Rob Braiman, Cogent Analytics – InnovaBuzz 193

Rob Braiman, Cogent Analytics

In this episode, I’m really excited to have on the InnovaBuzz podcast as my guest, Rob Braiman of Cogent Analytics, a business management consulting firm that partners with clients to identify areas of opportunity in the financial, operational, and organizational aspects of the business that will accelerate leadership goals. Cogent’s primary focus is to help small to medium size, privately held businesses achieve success and long term profitability.

In our discussion, Rob  talked to me about

• The science of business development and the importance of developing and retaining your people
• How to engineer higher profit without raising prices
• Why business is like a great apple pie

Josh Elledge on episode 158 suggested we interview Rob.

Listen to the podcast to find out more.

Listen to the Podcast

Entrepreneurship is the lifeblood of economic growth all over the world. @RobBraiman on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To Tweet

Show Notes from this episode with Rob Braiman, CEO of Cogent Analytics

Key points and take-aways from this episode include:

• Entrepreneurship is the lifeblood of economic growth all over the world.
• Start with a client first mentality in all aspects.
• The Cogent Analytics Profit Platform distills down very complex business principles into 4 fundamental pillars: business development, organisational engineering, process engineering, and KPI development. Doing all of these pillars well or poorly is what defines long profit and/or cash position or equity position in a company.
• Cogent Analytics’ ultimate goal is to improve profitability, organisational structure, and process operations, as well as developing accountability within the organisation so that a company can grow organically with good human resources striving for a common mission.
• A well-rounded organisation has people who are not just following the leadership of the owner but are also contributing to the mission and leadership of the owner. 
• Constantly reviewing who you are as an organisation and the kind of culture you are developing within the organisation is critical to achieve hypergrowth.
• The 3 legged stool for getting the culture right:
  1. There has to be a very clear mission from the leadership.
  2. Hire people not for expediency. Evaluate people for form, fit and function but also make sure that cultural fit is a key indicator in your hiring process.
  3. Retention – training, compensation and communication. Retain people through a competitive compensation strategy that allows them to take ownership of their own sphere of influence or what they are expected to do.

• Performance-based job description not only defines what is expected but more importantly how it is measured and how that person would be compensated based on performance.
• Team values drive employee behaviours far more than money. 
• Millennials have a shared value system. The things that drive millennials are no different than the things that drove us when we were younger. Appreciating their energy and youth will make the organisation sustainable for the long term.
• The more you can engage people within an organisation, the higher performing the organisation will be.
• A correctly done budget is based on the cycle rate of a business. A breakeven is established in a company at a point in which you have absorbed 100% of your direct cost and 100% of your overhead or SDNA.
• All of the 4 fundamental pillars contribute or detract from profitability. A good development strategy without a good team, without a good process, or without measurement of accountability will fail miserably. 

Choose to be a disruptor. If you are just doing the same thing that everybody is doing, you become a "me too" product. @RobBraiman on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To Tweet

The Buzz – Our Innovation Round

Here are Rob’s answers to the questions of our Innovation round. Listen to the interview to get the full scoop.

1. #1 thing to be more innovative – Step back from the fray. Take time away from the din to be able to focus on what makes you better. 
2. Best thing for new ideas – Serving a need that I have. Inventing things on the side.
3. Favourite tool for innovation –  ERP Systems
4. Keep project / client on track – Manage the details you have and be genuinely interested in where your client is at.
5. Differentiate – Be an innovator. Be a disruptor. Care enough to know what your competitor is doing and do it better. Do it intentionally but most importantly, do it honorably, because that is the greatest challenge.

To Be a Leader

Choose to be a disruptor. If you are just doing the same thing that everybody is doing, you become a “me too” product. The real character of an organisation doesn’t come through until you earn the business. That is where the value, honor, and integrity, all come through.

Reach Out

You can reach out and thank Rob through his website.

Suggested Guest

Rob suggested I interview Yu “Sunny” Han, Co-Founder of Atlas Solutions. So Yu, keep an eye on your inbox for an invitation from us to the InnovaBuzz podcast, courtesy of Rob Braiman.

Links

• Website – Cogent Analytics
• Twitter – @RobBraiman
• LinkedIn

Cool things about Rob

• He recently invented a grip for a PlayStation or Xbox game controller.
• He served the US Military Special Operations Command.
• He became an entrepreneur at age 28. 

Be an innovator. Be a disruptor. Care enough to know what your competitor is doing and do it better. Do it intentionally but most importantly, do it honorably, because that is the greatest challenge. @RobBraiman on #InnovaBuzz podcast Click To Tweet

Listen to the Podcast