Whether you’re new to managing a business or are an old hand at using management tools, practices and literature, there is no doubt that you’ve been touched one way or another by the writings and insights of management/leadership guru, Dr. Henry Mintzberg. For over 40 years, Mintzberg has been the Canadian business thought-leader.

With 15 internationally acclaimed inventive and practical business books to his credit, Dr. Mintzberg has added a new title to his repertoire — and, it just may make him a household name on the scale of Malcolm Gladwell (The Tipping Point), Jim Collins (Good to Great) and Tom Peters (In Search of Excellence). The new book, entitled,  “Management? It’s Not What You Think!” is written for today’s busy manager/leader — in that its structure, content and language reads more like a series of provocative and insightful blog articles than a lengthy academic tome.

For BusinessCast #170, Robert and I sat down with Henry Mintzberg to talk about his new co-authored book, some of his previous best selling books, and to get his insights into today’s most critical management/leadership issues. We were surprised with his take on some of the challenges central to the success of all managers/leaders…and we suspect you will be too.

Listen to BusinessCast #170 and find out what the Nation’s business thought-leader has up his sleeve.

Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes

Not all growth is equal, nor is it all good. That means a major challenge for leaders and managers is to manage “smart growth” — the kind of growth that leads to more efficiencies, more revenues and more successes. That’s why for BusinessCast #157, we sat down with Bruce Hunter who helps entrepreneurs across all industries identify and harness growth that makes sense for them and their businesses.

Bruce, a former VP & GM at Kraft, identifies common pain points that entrepreneurs face at one of the most critical stages of their business’ development. He also provides some insights for successfully addressing these challenges. Finally, he makes available a survey to help you determine, and potentially head-off, some of these natural growing pains. Managing growth is always a challenge but, listen to BusinessCast #157 and you’ll find yourself managing growth smarter.

Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes

Marshal Cohen has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Fortune and Time Magazine. He’s also been a guest on The Today Show, CNN and ABC World News. As Chief Industry Analyst for the NPD Group, he provides critical advice and insights into why people make the purchase decisions that they do.

Do you know why prospects purchase your products/services? I mean, do you really understand what’s behind their thinking, their feelings, the obstacles they have to overcome, the choices and trade-offs they make? Because most entrepreneurs experience a disconnect between their sell cycle and their customers’ buying cylce, Marshal Cohen set out to answer these questions in a succinct and practical way in his compelling new book, Buy Me!

For BusinessCast 149, Robert and I sat down with Marshall, the Chief Industry Analyst from the NPD Group — one of North America’s leading market research and consumer marketing firms. Marshal gives real-life insights that will help you:

• Understand the buying process of your current/future customers
  
• Shift buyers’ attention from your competitors’ offerings to yours
• Move buyers’ attention from features to value

Whether you’re focused on consumers or businesses, listen to BusinessCast 149 and you will gain valuable insights that will help you to re-tool your products/services and can beat out your competition.

Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes

As business complexity increases so do the tools for measuring business success. Nowhere is that more evident in marketing — the area that remains either a measurement mystery or nightmare for most entrepreneurs. That’s why in BusinessCast #148, we sat down with Jim Sterne.

Jim is a wildly successful entrepreneur and the brains behind the eMetrics Summit. This event, now hosted in nearly a dozen countries, is regarded as the event to help entrepreneurs get a handle on online metrics. Given the importance of every entrepreneur’s online marketing efforts (i.e. email, websites, landing pages, social media, blogs, banner ads, search engine marketing, etc.), entrepreneurs deserve a resource that provides practical insights. Jim shares with us his entrepreneurial story and why the eMetrics Summit can help every business person market smarter.

**Special for BusinessCast Listeners**: You can get 15% off the attendee cost if you use the following purchase code: BCAST15.  See you at the event!

Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes

Mitch Joel has accomplished something that few others have: he has made the fundamentals of digital marketing and social media easily accessible. In his book, Six Pixels of Separation, Mitch makes the intersection between digital marketing, social media, personal branding and entrepreneurship digestible for nearly everyone. In BusinessCast #146, Robert sat down with Mitch to talk about this book — which is one of the few sources that we recommend for entrepreneurs getting a bearing on social media.

Once you’ve been inspired by Mitch’s book, the next step is developing the right social media strategy for you, your business and your audience. Without a doubt, Charlene Li’s Groundswell remains the most well-researched and practical book that we’ve found. Listen to the conversation that we recently had with Charlene, in BusinessCast #101, Leveraging the Groundswell.

Of course, if you’re trying to get a handle on social media, you’ll need to measure its effectiveness. The eMetrics Summit is a world-class event to help you tackle this challenge. And, the event is coming to location near you. **Special for BusinessCast Listeners**: You can get 15% off the attendee cost if you use the following purchase code: BCAST15. See you there!

Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes

“FINANCIAL NUMBERS“. Even the mention of the phrase can frustrate the most intrepid entrepreneur. The sheer abundance and sources of critical financially-relevant data in (and around a) business is often difficult to identify, never mind interpret. But, entrepreneurs need to acquire some dexterity in financial numbers to be successful. So where do you begin? After all, you’re running your business, looking for growth opportunities, putting out fires, establishing strategic partnerships and constantly updating your business strategies.

That’s where our special guest comes in for BusinessCast episode #139. Intuit’s senior marketer Barb Anderson  provides insight on the first step of successfully working with financial data: managing the numbers. Barb taps into a wide community of growth-focused companies of all shapes, sizes, ages and industries. She shares very practical tips on how to get a handle on your financial data so that you can make better and faster decisions.

Complimenting Barb’s insights on how to manage the numbers, check out BusinessCast episode #98 — Financial Intelligence — where we interview the author of the book for quickly getting comfortable with interpreting financial data. Together, these two episodes give you insights and resources that will increase your financial skills and confidence.

Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes

Twitter? YouTube? LinkedIn? Are they right for you? Are they right for you now? If you’re like the vast majority of successful entrepreneurs, you’re still grappling with these questions. At the same time, you’re trying to determine when, how and if social media is worth the effort — given your day-to-day challenges and your short- and long-term business goals.

That’s why Robert and I are constantly speaking with leaders in social media. And, in BusinessCast episode #130, we posed the questions that are on the minds of every entrepreneur to one of Canada’s most recognized and respected social media gurus: Michael Seaton.

Michael succinctly answers critical questions, including:

• Which social media tools have the greatest return on investment?
• What are the biggest myths about social media?
• What should entrepreneurs know (and do) before making any investment in social media?

Earlier this year, in BusinessCast #101, we also interviewed Charlene Li — co-author of what’s largely accepted as the shrewd business person’s handbook to successful social media planning and implementation, Forrester Research’s Groundswell.

Listen to these two BusinessCast episodes and you’ll be much better equipped to assess how best to use these technologies to enhance your business.

Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes

Privacy is such a fundamental part of business success, that it often goes overlooked. And that can be a serious problem given the negative repercussions of not properly meeting your obligations — and customers’ unspoken expectations — about how their private information is to be managed.

That’s why for BusinessCast episode #129, Robert and I sat down with Dr. Ann Cavoukian, the Ontario Privacy Commissioner along with the two co-authors of an exciting new privacy toolkit — aimed squarely at helping entrepreneurs.

Listen to BusinessCast episode #129 and you’ll get a quick grasp of the privacy issues that are relevant to you and get a sneak peak into a practical tool that will help you transform privacy practices into good business.

**Also check out the ThinData-authored Marketer’s PIPEDA Checklist which instantly provides you with three easy-to-use tools to ensure that you comply with Canada’s Federal privacy laws when marketing online.**

Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes

One of the many things that all successful entrepreneurs have in common is an insatiable need to bring their innovations (i.e products, services and/or processes) to the market. But, a key question that often gets trampled in the midst of entrepreneurs’ enthusiasm is “When is the right time?”

Because short- and long-term success depends so much on timing, for BusinessCast episode #128 Robert and I sat down with Steve Taylor, President of Resolver Inc. to gather his insights about evaluating the right time to launch/grow a successful business.

Listen to BusinessCast episode #128 to get a clear sense of some of the key timing considerations and how you can ensure your success by increasing your state of business readiness.

Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes

Whenever Robert and I sit down and talk with entrepreneurs about their historic, current and future successes, one theme constantly emerges: entrepreneurs need strong teams. And that means they are always looking for ways to optimize how they find, hire and motivate staff.

That’s why for BusinessCast episode #127, we sat down with an entrepreneur renowned for effectively recruiting and retaining exceptional employees — in an industry where people are highly skilled, in great demand and highly mobile.

Chris Carder, President of ThinData, A Transcontinental Company, shares with us his approach to, and practical tips for, finding, hiring and motivating high performing professionals — people who will help you grow your business.

Also download a one-pager that describes how Chris and his team of executives retain and engage enthusiastic employees — drawn from ThinData’s years of growing to be one of Canada’s leading marketing companies.

Subscribe to the BusinessCast Podcast at iTunes