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The Empire Builders Podcast

The Empire Builders Podcast

著者: Stephen Semple and David Young
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10月19日まで。※適用条件あり
Reverse engineering the success of established business empires.The Empire Builders Podcast マネジメント マネジメント・リーダーシップ マーケティング マーケティング・セールス リーダーシップ 経済学
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  • #274: Palm Pilot – Inspired By A Failed Product
    2026/09/16
    Apple’s PDA device Newton was a little too ambitious. So Jeff Hawkins, did the opposite and removed capabilities to create Palm Pilot. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today’s episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it’s us, but we’re highlighting ads we’ve written and produced for our clients. So here’s one of those. [Kooler Garage Doors] Dave Young: Welcome back to the Empire Builders Podcast. Dave Young here with Stephen Semple, who’s been out digging up stories about empires, giant empires that took over the world and then somehow lost it. Stephen Semple: Well, this one sure did. Dave Young: Yeah, they sure did. Stephen made an assumption as he whispered the topic into my ear just as he hit the record button, and that is that at some point in my life I owned a PalmPilot because that’s the topic for today’s is the PalmPilot. Everybody remembers that. And, Stephen, the answer to your question is, no, I didn’t. I did not own a PalmPilot. Stephen Semple: You did not? Dave Young: No, I was too cheap. I had a cheap Sony knockoff of a PalmPilot. Stephen Semple: Wow. Dave Young: It had a little camera in it, though. Stephen Semple: Oh, the [inaudible 00:02:18]. Dave Young: That was back before … Cell phones didn’t have … If they did, they were just a little flip phone sort of camera. My little Sony version of a PalmPilot had a cheesy little potato quality camera in it. Stephen Semple: Wow. Dave Young: In fact, some of the earliest pictures of the Wizard Academy campus that I have were taken on that device. So I have these grainy pictures of Roy Williams in the woods showing me where the tower was going to be- Stephen Semple: That’s cool. Dave Young: … and standing in the pole barn that got remodeled into Tuscan Hall, all of those things. Stephen Semple: Ah, that’s- Dave Young: Yeah. I remember it was always fun to play with. I don’t remember much about it, to be honest, other than it had a camera on it. Stephen Semple: Wow. Dave Young: I don’t think most PalmPilots did. Stephen Semple: No, they didn’t. They did not. Because so many of these early technology things you’ve been an adapter of, I thought for sure you would’ve had a … So I guessed wrong. I guessed wrong. Dave Young: I just needed … Well, first two things. This is 2004-ish, 2003-ish. They came out a few years earlier than that. Stephen Semple: 1996 is when they launched. Dave Young: Really? Stephen Semple: Yes. Dave Young: I was just cheap is the problem. I was broke and cheap at that time. So I guarantee you I had PalmPilot envy up until the point that Sony came out with this one that actually had a camera at a low price point, and I’m like, “All right, I’m going to …” Stephen Semple: Well- Dave Young: Oh, oh, wait a minute. I’m wrong. Now that I think about it, they had a cheap version of a PalmPilot that was colored plastic. Stephen Semple: Yeah? Dave Young: Yeah. I actually did have that, and the Sony was an upgrade. I’m visualizing … Because I got them for my kids, too. So not only did I have one, but my kids each had one. I don’t think they did anything with them. Stephen Semple: Here’s the crazy thing is there could be tons of people listening to this, there’ll be a bunch of people who know what we’re talking about and a bunch of people who won’t know what we’re talking about. One of the things is there was a period there in the early 2000s where Palm OS was 50% to 60% of the PDA, personal digital assistant, operating systems in the world, and there was a point where the value of the business was $50 billion. Dave Young: Yeah, that’s really nuts. Stephen Semple: They were a big deal and then disappeared. Dave Young: Well, then the iPhone came out, so you had your phone, your camera, your PalmPilot all in one. Stephen Semple: Yeah, between the BlackBerry and the iPhone, it was a combination of those two. BlackBerry’s now gone as well or diminished. But what’s really interesting is how this piece of technology was developed, and ...
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    20 分
  • #273: BNI – Part 2 – Continuing The Growth
    2026/09/10
    Dr. Misner learned that the law of reciprocity is the strongest form of connection and now “Givers Gain” is the philosophy that all the members of BNI live by. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today’s episode, word from our sponsor, which is, well, it’s us, but we’re highlighting ads we’ve written and produced for our clients. So here’s one of those. [Wagmore Garage Doors Ad] Gary: Told you, Brian. Brian: Told me what? Gary: This is part two of last week’s episode. Brian: Oh, yeah. And it was getting good. Gary: If you missed it, go back and listen to part one first. Take it away, fellas. Stephen Semple: Was there a big moment? Was there a big challenge? Was there a setback? So what are some of the things that you face that you had to deal with in this journey? Dr. Ivan Misner: Feature Creep is ongoing. I didn’t quite set up BNI to be as smooth a business as it could have been. Franchising in the early days was complex to figure out, but that’s not the single biggest thing. The thing that almost bankrupted me was what’s called BNI Connect. And I don’t know, Stephen, if you were part of BNI when we introduced BNI Connect. Stephen Semple: I think it was- Dr. Ivan Misner: Our online platform- Stephen Semple: I think it was just around the time. Dr. Ivan Misner: Yeah. Imagine LinkedIn for BNI. It’s a walled garden. You can’t really use any of the services on BNI Connect unless you’re a member. Yeah, that was horrible. And I actually wrote a book about this. It’s called The 3rd Paradigm, and the first paradigm being competition, the second paradigm in business, second paradigm being cooperation, and the third paradigm is co-creation. And we talk about how we solved this problem with BNI Connect through co-creation. And if somebody really wants to read the story of how I dealt with my most serious problem, pick up a copy of The 3rd Paradigm, and here’s a secret. We surveyed 2000 people, so there’s survey data. We talk about what are the top seven characteristics of co-creation, what are the seven problems with co-creation? And then interwoven in every chapter is a story about this platform and a guy named Richard. And we say it’s a true story, but we don’t say the platform is BNI Connect and Richard’s my middle name. So it was me. I tell the story about all the really, really stupid things I did and how I eventually resolved them through co-creation, through getting people to work with me. And one of the most important statements that I continually said was hold the vision, not the obstacles. There’s lots of obstacles. What we have to do as a group is hold the vision. Just keep holding that vision. We’ll work around the obstacles. We’ll work under the obstacles. We’ll go over the obstacles. We’ll knock the dang things down. Hold the vision, not the obstacles. And there was a very seminal moment, and I talk about it in the book where I felt I was ready. They were ready to take me out and draw and quarter me in the courtyard. They were so mad at me. And I talked about how we, through co-creation, did something amazing. I couldn’t give you that 27 billion number, 27.1 billion number if we didn’t have BNI Connect. Stephen Semple: So BNI Connect was a massive undertaking- Dr. Ivan Misner: Yeah, it almost bankrupted me. Stephen Semple: Almost bankrupted you, but you saw the vision and you just stuck with it. Dr. Ivan Misner: Yeah. Stephen Semple: Now talk to me a little bit more about how this co-creation helped with making that happen. Dr. Ivan Misner: Well, the first thing that I had to do was to acknowledge that what I had done wasn’t working. And so I took responsibility for… It was with a small group of people, we call them the founder’s circle. It’s about 35 people, top directors in BNI. And so you just throw yourself on the sword. And generally, if you throw yourself in the sword right from the outset, it’s hard for other people to hack away at you because you’ve already done it to yourself. ...
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    30 分
  • #272: BNI – Part 1 – The Unexpected Origin
    2026/09/10
    Dr. Ivan Misner was looking for more business so he set up a business networking meeting. What happened next he didn’t anticipate. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today’s episode, word from our sponsor, which is, well, it’s us, but we’re highlighting ads we’ve written and produced for our clients. So here’s one of those. [Kooler Garage Door Ad] Stephen Semple: Hey, it’s Steven Semple here for another episode of the Empire Builders Podcast. And Dave Young hasn’t joined us today, but I’m really excited by the guest that we have for today. We have Dr. Ivan Misner and boy, this is going to be an exciting story. So Dr. Misner started an organization called BNI. I’m sure many of you are familiar with it, but those of you who aren’t, let me give you an idea of how much of an empire this is. According to the information I have, over 350,000 members, close to 12,000 chapters, 78 countries, annual member-generated business, almost north of $25 billion. I used to be in a BNI chapter, and in fact, I used to run a BNI chapter many, many years ago. The average chapter size is 30 members. That is just massive, especially when you consider it was founded in 1985, and as we were talking about before hitting the recording, out of your garage. Dr. Ivan Misner: Yeah, my garage and just a room above my garage. Stephen Semple: Oh, well, there you go. You started in the lap of luxury, room above your garage. But when you think about that, that’s like 12,000 weekly meetings happening around the world. Dr. Ivan Misner: That’s exactly it. Every week. And you mentioned 25 billion, in the last 12 months, it’s 27 billion in what we call thank you for closed business. And what I think is important to say is that’s not how much money the company has generated, that’s how much money the members reported that they generated in referrals. Now, what I love about that number is, Stephen, if you take a look at the United Nations estimates of GDP, UN estimates of GDP, there are actually a hundred countries in the world, a hundred countries in the world with a lower GDP than what BNI generated for its members last year. Stephen Semple: That is just a remarkable number, just absolutely remarkable number. So tell me a little bit, because there is an interesting story here in terms of how you got started. So what started this? Oh, and the last thing I want to say is when we think about this in terms of institutions, in terms of whether it’s business referrals or business groups, this makes it one of the largest in the world. I think I’d be hard-pressed to find something that rivals the size. Dr. Ivan Misner: In person, you’re correct. We are the largest referral marketing platform in the world. Online, you can get a lot of people online, but we, as you said, have over 350,000 members who meet every week in person. Some of them are Zoom meetings now, and some are hybrid, but most of our groups still meet in person. Stephen Semple: And I think the thing that I’d like to stress just for listeners to understand is there’s lots of places that will have lots of members and the 80/20 rule. Some members are active, some members are not active. But in BNI, for you to be a member, you have to be active. You have to show up, you have to participate. So when somebody like BNI says, “We’ve got over 350,000 members,” that’s a real number. Dr. Ivan Misner: It’s a real number. Stephen Semple: It’s a real number. Dr. Ivan Misner: And we do expect participation in the chapters. And so some people don’t like that, because there are rules. We have rules and systems and processes, but I have found that the most successful businesses have systems and processes. The thing is that you have to apply the rules more like Mandela than Attila. And if you do that, and you do it in a caring way, it works. But I mean, look, hockey without rules would be boxing on ice. You got to have rules. Stephen Semple: True. It’s true. I love that analogy. ...
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    27 分
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