On the Brink with Andi Simon

Latest Episodes:

011: Ask Andi series: Live it Well Jul 28, 2017

Show notes

Second episode of Ask Andi series—short 15 minute podcasts every Friday where I take a question and then offer tools, tips and strategies to help you re-think the issue and tackle it in new ways.

In this episode I discuss:

Execution
- How can you get a lot done in this wonderful life of yours?
Change
- Not everyone knows how to do it.
How do you get it all done
Have fun in what you do
- Smile.
Be passionate
- Explore your curiosity.
Organize
- Make lists for what you need to do to help you stay focused.
- Get it done.
Understand your own biorhythms
Have quiet time so that you can get things done
Manage your time wisely
- Limit time for certain things.
Talk to people
You can only do so much
- It's okay to say no sometimes.
Don't forget to celebrate things that you accomplish

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Andi's Website

Andi's Email

010: Confessions of a Successful Entrepreneur with Andy Simon Jul 24, 2017

Show notes

Andy Simon is married to your host Andi Simon. We often go by Mr. Andy and Mrs. Andi to make it easier for you. We don't want you to feel a bit confused.

Andy became a partner in our consulting firm, Simon Associates Management Consultants, six years ago after building his last company, Questar Assessment Instruments, into the 5th largest company in the K-12 formative assessment industry. He retired as Chairman of the Board after having served as founder and CEO, CMO and CFO over forty years as he took Questar from start-up to a great success story. In 2011, Questar was name in the top 50 companies in innovative education by Education Next. This past May, 2017, Questar was sold to ETS.

Now, Andy is a Consulting Partner, Executive Coach and head of SAMC-Inbound, our Agency specializing in Inbound Marketing. A certified HubSpot Partner, Andy works with companies that need to grow through digital and inbound marketing strategies.

At SAMC-Inbound he brings his experience and expertise with his well-designed, multi-step process to help companies succeed. He has become a speaker and facilitator of Innovation Games® and is involved with Every Voice Engaged to expand community involvement in decision making through Innovation Games methods.

Additionally, Andy is a trained and certified Innovation Games® facilitator and has conducted over 50 client engagements using Innovation Games methods.

In this episode, Andrew Simon and I discuss:

His background and early career
Why you need to pay attention to even the most "boring" metrics
Overcoming challenges and hurdles
Changing the company culture
Improve your luck & right timing in business
On appreciating what you have
Surrounding yourself with smart people
How to effectively communicate with clients
Letting go of a company

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

009: Introducing "Ask Andi" series every Friday Jul 21, 2017

Show notes

Introducing Ask Andi series—short 15 minute podcasts every Friday where I take a question and then offer tools, tips and strategies to help you re-think the issue and tackle it in new ways.

In this episode, I discuss:

Resilience
- Many things that are happening to you are happening to others.
How can you deal with change?
Good Reads
- Chronicling the source of people's stress and where they get their resilience from
Think of yourself as a human and how people evolved by being resilient.
- A story about how humans have evolved.
- How we adapt to things is what resilience is all about. The most adaptive people are those who survive.
- Harari believes that we use language as storytellers and give humans the ability to adapt to past experiences.
- Humans are most happy and comfortable when we are with people that are like themselves with the same culture.
When you face challenges of any kind, how do you adapt to them?
People evolve their stories to make them look like the hero of their own stories.
- This helps them cope and adjust to change.
- Helps gain confidence.
How are you going to address the stress in your life and become resilient

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Yuval Harari book Sapiens: A brief history of humankind.
What Resilience means and Why it Matters

008: Why Leaders Need Coaches to Succeed with Allen Hauge Jul 19, 2017

Show notes

In this delightful discussion, Allen shares with the listeners his ideas about being an executive coach and the value of your peers to help you see your business with fresh eyes. I know Allen for almost a decade now and I have spoken to many of his CEO groups about strategy. The energy his leaders exhibit tell you a lot about the role he plays in the way they lead their organizations to sustain their growth in fast changing times.

Allen has been with Vistage International, an organization of CEO's and their key leadership since 1994. Today, Allen leads four peer groups comprised of over 70 CEO and C-Level Executives. They meet monthly to advise each other in an objective peers-only forum free of competitive or significant customer/supplier relationships.

In this episode, Allen Hauge and I discuss:

What are some things CEOs are struggling with today
As boomers retire, companies prepare millennials for leadership
How women own 38% of the businesses in the country
Building blocks of successful location-independent teams
Practical business strategies that anyone can implement
Importance of not wasting time and executing fast
Finding peace in uncertainty
His experience with coaching and counseling
Knowing your strengths and weaknesses in order to understand whether you should be a CEO at all

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

007: Building Fully Alive Leaders to Inspire Business Success with Jack Altschuler Jul 17, 2017

Show notes

With 25 years of hands-on executive experience as CEO of the commercial and industrial water treatment company he founded, Jack Altschuler now uses what he learned to help others in leadership positions be the most effective they can be. His philosophy is to promote the full engagement of leaders in order to inspire the full engagement of those who look to them for leadership.

When you want your attendees at a conference or workshop walking out of their session saying, "Wow!" and implementing changes for the better right away, you want Jack as your keynote speaker. It's all about producing the results you want.'

In this episode, Jack Altschuler and I discuss:

How to get your team to perform better
Why we need to stop resisting change and start coming out of our comfort zones
How change really happens
Importance of small wins
How Milllenials are taking over the work force
Extrinsic motivators
Importance of respect in business
On hiring the right people
How YOU can become a great leader

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

006: Changing Patterns of The Higher Education System with Evan Jerome Jul 10, 2017

Show notes

Evan is the senior Vice President, Queens Campus at Monroe College. He is responsible for overseeing undergraduate and graduate degree programs as well as off site continuing education in both domestic and international markets.

In this episode, Evan Jerome and I discuss:

His background & filling in the gaps
What higher education means for him
How he helps students get ready for the future
The recipe for success
The issue of tuition in private colleges
Importance of understanding the mindset of a student
His involvement with Corporate Partnership
Biggest lessons & takeaways

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Monroe College

On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights

005: Innovation in the Liberal Arts with Richard Ludwick Jul 03, 2017

Show notes

Richard becomes President of the University of St. Thomas in July, 2017. Bringing years of leadership experience in higher education, Ludwick most recently served as the president of the Independent Colleges of Indiana, the nation's oldest state association of private colleges serving 31 institutions and 100,000 students. In that role since 2010, Ludwick has helped to increase student funding and grow revenue, including philanthropic gifts.

Ludwick also served as the commissioner for the Midwest Higher Education Compact, an interstate collegiate commission; and the Coalition for College Cost Savings, a national organization with nearly 1,000 college and university members.

In this episode, Richard Ludwick and I discuss:

Background and filling in the gaps
The current challenges & hardships
How to make college more affordable for students
The value of Liberal Arts
Tactics and strategies you need to know
The self-paced learning systems
On becoming the president of the college
How to take an idea and actually execute
Important lessons & takeaways

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

University of St. Thomas

On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights

004: Seeing, Feeling and Thinking About Colleges In an Whole New Way with Ken Hoyt Jun 26, 2017

Show notes

As the founding principal of HEP, Dr. Kenneth L. Hoyt brings a distinguished 30-year higher education career to The Higher Education Practice, LLC. Dr. Hoyt served as president of Centenary College of New Jersey, as president of The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges, Inc. (OFIC), as vice president for The University of Akron, and in various campaign/fundraising leadership positions for Otterbein College and Baldwin-Wallace College. Dr. Hoyt holds a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration and Leadership from Ohio University, M.A. in Journalism/PR from The Ohio State University, and B.A. in Business Administration/Marketing from Baldwin-Wallace College.

During his seven-year presidency at Centenary College, Dr. Hoyt implemented a collaborative strategic planning model that led to unprecedented enrollment growth (1,600-3,300) in the College's traditional, non-traditional/adult, online and graduate programs. Centenary utilized an effective branding strategy that established Centenary as the fastest growing college in New Jersey, as a first-choice institution providing "education designed around you," and as a college known for "student centered learning and unparalleled service." Centenary was recognized by Intel as one of the top 50 wireless colleges in America for its wireless IBM laptop campus.

In this episode, Ken Hoyt and I discuss:

His background and the work he has done
The challenges that higher education faces
On optimizing Academic Balance with data
Noticing opportunities
How to take an idea and turn it into reality
Importance of data and storytelling
The strategic planning process
The retention challenge and what to do about it
Biggest takeaways & lessons

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Highered Practice

Centenary College

On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights

003: Understanding Higher Education with Brent Wilder Jun 19, 2017

Show notes

Brent has served as vice president of The Alliance since January 2012. Prior to his appointment, he served as interim president of The Alliance. Wilder joined The Alliance after working with the Oregon Independent College Foundation (OICF), most recently as interim president and vice president. Prior to his arrival at the OICF, Brent served as the Associate Director of Athletics for External Relations at Portland State University.

His previous professional experience also includes serving as an Assistant Director of Athletic Development and Athletic Annual Fund Director at Oregon State University, and Assistant Men's Basketball Coach at Oregon State. Brent received his bachelor's degree and M.A. from Oregon State University.

In this episode, Brent Wilder and I discuss:

The big changes in the higher education
How students are being involved & active in various organizations
Interesting projects he is currently working on
Tactics and strategies you can implement today
A platform that you need to know about
How to effectively communicate and work with people
Understanding the importance of higher education
Takeaways & lessons

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

002: Finding The "Holes in the Cheese" To Build A Successful Business with Kim Shepard Jun 19, 2017

Show notes

Kim Shepherd joined Decision Toolbox, a 100 percent virtual organization providing recruitment solutions in 2000 as CEO. Decision Toolbox and its parent company, Engage2Excel, offer the industry's only recruiting solutions that optimize engagement throughout the talent acquisition process and career lifecycle. Today, Kim is chairwoman and leads the companies' growth strategy.

She focuses on developing partnerships and alliances, and is an active member of the Los Angeles and Orange County human resources communities. A recognized thought leader by HR organizations nationwide including the Human Capital Institute, Kim is a regular speaker at national and regional events on various business models.

Calling Kim unconventional is an understatement – her former endeavors include 10 years as a TV and Foreign Correspondent, a stint at Club Med and a near miss at a spot on the Olympic ski team.

In this episode, Kim Shepard and I discuss:

Filling the gaps from her background
Why common sense is often the KEY
Sometimes you have to work work extra hard as a woman in business
Finding work-life balance
Strategies and tactics that will help get you 10x results
What to do if you are feeling down and lost
The importance of embracing your job
Technology forecasting - robots taking over our jobs
Her challenge to the audience

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Kim's Books – Get Scrappy and Bite Me School of Management
On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights

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