Instructors

Get to know the CEDIA Management Conference 2010 instructors!

Get to Know…Steve Firszt, Fast-Forward Business Coaching

Course: Building a Foundation: Organizational Alignment/Company Focus, Core Values

Question: How do your co-workers refer to you (the boss, speaker girl, the brain, etc.)?
Answer: Coach

Question: What is your professional area of expertise? 
Answer: Marketing, Sales & Financial Management, and Strategic Planning

Question: Do you have a book recommendation? 
Answer: Currently reading The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes

Question: What are your words to live by (life motto or quote)?
Answer: “Relationships thrive when there is regular communication among parties willing to give more than they get.”

Question: Are you published? Where can we find your work?
Answer: I hope to publish a book – but so far, only 118 newsletters and a couple dozen white papers.

Question: What is your leadership development philosophy?
Answer: Heed the lessons from your children - Make sure people understand exactly what you want them to do, and when it needs to be done, and why it is important to the greater good of the company.

Question: Is there any personal information you would like attendees to know?
Answer: Married 25 years and counting, three wonderful daughters – the most success a man could hope for.

Question: What are three values you do your best at living each day?  
Answer:

• Be honest
• Be fair
• Protect your integrity

Question: What is your most memorable teachable moment?  
Answer: The day I realized entrepreneurs should not expect employees to figure things out on their own.  

Question: What connection do you hope to make with CEDIA Management Conference attendees?
Answer: The values of the owner permeate the values of the company which, in turn, shape the value proposition to the customer. Make sure everybody understands and aligns with this foundation of company behavior.

Get to Know…Dave Stevens, Stevens & Stevens, LLC

Course: Building Value: Marketing and Branding

Question: How do your co-workers refer to you (the boss, speaker girl, the brain, etc.)?
Answer: While I'm sure they have imagined all kinds of wonderful names for me, they simply refer to me as "Dave."  We have incredibly talented people on staff - very much equals - so titles and labels have never been common.

Question: What is your professional area of expertise? 
Answer: Marketing.  Having been the brand manager of Procter & Gamble's largest product, I obviously understand mega-company marketing principles.  However, I have been able to translate those principles to organizations of all sizes, helping them to grow and prosper without spending millions of dollars.  That will be what I bring to the Management Conference attendees.

Question: Do you have a book recommendation?
Answer: Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.  I find that the underlying drivers behind effective marketing strategies are not always intuitive, but they are often predictable based on hard data that we have developed over the years.

Question: Are you published? Where can we find your work?       
Answer: You'll find my work both in magazines and online.  For CEDIA Management Conference attendees, the simplest way to find some introductory marketing information I've authored is at www.bestassociation.com.  This is introductory-level marketing information - the "short answers" to common marketing questions.  While this particular set of Q&A's is geared toward associations, the principles still apply to small and medium-size electronic systems contractors. 

Question: What is your leadership development philosophy?
Answer: I had seven bosses at Procter & Gamble in just the first two years (it can be a brutal place unless you really master marketing), and the very best boss among those seven has been a mentor ever since.  His philosophy was to find the best people and turn them loose.  While I had many other bosses at P&G after him, I've tried to emulate that philosophy ever since.

Question: Any personal information you would like attendees to know?
Answer: Like many people, I have a hard time "turning off" work, so when I vacation, I tend to go ocean sailing. It's not at all glamorous - nothing like you see on television.  It's wet, dirty, smelly, and dangerous, but I love it. It's hard to think about work when you're fighting through storms and 30 foot waves.  

Question: What are three values you do your best at living each day?  
Answer:

• Be grateful.  
• Be creative.  
• Be results-oriented.

Get to Know…Doug Weinstein, Certified Cyber Solutions

Course: Building a Workforce: Employee Development

Question: How do your co-workers refer to you (the boss, speaker girl, the brain, etc.)?
Answer: The Mayor (unless they want something really bad, then it’s usually, Oh Fantastic One)

Question: What is your professional area of expertise? 
Answer: Sales, Marketing, and Public Relations

Question: Do you have a book recommendation?
Answer: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell and Bone by Bone by Peter Matthiessen

Question: What are your words to live by (life motto or quote)?
Answer: Being heard means being taken seriously.

Question: What is your leadership development philosophy?
Answer: Trust, but Verify – Damon Runyon

Question: What are three values you do your best at living each day?
Answer:

• Always say thank you.
• You never stand as tall as when you stoop to help a child.
• All you need is Love. 

Question: What connection do you hope to make with CEDIA Management Conference attendees?
Answer: How can we help each other to mutually succeed at life and business?

Get to Know…Richard Millson, Millson Multi-Media Inc.

Course: Building a Powerhouse: Growth

Question: How do your co-workers refer to you (the boss, speaker girl, the brain, etc.)?

Answer: Various slurs, unfortunately none of which are fit for print here

Question: What is your professional area of expertise? 

Answer: Appearing to be very busy (regardless of my actual activity level at the time)

Question: Do you have a book recommendation?

Answer: “Made to Stick…..Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die” by Dan and Chip Heath

Question: What are your words to live by (life motto or quote)?

Answer: “Good enough”, isn’t.

Question: Are you published? Where can we find your work?

Answer: I write a monthly column for Residential Systems magazine.  It’s called “Back to Business” and runs on the last page.

Question: What is your leadership development philosophy?

Answer: The key to truly effective leadership is to do everything you can to enable the talents and passions of those around you.

Question: Any personal information you would like attendees to know?

Answer: Surprising as it may seem, I am not quite as obnoxious as others would have you believe.

Question: What are three values you do your best at living each day?

Answer: “Don’t be evil” (Google clearly stole this from me and I am seriously considering legal action….)

Question: What connection do you hope to make with CEDIA Management Conference attendees?

Answer: I would hope that they leave my course with a much better appreciation and understanding for how incredibly important it is to develop and implement true standardization throughout their organizations.

Get to Know…Leslie Shiner, The ShinerGroup

Course: Building a Future: Finance

Question: How do your co-workers refer to you (the boss, speaker girl, the brain, etc.)?
Answer: The Financial Guru

Question: What is your professional area of expertise? 
Answer: Financial Management Consulting and Coaching

Question: Do you have a book recommendation?
Answer: Certainly my book!  Also, E-Myth by Michael Gerber

Question: What are your words to live by (life motto or quote)?
Answer: Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.

Question: Are you published? Where can we find your work?
Answer: A Simple Guide to Turning a Profit as a Contractor (www.moneymazebooks.com)

Question: What is your leadership development philosophy?
Answer: Recognize your limitations and evaluate your management skills to find the balance between doing and managing.

Question: What are three values you do your best at living each day?
Answer:

• Positive Attitude
• Make a deposit into the karma bank every day
• Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good

Question: What is your most memorable teachable moment?  
Answer: I enjoy watching students faces when “the light bulb goes on;” when one client told me that even though he thought he’d never understand financials, he now manages his company by the numbers and has grown his company from $1 million to $10 million in revenue. And was able to pay himself and his staff generous bonuses.

Question: What connection do you hope to make with CEDIA Management Conference attendees?
Answer: I want attendees to embrace their numbers, to see the value in understanding financials and managing their business properly for improved profits.