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Designated Editor’s Podcast Picks: ‘CEO Coach’

By Suzanne McDonald

Seasoned CEO and now angel investor Gillian Muessig conveys key advice and interviews experts in her weekly podcast CEO Coach.  Her perspective as president and co-founder of search marketing mainstay SEOmoz lends a unique perspective in the “what every-CEO-should-know discussion.”  In CEO Coach, Gillian provides expert insight on “everything you need to know to develop your business from the ground up on the Internet.”

CEO Coach Gillian Muessig of SEOMoz and Suzanne McDonald of Designated Editor

CEO Coach Gillian Muessig of SEOMoz and Suzanne McDonald of Designated Editor

Why we listen in

It seems like every former manager is using the coach moniker these days, but Gillian and occassional cohost Nina Price bring their tech-marketing savvy and common sense to benefit entrepreneurs and business people who are simply trying to make their way in the changing and competitive landscape of business on the World Wide Web.

With the topic of the podcast changing weekly, CEO Coach offers listeners a range of business development tips, such as how to pitch angel investors, what to invest in at varying stages of the start-up process, how to stay healthy in flu season, and even how women should be aware of their pitch … vocally, that is.

A snippit In a recent February 18, 2013 podcastCEO Coach teaches early-stage entrepreneurs how to build a business based off an initial “great” idea with a focus on being observant of current global trends and the expected lifecycle of your idea. Gillian advocates reading the news and constantly expanding your awareness to help expand your idea into a successful reality.

In another episode Gillian discussed trends and made predictions about the global workforce and change, based on her recent bike trip across India.

Practical, knowledgeable, and engagingly easy-to-listen to, CEO Coach is among my top podcast picks.

About the hosts

Gillian Muessig has more than 20 years of traditional marketing experience that she brings to her current role as a founder of an ad agency and co-founder of SEOmoz.  She enjoys working with small businesses on their branding initiatives and helping CEOs build their web presence from the ground up.  Follow Gillian on Twitter, and don’t forget to listen to the podcast, which airs live on Mondays at 1pm EST.

Often bringing in the wellness perspective – offering CEOs practical ways to take care of themselves, not just their companies – Nina Price left high-tech during the dot-com bust in 2001. Her experience as a former high-tech marketing exec makes her perspective and advice instantly relevant. She is also a successful business coach, licensed acupuncturist and author. Her latest book is 5 Strategies for Staying Employed in Today’s Economy.

We’ve been listening since the start, May 2010.

Follow CEO Coach on Facebook.

 

How to Generate Ideas and Creativity | South by Southwest Interactive

There’s plenty to do when the creative juices just aren’t flowing. Take it from Matthew Diffee, cartoonist for the New Yorker & Texas Monthly and The New Yorker a cartoonist for The New Yorker, who creates 10 ideas a week, just to have 9 of them rejected by management. What can you do to meet your deadlines? And how do you stay creative when your atmosphere is stale?

 

The following are highlights from Matthew’s talk, “How to Be an Idea Factory” at the 2012 South by Southwest Interactive Festival.

Creativity very possibly requires you to ‘unplug’

  • You must get away periodically to be more creative.
  • Acknowledge what affects your creativity:
    • YOU – Mindset …What you think
    • What you feel
    • What you do

The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt

  • Creatives need to be better at controlling our emotions
  • It’s hard to be creative when you are angry
  • Don’t inhibit your train of thought when being creative
  • Just keep going. It takes a lot of bad ideas to get a good one

Big Creative Principles

  • Get in the zone (sometimes it takes a while)
    • Stephen King works every morning til noon or until he reaches his quota of 10 pages
  • Do not believe in writer’s block. You are never blocked-just go backward
  • Flip the funnel (try not to go to outside sources)

Collaboration is king

  • Tips for when you are stumped on idea
    • Change location and attitude
    • Doodle
    • Add constraints on idea
    • Bring other people in

Special thanks to @socmetrics, @RandyElrod, and @FCSdotcom for the insight!