Inside The Boardroom

New Season of Inside the Boardroom Kicks Off with Leadership Development Guru

2009-08-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

The Seasonal Feature begins airing again on News Radio 980 KMBZ in Peak Commute at 7:35am after the news update on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

It features Ed Mlodzik, Leadership Development and Training Director, Burgio, Cooney & Associates September through Fall 2009.

Inside the Boardroom, a short form business report featuring subject matter experts from a broad range of industries, has been a staple of KMBZ service elements on its award winning news product for three seasons.

“It’s an honor to be working with Mike Shanin, a household name here, Kansas City Morning News and KMBZ, the most trusted local news source. As a Missouri based management consultant for over 5 years, I have made a firm commitment to deliver the most reliable business intelligence available in my field,” said Mlodizk.

Inside the Boardroom is the brainchild of executive producer Andrew Ellenberg whose targeted newsmagazines and special features reach more than 500,000 listeners a week. He said, “Ed Mlodizk is a phenomenon. He's the definitive leader in his area of expertise but he's also articulate, engaging, humorous and his passion comes booming through every screen and speaker."

In addition to the broadcast feature in Kansas City Morning News with EJ & Ellen, Burgio, Cooney & Associates is offering Lunch and Learn Seminars and will join the KMBZ team when it broadcasts live from Greater Kansas City Chamber events throughout the metro.

Burgio Cooney & Associates is providing a wide assortment of complimentary educational materials, including digital video on demand, books, exclusive research reports and breakaway sessions at the KMBZ business forum whose podium roster has included national marquee keynotes Tom Brokaw, Suzie Orman, Lou Dobbs and other big names.

The third tier of the cross platform content, distribution and marketing partnership between KMBZ and Burgio, Cooney & Associates includes a multimedia digital magazine. Launching in September 2009, it includes archived broadcast content in all formats and leadership development resources available exclusively online. The crown jewel? High definition video on demand training sessions.

Ed Mlodzik's career highlights include more than 30 years of executive experience, the last 6 in Executive Coaching. He's held management positions in marketing and sales with the Bell System, United Telecom Inc. and Sprint Nextel. His strengths result from his unique blend of staff and operational experience, bolstered by entrepreneurial success in business start-ups.

Since 1980, Burgio, Cooney & Associates has offered businesses – distributors, retailers, manufacturers and service providers – a full range of training and merchandising services designed to build sales, profits and improve customer service while increasing employee productivity and satisfaction. To learn more, click here.

Connect with Ed on Linked In

816. 353.3672. Do not wait for prompt. Enter extension 117 as soon as you hear greeting.

Email: ed.mlodzik@bcakc.com

To hear season teaser promo launch click here

Keynote Speaker, KMBZ Business Forum, Steve Forbes

2009-07-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

Tells A Packed Lunch Crowd in Downtown Kansas City Great Leaders Navigate Crisis Everyday If You Can Turn A Company Around Why Not A Whole Country?

Forbes leads in with a colorful analogy of Hannibal, the military commander and tactician who marched an army from Iberia over the Pyrenees and over the Alps into nothern Italy on the backs of with war elephants.

He acknloledges that Hannibal was an innovative leader who had the vision to accomplish what most would call a suicide mission. But what he failed to see is that he paved the way for imitators who would ultimately use his own strategy and tactics against him.

By maintaining the status quo and sitting on his laurels, happily ruling Italy for fifteeen years, he lost his competitive edge. In a nutshell, he’s saying that the world never stands still. Natural human instinct rules the day.

Leadership was and always will be the key to solving big challenges.

Great leaders set the vision and strategy, then must inspire and enage their employees to innovate, think creatively and solve problems. Crisis, in effect, simply follows the law of unintended consequences, so rather than an event it becomes a part of our routine.

Shifting gears to the heyday of General Motors, William Crapo "Billy" Durant was a leading pioneer of the automobile industry, the founder of General Motors and Chevrolet and realized that he could outmaneuver Ford by offering multiple models to suit different budgets and lifestyles.

Given the choice of Ford, “you can have a Model T in any color you want as long as it’s black,” or a broad range of models and styles General Motors filled a huge untapped need and reinvented an industry.

Durant didn’t lock horns with a deeply entrenched competitor, instead he flanked to a broader market, creating his own rules, providing the consumer with color choices, a model for every pocketbook, customization choices and a shifting the focus away from the manufacturer to the consumer.

Forbes said Durant’s vision was that he saw beyond the nuts and bolts and basic utlity of a car. He realized that our cars are an expression of ourselves, an extension of our personalities and a “fashion statement.” That’s why Durant pioneered the concept of annual model changes, shiny new toys, high tech gadgets, the next big thing.

Then he made the product more accessible by allowing cash strapped consumers to buy on credit. In so doing, he throughly disrupted the “cash upfront” industry standard. That kind of financing had never been previously available for a depreciating asset. But Durant made a calulated bet that market share and volume would outweigh the liabilities. And he won.

In three short years, General Motors dethroned Ford as the number one automobile company. Ford was risk adverse, preferring to wait on the sidelines and see what would happen. By the time the model was proven, they were a day late and a dollar short. Durant transformed General Motors from a distant second to Ford (which commanded fifty to sixty percent of the market at that time) to number one. To this day, even with all its problems, it's still a world leader, says Forbes.

His last case study is about Bank of Italy. Forbes explains that the bank was started by serving the rapidly growing population of immigrants and merchant seaman who previously had nowhere to turn but loan sharks.

It was thriving when the notorious San Francisco earthquake of 1906 struck and the resulting fire is remembered as one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the United States. But here’s the kicker.

Management had the foresight to anticipate the fires after the earthquake hit. They loaded cash onto covered wagons, hid it under fruit to prevent theft and bolted the city. When the fire stopped, the proud bankers marched back to their charred bank and told merchants and consumers come on in, we’re open for business.

That forethought, seeing around corners, is was made Bank of Italy the only game in town after the crisis. During the depression, that same bank used every ounce of political clout to keep the bank open. Crisis is a daily ritual in business, the management of it is a difficult displine to master.

But thanks to tenacity, deterimination and strong leadership they once again steered the ship through stormy waters. Forbes said it’s not the crisis that’s important. What matters is how executives, managers, professionals, business owners and heads of household respond to it. “It is in crisis that we find opportunity,” says Forbes.

He has now layed the framework for his vision on how to revitalize America with great leadership.

More leadership thoughts on the economy, taxes, healthcare and social security in our exclusive series with Steve Forbes, keynote speaker News Radio 980 KMBZ Business Forum in future articles

Ellenberg In the News

2009-06-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

BusinessWeek

Forbes

AMC TV Network

KMBC TV 9

MediaPost

Radio Ink Magazine

Kansas City Star

Go Digital Executive Conference

BNET

Benedectine Executive MBA News

Kansas City Art Institute

Planet Porsche

Treads & Threads

Olathe Chamber of Commerce

Buffalo Run

KC Entertainment Magazine

Prospects Need Another Pitch Like A Baseball In The Head

2009-03-04T10:36:00.000-08:00

Buyers aren’t interested in features and benefits, laundry lists of capabilities and data dumps. Top executives and business owners, the people who sign the checks, simply don’t have time for it.

Their brains are jam-packed with information and all they care about is if you can help them get something done and not make an expensive mistake because they allowed themselves to be sold a bill of goods.

At Entercom my modus operandi is to build products around market demand. In stark contrast to the proverbial “build it and they will come,” product development is more about finding a pool of money that your competitors don’t have and quickly locking it up with a new solution that serves that marketplace with direct return on investment.

As an industry, we must be viewed as a resource. Salespeople, marketers and product development executives will increasingly be commoditized.

Unless entire organizations stay sharply focused on delivering solutions to the customer, their salespeople will be viewed as adversaries, marginally helpful clerks or fair weather friends.

Those who thrive in the profession will possess the confidence to become subject matter experts in one lucrative niche with a diversified but highly targeted array of products and services custom tailored to each customer’s individual needs.

That being said, the consultative or “educational” approach can be a two-edged sword. Give prospects too much information without commitment beyond learning more via in-depth needs analysis, seminars, trade shows, webinars and so forth and you could end up doing a lot of unpaid consulting.

There needs to be a give and take relationship in the learning process with all the educational components of the sales and marketing mix aimed at delivering demand-driven solutions at reasonable price points that deliver strong ROI.

Critical to this process is a series of “mini-agreements” to ensure that organizational resources aren’t being wasted on the wrong prospects and stealing time from more qualified ones.

In business, there must always be a delicate balance of short-term thinking to keep the cash flowing and sufficient operating capital to stay above water on profit margins combined with a long-term strategic vision that positions the company and its brightest performers as the “go to gurus” months, if not years, ahead of the “now” buying phase.

The original commentary and analysis in this E-Brief was written by Andrew Ellenberg, Group Executive Producer, Entercom Communications. His roles in the organization include enterprise sales, sales management, product development, integrated marketing and strategic alliances.

Email him directly at aellenberg@entercom.com to network, discuss strategic alliances, share industry knowledge or develop new projects. You can also call him at 913-744-3647.

Experiential Files: Film Festival

2008-12-22T11:08:00.000-08:00

Is Kansas City the New Hollywood?

The following news roundup was compiled by Andrew Ellenberg, Entercom executive and board chair of the Red Echo Group after-school program for at-risk youth.

Kansas Arts Commission

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Due to the success of our pilot program in 2008, Youth FilmFest KC! is now the signature event for Let's Make a Movie, the Red Echo Group's award-winning after school program, which was co-founded by Eric Keith and David Huffman.

Special thanks to Red Echo Group Board Member Stan Adell of Adell & Associates and the other executive producers including Lisa Eastwood of Mathnasium the Math Learning Center, Renny Arensberg of KVC Behavioral Healthcare, Angela Cummins and her husband Jim from KC Dog Guard and The Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City for providing the venue.

Small business owners are the backbone of our economy and we encourage you to support companies that give back to your communities.

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To find out if your company qualifies to be an executive producer for our second annual Youth Filmfest KC! in 2009, contact Andrew Ellenberg at 913-744-3647 or aellenberg@entercom.com.

Ellenberg lead the media team of executive producers that played an instrumental role in raising awareness for Red Echo Group, providing advertising, marketing, promotional and publicity support for Youth Filmfest KC!,the first film festival dedicated to celebrating diversity as seen through the eyes of young filmmakers.

T. Boone Pickens Declares War on Foreign Oil

2008-09-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

Former Oil Tycoon Shares Vision for Revitalization of Rural America at News Radio 980 KMBZ Business Forum in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

T. Boone Pickens is angry. He's funny. But he's angry. Americans spend $700 Billion a year on foreign oil. It bothers him so much, it gave him insomnia. His wife told him to fix it. Not the insomnia. The energy crisis.

One of the most memorable moments of the forum was when T. Boone Pickens shared this personal anecdote from his life with the Kansas City business community. He was having trouble sleeping one night repeating incessantly we have to DO something. His wife said, “are you going to do it NOW?” He said, “No.” She said “Well then do it in the morning and sleep now.” He did. And then he woke up and went to work.

As fellow KMBZ Business Forum keynote Bob Dole’s energy advisor in the 1970’s, he said reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign oil was at the top of his agenda even back then. He told a large audience of literally hundreds of business owners with local TV media in plain sight what Dole said to him when he asked why no one in Washington was doing anything about our energy crisis.

T. Boone Pickens, speaking in his unscripted (or seemingly so) elegant “good ol’ boy” Texas Oilman drawl, stated something to the affect of “See that sleeping dog there? Politicians do not wake up sleeping dogs and energy is one of those sleeping dogs. But if someone trips over that dog and wakes it up, call us first.” A wave of spontaneous laughter swept across the room. His timing and delivery were flawless.

According to the billionaire, if we do nothing, that 700 billion dollars we spend on oil every year could double in 10 years. He made an interesting reference to the Clinton administration promising that by the end of the 1980’s we would be energy independent. But he admits that Bush was just as guilty. Both candidates talked about having a plan in their campaign speeches but then no one on either side of the aisle actually did anything about it, he said.

T. Boone Pickens paints a frightening portrait of our energy future comparing America to a big canoe in the rapids that is close to going off the cliff and into the falls. He challenges Kansas City business leaders to question whether they consider the 700 billion dollars going out of our country into the coffers of foreign nations to be an economic problem. This issue rouses a groundswell of uncomfortable laughter from the VIPs in attendance.

America represents 4 percent of the global population yet we consume 25 percent of all the oil produced worldwide. “We can’t drill our way out of this. Not a prayer,” proclaimed T. Boone Pickens. Political leaders and the oil establishment will tell us to keep on drilling, he said. “Now you will not talk to anyone who has seen more dry holes than me. Forget it.”

T. Boone Pickens was a gadfly in Washington, talking about the crisis in 1988 when the forces that opposed him—from lobbyists and political action committees to major energy concerns and their political allies—were formidable adversaries even for an oil tycoon like him.

If the powers that be “don’t want you to do something they sure can slow you down,” he quips in his classic understated style. It is clear from the expression on his face that he enjoys immensely taking KMBZ business owners and executives on his roller coaster ride.

The part that makes T. Boone Pickens stand out from the crowded podium of people who are extremely adept at pointing out the problem yet not so terrific at finding a solution is that he actually has a plan.

T. Boone Pickens offered examples of successful models to support innovations he recommends. He talked about Sweetwater, Texas, a town with a small population but poised to be a major player in wind energy. They are already benefiting from the rising demand.

How do we know? “They’re building a new gymnasium. You always know a town is doing well when they’re building a new gymnasium.” He wants to revitalize the heartland’s wind corridor and grow its cities by supplying wind energy to the east and west coasts.

He said Congress has the power to grant transmission rights and pave the way for a new interstate wind power distribution system. But more importantly, he underscores the importance of diversification. The current plan would be about half coal with most everything else coming from natural gas and nuclear energy but T. Boone Pickens has a better idea.

He suggests 22 percent wind power instead of natural gas. So the pie would be broken out as follows: 50 percent coal, 22 percent nuclear power and 22 percent wind power. In his estimation this would reduce America’s 700 billion annual “burn rate” by 38 percent. The audience was audibly alarmed when he pointed out that 30 percent of all transport fuel is being drained by commercial trucks carrying consumer goods to market.

T. Boone Picken’s vision to revitalize rural America by creating new jobs for generations of alternative energy workers would all be funded by private enterprise and citizens. He doesn’t believe it should or feasibly could come from the Federal government. He and Warren Buffet discussed the business model and they both came to the conclusion that corporate America had to step up to the plate.

The first order of business in a long-term solution to energy independence is to upgrade our infrastructure. He referred to the “accidental grid” which was cobbled together over 100 years with layers of obsolete technologies piled on top of one another.

“Who can we blame for our problem? Ourselves! The political mindset of let sleeping dogs lie has left the wealthiest nation in the world without an energy plan for 40 years!” Almost everyone in attendance at the KMBZ Business Forum was nodding their heads.

T. Boone Pickens leaves Kansas City on a positive note and a sense of humor about our predicament. The ball is starting to roll. Look at the trash trucks in Southern California. Each truck is equivalent to 25 cars. Poor air quality was the intial motivation but now they're ahead of the curve and a model to follow. Today, over 50 percent of these trash trucks run on natural gas. “They’re too quiet,” someone said to him on his road trip. “I listen for it but I never hear them coming.” He wants to put a bell on them.

This commentary and analysis was written by Andrew Ellenberg, group executive producer for Entercom Communications Corp. which owns and operates News Radio 980 KMBZ. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

Boom Shaka-Laka! How You Like Them Now?

2007-12-27T01:17:00.000-08:00

Tom Brokaw Keynotes KMBZ Business Forum on Boomers

Insights For Marketers From Nationally Respected Speakers Series

Brokaw calls boomers the "greatest generation." The characterization is subjective but it's a fact that they are the wealthiest. With the 2007 Simmons National Consumer Survey pegging their estimated annual spending power upwards of $2 trillion, when they stand on their money, they're probably the tallest generation too.

Self-described “product of the 60’s” Tom Brokaw, trademark pipes, quick to point out humble Midwestern roots in Omaha where he got his start in broadcasting, provides key insights into social forces shaking the country to it’s core during maybe our most polarizing decade.

From the Vietnam War, free love and equal rights to the assassinations of our leaders, few argue the 60’s challenged assumptions about being an American in the "living well is the best revenge" sense. It played a pivotal role in the pursuit of affluence by 78 million consumers born between 1946 and 1964 who now control 67% of the nation's wealth.

New Dreams Defy Stereotypes

It's dangerous to assume when and how such a wealthy and large group of consumers retire. Or even if they retire. Ameriprise is trying to wrap its arms around the shifting tides, tapping Dennis Hopper of Easy Rider and Apocolypse Now fame to appeal to the boomer’s 60's fantasy of breaking from the norm and challenging them to "redefine" retirement.

Stop Targeting Birthdates

To stay relevant, marketers need to look beyond mere age-based demographics. They must become part of the lifestyle, belief systems and values of this generation, helping boomers tap new ways to express themselves through the choices they make with their disposable income.

In essence, become a "badge brand" that they're proud to be associated with and make them feel a sense of community.

Despite rebelling in their youth, boomers grew up. Since many have done a tremendous job of managing their money and health to enjoy an active lifestyle later in life, the vision of sitting on a porch swing holding hands is out.

Hopkins throwing his arms up in the air against a dramatic sunset on a beach yelling retirement is “whatever you want it to be” on TV is in.

Hopkins is selling boomer pride and sparking their desire for a brighter (and richer) retirement than their parents had.

That said, boomers are not all created equal. It's critical to segment customers by lifestyle or "psychographic" profile. Marketing to conservative boomers who adore conspicuous luxury compared to liberal boomers who will pay a premium for green products because they need a big cause and “save the planet” fits the bill? Night and day.

Put That Snowboard on the AMEX

Other segments under the boomer umbrella are more active, spending billions on recreation, especially life threatening pursuits that many marketers associate only with young people like mountain climbing, river rafting and, get this, hand gliding?

Yup. When it’s comes to winding down, boomers are challenging convention. They’ve learned from their parent’s mistakes about fitness, nutrition, managing stress and have the best healthcare money can buy.

Hey, as Kathy Bates puts it in the popular movie Fried Green Tomatoes while playing boomer Evelyn Couch ramming into a young girl's car six times for stealing a parking space she'd been waiting for with exemplary patience, "Face it girls, I'm older and have more insurance."

What Brokaw did in his speech at the December 2007 KMBZ Business Forum was represent the decade that shaped him as a man and as a broadcaster and personalize a nation divided. He stood on that podium not so much as a symbol but as a spokesman.

Just a guy from Omaha who ended up landing a seat in front of the camera as anchorman and managing editor of the NBC Nightly News which became the most viewed cable and broadcast news program in the nation during a critical period in our history.

So as today’s boomers parasail, jump out of planes, white water raft, hot air balloon and engage in other extreme activities that would have given their parents coronaries, keep an eye on the younger end of the boomer spectrum coming up through the ranks over the next 10 to 20 years. They will likely be radically different than what many people expect.

This commentary and analysis was written by Andrew Ellenberg, group executive producer for Entercom Communications Corp. which owns and operates News Radio 980 KMBZ. Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.

Mine More Eyeballs from the Inbox

2007-10-25T16:33:00.000-07:00

When you sit down for coffee and open your inbox in the morning do you find yourself wondering how all that spam gets through your company firewall?

Who Are These People?

But then you realize there are a few "must reads." The ones that make you feel if you delete them you'll be a day late and a dollar short. These messages are not spam. They are email newsletters. A valuable resource that stands out from intruders.

As a marketer trying to leverage the web to expand your business, what would it be worth to become one of the "must reads" that grabs your prospect's eyeballs, ends up being forwarded, archived, debated and referred back to while countless others get a one way trip to the recycle bin?

Since the problem is clutter, flinging another survey at customers to find out why they don't read your emails is probably not the most effective method of gathering intelligence.

Saturation Barrier

Spying on your prospects and customers with stealth technology that ties up their bandwidth, gives them viruses and violates their privacy? Not exactly on the top ten list for ways to endear yourself to discrimminating consumers.

No Rabbit in That Hat

There are no tricks to winning eyeballs. It's a straightforward proposition. Give people quality, relevant content and they won't delete you. As often. Hopefully.

Email marketing is critical to gaining a brand equity position not only in your prospect's inboxes but in their cluttered minds as well.

Stay focused on paying back the reader for their time. Leave the selling to mass market advertising platforms. It's not easy, but there's a very short list of "must reads" and you need to be on it.

This commentary and analysis was written by Andrew Ellenberg, group executive producer for Entercom Communications Corp. which owns and operates News Radio 980 KMBZ. Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.

Is Talent on Demand all it's Hyped Up to Be?

2007-10-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the plug and play workforce. In a tough market environment, the argument for trading fixed-burn compensation for variable compensation is compelling. That said, there are unique challenges in managing an independent workforce that doesn't really, well, work for you.

Creating and growing a productive corporate culture is hard enough on the inside. Gathering an army of independent contractors emailing strategic plans in their bathrobes and getting them to work as a team isn't exactly a no-brainer. And you can't just buy your way out of this quandary either.

Even so, the strategy of having the flexibility to scale up and down as needed, "rent" skill sets with the click of a mouse and get outside of your internal politics, to go "beyond the wall" has potential.

Buy In At The Top

If you don't have key people inside the company that have a vested interest in navigating the stumbling blocks to building a high performance remote workforce, buy a lottery ticket. Are your bosses in the C-Suite on board with the initiative? Do your people know they are behind it?

Like any business process, outsourcing strategic work to independent consultants carries some risk of competitive conflicts that you probably don't even see.

Sleeping with the Enemy

It is reasonable to assume "pay as you go" hires are working on the outside for your competitors or partners and allies of your competitors. "Indies" are a tight knit community that share information from across the invisible walls. You can't just slap a confidentiality agreement on their desk and hope for the best. Let's be real. People talk.

Commoditizing Intellectual Capital

Ok, some Instant Message. Or send an Avatar. Regardless of how information travels, it does so in real time at a very rapid clip. Instead of negotiating to get the cheapest price per thousand brain cells, pay a premium for full time accountability while building deeper ties to the company that make Indies feel that they are valued team members.

Barbarians at the Gate

Invariably, there will be resistance to "outsiders" from your "inside" team. That's why support at the top is so critical. Senior management needs to be intimately involved with these delicate relationships to ensure that a territorial middle manager doesn't torpedo your initiative by alienating your contractors.

In all fairness to the employees under you, they may have legitimate concerns about channel conflict, cannibalization and job security. It is management's responsibility to address them. Your people may even save you from costly mistakes almost as often as they give you a migraine. So, is Talent on Demand all it's cracked up to be? I guess it depends on who you talk to, who they talk to and how well the process is managed.

This commentary and analysis was written by Andrew Ellenberg, group executive producer for Entercom Communications Corp. which owns and operates News Radio 980 KMBZ. Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.