Leadership is comparatively easy.  Leading with honor requires men and women of special character and skills.  So says Colonel Lee Ellis (ret.), this week's guest on Monday Morning Radio. 

Colonel Ellis, an Air Force fighter pilot, spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.  He was the youngest POW to be imprisoned along with Senator John McCain at the notorious "Hanoi Hilton."  If leaders can act with honor under those circumstances, Colonel Ellis teaches, they certainly can act with honor as the heads of corporations, small businesses and nonprofits.  

Colonel Ellis is an author and expert in the areas of team-building, executive development and - of course - leadership.  He shares his unique insights with Monday Morning Radio listeners.

Colonel Ellis  is interviewed by Wizard Academy faculty member and graduate Dean Rotbart and by David Biondo, a veteran financial planner and successful entrepreneur. Rotbart and Biondo produce Monday Morning Radio and serve as co-hosts in cooperation with Business Unconventional on 710 KNUS AM in Denver.  Also joining the conversation is Jeff Wilson a small business expert with ActionCoach - Team Empowerment.  Wilson is a regular contributor to B. Unconventional. 

One single word in its name changed.  From College to University.  Yet it took four years to win all the political buy-in and votes that were necessary. 

Dr. Stephen Jordan, president of Metropolitan State University of Denver – with nearly 24,000 students – believes there was a strong “business case” – yes a business case, for going through all the expense and effort to adopt a new school identity.

Can a single word, University v. College, really matter all that much to the bottom line?  Are there lessons to be learned from Dr. Jordan’s journey? 

Decide for yourself whether you believe Dr. Jordan was correct – or simply making much ado about nothing.  He and his associate for marketing and communications, Cathy Lucas, are the guests on this week’s edition of Monday Morning Radio. 

Dr. Jordan and Ms. Lucas were interviewed by Wizard Academy faculty member Dean Rotbart and his Business Unconventional co-host, David Biondo, on July 1, 2012 – the very day the name change went into effect. 

This week’s edition of Monday Morning Radio is sponsored, in part, by The Wizard of Ads Group, which will be presenting a Marketing Masterclass in Denver on Tuesday, October 30th.  

The Wizard of Ads Group is assembling some of its top speakers from across the United States and Canada to share their secrets on how small business owners can streamline their marketing and grow their businesses.  Instructors will include: Ray Seggern, Chuck McKay, Sarah Klenke, Mike Slover and Charlie Moger.

To register for the Marketing Masterclass, visit www.WizardofAdsGroup.com.  Tuition for the full day is only $67.00.  To hear a 60-second commercial for the course, click here.

Be sure to follow B. Unconventional on Twitter: @BUnRadio and subscribe to Roy H. Williams's Monday Morning Memo. The best things in life really are free!

Monday Morning Radio - Run Time:   24 min  39sec
Photo: Dr. Stephen Jordan and Cathy Lucas, Metropolitan State University of Denver

This week’s guest on Monday Morning Radio, produced in cooperation with Business Unconventional, is Dawn Miracle, owner and founder of Hot Straw. Dawn’s 8-month-old company, Hot Straw, is one of thousands of small businesses across the country that are bypassing bankers, Wall Street and so-called angel investors, preferring to appeal directly to the public at large to raise the money they need to grow their businesses.

Miracle is interviewed by Academy faculty member and graduate Dean Rotbart and by David Biondo, a veteran financial planner and successful entrepreneur. Rotbart and Biondo produce Monday Morning Radio and serve as co-hosts in cooperation with Business Unconventional on 710 KNUS AM in Denver.

Dawn is using a popular crowdfunding website, www.IndieGoGo.com, to alert prospective supporters throughout the country to her current fundraising campaign.

On IndieGoGo, Dawn is asking the public to “donate” a minimum of $10 to her company, in exchange for getting a sampling of her products and the satisfaction of knowing that they are helping an up-and-coming entrepreneur succeed. As of Sunday evening, October 14th, she has only reached about 40% of her goal.

[Read more about Dawn and her crowdfunding campaign in Dean Rotbart's Examiner.com column: http://www.examiner.com/article/denver-entrepreneur-down-to-her-last-48-hours-to-raise-18k-via-crowdfunding]

Pinterest is the 'hot' new social media site. Originally designed to cater to brides and weddings, the site has boomed in popularity and is now used by more than 16 million visitors a month.

Cyndie Shaffstall, a social media expert and author, is the guest this week, helping to explain Pinterest and why it is a must for some business owners.  Shaffstall is the founder of Spider Trainers in Lakewood, Colorado, and the author of more than a dozen books, including What, How, Who & When: Small-Business Guide to Winning at Web Marketing.

Shaffstall is interviewed by Academy faculty member and graduate Dean Rotbart and by David Biondo, a veteran financial planner and successful entrepreneur. Rotbart and Biondo produce Monday Morning Radio and serve as co-hosts in cooperation with Business Unconventional on 710 KNUS AM in Denver.

Necessity, we are told, is the mother of invention.  But when Steve Ellenburg and his brother, Mark, first dreamed up the Wrist Rocket slingshot 60 years ago, it was revenge they had on their minds.

Steve, now 71 years old, tells the tale of his journey as a successful inventor on this week's Monday Morning Radio.  Steve will be the keynote speaker on October 6th at the Fourth Annual Mother of Invention Regional Conference in Denver.  

Steve is joined in a quick-paced roundtable discussion by Rita Crompton, founder of the Inventors' Roundtable and the progenitor of five successful businesses; Ian Osborn, inventor and founder, Wild Ideas Light Company; and Homer Hudson Hillis, Jr., co-founder of HHH Enterprises in Abilene, Texas.

Homer is a frequent student at the Wizard Academy and a regular contributor to the weekly Business Unconventional radio newsmagazine, heard in Denver Sunday mornings on 710 KNUS AM radio.

The Monday Morning Radio inventors' panel is led is by fellow Academy faculty member and graduate Dean Rotbart and by David Biondo, a veteran financial planner and successful entrepreneur. Rotbart and Biondo serve as co-hosts of Business Unconventional .

Be sure to follow B. Unconventional on Twitter: @BUnRadio and subscribe to Roy H. Williams's Monday Morning Memo.  The best things in life really are free!

Monday Morning Radio - Run Time:  22 min  48 sec
Photo (L-R): Ian Osborn, Wild Ideas Light Company; and Steve Ellenburg, President & CEO, DPM Associates, LLC.