The Growth League

Latest Episodes:

Rule #3: Invest In Your Public Speaking Ability | Sara Fay, Brookfield Jan 17, 2022

Show notes

Sara Fay kicks off this week’s episode with her advice on how to succeed when you’re often the youngest and the only woman in the room. She tells us her tips and tricks for how to become comfortable with public speaking and what it can do for your career. Join us as Sara shares what you can do to maintain a balanced life in a world of hustle culture!

Hi, I’m Diana Kander and like you, I feel the call to grow. I'm a midwestern mom of two, balancing a career as a keynote speaker, and trying to leave the world a little bit better than I found it. Each week on The Growth League, I seek out the most remarkable women leaders and uncover their rules for growth. Whether you’re trying to get better at your presentation skills, get that next promotion or even do your first pullup, each episode will provide you with a New Rule for Growth to supercharge your efforts!

The Growth League is more than just a podcast. It’s a community. To join this incredible community, subscribe to our newsletter and join our Facebook group full of like-minded growth-oriented leaders.

The Growth League Podcast is brought to you by Influence & Co., a content marketing company that helps thought-leaders share their expertise online. Go to influenceandco.com/GROWTH to learn more.

Athletic Greens is going to give you an immune supporting FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase if you visit athleticgreens.com/GROWTH today.

To get started today and build your business online, go to Wix.com. With Wix, you can build the website of your dreams with business solutions to help manage and grow directly online!

Check out After Hours, a TED Podcast, for important discussions on current events in the world of business and culture.

The Growth League is a Wonder Media Network production. It's produced by Edie Allard, Adesuwa Agbonile, and Taylor Williamson. Our executive producer is Jenny Kaplan, and our editor is Emily Rudder.

Diana Kander on Instagram

Diana Kander on Twitter

The Growth League on Facebook

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rule #2: Get a Sponsor, Not a Mentor Jan 10, 2022

Show notes

Hi! I’m Diana Kander and like you, I feel the call to grow. I'm a midwestern mom of two balancing a career as a keynote speaker, and trying to leave the world a little bit better than I found it. Each week on The Growth League, I seek out the most remarkable women leaders and uncover their rules for growth. Whether you’re trying to get better at your presentation skills, get that next promotion or even do your first pull-up, each episode will provide you with a New Rule for Growth to supercharge your efforts!

The Growth League Podcast is brought to you by Influence & Co., a content marketing company that helps thought-leaders share their expertise online. Go to influenceandco.com/GROWTH to learn more.

Check out After Hours, a TED Podcast, for important discussions on current events in the world of business and culture.

To get started today and build your business online, go to Wix.com. With Wix, you can build the website of your dreams with business solutions to help manage and grow directly online!

Check out Mita’s podcast, Brown Table Talk!

The Growth League is a Wonder Media Network production. It's produced by Edie Allard, Adesuwa Agbonile, and Taylor Williamson. Our executive producer is Jenny Kaplan, and our editor is Emily Rudder.

Diana Kander on Instagram

Diana Kander on Twitter

The Growth League on Facebook

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rule #1: Everyone Is Just Making It Up Jan 03, 2022

Show notes

The Growth League Podcast is brought to you by Influence & Co., a content marketing company that helps thought-leaders share their expertise online. Go to influenceandco.com/GROWTH to learn more.

For the best sleep of your life, just go to HelixSleep.com/GROWTH, take their two-minute sleep quiz, and they’ll match you to a customized mattress. They have a 10 year warranty and you get to try it out for a hundred nights, risk free. For our listeners, Helix is offering up to $200 off all mattress orders and two free pillows.

Athletic Greens is going to give you an immune supporting FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase if you visit athleticgreens.com/GROWTH today.

The Growth League is a Wonder Media Network production. It's produced by Edie Allard, Adesuwa Agbonile, and Taylor Williamson. Our executive producer is Jenny Kaplan, and our editor is Emily Rudder.

Diana Kander on Instagram

Diana Kander on Twitter

The Growth League on Facebook

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Growth League Dec 13, 2021

Show notes

From Wonder Media Network, The Growth League is a podcast and community of extraordinary women looking to learn and grow from one another. In this show, we share a behind-the-scenes look into the lives of successful executives to learn about the habits, tools, and rules they use to never stop growing. Join the Growth League every Monday starting January 3.

The Growth League Podcast is brought to you by Influence & Co., a content marketing company that helps thought-leaders share their expertise online. Go to influenceandco.com/GROWTH to learn more.

@DianaKander on Twitter and Instagram

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Shocking After Action Review of New Coke - with Sergio Zyman Dec 16, 2020

Show notes

It's been 35 years since the launch of New Coke and we're still talking about it. What has been labeled one of the greatest product failures in corporate history, has actually been grossly mislabeled. It's actually the greatest story of a corporate pivot that I've ever heard. Within 12 days of launch, the company shifted gears and within 77 days they were able to introduce coke classic and create a significant boost to sales. The sales boost was so high that some people at the time even speculated that the new coke failure was done on purpose to draw attention to coke classic. This is an incredible story that rewards not taking long established tales at face value and getting curious about what really happened.

6 things to know about today's guest Sergio Zyman:

He was named one of the Top Three marketing pitchmen of the 20th century by Time magazine.
He created New Coke, as well as diet coke, cherry coke, and coke classic.
He was influential in the positioning and development of the strategy that resulted in the election of former Mexican President Vicente Fox.
He left coke in 1988 as a result of new leadership, and was persuaded to come back in 1993 to hold the first Chief Marketing Officer position ever created in any company.
Sergio re-conceptualized the company's marketing strategy and boosted worldwide annual sales from nine to 15 billion cases--the most explosive growth in the company's history.
He is the author of 4 books including the international bestseller, The End of Marketing As We Know It.
Sergio and I discuss:How the story of New Coke is actually an incredible success story and the tale of the best corporate pivot of all time
Why innovation is a lazy move for most companies
How companies develop blindspots,
And we debate whether marketing is a penalty you pay for having a product that doesn't solve a problem.

Thanks for listening and be sure to find me online to tell me what you thought of the episode!

@DianaKander on Instagram and Twitter
Professional AF Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/943925015810362/
Diana online: www.DianaKander.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why we should treat business failure like a broken heart - with Guy Winch Dec 09, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, we talk with Guy Winch about his amazing book, Emotional First Aid: Healing Rejection, Guilt, Failure, and Other Everyday Hurts. Guy has a surprisingly helpful message for professionals looking to become more resilient, build self-esteem, and let go of a setback.

Guy Winch, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist, author, and keynote speaker whose books have been translated into twenty-six languages. His TED Talks have been viewed over 25 million times and one of them is rated among the top 5 most inspiring talks on TED.com. He's also the co-host of the Dear Therapists podcast with Lori Gottlieb. The podcast is executive produced by Katie Couric for iHeartRadio.

Guy received his doctorate in clinical psychology from New York University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at NYU Medical Center. He has been working with individuals, couples, and families in his private practice in Manhattan for over twenty years.

Guy and I discuss:

Why professional setbacks feel like a broken heart
Why most of our natural instincts after a failure lead us down the wrong path
How to properly grieve after a failure and find the valuable lessons it has to offer

Thanks for listening and be sure to find me online to tell me what you thought of the episode!

@DianaKander on Instagram and Twitter
Professional AF Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/943925015810362/
Diana online: www.DianaKander.com
Guy Winch online: www.guywinch.com/
Guy's podcast: Dear Therapists

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What led to the fall of Atari? - with John Hagel Dec 01, 2020

Show notes

In the early 1980s Atari owned 80% of the video game market and accounted for 70% of the profits of its parent company Warner Communications. By 1983, they had racked up over half a billion dollars ($536 million) in losses, and by the end of 1984 Warner had sold the company.

To answer the question of what happened, I spoke to John Hagel who served as senior vice president of strategy at Atari and was there right at this pivotal moment when they peaked and quickly went out of business.

In addition to his time at Atari, John has spent over 40 years in Silicon Valley and has experience as a management consultant, entrepreneur, speaker and author.

He has worked at Deloitte, McKinsey & Co. and Boston Consulting Group. And is also the founder of two Silicon Valley startups.

He is the author of 7 books, including The Power of Pull, Net Gain, Net Worth, Out of the Box and The Only Sustainable Edge. He has won two awards from Harvard Business Review for best articles in that publication and has been recognized as an industry thought leader by a variety of publications and professional service firms.

John and I discuss:

What happened that led to the quick demise of Atari
John's theory on why success breeds failure
What he has learned about creating change in an org in his 40 years of practice
How to create a learning culture in your organization

Thanks for listening and be sure to find me online to tell me what you thought of the episode!

@DianaKander on Instagram and Twitter
Professional AF Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/943925015810362/
Diana online: www.DianaKander.com
John Hagel online: www.JohnHagel.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After Action Review - The Amazon Fire Phone with Ian Freed Nov 24, 2020

Show notes

The Fire Phone is widely regarded as one of Amazon’s biggest failures. The phone sold what industry experts estimated to be 35,000 units in its first 25 days and they reportedly wrote off $170 million loss due to the phone’s failure in its first year.

This episode is an interview with Ian Freed, the product owner of the fire phone, who took it from inception to product launch.

At Amazon, Ian was a Vice President and served as Technology Adviser to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos from 2004-2005. He led the Amazon Kindle business including business strategy, product development, business development, and marketing from 2006 until 2010. Additionally, Ian led the Amazon Echo/Alexa business from inception in 2011 through first product release in 2015. From 2016-2017, Ian led consumer services including Amazon Restaurants - a one-hour food delivery service from local restaurants in 25 cities.

In 2018 Ian took his Amazon learnings and launched Bamboo learning - focused on developing breakthrough at home learning experiences for children and families

Ian and I are going to discuss:

What happened to the Amazon Fire phone – where it went wrong and why they didn't create a version 2
How Jeff Bezos makes failure ok and his favorite story to tell to reinforce this point
How Amazon decides which products are good but not good enough
The advice Jeff Bezos gave to Ian after the Fire phone failure

Thanks for listening and be sure to find me online to tell me what you thought of the episode!

@DianaKander on Instagram and Twitter
Professional AF Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/943925015810362/
Diana online: www.DianaKander.com
Ian Freed on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ifreed
Bamboo Learning: https://bamboolearning.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Greatest After Action Review of All Time: Nokia's Historic Collapse with Timo Vuori Nov 17, 2020

Show notes

In 2007 Nokia had 50% of the world’s cell phone market. The cover of Forbes magazine in November of 2007 read – Nokia – 1 Billion Customers – Can Anyone Catch the Cell Phone King? And in less than six years Nokia’s cell phone division tanked so quickly that they stopped selling cell phones and sold the division to Microsoft. Six years! It was one of the fastest collapses in corporate history.

Thanks to the research of two business professors, Timo Vuori and Quy Huy, we know that it was fear at Nokia that precipitated its fall from grace.

Today we have one of the professors to discuss the interviews with 76 of Nokia’s top managers, including two CEOs, vice presidents, middle managers, engineers, and external experts. These conversations, lasting an average of 90 minutes, are, in my opinion, the best after action review ever created.

And they highlight something really profound. While the senior executives were externally focused and worried about competition from Apple, Google and Research In Motion (RIM), their subordinates didn't share their concerns. Instead, middle managers were internally focused, worrying about what their managers wanted from them. And this dynamic that we're going to discuss today is prevalent in every other organization Professor Timo has studied.

Timo and I are going to discuss:

The most comprehensive case study every done on a company
The danger of doing after action reviews internally rather than asking an outsider to help
How organizations inadvertently create fear within their workforce
And how those fears prevent an organization from taking corrective action when it's in danger.

Thanks for listening and be sure to find me online to tell me what you thought of the episode!

@DianaKander on Instagram and Twitter
Professional AF Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/943925015810362/
Diana online: www.DianaKander.com
Link to the Nokia AAR: https://knowledge.insead.edu/sites/www.insead.edu/files/images/asq_2015_print_vuori_huy_distributed_attention_and_shared_emotions_in_innovation_process.pdf
Timo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timo-vuori-37226a5/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to Decide With Annie Duke Nov 10, 2020

Show notes

Annie Duke is an author, corporate speaker, and consultant in the decision-making space. Today we discuss Annie’s latest book, How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices. As a former professional poker player, Annie won more than $4 million in tournament poker before retiring from the game in 2012. Prior to becoming a professional player, Annie was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Annie is also the co-founder of The Alliance for Decision Education, a non-profit whose mission is to improve lives by empowering students through decision skills education.

Annie and I are going to discuss:

- How to be the most humble

- How to make better decisions

- Decision hygiene – how to make sure your opinion doesn’t infect others when asking for feedback

- Why looking back at past decisions is so hard and what you can do to make your reflection much more useful

- How to know if you are really learning from both failures and successes

- And you get Annie Duke's contact info in the episode!

Thanks for listening and be sure to find me online to tell me what you thought of the episode!

@DianaKander on Instagram and Twitter
Professional AF Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/943925015810362/
Diana online: www.DianaKander.com
Annie Duke online: https://www.annieduke.com/
@AnnieDuke on Twitter

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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