Summit Club Podcast

17/09/2026

Insiders,

Every Third Thursday I’ll share with you something I’ve found to be of value, whether in your business, personal, or family life. It may be a quote, a story, an observation, or an experience.

Today I’m sharing something I saw in a post of Mona Dawson”s, a past client TBP sales rep. Thanks Mona.

Please Remember

Your job is the dream of the unemployed
Your house is the dream of the homeless
Your smile is the dream of the depressed
Your health is the dream of those who are sick

Beautiful things happen when you distance yourself from negativity. Find something to be grateful for!

Have a great day. I’ll repeat Zac Brown as it’s most appropriate right now.

"Make this day” with the Zac Brown Band: https://youtu.be/Depwura1dVM?si=sjReKL0eCd0g2ikh

'Til the next “Third Thursday” make every day matter. Enjoy your weekend and be happy!

17/09/2026

Insiders,

Summer’s over….yes, Labor Day and you can feel the change in the “air”. How about almost instantly on September 8th its dark by 8pm?

Today’s thoughts are sort of a “potpourri” (a combination of incongruous things). Fourth quarter starting in 13 days. Are we prepared? Projects, sales funnel, to-do’s, promises made, promises kept, places to be, people to be seen and followed up with? Only constant is change right? We’ve all heard it and thought it, but how are we reacting to change, that’s the real issue.

Thoughts:

Preparation starts with confidence: Belief in the effectiveness of one’s own abilities or in one’s favorable acceptance by others.
Confidence comes from your self esteem (how you feel about you). What are you going to do for someone you don’t like? Not much.
Self esteem establishes attitude (a manner of thinking or behaving). You better like you!
Attitude affects behavior (actions or reactions to internal or external stimuli)
Belief and conviction that you can handle whatever “comes your way”. That’s your “True North”. Hold on to it.
Get and Stay Organized. 5 Choices from Stephen Covey
Act on the important. Don’t react to the urgent.
Go for the extraordinary. Don’t settle for ordinary
Schedule the “big rocks” (planner/calendar). Don’t sort gravel by moving the unimportant around (Might read Essentialism!)
Rule your technology, yes even AI. Don’t let it rule you.
Fuel your fire, don’t let it “burn you out”.
Five Hour Rule by Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, and other “high achievers”
dedicate at least one hour a day, five days a week, to deliberate learning.
Reading
Reflection
Experimentation
Why does it work? It treats learning as a long term investment with “compounding interest”

Enough. Get to it. That “Walk of Life”. Take pride in what you do. Share and celebrate successes and appreciate failure as an opportunity to learn and grow.

Thanks for your time. Let Mark Knopfler show you how he does the “Walk of Life”!!

A great song by the great Dire Straits. Great solo too.

20/08/2026

Insiders,

Every Third Thursday I’ll share with you something I’ve found to be of value, whether in your business, personal, or family life. It may be a quote, a story, an observation, or an experience.

Today I’m sharing something I saw on social media don’t remember where. Perhaps originally posted by Joseph D’Angelo. Thanks Joe.

Six Little Stories with Lots of Meaning

Once all the villagers decided to pray for rain. On the day of prayer, all the people gathered, but only one boy came with an umbrella. That is faith.
When you throw babies in the air, they laugh because they know you will catch them. That is trust.
Every night we go to bed without any assurance of being alive the next morning, but still we set the alarms to wake up. That is hope.
We plan big things for tomorrow in spite of zero knowledge of the future. That is confidence.
We see the world suffering, but still, we get married and have children. That is love.
On an old man’s shirts written a sentence “I am not 80 years old: I am sweet 16 with 64 years of experience”. That is attitude.


Have a happy day and live your life like these six stories. Remember- Good friends are the rare jewels of life, difficult to find and impossible to replace!!

Thanks Joe!

"Make this day” with the Zac Brown Band: https://youtu.be/Depwura1dVM?si=sjReKL0eCd0g2ikh

'Til the next “Third Thursday” make every day matter. Enjoy your weekend and be happy!

19/08/2026

Insiders,

Interesting marketplace right now with many moving “parts”. Every time I turn around, I hear of someone else leaving the “Corporate World” and going out on "their own” for a variety of reasons. From “I don’t want much, I just want more” income or independence to better life balance.

Case in point, I’m presently coaching a “talented and knowledgable manufacturer” how to develop a new business with me handling Leadership, organizational development and sales and Ashley Murray building the brand and the digital business “horsepower”. A few of the reference materials being embraced:

“The Goal” by Goldratt an “anchor”
“People Buy you” by Blount “middle ground”
“And the foreground, “What Great Salespeople Do” by Bosworth
“Inner Excellence”, by Jim Murphy “self masteryf"
“Essentialism” by McKeown “self management”

Many remember the book "Solution Selling” written by Michael Bosworth in 1994 advocated building relationships by asking questions, establishing rapport, empathetic listening etc. One of his goals was to improve the “80/20” rule balance where the “Eagles” (his term for the 20%) were bringing in 80% of the business while the remaining 20% “fought over the scraps” (again his term). Results do matter and “Recent research shows that the gap between the best sellers and the rest of the pack has actually widened” (I’ve heard we’re now around 85/15!!). All of this brings back frequent conversations with one of my mentors, the late David Sandler. I then began a search of my memory and my book shelves of the “followup book" that Bosworth wrote with Ben Zoldan. I remembered the dark blue binder with gold lettering on the binder and sure enough, I found it. Lots of highlights and notes and even a couple of those little vinyl colored page mark stickers. The “bulb” above my head “lit up”.

I started paging through and skimming the highlights and the tabbed pages and I knew, this book needed to be included in my client’s business curriculum as part of his “advanced selling reference library”. “Selling is influencing change” and how we decide to "trust some people and not others. We tell stories. How we decide to take a leap of faith and try something new and how we decide to buy or not to buy”. In fact, Bosworth brings in some data that Neil Rackham discovered in his “Spin” project for Xerox of those 20% “Eagles” (resulting in Rackham’s “Spin Selling” book and training program).

Summary insight that I’ll give my client and share with you:

Great Salespeople Build Trust
Tell Stories
Vulnerability can be a key to building trust,
Sharing stories is a great way to express vulnerability
YOU GO FIRST

Want more, learn more. Learn something new every day! Make it part of your personal “cookbook” for success!

"We Make Sense of the Events of Our Lives Through Stories” —Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. author of Mindsight

Hump Day in August. It’s all right:

Well it's all right... now in 4K HD! Watch the newly restored, off...

04/08/2026

Insiders,

Well, here I am again, after the Wall Street Journal’s weekend edition, trying to explain the connection between high performing sports cars and consulting! Wish me luck.

Off Duty “Gear & Gadgets” section by Dan Neil, featured an article on how the new Lotus “Emira” 420 high performance sports car kicks some bigger and more expensive mid-engine sports cars asses. How you might ask can a small car company in England started by racing engineer Colon Chapman in 1952 do that? Chapman’s “mantra” was always “add lightness”! That’s how the “Emira” is the fastest 4 cylinder in the world, 0 to 60 in 3.7 seconds, and top speed of 186 mph. Add lightness for agility, nimbleness, quickness, spiritedness, responsiveness, and most of all excitement and what Neil called “imminence” (the feeling that something exciting is about to happen!).

I believe many of the above characteristics belonging to the Lotus “Emira" also belong to our “consultancy” as both Peak Performance Plus and Summit Club Podcast are fast and quick off the line. We can “turn on a dime” and we can successfully manage that sense of “imminence” we bring to each engagement because we’re nimble and agile. We can respond almost “instantly” and always finish our clients “races” correctly, on time, and with a “whatever it takes” spirit!

We love what we do and I’m sure the folks at Lotus feel the same way. By the way, there’s a little nostalgia for me with a Lotus as a good friend years ago had an Elan S2 coupe and boy was it impressive!

Bottom line, next time you’re thinking about an upcoming business challenge “race”, check us out. We’re not one of the "larger choices” you might have, because, like Colon Chapman, we add “lightness” to our expertise for nimbleness and agility!

Here’s to winning on the track on which you race! Success is a state of mind. Roll with Seger

Bob Seger – “Wait For Me” (Official Music Video) Order and save ...

22/06/2026

Insiders,

So, a weekend ago, friends invited my wife and I to go to the Keswick Theatre with them to enjoy the “Happy Together Tour” show. Basically, a review presentation of the music of the late 60’s and early 70’s by the original artists that was created by Flo and Eddie, the founding principals of "The Turtles” singing group. Hang in there with me.

It was a good show, Keswick is under continuing renovation all fairly well done. A variety of performers, actually eight I think, from The Cowslips, Jay and The Americans, Vogues, Troggs, and The Association, and Chicago. One group, The Vogues sounded as “good” last Sunday as they did back in 1968 with a song entitled “Five O’clock World”. I remember hearing the song on my car’s 4 track tape player (Corvair Monza convertible) when leaving my summer job at the Middle-Heppenstall steel plant in beautiful downtown Nicetown, Philadelphia. I really could identify with the lyric “Up every morning just to keep my job, I gotta fight my way through the hustling mob, sounds of the city pounding in my brain while another day goes down the drain, but in my 5 o’clock world when the whistle blows, no one owns a piece of my time and there’s a five o’clock me inside my clothes thinking that the world looks fine.” Memories. Putting the top down and driving home listening to “The Vogues”. From that moment, things did change. A war going on and I was a recent college grad so Air Force, working for the youngest General in the AF, then sales at Hilton Head Co., and 17 years at radio station WIOQ-FM with Harvey, Helen, David, Ed, Michael, and many many more great people. One song, and that story just unfolded in my mind. Crazy huh.

Well, as a follow-up, last week listening to music probably in the car, I heard another song with as powerful a memory. It was Jesse Colon Young (and the Youngbloods) singing “Get Together” and it reminded me, lot’s of things are still the same….haven’t changed at all. Different reasons somewhat, but we’re still all fighting over almost everything…. A different war, drugs, violence in the streets, crime, and just anger. Maybe we just haven’t learned very much or maybe we just don’t care.

I do. I don’t know the answer that’s for sure. But part of it might just be the lyric from Jesse Colin Young and the Youngbloods; “Come on people now, smile on your brother everybody get together try to love one another right now”.

Amen. Good luck to us all.

And for those that don’t remember what love is, listen to "Hey Girl" by Billy Joel. I’ll make it easy.

“Five O’Clock World” https://youtu.be/LIFFuk9l8Vo?si=rv7jI34YmxnqrDcy

“Get Together” https://youtu.be/7xGxQXmu7Os?si=MBmkg_8RwOh-3I0Z

“Hey Girl” https://youtu.be/tMfLKrGvCzI?si=JfkRsbzw_MCPJXVg

Official Video for "Hey Girl" by Billy JoelListen to Billy Joel: h...

08/06/2026

Insiders,

So yesterday I had an experience with “customer service” I thought I’d share. Our “digital & telephone services” provider (I won’t name them but they do have a logo with a red T) had a sometimes frequent service interruption so I reached out for an explanation. The only avenue was to use their app on my phone. Well, after numerous choices of preset “technology options” with no opportunity to speak to a live person, I gave up. I now wonder how I might let someone know that their customer service really stinks?

A few years ago, we sometimes brought in authors and consultants to our “Executive Forum Series” to discuss their expertise and sometimes a recent book they may have written. One was Michael Ge**er who wrote “The E-Myth". Another speaker was an author and consultant by the name of Jack Llewyllen, an interesting speaker with many stories of businesses wins and losses.

One story I remember Jack telling concerned Delta Airlines, one of his clients noted for great customer service. One afternoon boarding a Delta flight delayed an hour from Atlanta’s Hartsfeild-Jackson airport (Delta’s home base is on “Delta Boulevard” in Atlanta), sandwiches were handed out to passengers as they boarded in order to make up some time delay by reducing time spent with on board flight service. As they were taxiing, a flight attendant came on the audio system asking passengers that received sandwiches to "open their sandwiches and smell the meat” as there was a mix up and they may have been given stale sandwiches. Delta was one of Jack’s premier clients and he was personally witnessing a “Customer Service Nightmare”. His story’s conclusion to our guests was “just because you’re better than the competition, doesn’t always make you good!!”. Amen Jack!

So I ask all of you, is your customer service better than your competition? Are you just better than them, or are you really GOOD? How do you know? Do you regularly ask? Is their feedback believable?

Well, for the most part you all know me, and many of you know “us”, so I’m taking this opportunity to ask all of you how are we doing? How is our “customer service”? Do we “walk the talk”? Are we better than the competition? Are we any good?

Please let us know. And while you’re at it, how about asking your customers how you’re doing. Are you just better than the competition or are you really good?

For most of us, It Don’t Come Easy! https://youtu.be/uCD0fPSsdBA?si=go4YI_FxMpF74nxT

PS. Ask us about the new leadership program “The Climb” that will be starting soon!

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupIt Don't Come Easy · Ringo StarrRingo℗ 1971 Calderstone Productions Limited (a division of Universal Music Group)...

26/05/2026

Insiders,

Every week I get notices from Gallup, Sales & Marketing Management and many more publications and organizations sharing that “Employee Engagement is at its’ lowest level” since blah, blah, blah.

Only 1 out of 3 people according to Gallup are “emotionally invested” in their work!! Across age groups, categories, roles, positions, etc., it seems more and more people at work aren’t “thrilled” doing what they do wherever they do it! Especially, managers! What the hell is going on? Like maybe 60 to 75% of people at work are just “satisfied”. That means it pays the bills etc, but no enthusiasm. Doesn’t look good to me. I mean, I’ve participated in numerous “employee satisfaction surveys” with clients of mine over the years including with the Covey organization and I don’t remember seeing engagement numbers this bad.

So, what does a “sole contributor” do in this environment? Do you just "go with the flow” and grind it out or are there things or contributions one person can make? If for no other reason than to maintain their sanity and try “to make a difference” however small.

So what can you do to improve their Company’s culture”? Here are some suggestions:

Model the Behavior you want to see. Culture spreads through examples
Improve Communication. Bring customer feedback to leadership
Support Teammates. Stimulate collaboration not rivalry
Represent Customer Reality. Advocate for customer needs
Influence Ethics and Integrity. Sell honestly and push back against unhealthy practices
Bring Solutions, not only complaints
Contribute to psychological safety. Admit mistakes and respect disagreement
Lead without a title. Be an informal leader. You don’t need position to have power!

A movie that demonstrates power without position is “The Last Castle” with Robert Redford and James Gandolfini. If interested, might want to find it on YouTube or Netflix, whatever.

My feeling is everyone can be a “leader”. All you have to do is make it “easy to be followed”! In fact, whether leading a team, supervising, managing, directing or training, the “trick is” to marry your performance with trust, collaboration and “constructive” influence.

Our response from us at Peak Performance Plus? We’ve decided to develop a real, personal, impactful leadership program called "The Climb”! Whatever your challenges at work, we’re working on content to help you get more satisfaction and personal growth for a more “enthusiastic” and rewarding future. Stay tuned for information as to how you might qualify for the “first cohort”!

Here’s to a slice of reality! “Would I Lie to You”!

Eurythmics - Would I Lie to You? (Official Video)Preorder Eurythmics vinyl released in 2018 -http://smarturl.it/EU_multiListen on Spotify -http://smarturl.it...

12/05/2026

Insiders,

Well, 2nd day back after a nice vacation visit to Key West and Naples, and I’m sliding back into the “swing of things”. Here are a couple observations with the objective of “keeping it simple”!

Here goes:

“Sales". No, not retail bargains, but sales career “pitches" and career “support and council". Seems on any and all media, I hear and read “expert” advice championing insights and offerings to better sell everything and anything! Ah huh. Well, I’ve been training sales people for over 30 years in up markets, flat markets, and down markets and the first thing I can say in the spirit of “keeping it simple" is there is no “magic bullet” that will dramatically improve your sales performance (i.e. “triple your sales in 30 days”). My experiences have taught me to help salespeople “keep it simple” this way:
First: Know Yourself ! (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
Second: Know Your Product/Service, inside and out!
Third: Practice!
Fourth: Do your selling behaviors consistently and journal!
Fifth: Build Trust!
THAT’S IT! (Keeping it simple, although much more to it!)

“Leadership”. Being a great leader can be “really simple”, but “not easy”!
First: Know Yourself: (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
Second: Don’t Externalize (Blame Others for anything)
Third: No “Projecting” on others (Your thoughts, beliefs, feelings, opinions)
Fourth: No “Discounting” (defense mechanism to avoid discomfort, responsibility, vulnerability)
Fifth: Make it easy to “be followed” (If few are “following”, your not leading well!)
IT’S A START (Keeping it simple, although again, much more to it!)

"Keeping it Simple” on a Tuesday morning. Hope it might help some of you, or interest you in learning more about what we do and how we do it. We’re in the midst of producing a new “leadership development program” entitled “Climb" that’s not for everyone. It’s only for those that want to “Lead Like a Champion” every day. Reach out and we’ll explain.

Here’s to "Tuesday Afternoon”, recorded in Melbourne Florida in 2019:

1.3K likes, 143 comments. "Justin Hayward - "Tuesday Afternoon" (Live)"

27/04/2026

Insiders,

Just some thoughts that seemed worth sharing.

In the majority of situations we find ourselves in as “business people”, a key element is always preparation. It’s proactive (Stephen Covey’s first “habit”), and in many cases represents prevention (avoiding costly and time consuming mistakes/rework etc.).

My belief is that most (almost all I’d guess) serious business professionals want to “win”. Almost everybody loves to “win” almost anything! Winning can be complicated and so here’s some ideas on what expectations would help all of us “win” more often.

Salespeople- "we don’t want much, we just want more”

For “uppers”, give us the real $ numbers. Don’t pad them, don’t tell us what you think we want to hear, just be straight, and don’t lie about where I stand with you or the team!

For “team members”, help if you can. We’re all in this together! Emerson’s Law, “give to get”!

For “customers”, be kind. We are doing our best to respond to all your little “quirks”, contingencies, and lame corporate demands.

For “prospects”, please, please don’t “ghost” us! Nothing worse than an opportunity that isn’t but you don’t have the guts to tell us!

For “family”, it’s not as glamorous or as much fun selling as you sometimes think. Travel’s a bitch and customers/prospects can be a pain in the ass (see above).

For “friends & family”, don’t ask me to help find a job for a relative" I don’t have time and even if I do, it’s not something good for me to do.

Leaders- “there are limits to how much I can get away with, obfuscate, or put positive spin on”.
For “cohorts”, please don’t offer my help to others because “you are too busy”.

For “direct reports”, it’s the “Rolling Stones”, in that “you can’t aways get what you want”. And don’t bu****it me. Trust me I’ll do my best.

For “family and friends” no, I can’t get tickets or promotional “stuff” or time off whenever you tell a friend “my dad can”.

For “all”, no, I’m not the CEO (unless you are) and I have a real job with real challenges and responsibilities. I can’t always play golf when you can.

For “finance & accounting”, profit comes before possibilities is my mantra. Don’t ask me to make do with less so you make your numbers. If you help us with budgeting and forecasting, we’ll be there for you!
Anybody Else- "I’m already a ‘lifelong learner'. Please don’t try and offer well meaning advice”.

I’m always reading and trying to learn more to help anyone who needs it, but primarily me.

The more I can improve my performance the better I feel about me and the better I feel about me, the better everything else seems.

I have enough self imposed pressure, I don’t need more.

If you have read something of interest (book, white paper, article), please let me know (no book report, "just here’s something with merit").
Time is the most important asset I have, second only to my brain. I work very hard to preserve it, not just for my work but importantly, for my life balance. Please don’t waste it.

I’m aware enough to know that if and when I’m helping you, I’m happy to do it as believe it or not, I win when each and every one of you win. I’m always here for referrals and introductions if I can.

Right now, my team and I (Ashley Murray, Amy Valentine, John Thain, Pete Kinney, John Try, & Rick Feinblatt) are working on a new “Elite Leadership Development Program” that centers on the “best from the best” from authors such as Hill, Drucker, Welch, Covey, Gladwell, Lencioni, Clifton, Charan, Buckingham, Blount, Murphy and more. We’re all on “this Climb” together and we together can help each other win. Don’t forget the mantra from Ideo (one of the top product development companies in the world) “a high performing team can beat the lone genius every time”.

It’s mid April, the sun is shining, and it’s Monday. I’d suggest that all of us find a new ingredient to winning to add to the above lists. We will be doing a Podcast on “Winning” and would welcome you on the recording session, so give us your thoughts!

Don’t know about you, but take 7 minutes and listen to what “Keeps Me Running”!!

62 likes, 4 comments. "Michael McDonald - 2003 - It Keeps You Runnin' (Live)"