, small, international, domestic, have hundreds of exclusive speakers or represent just a few people. Some are brand new and some, like BigSpeak, have been booking keynote speakers for the Fortune 1000 for over 20 years.
In short, they serve as intermediaries between a contracting company and a speaker. Speakers bureaus provide expertise, insight, guidance, security, and freedom for the event team and the speaker—so no one has to worry about making the wrong choice.
Why use a speakers bureau to book a keynote speaker or celebrity?
Expertise
Speakers bureaus are experts on the experts. Bureau websites help you search for the right speaker for your event. Their databases provide transparency for costs and availability. And their sales advisors have personal knowledge of speakers and their expertise.
Insight
Sales advisors provide insight into the selection process. When you contact a speakers bureau, a friendly and expert advisor will guide you through the process step-by-step until you find the right speaker to fit your event and budget.
Guidance
Speakers bureaus provide the logistical know-how to guide you through the complicated event process. Speakers Bureau event planners can help you coordinate travel, hotel, per diems, contract logistics, and more.
Security
Life happens. Sometimes a speaker gets sick, a plane is delayed, or an act of God happens. When you make a contract on your own, you’re out of luck. But a speakers bureau provides a security net. If a speaker can’t make it, the bureau has a network of great speakers who can fill in at a moment’s notice.
Freedom
Best of all, using a speakers bureau is free. There’s no extra cost to work with a bureau. Speakers bureaus earn their commissions from the keynote speakers. All you pay is the keynote speaker fee and in return get all the speaker bureau expertise, insight, guidance, and security you would’ve missed doing it on your own.
So next time you need a keynote speaker for your event, don’t feel overwhelmed. Contact one of the many professional speakers bureaus out there to help make your next event great.
Melodie Tao is a keynote speaker, thought leader, and social media marketing expert. She began using social media in 2008, later launching MarketingMelodie.com to share her insights into social media and marketing. Her expertise has attracted clients from diverse industries—technology, media, real estate, and education— who she advises on how to leverage social media to market their products and services.
By Melodie Tao, Social Media Marketing Expert
Social media isn’t an overnight success tool. It’s one of the most powerful sales tools if you make the commitment that requires patience and persistence. It will bring you success in the long term if you are consistent.
Your job on social media is to stay top of mind until your prospect turns into a customer. This is much easier said than done—so there are five ways you can use social media to stay top of mind, every time. See if you can incorporate at least one of these methods into your sales strategy.
1) Publish consistently.
Being consistent is the most important element for your success on social media. You need to show up constantly to be memorable, rather than posting once and then stopping for a few weeks.
If posting consistently is a challenge, start by choosing one day each week where you post something directly related to your business. For example, one of my real estate clients posts a “Wow Wednesday” update every single week. Every Wednesday, they consistently share a luxury real estate listing. Her followers now expect and look forward to this weekly share.
Don’t get overwhelmed with committing to too many days of posting. Start with one day and then add on from there.
2) Share educational content.
The first thing many people do when they want to learn something new is search online for articles or videos related to what they want to learn. When you share something related to your business or expertise that teaches a skill someone can put into action, they will think of you when taking that action. They will also likely share what they learned with others and let people know where they learned it from; therefore, keeping you top of mind.
3) Be social on social media.
Staying top of mind on social media doesn’t just mean posting on your own accounts. It also means showing up and participating in conversations that are already happening.
You can do this strategically by researching where your potential customers are hanging out online and interacting with them there. This may mean you join industry-related Facebook Groups, comment on blog articles or Instagram posts.
Your social activity will be different depending on your target audience. If you aren’t taking time to socialize on social media, start by taking just five minutes each day and dedicate that time to commenting and interacting with others. This not only helps boost someone else’s activity, which is just good karma, it also reminds people you are available and active online.
4) Create opportunities to interact.
Now we know the value of interacting with others on social media, it’s time to create opportunities for people to interact with your own content. The more you can keep people engaged on your pages, the more likely you will stay top of mind.
A few ways to create interactive opportunities include asking questions, asking people to share their own experiences and also prompting user-generated content. User-generated content is where your audience creates their own posts based on something related to your brand. An example of this includes asking people to use a hashtag to share photos when using your product.
5) Make social videos.
Watching video continues to dominate online activity. Oftentimes, the top Google results for how to do something are YouTube videos that answer the question. Facebook video (especially live video) gets more visibility in newsfeeds than any other type of content, more so than photos and links.
Making videos for your social media creates a personal connection with your audience. Many people are camera shy when it comes to social video because they are afraid they won’t look perfect and polished. The benefit of social video is that it’s ok to post impromptu videos that aren’t rehearsed. These videos humanize your brand and attract more people to connect with you.
If you don’t have a video strategy yet, start by posting just one video. After the first one, creating more videos become easier.
There you have it. Five ways you can use social media to stay top of mind to generate more sales and leads.
Cybersecurity Expert Eric O’Neill achieved his first bestseller on Amazon with his new book Gray Day. After just one week of release, the true-life spy story sits squarely in the top 10 for Intelligence and Espionage books. In Gray Day, O’Neill recounts how, as a young F.B.I. agent, he was recruited to take down the most notorious spy in U.S. history—Robert Hanssen.
The story of O’Neill and Hanssen has previously been made into the movie Breach, starring Ryan Phillipe as Eric O’Neill and Chris Cooper as Robert Hanssen, and retold in several books, but this book is the first to provide O’Neill’s insider look at the takedown.
O’Neill shows what it’s like to attempt to maintain a normal life—going to law school and maintaining a marriage—all while pretending not to be on a secret assignment. However, stress takes its toll on both his education and marriage as he tries to fool Hanssen into making a mistake. A great read for anyone interested in intelligence, espionage, and cybersecurity.
The joy of our company starts with the community. Nestled in beautiful Santa Barbara, BigSpeak Speakers Bureau is located in the wonderland between the Santa Ynez mountains to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the South, populated with restaurants, tasting rooms, and natural areas of beauty. Some call this place the American Riviera for its eternal springtime weather.
BigSpeak began in 1995 as part of founder Jonathan Wygant’s desire to reach people and make a difference in the world after running a Fortune 500 company. While he has taken a step back from day-to-day operations, his influence and generosity can be felt throughout the company he started out of his garage.
Recognition
Employees are recognized for their hard work and ideas. Each month, a deserving employee wins the Big Kahuna award: an award for providing service to the company above and beyond. Other awards given throughout the year recognize employee efforts for innovation and improving company culture.
Generosity
BigSpeak gives back generously to their employees. In addition to the great benefits (listed below), employees received a wonderful gift from the company each winter holiday season. But generosity isn’t just yearly, employees are taken out to dinners on months where results have exceeded expectations. Not to mention, leaders and employees alike are known to bring in hump-day breakfast burritos and the chocolate drawer is never left empty.
Leadership
Unlike other companies where you might never meet the boss except on the day you are hired, BigSpeak’s leadership is front and center. While this is true of many small companies, what makes leadership different is that they listen to their employees and create future plans for the company based on the feedback they receive. They ask for feedback in Leadership 360 surveys and address concerns in town halls held at off-sites.
Culture
BigSpeak believes in creating a collaborative and fun community for the employees to thrive in. As the company has grown, it has created a Culture Club dedicated to providing employees with time outside of work to bond through fun events like pumpkin carving, Thanksgiving feasts, and painted cabernets. During March Madness or the Super Bowl, the company sponsors a prize for fun, light-hearted competitions..
Innovation
BigSpeak considers itself a learning company. It’s not the same-old same-old, month after month. Your voice is heard. We are always improving and growing, looking for employee ideas to develop our systems, processes, business, and culture.
Big Benefits
In addition to a company of recognition, generosity, leadership, culture, innovation, BigSpeak offers the following benefits to improve your quality of life.
Retirement
401K ER – BigSpeak Contributes 4% match on salary YTD (discretionary)
401k ER Profit Sharing (discretionary)
401k Pension Plan Cash Balance $1,000-$2,000 a year
Health and Wellness
Health Insurance 100% premium cost paid by BigSpeak for employee
Paid Wellness Days – 12 a year
FSA/HSA
Long Term Disability
Personal Development
Employee Development Fund: $1,000 a year
Employee Wellness Fund: $500 a year
Time Off
Paid Vacation Days: 10 to start; increasing to 20 over 6 years
10 Paid Holidays
Majority of our team gets the week between Christmas and New Year’s off
Other Benefits
Volunteer days (2 per year)
Pet-friendly (we love dogs, cats, and fish)
We’ve all seen the Kid President videos by now. A cute kid in a Sunday suit (played by Robby Novak) who uplifts us all with his straight talk about life. In 2013, the Kid President videos took the internet by storm, leading to an internet series on Rainn Wilson’s Soulpancake featuring celebrity guests.
While we all remember Novak’s smiling face in front of the camera, bantering with celebs and talk show hosts, you probably don’t know the Kid President co-creator Brad Montague, who only came out for occasional cameos or prompted Novak off camera.
The creative mind behind the Kid President
While Novak is the star, Montague is the storytelling expert and inspirational keynote speaker who made it all possible. Before Kid President, he had been making films, videos, and entertainment for people ever since he was a kid. All he wanted to do was to create fun things and to help people. But it wasn’t until he decided to make a short video with Novak, almost on a whim, that his career took off and ending up meeting the likes of Obama, Beyonce, and Tom Hanks as part of the ongoing Kid President series.
If you haven’t seen him in person, Montague’s talks are funny, inspiring, and touching as he encourages others to do their small part to make the world a better place through joyful rebellion. Some takeaways from his talk include:
Live with wonder, wisdom, and whimsy
If you’re a kid, used to be a kid, or still a kid at heart, Montague says to live with wonder, wisdom, and whimsy. Approach things as if they were new and never lose that sense of wonder you had as a child.
Treat everybody like it’s their birthday
Montague’s life and work is all about connection. His advice to others is to treat everybody like it’s their birthday. That doesn’t mean buy them a present, but it does mean that every person is worth celebrating. And it stops you from punching them in the face when communication breaks down.
Choose to hug the haters
There will always be people who are unhappy or having a bad day. But Montague wants to remind us we have a choice in how we respond to hate. He says “haters gonna hate, but huggers gonna hug.” When Montague had negative comments in his Twitter feed, he and Novak responded with love and empathy, not hate. They didn’t change everyone’s world view, but they were able to connect with some haters on a deeper level—and turn them to huggers.
If you are interested in booking Montague for your next event, contact BigSpeak Speakers Bureau today.
Now that your brackets are locked in with the Louisville/Minnesota tip-off, it’s time we tell you who’s actually going to win NCAA’s March Madness this year. The 2019 bracket competition has been under severe scrutiny from people across the nation sitting on their couches in Zion Williamson jerseys because of recent developments in artificial intelligence.
Last season, Adobe Analytics AI applications drafted a March Madness bracket with 98% accuracy and Sportsline’s AI feature dabbled with 95% accuracy. This year both software companies are boasting that advances in AI are making their predictions unstoppable.
Adobe Analytics is working with 3.5 million rows of data from Sportradar this season as opposed to the 50,000 or so it used last year. Compiling statistics from 56,000 college basketball games, Adobe places Duke as the big winner for their sixth national title. The software uses over 100 key metrics including offensive and defensive rebounds, three-point shooting, player height, free-throw percentage and so much more.
Owner of the Golden State Warriors (and a handful of other professional sports teams) Peter Guber is a testament to following the numbers. His data-based leadership turned the Warriors into a championship team in three of the last four seasons. The 2017 book Betaball, written about Guber and co-owner Lacob’s innovative decision-making, explains the science behind ignoring fan-favorites and marketing gold-mines to create a team based solely on data.
With AI doing the heavy lifting for you, it’s not a bad idea to take a page out of Guber’s book and lean into the data.
After last year’s upset when a No. 16 seed UMBC beat out Virginia, a No. 1 seed, we all know sometimes there’s just no rhyme or reason to it. So can this technology really win you the pot?
Last season neither software foresaw UMBC’s victory, but with the advances there is a chance even the most surprising wins may not be a surprise. So, here’s Adobe’s possibly flawless bracket for all you cheaters.
Jessica Welch is the Content Marketing Associate at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Anthropology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Her business thought articles often appear on Business 2 Community, Born 2 Invest, and YF Entrepreneurs.
Robyn Benincasa might be the most formidable person we know. Not only is she an adventure-racing world champion and 10-time Ironman racer, but she also serves her community as a San Diego firefighter. On top of that, she is a bestselling author of How Winning Works and considered a thought leader on teamwork and leadership.
After a life of racing, Robyn needed two hip replacements and was told by the doctors she would barely be able to walk, let alone race ever again. Since then, she set two Guinness World Records for various paddling events, started a non-profit, and continues to fight fires.
A true sign of an empowered woman is having the ability to uplift the women around her. Robyn made this her life’s work when she started Project Athena, a non-profit dedicated to helping women overcome setbacks through adventure challenges. CNN named her a CNN Hero for using her own resilience to support other women’s recoveries.
Molly Bloom
Molly Bloom is yet another audacious woman, as anyone who saw Molly’s Game would agree. Most of you have seen her journey from executive assistant. to running the largest and most elite underground poker game in the nation. The seats at her poker table were filled by A-list actors and professional athletes like Toby Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, and A-Rod. Molly didn’t just make her way into the boy’s club, she ran it.
She created the most desirable experience on the market for her essentially all-male clientele. And after it was broken up by the feds and everything seemed lost, she turned her life around with her book, movie, and speaking career.
Oh, and all of this came after she almost made the USA Olympic downhill ski team, before an injury took her out.
Barb Stegemann
Barb Stegemann is a socially good entrepreneur who uses her perfume company, The 7 Virtues, to help farmers in war-torn—or environmentally impacted—countries rebuild. She has taken a stand alongside the farmers she works with against the drug trade, extortion of labor, violations of human rights, and even the Taliban. When she saw an injustice, she took on the responsibility of righting it.
Not only is she changing the world with her company, but she also speaks out about the male-dominated health and beauty industry. She encourages women to pursue careers in the field because having men control an industry mostly made for women makes no sense.
Tan Le
Tan Le is one of the greatest minds in technology with one of the most inspiring stories. Tan’s mother raised her and her sister in Australia as refugees after escaping Vietnam on a boat in the middle of the night. Tan believes it was her outsider’s perspective that allowed her to see the world differently enough to create her brainwear technology company Emotiv. Emotiv is a non-intrusive headset that reads brain waves and allows the wearer to control technology with their thoughts alone. Her technology has been used to allow a paraplegic to drive a Formula 1 race car, give a form of communication to a young woman who lost all motor skills after a car accident, provide aid in autism research, and bring Harry Potter’s Hogwarts sorting hat to life.
She has won numerous awards, including being named Young Australian of the Year in 1998, voted one of Australia’s 30 Most Successful Women Under 30, chosen by Fast Company as one of the Most Influential Women in Technology in 2010, and picked by Forbes for 50 Names You Need to Know in 2011.
Bethenny Frankel
Bethenny Frankel has transformed her liquor line Skinnygirl into a complete lifestyle brand. When she started off with her alcoholic beverages, she realized she was breaking into a male-dominated industry where most liquors were marketed to men. Although her pitches for Skinnygirl were met with rejection after rejection, she knew the value of her product and pushed forward.
Now Skinnygirl has turned into a lifestyle brand that encompasses alcohol, food, beverages, clothing, and self-help books. She’s earned herself a seat with the Sharks on ABC’s Shark Tank where she makes serious investments with aspiring entrepreneurs and their startups.
Natalie Nixon
Natalie Nixon is where art meets corporate structure. Her background in jazz influences her unique and creative adaptations to organizational change and company growth.
Dr. Natalie Nixon is a strategy, foresight and innovation expert. As president and founder of Figure 8 Thinking, LLC., she advises leaders on unique approaches for process transformation and leveraging creativity as an innovation resource to more rapidly achieve priority business goals. Natalie does this by applying her background in cultural anthropology, fashion, and service design.
Kim Perell
Kim Perell is an award-winning entrepreneur, bestselling author, CEO and angel investor with a passion for people, technology, and progress. She went from being laid off at 23 to becoming a multi-millionaire by the time she was 30 years old and selling her last company for $235 million in 2014.
When her digital marketing company was acquired by Amobee in 2008 she worked her way back up to the top and become Amobee’s CEO by 2010. Kim is also an investor in over 70 companies, 14 of which have been successfully acquired by some of the largest Fortune 500 companies including a billion-dollar IPO.
Kim is passionate about women in business and writes, speaks, and is interviewed regularly on leadership, marketing technology, and entrepreneurship. Her achievements as a leader and entrepreneur have been widely recognized and covered in the media, including profiles in The New York Times, CNN Money, and Forbes. Her professional honors include being named Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young and Entrepreneur of the Year by the National Association for Female Executives.
Carmen Simon
Dr. Carmen Simon brings neuroscience into the marketing and branding equation. After spending years studying how the brain works, Simon founded Memzy, a branding agency that uses the science of memory to create more effective campaigns.
Carmen has two doctorate degrees, one in instructional technology and another in cognitive psychology, and is a recognized expert in applying neuroscience to leadership, communication design, and customer engagement. Her most recent book, Impossible to Ignore: Creating Memorable Content to Influence Decisions, has been selected as one of the top books on persuasion.
Cynthia Johnson
Cynthia Johnson is a global entrepreneur, marketing professional, author and keynote speaker. She is Co-Founder at Bell +Ivy, a marketing and PR firm in Santa Monica, CA, and Las Vegas, NV. Previously, she was Partner & Director of Marketing for RankLab, a digital marketing agency listed in Inc. Magazine‘s Fastest Growing Private Companies in 2015. In July 2015, RankLab was acquired by American Addiction Centers.
She is an Advisory Board Member for The Millennium Alliance, a leading technology, business, and educational advisory firm serving Fortune 1000 C-Level executives. Basically, she’s the marketing guru who transforms companies with her branding expertise.
Cynthia was listed as one of top personal branding experts in 2017 by Entrepreneur, top 50 marketers on SnapChat by Mashable, top 12 Female Entrepreneurs that Inspire by Darling Magazine, and top 20 people in SEO by Guardian. She is a contributing columnist to Entrepreneur and has had work published in Forbes, TIME, and several other industry-specific and top-tier publications.
Lauren Templeton
Lauren Templeton is the founder and president of Templeton & Phillips Capital Management, LLC; a value investing boutique located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The company is the general partner to the Global Maximum Pessimism Fund.
She is the founder and former president of the Southeastern Hedge Fund Association, Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia. Templeton currently serves the on the Board of Trustees at the Baylor School, Board of Advisors for The Beacon Center of Tennessee and the Atlas Board of Overseers. Templeton is also an active member of Rotary International. She serves on the investment committee of Chattanooga Rotary Club 103 and the investment committee of The Rotary Foundation.
In the past, Templeton has served as President of the Atlanta Hedge Fund Roundtable and as the Director of the Galtere Institute: Finance for the Future Initiative at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Additionally, Templeton has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Memorial Hospital Foundation, a member of the Finance Advisory Board of the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, and also served on the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Templeton is also the co-author of, Investing the Templeton Way.
Jessica Welch is the Content Marketing Associate at BigSpeak Speakers Bureau, holding a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Anthropology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Her business thought articles often appear on Business 2 Community, Born 2 Invest, and YF Entrepreneurs.
Have you heard of Perfect Fitness? You probably know their first best-selling product—the Perfect Pushup. Remember when we all used to do push-ups the old fashioned way, with our bare hands on the floor, before a push-up bar was developed to save our wrists from injury?
After the success of the Perfect Pushup, Perfect Fitness was at a crossroads. Despite having a successful product they were under siege. Lower-priced, copycat products were entering the market daily. The fitness segment they dominated was now in danger of being won over by cheaper brands.
Fortunately, Walmart wanted to feature the Perfect Pushup in all their stores. There was one catch. Walmart wanted a cheaper version of the Perfect Pushup and to be delivered in 90 days or they would promote a cheaper competitor’s product instead.
The founder of Perfect Fitness, Alden Mills, recounts in his new book Unstoppable Teams, he didn’t think long on that proposal. Saying no would mean losing a large market of buyers but saying yes presented him with a large and daunting challenge. He said yes and in a massive undertaking, he developed a prototype, manufactured it, and delivered it to Walmart stores—in under 90 days!
He was able to do this because he had learned the principles of leading high-performance teams, which he outlines in his new book.
Platform
Leading great teams all starts with the leader having control of his or her own platform. Mills says you cannot lead a great team unless you can first lead yourself. To lead yourself, you must focus on the only things within your control: your mental, emotional, and physical capabilities. You will also need great people.
Recruitment
Where do great teams come from? They come from hiring people with the complementary skills and strengths you need for your company. You not only need to know yourself well but also your company’s needs to employ these skills. This is why it’s important to connect with your teams.
Connect
In order to get your team to follow you, you must know the people that make them. You need to connect with them mentally and emotionally. This is done by building your credibility as a leader and showing it through consistent and committed behavior. If you do this, team members will trust you and be willing to follow you to achieve great results.
Achieve
To achieve results, you need to inspire people, assure them, and assess them. You must give people lofty goals to aspire to, evaluate their efforts as a team, and show your appreciation for what they do. When people have something to work for, feel fairly evaluated and appreciated, they will do more for you. But you can’t forget respect.
Respect
Mills says as a team leader, you reap what you sow. If you show respect to your team members, you’ll get respect from them. You’ll earn their respect by recognizing each person’s contribution to the team. The more you respect your teammates, the more they will be engaged. Another way to show your respect is to empower your team.
Empower
To achieve great things, you must empower your teammates. Ideas don’t come from the leader alone. They come from each member of the team. When you empower teammates to find solutions, you will get the best ideas.
If you want to learn more about how to lead teams, check out Mill’s book or contact BigSpeak to hire him for your next event.
