Podcasts about new heights

On the twenty-fifth episode of New Heights, the Kelce Bowl is officially happening! Over the weekend everyone's phones exploded with all the Kelce Bowl shoutouts (02:50). So we try and recap some of our favorites in New News, show off some of the new merch we're dropping to celebrate the occasion (12:10), and look at some of our favorite fan art that you guys sent us over the week (16:15).  Then we get into Championship Sunday starting with the Niners heading to Philly(20:04), Jason's thoughts on the Davonta Smith “catch,” (23:25) what the Eagles sideline was really saying after the Brock Purdy injury (30:03), and why you can't chirp back to Eagles fans if you're an opposing player (41:00).  Next, we hit the wildly anticipated Bengals and Chiefs rematch and Travis' thoughts on the newly named “Burrowhead” stadium (48:05), why he had to cut a promo on the Mayor of Cincinnati (55:27), what Andy Reid told him on the sidelines after the lateral(01:04:15), how the Chiefs overcame an enormous amount of injuries to clinch the AFC (01:05:56), and our thoughts the roughing the passer call that cost the Bengals the game (01:14:30).  We hand out some of our final in-season Stamps of the Week to the Chiefs trainers that kept Travis on the field and some Philly fans that couldn't stay on top of a bus stop (01:18:43). We also answer an incredibly not dumb question about the best kind of bowl, trust us it will make sense when you hear it (01:25:56).  Finally, we get to what everyone won't stop talking about, The Kelce Bowl (01:36:19). Jason and Travis share how they really feel being the first brothers to go head to head in a Super Bowl, who is in charge of handing out tickets to the family, and what storylines you should actually be paying attention to before the Super Bowl.  Last, we have some Pod business to fill you guys in on in our new segment “quick outs.” We've got some updates on the fanbase name, the ransom we're prepared to offer for the Chad Henne ball, how we need your help with our Reddit page, and the event New Heights will be hosting in Arizona next week (01:48:30).  As always, watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce every Wednesday during the NFL season & check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show. Kelce Bowl Merch: https://homage.com/newheights  Use this link on SeatGeek for $500 off tickets to the Big Game. https://seatgeek.onelink.me/Matg/KelceBigGame Visit https://www.nerdwallet.com/ to compare and find top cash-back credit cards, savings accounts, and more!  Don't miss out on all the action this weekend at DraftKings! Download the DraftKings app today and sign-up using OUR promo code NEW HEIGHTS Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. See terms at draftkings.com. For the month of February only, visit https://athleticgreens.com/newheights for a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 10 FREE travel packs with your first purchase.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the twenty-fourth episode of New Heights, we have a massive announcement about something that might be going down in Arizona in a couple of weeks (01:53), we try to recap Travis' appearance on the Pat McAfee show but somehow end up in a debate about alien conspiracy theories (02:51), look at maybe our most adorable fan mention of all time (21:00), and answer another of your not-dumb questions about NFL rule changes (25:55). Travis recaps how the Chiefs overcame an injury to Pat Mahomes to beat the Jags (40:00), why the team had all the confidence that Henne-thing was possible (45:00), and how he managed to have another record-setting day (48:12).  Jason gives us all the details on the Eagles huge win against the Giants (56:00), why nothing beats the playoff atmosphere at the Linc (59:30), and why Boston Scott might continue being “the giant killer” (01:04:18).  We also recap the Bengals snowy win over the Bills (01:10:54), why Jason can relate to Stefon Diggs frustrations (01:14:50), and try to figure out what the hell was going on during the electric season-ending play the Cowboys rolled out against the 49ers (01:20:30).  Finally, we shout out the fan that made Jason's baby signing dream come true (01:31:40) and look ahead to our games coming up on Championship Sunday (01:36:00).   As always, watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce every Wednesday during the NFL season & check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show. Merch: https://homage.com/newheights Download the Seat Geek app and use Code KELCE for 15% off NFL Playoff Tickets (max discount $50) https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/KELCE Visit https://www.nerdwallet.com/ to compare and find top cash-back credit cards, savings accounts, and more!  Don't miss out on all the action this week at DraftKings! Download the DraftKings app today and sign-up using OUR promo code NEW HEIGHTS Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. See terms at draftkings.com. Visit https://athleticgreens.com/newheights for a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week's episode, we're diving into the interesting synchronicities that have been popping up for me lately, and how we can use our intuition, numerology, and Chinese astrology to make more aligned decisions in our beauty businesses. Make sure to share this episode with a friend! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/mark-keysor/message

Mark J. Carter, author of the book Idea Climbing, shares how his facilitation method creates interaction, fosters introductions, and builds relationships. Learn more or contact him at https://www.markjcarter.com/ For more great insight on professional relationships and business networking visit https://www.amspirit.com/blog/ or contact Frank Agin at frankagin@amspirit.com.

Live from the no panic zone—I'm Steve Gruber—I am America's Voice— here to free you from the propaganda of the mainstream media—Fed by those living in an echo chamber—well here—I call it as I see it—no favors and no freebies—so lets get it on—   Here are three big Things you need to know right now—   ONE— Bill Maher is among those on the left—breaking from the talking points—and pointing out how awful public schools really are these days—   TWO— The Amazon is getting slashed—no NOT the rain forest—But rather the company—18,000 jobs are coming to an end—more will follow—what does it mean?   THREE— The sanctimonious chorus of self-righteous far left socialists—is reaching new heights in Davos Switerland—and I feel obligated to keep sounding the alarm—to make sure you know what these people want to do to America—and you—BUT you they really don't care about—  

On the twenty-third episode of New Heights, Jason and Travis respond to some of your reactions to our very special Gronk episode and try to figure out who to bring on next (01:40), we go through some of the absolutely insane fan art submissions that all involved shaving the big yeti (13:30), and we answer the not dumb question, “Could the average person rush for 1 yard in the NFL?” (17:20) We also recap all the incredible games from Super Wildcard Weekend including the Jaguars historic comeback over the Chargers (28:45), the Ravens fumbling it away at the goal line (39:00), Tom Brady possibly playing his last snap in Tampa (49:11), and we go deep on why Mike McDaniel's and the Dolphins play calling went up in smoke (54:20).  There's also some non-playoff NFL news to talk about with Aaron Donald possibly announcing his retirement via his Twitter bio (01:00:30), Kliff Kingsbury booking a one-way ticket to Thailand which got us talking about an incredible monkey encounter Jason had overseas (01:02:50), and someone at the Athletic finally doing the official math on the QB sneak (01:08:10).  Finally, we wrap with a look ahead to the Divisional round of the playoffs with the Eagles playing the Giants for the third time this season (01:12:40), the Chiefs at home against the Jags (01:17:41), but more importantly, we go way off script with a discussion about Waffle House and where it ranks in the world of breakfast chain restaurants (01:20:45).  Feels like every good sports podcast eventually lands on a Waffle House discussion so we let this one run long for you guys. Make sure you hit us in the comments below with how you think the guys' rankings hold up.     As always, watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce every Wednesday during the NFL season & check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show. Visit https://www.nerdwallet.com/ to compare and find top cash-back credit cards, savings accounts, and more!  Download the Seat Geek app and use Code KELCE for 15% off NFL Playoff Tickets (max discount $50) https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/KELCE Don't miss out on all the action this week at DraftKings! Download the DraftKings app today and sign-up using OUR promo code NEW HEIGHTS Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. See terms at draftkings.com. Visit https://athleticgreens.com/newheights for a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Arizona Cardinals introduced Monti Ossenfort as their new General Manager today. Ossenfort knocked his introductory press conference out of the park. A lot of times introductory press conferences are surface level, with very cliche'd and coach speak-infused terminology. This wasn't that. Ossenfort was poignant, direct, and has a clear plan on how to begin the overhaul of the Arizona Cardinals organization as a whole. He made it clear that there will be a deep dive into not only future scouting for the team, but also the process by which the Cardinals will scout draft and free agent prospects. It's safe to say the roster of the Arizona Cardinals may be vastly different going into the 2023 NFL season than what it looked like in 2022. First time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That's PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDON BetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! Find and follow Locked On Cardinals on your favorite podcast platforms: Apple https://apple.co/3gzT6Pg Spotify https://spoti.fi/3wsOL7a Audacy https://bit.ly/3xdaqjU Stitcher https://bit.ly/3cFWffn Google https://buff.ly/2yH7WOl Megaphone https://bit.ly/2RUBlC5 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on The Portrait System Podcast, host Nikki Closser interviews Scotland-based photographer Ally Stuart-Ross. Ally switched genres from wedding to newborn in 2020 and applied the Portrait System Business model to her newborn business and quickly experienced amazing growth. If you're looking for inspiration and great education, don't miss out on this interview!To become a member of The Portrait System and learn more about the business of photography, click here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On the twenty-second episode of New Heights, we've been asking you guys who you wanted on the show and there was one name that came up every time, or at least 92% of the time. So we finally got the 5x pro bowler, 4x first-team NFL all-pro, 4x Super Bowl Champion, and one of the best to ever do it, Rob Gronkowski.  In this episode, Jason and Travis get the details about why Gronk is kicking a field goal at the Super Bowl (03:00), the return of “Gronk Beach” (06:20), and acting alongside GILFs (09:15).  We find out whether we'll see Gronk return in the playoffs (11:20), why he's got an eye on the Buffalo Bills (17:00), why the Patriots were already yelling at him on Draft Day (20:30), and how he ended up at the University of Arizona (29:50).  Travis and Jason get the behind-the-scenes stories from Gronk's rookie year with the Patriots (32:50), his first time meeting Tom Brady (35:50), the insanity that was trying to block Brandon Spikes (41:00), why Belichick is the greatest coach of all time (42:35), where he thinks Brady goes next (47:3-), and his welcome to the NFL moment with Vince Wilfork (48:50).  Gronk opens up about what it's been like to constantly get compared to Travis and what TE records he hopes never get broken (51:10), why Jeremy Shockey was his TE role model (58:15), how the position has changed (01:00:50), and who's the next TE to watch out for (01:04:10).  Finally, we get Gronk's POV on some of our signature segments with his Mt. Rushmore of NFL brothers (01:10:30), our not-dumb question about animals playing football (01:14:0), Gronk's advice to his younger self (01:19:00), and his stamp of the week that you absolutely don't see coming (01:21:20). Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce every Wednesday during the NFL season & check us out on Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok for all the best moments from the show. Merch: https://homage.com/newheights Find the best candidates for your team fast with ZipRecruiter. Try it for FREE today at https://ZipRecruiter.com/NEWHEIGHTS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Doug Conant is an internationally renowned business leader, New York Times bestselling author, and social media influencer with over 40 years of leadership experience. Doug was President of Nabisco Foods Company, CEO of Campbell Soup Company and Chairman of Avon Products. In 2011 he founded Conant Leadership. www.conantleadership.comIn this interview, topics included how to survive and thrive in a VUCA world - Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous, can CEO's continue to run companies by the "seat of their pants", how important it is to be INTENTIONAL in our leadership journey, and we covered some information from his latest book The Blueprint: 6 Practical Steps to Lift Your Leadership to New Heights.Find Doug Conant on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougconant/ AND on Twitter https://twitter.com/DougConantFind your host Marty Wolff on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/martywolffceo/. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Squiz is your shortcut to the news. More details and links to further reading for all of today's news can be found in The Squiz Today email. Click here to get it in your inbox each weekday morning. You can listen to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament Squiz Shortcut here. See Vogue's Golden Globes red carpet gallery here. Other things we do: Squiz Shortcuts - a weekly explainer on big news topics Squiz Kids - a news podcast for curious kids. Age-appropriate news without the nasties!

On the twenty-first episode of New Heights, Jason and Travis react to some of your incredible fan art (01:35) and we answer another of your not-dumb questions, “Which animal could actually play on a football team?” (08:03)   We react to both the Eagles and the Chiefs clinching the #1 seeds in the playoffs and how the playoff bye week impacts players physically and mentally. (17:24) Travis breaks down how the Chiefs “Ring Around the Rosie” play actually happened against the Raiders (26:15) and shares some of his favorite stories of his decade with Coach Reid (32:12).  Jason gives us a look into what it was like having Jalen “The System” Hurts back in the huddle (41:58) and how this Eagles record-setting offense took flight this season (44:48).  The guys look at some of the wildest storylines from Week 18 in the NFL from the electric opening kickoff return in the Bills game (50:30), to Lovie Smith going out winning (53:57), the Lions upsetting the Packers (57:30), and why we don't see college coaches succeed in the NFL (01:00:54).  And finally, since we don't have a Chiefs or Eagles game to preview, we thought we would take a look back on the NFL regular season and hand out the first-ever New Heights Awards, The Newsies! (01:06:05) Categories include; the New Best Friend Awards, Stat line of the Year, The Shit We Didn't See Coming, and more!  Lastly, we need your help deciding our New Heights Stamp of the year (01:26:50) so hit us up on social media @NewHeightShow or email us at Newheightshow@gmail.com with your submissions.  Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce every Wednesday during the NFL season & check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show. Merch: https://homage.com/newheights  Visit https://www.nerdwallet.com/ to compare and find top cash back credit cards, savings accounts, and more!  Download the Seat Geek app and use Code KELCE for 15% off NFL Playoff Tickets (max discount $50) Don't miss out on all the action this week at DraftKings! Download the DraftKings app today and sign-up using OUR promo code NEW HEIGHTS Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. See terms at draftkings.com. Visit https://athleticgreens.com/newheights for a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Clark is in his 60s...and he's a pole vaulter. Before you start processing the dichotomy of that statement in your mind, check out the show. How pole vaulting specifically, and rekindling his athletic and physically active days from his childhood, saved his life will emerge clearly...and it will inspire you to soar to new heights in your life too. For now, sit back, relax, listen closely and of course... ENJOY! Want to learn more about John, his pole vaulting exploits, his writing background, and his passion for helping people his age reclaim their youth? Head to johnclarkfitness.com, johnhenryiii.com and facebook.com/john.clark.393/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/victor-fernandes46/message

Hear how to build workplaces where everyone is valued  This podcast interview is exceptional. Just listen to Maria Colacurcio tell you about her journey and think about your own. Her career has spanned many different industries, propelling her to leadership positions in innovative companies. Our conversation took us through those profound experiences and unexpected moments that can transform our lives in new ways. Others often accelerated her career, seeing her talent and advocating for her. She speaks about learning on the job and being excited when new career opportunities opened up for her. She also provides wisdom to other women and men trying to build more diverse, equitable and inclusive organizations, and how women are changing our society, a step and then a leap at a time. Enjoy. Watch and listen to our conversation here Maria's mantra: "When preparation meets opportunity" Today, Maria is CEO of Syndio, a SAS startup helping companies worldwide create an equitable workplace for all employees, regardless of gender, race or ethnicity. Before Syndio, she co-founded Smartsheet.com, which went public in 2018. She then spent three years at Starbucks, one of the first Fortune 50 companies to go public with pay equity results. As a CEO, she is walking the walk on eradicating workplace inequities, serving on the board of the nonprofit Fair Pay Workplace and having been named one of the 100 most exceptional entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs Builders + Innovators Summit for two consecutive years. While her professional career has been exceptional, I was particularly impressed with how Maria wove into our conversation that she is the mother of seven children, gets up before 5am, works for an hour, and then works out. After listening to our interview, let us know how you are growing in your own personal and professional life and who is helping you along the way: Info@simonassociates.net. To connect with Maria, you can find her on LinkedIn and Twitter. Is DEI really possible in today's woprkplaces? Yes! Check out these 3 podcasts Maureen Berkner Boyt—Diversity and Inclusion: Let's Go Beyond Hoping and Make Inclusion Really Happen Rohini Anand—Can Businesses Create Cultures Based On True Diversity, Equity and Inclusion? Kim Graham Lee—How To Build A Culture Where Men And Women Truly Support Each Other Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants   Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. I'm your host and your guide. And as we come together for all of our podcasts, I want to celebrate my audience because we're in the top 5% of global podcasts. And I thank you for your support for sharing and collaborating with us on great ideas. My job is to help you do something that's very painful: to see, feel and think in new ways so that you can soar. And I love to bring you my guests because they're going to give you some insights about their own journey, and about how you can get some key takeaways on how you can build your own career, your business or wherever you're doing. So today, I have Maria Colacurcio. And Maria is smiling at me because I'm so delighted to have her here. We're in the process of writing our next book, Women Mean Business. Maria has a whole chapter in it. And in sharing her wisdom, I was just absolutely impressed with who this woman is, what she has done and why she's a wonderful person for you to know more about. Let me tell you about her bio. She's passionate about helping companies build equitable workplaces, where every worker is valued for who they are and their contributions that sort of sets the stage for what she's doing today. And she'll tell you more about it. And Maria is CEO of Syndio, a growth startup, it's really on its way. She helps companies around the world create equitable workplaces, for all employees, regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity. My clients tell me how difficult it is to know whether or not they're paid the same salaries for the same job depending on who the people are, and whether or not they're really doing it intentionally or by chance. Well, give the data to Syndio and next thing you know, you have a really good database, and you know what's going on. Prior to Syndio, Maria co-founded smartsheet.com and went public in 2018. She spent three years at Starbucks. But she started her career working on congressional campaigns and has a long history of mission-driven work, and a compassionate and competitive attitude to spur change. She's smiling. Sometimes when you hear yourself coming back and you go, oh, who is that? And is that really me? She serves on the board of the nonprofit Fair Pay Workplace, and has been named one of the 100 most exceptional entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs' Builders and Innovators Summit for two consecutive years. She went to Whitworth University where she studied history, political science, and minored in music and studied vocal opera. Isn't that a beautiful Renaissance woman we have? Maria, thank you for joining me today. I truly appreciate it. Now, your turn to tell the audience who is Maria, what's your journey been like? I can read a bio, but you make it come alive. And it's so rich. Please, who's Maria? Maria Colacurcio: Yeah, thank you so much for having me today. It's just a delight to be here. And I've had such a great time collaborating with you on the book. And I'm so looking forward to seeing the 99 other women who are profiled in that. So I am sort of, as you stated, I think I have a very nonlinear path in many, many ways in my life and career. And I think it all culminates in this idea and experience around how do you think about a growth mindset as it actually unfolds in front of you? And for me, when I think about being a history major, going to a very liberal arts-oriented college, being a first generation college grad. I grew up in a very strong Italian American family. My dad and my Italian uncles all served in different branches of the military, none had ever gone to college. So it was really important to my parents that the four of us kids go get an education. And they made that very, very clear to us. So I think being a first gen college grad, it sets you up for your career in a way that you don't even really know what to expect because you haven't had a model to follow in terms of looking at a parental set that sort of did college and then did their entry level internship. You don't really know what to do. So I think as I sort of took the twists and turns of a very nonlinear path, one of the things that it really made clear to me is, I want to be that mentor for other folks that may not have a model to follow in terms of what are the right moves to make. How do you look at a door that may open just a crack and have the courage and confidence to kick it open and go pursue something that might not be the exact sort of choice that most people would make in that situation? So I think to sum it up, non-traditional start in terms of where I ended up as the CEO of a SAS software company. But I also think that's exactly what women need. Women need to have role models who have come from different and diverse backgrounds and are forging ahead and not necessarily looking like CEOs typically look. And so that's something I'm really, really passionate about. Andi Simon: As I'm listening to you, I'm smiling as you're smiling because the absence of role models. So I had a program at Washington University to help women entrepreneurs, and they all said, We need some role models. If you can't see it, you can't be it. And you somehow managed to move your way through things trusting in yourself, not necessarily with a mentor. Were there others who were giving you guidance, or there's some interesting stories you might share about how you began to migrate through? You had different career points, not all leading to something, but all leading somewhere? It was very interesting listening to your bio. Maria Colacurcio: Thank you. I think I owe a lot to other folks, other people who were generous with their time and their experience. And one of the reasons that I am so active in the words that I choose when I talk about our accomplices. So some people use the word allies, but in my career, in my life, the folks that have been in the ring with me fighting for things like equality for folks in the workplace, whether it's gender, race, ethnicity, looking across intersections, the folks that have been in the ring with me, they're accomplices, they're in the fight, back-to-back, holding swords, forging our way ahead. And I certainly personally had that experience. I had a lot of white men in power, who made it a point, for whatever reason, typically a personal case, whether it was something they had experienced or seen a loved one experience, where they had decided they were going to be an accomplice in this fight. And because of that, they took it upon themselves to really put the time in. I had several folks at Starbucks who really mentored me and helped me understand a couple of new areas around pay equity, what was the legislation, what was the process with external counsel, what was the math, all of these things that are the underpinnings to what I do today that I would have had no idea had they not taken the time. And the second example, I think, was when I was hired at Syndio, the CEO, I was hired by people who took a chance on me. I had never been a CEO. I had co-founded a startup that was very successful, but I co-founded it from the seat of marketing and communications. I never led anything as that person in the seat of CEO. So they had to take a chance. They had to say, "We're going to take a chance on this person. And if she doesn't have everything we need, we're going to figure out how to support her." Now, the flip side of that is, I have so much privilege because I'm a white woman. And so if you think about the leg up that I had, it's now incumbent upon me to make sure I'm taking that privilege and bestowing it and helping others make sure that they have those growth opportunities that I had. Andi Simon: I love your story, because you're right, we have an obligation to lift up and to share. But also there is to your point, there's no straight line. And it's not as if there's a ladder we're climbing. We're sort of exploring, and people see something and pluck us up and put us into roles. You know, this imposter syndrome stuff is so interesting. I've always been an imposter. You know, I was SVP of one bank, and EVP of another bank. They all thought I knew more than I knew. I never knew what I didn't know. But in fact, it was okay, we were bold and courageous. And there were always accomplices who wanted to help us move somewhere and they weren't afraid or worried either. As you're doing this, are there some really important lessons that you've learned about how to find the right ones because I had some bad ones along the way. And I never like to share them too often because I want them to go away. But I also know, being an anthropologist, that change is painful. The guys aren't all sitting there saying, "Oh, please come in and take my job. I know you can do a better job than I can do. But why can't I do that job or I don't know, maybe you can't do a better job than me." So the complexity of this means that we need to stand out in some fashion. And as you're helping others move up, they need a great story to tell so that they can pass through this. Your thoughts? Maria Colacurcio: Yeah, I think that's exactly right. I think you've got to take chances when you get them because then again, as you're walking down sort of the corridor of your life's experience as it relates to your career specifically, you'll walk by doors that are open just a crack. And I think our natural response, particularly as women, is to say, Well, I have no business trying to peek into that door that's open just a crack, that's for someone else. That's for someone with more experience, better skills, but more confidence. And I think when you have someone sort of on the other side holding it open for you saying, "Just give it a shot. I've got your back if things go sideways," that's the confidence you need to walk through. And I had that at Starbucks. There was a woman who really took it upon herself to guide me. And I had been in marketing and communications my entire career, and a role opened in finance, working on a team doing enterprise operational planning for the CFO and doing deep finance, work that I had never done before. I was terrified. I was a history major, I was a writer, I was a marketing and communications person, but this woman said, "You gotta do it and here's why: because you're an entrepreneur and if you want to continue fostering leadership and capabilities that will help you run a fortune 500 company someday, you have to understand GAAP and non GAAP, you have to understand these financial terms" that at the time seemed absolutely terrifying to me. But knowing that I had her there, her name was Carrie, and knowing she had my back, it gave me the confidence I needed to sort of walk through the door. And those are the moments I think that are really turning points in a person's career when they're willing to make that nonlinear pivot because they know they have somebody behind them. Andi Simon: You know, we tend to think of our own stories as we share this story. So my story begins to come through because I was a tenured anthropology faculty member, and my husband introduced me to Citibank. And they said, Why don't you come and be a consultant? And I said, Sure, why not? And I had no idea whether it could lead somewhere or not. But what was interesting, being a woman, as you're describing it, is that it was okay to take a step in a new direction, without any linearity to it. But once we got going with it, you say, I can do that. And then where does that take you? But you've been in different kinds of companies. Is your journey different with them? You know, somebody saw you and said, Why don't you try this? Or you went public? And so you can move on to something else? You know, how did you move from one stage to the next? Maria Colacurcio: Yeah, so early in my career when I was in Washington, D.C., working at the Smithsonian, at the National Museum of American History, and then went on to work at a firm that supported nonprofits through nonprofit management, it was as random as meeting a woman. And this is what really happened. I met a woman at a dinner party who said, "You need to be in tech, my company's hiring right now. You would be so great." I was like "Tech? I know nothing about tech. I'm a history major. I've been on congressional campaigns. I work at a history museum." And she said, "Come interview for my company, we're hiring someone in marketing, your background would be perfect. We need a great communicator, communication skills are a big need right now." She really got it, she really got that concept of skills over experience. So I was like, What the heck sounds interesting. The tech boom was going strong. And so I flew to San Francisco, and I interviewed for this startup company. And it was a really technical startup, it was an Israeli-based startup. All the folks that work there were former Israeli military, because they're all encouraged and actually, they must serve. And so it was quite technical. But what I realized was, I had this incredible chance. I took the leap, got the job, and moved cross country. And I found that I really loved applying my communication skills to translating these deep technical concepts into things that could help the sales team go out and sell them. And it became this realization for me that's continued, which is, someone might not have the experience, they may not have the matchy matchy experience of 10 years as a B2B professional and enterprise, you know, SAS, sales, marketing, whatever. But they might have the skills to really get it done. And I think that translates to the work that I've done with veterans moving into the corporate environment from former active duty and applying those skills as operational pieces of expertise. I worked with this incredible woman named Kelly McCoy who was one of the first female colonels in Afghanistan and Iraq. And she taught me so much about this because she was so brilliant. And the way she translated that experience to running operations at Starbucks was incredible. I think you can extend it to moms who have spent a couple of years out of the workforce caring for young children. What are the skills they're gaining that you can apply back to work? Do they have to go back in their career five, six years? Or can you actually give them credit for some of the things they're doing? And I think that started very early when I realized through experience, that wow, I do have something to offer here. I can make this work. Andi Simon: Now you have seven children. Maria Colacurcio: I do! Andi Simon: And you got funding in the middle of being 8 months pregnant with your seventh. I don't think there's a way here to push past the stereotypes in such a way that our listeners can begin to understand that yes, you can carve for yourself your own personal story that others immediately grab hold of you, and your point about serendipity should not be underestimated. You were at a dinner party, you were talking to someone, you weren't selling yourself, but she pulled from what your story was immediately and said you'd be perfect. And then you get into tech, and you're not quite sure what you're doing, but you have the skills and the comfort to translate the tech into understandable communication. And then as we move along, and I do think that having seven children, or two or three, teaches us a whole lot about navigating complicated worlds, because nothing is simple at all, the personalities aren't that different than the ones you're going to run in a company. But as you're looking at it, then it leaves you with the sense of, Of course I can. And now it's at Syndio, you're growing something that is so needed in such an innovative way. Are there some key insights from this, this company in particular, because it's intended to do exactly what you want passionately to do, which is create the equality, power and position for women and men so that we don't have this kind of battleground going on. Maria Colacurcio: Yeah, thank you. Yes, exactly. Syndio is our workplace equity analytics platform. So what we do is, we help Fortune 2000 companies analyze and resolve pay and opportunity gaps that are because of something like gender, race or ethnicity. So we're really looking at how you provide workplace equity. How do you make sure that you're letting data guide the discretion that's inherent to decision-making to get the bias out? There's so much discretion in decisions of compensation and decisions of promotion. Who gets promoted in decisions around who gets that promotable project. And if you let data guide those decisions so that you have a roadmap, you have guidance in terms of what's the right pay range for this person. They may be a great negotiator, but what's the right pay range for them that looks beyond that to see what do other folks make in this same role that are from different genders, different diverse backgrounds, whether that be race, ethnicity, whatever, but really letting data be your guide to ensure that you're providing workplace equity and that workplace equity is really embedded into how the company does business. I think what's exciting right now is that the companies that are doing this, and have been doing this, are actually performing better and are more durable because of it. So this isn't just nice to have when times are good. This is something that needs to be sustained. And I think we're seeing pay transparency legislation accelerate across the country. We're seeing global compliance explode in Western Europe. We're seeing median and mean pay gaps really rise to the top in terms of shareholder proposals and what the activists are talking about, in requiring public companies to do race and gender audits. And I think we're going to see more and more of that. So we really help companies be ready and to use data to guide that discretion, as folks make decisions. Andi Simon: I'm curious about "who I am, and how we do things." Changing culture is a painful process. Humans believe whatever they're doing is true. And I preach that the only truth is no truth. And so when you give them data, and there's some great articles, they've been republished recently about why humans don't read the data or the facts and actually believe them, they believe their own shared mythology about what it is. But, you're watching them actually take the data and turn them into reality. So they begin to believe that in fact, there is a better way to define the job, promoting the job and get the biases out and look at what's factual. What I'm curious about is, what are people actually doing to do that? Hiring new people, training them but beginning to build? Because so often they get the data and do nothing with it. Maria Colacurcio: I think we have a couple of things going for us. Number one, when you have to communicate to your people what you're doing to commit to things like pay equity, which has become table stakes, companies must ensure they are not paying unfairly or that there are parent pay disparities because of something like gender or race. And when you get into this situation where you have to communicate that to your people, you have pay ranges that are now public. You have to communicate to your people, why they're paid what they're paid, because the first question, when someone sees a role that's the same as theirs posted in terms of a company's now hiring, and they've got to publicly post that pay range. The first thing folks look at is, what's the job title and what's the top of the range? And so the next question is going to be, why am I paid what I'm paid? So when companies are forced into a position where they have to communicate with their people, the data all of a sudden becomes not so much a negative but a positive because now it helps you explain, it's this huge benefit around pay explainability. You've got to be able to explain why people are paid what they're paid while they're in the area of the range that they are and the more companies have to explain. Mean and median are another thing. Median reflects representation. So why are some people up at the top? Why are some people in the middle, where some folks are at the bottom, and when you have to explain that, the data all of a sudden becomes to unlock it and it becomes the context. It becomes the story, the narrative as to why these things are happening. And it's the authentic truth. So that's where we've seen an incredible amount of momentum as companies have had to go explain these things. They now have these data visualizations to rely on. Andi Simon: Don't you love it? You know, I can only say that quietly, because I hope they love it as much as I love hearing about it because transformation is so hard. Data can be so transformational if you believe it and you use it, and if others are asking for it and make sense out of it. So I think it's really propelled the moment that is really propelling us to the next stage. And if businesses can do so better, and retain people better, and grow them better with the data, that bias can really get diminished. It never goes away, but at least it can become far less powerful. Wow, exciting! You know, I could talk to you all afternoon and this is really a wonderful time, but I also know that my listeners like about a half hour together. As we're going to wrap up, are there two or three things that you think are takeaways? Things you can do? Some of them are serendipities right in front of you, but for you some things that you'd like them to be able to actually maybe do when they leave. Maria Colacurcio: Yeah, I think one quote that sticks with me and I don't even know who said it, but it's: You get lucky when preparation meets opportunity. It's something that I try to live by because I'm a preparer and I work really hard. And I prepare for everything in my life, from the personal side with the kiddos and my husband and putting time and effort into my relationships. And also saying no to a lot of things that go against the goals that I have. A lot of people ask me all the time, like, how do you do it all? I have the same amount of time as everyone else but there's a lot of things that I say no to in order to have time for the things that I really care about. And are those decisions difficult sometimes? But when you're really clear about what you're trying to prepare for, and what your targets are, that sets you in a position to have that luck when your preparation does meet opportunity. So I think that's number one. I think number two: thinking about skills over experience and thinking about how you communicate your skills. So going back to communications and the power of communications, when you think about your skills as a whole, not necessarily your experience, but how do you talk about your trajectory and your nonlinear journey? And can you talk about yourself in a way that's more wholly encompassing of who you are as a person versus what you do right now? Or maybe what your last career choice was? I think that can be incredibly beneficial. And for companies, I think just understanding this moment of transparency, if you can look at it as an opportunity. Right now there's a tidal wave coming in terms of transparency around workplace equity. Instead of waiting and being a laggard, taking this opportunity to be one of the first to dive into the center of the tidal wave to figure out: How do I embed this into the core of my company and take advantage of some first mover opportunities here. I think companies are going to see a huge leg up as it relates to employee loyalty and retention and keeping those high performers that you want to keep, even in times of incredible volatility. Andi Simon: And they are very volatile. I think McKinsey's latest research on women in the workplace 2022 said: There's a great breakup happening. Women are leaving, they're frustrated for all the things that could help them turn around, and they're not getting the pay equity they're looking for. They don't see upward mobility. They don't have the sponsorship or the mentorship and they are just saying, "I've had enough. I'm going to find another path. Let me open up entrepreneurial opportunities for myself or new types of businesses emerging." But, remember that women represent 60% of the kids in college. They graduate, they've got lots of talent, and they are tremendously capable of doing many things, including raising seven children at the same time you're CEO of a company. And if nothing else, Maria is a wonderful role model for how you can do all the things that matter, including saying no when you don't think it fits into what's important to you. This has just been terrific. Let me wrap up for our listeners and our viewers. Thank you so much for coming. Keep sending me those emails. I love to share with you. And at the end of the day, whether it's collaboration, or they're allies with you in some fashion, but they're all trying to help us move in a new direction. That puts all of us on the climb of trying to figure out how to do this right and how to do it even better. And I'm always delighted to share with you our my two books, On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights and Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business, and my third book is coming out and I can't tell you a lot about it yet, but it'll be coming out in September of 2023. Maria has a chapter in it that you are going to love to read. It's just a great time to celebrate 100 amazing, trailblazing women who mean business, and they really do. Thank you for coming today. Maria, thank you again. It's been a pleasure. Bye bye now. Have a great day. Bye Bye.v

GALA Token Goes Hollywood: A-List Partnerships Propel Cryptocurrency to New Heights Follow Me On Twitter => https://twitter.com/AltcoinPodcast And on Youtube here => https://www.youtube.com/@AltcoinPodcast/featured --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/cryptopodcast/support

Brian gets out for a full 18 in the midst of winter, the boys get a new toy, and more! Don't forget to check out the new Prism Collection range finders from Pinned Golf, available in 6 different colors. Click the link below for 10% off! Link: https://pinnedgolf.com/?ref=LifeInTheRough

Not our usual episode this week, right now with only one topic on everyone's mind it felt right to dedicate our entire video to discussing the incident that happened during Monday Night Football involving Bills Safety Damar Hamlin. The thoughts and prayers from everyone here at New Heights are with Damar, his family, and everyone from the Bills and Bengals organizations. Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce every Wednesday during the NFL season & check us out on Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok for all the best moments from the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are coming to the end of another eventful year, another 12 month bundle of opportunities, challenges, plenty of highlights and some definite unforeseen low lights. Hopefully you are about to embark on a well-deserved break. This is exactly what the inside influence team and myself will be doing. So over the next few weeks we are going to be taking a festive step back to rest up, recalibrate and re-inspire ourselves for 2022. However, if you need some inspiration to get you thinking and planning for next year, we have you covered. Our holiday season of power cuts or power minis are back. Our next power cut episode is Doug ConantDoug Conant is the only former Fortune 500 CEO who is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author, a Top 50 Leadership Innovator, a Top 100 Leadership Speaker, and one of the 100 Most Influential Authors in the World. A devoted leadership practitioner and teacher, Doug's 45-year career has been defined by achieving high performance through an intentional commitment to studying, practicing, improving, and spreading the tenets of “leadership that works.” He is Founder and CEO of ConantLeadership, former President and CEO of Campbell Soup Company and former Chairman of Avon Products. His Wall Street Journal bestselling book, co-authored with Amy Federman, is called ‘The Blueprint: 6 Practical Steps to Lift Your Leadership to New Heights'. He is also the New York Times bestselling co-author of ‘TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments'. In this conversation we dive into:How to build your own personal leadership model. To be honest I was a bit stunned with this one, it just hadn't occurred to me that you could create your own - read one in a book ‘yes', inherit one from a mentor ‘yes' - but write your own? Put it on paper and then commit to showing up for it? That's a different ball game.And why developing your own leadership blueprint provides the ultimate foundation for dealing with the winds of your life. As a leader AND as a human being.If you enjoy this powercut episode and would like to hear my full conversation with Doug Conant please head over to my website juliemasters.com or listen at all the usual places #itunes #spotify #googleplay #stitcher. For now sit back, relax and enjoy my powercut conversation with Doug Conant. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fossils from the "Cambrian explosion" supposedly over 500 million years old have been found with soft tissues well preserved.  The ability of "nature" to preserve organic material seems to have no limits!

On the nineteenth episode of New Heights, Jason and Travis react to being named Sports Illustrated's “Podcast of the Year” (2:00), we have an update on the fanbase name suggestions (5:30), and we answer the not-dumb questions, “What do head coaches do during games if they don't call plays?” (9:00) We then jump into Travis finally getting on the scoreboard against Geno Smith (17:50), why nipples are nature's thermostats (20:30), and find out who had the idea to give Andy Reid a cheeseburger for Christmas (24:10). Jason recaps the Eagles game in Dallas (28:15), what Gardner Minshew is really like to play with (30:35), and why December football already feels like the playoffs (35:30).  Later, we take a look back at some of Jason and Travis' favorite Pro Bowl Memories of the Bennett Brothers (44:00), we try to figure out what's going on in Broncos' Country (49:25), if the Mac Jones tackle was actually dirty (52:30), how they would handle the bizarre playoff scenario in the ACF South (59:10), and react to the new JJ Watt is retiring (01:01:05).  We close out with a look ahead to week 17 as the Eagles try and wrap up the #1 seed against the Saints (01:09:45) and the Chiefs try to stay in the hunt for first place against the Broncos (01:12:43).  Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce every Wednesday during the NFL season & check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show. Merch: https://homage.com/newheights  Don't miss out on all the action this week at DraftKings! Download the DraftKings app today and sign-up using OUR promo code NEW HEIGHTS Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. See terms at draftkings.com. Visit https://athleticgreens.com/newheights for a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. Protect your online activity TODAY with the VPN rated #1 by Business Insider. Visit my exclusive link https://ExpressVPN.com/newheights and you can get an extra 3 months FREE on a one-year package. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To create both time freedom and financial freedom you have to create repeatable business systems, processes and checklists for everything. Once you've created these systems you then need to decide what kind of business model you will adopt.

On the eighteenth episode of New Heights, we get a peek inside an NFL locker room during the Holidays (05:40), hear how Jason and Travis almost ruined Christmas one time growing up (14:02), and we have another amazing installment of “No Dumb Questions,” (16:50). Thank you guys for sending so many great not dumb questions. Keep them coming. Also, Travis explains how we might not be giving enough credit to the 1-win Texans after they took the Chiefs to OT (25:52), what ridiculous record Patrick Mahomes might break next (31:50), and how Shannon Sharpe has been an incredible mentor throughout his career (33:10).  Jason lets us know that the Chicago cold hits just a little bit differently (45:18), how the Eagles D-Line keeps putting up historic numbers (52:25), and what he said to Justin Fields after the game (54:20).  Then we look at the absolutely insane week 15 in the NFL. We hit everything from why we had so many one-score games (56:05), the Vikings' record-breaking comeback (59:50), maybe the first-ever snowball warning in Buffalo (01:03:36), and the completely unbelievable ending to the Patriots/Raiders game (01:05:40).  We wrap with a look ahead to Week 16 with Jason's thoughts on the Micah Parson comments (01:16:20) before the Cowboys game and how Travis is prepping for his shot to maybe finally get a win over Geno Smith (01:21:43). Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce every Wednesday during the NFL season & check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show. Merch:https://homage.com/newheights  Don't miss out on all the action this week at DraftKings! Download the DraftKings app today and sign-up using OUR promo code NEW HEIGHTS Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. See terms at draftkings.com. Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/NEWHEIGHTS to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more. Visit https://athleticgreens.com/newheights for a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's So Scandalous is discussing the topic that has been on everyone's lips for the past week: Kyle Sandilands and Brittany Hockley's slut-shaming of Abbie Chatfield. Including the extreme lengths, Brittany and her co-host Laura Byrne are going to censor their Life Uncut listeners and sweep this whole thing under the rug like it never happened. PLUS it's not the first time Brittany and Laura have slut-shamed Abbie. PLUS LOTS MORE! Listen to the bonus Patreon episode 'Britt Hockley's DIVA antics, receipts for "slut-shaming" Abbie Chatfield AND being bi-phobic to Brooke Blurton!' here! Purchase the VUSH Empress 2 here! Use discount code 'SODRAMATIC60' FOR 60% off! Shop their full range of products on Instagram! Want more of the latest gossip? So Dramatic! has a BRAND NEW podcast - 'So Dramatic! DAILY!' Visit the SO DRAMATIC! ONLINE website and sign up for our newsletter! Follow So Dramatic! on INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, TIK TOK, and join the PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP! Get extra hot tea on PATREON! Got a hot tip, request, question, or receipts? Contact: tips@sodramaticmedia.com Got a media enquiry? Contact: hello@sodramaticmedia.com For partnerships and advertising enquiries please contact: Megan@sodramaticmedia.com This is an independent podcast by entertainment journalist Megan Pustetto, who is dedicated to bringing you the hottest tea to your ears each week! The best way you can support So Dramatic! is by subscribing, leaving a (gushing!) review, (five star!) rating and super spreading the word on social media with your followers (or haters!) - you will be doing God's work!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this final episode of season two, Joey and Tyler discuss topic of unity by critiquing a series on abortion by New Heights Church that attempts to force false unity between the pro-life and the pro-abortion attendees. Link to the series critiqued in this episode: shorturl.at/jCJMOCHECK OUT OUR NEW MERCHANDISE WEBSITE AT https://unmasked-mbc.myshopify.comTitle: Why Unmasked Is Anti Rape/Murder but You Don't Have to Be? The New Heights of “Private Christianity”Season Number: 2Episode Number: 6To contact, email us at: unmaskedmbc@gmail.comVisit our podcast website at: https://unmasked.buzzsprout.comFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unmaskedpodcastpnw/Unmasked is a ministry of Master's Bible Church: https://www.mastersbiblechurch.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/mastersbiblechurchCredits- Opening Song Clip: "Relief" by Wolves At The Gate, found in their Reprise EP album; used by permission of the author- Closing Sound Clip: Steven Lawson preaching the sermon titled "It Will Cost You Everything"#prolife #life #abortion #murder #unity  #unityinchrist #trueunity #sounddoctrine #christcentered #falseunity [is] #newheightschurch #newheights #washingtonstate #portland #vancouverKeywords: christ, church, sin, repent, unity, scripture, racism, abortion

Flying Solo as a business owner is not always the best way to grow. Many times, having someone by your side is very helpful. Danielle Levy is The Business Growth Co-Pilot who can help you take your business to new heights. She's a "systems" person who can "see" your business with fresh eyes. Then she provides workable solutions that she and her team can implement for you should you choose. This is an energy-packed interview that can help you reach your destination faster and with less stress. Learn more about Danielle here.

Hear how to refuse to be held back, especially as a woman  I listened to Kerry Flynn Barrett give a marvelous talk recently about burnout for the Westchester Business Council and couldn't wait to share her ideas and insights with our fans. Careers like hers are common among many women I know who have started in a corporate job, moved up the ladder to higher positions in leadership, and then took off to form their own business. Kerry has done just that, and now she is building an exceptional business serving as a fractional CHRO officer and also a business partner and solutions provider. Do you wish to do this too? Listen in! Watch and listen to our conversation here Faced with a wall? Like Kerry, leap over it! In some ways, Kerry Barrett reflects the tensions women in business and corporations are feeling today. Perhaps exaggerated by the pandemic, women are abandoning the corporate ladder to find their own purpose and passion, much like she has done. Kerry spent her entire career in healthcare as a Human Resources executive. She, like so many women, has found that the wave of consolidations taking place these days strips employees, particularly women, of their roles and responsibilities, as centralization moves the decision-making process into other departments. So what do smart women like Kerry do? They craft another pathway and make it work for them. Women today are fleeing dead-end workplaces and starting their own businesses. As you listen to our conversation, think about your own path. Where are you on that corporate ladder? Give serious consideration to what you want to do with your life. As was clearly apparent in the McKinsey “Women in the Workplace 2022” report that came out in October 2022, women are finding the corporate world neither open to their expertise nor accommodating to their talent and ambition. Rather than trying to find a niche, they are leaving rigid workplaces to find others that see them as talented contributors, not women looking for a job. In some ways, many women I know, including myself, have had to confront the limits which corporations offer and discover other avenues where we can contribute, have a personal and professional purpose, and earn an excellent income. Perhaps it is time for business and corporate leaders to see what they are missing and rethink the place of women in their organizations. The women aren't waiting. In fact, they are very smart ladies on their own missions to build better businesses. To connect with Kerry, you can find her on LinkedIn, Twitter, or her website, or email her at kfb@flynnbarrett.com. Want to find a better workplace environment or strike out on your own? Start here: Blog: Businesses Must Sustain Diversity And Inclusion For Women Podcast: Christina Sistrunk—Is There Magic To Excel As A Strong Woman In A Man's Industry? Podcast: Jodi Flynn—How To Go From Dreaming To Doing, At Work And In Life Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants   Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. I'm your host and your guide. And as I say in every podcast, my job is to get you off the brink. Remember, this all came about after my first book, On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights, was published and won an award. And everybody said, How do I get off the brink? And there's no better way to do it than to listen to the speakers on this podcast talk about how you can get better at whatever you're doing to change. Remember, people hate to change. And so our job is to make change your friend, embrace change, and see things through a fresh lens. And I say that because we decide with the eyes and with the heart and how it feels. And then our brains get engaged and you begin to think about it. So today, I'm absolutely delighted to have with me Kerry Flynn Barrett, and let me tell you about Kerry. Kerry gave a talk at the Westchester Business Council not too long ago. And I was just intrigued by her presentation. That topic was on burnout. But what was most interesting was her perspectives that came from a healthcare background, like my own. I did that for seven years in healthcare as an executive. I wasn't a nurse as she was, but I sure understood the feelings that you get when you're working with an organization of over 2500 or 5000 people, all of whom work hard to make your life better. And then she launched her business not long ago to be, of all things, a Chief Human Resource Officer. And she's going to tell you a little bit more about her journey. But the question she's asking is, Are you an organization that understands that people are your most valuable assets? And I must tell you, coming out of the pandemic, people are reaching out to us and asking us what to do because everything's changed. Managing individuals with individual needs and roles is challenging for even the best companies, and managing people is the hardest job, full stop. In fact, we can't get anything done as leaders or managers without followers. And why do people follow you? Are they bystanders? Are they invested in what you're doing? Do they believe in you? Every leader asked me the same question: "How do I get things done through others?" To begin with, how about with others instead of through them? It's an interesting question. Kerry, thank you for joining me today. Kerry Flynn Barrett: Thank you Andi so much for having me. It's such a pleasure. Andi Simon: Well, it was a pleasure to meet you. But let's tell our listeners and our viewers about your own journey. You have a great story to share. Please share it. Kerry Flynn Barrett: Sure. So I believe very strongly in the fact that we are all "a person" from the start. It doesn't mean that's what our journey will be where we began. So I began as a nurse. I have worked in healthcare for so many years. But that doesn't mean that's the only place where my journey was. So I was a nurse, an ICU and emergency department nurse, for over 12 years. And I love doing what I did. But then I switched over to the world of HR. And I worked in that field for 25 or so years, and loved every minute of it, really, truly. It's such a fascinating world. And when you think about it, it's all about working with people, right?, nursing, and HR. It's all about working with people and coming up with different strategies. And as I have said, and what I work in in my practice, I use the nursing process all the time in my practice. So it's all about that process. It's about how we assess what's going on in a scenario. We have to listen, as you said, we have to use our eyes. We also have to use our ears. So that's such an important part of my journey in going from nursing into HR. Three years ago, I started my own practice, Flynn Barrett Consulting, right before the pandemic. So probably all of you are saying, Oh my goodness gracious, how do you start a business and then boom, the pandemic hits. So I have been incredibly lucky. Or just happenstance to be in HR at a time in the pandemic when HR was really needed. So it's been quite the journey and even from the time of starting my business, that business has flowed very differently in the three years of time. So I refer to myself as a fractional chief HR officer. So I help companies with their HR strategy. And I use, as I said, the nursing process in what I do with companies. So,often companies come to me because they are having people problems. As we said, in companies, really the most important asset are their people. And this is such a difficult time in the world right now, with people finding new jobs, leaving their organizations, the great resignation. How many people are just really sick of hearing that term? I'm sick of hearing that term, or the other term, which is quiet quitting. I have employers saying to me, or CEOs saying to me, "How do I know that my employees are not quiet quitting?" Well, you know, this is one of the challenges that a lot of companies are facing. So people's problems are huge right now. So it is a lot of fun working at this time. But equally, there are so many challenges that are out there. And it doesn't mean that there is always the perfect solution for one company or if it is exactly the same solution for that next company. Andi Simon: Well, you know, Kerry, when we were preparing for this, I mentioned that we have several leadership academies. And the topic is around how does one get things done with others? That's the essence of a company. And sometimes people come to me and say, "We have an enormous retention problem. It's our culture, we want to go back to the culture of pre-pandemic." But what was that culture of pre pandemic? I love the Financial Times, my favorite reading in the morning, and its tremendous insights. In France, for example, they insist that you do not work on the weekends. You have your private time. Talking about burnout. And now I think Portugal and Spain have adopted this as well. The hardest part when you're remote working, is: what is the weekend? The weekend? And how do you do it? And then you have a hybrid? And there was great research from McKinsey, I was just reading, where women are perfectly happy not going back. And how are they using the time that they're not commuting? Well, they're doing all kinds of fulfilling things. Remember that work-life balance? Well, it got imbalanced, because now I have time to do life. And so there are real transformations going on. And as you shake your head, yes, our listeners, she's shaking her head. The question is, What are you seeing in your process analysis to help a client listening to think through what would I do now to begin to assess the major questions that are facing us as employers and employees to get our businesses really thriving? Your thoughts? Kerry Flynn Barrett: Well, I will tell you, very often, in this time, right now, employers are saying, Should I bring my employees back full time? That seems to be the top question. And my response is by answering it with a question: Why do you need to bring your employees back full time? And so I think it's important for that analysis to be done as to: Is it important for that particular business. And it does depend upon the business. Obviously, if we're talking about the hospitality business, that's a different story, and the healthcare business. Depending upon the position within the business, it makes a difference. If you're talking about a finance position within healthcare, that's a position that could be remote or hybrid, as opposed to a direct caregiver obviously needing to be in-person. So we need to be looking at this very specifically down to those nitty gritty details to make sense of whether or not we're bringing people back. So that makes a very big difference when we're talking about culture. And when I hear companies say, "Oh, I want to go back to what the culture used to be," or "Employees are being very demanding now," I will say, "Well, tell me what you mean by employees being very demanding?" "Well, my employees are saying that they require that they work hybrid." And so my response is always, "Well, is it something that works for your workplace for them to work hybrid?" "Well, yes, it does." "Well, then if it does, why is it that we're calling those employees demanding? Isn't it something that actually is working? And why aren't we working together as a team on what's best for your organization, rather than having more of an argument about it, and fighting about it?" So it's really fascinating because in my lifetime, I think about these demanding employees and I wish I could have been a little bit more demanding as an employee when I was earlier in my career. I probably would have done way better. But I don't think that in many cases, employees are actually being demanding. I think employers are actually looking at some scenarios, and actually looking at them now with rose colored glasses, but looking at them thoughtfully and saying, Does it really make a difference if I'm doing this work at home or in the office? And I recently actually wrote a blog about this. If in fact, we're bringing employees back to the office, and they're sitting in an office, and they're on Zoom calls in the office, what is the point? That just makes absolutely no sense. So then the employees feel like, "Well, you've really kind of duped me, that is just not really treating me as a professional." So if in fact, you have meaningful work for somebody in the office, and that makes sense, then absolutely. But if you don't, then let's really think about that twice. All in all, sit down with your employees, talk with your employees, listen to what their challenges are. Just listen to them for their ideas because they have great thoughts. That's why you hired them. Otherwise, it's not a great reflection on you if you think that you've hired people who aren't that smart. You hired them because they're smart, and you should listen to them. Andi Simon: I love the conversation where it's about feeling. Two things I want to add. I often preach, being an anthropologist as I am, that words create our worlds. And as I'm listening to you, I can hear the leadership, the C-suite, mimicking others who are all too often men thinking about their stature. And they're mastering being in the C-suite. And that is about demand, and owning and controlling the environment in which people are working. And I find that the most exciting clients I have are the ones who are asking the questions with a real openness to change the words that are creating their worlds, that we know that the challenge for humans is, we live the stories in our minds. And there's nothing more frightening than change because the cortisol is flying around there saying, Oh, fear this. But for those who are leading, pause for a moment and change the story: couldn't you be a leader in the next breed of companies that thrive and thrive? Remember, some of the major companies weren't perfect. For example, in a global company with everyone remote, take a look at what people can do if they aren't in the office. And the gig economy has become a really interesting, flexible workforce for you. But it requires you to change your mind. And don't be a copycat. Think about what it is that you can do and create something new. Because everything is new now. It's not what used to be, right? Kerry Flynn Barrett: That's right. It doesn't mean that just because somebody isn't working in front of you, that they're not working. And productivity can be measured in different ways than tracking someone's computer. Andi Simon: Now, that's a big topic. Are we moving to outcomes evaluation as opposed to punch cards? And time? Are we still in a machine model mode of a workplace? Are we managing minds? And I thought, I've been preaching for many years now that we've moved from managing hands to managing minds. But the mindset of coming back into the office feels like, "I kind of manage that person," as opposed to the product. What do you see? Kerry Flynn Barrett: I'm seeing a little bit of both. I'm seeing a little bit of both, and I think it depends upon the particular leader. I think that unfortunately, sometimes past practice or past performance of someone has created a fear factor. So for example, if a particular leader has had someone really perform poorly in the past, they have unfortunately taken that model and said, "Well, because X person did this, I'm not going to allow anybody else to do it." Instead of saying, "Okay, that person was the anomaly. And I'm going to allow others, who are professionals, to rise above and be able to do it." So unfortunately, I'm seeing some of that. And there's just too much of a fear factor. And I think that's because the threat of the recession is there. And I think there's just some fear of the recession and money. So there's a little bit more of that right now. But I think the more progressive leaders, to your point, are just more comfortable in their own skin, and more comfortable in their own practice. And they are very open to saying to the employees, What works best for you. Unless, of course, it is an environment where it is very dictated by, like a creative environment, where they do need to bring people together, for example. Andi Simon: Then we have the challenge of another generation. I often talk about demography is destiny. And so you have a workplace. I mean, I had one great client, whose board were mostly Boomers, and most of his new hires were all the Gen Ys and some Gen Zs. And they had very different ideas about everything. It was like they were foreign languages, both speaking English, but boy, they didn't understand each other at all. And so now you have that added to the mix. Are you finding that as well? Kerry Flynn Barrett: Absolutely, absolutely. But in addition to that, I don't really discuss that much about the generations as much as I discuss empowered workers, because I find that empowered workers can be of any generation. And I think sometimes those in Gen X and Gen Y are just like Millennials who get a bad rap. And they get kind of stereotyped as being difficult. And I don't necessarily find that to be the case always. And so it is funny, though, that I am seeing a lot of the empowered workers versus the seasoned workers, is what I refer to it as. And so there is somewhat of the seasoned workers who feel that the empowered workers need to go through this rite of passage. "We did this and we had to suffer, so therefore, you're going to have to do that." And I don't know, I don't understand that. Why would want anyone to have to go through something and suffer? Andi Simon: The interesting part is to your point, there's nothing reasonable or rational about it. It's a human symbolic transformation of coming from the outside to become part of us, and we control the space. So therefore, you can't get in unless we let you. But remember that Millennials are 50% of the workforce now. The Boomers, hang on tight, because the changes are coming. And somehow you got to embrace it. Kerry Flynn Barrett: Right. And I have said that to some of the companies that I've worked with: "You can stand there kicking and screaming, or you can accept, listen and learn. It's entirely up to you which way that you go. I could make a suggestion." Andi Simon: I actually had one situation where they gave the new hires the job of mentoring those who had been there a while. In other words, How do we introduce you to them instead of them taking charge of you, and you come in and really educate them as to the things that matter, because you are our future, let's face it, and if we can build it together into a future that will thrive. But there are also things you don't know, maybe those are all changed. I have one great client, and their buyers had all retired and their salespeople were calling their buyers, nobody was buying. And they didn't understand why nobody was answering the phone. And as we did the research, the retirees were replaced by 30-somethings, and they didn't answer the phone. And they weren't going to answer the phone, and they weren't going to buy on the phone and maybe because of one relationship. And it was sort of like, But what are we going to do? I said, I think you're gonna change. So you gotta figure this out. We're gonna have to figure it out. Now, when you spoke at the Westchester Business Council, you spoke about burnout. And I don't want to not discuss that, you had some great insights, because this word, you're telling me, let's not talk about the great resignation. I'm sort of looking around and saying, burnout is self-induced. You know, if in France you don't have to work on the weekend, is anyone telling you to work on the weekends? Or is anyone telling you to work all the time? And so can you share with our listeners and our viewers about your perspective on this thing called burning out? Kerry Flynn Barrett: Sure. So for sure. And some of it is self-inflicted. Some people are just naturally driven people, and they want to get ahead. I understand it, I'm a type A through to the core, always was, probably always will be. In my own business, I made the choice on how it is that I want to do things. So I get to work when I want to work. So I changed the whole structure of how I do it. So I understand it. I think that women have a very, very difficult time, especially those who were young in childbearing years and trying to get ahead in the workplace, who are trying to do everything. And I think that our work community isn't always as supportive of them, as it should be. And I don't know that women are equally as supportive of fellow women as we should be. And I think it is not always allowed or thought to be allowed, because of stigmas for somebody to stand up and say that they just really are burnt, they're just really burnt out and they need a break. I don't think a lot of women feel that they have opportunities to make career changes. I don't think that they think that they can take a break, and be able to come back into the workforce successfully. And so I think those are the types of things that we need to do a better job with. I hope we will do a better job with it. There are some groups that are really helping women with that. But I think that that is something that is a real challenge. And I think it is something that is real. And I think that there are corporations, some corporations are very, very helpful and known to be supportive of women in the workplace. Andi Simon: Well, that's an interesting word. Because whether it's gender bias, or it's understanding that women do have to care for children and what's wrong with that, can't we get a childcare center here to make it easier for them, and actually thinking about women as a whole, as opposed to another worker. And it's an interesting time. I always preach, never waste a crisis. Use the pandemic as an opportunity to think big. You know, the women aren't coming back after the pandemic the way the workplace could use them, right?, with a recession. But they just aren't; they basically are looking for jobs or careers that will allow them to balance in a different fashion. They've discovered they can work from home. And I used to coach women who were executives, and they were taking care of the laundry and cooking dinner and working on a computer and taking care of the kids and working on the computer and taking care of meetings and they didn't miss a beat. But they had life in a very different, very interesting fashion. And they said to me, "You know, this is really cool, I can get life done and also work." And I went, Oh, there's some kernels of real interesting stuff. Was it hard? Yes. But life is, unless you're going to be a stay-at-home mom. And that's hard. There isn't a thing, "easy," right? And I used to laugh. People would say, "I have to balance life and work." I said, "Isn't work life? And Isn't life work?" I mean, through words we do create our worlds. So you know, you have a challenging time of it. But as you guys were talking about burnout, there was this sense that if it's not in our hands, and we can't control it, it isn't really in the boss's hands either. And I've heard too many places who have said to their management don't talk about behavioral health, emotional well-being, it's not appropriate for us to talk about. I don't want to talk about it, and I'm saying to myself, Well, maybe it's not a bad time to put it in part of the discussion. Because, you know, 30% of Americans are depressed. And that's not just those who are unhealthy; way more, way more. And you can't simply all deal with it with a pill. So life has become challenging. It's never been easy. But I do think it's an interesting time to really rethink women in the workplace in a way that can be exciting and exhilarating, instead of painful, and why not? 60% of the college graduates are women, they're all smart. They're all looking for good opportunities. So as you're looking ahead, anything coming into your future or ours that we could share? Kerry Flynn Barrett: I do have to say this, Andi, just to go backwards a little bit. 30 years ago, I had a boss who told me that when I walked through the doors, I needed to park my life outside the door, when I walked in. And I had a 6-week old child. I told him that there was absolutely no way that I could ever possibly park my life outside the door. Okay, that was just not humanly possible for me as a thinking, breathing person to do that in order to be able to do my job. And he said, and I learned more from him, and I say this to this day, on what never to do as a boss. During the pandemic, there was a woman I knew who is a C-suite person and her 4-year-old was climbing over her, she was on a Zoom call. And all the other C-suite individuals were men. And she was criticized afterwards by her boss, because of the fact that her child was climbing on her. And she did the same work, just like everybody else. And it was not a problem. And she said to them, she said, "You do realize all of your wives probably were taking care of your children? And my husband was on his business call. And I didn't skip a beat on that call." So why is it that we criticize our women who are doing this? Totally unacceptable. So we have to do a better job. Andi Simon: Did they say anything to her? Or was it just simply her trying to establish the credibility? I mean, I couldn't agree with you and her more. But the attitude was, you know, don't mix that. I mean, "I didn't miss a beat on my call, I perform for you." Kerry Flynn Barrett: I met her boss and he said something to her afterwards that it was inappropriate for her to have her child in the call. So what's going forward? I think that we can do a much better job: for men, for women, for everyone, for transgender, for every single person in the workplace. I think we can be incredibly inclusive. I think that we could do a better job with just general equity. Just hearing about wage equity, thinking about that this morning. What's going on? November 1st is here tomorrow. New York City and Westchester County declaring wage equity. Thank goodness we're doing this. I think it's important for people to know that they have choices in the workplace. And then they should speak their mind. And if the workplace doesn't accept that, then maybe it's just not the right workplace for them. And there are people out there who will help them to find another workplace. So I think that's very important for people to know. Andi Simon: And the times, they are a-changing, like Bob Dylan told us. But I think that we can't go backwards. And when people say the pandemic put women back 30 years, it breaks my heart, but we can't let it happen and we must vote. And mostly for business's sake, our economy depends upon vibrant businesses, and women leading companies are doing amazing jobs. And it's a time for change. So let's embrace change and make it our friend, and see how great things can be. Kerry, one or two things you don't want the listeners to forget. Kerry Flynn Barrett: I just don't want people to stop listening. I mean, I think it's just the most important thing. And to stop and listen, to put your phone down. Don't be looking at your phone while you're listening. Whether or not it's your child, your husband, your employee, whatever it is, I really say to listen. I think that is the one thing that you could do for your employees. That's so important. And every single employee deserves 10 minutes of your time, whether or not it's once a week, once every two weeks. I think that is absolutely critical. And if you tell me you don't have time for that, then you and I could really talk, and we could talk about how you could better use your time that would help you so that you can find that 10 minutes of time. Andi Simon: And to add to that, that when you listen, try and stay focused on what they are saying, not what you're thinking, because our minds are trying to take the words they're saying and make sense out of them in the story that we have in our mind, not really what you're hearing. And I'll only tell you how many times in our careers, it wasn't what they said, it's what we heard. And it had nothing to do with what they meant. And that is ask questions to clarify. Kerry Flynn Barrett: Make sure you really understand. Andi Simon: And that means you cannot have your cell phone sitting there or your computer in front of you. This has been such fun. If they want to reach you, where could they do that, Kerry? Kerry Flynn Barrett: Oh, very simply, I'm on LinkedIn. My email is KFB so, easy to find me KFB@Flynnbarrett.com. I have my own website. It's www.Flynnbarrett.com. And please reach out to me on my website. And you can just send a quick question or an inquiry. I look forward to hearing from anybody. Andi Simon: If you want a very smart fractional Chief Human Resource Officer, or just a very sharp coach, or someone who can help you see, feel and think in new ways, meet Kerry Flynn Barrett, because she's here to help you do just what we love to do, which is to change and the times they are changing. And so for all of our listeners, thank you for coming. It's always so much fun to share with you smart people who are really here to help you do what I love: to see and feel and think in new ways. And remember, we're here to help your organization adapt to these fast changing times. Stay with us. Stay tuned and listen to some of the webinars and speeches that I have posted on our website. We're talking all the time about how to make change and how to embrace change, and particularly how to rethink women in the workplace. And on that note, I'll say have a great day. Remember our theme is take observation and turn it into innovation. I hope you've had a great day today. Bye bye now.

Jeremy comes into this episode grumpy and jealous about Will hanging out with other friends. Heather tries to settle the guys down to talk about Christmas traditions. Why is New Heights having church on Christmas Day? Are Christmas trees pagan and what about other Christmas traditions?

After the report that Arizona Cardinals GM Steve Keim has taken an indefinite leave of absence due to health-related reasons, Brett McMurphy reported, based on another report, that former Arizona Cardinals OL and running back coordinator Sean Kugler has filed an arbitration with the NFL after being dismissed from his job. There's so much unknown, so much to unpack, and so much uncertainty as to where this will leave the Arizona Cardinals after it's all sorted out. Oh, and there's a football game on Sunday against the Denver Broncos. Find and follow Locked On Cardinals on your favorite podcast platforms: Apple https://apple.co/3gzT6Pg Spotify https://spoti.fi/3wsOL7a Audacy https://bit.ly/3xdaqjU Stitcher https://bit.ly/3cFWffn Google https://buff.ly/2yH7WOl Megaphone https://bit.ly/2RUBlC5 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Larry Bommarito AKA Sekondtry is known as one of St. Louis' most talented photographers. Larry truly takes photography to new heights, scaling some of the tallest buildings in the city to get images unlike anyone has seen before. It all started in 2016 after a bad breakup, Larry picked up a go-pro and started driving downtown to take photos. Bommarito immediately became obsessed with capturing frames and angles from the tops of buildings in St. Louis. Flash forward 6 years later, Larry (Sekondtry) has became one of St. Louis' most known photographers and worked with some of the biggest brands in our city.In this episode, we chat with Larry about his upbringing, what drives him, and goals for his career in photography. Support the show

Before we get into the episode, we have some incredible “New” News! (01:49) There's been an update to our merch store so if you're part of the 92% go and take a look at https://homage.com/newheights  Also, we really need to finally decide on a name for the fanbase. So if you want to submit your official vote, email us your name, fanbase name suggestion, and your reason why at NewHeightShow@gmail  On the seventeenth episode of New Heights, Jason breaks down the clutch moments from the Eagles playoff-clinching win over the New York Giants (20:40) and makes the case for Jalen Hurts as the MVP front-runner (31:10).  Travis walks us through the Chiefs weird win in Denver(38:53), why you can never count out Mahomes magic (44:15), and tells us how he really feels about his new place in the NFL record books (50:00).  We also react to Jerry Rice calling out the Niners offense (57:20), if either of the guys would sign a turnover ball like Tom Brady (59:30), and we try and come up with the NFL's version of the newly renamed NBA Awards (01:05:30).  The guys also react to Baker Mayfield's game-winning drive in his first game for the Rams and debate Penei Sewell's future as a tight end (01:20:35).  We wrap with a look ahead (01:28:55)to the Eagles heading to a potentially snowy game at Soldier Field against the Bears and the Chiefs looking to put together a complete game against the Texans in Houston.  Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce every Wednesday during the NFL season & check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show. Check out our Merch at https://homage.com/newheights  Don't miss out on all the action this week at DraftKings! Download the DraftKings app today and sign-up using OUR promo code NEW HEIGHTS Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. See terms at draftkings.com. Get Harry's Starter Set for just $3. Plus, you'll get a free travel-size body wash when you visit https://harrys.com/NewHeights  Find qualified candidates faster when you post your job for free at https://LinkedIn.com/newheights. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we're talking about the up and coming NFL Goat Patrick Mahomes! What makes him so special on and off the field? Is it important for our favorite athletes to be likable? How important is leadership on and off the field? Will the Titans beat the Chiefs in the Super Bowl 50-0? All of these questions and more are answered in what is probably the greatest episode of all time. Enjoy!0:30 Michael Jackson oiled up? 1:45 Mommy and Daddy have a family meeting2:30 Clint and Isbelle like the sports2:45 Welcome to episode 16! // Katie is a texan.6:00 Medieval Times7:00 Katie is not a sports person! Don't be afraid, listeners!!!!8:00 Patrick Mahomes II and baseball10:50 the KC draft!13:00 NFL is the most powerful… ever.13:50 Concussions are very bad. 15:15 Gotta adapt to keep up with the times!17:00 Creative excellence under pressure18:50 Katie once fell off a horse 19:25 Dolla, dolla bills, y'all! $$$22:15 What does it mean to be a good leader?23:45 Don't boo, Vote!26:10 Aaron Rogers and gladiators 27:00 Go win/kill… and then hug it out. 29:00 - Kelce and the stripey team 30:50 Players with podcasts?32:30 New Heights w/ Jason & Travis Kelce34:20 Clint begrudgingly like Mahomes35:00 Sports is a soap opera36:50 Katie likes it cutthroat on the field, but then with a good hug after.38:30 Katie explains Fortnite39:20 Mahomes is a family man40:20 Prenups are normal now?41:20 Is Katie loyal to Mahomes or KC?44:20 Katie and Clint almost cross paths over the holidays46:45  Katie saves 10% on her insurance and Andy Reid is a COMEDIAN49:15 Ketchup and Whataburger50:10 The Kelce and Mahomes bromance beginnings54:30 Henry Winkler56:30 In a dream (football) world58:55 Clint likes Mahomes a little more!

Hear how to make the most of your choices, at work and in life Meet Christina Sistrunk, former President and CEO at Aera Energy. You are going to love listening to her wisdom for thriving in the male-dominated energy industry. As Christina will share with you, she found that the hardest problems to solve usually were the ones around how well people work together, or don't, that made the problems more complicated. She explains how figuring out how to bring people together and enable them to be as successful as they had the potential to be was the most challenging part of being a leader, especially a woman leader. A lot to learn! Watch and listen to our conversation here Your ability to think independently actually creates opportunities One of Christina's main joys at this stage in her career is helping people understand how they can be more effective, not only in their career, but even in their personal life, about seeing the opportunity to make different choices. Better choices create better outcomes, whether at work, or at home. You can connect with Christina on LinkedIn or by email, sistrunk1984@gmail.com. For more guidance about career choices and following your passion, start with these: Blog: How Can You Thrive As A Woman In A Male-Dominated Industry? 5 Steps To Follow Podcast: Vicki Baker—Isn't It Time For You To Power Through To Your Next Career Stop? Podcast: Claire Harbour-Lyell—Disrupt Your Career To Reach Even Greater Heights  Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants   Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. I'm your host and your guide. And as such, my job is to help you get off the brink. I want you to soar again. And sometimes you need some new ideas, a fresh approach, interesting ways to see, feel and think in new ways. Remember, we decide with our eyes and our heart. And all of a sudden you say, "I don't know where I'm going." I keep hearing over and over among my clients, even my colleagues, my friends, "What's next?" So it's important for you to begin to see what is next, regardless of where you are on your life's journey. It's good to have a vision for yourself, a personal one of what you would like to see happen as you go through life. It's better than figuring it out on the fly, and it's better than trying to make decisions without any direction. But it's always interesting to listen to wonderful people who have had great journeys. And they want to share them with you so that you too can see how life can move along and take you to great places. So today, Evelyn Medvin is a wonderful woman who has a chapter in my book, Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businesss. And Evelyn is just wonderful. Her story's wonderful. She celebrates being a geoscientist when there are many women there. So she introduced me to Christina Sistrunk. Now, Christina has had a very wonderful career. Let me tell you about her, then she'll tell you about her own journey. But listen carefully, because she has grown up in a world where women aren't usually successful. And when you begin to understand others, and they become your role models, you begin to say, ah, that's how we do it. And of course, I can do it. And next thing you know, remember, if I can't see it, I can't be it. So see her as somebody who you too could be. So here's Christina's resume. Over 30 years, Christina has held management and executive roles, focusing on assessing and delivering next level performance. And that's always an interesting term. She's led organizations across EMP industries, both IOC and independent, ranging in revenue from two to ten billion. She was CEO of Aera Energy for five years. I'm going to let her tell you a little bit more about what EMP means and what the CEO of Aera Energy was like. But I'll finish her resume so that we can get into her story of how she has experienced organizational turnarounds, including cash management and restructuring. Her focus has been on value creation, through the development of effective strategy, execution, improved leadership capability and accountability. Now, you know that I have several leadership academies out there. And one of the themes for leaders as followers, and how do you hold them accountable? And how do they get inspired to want to do this, so that they're giving the gift of giving back, as opposed to waiting to be told what to do? So her expertise is extremely relevant, regardless of what industry you're in. She's improved cash flow and profitability while creating step changes in safety and environmental performance and stakeholder engagement. Prior to her CEO role, she was a VP focused on, of all things, deep water production, and then the Arctic strategy, which is sort of interesting all by itself. Now, she started her career after earning a BS in Chemical Engineering from Ohio State University. But she's ready to tell you more about who is Christina Sistrunk and why it's so wonderful to have her on today. Christina, thank you for joining me. Christina Sistrunk: I'm so glad to be here. Thank you for making the time for me. Andi Simon: You have a great smile, we're going to do a lot of smiling today. I know the audience wants to know about Christina, your journey. How did you choose to go into this field? I have a hunch that there weren't a lot of female role models who were embracing it and tasting it. But you're an explorer, and one who's willing to take on all kinds of new stuff, solving complex problems in different ways and giving a great twist to the journey that you've been on. Who are you and tell our audience all about you? Christina Sistrunk: Well, thank you so much. I think I'll start kind of at the beginning, right. So I was raised in a town of 7,000 people in a rural part of Ohio and neither of my parents graduated from high school. And so thinking about what I wanted to do career-wise, I went through public school and really had an interest in science and math. And actually, at a fairly young age, my recollection is, it was sometime around when I was about 12, my dad, who worked in a union job in a factory, sat me down and said, "Look, every time you come home excited about what you might want to do, what you want to be when you grow up, it requires college.. You have to understand, we don't have the resources to do that. We'll do everything we can to try and support you, but that's not something that you can necessarily count on. So you're going to have to figure out how to make this work if that's what you really want." So I got very focused on academics and what I needed to do and where there were opportunities for scholarships. And just as I talked to people, and I talked to people that were a couple years older than me and as I got closer to college, I talked to friends who were in college about different career choices. I realized that the interest I had in science and math probably put me on a pathway to better financial stability. And I'd also seen my father work in a job for decades that he didn't seem to like or enjoy. And so I wanted to find something that I could do that I could support myself, that would also allow me to have a satisfying and rewarding career. And so I decided to go into engineering, partly because I was torn between advanced math, education and engineering. And a friend who was a little older said, "Well, here's the thing. If you go into education, and you figure out you don't like it, and then you want to switch to engineering, you can't do that and get out of college in four years with your scholarships right now. But if you start in engineering, decide you don't like it and want to switch to education, you'll still be able to get out in four years. The first complex problem to solve, what's the backup plan?" And so I started engineering, went to Ohio State University, partly because of scholarships that were available to me there and the affordability of that as an institution, because I didn't want to have a bunch of debt when I got out of school. And had a great education and had a lot of opportunities because of making that choice. But also, I never met an engineer until I got to college. So the worst engineers that I ever met were professors at the university. So I committed to studying something that I really didn't have a good understanding of. But the more I learned, the more excited I got about the opportunities that were open. And in fact, how many opportunities were available. If you studied engineering or other STEM fields of study, the choices were much different than had I chosen other disciplines to start with. And that kept me very excited. I then did some interning while I was still in college, got a better idea of what was involved in various aspects of the industry, and in fact, did an internship after my sophomore year in exploration and production in oil and gas. So that's the part of the business that figures out where to drill the wells, how to drill the wells safely, how to get the oil and gas out of the ground, and then deliver it to pipelines, where it then goes to be made into a variety of products. But the upstream part of the business kind of lets go of it once it goes into the pipeline, and others take over from there. And it was like a giant puzzle every day trying to figure out where the oil was. How do we get it out in the best way possible? How do we figure out what's going on with the wells? And so it always felt like a puzzle where you try to figure out what was going on, sometimes three miles away from you underground, to keep the process flowing. And I really enjoyed that. As I went through my career, I got an opportunity to take on a lot of different kinds of roles. And then I started to see that, as much as I was originally drawn to the business because of the technical challenges, I found that actually the hardest problems to solve usually were the ones around how the overall system worked and how people work together, or didn't, that made the problems more complicated. And that actually figuring out how to bring people together and enable them to be as successful as they had the potential to be was an even more challenging part of the business. And that's when I started to move into supervisory and then managerial roles, and ultimately winding up as a CEO running a California oil and gas company for five years. And, it really was about taking things step by step, thinking about often, "If this were my business, whatever job I was in, if I was a supervisor, or a department manager, if this were my business, how do we actually deliver value?" And that's just not financial numbers. How do we make the business safer? Or do we make sure we're developing our employees and do the employees feel valued in what they're doing? So how do we deliver that value? Better than we did last year? And where are the opportunities? Where are the risks? And how do we unleash the capacity that we've got to make a difference in this part of the business? So, honestly being a woman in oil and gas for over three decades, I won't tell you that everybody I worked with just embraced me with open arms and expected me to succeed. But I will say, I think many more people did than the industry often gets credit for. I think what helped me be successful was, I almost came from such an odd background. So my parents didn't have a lot of expectations about what I was going to do educationally. I had to figure out why I was there. So I had always had an underlying desire or compass that was driving me about figuring out how these things worked, and figuring out how I could make a difference. One of the great things about working in a technical field, even if you don't see a lot of other role models that might look exactly like you, that commitment around understanding those challenges and contributing to those challenges, and your ability to think independently, maybe partly because my background was so different, actually creates opportunities. And it's about kind of having your "Spidey sense" up to say, "If that opportunity isn't going to be available to me, where else can I go, and contribute and learn what I need to learn next?" And usually, there's some other place where somebody's looking for talent, and we'll be happy to have you come join if you're committed to making a difference and helping people around you be successful. We might have to take a little different path, but if you just keep looking for those opportunities, you will find them. Andi Simon: Let's emphasize that there isn't a straight line between where we start and where we end up. And if you think there is, perhaps there was at one point, but no more, and I don't really think there ever was. It isn't about others making the path for you. It's about you being able to control and accelerate your own growth and curiosity, and know yourself and tell a story that is embraced by others and not threatening. I hear a lot of this is around collaboration, this is creativity, this isn't about an ego that needs to soar. This is about a woman who wants to build. I need a few illustrations because I'm just a curious person. So as you're digging for oil, in the underground deep water area, and then the Arctic, lessons learned, insights to share? I'm just curious, what was it like and how did you live there? Christina Sistrunk: Well, you know, it looked different in different times. So you know, a parallel path on this journey: I actually met my husband on a rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Oh, that's a great step. I think any woman that is going to be successful in business, you make lots of decisions that help you along the way in business, but I've got to say, who you choose as your spouse, and the level of support that they're willing to put on the table to make your partnership work, to make you successful, for you to make them successful, that is a really important choice. And it can make the road a lot easier, or it can make the road exponentially more difficult. And so that's an important choice I made career-wise as well, we're also trying to balance, you know, we had a child fairly early in my career. And because my husband worked away from home about 50% of the time, there were times in my career when I knew I wanted to limit how much I wanted to travel or what kind of roles I wanted to be in for a period of time, because our child needed a level of stability at home that I wanted to make sure we could provide. And, so you think that that might automatically change what you have the potential to do. And it probably did. But a career is a very long runway. And so, again, the path may take some jogs in it, but it's about how you are true to your values. How are you true to the talents that you start to realize that you've got, or that you have the ability to develop? And what's your plan for what the next one looks? And the next after that? And how do you start to gain the skills and experience that you think you're going to need? If you were the hiring manager, what would you be looking for? And how do you put yourself in that position? So you know, at one point in time, I'll tell you about a story when I was actually working as a VP in the Gulf of Mexico, for Shell. And we had done a lot of good things in the organization, but we had seen our safety performance plateau. So compared to where we had been five years before, we were doing great. But when I looked at the number of people that were still getting hurt and going home hurt in our operations, day in and day out, the number was really too high. And when I had come into that role, I had worked in the global headquarters, leading a big safety improvement effort, so I knew all the things to do technically. And we had done all those things technically. And we had still kind of hit this wall. We weren't getting any better, we were doing everything we knew how to do, but it wasn't good enough. And I went home over the holidays, had to look myself in the mirror and say, "My people are generating the level of performance that my leadership is asking for, and so what is it about the way I'm leading that has got to shift if we're going to get to a place where everybody in our operation is going home safe?" At the end of every shift, I had to do a lot of soul searching, I had to reach out to some people and ask for help. So I could look at some people, some other organizations that were making faster progress. You know, were they willing to talk to me when I picked up the phone? They absolutely were and to share their story with me. And then it really was about sitting down with the leaders that reported to me and saying, okay, here's our performance. We've got to own this. And it was interesting, because I asked them to do some things that were pretty pressing on their parts and their plates were already full and I was asking them to spend a lot more time working with their people in this area. And it wasn't clear what was going to come off their plate to enable that. And one of the more senior people that worked for me, looks at me, and he says, "Well this is all well and good and we're all bought into what you're encouraging us to move forward on. But you know, you're asking a lot of us and we don't see that you put any skin in this game." Now, the interesting thing was that, coincidentally, as I've been thinking about how I could lead differently, I actually already had an action plan that I had planned to put in place, but I hadn't shared that with the rest of the team. And I said, "Well, here's what I'm going to do. Everybody makes fun of how busy my schedule is. And it is. And I'm going to tell you every single time somebody gets hurt anywhere on one of our operations as long as I'm in the United States. So if I'm somewhere in Europe at a global leadership team meeting, I can't honor this, but it'll just take me longer on set as long as I'm in the United States. Within 48 hours, I'll sit down with the operations manager who was based in the same office I was in with the actual site manager, with the supervisor, and the person who got hurt. If there's anybody else in that kind of chain of command, we're going to have an open and honest discussion about what we missed, what we have to learn and what they need." And so at first, quite honestly, I was kind of going all over the place, and breaking into my calendar a couple of times a month which sent a loud message to the organization. And in fact, one of the times I actually went to the site was on December 23, and I went home on Christmas Eve because that's when the injury had occurred. And boy, did that send a message to that crew about how serious we were about wanting to understand what was going on and how we needed to change so that they could go home safe to their families at the end of every shift. And that was a real turning point, because for me, as a female leader in an oil and gas company, you don't know all the answers. And in fact, we're going to experiment. And we're just going to keep at it until we figure out how to make this better. Yeah, that's not a traditional way to lead. Andi Simon: But control going on? Christina Sistrunk: No, a mentor of mine many years before this has said, "You know, your value for safety has to be higher than your discomfort at what you'll need to do to change." And I thought I understood what that meant at the time. And I thought, well, of course, my value for safety is higher than that. When I had to look in the mirror and say, "Am I willing to walk into my guys and say, 'I don't have the answers, but this is what we're going to try next and we're going to figure our way through this.'" Yeah, we learned together. That was, you know, that was a moment of truth for me. Andi Simon: And the results were? Christina Sistrunk: We reduced the amount of injuries for the next two years by 60% every year. That's a big deal. And when you think about every one of those people, even if they were going home with a few stitches in their hand, it might have been much more serious and that was going to interfere with their life when they got home. So whatever it is that they chose to do in their free time, whether they had kids or they didn't have kids, it was a disruption in their life that they didn't deserve to have to deal with. So it was a very big deal. And again, we can talk about policies, and we can talk about values til the cows come home: the question is, what are we doing to really demonstrate them? And how do we send a message to people about what's important, and how important they are to us without saying a word? You know, just by them being able to see how you show up is really important. Andi Simon: Now, as you know, this is a rich conversation, and I'm enjoying it. But some of the things that we're looking at for your next phase in your journey is, how do you take all of these lessons learned, experiences that many other people will never experience? And you're no longer the CEO of a company, you're looking at the next phase in your own life? And what's the multiplier here? Because just that you did it, and your group did, it was great. What do you want to see next? Because I think that's where the reflection is turning into for yourself. What matters to me, in my next phase of my journey here? What are you thinking about? Christina Sistrunk: If I could wave a magic wand, I'd like to help people understand how they can be more effective, not only in their career, but even in their personal life about seeing the opportunity to make different choices. And having that creates better outcomes, and that can be at work, or it can be at home. So I think one of the hallmarks of my career, and it looked different at different phases, but one of my hallmarks of my career was learning practical ways to bring people together to solve problems that seem too complex. So these are the kinds of problems, maybe you've tried two or three easy answers and they haven't really given you the results that you want or the improvement that you want, or it may actually have created new problems for you. So how do you kind of break that cycle and see opportunities to solve problems differently. So when I worked for Aera, Aera had built a very strong problem-solving capability. They were a company that ran Visual Lean Manufacturing. That's the way of designing work processes and solving problems that Toyota had created, and then they applied it to the oil and gas business. So they had a lot of discipline about solving problems. But if you don't think about the why, and I'd say, "Employee, a few things that I want to share with you," you can almost become so rote in the way you think about problems that you don't actually get to the root of the problem and actually solve it. You just paper over it, so to speak. And in fact, one of the things that I saw that cropped up in that system, for a little while I think got around it, was that if you have a particular set of questions that you ask, you can actually reverse engineer that process to implement a solution that you think the solution is the right answer. And I've been in a lot of organizations where people think they're solving a problem, but what they're actually doing is advocating for a particular solution without defining the problem in front. And that usually is not as successful as it needs to be. So the key is, I think the first question you have to ask is, why do we even need to work on this at all? Now, it may be a pet peeve for you, but is it really worth the time and the effort to take it on, to think about what the real problem is, to create a few collaborators, which will probably be important. If it's a complex problem for you to fully understand it, others will need to be impacted by it as well or they're not going to put the time into helping you solve it. So first, why do you need to solve it at all? Is it an irritation? Or does it really need to be tackled? And why now? So how do you define it in objective terms? What is this costing you, or what opportunity is precluding it from happening? And taking the time to kind of go, "Relative to everything else that we're working on, why would this go to the top of the list?" Just thinking about those things before you get started. Actually it is really important because you can't do 10 major things at one time well. You can probably only do one or two if they're really significant. So why that problem? And why now? Then once you get thinking about it, can you really explain the problem? I would challenge from at least two points of view. So what's the problem? Why now? And how does it look to you? But how does it look to somebody else in the organization? Maybe who vehemently disagrees with you. You've got to see the problem from at least two very different points of view, or you don't understand the problem. Then you start to work with others and actually trying to understand that other point of view, go into somebody else in a different part of the organization or somebody you know that would actually disagree with you, and just listen to him talk about what it is that you think is a problem. Where's the commonality? Look at it through their eyes, or, you know, if you're seeing the problem because that group is so screwed up. Well, I bet it looks entirely different in that other group. What are they saying about that and taking the time to understand that? Well, then the question is,How do you think about what options there might be to solve it? Push yourself to come up with multiple ways that you think you might be able to solve this again, work with others, test what you see as the problem statement, the points of view around what this encompasses and what it doesn't encompass. And then, you know what?, what are different ways that different groups would suggest a solution? And then which one do you think is the right one? And why? And I think a really important part of this is, if you've done your homework, the perfect solution is very rare. If you don't think about it very robustly, you're going to know what the answer is pretty quickly and it's going to be easy. But if this is a complex problem, you've probably heard one of my favorite quotes from Thomas Sowell, the economist, is: There are no solutions, there are only tradeoffs. So when you think about the multiple solutions you would have to this problem, where are those tradeoffs? And so which one do you think gives you the best performance for the least amount of effort, or the best performance that is consistent with your company culture, or the most effective long term solution because it's actually pragmatic enough that you can implement in a minute, maybe it gets you 80% of the way there. But if it's relatively easy to implement, maybe that takes away the pain and actually gets you where you need to be in the last 20%. So thinking through those kinds of tradeoffs so that you can have an impact. You do it in a way that it's not just you telling people what the right answer is, but you've worked with others to really improve quality of life satisfaction with the work environment, and you've had a positive impact on how everybody involved in this process actually contributes. And you've learned some things along the way. Andi Simon: When you do come to a decision full of the paradox of choice that Barry Schwartz writes about, where you end up feeling like, "If I had just a little more time, I can figure out a little bit better decision. And so I won't decide now, because the abundance of options are overwhelming. So why decide because whatever I decide won't be right." Anyhow, I love what goes on in the internet world where you buy stuff more than you need, and probably test different sizes. And then you send most of it back. And then you go back on to see if you could have gotten it cheaper someplace else. And the shopping experience is a pretty complicated decision process at times, where you're never convinced that your decision was the right one. It was just one of those options, and you had to finally decide.  But the world has so many options today that sometimes you feel stalled or stuck trying to figure out which one will my boss like? Or which one will I have the least problem doing or which one's going to be the most complicated or the most simple? And I do think his opinion is correct, that it's just too many options. And how do we decide? What did you learn? Christina Sistrunk: Well, I think I learned a couple of things. One is, the more complicated your solution is, the less likely it is to succeed. And even if you can implement it, you probably can't sustain it because other things will come along to draw attention. So I have learned to really think about it, but if we go ahead and implement this, how dramatically is it going to change how we work? And how much energy is it going to take to keep this solution in place right over time? And so I think a little pragmatically, and if you've got, you know, an equal chance of being successful, err on the side of the simpler solution. You know, I think the other advantage to that is that, if you think you can get a good way down the road, with a pretty simple solution that's easy to sustain, go ahead, do that. You'll learn a few more things in that process. Maybe then you have to tweak a few things on the back end. But it's much easier than trying to implement something wholescale that maybe you think was perfect but not very pragmatic. And so part of it is knowing the organization, part of it is knowing the resources that are available. Even those questions about why are you solving it and why are you solving it now will help direct you to know what that right answer is, as you as you measure some of those tradeoffs. There may be something just so critical that you're working on that actually the whole company needs to reoriented to either capture that opportunity or prevent that risk from being actualized. There are times like that but they're very few and far between day to day. Andi Simon: Yeah, you're sort of on the edge and moving, now don't let the perfect get in the way of the good. How do you look to the edges, as opposed to trying to create a whole new sandbox? That's often what I find as I'm working. So as you know, I'm a corporate anthropologist, and I work with organizations that need or want to change. And as I'm listening to you, I'm saying, you have a couple of clients who are at a point in their growth where growth has stalled. And these are strange times. And so the question becomes, do I fix what I have now so I can do better at it? Or do I try to move it into new market spaces in different fashion? Or change the sales story? Or what do I do to accelerate growth again, united? And those are not small questions, because usually the trend lines have been going along, and then all of a sudden, they're in the wrong direction. We worked with one university that went from 12,000 students to 8000. And I said, when are you going to call us? I mean, that was the wrong direction. There are some timelines where you have to reinvent what you're doing. But often, you just have to be on the edges trying to see what's possible through a fresh lens so that you can do better. Christina Sistrunk: Well, and I think that's the real key. So, you know, I've seen examples in the course of my career where people want to adopt a new strategy and it's all going to be hearts and flowers, and everything's a hockey stick to the right. We just go do this and magic will happen. But you're not asking the tough questions about, well, what are our underlying capabilities? So is there a match here, if you only have to build one or two new capabilities? That's serious, but doable. If you focus on it, and you really think strategically and resource strategically to build those capabilities, but if what you're trying to create actually requires the culture of the company to be different, your talent pool to be completely different, and requires several capabilities that you don't currently have, you may be able to draw a plan out that in theory looks great, but your chances of actually delivering that are pretty darn slim. So, you know, again, I haven't found a formula, but I do think it's about what you pragmatically think about. How much change can your organization handle? Some organizations are very comfortable with a high pace of change, and some aren't. So if you really need to make a change, maybe part of that is really recognizing what you have to do to start to build a level of resilience and comfort with change in your organization that doesn't exist but that will absolutely derail what you're trying to do if you don't take that head on. And it does mean, you have to engage with your leaders differently. You have to bring in some opportunities to develop them differently. And in some cases, you may find that you've got some leaders that were great for the journey you were on before, but maybe they're not in the right role anymore. Or maybe this organization where it's headed may not even be where they want to go. And just being honest with that, treating them respectfully in that space, but being willing if the right thing for your employees, your stakeholders, and your business is moving in a given direction, then everybody's got to get on board to help make that happen. Andi Simon: I'm thinking about the enterprise agiltity conference, a global conference on building a culture for fast changing times. And the times are just moving very fast. They are and change fatigue is not uncommon. But people don't quite know how to change. And they haven't figured out how to put it into their happiness sphere. You know, it's a habit where they immediately can sort through the options available in a systematic fashion, and begin to be comfortable that the choices they make are small wins going somewhere. And it may not be enormous. You don't always need a pandemic to change a little bit. I had a client who was giving remote work as a benefit to his employees before the pandemic. And now he has them all working remotely and can't get them to come back to the office. And I said, "Well, it was a benefit to them but now it's a penalty box. Now look how interesting the meaning of something has changed." So be careful how you interpret what the benefit is to somebody. How will you change them? But this is a fascinating conversation. Christina, one of the things that you and I had chatted about was that the problems that you've learned to solve may or may not be in the toolkit or the interests of young people looking at the STEM industry, engineering, oil and gas, but anything in the science, technology, engineering, math, and even, you know, some people add the arts in there, because I do think creative arts are tied into how we think you're talking about creative problem solving. It's real, whole brain storytelling, really understanding. And once you understand that, it isn't a technical skill, it's a perception of reality that works. How are you advising? What do you see, because there's so much literature on how women aren't sticking out in STEM. And so it's not a place where people of color find themselves comfortable, moving up through the hierarchy is difficult. But, part of your own mission now is to begin to identify these folks who may not want to move into this zone, but who really could find great gratification. What are your thoughts? Christina Sistrunk: Well, you know, I just like to spend time talking with young people as I have the opportunity. This is part of problem solving, what are your real choices? Something that I learned a long time ago, and I try and encourage young people around this as well, is, early on, I think you've got to get really clear about whether that voice you're listening to is one that's based out of fear, or based in a place around the vision of what you're trying to create for your life and others. And I promise you, you will never reach your potential staying on what you see as the safe path. Right now, that doesn't mean you should be taking life threatening risks, but often, when we unpack what we see as risky, it's because it makes us uncomfortable. But I have never learned anything, I have never grown in the course of my career, where it felt safe. I didn't know the answer when I started. It means sometimes you're going to, you know, you're going to scrape your knee and you're going to clean it up, you're going to put a Band-Aid on it, you're going to keep going and that's okay. Andi Simon: But you have to say that many times. I love Oprah and her advocacy for small wins, because I preach the same. I say, you cannot turn a battleship with an oar. But you want to either do what you really want to do or find those small wins that move you forward so that you can learn what works and what doesn't without great risk, but enough risks so that you're testing and trying and learning. And these are all, you know, the whole world of mistake-ology, what you learn from making mistakes and that's a really big thought. So as you're working with these young folks, up and comers, what are you finding? Christina Sistrunk: Well, you know, one thing that I'm finding is, I hate to say this, but I'm not sure that they're always getting good career counseling, which really disappoints me. So when I was high school age, as I mentioned, I didn't have a lot of resources at home helping to guide me. And even then, the guidance counselors that we had back then, I remember the one that I had to deal with telling me that, you know, nursing or teaching was a perfectly fine thing for me to consider, but why think about engineering? I guess I was so naive, that I didn't think that it was going to be an issue. Thankfully, I didn't see the risk there. And so that kind of propelled me forward. But, part of that is really getting people to say, okay, so what are the real choices that intrigue you? And why? And how is that likely to play out in the quality of life that you're hoping to have? So I do think there's this mystique that all college degrees lead to a certain outcome and a certain lifestyle, which they do not. To what extent are you a person that's really turned on by challenge? To what extent do you like to be comfortable or like to feel like you have mastered something? Those are important questions to ask because some fields are easier to do that in than others. But also, I think it's very legitimate to have real candid conversations with people and say, you know, if you go down this path, these are some of the life choices that you're going to face. And these are different life choices that you can be exposed to on a different path. And so how do you factor that in? Although you might be really passionate about this, does it lead you where you ultimately want to go 20 years from now, or 40 years from now? I think it's Mark Cuban who talks about when he talks to young people, he says, if somebody is telling you to follow your passion, it's because they're already wealthy. I don't think that's entirely true. I can say I had the luxury to follow my passion, and I think a lot of people would have told me that there was not much chance of that becoming a reality for me, at different phases of my life. But I do think helping people see it's not necessarily a binary decision; there can be multiple places where you can be challenged, you can learn things, you can figure out a way to contribute. And some of them will open up different kinds of financial and quality of life issues for you than others will. And I think it's just about being pragmatic about how you make those choices. And not saying I've got to be miserable, or I can be happy, or I'm only passionate about that. Well, why are you passionate about that? Are there some other fields maybe that can give you more of the total package that you want in your life that you might also feel passionate about? Andi Simon: You know, it's interesting, because I'm helping one woman, and she has a nice job, but she doesn't get the kind of gratification out of it she thinks she should, although I'm not quite sure what she thinks she should. You know, it's sort of like, what would you define to be the right kind of work that you can do? You can raise your two children, you're making a nice living, you've got enough flexibility so that you don't need to be in the office all the time, you're really in control. You're almost a freelancer without calling it that and you got good benefits. So tell me what would be a replacement part for this that would raise you to the next level, what's missing? And I have a hunch what's missing is somebody acknowledging what she's doing and giving her a sense that she has a good purpose there or something that gives it more than just tactical and practical, but something that matters, and she matters to them in some fashion. And I do think flexibility is in isolation. You know, and I often laugh because we are enjoying this flexibility, but solitary confinement in prison is the worst place to be. And I'm not convinced that is in creating these kinds of reactions. Your thoughts? Christina Sistrunk: Well, I even frame it a little differently. I mean, it's great. A work environment anticipates what you need, and gives you what you need. In all honesty, I can tell you that certainly is often not the case in the course of my career. And I will say at one point, I was advised by someone who was a mentor of mine, and who I have just a ton of respect for, and he basically only had time to have a very short conversation with me and told me to apply for a job that I did not want at all. He told me it was an IQ test, that for this job, this is what you need to do. It was the lowest job on the list that I could have thought of. Even though it was going to be a big promotion for me, I just didn't want it. So I went home for a couple of days saying, how might I change this job so that I would want it and so it would be a job that I would find to be highly rewarding? And when I sat down and had a conversation with the hiring manager, I said, "Look, if you want me to do the job the way it has always been done, please don't put me in it because I will be miserable and you will be miserable. But here's my vision for what I could do in this role, and why I think it makes sense to approach the role this way. And, you know, this is what I think I could add, how I could add value by doing it in this way and why it would be important to do so," and I got the job. And in fact, it was one of the best jobs I ever had. I learned so much and I learned about a different part of the business and in different parts of the world. I mean, I think often it's almost like, what is it about that job? And there's white space in every single job I've ever had, and I think that most people have had. Where's the boundary that you want to just nudge? Because it will make you actually not just more satisfied, but probably more productive. And sometimes what that looks like for people is using some of that flexibility maybe to take some of your skills and work in another area where you feel passionate. It may be at a nonprofit that you actually can do that. And that satisfaction is about more than just work. It's about the totality of your life. How does it line up with your values? What about family and friends? What about your spirituality? What about causes that you feel passionate about and want to contribute to? It covers a lot of the landscape. I've never been at a point in my life where I could tick all the boxes on all those and say it's all perfect at this moment in time. So it's a bit fluid, and it goes back and forth. But how do you optimize across all of that to give you the quality of life that you want to live, and it makes you feel good about the conscious choices you've made? Andi Simon: Yes, balance those things. And every day is a gift. Christina, this has been absolutely wonderful. We can actually keep going, but we can't. So I'm going to ask you for only one thing for our audience not to forget, because I think they've heard so many rich perspectives on life, on the problems that we face, in the work/non-work life. They're equally relevant here. But also that your lessons learned over your career that are now setting you up for the next phase where you want to give back in many different ways, to help people soar who are really on the brink, like I am about what comes next...one thing you want them to remember. Christina Sistrunk: So I really think that, if you've got an area that you see as a problem or an opportunity, be really clear with yourself in terms of what those choices are. And why you might make them and challenge yourself before you just automatically go down a path...to really, perhaps, get some other inputs to help you think through what are some different choices. Make sure you recognize that we always have choices. Now, we may not like some of them, or we may like some of them less than others, which only means that they are right. We always have a choice. It is very rare for human beings to be in a situation where they have no choices to make, and it's about that conscious choice that over time actually leads to the quality of life that you can have. And I think it's a really important way when you recognize this to empower yourself, no matter where you are in your journey. And it is about staying on that journey, continuing to learn, continuing to make good choices. And moving forward. It's your journey. Andi Simon: The other part is that you really don't know what's a good choice or a bad choice 'til after the choice. And I was reading something the other day and the comment was, Once something has happened, the best thing you can do is just let it happen. Because you can't go backwards and change what's happened. But the best thing you can begin to do is learn something from it, move forward past it, and think about what comes next, because that's all we can do. Christina Sistrunk: I would challenge that. I think the other thing is giving yourself enough grace to say, did I make the best choice I could with what I knew at the time? Andi Simon: That's a very powerful point: what I knew at the time. We're not clairvoyant, no, but the other part of it is, and then I will wrap up, is that what you hear isn't necessarily what someone else said, or what they meant. But it is what you heard. And I can't tell you how often I work with my clients, my coaching clients, about what they really mean as opposed to what you think you heard and wanted from me. Because that's where the rubs come, and sometimes the tensions as well. This has been such fun to my listeners in my audience. Thank you for joining us today. Christina Sistrunk has been with us and I know you're going to have lots of questions so send them along to info@Andisimon.com. Christina, if they want to reach you, I know you're building your website, but what would be a good email and we will put that on the blog as well. Christina Sistrunk: Okay, it is sistrunk1984@gmail.com. Andi Simon: That's perfect. And, I promise you, she will get back to you if you have these great questions or ideas where you want some coaching or mentoring. Now for all of our listeners, remember, both my books are available on Amazon. And I'm always very excited to hear your comments on Amazon. Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business has been an award winning best seller, and On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights is how a little anthropology can help your business grow, which is what we do. So thank you for joining us today. All of my listeners have propelled us to be among the top 5% of global podcasts. That is truly an honor. And so whoever is listening, share it away. And you're going to want to share today's talk with people who you work with or you live with to listen about how to solve these complex problems because they're all around us. And in times that are fast changing like they are, we need room for some skills and a mindset. And in some ways, this is a state of mind as opposed to stuff. It's not a toolkit, but it is a way of thinking. Christina, thanks again for coming. Christina Sistrunk: Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed this. This is a highlight of my afternoon. Thank you. Andi Simon: You're welcome. Bye bye, everybody. Thanks for coming to On the Brink.

In today's Feel Good Friday episode, we talk with Deidra Mayberry, Executive Director of the nonprofit, Reading to New Heights, which brings attention to adult literacy as a critical issue in our society. Growing up, she was a struggling reader. This led her to establish her nonprofit which supports building literacy skills in adults.  Deidra's story is sure to resonate with your literacy loving heart. ResourcesTo make a donation to Reading to New Heights, click here. Connect with usFacebook and join our Facebook Group Twitter Instagram Visit our website to stay connected with Melissa and Lori! Helping teachers learn about science of reading, knowledge building, and high quality curriculum. 

Steven St. John & Nate Bukaty wake up with Kansas City as Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes spoke to the media yesterday afternoon. Also, the best sounds from the Kelce's latest New Heights podcast episodeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the sixteenth episode of New Heights, Jason describes the “whoopin'” that AJ Brown and the Eagles put on the Titans (12:50) and debate if Jason finally played dress-up before the game with his 50 First Dates tribute (26:30).  And we gotta talk about it, Travis breaks down the Chiefs coming up short against the Bengals (31:55), how he felt after the critical 4th quarter fumble (33:20), and after seeing “Air Mahomes” we debate if anyone in the NFL could play in the NBA (37:35).  We also react to the breaking (at the time) news of Baker Mayfield signing with the Rams (49:55), examine Andrew Luck breaking his silence on retirement (53:00), take a look at some exciting sideline coaching moments from week 13 (01:01:50), and figure out what kind of coaches Peyton and Eli will be during the Pro Bowl (01:08:50).  The guys also wonder why Jason didn't get the call for the Cincinnati Bearcats job (01:11:20) how Deion might fare at Colorado (01:15:08), and if we need more teams in the college football playoff (01:17:21). We wrap with a look ahead to both of our divisional showdowns (01:22:20) with the Eagles taking on the Giants and the Chiefs heading to Denver to see if Broncos country is still riding with Russell Wilson.  As always, thank you for watching and listening to the show send us questions, fan base suggestions, or anything on your mind to @NewHeightShow or email us at Newheights@gmail.com Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce every Wednesday during the NFL season & check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show. Visit https://athleticgreens.com/newheights to get a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase Go to https://buyraycon.com/newheights to get 15% off SITEWIDE with code HOLIDAY, plus FREE SHIPPING! Don't miss out on all the action this week at DraftKings! Download the DraftKings app today and sign-up using OUR promo code NEW HEIGHTS Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. See terms at draftkings.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hear how to identify your values and live them every day Today you will meet Shayna Bergman, a terrific executive leadership coach with big ideas to help you find your way during these challenging times of change. Her goal is to empower you to unlock your personal potential. Shayna specializes in helping people achieve deeper meaning and fulfillment in their personal and professional lives through authentic leadership and clarity of purpose. She believes, as do I, that you have to have a purpose-driven life. There has to be something that really motivates and drives you, a North Star. Need help finding yours? Listen in! Watch and listen to our conversation here What is the purpose that you're living toward? With a focus on parents in executive and leadership positions, Shayna challenges her clients to look deeply at themselves by reflecting on their values, dreams, limiting beliefs and inner critics. She then helps them create an action plan that inspires breakthroughs and leads to sustainable change. Shayna's most successful clients are those who are dedicated to evolving their best selves and fostering that growth in others. You can connect with Shayna on LinkedIn or her website.  For more guidance on living a purpose-driven life, try these: Podcast: Lisa McLeod—If You Want To Succeed, You Must Find Your Noble Purpose Podcast: Rebecca Morrison—Women, Are You Ready To Find Your Happiness? Is It All Around You? Podcast: Linda Vettrus-Nichols—Challenged? Stuck? What If You Are In Control Of Yourself? Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants   Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. And as you know, I'm your host and your guide. I'm also an author of two award winning books, and you might want to read them to learn more about how I help people change. My podcast, though, is dedicated to bringing you very interesting people, people who are going to help you do what I want you to do: see, feel and think in new ways because that's the only way you change. You decide with your eyes and your heart, so how do they make you feel? And if they make you feel really cool, you're going to listen carefully and begin to think about how this person can help me change. Change is something your brain hates, trust me. So today I have Shayna Bergman with us. And Shayna is an absolutely wonderful woman who's here to help you understand how to balance life. I'm not going to talk about work-life balance. The pandemic has told us there is no thing called work-life balance. That's just life. And we work in it and we take care of family with it and we take care of parents with it. Let me read her resume a little bit and then she'll tell you about her story. Shana is a passionate, results-oriented coach who empowers motivated individuals to unlock their potential. She has a proven track record of helping people achieve deeper meaning and fulfillment in their personal and professional lives. She does it through authentic leadership and clarity of purpose. We're going to talk a lot about a purpose-driven life today. Because at the end of the day, it probably should be the first thing you think about. With a focus on executive and leadership positions, Shana challenges her clients to look deeply at themselves by reflecting on their values, their dreams, and limiting their beliefs and inner critics. You know who's talking to you. Remember, your brain runs faster. You're thinking all the time, you're thinking all night long. And then you have a conversation. It wasn't what you were thinking anyhow, and what happens next? She challenges her clients to really look deeply at themselves. And that's what we're going to do today. She helps them create an action plan that inspires breakthroughs, and leads to sustainable change. And she and I both know that's not easy. That's about all I'm going to share with you about Shayna because I want her to tell you her story and it is much richer than anything I can read. And then we're going to get into what she does to help you, parents, or even those prospective parents to understand how to balance life and have one that fulfills you, at the same time you have many of the things that you think are important, and don't ditch one for another. And make sure you have the right room and collaborators, partners to help you get there. Shayna, thank you for being with me today. Shayna Bergman: Thanks for having me on, Andi. Andi Simon: Can you tell our listeners and our viewers who Shayna is, what's your journey been like? Shayna Bergman: Yes, so my journey toward this life started at a very early age, earlier than most people probably could even guess. And it started when I was three years old. And the reason it started when I was three is because my parents used to take me and my brother on road trips in our 1985 Oldsmobile station wagon. And we'd be sitting in the car, and I would want to be listening to Raffi, the children's singer who used to sing "Baby Beluga," and instead, my parents would be listening to Tony Robbins. And they were listening to Tony Robbins because they were building a dental practice and they really found him to be quite motivational. So from a very, very early age, I was hearing all about motivation and believing in yourself and how we can get in our own way. And after hearing those tapes at the time, and then hearing the CDs through the years, and then hearing my parents' dinner table conversation, I really found great passion and understanding how people ticked and how they got in their way of really reaching their fullest potential. And so I took a journey toward the side of HR. And I figured, well, if I could, if I believe in this, I could really help people from the side of human resources. And so I went to GW to get my bachelor's degree in communications with a focus on organizational sciences and French. I then transitioned to NYU for my masters where I got my HR leadership management and development degree with a focus and executive coaching. And I was working in the world of corporations, everything from startups to multi-billion dollar companies. In that way, I was able to learn how I could help and motivate people from the side of human resources and being a strategic business partner. And yet I knew still that there was more I had in me that I hadn't yet tapped into and I knew I wanted to go the route of executive and leadership coaching. And I also knew I needed to have the experience that I had lived to have the ability to talk to my clients head-to-head to really understand what it was that they're going through and to say I've lived it myself. So, I eventually sort of woke up to "the time is now" and I went and got my certification in executive leadership coaching, as well as in core dynamics and leadership focus, and basically transitioned that into having my own practice. And so now, I work one-on-one with leaders. I do workshops, I do podcasts and I speak. And that's really sort of how I got to where I am now. And being able to partner with parents who are in executive and leadership roles. Andi Simon: I can hear a little Tony Robbins still coming through. Shayna Bergman: There's probably a lot of that. Yeah, I think so. Andi Simon: Because you know, the stories that we hear, change our minds, and even as a child, they were forming in your mind view of the world, and how to mobilize it, and inspire it and succeed within it. And it's a very interesting history that you have. And I can't tell you how many women told me their most important person in their lives was their mother, and the stories that she told. But as you're thinking about this, you became who you are. And that served as a foundation for helping others. Where are women today, as we come out of the pandemic? Are you seeing the patterns changing? Are the challenges that your clients and others listening here are facing, different? I mean, I can truly share mine, but I'd love you to share what you're seeing, and how can that help them begin to understand that the times have changed? We're not going back to what it was. You might have liked it, but you don't remember it, really. And now you're going to try and figure out what's next and what is my purpose. What do you see? Shayna Bergman: Yeah, so I think that there's been an awakening. I think during the pandemic, people, women, mothers in particular, as they were schooling their children, changing diapers, leading meetings, whatever it is that they're doing, I think that they realized that something's got to give, and that the way that we were living life before is going to lead to burnout. It's living a life that somebody else has laid out for you, and not necessarily the life that maybe they wanted. And I lived that myself during the pandemic. So I know that story very well. And yet, I think that while that awakening happened, I am now seeing with my clients this return to a little bit of what was its expectations to be back in the office, expectations to be burning the midnight oil, expectations to be connected all the time because we can. And so I think that the tension that was there pre-pandemic escalated to an awareness during the pandemic. And I think now it's reached an all-time high, where people are now really saying, something's gotta give. And so I think people now have a chance to change the trajectory of their lives. We wake up every day with a choice. And I think people are realizing that they have that with them. And I think, in some cases, that's very scary. And they're trying to figure out, what do I do with all these feelings that I'm having, that I was sort of on this hamster wheel before and now I'm realizing I have a chance to step off. What do I do with that? Andi Simon: Well that requires us to take a look in the mirror and begin to ask, who am I now, and what is my identity? It's a journey. And so we made it through the pandemic, hopefully, I hope. And now we're looking at others pulling us back to what they thought was the way to be. We have some choices and now we have the dilemma of the paradox of choice. Barry Schwartz wrote a great book on the paradox of choice. And that too many choices make us immobilized. We can't make any choices. So do you have a process to help people begin to sort out the options and how to make the right choices for the next stage? Is there a framework or is it just a hope? Shayna Bergman: Yeah, that's a great question. And I love the book, The Paradox of Choice. I love that book. It was so before its time. So it was better. So here's what I would say: Yes, I have a framework. And it also differs from person to person. Here's where I would say I go generally. So I think it's important to take a person and help them understand where am I today. What is it that I'm dealing with? What am I experiencing? What is and isn't working? What are the things that I bring to the table that I want more of? What do I want to be saying yes to and where can I be saying no? What are the obstacles and the roadblocks that are getting in my way on a regular basis? So I think that's first. I think, second is figuring out where I want to go. What am I looking for? That's different, and I think a lot of people think they want more, they want bigger, they want better. And I think a lot of people now, post-pandemic, realize that maybe that's not quite the perspective they want to have. Maybe it's just different and different is better. And so it's really figuring out, and I think of it like a map, where am I today? Where do I want to go? And then we discuss how we are going to get there. And that is the piece that's highly customizable and varies person to person. Because there are some people who are ready to jump, they don't care what risks they're going to take. They just know that they want to make a change, and they want somebody to hold their hand as they jump out of the plane. And then I have other people without a parachute. And I have a lot of people that say, No, no, please, I don't want to do it, I'm not ready. But they know something has to happen. And so for those people, we spend a lot more time peeling back the onion, and really trying to get at the root of what's getting in the way. And there are all kinds of things that get in our way, whether it's the limiting beliefs we have, whether it's the stories we're telling ourselves, whether it's the things that we interpret a certain way or maybe just our perspective, or maybe it's the inner critic that we have. But this is what creates obstacles and keeps us stuck. And now we can wish and hope that some stars are going to fall upon us and things are going to change. And maybe that happens once in a blue moon, but, the reality is, things aren't going to change unless you start to take bold action. And sometimes it's imperfect action. But without that, you're not going to change at all. Andi Simon: So I'm a corporate anthropologist and a culture change expert, as I tell my listeners, who specializes in helping organizations and the people inside them change. And whether it's an organization or an individual, the brain hates me. It creates all kinds of cortisol, the amygdala hijacks new ideas, even if the old ones aren't working. And I say that to our listeners so that you understand, it's not personal. Your human evolution has allowed you to thrive because of the stories that are in your mind that you believe to be your truth. It's an illusion of what's real. But once you have them in there, that's the way it is now, you're not happy. Shayna is working with you saying, what do you want more of or less of, and you know it, but you need a process or a framework to begin to take a look at what makes you high while shallow, so that you have a process for beginning to think about what you're going to do less, what you're never going to change, what you're going to stop, and what you're going to start, which is the most off-putting part. I'm not going to say it's scary, but it's unfamiliar. And that's where I love Oprah and her small wins, a step at a time, and that's where you begin to try things, test them. You're going to have to break old stories and create new ones. And it becomes a real good thing to have a coach to help you think out loud. How do you first make them take a look at who they are? Can you share a little bit more about what happens next? Shayna Bergman: Yes, absolutely. And I'll talk a little bit more about that first piece, because I do something that's really special. I do what's called the ELA, the Energy Leadership Index Assessment. And it's basically a test that allows somebody, if they answer questions truthfully, to understand what their energy is like on a regular day. So what happens to their engagement, what happens to their motivation, what happens to how they show up day to day when the day is good, and things are going in their favor. And then it also spits out basically what happens to them when they're stressed on a bad day, and how their motivation and their engagement and how they show up is impacted when under stress. And it's a starting point for us, especially because people are not always self-aware. Some are but not everybody. But it's a starting point for us to have a conversation around what works for you. And then, how are you hijacked. How was your brain hijacked? And everybody is different, everybody's test comes out different, but it creates a conversation. And what it also does is, it creates education and a language for me and my clients to share, where basically we discuss the seven levels of energy, that they have one being sort of the lowest level of energy that's not working for you where you're in high stress, all the way up to the seventh level of energy, which we would consider to be extremely high consciousness, high choice. And it allows us to be able to have this awareness of what's happening to me in this particular situation, and what level am I at? What level do I want to be at? And what is it going to take to get there? And so it really breaks down in a much more tangible way the steps that somebody can start to take, speaking to the small steps that you just mentioned, that Oprah talks about. And you know, a journey begins with a single step, that concept for them to understand how they can safely dip their toe into something that might feel a little bit new and a little bit scary. And as you know from studies of the brain, our brains have deep grooves that are habits. That's how we react and how we respond to certain situations. And it takes those little minute tiny steps time after time after time to start to create a new groove in the brain. It's like building muscle. You don't go lifting 500 pounds, you start with one pound and you lift one pound until that feels lighter. And then you go to two pounds. I do the same thing with my clients, it's little steps. And like I said, some make bigger leaps than others in different amounts of time. It varies across the board. But whatever it is, is normal for you. It's not good or bad. It's normal. Andi Simon: Yeah, it's interesting because in so many ways, women have achieved enormous success. You know, 60% of college graduates are women, more than half the doctors are women, half of dentists are women. 65% of the accountants are women. 40% of the attorneys are women. I could go on. We haven't quite moved up into the C-suite or into the partnership yet. And in some places, the women are the worker bees, while the men are the managers, I get that. On the other hand, a guide path to a happy life has been missing. And for both my clients and yours, there's no college degree to a happy life. There's no really early training on how to assess what's working and what is not. And consequently, we get these words like burnout, depression, anxiety, the amount of pills that are taken to quiet the mind, that's telling you, this isn't where you should be. But, there's no training on how to be. And I actually met a guy who's a vigorous and happy coach. And he has a book, So I'm Happiness. I said, oh my goodness, we have to actually teach happiness. Will we know it when we find it? In a way, as you're guiding the folks, do they go through a transformation? I couldn't agree with you more. You know, our brains are habit driven. And they're perfectly happy doing the old habits in a very efficient way, and they really don't want to learn something new. But as you're rooming with them, when do they have that epiphany I always think of that aha moment when they go, "Ah, that's what's going to work." I love it when they do it! Shayna Bergman: I do love those aha breakthrough moments. And I think those are sparks of joy. Because we are also our bodies. And you know, being human, we do love development. We love changing. We love evolution, that's something that we seek. And it is those little sparks, this little "A-ha!" that creates that growth like, "Ooh, I learned something new. I succeeded at something," big or small. And I really try to stop and celebrate those moments with my clients when they have that realization, or they did something that felt bold, to let them know, Yes, you can do it. And you can keep going. And sometimes it takes us sort of looking backwards and saying, Well, when have you done something like that in the past? Take me through that. And a lot of times, we forget that we've overcome big barriers and challenges before, maybe we didn't see it that way. We didn't think about it. But some of the work I do with my clients is realizing you've actually done this before. So you can do it again. And I think it's through that journey, that some of that joy starts to come out a little bit in those moments of growth. And the growth happens in the times of being uncomfortable. It doesn't happen when things are status quo. You know, yes, there's joy and comfort. There's joy in knowing what you can expect. But the excitement comes when there's something new that's happening. And I like to think about it almost like a roller coaster. It's like, you have that steady climb upwards, and you're nervous about what is going to be on the other side. And then there's joy, and there's laughter as you're taking the twists and turns and the ups and the downs. That is part of the experience. And you and I really believe you can't have joy without moments of sadness. I think the two have to go hand in hand in order to be able to experience them. And I think they all serve a purpose. And so if you think about touching a hot stove, it hurts. And that makes you move your hand. It's the same thing when you have sadness, or you have anger or you have frustration, that emotion is giving you a cue to know what to do next. And so I think that all of those things serve in some way, but it's just learning how to read them and how to know what to do with them. Andi Simon: It's a whole language and it's so fascinating. I was interviewing someone earlier today. We're writing my third book, and it's called Women Mean Business. And that should come out September 2023. But in that interview, she made a good point: Watch out for the balance. It's the imbalance that propels you forward. And that's what you're saying. Because when everything seems fine, the status quo is good. You are going to become complacent. And that complacency is going to keep you from seeing what's possible, and where you're going. Now, you and I could talk a great deal about this. I want to talk more about purpose and a purpose-driven life, purpose-driven companies. It's become almost a cliche, but I think it is an extremely important and missing part of having a life worth living. What do you see? Shayna Bergman: Yeah, I totally agree. And I know having come from the last company I was at, especially as we're hiring and bringing in new people, we're seeing, especially with this generation, this desire not to just work and make money, but to do something that is for a bigger purpose for the greater good. This warms my heart, because I think that has been lacking where everything has been only bottom line driven. And yes, that is a component of business, right? But if you know that there's some greater purpose to what it is that you're doing and what your company is doing, I think it does create this feeling of fulfillment and that there is more to your life. But I do believe you have to have a purpose-driven life. There has to be something that really motivates and drives you. And I think a lot of people will go back to the hamster wheel. They're on this hamster wheel, and they don't even know what it is that they care about anymore because they're going through the motions. To partner with somebody, with a coach in particular, who's going to ask you powerful questions that allow you to reflect and to really touch base with what it is that you care about deeply, what your values are, what drives you, what gets you out of bed in the morning, to me, that is what creates that life of fulfillment and that life of purpose. But so many of us have just gotten caught up and wake up, go to work, get the kids fed, give them a bath, get to bed, do it again the next day, that we've lost sight of what that is. And so I think it's got to be at the forefront of what it is that you're doing and who you are. And to me, that's the North Star. That's how you decide. Everything that you do in your life is in my mind living toward whatever my particular purpose is, and maybe it changes, but to not have anything that you're working for and just to be getting to the next day, which I hear a lot of — I just want to get to the next day — that's not going to be a life of fulfillment. Andi Simon: Well, it's also not a life worth living. You're right. But there's also one other part to that. And that's self-care. And they're connected. I do think that if you don't take care of yourself, then you can't really either fulfill your purpose or take care of others. And our job is so much of caretakers. Your thoughts on self-care? Shayna Bergman: Yeah, so I have a saying that I like to share with people. I call it SCORE. So the S is for sunshine, so you have to get outside every day. The C is for connection. So that means getting together with friends and family, connecting to other people is critical. In fact, the happiest places on Earth are places where people live in these tribal communities where there's a lot of connection. And that's a big piece of who they are. The O is for oxygen. And so I say that in terms of breathing, meditating, taking a moment to have some peace and calm in your day, recognizing when you haven't been breathing deeply, and you're feeling stressed and tense and your shoulders are shrugged up. And just relaxing and taking a deep breath and what that does for you. The R is for rehydrate. So make sure that you are drinking lots and lots of water and eating right. And I call it SCORE, and it's how I keep score on the day. Did I do these basic things? And I think as silly as it sounds, we forget sometimes that the basics are what sets you up for the rest of it. And so if you've been sitting inside in a dark room all day and you haven't gotten outside, you've got to go get some sunshine. It will make you feel better, you will sleep better, it will regulate your biological needs. I mean, there's just a lot of things that need to happen that we forget to do because we're sacrificing our care for somebody else's checklist. Andi Simon: And that makes it very difficult to be the kind of person that you really want to be and smile at the end of the day. It's interesting because with all of the smart, trained women, we're also watching them struggle with how to be smart about themselves and really have something, because what you say and how, like your parents and Tony Robbins, leave an impression on those children of yours, and even on your spouse or your parents or your friends. Remember, the stories we tell change the story in the minds of those hearing them. And they evolve and you don't realize it but you're changing something that's then passed on to the next generation. And when I was teasing Shayna that she sounds a little like Tony Robbins, it becomes part of your story and what you hear, and you've got this great movie going on in your head. Be intentional about it. Think carefully about the curiosity that you need, the self-care that you've got, it's really an important time to take care of you and it's okay to do that. It's not terrible, and you're not broken. You're just on to the next phase. And it's not that you're sick or you need pills, it's now you need a purpose and you need a guide to help you get going. This has been so fun. Some last thoughts: two or three things you want us not to forget, and how can people reach you? Shayna Bergman: So the first thing I would say is remember SCORE. I think that is the basis of making sure that every day is a great day. You really have to do the basics. And to your point about self-care, it starts right there. I think second is, figure out what is your North Star. What is the purpose that you're living toward? What are your values, and I do a lot of work with my clients to uncover really what their values are, and how they're living them on a day to day basis. And sometimes those things are mismatched. And then the third thing is, I'm going to make a book recommendation, because it's a book that changed my life. And that is the book Brave, Not Perfect by Reshma Saujani, who is the woman who founded Girls Who Code and you probably see her all over the place now. But it specifically speaks to women and how we are raised and how that has impacted how we're able to live our lives and take bold risks. And to me that was sort of the book that launched this part of my career and this part of my journey, and so I really recommend it. And then in terms of how to reach me, you can find me at Shaynabergman.com. You can also find me at Shayna Bergman Coaching, both on Facebook and on Instagram. And if you want to email me to talk more, I am at Shayna@Shaynabergman.com. Andi Simon: And I have a hunch that our viewers and our listeners are going to say, Hmm, what am I going to do more and less of? And how am I going to find my North Star so I can have a life worth living. And it's never too late to start, so don't wait too long to think about it. And now, I'm going to say goodbye to our audience because I think we've had a great conversation today. And I always love these conversations. And remember my books: On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights and Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business are all on Amazon. And they await you with great joy. There is even an audible I did myself and the other one I had someone else do, but they're fun to listen to while you're driving. And I think people are going back to that commute, which is sort of like, wow, I remember those times. Well, as you're thinking, send me your emails. I get lots and lots of emails from people who said, "I listened, I loved it, and here's someone else you should interview because I want to hear what they have to say." So send them along. It's info@Andisimon.com. It'll all be on the blog that we produce when we put this out. So thanks again, Shayna. Thank you so much for being with me. It's been such fun.

On today's episode, Garrett and Kyle recap the Chiefs triumphant win over the Rams last Sunday, talk about Patrick Mahomes' appearance on the New Heights podcast, dive into the week that was in Chiefs Kingdom, and preview the Cincinnati Bengals game that has been circled on everyone's calendar all year long. Tune in @KingdomSaysPod

It's Josh and Nate for this Time's Ours as Seth is in the state of Florida currently. The guys talk about Patrick Mahomes' appearance on the New Heights podcast, Justin Reid's unusual trash talk to the Bengals and preview the matchup between the Chiefs' defense and the Bengals offense. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the fifteenth episode of New Heights, we finally got him despite the fastest invitation of all time (5:15). We finally got to sit down and have an incredible conversation with 4-time pro bowler, NFL MVP, and Super Bowl Champion Quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes.  In this episode, Jason and Travis get Pat to explain why the Chiefs might not be running the QB sneak any time soon (6:50) We also dive into our most heated New Heights debate, who has the best fast food burger (11:40), the insane story about why Pat crushed his draft interview with Andy Reid (15:20), how his relationship with Alex Smith made him a better pro (20:35), and the legendary first meeting that led to his bromance with Travis (29:00).  The guys also get the never before heard backstory of how Pat basically drafted himself in 2017 (47:10), how he's adjusted to running an offense with a Tight End (42:55), why his greatest rival might be the teleprompter (57:02), and his welcome to the NFL moment playing against Tom Brady (58:20).  We also have some incredible stories behind his first start as a Chief (59:50 ) how he really feels about all those wild comebacks (01:07:10), his thoughts on all the MVP chatter (01:21:31), and all the comparisons to Michael Jordan and Steph Curry (01:27:40).  Patrick also shares the superstitions he's kept with him since his rookie year (01:31:08), what rivalries he's got with other QBs (01:36:20), who is on his QB, Mt. Rushmore (01:38:30), and why Travis might not be the greatest beer pong partner (01:40:01).  Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce every Wednesday during the NFL season & check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show. As always, thank you for watching and listening to the show send us questions, fan base suggestions, or anything on your mind to @NewHeightShow or email us at Newheights@gmail.com Visit https://GO.FACTOR75.com/newheights60 and use code newheights60 to get 60% off your first box Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aaron, Ed, and Jeff discuss the Luke Fickell transition, what's next for Bearcat football, a Bengals win in Tennessee, and what's next for Coach Wes Miller and the men's basketball team. As always, we throw in a dash of Ed covering New Heights and AEW, plus a Lightning Round and Bum of the Week.

On the fourteenth episode of New Heights, we try and tease the Patrick Mahomes episode we're dropping later this week but maybe give too much away (02:05), Jason lets us know the response he's gotten to the Eagles Christmas album(03:05), and we take a look at some of the incredible fan art we saw at Arrowhead this weekend(07:45).  We break down our games from Week 12 starting with the Chiefs big win over the defending Super Bowl champion Rams(14:30). We find out how Travis almost called an insane audible during his biggest play of the game (16:00) and how he really feels about drawing the defense's best cover guy every week (18:13).  And we look at how “fly, Eagles fly” turned into “run, Eagles run” on Sunday Night Football (35:48). Jason reveals what he did with the game ball (41:10), and we try to figure out if any records are left for Jalen Hurts to break (44:40).  Also around the league, we look at the debut of what might be the must-have accessory this Holiday season with Brian Robinson's big hat (51:20) and debate if Darrell Taylor is the best teammate you could want on the sideline (53:15).  We close with a look ahead to week 13 with the Eagles huge matchup against Derrick Henry and the Titans (01:01:50) and the game Travis might have had circled all season, the Chiefs AFC title game rematch against Joe burrow and the Bengals (01:04:05).  As always, thank you for watching and listening to the show send us questions, fan base name suggestions, or anything on your mind to @NewHeightShow or email us at Newheights@gmail.com Watch and listen to new episodes of New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce every Wednesday during the NFL season & check us out on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok for all the best moments from the show. Sign-up at https://draftkings.com and use promo code NEWHEIGHTS and DraftKings will donate $1 for every entry up to $20k to the Pat Tillman Foundation.  Eligibility restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. See terms at draftkings.com. Ends 11/30/2022 11:59 PM ET. Sponsored by DK.  Go to https://BABBEL.com and use promo code NEWHEIGHTS for 6 months, for the price of 3! Visit harrys.com/NewHeights to get your Harry's Starter Set with free travel-sized body wash today! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hear why it's so crucial for success to build effective teams My guest today is a remarkable individual, Mark Samuel, who's now written seven business books. I interviewed Mark back in June of 2019 and thought he had such a powerful message about how to get people to change, even when they really don't want to, that I had him back. Today's podcast is about his most recent book, Reimagine Teams: The Missing Piece in Team Building to Achieve Breakthrough Results. Our discussion focuses on the vital role of accountability, which makes teams work or fail. With over 30 years' experience in the business world, Mark is a transformative leader, having helped hundreds of companies overcome stagnation, transform their businesses, and eliminate toxic work cultures to increase profits, morale and customer experience. Does your culture need an overhaul? Be sure to listen in! Watch and listen to our conversation here How do you rebuild your company culture as we come out of the pandemic? In our podcast, Mark and I had a wonderful time discussing our shared interest in the success of companies working together in what we all call "teams." But teams, teaming and team development are being rethought today as our workplaces and work styles change. These are very fast-changing times. I used to tell my clients, if they wanted to change, have a crisis or create one, and I never wanted to see a crisis like we're coming out of, but we're coming out of it. The problem is that people are unsettled as we come out of the post-pandemic period; the old habits are gone. They don't quite know what's going on. They were attached to what they knew before the pandemic. Now they have become adjusted to the post-pandemic workplace. And looking ahead, they don't know what's coming. They want to go back, but you can't go back. So how do we go forward? Often a business leader's solution is to assemble the team. But what type of team? And how should it perform as business leaders rebuild the culture for the post-pandemic phase? Bringing about real changes that last through team-building As an internationally sought-after speaker and consultant for his B STATE methodology (Bold Leadership, Brave Culture, Breakthrough Results), Mark trains leaders on implementing sustainable changes. As he shares in our podcast, "For decades, corporate team building has consisted of style inventories, communication skill building, and teamwork games like ropes courses, trust falls, and escape rooms. While these activities might bring a team closer together as friends and are certainly fun, they have little to do with building job-related teamwork." His message for us: Accountability. Organizations have become accountable just for activity, getting things done, doing things, rather than the outcome of what we are trying to accomplish by the doing of it. You must have teams and they must be accountable. And building effective teams requires practice at being a team. Just like sports teams and music groups which practice what they're going to perform, business teams must practice their performance as a team, not just as a group of individuals trying to get along. After listening to this interview, you'll come away understanding how the old legacies hold us back from success, such as siloed departments, measurements and assessments that miss the mark, and outdated teamwork exercises that don't translate back to the workplace. Teams should work seamlessly toward common goals, and Mark tells us how. You can connect with Mark on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or his websites BState.com or MarkSamuel.com. Or you can email him at marks@impaqcorp.com. For a deeper dive into how to achieve culture change, we recommend these: Blog: How's Your Culture? Doing Fine Or In Drastic Need Of An Overhaul? Podcast: Jacqueline Kibler—Want To Grow? Take A Good Hard Look At Your Culture Podcast: Mike Scott—Creating A Culture Of Accountability Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants   Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. As you know, I'm your host and your guide, and my job is to get you off the brink. I love to go looking for people who are going to help you see, feel and think in new ways so you can get off the brink. Our job is to help you soar again; that's often difficult in fast changing-times. These are very fast-changing times. I used to tell my clients, because I specialize in helping organizations that need to change or adapt to change, I used to say that if you want to change, have a crisis or create one. I never wanted to see a crisis like we're coming out of, but we're coming out of it. The problem as we come out of the post-pandemic period is that people are unsettled, their habits are gone. They don't quite know what's going on. They were attached to what they knew and they don't know what's coming next. They want to go back, but you can't go back. So how do we go forward? And often the solution is to assemble the team. The team can take us and the leader can manage that team better. So today I'm going to bring in Mark Samuel who's now written six books on teams. And we're going to talk about lots of things. So I'm going to tell you a little bit about his newest book, Reimagine Teams: The Missing Piece in Team Building to Achieve Breakthrough Results, a pretty cover. And it's not that big, so you can actually read it. But what's really more important is what he's going to help you understand a little bit about. He's the founder and CEO of Impact, served as a thought leader for developing accountable leaders and creating clinical organizations. That word accountable should not be underestimated. He's done it for over 35 years. The author of five books, as I mentioned, the bestselling B State: A New Roadmap for Bold Leadership, Brave Culture and Breakthrough Results. This book is written with Sarah Samuel, a writer and copy editor for Impact. And he may tell you a little bit about who Sarah is. But this is a time for us to think in new ways about what we've always assumed. So I want you to think about your team. What teams do you belong to in your organization outside of the organization? Think about what you did as a kid growing up. Did you play on the baseball team? The kickball team? What was the team and why was it important? And now I'm going to introduce you to Mark Samuel who I'm going to ask to tell you about his own journey so you know who he is. And then we'll get to the teaming and what he's doing now to reimagine teams. Mark, who are you? What's your journey? Mark Samuel: Well, thanks, Andi. That was a wonderful introduction. And you're so spot on around talking about change. My background is that I came from teams, in a sense. I mean, I started on baseball teams, and I went to music groups, then my daughter was involved with acting and that I looked at as a team. So I've had all these experiences with teams. And then when I got into graduate school, my focus was on teams. I was taught by one of the top professors, Dr. Newton Margulies from UC Irvine. He was a practitioner, not just a theorist. So he was excellent at building teams and was wonderful. But what I discovered along the way, on my journey and my path, was that the ways that I was taught to build teams in school and university actually didn't work as well as expected, and that's when I had to relook and reimagine what a team is all about. And that's when I drew upon my sports, and my music background. Andi Simon: The epiphany that you had, as you write about it, is important to share. How do we have an epiphany, an aha moment, where we're not going to do more of the same because it's not working? But what could work? What would you see? So tell the listener or the viewer what happened to make you say, Stop, this is an old way of doing things. It's not working anymore. But what does work? What was the moment? Mark Samuel: Well, it was a very distinct moment where I was getting great evaluations on my team building. I had just worked with an executive team and came back three months later to meet with the CEO. As I'm going down the hall, I'm seeing people that were on the team, the other executives, and they're literally coming up and hugging me and saying, "That was wonderful. I had the best experience. It was so good. It changed my life." My head is getting bigger. I was quite young at the time and I'm feeling just on top of the world. And then I asked a very innocent question, which is, "Oh, and how's the team doing?" And they go, "Oh, well, the team is just as dysfunctional as it ever was. But boy, it was a great experience for me, and everyone loved your session." Literally, my heart just stopped. Like, I literally became so discouraged and depressed in that moment. I was in shock. And again, as young as I was at that time, for me, it was, if I'm not going to be effective at what I'm doing, then I'm getting out of this. I don't belong in this business if I can't get a better result. I really took it that seriously. And, you know, and again, I was glad that people got whatever value they did. But my purpose was building the team. Andi Simon: Hold that thought for a moment because it is to build the team, but what you heard and saw was that the effectiveness of the team wasn't improving. They built a team that was still dysfunctional, but an interesting commentary on "Well done, but not right." And I have several leadership academies and I find it interesting because we're working on teams and teaming. But there's a mythology around a team about how you build it. And what works and doesn't work? What are we trying to achieve here? What did you discover? Mark Samuel: I discovered that the focus on relationships were great, it certainly built better relationships. It didn't mean they were more effective as a team, and didn't mean that their execution as a team was any better. When execution breaks down, then eventually it's going to affect your relationships because you can't count on each other. That's the true meaning of accountability, and if you can't eventually trust it, you don't have relationship trust. That's the thing about trust. That's so interesting. There's a relationship trust, which like, you can have dinner together, we can socialize together. But what's different is execution trust, where I can count on you to keep commitments, keep agreements, come through on time, communicate with me, include me in a decision that affects me. That's execution trust, very different than relationship trust. Andi Simon: That it almost sounds abstract. It's so interesting because if it was a baseball team...we have been watching the Mets win. I'm willing to stay up till 10 o'clock at night to watch that team really team up. A little different, or a musical orchestra that plays great music. How do they all do that? Well, they do it as a team. So what goes on in business where we can't see or hear the music? Or see the hits? What is it that's so interesting about business, where we can talk about a team, but not very likely? Mark Samuel: Oh, that's a great question. And there is one huge difference. Whether you're talking about sports, baseball, as an example, or music, the way we learn the team is on the field, not off the field. You've got to get on the field. Gotta get into a rehearsal hall, and it's playing with each other that actually not only builds the execution, but also builds the relationships because we're working together and communicating. But it's real time, real life. It's not, "Oh, let's talk about the theory of communicating." We're actually having to communicate to play with each other. And we don't do that in organizations. Organizations will tell you we don't have downtime. We're always in the game. We don't have that off time. And I'm saying, "What do you think you're doing in meetings? Yes. Meetings. You're not serving customers?" "Meetings? Oh, I know what we're doing. We're talking about status updates, sharing information." But why aren't we practicing our execution in our meetings by surfacing and solving problems, making decisions, moving things forward, talking about what didn't work, just the same way as we would do that in a music group or athletic team? Andi Simon: So in a sense, metaphorically, not necessarily, in fact, and whether it's remote or in person, asynchronous or otherwise, that gathering of time has to have a new purpose. It isn't simply to gather. When I joined Montefiore Medical Center as an executive, a long time ago, I was fascinated because I came out of banking. And in financial services, I'm not quite sure the meetings had more purpose, but we did have an agenda and we usually had takeaways and some things that we were going to do, but in healthcare, they just attended and the meeting had no agenda and no takeaways. And I left wondering, "What is my purpose to be there? And I heard what was going on but now what is this, simply a communication methodology of sharing stuff?" And to your point, but I wasn't savvy enough to know that this is dysfunctional. It was the way we did things. So how do we turn meetings into something which is more like a baseball team practicing to win than it is simply to appear and be seen and to do? Mark Samuel: I mean, what's so interesting is when you're going to hear the answer become so obvious. We all want to be successful. And the only thing basically that keeps us from being successful are the challenges and obstacles along the way. Why don't we make meetings about surfacing and solving those obstacles? Anything that's going to get in the way of us being successful is what we talk about and resolve, not based on one person's agenda or politics or hierarchy, whatever, it doesn't matter. We've got problems that are keeping us from being successful. Let's remove those. And quite honestly, I look at that as the role of leadership. In particular, leadership teams need to be focused on removing obstacles, so the people that report to them can get their work done successfully. Andi Simon: I bet you have some illustrative cases that you can share, am I right? Mark Samuel: Yeah, the ones that become the most obvious are the breakdowns between departments that are currently siloed off working on their own. And now they have to come together. This can be in a medical center, it could be in a manufacturing facility, it doesn't matter. But any time the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, and there's a breakdown, we need to surface it. And it's all about coordination. It's all about communication, but not just communication in terms of information flow, it's communication to let people know changes. What's going on? Where are difficulties that we need to let each other know ahead of time? This all happens, by the way, in music groups and sports teams all the time. They're literally practicing that. So in a way, organizations need to do the same thing. I just heard of one the other day where a department was implementing a new change, and didn't tell the other departments until the email came out and all the leaders were caught off guard. Like, I actually don't know how to talk about this or answer any questions because I wasn't made aware of this ahead of time. And it's such a simple thing. And yet, it constantly happens. Andi Simon: Why does it happen? I mean, I'm thinking about all the companies I've worked with, and am working with. Now it would seem simple to ensure that everybody knows what's going to happen, how it's going to happen, to discuss some of the obstacles that are going to be faced, and how to ensure that why the point of what we're doing has purpose, and actually gets done, as opposed to creates chaos, which sounds like this is what happened here. But why don't we think about it? How do you change it? Mark Samuel: Well, it's actually interesting enough. This might surprise you, but it actually has to do with the word accountability and what we're accountable for. Because organizations have become accountable for activity, getting things done, doing things, rather than the outcome of what we are trying to accomplish by the doing of it. And so in a sense, that department checked it off the list, we did it, we created the change, we communicated it, that's part of the checkoff. It wasn't outcome driven to what's actually going to make this change successful for everybody. They weren't thinking of that. They were only thinking of, "My job is to do something." And when you then add in the silo behaviors, that I'm not really thinking about my impact on others, I'm only thinking about what I need to do, what's on my plate and the activities, then it's a formula for disaster, because I'm not going to communicate it. I'm not going to be thinking about the result of it and what's going to set everybody up for success. And that's where we have to shift our thinking around accountability. I'm accountable. I'm not accountable for doing things. I'm accountable for accomplishing something that's greater than my department, greater than my function. Andi Simon: I love what you're talking about and so timely, but tell me how do you make that happen? I'm anxious to pick your brain, because the skills that we bring to our clients sometimes get stale, but more often, we would love to learn what others have done effectively. So help me help my clients with what has worked well. Mark Samuel: Well, again, there's actually a simple answer that we're not doing and that is that when you start, this is actually in some respects a middle management issue, not senior management. Senior managers, they're meeting together all the time. Middle managers don't have a purpose as a team. They're there to support their executive and optimize their department. But that's not actually true. What we need to do is bring middle managers together, make them a team responsible for the organization's excellence and culture. They're the bridge between direction and getting it done. But they don't have a common purpose unless you are a team, so what we do is we actually get middle managers, we sometimes will bring in 40 to 50 people in a room, but create a common purpose of what we're about as a middle management leadership team. That now becomes overriding compared to just our functional area. We become in service to something greater, which is the whole organization, but we do it as a team. And we make that purpose operational excellence and culture. Andi Simon: Don't you love it? It's just so timely and important. Amy Edmondson is working on teaming and raises some interesting questions about exactly what you're saying. I love if we don't have a purpose among those managers that shared, there's no game we're playing together. I don't know whethe I'm hitting the ball or catching the ball. I don't know how my efforts affect yours. Amy talks a lot about teaming across departments, similar to what you're talking about. But you don't talk about it as action call teaming. You're talking about a team but I have a hunch there's behavior modification here as well. What kind of behaviors change as this middle management team emerges? I think it's important to visualize it. Mark Samuel: Absolutely. And this is where the focus that we've been having in many several books out right now is on habits, you know, atomic habits and individual habits. But the problem with those, with that concept is, it's focused on individual habits. And when you really look at baseball teams, football teams, music groups, basketball teams, it doesn't matter, acting, they're actually developing team habits. How do you turn a double play? How do you transition from one piece of the music to another? That's a team habit. We're all listening. We're all cooperating, we're all communicating. We create team habits around how we surface and solve problems together. How do we make decisions in a timely manner but in an inclusive manner? How do we set criteria for what success looks like? How do we even make sure that we're communicating with one voice? By the way, that one habit is the biggest game changer for culture of anything I've ever worked with before. When you get the whole team, deciding, "How do we communicate? When do we communicate? And how will we respond to questions and concerns in a common way?" Andi Simon: Do you know how hard that is? I mean, I'm a culture change expert. And following this story, I worked with a company and they brought their 12 leaders there and they each had a different story about what the culture was there. They did. I said, "Okay, where do we start? There's one octopus running in different directions because you haven't shared a common story. And if you're going to change the culture, and now we need to craft that new one, how are we doing? What are we doing? Where are we doing and it has to fit into those corporate top level strategies, as well as what you would like people to actually do." This is just so timely and important. Other thoughts? Mark Samuel: Well, can I give you an example. In healthcare, I was working with a medical center, and the leadership team needed to make some changes. The resistance came from physicians; as you know, that's a tough cookie to crack. I mean, first of all, they don't work for the medical center. They're independent, they work in conjunction with it and they had some very loud, aggressive physicians who were always resistant to change. And when we implemented this "speak with one voice," they all then started to recognize what was the resistance and instead of reacting to it, they planned ahead of time how they would respond. Literally in three months from being so unified, that resistance went completely away. Andi Simon: Don't you love it? So you actually happened to change? Mark Samuel: It shocked me actually. I didn't know that that would be as powerful as it was, but it was amazing. Andi Simon: And when you say things like "speak with one voice," I'm curious about the support for that. How did you meet? Did they meet often? Did they reinforce it through communication channels? What were some of the methodologies? Because typically, you agree, and then you go off on your own. And every day, you remember what you thought you were going to do. And the voice gets diluted into many voices. "Yes, do that." Mark Samuel: Well, we created a team habit. And a team habit is really a process of behaviors. So it has an order to it. And they had a wonderful team habit that said, we're going to understand, we're all going to message this together, and we're all going to agree on the message. And then we're going to brainstorm what's the ideal way to have the greatest impact on our audience. Do we do it through written? Do we do it verbally? Or both? So they literally strategized communication. I always tell groups, just to interrupt my own story for a second, the purpose of communication is never to share information. The purpose of communication is to manage the response you get from the information you're sharing. And that's a whole mindset change because now it's not just about getting information out. So they're looking at, How do we get the best response, and then anticipate what the resistance would be, and how they would respond well. And here's a trick that was going on there. If a physician didn't like what they heard, they went to another manager to get a different story. Now, when they went around that person, they got the same story, if they even got the same article that referenced why they were making the change. And the person said, "Okay, I already got this article from this other guy, stop it already. I'll just cooperate." Andi Simon: Talk a little bit more. And then we can wrap it up. Behavior modification isn't easy. And I don't care. I tell people, I don't care if you're going to Weight Watchers to lose weight. Or you're going to exercise every day because it's essential for your well-being. How are you going to even change your calendar, so you have a gratitude diary. At the end of the day, the habits are powerful. Your brain hates the unfamiliar. It would much rather do what it's always done. It has a story in there that's true. That story is true, but in your mind, that illusion of reality is your reality. And so consequently, anything on the outside just interrupts it, knowing your amygdala deletes it. It hijacks it. It isn't personal, this is human. And, consequently, team habits are a great concept because you've got to get everyone's mind to see the same story and to share the same reality and behave in a different fashion. And you're going to help each other with the behavior modification. Some thoughts? Mark Samuel: Yes. And you brought up something that's to me so important; it goes back to my younger days. I'm a perpetual dieter since I was a kid. But I'll tell you, it's always easier to stick to the diet when my family is doing the same diet than when I'm eating boring chicken and broccoli and they're eating pizza just doesn't work the same way. The same is true in an organization. The one thing that's great is, they become a support system for each other because it's a team habit, not an individual. I've got, we're all struggling with the same habit. So there's a bit of forgiveness in that and camaraderie if you can do it and support and encouragement. But there's one other factor. And it really goes back to my accountability days. And that is, we never plan for perfection. We always plan for proactive recovery. And so we're never worried about us not being perfect in the new habit. We've already set up recovery plans for when we get off track. How do we gently get back on track in a supportive way, without allowing too much time? I always tell people when I'm dieting, my problem has always been that my recovery plan has been about two or three years. Yeah, have a one-day recovery plan and then every day it'll work. Andi Simon: You and poor diets, the challenges humans have, almost all of us do. I once saw a great quote from Mary Barra I think. She said, "It isn't a destination, it's a journey." And I do think that managing leading organizations are journeys where you have lots of people and you're trying to get them to see where you're going and know that you're going to detour along the way and keep moving forward. And I love the concept of team habits. So we're going to reimagine teams. Two or three thoughts you want the audience not to forget. Let's wrap us up with some good insight. Mark Samuel: Yeah. First of all, when you come together as a team, don't be thinking about the problems of today. Create what would be ideal in an optimal way a year from now. Think in terms of a year and discuss it not based on styles, think of it in terms of what outcomes, what's the reputation we want to have as leaders or as a department in terms of how we're supporting the big, the greater organization and make it future focused so that we can all align to what we want. And in a practical way, not just a philosophical one. It's got to be practical for the challenges of that organization. Andi Simon: Good. Now, let's emphasize that. At the end of the day, the teams don't exist to be nice. They exist to have good execution, to be accountable, use the word accountable. I love execution, we gotta get the outcomes. You gotta get it done. There's something going on. Now, you'll recognize what isn't working. You're never quite sure why because you're doing your job. But what's going on, it's not happening. So that somehow we are a great organization, but it's not going where we want to go. So let's assume all the people are good people. They're skilled at what they do, but they're just not collaboratively. So to use your analogy, if you don't practice the team habit of a double play, when the ball comes to you on the field, you stop and think about where to throw it, as opposed to sending it right to second. So it goes to, first you have to double play. How many times are you going to play that over and over and over and over again in your head before you know if the ball comes to you, you know where to throw it? That's where I go. It's a habit. And the team knows that they've got to move to the base to pick it up. And it isn't thought about. A golfer told me that 749 times I have to hit the ball before my mind stops interrupting it. And heavy comes a habit. I haven't hit the ball 749 times yet, but that mind gets in the way every time. And so that'll make it into that new habit. And so the amygdala hijacking it makes it say, "Oh, that was wonderful." Mark, if they want to get your book or they want to reach you consulting, what kinds of things do you offer people? Mark Samuel: Well, we offer lots of articles that are free to view. We do have our books, obviously, we have self-learning systems. And the best way to do that is just go to reimagineteams.com. It's all right there for everyone to see, everything that we have to offer. And it's easy to engage with us. We do have a monthly newsletter that we put out for people, as well as podcasts and things like that, which we're doing. So it's just a wonderful resource because we really made it for people to gather as much information and learn as much as they can without having to invest much. So reimagineteams.com is the place to go. Andi Simon: So I have Mark Samuel with me today on On the Brink. Now remember, my job is to get you off the brink. So if you're on the brink, and you aren't quite sure what to do, reimagining teams might be exactly what you need. And a little help might help as well. For me, my two books are selling extremely well: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Business and On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights. They're both about change, which is what we do. We specialize in helping organizations change. And I'd love to help you. So if you want to see, feel and think in new ways, if you're stuck or stalled, get ahold of us at info@Andisimon.com. and we'll see how we can help. And Mark is here to help you as well. We do it in similar ways. I love to share with you smart people. We're going to give you insight so that you, too, can change. It's not easy. Mark, thank you for joining me today. It's been a pleasure. Mark Samuel: Thank you Andi. This is really great. Thank you. Andi Simon: And for all of you who came, as you always do, you know we're in the top 5% of global podcasts. Keep pushing them along, share, because there's nothing better than sharing good stuff. Take care. Bye bye.