Lead the People

Dr. Richard Shuster is a clinical psychologist, TEDx speaker, and CEO of Your Success Insights, which helps individuals, corporations, and athletes achieve balance and peak performance. He is also the host of The Daily Helping with Dr. Richard Shuster: Food for the Brain, Knowledge from the experts, Tools to Win at Life which is regularly downloaded in over 150 countries. Dr. Shuster's clinical expertise and podcast have been featured in such publications as The Huffington Post, NBCNews.com, Men's Health, Cosmopolitan, and others. He is also the president of Every Kid Rocks, Inc., a 501c3 which helps schools provide therapy services to children. Top 3 Takeaways Awareness comes in many flavors. Personal discovery can come from intentional reflection, a growing sense of discontent or disengagement, or a life-changing event. However it happens, pay attention! Show up. When in doubt, take action. By being active and doing something—anything—you increase the likelihood of creating connections and new opportunities to engage and create value. Think like a child. Never lose your sense of wonder and amazement. Try to always look at the world with fresh eyes, and whenever you have the opportunity, ask questions to increase your understanding and broaden your perspective. From the Source “Being in a car accident really started to meet down this transitional path towards really taking a look at what was important, what my values were, what mattered and, and moving toward a career path that fulfilled me in my soul as well as in my pocket book.“ “When you let yourself be open to experiences and open to possibilities, things happen.” “There was no agenda around this. I wasn't trying to sell stuff. It was just that I was going to help. I was going to help some people, and that was really the first kind of spark for me.” “No matter how many pandemics there are, no matter how many political scandals, no matter how many setbacks, how many unexpected illnesses or whatever else, life throws at you. If you are in alignment with your values and you love what you're doing, you're going to weather that storm.“ “What makes kids really unique is that they have an exuberance and a sense of fascination with all kinds of things.” Connect with Richard Website: https://drrichardshuster.com Podcast: https://drrichardshuster.com/business-portfolio/the-daily-helping-podcast/ Every Kid Rocks nonprofit: http://everykidrocks.org/ References “Food Fight” trivia game content: https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/kids-favorite-least-favorite-packed-school-lunches-gallery

Trey is CEO of Taylor Insurance Services & Managing Director of Trinity | Blue. His experience derives from fields as diverse as technology, venture capital, & commercial real estate. As a keynote speaker, he has addressed attendees at the Human Capital Institute, & the Ascend Conference. He holds a Bachelors degree in History from Emory University, & a Juris Doctor degree in Tax & Corporate Transactions from Tulane. He recently published his first book: A CEO Only Does 3 Things. Top 3 Takeaways Leaders Live in 3D—Trey has a view that leaders are comprised of intellectual, emotional, and identity dimensions. The three are highly connected, and it's key to understand these both in ourselves and in our people. The essentials are key—Three things matter most for a CEO: culture, people, and the numbers. Ensure that these are solid before you move on to other matters. Learn to delegate—Your ability to scale your business and to experience real joy in your life relies on your ability to delegate effectively. Make it a point to get good at giving your work and accountability to your team. From the Source “You can't manage someone until you manage yourself, and you can't manage yourself until you understand yourself.“ “You have to understand: how do you intellectually respond to challenges, how do you emotionally respond to challenges, and where do those two things come from? They come from an identity that you hold.“ “Every organization has a culture whether you intend to have one or not.“ “If we fix the culture and we get the right people in the door then the numbers are proof that the first two things are in alignment.“ “The burnout that [clients] are feeling is a direct result of the unwillingness to let go of both ends of the stick.” “Your team is not an extension of yourself. Your team is an extension of the mission of the company.” “If you want to grow the business, grow your people, and feel a lot more joy come into your life, delegation is the first thing.“ “If you can't delegate to someone, you either have the wrong heart or the wrong team. And one of those has to change.“ Connect with Trey Book Website: http://www.aceoonlydoesthreethings.com Book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/CEO-Only-Does-Three-Things/dp/B09HMYRD78/ Newsletter: http://www.plantyourflag.live Trinity Blue Consulting: https://trinity-blue.com/ Personal Website: http://www.trey-taylor.com Links “(Wall) Street Smarts”: https://www.top-business-degrees.net/30-greatest-living-geniuses-in-business/

Kamini Wood is the founder and CEO of Live Joy Your Way and the AuthenticMe® RiseUp program. An international best-selling author Kamini is driven to support both high performing teens and adults heal the relationship with themselves and to stop outsourcing their self-worth. Kamini says she messes with the way people think in order to help them gain clarity and deep self-acceptance to move forward professionally and personally. Top 3 Takeaways Replenish for the win—High achievers are particularly susceptible to spreading themselves thin in pursuit of positive results. Remember to rest and recuperate when needed. Accentuate the positive—Resist the urge to dwell on what you could've done better. Take the opportunity to appreciate what you're doing right and determine how you can take that to the next level. Develop complementary strengths—The act of leadership and developing others has the win-win effect of boosting your own capabilities. Help one another get better for twice the success. From the Source “When we're trying to do it all, we end up depleting ourselves in such a fashion that we, we actually are, are working from an empty cup.“ “At some point we've got to replenish, otherwise we don't have anything else to put into the thing that we're working towards.” “I really try to talk to my clients about recognizing that self compassion is an act of self-fullness not self-ishness.” “We don't have to go it alone. We don't have to be isolated. We can ask for other people's opinions or maybe they've had a similar experience that we can build off of.” “I truly believe that we learn when we are teaching others. Sometimes, when we are teaching others or leading others, we are actually stepping into those things for ourselves.” “I think the pandemic has taught us this concept of really learning how to give ourselves grace as the environment changes, that some things are outside of our control, and it's focusing back on What is within my control? What do I have the ability to do? How do I choose to show up?” Connect with Kamini Website: http://www.kaminiwood.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsauthenticme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itsauthenticme/

Eric Rogell is the host of the Warriors, Lovers, Kings, and Heroes podcast. He's a sought after corporate speaker, bestselling author, and he shows executives and entrepreneurs highly effective strategies to break through barriers, forge mental toughness, and inspire and engage their teams to be more capable, more confident, more connected. Eric has interviewed hundreds of people including celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and military vets. He gets them to dive deep into their stories and all the memories, lessons, failures and triumphs that made them the success they are today. These are valuable insights that collectively paint a picture of what great leaders are made of. Top 3 Takeaways Find yourself in the story—You're the protagonist, the hero, of your own story; recognize that your storyline likely follows the structure of Joseph Campbell's classic Hero's Journey. Strike a balance—Carl Jung believed that we have within us both Warrior and Lover tendencies. By embracing and integrating our hard and soft sides and skills, we can amplify our leadership ability. Be genuine for the win—When you're able to tap into your full essence, you're able to be completely authentic in your leadership and your results and your relationships will improve in kind. From the Source “One of the things I loved was stories of fantasy and comic books and science fiction and myths.“ “When do I need to be more Warrior and then support with that Lover side? When do I need to come in as the Hero and just be selfless and those kinds of things.” “These traits that the warriors have, things like courage and boldness and being a Maverick and risk-taking and adventurer leadership, being a guardian and a steward, those kinds of things really are our Warrior.” “There are great things in this Lover side, this heart side that really takes whatever it is the Warrior has now driven towards—ambition and drive; those warrior traits and now makes it flourish and thrive—become come abundant.” “When you look at that Warrior side, it was just, ‘Hey, we've made a decision.' I didn't have to come in guns, blazing swords, drawn, mad.” Connect with Eric Website: http://www.ericrogell.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericrogell

Shannon DelVecchio has always been drawn to many things—running, hiking, gardening, photography, writing, reading, travel, and most recently—beekeeping. She's at her happiest and most fulfilled not by mastering a specific hobby/topic/task that she loves, but LEARNING about it. Beekeeping hit Shannon's radar in December 2019 when her husband registered for "Bee School" that Winter. The pair became the proud keepers of 10,000 bees on April 18th, 2020. Top 3 Takeaways Embrace the learning curve—Like beekeeping, leadership is a deep subject; commit to making the investment of time and energy required to excel in the craft. Seek to create optimal conditions—As a leader, you can't directly control the outcome, but you can take steps to create an optimal environment that will increase your team's likelihood of success. Excitement is contagious—Teams can become abuzz (sorry about that) with energy and enthusiasm if you let them; stoke the flames of excitement about your mission and your team achievements whenever you can. From the Source “The running joke with beekeepers is if you ask 10 beekeepers one question you'll get 11 answers.“ “I am literally blind to the colony's behavior as they go about their work inside in complete darkness.” “The more excited a scout bee appears, the more likely other bees will go out and check out this new location. And when they come back, if they're excited, they start dancing as well.” “The queen is not the dictator, and your colony actually can get to a point where they've decided the queen is failing us and we are actually going to prepare to replace her.” Connect with Shannon Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shannon.w.delvecchio Links “Hive Help Wanted” trivia source: ​​https://www.hobbyfarms.com/9-hive-jobs-of-honey-bees-2/

Kim Ades is the Founder of Frame of Mind Coaching™ and The Journal That Talks Back™. Recognized as a pioneer in the field of leadership coaching and thought mastery, Kim uses her unique philosophy and quirky coaching style to help leaders identify their blind spots and learn to direct their thinking to achieve extraordinary results. Author, speaker, entrepreneur, coach, and mom of five, Kim's claim to fame is teaching her powerful coaching process to leaders, executives, and entrepreneurs worldwide. Top 3 Takeaways Feeling Good is Fundamental—If you want to perform at your best, you've got to feel good about what you're pursuing. Life's too short to chase goals that don't resonate with your deepest sense of purpose. Write it Out—Journaling allows you to slow things down and capture your thoughts in an unobstructed flow. Then you can step back and see them in a more open way to broaden your perspective. Dig Deep—Go beyond the surface level to examine the emotions tangled up in your experiences. Don't just dwell on decisions and actions, but get down to the emotional why behind them. From the Source “When people aren't reaching the goals they want to reach, it simply means they're not lined up with the goal or the desire.“ “Journaling allows us to deposit our thoughts, step back, and look at them from a greater vantage point.“ “it's really very useful for leaders to understand that in order to truly maximize the potential of your people, you absolutely need to look at the beliefs they have around everything they're doing.” “Our fingers can't write or type as fast as our brains go. They just can't. It's physically not possible. And so what happens when you're journaling is you're actually slowing down your mind.” “Now you're really digging in. You're really going beneath the surface of your original journal and you're examining, how do I really think or feel about that? Why did that happen? What is the pattern that's going on? Why did I respond that way? What's actually happening?“ Connect with Kim Website: frameofmindcoaching.com Website: thejournalthattalksback.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimades/

Jeff Leisawitz burns with a mission to inspire songwriters, authors and screenwriters to amp up their creativity and shine in the world. As an award winning musician/ producer, college songwriting prof, critically acclaimed author, distributed filmmaker and internationally in-demand coach for creatives, Jeff has devoted his life to creativity. At its best, creativity is a way for us to be seen, expressed and connected. With this philosophy as a guiding principle, Jeff has helped empower countless people to tap deeply into their creative hearts to live richer, more fulfilling lives. “Not F*ing Around: The No Bullsh*t Guide for Getting Your Creative Dreams Off the Ground” is Jeff's first book. Top 3 Takeaways Leadership is personal—Like any creative act, you pour yourself into your leadership and you open yourself to both positive and not-so-positive reactions from others. Creativity is a choice—a series of choices actually; while many leaders draw upon similar tools and techniques, their stylistic choices can produce dramatically different results. Creativity is energy—being true to yourself and finding harmony in your leadership allows that energy to flow smoothly. From the Source “Unlike a lot of other endeavors in the world—if you do it well—you're really putting yourself into your creation whether it's a painting or a poem or a song or whatever you're into.” “When you're creating anything, it is essentially choice after choice after choice after choice.“ “The truth is there's a much bigger intelligence going on out there.” “Fascination is essentially a sense of being sort of enthralled by what the world is or could be. This is a sense of curiosity, a sense of possibility.” “You need to be true to yourself and what you're doing, because that's where the energy really comes in.” “By loving what you're doing, it will fuel you, focus you, and motivate you.” Connect with Jeff Website: https://jeffleisawitz.com/ Twitter: @nfajeff LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffleisawitz/

As a busy wife, mom of three, and business owner, Sara knows how stressful life can be. After battling anxiety and losing her dad, Sara reevaluated everything so she could maximize her life. She discovered that we can turn things around! We can have more energy and a life full of all the "extra" we were made for. As a Doctor of Chiropractic and wellness advocate, Sara has helped thousands of others get back on their feet the same way she did—through better nutrition, cleaner products, and a mastered mindset. Top 3 Takeaways Look for the signs—Sara's panic attack was a clear signal that she needed to make some BIG life changes. Yours may be more subtle, but be on the lookout for clues that you're not at your best. Battle the busy-ness—Sometimes we give ourselves too much credit for being so busy. Being constantly in motion doesn't make you a great leader. Stay focused on making an impact. Choose wisely—If you want to improve the quality of your life or your leadership, improve the quality of your choices. If you can call timeout and make a better choice in the moment, you'll be much more satisfied with your long term performance. From the Source “I am a huge advocate on what works best for you, and that's when I started to dig in and decide that I needed to make some changes in my life.“ ”It starts out with, ‘Oh, I can't sleep' or ‘Oh, I just can't focus'. And you always just kind of brush it off. You brush it off, you brush it off until all of a sudden it's just so much. Your body can only really take so much.” “Some people are wearing busy-ness as a badge of honor.” “We get complacent because we're so busy that maybe we just stopped caring about trying to do our best in certain situations.” “The busy-ness can be a blessing. I have three little boys and we're busy, but this is a stage in life. This is a different busy than what it's going to be like in 10, 15 years.” “ If your only option is fast food, at least you could make a better fast food choice.” Connect with Sara Website: https://www.purelysarajayne.com/ Links “Back on Track” trivia game sources: Anatomy of the Spine: https://www.cedars-sinai.org/health-library/diseases-and-conditions/a/anatomy-of-the-spine.html Chiropractic Statistics: https://www.thegoodbody.com/chiropractic-statistics-facts/

Tommy Breedlove is a Wall Street Journal & USA Today bestselling author of the book, Legendary, and Atlanta-based business, relationship, and mindset coach who is a regular featured keynote speaker at global events. Tommy started his 20-year corporate career at one of the largest financial consulting firms in the world, and eventually became a shareholder, the International Practice Leader, and a member of the board of directors for one of the largest public accounting and financial firms in the southeast U.S. At the top of his career, Tommy experienced a transformational moment inspiring him to walk away from the corporate world to change his life and follow his true calling. Tommy now serves clients and audiences everywhere by empowering them to build and live Legendary Lives. He guides people to discover a life of significance while building a lasting legacy. The simple tools he shares shows them how to work in their zone of brilliance, obtain financial freedom, and live with meaning and balance. Tommy's goal is to help everybody to become the person they've always wanted to be. Top 3 Takeaways Lead thyself—Put yourself under the microscope, and figure out what you're all about; resolve to convert self-awareness into intentional action. Put in the reps—Be prepared to put in the hard work. Success won't come easily, but it will show up if YOU show up. Be Legendary—Don't fixate on money, power, and prestige; make yours a life of giving, gratitude, and service. From the Source “I decided to lead myself and participate in my own rescue.“ “My network started reaching out to me saying, ‘Hey man, you've transformed a whole lot, brother. How did you do it? I want some of that in my life.'” “That's how I did it, and I still do it to this day. I work on myself. I lead myself, which is the most selfless thing we can do.” “When we feel closed or we get scared or insecure or things aren't going away or we make a mistake, or whatever, we start isolating and we start numbing ourselves. That could be in a hundred different ways. It could be isolating, could be TV, it could be food, it could be booze. There's a thousand ways that we can numb ourselves.”​​ “We all have mistakes, things that were done to us, things we've done. We regret things we don't want people to know. And we all have these feelings of insecurity, worry, fear. We're not alone in that.“ “When we know we're not alone, we can lean into that and use it—not as an anchor that holds us down—but use it as a floor to stand on with gratitude and use it to compel us forward.” “What we've all got to realize is we're on this journey of life and we make it super, super hard with social media and that comparison bug, that envy bug. Nobody posts their crap. They're either posting their political opinions or they're posting their best selves, and that promotes envy, that promotes jealousy, that promotes judgment.” “If we do the work—the internal work leading ourselves—we can rewrite that story and the ending can be a whole lot better.” “if you're not getting promoted or you're not being as successful as you want, here's the truth: Go find the nearest mirror and look at it. That is both the problem and the solution.“ “You have to lead yourself first. You have to be respected by others. You've got to respect yourself to be loved by others. You've got to love yourself. So you've got to lean in and lead yourself first.” “We can be horrible legends or great legends, and it has nothing to do with money, power, and success. It has to do with empathy. It has to do with net giving. It has to do with serving.” Connect with Tommy Website: http://tommybreedlove.com Legendary (book): https://www.amazon.com/Legendary-Tommy-Breedlove/dp/1642795534 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tommybreedlove LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/legendarybook Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/public/Tommy-Breedlove

Brandon Harding is a military chaplain and relationship coach with two decades of experience. His passion is assisting people and organizations in their pursuit of purpose and meaning, leading to greater productivity, healthier work cultures, and deeply satisfying relationships. He also has a coaching business, Reset Coaching, where he fuses experiences in the wild with the Immunity to Change process in order to facilitate personal and organizational development. Top 3 Takeaways Don't fear vulnerability—Just because you're acting in a leadership role doesn't mean that you have to be perfect or impenetrable. Make yourself human in order to connect with your team members in a deep and meaningful way. Develop resiliency—Things aren't always going to go your way. What's most important is how you bounce back from work and life's inevitable challenges. Put people before performance—It takes a bit of trust, but your people will perform for you if they know you're developing them. If you focus on performance at the expense of people, you'll get neither. From the Source “Within the Marine Corps, there's this culture where you can't be vulnerable, you can't express any kind of weakness, and that infuses up and down the chain of command. The irony is that the best leaders that I've experienced go against that. They do have vulnerability“ “The focus question is ‘What's the one thing that you need to change about yourself as a leader?' The takeaway they were going to take back to their command was ‘To be the most effective leader, I've got to be human. I can't just be this automaton robot. That's harsh and demanding. I have to be a human to be really effective.'”​​ “Personal resiliency is the ability to bounce back in a healthy way from challenges. We all have challenges. So if I have resiliency, I can have setbacks at work—I can have personal setbacks—but if I'm resilient, I'm able to kind of stay calm in the moment.” “When you shift away from outcome-focused versus people-centric leadership, the outcomes happen. The outcomes just sort of naturally come along, because people will perform the best for you when they know that you're interested in developing them rather than just you're fixed on the outcome, whatever that might be.” “On a retreat, we share meals, we share hardship, there's no digital distractions. Just being in nature without any other responsibilities out there just creates an environment where people can really connect. The outcome is a deep sense of connection.” Connect with Brandon Website: http://www.resetcoaching.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-harding-a6aab858/

Michelle Clarke is obsessed with helping soul-led entrepreneurs achieve transformational success by up-leveling their energy, mindset, and habits and by helping them step into their power and speak to their authentic message. She encourages women to be unapologetically brave AF, tap back into their inner knowing and unleash their magic so they can become magnetic to their soulmate clients and bring their purpose into the world - because the world needs what they have! Top 3 Takeaways Conditioning runs deep—From the time we're born, subtle social norms and influences shape our perspectives about ourselves and others. Make space for self discovery—You have to create opportunities to develop the self awareness that will be critical to your leadership effectiveness. Follow the energy—Pay careful attention to those activities and experiences that fire you up. These provide clues as to where you should be investing your time and effort. From the Source “We think that we've moved so far—like at least we're allowed to show our ankles now and talk at the dinner table, but we really actually haven't moved that far.“ “We're taught that good girls don't talk back or that good girls let others take the leading role. No one likes a bossy woman. We still get those subliminal messages that hold us back. Boys just don't get those messages when they're growing up.“ “When you do anything that forces yourself to move away from who you truly are, you get miserable.” “The way that you'll find out who you are is by taking time and space, like walking around in nature or doing something that makes you feel completely lit up. Then you'll be vibrating at the right frequency. You'll be free thinking.“ “Whenever you're doing something that you're really happy about, your fears get out of the way. It's impossible to feel fear and love at the same time. So if you're doing something really awesome, fear steps out of the way and then your real feelings and thoughts can step forward.” “Watch the people that have energy. They're all happy because they're doing what they want to do.”​​ Connect with Michelle Website: http://www.empowermentempires.com Michelle's book “Woo Woo for Women in Business”: https://www.amazon.com/Woo-Women-Business-empowered-business/dp/B09G9NCV7B/

Liz Palmieri helps the C-Suite solve people problems with science and data. She's a former member of The Predictive Index team and has been a proud steward of the Talent Optimization discipline since its inception. Throughout her career and varied experiences, Liz's guiding light has been making an impact and being of service to others. Top 3 Takeaways Being a CEO is a big job—just like yours! It's helpful to think about your responsibilities and opportunities inline with this lofty and well-recognized title. Go beyond the hard stuff—You're likely to earn advancement based on your job performance, but it's your people abilities that will determine your long-term success. Seek out support—Find a coach or a mentor and make it easy for them to help and support you by taking on as much of the heavy lifting as you can. From the Source “I think really excellent CEOs are storytellers who are able to share the story of that vision with internal stakeholders, employees, team members, leaders of the organization, and also publicly to really make the brand vision pretty clear.“ “When you think about your employees and team members, how much of the industry information do they need to understand? How can you speak in a way that's going to feel really relevant and accessible to them? And most importantly, how do you explain what's in it for them?“ “When we think about the up and coming workforce—Millennials and Gen Z—the culture piece, it's like: underline, bold, exclamation point, exclamation point!” “This person may really know a lot about the nature of our business or the industry or where we need to go and where we're headed, but if they can't make me feel really excited about all of that, then how are they going to lead me there?“ “Oftentimes we make our first foray into people management and leadership because we were high performers. And oftentimes there's a pretty significant gap there between being successful at the doing and then leading people.” “If someone is willing to share their expertise and advice and coaching, show that you're really engaged in that process and ready to take action on the things that they share. Take responsibility for the relationship by scheduling those meetups, creating an agenda of what it is that you would like to talk about, what you need help and support on, and making sure that you circle back on those items that you discussed last time. What action steps have you've taken since then? What went well? What didn't?“ Connect with Liz LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizpalmiericoonley/

Douglas E. Noll, JD, MA left a successful career as a trial lawyer to become a peacemaker. His calling is to serve humanity, and he executes his calling at many levels. He is an award-winning author, teacher, trainer, and a highly experienced mediator. Doug's mission carries him from international work to helping people resolve deep interpersonal and ideological conflicts to training life inmates to be peacemakers and mediators in maximum-security prisons. Top 3 Takeaways Conflict is brain science—our response to emotion has a biological basis, and understanding this is key to resolving conflict in the workplace. Stop shouting—We yell when we feel that we're not being heard. We can de-escalate others and ourselves when we stop the yelling and start listening to and conveying emotions. Prioritize leadership development—learning “soft” skills like mediation will serve you well as you progress in your leadership journey and advance in your career. From the Source “When people get under stress—when they're in a situation they can't handle—there are emotional centers in the brain that activate. They're going to revert right back to the last stage of their emotional development.“ “Deescalation works because we start listening to emotions rather than words. It's done in three steps: Ignore the words, read the emotions, reflect back the emotions with a simple statement.” “What I teach is to address the emotions before you address the words. Deescalate before you problem solve.” “We yell at each other and argue and fight because we're not being heard. So yelling is simply an indication of not being heard. And all you have to do is listen to the emotions and the yelling stops. Because now people feel heard, they feel validated.“ “The time that you invest in building your skills and becoming an effective leader is far more valuable than increasing your technical proficiency.” Connect with Doug Website: http://dougnoll.co/leadthepeople LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougnoll/

Angela Maiers is considered one of today's most influential thought leaders in education and transformative thinking. It is fair to say when she speaks, she leaves no room unchanged. She has been praised by leaders in business, the military, and administrators of schools of every level from elementary to graduate, around the globe for the life-changing, world-changing impact she has had on the hundreds of thousands of lives with whom she has reached with her message of Mattering. Top 3 Takeaways Mattering is essential—More than a mere nice to have, mattering is a fundamental need that must be met for ourselves and for those we lead. Mattering makes business sense—even beyond the human interest aspects, making sure our people feel they matter boosts their productivity and performance. Priorities have shifted—the pandemic has sent millions of workers looking for greater meaning from new employers. Now's a great time to make sure your team members know they matter. From the Source “When people don't feel like they matter, they become everything from apathetic to angry and everything in between.“ “Human beings as a species need to know they matter. They need to feel seen. They need to feel heard. They need to feel valued and of value, and they need to understand and be able to express their essential needs.” “When people don't bring their best self to the world or to the work, everyone suffers.” “If you want the best out of human beings, they need to know they matter. Period.” “You get to that place that you start thinking, what, what am I doing in my life? What is my life work? Am I making the impact that I can make that I should be making? Do people even recognize that I am valuable?“ “People want to belong to something. They want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. If you can fulfill that as a company, then you have a workforce that will stay with you.” Connect with Angela Website: https://angelamaiers.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelamaiers/ Angela's TED Talk, “You Matter”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FHdHUzRnms

As the Audacious Confidence™ Growth Expert and former Mrs. Elite U.S. Woman of Achievement, Alicia Couri strives to Influence, educate, inspire, and entertain to empower leaders to walk boldly in the direction of their dreams despite fears, feelings, or past failures. She's the Founder and CEO of Alicia Couri Inc., a boutique consulting firm working with CEOs and Executives to develop audaciously proactive leaders & teams using brain science and people data. She produces and hosts a nationally syndicated podcast: Leading with Audacious Confidence and 2 webshows: “Small Business Saturday Shout-Out” and “Love My Body Love Myself”. Top 3 Takeaways Confidence isn't automatic—No matter how confident or capable other leaders are in your eyes, they weren't born that way. They worked at it just like you can starting right now. Perfectionism is a threat—Resist the urge to think that you're not good enough or that you don't know enough or that you can't make a mistake. Have a bias for action instead. Know thyself—When you take the time to truly learn about yourself—your strengths and your gaps—you can embrace your authentic self and infuse boldness into your leadership. From the Source “I thought you were born confident, you couldn't develop confidence. And I also saw the same thing with leadership—that you were born to be a great leader or you weren't. And boy, was I wrong on both counts!“ “And the thing that freed me a lot was that not everybody has everything altogether. You know, you might see them and think that, ‘oh my gosh, I could never be like that'. Or ‘they have everything all together' and they're not. So don't believe the hype.“ “We have to take responsibility for our own thoughts and our own mindset.”​​ “When I talk about lacking confidence, it was this idea that I had to get. I had to be perfect and get everything right. In order to feel confident enough to do something, because I wasn't leaning into my truth. And that was the big aha that I had is when you lean into your zone of genius (or your super powers as I refer to them) then you don't have to feel this need for perfectionism,“ “All of this is learned. It's shedding the old ideas and the old thought patterns and the old things that we probably grew up with. It's about shedding those things and really understanding ourselves on a deeper level and being able to then lean into those.” “When people carry those negative labels with them, they can't really see their own superpowers. They can't see their zone of genius because they keep trying to be something they're not.“ “I'm launching ‘Love Your Body Love Yourself' because it's all about really understanding who you are. Falling in love with YOU instead of criticizing, belittling, or minimizing all the great things about you.” Connect with Alicia Website: http://alicia360.com Website: http://aliciacouri.com Links “What's Your Makeup?” quiz references: https://www.trngcmd.marines.mil/Portals/207/Docs/FMTBE/Student%20Materials/FMST/Block3/FMST%20307.pdf https://beautybrainsblush.com/glossary/

Toby Pasman is a neurophysiology researcher who graduated from the University of Oregon in 2018 with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and completed his Masters of Psychology through Lynn University in 2021. Toby has board certifications in neurofeedback along with QEEG brain mapping. Toby is the founder of Roscoe's Wetsuit Neuro, an applied neuroscience company offering premium brain health coaching to clients globally, along with targeted neuromodulation services to clients interested in peak cognitive performance in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area. Toby is also the host of the applied neuroscience show Roscoe's Wetsuit Neuro Podcast, which features unfiltered conversations with clinicians, researchers, and neuroscientists. Top 3 Takeaways Our brains are beautiful—we don't think about it often, but the structure and functioning of our brains holds the keys to all that we do, achieve, and experience. There is a neurophysiology of leadership—the way we master our development, inspire others, and deliver results all are rooted in our brain science. You can stack the neuro deck—rather than operate unconsciously, we can use neurofeedback and simple techniques to put our brains in an optimal state to learn and perform. From the Source “Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to adapt to rewire itself in different ways based off different things but one being experience. Neurons that fire together wire together.“ “The more regulated brainwaves, the more we're able to manage our emotions, control our behavior and be able to show up In every aspect of our life is the best version of ourselves. I think it absolutely applies to work.”​​ “Whenever we're communicating with other people, we are replicating their brainwave state which is being transmitted to ours and it's reflected. So that's why we're able to, you know, very readily pick up on other people's energy and be able to feel it.” “We know there are certain things that great leaders oftentimes possess—one of the things being what's called waking Delta. They've found that actually in people who are great leaders who are very persuasive—influential people—they actually have the unique capacity oftentimes to produce Delta brainwaves while they're awake, while they're giving that speech.” “Long-term, the prefrontal cortex is able to sort of battle with the reward centers and they know that in people whose prefrontal cortex is able to kind of win out. They're able to be much more successful in life.“ Connect with Toby Website: https://roscoeswetsuitneuro.com/ Podcast: https://roscoeswetsuitneuro.com/podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobypasman/ Special Offer! Use the code "LEAD21" to get 15% off your first Neuro Health Coaching session when you visit https://roscoeswetsuitneuro.com.

Roberta Dombrowski is a passionate research leader focused on building research practices inside organizations. Over the years, Roberta has researched and designed experiences for communities of learners, educators, and enterprise clients at companies like Year Up, edX, Pluralsight, and The Predictive Index. Throughout it all, she strives to lead with empathy and mindfulness with everyone with whom she works. Top 3 Takeaways Leaders operate at every level—Whether you're an individual contributor or a CEO, if you woke up this morning, you have the opportunity to be a leader. No leader is perfect—You're a work in progress, and as you expand your leadership scope, you won't have all the answers. Be transparent and honest about this with your team. Your leadership is an experience—Take a moment to check in with your followers and peers to find out where that experience is positive and where it could use some polish. From the Source “I think a lot of people who move from IC—individual contributor—into management still have that perception too. I've met tons of managers over the years who think about managing rather than leading and inspiring and things like that.“ “It's very robotic when you're just leading with managing tasks and outcomes. People are the best part of business and the work that you do. I remember every relationship that I have with someone that I work with. “ “What are the relationships that I want to build with people? What are the types of impacts? And building up my own confidence while I was doing it as well.” “Whenever I go into an environment or I have the opportunity to give back to others, I always try to do that.” “You're human. You're making your mistakes right along with your direct reports later on, along with other leaders too. So there's vulnerability and truth in that too. “ “If you're trying to think about your direct reports or even if you're hiring somebody—so say a candidate applies for a role on your team—What is your experience from the moment they hear about your organization?” ‘I do a lot of surveys when I'm doing employee experience work. Depending upon the size of the team that I'm working with or organization, I've done things like company values or team values surveys, quarterly reviews. So seeing how your team—Are they motivated? Are they inspired—keeping track of that, especially with COVID, sometimes you don't know, and you're not able to check in one-on-one with everyone.' “I set up my mornings for deep work because that's what I know works best for me.” Connect with Roberta LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertadombrowski Website: http://robertalearns.com Website: http://learnmindfully.co Links “Six Degrees of Design” reference: https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-colleges-for-design/

Juliana Marulanda is a business operations expert, speaker, and the founder of ScaleTime. With over 18 years of experience across Wall Street, the nonprofit sector, technology startups, and family-owned businesses, she has now served over 200+ digital agencies. Featured on Forbes and Entrepreneur, she helps uplevel businesses into lean, mean, profitable machines. On average, Juliana and her team create ways to free up at least 40 hours per week for her clients so they can have successful agencies that run without them. Top 3 Takeaways Speed things up—leaders need to have a bias for action and make decisions without always having the luxury of time, information, and certainty. Learn while doing—you may be tempted to try and learn how to do a thing well before you have to do it, but the best and deepest learning happens during the action, not ahead of it. Make success automatic—create systems that automate the tactical aspects of your day-to-day work that otherwise absorb your precious time and energy. From the Source “I think sometimes it's amazing when really intelligent people will go into a room and think, “How the hell is that person doing that? they don't know as much as I do, but they're willing to make the decisions, they're willing to implement the thing, they're willing to take the risk.“ “Eliminating the self doubt and moving forward quicker is definitely one of the things that will really differentiate not only how big your potential can be, but the rate of your potential.” “You have a particular set of skills in a particular circumstance in a particular point of time. So you're learning curve and doing something—especially if it's new—is going to happen while you do it.” “I think one of the things that we have to look at is: what are your unhappy places? Like, where are you mucky? Where are you just in the weeds? So much of our time is spent in the weeds.“ “You shouldn't create automation until you have good process. Because if not, then you're just automating, and sewing inefficiencies and things that are just like, hairy.“ “You need to have that individual that wants to get promoted, basically fire themselves.” Connect with Juliana LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianamarulanda/ Website: www.scaletime.co

Hema Crockett is a military spouse, entrepreneur, and recovering HR executive, who worked in the private sector as well as for the DOJ and State Department for 18 years before becoming an entrepreneur. She is the co-founder of Gig Talent, a modern talent collective connecting best in class HR consultants and leadership coaches with forward-thinking organizations. Hema has been published in Forbes and Thrive Global, among other publications and her first book, Designing Exceptional Organizational Cultures, was released in February and was Amazons #1 new HR release. She lives in San Diego with her husband. Top 3 Takeaways Culture is a team sport—Enlist your employees' help to define the culture since they're definitely going to be the ones who will reinforce it every day. Performance is purposeful—Traditional definitions of high performance tend to focus on results, but it's time to include upholding values in that definition, as well. You always have an audience—Your team is watching how you think, make decisions, and behave and they make their own interpretations as a result. From the Source “The way I define culture is really looking at it based at this intersection of values, actions, and behaviors.“ “A lot of times people think—especially in small companies—that whatever the founder or co-founders values are, those are the values of the company. And the truth is that may be where it starts. Absolutely. And then as the company starts to grow, and more people come in, and we start to really see that culture that is created—again whether it's intentional or not—there's always a culture that's created. It's time to revisit what those values look like.“ “It's not the executive team sitting in a room behind closed doors coming up with words that they want to represent the organization. It's actually a much more collaborative event or process.” “In any organization that I was part of when I was still an in-house HR executive, we used values as one of our performance management methods.” “With open PTO policies or these unlimited PTO policies where the time is available, as a leader, what are you telling your employees about that time? Are you really allowing them to unplug and are you as well setting the tone? Are you unplugging during that time?“ “I think the culture influences leadership development and expectations of them, but also leaders influence the culture.” “Leaders have the ability to completely derail the culture. If they're not self-aware, if they're not embodying those values, if they're doing one thing and saying another, then what is the message that's actually being conveyed?“ “Subcultures are always going to exist whether a leader is intentional about creating one or not. So with that said, the leader actually does need to get a little bit intentional.” “If you really want a high performing organization—if you really want to be an employer of choice, —the best way to do that is to make sure that what you are doing is anchored in those values. And then you can keep building from there.” Connect with Hema LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemacrockett Website: http://www.gogigtalent.com Book: Designing Exceptional Organizational Cultures: How to Develop Companies where Employees Thrive New Book: The Everyday Leader: 14 Marine Corps Traits to Unlock Your Leadership DNA Links “Over/Under” game segment source: https://blog.smarp.com/the-importance-of-company-values

William Rawe is a prior service Marine with over 20 years of experience in human resources and leadership development. He works as an adjunct professor at Grand Canyon University teaching strategic management. He is currently working on his PhD in organizational psychology to further his passion for helping people thrive in the workplace. During his down time, he likes to spend time with his 11-year old son.Top 3 TakeawaysLeaders lead—When you get the right leaders on the bus and develop them to reach their full potential, the organization's objectives manifest naturally.Practice what they teach—Training and development won't stick if you're not practicing and applying the lessons every day.Don't fear the right friction—Constructive confrontation requires troubleshooting business issues down to the personal cause of the problem while framing the discomfort as a learning and growth opportunity.From the Source“That is where the real shift happened in me: that I need to focus on leaders and leadership development, because if we can get the right leaders in place, then it's going to benefit the entire organization. And it just goes out to all the stakeholders, customers, vendors, everybody. It makes total sense.““Everything was in place. You did your best and it failed. The customer said, ‘No, thanks. I'm done. I'm going with somebody else.' So the constructive confrontation means we have to figure out what went wrong and that goes down to the personal level. So if I'm on the team, I'm like, ‘Okay, what did I do that caused us to fail?'”“I've been a firm believer that there should be a certain level of tension in every meeting. But you need to develop that trust and safety first, right before you can have that.”Connect with WilliamWebsite: https://www.williamcrawe.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamcraweLocals: https://learnleadtransform.locals.comReferences“Back to School”https://www.gcu.edu/sites/default/files/media/documents/academics/catalog/2021-22/Academic-Catalog-June-2021.pdfhttps://blog.cheapism.com/weird-college-classes/

After 14 years in Corporate America, Mialei embarked on a journey to improve her physical health and do a lot less of what was expected of her and more of what she really enjoyed. Mialei has an interest in people and our ability to communicate beyond words. She has written a coaching program that transforms the workday of the new leader instead of leaving them without any training to navigate that transition from expert to leader. Most recently, Mialei has noticed that we expect leaders to know everything when we really need to ask them Ask More Questions.Top 3 TakeawaysLeadership is like a train. Your vision is the engine, your people are the cars, and your team leaders are the links between the cars.Be aware of the work your people are doing, but don't do it for them. Otherwise, why did you hire them in the first place?Ask questions. Questions create conversations which is where learning and growth can happen.From the Source“I think it's degrading to say to somebody, I can do your job better than you can. It's not fair.““When I lay forth a vision, what I want to know is what's the difference between today and when we achieved that vision.”“If what I'm doing and what that vision does, doesn't bring job variety. My vision is flat.”“Am I promoting the right person? Has that person started to think differently? Because if they're not thinking differently, they're not thinking about systems. They're not thinking ahead of time. They're not looking at outcomes. Those are not the people you promote.“Connect with MialeiWebsite: www.mialeiiske.comYouTube Channel: linkFree Resource: 7 Unspoken Questions in the Transition to Leader"

Jennifer Beck is an entrepreneur with deep experience in the legal hemp and cannabis markets. Today, she is the CEO of Jihi, a line of self-care products that elevate performance and enhance balance from the inside out. An advocate for mental health and mind/body wellness, Jennifer believes in the power of authentic, joyful living to uncover our power, purpose and passion.Top 3 TakeawaysSelf-centered care isn't selfish. You take care of you for me, and I'll take care of me for you.High achievers prioritize holistic wellness. Our mental health, the way our bodies feel, and the quality of our sleep all show up in our leadership.Nike was right—Just Do It. Conditions won't always be ideal, but sometimes you have to press forward anyway. With the benefit of hindsight, the adversity you perceived in the moment may turn out to be an advantage.From the Source“Self centered wellness is a mind body practice that advocates reorienting inward and providing the tools and support that you need to navigate that journey. So as leaders, we are bombarded with stress and information, and what we need is resilience and endurance.”“We need time in the game and we need the ability to clear our heads and listen to ourselves. You're constantly going to be. Feedback from the outside world, which you need to be able to digest and incorporate into a bigger, clearer, more resilient strategy.““We love the phrase self centered wellness because it's a little agitating when you first hear it. The idea of self-centeredness is not something that we value, especially in our culture, which is heavy on martyrdom, burnout, whoever puts the most out and pushes the furthest, cares the most, or gives the most to their business.”“Being self-centered and being centered within, it gives us the resilience, the endurance, the strength, and the clarity of mind to be great leaders and really give to our organizations.”“When we're constantly just living with feedback and we're responding to the people around us or we're reacting to yeses and nos, we're not navigating our path and as leaders that's, our job is to see further than the fog of war to have a vision that we're manifesting, that other people can't see.”“People have come to value their bodies. At the end of the day, after we were all locked inside, we are still living in our bodies. We still have to stay comfortable in our bodies. We have to manage our mental health. And we all realized how precious our bodies are.”Connect with JenniferWebsite: www.jihi.com

Sarah Smith-Barry is the founder and principal consultant at Freego Consulting.She is a business psychology practitioner both on LinkedIn and in real life, improving the workplace through the use of personality and cognitive tools along with tailored roadmaps for leadership and teams to succeed.As a disabled Army veteran herself, and key member of the veteran family of Military City, San Antonio, it is important to her that she spends any free time volunteering at Veteran Service organizations, like FourBlock, where she assists veterans in their transition from service to the civilian workforce.Top 3 TakeawaysStress begets strength—while uncomfortable in the moment, stress is an inherent part of hormesis, a process through which your body and character can heal stronger as a result of adversity.Think big... but not too big—focusing on a grandiose purpose or passion can lead to disappointment if you force the issue. Find your footing with something here and now and have faith that your bigger why will emerge in due time.Commitment is key—before you can direct another person to a better tomorrow, you have to ensure that they're bought into your vision of what's possible and ready to do what it will take to get there.From the Source“Early on in my career and kind of having to go through that [injury] and watch other people around me who are also in recovery going through that, it kind of gave me a hormetic effect on my character.““Find something in the world that you care about and pursue that, and that's going to give you the passion purpose that you're looking for in the interim while you're feeling out how to kind of navigate and learn to communicate in the civilian sector.”“if you have the ability to speak with who you might be leading in the future ask ‘What is it that you need from me?', ‘What kind of support would you like to have but maybe don't?' and see where you can provide it.““We're trying to put the human back in the workplace and really make it a human-centered design.““You have the ability as a coach or mentor or leader to be able to direct your people in the right direction, but if they don't buy into it, It's very unlikely that they're going to go that far.”Connect with SarahWebsite: www.freegoconsulting.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahsmithbarry/Twitter, Clubhouse, etc.: @sarahsmithbarryReferences“Celebs Who Served” sources:https://www.businessinsider.com/celebrities-who-were-in-the-military-2016-11https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/20-hollywood-stars-served-military-210528490.html

Marcel Schwantes is the founder of Leadership from the Core and an international speaker, leadership coach, and a columnist who attracts over 1.5 million readers monthly to his thought-leadership contributions. Top 3 Takeaways With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility—Marcel found himself in a toxic work environment, and it landed him in the hospital. When he later worked for a people-first leader, his experience and his results improved dramatically. Be a people-first leader for your people.Stay Humble—seasoned leaders may find it tempting to believe they have all the answers. It's important that you take off the mask and make yourself vulnerable enough to continue learning and growing.Safety First—when leaders give their people freedom, autonomy, and psychological safety—while preserving accountability—everybody can do their best work and the results begin to take care of themselves. From the Source “This isn't just pie in the sky stuff. There are people out there that are actually aspiring to lead this way. And it leads to results because that elevated my game.” “In journaling, you bring up emotions to the surface, and we cannot fix problems unless we know ‘How will you feel about what's going on?' in order to do something about it.” “You want to break the barriers that cause you to want to discover more about yourself, that keep you from wanting to discover more about yourself.” “The higher you go up the chain, the less likely you want to break through the barriers that are holding you back.“ “I have lots of clients that are senior leaders and executives that—once they understand that they have to remove the mask and that they have to get vulnerable—that's when the real work happens.“ “A lot of people are promoted into leadership roles without having the capacity or the competency to lead humans well.” Connect with Marcel Website: https://www.marcelschwantes.com/ Podcast: Love in Action Twitter: https://twitter.com/marcelschwantes References 10 of the Most Inspiring Leaders of All Time https://www.inspiringleadershipnow.com/most-inspiring-leaders-redefine-leadership/

Kimberly Spencer is an award-winning high performance, trauma-informed coach and trainer, Amazon best-selling co-author, international motivational speaker, and the founder of CrownYourself.com. She helps visionary leaders transform their self-limiting stories, build their empire, stand out fearlessly, and make the income and the impact they deserve.Top 3 TakeawaysPick up the pace—early career leaders often delay when making decisions. This can hold you back. Of course you'll experience self-doubt—we all do—but as a leader, all eyes are on you to be decisive when it counts.Expand your perspective—experienced leaders need to look at situations and their own capabilities from a broader vantage point in order to break through a performance plateau.Don't confuse busy-ness with business. If you want to move beyond frenetic activity toward delivering results that matter, you have to be clear about your purpose. You must do the uncomfortable things that you know you ought to in order to maximize your impact.From the Source“A lot of times we're told it's ‘new level, new devils', and for me, I've never experienced that to be true. And honestly, in five years of coaching, I've never experienced that to be true with a client. Typically it's ‘same devil, new level'.““For early career leaders, the number one thing that stops them is self doubt. And the number one thing that doubt creates is delight. And so the swifter you can be at speeding up your decision-making, the faster you're going to move through that earlier period. Because when you delay on making a decision, it then allows for that insidious interloper of doubt to creep in.”“One of the things that I see as they start giving their power away to meetings—to endless meetings.”“So often we can unconsciously get into this pattern of blame. Blame the meetings, blame the project, blame the children, blame the husband, blame the partner blame—you know, 'oh, if my partner wasn't working me so hard' or, 'oh, if my, if I didn't have so many clients'—blame the clients. When you look at 'where are you blaming?' that's where you'll see that you are giving away your power of conscious choice and you are defaulting to blame, which doesn't actually put you in a position to change anything. So if you want to enact change, then you have to look examine it as to where you're placing blame and then move forward from there.““Blame really stacks up. So examining and curtailing it as quickly as possible so that you don't—five years from now, ten years from now—turn around and say what happened to my life? ““Our brains are wired to survive. They're not necessarily wired to thrive unless we actively, consciously program them to.”Connect with KimberlyCrownYourself.comYouTubeFacebookLinkedIn

Susanna Katsman is a leadership development consultant and a coach. She has held a variety of leadership roles in healthcare and higher education settings. She holds an Ed.M. in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Susanna is also certified as a Talent Optimization Consultant and a practitioner of The Predictive Index talent optimization platform.Top 3 TakeawaysWhile having a socialized mind may help you be a great team member, having a self-authoring mind is more critical than ever to be a great leader. A self-authoring mind can be developed with practice—doing so requires you to take calculated risks and design novel solutions in ambiguous situations.A great way to ensure that you've fully absorbed a lesson learned is to use the formula, “I used to think __________, and now I think __________.”From the Source“The socialized mind internalizes the behavioral norms and expectations of others, and it looks to others for direction, validation, and approval. People with a socialized mind tend to make excellent team members and do good work.““A self-authoring mind no longer looks to others for direction, validation, and approval. It is well aware of what others think and expect, of societal norms, and all of that is subordinated.““I would say that the greater the self-authoring capacity, the greater the degree to which one owns the role— not just in the workplace but also in life.”“Stretch goals can be very important because stretch goals—where falling short of target doesn't impact performance rating or compensation—make risk-taking safer, and risk-taking promotes development of self-authoring capacity.““Asking ‘What are you learning?' makes people stop and reflect, and reflection is a key practice for development of greater mental complexity which goes along with development of self-authoring capacity.”Connect with SusannaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susannakatsman/Click here to get Susanna's free guide “3 Simple Steps to Greater Confidence in Yourself as a Leader!”

Andrea Wilson Woods is a writer who loves to tell stories, and a patient advocate who founded the nonprofit Blue Faery: The Adrienne Wilson Liver Cancer Association. Andrea is the CEO and co-founder of Cancer University, a for-profit, social-benefit, digital health company. With Cancer U, Andrea synergizes her talents of coaching, writing, teaching, and advocacy. Her best-selling and award-winning book, Better Off Bald: A Life in 147 Days, is a medical memoir about raising and losing her sister to liver cancer.Top 3 TakeawaysDuring challenging times, it's all the more important to remember your why—your North Star—to keep you focused and moving forward.When you have to deliver bad news, be human about it—be truthful and direct but also empathetic.When you struggle to find strength within, draw it from those around you—you'll have the chance to return the favor by giving back after you've had time and space to heal.From the Source“Coming to live with me was probably the best thing that could've happened to me at that time. Because even though I didn't want better for myself, I wanted better for [Adrienne]. And by being able to focus on her, I was able to get through all of those challenges.”“I can remember a time where I was working four jobs and all part-time, but it was a way that I could be on her schedule and be there for her, but they were four completely different jobs. So I was traveling all over Los Angeles. It felt like I was every single day. Um, but you know, she was my. In many ways. Adrienne was my North Star.““You will have to give bad news, so there is a way to give bad news and be kind, but also don't sugar coat it, don't just gloss over it.”Connect with AndreaWebsite: http://www.bluefaery.comWebsite: http://www.andreawilsonwoods.comWebsite: http://www.betteroffbald.comWebsite: http://www.cancer.university(Use coupon code LEADTHEPEOPLE for a free lifetime membership!)

Joanna Dodd Massey, Ph.D., MBA has more than 25 years of experience in the media industry at companies, such as Condé Nast, Lionsgate, CBS, Viacom, Discovery and Hasbro. She's an experienced C-level communications executive and Board Director. Joanna has managed brand reputation, corporate turnaround, crisis communications, culture transformation, and multi-million-dollar P&Ls. She's the author of two books, "Culture Shock: Surviving Five Generations In One Workplace" and "Communicating During a Crisis: Influencing Others When the Stakes are High"Top 3 TakeawaysOur brains are wired to detect threats in our environment—whether those threats are real or imagined.When your brain switches into threat mode, it begins to shut down executive functioning—the part of the brain responsible for rational decision making and strategic thinking.During times of change, you may get better results as a leader if you can understand what's naturally happening inside the brains of those affected by the change—be empathetic and avoid making change more difficult by pushing your followers too hard or moving too quickly.From the Source“When we are in what's called an amygdala hijack which is basically when the amygdala is in charge, it is incumbent on the company, on the leader, on the manager, on the boss to dialogue with employees in a way that is going to get them out of the fear place where the amygdala is running the show and back into the rational mind so that they can look at it more rationally and not from fear and stress and upset.”“Human beings have a very predictable response to change, and what's even more predictable is the type of change that will trigger them.”“The one guarantee in life is change, and yet human beings are hardwired to resist change. We gravitate to that which is comfortable and familiar and similar to us, and we reject that which is different and makes us uncomfortable.“Connect with JoannaWebsite: http://www.joannamassey.comBook: Culture Shock: Surviving Five Generations in One WorkplaceBook: Communicating During a Crisis: Influencing Others When the Stakes Are High

Paul is the Founder and CEO of Reciprocity ROI, Inc., a technology management consulting firm. He's a thought leader, an investor, and a futurist. Like me, Paul is a former Marine. Unlike me, Paul is an expert in all things heavy tech including Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Virtual and Augmented Reality, and other technologies that are changing our world for the better—usually. I sat down with Paul to learn about how we can see into the future despite being hyper-present in our business and our leadership.Top 3 TakeawaysEntrepreneurship and leadership are at their best when they improve people's lives—whether developing a new technology to cure a disease or investing in someone's potential.Embrace reinvention or perish—prior success can hold you back if you let it; always be on the lookout for the next big thing and your next opportunity to stretch and grow.Fail your way into the future—let go of your ego and prepare for the inevitable setbacks that will inch you closer to a big return on your investment.Connect with PaulLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/businessmanathletemarineWebsite: http://www.reciprocityroi.comWebsite: https://bambusinesses.com/

Colin McIntosh, founder & CEO of Sheets & Giggles, a fast-growing bedding and sustainability company based in Denver, Colorado. Sheets & Giggles' eucalyptus lyocell sheets recently won Good Housekeeping Magazine's “Overall Best Sheets” award. Colin & his well-rested team are all about sustainability, reforestation, philanthropy, and building his cheeky brand. I reached out to Colin after I received a strong, passionate response to a LinkedIn post I wrote about sleep.Top 3 TakeawaysPrioritize sleep—the work will always be there, so give yourself the chance to rest and rejuvenate. You'll improve your performance, and you can pick up where you left off.Aim for uninterrupted sleep—the quality of your sleep matters as much as the quantity.Change your sleep, change your life—you may have to make lifestyle changes to things like your exercise and diet, but when you improve your sleep you'll improve your results.From the Source“I can tell you right now that when five, six o'clock comes around, I will have another hundred hours of work that I could do that I could just keep doing—because my to-do list is always doing this.”“The way that I always advise people to sleep is … your Non-REM cycles hit at different times. And so you really want to wake up either at four hours, six hours, seven and a half or nine. And you'll feel much well rested if you wake up at those times. So I actually don't have a set time on my alarm clock.”“Every everything from bodybuilding to herniated disks to chronic pain—more sleep is the answer. It's when your body heals itself.““It's not just about the amount of sleep, it's about uninterrupted sleep. And so that's the thing that I think is really screwing people over is they might get eight hours, but if they're waking up an hour or two, they miss their first non REM cycle. If they're waking up at hour five, they miss their second. And if they're waking up an hour seven, they miss their third.““You've got to make other changes in your life if you're actually gonna wind up changing the way that you get your sleep. And changing the way that you get your sleep can be completely life-changing for someone.“Connect with ColinWebsite: www.sheetsgiggles.comTwitter: @SheetsGigglesBuy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/sheetsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colindmcintosh/

Dr. Greg Barnett is the Chief People Scientist at Energage, the provider of a leading employee engagement platform. Greg is an Industrial Organizational Psychologist who's done stints at Hogan Assessments and IBM Kenexa. More recently, Greg and I worked together at The Predictive Index. He's as entertaining as he is knowledgeable, and as soon as I launched my new podcast, I couldn't wait to get Greg onto the show. Top 3 Takeaways:Pay attention to feedback when it's given to you, but don't be overly self-critical—make progress, don't chase perfection.Recognize that self awareness is a journey and that your developmental efforts should evolve over time—work to be well rounded earlier in your career while doubling down on strengths later on.Use your self awareness as a type of North Star and always remain true to yourself so that you don't convince yourself that a situation or a decision is a fit when it actually isn't.

Thad Peterson is the Director of Product Marketing, Core Platform at Zoominfo. Thad and I worked together at The Predictive Index, and he has always struck me as one of the most authentic people I've ever met. When I decided to delve into the topic of leadership authenticity, I knew I had to get Thad onto my show. Top 3 Takeaways:Pay attention to how other leaders make you feel when you feel at your best, and try replicate those specific behaviors in your own leadership.Show interest in other people as people and you'll have a strong relationship foundation for those times when you have to deliver constructive criticism or ask for a better effort.Conceding a point when you're wrong or in favor of a better approach doesn't weaken your authority but instead creates trust and respect on the part of your followers.

In this inaugural episode, I share a series of origin stories.MY STORY [1:29]I provide a detailed walkthrough of my story arc to help you get to know me better and understand my leadership perspective.THE STORY OF THIS PODCAST [14:09]I relate how I decided to start a podcast centered on leadership development.YOUR STORY [16:28]I share what you might be experiencing when you want to double down on your leadership development.I also summarize the episode with my Top Three Takeaways [18:15].You can follow me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattpoepsel/If you'd like to grab my free Leadership Values exercise to discover your superpower, you can get yours at http://mattpoepsel.com/values/