The Business Leadership Podcast with Edwin Frondozo

TBLP023 | Aaron Parker: Success Through Self Awareness

Aaron Parker is the podcast host that has seen true patterning as to what makes entrepreneurs and thought leaders successful.

We talk about being a business owner, marketing and sales, starting a podcast, and the similarities that he sees from his successful guests.

What You Will Learn From This Episode

What he is learning from the guests of his podcast
How to launch a successful podcast
What are his secrets to sales and marketing
Why he believes people shout meditate to be successful

Reading List

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
The Power of Why

Thanks for taking the time to listen. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

This podcast is produced by Slingshot VoIP, a business telecommunications leader.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

TBLP022 | Erin Bury: Build Your Personal Brand

Named one of Marketing Magazine’s “Top 30 Under 30”, Erin Bury is a marketer, former technology journalist, and startup enthusiast. A monthly columnist for the Financial Post and a tech commentator on CTV News, Erin shares the ins-and-outs of entrepreneurship, marketing to millennials, creating a killer personal brand, and how to harness the latest digital trends. Her other claim to fame is she’s been retweeted by Oprah – twice.

Currently the Managing Director at Eighty-Eight, a creative communications agency that works with consumer brands and technology companies to tell their stories, Erin has worked with brands including Sony Pictures Television, Torstar, Yellow Pages, and PayPal, as well as with countless startups. Erin was formerly the managing editor at startup publication BetaKit, and the director of communications at Sprouter, which was acquired by Postmedia in 2011.

A journalism graduate, Erin has also written for publications such as The Globe and Mail, Mashable, Marketing Magazine, Strategy Magazine, and VentureBeat. She comments frequently in the press about marketing and entrepreneurship and has appeared in publications including The New York Times, Forbes, CNN, The Toronto Star, and Canadian Business.

Erin has spoken at events across North America with up to 1,000 attendees, including at Haste & Hustle, CTAConf, Content Marketing Conference, and the Profit W100. She has also hosted events for PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Square Canada, Microsoft Canada, and several entrepreneurship organizations, and is a frequent event host and emcee who has interviewed leading executives and entrepreneurs on-stage, including Shark Tank entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

What You Will Learn From This Episode

How Erin was able to grow the agency
Why and where to start to build your personal brand
Being effective and working with an agency coach
How to attract and retain the right people

Reading List

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Thanks for taking the time to listen. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

This podcast is produced by Slingshot VoIP, a business telecommunications leader.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

TBLP021 | Justin Thouin: Learn How to Demonstrate Value

Justin Thouin is the Co-Founder and CEO of LowestRates.ca. Justin started the company in 2012 following a successful career as a Senior Executive with two prominent entertainment and technology organizations. LowestRates.ca provides Canadians with a fast and convenient way to save two of their most valuable assets – time and money. It’s a one stop shop for Canadians to compare offers on personal financial products quickly and efficiently from North America’s leading companies. To date, it has helped millions of Canadians explore their financial options.

In addition to leading LowestRates.ca, Justin also enjoys investing in early stage ventures and mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs. He provides valuable insight into both what life as a corporate executive and an entrepreneur looks like.
He also created a thriving Executive Consulting practice before founding the company. Justin holds an Honours Degree in Commerce from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University.

What You Will Learn From This Episode

How he was able to change and grow into 6 different roles within 10 years
Learn how to demonstrate your value that you bring in a company
Ensure that all stakeholders understand what excellence looks like
Make sure people know about your successes
Why bootstrapping is important on launching and building a company
The reason he would rather take a “B” plan with flawless execution

Reading List

Gunslinger: The Remarkable, Improbable, Iconic Life of Brett Favre

Thanks for taking the time to listen. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

This podcast is produced by Slingshot VoIP, a business telecommunications leader.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

TBLP020 | Elaine Mah: Find Your Own Voice

Elaine Mah is the Director for Canada at Intel Corporation and a twelve year veteran with the company. Among her many achievements at Intel, Elaine is especially proud of her work fostering innovation and growth with small businesses through her Canadian small business advisory board.

She is a frequent speaker at industry and government conferences on the importance of technology to the Canadian economy, as well as on emerging trends. Elaine currently sits on the National Board of Directors of the Information Technology Association of Canada.

What You Will Learn From This Episode

How she went from a marketing role in an agency to leading a technology company
What she did when she took over as Country Manager
How she transitioned when a replacement took over
Biggest turning point in her career

Reading List

Thanks for taking the time to listen. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

This podcast is produced by Slingshot VoIP, a business telecommunications leader.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

TBLP019 | Fatima Zaidi: Hacking Outbound Sales

Fatima Zaidi has had over nine years of experience in Business Development, Marketing, and Strategy. Her expertise in sales effectiveness and partnerships led her to the role as VP of Business Development for Eighty-Eight, a Toronto-based creative communications agency.

Prior to Eighty-Eight, Fatima was the Head of Business Development at retail company Rent frock Repeat (who were on season 7 of Dragons’ Den). She was responsible for the overall management of all strategic business development, marketing, and customer relationship activities nationwide.

Fatima is a commentator for Global News, chair for the Discover Your Personal Brand (DYPB) conference, a content writer for Huffington Post and BetaKit, and was named Marketing Magazine’s top 30 under 30 marketers and brand developers for 2016.

What You Will Learn From This Episode

How she obtained over 200 partnerships in 2 years
The strategy she used to grow Rent Frock Repeat
Her 6 step system on Hacking Sales
What happened when she said yes to a coffee meeting

Reading List

Thanks for taking the time to listen. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

This podcast is produced by Slingshot VoIP, a business telecommunications leader.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

TBLP018 | Jeff Cates: Connect at the Heart

Jeff Cates is the President and CEO of Intuit Canada, a software development company that produces premier brands such as TurboTax, QuickBooks and Mint. Under Jeff’s leadership, Intuit Canada has risen to become one of the top places to work in Canada, as ranked by the Great Place to Work Institute. He is responsible for helping the company become recognized as the nation’s undisputed financial solutions leader in every market it serves, by leading a team of over 400 employees dedicated to simplifying the business of life.

Cates joined Intuit in 2011, with a background that includes innovative marketing, partner management and entrepreneurship. Previously, Cates worked at Apple Canada leading their commercial business, and Hewlett Packard as vice president of their consumer division. He earned an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University and a bachelor of commerce degree from McMaster University.

What You Will Learn From This Episode

What it took to become the best place to work in Canada
How to connect with employees hearts and passions
The impact that HP and Apple had on him
What Canada must do to improve the startups and entrepreneurs
His involvement with Startup Canada and how he met Victoria Lennox
His passion on Financial Literacy and making it a movement

Reading List

Thanks for taking the time to listen. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

This podcast is produced by Slingshot VoIP, a business telecommunications leader.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

TBLP017 | Julia Deans: Build Your Network

Julia Deans is the CEO of Futurpreneur Canada, a national non-profit organization that has helped almost 10,000 Canadians aged 18-39 launch start-ups with business coaching, financing, mentoring and other resources.

Julia started her career as a lawyer with Torys LLP in Toronto and Hong Kong, before creating a successful legal recruitment business in Singapore.

From 2005 to 2012, she was CEO of CivicAction, a cross-sector leadership coalition that has successfully tackled major social, economic and environmental challenges in the Toronto region. In 2012, she chaired Ontario’s Expert Roundtable on Immigration, helping develop the province’s first-ever immigration strategy.

Julia is a director of George Brown College and of Investeco, and a trustee of the Canada Post Community Foundation. She is past Chair of IWF Canada’s Toronto Chapter, a former board member of Luminato and the Living City Foundation, and a past advisor to organizations including Artscape, the Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation and the Hague Process on Refugees and Migration. She has been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women (2014) and as a Woman of Influence Canadian Diversity Champion (2012), and has received the University of Toronto’s Arbor Award.

Julia is a graduate of Queen’s University, Columbia University and Osgoode Hall Law School, and has received executive education at Harvard Business School. She is qualified to practice law in Ontario, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.

What You Will Learn From This Episode

What she learned starting a business in Singapore
Leading not-for-profit organisations CivicAction and Ontario’s Expert Roundtable for Immigration
How she recruited John Tory to be the chair for CivicActionand recruiting John Tory to be on the board
How to diversify your board and get more women on it
Learn to build your network to help you become a great leader

Reading List

You’re it

Thanks for taking the time to listen. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

This podcast is produced by Slingshot VoIP, a business telecommunications leader.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

TBLP016 | Stefan Grambart: Inspire the Creative Side

Today’s guest is Stefan Grambart, an Emmy® award-winning Creative Director pushing at the boundaries of collaborative storytelling, helping to shape the future of VR, gaming, and entertainment in general.

Stefan has worked on a wide range of interactive projects focusing on narrative and visual storytelling – both for clients and as original properties. He has over twenty years of combined experience across film and television, entertainment, games, and digital media.

I caught up with Stefan at the FITC Toronto conference where I learned quite a bit about the fascinating world of VR (virtual reality) and where the world is going.

What You Will Learn From This Episode

How improv and Dungeons and Dragons help him create in VR
The challenges working and leading creatives
To be mindful of your overall career goals
Learn how to treat your team as potential alumni

Reading List

Thanks for taking the time to listen. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

This podcast is produced by Slingshot VoIP, a business telecommunications leader.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

TBLP015 | Rami Sayar: Technology and Community

On today’s episode, I have the opportunity to catch up and sit down with Rami Sayar at the FITC Toronto event. Rami is a Senior Technical Evangelist at Microsoft Canada.

Rami is a technologist passionate about the intersection of art, design and the web. For the past 5 years, he has been experimenting with the bleeding edge of emerging technologies, determined to find a use for them in everyday life.

In his current role as a Senior Technical Evangelist for Microsoft Canada in Montreal, Rami covers technical areas such as open source technologies, open data, and cloud computing. He is a frequent international speaker and has spoken at prestigious conferences such as Build, FITC, ConFoo, DroidCon, CUSEC, KWS and TEDx at HEC Montreal. Rami is prevented from sleeping by his curiosity for experimentation, his insistence on shipping high-quality code and helping startups survive the grind.

What You Will Learn From This Episode

How he is leading by being a “fanboy” marrying technology and community
Gain exposure at a world-wide organisation, like Microsoft
Finding and navigating through Microsft to find the right stakeholders
Building through community events like Startup Grind and meetups
Continue publishing and sharing to gain trust and creditbility

Links

Thanks for taking the time to listen. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

This podcast is produced by Slingshot VoIP, a business telecommunications leader.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

TBLP014 | Suzanne Grant: The Art of the Possible

I am excited to share the conversation I had with Suzanne Grant. Suzanne’s experience is characterized by breadth and depth leading in technology, military, non-profit, health and creative fields. She has won awards and commendations at each stage of her career and attributes her success to authentic leadership, strategic thinking and collaboration.

Suzanne served in the Canadian Forces as an engineering officer. She bootstrapped a strategic communications agency and publishing house, The Art of Business, in the Middle Eastern country of Qatar, where she also founded Qatar’s favourite award-winning print and digital publication, Qatar Happening.

Suzanne has hired Steve Wozniak and Tim Sebastian, and partnered with Serena Williams and the Queen of Qatar. She has been interviewed on Al Jazeera TV, CBC Radio, Global Media, Rogers TV and multiple international print titles. She launched a national sports team, and organized powerboat world championship launches. She advised Virgin Health Bank on patient reach and executed Accenture’s launch in a new country.

Suzanne’s most cherished accomplishments include leading grassroots movements. She founded and spearheaded a Canada-wide charity campaign for Rwandan orphans in 1994. In 2007 she founded Spirit of Empowerment, a historic catalyst event for young professional Arab women. Back home in 2012, Suzanne introduced a global initiative at Startup Canada to encourage a more global outlook amongst Canada’s entrepreneurs. She helped to create and lead a global youth entrepreneurship fellowship, a partnership between Cambridge University and Startup Canada.

Suzanne is a generous community contributor and global citizen. She has a BSc, Physics from Carleton University and studied entrepreneurship at St Lawrence College. She has been awarded the Canadian Decoration for long-term service to Canada, received a commendation from the Military, was named Local Hero by the city of Kingston and has won a Startup Canada Innovation Award and a Microsoft Web Award.

Suzanne’s mantra is The Art of the Possible.

What You Will Learn From This Episode

Leading a mission of hope with the Diamond Eye
What leadership training was like in the military
Why she likes reading biographies and what can be learned from them
How she successfully built a company in the middle-east
Her passion and drive to continually give back

Links

Thanks for taking the time to listen. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a comment, I would love to hear from you.

This podcast is produced by Slingshot VoIP, a business telecommunications leader.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download