On the Brink with Andi Simon

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340: Shayna Bergman—What Could A Great Personal Coach Help You Discover About Your Inner Self? Dec 05, 2022

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Hear how to identify your values and live them every day Today you will meet Shayna Bergman, a terrific executive leadership coach with big ideas to help you find your way during these challenging times of change. Her goal is to empower you to unlock your personal potential. Shayna specializes in helping people achieve deeper meaning and fulfillment in their personal and professional lives through authentic leadership and clarity of purpose. She believes, as do I, that you have to have a purpose-driven life. There has to be something that really motivates and drives you, a North Star. Need help finding yours? Listen in! Watch and listen to our conversation here What is the purpose that you're living toward? With a focus on parents in executive and leadership positions, Shayna challenges her clients to look deeply at themselves by reflecting on their values, dreams, limiting beliefs and inner critics. She then helps them create an action plan that inspires breakthroughs and leads to sustainable change. Shayna's most successful clients are those who are dedicated to evolving their best selves and fostering that growth in others. You can connect with Shayna on LinkedIn or her website. For more guidance on living a purpose-driven life, try these: Podcast: Lisa McLeod—If You Want To Succeed, You Must Find Your Noble Purpose Podcast: Rebecca Morrison—Women, Are You Ready To Find Your Happiness? Is It All Around You? Podcast: Linda Vettrus-Nichols—Challenged? Stuck? What If You Are In Control Of Yourself? Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. And as you know, I'm your host and your guide. I'm also an author of two award winning books, and you might want to read them to learn more about how I help people change. My podcast, though, is dedicated to bringing you very interesting people, people who are going to help you do what I want you to do: see, feel and think in new ways because that's the only way you change. You decide with your eyes and your heart, so how do they make you feel? And if they make you feel really cool, you're going to listen carefully and begin to think about how this person can help me change. Change is something your brain hates, trust me. So today I have Shayna Bergman with us. And Shayna is an absolutely wonderful woman who's here to help you understand how to balance life. I'm not going to talk about work-life balance. The pandemic has told us there is no thing called work-life balance. That's just life. And we work in it and we take care of family with it and we take care of parents with it. Let me read her resume a little bit and then she'll tell you about her story. Shana is a passionate, results-oriented coach who empowers motivated individuals to unlock their potential. She has a proven track record of helping people achieve deeper meaning and fulfillment in their personal and professional lives. She does it through authentic leadership and clarity of purpose. We're going to talk a lot about a purpose-driven life today. Because at the end of the day, it probably should be the first thing you think about. With a focus on executive and leadership positions, Shana challenges her clients to look deeply at themselves by reflecting on their values, their dreams, and limiting their beliefs and inner critics. You know who's talking to you. Remember, your brain runs faster. You're thinking all the time, you're thinking all night long. And then you have a conversation. It wasn't what you were thinking anyhow, and what happens next? She challenges her clients to really look deeply at themselves. And that's what we're going to do today. She helps them create an action plan that inspires breakthroughs, and leads to sustainable change. And she and I both know that's not easy. That's about all I'm going to share with you about Shayna because I want her to tell you her story and it is much richer than anything I can read. And then we're going to get into what she does to help you, parents, or even those prospective parents to understand how to balance life and have one that fulfills you, at the same time you have many of the things that you think are important, and don't ditch one for another. And make sure you have the right room and collaborators, partners to help you get there. Shayna, thank you for being with me today. Shayna Bergman: Thanks for having me on, Andi. Andi Simon: Can you tell our listeners and our viewers who Shayna is, what's your journey been like? Shayna Bergman: Yes, so my journey toward this life started at a very early age, earlier than most people probably could even guess. And it started when I was three years old. And the reason it started when I was three is because my parents used to take me and my brother on road trips in our 1985 Oldsmobile station wagon. And we'd be sitting in the car, and I would want to be listening to Raffi, the children's singer who used to sing "Baby Beluga," and instead, my parents would be listening to Tony Robbins. And they were listening to Tony Robbins because they were building a dental practice and they really found him to be quite motivational. So from a very, very early age, I was hearing all about motivation and believing in yourself and how we can get in our own way. And after hearing those tapes at the time, and then hearing the CDs through the years, and then hearing my parents' dinner table conversation, I really found great passion and understanding how people ticked and how they got in their way of really reaching their fullest potential. And so I took a journey toward the side of HR. And I figured, well, if I could, if I believe in this, I could really help people from the side of human resources. And so I went to GW to get my bachelor's degree in communications with a focus on organizational sciences and French. I then transitioned to NYU for my masters where I got my HR leadership management and development degree with a focus and executive coaching. And I was working in the world of corporations, everything from startups to multi-billion dollar companies. In that way, I was able to learn how I could help and motivate people from the side of human resources and being a strategic business partner. And yet I knew still that there was more I had in me that I hadn't yet tapped into and I knew I wanted to go the route of executive and leadership coaching. And I also knew I needed to have the experience that I had lived to have the ability to talk to my clients head-to-head to really understand what it was that they're going through and to say I've lived it myself. So, I eventually sort of woke up to "the time is now" and I went and got my certification in executive leadership coaching, as well as in core dynamics and leadership focus, and basically transitioned that into having my own practice. And so now, I work one-on-one with leaders. I do workshops, I do podcasts and I speak. And that's really sort of how I got to where I am now. And being able to partner with parents who are in executive and leadership roles. Andi Simon: I can hear a little Tony Robbins still coming through. Shayna Bergman: There's probably a lot of that. Yeah, I think so. Andi Simon: Because you know, the stories that we hear, change our minds, and even as a child, they were forming in your mind view of the world, and how to mobilize it, and inspire it and succeed within it. And it's a very interesting history that you have. And I can't tell you how many women told me their most important person in their lives was their mother, and the stories that she told. But as you're thinking about this, you became who you are. And that served as a foundation for helping others. Where are women today, as we come out of the pandemic? Are you seeing the patterns changing? Are the challenges that your clients and others listening here are facing, different? I mean, I can truly share mine, but I'd love you to share what you're seeing, and how can that help them begin to understand that the times have changed? We're not going back to what it was. You might have liked it, but you don't remember it, really. And now you're going to try and figure out what's next and what is my purpose. What do you see? Shayna Bergman: Yeah, so I think that there's been an awakening. I think during the pandemic, people, women, mothers in particular, as they were schooling their children, changing diapers, leading meetings, whatever it is that they're doing, I think that they realized that something's got to give, and that the way that we were living life before is going to lead to burnout. It's living a life that somebody else has laid out for you, and not necessarily the life that maybe they wanted. And I lived that myself during the pandemic. So I know that story very well. And yet, I think that while that awakening happened, I am now seeing with my clients this return to a little bit of what was its expectations to be back in the office, expectations to be burning the midnight oil, expectations to be connected all the time because we can. And so I think that the tension that was there pre-pandemic escalated to an awareness during the pandemic. And I think now it's reached an all-time high, where people are now really saying, something's gotta give. And so I think people now have a chance to change the trajectory of their lives. We wake up every day with a choice. And I think people are realizing that they have that with them. And I think, in some cases, that's very scary. And they're trying to figure out, what do I do with all these feelings that I'm having, that I was sort of on this hamster wheel before and now I'm realizing I have a chance to step off. What do I do with that? Andi Simon: Well that requires us to take a look in the mirror and begin to ask, who am I now, and what is my identity? It's a journey. And so we made it through the pandemic, hopefully, I hope. And now we're looking at others pulling us back to what they thought was the way to be. We have some choices and now we have the dilemma of the paradox of choice. Barry Schwartz wrote a great book on the paradox of choice. And that too many choices make us immobilized. We can't make any choices. So do you have a process to help people begin to sort out the options and how to make the right choices for the next stage? Is there a framework or is it just a hope? Shayna Bergman: Yeah, that's a great question. And I love the book, The Paradox of Choice. I love that book. It was so before its time. So it was better. So here's what I would say: Yes, I have a framework. And it also differs from person to person. Here's where I would say I go generally. So I think it's important to take a person and help them understand where am I today. What is it that I'm dealing with? What am I experiencing? What is and isn't working? What are the things that I bring to the table that I want more of? What do I want to be saying yes to and where can I be saying no? What are the obstacles and the roadblocks that are getting in my way on a regular basis? So I think that's first. I think, second is figuring out where I want to go. What am I looking for? That's different, and I think a lot of people think they want more, they want bigger, they want better. And I think a lot of people now, post-pandemic, realize that maybe that's not quite the perspective they want to have. Maybe it's just different and different is better. And so it's really figuring out, and I think of it like a map, where am I today? Where do I want to go? And then we discuss how we are going to get there. And that is the piece that's highly customizable and varies person to person. Because there are some people who are ready to jump, they don't care what risks they're going to take. They just know that they want to make a change, and they want somebody to hold their hand as they jump out of the plane. And then I have other people without a parachute. And I have a lot of people that say, No, no, please, I don't want to do it, I'm not ready. But they know something has to happen. And so for those people, we spend a lot more time peeling back the onion, and really trying to get at the root of what's getting in the way. And there are all kinds of things that get in our way, whether it's the limiting beliefs we have, whether it's the stories we're telling ourselves, whether it's the things that we interpret a certain way or maybe just our perspective, or maybe it's the inner critic that we have. But this is what creates obstacles and keeps us stuck. And now we can wish and hope that some stars are going to fall upon us and things are going to change. And maybe that happens once in a blue moon, but, the reality is, things aren't going to change unless you start to take bold action. And sometimes it's imperfect action. But without that, you're not going to change at all. Andi Simon: So I'm a corporate anthropologist and a culture change expert, as I tell my listeners, who specializes in helping organizations and the people inside them change. And whether it's an organization or an individual, the brain hates me. It creates all kinds of cortisol, the amygdala hijacks new ideas, even if the old ones aren't working. And I say that to our listeners so that you understand, it's not personal. Your human evolution has allowed you to thrive because of the stories that are in your mind that you believe to be your truth. It's an illusion of what's real. But once you have them in there, that's the way it is now, you're not happy. Shayna is working with you saying, what do you want more of or less of, and you know it, but you need a process or a framework to begin to take a look at what makes you high while shallow, so that you have a process for beginning to think about what you're going to do less, what you're never going to change, what you're going to stop, and what you're going to start, which is the most off-putting part. I'm not going to say it's scary, but it's unfamiliar. And that's where I love Oprah and her small wins, a step at a time, and that's where you begin to try things, test them. You're going to have to break old stories and create new ones. And it becomes a real good thing to have a coach to help you think out loud. How do you first make them take a look at who they are? Can you share a little bit more about what happens next? Shayna Bergman: Yes, absolutely. And I'll talk a little bit more about that first piece, because I do something that's really special. I do what's called the ELA, the Energy Leadership Index Assessment. And it's basically a test that allows somebody, if they answer questions truthfully, to understand what their energy is like on a regular day. So what happens to their engagement, what happens to their motivation, what happens to how they show up day to day when the day is good, and things are going in their favor. And then it also spits out basically what happens to them when they're stressed on a bad day, and how their motivation and their engagement and how they show up is impacted when under stress. And it's a starting point for us, especially because people are not always self-aware. Some are but not everybody. But it…

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339: Mark Samuel—Are Your Teams Trying To Find The Winning Game? Nov 28, 2022

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Hear why it's so crucial for success to build effective teams My guest today is a remarkable individual, Mark Samuel, who's now written seven business books. I interviewed Mark back in June of 2019 and thought he had such a powerful message about how to get people to change, even when they really don't want to, that I had him back. Today's podcast is about his most recent book, Reimagine Teams: The Missing Piece in Team Building to Achieve Breakthrough Results. Our discussion focuses on the vital role of accountability, which makes teams work or fail. With over 30 years' experience in the business world, Mark is a transformative leader, having helped hundreds of companies overcome stagnation, transform their businesses, and eliminate toxic work cultures to increase profits, morale and customer experience. Does your culture need an overhaul? Be sure to listen in! Watch and listen to our conversation here How do you rebuild your company culture as we come out of the pandemic? In our podcast, Mark and I had a wonderful time discussing our shared interest in the success of companies working together in what we all call "teams." But teams, teaming and team development are being rethought today as our workplaces and work styles change. These are very fast-changing times. I used to tell my clients, if they wanted to change, have a crisis or create one, and I never wanted to see a crisis like we're coming out of, but we're coming out of it. The problem is that people are unsettled as we come out of the post-pandemic period; the old habits are gone. They don't quite know what's going on. They were attached to what they knew before the pandemic. Now they have become adjusted to the post-pandemic workplace. And looking ahead, they don't know what's coming. They want to go back, but you can't go back. So how do we go forward? Often a business leader's solution is to assemble the team. But what type of team? And how should it perform as business leaders rebuild the culture for the post-pandemic phase? Bringing about real changes that last through team-building As an internationally sought-after speaker and consultant for his B STATE methodology (Bold Leadership, Brave Culture, Breakthrough Results), Mark trains leaders on implementing sustainable changes. As he shares in our podcast, "For decades, corporate team building has consisted of style inventories, communication skill building, and teamwork games like ropes courses, trust falls, and escape rooms. While these activities might bring a team closer together as friends and are certainly fun, they have little to do with building job-related teamwork." His message for us: Accountability. Organizations have become accountable just for activity, getting things done, doing things, rather than the outcome of what we are trying to accomplish by the doing of it. You must have teams and they must be accountable. And building effective teams requires practice at being a team. Just like sports teams and music groups which practice what they're going to perform, business teams must practice their performance as a team, not just as a group of individuals trying to get along. After listening to this interview, you'll come away understanding how the old legacies hold us back from success, such as siloed departments, measurements and assessments that miss the mark, and outdated teamwork exercises that don't translate back to the workplace. Teams should work seamlessly toward common goals, and Mark tells us how. You can connect with Mark on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or his websites BState.com or MarkSamuel.com. Or you can email him at marks@impaqcorp.com. For a deeper dive into how to achieve culture change, we recommend these: Blog: How's Your Culture? Doing Fine Or In Drastic Need Of An Overhaul? Podcast: Jacqueline Kibler—Want To Grow? Take A Good Hard Look At Your Culture Podcast: Mike Scott—Creating A Culture Of Accountability Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. As you know, I'm your host and your guide, and my job is to get you off the brink. I love to go looking for people who are going to help you see, feel and think in new ways so you can get off the brink. Our job is to help you soar again; that's often difficult in fast changing-times. These are very fast-changing times. I used to tell my clients, because I specialize in helping organizations that need to change or adapt to change, I used to say that if you want to change, have a crisis or create one. I never wanted to see a crisis like we're coming out of, but we're coming out of it. The problem as we come out of the post-pandemic period is that people are unsettled, their habits are gone. They don't quite know what's going on. They were attached to what they knew and they don't know what's coming next. They want to go back, but you can't go back. So how do we go forward? And often the solution is to assemble the team. The team can take us and the leader can manage that team better. So today I'm going to bring in Mark Samuel who's now written six books on teams. And we're going to talk about lots of things. So I'm going to tell you a little bit about his newest book, Reimagine Teams: The Missing Piece in Team Building to Achieve Breakthrough Results, a pretty cover. And it's not that big, so you can actually read it. But what's really more important is what he's going to help you understand a little bit about. He's the founder and CEO of Impact, served as a thought leader for developing accountable leaders and creating clinical organizations. That word accountable should not be underestimated. He's done it for over 35 years. The author of five books, as I mentioned, the bestselling B State: A New Roadmap for Bold Leadership, Brave Culture and Breakthrough Results. This book is written with Sarah Samuel, a writer and copy editor for Impact. And he may tell you a little bit about who Sarah is. But this is a time for us to think in new ways about what we've always assumed. So I want you to think about your team. What teams do you belong to in your organization outside of the organization? Think about what you did as a kid growing up. Did you play on the baseball team? The kickball team? What was the team and why was it important? And now I'm going to introduce you to Mark Samuel who I'm going to ask to tell you about his own journey so you know who he is. And then we'll get to the teaming and what he's doing now to reimagine teams. Mark, who are you? What's your journey? Mark Samuel: Well, thanks, Andi. That was a wonderful introduction. And you're so spot on around talking about change. My background is that I came from teams, in a sense. I mean, I started on baseball teams, and I went to music groups, then my daughter was involved with acting and that I looked at as a team. So I've had all these experiences with teams. And then when I got into graduate school, my focus was on teams. I was taught by one of the top professors, Dr. Newton Margulies from UC Irvine. He was a practitioner, not just a theorist. So he was excellent at building teams and was wonderful. But what I discovered along the way, on my journey and my path, was that the ways that I was taught to build teams in school and university actually didn't work as well as expected, and that's when I had to relook and reimagine what a team is all about. And that's when I drew upon my sports, and my music background. Andi Simon: The epiphany that you had, as you write about it, is important to share. How do we have an epiphany, an aha moment, where we're not going to do more of the same because it's not working? But what could work? What would you see? So tell the listener or the viewer what happened to make you say, Stop, this is an old way of doing things. It's not working anymore. But what does work? What was the moment? Mark Samuel: Well, it was a very distinct moment where I was getting great evaluations on my team building. I had just worked with an executive team and came back three months later to meet with the CEO. As I'm going down the hall, I'm seeing people that were on the team, the other executives, and they're literally coming up and hugging me and saying, "That was wonderful. I had the best experience. It was so good. It changed my life." My head is getting bigger. I was quite young at the time and I'm feeling just on top of the world. And then I asked a very innocent question, which is, "Oh, and how's the team doing?" And they go, "Oh, well, the team is just as dysfunctional as it ever was. But boy, it was a great experience for me, and everyone loved your session." Literally, my heart just stopped. Like, I literally became so discouraged and depressed in that moment. I was in shock. And again, as young as I was at that time, for me, it was, if I'm not going to be effective at what I'm doing, then I'm getting out of this. I don't belong in this business if I can't get a better result. I really took it that seriously. And, you know, and again, I was glad that people got whatever value they did. But my purpose was building the team. Andi Simon: Hold that thought for a moment because it is to build the team, but what you heard and saw was that the effectiveness of the team wasn't improving. They built a team that was still dysfunctional, but an interesting commentary on "Well done, but not right." And I have several leadership academies and I find it interesting because we're working on teams and teaming. But there's a mythology around a team about how you build it. And what works and doesn't work? What are we trying to achieve here? What did you discover? Mark Samuel: I discovered that the focus on relationships were great, it certainly built better relationships. It didn't mean they were more effective as a team, and didn't mean that their execution as a team was any better. When execution breaks down, then eventually it's going to affect your relationships because you can't count on each other. That's the true meaning of accountability, and if you can't eventually trust it, you don't have relationship trust. That's the thing about trust. That's so interesting. There's a relationship trust, which like, you can have dinner together, we can socialize together. But what's different is execution trust, where I can count on you to keep commitments, keep agreements, come through on time, communicate with me, include me in a decision that affects me. That's execution trust, very different than relationship trust. Andi Simon: That it almost sounds abstract. It's so interesting because if it was a baseball team...we have been watching the Mets win. I'm willing to stay up till 10 o'clock at night to watch that team really team up. A little different, or a musical orchestra that plays great music. How do they all do that? Well, they do it as a team. So what goes on in business where we can't see or hear the music? Or see the hits? What is it that's so interesting about business, where we can talk about a team, but not very likely? Mark Samuel: Oh, that's a great question. And there is one huge difference. Whether you're talking about sports, baseball, as an example, or music, the way we learn the team is on the field, not off the field. You've got to get on the field. Gotta get into a rehearsal hall, and it's playing with each other that actually not only builds the execution, but also builds the relationships because we're working together and communicating. But it's real time, real life. It's not, "Oh, let's talk about the theory of communicating." We're actually having to communicate to play with each other. And we don't do that in organizations. Organizations will tell you we don't have downtime. We're always in the game. We don't have that off time. And I'm saying, "What do you think you're doing in meetings? Yes. Meetings. You're not serving customers?" "Meetings? Oh, I know what we're doing. We're talking about status updates, sharing information." But why aren't we practicing our execution in our meetings by surfacing and solving problems, making decisions, moving things forward, talking about what didn't work, just the same way as we would do that in a music group or athletic team? Andi Simon: So in a sense, metaphorically, not necessarily, in fact, and whether it's remote or in person, asynchronous or otherwise, that gathering of time has to have a new purpose. It isn't simply to gather. When I joined Montefiore Medical Center as an executive, a long time ago, I was fascinated because I came out of banking. And in financial services, I'm not quite sure the meetings had more purpose, but we did have an agenda and we usually had takeaways and some things that we were going to do, but in healthcare, they just attended and the meeting had no agenda and no takeaways. And I left wondering, "What is my purpose to be there? And I heard what was going on but now what is this, simply a communication methodology of sharing stuff?" And to your point, but I wasn't savvy enough to know that this is dysfunctional. It was the way we did things. So how do we turn meetings into something which is more like a baseball team practicing to win than it is simply to appear and be seen and to do? Mark Samuel: I mean, what's so interesting is when you're going to hear the answer become so obvious. We all want to be successful. And the only thing basically that keeps us from being successful are the challenges and obstacles along the way. Why don't we make meetings about surfacing and solving those obstacles? Anything that's going to get in the way of us being successful is what we talk about and resolve, not based on one person's agenda or politics or hierarchy, whatever, it doesn't matter. We've got problems that are keeping us from being successful. Let's remove those. And quite honestly, I look at that as the role of leadership. In particular, leadership teams need to be focused on removing obstacles, so the people that report to them can get their work done successfully. Andi Simon: I bet you have some illustrative cases that you can share, am I right? Mark Samuel: Yeah, the ones that become the most obvious are the breakdowns between departments that are currently siloed off working on their own. And now they have to come together. This can be in a medical center, it could be in a manufacturing facility, it doesn't matter. But any time the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, and there's a breakdown, we need to surface it. And it's all about coordination. It's all about communication, but not just communication in terms of information flow, it's communication to let people know changes. What's going on? Where are difficulties that we need to let each other know ahead of time? This all happens, by the way, in music groups and sports teams all the time. They're literally practicing that. So in a way, organizations need to do the same thing. I just heard of one the other day where a department was implementing a new change, and didn't tell the other…

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338: Helen Newman—What Are Your Memories Of Growing Up, And Why Are They So Important To You Now? Nov 21, 2022

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Hear how memories impact you now and guide your future What are your memories of growing up? Your friends? Neighborhood? Life-changing moments in our society? In today's podcast, Helen Newman, a friend from my elementary school (Davis Elementary School in New Rochelle, NY) and I discuss the power of memories. Although we had different experiences in high school (she was in a sorority, I was president of the Salmagundi Club), we both experienced the good times and not-so-good times of the 1960s. The funny thing about memories is that they're selective. We pick and choose the ones that fit our own story, often one where we are the heroes and we forget what others were struggling with or enjoying all around us. I guarantee that after listening to Helen, you will be amazed at her wisdom and joy. Helen writes about something every month. Sometimes it is about why that month means something to her. Other times, she writes about old friends and new ones. But in today's conversation, we go deeply into the anguish we all felt during high school. If you were alive then, you like us will forever ask: "Where was I when John F. Kennedy was shot?" We even remember what we were wearing. We also talk about how we felt when our biology teacher, Mrs. Schwerner, lost her son during the civil rights unrest in the South. And the conflicting passions surrounding the Vietnam War. To state the obvious, we grew up in very challenging times. This month (November), she wrote about our autograph books. It was hysterical to remember what people wrote about. Her book was filled with poignant, loving, sincere and sentimental sayings, like: "Helen and whomever, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." You remember those. Her favorite, and mine as well: "When you get old and out of shape, remember girdles are $2.98." Sadly, they don't make autograph books anymore, and I would have to dig into my attic to find mine. But you get the point! Helen never expected to be a writer. A while ago, she started to write and then it became a wonderful hobby. I love the blog posts that seem to touch everyone's heart. She remembers stuff that we might also, but she puts it into a story (usually her own) and brings us back to the days when...you can finish my sentence. My message to you, our listeners, is to find your own Helen Newman. Or become one for others. Remembering is so important as time flies, and the moment brings back the time and place you were growing up in. We might still be growing up, never growing old, but we continue to live each day, forgetting how our past framed our present and set the stage for the future. I cannot thank Helen enough for joining us today and sharing her own story. Think about writing yours. You can contact Helen at hnewman@tsjesq.com. My quote for us today: "The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared." ― Lois Lowry, The Giver For more about storytelling and the role it plays in our memories, try these: Blog: How Storytelling Can Transform Your Culture And Energize Your Team Podcast: Karen Dietz—Your Story Is Your Secret to Amazing Success Podcast: Roshni Pandey—To Find Your Happiness, Assemble The Kind Of Life You Want Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. As you know, I'm your host and your guide, and my job is to get you off the brink. You know, my company, Simon Associates Management Consultants, we've been around for 20 years, helping people see, feel and think in new ways so they can change. And I often look for people who are going to give you a new perspective so you too can begin to see things through a fresh lens. You maybe even step back like an anthropologist (like myself) and observe what's going on and reflect on it, reflect on yourself, and begin to find great ways to think in new ways. So today, I have a wonderful woman here, Helen Newman. Helen and I go back to elementary school. And I'm going to let her tell you her story because as we were talking, and I was reading the things that she writes on Facebook, to bring back the memories, I said, "My audience should hear you remember." We're storymakers. Humans love to make stories. And when we do use memories to create them, we connect in ways that are really magical. I'm going to read you one of hers in a moment. But first, Helen, thanks for joining me today. Helen Newman: It's a pleasure to be here. Andi Simon: Tell the listeners, who is Helen Newman and what's your journey all about? Helen Newman: My journey, let's say I'm a senior citizen so I've had a long journey. I grew up in New Rochelle, a suburb of New York. And when I look back, I think of my childhood as wonderment. Of course, there were bad days, a middle child, typically an outgoing introvert. And I had to fight for my place in the house. There were three girls, and I'm in the middle. It was my friends, my school that meant the most to me. And I never forgot that. I went to New Rochelle High School with you. I met my husband in New Rochelle. He wasn't in the high school with me because he had already graduated. But he also was from New Rochelle. He passed away 10 years ago. I went to art school after high school, I wanted to be an art teacher. But I always secretly wanted to be a writer. In those years, I hope your listeners remember that for women, it wasn't all that easy. And even my own mother who was kind of a beatnik, she was a pianist, even she said, "Well, be a teacher. You know, you'll be home in the summer with your kids." And all of that 1963, mid '60s, feeling. But secretly, I always wanted to be a writer. Andi Simon: But you didn't become a writer? Helen Newman: No, I did not. As a child, I lived in a cul de sac. And I used to write plays when I was nine years old. And made all of the girls in the cul de sac be in the play and make the parents pay to come and see it. Andi Simon: I know when you were telling me that, I suspect that I even attended them. Helen Newman: I remember doing The Princess and The Pea. I got the Golden Book and then wrote my own scripts. And I think I was about nine or 10. But I was never encouraged in any way other than to be an artist. She couldn't see beyond the teacher. And I love children. So she knew that. My father, however, said to me, "You should be an attorney because you can argue on any subject." And I ended up working in a law firm after teaching. It's really funny because I still remember my father saying, "You can argue any case." He didn't have any sons so I was the son he never had. Andi Simon: Oh, I love it. The interesting part, as we were preparing for this, we were reminiscing. You know, we both went to school at a time when New Rochelle was, I'm going to guess, half Jewish and half African American, maybe 40/40. But it was a very interesting time. We held hands and sang We Shall Overcome. Absolutely. It was a time when Michael Schwerner, who was our biology teacher's son, was killed in the South. And one of the folks on the Facebook stream went under the Michael Schwerner bridge on the Hutchinson Parkway and was reminiscing. The reminiscing part is really important. We were there when John Kennedy was shot. And we all can vividly remember what we were doing and where we were at that moment in high school. Helen Newman: Yeah, just recently, a niece of my daughter in-law from New Jersey interviewed me on where I was the day Kennedy was shot, and what I was doing, and I said, "Not only do I remember everything, but I can tell you what I was wearing. That's the impact." Andi Simon: But I remember that all of us had gone through the Vietnam War period. I mean, we were all growing up in a transformational moment for American society. I don't think it's ever stopped being transformed. But I agree, I do think that we were growing up and changing at the same time. Helen Newman: Yes. I think it's really important to change. When you grow, you change when you go out into society. When you meet people, you change. That's why friends of mine have used the term, "Oh, I'm old school." And they do it on purpose. Because it drives me crazy, the hairs on my neck stand up. Old school means you're not changing with the times. Andi Simon: Oh, so interesting. So they've boxed you in yet you do your own thing. Ten years ago, you lost your husband and then you started to write on Facebook on our New Rochelle High School class of '64 Facebook places. Was losing your husband a catalyst for this or just you needed something to do? What was the momentum there? Helen Newman: No, actually, starting in 1974, I was called by a few friends because I have this weird organizational talent. Don't ask me why. They called me and said, "Let's have a ten-year reunion." And I always like working. I always like having a project. So I said, "Okay, I'll do it." And I did. And it's very interesting. Very few people came. And it was the 23rd year of our graduation when someone called me and truthfully, I don't even remember who it was, I think it was three or four people called, and said, "You should do a 25th." And I said, "Oh, God, it's a lot of work." But I did it. We had 400 of our graduates come to White Plains, NY for the 25th reunion. And the feeling, I can tell you something that I still remember, I was sitting at the welcoming table because I had to be like the boss and show everybody what to do. And I saw two groups of people walk in and see each other for the first time in 25 years. And they started screaming and running to each other. And I looked at my friends and I said, "This is worth it. It's worth it. Look at these people. They are so happy to see each other." And that was when it started. Then when it was our 48th anniversary, I got another call who said, "You have to do it for 50 years." And I said, "It's a lot of work, but I'll do it." I formed a committee on Facebook. There's a Facebook New Rochelle High School Facebook page. And I started to promote it. How else do you do it? So I started writing. Ah, and from then on the countdown, all of the questions that helped me find people all over the country. Very few stayed in New Rochelle. I've been one of the only few that are still here. And it snowballed into people calling me and saying, "What are you posting? I love your posts." And again, I'm the typical outgoing introvert. I like to be with a lot of people but I like to be by myself. Oh, this was way after the reunion, I got phone calls again: "Don't stop posting. I look forward to it," because people want to remember. They do want to remember. And it's important. Our friendships were important. We lost contact with people, we regained that contact. It's so special to me that I don't even have the words and I'm filled with words. I don't have the words to express to you how much it means to me that people have reconnected because of me. Andi Simon: I'm going to read Helen's latest September 2nd posting, a piece of it, so you can get the feeling because I want to go back to what she said is important to her. But it's also important to all the 1000 folks who are graduates who are reading it, and the 125 who view it and then share it and then comment on it. And I watch their names and I'm going to say we hung out. This is cool. So this is September: As I was pondering what to write, I suddenly realized that the month of September is filled with memories and holidays to celebrate. Now, the hard part is trying to focus on one particular aspect of the month. Oh my goodness, obviously, I cannot write funny anecdotes about how deliriously happy we are that our kids are going back to school. I can't even write about how deliriously unhappy teachers are to go back to school. Most of you, not all, but most of you must be retired, so you know that subject. I could write about Labor Day, but I believe I've told you all this. However, one statistic is interesting. Did you know that more people are born in September than any other month of the year? Yeah, that was interesting. Is that why we celebrate Labor Day in September? Maybe? September 10 Is TV dinner day. Do you remember the TV dinners? Oh, I remember them. Except they're called streaming dinners now, and I laugh. Also September 17 is locate a friend. But I've already located all of you. And then there's September 19: respect for the aging day. No, definitely not that. And I can tell you, Helen, I'm not the only one who was laughing. So here's what I've decided. I'd like to celebrate Google. Oh, so important. No, so needed effect. Did you know that Backrub was the original name of Google? You imagine it being called Backrub? I got to get a backrub. Really? I know. You can tell me more about it. Google was founded on September 4, 1998. Now think about it. By Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were PhD students at Stanford. I shudder to think of what my life would be like if I didn't Google everything. I watch a film and Google the director. I read a book and Google the author. I'm a Google libertarian. Helen Newman: Don't bother googling me. I come up as Helen Newman Hall, rec center. Andi Simon: And so enjoy your Labor Day weekend. And then keep laughing. And those comments are all absolutely beautiful comments, because we never stop learning interesting things about September. I can't even begin to count the time. So I'm asking Google for info. Thanks, Helen. I love this post. I wonder if the number of babies born in September were after the end of the war. So I share with you my listeners and my audience why Helen was so important to bring to you. Because she makes us laugh. You can't read her stuff. You're not part of the private group. But she can tell us about that. How do you decide what to write about? And where do you get the humor, and how I want the listeners to think about their stories, and how important it is in their lives, to connect, to belong and to be part of something more than just where you are today. The memories make your life more meaningful. So tell us how you became this writer? That's just brilliant. Helen Newman: Well, thank you. I love writing. I love making people laugh. Those are my two specialties. I researched the months. Two weeks before I post, I research the month to see what holidays people make up. I don't know where these holidays ever came from but they're on Google. You can Google a month and you will see 50 to 60 holidays. Then I print them out and I circle the ones that could be funny to us and circle the ones that would mean something to us. I try to incorporate something funny about being a senior. Something funny about our childhood and something to remember for all of us to remember. And I start writing. I write on my computer, I print it out, I edit it. The next day I look it over, I make it funnier. It's like a job, but it's a job I love. Yes. And I'll tell you, what keeps me going is that one month, I think I was in California visiting my children. And I didn't come home until the sixth of the month. When I got home, I had four messages on my answering machine: "Are you okay? Did something happ…

Full show notes at the publisher

337: Vicki Baker—Isn't It Time For You To Power Through To Your Next Career Stop? Nov 14, 2022

Show notes

Hear how to boldly take control of your own career path Dr. Vicki Baker's sixth book in five years solidifies her standing as a nationally recognized expert in the unique issues faced by mid-career faculty in higher education. As she coaches numerous professionals, she has discovered a recurring theme: academicians get their degrees and often their tenure, but then get stuck or stalled in their career advancement. Is it that they need better mentors? Or do institutions need to identify and sponsor their high-performing stars earlier, and coach them along their pathways to career advancement? And this is happening not just in the world of academia. Industry is struggling with the same dilemma. Are you stuck or stalled in an academic position or a corporate career trajectory? Make a point to listen in for Vicki's solutions. Watch and listen to our conversation here Why women academics often get stalled, and what to do about it On an annual basis, I have conducted workshops for Vicki's students involved in business development with their French counterparts. We talk about Blue Ocean Strategy, and together with Vicki's guidance, the students begin to frame approaches to their concepts that can open new markets, not just compete in current ones. The students are mighty impressive, as is Vicki. In this podcast, however, we focus on Vicki's particular passion: women's careers in academia. About Vicki Vicki L. Baker, Ph.D. is the E. Maynard Aris Endowed Professor in Economics and Management at Albion College, Faculty Director of the Albion College Community Collaborative (AC3), and Co-Chair of Albion's Economics and Management Department. She is also an instructor for Penn State University's World Campus. Recognized as a "Top 100 Visionary" in Education by the Global Forum for Education and Learning, Vicki is at the forefront of innovation and strategy in faculty and leadership development. As a faculty member and Fulbright Specialist Alumna (Utrecht Netherlands), her goal is to help faculty members, colleges and universities thrive. She has authored 90 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, invited works and books, and be contacted at vbaker@albion.edu. For more on finding your path, here are some suggestions: Blog: 5 Ways You Can Find Happiness And Joy In These Turbulent Times Blog: How To Thrive In Today's Crazy World? Make Change Your Friend Podcast: Rebecca Morrison—Women, Are You Ready To Find Your Happiness? Is It All Around You? Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon, your host and your guide, and my job is to get you off the brink. I love to do podcasts to bring you interesting and important people to help you see, feel and think in new ways. As you know, your brain hates to change. And so my job is to get you off the brink and begin to see opportunities, ideas, instructional information, inspirational ways to begin to think about yourself differently and to do it as well. So today, I have an absolutely wonderful woman with me. Vicki Baker has been very kind over the years, she's invited me to do remote classes for Albion University, Appian College, and she'll tell you more about the college and what she does there. I've talked there several, many times about Blue Ocean Strategy to her students. It reminds me what it was like when I was an academic. I spent 10 years as an academic person, I was an Assistant Professor, head of a department, making all those meetings and doing all kinds of things before I got into business. But the interesting part is what Vicki is doing to help others, particularly women, perceive it and pursue their careers in a university or academic environment and why that's so hard. So a little bit about Vicki, and then she'll tell you about herself. Recognized as a "Top 100 Visionary" in Education by the Global Forum for Education and Learning (20-21), Vicki is at the forefront of innovation and strategy in faculty and leadership development. As a faculty member herself and Fulbright Specialist Alumna (Utrecht Netherlands), her goal is to help faculty members and colleges and universities thrive. She earned her PhD (Higher Education) and MS (Management and Organization) from Penn State University, MBA from Clarion University and BS from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Vicki also holds a certificate in Human Resource Management from Villanova University and is a certified professional in HR from the Society for Human Resource Management. She earned her PhD in higher ed and her MS and management organization from Penn State and I was an undergraduate there. So who knew that our paths had crossed, because she works in Michigan now and I work in New York. But it's really important because she also holds a certificate in Human Resource Management from Villanova, and is a certified professional in HR from the Society for Human Resource Management. Vicki is the E. Maynard Aris Endowed Professor in Economics and Management at Albion College, Faculty Director of the Albion College Community Collaborative (AC3), Co-Chair of the Economics and Management Department, and serves as an instructor for Penn State University's World Campus. Prior to joining the academy as a faculty member, Vicki worked at Harvard Business School (Executive Education) and AK Steel Corporation. Vicki is the author of 90 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, invited works and books, including Charting Your Path to Full: A Guide for Women Associate Professors, Success After Tenure: Supporting Mid-Career Faculty, and Developing Faculty in Liberal Arts Colleges. Her recent book is Managing Your Academic Career: A Guide to Re-envision Mid-Career. Remember those meetings I mentioned when I was at the university? She spends her life in meetings, and I did too, but she's also the author of 90 peer reviewed articles, invited works, chapters and books, all kinds of books. She's developing faculty and liberal arts colleges' success after 10 years supporting mid-career faculty. That's the full professorship and all kinds of interesting stuff. So Vicki, I'm so glad you're with me today. Thank you. Vicki Baker: Thank you, Andi. And I'm glad to be able to interact with you in this way. I've been so appreciative over the years of you joining us at Albion, and supporting my students on Blue Ocean Strategy and how to carve their own path. So it's nice to be able to interact with you in this way. Andi Simon: Tell the listeners about your story. You clearly have wandered on a journey that's been fulfilling for you. I remember in the academic world, part of the growth is our own personal growth as well as the professional one. Who's Vicki Baker? And what's your journey been like? Vicki Baker: Yeah, that's a great question. And I think that answer probably changes every day. If you asked me that question two years ago, versus two years from now, it would probably look different. But at this very moment, I'm a proud mother of two children. I think that identity is on the forefront. My son is soon to be eight, my daughter is nine. So they're 19 months apart. And I actually started my life not thinking I would be in education of any kind. My mom was a kindergarten teacher for 35 years. My dad was a teacher. My grandfather, my mom's dad, was the superintendent of the school district. My mom's brother was a teacher and became a principal. And I literally vowed I would never be a teacher. My undergrad degree is actually in engineering. And when I graduated from college, I moved to Ashland, Kentucky and was an engineer in a steel mill. And I really enjoyed doing that. But then I also realized I didn't want to be a 55-year-old woman wearing steel-toed boots and a hard hat to work. That's really good, but I learned some critical lessons about relationships and communication and building those that is a core foundation. And then got my MBA. From there I moved to Boston and worked at Harvard Business School in executive education...talking about a juxtaposition. We're working with Fortune 500 level executives here and then I was working with generations of families in a steel mill. And again, there were some core lessons about human rights that I could take with it, but it was funny that comparisons in the types of conversations I had in those environments, and I really remember being in awe of watching some of these faculty walk in the room and do their thing. But there's a reason they have the reputations that they do. And so I was working on a second master's degree there. And it was my faculty member there that said, just go get your PhD. I really liked business and I liked higher education and knew I would marry those two areas, I just didn't know in what form or what ways, and she had recommended I apply for my PhD either at Penn State or Michigan for the program because they were the top two in the country. And I'm from Pennsylvania. So I thought, I'll try Penn State. If I get in great, if not, then I'll stay here. And probably not surprisingly, the assistantship that I got put on was looking at learning outcomes for engineering education. So the background, the background came into play. And a year after being there, I got an email two weeks before the fall semester started from the chair of the management department which said, "Rumor has it you have your MBA and rumor has it you used to work at Harvard Business School in exec ed." And I said, "Both of those rumors are true." And he said, "Would you be willing to meet with me?" And I said, "Sure," and had a meeting. And he said, "Would you be willing to teach for us and the class starts in two weeks, there's no book, there's no syllabus, and we just need you to get fives and above on your teaching evaluation, the max is seven, and I don't need to have a conversation with you." That's where the teaching started. I would mentor anybody now. Don't say yes to that. There's no support, and you're being set up to fail. And so I was young and naive and didn't know any better and wanted the experience. And I fell in love with teaching. And that's when I knew I would end up doing it. But it was so funny, because I swore I would never go down that path. And I guess it's just in my blood. And I've just been committed to fundamentally helping people advance in their careers. I like to help people find what they are passionate about and how can I help them find whatever that thing is, and help them work towards it. So that's how I got to this point in the books in the work that I do. Andi Simon: But you know, as I look at your classroom, and the folks, I really liked doing it virtually this time, because I could see their faces. They were great. And they were all women this time, which was sort of interesting. But you aren't pedantic or informative, you're inspiring and enabling, and I hear your interactions with them. And that teaching you're doing is encouraging them to life's experiences and to pulling it together for their own stories to develop. And my hunch is that you've developed your own style that reflects that engineering and Harvard though awareness of humans. I'm an anthropologist, I'm observing a lot of that. And then Harvard, which is a whole other world. And I mean, you think about stepping back and figuring out what I can contribute to this world that we're in? But now, the topic that we want to talk about today is helping women in their career advancement, because yours is hardly possible for others to easily follow. Could they? Vicki Baker: I am the probable poster child for a liberal arts experience. Even though I'm not a product of a liberal arts college, maybe where you start is not necessarily where you finish, it's about the knowledge gained from the experiences, the relationship-building that helped propel you along that path. So I'm a good poster child for that. But yes, it's not what I thought I would do. Honestly, again, I vowed, I would never be in this space. But now I can't imagine being anywhere other than this space. And as you know, it definitely affords you opportunities to engage with the bright young men and women, you get to see that when you join us, and it's provided me a really unique vantage point where I can do the consulting work with academics, particularly women academics, who are trying to answer that what's next question, that mid-career in life. I've got responsibilities at home and personal considerations that matter, and especially highlighted from the pandemic where people are making clear choices about their values and what matters and what doesn't. And so, I've been very fortunate to be able to have that experience, but to also get, you know, the unique vantage point with everybody. But yes, it's not a path that somebody would say yes, that there's a clear-cut direction and I can go that route. Andi Simon: Or they can say, be open to opportunities, and let the serendipity become part of your life. Enjoy it, embrace it, some work, and some will mean, who would have thought that your course at Penn State would have been the right one. But now that you're counseling other women, I might look at my book Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business so we can compare a lot of notes, but there isn't a woman I know who has a simple, easy trip to wherever they're going. And it's a different trip than the men. The men whom I coach have different concerns and issues. But the women also are tackling all kinds of other societal issues. I won't call them hurdles or glass ceilings or anything else, they are just society and themselves. And I have a hunch my new coach will listen to them and write your stuff on them. There's some things that keep popping out. So you share with our listeners, you know, three or four major issues that arise when a woman is looking at what's next. Vicki Baker: That's a really important question and a theme that seems to surface consistently with the women academics that I coach. And again, right, these are bright women, they've pursued, you know, what it takes to get to that level. There's a level of grit, determination, discipline, intelligence and sacrifice to get there. So they didn't get to this point of what's next, without putting a lot of work into it. And yet, the number one, one of the top one or two issues that always come up is, "I'm not sure if I'm ready." They often come to me if they're thinking about advancing in their career. So the first question is, "Do I have an interest in advancing from associate to full," and I have found some people opt out of that. Men and women for a variety of very valid reasons, you also know you left academia for various reasons as well. So I don't make the assumption that everybody wants to advance. I make the assumption people want to feel fulfilled in their career. So how do we make that happen? But for those who have advancement on the radar, there's always that question of, "Do I even want to do it? I've sacrificed so much as a PhD student, as an early-career faculty member, to get tenure." Often with women I hear, "I've sacrificed so much already. I don't know if I'm interested in doing that anymore." I…

Full show notes at the publisher

335: Sam Radocchia—Ready Or Not, Blockchain Is Not On The Way, It's Here Oct 31, 2022

Show notes

Learn about the new technology that is disrupting everything As this gorgeous fall rolls on, I continue to share with you some of my favorite On The Brink interviews from the last five years. What's the connecting theme? Amazing women who are forging ahead in spite of obstacles, outmoded gender roles and glass ceilings. Today I share with you my October 2019 interview with Samantha Radocchia (Sam Rad). An entrepreneur, speaker, author, futurist and emerging tech advocate, Sam combines the mindsets of an anthropologist and a technologist — which is why I was so excited to have her join me on that podcast. Sam also did a podcast with me back in 2018 on blockchain, which was shared widely. In this session, we focus on her groundbreaking book, Bitcoin Pizza: A No-Bullshit Guide to Blockchain, as well as what has been happening with blockchain in the year since we spoke initially. Check out both! Why Bitcoin Pizza? You have to listen to Sam tell the story about the "10,000-bitcoin pizza" which was the start of using bitcoin for general, everday purchases. What has now become an origin myth of great proportions goes like this: On May 22, 2010, now known as Bitcoin Pizza Day, Laszlo Hanyecz offered to pay 10,000 bitcoins for two delivered Papa John's pizzas. A British man took Hanyecz's offer and bought the two pizzas for him in exchange for the 10,000 bitcoins. This set in motion something that few saw coming: a world-wide movement to transform, probably forever, "the way we do things." By the way, those original Papa John's pizzas are now worth over $80 million! What's so exciting is to hear Sam talk about her vision for blockchain Blockchain is more than a bitcoin currency. To Sam, it's something much broader and transformational. As she says in her new book: "The way I see it, blockchain isn't just a technology. It's a technological manifestation of a social paradigm shift from centralized to decentralized, from siloed to open, from controlled to self-enforcing." Today, blockchain is tackling a huge array of everyday tasks and challenges. If you're not familiar with blockchain, it's a safe, secure system that allows us to more easily manage our business and personal lives. Whether it's overseeing your banking, paying your taxes, booking vacations, eliminating property title insurance, producing safer medications, tagging and tracking diamonds, or making sure Walmart's food is safe for its customers, blockchain is not just another way to do things. According to Sam, it is going to become the best way. And, very soon. In previous On The Brink podcasts, we've heard similar prophecies from Marton Ven when he spoke about blockchain and the food system, and Jared Tate when he shared his thoughts on the growth of Digibyte in two podcasts, the first in June 2018 and the second in March 2019. As you've probably guessed by now, the future is coming at us fast. Are you ready? Sam Rad: fearlessly blazing a trail for women in technology A reformed gamer, Sam started studying virtual currencies in 2009 while writing her anthropology thesis on currency exchanges in the virtual world. Since then, she has founded three companies, holds several patents, and was an early outspoken voice in blockchain as the co-founder of Chronicled, an enterprise blockchain company focused on supply chain. She now consults executives, trade associations, governments and investors on emerging technology trends. In addition to emerging technology, Sam is deeply passionate about the Future of Work, Future of Production, Future of Community and the sustainability of business. She speaks worldwide on organizational culture and theory, particularly as we shift to globally distributed and remote workforces. Her lectures on risk, emotional intelligence and intuition have been featured by such globally recognized universities as MIT, Columbia and UCLA. You can reach Sam here: Email: sam@bitcoinpizzabook.com Twitter: @SamRadOfficial LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/samantharadocchia Website: samantharadocchia.com Want a deeper diver into bitcoin and clockchain? We recommend these: Podcast: Sam Radocchia—Ready To Trust Blockchain With Everything From Your Food To Your Taxes? Podcast: Jared Tate—The Genius Behind DigiByte Blockchain Podcast: Marton Ven—Applying Blockchain to Every Detail of the Food We Eat Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Thanks for joining us today. I'm Andi Simon, your host and my job is to help you see, feel and think in new ways. And I like to bring to you thought leaders who are really changing the way we are thinking about things. In November 2018, Sam Radocchia spoke on our podcast about bitcoin, blockchain and the coming changes in our ways of connecting, but also just connecting, and the great transformation that was coming in. And as you know, we're particularly interested in both bitcoin and blockchain. We've had Jared Tate from DigiByte on the podcast, as well as Marton Ven from TE-FOOD International in Germany. And we're most interested in how the track-and-trace technologies are developing, and I actually was on a TV show for the construction industry on how they are very behind in trying to get into blockchain. So Sam came on today because she has a brand new book out, called Bitcoin Pizza: A No-Bullshit Guide to Blockchain. And we're going to have her tell you the whole title in particular, but I love the way she's taken blockchain and bitcoin and turned it into pizza. And she'll give you a little background around it as well. She has a great quote to start her book: "The world as we have created, it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking." Albert Einstein said that. But today is all about helping you change the way you see, feel and think, because if not, the world's gonna go backwards. I'm gonna give you a little bit about her background because I'd like to dip right into her book today. She's an entrepreneur, a keynote speaker and author and emerging tech advocate. Actually, the emerging is probably inappropriate. She said tech advocate, and she has delivered keynotes globally and led corporate trainings at Fortune 500 corporations, trade associations, conferences, national governments, NGOs, investment firms, and the United Nations. She really is interested in educating people on technologies and the cultural shifts that are happening. She's also a gamer, a reformed gamer. She started studying virtual currencies in 2009 while writing her anthropology thesis, which is why we have so much fun talking, from one anthropologist to another anthropologist, but really about technology and linguistics. And her thesis was on currency exchanges in the virtual world. She was co-founder of Chronicled, an enterprise blockchain company focused on supply chain. And while she's still an advisor there, she's moved off. And this book is really what is all very important today. What is Bitcoin Pizza? Anyway, thank you for joining us. Sam Radocchia: Thank you, Andi. It's great to be back. Andi Simon: Tell us, it's been about a year since we met last time. What's happening both to Sam Radocchia and what's happening to the book, and why should we all be so excited to eat it? Sam Radocchia: A lot is happening. Well, again, yeah, most notably, I've worked for the past year, year and a half, on this book. And it really came from a place. It started almost as a glossary of terminology that you hear in crypto space, but mainly from the cultural perspective. So you know, people say these terms, like, to the moon, or hold on for dear life, or drive Lamborghinis. And they're all of these cultural references that if you're on the outside of the space, it can either feel confusing, intimidating or even just make no sense to you. So I started making this fun interactive guide and had some conversations where this could be expanded into a book. Spending so much time in the space educating people, I noticed that the challenges that I found was that there was a gap between, not just explaining what it is — there are a lot of people, resources, books, speakers talking about immediately jumping into the nitty gritty of how proof-of-work works — and then everyone's eyes glaze over. But there wasn't a lot out there about why this is important. And beyond just the technology, why the macro, socio, cultural, and geopolitical changes that are taking place are leading to technology, decentralizing technologies. And for me, blockchain isn't just a technology, it represents this greater paradigm shift. And so when I think about blockchain, I'm not just talking about a distributed ledger, I'm talking about decentralization. I'm talking about distributed 3D printers making things on demand. I'm talking about AI and machine learning. So there's a lot in the book about setting the stage for why we're here and how we got here, even before the creation of bitcoin in the popularization of the term blockchain. It's more about why it's important and what have been the cultural and social shifts. So for me, with a background in anthropology and as I have studied various groups or organizations, it just it fascinated me, as one being in the industry myself but for people who are new to it who will ask me questions about it or how to get involved or why is everyone talking on CNBC about blockchain? Or why are people changing their company's name from Long Island Iced Tea Company to Long Blockchain Corporation? I just really wanted to help people make sense of it and feel empowered to get involved and learn more. Andi Simon: Well, let's stay on that. Why do you change the name of a company from Long Island Iced Tea to Long Blockchain Corporation? But I want you to talk about the name of the book first. Because the story about the blockchain, the bitcoin pizza, came from a story, and you're a storyteller. And as an anthropologist, you know that the people listening, their brains are going to change as they listen to the story. And I love to be grounded in storytelling. So how did you come up with blockchain? How did you come up with bitcoin pizza? Sam Radocchia: So again, it started as a working title, like many things, and I just don't know who doesn't like pizza. So that really was it. But in the space, there is a story. So Bitcoin, the white paper, written by Satoshi Nakamoto, an anonymous individual or group of individuals who invented or proposed bitcoin was in 2009. And shortly thereafter, in May of 2010, so not six months later, there was a programmer named Laszlo Hanyecz. And he was on one of the bitcoin forums talking to another person, saying, "I would like to buy two Papa John's pizzas, and I'll give you 10,000 bitcoin for it." And so they made an exchange and it marks this historically significant transaction, where of course, there were other transactions that had occurred on the bitcoin blockchain. But this is the one that is regarded as the first real world transaction. And the reason he says he picked pizza was that it was food and it showed the real world. You could use this for something in the real world. And, of course, it became a popular myth or story or narrative, when the price of bitcoin started going up. So you know, people in the community started celebrating this day as Bitcoin Pizza Day, which is May 22. And, you know, in 2017, the price soared, it almost hit around the $20,000 mark. And I don't remember the exact number, but that was something around $700, $800 million for those pizzas, if he had not made that trade, and the other person on the other end of the trade, who has not come out publicly, is sitting on that money. So it marks this pivotal moment in the industry. And so a lot of the book, and that's a chapter that goes through these cultural myths and narratives and stories for me, that's always been really of interest to me: the origin story, particularly in the corporate setting. So in doing my master's, I studied a lot of the corporate anthropology stuff, and I focused on corporate origin myths. So the stories of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in a garage, were they really in a garage or not? Or, you know, what does that say about the values of the company? I mean, bitcoin isn't a company, a lot of blockchain projects are not, they're decentralized organizations. They are more similar to religious movements, or other movements, than they are corporations. And so regardless of the structure of the entity or lack thereof, the movement, the myths and stories that we tell, particularly in respect to origin stories, are so important. It shapes everything. So yeah, pizza comes from one of those very early, very important stories. And that's what I hope to do and have done throughout the book is tie both the technology and the meaning of the technology to these stories. Andi Simon: But what's really important is that we are also looking at a great transformation about lots of things, one of which is Uber and Lyft, and others like Door Dash delivering food. You can almost make a pizza in a 3D truck and print it on demand and have it delivered through a bitcoin blockchain connection, and transform all the relationships. We have changed all the ways we do things. And you open your book that way. And I said, wow, there's something bigger than a bear here. That's not so complicated. It's really going to be as simple as taking money out of an ATM or using your credit card. It's not as bad as you think, it's actually a lot of fun. Sam Radocchia: And again, that's one of my favorite analogies and ways to think about this. It's not an analogy to describe how blockchain works, there are plenty of those. It's one that explains more of why it's important. And I also discuss in the book when you think back to those of us who are listening who have used maps, physical maps. But remember, when Mapquest came out, there was this notion of looking at it. We're just going to take a map and digitize it. So use a map, but online, and then Google Maps came out in 2005. And they've totally looked at it differently. They thought of it as an open system. They were like, this is just a set of data points, and we're going to open it. And on top of that, people could build any apps. And you know, we saw Uber, we saw Airbnb, we saw Yelp. We've seen all those food delivery companies that you just referenced, were built on top of that, that open system. And so if you can shift your mindset to think of it and look at a blockchain differently, or ledger differently, and just understand that we might not know what's coming in the next five to 20 years, but it's the level of change that we saw with even that small change on location information being available. I mean, it created the entire on-demand economy. So, in the case of food delivery, I come from a supply chain background and inventory management and like, making these global systems more efficient and tracking things. And, I've been pretty outspoken about blockchains, the next phase of blockchain. So instead of maybe tracking things around the world, or having a pizza that's made and then has to be delivered, to it will be produced in the back of the delivery vehicle on its way to you through a 3D food printer. Andi Simon: And I think that's not far off. Sa…

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332: Byron Reese—How Humans Learned to See the Future, and You Can Too! Oct 10, 2022

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Hear how telling each other stories helped us evolve My audience knows how much I like to learn about early human evolution and how we continue to adapt to changing times. Thanks to my former PR guru, Sarah Wilson, I was introduced to Byron Reese, who is a futurist, an author and an entrepreneur. He tends to see things through that fresh lens I always talk about. Byron's new book (his fourth) is called, Stories, Dice, and Rocks that Think: How Humans Learned to See the Future—and Shape It. This is a fascinating book that provides a new look at the history and destiny of humanity. Storytelling allows us to envision the future. Dice teach us about probability, which enables us to try to predict the future. And rocks that think—a reference to a computer's CPU—enable us to build the future. Listen in! Watch and listen to our conversation here From our very beginnings, we've been a very different type of being. I wasn't quite sure what Byron's book is about until I opened the first pages and began to wander with him through the still unanswered questions about how humans became these amazing creatures with story-making minds, the ability to think and then converse about their ideas, and the wherewithall to develop cultures that we can share, change and believe to be our best realities. As humans, the one thing we must do is see the future. All other animals live in the moment. Perhaps some have evolved genetic capabilities that enable them to survive in different environments—like the 40,000 ant species that populate the world. But humans are one species, and we know we have a past and a future. That future is important. We know we are not immortal. Do other animals plan for the afterlife? Develop religions? Think big philosophical thoughts? From our thinking came our language, and conversations that are essential to our being and our survival. I invite you to listen in or read the transcript of our conversation because it's fascinatin. Just remember, you have a unique place on this earth. Treat it, and yourself, kindly. If you'd like to connect with Byron, you can find him on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and his website, and you can email him at byronreese@gmail.com. For more about storytelling and how the future shapes us, start here Blog: What Is Futurism And Do You Need It? Blog: How Storytelling Can Transform Your Culture And Energize Your Team Podcast: Now Is No Time To Be Afraid Of This Blurry Future Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. As you know, I'm your host and your guide, and my job is to get you off the brink. I want you to soar. But the only way you can do that is if you can see, feel and think in new ways so that you can change what you've been doing. The times are changing, and we're futurists. We need to see what's coming and begin to make stories up about them. That's what Simon Associates does. And that's about all the advertising I'm going to tell you about. Our job is to help you change. People hate to change. Today, I found a marvelous, marvelous person who came to me through my PR firm of the past: Sarah Wilson. Byron Reese is amazing. Let me tell you about him and then he'll tell you about your new self. And I love his face. Byron is an Austin-based entrepreneur with a quarter century of experience building and running technology companies. It's gonna be interesting listening to how he's applied it in his new book today. The new book is called Stories, Dice, and Rocks that Think, and don't kid yourself: we're going to be talking a lot about how humans learn to see the future and shaping our conversation for today. He's a recognized authority on AI, and holds a number of technology patents. He's also a futurist. Now, this podcast has been ranked among the top 20 futurists podcasts. I didn't know I was a futurist. But I like to help you see that future. And if you can't see it, you can't live today. Byron gives talks around the globe about how technology is changing work, education and culture, like everything. And it's fun to think about it. He's an author of four books. But today, I think we're going to talk about this new one because it adds some dimension to all the others that he's put together. Byron, thank you for joining me today. Byron Reese: Thank you for having me. Andi Simon: It's so much fun to share with the listener, or the viewer. Who is Byron Reese? Give us your journey so we can talk about how you got here because everything had a little of the past, a little of the future, and a lot of hard work to come. Tell us about your book, Stories, Dice, and Rocks that Think. How did Byron come up with it? Byron Reese: Well, I've always been in technology, because I've always been really interested in it. I'm not a gadget person, but I'm really interested in the idea of technology. And it's this thing we kind of discovered as a species that allows us to amplify what we're able to do without it. There was a time that we think we hit a genetic bottleneck a long time ago, and there were just 1,000 or 2,000 humans left and nobody would have bet on us then. And here we are. It's because we learned that trick about technology. And so I've always just been really intrigued by the idea of technology. And so I've done that as a business. And then I started writing. Every morning before I got to work, I would just start writing and those became the books that I wrote. And they're just kind of my own journey of what I think about and I find interesting. Andi Simon: Well, you don't sort of just stumble into being an AI or a patent expert in technology. Was this important as you were growing up, did you have particular role models or aha moments, or things that just started making you curious? Byron Reese: I grew up on a farm in East Texas, outside of a town with only 500 people. So it was not an area steeped in technology. But my father had a corporate job for 30-something years, and his father worked in the railroad and his father operated a ferry. And when I looked back, it always seemed like they kind of did the thing that epitomized their times. It was the Western migration, and then the railroad, and then just the corporate thing that came up and unemployment and all of that, and I knew growing up that you could just tell it was technology. And so I went to college and met my wife or the woman who would become my wife, and we moved to the Bay Area, to be a part of that energy that was in the 90s. And we did that for a while. And then when we decided to start a family, we moved back to Texas, to Austin, and we raised and homeschooled our children. And that's me. Andi Simon: That's a very interesting story, your reflection on how each of your parents, grandparents, and so forth, was reflecting the times in which they were living. You in some ways are reflecting the times that we're living in now, which I would not have thought about, but if the listener or viewer is listening and watching: think about it. Where are you now because of where we are now as a society? This book, though, has a particular purpose. And I think it would be good to talk about, it's not a textbook, it is a history of humankind in a very important way, which should give the listener and the viewer some time to think about the times that we are in. Because somehow, 50,000 years ago, we had a quantum leap in our brain. And we are just like any other animal. Remember, we are one species, there are 40,000 different ant species. That's how they have mutated and populated the world. We're just one. And we probably can be intimate with anyone across the globe, which is sort of an interesting phenomenon. But we also can see the future and anticipate our mortality, and look back on the past and worry about our memory. Was it right? Was it wrong? And was it different than what actually happened? So we are an interesting human. Let's talk about Byron. How did this book begin to develop? And let us talk about the three phases that so fascinated you. Byron Reese: They're very interested in the question of why. Why we're different from animals, because you'll always hear: we're just another animal. But when you look around the world, it doesn't look that way. It really looks like we're aliens. And everything else is kind of native. But we're very different in our cities and literature and all that. And we really got curious why that happened. And the short answer is, we believe in two things that don't exist. We believe in the future and the past. And animals don't. That's a contentious statement, but I try to justify it in the book. And what we do is, we have what's known as episodic memory, where we remember specific things that happened to us, which animals don't. They don't make predictions into the future, maybe just a minute into the future. Maybe I'm thinking, Okay, I want to climb that tree and get an apple. What's the best way to do it? Those sorts of things. And those were, I think, the first stories we told ourselves. They were in fiction, they were like us. We think that way. We kind of picture these different things, very different from other creatures. The coolest thing I learned writing this book is probably that it was a creature that lived before it's called Homo Erectus. And Erectus lived on this planet 1.6 million years, 80,000 generations, and simply had one tool: the hand axe. It looks like a big arrowhead. And that's it. And no matter when you find these, on which of three continents you find them, they're all alike. And that's really mysterious because you would think if in 80,000 generations, everybody was just copying their parents, then eventually they would, like the telephone game, they would just change and in different regions, but they didn't. They're all identical. And what does that mean? It means Erectus didn't know they were making those tools, the way a bird doesn't know they're building a nest, they just do it. But it isn't something that they know how to do. It's not a cultural object, or technological object, it's a genetic object. You see a beaver, if you put a recording of music, of running water in the middle of the field, and a beaver walks by the dam over it, they don't really know what they're doing, but they know how to build that one dam. So, you think about that: 80,000 generations where nothing happened. And then you think about us. We only took three generations to get from Kitty Hawk to the moon. And you realize we are a very different thing. And I kind of think it's this for millions of years, billions of years: the only place we had to write down what we learned was in our DNA. It took millions of years to write one new thing. And then one day, we got what you talked about: language, 40,000-50,000 years ago, and all of a sudden we can think and that's really the power of language. It organizes your thoughts. It's not mere speculation. There's a wonderful quote in the book from Helen Keller, who talked about what her life was like before her teacher came and how she didn't know she was a person. She didn't know she was a discrete thing in the universe. So we got language. Andi Simon: Listen for a second, because I think that for my audience, I know that this is a curious question. We were able to sync and not necessarily communicate our thoughts. And I think that when you are walking in the woods, and there's nobody to talk to, but you're thinking, and you're doing just what our ancestors were doing, then the question always is, and I was fascinated by your effort to try and explain how did that happen, where all of a sudden we went from our thoughts to be able to share our thoughts. And how would they know what those words meant? And was there a quantum leap in the DNA of everyone at the time to be able to understand language? We have, you know, different languages, but they're all very similar in structure. Is it part of our acquired DNA? I mean, this is not simple stuff, because it's really quite interesting about how we took the thinking and turned it into a conversation that you and I can understand each other's meaning. Byron Reese: Yes, absolutely. And of course, we have to speculate a little. And so there's four or five different ideas on how that could have happened. I tend to believe that there was a mutation that happened in one person one time, you know, on some Tuesday morning at 8:30, or something like that happened, that his or her progeny may have inherited. And that's the capacity to think. In language, you see, we don't really have any organs for language. We have to repurpose organs we use for other stuff to be able to do this. And if in fact, language did begin in just one person, in one of these little lonely bands of 100-150 people, then after a few generations, when it had spread among them, they would be superheroes, and they would have superpowers, and they would very quickly displace everything else that didn't have capacity for language. And that's why it looks like it appeared everywhere, all at once. But I think that's what must have happened because human universals. There are a couple of hundreds of these things that all human cultures have. Andi Simon: Yes. Now, the interesting part is, I got fascinated by the cave art, that all of a sudden, we went from no cave. Africa has practically nothing that looks like the European or the Asian cave art that came at a period of time. And it's not stick figures. And even in the Americas, there's amazing art that all of a sudden emerges at once. And we say, How did that happen? You know, your point is that an alien is not so crazy. Talk to us about art, about music, about the flute, the things that emerge and seem to say something about who those people were, who created it, and how they shared something that was difficult to share across continents of that time. And all sudden it all at once. Even getting to Australia. I mean, there's something there worth sharing, more than just reading the book, because I love those stories. That's what makes me go, Oh, how did that happen? What happened? And how did it happen? Byron Reese: You're right, there were no precursors of anything like representative art. And if you look at some of these caves, they are beautiful. I mean, it's just beautiful. I would frame that and hang it on my wall. But the thing to keep in mind is, it wasn't just that they could do that beautifully. It was high tech, like literally, because they were using fat to make the pigments and here they weren't using the power to extend them. For black, they could have used charcoal. They had charcoal in the fire 20 feet away. But it wasn't black enough evidently. And so they figured out a new way to make black pigment using a mineral they had to heat 1200 degrees, which was hard to do and the closest source was 240 miles away. So they had to be mindful enough to go. They had to build scaffolding too and then to your point, digging in those caves in Chile is amazing because it's like King Tut's tomb. It was sealed off and we found it and the footprints, like a boy and his dog or sand, like in the kitchen. But when you excavate those times, you're right, we find musica…

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331: Jodi Flynn—How To Go From Dreaming To Doing, At Work And In Life Oct 03, 2022

Show notes

Hear how your hoped-for success starts with self-awareness As I continue to share with you some of the great podcasts I've done with amazing women over the five years of On The Brink, I'm re-posting my interview with Jodi Flynn, a remarkable woman who is helping other women succeed. She's also the bestselling author of Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing. You will hear how Jodi's system of self-assessment reveals how your unconscious often creates negative chatter in your mind that tells you that you don't have what it takes, keeping you from living the life you know you are meant to have. Learn from Jodi's wisdom and see if you too can have an aha moment that opens up all kinds of possibilities for you. Think about where you want to go and then get there Jodi's approach helps strong, Type-A women let go of their stress so they can truly believe in themselves, and with clear vision and confidence, take positive actions that will help them achieve the success they want. During our conversation, you will learn how to remove the barriers that keep you from having the experiences you know you were meant for...whether that's gaining more clients, growing your team, winning awards and recognition in your industry, getting that promotion, speaking, podcasting, writing a book. If you've dreamed it, listen to this podcast to see if you can actually achieve it — with a little of Jodi's help. About Jodi Jodi Flynn is the founder of Women Taking the Lead, a podcast and community of ambitious entrepreneurial women who want to go BIG. She helps her clients see how extraordinary they are and then set priorities and develop an action plan so they can achieve their biggest goals with ease. To connect with Jodi, you can find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and her Women Taking the Lead website. Key takeways to help with your own life and career: How Jodi's constant fear of judgment and being wrong held her back How she used "small bursts of courage" to push herself out of her comfort zone, allowing her to be more successful in her corporate career The importance of self-awareness in leadership to better assess others Being aware of personal limits to consistently stay in a healthy mindset Choosing the right team The importance of taking care of your mind, body and emotions to perform at your best Focusing your attention on one thing at a time Want more on how to believe in yourself and your capabilities? Here are 3 great podcasts Rose Fass—The Most Important Conversation Is The One You Have With Yourself Shellye Archambeau—How You Can Be Unapologetically Ambitious Maria Lizza Bowen—Do You Feel Stuck? Time To "See, Feel And Think In New Ways" Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. I'm your host and your guide. I'm an anthropologist who works with organizations that need and want to change. I'm also an author of an award winning book,On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights that you can find on Amazon, and in all kinds of formats. Our podcast is designed to help take the themes of that book and expand them, multiply them in all kinds of ways and bring you close to people who are in fact on the brink and changing in very transformational ways. I have with me today Jodi Flynn. Now I've done a podcast on Jodi Flynn's podcast, and you need to look her up on womentakingthelead.com. Jodi is really an inspiration. A little bit about her background, and then I'm going to turn it over to her. Jodi is a founder of Women Taking the Lead, a podcast and a community of ambitious entrepreneurial women who want to go big. She's looking for women who are type A, who already are successful, but have not achieved the level of success that they would really like to achieve and then moving along. But sometimes it gets stalled. And we work with businesses often the same way. They've been growing great, and all of a sudden, they stall. So Jodi helps her clients see how extraordinary they are and set the right priorities to get organized and into action, so they really can achieve their biggest goals with ease. She became an Amazon Best Selling Author with the release of her book, Accomplished: How to Go from Dreaming to Doing. Welcome, Jodi, and thanks for joining me today. Jodi Flynn: Andi, it's so great to be here. I'm so glad we're back having a conversation again, this time focused on your community. And so for those of you who are listening, we're so glad you could join us. This is going to be all about you. Andi Simon: Well, from two women who are a little type A and who both accomplished great things, I'm going to share all of our little wisdom. So let's start with Jodi. Tell us about your story. Clearly, you have arrived and are moving. You want to share it. Tell us how this whole thing happened? What's your journey? Jodi Flynn: It's really funny when you hit a certain age and people are like, What's your journey? You're like, What do I leave out? But I think I can sum it up by hitting the high points. I was a very shy child. I had a hard time talking to people when I was out in public. With my family, closest friends at home, it was fine. I could be myself and be exuberant and my natural self was in full effect. But when I would go to school or go out to work, and then off to college, I was held back. I would hold myself back because I was afraid of doing or saying the wrong thing. It was a little bit of social anxiety. And so I spent a lot of those years stressed out, and that caused me to be exhausted. So I would say, although I was a good student, I did not feel like I was very accomplished until I could kind of get over myself and my ego and stop worrying about what other people were thinking and doing. Because the reality is, most people are so busy, they're barely paying attention. Andi Simon: Now Jodi is telling you something you would never ever know if you were looking at her, like I am, and listening to her talk the way she does. So keep telling us, what happened? And how did you overcome this exhausting, stressed out, I can't talk to people? Jodi Flynn: It was a series of events. There were some books I read, like Don't Sweat the Small Stuff and The Four Agreements that helped me to see things from a different perspective. When I said, Get over myself, I think that really started with Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, and it's all small stuff. And then I just had some experiences where I realized like, oh, people do want to hear what I say. People do appreciate my perspective. So I started taking some risks and that's what you have to do. When you do feel like you're kind of tight in a box and you're not fully being yourself, you're not living the life you want to live. You do have to take some risks. So I would just take some small risks, I call them small bursts of courage. I would take these small bursts of courage, I would take action. And the feedback I got was really great. And it allowed me to explore more and more just being my authentic self out into the world until finally, when I was in my corporate career, I just felt like I was rocking and rolling. It was in my corporate career that I put a lot of what I learned into action. And you know, for anyone who may have read the book already, a lot of the stories I draw upon are from my journey from high school to college, my corporate career, all the things that helped me to learn to just be myself and put my skills, talents and experience out into the world. And it manifested in a few different ways that we'll probably talk about a little more, but it started small and grew from there. Andi Simon: Now, since your book has those stories, can you share one or two in that corporate vein? I have a hunch a lot of women listening are going to be in that corporate zone and want to know, What did she discover? And how come I can't get rid of the small stuff? Jodi Flynn: So one of the things I discovered, because my bachelor's was in psychology, and I was actually three credits shy from achieving my master's in counseling psychology, but I'd known for well over a year, I did not want to have my master's in counseling or to be doing counseling. But long story short, I never pictured myself working in the corporate environment. I thought I would be working with people one-on-one, or maybe in small groups. And so when I was looking for it, I needed to pivot because I wasn't going to complete my master's. So I took an entry level position just to pay the bills. And I remember when I was looking at job postings, now this was back when you would look them up in the paper, I'm dating myself a little bit. I was afraid to apply for jobs that paid well, because I didn't feel like I had anything to offer a company. I had my psychology degree. I had just about finished my master's in counseling. In my view, the corporate world would not value what I had to offer, which the reality is, I didn't value what I had to offer. And I put that story on my future employers. So I took a job that paid very little. It was one of the lowest paying corporate jobs. You could take the entry level. And it was when I entered that corporate arena, like within six years, I would get promoted five times. What I learned along the way was, it wasn't my schooling that was my value, it was my intrinsic abilities, my ability to listen, to work in a team, to get along with a lot of people, to get buy-ins from others. I was organized, I was hard-working, and I was ambitious. If there was an opportunity to rise through the ranks for me, it was like a game. I'm like, Alright, this is a corporate game we're playing. The next level is this, this is what's required to achieve that level, I'm going to move towards that. Andi Simon: Now, the game metaphor should not be underestimated, because you didn't take yourself too seriously, but seriously enough, because we play games all the time. Adults love to play professional games and all kinds of games. But when you said the word game, what came to mind is how I often use games to help people relax. And my goodness, they can create and they perform well as long as it's not serious. And all of a sudden, you found a way of visualizing yourself that said, I can play this game. It isn't really about what I can't do, but I can really play it well. So where did it take you? Jodi Flynn: Oh, my goodness. So I was in mutual fund operations. And I eventually became the Assistant Vice President of Corporate Quality. I started just opening up new accounts, kind of like anyone who works in a bank or financial institution would. You get the application, enter the information on the system, send it along, and the next one pops up. Very rote. And then it turned into ultimately, I had a job that perfectly suited my personality. It was all about inspiring and motivating other people, bringing out their best even though they weren't in a job that they would have said like, Oh, I dreamed about this from the time I was 10 years old. It wasn't about being in your dream job, it was about doing your best, getting the most out of it. Like forming strong relationships with the people around you and working together as a team towards something greater. And that was incredibly fulfilling. So ultimately, what ended up happening was, I put myself in my dream job even though initially it was just an entry level job to pay the bills while I figured out what I wanted to do. Andi Simon: No, but you know, both in your book and in the podcast, you're exploring: How do we learn what we are? Because you said it so well, I can't aspire to this job or to be able to help people to be better teammates if I didn't even know that was possible, or in some way, anyone paid for that, or there was a need for it. So this self-awareness piece is not to be underestimated. You had a big mirror going along that you kept looking at and it echoed back. You know, talking about how you help people with their self-awareness, because this is something you're doing now a great deal, right? Jodi Flynn: And it's all self-awareness. Andi, I'm sure you can relate to this too when you meet somebody who is self-aware versus somebody who is not very self-aware. The results that each one of them is getting is night and day. So self-awareness, as leaders, we're very focused on the people around us. But it starts with you having to understand your own motivations, your own values, your own emotions, and I can't underscore that enough. Emotional Intelligence starts with your own ability to recognize the emotions that you're feeling and managing them. And when you're able to recognize what's going on with you, you're better able to recognize what's going on with others. Andi Simon: So with my clients I will often say to them, "The success you want, the happiness you want, the life you want, it all starts with you." But when you do have a really good understanding of yourself, it will ripple out and you will find that you intuitively know how to interact with others. Now, do you have a mirror for them when you're working with people or other key little triggers that people might take away from the podcast and say, Ah, I missed that. I haven't really looked at myself with fresh eyes in a while. What do you help them do? Jodi Flynn: Oh, my goodness there's so much going on, and yes, in the podcast, because my guests like you are just amazing people. I ask the same questions of my guests every time but their answers are all different and the conversation goes from there. I'll have people who regularly listen to the podcast where all of a sudden, I'll hear from them and get an email and be like, This podcast was amazing. When she said this, it totally resonated with me. So I'm drawing out my guests their own experiences. So my guests act as a mirror for the people who are listening to my podcast as well. I have an assessment that I use in my business. And when people are thinking about working with me, the first thing that I'll ask them to do is take this assessment. The assessment captures their perception of themselves, the people around them and the world at large. And so as we're debriefing their results, I can pick up certain traits that are going on like perfectionism, or focus on the past, or not feeling valued by others, or not feeling very connected to the people around them. It's really a mirror, but it's really meant to be a conversation starter. Like, here's what it's showing, but it doesn't end there. What's your perspective on this? Tell me about this. Does this resonate with you? And from there, I get stories, and either that's me, or kind of, but it looks more like this. And it's just a tool we can use to get the conversation going, like engaging somebody in a conversation about themselves, like all of a sudden, you know, the aha moment. Like I'm snapping my fingers and those aha moments just start coming up like, "Oh, that's why I do what I do." Oh, that makes perfect sense. You know, type A people who are exhausted. I'm like, are you delegating? "Oh, is that why I feel so burdened and exhausted in my business?" Yes, yes. Because you're doing it all yourself. Andi Simon: Now, they…

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330: Sara Canaday—Can You See The Gaps That Are Holding You Back From Being A Great Leader? Sep 26, 2022

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Hear how to change the way you and others think about you In my look back at some of the great podcasts I've done with amazing women in our five years of On The Brink, I've wanted to highlight ones that really raised the bar in terms of innovative thinking and leadership. Today I'd like to revisit my interview with Sara Canaday from December 2017. Sara is the author of the thought-provoking bookYOU—According to Them: Uncovering the blind spots that impact your reputation and your career. She and I talk about how to make the critical move from manager to leader, and that the power to change the way you and others think about you is in your hands. By the end of the podcast, you'll have learned how to strengthen your leadership skills, improve key business relationships and bolster your performance. Enjoy. We can be our own best coaches Sara tells us that, unfortunately, we're not necessarily going to find people that will tell us what we need to hear at work. In her book, she chronicles what she considers to be some common yet nuanced blind spots that are holding people back in their careers. She emphasizes "nuanced" because these aren't obvious. As she descibes it, "This isn't the blowhard that likes to hear him or herself speak at meetings. This isn't the bully at work. These are more nuanced blind spots that are creating hidden hurdles for those who want to get ahead...very well-intentioned, well-meaning, very sharp individuals that simply can't see what's holding them back." Is this you? It might be all of us. Thankfully we have Sara to help us work through it. Get to know Sara Sara is a speaker, author and former corporate executive who helps companies arm their leaders with winning strategies that work. Her career spans more than 20 years, including senior executive positions in sales, operations and organizational development with USAA and Texas Mutual. After forming her own company, Sara began sharing her expertise in leadership development, executive presence, branding and emotional intelligence. Her insightful guidance has led hundreds of teams and individuals nationwide to make strategic changes with impressive results. To connect, you can find her on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, her website and her blog, or email her at sara@saracanaday.com. Key points from our discussion: How emotional intelligence can be a real advantage as a business skill Helping high performers prepare for future leadership Assuming responsibility for ourselves as leaders by cultivating our own abilities Eliminating and reducing certain things in order to create new solutions and approaches The importance of cognitive diversity in companies Addressing blind spots that impact our careers and our effectiveness as leaders Here's more on how to achieve all you can in your career: Blog: The Secret's Out: The Amazing Things Successful Women Entrepreneurs Share Blog: How To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times: The Five Things You Need To Know Podcast: Dave McKeown—The Need For Self-Evolved Leadership Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. I'm your host and your guide. As you know, I'm a corporate anthropologist and author of the award winning book by the same name, On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights. And in this podcast, we bring together experts, leaders, people who are really changing the way we are doing things and leading. So I invited Sara Canaday today who has been so gracious to join us to talk about the work she does with businesses and leaders so they can see, feel and think in new ways. You know, that's a bit of my mantra because if they can't see it in new ways, they don't know what it is. And if they don't feel it, they can't begin to adjust. And the times are moving so quickly now that we need to help leaders lead better. Sara, thanks for joining me today. Sara Canaday: Happy to be here. Thank you for having me. Andi Simon: Why don't you tell our audience a little bit about your own background because your own career journey has led you to see things with fresh eyes. Sara Canaday: It has, it has. Gosh, I really go back to even my years in university. And the reason I bring that up is I came from a town that was a smaller town, high school that was small in number and then went to a university with close to 60,000 students. At that point, I was a social security number, that was my identity. It was very difficult to compete, to rise to the top to get noticed. That was my first foray into recognizing that, given the playing field of sheer competitive intelligence, I know how there had to be some other ways to set yourself apart. And that was kind of my first glimpse into that idea. And then upon graduating, I guess I liked the big number idea and I went to work for a company that you may know of: USAA in San Antonio, and that building at the time was the second largest building, the first being the Pentagon. So there again, I found myself in a sea of professionals, and knew that it was going to take more than a title, more than a degree, more than an advanced degree to get ahead. And I really had some great role models at the time in terms of leaders or colleagues. But I also had some models, if you will, that were not great. And I was very observant of the difference between the two, and what made some to be more motivational and influential as leaders, as in colleagues, and others fell short. So I was just a really keen observer through all that time, and also knew that it was going to take more than the technical tangible to move ahead. Andi Simon: So simply having an MBA wasn't going to be sufficient, right? Sara Canaday: And you know, I did the classic route, right, I worked my way up the corporate ladder. I was fortunate enough that at that particular company, they would pay for your MBA program if you worked full time. So I did take advantage of that opportunity. But even so, you hear it nowadays, is an MBA worth it because of the sheer competition and the fact that there are certain viral ideas and renegade approaches that have nothing to do with your education. Andi Simon: So you learned early on that being smart by itself was necessary, but not sufficient. And as you and I were preparing for this, we were talking a little bit about the nuances and the intuitions. And what were some of the aha hours that you experienced that began to move you in a new direction? Sara Canaday: I have to tell you that this idea of not being just smart, or having the know-how, really affected me personally because I would not describe myself then or now as the smartest person in the room. I am a hard worker. It always took a lot of effort and energy and diligence on my part to do well in school and to do well as a graduate student. It didn't come easy or natural to me. And actually, I was excited by that prospect. I was excited by the prospect that there were other things and gifts that maybe I did have that could help propel me forward. Those things were my intangible skills, things like my emotional intelligence and my insights into how people might respond to certain situations or to certain people, and my conscientiousness with how to adjust my behavior to better suit, manage and even influence others. So I have to be honest and tell you that it was kind of very personal, selfish and even it felt good to know that there was this other side that would actually serve me very well. Andi Simon: But it sounds like a coming of age of Sara Canaday. Now, as you said, a couple of things, I'd like to dig a little deeper in because I think our audiences are also struggling with the same kinds of challenges. You know, they're smart, but maybe not the smartest. They get their degrees and come out of good schools but never seem to be necessarily moving along as they might like. One is emotional intelligence. And I must tell you, I know about it, but I'd love our audience to hear from you a little bit more about what this is, and why it's so important to have self-awareness of what your own style is in emotional intelligence. What does that mean, should it help us? Sara Canaday: Sure, I think, you know the term, I think it turns people off in the business world, because we don't necessarily use emotion and business in the same sentence. And so for many of us, in fact, I think we were brought up in generations that were run from combining those two and we leave who we are at the door. We leave our personal business at the door. I think things have changed. But for the most part, there are sort of two ways to look at emotional intelligence and two schools of practice. One is that emotional intelligence is your ability to read emotions in others and be able to recognize the emotions that you have that are bubbling to the surface. If you're in touch with your own emotions, and how those impact your decisions, your behavior, your outlook, then you're better equipped to see that in others. But there's another aspect of emotional intelligence and sometimes I use the term behavioral intelligence. To me, it's the more important aspect of EQ when it comes to work. How do we use the information about understanding our emotions and others, and adjust our behavior so that we can better relate to, understand and collaborate with the people we work with? That takes a lot of conscious effort because you're conscious about your own reactions, your own thoughts, but you're also conscious enough to understand and try to either prevent or adjust them in the moment depending on who you're working with, and what the situation is. Andi Simon: Now in our experience as anthropologists working with leaders and companies that need or want to change, there are some key challenges that we often see in healthcare. For example, we watched people be promoted from a nurse to a nurse manager and they didn't know what to do. They became a nurse who now managed but didn't know quite what that meant. We've watched managers who now move into leadership roles, and are put there to change an organization. They look at me and roll their eyes because emotionally, they were good at something and now, technically, they may have all the head skills, but their body language, the communication. The next thing they know, they have a 360 coming back that says they don't have good social skills, and they don't read their teams. Well, you know, help me help them. What would you begin to help us share? Sara Canaday: I think we do a disservice to people who are high performers because we assume that that performance is going to carry them to the next level. And what we do is we promote them. And then we try to train them. Even then, this huge responsibility of a new team, and we tell them to build a high performing team. Oh, and while you're at it, learn how to do that. Learn how to manage and learn how to be a leader. And so I think that's why companies now, a lot of them, have these high potential programs because they're seeing the benefit of focusing on these high performers and high potentials, and they are two different things. And they are infusing them with some really robust and concentrated learnings so that they can be ready to be the next generation of leaders. And I think that's one of the best things that we can do now as individuals who see themselves as high performers or or merging leaders. I think the one thing they can do is to take better charge of their own development. It used to be that we would wait for companies to send us to training or we would wait to reach a certain level in the organization to avail ourselves of a 360-degree performance review, for example, nowadays, that kind of information. And that kind of resource is actually much more readily available than people would ever imagine. Andi Simon: You can go online and do your own. Sara Canaday: Right! It's not nearly as costly. I can just hear some emerging leaders say, Oh, yeah, but I can't spend thousands of dollars on an assessment or a career coach, and you don't have to. You can go find some assessments. Maybe they're $199. Maybe they're $200. But this is your career we're talking about. And usually they have development suggestions attached with their results. And there are some incredible resources out there that can help you close the gaps between what your report said and what you want for yourself as a leader. Andi Simon: Now, if you continue along this thread: waiting for others to do to us and doing it ourselves is tied into how we really do learn. We're big experiential learners. We are active learners. I tell people, Until you experience it, you won't know what those words really mean. I know you do a lot of workshops on this. Can you begin to help me with a little bit of how you go about doing it? Because unless I see it, I don't know what the words are. If you tell me what to do, I'm not quite sure what that means. We do a lot of performance training, as if they're actors on a stage and they have to go and try it. Do you do some of the same kinds of things? Sara Canaday: I wouldn't say that mine are as intensive or experiential, so to speak. What I do try to do is when we're talking about certain leadership competencies, I try to give examples that make those competencies come to life that people can hear, see, smell, to relate to what do those look like in action as a leader, give some examples of what it means to be good at interpersonal relationships. What does it mean to have good emotional intelligence? An example I'll give you is, people with a refined sense of good emotional intelligence are the people in the room who can sense when it's a good time to deliver a message or throw out an idea versus hold back. Those are the kinds of things that I'm constantly trying to give throughout a workshop so that people get the idea of what it means in action. The other part that is more experiential is, I put people into perhaps peer coaching where they get to experience coaching the person on what they see as their growth areas right after they've taken some sort of a 360. Or in my case, I have my own proprietary brand leadership brand assessment. They have to give me an example of when you found that to be true, or what kinds of things make you believe this is so, and then I give instructions to the coach. As leaders, we need to be better coaches with each other and with our followers, and then I give them instructions on how to be a better coach, and how to give feedback. So in that way, it's more experiential. Andi Simon: We do the same. We ask them for small wins. We ask them, What will you do more of and less of, to your point about the story. I tell them that they have a story in their head, and usually, they're the hero in it. And if it's going to change, how will they change the story? Because if it doesn't change, somebody else can't get inside that to be part of a team or a collaboration. And then we ask them to come up with a story about a small win where they will change the way they've always done things. So with a very direct approach. I work with one hospital CEO who signed every check. Needless to say, it was very directing. And he wanted to be more innovative and collaborative. I said, "Dan, give me one thing you're going to do differently." And he looked at me and…

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329: Lisen Stromberg—Can You Really Pause For Parenthood Without Killing Your Career? Sep 19, 2022

Show notes

Hear how to take control of your own career and thrive Lisen Stromberg, author of Work PAUSE Thrive: How to Pause for Parenthood Without Killing Your Career. Why I enjoyed this conversation so much is because Lisen makes a solid, myth-smashing case for taking a pause from your career to raise your children and then returning to the workforce without skipping a beat or sliding backward. Impossible? No, very possible. She did it and so can you. How? Take a listen. As Simone Biles says, "Pause is power" During our interview, Lisen and I realized that our professional lives have a great deal in common. I managed my career, raised my family and even cared for parents, without a pause. And like Lisen, I managed to thrive. Early on, she learned that it was really hard to pursue a career in advertising and marketing while raising her children. What did she do? Paused, pivoted and became an award-winning journalist. Along the way, she realized that other working women were struggling with the same choices. Could they too pursue a career and have families or was it an either/or that would forever impact their career growth and personal lives, usually in a negative way? Like a true entrepreneur, Lisen determined that it didn't have to be this way Listen to Lisen describe how she realized that maybe it was time, finally, to rethink how to balance home and work in a culture that devalues the caregiving roles we all must perform at some stage in our lives. With the growing dependence of parents on their children, typically their daughters, she recognized that the work/family tug of war was demanding a solution, and fast. Key points from our conversation: Where Lisen's inspiration for her book came from Her research on women in the workforce Trailblazing women navigating their own paths How "the pause" affects women in the workforce "Momtrepeneurs" Major change coming to the workplace via Millennials and work/life integration The shift of employee demands in the workplace How workplaces that accentuate work/life integration actually thrive Couples strategizing together to make their future flourish The future of gender-equal leadership Want to learn how you can have a career on your own terms? Here's a start. Blog: How Are You Changing How You Work? Is It Working? Blog: The Future Of Work: 5 Most Important Trends To Watch Podcast: Jessica Yarborough—You Can Design Your Work Around The Life You Want To Have Podcast: How Women in Leadership Roles Can Finally Change The Workplace Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. I'm your host and your guide. Our podcast is designed around the questions that CEOs, business leaders, managers and staff are all asking: How can we do better? So we're going to share with you the stories of successful people who found their way to turn possibilities into opportunities and observations into innovations. I have Lisen Stromberg with me today. Lisen was an interviewee of mine for Huffington Post, and you can read more about her there. Let me give you a little bit about her background and then we'll get right into our podcast. Lisen is an author, a cultural innovation consultant, which is why I find her work so really fascinating, and is a widely regarded speaker. Her passion is how to empower people in companies to reimagine the future of work through a work-life balance—a real different model for how people should be working and how the companies that hire them should really take advantage of their talent. She's CEO and founder of PrismWork. She and her team partner with companies, leaders and advocates to really make sure women, particularly millennials, thrive in the new workplace. She is currently acting CEO of The 3% Movement, committed to changing the ratio of women leadership in the advertising industry. Welcome, Lisen. Lisen Stromberg: Oh, it's a pleasure to be here, Andi, thanks for having me. Andi Simon: You know, I was reading your book last night. And I'm saying this is going to be such fun to share today. So let's start. Could you please share with our listeners about your story? Lisen Stromberg: So I wrote Work PAUSE Thrive: How to Pause for Parenthood Without Killing Your Career really in response to so many questions I was hearing from millennial women about how they really wanted to have great careers and wanted to also be engaged parents, and be engaged mothers. They just didn't see that there was an option to do both. They couldn't imagine it and couldn't envision it, and I really believed you could. I believed you could actually have these things and do these things in a way that really felt true and authentic to them as individuals or to us as individuals, and to companies. And so I went on a journey to find out, if in fact my hunch was correct. I had seen in my own personal life that the traditional career paradigm, marching up the ladder paradigm that I was trained and believed was the only way to have a great career, just didn't work. Once I became a mother, there was no way I could do the kinds of work and be the ideal worker that the current workplace expects, and be the engagement I want it to be. So I went on my own kind of nonlinear career journey, pivoting and iterating and getting it right, or trying to get it right, again and again. And I think that is sort of the new career paradigm. I jokingly say, nonlinear is the new normal, because what I saw in my interviews, and in my research, is that that's how many highly successful women navigated this whole journey. Andi Simon: So you really wanted to learn more, not anecdotally. So you got into interviews, and you got into a survey. I mean, let's talk about the credentialing of this kind of approach. Because women, are we doing things differently? How do we capture that? Lisen Stromberg: So it's really a great question. So I literally just reached out to my inner network and said, "Hey, I have this hunch. What do you guys think?" And 186 interviews later, I realized, "Okay, I'm onto something. There's absolutely patterns here. There's something going on." But then I wanted hard data. I didn't want to just have qualitative data. I wanted some kind of real research around this. And so I started looking to find out what kind of longitudinal research was being done around college educated women and how they were navigating work and family. And I was astonished to learn, there's very little research. The last piece of research that was out there, which was quite good, was done in 2008, of course, pre-economic meltdown. So much has changed since then. So I ended up hiring a market research firm, partnering with a professor at Hunter College, Dr. Pamela Stone, who's an expert on this issue of women who pause their careers, women navigating the career paradigm, and ended up doing what we call The Woman on the Rise Survey. We had nearly 1500 women responding to it. It was astonishing. We only thought we'd get to 50 and felt that that was really enough. Women wanted to share their stories. Andi Simon: And rich stories exactly for the reason you said, because nobody seems to be watching, right? Lisen Stromberg: No, that's the thing. We have a lot of constructs and a lot of belief systems, but, in fact, what we learned is that there's a lot of really amazing messaging around and opportunities to discuss how women are navigating this. And oftentimes we're finding that women themselves are keeping their stories quiet because we know, of course, all the research shows that when women are more authentic with their journeys, they're challenged at being ambitious. They're challenged that maybe they are committed if they're actually saying yes, I also want to put my family first. Andi Simon: So let me just throw out to the listeners some data to think about here. The desire to tell the stories reflects a couple of things, one of which is that 60% of the folks in college today are women. The second thing is, 50% of the doctors are women, over 50% of the dentists are women. There are 34% of American women who are the breadwinners in their homes making more money than their spouses. And there's something here when we are 46% of the labor force that somehow we're going to have to pay attention to the way in which these women, I'll come back to your survey, in a moment, are beginning to make it all work. They want to have families but they're doing it in a very innovative fashion. And you began to see some patterns here. Tell us about them. Lisen Stromberg: Yes. So the research that I had conducted, both quantitative and qualitative, really revealed what I call SRE for patterns. So let me start with, when we did this survey, and when I did this research, I assumed that most highly successful women had never stepped down, paused, or reduced their hours, etc, in their careers. So you had some real assumptions. I went in with some real assumptions, which were that the women who had navigated this unique path, non-linear, that we were the exception, not the norm. In fact, it was just the opposite. What I found was that nearly 3/4 of the women who I interviewed and surveyed actually did have nonlinear career paths. They did downshift or reduce their hours or completely leave the paid workforce for a period of time. And they also pivoted quite a few times, all in an effort to find the best work-life integration solution they could find for themselves and their families. So they were incredibly innovative. It's something we don't think about—they were trailblazing this whole path. And we think of these women who did this, maybe they weren't as committed. In fact, what I found is they were so committed, they kept iterating and iterating to find success. So three quarters had paused. That to me was astonishing, a mind blower. Andi Simon: Now tell me how they paused. Lisen Stromberg: It was really interesting. So what I saw was, those who paused had sort of three patterns. One was the women I call Cruisers and they're the women who actually stayed in the paid workforce but reduced their hours. Either they reduced them to work three day workweeks, or ended up becoming freelancers who work part time or maybe even full time, but on their schedules. So they really figured out how to navigate their own path and gave them time mastery. So that was one group, the Cruisers. The other group were the Boomerangs. These are women who completely left the paid workforce, and were home with their children, people that we would have called opt-out moms. But ironically, 89% of those women rebounded and went back into the workforce to great success in many cases. 89% of them went back into the workforce. That was really amazing to me. Now, the research did show that the shorter time that you pause, so two years pause, meant that getting back in was absolutely a no-brainer. I mean, for the vast majority, it wasn't even a question. But interestingly, no matter how long you pause, the 89%, the majority who went back in, were able to literally get a job within six months. So the whole idea that you can't get back in after pausing, a number of women I interviewed paused for like 10, 11, 12, or 13 years. I thought, there's no way, and yet the vast majority were able to get back in. So this whole notion that you can't navigate this thing, in a way, is just flawed. So those were the Boomerangs. The last group were the Pivoters. They're the women who actually left the paid workforce, and took that time to really figure out professionally what they wanted. They pivoted to new careers. And that to me, was very inspiring. These are women who really said, "Wait a minute, I was doing something and it may or may not work for me but I want to pursue a new dream." A number of women like Marianne Perrin, who's in North Carolina, ended up pausing for five or six years, and then pivoting to become a professor of nutritional science. Now she's a PhD, she's got a professorship. She's doing amazing research on infant nutritional science, that kind of thing. Those are stories that we don't often hear about. But I think that was, just to me, really inspiring to see these women just follow their dreams. Andi Simon: Now a lot of them became entrepreneurs. Since we work with women entrepreneurs, we're doing research on women entrepreneurs. Now 30% of the businesses in the US are women entrepreneurs. So tell us about those, because I thought when they call them mom-entrepreneurs, mom-partner entrepreneurs, I don't know how you say the name, but man, there's something there of great energy. Lisen Stromberg: What was really interesting was, so many of the women ended up becoming entrepreneurs and I divided them into sort of two subgroups: those women who were sort of single-shingle entrepreneurs who just put out, I shouldn't say that because they were often very successful. They put out a shingle, became consultants, or you know, very small business owners and maybe had a few other employees working part time kind of thing. That was about half of the entrepreneurs, and myself as an example of that, when I left my job as a vice president, I ended up becoming a shingle entrepreneur, had a consulting practice working fewer hours and making significantly more money. It was a great solution. And that was many of the women I interviewed. But you know, I live in Silicon Valley. What I also found was, a portion of women who actually were the traditional Silicon Valley entrepreneur. They got external funding and built their own businesses and had hugely successful businesses that were funding their families. A number of them, their husbands ended up leaving their own jobs to support the wives' businesses. So we're seeing some real interesting dynamics there. I thought those were very inspiring stories. Again, stories, we often don't hear. Andi Simon: The name of our podcast today is On The Brink because you are on the brink of not just individuals trying to find ways to raise their families, but also have a purpose and meaning and livelihood and all kinds of other things, but you're also looking at a change in American culture. That's a part that I found so interesting because we're not hearing much about it in the news, and media aren't picking up on it. Often there's a sea change going on and the number of stay-at-home guys who are taking care of the family is growing slowly, but more rapidly than you might expect. As you were seeing this, and in your book, you talk about American culture going through a major innovation as the women are quietly changing this stuff. You know, what do you see going on? Lisen Stromberg: You know, I think you're absolutely right. We are on the brink of some serious change in the workplace. And let's start with the fact that 80 million millennials are now the major employees. And we know a whole bunch of things about millennials, not the least of which is, they absolutely put work-life integration at the top of their list, both women and men. So a fascinating study of Ernst and Young in 2015 revealed 30,000 white collar professionals revealed that 72% of millennial fathers had changed jobs, taking a pay cut or passing up a promotion so they could get better work-life integration with their young families. It's so exciting, or the workplace has to change. They don't have to do that. Let…

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327: Liam Martin—The Workplace is Staying Remote. How Can You Lead it Forward? Aug 30, 2022

Show notes

Hear how to make your business better, remotely It should be no surprise to you that as an anthropologist specializing in helping companies change, I loved my interview with Liam Martin. As we've all experienced, the pandemic has dramatically changed what we think of as "normal." In particular, the meaning of work has changed and continues to, as each generation moves into the workforce with different values, beliefs and behaviors. Businesses, both small and large, are trying to recruit, retain and develop their talent pool, only to find that today's workers have very different ideas about what matters to them, reflecting fundamental societal questions about what "really matters" to each of us. Enjoy. Watch and listen to our conversation here Today's podcast contains very valuable data, information and insights about how to manage a remote or hybrid workforce Think of it as today's future way of working. But, as so many of our clients are asking, how do you manage a remote workforce, particularly since women really have embraced remote work? My guest Liam Martin, co-founder of a remote-first company which grew eight figures with people in 43 different countries and no office, says, "Remote work has been our way of working for more than 10 years. We observed that almost 99% of new remote companies during the pandemic could not figure out one thing common to all successful remote-first companies: asynchronous communication, the bedrock of every successful remote business. Here are a few of the new counterintuitive principles Liam and I discuss: Introverts climb to the top faster in remote-first companies because their thoughtfulness is seen as an asset, not a liability. In remote-first organizations, charismatic leaders are not required; in fact, charisma is one of the biggest barriers to business growth, regardless of whether the company is remotely located or not. Remote teams operate on autonomy, and contrary to popular belief, the more automated measurements you have within your organization, the more freedom you have. Remote-first companies have, on average, half as many managers as on-premises companies. Management in remote first-organizations is redundant. Contact Liam via LinkedIn or his two websites: Time Doctor and Running Remote. Enjoy our conversation. Rethink your own organization. It may be time to change. Perhaps we can help you visualize a new business model for the future—which is really today! Please contact us here. Want to know more about successfully taking your company remote? Start here. Blog: How Are You Changing How You Work? Is It Working? Blog: The Future Of Work: 5 Most Important Trends To Watch Blog: Virtual Organizations, Hybrid Organizations, And The Most Amazing Workplaces For Tomorrow? Podcast: Teresa Douglas—Unleashing Those Secrets To Working Remotely Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business and On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants {{cta('20db9f83-fb49-4483-b118-61d915909275','justifyleft')}} Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. As you know, I'm your host and your guide. I'm also a bit of an explorer. And I go looking for really interesting people who are going to help you see, feel and think in ways so you can soar. These are indeed fast-changing times and so the more unusual people I can bring to you, the happier I am. I'm amazed at where people are listening to our podcasts. So thank you, you've pushed us to the top 5% of podcasts across the globe and that's a pretty impressive place to be. And we're now at 327 podcasts, so we just keep going, trying to find great folks. Today I'm quite honored to have Liam Martin with me. Liam has a very interesting story to share with you about the world that we're in. And I'm going to ask him some questions about what is work, what's remote work. I have my own clients who are trying to bring their employees back into the office. And the employees are saying, "Why?" And they're saying, "Why not? We miss you." And they say, "But we don't miss the commute. And we don't mind working out of the house, and we're getting much more productive and we're actually having a life." It's a very interesting time, even as we go post-pandemic. It's hard to know what's going on and who's coming back, and how to use remote and what we've learned wisely. And I think that's the lesson to be learned today. So let me introduce you to Liam. Liam is a serial entrepreneur. He runs something called Time Doctor and staff.com, one of the most popular time-tracking and productivity software platforms in use by top brands today. He's also co-organizer of the world's largest remote work conference, Running Remote, and he'll tell you a little bit about it because it's already happened. I think you're going to wait for next year to make sure you can get there as well. Liam is an avid proponent of remote work and has published in all the major publications. He targets expansion of remote work, not because it's a gig but because it really does work for work. And I've been talking and doing research a lot about what is work, where do we work? When is the home not a home? How can we talk about life-work balance? It's sort of blended, and the pandemic was a catalytic moment for change. And I love change. But it's also been a catalytic moment for wondering about the core values we've got. Liam, thank you for joining me today. Liam Martin: Thanks for having me, Andi. I'm super excited to be able to get into this subject, because I think we're going to be able to get a little bit deeper than the average podcast. Andi Simon: Well, I think that's what I hope to do. I refuse to say: give me three things to talk about. You have a new book out called Running Remote. And it's focused on remote work methodology. And it's a revolutionary guide. And for the listener and the viewer, it is revolutionary because it isn't simply about what you ought to do, it's also how you should do it and why you should do it. But it raises those fundamental questions we're asking, like, what is work? And how do you get it done? And then how do you review the people who are working this way? And what are all the four things that we have in our company? Liam, tell us about you. Who's Liam, how'd you get here? Why is remote work so important to you? Liam Martin: So first off, I'm currently in a chalet in northern Canada. I'm from French Canada. So I'm fluent in both French and English. And I've been working remotely for almost 20 years. I definitely was doing it before everyone thought it was cool. And the reason why I was doing that was, I actually dropped out of my Ph.D. They gave me a professorship, which was a master's degree for dropping out. And I remember teaching my very first class at McGill University. I was incredibly excited about this because this is where I was going in my career. I started with 300 students and ended up with less than 150. And the worst academic reviews in the history of the department. The department had been up and running for 186 years. So pretty bad. I remember walking into my supervisor's office and looking him very squarely in the face and I said, "I don't think I'm very good at this." And he said, "No, you are not." And I said, "Okay, so what do you think I should do?" He said, "You have to get pretty good at this teaching thing over the next 10 to 20 years before you get to do anything really fun. So figure out how to get better at that or figure out how to do something else." Six weeks later, after I put a master's thesis under his door, I was out into the real world. And that's where I actually started my very first business which was an online tutoring company. And I grew that to dozens of tutors throughout North America and Europe, but I ended up actually really working for the business. I was working 18-hour days. I remember actually chipping one of my teeth. When I went to the dentist to be able to check the tooth, you sat down, you've got the big white light, the chair that goes back, and the dentist gasped. And it's never a good idea when a health professional gasps when they look at you. He said, "Liam, which tooth are you talking about? You've chipped almost all of your teeth." He felt that I had pancreatic cancer because I had had X-rays the year before in which my teeth were perfect. And it was from stress. I was grinding my teeth at night, and grinding them into chalk. So he said, "Figure out how to do this remote work thing better, figure out how to do a business better." And that's where I really started to unlock the secrets of remote work. I've now grown multiple businesses to eight figure run rates and beyond. We have team members in 44 different countries all over the world. And I'm really excited about our mission statement, which is empowering the world's transition towards remote work. Everything that we do feeds into that. Andi Simon: That is just fascinating. But I also remember teaching my first class at Queens College. I had 300 students in the room. And when I was done, my professor came up to me, Dr. Silverman said to me, "You'll do." And I wasn't quite sure what that meant other than spend 10 years as an academic and get my tenure. And I had really rave reviews, except for an occasional non-rave. But then I too left to get into business. I wasn't going to do the same thing in academia for the rest of my life, the idea of being tenured was a very high mark to achieve and then something that I didn't want to pursue. And business has been quite fascinating in terms of change. When you did this, it was early in the remote world, you could see opportunities there. And I'm curious, because as you began to build the companies around this, you learned some things that became really quite a passion of yours, and really probably the substance of your book. So before we get into your book, some of the insights that came from that early business and the remote work workplace. Liam Martin: So for me, I'm always really good at figuring out trends that are moving up into the light. The problem for me, however, is, I don't know how fast they're moving. So are we talking about the market expanding at 2% per year, 10% per year, just to kind of give you context. In February of 2020, 4% of the US workforce was working remotely. By March, 45% of the US workforce was working remotely. That's the biggest transition in work since the industrial revolution. But the industrial revolution took 80 years. And we did that in March. So a complete change of everything that we know as it applies to work. Just a month ago, the US Census actually collected a new data set with regards to remote work, and identified that 7% of the US workforce is currently working remotely. But if you include hybrid work, it's 32% of the US workforce, and less than 10% of that workforce is working remotely due to the pandemic. So over 90% are working, because they want to be able to work from home. So we're at a really interesting transition phase where a lot of people are being pushed back to the office, they're being pushed back to these hybrid work agreements, even though they don't really want to be able to do them. And I think that that feeds into the core of the big problem that we had during the pandemic, which was that instead of actually adopting remote work, we simply recreated the office at home. Andi Simon: Well, yes, we did. Because when in doubt, you know, mimic. Humans are great monkeys. And we knew what we knew. But we were very attached to it. But we may not even have liked it. And now we had something new that we had no idea about, there were no models. So we had to figure out something. There are a couple of problems that have developed. One of which is the worker at home having to navigate. I had my own clients who were trying to navigate family and work and their own self-care. You had your managers who were trying to figure out how to make sure the work got done. And they were also trying to figure out how to evaluate how the work got done and if it got done well. One gentleman said to me, "I used to go out and have coffee with my folks and I learned what they were doing. I don't know how to do that now." And I asked him, "That's the basis on which you evaluated?" And he said, "Yeah, that was pretty much how I evaluated them." I said, "Well, one wonders whether that was good, or now it's bad." So you had the managers and you had the important performance evaluation. And they were working with a group and they are lonely, but they don't want to come back to the office. And so how do you develop a community of remote workers? And how do you do it in such a way as they can begin to develop the trust they need to know who to go to for what kind of problems? So I have a hunch. These are issues that you saw happening, and maybe even have some suggestions about. Can you take me through it any which way? How do you do it at home? How do you manage it? How do you evaluate it? Or how do you build a business? What do you see happening? Liam Martin: Yeah, there's a lot to unpack there. So you're actually addressing all of the problems that we saw when we were developing this book. The first one, which I think is the most important, is, How do you measure success inside of a remote-first organization. And one of the issues that I personally had to deal with because I've come from the remote work world, I've been doing remote work for almost 20 years, I've actually never worked inside of an office. I think, technically, the last time I worked inside of an office was when I got that horrible review, in grad school teaching a first year Sociology course. And the philosophy inside of remote-first organizations, it's the third tenant of what we identify in our book, is detailed metrics. So every single individual inside of our organization has a quantifiable, longitudinal metric that is actually collected by the platform, and not necessarily by the individual. And inside of that, we have a philosophy that we like to call radical transparency, where everyone gets access to that information. So when you join an asynchronous remote organization, you actually don't just get access to what you do or what your department does, but you get access to everything in the organization. The saying is, Can we give you the same informational advantage as the CEO of the company, which is sometimes very difficult for people that live in a synchronous 20th century MBA mindset to get their heads around. But what it does provide to you is, the measurement is actually the platform's responsibility, not the managers. So you have this clear third perspective, and the conversations that happen between managers and employees are, "Your numbers are not where they need to be, I need to be able to help you to get those numbers to where they need to be because I don't control those numbers, I don't control the judgment as to whether or not you succeed or not, these numbers are actually predefined. So we need to be able to work together to be able to get you to where you need to go,' which aligns you with the manager. So you, the manager, is not judgi…

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