Matthew Confer is the Vice President of Strategy at Abilitie, a Leadership Development company based in Austin, Texas that provides immersive business simulations to a global client base that includes over 50 members of the Fortune 500.
Matthew has spoken on the topic of decision making at the TEDx Conference, and on the topic of leadership development at The Chief Learning Officer Exchange in San Diego, and at The Learning & Development Executive Summit in Orlando. His work has been featured by The Association For Talent Development and his recent articles have appeared in Training Industry Magazine.
Matthew hosts the Learn To Lead Podcast where he speaks with authors, professors, creatives, and business leaders about their leadership journey and how they are working to develop the leaders of tomorrow.
Matthew Confer has facilitated simulation-based training in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East for clients including Coca-Cola, Marriott Hotels, Nokia, and CBS. He began his career at Deloitte Consulting and holds an MBA from Boston University.
What is the Learn To Lead Podcast all about?
The Learn To Lead Podcast explores the world of leadership development and shares stories about the journey we all take learning to lead. On our show, we talk about how people can lead teams more effectively, how organizations can enhance their approaches to developing the leaders of tomorrow, and we talk to our guests about their journey of professional and personal development.
On our show, we speak to authors, professors, artists, and business/community leaders about how they developed as a leader and how they are developing future leaders. Recent guests have included the CLO of Intel, the United States Memory Champion, and a cartoonist from the New Yorker.
Tell us a little bit about your background – how, and why you started your podcast?
I started my career at Deloitte Consulting. Three years ago I joined the team at Abilitie as their VP of Strategy. At Abilitie we provide leadership development programs to organizations in 30+ countries around the world via experiential learning. When I started my career at Deloitte I was in the Boston, Massachusetts office, and during that time I received an MBA from Boston University. I now live in Austin, Texas with my wife and just welcomed our first son into the world.
What was the biggest problem you encountered launching your podcast and how did you overcome it?
Thankfully we had a good network of interested individuals due to our work publishing a company blog. The biggest challenge has been expanding outside of our initial audience. For that, we have leaned heavily into promotion on social media. It also behooves you if your podcast has a certain theme to reach out to groups/clubs in that theme and see if they have guest recommendations.
What are some mistakes you made as a podcaster?
Early on, I needed to find a bit of a flow with how I structured and asked questions that would lead to succinct answers. The thing we hear from our audience is they prefer the shows where there is more back and forth. That requires questions that are shorter and more targeted in length. Even if the guest is extremely interesting, you want to make sure that you can ask a good variety of questions, rather than 2-3 questions that each lead to very long answers.
How do you stay driven and motivated to keep going in your business and podcast?
For me, the drive is that I feel very lucky that I get to talk to interesting people as a component of my job. The fact that we record and publish the conversations is simply an afterthought. That is a big piece of advice I would give: ensure the topic of your show is interesting enough to you that you would do it even if you weren’t pressing record.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting your podcast?
Make sure you build a little bit of rapport with a guest before hitting the record. The better shows we have recorded are the ones where I talked with the guest for 5-10 mins before we started the show. It made them feel more comfortable, and it made it so I had a better sense of how to adjust the questions I planned to ask.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your audience?
We find that LinkedIn drives the most traffic given our topic. We ensure to connect on the platform with all of our guests and be sure to promote each episode right after it goes live. We also send an email to all guests letting them know that their show is live and asking them to promote the show to their audience via social media and email.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new podcasters?
Just do it. It sounds simple (and yes, it is also the advice Nike would give you) but if you believe you want to launch a podcast you should do it. Thankfully we live in an age where distribution is free, and the possibilities are endless to reach an interested audience. If anything, it is an amazing practice for having conversations with interesting people or creating content. Just do it.
What is your favorite quote?
This too shall pass
I love this quote because it reminds you that the good times pass so enjoy them and have gratitude. The bad times pass as well, so make sure to stay as positive as possible.
How can readers get in touch with you?
The best way to contact me is via social media where you can find me @MatthewConfer. I am most active on Twitter & LinkedIn. You can also follow our Podcast and connect via DM @LearnToLeadPodcast. I am also becoming more active on Clubhouse and would welcome the chance to connect on all platforms!
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