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From Broadcast to Business: Preserving Memories in the Digital Age
Read more: From Broadcast to Business: Preserving Memories in the Digital AgeThere’s something fascinating about niche businesses. Not because they’re flashy.Not because they scale overnight.And not because they’re chasing trends. The businesses that stick with me are the ones solving deeply human problems — often problems most people don’t even realize exist until it’s personal. That’s exactly what I found in my conversation with Stephanie Csornok,…
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The Starbucks Turnaround Has a Simple Secret: Protect the Human Moment
Read more: The Starbucks Turnaround Has a Simple Secret: Protect the Human MomentWhile so many companies are automating their way to efficiency, Starbucks just spent $500 million to put more humans in their stores, and it’s working. In a video a from a year ago, I talked about how Starbucks’ wildly popular app was quietly killing the company. Howard Schultz called it the “biggest Achilles heel.” It wasn’t because the technology was bad, but because it severed the connection between…
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The Event for Leaders who want to Love their Work
Read more: The Event for Leaders who want to Love their WorkOn October 7, the Sioux Falls Orpheum Theater becomes the room where great leaders get better. The Love the Work Event is a full-day experience built around the two things that separate thriving businesses from struggling ones: culture and customer experience. And this year, we’ve assembled a speaker lineup that is, frankly, hard to believe…
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Are You Charging for Coffee When You Could Be Charging for the Barista?
Read more: Are You Charging for Coffee When You Could Be Charging for the Barista?There’s a coffee shop in my hometown called Coffea. I know it well because my daughter is a barista there. You can walk in and order a great cup of coffee for $5. Or — and this is the part that stopped me cold — you can pay $40 for a Pour Over Brewing Class…
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Culture Before Customer Experience: My Conversation with Eric Brooker
Read more: Culture Before Customer Experience: My Conversation with Eric BrookerThat’s exactly what happened when Eric Brooker invited me onto his podcast. What started as a connection at the Purpose Summit turned into a powerful conversation about gratitude, culture, AI, leadership, and what really drives business success. I’m grateful to Eric for creating space for meaningful dialogue — he has a gift for drawing out…
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Building a legacy on persistence and talent
Read more: Building a legacy on persistence and talentOn Building Loved Businesses, I’ve had the privilege of hearing some remarkable stories—but this one spans nearly a century of reinvention, resilience, and disciplined entrepreneurship. In this episode, I sat down with Joe Slavens, steward of a multi-generation family enterprise based in Davenport, Iowa. Over almost 100 years, Joe’s family has built—and rebuilt—businesses across banking,…
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Building a Legacy in Insurance
Read more: Building a Legacy in InsuranceOn this episode of Building Loved Businesses, I had the chance to sit down with someone who knows what it means to start over—not once, but twice. Larry Thein, President and Franchise Owner of Goosehead Insurance in the Quad Cities, rebuilt his career from scratch in two different industries. And in just four years, he’s…
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The Next Economic Wave That’s Coming (And Your Exclusive Preview)
Read more: The Next Economic Wave That’s Coming (And Your Exclusive Preview)What if I told you there’s a way to learn the next big business evolution directly from the expert who predicted it—while playing golf? I’m hosting an exclusive transformational golf outing with Joe Pine, the visionary author of “The Experience Economy” who is now revealing what comes next: The Transformation Economy. But first, let me…
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Feedback is the breakfast of champions. Don’t stay hungry.
Read more: Feedback is the breakfast of champions. Don’t stay hungry.Ken Blanchard famously said, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” Yet many of the business leaders I work with are starving for honest customer input. The best businesses have a formal system to get consistent feedback from customers and use it to improve. I’ve helped several businesses do this and have seen the change it…
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Your Customer Experience Isn’t What You Think It Is
Read more: Your Customer Experience Isn’t What You Think It IsEvery business thinks they have a good customer experience. But few know this important truth: Memorable experiences only come through fulfilling an unexpressed wish, not through delivering the actual product or service they came to you for. You see, what most people call a great customer experience is really just good customer service. It’s making…
