Hindsight Kanhai Kapadia

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About the GuestCraig Wood is an accomplished business executive, board member, author, and people-centric leader with over 30 years of experience founding, managing, growing, and leading companies at all stages. He serves as the CEO of Premier International, an award-winning IT consulting firm that helps reduce the risk associated with complex data challenges through innovative technology and consulting services.
Inside the EpisodeIn this episode of "Hindsight," host Kanhai Kapadia interviews Craig Wood, CEO of Premier International, about the company's evolution from a lifestyle business to a growth-focused organization. They discuss Craig's leadership journey, the history of Premier International, using EOS as a catalyst for growth, and finding harmony between private equity ownership and an employee-first culture.
Topics by Timestamp00:30 The People and Experiences Behind Craig’s Leadership Style
04:53 The Genesis of Premier International
09:10 Gaining the Traction to Grow
15:06 Adding Vision and Capital
20:38 Cultural and Service Transformation
29:23 Discussing Data’s Potential and Premier’s Market Position
42:32 Culture's Tangible Impact on Business, and comparisons with Salesforce and Workday
Resources MentionedCraig Wood on LinkedinWorkdaysalesforce.comEOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System)Premier InternationalKGK & Company's Free One-Day Assessment

Best Way to ListenVisit the episode page for a 1-2 min. overview of the episode, our analysis of the strategic management takeaways within, and for an improved podcast listening experience.
Inside the EpisodeInside this episode, Brian shares his experience going from Sergeant Major in the Army to learning and becoming CEO of a $40M data services company over an 18-month period.
About the GuestBrian O’Keefe is CEO of Vertical Knowledge (VK), a data products, insights, and intelligence company. VK gives data-savvy organizations across all sectors the ability to collect, refine, and apply publicly available data to solve problems, make decisions, and gain advantage.
Topics by Timestamp0:00 Kanhai Introduces Brian
1:18 Brian Explains What Vertical Knowledge (VK) Does and Who it serves (VK)
1:56 Understanding Who is And Isn’t a VK Customer
3:56 Overview of Public Data That VK Collects
5:17 Key Success Factors in Public Data Collection
14:29 Why PE said yes to an unproven CEO
16:39 Learned the business from the ground up in 6-9 months.
22:33 Restructuring VK – Why, How, and Lessons Learned
33:41 Brian’s hindsight on addressing technical debt vs. premature optimization, using the P&L to make better decisions, and the CEO retaining accountability for results.
40:15 Strategies for scaling up, from $40M

Originally recorded in May 2021
Best Way to ListenVisit the episode page for a 1-2 min. overview of the episode, our analysis of the strategic management takeaways within, and for an improved podcast listening experience.
Inside the EpisodeIn this episode, David shares how Analytics8 began and how the company is thriving in the fast-evolving analytics industry by combining increasingly deeper business and technology capabilities.
About the GuestDavid Fussichen is the CEO of Analytics8, a data analytics consulting firm which combines expertise with data, business problem-solving, and technology to provide clients the full breadth of capabilities that are required to transform into a smarter, data-driven organization. If you’re looking for a sounding board on how to accelerate your efforts to leverage data, learn about Analytics8’s Data Strategy Session by going to https://www.analytics8.com/ and clicking the “Data Strategy Session” button.
Topics by Timestamp00:00  The genesis of Analytics8
7:07    David’s definition of hiring “good people” and the value of diversity
17:17  The Analytics8 value proposition
21:24  Discussing the evolution of the analytics market
24:04  The company’s strategy to double sales
27:31  Past lessons on the importance of calculated, focused growth
35:27  Strategies that are helping scale service delivery
41:52  David shares some tougher moments of building the right team
47:07  Pressing David for hindsight yields more insight
53:03 Circling back to discuss the future role of technology partners and business expertise

Best Way to ListenVisit the episode page for a 1-2 min. overview of the episode, our analysis of the strategic management takeaways within, and for an improved podcast listening experience.
About the GuestScott McLaughlin is the CEO of YGEIA3, a scientific wellness company that gives individuals a convenient way to diagnose where stress, metabolic function, and food sensitivities are preventing them from functioning at their best. If you’re an employer looking for a high-value wellness benefit that is covered by insurers and reduces healthcare premiums by up to 10%, learn more about YGEIA3 at https://ygeia3.com/
Inside the EpisodeIn this episode, Scott gives us a glimpse of what it was like for an innovative wellness company to gain traction, pivot from serving athletes to employers, and the management challenges he faced on the path to becoming a global company with over 100 people. 
Topics
0:43 Scientific Wellness Explained
5:24 Evolution of the company from 2 to 100+ people
12:08 YGEIA3’s pandemic pivot
13:26 Probing the value prop – why scientific wellness? Why YGEIA3?
17:33 Scott goes open-book with personal leadership and company growth challenges
a.    Defying the status-quo in athletics
b.    Hiring the right people by stepping aside
c.    Learning to delegate
d.    Using funding to overcome a surprise cost increase
34:18 Hidden value of continuing education
37:33 Leading a distributed workforce of 100+
40:26 Building relationships through once-in-a-lifetime experiences

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About the GuestMark Rickmeier is CEO of Table XI (now TXI), a digital consultancy that gives organizations a pragmatic, human-centered approach to strategy, design, and solution delivery.
If you’re looking for a partner to close the gap between your digital ambitions and reality, learn more about TXI at https://txidigital.com/
Topics by TimestampIn this episode, Mark shares how TXI overcame a serious customer concentration issue, a formula for sales that works for professional services companies like TXI, and a wealth of leadership lessons.
3:10      An explanation of pragmatic, human-centered design
5:18      Becoming CEO and both rising to the role and tailoring it to his strengths
11:10    Designing TXI’s sales function
18:41     Elevating from operational lead to visionary CEO
23:55  Key success factors for TXI going forward
    Managing Stress
     Redesigning a compelling culture that is both inclusive and distributed first
     aSynchronous communication
     Making remote work practices more efficient
26:13    Redesigning for a distributed-first employee model
32:40    Overcoming Customer Concentration Risk of Existential Proportions
38:52    Ops. Conf. (aka Operations Conference) creates next level “coopetition” between software design firms, and provides a solution to TXI’s knowledge, people, and even client acquisition gaps. Its success evolves into new company, Walk Shop.
46:31    Mark shares his hindsight
     Become comfortable with being uncomfortable, sooner
     Delegate and elevate sooner
    The importance Vision, not just operational guidance

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About the GuestBob Redd is CEO of 4 businesses to which he brings deep expertise and operational competence: strategic consultancy and holding company FatSpan Inc., technology solution provider DC WebTech LLC, Credit Union digital marketing specialist Get Digital CU, and senior home exchange platform Senior Home Xchange. To learn more about each company, visit them online:
·     DC Webtech - www.GetDigitalCU.com
·     Get Digital CU - www.DCWebTech.com
·     Senior Home Xchange - www.SeniorHomeXchange.com
Topics by Timestamp[00:45] Bob's seminal business and leadership experiences
[13:00] Strategies and tactics employed as a GM at Schlumberger
[21:10] Offloading underperforming business units
[25:21] Restructuring as a catalyst to improving company culture
[35:55] Hard lessons as new business owner
[39:45] How shared objectives resulting in relationships which transcended union contract
[41:18] Using data to unravel operational chaos
[42:25] What successful transformation looks
[46:15] Reflecting on the importance of fit