Binge Factor Media

“Empower People to Create a Bingeable Podcast” with Jason Krantz & Jordan Morrow of the Transformation Nation Podcast

 

As part of my series of interviews about “5 things you need to know to create a bingeable podcast”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jason Krantz and Jordan Morrow.

Jason & Jordan, two recognized thought leaders in the data, analytics, and business strategy space, dig into the process of personal and professional transformation through their podcast, Transformation Nation, where they share stories, lessons learned, and break down strategies and tactics to maximize your potential.

 

.  .  .

Can you tell us a bit of your “personal backstory? What is your background and what eventually brought you to this particular career path?

Jason: My whole career I have gravitated towards tech and data. As a finance person at heart, numbers are how I tend to look at the world. I discovered at an early age that the traditional “gatekeepers” of data (IT) had numerous challenges in enabling businesses to fully leverage the power of data.

There was one experience in particulate that crystalized the power of data for me. I was just a few months into my first job and our SVP

asks me to join an executive meeting. He asks me to be ready to talk about an analysis I had prepared for him to highlight an opportunity I had found.

Once in the meeting, I see it is full of very high-level executives. This was a Fortune 500 company, so to get everyone in the same room was a big deal. To say I was a bit intimidated is an understatement.

When my turn came to talk I delivered my findings and recommendations to the group. To my surprise, I had the attention of everyone in the room. Apparently I had discovered something quite significant that had eluded others. All I did was look at the data from a different perspective.

Since then, I have built my career off the very idea of looking at data from a different lens.

Jordan: My backstory is a unique one. I have an industry nickname: The Godfather of Data Literacy. My journey here really stemmed from ideas of empowerment for individuals to utilize data more effectively.

Before my current role, I ran a large BI team at one of the world’s largest financial services organizations. While there, the first ideas of data literacy came to me. I thought “let’s create a learning plan that helps this large group of users develop better skills within analytics”.

When presented to our leadership, they said no, they aren’t ready. Maybe in the future. I didn’t realize what I was stumbling upon about 6 years ago.

I came to Qlik because they offered a role I wanted and saw huge potential in. It was a very different, non-product specific role. We decided to not charge for our courses. I was hid in the “basement” until we had a proof of concept. That proof of concept turned out to be game changing.

Now data literacy dots the globe, taking me all over the world and helping organizations from many industries. It truly has become a passion and world for me.

Can you share a story about the most interesting thing that has happened to you since you started podcasting?

Upon launching our podcast we got a few interesting notes from people. By far the most common was essentially “another podcast”? People asked how we were going to get the word out. They also asked why what Jordan and I had to say was any different from what others had to say.

We found this perspective interesting because it was the complete opposite of how we looked at the opportunity.

Can you share a story about the biggest or funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson or takeaways you learned from that?

Before we recorded our first episode we did a test recording just to hear how we sounded. Once we listened to the audio, we heard that we talked over each other quite a bit. Both of us are high energy guys, so it was pretty hilarious once we stepped back and listened to what we were saying from the perspective of a listener. We quickly realized we were going to have to slow things down to avoid talking over each other. The biggest lesson from this was learning conversational patience and being ok with some quiet spots.

Check out the full interview in Tracy Hazzard’s Authority Magazine article about Jason Krantz & Jordan Morrow!

.  .  .

Jason Krantz & Jordan Morrow of the Transformation Nation Podcast share the best way to:

1) Book Great Guests. Jordan and I have a very strong presence on LinkedIn and have robust networks, so getting great people on our show is a function of all the work we have done over the years to build out these relationships. We suggest that you are always networking to build relationships. That opens a lot of doors both from a professional and podcasting perspective.

2) Increase Listeners. Making the podcast is the easy work. Marketing it is when the real work starts. Make marketing a key part of your podcast growth strategy. It takes a sustained effort to grow your following.

3) Produce in a Professional Way. Learn from experts on how to produce a great podcast. This is perhaps the most challenging part as this is not something most of us do on a regular basis.

4) Encourage Engagement. Be sure to help facilitate conversation and engagement in your episodes. This may manifest itself as direct questions asked to the listener or specific positions you take on a topic. We encourage our listeners to engage with us directly on LinkedIn also. The key is to welcome different perspectives with open arms.

5) Monetize. We don’t currently have any desire to directly monetize our podcast. The benefits to us are helping others grow and building awareness of who we are and what we do.

In your opinion what makes your podcast binge-listenable? What do you think makes your podcast unique from the others in your category? What do you think is special about you as a host, your guests, or your content?

Check out the full interview in Tracy Hazzard’s Authority Magazine article about Jason Krantz & Jordan Morrow!