In the Now Podcast: Episode 10
Join Nowspeed's CEO, David Reske, as he engages in discussions with founders, marketers, and CEOs from around the globe. Delving into the realm of marketing and leadership, aiming to unravel the myths and misunderstandings that often surround these topics.
Bill Flynn Author, Business Advisor / Coach | Catalyst Growth Advisors
What Makes A Good Leader In A Company?
BILL FLYNN has collaborated with Alan Mulally, pitched Steve Jobs, accomplished much, failed often, and learned many useful lessons from thirty years of studying the science of success.
Bill’s best-selling book – Further, Faster – The Vital Few Steps that Take the Guesswork out of Growth continues to garner a nearly 5-Star rating generating demand for virtual and in-person national and international speaking opportunities.
Away from his coaching, Bill is a father, learner, cultivator, entrepreneur, speaker, writer, athlete, brother, etiologist, iconoclast, Stoic, upstream thinker, builder, giver, “musician”, and friend. When he is not cheering on his collegiate-champion, musically-gifted daughter, Bill lives and works in greater Boston.
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Beyond SEO: The Power of an Integrated Digital Advertising Campaign
How Growth Hacking Fits into Your Digital Marketing Strategy
Building a Marketing Engine for Long-Term Growth
Best Practices for Event Marketing
How to Integrate PR with Digital Marketing
7 Strategies for Successfully Selling on Amazon
Can A CEO Also Be A CMO?
How To Exceed Customer Expectations
How Can You Make Doubt a Force for Good in Your Life?
Do Inbound or Social Media Marketing Campaigns Work on Their Own?
What’s More Important, Unique Ideas or Innovation?
Why Build The Right Sales & Marketing Processes
Why Business Owners Don't Have To "Carry The World"
Scaling Challenges with Small Businesses
The New Rules of Personal Branding
What is Content Marketing's True Essence?
The Differences Between Product Placement & Thought Leadership
How Do You Get the Most Out of Your Creative Agency?
How Companies Are Marketing For The Environment
How Should Marketing Strategy Change as Your Company Grows?
Does Marketing Experience Still Matter?
How Can You Use AI to Compliment the Content You Need?
Are You Better Off With Lead Gen or Demand Gen Marketing?
Is Direct Mail Marketing Still Effective?
Grow Your Business With A Precise Marketing Strategy
How To Manage Risks & Challenges In An Organization
How AI Writing Can Make You More Productive & Creative
How Do You Decide When to Hire Vs. Outsource to an Agency?
Do Great Companies Get It Right The First Time?
Can Chat GPT Replace Your Marketing Department?
How To Get Insights For Your Marketing Strategy
How To Develop A Brand With An Emotional Connection
What Is The Content Marketing Paradox?
When Is It Time To Launch Your Product?
Do Companies Still Need Heroes?
Which Is Better? Results Driven vs Time Based Work Culture
How To Find The Balance Between Busy & Productive
How CEOs Can leverage Challenging Experiences For Greater Impact
How To Redefine Leadership Without Needing Full Control
How To Create A Winning Sales Process
Working At For Profit Businesses Vs Non-Profit Organizations
Leading With Emotional Intelligence
How Healthy Conflict Creates A Healthy Business Environment
What Is Really Important For Business Growth?
How To Create A Meaningful Brand Identity
Can You Change Your Career Focus?
What Leadership Skills Create a Mentally Healthy Workplace?
Turn Marketing & Entrepreneurship Ideas Into A Business
Should You Add More Products & Services?
Should You Rely on Humans Or Machines Translation?
Should You Build A Fan Base Or Sell To Everyone?
Is A Company Built To Last or Sell The Same Thing?
Should Your Growth Focus Be Broad Or Narrow?
How To Scale Your Business With A Sales Team
What Is The Secret To Frictionless Growth For Your Company?
Is It More Efficient To Build Or Buy For Your Business?
How Should A CEO Grow & Evolve With Their Business?
How To Position Your Company In The Buying Process
How To Integrate Work-Life Balance
What Are Breakthrough Marketing Strategies For Non-Profits?
How Content Marketing Can Benefit Your Business
What Is Purpose Driven Marketing?
How To Promote Your Own Music
What Gives A Brand It's Relevant Identity?
Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) Is Quietly Taking Over?
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Episode Transcript
Nowspeed: Bill Flynn
What are leadership qualities of a great leader in different industries including healthcare, education, financial services, and digital marketing.
Listen to the full interview here.
Nowspeed: Hi, this is Dave Reske of Nowspeed, which is a digital marketing agency, and welcome to today’s edition of In the Now, where we focus on uncovering myths and misunderstandings of digital marketing with some of the world’s most interesting people in various industries including startups, manufacturing, healthcare, education, and financial services. I have a really interesting guest today: Bill Flynn.
Bill is an experienced Marketer that has worked for and advised hundreds of companies, including startups, spanning multiple industries. He’s been a VP of Sales eight times, twice a CMO, once the division president or the division GM of a $100-million IT services company before he pivoted to become a growth coach in 2016. He has had five successful outcomes, two IPOs, seven acquisitions, putting on a turnaround during the financial crisis. Bill, welcome to the show. Great to have you on.
Bill Flynn: David, thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it. I want to be clear that I’m not a founder, I’m a scale guy. So when you talk about those IPOs and acquisitions, they are not just on me. I was part of it. I just want to make sure that was clear.
Nowspeed: Yeah, no worries. I’m sure you have a lot to do with the success of those companies. But you know, just reading that biography makes me feel exhausted. So it must have been a huge amount of work and you’ve probably learned more than the average career guy does in four lifetimes. So it’s super exciting for you to share some of that expertise with us today.
Bill Flynn: Sure. I’d love to, as I say, work with folks to hopefully help them make their own mistakes and not repeat mine.
Nowspeed: And you’re also an author of the book, “Further, Faster: The Vital Few Steps to Take the Guesswork Out to Growth.”
Bill Flynn: Yes, accidental author. It’s really cool to have a book and I also contributed to another book called “The Freedom of Constraints” where I was one of 29 folks in the 100 coaches organization that Marshall Goldsmith leads, and one of the guys wanted to write a book and so he asked for help and I presented something he thought it was good enough. So I’m in two books. So that’s kind of cool.
Nowspeed: That’s awesome. Well, we’ll get to all that in our conversation. But first, I just want to start with a provocative question. I just want to ask you to help us smash a myth about leadership — what is something people believe about leadership that’s not really the case.
Bill Flynn: So I have a few, but the biggest one, and I guess the most productive is: Leadership isn’t a thing. And what I mean by that is that you can teach someone how to be a doctor or a professor or whatever. But there’s no formula for being a great leader. There’s not one thing that says, “This person is a great leader.”
You know, you look at Steve Jobs; people say he was a great leader, and maybe he was, but he had a bunch of flaws. And some people didn’t think he was that great of a leader. You look at folks like Warren Buffett; they say he’s a great leader, but what makes him a great leader? He doesn’t have a lot of charisma. You have to be creative, you have to have a vision, you have to be charismatic. There are no attributes that I’ve seen that say, “If you do these things or create these things within yourself, you’re a great leader.”
What I have found is that there is a continuity across leaders; those people who are considered leaders are people who can figure out how to create followers. You can’t be a leader without a follower. You can’t say I’m in charge with no one to lead. It’s an act of volunteers, right? People say, I choose to follow you and other people make you a leader. You can’t make yourself a leader.
Now, my favorite leader of all time is a guy named Alan Mulally. Are you familiar with him? I found Alan Mulally when he was the head of Boeing commercial aircraft in the middle of 9-11. And he was the head of Ford in the middle of the 2008 crisis. He led those folks through basically an existential crisis for that industry itself, and they were better leaving it than they were when they went in.
To listen to the entire interview, click here.
