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StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 15 – An Interview with Susan Bloch and Philip Whiteley, authors of How to Manage in a Flat World

StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.

Special Edition 15 – An Interview with Susan Bloch and Philip Whiteley, authors of How to Manage in a Flat World explores the challenges and solutions to effectively managing multinational teams. During our discussion, Susan Bloch and Philip Whiteley, authors of How to Manage in a Flat World: 10 Strategies to Get Connected to Your Team Wherever They Are share their insights with us regarding:

  • overcoming communications challenges associated with geographic separation, time-zone differences, and cultural dissimilarities
  • leveraging cultural diversity to benefit the team and improve its outcomes
  • efficiently transitioning the team through its forming, storming, norming, and performing phases of development
  • providing feedback and performance reviews

Additional Information

Susan and Philip’s book, How to Manage in a Flat World, can be purchased by clicking here.

Final Request…

The strength of our community grows with the additional insights brought by our expanding member base. Please consider rating us on iTunes by clicking here. Rating the StrategyDriven Podcast and providing your comments online improves our ranking and helps us attract new listeners which, in turn, helps us grow our community.

Thank you again for listening to the StrategyDriven Podcast!


About the Authors

Susan Bloch, co-author of How to Manage in a Flat World, has coached top teams in many of the FTSE100 and Fortune 500 companies across the globe over the past 20 years. A truly global citizen, she has lived and worked in five countries; South Africa, North America, Israel, the United Kingdom and India. She is currently Chief Learning Officer at the Aditya Birla Group. Prior to that she worked at Reliance Industries in the Retail Division, as Chief Culture Officer. Before coming to India she was Partner and Head of Thought Leadership at Whitehead Mann in London where she was operating as an executive coach, working with executive teams and conducting board effectiveness reviews. Previously she was global head of executive coaching for the Hay Group. A Chartered Psychologist, Susan has co-authored, How to Manage in a Flat World, Employability, and Complete Leadership (translated into Mandarin, Vietnamese, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Greek) and has produced a number of research publications.

Philip Whiteley, co-author of How to Manage in a Flat World, is an author and journalist, specializing in management, particularly the areas of leadership, motivation, and strategic people management. He has written numerous articles for The Times, Personnel Today and Coaching at Work among other titles, and has appeared on BBC Newsnight discussing the portrayal of the workplace in the media. He is author of People Express, Motivation, Unshrink the People and Complete Leadership and his books have been translated into six languages. Now based in the UK, Philip has previously worked in Latin America.

StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 14 – An Interview with Duane Sparks, author of Sales Strategy from the Inside Out

StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.

Special Edition 14 – An Interview with Duane Sparks, author of Sales Strategy from the Inside Out explores how businesses using a consultative sales process realize a dramatic increase in revenues. During our discussion, Duane Sparks, author of Sales Strategy From The Inside Out: How Complex Selling Really Works and Chairman and Founder of The Sales Board, shares with us his insights and illustrative examples regarding:

  • the five decisions individuals go through before making the final decision to buy
  • what the consultative sales process is and how it benefits both the customer and salesperson
  • why questions are the best selling tool and how to develop the best sales questions
  • using the consultative sales process as a management practice

Additional Information

In addition to the invaluable selling skills insight Duane shares in Sales Strategy From The Inside Out and this special edition podcast, please visit his company’s Sales Training or Sales Management site. To discover why this selling skill is so effective at maximizing sales productivity, purchase Duane’s book: Sales Strategy From The Inside Out.

Complimenting Sales Strategy From The Inside Out, are Duane’s four other books on the consultative sales process including:


Read a Summary of the above Sales Books.

Final Request…

The strength of our community grows with the additional insights brought by our expanding member base. Please consider rating us on iTunes by clicking here. Rating the StrategyDriven Podcast and providing your comments online improves our ranking and helps us attract new listeners which, in turn, helps us grow our community.

Thank you again for listening to the StrategyDriven Podcast!


About the Author

Duane Sparks, author of Sales Strategy From The Inside Out, is Chairman and Founder of The Sales Board, a Minneapolis-based strategic sales training company that has trained and certified more than 300,000 salespeople in more than 2,500 groups in the system and skills of Action Selling. He has written five sales books, personally facilitated more than 300 Action Selling training sessions and continues to engage in the business and art of the strategic sales process. Read Duane’s full biography and the history of Action Selling Sales Management Training.

StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 12 – An Interview with Nat Stoddard, author of The Right Leader

StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag articles on the StrategyDriven website.

Special Edition 12 – An Interview with Nat Stoddard, author of The Right Leader explores the challenges and solutions to selecting executives who possess the needed skills and experiences while also being a good fit with the organization’s culture. During our discussion, Nat Stoddard, author of The Right Leader: Selecting Executives Who Fit and Chairman of Crenshaw Associates, shares with us his insights regarding:

  • importance of an effective executive transition and gaps in the contemporary selection process
  • why hiring organizations should identify actions a new executive needs to take in addition to results to be achieved
  • impact of culture alignment between the organization and new executive on the transition’s success
  • steps the hiring organization should take to prepare for and execute a more effective executive selection and transition

Additional Information

Complimenting the invaluable insights Nat shares in The Right Leader and this special edition podcast are the additional resources accessible from his website, The Right Leader (www.TheRightLeader.com). Nat’s book, The Right Leader, can be purchased by clicking here.


Nat Stoddard, author of The Right Leader, is Chairman of Crenshaw Associates, a New York-based consulting firm specializing in career and transition management for senior executives. Nat is the former CEO of World Kitchen, a leading kitchen products manufacturer and former Chairman, President, and CEO of GE’s Canadian appliance affiliate Camco, Incorporated. To read Nat’s full biography, click here.

StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 11 – An Interview with Marshall Goldsmith, author of Succession

StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag posts on the StrategyDriven website.

Special Edition 11 – An Interview with Marshall Goldsmith, author of Succession explores the personal issues that arise during executive succession and how to overcome them; achieving a positive outcome for the departing leader, the successor, and the organization. During our discussion, Marshall Goldsmith, author of Succession: Are You Ready? and co-founder of Marshall Goldsmith Partners, shares with us his insights regarding:

  • characteristics of a successful executive transition
  • reasons executives struggle with the succession process
  • benefits and focus of coaching for the successor and senior leadership team
  • examples of successful executive turnovers

Additional Information

Complimenting the tremendous insights Marshall shares in Succession and this special edition podcast are the additional resources accessible from his website, Marshall Goldsmith Library (www.MarshallGoldsmithLibrary.com). Marshall’s book, Succession, can be purchased by clicking here.


Marshall Goldsmith, author of Succession, is co-founder of Marshall Goldsmith Partners, an executive coaching firm dedicated to developing business leaders. Dr. Goldsmith is recognized as a leading authority in helping leaders achieve positive, lasting behavioral change for themselves, their people, and their teams. He has coached scores of top executives in major corporations and wrote the number one best seller, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. In 2006, Alliant International University recognized Dr. Goldsmith’s achievements by naming its schools of business and organizational psychology the Marshall Goldsmith School of Management. To read Marshall’s full biography, click here.

StrategyDriven Podcast Special Edition 10 – An Interview with Don Schmincke, co-author of High Altitude Leadership

StrategyDriven Podcasts focus on the tools and techniques executives and managers can use to improve their organization’s alignment and accountability to ultimately achieve superior results. These podcasts elaborate on the best practice and warning flag posts on the StrategyDriven website.

Special Edition 10 – An Interview with Don Schmincke, co-author of High Altitude Leadership explores the leadership dangers challenging all managers in their efforts to achieve superior results. During our discussion, Don Schmincke, co-author of High Altitude Leadership: What the World’s Most Forbidding Peaks Teach Us About Success and founder of the SAGA Leadership Institute, shares with us his insights regarding:

  • three high risk leadership dangers that can devastate a manager’s effectiveness
  • the significant role of biology in leadership ability
  • how a compelling saga can inspire an organization to achieve significantly higher levels of performance
  • the High Altitude Leadership Team Assessment

Additional Information

Complimenting the tremendous insights Don shares in High Altitude Leadership and this special edition podcast are the additional resources accessible from his websites: High Altitude Leadership (www.HighAltitudeLeadership.com), the SAGA Leadership Institute (www.SAGALeadership.com), and Don Schmincke (www.DonSchmincke.Wordpress.com). Sign-up to receive a copy of The High Altitude Leadership Team Assessment by clicking here. Don’s book, High Altitude Leadership, can be purchased by clicking here.


About the Author

Don Schmincke, co-author of High Altitude Leadership, is the founder of the SAGA Leadership Institute, an organization that helps CEOs achieve outstanding results in strategy, leadership, sales, and cultural alignment. From CNN to the Wall Street Journal, his use of anthropology and evolutionary genetics to remedy the high failure rates of management theories has established him as a consultant renegade and leading global authority. To read Don’s full biography, click here.