Sid Intro: 

Hey, friend. Welcome back or welcome to the Trend Report. I'm excited that you've joined me for today's conversation. I'm Sid Meadows. I'm a business advisor coach and longtime student of the office furniture industry. And my goal is simple to share information with you that helps you grow and your business grow each and every day. And I'm really excited for today's conversation because here we are at the end of season six. And wow, what a great year it's been. And you've joined me and been here with me every other week as we had some amazing interviews and some amazing conversations with industry leaders and then a few conversations with just me and you. We've talked a lot on this show about artificial intelligence or AI and how you can use it. So today we're actually using AI to help me share with you a recap of season six. Now, specifically, we're using Notebook LM by Google. So I want to share a little bit with you about what we did and how we got here. So I discovered Notebook LM. A few friends introduced it to me, and I've been playing around with it. I actually did something with it on my newsletter on LinkedIn called Inside Contract Interiors. Some of you may have seen that. But what I did was I went in and I took most of the transcripts from the interviews throughout season six. Um, some of you may know that we do transcribe every episode on the website. There's a link there that you can see and read the transcript if you'd like to read. So we took those transcripts and I downloaded them and I put them all in one document and I uploaded that document into Notebook LM. And I had to play around with the prompts a little bit. I actually had to do three or four different prompts. I actually had to phone a couple of friends. It was definitely an experience, and I learned a lot doing this, especially about prompt engineering, though I'm not a really big fan of that phrase prompt engineering, but I had to play around with it in order to produce the audio that you're about to listen to. And it was really a lot of fun. And like I said, I learned a lot doing it. And so what you're about to hear is that what they call the deep dive. And it's two AI-generated voices, giving you about a 14-minute recap and look back onto season six and some of the conversations that we had. I talk a lot about practical use cases of AI. And I hope that one of your takeaways today, by seeing how I used Notebook LM, will inspire you to go look at other AI tools and see how you can take these and incorporate them into your business, whether to do shorten repetitive tasks or to do things for you. Just really learn how to do it. And that was really the goal of this was to show you a very practical use case of something that I did using AI that I hope that you enjoy listening to. Stay tuned to the end of the episode and the end of this conversation, if you will. And I've got a few more things to share with you. So let's dive into the season six recap brought to us by Notebook LM.

AI Voice 1:

Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we have a fantastic mission. We are diving into a stack of transcripts from a really successful run, season six of the Trend Report, hosted by industry veteran Sid Meadows.

AI Voice 2: 

That's absolutely right. Yeah. So for you, the listener, today we are taking a look back at season six of the trend report, hosted by Sid Meadows. We're going to highlight some of the guests and uh the greatest moments of the season, giving you the ultimate shortcut, really.

AI Voice 1: 

Yeah, we've pulled out the biggest aha moments and maybe more importantly, pinpointed the core strategic or practical problem each guest helped listeners solve.

AI Voice 2: 

Our mission is definitely to move past just summarizing and get straight to the well, the usable knowledge.

AI Voice 1: 

Okay, so let's start where every successful business has to, the human side. Sales and mindset. Um one of the standout conversations was with Doug Shapiro, VP of Sales for JSI. That was back in episode 151.

AI Voice 2: 

Right, His insight was, I thought, profound because it focused on reducing that you know intense pressure that often comes with sales. Sure, this idea that sales isn't about just running through a presentation or pushing product. It's more about achieving a deep, almost anthropological understanding of your client.

AI Voice 1: 

And the bit he pinpointed was so, well, counterintuitive. He argued you actually gain more insight by paying really close attention to the questions the client asks you. Yeah. More than just relying on the questions you prepared for them. It sort of flips the dynamic, doesn't it?

AI Voice 2: 

It totally does. From a one-sided pitch to a genuine mutual discovery. Exactly. And when you really internalize that, you see sales is less about being the expert just delivering info and more about being the responsive listener. You know, tailoring things in real time based on their worries or curiosity.

AI Voice 1: 

And that's how you solve that problem of simplifying connection in what's, let's face it, a very noisy marketplace.

AI Voice 2: 

And Doug gave us that brilliant, actionable tool for connection, especially now with remote work everywhere. The smile hack.

AI Voice 1: 

Ah, yes. The smile hack.

AI Voice 2: 

He observed that simply smiling, especially like right before you jump on a video call or even a quick phone call, it just fundamentally changes the interaction.

AI Voice 1: 

It sounds so simple, but the impact.

AI Voice 2:  

Well, the beauty is it's physiological impact, right? It lowers your own stress, puts you in a better mood, and it's almost instinctual. It triggers a mirroring response in the other person. You create this instant positive human rapport, bridges that digital distance right away. It's a psychological tool for connection. Honestly, it should be essential for any salesperson right now.

AI Voice 1: 

That deep focus on, you know, authentic connection flowed perfectly into the advice from Adrian Leal. His episodes really focused on navigating this digital revolution without losing that essential human touch.

AI Voice 2: 

Yeah, Adrian's message was clear. In what's increasingly a commoditized industry, authentic relationships are the key differentiator.

AI Voice 1: 

He framed it perfectly. Your net worth is your network. Still true, maybe truer than ever.

AI Voice 2: 

And the problem he was solving was okay, how do you thrive when everything specs, pricing is just easily found online. His answer was building thought leadership.

AI Voice 1: 

Through genuine, consistent content.

AI Voice 2:  

Exactly. He laid out this whole content philosophy. It addresses the fact that clients, especially in the AD community, they're constantly doing these social proof checks.

AI Voice 1: 

Right. Who are these people I might work with?

AI Voice 2:  

Precisely. Adrian noted that success comes when your consistency compounds. If you're consistently adding value, you build trust.

AI Voice 1:  

And that trust eventually lets you bypass that initial commodity talk. People find you because of your expertise, not just your spec sheet.

AI Voice 2: 

His philosophy was built on four pillars. Start with your why, your passion, define your goal helping people, refine your message practical advice, and he blended it brilliantly with mental health tips, which was great.

AI Voice 1:  

Yeah, that was a nice touch.

AI Voice 2:  

And then maintain unwavering consistency.

AI Voice 1:  

It's a roadmap, really, ensuring the person they hire is known, trusted, and seen as a genuine expert.

AI Voice 2: 

Absolutely. Okay, so shifting gears a bit, let's move from those uh human skills to the operational core of the business. Season six was packed with insights there too. Crucial for leaders navigating these, well, turbulent markets.

AI Voice 1: 

We heard from Shelly Rosetta, a principal at Solomon Coyle.

AI Voice 2: 

Shelly helped business owners solve a really fundamental strategic problem: getting usable, relevant financial data. Solomon Coyle's work is all about financial benchmarking, but as she explained, it ensures dealers are only compared against metrics appropriate for their size.

AI Voice 1:  

And this is so critical, isn't it? If you're a $25 million dealer, your overheads, your inventory, your profit margins, they're completely different beasts compared to a $100 million company.

AI Voice 2: 

Right. Comparing the two doesn't give you usable knowledge. It just creates these vanity metrics that frankly can make you feel inadequate.

AI Voice 1: 

A Solomon Coyle solves that. Apples to apples comparisons. That drives smart decision making.

AI Voice 2: 

And we saw how that strategic thinking plays out in the real world with James, the owner of Workspace. He talked about managing rapid growth, his approach, defining his market niche with extreme clarity.

AI Voice 1: 

James realized that a lot of the major aligned dealers often ignore this sweet spot, the upper mid-market. Companies with, what is it, 25 to 500 employees?

AI Voice 2:  

Yeah, that range. He strategically focused his resources right there, offering them this high-level service they might not get from the bigger players.

AI Voice 1: 

And his strategy wasn't just the niche, it was the execution too.

AI Voice 2:  

Oh, definitely. He emphasized clear communication, incredibly quick response times, and a happiness guarantee. He knew his clients don't buy furniture often, so he made the whole process easy. Seamless.

AI Voice 1: 

But James was crystal clear on his ultimate growth driver.

AI Voice 2: 

EOS, adopting the entrepreneurial operating system.

AI Voice 1: 

Right, EOS. For those who might not know, it's this comprehensive framework, standardizes process, accountability, goal setting across the whole business.

AI Voice 2:  

And he credited it with turning ambitious growth into predictable, repeatable success. That's the kind of strategic system implementation that really future-proofs you.

AI Voice 1:  

And speaking of future-proofing, Shelley Rosetta offered some great forward-looking advice, preparing for potential turbulence, maybe in 2025, maybe beyond. Her core message was flexibility and adaptability.

AI Voice 2: 

Yeah, he's urged listeners to look beyond the traditional sales approaches. Seriously consider expanding their service ecosystem.

AI Voice 1:  

Think beyond just the furniture. Incorporate complementary things like uh AV integration, maybe specialized installation management, wayfinding solutions.

AI Voice 2:  

Things that create customer stickiness, as she called it. It makes you indispensable.

AI Voice 1:  

Exactly. If you're the comprehensive solution provider, not just the furniture seller, the client is far less likely to shop around or leave when the market tightens.

AI Voice 2:  

That's a critical lesson for any leader right now. Definitely.

AI Voice 1: 

Okay, let's shift again. Technology and data. Season six guests were really instrumental here, demystifying some complex stuff. Doug Shapiro, who we mentioned, and Kari Anderson of Techbox Collective both weighed in heavily on AI.

AI Voice 2:  

And they agreed. AI is now fundamental, like electricity, or as Doug put it, like water is just there. But the value isn't in the tool itself. Right. The value is entirely in the quality of the questions you ask it. Doug shared he uses basic platforms like ChatGPT just to explore concepts, even loading floor plans to challenge his own initial designs.

AI Voice 1: 

And Kari, being so deep in tech and data literacy, she stressed that success really requires focused attention on prompt engineering.

AI Voice 2: 

The skill of structuring precise inputs to get precise, usable outputs.

AI Voice 1:  

And crucially, she insisted on keeping a human in the middle.

AI Voice 2:  

Yes. AI output is the starting point, not the final answer. You need that human expertise to verify the data, apply critical thinking. Otherwise, you risk automating errors at scale. Scary thought.

AI Voice 1:  

Very scary. And Kari's mission with Techbox Collective is so vital because she's bridging that huge gap between end users and software partners. She's focused on capturing the industry's critical but often undocumented tribal knowledge.

AI Voice 2:

All that institutional wisdom that usually just walks out the door when someone retires or leaves.

AI Voice 1:  

Yeah, exactly. Which brings us to another concept she simplified beautifully the source of truth.

AI Voice 2:  

Ah, yes. Sounds very technical, maybe intimidating.

AI Voice 1:  

But she broke it down simply. It's just the single reliable place, usually your ERP system, your enterprise resource planning system that feeds product data, specs, pricing accurately and consistently across all your platforms.

AI Voice 2: 

So if that source of truth is wrong.

AI Voice 1:  

Everything that follows is wrong. Your spec sheets, your CET configurations, everything. Solving bad data starts by nailing that one central source you can trust.

AI Voice 2:  

That centralized data is the bedrock for successful product innovation. And speaking of innovation, one of the most compelling stories of the season, I thought, came from Walter Craven, CEO of Cabin.

AI Voice 1: 

Oh, Walter's story was great. He shared the creation story of his product, born directly from the, well, the sheer chaos of lockdown London. You can picture it, right?

AI Voice 2: 

Totally. Try to work from home, kids running around, paint fumes, the neighbor's dog barking. His personal problem became a market solution.

AI Voice 1: 

And his product, Cabin, is designed as a back-to-work magnet. But what was particularly ingenious was his focus on the external side.

AI Voice 2:  

Right. Everyone focuses on making the pod quiet inside. But Walter's team engineered the pod's unique, faceted exterior shape, specifically to reduce sound reverberation for the people outside the pod in the open office.

AI Voice 1:  

That's truly designing for the collective experience, not just the individual user. Brilliant.

AI Voice 2: 

And he shared that amazing entrepreneurial secret. When the initial price point was seen as too high and assembly too complex, he didn't just tweak it.

AI Voice 1:

No, he secretly engineered a complete redesign of the wall system until he overcame those hurdles. The client didn't even know the scale of the pivot.

AI Voice 2:  

That says so much about commitment to the product experience. It's the ultimate example of challenging assumptions. If the market rejects your first try, you don't just fiddle with the price, you redesign the product's DNA until it meets the need.

AI Voice 1: 

Incredible story. Okay, finally, season six featured some really deep discussions on specialization and designing for future markets. Kelly Collins' powerful message on neuroinclusion really stood out.

AI Voice 2:  

Kelly delivered such a direct, necessary challenge to designers. Stop building and creating solutions to problems you do not understand. She basically advocates for designers to become students of the brain of human development, moving beyond just aesthetics into applied psychology.

AI Voice 1: 

And the insight here is so important. Designing for neurodivergence for conditions like ADHD, autism, sensory processing issues, it doesn't just help those groups, it benefits everyone.

AI Voice 2:  

Yes. Universal design through specialization. She gave simple examples like using frosted glass instead of clear glass in public spaces.

AI Voice 1:  

Because clear glass provides visual chaos, right. Seeing motion in your peripheral vision, people moving, cars passing it, creates constant involuntary overstimulation.

AI Voice 2:

Frosted glass solves that, creates calmer environments that benefit every brain type. It's a perfect example.

AI Voice 1: 

And the need for specialization was also hammered home by Sarah, who identified two massive vertical market opportunities for manufacturers looking to future proof.

AI Voice 2: 

First, healthcare. With virtual care becoming permanent, there's a critical need for telehealth-friendly furniture. We're talking acoustically private pods, integrated tech solutions, letting patients and providers connect privately in a clinical setting.

AI Voice 1:

That makes so much sense. And the second, equally huge opportunity: senior living.

AI Voice 2:  

Sarah pointed out an anticipated $300 billion shortfall by 2030. It's not just about building new facilities, it's updating the dated ones, appealing to the next generation of residents who are tech savvy and expect way better design and amenities.

AI Voice 1:  

Huge market potential there. Then we heard from Colin, CEO of Biome. He showed how to solve the problem of maintaining biophilic design, you know, plants and nature at scale.

AI Voice 2:  

Because we all know plants are great, but maintaining living walls in a 50-story corporate tower, that's a nightmare.

AI Voice 1:  

Colin's solution uses patented tech. He called it a mix of hardware, software, and greenware to create these turnkey modular living walls that are actually easy to maintain.

AI Voice 2:  

Which allows them to scale nature indoors effectively for huge clients like national banks or major corporate campuses, solving a real logistical problem.

AI Voice 1:  

And finally, we saw incredible examples of sustainable and collaborative leadership. Natalie Hartkoff of High Tower and Karen John of Heartwork demonstrated really progressive strategy. They addressed the problem of maybe inadequate sustainability standards by pursuing B Corp certification.

AI Voice 2:  

B Corp really is the gold standard. It's holistic, goes way beyond typical B from a level standards, measures a company's entire social and environmental performance. It's a commitment to purpose beyond just profit.

AI Voice 1: 

And they also proved the power of coopetition.

AI Voice 2: 

Right. They solved the resource allocation problem by forming the Nomad Collaborative Showroom in New York, pooling resources with complementary non-competing brands.

AI Voice 1:  

Creating this powerful shared showroom experience that drives traffic and sales for everyone involved. Smart collaboration.

AI Voice 2: 

Very smart. So when we reflect on season six of the trend report hosted by said Meadows, the strategic takeaway feels absolutely clear. Thriving in today's environment requires dynamic action.

AI Voice 1: 

Yeah, it demands strong, soft skills selling through real connection, coupled with critical thinking about things like AI and data structure, and maybe most importantly, the courage to make bold strategic pivots.

AI Voice 2:  

Whether that's chasing new vertical markets like healthcare, senior living, or embracing neuroinclusion in design, or even Walter's secret product redesign.

AI Voice 1:  

What's truly fascinating and what seems to connect every successful strategy we've highlighted, from Adrian Leal's content marketing to Walter Craven's engineering grit, is that courage. The courage to constantly challenge your own assumptions and apply the lessons you learn.

AI Voice 2: 

Success seems less about getting the first idea perfectly right and more about the grit to pivot when you realize your initial solution is too complex or too expensive, or it isn't landing with the market.

AI Voice 1: 

It's about knowing when to ask, as Sid often encouraged his guests, a more beautiful question. So as you, the listener, move forward, maybe consider the strategic challenges we've unpacked today.

AI Voice 2: 

Is it embracing AI literacy? Is it diving deeper into narrow inclusion? Maybe specializing in a critical market like telehealth furniture. Which area we discuss presents the most pressing opportunity for you to explore next?

AI Voice 1: 

That's the application, right? That's what turns knowledge into success. Exactly. That is the deep dive. We'll see you next time.

Sid Outro:  

Thanks for joining me today. I'm really curious, what did you think about the notebook LM recording? I really would love for you to reach out to me, send me a message, and let me know what you thought about it. Did you like it? Did you come up with any ideas while listening to it that you could do in your business? This was an experiment that I really wanted to share with you. So I'm excited to hear from each and every one of you about what you thought about it. Now, briefly for a minute, I want to talk about season seven. We will launch our first episode in season seven on Monday, February the second. As most of you know, we do take off the remainder of November, which would be the week of Thanksgiving when the next episode all of December and all of January. Now, we're not just kicking back and living large during that time period. We are busy behind the scenes, recording, reaching out to guests, getting a lot of stuff ready, and we've been doing a ton of planning about season seven. And I know a lot of you have helped me with this because I reached out and said, hey, if you'd like to share your thoughts with me, I'd welcome that. And probably 20 or so of you reached out to me and I had direct one-on-one conversations and asked you lots of questions. We got a lot of great insights, and I've been working with a coach as we prepare for season seven to really get season seven to a place that I wanted it to be and honestly to make it our best season yet. So we got a lot of interviews coming up. We got a lot of personal uh stories that I'm gonna be sharing with you. So I'm really excited about season seven. So stay tuned until Monday, February the second when we launch it. And maybe, just maybe a couple of weeks before, we might launch a new trailer for season seven with more information for you. I just want to wrap up today by saying thank you for going with me on this journey, for being here every other week. If we launched these conversations and these solo episodes, from the bottom of my heart, I really appreciate each and every one of you being here and tuning in and making the Trend Report what it is today. I wish all of you an amazing holiday season with your friends or family and go out there and make today great. And we'll see you right back here on Monday, February 2nd, if not maybe a few days before. Take care, everyone.