Zane Safrit

President Obama: 3 Steps to Win the War on Jobs...Before It's a War.

Jim Clifton, CEO of The Gallup Organization and author of The Coming Jobs War, joined the show recently.  

From the book's website comes this truth, obvious for a growing number of adults around the world:

What everyone in the world wants is a good job.

In a provocative book for business and government leaders, Gallup Chairman Jim Clifton describes how this undeniable fact will affect all leadership decisions as countries wage war to produce the best jobs.

You can listen to our conversation here.

You can our transcripts of our conversation here:

• Part One

• Part Two

• Part Three

I thought he would be a good person to ask how do we create jobs, achieve victory before war in this case. I asked him:

We've reached the imagination moment in our show. Let's imagine President Obama has some interest in creating jobs now. And it's an interest he may pursue with some conviction in the face of resistance. He picks up his Blackberry and calls you.

Jim, he says, because he's the President.

Some of us here in DC have heard that there may be an unemployment problem here in the US, outside the Beltway. And some of us see job creation as a key aspect of our national security. But we still have this problem.

We want to hear your thoughts, maybe 3 things that we as a nation can do to avert the danger that has not yet come, win this war now before it becomes a war, and create good jobs on a sustainable basis for the next 30 years.

What do you tell him?

And he answered:

Well, I’d say he’s got to focus every decision, every policy he makes, on small to medium-sized businesses. I’m going to call them ‘business builders’. Now, we’ve got a lot of people that need to be taken care of from the aging to unemployed to union workers and all that kind of thing. If he doesn’t consider business builders in every decision that he makes and he doesn’t lighten their saddle rather than make it heavier, we have no chance at all. We will not have sustainable growth with ‘shovel jobs’ or by propping the place up.

We have to have organic job creation that comes from startups and shootups. Or we will not retain our leadership of the free world. That’s first.

The 2nd thing is that the emphasis has gotta be put on entrepreneurship not innovation. And we’ve got to develop all of those sciences. Put your billions into that not innovation. We’ve got enough innovation. We’ve got innovation on the shelves all over this country.

But, the 3rd thing is we gotta make it intentional that cities are the places where these chicks can hatch because that’s where all the variation is.

Those would be the three things right now that would come out of our conversation.

And I appreciate this conversation very much.

Thank you for that. Your answer was very concise. And it’s music to my ears when you talk about the role of small business in creating jobs andcommunities and sustainable economies.

Want more from Jim Clifton?

Visit the Gallup Organization's website. Their researchers, authors and Mr. Clifton, all speak from the same page.

Buy his book.

**********

Some may say this is inappropriate.

This is politics! And you never discuss politics at Thanksgiving Dinners, backyard barbecues and on a business radio show.

I disagree. As long as only politicians can discuss solutions for our country then those solutions and their interested audiences will remain off-limits, political, for those who make this brand, our country, run. And only politicians, these days that's only career politicians, can discuss those ideas and spoon-feed solutions to the public.

I see our times as an all hands-on-deck opportunity and not a crisis.  That opportunity is for each of us to lend our hands, our conversations, our ideas to find and share solutions. In our absence those challenges are left to ideologues, vested interests and politicians of all stripes and partisan persuasion. We...are the only ones with vested interests. And now we have, with social media and the urgency of today, the opportunity to reclaim our place at this table and discuss our ideas to solve our challenges. At the very least, we can listen to a discussion until we are ready to speak up.

President Obama: 3 Tips to Give Our Students the Skills to Pitch Ideas

Sam Harrison is the author of a fabulous book titled: IdeaSelling: Successfully pitch your creative ideas to bosses, clients and other decision makers.

He joined the show recently. You can listen here. You can read notes from our conversation here.

It made sense them for me to ask him what we, as a country, could do to develop those presentation skills in upcoming leaders. And who better to ask, right, than our President.

I asked him:

Let’s say President Obama brought you to the WH. And he realized our ability to grow as a nation is dependent on the ability to communicate and collaborate, share ideas and find new ways to implement them.

And, he’s walking you through the Rose Garden, got his arm around your shoulder and turns to you and says:

Sam, what are the skills we’re not providing our students in order to pitch creative ideas and what are three thing we can do today to give them the skills to successfully pitch ideas.

What would you say?

And he answered, well, right to the point.

First of all I’d have to ask what happened to your presentation skills?

He was so powerful as a candidate. He made the best talks. Unfortunately he put that aside. I would have loved to have seen him show the leadership and make those talks he made as a candidate.

We’re doing a good job teaching students what to think, but not how to think.
Second I think...we need to do a better job of interpersonal skills. Awareness, perception, ethos. A lot of team projects with guide or mentor would help.
Help students improve their public speaking skills. Just simple training on how to speak, how to present and give them opportunities to present in the classroom.

Want More from Sam Harrison?

• Visit his website.

• Follow him on Twitter

• Buy his book: IdeaSelling: Successfully pitch your creative ideas to bosses, clients and other decision makers.

**********

Some may say this is inappropriate.

This is politics! And you never discuss politics at Thanksgiving Dinners, backyard barbecues and on a business radio show.

I disagree. As long as only politicians can discuss solutions for our country then those solutions and their interested audiences will remain off-limits, political, for those who make this brand, our country, run. And only politicians, these days that's only career politicians, can discuss those ideas and spoon-feed solutions to the public.

I see our times as an all hands-on-deck opportunity and not a crisis.  That opportunity is for each of us to lend our hands, our conversations, our ideas to find and share solutions. In our absence those challenges are left to ideologues, vested interests and politicians of all stripes and partisan persuasion.

We...are the only ones with vested interests. And now we have, with social media and the urgency of today, the opportunity to reclaim our place at this table and discuss our ideas to solve our challenges. At the very least, we can listen to a discussion until we are ready to speak up.

 

President Obama: 3 Steps to Create a Culture of Extraordinary Leaders

Rajeev Peshawaria was a guest on my radio show recently. You can listen here.

Rajeev Peshawaria is currently CEO of the ICLIF Leadership & Governance Centre based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which provides executive education and advisory services to organizations in Asia, Middle East and Africa. 

Prior to joining ICLIF in April 2010, Rajeev worked at AMEX, HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Coca-Cola where he headed headed Coca-Cola University and at Morgan Stanley, where he founded Morgan Stanley University.

We wanted to talk about his new book: Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders: The Three Essential Principles You Need to Become an Extraordinary Leader.

An exceptional leader is, he writes:

one who not only runs the company but creates a cadre of supporters who understand the company’s goals and missions and work to embody them every day.

Leadership, can neither be learned in a classroom, nor automatically acquired by accepting a big title or position of authority. Leadership needs to be discovered, and there is no shortcut to the discovery process.

I think President Obama faces all of those two paragraphs every day since he chose to run for President...back in that day. It made sense to ask Mr. Peshawaria for his ideas on how President Obama could create a culture of extraordinary leaders...

a cadre of supporters who understand [ our country's] goals and missions and work to embody them every day.

I asked him:

We've reached the imagination moment in our show. Let's imagine that our President Obama is calling you after this call.

Rajeev, he says, could you come to the WH or at least join a secure conference call with myself and Vice-President Joe Biden. We seem to be drowning here in DC from too many bosses and too few leaders. What are three things our country can do to create a culture of extraordinary leaders?

What would you tell him?

I thought his answer was beautiful in its clarity and how he picked up themes from other guests who have answered this same question:

Well, I think when he ran for President a couple of years ago he painted the picture of a better future. And that’s what won him the presidency.

Most of us related to his purpose and his values and voted for him. So, to continue to use the terminology from the book:

“We like the brain of his campaign and the promises he made.”

However, I think we’ve fallen just a little bit in the Bones and Nerve section. To take just one example, and this is just my view, many people liked his opposition to the Iraq War and that’s why he appealed to a lot of people. Now a lot of the same people are questioning his support for the struggle in Libya.

So, my humble advice would be to lead by example and stick to your values. It is impossible to say what are the three things the country can do to create a culture of leadership. In many ways America already has a culture of leadership. So, if Obama and Biden can re-articulate a vision and lead with values and keep the courage to do the right thing I think they will inspire a whole generation to do the same thing.

Let history judge their actions. For now, they should lead with values rather than their position of power.

Those would be my two cents.

Want more from Rajeev Peshawaria?

• Read his blog

• Follow him on Twitter

• Buy his book: Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders: The Three Essential Principles You Need to Become an Extraordinary Leader.

 **********

Some may say this is inappropriate.

This is politics! And you never discuss politics at Thanksgiving Dinners, backyard barbecues and on a business radio show.

I disagree. As long as only politicians can discuss solutions for our country then those solutions and their interested audiences will remain off-limits, political, for those who make this brand, our country, run. And only politicians, these days that's only career politicians, can discuss those ideas and spoon-feed solutions to the public.

I see our times as an all hands-on-deck opportunity and not a crisis. That opportunity is for each of us to lend our hands, our conversations, our ideas to find and share solutions. In our absence those challenges are left to ideologues, vested interests and politicians of all stripes and partisan persuasion.

We...are the only ones with vested interests. And now we have, with social media and the urgency of today, the opportunity to reclaim our place at this table and discuss our ideas to solve our challenges. At the very least, we can listen to a discussion until we are ready to speak up.

 

President Obama: 3 Steps to Regain Our #1 Position for Innovation

Paul R. Williams is the founder of the American Institute for Innovation Excellence.

He also writes the Think for a Change blog.

And, he has authored  2 excellent books on innovation and its execution.

• The Innovation Manager's Desk Reference

• The Innovation Manager's Playbook

He spoke with me last year about his books, his passion for innovation, and the institute he founded: American Institute for Innovation Excellence.

I asked him what thoughts would he offer to President Obama that would help us regain our position as the global leader of innovation.

Ok, so you’ve written some about the importance of imagination in the process of innovation. Let’s imagine...tonight you get a phone call from the 202 area code. It catches you on a good night; you’re willing to be patient with a telemarketer. You answer. It’s President Obama. He saw your site, heard you here on the show. And he’s kinda busy. So he wants your 3 tips, your 3 steps, for America to take to bring us back to being the number one country for innovation. And creating a few jobs along the way might help too.

What do you tell him?

And he returned with an excellent answer:

That’s a good one.

I think number we have to figure out a way to release the money stranglehold and move some money around. That’s really what’s holding the economy back. Businesses aren’t investing any money because the customer is not buying; the customer is not buying because they’re worried about their jobs.

Somehow you have to make the entrepreneur focus on creating and free them from punitive taxation, excessive regulation. Just bring some stability back to the financial system, maybe the political system and take a step back from the quarterly focus.

Ok. There’s stability here. I can make some longer term investments for the future.

We really need to start teaching STEM again in the schools. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. I talk to a lot of people at IBM and GE and they’re in a panic over the lack of qualified replacements for their retiring engineers.

We need to push kids into these scientific type disciplines. We’re really starting to fall behind in that. We need to get past the touchy-feely type stuff taught in schools.

We really need that national BHAG or Big Hairy Audacious Goal from the Collins model. What’s our 21st century moonshot? What’s the thing that gets the nation all behind the innovation and experimentation and challenges to technology. There’s really nothing out there right now we could all get behind and focus our energy and resources. That would be a big step.

Want More from Paul R. Williams?

You can find out more of Paul R. Williams' thoughts on innovation when we spoke recently.

• Read transcripts from our conversation here.

• Listen to our conversation here.

• Read his blog

• Follow him on Twitter

Buy his books

**********

Some may say this is inappropriate.

This is politics! And you never discuss politics at Thanksgiving Dinners, backyard barbecues and on a business radio show.

I disagree. As long as only politicians can discuss solutions for our country then those solutions and their interested audiences will remain off-limits, political, for those who make this brand, our country, run. And only politicians, these days that's only career politicians, can discuss those ideas and spoon-feed solutions to the public.

I see our times as an all hands-on-deck opportunity and not a crisis. That opportunity is for each of us to lend our hands, our conversations, our ideas to find and share solutions. In our absence those challenges are left to ideologues, vested interests and politicians of all stripes and partisan persuasion. We...are the only ones with vested interests.

And now we have, with social media and the urgency of today, the opportunity to reclaim our place at this table and discuss our ideas to solve our challenges. At the very least, we can listen to a discussion until we are ready to speak up.

President Obama: 3 Ways to Create a Culture of Recognition

Derek Irvine is the co-author of Winning with A Culture of Recognition: Recognition Strategies at the World's Most Admired Companies. He is also VP - Client Strategy and Consulting at Globoforce who delivers truly global strategic employee recognition and reward programs guaranteed to increase employee engagement by double digits.

I asked him what his thoughts would be if President Obama called and asked for his thoughts on what could be done to create a culture of recognition here in the U.S.

I asked him:

We’ve reached the Imagination moment in the show. Let’s imagine President Obama is on line 3 at your office right. He’s calling you in Dublin. He’s holding. He’s holding because he sees if we’re to reclaim our leadership role in innovation, make this the year of small business, we need to create a culture of recognition within our country. He invites you up to the White House. You and Eric. You sit down in the Oval Office. And he asks you:

Guys, what are three things we can do now to create a culture of recognition in this country? Move us so far out in front, no one will ever touch us.

What do you tell him?

And Derek answered:

Well, that’s certainly an imaginative question. President Obama ringing me would be an exciting thing.

You said three things.

First of all I’d ask what does a winning culture look like? Let’s establish those values.

Then once we’ve got that set up, then let’s communicate those values. Let’s ask every American employee to spot those values. Describe when they see those values when they see them being done. Let’s have the employees celebrate those values when they see them being done. Then when they see those values celebrated then they tend to do more of them.

The third thing we have to do to complete the loop is let’s report on how we’re doing. Let’s have a White House Executive Dashboard. That’s something we typically do for a client. Let’s see which part of America are living out those values. And which part might need some more help. Which part can be exemplary centers for us to learn.

Let’s define the values we want to find.

Let’s communicate them and encourage every American to celebrate them.

Let’s report on them. See the metric. The metric signals throughout the country how we’re living those values.

**********

Some may say this is inappropriate.

This is politics! And you never discuss politics at Thanksgiving Dinners, backyard barbecues and on a business radio show.

I disagree. As long as only politicians can discuss solutions for our country then those solutions and their interested audiences will remain off-limits, political, for those who make this brand, our country, run. And only politicians, these days that's only career politicians, can discuss those ideas and spoon-feed solutions to the public.

I see our times as an all hands-on-deck opportunity and not a crisis. That opportunity is for each of us to lend our hands, our conversations, our ideas to find and share solutions. In our absence those challenges are left to ideologues, vested interests and politicians of all stripes and partisan persuasion. We...are the only ones with vested interests. And now we have, with social media and the urgency of today, the opportunity to reclaim our place at this table and discuss our ideas to solve our challenges. At the very least, we can listen to a discussion until we are ready to speak up.

Want More from Derek Irvine?

• Read more transcripts from our conversation here.

• Listen to our conversation here.

• Read his blog.

• Follow him on Twitter.

• Buy the book.

President Obama: 3 Tips to Become a Liquid Leader

Brad Szollose has over 30 years of entrepreneurial experience. That makes Brad no stranger to the Boardroom – during the Dot Com Era of the early 90′s, Brad co-founded K2 Design, Inc. which later raised over $7 million through private placement and an IPO. Brad’s tenure at K2 was explosive – the company experienced 425% growth for 5 straight years, expanded from 2 business partners to 4$26 million. and expanded to 60+ employees and offices worldwide.

Over the past 15 years, Brad observed a startling change in corporate America.augmented reality. This 24/7 connected, early adopter to anything technology driven has created a whole new divide, in which more and more young people are growing up as Digital Natives – comfortable using technology as their primary resource to do business – while the established older generation of Baby Boomers are using technology as their secondary resource.

And he authored a wonderful, inspiring, insightful response on this challenge of leadership today.

That book is Liquid Leadership: From Woodstock to Wikipedia - Multigenerational Management Ideas That Are Changing the Way We Run Things

He generously agreed to spend an hour talking about his book, his insights and his solutions. As a country we see a bit of turmoil among our institutions and the leadership models they embrace.

I asked him:

Ok, so now is the imagination part of the show. Let’s imagine...an email from President Obama awaits you. And it includes an invitation to the Oval Office...He’s read your book. President Obama wants you to help him become a more liquid leader. What are three things he can do before his next State of the Union address to be a more liquid leader?

And Brad answered:

He needs to realize he is about to go down in history as either the greatest president in our history or the worst.

One of the principles of liquid leadership is you have to tell the truth. Mr. President you have to stop trying to make everybody happy and tell the truth. The system needs to be upgraded and reinvented.

The 2nd thing is he has to tell people that the model we have been working with for the past 150 years doesn’t work. We can no longer work for the 20th century. We’re in the 21st century where things move much more dynamically. You can’t expect one group to pay for everybody.

The 3rd thing is he has to lead with strength and determination and the sense of re-invention; he has to wear it instead of giving it lip service. Now, we have to see the example. We’re waiting.

If things don’t change, then Gen-Y will be the first generation to march to Washington DC and opt out of social security. They will tell the President "it is a ponzi scheme. We are the first generation to say we don’t want anything to do with it."

What do you think?

**********

Some may say this is inappropriate.

This is politics! And you never discuss politics at Thanksgiving Dinners, backyard barbecues and on a business radio show.

I disagree. As long as only politicians can discuss solutions for our country then those solutions and their interested audiences will remain off-limits, political, for those who make this brand, our country, run. And only politicians, these days that's only career politicians, can discuss those ideas and spoon-feed solutions to the public.

I see our times as an all hands-on-deck opportunity and not a crisis.  That opportunity is for each of us to lend our hands, our conversations, our ideas to find and share solutions. In our absence those challenges are left to ideologues, vested interests and politicians of all stripes and partisan persuasion. We...are the only ones with vested interests. And now we have, with social media and the urgency of today, the opportunity to reclaim our place at this table and discuss our ideas to solve our challenges. At the very least, we can listen to a discussion until we are ready to speak up.

Want More from Brad Szollose?

• Read transcripts of our conversation here.

• Listen to our conversation here.

• Read his blog.

• Follow him on Twitter.

• Buy his book.