Pause, Pivot and Hustle with Dr. Bill Sodeman
In this episode of Keep Hustling, host Aaron Gordon sits down with Dr. Bill Sodeman, a business coach in Toledo who spent more than thirty years inside dotcoms, nonprofits, and universities before building a business of his own. Aaron opens by reading a line from Bill's bio, an unwavering commitment to excellence, and asking where it comes from. The answer goes back to graduate school in the eighties and nineties and W. Edwards Deming's work on continuous improvement, the ideas Detroit passed on and Toyota and Honda built an era on. Aaron then catches something in how Bill talks about slowing down. Bill never says stop, he says pause, and Aaron names why that matters: a stop means you quit, while a pause still leaves room for a pivot. Bill makes the case for five or ten minutes of Lego as a real reset, explains why vacation is when he gets most creative, and tells the story of the art student who found better ways to be creative in business school than in the studio. He also has a question he puts to his students. Forget what could go wrong, what happens when everything goes right?
Get To Know Dr. Bill Sodeman
Bill Sodeman earned a Ph.D. in Strategic Management and Information Systems from the University of Georgia. He holds an MBA from Rollins College, and a BA in Studio Art from the College of William and Mary. He has served in a number of leadership roles during his 30 plus year career in dotcoms, non-profits, and higher education. His roles included Chief Information Officer, Chief Learning Officer, and Faculty President. As a management and information systems professor, and as a published author, he has examined topics such as the use of artificial intelligence and big data in human resources management; corporate innovation; ESG investing; and stadium naming rights agreements.
In early 2025, Bill established a Focal Point Business Coaching franchise in the Toledo area, in pursuit of his lifelong goal of building his own business. As a consultant and Focal Point Certified Business Coach, Bill advises and supports business owners and executives to achieve results they otherwise could not achieve on their own. His areas of expertise include leadership development, strategic planning and implementation, continuous improvement, emotional intelligence, coaching, mentoring, corporate training, and stakeholder management.
Bill works with pro bono clients at non-profit organizations, and is a board member for the International Veterinary Organization. He works out daily, and has competed in many running events, including an ultramarathon and several marathons. He likes to travel around the world, and continues to pursue his interests in urban architecture and photography.
His motto is "Ite Inflammate Omnia."
Website - https://billsodeman.focalpointcoaching.com/
Coaching Profile - https://focalpointcoachingohio.com/coaches/bill-sodeman/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/billsodeman/
3 Key Listener Takeaways
1. A pause is not a stop. Bill never uses the word stop, he uses pause, and Aaron is the one who names why that distinction carries weight. A stop means you quit. A pause leaves every option open, including going back the same direction with more energy or turning a full one hundred eighty degrees. Aaron takes it one step further: thirty seconds of thinking before you fall asleep can change the direction of a life, and the people who treat the world as only stop or go are the ones who never reach the next level.
2. Continuous improvement is the whole game. The philosophy Bill picked up in graduate school is simple and almost nobody runs it. Do not wait for something to break before you make it better. You do not have to be at the top of your industry's technology, Aaron notes, you just cannot afford to be at the bottom, and the only way to stay off the bottom is to keep adjusting while things are still working.
3. Prepare for success, not just for failure. Bill calls it the lottery question. Nobody wakes up expecting to win, so when something enormous actually lands, people are unprepared for it. He trains students to ask what happens when everything goes right, because the person who assumes they will fail gets blindsided by their own win, while the person who has already pictured it can act the moment it arrives.
Show Overview
00:00 Meet Dr. Bill Sodeman
01:05 Where continuous improvement came from, Deming and Toyota
02:02 Why everyone says it and almost nobody does it
03:17 What losing your leverage looks like
03:52 Thriving in a world that will not slow down
04:21 Time blocking, journaling, and the Pomodoro timer
05:08 Why Bill says pause and never says stop
05:44 The AI device Aaron wants in his shower
06:08 Aaron on why a pause still allows a pivot
07:24 The case for five or ten minutes of Lego
09:05 If I retire, I expire
09:45 Aaron's client and the idea born on a honeymoon
11:32 The art student who got more creative in business school
13:10 A childhood on the move and twelve years in Honolulu
13:39 A dot com in Texas, a nonprofit in Massachusetts, teaching in three more states
14:09 Building a network from scratch in Ohio
16:35 Stay positive, and the cynic who flipped the script
17:31 Forget what could go wrong, what happens when everything goes right
18:32 The lottery question and why nobody prepares to win
20:41 Bill's closing quote, Winston Churchill