Debra Benton

Debra Benton

Author: Smart People Industries November 19, 2013 Duration: 46:21
Debra Benton - Author of 7 leadership books including CEO Material: How to Be a Leader in Any Organization, founded Benton Management Resources, speaker, coach. Episode Transcript: Episode 116 - Debra Benton One of the things that I can really appreciate about our guest this week is her fearlessness.  Yes, she has a number of accolades and is often regarded as one of the top executive coaches in the country, but the way she achieved success was by trusting in herself, working hard, and going after it.  As Debra explains in this episode, she was quickly fired from her first job and from that moment on she decided that she would be the only one to have a say in her career - so she started her own company as a coach and advisor. When I heard this, I had to dig in.  Wasn't she scared of failing? Who was going to hire her, she barely had any real world experience at all? Didn't she feel the need to build a "solid" resume first? Debra told me that yes, she had some worries, but so does everyone.  If you believe in yourself, others will follow. It's hard work, but it's also hard work to live somebody else's life, somebody else's dream. She goes into more detail, so I suggest you just listen up - it's gold! We also cover areas of leadership, communication, success, and more.  Consider it your free weekly coaching session! Debra Benton is an effective, charismatic, and powerful speaker/consultant/author who has been in business successfully for over 30 years having founded Benton Management Resources in 1976. She has helped professionals worldwide to design subtle changes in their presentation, attitude, and leadership style that ultimately resulted in an increase in their personal and professional effectiveness--and subsequently their financial status. Debra has coached corporate executives, politicians, and business leaders on their organization impact in every industry imaginable. Ms. Benton has written seven books and numerous articles in business publications including the Harvard Business Review and The Wall Street Journal. Her best-selling books have been translated into fourteen languages. Her expertise has afforded her front-page coverage in The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. She has been repeatedly written about in Time, BusinessWeek, Fortune, and The New York Times, and has been a welcome guest on the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and interviewed by Diane Sawyer for CBS. -- This episode is brought to you by Squarespace – the all-in-one platform that makes it easy to create your own website. For a free trial and 10% off, go to Squarespace.com and use offer code smart11. Easy – Everything is drag and drop. You can use drag and drop to add content from your desktop, and even rearrange elements of content within a page. 24/7 support – Squarespace has an amazing 24/7 support team in New York City. They do live chat during the week, and have extremely fast email support throughout the day and night. Design Focused – Squarespace really cares about design. All their templates are extremely clean, and allow your content to be the focus of your website.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every other week, Chris Stemp and Jon Rojas sit down with a guest who has fundamentally shaped their field, driven not by a rigid agenda but by genuine curiosity. The Smart People Podcast from Smart People Industries is built on the idea that the most compelling insights emerge from relaxed, authentic dialogue. You’ll hear authors, innovators, and cultural leaders-each with significant recognition in areas like business, education, or society-speak in a way that often feels more like a fascinating dinner conversation than a formal interview. Chris’s thoughtful questioning, paired with Jon’s producer perspective, gently guides discussions into unexpected territories, revealing the personal journeys and nuanced ideas behind public achievements. This podcast thrives in the space between expertise and accessibility, making complex topics relatable without sacrificing depth. It’s for anyone who believes that learning is a continuous, engaging process, and that the best lessons come from listening to people who think differently. Tune in biweekly for conversations that are as intellectually substantial as they are genuinely enjoyable, reminding us that smart discourse can be both enlightening and warmly human.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 500

Smart People Podcast
Podcast Episodes
Adrian Gostick – What Motivates You? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:22
Over the course of our childhood and into adulthood, we receive a lot of advice on how to find and do work we love. People tell you to follow your passion, or that you should find work that fits your personality, or that…
Ryan Holiday – Overcoming Any Obstacle [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:00
We are stuck, stymied, frustrated. But it needn’t be this way. There is a formula for success that’s been followed by the icons of history—from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Ulysses S. Grant to Steve Jobs—a fo…
Andrew Sinkov – Co-Founder and VP of Marketing of Evernote [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:27
What is it like to be a co-founder of one of the largest, most innovative tech companies on the planet? What are the necessary ingredients of a successful startup? How can people better leverage technology to be more pro…
Jeff Cohen – ‘Chunk’ from The Goonies! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:56
This week on the show our guest is a man that needs to no introduction. You know him for his iconic role in the cult classic movie, "The Goonies", and for starting a 3 decade long fad of the "truffle shuffle" - welcome J…
Fred Kiel – Does It Pay To Be Moral? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:24
We've all been taught the golden rule - "treat others as you want to be treated". Our parents raise us with the best intentions - they tell us to be nice to one another, and not to step on others to get ahead. But is tha…
Amy Stewart – Everything You Want to Know About Alcohol [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:48
Did you know that the alcohol that gets you drunk in a beer or a cocktail is actually the waste products of billions of dead yeast organisms? Or that most of our crops were initially grown to make alcohol and only later…
Alvin Roth – He Won a Nobel Prize… Enough Said [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:11
If you’ve ever sought a job or hired someone, applied to college or guided your child into a good kindergarten, asked someone out on a date or been asked out, you’ve participated in a kind of market. Most of the study of…
Bob Burg – 5 Laws of Stratospheric Success [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:08
We have all heard the axiom, "It's better to give than to receive." And although it sounds good in theory, is it actually true? What about in the cut throat business of selling? Many people are arguing that the old days…