Patricia O’Connell interviews Nick Childs about DIRT. They discuss what the company does, why it was started, how it relates to Nick’s earlier careers, and how biometric neuroscientific testing can help you connect deeply with your audience through content that reaches them emotionally.   Listen in to learn more about DIRT and content improved by biometric science for your audience. Key Takeaways: [:25] Patricia O’Connell introduces Nick Childs, filmmaker, producer, director, and writer of film and digital experiences, as well as a Co-Founder of DIRT. [1:19] Nick and three co-founders started DIRT during the pandemic. They built a platform for neuroscientific research for consumer insights. DIRT stands for Discover and Illuminate Real Truth. They dig in the sandbox with their clients to build connecting content and experiences together through a better understanding of their audiences. [2:42] DIRT research tests the emotional responses of subjects to the things they are observing by measuring their galvanic skin responses. The responses show when people are paying more attention to what they see. DIRT creates a report for the client that helps them focus on what content had the most impact. [4:31] Why doesn’t DIRT use surveys or focus groups? [6:40] DIRT also uses eye-tracking with galvanic skin response. They measure attention and extrapolate emotional connections based on the content itself. A timeline of the responses with the content shows where the audience’s attention is spiking and where it is flagging. This is very valuable knowledge for content makers. [8:15] The power of infinitesimal improvements over time. [8:31] Patricia and Nick discuss a hypothetical, concrete example of evaluating a sneaker ad. What is the level of detail they can test? Nick recommends picking at least 50 to 100 people from the client’s audience and getting an aggregate test score.[10:50] Almost any industry that connects with an audience through content or an app can benefit from this research. [12:04] How does DIRT fit into the future of making decisions about content? Neuromarketing growth is compounding at 16% annually over the next five or six years. Nick sees NaaS (Neuroscience as a Subscription) as a growing market. What about costs? [13:57] Are there privacy issues? DIRT does not need demographic information from people to gather galvanic responses. They invite people to opt-in with some data but testing can be done completely anonymously. People are invited in and compensated for their time. DIRT is open about what they gather and what they do not. [17:03] Can biometric neuroscience be used for nefarious reasons? Not at DIRT, anyway, as they maintain anonymity from audiences that opt-in to the experience. The goal is a better connection with the audience the client is serving with their offerings. [18:36] Nick would have loved to have access to this biometric neuroscience research back when he was making content to make better connections with his audiences. [21:14] Does biometric neuroscience divide the “poets” from the “quants”? Nick has not been in a situation where the quants get it but the poets don’t. Everyone gets it. The research bridges the gap and delivers value to all of the stakeholders as DIRT helps the client focus on creating something that connects with their audience better.[23:29] How to make a new translation of Beowulf culturally significant. Understand where your audience is now. Crime author Elmore Leonard followed the rule to try to leave out the parts that readers skip. DIRT tries to leave out the parts of your content that your audience skips. It makes for a better experience. [24:49] What can a client apply from one study of one piece of content to develop future content? Nick talks through the process. What insights can a client build? [25:50] Is this research only for large corporations? DIRT is working on how to put this into the reach of more influencers and companies. [27:46] Contrasting the creator economy and the attention economy, and how DIRT is involved to help build connections. [28:44] Nick shares his contact links. [29:09] Patricia thanks Nick for joining This is Capitalism: CEO Stories.   Mentioned in This Episode: Nick ChildsWeAreDIRT.com Twitter: @NickChilds Maria Headley’s translation of Beowulf Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf Elmore Leonard

This is Capitalism: CEO Stories

Nick Childs, Filmmaker, and Co-Founder at DIRT

 Patricia O’Connell interviews Nick Araco, CEO of AchieveNEXT, and Tom Stewart, Chief Knowledge Officer, about AchieveNEXT and recent data they have collected from middle-market CHROs and CFOs regarding where they see business heading for the rest of the year.   Listen in to learn more about AchieveNEXT and projected upcoming mid-market growth. Key Takeaways: [:28] Patricia O’Connell introduces Nick Araco, CEO of AchieveNEXT, and Tom Stewart, Chief Knowledge Officer. [1:09] AchieveNEXT helps emerging and middle-market CFOs and CHROs to gather and assemble data, to benchmark, and to share best practices, and do it all better, faster, and smarter. [1:54] Most of the middle-market companies are private. There is not a lot of benchmarking data on which to rely. AchieveNEXT combines a peer network, data from research with CFO and CHRO alliances, and a suite of human capital and performance solutions that will help CFOs and CHROs improve the performance of their companies. [2:50] Nick talks about capturing data from CFOs and CHROs of 200 private companies about what they are committing to, how they are doing, and what they project for the next six months. The data shows that optimism abounds for recovery. Top-line and bottom-line performance is up in these mid-market enterprises in 2021. [4:34] Nick and Tom have spent decades working with mid-market enterprises. For most of that time, CFOs and CHROs made conservative projections of nominal, single-digit growth. Their current projections are for more than 10% growth, which is very different from their past projections. [5:20] Some hospitality and other businesses are constrained by the impacts of the pandemic; they project negative growth. This group is relatively small compared to the mid-market enterprises that project high growth. The bell curve has shifted to the right. People have more confidence. [6:22] During Q3 and Q4 of 2020, the mid-market was concerned that even if they were up and running, their customers and vendors would not be financially fit. Now, they are worried about retaining talent and finding new talent to sustain and drive their growth. [7:35] With the expectation of revenue growth, there is an expectation of employment growth. The data gathered by AchieveNEXT shows that 57% of mid-market enterprises say attracting and retaining top talent is one of their top three challenges. It’s the #1 challenge. [8:42] One of AchieveNEXT's secrets is that the relationship between the finance leader, the HR leader, and the CEO is the trifecta. That relationship and the functions behind finance and people drive the success of the business. Companies that thrive have brought the numbers and acumen of finance together with the people side. [9:32] At their highest levels, the CFO and the CHRO are responsible for the development of financial and human capital. That’s what makes the enterprise a combination of financial and human resources. [10:47] Most of the enterprises surveyed said they are not shifting their strategy. They are focused on doing what they do well, and it seems to be meeting the market’s needs and demands. So they are looking for talent like the talent they already have. It’s a battle for talent. [11:46] Most enterprises are reporting that the supply of talent they are seeking is either not out there, or hard to find, or is not moving. There is not enough talent. They will either have to create or develop new pools of talent, or pay more and steal them from somebody else, or win them with something that doesn’t involve money, like culture. [12:42] Enterprises were surveyed about actions they are taking for all their priorities for the remainder of 2021. The most important was increasing efficiency. Right under that was addressing talent issues. Workplace flexibility was highly regarded among women CFOs. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are also high priorities for expanding talent pools. [14:08] Mid-market enterprises are investing and doubling down on technology to fill functions that can be automated. Instead of eliminating people, they are working to upskill people to work on higher-value functions that cannot be automated. [15:05] “Technology is my friend,” is the message that middle-market CFOs and CHROs have been telling AchieveNEXT. 78% say that technology is providing a positive benefit. They are not buying new tools and equipment, but focusing on getting the most out of what they have and getting the stacks they have to communicate better. [16:32] Nick and Tom are hearing almost daily stories of CFOs announcing a deal was done. The Alliance of Merger and Acquisition Advisors (AM&AA) says there is about $1.6 trillion available for M&A. Capital is not particularly hard to find. About 21% of mid-market companies are looking for an acquisition. [18:39] The private equity timelines are compressed. What was once a five-to-seven-year threshold of buying, developing, and selling a platform has come down to 2.5 years from buying to selling. There’s an attitude of bullishness and excitement. Tom sees cyclical and structural issues creating this increasing M&A. [20:36] Most private companies expect to stay private. When would a company want to go public? [21:35] Nick mentions some concerns that exist in the mid-market regarding projected top-line revenue performance: capabilities, cost, and COVID-19. These three dark clouds do not cover up the confidence the mid-market has in their companies, industries, cities, and the U.S. economy. [24:01] Nick shares helpful links and a peek at their upcoming study on mid-market talent acquisition, compensation, and culture. [25:26] Patricia thanks Nick and Tom for joining CEO Stories on This is Capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Nick AracoTom Stewart AchieveNEXT AchieveNEXT on LinkedIn AchieveNEXT on Twitter Alliance of Merger and Acquisition Advisors

Nick Araco, CEO of AchieveNEXT, and Tom Stewart, Chief Knowledge Officer

Patricia O’Connell interviews Dee Brown, President and CEO of The P3 Group about what a Public-Private Partnership (P3) is, and what impact P3 development projects have on under-served communities. Dee talks about his career in real estate, infrastructure development, and P3 real estate development. He shares his early history and the duty he feels toward the communities he serves. Dee is always learning, always growing, and always getting up at 3:30 a.m. because he always wants to do better at the work he loves. Listen in to learn more about entrepreneurship in under-served communities in the P3 space with Dee Brown. Key Takeaways: [:29] Patricia O’Connell introduces Dee Brown, President and CEO of The P3 Group. [:34] The P3 Group is the nation’s largest minority-owned real estate developer that focuses exclusively on Public-Private Partnerships. Dee has nearly 30 years of experience in real estate sales, development, construction, and management. He is also the host of The Sky’s the Limit podcast, produced by Forbes Books. [1:41] Dee used his “stick-to-it-ness” to move past some challenges and technical difficulties that might have prevented today’s episode from being recorded. In business, almost all the time, the first answer is “No,” so Dee has always found a way to overcome objections and push forward to get to the goal. [2:45] Dee describes his response to hearing “No.” He tries to understand the reason behind the “No,” to determine how to move forward. There are a variety of reasons a person might object. [4:04] Dee sometimes has to educate agencies and leaders of organizations that The P3 Group’s model and execution strategy is a superior delivery method. [4:36] Dee explains the meaning of a Public-Private Partnership between a private-sector company and a unit of government. Dee talks about the goals of a Public-Private Partnership agreement. The P3 Group provides all the expertise and carries the risk. [6:33] Dee describes the several risk mitigation tools The P3 Group uses to mitigate their risks as developers. [8:55] The team at The P3 Group has expertise in business development, business operations, administration, client services, and client relationships. Dee’s son has recently been promoted to President of Client Services. [10:56] Dee has a goal to pass the business along to his son and future generations. [11:47] Dee shares how he migrated from traditional real estate and real estate development to the P3 world. When the 2008 recession hit, he moved into highway, street, and bridge construction by acquiring a construction company. As his business grew, he started doing work for federal agencies. [12:50] After working on infrastructure construction projects, Dee began to apply his new knowledge of Public-Private Partnerships to real estate development. [13:26] Many of the projects The P3 Group executes, such as fire stations, municipal courthouses, public safety complexes, and more, are in under-served communities. Any type of government organization may use its services. The P3 Group has about $1 billion worth of projects in planning or in process in its pipeline. [14:35] Why does The P3 Group concentrate its work in under-served communities? [15:26] Dee tells what it means to him to be the largest minority-owned developer in the P3 space and the duty he feels to the communities he serves. These projects are transformational in the landscape of a community. [16:30] Dee grew up in a very impoverished community in the Mississippi Delta. He beat the odds to get where he is at The P3 Group. In the community where Dee was raised, there is still a lot of need and hopelessness. Dee goes into a community and provides services that bring hope and that inspire. [17:28] The P3 Group has donated money to community colleges for scholarship programs. Dee and his team try to be good examples of what you can do if you put your mind to it and make good, sound decisions. They try to be visible in the community. They run a math and reading academy for K‒3 through their non-profit organization. [18:44] The non-profit foundation at The P3 Group has been organized as a 501(c)(3) for two years. The foundation was started in 2014. Dee tells of some of the work the foundation does. Currently, the foundation is partnering with The P3 Group to develop student housing and student unions on HBCU campuses. [20:05] Dee, from his childhood, always had the mindset that he wanted to be successful. He was always looking for entrepreneurial opportunities to make money. Because of that, he has never punched a clock for anyone. He has always “eaten what he’s killed.” [20:56] Why the lion is the king of the jungle: When the lion sees an elephant, he thinks about lunch. When the elephant sees a lion, he thinks about running. Dee has the mindset of a lion. He always looks for ways to succeed. He gets up at 3:30 every morning to work. Some people do not have the discipline to succeed. [23:12] Dee recommends three habits for highly successful people. Success is not a smooth journey but a series of failures that you have to overcome for some period. You can’t start at the end. You start at the beginning. Do more than you get paid to do. [25:46] Follow your dreams. Find something that you’re passionate about, something that you believe in, something that inspires you, and then use that to build your business model around. Dee doesn’t have a problem with working every day because he loves what he does. He loves the impact that his business has on communities. [28:36] Patricia thanks Dee for appearing on This is Capitalism CEO Stories.   Mentioned in This Episode: Dee Brown DeeBrownCEO.com The P3 Group Brown Foundation Community Development Corporation HBCUs Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life, by Spencer Johnson

Dee Brown, President and CEO of The P3 Group

Patricia O’Connell interviews Kevin Dawidodicz, serial entrepreneur and Co-Founder of CoachMePlus. They discuss the CoachMePlus product in its market, the limitations of fitness apps used alone, and how CoachMePlus developed from a high schooler’s workout notebook. Listen in to learn more about fitness training accountability for athletes and clients. Key Takeaways: [:26] Patricia O’Connell introduces serial entrepreneur and Co-Founder of CoachMePlus, Kevin Dawidowicz, to talk about the fitness tool CoachMePlus. [1:18] CoachMePlus is a tool for coaches and trainers of athletes and exercise program clients to improve fitness outcomes. CoachMePlus started with professional athletes, providing in-person and remote experiences. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the app was used remotely also by personal trainers and their clients. [3:55] CoachMePlus uses various connectivity tools to manage the relationships of coaches and trainers with their athletes or clients. The tools include texting, fitness programming, nutrition and hydration tracking, weight tracking, and integration of the clients’ wearable fitness devices. [6:44] CoachMePlus is working with the National Guard and the Reserves to embed a culture of fitness in these branches of the military and deliver fitness programming when they are away from the base. [8:21] Kevin defines fitness as a holistic mindset that includes sleep, nutrition, and mindfulness as well as physical fitness. Coaches can use CoachMePlus to engage the athlete or client in all aspects of fitness and wellness.[9:09] Kevin explains how CoachMePlus is more of a tool than an app. There is no accountability with an app. With CoachMePlus, there is somebody on the other side to hold the athlete or client accountable. [11:12] Wearable fitness devices constantly stream information into the system and that becomes available to the coach in a usable way. How the coach uses the information depends on how the relationship between the coach and the athlete works. [12:24] The information collected from the athlete is for the coach and the athlete. CoachMePlus does not mine the data for advertising purposes.[12:53] Kevin tells the evolution of CoachMePlus starting with making training CD-ROMs for Coach Doug McKenney of the Buffalo Sabres. [16:27] Kevin and his co-founders spent years brainstorming ideas and rapidly prototyping apps for a scalable company. He advises entrepreneurs to get out of the analysis mindset and start doing. Get it into the hands of customers, get feedback, modify, iterate, and repeat. [18:14] Before CoachMePlus, Kevin tried online retail and a site to track collectibles online. Discovering their limitations in these projects helped them go in a different direction. [19:54] Kevin has a well of optimism and energy that keeps him going. He’s also pragmatic and realistic about his projects. [21:43] Kevin was surprised when he got into the market space, that within a couple of years, he had three or four competitors that all started right around the same time. If he had delayed launching until his product was “perfect,” he would have been behind. Get out there as quickly as possible.[23:07] CoachMePlus with its remote use case had an advantage over the fitness market during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the fitness market was located inside the gym. The pandemic broke that model. This year, the number of gyms and personal trainers that use CoachMePlus has doubled and is accelerating. [24:30] Kevin has other ideas percolating in the middle of the night. He’s never short of ideas; everything’s just a matter of resources. The job is to be nimble enough to accept the new tech as it comes in and make it useful. It’s an interesting challenge. [25:52] Patricia thanks Kevin for joining This is Capitalism CEO Stories.   Mentioned in This Episode: Kevin Dawidowicz CoachMePlusTwitter @CoachMePlusApple WatchWhoopBuffalo Sabres Doug McKenney Philadelphia Eagles Stephen Ostrow

Kevin Dawidowicz, Co-Founder of CoachMePlus

Patricia O’Connell interviews Cher Grant, CEO and Founder of software development company Wazzio. They discuss how Wazzio was launched, how it serves schools and parents teaching at home, and how Cher became a technology provider after being a sales rep. Cher stresses the importance of financial literacy for children growing up in a world where spending happens on a keyboard.   Listen in to learn more about providing innovative solutions through cloud services. Key Takeaways: [:27] Patricia O’Connell introduces Cher Grant, CEO and Founder of Wazzio, a software development company, and welcomes her to This is Capitalism CEO Stories. [:48] Cher launched Wazzio in 2013 with cloud software services. Since 2013, the company has pivoted into the educational space to offer technology to help students. [1:12] Their latest application is Wazzcards, an online virtual interactive classroom. A question is posed by teachers or parents on a card that appears on-screen. Students answer it in real-time as teachers or parents observe how the students answer. It can be used in class or remotely. [2:07] Wazzcards has many subjects but one of the main purposes of the program is to encourage students as young as possible to learn about financial literacy. Wazzcards is intended for classes from Grade Three through Grade Eight. The subjects are Science, Math, English, Geography, History, and Financial Literacy. [3:35] Cher talks about the extreme importance of financial literacy and why it should be taught in school. When you buy everything online, how do you keep track of how much money you are spending? It doesn’t even seem real if you don’t hold the cash in your hand.[5:19] Cher wants children to learn now what happens when you borrow money, what debt means, what it does to your credit score, how interest works, and how debt follows you until you pay it off. [5:47] Cher markets Wazzcards through social media, Google Ads, and existing partnerships with schools and other companies in the education sector. Wazzcards is marketed both to schools and parents teaching their children at home. The collaborative nature of the cards helps keep the attention and focus of children. [6:48] Wazzcards presents a complete curriculum that parents can use for teaching at home. Parents select the decks they want to use for their children. Parents can apply motivational treats for the number of questions answered correctly.[7:33] The pandemic gave parents access to how well their children were doing or how they were struggling in school.[9:14] The technology industry is predominantly male-dominated. Cher has met some challenges throughout her career but her love for technology has kept her going. Technology is innovative and always changing. Solving business challenges for customers is what excites Cher about technology. [9:48] Cher had learned in previous jobs to act like Teflon and not let sexist attitudes and comments stick to her. She eventually left being an employee when she found too many obstacles to innovation in the companies that employed her. She decided to launch a company where she could innovate to meet the needs she saw.[11:05] Cher had always felt a “burning flame” to do something on her own. The fear factor of failing kept her working as an employee for years. When she launched Wazzio, it was profitable in its first year. [12:00] Cher describes the role having passion for your work plays for people whether working for a company or as an entrepreneur. We don’t often hear the phrase, “I love my job. I love what I do.” Passion gets you up in the morning to push through the highs and lows of the day. An entrepreneur works many hours to succeed. [13:34] With a Wazzcard subscription, a school has the opportunity to get a discount on Chromebook devices. So far, Wazzio has neither sought nor needed outside capitalization. They may look for funding later on for growth. [14:55] By not relying on investors, Cher has been able to control the company as she wants. This has been an advantage so far. [15:53] The most important thing when you partner with an investor is to align with an investor who has the same vision you have for the company. It’s almost like a marriage. [16:33] Wazzio has also created a company called Riley in Canada as a market for small contractors in the beauty and household service industries. It may expand into the U.S.[18:02] You can purchase a Wazzcards software subscription anywhere in the world. The Chromebook discount is only available in the U.S.[18:35] Cher’s advice for female entrepreneurs going into technology fields is not to fear the tech but embrace it. We use it every day, all day. Don’t be afraid of getting into this space. There are huge opportunities in different tech areas for providing solutions and services to different businesses. Push forward and take a look at technology. [19:23] Cher started in the tech space as a sales rep at large American companies. When she saw the possibilities in the technology field, she was very excited. She has stayed in technology ever since.[20:37] Cher received a lot of great training in tech while she worked for those large companies. She received various certifications any time she saw an opportunity to learn more. She also researched to find as much as she could about technology she didn’t understand. As she went through different types of jobs, learning became easier for her.[21:10] Cher became a cloud specialist when she saw the industry was moving into cloud technology. Learn while you are earning a salary, then apply your knowledge in a company you launch. [22:01] Wazzcards is preparing an offering for the corporate space for corporations to teach their employees about the different solutions they offer. [22:39] Patricia thanks Cheryl for sharing her story and telling us about Wazzio and Wazzcards.   Mentioned in This Episode: Cher Grant Wazzio.com Wazzcards.com Chromebook

Cher Grant, CEO and Founder of Wazzio, Inc.

Patricia O’Connell interviews Christina Elson, Executive Director for the Center for the Study of Capitalism at Wake Forest University, and Patrick Reasonover, the lead producer of the movie, They Say It Can’t Be Done. They discuss the movie, innovation, and the proper role of regulation in a free market capitalist system. Listen in to learn more about innovation and regulation and how you can promote innovation in the market. Key Takeaways: [:21] Patricia O’Connell introduces Christina Elson, Executive Director for the Center for the Study of Capitalism at Wake Forest University, and Patrick Reasonover, the lead producer of the movie, They Say It Can’t Be Done, and welcomes them to This is Capitalism. [1:34] Patrick discusses innovation, regulation, optimism, and pessimism as themes of the movie They Say It Can’t Be Done. Innovators are working on problems that people believe cannot be solved, such as global warming. Regulators use an outdated industrial model and not the digital, innovative model of capitalism we see today. [3:30] We have to decide between optimism and pessimism. Can these things be done? Should we regulate and stop them from moving forward? [4:00] Christina addresses the roles of regulation, both positive and negative, in a capitalist free market economy. Regulators do not fully understand the new technology economy they regulate. We need to protect people when it’s appropriate without creating issues that are difficult to resolve in our economy. [6:12] Patrick speaks of the histories of capitalism and regulation since the Industrial Revolution. With industry, came regulation. Regulation trails innovation as the future is unseen. The ultimate decider of an industry’s success is when the consumers choose them in the market. When regulation tries to manage innovation, it’s a problem. [7:34] Regulations should not solve problems; they should empower and facilitate the innovators and businesses that are solving the problems. [8:04] Patrick searched on Google to find the four companies he followed in the film They Say It Can’t Be Done. They began by finding the biggest problems everyone shares. When they settled on the problems, they went researching and found organizations that had been working on these problems for years or even decades. [9:16] Patrick and his team talked to many people in the process. The four companies that the film follows are symbolic of multiple others working on the same problems, such as, how do you solve global warming? One person, Klaus Lackner, has developed a plastic tree to suck CO2 from the atmosphere at thousands of times the rate of a living tree.[10:35] Wake Forest University has been working at the forefront of personalized medicine for over a decade. They are working on growing bones, organs, or other tissues you may need from your existing cells. This works with 3-D printing technology in biomedicine. The medical regulatory system is not based on personalized medicine. [12:01] A business that builds organs needs to scale its ability for the hundreds of thousands of people that need organ donation. The process of scaling has been extremely complicated because of the regulatory system. The innovators spend many hours trying to work through very complicated regulations, instead of innovating. [14:31] Most of the regulatory agencies and the acts which created them are decades old. They are outdated. There needs to be a fundamental revisiting of how we regulate any of these businesses, particularly new ones. New businesses are particularly vulnerable at the start. Once they are global, they are not as vulnerable.[16:17] Do we trust that most innovators are devoting their time and resources trying to contribute and do good? Or do we look at the world with fear?[16:48] We need to encourage innovation and new businesses in the US. Patricia talks about Eat Just, one of the businesses in the film, producing chicken meat. They have a great product with some important breakthroughs. They launched in Singapore instead of the US because of Singapore's clear regulatory system. [19:20] What about the workers displaced by the creative destruction? What happens to the food processing workers when we grow meat from cells? Many companies are heavily involved in retraining workers. Our schools are emphasizing training for the new economy. There are always jobs that will be replaced by other, better jobs. [22:16] Animal husbandry and slaughter are jobs that are not pleasant. Other jobs will appear that are less hazardous, better paying, and better for the environment as well. The American beef industry is trying to use the regulatory apparatus to delay and shut down Eat Just and its competitors from launching this product. [23:30] Instead of trying to regulate them, Tyson invested in Eat Just. Tyson has an international distribution system. Eat Just does not. By working together, and producing a better product, they both profit. Eat Just has made meat better and less expensive. [26:07] We are ready for permissionless innovation. We are responsible for the government we have. We need to have advocacy for the kind of world in which we want to live and take the steps to figure out how to get there. As consumers, we can demand products that we believe will provide us with a better, healthier lifestyle. [28:20] Advocacy is based on need. If enough people demand 3-D printed organs, the system will eventually provide for them to be made. The first step is awareness. The movie presents real solutions that address real problems. [29:20] Christina tells why she is an optimist. Optimists believe in a locus of control and are natural leaders. There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic today. Patrick is an optimist but he says we all need to be self-aware. Sometimes, you need to be cautious. The negativity of the media makes people overly cautious. [31:35] We have a tort system in the US. Why not let this meat go to market? Why does the FDA need to approve foods that we eat? If it is harmful, they will be sued. We are in Innovation Land. Capitalism has freed people to create new things. The future is always going to be different and when people are free, it is going to be better. [32:33] Be optimistic when it is called for and be cautious when it is called for. There are millions of people all around the world, working on amazingly cool stuff to solve the problems you are worried about, right now. The best thing you can do is to help them. [32:58] Patricia thanks Patrick and Christina for giving us reasons to be optimistic and for being on the podcast; This Is Capitalism CEO Stories.   Mentioned in This Episode: Christina Elson Patrick Reasonover Wake Forest University Center for the Study of Capitalism at Wake Forest University They Say it Can’t Be Done Eat Just National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Tyson

Christina Elson and Patrick Reasonover: They Say It Can’t Be Done

Patricia O’Connell interviews Tiki Barber, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of Thuzio, on how his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut evolved into playing for 10 years with the NY Giants, entering broadcasting, and co-founding Thuzio, a sports events and media company. Tiki discusses his varied careers, his family, and what motivates him to succeed.   Listen in to learn more about taking advantage of opportunities and pivoting as needed. Key Takeaways: [:25] Patricia O’Connell introduces Tiki Barber, Co-chairman of Thuzio. [1:10] Patricia welcomes Tiki Barber to CEO Stories on This is Capitalism. [1:15] As a child, Tiki Barber was so strongly affected by the 1986 Challenger disaster that he wanted to be an astronaut. His mother suggested that he go to a college where he could study to be an astronaut. He studied engineering at the University of Virginia and played college football. In his first semester, he fell in love with computers. [3:03] Tiki’s dream of becoming an astronaut fell by the wayside. He left the engineering school and joined the business school to study management information systems, which is database design and programming. His new dream was to work for Oracle or Microsoft as a tech entrepreneur. [3:27] In Tiki’s junior year, his football skills had become so good that playing for the NFL was a realistic plan. [4:20] Tiki explains how his 10-year career with the NY Giants prepared him to become an entrepreneur. His first years in the NFL were tough and he was just hanging on. After a coaching staff change, he was used more and he began to excel. In business and entrepreneurship, even with the greatest idea, you will still take missteps and pivots. [6:10] You will have success when you work with a team and a mentor. Tiki tells how he and entrepreneur Mark Gerson partnered to form Thuzio as a marketplace for athletes to engage with their communities. Kiki believes that partnering with the right person is paramount to success. There has to be collaborative energy that exists between you. [8:14] Tiki explains how he met Mark during a transitional time. Mark’s brother, Rick, was a college friend of Tiki’s. Rick reached out to Tiki when Tiki wasn’t working, and suggested Tiki and Mark should get together and “figure something out.” Six months later, Tiki and Mark launched Thuzio and it is still going strong. [8:46] Keep up with your relationships. Check in with people just to ask how they are. Tiki has found that being a people person has been extraordinarily beneficial to his entrepreneurial career. [9:58] What kinds of things have helped Tiki to transition from athlete to entrepreneur? Tiki’s twin brother always said they would succeed because they don’t believe that they can fail. They don’t give up. Tiki has the utmost confidence in himself. If you believe that it’s going to be OK, you tend to find the positive and you tend to find the next steps. [10:44] Tiki shares an anecdote from his brother and his life. While they were in college, their mother developed breast cancer and needed a double mastectomy. She told them, “I have to get busy living or I have to get busy dying. And I’m choosing to live.” She is now a 26-year cancer survivor. Her positivity stayed with Tiki. [12:02] In the early ’70s, Tiki’s father had left the family and was out of Tiki’s life for decades. After Tiki’s second marriage and their first child, Tiki’s wife sent his father a Christmas card. Tiki’s father came to visit the next March and met Tiki’s five children. They drank wine together and reconnected after years. Then his half-sister connected. [12:37] Tiki has a great relationship now with a half-sister he didn’t know for most of his life. You never know when reconciliation is the right thing for all. Now Tiki’s children have a grandfather. Tiki says his wife Tracy is a wonderful teammate for him. [14:31] The name Thuzio comes from enthusiasm. They provide events with personalities about whom people are enthusiastic. Besides athletes, they work with authors, actors, musicians, and celebrity chefs. [15:46] Thuzio started as a marketplace to meet sports figures individually. It turned out to be unscalable. So, they created a membership base that could engage with the athletes in groups. They held 150- to 200-person events once or twice a month in major sports market cities. The events were engaging. [18:04] Then the pandemic happened. Thuzio had to pivot. As a live-event company, there was the risk of going under. Live events were impractical with social distancing. Then they were asked to host a virtual event. It worked and they realized they had a solution. [19:28] Now, instead of doing one or two events per market each month, they are hosting three or four events a day through Zoom and other virtual platforms. [20:00] Thuzio plans for a dual business model when in-person events are more practical. There is a significantly larger margin for an in-person event, while virtual events are more scalable and have a larger reach. Ultimately, having the in-person experience matters to the clients. [20:50] Troubled times create opportunities. Tiki talks about acquiring a Canadian company, Robin, for their live-event ticketing technology and as a second product offering. While the pandemic damaged the business model of Thuzio, it became an opportunity to expand its business model. [22:17] Tiki credits Thuzio CEO, Jared Augustine, with a great mind for seeing a business opportunity and making the decision to go after it aggressively.[22:43] Thuzio has been able to pivot in real time to survive another year and get closer to profitability. [23:16] Tiki describes splitting Julius Works from Thuzio. Julius Works finds influencers for client campaigns. Thuzio became the event company. When that split happened, Thuzio became a startup. They brought on new investors just before the pandemic hit. They created a Kickstarter campaign. Going to a virtual model helped a lot. [26:02] Tiki talks about when they will reach profitability. He foresees it in a year or so, given their history of innovation. They need to invest in growing their divisions and their clients. [27:28] Where are the astronaut influencers? Tiki thinks that is a great idea. Tiki talks about his sci-fi passions and natural geekiness. He is doing a visual podcast called Display TV, interviewing experts in certain fields. [29:46] Tiki talks about the children’s books he and his brother, Ronde, wrote, starting with By My Brother’s Side. They did a total of three picture books and nine chapter books. He still gets comments on these books from people who read them growing up. [32:11] What’s next for Tiki? He has always been an opportunist and has never been afraid to try something new. You never know when that’s going to ultimately be your passion. His friends told him never to be afraid to diversify his income streams. Diversification creates redundancy in success. [34:19] Patricia thanks Tiki for being on the podcast; This Is Capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Tiki Barber Thuzio Challenger disaster University of Virginia Oracle Microsoft NFL NY GiantsToday Show FoxNews CBS Sports Radio Kinky Boots Mark Gerson GLG Zoom Robin JuliusWorks.comBy My Brother’s Side, by Tiki and Ronde Barber

Tiki Barber, Football Star and Co-Chairman of Thuzio

 Patricia O’Connell interviews Alaina Love, CEO of Purpose Linked Consulting, about passion and purpose. They discuss how passions express purpose, the ten archetypes of passion, and about learning your top three passion archetypes. They explore how to link an organization to a meaningful purpose.   Listen in to learn more about your passions and purpose and how to express them in your life and career. Key Takeaways: [:22] Patricia O’Connell introduces Alaina Love, CEO of Purpose Linked Consulting, and her message of following passion with purpose, for individuals, companies, and teams. [1:15] Patricia welcomes Alaina Love to CEO Stories on This is Capitalism. [1:26] Alaina explores what it means for an individual to have purpose and passion. She begins by sharing her experience of walking away from an executive opportunity at a large organization where she had been climbing the ladder of success. [3:58] Alaina had to ponder to discover why being successful and being rewarded for the work she was doing was not enough for her. She didn’t want to spend the next 85,000 work hours doing work she didn’t see as deeply purposeful. Alaina began to realize that purpose and passion are connected. [5:07] Alaina has interviewed people for 20 years about finding purpose in work. Most people spend their lives trying to find out exactly what their purpose is. Most people believe they will be satisfied sometime in the future, after finding their purpose. [6:26] Alain found that people who have figured out how to weave who they are into their roles, where their passions can “come out to play every day,” are the folks who feel that their roles were aligned to a deeper purpose that they are here to achieve.[6:50] After many years of wrestling with this issue, Alaina realized the passions people exhibit are the outward expression of the deeper purpose that drives them. [7:43] With researchers from the University of Michigan, Alaina developed The Passion Profiler, which identifies how a person resonates with each of ten passion archetypes that are present to a degree in each of us. It is useful for us to understand what our top three passions are, and how their strengths and vulnerabilities drive our behavior. [8:27] The ten passion archetypes arose from Alaina’s structured interviews with high-potential folks from fourteen industry segments across the globe. Alaina observed that certain patterns of behavior showed up consistently, over and over again, across industries. Alaina had been seeing these patterns throughout her corporate career. [9:33] Alaina found these behaviors organized themselves into ten categories. Through her research, she identified what each of these passions looked like. [9:59] The ten archetypes are Creator, Conceiver, Discoverer, Processor, Teacher, Connector, Altruist, Healer, Transformer, and Builder. Alaina describes each archetype. [11:40] Understanding your passions provides you with a roadmap to understand where you can contribute beyond your skill set alone. [11:57] Alaina suggests designing our organizations to leverage the passions our team members are wired with, giving them opportunities to utilize their passions in their assigned roles, and putting them in a cultural environment where their values are honored. This extends beyond hiring someone for a particular set of skills. [12:27] Alaina tells how an individual can benefit from the knowledge of their top three passion archetypes. When an individual applies their passions to the role they hold, their level of engagement becomes higher, and their role becomes an expression of who they are more than a responsibility they have to accomplish. [13:05] The team leader, with a knowledge of the passion archetypes of their team members, understands each of those team members on a much more intimate level. A leader can put the right people on the team to create the correct passion composition. [14:05] A Gallup poll found that only about 30% of employees are genuinely engaged at work. Alaina thinks that is directly correlated to a lack of understanding of passion and purpose. Alaina also mentions the Happiness Curve and how it applies to the drop in work engagement. At more mature ages, meaning begins to matter over money. [17:12] Alaina describes a confluence of self-actualization at both ends of the generational spectrum. Millennials and Gen-Z-ers have been raised to find what their passion is and make a career of that. Older workers have learned that the financial plans of their youth have not worked out, and they are starting to search for meaning. [19:25] How do you match your passion archetypes to your career? There are myriad ways to express them. A teacher archetype will not always stand in front of a class. Alaina uses Oprah Winfrey as her icon for the teacher archetype. [20:16] The pandemic has cost millions of jobs, and people are afraid they won’t have work. Employers wonder what the new normal will be. Alaina says people she talks with worry about what their lives will be like going forward. They are asking themselves if they are doing what matters, every day, to make the best contribution they can. [22:26] We may have people in roles that aren’t their dream jobs simply to survive. Alaina suggests looking for what they can do to make a contribution to their work that is unique to themselves. How do you bring you to your job? To answer that question, you need to know who you are, and what your passions are. [23:24] Alaina once worked with a hospital team of people from nurses to foodservice. The goal was to leverage their passions to improve patient satisfaction. As they reviewed patient satisfaction, the scores were highest on the floors where one man mopped the floors. He had a healer archetype. He spoke with the patients and families. [25:55] How do you figure out passion and purpose? Alaina wrote a book, The Purpose Linked Organization, with a chapter on each of the passion archetypes. The hardcover book has a code that allows you to take an abbreviated version of the Passion Profiler and find your top three passion archetypes. [26:33] Alaina has also created a public website so others can have access, Mypassionality.com. There you can purchase a code for under $15.00 to take the Passion Profiler and find your top three passions. That will give you the information you need to start sorting out the places where those passions might be applied. [27:24] How do self-reflection and meaning-making relate to the Passion Profiler, professional version? Work-inspired reflection tends to drive up engagement. Reflection is extremely important. If you understand your passions, as you reflect on your life, you will observe when your passions “came out to play.” [30:08] Patricia thanks Alaina for being on the podcast; This Is Capitalism. Learn more at ThisIsCapitalism.com.   Mentioned in This Episode: Alaina Love ThePurposeLink.com University of Michigan Gallup The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50, by Jonathan Rauch Oprah Winfrey The Purpose Linked Organization: How Passionate Leaders Inspire Winning Teams and Great Results, by Alaina Love and Marc Cugnon Mypassionality.com

Alaina Love, CEO of Purpose Linked Consulting

Patricia O’Connell interviews Howard Breindel, Co-CEO at DeSantis Breindel. Patricia and Howard discuss the meaning of brand, how companies may need help clarifying their brand story, and why brand matters. They also touch on some of the changes the COVID-19 epidemic has forced onto B2B businesses.   Listen in to learn how you can strengthen your company brand in any environment. Key Takeaways: [:27] Patricia O’Connell welcomes Howard Breindel to CEO Stories on This is Capitalism. [:48] DeSantis Breindel is a B2B brand strategy and brand experience firm working with companies going through critical inflection points. They help companies maximize their brand. Brand is the promise a company makes to all of its key stakeholders and the experience it delivers to fulfill that promise. [2:09] Younger companies may need help to define their value proposition beyond their product to focus on what they enable the stakeholder to reach. More mature companies may need help with business strategy as their offerings evolve. [3:00] DeSantis Breindel helps companies translate their business strategy into a valuable brand strategy for their partners, influencers, customers, investors, and employees, making sure that everyone understands the value proposition for them.[3:37] Howard studied accounting in college and started in that world. He soon found he was more interested in how companies presented themselves to the world than in their numbers. He saw branding and marketing as a career that would leverage his financial background and his interest in the image a company presents. [5:05] Howard recalls getting exposure to many different kinds of industries and people from all walks of life and all the countries of the world as he grew up in New York. That exposure gave Howard the sense that everyone is driven by different values and needs. That informs Howard as he helps companies understand all their important audiences. [6:40] In the branding business, curiosity about businesses is critical. To do the job well, you need to understand deeply and be good listeners. You need to keep asking questions, listen to the answers, and connect the dots. Successful people in this industry have had exposure and experienced diversity, and they apply their knowledge to a complex world. [7:40] At DeSantis Breindel, a mid-sized company, people wear many hats and are agile. There is not a playbook for everything. They need to be innovative and thoughtful. [8:07] The stakes are much higher in B2B marketing than in B2C marketing, with more widespread ramifications. For DeSantis Breindel, research across audiences is critical to understand more deeply what drives decision-making and what’s on people’s minds. [10:05] Howard tells how branding and marketing are linked. Branding is about an operating philosophy and marketing is about putting all that out there in the world. [10:59] Howard sees challenges in how companies define and tell their story. Companies need to understand their brand proposition for all stakeholders. The story is really about the brand experience. How companies craft the stakeholder journey with their brand determines how stakeholders will perceive their story. [12:43] Howard believes culture eats brand for breakfast, especially in B2B. What a company’s employees say, think, and feel every day cannot be paid for in marketing. Make sure your employees truly understand your value proposition — what it means to them and the experience you expect them to deliver to your customers. [13:56] A brand isn’t what you say it is, it’s what your stakeholders say it is. You might have a “brand gap” between what the employees think the brand is and how the customers perceive it. If you understand the gap, the brand strategy becomes clear. [14:42] You cannot go through a branding exercise without engaging the employees and listening to what they say. Curiosity and listening are the two most important parts of the exercise. [15:44] Brand is the one strategic asset that is shared across the C-suite. [17:44] The COVID-19 pandemic has required companies to become more comfortable with digital interactions within the company and with external stakeholders. It has been a big adjustment. If this pandemic had happened before digital tools were available, it would have been much more devastating to businesses. [19:26] Creativity is critical in every business. Working remotely, you have to work harder to make creativity happen. DeSantis Breindel has created online workshops to replace workshops that were held in person. They are using technologies to whiteboard things online and share files more quickly and easily for rapid-fire interaction. [20:40] At DeSantis Breindel, every interaction with clients and each other is held over Zoom. They have no phone calls. They hold regularly-scheduled group meetings. In some ways, people are more engaged because their camera is on. However, everyone misses the casual interactions that happen in a business office environment. [21:50] Howard looks forward to when they can go back to an office, whenever that will be. When it is deemed safe, they will go back. They surveyed the staff and 95% said they were not prepared to go back to the office before there is a vaccine. Some didn’t want to go fully back to the office the same way as they did in the past. [24:21] Patricia thanks Howard for being on the podcast; This Is Capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Howard Breindel DeSantis Breindel Peter Drucker Zoom

Howard Breindel, Co-CEO at DeSantis Breindel

Patricia O’Connell interviews Cortney Stapleton, Partner at Bliss Integrated Communications and one of the Founders of Exponent Women. Patricia and Cortney discuss why women in the dealmaking community benefit from networking and having a place where their voices are heard and their power is raised exponentially.   Listen in to learn how this networking organization can work for the dealmaking women in your organization. Key Takeaways: [:31] Patricia O’Connell welcomes Cortney Stapleton to CEO Stories on This is Capitalism. [:57] Cortney and nine other women co-founded Exponent Women for senior women in the dealmaking community as a place where they can find content and partner with like-minded women to change the face of dealmaking. [1:35] They wanted a place for senior women to come together in a trusted environment. The founders had done business with each other. They brought their networks together with trust in each other for deeper, more meaningful networking. [3:06] Exponent aims to exponentially raise women to a new power within this industry. The dealmaking community is heavily weighted towards men, so they wanted to make sure women have a voice and meet like-minded senior women in these companies. [3:44] Cortney and the other founders believe we don’t see women networking the same way as men. Men network with the same people they knew in college, play golf with, do business with, and go to the gym with. Women have separate networks of friends that don’t mix and they don’t tend to do business with them. [4:59] Women often have deeper relationships within their networks and larger networks than men do but are uncomfortable asking their friends to do business. Exponent gives dealmaking women a safe space to talk about things they have a passion for in their careers and do business together. [6:04] Exponent facilitates dealmaking women to feel comfortable making the “ask.” All events, whether in person or online, have the main event and then breakout rooms where a leader, usually a founder, asks the women to introduce themselves, what they do, and what their ask is — what they are looking for. [7:00] Cortney describes some of the events they have sponsored with authors and facilitators, such as workshops on making the ask. Exponent focuses on bringing women together in inspiring spaces. [7:58] An early deal in Exponent Women resulted in a $1.5 million commission for one of the members. The Exponent website displays testimonials of women who have made important deals through the network. [9:05] Cortney’s main career is in integrated marketing communications. She has had lots of asks for organizational marketing help and individual marketing for women. Cortney has brought her network into Exponent to their benefit. [9:55] When Cortney has a virtual “coffee” after an event, she comes away with one to three things to do to help the person she spoke to, such as connecting them with someone. Cortney focuses on strengthening connections. [10:31] Exponent opens the way for speaking spots, going into companies to help them with executive visibility or marketing. [10:48] Current Exponent events focus on deals that will be made despite COVID-19. Upcoming areas of focus are healthcare, technology, and the economy. [12:00] Dealmaking always requires caution in choosing who is trusted around the table. Dealmakers also want to be around the table with people they like. In this virtual environment, it is necessary to have trusted connections because you are not sitting across from the person. [13:22] Cortney feels more comfortable with her asks, being very overt about what she wants, and asking others about their asks, outside of the Exponent network. Exponent is a catalyst for senior women to make deals in their environment and workplace. [15:11] Everyone wants to connect as much as possible, including by giving advice. There has to be a clear line for when advice is a service. It’s important when you’re putting down a specific idea to move a business forward to state that the relationship is moving into a consultative phase and you have a service offering. [18:39] Exponent Women was formed for East Coast women. Women have flown in from Chicago and California for live events. With the shutdown and virtual tools, Exponent has been able to broaden nationally. [19:30] Exponent is launching a new sector, Momentum, for junior women looking for mentorship from senior women in the dealmaking spectrum. Junior women have from two to ten years in the dealmaking community. Senior women have been in the industry for a couple of decades. Momentum will focus on topics more valuable to junior women. [21:36] Every panel, including the annual Exponent Exchange, is very diverse, and includes speakers who are persons of color and LGBTQ persons, talking about investing in deals that are particularly focused on diverse markets. [22:47] Cortney stresses the importance of diversity of thought, background, skin color, experience, incomes, and more. Clients include every form of diversity. Cortney’s firm, Bliss Integrated Communications, has focused on inclusion for years. [24:16] Cortney notes the difference between lip service and a focus on diversity. It is important to hold brands accountable for their actions, not just for what they stand for. [25:33] The world has become completely transparent. It’s so transparent now that you can see people’s living rooms! All of your information is out there. Brands can communicate more easily with their audiences. [26:42] Cortney wants people to know about what Exponent is doing to bring senior women in dealmaking together. She wants to highlight the whole spectrum of people it takes to make a deal successful. Exponent brings women together to widen their circle of trust. [27:42] Cortney talks about the role men play in Exponent Women on panels, such as Exchange. You need men to be a part of the change and the dialog. [28:45] Exponent Women may move into other specialties beyond dealmaking, depending on where the women who are members take it. Right now, dealmaking seems inclusive enough for the women who participate. [29:45] Cortney shares the website and LinkedIn links for Exponent Women. [30:04] Patricia thanks Cortney for being on the podcast, This Is Capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Cortney Stapleton Bliss Integrated Communications Exponent WomenExponent Women on LinkedIn Zoom Microsoft Teams Exponent Momentum Series Black Lives Matter

Cortney Stapleton, Partner at Bliss Integrated Communications and Founder of Exponent Women

Patricia O’Connell interviews Jill Houghton, President and CEO of Disability:IN. October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Patricia and Jill discuss the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the variety of Disability:IN programs promoting inclusion of people with disabilities in the workplace.   Listen in to learn what your company can do to accommodate your employees with disabilities and serve your customers who have disabilities. Key Takeaways: [:26] Patricia O’Connell welcomes Jill Houghton to CEO Stories on This is Capitalism. [:57] Disability:IN is a global nonprofit that empowers businesses to achieve disability inclusion and equality. The organization grew out of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). [1:16] The primary sponsor of the ADA was Congressman Tony Coelho. He recognized that the ADA could not legislate attitudes, but businesses have the power to employ and shape our workforce. [1:37] Disability:IN is the place where talent with disabilities and business intersect. Businesses respond to their professional peers. When they know that disability inclusion makes good business sense, they’re very responsive and competitive. [2:10] Disability:IN partnered with the American Association of People with Disabilities. They created a benchmarking tool called the Disability Equality Index to help businesses take a deeper dive into their policies and practices and identify opportunities where they could be better. [2:42] The Disability Equality Index is a tool that looks at leadership and culture, employment practices, enterprise-wide access, community engagement, supplier diversity, and Non-U.S. operations. Companies answer the questions and substantiate their answers. [3:14] Disability Equality Index scores are from zero to 100. Scores of 80, 90, and 100 earn a designation of being a Top Place to Work for People with Disabilities. There is no such thing as perfection. A score of 100 means that they’re on the journey and committed to doing better. Disability:IN helps companies do better. [3:50] Jill discusses the wide variety of programs at Disability:IN including mentoring, consulting, and certification. [5:00] Jill has a learning disability. She grew up embarrassed that she didn’t read well or test well. She didn’t get into law school so she went to Washington D.C. and interned for Senator Robert Dole during the passage of the ADA. That led her to work in the disability field. [5:49] Jill married a man who has a spinal cord injury. She has an 11-year-old who has ADHD and an anxiety disability. Her home is a “trifecta.” Jill was not diagnosed until after she failed the LSAT, but all her life she had trouble on timed standardized tests. [8:00] Some companies have presented objections over the cost of accommodating workers with disabilities. It’s important to recognize that one in four Americans have a disability. As well as recruiting talent with disabilities, companies need to retain their currently employed talented people with disabilities. [9:10] We encounter disability as we age. This COVID-19 pandemic with remote work exposes disabilities like depression and anxiety disorders. Before the pandemic, we had not talked about these taboo topics in the workplace. [9:42] The ADA was passed 30 years ago. Twelve years ago, the ADA was amended to broaden the scope of covered disabilities to include such things as ADHD. Business is beginning to see a competitive advantage to include all people with disabilities in their business. [11:44] How businesses that are inclusive of people with disabilities fare better than those that are not. It pays to be inclusive of people with disabilities. [12:23] Accenture and Disability:IN teamed up to create the Disability Equality Index (DEI). Many best practices were mined from the index, including setting goals for your hiring and accessible technology and including businesses owned by people with disabilities in your supplier diversity program. What gets measured gets done. [13:48] The DEI emphasizes leadership and culture. You can call accommodation a productivity tool, assisting an individual to perform the essential functions of their job. It’s important that all employees know how to request accommodation and for managers to know who pays for the accommodation and how the process works. [14:42] It is a best practice to have a centralized equality fund so that managers know where that expense comes from. Data shows that on average, accommodations cost less than $500. [15:29] The Board Chair at Disability:IN is the Chief Accessibility Officer at Microsoft and is deaf. The Board Treasurer has a global business role at Accenture. He is an amputee. These are senior leaders, identified as being people with disabilities. Disability is just part of their identity. [16:33] Anxiety, depression, learning disabilities, autism, diabetes, and other disabilities may be invisible to others. The global pandemic has created an opportunity to lead with humanity and to get to know our team members and check in with each other. [17:34] It’s a personal choice to identify as having a disability and it can be scary. Jill shares a personal experience from a recent virtual event where a senior leader in a multi-national company came out as an individual who has dyslexia. A leader sharing their story creates a culture that frees others to share their circumstances. [19:11] Jill would advise companies starting to look at their disability practices to start an Employee Resource Group for people with a disability. Your greatest resources are your people. Don’t talk about people with disabilities without involving people with disabilities. Then leverage tools like the DEI. Participate in the Disability:IN campaign “Are You In?” [21:36] “Are You IN” is more than a pledge; it’s a commitment backed with measurable actions. These are companies that have participated in the DEI that are calling on their peers to take this critical step. [22:23] Jill recaps the progress in the public space in the 30 years of the ADA, and where we go from here, including mobile devices, the Cloud, and remote work with virtual platforms, meetings, and file sharing. Companies are starting to acknowledge that this is an area where there is great room for improvement. Engage your people. [24:03] A more inclusive workforce allows you to relate better to your customers. Use focus groups. Jill uses as an example Marriott International’s engaging with professionals with disabilities who travel to make sure their hotels are accessible to all. Do the right things for your customers; your employees with disabilities will help. [25:08] Patricia thanks Jill Houghton for being on the podcast, This Is Capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Jill Houghton Disability:IN ADA Tony Coelho American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) Disability Equality Index Robert Dole The ADA Amendments Act Accenture Getting to Equal: The Disability Inclusion Advantage Are You IN Marriott International

Jill Houghton, President and CEO of Disability:IN

Patricia O’Connell interviews Joe Strechay, an entertainment media consultant for blindness and disability employment initiatives. They discuss Joe’s childhood, his interest in representation and inclusivity for persons with blindness, low vision, and disabilities, his career, and the opportunities in entertainment today for persons with low vision, blindness, or disabilities. The door is open but we have further to go.   Listen in to learn what your company can do to foster representation and inclusivity in your hiring practices and your products and services. Remember all your audience. Key Takeaways: [:21] Patricia O’Connell welcomes Joe Strechay to CEO Stories on This is Capitalism. [:50] Joe is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in quarantine, preparing to get back to Season 2 of Apple TV+’s See. Joe was an associate producer on Season 1. He was in-charge of the blindness-related aspects of the show. He has been promoted to Producer. [1:15] See is a science fiction show set hundreds of years in the future, in a world with a small population and universal blindness caused by a viral apocalypse. It tells the story of a family with a set of twin children born with vision. [2:51] Joe grew up in New Jersey. Joe and his mother were both diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a degenerative eye condition. At 19, Joe was legally blind. Joe did not have the services that most people have in preparation for school, education, and life.[3:27] On leaving college, Joe sought help and was taught orientation and mobility (O&M), which is traveling with a white cane or with a guide dog, daily living skills, technology, and all the things that help you become a successful and independent individual who is blind. [4:13] As a child, Joe had an IEP for school, but his vision deteriorated gradually from the outer edge, eventually narrowing to a small spot, but within that spot, he could see clearly. By his first semester in college, he had lost most of his vision. He tried to get help, but no one was available to help him. [5:29] Joe did get some assistance from the Disability Student Services at East Carolina University where he was a college student. [6:10] At age 19, Joe had low vision, and was legally blind. It was like looking through a straw. When he was 18, a doctor told him off-handedly at the end of an appointment, “Yeah, you’ll probably be totally blind by the time you’re 25. Pay at the front. Have a good day.” [7:56] Joe’s career plan was to go into public relations and professional sports marketing. He had played a lot of sports growing up. Joe got involved in public relations with the East Carolina communications organization doing PR and marketing work for nonprofits in North Carolina. He enjoyed it. He sought internships and jobs. [8:35] Joe went to New Jersey and New York City to intern and finish his degree. He interviewed with pro hockey and basketball teams. He interned for a marketing firm that worked with the NFL, racing, pro golf, and more. Then, there was 9/11 and the economy dropped into a recession. There was no opportunity to be hired by the company. [9:27] Joe started to face the fact that he was visually impaired as he went on interviews. He was still learning the skills to become independent. He searched for any job to pay the bills. [9:44] He went in for a substitute teaching job at the Calais School. They offered him a teacher’s assistant position in physical education. Joe did that for two years. There were two students with visual impairments. Joe started working with them, which started him thinking about working with visually impaired individuals. [10:08] Joe was already getting services from the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. They talked to Joe about fields in education and rehabilitation of disabilities. Joe wanted to give people the opportunity for services that he hadn’t had. [10:29] Joe went to Florida State University in Tallahassee and studied visual disabilities and teaching people who are blind or low-vision how to travel, how to access their education, and to transition from school to employment. He wanted to make an impact for individuals. Employment became a passion for him.[11:14] With his media background, he started looking at portrayals of minority characters and blindness and disability in movies and on television. He did a study about minority and gender portrayals on the Disney Channel. Joe had always been obsessed with movies and television but hadn’t imagined working in the industry. [13:23] Joe found a job working in the U.S. and abroad advising around employment and services for people who are blind. As a hobby, Joe started writing about the portrayal of blindness and critiquing it in blog posts and articles. [13:55] Some media companies started contacting Joe’s employer for casting assistance for commercials and documentaries. Joe helped the writers’ room for three episodes of the USANetwork show Royal Pains, regarding a character who was blind. [14:35] Next, Netflix called about an anonymous project, Marvel’s Daredevil, for consulting around the main character. Most consultants around blindness issues for television or film are people who are sighted. Netflix interviewed and hired him for Season 1 as a show advisor. He advised on scripts and props and helped actors. [16:44] Joe teaches people on a show how to identify individuals. The first method is to put the person before the disability: a person who is blind (or low-vision) or a person who has a disability. The second method is for someone who chooses to identify as a blind person or a disabled person. Allow them to say how they choose to be presented. [17:55] Joe is a person who is blind. He is more than just his blindness. It just means he does things in a different way. He is not offended if you call him a blind person. [18:58] Joe found working on Daredevil very enlightening. After Season 1, he continued on his work with professionals serving the blind community. He became Director of the Bureau of Blindness & Vision Services for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the Thursday before he started he got a call to help with Netflix’s The OA. Because of his new job, he commuted to work every weekend with them. [21:02] Joe enjoyed consulting but he had a full-time job. He kept getting offers that he turned down because they weren’t the right opportunity for him. He wasn’t looking for another job. [21:17] Joe got calls from the executives, directors, and creators of Peaky Blinders, Hunger Games, and other shows, about an opportunity they were developing with Apple. Joe started consulting and eventually chose to leave his employment running services for Pennsylvania and moved to British Columbia to start working and prepping. [22:15] The opportunity was for See. Joe started as a blindness consultant and the role grew. The executives believed in Joe and the work he did. He advised choreographers and actors. He had an assistant who audio-described for him what was going on. That is a personal assistant who helps with the organization, and describes the sets for Joe. [23:40] By Episode 3, Joe stood near the director. For Episodes 4 and 5, there was a new director, who told Joe to be next to him for every shot. He helped block every scene, figuring out what the actors might be paying attention to in the environment and thinking about things that should be included. [24:20] From the beginning, Apple was committed to hiring people who were blind or low-vision as actors and background performers. Joe became responsible for accessibility and assistive technology, including Braille labeling and signage for the employment office and accessible scripts. [25:42] Actors who are blind or low-vision bring authenticity. They have to be authentic to the world of See. A civilization built without vision for hundreds of years does not have eye contact. Personal space is different. There was a team of people working together to develop this world. [27:06] Apple is committed to making sure that persons who are blind are represented responsibly. Blindness is not all one flavor. It comes in shades and sizes. [28:37] There is a process from representation to inclusion. Joe studied that in his undergraduate work at ECU with Dr. Linda Kean in the communications department. First, Persons with blindness, low vision, or disabilities are presented as characters in the show. Then, they are provided professions of legitimacy and authority. Then they move into general character roles. [29:40] Joe would see himself represented in the media most often as a person with blindness lying in a bed in a hospital or walking by on the street. He wondered when he would be represented as a character. Apple TV+’s See is a story of a world almost entirely of people with blindness, as villains, heroes, warriors, lovers, parents, etc. [30:30] People with blindness are in the world doing great things. Joe’s friend, Erik Weihenmayer, summited Mount Everest, climbed an ice peak, and kayaked the Colorado River — totally blind. Joe has friends who are blind who work as mechanics, carpenters, and in all kinds of professions. [31:47] There are more portrayals of blindness and visual impairment and other disabilities in the media now than there used to be. Actors who are blind or low-vision are getting opportunities, and they are now being cast for their talents as well as their physical traits. [32:40] People who work on See move on to other shows and give more opportunities to persons with disabilities. Joe gives an example.[34:09] Allie Strucker played Ado Annie in a wheelchair in Oklahoma on Broadway and won a Tony Award for it. [36:29] Persons with disabilities are still under-represented in television and movies. Joe says “We don’t see ourselves as often, getting those opportunities within those portrayals.” The numbers are growing thanks to the work of a lot of people. [37:45] Meaningful representation in media matters, such as showing people who are blind or low-vision doing different types of professions, not just lying in a bed or walking by. There is a lot of disbelief and misconception about what persons with disabilities can do. Media changes perceptions.[38:48] The production of See has zero tolerance for disrespect for persons with blindness or disability. They have built an inclusive environment to make sure all cast members can get to difficult locations with the accommodations they need. [41:22] If you have a business, you want to have a company environment where people are comfortable to disclose their disabilities because they might need accommodations and tools to do their job successfully. 20% or more of your customers are persons with disabilities. Consider the whole population with your products or services. [44:53] If you’re not sure if your website is accessible, it’s probably not. You need testers who are blind or low-vision. Joe recommends working with Disability:IN and the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation. [47:28] When you hire a person with disabilities, accommodations are not a huge cost. Persons with disabilities stay longer in a job and get there on time. They put in the work. They make sure the quality of the work is up to specifications. They appreciate the opportunity. [48:19] Disability touches everyone in the world. October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). [50:59] Patricia thanks Joe Strechay for being on the podcast, This Is Capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Joe Strechay See Retinitis Pigmentosa Orientation and Mobility SkillsWhite CaneGuide Dogs IEP East Carolina University The Calais School New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired Florida State University Disney Channel Royal Pains USANetwork Marvel’s Daredevil The OA Apple TV+ Peaky Blinders Hunger Games Movies Dr. Linda Kean, East Carolina University Erik Weihenmayer mountain climber This is Us The Politician Away Fox Corporation Netflix The Old Man Ali Stroker Oklahoma! Revival Glee Paralympics Disability:IN Disability Equality Index Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) American Printing House for the Blind

Joe Strechay, Consultant for Blindness and Disability Employment Initiatives

Patricia O’Connell interviews returning guest, John Byrne, CEO and Founder of Poets & Quants and CEO of C-Change Media, Inc. They discuss what is happening in business schools and what applicants, students, and graduates can expect in the near future and beyond.   Listen in to learn about the prospects for business school graduates in the pandemic and resulting economic depression. Key Takeaways: [:25] Patricia O’Connell welcomes John Byrne back to CEO Stories on This is Capitalism. [1:05] For the past four to five years, we’ve seen a significant decline in applications to full-time MBA programs. But the better schools are starting to see a boom in applications during the pandemic recession. This year could be one of the most competitive, ever. [3:00] There has been tremendous growth in online MBA programs. You can still maintain your job and get your MBA. If you don’t have a job, you might be better off going to a full-time program. You’ll have the opportunity to meet a parade of employers who come to campus for interviews. You can do summer internships.[4:26] In an online MBA, what you sacrifice in in-person learning and networking, may not be as great as a lot of people think. Surveys show that people who go to an online MBA program are pretty happy. [4:49] Most business schools are trying to go hybrid with a combination of in-person classes and online. Some schools, such as Wharton, Stanford, Georgetown, Michigan State, and others, have already had to cut back on planned in-person classes because the novel coronavirus is not allowing them an alternative to ensure safety and health. [6:08] These full-time programs will be largely remote instruction, not designed as online classes. John explains some of the differences between a well-designed online course and remote learning in a full-time program. [7:53] The pandemic is temporary. John discusses choosing between a designed online MBA and a two-year MBA program that is restricted for one year to remote learning classes. Remote instruction has evolved over the summer to be better than the suddenly remote classes with glitches students experienced in the spring of 2020. [9:37] During the summer, schools have trained their faculty to use the remote technology up-to-speed. Professors have practiced and tested it with volunteer “guinea pig” students. That will make a difference. [11:42] Wharton planned its return in the fall without consulting its students. There were no students on any committees. They announced their plans with no outreach to the students. This was before Wharton decided to go fully online. Students felt disenfranchised. [12:28] Stanford organized panels to plan for the return to school in the fall, and students formed the majority of the panel participants. They were actively engaged in all the decisions. The school made many changes that would otherwise not have been done, because of the students’ involvement. That was stakeholder involvement. [15:02] John doesn’t think schools will return to the way they operated before the pandemic. Remote technology has become easier to use and much more effective. There are things you can do virtually that are more accessible for greater numbers of people than you can do in person, such as small group virtual meetings for applicants. [16:16] Admit weekends, where you tour the campus and admit students, can be done virtually. Guest speakers are much more accessible through virtual sessions. [17:36] John explains the concept of flipped classrooms. There has been a lot of talk about them but few teachers put them into practice. John says there will be more use of them as we go forward. John details the benefits of flipped classrooms. [18:53] The pandemic will inform what is being taught in B-School, including how we manage people and organizations through a crisis. There are long-term impacts of remote work. John would not want to be an investor in commercial real estate right now. [19:56] As companies return to work, John foresees employees working three-days in the office and two days at home, and staggered schedules. John expects to see changes to urban centers where young people want to be. John thinks people will move away from congested, expensive, and problematic cities. People will work remotely. [22:07] The business school community is extremely important because you create connections with people you will network with for the rest of your life, based on friendship and encouragement, that are going to help your career. They may be your future employers, co-workers, suppliers, customers, or investors. [22:51] Community is essential to the value proposition of what an MBA is, particularly at a good school. John does not see that disappearing. It will still be very desirable to attend big-city schools. [23:52] Everyone is risk-averse. A good business school typically expects you to have gone to a highly selective undergraduate school. Employers look at graduate school as a filter that produces only the most select employees. John talks about how a business school education smoothes the rough edges of their students. [25:44] Employers look at the business school from which you graduated. Very few people get into a top business school whether attending virtually or in person. Remote learning at a world-class business school is not inferior to attending in person, as far as employers are concerned. A virtual global curriculum may even be better preparation. [26:53] A lot of the high-value activity at a business school occurs outside of the classroom. Much of that is student-centered, organized, run, and led by the students. Students are going to have to re-imagine all the extracurricular activities so that the virtual models of what happened on campus may be of comparable quality. [28:21] How will the pandemic affect business recruiting as they move into a fully-virtual environment? [29:36] A lot of getting a job is about story-telling. Upcoming MBA graduates will have powerful success stories to tell! [30:58] How the B-School application essay questions may change, related to working through this unprecedented confluence of a recession, a health crisis, racial injustice, and a highly polarized political society. [32:05] John discusses the current application essay questions. They are open enough to include discussion of crisis navigation. [33:28] Despite the challenges, this is also a time of great opportunity. Adversity, such as unemployment, inspires people to stand up and do new things that can be wonderful and magical, which benefit many and generate meaningful employment for others. [34:13] Education is essential to social mobility in our country and to live a more fulfilled and productive life. A graduate degree provides another level of productivity. John shares his thoughts about the importance and value of a business degree. [37:17] Why is immigration in this country so important? America has been able to attract the world’s best and brightest, decade after decade. They’ve come here, they’ve created businesses, and they’ve sought higher education to make themselves live a better life than they otherwise would have. Immigration is vital. [38:52] International attendance at B-School is way down. It’s been more difficult to get a student visa. Gaining employment after graduation has become more difficult. Many schools have started a STEM designation program that allows two additional years of employment in the United States on an H-1B visa. [40:11] Patricia thanks John Byrne for being on the podcast and John shares website information.   Mentioned in This Episode: Poets & Quants The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Stanford Graduate School of Business Georgetown University McDonough School of Business Michigan State Eli Broad College of Business Google McKinsey J.P. Morgan Goldman Sachs Apple Procter & Gamble

John Byrne, CEO and Founder of Poets & Quants

Patricia O’Connell interviews Sara Hurst, CEO of Bella’s Kitchen, on the origin of Bella’s Kitchen, how Sara runs it, and Sara's plans for it. Sara shares more about her family background of successful entrepreneurs in El Salvador. Sara is grateful for her family, friends, and professional resources that help her to succeed in this new venture.   Listen in to this encouraging account of growing a business by meeting a real food need for busy mothers. Key Takeaways: [:29] Patricia O’Connell welcomes Sara Hurst to CEO Stories with This is Capitalism and asks about Bella’s Kitchen. [:53] Bella’s Kitchen offers convenient, healthy meals for kids and families. It is based on baby-led feeding. Babies try different foods with this method. This also avoids overfeeding babies when they don’t want to eat anymore. [1:35] Sara started the business in April 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic. Sara came up with the idea when she started feeding solid foods to her daughter, Isabella. She started researching how to introduce new foods to her baby and she found the concept of baby-led feeding. She decided to feed Isabella with that method. [2:35] Sara found out that baby-led feeding takes a lot of cooking and meal preparation for one baby. [3:18] Sara found canned or frozen choices, mostly pureed foods in the grocery store but she wanted fresh foods for Isabella. She also wanted Isabella to have a variety of foods to develop her palate and not become a picky eater. [3:57] As she was introducing Isabella to solid foods, Sara was going to the office daily, and Isabella was spending the day in daycare. Sara explains how the business idea of a meal service for busy mothers came out of her food preparation experiences for her baby and her experience serving healthy foods at parties. [6:16] Sara had seven children, from babies up to age 11, at her first photoshoot for Bella’s Kitchen. It was a scary moment for her; Sara knew that if the children didn’t like the food, it would show on their faces. They all liked it and the photoshoot went well. [6:55] Sara had her friends and their children try different recipes for taste and serving size. Sara also used her background in marketing to conduct surveys to make sure she was serving the needs of other parents, not just her own needs. [7:44] The more Sara thought about bringing her recipes into a business, the more ideas came to her for new recipes and products. She was determined to make a business out of her concepts. Her husband and friends also encouraged her. [8:45] Sara worked the numbers to see what she could afford to lose if the business didn’t work out. [9:10] Sara decided three months would be the appropriate trial period to test the business model to see if she would start making a profit. She knew the worst that could happen would be losing her startup money and having her pride hurt. [9:27] Over the last year, Sara worked on branding, the marketing plan, recipes, packaging, and permits. One big step was finding a commercial kitchen. She set a launch date in March, and then COVID-19 hit. [10:00] Sara explains how she went from hesitation over starting a business during a pandemic to moving ahead with her launch in April. [10:52] Sara works full-time outside of her role at Bella’s Kitchen. She explains how she fits everything into her schedule. Sara’s mother had raised three children as a single mother, working full-time while running a side business; she was a great role-model for Sara. Sara’s husband takes care of their children while Sara runs meal production. [13:17] Sara always wanted to be an entrepreneur like her mother. She loved cooking, but having worked in the food industry, she noticed that there’s not a lot of margin in a restaurant, so she knew she didn’t want to have a restaurant. [13:45] When Sara thought of Bella’s Kitchen, she knew that was the business she wanted. [14:09] Sara has noticed that sometimes both men and women think the idea of Sara running her business is “cute.” They underestimate her business vision and drive because she is a woman. They think it’s a hobby. [15:38] Not just for Bella’s Kitchen, but also for different caterers, people think the business is a little thing, run out of a kitchen. Sara works out of a commercial, licensed kitchen. Sara prices her meals just as any business prices their products and services. [16:29] Sara took business classes to learn about a business plan. She reads a lot and listens to a lot of podcasts. Sara worked with the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center; they helped her with local market research, what license she needed, and how to get licensed. [17:52] Sara’s advice to people looking to make a business: you need to have more than an idea. There needs to be a problem and your idea needs to solve that problem. Some great ideas don’t necessarily serve a market purpose; you might not be able to find the customers you need. Don’t just think of your idea, but your clientele. [19:09] Sometimes people with good ideas don’t give enough time for the idea to flourish. [19:57] This is Sara’s first business. She doesn’t know if it will be her last. [20:21] Sara is doing the recipes and the cooking, in a commercial kitchen. [20:34] Sara wants Bella’s Kitchen to get as big as it can get. Sara credits the CEO of First Orion, where she works full-time, with understanding that people have their own passions. If Bella’s Kitchen gets so big she has to devote her attention to it full-time, then so be it. Sara talks about giving her full attention to each career. [21:52] Sara organizes her vacation schedule on a spreadsheet! Sara took the Birkman personality assessment at work and she is completely a “doer.” [23:06] Sara’s mom is proud of all her children’s success. She set a great example for them. Sara’s maternal grandfather is also a successful entrepreneur who now owns a coffee plantation. Sara shares his story. [24:34] Bella is 21 months old, so she has time to develop her entrepreneurial streak. She is already a photo model for Bella’s Kitchen. [25:10] Sara says you can’t have it all. Each decision is a deliberate choice. WIll she workout or will she work on her friendships? Each day she devotes time to what matters for that moment. You have to make time for yourself. Sara takes at least an hour every week to think just for herself, not for her family and business roles. [26:55] Sara reviews the support she has received from family and the Arkansas Small Business Center. Sara’s sister and nephew are the best trial customers for Sara. Sara thanks her friends, and her monthly book club where Sara shares ideas for honest feedback. [28:04] Sara hopes one day to have Bella’s Cookbook. [26:23] Sara shares Bella’s Kitchen website (bellaskitchenus.com), Facebook (@bellaskitchenus), and Instagram (@bellaskitchenus) links (links below). [28:31] Patricia thanks Sara Hurst for being on the podcast — This is Capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Bella’s Kitchen Bella’s Kitchen on Facebook Bella’s Kitchen on Instagram Sara Hurst on LinkedIn Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center Arkansas Department of Health First Orion Birkman Personality Assessment  

Sara Hurst, CEO of Bella’s Kitchen

Patricia O’Connell interviews Tom Stewart, Executive Director of the National Center for the Middle Market on their latest survey of middle-market businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tom describes the work of the National Center for the Middle Market and then explains how the middle market has changed between the March survey and the June survey. Tom suggests what the recovery will look like and that we should expect a ‘new different,’ not a ‘new normal.’Listen in to understand what middle-market businesses are experiencing now. Key Takeaways: [:34] Patricia O’Connell introduces Tom Stewart and asks him about the work of the National Center for the Middle Market. [1:10] The National Center for the Middle Market is a research group at the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University and is the nation’s only academic research center focused on mid-sized companies with annual revenue between 10 million and a billion dollars a year. [1:34] That group is the middle third of the U.S. GDP. It’s a couple hundred thousand companies, and as the Center has documented over the years, actually the most dynamic part of the U.S. economy in terms of growth, as measured by the middle market indicator, a repeated survey of 1,000 middle-market companies. [2:20] Middle-market companies are one-third of the private sector and produce 60 percent of new jobs, much faster than small or large businesses. The middle market is more resilient than small businesses. [3:26] The Center took a survey of 600 companies during the first two weeks of June. Tom describes some of the differences between the same businesses’ responses to the June survey, the March survey, and the December 2019 survey. [4:10] The pandemic lockdown began in March 2020 and Tom compares it to a terrible accident or falling off a cliff. There was tremendous uncertainty. In March, 25 percent of businesses said the impact could be catastrophic. In June, only 13 percent said it would be catastrophic. [5:39] In March, 76 percent of businesses said that the single biggest issue for them was uncertainty. In June, that number went down to 66 percent. [6:38] In June, operational continuity is still a big concern. The second and third concerns were managing employees and managing customers. They wondered how to get customers back and how to work with them either virtually or in person. [7:51] A new survey question in June was whether companies asked for a PPP loan, a bank loan, or others. 25% of the companies surveyed had received a PPP loan. Others had applied for but not yet received it. 11% each were drawing on an existing line of credit, getting a new bank loan, or getting an SBA loan. [9:15] Existing financial relationships were very important. 85% of middle-market companies are private, split between family businesses, private equity investment, and sole proprietorships and partnerships and other structures. They can’t raise capital by issuing stock. [11:04] Some companies have prospered during the pandemic, such as companies that make restaurant take-out clamshells. Most retail businesses were “clobbered,” especially hotels and restaurants. Wholesalers supplying retailers experienced a big impact. Elective healthcare stopped. Many physician offices closed. [14:41] Manufacturing had less impact. Construction re-opened in the first or second phase of re-opening business. [15:53] How much are you going to restructure your business and your operations? [16:30] The three industry sectors impacted the most by COVID-19 are retail, wholesale, and healthcare. The technology sector is projecting stronger growth in the coming months than other industries. Changes are happening in how we sell and buy things and in how we communicate. [17:41] Going into the June survey, the Center hypothesized that deals would get put on hold. They were right. They surveyed about six transitions: selling the business, merging, bringing in a major investor, making a transformative acquisition, senior leadership transition, and restructuring, whether they would be more or less likely. [18:39] The Center for the Middle Market routinely asks about plans to make an acquisition or sell a part of their company in the next 12 months. The Center will follow up with the same companies in six or 12 months to see how these plans trend. [19:30] The Center for the Middle Market started operating in 2011, after the financial crisis, so this pandemic is the first crisis they have surveyed. Things started to change for businesses in March with the beginning of the shutdowns. [20:47] In June, one out of four businesses said they were less likely to make a transformative acquisition. In March, four out of 10 businesses had said they were less likely to make a transformative acquisition. That showed that businesses in June had more confidence in acquisitions than businesses had had in March. [21:31] Private equity is sitting on a trillion dollars of “dry powder” they’ve got to put to work. As people start getting ready to sell there is pent up demand. Now might be a good time to sell for an attractive offer. [22:15] In June, by 10 points, people surveyed said a CEO transition was more likely rather than less likely. Tom describes why this may be, but the Center is still studying the data. [23:37] By three to one, people said in June that restructuring was more likely rather than less likely. Some restructuring may be in the form of on-shoring previously out-shored processes and supply chains. [25:06] The way we work will go to a new ‘different.’ Some things we see, like plastic shields at the checkout; some changes will be behind the scenes. Worker safety and productivity will change. Split shifts, school two days a week, remote work, temperature checks, and other changes will come. How do you bring remote workers on board? [27:33] Changes required in a pandemic are time-consuming and expensive. Who will pay the difference, the customer, or the investors? Will companies pay for wi-fi for remote workers? [28:45] Universities are still deciding how to handle changes. School starts in August, but classes will be different and professors will spend less time on campus. Lectures will be remote. Labs will be in class. People will have to certify they have no temperature or symptoms before they can come onto the campus. [30:58] In March, 39 percent of the companies surveyed said they would be back at full capacity within a month. Nineteen percent of the companies said it would take six months or longer to be back at full capacity. In June, only 23 percent said they would be at full capacity within a month and 40 percent said it would take six months or longer. [32:17] In March, people thought business would come back like turning on a light switch; now it’s more like a cloudy January dawn — slow. [33:22] The Center asked companies to grade themselves A to F. Companies that were more prepared with ready capital, investment for the long-term, a three-to-five-year strategic plan, ability to keep talent, and strong marketing and communications, were less likely to say the pandemic had a big impact and they projected a faster recovery. [34:39] Companies with those five strengths have a strong foundation for a well-operating company, even in times of crisis. Other strengths were not as critical. These lesser strengths were operational excellence and efficiency. Marketing and sales capability mattered more than salesforce efficiency. Ants outperform grasshoppers. [36:28] Patricia looks forward to more reports from the National Center for the Middle Market. You can reach them at Middlemarketcenter.org. [37:02] Patricia thanks Tom Stewart for being on the podcast — This is Capitalism.   Mentioned in This Episode: Stephens.com Thomas A. Stewart on LinkedIn Fisher College of Business at the Ohio State University MiddleMarketCenter.org SBA PPP Loans

Tom Stewart, Executive Director of the National Center for the Middle Market at the Ohio State University, Returns

“This is Capitalism: CEO Stories”, the intersection of the free market and entrepreneurial success stories. Here we speak with leading CEOs, academics, philanthropists and up and comers on their contributions and perspectives on the American economy. This podcast is a part of “This is Capitalism”, a branded content series sponsored by Stephens Inc., aims to educate and inform the public about the free market. Stephens Inc. is a full service investment banking firm headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Since its inception in 1933, privately held Stephens Inc. has served a broad client base which includes corporations, state and local governments, financial institutions, institutional investors and individual investors throughout the United States and overseas. For more information, visit www.stephens.com or www.thisiscapitalism.com. Member NYSE, SIPC.

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This is Capitalism: CEO Stories

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