Category Archives: individual

category for individual episode

How Not To Suck At Consulting, individual

Delivering the Goods

hwms.coverart It’s not the slides. It’s not the words. It’s not the clothes you wear. This doesn’t determine your success.  Or at least it doesn’t determine it very much. The bigger issue:  What do your clients know?  And when did the learn it? In the consulting trip to Hamburg, our team is about to deliver its report.  Lots of ideas.  Lots of implications for the future of the client, Bohne Kaffe Logistiks. But the report has become public.  Or at least parts of it. And everyone thinks they know what is in it.   More importantly, they think they know what is in it for them. The measure of success?  Can they communicate the real message. Tenth episode in a series on the ins and outs of tech consulting. Cast:
  • Kit, Director of Consulting – Kit Kuksenok
  • Evelyn, the Business Manager – Margaux Amie 
  • Anna the Intern  – Sarah Corbyn Woolf
  • Rohit from IT  – Noah Masur
  • Florian Bohne, Owner BKL – Josh LaForce
  • Sonja, BKL Operations Manager  – Debbon Ayer
[18350]

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individual

Preview: Jasmine the Attorney-Advisor

hwms.coverart

It’s hubris, of course, but it is more than that.

Self-will plays a role. As does ambition. Plus the complete inability to understand why the rest of the world doesn’t want what you want.

The Tech Giants (and many of the small techies as well) have poor relationships with government institutions and, increasingly, the public at large.

We have a new series in the works, one that tries to understand the human mistakes that have gotten Big Tech to this point.

Our Washington Office has taken a new client, an online retailed called TheGeneralStore, and is working to get the company a more favorable regulatory environment and a better public image.

Jasmine, one of the staff members in our office, explains.

Cast:

  • Jasmine the Attorney-Advisor Sahara Ale

[19903]

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How Not To Suck At Consulting, individual

The Fatal Mistake

hwms.coverart When do they make the mistake? When do they make a decision that limits – radically limits – options? Our consulting team is working on a project that is only stumbling forward in the best of light.  So what has happened, we ask.  Has someone made a mistake? Has our team done something wrong?  Has the client chosen the wrong strategy?  Have the managers failed to support the work?  Any one of these might constitute the “Fatal Mistake.” Seventh episode in a series on the ins and outs of tech consulting. Cast:
  • Evelyn, The Business Manager – Margaux Amie
  • Kit, Director of Consulting – Kit Kuksenok
  • Florian, owner of BKL – Josh LaForce
  • Rohit from IT – Noah Masur
  • Vinny, the CTO – Geoffrey Grier
  • Victor, from BKL – Jake Minevich
  • Sonja, manager of BKL  – Debbon Ayer
  • Anna the Intern  – Sarah Corbyn Woolf
[18340]

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individual, Tech Governance

The Story of SidePocket, A Series on Governance

hwms.coverart A young entrepreneur. A new technology. All the temptations to make bad decisions. In the series of on the startup SidePocket, we explored the challenges posed by organizational governance, the authority wielded by investors. Our central character, Vinny, walks away from a company that was unable to make a decision and forms a new company, SidePocket, that will be under his leadership. He guides it to success but in the process has to face choices that have no obvious or unequivocally good answers. He builds a profitable firm but in the process, alienates his closest friend, reluctantly accepts guidance he would prefer to ignore and decides to sell the firm against the wishes of his board. A series that makes you feel the problems of organization governance and appreciate the issues at stake. Cast:
  • Vinny, CEO of SidePocket – Geoffrey Grier
  • Molly, of G&P Capital – Caraid O’Brien
  • Carl, Partner of G&P Capital – Josh LaForce
  • Max, friend of Florian – Jake Minevich
  • Jessie, the first CEO – Sahara Ale
  • Karen from CalFed- Debbon Ayer
  • San, Thomas, and Rick – Ron Bianchi
  • Kurt and a different Rick  – Noah Masur
  • Dennis and Julio – Jake Minevich
  • Violet, Director of Marketting  – Margaux Amie
  • Maddie the Entrepreneur  – Zoe Anastassiou
[18161]

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How Not To Suck At Consulting, individual

Why did you do it this way?

hwms.coverart A business owner. A group of good friends. And an underlying controversy that simply won’t go away. Florian Bohne, the owner of Bohne Coffee Logistics is holding a party in the Swiss Alps while his friends believe that he should be back with his company. So we have a fight, a disagreement among friends.  Yet it is a disagreement that seems to be about one thing – how Florian is dealing with consultants – while it is really about something deeper, more profound. Sixth episode in a series on the ins and outs of tech consulting. Cast:
  • Evelyn, The Business Manager – Margaux Amie
  • Florian, owner of BKL – Josh LaForce
  • Max, friend of Florian – Jake Minevich
  • Peter, friend of Florian – Ron Bianchi
  • Ida, friend of Florian  – Debbon Ayer
  • Sonja, manager of BKL  – Debbon Ayer
  • Leena “Münchkin”  – Zoe Anastassiou
[18337]

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individual

Consumer Electronics Show Preview

hwms.coverart  It’s a holiday for gratitude in the United States but a holiday for data in the rest of the world. Ok. They now call it the “Consumer Technology Show” but it’s the same old event. New technology. Lots of talks. Entrepreneurs desperately trying to move their ideas from intellectual conception to money making product. So what are the bit themes this year? Similar to last year. Machine Learning. Data. Environmentally friendly. (Which may mean the start of the long goodbye to Bitcoin). Autonomous control. Security. Privacy. Security. Privacy. And for one last time, Security and Privacy. Our podcast team is preparing our new technology for the 2019 show. Our prior entries have generated more heat than light, but that true of most exhibits at the show. hwms.coverart Before we release it to the public, you might want to review one of our earlier products “Rohit’s Autonomous Drone Late Delivery System.” It actually got some interest from investors, though they were investors who did not quite Rohit’s accomplishment in draining Lake Mead and filling it with high quality coffee. Cast:
  • Sulley from Policy – Josh LaForce
  • Karen from the Parents’ Committee – Debbon Ayer
  • Becky from the Parents’ Committee – Zoe Anastassiou
  • Jim from the Parents’ Committee – Ron Bianchi
[19805]

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How Not To Suck At Consulting, individual

When the Client Leaves the Premises

hwms.coverart  You don’t, and that”s the point.   We have a company. We have a consulting team. And we believe we have a client, though it would seem that the client is not sure that he would have us. Days after the HWMS team arrived at BKL, it’s owner decided to go hiking in the Swiss Alps. It could be the confidence of a secure leader. It could be a brilliant strategy to get a new perspective on the business. It could also be a poor choice by a misguided manager. We take a moment to get the owner’s point of view as he walks with his friends in the Alps. A short episode to give us a little insight into the challenges of tech consulting. Cast:
  • Florian, the Client  – Josh LaForce
  • Ida, Friend of Florian  – Debbon Ayer
  • Max, Friend of Florian – Jake Minevich
[18327]

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How Not To Suck At Consulting, individual

The Beginning is Chaos: Starting to Consult

hwms.coverart   How do you begin a consulting job? In thunder, lightening or in rain? It is chaotic at the start. You move to new offices, meet new people and start to appreciate new responsibilities. Our podcast has been hired by a German firm – a logistics provider to the coffee industry – to review their software systems and make recommendations. They arrive on site, after a long flight, and quickly discover that they did not fully appreciate the environment in which they would have to work. First episode in a series on tech consulting. Cast:
  • Kit, Chief Consultant  – Kit Kuksenok
  • Evelyn, The Business Manager – Margaux Amie
  • Anna the intern  – Sarah Corbyn Woolf
  • Dirk, the Tech Guy – Noah Masur
  • Florian, the Client  – Josh LaForce
  • Sonya, the head of operations – Debbon Ayer
[18320]

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