Episodes

  • MD 1-17 About Mediocre advice on Recession Proofing Your Business.

    MD 1-17 About Mediocre advice on Recession Proofing Your Business.
    Jul 5 2023
    Cristina and I have both been swimming in "how to prepare for an impending recession" advice for the past few months, and decided to rant about what feels like all of it. Is there any actual insight out there, or is everything just old content with tried-and-true sound business practices updated to include the phrase "coming recession"? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    24 mins
  • MD1-16 Joyce Cordi and the Mediocrity of some companies. Efficiencies vs. effectiveness in seeing

    MD1-16 Joyce Cordi and the Mediocrity of some companies. Efficiencies vs. effectiveness in seeing
    Jun 28 2023
    Joyce Cordi has a lifetime of building expertise in helping companies achieve results -- the foundation of all customer value. She and I regularly have great conversations on a variety of topics, including sales excellence, customer experience, and understanding the customer's world. Listen to her expertise! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    32 mins
  • MD1-15 Mark and Cristina give our hot takes on the Submersible Titan.

    MD1-15 Mark and Cristina give our hot takes on the Submersible Titan.
    Jun 22 2023
    The tragedy of the submersible Titan...is it one of hubris? Is it an anthem to brave adventurers? Is it both? It's pretty well established that Titan was a revolutionary design, using carbon fiber for the pressure hull. Early results of the debris field found (after this episode was recorded) indicate that there was likely a catastrophic failure of the pressure hull. Was this mediocrity raising its ugly head? An entrepreneur's rush to trust their judgement over the judgement of outside so-called "experts"? I'm sure we'll hear no end of different narratives...some of which will themselves be mediocrity run amok. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    27 mins
  • MD1-14 Jeffrey Hayzlett and I talk about Mediocrity

    MD1-14 Jeffrey Hayzlett and I talk about Mediocrity
    May 31 2023
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    30 mins
  • MD 1-13 Recession-proofing your organization. Facts and Fantasies

    MD 1-13 Recession-proofing your organization. Facts and Fantasies
    May 17 2023
    Cristina and I have heard a lot, thought a lot, and written some on weathering bad economic times. In this conversation, we talked about which ideas are new but not good, and good, but not new. There's a lot of mediocre advice out there, but the best protection against recession is perhaps...don't be so mediocre. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    24 mins
  • MD1-12 Are you doing it for Fame or Fortune?

    MD1-12 Are you doing it for Fame or Fortune?
    May 10 2023
    Cristina and I hang out with a lot of speakers, trainers, and consultants. While the biggest challenge in all of those businesses is getting clients, there is a whole industry devoted to helping "build an audience". When you manage your business for clicks, likes, and shares, you are focusing on "fame", when the real challenge is paying the bills, or "fortune" -- and we're not talking about vast fortunes, just "profit motive", or "pay the bills". While people who end up buying from you need to know you exist, and then trust you enough to want to talk, you don't need to have Kardashian-level numbers of followers. In fact, you only need a small number of the right people. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    16 mins
  • MD 1-11 Bob Pizzini and Mark discuss the mediocrity of "There's no money for that."

    MD 1-11 Bob Pizzini and Mark discuss the mediocrity of "There's no money for that."
    May 3 2023
    Bob Pizzini spent decades as a special forces operator with underwater demolitions expertise...Needless to say, he was in a branch of the government we often think of as having access to infinite funding. The happy part of that (for us lowly citizens, not for Bob at the time) is that he spent every day of that military career getting pushback on spending requests..."there's no money for that". Bob knew that there was money for "that", but had to crack the code for getting through the decision process. Now, Bob runs a business of his own, and is has control over his company's finances, and has to be the one deciding whether "there's money for that". Listen to how he carried his lessons from that first experience to the second. Thanks, Bob! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    19 mins
  • MD1-10 Nina Sunday: Let's discuss the mediocrity of "That's what I pay them for"

    MD1-10 Nina Sunday: Let's discuss the mediocrity of "That's what I pay them for"
    Apr 26 2023
    Nina Sunday's journey: survived bad management, became less-than-ideal manager, had the courage to question her own approach, became student of leadership, became a guide. One of the "mediocratisms" that grinds her gears is "That's what I pay them for", which assumes the leader's superiority in all things. Let's discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    19 mins