Branch Out - A Podcast from Connection Builders

Achieving Authenticity - Jamil Sanders

Achieving Authenticity with Jamil Sanders  Authenticity is something that is often discussed on our podcast and we often talk about in the sense of professional development and professional growth. Authenticity, by definition, will mean something different to every single person and ultimately we all pursue it differently. However, the key is that you simply have to be authentic in what you are doing. Today’s guest is Jamil Sanders, a Vice President with Key Private Bank. In this episode, J...

Leveraging Social Media to Enact Positive Change - George Khalife

Leveraging Social Media to Enact Positive Change with George Khalife Not every professional needs to go out and create a blog, start a podcast, or build a platform, but we all have the opportunity to leverage the technology available to us in order to accelerate our careers. This is why social media can be so powerful! Today’s guest is George Khalife of the Toronto Stock Exchange. George is based in Chicago, where he helps Midwest-based companies access the Canadian public markets, and he i...

Bringing People Together and Being a Connector - Benny Mathew

At the end of the day, community is at the center of personal and professional growth, and life is so much more fun with friends anyway! Today's guest is Benny Mathew, the founder of the Orion3 network. Our conversation with Benny is all about the power of bringing people together and his gift of being a connector! Benny tells the story of his difficulty making genuine connections in Chicago initially and how he solved this by putting his gift for connecting people to good use and founded Or...

Importance of Mental Health as a Professional - Erik Daly

Finding yourself in a state of poor mental health not only affects your personal life but also infringes on your work productivity. Often our stresses as professionals are sourced from high demands at work and inadequate methods of managing them. It is important that you begin to implement steps towards changing the way you deal with your mental health. If you find yourself in a poor space of mental health, being able to talk openly about your struggles goes a long way in helping you process...

Human Bandwidth: Expanding Your Life - Leon LaBrecque

Human Bandwidth: Expanding Your Life with Leon LaBrecque Burnout, stress, and anxiety are increasingly common in our society. With a never-ending plateful of things to get through, it can often feel like you are just trying to make it through each day. By merely surviving, we are not living up to our full potential. One way to change this and expand our lives is to work on our human bandwidth, and today’s guest, Leon LaBrecque, is here to provide insights on how to do just that. As the Chie...

Lessons Learned from Working Remotely - Brendan McKay

Most of us are in some form of remote working position right now and this brings about a whole host of new challenges. Brendan McKay is a Principal with Falcon Investment Advisors who has been working remotely for the last few years and today we have him on the show to talk about the lessons he has learned! Our conversation with Brendan is all about creating a productive remote working environment and the value of maintaining social connections between employees for the firms they are a part...

Relationship & Responsiveness Matter - Jessica Ginsberg

Relationships matter and we need to get to know people, for people. Especially if you’re working in business development for private equity, which is by nature, a highly transactional environment and it can be very easy to forget the people side of things. Today’s guest is Jessica Ginsberg, the Director of Business Development for LFM Capital out of Nashville, TN. Jessica is responsible for LFM’s business development activities such as overseeing the firm’s direct sourcing and outreach to in...

Investing in Your Growth & Development - Lenny Dacanay

Investing in Your Growth and Development with Lenny Dacanay. The link between business development and leadership may not be evident straight away, but it’s one today’s guest, Lenny Dacanay, has paid a great deal of attention to. In this episode, Lenny talks about how his idea of business development has evolved from a sales-focused one to a problem-solving one, and why this shift showed him that leadership skills were non-negotiable. Lenny also shares how he went from the speaker to the li...

Communication is Key - Christopher Letts

Communication is Key with Christopher Letts Being able to communicate effectively is perhaps the most important of all life skills. Today’s guest is Christopher Letts, Chairman and past President of ACG Detroit. In this episode, we discuss the importance of communication as a professional. Chris shares some thoughts on how to improve this critical skill set, firstly from the perspective of public speaking, and then in the context of interpersonal communication and the written word. Prepare,...

Getting Comfortable in Uncomfortable Situations - Rich Grant

Getting Comfortable in Uncomfortable Situations with Rich Grant. In an ever-changing world, where we are all increasingly confronted with difficult conversations, it would be easy to retreat and go back to our comfort zones. But growth does not happen here; it happens when you are uncomfortable, and you are pushed to find a way through. Being in uncomfortable situations has contributed enormously to today’s guest, Rich Grant’s, professional and personal growth. As the Director of Business D...

Serve on a Board, Follow-Up is Critical & Identify Good Mentors - Karin Kovacic

Serve on a Board, Grow Your Network, Follow-Up is Critical & Identify Good Mentors with Karin Kovacic.  When you are in the process of business development there are several key factors to remember including the importance of being authentic, being reliable, focusing on genuine connections to build your network, and seeking advice from the right mentors. These can be daunting if you find yourself not sure of where to start with the whole process. Today we continue our series of conversation...

Build Your Community & Pay It Forward - Eric Fischer

Build Your Community and Pay It Forward with Eric Fischer. We know that a successful career begins with meaningful connections. Everyone you connect with intentionally will have something of value to give and offer a different angle to the same problem. The reality is that doing things by yourself is tough! We need to focus on becoming the best for our community, to learn to truly listen to what’s going on out there, to hone our public speaking skills, and to build effective teams! Today’s ...

Build Your Community & Pay It Forward - Eric Fisher

Build Your Community and Pay It Forward with Eric Fischer. We know that a successful career begins with meaningful connections. Everyone you connect with intentionally will have something of value to give and offer a different angle to the same problem. The reality is that doing things by yourself is tough! We need to focus on becoming the best for our community, to learn to truly listen to what’s going on out there, to hone our public speaking skills, and to build effective teams! Today’s ...

Leadership is a Behavior Not a Title - Howie Siegal

We’re no longer in the era where bosses say, “You work for me.” People want to own their careers and personal growth. To thrive in the modern workplace, where collaboration is the new norm, team leaders need to sharpen their leadership abilities. Our conversation with today’s guest, RSM Audit Partner Howie Siegal, reveals what qualities excellent leaders need along with the tools that can help you become a better one. Howie talks about why embracing feedback and being a good communicator is ...

Grow Your Relationships and Serve Your Clients - James Reid

As rising professionals, it’s important to learn that both building relationships and serving your clients are major parts of growing your business. On the show today we welcome James Reid, a partner with Dinsmore & Shohl, a national law firm based out of Cincinnati, Ohio. James is based out of metro Detroit, and his practice focuses on labor law and dispute. Throughout his career, James has done a phenomenal job of not only going above and beyond for his clients and providing that superior ...

People Are Interesting & The Power of Trust - Kim Easterle Mattes

The business world has both personal and professional aspects; it’s not binary, it’s both. Being kind in a competitive world is important because you are not just looking for a contact, you are looking to broaden your world. You need to adopt the mindset that every person you encounter is of value and has something of substance to share, whether it’s business-related or everyday life. Today on the podcast we welcome Kim Easterle Mattes. Kim has been a friend for many years and we have had th...

Building Out Your Internal and External Network - David Swatosh

In this episode, we dive into a conversation with David Swatosh, a senior manager at BDO—one of the world’s largest accounting firms—to discuss some of the challenges involved in moving from a small regional firm to a large multinational one. David was able to leverage the power of internal networking to overcome some of the weaknesses in his existing network as well as to lean into some of his personal strengths. He discusses what he has done to accelerate his business development within BD...

Keeping your Relationship Equity in the Black - Grant Marcks

Our guest today is Grant Marcks, the principal and head of business development for Atlantic Street Capital, here to discuss the idea of your relationship equity and keeping it in the black as well as having a data-driven process while remaining authentic in your networking and business development efforts. Grant talks about paying it forward in a real way, showing that you have taken genuine interest and are committed to the follow-through rather than simply repeating the words you think pe...

Intentionality and a Positive Mental Attitude - Tom Boniface

Tom Boniface is the Vice President of Business Development at Hilco Global and someone who lives out the practices of intentionality, awareness, and a positive mental attitude in his daily life and career. We chat with Tom today about what these concepts mean to him and how he approaches them in a purposeful and specific manner each day. Tom is a firm believer in focussing on the smaller, controllable things in one's life, arguing that when we do what is in front of us, we can affect greater...

Intentionality, Awareness and a Positive Mental Attitude - Tom Boniface

Tom Boniface is the Vice President of Business Development at Hilco Global and someone who lives out the practices of intentionality, awareness, and a positive mental attitude in his daily life and career. We chat with Tom today about what these concepts mean to him and how he approaches them in a purposeful and specific manner each day. Tom is a firm believer in focussing on the smaller, controllable things in one's life, arguing that when we do what is in front of us, we can affect greater...

Building Connections, Work Life Integration & Taking Ownership - Gary Lewis

Welcome to the Branch Out Podcast, where we focus on the vital professional skills of building connections and networking! Joining us for our first episode is Gary Lewis, founder and managing partner at Aquila Equity Partners in Detroit. We are so excited to share this great conversation with all of our new listeners, as Gary unpacks the foundational nature of this part of his work and why it should not be an occasional pursuit, but rather a daily attitude and exercise. We also get into how ...

Building Connections & Taking Ownership - Gary Lewis

Welcome to the Branch Out Podcast, where we focus on the vital professional skills of building connections and networking! Joining us for our first episode is Gary Lewis, founder and managing partner at Aquila Equity Partners in Detroit. We are so excited to share this great conversation with all of our new listeners, as Gary unpacks the foundational nature of this part of his work and why it should not be an occasional pursuit, but rather a daily attitude and exercise. We also get into how ...

Welcome to Branch Out