develpreneur podcast
Posted on The Interviews Season

Sam McNeill – Difficult Conversations and Building a Culture of Teamwork

We wrap up the main part of the conversation with Sam McNeill as we mention difficult conversations.  That is a perfect start for his stories about building a team and maintaining high morale. Next, we discuss roles and cross-training in the wild without getting into the academic terms and suggestions.  Take notes as this is a valuable conversation. Difficult Conversations Sam mentions the book about dysfunctional teams and difficult conversations.  There is a link below to learn more about this book from Patrick Lencioni.  We move forward from there to see how Sam has managed to sort of avoid difficult conversations.  Yes, they still exist.  However, they are not so difficult when everyone is on the same team and shares... Read more

develpreneur podcast
Posted on The Interviews Season

Sam NcNeill – When Things Go Wrong , Great Leaders Step Up

We continue our multi-part series of interviews with Sam McNeill with a look at when things go wrong and an examination of leaders.  There are times that we go a little off the rails and times where things go completely awry.  The way you respond can help keep the former from stumbling into the latter. When Things Go Wrong, And They Will Sam has a history of being the “guy with the microphone.”  That can be the best way to handle challenges or the worst.  You are in the position to impact the situation.  Therefore, it is best if you enjoy being in that role.  One can either run the show or delegate.  Sam enjoys the former and gives us... Read more

develpreneur podcast
Posted on The Interviews Season

Sam McNeill Part 2 – Win Customers With Excitement and Professionalism

We continue our interview with Sam with a deeper dive into enthusiasm.  He describes how his love of his job helps him to win customers.  However, that is just the beginning.  He then goes into some excellent examples of how professionalism leads to customer success.  There is more to winning over customers than simply getting that sale.  He walks us through how to ensure each customer is satisfied. Know Your Role The musical band and recording session examples are highly relatable to the IT world.  We can see many of the personalities he describes among studio musicians and “the talent” in our technical teams.  The key to success is understanding your role as much as it is clear on the... Read more

develpreneur podcast
Posted on The Interviews Season

Sam McNeill Interview – Love Your Job And Find Success

We start our next series of interviews with an example of what happens when you love your job.  Sam McNeill is highly successful and entertaining because of the energy he brings.  You will see that as we go through a discussion of his background, his challenges, and becoming a key part of the success of a company he loves, SongDivision. A Natural Talent Sam is one of those people that is born with plenty of natural talent.  He started as an aspiring musician and actor.  He briefly describes that childhood and his early loves.  This sets the table for his career.  The two worlds of childhood and his future meet up at a Microsoft event as he is introduced to... Read more

develpreneur podcast
Posted on The Interviews Season

Style Stages – Find the platform that works for you (DP Knudten Part 4)

We jump into a discussion about repetition as key to your brand success.  However, the next topic of style stages is just as critical.  Then, we touch on several nuggets and suggestions to wrap up our interview with DP.  He provides a few challenges and valuable insight to leave you with plenty of food for thought. Style Stages A key concept for this episode is the idea of style stages.  There are numerous (maybe countless) social media platforms available today.  We should take advantage of many of those, if possible.  On the other hand, some provide a better stage for our presentation content and style than others.  These style stages vary from written form to audio to long or short-form... Read more

develpreneur podcast
Posted on The Interviews Season

Niche Brands – Personal Or Otherwise – DP Knudten Part 3

This episode starts right away with a continuation of the niche brands discussion.  We then move to DP’s thoughts on social media and using those tools.  He even moves into examples of live-streaming and ways to use these tools no matter your strengths. Niche Brands – Livestream Anything DP dropped a couple of examples that are highly niche right out of the gate. First, he talks about Trezy, who uses twitch to lifestream software coding.  Then he shifts right into mentioning he live-streamed writing his book.  How can you get more niche than that?  However, these have followers and are ways to build a community.  These tools can build relationships in ways marketing never used to be able to touch. ... Read more