The Dr. Claude Kershner Show

Hosted by Dr. Claude Kershner IV

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128

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Nov 2026

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About the show

Build better businesses. Lead people well. Create value that lasts. The Dr. Claude Kershner Show brings practical lessons in entrepreneurship, consulting, leadership, strategy, and AI in business to entrepreneurs, managers, and emerging consultants. Join professor, entrepreneur, and ARCH Consulting Managing Principal Dr. Claude Kershner for teaching, real-world examples, and frameworks you can put to work. Explore how to understand clients, strengthen business models, develop teams, and make better decisions. Follow the show and explore companion resources at thedrclaudekershnershow.com.

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60 recent

November 4, 20261 hr 10 min

Ep. 128: Course Recap: Consulting with Entrepreneurs, Meetings to Deliverables

How do you turn classroom knowledge into useful work for a real entrepreneur? This focused recap brings four teaching sessions together into one progression, from consulting foundations to first client meetings and defining an engagement. Dr. Claude Kershner covers listening and diagnosing before recommending, understanding a business model and its constraints, industry research and discovery questions, building trust as a consulting team, and turning discovery into an engagement agreement and practical deliverables. Chapters 0:00 Show intro 0:35 Consulting, leadership and learning with entrepreneurs 4:59 The consulting experience and process consulting 8:44 Your contribution as a consultant 11:34 Small-business stages and sustainable success 16:48 Teamwork, scope and professional skills 22:59 Ways to help clients and build trust 31:48 Industry research and understanding entrepreneurs 35:31 First client meetings and early deliverables 40:08 Client expectations, boundaries and assumptions 44:34 Business models, revenue and customer value 47:42 Entrepreneur, concept and opportunity 50:59 Marketing foundations and differentiation 54:44 Preparing for real client engagements 58:11 Industry research and using AI thoughtfully 1:02:34 Listening, follow-up and mutual learning 1:04:59 Discovery questions and professional rapport 1:06:33 Engagement agreements and priorities 1:09:41 Empathy and thoughtful follow-up Watch the video: https://youtu.be/6pu9Y7pDlNo

November 3, 20262 hr 13 min

Ep. 127: Extended Workshop: Business Strategy, Planning & Entrepreneurship

How do you move from running a busy business to building a better one? In this extended workshop, Dr. Claude Kershner breaks down strategic thinking for entrepreneurs and new consultants: choosing customers, differentiating your offer, and turning those decisions into a practical business plan. Examples include a bowling alley, a chocolate shop, a surfboard business, Snap-on tools and Arm & Hammer. The session closes with a conversation with Julio about entrepreneurship, AI search, digital visibility, and adapting a business as technology changes. Chapters 0:00 Show intro 0:35 Welcome and the strategic thinking mindset 6:35 Working on your business 15:19 Reactive, tactical, and strategic decisions 21:12 Product strategy: bowling, chocolate, and surfboards 34:40 Choosing your target customers 36:40 Market segmentation in practice 54:25 Escaping the commodity trap 59:51 Differentiation beyond price 1:11:29 Making service value tangible 1:13:53 The four levels of your offering 1:19:37 Customer benefits versus product features 1:25:25 Snap-on: competing through service 1:30:16 Finding new uses and positioning 1:31:50 Why planning matters 1:38:19 Build a plan you understand 1:40:23 The complete business plan outline 1:50:04 Conversation with Julio: marketing and AI 1:53:28 AI search and changing customer behavior 1:55:42 Recognizing entrepreneurial opportunities 1:59:35 Specificity and digital visibility 2:06:36 Planning when technology keeps changing 2:11:43 Practical AI workflows and closing thoughts Watch the video: https://youtu.be/0CFUOV4KTPM

November 2, 20264 min

Ep. 126: Teaching with AI: From Business Idea to Simulation

What does teaching with AI actually look like? A simple business simulation becomes a customized exploration of a student's landscaping opportunity, live in the classroom. Follow the process: prompt, explore the market, change pricing and staffing, examine the results, and ask whether the opportunity is feasible. The simulations are illustrative starting points for better questions, not forecasts. Research, customer evidence and human judgment still decide. Chapters 0:00 Show intro 0:35 Decisions before launch 0:51 A simple prompt becomes a simulation 1:19 From a student's idea to a custom scenario 1:58 Market context inside the simulation 2:24 Change decisions and examine results 3:25 Pricing response and a landscape project 3:38 What scenario analysis makes possible 4:00 Test the opportunity: feasibility analysis 4:28 Validate with real customers Watch the video: https://youtu.be/yuudvfCPpAI Related resources for further exploration Try the Business Simulation Studio: https://thedrclaudekershnershow.com/kershner-lab/business-simulation-studio/ Explore ARCH Consulting workshops and speaking: https://archconsults.com/services/keynote-speaking/

November 1, 202611 min

Ep. 125: Why Good People Should Want Power (Power Is Morally Neutral)

Power isn't good or bad. It's money in the bank. Influence is what you spend. Dr. Claude Kershner makes the case that good people should want power: hard and soft power, why followers comply, resist or commit, why the org chart and the influence map are rarely the same, six ethical influence tactics, and why the right people need to step into the arena. Chapters 0:00 Show intro 0:35 Cold open 0:44 Power is neutral 3:18 Read the room 4:29 Politics is how things get decided 5:41 Six ethical tactics 9:04 If not you, then who? Watch the video: https://youtu.be/vGIV43mw2qs

October 31, 202639 min

Ep. 124: Leading Across Cultures: Hofstede, Cultural Intelligence & Diverse Teams

Why does a leadership style that works at home fall flat abroad? And why do diverse teams solve problems faster? In this full lecture, Dr. Claude Kershner covers the global mindset, Hofstede's value dimensions, high- and low-context communication, the business card that cost a pitch its audience, cultural intelligence (CQ), and what the research says about diversity, unconscious bias and better decisions. Chapters 0:00 Show intro 0:35 The global mindset 7:44 National culture 11:32 Hofstede's dimensions 17:50 Styles don't travel 22:11 High and low context 24:52 Leading a multicultural team 28:32 Diversity as a strategic asset 33:45 Why diverse teams decide better 36:01 Unconscious bias 37:53 Gender and transformational leadership Watch the video: https://youtu.be/kS3Akt7q4bI

October 30, 20267 min

Ep. 123: Are Leaders Born or Made? 5 Leadership Myths, Debunked

Do organizations really need one great man or woman at the top? Dr. Claude Kershner takes on the Great Man theory, why the traits that win wars can sink a leader in peacetime, five leadership myths that do not survive the research, the four threads every leadership scholar agrees on, why leadership is shifting from hero to humble, and the trait that changed how he leads: tolerance for ambiguity. Chapters 0:00 Show intro 0:35 The Great Man theory 2:06 Five leadership myths 4:54 What scholars agree on 6:06 Hero or humble? Watch the video: https://youtu.be/f-NURow4MWI Related resources for further exploration Reflect on your leadership habits with Are You Ready to Lead?: https://thedrclaudekershnershow.com/kershner-lab/are-you-ready-to-lead-leadership-readiness-self-assessment/ Explore leadership and team frameworks: https://thedrclaudekershnershow.com/kershner-lab/frameworks/ Bring the discussion to your organization through ARCH Consulting: https://archconsults.com/services/keynote-speaking/

October 29, 20268 min

Ep. 122: Why Good Leaders Get Derailed (and the Blind Spots Behind It)

Talented leaders rarely fail for lack of talent. They get derailed. Dr. Claude Kershner walks through the five derailers identified by the Center for Creative Leadership, why self-awareness is the foundation of effective leadership, the two directions blind spots take (too hard or too nice), and his own Big Five personality results and what they taught him about how he leads. Chapters 0:00 Show intro 0:35 Cold open 0:42 The five derailers 3:43 Self-awareness 4:28 Blind spots 5:52 My own results Watch the video: https://youtu.be/kcsxbeOYYOI

October 28, 202610 min

Ep. 121: Why EQ Beats IQ: The Science of Emotional Intelligence for Leaders

Two leaders with the same IQ. One thrives, one fails. The difference is emotional intelligence. In this Leadership, Decoded deep dive, Dr. Claude Kershner breaks down what EQ really is, why we are emotional beings who learned to be rational, what faking your feelings at work actually costs, why AI makes EQ matter more, and whether to lead with love or fear. Research referenced includes Goleman, Damasio, Hochschild, and Sadun and colleagues in Harvard Business Review. Chapters 0:00 Show intro 0:35 Cold open 0:41 What EQ really is 1:57 Why emotions matter 4:43 Emotional labor 6:09 EQ in the age of AI 7:06 Lead with love or fear? Watch the video: https://youtu.be/GiGNIIFeYPQ

October 28, 20261 hr 38 min

Ep. 120: What Moves People: Motivation, Communication & Leading Teams

Why do people follow one leader onto a rocket ship and quit on another after a year? This full lecture brings three classes together into one guide to leading people: what really motivates them, how to communicate so your message lands, and how to turn a group into a high-performing team. Dr. Claude Kershner works through the evidence: why so many people who quit cite a lack of appreciation, the overjustification effect, Maslow, Herzberg, goal-setting, equity and expectancy theory, empowerment and delegation, the illusion of communication, Tuckman's stages, the 8 pillars of trust, and the ten characteristics of high-performing teams. Chapters 0:00 Show intro 0:35 Cold open: why people really quit 1:20 Part 1: Why people follow 2:04 Leader vs. manager 2:26 Generalists vs. specialists 5:53 Valence: one incentive won't motivate everyone 7:28 Followership 8:11 Part 2: What really motivates people 12:15 The 79% problem: appreciation 13:54 Whose job is motivation? 15:32 Extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation 16:38 The shopkeeper and the overjustification effect 20:51 Part 3: The science of motivation 21:07 Maslow's hierarchy of needs 26:09 Herzberg's two-factor theory 28:42 Goal-setting theory 31:34 Equity theory and salary compression 34:40 Expectancy theory 37:39 Autonomy and empowering environments 39:15 The motivation playbook 41:26 Part 4: Empowerment and motivating work 43:53 Job design: the job characteristics model 47:05 Why leaders don't delegate, and how to delegate 49:36 Employee engagement and quiet quitting 51:26 Part 5: Leadership is communication 52:34 Why two people hear the same message differently 54:40 Give them the gist 55:45 The illusion of communication 58:49 The communication process 1:01:33 The leader as communication champion 1:03:07 Three laws of communicating vision 1:05:19 Good vs. bad listening 1:07:55 Part 6: Leading teams 1:10:36 Team vs. group 1:12:15 Three kinds of teams: softball, orchestra, jazz 1:18:09 Four myths of teamwork 1:23:06 Tuckman: forming, storming, norming, performing 1:27:15 The 8 pillars of trust 1:29:12 Team USA 2004: talent without teamwork 1:30:57 Buffer down, advocate up 1:32:47 Ten characteristics of high-performing teams 1:37:14 The two-pizza rule and leading with humility Watch the video: https://youtu.be/zUOU5Z4Lsug

October 8, 202630 min

Ep. 119: Consulting That Creates Value | Client Relationships & Business Models

How do you turn a client conversation into consulting work that creates real value? Dr. Claude Kershner explains how to build productive client relationships, establish professional boundaries, develop strategy with an entrepreneur, and translate discovery into practical deliverables. Learn how a product differs from a business concept and business model, how customer experience creates value, and how a venture's stage shapes the advice it needs. Part of The Consulting Experience, a practical workshop series for consultants, entrepreneurs, and business leaders. This is the audio companion to Consulting 05: Client Relationships & Business Models. IN THIS EPISODE * Lead the client relationship and agree on clear next steps. * Build strategy with the entrepreneur and let discovery shape the work. * Match recommendations to the business stage and available resources. * Explore business-model questions, customer focus, and competitive advantage. CHAPTERS 0:00 ARCH Consulting show introduction 0:35 Build a productive client relationship 4:05 Develop strategy with the entrepreneur 7:44 Turn discovery into useful deliverables 12:43 Match advice to the business stage 18:15 Product, concept and business model 23:13 Six questions behind a business model 27:48 Use client goals to uncover the next step 30:05 Bring the work together 30:39 Closing Watch the companion workshop and its teaching visuals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_LokQFk82U Watch The Consulting Experience in order: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZJaG-LnoeEY Related episode: What Do Entrepreneurs Create? https://soundcloud.com/claudekershner/ep-118-what-do-entrepreneurs-create Explore The Dr. Claude Kershner Show: https://thedrclaudekershnershow.com/ Listen to The Consulting Experience on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/claudekershner/sets/the-consulting-experience