When Jennifer Brown sizes up business and organization leaders on how well they address today’s ever-increasing demand for inclusive workplaces, she describes them on a continuum of four stages: unaware, aware, active, and advocate.

Jennifer is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and founder of Jennifer Brown Consulting, a strategic and diversity advisory firm. She has spent more than two decades helping CEOs and other executives look inward so that they can be more effective in creating a safe and productive work environment for every employee.

Among those companies that have sought Jennifer’s insights are Google, Cisco, Johnson & Johnson, CapitalOne, IBM, Disney, and Coca-Cola.

You needn’t be a FORTUNE 500 CEO to benefit from her insights. All you need to do is join Jennifer and host Dean Rotbart for an insightful, actionable discussion of the steps you can take to become a more inclusive leader.

[Be sure to pick up a copy of Jennifer’s book, How to Be an Inclusive Leader, Second Edition: Your Role in Creating Cultures of Belonging Where Everyone Can Thrive.]

Photo: Jennifer Brown, Jennifer Brown Consulting
Posted: March 27, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 58:25
Episode: 11.32

In the Fall of 2007, Eric Johnson, an entrepreneur and designer of satellite communications systems, was on vacation when he received a panicked call from his financial advisor.

“Need permission to sell.”

“Sell what?”

“Everything.”

Eric did sell, and his swift move saved him from getting walloped by the Great Recession and the ensuing turmoil in the markets.

Eric is a renaissance man: an instrument-rated private pilot, surfer, black belt, astrophotographer, angel investor, and co-founder and former CEO of Tourmaline Networks, a software engineering firm. 

After weathering the Great Recession, Eric determined he never again wanted to feel financially vulnerable. So, in addition to his other personal and professional pursuits, Eric set off on a 15-year odyssey to teach himself everything investors, owners, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wants to protect their wealth needs to know about finance and economics.

In his book, What the Hell is an Economy, Eric has distilled all that he’s learned into an easy-to-understand read that spells out what an economy is and how it works.

If you're wondering what recent bank failures, inflation, debt ceiling, currency fluctuations, and trade deficits mean for your business — where are the risks and where are the opportunities — Eric shares the answers with host and award-winning financial journalist Dean Rotbart exclusively on Monday Morning Radio.

Photo: Eric Johnson, What the Hell is an Economy
Posted: March 20, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 39:55
Episode: 11.31

Gene Sticco embraces three of the core tenets that Monday Morning Radio host Dean Rotbart advocates for anyone who wants to break from the pack:

1. Be audacious.

2. Act on your dreams and passions.

3. Let the naysayers laugh, and then do it anyway.

Sticco is an entrepreneur and U.S. Air Force special forces veteran. He is also a newly announced candidate for the Oval Office in 2024.

Rotbart describes Gene as a serious candidate with no serious chance of winning. That said, for the example Gene sets for business owners, entrepreneurs, and creatives, among others, he is already a victor. 

Plato once observed:

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”

Sticco is taking the Greek philosopher’s words to heart, and they apply equally to those in every industry and profession where individuals settle for following rather than leading.

Although Gene knew nothing about running an Opera company, he has funneled his experience and passion into serving as General Director of the Mystic Side Opera, a newly formed company that showcases some impressive local talents, including Gene’s wife, Natalya, who is a mezzo-soprano.

Whether it's opera, the Air Force, or a run for the White House, Gene Sticco is a bold and decisive role model. You can vote for Gene with your ears right now, exclusively on Monday Morning Radio.

[You’ll find Gene’s campaign website at ForThePromiseofAmerica.com]

Photo: Gene Sticco, Committee to Elect Gene Sticco
Posted: March 13, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 54:40
Episode: 11.30

Matt Mason, who since 2019 has served as the official state poet of Nebraska, returns to Monday Morning Radio to discuss his latest collection of poems — At The Corner of Fantasy and Main: Disneyland, Midlife and Churros — and to share his ideas for making poetry and profits rhyme.

Matt, a Wizard Academy alumnus, was last a guest on this podcast in March 2019, shortly after publishing his previous poetry collection, The Baby That Ate Cincinnati. On this visit, he continues to explain the relationship between poetry and creativity in business and entrepreneurship.

Matt hopes that the introspections he shares in At the Corner of Fantasy and Main and The Baby That Ate Cincinnati will touch readers and help fuel his ambition to earn a living by writing, performing, and teaching poetry to a corporate audience.

Turning a passion into a profitable business is never easy. This week, Matt shares his game plan for overcoming the obstacles he is certain to encounter — strategies that can help anyone who wants to be gainfully employed doing what they love.

Photo: Matt Mason, At the Corner of Fantasy and Main
Posted: March 6, 2023
Monday Morning Run Time: 47:19
Episode: 11.29