Influences

Which Podcasts to Listen to? Don’t Miss These!

By Tom on May 20, 2022

To succeed as a business developer it is important to keep developing yourself. Reading and learning about leadership, business and sales is one piece of the puzzle. However, I find podcasts to be a great resource for new concepts, great stories and real world examples of what works and what doesn’t. While they don’t often do deep dives into the topic (the Jocko podcast is the exception to this.) you can get an intro into many different concepts and choose to investigate those that spark your interest. But with so much choice the question remains: which podcasts to listen to?

I’ve listed a few below that make my commute much more bearable.

Dose of Leadership

Richard Rierson interviews a wide range of leaders from many different backgrounds. Most of his guests share his value of “leaving the campsite better than you found it”. Richard has a good knack of getting into the detail and teasing out the lessons learned.

Richard always seems to enter his conversations with open curiosity and is not afraid to discuss personal examples to highlight points.

Read to Lead

For an author like myself this podcast has the best title. Jeff Brown interviews authors of business books uncovering the main concepts of each. He provides a great snapshot of each book and usually uncovers a little extra gold from the author. His guests are always asked to recommend other books and I’ve found some quite different books that I wouldn’t have found otherwise.

Jeff is a big proponent of learning through regular reading. He has even written his own book on the subject. I completely agree with him though, regular reading can really help you develop into a leader in your field of choice.

Business Made Simple

Based around his book of the same name Donald Miller’s podcast explores the concepts of business, but without the complexity. The real gold is in the weekly coaching session with real business owners. Getting to hear business owners working through their problems, learning how to scale and grow is really invaluable. The businesses he features are all relatively small but incredibly diverse. The owners themselves are not well known, but their stories are very inspirational.

Jocko Podcast

Jocko Willink is an ex Navy Seal and co-owner of Echelon Front, a leadership consultancy. He is also the co-author of Extreme Ownership a book about taking ownership of your role and mission in teh workplace and life. Jockos older episodes dealt very heavily around the Extreme Ownership principles. Principles which really resonate with me.

More recently his episodes involve interviewing people (mainly ex military personnel) who have lived through very tough, life threatening experiences. The stories are gripping. Hearing the lessons learned in the face of adversity from the people who experienced it is absolute gold.

Which Podcast to Listen to?

All four of the podcasts above are very different. Each providing a different experience but all giving valuable learning takeaways. I encourage you to give them a go. Let me know what you think.

I’m always keen to find new ways to learn. Please post your recommendations in the comments below and I’ll give them a listen.

Sharing A few of the Authors Who Influence Me

By Tom on April 1, 2022

Writing Business Development Begins Here really made me think about those authors who have had an influence on me. Many of mine have been cited in the book and I thought it would be worth sharing a few. Codifying my thoughts on business development really highlighted a number of books that have shaped my professional thinking over the last few years.

Being curious about the world is an important part of being a successful business developer. Getting into a mindset of constant self development is key. Of course, regular reading is part of that.

Below are three of my favorites.

Story Brand by Donald Miller

Story Brand is a fantastic book dealing with the messaging of your business. Donald Miller leads the reader through a Brand script that frames your customer as the hero. As the business developer you take on the role of guide. Therefore your job becomes guiding your Hero towards greatness.

As a massive fan of all forms of storytelling Donald’s approach really resonated with me. Especially as he contextualises it within the framework of the 7 elements of a story. Following his examples (See Star Wars – one of my favourite films above) I found it easy to apply to my own business.

His mantra – “Confuse and you Lose” also aligns strongly to my way of thinking. Simplicity is king.

Donald’s book really contextualised how to message my marketing. The concepts and thinking have really shaped the way I approach business development.

To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink

Daniel Pink needs no introduction. His bestselling book To Sell is Human changed the way I viewed both sales and business development. He makes the very compelling case that all of us are selling in our day to day regardless of what job we are in. This can take the form of persuading someone to help with a project, convince them of your idea, or influence them to get on board with a particular strategy. Therefore, we have sales in every role and at every stage of life.

Unfortunately sales is often considered to be a dirty word associated with shark-like used cars salesmen. But Daniel makes the point that the easy access of information in todays world has changed all that. The role of sales now is to be honest and transparent. Guiding your customer, explaining the information and helping them make the best decision.

Reading To Sell is Human helped me finally cast off the old sales tropes and see business development as a positive force.

Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

Extreme Ownership by Jock Willink and Leif Babin showcases the leadership lessons gained from their time serving as Navy Seals. These lessons were truly tested during the Battle of Ramadi in the Iraq war.

As the name suggests one of their key principles is that of Ownership.

As a business developer you have a lot of balls to juggle. Staying systematic, contacting customers and defining strategy all need to be driven by you. To do that effectively needs you to take ownership of all aspects of the role.

This is especially true when things go wrong. Don’t blame others, take ownership of solving the problem.

This level of proactivity struck a chord with me. It inspired me to make the time to write Business Development Begins Here. It also reinforced the need keep aggressive with your level of activity.

Although not explicitly stated the Extreme Ownership ethos is baked into the Triple A Framework. From the business development perspective taking ownership of your assessment, planning and level of activity is critical to success.

Who are your Influences?

Donald Miller, Daniel Pink and Jocko Willink have all deeply influenced the way I work. I can’t recommend reading all three of these books highly enough.

I’m always on the lookout for new books to read. So, which authors have influenced you? Which writers would you recommend? Please share in the comments below so that we can all benefit from their wisdom.