What if the strategies you trust most are quietly keeping you from your next level of growth?

In professional services, we’re taught that strong delivery and trusted relationships lead to more business. But what if that model no longer matches how clients actually buy?

In this episode, I speak with Matthew Dixon, the co-founder of DCM Insights and bestselling author of The Challenger Sale and The Jolt Effect, about his latest research and book, The Activator Advantage. Based on a global study of 3,000 partners across consulting, law, accounting, and professional services, Matt reveals that the top rainmakers aren’t the most experienced or connected; they’re the ones who act differently.

He introduces the concept of the Activator: a business developer who proactively creates client value before the engagement even starts, connects deeply across networks, and builds trust by helping people, not just closing deals.

We explore:

• The five types of business developers and why only one correlates with high performance

• Why traditional “trusted advisor” models are falling short in today’s buyer environment

• How Activators build loyalty before there’s even a contract

• Why “personal value” (not just professional impact) creates sticky client relationships

• How to lead your team through behavior change — without forcing it from the top down

• What AI, network tools, and tech platforms are enabling, and what they still can’t replace

Matt also shares the mindset shifts that high-performing consultants embrace, not to sell harder, but to invest more generously in their relationships, their ideas, and the value they create.

Whether you’re a seasoned partner or building your book of business, this episode offers a new way to think about trust, relevance, and sustainable growth in a world of shifting client expectations.

Matthew Dixon is the Founding Partner of DCM Insights. Matthew is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review and a WSJ bestselling author, with his books translated in a dozen languages.

Get Matthew’s book here: https://rb.gy/a6ygc7

The Activator Advantage: What Today's Rainmakers Do Differently

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What if your company’s success depends less on what you build and more on what your people are chasing?

For Ken Rusk, digging ditches became the foundation for building something far more valuable: a company where employees don’t just show up to work — they show up for their lives.

In this episode, I speak with Ken Rusk, nine-figure entrepreneur and author of Blue Collar Cash, about how he built his business by aligning personal dreams with company growth, and why creating a culture of ownership, vision, and peace is more powerful than chasing the next milestone.

Ken shares how he developed a visual goal-setting system that drives performance, why he made his company employee-owned, and how his leadership mindset shifted after overcoming personal and professional crises, including a health scare with his daughter and navigating the pandemic.

We talk about:

• How turning employees into goal-setters created unstoppable momentum

• Why giving up control was the best decision he ever made as a leader

• How to build long-term loyalty without high-pressure tactics or perks

• The difference between reacting and proacting as an entrepreneur

• What “comfort, peace, and freedom” really mean, and how to build toward them

• How to spot internal leaders (and how to help them thrive)

This episode is packed with wisdom for anyone building a business, leading a team, or simply looking to live more intentionally, not someday, but starting today.

Get Ken’s book here: https://www.kenrusk.com/blue-collar-cash/

Blue-Collar Cash: Love Your Work, Secure Your Future, and Find Happiness for Life

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Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach

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What if the key to driving real innovation isn’t genius, but orchestration?

Innovation is often seen as the domain of visionaries or tech geniuses. But in this episode, JoAnn Garbin, former Director of Innovation at Microsoft Cloud and co-author of The Insider’s Guide to Innovation at Microsoft, shows that true innovation is a craft: one grounded in discipline, collaboration, and conscious leadership.

JoAnn brings a rare lens to the conversation — an engineer with a background in philosophy and performance, a systems thinker who has lived through startup exits, corporate reinvention, and a life-altering cancer diagnosis. Her approach to leadership, creativity, and risk is grounded not in theory but in lived experience.

We talk about:

• How real innovation happens inside complex, slow-moving organizations

• Why orchestration, not brilliance, is the most underrated leadership skill

• The critical role of community and trust in long-term innovation success

• How to build political capital without becoming “political”

• What cancer taught her about control, clarity, and letting go

• The mindset shift that makes innovation more accessible (and less magical)

JoAnn also shares how she navigates uncertainty with structured frameworks, how she invests in her learning every day, and why innovation, especially in an AI-powered future, must be inclusive, sustainable, and human-centered.

Whether you’re leading change, launching something new, or trying to stay relevant in a fast-shifting world, this episode will expand how you think about creativity, courage, and what it really means to build something that lasts.

JoAnn Garbin is a former Director of Innovation in Microsoft’s cloud business. She is the founder of Regenerous Labs, where she focuses on building practical solutions across industries that integrate sustainability and innovation.

Get JoAnn’s book here: https://www.innovationatmicrosoft.com/

The Insider's Guide to Innovation at Microsoft

Here are some free gifts for you:

Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach

McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf

Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo