Podcasts about growing forward services

Somewhere in the Middle Welcomes Calendar Coach Paul D. Casey Originally from Chicago, Paul D. Casey has now been a professional speaker for over 25 years (giving almost 300 presentations in the past 4 years), and he is one of the leading authorities in leadership and personal growth—especially time management—helping people take back their calendars and restore sanity to their lives. He has spoken for organizations like Mcdonald's, Subway, Lamb Weston, Northwest Public Power, and Autozone—and among the 80 leaders he coaches per year, 25 of them lead at Pacific NW National Laboratories. Paul has a Master's degree in education and has been an educator/administrator/Chief Operating Officer in 5 non-profit organizations. He is an ACC-certified coach with the International Coaching Federation, a Master Trainer, and a member of the National Speakers Association. He was awarded Solopreneur of the Year by the West Richland Chamber a few years ago. Through his company, Growing Forward Services, Paul has partnered with his corporate and individual clients to transform their vision, their habits, and their lives. Currently, Paul carries out his mission of sparking breakthrough success by contributing daily inspirational growth messages on local radio, other people's podcasts, and social media. Also, he has inspired thousands of individuals and leaders to grow forward through his seminars, team-building off-site retreats, one-to-one self-leadership coaching, and as a keynote speaker. Paul has written 4 books: The Static Cling Principle (on habits and mindsets), Maximizing Every Minute (on time management), Leading the Team You've Always Wanted, and Leading with Super-Vision. And he interviews local leaders in his podcast: the Tri-Cities Influencer. Paul is married to Lovely Laura, has a 23- and a 19-year-old named after state capitals, owns a cat named Sasha and has lived in the Tri-Cities, WA, for over 20 years. For fun, he enjoys golfing, hiking, and bicycling—and orange slices—and he reads about 40 books per year. Connect with Paul Casey Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paul.d.casey.9 Twitter: https://twitter.com/growingfwd Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growingforwardservices/ LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pauldcasey Website: http://www.paulcasey.org/ Buy Maximizing Every Minute on Paul's website

How To Build a Local Coaching Business with Paul Casey In this episode of The Mountain Top Motivation Podcast, I had the pleasure of speaking with Paul Casey, founder of Growing Forward Services. We discussed how he built a coaching business in his local market! So much of the coaching training online today is about building virtual coaching businesses. Paul has built a coaching business in his local market and we discuss how he did it! During our conversation, Paul and I discussed many important topics, including: * Balancing building a coaching business with a full-time job: Paul shared his own experiences of managing his coaching business alongside a full-time job and provided practical tips for managing time and priorities. *Taking action: We talked about the importance of taking action, even when faced with fear and uncertainty. Paul emphasized that taking action is the number one difference between those who succeed in business and those who don't. * Developing an entrepreneurship mindset: Paul shared his insights on how to cultivate the habits and attitudes that lead to success, such as providing value to clients and building relationships with them. * You Supporting others: We discussed the value of building relationships with other professionals in your industry and supporting and celebrating their achievements. * You are Taking breaks: Paul emphasized the importance of rest and relaxation, and how taking breaks can actually increase productivity and creativity. He provided practical tips for incorporating breaks into a busy schedule. * Paul's mission: Paul shared his mission to give back to the community and make a positive impact in the lives of others. He also discussed his philosophy on coaching and leadership. * How to get clients from networking: Paul shared his strategies for networking and building relationships with potential clients, including attending events and meeting people face-to-face. * The value of being a lifelong learner: Paul emphasized the importance of continuing education and personal development, and shared his own experiences of learning and growing as a coach and business owner. * How to find a need in your local market and build a business around it: Paul discussed his approach to identifying a need in his community and creating a business model that addresses that need. Paul's journey to building his coaching business serves as an inspiration for anyone looking to pursue their passions and make a difference in the world. Remember, your message matters and there are people out there who need it! Keep “Growing Forward”and enjoy this episode! Connect with Paul here: https://growingforwardservices.net/ More episodes here: http://www.mtmsuccess.com/blog   Thanks for listening! Jake Ballentine Mountain Top Motivation “I'll see you at the top!” P.S. Do you want to book paid speaking gigs!?! Get the exact emails I used to book over 500 paid speaking gigs: https://paidspeakingscripts.com/email   And, If you are already a 6 or 7 figure entrepreneur and are looking for an amazing peer group to grow with come and join us in The Rising Tide Connection: http://www.mtmsuccess.com/risingtide

The capacity for rapid change comes down to our adaptability. In this broadcast, you will learn more about the three questions that companies are asking right now, the importance of time management and elements of agile leadership that prepare your company for rapid change.  Jess Dewell interviews Kathy Atkins, CEO of The Lattitude Group; Tom Libelt, CEO & Podcast Host of Smart Brand Marketing; and Paul Casey, founder of Growing Forward Services. —--------- If you want to continue to look for inspiration to creatively or innovatively approach decision-making and problem-solving, use the experiences of other business owners who have created great companies. Try Fast Track Your Business today to keep learning and growing and stay intentional as you work strategically on your business. -------------------- Feel like you need a bit of help with some business direction? Then ACT to Plan by contacting Jess for a 30-Minute Unstuck Quick Consult. You'll discuss your aims, where you are, and where you should be to move deliberately toward your team-building goals! -------------------- If you want to stay informed and plan for a successful year, download the Annual Red Direction Business Management Report and get access to survey findings and information to help navigate volatility and uncertainty.  You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter,  LinkedIn or Red Direction website.

“Get involved in the conversation to push back respectfully.” - Paul CaseyOriginally from Chicago, Paul has now been a professional speaker for over 25 years (giving almost 300 presentations in the past 4 years), and he is one of the leading authorities in leadership and personal growth—especially time management—helping people take back their calendars and restore sanity to their lives. He has spoken for organizations like McDonalds, Subway, Lamb Weston, Northwest Public Power, and Autozone—and among the 80 leaders he coaches per year, 25 of them lead at Pacific NW National Laboratories. Paul has a Master's degree in education, and has been an educator/administrator/Chief Operating Officer in 5 non-profit organizations. He has coached leaders for over 3,300 hours and is an ACC-certified coach with the International Coaching Federation, as well as a Master Trainer, and a member of the National Speakers Association. He was honored as an Entrepreneur of the Year in the Tri-Cities in 2021.Through his company, Growing Forward Services, Paul has partnered with his corporate and individual clients to transform their vision, their habits, and their lives.  Currently, Paul carries out his mission of sparking breakthrough success by contributing daily inspirational growth messages on local radio, other people's podcasts, and via social media. Also, he has inspired thousands of individuals and leaders to grow forward through his seminars, team-building off-site retreats, one-to-one self-leadership coaching, and as a keynote speaker. Paul has written 5 books: The Static Cling Principle (on habits and mindsets), Maximizing Every Minute (on time management), Leading the Team You've Always Wanted, Leading with Super-Vision, and his newest book: Leading through the Dark Waters of Conflict. He interviews local leaders in his podcast: the Tri-Cities Influencer and national leaders on his podcast: Grow Forward Today.Paul is married to Lovely Laura, has two young adult children named after state capitals, owns a new puppy named Gizmo, and has lived in the Tri-Cities, WA, for over 20 years. For fun, he enjoys golfing and hiking—and orange slices—and he reads about 40-50 books per year.Click here to subscribe to The Sell My Business Podcast to save time and effort.SELECTED LINKS FOR THIS EPISODEpcgrowingforward@gmail.comGrowing Forward ServicesFollow Paul D. Casey's (@growingfwd) latest Tweets / TwitterGrowing Forward Services with Paul Casey (@growingforwardservices) • Instagram photos and videosGrowing Forward Services | FacebookPaul Casey - YouTubePaul D. Casey - Host - Grow Forward Today Podcast | LinkedInhttps://www.pinterest.com/paulcasey7/_created/https://quiz.gretchenrubin.com/four-tendencies-quiz/Take Back My CalendarThe Deep Wealth Sell My Business PodcastCockroach Startups: What You Need To Know To Succeed And ProsperFREE Deep Wealth eBook on Why You Suck At Selling Your Business And What You Can Do About It (Today)Book Your FREE Deep Wealth Strategy Call

In this episode, Paul and I discuss the importance of time blocking and work productivity. We also discuss the importance of business coaching to better understand your business from an outside perspective. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~PAUL CASEY:Paul Casey is the Owner Of Growing Forward Services, The go-to company for bettering your productivity and accomplishing your priorities! Paul D. Casey speaks, trains, coaches, and writes to equip you and your team with practical wisdom for Growing Forward!https://www.facebook.com/GrowingForwardServiceshttps://growingforwardservices.net/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~RESOURCEFUL AGENT:My name is Andy Silvius and I'm a full time Realtor for Keller Williams Realty in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. I started the podcast "Resourceful Agent Radio Show" to influence others to keep progressing in life, whether it's stepping outside of your comfort zone and chasing your dreams or just helping you find solutions to problems you may face in business, finances, and life.Above all, I'm an Entrepreneur on the search for answers and new business opportunities one interview at a time!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~FOLLOW RESOURCEFUL AGENT ON:→ https://www.facebook.com/ResourcefulAgent→ https://www.instagram.com/Resourcefulagent/→ https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-silvius-091aa7190/→ https://www.resourcefulagent.com/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Intentionally adding value is a commitment. The dedication to asking the right questions, the hard questions, is the path to discerning the right opportunity, right now. It also includes a clear beginning and knowing what the end looks like. Endings provide a way to pause, assess, and make the next set of actions to reach your long-term goals. Jess Dewell talks with Paul D. Casey, Coach and Author at Growing Forward Services, about the impact of reflection on achieving massive growth. Tune in to hear about successes and failures, lessons about time management, filtering questions to assess an opportunity, and what elements are necessary to consistently show up.  —--------- If you want to continue to look for inspiration to creatively or innovatively approach decision-making and problem-solving, use the experiences of other business owners who have created great companies. Try Fast Track Your Business today to keep learning and growing and stay intentional as you work strategically on your business. -------------------- Feel like you need a bit of help with some business direction? Then ACT to Plan by contacting Jess for a 30-Minute Unstuck Quick Consult. You'll discuss your aims, where you are, and where you should be to move deliberately toward your team-building goals! -------------------- If you want to stay informed and plan for a successful year, download the Annual Red Direction Business Management Report and get access to survey findings and information to help navigate volatility and uncertainty.  You can get in touch with Jess Dewell on Twitter,  LinkedIn or Red Direction website.

Guest Paul D. Casey brings his entrepreneurial spirit to the conversation on today's episode of The Prosperity Perspective. As a solopreneur, Paul shares the steps he took to get to a place of extra income where they didn't have to stress about credit cards to pay for a broken washing machine anymore. Listen alongside host Liam Leonard to hear how blocking his time and defining financial freedom personally changed the game for Paul.3 Key TakeawaysIf you're finding yourself swamped in the business, it may be time for you to consider blocking out your time on a physical calendar.Consider what financial freedom and occupational success is to you. Define the parameters before you make goals to reach them. You can invest in more than a 401K, find places to invest that fit your moral ideals. For Paul, that meant upping the percentage he paid to his church and chosen charities.ResourcesGrowingforwardservices.netPaul's LinkedInFacebookInstagramTwitterThe Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and  Barry Z. PosnerGetting Things Done by David AllenCrucial Conversations by Joseph Grenny, et al.About Paul D CaseyOriginally from Chicago, Paul has now been a professional speaker for over 25 years (giving almost 300 presentations in the past 4 years), and he is one of the leading authorities in leadership and personal growth—especially time management—helping people take back their calendars and restore sanity to their lives. He has spoken for organizations like McDonalds, Subway, Lamb Weston, Northwest Public Power, and Autozone—and among the 80 leaders he coaches per year, 25 of them lead at Pacific NW National Laboratories. Paul has a Master's degree in education, and has been an educator/administrator/Chief Operating Officer in 5 non-profit organizations. He has coached leaders for over 3,300 hours and is an ACC-certified coach with the International Coaching Federation, as well as a Master Trainer, and a member of the National Speakers Association. He was honored as an Entrepreneur of the Year in the Tri-Cities in 2021.Through his company, Growing Forward Services, Paul has partnered with his corporate and individual clients to transform their vision, their habits, and their lives. Currently, Paul carries out his mission of sparking breakthrough success by contributing daily inspirational growth messages on local radio, other people's podcasts, and via social media. Also, he has inspired thousands of individuals and leaders to grow forward through his sem

Ep. 82 we sit with Paul Casey to talk all about Personality Types in a simple and practical way for you to understand who you are and become more self-aware. We also touch on how you can get better at managing your time from one of the leading authorities in time management.Originally from Chicago, Paul has now been a professional speaker for over 24 years and he is one of the leading authorities in leadership and personal growth—especially time management—helping people take back their calendars and restore sanity to their livesThrough his company, Growing Forward Services, Paul has partnered with his corporate and individual clients to transform their vision, their habits, and their lives.  He's inspired thousands of individuals and leaders to grow forward through his seminars, team-building off-site retreats, one-to-one self-leadership coaching, and as a keynote speaker. Paul has written 4 books: The Static Cling Principle (on habits and mindsets), Maximizing Every Minute (on time management), Leading the Team You've Always Wanted, and Leading with Super-Vision. And he interviews local leaders in his podcast: the Tri-Cities Influencer. ---Free resources from Paul: https://takebackmycalendar.com/ or Text "Growing" to 72000 Support the show (https://www.linkedin.com/company/playing-injured-pod/, https://www.instagram.com/playinginjuredpod/)

Season 2 Episode #23 Paul Casey coming from Tri-Cities area of WashingtonYou can find Paul at paulcasey.org or via Instagram @growingforwardservicesEnjoyed your website, your tools and tips sections is amazing and like your “Leaders are readers” phrase for your book recommendations, also has a great blog…so make sure to check it out!Originally from Chicago, Paul has been a professional speaker for over 24 years and is one of the leading authorities in leadership and personal growth—especially time management—helping people take back their calendars and restore sanity to their lives.  Paul is the founder of Growing Forward Services, the author of 4 books, podcast host for Tri-Cities Influencer, the father of two beautiful adult children, and the husband to his lovely wife Laura.Paul earned a Master's degree in education, and has been an educator/administrator/Chief Operating Officer in 5 non-profit organizations. He is an ACC-certified coach with the International Coaching Federation, a Master Trainer, and is a member of the National Speakers Association. He was awarded Solopreneur of the Year by the West Richland Chamber a few years ago and currently carries out his mission of sparking breakthrough success by contributing daily inspirational growth messages on local radio and via social media.   Paul – congrats on an amazing career, thanks for doing the work you do to empower people, and thanks for sharing your expertise with our listeners, Paul - Welcome to the show!TOTD – “What I do today is very important because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.”In this episode:What was life like growing up?Did you have ingredients in your life that perhaps at that particular time served a purpose but at this point in your life you realize they no longer serve the same purpose and perhaps, are limiting you from living your best life?How do you help people who seem stuck, who seem resistant to change, have a fixed mindset…Definition of SuccessYour Life's Essential IngredientsTime Management Goal SettingBuilding Team LeadersLeading through CHANGE – change management skill, methodology, Personality Types and why is SELF AWARENESS important Team ConflictTeam HealthThe importance of reading and learning…4 books: The Static Cling Principle (on habits and mindsets), Maximizing Every Minute (on time management), Leading the Team You've Always Wanted, and Leading with Super-Vision.Legacy 

In this episode we meet Paul Casey and discuss leadership, time management, and some personal life reflections and ungraduations for life betterment and empowering perspectives. Originally from Chicago, Paul has now been a professional speaker for over 25 years (giving almost 300 presentations in the past 4 years), and he is one of the leading authorities in leadership and personal growth—especially time management—helping people take back their calendars and restore sanity to their lives. He has spoken for organizations like McDonalds, Subway, Lamb Weston, Northwest Public Power, and Autozone—and among the 80 leaders he coaches per year, 25 of them lead at Pacific NW National Laboratories. Paul has a Master's degree in education, and has been an educator/administrator/Chief Operating Officer in 5 non-profit organizations. He has coached leaders for over 3,300 hours and is an ACC-certified coach with the International Coaching Federation, as well as a Master Trainer, and a member of the National Speakers Association. He was honored as an Entrepreneur of the Year in the Tri-Cities in 2021. Through his company, Growing Forward Services, Paul has partnered with his corporate and individual clients to transform their vision, their habits, and their lives.  Currently, Paul carries out his mission of sparking breakthrough success by contributing daily inspirational growth messages on local radio, other people's podcasts, and via social media. Also, he has inspired thousands of individuals and leaders to grow forward through his seminars, team-building off-site retreats, one-to-one self-leadership coaching, and as a keynote speaker. Paul has written 5 books: The Static Cling Principle (on habits and mindsets), Maximizing Every Minute (on time management), Leading the Team You've Always Wanted, Leading with Super-Vision, and his newest book: Leading through the Dark Waters of Conflict. He interviews local leaders in his podcast: the Tri-Cities Influencer and national leaders on his podcast: Grow Forward Today. Paul is married to Lovely Laura, has two young adult children named after state capitals, owns a new puppy named Gizmo, and has lived in the Tri-Cities, WA, for over 20 years. For fun, he enjoys golfing and hiking—and orange slices—and he reads about 40-50 books per year. Paul's website: https://growingforwardservices.net My website: https://ungraduated.com  

Originally from Chicago, Paul has now been a professional speaker for over 25 years (giving almost 300 presentations in the past 4 years), and he is one of the leading authorities in leadership and personal growth—especially time management—helping people take back their calendars and restore sanity to their lives. He has spoken for organizations like McDonalds, Subway, Lamb Weston, Northwest Public Power, and Autozone—and among the 80 leaders he coaches per year, 25 of them lead at Pacific NW National Laboratories. Paul has a Master's degree in education, and has been an educator/administrator/Chief Operating Officer in 5 non-profit organizations. He has coached leaders for over 3,300 hours and is an ACC-certified coach with the International Coaching Federation, as well as a Master Trainer, and a member of the National Speakers Association. He was honored as an Entrepreneur of the Year in the Tri-Cities in 2021. Through his company, Growing Forward Services, Paul has partnered with his corporate and individual clients to transform their vision, their habits, and their lives. Currently, Paul carries out his mission of sparking breakthrough success by contributing daily inspirational growth messages on local radio, other people's podcasts, and via social media. Also, he has inspired thousands of individuals and leaders to grow forward through his seminars, team-building off-site retreats, one-to-one self-leadership coaching, and as a keynote speaker. Paul has written 5 books: The Static Cling Principle (on habits and mindsets), Maximizing Every Minute (on time management), Leading the Team You've Always Wanted, Leading with Super-Vision, and his newest book: Leading through the Dark Waters of Conflict. He interviews local leaders in his podcast: the Tri-Cities Influencer and national leaders on his podcast: Grow Forward Today. To connect with Paul, please visit his website: https://growingforwardservices.net/ (https://growingforwardservices.net/)

The Encouragement Engineering podcast offers listeners the ability to combat the negativity that inundates our daily lives with a positive perspective and positive actions. Our guest today is Paul Casey. Paul is a professional speaker for over 25 years and certified coach and is one of the leading authorities in leadership and personal growth—especially time management—helping people take back their calendars and restore sanity to their lives. Through his company, Growing Forward Services, Paul has partnered with his corporate and individual clients to transform their vision, their habits, and their lives with daily inspirational growth messages. Paul is an author of 5 books and his newest book titled: Leading through the Dark Waters of Conflict. Paul also a podcast host of two podcasts; TheTri-Cities Influencer” & “Grow Forward Today where is gets to interview influential leaders that share their knowledge. Listen as we discuss: “Over Owning” Values Possibility Focus Growth Website: www.growingforwardservices.net LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauldcasey/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GrowingForwardServices Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growingforwardservices/ Be sure to follow The Encouragement Engineering podcast at https://encouragementengineer.com or https://bobbrummspeaks.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Episode Summary:In today's episode of A Cup of Confidence, we are joined by special guest Paul Casey, Owner of Growing Forward Services. He teaches his clients how to become successful leaders through communication and self-assessments. He also shares his knowledge of behavioral style studies and how they can help you understand the balance of personalities. This episode is fun and knowledgeable! You don't want to miss it - stay tuned!Thanks for Listening:Thanks so much for listening to my podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!Subscribing to The Podcast:If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also give Cup of Confidence a follow on your favorite podcast app.Leave Us an Apple Podcasts Review:Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you.Guest Bio:Paul Casey is the Owner of Growing Forward Services. Paul has a Master's degree in education and has been an educator/administrator/Chief Operating Officer in 5 non-profit organizations. He has coached leaders for over 3,300 hours. He is an ACC-certified coach with the International Coaching Federation, a Master Trainer, and a member of the National Speakers Association. He was honored as an Entrepreneur of the Year in the Tri-Cities in 2021. Paul has been a professional speaker for over 25 years (giving almost 300 presentations in the past four years). He is one of the leading authorities in leadership and personal growth—especially time management—helping people take back their calendars and restore sanity to their lives. Through his company, Growing Forward Services, Paul has partnered with his corporate and individual clients to transform their vision, habits, and their lives.  Currently, Paul carries out his mission of sparking breakthrough success by contributing daily inspirational growth messages on local radio, other people's podcasts, and social media. Also, he has inspired thousands of individuals and leaders to grow forward through his seminars, team-building off-site retreats, one-to-one self-leadership coaching, and as a keynote speaker. Paul has written five books: The Static Cling Principle (on habits and mindsets), Maximizing Every Minute (on time management), Leading the Team You've Always Wanted, Leading with Super-Vision, and his newest book: Leading through the Dark Waters of Conflict. He interviews local leaders in his podcast: the Tri-Cities Influencer and national leaders on his podcast: Grow Forward Today.Links:Website:www.growingforwardservices.netFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/GrowingForwardServices/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauldcasey/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growingforwardservices/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrcwf1OZsLc4P85DvRvJaGATwitter: https://twitter.com/growingfwd

Paul Casey is originally from Chicago, he has been a professional speaker for over 25 years (giving almost 300 presentations in the past 4 years) and is one of the leading authorities in leadership and personal growth—especially time management—helping people take back their calendars and restore sanity to their lives.   He has spoken for organizations like McDonald's, Subway, Lamb Weston, Northwest Public Power, and Autozone—and among the 80 leaders he coaches per year, 25 of them lead at Pacific NW National Laboratories.   Through his company, Growing Forward Services, Paul has partnered with his corporate and individual clients to transform their vision, their habits, and their lives.   Quote: Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. - Warren Bennis   Connect with Paul: Website: Paulcasey.org Growing Forward Services Free Gift: Control My Calendar Check List - takebackmycalendar.com Books: The Static Cling Principle (on habits and mindsets) Maximizing Every Minute (on time management) Leading the Team You've Always Wanted Leading with Super-Vision Podcast: the Tri-Cities Influencer   how hashtag: #TrinaTalk LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trina-l-martin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrinaTalk Instagram: @trina.l.martin  Twitter: @TrinaLMartin    

This episode covers Paul Casey, who's the mind behind Growing Forward Services. GFS is an organization that focuses on helping both corporate and individual clients change their habits and mindset in order to be more productive, while staying true to core values and giving attention to the things that matter most in life. . Paul has written four books that include The Static Cling Principle (on habits and mindsets), Maximizing Every Minute (on time management), Leading the Team You've Always Wanted and Leading with Super-Vision. He also interviews local leaders on his podcast The Tri-Cities Influencer. . The conversation ranges from what got Paul interested in time management tactics, to the process of getting his book from mind onto paper (or in one instance a napkin) and several tactics he implements in his life in order to accomplish the goals he sets for himself. With the new year approaching, I feel like there's no better time than now to start thinking about our own goals for 2022, and maybe even use some of Paul's tactics in order to get them accomplished. . Paul's Website: www.paulcasey.org . Control My Calendar Checklist: https://takebackmycalendar.com/ . LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauldcasey/ . Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GrowingForwardServices . Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growingforwardservices/ . John Maxwell Overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Maxwell . John Maxwell Website: https://www.johnmaxwell.com/ . Interested in being featured in a future episode? Find Juxtaposed Journeys on PodMatch and request an interview, or send an e-mail to juxtaposedjourneys@gmail.com for further inquiries.

Paul Casey:                         Great team leaders notice an imbalance in the team and have the ability to adjust to it. But again, don't attack the person attack the problem. Speaker 1:                           Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington, it's the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. Welcome to the TCI podcast. We're local leadership and self-leadership expert, Paul Casey interviews, local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit executives to hear how they lead themselves and their teams, so we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services, coaching and equipping individuals, and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey:                         It's a great day to grow forward. Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Jeanne Dillner, she is the CEO of SIGN Fracture Care. And I asked for a fun fact about her and it turned into a whole story. And so, Jeanne, I'm going to just let you roll with it. Jeanne Dillner:                  One of the women at work gave me the idea of playing with watercolor to relax. And so, I've been doing that for about a year now. And then on June 17th, at 9:30 at night, I was petting my dogs goodnight and somehow fell over and broke my arm. I'm lefthanded and I broke my left arm. So, I wasn't able to use that for about three months. And so, but I still needed to have that creative outlet. And so, I started to not only learn how to write with my right hand, but also do my art with my right hand. And so, I've just as a joke, decided to call it wrong handed art. And so, that my funny thing.                                                 And then another thing that I do with my dogs is entertaining to people who decide to walk with me, sometimes I just don't want to because I do this, but I make up voices for them and kind of relay what they're really thinking to others. And Wally has a weight problem. He has a lot of conversation about how I force him to become anorexic, but it's not true. It's really nice. [inaudible 00:02:11]. Paul Casey:                         Oh, that's awesome. And Tri-Cities Influencer listeners, Jeanne put up to the screen, one of her wrong handed art watercolors and it's lovely. She did this lovely. Well, we'll dive in after checking in with our Tri-Cities Influencer sponsor. Speaker 2:                           From the Columbia basin to the Pacific ocean, Basin Pacific Insurance & Benefits help protect families and businesses in a professional, timely manner. Our people are knowledgeable and service oriented, helping you ensure your home, auto and toys. As well as commercial business, large or small, health insurance, individual or group, agribusiness and crop insurance. At Basin Pacific Insurance & Benefits you get the service of a large broker with the care of a local agent. Locally owned since 2010, visit us online at basinpacifictricities.com. Paul Casey:                         Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Well welcome Jeanne. I was privileged to meet you many years ago. You reminded me that it was at the hammer facility, I was doing a training back then. I didn't remember. That was the first time I met you. But so since then I've enjoyed a tour of SIGN Fracture Care. I know a few of the employees there were leaders in the organization. I'm a donor of the organization and I just love the mission. So, I'm looking forward to interviewing here today. So, our TCI influencers can get to know you, tell us about what SIGN does and what do you spend about 80% of your day doing as a CEO? Jeanne Dillner:                  Those are two big questions. The first thing I'll answer is what do we do? We are a nonprofit organization. We are very unusual because we not only provide training to do orthopedic surgery in developing countries, but we also provide the implants. Our founder is Dr. Lewis Zirkle, a long term orthopedic surgeon here in town, and who dedicated his time off to helping surgeons in developing countries, get the skill and sustain the skill. And the only way he discovered to sustain the skill is for someone to provide the implant on an ongoing basis. And it just turns out that after many years of trying to get other people to manufacture it, it really meant that he needed to manufacture it. So, he, 22 years ago opened up a manufacturing plant and I've been working with SIGN ever since then, as well as a handful of our employees.                                                 Now, many of them are getting to retirement age. And so, we're doing exciting things to transition SIGN into the next generation is sort of what I call it. What I spend 80% of my time doing really is the people parts. It's not just the people overseas that we have to train and nurture, but it's also our own staff. So, for 2021, it's in everybody's goal to work on succession, sorry, succession planning. And that for us just means identifying tasks that need to be taught to another individual, so that you have the cross training that's there. And then also thinking about when we're doing new hires, especially in management, what's their potential for helping out in future positions in science? So, that's what we're working on in the near term. And it's really funny because I remember it was about 10 years ago that I started seeing other CEOs who are my age now, doing the same thing.                                                 They were saying, "Now, my focus is to prepare the company for when I'm not there anymore." So, that's what I'm, sounds kind of harsh to say, but that is what my next several years is... The goal is to have things set up so that SIGN can continue on with the successes that we've had so far. Paul Casey:                         That's very wise to have a succession plan, TCI listeners. Do you have a succession plan, no matter what position do you have? Is there someone coming up behind you who is getting equipped to take your spot when you get promoted to your dream job? I like that better than getting hit by a bus. Jeanne Dillner:                  Yeah. We just recently got inform one of our most experienced machinists is having to move on. So that puts a real challenge on us because that's a kind of a position that's harder to replace than others that we have at SIGN. So yeah, it's not just the CEO or the founder who needs to do succession plan. Paul Casey:                         Yeah, totally agree. And one thing I recommend to companies is you have a duty handbook, some kind of documented of your major processes and procedures. So, if you did this appear tomorrow, somebody could at least pick up the book and say, all right, here's what he did. Here's what she did. Jeanne Dillner:                  That's a great idea. I just wrote that down. Thank you. Paul Casey:                         Well, why do you love what you do, Jeanne? Jeanne Dillner:                  Well, I love helping people and while I do it indirectly by being CEO, I don't get to go in and I'm not a nurse or a doctor, so I get to go in and watch surgeries. During disasters, there are times when I help more directly, but I just love knowing that we're helping patients in developing world walk again and return to work, and children returning to school. If the parents don't return to work, then children get pulled out of school. So, we're really helping, not only families get out of poverty, but we're also helping the communities grow and expand, and improve because people are able to stay in their jobs and contribute to the society. Paul Casey:                         What a fantastic mission. Yep. It'd be easy to get excited about that for sure. So, in your journey to where you are today, you probably learned a lot from people that you watched, bosses, supervisors, leaders, what do you keep in mind, good or bad, from that education that you had while you lead today? Jeanne Dillner:                  I love that question because you did give us some questions ahead of time. And I love that one because it reminded me of Gary Coker who owned funny enough, a sign company. And I was hired as the office manager. We made signs, we were actually called the right name for once. But he gave me a lot of leeway. I just had to make sure that people paid their bills and we paid our bills, and that I managed the money appropriately when we had loans. Those are the days of 20% loans and we had a revolving loan kind of thing. And I made sure that got paid down as fast as it could. So anyway, he just really gave me the confidence, his trust in me gave me the confidence that I could do and learn just about anything.                                                 And then I moved from, that was in St Morgan where I was born. Then I moved there to go to Portland State as a night student. And worked full-time at another company. And that manager just the opposite. He was very nitpicky. He complained about any mistakes and it didn't take long for me to lose the confidence that I had built up under Gary Coker. So, not that I've been perfect at it, but that's what I've been trying to do at SIGN, is give people the leeway, step in at times maybe they don't like it. But when I feel like I haven't conveyed well enough what the path should be, but you can't just let people run free and not step in if they're going off track. But anyway, I've been trying that and I'm getting better at it over the years, I guess, I hope. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. Jeanne Dillner:                  [crosstalk 00:10:37] would say that about me at SIGN. Paul Casey:                         Let's get him on the line right now. I was kidding. Jeanne Dillner:                  Okay. Call him up.                                                 [inaudible 00:10:42] 107 [inaudible 00:10:47]. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. It sounds like you're more of a guide, right? You change your style and I think Ken Blanchard developed a situational leadership model right? Some people need more directions. You have to be super clear with your expert expectations. And this is the deliverable. This is what a win looks like. Other people want autonomy. Let's leave me alone, clear away the obstacles and let me do my job. Jeanne Dillner:                  Yeah. And sometimes it's not easy to find out who needs what, but... Paul Casey:                         Right. Jeanne Dillner:                  But we're figuring it out. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. Well, how do you keep yourself fired up Jeanne? Where do you go for inspiration as a leader? Jeanne Dillner:                  Well, one of the things that is inspiring to me course is the patients that we help. So, we get pretty frequently. We get patient stories and surgeons will send those to us, or they'll send us a story about just what it's like at their hospital. And that really is an encouragement to keep on going, especially during the pandemic when we can't travel there ourselves, because that was like the biggest high is to go see the people, see the dignity of even the impoverished, and know that you're helping their lives become better. It's not just the patients lives that are better, but it's also the surgeons because now they're doing something worthwhile. They have the tools they need to help their patients. So, that's what I would do during travel times, but now we're in staying at home times and I think you know that I'm Christian and that I have a faith in God.                                                 And so, I've tried to use this time to believe that it's something God is doing to help us get closer to Him and to pray more, and to consult, and practice, and strengthen our faith. So, I'm doing that quite a bit right now. And especially, in terms of just, I know this is a hard time for people they're working from home. They don't have that same social connection, human connection with people and it's not as energizing sometimes. So, I've prayed a lot to be energetic about my job and find something really intriguing to focus on so that I can get revved up and make progress. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. I think people do play off their leader, the energy that they bring or the vibe that they have. So, I love that you're really being intentional about that. Amping it up with a little bit more charisma or energy, or whatever that would take... Jeanne Dillner:                  Right. Paul Casey:                         To be a model for the team and also... Jeanne Dillner:                  [inaudible 00:13:30]. Paul Casey:                         Agree that yeah, that's true. Right. Some days harder than others. Yeah. Jeanne Dillner:                  Yep. Paul Casey:                         And the spiritual connection being sort of the key to mental health, emotional health, physical health, it's sort of like the core. And faith over fear, we've got that sign in our house here in a culture where there's a lot of fear. Jeanne Dillner:                  Oh yeah. Yep. Well, there's probably always been that fear. It's just that now we're seeing it. And so, how we handle what we see is what God, we have to go to God to understand what to do, so. Paul Casey:                         Absolutely. Well you have to keep improving yourself. You've probably shared little nuggets already there what you're working on as a leader, but what are you working on like right now and maybe even for the months to come as a leader to better yourself? Jeanne Dillner:                  Well, I think the other thing we're working on besides succession... That's such a hard word. Succession planning because it's psychological that it's hard to say [inaudible 00:14:33] is the long term. Well, I think a three year long term goal is good. Because it's not so far in the future that you can't touch it in a way. And it is hard to plan for three to five years right now just because you really don't know what the... It's just, things are so uncertain. Paul Casey:                         Yes. Jeanne Dillner:                  But we are working on that. I mean, we're more intentional about that now. And we're trying to learn and convey the lingo of that kind of thinking that is more than 12 months out thinking. We've been doing 12 month planning for a long time, but now let's turn that into 36 months planning.                                                 And so, we're learning how to define and report on KPIs, key performance indicators. Things like that, that are more businesslike as a nonprofit. We haven't had to be as rigid or disciplined. I don't know. We're disciplined, but we haven't had to use business lingo as much, but now we're transitioning into a new ERP system. So, we're going to have to change a lot of the ways that we do our work and it's going to, for the most part, be better than what we're doing now. And some of that is getting better information out of the data that's going in there about our costs or time to manufacture things, or whatever things that this new ERP will be tracking for us. So, we need to be thinking about what does it look like to have a new product, significantly different products.                                                 So, we're looking into, and talking very seriously with a few people about starting science spine. So, what it does that look like for us and how do we incorporate that into our database? It has ramifications that are tremendous. And we think that people would be excited about funding that, but we don't know yet until we get a core group set up and really a pilot project going, how it's going to work and whether the local surgeons really want to benefit from it. But that's the exciting thing for the next three to five years, is to see how that project pans out. We're pretty confident it's going to happen and going to start next year sometime. Paul Casey:                         Wow. SIGN spine. You heard here first. Jeanne Dillner:                  Yeah. Right. Well... Paul Casey:                         How exciting. Jeanne Dillner:                  Yeah. You try here first. Paul Casey:                         Yes. Jeanne Dillner:                  [crosstalk 00:17:23] a conversation within our walls for quite a while. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. Very, very exciting. And I love how you brought up key performance indicators. And no matter if you're in a nonprofit or in a for-profit or you're a solopreneur, I think tracking those KPIs for yourself and your performance, and as an organization just make you more effective. So, Jeanne, how do you balance or integrate your personal time, your family time with the work time, so that everything gets the priority it needs, right? It's a little bit of a Tetris trying to fit all those things into your schedule. How do you do that? Jeanne Dillner:                  I can say I've been super weird at that. Right now, my family consists two golden retrievers and myself, and then one of my brothers decided to move here. So, I make time for him and his wife. Every weekend, they come over and help me walk the dogs. And I just got back from Lake Oswego where my one year old grand niece had her first birthday. So, I am, I would would to say the first 20 years, I wasn't very good at it. And now that I'm looking more to the distant future. I'm focusing more on my brothers and their families, and making sure that I'm staying healthy, and able to participate in their lives more than I had been in the last 20 years, let's say. Paul Casey:                         Yeah, good stuff. It is a work of progress for all of us in leadership because we like the work, we do. There's so much that has to get done. Jeanne Dillner:                  Yeah. Paul Casey:                         But if we put ourselves off or our families off for too long there's consequences on that side of things. So, we have to raise it up the priority scale. Jeanne Dillner:                  We do. And some of that is they were busy with their careers too. So, it's just now that we're all able to really see the value and the need for us to stay connected because we need that. We need each other. And honestly, SIGN is out of a point where it can now afford to have more people. So, like in your situation, you are everything. And for many years I was a lot of more things than most CEOs are. So, we've got some incredibly talented and competent people on board now, who can and want to have that responsibility, share the responsibility, which is also healthy for the word I have a hard time saying, succession planning. To make sure we have more managers now that are, and they are all quite capable of handling things, whether I'm here or not. And all I'm doing now is fine tuning their knowledge to make the transition easier in the future. Paul Casey:                         Yes. I want to pick your brain more on employees, but let's go to a break here before we head into our next question on hiring and retaining great employees. Let's do a quick shout out to our sponsor. Speaker 2:                           A lot of sweat and hard work has been put into your farm and ranch, protecting it in your family's legacy is what matters most. At Basin Pacific Insurance & Benefits, we understand the challenges agribusinesses face today. Our team is knowledgeable and service oriented. From small farms and ranches to vertically integrated agriculture. Our team at Basin Pacific and Manley Crop Insurance provides the services of a large broker with the care of a local agent. Locally owned since 2010. Visit us online at basinpacifictricities.com. Paul Casey:                         So, Jeanne, what's your process for attracting great talent. You said it's sort of the key to work life balance is to have great people underneath you. So, I would agree with you there. And then how do you keep good people? How do you make the workplace a place where employees want to stay? You've had some long timers there. And I know the mission is probably one of those reasons, but it's probably culture. So, talk to us about that. Jeanne Dillner:                  So, I think mission is key to the fact that we're able to keep people for so many years. The machinists they're making the implants that go into the bodies of the patients. So, they know that the every day they make... How many nails do they make a day? Let's say they make a hundred nails a day. They're helping a hundred people walk again. Paul Casey:                         Wow. Jeanne Dillner:                  And that's pretty impactful, I think. And keeps you going when times are rough. And of course we try to pay a fair salary just because we're a nonprofit, we still have to compete for good employees. In terms of hiring the right people, the rightest people have come to us providentially. We've just been made aware of them or they found out about us, so we feel very strongly and thankful for that.                                                 There are some positions for us that are very hard to find the right fit. And so, we are having to change how we interview and assess a person before we bring them on because we consistently choose not the right person for it, or they're just not coming to us. Especially right now, it's hard to get people to apply for work for some reason. So, we have a one or two positions opened and we're just being a lot more selective now. Because it's very painful to hire somebody, have them not work out and then have to start it all over. Paul Casey:                         Yes. Jeanne Dillner:                  Painful for them and painful for us. But in terms of keeping people besides the mission, we're also fairly flexible. We can be more flexible in the non-manufacturing jobs, but we're pretty flexible there too, in terms of time that you work. So even in the shop, the shop is open, say from six o'clock, till 17:30. So, the people that want to come in at six and work till a certain time, they can do that. As opposed to always everybody having to be here from seven to four. And then we're also flexible for the office staff, like the engineers and the clerical people, et cetera. If they need to be off for a child's school play or sports or whatever, they just make it up on Friday or something. And I'm not being super forceful about people coming back into the building. There are some of our staff who are very afraid of the pandemic and about catching COVID, and they feel the safest place at home, and their work is fine from home.                                                 So, we accommodate that and we look to other companies for how they're handling it, and how they're informing how they're going to move back to the building eventually. But I've just not set a date because who knows when the next flare up will happen. So, I don't want to really enforce anything. And those that are staying home most of the time when I need them in, they come in and they're fine with it. But anyway, so yeah, it's a challenge though because we all enjoy each other's company. And I think ideas are exchanged much faster. If you're an innovative company, I think it happens more rapidly if you're in the same room together, but we're still making good changes despite being so far apart. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. Flexibility is such a key in today's work place. Many sources have said that's even more important than salary and almost benefits. I mean, it's just such a big deal for people to be able to have that flexibility. It used to just mean work hours and paid time off, and things like that, but now, it's working at home or working at the office, so. Jeanne Dillner:                  Yeah, I had one person who says, "Well, I'd really like to work in the office." And I said, "Okay, I'm not telling you can't, so that's fine." But the other thing that I was really excited to be able to offer to people when schools were closed is that they could bring their kids and have them learn alongside because not every child can study without some supervision, so. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. Jeanne Dillner:                  We were able to accommodate that as well. Since there were so many people gone, there were plenty of empty offices. Paul Casey:                         Yes. I like how you led with the mission. And of course for nonprofits, that's the key of why people sign on, is the mission. No matter what job you have as a leader, I think it's important to connect your people, your team to the constituents you serve. No matter if you're making widgets or developing people or providing some kind of service. I think when you get a glimpse of who you're serving and how that actual end user is benefiting, it sort of kicks you back in as a motivator, so... Jeanne Dillner:                  Yeah. Paul Casey:                         That's neat that like what you said, I'm going to save a hundred lives or help a hundred lives today. There isn't much greater motivation than that. Jeanne Dillner:                  But we're friends with Leatherman tools. They've been very supportive for SIGN. And their marketing is awesome and they sincerely believe their tool is saving lives. It's getting people out of predicaments. It's an amazing tool and series of tools that they've developed. And so, we're learning from them on how to reinvigorate your enthusiasm for the job that you have, so. Paul Casey:                         Good marketing. So, you mentioned succession plan, I won't make you say it again, but delegation is a part of sort an early stage of that. Making sure you're too deep in every position. And how do you feel about delegation? What are struggles for you or do you have some tips on how to do it well? Jeanne Dillner:                  Well, what I wrote was hire really good people. And it's true. It's lot easier to delegate when you're working with people who want to learn and who want to take on more responsibility, and have the aptitude for it. So, that's been very freeing for me. I've had a dream for one of our departments to be X, Y, Z, and the people that are in there are now, they have that same dream and so, they're making it happen. But if you have people that can't visualize that dream, then you it's just going to be slow coming. But now, that department is really swinging and helping educate more surgeons because of it. And then how do I encourage myself and others to delegate? That is harder, but I do check in with myself and say, "Jeanne, why are you doing this scan right now?"                                                 And well, right now, it's because we don't have a front desk person. So, after doing it for about a week, I realized this was not a good use of my time. So now, we're going to look at hiring a temp agency to fill that spot for at least part of the day, each day. Because it's a drain on my mental capacity, which should be thinking about [inaudible 00:29:26] not... Paul Casey:                         Yeah. Jeanne Dillner:                  "Did I push the right button to scan this thing?" Paul Casey:                         Yes. Jeanne Dillner:                  [crosstalk 00:29:32]. Yeah. I do have a personal assistant now, which is very wonderful and also frees up a lot of time for me. And she's helping me learn to what things to let her just go do, instead of me wanting to start the process and letting her finish, kind of a thing. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. Jeanne Dillner:                  So, I'm very relational. And so, that's hard because I like interfacing with all the people that report to me, but really there are some things that are better done by someone else. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. It's a good question you asked yourself like, "Am I the right person to be doing this right now?" And I think leaders should ask themselves that question often because you've been promoted or hired for 15,000 feet or 30,000 foot view... Jeanne Dillner:                  Right. Paul Casey:                         Of your team or organization. And not that you're unwilling to make a scan or sling a chair because servant leaders, no job too small. However, the organization only has hired you for a reason. And it's great that if there's other people that love doing the scans can be employed to do that and everybody wins. Jeanne Dillner:                  Yeah. Scan and file it and all those other things. So yes, there's a lot to those little jobs that really, if you can't find that piece of paper again, it can mean hours of work trying to remake it or whatever. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. Well finally, Jeanne, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence? Jeanne Dillner:                  I think new leaders oftentimes become afraid of failure maybe. And so, become micromanagy and they don't even know they're doing it. So, I would think a new leader would want to have someone who's honest with them, that they check in with, just to get honest feedback on how they're doing. And then to also find mentors that they've seen or feel like are good leaders and just spend time with them. One of the things that I realized I haven't done with my other managers, but the new managers I have, I am doing. I call it manager in training and I just let them pick my brain because I don't know what their question are, so. And they don't oftentimes either, so when we talk through how to let go of things, and how to train somebody else to do something, and how to think a little bit bigger than you are right now. So, that I can see that you're ready to take more.                                                 Those types of things that I didn't do with the other managers, probably because 20 years ago, when I was asked to do this position, we were all learning just how to do SIGN, period. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. Jeanne Dillner:                  And so, we're all busy learning together. We didn't have time to do manager in training because this manager was in their own training game, honestly. But yeah, I think that's been healthy for them and it's certainly helped us build a rapport that we might not have had, otherwise in trust that we wouldn't have had. So, I don't know, I guess that's what I [inaudible 00:33:05] of today. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. Putting on that mentor hat and making yourself available, and then the questions. Really in mentoring relationships, I've often found the mentee is in charge of the questions and then the mentor is available and then speaks from their experience. So, it sounds like a pretty good MIT system you got going there, Jeanne. Jeanne Dillner:                  Well, thanks. Because I thought, well, was I supposed to build a curriculum? I wasn't sure what I was doing, but it seems now they're just taking things they have quandaries about and then just talk through them. Paul Casey:                         Yeah. Jeanne Dillner:                  I meet just about every week with each one of, there are three, with each one of them. So, and then I meet with the more mature managers, I meet once a month or so. Paul Casey:                         Well Jeanne, how can our listeners best connect to you and to SIGN? Jeanne Dillner:                  Well, they can learn more about SIGN Fracture Care by going to www.signfracturecare.org. We have a really nice website and it's very informative and there's places to donate if you find that you feel like you want to support our organization. You're welcome to send me an email. I look at that all of the time and my email address is Jeanne, jeanne.dillner@signfracturecare.org. Paul Casey:                         Well thank you for all you do to make Tri-Cities a great place and keep leading well. Jeanne Dillner:                  Thank you, Paul. It's been a pleasure. Paul Casey:                         Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend. And it's a book I just read on vacation called, How to Say Anything to Anyone, by Shari Harley. And there's good stuff in there. And one of them hearkens back to one of Jeanne's last answers, is we need to get more feedback on ourselves from the people around us. So, who do you need to get feedback from today, specifically, on your performance? Because most people won't speak up and share that. So, that was one thing I gleaned from the book and also getting ahead of situations with your expectations right up front, even on a personal level, so people know where you're coming from. So, How to Say Anything to Anyone is a great read. Again, this is Paul Casey, and I want to thank my guest Jeanne Dillner from SIGN Fracture Care for being here today on the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. And we want to thank our TCI sponsor and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible, so that we can collaborate to inspire leaders in our community.                                                 Finally, one more tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence it's by [Deep 00:35:45] Roy, he said, "Inspiration comes from within yourself. One has to be positive. When you're positive, good things happen." Until next time. KGF, keep growing forward. Speaker 1:                           Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams, so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org, for a consultation that could help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Paul would also like to help you restore your sanity, to your crazy schedule and getting your priorities done every day by offering you his free Control My Calendar Checklist. Go to www.takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool, or open a text message to 72000 and type the word, "Growing." Paul Casey:                         The Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast was recorded at fuse SPC, by Bill Wagner of safe strategies.

Paul Casey: John Maxwell's says, "If change doesn't make you uncomfortable, it's not really change." There might be like, baby change. But, when we're talking about change in the seminar, we're talking about, like substantial change for your project, or your team, or an organization. Speaker 2: Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington. It's the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. Welcome to the TCI Podcast, where local leadership and self-leadership expert Paul Casey interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit executives, to hear how they lead themselves and their teams, so we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services, coaching and it could be individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey: It's a great day to grow forward. Thanks for joining me today for our episode with Kyle Cox. Kyle is the Executive Director and Chief Librarian of the Mid-Columbia Libraries. And when I asked something quirky or interesting about Kyle, he told me about Scotland, and that's where he spent some of his childhood, but it made a conflict in his childhood. Kyle, tell us a little bit more. Kyle Cox: Yeah, so I spent a couple years of my childhood in Scotland. Actually, in St. Andrews, Scotland, the home of golf. Paul Casey: Wooh. Kyle Cox: I did got this PhD from St. Andrews. So, I moved from Western Washington as a fairly small child... To Scotland where I was also a fairly small child. But, it was an interesting experience. We were Americans, there were very few Americans in St. Andrews. At that time, you had basically grad students and their families, and Air Force officers and their families that were stationed to the RF base. Kyle Cox: So, there were very many of us. We were reminded constantly that we were Americans in a very negative way. I think, there's a lot of fun in the UK of reminding someone to yank. But, then, we came back from Scotland, I had a very thick Scottish accent. I only need metric because I have been single for so long over there. I even have forgotten some American history and basic American stuff. Kyle Cox: So, everyone, when I came back, including at school, thought I was actually Scottish, no one believed that I was an American. And, for me, as a child, it was a very formative experience because I was a stranger in a strange land. And then, I was a stranger in my own land. Paul Casey: Wow. Kyle Cox: Until, kind of feeling like a stranger in both places, after basically going through acculturation and socialization and Scotland made me, so that I was no longer an American. Paul Casey: Wow. Kyle Cox: But, it really again, formed a lot of my wife experience a kid, good and bad, honestly. Paul Casey: And probably, funded a good therapist for couples. All right. You got to do the accent. You have some to talk about the library on your accent. Kyle Cox: Yeah. And so, I can usually do a pretty good Scottish accent, not always on a command. The town... I don't know if you remember the song, and I would walk 500 miles? Paul Casey: Yeah. Kyle Cox: They lived in Fife, which is where we lived. And the town they lived in was called Otter Box in Scotland. So, Otter Box in Scotland. That's a real word, by the way. But, Scotland and it was very specific and it's a wonderful broke. Watch Outlander, if you want more Scottish accents. I probably am not the greatest at it anymore. Kyle Cox: But, the plus side though, Paul, is I can watch a lot of stuff from the BBC and have no problem understanding what they're saying. And a lot of other people need subtitles. So, I guess that's my expense superpower as a result of living in the US. Paul Casey: All right. Tri-City Influence listeners, if you need a translator, you've got Kyle on your side. Kyle Cox: You can have me translate BBC shows, if you need me. Paul Casey: Awesome. We'll dive in. Let's check in with our Tri-City Influencers sponsor. Take back your weekends and let Senske Services be your green team. Senske Services is a locally owned and operated company founded in 1947, that has been working with families for nearly 75 years to help create and maintain environments that are great places to live, work and play. Paul Casey: They are a family business built on family values. And Senske dedicated to delivering quality and providing exceptional customer service. Senske offers a variety of services including full service lawn care, pest control, tree care and Christmas decor. You may have seen their holiday lights show at the corporate office, it is a must see every year. Paul Casey: Services are backed by the Senske promise, which means the job will be done right or they come back out. To learn more about the services Senske provides and the offers available to you, visit senske.com. Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Paul Casey: So, welcome, Kyle. I was privileged to meet you through Leadership at Tri-Cities which I've been able to save for many of my guests for this podcast over the years because they are the influential people here in Tri-Cities. And you have served on the board, they're even class director and they're excited about being the next class director again, and... Kyle Cox: Yeah. Paul Casey: ... adding value wherever you go. So, let's look at our Tri-City Influencers can get to know you. Tell us a little bit about the libraries, and then a little bit more about what you do for about 80% of your average day. Kyle Cox: Sure. The combi libraries is an inner County Library District. So, we serve Ben Franklin counties. We also serve Adams County. So, we have 12 branches to cross but in Franklin County. The only place we don't have service is City of Richland, which has their own library. But we go from Prosser, the West all the way up to Columbus to the East, which is about halfway to Pullman. Kyle Cox: And then, two branches in candlewick, two branches in Pascoe, serve a lot of people, over a quarter million residents. Actually, are served by MCL. So, what do I do? I'm the Executive Director, the Chief Librarian. Most of what I do every week is coaching people. That's a huge part of my job. We have over 120 employees. Kyle Cox: We have, again, over 12 work sites. We serve a lot of people, different needs. Obviously, it's not just books at the library. We help people in so many different parts of their lives, finding jobs, helping people write resumes, navigating the internet, also checking out lots of books and movies, et cetera. Kyle Cox: But, again, primarily, what I spend most of my time on is coaching people. I have a fantastic team of really good people who know what they're doing, which makes my job easy. But, it's more about coaching. A big part of it is, obviously, resource allocation, monitoring resources, seeing where they're going, are we accomplishing what we're setting out to do. Kyle Cox: And then, I think the third big part of what I spend my time doing is looking for opportunities and threats. I think most really good CEOs are looking at the outside. They're scanning the environment to seeing what's out there in terms of how we could better serve our customers, how we could better serve our region, how we could leverage partnerships, to better serve people, with existing partners, other agencies. Kyle Cox: And then, also, what's coming down the pike, what could threaten us in our ability to fulfill our mission. And so, that means lots of news. I read a lot of news, I'm got to, what, read a lot of trade news, especially. I'm a news junkie. So, I consume a lot of news that like news, past. Obviously, 12 plus months has met a lot of news, just consuming constantly. Kyle Cox: So, again, I would say coaching people, resource allocation, and then constantly scanning for opportunities and threats. That's probably the three most common things I do in my week. Paul Casey: I love how you lead with coaching as number one. Obviously, I'm a coach. And so, that's music to my ears when a leader says that. Coaching, of course, is a style of leadership. Kyle Cox: Yeah. Paul Casey: And I just think it gets the best reception from your team because it's this arm round mentality of, "Hey, let's go towards this goal together." And I love how you lead with that. Why do you love what you do? Kyle Cox: I think at the end of the day, I think you can't love what you do 100% of the time. And it's more about finding the why. And, sometimes, again, everyone, including CEOs and tech breakers, et cetera, have to be reminded there why. One of the things that comes to mind frequently is, I was on the State Library Board for six years. We have meetings all over the state. I went to Seattle and Olympia quite a bit. Kyle Cox: I had a little bit of break time between flights and my meetings. And so, I went to my childhood library in West Seattle that I loved very much. I have very fond memories of. It's a beautiful old Carnegie building. And I had not been there for 20 plus years. And so, I thought, "You know what? I'm going to go to my library after being in hours of library meetings." And I walking into the up, those steps into this very old, beautiful brick building, I was very much overwhelmed by how much I loved being in that space and how many memories I had of learning. Kyle Cox: I am a lifelong learner. I love learning. If I'm not learning, I'm actually not very happy, quite frankly. I know that of myself. And I'm reminded of being a small, again, a small child walking up to what I thought was a huge building, which in retrospect was not that big. But, to me, it was gigantic. And just remembering that I could find anything I ever wanted to learn about or read about or listen to, and that people at the library are not there to tell me what is good or bad, but just to help me find that. Kyle Cox: And, I'll be honest, I was very little overwhelmed by the positive feelings that I had. That reminds me of why I do what I do. In our country, we are privileged... People forget this, we have a right to information in this country. Libraries exist to help people find information to learn, to escape, to enjoy. We don't even care why you're doing it. But, we have an obligation to provide you with that experience. Kyle Cox: Why brace people forget in our country are the most used cultural organizations, in almost every community go to. You don't think about it, because we're quiet. We're not as self-imposing or obvious or loud. If we're doing our job well, you're having a seamless experience. It's positive, you're getting what you need. Kyle Cox: And so, I think, for me, I love what I do, because I can help others feel the way that I felt as a child. And that, I feel whenever I could, walking through the steps, I'm like, "Oh, my gosh, there's literally anything I want to learn about, or I want to read about, or I want to experience." And that makes, I think lives more meaningful, more impacted, more aware of others. Kyle Cox: I think that the more that you learn, the more empathy you build in yourself and towards others. And I think that that's, again, an underlying human need that we have that we frequently overlook, because we're too busy dealing with everything else. Libraries do wonderful things on relatively little money compared to a lot of the other services that we fund to the public sector. But, we do it because we care about others. We care about our community. And, ultimately, we believe that information and knowledge helps make people have a better life and enjoy their lives more. That's why I love what I do. Paul Casey: Makes me want to go to the library right now. Kyle Cox: You should, Paul. Why aren't you at the library right now? And, of course, we have a fantastic... We have Libby... Paul Casey: That's right. Kyle Cox: ... that means so people use digital resources now because of COVID. There was a period where we couldn't even check out anything physically for about five months, it was crazy. But, now, again, we have so many people every single day. I use it, audio books, eBooks, magazines, it's all there, and it's all on your tablet or phone. If it's not checked out, you can get an under 30 seconds, typically. So... Paul Casey: Yeah, tell the listeners about Libby because I know some of our listeners do use Audible or maybe some other pie graph. Kyle Cox: And I do too, I subscribe to Audible. I hope that's okay to say. I know my kids both love audiobooks. And so, and, sometimes, because of how digital publishing works, we can't as a library always get digital materials... Paul Casey: Sure. Kyle Cox: ... for specific imprints like Amazon's, Imprint, doesn't always release or sell to library. Paul Casey: Okay. Kyle Cox: So, there is complications. But, Libby is the app that you can download. What you would do is, if you have an MCL card, you just basically sign in with your card information. The access to our entire collection, which is it's one of the biggest in the state. We started really early back in 2009. That's before most people... And we've just been putting money into it, and resources every single year. Kyle Cox: During COVID, because we were able to be open to the public, we shifted quite a bit of money, almost a quarter million dollars just to the new materials for digital... Paul Casey: Wow. Kyle Cox: ... because the demand was so, so high. So, yeah, demo Libby on your app store, you'll log in with your library account information. And Paul is showing you right now, it's fantastic. But, honestly, the nice thing too is that there's no late fees. We don't have late fees anymore, anyway. But, it will check itself back in, if we even tell you want to renew this, if no one's waiting for it, you can get it renewed, it's a really fast, convenient way of doing it. Kyle Cox: Again, not just eBooks, but also audio books in both English and Spanish. And we're working in other languages, too. We have picture books for kids and early beginning readers really chapter books. And then, a huge magazine collection, which I'm really excited about. Magazines are in that weird period of, are they going to survive or not? Kyle Cox: And because of the digital platform, there's a great way to consume magazines without feeling like you're killing half a forest just to get your magazine fixed in every month. Paul Casey: Man, it's so good, so good. I love how you said leaders are learners. And when we're learning, we're growing. And you have all created the atmosphere of learning there in the library. And it is one of the first things, I think of when I think about where do I go to learn? Where do I go to grow? And that's fantastic. Paul Casey: So, let me go there with you. So, leaders have to have a growth mindset, which you do. And I can't tell you how many of my guests when I asked the very last question of how do you want to gain more influence? They say something along the lines of keep learning, keep growing, keep professionally developing. So, how do you keep evolving as a leader, Kyle? What's in your professional development plan? Kyle Cox: I think part of it is a good indicator if I'm growing is, if I'm uncomfortable. Paul Casey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Kyle Cox: Honestly, I think that we... In our society, our experience is designed to be as comfortable as possible. I think that private sector, public sector, it's trying to be as comfortable as possible. So, what I like to do quite frankly, is again, I consider a lot of news, I read a lot of time looking for new things and thoughts. There's a couple of places I go to for professional's sources, some really good blogs that I really love because they're already kind of a thought leader on that. Kyle Cox: But, what I have found, though, is that for me to evolve, I do need to be a little uncomfortable. I need to have something that challenges me. Sometimes, with app, especially if I become a little too uncomfortable with an idea, I'll have to hit pause, and I need to come back to it. But, I have done enough work on myself that I'm aware of that. Kyle Cox: And for me, it's also figuring out why am I uncomfortable because of this? What about this is making me uncomfortable? Frequently, when someone has a great idea, it's not because they want to make you mad, or alienate you or exclude you. It's because there's a need that you don't fully understand yet. I think that's part of it. It's figuring out, how can I better understand other's needs or where they're coming from? Kyle Cox: And I think as I understand that, more and more, and it's something I'm going to be working on until I die. It helps me grow as a person. Again, I think empathy is so important. It is a trait that we frequently overlook in leadership development. As I've told, a lot of my staff, like some of the stuff that you're working on to be a leader at work is going to make you a better human being, and we are one unit. We are not... I tried doing that. I think, a lot of leaders have tried doing that, where you think, what, this is business mode. This is personal mode. This is parenting mode. We're all the same person. Kyle Cox: And so, as you're working on things, and you're learning about things, and sometimes, confronting things that you don't particularly like, as you work on that, and as you consider it, and as you begin practice those skills, and that awareness over and over again, you're going to be better in general, and you're going to hopefully, improve all parts of your life because you can't be great at one thing, and horrible another because those innate skills are so connected. Kyle Cox: You mentioned coaching. Coaching, again, as I did more and more coaching, I think with my own staff, I saw myself getting more coaching focused with the kids, with my kids a little bit more. And so, it's this idea, I tell this to myself all the time, we are one person. You can't get really good at this one part. I mean, I guess you can, I would not recommend it. Because you're compartmentalizing different parts of your personality, which is not healthy. Kyle Cox: But, again, the more that you engage with all parts of yourself, and build up again, more self-awareness, more empathy, so that you can understand the fact that if I get offended or upset or uncomfortable, where is that coming from? Because typically, it's not the source. The source is not intended to do that to me. Again, it could, chances are it won't. Kyle Cox: And I feel like that's how I grow is by finding a little room for growth. I like being challenged. My wife has said that point blank, if I am bored, I get complacent. And so, I like having a stretch goal because it makes me feel the need to work there. Again, sometimes, I have to hit pause and say, "Okay, you're getting too upset about this, come back to this in 24 hours or come back to this in a week." But, I think it's the quest of self-improvement. Paul Casey: Yeah. Kyle Cox: I think, where you just have to constantly be looking at the fact that, again, not everyone is setting out to make your life harder or to whatever you think, but in the moment, we might feel that way. So, yeah, I hope that answered the question. Paul Casey: Yeah, it's good stuff. It reminds me of the, like the red, yellow and green zones that we can have where green is just, we're in that productivity. It feels really comfortable, almost too easy some complacency sets in. Yellow is that stretch zone that somebody won't call it fun, comfortable, right? It's where you have to... Kyle Cox: Yeah. Paul Casey: ... try to put on a little bit of a smirk, smile and say, "Alright, I'm going to go into this zone where I'm a little uncomfortable, because I know I need to push myself with a challenge. And then, red zone, you don't want to go there because that's the burnout zone where you just... Kyle Cox: Exactly. Paul Casey: ... out or freak out, and go into a panic attack. So, we just need more yellow zone in our life. And it sounds like you like to go there. Kyle Cox: I do. I do. The challenge, though, is that when you've been in yellow and red zones a lot, sometimes, you don't always recognize that a green zone is a good place to be too. Paul Casey: Yeah. Kyle Cox: I think that's the other piece too, is that, again, there's this... We're socialized over our entire lives as to what a leader or a boss or whatever you want to call is. And I think part of that for, especially in your 20s is, you're busy. You're constantly busy. But if I'm busy, I'm productive. If I busy, I'm impactful. If I'm busy, you know what I mean? It's this whole idea that I have to constantly be in yellow right up to the edge of red as much as possible to be like this, on the move, impactful leader. And I think that we also have to make time to enjoy the green zones that we have. Paul Casey: Yeah. Kyle Cox: I think frequently, we undervalue the green zones during times that we have because I think that's how you help feed your own individual needs is that, it doesn't have to be yellow all the time. It doesn't have to be bright orange, whatever color you want to use. But, I think, that's also that means stepping back and learning about yourself, and what your own needs are. And in addition to the needs of your team, just being able to say, sometimes, it's good to have green. Paul Casey: Yeah. Kyle Cox: And, sometimes, it's not always a negative to be able to have time where you can breed, where you cannot feel like you're constantly stretching or pulling or pushing yourself or others or a project. Paul Casey: Yeah, that's good because... And if you're listening, and you're an achiever, you totally know what Kyle's talking about because it's always like continuous improvement, on to the next thing, push, push, push. And the green zone can both be a strength zone, or it could be a recovery zone... Kyle Cox: Exactly. Paul Casey: ... or just pull back, and then get out of overdrive for a while, just stay in drive. And now, let's go to a break. And when we come back, I'm sure the green zone is also helpful for your mental and emotional wellness. Kyle Cox: Yeah. Paul Casey: So, I'm going to ask you about that in just a moment. But, first, a shout out to our sponsor. Are you dreaming of a lush, weed free lawn? Have you heard what your neighbors are saying about their Senske lawn? A lush, weed free lawn in within your reach. Don't just take it from us. Listen to what people in your community are saying about Senske Services. Paul Casey: Lavanda L. of Kennewick said, "I've been a customer for several years, and I can depend on Senske to take good care of my lawn. I always get a call before each treatment and a detailed report after." Mildred W. of Kennewick said, "The workers are always willing to satisfy the customers. And that says a lot. Thank you for everything." Paul Casey: Senske Services is a locally-owned and operated company that has been in the business of lawn and tree care for nearly 75 years. This means nobody knows green lawns like Senske. Let Senske help you achieve the lawn of your dreams by visiting senske.com today to learn more. Paul Casey: So, Kyle, to avoid burnout negativity, we probably do need to go into green zone, how do you feed your mental and emotional health and wellness on a regular basis? Kyle Cox: That's a good question. It's something that I struggle with, I think. I think that... I don't want to say it's the why of productivity because that's a little too strong of a word. But, I think it's making time for self-care and space. It's making time for green zones. I worked with an executive coach for many years. I had a great experience with them. And part of it was making sure that you create a great sense because I was so used to being in yellow. It was being able to say,"You know what? I don't need to be running five things right now. I don't want to be on five boards." There was a point where I was on six boards. Paul Casey: Oh, my goodness. Kyle Cox: I'm on one board right now. And, and that feels good. I think for me, it's being able to say and prioritize, tonight, we can stay in, or being kind with yourself. I think, it's something that leaders need to do a better job with, is learning to be kind to yourself, because as you, again, depending on your life experience that can be difficult because of standards that you set for yourself or perceptions that you worry about. Learning to be kinder to yourself means that you have more capacity to be kinder to others. Paul Casey: Oh, it's good. Kyle Cox: And I think that it's something I'm going to be working on again, the rest of my life is trying to be kinder to myself. A lot of leaders, I think set really unrealistic expectations or overly stringent expectations of what we think we should be able to do. Knowing all the things that we know that others don't know that are going on in our head in our life experience. Kyle Cox: And so, I think those lily pads or green zones that you get to hop to is where you get to say, "You know what? I am really burned out right now on this." And being honest, in terms of, is there something else I could work on? Is there another project that's actually more impactful? Or could have more potential to be impactful? You know, what does that look like? Kyle Cox: But, again, that comes back to self-awareness and being able to say pause, I'm not reacting. I am proactive, you know what I mean? I'm being proactive in terms... And intentional with how I spend my time and energy and effort. Paul Casey: Yeah. Kyle Cox: And that takes a lot of work. It's something, again, I've got to worry about the rest of my life. And I know that. Paul Casey: Yeah, what I like about that is what you said about when you set realistic expectations for yourself, when you're kind to yourself, when you forgive yourself, then you expand that capacity to do that with your team, and all those around you because no one wants to live under a workaholic, slave driver, as a boss, who's always pushing themselves so much the extreme that you feel like you've got to push to the extreme too. Kyle Cox: Yeah. Paul Casey: So, being under a leader that is intentional about their own self-care really feels like an, "Ahhh." Like, okay, my leader gets work life balance or whatever we want to call that. Good stuff. So, it's easy to get trapped in reacting to crises in a leadership where you feel like you're just putting out fires all day. And as leaders, we have to put out our fires here and there. But, how do you, Kyle, specifically step back and take a look at the bigger picture? Kyle Cox: I think part of it is checking in with your team. I think just hearing where they're coming from too because whether it's a fire or a crisis or emergency, how you perceive it might be very different than your team perceives it. And, just being very aware of that, I think that when I was younger, and cutting my teeth, although I'm still cutting my teeth as a leader. I think, I had a tendency to be more disclosing in terms of... This is everything I know. Kyle Cox: And I think that as I've gotten more seasoned to this, and gain more and more years of this, I have a little more judicious in terms of, "Okay, this is where we're at." And I think part of it is being able to hit pause and say, "Okay, what do we need to know? What's coming down the pike?" So, that when we create space to have conversations about what to do, it doesn't feel so urgent, or this is where I'm already going. Kyle Cox: I think, sometimes in crises, you have staff that want you to be directive, and they want you to say, "This is what we're going to do," because depending on the level of crisis, or emergency. And, sometimes, you have to do that. You also hopefully, have built competency in relationship with your staff so that they trust you and understand that if you're recommending something, or if you're directing them to do something, it's based on X, Y, or Z. And it's because that relationship in that experience. Kyle Cox: I think, for me, it's just again, being self-aware. And sometimes, checking in with my wife. We're working at home during COVID that was really helpful, just to get an unbiased third party, that's the benefit of working with a coach, I can say that, is that you get to have people that you trust that are not part of your core kind of nest at work. Kyle Cox: It's also just kind of, for me, I'm a learner, I like data, I'm a planner. I think, at any given planner out of necessity. But, I like planning. And I think for me, it's about the scanning, what do we know what's coming down the pike through a COVID? I would call and I would talk to the Health District and the Governor's office. Even if it wasn't, because I was going to get information, so that I knew, and I could... Again, share with my staff, "Hey, this is what's coming down the pike. And this is what we can expect." Paul Casey: Yeah. Kyle Cox: I mean, in a lot of ways, it's about shepherding and guiding in terms of the more that I know the terrain, the more that I can help us get to where we need to go. Paul Casey: Yeah. Kyle Cox: With the least amount of harm or danger. I told that to some younger leaders in the past is that, sometimes, you don't get to make the best decision. You don't get to make a perfect decision. Sometimes, it is, how can I do the least harm out of this situation. Again, hopefully, you're not doing that very often. But, again, that takes experience that takes being... Working with your team, and navigating these kinds of experiences. Kyle Cox: It also means, I think, giving some room for people. Not everyone's going to get the information initially. You're going to have to repeat it. You're going to have to talk about it. You're going to have to reiterate it. And you can have... That's been my experience with COVID is that, be prepared for talking, be prepared for conversation, be prepared for lessons learned and changing with your team. Paul Casey: Yeah. Kyle Cox: People refer to talk about it. You know what I mean? Paul Casey: Right. Yeah, you said a few great things. There are some gems that create relationships with your team, because it's hard for someone to follow a leader they don't completely trust. So, those relationships, when crises come are it's forged before that. Not during the crisis, usually, it's before that. You can spend some capital then, I guess. Paul Casey: But, during the crisis, then you said create space, space for the opportunities coming down the pike, create space for reiteration of a message, create space for those conversations. And then, he said, create that self-awareness of where am I at right now, so that I'm not reacting in crisis, people are start looking to me to be the rock and leadership. And so, I need to make sure that I'm taking good care of myself. So, a lot of good stuff there. Kyle Cox: Yeah. Paul Casey: All those are intentional leadership behaviors, none of them are urgent in the moment, right? They're quadrant too in the old covey model of not urgent, but boy... Kyle Cox: Yeah. Paul Casey: ... when you need to call on that moments, if you've built that quadrant too intentionality, it'll come through for you. So, one of the most difficult tasks that a leader as you know, Kyle, is having the difficult conversation, right? Kyle Cox: Yeah. Paul Casey: I think, every leader has these moments where they have to confront a team member. How do you bolster the courage to do that? Kyle Cox: Practice. I think, when I've had to have difficult conversations, and I've had to have multiple difficult conversations, it's practicing. Again, sometimes, it's a script. It's making sure that you know what needs to be communicated. It also depends again, on the dynamic, if you're working in a union environment or other kinds of environments. There's also mechanics associated with that. Kyle Cox: One of the things that I worked on with my coach was realization, I should say. I've talked about this with my wife, I said, "If I care about someone, I have a hard time giving critical feedback." It's something that I have been aware of, again, it's a huge... It can hamper your ability to effectively have difficult conversations. If you're worried about, I'm going to hurt their feelings, or I don't want to hurt their feelings. Kyle Cox: So, it's something I worked on with my coach quite a bit was this idea of thinking about issues as a specific thing. Again, there's a lot of strategies to do this really well. But, I think just being very mindful of what I'm talking about, where I'm coming from, why it's relevant. Again, if you're having regular conversations, you shouldn't be having this many difficult conversations. Paul Casey: Right. Kyle Cox: I think that's the other piece too is that having regular check-ins and feedback as much as possible, which I acknowledge has been difficult with COVID, especially, is that you're losing some of that. I would say, positive interaction that isn't an issue or a crisis, or something that's what you would consider critical or corrective feedback. Kyle Cox: Having that dialogue going, I think, it really helps with that. At the library, when we were still shut down, we were having... Our exec teams having twice a week meetings, just to check in, because we didn't see each other at the office. And it was just as much to be seen and communicate with each other as it was to convey information and give updates. Kyle Cox: I think the more that you... It's also okay to say this is difficult. I think as a leader, we forget the fact that we can own our own emotions and say, "This is difficult for me." And you will even say why, if you really want to, but owning the fact that you as a human have emotions and feelings. And, sometimes, they're irrational. And, sometimes, they are contradictory. And, sometimes, they're involving things that your staff don't even understand or fully grasp because you haven't shared that with them, or et cetera. And so, I think I'm just taking stock of that fact, I write out, always write out when you need to get out. Paul Casey: Yeah. Kyle Cox: Practice it, review it, because in a lot of those conversations, I mean, there's a couple of different ways those conversations can go. But, just being able to be on point in terms of, this is the stuff I got to get out. I think that really helps. And then, again, own your perspective, own your emotions. If something is disappointing to you, you can say, I disappointed for blank, provide evidence as do that, you know what I mean? Paul Casey: Yeah. Kyle Cox: I think that we get so caught up in the critical feedback piece that we can get. It's hard to get you to unwrap yourself when you get so wrapped up in this. Paul Casey: Yup. Kyle Cox: Am I going to hurt their feelings? Am I going to be seen as blank, too mean, too harsh, too critical? Paul Casey: Yeah, I like how you said the regular stream of feedback is probably going to lessen the need for too much or too big of critical feedback, because you're... There's also... Kyle Cox: Yeah. Paul Casey: Those where... I'm keeping in touch with my team so well, that a lot of time hasn't gone by or something has blown up in between. So, that one, I've seen your script because I've had the privilege of working with your organization, and you're very thorough in your script for a critical conversation. I think that is excellent because if emotions do stir up and they will, you could squirrel away and ramble, and then put your foot in your mouth and not get to the outcome that you're trying to get in this moment. And so, I love how thorough you are in preparing for those conversations, good stuff. Kyle Cox: I think part of it, Paul, is it's... I don't want to fix the situation, I want to make it better. I think that's the difference is... Paul Casey: Yeah. Kyle Cox: ... if you want to make it better, because it's not just about interventional feedback, where I'm going to have an intervention because I need to change this. I think part of that is being able to step back and also say, "Hey, if we can work on these interrelated issues, too, we can make the whole thing better. And I think that's usually... It takes a lot more work. It takes a lot more time. But, if you can do that, I think you can get a better result. Kyle Cox: It also shows that you're investing in the person. It's not just about, I want you to fix this. It's that, I care about you as a human being. I trust in you, you're a good valued member of my team, let's work on these things because this will make you better and I'll make you a better team player. Kyle Cox: But, you have to invest in your staff as much as you can, and it's something that's tough because you think about trainings with dollars and cents and like per diem and all these things. But, it's also, okay, how can we support people as much as possible? Paul Casey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah, I heard it once that it's care fronting not confronting. You're having this conversation out of care. And you're even... I think, you alluded to it in there is, there could be some organizational dynamics that is hurting this employee's performance. And we're just going to be honest about that, too. We're not here to bang them over the head, we're investing in them in their future. So, that's some of the best answers I've heard on this podcast. So, way to go, Kyle. Kyle Cox: Oh, good. That's good. Paul Casey: I hope that was helpful to our listeners. Kyle Cox: Yeah. Paul Casey: Finally, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence? Kyle Cox: I would say, your goal should not be to gain influence. I would say, that's not my goal. It's to make things better. Paul Casey: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Kyle Cox: You said, "How you gain more influence?" I would actually say, if that's your objective, you need to take stock of your priorities, quite frankly. It should not be about... I mean, I'm thinking about the Otters, the high [inaudible 00:36:02] disc of really influence. Paul Casey: Yes. Kyle Cox: And, at different times in my life, I've displayed more of those traits. But, I think for me, it'd be take time to learn, Leadership Tri-Cities is a fantastic program. One of the great things that happens with Leadership Tri-Cities is that, you get a basically, a scan of the terrain, the scan of a region, you get to look at all the different sectors that serve our community, and you get to see the challenges and the obstacles. And, also, the opportunities that we all face as we serve our community. Kyle Cox: And so, I would say, as a leader, we have a tendency to think or want to think. I know what I'm doing, I am comfortable in my own skin, I can lead the charge of San Juan Hill, like Teddy Roosevelt. And I think that that's a very two-dimensional view of what leadership is. I think leadership is so many things combined, part of it is interpersonal skills. It is the ability to communicate. It's the ability to communicate verbally and non-verbally. Kyle Cox: But, I think so much of it is, is also allowing yourself time to learn from others, allowing yourself time in learning. They realize, you don't have to act all the time. You don't have to lead the charge all the time. Also, take stock of the fact that that San Juan Hill to use this metaphor might not be worth hurting up. It's just a matter of just taking stock of what you care about personally, and figure out how you can translate that into how you can take. Kyle Cox: You can basically, I'm trying to say it right. You can operationalize what you care about personally, and your professional behavior. And you can say this is how I can make things better. Again, I love learning. If I'm not learning, I'm not happy. It's a good thing I'm a librarian, because I think I'd be really unhappy if I wasn't in a learning profession. Kyle Cox: For me, again, it's figuring out how you can learn. I would say that, how can I learn about something? I don't know. How can I learn about people? I don't understand or know. How can I figure out the obstacles that people are facing and how can I help plug into that if I want to do that. It's just about learning. It's about having a growth mindset. Kyle Cox: If you want to be a good leader, you cannot have a fixed mindset that does not work. Those are two totally different things. You've got to be willing to learn and I think part of that is also being willing to be in situations where you are a little uncomfortable, where everyone might not agree with you. And being able to step back and say, "What can I learn from this? How can I learn from this? What can I do? Is this actually a place for me too?" Kyle Cox: Being honest is that, not every place is a place for you as a leader. And just being aware of mindful of that. Again, hopefully, surrounding yourself with people who care about things. I think passion is really important. Paul Casey: Yeah. Kyle Cox: For me, that's always a challenge is, if I'm not excited about it, it makes my life a whole lot harder. But, if I'm excited about it, I will give it 110% because I want to succeed. So, I'd say, learning about yourself, get as much self-awareness as humanly possible. Paul Casey: Yes. Kyle Cox: Work on yourself, work with a coach. I think that's a great way to develop as a leader. Look for organizations like Leadership Tri-Cities, which can help you expand your knowledge base and your experience base. Be kind to yourself. And then, again, all those things contribute to a growth mindset. And not even a growth mindset, a growth life. Paul Casey: Yeah. Kyle Cox: It's a lot easier to help others to grow if you're growing yourself. Paul Casey: That's so true. Yep, yep, have those leader, have those learner glasses on all the time. If I could sum up that last paragraph, that's what it would be both yourself, others, the situation, your team, all around. Great stuff. So, Kyle, how can listeners contact you if they wanted to connect with you? Kyle Cox: So, I mean, the easiest way would be through the library. Again, if you go to the library website, midcolumbianlibraries.org, you can get a hold of me that way. I'm also the one board, I'm on right now is Leadership Tri-Cities. I'm the class director for Class 26, which will be happening in 2022 at this point, but I'm involved with that. Kyle Cox: I'm happy to talk with listeners, if you want more information, although I would fully acknowledge they might know more about it than I do, so. Or, if you want access to great books, movies, materials, articles, et cetera, you can always take advantage of your local library and Mid-Columbian Libraries. Yeah. Paul Casey: You're here. Awesome. Kyle Cox: Keep reading, keep reading, keep learning. Honestly, this life is so complex. And I think to be a leader, you have to be living it. And you've got to figure out what that looks like from you because what it looks like for me, and you, Paul, it's different than what it is for anyone listening right now. Paul Casey: That's true. Kyle Cox: And there's a lot of opportunities to contribute and to give, and to support. And, find where you fits. And that means, trial and error. Paul Casey: It does. Kyle, thanks again for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a great place. And keep reading well. Kyle Cox: Thank you. Yes, keep reading, keep living. Thanks, Paul. Paul Casey: Let me wrap up our podcast today with the leadership resource to recommend. It's called Vidyard, V-I-D-Y-A-R-D, Vidyard. I stumbled upon through a recommendations where you can send video messages, you can attach them to an email and instead of just emailing somebody, you can just talk to them. They open up the attachment and there you are saying, "Hello, you can be..." If it's a potential client, you can introduce yourself. If it's a thank you, you can be super personal from your heart. And now, they can hear your tone of voice where they can't just in a plastic email. Paul Casey: So, check out Vidyard. They've got a free membership, and there's also a paid membership that can put some bells and whistles with it. But, it's just a way to be more personal in your email by doing it by video. Again, this is Paul Casey, I want to thank my guests Kyle Cox from Mid-Columbia Libraries for being here today on the Tri-City Influencer Podcast. Paul Casey: And we want to thank our TCI sponsor and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible, so that we can collaborate to inspire leaders in our community. Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence. Max Dupree says, "The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say, thank you, and in between the leader is a servant." Until next time, KGF, keep growing forward. Speaker 2: Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams, so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. Speaker 2: If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org for a consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Speaker 2: Paul would also like to help you restore your sanity to your crazy schedule and getting your priorities done every day by offering you his free control my calendar checklist. Go to www.takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool or open a text message to 72000 and type the word growing. Paul Casey: The Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast was recorded at Fuse, SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.  

On today's episode of Resourceful Agent Radio Show We have our guest, Paul Casey.Originally from Chicago, Paul has now been a professional speaker for over 24 years (now giving over 65 presentations per year), and he is one of the leading authorities in leadership and personal growth—especially time management—helping people take back their calendars and restore sanity to their lives. He has spoken for organizations like McDonalds, Subway, Lamb Weston, Northwest Public Power, and Autozone—and among others, he coaches 25 leaders at Pacific NW National Laboratories and 8 leaders at Columbia Basin College.Through his company, Growing Forward Services, Paul has partnered with his corporate and individual clients to transform their vision, their habits, and their lives.Paul has written 4 books: The Static Cling Principle (on habits and mindsets), Maximizing Every Minute (on time management), Leading the Team You've Always Wanted, and Leading with Super-Vision. And he interviews local leaders in his podcast: the Tri-Cities Influencer.Paul CaseySocial Media:https://www.paulcasey.org/https://www.facebook.com/GrowingForwardServiceshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/pauldcasey/https://www.instagram.com/growingforwardservices/https://twitter.com/growingfwdhttps://www.youtube.com/c/PaulCaseygrowingfwdhttps://www.pinterest.com/paulcasey7/-I really enjoy hearing what you guys think of these videos, please take a second to say "Hi" in the comments and let me know what you think of the video....Also if you enjoy these videos and my channel it would mean a lot to me if you subscribed :)_ Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/resourcefulagent/Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/resourcefulagentTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@resourcefulagent?lang=enLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-silvius-091aa7190/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSPNiepOCE1VpCRY1v5Pdtw #resourcefulagent #resourcefulagentradioshow #realestate #AndySilvius #AskResourcefulagent #localbusiness #wealth #entrepreneurs #entrepreneur #podcast #interview #businessstrategy #comfortzone #onward #persistence #mindset #wealthbuilder #selfhelp #personaldevelopment #onlineradio #financialadvise #helpingothers #NorthIdaho #cdaidaho #coeurdalene #investing #potential#coach #selfaware #timemanagement 

Originally from Chicago, Paul has now been a professional speaker for over 25 years (giving almost 300 presentations in the past 4 years), and he is one of the leading authorities in leadership and personal growth—especially time management—helping people take back their calendars and restore sanity to their lives. He has spoken for organizations like McDonalds, Subway, Lamb Weston, Northwest Public Power, and Autozone—and among the 80 leaders he coaches per year, 25 of them lead at Pacific NW National Laboratories. Paul has a Master's degree in education, and has been an educator/administrator/Chief Operating Officer in 5 non-profit organizations. He is an ACC-certified coach with the International Coaching Federation, a Master Trainer, and is a member of the National Speakers Association. He was awarded Solopreneur of the Year by the West Richland Chamber a few years ago.Through his company, Growing Forward Services, Paul has partnered with his corporate and individual clients to transform their vision, their habits, and their lives. Currently, Paul carries out his mission of sparking breakthrough success by contributing daily inspirational growth messages on local radio, other people's podcasts, and via social media. Also, he has inspired thousands of individuals and leaders to grow forward through his seminars, team-building off-site retreats, one-to-one self-leadership coaching, and as a keynote speaker. Paul has written 4 books: The Static Cling Principle (on habits and mindsets), Maximizing Every Minute (on time management), Leading the Team You've Always Wanted, and Leading with Super-Vision. And he interviews local leaders in his podcast: the Tri-Cities Influencer. Paul is married to Lovely Laura, has a 23- and an 18-year old named after state capitals, owns a cat named Sasha, and has lived in the Tri-Cities, WA, for over 20 years. For fun, he enjoys golfing, hiking, and bicycling—and orange slices—and he reads about 40 books per year. www.paulcasey.orgwww.takebackmycalendar.comhttps://www.facebook.com/GrowingForwardServiceshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/pauldcasey/https://www.instagram.com/growingforwardservices/

Bill Wagner: Eleanor Roosevelt said, "Great minds talk about ideas. Average minds talk about events. Small minds talk about people." Be a great mind. I am Bill Wagner and I am a Tri-Cities influencer. Paul Casey: We use I messages, not you messages. But a you message, again, puts us on the defensive. And someone that's already aggressive, oh boy, that's just like bringing gasoline to the fire. It's going to make it a whole lot worse. Speaker 3: Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington, it's the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. Welcome to the TCI Podcast, where local leadership and self-leadership expert Paul Casey interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit executives. Hear how they lead themselves and their teams so we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services, coaching and equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey: It's a great day to grow forward. Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Madeline Carter. She's the morning news anchor at NBC Right Now. And fun fact about Madeline, she says she's an old soul and gets teased for it all the time. Madeline, tell us more about that. Madeline Carter: Oh, Paul, I belong in the 1950s. I have said this since I was probably about 16, which is a little strange. My mom teases me all the time about how I have an old soul. I'm a homebody. I'd rather be at home, sipping my glass of tea, listening to Frank Sinatra. So that is me in a nutshell. Paul Casey: That's awesome. And we're going to dive in after checking in with our Tri-City Influencer sponsor. Mario Martinez, Northwestern Mutual. Mario, what types of services do you offer? Mario Martinez: Hey, Paul. Thank you for letting me be on here. We run bifurcated practices in that we focus on two areas of a financial plan. The first one is we do protection pieces, which include life insurance, disability insurance, long-term care insurance. Really, the things that people should be focused on to protect their families, their businesses. And on the other side of our practices, we do investment services. And on the investment platforms, we do both the brokerage platform and we do the advisory level services. So depending on what someone's looking for as far as guidance on their investment strategies, we can curtail and build a strategy for them that makes sense. Paul Casey: Mario, how can people get in touch with you? Mario Martinez: The easiest way, you can reach out to me directly on my business cell phone. It's 509-591-5301. You can send me an email at Mario.Martinez@NM.com, or you can reach out to us on our social media platforms, the easiest one being, excuse me, Mario Martinez Northwestern Mutual on Facebook. Paul Casey: Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Well, Madeline, it was great to meet you earlier this year, or was it last year? Madeline Carter: No, funny story, Paul- Paul Casey: It was the first of the year, wasn't it? Madeline Carter: We met the first week of January when 2020 still looked promising. Paul Casey: That's right. [crosstalk 00:03:15]- Madeline Carter: And we talked about New Year's resolutions. Paul Casey: We did. Madeline Carter: I think we need to redo this in 2021. Paul Casey: I think we probably should. It was snowing that day. Of course, when you bring in your guest it's like bunch early in the morning, and- Madeline Carter: Oh yeah. Paul Casey: And- Madeline Carter: Like 6:00 AM? Mm-hmm (affirmative). Paul Casey: ... that is funny. We've done a couple other recordings since then with Madeline Motivates. Madeline Carter: Madeline Motivates, yes. Paul Casey: Which I just love that, and I love all the people you're bringing on the show. Madeline Carter: Yeah, thank you. Paul Casey: So, yeah, it's been a great year of trying to put positive stuff in front of people in a negative year. Madeline Carter: Right. I mean, you were actually the very first guest of that segment. And for those who don't know, I created this segment, Madeline Motivates, because I've always been a big champion of motivation and encouragement. I always try to encourage people in any way I can, whether it's words or actions. And so I wanted to create this segment to try to uplift people. And it turns out you were the first episode in January. Two months later, I had no idea that we were going to be going through one of the most trying times that I think I've been through in my entire life. And I was just talking to someone that I work with about how relevant that segment became, and how useful, and the ideas. I mean, I didn't have to think too hard to come up with ideas for a weekly segment, because, I mean, what we're going through, it just warrants itself to needing motivation. Paul Casey: Absolutely. Well, so our Tri-City influencers can get to know you, take us through a couple career highlights that have led to your current position and just why you love what you do. Madeline Carter: I really do love what I do. And the interesting thing is this is actually my first stop in my career. Paul Casey: First stop, yeah. Madeline Carter: First stop out of college. So I don't have too much of a career history yet, but I will tell you how I got into broadcasting. It all started, I actually started university for the performing arts and felt a calling in the direction of broadcasting based on people I was meeting and a class that I took. I had took a class in radio production my junior year in college, not until halfway through. And I still remember the first time that I got to do the newscast on the radio. I went up to the studio, and I don't even think I wrote the news at the time, I just printed it off the computer. And I sat down in that chair behind the mic and just got chills. It was like, I don't know, a calling type of a moment. I sat down and it just felt right. And I read the news, and they ended up letting me do it once a week, and then I eventually started working at my college radio station as the news director and a radio DJ, which is a lot of fun. Madeline Carter: And ultimately, that was when my career really took off in terms of connections. Everything that I was doing seemingly led to the next thing. So, for example, I was doing the radio news one day when I got a call from my best friend's dad, who happened to be the morning radio guy in my hometown, and he asked me if I wanted an internship. And so he had just heard the newscast. And so connections like that just started to kick off. And ultimately, it led to an internship at the hometown TV station that I absolutely love, still love to this day, Fox 8 News in Cleveland, Ohio. That internship is where I gained the bulk of my experience and made connections that I think helped me get to where I am today, so I'm just grateful for that. Paul Casey: That is very cool. [inaudible 00:06:37] I think feeling the chills when you sat down in the chair. I tear up when I'm in the zone, when I'm- Madeline Carter: Oh yeah. Paul Casey: ... filing quotes for professional growth or putting together a seminar to deliver. I think our bodies even respond in a way to say, "This is what you were created to do." Madeline Carter: Yes. I'm actually having a flashback moment. I was just talking to our news director about career trajectory and where I want to be in the future, and I had tears well up in my eyes while we were having that conversation. And I said to her, I said, "Is this normal? Have you ever felt this way?" And she just said, "That's when you know you're doing the right thing." Paul Casey: What's great about internships? So you had that opportunity that really was a springboard for you into your career. I've heard of internships out at PN&L here locally, and maybe in some of the trades. If someone was thinking about just starting out, what would you recommend about internships? Madeline Carter: I'm a huge advocate for doing internships. I think it's one thing you can learn as much as you can in school and get a great education, but to get that experience in the field and to be with people that do it for a living, that, to me, was eye-opening. I went to a school that actually didn't have a running daily newscast, so that was my first experience seeing how the real world works in news. And I think getting that hands-on experience is crucial. Madeline Carter: But the thing with internships is I learned very quickly in both of the ones that I did in college that it is what you make it. I could very easily have sat there behind what they call the assignment desk and taken phone calls all day, maybe get some coffee for the news anchors. Or I could have put my best foot forward and tried to get as much experience as possible within those three or four months that I was there. And every single day, I worked hard to get to try new things and to help out in different areas where I knew I could grow. So I think if you're going to take an internship, really, don't take it lightly, because those connections, you never know where that might lead one day. Paul Casey: That's a great concept in general. It is what you make it, right? When I take people on a retreat for their company, I'll say that at the beginning. "What you put into this is what we're going to get out of this, as a retreat." Madeline Carter: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Paul Casey: It's the same with your professional development, your own personal growth, and every day you go to work. It is what you make it, so I love that advice. Madeline Carter: Yeah, it matters. And I think you make an impression, too. One of the news anchors at the Cleveland station who I looked up to most, she's one of my role models, she actually, it turns out she wrote the recommendation letter for me to get the job I have today. So that just shows how it matters, the fact that she was willing to take time out of her busy schedule to write that is probably because I worked hard and made sure to befriend her in the process. Paul Casey: Yeah, hear, hear. There's probably a resource on how to write a good recommendation letter, but those things matter. Madeline Carter: Yeah, they do. Paul Casey: [crosstalk 00:09:33] writing that for people, and whether it's a LinkedIn recommendation, which I know I want to do more of that for others, or helping people out when they go to interview for a job, those recommendation letters are really powerful. So, what helped you make the decision about jumping to this community here in the Tri-Cities? Take us to that moment where you made the decision to come here and, yeah, tell us about that. Madeline Carter: Again, I know I mentioned it's a calling for me to be in the world of broadcasting, and I knew from the moment I first spoke to the recruiter for my station that I wanted to work here in the Tri-Cities. I think it was culture, really, that stood out to me with the company that I work for. Madeline Carter: Kind of a crazy situation with how I got this job. I posted ... For news, oftentimes for on-air positions, you have to make a sort of reel or audition tape, as I like to call it. And so someone from our station actually found my video on YouTube. I was living in Ohio at the time, more than 2,000 miles away. I have no idea. Maybe what I tagged the video as, he found it and gave me a call and an email. And for me, it just seemed right from the beginning. I could tell that he was invested in me as a person and not just filling that next position that they needed to. And also, I asked him a lot about the Tri-Cities community. I said, "What's it like there? What are people like? Is it a close knit community? How do people treat each other? What's it like in the daily life in the Tri-Cities?" And everything I heard was impressive, and it reminded me of where I grew up. Smaller town vibes, everyone caring about each other, and I really feel that here still to this day. Paul Casey: Those are great questions that you asked. I mean, those are very specific questions about- Madeline Carter: Well, yeah, the culture matters. Paul Casey: ... the culture. Madeline Carter: It does matter. And ultimately, I did have another opportunity I could have pursued, but the other part of this is I can't really explain, I just felt called to come here. I was having dreams about working here, and I would see myself behind the news desk, and it was kind of interesting. Paul Casey: Wow. Madeline Carter: It was almost like I visualized it before it happened. Paul Casey: That sounds like a confirmation to me. Madeline Carter: I know. Paul Casey: We're glad to have you here. Madeline Carter: Thank you. Paul Casey: So, what advice would you give to listeners when they reach a crossroads, when they have a decision like that? I mean, I'm almost already foretelling that you're going to say something about intuition, because you felt that calling inside of you to come here, but just in general, what would you say? I've got a decision point, I'm at a crossroads, how do I know which way to go? Madeline Carter: Yes. Ultimately, it did, for me, come down to intuition or your gut or whatever you like to call it. But I do a lot of research, as well. For example, if you're choosing between two jobs and you're having a tough time making that decision, what I do, personally, what works for me is evaluating my options. So whether that's writing down the pros and cons of each, taking a look at what you've written. One thing that my dad taught me to do was after the interview, make a journal entry and write exactly how you feel. And when I went back and looked at what I had written, it was clear to me ... The pros and cons are there, but then ultimately, you kind of got to go with your heart, your gut. And just know that where you ultimately go, I think that it's on the path of where you should be going and it's going to mold you one way or another, whether it's a positive or a negative experience. So you can do your research, and then ultimately, you got to go with your gut. Paul Casey: Yep. Yep. And the pros and cons activity, it's tried and true. It seems so simple, and yet it really helps you, by putting it on paper, to filter your thoughts for making- Madeline Carter: Yes. Paul Casey: ... a big decision. So what's most rewarding for you in your job? And how do you stay focused on that? Because I'm sure there's hassles and disappointments and technical difficulties and all that kind of stuff. Madeline Carter: The most rewarding part of my job in news is the chance to bring light into someone's day. That's the beauty of a morning newscast, I think. We've got a great mix of news, entertainment, fun. Just giving you a reason to wake up and get out of bed in the morning. That, to me, is what drives me. The chance to be a friend to someone who maybe doesn't have one, someone who right now is struggling to just find their reason, their why. Just look to be a light to someone, and that's really what keeps me grounded. And also the chance to tell stories that shape our community. And whether they're good or bad, it's where we live, and you need to know what's going on. And those stories, I really think they truly matter. Madeline Carter: But, yes, you're right, life can get kind of crazy, especially in a very public type of a position. A lot of times, I'll find myself ... There are a lot of demands on my time, and a lot of people to respond to in so many different formats, whether it's viewers or managers, bosses. So those are the times when it can get a bit stressful for me, the time management aspect. But what really grounds me is when I speak to someone in our community, whether it's a guest that I'm interviewing or I'm doing an interview for a story that I'm working on, hearing people's stories reminds me why it's so important to share those with the people where we live. Paul Casey: I love how you said you just want to be a light, and in the morning probably people are comforted by your happy face when they turn on their TV in the morning, right? Madeline Carter: I hope so! Paul Casey: Because you're that consistent first greeting of the day, even maybe before the rest of their family wakes up, because you're on very early. Madeline Carter: Exactly. Paul Casey: So they've come to make you a part of their life, in a way, by choosing media- Madeline Carter: I mean, they have me in their living room. Paul Casey: Right? That's right. Madeline Carter: We have coffee in the living room. Paul Casey: That's an honor, isn't it? Madeline Carter: It is. It really is. Paul Casey: And a responsibility- Madeline Carter: Absolutely. Paul Casey: ... to be a light. I mean, if you were sort of an Eeyore to start the day off- Madeline Carter: "Morning. Here's your news." Yeah. Paul Casey: Yeah, that's right. That would start the day off pretty poorly. Well, leaders and influencers must keep growing or they become irrelevant. So, how have you matured in your professional growth, your personal growth, in recent years? Madeline Carter: I'm certainly still in the growth process, but for the past few years, I would say the past three years, I have studied character based leadership, and in a different context outside of broadcasting. But that's my goal of what I try to bring to the table as a leader is to lead with kindness, to lead with empathy, especially concerning coworkers and even our viewers, to be a leader for them in that way. And it's not always easy, but I've actually had a couple trials this past year that have taught me the importance of that. Madeline Carter: And one thing that I think I've really grown over the past year and a half that I've been here in the Tri-Cities is I've grown stronger in my personal voice. I know kindness can sometimes be perceived as a weakness, and I used to more so care about what people would think of me if I had to lay down the law or stand up for what is right or stand up for what I believe in. But now I feel having leadership in a daily newscast, it gives me that ability to better say what needs to be done, what needs to be right, whether it's an ethical news question or something along those lines. I less fear how others perceive me now, and I think that's a form of growth is growing in that confidence and that ability to take charge without worrying what people think of you. Paul Casey: Yeah, and I like how you said that. Kindness could be perceived as a weakness, but it's actually a strength. And if I ever do a random act of kindness, and just talking about it I guess means it's not random act anymore, but like when paying for the person behind you in the drive-through, right, at a coffee drive-through, I feel more powerful. I don't feel weak when I do that. And to see that person sort of wave and know that you pumped up their day- Madeline Carter: Exactly. Paul Casey: ... that's a great feeling. Madeline Carter: Oh yeah. Paul Casey: And it builds ... If you're in a workplace, that is building respect, it's magnetic. It attracts people to you if you lead with kindness versus the alternative. Madeline Carter: Right. Paul Casey: Well, you mentioned time management in there, and most of our to-do lists are greater than the time we have to do them, so that probably means you have to triage tasks like everybody else does, and maybe even delegate or outsource stuff or back-burner things. So, how do you sort out how you spend your time, and maybe any tips for the rest of us? Madeline Carter: Honestly, time management is still a bit of a struggle for me. I'm working on it. But something that helps me, I know you mentioned a long to-do list, but I do like to make a daily to-do list. That's usually the last thing I do before I leave work for the day, I email myself my to-dos for the next day. Paul Casey: Nice. Madeline Carter: Even though they may change. But I try to limit down to maybe the three or four most important things that I have to get done that day. Because I'm an achiever type of box-checker, I like to call it. Paul Casey: Yes. Madeline Carter: So I get a thrill out of getting things done, checking off items on my list. So when I make them manageable items that I can actually go through and feel like I accomplished something, that is what seems to work for me. So that is what I do to try to work on time management. Another thing I've learned in this job is to not spend too much time on the little things. I have perfectionist tendencies, as well, and I noticed when I first started in this role that I was ... Some things were taking a lot longer than they needed to. Not that I'm not putting as much effort in. I'm still doing my 110%, but learning what you can do quicker and what you can delegate. So that's been something that I've been trying to learn for time management. Paul Casey: Yes, the achiever, you alluded to that. So we were talking before we hit record today of the achiever is one of the StrengthsFinder 34 strengths- Madeline Carter: Yes. Paul Casey: ... and it's in your top five. It's in my top five. And any achievers listening, you're probably like, "That's why I listen to this podcast, because I want to listen to-" Madeline Carter: Right. "Because I want to-" Paul Casey: "... other achievers." Madeline Carter: "...grow." Paul Casey: Right? It's also in the Enneagram, the number three, type three is also an achiever, so it's funny how we take these assessments and they all say the same thing. Madeline Carter: I know, they really do. Paul Casey: But the box-checker is in that. And I like how you also are just transparent about you could gravitate to being OCD or perfectionist- Madeline Carter: Yes. Paul Casey: ... if you have that style. Each one of the styles has a dark side- Madeline Carter: They do. Paul Casey: ... to it. And so you have to know what's good enough, that's not compromising quality or excellence, but it's not getting so deep in the weeds that it's taking valuable time. Madeline Carter: Right. And another downside, if you call it, of the type three in the Enneagram, for example, the achiever, is the image conscious part of it, which kind of goes back to me saying how I care about what people think of me when I have to lay down the law. So that's something you got to work on those other not so good parts of the achiever characteristic. Paul Casey: Yes. Well, before we head into our next question about relationships, a shout out to our sponsor. Mario Martinez, Northwestern Mutual. Mario, why should people work with a financial advisor? Mario Martinez: Hey, Paul, that's a great question. Really, I think there's two types of people who should be seeking out a financial professional. The one person is somebody who has very limited access to financial guidance. Maybe they're a younger professional or somebody who just hasn't had an introduction to a financial professional yet. And the other type of person is really someone who has a lot of different exposure to different professionals, they just haven't found the one person that they really trust to take guidance from. So there's really an over information, in that sense. So those are really the two types of people that should be looking to be introduced to a financial professional. Paul Casey: Fantastic. So, Mario, how can people get in touch with you? Mario Martinez: The easiest way is to reach out to me directly on my business cell phone, which is 509-591-5301. You can send an email to Mario.Martinez@NM.com, or you can find us on our business Facebook page, which is Mario Martinez Northwestern Mutual. Paul Casey: Well, Madeline, you probably believe like I do that leadership is relationships, so talk to us about what relationships are key to your success? And how do you intentionally develop them, and maybe even in the land of COVID, how much do you do that differently? Madeline Carter: Yeah, relationships are everything. I think we've all learned that during this pandemic, is some point when we were spending time apart, it's really all we have. I think that relationships are key to success because, to me, character and kindness are what will carry you. I've seen examples of that in internships and people that I know that have kind of climbed the ranks in the industry. I believe that if you treat everyone with respect, you hopefully might get that back in return. So that's going to be my goal with entering this career path, and I think those relationships can help you become successful. Madeline Carter: But outside of work, some of the most key relationships for me are my family and my close friends. The people that really know you, the people that are in your corner, and the people that'll give you the truth when you really need to hear it. I moved more than 2,000 miles away, so I'm very, very far away from my key close knit people. But when I go back home, for example if I'm going to take a trip back home, those are the moments when I realize how far I've really come, because the people that know you best are the ones that'll tell you that stuff that you don't hear on a daily basis, especially living on your own. So for me, their relationships are what fuel me. I am a family girl through and through, so that type of support I think is key to success, because you need to have that as you go on and just continue on. Paul Casey: Has it been harder to connect with them 2,000 miles away? Family, friends, and COVID. I mean, do you do Zoom calls or phone calls, or- Madeline Carter: I'm done with the Zoom, honestly. I am not into that anymore. But yes, we do. I FaceTime my mom pretty often and we've started to pick that up. It's not her favorite thing, but we call each other all the time, text all the time. Same with my other immediate family. I have struggled to keep up with close friends. I'm learning as you get older and you move on from ... And you move, you're kind of the one who's responsible with keeping in touch, because I'm the one who moved away. Paul Casey: Yeah. Madeline Carter: And I've learned that the hard way. It's hard. There's so many people that I could text today or that I could reach out to. So I guess what I try to do is kind of vary it up, think about someone I haven't touched base with and I'll reach out to them. I usually give a quick call and leave a message if they don't answer, or send a text and say, "Hey, I'd like to catch up." And having intentional conversations every now and then has been key to keep those relationships going. Paul Casey: Yeah. You mentioned we all need relationships with people that will tell us what needs to be said, or they make observations about us, or they want us to live our best version of us. Tri-City Influencer listeners, I hope that you all have a ... We call it a fist of five. Five people that they love you and your style, your way, but they'll also call you on your stuff. Or if you're not living your core values, they're going to be like, "This is not what you usually are like. What's going on in your life?" Madeline Carter: Exactly. Paul Casey: And we all need that. I was teaching on emotional intelligence this morning to a company, and I brought up that years ago, someone gave me this tip to send five to seven questions to your tribe, those people closest to you, and ask them questions about yourself and get some feedback and then really listen. Like, "Where do you see me at my strongest? What do I need to let go of more that I tend to whine about for too long?" And, "When have you seen my shine?" And I still have saved one of those emails from seven years ago because it was that impactful to have people be that honest and answer those seven questions. Madeline Carter: That's good. I might need to try that myself. Paul Casey: Well, self-care is essential for mental health and top performance, especially in the land of COVID. So what recharges your batteries? How do you stay positive? How do you stay energetic for your job? Madeline Carter: My job requires a lot of energy, so I love this question. Yes. I'm naturally extroverted, however, I do have a slightly introverted side. I mentioned I was a homebody, so I definitely have to recharge my batteries. And that means at the end of the day, I like to have my alone time. For me, one of the biggest things I love, I absolutely love popcorn. So my ideal night of self-care is to pop popcorn over the stove with a little bit of oil and I watch a good movie or whether it's a Netflix show that I'm into. That, for me, by myself, is usually the best way to recharge. I'm also a huge reader, so reading books is another thing. Madeline Carter: But the choices that I make every day for self-care, I am huge on fitness and nutrition. I have to work out for stress relief. I'm the type that can't go ... I have to do it at least four or five times a week in order to feel like I got all my stress out. And then I eat very healthy diet. And those are the things that keep me having energy throughout the day. And speaking of which, on a daily basis, when you have a job as a news anchor, you have to have a wide range of emotions and bring that same consistent energy to the table every morning at 4:30 in the morning. Paul Casey: Man. Madeline Carter: And I am actually a night owl, naturally. That's a fun fact. Paul Casey: Wow. Madeline Carter: Yeah. So maybe that's why it works, because it's kind of in the middle of the night. But for me, what I do every day before work is I get up a lot earlier than I need to. I get up at 12:45 in the morning, AM- Paul Casey: What? You get up? Madeline Carter: I wake up. My alarm goes off. Paul Casey: What time do you go to bed? Madeline Carter: In a perfect world? 5:30. Paul Casey: Okay. Madeline Carter: But usually 6:30, which is not ideal. However, I get up way earlier than I need to. It doesn't take me that long to get ready. But the reason is I have developed a routine since I have been working here in the Tri-Cities to listen to music that makes me genuinely happy, and so that's the first thing I do is I turn on my happy playlist. I like to call it Happy Radio as what it started, but now I'm on to Apple Music. But I listen to happy music, stuff that puts me in a good mood. And then when I switch over to do my makeup in the morning, I turn on an interview about personal growth. I've fallen into the Oprah's Super Soul podcast, that's a great one. And right now, I'm listening to an audiobook by Alicia Keys about personal growth. And I find that doing that, it wakes me up, first of all, so I feel like I could be my true self by the time I get to work, and that's my goal every day is that I can be my full kind self by the time I walk through those doors in the middle of the night. So, to me, that seems to be what works to kind of keep my energy up and care for myself. Paul Casey: Well, I think you win. Out of all my 50-some guests on this podcast, that's the earlier wake-up time. Madeline Carter: I think you're probably right on that one. Paul Casey: I had a couple 3:30 exercisers and I was already impressed by that. Madeline Carter: It doesn't make it the best wake-up time, though, although it is the earliest. Paul Casey: That's true, although it is the earliest. But I would see how you would need a long ramp up to be- Madeline Carter: Oh yeah, to- Paul Casey: ... [crosstalk 00:28:42] fitness, nutrition, happy music, personal growth inputs into your life. You've created a good system for yourself to be at the top- Madeline Carter: I think so. Paul Casey: ... of your game. Madeline Carter: It seems to work. Obviously, you have your bad days every now and then, but those are the ... Having that consistency at least gives me something to look forward to and a reason to get up in the morning. Paul Casey: Yeah. Now, recharging your batteries, if you're an introvert, you recharge by being alone, typically, because you've had too much people time or too many Zoom calls. And then extroverts recharge their batteries by being with people, and of course they have suffered a lot this year. Madeline Carter: Right, right. Paul Casey: And so they have to be even more intentional about somehow getting that contact with other people. So how do you determine your next hill to climb or conquer? What's your process for continuous improvement so you keep getting better? That this month next year, you're going to be a better person, you're going to be a better employee, you're going to be better in all areas of your life. Madeline Carter: For me, it's time to climb when I've reached my capacity for growth. So when I feel that I get comfortable and I'm in my comfort zone, I'm not out of it, that's when it's time to find the next goal. And I'm definitely a goal setter. So for me, it's finding where I can grow next, whether that's a next job or it's a next project at your current job, which is kind of what I'm going through right now. Madeline Carter: Another thing that helps me grow and know what's next to climb for myself is by reaching out to coworkers and/or managers and asking for genuine feedback. And I'm not talking about just your annual or your every six month feedback session, but reaching out in an email and, for me, being in the news industry, sending them a story I did and saying, "What's your honest opinion on this? What could I do better?" I've reached out to different news anchors in our sister station to send them some of my work to say, "What do you think? What can I do better? If you had to pick one thing that I could work on for this next six months, what would it be?" And I reached out to recently probably about close to six or seven different people and got all different types of responses, but a lot of them have a pretty common ground, so you kind of find what areas you need to grow next. And so for me, it's about constant growth. And when you can't grow anymore, that might be when it's time to climb on to something else. Paul Casey: So good, because growth is on the other side of your comfort zone, right? It's not in the comfort zone. Madeline Carter: No. Paul Casey: Then you're coasting, and you only coast one direction, I love this quote, downhill. Madeline Carter: Yes, you do. Paul Casey: You don't coast uphill. So you have to stretch yourself, and I love how you said feedback is one of the ways to do that. And I really like the specificity of, "What's one thing I can do to work on?" Because if you ask for feedback from people, they often go blank, like, "Uh, you're great." Madeline Carter: Right, right. Paul Casey: And they just sort of ... But when you start asking the specific question, and listeners, you can use this in your one-to-ones either with your supervisor or your direct reports, "What's the one thing that I could do to blank?" It could be grow, it could be lead- Madeline Carter: To get a promotion. Paul Casey: Yeah exactly. Madeline Carter: To do all these type of things. Paul Casey: And try to get it to that one thing, because then, oh, now it's something tangible that I can actually do and put into my growth plan and get training on or get coaching on to get better. So it's a vulnerable thing, of course, to throw that out there and get feedback and ask that question, but it sounds like you embrace that. Madeline Carter: I try to, yes. Paul Casey: Well, finally, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence? Madeline Carter: Well, here's some advice from a new leader, myself. I like to call myself a newbie in this one. Be you. Be you. Just be you. Because there is only one you. One of my favorite quotes is, "No one is you, and that is your power." I've learned that this year, especially, taking on a role that's very public to where I am being myself every day. And it took me several months to grasp what it meant to just be Madeline up on the set and not be a news anchor. You can quickly fall into that trap of trying to be the next whoever your favorite person is in your industry, whereas the reason why I chose the job that I have today is because when they hired me, they said, "We want to teach you to be the next Madeline Carter. We don't want to teach you to be the next blank." They said one of my role models, they said their name. Paul Casey: Wow. Madeline Carter: And I said, "That's really interesting." It took me a while to grasp it, but that's my advice, is that there's only one you, and even if you have quirks, if you have things you don't like about yourself, eventually, those can become your strengths. And I think you just got to stay true to yourself in the process. Paul Casey: Be you. That's awesome. Awesome way to end. So, how can our listeners best connect with you, Madeline? Madeline Carter: Yeah, lots of things. I'm on all kinds of social media. It's too many to keep up with now. Instagram is my personal favorite. I love getting messages on there. My Instagram is @MadelineCarter.TV. And also Facebook is huge, Madeline Carter TV there. And also they can send me an email, Madeline.Carter@NBCrightnow.com. Or Twitter, but I'm not on that that much. Paul Casey: Tri-Cities Twitter just hasn't taken off quite as much. Madeline Carter: Oh my goodness, there's too many. That was what I was saying, the time constraints. I can't answer all the messages anymore. Paul Casey: Well, thanks again for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a great place, and keep leading well. Madeline Carter: All right. Thank you, Paul. Thanks for having me. Paul Casey: Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend. I want to invite you to Leader-Launcher.com. It's my local leadership development program for young professionals and emerging leaders. What we do is we meet once a month, and right now, it's virtually, for two hours, and I teach one leadership proficiency a month. So in a year, you get 12 of these leadership proficiencies which will set you up to move up the ranks in your company, to take that next supervisor position which will then give you so much more influence in your company. So if you are a boss and you would like to have your next tier of leaders developed, you can send them over to Leader-Launcher.com and sign them up. It's just 459 for the year, which would normally be like $9,000 if you hired me as a consultant for your company. So it's very affordable and it's very transformational. And hopefully, you'll consider Leader-Launcher.com. Paul Casey: Again, this is Paul Casey and I want to thank my guest Madeline Carter from NBC Right Now for being here today on the Tri-City Influencer Podcast. We also want to thank our TCI sponsor and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible so we can collaborate to help inspire leaders in our community. Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence. It's from Aug Mandino.He said, "It is those who concentrate on but one thing at a time who advance in this world." Until next time, KGF. Keep growing forward. Speaker 3: Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at GrowingForward@PaulCasey.org for a consultation that could help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Paul would also like to help you restore your sanity to your crazy schedule and getting your priorities done every day by offering you his free Control my Calendar checklist. Go to ww.takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool or open a text message to 72000 and type the word 'growing'. Paul Casey: The Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.

Paul Casey: Goals are dreams with a deadline. So you have to start somewhere and that's some kind of dream or aspiration, and then you have to have a deadline now, because it's not done until you get there. Speaker 2: Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington, it's the Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. Welcome to the TCI Podcast, where local leadership and self-leadership expert Paul Casey, interviews local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and non-profit executives, to hear how they lead themselves and their teams, so we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey, of Growing Forward Services. Coaching and equipping individuals and teams to spark breakthrough success. Paul Casey: It's a great day to grow forward. Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Bob Smart. Bob is the principal at Southgate Elementary school, the proud home of The Dragons. And I asked Bob for something quirky about him and he talked about Chuck Taylor's sneakers. Bob, tell us more about that. Bob Smart: Well, I started getting Chuck Taylor's sneakers, old school sneaks to match the colors of the schools that I was working with. And then somewhere along the line Paul, it became kind of a problem. I've done up two dozen pair and... Paul Casey: Two dozen pairs. Bob Smart: Yeah. Sadly true. Paul Casey: Are you competing with your wife or is this just she outpacing you? Bob Smart: No. I have won that one. Yeah. Paul Casey: Well, we'll dive in with Bob after checking in with our Tri-Cities influencer sponsor. It's easy to delay answering uncomfortable questions like, what happens to my assets and my loved ones when I die? So it's no surprise that nearly 50% of Americans don't have a Will, and even fewer have an estate plan. Many disabled clients worry that they don't have enough assets to set up an estate plan. But there are important options available, to ensure that you have a voice in your medical and financial decision-making, even if your health takes a turn for the worst. Paul Casey: Estate planning gives you a voice when your health deteriorates or after you're gone. Maren Miller Bam attorney at law, is currently providing free consultations. To find out more about estate planning, or to book an appointment, call Maren at (206) 485-4066, or visit Salus. That's S-A-L-U-S-law.com today. Paul Casey: Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Well, welcome Bob. I was privileged to meet you, Boy, how many years ago has it been? Bob Smart: It's been a number of years. I was trying to figure that out before I came over. Paul Casey: Yeah. I'm going to guess seven or eight. Bob Smart: Yeah. Easily. Paul Casey: Yeah. You've spoken for... When I used to do these edge events, you spoke for one of those and I was able to coach one of your employees somewhere along the line, and one of the teams there. And so, yeah, it's been great. I've always enjoyed your focus on leadership and your enthusiasm. And so it's a pleasure to interview you today. So that our Tri-City influencers can get to know you, take us through a couple of career highlights that led you to your current position. Bob Smart: Well, I've probably taken the scenic route. So I started off as a science teacher and loved it and a baseball coach and loved that as well. Ended up being the school principalship and loved doing that. Had a tour of duty in central office as an assistant superintendent, I was a professor and a Dean. I was teaching in the grad school and I kept telling my students, which were principal and superintendent candidates, that the best job is principal. And then I got thinking, I was teaching a critical reflection class and I got thinking, what am I saying? So luckily I found my current job and they hired me and I love being a school principal. Paul Casey: And why do you love being a school principal? Bob Smart: I was just talking today to some folks that, if you like, anything can happen. That's the job. And it's phenomenal. You get to work with great kids, parents, teachers, staff. It's just a neat little place. Paul Casey: I too, I've been a principal and it is a variety job. No two days are exactly the same. Bob Smart: Yeah. Yeah. Paul Casey: I've chased children around the gymnasium, discipline issues. Yeah. I've sprained my ankle playing freeze tag with children before. So it's a great job, very stressful job for sure. And so you actually were a principal, went to district office professor, came back to that. Was that a difficult decision? Bob Smart: No, it really wasn't. Truly, it was thinking about what am I saying about the principalship? And I think I have had enormous satisfaction being a school principal. Paul Casey: So love what you do, is probably a philosophy that you would want to put out there for the Tri-City influencer listeners. Bob Smart: Absolutely. I mean, if you do what you love, it's a great day every day. Paul Casey: Yeah. So you're probably in your strengths zone, which multiplies your influence. How do you add the most value to the school? Bob Smart: Well, I think I'm a good listener, and I think I'm pretty thoughtful, and I think those skills really, really help. Pretty present in the building, so I have a lot of conversations in a day. Paul Casey: Do you intentionally pull yourself out of your office to be present? Is that just natural for your personality style? Or do you literally put that on your calendar, walk around? Bob Smart: Well, no, I do. I'm probably the opposite Paul. I have to return to the office. The joke is that I could probably sublet that office. I'm not in there that much. And there are definitely times I need to be there and do those kinds of things. But really most of the business is done in hallways, and walking around talking to people, hearing their stories and what their hopes and dreams are, and talking to kids all day. Paul Casey: What's been the net positive effect of that style of leadership? Bob Smart: Probably situational awareness. Being out in the building, talking to people, talking to kids, you can get a feel for what that tempo is, where the issues are, and then where you can help out. Paul Casey: Yeah. It's the old managing by wandering around MBWA. Right? Bob Smart: Exactly. Paul Casey: You can curtail problems. People say like, "Oh, while you're here, I've got a quick question." Right? Where they might not come to your office. Bob Smart: Have you been following me around? It's like every day. Paul Casey: Yes. Since you're here. Bob Smart: Yeah. Since you're here Bob. Paul Casey: And the other opposite, is people start to distrust leaders that they don't see. You've probably seen leaders or even principals along the years, that are bound to their office. Right? Bob Smart: Yeah. And it's also for our parent group too, stakeholder group. Because everyone has an experience with the school principal. And what we've been trying to do, is kind of break down those stereotypes. Paul Casey: Yeah. Bob Smart: And right now in COVID, it's really challenging. Paul Casey: Sure. Bob Smart: Prior to that, we see parents all the time and we try to stay away from the principal's office, so that people have a different experience so to speak. Paul Casey: I remember you teaching me that years ago, that people have negative experiences with school principals from their childhood, and you were trying to blast away at that stereotype by being one of them and just leveling the playing field. Bob Smart: Indeed. Paul Casey: On the flip side, leaders have to be aware of their weaknesses. So what is one of your favorite quote, unquote "ways" to sabotage yourself? Bob Smart: I love how you put that. And I can sabotage myself in a variety of ways, but one of the ones that I've had to get a handle on, is overthinking, and over-planning, and over analysis. Having a research background as such, I am real happy to try to overcomplicate something. When in fact what I've learned from that over time, is that a much more timely decision while maybe not the perfect decision, is probably a better decision. Paul Casey: Yeah. That reminds me of Colin Powell, the battlefield, if he gets 80% of the information it gets to go forward. Bob Smart: Yeah. Paul Casey: You'll never get 100%. Bob Smart: Exactly. And the cost, the cost of the organization and the person, to get that other little bit, isn't worth it. Paul Casey: Right. Right. It's minuscule. So I coach a lot of over thinkers. Bob Smart: Yeah. Paul Casey: I think we should start over thinkers anonymous group here in the Tri-Cities. What would you you say to an over thinker to try to help them snap out of it and yet still be who they are? Bob Smart: Yeah. That's tough. I mean, because you've got to understand the small game, and you've got to listen, and you've got to really think about what people want. So I'll start a lot of conversations with, "Do you want me just to listen? Do you want to work on a plan? Paul Casey: That's good. Bob Smart: Or do we want to gather more data?" And such. And a lot of times, it's just, Bob, I just want you to listen. And what I try to find, is when I start breaking out pages of spreadsheets and pivot tables, I normally try to have an intervention. Paul Casey: You just lost me so. Bob Smart: Well. Paul Casey: What's a pivot table? Bob Smart: It's something really cool, but it's probably just to me at [inaudible 00:10:24] Paul Casey: Down in the weeds, right? Bob Smart: Yeah. Paul Casey: Just down in the weeds. No, that it's a great marriage principle as well of, do you want me to still listen or do you want me to help solve the problem? Bob Smart: Yeah. Paul Casey: Because if you can get ahead of that, you're going to get ahead of the conflict that comes with, just listen, or I need you to help me come up with a solution, stop staring at me. Either way it sets the context for the conversation. Well, really do we achieve our highest potential by ourselves? So Bob, who keeps you accountable and energized, although you can feel the energy from Bob, can't you listeners?. But who keeps you accountable to getting your professional and personal goals accomplished? Bob Smart: One of the things I've done over the years and more recently than ever, is sharing with people, asking for feedback, and doing that in a genuine way. And telling folks, "Hey, when you see me start to do this, would you let me know?" Kind of the thing. And it can be a really difficult thing because you're setting down that mask and that shield and such to get to that point. So that's really helped me along. And what I have found is being a pretty approachable person. Many people, [inaudible 00:11:44]. Paul Casey: That's a blessing. Bob Smart: It's all blessing for sure. Paul Casey: Why don't more people especially leaders, ask for feedback? What's your gut on that? Bob Smart: I think ultimately, it's got to have a root cause down in fear. And I mean, people are stretched to their limit and we're all trying to figure out who we are, and how we can do these kinds of complex jobs like you talked about. And sometimes that feedback, especially unvarnished feedback, it can kind of hurt. And we need to be able to talk about that. And I think that's a start with valuing that feedback. Paul Casey: That is so good. Yeah. I think there is that fear. There a little bit of pride, maybe as well, like, oh, I think I'm doing the right thing here and now you're telling me I'm not." Bob Smart: Right. Paul Casey: And I don't know if I like that. Bob Smart: Well, you're pretty invested in these things. Paul Casey: That's a good word. Invested. Yeah. Bob Smart: All of a sudden it's like, wow, I'm getting some feedback that maybe this isn't the right course. In which genuine feedback and those kinds of genuine relationships and a shared sense of where we're going, I think is pretty powerful. But it's tough. Paul Casey: It is. Bob Smart: Yeah. Paul Casey: It is. And what a vulnerable question, when you see me doing this, would you bring that up? I mean, that just shows you're working on something. Bob Smart: Yeah. Paul Casey: And you really want to get better. Anybody that would say that question wants to get better. And it just makes it easier for then people around to go, "There it is again." And then you can chuckle maybe even. And it sort of puts a little levity to that issue of like, I interrupted again, or I'm talking too much, or whatever that thing is. Well, replenishment of energy keeps a leader at the top of their game. So Bob, principal's work is never done. Right? You could work seven days a week and the to-do-list is still going to be there. So what do you do to manage stress? Bob Smart: So my wife and I, we walk Howard Amon every day. Paul Casey: Really. Every day? Bob Smart: Snow, wind, slit, whatever. We walk it every single day. And if you know of Howard Amon Park, there's a red bench up at the top, and it's got a neat history to that bench. And we sit on that bench every day. And we don't finish the day until we go out. And sometimes that's eight o'clock at night with flashlights, or if I'm feeling particularly goofy, I wear those things on my head and those kinds of things. So we do that. That helps a lot. I also, I try to laugh a lot. And if you can't find humor in a school, you're not searching. Paul Casey: I've got a comedian buddy who started a Facebook group. You can all look it up. It's called Work Happy. And it's all the different ways, people in this group all are coming up with funny things to bring levity to work. Because we default to the negativity due to the stress of our job. So you've got to mix in laughter. And it is a great stress reliever. It's one of the best, I think emotional wellness habits that you can do. Bob Smart: You're right. You're so right. Paul Casey: And where is that bench by the way? So you've got the pool launch there at Lee. Bob Smart: Okay. Paul Casey: Where's is it compared to that? Bob Smart: Well, if you keep going North and you go up, there's an old building there. And you go up onto the dyke there, it's right at the top. Paul Casey: Okay. Bob Smart: You can't miss it. Paul Casey: Okay. Bob Smart: So here's the real secret Paul. Paul Casey: All right. Bob Smart: You got to look on the back of it, because there's a neat little plaque there. And I'll leave the rest to you. Paul Casey: Yeah. We'll just make that a little tease for the listeners. Bob Smart: Yeah. And so if you see a couple there say idle, because that's probably my wife and I. Paul Casey: I love it. And that's quite the commitment to say, you're going to do it every day, whether that's early or that's late. Bob Smart: That's right. Paul Casey: So you're getting exercise out of that, you're getting good conversation with your wife. Bob Smart: Exactly. Paul Casey: And both of those distress you. Bob Smart: And laughter. Paul Casey: And laughter. Well, before we head to our next question on people development, a shout out to our sponsor. Paul Casey: Located in the Parkway, you'll find motivation, new friends and your new coworking space at Fuse. Whether you're a student, just starting out, or a seasoned professional, come discover all the reasons to love coworking at Fuse. Paul Casey: Come co-work at Fuse for free on Fridays, in February. Enjoy free coffee, or tea, WiFi, printing, conference rooms, and more, and bring a friend. Fuse is where individuals and small teams come together in a thoughtfully designed, resource, rich environment, to get work done and grow their ideas. Paul Casey: Comprised of professionals from varying disciplines and backgrounds, Fuse is built for hardworking, fun-loving humans. Learn more about us at fusespc.com, or stop by 723 the Parkway in Richland, Washington. Paul Casey: Well Bob hiring in people development is crucial for leadership. If you could clone the ideal employee, whether that's a teacher, or support staff, anybody for your organization, what traits would that person have? Bob Smart: I think a person needs to be flexible. I mean, we've gone through a year of huge change, second order change. And I think that people that are much more nimble, people that are flexible, are going to be all right, but it's tough. And the second part, would be someone with a fierce customer service, whether that's in education or business I think is critical, an effective leader. And then I think the thing that is the game-changer, that last 5%, is somebody that's truly empathetic. Somebody that can truly empathize with stakeholder groups, people you work with, clientele, customers. Paul Casey: You used the word fierce before customer service. Why did you choose that word specifically? Bob Smart: I think that word is critical in the sense that, if you don't have a commitment to your next in line customer, and you're not absolutely committed to that, I think one, you lose genuineness and I also think that you're not in a service role. Paul Casey: Yeah. I had a feeling you were going to say that word service. That servant leader mentality, is gone when you get myopic. Just about me and my world, instead of the customer, the constituent that we're looking to serve. Bob Smart: Or transactional. Paul Casey: Oh yeah. Transactional. Bob Smart: Yeah. I mean, I think it's important to really have that commitment. Because once you have that commitment, more positive things from that relationship are going to come out it. Paul Casey: And it can become transformational, not just transactional, which educators are in a transformational business. You mentioned empathy as well. What does empathy sound like? What does it look like when you're... Interviewing is a tough deal, right? How do you listen for whether this person is going to be empathetic? Bob Smart: Well, I think some of it comes across as non-verbal inside those kinds of conversations. So what we'll do oftentimes, is we'll talk about scenarios. So here's the scenario that we oftentimes engage in. And then based on that response, that gives us a little bit of insight, whether or not you've got that empathetic response. Because in our business, we're in a highly, emotionally driven business. And oftentimes, we have to deescalate situations. And we can do that through humor, through kindness, but also most importantly through understanding. Paul Casey: Yeah. And that is so true that in hiring, if you were to say, "Hey, Paul give me a set of interview questions." I probably give you half of them that are scenario based, because people can be ready to answer the, "What are your strengths and weaknesses," questions. They're ready for a whole bunch of those, but they're not ready for the scenario ones. That's where the true person comes out. So I've had emerging leaders tell me they want to grow in thinking strategically. And they're like, "How I do that?" So what tips would you give on how to look at the big picture for greater longterm impact? Bob Smart: I would recommend that you study Red Tail Hawks. And that's kind of an odd response. But when you think about it, as a kid I grew up watching these red tail Hawk sit on top of these peepee apples. And then later on I found they've actually got two visions. One is on the horizon so they know when to pull up. And the other one is very focused and almost using a set of binoculars. So kind of a short-term in there, but having that eye for that horizon to get to whatever is going to happen. Paul Casey: The Red-Tail Hawk. Bob Smart: Yeah. Paul Casey: What an illustrative example of that. So it's looking long-term like you said the horizon, and then there's sort of the micro level. What are the small acts of leadership if done daily, can make a positive difference in the lives of teams? Bob Smart: I think being present, just being there, and talking to people, being seen, being visible. If you ask our kindergartners what I do, they say I boss cars. Because they see me out there in the parking lot, but we engage an awful lot of business in the parking lot, talking to parents, talking to kids, welcoming kids, especially during uncertain times. And... Paul Casey: Because you could delegate that, right? Bob Smart: Indeed. Paul Casey: You could say, "I don't want to be in that parking lot. The weather's crummy again today." But you choose to do that. Bob Smart: That's right. I choose to do that. And I think that's also part of my role is tone at the top. And demonstrating that welcoming, that assistance, that service, same thing at recess for our folks as well. Paul Casey: Tone at the top Tri-City influence listeners. Bob, flush that out a little bit more. Bob Smart: Well, I can espouse a variety of things. Paul Casey: Sure. Bob Smart: I can say, "Hey, it's really important for us to be outside, it's really important for us to greet people, it's really important for us to insert." But if I demonstrate that, that's so much more powerful. Meeting kids at the doorway, "How are you doing?" Especially now. Kids are scared, parents are scared. And having that opportunity. Also, when the principal is out in front of the building, as you well know, it is a certain reassurance. Paul Casey: Confidence builder. Bob Smart: Yeah. Plus we get to have a two minute conversation and if we scheduled a meeting, it would have been 30, 45 minutes. Paul Casey: So [crosstalk 00:23:29]. Are you saying it's an exit strategy for the long-winded people? Bob Smart: No, I wouldn't say that. Paul Casey: No, it's a lot of mini conversations... Bob Smart: It is. Paul Casey: ... That cumulatively turn out to be a culture. Bob Smart: Yeah. Paul Casey: And so you said, especially in these times. So let me take a quick side jont here by saying, what else is important in these uncertain times for leaders to do? You said to welcome them, be visible during this time. Any other strategies you're employing to try to help people deescalate some of these emotions? Bob Smart: Part of it is it's going to get better. And if you're not an optimist and looking forward with this, people are looking to leadership to, is it going to be okay? And it's going to be okay. We're going to get through this. We always do. And I think at some point Paul, it's ultimately love. It's really helping reassure folks and take care of people, that during really, really tough times. And in my line of work in schools, schools have a very important role in getting whatever stases and calm. Paul Casey: So as we try to balance people, because you're a people person with administrative tasks, you probably have to utilize some other people and who are stronger, where you might be a little weaker. So do you use your office staff, your administrative professionals to help you with that? Bob Smart: Well, we always have more work than we can possibly do. Paul Casey: Sure. Bob Smart: And I have to watch where I put what limited time I've got. Paul Casey: Yeah. Bob Smart: And I've got to be pretty focused on that. And I think you gave me an idea a long time ago. I still have it on my phone even. Paul Casey: No way. Bob Smart: Who can do this work? And every time... I don't make a lot of phone calls anymore, but I think about that. Because oftentimes that's a growth opportunity for somebody else that can do it. And then I can put whatever energies I have, into whatever I'm doing, whatever mischief I'm creating. Paul Casey: Yeah. Sometimes leaders have to be at the 30,000 foot level, sometimes at 15,000 feet. And today I think all of our listeners have got from you, you've got to be on the tarmac once in a while. Bob Smart: I think you're right. Yeah. I think that's true. Paul Casey: Well, some of our TCI listeners asked you, what two to three books or resources they must read, in order to grow their leadership skills. Where would you point them? Bob Smart: I would start off with Ron Heifetz's book, Leadership Without Easy Answers. And so that's from the Kennedy School of Government. And that was written a number of years ago, but he really sets up the arguments for a leader to understand what is happening on the dance floor below. Paul Casey: Yes. Bob Smart: And then the differentiating between a technical response and something else. Paul Casey: Adaptive. Right? Bob Smart: Exactly. Paul Casey: Is that the other one? Yeah. Bob Smart: Yeah. Paul Casey: I love that one. Bob Smart: So I just think, it is so powerful. It is really, really helped me think about my role as a leader. Paul Casey: Yeah. That's a good one. I use that, get up in the balcony and look on the dance floor. Bob Smart: That's right. Paul Casey: All the time I'd probably need to quote him, because I've totally stolen that. What's another resource that you'd point people to? Bob Smart: I like Drive by Daniel Pink and understanding that really at the end of the day, people are looking at self-direction. I think effective leaders create opportunities for folks to direct their work. And I think that's a powerful outcome. And I think that goes all the way back to what we're talking about, as far as if you care about people and helping them reach their goals. So that's a powerful work I like. The other one, is... And I think about it more often in the last year to 18 months, is Richard Swenson's work on Margin. Paul Casey: Yes. Bob Smart: I love that. Paul Casey: Yes. Bob Smart: And it's such an easy equation, but extremely difficult to do. Resources minus load equals margin. Paul Casey: Yes. Bob Smart: And what I find with leaders, is that we can operate in negative margin for a while and you would never redline your car. The engine's going to blow up. Well, not altogether different than that. So I think having conversations about margin, is really important in a longterm look at leadership. Paul Casey: Boy, you're the only other person I think that has mentioned that book... Bob Smart: Really? Paul Casey: ... In my life. Yes. I read it years ago in an administrative conference in Seaside, Oregon. I still remember when he came to speak and yeah, the whole load minus limits equals margin and you can't go into negative margin. Bob Smart: Yeah. Paul Casey: But our bodies were not meant to stay in overdrive for too long. He's got some good stuff on nutrition in there. This is years and years ago. But all the different ways that we need to build more white space into our day, to absorb the unexpected. I remember that phrase. Bob Smart: All those curves are the same. You can put all those curves together, whether it's nutrition or whether it's health, they all say the same thing. And my area of research is the principalship and rapid promotion and what happens. And the concern I have, is that the attrition rate for school principals is quite high, same as teachers. And it's alarming. And I think part of the answer has to do with having more honest conversations about margin. Paul Casey: So good. Well, finally Bob, what advice would you give to new leaders or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence? Bob Smart: We talked a little bit about this before. I would still make a list, but I'd be willing to chuck it in the first hour and be okay with that. Paul Casey: Oh no. You're giving me convulsions. Bob Smart: This is probably an overused cliche, but listen, learn and lead. I just think that's powerful. And I think it's okay to take some time to understand something, to really be in a position to where you can lead. And then finally, I think don't take yourself seriously. And I crack myself up all the time with the goofy things I do and that's okay. Paul Casey: Listen to learn to lead the three L's. Don't take yourself too seriously. These are great takeaways. Bob, how can our listeners best connect with you? Bob Smart: Well, I'm in the land of The Dragons at Southgate Elementary and where every day is the dragonrific day and pretty easy to get ahold of. And so... Paul Casey: Thank you so much for all you do to make Tri-Cities a great place and keep leading well. Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend. This past year have gotten certified in the EIQ, which is the Emotional Intelligence Quotient assessment. And so it assesses you in three areas, self-recognition, social recognition, self-management and social management. So for 60 bucks, you could take this assessment. Paul Casey: I'd be happy to debrief it with you. You can do a retreat for your team on it and to do a group debrief, so that the entire organization, or your entire leadership team, can raise the emotional intelligence level, which is one of the best leadership pursuits you could have for your professional development this year. Paul Casey: Again, this is Paul Casey. I want to thank my guest, Bob Smart from Southgate Elementary, land of The Dragons, for being here today on Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast. And we want to thank our TCI sponsor and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible, so we can collaborate to inspire leaders in our community. Paul Casey: Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road, to help you make a difference in your circle of influence. Milton Berle said, "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." Till next time KGF, Keep Growing Forward. Speaker 2: Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders, by providing practical tools and strategies, that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams, so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. Speaker 2: If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforward@paulcasey.org, for a consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Speaker 2: Paul would also like to help you restore your sanity to your crazy schedule and getting your priorities done every day, by offering you his free control mind calendar checklist. Go to www.takebackmycalendar.com for that productivity tool, or open a text message 272000 and type the word grow. Paul Casey: Tri-Cities Influencer Podcast was recorded at Fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies

Speaker 1: You have to know where you are before you can determine where you are going,  Speaker 2: Raising the water level of leadership in the Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington it's Tri-Cities influencer podcast. Welcome to the TCI podcast. We're local leadership and self-leadership expert. Paul Casey interviews, local CEOs, entrepreneurs, and non-profit executives to hear how they lead themselves and their teams. So we can all benefit from their wisdom and experience. Here's your host, Paul Casey of Growing Forward Services coaching, and it could be individuals and teams or breakthrough success.  Speaker 1: It's a great day to grow forward. Thanks for joining me for today's episode with Brad Sapp and feel, and Nate Robertson from Spotted Fox Digital, and they have some fun facts. And for the first time I think they might do one on each other. So who wants to go first?  Speaker 3: All right. So, I mean, Brad's got, Brad's got some good ones, but I'll go with an easy one. I would definitely say, you know, some of the funny things that Brad does in the office is he's from Alabama. And so when he says certain words, you know, you could think he's a Tri-Cities boy until, you know, he starts saying compass like a compass and you know, I'm like, is that what did you say? He's like I say, compass and I was like, you mean compass? It's like, yeah. Compass. So definitely some of the language from being from Alabama, are you from Alabama where you're from Alabama roll tide. So that's what we hear a lot in our office. We got a new whiteboard, just a little side note in there. The first thing that was on it was a huge red roll tide. So  Speaker 1: Nice, nice. And Brian, what about Nate?  Speaker 3: Right. So there's a lot of quirks about Nathan usually has to do with squirrels, but no, it's really, honestly, one of the funniest things, I think Nathan tends to call it like a remote for the TV. He calls it a channel changer. And I just think that's an old term. Like it should be me calling that not you. I feel like it's a channel. It does promote longer though.  Speaker 1: Oh, that's hilarious. And Brad said that his wife was starting to come up with a whole list for him. And he said, Oh, thanks, honey. That was enough. Well, we will dive in after checking in with our Tri-City influencer sponsor, it's easy to delay answering uncomfortable questions. Like what happens to my assets and my loved ones when I die. So it's no surprise that nearly 50% of Americans don't have a will and even fewer have an estate plan, many disabled clients worry that they don't have enough assets to set up an estate plan, but there are important options available to ensure that you have a voice in your medical and financial decision-making. Even if your health takes a turn for the worst estate planning gives you a voice when your health deteriorates or after you're gone. Marin Miller bam attorney at law is currently providing free consultations to find out more about estate planning or to book an appointment.  Speaker 1: Call Maren at (206) 485-4066 or visit Salus that's S A L U S-law.com today. Thank you for your support of leadership development in the Tri-Cities. Well welcome Brad and Nate. Brad, first time we met was through BNI here in the Tri-Cities and I heard you were the guy for website and all that other stuff. This was your another Brad idea company then, and we've developed a friendship along the way you've done. You've been helping me with my website for years and years. And then Nate got to meet you along the ways you guys merged into a Spotted Fox digital. And you've done a lot of video for me and both testimonial videos and my not my speaker demo reel videos. So it's been a great compliment for our two businesses. So glad you're a part of this today. So let's dive in so that our Tri-City influencers can get to know you take us through a couple of your career highlights that led you to this current company and tell us why you love what you do  Speaker 4: Well. So I actually started my career in Alabama. I was working for a software as a service company. We were working with hospitals and that's actually how I ended up in the Tri-Cities working with Kennewick general and Kadlec can went general, obviously is not Rios. They've gone through rebranding, but that's how I ended up here in the Tri-Cities. And that's how I started. That's how I actually built my relationships in marketing here locally started doing a web design for a local marketing agency. And I did some with regional agencies here and that's kind of how I ended up starting my business. So that was probably one of the biggest moves that actually come into the Tri-Cities and then joining BNI, you know, joining BNI has led to a lot of connections that led me to you all and led me to partnering with Nathan. And if it worked for that, you know, group of, or that organization and the people that I met through that I wouldn't be sitting here today.  Speaker 1: Wow. Very cool story. Nathan, how about you?  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I mean, I started, you know, Tri-Cities local, small town, you know, loved the idea of advertising from, you know, when I was little. And so when I was going to school, I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew it was something to do in advertising. And so I did some odds and end jobs and eventually landed my first job, which wasn't easy in a radio station here in the tri cities, which was used to be called NNB radio. So this is going to date me a little bit, which is crazy. Cause you know, I always think I'm young, but you know, let's be honest. So I got gray hair, I'm the silver Fox now. So, you know, but was able to land my first  Speaker 3: Job in radio. And I enjoyed coming up with the ideas for clients and, you know, just found out that I have this unique niche to being able to, to come with a unique idea and not just a cookie cutter idea. And I did that for a while. And then I actually ended up working for a spotted Fox, which was a deal company. And when I was working there, I was doing mainly sales. I grew the Tri-Cities from zero and was able to build this up and then eventually ended up purchasing the company. And at that time it wasn't my dream. And I really liked the advertising aspect of it, but you know, ended up falling into the video side and on the side because I was able to build a team on the deal side. So I started doing some video production on the side and you know, that took off.  Speaker 3: And then that's when I met Brad because Brad, we, we ended up working in connect workplace where Brad was and I met Brad there and I was like, hey man, you know, could you give me a quote on a website? And so we said, I was looking for videographers. Yeah. So, so long story short, we started working together and eventually quote unquote, we started living together, right? So we're in the same. I like convinced them to get an office space with me at a connect workplace. And he moved in and then from there we just started working together and everything was flowing so well that we said, you know what? We just need to partner. And then that's when Spotted Fox digital became right and and use our two strengths. And now we do social media management. We do paid ads online, paid ads, SEO, you know, kind of a one-stop shop for your marketing needs.  Speaker 1: How many staff do you have now?  Speaker 4: We have a total of 11,  Speaker 1: 11 staff. Yep. And over there connect workplace behind, behind Costco back in their great office space area. And so why do you both love what you do? I mean, Nathan, I'm sort of hearing that the creativity is a big deal for you.  Speaker 3: No, I would say, you know, one of the biggest things is, is delivering and, and coming up with a concept and an idea for a client and then, you know, the most nerve-wracking part is you come up with this idea, you're sitting at a meeting and you're like so excited, you know, and then you leave that meeting and you're like, Oh my gosh. Now I have to make this become a real thing. Right. And so the cool thing is, is, is actually being able to see that from an idea into fruition of like, wow, this actually happened and the client's happy and what we delivered to them. And so that's where I get my, you know, enthusiasm, enthusiasm and excitement for what we do.  Speaker 1: How about you, Brad?  Speaker 4: I would agree. I, my, my favorite part is really just, you know, helping businesses grow and it, you know, being able to form a team and have a team of people where it's not just me with the idea and then going to execute it, you know, having a team of people that can rely on and have their focus and their strengths so that we can deliver the best product possible.  Speaker 1: Yeah. Very cool. And so staying in your strengths, multiplies, your influence, you both have strengths. How do you add the most value to this partnership now that you have 11 people on the, what would you say? Like your sweet spot is  Speaker 4: Personally? You know, I think for me, it's, it's really making sure that we're like, day-to-day that we're doing the things that we need to be doing to get to where we want to be. Like, you know, not just, not just making sure that we're checking things off our list, but we're actually thinking long term of like, what are the things that we're doing today? They're going to get us to where we want to be tomorrow. Definitely. I don't think that's the biggest value that I bring to the team.  Speaker 3: Yeah. I would say, you know, the visionary portion of myself is always thinking big, big dreams. Like we're going here, you know, one day we're going to be bigger than Apple. I dunno. I mean, that's what gets  Speaker 4: Me out of bed in the morning is,  Speaker 3: Is, is thinking big. And sometimes that can be really scary. And you have days where you, you know, as the visionary where it's really scary and you don't know about those dreams but being around a group of people like the team that we have, it's always like an injection of being like, yes, you know, we can, we can do it. And you know, honestly, I learned from a young age, like anything you set your mind to, like you can do. And so that's been a huge strength of mine is  Speaker 1: Yes. So on the flip side, then you have to be self-aware of your weaknesses, right? So what's your favorite way to sabotage yourself?  Speaker 3: I'll be honest. So Brad points at me,  Speaker 4: This is an easy one. This is an easy one  Speaker 3: All day. And I admit to it honestly, it's spelling and grammar. I'll be completely honest. That is my biggest weakness is I call myself a creative speller. So I'm able to spell a word, how many different ways Brad, I don't know, a hundred. So, you know, that's my weakness, but I also let people know that, you know, and I own it and that's, and I try to get better at it. And you know, I got Grammarly, I got all this stuff, but at the end of the day, I accept it as like, this is something I struggle with. And I have my team help me, you know, Hey, I'm gonna send this email out, this important email. I have them check it out. Like, it's definitely not something I hide. I let people know, I'm a bad speller, but I have a lot of other, you know, strengths to overcome.  Speaker 1: Yeah. Like I said to you, you're aware of it and you make that known so you don't try to cover it up, which would just make everyone talk about you behind your back. And you also use tools like Grammarly, which is that's a good plug for that program and using your team to, because there's probably a few of them that are very strong on editing and proofreading and things like that. How about you, Brad?  Speaker 4: Okay. So I've been thinking about this a lot and you know, I'm not, not trying to call him Nathan out here, but I think he's kinda my favorite sabotage on the same exact thing, because you know, it be like, Hey Brad, can you review this? And so it's really kind of controlling that in, in, in it's more of processes. It's making sure that we're following the process because it's easy with this guy. He has so many ideas all day long that, you know, and it's fun to collaborate. I love that part of it. I love like the creativity, but we kind of have a system in place now to where we try to parking lot his ideas and we discuss them on a certain time instead of like coming up or like talking about them every time they come up. Cause I thought, I thought I had good ideas before I met this guy and I, he still has good ideas and he just has a lot more of that.  Speaker 3: But Brad used to be nice enough where you'd actually listen and be like, okay, what do you want to do? And now he's like, you know, Nathan "parking lot it" that's our new term  Speaker 1: Verb.  Speaker 3: And then I'm like, okay, I'm going to wait until next Tuesday.  Speaker 1: Yes. Land the plane, land the plane. So I'm going to say, see you next Tuesday. Cut that out. So yeah. What are your meetings look like then? Because it sounds like it's a lot of fun. You know, you've got lots of ideas to play with, but what's your meeting rhythm,  Speaker 4: You know, it's very structured. We have, we have a, we have a, an agenda for each of our meetings and it's set up, you know, it's a, it's very systemized where we have an ice breaker and we talk about like our best, our best personal thing. That's happened to us during the week and our best business event. And we kind of go through that as a team and then we, what else is on the agenda? So  Speaker 3: Then we go through, I think, highlights of like what's happening,  Speaker 4: Customer, employee highlights. What's good. Are there any issues we need to address? And then we have our parking lot  Speaker 3: And well rocks first. So rock reviews. So our rock reviews are basically what we come up with as a an individual. And so our company rocks, so we offer a program EOS, which is its traction, the book traction, what is it? Them  Speaker 1: Entrepreneurial operating system.  Speaker 3: So we go EOS and that's the program that we've taken for our business. That's done pretty well. But do we want to cut that out? No, that's cool. Okay, cool.  Speaker 4: Okay. So then after the rocks we have, it's called, I think it's called IDs. I'm not sure of the terminology, but then we identify, we identify, discuss and solve all our issues. So any of the issues that have been parking lauded for that week, we go through, we identify the top ones, and we start going through and solving them. And some weeks we get through one or two other weeks, we knock everything off the list. You know, it all depends on how complex it is, but we try to knock through those things and we just identify the most important ones and get through them. And it's, it really helps us as an organization to focus on the most important things and do it a specific time and not be worried about it every time something comes up and it just makes us a lot more efficient.  Speaker 3: Yeah. Having the meetings actually structured is, is really good. And honestly has made a huge difference because a lot of times Brandon are so busy and not having that structure. There causes a little bit of chaos and nobody walks away from the meeting with a lot of value. And, and now I, I definitely feel like Armenians have gotten a lot stronger.  Speaker 1: Yeah. Traction definitely recommends Gino. Wickman is the author. Want to give him lots of credit for that? And big rocks are your priorities, your top priorities for the quarter. Right. You set them for the quarter and then yeah, you have your a, was it level 10 meetings I think is your, is your weekly. And then the IDs and it's, I think what's cool is that the issues get solved at a certain time and they don't, they don't consume the other meetings, but it's like, alright, this is our time to bang these out that stuff. Well, rarely do we achieve our highest potential by ourselves. So who keeps you accountable and energized to getting your own professional and personal goals accomplished?  Speaker 4: Man? I would say what keeps me personally energized is, is the people that we work with. I think that, you know, and the, in our clients, you know, and looking at what they want and growing people, not, not the dollar, you know, I think a lot of people get held up on, on a dollar and making, you know, making a living instead of actually making an impact on someone's life. So that's definitely something that keeps me motivated is it's not just about going to work and, you know, just making money. It's about when, you know, I leave this place one day. I want people to say, Nate was a great guy. I worked for him and he taught me this. And that's why I am where I am today. So  Speaker 1: Making a living, making an impact, not making a living love that. That's that's good stuff.  Speaker 4: *inaudible* Speaker 1: How about you, bro? It keeps you accountable and inspired, energized.  Speaker 4: So yeah, so I would say, I, I thought about this. I think there's like three things that keep me personally and professionally accountable each week. And we've mentioned a couple of them. One of those is, is on, on a professional level. There's two things. There's the level 10 meeting that we have each week, because that really helps us keep a pulse on what's going on, but it also holds us accountable for the rocks, all the to-dos and making sure that we're staying on task. But you know, I, I'm very much a, you know, professional accountability system each week, you know, holding, held accountable for making sure that we're bringing business to our networking team and that we're getting that back. And then personally, and even professionally you Paul, you're your business case plug there? I noticed, I noticed a big difference when, when I didn't have that, you know, I was, I did other things like mastermind and things like that, but that it was from a different perspective. I noticed a huge difference when I came to you, Paul, and you were helping me because it, it really put in my mind the things that were easy to forget about, you always reminded me of, Oh, you need to be working on this and this and this. And if it weren't for you holding me accountable each month, I would never look at those things. And it's all legislative. It looks like that. And it's made, it's made a big difference,  Speaker 1: Right? Yeah. Without accountability things fall off the radar, don't they? And so even your park, the parking lot concept keeps things back on the radar, so you see, can bring them up. So yeah, coaches, BNI group, so many good ways to surround yourself because as an entrepreneur you could get, and especially in COVID, it's like double isolation. So it is great to surround yourself with people that keep you pumped up and accountable, then there's replenishing your energy. I was just reading in a book before coming over here today that, you know, time is a finite thing, but energy you can actually replenish. So that keeps you at the top of your game. What do you do to manage stress,  Speaker 3: Manage stress, man, I know what Brad does, Brad meditates. And this is something that I wish I could get better at because I've done it a few times and it's been, it's been really good, but yeah,  Speaker 4: It's consistency. It's the consistency. Yeah.  Speaker 3: I would say just getting outside, like, and getting, putting myself in, like when I'm at work, I can get re-energized just by going on to you, maybe, maybe a social media shoot with some of our social media team. Right. And I'm going through and I'm like, thinking, oh man, we're doing this. This is great. You know? Or like, I love the video shoots. Right? Like a lot of times I get varied and just the day-to-day of being a CEO hopper and doing that side of things, but it's nice to actually go and actually be a part of like what you're creating. And so that's really actually energizing to me instead of doing the day-to-day it's, it's switching things up, I guess, at the end of the day. Yeah.  Speaker 1: Switching things up. Yeah. Changing the state. I think Tony Robins says and reconnecting to what you do best. Sounds like also pumps you up. So breath meditation, anything else? Yeah.  Speaker 4: So meditation is definitely a key for me. It really kind of helps it's it's really kind of, I don't want to say mind control, but that really is kind of what it is. It helps you kind of control that monkey brain, you know, cause it's easy to really get stuck in your head and you know, whether, whether negative thoughts or positive thoughts or whatever, it just helps you kind of control that and helps you. Like it just helps you think about things without reacting first. And I've noticed a huge difference since, since meditating. But the other thing that I do is a walk and I'll either listen to music or listen to podcast book. That's always helpful, but music has a huge stress relief for me.  Speaker 3: That raises one for me, like fitness working out. Because a lot of times when I'm in that slump and I've been working really hard and maybe I through working out, out the window for a little bit, then you started really hitting ceilings. And I feel like once you start working out and you know, I am Peloton this year, cause I've never done, you know, spin or anything like that. But my brother-in-law has been doing it for like a year. And I was like, okay. I was like, I'm going to buy one of these sayings. COVID the gym's closed. And I need someone to push me. And so it's been awesome. I mean, when I get off of it, my brain feels rejuvenated. Like I feel more confident. I think that's the biggest thing for me in fitness is like, when I got done working out, I'm like I lifted these weights. I was on the Peloton. I'm freaking confident and I go to work, and I'm guaranteed. People could tell like, wow, now you got a good workout. So he's on my butt. You worked out today. You didn't work out yesterday. Exactly. I showed up yesterday. It was a long day  Speaker 1: Exercise. The best depression Buster there is. Well, before we head into our next question on a hiring and people development, a shout out to our sponsor located in the Parkway, you'll find motivation, new friends and your new coworking space at fuse. Whether you're a student just starting out or a seasoned professional, come discover all the reasons to love co-working at fuse come co-work at fuse for free on Fridays in February, enjoy free coffee or tea, Wi-Fi printing conference rooms, and more, and bring a friend. If you use this, where individuals and small teams come together in a thoughtfully designed resource, rich environment to get work done and grow their ideas. Comprised of professionals from varying disciplines and backgrounds. Fuse is built for hardworking, fun, loving humans. Learn more about us at fusespc.com or stop by seven to three, the Parkway in Richland, Washington. So gentlemen hiring and people development crucial for leadership. If you could clone the ideal spotted Fox digital employee for your organization, what traits are you looking for when you go into interviews?  Speaker 3: Oh, that's a great question, Paul, you know, people are heated, any good organization. We, we value our culture. We have set core values that we really follow. So they really have to align up with that first and foremost. But as far as key traits go, I think, you know, knowing somebody that has really good interpersonal relations, that's super important. Whether it's internal with our team outpacing for clients, having a strong relationship with people is super important. And then, you know, having good organization and really like leadership, being able to run a team of people. Those are really key traits that I always look for. If we're looking for somebody for our leadership team.  Speaker 1: Yeah. What's interesting about that is you didn't say anything about social media skills or web code. I mean, you started with values in her personal and organizational leadership skills.  Speaker 3: Yeah. Hiring people for me is always a really exciting task, but sometimes I'm not the best person to make the final decision. I'll be honest. And that's because I, I I've done some like leadership and kind of personality traits and I'm the kind of person that I see. Like everybody has potential, you know, I'm like I send to me and I, it could be any, Oh man, that guy would hire him. And after he had done, I'm like, I feel like we should just hire them. All right. So it's good to have Brad to like really focus me and, and you know, our team because we actually have our team that helps us hire, like, it's a big thing because instead of Brad and I just making that decision, we have key members on our team that it's like, Hey, you're going to be working with this person. And so making sure that they can work well together. And so I think that that's definitely a, you know, when it comes to hiring, it's not always for me an easy decision, but with the help from my team, it definitely gets it.  Speaker 1: That's why it's nice to have a hiring team or hiring panel with multiple personalities on the team. You can.  Speaker 3: Yeah. And we deal with so many different personalities between, you know, just our clients and even staff, you know? So you have to be able to work with, that's all we've been really blessed. We have, yeah, we have, we have an awesome team.  Speaker 1: So when have you taken some lumps in hiring? Like what, you know, I've been walking along the journey with you bred for a while, so there's been successes and you know, some that didn't work out where have you seen like maybe like, Oh, we sh we should have seen that. Or they didn't have that trader that value.  Speaker 3: Oh man. That's hitting close to home. No. Yeah. You want to take that? Yeah. Yes. Can you repeat the question? So honestly, a lot of times when you're hiring in, and you're not thinking of the actual fulfillment of the position, because you have to be thinking of all, you know, we were low, you know, I'll give you a sense. We were looking for a certain person to fill a certain void. Right. And the main thing on that void was the personality and the skills of communicating with our clients and those things. Right. But we didn't really pay attention to the actual like functionalities and what that person can do. And so when we brought them on our team, it was, it was a lot more training to the other sides of that part of the business that we were thinking they already may have had, but we were more focused on tunnel vision and they are that perfect person for that. But we weren't really thinking of the other side of fulfillment. And so I think that definitely realizing that they, and they have to be well-rounded and not just think, well, this is going to solve all our problems because the last person we had was good at this, but really what we need is this right? So it's a kind of mix in between.  Speaker 1: Yes. And you do learn from what didn't work.  Speaker 3: Yeah. The important thing is like, you're always going to have, they're always going to be things that don't work out. You know, you're going to have quote unquote failures, but as long as you take something away from that and you learn and you better, that it's all part of that it's yeah.  Speaker 1: Yes. So I've had emerging leaders tell me they want to grow thinking strategically. So you both said that it's sort of your strength spot to look at the big picture. You both described yourself as visionary working on the business. How would you say an emerging leader can look at the big picture and what does that look like for greater long-term impact?  Speaker 3: Well, for me, its really time blocking, you know, walking out the time to do it with our level 10 meetings, but also like personally, like blocking out specific times of the day that I'm supposed to be doing specific activity. And as long as I have those, or as long as I get those done, I feel like that's a successful day. The other part of that would be our, our long-term planning that we do. We, we blocked out like three to four days a year where the entire day is focused on that alone and we've walked everything out and that's all we talk about. And so I think again, just blocking that time out is a huge, huge deal. No, and I totally agree with Brad. And I think one of the biggest things is that you're not just time-blocking for yourself, but we actually tie block with our team to complete our vision. So that way, you know, you're able to, to all be on the same track without there being confusion of where are we going? And maybe Brad has certain goals in his mind that he's not sharing with me. And so when we do it as a team and we time block, it really has a huge impact. And I do definitely think that you should do personal time as well, but when it comes to goals of the business, definitely, you know, the team is definitely key.  Speaker 1: Yeah. And our teams are waiting for us as leaders to cast that vision. I think it gets them excited when they know where the owners are going, where the leaders are going, and they get confused when they don't know where they're going. Or like you said, your goals are in your head, but I can't read your mind. So, and then Brett, you know, I love time-blocking, that's like huge. So, so if you're trying to find time for things, that's going to fall off the radar, but if you literally calendar that appointment with yourself, that's going to happen. I also, like I added about the retreat. I think every team should do these chunks of time where you just look out a little bit further and you can gain a lot of ground by doing that. So that's the macro level now to the micro level, what small acts of leadership do you try to both do daily as much as possible to make a positive difference in your team?  Speaker 3: I'll definitely say leading by example, and you know, that's not always an easy thing to do as an owner. You know, sometimes you just want to roll in at 11 o'clock and, you know, Hey, I own the business. Right. But I think sometimes, you know, being the first one at the office and the employees seeing that I think that's been a huge impact and just kind of letting people know like, Hey, I'm in this to like, you know, yes you do. You know, you work for me, but I work with you. So yeah, I would agree with that. And I think the other thing that we do as a, as a leadership team, or as a company is really like showing our appreciation, not just for, not just for our clients, but for our, our employees, like showing them recognition of the things that they do well and and rewarding them when a client compliments what they do.  Speaker 3: Oh yeah. We have a breadboard. Yeah. We have a brag board and, and we have goals for each department on certain amount of kudos or things that they're supposed to get each, each quarter. And we look at that all the time and I've noticed a huge difference in our team. They're, they're just so much more excited on a daily basis of like, even when they get a compliment, it's, there's just so much more excitement among the team together. I also like to add onto that brag board thing. I think it's such a cool, like a lot of people don't want to brag. I'm not going to probably like, I don't mind being like, look, you don't look at this, you know, two people I know, and I'm are close to. I like to and think a lot of people like hold those things inside. And I think it's important to show them and have a place where they can go, Hey, look, this happened to me. And its a, it's a great place to put it. And it's a place where we can see like, Hey, they're doing a great job because some of the times we see these employees are doing great things, but we just never hear about it. And so we put a place where they can actually show us or tell us where it's a safe place to do it. So yeah, that's been super helpful.  Speaker 1: Brag board. Love it, love it. So if one of our TCI listeners asked you, like what, what two to three books must they read to grow their leadership or their entrepreneurial skills? Or maybe it's a resource like a website or, you know, just a place that you go to grow. Where would you point them? Paul Casey, another $5. [inaudible]  Speaker 3: I would definitely, I mean, I'll be honest. I'm not a huge book reader. I like audio books, but I would, for one of them, I'd say traction and let me be completely honest. Have I finished reaction completely, almost I'm on the last final, like 20 minutes, I think? But the biggest thing I would say is, is, you know, finding your niche. So mine is YouTube. Like we learned a lot of stuff like video production wise on YouTube and, and we were able to emblem emulate what we liked and, and to, you know, a process or product. So for me, you know,  Speaker 4: Years ago it was not much of a book reader, but in the last like several years, I've definitely become more avid reader. But I also do listen to audio books. I have a few favorites, but I would say, what are the most impactful books that I've ever read from a leadership standpoint is relentless by Tim Grover. I think that's an amazing book. It doesn't necessarily talk about like leadership from a business standpoint, but it talks about leadership from kind of a team standpoint. And I think that, that, and it, it talks a lot about basketball and, you know, your major superstars who went through this crazy coaching, but it talks about what they had to do to become that super Rockstar. And so I think that's a good foundation. And for me, it's a very inspiring book. So I always, always liked to pick that up. I love listened to it several times and then the other there's two other books, traction, I would agree. And then what's the Stephen Covey book, cost  Speaker 1: Seven habits of highly effective people.  Speaker 4: And that one's a really good foundational book,  Speaker 3: Paradigm shift and podcasts. I mean, I had been listening to John Maxwell. That's been a huge, a huge, I would say, a source of leadership information and, you know, he has a really good way of putting it across. So that's been cool.  Speaker 1: So finally, what advice would you give to new leaders, new entrepreneurs or anyone who wants to keep growing and gaining more influence?  Speaker 4: I would say really just always trying to improve yourself, always try to constantly refine you're never going to,  Speaker 3: There's never a, there's never an informant, you know, you're always like, I think when you're, when you're young, you kind of think, Oh, well, I'm going to, I'm going to get to this point and everything's just gonna be great. It's, it's just, it's not like that. It's, there's always things to improve on. There's always just skills that you can continue to refine. And let's say just always be working on that. Okay. Yeah. And on the leadership side, a lot, a lot of people will put in, you know, as a boss quote, right? Like, and, and don't be a boss, be a leader and don't just tell people to do things, lead them to do that. So I think that that's where a lot of people, when they step into a leadership role is, they feel like, Oh, well, I just need to tell people what to do and do this and do that. And that's the wrong way of leadership. I think it’s; it's being on the, in those trenches with that employee and, and helping them get to where they want to go. And that's a leader, you know,  Speaker 1: You're here. Well, how can our listeners best connect with you too?  Speaker 3: I would say, you know, they can always check out our website, Spotify, digital.com or connect with us on Facebook and Instagram. We're always there. We're here for you guys.  Speaker 1: Well, thanks again for all you do to make the Tri-Cities a great place and keep leading. Well, Rob,  Speaker 3: Thanks, Paul.  Speaker 1: Let me wrap up our podcast today with a leadership resource to recommend it is the book managing transitions by William Bridges. So change is really hard for most people and maybe the structure of change is the easy part as a leader, but we forget sometimes that change has an emotional impact on people. And if you don't have a strategy, you don't have someone on it. Then oftentimes people will resist that change to the bitter end. So he breaks into three groups talking about the letting go part, the neutral zone and the new beginning. And if you don't have a strategy for all three change is going to be a lot harder. So managing transitions by William Bridges. Again, this is Paul Casey. I want to thank my guests, Brad Sapp, and field, and Nathan Robertson from Spotted, Fox digital for being here today on the Tri-City influencer podcast. And we want to thank our TCI sponsor and invite you to support them. We appreciate you making this possible so we can collaborate to inspire leaders in our community. Finally, one more leadership tidbit for the road to help you make a difference in your circle of influence and the spirit of Brad's meditation here at John Kabat-Zinn says mindfulness is about love and loving life. When you cultivate this love, it gives you clarity and compassion for life and your actions happened in accordance with that until next time, KGF keep growing forward.  Speaker 2: Thank you to our listeners for tuning in to today's show. Paul Casey is on a mission to add value to leaders by providing practical tools and strategies that reduce stress in their lives and on their teams so that they can enjoy life and leadership and experience their key desired results. If you'd like more help from Paul in your leadership development, connect with him at growingforwardatpaulcasey.org for a consultation that can help you move past your current challenges and create a strategy for growing your life or your team forward. Paul would also like to help you restore your sanity to your crazy schedule and getting your priorities done every day by offering you his free control My calendar checklist, go to www.take back my calendar.com for that productivity tool or open a text message two seven two zero zero zero, and type the word grown  Speaker 1: Tri-Cities influencer podcast was recorded at fuse SPC by Bill Wagner of Safe Strategies.

In this episode of the Find Calm Here Podcast, Paul Casey shares his journey as a professional speaker with over 25 years of experience in leadership and personal growth. He helps people take back their calendars and to restore sanity in their lives with time management. His company, Growing Forward Services, partners with corporations and professionals to transform their vision, habits, and lives with his inspirational messages. He’s an author of four books including The Static Cling Principle (on habits and mindsets), Maximizing Every Minute (on time management), Leading the Team You’ve Always Wanted, and Leading with Super-Vision. He also interviews local leaders in his podcast: the Tri-Cities Influencer. Notable Quote: “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”― Bill GatesIn this episode we discuss:Building an online business DWMY - Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly goals for successHow coaching supported Paul during the Covid-19 pandemic after losing speaking gigsThe challenge with virtual events, being zoomed out, zombies Building community in 2021 to scale businessBook recommendation Tribes by Seth Godin Reviewing your weekly wins and looking ahead for growth  You can connect with Paul via email at growingforward@paulcasey.org and get the FREE GUIDE to Take Back My Calendar. I met Paul on PodMatch! If you have a message to share and want to reach out to more people, I highly recommend joining PodMatch, it’s FREE! Want to be a guest on the Find Calm Here Podcast? Let me know!~ About- Deb Schell is the creator of Find Calm Here, an online community offering tools and resources to help you find calm in building a community with energy, joy, and abundance. We offer support, feedback, and encouragement to each other for cultivating communities that thrive.  As a Mighty Networks Community Design Consultant, Deb offers resources for cultivating contribution, creating an awesome onboarding process, and connecting your members to spark inspirational conversations that help your members transform. Interested in building a community on the Mighty Networks? It's free!

Are you ready to master your calendar, your email inbox and your overall productivity? If you answered "yes" to this question, you need to listen to today's show. On today's Inside BS Show, Dave Lorenzo interviews Paul Casey, an expert in Time Management. On this show, Dave and Paul discuss the following: How to make time management work for you Time management tips that actually work Time management for sales professionals Time management tips for entrepreneurs Productivity vs. Time Management How to overcome procrastination About Paul CaseyPhone: (509) 392-1895Email: PCGROWINGFORWARD@GMAIL.COMwww.paulcasey.orgOriginally from Chicago, Paul has now been a professional speaker for over 25 years (giving almost 300 presentations in the past 4 years), and he is one of the leading authorities in leadership and personal growth—especially time management—helping people take back their calendars and restore sanity to their lives. He has spoken for organizations like McDonalds, Subway, Lamb Weston, Northwest Public Power, and Autozone—and among the 80 leaders he coaches per year, 25 of them lead at Pacific NW National Laboratories. Paul has a Master's degree in education, and has been an educator/administrator/Chief Operating Officer in 5 non-profit organizations. He is an ACC-certified coach with the International Coaching Federation, a Master Trainer, and is a member of the National Speakers Association. He was awarded Solopreneur of the Year by the West Richland Chamber a few years ago.Through his company, Growing Forward Services, Paul has partnered with his corporate and individual clients to transform their vision, their habits, and their lives.  Currently, Paul carries out his mission of sparking breakthrough success by contributing daily inspirational growth messages on local radio, other people's podcasts, and via social media. Also, he has inspired thousands of individuals and leaders to grow forward through his seminars, team-building off-site retreats, one-to-one self-leadership coaching, and as a keynote speaker. Paul has written 4 books: The Static Cling Principle (on habits and mindsets), Maximizing Every Minute (on time management), Leading the Team You've Always Wanted, and Leading with Super-Vision. And he interviews local leaders in his podcast: the Tri-Cities Influencer. Paul is married to Lovely Laura, has a 23- and an 18-year old named after state capitals, owns a cat named Sasha, and has lived in the Tri-Cities, WA, for over 20 years. For fun, he enjoys golfing, hiking, and bicycling—and orange slices—and he reads about 40 books per year.