Posts Tagged ‘Entrepreneurship’
179 Black Entrepreneurs Matter / Women Entrepreneurs Matter w/ UCSC Prof. Robert Fairlie
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Why is there a disproportionate impact against Black-owned and Women-owned Businesses?
Today in Follow your Different, Robert Fairlie, a professor at the University of California and a researcher for the National Bureau of Economic Research, shares his research on the impact of Coronavirus on small businesses and black and women-owned businesses.
Impact of COVID-19
Rob shares the alarming figures that small businesses faced. From 15 million active businesses to 12 million, to the 15% unemployment rate in just one month (Bureau of Labor Statistics), Rob gives us facts and figures how devasting Covid-19 has impacted businesses.
“I think they are starting to get become more attention focused on the business side of it and the importance of business owners. Not only do they create a route out of poverty or an alternative for income but they also create jobs.” – Rob Fairlie
Impact on Black-owned Businesses
Prof. Farlie says that there is a hugely disproportionate impact between White-owned businesses and African American-owned businesses. According to the data found from February to April, there’s a 41% decrease of active African-American business owners compared to a 17% decrease of active White business owners.
“I’m just worried that this is going to increase racial inequality and gender inequality. It’s not just going to be for a few months as we deal with COVID, but it’s going to be longer. Retirements kind of maybe setting us back and that’s a bigger, much bigger worry.” – Rob Fairlie
Impact on Women-owned Businesses
One of the reasons why there is a bigger drop in women-owned businesses is because they are in industries that cater to personal services that were shut down because of health risks. Another reason is that women-owned businesses are often smaller in scale and they do not have the resources to face all the regulations to operate during the pandemic.
“There has been some new research and I’m working with a couple of co-authors to try to do a little more work on this. This shows that mothers are taking a disproportionate hit compared to fathers in terms of reducing their hours of work, dealing with children, dealing with homecare. This isn’t just evidence from the US, this is evidence from a lot of countries around the world.” – Rob Fairlie
To learn more about Prof. Rob Fairlie and the impact of COVID-19 on Black and Women-owned businesses, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Robert Fairlie is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Research Associate, NBER.
His research interests include entrepreneurship, education, information technology, inequality, labor economics, and immigration.
Further, he received his Ph.D. and M.A. from Northwestern University and B.A. with honors from Stanford University.
In addition to this, he has held visiting positions at Stanford University, Yale University, UC Berkeley and Australian National University. He has received funding for his research from numerous government agencies and foundations.
He has testified to the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Department of Treasury, and the California State Assembly regarding the findings from his research, and received a joint resolution from the California Legislature.
Links:
UCSC Economics Faculty: Professor Robert Fairlie
Research Papers on Impacts of COVID-19 on Small Business Owners
Senate Bill referencing research
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS: EVIDENCE OF EARLY-STAGE LOSSES FROM THE APRIL 2020 CURRENT POPULATION SURVEY
IZA Institute of Labor Economics: Robert Fairlie
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!
178 Transforming Education In The Era of Covid w/ Ted Dintersmith, Bestselling Author
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Today, we have a legendary conversation about schools and education. This is a topic that is not getting enough attention right now. With us today is Ted Dintersmith, the author of a great book called What School Could Be: Insights and Inspiration From Teachers Across America.
We talk about how we can make school work, especially today that we have a new reality. Ted has some powerful insights and some great ideas about that. We even get into how to make the weirdest school year in modern history as an opportunity to reimagine school and reimagine learning.
What School Could Be
Ted was with us back in 2019, at Episode 117, shortly after his book came out and he’s back as Chris digs into one of two important issues that we face today during Covid19, education. The other topic he will dive deep into is entrepreneurship. (Watch out for the next episode with the University of California. Santa Cruz, Professor Rob Fairley)
He’s been talking to a lot of the top educators in the country. Further, he gives us insights as we are standing on the edge of the new school year. If you care about our future, if you care about kids, if you care about education, I think you’re going to love this conversation with Ted.
Non-traditional Methods of Learning
Ted shares with Christopher how he checked back with parents, teachers, school administrators, and students when Covid19 started. One outstanding finding he got was that those who were practicing non-traditional methods of learning were optimistic during this time.
“The kids they work with were really good — pre-COVID — on identifying what they wanted to learn, turning that into an initiative. They wanted to manage their own time and draw out appropriate resources, other adults’ online stuff, and then sticking with it until they proved something they cared about. In my book, with no sense of a looming pandemic. I said this is a really important skill for adults.” – Ted Dintersmith
Anxiety and Stress
This time has caused much anxiety and stress for teachers and school administrators. There is no right formula and it involves a lot of variables in deciding how to operate schools come September.
Chris and Ted also discussed how “inconvenient” this set-up is for those who can privileged, but how devastating this set-up could be for a single-parent, juggling multiple jobs.
“Even if you had a great plan to reopen, it requires money. Now, you just start marching through everything that has to be done safely for you to say, here’s our plan to reopen. Here’s an effective transportation plan. Here’s an effective disinfected plan. Here’s how we’re going to staff classrooms, here’s what would happen to our students. Here’s how we’re going to add nurses on call. You look at everything that’s required and then you say, ‘oh, by the way, do it with even fewer budget dollars because state local budgets have been hammered.” – Ted Dintersmith
To know more about Ted and how school could be during Covid19, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Links:
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes! Get amazing, different stories on business, marketing, and life. Subscribe to our newsletter The Difference.
176 What is going on? | #1 Tech Analyst R “Ray” Wang Chairman Constellation Research
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In this episode, we have an amazing conversation with the world’s number one tech analyst, Ray Wang. He’s the founder of Constellation Research and the author of a spectacular, bestselling book called Disrupting Digital Business. We talk about what’s going on with C19, is C 19 a bioweapon, and what’s going on with bioweapons. We also talk about the digital giants and stock investing. Additionally, we talked about the future of enterprise tech and much more.
Is C19 A Bioweapon?
As a fan of conspiracy theory, Chris asked if indeed, Covid19 is a bioweapon. Ray shares it has not yet been addressed as of the moment but deconstructing the DNA of Covid19 says otherwise. He raised a serious call for treaties among countries as bioweapons are not a thing of the future.
“Do we have offensive or defensive capabilities? And the thought crosses through every government’s mind as to, what’s required? What’s within the limits? What treaties have we signed? So I don’t think it was intentional. I think the safety protocols were definitely broken. I think it’s not necessarily something they were planning to unleash. But it was something that they were studying.” – Ray Wang
Currency Crisis and Cryptocurrency
Ray also shares some of his views about the current “devaluing of dollars.” They also touched on the efforts of China and Russia to push forward the use of cryptocurrencies. Ray foresees issues with the use of cryptocurrencies, from currency exchange manipulation to funding of terrorists and untraceable purchase of ammunition.
“We’re seeing some massive shifts, and it’s really the attack on the dollar that has been happening for some time. It’s as if everybody is not in favor of the dollar being the world’s reserve currency.” – Ray Wang
Ransomware Gangs
Chris and Ray talk about some recent events where some personalities’ Twitter accounts got hacked and were asked to send back Bitcoin to get back their accounts. Aside from this, Ray shares a much deeper kind of attacks they receive, targeted to tech professionals like him.
“We have insider threats, people inside companies that have either been placed, recruited, or turned. I’ll say that again. They’ve been placed, recruited, scooted, or turned to work against the US, the country or a corporation. And this, we have cyber ransom spies going to work for government agencies and or corporations, with the foreign government agencies, whether knowingly or unknowingly, they have been told that, ‘hey, if you just stick into the drive over here, for a bunch of zero-day vulnerabilities, which we’ve packaged together very well, you can take out entire networks. And you can do your part, you know, in part of the revolution, or whatever revolution you’re in.’” – Ray Wang
To know more about Ray Wang and what’s going on in the world and tech world today, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Principal Analyst, Founder, and Chairman of Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research, Inc.
He’s also the author of the popular business strategy and technology blog “A Software Insider’s Point of View”.
With viewership in the 10’s of millions of page views a year, his blog provides insight into how disruptive technologies and new business models such as digital transformation impact brands, enterprises, and organizations.
Wang has held executive roles in product, marketing, strategy, and consulting at companies such as Forrester Research, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and Johns Hopkins Hospital.
His new best selling book Disrupting Digital Business, published by Harvard Business Review Press and now globally available provides insights on why 52% of the Fortune 500 have been merged, acquired, gone bankrupt, or fallen off the list since 2000.
In fact, this impact of digital disruption is real. However, it’s not the technologies that drive this change. It’s a shift in how new business models are created.
Wang has held executive roles in product, marketing, strategy, and consulting at companies such as Forrester Research, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Personify, and Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is a prominent and dynamic keynote speaker and research analyst working with clients on digital, innovation, business model design, engagement strategies, customer experience, matrix commerce, and big data.
His Silicon Valley research firm, Constellation Research, Inc., advises Global 2000 companies on the future, business strategy, and disruptive technology adoption.
Ray is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review and well quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, CNBC TV, Reuters, IDG News Service, and other global media outlets. Wang has thrice won the prestigious Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR) Analyst of the Year Award.
Links:
Constellation.com – R Ray Wang
Personal Log: Understanding Case Fatality Rates For #COVID19 #CoronaVirus
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!
171 Black Entrepreneurs Matter w/ D’Narius Lewis
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Today, we have a very big conversation about social change, entrepreneurship, Black Lives Matter, and a whole lot more with author, entrepreneur, and speaker, D’Narius Lewis. We believe he represents a voice that is not being heard enough right now — the voice of young African American entrepreneurs.
D’narius has gone from homeless to successful. He is the founder of Optimum Outreach, a telecom brokerage firm. Frankly, we need to be asking ourselves “how do we foster an environment where there are a lot more D’narius Lewis’ you see denarius amongst many entrepreneurs?”
Living in Ground Zero
Christopher probes D’narius what it is like to be a young black male American entrepreneur, living in the “hood” in Minneapolis, which, as you know, is where George Floyd was killed. D’narius described how on the same day as his birthday, literally just 30 minutes away, George Floyd suffered from police brutality.
“Everyone wants to have this conversation but until you actually put yourself on the ground level and take action and see why people are protesting, see why people are frustrated. There has to be a reform behind everything that’s been created. It’s a never ending conversation.” – D’Narius Lewis
What It Would Take For A Breakthrough
D’Narius believes having the right conversations are essentially what needs to be done to get something out of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Right now, we’re still having a debate to why this isn’t even a conversation. Racism is not real and so having that first conversation is really like ‘let’s actually sit down and break this down. Let’s not be defensive. Let’s actually break down the facts.’ Once we get down that road, then let’s break down defunding the police department. A lot of people want to defund the police department. The police department defunded funds is not completely defunding a police department. It is taking funds that can be allocated to the community, to allocate for individuals and mental health spaces. ” – D’Narius Lewis
Crime is Crime By Humans
D’narius shares more about humans committing crimes and how people want to be treated as humans. He also shares about what is happening at the local level, especially why the activists are not the person responsible for the riots.
“We’re still having the same conversation that Martin Luther King had Malcolm X had. Now we’re in the 2020s many years away from that conversation and we’re still saying, ‘hey, are we’re still being killed on the streets by police brutality,’ ‘hey, we’re still living in poverty from from years of being set free, but not actually given a system to be a part of.’ The list goes on and on of all these different roadblocks and loopholes that I might know I’ve had to go through because the system wasn’t built for us.” – – D’Narius Lewis
To hear more about D’Narius and social change, entrepreneurship, Black Lives Matter, and a whole lot more, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
D’Narius Lewis was born May 25, 1993, in Shelby County, Tennessee. His family then moved to Minnesota in 1998 where he currently resides. D’Narius was raised by his single mother; being the youngest and only boy in his family shaped his outlook on life and the concept of survival and determination. He has stepped up to the plate as being the man of his household to keep his family as a unit.
A born entrepreneur, D’Narius Lewis started his sales career at the age of 15 when he began selling iPhones and Androids off Craigslist; this led to his passion for business and entrepreneurship.
While in college D’Narius balanced a full time job along with being a student. His balance became overwhelming and he often found himself having to decide to go to work or school. He later got fired from his job and eventually dropped out of college in rebellion to the demanding college lifestyle.
During that time, until he was 21, D’Narius had worked over 6 jobs and found his instability to be the result of his lack of passion, lack of freedom, and unfulfilling financial standing. Eventually, in 2012 D’Narius was a homeless-couch surfing kid with nothing but a suitcase and a name. He didn’t have a permit, a license, or a car, so his ability to get around was also limited.
Fortunately, things took a positive turn and he found himself blessed to have a friend from high school whose family took him in. By the summer of 2013, the money D’Narius made was used to support rent, bills, and groceries–which was limited to $10. He often found himself left with $7.40 after all his bills were paid. He soon decided that was not the life he wanted to live, so he did something about it.
Fast-forward to 2016, D’Narius is now an author, speaker, and social media expert with multiple books on self-help and inspiration. His love for networking, desire for likability, and rebellious attitude towards societies’ monotonous standards are what motivated, and still motivates him to attain his current level of success
D’Narius attributes his success to constantly moving and failing forward. Even when he had $1 to his name, no one knew his financial struggles, but he knew it would only temporary. D’Narius also attributes much of his success to his mentor Mary Dingmann, whom taught him the concept of transformational learning or guidance education.
D’Narius dedicates his career to teaching people that they can live the life of their dreams if they are willing to suspend their disbelief for an extended period of time and maintain the discipline it takes to work toward your dreams every day. D’Narius believes that people are meant to live an abundant, rewarding, and fulfilling life.
Links:
Amazon: The Power Of The Subconscious Mind – A Pocketbook Guide to Fulfilling Your Dreams
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on iTunes!
164 How to Build Billion-Dollar Startups | Osman Rashid founder Chegg & Convo.com
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Today, the second in a two-part series on entrepreneurship with none other than Osman Rishad, the founder of $8B, publicly-traded Chegg and now Convo.com. This is an inspiring conversation with a legendary entrepreneur about building billion-dollar startups.
This is an inspiring, timely conversation between Christopher Lochhead and Osman, as the former believes entrepreneurs are going to play an outsized role in carrying us forward in recovering from the situation we all find ourselves in, and most importantly, in designing a future that really works.
Fear of Being Irrelevant
Osman narrates to Christopher how some people are still asking why he is continuing to “fight” or spearhead more companies and projects. He shares that he has given this question a thought and realized a lot of things why he keeps on pushing forward.
“I felt that I wasn’t adding any value. Frankly, that’s when I realized maybe my number one fear in life is the fear of being irrelevant, that you have nothing to do. I actually love what I’m doing. I mean, I love building things. So it is not ‘work’ for me.” – Osman Rashid
He further shared that nothing will stop him from doing what he loves, because everything else fell into its righteous place, such as marriage and building a family.
Do Something of Value
Christopher points out how hustle porn stars sold us a false narrative that entrepreneurship should equate to airplanes and Lamborghinis. Both agreed that although there is nothing wrong with financial independence, there are other important goals that should be celebrated.
“I get happy when people around me get financial independence, economic freedom, as you said. But the goal is to build a great company. If you are doing something of value, then the financial outcome happens automatically. But if that’s your actual focus, I would say the failure rate is going to be even higher than that.” – Osman Rashid
Hallmark of Legendary Entrepreneurs
Believe it or not, both Christopher and Osman believes you have to be a special kind of stupid to become a legendary entrepreneur. Being stupid means small and ordinary issues do not weigh you down.
“At that time, I had no idea, I thought I was just being dumb about the whole thing. That’s the beauty of it because I never thought about being a legendary entrepreneur. I’m not even sure I’m one right now. There are some amazing people out there. It was all about ‘look, I’ve got this problem to solve for tomorrow. If I don’t solve this, I’m in deep doo-doo. So I’m going to solve this thing. The way I think of entrepreneurship, you have to be a little bit crazy in the head to go for it.” – Osman Rashid
Osman further advises to find a specific problem that bothers you and try to solve it and within those process, you become an entrepreneur.
To hear more about building a billion-dollar startup and for more information about Osman, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Osman Rashid is an executive and entrepreneur in the field of education technology.
Currently he is the founder and CEO of Galxyz, an intergalactic science adventure that he founded in late 2013.
Previously, he was co-founder and CEO of online textbook rental leader and student hub Chegg, remaining involved until early 2010 after dramatically growing the company from its inception in 2005.
He was also co-founder and CEO of Kno, Inc., (acquired by Intel in November 2013) a digital education platform company. Kno, Inc. has received funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Intel Capital, Goldman Sachs, FLOODGATE and GSV Capital, while Chegg was funded by KPCB, IVP, Gabriel Ventures and others.
Currently he is involved with ChildLife Foundation as a member of the Board of Trustees.
Osman Rashid was born in London and did his early schooling in Ghana and finished middle and high school from Islamabad, Pakistan.
He later moved to the United States where he received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from University of Minnesota in 1993.
Links:
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
152 Meet Magic Johnson, Hulk Hogan, Dennis Rodman’s Super Agent, Darren Prince.
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Today the legendary super agent Darren Prince. We dig into it all, how he went from sports memorabilia to a super agent. Pay special attention to why Darren wants to inspire people to overcome addiction. This is an extraordinary guy and conversation, I know you’ll love.
The Man Behind The Man and The Woman
Darren is 100% well-known among sports A-listers and celebrities. His client list includes Magic Johnson, Charlie Sheen, Vince Neil, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Dennis Rodman, Denise Richards, Carmen Electra, Chevy Chase, the late Muhammad Ali, Smokin’ Joe Frazier, and Evel Knievel.
“You got to love them like your family. I love people, It’s amazing. You’re getting inside some of these people’s lives and if you do the right thing, the relationships that would come from it, from people that really don’t trust because they’ve been screwed ever so often. They are very very guarded” – Darren Prince
Opiate Addiction
Aside from a well-renowned agent, he is also a self-confessed recovered addict with nearly 12 years sober. He describes his experience and how certain religious figures helped him through this challenge. He usually shares this experience when he speaks in colleges, groups or companies.
“My opiate addiction took me to a place where I wanted to kill myself every day. I had a dream job, the dream life, the clients, the notoriety, but I was living in a double life.” – Darren Prince
Undesirable Childhood Life
Darren shares a lot of his challenges that started in my childhood. He was classified with a severe learning disability. This led him to feel different, less, and uncomfortable with his own skin.
He was verbally bullied and he never spoke out.
To hear more about Darren and his ideas on overcoming addiction, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Darren Prince is a sports and celebrity agent who, at the age of 14, founded a mail order company selling baseball cards and traveling around the country participating in trade shows.
At the age of 20 he sold his company and became an industry leader in private autograph signings for sports and celebrity memorabilia with athletes and celebrities. A-List celebrities included the late Muhammad Ali, Hulk Hogan, Pele, Joe Montana, Carmen Electra and Jenny McCarthy.
In 1995 Prince started a new venture with Prince Marketing Group (PMG), representing athletes and celebrities for marketing deals consisting of endorsements, licensing, TV, movie and book deals, autograph signings and appearances. His first client to sign with the firm was none other than Magic Johnson.
Soon after Smokin’ Joe Frazier, Dennis Rodman, Pamela Anderson and Chevy Chase followed.
With PMG growing at an enormous pace, Prince added Scottie Pippen, Clyde Drexler, Mickey Rourke, Roy Jones Jr, Micky Ward and the late Evel Knievel as clients over the years.
The sports/entertainment industry is a small world and very competitive,” says Darren Prince, CEO of Prince Marketing Group.
“Prince Marketing Group has prospered over the years by delivering out of the box thinking for clients and building relationships through the practice of good business and effective networking.”
Prince Marketing Group is currently a multi-million dollar business that has negotiated over $200 Million in deals and currently secures marketing deals, arranges signing/memorabilia appearances, commercial licensing, product endorsement, and voice-overs. Darren is a true entrepreneur as he has been able to continuously reinvent himself and significantly grow his business over the years.
He has been featured in outlets such as Your World With Neil Cavuto, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Hannity & Colmes, ESPN, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, USA Today, Forbes’ Sports Money, On the record with Greta Van Susteren, Howard Stern radio, CNBC The Closing Bell and a variety of others for his marketing expertise.
Links:
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
148 Are You Undervaluing Your Customers? w/ Rob Markey of Bain & Co.
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We speak with Rob Markey of Bain & Co today about his breakthrough piece for Harvard Business Review “Are You Undervaluing Your Customers?”Rob also leads the Net Promoter Score Loyalty Forum and his Firm, Bain, invented the Net Promoter Score (NPS).
We have a riveting conversation about why companies with high levels of customer loyalty grow 2.5 times as fast as their peers, how companies should re-orient around customers and why Customer Loyalty is a shareholder priority and more. If you care about customers and growth, I think you’re going to love this dialogue.
Pressure To Deliver Earnings
Rob shares how his write up started as a source of frustration and curiosity. He shares that the clients he has worked with over the years still abandoned customer-centric companies. He further shares that companies ultimately face pressure to deliver earnings.
“The investors put pressure on management teams, who then are forced to squeeze out every last dollar in order to make a goal. That is just a short term goal.” – Rob Markey
Rob also says the importance for companies to have a visionary CEO, those who are willing to sacrifice short term earnings for long term gains. Investors should support these kinds of CEOs.
Standardized Metrics
Christopher asked if there should be a standardized metric to look at this matter in the context of a quarterly earnings call. Rob shares that it is one way to do this, however, he also says the world is a much more complicated place and it is hard to put a finger on just one metric that will lead you in the right way.
Net Promoter Score
Christopher asked Rob if NPS is the answer for companies. He shares it was just one of the objective function that they used when they were searching around for the right question to ask
“NPS is the best single question metric we have that enables you to see how an individual customer or a set of customers feel about the business in ways that then align with lifetime value.” – Rob Markey
There are lots of ways to collect a net promoter score. It can be after an interaction with a customer or as part of a relationship. It can even be a mode of market research, where the researcher can conduct double-blind research to acquire very reliable apples-to-apples comparison among different companies.
To hear more about Rob and why customer loyalty is a shareholder priority and more, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Founder and former leader of Bain & Company’s Customer Strategy & Marketing practice. Customer experience podcast host. Architected customer experience transformations, employee engagement improvement, marketing and sales capabilities development for dozens of the world’s largest companies.
Co-authored The Ultimate Question 2.0 (Harvard Business Review Press, 2011), and numerous other publications. Keynote speaker, leader of the NPS Loyalty Forum, and podcaster on customer and employee experience. Creator of the Net Promoter System.
Specialties: Customer experience; customer strategy and marketing; customer loyalty; employee loyalty; customer segmentation; new product development; direct marketing; brand management; service operations; digital transformation
Links:
Are You Undervaluing Your Customers?
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
147 How Coronavirus Really Started? w/ #1 Tech Analyst R “Ray” Wang, Chairman, Constellation Research
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Today, #1 technology analyst, author of the smash hit, “Disrupting Digital Business” and founder of Constellation Research, Ray Wang is back. To add to our list of controversial episodes, Ray shares his thoughts on how Coronavirus really started, It’s impact on society and why we better be ready for a new normal. This is a fantastic, thought-provoking dialogue!
The New Normal
As we are currently facing a pandemic, Ray shares the new normal that we should all be prepared for. He shares there will be mass testing, so the health officials can compare the figures versus the mortality rates. Governments will also impose the suspension of business operations and will strictly enforce home quarantines and lockdowns.
“If you look at the 2019-2020 flu season, we had 15 million cases, 140,000 hospitalizations, and 8200 deaths. We can handle 140,000 hospitalizations over 8 to 10 weeks, that’s not an issue. This is the surge in the hospitalization, that occurs all at once. We can’t handle 140,000 a week, that would just blow up the entire hospital bed capacity.” – Ray Wang
Initial Containment
Ray refreshes our memory during January, where several reports circulated about a new strain of flu that is affecting China. He spoke with several colleagues from the Chinese scientific community who said they were prohibited to use messaging apps to discuss this. The Chinese Communist Party members decided to play the issue down.
“Even if those numbers are not accurate, a lot of people were saying, contain, shut down, all travel in and out of China. If they had done that, we weren’t here today. It’s not “blame game time,” but that’s how we contain a crisis.” – Ray Wang
Viral Research Gone Wrong
Ray shares some provocative information that he received from several scientists in China. Apparently, in a viral laboratory near Wuhan, some scientists are modifying bat genomes. For some reason, there must have been a breach in safety protocols, which ended in spreading the virus through patient zero in Wuhan Wet Market.
“Nobody wanted to talk about it because there was a dual-use lab. If you’re a government, you don’t want to hurt your own people either. Today, what’s actually happening is they are trying to cover up for that.” – Ray Wang
To hear more about Ray and about coronavirus and its impact on the society, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
R “Ray” Wang (pronounced WAHNG) is the Principal Analyst, Founder, and Chairman of Silicon Valley based Constellation Research, Inc.
He’s also the author of the popular business strategy and technology blog “A Software Insider’s Point of View”.
With viewership in the 10’s of millions of page views a year, his blog provides insight into how disruptive technologies and new business models such as digital transformation impact brands, enterprises, and organizations.
Wang has held executive roles in product, marketing, strategy, and consulting at companies such as Forrester Research, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and Johns Hopkins Hospital.
His new best selling book Disrupting Digital Business, published by Harvard Business Review Press and now globally available provides insights on why 52% of the Fortune 500 have been merged, acquired, gone bankrupt, or fallen off the list since 2000.
In fact, this impact of digital disruption is real. However, it’s not the technologies that drive this change. It’s a shift in how new business models are created.
Wang has held executive roles in product, marketing, strategy, and consulting at companies such as Forrester Research, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Personify, and Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is a prominent and dynamic keynote speaker and research analyst working with clients on digital, innovation, business model design, engagement strategies, customer experience, matrix commerce, and big data. Hiring a professional photographer to capture the proposal has become popular in recent years, but is it right for you? Here https://proposal007.com/proposal-photography/ the pros and cons.
His Silicon Valley research firm, Constellation Research, Inc., advises Global 2000 companies on the future, business strategy, and disruptive technology adoption.
Ray is a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review and well quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Bloomberg, CNBC TV, Reuters, IDG News Service, and other global media outlets. Wang has thrice won the prestigious Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR) Analyst of the Year Award.
Links:
Constellation.com – R Ray Wang
Understanding Case Fatality Rates For #COVID19 #CoronaVirus
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
146 Keep Calm & Carry on w/ Security Expert Morgan Wright
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Today, we have Security Guru Morgan Wright, a distinguished professional in law enforcement and an internationally recognized expert on cybersecurity, cyberterrorism, and privacy. We talk all things security: how to deal with fear, scams, self-defense and most importantly why Morgan is optimistic about our future. This is a fantastic dialogue!
Morgan Wright
We have conversed with Morgan several times in the past. He talked about Security in episode 84. He was known for his landmark testimony before Congress on Healthcare.gov that changed how the government collected personally identifiable information.
On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs
Morgan shares about Dave Grossman, an author who has written excellent books and theory on warfare and mindset. Dave, in his writing, says that in every society there are 3 kinds of people: there are sheep, there are wolves and there are sheepdogs.
“If you’re a sheep, that’s okay, but recognize you’re a sheep.If you are a sheepdog, that’s the only thing that stands between the sheep and the wolves. Less than 1% of the population in the US, whether its the military or firefighters, says I will stand up and be that sheepdog.” Morgan Wright on Dave Grossman’s Writing
However, Morgan believes that when the time is ripe, many “sheeps” are willing to step up and become “sheepdogs.” He narrates how several life-changing events that happened in the US changed the mindset of Americans. Those are the 9/11 attack, Hurricanes, and others.
“Just when we think we have been tested, nature has its own way of testing you again.” – Morgan Wright
Keep Calm & Carry On
Morgan further shares some insights on how to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. He stresses the importance of keeping calm. He says that there is no amount of panic that can change the situation. In fact, it worsens the current situation.
He also shares about expecting nothing and accepting everything. He also quotes Teddy Roosevelt saying “do what you can, with who you are, with what you have.”
To hear more about Morgan Wright, how to deal with fear, scams, self-defense and most importantly why Morgan is optimistic about our future, download and listen to this episode.
Bio:
Morgan is an internationally recognized expert on cybersecurity strategy, cyberterrorism, identity theft and privacy.
He is President and Chief Development Officer for RadiusAI.
He currently serves as a Senior Fellow at The Center for Digital Government, and is a national security opinion contributor to TheHill.com.
Morgan’s landmark testimony before Congress on Healthcare.gov changed how the government collected personally identifiable information.
He’s made hundreds of appearances on national news, radio, print and web including CNBC, Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, ABC, NPR, NBC and more. Previously Morgan was a Senior Advisor in the US State Department Antiterrorism Assistance Program and Senior Law Enforcement Advisor for the 2012 Republican National Convention. In addition to 18 years in state and local law enforcement as a highly decorated state trooper and detective, Morgan has developed solutions in defense, justice and intelligence for the largest technology companies in the world including SAIC, Unisys, Alcatel-Lucent and Cisco.
He’s a contributing author for the 4th Edition Computer Security Handbook, and has been quoted in 2 New York Times best sellers (Sharyl Attkisson: Stonewalled and Carmine Gallow: Talk Like TED).
Links:
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
