Start With A Win

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Focus on Your People! Leadership Insights with Dennis Maple

Start With A Win

07/31/24 • 31 min

Join Adam Contos in this insightful episode of Start With a Win, as he delves into the heart of leadership with returning guest, Dennis Maple, Chairman & CEO. They discuss the importance of authenticity, self-leadership, and the fine balance between confidence and ego. Dennis shares personal anecdotes and professional wisdom on fostering a culture of transparency, dealing with self-doubt, and ensuring team success in high-performance environments. This conversation is packed with practical advice for leaders at all levels who are striving to inspire and lead their teams effectively.

Dennis R. Maple is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Goddard Franchisor LLC, and he is the Chairman and CEO at Goddard Systems, LLC. He provides leadership to the executive committee and guides the vision for The Goddard School franchise system.

Dennis served as president of First Student, Inc., North America’s largest K-12 school bus transportation services company. He was also president of Aramark Education, which focuses on delivering food, nutrition and facilities services to K-12 school markets. His career includes executive leadership with The Quaker Oats Company, PepsiCo, Inc., Kraft General Foods, Inc. and Coors Brewing Company.

Dennis is a longtime participant in organizations supporting primary and secondary schools and communities. He is a member of the International Franchise Association's Board of Directors, Early Care & Education Consortium Board of Directors and Descartes Systems Group Board of Directors, where he is chairman of the nominating committee and part of the compensation committee. Dennis is a graduate of the University of Tennessee.

⚡️FREE RESOURCE: What's Wrong with Your Leadership? ➡︎ https://adamcontos.com/myleadership

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Transforming Fear into Power with Adam Hill

Start With A Win

10/12/22 • 23 min

As CEO of a 4th generation family business, elite triathlete and author Adam Hill has led his century-old family company through economic, cultural, and leadership changes on the path to long term sustainability. After overcoming more than a decade of alcoholism and unhealthy life habits, Adam transformed his inner fear and anxiety disorder into a superpower. Today he is a highly sought after international speaker and Amazon bestselling author of Shifting Gears: From Anxiety and Addiction to a Triathlon World Championship.

How can a crippling anxiety disorder actually be a superpower? Adam Hill has proven that his greatest weakness isn’t actually a weakness. Instead, he sees it as a launching pad into a life of inner healing and dynamic leadership. After years of using alcohol to cope with debilitating fear and anxiety, Adam bravely pursued recovery by asking himself how he could turn his inner enemy into his friend. By shifting his mindset, he now recognizes the value in using fear as an encouragement to lean into challenges. Constantly pushing himself out of his comfort zone, Adam is able to have hard conversations with compassion and has built a team that transcends fear of the unknown into clarity in business. He encourages leaders and entrepreneurs to accept personal struggles as gifts. This shift from judgment to acceptance leads to growth and big wins, allowing people to achieve more than they ever dreamed possible.

Main Topics

Coping with the cultural norms of anxiety and overstimulation (03:38)
Using anxiety as a superpower and learning to “party with the beast” (05:40)
How facing fears in leadership positively impacts business (09:26)
Having difficult conversations with care increases confidence in leadership. (13:30)
In his book, Adam uses his story to encourage others to courageously step into their power. (17:48)

Episode Links

Connect with Adam Hill:

https://www.facebook.com/adam.hill.39982

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamchill/

Connect with Adam:

https://www.facebook.com/AdamContosCEO

https://twitter.com/AdamContosCEO

https://www.instagram.com/adamcontosceo/

Listen, rate, and subscribe!

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Quick Wins: Not Every Day is a Win

Start With A Win

12/20/19 • 1 min

Connect with Adam:

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Customers-Leave-Them-Back/dp/1632651513

Leave us a voicemail:

888-581-4430

Interview with Nate Martinez

Start With A Win

11/06/19 • 19 min

Our guest on this episode of the Start with a Win podcast is Nate Martinez, co-owner of RE/MAX Professionals in the Phoenix area. Nate wears many hats as an owner, broker, team leader, and agent, and he is fortunate enough to have his wife and two of his children on his team.

With over 33 years in the industry, Nate has overcome plenty of challenges and has learned many beneficial lessons that now point him in the direction of success. Even with everything he has going on, he prioritizes his team by setting aside several hours every Wednesday morning to talk through the issues of the week and also provide a collaborative space. Nate’s keys to success are being committed to learning, being coachable, and being a mentor.

When it comes to continual learning, Nate doesn’t understand why some people make a conscious decision to just give up and stop improving when there are so many mountains left to climb. By being committed to learning, you are truly living life to the fullest and you are able to enhance the lives of others. Part of this also is the willingness to be coachable, recognizing that you don’t know everything and that a coach could help you improve yourself in all areas of life. Finally, Nate encourages everyone who wants to be successful to take the time to help others as well. This mindset of giving over gaining and abundance over scarcity is rare in a world where so many people are primarily focused on themselves, but this will make all the difference for you and those you are pouring into.

Nate’s advice to up-and-coming real estate agents is: (1) find a mentor, (2) find a coach, and (3) invest in yourself. He starts his day with a win by visualizing his day and focusing on the “Miracle Morning” principles.

Links:

“Trillion Dollar Coach” book: https://www.amazon.com/Trillion-Dollar-Coach-Leadership-Playbook/dp/0062839268

“Miracle Morning” book: https://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Morning-Not-So-Obvious-Guaranteed-Transform/dp/0979019710

Connect with Nate:

[email protected]

Why Do Customers Leave? Interview With Expert David Avrin

Start With A Win

10/16/19 • 27 min

Our guest on this episode of the Start with a Win podcast is David Avrin, speaker and author of several books, most recently “Why Customers Leave (and How to Win Them Back)”. David says that the answer to why customers leave is a simple one: they leave because they can. There are so many choices out in the market and many channels available to customers, from real estate to retail to services to groceries. Business owners are often trying to operate under the assumption that they can control what their customers will buy, but customers don’t always want to do business that way.

Consumer behavior is a complex field of study these days, and while business owners don’t have to be experts in predicting what their customers will want or when they will want it, they should have a basic understanding of their customers and what motivates them to purchase. Businesses do not have the luxury of just waiting for customers to walk in their doors, but rather they need to recognize how to meet their customers where they are and meet their needs there.

While the primary focus of businesses in the past has been producing an exemplary product that people will want to buy, they must now combine this aspect of the buying process with the wants and needs of the customers. A good starting point for gaining competitive advantage in this realm is to re-examine the points of contact with the customer and make adjustments based on their observed needs and wants. Since there are so many channels for purchasing very similar products, building a relationship with your customers will likely make all the difference in you receiving the business over your competitors.

David believes in leading with authenticity, relevance, and in a way that educates the consumer. This also involves a willingness to continually adjust your approach based on shifting expectations and feedback from your customers. David starts his days with a win by spending intentional and uninterrupted time with his kids, getting his priorities aligned before starting his workday.

Links:

Connect with Adam:

https://scrollband.com/password

Polar Ben and His History-Making Expeditions

Start With A Win

06/02/21 • 32 min

Our guest on this episode of Start With A Win is Ben Saunders, a polar explorer and motivational speaker who has excellent nuggets of wisdom for listeners on the show. Growing up in a rural area of the UK, Ben spent much of his childhood outside, learning about the world around him and struggling to sit still in school. After high school, Ben worked with John Ridgway, who had rowed across the Atlantic in a wooden boat in 93 days, and was inspired by Ridgway’s fortitude and accomplishments. Ben decided to stay beyond his gap year to teach at Ridgway’s adventure school, where he also spent a lot of time reading about adventurers.

In 2001, Ben and his friend spent 59 days skiing to the North Pole, but they were unprepared and didn’t complete their goal. A few weeks later, Ben got a bill in the mail for his portion of the trip expenses – close to $50,000 – and he decided to plan a second trip and fundraise for the trip and cover his debts. This trip was a success and his first solo venture. In 2004, he completed his solo trip from Russia to the North Pole, and then in 2014, Ben and his partner completed the 1800-mile journey to the South Pole, retracing the steps of Scott in 1912.

Through all of Ben’s experiences, he has learned that self-belief is essential to overcoming challenges. This human quality must essentially develop because confidence follows courage. Ben says that either you are winning or you are learning, and no experience is a waste. He also discusses the importance of being intentional. Be intentional about how you are focusing your time and energy, not dwelling on things that are outside of your control. To that end, Ben jumped into entrepreneurship in 2020, creating Scroll Bands that help people be aware of the time they are spending on their phones.

Connect with Ben:

https://bensaunders.com/

https://twitter.com/polarben?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

https://www.ted.com/speakers/ben_saunders

Connect with Adam:

https://donyaeger.com/corporate-competitor-podcast/

Leave us a voicemail:

888-581-4430

Excuses are the Killers of Leaders with Don Yaeger

Start With A Win

03/23/22 • 26 min

Don Yaeger is a nationally acclaimed inspirational speaker, longtime Associate Editor of Sports Illustrated, author of over 30 books—eleven of which have become New York Times Bestsellers. Today he studies how playing sports shapes Fortune 500 CEOS on his podcast, Corporate Competitor. He has interviewed CEOs of Delta Airlines, Disney, Bank of America, and even ADAM CONTOS!

Don grew up reading Sports Illustrated, so joining that team of talented storytellers was like a dream come true! One thing that quickly became apparent was that within this small community of world-class talent was the complete lack of jealousy among the writers and editors. Everyone viewed each other as a highly respected peer. And throughout his career, Don came to understand that the true greats are comparing themselves against their potential, not other people.

Don also shares the story of the time he played one-on-one against Michael Jordan—and won!

Through years of interviewing some of the greatest athletes of all time, Don realized that what made them successful was not their athleticism. It is their ability to be more mentally, emotionally, spiritually disciplined than their opponents. He shares how their insights can become our lessons in how to manage adversity, fostering teamwork, and how to be a servant leader.

Adam and Don also dive into the topic of excuses and how they can truly become the killer of leaders. Don shares a favorite quote from his former opponent, Michael Jordan: “A loss is not a failure until you make an excuse.” This is the mindset you see in high performers, whether in athletics or the business world. “Making excuses is human nature, but to be exceptional [is to] defy human nature every day,” said Don.

Excuses—or dwelling on past mistakes—can be difficult to overcome. Don shares the Coach K model of overcoming mistakes, “Next Play.” It’s okay to take time later to reflect on what might have just happened, but you can’t reflect now.

“It’s more like a West Point thing, like what’s your next mission? So, whenever you got knocked back individually and collectively [as a team], they taught you, ‘OK, next play. What am I going to do next?’” - Mike Krzyzewski

Don encourages listeners to develop a phrase that can remind them that their job is not to dwell on their excuses or the past.

Adam and Don also discuss the importance of communication in leadership. We saw how important this was during COVID-19 and how this crisis actually uncovered some of the cracks in leadership. And we can’t develop that trait in a crisis, it has to be an effort that we’re working on all the time! Because we don’t know what’s ahead of us.

Episode Links:

Don Yaeger:

https://donyaeger.com

Corporate Competitor Podcast:

Coach K’s Next Play Philosophy:

https://www.peaksports.com/sports-psychology-blog/krzyzewskis-next-play-philosophy-for-letting-go-of-mistakes/

Order your copy of Start With A Win: Tools and Lessons to Create Personal and Business Success:

https://www.startwithawin.com/book

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