The Corporate Couch: Work Stories I Only Tell My Friends

Doug Morse, The CEO with the Heart of a Teacher - What is the Value of An Employee, Rural Healthcare Zealot, and How 1+1 =3

Doug Morse knows small hospitals and clinics are the healthcare and economic engines driving rural life. 30+ years of leadership as critical access hospital CEO, healthcare system executive, and entrepreneurship instructor. His first CEO position was in a small rural hospital system in Iowa. In his role as an educator teaching budding entrepreneurs, he was named "Teacher of the Year" twice. Doug is an accomplished author, speaker, and consultant who thrives on adding value to everyone he meets. Today he helps rural hospital C-Suites and Boards achieve exceptional scorecards and strong community support.
You will enjoy my conversation with Doug, a true servant leader!
 

Resilience Redefined with Jennifer Rome: Overcoming Crisis, Rebuilding Dreams, and Leaving a Lasting Legacy

Jennifer Rome describes herself as on a mission to make a positive impact on all she crosses paths with.  She serves as a mortgage advisor for Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation and is the co-founder and president of a local non-profit called The Giving Professional KC.  She is a mother to two incredible young men and is proud to be a Kansas City native.  
In 2019 and 2020, her world was turned upside-down and she had to quickly make choices on how she would rebuild.  She was finalizing an extremely tumultuous divorce, when she would encounter a life-threatening health crisis and then lost her job due Covid, just before closing on the purchase of her new home.  Essentially, she and her boys were displaced from everything they knew with limited ability to rebuild.  
But Jennifer is not one to succumb to crisis and knew her mindset and the small choices she made each day would lead her and her boys to a new life. 
And she is not stopping there.  Instead, she is using her experiences to connect with others and to give back to those whose hardships are great.  
Her goal is to be a voice of inspiration for anyone who needs the courage of another to overcome their heartache and their hardship.  
Upcoming projects include a podcast and a book.  Although neither yet has a release date, she is one to watch.  She is particularly interested in human stories and the power that sharing offers us on our journey to live profound lives,  
And in her words, “At the end of my life, I intend to look back and say "Yes, I lived! And, yes, I made a difference for the people in my life! And if I am lucky, I will leave a legacy!".
 
Our conversation will make you laugh and cry but you will leave inspired by hearing Jennifer's story. Please enjoy!

Pamela Norton, Serial Founder/CEO - How She Survived 9/11, Pioneering the Edge Economy, and The 3 Revolutions Happening Right Now

​In this episode, we explore Pamela Norton's journey as an American entrepreneur and visionary who believes in the interdependence of business and social impact. Join us as we delve into her groundbreaking work at Borsetta and TitleChain, where she utilizes blockchain, AI, and micro-electronic chip solutions to revolutionize the digital asset and Intellectual Property landscape. Learn how Pamela's disruptive innovation and cheerful futurism are shaping the economic Web3 growth and increasing liquidity while eliminating manual valuation operations by 90%. Throughout her illustrious career, Pamela has built world-class technology solutions, high-performing product development teams, and fruitful partnerships with clients, resulting in multi-million-dollar bottom-line growth. 
Pamela talks about "failing forward" and how difficult it was for a female CEO during the "Dot.Com" boom to get funding while PE firms were lending money to companies like sockpuppet.com. We talk about how she should have died on 9/11 as she would have been in the World Trade Center that day but she was ousted by the company that had acquired her start-up and the repercussions of that experience took a toll on her physically, mentally, and emotionally.
 
This conversation with Pamela is fascinating on so many levels. Please enjoy!
 
You can learn more about Pamela and her company at:
 
http://www.titlechain.world
 
 

Henning ​​Schwinum, Global Sales Executive - Being a Sales ”Matchmaker”, The Biggest Mistake Most Sales Professionals Make, and Why You Should Move On When You Are Not Learning Anymore

Henning ​​Schwinum is a creative and results-driven global founder and executive with extensive domestic and international experience in Sales, Supply Chain, and General Management, both in a corporate and entrepreneurial setting. He​nning launched Vendux in 2019 as the matchmaker, the agency for fractional and interim sales leadership. And almost four years later, Vendux is the only matchmaker focusing on CRO, CSO, or VP of Sales roles, representing North America's largest community of Sales Leaders.​ For more information, you can visit https://www.vendux.org/.
 
Please enjoy my conversation with Henning!

Amy Bradshaw, The Creative CFO - How To Be a Leader That People Want to Work For, Why You Should Be Curious, and Having No Defined Career Path

Amy Bradshaw recently joined Capitol Bridge, LLC, and is the company’s Chief Financial Officer. In her role. Amy is responsible for scaling the organization’s financial and accounting infrastructure to support the growth of the overall company.
Before joining Capitol Bridge, Amy worked with technology and services companies toevolve the accounting and finance functions. She has experience building strong teams and implementing new systems and processes to enable growth. Amy is a strong leader passionate about developing her team members and finding creative solutions to challenging situations.
Amy graduated summa cum laude from Miami University with bachelor's degrees inManufacturing Engineering and Accounting. She also earned a Master of BusinessAdministration from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.Amy is an active member of her community and currently serves on the non-profit boards of Cornerstones of Care, BraCoutureKC, and the Kansas City chapter of Financial Executives International.
 
Please enjoy my great conversation with Amy!

Mark Mears, Purposeful Growth Revolutionary - From the Great Resignation to the Great Re-Purposing, Why Community is More Important Than Culture, and Paying It Backwards

Mark Mears is a #1 Best Selling author, keynote speaker, consultant, and visionary business leader. He has a significant track record of building shareholder value—driving innovation and profitable growth among world-class, high-profile brands such as PepsiCo/Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Frito-Lay, JCPenney, NBCUniversal, and The Cheesecake Factory.
Today, Mark serves as Chief Growth Officer for LEAF Growth Ventures, LLC—a consulting firm inspiring individuals, teams, and organizations to find purpose in fulfilling their true growth potential while making a positive, lasting difference in the world.
Mark has just released his new book, The Purposeful Growth Revolution: 4 Ways to Grow from Leader to Legacy Builder.
Mark is also a member of the Senior Leader Network within Conscious Capitalism, Inc., a global organization whose mission he shares: Elevating Humanity Through Business. In doing so, his goal is to put the “Human” back in Human Resources.
For more information, please visit https://www.MarkAMears.com or connect with Mark on LinkedIn at Mark's LinkedIn profile
 
It's a great conversation with Mark...Please enjoy!
 

Valerie Jennings, Social Media Pioneer - Being a 24 year old, Female, Tech Company Founder/CEO in 2003, How AI is impacting MarTech/Marketing, and Having a Growth Mindset

​Valerie Jennings is CEO of Jennings​  Social Media & MarTech (JSMM​ - ​https://jsmmtech.com.​), which she founded in 2003 and has grown into a highly competitive ​Martech agency. The agency specializes in paid media, SEO, content strategy, and influencer marketing, working with clients in the automotive industry, transportation, ​logistics, healthcare, beauty, financial services, travel and tourism, technology, ​and ​home services. ​She presented at the 2023 Midwest Digital Marketing Conference in St. Louis and​ ​has earned awards and honors from the Stevie Awards, FOLIO, AMBIT, and others for her entrepreneurship, industry leadership, and excellence. Valerie remains a leader in the industry and is involved in the community, speaking at conferences, moderating and participating in digital panels, and speaking to community groups. ​She advocates for numerous charities, giving back to non-profits, including those focused on animal welfare, children and families, women, ​​and girls. Valerie invests her time mentoring women and entrepreneurs and is highly engaged in the AI community. A cornerstone of her agency continues to be fostering a positive community through education, technology, and career development.
Please enjoy my conversation with Valerie!
 

Lisa Seim, The Wall Street Connector - Being on a Mission to Enlighten the Financial Industry, Understanding Web3, Crypto, and Blockchain, and The Future of Our Financial Markets

​Lisa Seim has traded and sold treasury products for various financial institutions in Austria, Germany, and NYC in the mid-80s and 90s. In July 2011, she realized the markets were lost and stuck between the new regulatory mandates of Dodd-Frank regulatory reform and coming to terms with the fact that legacy technologies had little capacity to handle the new regulatory environment. Transparency and managing risk became at the top of everyone’s list. Lisa decided to establish Strategic Exchanges to help financial firms navigate through this new and very difficult path. She now steers financial institutions towards innovative solutions that will help them adhere to the new regulatory mandates. Lisa Seim presently engages over seventeen different firms that address various issues on the way trades are executed, processed, reported, and settled within the framework of the new regulatory mandates. Her consortium members currently comprise data, research, and analytics companies, aggregation services and applications, trade surveillance systems, clearing house services, legal services around financial technology applications, collateral and liquidity management systems along with lightweight, web-based portfolio management solutions. Through roundtable discussions, Lisa’s consortium members provide the latest tools to address the mandates as they are enacted. Lisa completed the equivalent of a master's degree in International Law & Finance in Vienna, Austria, and continues to stay on top of the global regulatory mandates and their impact on the financial industry.
 
 
Please enjoy my conversation with my junior high and high school friend, Lisa Seim!
 
 

Lori Saitz, Being Zen in a Chaotic World -Why You Should F*** Being Fine, Why High Achievers Meditate, and The #1 Question to Ask at a Networking Event.

Lori Saitz is the founder and CEO of Zen Rabbit ​​and host of the podcast “Fine is a 4-Letter Word.” An award-winning author, speaker, and broadcaster, Lori is on a mission to teach the world to be calm and grounded no matter what’s going on.​ ​High achievers come to her because they have a strong drive to be productive, but at the end of the day never feel accomplished enough. As a nationally recognized gratitude and meditation expert, Lori guides those entrepreneurs and business leaders from stressed and chaotic to peaceful and focused as well as showing them how to live a sabbatical life. Then they start seeing sales increase, relationships strengthen, and overall health improve.​Lori was also founder/CEO of her own bakery company for 11 years which was featured on the Rachel Ray show​In August 2022, Lori took a month-long sabbatical road trip with her 19-year-old cat. Read her account in chapter 8 of Love Warriors. You can often find Lori in her sanctuary, aka the weight room at the gym. She also loves cupcakes, Thai food, and classic rock music.
 
Please enjoy my conversation with Lori!

Megan Galloway, Corporate Learning Innovator - Building Connected Communities, Making the Workplace More Authentic, and Innovating Corporate Leadership Development

​Megan Galloway is on a mission to make our workplace a more authentic and human place for current and future generations to thrive. She works with Campfire (https://www.getcampfire.com/) to help managers be the best versions of themselves through innovative, community-based learning. She's spent over a decade building learning and development programs from the ground up for companies that have never had them before, including one recognized as a top global learning program. She lives in Kansas City with her family, loves Ted Lasso, and aspires to be a Great British Bakeoff baker.
 
 
You will enjoy my conversation with Megan!