Dan Hoffman believes that business is philosophy in action, culture eats strategy for breakfast, and learning is leverage. After starting, growing, and selling a cloud-based technology company Dan and his family spent a few years in Spain learning what he wanted to do next. From that sabbatical came an idea focused on peer learning. Today, Dan leads Circl.es, a company featuring a platform that fosters deeper conversations to create enduring connections and learning.
#ThePowerOfWEBeginsWithYOU
#Peernovation
For ideas on why leaning on your peers and serving one another at this critical time has never been more important, listen to our podcast. If you have questions or ideas for us, contact us today.
Angela Maiers is the founder of Choose2Matter, a global movement that challenges and inspires students to work collaboratively to develop innovative solutions to social problems. She has also authored six books, including Classroom Habitudes and The Passion-Driven Classroom, which introduced the concept of “Genius Hour” in education. Her “You Matter” talk at TEDx Des Moines in June 2011 has been viewed several hundred thousand times and was the impetus for Choose2Matter. Angela’s powerful message and down-to-earth style have made her a highly sought-after keynote speaker for education conferences, corporate events, and innovation summits. We’re pleased to have her as our first-ever 3-time guest (she has appeared on all 3 iterations of this podcast).
Connect with today’s guest – Angela Maiers – on Twitter @AngelaMaiers.
#WhoYouSurroundYourselfWithMatters
#Peernovation
For ideas on why leaning on your peers and serving one another at this critical time has never been more important, listen to our podcast. If you have questions or ideas for us, contact us today.
Leo’s first book (a book co-authored with Vistage CEO, Leon Shapiro) was titled The Power Of Peers. After the publication, our podcasting adventures started with The Year Of The Peer, the first iteration where we interviewed over 50 high achievers who taught us that peers should likely be viewed through a wider lens. Every person is influenced by a variety of people who help us learn and grow. From those interviews, Leo was inspired to write his second book, What Anyone Can Do (a title inspired by running coach Joe Henderson who observed that what differentiates most successful people from the rest of us is not their raw talent; its that they consistently do what anyone can do, that most of us never will).
Our pursuit of learning and evangelizing the peer advantage continues. We passionately seek to learn more about how all of us can benefit by being more intentional and purposeful in making our circle of influence as useful as possible. It’s not just about our personal growth, but it’s also about our joint cooperation to serve one another so we can all grow and improve.
During this pandemic Leo was able to complete his third book, Peernovation: What Peer Groups Can Teach Us About Building High Performing Teams. Due to be published this fall, Leo narrowed the focus to our most passionate pursuit, helping people learn and leverage the truth that who you surround yourself with matters! We also tightened our focus in the podcast, too.
The work isn’t limited to books or this podcast, but it encompasses all of our work. Within the last year, Leo has launched a new company, Peernovation, LLC aimed at providing deeper insights and service to leaders, individuals, teams, and groups. Together, we’re taking a sharper aim as we follow our belief that together we can accomplish so much more, individually and together. Peernovation is a professional service provider helping leaders build and create more effective teams. Peernovation also serves individuals and organizations who want to achieve elevated personal and group performance.
Beginning next week, we’re rebranding the podcast as Peernovation. Our first guest is scheduled to be Craig Weber, author/speaker, and leader of The Weber Consulting Group. Craig authored Conversational Capacity and Influence In Action, books that provide valuable frameworks on how people can better engage in effective communication for improved performance.
#WhoYouSurroundYourselfWithMatters
#Peernovation
For ideas on why leaning on your peers and serving one another at this critical time has never been more important, listen to our podcast. If you have questions or ideas for us, contact us today.
The coronavirus pandemic is providing an opportunity for members of peer advisory groups (mastermind groups) to weather this crisis together while they also look to create their best future, once life returns to normal. Leo has been using video conferencing platforms to deliver presentations and webinars to business leaders, members and Chairs for TEC Canada and Vistage.
For ideas on why leaning on your peers and serving them at this critical time has never been more important, listen to our podcast. If you have questions or ideas for us, contact us today.
Useful links:
Who You Surround Yourself with Matters (TEC Canada Webinar) – You’ll be asked to register by submitting your name and email address, then you can access it from there!
Covid19 has created a level of global uncertainty that cuts to the heart of our collective humanity. It seems like yesterday people were enjoying a great start to the new year. Today, many are now wondering if they’ll survive – economically or physically. Such a seismic shift in market, physical and emotional conditions is rocking the very foundation of our society.
Who you surround yourself matters. Especially now. As we distance socially from physical contact, it’s more important than ever that we remain connected. We’ll get through this, but it will take all of us working together to make that happen. Today, we talk about the importance and value of doing so.
For ideas on how you can lean on your peers and serve them at the same time, listen to our podcast. If you have questions or ideas for us, contact us today.
Useful links:
The Peer Advantage – Randy’s online/virtual charter peer advisory group for SMB owners (accepting applications now for FREE membership)
Leo was recently asked to pinch hit as a keynote speaker at a conference in San Diego for a highly specialized audience. Realizing his “power of peers” message had little to do with what the conference was all about, he understood it had everything to do with why they were there – to learn, connect and grow. This inspired him to create a new keynote titled, Maximizing the Value of Your Conference Experience. During our conversation today, we talk about how to tap into the greatest resource at these kind of events – your fellow attendees.
We also touch on the Washington Nationals sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals and the value of the special people who make a difference in our lives.
Let’s talk about learning groups. From graduate level classroom experiences, where Leo first gained deeper insights into peer advantage, to groups of CEOs and key executives – group members can leverage the power of collaboration to enhance and increase their learning.
Leo wrote a piece for CEOWORLD Magazine titled, How Great CEOs Maximize Peer Relationships. Today, we talk about the natural progression of business relationships and how we engage with others: we connect, network, optimize and accelerate.
Whether we’re part of a team or a group, we can all learn how to take greater advantage of our opportunities with others. That’s the point of the work we do at Peernovation and it’s the point of this podcast – doing the things anyone can do, but the things most of us never will.
Leo is launching Peernovation, LLC. You can read the full press release here at Yahoo! Finance.
Peernovation will address two major challenges for companies today: 1) The lack of ROI for employee learning and development programs; and, 2) the problem of alignment and employee engagement when implementing strategic initiatives. Bottary, who will serve as managing partner, will be joined by peer advantage group facilitator and podcaster, Randy Cantrell.
And…
Peernovation will also assist organizations that assemble and facilitate peer groups for business leaders by helping members maximize their collaborative experiences to achieve more impactful outcomes. Bottary added, “When business leaders participate in high performing peer groups, they tend to be more adept at understanding the power of peers and creating more collaborative environments at their companies.”
Leo’s books – The Power of Peers and What Anyone Can Do
Today on the What Anyone Can Do podcast Leo and Randy discuss three components of perspective, formed as questions:
What’s going on?
What does it mean?
How do we act on it?
Perspective is influenced by the people who surround us. Unique vantage points can be leveraged for mutual benefits, like the various camera angles used for instant replay of a sporting event.
*Stanley Cup Update – Bruins and the Blues tied at 2-2! Game 5 tonight (Thursday) in Boston!
Beginning next week, we’re rebranding the podcast as Peernovation. Our first guest is scheduled to be 
