S1E7: Nick Bayer | Make Life Better

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Nick Bayer has always been in the business of bringing people together, whether it’s as one of Philadelphia Business Journal’s Most Admired CEOs or as a consummate team captain since Little League. So when he created Saxbys in 2005, he never really considered it to be a coffee company — instead, it’s a hospitality company fueled by great coffee. Saxbys has since grown from one corner café to a 30-unit, Philadelphia-based hospitality business with a mission: Make Life Better.

Inspired by his parents’ hard working ethic and grit and determination, Nick Bayer believes in setting yourself up for success. Nick grew up in Chicago- a strong athlete who loved to play baseball, basketball and football throughout his school years and into college, he dreamed of being an athlete.

Not cut out for the various traditional positions he tried his hand at, being a people-person and thriving off the energy of being around other people, Nick ventured into the role of entrepreneur.

After graduating from Cornell in 2000, Nick found himself in Philadelphia- the center of America’s social community businesses and since then has been working with higher-ed partnerships and entrepreneurial enterprises to build a solid foundation for young ‘business ninjas’ at Saxbys- which is more than just a coffee shop- Saxby’s ‘Makes Life Better’.

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S1E6: “Crazy” Aaron Muderick | Is it pretty? Is it fun to use?

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Aaron Muderick, Owner of Crazy Aaron Enterprises https://puttyworld.com, is the inventor of Crazy Aaron’s thinking putty.

Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty is available in more than 30 countries around the world and comes in over 30 colors and includes some that can be magnetized or are heat-sensitive.

Crazy Aaron employs a labor force of over 500 people made up of individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities that help manufacture and ship Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty.

In this episode Aaron talks about how he always wanted to be an inventor, how Steve Jobs served as a role model and his interest in cave exploration. He believes you should never discount an idea just because it seems impossible.

Book recommendations:

How to Be Rich – J.Paul Getty

How to Talk With Practically Anybody About Practically Anything

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S1E5: Professor William Taubman | The CIA and the Pulitzer Prize

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William C. Taubman is currently the Bertrand Snell Professor of Political Science at Amherst College.

The son of a New York Times journalist who learned the importance of working hard and thinking carefully as well as to accept challenges, but not possible ones.

In this episode we learn how Professor Taubman entered Harvard at only the age of 16. In his early career it was unclear if he might pursue journalism instead of academia. Even after he entered academia he almost ended up leaving the halls of learning for the CIA.

As an academic, he considered how he could combine his interest in not only teaching but in research and writing. He worked long and hard to find a way to write scholarship that would be accessible to general readers.

His biography of Nikita Khrushchev won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 2004 and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography in 2003.

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S1E4: Chet Harding | No Laughing Matter

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Chet Harding is the co-founder and owner of Improv Asylum – a nationally-acclaimed improvisation and sketch comedy theater based in Boston as well as stand-up sister theater Laugh Boston and Asylum Gaming and E-Sports production house.

As well as acting, writing, directing and producing, Chet has developed Improv Asylum’s global corporate training program, and has worked with companies such as Google, Harvard Business School, Red Bull and Fidelity.

In this episode Chet talks about his youthful dream of becoming a professional athlete, but recognizing he had more talent for making people laugh.

From his early career in advertising to the famed Improv mecca Second City in Chicago, Chet eventually landed in Boston to plant roots in both family and in comedy.

And no, Chet was never a member of Amherst College’s Mr. Gad’s House of Improv.

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S1E3: Judge Renée Cardwell Hughes | Here comes the Judge

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Judge Renée Cardwell Hughes is the outgoing CEO of the American Red Cross for the Eastern Pennsylvania region. Judge Hughes is also well known for her work with The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce as well as the contributions she has made towards the Beasly School of Law at Temple University.

In this podcast Judge Hughes talks about the risk and rewards of her career path and also how she earned her own set of pearls. Judge Hughes talks about what matters most to her and why it’s important to always love yourself.

Mentions:

Conqueror by Estelle and Jussie Smollet

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter

Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

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S1E2: Sharon Pinkenson | Set in Philadelphia

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Sharon Pinkenson has served as the Executive Director of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office https://film.org/ (GPFO) for 25 years during the terms of four mayors and six governors. Sharon has been responsible for all aspects of the office since 1992.

Under Sharon’s leadership, the GPFO has been responsible for $4 billion of economic impact to the southeastern Pennsylvania region, as it attracts film and TV productions to the region.

Films & TV Credentials include: Trading Places, Philadelphia, Boy Meets World, Silver Linings Playbook, Sixth Sense, Pretty Little Liars, National Treasure, Split.

In this episode, Sharon shares her story from making her own clothes to becoming a costume designer and dressing a chimp to rubbing shoulders with Hollywood stars.

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S1E1: Nick Garnett | The Danger List

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Nick Garnett is a broadcast journalist at the BBC  and has been for a  journalist and news reporter for  30 years.

Nick’s reports are broadcast on local and regional TV as well as the BBC world service.  He has reported on a number of stories from around the world including Nepal, Tunisia, Paris, Malta, Jordan,

Hungary, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Ireland, Scotland, Turkey, South Sudan and Iraq.

Nick has won a New York radio festival award and a United Nations award.

Nick Garnett of BBC Radio 5 Live is now a digital-first journalist after many years in radio storytelling.

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Season 1 – Trailer

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Presented by nine dots and hosted by Geoffrey Klein, Connect the dots podcast share stories of success and the dots that people connect along the way.

In Season 1, Geoffrey interviews successful individuals to explore their path to success and examines the dynamic between luck or happenstance and intentional planning and the choices people make.

From successful CEOs to an Academy Award winner, the aim is to be entertained through these conversations while hopefully gaining some useful insights as well.

In the end, the goal is to help others…connect the dots.

Thanks for listening.

 

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