Podcasts about employees

Anthony Klok keeps 80% of his hotel staff for more than 20 years, and he doesn't credit software, surveys or another employee engagement program. I visited Anthony, Principal of Rebel Hospitality, at the Best Western Plus Hawthorne Terrace in Chicago while he cooked for his staff and handed out appreciation bonuses. He explained why people stay, why so many hotel companies still get this wrong and how owners directly shape the culture inside their properties. Anthony also connects that loyalty to stronger guest service and better business performance. His hotel just recorded its best summer in four or five years after a $1.5 million renovation, but the most interesting part of our #NoVacancyNews conversation had nothing to do with the building. It came down to what owners do every day and what employees notice long before any customer does. Click through and watch the video to hear Anthony explain what keeps his team in place for decades and why more hotel owners should pay attention. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

What if the biggest reason clients and employees stay has nothing to do with pricing, pay, or perks? In this episode, we explore how understanding why each visit matters transforms ordinary pet care into meaningful service. We discuss the difference between simply completing tasks and delivering genuine care, and how giving your team client context changes the way they show up. We also share two practical systems that strengthen both employee engagement and client retention. Together, we'll discover how purpose and feedback create a healthier business for everyone involved. Main topics: Finding purpose behind visits Task quality versus care Client context for teams Feedback strengthens retention Building meaningful systems Main takeaway: "The walk is just the delivery mechanism. The freedom we give families is the product." We're not simply walking dogs or scooping litter boxes. We're giving someone the confidence to travel, attend a wedding, recover from surgery, work a long shift, or finally take the vacation they've been putting off. Every visit represents a person who is trusting us with something deeply important. When our teams understand why they're showing up—not just what they're supposed to do—the quality of care naturally changes. And when we consistently share client feedback with the people who earned it, purpose becomes something they can see, not just hear about. Purpose creates better care. Better care creates stronger relationships. And stronger relationships build businesses that last. Links: Check out our Starter Packs See all of our discounts!

The Big Mac Index is here, the police used Grok to edit an evidence photo, Linkedin is now offering users the opportunity to report slop, Google pulled its disastrous AI image editing tool they put into Google Earth, you can now bet on wild fire outcomes, and more. We discuss. Stories read and referenced: Employees from the world's biggest AI companies want the US to be ready to slow AI development https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/28/tech/ai-development-tech-employees-open-letter Linkedin Adds Slop Detection Report Button https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/30/linkedin-adds-a-button-to-report-ai-generated-slop/ Google Pulls Down Feature for AI-Generating Fake Satellite Images on Google Earth After It's Immediately Used to Fake Terror Attacks https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/google-pulls-down-google-earth-ai-feature Wildfire Betting now on Prediction Market Apps https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/17/climate/betting-wildfires-polymarket-prediction-market-platforms Vancouver Police use AI tool to fabricate drug bust photo https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/vancouver-police-explain-made-with-ai-image-of-seized-drugs-cash/ The Fake Influencers Selling Wellness on Your Feed https://www.nytimes.com/video/technology/100000011001849/ai-influencers-health-supplements-fake-ads.html

Stupid News 8-3-2026 8am …Postal Employee Arrested for Stealing Winning Lottery Ticket …Tired of waiting for her KFC Order she pulled out an AR-15-style rifle …Funeral Home Director Accused of Stealing Deceased Man's Estate

Employee engagement is key to a successful organization, and getting team members engaged should begin even before their first day of work as a new hire. New hires naturally feel a mix of excitement and anxiety, but leaders must capitalize on the excitement while minimizing the anxiety to stimulate employee engagement from the outset. According to Lana Fontenot, Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement and External Relations for South Louisiana Community College, effective pre-boarding and onboarding programs are effective ways to not only stimulate excitement and reduce anxiety but to build engagement and increase retention rates. Listen to the first part of Dr. Janet Pilcher's two-part interview with Ms. Fontenot as they discuss her model for pre-boarding and onboarding and her personal experience as a new hire that instilled within her the passion for effective onboarding and employee engagement. Recommended Resources:  Focus on Employee Engagement, Increase Employee Engagement with RecognitionFollow Host Dr. Janet Pilcher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janetpilcher/ 

10 Important Tax and Write-Off Reminders for Electrical ContractorsRunning a successful electrical contracting business requires more than performing quality electrical work. Contractors must also understand how business expenses, tax deductions, recordkeeping, vehicles, equipment purchases, employees and estimated tax payments can affect the financial health of their company.In this episode, Paul Abernathy discusses ten important tax and business-expense reminders every electrical contractor should understand. Topics include the difference between spending money and receiving a tax deduction, identifying legitimate business expenses, separating business and personal finances, documenting vehicle mileage, properly categorizing job costs and understanding depreciation on trucks, tools and equipment.The episode also addresses business meals, home-office deductions, the risks of incorrectly classifying employees as subcontractors, and the importance of planning for income taxes, payroll taxes and self-employment taxes throughout the year.Whether you are preparing to start an electrical contracting company or already operating an established business, this episode provides practical guidance to help you improve your records, recognize legitimate deductions and avoid common financial mistakes.Topics covered include:What a business write-off actually saves you.Ordinary and necessary business expenses.Separating business and personal accounts.Vehicle mileage and transportation records.Materials, tools, insurance and operating expenses.Depreciation and major equipment purchases.Business meals and home-office expenses.Employees versus independent contractors.Estimated tax payments and tax planning.Why accurate records are essential during an audit.The goal is not to manufacture deductions or spend money unnecessarily. The goal is to capture every legitimate business expense, maintain the documentation necessary to support it and operate the company in a way that allows you to keep more of the profit you worked hard to earn.For more great podcasts search for "Master The NEC Podcast" on your favorite search engine and enjoy over 1000 eposides dating back many years,This episode provides general educational information and is not individualized legal, accounting or tax advice. Contractors should consult a qualified tax professional regarding their specific business structure, state requirements and financial circumstances.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/master-the-nec-podcast--1083733/support.Struggling with the National Electrical Code? Discover the real difference at Electrical Code Academy, Inc.—where you'll learn from the nation's most down-to-earth NEC expert who genuinely cares about your success. No fluff. No gimmicks. Just the best NEC training you'll actually remember.Visit https://FastTraxSystem.com to learn more.

10 Important Tax and Write-Off Reminders for Electrical ContractorsRunning a successful electrical contracting business requires more than performing quality electrical work. Contractors must also understand how business expenses, tax deductions, recordkeeping, vehicles, equipment purchases, employees and estimated tax payments can affect the financial health of their company.In this episode, Paul Abernathy discusses ten important tax and business-expense reminders every electrical contractor should understand. Topics include the difference between spending money and receiving a tax deduction, identifying legitimate business expenses, separating business and personal finances, documenting vehicle mileage, properly categorizing job costs and understanding depreciation on trucks, tools and equipment.The episode also addresses business meals, home-office deductions, the risks of incorrectly classifying employees as subcontractors, and the importance of planning for income taxes, payroll taxes and self-employment taxes throughout the year.Whether you are preparing to start an electrical contracting company or already operating an established business, this episode provides practical guidance to help you improve your records, recognize legitimate deductions and avoid common financial mistakes.Topics covered include:What a business write-off actually saves you.Ordinary and necessary business expenses.Separating business and personal accounts.Vehicle mileage and transportation records.Materials, tools, insurance and operating expenses.Depreciation and major equipment purchases.Business meals and home-office expenses.Employees versus independent contractors.Estimated tax payments and tax planning.Why accurate records are essential during an audit.The goal is not to manufacture deductions or spend money unnecessarily. The goal is to capture every legitimate business expense, maintain the documentation necessary to support it and operate the company in a way that allows you to keep more of the profit you worked hard to earn.For more great podcasts search for "Master The NEC Podcast" on your favorite search engine and enjoy over 1000 eposides dating back many years,This episode provides general educational information and is not individualized legal, accounting or tax advice. Contractors should consult a qualified tax professional regarding their specific business structure, state requirements and financial circumstances.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/electrify-electrician-podcast--4131858/support.

Bad staff will sink a business faster than almost anything. But what if the reason you can't seem to keep good people, or get the ones you have to lift, runs deeper than the hires themselves? In this episode Michael Mojo digs into why so many business owners feel trapped by a team that won't perform, and why the usual fixes (better hiring, more rules, tighter management) rarely solve it on their own. He makes a case that shifts how you see the whole problem, and it starts somewhere most owners never think to look. He gets into the popular "work on your business, not in it" advice and why it quietly backfires, why struggling owners tend to share one specific blind spot, and how culture becomes the real energy running through a company or the thing slowly draining it. He also unpacks why celebrating small wins builds momentum that big distant goals never will. The conversation then opens up into something bigger: why we started paying people for time instead of value, where that broken idea came from, and what changes when you rebuild a business around output and contribution instead of hours logged. Michael explains why the best performers are drawn to certain leaders and quietly avoid others, and what that says about the kind of team you're currently attracting. If you've ever blamed your team and wondered why nothing changes, this one will give you a very different place to start. In this episode: Why "work on your business, not in it" can quietly work against you The one blind spot struggling owners tend to share How your standards ripple through the entire organisation Why culture is the energy of a business, not a buzzword The small-wins habit that builds momentum big goals can't Why paying for time instead of value is a broken model How to shift a team from money-focused to value-focused Why top performers are drawn to some leaders and avoid others Official channel and episode of the Winning Standards Podcast hosted by Michael Mojo. All Rights Reserved. When you're ready to fast track your results, here's 2 ways I can help: This month's intake for The Odyssey is now open. If you've hit a ceiling in your business and know the constraint is you, not your business, this is the breakthrough. Limited intake [Learn more] Stuck, need clarity, or just want to upgrade how you think, lead and perform? Thrive Time is my premier self leadership event. [Secure your seat]   Follow Me on Social Media:

Watch the YouTube version of this episode HEREWhat does stepping away from a jiu-jitsu gym have to do with building a better law firm?More than you might think.In this episode of Maximum Lawyer Live, Tyson Mutrux shares an unexpected lesson from taking time away from jiu-jitsu and how the sense of community, belonging, and genuine human connection he experienced applies directly to client relationships.Tyson explores why clients don't stay because of legal skill alone, they stay because of how your firm makes them feel. He breaks down practical ways law firm owners can create deeper trust, build authentic client connections, and transform their firm from a transactional service into a community people genuinely want to be part of.If you're looking for ways to improve client experience, increase referrals, and build a firm people can't stop talking about, this episode is full of actionable ideas you can implement immediately.What You'll LearnWhy legal skill alone isn't enough to build lifelong clients.The difference between client loyalty and client belonging.How to create stronger emotional connections with clients.Simple systems that make clients feel seen, remembered, and cared for.Why small commitments build massive trust over time.How to engineer authentic connection without being manipulative.Ways to turn your law firm into a community instead of just a service.Highlights00:00 – Why stepping away from jiu-jitsu sparked a new perspective on law firms03:15 – The psychology behind belonging and why community matters08:45 – Why clients stay because of how your firm makes them feel, not just your legal skills13:20 – Loyalty vs. belonging: the mindset shift every law firm owner should make17:45 – Practical ways to create deeper client relationships through shared experiences22:10 – Small systems that build trust and keep clients engaged throughout their case27:30 – How to create a law firm that feels more like a community than a service

Many business schools are hurriedly designing and incorporating courses on ethics. Seminars and management training are focusing on integrity. There seems to be a sudden awareness of our need for integrity in the marketplace.    Employee theft is a problem of great magnitude, as well as lack of employee loyalty. But, after all, how can you motivate loyalty if you engage in shady business dealings or treat employees unfairly? And now corporate America says, “How can we put values and integrity back in our good ‘ole American system?”  Well, it will only happen as individuals put integrity back into their personal lives and make it a high priority. And it will only happen when we are motivated from within, not from without. All the training courses in the world cannot instill integrity into a person’s heart. That must come from a belief system which is committed to doing what’s right, regardless of the cost.  If we do what’s right only as a manipulative tool to get where we want to go, only because that’s the “in” thing to do, we’ll find ourselves waffling all over the place. Doing the right thing takes an internal belief and commitment and a standard by which we operate. It takes absolutes. And it takes an internal power which many seem to lack.  If I asked you what is the best book on business principles, customer service skills, how to succeed, how to get along with people, how to handle a difficult boss, and how to deal with decisions of integrity on your job, what book would you recommend? Not too many people would ever think of the Bible as relevant to those issues, but let me tell you, it’s the textbook and the authority which we need.  If you don’t have an authority and a standard by which actions and attitudes are judged, you will never have integrity—personal or corporate. Relative truth doesn’t work; it’s another name for compromise. A moving standard which changes based on how you feel versus how I feel or is contingent on circumstances is no standard at all.   The Bible is dogmatic. It gives us very strong guidelines in many areas, with no room for argument. That causes many people a lot of difficulty, because by nature we just don’t like to be told where the limits are. But the interesting thing is, Bible principles work, and they work in the marketplace equally as well as anywhere else.  The best customer service philosophy in the world is based on what we call the golden rule which Jesus set forth 2000 years ago: Treat other people the way you want to be treated. Now, when we base our business philosophy upon this principle, we find we design a dynamite system and way to deal with people, whether customers, employees, or vendors.   God’s principles, when practiced, will benefit anyone. That’s because he’s the Creator, he knows how things should work, he knows how people are motivated, he knows what makes us tick. His principles are based on long-term profit. God doesn’t go for the instant answers most of us look for. He has marvelous strategic insight, and when he sets forth a principle, it is always to our benefit to follow them. So, regardless of whether a person or an organization recognizes God or his principles, when those principles are followed, they bring success.  Proverbs 21:21 tells us, Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.  Pursuing righteousness and love—there’s the secret to integrity. Don’t let the word righteousness throw you. It doesn’t mean perfection or weirdness. It simply means doing the right thing. If you and I are committed to doing the right thing in every situation and to act out of love for other people, we will be people of integrity. And integrity will bring us prosperity and honor.   But more importantly, as Christians in the workplace, it will open a door of witness to those around us that is stronger than any words we can ever say. A life of righteousness and love is a light which cannot be hidden; it is what I call a “question-generating” life, one which causes someone along the way to stop you and say, “Hey, what’s different about you?”  Now in part one and part two, I'd like to look at three case studies where integrity is at stake and ask ourselves what is the biblical way to deal with them. These are only three of many situations you may face, but hopefully they’ll give you some food for thought as to how you can apply biblical principles to your ethical dilemmas.  Case #1  Your departmental manager is not liked by any of the employees. She is very unfair, discourteous to everyone, and in addition, doesn’t perform her own duties well. Everyone in the department talks about her in derogatory ways. You’ve been a part of this malicious talk at times.  But you’ve decided you don’t want to be a part of this character assassination any longer. How will you keep from getting caught up in this office gossip?   First, let me ask a very basic question: Do you think this is a question of ethics and integrity? Is it unethical to gossip about someone, especially if what you’re saying is true? You’re not making it up or enlarging on it. Would this kind of behavior be viewed as a lack of integrity?  Well, let’s go back to our verse in Proverbs 21:21: Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor. Remember righteousness is simply doing the right thing.  Here’s another biblical principle to consider:  Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen (Ephesians 4:29).  I will grant you in the world’s view, gossip and backbiting would not likely be considered unethical behavior, but God’s Word says it is. No unwholesome talk out of our mouths. That’s the standard. Only what will build others up and benefit those who listen. This is not a moving standard; it remains steadfast regardless of the circumstances.  In this case study, we have a difficult manager, one who makes your job difficult, and it’s particularly hard to keep your mouth shut in these situations. But the standard doesn’t change for the difficult manager. No unwholesome talk—that’s it.   Now, if you decide to live your life by this standard of integrity, how will you handle situations in which others talk about the boss behind her back? Here are some suggestions: Get up and leave if you can. Just walk away from the conversation. Do it quietly, try not to call attention to it. You don’t want to announce, “I’m not going to listen to this kind of gossip; I’m leaving.” Not necessary; not a good idea. But walk away if you can. Someone may notice, and that’s okay.   If walking away is not an option, try changing the subject. Just find another topic and start in. Rather assertively, talk about something else which is harmless and not derogatory. That will take some fortitude and guts on your part, but you can do it nicely. Remember, it’s okay if someone notices you’re purposely changing the subject. But do it as gently as you can.  And then, I would add, don’t be afraid to say, “Instead of talking about her, why don't we talk to her?” There may be occasions when you’ll have to state your objections to the gossip. Again, do it as nicely and gently and non-judgmentally as you can, but you shouldn’t be afraid to stand up for what you think is right.   You know, integrity can be costly. If we determine to live our lives by Proverbs 21:21 and pursue righteousness and love in all we do, it won’t always be popular. Jesus told us people like darkness because their deeds are evil. And when our integrity turns a light on and exposes dark areas, we may not be appreciated for it. We must be prepared to pay the price, but we shouldn’t purposely expose someone or make an example out of them.  In part two, we’ll look at some other real-life situations where we have to make ethical choices in the marketplace. I hope you’ll take some time this week to consider the biblical imperative for a life of integrity and ask God to show you any areas in your own life where you’ve let down the bars and lowered the standards.   Pray Proverbs 21:21 this week: Lord, help me to pursue righteousness and love in everything I do. Help me to simply do the right thing, no matter what the situation is, no matter how alone I may be, no matter what it may cost me. Give me your power to make right ethical choices.  I can only imagine what would happen if every Christian in the marketplace started to pray this every morning before work. I’m telling you, it would make a difference in our witness for Jesus. We might find ourselves out on a limb occasionally, but if we simply do what is right, we’re never going to be out on that limb by ourselves. Jesus will be with us, and he has promised we will prosper and be honored if we pursue righteousness and love.  I don’t think this necessarily means prosperity by the world’s measure but prosperity in God’s eyes. A healthy and prosperous soul is far more important than a prosperous lifestyle. And the honor may not come immediately; but if God has promised it, it will come. We can trust him. 

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Money Making Conversations Master Class with Rushion McDonald is America's premier entrepreneurship, business leadership, financial literacy, and wealth-building podcast featuring successful entrepreneurs, executives, founders, celebrities, and industry experts sharing actionable insights for professional and financial success. Business Podcast Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Growth Financial Literacy Wealth Building Black Entrepreneurs Minority Business Leadership Executive Leadership Business Funding Marketing Strategies Personal Development Startup Advice Sales Training CEO Interviews Founder Stories Professional Development Economic Empowerment Business Success Networking Brand Building Innovation How to start a business Small business funding Entrepreneur success stories Business leadership podcast Wealth building strategies Black entrepreneur podcast Minority business development Marketing for small businesses Business growth strategies Startup funding opportunities Executive leadership training Financial literacy education Success mindset podcast Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Heather Younger. Founder and CEO of a leading employee engagement and workplace culture consulting firm:

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Money Making Conversations Master Class with Rushion McDonald is America's premier entrepreneurship, business leadership, financial literacy, and wealth-building podcast featuring successful entrepreneurs, executives, founders, celebrities, and industry experts sharing actionable insights for professional and financial success. Business Podcast Entrepreneurship Small Business Business Growth Financial Literacy Wealth Building Black Entrepreneurs Minority Business Leadership Executive Leadership Business Funding Marketing Strategies Personal Development Startup Advice Sales Training CEO Interviews Founder Stories Professional Development Economic Empowerment Business Success Networking Brand Building Innovation How to start a business Small business funding Entrepreneur success stories Business leadership podcast Wealth building strategies Black entrepreneur podcast Minority business development Marketing for small businesses Business growth strategies Startup funding opportunities Executive leadership training Financial literacy education Success mindset podcast Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Heather Younger. Founder and CEO of a leading employee engagement and workplace culture consulting firm:

Special Government Employee John Solomon, founder of "Just the News," joins John Catsimatidis, Jake Novak & Michael Cohen on Sid & Friends in the Morning.

Gap Inc. is expanding its creator affiliate program to employees across Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta, allowing staff to earn commissions by becoming brand influencers. Chris Walton and Josh Hahn discuss why employees may be a brand's most authentic creators, how retailers can scale employee-generated content, and whether this could become the future of retail marketing. ▶️ Watch the full Fast Five episode here: https://youtu.be/_GsTHL9DBYA

What separates organizations that simply function from those that truly thrive? The answer often lies in the strength of their culture. In this episode of Let's Have This Conversation, Kevin McShan sits down with transformational culture executive Billy Bonaparte to explore why organizational culture is far more than an HR initiative—it's one of the most powerful strategic advantages a business can possess. With more than 15 years of experience helping Fortune 500 organizations accelerate growth through talent, innovation, and human performance, Billy shares how leaders can create cultures where purpose, performance, and belonging work together to drive sustainable success. The conversation examines the critical role of cultural alignment, ensuring employees' values, behaviors, and beliefs are connected to an organization's mission and vision, while also discussing why clear organizational priorities help businesses focus their people, resources, and energy where they matter most. Throughout the discussion, Billy explains how authentic leadership, meaningful communication, and intentional employee engagement create workplaces where people feel valued, trusted, and empowered to contribute at their highest level. Rather than treating culture as a standalone initiative, he demonstrates why today's most successful organizations embed culture into every business decision, leadership conversation, and strategic objective. Whether you're a CEO, HR executive, people leader, manager, entrepreneur, or someone passionate about building high-performing teams, this episode offers practical insights into creating transformational workplaces where people and performance flourish together. In this episode, you'll discover: If you're looking to build a resilient, people-first organization where employees are engaged, aligned, and inspired to do their best work, this conversation is one you won't want to miss. LinkedIn : @BillyBonaparte,MBA   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the 7 Minute Leadership Podcast, Paul Falavolito explores how outdated tools, frustrating software, and inefficient processes quietly damage morale, productivity, and retention. Learn why removing workplace friction is one of the most overlooked leadership responsibilities and how improving the employee experience begins with making work easier.Host: Paul FalavolitoConnect with me on your favorite platform: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Substack, BlueSky, Threads, LinkTree, YouTubeView my website for free leadership resources and exclusive merchandise: www.paulfalavolito.comBooks by Paul FalavolitoThe 7 Minute Leadership® Handbook: bit.ly/48J8zFGThe Leadership Academy: https://bit.ly/4lnT1PfThe 7 Minute Leadership® Survival Guide: https://bit.ly/4ij0g8yThe Leader's Book of Secrets: http://bit.ly/4oeGzCI

On this episode of The Ty Brady Way, Ty sits down with Norman Wolfe to talk about why so many businesses lose their purpose as they grow and what leaders can do to build organizations that are more human, adaptable, and sustainable. Norman introduces the idea of The Living Organization, a different way of viewing a company, not as a machine made up of individual parts, but as a collective person with its own mindset, behaviors, relationships, and purpose.   Norman explains that the traditional business model is built around efficiency. A company takes inputs, produces outputs, and relies on leaders to make sure the process runs as smoothly as possible. In that model, employees are treated like parts of the machine. Norman says that approach may have worked when business was more predictable, but it struggles in a world shaped by constant change, uncertainty, and complexity. His belief is that organizations work better when leaders focus less on controlling people and more on helping them think, contribute, and grow.   Ty and Norman discuss why companies often begin with a strong mission but slowly lose it as they scale. A founder may start with a clear vision and a group of people who believe in what they are building. But as the company grows, more structure is added. Departments are created, systems are put in place, and efficiency becomes the main focus. Over time, people can begin to feel more like employees completing tasks than individuals contributing to a shared purpose. Norman explains that machines do not care about relationships, meaning, or customer experience. People do, and leaders cannot afford to forget that.   Norman also shares a different way to think about departments. Instead of seeing sales, operations, or marketing as groups managed by individual leaders, he encourages business owners to view each department as a collective person. Each group has a purpose, a way of behaving, and a responsibility to contribute to the success of the whole organization. This helps leaders look beyond individual performance and pay closer attention to how departments communicate, cooperate, and solve problems together.   The conversation also turns to profit and purpose. Norman explains that a company exists to create value for the customer. Revenue is the value the customer gives back in exchange for what the business provides. Expenses are the resources used to create that value. Profit is what remains when the company creates more value than it consumes. From that perspective, profit and purpose do not have to compete. Purpose gives people a reason to care, and that energy helps the organization create better value. Problems begin when leaders focus only on cutting costs, improving systems, and increasing efficiency while losing sight of the customer and the mission.   You'll also hear Norman explain the warning signs of an unhealthy organization. Projects begin to stall, departments operate in silos, and leaders are constantly pulled back into daily decisions. Employees may have the skill and authority to act, but they still wait for approval. Norman says this often happens because people have been trained to comply instead of commit. They follow instructions, but they do not feel responsible for the outcome.   This becomes a major barrier to growth. Many leaders believe they need more people, more money, or better systems to scale. Norman says the deeper issue is ownership. A business cannot grow if every important decision still depends on the owner. Systems should support people, not control them. When employees are told exactly how to behave, they often become cautious, dependent, and afraid to make mistakes.   Norman explains how contribution agreements can help change that. Instead of handing people a list of goals, leaders explain where the company is going and ask each department how it will contribute. Employees are encouraged to think like CEOs of their own area of the business. The leader's role is not to jump in with answers every time someone struggles. It is to coach people through the process so they become more capable and confident over time.   Ty and Norman also discuss artificial intelligence and the growing importance of human connection. Norman believes AI should be used to remove repetitive work so people can spend more time building relationships, solving problems, and creating value. Technology should improve the human experience, not simply replace people.   Norman closes by sharing that his first performance review as a manager was unacceptable in every category. That failure forced him to examine how he was leading and what he needed to change. Years later, he was leading a successful organizational turnaround. His message is that struggle often teaches us more than success ever could.   If you want to build a business where people take ownership, leaders are not trapped in every decision, and purpose remains just as important as profit, this episode is for you.   As always, we would like to hear from you!  

A general contractor installs a commercial storefront window system. Because the flashing is installed incorrectly, rainwater enters the building during the first storm. The building owner sues the contractor, seeking the cost to remove and replace the defective window system and repair the water-damaged drywall and flooring inside. The contractor tenders the suit to its CGL insurer. Notable Timestamps [ 00:00:34 ] - A contractor faces a lawsuit after incorrectly installing window flashing that leads to water damage inside a building. [ 00:04:48 ] - A central issue in these claims is determining if an insurance company actually owes defense and indemnity when a contractor's work causes property damage. [ 00:06:26 ] - Commercial liability insurance is designed to cover unpredictable accidents and occurrences rather than serving as a guarantee for a contractor's faulty work. [ 00:08:53 ] - Under the majority legal view, such as in Alabama, faulty workmanship does not qualify as an occurrence because the work was done purposefully without fortuity. [ 00:10:00 ] - A growing minority view, seen in states like Pennsylvania and Colorado, broadly interprets these incidents as accidents unless the contractor intended the damage. [ 00:10:55 ] - Even if a situation qualifies as an occurrence under a state's laws, insurers may still rely on specific policy exclusions, like j(5) and j(6), to limit coverage. [ 00:11:26 ] - While the majority view denies indemnity for faulty workmanship itself, defective work that damages other property can still be classified as an occurrence. Your PLRB Resources Adjuster Resource Sheet: Faulty Work https://members.plrb.org/documents/adjuster-resource-sheet-faulty-work Employees of member companies also have access to a searchable legal database, hundreds of hours of video trainings, building code materials, weather data, and even the ability to have your coverage questions answered by our team of attorneys (https://www.plrb.org/ask-plrb/) at no additional charge to you or your company. Subscribe to this Podcast Your Podcast App - Please subscribe and rate us on your favorite podcast app YouTube - Please like and subscribe at @plrb LinkedIN - Please follow at "Property and Liability Resource Bureau" Send us your Scenario! Please reach out to us at 630-509-8704 with your scenario! This could be your "adjuster story" sharing a situation from your claims experience, or a burning question you would like the team to answer. In any case, please omit any personal information as we will anonymize your story before we share. Just reach out to scenario@plrb.org.  Legal Information The views and opinions expressed in this resource are those of the individual speaker and not necessarily those of the Property & Liability Resource Bureau (PLRB), its membership, or any organization with which the presenter is employed or affiliated. The information, ideas, and opinions are presented as information only and not as legal advice or offers of representation. Individual policy language and state laws vary, and listeners should rely on guidance from their companies and counsel as appropriate. Music: "Piece of Future" by Keyframe_Audio. Pixabay. Pixabay License. Font: Metropolis by Chris Simpson. SIL OFL 1.1. Icons: FontAwesome (SIL OFL 1.1) and Noun Project (royalty-free licenses purchased via subscription). Sound Effects: Pixabay (Pixabay License) and Freesound.org (CC0).

As I have been working on my book “The UN-WOW,” I've been talking to a lot of people in experience design and experience management about whether or not my idea for the book makes sense. Two things have emerged from these conversations. First, people generally are very supportive of the principles behind The UN-WOW. It seems that people see a lot of opportunity in exploring more mundane aspects of everyday life for design opportunities. It has been great to hear that vote of confidence as I work on the project, and people being excited to hear more about it as it is coming together. The second thing to emerge is that on a certain level, none of this experience design work should be that hard because our goals are pretty simple. At its foundation, we ideally are trying to make life better for our design audiences. Whether it is user, customer, patient, employee, student, client, or any other experience design space, we want to improve the experiences that people have (regardless of whether these experiences are mundane or metamorphic).  How we create these experiences, and the scale that it is done, becomes the work of the designers. What should be easy becomes more challenging when other organizational priorities take over. Organizations can become fixated on outcomes that run counter to the goals of experience designers. Caring about customers, employees, users, and others can be seen as a luxury when the only focus is profitability. Thus, many experience designers feel frustrated when trying to do their work, running into barriers that either minimize the scope of their work, or completely block it from happening. Leaders may want to talk about being human-centered, but don't necessarily see the need to treat people like human beings. To talk about the challenges and opportunities, I welcome Tamar Cohen to the Experience by Design studios. Like many people in experience design, Tamar had a very non-linear path to her work. Starting out as an Art History major, she worked in galleries and auction houses. She found herself at Citibank for 16 years, applying the skills she acquired from art history to her work in customer experience. She also shares her work leading other companies like Zoetis as the Head of Global Customer Experience Strategy and at Travelers as VP of Employee Experience. We talk about the importance of connecting employee experience and customer experience, making your employees your first customers. We also talk about the importance of ethnographic research to understand the full employee and customer journeys.   We also discuss her new project with Michael Lowenstein as well as work with James Killian (both former guests on ExD). She describes what she calls the Halo Effect, which includes conducting qualitative research based on the Four E's Framework: educate, empower, engage, and energize. Her company HaloEffect works by diagnosing the human system first, working with organizations and leadership to put people first. Again, a simple idea that companies struggle executing, which Tamar tries to help them accomplish. It was a great conversation about the importance of employee experience (especially in relation to customer experience), how to lead with a people-first strategy, and how even a degree in Art History can lay the foundation for better experience designs.  Tamar Cohen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamarcohen HaloEffect: https://www.myhaloeffect.com/

Check out this episode of Leadership Now with Dr. Aaron Rock as he continues the "10 Things" series. In this episode, Aaron discusses things that employers want their employees to know. More Resources: More resources at beachheadmedia.ca Beachhead Media YouTube

Don't Imbibe the Kool-Aid with Kim Kennedy – The time has come to move beyond the "us versus them" mentality that too often divides workers, employers, and unions. Instead of conflict, we should pursue cooperation. Employees, business owners, and union representatives all benefit when they work together to improve workplace safety, increase efficiency, encourage innovation, and strengthen...

SUMMARY: One ordinary Tuesday in the summer of 2001, Jeff sold a $200 television to a couple in a minivan — and only found out afterward that they were worth $5.5 billion and ranked 57th on the Forbes list. His unawareness didn't change their wealth by a dollar. It only changed how he treated them. In this chapter from the DadAwesome book, Jeff makes the case that most dads are doing the same thing with their own identity: parenting from poverty while holding access to infinite resources, working to earn what's already been freely given. TAKEAWAYS Your unawareness doesn't change your position. Not knowing who those customers were didn't subtract a dollar from their net worth — and forgetting you're God's son doesn't change that you are one. It only changes how you show up. The clipboard teaches conditional love. When affection gets tracked point by point, kids learn love is something they earn. Most of us carry that invisible scoreboard straight into adulthood and into our relationship with God. God set the scoreboard to infinity. Not a clipboard with changing numbers — a gymnasium scoreboard with the infinity symbol permanently displayed. You can't add to it with your wins or subtract from it with your failures. (It's why the DA logo looks the way it does.) Employee mindset and son mindset produce two different fathers. One strives, fears mistakes, measures worth by performance, and competes for attention. The other rests, lives from security, measures worth by belonging, and celebrates other people's wins. Position changes the daily stuff. Instead of managing behavior, you cultivate hearts. Instead of panicking about finances, you remember your Father owns everything. Instead of shame spirals, you experience conviction that leads to growth. QUOTES "My ignorance of their position didn't change their actual wealth. It only affected how I interacted with them." "Over time, that clipboard became a symbol of conditional love. I learned that affection was something I earned — point by point, performance by performance." "My heavenly Father has set the scoreboard to infinity. It can't increase with my successes or decrease with my failures. I can't add to infinity. I can't subtract from it." "We parent from poverty when we have access to infinite resources — striving for acceptance we already possess and working for approval that's already been given." "You're not God's employee, you're His son. And sonship is where fatherhood begins." Bonus — Jamie Winship: "Parenting is very much about the identity of the dad. The greatest gift you can give to your kids is the truth of who you are." ACTION STEPS 1. Reflection Name your clipboard. Every one of us has an area — points, grades, obedience, success, output — where we experienced conditional love. Name it, and name what pushed you toward living like an employee instead of an heir. Do the two-column audit. Am I living like an employee, or like a loved son and heir? Scarcity or abundance? (Downloadable PDF in the show notes.) Ask the two questions. Borrowed from Jamie Winship: sit alone with God, settle down, and ask, "What are the things I believe about myself that hurt me?" Name the disappointments, the failures, the places you feel like you're not enough. Then ask the follow-up: "Jesus, what do you say about me?" 2. Multiplication Send a couple of texts. Invite other dads into episode 445 and grow a circle of men who are growing alongside you. Join the prayer team. Team DadAwesome — 55 men — rides this Saturday to fuel fatherhood ministry. Give 20 minutes of prayer sometime Saturday morning, August 1st. Let's multiply in prayer. 3. Activation Start tomorrow with a declaration. Before you check your phone, before your to-do list starts talking, answer whose you are — and say it out loud, don't just think it: "I am a loved son of God." Remind your kids the scoreboard is set to infinity. Tell them, "I love you because you're mine," not because of what they accomplished. Try, "I'm so glad I get to be your dad. I'm so thankful you're my son." Take the holy pause. When you feel a critique or a scorecard-based thought forming, catch it before it comes out. Notice the moments you'd communicate more love if they performed. Ask your spouse. "Are there ways or times I communicate a lack of love because of a performance or a mistake?"     

Journalist David Roth left the popular sports and culture website Deadspin during the staff's 2019 mass resignation after its new owners pushed for less political commentary and a greater focus on sports. Roth and many of his former colleagues went on to launch Defector Media, a worker-owned, subscription-based publication. Roth joined NY1's Errol Louis to discuss the split from Deadspin, building a worker-owned newsroom, and the story behind the name "Defector." They also talked about his political writings on Andrew Cuomo and Donald Trump, why he's reluctant to write more about Trump, his view that prediction markets are a scam and his thoughts on political corruption in New York, former Mayor Eric Adams and political organizing.

Have you ever wondered if the employee you're frustrated with is struggling because of your leadership, not because of their ability?   Every leader has experienced a team member whose performance suddenly declines. The instinct is often to increase oversight, ask more questions, and monitor every move. But what if that extra scrutiny is creating the very performance problems you're trying to eliminate? In this episode, Bradley Hartmann explores the powerful concept of the Set-Up-to-Fail Syndrome, explaining how confirmation bias, micromanagement, and broken trust can push talented employees toward disengagement, resignation, or failure.   After listening to this episode, you'll learn how to: Recognize the warning signs that you've unintentionally put someone "on the radar" and why that creates a dangerous feedback loop. Separate facts from confirmation bias so you can evaluate employee performance more objectively. Ask three practical leadership questions that help rebuild trust, retain valuable talent, and strengthen your team's long-term performance.   Press play to discover how breaking the Set-Up-to-Fail cycle can help you retain top talent, build stronger teams, and become a more effective leader.   Read the Set-Up-to-Fail Syndrome article   At Bradley Hartmann & Company, we help construction teams improve sales, leadership,  and communication by reducing miscommunication, strengthening teamwork, and bridging language gaps between English and Spanish speakers. To learn more about our product offerings, visit bradleyhartmannandco.com.   The Construction Leadership Podcast dives into essential leadership topics in construction, including strategy, emotional intelligence, communication skills, confidence, innovation, and effective decision-making. You'll also gain insights into delegation, cultural intelligence, goal setting, team building, employee engagement, and how to overcome common culture problems—whether you're leading a crew or managing an entire organization.   Have topic ideas or guest recommendations? Contact us at info@bradleyhartmannandco.com.   New podcasts are dropped every Tuesday and Thursday.   This episode is brought to you by The Construction Spanish Toolbox —the most practical way for construction teams to learn jobsite-ready Spanish in just minutes a day over 6 months.      

This show is a team, but who answers to whom? Sam does Jodi's "evaluation" and she's shocked to learn his professional takeaways. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It doesn't take long to think about someone in your life that has stayed in the working world for longer than they may have liked. The retirement dream and target has changed a lot over the years, and that exit from the daily grind becomes more complicated when retiring from a business you own, and that entity has a less than certain future. How do you step away while still providing employment opportunities for your team? How do you get the full value for decades of hard work?On this week's Mind Your Business, we unlock Employee Ownership, not only as an exit strategy for business owners, but also as an employee incentive for small businesses that dream of seeing their company and its culture survive for generations. Illa Burbank, Executive Director of the North Carolina Employee Ownership Center (NCEOC) is our guest this week, and she'll help provide a definition to employee ownership as we explore the different tools within this strategy. We'll also talk about how entrepreneurs can use this ownership system at the start of their business journey, giving them more options for their eventual exit.The NCEOC is hosting the North Carolina Business Continuity & Employee Ownership conference in Raleigh on Wednesday, September 16th, where business owners can learn more about these strategies, and how employee ownership can be positioned as a unique employee retention incentive.Following up on last week's episode, we'll give you the details about a major grant announcement that will have an impact on Western North Carolina's long-term economic recovery from Hurricane Helene.Mind Your Business is written and produced weekly by the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce. This podcast is made possible thanks to the sponsorship support of Appalachian Commercial Real Estate.Catch the show each Thursday afternoon at 5PM on WATA (1450AM & 96.5FM) in Boone.Support the show

The Friction Tax: Are You Trapping Customers? Signing up takes less than a minute. Canceling takes 45. The cancellation button is buried. Customer support is difficult to reach. Returning a product requires multiple steps. A "retention specialist" keeps a customer on the phone until surrender feels easier than leaving. That is more than poor customer service. It is the customer friction tax: the extra time, effort, confusion, and frustration customers must absorb because a company benefits from making it difficult to cancel, return, receive help, or leave. In this episode of the Customer Service Revolution Podcast, Denise Thompson and John DiJulius examine when ordinary operational friction becomes deliberate customer exploitation—and what that friction reveals about an organization's priorities. When Customer Friction Becomes Part of the Business Model New York City recently adopted a click-to-cancel rule for automatically renewing and continuous-service subscriptions. Beginning October 1, 2026, covered businesses must clearly disclose subscription terms and provide consumers with a straightforward way to cancel. The fact that cancellation procedures need government regulation raises a larger customer experience question: Can an organization call itself customer-centric when it intentionally makes leaving difficult? John explains that ease of doing business should apply throughout the entire relationship—not just when the customer is ready to buy. That includes reaching support, resolving a problem, returning a purchase, changing an agreement, and canceling a service. Bad Profits Create Long-Term Damage Some companies generate revenue through what John calls "bad profits": hidden charges, excessive fees, restrictive policies, complicated contracts, or deliberately difficult cancellation processes. These practices may protect short-term revenue, but they can also: Destroy customer trust Generate complaints and negative word of mouth Increase service and staffing costs Create opportunities for competitors Force employees to defend policies they believe are unfair Increase frontline frustration and turnover Produce retention numbers that disguise customer dissatisfaction Blockbuster once generated approximately 16% of its revenue from late fees. That revenue made abandoning late fees appear financially dangerous—but it also prevented the company from adapting to a subscription model that customers increasingly preferred. Retention Is Not the Same as Loyalty A customer who remains because canceling is difficult has not been retained through loyalty. That customer has been trapped through friction. Healthy customer relationships produce repeat business, referrals, trust, and advocacy. Customer captivity may temporarily improve retention metrics, but it does not create customers who create more customers. Leaders must look beyond cancellation rates and ask why customers stay. Are they staying because they value the relationship—or because switching, canceling, or finding an alternative feels like too much work? Customer Friction Also Damages the Employee Experience Frontline employees frequently bear the consequences of unreasonable policies they did not create and cannot change. When employees repeatedly have to say, "I don't make the rules," it signals a larger system problem. Employees become the messengers for decisions designed to protect revenue, absorbing customers' anger while lacking the authority to make things right. Removing unnecessary customer friction is therefore both a customer experience and employee experience strategy. How Leaders Can Find Their Biggest Friction Points John recommends that leaders experience their organization as customers do. Purchase something. Attempt to return it. Try to cancel. Contact support. Track how many screens, calls, transfers, explanations, and approvals the process requires. Do not merely ask whether the process works. Ask how hard the customer must work to make it work. Leaders should also: Listen to customer calls and analyze customer sentiment Identify recurring complaints and escalations Examine policies that produce fees or prevent cancellations Compare earned sales from repeat customers and referrals with sales purchased through advertising Track retention after contractual obligations end Give employees appropriate authority to resolve problems Remove incentives that reward short-term revenue at the customer's expense Making it easier for unhappy customers to leave may feel risky. But making every customer feel trapped is far more dangerous. Trust is more valuable than captivity. Key Takeaways Ease of doing business must apply to the entire customer relationship, including cancellation, returns, support, and service recovery. Retention does not prove loyalty when customers face barriers to leaving. "Bad profits" may increase short-term revenue while damaging trust, referrals, employee morale, and long-term growth. Frontline employees suffer when they must defend policies they know are frustrating or unfair. Customer complaints and service-recovery situations are opportunities to demonstrate empathy and rebuild loyalty. Leaders should personally test their organization's customer journey. Repeat business and referrals are stronger indicators of loyalty than cancellation rates alone. The critical question is not whether a process works, but how hard customers must work to make it work. Memorable Quotes "Not all profit is good profit." "A customer hasn't been retained through loyalty. They've been trapped through friction." "Every company's job is to create customers who create customers." "You wouldn't have to chase new customers if you were keeping the existing ones." "Leaders need to spend time on the front line so they can feel the pain." "Don't ask whether the process works. Ask how hard the customer must work to make it work." "Trust is far more valuable than captivity." Episode Chapters 00:46 — The hidden friction tax customers are paying 02:12 — What ease of doing business really means 04:15 — Poor experience or calculated business decision? 06:29 — How leaders can recognize deliberate friction 08:58 — Can a high-friction company be customer-centric? 10:52 — Service recovery and rebuilding customer trust 14:55 — When retention dashboards hide dissatisfaction 18:32 — How bad policies affect frontline employees 20:28 — Charles Schwab's campaign against bad profits 23:48 — The difference between loyalty and captivity 25:47 — Why retention and referrals matter 28:45 — How to uncover your biggest friction points 30:16 — The customer journey every leader should test ROX Dashboard:  https://thedijuliusgroup.com/rox-dashboard/ The DiJulius Group Methdology: https://thedijuliusgroup.com/x-commandment-methodology/ Company Service Aptitude Test:  https://thedijuliusgroup.com/c-sat-forms/individual-c-sat/ Schedule a Complimentary Call with one of our advisors:  tdg.click/claudia Ask John!  Submit your questions for John, to be aired on future episode:  tdg.click/ask Customer Experience Executive Academy: https://thedijuliusgroup.com/project/cx-executive-academy/ Experience Revolution Membership:  https://thedijuliusgroup.com/membership/ Books:  https://thedijuliusgroup.com/shop/ Contacts:  Lindsey@thedijuliusgroup.com , Claudia@thedijuliusgroup.com If you want to learn how world-class organizations build cultures customers cannot live without, explore The Experience Revolution Membership. Inside the membership you'll gain access to livestream workshops, practical frameworks, and proven strategies used by organizations around the world. Learn more at https://thedijuliusgroup.com/membership/

Episode Notes On this episode of Talent Experience Live, we explore two new Phenom AI agents for the employee experience: Career Coach and Profile Builder. Most people build their profile once at onboarding, then let it go stale because they think in experiences, not structured skills. These agents close that gap. Employees describe their work in plain language, and the AI extracts the right skills and proficiencies for talent management. We show what this means for career pathing and skills strategy, plus a live look at both agents in action.

OpenAI agent's escape reaches a Modal customer Hackers hit Minnesota water systems Fake Russian companies, real stolen money Get the show notes here: https://cisoseries.com/cybersecurity-news-openai-agent-reaches-modal-minnesota-water-systems-hacked-fake-russian-companies-steal-real-money/ Huge thanks to our sponsor, Pindrop TIME named Pindrop one of the 10 Most Influential Software Companies of 2026.   Deepfakes slip into your video meetings, contact centers, and hiring pipelines. Pindrop restores trust to every digital conversation. Customers. Employees. Defended.   Don't wait for an incident report. Visit pindrop.com.  

Throughout this National Whistleblower Day special we've been discussing why disclosures matter and how government encourages them. The final piece is understanding how the federal whistleblower system works in practice. For that perspective, I'm joined by Charles Baldis of the Office of Special Counsel.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Check out this episode of Leadership Now with Dr. Aaron Rock as he continues the "10 Things" series. In this episode, Aaron discusses things that employers want their employees to know. More Resources: More resources at beachheadmedia.ca Beachhead Media YouTube

David recommends regular in-person company-wide gatherings for remote workers as an opportunity for creative agencies to help build their organization's culture in our post-pandemic economy where online video meetings continue to fill our calendars and working from home is the new norm.   LINKS "Investing in Ee Retreats at Remote Firms" by David C. Baker for punctuation.com

Donna Sky on Employee Ownership, Legacy, and the Future of Private Practice. Lemme ask the group practice owners a question: What's your business plan for the end of capitalism? OK, so we're not quite there yet, but "something" is pushing private practices closer to the cliff's edge of capitalism, the inevitable collapse of unbridled growth for no other reason than greed. Group practice owners who want to land safely should prepare for what comes next. Employee ownership (EO) could be what's next. Donna Sky is senior manager of business and engagement and partnerships at Project Equity. This national non-profit helps business owners explore EO and build more equitable, resilient workplaces and communities.  "There have been a lot of success stories," Donna says. "The first step is to think about what's important to you and then educate yourself." Group Practice (R)evolution is a podcast series offering insights from owners, employees, and experts, and resources to support this wildly ambitious vision for the future. Become a part of the (R)evolution in our Authentic Leaders Group. Join the waitlist for the next Authentic Leaders Group cohort. This is a journey of self-discovery and leadership mastery, where you'll not only enhance your leadership skills but also forge meaningful connections with fellow therapists who are committed to their own growth and the betterment of the therapy field. Apply now! UPCOMING EVENTS Check the calendar for opportunities to connect with Sarah and earn CEs. SUPPORT THE SHOW Sarah's Downloadables Join our Patreon for gifts & perks Shop our Bookshop.org store and support local booksellers Share a rating & review on Apple Podcasts   *** Let's be friends! You can find me in the following places… Website Facebook @headheartbiztherapy Instagram @headheartbiztherapy

In this week's OmniTalk Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Quorso, Veloq, and R&S Logistics, Chris Walton was joined by Josh Hahn, Director of Growth at J Recruiting Services and former retail executive at Meijer and Sports Authority, to discuss: • Gap Inc.'s decision to pay its own employees to become brand influencers, and whether retailers should empower their merchants and store associates to become the authentic faces of their brands: https://chainstoreage.com/gap-inc-expands-creator-affiliate-and-advocacy-program-employees • David's Bridal's new outlet shop-in-shop concept, and whether blending full-price and discount bridal shopping under one roof enhances the customer experience or risks diluting the brand: https://www.retaildive.com/news/davids-bridal-debuts-outlet-shop-in-shop-concept/826230/ • Grocery unit sales declining for a fifth consecutive month, and whether the industry is facing a temporary slowdown or a long-term structural shift in consumer buying behavior: https://www.grocerydive.com/news/grocery-unit-sales-decline-bain-nielseniq/825640/ • Hy-Vee's chainwide rollout of 30-minute pickup and delivery, and whether ultra-fast fulfillment has become table stakes or remains a meaningful competitive advantage: https://progressivegrocer.com/hy-vee-adds-30-minute-grocery-delivery-option-chainwide • Albertsons' sweeping ACI Edge restructuring plan, and whether centralizing merchandising and operations will be enough to compete against Walmart, Amazon, and Aldi in today's grocery landscape: https://www.supermarketnews.com/finance/albertsons-launches-aci-edge-to-reverse-sales-decline-cuts-annual-forecast?utm_rid=CPG06000000857304&_mc=em_SN_News_SN%20Breaking%20News%20Alerts_News_NL_07232026&utm_campaign=71312&utm_medium=email&elq2=fe71b5904e424a5099cdcc0e5684145a&sp_eh=c96f6e95d5d34972b03bf5218402e1e8f5c9a310c321b2909e946a08f2ae03c9 Plus, in this week's Lightning Round, Chris Walton and Josh Hahn discuss National Tequila Day, Shark Week, John Cena's hair transplants, the best fast-food french fries, and much more. P.S. Be sure to check out all our other podcasts from the past week here, too: https://omnitalk.blog/category/podcast/ P.P.S. Also be sure to check out our podcast rankings on Feedspot: https://podcasts.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/ Music by hooksounds.com.

Today I'm joined by Dr. Amy Abelar, founder of Acupuncture Practice Systems and the owner of a thriving multidisciplinary clinic with 24 employees. Amy has built an incredible practice over the past 18 years, and in this conversation she shares the journey from starting as a massage therapist to growing a large acupuncture business with systems, team members, and strong leadership.In this first part of our conversation, we talk about:What it really looked like to grow her practice, including while she was in acupuncture school (!)How creating systems became the key to scalingWhen she knew it was time to hire additional providersWhat marketing worked well for her in growing her practiceAn overlooked marketing strategy that can dramatically increase patient retention and referralsIf you've ever wondered how larger practices are built or how to help your current patients get more value from the care you already provide, I think you're going to get a lot out of this conversation.This is part one of a two-part interview with Dr. Amy Abelar, so be sure to come back next week for the second half.Mentioned in this Episode (Show Notes):Acupuncture Practice SystemsYouTube: @AcupuncturePracticeSystemsInstagram: @AcupuncturePracticeSystemsMarketing Breakthrough Audit with Michelle

In this episode, Emily Johnson, the Founder and CEO of Elevate Hospitality Collective, brings together Joli Barfield, Corporate Director of Human Resources, and Kristi Ellingsworth, Director of Hospitality, both at Dartcor Enterprises, to explore why great guest experiences begin long before a guest arrives.Drawing on experience across hotels, restaurants, HR and operations, they explain why employee wellbeing is more than a benefits program. It's a leadership and operational practice that shapes everything that matters in hospitality. You'll hear why so many guest-facing wellness initiatives fall short, how Dartcor is building employee wellbeing into daily operations, and practical ideas leaders can apply through manager development, pre-shift meetings, and simple tools for handling pressure on the ground.If you're looking to build stronger teams, reduce burnout, and create better guest -- and employee -- experiences, this conversation offers a practical framework for where to start.Learn more:Why the guest experience breaks before reaching the guest, and how to fix it (Emily Johnson in HOTELS Magazine)Nervous System Regulation in Hospitality: A Commercial Playbook for HoteliersThe Yield of Calm: The ROI of Mental Health in HospitalityElevate Hospitality Collective on SubstackBLS JOLTS quits rates by industry A few more resources:If you're new to Hospitality Daily, start here. You can send me a message here with questions, comments, or guest suggestionsIf you want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day, subscribe here for free.Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.If you want to advertise on Hospitality Daily, here are the ways we can work together.If you found this episode interesting or helpful, send it to someone on your team so you can turn the ideas into action and benefit your business and the people you serve!Music for this show is produced by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

Leadership principles are rarely complicated. The difficulty is remembering to practise them consistently when targets are missed, markets become unstable, staff disappoint us and the pressure keeps building. In Part One, we examined the first seven guiding principles of leadership. Here are principles eight to sixteen: practical reminders about respect, recognition, accountability, goal-setting, focus, resilience, work-life balance, worry and enthusiasm. They may sound familiar, but familiarity is not the same as application. How does showing respect improve employee motivation? Genuine respect is the foundation of sustainable employee motivation because people are more willing to contribute when they feel valued as human beings. This applies not only to star performers but also to the large middle of the workforce whose performance may be average or inconsistent. Many bosses naturally respect their top 20% because those people deliver results. The real leadership test is how they treat everyone else. Frustration can leak into the boss's voice, facial expression and daily interactions. Staff quickly recognise when they are being tolerated rather than respected. Leaders do not have to accept poor performance. They do, however, need to separate the individual's worth from the current quality of the work. Clear coaching, fair expectations and honest feedback can coexist with dignity. Do now: Check whether every team member receives the same basic level of courtesy, attention and respect, regardless of performance. Why are recognition and praise sometimes more powerful than money? People work for money, but they often go the extra mile because they receive recognition, praise and meaningful rewards. Fair pay matters, but salary alone rarely creates emotional engagement, loyalty or discretionary effort. Frederick Herzberg described salary as a "hygiene factor". When pay is unfair, it causes dissatisfaction. When it is fair, employees generally treat it as an expected part of the employment relationship. The stronger motivational effect often comes from achievement, responsibility, progress and recognition. Our Dale Carnegie research has repeatedly identified feeling valued by one's immediate manager as an important emotional driver of engagement. Employees cannot read the boss's mind. They know they are valued because the leader communicates it through specific praise, appreciation and acknowledgement. A vague "good job" is better than silence, but precise recognition is stronger: explain what the person did, why it mattered and who benefited. Do now: Recognise one specific contribution today and connect it directly to its positive impact. Should leaders admit their mistakes? Strong leaders admit mistakes quickly because accountability builds credibility rather than diminishing authority.A boss who pretends to be infallible creates defensiveness, fear and political behaviour throughout the organisation. Ego, face, pride and professional image can make an admission difficult, particularly in hierarchical business cultures. Some managers worry that saying "I was wrong" will weaken their position. Usually, the opposite happens. Employees already know the mistake occurred. The only unresolved question is whether the leader has enough confidence and integrity to acknowledge it. Admitting an error does not mean accepting chronic incompetence. Leaders and employees must still meet professional standards. The principle is to be quick to acknowledge genuine mistakes, slow to criticise others and constructive when correcting performance. A leader who accepts personal imperfection is also more capable of responding calmly when a team member makes an occasional error. Do now: Admit the mistake, explain the correction and focus the team on preventing a recurrence. How should leaders set challenging but realistic goals? Effective goals should stretch performance without becoming so unrealistic that employees stop believing effort will make any difference. Clear, challenging and attainable targets generate more commitment than numbers based on guesswork, hope or executive wishful thinking. Throughout my career, I have encountered targets that appeared to have no scientific, commercial or logical foundation. A wet finger held up to the breeze seemed to be the methodology. These goals did not motivate anyone. They encouraged cynicism, sandbagging and creative explanations for failure. Today, I use a spreadsheet to track each salesperson's results from the date they joined the company. This allows comparisons based on experience, historical performance, conversion patterns and realistic productivity expectations. Large corporations, SMEs and startups may use different metrics, but the principle remains the same: base targets on evidence, explain the rationale and confirm that employees can influence the outcome. Do now: Review whether your team's goals are evidence-based, clearly explained and difficult but genuinely obtainable. How can leaders maintain focus on the big picture? Leaders maintain strategic focus by protecting time for important long-term work, even while urgent problems compete for attention. Markets, currency movements, wars, technological disruption and economic downturns can easily pull leaders into permanent crisis management. Employees are often understandably focused on today's workload, career, compensation and immediate problems. Senior leaders must operate across a longer horizon. They need to keep reminding the organisation where it is going, why that destination matters and what must be protected during periods of disruption. The familiar advice is to work on the business, not only in the business. Stephen Covey's Quadrant Two—important but not urgent—is where strategic planning, relationship building, capability development and risk prevention normally sit. Unfortunately, these activities are easily postponed because they are not yet emergencies. The big picture does not maintain itself. Leaders have to schedule time to think. Do now: Block regular Quadrant Two time for strategy, people development and prevention before urgent work consumes the calendar. Does work-life balance improve leadership performance? Consistently high performance requires recovery because health, reflection and leisure support better judgement, creativity and endurance. Leadership is a marathon, even though ambitious executives sometimes behave as if every month is the final sprint. "I will outwork, out-sacrifice and out-commit everyone" can sound admirable. It becomes dangerous when exhaustion damages decision quality, relationships or physical health. Many of our strongest ideas appear while walking, running, swimming, exercising or gardening—not while staring at another spreadsheet late at night. My father established his own company at the age of 49 and achieved rapid financial success. He died from lung cancer at 51 and was not there to enjoy the rewards. That experience permanently shaped my view of success. Winning in business is meaningless if leaders destroy their health, family life and capacity to enjoy what they have built. Do now: Treat sleep, exercise, relationships and recovery as performance disciplines rather than optional rewards. How can leaders remain positive during severe setbacks? Resilient leaders take strength from what remains possible instead of allowing past failures and present negativity to consume their energy. Positivity is not pretending that serious problems do not exist. It is maintaining the ability to act despite them. The movie reel inside our minds repeatedly shows mistakes, humiliations, losses and disasters. News media amplify the effect because negative stories attract attention. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the training industry suffered extraordinary disruption. Remaining optimistic while facing losses, uncertainty and upheaval was not easy. My mantra was TINA: There Is No Alternative. Quitting mentally would not improve the situation, so the only productive option was to keep adapting and fighting. Japan's well-known saying, "Fall down seven times, get up eight," captures the required mindset. Resilience does not remove the wound. It gets us moving again. Do now: Identify what remains within your control and take one constructive action before reviewing the problem again. What practical method helps leaders control worry? Leaders can reduce worry by converting vague fear into a clearly defined problem followed by practical solution choices. Worry thrives when the mind circles endlessly around uncertainty without moving toward a decision. Questions such as "Can we make payroll?", "Will we run out of cash?" and "How much longer can we survive?" became genuine concerns for many business owners during the pandemic, supply-chain disruption, market instability and geopolitical conflict. A simple four-part process can interrupt paralysis: What is the problem? Why is it a problem? What could I do to alleviate the problem? Which solution is best? This structure moves the mind away from emotional repetition and into analysis, options and action. The selected solution may not be perfect, but purposeful movement is generally healthier than passive anxiety. Do now: Write down the worry, answer the four questions and choose the next specific action. Why is enthusiasm essential for leadership? Enthusiasm gives leaders the emotional energy to influence others, sustain momentum and keep hope alive when circumstances are grim. It can move people, but it must also be protected from persistent negativity. Negative colleagues, commentators and acquaintances can act like kryptonite. Their pessimism gradually drains confidence and makes every idea appear impossible. Leaders cannot always avoid difficult people, particularly when the negative person is a colleague, client or family member. They can, however, control how much authority that person's outlook is allowed to have. Enthusiasm is not constant excitement. It is a renewable commitment to possibility. Leaders should identify the activities, people, purposes and achievements that reignite their energy. A small spark can become the blue flame that helps a team believe there is a worthwhile future ahead. Your emotional state is contagious, whether you intend it to be or not. Do now: Protect your enthusiasm, reduce unnecessary exposure to habitual negativity and reconnect with what gives the work meaning. Conclusion: How can leaders turn familiar principles into daily habits? The sixteen principles covered across Parts One and Two are not new, glamorous or technologically advanced. Most leaders have heard similar advice before. The problem is not a lack of knowledge. The problem is inconsistent execution. Respect, recognition, humility, constructive feedback, realistic goals, strategic focus, personal health, resilience, practical problem-solving and enthusiasm only create value when they become visible behaviours. Choose one principle each day and deliberately practise it. Treat the principles like daily business health supplements. One small leadership behaviour repeated consistently can improve trust, engagement, judgement and organisational performance. The obvious principles are often the ones we neglect. Leadership improves when we stop admiring the ideas and start living them. Author Bio Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" in 2018 and 2021 and received the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award in 2012. As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver leadership, communication, sales and presentation programmes globally, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including the bestsellers Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery and Japan Presentations Mastery, along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His books have also been published in Japanese, including Za Eigyō（ザ営業）, Purezen no Tatsujin（プレゼンの達人）, Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō（トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう）and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā（現代版「人を動かす」リーダー）. Greg publishes daily business insights on LinkedIn, Facebook and X and hosts six weekly podcasts. On YouTube, he produces The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery and Japan's Top Business Interviews for executives and professionals seeking practical strategies for succeeding in Japan.

Do You Really Know, Bababam's daily podcast, helps you understand the true meaning behind the trends, concepts and acronyms that are making headlines. This week, we're looking back at 10 words and phrases that have been on everyone's lips in 2022. From the Uber Files leak to "shrinkflation" in stores or "quiet quitting" at work, refresh your memory on some of the events and phenomena that best sum up the year gone by. "Quiet quitting" has been getting a lot of attention of late. So many young people have been rejecting “hustle culture”, which puts work at the centre of a person's life and can lead to burnout. On this podcast, we've talked about a lot of factors affecting young workers and their mental health in recent times. It's pretty well established that the Covid pandemic was a game changer, in that flexible working models became the norm and everybody started reassessing their priorities in life.  Is that like slipping out the back door? Is quiet quitting a good thing? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions ! To listen to the latest episodes, click here: ⁠Why does Norway offer a Christmas tree to London every year?⁠ ⁠How to have an eco-friendly Christmas?⁠ ⁠How can I prepare my home for a blackout?⁠ A Bababam Originals podcast, written and produced by Joseph Chance. First Broadcast: 24/12/2022 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every employee at your company probably has ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini installed, and nobody's tracking what data goes where. Xia Hua, co-founder and CEO of Traceforce, came back a year after her first appearance to show us what that looks like from the inside. Her team's open source scanner, MCP X-Ray, found a prompt injection flaw in Playwright, one of the most widely used MCPs, and she triggered it live with a single sentence. We also get into Anthropic's report on the espionage campaign that used Claude and a set of MCPs against about 30 organizations. And the bigger problem underneath it all, that data and instructions are now co-mingled, so any tool that reads text can be told what to do by that text. Xia: www.linkedin.com/in/xia-hua-ph-d TraceForce: www.traceforce.ai MCP X-Ray: www.github.com/traceforce/mcp-xray Jon: www.linkedin.com/in/jon-mclachlan Sasha: www.linkedin.com/in/aliaksandr-sinkevich YSecurity: www.ysecurity.io

Watch the YouTube version of this episode HEREGoogle isn't disappearing, but it's no longer the only place potential clients are looking for lawyers.In this episode of the Maximum Lawyer Podcast, Tyson Mutrux sits down with Vaidas Cikotas and Steve Williams of Rise Up Media to unpack one of the biggest shifts happening in legal marketing: the rise of AI-powered search. As more consumers turn to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and other large language models for recommendations instead of traditional Google searches, law firms need to rethink how they build online authority.Rather than chasing the latest AI buzzwords, Vaidas and Steve explain what actually matters. They break down the difference between SEO and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), why consistency across every online platform is becoming essential, and how law firms can improve their chances of being recommended by AI tools. The conversation also includes a live experiment comparing results across ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, revealing just how differently each platform evaluates the same question.If your firm is relying on the same marketing strategy it used a few years ago, this episode will help you understand what's changing and what you should do next.What You'll LearnWhy AI search is changing how prospective clients find law firmsThe difference between SEO, GEO, and why both matterWhy consistency across your website, directories, and online profiles is now criticalHow attorney credentials, reviews, and case results influence AI recommendationsWhat law firms should update today to improve AI visibilityWhy no marketing agency has completely "figured out" AI search yetHow to avoid expensive AI marketing gimmicks and focus on what actually worksHighlights00:00 – Why law firms are behind on the shift from Google search to AI search05:15 – What Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) actually is and why content still matters11:20 – The key differences between traditional SEO and optimizing for AI platforms18:55 – The most common mistakes law firms make with their websites and online presence25:30 – Live comparison: ChatGPT vs. Claude vs. Gemini recommendations for lawyers37:20 – The seven-point GEO audit checklist every law firm should complete43:35 – How to evaluate AI marketing companies and avoid buying into empty promisesConnect with Vaidas Cikotas and Steve WilliamsVaidas Cell - 704-953-7051Steve Cell - 412-713-2764

What if the singularity isn't a future event—but something that's already happening inside today's startups? In this fascinating episode of Let's Have This Conversation, Kevin McShan sits down with Gabe Campbell, founder of aiOS and AI Genesis, to explore what it looks like when artificial intelligence evolves from being a productivity tool into a true business operator. Gabe no longer runs many of the day-to-day operations of his own company. His AI handles customer conversations, manages inboxes, creates marketing campaigns, books podcast appearances, negotiates with lawyers and lenders, oversees outreach, and has even hired human creators for business projects. In many ways, the AI has become an employee—and sometimes, the employer. But beyond the headlines lies a much bigger conversation. Growing up homeless at 17, Gabe taught himself to code while working overnight shifts. That journey eventually led him to helping build AI products at BMW, designing systems at Google that reached more than 50 million daily users, and leading AI innovation for digital banking platforms serving millions more. Today, he's building production-ready AI systems that are transforming how businesses operate. Rather than relying on hype, Gabe shares measurable results. One deployment reduced a four-person customer support team to a single part-time employee while automatically resolving approximately 92% of customer inquiries and saving an estimated $15,000 per month. The conversation also tackles one of artificial intelligence's most pressing challenges: trust. Gabe argues that most AI products don't fail because the technology isn't capable—they fail because people don't trust them. He explains why he abandoned many traditional AI guardrails in favor of behavioral contracts and transparent evaluation systems, and why he believes responsible AI requires accountability, not simply more restrictions. Throughout this thought-provoking discussion, Kevin and Gabe explore questions that every business leader, entrepreneur, and knowledge worker should be asking: This episode isn't about science fiction. It's about technologies that are already operating inside real businesses today—and what that means for organizations trying to remain competitive in an AI-driven economy. Whether you're a business executive, entrepreneur, software developer, AI enthusiast, HR leader, or simply curious about where artificial intelligence is headed next, this conversation offers a practical and provocative look at one possible future that's already unfolding. Join Kevin McShan and Gabe Campbell for an insightful discussion about AI agents, autonomous businesses, trust, innovation, and why the future of work may already be here.     For more information: https://myaios.app/ Instagram: @gabecampbellofficial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://youtu.be/KUPg9BuYSaM David B. Jones, CEO and Partner of Mercer Assessments, is helping organizations attract the right A-Players by making labor markets more efficient through defensible human capital insights. By combining psychometric science, workforce analytics, and AI-enabled technology, David helps employers identify, develop, and retain the right talent while empowering people to discover careers where they can thrive and make meaningful contributions.  In this conversation, David introduces The R.E.A.P.E.R. Framework—Review the Situation, Explore Alternatives, Agree a Course of Action, Execute the Plan, and Refine the Approach. He explains why organizations should begin every challenge with a thorough situation review, how collaborative decision-making creates alignment before execution, and why continuous refinement drives long-term organizational success. David also discusses how AI is reshaping talent management, why organizations need real-time workforce insights instead of static reports, and how Mercer Assessments leverages technology while preserving the integrity and defensibility of human capital assessments. — Attract the Right A-Players with David B. Jones  Good day. Steve Preda here with the Management Blueprint Podcast. Today, my guest is David Jones, the CEO and partner of Mercer Assessments, focused on providing defensible human capital insights and foresight in the fields of talent acquisition, leadership development, and organizational productivity. David, welcome to the show.  Thank you, Steve. Great to be here.  Well, I’m excited to have you here, especially because you are the first guest—maybe not completely from the Middle East because we had a couple of guests from Israel—but definitely from Dubai, where you are. Maybe that is also impacting the answer that you’re going to give to my question. So here is my first question. What’s your personal ‘Why’, and how are you manifesting it in your business, Mercer Assessments?  Yeah. Well, I mean, I think obviously a lot of skills around resilience and being able to think about how you maintain your own personal well-being, but also the well-being of the workforce, is something which has come to the fore in the last couple of weeks, for sure, living in Dubai. But I think very much of my North Star—by educational background, I’m a labor market economist. Although I’ve worked in HR and talent management for pretty much all of my career, I think I’m always thinking about how to make markets more efficient.  I think the labor market, in some ways, and what it takes to become efficient, is very similar to a fish market, a stock market, or any other market that you can think of. What you need to be able to make the best decisions is really good data, really good up-to-date information, both on the supply side and on the demand side.Share on X I think a lot of what we do at Mercer Assessments, and a lot of what we do in talent management more generally, is really about trying to do that. Trying to help individuals understand what their strengths are.  Trying to match them to specific careers that will be more fulfilling for them in the long term and also help them be more productive for their employers. As well as helping employers understand what the important skills are for today and tomorrow, and how they can predict how people will perform in certain environments. So really trying to bring the supply side and demand side together. I think, notoriously, labor markets have very bad information.  Typically, most people get their career guidance from their parents or their grandparents, which can be great for aspiration but doesn’t always necessarily keep them up-to-date in terms of what’s happening in today’s workplace. So I think this is really my anchor, if you like, where a lot of what we do in our innovation, our technology, or our engagements with clients typically comes back to this point. Fundamentally, how do we make labor markets more efficient and more functional for all of the stakeholders?  Yeah, that’s fascinating. So would you say that if you are doing this well, then more people will feel fulfilled in the roles that they work in?  I mean, I think that’s definitely the aspiration, right? That’s definitely what you would hope to do. I think, as individuals, I’m sure we can all think of those really, really great days where you think that you nailed it at work, and you think that this is something where you can make a really specific contribution. It just feels good, and all those people around you have the benefit of that. It becomes something which is infectious for those around you.  I think it’s important for the economy on a macro level, right? I think if we are able to provide opportunities, provide career paths, and help people understand what their unique strengths are, then this is something which helps to promote productivity and positivity more generally, right? At the individual, team, family, and societal level, it affects all sorts of dimensions.  So maybe this is kind of a side question, but I’m really wondering, is this AI revolution, as we’re going through it, influencing your work, and is it changing the requirements of employers?  Yeah. I think we’re in a very interesting time. I mean, I’m not a futurologist. I’m not a prophet. I’m not somebody who makes these sorts of big predictions about the future. But I think the case for AI, to some extent, is still unproven in terms of what it’s actually delivered to date. I mean, I think there’s obviously a lot of investment. There’s a big impact on the environment. But I don’t think we’ve had something really groundbreaking discovered by AI at this point that’s new.  It seems to be quite backward-looking in many ways, based on ingesting data from all the novels that you have on your shelf and that I have on my shelf. Maybe they’re going to ingest this podcast in the future. I don’t know. It doesn’t seem that there’s been a unique breakthrough that humanity has not been able to, or would not be able to, achieve by itself. And yet, I think the promise and the anticipation of what AI can do is quite compelling, right?  I think the way that it is impacting the labor market especially… Ironically, it’s impacting probably software developers the most today. It’s interesting that a lot of people in white-collar fields, professionals maybe, are also feeling like it’s changing the way they’re working. So there’s a big debate, I think, about whether it’s going to be an augmentation or whether it’s going to be a replacement of some sorts of tasks. I think one thing you can say with certainty is that the concept of a job is definitely going to change. If you look at the roots of the word—the etymological roots of the word “job” in the English language—it literally means “a task” rather than a role as such. Yeah. So I think we’re going to get this greater atomization of people’s roles. What used to be bundled together as one job is now going to be much more atomized into specific skills, specific tasks.  The opportunity there is that we all get to do more of the things that we find more fulfilling and less of the repetitive, dangerous, or dull types of things that we have to do in our jobs sometimes.Share on X But I think it has some second-order impacts in terms of how people develop their careers and the competence and confidence that people, particularly when they’re junior in their jobs, need time to build—the ability to operate at a higher level. So I think we’re all going to have to be leaders in lots of ways, even leaders in our own work.  Yeah, I agree with you. That’s fascinating. So, David, let’s talk about the framework. What would be a framework? Think of something that allows you to be more effective in your job—something maybe that you personally discovered or that you and your colleagues developed. Something that helps you be more effective in creating those labor market matches, finding the right candidates, and assessing them. Something that you can describe in three, four, or five steps, or maybe three or four ways of looking at things. Anything that comes to mind?  So there are a few things. I did miss a few things because I think—I don’t know if you’ve heard the news. We’re recording this, and I think the British prime minister has just resigned today. This is, I think, our seventh prime minister in 10 years. I’m sure each one of those prime ministers had their own framework in terms of what they wanted from their political leadership and how they were going to operate in government.  So I think we’re definitely operating in a much more VUCA world, right? This mnemonic is about being volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. I think, to some extent, that means that having a framework has to be something that is constantly being amended, reviewed, and updated in many ways. A lot of what we do in assessment—we have very clear statistical frameworks where we look at particular behaviors or particular characteristics, and we try to make sure we measure them. But I thought maybe that was too detailed and too comprehensive.  So one of the things we do when engaging with our clients is that we have a sort of consulting approach. It’s like a cycle. We start by reviewing the situation, so it’s like a situation appraisal, if you like. We use this internally as well in Mercer Assessments. So we try to understand what’s happening, what’s going well, and what we’re concerned about—just trying to get any data or information that we can.  Then it's important, particularly with a team or with a client, to explore what the priorities are, what's important, and what is causing them the most thought or requiring the most energy to address.Share on X So reviewing, exploring, and then agreeing on a course of action. Making sure that there’s consensus or, if you’re in an organization, making sure you’ve got the budget and the endorsement from headquarters or senior management. Then I think you can go into a planning stage. Making sure you’ve got a focus on execution and that you know what has to happen and when.  Then I think you can go into the ability to have that as a cycle and review or evaluate the plan itself. Is it on track? Is it on time? Is it on budget? Is it achieving its objectives? You can continue on this sort of reflexive cycle. So if you were to do that, it becomes quite sinister. The mnemonic becomes R.E.A.P.E.R., like the Grim Reaper or like “reap what you sow,” because you review, explore, agree, plan, execute, and then review again.Share on X So it can become, hopefully, a virtuous cycle, but it can also become an ongoing process.  I love it. So Yeah. So if you refine, maybe the last one is refined, and then you avoid repeat— Yes. Yeah.  Yeah. Oh, great.  That’s good. Yeah, I like it. Yeah, love it. So basically, what you’re looking for is helping your customers with an initial problem and then helping them generally improve their organization by continuing to refine and add to it, making it better over time.  Yes, correct. Yeah.  So it turns into a recurring engagement.  Yes, that’s the hope. Well, yeah. I mean, hopefully, if you have that relationship with the client and also with your team, you have this ability to recognize what you’ve achieved together, but you can also plan what you want to do differently next time.  So you’re the CEO of Mercer Assessments, which is the Dubai operation. Is this just a geographic branch of the Mercer Group, or is it a separate business that operates in multiple geographies?  Yeah. So actually, it’s a new venture for Mercer globally. My background is that I was one of the founders of a company called The Talent Enterprise, which was acquired by Mercer just over two years ago. It had also made an acquisition of another company before that called Mettl. So we were more of a talent assessment type of company.  We would do talent acquisition, talent development, leadership development, things like high-potential identification, succession planning, and these types of applications. Employee engagement as well, things like employee well-being assessments and stuff like this. The psychometric assessment field. So if you or your listeners are good at Greek, you would know that “psychometric” means “measurement of the mind.”  Yeah, right. So this is really what we’re trying to do. We’re accredited by the British Psychological Society to say that the tools we have, use, or develop have validity, reliability, and are statistically stable within the sorts of bounds that you would expect when measuring human beings.  It can never be perfect, but it’s considered to be predictive. Mettl was more focused on skills assessment. That was one of their big areas of focus, along with educational assessment. So coming together as Mercer Assessments, we’re now part of this big global organization. Although we’re based in the Middle East, we’re now working in Asia, Europe, North America—we’re just starting to do more work in North America—and Australasia. So this is the sort of big, hairy, audacious plan that we have.  That must be pretty intense if you’re working around the clock, essentially working around the globe. Then Mercer is… It can be.  Yeah, it can be. Even working in the Middle East, you have different working weeks. Some of our clients work on Sundays. But we have a good team. We have a big team. We have great technology. So we have scalable ways of doing it.  So what drives growth in this business?  I think it is changing. If you were to ask me that question even two years ago, I would say it’s to do with the change, the transformation, or the aspiration of the client, of the organization. If they’ve got a new operation, or they’re expanding, or they need to develop new skills, or they need to make sure their productivity and positivity are enabling them to keep up with their competitors, then these things would often trigger the sorts of interventions that we help our clients with.  That’s still true to a large extent, but what's changing a lot is what you were talking about earlier—to do with AI and expectations from technology. So I think what we're doing a lot more of now is real-time decision support.Share on X It used to be that our deliverables would look like a PDF report. They would say, “Okay, this is Steve. We’ve assessed Steve. These are Steve’s strengths. These are his areas for development. This is the sort of team or the certain type of colleague that he would thrive working with.  These are the people or the situations that he might struggle with.” That type of static report. Then either we or the client—sometimes if you’re looking at large numbers of people—you’d have to do a lot of spreadsheet work or a lot of PowerPoint work and say, “Okay, now we need to match that with your strategic objectives.” So I think what’s happening now is we’re focusing a lot more on the data.  Our technology is providing much more of a dashboard report, so Steve can access his results straight away because that’s actually when Steve is most interested in them and they’re most relevant—not two weeks later when you schedule a coach or someone to give him feedback. You’re interested as soon as you finish the last question. You want to know, “Okay, what does this say about me?” We can add lots of AI layers to that to help you implement it or understand it. Then for the organization, we now provide much more of a dynamic dashboard-type report.  So if, I don’t know, the CFO leaves this afternoon and the CEO calls the CHRO and says, “Okay, who are the internal candidates for this role?” You can come up with an answer. It doesn’t have to be something where you say, “Let me check my filing cabinet,” or, “Let me put a PowerPoint together for you and get back to you later this week or next week.” You can actually do that type of matching within the platform that we have. We have our own platform called Lighthouse, and it really helps you match individuals or teams to certain tasks or to certain ventures or aspirations that the organization might have.Share on X  Yeah. So instead of providing individual reports for individuals, you now operate this platform for your clients, and then they can look up the people involved in changes. So how is it different to scale the business with this type of approach? What makes it more complex?  Yeah. So on the one hand, it can help us a lot as our own organization because we can be much more pervasive 24 hours a day across the different time zones that we operate in. If you’re our client, you don’t always have to rely on having a meeting or a call with us in person. You can go and find that answer yourself. It’s quite an intuitive process and platform. You can access it and get value from your own data. I think that’s the key thing that I’m trying to emphasize that’s changed.  Clients are now impatient with SaaS platforms in particular when they’re not able to access their own data directly. So there’s a little bit of disintermediation going on in the enterprise software business as a whole. That’s the key trend that I’m trying to highlight here. But it also helps us to be more scalable. Just to take a step back to the previous discussion about AI, I think when it comes to using AI in your business, the key strategic choice is what you’re not going to use AI for.  For us, we made the choice actually three or four years ago that we’re not going to use AI in the assessments themselves. Not today. Maybe in five years’ time or ten years’ time we might change our mind, and we’re constantly reviewing that. But we need these defensible assessments. We need to be able to say, “This is fair and objective, and we’re coming with an external point of view that is transparent and defensible in every sense of that word.”  Yeah. You don’t want to hallucinate assessments for clients or even run the risk of that happening, right?  Yeah, absolutely. And there are some companies that have done that, right? I mean, there are lots of cases you can find where companies have said, “Hey, we just need a five-minute video, and I can tell you everything you need to know about this person, and you can make decisions about their career and all sorts of stuff,” right? I’m not saying we won’t get there in the future, but I just don’t think that’s good enough at the moment.  And I think with a lot of things that you do with chatbots now, if you’re judicious about it, you might be able to say, “Well, actually, that’s interesting, but it’s not good enough,” right? It’s not a finished product. It’s not something that I can execute on. What we can do is add a lot of value around the assessment. So we can do things like AI-based development planning, right?  When someone wants to see their results—and people normally want to see their results almost immediately after they’ve finished their assessments—you can start to say, in the flow of work, in the client’s environment, whatever their learning partners or learning architecture may be, “Okay, here’s a development plan for you,” customized and curated within that environment for your strengths, how to emphasize them, and also for any development areas or new learnings that you want to address.  We can also do things like AI-based proctoring, right? We can give the client a risk report on an application and say, you know, how genuine is this? What other software does Steve have open on his laptop? Is there a shadow in the room? Where are his eyes going? Is he looking at someone else? Is he getting help from someone else? Is this really Steve? All these sorts of things, right? We can do that. We can also develop customized case studies for the organization around its specific tasks and challenges that the organization has.  So you can come up with very specific, job-related assessments. AI can add a lot of value to all of these things. It can provide greater scale and a greater ability to sustain our growth. But with the core of what we do today, we’re saying, “Look, you need to be able to trust us.” And we want to be able to show you the answer. If you have a question about any of our assessments, we can check. There’s an audit trail, and we can show you the answer. It’s not just, “The computer came up with this idea. We don’t know.” But that’s intellectual property, and you know that it works, and you’re sticking with it. You don’t allow AI to bastardize it, basically, yeah, which makes sort of sense. So, David, what is one thing that you’re actively trying to figure out in your business right now? That’s a great question. I mean, there’s lots of things. I think a lot of them come around, you know, what is this threshold between what we do as humans and what we use AI or other technology to help us do? And I think that threshold is constantly being reviewed. A lot of it is to do with how do you make growth sustainable. We have had massive growth in the last five or six years, and that’s a great thing.  But I think it means you have to make sure the foundations of your organization are strong so that you can move from one to another. I mentioned earlier that we’re just starting to focus on North America as one of our new markets, and I was very keen that we didn’t do that until this point or even next year because we’re not the organizational equivalent of The Beatles, right? Like, we can’t just expect to turn up in a big, sophisticated, very strong, highly cultured market and be able to expect that we’re going to do things like we’ve done them everywhere else, or that we don’t need to think about how we communicate with those prospects and those clients.  So that’s a really big step for us. And how we manage data, I think, is probably the key thing. Fundamentally, if I was to come back to answer your question, I think it’s how we manage data because I think clients are becoming much more sophisticated, much more impatient with people who curate their data. They say, “Look, you know, we know we’re generating lots of data inside the organization,” right? Which is typically what we do, right? It’s people data.  Normally in most work environments, you can tell when somebody opens their laptop, or you can tell when they walk in the office door, or you can tell sometimes even what they’re doing inside the working space, right? Their ID has got an RFID in it or something like that. So there’s lots of data that’s constantly being generated inside the organization, and clients want to get value from that data. And having a sort of third-party proxy come in and say, “Hey, we can do your payroll for you,” or “We can send a questionnaire to people once a year, and that can let you know whether they understand health and safety or they’re engaged in their workplace,” it’s not really satisfactory anymore, right?  The clients are saying, “Okay. I want to be able to get value from my data, and I want to be able to see that. I want the analytics. I want to ask questions that are not able to be prescribed at the beginning.” “And I want to be able to do these queries in real time.”  So essentially, would that require you to get integrated with your clients to some degree so that you can process the data in real time as it emerges? It’s really interesting because I think what I’m hearing from my clients is they’re actually frustrated with that. In the sort of classic SaaS world, which we’ve had in organizations now for 20, 30, maybe even 40 years, you integrate the big internal ERP systems or CRM systems, and you integrate them, and then you have to sort of work within their framework, right? And you might see a report that’s already pre-programmed, but you don’t necessarily see the data, right? If you wanted to say, “Okay, what’s the trend today over the 24-hour clock?” or “How is it changing in June compared to May?” or “How does it relate to the temperature?” or whatever, right?  You can come up with all these questions that you might not be able to predict and then plan and have a sort of pull-down standard report. So to do that, you need access to the data. And I think clients are saying, “This is our data.” This data belongs to us. We want to be able to see that directly, and we want to be able to use that as a decision-support tool, and not necessarily just have a report.”  Yeah. So they’d rather own the data and apply your tools to their data without you necessarily having access to the data or something like that?  Yeah. It’s also a source of differentiation for them, right? Because they know that if… I’m not going to mention these companies. I’m sure you and all your viewers know the big brands. It’s interesting what’s happening with their share prices recently, right? They’re all maybe suffering a little bit from a decline in their share prices, on average. It’s basically a standardized way of doing things, right?  There’s pretty much the same way that any corporation in any part of the world is going to do it because that’s the way you get efficiency through that software. But if an organization says, “Actually, we’ve got an insight into something that we think is unique and differentiated, and we want to make decisions in a slightly different way, or make them faster,” that’s a point of competitive advantage.  Does that mean they wouldn’t want you to apply their idea to other customers because it’s their unique property? They’d just want your tools to help them process their data. They don’t want to share it with you.  Yeah. There are clients like that. We do deal with very sensitive industries, and sometimes government departments, where we have to be able to certify that type of approach. I think that’s likely to become more common in the future as people become more sensitive and more aware of the value, the opportunity, and the threat of what can happen with their data.  Yeah. I mean, some people say that information is now ubiquitous. It’s the questions that are really important because that’s how you communicate with AI. Maybe the question itself can be proprietary know-how—knowing how to ask the right kind of question. They don’t want…  No. I mean… Yeah, I agree. Completely. Yeah. You’re absolutely right. Again, to go back to assessments, we’ve recently released a whole bunch of assessments that measure skills in AI as a domain. We’ve got all sorts of technical and non-technical AI assessments. Obviously, one of the skills that we look at is prompt engineering. If you’ve used some of the generative AI platforms, you’ll always get an answer.  They’re pre-programmed to give you an answer, and most of them are also pretty polite. They fluff up your ego a little bit and say, “Hey, great question.” “That was really interesting.” Then they’ll give you an answer. You need to be aware of that. You need to probe and make sure you’ve not just got an answer—you’ve got the answer. Or at least the best answer that makes sense for you. Then you’ve quality-checked it.  You’ve taken it from one platform, put it into another platform, and then into a third platform. Whatever you’ve done, you need to have that awareness and those specific skills to get the most value out of it. It’s very dangerous, and I think we can all see it. I’m sure your inbox is like my inbox. You get emails from people and think, “Okay, well, that’s not an email from a person.” It’s a bulleted email. It’s not personal. It’s not directed at you. Sometimes it’s hard to understand what it even means.  Yeah. You’re right. So David, who is the ideal customer for you that can most benefit from your solution?  That’s a good question. Personally and professionally, I like clients who challenge us. I like clients who ask questions that make us think in a different way, so we can hopefully give them value and really answer those questions. I think that’s important for us to develop. Clients who are looking for new insights or different foresights that help them in their business—those are the kinds of clients we’re looking for. Definitely the ones who are pushing the envelope and helping take us forward in terms of quality.  So if those types of people are listening to this show and would like to learn more about what you do and how you might be able to help them, where should they go? Where can they find out more?  Yeah, absolutely. You can find me on LinkedIn. I’m David B. Jones on LinkedIn. There are a lot of David Joneses. I think David Jones is the most common name for a British man—even more common than John Smith—so there are a lot of us around. But you’ll be able to find me as David B. Jones. You can also find Mercer Assessments. You can find out more about us through those channels. I’ll be happy to answer any questions or provide more information.  Is there a website people should check out? Do you have a separate website for Mercer Assessments?  We do. Mercer Assessments is part of the mercer.com website. That’s where you’ll find more information. There are also a number of books we’ve published on particular subjects to do with assessment, talent, and leadership development more generally. Those are all available on Amazon as well.  Okay. So if you’re out there and you’re looking to have a more sophisticated view of your people and their aspirations and how they fit the type of work that you want them to do, and you’d like to understand more deeply, then check out Mercer Assessments, David B. Jones. Actually, it’s easy to just put in “David Jones Mercer,” and David will pop up that way.  Check out the books that David and his colleagues have published. And if you enjoyed this conversation, then make sure you follow us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts. And David, thanks for coming to the show and sharing your experience and insights. I mean, it seems to me that you have a much more nuanced approach than most talent assessment or performance assessment organizations, and you have a lot more tools at your disposal. It’s a combination of technology and professional expertise. So that’s fascinating. Thanks for coming on the show. And if you enjoyed this conversation, make sure you follow us because we come out every week with exciting entrepreneurs like David. I will. I will. Thank you, Steve. Important Links: Davidi's LinkedIn David's  website

Long live Scrimbo! Jass and Wrenzo face the song of the Scrimbologists. We are a loreparty.com podcast! Thanks to our Employee of the Month, Pat. You're the boss, Pat! You can become Employee of the Month on our Patreon, where we're releasing bonus content all the time! Produced by Noah Perito & Lisa CondemiMusic by Noah Perito & Lisa Condemi Sound Effects:“Book Sounds” - Allsounds/Audionauti"Fetid Swamp" - Sword Coast Soundscapes“Record Scratch” - Luffy"Big Water Splash" - qubodup"Arcane Sword" - Michaël Ghelfi All sound effects from ⁠Freesound.org⁠, unless listed under AllSounds/Audionauti, background sound effects, Free Audio Zone, Fun With Sound, Gaming Sound FX, Live Wallpaper Master, Lord Sandwich, Michaël Ghelfi, OmarSounds, Relaxing Recordings, Royalty Free FX, Sound Effect Database, Studiomod, Sword Coast Soundscapes, or Viral Vids NL. Additional sound effects by Noah Perito. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Side hustles have gone mainstream. More employees than ever are starting businesses of their own—sometimes to earn extra income, sometimes as insurance against layoffs, and sometimes because they dream of becoming entrepreneurs themselves. But what does that mean for the businesses they already work for? If you invest months in training an employee, isn't it fair to expect that person to devote their best energy to helping your company grow? That's not an immediate concern for Lena McGuire, who's still a solopreneur. But as she prepares to hire and train her first employees, she worries about investing in people who ultimately may see her business as a stepping stone. Sarah Segal isn't as concerned, but she does want her employees to view their jobs as careers, not placeholders. And then there's Channon Kennedy. While working full time at Silicon Valley Bank, Channon invented a woodworking tool, got it manufactured, landed national distribution, and traveled the country to trade shows—all, she says, without letting her day job suffer. And that's what she expects from her employees with side hustles.Meanwhile, both Lena and Sarah are wrestling with another challenge: finding the right home for their growing businesses. Lena needs a showroom but doesn't want to sink money into leased space—and she can't find a building to buy. "I'm missing out on growth," she says. "I feel like I'm stalled." Sarah has opened a second office in Silicon Valley, but she's wondering whether it's time to leave her quirky “starter” office in San Francisco for something that better reflects where her business is headed. Buying would be ideal, but that's easier said than done in San Francisco these days.Plus: Sarah recently did something she hadn't done in almost a decade as a business owner—she turned on an out-of-office message and actually unplugged for a vacation. Spoiler alert: there was only one real crisis.

Looking for daily inspiration?  Get a quote from the top leaders in the industry in your inbox every morning. Caroline Schumacher is the President and CEO of Give Kids The World. After beginning as a College Program Cast Member at Walt Disney World, Caroline built a career spanning volunteer management, guest operations, fundraising, and executive leadership before leading the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and recently returning to Give Kids The World. Her experience bridges hospitality, attractions, and nonprofit leadership, all centered on creating unforgettable experiences for families facing extraordinary challenges. In this interview, Caroline talks about inspiring hope, light, and joy, a first-class hospitality mindset, and work-life integration. Inspiring hope, light, and joy “This week really is just filled with light and joy for them, and they have all these amazing family memories built during this week.” Caroline explains that Give Kids The World exists to provide weeklong, cost-free vacations for children with critical illnesses and their families while partnering with wish-granting organizations throughout the world. Beyond offering accommodations and access to Central Florida attractions, the village creates an environment where families can temporarily set aside medical appointments, treatments, and uncertainty in favor of laughter, connection, and lasting memories. She also discusses how thoughtful language supports the organization's mission. Shifting from terms like "terminal illness" to "critical illness" better reflects the hope they want every family to experience. Whether through personalized experiences like King Micah's coronation or everyday interactions throughout the village, every detail is designed to replace fear with optimism and remind families that joy still has a place in their lives. First-class hospitality mindset “We never want our families to feel like they're getting charity.” Caroline believes exceptional hospitality comes from making every family feel genuinely valued rather than simply cared for. Inspired by the service standards at luxury resorts, her team focuses on personalization rather than expensive gestures. Every department, from housekeeping to engineering, understands its role in creating a seamless experience that feels intentional and uniquely tailored to each family. She emphasizes that outstanding hospitality begins with an authentic culture. Employees and volunteers must consistently live the organization's values because guests and volunteers quickly recognize whether those values are genuine. By creating meaningful experiences through thoughtful details, Give Kids The World delivers hospitality that rivals world-class resorts while offering something families cannot find anywhere else. Work-life integration “Balance is really unrealistic.” Caroline shares her philosophy that work-life integration is healthier than chasing perfect balance. She explains that different seasons of life naturally require different priorities, making the idea of equal balance unrealistic. Rather than separating work and personal life into competing categories, she encourages leaders to recognize how both can complement one another. She intentionally brings her family into her work by involving her children in volunteer opportunities and celebrating professional successes together. Likewise, she encourages leaders to acknowledge the sacrifices made by employees' families, recognizing that meaningful work often requires support from loved ones behind the scenes. This perspective creates stronger relationships at home while fostering healthier, more sustainable leadership.   Caroline can be reached on LinkedIn. To learn more about Give Kids The World Village, volunteer, donate, or schedule a tour, visit www.gktw.org. During the interview, Caroline also encourages visitors to connect with her on LinkedIn if they would like to learn more about the organization or arrange a visit to experience the village firsthand. And to get your “FAAAANTASTIC” socks, where all proceeds go directly to Give Kids the World, click here. To connect with AttractionPros: AttractionPros.com AttractionPros@gmail.com AttractionPros on Facebook AttractionPros on LinkedIn AttractionPros on Instagram AttractionPros on Twitter (X)

This episode, Becca Schweitzer and Trevor Salmon, Client Strategists at O.C. Tanner, share their recommendations and ideas for how you can connect your offline and frontline workers to your recognition efforts.   Becca and Trevor partner with our clients to implement strategies and programs to reach 100% of their workforces. In their previous lives, they worked directly with offline and frontline employees in manufacturing and healthcare, encouraging recognition and keeping employees engaged at work.  Takeaways  Utilize existing touchpoints to encourage recognition. From short team huddles to weekly newsletters and break room signage, find those existing practices where you have time to prompt recognition. Even during one-to-one meetings, managers can give employees time to use their computer to share recognition.  Build awareness and education with Recognition Champions. Identify top program adopters or volunteers to create a Recognition Champions network that helps model, educate, and encourage recognition by team or shift. This helps leaders share the work, too. Bring customers into your recognition programs with Say Thanks. Your offline workforce is the face of your organization, interacting with your customers, patients, and clients daily. With Say Thanks, your customers can share recognition with your frontline employees for a job well done, managers can see the great work they may miss during the day, and it is easily tracked in your program. Often, this type of appreciation is even more meaningful to your employees.  The Culture by Design podcast is created by O.C. Tanner, the global leader in software and services that improve workplace culture through meaningful employee recognition.   If you want your organization to become a place where people can't wait to come to work in the morning, go to octanner.com. 

Have you ever finished a busy day wondering where all your time and energy went?The meals were made.The laundry was folded.The appointments were scheduled.The emails were answered.Yet somehow, it still feels like there was so much more to do.In this episode of Girl, Take the Lead!, I sit down with Lisa Woodruff, founder and CEO of Organize 365, to explore why overwhelm isn't simply about having too much to do—it's about the invisible work of managing our lives.Lisa believes organization is a learnable skill. After years as a professional organizer and earning her PhD studying household management, she's developed a powerful framework that invites us to think differently about leadership—not just at work, but at home.Instead of seeing ourselves as employees of our households, what if we became the CEOs?Together, we explore:✨ Why overwhelm can feel like quicksand—and how to stop sinking✨ The invisible mental load that often leads to anxiety✨ Why leading a household is one of our most important leadership roles✨ The difference between striving for perfection and pursuing excellence✨ How Lisa's Sunday Basket® helps reduce mental clutter✨ Why systems create freedom—not more work✨ How trusting yourself can become your greatest leadership skillOne of my favorite moments was Lisa's reminder that being the CEO doesn't mean doing everything yourself.It means stepping back, seeing the bigger picture, making thoughtful decisions, and creating systems that support everyone—including you.Whether you live alone, share your home with a partner, are raising children, caring for aging parents, or navigating an empty nest, this conversation offers practical wisdom for leading your life with greater intention and less overwhelm.Connect with Lisa Woodruff

On today's episode, Andy answers your questions on how to stop thinking like an employee and start thinking like an owner, how to become the person your growing business requires you to be, and how to stay motivated without needing an enemy.

A heartwarming story about a 92-year-old Chick-fil-A employee sparks a bigger conversation with Zach Abraham about purpose, retirement, Social Security, and the financial planning mistakes that can cost retirees thousands. Plus, Zach explains when Roth conversions make sense—and when they absolutely don't. Subscribe and stay tuned for new episodes every weekday! Follow us here for […]

A heartwarming story about a 92-year-old Chick-fil-A employee sparks a bigger conversation with Zach Abraham about purpose, retirement, Social Security, and the financial planning mistakes that can cost retirees thousands. Plus, Zach explains when Roth conversions make sense—and when they absolutely don't. Schedule your FREE risk review from Bulwark Capital at https://KnowYourRiskPodcast.comSubscribe and stay tuned for new episodes every weekday!Follow us here for more daily clips, updates, and commentary:YoutubeFacebookInstagramTikTokXLocalsMore InfoWebsite