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Igniting Momentum for Game-Changing Results

Transformational CEOs

Honoring an Innovative and Forward-thinking CEO

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“Doing well by doing good” is a concept that many CEOs and other top leaders aspire to. However this aspiration can sometimes be a challenge to consistently pull off. Given this, we are excited that Chief Executive has named Marc Benioff, Founder, Chair and co-CEO of Salesforce, as their CEO of the Year for 2022. The selection committee praised him as an “Innovative and forward thinking CEO” who has been able to consistently achieve “exceptional business results while fostering greater sustainability, prosperity and equity within the business community and broader society.”

The leadership that led to Marc Benioff being selected as Chief Executive’s CEO of the Year also exemplifies what we call “Growth Igniters® Leadership”:  a mindset of expansive thinking, curiosity, and cultural intelligence that is foundational for leading a bold vision in a constantly changing world.

In this “Quick Take” episode, we share how Marc Benioff’s leadership can serve as an inspiration:  First,  the importance of living into your core values as a way of informing all strategic and operational decisions within their organization and across your ecosystem.  Second, how fostering an environment of continuous learning and gaining perspectives from various stakeholders can help you and your company keep  pace with both challenges and opportunities as  the world keeps changing. Third, staying flexible about the different leadership and management capabilities and styles that are necessary as your company evolves and grows over time.

It is possible to do well by doing good and achieve exceptional business results. The challenge is to do it in a way that’s right for you, your team, employees, customers, partners, and other stakeholders in your ecosystem. – Pam Harper

This week on Growth Igniters Radio:

  • What led Chief Executive to name Marc Benioff as their 2022 CEO of the year
  • How Marc Benioff exemplifies what we call “Growth Igniters® Leadership”
  • Living into your core values so that strategic and operational decisions can drive both exceptional business results and benefits to the broader society
  • How continuous learning can support resilience and an innovative mindset
  • The importance of going beyond employees to gain perspectives from customers, partners, and other stakeholders in your company’s ecosystem
  • Staying flexible to the need for a variety of leadership and management capabilities and styles as your organization evolves and grows

Question to discuss with your team:
How can we move beyond inspiration and create our own way of doing well by doing good?

Resources Mentioned:

Accelerate to YOUR Next Level of Success

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Part 2-How an Unconventional Leader Fosters High-Level Virtual Relationships — with Coco Brown

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Coco Brown, CEO of Athena Alliance

We speak with Coco Brown, the founder & CEO of The Athena Alliance, about the unconventional leadership she uses to build virtual relationships at the highest levels in her company and extended alliance network.

Coco joins us to discuss Athena Alliance’s goals and how the fully-remote network enables female leaders to advance their careers. She explains what it’s like to climb the industry ranks as a woman and how she maintains a culture of constant feedback despite running a fully-remote company. She describes the importance of breaking rules that don’t make sense and how to determine whether you’re taking too much risk. She also discusses the value of transparency and showing vulnerability as a leader.

This is part two of our wide-ranging conversation. It was such a wonderful interchange that we just couldn’t cut it short! Part one is immediately available as Episode 214.

The Athena Alliance is a game-changing digital ecosystem helping to position the top 10% of executive women for advancement and board opportunities while also transforming the boardroom towards a modern composition model.  She leads change and transformation, accelerating multimillion-dollar growth through vision, strategy, technology, and people leadership. To date, the business has established a network of 5,000+ C-level women, VCs, and CEOs from 200+ companies, achieved 200% annualized YOY growth and helped 400+ women successfully land board placements. Members and corporate customers come from hundreds of top brands, including Amazon, Autodesk, Bank of America, Intel, Intuit, Microsoft, Quinstreet, and Stripe.

Since 2013, Coco has served on 10 for-profit and nonprofit boards as a member, advisor, and committee leader, providing input and guidance around M&A, divestiture, audit, CEO succession and compensation, corporate strategy, financial planning, change management, and more. Nationally recognized as an expert in shaping the modern boardroom and modern leadership, Coco Brown is the first person many companies and CEOs call when they need help or advice around strategic planning, board makeup, or the changing landscape of board operations. Her connections are vast, and her thought leadership in these areas is considered generationally transformative. As a result, she was asked to become an Insights Council member with the prestigious Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence in 2022.

In addition to guiding and supporting executive leaders and boards, she is a sought-after speaker and writer and is frequently interviewed by business and industry publications. She has been quoted and featured in Bloomberg, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Fortune, InformationWeek, NACD Directorship, Nasdaq.com, Silicon Valley Business Journal, The Cube, The Street, and WSJ.

 

“What’s healthy is for leaders to get all way in the organization and make sure there are checks and balances that perpetuate the culture you want to have.”
– Coco Brown

 

This week on Growth Igniters Radio:

  • Coco’s role in Athena Alliance
  • Being a woman in a male-dominated industry
  • What motivated Coco to start Athena during the pandemic
  • What is Athena Alliance and the services it offers
  • What surprised Coco as Athena Alliance grew
  • Creating team intimacy in the digital world
  • The importance of transparency in building virtual relationships at the highest level
  • How to determine if you’re taking too much risk
  • Breaking rules that don’t make sense
  • Why feedback is critical in a fully remote world

Coco Brown’s Three Immediately Useful Ideas:

    1. Check your personal resistance to virtual relationships
    2. Foster a system of constant feedback
    3. Lead to promote transparency & Vulnerability

Resources Mentioned:

Connect with Coco Brown:

Accelerate to YOUR Next Level of Success

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Growth Igniters Radio. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more visionary C-Suite leaders and corporate directors like you.

Join us on Facebook and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

 

Part 1-How an Unconventional Leader Fosters High-Level Virtual Relationships — with Coco Brown

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:52 — 34.1MB) | Embed

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Coco Brown, CEO of Athena Alliance

We speak with Coco Brown, the founder & CEO of The Athena Alliance, about the unconventional leadership she uses to build virtual relationships at the highest levels in her company and extended alliance network.

This is part one of our wide-ranging conversation. It was such a wonderful interchange that we just couldn’t cut it short! Part two is immediately available as Episode 215.

The Athena Alliance is a game-changing digital ecosystem helping to position the top 10% of executive women for advancement and board opportunities while also transforming the boardroom towards a modern composition model.  She leads change and transformation, accelerating multimillion-dollar growth through vision, strategy, technology, and people leadership. To date, the business has established a network of 5,000+ C-level women, VCs, and CEOs from 200+ companies, achieved 200% annualized YOY growth and helped 400+ women successfully land board placements. Members and corporate customers come from hundreds of top brands, including Amazon, Autodesk, Bank of America, Intel, Intuit, Microsoft, Quinstreet, and Stripe.

Since 2013, Coco has served on 10 for-profit and nonprofit boards as a member, advisor, and committee leader, providing input and guidance around M&A, divestiture, audit, CEO succession and compensation, corporate strategy, financial planning, change management, and more. Nationally recognized as an expert in shaping the modern boardroom and modern leadership, Coco Brown is the first person many companies and CEOs call when they need help or advice around strategic planning, board makeup, or the changing landscape of board operations. Her connections are vast, and her thought leadership in these areas is considered generationally transformative. As a result, she was asked to become an Insights Council member with the prestigious Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence in 2022.

In addition to guiding and supporting executive leaders and boards, she is a sought-after speaker and writer and is frequently interviewed by business and industry publications. She has been quoted and featured in Bloomberg, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Fortune, InformationWeek, NACD Directorship, Nasdaq.com, Silicon Valley Business Journal, The Cube, The Street, and WSJ.

Coco joins us to discuss Athena Alliance’s goals and how the fully-remote network enables female leaders to advance their careers. She explains what it’s like to climb the industry ranks as a woman and how she maintains a culture of constant feedback despite running a fully-remote company. She describes the importance of breaking rules that don’t make sense and how to determine whether you’re taking too much risk. Coco also discusses the value of transparency and showing vulnerability as a leader.

 

“What’s healthy is for leaders to get all way in the organization and make sure there are checks and balances that perpetuate the culture you want to have.”
– Coco Brown

 

This week on Growth Igniters Radio:

  • Coco’s role in Athena Alliance
  • Being a woman in a male-dominated industry
  • What motivated Coco to start Athena during the pandemic
  • What is Athena Alliance and the services it offers
  • What surprised Coco as Athena Alliance grew
  • Creating team intimacy in the digital world
  • The importance of transparency in building virtual relationships at the highest level
  • How to determine if you’re taking too much risk
  • Breaking rules that don’t make sense
  • Why feedback is critical in a fully remote world

Coco Brown’s Three Immediately Useful Ideas:

  1. Check your personal resistance to virtual relationships
  2. Foster a system of constant feedback
  3. Lead to promote transparency & Vulnerability

Resources Mentioned:

Connect with Coco Brown:

Accelerate to YOUR Next Level of Success

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Growth Igniters Radio. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Be sure to share your favorite episodes on social media to help us reach more visionary C-Suite leaders and corporate directors like you.

Join us on Facebook and LinkedIn. For more exclusive content and information, visit our website.

 

Navigating Employee Stakeholder Activism Inside and Outside the Workplace — with Amy Showalter

 How can CEOs lead civil discourse on sensitive social and political issues?

Read Growth Igniters Radio Episode 205 TranscriptAs employee stakeholder activism is continuing to rise, and CEOs are under pressure to engage in the conversation, listen to episode 205. Scott and I speak with Amy Showalter, a grassroots and Political Action Committee influence expert. She is also the author of the book, The Underdog Edge: How Everyday People Change the Minds of the Powerful. . . and Live to Tell About It.

Amy is currently a columnist for Bloomberg Government and Lobbyblog.com. Over 500 media outlets have featured her insight. This includes The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Politico, CNN Money.com, Foxnews.com, and CNBC.com. (read more about Amy Showalter below).

You’ll gain insights on:
  • The dynamics driving the growing trends of employee stakeholders’ interest in social issues, and why leaders leaders need to actively navigate these concerns
  • The right way and wrong way for CEOs and other top leaders to encourage social/political conversations among employee stakeholders
  • Immediately useful ideas for encouraging civil discourse among employee stakeholders with competing social and political opinions

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Becoming an “Intentional Leader” — with guest Tim Hebert

 Our guest shares insights from his CEO journey and highlights from his new leadership book

Read Growth Igniters Radio Episode 202 TranscriptDownload and listen to episode 203. Scott and I speak with returning guest Tim Hebert, CEO of Trilix, a business and technology consulting firm. We discuss insights from his transformational leadership journey and what it means to become an “intentional leader.”

Tim is a visionary entrepreneur, innovator and adventurer. He is also a seasoned speaker and author of a new book The Intentional Leader: How inner authority can unleash strong leadership. (read more about Tim Hebert below).

You’ll gain insights on:
  • Why Tim believes intentional leadership especially matters in what he calls “today’s leadership crisis”
  • The keys to transitioning from what Tim call “Ghost Mode” to being an intentional leader
  • Immediately useful ideas for fostering personal insight and cultivating habits of intentional leadership

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The Future of C-Level and Board Networking

Transform networking from an activity to an essential strategy for developing business – and your best life 

Read Growth Igniters Radio Episode 198 Transcript

Download and listen to episode 198. Scott and I speak with world-class networker Jack Killion, who shares his stories and insights about the impact of continuously fostering business and personal relationships. He is a global entrepreneur and author of the book NetWork: All The Time, Everywhere With Everybody. 

Jack earned degrees from Yale and MIT, and has provided strategic consulting to Fortune 500 organizations and a wide range of other businesses while with McKinsey and Company and during 40 entrepreneurial years of starting and selling a variety of companies. His latest enterprise is Street Smart Entrepreneurs, which provides an abundance of resources for founders and corporate leaders in all stages of growth. (read more about Jack Killion below).

You’ll gain insights on:
  • The biggest changes in C-Level and Board networking over the years
  • Debunking myths around networking at the top leadership level
  • Three immediately useful ideas about building strategic C-level and Board Networking for the future

Read More

Why Top Leadership Needs to Embrace “Holistic Insight”

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A thought-leading CEO shares stories of how holistic insight can be transformative for a company

Read Growth Igniters Radio Episode 152 Transcript Listen to Episode 189. Scott and I speak with Lawrence “Larry” Siff, CEO of Neptune Advisors and the C Level Community. We discuss the key to developing broader and deeper perspectives for boards and management to optimize a company’s growth and create long-term value.

Larry has advised hundreds of CEOs and boards on maximizing corporate value. He holds a wide range of leadership positions in multiple organizations and boards. This includes being a National Association of Corporate Directors board leadership fellow, an independent board member of Mason Companies Incorporated, and being an industry advisor for Silverwood Partners, a boutique investment bank. (read more about Larry Siff below)

You’ll gain insights on:

  • The key benefits for boards and for management teams who gain and act upon holistic insight
  • Stories of the game-changing power of holistic leadership in action
  • Three immediately useful ideas for boards and management to develop holistic insight 

Read More

The New Keys for Leadership Success in a Disruptive World — with guest Peter Gleason

Why are more boards looking for greater adaptability in CEOs, C-Suite, and Sr. Executives?

Read Growth Igniters Radio Episode 152 TranscriptFind out by listening to Episode 152.  In this pivotal fan-favorite podcast, Scott and I speak with Peter R. Gleason, President & CEO of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). Although we recorded this conversation in 2019, before the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises, it is just as relevant (or even more so) now as then.

Peter is a recognized expert on board leadership and corporate governance issues. He serves as a member of NACD’s national faculty, is regularly quoted in the national media, and is a frequent presenter on the subjects of corporate governance, executive and director compensation, risk, strategic planning, and board/shareowner relations.

He has served as a commissioner on every NACD Blue Ribbon Commission report issued over the past 16 years, including the most recent releases on Adaptive Governance: Board Oversight of Disruptive Risks, and Culture as a Corporate Asset. (read more about Peter Gleason below)

You’ll gain insights on:

  • Why Boards, CEOs, C-Suites & Sr. Executives need to think differently about disruptive risks
  • The critical new leadership traits and behaviors that CEOs need to develop
  • Three immediately useful ideas for developing your own leadership success in a disruptive world

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Aim High: Chart Your Course and Find Success as a Leader

Leadership lessons from the 23rd Secretary of the U.S. Air Force 

Read Growth Igniters Radio Episode 162 Transcript In this Fan Favorite podcast, Scott and I speak with Deborah Lee (“Debbie”) James, who served as the 23rd Secretary of the United States Air Force, with responsibility for 660,000 military and civilian personnel and a budget of nearly $140 billion.

Debbie has a three-decade track record of leading, transforming, and driving lasting results in both the Legislative and Executive branches of Government. She is the author of the highly acclaimed 2019 book Aim High: Chart Your Course and Find Success. (see more about Deborah James below)

You’ll gain insights from:

  • The three critical elements of Debbie’s Aim High philosophy
  • A story about the most valuable leadership lesson Debbie learned for navigating extremely high stakes situations
  • Three immediately useful ideas for mentoring others

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What Will Separate Top CEOs From The Rest in a Post-Pandemic World? — with guest Adam Bryant

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 What are the 3 greatest leadership challenges CEOs face in the years ahead?

Read Growth Igniters Radio Episode 179 TranscriptFind out by listening to Episode 179. Scott and I speak with Adam Bryant, Managing Director of Merryck & Co. He joined them in 2017 after a 30-year career in journalism, including 18 years at The New York Times. In addition to his many roles there as a reporter and editor, he created the weekly “Corner Office” column in 2009, interviewing 525 CEOs and other leaders over a decade.

Adam is the author of two books based on themes that emerged from the interviews, Quick and Nimble; Lessons from Leading CEOs on How to Create a Culture of Innovation, and The Corner Office; Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed. His next book, which he is writing with former Amgen CEO Kevin Sharer, is “THE CEO TEST: Mastering the Challenges that Make or Break All Leaders” (due to be published in early 2021 by Harvard Business Review Press)  Read more about Adam Bryant below.

You’ll find out about:

    • How top CEOs are navigating emerging challenges in the post-pandemic world
    • The most critical attribute that will separate the top CEOs from the rest in meeting these challenges
    • Three immediately useful tips for successfully leading through these tests when there are no clear answers

Read More