Marketing Podcast with Dave Kerpen

Ask most any business owner and they will tell you that one of the hardest parts of growing a business is managing people.

Entrepreneurs are typically visionaries and that trait doesn’t always come with natural leadership skills.

The fact is that there are few simple habits that will allow you get more of what you want if you work to embrace them.

Now, I’m not talking about manipulation, I’m simply talking about creating greater influence by paying attention to how others think, feel and act and adopting a better way of interacting with all of the folks you come into contact with day to day.

Everyone need work in this area – myself very much included.

My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Dave Kerpen, co-founder and chairman of Likeable Media, an award-winning social media and word-of-mouth marketing firm. He is also the founder and CEO of Likeable Local, a great social media management tool. We discuss his new book The Art of People: 11 Simple People Skills That Will Get You Everything You Want, people skills, and how entrepreneurs can manage their employees better.

If you ever get the chance to meet Kerpen you’ll immediately learn why he is so qualified to write this book – Dave is a people person.

I recently visited his office in New York and it was abuzz with peopleness. (Not sure that’s a word but I like it.)

The Art of People is structured in a way that makes it very easy to read and digest. Chapters are short and to the point and each ends with action steps.

Questions I ask Dave:

• Are people skills learnable?
• How can someone improve upon his or her people skills?
• What are the advantages of having an advisory board?

What you’ll learn if you give a listen:

• How to become a better manager and a better leader of the people you work with.
• How famous business leaders have overcome poor leadership skills.
• Why the “Golden Rule” really doesn’t apply to leadership today.

This episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is brought to you by FreshBooks, small business accounting software for non-accountants. Freshbooks is offering a free month of unrestricted access just for Duct Tape Marketing podcast listeners. You don’t even need a credit card to register. To get your free month, go to freshbooks.com/ducttape and enter DuctTape in the “How Did You Hear About Us?” section.