Episodes

When you hear the word ethics and sales they really don’t sound like they go together. It is kind of an oil and water thing for most people. As a matter of fact when it comes to business our colleges and universities don’t even teach ethics of sales. It is a topic that is rarely if ever discussed and when it is, it’s because someone got into trouble over an ethics violation. When you talk to sales people about ethics you will find what is ethical to one is not ethical to another. When you go to...

We all have dreams of our future. What happens when we put all of our energy, dedication, mind, body and soul are put into it and then you get there and something outside of your control takes your dream away? What do you do? Especially if you have no plan B. Well in this episode of A New Direction Podcast – Jay Izso meet former NFL kicker Sean Conley From the time he was 8 years old he had a dream of being an NFL kicker. He kicked in the back lots of Erie, Pennsylvania everyday even though his ...

Relationships. It really is what makes our life…life. Where would we be without them? Well, first of all you and I would not have been born so there’s that. But, our relationships do add spice to life, and in fact we relate to not just people, but animals, places and things. If you are married or have a significant other then you know how our relationships can affect us on the other person, if you have a sibling, there too, your relationships ebb and flow. If you have children, grandchildren, pa...

“Build me a website, that’s what we need to have a successful business”. Then what happens? They continue to spend money on website design, SEO, and other IT initiatives only to do one thing…run out of money. That marketing philosophy is the “if we build it, they will come”. Like something out of the movie “Field of Dreams”. The only thing you get from that strategy is an endless black hole of pouring money into a tool that never produces the return on investment that you hoped. And There must b...

Success we all want it, but we often do not want to pay the price for it, or hear the answers on how to ultimately achieve it. So often we think that success is a by product of getting the right breaks in life or business. Some believe that success is just given to people. Others believe that if you focus on success you will become successful. However, when you start talking to combat veterans and hearing their stories, and you extract the lessons you come to realize something more. Success come...

We need to be honest with ourselves our world has changed. It moves at an incredible pace, and as technology continues to move our problems become more complex and challenging. How we choose to think about and solve those problems must also change. Here is the problem: We live in a world that has a bias of binary thinking, eliminating the gray are of possibilities, and only wants to rely on rules and logic. Logic sure sounds good, but the problem is when we are dealing with people and ideas, log...

Conflict is something we all face. It comes in many different forms, and the truth is it makes us all uncomfortable. At the heart of conflict is the fact that one party is not getting what they want and the other party is not getting what they want. We basically turn our backs to each other, we talk about the other party behind their back, we gather allies to support our position and the conflict spiral only gets bigger. Then comes the point that while in our conflict with the other person or gr...

You may or may no be acquainted with “Lean Transformation” or “Lean Management”, but the truth is you more than likely employ some of the principles. Lean management is a business wide thought process that starts with what you customer really wants and needs, then engages the employees and leadership to find ways to make that happen, by cutting waste whether that be time or processes. It also enlists the idea that every day in every part of your business you are striving to be a better version o...

Let’s say you are in the middle of a war. You have an enemy that wants to destroy you. Not only do they not care about you they want to take everything from you. How do you go about your mission to defeat the enemy? Do you just wake up one morning and figure it out as you go? Do you find a bunch of people you think can help you and go and attack? What do you need? What does the enemy have? How many of them are there? What are the conditions? What are the pitfalls? What are your assets? The fact ...

No one wants to admit it. In fact we get defensive when accused of it. In most cases we go into denial and rationalize it. What am I talking about: Bias. The fact of the matter is bias comes with being human. Every single person in the world has bias. You in fact are biased! Did you notice how you felt as you read that? You are biased. It may have made you mad. It may have had a “knee jerk” reaction of “no I am not!”. You may have wanted to stop reading. That’s how powerful bias can be. Hold on,...

We all want to achieve success. And success can mean different things to each one of us. But, I would venture to say that to the vast majority of you reading this right now, that at least on some level success has something to do with your financial situation. For example, if success is being able to retire on a beach, well, that is going to take money. If success is having a boat and travel, it will take money. Here is the problem for so many, we do not fully understand what it takes to truly b...

Everyone wants to be happy. As humans we will avoid pain at all costs for our own happiness. But for most people happiness is an elusive mistress. We try to define our happiness with things, stuff, fame, fortune, money, relationships, but at the core of it all those are all externals. Real happiness comes from with in ourselves. When we start filling something internal with something external, it is like applying a band-aid on forehead for a brain injury. It really doesn’t make sense. That is be...

Our work life has changed. Most all of us are working remotely. That means most all of us are now using a technology called Zoom. As cool, convenient, and amazing as Zoom is, it does present some occasional challenges. Such as making sure it is reliable. And as Zoom continues to add features are you in fact getting the most out of it? That is are you doing what is necessary to eliminate distractions, how is your audio, video, lighting, Is there a protocol to Zoom meetings and so much more! In t...

Drs. Tara Peters & Cathy Bush (The Leadership Doctors ) & Authors of The Demotivated Employee Often as a executive coach I am asked the question, “How do I improve employee motivation?” or “How do I motivate this employee?”. In fact, it is really the wrong question, because your employees are motivated, but there are things in your business environment that have “demotivated them”. The reality is you cannot motivate anyone, but you can remove the obstacles or impediments that are interfering wit...

You may be reading this right now and your performance at your job is slacking. Why? You may be thinking because you are bored? Maybe you did not get enough sleep. But what if I told you that there are things in your environment that are influencing your performance or a lack there of. The problem could be a lack of natural light. Or it could be that your phone is sitting on your desk. Or that background music is interfering with your performance and productivity. Perhaps you say, “no, not me. T...

Whether you are in business, a consultant, coach, teacher, or speaker, our world has changed when it comes to doing presentations. Whether it is a seminar, workshop, company training, education, or public speaking we are all using some sort of online platform to convey our message. Let’s be honest it is all completely different feel when it comes to teaching, speaking, or training online. We do not have the luxury of standing before an audience, having the same adrenalin rush, getting that immed...

The easiest thing for us to do as leaders is rely on what worked in the past. But let’s be honest there is not guarantee what we have done in the past will produce success in the future. We also need to face the reality that as businesses change, younger generations, enter our businesses, our leadership needs to be more fluid, adaptable and innovative. As a leader you cannot expect your business to change if your leadership doesn’t change. This is the insanity of leadership. Doing the same thing...

Are you someone in leadership? Well the truth is we all are leaders in some way. So much has been written about leadership. How to be a good leader. How to be a more effective leader. It seems however, when it comes to leadership and philosophies of leadership so many say very similar things. As leaders we often are looking for the “golden carrot”. You know that thing that we can waive around that will induce our employees or people to be motivated to follow and be committed. However, rarely is ...

Our beliefs are so powerful. What we believe determines our outcomes. If you believe that you cannot do something, guess what you won’t. If you have a belief system that believes the worst is going to happen, you will only see the worst. If you have a belief system that believes opportunity is around every corner, you will see opportunity at every corner. The most successful people in the world have a belief system where they are convinced they will always be successful. They don’t try on their ...

One of the biggest mistakes most people make when they start a new business is that they try to be everything to everyone. And in essence they become nothing to no one. What we really know is that we will always be more successful with a smaller specific group of people that respond to our message. Some people want to become “famous”, so they use social media to make themselves famous. The reality: They may be famous in terms of likes and shares, but they are not profitable. The truth is if you ...

Everyone things they are right. It is there way or the wrong way. And we cannot disagree any longer, you have to be on one side or the other. So what do we do? We try to influence people by telling them how misguided they are, how wrong they are, we shame them, guilt them, we call them names, we label them, we put them in categories, and if they still continue in their ways we shun them publicly on social media. And we think by doing all of this that we are influencing people. The fact is we hav...

There are so many philosophies when it comes to business. However, when science gets involved and the numbers start demonstrating that that in reality just a few primary components leads to success that’s a game changer. We have all heard of Soft Soap, but did you know that the reality is that liquid soup was patented in the 1800’s, but it wasn’t until 1980 that it was finally being used. So by now the patent had run out. What do you do to keep other people from entering the liquid soap market o...

You may be thinking to yourself, I am to young to retire. Wait! Perhaps right now you are not thinking about retiring. But regardless of your age you should think about it. Most of us have dreams of one day stop working and do the things we want to do. Maybe it’s traveling, playing more golf, spending more time with a hobby, volunteering, serve full time in missions or the ministry. Sure you think about the financial needs it may take to retire, but how about your emotions. Have you thought abou...

We all want to achieve success in our life. And we all have probably sought advice on how to achieve it. Most of the time we will hear phrases as “just work harder”, or, “focus on the details”, or, “get clearer on your goals”. All of that sounds great, but what if there is another way. What if it wasn’t about working harder? What if success could be achieved with less stress? Sure, we have to put in the work, but what if success could be achieved through changing your brain, and thinking, changi...