Podcasts about shrm magazine

HUGE Thanks to Jazmine & Kristina of BakedHR for pinch-hitting at the last minute on what was supposed to be a shorty episode, but we had too much fun!We dissect the SHRM Magazine cover story What Will HR Look Like in 2030?Turns out it will look exactly like it looks like today????Check out @BakedHR Support the showWant to:* Share a dumb employee question* Share a crazy story* Ask us a question* Share a best practice * Give us feedback Our Link Tree below has links to our social media sites, Patreon, Apple podcasts, Spotify & more.Please leave a review on your favorite podcast player and interact with us online!Linktree - https://linktr.ee/jadedhr

We live in a time when technology has made it possible for people from all over the world to work together as one team. CHROs have been at the forefront of this change, creating new ways that employees can be engaged and motivated while achieving personal success outside their jobs with flexible schedules or remote working options. Learn more from Jeanne Meister as she shares with host Shari Simpson the results of the Executive Networks research from the CHRO's perspective on all things future of work. Guest: Jeanne Meister, Executive Vice President at Executive Networks Jeanne is the best-selling author of three books, Corporate Universities: Lessons in Building a World- Class Work Force, The 2020 Workplace: How Innovative Companies Attract, Develop and Keep Tomorrow's Employees Today, and The Future Workplace Experience: 10 Rules for Mastering Disruption in Recruiting and Engaging Employees Jeanne's books have received the Silver Best Business Book Award for Human Resources professionals and the Bellwether award, by the Community College Futures Assembly. Jeanne is also a regular Contributor to Forbes and Harvard Business Review. Jeanne is leading a multi-client research program for Executive Networks on the Future Role of the CHRO, the Future of Working and Learning and Employee Well-being. Jeanne is the recipient of the Distinguished Contribution in Workplace Learning Award, given to one HR executive each year by the Association for Talent Development (ATD). This award honors Jeanne's body of work in preparing executives for the future of work. Jeanne is also the recipient of the Colin Corder Award for Outstanding Achievement in Workplace Learning by The Learning and Performance Institute (LPI). During 2021 and 2022, Jeanne was named 21 HR People To Follow in 2021, 100 Most Influential People in HR, Top 100 HR Tech Influencers for 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, Top 100 HR Influencers in 2022 and Top HR Experts to Watch in 2020 by People Managing People Magazine. Jeanne is a sought-after expert on the future of work, having appeared in CIO, CNBC Power Lunch, CBS News, CNN, Fast Company, Fox Business, Harvard Business Review, HR Executive, NPR, SHRM Magazine, Market Watch, Time Magazine, The Globe, and Mail, and WPIX, New York. Jeanne was previously Vice President of Market Development at Accenture (www.accenture.com). Jeanne is a member of the Executive Committee of Excelsior College Board of Trustees. Jeanne is a graduate of the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master degree from Boston University. Mentioned in the episode: The CHRO Of The Future: Strategies For A New World Of Work Executive Networks'Global CHRO of the Future research LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeannemeister/

What it means to be 100% human in today's modern worldThis week on the sacred changemakers podcast, I have a different kind of episode for you. I was recently asked to speak on the 100% Human podcast with podcast host Karen Allen. Now Karen and I have known each other for a few years and our work is very aligned, so I said yes, and last week we recorded that interview. And here's the thing, Karen and I had a riveting conversation, a true dialogue that I really wanted to share with all of you, so you're getting a sneak peek before it is published on the new 100% human podcast in July. A big thank you to Karen for allowing me to do this for all of you… Let me tell you a little about Karen because you are going to hear from both of us in today's episode: Karen is a TEDx speaker and founder of 100% Human. In her previous career, Karen worked in HR and Talent Management. However, when she experienced an unexpected tragedy, the trajectory of her life changed forever. Determined to rebuild her life, Karen discovered mindset habits and lifestyle changes that helped her find her way back to a whole heart. This inspired her to help others jumpstart their mental strength training. Karen's client list includes AT&T, Kaiser Permanente, Travelers Insurance, NBC's Golf Channel, Hubspot, Universal Orlando Parks & Resorts, Sprint, and many more! Her work has been featured in Forbes, SHRM Magazine, Good Morning America, MSNBC, and many others! She's also a regular contributor to Arianna Huffington's THRIVE Global community. Today Karen and I talk about our own journeys that include healing from life-halting trauma to finding our own unique way to business success, we discuss business/leadership and also what we've learned from the Covid-19 global pandemic. We both feel passionate about this time of transformation that we're all living through, and taking responsibility for playing our part in consciously shaping a better world for us all to enjoy. We touched on so many aspects of life, from the energy that animates all things to the invisible connections in between. Listen in as we both discuss what matters most to each of us right now, of bringing humanity back into the world of business and breaking through the invisible challenges of our time, especially around mental health and wellbeing. Key Takeaways How we each overcame life-halting traumas to come back to life Why energetic resonance matters How we can show up whole to life What we've both learned from the Covid-19 pandemic What you can do to make a difference Memorable Quote “What if we could just start by accepting that life is uncertain, it gives you the freedom to make the most of the moment that you're in, even if it is a tough moment, even if it is challenging you can still be fully present. Your work can become the flow that sends energy out into the world”  - Karen Allen Episode Resources: http://www.karenallen.co/ (Karen's Website) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BypYSAzxyyY&t=88s (Karen's TEDx Talk) http://sacredchangemakers.com/ (SacredChangemakers.com) https://sacredchangemakers.com/community/ (Our Sacred Community) https://www.linkedin.com/company/sacred-changemakers/ (Sacred Changemakers on LinkedIn) If you would like to support our show: Please rate, review and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and other podcast platforms. We would be SO grateful. Sacred Changemakers is a transformation company that believes in change for good.  We partner with changemakers (coaches, consultants, speakers, authors, business owners, leaders, conscious humans) who want to become more purpose-driven, create a lasting impact, and inspire a better future for all.  Together, we are making a meaningful difference in our world.  If you are a fellow changemaker who would like the support of an incredible community (and make a bigger impact along your path), http://sacredchangemakers.com/ (you can find out more...

In this conversation on race I’m joined by Diversity pioneers and original thought leaders Lee Mun Wah and Howard Ross to talk about the current state of diversity, racism and white supremacy in the US today   Howard is known for his cutting edge work on implicit bias and Mun Wah made the ground breaking film on race, Color of Fear.   Key Topics: Origins and current state of the Trump executive order banning diversity and inclusion training in the government and companies that do business with the government. Threats against Howard Ross and his family for his work in diversity, equity and inclusion. The content of the letter suspending Mun Wah’s training with the government calling diversity and inclusion unpatriotic, propaganda and unamerican. Why diversity, equity, inclusion and conversations on race are more important now than ever in the current culture of the US and across the globe. How Black people and others protesting in the name of social justice are being shot, threatened and attacked. Overcoming resistance and fear of diversity, conversations on race and social justice. Whose lives matter? Do white lives matter more than Black lives? Do heterosexual lives matter more than LGBTQ lives The fact that the media doesn’t mention the large numbers of Native American women who have disappeared, the lack of funds to help Native American communities and the high Covid death rate in that community. How issues of racism against LatinX, Asian and other people of color are often neglected, trivialized and ignored. Intercultural Health care disparities that result in higher death rates for Black women during childbirth than white women. Howard and Mun Wah share experiences engaging in dialogues with white supremacists.   Guests Bio: Lee Mun Wah, M.A. Special Education, M.S. CounselingExecutive Director of StirFry Seminars & Consulting   Lee Mun Wah is an internationally renowned Chinese American documentary filmmaker, author, poet, Asian folk teller, educator, community therapist, and master diversity trainer. He is the Executive Director of StirFry Seminars & Consulting, a diversity training company that provides educational tools and workshops on cross-cultural communication and awareness, mindful facilitation, and conflict mediation techniques. His first documentary film, Stolen Ground, about the experience of Asian Americans, won honorable mention at the San Francisco International Film Festival. His most famous film about racism, The Color of Fear, won the Gold Medal for Best Social Studies Documentary and in 1995, Oprah Winfrey did a one-hour special on Lee Mun Wah’s life and work that was seen by many.  His latest film, If These Halls Could Talk, was just released.  The film’s focus is on college students and their experience with racism and other diversity issues in higher education.  Thousands of people from government and social service agencies, corporations and educational institutions have taken Lee Mun Wah’s workshops and partnered with Stirfry Seminars & Consulting on their diversity initiatives.   Howard Ross is a lifelong social justice advocate and is considered one of the world’s seminal thought leaders on identifying and addressing unconscious bias.  He is the author of ReInventing Diversity: Transforming Organizational Community to Strengthen People, Purpose and Performance, (published by Rowman and Littlefield in conjunction with SHRM in 2011), and the Washington Post best seller, Everyday Bias:  Identifying and Navigating Unconscious Judgments in Our Daily Lives, (published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2014, Second Edition released in 2020).  His latest book, Our Search for Belonging:  How Our Need to Connect is Tearing Us Apart, released by Berrett-Koehler in May of 2018, won the 2019 Nautilus Book Award Gold Medal for Social Change and Social Justice.   Howard has specialized in the synthesis of neuro-cognitive and social science research and direct application re: Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Accessibility work.  His client work has focused on the areas of corporate culture change, leadership development, and managing diversity, inclusion and belonging.  Ross has successfully implemented large-scale organizational culture change efforts in the area of managing diversity and cultural integration in academic institutions, professional services corporations, Fortune 500 companies, and retail, health care, media, and governmental institutions in 47 of the United States and over 40 countries worldwide.  In addition, Howard has delivered programs at Harvard University Medical School, Stanford University Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, the Wharton School of Business, Duke University and Washington University Medical School and over 20 other colleges and Universities, as well as for the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).  Howard served as the 2007-2008 Johnnetta B. Cole Professor of Diversity Professor of Diversity at Bennett College for Women, the first time a white man had ever served in such a position at an HBCU.     Howard’s writings have been published by the Harvard Business Review, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Fast Company Magazine, Diversity Women Magazine, Forbes Magazine, Fortune Magazine and dozens of other publications.  He appears regularly on National Public Radio. Howard has served on numerous not-for-profits boards, including the Diversity Advisory Board of the Human Rights Campaign, the board of directors of the Dignity and Respect Campaign, the board of the directors for the National Women’s Mentoring Network, and the Board of Directors of the National Center on Race Amity.  Howard has been the recipient of many awards, including the 2009 Operation Understanding Award for Community Service; the 2012 Winds of Change Award from the Forum on Workplace Diversity and Inclusion; the 2013 Diversity Peer Award from Diversity Women Magazine; the 2014 Catalyst Award from Uptown Professional Magazine; the 2014 Catalyst for Change Award from Wake Forest University; the 2015 Medal of Honor by the National Center for Race Amity; the 2015 Trendsetter in HR by SHRM Magazine; and the 2016 Leadership in Diversity Award by the World Human Resources Development Conference in Mumbai, India.  He was also named an Honorary Medicine Man by the Eastern Cherokee Reservation in N.C. and given Medicine Holder designation by the Pawnee Nation.  Howard has also been honored to serve as a “Contributing Expert” in both 2015 and 2020 to the Global Diversity and Inclusion Benchmarks by the Centre for Global Inclusion.   Howard is also a former Rock ‘n Roll Musician and has taught meditation and mindfulness for more than 20 years, including his role as co-founder and Lead Facilitator for the Inner Journey Seminars.   In 1989, Howard founded Cook Ross Inc., one of the nation’s leading Diversity and Inclusion consultancies.  He sold the company in July 2018 and founded Udarta Consulting, LLC.   Howard keynotes and speaks regularly at Conferences for SHRM, SHRM Diversity, the Forum for Workplace Inclusion, National Association of Corporate Directors , ATD, the World Diversity Forum, and dozens of others.     He can be reached at howard@udarta.com.

Advocacy takes on different roles in order to empower the voice and impact the lives of people. In today's episode, I had the opportunity to speak with Howard Ross about the past, present, and future of advocacy. Education will always be what inspires change and action will be the driving force. We see it throughout history. "My whole life I've come to realize that if you're going to spend your life shaking the trees, occasionally a coconut is going to hit you on the head."Fighting for the rights of others means fighting for a better society. Howard went to his first Civil Rights at the age of 15 and with over 55 years of advocating for others, you can see that it made a huge impact in his life. He shared with us significant impacts that his family has made when it came to advocacy. Being Jewish during the Holocaust, 43 members of Howard's family were murdered. His own grandfather was living in a village where 100 Jews were killed by Nazis. The emotional impact of what we see, hear, and live through can be the spark to initiate change. It can become a heavy shadow on the families, communities, and generations that are connected to it in some way. We see a huge shift as younger generations are taking the reigns and demanding results in a similar way that we saw Baby Boomers do when they were younger. On one hand, it can make you proud that they have the motivation to do so but on the other, it can be saddening that we are still fighting the same fight.Howard dropped nuggets about we can do better when it comes to understanding and or being part of the current wave of advocates. I stumbled into advocacy because of my personal experiences with homelessness, abuse, molestation, and divorce. Prejudice against a certain group of people usually comes from a disconnect between their story and your own. Howard's nuggets: ~ Remember those that came before you and the life the lived ~ Use the emotional impact as fuel but be strategic ~ Understand that change does not always happen immediately~ Do the research on what you hear~ Protests matter and have their place in initiating change ~ Anger and rage are valid emotions when you feel unheard or mistreated~ NEVER label the majority by the actions of the few This episode will be my most memorable because the current climate of the world is a tough one to navigate. I appreciate the advocates that stand up in the face of fear, miseducation, prejudice, and miscommunication to fight for something bigger than them. I think back to when I first watched movies like Freedom Writers and Lean on Me. It was significant for me because it was a seed of understanding that we each can do something that matters. We each have the power to make an impact. To the advocates who consistently fight for change...we see you! Thank you! Meet Howard Ross:Howard Ross is a lifelong social justice advocate and is considered one of the world's seminal thought leaders on identifying and addressing unconscious bias. He is the author of ReInventing Diversity: Transforming Organizational Community to Strengthen People, Purpose and Performance, (published by Rowman and Littlefield in conjunction with SHRM in 2011), and the Washington Post bestseller, Everyday Bias: Identifying and Navigating Unconscious Judgments in Our Daily Lives, (published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2014). His latest book, Our Search for Belonging: How Our Need to Connect is Tearing Us Apart, released by Berrett-Koehler in May of 2018, won the 2019 Nautilus Book Award Gold Medal for Social Change and Social Justice.Howard has specialized in the synthesis of neuro-cognitive and social science research and direct application re Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Accessibility work. His client work has focused on the areas of corporate culture change, leadership development, and managing diversity. Ross has successfully implemented large-scale organizational culture change efforts in the area of managing diversity and cultural integration in academic institutions, professional services corporations, Fortune 500 companies, and retail, health care, media, and governmental institutions in 47 of the United States and over 40 countries worldwide. In addition, Howard has delivered programs at Harvard University Medical School, Stanford University Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, the Wharton School of Business, Duke University and Washington University Medical School, and over 20 other colleges and Universities. Howard served as the 2007-2008 Johnnetta B. Cole Professor of Diversity at Bennett College for Women, the first time a white man had ever served in such a position at an HBCU.Howard's writings have been published by the Harvard Business Review, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Fast Company Magazine, Diversity Women Magazine, Forbes Magazine, Fortune Magazine, and dozens of other publications. He appears monthly on National Public Radio. Howard has served on numerous not-for-profits boards, including the Diversity Advisory Board of the Human Rights Campaign, the board of directors of the Dignity and Respect Campaign, and the board of the directors for the National Women's Mentoring Network. Howard has been the recipient of many awards, including the 2009 Operation Understanding Award for Community Service; the 2012 Winds of Change Award from the Forum on Workplace Diversity and Inclusion; the 2013 Diversity Peer Award from Diversity Women Magazine; the 2014 Catalyst Award from Uptown Professional Magazine; the 2014 Catalyst for Change Award from Wake Forest University; the 2015 Trendsetter in HR by SHRM Magazine; and the 2016 Leadership in Diversity Award by the World Human Resources Development Conference in Mumbai, India. He was also named an Honorary Medicine Man by the Eastern Cherokee Reservation in N.C., and given Medicine Holder designation by the Pawnee Nation.Howard is also a former Rock ‘n Roll Musician and has taught meditation and mindfulness for more than 20 years, including his role as co-founder and Lead Facilitator for the Inner Journey Seminars.Howard founded Cook Ross Inc., one of the nation's leading Diversity and Inclusion consultancies. He sold the company in July 2018 and founded Udarta Consulting, LLC.Howard keynotes and speaks regularly at Conferences for SHRM, SHRM Diversity, the Forum for Workplace Inclusion, National Association of Corporate Directors, ATD, the World Diversity Forum, and dozens of others.He can be reached at howard@udarta.com.Social Media Handles (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.)Facebook.com/howardjross linkedin.com/howardjrosss

As leaders, we have an audience whether it’s through social media, an email list, a congregation, or even our own family. Howard Ross encourages us to re-establish integrity so that we can lead people well and speak up about important issues in a healthy and effective way.   Connect with Howard Ross: https://howardjross.com/ QUESTIONS ASKED: How is our need to belong tearing us apart? What’s our personal responsibility in navigating change? How can we restore hope for this generation?   FROM TODAY’s EPISODE: Being part of something bigger than yourself Changes in agreeing and disagreeing with others Connecting and supporting each other and recognizing unconscious bias RESOURCES: Text us! +1 (501) 214-4307 Join our Private Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/2lPut5A Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/heatherparady   BIO: Howard Ross is a lifelong social justice advocate and is considered one of the world’s seminal thought leaders on identifying and addressing unconscious bias.  He is the author of ReInventing Diversity: Transforming Organizational Community to Strengthen People, Purpose and Performance, (published by Rowman and Littlefield in conjunction with SHRM in 2011), and the Washington Post best seller, Everyday Bias:  Identifying and Navigating Unconscious Judgments in Our Daily Lives, (published by Rowman and Littlefield in 2014).  His latest book, Our Search for Belonging:  How Our Need to Connect is Tearing Us Apart, released by Berrett-Koehler in May of 2018, won the 2019 Nautilus Book Award Gold Medal for Social Change and Social Justice. Howard has specialized in the synthesis of neuro-cognitive and social science research and direct application re: Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Accessibility work.  His client work has focused on the areas of corporate culture change, leadership development, and managing diversity.  Ross has successfully implemented large-scale organizational culture change efforts in the area of managing diversity and cultural integration in academic institutions, professional services corporations, Fortune 500 companies, and retail, health care, media, and governmental institutions in 47 of the United States and over 40 countries worldwide.  In addition, Howard has delivered programs at Harvard University Medical School, Stanford University Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, the Wharton School of Business, Duke University and Washington University Medical School and over 20 other colleges and Universities.  Howard served as the 2007-2008 Johnnetta B. Cole Professor of Diversity Professor of Diversity at Bennett College for Women, the first time a white man had ever served in such a position at an HBCU.   Howard’s writings have been published by the Harvard Business Review, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Fast Company Magazine, Diversity Women Magazine, Forbes Magazine, Fortune Magazine and dozens of other publications.  He appears monthly on National Public Radio. Howard has served on numerous not-for-profits boards, including the Diversity Advisory Board of the Human Rights Campaign, the board of directors of the Dignity and Respect Campaign, and the board of the directors for the National Women’s Mentoring Network.  Howard has been the recipient of many awards, including the 2009 Operation Understanding Award for Community Service; the 2012 Winds of Change Award from the Forum on Workplace Diversity and Inclusion; the 2013 Diversity Peer Award from Diversity Women Magazine; the 2014 Catalyst Award from Uptown Professional Magazine; the 2014 Catalyst for Change Award from Wake Forest University; the 2015 Trendsetter in HR by SHRM Magazine; and the 2016 Leadership in Diversity Award by the World Human Resources Development Conference in Mumbai, India.  He was also named an Honorary Medicine Man by the Eastern Cherokee Reservation in N.C., and given Medicine Holder designation by the Pawnee Nation. Howard is also a former Rock ‘n Roll Musician and has taught meditation and mindfulness for more than 20 years, including his role as co-founder and Lead Facilitator for the Inner Journey Seminars. Howard founded Cook Ross Inc., one of the nation’s leading Diversity and Inclusion consultancies.  He sold the company in July 2018 and founded Udarta Consulting, LLC. Howard keynotes and speaks regularly at Conferences for SHRM, SHRM Diversity, the Forum for Workplace Inclusion, National Association of Corporate Directors , ATD, the World Diversity Forum, and dozens of others. 

Mental health awareness has grown more than ever today. But managers, employers, and leaders still have a long way to go in helping their employees get the support they need to deal with mental illness especially in the workplace. How do we help our people feel better and live better? How do we shift their thoughts to make positive choices at work and in life? Join me today as I talk to Karen Millsap on how you can strengthen your mind, change your thoughts, make positive choices and walk a purposeful path so that you can help your employees do the same. Karen is the The Grief Consultant and CEO of Egency, a firm that helps organizations create a human-centric culture with compassion and empathy. She was a former guest on the podcast where she shared how she turned her pain into a purpose to help others. In this episode, Karen is back to share her wisdom on how we can train our brain to stay focused, aware and calm so we can live a better life. She also talks about the STOP & SHIFT models, what is it, and how she applies it to others to change their thoughts and strengthen their mental wellbeing! In this episode, you will learn about: Why you need to help yourself before you can start helping other people How to have a healthy mindset Silencing negative thoughts that are eating away at you The STOP & SHIFT models and how to put them into practice Strengthening your awareness practice Separating yourself from your thoughts to effectively choose what response to give Why society is more open to talking about mental health now 51 Mental Strength Exercises The 5 Day Digital Detox Training your brain  Karen’s thoughts on people who tend to carry around the weight of other people’s issues What did you think of this episode? Give us a 5-star rating and write a review on Apple Podcasts, or take our survey. Contact Brandon: Email Brandon.Laws@xeniumhr.com or connect on LinkedIn, Twitter or Instagram Learn more about Xenium HR at xeniumhr.com Follow Xenium on Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn. More about Karen Karen Millsap, also known as, The Grief Consultant, began her career in human resources and talent acquisition where she leads countless training, new process, and change initiatives. At a young age, she suddenly became a widow when her husband was tragically murdered which completely changed the trajectory of her life. After experiencing a domino effect of other losses, she became acutely aware of the overall lack of support in our society for grieving people. We are all connected through our struggles, from the death of loved ones to life-altering illnesses, divorce, even job loss. This realization ignited Karen's desire to turn her pain into purpose and pay it forward to help others.   Karen’s work has been featured in SHRM Magazine, on Good Morning Washington, MSNBC, and many others! She is a TEDx keynote speaker who inspires audiences to embrace compassion and empathy to help alleviate other’s suffering by becoming advocates for their own adversaries.  This experience opens minds and hearts to revive connectivity.   She received her undergraduate degree in Communication from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She is also a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist through the Grief Recovery Institute in Los Angeles, California. Connect with Karen Karenmillsap | website Instagram LinkedIn Facebook   Resources mentioned in this episode: Free Download: Get 51 exercises to start building a healthier mindset today The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer Thrive Global Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Walker PhD, Matthew Transform Your Workplace: How Compassion Can Change Your Culture 5 Healthy Morning Habits

Karen Millsap is a Resilience & Mindset Coach who is passionate about teaching individuals the tools + resources to feel better, live better, and achieve their goals with a healthy mindset. She began her career in human resources and talent acquisition where she led countless training, new process, and change initiatives. However, at a young age, she suddenly became a widow when her husband was tragically murdered. On the quest to rebuild her life, she discovered healthy habits and lifestyle changes that helped her find her way back to a whole heart. Now, she shares practical advice and life strategies that provide tangible results and skills to help people push through the everyday challenges we all face in life and work. Karen is the Founder of The Groflo a community that shares mental + emotional health tips and positive lifestyle inspiration. She’s also the CEO (Chief Empathy Officer) of Egency, a consulting firm that provides leadership training to help organizations create a human-centric culture with compassion and empathy. Karen's client list includes NBC’s Golf Channel, Hubspot, Universal Orlando Parks & Resorts, Sprint and many more! Her work has been featured in Forbes, SHRM Magazine, on Good Morning America, MSNBC, and many others! She's also a regular contributor to Arianna Huffington's THRIVE Global community. Karen received her undergraduate degree in Communication from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She is also a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist through the Grief Recovery Institute in Los Angeles, California. Key Points from the Episode with Karen Millsap: Karen is a resilience and mindset coach, and everything she teaches came from the things she used in her own journey. Everything boils down to the power of choice for her, and how we all have this great power. We can either be a monster and do great evil, or make the choice to use our power for good. She clarified the difference between choice and control – we cannot control everything, but our choice is about how we respond to what we face. She learned this lesson the hard when when she lost her husband when she was 29. “Lost” isn’t quite the right word for it, though. Her husband had just opened a cross-fit gym, and was at work one afternoon while Karen had their son while she worked from home. While on a call for work, she kept getting a call from a member of their gym. She finally took the call, and was not expecting what she heard. On the other end of the call was screaming and chaos, and one word Karen could make out, “Shot.” On her way to the gym, Karen had a thought of why she wasn’t meeting her husband at the hospital. Wouldn’t he be rushed there if he had been shot? She soon found out why – her husband’s life couldn’t be saved and he had already died. The first year was so difficult, it was hard enough just to get out of bed each day, let alone care for their son or work. On that day her husband had been shot, the police informed her that she would have to call someone to clean up the scene, which is mind-blowing. Her pastor immediately said she shouldn’t worry about it and he would take care of it. That act of support was so crucial in helping her see that there is still good. It also showed Karen the difference between empathy and compassion. Empathy is understanding or comprehension, while compassion is about stepping in and trying to do something for the person to help take some of their pain. As she started to go back to work, she saw how the ability to have the conversation about how we put our arms around each other and have the permission to be human, we’ll all be more productive, loyal and healthier humans. We talked about Google’s Project Aristotle, which looked at the difference between high and low performing teams, and found that the driver is empathy. The way we get better at taking care of others is We taking care of ourselves better. Resilience and mindset translates to so many situations where we have to serve others because, as Karen says, “When we are all our best selves, we are all winning.” We touched on helping a child through grief, something Karen had to deal with in supporting her son after he lost his father. She found that she could only help him by working through her own grief. The tools she used, the way she handled it – all of that translated to her ability and toolkit to help him. We talked about whether you can cry in front of your children in a situation like this, and she learned that he needed to learn that it’s ok to show your emotions. Honor your emotions to choose how to move forward. We talked a lot about Karen’s feeling of shame of her grief or her fear of being a burden to her family, who had their own grief to deal with. The more we suppress how we’re feeling, the more likely our pain is going to manifest in unhealthy ways. By default, in so many situations, we tend to go to a negative space, including negative self-talk. Part of this is driven by how asking for help is seen as a sign of weakness. If we show empathy, people will see it as safer to ask for help. Asking for also increases trust, so the impact to an organization (or group or family) of empathy, honesty about the need for help and less negative (or more positive) self-talk is more trust. We talked about forgive and what it really is, and whether you truly need to forgive. Karen sees forgiveness as a choice rather than a feeling, and she found herself not interested in feeling forgiveness for this man who took her husband’s life. As she struggled with the idea of forgiveness, she saw the movie, The Shack, which is based on a book people told her to read that she never did. It helped her understand the state people are in when they do heinous things, which opened up a kind of compassion in her she hadn’t been able to feel. And even though she didn’t want to feel it, she couldn’t help it. It showed her about acceptance, which is more about recognizing the starting point you are at now rather than dwelling on where you were. For Karen, while forgiveness is an act of compassion for the other person, it is also an act of compassion for you. You may struggle with the balance of those two things, which can make it hard to feel true forgiveness. Karen created the methodology she calls “Stop & Shift” STOP: Silence Thoughts On Purpose - you can disconnect yourself from the thoughts swarming in your mind so you can bring yourself to present SHIFT: See Hope, Intentions, Facts & new Thoughts - at any point in any situation, you can look at one of these three things to find new thoughts. Links: Website: http://www.karenmillsap.com Facebook: facebook.com/karenmillsapmotivation Twitter: twitter.com/stopandshift LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/karenmillsap_motivationalspeaker/about/ Subscribe to The Do a Day Podcast     Keep Growing with Do a Day Get the book in print, Kindle, iBooks, Audiobook and more - even get a personally-signed copy from Bryan Falchuk Get started on your journey to Better with the Big Goal Exercise Work with Bryan as your coach, or hire him to speak at your next event

Wendy Wollner is the Founder and CEO of Balancing Life’s Issues (BLI). With over 25 years of experience she has built and overseen a network of over 1,500 BLI trainers who bring work/life balance programs to corporations, not-for-profit organizations, employee assistance programs, and educational institutions. BLI trainers create custom-tailored curriculum for programs that focus on topics that include: emotional intelligence, managing stress with humor and health and wellness. https://balancinglifesissues.com Wendy passes her honest, straight forward approach combined with her high energy and sense of humor, through to her trainers who encourage program participants to think differently in order to cope with the stresses of today and boldly face the challenges of tomorrow.All BLI trainers bring their own personal experiencesaswellastheirexpertisetotheprograms,bringingadeeperlevelof understanding and human connection to help reach all individuals. BLI trainers have worked with a wide range of diverse industries including biotech, and major manufacturing companies, as well as service and professional organizations, reaching everyone from the shop floor and administrative personnel up to the C-Suite and boards of director across the United States and Canada. In 2016, Wendy received The Business Council of Westchester’s Business Hall of Fame Award in the category of Women Business in Success. In 2015, SmartCEO honored BLI as one of the fastest growing companies in New York, and Wendy and Wendy was a nominee for the 2012 Enterprising Women of the Year Award. She has been featured in Entrepreneur’s Start-Up, HR Magazine, The New York Post, The Journal News, CBS News Radio 880 with Joe Connelly, Westchester Parent, the Chicago Tribune, ExecuNet’s Career Smart Advisor, More magazine, and SHRM Magazine. She is a past board member of The United Way, and currently holds a board position for VolunteerNY. Wendy received a master’s degree in industrial psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. In2014, Wendy completed an Executive MBA program through WBENC and Tuck Business School. In 2012, she graduated from Goldman Sach’s 10,000 Small BusinessProgram. The proud mother of three adult children, including an eldest son who is in medical school, Wendy lives in the lower Hudson Valley of New York. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/paul-kimmerling/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/paul-kimmerling/support

Karen’s world was ripped apart when her husband & father of her son was shot in his cross fit gym. Karen Millsap, began her career in human resources and talent acquisition where she lead countless training, new process, and change initiatives. At a young age, she suddenly became a widow when her husband was tragically murdered which completely changed the trajectory of her life. After experiencing a domino effect of other losses, she became acutely aware of the overall lack of support in our society for grieving people. We are all connected through our struggles, from the death of loved ones, to life-altering illnesses, divorce, even job loss. This realization ignited Karen's desire to turn her pain into purpose and pay it forward to help others.  Karen's work has been featured in SHRM Magazine, on Good Morning Washington, MSNBC, and many others! She's also a regular contributor to Arianna Huffington's THRIVE Global community. Karen is a TEDx keynote speaker who inspires audiences to embrace compassion and empathy to help alleviate other’s suffering by becoming advocates for their own adversaries.  Karen is the CEO (Chief Empathy Officer) of Egency, a firm that helps organizations create a human-centric culture with compassion and empathy. She's also the author of the upcoming book, Now What? and founder of Well Now Global Retreats. We talk: The shock of loss How to build your life from total chaos Building purpose from your pain The tactics for moving forward from any hardship A moving, thought-provoking and insightful talk. You can find out more about Karen at: https://www.karenmillsap.com

Karen Millsap, the CEO (Chief Empathy Officer) of Egency and Founder of The Groflo, began her career in human resources and talent acquisition where she led countless training, new process, and change initiatives. At a young age, she suddenly became a widow when her husband was tragically murdered which completely changed the trajectory of her life. After experiencing a domino effect of other losses, she became acutely aware of the overall lack of support in our society for grieving people. We are all connected through our struggles, from the death of loved ones, to life-altering illnesses, divorce, even job loss. This realization ignited Karen's desire to turn her pain into purpose and pay it forward to help others. Egency is a leadership development and training firm that helps organizations create a human-centric culture with compassion and empathy. The Groflo is a community that shares mental + emotional growth tips and positive lifestyle inspiration.   Karen's client list includes NBC’s Golf Channel, Hubspot, Universal Studio Resorts, Sprint and many more! Her work has been featured in Forbes, SHRM Magazine, on Good Morning America, MSNBC, and many others! She's also a regular contributor to Arianna Huffington's THRIVE Global community.  Karen is a TEDx keynote speaker who inspires audiences to embrace compassion and empathy to help alleviate other’s suffering by becoming advocates for their own adversaries. She received her undergraduate degree in Communication from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She is also a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist through the Grief Recovery Institute in Los Angeles, California. Questions Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey? Could you share with us a little bit about empathy? Where does compassion come from? Does compassion come innately? A taboo topic that is found in Jamaica is incest and abuse. When I hear people talk, especially when you're talking to young girls to help them to move from that trauma and that experience because it's something that stays with you for life, how do you respond to them in terms of, you made it through, everything's going to be okay. Do you think that traits of empathy and compassion are required more than the traits of technical competencies of doing the job because those things had to build had to build the relationship? Could you share with us how do you stay motivated every day? What's the one online resource tool, website or app that you couldn't absolutely live without in your business or life? Could you share with us any books that have had the greatest or biggest impact on you? What’s one thing that’s going on in your life right now that you are really excited about – either something that you’re working on to develop yourself or people? Where can our listeners find you online? What’s one quote or saying that during times of adversity you tend to revert to that quote or saying to help you to refocus or recenter so that you can move forward?   Highlights Yanique mentioned, I first phoned Karen on Good Morning America when Robin Roberts was interviewing her a couple of weeks back. And I was so impressed that we actually have people out there that are called Grief Consultants. And it was amazing to hear that she was using her pain, she's channeled it into good to go into organizations and train leaders on how to effectively communicate with their team members and build better teams. Karen shared that unfortunately, this knowledge and this passion came from the tragedy when her husband Richard was killed and at the time she was working in Human Resources and recruiting for a national home building company. So, her background up to that point had been in HR but touched in different pieces of recruiting and training and leadership development and all of that good stuff. So, after her husband passed, when she transitioned back to the workplace, she found that there was just this huge disconnect between the expectations of corporate America and humans, what we are capable of doing and how we process in the midst of such a delicate time. And so, when she experienced this firsthand, her immediate response was, “How can I use this to help other people?”Now, part of it was helping individuals because we definitely need help in navigating grief. It's such a complex journey and it doesn't look the same for everybody, but we also need help interacting with people who are going through their own grief journey. And so, that's where her heart was initially led, although there were one off individuals, who she was helping along the way, she really honed in on creating workshops or training and leadership development tools that would help people to manage grief in the workplace. So, her company, they develop The Four Pillars of Practical Empathy and those are Awareness, Communication, Support, and Productivity. And so, as she started down that journey of talking about grief in the workplace, there was a lot of resistance as you can imagine. First of all, people don't want to admit that there's this elephant in the room, everybody is going through something, grief is a universal human experience. The biggest myth about grief is that we think it only occurs because of a death, but it actually comes from different losses or changes. It could be from becoming a caregiver to an elderly parent or finding out that somebody in your family or even yourself is diagnosed with a terminal illness, there's so many different things. But again, it comes because of a change or a loss when we expect things to be different or better or more and it just doesn't turn out that way. So, as she started to just kind of break down all of these barriers and these myths that are surrounded with grief, again, corporate America was not really receptive because by saying you want grief training would be admitting that you have a problem because brief is kind of looked at it as a problem. And so, she recognized this resistance and most of what she was teaching was really surrounded around compassion and empathy in the workplace. So, she decided to just adjust slightly and instead of leading with the problem, she led now with the solution which is compassion and empathy. And as she was pulling different resources and research articles and studies and all of this that just helps us to create a basic framework for human interaction in the workplace. As she was pulling that, she recognizes, well, it still touches on grief in the workplace because if we are operating with compassion and empathy on a day to day basis, that's mastery preparation for the time of crisis. We're already connecting in this space that's just really vulnerable, we've established trust and respect through kindness, so when somebody does hit a tough life situation, which inevitably happens to all of us, then at least your work family is prepared to walk through those tough times with you and handle that because you guys have already established this kind of workplace. So, it's been a journey to get to this point but she’s super grateful that she learned all that she did throughout this journey because it's helped her to serve her clients at a whole new level, not just the basic leadership development, it really is taking it up a notch. Yanique shared, I like the fact that you've mentioned that you started to lead with the solution, and you focus on empathy and compassion. And one of the things that we have identified in the whole client or customer experiences, people are driven by how they feel, their emotions play an integral part. I think even more than the intellectual because the emotion drives how the intellectual will respond.  Yanique shared, I personally think that it's not something that you're born with, it's a learnt behavior and it's all dependent on how you're socialized, what you're exposed to, the behaviors that you see, both from your environment that you're in as well as maybe even from things that you're exposed to are stimulated by like the television or even social media. But not everybody knows how to be empathetic. When asked about empathy, Karen shared yes and no to Yanique’s statement. Yes, it is something that can be learned, but no, it's not something that people are only inheriting that ability through a learned environment. That's not the case. People are born with empathy. There are people who are born with a lack of empathy. As a matter of fact, there's a chemical in the front part of our brain, in our amygdala that triggers our emotions and so you could live and be raised in a very compassionate home, but you were born kind of without feelings, you don't get too riled round up but that doesn't mean that you didn't have an environment that included feelings and emotions and conversations around that, it really is how we're born. But even if people are born without or with a lack of, maybe they don't have a lot of empathy, you still can adopt behaviors and skills and habits that bring empathy into conversations and interactions so that way the person who you are interacting with feels valued. And so, empathy is really being able to feel and understand another person's emotions and respond with care. So again, that feeling part may not be natural for some people, but you can try to understand where they're coming from and respond in an empathic way. So that's how it looks and so as it pertains to their customer experience, you may not be able to completely resonate with where this customer is coming from. And she gave you an example, it's a personal example. She bought a new car at the end of last year and the sales team, they weren't that great but she needed to get out of her car, it had 140,000 miles on it, it was just not safe anymore. Karen said she was kind of in a rush to get into the car and didn't do her due diligence on a few things that she noticed within 24 hours of driving off the lot. So, she immediately contacted the sales team, they were not very responsive. So, then she looked online for customer service team, they were not very responsive. So, being the person that she, she’s just saying, well this isn't okay. So, she’s going to do her due diligence. She contacted the corporate office to say, “Listen, there are a couple of defects and this is actually not safe. So, I just purchased this car and we need to figure out a resolution.”Now up the chain of command, the customer service sucked, it was terrible. And she was telling them like the rear-view camera is not working, that is a safety issue. If she runs over a kid, do you think they're going to say, “Oops, that's our bad, we should have responded quickly to that email.”No, she’s going to be the one who is dealing with the legal ramifications. So, she’s pushing forward and say, no, this is not okay. She felt like there was a disconnect between kind of the first level of customer service and then once you get to the executive office, once she got to the executive office and there was an individual who was assigned to work with her, he followed up, he was patient on the phone, he made sure that the service manager they got her in touch with was timely in his response. He kept Karen in the loop, even if there was going to be a waiting period, he communicated that to her and what he did that was different than the first level of customer service was he empathized with the fact that we have a single mom here who has made a very large investment and she’s not saying she got anything fancy, but when you purchase a car, lease a car, that's an investment, you are putting your credit on the line and all of that. So, it's not something to be taken lightly and so because of his understanding of where she was coming from and her position and her worry and concern, he made sure that he saw it all the way through. Where on the front end, that didn't happen. Now what did he do differently than the first people who may be answered a call or answered an email? He didn't do much in the practical sense, except for the fact that he took his time to patiently understand where she was coming from and communicate in a way that made her feel like she was being heard, that her purchase was valued, her position as a customer was valued and he wanted to make sure that we found a resolution, he responded with care. So, it didn't take him much, but just the way that he was on top of it made a world of difference because she was ready to just blast this company, don't ever buy from them and that's not her character. But she felt like they did not care that we had such a major issue and it was only because, and she told him on their last call, she said, “It is only because of you and how you resolved this, that I feel satisfied.”The first three months of this process, which she didn't mention, it took a long time to get to that point, but the first three months was treacherous and because of this one person who showed compassion, who interacted with empathy and who made sure that a resolution was done in a caring way, she felt like, “Okay, I'm okay. I could come back and buy another car from them.”She knows that sounds bad because it was such a crazy, but he did resolve it with empathy.   Yanique stated, so it's more about listening to what the person is saying to you, understanding where they're coming from and why this is a pain point for them. And as you said, responding in a way that, “Oh well, no big deal.”Instead in a way that, “I understand where you're coming from and what can we do to make it better?” Because it would seem from the first level of customer service that they were more concerned about making the sale and less about providing after sales support to you. Karen agreed and stated that it doesn't take a lot of time, it doesn't even take a lot of effort, you are on the exact same call with the exact same person and literally your tone can change, and your active listening skills can change the trajectory of that outcome. You just have to decide while you were in the midst of that, “How am I going to show up for this person? Am I going to be caring or am I going to be short and curt? Am I going to listen or am I just thinking about the next thing that I need to get done? Or Am I be grudgingly going through the motions?”Either way you have a choice and the energy level is the same. Karen shared that she believes that the major difference between empathy and compassion is one word, Action. We are meant to put compassion into action, it's how you are showing up for people, whether you're showing up for a colleague who's going through something that's difficult or the way, for example, this gentleman responded to her. He made sure that he was calling every four days with an update to let her know what was going on because she was really left in the dark and that was frustrating. So, compassion is what you put into action. Empathy really is kind of the starting point, like she said, being able to feel and understand and then choosing to respond in a certain way but that response is your compassion. Now, one thing that she’s done through agencies, they created a Compassion Action Plan. And what it does is it addresses, if you know somebody who has experienced in the organization, who's experienced a major loss, and they just touched on five because this is usually an activity that they do in workshops but for this eBook, what they did was, they just put five in there. And so, divorce, I'm becoming a caregiver, death, we identified those and how can you put compassion into action?So, if you just thought about it for a second and you thought about, okay, I know a colleague lost their spouse, what is a way that I can show up for them? What would be one or two ideas that come to your mind? Yanique shared, so they've lost a family member and seeing that I experienced at similar situation last year, what I looked for in people who showed compassion were people who came, they were just there, they were there to support me, it’s simple things like just coming over and sitting and talking just to have the companionship at that point in time because you don't want it to be alone because it's an experience of trauma and being alone, your mind wanders all over the place and you feel more lonely. So, you kind of just want somebody to be there and you want them to know that you want them to be there without you having to tell them, I want you to be there. Karen agreed and stated that she’s going to ask Yanique for another example but pausing there for a second. That is another example of how it does not take much for you to just show up for somebody, does it? She remembered at my husband's funeral, Karen looked, and she saw at least 20 people from her office who were there, and that just made her feel so supported because you're right. When we go through a major loss like that, somebody close to us, somebody within our inner family, our intermediate family, then we usually go to this place of isolation in our minds because you get on this emotional rollercoaster and there's so many complex feelings, it's hard to keep up with those thoughts. So, you really feel emotionally and mentally drained and so when you have people around you, as you mentioned, they help you to stay connected to life, so you're not just completely caught up in your head, you're not isolating yourself and end up on this negative thought cycle and start spiraling downward but you have somebody who's just present. And she had somebody, her name was Jamie, she actually mentioned her in her Ted Talk because she mean this, she would just show up and just lay on the floor with her or lay in her bed or they would like walk around Target, she is one of her closest friends and she told Karen later after hearing Karen’s Ted Talk, so this was four years after this happened, but she said, “I admitted to my husband almost every night when I came home. I don't know if I'm doing enough, I don't know what else I'm supposed to do.”So, for four years as she is relishing this friendship and it anchored in her mind is something to teach other people, just show up. She didn't even realize that it had made an impact on her healing journey, it made a huge impact. So, you're right, she always tells people, we all need a Jamie. So that's good. So, the first thing is show up, be present but what's something else that you can do for a colleague? Yanique shared that when she lost her dad last year, it was also important, and I guess that would link back to being present. To assist me with anything, low hanging fruits that would distract me or make me feel not supported. Karen shared that the difference there is, is that what they did was they stepped in to respond to your basic needs because it could have been like handling bills, it could have been like handling other logistics that when you're in that mental fog, you don't really have the capacity to do so. And so, if you have people who you trust, who are near you, this could be different for colleagues. For colleagues showing up and responding to basic needs is like making sure you have food. Creating a food calendar or just saying, “Hey, it's okay if you need to take longer than five days.”because usually that's the bereavement period, it’s like five days for somebody in your intermediate family but they can say, “You know what? I know you have this project going on, I'll help you with that. What's your client's name? Let me step in, just give me a couple of details and I'll go into the system and I'll figure out the rest. But you don't worry about it.”That's responding to a basic need that's helping them to keep their life afloat and that is putting compassion into action. When asked if compassion come innately, Karen stated that in our world, in our society, it's just awkward. Grief is just awkward, and some people feel like, “Oh, I don't know if I'll say the right thing. I don't know if I have enough time to be there.”We come up with all of these different barriers in our mind and the difference between holding onto those barriers and acting like Jamie will say as a reference point is she just leaned in without knowing if what she was doing was enough, but her heart just led her to do that. What happens is we stop our heart from responding naturally because then our mind starts to take over to think that we need to say the right thing, we have to be perfect on how we show up, what if it's not enough? Our heart and mind starts to battle. But you're right, it is an innate response. It's just our mind can start to suppress that response because we start to feel awkward and that's her mission is to make grief less awkward, let's talk about it. Let's talk about all of this because again, it is a universal human experience, we are all going to go through it. Karen thinks if we have these conversations, for example, Yanique having her on the podcast again, thank you because it's helping to reach different people and to open up a different mindset so we can respond differently. Because right now, we're perpetuating suppression and isolation and that's what's making our journeys unhealthy. If we just opened our heart up to respond in a natural way, that doesn't look perfect and here's an example. If somebody at work tells you, “I just found out that my spouse has cancer, or I have cancer.”Instead of not knowing what to say and then not saying anything, which is actually worse. If somebody didn't acknowledge or say it’s the first time seeing them that Richard had died, she felt like, “Well wow, that was kind of a big deal. Like we're not going to say anything about it.”We don't have to go down the rabbit hole. But anyhow, if somebody shares some tragic news with you, you can say this, you can say, “I am so sorry that you're going through this. We don't know what is going to happen at the end of the day, but I know you are strong. I know that you have this light inside of you that you can just push through and I'm here with you, like anything that you need work related, if you just need to take a walk, if you need to get out of the office or if he just needed somebody to talk to for a few minutes, just know that you're not alone.”That's not giving false hope, that's not saying everything's going to be great or just pray on it, it's not giving any of that. It's just saying, “I'm meeting you where you are and yeah, this is hard. This suck, but you're not alone.”That is enough. Yanique asked, what do you think about situations when someone shares with you for example, that they had a tragedy and they’re going through grief like a death for example. And the person responds and says, I know exactly what you're going through because I find that grief is different for everyone and you may lose someone, and you respond in a different way. It impacts you in a different way and I may lose someone, and it may not impact me in that way, or it might impact me worse or less. Do you think it's a safe to say, I know exactly what you're going through? How do you know?  Karen shared that she thinks that this is another uncomfortable yet common response because it's true, it's a common response only because people feel uncomfortable and they're just kind of like, “Ah, what do I say?”And it just comes out so naturally and that's not really what they mean. They're not saying, I know exactly what you're going through because somebody has said that to her and she’s like, “Oh, your husband's been murdered. I didn't know that that happened to you.” And not to even downplay it, because some people will compare losses, they'll say, “Oh, well I went through a divorce and so I know how that feels.”Again, no, you don't know how it feels, but their heart is in the right place. So, the first thing she would say is if you're on the receiving end of that comment is to give that person a little bit of grace because at least they're trying to be there. Do not take offense to that and kind of see through their words to see their heart and their intentions and their heart and their intentions is to comfort you in the moment. But Karen’s advice to the person who wants to say that and guess what? Karen has said that to people before in a different light. And before all of this happened, before she became more aware of some of the myths that we use to comfort people. But if you are about to say that, hold your tongue real quick and then just think about saying something along these lines. Again, “I don't know what you're going through, but I went through a situation and I know that pain is real. I know that those hard times can come in waves. I know that sometimes it can just feel really consuming and so if you feel anything that is just so painful and it feels hard for you to manage, you can come talk to me. I don't know what you're going through, but I know what pain feels like and I'm willing to just be here for you.”  It's authentic in the sense that she can relate to your pain even though she hasn’t experienced the same loss. And here's the thing, two siblings could lose the same parent and feel completely different about it. So, imagine the differences of somebody who says, “Oh, I went through a divorce too.”or “Yeah, I also had a miscarriage.”or “Oh, when my mom was sick.”We compare them but there's so many different factors that make that situation so different and unique, but at least being able to relate through the pain, Karen thinks that's the authentic place to be. Karen shared that there are pains like that where, for example, she has a friend and her parents were not kind growing up, they just weren't, and she doesn't have a relationship with them now. Now she doesn’t know that she's experienced any kind of sexual abuse. She knows that has had happened in her family, but it did not happen to her. However, the abandonment of your parents and them not wanting to be with you, it's a pain that stays with you through adulthood. A physical kind of trauma is also something that stays with you through adulthood and sometimes you have to see your abuser. And so, it's like how do you live in that space? So, what she encourages people to do is to create healthy boundaries, they can't always be physical. A lot of times they have to be mental and emotional.So, the person again who is hearing something like that, they're on the receiving end of that comment, you have to create an emotional and mental boundary just knowing that whatever they're saying to me, if it is not resonating with my heart, with pure comfort and peace and, and even empathy, than I'm not going to receive that, you choose if you're going to receive their words are not. Now for the person who is trying to comfort or build them up because a lot of times they're thinking if you've been a victim, what I need to do is pour into you that you are strong, pour into you that you have gotten over it, kind of build up your confidence and resilience but again, sometimes we just fumble over those words and so instead of saying something that is diminishing their past, meet them where they are. Again, the same starting,  “I can't imagine what you have gone through, but I see who you are today and I see that you are a fighter, I see that you are a survivor and even if those pains are still being held with you, which I'm sure that they are, I can only imagine that they are. There is something in you that is not giving up and I admire that in you.” That is truth. That is absolute truth. It does not diminish the pain that they have experienced, but it is uplifting them to say, I have seen that you did not give up. And I applaud you for that. But it is okay if you're still feeling and battling all of the wounds, the emotional wounds and mental wounds that you carry with you, but it's still, it uplifts them and it builds them up and that's at the end of the day, what we should be doing for each other is to build one another up so we feel safe, so we feel protected. When asked about traits of empathy and compassion that leaders should have in order to build a team. Karen agreed and shared that one of her favorite Richard Branson quotes is, “When you take care of your people, your people will take care of your business.”And that is the absolute truth. A lot of times leaders are driven by the numbers and the data, but you have to remember there are people behind those numbers and that data it didn’t just magically appear, this is coming from somebody’s knowledge capacity, their relationship building, their goal setting. There are people who are driving these numbers and so you have to get to the source of your success, the source of your success is your people and how you treat people is how they produce at work. Now, a lot of times people, Karen kind of hears two things most often. One is, leader say, “I want to be a better leader, I want to connect with my people, I want to help them in a different way. Basically, build up their personal success but I don't know how.”And that's because we have to kind of get past that old adage of leave your personal stuff at the door and so, she thinks that again, leaders want to, but we are shifting society and we're shifting how we show up at work. So, that's why it's such a great time to really live out her passion because people are more receptive to this message and they need just some structure, some framework behind it. That's the first thing, but then the other thing is there are leaders who are naturally showing up with kindness and they are seeing just amazing, powerful results. An example of this is, uh, one of her clients from Sprint, this gentleman is the general manager of one of their four business units, and they have been the number one team for the last 15 years straight. Fifteen years they have consistently outperformed the rest of the company and when she met him, she asked him to come onto her podcast, Invest Humanand she said, we just need to talk about what this is and he said, one word, “Kindness.”It is all about how you treat your people. Now when she goes into organizations, she breaks this down through like communication, interactions, conflict resolution, like how do we bring it into that. But it really all has to do with kindness because when you treat people well, then employees become more enthusiastic about their work and if they are enthusiastic about their work, what happens to their performance, it improves. What happens to the customer experience because of the person that they're interacting with. It’s like again a no brainer, it should be a no brainer, but she thinks what the shift that's happening is that people just kind of need permission and they need that framework because for so long we've lived in this space of kind of being robotic at work and only expecting or evaluating someone's performance and not opening up the experience, the actual employee experience. Yanique shared that the interpersonal skills, the soft skills, showing kindness and ensuring that you exercise empathy and compassion, those are definitely characteristics and traits that as a leader will take you much further than any technical competence. Karen stated that that is such a good question – how she stays motivated daily. She doesn’t live in a constant state of motivation. She has learned through different personality tests and stuff, she does have a natural personality that is drawn to the silver lining. So, she doesn’t stay in a dark place for too long. However, and when you've experienced this kind of tragedy, you can't help but to be in a dark space for a while. So, what she learned during that time, her most trying times so far in her life, it's absolutely critical for us to build a foundation of healthy habits so that we can navigate any hard time when it comes. Life isn't fair so you're not going to go just through one thing, it's not a one and done. And there are every day stressors that we have to work through, relationships, traffic, personalities that are not meshing. There's just so many different stressors that can make us feel weary and burnt out. So, it's not that you can live in this constant state of up because what goes up must come down, but you have to learn to find that balance when you do come down and how do you take care of yourself. So, for Karen, whenever she’s going through a challenging time, smaller or large, it's just a matter of tapping into those habits that she established when she was in the midst of her darkest hours with grief and she wasn't intentional then, she was very set on her why, her why was her son. She knew that she wanted to be a good mom for him and didn't want to be living in this state of like brokenness and in this victim mindset, like it wouldn't have been healthy for him in the long run. And so, as she focused on him, then she started to create these healthy habits that just made a huge impact on her total wellbeing. So, when you are feeling down, take a break, that's okay. Go for a walk, do a breathing exercise. There’re so many different habits on your mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical wellbeing that once you know what those habits are, then you can tap into them regardless of the low that you're feeling because they are tried and true. They helped you in a dark, dark place or they help you in a, I'm frustrated and burnt out place as well.   When asked about an online app or tool that she couldn’t live without, Karen stated that she thinks she would have to answer two ways. One is she really strive for strong organizational skills. She has very strong organizational skills, but she does that because she has a bad memory. She’s just going to be vulnerable here for a second, but Karen recognizes that her mind being an entrepreneur, being a single mom, having experienced trauma, she just has a bad memory and so she compensates by having really strong organizational skills. And one of the tools that she loves is Google Keep, it helps her because it just allows her to brain dump and when she is able to brain dump all of the different distractions that come into her mind, she’s creating that space of mental clarity so that she can stay focused on her priorities. So, Google Keep has been really helpful. But there was also an app that helped her early on in my grief with mindfulness and meditation and that was called Headspace, and she just signed up for the free version because she wanted to see what it was about, and it helped her because a lot of times we get into negative thoughts cycles at night before we're going to sleep. Our mind is just racing and then we start feeling like, I don't have enough time. What do I do tomorrow? Did I not do this today? And so that on top of any kind of trauma that you may be working through, Headspace taught a breathing pattern that she was even able to teach to her son, that at night if she can't fall asleep, it works wonders. And so it's really simple, it's just a matter of counting your breaths when you inhale and exhale, when you inhale, you count one when you exhale, two inhale again, three and so on up to 10, you don't change your breathing pattern, you're not, you don't have to take long, deep breaths, but when you get to 10 you start back at one and there's something about that Karen said she could do that three, maybe four times at the most, and then she pass out, she’s knocked out. It's taught her such a powerful breathing technique that she shares that with almost anybody she interacts with because she thinks we're all a victim of those nighttime blues when it's kind of hard to fall asleep.  Yanique then stated, that seems to be a popular app. I've actually downloaded it on my phone, but I haven't clicked on it because things have been so busy. But I had a guest that was on our podcast and maybe two, three weeks ago and that was one of his recommendations. I find it interesting that shortly after, I'm getting the same recommendation, so that app must be really good. So, I think today I'm going to make sure I click on the app since it's on the phone and I haven't actually used it yet to see what it's all about. I have no problems falling asleep though but sometimes I do get distracted, like I'm doing something, and I start thinking about something else and I jump from one thing to the next. So, if Headspace can help me to refocus at times, that would be wonderful. Karen stated that she thinks that it definitely, what she liked about it most was in the free version, it teaches you where some people just embark on this meditation journey and you're like, “Ah, how do I do this? I'm falling asleep. No, wait, I can't stop these thoughts.”There are so many barriers and she liked how in the free version it actually teaches you some of the techniques that are helpful. Karen was asked about books that have had the biggest impact and she stated that there is a lot. She shared that she was not a reader until she was 30 years old. She hated reading growing up but after her husband died, she became obsessed with reading about heaven because she just needed that confirmation that he was okay, and she would see him again. And that's what kind of got her down this journey. So, she’ll say the two, there really are so many but to that she thinks made such a huge impact one was Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck. It teaches you how you can change your mindset from being a victim or living in a fixed mindset to having a growth mindset. And again, it gives applicable takeaways on how you can teach even children, how you can teach, whether you're a teacher, a parent, a coach, it just helps in that state, how you can also use it in the workplace. So, Mindset by Carol Dweck was amazing. And then also it's kind of a tie between these two, Life's Golden Ticket: A Story about Second Chances by Brendon Burchardbecause it's a fiction book, but it gives you this visualization of you having a choice and kind of revisiting different people or moments in your past that have led you up to where you are today and accept where you are today so that you can move forward. And then the other one is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, which she knows is a lot of people's favorites, but it's one of hers particularly because it was suggested to her probably almost three years ago now, but she just read it at the end of last year and she believes in just divine timing and at the time it came to her life, she wasn't ready to read it, but when she read it, it was exactly the time that she was supposed to just digest that. So, it's a great book again for people who are just wondering, “Man, does all of this mean something? How do I know I'm headed down the right path.”So, that's why she loves that book so much.   Karen shared that she’s super excited about launching her new group coaching program. She’s going to be doing a group coaching and it is called, “Soul Care Coaching with Karen”and so she wants to create a network, this specific offer is for women, but she wanted to create a network for women where they are able to just grow, they are able to find healing and just become the best version of their self. And so, just sharing herself and stories but also sharing other coaches along the way. So, she’s really excited about that. But then she also launched her first eCourse, Heal Forwardand that's for anybody who has experienced a major loss or a hardship or they're just feeling depleted in life and they want to heal and move forward. It's a six-week series that just gives a whole bunch of selfcare habits and tips, worksheets, videos, all that good stuff. It loads you up so that you can build that foundation that she talked about of healthy habits. So, she’s excited about those two. The eCourse just launched and the coaching will launch in March 2019.   Karenshared listeners can find her at – www.karenmillsap.com  Karen shared that regarding quotes or sayings that she tends to revert to, that ironically, it's like a little plaque that she found and it's on her desk as she’s looking at it right now. It is her favorite, it says, “Everything's going to be all right. Yep even that one thing.”Bob Marley said that. But she likes how it says, “Yep”, even that one thing because it's like yeah, you can get really stuck on something, it's like no, no, no, everything is going to be okay. Even that one thing, and she loves her some Bob Marley, so it resonated right away. Links Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck Life’s Golden Ticket: A Story about Second Chances by Brendon Burchard The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho  

Humans today are more connected than ever before, and yet isolation and loneliness are at an all time high. Listen in as Brandon Laws and Paige Tamlyn discuss a Q&A with Dan Schawbel from the SHRM Magazine about workplace trends affecting connection. We’ll cover the ways technology and social media are changing personal interaction, the challenges of remote work and how HR and business leaders can encourage more meaningful connections at work.   How to Support this Show: Subscribe on your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, etc.) Review us on iTunes Take our survey and we'll enter you in a drawing for a free book Follow Xenium HR (@XeniumHR) and Brandon Laws (@BrandonLaws) on Twitter and LinkedIn Learn more about Xenium HR at xeniumhr.com  About the Guest:  Connect with Paige on LinkedIn Email Paige at Paige.Tamlyn@XeniumHR.com   Article mentioned: Create Personal Connections at Work: A Q&A with Dan Schawbel

Karen Millsap, also known as, The Grief Consultant, began her career in human resources and talent acquisition where she lead countless training, new process, and change initiatives. At a young age, she suddenly became a widow when her husband tragically died which completely changed the trajectory of her life. After experiencing a domino effect of other losses, she became acutely aware of the overall lack of support in our society for grieving people. We are all connected through our struggles, from the death of loved ones, to life-altering illnesses, divorce, even job loss. This realization ignited Karen's desire to turn her pain into purpose and pay it forward to help others. Karen's work has been featured in SHRM Magazine, on Good Morning Washington, MSNBC, and many others! She's also a regular contributor to Arianna Huffington's THRIVE Global community.  Karen is a TEDx keynote speaker who inspires audiences to embrace compassion and empathy to help alleviate other’s suffering by becoming advocates for their own adversaries. As the CEO (Chief Empathy Officer) of Egency, Karen’s training firm helps organizations create a human-centric culture with compassion and empathy. She's also the founder of Well Now Global Retreats. Karen received her BA in Communication from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She is also a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist through the Grief Recovery Institute in Los Angeles, California. Connect with Karen: Resources Mentioned:  

https://www.karenmillsap.com    To our GML listening family! You will be so blessed with this podcast and discussion. We may think we are loving yourselves but we all need the right tools. I'm encouraging every listener to do what I did: get on board with Heal Forward. If you want to finally find peace and healing you will want to sign up for this amazing program. Click here to learn more  https://www.karenmillsap.com/healforward    About Karen Karen Millsap, also known as, The Grief Consultant, began her career in human resources and talent acquisition where she lead countless training, new process, and change initiatives. At a young age, she suddenly became a widow when her husband was tragically murdered which completely changed the trajectory of her life. After experiencing a domino effect of other losses, she became acutely aware of the overall lack of support in our society for grieving people. We are all connected through our struggles, from the death of loved ones, to life-altering illnesses, divorce, even job loss. This realization ignited Karen's desire to turn her pain into purpose and pay it forward to help others.  Karen's work has been featured in SHRM Magazine, on Good Morning Washington, MSNBC, and many others! She's also a regular contributor to Arianna Huffington's THRIVE Global community.  Karen is a TEDx keynote speaker who inspires audiences to embrace compassion and empathy to help alleviate other’s suffering by becoming advocates for their own adversaries.  ​ Karen is the CEO (Chief Empathy Officer) of Egency, a firm that helps organizations create a human-centric culture with compassion and empathy. She's also the author of the upcoming book, Now What? and founder of Well Now Global Retreats. ​Karen received her undergraduate degree in Communication from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She is also a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist through the Grief Recovery Institute in Los Angeles, California. 

We know empathy is important in relationships, but what about at work? Karen Millsap, CEO of Egency and TEDx speaker, joins us to share her story and how she's using empathy to improve workplace culture. After losing her husband in a terrible tragedy, Karen realized how little support our society offers for grieving people. We'll cover pivotal moments of her experience, how to best help our colleagues after trauma and how empathy and compassion can change the workplace for the better. How to Support this Show: Subscribe on your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, etc.) Review us on iTunes Take our survey and we'll enter you in a drawing for a free book Follow Xenium HR (@XeniumHR) and Brandon Laws (@BrandonLaws) on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram Learn more about Xenium HR at xeniumhr.com   SPECIAL OFFER: e-learning courses at Xenium - www.xeniumhr.com/courses - promo code "POD" for 10% off all courses. About Karen Millsap:  Karen Millsap, also known as, The Grief Consultant, began her career in human resources and talent acquisition where she lead countless training, new process, and change initiatives. At a young age, she suddenly became a widow when her husband was tragically murdered which completely changed the trajectory of her life. After experiencing a domino effect of other losses, she became acutely aware of the overall lack of support in our society for grieving people. We are all connected through our struggles, from the death of loved ones, to life-altering illnesses, divorce, even job loss. This realization ignited Karen's desire to turn her pain into purpose and pay it forward to help others.   Karen's work has been featured in SHRM Magazine, on Good Morning Washington, MSNBC, and many others! She is a TEDx keynote speaker who inspires audiences to embrace compassion and empathy to help alleviate other's suffering by becoming advocates for their own adversaries.  This experience opens minds and hearts to revive connectivity.   Karen is the CEO (Chief Empathy Officer) of Egency, a firm that helps organizations create a human-centric culture with compassion and empathy. She's also the author of the upcoming book, Now What? and founder of Well Now Global Retreats.  ​Karen received her undergraduate degree in Communication from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She is also a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist through the Grief Recovery Institute in Los Angeles, California.  Connect with Karen Millsap on LinkedIn Resources Mentioned: Karen's Tedx Talk Option B

Karen Millsap became a widow at 29 when her husband was tragically murdered while teaching his CrossFit class. After losing most of her support network and experiencing a domino effect of other losses, Karen recognized the overall lack of assistance in our society for grieving people. This realization ignited Karen’s desire to launch The Grief Consultant, a company that offers leadership development workshops and strategic reinforcement programs targeting emotionalawareness. Grief is ever present across the nation and around the world, from the death of loved ones, to life-altering illnesses, divorce - even job loss. In addition to the workshops offered through her company, Karen speaks at conferences nationwide and hosts community events to teach how everyone can put compassion into action - and why it’s important we don’t stand idle in the face of each other's struggles. She has designed practical tools that, when combined with her inspirational story and magnetic personality, fortify unity and uplift humanity. Karen has been featured on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Good Morning Washington and various news outlets. She's also been featured by SHRM Magazine and is a regular contributor to the international online magazine, Richtopia.

The importance of strong cultural values and how to create and maintain them is the focus of this podcast with former Chief People Officer at MediaMath, Peter Phelan. Peter has been featured on SHRM Magazine blogs and, as one of the top HR innovators, his work was acknowledged through its inclusion in the ‘Hot Topics Tech HR 100’ for 2016. Kyle O’Connor interviewed Peter from Madison Square Park in New York City. Click here for complete show notes.