Episodes

Today’s episode shares some key concepts in the third step of the 12 step Growability model, The 5 Key Areas of Business Management. Podcast Transcript Joshua MacLeod: More often than not, it’s the leader that says, “I’m going to go change the world, but I don’t want to put in the necessary work to actually know how to balance my checkbook. I’m going to go change the world, but somebody else is going to have to set up my books and run that piece.” And I would say, “No, that’s not a good idea.”...

Today’s episode shares the second step in the 12 step Growability model, How to attract customers for your business or nonprofit. Podcast Transcript: Joshua Macleod: There’s kind of a general societal view that businesses who make a lot of money, do that from magic, when the reality is they figured out the secret magic to understand a customer. Podcast Announcer: Welcome to the Growability podcast, your home for leadership, management and marketing education, where we teach business and non...

Today’s episode shares the first step in the 12 step Growability model, How to create vision, mission, values, and standards of excellence for your business or nonprofit. Podcast Transcript: Joshua MacLeod: It’s incredibly easy to become discouraged by how hard running an organization is. If you run a business, if you run a nonprofit, it’s going to be tough. What vision does is it reminds you why what you do is important. What a vision statement does is that it reminds you, hey, this is why w...

Today’s episode shares the 12 steps in the Growability model and how business leaders can grow in community. This episode covers: An overview of the 12 Step Growability model Podcast Transcript Joshua MacLeod: It’s not what I know that produces fruit, it’s where I sew. So I can talk about producing corn all day long, but until I plant the kernel of corn, I’m not going to get any corn out of the ground. Podcast Announcer: Welcome to the Growability podcast, your home for leadership manageme...

Today’s episode marks the beginning of a new series sharing the 12 business fundamentals found in the 12 Step Growability Model. In this episode, Joshua shares the why behind the what of Growability. Here are your hosts, Joshua MacLeod and Bernie Anderson. This episode covers: The story behind Growability The “why” behind our “what” Podcast Transcript Joshua MacLeod: But the thing that I learned in my first career was what I call the myth of success. And I see this in a lot of people climbi...

This is the second of a two-part series about running your business like Pixar with 5 key lessons from the book Creativity Inc. written by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace. This episode covers: Being wrong as fast as you can Making sure everyone is responsible for improvement Podcast Transcript: Joshua MacLeod: Modeling failure in front of a team is one of the best ways to establish your leadership. If you fail well, you will have loyal followers. If you fail poorly, people are going to jump ship...

Do you apply the leadership principles used at Pixar? This is the first of a two-part series about running your business like Pixar with 5 key lessons from the book Creativity Inc. written by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace. This episode covers: Getting the right team is more important than the right idea Great products require constructive tension Podcast Transcript: Joshua MacLeod: Great leaders not only find the right team, a team that’s good for their future, a team where you’re hiring peopl...

Do you lead like Abraham Lincoln? This is the final conversation about the Top 10 Leadership Qualities of Abraham Lincoln. Reflections on the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin This episode covers: Step out of the way when necessary for the cause Loneliness and melancholy are normal for exceptional leaders Invite Young Leaders to the Table. Podcast Transcript Joshua MacLeod: I don’t know at what point I transitioned from, “I have to do this myself and learn this myself,” to, “I’m g...

This is the second episode in our three-part; series sharing the top 10 leadership qualities of Abraham Lincoln, based on the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Do you lead like Abraham Lincoln? Podcast Transcript Joshua MacLeod: There’s not a single instance where Abraham Lincoln, did what everybody else in his entire community did. They made excuses and blamed somebody else. Abraham Lincoln always said, “It was my fault.” No matter what it was. Podcast Announcer: Welcome to the G...

Do you lead like Abraham Lincoln? This is the first of a three-part conversation about the Top 10 Leadership Qualities of Abraham Lincoln. Reflections on the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin Podcast Transcript Joshua MacLeod: If you are a genuine leader, your rivals will eventually become your champions. When they see that you’re not just blowing smoke and that you’re the real deal, it’s safe to invite people who are your challengers and who have a difference of opinion than you. Ap...

You are a good leader: Yes or No? This is the second of a two-part conversation, about five characteristics of exceptional leaders. Podcast Transcript Joshua MacLeod: I love the quote, the Maxwell quote, “Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can,” leaders aren’t complaining about, what they don’t have, or letting what they don’t have define their actions. Podcast Announcer: Welcome to the Growability podcast, teaching business and nonprofit leaders. A more excellent way to run...

Are you comfortable in your own shoes? This is the first in a two-part conversation about five characteristics of exceptional leaders. Podcast Transcript Joshua MacLeod: People who are not comfortable in their own shoes, spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about themselves and thinking about what they need to do to fit in. So rather than just being who they are going to school, rocking their styles, or going to the office, being their own person, not really worried about what everybody...

This is the ninth episode in our series about selling without being fake. In this episode, we talk with social media guru, Jason Elkins, about which social media platforms are relevant for the business owner. Podcast Transcript Jason Elkins: I saw John Mayer go live one time and just show people how he practices scales and he’d go, John Mayer needs to practice. This is, is ridiculous. Joshua MacLeod: What I’m hearing is social media is a phenomenal opportunity to share about something that m...

This is the eighth episode in our series about selling without being fake. In this episode, we talk about how to create a market posture and strategic marketing budget for your business. Podcast Transcript: Joshua MacLeod: We started Growability because of the statistic that 8 out of 10 small businesses fail. Well, the two that don’t fail, always understand their market. They’re not just thinking about, “What do I want to do?” They’re thinking, “Are there enough customers out here to have anot...

This is the seventh episode in our series about Selling Without Being Fake. In this episode, we talk about the three critical components of building market share: competition, convenience, and consistency. Podcast Transcript: Joshua MacLeod: To bring a product to the market, especially in a competitive marketplace, you had better have a competitive advantage – doing something better than somebody else, a convenience advantage – doing something more convenient than anybody else, and/or a consis...

This is the sixth episode in our series about Selling Without Being Fake. In this episode, we talk about how to tell the story of your organization by creating an elevator speech and using the S-T-O-R-Y acronym. Podcast Transcript: Joshua MacLeod: Some of the best service providers and some of the best products never go anywhere, simply because they don’t know how to tell their story. It’s so important if you’re just the good hearted person, to connect with somebody or work with somebody that’...

This is the fifth episode in our series about selling without being fake. In this episode, we talk about how to create a sales funnel for your business with clear illustrations and examples. Podcast Transcript: Joshua MacLeod: Business owners become a little bit, I hate to say it, but lazy when it comes to marketing. They want to hire somebody else to just take care of that because it takes too much work to really do a deep dive of understanding my customer. Bernie Anderson: Yes. Joshua Mac...

This is the fourth episode in our series about Selling Without Being Fake. In this episode, we talk about how to create Customer Personas and why you should never build marketing or sales campaigns without them. Podcast Transcript: Joshua MacLeod: The customer doesn’t really care about you in terms of whether or not they’re going to buy your product or service. What the customer cares about always is, will this person help me solve my problem? Once I figure out the problem that the customer fa...

This is the third episode in our series about selling without being fake. In this episode, we talk about the four critical ingredients for selling, transferring enthusiasm, transferring confidence, asking for a transaction, and following up.

This is the second episode in a new series about selling without being fake. In this episode, we talk about how to go beyond a transactional business into a transformational business. Podcast Transcript: Joshua MacLeod: Making money is so dangerous. It’s fundamentally dangerous for your soul. Greed is like something that you have to really, really protect yourself against and cutting corners with people, cutting corners with your product, cutting corners just because you can, or cutting corner...

This is the first episode in a new series about selling without being fake. In this episode, we talk about clearly defining what your customer values and developing an effective customer survey. Podcast Transcript: Joshua MacLeod: Number one thought; you are not your target audience. Don’t think like yourself. What if your product had a much larger customer base than you ever dreamed of? Podcast Announcer: Welcome to the Growability podcast, teaching business and nonprofit leaders a more exc...

This is the second episode in a series about having the right team and plan for your business. This episode talks about the necessary ingredients of a plan. Motivation, collaboration, and action.

This episode is the first in a two-part series about ensuring you have the right people and plan to be successful in your business. This first part talks about having the right people and introduces the concept of fountains, buckets and pourers. The Growability® podcast is designed to teach business owners and non-profit leaders a more excellent way to run their business. Podcast Transcript: Joshua MacLeod: No matter what business you’re in, you need people in your organization that are eithe...

I was on a trip in Darfur, Sudan, with an organization called Persecution Project Foundation. We were doing a clean water project when I met a guy on the trip named Frank Seekins. He talked about working on an apple orchard and how he learned the importance of pruning as a way to maximize the amount of fruit from each tree. Three Branches In an apple orchard, there are three branches on a tree that you have to prune. The first is a branch that is laying on another branch. Neither can grow to the...