5 Minutes That Will Change Your Business Life - For Better or Worse

When it comes to running a competitive company, Bob Moog doesn’t play games. Well, actually, he does. Daily.

Bob is co-founder and president of University Games, the largest independent game company in the world.

For almost four decades, Bob has gone up against the biggest players — including Hasbro and Mattel — and found a way to beat them at their own game. Pun intended.

In fact, University Games distributes more products in more outlets and more markets than any other company focused on board games. 

The company now has six divisions: University Games (board games), Great Explorations (science and learning/glow-in-the-dark products), BePuzzled (puzzles and brainteasers), Briarpatch (preschool games and puzzles), U-Create (crafts and activities), and Front Porch Classics (classic games, built to last a lifetime).

University Games’ philosophy has always been to offer games that encourage social interaction and imagination through gameplay, with learning sprinkled in to spice it up. 

Bob’s story will inspire anyone who competes against entrenched giants. He’ll also share the management philosophy that has proven a game winner for just shy of four decades.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Bob Moog, University Games
Posted: March 11, 2024
Monday Morning Run Time: 51:10
Episode: 12.36

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He’d be the oldest man ever to run for president, even as calls grow louder and louder for him to step aside.

Joe Biden?

No, William Henry Harrison, the successful 67-year-old Whig Party candidate back in 1840. 

Tying yesteryear to current events is Ron Shafer’s specialty. His contributions to The Washington Post’s Retropolis history column form the basis of two of his engaging books, Breaking News All Over Again and the forthcoming A Half-Naked George Washington.

Now retired, Ron spent nearly 40 years with The Wall Street Journal as a reporter, columnist, and political features editor, based out of Washington, DC.

On this week’s program, he makes clear that business owners and entrepreneurs can glean a lot of helpful information about where we’re headed if they only take the time to review where we’ve been. 

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Ron Shafer, Author
Posted: March 4, 2024
Monday Morning Run Time: 48:00
Episode: 12.35

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Most people fail to say their own name correctly.

Odd as that may sound, Laura Sicola explains her assertion in a YouTube video that is approaching 7 million views.

Dr. Sicola earned her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in educational linguistics and taught there from 2001-2013. She has more than two decades of experience teaching good vocal habits to executives at companies including Comcast, IBM, and Vanguard. 

She is the author of Speaking to Influence: Mastering Your Leadership Voice.

As Dr. Sicola explains on this week’s episode, how leaders introduce themselves, whether from a speaker’s podium or meeting someone for the first time one-on-one, will help determine how effectively they convey the messages that follow.

How well do you articulate your name?

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Dr. Laura Sicola
Posted: February 26, 2024
Monday Morning Run Time: 48:00
Episode: 12.34

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Each year, roughly 700,000 American businesses or individuals submit a trademark application. That may sound like a considerable number, but Andrei Mincov — a superstar trademark lawyer based in Dubai, says it's far less than it should be.

Before starting The Trademark Factory, his global consultancy that provides start-to-finish trademark registration services, Andrei worked for Baker & McKenzie, one of the world's largest international law firms. His clients there included Apple, Microsoft, Sun, and Dell, which turned to Andrei to help them avoid the pitfalls of filing and defending their marks.

Andrei’s client base now includes many small and mid-size companies that frequently do not file formal trademarks or fail to file them for all their brands. That, as he explains, is a significant and potentially very costly oversight.

Learning about trademarks is not only valuable for every business executive and entrepreneur, but it’s also fascinating to discover the most common trademark landmines and how to avoid them.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Andrei Mincov, The Trademark Factory
Posted: February 19, 2024
Monday Morning Run Time: 56:46
Episode: 12.33

This week, enter the inner sanctums of Microsoft Corp.’s executive suite and discover the tech wizards and vipers who worked there.

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Our guest is Jane Boulware, author of Worthy: From Cornfield to Corner Office of Microsoft. Over the course of her career, Jane launched three billion dollar businesses, was VP of the largest merger in U.S. history, and became one of the ten highest-ranking women at Microsoft by the time she turned 40.

On her climb up the corporate ladder, Jane was hit on, spit on, and actually shot at.

Listen closely as Jane — who grew up poor in rural Iowa and is donating 100% of her proceeds from sales of Worthy to Boys & Girls Clubs — shares practical insights that every owner and entrepreneur can utilize — good and bad — from her experience. 

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Jane Boulware, Worthy: From Cornfield to Corner Office of Microsoft
Posted: February 12, 2024
Monday Morning Run Time: 47:15
Episode: 12.32

From her base in far-off Christchurch, New Zealand, Rebecca Davison — who spent 13 years in banking, five as a financial advisor to multimillionaires — has built a global, cult-like following among female entrepreneurs, including top business leaders.

 

Rebecca, founder of The Intuitive Life Academy, has the knowledge to advise her followers on ways to earn more money and leverage their investments.

 

 

But that’s not her proprietary system.

 

Instead, Rebecca — a self-described empath — teaches clients how to experience spiritual and monetary abundance through the development of their intuition and ability to communicate with the universe.

Whether or not you buy the notion of metaphysical pathways to success, there is no denying that Rebecca’s methods are delivering results for a large and growing audience.

 

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

 

Photo: Rebecca Davison, The Intuitive Life Academy

Posted: February 5, 2024

Monday Morning Run Time: 55:43
Episode: 12.31

Phebe Trotman knows the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat in both the sports and business arenas.

A former MVP Canadian college soccer star and member of the championship Vancouver Whitecaps professional soccer club, Phebe has had plenty of bad days and opportunities to bow out. She’s never taken them.

Phebe is the author of Never Quit on a Bad Day, a compendium of inspiring stories of resilience relayed by Phebe and a dozen contributors, including business leaders, entrepreneurs, couples, and athletes.

Phebe retired her cleats and now coaches business clients in British Columbia on the importance of resilience, having a positive attitude, and leading a competitive team. 

This is one episode of Monday Morning Radio you want to listen to now and download to revisit when you’re having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

After all, you can’t score goals if you aren’t on the field.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart. 

Photo: Phebe Trotman, Never Quit on a Bad Day
Posted: January 29, 2024
Monday Morning Run Time: 39:23
Episode: 12.30

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Leading business schools and best-selling leadership authors seldom compare the skills required of for-profit CEOs and non-profit fire chiefs.

Yet, the two professions share a lot in common. Indeed, battling blazes is excellent preparation for dousing the many firestorms business owners, executives, and entrepreneurs face.

This week’s guest, Clive Savacool, devoted 25 years as a Northern California firefighter before retiring his chief’s helmet and stepping into the boots of a full-time startup CEO.

Clive is the founder and CEO of LogRX, which created and sells an advanced mobile app designed to help firefighters, paramedics, law enforcement personnel, and others who administer and are legally bound to keep track of controlled substances in their work.

As a firefighter, Clive fought numerous structure fires and one of the largest wildfires in California history. As a startup CEO, he faced the challenge of bootstrapping a company with an untested app and zero outside investment.

Both entailed risk and required courage.

How does a fire chief's experience in life-or-death decisions benefit a CEO facing a corporate crisis? In this episode, Clive shares his unique perspective and strategies for staying cool-headed under extreme stress.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart. Dean’s book, Dedication and Service, showcasing the Genesee, Colorado, fire department, can be purchased in a digital version here or paperback from Amazon.

Photo: Clive Savacool, LogRX
Posted: January 22, 2024
Monday Morning Run Time: 37:05
Episode: 12.29

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After 16 years as a wedding photographer, Ryan Erickson concluded he was barking up the wrong tree. 

He was making decent money but didn’t have a passion for his work.

It was risky, but Ryan decided to try his hand at fine art photography, and he’s been so successful early on that he’s thinking of expanding his fledgling enterprise nationwide.

Ryan’s discerning clients are willing to pay up for his portraits that accentuate the eyes and subtleties of his subjects’ faces. Rather than ask his subjects to come to him, Ryan brings his workspace and state-of-the-art equipment to them in a mobile studio.

But that’s not the most unique aspect of Ryan’s enterprise. That would be the free belly rubs he happily gives to each of the retrievers, shepherds, bulldogs, beagles, and other canines who pose for him and his Fetch Photo Truck.

“It’s so much easier and enjoyable working with dogs,” Ryan confesses. To which every active wedding photographer in the world responds, “Amen.”

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son duo of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Ryan Erickson, Fetch Photo Truck
Posted: January 15, 2024
Monday Morning Run Time: 37:19
Episode: 12.28

To show your appreciation for Monday Morning Radio and keep it commercial-free, we encourage you to contribute using this link. Donations of all sizes are welcome.

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Can you imagine what it would have been like to have an exclusive four-hour audience with the late Charlie Munger? 

The billionaire businessman, who died in late November at age 99, never got as much press as his close friend and partner Warren Buffett. But many people credited Munger with helping secure Berkshire Hathaway’s decades-long stellar investment performance.

Just weeks before Munger passed, The Wall Street Journal veteran reporter Gregory Zuckerman visited Munger in the investor’s Los Angeles home and came away with some unique and actionable insights. 

This week, award-winning author and Monday Morning Radio founder Dean Rotbart interviews the last journalist to interview Munger. That makes everyone who listens to this week’s episode only three degrees of separation from Munger and four degrees from Buffett.

It’s always nice to know people who know people. And, importantly, to learn what they know.

Monday Morning Radio is hosted by the father-son team of Dean and Maxwell Rotbart.

Photo: Greg Zuckerman, The Wall Street Journal
Posted: January 8, 2024
Monday Morning Run Time: 37:06
Episode: 12.27

To show your appreciation for Monday Morning Radio and keep it commercial-free, we encourage you to contribute using this link. Donations of all sizes are welcome.