Listen to “#695 Should We Really Be Imitating Superstar CEOs?” on Spreaker.
On this episode of The Small Business Radio Show…
SEGMENT 1 with David Gelles, starting at 0:00: In our society today, we revere many of our most financially successful CEOs and business leaders with almost religious dedication. Think about all the memorials at Apple stores by consumers when Steve Jobs died… or the respect that Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson get. Is this deserved?
SEGMENT 2 with Ivy Walker, starting at 19:00: I always said that if entrepreneurs knew the risks they were taking in starting a business, they never would be doing it. Risk management is something that every small business owner needs to do. Here to simplify it for entrepreneurs and small business owners is Ivy Walker.
SEGMENT 3 with Garrett Baird, starting at 36:15: Bookkeeping and accounting consistently confounds small business owners. How can we make it simpler? Garrett Baird is here to help.
Sponsored by Truly Financial.
More on each segment below.
Segment 1: David Gelles has interviewed a lot of CEOs as the Corner Office columnist for the New York Times. As he writes – when he got started as a business reporter, this isn’t the kind of book he imagined he would one day be writing. His new book is called, “The Man Who Broke Capitalism: How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland and Crushed the Soul of Corporate America—and How to Undo His Legacy.”
1:30 – Why did you think you would never write this book?
2:30 – Why do we idolize superstar CEOs?
4:00 – Jack Welch grew GE into the most valuable company in the world, but at what expense?
7:45 – Jeff Immelt was not very successful as a successor. Why?
9:30 – It’s worth asking: what is the responsibility of our business leaders?
11:45 – The one of hardest pressures facing CEOs today is whether or not to take a stance on social and political issues.
14:30 – The direct parallels between Jack Welch, former President Trump, and Elon Musk.
17:00 – What would you like CEOs to think about?
Segment 2: Ivy Walker is a serial entrepreneur, business coach and a multi-award-winning author, director and Executive Producer of documentary films. She is co-founder of Helios Digital Learning, a company that uses digital storytelling to help business professionals and students improve their ethical decision-making, Founding CEO of Purpose Workforce Solutions -a company that specializes in connecting the aspirations of disconnected youth to job opportunities, and Founder of AskCoda, a risk management platform for small businesses. She is the author of Twelve-Minute Risk Management: Strategies and Tools Small Business Owners Need Right Now to Navigate Today’s Business World.
19:00 – Small businesses need to know what risk management is and how to do it effectively.
21:30 – Cybersecurity risks are a top threat to small business and business owners are not doing enough to address it.
25:15 – Business owners need to better understand the story their financial statements tell in order to run their businesses better.
28:30 – How can we mitigate the risks of financial fraud?
30:30 – What if you have one customer who is the majority of your revenue? What if you have key employees who are the only ones with certain knowledge in your business?
32:45 – How to mitigate the risks of accounts receivables and low gross margins.
Segment 3: Garrett Baird is President and CEO of The Neat Company (Neat). He joined the company in 2020 to lead its entrance into the digital accounting space, helping small business owners spend more time growing their businesses while transforming mundane bookkeeping into actionable insights.
36:15 – Why is bookkeeping and accounting such a persistent problem for small business owners?
39:00 – Do it as you go so you can see the financial health of business!
41:00 – How do you set up the chart of accounts? How do you help businesses track revenue?
44:00 – Making the reconciliation process easier.
45:45 – Can a small business owner do their accounting themselves or do they need a bookkeeper/accountant?
48:15 – What is the difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant?
50:15 – Why choose the Neat solution?
