Stay ConnectedInevitable: The Future of Work is a podcast designed to help leaders and workplace activators effectively address the opportunities that allow us to move forward together. Now is the time to stand out and embrace the chance to do things differently.
Hosted by SHIFT Managing Director, Jeff Lesher, IFOW listeners get a front-row seat to stories, research, and recommendations shared by thought leaders from a broad spectrum of backgrounds and expertise.
We found a "lost" IFOW treasure in this interview with Jim Colassano, SVP, Product Development and Strategy at The Clearing House...all about how to speed up your employees' access to the money they've earned. In a world where few of us have the financial readiness to handle an unplanned expense of $400, RTP and maybe even - should we dare say it...blockchain...are tools of the payment flexibility the our current and future team members value the most. Listen to learn what you should be asking your payroll provider about and for...before someone else lures your best people away with a different type of better pay. The Clearing House Jim Colassano
Jeff Lesher bids the IFOW Activators a fond farewell with some parting bits of wisdom he’s picked up from others along the way. As producer of most of our 147 episodes and the host of more than 100, Jeff wants listeners to continue to delve into the treasure trove of knowledge shared by our many wonderful guests. Be well. Do even better. And multiply your impact by helping support others’ success.
Erin Lazarus, Director of Solution Architects at SHL, a talent spectrum solutions company, helps enlighten us on al things talent acquistion to talent management with a healthy dose of assessment and experience. It's a crash course in all the things we could know and understand better about our people if we'd only direct our time and resources more effectively. Learn how a few accessible adjustments can have a huge impact.
Jeanine Boyle, Chief People Officer of digital healthcare payments company, Zelis, is the veteran of many mergers and acquisitions. We tap into her deep reservior of knowledge to understand how to desugn and activate environments that embrace change, diversity, even the occasional failure and focus on learning and moving forward with the benefit of our experience. Zelis
Edward and Tricia co-founded and co-lead a company whose name tells you what they help you accomplish: autentic collaboration. The combination of painstaking attention to detail they used to reveal, define and help you apply the 5 behaviors of collaboration with the emphasis on experience reflecting their Disney heritage is informative, infectous, and empowering. Join us for an illuminating and not-so-wild ride to even better.
Andy Berman co-founded Vowel as a way to give back some control to all of us who are being recorded...which, essentially, is all of us. Vowel - among other things - helps boost focus and productivity by creating an accurate record of our meetings, culling out summaries, and listing action items. After listening to our conversation, visit the Vowel website and use this code to check it out: Coupon Code = INEVITABLE Vowel Andy Berman on Linkedin
As the "World's Leading Mentor," best selling author and corproate counselor knows more than a thing or two about developing people. He founded Entelechy to study what the elements of success truly are and then provide people the opportunity to learn them. This conversation is a mini master class in how - metaphorically - you can navigate the journey for yourself and others of becoming a butterfly. Links: Entelechy Academy David C.M. Carterr on linkedin
Ah, "coaching"! It's so many things to so many people. Often misunderstood or misapplied, we loose the opportunity to grow and evolve in ways that support the growth and evolution of our organizations. What if you had some straightforward guideposts...and were accompanied by an equally straightforward guide, what could you accomplish? How much better would it feel. Enter Geoff Graber, Co-Founder of Evolution and Managing Partner of Evolutionary Venture. Geoff's skills as a coach and commitment as an investor combine to help leaders activate critically foundational concepts like "essential transparency." Join this conversation, pick something to go do, and bet even better - starting now. Evolution Geoff Graber on linkedin
Ellen Kocher and Dominque Ben Dhaou are on a post-50 mission to create tremendous impact by helping the rest of us tapping into the enormous and enormously valued resource that are our work force members of a similar age. Most of us are living longer, better, and want to continue to contribute. Our approaches and systems aren't built for the 21st century (they are based on realities we faced 90 years ago ...), but they can be easily updated in ways that will pay you back over and over.
Boston Consulting Group's Allison Bailey leads BCG's Global People & Organization practice. She oversees an ongoing research series called "Decoding Global Talent" and joins the IFOW to share insights and corresponding recommendations drawn from the most recent chapter in this effort: "What Job Seekers Wish Employers Knew." Allison walks us through everything from the "de-averaged" landscape of opportunities for job seekers to the startling fact that 83% of our people may be actively looking or very open to the offer of a new job. OUCH! Listen, learn, do!
Coach Loya was coming back from an away game with his team when his plane encountered disturbing turbulence. This harrowing flight set off a chain of events that led Lance to move from the ranks of college coaching to infusing people and their organizations with mindset and capacity to allow all of us to contribute by being a better teammate. Learn about the “We Gear”… and be ready to put yourself into Drive as soon you’re done listening.
Dr. Murray Sabrin is many things, including being a university professor of finance, a student of and writer about economics, geography, and history, and a candidate for public office as well as a regular commentator on all manner of poliitcal and social issues. His appearance on the IFOW is focused mainly on his research on the options for employers to optimize the healthcare benefit for their people. We talk about his new book, "The Finance of Health Care: Wellness and Innovative Approaches to Employee Medical Insurance," delving into the strategies you can leverage to do better for your people and your business.
Thriving - not merely surviving - in a data world requires learning the foundational elements of data analytics instead of learning the next fancy tool. That's the conclusion of business intelligence and analytics leader, Sangeeta Krishnan, in her book, Thriving in a Data World: A Guide for Leaders and Managers. While there is a bit of "math on the test," you'll benefit from Sangeeta's straightforward, value-based counsel about topics ranging from big data versus small, the data function as a cost center or a positive ROI generator, and whether data resources are better centralized or embedded locally. That is, of course, if you're in the 100% of organizations seeking to become more data driven.
Digitalization of professional advice makes all the sense in the world to consultant-turned-technology platform entrepreneur, Stefan Debois, CEO and Co-founder of Pointerpro. Stefan's experience and expertise haven't just led to the development of a tool through which to economize and accelerate the process of determining good client fit and the best ways to service their needs; the approach he recommends begins with and relies on fundamental knowledge capture and process mapping. Put the two together and you're on your way to tech-enabled consulting. Drop in for a quick boost to the efforts you are or should be making to streamline how you engage prospects and deliver value.
Shane Kovalsky is Co-founder of Mystery - a facilitator of incredible experiences for organizations investing in opportunities for their teams to forge and sustain the bonds that continue to be a key ingredient of high performance even - or perhaps especially - in the hybrid workplaces of today. The Zoom Happy Hour may still be on life support; but for those truly looking for an edge, this is a must listen conversation.
Bjorn Reynolds is known as Chief Guardian at Safeguard Global. Formally, he's the Founder and CEO. Regardless of title, his commitment is to help Safeguard's clients hire and manage the best, highly-skilled workers they can from around the globe without screwing it up. In fact, the phrase "don't try this at home" comes up in our conversation. More importantly, Bjorn helps debunk a lot of the conventional "wisdom" that continues to limit how people locate and position talent. In a moment of both low unemployment and looming recession, leaders may well find "permission" to finally make a Goldilocks commitment (of the "just right" variety) by hiring to and for their specific needs through expanding a flexible, just-in-time workforce segment. Check it out.
Bailey Showalter is the VP Product | Ecosystem Partnerships & Solutions for Pearson where she advocates for and advances efforts to reimagine opportunity in the workplace - especially for women. Critical elements of her approach include a shift from a mentor to a champion mindset to ensure getting woment into the spotlight. Recognizing potential not just history is key - building on transferable skills - is part of the key to unlocking an under-tapped talent pool. Our straightforward discussion of overcoming significant bias in the workplace is sure to inform and inspire adjustments to your approach that will make a positive difference.
Scott Wharton is VP & GM at Logitech - the digital tools and worker connection giant - with a focus on video collaboration. His insights about what people need to succeed in TODAY's work environment are more than just timely, they're critical. This a must-hear wake-up call for all the employer "grandpas" providing a laptop and not much else as we round the corner towards being 25% done with the 21st century!
https://www.logitech.com/content/dam/logitech/en/video-collaboration/pdf/study-equipping-your-employees-for-hybrid-work.pdf
Carol Schultz is an executive search expert who believes the industry is broken. Her company, Vertical Elevation, is dedicated to helping employers better understand their needs and their cultures to truly find the right people. Whether in her book, "Powered by People," her podcasts, or her no-nonsense discovery sessions with people who think they have a recruiting problem, Carol always brings her clear and actionable point of view. Listen and learn ;-)!
Who knew that the key to a great buainess meeting was mimicking Howard Stern? Answer: Sam Kolbert-Hyle, CEO of Brandlive, who - along with his trailblazing team - brings production constructs and techniques to best use the time available in modern, hybrid gatherings. Sam paints the picture of how to segment your agenda much like an episode of Ellen and lays out the case and approaches to creating pre-recorded content that ensures your effectiveness.
Dr. Jon Finn has spent years researching and developing clear processes for helping each of us improve and transform our lives...by shifting from the ever-vexing state of knowing what we want to do and helping us make sure we do it. Part of the secret - don't be put off by the things that don't go as well as we hoped. Adapting failure into success is a multi-step and ongoing process that Jon walks us through. His commitment to creating tougher minds is inspiring and imminently practical.
Website – https://www.tougherminds.co.uk/
“The Habit Mechanic: Fine-Tune Your Brain and Supercharge How You Live, Work, and Lead” – https://www.amazon.com/Habit-Mechanic-Fine-Tune-Brain-Supercharge/dp/1544528965
Meaghan Wiliams is Manager, Hybrid Enablement & Operations for HubSpot. In her role, she helps to facilitate a great culture for all 6,400+ empoyees around the globe by making sure they can connect when, how, and for what suits and serves them. Meaghan advises that culture should be decoupled from location, and takes the listener through a number of very accessible ways in which to successfully do that anywhere. And, she makes it sound so darned fun!
Who knew that people and bots could be teammates? Turns out, they can - and really good ones if used well. Bots can offload the scut work that slows down innovation and just good experiences. Even better, bots can own the repeatable drudergy that can suck the life out of workers longing to create more meaningful impact..and free folks up to do just that. All while saving money and time. Take a verbal stroll through the land of thoughtful automation with Co-founder and Chief Platform Officer of Thoughful, Dan Parsons. There are some great takeways that may lead you to call Dan for more information...and that will help you make your next tech buying decision differently - in a good way!
Holly Welch Stubbing leads E4E Relief, helping organizations manage their efforts to lend aid to employees and family members strick by natural diaster, military conflict, illness, and more. The art and science of distributing millions of dollars in assistance at a moment's notice anywhere in the world is, in a word: astounding. The fact that it's being done by a relatively small band of deeply committed agents of hope and care is as surprising as it is inspiring.
Disaster & Employee Relief Funds| E4E Relief | United States
From his perch as Managing Director at Allegis Partners specializing in placing people leaders on boards and in C-Suites, John Anderson has seen a lot of growth in the representation of those who've devoted themselves to the human resource at the top of organizations. Still, 300% growth only amounts to about 8% of board membership. John gives us his view and insights from drawn from working with leaders at top organizations to build diverse, high performing leadership teams. You'll definitely take away an idea or two and some action items.
Alice Carleton went from highly regarded consultant to in-house role creator at Ceros: Head of People Potential. With a specific emphasis on emerging leaders, she is engineering acelerated trajectories to overcome the lack of time highly dynamic organizations suffer in scaling. Learn through her lessons some of what you can do to provide expedited development of skills and their application to balance a lack of first-hand experience that only comes with more "flight time."
Chris De Santis' lively book, Why I FInd You Irritating: Navigating Generational Friction at Work, is one of the most insightful, useful guides to understanding others in posotive, productive ways. We explore what differences do tend to exist, why, and how to harness them for everyone's benefit. Imagine a world in which we embrace difference as an asset! This conversation will propel you into that realm of possibility.
Talk about ripping the bandaid off, Gil Mayron, Founder and CEO of Cobot Nation - a leader in collaborative robotics - makes it clear that jobs built around routine, repetitive tasks are slated to be taken over by technology...soon! In one of the IFOW's starkest conversations, we learn about the momentum building towards and advancing capabilities of robotics as a labor shortage and optimization tool. No excuses, no mercy, no time. This is a call out to business owners to move quickly towards the opportunities of automation, and it's an air raid siren to alert slews of workers to RUN for their employment lives!
Rajiv Ayyanger, Co-founder and CEO of Tandem - a virtual office for remote and hybrid teams, loves to work together with his co-founders and team. But he understands that today's work space needs include places to gather physically and through technology, and a sense of place. By creating a variety of ways to connect and collaborate across these spaces, Rajiv is optimistic about the drive to what he calls "Remote Work 3.0" - essentially a hybrid, multiplayer environment in which people work together even better as technology fades into the background. One central piece of advice for designing the most productive and fulfilling work experience of today and tomorrow that he offers is to start thinking about the needs of the folks who aren't in a shared, physical space. Hmmm, sounds like empathy!
Derek Lundsten is the President and Chief Culture Office of well-being innovator, LifeGuides - an organization that provides people trained to aid others by intentionally offering counsel that's more casual than therapy and more qualified than a friend. LifeGuides and Derek's podcast series, "Rebels with a Heart," were conceived well before the pandemic and remain even more relevant as that chapter of our experience fades. Derek is committed to amplifying likeness in a time of division, and imbue executives with a responsibility to lead consciously in ways that motivate and foster connection.
Jason Greer, Founder and President of labor relations and diversity training firm Greer Consulting, has earned the nickname "The Employee Whisperer" by channelling his pain into a highly refined ability to meet people where they are and inspire them to find better places through sharing their story and feeling more connected.
Kevin Campbell is an employee experience scientist with Qualtrics (https://www.qualtrics.com). He specializes in identifying and closing gaps in their experience in order to drive relevant business and customer outcomes. Join us for a consciousness-raising and action-inducing conversation about how we literally can make the food taste better through teamwork and collaboration!
Sonja Price, Founder and CEO of Dynamo Careers, is on a mission to help people get paid what they're worth AND get paid to work somewhere that reflects their values. And, she's really good at helping people establish what they really value and going after it successfully. That's great news for talented people everywhere, and it should strike fear into the heart of every employer trying to wait out the current job market without truly doing right by the people who make their success possible. If you desire to have your peoples' back, then listen to this conversation about listening conversations!
Dr. Scott Rigby, CEO of Immersyve/MotivationWorks brings his A Game to our exploration of the three basic human psychological needs we all share and that can be addressed in ways to help us and the organizations we comprise excel...and feel great while doing so. There is no one "right" policy. Learning about and tapping into what matters to our people within the frame of what's important and appropriate within the organization setting is the not-so-secret recipe for success. You'll be smarter about and better able to enage with your team after listening to this master class in self-determination theory.
For more see: www.motivationworks.com
IFOW Host, Jeff Lesher, shares his appeal to take away a critical leadership lesson and opportunity from the most recent massacre of innocent people in our country. As an encouraging number of people are coming forward to say, the IFOW view is that it's time to do something. Without action, change cannot occur. While not every action will result in better, each action will help us learn where and how we can try to be better next. That is our "plan." Let's join together and do.
Eric Harris is the Founder and CEO of Mindhandle - a recovering creative agency that now helps companies create and utilize high impact employment brands. The brand, though, is only the beginning. Striking deep emotional chords with people...most often through storytelling...is essential to attracting and inspiring the right people, and sending the wrong people on their way.
Tonille Miller, Founder of consulting firm, EXT – Experience and Transformation, advises us on a whole host of issues to better understand and support our people...creating better experiences that lead to better outcomes. What a concept! Among her areas of practical guidance are: go on a listening tour and appreciate that everything we do is at its core an experiment through which to learn more. Use her actionable counsel to - as she puts it - get off your 1950's throne!
Betsy Cerulo, Founder and CEO of AdNet/AccountNet, Inc.( www.adnetp3.com) and author of Shake It Off Leadership: Achieving Success Through the Eyes of Our Labels AND Miss Crabapple and Her Magical Violin, reminds us that we never can learn too much about how to better understand each other, starting with understanding ourselves. Betsy's blend of reflection, candor, and application is refreshing, informative, and inspiring. The business she's built and sustained for more than three decades has its own lessons to share, including the importance of building a team that reflects the customers you want to serve as well as how to effectively interview...a skills still sorely lacking in nearly every organization.
Come along for an amazing personal story of challenge, perservance, and triumph. The payoff for us is that Martine Kalaw, proprieter of a high impact consultancy bearing her name and the author of two books, shares her well-earned perspective and empathy with us in ways that allow us to set aside the shame and blame approach and instead invite people into constructive efforts to open up dialogues that lead to understanding, connection, and progress.
Books: The ABC's of Diversity: A MANAGER'S GUIDE TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION IN THE NEW WORKPLACE and Illegal Among Us: A Stateless Woman's Quest for Citizenship
In his just released book, The Radical Enterprise https://itrevolution.com/a-radical-enterprise/, Matt K. Parker guides us through the four imperatives of the radical collaboration needed to save us from the repeated missteps we take by trying to foster innovation and engagement through mandate and hierarchy. Learn how to snatch sanity from madness by taking even small steps informed by the actual human condition as opposed to the one we've made up and maintained for centuries that is predicated on the belief that we need to be told what to do at every turn. You'll leave the conversation feeling liberated and able to take on the world we live in today and pursue an even better one for tomorrow.
SHIFT CEO and two-time best-selling author, Joe Mechlinski, returns to the IFOW to share his insights about the stories we tell ourselves and each other in pursuit of purpose, fulfillment, and impact. This lively conversation has something for everyone - including pretending today is unique, participation trophies, and the Norwegian Winter Olympic Team!
We live in unprecedented and unpredictable times…sort of a climate change circumstance for organizations. So what are leaders and activators to do? How will they facilitate sensemaking for themselves and their teams? Dr. Ciela Hartanov, who runs innovation and strategy firm humcollective, is an alumna of Google, and the author of the forthcoming book, "Reclaiming Sensitivity," provides an understanding of how to grow well beyond the Industrial Age thinking that remains a cornerstone of our engagement practices and help our people solve for the paradoxes that surround us…solutions that hold the key to revealing the emergent strategies that we need to navigate our uncertainty and fulfill our collective promise.
Brad Federman, Founder and CEO of PerformancePoint and author of Cultivating Culture, joins us for a lively discussion about leadership, engagement, and performance and offers great counsel about ways to help teams discover and live their possible. Can people really learn to walk the talk...tune in and find out. We also cover issues of vertical and follical challenge, because some of us are short and bald!
As many business books, seminars, programs and such that continue to be churned out, effective leadership remains an ongoing science project: hypothesis, test, observations, conclusions, update, repeat. Light the candle and see what sort of height and orbit we can achieve. Rocket Science! The IFOW is thrilled to welcome an actual rocket scientist, to talk us through how some of the principles of and lessons from his profession can inform us as activators. Tobin Anthony, CEO of a thriving small business devoted to getting things safely into space for its clients, also is responsible for weathering economic and other challenges and cultivating people and their talent, and committed to living a fulfilled life, is our guest...and you will be even more ready for launch after you listen to our conversation.
In an era of technology-enabled services and a greater embrace of holistic well-being, Lionrock Recovery could well be the poster organization for both. As they say, “We use technology to make it easier and more private to get addiction treatment, and to reach people who would not otherwise get help.” Ashley Loeb Blassingame, Co-founder and Chief People Officer, who also serves as an addiction counselor; and AJ Black, Director of Business Development focused on the employer market, share a variety of insights and encouragements for helping us understand when and how to pursue or support earlier intervention when substances begin to control our lives or the lives of people we care about. The conversation is informative, intense, and inspiring. In terms of the broader impact that life’s stressors can have on us, check out these articles: • Marriage hurts a hedge fund manager more than divorce • Divorce has "immense" impact on small businesses
Jennifer Byrne, CEO of Arrived Workforce and former CTO of Microsoft US, walks us through a variety of challenges and options we have for best utilizing technology versus being used by it. We cover topics ranging from AI to data to the cloud to how closely to follow a recipe!
Melissa Henderson, Executive Agent and hiring expert, rejoins us to splash some cold water on the faces of those trying to hire in our extremely tight and competitve talentmarket. She issues a blunt piece - and highly accessible - piece of advice to would-be employers: get off you backsides and do the work. Take a listen to find our ore about exactly what work will serve your interests best.
Jorge Quezada, Chief Inclusionist for Granite Construction, has built a career on being a practitioner able to guide multiple organizations in establishing a "method to the madness" of their diversity, equity, and inclusion aspirations. He counsels that no one has cornered the market on diversity, and that - without inclusion - the value of diversity remains untapped.
Leaders often think of - and are told to think of - themselves as a parent and their people as children. This is inappropriate, wrong-headed, and unproductive. Leaders should think of their people as puppies. You heard me right. Check out why.
People have never been more interested in or in need of focusing on what's most important to them. This quest has revealed that we all have "gremlins" - things we imagine or place in our paths that derail us. Turns out, this is how we're wired - with a negative bias that attaches to our brains like Velcro. Certified Mental Fitness Coach, Wendy Swire (www.swiresolutions.com) joins the IFOW to help us learn to activate our "Sage" brains and make a difference - by creating islands of excellence and guiding others towards the "light"! In our conversation, Wendy explains the importance and impact of mindset, in part, because emotions are contagious. Here’s a link to some of the research on Emotional Contagion she based her statement on: https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elainehatfield.com%2Fuploads%2F3%2F4%2F5%2F2%2F34523593%2F116._hatfield__rapson_2010.pdf&data=04%7C01%7Cjlesher%40shiftthework.com%7C6ca3f2fb656245eb37b508d97465e7ca%7C673db8751f5141c1b4bc77dc49f92a95%7C0%7C0%7C637668804357973721%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=7b5nH8q5IgpG19X6Kbohq%2BgYVOJxBeYS%2Bnn0QIC8MqU%3D&reserved=0
Co-authors of the book, Love As A Business Strategy, Chris Pitre and Frank Danna (along with Mohammad Anwar and Jeffrey Ma), share their views on how we can battle the loss of engagement and the great resignation through actively promoting acts of true caring for one another in the workplace. Frank and Chris are clear and compelling in their counsel that love is a business strategy with substance and impact, not something tangential or - to some - down right "icky." Instead, they riff on the famous Peter Drucker quote about culture eating strategy for breakfast with their belief that "behaviours eat culture for lunch," which sounds like a plan to us!
IFOW Executive Producer and Co-host, Jeff Lesher, provides perspective, candor, and encouragement to leaders to make a definitive call when it comes to vaccinations in their workplace. It IS the purview of leaders to make this call, and the time for them to make it is NOW. Their criteria need to include facts, the interests of the many, and the responsibilities that fall to each member of their team based on what they CHOOSE to do. Actions and inaction have consequences. Leaders need to stop letting things happen TO them and put a stake in the ground about how things need to be in the organizations in their care.
Standing for diversity, equality, equity, and inclusion by showing everyone respect because they deserve it, being willing and able to walk the "tightrope" while staying true to you, and - among other things - expanding your horizons by asking why, and making the time to share with and create space for others
We tap into the experience-driven wisdom of D. John Jackson, a Fortune 50 corporate leader who's memoir, What About Me: Walking the Tightrope as a Black Man in America, shares a simple, powerful message: Your life matters. Your dreams matter. And you can achieve them, no matter who you are or where you’re starting out. John's insights and convictions were collected specifically to support young black men and boys, but truly are universal in their value. When we are fully appreciated, when we all come together through stories of success and hope, this country will finally reach its fullest potential.
Developing our next generations of leaders - even/especially as we encounter Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) requires that we: get out of your own way with your own development by giving yourself grace with and credit for the progress you're making and then share that sensibility and practice with others. We can and need to accelerate the acquisition of experience and perspective by actively passing on what we've learned and helping others adapt it for their use. And, we need to instil in all leaders the understanding that intention is not the destination of leadership, effect is. We have to constantly assess the effect our intentions are creating and adjust accordingly
The development of leaders and their leadership abilities is a team sport. Your ability to develop others in a VUCA world requires that you, first, get out of your own way with your own development by giving yourself grace with and credit for the progress you're making. Kayvan Kian, author of the best-selling guide for young leaders: What is Water?, guides us through his process for accelerating the acquisition of experience and the perspective that comes with it to help us all be more effective leaders.
Understanding the brain and the body better to enable us: optimize the work day, enhance connection, and promote efficiency. As a bonus, we explore how to hod onto the best lessons and adjustments we've made during the pandemic as we create our post-pandemic process and reality
Dr. Mary Rensel (a neuroimmunologist) and Ali Hively (a lifestyle coach) are business partners who help clients understand how their brains and bodies work in order to help them optimize their work days. They are advocates of acknowledging that - of course - we bring our whole selves to work; so we need to better access what we bring to enhance connection and promote efficiency. Easier said than done, which is why we need to incorporate their medically-valid and experientially-tested advice into our effort to better activate ourselves and others.
Andrew Herr, Founder and CEO of Fount, is an expert in the exercise, sleep, and nutritional imperatives for us to be at our peak when it counts. That’s why – for years – the US military’s elite forces looked to Andrew and his team for assessment and guidance. Now, he’s providing access to all of us to the knowledge and resources to become our own best advocate as we identify the best ways for us to be even better. Noting that change in routine is the best time to improve our habits, there’s no time like the present for us to go “back” to something different!
How can individuals and their organizations identify and support better self-care in order to enhance performance, improve moral, and reduce illness and absenteeism
How the post-pandemic change in routine of going “back” to work provides insightful leaders to steer people to better habits that drive better outcomes
Revealing some of the rest and nutritional “secrets” of spurring more creativity, better collaboration, and – simply put – good people
Management consultant turned start-up entrepreneur, Chase Damiano, is now channeling his passion around and hard-won knowledge of how to achieve and sustain business success into helping others do just that.
Learning to point the finger at yourself may be your first step in better directing everyone around you forward. This and other very vulnerable insights are accessible to you…and likely will better equip you to reach out to your team in more personally meaningful ways at the very moment we need to help each other achieve what some are calling “post traumatic growth.”
Check out more about Chase and his work and subscribe to his newsletter at chasedamiano.com.
Heather Polivka, founder of HP Solutions and a proven global leader, is an expert in creating purposeful experiences that reach a variety of stakeholders. Using the insights gained from leading high impact efforts for some of the most recognized brands in the world, Heather now helps organizations attract and engage the right people, so that they can attract and engage the right customers.
Our conversation highlights include:
Carole Robin – a trailblazer in business and a star faculty member at one of the world’s premier universities, shares her expertise and insights that she details in her book, Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues
You’ll be struck by the raw simplicity of some of her counsel (say you’re sorry!), and challenged by the significance of being vulnerable. Carole helps us better understand and chart a new path for how we can pursue a different level of peace of mind and impact by adjusting our mindset and vocabulary in conversations with the people who matter most to us.
Find out more about Carole, her co-author and friend, David Bradford, and about the book at connectandrelate.com.
Melanie Coburn is the Chief Relationship Officer (CRO) for CADRE, a unique networking community. In her role, she lives out her passion for connecting and helping others. Alongside her husband, Derek Coburn, they’ve have built CADRE from the ground up, now advocating full-time for well over 100 CEOs and business leaders. CADRE has grown substantially during the pandemic year, expanding its reach nationally. Members benefit from events and activities, larger and smaller, from dedicated board-like advisory groups to interactive sessions with highly sought after thought leaders. Past sessions have featured Adam Grant, Gary Vaynerchuk, Seth Godin, and Daniel Pink. Drawn together by a shared passion for helping others make valuable connections, CADRE members are focused on sharing resources and ideas. As CRO, Melanie serves as a liaison, strategically connecting complementary members and helping to ensure that initial meetings grow into mutually beneficial relationships.
Amy Bess represents employers in every aspect of employment litigation, counseling and training. She is the Managing Shareholder of Vedder Price PC’s Washington, DC office. She completed a full 3-year term as the Chair of the global employment law practice at the close of 2020. Amy’s deeply committed to and passionate about helping guide employers to create compliant, productive workplaces that are focused on meeting and exceeding their business objectives, rather than being derailed by claims of harassment, discrimination or inequities. Amy is an author and frequent speaker and trainer on a variety of employment topics, most notably the impact of COVID-19, the #MeToo movement, and anti-harassment laws on the workplace. Her insights are sought after to inform the better practices organizations can and should implement to prevent and resolve harassment concerns.
Irad recognizes that traditional therapy methods don’t sufficiently accommodate our digital era lifestyles. Dealing with his own loss and difficulties in accessing empathetic ears, he founded Circles. This platform for peer-to-peer counseling provides the sort of immediate and accessible solutions for their challenges people have come to expect in the tech-enabled world. By allowing people to better balance the competing demands of parenting, caregiving, illness, kids with special needs, divorce, and mental health issues, they are able to access the precise address to their pain they crave. Irad previously founded Shekulo Tov, an organization dedicated to removing social and institutional barriers to employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
After 20 years of managing and consulting on campaigns for candidates, ballot measures and advocacy groups, Joe Fuld struck out on his own to build The Campaign Workshop with a team of people he’s collaborated with in the past and who know how to create, design and build campaigns. They recognize that each client is different, and they don’t build cookie-cutter campaigns. Instead, they strive to build custom-made campaigns and strategies that fit the specific needs of clients and provide each client with the kinds of individualized tools they need to tackle any challenges they might face.
Aaron Velky, Founder of Ortus Academy, uplifts others to a place of freedom, awe and artistry. Ortus Academy offers Financial Intelligence education to entrepreneurs, business owners, youth organizations and educators with Millennial and Gen Z members through online courses, virtual and in-person Financial Wellness workshops, speaking engagements, and coaching. They know that money matters, but they believe that Financial Intelligence matters more.
Larry is a dynamic, entrepreneurial strategist with 25 year track record of achievement in financial services and insurance company leadership. He shares the chnages and shifts workplaces are experiencing due to the effects of COVID-19. Leaders of organizations can take proactive measures to ensure they properly take care of their employees who are also serving as caregivers and inviest more into healthcare to help combat stress.
Tlee Cooper is Founder and CEO of the novel e-commerce platform HeyZRO. HeyZRO provides sellers with a virtual representation of the physical store, creating an in-person shopping experience for buyers from the convenience of their home. Tlee and her team are working to save and revitalize communities by protecting merchants and brand identities from being erased by the very platforms they’re turning to for help. Tlee’s remarkable spirit and keen intellect are on display as she walks us through her journey, including how the pandemic served as a pivotal moment for her business’ growth and prosperity.
Brett Cooper and Evans Kerrigan, best selling authors of Solving the People Problem: Essential Skills You Need to Lead and Succeed in Today’s Workplace, shed light on how our needs and the needs of our colleagues can come together in constructive ways to help us perform better. Brett and Evans share the importance of understanding and appreciating employee’s differences in order to create greater team harmony and drive higher performance.
Trey Whitney, global HR executive and former employee at large corporations like; Google, Hershey, and Kellogg to name a few, shares how 2020 highlighted the importance of elevating HR to be the driving force behind a business’s longevity and prosperity. He shares how data can be strategically used to not only reignite humanity in the workplace, but to, recruit top talent, instill key programs, and to better integrate technologies that enhance human skill. When used effectively, people and data work in conjunction to provide a better understanding of progress, measure success, and outline future direction.
Steve Hatfield, Global Future of Work Leader and Lead Author of Delooitte’s 2021 Global Human Capital Trends Report, shares an in depth report from 3,600 executives, (including responses from more than 1,200 C-suite executives and board members) in 96 countries, on how the pandemic has impacted their organizations and beyond. This report examines how organizations and leaders can leverage the lessons of this pandemic to fundamentally reimagine work, shifting from a focus on surviving, to the pursuit of thriving.
Andrew Freedman, Managing Partner of SHIFT and Author of soon-to-be-released book, THRIVE, shares proven, science-backed methodologies and principles that serve as a blueprint for leaders to unlock their team’s high performance.
Critically skilled workers are as expensive as they are hard to find. They are the lifeblood of your ability to perform at the level needed to effectively scale and sustain that growth.Thus, leaders must focus on developing their teams NOW if they hope for their businesses to be relevant later. Jennifer Thorton, Founder and CEO of 304 Coaching, is an expert in helping leaders responsibly grow their organizations through applying her proven employee lifecycle development program to nurture your talent to its full potential.
Afifa Siddiqui, CEO of Canadian Payroll Services, shares her positive, insightful take on how the pandemic environment has helped many leaders gain a new perspective, granting them the power to be more receptive to change. Through her financially-oriented business lens, she has seen firsthand how businesses reallocated funds and shifted their business model - including the use of technology - to acquire or assert market leadership. The crucible of COVID is producing the companies of tomorrow right now.
SHIFT leaders Joe Mechlinski (CEO) and Chris Steer (Managing Partner) join us for this BONUS episode to share how they help leaders use data-informed insights and SHIFT’s Annual RESET Playbook to encourage a deeper understanding, improved planning, and effective initiatives to elevate their organization as a whole. SHIFT launched a targeted pandemic-era survey effort in March, in which they collected over 137,000 data points across more than 35 companies—shedding light on critical issues like: employee well-being, work environment, connection, and trust.
Kevin Oakes, CEO of I4CP and author of the soon-to-be released book, Culture Renovation: 18 Leadership Actions to Build an Unshakeable Company, outlines how we can plan, build, and maintain cultures that enable positive and lasting change. He explains the crucial nature of leaders investing in, evolving, and reinforcing culture as a driver of market performance—not a consequence of it.
Tamika Tremaglio, Deloitte’s Greater Washington Managing Principal, is as skilled a professional as you’ll ever meet; but her greatest strengths might just be her practices of authenticity, kindness, and gratitude. Tamika shares how people are gravitating towards organizations that lift them up, make them feel valued, and provide them with opportunities to extend their grace to others—for the benefit of all concerned.
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