While we may not realize it, stories are constantly underlying our thinking. We formed stories about ourselves when we were younger, we interpret messages through our pre-existing stories, and we tell ourselves stories to help us understand the world around us. These stories have a great influence on how we relate to the people around us. So, how can we recognize the impact stories have on us and learn how to utilize them more effectively when communicating with others?

Today’s guest is Chuck Wisner. Chuck is a sought-after thinker, coach, and teacher in organizational strategy, conversational dynamics, and leadership excellence. He has spent twenty-five years as a business and personal consultant and a trusted advisor to leaders in high-profile companies across industries including Google, Apple, Tesla, Ford, DTE Energy, General Motors, and others. He is author of The Art of Conscious Conversations.

Chuck and I talk about the stories we tell ourselves and how they can get in the way of productive conversations with our colleagues, and also help or hinder us in general. We touch on how to unpack our own thoughts, how to better understand our team member’s perspectives, and a whole lot more.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a discount on a speaking engagement if you would like Chuck to speak at your corporate or community event. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Get FREE mini-sketchnotes with the big idea from the week’s episode delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to my weekly email.

Read the related blog article: Confront the Stories in Your Head that Hold Your Team Back

KEEP UP WITH CHUCK

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chuck_wisner/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuck-wisner/
Website: https://www.chuckwisner.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chuckwisnerconsulting

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:52 Stories are the foundation of our thoughts
• 03:11 An example of how stories can serve us
• 04:46 How do we become more conscious of the beliefs we embody?
• May 30, 2023

Each person brings their values and perspectives to group decision-making. But what happens when those perspectives seem to be conflicting? We need to be cost conscious, and we also need high quality. We need honesty, and we also need kindness and grace. We need structure, and we also need flexibility. When we feel like we’re stuck between conflicting options or mindsets, it might be a moment for both/and thinking. Having a better understanding of polarities can help us leverage the best of both worlds.

Today’s guest is Ronni Hendel. Ronni works as a coach and facilitator with individual leaders, teams, and organizations. She supports her clients in building their capacity to achieve results through others and to navigate through increased complexity. She helps them move beyond self-awareness into being able to consistently respond with grace and clarity under pressure.

Ronni and I talk about what polarities are, how they show up in the workplace and create tension or conflict, and how to embrace them using a both-and mindset. We get into the polarities map and how it can be a tool to help your team find a better path forward.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a guide to leveraging polarities including how to identify when a polarity is at play. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Get FREE mini-sketchnotes with the big idea from the week’s episode delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to my weekly email.

Read the related blog article: The Magic of Both/And Thinking and Exploring Polarities

KEEP UP WITH RONNI

Website: www.insightoutleadership.com

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:01 What are polarities?
• 07:56 How to collaborate instead of choose sides
• 12:37 Introducing the idea of polarities to colleagues
• 14:56 Understanding the polarity map
• 18:46 The vulnerability of letting go
• 22:59 How to find a middle ground
• 25:12 A great manager Ronni has worked for
• 26:49 Keeping up with Ronni
• 27:30 [Extended episode only] The difference between ‘complex’ and ‘complicated’
• 32:55 [Extended episode only] Common situations

How can a manager help their team members grow if they aren’t aware of their skillsets, dreams, and roadblocks? Managers play a critical role in supporting their people’s growth, and in order to do this, they need a better understanding of how to help each person. The best way to make this happen is one-on-ones. 

Today’s guest is Jason Wick. Jason is a Director of Product Development with nearly a decade of management experience in a variety of industries. His passion lies in managing and guiding others to reach higher levels in their professional performance, both as individuals and as teams. He is also the host of the Leadership Voyage podcast.

Jason and I talk about the infamous one-on-ones: what these meetings are all about, how you can use them to strengthen your team, what everyone should be doing to prepare for a productive conversation, and so much more. 

Members of the Modern Manager community get a one-pager with 1-1 reflection questions and 8 ways to ruin (or restore) your 1-1s. Members also get the extended interviews and other benefits! Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Get FREE mini-sketchnotes with the big idea from the week’s episode delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to my weekly email.

Read the related blog article: How To Have One-on-Ones That Center What Your Employee Needs

KEEP UP WITH JASON

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonallenwick/

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:50 What are one-on-ones all about? (Your team member is your customer!)
• 06:45 How often should we hold one-on-ones?
• 11:45 Can canceling one-on-ones really be hurtful to our team members?
• 13:59 How should managers properly prepare for a one-on-one?
• 19:00 The 10/10/10 approach, and other ways to focus on employee growth
• 21:19 How should team members properly prepare for a one-on-one?
• 23:55 Receiving and encouraging employee feedback
• 27:06 A great manager Jason has worked for
• 28:19 Keeping up with Jason
• 29:25 [Extended Interview] How do you serve employees who do

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the way we work. From hybrid work to workplace culture; from motivation to burnout; from work-life balance to communication; the pandemic changed nearly everything about the workforce. Not only did employees have to navigate these changes, but managers had to drastically adjust the expectations for their teams—and many are still adapting today.

Today’s guest is Mia Russell. Mia has served in various roles across nonprofit, academic, and corporate sectors. Currently, as a lecturer in the Center for Leadership Education at Johns Hopkins University, she teaches leadership and management courses, and her research focuses on the sustainability of well-being, specifically family economic well-being and career/work-related well-being.

We talk about the expectations about work that are changing. We touch on quiet quitting, what employers or bosses can reasonably ask of their people, how all of this ties to burnout and the need to create a healthy balance in life, and so much more.

Five members of the Modern Manager community can get a 30-minute call with Mia to help them identify strategies to reduce organizational factors that promote burnout. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Get FREE mini-sketchnotes with the big idea from the week’s episode delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to my weekly email.

Read the related blog article: It’s Not Quiet Quitting: What’s Really Going On With Your Team

KEEP UP WITH MIA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miabrussell

Timestamps & Topics:

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:49 Three categories of “Quiet Quitting”
• 06:17 How are pre-pandemic work expectations different from current expectations?
• 10:03 How do we meaningfully engage our team members?
• 15:03 The importance of healthy motivation
• 17:50 How can we set boundaries to avoid burnout?
• 23:26 Understanding your values around work and time
• 27:17 A fantastic boss Mia has worked for
• 29:09 Keeping up with Mia
• 30:20 [Extended episode only] How can managers identify team members on the verge of burn

Setting healthy productivity habits is crucial for our overall well-being. When we are productive, we feel good about ourselves and our accomplishments; we are also more likely to achieve our goals. However, if we are not careful, an excessive emphasis on productivity without boundaries can lead to burnout. We can experience overwhelm as extreme physical and mental exhaustion which keeps us from being our best. So, how do we find the balance of a productive yet fulfilling approach to work?

Today’s guest is Byron Morrison, the author of "Maybe You Should Give Up - 7 ways to get out of your own way and take control of your life". He is also a mindset and performance coach, who for close to a decade has worked with CEOs, business leaders and entrepreneurs in 15 different countries to take control and become more effective in their role.

Byron and I talk about managing your time and energy to be most productive and effective. He shares some counterintuitive approaches to dealing with overwhelm, stress and more.

Members of the Modern Manager community get access to Byron’s “Amplify” Course for free with the purchase of his book. This course is the ultimate productivity, time, and energy management course for CEOs and business leaders. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Get FREE mini-sketchnotes with the big idea from the week’s episode delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to my weekly email.

Read the related blog article: Better Manage Your Time and Energy to Reduce Overwhelm

KEEP UP WITH BYRON

Website: byronmorrison.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/authorbyronmorrison/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorbyronmorrison

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorbyronmorrison

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:43 “Someone who is overwhelmed is just under-planned”
• 03:36 Strategy to get through mental overwhelm (brain dump)
• 05:29 What are push days vs. pull days?
• 09:42 How to structure push days and pull days
• 11:03 Byron’s approach to reducing

Collaboration is essential for success in today's workplace. No matter how much intelligence and creativity any individual possesses, collaboration between team members always leads to better results. Collaboration allows team members to pool their ideas and expertise, leading to more creative, diverse, and innovative solutions while leveraging each person’s strengths. Plus, team members who experience successful collaborations feel more engaged and satisfied at work.

Today’s guest is Deb Mashek. Deb is a social psychologist who helps business leaders navigate the relationship headwinds that tank timelines, bottom lines, and well-being. An experienced business advisor, professor, and nonprofit executive, her writing appears in MIT-Sloan Management Review, Fortune, ReWorked, The Hechinger Report, and Psychology Today. Deb has been an invited speaker on collaboration and viewpoint diversity at leading organizations including the United Nations and the American Psychological Association. She is the international bestselling author of Collabor(h)ate.

We talk about how to foster successful collaborations within your team and organization. What are different ways we work together that we might call collaboration, what are the factors that go into collaboration, and how do you improve each of them or deal with it when things aren’t going well.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a recording of Deb’s 1-Hour Workshop on Deep Collaboration, which will equip you to identify and overcome the collaboration headwinds that are holding back your organization. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Get FREE mini-sketchnotes with the big idea from the week’s episode delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to my weekly email.

Read the related blog article: How to Build Strong Collaborations (Even When Your Team Can’t Stand Each Other)

KEEP UP WITH DEB

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debra-mashek/

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@debmashek

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DebMashek

Instagram: www.instagram.com/debmashek/

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:00 What counts as collaboration?
• 03:32 What does ‘successful’ collaboration mean?

Being productive is a skill that comes naturally to some people, but it can be more difficult for others, especially those with learning differences or other challenges. Depending on your attention span, level of motivation, executive functioning skills, and environment, you may struggle to find success with traditional productivity advice. It’s important to remember that everyone’s mind is different, and with the right tools and mindset, you and each of your team members are capable of productivity greatness!

Today’s guest is Sandra Halling. Sandra is a marketing systems and technology consultant who has a passion for finding smart, efficient ways of working so you can let go of the hustle. Sandra is a systems expert on platforms like Notion and ConvertKit but her real priority is helping you develop better work habits by achieving Aligned Productivity — that is to say, aligning your work with your values so you feel calm, confident, and can prioritize what matters to you.

Sandra and I talk about different approaches to planning and staying organized that work for different styles of thinking. She shares her thoughts on what productivity is all about and how to navigate differences in productivity approaches, and a whole lot more.

Members of the Modern Manager community get two bonuses this week! The first is 1 Free Month of Aligned Productivity Membership, which helps highly sensitive entrepreneurs and professionals feel more productive, without the hustle or overwhelm that comes from traditional productivity. The second is a set of Free Productivity Reflection Templates. Get these when you join the Modern Manager community.

Get FREE mini-sketchnotes with the big idea from the week’s episode delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to my weekly email.

Get 25% off The Modern Manager Skills Accelerator through April 30, 2023. The Skills Accelerator is designed to help you gain the skills, mindset and habits needed to effectively manage your team and yourself so that everyone gets to be their best selves and do their best work.

Read the related blog article: Productivity Approaches That Reduce Stress and Increase Accomplishment

KEEP UP WITH SANDRA

Website: https://sandrahalling.com/

Membership Website: https://feelmoreproductive.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandrahalling/

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Introduction
• Apr 18, 2023

Welcome to episode 250 of The Modern Manager! Phew! I’m so excited to reach this milestone, and I’m so grateful for everyone who has listened to and supported the podcast along the way. Thank you for being here; here’s to 250 more!

For this episode, I decided to take a look back at some key ideas that I’ve learned from my amazing guests over the past year or so. While every guest shares something insightful, I chose 5 key takeaways that, for me, stood out in some way.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a massive discount on a 360 process facilitated by me. This includes a survey of up to 10 of your colleagues to gather feedback on their experience working with you, your strengths and where you can improve. You’ll receive a full written report plus a 1-hour debrief session with me to review the findings and plan next steps. This special pricing of $250 (instead of upwards of $1,000) is available to 10 members. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community. 

Get 25% off when you join the Modern Manager Skills Accelerator before 11:59pm Eastern April 30, 2023.

Get FREE mini-sketchnotes with the big idea from the week’s episode delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to my weekly email.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles, and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: 5 Quick Actions for Managers to Improve Their Leadership

Timestamps:

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:26 The four temperaments that shape our core values (from episode 219)
• 03:05 Excerpt from episode 219
• 05:21 Mamie’s takeaways from episode 219
• 06:25 Mental toughness (from episode 229)
• 06:45 Excerpt from episode 229
• 08:34 Mamie’s takeaways from episode 229
• 10:00 How the seeds you plant can grow (from episode 237)
• 10:20 Excerpt from episode 237
• 11:39 Mamie’s takeaways from episode 237
• 12:40 Acknowledging emotions during times of change (from episode 193)
• Apr 11, 2023

Do you know your team members’ unique talents? Every member of a workplace possesses a unique set of talents and skills that can be valuable to a team. By utilizing these diverse abilities, teams can become more efficient, innovative, and successful. Even more, when team members feel valued for their contributions, it fosters a positive and collaborative work environment.

Today’s guest is Scott Whiteford. As Director of Leadership Analytics, Scott is a leading authority on The Science of Talent and has coached over 1,700 leaders on how to develop talent. His primary analytical focus is on utilizing Talent Plus’ Executive Interview to help companies select and coach leaders and their teams based on their strengths. He thoughtfully uses talent solutions such as the Team Retreat, TeamView, Leadership 360s, Collaborative Coaching, and Progression & Succession Planning to develop leaders and build effective teams through a strengths-management approach.

Scott and I talk about taking a strengths-based approach to management and talent development. We discuss what it means to focus on talents, how to figure out what those strengths are, how to lean into the strengths of your team members and how to do so in ways that feel fair.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a free talent assessment and customized report. Take it yourself or give it to your team members as a tool to guide professional development. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Get FREE mini-sketchnotes with the big idea from the week’s episode delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to my weekly email.

Read the related blog article: Focus On Developing Your Team Members’ Strengths (Instead of Their Weaknesses!)

KEEP UP WITH SCOTT:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TalentPlusInc

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TalentPlusInc/

Scott LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottwhiteford/

Talent Plus LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/talent-plus-inc/

Timestamps & Topics:

• 0:00 Introductions
• 1:54 What is strengths-based management? (Mercedes Benz analogy)
• 5:46 How do leaders recognize what people’s strengths are?
• 7:17 Examples of strengths Sc

At some point, we’ve all been told to “Work smarter, not harder.” But what does that actually mean? Working smarter often means recognizing the importance of mindset in our work. The way we approach tasks, challenges, and even successes can have a significant impact on our team. Recognizing when your mindset isn’t serving you can help you overcome obstacles and achieve your goals.

Today’s guest is Dre Baldwin. Dre is CEO and Founder of Work On Your Game Inc. He has given 4 TEDxTalks and has authored 33 books. Dre had a 9-year professional basketball career, playing in 8 countries. His framework is the "roadmap in reverse" for professional mindset, strategy, systems, and execution.

Dre and I talk about one of his chapters from his book Work On Your Game where he lays out mental mistakes that good people make that can inhibit you and your team from accomplishing your goals.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a chance to win one copy of Dre’s book, Work On Your Game. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Get FREE mini-sketchnotes with the big idea from the week’s episode delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to my weekly email.

Read the related blog article: Four Common Mental Mistakes That Trip Managers Up

KEEP UP WITH DRE

LinkedIn: http://LinkedIn.com/in/DreAllDay

Facebook: http://Facebook.com/WorkOnYourGame 

Twitter: http://Twitter.com/DreAllDay

Instagram: http://Instagram.com/DreBaldwin

YouTube: http://YouTube.com/Dreupt

Website: http://DreAllDay.com

Key Takeaways:

• Mindset impacts success. Unhealthy ways of thinking can block us from our goals. 
• Replaying negative memories/worries in our head robs us of the potential energy of the presen

You’ve probably heard of meditation as a personal practice, but did you know it can have benefits to your professional life? Regular meditation practice can help reduce stress, improve focus, and increase emotional regulation. In addition, it can spark increased creativity, better decision-making, and improved relationships. Imagine how our workplaces would be if all of these benefits became reality!

Today’s guest is Shai Tubali. Shai is a happiness history expert and a PhD researcher at the University of Leeds in the UK. His numerous books published over the last two decades have won awards, become bestsellers and been published in 11 languages. His newest book, "Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Meditation,” was published in January 2023 and explores 35 meditation techniques from all over the world. Shai’s postgraduate expertise in science fiction film and pop culture enables him to share common principles that can help modern humans struggling with trauma, fear, uncertainty, depression, anxiety, and screen addiction. 

Shai and I talk about why it’s helpful to meditate, the benefits you can expect to feel, how to get started with meditating and the various different techniques, and how meditation can improve how you show up as a manager and engage with your colleagues.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a 50% discount on Shai’s 21-Day Challenges. These challenges are an invitation to tap into a new potential and to bring the light and clarity of consciousness to your everyday life. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Get FREE mini-sketchnotes with the big idea from the week’s episode delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to my weekly email.

Read the related blog article: How a 5 Minute Meditation Routine Can Make You a Better Manager

KEEP UP WITH SHAI

Website: https://shaitubali.com/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sevenawakenings https://twitter.com/STubali 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shaitubali/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ShaiTubali

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Llewellyns-Complete-Book-Meditation-Comprehensive-ebo

While everyone approaches their work with a different mindset, there’s one factor that can heavily influence the mindset you bring to work: your generation. From Gen X, to Millennials, to Gen Z, different generations can bring unique perspectives to a workplace that can lead to communication and cultural differences. To work together effectively, it’s important for individuals to recognize and respect each other’s experiences and strengths, and share their unique knowledge with each other.

Today’s guest is Vivek Iyyani. Vivek is a professional speaker and author. He's written 3 books on Millennials and consults to Fortune 500 organizations to bridge the generational gap within their teams.

We talk about what managers can learn from Millenials and Gen Z, and what those generations can learn from older generations, too, all in service of making the workplace healthier and stronger for all of us.

Members of the Modern Manager community can win 1 giveaway copy of Vivek’s book, The Millennial Leader. In a new age of leadership, millennial leaders face the ultimate challenge of overcoming generational differences, reverse ageism, motivating an isolated, remote, gig and burnt-out workforce, while juggling all the responsibilities and expectations as a leader. This book is the ultimate guide for any Millennial who’s moving into management. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Get FREE mini-sketchnotes with the big idea from the week’s episode delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to my weekly email.

Read the related blog article: What Boomers and Millennials Can Learn From Each Other at Work

KEEP UP WITH VIVEK

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/millennialexpertasia

Website: https://www.vivekiyyani.com/ 

Key Takeaways:

• Millennials prefer new technology and focus on doing things more efficiently. This may be mislabeled as being “lazy”.
• Incorporating new technology or learning new processes (even if more efficient) can slow down Boomers, which is often why they resist new methods. 
• Balance new technology with helping everyone master it at their own pace. Ask with curiosity why processes or workflows are the way they are.
• Millennials text more than talk, which can cause communication breakdowns. They can learn from Boomers the soft skills of having di

Teams are the backbone of organizations. When functioning well, team members feel a sense of belonging, while maximizing their collective resources and skills to accomplish the organizations’ goals. In addition, effective teams will enable organizations to become more efficient and productive. Therefore, the leader of every team must ask: Is my team performing effectively? If not, where do they need to improve, and how can I guide them to success?

Today’s guest is Dave Gloss. Dave is the Head of Team Effectiveness at AIIR Consulting, leading a global practice dedicated to building high-performing and inclusive company cultures. As an expert Team Consultant, Dave has worked with hundreds of Senior Leadership Teams to assess their companies and identify the root causes of underperformance and low engagement. As such, he is the go-to partner when you need to integrate cultures following complex mergers & acquisitions, design thriving hybrid workforces and cascade new "ways of working" across your teams. 

Dave and I talk about team effectiveness - what it is, the components of what makes for strong team performance, how you can use operating principles to help your team more quickly adopt better behaviors and so much more. 

Members of the Modern Manager community get access to 2 bonuses this week. The first is a free assessment: AIIR Team Effectiveness Survey. This assessment will help you get a better understanding of your team’s strengths, weaknesses, and ways of working. The second bonus is 50% off the AIIR Team Effectiveness Certification, where you will learn to quickly diagnose the root causes of any team challenge. Get these when you join the Modern Manager community.

Get FREE mini-sketchnotes with the big idea from the week’s episode delivered to your inbox when you subscribe to my weekly email.

Read the related blog article: How to Improve Your Team’s Effectiveness

KEEP UP WITH DAVE

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidkgloss/

Website: https://aiirconsulting.com/

Key Takeaways:

• Team Productivity + Team Culture = Team Performance. 
• Team productivity measures how efficiently and effectively the team gets work done.
• Team culture measures how team members interact and relate to one another.
• Team performance is a team’s ability to maximize its potential and fulfill its purpose.
• Strong culture + high product

Why does your team exist? What is the deeper purpose behind the list of tasks you accomplish each day? Without a clear, defined purpose, teams will lack inspiration and focus. This can lead to team members feeling unmotivated, reducing productivity and morale. Furthermore, how can you set goals and develop strategies to achieve them when you don’t have a vision for your work? 

Today’s guest is Ranjay Gulati. He is the author of the book Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies. As an educator and researcher, he is passionate about how to unlock organizational and individual potential.

Ranjay and I talk about Purpose. What organizational purpose is and isn’t, why it's so powerful when done right, how to connect individual purpose to the organization and the magic that happens when you go from satisfied employees to truly inspired ones.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a chance to win 1 of 3 free copies of Ranjay’s book, Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies. A revolutionary approach to business exists, one that delivers game-changing results for companies of all sizes: the serious and deep pursuit of purpose. This book shows the possibility of embedding purpose as a radically new operating system for your business. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community. 

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: What It Really Means To Have a Company Purpose

KEEP UP WITH RANJAY

Website: Deeppurpose.net

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ranjay-gulati

Key Takeaways:

• A purpose is an intention to accomplish something meaningful to the self that has consequences for the world beyond the self. While the idea of individual purpose has been around for thousands of years, company purpose is a relatively new concept. 
• A company purpose is the “why” behind your mission statement: why you exist, who you’re impacting, and the strategy to accomplish it. 
• A deep company purpose trickles down to all areas of the office, including strategies, resource allocation, hiring and promotion, DEI, and measuring success. 
• Purpose is not “charity”, but a long term value that should include profitability. Make sure all your stakeholders benefit from your purpose. 

A positive workplace culture can be the difference between a thriving and barely surviving team; between people staying because they love their job and people eagerly searching to work somewhere else. When managers create an environment that is welcoming, trusting, and encourages creativity and feedback, people will find more overall satisfaction in their work. But how does a manager actually create this type of culture, especially on remote teams? 

Today’s guest is Abhishek Nayak. As a co-founder and CEO of four startups, one of which was funded by Sequoia Capital, Abhishek is well-versed in the art of starting and scaling a business. But during a stint as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Accel, he discovered how much time engineers spend building internal applications, so he and two co-founders created Appsmith to put customizable app tools directly into developers’ hands. The once-small, open-source project is now used by over 10,000 teams, employs people in sixteen countries, and has raised over $51 million in capital.

Abishek and I talk about how he’s built an incredible team and culture for his fully remote business. He shares the lessons he’s learned and steps he’s taken to support his people along the journey from a small co-located team, through the disruption of COVID, to a fully remote, global company with over 120 employees.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a Template and Guidelines for Requesting Feedback. This internal document is used by Appsmith to guide employee feedback. Outlining feedback guidelines and questions for specific feedback outcomes, this resource can help any manager give and receive more valuable feedback. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Do These Five Things to Effectively Manage a Remote Team

KEEP UP WITH ABHISHEK

Website: Appsmith.com

Twitter: twitter.com/arey_abhishek

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/abhisheknayak/

Email: abhishek@appsmith.com 

Key Takeaways:

• Know the advantages of remote work, including more focus time, a larger talent pool, and better customer service availability.
• Invest in technology

As managers, emotional intelligence plays an important role in how you interact with your team and make decisions. Being aware of your capabilities, motivations and emotions, and knowing how to act on them, enables you to connect with your colleagues and build a trusting relationship. High emotional intelligence enables managers to more easily accomplish those goals, helping both you and your people thrive at work.

Today’s guest is Robin Hill. Robin is the director of Ei4Change, a company specializing in educational training, coaching and personal development focused around emotional intelligence, positive psychology and neuroscience. He has taught over 300,000 people in more than 195 countries how to build resilience, increased self-awareness and understanding of others.

Robin and I talk about emotional intelligence. He breaks down the components of EQ, including how to better understand yourself so you can develop your emotional intelligence skill set.

Members of the Modern Manager community get Robin’s ‘Working with Mindfulness’ Course, typically $49, for free. The ‘Working with Mindfulness’ course supports the development of a manager’s emotional intelligence by helping them to work more effectively with mindfulness. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How Managers Can Build Their Emotional Intelligence Skill Set

KEEP UP WITH ROBIN

Website: https://ei4change.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EI4Change/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ei4Change

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinhills/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ei4change/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBBxGskYxL0wnRfuyz_wHZA/feed

Key Takeaways:

• Emotional intelligence is the ability to use your thoughts and emotions to make quality decisions and build relationships. 
• The five elements to emotional intelligence are self awareness, self regulation, empathy, communication, and motivation. 

When a crisis hits someone’s life, the effects aren’t limited to home. Personal, communal, or even global crises can have a significant impact on someone’s stress levels. In situations where a crisis or tragedy has occurred, there’s likely little you can do to ‘fix’ the situation; however, there are steps every manager can take to help support their team members during these difficult and uncertain times.

Today’s guest is Holly Welch Stubbing. Holly currently serves as President and CEO of E4E Relief. She has over 25 years of experience in HR, endowment investments and disaster relief. Her organization E4E Relief is an employee relief fund that works with global companies like Salesforce and Wells Fargo to relieve employees when it’s needed most. Holly also serves on the Forbes Human Resources Council and shares her philanthropic vision with fellow executives. She is a thought leader in ESG, philanthropy, and corporate social responsibility and speaks on ESG investment portfolios and strategies, CSR strategies, philanthropy, social enterprise and tax-exempt legal matters.

Holly and I talk about how we as managers can best support our colleagues when a tragedy occurs - this could be a natural disaster, a death in the family, political upheaval in their city. She shares what employees care about, what we can do, and why it’s important to support people through these difficult moments. 

Members of the Modern Manager community get a Free Disaster Worksheet, “Things to Consider When Responding to a Crisis.” This worksheet will lay out the stakeholders (employees, communities, etc.) to consider, partners to establish, and funding to set aside for navigating an unforeseen event impacting your people or your business. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Support Your Team in Times of Crisis

KEEP UP WITH HOLLY

Website: https://employeerelieffund.org/

Key Takeaways:

• Since the pandemic, managers are taking on more responsibility to support their teams during times of crisis.
• Personal, local, national, and global crises can have a significant impact on people. This includes a death in the family, political unrest, natural disasters (flooding, fires, hurricanes, etc), violence in a community, and more. 
• Update or create a comprehensive benefits plan that includes crisis support, mental health, and hybrid/flexibility needs. 
• Make sure employees in all locations receive benefits they need to navigate a crisis

Of all the mindset tips and tricks, there is one aspect that is often overlooked: the questions we ask ourselves. Questions have the potential to shift conversations, open new ideas, and broaden understanding. The thoughts we have are in response to the questions we ask ourselves, often without conscious thought. Managers can learn how to use these internal questions as a tool to transform difficult relationships, spark creativity, reduce stress, and much more. 

Today’s guest is Dr. Marilee Adams. Marilee is an award-winning author and pioneer in the fields of inquiry-based coaching, leadership and organizational culture. She is CEO/Founder of the Inquiry Institute, a solutions and performance-focused company providing consulting, coaching, training, keynotes and eLearning. She is the author of the best selling book Change Your Questions, Change Your Life: 12 Powerful Tools for Leadership, Coaching and Results.

Marilee and I talk about the powerful questions we ask (without even realizing it) that shape our thoughts and actions. We get into what you can do to recognize these questions and start to change them, so you can truly transform your relationships and really, your life.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a $10 Discount on The Choice Map Course. The Choice Map is your roadmap to creating a foundational awareness of your mindsets and questions. It will help you to live predominantly on the Learner mindset path, or ‘Learner Living’. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or become a member of the Skills Accelerator.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Ask Yourself the Right Questions

KEEP UP WITH MARILEE

Website: https://inquiryinstitute.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/marileeadams

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/questionthinking

Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marileeadams

Institute LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inquiryinstitute/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/InquiryInst

Key Takeaways:

• Jan 31, 2023

Developing a remote work culture is a crucial step for businesses to take in today’s workplace landscape. However, developing a remote work culture requires different skills and practices than an in-person culture. The majority of people working remotely report struggling to maintain their work friendships and feeling distant from their work. It’s up to managers to cultivate a remote culture that is inclusive and engaging—despite the distance.

Today’s guest is Kapil Kale. Kapil is the co-founder and COO of Tremendous. Kapil previously co-founded GiftRocket, an online gift card company that went through Y Combinator and became profitable. Prior to that, he worked as a Senior Associate Consultant at Bain & Company and also worked as a Portfolio Team member at Insight Venture Partners. 

Kapil and I talk about building a remote-first culture. We get into ways to build trust, foster deep relationships, manage accountability, and so much more.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a $100 reward for a $1,000 Tremendous purchase. Tremendous is the simplest way for businesses to send money to people. Managers can offer employees more than 800 redemption options, from gift cards to donations to cash. Get this bonus when you join the Modern Manager community or The Modern Manager Skills Accelerator. 

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Strengthen Your Team’s Capability for Remote Work

KEEP UP WITH KAPIL

Website: https://www.tremendous.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/gotremendous

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tremendous-rewards/

Key Takeaways:

• Explain to your team the reasons why you’re choosing a remote work setup.
• Think through the skillsets your team members need for remote workers including good written communication and self management.
• With remote work, we lose the opportunity to organically build casual relationships, like those ‘watercooler’ conversations. 
• Supercharge work relationships by engineering offsite events. Make sure these retreats focus only on having fun and not anything work-related.
• Encourage teammates who struggle with remote work to s

You probably know the feeling of ‘there’s an elephant in the room’ and no one wants to address it. But letting things go unspoken creates problems in the workplace. This is true of the large and small things. Are you letting the ‘mice in the room’ go unaddressed because they’re just not a big deal? By raising small issues, we are able to address potential areas of concern before they become bigger problems. Plus, by acknowledging these small things, we’re able to better understand one another.

Today’s guest is David Wood. After life as a consulting actuary to Fortune 100 Companies, David built the world’s largest coaching business, becoming #1 on Google for “life coaching”. He believes the tough conversations we avoid are our doorways to confidence, success and even love - in both work and life. David coaches high performing entrepreneurs, executives and teams - and even prison inmates - to amazing results AND connection. One conversation at a time.

David and I talk about the lessons in his book Mouse in the Room. He explains the concept, shares some of the common mice we experience and how to raise small issues so that we can have meaningful conversations.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a free, personalized gift basket from David that includes a 15-minute Double Your Revenue Strategy call for qualifying businesses, the Online Double Your Revenue Replay, a cheat sheet, and the Mouse in the Room minibook. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How To Have Those Conversations Everyone Prefers To Avoid

KEEP UP WITH DAVID

Website: https://focus.ceo

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/focus-ceo

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ExtraordinaryFocuswithDavidWood

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_focusceo

Extraordinary Focus Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/extraordinaryfocus

Personal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/playforrealll

Key Takeaways:

• We learn to avoid honesty as we grow up. 

Managers often focus on creating work environments that cultivate inclusivity, productivity, and innovation - which are all important. However, when was the last time you intentionally created an environment for… joy? Turns out, when employees are joyful at work, they are more likely to be productive and work harder to achieve their goals. In fact, joy in the workplace can lead to a more successful team and a better working experience for everyone involved - and it’s up to the manager to create the conditions to make that happen.

Today’s guest is. Akaya Windwood. Akaya advises, trains, and consults on how change happens individually, organizationally, and societally. She is on the faculty for the RSF Social Finance Integrated Capital Fellowship and is the founder of the New Universal, which centers human wisdom in the wisdom of Brown women. She was the president of Rockwood Leadership Institute for many years and directed the Mycelium Fund.

Akaya and I talk about the bits of wisdom she and her co-author collected over the years on what it means to foster joy in the workplace and how you can too.  

Members of the Modern Manager community get a chance to win 1 free copy of Akaya’s book, Leading with Joy. Sharing vignettes about the authors’ insights and stories and discussion questions to go along, Leading with Joy promotes a courageous and compassionate approach to leadership that can sustain purposeful action and social change. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Create a Joyful Work Atmosphere

KEEP UP WITH AKAYA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeadingWithJoy

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leadingwithjoy/

Website: https://leadingwithjoybook.com/

Key Takeaways:

• We can’t force our team members to feel joy (nor is our responsibility to), but we can (and should) create the conditions for people to find joy. 
• Happiness is an emotion from an external experience while joy is a bodily sense from within. 

We've all heard it a million times, especially as kids: "Be nice!" Most people have been taught that if you don't have something kind to say, don't say anything at all. However, what do you do when you have necessary feedback to give, but it's not positive? This is where radical candor comes into play. The goal is to always speak with both love AND truth - at the same time.

Today’s guest is Kim Scott. Kim is the author of Just Work and Radical Candor. Kim was a CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, Twitter, and other tech companies. She was a member of the faculty at Apple University and before that led AdSense, YouTube, and DoubleClick teams at Google.

Kim and I talk about how to give productive feedback using her famous Radical Candor model. We talk about why giving feedback is so important even if it's uncomfortable, and how to solicit feedback most effectively.

Members of the Modern Manager community get 10% Off The Feedback Loop Course. Starring David Alan Grier, Kim Scott, and a cast of eccentric characters, The Feedback Loop workplace comedy series and e-course teach Radical Candor’s proven feedback framework in a way that's fresh, fun, and effective to improve your communication skills at work and in life. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Give Your Team Members the Gift of Feedback

KEEP UP WITH KIM

Radical Candor Website: www.radicalcandor.com

Just Work Website: www.justworktogether.com

Radical Candor Twitter: https://twitter.com/candor 

Just Work Twitter: https://twitter.com/JustWorkBook

Personal Twitter: https://twitter.com/KimballScott 

Key Takeaways:

• The idea of radical candor is that you care personally and challenge directly at the same time. This means saying what needs to be said in a way that demonstrates carin

Each person on the planet has a way of being and thinking that when tapped into feels both natural and fulfilling. This is called your inner genius. The goal for each person is to find their inner genius; the goal for each manager is to help people leverage this knowledge, to help them bring forth the genius that lies within each of us.

Today’s guest is Catherine Mattiske. Catherine is a leading global business educator and author with 30 years of experience across industries, including banking, insurance, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and retail. She is the founder of TPC — The Performance Company, an international training and consulting organization that has worked with Fortune 100 companies worldwide. Catherine has authored more than 30 books, her latest being “Unlock Inner Genius: Power Your Path to Extraordinary Success”.

Catherine and I talk about the inner genius concept. We get into how to find your inner genius, how to connect what you love to do outside of work and get the same state of flow while at work, the different genius archetypes, building a team that optimizes for inner genius, and much more.

Members of the Modern Manager community get 50% Off the Inner Genius Profile. Take the Inner Genius Profile to discover how you learn and communicate. The profile takes 10 minutes and will make the way you work, study, and communicate more efficient and effective. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community. Or, check out The Modern Manager Skills Accelerator.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Unlock the Power of the Inner Genius

KEEP UP WITH CATHERINE

Inner Genius LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/discover-your-inner-genius-

Inner Genius Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/geniusquotient/

Inner Genius Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/innergeniusnow

Inner Genius Insta: https://www.instagram.com/innergeniusnow/

Catherine Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/catherinemattiske

The Performance Company Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePerformanceCompany

Many studies have shown that the best and most innovative companies are those who embrace diversity and make an effort to recruit people with different personalities and different strengths. While some areas of diversity are visible, one in particular is not: neurodiversity. People who are neurodivergent have brain differences that affect how their brains work. As managers, it's up to us to be knowledgeable about neurodiversity and create work environments where neurodivergent people can be their truest and best selves. 

Today’s guest is Genie Love. Genie has been trying to figure out how to stay focused and attentive, how to decrease procrastination, how to manage “to do” lists, and generally how to get things done her entire adult life. As an executive functioning coach, she brings her personal trial and error experience as well as 20 years of experience teaching high school students with ADD and Autism to help adults take control of their time and attention.

Genie and I talk about what neurodiversity means and how our work environments help or hinder different ways people’s brains work. We get into strategies to help yourself and your team members to create workplaces that work for all different brains.

One member of the Modern Manager community can get a 1.5-hour consulting session focused on simple strategies to support underutilized human assets in your organization. She will provide tips on the use of physical space, training in executive functioning, and strategies in recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, and retention in order to increase productivity and job satisfaction. Get this bonus and more when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Support Neurodivergent Team Members

KEEP UP WITH GENIE:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/genie-love-4b13451b8/

Website: https://genielove.coach/ 

Key Takeaways:

• Neuordivergent thinking is a spectrum of different ways of processing, communicating, and thinking. It includes ADHD, autism, and dyslexia among others. 
• Neurodivergent teammates may have trouble creating a work plan, getting ideas across verbally or in writing, or sitting still for long periods of time. 
• Consider how space impacts a person's ability to focus. Some people are sensitive to noise, lighting, visual distractions and furniture.
• Invest in sea

Work and home life are not two distinct worlds. Despite the concept of work-life balance, they are inextricably intertwined. What’s happening at home often affects us at work, and vice versa. While we can’t close off those two worlds from each other, there are practices we can put in place to help us process personal situations and still show up to work as our best selves.

Today’s guest is Andrea Liebross. Andrea is a coach, speaker, podcast host, and soon to be published author who is known for helping bold, ambitious women make clear, confident decisions, so that they get exactly what they want, every time, and not just add another thing to their to-do list. Over the last few decades, Andrea has started three successful businesses and ultimately became a certified business and life coach.

Andrea and I talk about how to leave the stress of home at home. We get into strategies for helping yourself and your team better manage through stressful times, collaborate and support each other, and show up as your best selves.

Members of the Modern Manager community get $100 off Full Focus coaching AND free access to the 5 Days to Clear Thinking challenge. In 30 days, Full Focus coaching will give you the tools and thinking you need to become fully focused and stop procrastinating. The 5 Days to Clear Thinking Challenge will help you clean up your mind so you can be truly ready and able to plan and organize. Get them when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Manage Stress From Home While at Work

KEEP UP WITH ANDREA

Website: www.andreaslinks.com

Podcast: https://pod.link/timetolevelup

Key Takeaways:

• Just as work stress comes home with us, the stress of home life impacts our work life. 
• To shift from ‘Stuck Stress’ to ‘Productive Stress’, become solution focused. Stop worrying about what might happen that you don’t have control over and instead focus on what you can do.
• Share the facts and frame your experience by including the negative and positive parts of the stressful situation. 
• Sharing what’s going on for us takes out the drama of coworkers guessing what’s going on. We tend to make up stories or assumptions to explain behavior which often is incorrect and has negative consequences.
• Dec 06, 2022

Goals are the backbone of our teams. Around this time of year, businesses and individuals often set goals for themselves, but not all goals are created equally. Truly effective goals are strategic plans for the entire year that guide us in the direction of our dreams; they help managers focus a team’s efforts and achieve maximum success. 

Today’s guest is Hilary DeCesare. Hilary is an award-winning business expert, esteemed author, and pioneer of female powerhouses in Silicon Valley. As a sought-after speaker, founder of The Relaunch Co., and one of the first women to create a quarter of a billion dollars in revenue for the tech giant Oracle, Hilary brings fresh energy to industry leaders, CEOs, and solopreneurs. She is widely recognized for her work in neuropsychology as it relates to business and life, and holds several certifications from top practitioners in the field. 

Hilary and I talk about her ROCK-IT goal setting process. She shares how to work backwards to make goals manageable, the mindset needed to accomplish big goals, and basically all things goals related.

Members of the Modern Manager community get access to Hilary’s free webinar, Rock-it Your Way to Success in 2023. In this 60-minute workshop, you'll get the goal setting framework that has been proven to work for over 25+ years, without adding more to your already overflowing plate. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Set Goals That You Actually Achieve

KEEP UP WITH HILARY

Website: https://therelaunchco.com/

Business Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReLaunchCo/

Personal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hilary.howarddecesare

Business Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therelaunchco/?hl=en

Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hilarydecesare/?hl=en

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilarydecesare

Twitter https://twitter.com/hilarydecesare?lang=en

Key Takeaways:

It's that time of year again. Holidays are coming up, and while some messages and practices will be perfect for your team members' individual needs, others won't match up with their values, beliefs, or lifestyles. Despite the busyness of this season, it's crucial for managers to consider how all people may be experiencing the upcoming holidays. With intentionality, managers can create an environment where people of all beliefs and practices can feel seen and included.

Today’s guest is Dr. Jen O’Ryan. Jen is a consulting editor specializing in Inclusion, Diversity, and Representation. She works with organizations to design content, culture, and processes that are welcoming and inclusive. Jen has a PhD in Human Behavior and her background in tech includes designing new experiences for customers, launching global initiatives, and leading organizational change.

Jen and I talk about the hidden places that bias shows up and how we may be unintentionally setting up barriers or making things challenging for our colleagues, and of course, what to do about it. We also go deep on how to be thoughtful about the end of year holidays which can have religious undertones and bring up lots of feelings for folks. 

Members of the Modern Manager community can get 1 of 3 copies of Jen’s book, Inclusive AF: A Field Guide for “Accidental” Diversity Experts. Designed for anyone thinking about Inclusion and Diversity, AF outlines a roadmap to safely introduce meaningful and lasting change. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Design an Inclusive Holiday Party (or Anything, Really!)

KEEP UP WITH JEN

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenoryan/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pagingdrjen/

Website: https://www.pagingdrjen.com/ 

Key Takeaways:

• Create an atmosphere of psychological safety so that your team willingly gives honest feedback. Be vulnerable and admit mistakes. Keep your door open for questions or input. Ask if things work for them.
• When designing a party (or product, marketing materials, etc), consider how different people would experience it. Imagine different ways of being in the world and what people would need. 

Human beings are creatures of habit. Just watch a child or animal go through their daily routines and you can see that habits are deeply ingrained in our biology. While we’re often aware of some habits, others happen regularly without us ever realizing them. Maintaining good habits, identifying bad habits, and building new ones all take determination and perseverance.

Today’s guest is Dr. Jon Finn. Dr. Jon founded the award-winning Tougher Minds consultancy and has three psychology-related degrees, including a PhD. He has worked in performance psychology, resilience, and leadership science for over 20 years. Dr. Finn wrote his best-selling book ‘The Habit Mechanic’ (which took him over 20 years to compose) because his life’s mission is to help people to be their best in the challenging modern world.

Dr. Finn and I speak about what it is to be a habit mechanic, why habits are so important, the role of social acceptance in driving our habits, how to manage your super habits and destructive habits, and a lot more.

Members of the Modern Manager community can win a free 12 month ‘At Your Best’ premium subscription membership. You will quickly learn how to feel better, do better and lead better. To learn more access the free version of the app here: https://www.tougherminds.co.uk/habit-mechanic-app/. Get this bonus and many more when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Understand Your Brain to be Successful at Work

KEEP UP WITH DR. FINN

Website: https://www.tougherminds.co.uk/

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jon-finn

Get 'The Habit Mechanic' book here: Nov 15, 2022

Obstacles come in many forms. They can be physical (withholding us from being somewhere or doing something we want to do), mental (making us believe we're not capable of achieving), or emotional (adding undue stress, fatigue, or other burdens to our minds). No matter what obstacles you're facing, moving through them is possible with dedication, determination, and the right mindset. You’d be amazed by what you can achieve!

Today’s guest is Joel Green. Joel is CEO of Pro Level Training, the National Director of Nike Sports Camps, a former professional basketball player, and a renowned motivational speaker. A thought leader in the motivational category, Joel Green has developed a reputation for personal excellence and motivational talks that contribute tangible advice for attaining desired goals. Many of the messages he has delivered are conveyed in his first book, Filtering: The Way to Extract Strength from the Struggle, which was released on September 6th.

Joel and I talk about how to overcome obstacles or difficult moments. We get into the importance of perspective, how to get yourself to do what it takes, and a lot more insights from Joel’s experience as an athlete and successful businessman.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a special set of graphics with mindset messages that you can use as the background for your computer, your phone, or print out as mini-posters in your workspace. Get this bonus and more when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Get Your Team From Ordinary to Extraordinary

KEEP UP WITH JOEL

Website: https://www.joelbgreen.com/

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/jaygreenplt/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-green-95340417/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joel.green.35

Key Takeaways:

• To deal with overwhelming emotions, practice “filtering” by breaking things down in order to help you manage your feelings.
• Breathe for 30 seconds to gain control rather than feel reactive. Then lean into the emotions by trying to learn from this challenge.
• Focus on yourself rather than your competition or what the world throws at y

In my years of working with managers, one of most frequent questions I get is this: How do I deal with conflict in my team? This dilemma can be approached from two perspectives. First, there are practices a team can adopt to help limit the number of conflicts that arise. Second, there are approaches a team can use to dissolve conflict quickly and effectively. Used together, these techniques can help any team become more cohesive and productive.

Today’s guest is Hesha Abrams. With over 30 years of experience solving conflict and difficult problems, Hesha comes to the table as a world-renowned meditator, negotiator, and author. As an expert in conflict and pragmatic solutions, Hesha implements innovative approaches and thought-provoking solutions that obtain favorable outcomes for even the most complex conflicts, including mediating the case over the secret recipe for Pepsi. Hesha's popular new book, Holding The Calm shares her secrets on how to read a situation to solve problems, eliminate conflict, and restore harmony. 

Hesha and I talk about what we do wrong that makes it harder to resolve conflicts and she shares some of her practical approaches to addressing conflict more effectively. We also get into how to help your team members resolve conflicts so you can foster stronger teamwork.

Members of the Modern Manager community can get a free, 1-hour Zoom if The Modern Manager community together purchases 100 copies of Hesha’s book, Holding the Calm. This book shares key strategies and inspirational treasures to resolve disputes, settle cases, and re-channel arguments; buy it for yourself and your team! Get this bonus when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Hold the Calm when Dealing with Conflict

KEEP UP WITH HESHA

Website: holdingthecalm.com

Key Takeaways:

• Conflict is like spilled spaghetti sauce; the sooner you deal with it, the easier it is. 
• When we don’t understand others, we label them negatively. Confirmation bias then looks for evidence for these negative beliefs of others which further cements our belief. 
• Try to find redeeming qualities of others or consider how they operate (introvert/extrovert, a kinesthetic/visual/auditory learner) to give yourself a more expansive view of their humanity.
• Think like a doctor when someone emotionally erupts on you.

Look in any organization and you'll see a variety of leadership styles. One crucial aspect of leadership is staying true to yourself and what feels most natural to you as a leader, which means not trying to be all things to all people. Research has found that most leadership styles fit into one of four categories. Understanding these categories can help leaders stay true to themselves while enhancing their skills, building their careers, and achieving their organization’s goals.

Today’s guest is Robert Jordan. Robert is the CEO of InterimExecs, which matches top executives with companies around the world. Based on research with thousands of leaders and companies, he and Olivia Wagner wrote "Right Leader Right Time: Discover Your Leadership Style for a Winning Career and Company," and have launched the FABS Leadership Assessment, a free assessment at RightLeader.com designed to help leaders and organizations perform better. Jordan also authored "How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America," and helped publish "Start With No," Jim Camp’s bestseller on negotiation.

Robert and I talk about the four leadership styles, their strengths and optimal conditions in which each leadership style thrives, and how to think about your career to optimize your leadership potential.

Members of the Modern Manager community can participate in a free, town-hall style webinar. In this webinar, Robert will give direct, real-time feedback on peoples’ leadership styles to help them grow personally and professionally. Get access when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Use the Four Leadership Styles to Advance Your Work

KEEP UP WITH ROBERT

Right Leader website: https://www.rightleader.com/

Interim Executives website: https://interimexecs.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/interim_execs

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertjjordan/

Key Takeaways:

• There are four types of leadership approaches; Fixers, Artists, Builders, and Strategists. Each archetype has skills, contexts, and motivators that enable it to thrive.
• The Fixer is drawn to broken organizations and crises.
• The Artist sees a project as a blank canvas. They wi

Focus: It’s an important skill for the success of any organization or individual. While it's natural for anyone to get distracted by new ideas, potential projects, overwhelming to-do lists, and ongoing problems, learning how to focus can save us time and energy in the long-run.

Today’s guest is Erik Qualman. Erik is five-time #1 Bestselling Author and Keynote Speaker who has performed in over 55 countries and reached over 50 million people. He was voted the 2nd Most Likeable Author in the World behind Harry Potter's J.K. Rowling. He is the host of the popular Super U Podcast and his work has been used by the National Guard to NBC Universal to NASA. 

Erik and I talk about what it means to really be focused. He shares his lessons learned and best tips and tricks for how you and your team can accomplish great things simply by staying focused.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a Buy One Get One Free deal on two of his products. The first is his Kittycorn card game, designed for any group to learn easily and have a great time. The second is his book, The Focus Project, designed to provide solutions to the challenge of focusing in an unfocused world. Get them both when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How To Focus So The Big Things Get Done

KEEP UP WITH ERIK

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/equalman/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/equalman

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@equalman.official

Super U Podcast contact: eq@equalman.com

Key Takeaways:

• Fear of failure disrupts focus. Remember that evaluated failure makes us better. Learn from mistakes.
• When you fix clients’ problems, they are 3 times more likely to be repeat customers. 
• People don’t love us because we’re perfect, but because we’re perfectly flawed. Aim to be “flawsome.”
• Trying to do too many things is almost always the wrong approach. Focus on crushing one thing, even if it requires you to cannibalize your own product line.
• When you add more tasks, subtract others so that you don’t ove

Whether you want to develop new products, update internal processes, or make sure that every client is satisfied with your service, one thing is true: you need to be clear about your goals. Without direction, you will lose your way. Direction comes from having a bold vision of what you want your life, team, and organization to look like. Then, you must create actionable steps to move forward.

Today’s guest is Lisa McCarthy. Lisa is the CEO and co-founder of the Fast Forward Group, a training and executive coaching company based on the philosophy that when people are living their best lives, they do their best work. Clients include innovative companies of all sizes, including Amazon, Facebook, Google and JPMorgan Chase. Prior to launching Fast Forward, Lisa spent 25 years leading sales organizations at prominent media companies, including ViacomCBS and Univision.

Lisa and I talk about goals and establishing a bold vision. She shares why goals like these are important and she walks us through her process that has helped over 100,000 people achieve their big dreams.

Members of the Modern Manager community get two FREE months of Lisa’s Fast Forward membership program, which has helped thousands of professionals play big, manage stress, and achieve extraordinary success. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Set Big Goals With Your Team

KEEP UP WITH LISA

Membership Website: https://fastforwardgroup.net/

Personal Website: https://lisamccarthy.co/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamccarthyffg/

Key Takeaways:

• We resist goal setting because we’re risk averse; we’d rather underpromise and overdeliver.
• To encourage thinking big, managers must assure their team that there won’t be any negative consequences if expectations aren’t reached.
• Challenge self-limiting beliefs (I’m not X enough, I don’t have the right background, etc) that stop you from dreaming of your future. 
• Create a vision of where you want to be in a year. What does “extraordinary success” look like? 
• Reflect on your qualities. What are you known for

Management is about helping other people achieve greatness - in the results they produce and the career path they take. However, if you've had any experience as a manager, you know how difficult it can be to help a variety of people develop their skill sets and get work done, all while fostering healthy team dynamics and driving towards goals. It helps to know the specific areas you should focus on to help your team grow most efficiently with the limited time you have.

Today’s guest is Russ Laraway. Russ has had a diverse 28 year operational management career. He was a Company Commander in the Marine Corps before starting his first company, Pathfinders. From there, Russ went to the Wharton School, and then onto management roles at Google and Twitter. He then co-founded Candor, Inc., along with best selling author Kim Scott.

Russ and I talk about what he’s discovered through research are the most important areas of focus for a manager. We get into why it's so hard to be a great manager, and what you can do to immediately put Russ’s finding to work for your team.

One member of the Modern Manager community can get a copy of Russ’s book: When They Win, You Win. Russ provides a handbook for managers on how to implement The Big 3 - a surprisingly simple, coherent leadership approach that measurably and predictably delivers more engaged employees and better business results. To be eligible, join the Modern Manager community as a Patron or sign up for The Modern Manager Skills Accelerator.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and transcripts delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Simplify Management by Focusing on These Three Areas

KEEP UP WITH RUSS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whentheywin 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/theywinyouwin 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theywinyouwin/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russlaraway/ 

Key Takeaways:

• Research has proven that more engaged employees deliver 2.5 times more revenue. 
• Managers may feel overwhelmed by deciding what advice to follow. Simplify management by focusing on direction, co

Anyone who's worked on a team knows that communication can be a challenge. Sometimes, common problems require creative solutions. Improv is a powerful tool that brings out the best in any group or team. It’s not just for comedians; it can be used to create new ideas, solve problems, explore feelings, and connect with each other.

Today’s guest is Brian Rolnick-Fox, the Founder, CEO, and Chief Evangelist of Nimble Learning Strategies. Brian has been using improvisation as a channel for individual growth, group development, and organizational success since 1999. He has delivered communication and leadership programs for a diverse set of organizations from Fortune 100 companies to educational institutions some of which include Citibank, Goodyear, Dartmouth College, and Harvard Business School.

Brian and I talk about what we can learn from the field of comedic improv to help us be better communicators. We get into specific behaviors, mindsets, principles and tactics that can help us connect and collaborate better, plus we have a whole lot of fun.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a free Communication and Collaboration document from Nimble Learning Strategies. This document describes the three As of communication and how you can implement them to communicate more effectively in your daily life. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How Managers Can Use Improv Strategies to Improve Communications

KEEP UP WITH BRIAN

Website: https://www.nimblelearningstrategies.com

Company LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/nimblelearningstrategies

Personal LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brianrolnickfox

Key Takeaways:

• We are always naturally improvising; we take in stimuli and respond to them in the moment. 
• Improv strategies can help us collaborate better by providing an opportunity to explicitly talk about how we communicate and collaborate.
• We often forget that people or departments have different perspectives and assume we’re all seeing the situation the same.
• Being specific in our language is essential to ensuring everyone is on the same page. 
• Sep 27, 2022

Authentic leadership is unique to each of us. It's about understanding and being comfortable with who you are so that you can leverage your strengths. We can then use that information to guide our choices and lift up those around us. When you understand your strengths and values, they can create a personal roadmap to success.

Today’s guest is Lance Tanaka. Lance is an Executive Leadership Expert. He and his team elevate leaders and their teams to increase business production, performance and profits.

Lance and I talk about lessons from his latest book Dream and Achieve: 90 Days to a life of purpose. We walk through the process that Lance and hundreds of others have used to help clarify their goals and take steps towards their desired future.

Members of the Modern Manager community get 25% off Lance’s course, Dream & Achieve. This course has helped thousands of successful executives identify their purpose and move down the path to realizing it. Get this generous discount if you register before September 30, 2022. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Check out the new Modern Manager Skills Accelerator!

Read the related blog article: Carve a Path at Work That is Authentically You

KEEP UP WITH LANCE

Website: lancetanaka360.com

Key Takeaways:

• Focus more time on honing your strengths rather than fixing your weaknesses.
• The DNA “Dream N’ Achieve” process is a 90 day journey of self discovery and charting a path forward.
• First, reflect on your strengths and passions. Then look for common themes, ideally no more than 9.
• Drill into those elements with who/what/where/when/why questions to further clarify what matters most to you.
• Do this DNA process as a team activity. Others often see our strengths better than we do.
• Trying to Find your “True North” may slow you down. Instead, create a balance between all your needs by going in the right direction and adjusting over time accordingly.
• There are three outcomes that result from following your DNA: (1) a big shift to a new company/career/city, (2) a sideways shift to a different team or role in the same company, or (3)

Microaggressions are harmful words and actions that stem from biases and stereotypes. They’re subconscious, meaning we may not even realize we’re being offensive or biased. The damage they inflict can be long-lasting and impact how individuals relate to us and the entire company. As managers, it's our responsibility to create a professional work environment that fosters understanding and listening, so all people can feel safe and supported at work.

Today’s guest is Martine Kalaw. Martine is an Elevation Strategist - she shifts mindsets, builds bridges & delivers results. She is the author of Illegal Among Us, experienced being an undocumented immigrant, and is a DEI Consultant.

Martine and I talk about how to confront, respond to and learn from uncomfortable DEI situations in the workplace. Maybe it’s something you said that landed the wrong way with a team member or maybe it’s something a colleague did that was insensitive or exclusionary. We talk about microaggressions and how to get smarter about your own behavior since so often we don’t even realize we’re creating harm.

Members of the Modern Manager community can get a free 60-Minute Masterclass: Advancing DEI. Scheduled for September 22, this 60-minute class will give you the top five keys to advancing DEI in your workplace over the course of 90 days. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: What To Do About Microaggressions In The Workplace

KEEP UP WITH MARTINE

Website: https://martinekalaw.com/

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/MartineKalawEnterprisesLLC

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/martinekalaw/?hl=en

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/martinekalawconsulting/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/martinekalaw 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQTb6zI5m4jehE-czyT8SvQ/featured

Key Takeaways:

• Sep 13, 2022

Brainstorming is a method of developing ideas in a group setting. It's used to solve problems, come up with new ideas, and generally explore possibilities. While it may seem like a simple task, there’s often much more than meets the eye when it comes to effective brainstorming. Working through various exercises helps you not only generate ideas but also deeply understand the situation you are looking at. 

Today's episode is about brainstorming. Almost every team, at some point, has a brainstorming session. While brainstorming can be as straightforward as “okay, what ideas do you have?” There are also different methods to help you make the most of your brainstorming time together, and that’s what I cover here.

The full episode guide includes lists of prompts and suggested approaches for boosting your brainstorming sessions. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at themodernmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles, and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: 3 Brainstorming Strategies for Every Situation

Key Takeaways:

• Separate the idea generation from idea evaluation in order to facilitate creative thinking.
• Use the phrase “If I had a magic wand…” to help people avoid censoring their ideas based on what they think is feasible or will be viewed as “good” by their colleagues.
• Prepare specific prompts ahead of time to help get people thinking more broadly. For example, “How might we use our space differently?” or “What 1-time changes could we make?” or “What global trends might impact us?”
• Ask people to “wear specific hats” to get them to think from other people’s perspectives. For example, “how would Steve Jobs solve this problem?"
• Try iterating on a single idea to see if there is a version of that idea that is more feasible or more impactful.
• Give people time to brainstorm quietly on their own before sharing all ideas out loud. 

mamie@mamieks.com

instagram.com/mamieks

Identifying the core values and potential motivators of your team members isn't always the easiest task. There are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to each individual personality, which makes for a delicate interpretation process. But optimizing your relationships with others comes down to understanding one thing: what on earth makes them tick?

Today’s guest is Rob Toomey. As President of TypeCoach, Rob lives at the intersection of his two passions: personality type and entrepreneurship. Working with 800 global client organizations, he has delivered live sessions to more than 50,000 participants and the TypeCoach online tools have reached more than 185,000 people. Rob is also Managing Director of The Idea Factory which is focused on early stage app and website projects.

Rob and I talk about the four temperaments - he’ll explain these better than I can in one sentence, but in essence we’re talking about the four different personality type core values and motivators. By identifying which of the four temperaments each of your team members identifies with, you’ll be able to use more effective strategies to motivate, appreciate and engage each person. 

Members of the Modern Manager community get a free Motivation and Feedback document. This will help you gain new insight into what makes people tick and how to tailor your feedback differently to each of the four temperaments for maximum impact. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How To Motivate Your Employees Based on the 4 Temperaments

KEEP UP WITH ROB

Website: Typecoach.com

Key Takeaways:

• Our temperament is our source of motivational energy. 
• There are 4 Temperaments based on categories of introversion/extroversion, judgers/perceivers, thinkers/feelers, sensory/intuitive. 
• Introversion/extroversion is whether we get energy from being alone or with others.
• Judging/Perceiving is how we prefer structure, whether playful or decisive planning.
• Sensory/Intuitive is how we take in and process information.
• Thinking/Feeling is whether we approach a situation through objective analysis or considering our feelings/values.
• The 4 Tempe

Managers all over the world facilitate meetings every day, but how many managers facilitate meetings well? The goal of facilitating a meeting is to create a space so that everyone can participate effectively. This may not come naturally to some managers, but it’s a skill that anyone can master with the right tools.

Today’s guest is Rae Ringel. Rae is an executive coach, facilitator, author and founding President of The Ringel Group. She is a faculty member at the Georgetown University Institute for Transformational Leadership and founding director of their certificate program in the Art of Facilitation and Design. She is also a frequent columnist for Harvard Business Review.

Rae and I talk about meeting facilitation. What facilitation really is, how to do it well when meeting in person or virtually, and Rae shares a bunch of facilitation tricks and activities you can immediately use with your team to improve your meetings.

Members of the Modern Manager community get two articles Rae has authored and published in Harvard Business Review. “Please Stop Using These Phrases in Meetings” helps readers take control of their speech patterns by learning phrases that aren’t as helpful as you think. “When Do We Actually Need to Meet in Person?” helps leaders determine which factors of work can be kept virtual and which require being in-person. Get them when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Facilitate an Effective Meeting

KEEP UP WITH RAE

Twitter: @ringelgroup

LinkedIn: @rae-ringel

Instagram: @julieraeringel

Key Takeaways:

• Facilitation is creating the space in a meeting where everyone can participate.
• It’s important to start with a planned agenda and then be flexible enough to pivot when needed. Plan the activities ahead so you can prepare any materials, e.g. polls, Miro boards, etc.
• Virtual meetings have the potential to be more inclusive and comfortable for people. Leverage the strengths of technology to create a more inclusive meeting by using different modalities of participation.
• Consider how you can arrange the room, or ask people to arrange their physical space, to support effective engagement.

Ever feel like you don't have enough time because you're too busy working on tasks, attending meetings, and checking email? If so, you're not alone. Who has time for planning when there is so much to do?! In reality, a daily planning habit puts you in control of your schedule, workload, and productivity. 

Today’s guest is Ashutosh Priyadarshy. Ashutosh is the Co-founder and CEO of Sunsama, a daily planning assistant that helps knowledge workers stay focused and productive throughout their workdays. Ashutosh has spent most of the last decade building and launching productivity software. His goal is to build products that help us navigate our work and life mindfully and intentionally.

Ashutosh and I  talk about why daily planning is an important process, how we can use daily planning to boost productivity and feel a sense of accomplishment, and more.

Members of the Modern Manager community get an exclusive 30-day free trial of Sunsama. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Boost Productivity with Daily Planning

KEEP UP WITH ASHUTOSH

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunsamahq/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sunsamaHQ

Website: https://get.sunsama.com/

Key Takeaways:

• Create a daily planning habit at a time that works best for you. It doesn’t need to be at the start of your day.
• Starting your day with a plan helps you focus on your most important tasks.
• Bring your calendar and tasks together to get an accurate picture of how you’ll spend your time.
• In addition to meetings and tasks, we have plenty of ‘work chores’ that need to be done every day.
• Share your daily plan with your team to keep people informed, create accountability, and encourage yourself to plan accurately.
• End your day with a reflection on what you accomplished to help feel fulfilled and build momentum.

mamie@mamieks.com

No matter how big or small your team is, there are always things to discuss. Most managers respond by holding weekly meetings. At their best, team meetings are a forum for open and productive communication between team members. At their worst, they waste everyone’s time and energy. If your weekly meetings aren't moving your work forward and leaving people in a positive mood, it’s probably time you redesign them.

In this episode, I share practical advice that you can implement to make your weekly meetings more productive and enjoyable for everyone.

The full episode guide includes an overview of the factors to consider when designing a team meeting, along with examples of team meeting structures, formats, and prework to consider using as a model for your team. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop. 

Get the free mini-guide at themodernmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles, and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Make Weekly Team Meetings Work for Your Team

Key Takeaways:

• There is no right way to have a team meeting. The key is to identify your meeting objectives so that you can design the meeting to meet those needs.
• Consider the flow of the agenda. How will you structure your time together to achieve the meeting objectives? 
• Team meetings can be as short as 15 minutes or as long as multiple hours, as long as the time is well spent.
• Determine what people can do to best prepare for the meeting. This could include completing a dashboard, contributing topics to discuss, or nothing at all.
• Don’t assume a weekly meeting is necessary. Sometimes daily or monthly cadences are more appropriate.
• Explore the format that will best meet the team’s needs. It could be in person, virtually, via Slack, or something else.
• Regularly revisit the design of your team meetings to assess if they are still meeting the team’s needs. It’s okay to experiment with different choices in order to optimize how your team meets.

mamie@mamieks.com

Understanding identity is vital for managers. We all want to respect and better understand our colleagues, but in order to do that we must first understand ourselves. Identity informs how we relate to people, how we make decisions, and how we lead. 

Today’s guest is Victoria Shiroma Wilson. Victoria is a leadership development coach and consultant who partners with world-class organizations and professionals to discover their purpose, develop a powerful vision, and design a strategy toward transformation. Victoria is valued as a big-picture visionary who empowers her clients to think boldly and holistically about their future by examining cultural and systemic influences within a greater ecosystem.

Victoria and I talk about identity - what it is, which is so much more than DNA, how it informs how we show up as a leader and interpret the world, how understanding identity can help us better engage our colleagues and make decisions, and a whole lot more.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a free handout that offers a set of eight reflective questions around the 4 Cs of exceptional management: Confidence, Collaboration, Communication, and Culture. In addition, the first member to email mamie@mamieks.com will receive a free copy of Victoria’s upcoming book, which will be published in September. Get these bonuses when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Understand Identity to Lead More Powerfully

KEEP UP WITH VICTORIA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriashiromawilson/

Website: https://www.exceptionalfutures.com/

Email: hello@exceptionalfutures.com 

Key Takeaways:

• Identity is formed through the outside in and inside out. It’s how we experience the world that informs how we perceive it and ourselves.
• We all make assumptions about identity and what the experience of a given identity entails, but often those aren’t true because identity is intersectional and complex.
• We can use our differences in identity if we switch from “I am” to “I see”. Instead of “I am a woman, therefore…” to “From my perspective, I see…”
• Aug 02, 2022

Both verbal and nonverbal communication are critical interpersonal skills. Listening to others, observing their reactions, speaking in a way that promotes understanding and connection, using body language—these are all essential to our leadership development. Effective leaders must know that communicating is a combination of what you say, how you say it, and how you respond to what has been said back to you.

Today’s guest is Richard Newman. Richard is the Founder of Body Talk. Over the past 22 years his team have trained over 120,000 business leaders around the world, to improve their communication and impact, including one client who gained over $1 Billion in new business in just one year, using the strategies that Richard teaches.

Richard and I talk about the unspoken parts of communication, communicating effectively remotely, keeping people engaged in a meeting or presentation, and so much more. 

Members of the Modern Manager community get a free audiobook version of Richard’s book, You Were Born to Speak. This work discusses everything he has learned in his 23-year journey, filled with practical strategies that you can apply immediately to transform your success. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Revolutionize Your Team’s Communication With These Simple Skills

KEEP UP WITH RICHARD

Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richardnewmanspeaks/
Business Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ukbodytalk/
Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardnewmanspeaks/
Business LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/communicationskillstraining/

Book: You Were Born To Speak

Website: https://ukbodytalk.com/

Key Takeaways:

• Communication is how we connect and build relationships. It’s a two way street of sending messages out and responding to others

Be honest with yourself for a moment: Are you managing your time and tasks well? Do you have a weekly planning routine that helps ensure you’re focused on your most important work? Sometimes, just a few simple changes to your planning can help you find more freedom and fulfillment in your work.

Today’s guest is Demir Bentley. Demir teaches hard-hitting efficiency techniques and proven accountability strategies that have helped clients generate millions in revenue while saving thousands of hours. In the past eight years, he’s helped more than 50,000 professionals, including executives from Facebook, Google, Uber and PepsiCo – helping them prevent burnout and create more freedom in their lives. And, Demir’s advice has been highlighted in Forbes, Bloomberg, Entrepreneur and more.

Demir and I talk about the #1 routine you should do every week to exponentially improve your productivity…the weekly planning session. We get into how to do it, when to do it, and what makes it so powerful.

Members of the Modern Manager community have a chance to get 1 of 20 free Kindle versions of Demir’s book, “Winning the Week”. In this book, Demir and Carey Bentley reveal their five-step method that radically reimagines how you plan and execute your week. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: 5 Steps to a Productive Week

KEEP UP WITH DEMIR

Website: lifehackmethod.com

Book: winningtheweek.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/lifehackbootcamp

Instagram: http://instagram.com/demirandcarey

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/demirandcarey

Key Takeaways:

• There are hundreds of productivity tips, tools, practices, habits, routines. Instead of trying to do them all or sift through to find the best one for yourself, start with the fundamentals of planning your week.

• Everyone knows about weekly planning but few people do it correctly, and most people don’t do it at all.
• To plan your week, start by removing the frictions or increasing your motivation to spend 30 minutes on t

Vacation time is so important. We know there are a myriad of health benefits that come from taking time away from work. I also know how anxiety producing it can be to worry about your team or projects while you're away or stress over returning to an overflowing inbox and build-up of tasks, which can negate some of the health benefits and enjoyment of your time off. So what can you do to make your vacation time as rejuvenating as possible?

Today's episode is about preparing to be out for vacation. I walk through 5 approaches to consider to help you prepare to be out of the office and make your time away and re-entry as smooth as possible.

The full episode guide includes an overview of these principles plus tips for communicating tasks and responsibilities effectively to your team members so that there's no confusion. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at themodernmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles, and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Effectively Prepare Yourself and Your Team for Vacation Time

Key Takeaways:

• Taking vacations provides essential health benefits. Prepare well to minimize worrying about your team/work while away. 
• Create a shared vacation calendar to coordinate time off, except for holiday times, to ensure multiple people aren’t out at the same time. 
• Prep at least two weeks ahead of time so you can get organized and ensure everyone knows their responsibilities. Consult prior to-do lists to keep track of expected tasks. 
• Document processes for tasks while doing them rather than by memory. Record the screen while narrating to ensure you’ve included all essential and accurate information.  
• Consider what you’ll do ahead of time, what you’ll delay, what you’ll hand off, and what you’ll do while out.
• Determine how much you want staff to be able to contact you while out of the office and via what tools. 
• Consider which tasks might be a growth opportunity for certain colleagues. Make sure people are on board and confident with their new temporary roles. 
• When ret

Does it ever seem like your tasks just keep piling no matter how busy you are? As managers, it’s crucial that we’re able to follow through on our tasks and responsibilities so we can take care of our businesses and people. But in order to do that, we must have the right tools and mindset to organize and prioritize our daily work.   

Today’s guest is Mark J. Silverman. Mark is an executive coach, author, and podcast host. He works with leaders and their teams around the world, to address the underlying behaviors and mindsets that sabotage all “time management” and “productivity tools”.

Mark and I talk about prioritization through the lens of getting the right things done at the right time. We explore the concepts from his book Only 10s: Confront Your To-Do List, Transform Your Life and how to stay focused on what matters most even when you’ve got external pressures that make it feel impossible.

Members of the Modern Manager community get access to a specialized web page for the Modern Manager Community. This page includes nine video modules on topics including difficult conversations, dealing with distractions, and energy mastery. Many of the modules include a “Taking Action Worksheet.” This page also includes a link you can use to schedule a follow-up meeting with Mark. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles, transcripts and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Be The Master Of Your To Do List Every Day

KEEP UP WITH MARK

Website: https://www.markjsilverman.com

Instagram: @markjsilverman

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.silverman.54

Twitter: @mjaysilverman

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark22102/

Key Takeaways:

• 10s are the things that have to be done, today, only by you.
• The only thing we own in life is our time and attention. Our 10s reflect our deepest values and priorities. 
• When we are afraid to upset others by saying no, we end up overloaded and unable to prioritize our

Authenticity at work requires being true to yourself. However, this can be a difficult feat for managers. We often step into the management position believing there is a certain way we must speak and act, or certain knowledge we should now possess simply because we’re leading others, but research shows people respond more favorably to managers who are their true selves. How can managers fulfill their role while being true to their personalities, capabilities, and limitations?

Today’s guest is Sabrina Horn. Sabrina is an award-winning CEO, author, communications expert, and advisor. Her career is highlighted by 25 years as Founder, CEO, and President of Horn Group, the iconic U.S. tech communications agency she founded in Silicon Valley at age 29. She is currently CEO of HORN Strategy, focused on helping entrepreneurs navigate the early stages of their companies. She is here today to talk with us about her new book, Make It, Don’t Fake It: Leading with Authenticity for Real Business Success.

Sabrina and I talk about imposter syndrome, how to be appropriately authentic, how to overcome your inner critic's fears by acting ‘as if’ and more strategies for being real and amazing at work.

Members of the Modern Manager community can get one of five signed copies of Sabrina’s book, Make It, Don’t Fake It. This book offers executives concrete advice on what to do when faced with everyday challenges and big dilemmas, so leaders can make the right decisions and build durable businesses. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Overcome Imposter Syndrome and Lead with Authenticity

KEEP UP WITH SABRINA

Website: https://www.sabrinahorn.com

Book: Make It, Don’t Fake It

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabrinahorn/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sabrinahorn

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sabrinahorn/

Key Takeaways:

• Being inauthentic is unsustainable. Even though it’s hard to face the truth, it's harder in the long-

It's cliche, but true: Your people are your biggest asset. There's nothing more important than hiring people who are a strong fit for the job responsibilities and also align with your organization's values and mission. But recruiting the right people for your team can pose a challenge, and the hiring process can leave managers feeling exhausted.

Today’s guest is Tatiyana Cure. Tatiyana brings her extensive background as an executive recruiter and talent acquisition leader to her work of coaching managers. She has partnered with thousands of hiring managers in a wide variety of industries. She is passionate about helping managers achieve their business goals through effective talent strategies. Tatiyana wrote her first book: "Hire to Win: Manager's Practical Guide for Attracting and Interviewing Top Talent" to share a blueprint for those looking for a step-by-step guide in hiring.

We talk about the ins and outs of hiring: how to write a good job description, how to distinguish who to invite to an interview and who to pass on, how to handle reference checks, and so much more, so that you can hire the right people for your team.

10 members of the Modern Manager community get a free copy of Tatiyana’s book, Hire to Win. This step-by-step playbook accompanies managers looking to achieve better results, higher profits, and more success through the employees they hire. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: The Step by Step Guide to Hiring the Perfect Person

KEEP UP WITH TATIYANA

Website: https://howtowintalent.com/

Book: Hire to Win

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tatiyanacure/

Key Takeaways:

• Build a recruiting intake process as a blueprint. Consider what goal you are trying to accomplish, why your organization is unique, and what success in the job looks like. 
• Get to the point quickly when writing a job description. Spell out specifically what you’re looking for and what the role entails. Include the compensation range. 
• There are four types of applicants; Blanket Folks who apply to every position, Role Players who have the skill set in place already, Stretchers who are looking to advance their career, and Head Scratchers who have taken a leave and are returning or trying a new career

Most people have a general idea about how their colleagues or team members work best. You may occasionally pick up a random fact about a person's personality or work style, but it's rare to have the full picture. The result: we are frustrated by our coworkers because we don’t understand them and they don’t understand us. 

Today I talk about creating a Personal Instruction Manual, or PIM for short. A PIM is a resource that describes a person’s personality and working preferences, and its purpose is to help that person’s coworkers and manager better understand and work with them. Similar to an instruction manual that comes with a new piece of hardware or software, a PIM helps people understand how to engage with someone most effectively.

The full episode guide includes a template for creating a Personal Instruction Manual. You’ll find questions for each section to help the creator capture relevant insights about themselves. In addition, I’m offering an extra bonus this week. If you are interested in having me support your team to develop Personal Instruction Manuals, I will facilitate a team coaching program centered on PIMs at a 20% discount. Get these offers when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at themodernnmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Optimize Your Working Relationships with the Personal Instruction Manual

Key Takeaways:

• Don’t waste time guessing what your teammates need. Craft and share Personal Instruction Manuals to explain how each person works most effectively. 
• Each person learns and shares their Myer Briggs profile so everyone can better understand different thinking styles and behaviors. 
• Explain what work environment you work best in: remote/office, quiet/noisy, deep work/meeting times, and most productive times of days. 
• Share what types of things stress you at work and what behaviors indicate that you're feeling stressed. Explain how people can best support you at these times. 
• Describe your communication preferences: How do you like feedback? How do you deal with conflict and what makes you feel appreciated? 
• Jun 14, 2022

We’ve all been there. We thought we knew what was best, only to find out later that what we thought we knew was wrong. Even the best manager can get lost in all the leadership advice, trying to do what’s right and still somehow failing. This is because sometimes that leadership advice is wrong.

Today’s guest is Sumit Gupta. Sumit spent 20 years in software, started 2 for-profit and 1 non-profit organizations, and is a photographer. He combines his experiences as a techie, engineer, 3x entrepreneur, and leader in companies like Yahoo and Booking.com, and as a poet and photographer – to help leaders merge the science of doing business with the art of leadership.

Sumit and I talk about the seven paradoxes of leadership. These paradoxes are concepts that shift the way we think about leadership and what it takes to be a great manager. They take the typical leadership advice and flip it on its head.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a 20% discount on Deploy Yourself, a 6-month group coaching program for leaders starting July 15 and September 15, 2022. This program will help you create better results in less time, build strong relationships, and find meaning and joy. You can get an additional 20% off the program if you register by June 20. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: What You Thought About Leading a Team is Wrong

KEEP UP WITH SUMIT

Podcast: https://www.deployyourself.com/podcast/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumit4all/

Newsletter: https://www.deployyourself.com/newsletter/

Seven Paradoxes Report: https://www.deployyourself.com/7-leadership-paradoxes/

Key Takeaways:

• What we believe about effective management is often the opposite. We call these paradoxes of effective leadership.
• To build psychological safety, trust your team’s intentions and abilities from the start, rather than waiting for them to prove themselves. 
• Don’t blindly trust. Set up the right structure of clear expectations, values and direction. Be transparent about any concerns you have so they can be add

When working with a team, delegation is one of the most important skills to develop. One of our main goals as managers is to unlock the potential of our people, and effective delegation enables that to happen. However, ineffective delegation can lead to frustration and inefficiencies for everyone. 

Today’s guest is Yuri Elkaim. Yuri is a former pro athlete, leading health expert, New York Times bestselling author, and the founder of Healthpreneur® where he helps health entrepreneurs, coaches, and practitioners start and scale online practices that create more income and freedom...and better results for their clients.

Yuri and I talk about creating the parameters for people to take on additional responsibility and autonomy while meeting the standards and expectations that you’ve set. We talk about creating principles, the importance of effective onboarding, and finding the balance between micromanaging and being totally hands off.

Members of the Modern Manager community get the worksheet Communication is Key, which is one lesson from Mamie’s course, The Modern Manager’s Guide to Effective Delegation. In addition, members get 90% off the full course which includes 5 modules of brief mini-lessons that help you take manageable actions to apply the learnings to your situation. It’s designed for busy managers who are ready to free their time and eliminate friction through effective delegation. Get these bonuses when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Guide Your Team Using Organization Principles

KEEP UP WITH YURI

Website: https://healthpreneurgroup.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthpreneur/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@yurielkaim

Key Takeaways:

• To document your management approach, imagine a scene of yourself working. Consider what you say and how you interact. If you can articulate your process, you can delegate it to others. 
• Elevate your time by delegating low level tasks below your paygrade. Maintain oversight as you delegate new tasks to ensure they are completed to your standards. 
• Use an ‘early alignment phase’ for the first two weeks during which you closely monitor the work to make sure your team member learns the new expectations properly. Small, early misses could lead to big mistakes farther down. Be available for support if

A modern manager is an employee’s partner. You support them, teach them, and guide them through the ups and downs of doing their work. While many new managers, and entrepreneurs are thrown into the position without training, they don’t need to flounder. With a bit of intention and determination, anyone can become a rockstar manager. 

Today’s guest is Joie Jager-Hyman. Joie is the Founder of College Prep 360, a boutique educational advisory group. She is also the author of two books on college admissions: "B+ Grades A+ College Applications" and "Fat Envelope Frenzy".

Joie and I talk about her experience of transforming into a “modern manager” and how that has impacted her personally, her team, and her business.

Members of the Modern Manager community get 10% off educational advising or college essay editing from College Prep 360. Get this bonus when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: People Management Should Be Your Top Priority

KEEP UP WITH JOIE:

Website: https://www.collegeprep360.com/

Key Takeaways:

• Most managers and entrepreneurs never got trained to be people managers, so we have to proactively educate ourselves.
• Strong people management is your foundation. The better you take care of your team, the better work they can do.
• Develop team and/or company values. Together, decide what you care about and how you want to treat each other. Reference these values as often as possible in meetings, when giving feedback, etc.
• Don’t let stress overtake your values. Being stressed is not an excuse for treating team members poorly.
• It’s just as important to support your team as it is to please clients.
• Invest in a coach for yourself and give your team members opportunities for professional coaching. 
• Good people management is a learning journey. Your team members will need different things from you as they develop.

Additional Resources:

• Episode 72: Align Your Team By Creating Shared Values

We live in an age of distraction. No matter what we have to do – whether it's writing an essay, working in an office, or just going about our daily lives – we are constantly at the mercy of internal and external distractions. These attention-breakers have serious consequences on our quality of work. The good news is that with our growing knowledge of the brain and improved technology, there are specific steps we can take to increase attention and improve focus.

This week’s episode covers the difference between internal and external distractions and practical steps you can take to increase your focus. While our internal distractions are actually much more numerous than external, both can prevent people from focused work. I talk about the things you may be doing that prevent deep focus, then I give you steps you can take to mitigate distractions using short-term and long-term approaches.

The full episode guide includes the matrix of focus along with tips and suggestions for how to focus from each of the various perspectives of the matrix. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.

Get the free mini-guide at themodernnmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.

Read the related blog article: How to Stop Getting so Distracted and Focus

Key Takeaways:

• External distractions are physical interruptions in our environment that break our focus.
• Internal distractions come from within us, whether it’s a desire to check social media or feeling hungry.
• 80% of all distractions we encounter are internal. Focusing better is about controlling your mind.
• If you have too much on your mind (cognitive overload), you depress your ability to concentrate on the task at hand.
• Humans can’t multitask (do two things at once). Instead, we task switch, which takes time to refocus.
• Clear your physical and digital spaces from visual distractions.
• Block out time on your calendar to get deep work done.
• Develop ways for your team to signal when they don’t want to be interrupted (like a closed door or headphones

People that don't feel safe in their work can't reach their full potential. Psychological safety can make the difference between a productive and innovative workplace, and one where employees feel the need to keep their heads down. As managers, it's our responsibility to create a culture of psychological safety so our team members can communicate well, produce better results, and be their authentic selves.

Today’s guest is Teresa Mitrovic. Teresa is the founder of ORO Collective, as well as a consultant, coach, course creator, and author specializing in performance, psychological safety, and trust. In her past life as a corporate leader, when the increasing demands of senior leadership clashed with single parenthood, Teresa pivoted her career to coaching leaders. 

Teresa and I talk about psychological safety and how to foster an environment in which people speak up, give feedback, show up authentically, and act without fear. 

Members of the Modern Manager community get Teresa’s Coaching as a Manager guide. This video walk-through will help you refine the relationship you have with your team and begin the process of converting emotional tension into creative tension, while helping your team to learn, fail and continually develop with greater psychological safety. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles, and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Foster Psychological Safety Within Your Team

KEEP UP WITH TERESA

Website: https://www.orocollective.space/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teresamitrovic/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orocollectiveteam

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-psych-safety-project-6892397826123423744/

Key Takeaways:

• Psychological safety is the feeling that you can speak up and be vulnerable in front of your boss and colleagues without fear of judgment or repercussions.
• When we feel safe, we go into “Connect Mode” which activates the prefrontal cortex. We think creatively, expansively, and feel confident sharing our thoughts. 
• When stressed, we go into “Protect Mode” which activates the limbic brain. We go into flight/fright/freeze and feel afraid to speak up. 

For many people, the pandemic blurred the lines between personal and professional spaces. While this had many benefits such as bringing people closer together, it also created ambiguity that is challenging for managers to navigate. How can managers best create and maintain boundaries while supporting their team members’ whole selves?

Today’s guest is Deborah Grayson Riegel. Deborah is a keynote speaker, executive coach, and consultant who has taught leadership communication for Wharton Business School, Duke Corporate Education, Columbia Business School’s Women in Leadership Program, and the Beijing International MBA Program at Peking University. She is the co-author of “Go to Help: 31 Ways to Offer, Ask for, and Accept Help” and "Overcoming Overthinking: 36 Ways to Tame Anxiety for Work, School, and Life” — both written with her daughter Sophie, who is Junior at Duke.

Deborah and I talk about how to navigate the tricky situation of personal life bleeding into work life. We discuss setting boundaries and building relationships as well as how to support someone who is struggling in their personal life and what to do when it starts impacting their performance at work.

Get Deborah’s guide How To Have A C.A.L.M.E.R. Conversation About Mental Health At Work. This guide includes an overview of the C.A.L.M.E.R. approach that makes these difficult conversations easier for both parties. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Take Care of Stressed Out Employees

KEEP UP WITH DEBORAH:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahgraysonriegel/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deborahgraysonriegel

Book: Go To Help 

Book: Overcoming Anything 

Key Takeaways:

• Be intentional and explicit about setting personal boundaries at work. Connect with each person about what feels right for them.
• If you’re shifting from a peer to a manager role, talk abou what will change and what will stay the same about your relationship.
• F

Organizations across the globe are reconsidering how, when, and where work gets done. As offices reopen and employees desire more flexibility, now is the time for teams and organizations to design a work ecosystem that meets today's needs while setting people up for the future. 

Today’s guest is Emily Esterly. Emily has nearly 15 years of experience in roles spanning HROD, corporate strategy, economic development, workforce development, and corporate sustainability. At GOJO, her HROD and Enterprise Strategy roles have focused on advancing innovative ways of working across its highly collaborative networked organization to ensure the company stays adaptive as it grows in a highly complex and ever-changing world. Her aim is to ensure both teams and individuals at GOJO reach their full potential, thriving personally and professionally, and delivering on the company’s Purpose of Saving Lives and Making Life Better out in the world.

Emily and I talk about the new Work Ecosystem that GOJO is rolling out to address new ways of collaborating, flexible work, and bringing the organization into the future. 

Members of the Modern Manager community get a detailed diagram that explains GOJO’s work ecosystem. Get it, along with dozens of other guest bonuses and episode guides, when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: A New Work Ecosystem for the Future

KEEP UP WITH EMILY

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gojo-industries/

Website: www.gojo.com

Key Takeaways:

• Organizations need to design a work ecosystem that combines remote and onsite workers so that people thrive and work is done effectively.
• The four role types to consider are: mostly onsite, mostly virtual, blended weekly, and blended monthly. These roles are based on what an employee needs in order to complete their work.
• Mostly onsite workers need access to special equipment or facilities, and spend 80% of their time in the office.
• Mostly virtual workers spend 80% of their time working remotely.
• Blended weekly workers need to be in the office 40-60% of their time to partake in important relationships building activities and work that needs in person collaboration or oversight. 
• Blended monthly workers go to the office a few times a month

Today I’m celebrating 200 episodes. This feels like a major accomplishment. When I launched the show in May 2018, just getting to 10 episodes felt a little overwhelming. Now, looking back, I’m so proud of what I was able to do and how many managers like yourself I’ve been able to help. It’s because of you that I create this show week after week.

For this special 200th episode, I looked back over the guest episodes and thought about what ideas really stood out for me. While every episode has golden nuggets, I chose 5 key takeaways that have impacted or stayed with me in some way. I hope you find these ideas useful, but more importantly, I hope you’ll scroll back into the feed and check out older episodes even if you have already listened to them. There are some truly great conversations and solo episodes in the archive. And listening to a show for a second time helps us hear new things because we’ve grown and evolved since we first listened.

Get 20% off all levels of The Modern Manager annual membership. Use code CELEBRATE200 at www.themodernmanager.com/join. Offer expires on May 1, 2022.

The full episode guide includes details on how to take action on each learning’s next step. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop. 

Get the free mini-guide at themodernnmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.

Read the related blog article: 5 Management Takeaways From 200 Episodes

Key Takeaways:

• A heartfelt thank you to my listeners, members of The Modern Manager community and all my guests!
• Reflection is thinking about what you could have done better. Introspection is asking yourself why you had that reaction. Use introspection to get to the root of your challenges.
• When driving a car, an intersection dictates rules the driver obeys. A stoplight has strong control rules that reduce driver autonomy. A roundabout puts more trust and responsibility on the driver to make his own decisions. Roundabouts are more effective, safer, and cheaper.

Athletes train their bodies with intention. They practice their chosen activity but also take time to develop the skills needed for high performance. If our bodies benefit from both “playing the game” and “training in the gym”, why wouldn’t that same approach be true for our brains?

Today’s guest is Darcy Luoma. Darcy is the author of Thoughtfully Fit® and a highly sought-after coach and consultant who has worked with more than five hundred organizations in forty-eight industries to create high-performing people and teams. She balances her thriving business with raising her two energetic teenage daughters and competing in triathlons.

Darcy and I talk about lessons from her book Thoughtfully Fit: Your Training Plan for Life and Business Success. As you’ll hear, she uses the metaphor of being physically fit and applies it to how we think about our mental and emotional fitness so that we can be effective managers and effective humans in general.

Members of the Modern Manager community can win one of two available signed copies of Darcy’s book, Thoughtfully Fit: Your Training Plan for Life and Business Success. To be eligible, you must be a member. Join by visiting the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Train Your Brain to Succeed at Work

KEEP UP WITH DARCY

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/darcyluoma/
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfullyfit
Twitter: @DarcyLuoma
Instagram: @darcyluomacoaching
LinkedIn Personal - https://www.linkedin.com/in/darcyluoma/
LinkedIn Company - https://www.linkedin.com/company/darcy-luoma-coaching-&-consulting-llc
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaMLTzKl2YO5olR6V23aaXA

Whether you're a leader or a manager, the chances are that you occasionally (or regularly) find yourself dealing with difficult situations. Coaching is an increasingly popular way of helping people develop the skills, habits, and mindsets needed to reach their full potential by better understanding themselves, their goals, and the situations they encounter.

Today’s guest is Dr. Richard Levin. Richard is widely recognized as one of the first executive coaches. He is one of a half-dozen global leaders who have created and shaped the coaching profession since its inception in the 1980’s.

As the founder and principal of Richard Levin & Associates (the first executive coaching firm, and the first network of independent executive coaches); as co-author of the popular and powerful book Shared Purpose: Working Together to Build Strong Families and High Performance Companies; and as a founder of Boston University’s Center on Work and Family, Richard has stretched the boundaries of creativity, inclusiveness, and collaboration to build extraordinary organizations.

Richard and I talk about coaching - what coaching is, how it's different from therapy or advising, who should get coaching, the future of coaching, and what to do if you or a team member want coaching but your organizanization doesn't have the budget for it.

Members of the Modern Manager community get a resource packet that consists of CFAR’s boldest thinking on executive coaching, strategy, culture, and organizational behavior. This valuable resource includes learnings and writings of CFAR’s top leaders and has never before been available to the public. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Executive Coaching Isn’t Just for Executives

KEEP UP WITH RICHARD

Website: www.cfar.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardjlevin/ 

Website Bio: https://www.cfar.com/Levin/

Key Takeaways:

• Dr. Richard Levin, a psychologist by training, founded the world’s first “executive coaching firm” in the 1980’s. Since then, the field has grown exponentially.
• Coaching helps leaders become their best selves. It can include everything from avoiding burnout to communication skills. 
• Coaches act as thought partners to

It seems like every day there is a new communications app or an advance in communications technology capabilities. These tools are intended to help us collaborate more effectively with our team, but they can also lead to a tangled web of information and a messy communication system. Plus, teams are exploring new ways of working as hybrid work slowly replaces fully remote teaming. Given the foundational nature of communications, intentionally designing your communication practices can elevate and streamline your effectiveness.

Today's episode is about synchronous and asynchronous communication. In short, synchronous means we’re all physically present at the same time. Asynchronous means each person is communicating independently of others’ timing. Communication is at the heart of how people work together, so getting the right tools, processes, and norms in place for your team to facilitate effective synchronous and asynchronous communication is essential. I’ll share 3 key principles to consider when designing how your team will use its various communication modes, and then I’ll walk through the approach to create a communication guide so your team can get aligned on how you’ll communicate and document it for future reference. 

The full episode guide includes more details on the process and principles along with my thoughts on which synchronous and asynchronous practices are most effective for what types of activities and why. I also include some of my favorite tools in case you’re looking to add some to your toolbox and want a short list to start with. Get the episode guide when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at themodernnmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Harmonize Synchronous and Asynchronous Communications 

Key Takeaways:

• Synchronous communication is being present at the same time together (i.e. a meeting). Asynchronous communication is independent of others' timing.
• The fewer the tools your team uses to communicate, the better. The goal is to identify the right communication method and use the simplest tools with minimal overlap. 
• Create templates to streamline everything from meetings and agendas to email subject lines. 
• Experiment with trying asynchronous communications first until it’s no longer working. Think of meetings as a last resort rather than a starting point, except for relationship buildi

How we go about our work can make or break our productivity and effectiveness. The ability to meet deadlines, stay calm under pressure, develop a project plan and focus on a task without checking email every five minutes are all part of the skillset known as executive functioning. While this part of our brain develops throughout childhood, many of us still struggle with executive functioning as adults. Luckily, like any skill, we can develop them.

Today’s guest is Michael Delman. Michael is the CEO of Beyond BookSmart and WorkSmart Coaching. Author, Executive Function Coach, and School Founder, his career has been centered for three decades on helping people become more effective.

Michael and I talk about the four groups of executive functioning skills, how these show up in the workplace, what you can do to better perform in your role and how to better engage with your team using executive functioning strategies.

Members of the Modern Manager community get $100 off their executive functioning coaching membership or a staff training engagement. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community at the Sprout level or above.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Learn The Art Of Self-Management

KEEP UP WITH MICHAEL

Website for kids: https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/

Website for adults: https://www.worksmartcoaching.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beyondbooksmart

Book: You're Kid's Gonna Be Okay: Building the Executive Function Skills Your Child Needs in the Age of Attention

Key Takeaways:

• Executive functioning skills are habits for self-management. They can be broken down into four categories, known as COPS. Calm, Organize, Plan and Prioritize, Start and Stay focused.
• The prefrontal cortex doesn’t function well under stress. Prepare adequately to reduce stress buildup. Use breathing techniques to calm down your emotions. Use cognitive thinking tricks like having perspective to see the big picture, to take the pressure off. 
• Organization includes the elements of STOP; Space, Time, Objects, and People. 
• Consider how to set up your environment to help

Managers know the value of team building, but not all activities are effective or right for your people. Traditional team-building activities like ropes courses, paintball games, or scavenger hunts often don’t speak to millennials or employees in other generations. They can also be competitive instead of collaborative, or require physical abilities that not everyone is capable of. Instead, managers can look for activities that are fun, accessible, and translate into productive relationships in the workplace, like floral design.

Today’s guest is Elise Bernhardt. Elise served as CEO or Executive Director of multiple non-profit cultural organizations during her 30 year career. She then reinvented herself as a floral designer and facilitator which combined her passion for flowers and bringing people together through her flower design workshops.

Elise and I talk about the lessons she’s learned from years of leading people and organizations of different sizes, as well as her unusual approach to team building that includes flowers, and what we can learn from that process.

Three members of the Modern Manager community get a discount on Elise’s floral design workshops. Get one of these when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles, and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How Floral Design Can Strengthen Your Team’s Relationships.

KEEP UP WITH ELISE

Website: www.fleurelisebkln.com

Instagram: @fleur_elise_bkln

Key Takeaways:

• Many common team-building exercises can be stressful and competitive, making the experience feel less inclusive.
• Ikebana is the Japanese art of floral design. It is considered a spiritual practice and a life skill. Flowers have also been shown to reduce blood pressure. 
• Floral design team building workshops are non judgemental and relaxing. They create opportunities for bonding, creativity, and self-expression because there is no right answer.
• After completion, everyone shares observations about each others’ work such as color and placement. This is different from sharing feedback on what you like or dislike, or what you think would make the arrangement better.
• Observational dialogue shifts how people reflect and share. It is a useful tool to carry over into workplace feedback. It focuses on what you notice and conveying that in a neutral tone.

Accountability, when done right, isn't about exerting power or authority. It’s not about enforcing punishments or negative consequences. Instead, it’s about making sure that everyone does what they commit to doing through shared responsibility for success. Managers who do this develop strong teams with strong performance. Those who don’t do this end up with extra pressure on themselves and disengaged employees who are underperforming or unhappy in their jobs - both of which are downright unhealthy for everyone. 

Today's episode is about how to create a culture of accountability. Accountability often feels hard, in part because it's the thing we do when something goes wrong. Instead, you can make accountability ever-present on your team so that everyone holds themselves and each other accountable.

The full episode guide contains more detailed actions, questions for reflection, and worksheets to help you foster a culture of accountability with your team. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at themodernmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles, and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: 5 Steps to Creating a Culture of Accountability

Key Takeaways:

• Accountability at work is not an individual burden on the manager but about creating a culture of accountability that is shared by the team. 
• Without a culture of accountability, the best workers leave and performance suffers. 
• Articulate and model your team’s values and expected behaviors. Own your mistakes when you misstep to foster trust. 
• People take seriously what they feel responsible for. It’s essential to connect accountability to celebrating successes and to give credit when it’s due.
• Teammates who care about each other and feel valued by their manager don’t want to let each other down. Shared accountability means they will push each other even when the boss isn’t around. 
• Explain why the expectations matter and how it impacts them, you, the team, and/or the organization’s success.
• Create a safe space for your team to admit their mistakes. Encourage questions, provide support, and don’t blame when things go off track. 

As managers, we have a responsibility to help our employees find stability in a time of chaos. To do this most effectively, we need to understand how the brain functions best—and most importantly, how it can go wrong. Understanding the neuroscience of change will give us unparalleled insight into managing moments of uncertainty and times of change so that our team members remain productive, engaged, and loving their work.

Today’s guest is Russ Linden. Russ is a management consultant, leadership instructor, and author who's worked with public and nonprofit organizations for 36 years. He specializes in change management, collaboration, and the use of influence (when formal authority won't cut it).

Russ and I talk about the experience of navigating change, how to better deal with ambiguity, the phenomenon called loss aversion, the relationship between change and learning, and so much more.

Members of the Modern Manager community at the Sprout level and above get 30% off all of Russ’s books, including his latest, Loss and Discovery: What the Torah Can Teach Us about Leading Change. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox.

Read the related blog article: How Managers Can Create Stability In Unpredictable Times

KEEP UP WITH RUSS:

Website: www.loss-discovery.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/russ.linden.9/ 

Key Takeaways:

• Our brains are wired to perceive a lack of control, predictability, and certainty as threats.
• Create stability for your team by building steady, predictable relationships.  Be an honest, trustworthy leader they can depend on. 
• Define and implement your company’s core values so your team knows what to expect and how the organization operates. 
• Loss aversion is the brain’s way of avoiding the pain of loss which is stronger than the desire for winning.
• Honestly address the potential losses that arise with any change. Give your employees space to mourn these losses.
• Our brains continue growing new cells and neural pathways throughout our life, cal

The brain is an amazing thing. Its capacity to learn is almost endless. But too often the process of learning can feel boring, difficult, stressful, and even painful. In order for the brain to retain what we’ve learned, we need to deploy the right strategies. These simple approaches make learning efficient and enjoyable. 

Today’s guest is Collin Jewett. Collin is an industrial engineer, author, coach, and adventurer. He loves helping others rediscover the joy of learning and partnering with their brains to unlock limitless memory, boundless creativity, and unshakeable focus.

Collin and I  talk about the process of learning, how to remember better, the relationship between learning and creativity, and so much more.

Members of the Modern Manager community get access to Collin’s 7-part video series titled “Unlock your 3 Brain States” to help you discover the 3 critical brain states and unlock hyperfocus and endless creative potential. Get this guest bonus and dozens more when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Unlock Your Brain’s Ability To Learn

KEEP UP WITH COLLIN

Website: https://curiosityjump.com/

Course: maven.com/curiosityjump/superlearner

Key Takeaways:

• We are born with the desire to learn about the world and ourselves. 
• Curiosity is the innate desire to ask questions.
• Creativity is the innate desire to answer questions and solve problems.
• Creativity isn’t a “have it or you don’t” thing. Creativity is the process of combining existing ideas in new ways.
• Memory works by associating and comparing old knowledge with new information. 
• Analogies and metaphors are powerful because they take new ideas and put them in a familiar context. 
• Learning that is relevant to our lives is more enjoyable and stickier. Clarify how and why this information or skill is relevant.
• Use the observation and visualization to get brain neurons to fire as if you were going through the motions. 
• Use as many kinds of VARK learni

It’s easy to get caught in the whirlwind of work. We can get carried along by the hundreds of things that need to get done, never stepping back to consider if it’s actually working or whether the path is even the right one. Taking time to prioritize, reflect, or set boundaries that actually get followed can feel like a luxury we just can’t afford given the fires that keep popping up, the ever-growing to-do list, and wanting to be there for our team members when they need us. But imagine what work and life could be, if we did.

Today’s guest is Lisa Marie Platske. Lisa Marie is an award-winning leadership expert in human behavior and recognized as one of the top 100 women making a difference in the world. She left her Federal law enforcement career after 9/11 to build Upside Thinking, Inc. She is also a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, and Lisa has trained or coached over 100,000 leaders around the globe.

Lisa and I talk about the Leadership Blueprint. She shared the three principles of the Leadership Blueprint which can help you up your management game and unleash your full potential as a people leader. 

Members of the Modern Manager community get the Influential Leadership Blueprint, a simple, step-by-step workbook that allows you to create clear next steps for your journey.

Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

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Read the related blog article: How To Become A Leader Worth Following

KEEP UP WITH LISA MARIE

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamarieplatske/

Facebook business: https://www.facebook.com/UpsideThinking

Facebook personal: https://www.facebook.com/lisa.marie.platske

Key Takeaways:

• Courage is more important than expertise. Courageous leadership comes from making and acting on difficult decisions.
• Consider the knowledge and experience you have from all aspects of your life, not only professional ones. 
• Prioritize the goals that will make the greatest impact. Decide these based on personal and/or organizational values. 
• It’s more important to move one important thing a mile than 10 things only three steps. Set your priority goals and then reassess during the day by using SNAP at random intervals; Stop, Notice, Ask, Pause, Pray, and Pivot. 
• Feb 15, 2022

Influencing others is a key part of most managerial positions. Too often we conflate authority with influence. Authority is an exercise in power while influence is about encouraging people to join you in a shared mission. 

Whether it's getting a team member to change their behavior, generating buy-in from your supervisor, or getting a colleague in a different department to help out, we are often in positions where we don’t have (or don’t want to use) positional power to get what we need. This is where we rely on our ability to influence.

In this episode, I walk through 5 approaches to influencing without authority so that you can gain support in ways that both deliver results and feel good along the way.

The full episode guide includes tips and suggestions for each of the five approaches. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at themodernnmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: 5 Approaches to Influencing Without Authority

Key Takeaways:

• Influencing without authority happens by building relationships not through exercising power.
• Start with curiosity. Learn who they are and what they care about. When you ask for their involvement, align your project or request with their values.
• Figure out what barriers are stopping people from saying yes. Address concerns and find ways to help remove obstacles. Being willing to help will make a strong positive impression. 
• Cultivate an authentic relationship before making any asks. Use the “3 Touches Before An Ask” strategy to reduce the likelihood that the person will feel they’re being used.. 
• If you struggle with building authentic relationships, think about what someone skilled in this would do in such a situation. Then take those steps. 
• Include others in the decision making process. People support what they help create. Listen to ideas and be open to reshaping your vision. 
• Craft compelling personal narratives to increase interest in your cause. People give when their emotions are aroused. 

mamie@mamieks.com

It’s easy to get caught up in the “us versus them” mentality. Our brains naturally like to categorize people and then bond with those who are “on our team” while alienating those who are not. This can happen within an organization “marketing vs sales” or by identity “men vs other gender identities” or geography “London HQ vs remote team members” and many other factors. When cultural divides separate colleagues, it inhibits effective communication and collaboration. Instead, we need to find ways to bring people together that honors our cultural differences while building bridges.

Laura Kriska is the author of The Business of WE and a leading cross-cultural consultant with more than thirty years of experience bridging gaps in diverse workplaces. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies on four continents helping thousands of professionals build trust across Us versus Them differences based on nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, age or any factor of identity. Her WE-building framework provides practical and actionable insights for creating a more inclusive and productive world.

Laura and I talk about how to understand cultural differences from norms and behaviors, to mindsets, and how to bring people together across the ‘us vs them’ divide.

Be one of the first two members to request a free audiobook copy of The Business of We: The Proven Three-Step Process for Closing the Gap Between Us and Them in Your Workplace. This offer is available only to members of The Modern Manager. Join at themodernmanager.com/join. 

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Go From “Us Vs Them” To “WE” At Work

KEEP UP WITH LAURA

Book: The Business of We

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurakriska_author/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraKriskaauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LauraKriska

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-kriska-0a93902a/

Key Takeaways:

• When teams separate because of diverse identities, it can create di

Some managers worry that hiring a freelancer means you will have to take a leap of faith. You won’t know that person’s work ethic or professional personality. But in reality, hiring and managing a freelancer doesn’t need to be scary. Instead, it can transform your team’s work.

Today’s guest is Matthew Mottola. Matthew is a leader in ethically creating the remote freelance economy. He is CEO of Venture L, Author of The Human Cloud and a Forbes Contributor.

Matthew and I talk about working with freelancers - how the Pandemic has changed things, how to overcome common challenges of working with freelancers, and how to optimize the entire lifecycle of hiring, onboarding, collaborating and more.

Members of the Modern Manager community get Matthew’s Leadership Deck To Hire Freelancers and his Worksheets To Identify The Work And Hire Your First Freelancer. Get these bonuses when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: 6 Essential Things To Know About Managing Freelancers

KEEP UP WITH MATTHEW

• LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewmottola/
• Resources: https://humancloud.substack.com/
• Book:https://www.amazon.com/Human-Cloud-Changemakers-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/1400219736
• Twitter:https://twitter.com/matthewrmottola

Key Takeaways:

• Freelancers are a good alternative to an expensive agency or hiring a full-time employee. They specialize in a specific skill set for a set amount of time. 
• Freelancers don’t have to be temporary. If you like them, you can take them on to future projects for years to come.
• Because they don’t feel as fearful of losing their job, freelancers may be more forthright with critical, helpful feedback about your work culture. 
• Give freelancers feedback; everyone enjoys growth opportunities.
• Involve them in your team; everyone benefits from a sense of belong

Like any field, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion continues to evolve. As managers, we need to continue to grow and develop our skills. While it may seem hard to keep up with the newest concepts, it may very well be one of the most important components to being a rockstar manager now and in the future. 

Today’s guest is Perrine Farque. Perrine is an author, entrepreneur, keynote speaker and diversity and inclusion expert who empowers leaders to leverage diversity and inclusion as their competitive advantage. Nominated in the Top 50 Most Influential UK Tech Women, Perrine continues to be recognized for her contributions. Perrine drove the strategy at companies such as Facebook and is on a mission to make the workplace more inclusive and diverse.

Perrine and I talk about the experiences of feeling depreciated and rejected and what we can do to continue to develop our people management skills as the world of DEI continues to evolve. We get into the use of language, anti-bias training, and how to engage your team in the process of creating an inclusive culture so that all team members feel included and appreciated.

Members of the Modern Manager community get my 5 easy actions to become a more inclusive leader. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Top Diversity Skills For A Rockstar Manager in 2022

KEEP UP WITH PERRINE

Personal

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PerrineFarqueUK

• Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrinefarque/

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PerrineFarque

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perrinefarqueofficial/

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmYKgD9mNq80PJshb8PZjsg

Business 

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Iminspiredhuman

Great managers invest in growing their team members. But who is actually responsible for professional development? Surprise: it’s the individual, not the manager. Organizations take a wide variety of approaches to professional development ranging from none at all to reserving Individual Development Plans (IDPs) for only high potentials or those struggling the most. So where does that leave everyone else?

This episode is all about taking control over your individual development plan. I walk through the process of crafting an IDP for yourself and how to work with your team members so they can own their professional growth.

The full episode guide includes a detailed process for developing an IDP as well as how to work with your team members to create and manage their IDP. It also includes the template I use with my clients for documenting and tracking goals, measures of success and actions. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at themodernnmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Own Your Professional Development

Key Takeaways:

• Individual Development Plans work for short and long term goals. 
• Make goals based on where you want to be in the future or what you need to feel more satisfied at work. 
• Figure out what knowledge, behavioral skills, or real life experience will help you achieve your goals.
• Get feedback from colleagues about what could help you succeed. 
• Consider what measures of success would mean you’ve achieved your dreams. These are either externally-based from a colleague or through passing a test or internally-based on your sense of achievement. 
• Keep between 1-3 goals at a time. One goal often feels too slow and more than 3 goals can be distracting.
• IDPs are living documents that should be revised and updated. Check in monthly to update actions taken, measure goals, and add new ones.
• Your teammates need to take ownership of their success and make their own IDPs.
• Brainstorm with your team about their goals and offer t

The summer of 2021 saw a staggering increase in resignations and the trend has remained. Management professor Anthony Klotz called this phenomenon the "Great Resignation." In response to the pandemic, people are rethinking their job, career, and lifestyle. What can we do, as managers, to keep our best people from leaving us?

Today’s guest is Christine Comaford. Christine is a Leadership and Culture Coach, Serial Entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author. For over 30 years Christine has helped leaders navigate growth and change. She specializes in applied neuroscience, which helps her clients achieve tremendous results in record time. As an entrepreneur she built and sold five companies with an average ROI of 700%, and she was a software engineer in the early days of Microsoft and Apple. Christine is a human behavior expert, a leadership columnist for Forbes.com, and the New York Times bestselling author of Power Your Tribe, SmartTribes, and Rules for Renegades.

Christine and I talk about this great migration that is happening and how to get your people to stay, how to help them know how to succeed and developing them in meaningful ways, how to conduct a “stay interview”, and more.

Christine is offering Members of the Modern Manager community her Leadership Tools Infographic and a discount for Coaching. Get both of these guest bonuses when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Conduct “Stay Interviews”

KEEP UP WITH CHRISTINE:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Comaford/

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/comaford?lang=en

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/comaford/

• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/christinecomaford

• Spotify Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0cyyjQbIf4vK8tu8tLJuvB?si=-YuYbF7xQJSa1hJom8s88w&nd=1

Key Takeaways:

• In response to the pandemic, many people are questioning what they want out of their job, career and life in general.We’r

What do you think of when you hear the word velocity? Speed? Direction? While we’re busy running quickly from one thing to another, it's important that we always have a clear vision for where we’re headed. Working effectively isn’t just about getting to the future quickly. It’s knowing where you’re going so that your speed is meaningful. 

Today’s guest is Ron Karr. Ron has worked with leaders on six continents to eliminate risk, gain buy-in and achieve better results faster with the Velocity Mindset®. His presentations and advisory services have generated over a billion dollars in incremental revenues for his clients. Ron is the author of five books including his latest, The Velocity Mindset® and the bestselling Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way. Ron facilitates the Chief Revenue Officer Mastermind Group made up of CEO's and VP's building high-performance sales cultures.

Ron and I talk about lessons from his book Velocity Mindset. We talk about getting clarity, asking questions, engaging your team in the process, the importance of pausing and a whole lot more.

Members of the Modern Manager community can get one of three available audiobooks of The Velocity Mindset - How Leaders Eliminate Risk, Gain Buy-In, and Achieve Better Results-Faster!. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Embrace a Velocity Mindset with Your Team

KEEP UP WITH RON

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rokarr/

Youtube: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ronkarr1

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronkarr/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ronkarr

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ronkarr1

Key Takeaways:

• Velocity, in physics, is multiplying speed with direction. In business, that means we need to have a purpose and a destination or else moving at high speeds will lead to burn out. 
• Instead of being tethered to old ideas, think about where you really want to go and envision a bold future. 

Your voice is the most powerful tool you own! When you are confident in who you are and grounded in what you’re saying, the words flow with ease. But sometimes, without noticing, our voice betrays us. If we ignore how we speak, we may be undermining the message we’re trying so to hard to convey.

Now, today’s guest is Judith Weinman. Judy is a speech, voice, and communications trainer who helps individuals and corporations cultivate personal and professional communication skills so that they function most optimally.

She has provided individual and group programs to companies including Bloomberg, IBM, Ernst & Young, NYU Business School, Mt. Sinai Hospital, Bank of China, the U.N., and others. She has a background in speech/language pathology and also offers workshops that focus on empowering women's voices, non-native English speakers, and neurolinguistically diverse communicators.

Judy and I talk about how to use your voice to more effectively communicate, including how to be more conscious of your voice, bring greater authenticity into your voice, and demonstrate greater executive presence through voice. 

Members of the Modern Manager community can get one of three available voice coaching sessions with Judy.  Become a member by joining the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Why Your Speaking Style Might Be Limiting You At Work

KEEP UP WITH JUDY

Website: https://www.accentjweinman.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judith-weinman-2625ab5b/

Key Takeaways:

• The voice should be grounded in the body for it to sound authentic and trustworthy. 
• Breathing opens up constrictions in the body, making the person sound more relaxed. 
• Keep your throat open when you speak. People often speak from the throat instead of the chest, making their voice sound strained or weak.
• Tone is primal and powerful; we hear tone before understanding words and therefore instinctually pick up meaning from it. 
• To become aware of your tone, listen to feedback and notice how people respond to you. 
• Develop a flexibility of voice to use in different circumstances. Explore how your

Executive functioning is a set of cognitive skills that help us manage time, plan, prioritize, initiate and complete tasks, regulate emotions, and resist distractions. These skills impact how we perform at work and in life – it’s the foundation of self-management. 

This is the second of two episodes on executive functioning skills. This episode reviews strategies to improve  executive functioning skills so you can help yourself or support that colleague. The first episode (#178) explains what executive functioning skills are and how they show up in the workplace, as well as how you can assess yourself and your colleagues in each area. 

The full episode guide includes an overview of the process and tips from today as well as specific suggested approaches for some of the most common executive functioning challenges people struggle with at work. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at themodernnmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Improve Performance by Improving Executive Functioning Skills

Key Takeaways:

• There are eleven executive functioning skills our brains use to process and decide on an action. 
• Notice when the struggle is a combination of executive functioning skills that work together to compound a weakness.
• Changing behavior is hard. Before trying to develop a skill, look for ways to reduce your reliance on that skill.
• Try altering the environment in ways that minimize usage of a weaker skill.
• Try adding motivation, both incentives or penalties, that could give you the extra push.
• If neither of those are enough, look for ways to improve the weaker skill like finding a coach or practicing the skill.
• Create a development plan to help you or a team member work more effectively.
• Clarify the real problem, envision what success looks like, brainstorm solutions, decide on a plan, and track progress. 

Additional Resources:

From a young age, much of our lives have been directed by others. Our parents, teachers, and other adults tell us what to do and how to do it. In many cultures, it’s not until adulthood that we are truly able to be self-directed, and by that point, it can be difficult for some of us to know how to show up most effectively without the constant direction from others. Yet self-direction is an important, and often underutilized, skill in today’s workplace.  

Today’s guest is Dr. Tom Tonkin. Tom is an award-winning researcher, author, and CEO and Founder of The Conservatory Group with 25 years of experience in corporate America under his belt. Tom’s organization provides high-touch services to business executives that want to improve themselves, their team, and their environment. Tom is also involved at an executive level in two organizations with DE&I at the forefront, SAMI and Diversity Equity Inclusion.

Tom and I talk about variations in how our brains work and different styles, how that impacts how we collaborate with our team members, how our brains like to learn, and a lot more.

Members of the Modern Manager community get the Self-Directed Learner Assessment. Updated with the latest research, this resource will help you improve your self-direction. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How Managers Can Support More Effective Learning

KEEP UP WITH TOM:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drtomtonkin/

• Twitter: @DrTomTonkin

• The Conservatory Group: https://www.theconservatory.group

Key Takeaways:

• There is a spectrum of preference from completely self-directed (independent) to completely directed (dependent) when it comes to learning and managing ourselves.
• Managers who like to command, tend to work well with people who prefer to be directed. Managers who like to be hands-off, tend to work well with people who are highly independent. 
• Managers need to learn to work with all types of people regardless of style or preference.
• We learn soft skills and hard skills differently because they live in different parts of the brain. 

For a first time manager, it can feel like a bait-and-switch: You were told you’re now a manager but what they should have said is you now have to lead meetings, give feedback, make hard decisions, manage conflict, set deadlines and hold people accountable, and about a million other things. Even for experienced managers, it can feel like we’ve never really developed all the skills needed to succeed at this part of our job. 

Today’s guest is Rachel Pacheco. Rahel is the author of Bringing Up the Boss, a faculty member at the Wharton School in the Management Department and a Start-up advisor.

Rachel and I talk about what management actually is and then we get into some of the most common areas that managers - both new and seasoned - struggle with like setting clear expectations, giving constructive feedback, and motivating team members, and what you can do to develop these skills.

Members of the Modern Manager community get 35% off Rachel’s book Bringing Up The Boss. Get the discount code when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Management Fundamentals Every Manager Should Excel In

KEEP UP WITH RACHEL:

• Website: www.rachelpacheco.com
• Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Up-Boss-Practical-Managers/dp/1953295010

Key Takeaways:

• Management is the broad term for dozens of activities managers are responsible for. These activities can be categorized as (1) managing individuals, (2) managing a team collectively, and (3) managing yourself.
• Managers who fear micromanaging end up not giving their team enough structure. 
• Keep goals simple and few so your team can prioritize. Don’t be too goal-focused that your team forgets other important tasks. 
• Give clear expectations for what “good” looks like. 
• Explain the impact of what you’re doing to increase motivation and big picture thinking. 
• Frequent feedback is one of a manager's most important jobs but we avoid it because it doesn't feel “nice”. Yet, withholding feedback harms our employees’ ability to get better, hurting their future success. 
• Nov 23, 2021

It's easy to get caught up in the game of doing. There are so many opportunities in life. Saying no can be one of the most difficult things managers need to do to protect their time. We want to do it all, but at the end of the day, being so busy doesn’t make us happy or help us achieve our goals. Saying no forces you to figure out what's important, gives you more time to focus on the long term, makes you more deliberate with your decisions, and reminds you of what life is all about.

Today’s guest is Dorie Clark. Dorie has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50. She is a keynote speaker and teaches for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. She is also the author of Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You, and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of the year by Inc. magazine. A former presidential campaign spokeswoman, she writes frequently for the Harvard Business Review.

Dorie and I talk about lessons from her new book, The Long Game, about how to become a long-term thinker in a short-term world! Which, hint, is all about how we prioritize and spend our precious time

Members of the Modern Manager community get my Saying No cheat sheet to help you remember when to say no and how to say no in ways that still feel good. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How To Stop Being So Busy

KEEP UP WITH DORIE

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dorieclark
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doriec/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dorieclarkauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dorieclark/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DorieClark
The Long Game Free Self-Assessment: https://dorieclark.com/longgame/

Key Takeaways:

• There are many reasons we continue to be “too busy” even when we say we don’t like it, including that we feel important when we’re

Executive functioning is a common topic amongst parents and educators of teens, but rarely discussed in the workplace. Yet, it’s the set of capabilities that we use daily to regulate our emotions, thinking, and behavior which collectively allow us to deliver results. This skill set, like any other, needs to be understood by managers so that we can improve ourselves and support our colleagues.

This is the first of two episodes on executive functioning skills. This episode is focused on what executive functioning skills are and how they show up in the workplace, as well as how you can assess yourself and your colleagues in each area. The second episode (#182) will be strategies to improve each area, so if you discover your own weakness or that a colleague struggles with a particular skill, you’ll have some ideas for how to help yourself or support that colleague.

The full episode guide includes an overview of the eleven executive functioning skills, how they interact and natural groupings that compound, and questions for reflection to help you assess yourself and your colleagues. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at themodernnmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: 11 Executive Functioning Skills Needed In The Workplace

Key Takeaways:

• There are eleven executive functioning skills our brains use to process and decide on an action. 
• Motivation and context matter to our ability to perform these skills. We may have strengths or struggle under different conditions.
• Response inhibition is being able to thoughtfully control our response rather than reacting to stimuli. 
• Working memory holds onto relevant information for a short period of time.
• Emotional control navigates feelings in a healthy way. 
• Sustained attention is the capability of sticking to a task, especially when tiring, challenging or boring.
• Task initiation is the ability to jump in on a project without procrastinating. 
• Planning and prioritizing means creating

Organizations are prioritizing DEI, but what is guiding their decisions? It’s important to gather data that can inform strategies, programmatic investments, and help track progress. But what data is captured, as well as how that data is gathered, is critical.

Today’s guest is Erica Lee. Erica is the co-founder and COO of Pluto, a startup advancing DEI through analytics and communication tools. Her background is in law, international development and policy.

Erica and I talk about how to measure diversity, equity, and inclusion within your team or organization. We talk about the process of gathering data, protecting privacy, turning responses into insight and more. 

Members of the Modern Manager community get a complimentary 30-minute consult with me to help you strategize rolling out a DEI survey. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: What Most DEI Surveys Get Wrong—And How to do it Right

KEEP UP WITH ERICA

Website: https://pluto.life/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-lee-2013/

Key Takeaways:

• We can approach DEI just like any other business goals: using data driven strategy and tracking progress.
• DEI surveys need to go deeper than HR data to help us understand diversity.. They should provide an opportunity for people to see themselves in the responses. 
• DEI surveys should address equity and inclusion such as a person’s sense of belonging, if they are getting the promotions and pay they desire, and more. 
• Pluto creates an evolving story from the survey responses rather than just a checklist. “Other” is never an option.
• The best surveys are ones where people can reflect and learn about themselves.
• When people don’t trust surveys, they disengage. They need to feel their information and privacy are protected. 
• Managers were surprised to learn from Pluto about their team’s mental health issues.
• If Pluto isn’t the right tool for your team, find pre-built DEI surveys that ensure privacy. Don’t use an excel spreadsheet where you

Between technology, globalization, and a pandemic, it’s no wonder that businesses are experiencing disruption faster than ever. Regardless of industry or location, teams and organizations need to develop the skills to navigate regularly changing environments and increasing ambiguity. 

Today’s guest is Brant Cooper. Brant is the CEO of Moves the Needle and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Entrepreneur and his new book Disruption Proof: Empower People. Create Value. Drive Change. Brant has a unique take on disrupting our current way of thinking in order to be closer to customers, move faster, and act bolder. With over two decades of expertise helping companies bring innovative products to market, he blends agile, design thinking, and lean methodologies to ignite entrepreneurial action within large organizations.

Brant and I talk about the 5 E’s of becoming disruption proof and what you and your team can do to make better decisions and be prepared for whatever the future brings.

Get a downloadable reference of the 5-E’s which you can print and display in your office to help you remember to embrace Empathy, Exploration, Evidence, Equilibrium and Ethics in your work. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community.  

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How To Prepare Your Team To Weather Any Storm

KEEP UP WITH BRANT

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brantcooper/
Twitter: @brantcooper
Website: https://brantcooper.com/
Book: https://brantcooper.com/disruption-proof/

Key Takeaways:

• Disruption-proof teams learn to navigate the uncertainty and changes of business life. They are able to thrive within unstable conditions.
• You can’t execute through a crisis. It requires innovation and experimentation.
• The five E’s to disruption-proof teams are Empathy, Exploration, Evidence, Equilibrium, and Ethics.
• Teams need to listen to what their clients want. This is best done by observing real life, with the person interacting with the tool or experience rather than from surveys or interviews. People are terrible at predicti

The rise of social media has allowed employers and managers to gain access to their people’s private lives in ways never before possible. While it may seem like a gift to be able to instantly gain insight into who someone “really” is, the question every manager must answer is, “is it worth it?” 

Today's guest is Bianca Lager. Bianca is a business manager, consultant and public speaker whose specialties include organizational development, career growth, and online reputation management. Bianca is also the President of Social Intelligence, a consumer reporting agency focused on online risk for human resources.

Bianca and I talk about social media and work - what’s appropriate behavior and what’s not, social media and hiring, and more.

Get a sample social media policy provided by Bianca when you join the Modern Manager community. Check out membership levels at www.themodernmanager.com/join - and get 20% off any level if you work for a government or nonprofit agency.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Is It OK To Check My Employees’ Social Media? 

KEEP UP WITH BIANCA:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/biancacalhounlager/

Key Takeaways:

• Checking on our team members’ social media accounts hampers our productivity and may result in a false narrative about the person. 
• Ethically and legally, checking can be a violation of the person’s protected class info.
• Checking for hate group affiliation is often too complicated, as these groups use benign names. Seeing political affiliations may not be constructive for building relationships. 
• Assess the level of threat of possibly problematic posts, acknowledge the narrative you created, and decide on a course of action with your HR partner.
• If an employee is using social media during the work day, don’t react in the moment. It may just be a quick break. Don’t over police people’s behavior. Address it later as part of your regular feedback process if the behavior becomes problematic. 
• Create a Social Media Policy. Outline expected behaviors, rules, legal standards, documentation procedures, and any punitive actions. 
• Give e

While much of leading a team is the same regardless of whether you’re co-located or geographically disbursed, leading from a distance can feel significantly harder. Even after 18+ months of working remotely, we still haven’t figured out how to optimize our virtual teamwork.

This episode tackles the critical elements that managers need to focus on when managing remotely. 

The full episode guide to building trust and culture in a remote environment when you join the Modern Manager community. Or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at themodernnmanager.com/miniguides

Read the related blog article: The Four Essential Elements To Managing Virtually

Key Takeaways:

• The secret ingredient to successful remote teams is trust. 
• Trust is made up of familiarity, reliability, and communication. 
• Because we can’t connect easily in organic ways, we need to actively pursue ways to connect virtually on a casual, personal level. 
• Remote work means less physical oversight and collaboration. Set clear expectations, deadlines, check ins, and goals. 
• Because all of your team’s communication happens through technology, it’s even more important to make communication clear and simple. Discuss how and when to use each communication tool.
• Meetings are an essential communication tool to both build relationships and get work done.
• If you don’t build a virtual culture, a default culture will happen. 
• Culture is what we celebrate. Give credit to teammates who are reinforcing the team’s norms and expectations.
• Consider how to celebrate and include the diverse values and ideas that each team member brings to the table. 

Additional Resources:

• Episode 49: Engaging and Productive Virtual Meetings

mamie@mamieks.com

Hard work, timing, talent, intuition...there are many ingredients that are often cited as critical to success. One often overlooked strategy is finding what works and replicating a winning process. When teams are able to use effective processes, they are able to succeed again and again, whether that be in how they lead meetings, develop new products, gain new clients, or anything else.

Today’s guest is Dr. Ron Friedman. Ron is an award-winning psychologist who has served on the faculty of the University of Rochester, and has consulted for political leaders, nonprofits, and many of the world’s most recognized brands. Popular accounts of his research have appeared in major newspapers, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Globe and Mail, the Guardian, as well as magazines such as Harvard Business Review and Psychology Today. Ron is the author of Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success

Ron and I talk about the principles from his book and how we can apply them to all kinds of activities, and how managers can incorporate the lessons into their teamwork. 

Members of the Modern Manager community can get 1 of 5 copies of Ron’s book Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success as a guest bonus. To get your copy, join the Modern Manager community at www.themodernmanager.com/join. If you work for a government or nonprofit agency, get 20% off any membership level.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Teach Your Team To Reverse Engineer Success

Key Takeaways:

• Reverse engineering is the third crucial element along with talent and practice to achieve success. 
• Reverse engineering is observing and analyzing what other successful people do and using that information to create your own product. 
• The steps to reverse engineering are Curate, Analyze, Templatize.
• Curating is finding the best examples of success, such as great emails or meetings. Create digital “collections” to organize your findings. 
• Analyzing or “reverse outlining” is working backwards to figure out what ingredients made the product, experience or accomplishment a success. 
• Turn the information into a template to use as a structure for building your own product or experience. 
• Make sure that your final product is authentic to you. It’s inspired by others' succes

So often we *know* we should change and even *commit* to changing, yet when the time comes to follow through, we fall back into old habits. We all have behaviors we’d like to change, but as managers, we’re also responsible for supporting our team members to develop the behaviors that will help them be most successful. If changing ourselves is so hard, how are we ever going to succeed in helping others change?

Today’s guest is Parneet Pal. Parneet is a Harvard- and Columbia-trained physician working at the intersection of lifestyle medicine, technology and behavior change. An educator and science communicator, she applies her subject matter expertise to optimize human health and its impact on business leadership and planetary wellbeing. As Chief Science Officer at Wisdom Labs, she focuses on solving for stress, burnout and loneliness in the workplace.

Parneet and I talk about behavior change. We get into the brain science, motivation, and lots of tips for how to follow through on new behaviors or habits even when it feels so hard. And of course we talk about what you can do as a manager to help your team members change their behavior.

Members of The Modern Manager get my “lessons learned” document on behavior change and habit formation. These are my personal notes that I capture as I’m reading articles or books and listening to podcasts. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community at www.themodernmanager.com/join.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: The Secret To Making Changes That Stick

KEEP UP WITH PARNEET
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parneetpal/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/parneet_pal

Key Takeaways:

• We are creatures of habit. Only 10% of our daily actions are conscious decisions. 
• To encourage change, we need to align our subconscious and conscious thoughts, teach necessary skills, and create a supportive environment.  
• Incentives of safety, connection, reward, and/or self-identity will motivate our brains to try new behaviors. We need to remind ourselves of the deeper motivations. 
• Consider what incentives you have for your team changing and ask what motivates your team to change.
• Mindfulness is another tool to align subconscious and conscious thoughts. In a stressful moment, become aware of your breath, body, emotions, and thoughts. Then consider how to react in a way that will benefit everyone. 
• Burnout

Do you ever wonder why some people love a complex challenge while others find it exhausting? Or maybe you’ve discovered that certain activities put you into a state of flow in which you’re completely immersed and lose track of time. When we understand the motivations and activities that we are innately wired for, we are able to use that information to design our lives in ways that make us more fulfilled and productive. This “DNA-level wiring” is called your Sparketype.

Today’s guest is Jonathan Fields. Jonathan hosts one of the top-ranked podcasts in the world, Good Life Project®, where he shares powerful stories, conversations, and resources, on a mission to help listeners live more meaningful and inspired lives. The podcast has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, O Magazine, Apple’s iconic annual product event and more. Jonathan is also the founder and CEO of Spark Endeavors, a research initiative focused on helping individuals and organizations reclaim work as a source of purpose, energy, meaning, and possibility. His book, SPARKED: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work That Makes You Come Alive was just released and the book delivers an important message in a time when many people are emerging from the pandemic and seeking out new work that will both challenge and fulfill them.

Jonathan and I talk about what the various Sparketypes are and how knowing yours, or your team members, can help make work, and life, more fulfilling. 

Members of the Modern Manager get my guide to talking about Sparketypes with your team. Get it when you join at www.themodernmanager.com/join.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: The 10 Sparketypes That Every Manager Needs to Support

KEEP UP WITH JONATHAN

Website: https://sparketype.com/ and https://www.jonathanfields.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonathanfields

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanfields1/

Book: https://sparketype.com/book/#order

Key Takeaways:

• “Sparketypes” are the “DNA-level drivers” of action that set us on fire by most deeply fulfilling and energizing us. There are ten different Sparkatypes.
• A Maven ge

One of a manager’s most important jobs is to build their team. But hiring is often difficult and exhausting. And, it can feel like taking a shot in the dark because even with resume screens, interviews and reference checks, it’s impossible to really know how a person will be as a colleague.

Today’s episode is about hiring great people. In addition to looking for the right fit for the role, there are a few competencies that I always look for when hiring because if the person has these, it makes everything else so much easier.

The full episode guide includes interview guides for the three critical skills to help you better assess a candidate. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at themodernnmanager.com/miniguides

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: The Top Three Things To Look For When Hiring.

Key Takeaways:

• In addition to hiring for values fit and skill fit, the top three behaviors to look for are (1) knowledge of self, (2) learning orientation, and (3) a “how might we” attitude. 
• Knowledge of self involves knowing your strengths, weaknesses and under what conditions you succeed; awareness of how you show up to others; and regular reflection on your behavior in order to improve. 
• Managing someone with high self-awareness allows you to partner with them by providing the context, support and assignments that will set them up to excel. 
• Growth-oriented employees seek feedback and appreciate the opportunity to improve, making it easier to give them feedback.
• It is easier to manage someone who wants to grow and develop because you can trust them to take on new tasks knowing they will ask for help if they need it.
• Employees who know their preferred learning style are able to more quickly integrate new knowledge or skills. 
• Proactive problem solvers have a “how might we” attitude and are able to figure out solutions  without relying on you to solve all their problems.
• It’s easier to partner with someone who sees setbacks as opportunities to be creative and find new solutions rather than getting stuck in what won't work.

Organizations are increasingly investing in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs. As managers, we can take it a step further to truly create a sense of belonging. In short: Diversity is who is on the team. Equity is a sense of fairness for how the team functions. Inclusion is whether everyone is invited to engage. But Belonging is the eng game - it’s the experience our team members feel when DEI is working. 

Today’s guest is Josh Saterman. Josh is the CEO and co-founder of Saterman Connect. Saterman Connect supports organizations facing culture evolution by empowering leaders to unlock the power of their people to unleash their full business potential. Saterman Connect specializes in leadership development, professional coaching, communication strategies and always has a lens that's focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Josh was a senior executive in the world of retail holding several different leadership positions before launching Saterman Connect in 2019.

We talk about moving beyond diversity, equity and inclusion to belonging - why we need to add this additional concept and how managers can truly cultivate belonging in their teams.

Josh has offered to hold a special 1:1 Get Connected Experience for members of the Modern manager. This is an exclusive event where you will join other members, and myself, for a facilitated session that offers the opportunity to network, interact, and explore your dimensions of diversity, all in a fun and engaging 60-min program. This will happen on September 23rd, 2021 at 5pm Eastern. To attend the event, become a member of the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Why DEI Is Now DEIB (And What Managers Need To Do About It)

KEEP UP WITH JOSH

Website: www.SatermanConnect.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/joshsaterman/

Instagram: @satermaconnect

Key Takeaways:

• DEI practices should always lead to a sense of belonging (DEIB). 
• Belonging is feeling like you can show up as your full self and share your unique voice. It is built by an environment of trust and listening. 
• Employees who feel belonging feel like they are co-creators of the workplace experience rather than just passengers along for the ride. The organization or culture feels like it represents them.
• Sep 07, 2021

Becoming more productive can feel like a never ending pursuit. Yet, many of us are constantly in search of the newest tool, hack or system that will help us make the most of our time. As managers, we are also responsible for helping our team members optimize their performance. According to today’s guest, the surprising truth about productivity is that it’s all about clarity, focus, and rest.

Today’s guest is Erinn Jewell. Erin is a Thrive Global Top 10 Coach of 2021, an Executive Mindset and Performance Growth Coach, an International Speaker and a Professor of Leadership at Villanova University. She has over 20 years of leadership experience in the healthcare sector at fortune 500 companies like Pfizer, Boston Scientific, and Medtronic, and was the founder of her own healthcare Start-Up. 

As a global director, Erin was responsible for 80 million in revenue and managed 200 direct and indirect reports. Along the way, she developed multiple strategies on how to optimize team performance. As a coach, Erin is passionate about empowering leaders to get the most out of their teams so they can achieve the results they deserve.

Erin and I talk about how to increase the productivity of your team. What productivity is, the connection between biology and productivity, goals, stress and so much more.

Erin is offering a free 1:1 consult to members to help them discover the tools to put your WHY into your WORK and get your team the results they deserve. As an additional bonus, you get my favorite productivity hacks guide where I share my go-to tools and practices that I rely on to help me be most productive. Get them both when you join the Modern Manager community at www.themodernmanager.com/join

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Teach Your Team To Work Less And Produce More

KEEP UP WITH ERIN

Website: https://erinjewellconsulting.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erinjewellcoaching
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erinjewellconsulting/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinjewellgerst/

Key Takeaways:

• Stress is good in that it helps us focus. We just need to take breaks to rest and digest between stressful events in order not to burnout. 
• Know how you

Love in the workplace may seem like a big no-no, but when applied to the organization’s culture, it’s surprisingly appropriate. A culture of love puts people first which is not only good for morale and engagement, it’s also good for the bottom line.

Today’s guests are Mohammad Anwar and Frank Danna.  Mohammad and Frank are co-authors of the Wall Street Journal Bestselling book Love as a Business Strategy. Mohammad is the CEO of Softway and in his spare time, he enjoys fitness, watching college sports, and butchering American idioms.

Frank is Director of Culture at Softway and in his spare time, he writes children’s books, makes silly videos, and also enjoys fitness.

Frank, Mohammad and I talk about the idea of love in business. What love is, why it matters, what they learned applying love as a strategy in their own work, and how you can adopt a similar approach.

Five members of The Modern Manager get a free copy of their book Love as a Business Strategy. Get 50% off additional copies until September 7, 2021. Learn more about membership and join at www.themodernmanager.com/join

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Lessons For Managers From Love As A Business Strategy

KEEP UP WITH MOHAMMAD AND FRANK

Book: https://www.loveasabusinessstrategy.com/
LinkedIn - Mohammad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manwarsoftway/
LinkedIn - Frank: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankdanna/
Website: https://www.softway.com/
Seneca Leaders: https://www.softway.com/events

Key Takeaways:

• Love as a business strategy works when we maximize profits by prioritizing our people. To do this, we need to create a culture of love based on six pillars. 
• The first pillar is inclusion; making sure everyone has a voice and seat at the table. Inclusion of both visible (like race and gender) and invisible (like educational background and personality) diversity elements is critical. 
• The second pillar is empathy; putting yourself i

Every team experiences conflict at some point. Therefore, the question is not if or when, but how the conflict will unfold. Managers play an essential role in guiding the team’s ability to engage in healthy, productive conflict so that the team gets stronger and the work is better.

Today's episode is the second in a two part series about conflict. In this episode, I’ll get into the difference between productive and unproductive conflict, how to deal with conflict in healthy ways, and tips for how to get your team to confront conflict head on. In episode 162, I explained the five conflict styles and how they can be beneficial or not. 

The full episode guide includes sample norms for dealing with conflict as well as additional guidance for helping your team engage in healthy, productive conflict. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at www.themodernmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How To Effectively Manage Conflict At Work

Key Takeaways:

• Teams that prioritize productive conflict and use a healthy approach become better and closer. Unhealthy, unproductive conflict slows down teams and worsens relationships.
• Productive conflict makes the work better. Unproductive conflict is a distraction.
• A healthy approach to conflict is grounded in trust and respect, and addresses the conflict head on. An unhealthy approach ignores the conflict or addresses it with ill will. 
• Trust and respect are necessary for teams to feel safe sharing diverse perspectives and coming up with collaborative solutions. 
• Teams need to learn which problems to focus on and which to let go of. 
• Don’t try to “win” the argument. Go in with a curiosity mindset to learn about others’ perspectives and to explain your own.
• If conflict is too heated, people won’t listen to each other and will become defensive or silent. Reflect on your own emotions and take a break to calm down if needed.
• Have a team discussion on Ground Rules For Conflict by identifying 3-5 behaviors for what a healthy approach to conflict looks like. Post the Ground Rules behaviors somewhere visible in the office and refer to them when conflicts arise.

Do you enjoy working? Would you say you have fun at your job? Unfortunately, most of us associate work with stress rather than fun. But fun at work doesn't need to be a rarity. Teams that incorporate fun and recognition boost morale, engagement and retention. And fun comes in many forms, so it’s possible to increase the fun without beer, ping pong tables, or karaoke.

Today’s guests are Dr. Bob Nelson and Mario Tamayo. Dr. Bob is considered the leading advocate for employee recognition and engagement worldwide. He has worked with 80 percent of the Fortune 500 and presented on six continents. He has been featured extensively in the national and international media including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, CBS 60 Minutes, MSNBC, ABC, PBS and NPR about how best to motivate today’s employees.

He has sold over 5 million books, including 1501 Ways to Reward Employees, 1001 Ways to Energize Employees, The Management Bible, 1001 Ways to Engage Employees, Managing For Dummies, and his latest book: Work Made Fun Gets Done! Easy Ways to Boost Energy, Morale, and Results.

Mario Tamayo is a Principal of the Tamayo Group, Inc., a no-nonsense, no-frills consulting firm specializing in leadership and organizational performance. With extensive experience in the human performance and organization development field, Mario has been training, coaching, and consulting with individuals and teams in leadership and communication skills since the late 1970s. 

The three of us talk about how to have fun at work. Why fun is important, what fun really is in the context of work, and ideas for how to incorporate fun into various work settings. Get ready to have some fun!

Members of The Modern Manager get a free copy of the book Work Made Fun Gets Done! Easy Ways to Boost Energy, Morale, and Results. Get your copy when you join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

KEEP UP WITH DR. BOB AND MARIO
Website: www.drbobnelson.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/drbobnelson
Website: https://tamayogroup.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mario-tamayo-809b7791
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Work-Made-Fun-Gets-Done/dp/1523092351

Read the related blog article: What “Having Fun at Work” Really Means in 2021

Key Takeaways:

• 85% of employees feel overworked and underappreciated.  
• Create “Daily Fun Habits” like rewards for

HR is an often misunderstood business function. HR can do a lot more than the obvious work policies, employee benefits, and performance issues. Yet not enough managers  take advantage of the support and partnership that HR offers.

Today’s guest is Tracee Hunt. Tracee is the Owner & CEO of Total HR Solutions, LLC. With over 25 years of experience in the field of Human Resources, her responsibilities have spanned all facets of HR to include the transformation of entire HR functions, as well as leading the charge in reshaping the culture of the organizations that she has worked with and for. Recently, she authored her first book “Silent Overcomer” which conveys her life’s journey and how the power of reframing was integral in turning life traumas into life triumphs.

Tracee and I talk about how managers can engage with HR as a partner rather than a resource to call upon only when there are problems, and how this partnership can help enable your team members to show up as the best version of themselves. 

Members of The Modern Manager can get 1 of 3 copies of Tracee’s book Silent Overcomer in which she shares her own story of turning trauma into triumphs and offers lessons and insights she’s learned along the way. To be eligible, join the Modern Manager community.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: 5 Ways To Use HR You Probably Never Considered

KEEP UP WITH TRACEE:

Website: www.traceelhunt.com

Facebook: Tracee L. Hunt

LinkedIn: Tracee Hunt

Twitter: @tracee_hunt

Key Takeaways:

• HR is more than transactional. Instead of working with HR in a reactive way, only when there are problems, proactively build a strategic partnership that continually supports you and your team.
• HR is meant to be a “change agent” that navigates change with managers and employees to realize goals. 
• HR can strategize how to create safe spaces that give employees the confidence to share their life’s experiences and career aspirations with you. 
• HR can help craft mission statements and ensure consistency of culture throughout different teams in organization. <

Everyone deserves to work in a respectful environment but what does that really mean? Unfortunately, incivility in the workplace is not uncommon. Whether it’s aimed at a specific person or more generally disrespectful behavior, incivility can sour any team dynamic. It’s a manager's responsibility to foster civility which can transform an employee's daily experience. 

Today’s guest is Robin Rosenberg. Robin is the CEO and Founder of Live in Their World, a company that uses, in part, virtual reality to address issues of bias and incivility and upskill employees for respectful engagement. Robin is a clinical psychologist and is board certified in clinical psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Clinical Psychology. She has taught psychology classes at Harvard University and Lesley University.

Robin has combined her interest in immersive technologies with her coaching and clinical experiences to foster in employees a deeper understanding of how and why other people may feel slighted or marginalized, and how to approach such interactions differently.

Robin and I talk about civility and incivility in the workplace, the difference between general disrespect and microaggressions, and how to respond when you notice disrespectful behavior on your team.

Members get Robin’s Best Practices for Giving and Receiving Feedback. To become a member go to themodernmanager.com/join. If you work for a government or nonprofit agency, you get 20% off any membership level.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

KEEP UP WITH ROBIN

Website: www.liveintheirworld.com

Twitter: @LiveNTheirWorld

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/29341962

Read the related blog article: How Managers Can Encourage Greater Civility In the Workplace 

Key Takeaways:

• Civility is about thinking how your words and actions can impact others, and adjusting your behavior accordingly.
• “Theory of Mind” are stories we make up of how other people will hear and respond to something we say or do.
• Understanding the need to monitor yourself is not a new concept for marginalized people but is for others. 
• Incivility is low level, frequent acts of disrespect, including interrupting and cracking hurtful

Conflict exists wherever there are humans in relationship to one another. It’s a natural part of teamwork and therefore dealing with conflict is an essential aspect of any manager's role. When address well, conflict can be a source of strength for a team, leading to better ideas and stronger relationships. When address poorly, or not at all, conflict can undermine even the best of us.

Today's episode is the first in a two part series about conflict. In this episode, I’ll walk through conflict styles and how they can be beneficial or not.  In episode 166, I’ll get into the difference between productive and unproductive conflict, how to deal with conflict in healthy ways, and tips for how to get your team to confront conflict head on.

The full episode guide includes an overview of each conflict style and what they’re best used for as well as a sample agenda to guide your team through the conflict identification process. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at www.themodernmanager.com/miniguides.

Read the related blog article: The 5 Approaches To Dealing With Conflict At Work.

Key Takeaways:

• The five conflict resolution approaches are accommodating, avoidance, competing, compromise, and collaboration. 
• Accommodate when the outcome is unimportant or when disagreeing is not worth the energy. 
• Accommodating develops trust and avoids insignificant conflicts but may build resentment. Never accommodate for large, important issues. 
• Avoidance can give people time and space to get into a better headspace before addressing the conflict. Sometimes conflicts will naturally resolve themselves. 
• Avoiding the conflict may make the problem worse, undermine your role as leader, and create a culture where conflict festers.
• Compromise is a lose-lose approach that tends to make both parties unhappy. 
• Compromise when you’re short on time and need to come up with a solution quickly. 
• In a competing approach, any compromises or alternatives are rejected..
• Competing is useful when you step in and make the call, but may make your team feel bulldozed and unheard.
• Collaboration is a win-win approach of  hearing everyone’s viewpoint and deciding on a sol

In the US, we often take English language skills as a given. But for the millions of immigrants, refugees and foreign language speakers, English can be a barrier to contributing their best and reaching their potential at work. As managers, we have the opportunity to support our language learning colleagues which in turn give us access to greater talent pools while simultaneously enabling people to thrive inside and outside of work. 

Today’s guest is Katie Nielson. Katie is the founder and Chief Education Officer of Voxy EnGen, a public benefit company that leverages proprietary technology to deliver high-quality, needs-based English instruction to immigrants and refugees. Voxy EnGen rapidly gives language learners the tools they need to advocate for themselves and their families and improve their economic outcomes. Katie has dedicated her career to making language learning more accessible and effective using innovative technology and research-based best practices. She earned her PhD in SLA from the University of Maryland in 2013, and she holds ten patents on the technology she designed to deliver language learning at scale.

Katie and I talk about the challenges and opportunities that often exist when working with colleagues who are still developing their English language skills, how to better engage and support these colleagues, and how to distinguish what English skills are truly needed so you can unleash the potential of each person regardless of their current level of English proficiency. 

As a special guest bonus for five members, Katie has generously offered 30 minutes of personalized consulting on how to make their organization, product, or workplace more welcoming to speakers of other languages, whether those speakers are clients, employees, consultants, or the community at large. To be eligible, you must be a member. Learn more and join at www.themodernmanager.com/join.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Support English Language Learners In The Workplace

KEEP UP WITH KATIE

Website: www.voxyengen.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katienielson/

Key Takeaways:

• To work on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, we need to include supporting immigrants and refugees in gaining the English language skills they need to thrive.
• In the US, we meet the needs of a mere 4% of adult English language learners. This means we’re leaving a lot of talent untapped.
• Language is often taught wrong. It needs to be relevant and experientia

You’re probably familiar with the terms business strategy or product strategy, but what about people strategy? Shouldn’t we be as thoughtful about how we approach expanding our teams as we are with how we grow organizations and develop new products?

In this episode, I speak with Andrew Bartlow, founder, and managing partner at Series B Consulting. Andrew has 25 years of Human Resources and Talent Management experience at organizations across a wide spectrum of sizes, maturity stages, and industries. He is the co-author of “Scaling for Success: People Priorities for High Growth Organizations,” has a master’s degree from the top program in his field, and has been CECP, SPHR, Six Sigma, and executive coaching certified.

Andrew and I talk about how to develop a people strategy - how to prioritize the most important work and focus your team structure and roles on doing that work so you’re investing in the right people doing the right activities at the right time in the organization’s life cycle. 

As a guest bonus, members of the Modern Manager community can get a free 25-minute “coach-sulting” session with Andrew to get advice and recommendations on your people strategy, scaling, or culture development. To be eligible, you must be a member - join the Modern Manager community today.

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Read the related blog article: Align Your People With Your Priorities.

KEEP UP WITH ANDREW

Website: https://www.peopleleaderaccelerator.com/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bartlow https://www.seriesbconsulting.com/
Book: Scaling for Success: People Priorities for High-Growth Organizations

Key Takeaways:

• Your team needs to ruthlessly prioritize their top three goals that will make the biggest impact. You can move three things a mile or thirty things an inch. 
• Like a waterfall, your team’s actions, culture, and hiring processes should all flow from those top three goals. 
• To determine the highest priorities, use a  (1) bottom-up approach to decide as a team the top three things to move your organization forward or (2) a top-down approach where you decide the top three goals on your own and invite your team

I’m in the process of writing my second book on what it means to be a modern manager. The process of writing this book included interviewing dozens of people about their great manager in search of themes, practices and habits from the best managers. Instead of talking to the managers, I spoke with the direct reports to hear what their manager did that made them appreciate working for this person. 

In this episode I share the recording of one of these book interviews. After speaking with Steph, I was so energized and wanted everyone I talked to to feel this way about their manager. Steph Richter loves helping others & creating an impact! Through her work as the Director of Operations, Culture Coach & Life Coach In-Training at The Perk, she is lucky enough to do those two things everyday. She is passionate about embracing a growth mindset & seeking discomfort, and enjoys big-picture, futuristic thinking, planning & always tying things back to ‘WHY’.

Share your experience with a great manager at www.managerialgreatness.com

Members of The Modern Manager get The Perk’s How To Assess Employee Emotional Wellness Guide which includes their Survey template & simple 4-step process to survey your employees, assess their emotional wellness, & get the information you need to make the best decisions & provide the right support for your employees. And, the first 10 members to request it will also get A free 60-minute lunch & learn for you & your team facilitated by one of The Perk’s coaches! To get the free guide and be eligible for the lunch & learn, join the Modern Manager community.

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Read the related blog article: How To Form A Strong Relationship With Your Employee

KEEP UP WITH STEPH

Website: https://www.choosetheperk.com

Steph’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steph-richter/

Leah’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leah-roe/

Key Takeaways:

• Have one-on-one meetings to learn about your employees beyond their to-do lists. Learn what they are excited about in their lives and look for ways to incorporate this into their work experience. 
• Celebrate not just the financial wins but the “small wins” with your staff, like finishing a job well. 

There is something magical that happens when you do work you love that also taps into your talents. In a perfect world, everyone would spend all of their work time doing these activities. In reality, we also have other responsibilities. This is where the optimal work zone come in.

In this episode, I talk about how you and your team members can discover your optimal work - those things that you enjoy, tap your talents, and only you can do as part of your role. Because, when people spend the majority of their work time doing their optimal work, the productivity goes up, the positive atmosphere increases, and everyone just feels better.

The full episode guide includes worksheets to help you identify your optimal work zone, tasks that can be delegated, and areas to invest in personal development, along with activities to support your team to optimize your collective work. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at www.mamieks.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Prioritize Working in Your Zone of Genius.

Key Takeaways:

• In the book The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks describes four zones (1) The zone of incompetence, (2) the zone of competence, (3) the zone of excellence, and (4) the zone of genius.
• Most people spend too much time in the zone of competence when these are activities that could be delegated.
• Working in your zone of excellence and genius are great for different reasons. Excellence is things we are acknowledge for and highly talented (but don’t always enjoy) whereas Genius are tasks we enjoy and excel at.
• Sometimes, a zone of genius does not align with your work responsibilities. It’s great to seek outside activities that put you into a state of flow.
• Your optimal work is the overlap between things you’re good at, things you enjoy, and tasks or responsibilities specific to you or your role.
• Delegate as much as you can that falls outside this venn diagram, especially tasks that are in your zone of competence and that are not unique to your role.
• Encourage your team members to identify their optimal work and look for opportunities to shift responsibilities so that people can spend more time doing work that aligns with their talent and inte

While it may seem obvious, we are in control of our thoughts. Yet too often we let our thoughts control us. By taking control of your thinking and focusing on holding a positive state of mind, you can radically transform your life and those of your team members. But to be clear, it’s not just a way of thinking. To truly embrace this positive state of mind and all the good it can unleash requires taking action and sticking with it.  

Today’s guest is David R. Ibarra. David is a leadership consultant, speaker, and author of the new book, Stop Drifting: Become the Switch Master of Your Own Thought & Pivot to Positive. After spending most of his childhood in foster care, David started his first business at 28 years old, beginning an entrepreneurial career that spans the hospitality, automotive, and leadership consulting industries. He is the founder of eLeaderTech, IBG, David Ibarra Enterprises and the Think and Grow Rich Institute – Latin America. Taking what he’s learned and through the creation of his patented performance management system, David has implemented the Cycle of Success in his own life to creatively combine his business, community, and civic interests.

David and I talk about what it takes to actually make changes in your life and how to get your team to change their habits in order to get what they want. These are lessons he’s captured in his book Stop Drifting. He shares how the brain works, why positive thinking isn’t just woo-woo, how to start to control your thoughts and how to talk with your team about all this. 

Members can get one of ten copies of David’s book for free. To become a member go to www.themodernmanager.com/join

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Read the related blog article: How To Use Positive Thinking To Transform Your Team

KEEP UP WITH DAVID

Website - https://stopdrifting.com/

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/DavidIbarraStopDrifting

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/david.r.ibarra/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/davidibarra

Book (Goodreads) - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56280331-stop-drifting

Book (Amazon) - https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Drifting-Become-Thought-Positive-ebook/dp/B08SP6KCKP/

Key Takeaways:

Almost everyone universally dislikes giving and receiving feedback. No matter how experienced you are, feedback can still cause anxiety, defensiveness, frustration, disappointment, guilt and many more unpleasant emotions. Yet, feedback is a critical element to professional growth and cultivating a healthy workplace. Learning how to give, and receive, feedback without the emotional toll can be a game changer for managers.  

Today’s guest is Karen Weeks. Karen’s purpose is helping organizations build amazing cultures while guiding individuals to find fulfillment in their careers. Currently, she’s the Senior Vice President of People at Ordergroove. Karen is also a career coach, award-winning people & culture advisor, speaker, published author, and podcast host.

Karen and I talk about all things feedback. How to prepare to give feedback so the conversation goes as smoothly as possible, how to role model and make feedback part of your regular management practice, how to move from feedback to solutions for the future, and so much more.

As a special guest bonus, members of the Modern Manager can get one of five copies of Karen’s book Setting the Stage: A Guide to Preparing for any Feedback Conversation. To be eligible to get this guest bonus, and all the other guest bonuses, become a member by going to themodernmanager.com/join/

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How To Create A Culture Of Feedback At Work

KEEP UP WITH KAREN:

Book: Setting the Stage

Website: https://www.karendweeks.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-d-weeks-sphr-ms-5965775/
Twitter: @career_changers
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/337551064291579
Instagram: @career_changers_kdw
Podcast: Getting Off the Hamst

If you’ve ever been part of a truly great team, it can feel like a bit of magic. It’s not easy for a group to find their rhythm and work seamlessly together. High performance, innovative ideas, and making an impact don’t happen by chance. But with the right approach and a bit of alchemy, your team can feel like gold.

Today’s guest is Steven Cardinale. Steven is a seasoned software entrepreneur and executive. He has more than 20 years of business and technology experience, including founding and running CID Management, a Healthcare Cost Control company that he grew to become one of the largest players in the space before his successful exit in 2015. Steven has consulted as a business management and technology strategist for organizations including Eli Lilly, Janus Funds, IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the J. Paul Getty Museum. He is known for his unique perspective to leadership innovation and entrepreneurship.

We talk about the lessons from his book Synaptic Alchemy. What this concept is all about, how to know thyself, how to get everyone on your team to better understand themselves and each other, and his three step process for turning ideas into gold.

Members of the Modern Manager get The Synaptic Alchemy Sneak Peek which provides an in depth overview of the book for free, and free access to The Synaptic Alchemy course launching in June 2021 when you purchase the book. Become a member at themodernmanager.com/join. 

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Turn Your Team Into Gold 

KEEP UP WITH STEVEN

Website: https://www.synapticalchemy.com/

Book: Synaptic Alchemy: The Art & Science of Turning Ideas into Gold

Key Takeaways:

• Synaptic alchemy in the physical world is about turning lead into gold. In the management world, it’s about turning groups of people and ideas into gold. 
• Help your team understand their internal strengths and how it affects the way they collaborate and operate in the workplace by taking personality tests as a group. 
• Make time for each person to share the insights about their preferences and personality so that you can understand and support each other. 
• To turn team ideas into gold, destroy an old rule and replace it with a new one. 
• Ask “w

So much of managing people is the same because humans have the same fundamental needs and desires. It’s important for all managers to provide appropriate levels of autonomy, foster their team’s professional growth, and support their people by providing guidance and helping to remove roadblocks. But as you move up in the hierarchy, there are a few important nuances that can help you better focus your time and energy. 

The full episode guide includes an infographic of the differences between managers and senior managers, along with suggested practices for shifting into the mindset of a senior manager, leading skip-level meetings, and more. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at www.mamieks.com/miniguides.

Read the related blog article: How Do You Manage Managers?

Key Takeaways:

• The majority of managing people is the same no matter what level of management you’re in. 
• There are three primary areas in which a senior manager’s role will be different from a manager’s role and these are: (1) driving towards big picture results, (2) cultivating the manager’s management capability, and (3) clarifying guidelines.
• As senior management, you will be looking at things from a higher perch and trying to see how day to day activities flow towards the overall goals of the organization. 
• Focus on setting clear vision, goals and strategy. Then enhance the thinking of your managers without getting into the details.
• Provide plenty of autonomy to allow your managers and their team members to develop and execute on workplans.
• As a rule of thumb, spend as much time investing in your people as you do overseeing the work.
• If you haven’t invested in building culture, spent time talking about values, or elevated the importance of upholding desired behaviors, it's unlikely that your managers will either.
• Role model the behavior you want your managers to do with their team members. Ask for their input, provide straightforward feedback, offer praise and gratitude. 
• Build relationships with your managers’ direct reports so you can better support your manager to develop their people.
• Show your managers’ direct reports that you respect and trust their manager (your dire

Too often we are knowers instead of learners. Yet as knowers, we close down conversations, dis-incentivize sharing information or perspectives, and risk the health of our team and organization. To be a learner requires us to accept that we don’t know everything and, just as important, that our team members often know more than we do. When we cultivate a relationship based on caring and curiosity, we foster psychological safety and much more.

In this episode, I speak with father and son duo, Edgar and Peter Schein. Ed is Professor Emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. He is one of the original scholar-practitioners in the fields of organizational psychology and organizational development. He may be best known for first expanding our understanding of organizational culture. His books, including Process Consultation, Organizational Culture and Leadership, Helping, Humble Consulting and Humble Leadership are translated and published worldwide and his consulting and coaching has transformed leadership since the 1970s. His latest work, Humble Inquiry 2nd Edition, co-authored with his son Peter, is an international best seller. 

Peter is the co-founder and COO of OCLI.org. Prior to his role there, Peter was a strategy and corporate development executive at large and small technology companies in Silicon Valley. He is co-author of The Corporate Culture Survival Guide 3rd Edition, Humble Leadership, the 5th Edition of Organizational Culture and Leadership, and the 2nd Edition of Humble Inquiry.

The three of us talk about Humble Inquiry - what it is, why it’s important, and how to do it effectively. We talk about the humble component and the inquiry component, and how together, they are a magical combination that every manager and team can benefit from.

Get one of 10 signed copies of the book Humble Consulting if you’re a member of the Modern Manager community. This book is particularly focused at client-facing roles and consultants, but the lessons are applicable even beyond those. To get a copy, you need to be a member and one of the first 10 people to request it.  Join the Modern Manager community -- employees of government and nonpforit organizations get 20% off any membership level.

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Read the related blog article: The Simple Brilliance of the “Humble Inquiry” Approach

KEEP UP WITH EDGAR AND PETER SCHEIN

Website: www.ocli.org 

LinkedIn

Most often, when we think about managing, we think about our direct reports. Yet, our boss plays a critical role in our success. Learning to manage up can help make your work experience easier while enabling everyone to win.

In this episode I speak with Dee Ann Turner. Dee Ann is a 35-year veteran in identifying, selecting, and growing talent. She has unparalleled insight and experience in talent acquisition, career and leadership development, and organizational culture. Author and speaker, Dee Ann is the former vice president of talent for Chick-fil-A, where she helped shape the company's historically remarkable culture. 

Dee Ann and I talk about managing up - what it is, what it looks like in action, how to talk to your team members about “managing you”, and what not to do that can get you into trouble.

Get the chance to win a copy of Crush Your Career when you become a member of The Modern Manager. Learn more and join at www.themodernmanager.com/join.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Three Ways to Manage Up

KEEP UP WITH DEE ANN

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/deeannturner/

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/deeannturner/

Amazon Link to Crush Your Career: https://www.amazon.com/Crush-Your-Career-Interview-Launch/dp/0801094372

Crush Your Career Landing Page: https://www.crushyourcareerbook.com

Key Takeaways:

• Managing up means helping the people above us manage us better.
• Go into performance reviews ready to share the story of your past year’s successes, responsibilities acquired, and skills learned to help him assess you better. 
• Present innovative ideas through questions rather than statements as a way of getting heard. Don’t worry about who gets the credit; when the boss or team wins, you win. 
• Effect the culture beyond your team by first focusing on your team’s culture. When your team succeeds, your boss will want to know the secret of your culture and may incorporate it into the larger culture. 
• Ask your boss their preferences for communication styles and modalities whether it’s email, voice notes, or tex

No one wants to be part of a team where they don’t feel like they fit in. But hiring for ‘culture fit’ has lots of unintended consequences. So how do we hire great people who will thrive within our team or organization without relying on ‘that good feeling you got during the interview’?

Today’s guest is Bretton Putter. Brett is an expert in company culture development who is consulted by companies and leaders worldwide to help design, develop and build high-performing cultures. He is the CEO of CultureGene, a culture leadership software and services platform. Prior to founding CultureGene Brett spent 16 years as the Managing Partner of a leading executive search firm based in London working with startups and high-growth companies in the UK, Europe and USA. In 2018 he published his first book, Culture Decks Decoded and his second book Own Your Culture: How to Define, Embed and Manage your Company Culture in September 2020.

Brett and I talk about how to hire and onboard a new team member who will contribute to and thrive within your organizational culture. We talk about whether there is such a thing as culture fit, how to hire for values fit and what to do if your company or team doesn’t have explicit values, and what onboarding is really all about.

Get 15% off on the CultureGene culture development program, plus a free PDF copy of the book Culture Decks Decoded and a PDF of chapter 5 'The Interview Process' from the new book Own Your Culture when you become a member at themodernmanager.com/join. Plus, 5 community members will receive a complimentary culture consultancy call to discuss how to build or strengthen their culture or adapt to remote or hybrid work. (Available to the first five members to claim this call).

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: Don’t Hire for Culture Fit. Hire For Values Fit.

KEEP UP WITH BRETT

Website: https://www.culturegene.ai/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettonputter/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrettonPutter

Key Takeaways:

• Don’t hire for culture-fit, hire for values-fit. 
• Hiring based on culture relies on gut instinct and personal preference versus what we believe in and how we want to operate. 
• To figure out your team’s values, have your team create a list of what they believe is important to the team. Narrow the list down to no more than 6 core values. Be explicit about what behaviors you expect from each of those values. 
• Apr 27, 2021

We often hear companies talk about investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). But what do those terms really mean? And how can we as managers support DEI regardless of how our organization is approaching it?

In this episode, I share my definitions of diversity, equity and inclusion, and allyship. I explain some of the fundamentals so you can cultivate an inclusive and equitable environment in which all team members thrive.

The full episode guide includes sample agendas and activities to help your team redesign its email practices. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide atwww.mamieks.com/store.  

Get the free mini-guide at www.mamieks.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How Managers Can Advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion In The Workplace

Key Takeaways:

• All the ways that individuals differ can be considered an aspect of diversity. Diversity can be visible or invisible, things we’re born with or acquired over time, and inherent in us or by association.  
• Diversity is also about how specific groups of people have been privileged or marginalized historically and across cultures.
• Intersectionality describes how the complex parts of a person come together in ways that compound privilege or marginalization.
• Equity is about removing barriers to full participation, correcting for systemic obstacles, and providing everyone a truly fair opportunity.
• Inclusion is about creating an environment where people feel comfortable to be their authentic self without feeling like they need to code-switch or adjust to fit in.
• Being an ally is about taking on the struggles of the oppressed as your own. Its an ongoing journey that includes making mistakes and learning from them.
• When someone speaks up to let you know your actions or behaviors are not inclusive or equitable, respond as an ally would by centering the impacted, listening and learning, apologizing even though you didn’t intend it, and stopping the pattern. 
• Feelings of guilt, defensiveness, anger and conflict avoidance can lead us to respond in unhelpful ways, including centering yourself, denying that other&rsquo

With the end of COVID coming into sight, now is an ideal time to plan for a team retreat that can help people reconnect after a long year of physical distancing or isolation. Whether you’re able to gather in person or limited to a virtual retreat due to COVID or geography, taking time to focus on relationships and team purpose can inspire and refuel us in powerful ways. 

In this episode I speak with Seth Linden. Seth is the founder and principal of Gather Consulting, where he advises philanthropists, foundations and nonprofits at the intersections of education, leadership, and community. He has a teaching credential and bartending credential - both of which come in handy while building community.

Seth and I talk about how to design and lead an effective and engaging team gathering or retreat whether in person or virtually. 

The full episode guide includes key areas to consider when planning an in-person or virtual retreat, along with ideas for activities to build relationships and how to make the retreat extra special. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get free episode mini-guides at www.themodernmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Design a Retreat Your Team Will Love

KEEP UP WITH SETH

• Website: www.gatherconsulting.org
• Newsletter: https://www.gatherconsulting.org/newsletter

Key Takeaways:

• Be really clear about what the purpose of the retreat is so that you can align the agenda with it. 
• Co-create the agenda; ask your team what they want to get out of the retreat and design the agenda together. 
• Set the tone and intentions of a safe space by having the leader be honest and open from the beginning. 
• Set equity of voice as a value from the beginning to encourage louder voices to make room, quieter people to speak up, and to recognize publically the importance of including historically marginalized voices. 
• To help people feel more

It can be hard enough to motivate yourself sometimes, let alone your team members. But great managers know how to tap into a person’s internal motivations in ways that maximize impact without the need for external carrots or sticks.

Today’s guest is Matt Granados. Matt has spent his life as an entrepreneur so when he was told by a fortune 100 Company that the system he used to manage his life (personal and professional) was the answer to their biggest personal problem that EVERY company will eventually face, Matt decided it was time to start Life Pulse Inc to share how he connects Intention with Structure to ensure an individuals desired results. Matt has worked with organizations such as Twitter, Google, and the United States Air Force to individuals looking to just get more out of each day!

Matt and I talk about internal vs external motivation, how to motivate yourself and others, the root of what motivates us, how to design your life around your motivations and desires, how to talk to your team members to help them be more intentional and tap into their internal motivators, and so much more.  

Members of the Modern Manager community get a free 30 minute consult and custom program based on your answer.  Also anyone who has the consultation will get the discounted LP Planner. Get this guest bonus when you join the Modern Manager community.  

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: The 3 Questions You Need To Ask Your Team Every Week

KEEP UP WITH MATT

• Website: www.LifePulseInc.com
• Instagram: @lifepulseinc
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPNc15l_7JB8-aziMAnLPsA

Key Takeaways:

• Motivation is a mindset. External motivation comes from fear or love. To tap into internal motivation, you need to connect what you want with what that person wants. 
• Most of us don’t actually know what we truly want. Take time to pause and reflect on what really matters in order to generate your list of desires. Consider creating a SWOT analysis of your life.
• Often there are small changes or actions we could do now that will help us live our desires in the moment, generating greater fulfillment.
• In order to tap into the internal motivations of our colleagues, we need to understand who they are

At this moment, we’re more than a year into the pandemic. Many of us have become accustomed to the added stress of living in isolation, not taking real vacations, not having the outlets of fun we used to have. This, combined with our intense workloads and home lives, with the promise of this all being over in just a few more months, is wearing many of us down. Burnout is nothing new, but if people struggled with burnout pre-pandemic, it seems even more prevalent now. 

In this episode, I speak with Kristen Knowles. Kristen is a 13x award-winning leadership expert with over a decade of experience in leading HR and leadership development for top global companies in Tech, Healthcare, and Startups. Her passion is helping organizations create brave cultures and working with leaders to overcome burnout and lead from purpose. She is the CEO of Brave Leaders Group, a full-suite leadership firm that specializes in offering transformational leadership and organizational development services that create brave cultures with practical application that you can immediately start implementing to see results. She offers a unique opportunity to implement strategies that create empowering cultures and breaks apart our previous ideas of leadership to create brave leaders that will mark history and change the narrative for leadership going forward. 

Kristen and I talk about the stages of burnout, how to avoid it and what to do if you find yourself out of alignment and heading into burnout. Kristen also shares tips with how to talk to your team to help them avoid burnout.

Get 20% off the Brave Leadership course when you join the Modern Manager community. Purchase full episode guides at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How To Stop Burnout From Burning You And Your Team

KEEP UP WITH KRISTEN

Website: https://www.kristenknowles.co/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-pinkston-knowles/

Clubhouse: @kristenknowles

Instagram: @kristenpinkstonknowles

Brave Leadership Course: https://mailchi.mp/98a9ae4346da/brave-leadership-program

Key Takeaways:

• Burnout is often a result of being disconnected from your purpose.

Most people think of meetings as an event - the time we’re gathered together in a physical or virtual room. But meetings are actually a cycle that consists of three phases - before, during and after. Too often meetings are unproductive due to a lack of proper preparation by both the meeting leader and participants. Yet, by spending a few minutes designing a thoughtful agenda, developing appropriate prework, and communicating clearly with your meeting participants, you can transform the entire meeting experience. 

In this episode, I walk through what to do before a meeting to prepare yourself and your colleagues for a productive conversation.

The full episode guide includes my meeting agenda template, tips for writing a desired outcome, and how to design and communicate pre-work. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

Get the free mini-guide at www.themodernmanager.com/miniguides.

Subscribe to my newsletter to get episodes, articles and free mini-guides delivered to your inbox. 

Read the related blog article: How to Prepare Yourself and Others For A Productive Meeting

Key Takeaways:

• Preparing yourself and your meeting participants will help create a more productive meeting.
• The most important element of any meeting is the desired outcome: what will the meeting achieve?
• The more specific the desired outcome, the easier it will be to plan the agenda and facilitate the conversation to accomplish that goal.
• Consider what people need to know, what they can think about, or what they can do prior to entering the meeting that will prepare people for a more productive and efficient conversation.
• Pre-work can be reading or listening to an article, video or podcast, a document, voice or video message.
• Pre-work can be reflecting on specific questions or generating ideas ahead of time.
• Pre-work can be completing a worksheet, answering questions, contributing to a shared online document.
• Sometimes you may need to produce a document, record a voice message or video presentation in order to share important information in the optimal format prior to the meeting.
• When you assign prework, be sure to include

Our modes of communication have grown seemingly exponentially over the past few decades. From email to texting, Slack to Zoom, we’re communicating faster than ever before. Yet, even with the combination of tools at our disposal, there are still moments when none of them are quite right. 

While you might be thinking, oh no, not another communications app, consider this: We have yet to harness the power of video in asynchronous communications at work. It’s grown in popularity for social connecting so consider how it might enhance your existing communications to build relationships and move work forward.

Today’s guest is Josh Little. Josh is the founder of four tech companies–Maestro, Bloomfire, Qzzr, and Volley–that have collectively been used by hundreds of millions of people. His work has been featured in Tech Crunch, Mashable, Entrepreneur, Inc., and Forbes. With two successful exits and a third pending, he’s currently on a mission to save the working world from death-by-meetings with his fourth creation, Volley.

Josh and I talk about how to connect with your team using video messaging. We talk about how to make our communications more effective, efficient and inclusive, plus more good stuff. 

Members of The Modern Manager get my guide to team communication tools. In it, I share my approach and tips for which apps are best suited to which types of communication needs. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.  

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Read the related blog article: Why Email and Zoom Are Hurting Our Teams And What Else To Use

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