It’s one thing to have a great and innovative idea, but it’s a completely different ballgame to be able to communicate it and get buy-in for the idea. Whether you call it persuasion, getting buy-in, or plain old sales, this is something we’re all doing in one way or the other, and we could all do with some tips and tricks to make this process more effective. Merit Kahn is the Founder of Merit-Based Business, one of the best salespeople I have ever met, and someone I really admire. She has been doing sales, sales management training, and speaking professionally on business development topics since 1998, and has worked with entrepreneurs, and business leaders from a variety of industries. She brings a wealth of expertise to the table about how to persuade and influence others. What do emotional intelligence (empathy) and assertiveness have to do with sales strategies? Merit explains more about why influencing others starts with understanding the things that have an influence on us. We also dig into having a relationship with reality, and how we can ensure that we’re focusing on addressing our clients’ current challenges. Merit shares more about what emotions have to do with persuasion, why questions are a powerful tool to influence others, and more, in this jam-packed interview.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Merit Kahn, Merit-Based Business Everyday Innovators Tribe Merit-Based Business Academy Virtual Programs, Merit-Based Business Smarter Sales Show Podcast Inside LaunchStreet Podcast Episode 1926: “Transforming Obstacles and Uncertainty into a Competitive Advantage and New Opportunities”

Inside LaunchStreet

1927: Being Persuasive — The Art of Asking Good Questions with Merit Kahn

Change creates new problems to solve and new opportunities to go after. In fact, the businesses that are surviving and thriving in this pandemic landscape are the ones that have turned the obstacles and uncertainty they have faced into a competitive advantage and new opportunities. Here are two ways you can use this to your advantage. 1) Jump the curve: Every business has a business life cycle curve and it typically moves from start to acceleration to success to decline. 2020 has thrown most of us a curveball and brought our businesses to a sudden cliff. I explain why in order to win in an uncertain marketplace and find the new opportunities that are going to move you forward into 2021 and the future, you need to stop focusing on moving up the curve you're on and jump the curve. How do you do this? Stop focusing on the how or what you do, and innovate off of the benefit you provide. 2) Solve your customers’ new needs: Rapid change and disruption create new problems to solve. Solving them for your customers not only keeps you relevant but also helps you unlock new opportunities. I have some brilliant examples of how businesses have adapted and evolved to solve new problems their customers were having, and an exercise that you can do to bring this strategy to your world.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Business & Innovation Webinar Series (6 Sessions) Everyday Innovators Tribe Leadership and Innovation Community with Tamara Ghandour Facebook Group Avid4 Adventure  

1926: Transforming Obstacles and Uncertainty into a Competitive Advantage and New Opportunities

Is your team disengaging now more than ever? Are they leaving their video turned off on Zoom meetings, or not responding as quickly to emails? Are they exhausted and struggling? Chances are, you’ve answered yes — so the real question is, as a leader, what can you do to get your team engaged, motivated, and collaborating again? This situation of heightened uncertainty and change has worn on for so long that people are now depleted and spent. Additionally, in an effort to stay connected and overcome isolation, we’re overusing virtual meeting platforms, and now we are experiencing the fatigue and burnout that comes from that. I have one simple tool that really helps teams get out of meeting overwhelm (and a bonus strategy)!   The trick to getting out of meeting overwhelm is to only call a meeting for one of four reasons: to decide, to move, to ideate, or to debate. I share some examples of how I have used this strategy with my team to get more time back and get more work done, while also creating clarity during meetings that leads to engagement, motivation, and innovation. As a bonus strategy, I also reveal the 10-minute strategy that helps people get rid of the mental residue of moving from one meeting to the next, and engage better.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Business & Innovation Webinar Series (6 Sessions) Basecamp Everyday Innovators Tribe Leadership and Innovation Community with Tamara Ghandour Facebook Group Bursts of Innovation Innovation Jam Session  

1925: Get Out of Meeting Overwhelm

Stability breeds efficiency and complacency but instability breeds resilience and innovation. The world we're in right now is all about instability, and let’s not kid ourselves that things are going to be different on January 1st, 2021. Yet, after dealing with all the uncertainty, disruption, and new challenges and problems that keep coming up, it’s no surprise that we are all burned out, exhausted, and having a hard time engaging, collaborating, and innovating. That’s where appreciative inquiry can be a great tool to have in your arsenal. It is a tool that works well, especially when your team is stressed out and burned out, and serves as a way to re-engage your team and dial up engagement, motivation, and innovation. Appreciative inquiry is about starting from a place of positivity and strength to innovate, not from a place of weakness and negativity. By getting ourselves and our teams into a positive mindset and a mindset of what’s working, we elevate our mood, engagement, and motivation, which in turn improves our ability to innovate. The three stages of appreciative inquiry are: Decide, Discover, Innovate. I share an example of a client I worked with and how they used appreciative inquiry to show how coming from a place of positivity and strengths can really engage, motivate, and allow for more and different innovation with better outcomes.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Innovation is Everybody's Business, by Tamara Ghandour Everyday Innovators Tribe How to “Ignite Innovation, Influence Others, and Lead Strong” Mini-Course Business & Innovation Webinar Series (6 Sessions) Leadership and Innovation Community with Tamara Ghandour Facebook Group Bursts of Innovation Innovation Jam Session  

1924: Starting with a positive mindset to get better outcomes

What do I do if my team doesn’t have any ideas? Why is my team lacking ideas? — Sound familiar? We live in a time of incredible opportunity to innovate, but your team just isn’t stepping up to innovate, and are rehashing old ideas or just drawing blanks when called to innovate. What’s happening? There is immense pressure to innovate right now, in these unprecedented times where everything we know has been wiped clean — giving us an amazing opportunity to innovate, but our teams are failing to come up with the ideas we need to seize the opportunities. However, the hurdle isn’t a lack of ideas. The real obstacle we need to overcome is fear at a primal and subconscious level, which comes from experience-stacking. I explain the concept of experience stacking and why that is a huge contributing factor to creating fear in your team which creates a mental brick wall of fear and inhibits innovation. I also have three strategies that we as leaders can use to get rid of this brick wall and take advantage of all the great ideas that are hiding in plain sight, in your team and your business.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Innovation is Everybody's Business, by Tamara Ghandour How to “Ignite Innovation, Influence Others, and Lead Strong” Mini-Course Tony Robbins  

1923: Fear that Inhibits Innovation

We can all agree that we are living in very uncertain times. Uncertainty is one of those things that has always been around, but it has been amplified in a big way right now. We don’t know where things are headed, or what’s coming next, and everything just feels uncertain. However, instead of complaining about the uncertainty, if we start thinking about uncertainty as opportunity in disguise, we can set ourselves up for greater growth, success, and impact than ever before. Once certainty is removed from the picture, we try to add certainty where we can, but this holds us back and keeps us from moving forward. What we need to do is to start finding new ways forward, and learn to take advantage of the situation in different ways. Instead of worrying about bringing certainty into things, start thinking about where the opportunities lie. I share some of the traps to avoid and three things that will help you see that uncertainty is really just opportunity in disguise. The thing is, you can’t prepare for uncertainty — but you can prepare for the ability to adapt and pivot, to find the opportunities in uncertainty.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Everyday Innovators Tribe Waitlist Leadership and Innovation Community with Tamara Ghandour Facebook Group  

1922: What if Uncertainty is Opportunity in Disguise?

We often talk about change at the grand scale of change, but equally if not more important, is change at the personal level. We’ve all encountered this in our teams and organizations — people are resistant to change and the struggle to get them on board for change. The key to unlocking this lies in recognizing that people don’t fear change, they fear being changed. If we can take the “being” out of it, we can get them on board with change.   I share the four main reasons why people resist change: Because it’s happening to us and we’re not in control Because we fear the unknown — not knowing what to do, being left behind, uncertainty, getting it wrong Because our lizard brain sees change as unsafe and risky Because we are afraid of changing who we are fundamentally as a person   Understanding these four reasons for fearing change can help us address these fears and get people on board with three simple strategies — giving control back to the people around you, investing in them, and acknowledging all effort. Really, at the end of the day, it’s about empowering people to tackle the change.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: How to Ignite Innovation, Influence Others and Lead Strong in Challenging Times — Webinar on Oct 22 Everyday Innovators Tribe Waitlist Leadership and Innovation Community with Tamara Ghandour Facebook Group  

1921: Change at the Personal level

Many people have approached me expressing frustration in this time — with themselves, and their teams. They feel stuck and unable to unlock new paths of innovation, but the problem is we tend to fall into the trap of asking one question in one way, but expecting a plethora of different types of answers. The trick to overcoming this is to ask different questions to get to new innovations and solutions, but what questions do we ask? How can we ask better and different questions to lead us to new channels of thinking and innovative solutions? A very simple yet effective exercise to help us ask different questions is something I call “Word Games.” Start by articulating the problem you’re trying to solve in a simple way. Then, change one key word in the problem or question you’re trying to solve. That’s it. By changing keywords in the question or problem, we can shift our patterns of thinking and approach the problem differently. This is not about finding the one right question that's going to be the end-all, be-all, and then using that question. It’s about asking the question in multiple ways because different questions get to different lanes of thinking and different ideas. I share more about how this works in practice with some examples, and how this can help to unlock innovation not just for yourself, but also in your team. If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: How to Ignite Innovation, Influence Others and Lead Strong in Challenging Times — Webinar on Oct 22 Innovation is Everybody’s Business, by Tamara Ghandour Everyday Innovators Tribe Waitlist Mad Libs Leadership and Innovation Community with Tamara Ghandour Facebook Group  

1920: A Simple Exercise to Unlock New Innovation

With all my work in the area of innovation, I’ve had the realization that innovation can be energizing, but at the same time, exhausting. Being exhausted and being energized by innovation are just two sides of the same coin — we just need to know how to manage and minimize the exhaustion that comes with innovation, and how to tap into what energizes us about it. Innovation is an incredibly positive thing that helps us solve sticky challenges and unearth opportunities that are hiding in plain sight. However, whether it’s learning a new skill, taking risks, or operating under more pressure, it is exhausting and requires more mental energy, which can take a toll on us and drain us. The key here is giving ourselves grace to manage the exhaustion that comes with dealing with sustained stress and blazing new trails. I share some of my top strategies for tackling the exhaustion, as well as why it’s okay to take a nap in the middle of the day. On the energizing side of innovation, I’m sure we can all relate to how satisfied and motivated we feel when we solve a sticky challenge or go in the pursuit of blazing new paths. That’s why it’s crucial that we spend more time intentionally innovating to get that feel-good energy and satisfaction. At the end of the day, it is completely normal and natural to be energized AND exhausted by innovation — giving ourselves permission to rest and recharge, while engaging in intentional innovation is what will get us to the top. If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Leadership and Innovation Community with Tamara Ghandour Facebook Group Free Innovation Workshop 3-part Innovation Mini-course: How To Ignite Innovation, Influence Others and Add Massive Value Everyday Innovators Tribe Waitlist  

1919: How Innovation Exhausts and Energizes

I’ve been getting some questions from people in the Free Innovation Workshop about the Everyday Innovators Tribe membership program, designed to unlock your innovation potential, create massive impact, and help you lead strong in your team or organization. I wanted to tackle these questions and give you some insights about what the program is all about, and how you stand to benefit from it.   I dig into these five questions: I’m not on FB much. Will I get value if I’m not on it? How do I buy for my team? Does my team member need to be a certain level (e.g. leadership level) to join the Everyday Innovators Tribe? If I feel totally lacking in innovation or creativity — will the Everyday Innovators Tribe help me change that? Why is the price so low given how much you get? I'm suspicious — do I have to buy in every time I do a jam session or a Q&A?   Such great questions, and I think you’ll be surprised by some of my answers!   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Leadership and Innovation Community with Tamara Ghandour Facebook Group Everyday Innovators Tribe Waitlist Free Innovation Workshop Email the Everyday Innovators Team

1918: Q&A — Everyday Innovators Tribe

2020 has been a year like no other, and we only have just over a quarter of the year left. So much that is happening is out of our control — the pandemic, the economy, working from home, the elections — but despite everything that has happened so far, we can still finish the year strong. What’s more, we can start 2021 strong. What we need to do is to focus on our own abilities to innovate, influence, and make an impact. To help you do that, I’ve launched the Everyday Innovator’s Tribe and a free innovation workshop to help you become a better leader and innovator by giving you the tools to apply innovation to your world. I want to share seven key things participants are saying about the workshop, the content in there, and about being a part of the Everyday Innovators Tribe, including how people feel empowered to take action with the real-world tactics and exercises I share, how they are influencing others and getting noticed, and how they are now able to pivot fast and effectively to see and take advantage of new opportunities.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Leadership and Innovation Community with Tamara Ghandour Facebook Group Everyday Innovator’s Tribe Waitlist Free Innovation Workshop

1917: Why You Need to Join the Everyday Innovator’s Tribe

Would you like to know what the future holds? You already have the answers within your organization — you just have to know where to look, and how to listen. Geoff Thatcher explains how we can all get into the CEO’s Time Machine to start innovating the future. Geoff Thatcher is Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Creative Principals, and an experienced designer. Since the age of 14, he has worked at theme parks, museums, and visitors centers and focuses on experiences. When the pandemic hit, Geoff’s main business had to hit pause, but he took the opportunity to bring to life a book he had been sitting on for some time — The CEO’s Time Machine. The only way to invent the future is to go there and then look back. To Geoff, it's a matter of perspective. He explains his approach to helping people shift their perspective from the anchors that are holding them in today, to something in the future, and why it’s so important to hear others and be heard. Geoff shares why he believes we need to listen to young people and avoid shutting them down, how to set expectations in innovation, and why the future is truly only limited by our perspective, our imagination, and our creativity.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Geoff Thatcher The CEO’s Time Machine, by Geoff Thatcher Inside Launchstreet Podcast Episode: “The Power of Zoning In on Your Customers and Front Lines Advice” “When Women Don't Speak,” Research conducted in BYU Accounting Program “Burst of Innovation — How to Get Legacy Thinkers On Board With Change” Everyday Innovator’s Tribe Waitlist

1916: CEO’s Time Machine with Geoff Thatcher

How can you become a better leader and innovator? The three keys to your success are in focusing on innovation, influence, and impact. By focusing on bringing these three things to life, you can ensure that you will go further, faster. Innovation is all about thinking differently about what’s right in front of you to create an advantage. It’s something we talk about very often on LaunchStreet, and I share some of my strategies to unlock your innovation. Innovative ideas are nothing if you do not get buy-in from others to execute and implement these ideas. That’s where influence comes in. It’s really all about communicating ideas and including them in the process of innovation and igniting innovation in those around you. The last key is Impact, which is the value you create. By being an indispensable member of your team, and being the person whose ripple effect can be felt across your world, you can unlock your own success. I share more about these three keys to your success as well as some real-life examples from our tribe, so be sure to tune in.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: 4-Part Innovation Workshop Everyday Innovator Style Everyday Innovator’s Tribe Waitlist  

1915: Three Keys to Your Success

In an effort to drive innovation and create accountability for innovation, many companies have established a dedicated innovation team that is solely responsible for innovation. The unintended consequence of that is that everybody else in the team or organization gets the message that they're not innovative and their ideas don't matter. The unintended consequences of siloing innovation are not only that people become discouraged and disengaged, but we’re also leaving a lot of human potential on the table. In addition to that, when it comes to implementation, it can be a challenge to get buy-in from people who have had no say in the innovation process. How can we avoid the negative consequences of siloing innovation while still having accountability? As leaders, we need to be moving away from being the “doers” of innovation and become “enablers” of innovation. We need to create jobs that allow space for innovation and give our team members the resources and tools to innovate. I also share a little about how an innovation feedback loop can help, and how we can create this shift away from innovation occurring in silos.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Leadership and Innovation Community with Tamara Ghandour on Facebook 4-Part Innovation Workshop Everyday Innovator Style Everyday Innovator’s Tribe Waitlist  

1914: The Unintended Consequences of Siloing Innovation

One of the fields that drive innovation, customer experience, and new ways of thinking is the sports world. As an industry that is always looking to outdo the previous year’s “performance,” the sports industry gives rise to a lot of innovation that can be applied to other industries. To share some insights about this, Fielding Jamieson, Strategy Director at Global Sport Venture Studio (GSVS), an initiative that's looking to bring together the world's leading sports organizations to collaborate with each other and engage with startups in the overall sports innovation ecosystem, joins me on the podcast.   So where do sports and innovation intersect? We kick off the conversation by discussing how the sports industry is reacting to the current issues around race and the Black Lives Matter movement, and its impact on culture. Fielding highlights how sports teaches you to take ownership and own up to your mistakes, and why this is so important to be adaptive to changes on the ground. She also shares more about the balance between encouraging people to try new things and keeping the nostalgia of the past, the investment of time and resources into innovation in sports, and how brands are keeping up with changing customer needs.   Fielding’s insights about brand loyalty, how to keep the customer relationship going through this pandemic, and what we need to do to make the customer experience special are sure to be applicable to your industry as well. We also discuss resistors to innovators in the sports industry, why startups are so important, and why we need to be thinking about opening people’s minds, rather than changing them.   If you are ready to: get buy-in from key decision-makers on your next big idea be a high-impact, high-value member that ignites change foster a culture of innovation where everyone on your team is bringing innovative ideas that tackle challenges and seize opportunities… Join us on LaunchStreet — gotolaunchstreet.com   Mentioned in This Episode: Fielding Jamieson on LinkedIn Global Sport Venture Studio R/GA Ventures Lindsey Vonn Documentary Snacks.com Spartan Crossfit Everyday Innovator’s Tribe Waitlist  

1913: Innovation in Sports with Fielding Jamieson

Inside LaunchStreet is the leading business innovation podcast. Tamara interviews top innovation leaders and everyday innovators out there shaking things up so that you can tap the power of your greatest personal advantage - your innovative mind. Join thousands of other innovators who have sharpened their edge by listening to this incredible innovation podcast.

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Inside LaunchStreet

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