What's Next! With Tiffani Bova

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I feature Steven Dennis on the show.  Steve is the president of SageBerry Consulting, a strategic advisory firm focused on innovation and growth strategy for retail, luxury, and social impact brands. Prior to SageBerry, Steve was SVP, Strategy and Multi-channel Marketing, for the Neiman Marcus Group and earlier in his career, he held senior leadership positions with Sears including Chief Strategy Officer and VP of Multi-channel Integration. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… sellers, retailers, and e-commerce marketers. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… It’s true - some retailers are getting left behind, which means there is no shortage of store closings. Yet, even with the volume of closures, some retailers are actually growing and opening new retail storefronts. Why is that? Those that are thriving are becoming much more experiential, customer focused and have a clear, differentiated value proposition. If you want to make sure you are not left behind, ask your

Double-Clicking on Diversity and Inclusion Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I feature Dr. Tony Byers on the podcast. He is best known for leading Global Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) at Starbucks where was responsible for developing and leading the strategic direction for D&I to drive engagement, innovation, and business growth. He's an accomplished inclusion and change management specialist with 20 years of demonstrated experience leading change in large, multinational organizations. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… people looking for more information on the power of diversity and inclusion to drive growth in business. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Tony begins our conversation by defining diversity simply as who you are (looks, background, etc). Inclusion, however, is a behavior driving people to be involved, respected, valued, and connected. In short, diversity is a noun and inclusion is a verb. These definitions not only encompass everything I (and my past guests have said all

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. Dr. Linda Hill is my latest guest on the podcast. She is the Wallace Brett Dohm Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and the chair of the Leadership Initiative. She’s is regarded as one of the top experts on leadership, is the co-author of Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation and Being the Boss. Dr. Hill is also the co-founder of Paradox Strategies and the co-creator of the Innovation Quotient. She was named by Thinkers50 as one of the top 10 management thinkers in the world in 2013 and received the Thinkers50 Innovation Award in 2015.  Her TED Talk, How to Manage Our Collective Creativity, has gotten more than 2 million views.  THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… leaders and aspiring innovators. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… There is a misconception about leadership and leading innovation.  Leadership is communicating a vision and inspiring others to fulfill that vision.  Leading innovation is about creating an en

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week I speak with Adam Grant.  Adam is the leading expert on finding motivation, meaning, living more generous and creative lives. He's been recognized as one of the world's 10 Most Influential Management Thinkers and Fortune's 40 under 40. He's the author of three New York Times bestsellers: Give and Take,  Originals,  and Option B.  Adam now hosts WorkLife, a TED original podcast after his TED talk got more than 12 million views. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… team members and team builders. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Adam’s research shows that interpersonal interactions that a difference in our success.  At various points of our day humans operate in three realms: (1) a giver, or people who ask what can I do for you?, (2) a taker, someone who asks what can you do for me?, and (3) matchers, who follow the law of reciprocity.  Yes, there are grey areas, but people usually fit in one of these categories. One would think that placing a group of givers on a t

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. Michael Chavez is my latest guest on the podcast. Michael Chavez, CEO of Duke Corporate Education, part of Duke University, joined Duke in 2006 and held various leadership roles before becoming the CEO in 2016. Before Duke, Michael spent over five years as the founding member of a successful startup and was the Director and Senior Learning Consultant at Coca-Cola Company. Today, Michael's research focuses on how leaders can most effectively shape, institutionalize, and lead from a shared organizational purpose. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… leaders, especially those in the middle of an organization, who want to reconnect with their own sense of purpose so they can inspire those around them to do the same. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Leadership and purpose are playing an even larger role than ever within a company looking to drive change. Because of this, a new kind of leader has emerged, the “center managers,’ meaning they are at the center of the organization,

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week I speak with Frans Johannson, author, entrepreneur, and the CEO of The Medici Group. Frans has inspired readers worldwide with his ideas on leadership and success, innovation, and diversity. His debut book The Medici Effect has been called “one of the most insightful books on managing innovation.” THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… Anyone looking to find ways to stimulate innovation. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… There are two main themes rising around the world today: Innovation and Diversity and Inclusion. That is not by accident. If you are able to combine concepts, perspectives, and people from different backgrounds, from different industries and fields, and from different cultures you can uncover new innovative ideas. Don’t get caught in the “we’ve always done it this way” trap or try to mimic another business model (the “Uber of X” or the AirBnB of Y”). Use your talents and ambition to try something new. Keep producing. Put out another product if the fi

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I have Liz Wiseman on the podcast. Liz is the author of New York Times bestseller Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, The Multiplier Effect: Tapping the Genius Inside Our Schools, and Wall Street Journal bestseller Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of Work. Liz is also the CEO of The Wiseman Group, a leadership research and development firm and in 2017 she was #35 on the Thinkers50 list.  THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… anyone looking to improve their leadership skills and build better teams. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… There are leaders who are “Diminishers,” while others are “Mulitpliers”. These ‘Diminishers’ tend to get less than half of people's intelligence or capability; whereas, these ‘Multipliers’ get all of it.  But that’s not all, there are also “Accidental Diminishers” - these are really well-meaning people trying to be good bosses but yet having a diminishing effect on those around them. WHAT I LO

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I have Bill Macaitis on the podcast. Bill served as the go-to-market executive for three of the fastest growing SaaS companies: Slack, Zendesk, and Salesforce. He has achieved five exits and now he enjoys helping other companies achieve hyper-growth by leveraging his cumulative knowledge and helping build go-to-market playbooks and teams. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… anyone who is looking to turbocharge business performance. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Customer experience plays a bigger role than you think in your company’s growth. You have to start with two key things: 1) Understand the top reasons your company is recommended 2) Then….understand why it isn’t. Your brand is the sum of every customer touch point, which means everyone, whether they are a salesperson, a customer service agent, a marketer, or in an entirely different group – everyone must have a clear understanding of the value they bring to a customer’s journey.  Once everyone is moving

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week I speak with Alex Osterwalder. Alex is a speaker, the author of Business Model Generation, and is the co-founder of a software company. He is, according to his website, “Obsessed with making strategy innovation and entrepreneurship simple, practical, and applicable.” THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… anyone who is looking to design an organization focused on innovating for growth. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… To understand the complexities of running a business, you can’t view the company through the lenses of antiquated spectacles. You need more than that — you need a team who can see how all of these puzzle pieces fit together to create unity. One company. One shared vision. Once you have those glasses adjusted, you can imagine ways to reinvent the business model without creating chaos across the company. If you do it right. Innovation goes further to improve the long-term health of a business more so than being efficient or sustaining what already works.

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I have Tendayi Viki on the podcast. He’s an academic, the co-designer of Pearson's Product Lifecycle, which won the Best Innovation Program 2015 at the corporate Entrepreneur Awards in New York, and is on the shortlist for the Thinkers 50 Innovation Award. He’s also a contributing writer for Forbes and is the author of The Corporate Startup: How Established Companies Can Create Successful Innovation Ecosystems. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… bigger companies who want to act like a startup. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… to act small, companies must first think about their innovation ambition.  The first step is to create an innovation thesis and understand your minimum viable ecosystem – maybe that means conducting a small workshop instead of jumping straight into a 2-day event. Second, become clear about key trends.  Ask, who do we want to innovate for? Then, run through problems and challenges that could make life easier for your customer. Throughout th

Welcome to the What's Next! Podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week I interview Nir Eyal, author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-forming Products. Nir is an entrepreneur and has taught at Stanford School of Business. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… companies who want to change consumer behavior. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Most of what you do throughout the day is because of a habit, the impulse to behave with little or no conscious thought. You choose Google as your search engine out of habit, don’t you? If you are a business owner, you want to make sure that your product is what consumers use because of a habit. When you understand how to create habits, you can generate a tremendous amount of economic and customer value and keep customers coming back. Of the four-steps that define a habit — trigger, action, reward, and investment — the investment phase is the most critical. It is in this phase where the company gets the user to do something that increases the likelihood of returning. How do you get repeat customers? It i

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week’s awesome guest is Dan Pink, the author of six books, including When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. Thinkers50 named Dan as one of the Top 15 Business Thinkers in the World, and his TED talk The Puzzle of Motivation is one of the 10 most-watched TED talks of all time. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR…  anyone looking to improve their likelihood of success in both their personal and professional lives. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Did you know that a book about timing decisions didn’t exist until Dan Pink wrote it in early 2018? When you think about it, we make multiple “when” decisions in our life: When should I exercise during the day? When should I start a product? When should I quit a project? When should I quit my job?  Dan’s diligent research into the foundation behind our “when” decisions led him to discover that people mostly disregard the question of when and instead focus on what and who and how.  WHAT I LOVE MOST… Breaks are more impor

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week’s guest is Roger Martin. Roger is the former Dean of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, has been named “The Most Influential Business Thinker” by Thinkers50, and he advises CEOs worldwide. Roger is the author of ten books, including Creating Great Choices, a follow-up to his 2007 best-seller The Opposable Mind. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… someone with a different style of thinking. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… is the play between strategy and making choices. Roger’s unique perspective combines strategy and making choices. Roger believes the two ideas are interconnected because, simply put, you cannot make choices if you don’t have a strategy. And you can’t have a strategy without making choices. Roger opines that strategy is what you do, whereas choices put you in the position to behave. Just like every organization has a strategy, so does every person, and strategy comes with a choice. Roger believes that execution happens beca

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. I’m honored to have Arianna Huffington as this week’s guest.  Arianna is an author, mother, and businesswoman, most notably known as the co-founder and former Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post.  Most recently, Arianna has written Thrive and The Sleep Revolution. But what you may not know about Arianna is that she has a Master's Degree in Economics from Cambridge and was a candidate for California governor. She's been named one of the Most Influential Women in Media and one of the Most Powerful Women in Business. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… those hesitant about the future. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… We’re at a very interesting time in history – one that is currently being shaped in new ways every day. The next 20 years won’t look anything like today. But of course, 20 years ago doesn’t look anything like today either. We cannot predict what the future holds, but as Arianna says, we’re at an inflection point.  Careers are no longer linear. Passion and pur

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week is special because I was able to capture a frank conversation with my friend and fellow Hawaiian, Guy Kawasaki. He’s the Chief Evangelist at Canva, a brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz, and an Executive Fellow at the Haas School of Business. He is also the author of The Art of the Start, The Art of Social Media, Enchantment, and nine other books. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… anyone who wants to up their social media game. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… Even for an expert, there is still room to learn. Guy is dedicated to making a difference via social media every day by pushing the envelope and learning as he goes. In the world of social media, we both believe that you have to be thoughtful with your posts. The days of simply showing up are over.  You can’t just tweet once and call it a day. Video has to be better. Graphics have to be better. Guy, however, takes a more aggressive approach. He’s comfortable posting about politics and difficult conversatio

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. My friend Shep Hyken is joining on the podcast this week. He’s a NY Times and WSJ bestselling author including, Moments of Magic, one of my favorites. He’s a customer service expert, and keynote speaker. He works with companies who want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees by delivering fantastic customer experiences. THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… anyone in customer service and customer success organization and leaders who wake up every day focused on improving customer experience. TODAY’S MAIN MESSAGE… The only thing that's going to separate one company from the next is the experience that that customer has with a brand. It will no longer be about product and price –customer service and customer success will carry as much, if not more weight than price in purchase decisions. Customer-focused companies make sure everyone on the team knows their value to the customer, even if they work behind-the-scenes. Leaders have to define wha

Today’s guest is Peter Fader, professor of marketing at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and the co-founder of Zodiak. His expertise centers on the analysis of behavioral data to understand and forecast customer shopping purchasing activities. His insights are reflected in his great book, Customer Centricity. The highlight of the conversation is Peter’s story of his disagreement with Wall Street’s findings on Dish Network’s company valuations. Peter and his team analyzed the company valuations using the public data Dish provided to investors. They came up with company valuations that were within 3-5% difference of the forecasts Wall Street was making. Next, as a fun academic exercise, his students created forecasts for the next 4 quarters using various statistical methods. Peter compared his students’ numbers to Dish’s quarterly numbers and noticed two things: (1) the students were within .5% of the number that Dish announced, and (2) the Wall Street analysts were off by about

Welcome to the What's Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. Today’s guest is Jim Harris, author of Blindsided: How to Spot the Next Breakthrough that Will Change Your Business Forever. Jim is a principal at Strategic Advantage and has 20 years of experience as a professional speaker and consultant. Jim speaks internationally at more than 40 conferences per year on essential topics such as creativity, innovation, customer relationships, strategic planning, and environmental leadership.  THIS EPISODE IS PERFECT FOR… innovative thinkers. Innovation is coming here. Our professional lives are different than they were five years ago; our personal lives are drastically different they were ten years ago. How you approach change will determine your success. If you don’t want to be blindsided, pay attention to your systems and processes and keep the younger employees involved in strategy. Remember, diversity goes way beyond gender. Choose a team of bright people and create job opportunities. Innovation ultimately means that

Welcome to the What’s Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. Today’s guest is Josh Linkner. Josh is a five-time tech entrepreneur and hyper-growth CEO, two-time New York Times Bestselling author, top-rated keynote speaker, and founding partner of Detroit Venture Partners. Josh lives at the intersection of tech and advertising. In this episode, he and Tiffani explore how this intersection includes hacking, reinvention, and creativity. They also share ways that you can use traditions to be more innovative. In this episode: 4:50 – How a small jazz ensemble is a perfect metaphor for business 6:53 – How Josh defines reinvention and what people can learn from reinventing 8:52 - What can people do to start reinventing their business? 9:40 – A simple, but powerful question Josh poses to help you change your daily traditions 10:55 – What inspired Josh to write Hacking Innovation 12:55 – Is hacking just duct taping a problem together? 14:10 – Do new startups need to have a hacker mentality? 16:02 – Josh’s definition of creat

Welcome to the What’s Next! podcast with Tiffani Bova. This week, I’m speaking with Frits van Paasschen, a seasoned global executive, and author of the new book, The Disruptors Feast. With 30 years of experience, he has a unique perspective on the current trends that impact businesses around the world. Frits served as the CEO of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, CEO at Coors Brewing Company, and have held several management positions at Nike.  Frits is one a few who have seen first-hand what it’s like to be in the middle of disruption. He was the CEO of Starwood when AirBnB started and the CEO of Coors when the craft beer industry launched. He shares how he handled disruption by changing from the inside out and leading when change broadsides a company. In this episode: 4:10 – How Frits defines disruption 8:52 – What it was like as the CEO of Starwood when AirBnB disrupted the hotel industry 12:21 – What other industries can learn from disruptors like AirBnB 14:08 – What do you do when disruptors come after your in