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Award-Winning Leadership Speaker, Executive Coach & New York Times Best-Selling Author

Ryan Alford 

Marketing expert says: The questions an interviewee asks you reveal more than any answer.

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The next time you find yourself lined up for a job interview, follow Ryan Alford’s advice: Do your homework and arrive prepared to show your interviewers more than your record of accomplishment. Yes, your experience and skills count, but they are probably not as important as another trait: your curiosity.

“I actually learn more about people by the questions they ask than the questions I ask them,” Ryan noted, “It shows how much research they’ve done, how much interest they have, and how much curiosity they have.”

As a boy growing up tall in South Carolina, Ryan Alford developed plenty of drive going toe-to-toe with another intense basketball player, young Kevin Garnett, and even played briefly on the same AAU team as the now NBA Hall of Famer. After graduating from Eastside High School, Ryan went to college at Clemson, not to pursue basketball but rather business. From there, he worked as a “Mad Man” in New York before returning to South Carolina to join Erwin Penland, a South Carolina ad agency. Before he was through there, Ryan would be part of a team that built a $50 million advertising account with Verizon Wireless, including the launch of the iPhone, beating out several big Manhattan agencies in the process.

Today, he runs his own marketing consultancy, where he cultivates the kind of “radical” thinking needed to provide world-class services to clients. If you are a business leader interested in maximizing your team’s creativity, this podcast is for you, offering insights that include two entrepreneurial qualities that corporate leaders can cultivate today.


You will learn:

  •  3:00   Ryan’s experience playing basketball with Kevin Garnett.
  •  5:00   Why talent alone is not enough to be great.
  • 10:00  The power of an underdog.
  • 17:00  Do not shy away from sharing a “bad idea.”
  • 22:00  How to develop your personal brand.
  • 25:00  The radical formula for building Great marketing campaigns.
  • 23:30  Why silos are death for team spirit.
  • 24:45  How to break down the sales vs. service silo.
  • 28:00  How to establish a clear vision.



You will learn:

  •  6:00   How easy it is to cut corners in practice and why you’ll suffer as a result.
  •  8:00   How to emphasize the power or “we” on your team.
  • 11:00  How living and working in Japan in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster taught Lane that caring was the universal language of respected leaders.
  • 15:00  The level of employee interaction required to achieve success.
  • 18:30  The difference between being accountable and responsible.
  • 27:00  How to identify a meaningful friend or mentor.

Resources:


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Greg Brenneman

Greg Brenneman

Home Depot Board Director

“Don, you have mastered the skill of interviewing and asking great questions. That is a great skill all leaders need in order to understand their team members’ thought processes.”

John Maxwell

John C. Maxwell

Best-Selling Author, Leadership Expert

“I am a subscriber because you are one of the greatest teachers, one of the best storytellers I have ever met, and I know you will maximize the people you have on the podcast. I’m telling everyone because when you find gold you point everyone to it.”

Simon Sinek

Best-Selling Author, Inspirational Speaker

“Don is one of the best storytellers I’ve ever met. I’ve known him for a long time and every time we talk I walk away wiser and more inspired. He is the best in the business at teaching you a skill – storytelling – that will last you a lifetime.”

Beth Brooke

Beth Brooke

Global Vice Chair of Public Policy for Ernst & Young

“The ability for athletes to get hired is carried on through you because you are putting out the message that lessons learned from sports are important in life. It is embedded in this podcast, what you’re doing is significant.”

RIck Hendrick

Rick Hendrick

NASCAR Hall of Famer, Owner of Hendrick Motorsports & Chairman of the Hendrick Automotive Group

“We speak the same language. I am inspired by the stories you tell, the people you have met, and the things you’ve done. Those of us that are competitors like to follow others that have been down that journey, so it is always fun talking to you!”

Bill George

Bill George

Longtime Medtronic CEO, Harvard Professor

“Many of the leaders I have worked with were excellent athletes, and I think there is a direct correlation. You’re one of the few people that really has pursued this study, Don. Keep up the great work. What you are doing really makes a difference.”

Savannah Gallagher

Producer

Jon Rousseau

Design/Development

Francisco Nunez

Editor

Brett Rutherford

Editor

Special thanks to Dave Moore, Lauren Hafner, Samantha Clark, and the Florida State University Internship Program for consistently supporting our research team.

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