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Summary Interviewers place a strong emphasis on perceptions of nervousness. But there are practical steps we can take to appear less nervous in meetings and interviews.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 219 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we work through ways to appear less nervous in meetings and interviews. Research demonstrates that anxious candidates perform worse at job interviews, even when their skills and experience align well with the role. Interviewers place an oversized importance to the appearance of anxiety when making judgements. And this tendency can extend to other important meetings. To avoid this, we might consider visible signs of nervousness such as shaky hands or nervous laughter. We might then focus on the use of our hands, slowing our speech or avoiding fidgeting. We can risk becoming overly sensitive to how our behaviours are coming across. However, In the research, the only consistent behavioural indicator of nervousness that the interviewers focused on was long pauses before responding to questions. This was potentially seen as the candidate being less prepared and less assertive than if they answered questions directly. Negative perceptions of anxiety in meetings and interviews was less about nervous signs, and more to do with perceptions of assertiveness and warmth as traits. Those who were perceived as less warm and less assertive were also rated as more anxious. Those who came across as friendly and assertive were seen as less anxious. It appears the overall impression we leave is far more important than any nervous tics that we might show. So what can we do to appear less nervous in meetings and interviews? To increase others' perceptions of our warmth and assertiveness, you can try these techniques: Plan for first impressions. We want to demonstrate warmth from the very start of the meeting or interview. Research who will be there. Prepare and practice what you will do and say when you first arrive. Listen to others. When we're nervous we can focus too much on ourselves and not enough on others. Demonstrate you're listening by taking notes, restating their perspectives, and clarifying their views. Be prepared. There's no substitute for preparation. It will help you to avoid lengthy pauses before responding. Remember to smile. When we're nervous we can forget about our facial expressions, but they're an important indicator of our confidence and friendliness. Video yourself. Have someone ask you some practice questions, and video your responses. This can help you to uncover unconscious signs of nervousness. Seek feedback. After the meeting or interview, explore how you came across. Ask about anything you could have done to appear more confident and engaged. We often feel more nervous than we appear. Focus on the overall impression of warmth and assertiveness that you give to others. Apply these tips in your next meeting or interview.   Research Feiler, A.R., Powell, D.M. Behavioral Expression of Job Interview Anxiety. J Bus Psychol 31, 155–171 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-015-9403-z   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.leadershiptoday.com and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Five online courses with workbooks - Five five day challenges with workbooks - Nineteen recorded webinars - A searchable library of 170+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary Research demonstrates the background we choose for video calls has a significant impact on how trustworthy and competent we appear. This week we explore how to boost your first impressions on a video call in three simple ways.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 218 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to boost your first impressions on a video call in three simple ways. Your choice of background on a video call has a greater impact on how you're perceived by others than you might expect. You might be tempted to choose a novelty background to communicate a sense of fun, or a home background to reflect that you're not in the office. But there are risks with these choices. Selecting a novelty background or a simulated home background saw ratings of trustworthiness drop. Blurring a home background resulted in better ratings of trustworthiness for the person, but the best ratings were for a background with plants or a bookcase. The research also found that facial expressions, not surprisingly, also mattered. Happy faces were rated as more trustworthy than neutral or sad faces. Ratings of competence also varied by background, with bookcases, plants and blank walls leading to the highest ratings. Novelty backgrounds, home backgrounds, and blurred backgrounds saw lower ratings. Again, happy facial expressions resulted in more positive ratings of competence. Interestingly, women were seen as more trustworthy and more competent than men across all backgrounds in the experiment. Our gender impacts the first impressions we make on a video meeting. Men will likely benefit from additional efforts to demonstrate trustworthiness and competence during the meeting. Here are three simple ways to boost your first impressions on a video call: Keep backgrounds professional.  Avoid a home or novelty background when you can. Blurring a background is better, but choosing a virtual background with a bookcase or plants helps to boost first impressions. Demonstrate warmth. Smiling helps perceptions of both trustworthiness and competence. Try to maintain your interest in others on the call and keep your facial expressions positive and engaged. Build confidence in your competence. Research suggests it's always best to start with warmth and build perceptions of your competence over time. Being helpful, responsive, on-time, and interested can all boost how confident you appear. Give these practical ideas a try on your next video call.   Research - https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0291444     Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.leadershiptoday.com and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Five online courses with workbooks - Five five day challenges with workbooks - Nineteen recorded webinars - A searchable library of 170+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary Research demonstrates a risk of detachment and reduced connection on video calls. This week we explore ways to be more real when we're not meeting in-person.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 217 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we look at how to be more real on video calls. We make rapid judgements about people based on visual and other information we receive. While this can lead to us making incorrect judgements when we meet people in-person, the risk is increased through video calls. Research demonstrates an increased risk that we treat a visual representation of someone as less real than if we meet them in-person. On a video call we can treat other people as abstract rather than real. This effect is likely increased on a call that has audio and video challenges. In experiments, participants viewed others as having fewer conscious feelings and less ability to make free choices than when meeting in-person. As a leader, this could make us seem detached and lacking empathy during the conversation. It can, in turn, lead us to give less ethical consideration to the person on the other end of the video call. Our decision making may lack the warmth, concern and consideration that we would normally provide. So what can we do about this? When making video calls, we need to be conscious of the risk of detachment and make conscious effort to see people as real human beings. Here are some tips to try: Connect as human beings first. Rather than just getting straight down to business, spend a few minutes enquiring about the other person, how they are, and what they have been doing. You might share something personal about yourself to enhance this connection. Ask open questions. When we treat people as an object rather than a person, we can tend to “talk at” people rather than “talk with” people. Asking open questions helps avoid this trap. Increase your ethical consideration. Explore the impact of any decisions you are making upon people. Great decisions are a combination of logic and emotion. Acknowledge the challenge. You might share this research with your team members. This will help everyone to manage the risk of detachment. Make the most of in-person opportunities. When you do meet together in-person, use this time to connect on a personal level. Save more administrative activities to video calls and don't waste the time you have physically together. Give these tips a try on your next video call, and we can all become more real.   Research summary - https://www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/medusa-effect     Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.leadershiptoday.com and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Five online courses with workbooks - Five five day challenges with workbooks - Nineteen recorded webinars - A searchable library of 170+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

In this JCO Precision Oncology Article Insights episode, Miki Horiguchi provides a summary on “Clinical Trial Diversity: A Bend in the Arc Towards Justice”, by Tannenbaum, et al published on September 19, 2023 in JCO Precision Oncology. The editorial discusses the need for inclusion of under-represented groups in clinical trials. See the accompanying Original Report, “Representativeness of Patients Enrolled in the Lung Cancer Master Protocol (Lung-MAP),” by Vaidya, et al as well as an interview with co-author, Dr Mary Redman. TRANSCRIPT Hello and welcome to JCO Precision Oncology Article Insights. I'm your host Miki Horiguchi, an ASCO Journals Editorial Fellow. Today, I will be providing a summary of the article titled “Clinical Trial Diversity: A Bend in the Arc Toward Justice” by Drs. Susan Tannenbaum and Jennifer Miller. This editorial accompanies the article “Representativeness of Patients Enrolled in the Lung Cancer Master Protocol (Lung-MAP)” by Dr. Vaidya and colleagues.  In the previous episode of this series, our Social Media Editor, Dr. Rafeh Naqash, interviewed Dr. Mary Redman, a Senior Author of the Lung-MAP article. Dr. Redman shared the background behind the Lung-MAP development, some highlights from her paper, and her career trajectory as a biostatistician. I strongly recommend listening to the interview if you haven't done so. To begin I'll provide a brief summary of the Lung-MAP information before discussing the editorial.  The Lung Cancer Master Protocol or Lung-MAP is a biomarker-driven master protocol that evaluates multiple molecularly targeted therapies for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancers under a single trial infrastructure. Since Lung-MAP began enrolling patients in 2014, it has addressed the challenges of implementing precision medicine at oncology clinics and assuring equitable patient access to molecularly targeted therapies. In addition to meeting an unmet need in terms of treatment, Lung-MAP meets an unmet need in terms of accessibility to precision oncology clinical trials for all types of patients who get lung cancer in the United States. Specifically, Lung-MAP utilizes a public-private partnership that includes the National Cancer Institute's National Clinical Trials Network, the SWOG Cancer Research Network, Friends of Cancer Research, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, Foundation Medicine, pharmaceutical companies, and lung cancer advocacy organizations. There are thousands of sites around the country that can offer Lung-MAP. In the Lung-MAP article, the authors sought to examine whether Lung-MAP improves access to precision oncology clinical trials compared to conventional standalone trials. To this end, the authors compared accrual patterns by sociodemographic characteristics between Lung-MAP and a set of ten clinical trials for advanced non-small cell lung cancer conducted by the SWOG Cancer Research Network. The authors found that patients enrolled in Lung-MAP were more likely to be older, from rural or socioeconomically deprived areas, and with Medicaid or no insurance compared with conventional clinical trials. However, female patients and patients of Asian race or Hispanic ethnicity were underrepresented. The authors emphasized in their conclusion that further research examining participation barriers for underrepresented groups in precision oncology clinical trials is warranted. In the associated editorial with the Lung-MAP article, Drs. Tannenbaum and Miller discuss some efforts to include diverse populations in clinical trials such as those of Lung-MAP and the continuing challenges we are facing.  The editorial begins with a striking example of an industry-funded trial, where pharmaceutical companies submitted a new drug for US Food and Drug Administration approval to treat patients with non-small cell lung cancer in the United States. However, the pivotal trial was conducted wholly in China, enrolling significantly younger patients than those with that type of cancer in the United States. There were no Black nor Hispanic-identifying patients and far more men than women in the trial. The product was not approved by the US FDA. Although the US FDA has approved many other products where the trials were unrepresentative , this example suggests that in order to capture elements in future patient populations in the United States, study samples need to include patients from under-represented groups as well. The authors also introduced a recent study result that showed racially and ethnically under-represented patients, and their clinicians, are more likely to trust and use new medical products when the trials have enrolled a diverse population. This fact suggests that clinical trials that include a higher proportion of women and older adults, as well as patients from racially and ethnically under-represented groups, help to gain acceptance for the drug even after its approval. The authors then introduced some efforts toward enhancing clinical trial diversity, including the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993, the Institute of Medicine's 2003 report, the US FDA's 2020 guidance, and the innovative public-private collaboration of Lung-Map. While several studies suggested that clinical trials funded by the National Institute of Health have improved enrollment of patients from under-represented groups, industry-funded trials have still fallen short of these goals. Since industry-funded trials play a crucial role in developing novel drugs, industry must be held accountable for clinical trial diversity and make greater efforts to improve the situation. The authors introduced additional guidance toward this end. They include the US FDA's 2022 new draft guidance to industry, recommending that sponsors of clinical trials submit a Race and Ethnicity Diversity Plan. Another is the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act of 2022 where the US FDA can require sponsors to have plans that include diverse populations in their clinical trials. These efforts are pivotal steps in the direction of making biomedical research more accessible and inclusive and lead to promoting health equity across the country. Thank you for listening to JCO Precision Oncology Article Insights and please tune in for the next topic. Don't forget to give us a rating or review and be sure to subscribe, so you never miss an episode. You can find all ASCO shows at asco.org/podcasts.  

The podcast is dedicated to providing support and solace to those navigating the challenging journey of pet loss. I share stories that help validate the grief many people feel when losing a beloved pet to bring about much-needed positive change in the way our society approaches and supports individuals coping with pet loss.Transcript:Hello everyone. My name is Erica messer and I'm so, so excited to be bringing this podcast to life. Um, this podcast is dedicated to providing support and solace to those navigating the challenging journey of pet loss and pet loss grief. Whether you have lost to put a long time ago or you're going through what's called anticipatory loss now, this podcast is for you, and I'm so excited to have a great stellar lineup for my first season, and can't wait to share all of this wisdom and inspiration for you and anyone that is needing a little bit of love right now. So go ahead and subscribe. And our first episode is going to be coming out in February, so stay tuned. What is Wolfie's Wish?After the sudden and tragic death of Erica's cherished cat, Wolfgang. Faced with the profound challenge of dealing with grief and trauma, particularly in light of her history of mental illness and addiction, Erica found herself in search of a simple yet effective coping mechanism. Disappointed by the absence of suitable resources, and spurred on by her mother, Bonnie, she ingeniously devised a remedy: Pet Loss Grieving Cards—the pioneering affirmation cards tailored for pet loss. Thus, Wolfie's Wish was conceived.Since its inception, the company has not only expanded its array of healing offerings but has also garnered acclaim, earning a prestigious Best New Product Showcase Award at the international pet retail tradeshow Superzoo in the summer of 2022. Wolfie's Wish has evolved beyond the realm of affirmation cards, now encompassing a multifaceted platform that includes a podcast, online courses, a blog, a YouTube channel, virtual support, a private Facebook group, and therapeutic music curated from Erica's background as a professional harpist and clinical musician. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Summary When you're in leadership for long enough you discover that crises are inevitable. This week we look at five ideas to help you lead through a crisis.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 216 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we look at five ideas to help you lead through a crisis. When you're in leadership for long enough you discover that crises are inevitable. Whether it's a financial downturn, a global pandemic, or internal organisational challenges, we all need to navigate through uncertainties to ensure the survival and success of our teams and organisations. Here are some practical strategies backed by research on how to effectively lead through a crisis. Maintain Transparent Communication: Research suggests that leaders who communicate clearly and honestly during a crisis build trust and enhance team resilience. Sharing information about the situation, potential impacts, and the organisation's response plan helps employees feel informed and engaged. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders like Microsoft's Satya Nadella held regular virtual town hall meetings to update employees on the company's response, addressing concerns and providing a sense of direction. Foster a Culture of Adaptability: In times of crisis, adaptability becomes a crucial trait for both leaders and their teams. Research suggests that organisations promoting adaptability are more likely to thrive during crises. Leaders can encourage a culture that embraces change and innovation, empowering employees to contribute ideas and solutions. Prioritise Employee Well-being: The well-being of employees is a cornerstone of effective crisis leadership. Research by Gallup indicates that companies focusing on employee well-being experience higher levels of employee engagement and productivity. Leaders must demonstrate empathy, provide emotional support, and implement practical measures to ensure the physical and mental well-being of their teams. Help Others See the Potential for Development. The times when I have learned the most have also been times of crisis. Fortunately I had leaders and others who encouraged me to focus on what I could learn through these tough times. That brought a sense of purpose and opportunity to what otherwise might have appeared to be entirely negative situations. Develop a Robust Crisis Response Plan: Having a well-defined crisis response plan is essential for leaders to navigate uncertainties efficiently. Leaders should proactively identify potential risks, develop response strategies, and regularly test and update their crisis plans to ensure relevance. You can build this into your regular business planning. Each year I look at risks across one year, five year, and ten year time horizons. This helps me to anticipate what might go wrong and have contingencies in place ready to go. Leading through a crisis demands a combination of strategic thinking, effective communication, and a focus on well-being. Crises present opportunities for growth and transformation when met with thoughtful, prepared and decisive leadership.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 160+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $500 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary Whether it's speaking up in meetings, taking on challenging projects, or navigating uncertain situations, courage plays a pivotal role at work. This week we explore how to be more courageous at work.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 215 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to be more courageous at work. Whether it's speaking up in meetings, taking on challenging projects, or navigating uncertain situations, courage plays a pivotal role at work. Courage is often associated with the ability to face fear and adversity head-on. From a psychological perspective, it involves factors such as self-efficacy (a belief in your own capabilities), resilience, and a willingness to embrace discomfort. To be courageous you need confidence to act and an ability to push through negative emotions. There are a number of steps you can take to increase your courage at work. Set Realistic Goals and Incremental Challenges: Research suggests that setting realistic goals and gradually increasing the difficulty of challenges can enhance courage. Start by identifying a specific work-related goal that requires a step outside your comfort zone. Break it down into smaller, manageable tasks, and tackle them one at a time. As you achieve these incremental successes, your confidence and courage will grow. Develop a Growth Mindset: Embrace a growth mindset, a concept developed by psychologist Carol Dweck. Individuals with a growth mindset see challenges as opportunities to learn and grow. When faced with a daunting task at work, shift your mindset from a fixed view of your abilities to a belief in your capacity to develop and improve. This shift can empower you to approach challenges with a more courageous attitude. Seek Social Support: Studies show that social support can be a significant factor in promoting courage. Cultivate relationships with colleagues who inspire and motivate you. Share your goals and fears with trusted coworkers or mentors, and seek their guidance. Having a support system not only provides valuable insights but also boosts your confidence to face challenges head-on. Practice Emotional Regulation: Being aware of our emotions helps us to manage our emotions more effectively. By learning to manage your emotions, you can face difficult situations with greater composure and courage. Take a few minutes each day to practice mindfulness techniques, focusing on your breath, noticing your emotions and developing a sense of calm. This can enhance your ability to navigate challenging workplace situations. Celebrate Failures and Learn from Them: Research indicates that viewing failures as opportunities for growth can foster courage. Instead of fearing failure, see it as a natural part of the learning process. When things don't go as planned, reflect on what went wrong, extract lessons from the experience, and use that knowledge to improve. Celebrating failures as stepping stones toward success can build resilience and a willingness to take calculated risks. Remember, courage is not the absence of fear but the triumph over it, and with intentional effort, you can become a more courageous and impactful leader.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 160+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $500 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect  

Welcome to Episode 213. Are you a mom entrepreneur who struggles with impostor syndrome,  wants to nip overwhelm in the bud, wishes to realize the power of networking and/or wants to turn her business and mom life AROUND in 2024? If yes then hit PLAY. Say hi to me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/ This is a recording from my free webinar that I conducted on January 9th, entitled Mom Mogul Makeover. You'll hear how you can put the insights enclosed in my bestselling book Fertile Imagination into action as a mom with a business. This conversation goes beyond any expected insights on productivity, goal-setting, and motherhood. It's for moms who seek a fresh perspective that's plugged into reality. It's also perfect for you if you know entrepreneurship is the journey you wish to pursue wholeheartedly for more than three years. Oh, also listen to the end, there is a free opportunity for those listening until the end exclusively for moms with their own businesses.  To take advantage of that opportunity here is the link: https://www.melissallarena.com/sessions/. This link is for you to secure your free 30-minute breakthrough call with me, which I will invite you to at the end of this webinar. You'll hear me reference it.  As further context, this webinar is focused on the game changing five insights that have helped catapult me into success which I want for you too in 2024. So please enjoy the conversation, enjoy the webinar, and let me know if you have any questions. You can ask me your questions on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissallarena/ And yet another reason to go to Instagram is that I'd love to know who got value out of this; let me know you are here so I can see who's listening ti keep you in mind as I'll be running future drawings for listeners. Thank you so much. TRANSCRIPT Hello there. My name is Melissa Llarena and I'll share with you my little bio a little later on, but I wanted to just be sure that we are optimizing this time as we are moms in the thick of it. Even if you're a mom who has. Her kid is an adult. You're still in the thick of it because you still care with all your heart and soul. And so this is time away from them, but it's time on you and your business. And so I honor that. And I respect that. And I just want to invite you to really pour into yourself during this webinar. Take what feels is going to serve you in 2024 and really consider how you will embody some of these insights. So that 2024 is. As successful as you, as you deserve it to be. So this presentation, I'm just going to jump into it again. I will introduce myself later on, but I just want to be sure that I optimize our time together. So mom mogul makeover. The makeover is really going to be about mindset shifts that you will want to reflect upon. And flip so that they work in your favor. So I'm going to share with you the five lips, and it's really going to be important. If you've ever struggled with imposter syndrome, or you have felt overwhelmed, or you don't feel like you have the right connections to catapult your business success. So here we go. Here's the plan. So M. R. O. Y. What is that? I will share with you. I want to also share with you a little bit of what might be going on in your psyche just to see if any of this lands. Then we'll go through the real problem as well as who I am. I promise I would tell you. And then we'll go one by one through the five mindset shifts. And then at the end, you'll be able to make a decision for yourself. I really like new vocabulary, but I'm not so into equations, but this is my equation. And this is something that I'm sure you have considered. So for a mom, it's not just about investing money and energy and time in her business, but it's also coming at a cost of you being away from your kids.   Also, it comes at a cost in terms of just the psychic energy that you have and the bandwidth that you're able to leverage at any given time, all of that to say, again, that's why this is 20 minutes and not 45 minutes. So what I think about when I think about what success means to a mom, I don't think about just an ROI. I really do think about a mom's ROI and I see them as completely different. And I also, if you've ever worked in a corporate setting, I also want you to consider that if you have ever asked for a raise, you are not just thinking about your ROI, but your mom ROI. And it's not just tangible like childcare expenses. It's also the fact that you're not with your kid and you miss them. Okay. So that is why this is 20 minutes. Moving on. Can you relate? And as I go through these, I want you to really think about 2023 and if you've ever experienced some of these ideas, have you ever felt intimidated, yet crazy excited about an outrageous business idea that you never pursued? A realistic, outrageous idea. So not something like putting someone on Mars, but an idea that you thought to yourself, holy cow, like if I could pull that off, I would be so thrilled and excited, and I might even have what it takes to pull it off, but maybe I'm not ready yet, or I need a lot more resources in order to pull it off. Have you ever had something like that happen to you? Has imposter syndrome ever caused you to opt for smaller steps when a bigger step was available? And here's the thing, we want to achieve a lot in a small amount of time. And so this could be seen as self-sabotage. But has it ever happened to you that it's been imposter syndrome? And you knew that you could take a big leap, but you decided to just go baby steps ahead instead. What about overwhelm? Is that like your go to emotion when you can't complete your to do list, maybe due to an interruption? What about this one? And this one I've heard consistently from clients. Have you ever felt disappointed because you couldn't push yourself hard enough to bring your best self to your business or your kids, or have you ever not networked because it felt like you're being needy or maybe it just felt awkward? Or embarrassing, like you're going to say the wrong thing or put your foot in your mouth or sounds silly. Like you just didn't know enough. And here's the last one. Is it hard for you to articulate your secret sauce as a professional? Because maybe you don't want to set up expectations too high because you know your shit would be one reason. Or you don't want to let others know the real you. Like there's something there that you don't think is as professional or qualified. So you don't want to reveal something about yourself that's still relevant, but feels a little too sensitive. Okay. Last one. Do you secretly punish or beat yourself up by overworking because you feel that you should be much further along in terms of your business goals? And this one is a hard one because it's celebrated, right, by society. Working hard, busting your ass, going above and beyond for clients. But could this be the reason why? So while all of that feels heavy and some of that feels relevant, and maybe there's one of those things that was the reason why you're here, I want to just share that there is good news on the other side of this. Like those are just symptoms. The real problem is that you haven't made what I call the shifts. Okay. And so here's what happens once you make these five shifts that I'm going to share with you in a bit. You will have an opportunity to cast a bigger vision than you have ever cast it for yourself before as a business professional. You're going to confidently seek shortcuts and straight paths to achieve your five year goals in one and pardon the language, turn imposter syndrome into your own bitch. I know that's so bad by taking bigger steps than those smaller ones. Okay. You will have greater self-awareness to identify when it's you who's making things harder for yourself versus the stories about being a good mom or a successful business owner. There's so many reasons things feel way harder for us, depending on where you are in your life stage as a mom and as a business owner too. And you will feel comfortable sharing and showcasing your secret sauce. You're going to feel good about your uniqueness. You're not going to feel like standing out is like a terrible thing to do. You're going to feel good about using your superpowers and telling people what they are. And you're also going to have a tool, an unexpected tool to help you enjoy the process of motherhood and growing your business. And if you've been around the block a couple of times, you have to enjoy the process in order to keep going along the process. Tenacity is not just something that I grin and bear. It's something that I have to embody and I have to make it enjoyable for me. I would not be here for 12 years if it has not been enjoyable. So who the heck is this person  with the hat? So here's the thing. I'm a normal human being. I just want to say that because as I wrote my book this year, fertile imagination, and it became a number one bestseller in two categories, mother and women in business. I had to take a step back myself and just reevaluate, like, who am I, why am I so blessed? What is it about me that really is drawn to serve you, mom entrepreneurs? And so I wanted to just share just a couple of highlights. But again, I am a very normal mom, but I will say that I do have a particular switch turned on, which I will absolutely share with you. Okay, so I mentioned it before bestselling author of fertile imagination host of a podcast called unimaginable wellness And here's my specialty It's helping ambitious moms really confidently put themselves out there right to achieve their meaningful business goals Meaningful is a really important word to me. Otherwise I could stay in corporate and make a lot of money in corporate. But if I can help you do something that's meaningful to you, your family society, then we all have one. And here's the thing as moms, we have such a rough terrain emotionally in terms of both of our roles, both as businesswomen and as moms. And in order to achieve anything that's difficult, you have to keep going during the ups and downs. And emotionally, you can totally self-sabotage. You can totally be slowed down if you let yourself be completely barraged by the emotional realities of both being an entrepreneur, which has very high expectations and a mom, which has very high expectations, both of which are very important to you. I've worked in a lot of places.  So, all this to say.  There's a Swiss army knife perspective that I bring to the world and to any client, whether you are in one vertical, in one country, or you have one child or multiples, I most likely have a very specific approach and framework that can help you. And we can tailor. I have degrees. Two of them here, but after I pursued my education because I wanted to be a good girl and in the eyes of my parents, I pursued more education because I wanted to be a good mom. And good coach. So I do have a coaching certificate and I am becoming a meditation practitioner and I'm a mom. I have been for 12 years, which parallels the length of time that I have also owned a business, a coaching practice. So everything that I'm going to share with you is based on firsthand experience, and it's also based on client experience, having worked with working moms and also working dads, which is interesting how you don't hear that phrase too often, for a very long time and through very different economic cycles, the good, the bad, the middle. So this is who I am, and I've been featured in a lot of things. What I want to just say in terms of all of these credentials and all of these features is this Everything that I've pursued it has not been on everyone else's timeline For example being featured in the wall street journal I believe that was like year two or for example getting a degree at nyu or getting one at business school It was done. So in a way that I had to earn my degrees and earn full rides to them. So everything that I've done has been things through the work of angels, which I will share with you in a bit, but I promise I'll keep this grounded and useful for you, a working mom. So here's the thing. The five shifts they come to me from completely Various experiences I've had in my life and in my career, and really, they are the keys to accelerating any goal that is meaningful to you. And again, I say that word over and over because I could say that I want to make seven figures. But I got to be honest, it's not meaningful enough, but if I say I want to build a treasure trove of networking contacts for my three little boys, so that this way, when they have a business idea, when they grow up, I have someone to refer them to, that means something to me. And that's also why my podcast has amazing guests. So here's the five shifts. Alrighty, a crazy goal can keep you sane. I know this sounds opposite and these shifts are all meant to really have you think, is she crazy? And that's okay. I'm totally, totally okay with that. So this is one out of five, a crazy goal can keep you sane. I recall there were several opportunities in my business where I could have gone for incremental lift in my business in terms of sales goals, or I could have gone for the expected next distribution channel, creating a product for like, I don't even know. 49 or something, but that was totally rational, but not emotionally driven. It wasn't enough to be like, yeah, I'm going to skip nighttime reading with my three little boys in order to go after building a 29 product, like it just didn't do it for me, but what did keep me going and made me way more sane during a rough patch of my motherhood experience was going after a crazy goal. So quickly, here's the goal. The goal that I pursued was launching a podcast and having Gary Vaynerchuk, who has millions of people that follow him, and James Altucher on my podcast. That is a crazy ass goal. The reason why it kept me going was because I decided for a hundred days to write a thousand words every day, and I don't know if it all adds up mathematically, but a thousand words or so a day on Medium.com in order to get their attention. Every single day. That was the choice that I made. Let me write this out so that this way I could get either of them on my podcast. Right? These are entrepreneurs. These are multimillionaires. These are people that are above my weight category. That was the most exciting thing and exciting time for me in my life. And I will say that when I would then wake up my little boys in the morning to go to school or to go to pre care, whatever, I was the world's most excited mom. And it kept me going. It energized me. Had I said, I want to sell this HR screening toolkit product. For 29. 99 and have a million people buy it, if that was my goal, I think I would have been toast. And so it's the opposite, but it's an insight that if you embody it, if you know emotionally what's going to pull you, and if you take it to, if you take it to the bank and you really execute on it, then it will absolutely keep you sane and happier than a boring run of the mill goal. And that's the reason why a lot of the things that would have taken me five years or forever Didn't take me five years or forever and they made me a happier person ultimately So yes, I got Gary v on my podcast. I got James alerted on my podcast It took about a hundred days 67 000 words. I did count  But damn, is it a story and it was in my book too, and I wrote it in my book Okay. So that's the first shift. Okay. If you don't get this right, you are not going to feel as energized. You will feel drained. It would have felt draining for me to say, let me sell this HR screening toolkit product to a million people. And I literally have the product in my store, but it's just not as exciting to me. Next one, imposter syndrome is an asset. You might think to yourself, how is this an asset? Well, you have to make a decision to use it as an asset. And if it's been your habit for decades to see it as a sign that you should like step back or warning that there's something that could happen to you, maybe you're acting beyond your years of experiencing, if that has been your habit. Then it is going to take work in order to flip it on its head. You're going to have to learn how to actually feel imposter syndrome in your body and take the opposite action. When I interviewed the CEO of giving Tuesday, Asha Quran, she herself said, whenever she felt like an imposter, she would then be Fierce, like totally fierce pursuing that particular task or situation. That is not the normal sort of approach, but we're not going for ordinary results. We're going for extraordinary results because as a mom. This operating in sprints is something that you have to embody. As an example, I had a holiday break. My children had holiday break and I couldn't work consistently, persistently towards one goal. I had to like pack it up in a particular timeframe and then basically just go at it in a sprint. Same thing here. So imposter syndrome can be used as an asset. It can be taught for you to use it as an asset, and if you don't use it as an asset. What's going to happen is you're going to feel really insecure, not just about approaching someone that is famous or asking someone for a big sale, but you're going to feel insecure about your story. You're going to feel insecure about the good, the bad, the ugly about your narrative as a business owner. And chances are that narrative. Has your secret sauce that where I came from, what I've done to get here that has your secret sauce. And if you don't feel that you can share this sometimes vulnerable message with other people, no one's going to know anything about it. And you're going to sound just like every other person out there who has this amazing way of adding value to someone else's life and just using the same language at that. So turning. Imposter syndrome into an asset is essential and it has to be practiced. And if it's a habit that you've had using it as a stop sign, it needs a lot of practice and guidance too. Cause we could pretend that we're using it as an asset, but if we're not taking demonstrable action, you're not going to get the numbers you need at the end of 2024.  Third one. Okay. Network and share half baked ideas. This one is intimidating. Let me explain why. So let's imagine that you're networking with someone and you're in the beginning of a business idea. Some thoughts might pop up in your head. They're going to steal my idea or they're going to think I'm silly or I'm sharing something and really I should wait until I have it complete. Well, here's the thing. And this is going back to what I mentioned earlier, angels. This is so weird, but I'm going to share this first time in the history of share this. I believe, I believe that there are angels out there that have accomplished what you want to accomplish. And in 2024, it is your business to find those people network with these people and tell as many of many people. You're half baked ideas so that this way, a, you're not as fully invested in the wrong idea. And then B you get people who want to join you on your journey and help you. For me, how did I become a bestseller in terms of fertile imagination? Well, here's the thing. I decided to attend a podcast conference last year in Colorado, and I decided to make it my business to talk to as many people as humanly possible. And this was during a casual interaction that I approached this lady, chewing on a big conference, yummy sandwich, aka those sandwiches are not very yummy. And I remember telling her, I've got a book, I'm writing it, and I don't know what the heck to do.  And I was really, really forthcoming. She happens to be the president of the Chicago Marketing Association. And she has her own podcast and all of that more than that. She took a liking to me and she shared with me, gave me on a silver platter, a plan. This is how you become a bestseller. That plan was meant for 25 people to execute. I am one human being and I have a virtual assistant, but she took a liking to me and she helped me become a bestseller. What does that mean? I promise you that there are rules to the game that you're playing in your vertical. I promise you that someone else has figured out what to do. And, and sequentially  at that, this person gave me the plan in a way that if I, if I organized it in another way, I would have been ineffective and unable because it was meant for 25 people  network and share half baked ideas. Yes. You will be vulnerable. Yes. You will be looking less. I don't even know prepared, then you want to feel, but honestly, it's better to be less prepared and have someone give you feedback early on an ideas journey. Then later on when you're totally invested and it happens to be the wrong idea. So this is about seeking angels and I'm calling it that because this has been a consistent pattern in my life. And it's something that I believe in with all my heart and all my soul. And I will tell my children to do as well. So that's the third point out of five. And if you don't do this in a way that's strategic in a way that is consistent and in a way that unpacks value, when you network with individuals in a generous and authentic and bilateral way, then you're going to miss the whole point. Because that person that helped me, I helped her to that person who helped me. I know her son wants to work with the Green Bay Packers. I'm not a football person, but that's in my head. And if I find someone that's in that organization, you sure bet that I'm going to mention her son. So it's not about using people or just transactions. It's about having people in your heart and in your mind for the rest of your life, and they will do the same for you. And that's how you can speed up the process. And if you have a meaningful business goal on your heart, that matters. Third point, fourth one. Playing is profitable. So oftentimes as moms, we think about playing as a to do that happens after you do all your to do's. And while I appreciate the sentiment because I was there, what I will say is that your results will look very different if you played before versus if you held your breath until you had the time to play. And oftentimes you don't play, right? It's almost like, let my partner play with the kids. Let someone else play with the kids. Mommy's got to get this or that done. Right? And if you are unaware, playing can be so profitable. And this comes from a podcast guest, Beth Comstock, who was the CMO of GE, GE, one of the most serious businesses you could possibly think about, right? Jet turbines and stuff. So at the end of the day, she challenged herself and her executive team to go where the trends are. She challenged herself to go, for example, a K pop concert in South Korea, and that is where she garnered some insights that changed the course of the way that GE approaches. Storytelling, loyalty, building, et cetera, et cetera. What does that mean for you? Well, if you're a solopreneur in a market that is competitive, how do you intend to distinguish yourself? You need to be ahead of the trends. Playing is profitable. On top of that, when we think about overwhelm, overwhelm, rather than be bamboozled by overwhelm, rather than not have a plan for overwhelm, which if you look at your 2024 goals right now, are you setting yourself up for overwhelm? Rather than that. Why not think about playing in terms of a way to nip overwhelming the bud. I'll give you an example. Maybe I'm an alien, but maybe this is you for me in the past, before this insight, I would, for example, work really, really, really hard and then earn a bubble bath, what I'm suggesting is. Take the bubble baths first, and then maybe you won't have to work as hard. It really changes the tone of your effort, and you'll be a happier mom. Period. Oh, and guess what? You know what your kids want? They want to play with you more. So that's another opportunity right there to reduce the mom guilt. All right. Fifth one. Overwhelm has to be addressed at its roots. So, overwhelm. Sometimes I've noticed when I've coached working moms, some of the most bad ass working moms in the universe, we're talking about, for example, a CFO of American express in Canada, bad ass mom. She became a mom. All of a sudden, insecurities pop up. Am I really good? Do I deserve the CFO spot? What if the person that's taking my position during maternity leave takes the actual job? All of these insecurities really pop up because our emotions are so raw, especially early on. And depending on the stage that you are in as a mom, what happens is That you then just start second guessing yourself and other categories of your life. And then you  overcompensate because you really don't want to get it wrong. And that's at the root of overwhelm more than that. It's also figuring out as a mom in that role and figuring out as a business owner in that role, what a success look like for you. Or have you been playing the rules that someone else wrote, maybe your mom, maybe an entrepreneur you see on Instagram, might their rules just send you off a cliff. Like if you don't get this right, you could pretend to be like chilling out at the end of every day and catching up on Z's. But if in your mind, you feel like you're doing less than you should, or you're not enough, that's going to keep nagging at you. And it will slow down your progress as a business owner. And it'll make you less happy as a mom. So this is something that has to be addressed at its root. And it's really hard to see. It's kind of like a jar with a label on the outside. If you're inside the jar, you cannot read the label. If you have someone outside that understands that there's symptoms here and can help you work through them, then you'll be way better off to actually avoid a train wreck. So I, I think this one is just. Pretty urgent. Okay, so here's what you need in order to achieve a five year goal in one year. So five things all together, these have to be practiced and embodied and done swiftly to knock out big goals. Why is that? So at the end of the day, you're not going to be faced with challenge only one time. It's like, Oh, it's 2024 and it's January. And here's that one challenge that I can't convert a particular sales lead or something like that. No, you're going to get that over and over and over in different sort of flavors. And so it has to be something that when you get knocked out the first time. Maybe it takes you and these numbers are totally not based on reality, but maybe it takes you like three days to get back up. And then the next time it takes you, ideally, if you've practiced these five, two days to get back up. And then the next day, 20 minutes. And then the next day, it's a two minute rage session or something. That's what we're going for. And that's why these five things are not just. Intellectual conversations that can be had. There has to be an actual immersion in this entire process. There has to be a guide who can tell you just like the jar metaphor when something is not going well as a business owner, so you could then make some change. So now you have a choice.  Now you have a choice. I just shared with you five insights, some of which might sound woo woo because of the angel thing, some of which might sound like they would be impossible for you to do by yourself. And I've attended webinars just like this. When I have said to myself, first of all, maybe I was double dutying, maybe it was multitasking, right? I was looking at my email. I was looking at another sort of conversation, but these, these conversations and these insights, they're proven. And they're not just proven for a Beth Comstock or Susy Batiz or an Asha Curran. They're proven for someone like, like you, like me, like someone who constantly has to, in their mind, toggle between, okay, this is what needs to happen at home. Okay, this is what needs to happen in my business. Okay. What about me? Am I even on my list? Like they're proven for individuals who have a meaningful business goal on their heart. And they're also proven for individuals who have a meaningful and want to continue a meaningful relationship with their kids. And I know that to you, I just know it. I know it. Why else would you be here? Why else do you want to be successful in both realms of this, of this life? Right? So what does this mean? This means that I can help you. And I can help you in the next 72 hours. So this is what I've done because I anticipated that this webinar might bring up ideas that you've haven't heard before, that you might want to learn a little bit more about. So the next 72 hours, I will put up a link very shortly and you can actually schedule time with me for free 30 minute breakthrough session, and you can share with me your 2024 business goals. What I would love the honor of doing is helping you filter through these goals based on these insights that I shared with you so that this way any blind spots are addressed up front before you run in the wrong direction of your dreams, right? So what I've done is this 30 minute private call. It's totally free. And you could just go ahead and sign up right here, but I will also email you a link so that this way you have a time, some time to breathe. I want to be sure that we both have an opportunity to just have some time to breathe, but I want to just have this here for you so that this way. These insights are not just in the air, but they're really tangible and they mean something to how you intend to approach the rest of 2024 so that this way, whatever happened in 2023 that didn't feel was your best or didn't feel when as, as well as it should have doesn't happen again. Like you want to take different steps for different results. And so that's why I wanted to do this for you. And that's why I honor you. And that's why I'm a hundred percent going to be taking your questions. If you have any, I'll just save a little bit of time, but then we'll absolutely do. The drawing right after, thank you for listening to the webinar. Here is that link. So you can schedule your breakthrough session in the next 72 hours, or whenever you actually catch this episode, it's www.MelissaLlarena.com/sessions. Those are free 30 minute sessions for mom entrepreneurs who are committed to navigating imposter syndrome for mom entrepreneurs who are committed to finding what is going to help them nip overwhelm in the bud and mom entrepreneurs who are 100 percent open to a fully immersive experience where they will learn how to network effectively, productively. Elegantly and authentically so that this way, if you have a five year plan, you can knock it out in 2024. I want to be of service to you. Go ahead and sign up for the breakthrough call. No commitment. Just be sure to show up. Be sure to honor that meaningful business goal that you have on your heart by showing up. And bringing you to the table. I'm so excited and thrilled. Again, breakthrough sessions are free 30 minutes and for mom entrepreneurs.   ​   

In this episode of ALPS In Brief, our Risk Manager Mark Bassingthwaighte talks about the importance of creating a succession plan and naming a succession/backup attorney.   — Transcript:  Hello, I am Mark Bassingthwaighte, the risk manager here at ALPS. And welcome to another episode of ALPS In Brief, the podcast that comes to you from the historic Florence building in beautiful downtown Missoula, Montana. Of course, that's where our home office is, and if you ever get out to Missoula, you should stop by. It is a beautiful, beautiful area.  It's a time of year where you get to thinking about all kinds of things. We have a year coming to an end, and boy, what a crazy year this has been, huh? And a new year starting. And these are the times where at least I do, and I don't think I'm alone or unique in this, just start to do some processing, start to think about what was good about the year, what things need to be done. And also, I've been with ALPS now coming up in 26 years, and I've been thinking more and more about what's next for me. Again, I've got a lot of years left, God willing and knock on wood here that ALPS will want to continue to have me.  But I want to say a lot of years, I don't know, five, six, maybe eight more years of work here, but I also think about retiring and what's next. And there are interesting things you start to think about just looking at all kinds of stuff. And I won't get into my sort of what's personally going on with me, but it does bring up an important topic, and that's the topic of succession planning. And I want to talk a little bit more about this in some interesting ways. It's something I've been talking about writing on for years.  I can simply say it doesn't happen overnight. I'm in a community where I see lots of people. We're in a 55 plus community now down here in Florida actually. It's been just a wonderful, wonderful decision for us. But I see a lot of people in retirement. I see some that have been very successful and I have seen and visited with some where it's not working. There's different drivers behind why retirement happened for some. Some had happened earlier than they thought, think health issues as an example. Others are still very, very active in second or third careers. Just because they retired doesn't mean... They retired from their profession perhaps, but they're still doing all kinds of other things.  So I want to talk about this. The first thing I want to say is regardless of your age and where you are in terms of your practice and your career in law, it's never too early to start. We've been dealing with the transition issues and decisions and financially restructuring for, oh gosh, now it's been a good six to eight years easy. And of course, we're blessed that we have the ability to retire at some point here. Again, I can say I've worked with lots and lots of lawyers, and I mean that literally who are not financially in a situation where retirement ever seems likely, and it doesn't need to be that way. So I just encourage you to start early, particularly on this, just the savings side, if nothing else, but okay, back to succession planning. And we're going to also explore backup attorneys in this context, which is the central issue I want to focus on here.  But before we get there, being a lawyer is hard. I understand that. And it can be quite a challenge. It's an ever-changing landscape, if you will, in terms of the introduction of AI and how that's impacting things, but also different types of clients and different types of matters and all sorts of things can go on. And as some of you may know, if you've followed me over the years, whether on the blog or podcast, I've been at this a long time and I've done a lot of consulting and I have worked with lawyers that have dealt with cancer as an example. And one lawyer in particular was so involved out of necessity, don't get me wrong here, but so involved in his cancer treatment, having to travel and be gone extensively for chemotherapy. And the practice was being neglected in very, very significant ways. And there was some fallout unfortunately to that.  I have been involved with numerous lawyers that have had, let's just say, challenges with competency. When there's dementia, which is, again, it's just a very serious problem with our profession. It's not unique to lawyers, but there's a lot of issues I've seen over the years that have led to claims and all kinds of things, unexpected things happen in life, in other words, but it's just wild in terms of all the crazy things I've seen.  So I want to, again, to underscore, we need to think about succession planning. This is not something we do, again, in the twilight of one's career. I really see it as a strategic and forward thinking approach. That's what we need to be thinking about. It's going to benefit you regards to, it's obviously more important if you're in a solo space, but it's important even if you're in a small firm or even larger firms. Now, sometimes the problems, the issues that come into play as you get into larger firms are a bit different than what you're dealing with in small firms, but we do need to prepare for the unexpected. It is about, at the end of the day, taking care of our clients.  So let's move forward here and talk about some other reasons why I see this as mitigating risk, preserving client relationships, again, thinking more importantly in the solo space, but again, absolutely not limited to this, but if we are unexpectedly taken out by a car crash, I've got a story about that. Won't bore with it today, bore you with it today, but someone ended up in a coma for quite an extended time, and a number of matters were neglected. So I see this as a competency issue thinking about rule 1.1. A diligence issue, 1.3, and there's some language in the rules, particularly in commentary and at least some of the states and in the ABA model rules that talk about the diligence mandates and attorney moving forward with some type of succession planning. It's just not optional.  So I see it as an ethical obligation. I see it as taking care of one's career, reputational kinds of things. Particularly if something goes wrong, something unexpected happens, I see it as taking care of clients, building relationships, because we can talk about it. So it's about ensuring coverage in the event of some short-term health issues, but it's also about taking care of things in the unexpected deaths or long-term disability scenario too. Again, we could talk for quite some time about stories of how this has just been a problem.  So I hope that kind of helps. I know it's a little bit of a ramble here and I've got all kinds of things going on in my head, but I really hope that you begin to get a sense of the importance of succession planning from a business perspective, from an ethical perspective and from a malpractice perspective.  Let's move more now toward really what I want to focus on and center on. And it's really looking at a basic decision of backup attorneys. Now, before we dig into this, one of the things that I have found over the years is some attorneys are reluctant when asked to be a backup attorney. They're reluctant to agree to do so for a variety of reasons. But two of the more common concerns at times, I think, also used as excuses are I've got my own full-time practice, and how in the world can I handle two practices at once? Well, a successor attorney/backup attorney isn't necessarily charged with running a full second practice. In the backup situation, you're just covering for somebody for emergencies. Well, they're on a two-week vacation or whatever it might be, or whether they're in the hospital for a week or so for some immersion kind of thing. If it's an unexpected death, you're really being brought in to wind up the practice and oversee that. You're not running a full practice, you're not charged with taking on all of these clients and immediately doubling the size if your practice.  And something else to think about whether you're agreeing to do this, being asked to do this and thinking about agreeing or doing the asking. The backup attorney/successor attorney situation doesn't have to be limited to just one individual. I have seen some situations that have been very, very successful in terms of there was an untimely death. And what happened was, for instance, a group of three, four, I've even seen five attorneys will agree to be there for each other and we have this group. And so if I'm the person in this group that passes unexpectedly, the other four can share the load. One might be responsible for putting out fires, one might be responsible for contacting clients, getting that letter that goes out, et cetera, taking care of those kinds of things. So you just split, you split the workload. Can make it very, very easy.  The other excuse that I hear at times is the, well, is my malpractice going to cover me? Is there some... And again, I don't want to be sued for all this stuff. Well, first off, understand, again, in the winding up of the practice, you're really not doing anything legally. You're administering the duties of transition of client notification, et cetera. Now, I guess, at times, if you pick up a matter and once you make it your own, of course, your policy is going to be in play. But I could see there could be some situations. We try to figure things out, put out fires. Maybe something goes a little wrong here or in the backup situation. I can't say 100% for sure because policies differ between carriers, et cetera, et cetera, and the circumstances are going to dictate. But here's how I look at it.  A carrier wants to make sure that when something goes wrong, again, an emergency illness, we like people taking vacations to stay fresh because burnout leads to depression and addictions and all this. We want to see lawyers take care of themselves. So getting some vacation time is a good thing. But if a backup attorney or successor attorney isn't trying to help, good Lord, it would make no sense for a carrier to say, I'm not going to defend this, or we're not going to get involved. It's just not a decision I would think any carrier is going to be feeling good about making. That's not in their best interest. Maybe that's another way to look at it. So I just don't think the coverage issue is as significant as some want to make it.  There is language, I should say, in a number of policies that will describe or are in terms of under the definition of insured, will include a description of attorneys who are stepping in to help administer the winding down of a practice. There for backup. As long as they are doing so under the authority of an agreement of some sort, that kind of thing.  Okay, so let's put that outta way or put that out of the way. So the next thing, and I've been asked at times, what do I do? How do I go about selecting a backup attorney? And this really gets to the heart of the issue. If you're working within a firm setting, hopefully there's someone else within the firm that has the skills and et cetera that can step in. If you are one that's, and again, typically it's going to be in a small firm setting that has some unique skills, well, you're going to have to find somebody outside of the firm and name because if no one else in the firm has the ability, that doesn't really solve the problem. So you might need to look external, but let's talk about that in the context of the solo attorney.  And really what you need to do is just try to identify someone who is going to be competent. That is your obligation. So they have to have the skillset necessary to step in and understand what's going on in your practice, both as a backup attorney if ever needed, and then again, as a successor, should that ever come into play as well. They need to have good communication skills. They need to be experienced in the practice. And we need to think about, I guess, conflict concerns too. They should be somebody that isn't going to bring to the table or have all kinds of conflicts in light of their practice and yours. It can't be somebody that you're constantly on the other side of, is constantly opposing counsel to many of your clients. That's going to be problematic. So we just need to think about, again, is this person competent, diligent, a good communicator, as conflict free as possible, et cetera? And that can really be a good thing. Okay?  And I guess the other thing, needs to be somebody that's going to have the time or the ability to make the time to step into this role. If someone is constantly on the road just by virtue of their practice and being available on not necessarily a minute's notice, but being available at times, if that's going to be problematic, that might not be the right fit. So again, we just need to look, does this work for the individual that you are asking?  When we finally identify the individual that we think is going to be a good fit and this individual agrees or group of individuals, please don't overlook the importance of letting key staff know that this step has been taken care of, who this individual or group of individuals are, when and how they are to be reached so that the staff in the event of emergency know what to do. Again, I could tell stories where staff had no idea that there was a backup attorney, had no idea what they were supposed to do in a situation like this. The was a new receptionist and that was the only position she was charged with and she had no clue, was not really experienced in the legal profession or working in the legal profession and just sat there taking calls day after day. And a number of claims rose out of that because it was person injury plaintiff attorney who was in a coma for a while and some statutes ran during this time and she just sat there, had no clue. So again, we need to let people know.  Some other things to think about. You might want to have a formal written agreement with the backup attorney successor. One and the same in most instances or group, and that's document or at least outline if you will the terms of the engagement, the scope, the responsibilities. There may or may not be compensation here. And you have to figure out if there is going to be some compensation, and particularly in the succession plan, successor attorney coming in and winding up a very busy practice, that can take some work and some time. And you can deal with covering those expenses in a variety of ways, not the least of which might be some type of key person life insurance, but there are ways to deal with this. But I like the idea of having some type of agreement so that we're all on the same page and really understand what the expectations are.  And a number of times too, this can be a two-way street, if I ask you to be my backup attorney and you agree, and it might be, well, I agree to do the same for you. And so we can have these discussions and really talk about what are the roles going to be.  So it's also worth letting your malpractice carrier know. There are some carriers out there, particularly in the solo space that will request knowledge of, or you need to report who is this, other carriers mandate or require it. They may not agree to insure you perhaps in a formal designation because they want to know who to contact if something happens here again.  Some things to think about in terms of preparation. I would periodically review the plan and the agreement just because things change over time. And as you think about that, here's this other side not coming in. We've talked about, here are the roles, responsibilities, what we're anticipating, what we think we should be doing for each other, et cetera. But we should also perhaps have some type of writing. Could be a letter kept in a drawer somewhere, staff knows about, and this is primarily for the succession plan situation, but you need to think about setting forth the things that the successor attorney needs to know to run your practice, to be able to wind down your practice.  So where's the calendar? What are the passwords to key programs or applications or laptops? That kind of thing. What about signature authority on the trust account? I don't want to see money locked up. And there are different ways to deal with that. Could even be just a contingent signature authority agreement of some sort. So there are a number of things you can do here, but I have seen situations where an attorney passed and none of this was done, and a lot of time and money was needlessly spent on trying to literally hack into computers because that's where all the information was and no one had any idea how to get in. So there has to be some ways to do that.  And here's an interesting thought on this one. You can set up emergency access to password safes. More and more of us, if you're not using a password safe for cybersecurity reasons, boy, now's the time. That's a conversation kept for a whole nother day. But there's one way to do some of this. You can have emergency access and set that up. It varies in terms of what you can do and how you do it with these different password managers, but it's just another thing to think about and nothing to look at. There's all kinds of spins on this, but I'm hoping you have found something of value here and some encouragement to move forward.  The one final thought I have is at the beginning I was talking about, well, there's this piece of client communication, and I want to take that just a little bit further. I also mentioned reputation can be an issue here and the failure unit to have a backup attorney leading to mistakes because you never get out and take a vacation or take care of yourself and prioritize wellness, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You can get run down, burned out, depressed. Reputation can suffer in that way. Reputation can suffer because there is no plan. And you're in the hospital for four, six weeks in a coma, going back to that one story that I've been alluding to, and your reputation is dead there.  But there's another angle to this reputation piece, and I see it as communicating the decision. I have some language and you're welcome to email me or look it up. I have some of this on our website, but if you have trouble finding it, you can let me know. But consider putting some language in your engagement agreement. And it might say something, I'm just going to read a short little paragraph as an example. But think about the message that you're giving. So I'm a new, our potential prospective client coming in, looking and all that, we're talking and I see this language, or you might even highlight it for me in the agreement, and it'll say something like this:  While I strive to deliver excellent legal services to each and every client, I also have an ethical obligation to protect your interests during any extended absences such as a vacation and illness or any event of my unexpected death or disability. To accomplish this, I have named, of course, you insert the name for your backup attorney as my backup attorney who will be available during any extended absences or will step in to assist in the closing of my practice, should that ever prove necessary. I will personally provide you advanced notice of any planned absences, and my office staff or backup attorney will contact you with information on how to proceed should any unexpected event ever occur.  I guess I'm a risk guy, okay, I get that. But I got to tell you, if I saw something like that, I would say this attorney is really thinking through the issues and doing everything he or she can to see that his or her clients are taken care of. And he's really thought this through. I want to work with someone like that. Wouldn't you? That's demonstrating commitment, loyalty, diligence, competency. And that just speaks volumes to me. So there's this other reputational angle to it that's saying, he's thinking about this, she's thinking about this. I like this. I'm going to work with them. Then you deliver. Man, I'm even more excited and I'm going to go out and just tell people. How do you think referrals... Referrals come on reputation and good work. Good reputation, you provide great service and all of that, referrals are going to come. So I think there's an angle to that as well.  So I've been rambling on here for I don't know how long, but I hope you found something of value. I really believe that it's hard to do this at times. It's hard to get started. But I really do believe in the value of this. And once you have this taken care of, I think you're going to sleep better. I think it's going to be one less thing to worry about, and you can concentrate and focus more clearly on some other things in terms of just taking care of your clients. So name that backup attorney if you haven't. Name that successor attorney if you haven't.  And once you do, please, please take the time. Take advantage of what you've just done and make sure you're getting that extended vacation from time to time to stay fresh, to nurture the significant, important, I'm sorry, the important and significant support systems in your life. Go on a cruise with your spouse. Go visit the grandkids and children for a week, whatever it might be, because wellness is so, so important in our profession too. It just helps you stay sharp.  That's it for me. I hope you found something of value, and please don't hesitate to reach out if there's anything I can ever do for any of you. You do not need to be an ALPS insured to visit with me. There's no costs or fee to visit with me. If there's something I can do, hey, I'm here. My email address is mbass@alpsinsurance, ALPS Insurance, one word .com.  Have a good one, all.  Bye-bye. 

In this episode of ALPS in Brief, our Risk Manager Mark Bassingthwaighte shares his 25 holiday risk tips to keep your law firm's cybersecurity happy and healthy as we roll into the new year! Transcript:  Hello, I'm Mark Bassingthwaighte, the risk manager here at Alps, and welcome to another episode of Alps In Brief, that podcast that comes to you from the historic Florence building in beautiful downtown Missoula, Montana. As you can tell, it's the end of the year and I'm trying to get ready and set for the holiday celebrations and whatnot, just having a little fun.  So I thought about what to do for this month's podcast. I thought, why not share my 25 holiday risk tips as a countdown. And these are risk tips for 2023, the end of 2023, and maybe we'll do this every year. Who knows? We'll see. Let's jump right in, shall we?  Number one, don't wait for that after Christmas sale. Make sure your firm's security software and operating systems on terms of all the devices, the servers, the computers, the laptops, everything. These updates need to be current systems need to be patched, and the reason is I just want to make sure you're properly protected during all of that online holiday shopping.  Number two, the turkey helpline. I remember back in the day, they used to have these shows you could listen to, and my memory was it's on the radio, but you could listen to people calling in. They record some of these crazy calls to the Turkey hotline. I remember a woman very upset that her bird tasted like soap. And apparently what she had done was read in the instructions, you should clean your turkey before cooking it, then rinse it out, that kind of stuff.  And apparently she used a lot dish washing soap and that's going to taste like soap. That's not how you clean a turkey, but I always got a kick out of that. But sometimes things don't work out quite as planned when it comes to the holiday bird, and some people really don't know what they're doing with these turkeys. And there is a turkey hotline out there to help you out, use it.  Well, in a similar vein, if you have no idea how to properly secure your smartphones or other devices, the files that you have in cloud storage, even your home router, if you're using it for work, rest assured there's a support line for you too, and that's just called your IT support. Whoever he/she/they may be, please don't hesitate to reach out and get the help that you need.  Number three, untangling the lights. As you search your attic or your basement, wherever you have your holiday decoration stored, remember to protect and organize your firm's virtual storage space so your digital files don't end up sort of in a similar mess. I remember year after year for a lot of years, trying to untangle all of these light strings and checking for the bulbs, etc. It's just a headache, just a headache. So, let's try not to let that happen with our client files that are virtually stored.  Number four, make a list and check it twice. And before taking on a new matter, make certain that you and your client are in total agreement on the scope of representation, and that might even include discussing what you're not going to do. And then of course, make sure that you thoroughly document all that in writing because after all, memories really can be short. I mean, even Santa, after all, why do you think he has a list.  Number five, up on the house top. Some of us excel at navigating a snow covered roof to hang the lights. Boy, there's some guys around here, I've seen this here, I'm thinking, these guys don't excel and you're just worried that dickens that somebody's going to take a fall. But on others, you really do need to learn that the annual trip to the ER can get expensive.  The point of all this is no one excels at everything. Learn to say no when you really know that you should don't dabble and don't take on clients that you can't work well with. Otherwise, the control of your professional life is going to end up in someone else's hands and that someone else could easily be a problem client that just isn't worth it.  Number six, let's talk about Santa's laptop. If you're traveling for business or a family gathering, always carry your laptop with you rather than checking it with your baggage, because sensitive information, perhaps your naughty and nice list, could end up missing. I really can share over the years when I look at some of the cyber claims that we've had, stolen laptops, lost laptops are not uncommon. So really try to stay in control of that as you travel.  Wrapping the gifts, when it's time to wrap up a client matter, tell the client what your file retention policy is and document what they want to have happen to their file at the end of your file retention period. This is one of the most common calls that I get to this day. What do we do with these old files? Because we've never dealt with it. We've never informed clients what to do or what our policy is. And taking care of that at the time you know where your client is and you're closing a file can really solve a lot of headaches down the road. Or I should say prevent a lot of headaches down the road.  Number eight, to Grandma's house we go. If you need to check in with the office on your way to wherever you're traveling, remember to use a VPN when traveling. This is especially important if you're going to be using open public wifi, if you're using a hotel signal or even a signal at a friend or family's home, you need to encrypt your data stream in these situations. It's just essential as I see it.  Number nine, remember the reason for the season. Providing pro bono legal services is really a wonderful way to not only bring a little holiday cheer to someone else, but it really may just change their life. Don't minimize it. Give back.  Number 10, hang your stockings with care. According to the most recent ABA profile of legal malpractice claims, almost 52% of reported claims in recent years were based on a substantive misstep, such as a failure to know the law or properly apply the law, and conflicts of interest. So don't dabble and don't short shrift your conflict resolution process unless of course you enjoy finding coal in your stocking.  Number 11, no two snowflakes are alike. As with client expectations, no two clients are going to be alike either. Really take the time, learn to listen, ask the questions, try to determine each and every client's unique legal needs as well as their desired outcomes in order for you to meet their needs as best as you possibly can.  Number 12, don't become Scrooge. If a client becomes delinquent on their account, investigate early, and either work out an alternative arrangement or get out if you can. Allowing someone's past due balance to soar when they are already unable to pay and then suing them for your fees when you're finished could result in a haunting tale of a malpractice counterclaim. Not fun, not good.  Number 13, bells will be ringing, while a wonderful sound this time of year. Be careful not to have an alarm sound due to a shortfall in your trust account. Never allow the proceeds of a check to be dispersed prior to that check clearing. And remember, there's a difference between a bank saying, "The proceeds are available," and those funds being collected in good funds. And often that difference is five to seven business days and can even be longer in some instances. Caution is in order.  Number 14, look out for the Grinch. Take the time to ask what can be learned from an experience with one of those problem clients, once the representation of course has ended. The failure to do so often means that another Grinch could be in your future. If you don't learn, you're likely to make the same intake mistake again. Ask the questions, look for the learning.  Number 15, not a creature with stirring. To make certain no unwanted creatures are stirring in your office network, confirm that everyone in the office knows to never open an email or click on a link sent from an unknown source. Better yet, institute an ongoing mandatory social engineering training program that everyone must attend, everyone who works at your firm, including you.  Number 16, let it snow. Clients will tend to more readily pay bills that are sent on a regular basis and that provide detail on each charge. Tell your story in the process of creating and presenting your bill. There is a huge difference as an example between saying, "Research five hours," and "Research case law on inviting nuisance, five hours." Let the client know the value they are getting, what they are getting, for the money that they're being charged.  17, the ghost of files past. When it comes to computer files, delete is not always what it seems. If you don't want the recovery of deleted files rattling around late at night, you really need to electronically shred all that data by using a program that will overwrite it, thus making it unrecoverable. So before you recycle those phones or donate some laptops or whatever it might be, don't just delete files. You need to digitally erase them.  Number 18, It's a Wonderful Life. George Bailey, if you recall, saw what his town would've been like if he were never born, such a great film. If you're a solo, however, what would happen if you were no longer around? Name a successor attorney to ensure that your clients and their matters will be properly cared for should the unexpected ever happen to you. Then sleep better knowing that you did the right thing. Succession planning folks is absolutely an essential obligation as I see it. Please take the time to do so if you already have it done so.  Number 19, The Little Drummer Boy, just listening to some music last night. It was that time of year, once Thanksgiving rolls around, my wife has a rule, Christmas music is it until the end of Christmas. But bang that drum to get your message across. Make sure your colleagues are in step with the confidentiality rule. No files, for example, should be left accessible after hours.  No one should use open public wifi networks or free email accounts like Gmail for professional purposes. And don't talk about client matters in public places. Sometimes maybe just a little review. Get the staff together for a 10 or 15 minute meeting over the lunch hour, have a little pizza or something. Maybe do this monthly. But just these gentle friendly reminders really can help keep the rules and our obligations fresh in our minds. That can be very, very helpful and very beneficial.  Number 20, how about those New Year's resolutions? Enjoy the holiday party season more by learning what callback phishing is and how not to fall prey. Then relish in knowing that you now have a cybersecurity leg up on most of the other attorneys in the room. You really will. If the FBI just issued an alert talking about callback phishing, so binging it, Google it, or you might even go to a wonderful site. This is just an excellent, excellent resource.  It is Know Be4, K-N-O-W-B-E, the number four, knowbe4.com, and look at some of their resources that are available for free. You could search callback phishing on their blog, and I assure you, you'll get some information and it's well worth knowing about.  21, the night before CLE deadline, fulfill your CLE requirements on time. You might look with the Alps. We have a lot of CLE out there, online, on demand, and if you're not familiar with it, it's www.alpsinsurance, one word A-L-P-S, insurance, one word, .com/cle. After all, that December 31st deadline for some of us is fast approaching.  22, setting out Santa's cookies. When do I remember those days? Our kids are all grown and adult now, and we are Brady family, but we had five kids in our blended family, and I do remember, and it was a lot of fun, setting out the cookies and doing all the things that we did. For many families, this is one of the last things done before the kids are tucked in and that little detail counts.  Similarly, once a matter is closed. Don't overlook the last important detail of properly preparing a file for storage. Use a file closing checklist to make certain that all the closing tasks are taken care of. If you don't have a file closing checklist, I invite you to get one of ours. I have one available on our website. Again, it's alpsinsurance.com, and you can click under resources and there's a section there for sample forms, a sample checklist, and you will find a file closing checklist there. Perhaps that might be helpful to you.  23, giving thanks. You really are being honored. Every time a client places a new matter in your capable, competent hands. Honor them back by sending a thank you note at the conclusion of every matter. Just say, "Thanks, it's been a pleasure." You may find that referral and repeat work just starts to go up and maybe even soar, because you understand and remember who has hired who.  Give yourself a gift, and this is so, so important in my mind. Remember, one of the best ways to serve your clients well and truly to keep your practice thriving is to prioritize taking care of yourself. After all, gingerbread, which I love, always tastes better when life is good. Take care of yourself, and don't forget to nourish the relationships that you have with your support systems, whoever they may be. You want them around years from now as well too. So take that time. And finally, 25, we're just looking through the years. I have been in this role of risk manager here at Alps just shy of 26 years, and I really have felt so honored and blessed to have had this opportunity. And don't misunderstand me, I'm not going anywhere. I hope to be here for a number of years yet. We'll just see.  But it really has been just an incredible honor to serve as a risk manager, as your risk manager, to be a risk manager and a resource in the legal community at large. So with that in mind, I'd simply like to say, may your holiday season be both merry and bright and most importantly blessed. I hope you found something of value in my short, quick countdown this year and stay well. Take care of yourself. Bye-Bye.   

Summary Whether it's working arrangements, a pay rise, contract terms with a client or project timelines with colleagues, we are all required to negotiate at some point. This week we explore ways to negotiate effectively.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 214 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore ways to negotiate effectively. Whether it's working arrangements, a pay rise, contract terms with a client or project timelines with colleagues, we are all required to negotiate at some point. Understanding the fundamentals of negotiation can help to achieve a great outcome for you, while also seeking to build the relationship with the other person. Before we work through some tips to help your negotiations, it's important to understand position versus interest. People come to a negotiation with a particular position in mind. This is the stance they are taking and sharing openly with the other person. For example, a colleague might have a position that a particular project will take six weeks to deliver. Behind every position is a set of interests. Interests are the reasons behind the position. So your colleague's position around the project taking six weeks to deliver could be based on interests such as not overworking their team, delivering other projects on time, or not wanting to over-promise a faster turnaround. As we negotiate it's important to move past positions and towards interests. Being aware of interests provides much more flexibility for all parties in a negotiation. Beyond that, there are several points to be aware of before and during a negotiation: Be clear about your goals and priorities. Entering a negotiation without being clear about what's important to you and what you want is very risky. It's helpful to write down what you want to achieve and why. Think about where you are willing to compromise and what's not negotiable. Writing these down can be helpful. Research and gather information. Make sure you have facts, data and documentation ready to go. This will help you to make informed decisions, anticipate counter-arguments, and establish credibility in the negotiation. Work on your communication skills. Be confident, clear and concise when expressing your views. Also recognise that communication is two-way. Listen to the other person, ask questions, stay curious, and work towards uncovering their underlying interests. A respectful, empathetic and collaborative approach will help you to build rapport and avoid the negotiation becoming overly adversarial. Be open to compromise. Negotiation typically involves give and take. Sometimes we need to be flexible and creative in the pursuit of an outcome that will work for both parties. Know when to walk away. There will be times when you can't reach an agreement that is adequate for you. Go into a negotiation knowing what alternatives you have available if you can't reach an outcome. This will help you to know when you need to strategically disengage and explore other options. Becoming more effective at negotiating takes time and preparation. Give these tips a try as you seek to increase your negotiation skills.     Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 160+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $500 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary With so much uncertainty and change it can be difficult to map out your career. However there are still steps we can take to build a great career.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 213 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to build a great career. In just a few generations the number of jobs someone is likely to have in their lifetime has increased markedly. Estimates vary, but it's likely a young person commencing their working life today will have around 15 jobs and 3 separate careers. Even across 50 years of working, that's changing jobs about every 3 years. Career planning is becoming more challenging and complex. When it comes to building a great career, you will find many people propose finding work with a combination of: Skills - what you're good at Interests - what you enjoy Opportunities - what the world needs and is willing to pay for The missing factor in this equation is growth - what you can develop. A job without growth opportunities will ultimately cause your career to stall. Life expectancy continues to increase so we will be working longer, which has implications for our training and development. The old model of completing training, then working in a career until your skills are bordering on redundant will no longer work. We have to continue learning, growing and adapting right across our career. But how can you plan for a career when the job you might have in 10 years may not even exist now? Here's how. A great career comes down to your mindset and actions. Despite rapid change and uncertainty, we can adopt a mindset that welcomes change, where we are willing to take calculated risks and learn from mistakes. We can invest in knowing ourselves and regularly improving our capabilities. And we can also build connections with others. So in order to build a great career, I suggest you: Ask “What is a great career… for me?” Your career is a personal expression of who you are and your broader purpose in life. Don't fall into the trap of blindly following others' careers or what your organisation is laying out for you as the accepted pathway. It's very easy to drift without having a clear idea of what a great career means to you. Factor in opportunities to develop, breaks from work for holidays, or whatever else matters to you. Set goals that matter. Approach life in a goal-oriented way. Keep stretching yourself forward towards clear goals. Apply pathways thinking. When the initial path to a goal is blocked, find a different way to achieve that goal. When you hit an obstacle, ask yourself how else you can get to your goal. Celebrate progress. Stop occasionally and reflect on what you can do now that you couldn't do 12 months ago. Don't worry so much about making a career mistake. Even the seemingly poor career decisions we make are opportunities to learn and grow. The biggest mistake I made in my career turned out to also be one of my biggest development opportunities, and a stark reminder of the kind of career I really wanted. Even though it seemed like a career mistake, it actually helped me in my career. Building a great career takes some effort. While we can't necessarily plan every step, there are actions we can take to help build a great career.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 160+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $500 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary Leadership is about achieving results through people. With the demands of managing people, it can be easy to lose sight of results we need to achieve and deliver. In this episode we explore how to drive for results.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 212 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to drive for results.   Leadership is about achieving results through people. With the demands of managing people, it can be easy to lose sight of results we need to achieve and deliver. We can become distracted or even become unaware of the key outcomes expected, and therefore not provide the direction, feedback and support our people need to achieve the right results. We have all seen leaders that fail to deliver. People are left wondering what they're spending their time on, given the shortfalls in performance for them and their team. But there are practical things we can do to help us and our teams to drive for results. Determine what results matter. There are many potential things you and your team could focus on, so it's crucial to uncover the fewest most crucial results. This should involve consultation with your manager and other key stakeholders. Try to arrive at results that reflect a range of aspects of your work. For example, rather than just focusing on financial returns, you might also include customer satisfaction metrics. Otherwise we can risk chasing short-term results that lead to longer-term issues. Link results to purpose. Results by themselves don't provide meaning. Take the time to link results to a broader purpose. This will likely include the vision and purpose of your organisation. It's also worth helping individuals and teams link the results of their work to things that matter to them personally. Your team members might engage with their work for very different reasons to you and your manager. Communicate clear measures and targets. These should be shared and discussed with your team, but also with others within the organisation including your manager. You may need your manager to sign these targets off first so you should factor this additional time into your planning. It's best to capture these in writing to ensure clarity and agreement. Talk about the “how” not just the “what”. There's no point chasing after results and causing damage to others and the business along the way. How we achieve results is just as important as the results themselves. You should encourage people to reflect on the organisation's values and team commitments that encourage people to work collectively towards shared outcomes. Undertake regular updates and check-ins. Research suggests that making results visible and freely available helps people to drive towards these metrics. A literal scoreboard can help, particularly where people can see the change in results from week to week. For dispersed teams, there are plenty of tools that allow you to share results through the collaboration platforms you already use. Focus on continuous improvement. If we use a driving analogy, a car has a number of forces operating on it including acceleration, momentum and friction. We want to find ways to gradually accelerate our performance, adding to our momentum and reducing the friction of things that hold us back. It can help to frame a discussion with your team in these terms - what's taking us forward, what's keeping us stable, and what's holding us back. Celebrate efforts and outcomes. Some people prefer to be recognised for their efforts, while others prefer to be praised for their outcomes. It's helpful to see both areas of recognition as important. Sometimes people do all the right things but the results just don't come together for reasons outside of their control - we should celebrate this. Equally, we shouldn't be shy about celebrating great outcomes when people have reached or exceed the targets that we have set. Achievement drive is a common feature of effective teams and individuals. We can help our teams to establish and chase after purpose-filled results, providing feedback, support and encouragement along the way.     Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 160+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $500 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Quick Links Check out the Black Friday-inspired bundle specials on the newly refreshed Living Joyfully Shop! Transcript Hello, everyone! I'm Pam Laricchia from Living Joyfully and I'm popping in to share a couple of bits of news with you. First is the Black Friday-inspired sale happening in the Living Joyfully Shop right now! It runs […]

Summary It's common to experience stress at work and then struggle to perform at our best. We might even react in ways we regret later. This week we explore how to maintain composure under pressure.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 211 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to maintain composure under pressure. It's common to experience stress at work and then struggle to perform at our best. We might even react in ways we regret later. Perhaps it's a comment from a colleague that annoys us, or our computer crashing and losing what we've been working on for hours. We then say or do something that's not us at our best, or we might even feel unable to say or do what we'd like in that moment. But there are practical things we can do, both in the moment and as part of our daily routines, that can significantly improve the way we handle pressure. Here are four things you can do beforehand: Get plenty of sleep. Find a sleep routine that works for you and stick with it. Getting to bed around the same time and ensuring you have around 8 hours a night boosts your energy levels and resilience. Start your day with exercise. This burns off stress hormones and allows you to begin your day with greater resilience to stressful situations that might arise. Find exercise that works for you. For example, if you commute, you might build a slightly longer walk into your routine. Or if you're working from home, set an alarm to prompt you to take a walk. Structure recovery time into your day. This might include taking breaks away from your work, going for a quick walk during the day, or even catching up with a colleague for a coffee away from the office. We are not great at sustained work and attention beyond 60 to 90 minutes, so short breaks across the day will help you to recover and reset. Even 5 minute breaks to step away from one task and mentally prepare for the next one make a huge difference. Deal with any relational difficulties. Poor working relationships can place a lot of strain on our work day and lead us to become frustrated. We may then say or do things that don't reflect us at our best. We don't have to be best friends with everyone at work, but having open conversations with others about how you can best work together will help reduce stress and annoyance. And now five things you can do In the moment: Notice your emotional state. Just as we have a stream of conscious thoughts during the day, so we also have a steady stream of emotions. Tune into your body and emotional state. If you sense yourself moving up the emotional curve, do something about it before you reach the top. Name it to tame it. Naming the emotion we are feeling helps us to manage it more effectively. Research even shows that putting a label on an emotion reduces the intensity of that emotion almost immediately. So if you feel angry, note that emotion. Focus on your breathing. Simple techniques such as box breathing can rapidly calm our emotional state. Think of it like a box - breath in deeply for four seconds, hold for four seconds, exhale fully for four seconds, then hold for four seconds. Have an escape plan. If you are feeling close to losing control of your emotional state, have a plan for how you might exit the situation. Say sorry. If you do go over the edge and say or do something you regret, apologise to those involved. This will help others to understand that you weren't at your best and that you intend to do better next time. An honest apology goes a long way to maintaining and building effective relationships. These are just some practical things you can do beforehand and in the moment to help us maintain our composure and respond well when under pressure. If you found this helpful you can check out our Harnessing Your Emotions five day challenge for more tips - https://leadershiptoday.vhx.tv/challenge-harnessing-your-emotions . Have a great week.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 160+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $500 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary Artificial Intelligence is all around us and provides great opportunities to improve the quality and efficiency of our work. This week we explore how to use Artificial Intelligence at work.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 210 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we examine how to use Artificial Intelligence at work. Artificial intelligence is a complex and evolving field. It can feel overwhelming to consider how to use AI at work. In reality, AI is built into so many things, that you're already using AI multiple times per day. To help clarify, AI expert Juliette Powell talks about Artificial Intelligence as triple A systems - algorithmic, autonomous and automated. With this definition, it's easy to see how your organisation is already applying AI. Here are some steps you can take to implement and use AI well at work. Collaborate with Artificial Intelligence experts. While leaders don't need to be AI experts themselves, collaborating with professionals in the field is crucial for successful implementation. AI is not just a technology upgrade, it's a completely different way of approaching work. There are risks implementing something that we don't understand, so using experts to guide your thinking will help. Establish clear governance. The application of Artificial Intelligence has ethical considerations. It's possible to create adverse impacts on minority and other groups through the use of AI, so we need to proactively measure fairness and equity implications. Establishing clear governance around the use of AI will assist with this. We also need to consider data protection principles. Providing AI systems with access to your data may create privacy risks that need to be actively managed. Those accountable for AI governance should develop clear guidelines for employees to minimise these and other risks. Identify high-impact use cases. Not all tasks require the intervention of AI, so leaders must strategically identify areas where AI can make the most significant impact. Conduct a thorough analysis of your business processes to pinpoint repetitive, time-consuming, or data-intensive tasks that could benefit from automation. Education. Provide employees with the resources and opportunities to upskill and reskill in areas related to AI. Workshops, training programs, and online courses can help employees understand AI concepts, its applications, and how to integrate it into their daily tasks. By investing in education, leaders not only empower their teams but also create a workforce that is adaptable to the dynamic nature of AI technologies. Encourage safe-fail experiments. It's best to apply Artificial Intelligence in a way that minimises risk. Many organisations implement AI by first running the work through parallel processes to measure the impact on quality and efficiency. They are then able to objectively compare any benefits of AI with the traditional process without risking the quality of delivery. Invest in quality data infrastructure. Artificial Intelligence is only as good as the data it uses. It's easy for the implementation of AI to be let down by poor quality and out of date records. Assessing the quality of data being fed into AI will improve the outcomes you are likely to achieve. Artificial Intelligence will continue to provide benefits to organisations looking to improve their performance. Being informed and considered helps us to manage the implementation of new systems in a way that maximises benefits and minimises risks.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 160+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $500 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary  Starting a new job can be exciting and terrifying at the same time. We are often keen to deliver results quickly, but taking action too soon can sometimes backfire. This week we explore how to transition into a new role.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 209 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to transition into a new role. Starting a new job can be exciting and slightly terrifying at the same time. We are often keen to deliver results quickly, but taking action too soon can sometimes backfire. We've all seen people come into a role and quickly institute change without fully appreciating the context for their work. Or others that focus on the wrong things and end up not delivering what's required. There are some simple steps we can take to increase our chances of starting a new role well. Plan your approach. While this step seems so obvious that it's barely worth listing, it's remarkable how many people start a new role without a plan in place. I recommend having a clear plan for your first day, your first week, and your first month. During those first few weeks you can then develop a broader 60 to 90 day plan. You can involve your manager in this planning to ensure your objectives align with their expectations. Look at what's already in place, and resist the urge to make many changes in your first few weeks until you've had a chance to meet with others. Connect with People. You want to use the first few weeks in a new role to meet with your manager, peers, direct reports, and customers. These meetings will vary in their objectives, but the main goal is to develop a connection with people - to introduce yourself and find out more about them. Where possible, you should meet with people in person. Be clear about the intent of the meetings - if it's just to connect and find out more about them, then say that. The personal connections you establish in your first few weeks will serve you well into the future. They are also likely to provide further insight into the role and their expectations. Connect with Purpose. Be clear about how the role contributes to the organisation. While this should be clear through the recruitment process, it's worth clarifying with your manager how the role makes a larger contribution. This will help guide your decision making and also provide motivation for the role. Determine Priorities.  Identify the not-negotiable outcomes that need to be achieved. We've all seen people become excited about new initiatives and opportunities, only to neglect the core deliverables in their role. Once you've achieved the key elements of your role, you can then look towards other contributions. Metrics. As you transition into a new role, it's helpful to determine how to measure your progress and performance. In some roles it's easy to identify metrics, but others can be a bit more challenging. Work with your manager and others to identify important metrics that provide a genuine insight into your performance.  Moving into a new role presents lots of opportunities and challenges. Taking these five steps will help you to make the transition successful. If you are moving into a leadership role, you'll find our free Leadership Practices Assessment and supporting videos helpful - https://leadershiptoday.vhx.tv/leadership-practices-1    Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription.  Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect 

Summary When sensitive issues arise in the workplace it can be hard to know what to say and do. We might shy away from political and social issues, or find it difficult to respond to those taking a particular stand on an issue. This week we explore practical ways to handle political and other sensitive issues at work.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 208 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore ways to handle political and other sensitive issues at work. When sensitive issues arise in the workplace it can be hard to know what to say and do. We might shy away from political and social issues, or find it difficult to respond to those taking a particular stand on an issue. However political topics and social movements are bound to make their way into our workplaces. As a leader we need to demonstrate empathy, while also maintaining a respectful and inclusive environment. Here are five ways we can achieve this balance: Stay neutral and objective. For political and other sensitive issues it's best remain impartial and avoid taking sides. Your primary role as a leader is to create a safe and inclusive space for all employees, regardless of their political affiliations and beliefs. Point people to your organisational values and expectations as the guide on how people should interact at work. Encourage open dialogue. While we might need to personally take a more neutral position, it's important to allow people to discuss their perspectives at work. Ignoring political and social movements will seem odd to your people. Here we want to encourage respectful and constructive conversations where people can hear different points of view. Building understanding of different perspectives can help people to continue to work effectively with each other, even when they may hold quite different views. Set clear boundaries. You should make it clear that while discussions about politics and other social issues are encouraged, they should never interfere with productivity or inclusion. We all need to work effectively with each other. People typically have far more in common than they do different from each other, so encourage people to focus on shared values and priorities. Lead by example. In your interactions listen with curiosity and respect. Avoid sharing your political beliefs in a way that could alienate or intimidate others. Focus on common ground and shared values that unite the team. Address conflicts promptly and privately. If political or other discussions escalate into conflict, address this quickly. Act as a mediator where that's required, ensuring the people involved can share their perspectives and listen to each other in a respectful way. This will work best in private rather than involving the whole team. Remember, the goal is to create an inclusive workplace where everyone feels heard and respected, regardless of their political or social beliefs. By setting a positive example and facilitating open, respectful discussions, you can help maintain a healthy work environment for your team.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary There are more generations in the workforce than ever before. How do we ensure expectations are met and people work together effectively? This week we discuss how to lead a multigenerational team.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 207 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we discuss how to lead a multigenerational team. There are more generations in the workforce than ever before, with up to five generations all trying to work together. Generational differences and tensions are a regular feature in any discussion of work culture and challenges. So how do we not only reduce the downside risk of having this broad range of ages working together, but also harness the potential benefits? I've managed teams that included people who were brand new to the workforce right through to retirement age. For me the benefits were obvious, but there were occasional misunderstandings and challenges. Here are some points to consider when leading a multigenerational team. People are far more than their generation. While each generation may have some shared experiences, there is huge diversity within generations. Leading someone solely based on their generation is likely to lead to poor outcomes for you and them. Their goals, needs and interests are likely to be more about them as an individual than them as a member of a generation. Find out what matters to each individual. Have open discussions with your team members about their goals and what matters to them most at work. You might be surprised at what people raise during this discussion. For example, you might find younger and older team members both share an interest in flexible work arrangements, but for different reasons. Tailor to individuals and their needs where possible. Adjusting your approach and meeting the needs of your team members is really important. For example, I've helped people to take additional unpaid leave for an overseas trip, varied the start and end times for people that needed that flexibility, and allowed people to work from different locations. You also want to do this in a way that is fair and sustainable. Be clear with people what you can and can't vary, and why. You don't want to set up precedents that are difficult to undo. Build understanding and appreciation of diversity. Provide opportunities for people to work together and get to know each other. Use discussion prompts in team meetings with time set aside to build an understanding of each other. A great idea here is to ask people to share a five star recommendation - anything that they would give five stars to. This could include a book, holiday destination, activity, movie, restaurant, recipe - anything. You might be surprised at what interests people have in common. Encourage inclusion. Diverse teams only outperform other teams where there is understanding and inclusion. Encourage people to actively include and consult with others to gain their perspectives. Use the experience in your team by asking people to mentor each other. I've even seen mentoring work well where a younger team member might mentor an older team member on something like use of technology or social media. Don't assume that the mentor needs to be older than the person being mentored. Harnessing the diversity in a multigenerational team can unlock many benefits for your team and organisation. It all starts with understanding and valuing the different experiences, skills and preferences people bring. Building inclusion can help people to see multiple generations  in your team as a benefit rather than a drawback.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary Negativity can really impact a team's motivation and performance. This week we explore how to manage a persistently negative team member.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 206 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to manage a persistently negative team member. Having a negative person on your team can be really draining. The tendency to always point out the downside and limitations can drag others down and reduce motivation. It can be a difficult situation to address. We don't want to shut down criticism or pretend that everything is perfect, and we don't want to respond in a way that makes them feel like they don't belong. However, we also don't want to become trapped in negativity that can impact others' enthusiasm and commitment. Here are some tips that will help you to manage a persistently negative team member: Don't assume it will get better with time. Negativity doesn't tend to go away. In fact, the more you allow it to take hold, the more it can grow within the team. You need to address unreasonable negativity early. Just hoping it will get better by itself is not going to work. Don't assume it's all about work. Often the person who complains the most at work may also be facing challenges outside of work. An honest conversation can help address this. Provide feedback on impact. Look for examples of negativity from the team member and provide feedback as soon as possible. You want to clearly anchor the feedback in a specific situation, and provide insight into the impact of the person's actions on you and others. For example, “during the meeting earlier today when you described our new project as a waste of time that will never work, I saw several people look discouraged, and I felt like your comments made the project even harder to achieve”. Explore their intent. Oftentimes our intent is not the same as our impact. In my earlier example, the person describing the project as a waste of time may not have intended to discourage others. They may have intended to express some concerns about the feasibility of the project. Once the person is aware of the impact of their approach, helping them to share their intent will provide you with greater context. Help them to reframe. Once the person is clear on their intent, you can help them to achieve their desired impact. You might work through options of how they could express their concerns in a constructive way. For example, “I have some concerns about how feasible this project is. Can we discuss people's views on that, and how we might make our goals achievable?”. This is likely to have a much more positive impact, while still addressing their original intent. In this way their negativity can be transformed into a super power that actually helps the team. Listen for kernels of truth. It could well be that the project isn't feasible. Just because something is expressed in a negative or damaging way doesn't mean there isn't some truth to what they're saying. Asking probing questions to explore their perspective can help draw out a new perspective in a more positive and actionable way. Recognise improvement. Look for examples of the person expressing things in more constructive ways and provide positive encouraging feedback to the individual. It's always important to notice and appreciate efforts to grow and improve. Negativity is contagious and challenging to manage. Engaging with the person sharing negative views can help turn them around, and provide them with more positive ways of making an important contribution to the team. Have a great week.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary Moving on to a new role is a whole lot smoother when you have someone ready to replace you. This week we walk through the key steps to developing a leadership succession plan.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 205 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we walk through the key steps to developing a leadership succession plan. Moving on to a new role is a whole lot smoother when you have someone ready to replace you. All too often though we look for a change of role, and then have to rush finding a replacement or miss the chance to handover altogether. With some forward planning and effort we can ensure that leadership succession is smooth, fair, and well executed. Step 1 is to identify potential successors. An important point here is that the successor to your role doesn't necessarily have to come from your team. You will want to work with your own leader and others across the organisation to identify potential successors early. This could be based on performance evaluation data, 360 degree feedback, and other records. Potential successors don't need to be ready to do your job today. In fact. It's highly unlikely that anyone will be able to make a direct transition into your role without some development. Look instead for people who may have demonstrated performance or potential related to your role. Even if they're 70% of the way to being able to do your role, with time you are likely to be able to bridge that gap. Step 2 is to create individual development plans. These should be put together in consultation with individuals. There's not much point considering someone as a successor for your role if they're not interested in the role. Some people may be happy at their current level, or they may be looking for quite a different opportunity in the future. Individual development plans and discussions should include career planning. Identify any gaps the individual may have for taking on your role and other identified potential roles. Step 3 is to provide development opportunities. Here we are working with the person to fill their development gaps. We often default to training courses, but development gaps are often best filled through stretch assignments and projects, mentoring and coaching. Look for opportunities to build their development into the work itself. Step 4 is to test the succession plan. Here we want the individual to have a chance in the role itself. You can have potential successors step up into your role while you're away, or work alongside you on a project. Keep in mind that the person may want to do things differently to you, so provide freedom to make the role their own where that's possible.. A leadership succession plan is a great way to help you, the person who will take over your role, and your organisation to be successful.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary Grief and loss are inevitable experiences for all of us. This week we explore how to lead a team through grief.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 204 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to lead a team through grief. Grief and loss are inevitable experiences for all of us. And the experience of grief isn't confined to our personal lives. Things like the death of a colleague, serious illness, and workplace accidents can all lead to grief at work. As a leader it can be hard to know how to respond. We may either try to continue with business as usual, or be tempted to become full time counsellors. On top of that, the grief is likely to impact us personally as well. Here are four things worth focusing on when you're leading a team through grief and loss. First, it's important to recognise grief's varying influence on the team. While grief is a universal experience, it affects individuals differently. Some may visibly demonstrate their grief, while others may internalise their emotions. It's important to also recognise that people will take varying times to process their emotions around grief. It's important to listen to people and give them your full attention. Acknowledging and validating their feelings can really help people to see their reactions as normal and acceptable in a workplace setting. Second, acknowledge with the team the likely impact on productivity and engagement. Grief will understandably distract people from their work. It's unreasonable to expect productivity to remain constant. This is an important moment to clarify priorities and adjust expectations. You may need to communicate this upwards to ensure any likely operational impacts are clear. Many people will find work a welcome distraction from their grieving. Providing a sense of meaning and purpose to the work will help people to continue to contribute, even if overall output is reduced. Third, ensure emotional well-being is a priority. Link people to any available resources your organisation may offer such as employee assistance programs or counselling. You may want to offer flexible work arrangements and time off to provide space for people to grieve. Normalise seeking help through these resources. And the fourth point, foster a supportive team environment. Even as the team leader you don't need to be the sole source of care and support. Team members can support each other. Ensure that grieving team members do not feel isolated or excluded. Include them in team activities and discussions, but respect their need for space. Also, recognise the support that you might need. There's not much point leading your team through grief, only to collapse at the end of the process. Grief in any context is difficult. At work these practical steps can really help you and your team to grieve well and support each other effectively.     Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary Optimism is pretty easy when things are going well. This week we explore how to stay optimistic, even in challenging situations.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 203 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to stay optimistic, even in challenging situations. Optimism is pretty easy when things are going well. Seeing the bright side isn't difficult when things are bright. But our lives aren't typically either good or bad. Even in the good times, challenging situations can arise and knock us around. But how optimistic we feel has very little to do with our circumstances. Instead we can all learn optimism and apply it as a skill. Optimism is a lens through which we view life. Optimism zooms in on the good things to really study and make the most of them. It allows the good moments to spread across other areas of our life, and into the future over a longer period of time. In contrast, optimism zooms out in the challenging moments to gain greater perspective. It contains the bad things to one area of our life and to a moment in time. So how do we stay optimistic? Schedule time to step back and reflect. Often we end up on autopilot, letting our circumstances dictate how we think and feel. Instead, we want to grab hold of our thoughts and put them in perspective. We want to be intentional about how we think and feel. This requires time to reflect, and the best way to ensure this happens is to schedule it in your calendar. Take time at the start of each day to choose how you want to think and feel about any good and not-so-good things that happen. Take time at the end of the day to reflect on the things you are grateful for. Tame how you speak to yourself. Often the way we speak to ourselves is not very kind. When things go wrong we can quickly become our own worst critic. If a friend spoke to us the way we speak to ourselves in those moments, they probably wouldn't be a friend for very long. Instead, be generous and kind to yourself. Speak to yourself as a supportive friend. Reframe challenges as opportunities for growth. When we expand our horizons and try new things, we build optimism and resilience. Sure - we might make mistakes or find new things hard - that's to be expected. See these minor setbacks as chances to become wiser, stronger and more capable. Build supportive connections. Life isn't meant to be travelled alone. We need other people. Gather people around you that you can support and that can support you. Look for ways to encourage other people. Helping people is motivating and will make you feel more optimistic. Have a laugh. I was recently stuck at the airport with some colleagues as our flights became more and more delayed. To make things worse, I was going to miss a dinner with friends that I had been looking forward to. We started sharing some pretty low quality jokes with each other. Suddenly the annoying flight delays became a great chance to connect and feel joy together. Even in the hard times, take time to experience joy. Optimism is something we can all learn and improve. It just takes some intentional effort, time and focus to see the good in life and recognise opportunities to grow and develop. Have a great week.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect  

Summary Even the best leaders need to listen to broad perspectives. This week we explore ways to gain input from others.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 202 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore ways to gain input from others. As a leader, your decisions can shape the direction of your team and organisation. While your experience and expertise are invaluable, tapping into the insights of your team members can lead to more well-rounded and innovative solutions. Gaining additional input not only empowers your team but also strengthens your leadership. Let's explore four practical tips to help you gather valuable input from others and make more informed decisions. 1. Foster an Open and Inclusive Environment: Creating an environment where diverse perspectives are welcomed is essential. Encourage open discussions, active listening, and the sharing of ideas without fear of judgment. When team members feel their input is valued, they are more likely to contribute their insights, leading to richer discussions and better decisions. 2. Schedule Regular Feedback Sessions: Set aside dedicated time for feedback sessions with your team. These sessions can take the form of one-on-one meetings or group discussions. Use these opportunities to ask open-ended questions, such as "What challenges are you currently facing?" or "Do you have any suggestions to improve our processes?" Regular feedback sessions not only provide a platform for input but also demonstrate your commitment to continuous improvement. 3. Use Brainstorming Techniques: Brainstorming is a powerful tool for generating a wide range of ideas. Organise brainstorming sessions where team members can freely contribute their thoughts on a particular challenge or project. Encourage a no-judgment atmosphere, and use techniques like mind mapping to ensure everyone's input is heard. Brainstorming sessions can lead to innovative solutions that might not have surfaced otherwise. 4. Implement Anonymous Surveys: Sometimes, team members may be hesitant to share their input openly. In larger teams and groups anonymous surveys can provide a safe space for honest feedback. Use surveys to gather opinions on specific topics, collect suggestions for improvement, or gauge overall satisfaction. Ensure the surveys are well-structured and ask targeted questions to gather actionable insights. Tapping into the collective wisdom of your team can strengthen your leadership. By fostering an inclusive environment, scheduling regular feedback sessions, using brainstorming techniques, and implementing anonymous surveys, you empower your team to contribute their insights. Embracing diverse perspectives leads to more informed decisions, innovative solutions, and a team that feels valued and engaged. As you integrate these practical tips into your leadership approach, you'll not only strengthen the bond with your team but also harness the power of collaborative decision-making for an even better future.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

In this week's episode, we take a look at some of the fantasy worldbuilding decisions that went into the FROSTBORN series. I also discuss finishing the original HALO trilogy on the Xbox console. It's time for a new Coupon of the Week! This week's coupon is for the audiobook of GHOST IN THE STONE, as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy. You can get the audiobook of GHOST IN THE STONE for 75% off at my Payhip store with this coupon code: GHOSTSTONE The coupon code is valid through September 29th, 2023, so if you need to listen to something while raking leaves, it might be time to get yourself a new audiobook! TRANSCRIPT: Hello everyone. Welcome to Episode 168 of the Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is September the 15th, 2023 and today we're going to discuss fantasy worldbuilding in the Frostborn series. We'll also talk a bit about how I finished the Halo trilogy and comments on last week's episode and some updates on my current writing projects. But before we get to all that, let's first have Coupon of the Week for this week. 00:00:28 This week's coupon is for the audiobook of Ghost in the Stone as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy. You can get the audiobook of Ghost in the Stone for 75% off at my Payhip store with this coupon code GHOSTSTONE. Again, that's Ghost Stone spelled GHOSTSTONE. It will also be in the show notes. The coupon code is valid through September 29th, 2023. So if you need to listen to something while raking leaves, this might be a good time to get yourself a new audiobook. 00:00:57 What I am working on right now is Ghost in the Serpent, the first new Caina book in two years and the first book of new Ghost Armor series. I'm currently 36,000 words into it, which puts me on Chapter 8 or 9 of 20. I can't remember which, I'll double check and we will talk a little bit more about that later in the show. Once Ghost in the Serpent is out, I'm hoping to have that out in October and then I will start in the next Nadia book Cloak of Embers. I haven't done a Nadia book since April, which is a bit of a time delay, but I wanted to spend the summer finishing things. As I mentioned with The Dragonskull Series and The Silent Order series and now both of them are done. So it is time to start something new, which would be the Ghost in the Serpent and Ghost Armor series in this case. 00:01:46 In audio book news we are doing audio book proofing for Dragonskull: Fury of the Barbarians right now and hopefully that will be wrapped up this coming week and then we can get the audiobook out before too much longer. 00:02:01 Before we get to our other topics, I wanted to read a comment from longtime reader William about last week's episode about finishing The Silent Order series, and William has to say: It's hard to put a number on it, but writing different series and different genres probably helps bring in new readers. Silent Order was the first of your series that I started reading specifically because of a post on William King's blog about your experiment with Eclipse Hand followed by Cloak Games, Demonsouled, The Ghosts and eventually Frostborn. Even if Frostborn and its sequel series at your best sellers (and they are), I might never have picked up the Gray Knight if I just stumbled across it on Amazon. An example would be Games Workshop, which started out making a lot of odd games and spin offs aside from its two massively popular miniature war games. These both help pick them new players and encourage writers to explore new themes which fed into and enriched the main games. Naturally, they didn't sell as well as the main games, and occasionally they didn't sell very well at all. So gradually the marketing and sales department managed to shut down any such projects, and for a decade or so, their two main games grew staler and sales stagnated, and then they started trying to diversify their offerings again, as well as improve community outreach and other initiatives and sales improved. The post he's referring to was one about Eclipse Hand, where you'll remember if you listened last week's episode, I had written Silent Order Eclipse Hand entirely with free software like Ubuntu Linux, Libre Office, Office Writer, Sigil, and so forth, just to prove a point that it could be done and I did. So it it's funny how there are many different ways that readers can feed into your books. And that's one of the reasons I wanted to persist with that Lit RPG series, which I'm working on the side right now in hopes of, you know, bringing in new readers. But that reminds me of a verse from the Book of Ecclesiastes, where it's cast your bread upon the waters and in seven days it will return to you. There's a couple different interpretations of that passage, but one of them is that sometimes it's good to take chances on things because you don't know how it will come back to you later. And so if you have any other comments or questions that you would like answered on the show, leave a comment or question on my website or Facebook page, and we'll see if we include it. 00:04:18 And now some more information about Ghost in the Serpent. When I mentioned that my next book would be Ghost in the Serpent and that got both an enthusiastic response and a few questions. So let's answer them here. When will Ghost in the Serpent come out? Hopefully October if all goes well and nothing drastic comes up. When in the series' timeline does Ghost in the Serpent take place? Just about a year after Ghost in the Sun, which you will recall was the last Caina book I wrote back at the end of 2021. How many books will the Ghost Armor series have? I am planning for six. Will there be an audiobook for Ghost in the Serpent? We are hopefully planning to record Ghost in the Serpent in November, if all goes well. And do you need to reread the previous Ghost books first, before reading Ghost in the Serpent? The answer is, if you want to. The truth is, I can try to make Ghost in the Serpent as stand alone as I want, and I will try to, but people will still want to read the previous books anyway, like I had to laugh when I saw some of the coverage for the Ahsoka TV show with the show's creators insisting that you didn't need to watch Star Wars Rebels or the Clone Wars first to understand the show. Meanwhile all these content mills are coming out with articles like 27 essential Rebels episodes to watch before Ahsoka. So if you've never read any of the ghost books, the first book, Child of the Ghosts, is free on all ebook platforms, and the bundle of the first three books, The Ghosts Omnibus One, is only $0.99 in U.S. dollars on all platforms at the moment. Next question was when are you going to write another Nadia book?  After Ghost in the Serpent is done. It will be called Cloak of Embers and will hopefully come out in November or December. Finally, what will Ghost in the Serpent be about? Well, you'll just have to read and find out. One preview: we never did find out why the surge someone send Kylon back to New Kyre. 00:16:48 One amusing thing that happened recently was that I accidentally finished both Halo 2 and Halo 3 on the Xbox. I've mentioned before that I didn't play any console games at all from about 1998 to 2019, so I missed out on the entire Halo series, but in 2022 I got an Xbox and after I used it to beat Skyrim, I started in on the Halo Series and I beat the original Halo single player campaign in October of 2022. This year I fired up Halo 2 and started playing through the main campaign. I sort of got distracted for a while in May, but I came back to it in August and picked it up again. I kept plugging away at the main campaign and to my surprise I suddenly beat it. Halo 2 ends on something of a cliffhanger, so I could see why Halo 3 was such a big deal back in 2007. Naturally, I had to keep going, and since Halo 3 is included in the Master Chief Collection, which is included in Xbox Game Pass, I started up on Halo 3. Apparently in its first week of sales back in 2007, the game made more than $300 million, which is like major motion picture territory, and in my opinion, Halo 3 totally deserved it. There are some amazing levels in that game, like the bit where the Master Chief has to take down the two giant enemy next simultaneously or the final level when Master Chief and the Arbiter have to escape the collapsing Halo with Master Chief driving the warthog and the Arbiter running the machine gun on the back, it's like Mario Kart, but with firearms. I think the original Halo remains my favorite because of its relative simplicity. There are only so many weapons and so many enemy types, but the game puts them to good use. I have to say console gaming is a very different experience than PC gaming, I said I didn't play any console games at all, from about ‘98 to 2019, but that isn't to say I played no games, I just spent a lot of time PC gaming in the 90s and 2000s and in the 90s, that meant fiddling with autoexec.bat and config.sys and making sure emm386.exe was configured properly. Oh, and making sure the sound card was configured to use a different IRQ than the other devices on the system. Granted, if you were born in the 90s or the 2000s, you probably have no idea what I was talking about just now, but if you know you know, whereas with the console you just download the game and it almost always works. Very different experience! Though I have to say my favorite part of Halo has to be the parts where you get a tank and start blasting away at the enemy. Very satisfying. We had a couple of good comments about Halo when I posted about it on Facebook. Reader Jeremiah says: My son and I played the Master Chief collection together and of course use the skulls which he had previously collected such as infinite ammo, etcetera. I forget which Halo game it was, might have been 3 but not sure. One of the skulls allowed you to practically fly by jumping and holding that button down. You had a blast on that. You'd crash into a wall going fast and die, or just slide past all the enemies and keep on going. I think that's one of the reasons why Halo is so enduringly popular, much like Mario Kart is because it gives such good multiplayer experience that hopefully you can build some positive family memories around. Our next comment about that comes from JK who says: I used to do PC game phone tech support in the late 80s and had to actually talk people through editing their autoexec.bat and config.sys files. Well my hat is off to you, JK. That sounds extremely difficult. By the time I started doing tech phone support, that was in the age of Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows Millennium Edition, I don't know if any of your listeners out there remember Windows Millennium Edition, but it was deeply terrible and broke frequently, so I spent a lot of time dealing with phone support with Windows 98 and Windows Millennium Edition, especially Windows Millenium Edition, but that was still less complex and less aggravating than trying to talk someone through fixing their autoexec.bat file over the phone had to have been. 00:10:12 Now on to our main topic this week, a question about fantasy world building in the Frostborn series. This comes from reader Paloma, who asked a question about Andomhaim: A question: The Magistri get married and have families, but I don't remember any Magistrius in the books having any woman or man, though it's hard to think like that with mentality of the Middle Age world with them, I hope not that the men in this situation are like monks because I hope Joaquin has someone amazing in his future. In answer to that question, we're going to talk about it for a while. In the Frostborn world, the Magistri can get married. Minor spoiler if you read the Frostborn: The Shadow Prison, the Magistrius Camorak marries a widowed baker after the Frostborn War after she essentially bakes her way into his heart. The Magistri were founded at a time when Andomhaim's population was low and so everyone of every station of life was encouraged to have children. A few of the first Magistri wanted the Order of the Magistri to become a monastic religious order that happened to wield magic, but there was sufficient opposition to the idea that it didn't happen. They sort of compromised halfway where all magic users in Andomhaim would be required to join the Magistri, but could still have possessions and get married. That said, the Magistri do tend to get married at a much lower rate than the nobles and commoners for three reasons. First reason is that Andomhaim has an overall suspicion of magic. It's much stronger among the commoners than the nobles, but it's still there among the nobility. A lot of people remember that a significant portion of the Order of the Magistri sided with Tarrabus Carhaine and the Enlightened of Incariel during the Civil War, and the Frostborn series. There are many, many stories about Magistri going bad that have worked their way into the folklore of Andomhaim. The evil wizard is as much of a stock character in the songs and tales of Andomhaim as it is in modern day fantasy novels. This isn't entirely fair to the Magistri, of course, but the belief is there, though people who have been healed of serious injuries by the healing spell of the Magistri often they have a much higher opinion of the Order. The second reason is money. Magistri can get a stipend from the Order or from the noble in whose court they serve and they can't hold land. So though the Order as a whole can hold estates to support itself, marriage in Andomhaim, especially between nobles and wealthy merchants, is usually more about property and producing heirs than romantic love. Since the Magistri don't bring any property to a marriage, that's often a nonstarter, especially among nobles. Commoner Magistri like Camorak are much more likely to get married. The third reason is that Magistri frequently becomes so enamored of their studies that they simply don't have time for marriage and very little interest in pursuing one. Magic, to paraphrase an old comedy sketch, is one heck of a drug, which is one of the reasons why Magistri do go bad. They become so obsessed with magical power and learning more secrets that they lose their connection to the rest of humanity. That said, it's not terribly common for male Magistri to have mistresses in the form of “housekeepers” and so forth. It's a bit like the Western Church during the Middle Ages. One thing that perpetually vexed clerical reformers in the Western Church throughout the Medieval period was how many priests had common law wives and concubines. Remember that life in the Middle Ages was frequently very harsh and while the village priests often would work lands and farm alongside the rest of the peasants, he nonetheless had had better income and more prestige than many other villagers. Becoming the priest's “housekeeper” was often a more attractive prospect than the other available options. In fact, in some reasons, this arrangement became so frequent, so common that a frequent effort of clerical reform was attempting to keep a priest from passing his office down to his eldest son via his common law wife. In Andomhaim, the church has evolved to a structure more similar to the Eastern Church during the Middle Ages. Priests could be married, but bishops and abbots were expected to be unmarried and be celibate. While less frequent than the Magistrius with a housekeeper, female Magistri sometimes become the mistresses of the nobles in whose court they serve. It's a frequent enough occurrence that the beautiful young Magistria and the grim Lord whose eye is caught by the beautiful young Magistria are stock characters in these songs of Andomhaim like the evil wizard described above. Though, depending on the personality of the individual Magistria, bard who sings one of those songs within her earshot might gain a lifelong enemy. The Swordbearers, by contrast, are much more popular than the Magistri. Partly this is because they integrate in Andomhaim social structure more easily. Swordbearers can and frequently do hold land. Constantine Licinius is a Swordbearer and a dux of the Northern Land and Ridmark Arban is the Commons of Castarium and the Constable of Tarlion. And they're both Swordbearers. Since Swordbearers are supposed to protect the people of Andomhaim from dark magic and knights and nobles are supposed to protect the people of their lands, the two roles to use rather neatly. While both commoners and nobles have become Magistri and Swordbearers, there's something more aspirational about becoming a Swordbearer, a wandering knight who wields the sword of white fire against monsters. Knights of the Soulblade, of course, can get married even though they are more likely to leave widows and orphans than the Magistri. And consider the Swordbearers and the Magistri from the perspective of common peasant who doesn't know any of this, a Magistrius or Magistri would be a remote, aloof man or woman wielding abilities you don't understand, and that he or she might have gotten them from the devil. You've heard stories about how Magistri can serve dark powers. Maybe they can heal injuries, but at what cost? But then an urvaalg starts, probably around the forest near your village. It kills three of your cows, and it also kills the blacksmith's son and two of the Lord's men in arms. Nothing can kill the monster. And everyone locks themselves in their houses at night, fearing that the beast will come out of the darkness for them. Then a grim taciturn warrior arrives at your village, maybe alone, maybe with a few trusty companions with a sword of white fire. He kills the monster that's been terrorizing your village and leaves its head mounted on stake. And then he also kills one of the village elders. Apparently the elder had been controlling urvaalg with dark magic, using it to attack his rivals' livestock, and in some cases, his rivals themselves. With that done, the sword bear moves on to his next quest. So both the Magistri and the Swordbearers are feared. But the Swordbearers are more respected. However, because of the violent nature of a Swordbearer's career, the Magistri in general tend to live much longer. 00:16:29 So I hope that provides a good explanation of some of the worldbuilding behind the FROSTBORN series, and that is it for this week. Thanks for listening to the Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.

Summary Given how important goal setting is to performance and satisfaction, we can all use some tips to improve our goal setting. This week we explore how to set better goals.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 201 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to set better goals. Goal setting is a core activity that guides individuals and teams towards success. As a leader, your ability to set clear and meaningful goals is central to achieving excellence. However, we're often less effective at goal setting than we think. Today we will explore four practical actions you can take to set better goals, both for yourself and for your team. 1. Align with Vision and Strategy: Every goal should be a stepping stone towards a larger vision. Before setting goals, ensure that they align with your team's overall vision and the organisation's strategic objectives. This alignment keeps everyone focused and moving in the same direction. When goals resonate with a higher purpose, they become more meaningful and more motivating. 2. Make Goals SMART: SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This framework provides a set of criteria for goal setting that ensures clarity and accountability. Specific: Define goals clearly and precisely. The more specific the goal, the easier it is to understand and work towards. Measurable: Set concrete metrics to track progress. Measurement adds objectivity to the process and enables you to assess whether the goal has been achieved. Achievable: Goals should be challenging yet realistic. Ensure that the goal can be accomplished with the available resources and effort. Also make sure there is an achievement point - a moment when you can say that the goal has been completed. Relevant: Goals should be relevant to the individual, team, or organisation's current needs and priorities. Time-bound: Set a clear timeframe for achieving the goal. This adds urgency and prevents goals from dragging on indefinitely. 3. Foster Ownership and Collaboration: Involve your team in the goal-setting process. When people have a say in setting their own goals, they feel a sense of ownership and commitment. Encourage collaboration by soliciting input and feedback from team members. This not only leads to better goal alignment but also promotes a culture of shared responsibility. 4. Break Down Goals into Milestones: Large goals can feel overwhelming, but breaking them down into smaller, manageable milestones can make them more achievable. Each milestone serves as a mini-goal and a progress marker. Celebrate successes as these milestones are reached, boosting motivation and maintaining momentum. Goal setting is both an art and a science, and leaders who excel at it inspire their teams to reach new heights. By aligning goals with vision and strategy, making them SMART, fostering ownership and collaboration, and breaking them down into milestones, you set the stage for success. Remember, the best goals are those that not only drive performance but also resonate with the hearts and minds of your team, creating a sense of purpose and fulfilment in every achievement. Have a great week.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect  

Summary Procrastination has been described as “our favourite form of self-sabotage” (Alyce Cornyn-Selby). This week we explore how to overcome it.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 200 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. Procrastination has been described as “our favourite form of self-sabotage” (Alyce Cornyn-Selby). This week we explore how to overcome it. Most people experience procrastination from time to time. 25% of the population even have procrastination as a defining personality trait. Procrastination is associated with a range of negative aspects including low self-esteem, pessimism, anxiety, fatigue and detachment. It's not only bad for performance - procrastination can wreak havoc on our well-being. Procrastination can be defined as voluntarily delaying an intended task despite expecting to be worse off for doing so. This is a crucial element of procrastination - that we put things off even when we know we will be worse off as a result. So why do we procrastinate at all given it's so bad for us? The function of procrastination is short-term mood repair. We procrastinate because it makes us feel better in the short term, even when that's at the expense of achieving longer-term goals. Research even shows that the more negative our mood, the more time we spend procrastinating. So what can we do about procrastination? A good place to start is to think about the opposite of procrastination. A flow state is the closest we experience to the opposite of procrastination. When we experience flow our attention is fully focused, we feel flexible and adaptable, our skills are challenged, we feel great and time flys by. So how do we achieve flow? Flow is assisted by clear goals, flexibility in pursuing those goals, lots of feedback, and an opportunity to stretch our skill set. So here are six practical approaches you can try to get into flow and overcome procrastination: Choose to be challenged in an area of interest: Boredom increases the risk of procrastination, so we want to focus our attention towards tasks that are interesting. Being guided by our interests can get us out of the procrastination rut and ready to tackle other more challenging areas. Set goals and deadlines to work towards: We prioritise and work harder to achieve tasks that have a deadline, so use that to your advantage. Boost your mood before you begin: Given procrastination is a technique to restore our mood, boosting our mood reduces the risk of procrastinating in the first place. Go for a walk around the block or undertake some other mood-boosting activity before you tackle a task that you typically put off. Minimise distractions: Turn off wifi or use settings to reduce notifications and access to distracting apps. Involve others: Gather people who can provide encouragement, mentoring and feedback. It's harder to procrastinate when others are checking in and holding you accountable. Work in bursts: Set a timer for 15 minutes and start working. When the 15 minutes is up, assess whether you can put in an extra 15 minutes. The urge to procrastinate tends to fade away once we get started. There's no need to be plagued by procrastination. Give these practical tips a try and let me know how you go. If you want to dive into this topic in more detail, our Leadership Today subscription includes a recorded webinar called “A Procrastinator's Guide” and also a five day Defeat Procrastination challenge. Go to www.learn.leadership.today for more information and use the promo code PODCAST at checkout for 25% off an annual subscription.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five-day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Twenty five recorded webinars and Ask an Expert interviews - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 150+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT pending from Hi Nay. You could get free stuff if you guess what it could be! Transcript below. - The Night Post is a Southern Gothic-inspired full-cast audio drama about the conscripted couriers of a strange land where the supernatural is commonplace, where the mystic and the mundane are not so easily separated. - Nicholas rides along with Milo for his evaluation, but their delivery to a possessive house is anything but routine. - https://nightpostpod.com/   ----more---- TRANSCRIPT:   Hello everyone, it's Motzie! You might notice that this is not the new Hi Nay episode for act 3, and you're right. We're making some big changes behind the scenes that are taking some time to finalise, so while we can assure you that new episodes ARE coming this September, for now, we're still setting things up for a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT coming this month.   If you want to take a guess about what that BIG ANNOUNCEMENT is, you certainly can! In fact, we've promised to send people merch from our redbubble store if they guess what the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT is and get it right. Just hop on over to our socials @hinaypod on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Facebook and let us know what YOU think the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT might be.   And of course, it goes without saying, but if you already KNOW what this announcement is, you're disqualified from guessing. Sorry!   We also recently attended Fan Expo Canada and got to perform our VERY FIRST live show, where myself, Abigayle, and Leon - aka Mari, Laura, and Donner - performed in front of a live audience. Huge thanks to the Canadian Podcast Awards who set the show up, and let us run their booth for almost a whole day. It NEVER would have been possible without them. If you wanna check out the full Live Show Video, it's available for all our Patrons on Patreon.com/HiNayPod.    Our Patrons also get free access to other bonus content like our ad-free episodes, bonus audio and video - AND, starting this month, early access to new episodes! Patrons will be able to access episodes 3 days early, and new Hi Nay episodes will be posted at 9pm EST every other Thursday, 3 days before the Sunday premiere.   That's a lot to get excited for, and we hope you follow along on our socials for more information and updates. We also post a lot of cool art, and some memes on the socials, if you're into that sort of thing.   In the meantime, while we get  confirmation on the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT date, we wanted to share something for you to enjoy and listen to.    This is an episode from The Night Post, a Southern Gothic-inspired full-cast audio drama about the conscripted couriers of a strange land where the supernatural is commonplace, where the mystic and the mundane are not so easily separated.   The Night Post has been one of our longest time supporters and podcast neighbors, and we're thrilled to bring one of their episodes to you, our listeners.    But we'll let them do the full intro. See you on the other side of that BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! And as always, thank you, we love you, and hanggang sa muli.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT pending from Hi Nay. You could get free stuff if you guess what it could be!Transcript below.-The Night Post is a Southern Gothic-inspired full-cast audio drama about the conscripted couriers of a strange land where the supernatural is commonplace, where the mystic and the mundane are not so easily separated.-Nicholas rides along with Milo for his evaluation, but their delivery to a possessive house is anything but routine. -https://nightpostpod.com/ ----more----TRANSCRIPT:  Hello everyone, it's Motzie! You might notice that this is not the new Hi Nay episode for act 3, and you're right. We're making some big changes behind the scenes that are taking some time to finalise, so while we can assure you that new episodes ARE coming this September, for now, we're still setting things up for a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT coming this month. If you want to take a guess about what that BIG ANNOUNCEMENT is, you certainly can! In fact, we've promised to send people merch from our redbubble store if they guess what the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT is and get it right. Just hop on over to our socials @hinaypod on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Facebook and let us know what YOU think the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT might be. And of course, it goes without saying, but if you already KNOW what this announcement is, you're disqualified from guessing. Sorry! We also recently attended Fan Expo Canada and got to perform our VERY FIRST live show, where myself, Abigayle, and Leon - aka Mari, Laura, and Donner - performed in front of a live audience. Huge thanks to the Canadian Podcast Awards who set the show up, and let us run their booth for almost a whole day. It NEVER would have been possible without them. If you wanna check out the full Live Show Video, it's available for all our Patrons on Patreon.com/HiNayPod.  Our Patrons also get free access to other bonus content like our ad-free episodes, bonus audio and video - AND, starting this month, early access to new episodes! Patrons will be able to access episodes 3 days early, and new Hi Nay episodes will be posted at 9pm EST every other Thursday, 3 days before the Sunday premiere. That's a lot to get excited for, and we hope you follow along on our socials for more information and updates. We also post a lot of cool art, and some memes on the socials, if you're into that sort of thing. In the meantime, while we get  confirmation on the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT date, we wanted to share something for you to enjoy and listen to.  This is an episode from The Night Post, a Southern Gothic-inspired full-cast audio drama about the conscripted couriers of a strange land where the supernatural is commonplace, where the mystic and the mundane are not so easily separated. The Night Post has been one of our longest time supporters and podcast neighbors, and we're thrilled to bring one of their episodes to you, our listeners.  But we'll let them do the full intro. See you on the other side of that BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! And as always, thank you, we love you, and hanggang sa muli. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Summary Leadership is challenging at the best of times, but even more so when people aren't hitting the mark. This week we explore how to deal with underperformance.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 199 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to deal with underperformance. Leadership is challenging at the best of time, but even more so when people aren't hitting the mark. Underperformance can be tricky to address. Research shows that the further people are away from performance standards, the less feedback they receive. Managers often avoid dealing with underperformance, hoping that things will magically get better with time. But performance rarely improves by itself. It takes a concerted effort on the part of the leader and the individual to turn things around. It's helpful to consider two dimensions of underperformance - skill and will. Skill refers to a person's capability and proficiency in performing their tasks. It's possible that an individual's skills are not aligned with the requirements of their role, leading to subpar performance. Addressing skill-related underperformance involves identifying skill gaps and providing the necessary resources for improvement. Will refers to the person's motivation in completing their tasks. Motivation plays a significant role in performance. Low motivation can result from various factors, including personal issues, disengagement, or a lack of recognition. Dealing with will-related underperformance involves understanding the root cause of demotivation and implementing strategies to reignite enthusiasm and commitment. Underperformance may also be a mix of skill and will gaps. With those principles in mind, here are five practical strategies you can apply to help with underperformance in your team. Goal Setting and Monitoring: Set clear, achievable performance goals that align with the person's role and the team's objectives. Clarity comes first. If people aren't clear about their role and expectations, you can't manage underperformance. Regularly monitor progress and provide timely feedback. This approach keeps employees on track and motivated to achieve tangible results, addressing both skill and will dimensions of underperformance. Personalised Development Plans: For skill-related underperformance, work with the employee to create a tailored development plan. Identify areas that need improvement and provide resources such as workshops, courses, or mentorship. This proactive approach not only enhances skills but also demonstrates your commitment to their growth. Motivational Conversations: When dealing with will-related underperformance, engage in motivational conversations. Understand the person's concerns, aspirations, and potential roadblocks. Together, devise strategies to reignite their passion and commitment to their role. Sometimes, a simple change in responsibilities or opportunities for skill application can reignite enthusiasm. Constructive Feedback and Recognition: Initiate open and honest conversations with underperforming employees. Address skill gaps by providing specific feedback and suggesting training opportunities. For issues related to motivation, recognise their efforts and contributions particularly where you see improvements, reinforcing the value they bring to the team. Constructive feedback motivates improvement and fosters a sense of belonging. Mentorship and Role Modelling: Pair underperforming employees with mentors who can provide guidance and support. Mentorship encourages skill development and fosters a sense of belonging. Additionally, lead by example—demonstrate enthusiasm, dedication, and a growth mindset. Your actions can inspire others to embrace improvement and take ownership of their performance. Underperformance can be tricky to manage well. Being clear and supportive, while also providing the help and development people need, will provide your best opportunity to turn things around.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary It can be one of the most tricky conversations to have with your manager. This week we look at how to ask for a pay rise.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 198 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we look at how to ask for a pay rise. In a competitive job market it can be tempting to go for a job in another organisation in order to increase our pay. Often people find out that the grass isn't greener and regret their decision to leave. It is worth at least asking whether a pay rise is possible before making a more drastic decision. It is important to recognise that what you are paid is based on a number of factors, including your industry, your organisation, your role, and your contribution within that role. Industries pay wildly different rates for the same roles. Generally speaking, the more profitable the industry, the higher the pay levels.  Organisations also vary in their pay practices. Some will pay higher than their competitors, and others will pay lower. People care about their pay compared to those in other organisations before they join an organisation. This is called external competitiveness - the extent to which an organisation is competitive against its peers. Once they've joined an organisation, people then really care about how their pay compares to others within the same organisation. This is called internal equity - the extent to which my pay is competitive against others doing similar roles within the organisation. You could find the largest pay increases are possible by changing organisation or industry. But work life isn't just about pay. So let's say you want to stay in the same organisation. How do you ask for a pay rise? Don't get too caught up with what others are being paid. Rather focus your conversation on what you can control and what you are bringing to the organisation. This could include changes in your role such as greater accountability, more complex problem solving, or increased skills required to complete your work. It could also include changes in your contribution such as improved performance, helping others, or contributing to projects beyond your usual role. Check any existing pay review processes. If you have a Human Resources department it's worth seeing how often pay is typically reviewed and the standard process. Having said that, most organisations will have some scope for out of cycle reviews. Flag the conversation ahead of time. Say something like “I was hoping we could discuss my pay. Can I set up a meeting to do that?”. This will give your manager time to prepare rather than feeling like they have been hijacked by the conversation. Recognise that your manager may be nervous about this conversation as well. Help put them at ease by being polite and calm. Prepare for the meeting.  You might structure the conversation by saying that you want to stay with the organisation and are enjoying the role. You can then discuss changes in the role and in your contribution since the last pay review. Don't put your manager on the spot. The manager will typically not be able to make a decision right away, so discuss what time they might need to review your pay. Be prepared for a no. It is entirely possible that your pay rise request may be denied. Prepare for this by considering whether you are prepared to stay with the organisation. You might want to look for other roles within the organisation, or could even start exploring roles outside the organisation. Asking for a pay rise can be a tricky conversation. However, preparation, being clear about what you want, and being considerate can increase your chances of a good outcome.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

It's In the News, a look at the top stories and headlines from the diabetes community happening now. Top stories this week: Amazon Pharmacy will automatically apply insulin coupons, a new study shows A1Cs are going down for people with T1D who have access to technology, pollution and gestational diabetes study and a wild study that looks at how a parasite might help prevent type 2. Don't miss Moms' Night Out!  Please visit our Sponsors & Partners - they help make the show possible! Take Control with Afrezza  Omnipod - Simplify Life Learn about Dexcom  Check out VIVI Cap to protect your insulin from extreme temperatures Learn more about AG1 from Athletic Greens  Drive research that matters through the T1D Exchange The best way to keep up with Stacey and the show is by signing up for our weekly newsletter: Sign up for our newsletter here Here's where to find us: Facebook (Group) Facebook (Page) Instagram Twitter Check out Stacey's books! Learn more about everything at our home page www.diabetes-connections.com  Reach out with questions or comments: info@diabetes-connections.com Transcript:  Hello and welcome to Diabetes Connections In the News! I'm Stacey Simms and these are the top diabetes stories and headlines happening now XX In the news is brought to you by Edgepark simplify your diabetes journey with Edgepark XX Amazon's online pharmacy will automatically apply manufacturer-sponsored coupons to more than 15 insulin and diabetes medicines to help patients access discounts pledged by the drug industry. With the new program, patients using Amazon Pharmacy will no longer have to search for and manually enter coupons from the three largest insulin makers, Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO), Eli Lilly (LLY.N), and Sanofi (SASY.PA), to lower the cost of their insulin to as little as $35 for a month's supply, the company said. Novo, Lilly and Sanofi announced in March that they would slash their insulin prices by at least 70% by or in 2024, but many reports some patients were finding it difficult to get already discounted generic insulin from pharmacies at the promised lower price. Amazon Pharmacy will also automatically apply available discounts to diabetes-related medical devices from manufacturers Dexcom and Insulet, including continuous glucose monitors and pumps, as well as to other cardiometabolic medicines such as Novo's powerful weight-loss drug Wegovy. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/amazon-pharmacy-automates-discounts-help-insulin-patients-get-pledged-prices-2023-08-15/ XX New study will look at Liver Targeted Insulin (LTI) in Type 1 diabetes.. Directing insulin action to the liver may help restore normal liver physiology for people with Type 1 diabetes, leading to better glucose control and overall health outcomes. Jeremy Pettus and a team of researchers are working to determine the mechanism of action and evaluate the safety profile of the Liver Targeted Insulin Pettus lives with type 1 and is an endocrinologist who is also the xx at TCOYD. “Living with Type 1 diabetes is extremely tough,” said Pettus. “One of the major barriers to helping patients with Type 1 diabetes achieve normal glucose levels is that injected insulin simply does not get to the ‘right' places. Normal insulin has its main effects in the liver, but patients with Type 1 diabetes must inject insulin into the fat tissue. Doing so makes the insulin act very slowly, can lead to weight gain and can cause deadly low blood sugars. This project seeks to attach a molecule to insulin that can help direct it to the liver. In doing so, much of the normal physiology may be restored and patients may get better results.” Pettus is working with the company Diasome to conduct a single center clinical study with 14 patients with Type 1 diabetes to test the safety, tolerability and effectiveness of the novel LTI. If this study finds that the LTI is active and preferentially targeting the liver, the findings could spur research and development efforts in the LTI space, leading to additional clinical trials and eventually a novel insulin available that could help improve clinical outcomes. https://today.ucsd.edu/story/2m-grant-drives-research-on-novel-insulin-in-type-1-diabetes XX Good news about A1c reduction in people with type 1.. but it's limited for those with access to technology. The new findings from a study involving patients at the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes Adult Clinic between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2021. They show that as technology use has increased, A1c levels have dropped in parallel. Moreover, progression from use of stand-alone continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) to automated insulin delivery systems (AIDs), which comprise insulin pumps and connected CGMs, furthered that progress. On the flip side, A1c levels rose significantly over the study period among nonusers of technology. "We cannot rule out provider bias for not prescribing diabetes technology among those with higher A1c or from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds," Karakus and colleagues write. Also of note, even with use of the most advanced AID systems available during the study period, just under half of patients were still not achieving A1c levels below 7%. "The technology helps, but it's not perfect," Shah observed. This study is the first to examine the relationship of A1c with technology use over time, in contrast to prior cross-sectional studies. "The intention here was to look at the landscape over a decade," Shah said. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/995738 XX Can a parasite help with type 2 diabetes? This is kind of gross but very true.. In the first clinical trial of its kind, a team led by scientists from James Cook University in Australia inoculated volunteers with human hookworm larvae (Necator americanus) to see if these parasites can improve their metabolic health. The two-year study included 24 participants, each of whom showed heightened insulin resistance at the start of the trial. By the end of the investigation, researchers found those who were infected with hookworms showed a significant reduction in their insulin resistance scores compared to those who were given a placebo. In recent decades, scientists have noticed that in places where parasitic worms are endemic, people report fewer metabolic and inflammatory diseases. I'm sure I don't have to say this – but more study is needed. No one is recommending you try to get a parasitic infection https://www.sciencealert.com/radical-trial-shows-hookworms-may-protect-people-from-type-2-diabetes XX https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/simple-blood-test-may-predict-future-heart-kidney-risk-for-people-with-type-2-diabetes XX Exposure to air pollution early in pregnancy—and even shortly before conception—increases a woman's risk of developing gestational diabetes, according to a new USC study out in The Lancet Regional Health—Americas. "Interestingly, we found gestational diabetes risk wasn't associated with long-term air pollution exposure but was associated with air pollution in a relatively short but critical periconceptional window, from five weeks before to five weeks after conception," said first author Zhongzheng "Jason" Niu, a postdoctoral fellow in population and public health science at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. The researchers also found the association between air pollution and gestational diabetes was more pronounced among study participants experiencing prenatal depression. The mechanism connecting ambient air pollution and gestational diabetes remains unclear, researchers say, but an interplay among impaired glucose metabolism, inflammation and hormonal changes could be to blame. Prenatal depression, with disrupted immune and hormonal functions, could make the case worse. https://news.usc.edu/209509/exposure-to-air-pollution-early-in-pregnancy-increases-risk-of-gestational-diabetes-study-finds/ XX Commercial – Edgepark XX A look at Tandem's bolus by phone feature shows it seems to be helping people with “low bolus frequency” give insulin more. Last year, the t:connect app was updated to allow people with the tslim x2 pump to initiate bolusing from a smart phone or the pump itself. This study looked at those who gave less than three boluses per day prior to the smartphone bolus update – the media number was 2.2. After the smartphone option, that number rose to 2.7. https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/QYVHSJUZKND8JJAKRUTG/full XX Great story from Diabetes Daily about two brothers with type 1 who are creating a low or almost no sugar beer. This is in Ireland and I don't know exactly how to explain it quickly.. “Normally, the reason that the beers have sugar in them – which is what will mess with your blood sugar levels – is that there are unfermentable sugars that remain in the beer, sugars that the yeast isn't able to convert into alcohol. It's just a byproduct of how you make it. But this enzyme glucoamylase actually breaks down these unfermentable sugars and makes them into fermentable sugars, so the yeast can convert all of the sugar into alcohol, and there will be no sugar left in the beer at all. Brut beers are usually done in a clean, bitter, highly fizzy IPA style, almost like a beery champagne, but Seán has tried the glucoamylase in other recipes as well. “Normally it's only a pale ale or IPA that people put this enzyme into. But I really like German wheat beers. So I decided I'd try and make a wheat beer with this enzyme as well.” “It did exactly what it was supposed to do. You end up with no sugar at the end, and a really tasty beer. So I've been doing it with a few others – a rye, and a Kolsch, and all the sugars completely ferment out.” “We've had some fun in naming them as well. The first one, the IPA style, we call it Insulin, because it keeps the levels down. The wheat that I like to make we have now called Diawheaties.” And his non-diabetic friends approve: “Everyone seems to like it. They tend to be quite nice, easy-drinking beers. We wouldn't make them just for the zero sugar if they were no good. They're as good as the normal beers.” https://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/how-two-irish-brothers-with-type-1-diabetes-brew-their-own-zero-sugar-beer-689869/ XX MNO update On the podcast next week.. tandem diabetes celebrity panel from friends for life – Hollywood, the NFL and NASCAR. Last week's episode was Benny off to college That's In the News for this week.. if you like it, please share it! Thanks for joining me! See you back here soon.  

Summary We all know holidays are important, but in our always-on work culture it can be hard to take a genuine break. There are some practical steps you can follow to ensure your holiday is a success for you and your colleagues.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 197 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we look at how to take a holiday. Given our always-on work culture and the technology that allows us to work anywhere, taking a holiday has never been more important and more challenging. Many people struggle to find the time to take a break. And when they do they find it difficult to truly switch off, continuing to check emails and answer phone calls. We are built to oscillate between stress and recovery, preferably on a daily basis. But even if we have effective daily strategies to maintain our wellbeing, there's an ambient level of stress that a genuine break from work can help address. Taking a clean break from work can have significant benefits to our health, well-being and performance.  As leaders, we need to role model this to our people as well. There's no point encouraging your team members to take time off if you never do. Here are five ideas for how to take a holiday well: Plan ahead. Secure the time in your calendar and gain the required approvals. I have found when I failed to plan ahead, it was difficult to find a completely free week. Lock the time away early so it can't be booked over. Delegate and collaborate. Distribute any responsibilities that need to happen while you're away. Use this as an opportunity for further development and growth. Pay it forward by supporting others when they take leave. Prepare for the break, but don't overwork. Communicate the dates you will be away. Document any work in progress and take time to walk others through what might come up while you're away. Switch off completely. Set clear boundaries with your work. Leave the work laptop and phone at home. You might want to provide a contact phone number to a trusted colleague for any emergencies that arise, but be clear about what constitutes an emergency. Choose the type of holiday you need. Holidays come in many different forms. A holiday might be about activity, or connections with friends, or rest by a pool, or a cross-cultural experience. Try new things and broaden your horizons. But make sure you don't come back from your holiday exhausted. Holidays are an important part of sustained performance as a leader. Build a culture where holidays are encouraged and supported. Be prepared and set others up for success. Role model taking a break to your team and colleagues. Now's a great time to book that next holiday in. Have a great week.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary Trust is the cornerstone of effective leadership. This week we explore practical ways to build and maintain trust.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 196 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to build trust. Trust is not just a word; it's the cornerstone of effective leadership. Anyone who has experienced working with someone they didn't trust understands the detrimental impact a lack of trust can have. The definition of trust we use at Leadership Today is “being confident you have my best interests at heart and can be relied upon to deliver”. Let's break down the two crucial elements of trust and explore actionable steps you can take to build it.   Element One - Having My Best Interests at Heart   Here are four actions you can take to build connection and care.   Action 1: Build a Personal Connection Begin by getting to know the people you lead on a personal level. Understand their career aspirations, interests, and what truly fulfils them in their work. Genuine conversations about their goals and challenges help foster a deeper understanding.   Action 2: Demonstrate Genuine Care Show that you genuinely care about your team members' well-being. Advocate for their interests and advancement. Look for opportunities to support their growth, whether it's through projects that align with their interests or training that boosts their skills.   Action 3: Provide Personalised Recognition Recognise and celebrate the unique contributions of each team member. Publicly acknowledge their achievements and show appreciation for their efforts.   Action 4: Regular Check-ins and Feedback Engage in regular one-on-one conversations to discuss progress, challenges, and goals. Seek feedback on your leadership style and actions, showing that you are open to improvement and value their input.   Element Two - Being Reliable   Here are four actions you can take to foster competence and consistency.   Action 1: Set Clear Expectations Communicate your commitments and expectations clearly. Let your team know what you're working on and what they can expect from you. Clarity minimises uncertainty and establishes a foundation of trust.   Action 2: Demonstrate Expertise Share your knowledge and skills with the team. Offer guidance and support based on your expertise. Be careful to also remain open to diverse perspectives and be willing to learn from others.   Action 3: Consistency in Behaviour Consistency breeds trust. Keep your emotions in check, regardless of circumstances. Uphold your values and principles consistently, demonstrating your reliability and predictability.   Action 4: Accountability and Humility When things go well, acknowledge and praise your team's contributions. When things don't go as planned, take personal responsibility as the leader. Admit mistakes, apologise if necessary, and work together to find solutions.   Trust begins with you and your actions as a leader. By investing in these actionable steps, you can cultivate an environment of trust where your team members feel valued, supported, and empowered. Remember, trust is not just an outcome; it's a continuous effort that strengthens the foundation of your leadership journey. Choose one or two actions to try out this week and let me know how you go.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary Our thinking can fall into a rut over time. This week we explore five ways to take a broader perspective.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 195 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we look at five ways to take a broader perspective. Over time it's easy to fall into the trap of narrow thinking. Our minds can become confined to familiar sources of information and limited perspectives from the people around us. To excel as leaders, we need to break free from this thinking rut and embrace new ways of approaching challenges.  Here are five ways to expand our horizons, foster innovation, and become more effective leaders. Read Widely: Leadership is not confined to a single field of expertise. To gain a broader perspective, it's crucial to read widely and explore knowledge outside our usual sources of information. Pick out books, articles, and research from various disciplines. By immersing ourselves in diverse sources of information, we can spark creativity, uncover new insights, and develop a more holistic approach to problem-solving. When we expand our intellectual horizons, we become better equipped to tackle complex issues with fresh and innovative ideas. Seek Out Diversity: Leadership thrives on diversity – diverse perspectives, experiences, and ideas. Actively engage with colleagues and stakeholders from different backgrounds, departments, and roles. Embrace diversity in ideas and actively seek out the viewpoints of others. Innovation often arises at the intersection of diverse ideas. Stay Informed about Industry Trends: In the ever changing world of business, staying informed about industry trends is essential. Keep yourself updated on the latest developments, challenges, and emerging opportunities within your industry or field. Dive into industry publications, attend conferences, and participate in webinars to broaden your knowledge base. Being informed empowers you to make data-driven decisions and see the bigger picture. Encourage Feedback and Constructive Criticism: Role model an openness to improvement by encouraging feedback and constructive criticism from your team members and peers. Create a culture of psychological safety, where everyone feels comfortable sharing their thoughts without fear of retribution. Embrace feedback as opportunities for growth, not personal attacks. By being receptive to suggestions, you can expand your perspectives and gain valuable insights that you might have otherwise missed. Use Data and Analytics: In today's data-driven world, relying on data and analytics is essential for informed decision-making. Data provides an objective understanding of a situation and reveals patterns and trends that might remain hidden from our limited perspectives. By analysing relevant data, you can gain a clearer and more holistic picture of your organisation's performance, customer needs, and market dynamics. This empowers you to make well-informed decisions that drive growth and success. As leaders, it's important to recognise the risks of falling into a thinking rut. To thrive in the face of challenges, we must actively break free from our comfort zone and expand our horizons. Reading widely, seeking diverse viewpoints, staying informed about industry trends, encouraging feedback, and using data and analytics are great strategies to become more effective and innovative leaders. Try applying one of these approaches this week and let me know how you go.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription.   Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader.   Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary This week we're exploring an ancient technique to help you memorise a presentation with numerous points in a set order.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 194 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we're exploring an ancient technique to help you memorise a presentation with numerous points in a set order. Think about the best presenters you've seen. Were they constantly checking their notes, or reading off PowerPoint slides? Probably not. There's nothing wrong with having notes, but it is compelling and indeed freeing to be able to present your ideas in a clear sequence without notes. Today we're going to explore a mnemonic or memory technique that is perfectly suited to storing away numerous points in a particular order. Many of us would say we don't have a great memory, but the problem is usually the initial storage of the memory rather than recall of the memory. For thousands of years people have used various techniques to store memories in a way that makes them easier to retrieve. One approach that's particularly effective is the Memory Palace, also known as the Method of Loci (or location). I've used this approach to memorise presentations up to 30 minutes long comfortably without needing to use notes. I really don't consider myself to have special memory abilities. This technique really makes it quite easy. The first thing you need to do when using the Memory Palace technique is to think of a location with various way points that you know well. For example, I use the house I currently live in, storing points away in rooms and locations in a set path through the house. It could be a path you regularly walk that has clear landmarks and objects along the way. Ideally you will use this same path for every presentation you want to remember. The pathway and landmarks should be effortless to recall. Using my house I have a number of places where I can store a memory or point in my presentation. I start at the front door, then there's the entrance hall, around the corner to a bathroom, a son's bedroom, on to the kitchen, then the living room, another son's room, then the dining room, lounge room, upstairs to yet another son's room, another bathroom, and then a final bedroom. That's 11 way points which is plenty. I typically find I don't even need to use the upstairs rooms. We then chunk up our presentation into main points. Each of these main points should be easy to talk through. You can even contain multiple points within these points if you want to get really advanced. The key then is to create a vivid and hopefully unusual visual association you can store in each location. The more bizarre, colourful and ridiculous the better. Let's say I'm giving a general presentation about leadership. My first chunk is a discussion about the definition of leadership I typically use and some discussion that will come out of that. I have about 5 minutes worth of content that I can use around this point. So the first point I want to remember is “what is leadership?”. The visual reminder could be the word “leadership” shaped like a large bright red inflated question mark. Perhaps I could also put some smaller question marks following the large question mark as it walks around in a circle. My second point is around the impact leadership can have. So in the second room, the bathroom, I might have a large hammer smashing the mirror on the wall - a memorable image of impact. If I have several sub-points under that main point, I could memorise a sequence of events unfolding in the room. For example, if I want to talk about the impact of leadership on people, organisations and society, I could have the hammer smash a figurine representing people, then a building representing organisations, then a globe representing society. We repeat the storage process through the remainder of the rooms. To store all of this information away I just walk through the house in my mind, recalling each of the visual cues and ensuring I can then bring to mind the points I need to make. I physically walk through the house the first few times, closing my eyes in each room to store away the visual associations. I find that makes the memories even stronger. A few final tips - think about key objects in each room. For example, my eldest son has a record player in his room, so I use that to interact with other visual cues. We have a fire place in our lounge room, so I often have points interacting with fire in that room. I recommend the first time you use this technique that you keep a simple paper copy of the points. If nothing else, getting your presentation down to a post-it note of points is far ahead of reading from slides or pages of notes. Also, you can use this approach for more than just presentations. Anything you need to memorise in a particular order will work, so you could memorise your calendar for the day, a list of errands, or people you need to speak with. I hope you find this approach as helpful as I have. Give it a try and let me know how you go.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary Cynicism in others can be challenging for a leader. This week we outline some practical steps you can take to deal with cynicism in the workplace.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 193 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. Cynicism in others can be challenging for a leader. This week we outline some practical steps you can take to deal with cynicism in the workplace. Cynicism is a belief that others are only focused on their own interests and are not sincere. At work this might include assuming leaders are just out for themselves, and any initiatives are ultimately going to be bad for people. Cynical behaviour can be discouraging for leaders and colleagues alike. It can decrease trust, creativity and collaboration. As a leader there are some practical steps you can take to deal with cynicism. Lead by example. Make sure you're being positive and honest in your communications. Cynicism can breed in environments that lack transparency and trust, so make sure you are role modelling these. Encourage people to talk about their frustrations, and focus on continuous improvement. Sometimes as leaders we think it's best to avoid discussing frustrations, but it's actually helpful and indeed necessary to bring them out to the surface. The key thing is to then focus on improvement. Bring people together from different areas. It's difficult to be cynical about someone you know well. More in-person time helps people to see others as real human beings and can reduce cynicism. Provide direct and timely feedback. It can be tempting to make generalisations about a person's character or approach when trying to tackle something like cynicism. However, instead of describing someone as cynical, it's more effective to base your feedback on observed behaviour. What did the cynicism actually look like? What was the impact of that behaviour on you and others? This approach will help the other person to understand and accept the feedback. Coach people past cynicism. Those who are being cynical are often frustrated by their inability to shape the team and organisation. You can help them to explore what they want to achieve and more effective ways to influence outcomes. In my experience, with a little bit of effort and empathy, people who have been cynical in the past can often become the biggest agents for change. Why not try some of these approaches in the coming week.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 150+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Ready to grow or start a law practice? Let's cover a few common situations where a lack of insurance coverage will come into play.  — Transcript: Hello. I'm Mark Bassingthwaighte, the risk manager here at Alps. Welcome to another episode of Alps In Brief, the podcast that comes to you from the historic Florence Building in beautiful downtown Missoula, Montana. Today, it's just me. We're going to talk about concerns with growing a practice, developing a practice, and looking at four situations where lawyers are again, just taking steps to build or grow a practice. Sometimes they're not always thinking through the ramifications of decisions being made. I'm not here to try to convince you not to do any of these things. Some are far more common than one or two of the other things. I'm all in on trying to grow and develop a practice, building just from the very beginning. There are all kinds of situations where we want to perhaps make some changes. I want to again, explore the ramifications. What we're going to talk about are contract lawyers. We're going to talk about ancillary services. We're going to talk about what I call the licensed rental problem. Then an interesting thing that I've seen a little bit more of, of late is creating different names for a firm. We'll get into that at the end. Let's jump right in. Contract lawyering has been around for quite a while. Again, it can be very, very appropriate, it can be very beneficial, can be a great way to start some things, at least to bring some money in. There are some things that you need to be aware of if you're ever thinking about becoming a contract lawyer. I want to talk about three specific situations. The first is going to be, and I think this is relatively common, you're going to be engaged full-time by one firm and held out to the general public as being exclusively associated with this firm. You're a full-time contract lawyer. I want you to think about coverage, because if you want to be insured, you need to be added to the policy of this firm. Sometimes the firm will refuse to do so, or for some crazy reason, is unable to do so, and then they turn around and say, "Well, we expect you to purchase your own policy." Does that solve the problem of coverage? It actually doesn't. We need to understand how coverage works. Basically, you are not insured for everything you do as a lawyer under a malpractice policy. When we talk about attorney-client relationships and just professional services, let's narrow this a little bit here. Coverage is predicated upon you being in an attorney-client relationship providing the legal services, professional services to a client of the named insured and the name insured is going to be the firm. If you go out and buy your own policy, the name insured is you, assuming you're a solo here, or the name of your solo firm. When you're in a full-time contract situation, you're never providing legal services for your clients. You're always providing legal services for clients of this firm. It's a false sense of comfort. They think, "You don't know. You don't care." You don't have coverage in most instances. There may be some exceptions, but you really need to look at the language of your policy, make sure you understand just what's covered and what's not covered. Purchasing coverage here isn't going to, in most situations, give you any coverage. Again, I would personally only step into this situation if I know I'm going to be added to their policy and I'm just going to share, this is me, I'm a risk guy. While trust is a good thing when it comes to this, I would want the firm to provide documentation that I've actually been added to their policy. Suffice it to say that I've seen a couple of situations over the year of they say one thing, but what actually happened was something entirely different. I'll leave it to that. A second thing you'll see sometimes is, and this is relatively common in the contract lawyering space, is the contract lawyer will be temporarily engaged by one and sometimes two or three firms, but never held out by any of these firms as being associated with the firms. The general public just simply isn't aware of your presence. Now, again, if you want coverage for this, the firm or firms should you reach out to their carrier and provide notice, take care of any premium that may be due and you're all good. Sometimes again, they'll say they're unable or unwilling and suggest you get your own coverage just as in the other situation when you are held up full time and all of that. If you get your own coverage, you're not going to be covered if any of these clients sue you. I've also shared that these clients really don't know you're there. The exposure would come, well, does this firm sue you? If we have pretty good documentation that this firm has retained you, you have an engagement letter with them to provide legal services to them, et cetera, et cetera. We can document, this is a client of yours. Your coverage, your policy should be in play for when the firm sues you. Because that's the only person, the only entity that really knows you're involved. That said, here's an interesting question, is coverage really necessary in this situation? Now, again, I am not advising, I am not recommending, you got to make your own judgment calls on this one. Here's something to think about. Again, assuming there's zero client contact of any kind with clients of the firm or firms you're working as a contract lawyer with. Clients are never made aware of your involvement on any matter. The firm or firms accept full accountability and responsibility for your work product and all of this is commonplace in this type of business relationship. The risk of having to deal with a malpractice claim is really going to be extremely low, even from the firm. Instead of assuming they're just going to fire you if it turns out you don't know what you're doing. I'll let you make your own judgment call on that, but it's some food for thought. The final situation I'll talk about with contract lawyers is you're engaged part-time by a firm and held out to the general public is being associated with that firm. While also trying to establish or you're still involved in running your own practice and you're doing this for a little extra revenue, whatever might be going on here. How does this play? Well, in this situation you're going to be working for two firms. The firm you're contracting with and your own solo practice. Thinking about again, coverage only covers you for work done an attorney-client relationship on behalf of a client and the named insured. There's two firms, so you really need to be on two policies. The firm policy or your contract lawyer with, because again, you're being held out as associated, the public is aware. Then your own policy for work you do on behalf of your own clients. Now, we're good to go. Except sometimes again, the firm your contract with refuses or is unable to add you to their policy. What do we do here? Well here, there's an interesting, if you will, work around. You might consider working with this firm not in a contract relationship but in a co-counsel relationship. Now, you need to do this in accordance with the rules of professional conduct. We have to make sure the clients are aware of the fee split and documentation to retaining two discrete firms. I document for the client roles and responsibilities of yourself and your co-counsel who's doing what. That can work. We have documentation here now that all of the work you're doing is done on behalf of clients of your firm. That can work in some situations. I can't speak for what these other firms are going to do, how much work, but that can be very beneficial. My one caution is prior to stepping into a co-counsel relationship, because in essence, you're going to be creating a partnership, if you will, for every joint matter that you're working on. I want to make sure that if this firm, particularly if they are in the lead, if you will, during the majority of the work, I want to make sure they're insured for their own missteps. Because if they happen to be bare and there's a malpractice misstep that they've even made, you're going to be brought in because you've created this partnership in this matter and your policy is in play. If there's a loss, you're the one that might take the financial hits, so to speak, and have to deal with the fact of it, that there's a claim and deal with surcharges and all that. Well, they just say, thank you very much for the coverage and go on. This really does happen. It's not extraordinarily common, but I've seen this very situation multiple times in my 25 years with Alps. I would want to document before I enter any kind of co-counsel relationship that the firm I'm about to co-counsel with has an adequate level of coverage for the matters that we're taking on jointly. How about we talk about ancillary services now? I get innovation, I get how markets change and what consumers want and that drives a lot of this, and I'm good with that. Hey, reinventing ourselves is how you stay in business over the long term. If you can't grow and change with the needs and the wants and the desires of the market, that's going to be a problem. There are some issues, and again, we're going to talk a bit about this and primarily it's about coverage. Ancillary service says is one thing lawyers will turn to in terms of trying to reinvent themselves. Let me give you some examples. Often, it's about wanting to offer both legal and non-legal services under the banner of your law firm or under the banner of the practice. I will see things like a practice that does regulatory compliance and consulting in the cybersecurity sector. You might see this in employment law, in consulting or investigation services as the ancillary piece. Business formation and consulting in the business sector. You might see lawyers and non-lawyers setting up several businesses. The plan is to offer legal services and investment advice, perhaps insurance sales all under the banner of a common trade name. All of these things that I'm talking about are real examples that I've seen or been involved in over the years. It might be a lawyer planning to team up with a local CPA to offer legal and non-legal services under one roof. It could be as simple as deciding to offer, do it yourself legal forms from your law firm's website. Perhaps under a subscription practice model, which makes it even more interesting. There's lots of ideas, but what's the problem? Remember, I shared at the beginning just because you have a professional liability policy, a lawyer's professional liability policy, that doesn't mean you're covered for anything and everything that you do in the role of a lawyer. Malpractice policies cover you for allegations of negligence in the performance of professional services. Now, policies are going to differ. It's worth looking at the policy that you have, what is covered under the definition of professional services? Often, it's rather broad. Mediator, arbitrator, executive, conservative, guardian, trustee. I mean there's all kinds of things. As an example, many of these policies also, because you got to look at exclusions, aren't going to cover you for financial advice given. Even though you're in an attorney-client relationship, you give financial advice to your client. That's not covered. Consulting is not a professional service that falls under this definition of professional services if you're limited to consulting only. Sometimes you're in the role of a lawyer in these settings. Sometimes you're in the role of consultant and sometimes you're in the role of both. If you're just in the role of consultant, there is no attorney-client relationship, the policies aren't going to respond. Can you start to appreciate, we need to think through some of the coverage concerns. Now, the question that I'll get, "Well, Mark, so what do I do? How do I move forward? What are my options?" This gets a little difficult folks, and I'll be honest with you. If you ever want to call in chat, doesn't cost anything. Call in chat, I'm happy to try to issue spot and try to work through. The best answer I can give you is it depends, and the specifics of what you're looking at or trying to do will dictate. If we take some simple kinds of things, the lawyer/consultant, let's use the cybersecurity space example. We have legal and non-legal services, but they're going to be offered for the purpose of this example under the banner of one and entity. It's the same desk, that kind of thing. A lot of malpractice insurers are not going to be comfortable with this and may just be unwilling to write. You may be able to go out and get a general errors and omissions policy that would cover both professional roles. Now, when it comes to the legal professional liability, this general policy solution is not going to offer as in-depth coverage, if you will, that you might see from a standalone professional liability policy exclusive to lawyers. That can work. Other times you might want to say, well, let's break this out and have separate websites for the professional services and for the consulting, for the lawyer hat and the consulting hat, for the lawyer hat and the financial services hat, whatever it might be, separate business cards. Put esquire on your business cards. For the non-lawyer stuff, separate phone numbers. It's even easier if you have separate locations and sometimes, you'll see that. If you start to create some distance between these two roles and make it clear to clients, if you have joint clients in this situation, I've got my lawyer hat on, but I have a separate contract with you for these non-legal services. You may need to remind them now and again if there's some confusion, and I would tend to document some of this. You can get your legal practice insured then through a standalone lawyers' professional liability policy. Then you can get a separate E&O policy for the non-lawyer stuff that you're doing. There's some general things there to think about. My big message here again is, as you look at models, start to think through, how's this going to play both ethically? I'm not doing a whole lot of ethics here today on this, but this particular topic in particular in terms of ancillary services, but I would definitely look into that. Coverage can also drive. Is this going to be viable, is this a model, is this going to work? Let's jump now to licensed rental. You'll see this more in the solo and small firm space. How I start to get clued in? Somebody calls in, "I got this great offer and I'm going to make lots of money. This is an opportunity and I just want to run by and make sure I'm not missing anything." Typically, it's an opportunity to affiliate with an out-of-state law firm and sometimes even an out-of-state or in-state non-lawyer owned company. Both are wanting to direct matters to the lawyers they're contracting with as a way to offer services, legal services in jurisdictions where the lawyers aren't licensed to practice or again, the unauthorized practice law because they're non-lawyers wanting to do this, but they want to create this affiliation. It may be structured as contract lawyers, it may be structured as counsel. You're going to be promised some portion of any earned fee coupled with an understanding that the amount of work you're going to do is minimal. Now, these should be warning signs. I'm going to make money for very little work, it's out of state. Start to think through the rules here on this one. Practice areas that you often see. This will be debt settlement, mortgage, foreclosures, estate planning, traffic violations, criminal expungements. Those are common areas. I'll leave it at that. Let's talk about some of the obvious things. Here, we can talk a little bit about ethics. If it's a non-lawyer owned company, if you sign on and participate here, there's a strong possibility you may be assisting a lay entity in the unauthorized practice of law. I have seen lawyers sanctioned for this to include loss of license. If it's an out-of-state law firm, that may still be a problem, because they're not licensed in your state. That's why they want you. Here's the problem. You're going to be contractually required to, in essence, essentially relinquish control of all matters to the out-of-state firm. They're not going to turn these clients over to you. At times, they're not even doing the work. They're assigning it to non-lawyer assistants, they're not properly supervised. All they want is some local lawyer to sign off and just say, "Oh, this looks good." I start to think about assisting non-lawyers to non-authorized practice law. It also, many of these models, for lack of a better word, are marketing one size fits all solutions to their legal problems. Again, they just want your blessing. If you get involved here and well, how do I want to say this? They don't want you to get involved and talk to the client about various legal options. Really look at the true needs of the client. They just want you to market and sign off on this. Again, one size fits all solution. This is going to be a violation. Professional independence of a lawyer. You are not allowed to have any. You're agreeing to this. There's all kinds of issues that can come up in improper fee splits. Again, preventing clients from having a chance to meaningfully consult with their local lawyer. Unreasonable limitations on scope and it just goes on and on. I would really, really caution you about this particular model. Now, let's get back to, again what we've been talking about with all of these situations, I have yet, well, actually I'm going to back off on that. I used to say I have yet to hear of a situation where the out-of-state firm or non-lawyer owned company provided malpractice insurance for the local lawyers. I will share that's still very, very common. I have now come across two situations where they in fact do. The only reason I will share that is I'm not here to bash the licensed rental. Well, I am bashing the licensed rental model. There have been situations where a company really is done by lawyers. The model is set up in compliance with the ethical rules and they're really looking to expand and create a more nationwide or regional presence using local lawyers. The local lawyers are allowed to be involved. The fee split model is a bit different. They are advising the clients, and it can be done in a very professional and responsible way. I'm going to tell you that is very much an exception to the norm. I'm trying to really clue you in to what the unethical ones start to look like. Again, they don't offer insurance and they are going to require every local lawyer who signs on that you have documentation of your own malpractice. Again, it's to try to make you believe that they're being very responsible and they're hoping you assume, well, that means because they're asking, and these guys know what they're doing, they're a bigger company. They know your policy is going to protect you. It's not. They don't care about you. They really don't. They have no intention of letting you get involved with their clients. Meaning, make them your clients. They're going to place severe limitations on what you can and can't do. You're simply being asked to sign off on work done by others. Let's get back to coverage. Are you in an attorney-client relationship delivering legal services on behalf of your own clients? The answer is no. You are not. You're simply renting your license to somebody else. Not a good idea. It can be very, very problematic. You're not covered for any of that. A little heads-up. A little heads-up there. The final one that I'm going to talk about is I sat out here about multiple firm names and stuff. This has been interesting. I've come across this once or twice and I don't know, the last five, eight years, something like that. I got what was going on, made a lot of sense to me. Now it seems like this is going more into the solo small firm space. Whether it's a trend, I think it's way too early to tell, but here's the gist of it. A lawyer or a small firm wants to grow and develop and create a market presence as specializing. We know what we're doing in divorce law, we know what we're doing in criminal defense or whatever it might be. We're the go-to lawyers. We want to create a business name and sometimes lawyers are starting to even create separate entities for the various practice using my name, Bassingthwaighte Bankruptcy Law LLC, or Bassingthwaighte Divorce Law LLC. I'll create these entities and I want to market myself as, I'm the go-to guy. Again, I may even have separate accounts, in terms of trust accounts, bank accounts. To me, I started sitting and my head hurts about how complicated this can be. I understand why lawyers want to do this, and I am absolutely not adverse to it. I just encourage you to think through, creating multiple entities that are just you. Even if it's you, an associate and two staff, but it's the same desk, the same address, the same phone number, everything the same. Then trying to get four policies for each of these things, you're going to have exclusions, anti-stacking language. It just becomes a headache. One to ensure, and the more complicated you make this, the more complicated or difficult it's going to be to find somebody willing to ensure all these entities. Think about the administrative headache of all of this. I sit here, I'm just not seeing the benefits of it. They're alternatives. You could do a DBA. I try to get one policy and put the DBAs as additional insureds. You might be able to get one policy with all the entities and put the entities on as additional insureds, because there's only going to be one named insured. It's going to be cheaper to ensure one firm with some additional insured names as opposed to four policies on four firms. You're going to be spending all kinds of money that you don't, and it's just a mess. A little caution there. I'll tell you, in my mind, it's even easier. I'm not even going to mess with DBAs. Well, I mean you could. I sit and say, let's just have one firm and I'm going to call my firm the Bassingthwaighte Law firm. Run with me on my crazy mind and how I look at this. Bassingthwaighte Law is going to be the mothership, if you will, and that is going to be the named insured. Now, I'm going to create some websites and it might be Bassingthwaighte Bankruptcy or I might not even put bankruptcy, or I'm sorry, Bassingthwaighte there. I might have some little fancy marketing name for divorce and for bankruptcy, these different areas that I want to look like an expert on. I have these separate websites and separate marketing, but these are just names for marketing. I'm trying to build a feeder network. On each of the sites they'll say, "This is a service of Bassingthwaighte Law. This is a service." You'll see that on the divorce page. You'll see that on the bankruptcy page. You can call it whatever you want. In other words, there is no entity. It's a marketing campaign. Then anytime a client comes in from the bankruptcy website, the divorce website or even Bassingthwaighte Law website, all contracts are signed with Bassingthwaighte Law because that's the named insured. We all are employed. If I have other staff, associates, whatever it might be, we're all under this banner of Bassingthwaighte Law. That's the mothership. Everybody, I'm very open about this. It's just using it as a marketing tool. I think that can really make life a lot simpler. I want to shut down the Bassingthwaighte, or I'm sorry, the bankruptcy practice at some point, all I got to do is turn off the website. I don't have to wind-ups this separate entity because I don't want to do bankruptcy work anymore. You see? I'm thinking long term here too. I'm trying to wrap up here now. In terms of takeaways, there really are ways and things that you can do. There are pros and cons to all this stuff. Obviously, the licensed rental model I got a little issue with. There are some situations out there that can work that are ethically sound. We need to look, we need to do some investigation on all this to understand the ramifications. The time to do it is before you've committed and set up the four law firms and go, "Oh my gosh. Now I'm trying to cover this. I didn't realize I was creating such a headache. Maybe I should've called you guys sooner." Real conversation as an aside, just happened. There it is. I hope you found something of value with today's little pontification on growing and building practices. I'm all in, I'm all for. There's lots of things that can be done. Obviously, there's all kinds of marketing things and all sorts of ways to build a practice. I did want to share a couple of things where lawyers get trapped and they get too far down the road and haven't thought through. I'm just trying to get you ahead of the curve. I have zero issues doing, heck, you want to go with contract lawyering? Hey, God bless, I hope it works out. That's really exciting. You want to go down the ancillary road? God bless. Subscription, which we really didn't get into, but the ancillary model overlaps there a bit. God bless. I'm all in. Just think through the ramifications. That's it. Please, don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions or concerns about the things that we've just talked about and want to discuss further. It doesn't cost anything to chat with me or send an email. My email is mbass@alpsinsurance.com. I'm happy to do anything I can. Hey, good talking to you. Stay safe out there. We'll talk to you later. Bye-bye.  

Summary Decision making and problem solving are significantly important to any leadership role. This week we look at ways to make better decisions.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 192 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we look at ways to make better decisions. To help us make better decisions, we will explore three elements - the inputs, the outputs, and involving others. First element, the inputs. We tend to use either an analytical approach or a conceptual approach when considering inputs to our decisions. They are distinct cognitive processes, each with their benefits and limitations. Analytical thinking is a logical and structured approach to problem-solving that involves breaking down complex issues into smaller components and analysing them individually. It relies on data, facts, and evidence to understand the current situation, identify patterns, and draw conclusions. This could include detailed analysis of the financial situation, or exploring current customer data. Conceptual thinking is a more abstract and creative cognitive process that involves synthesising diverse ideas, connecting disparate concepts, and envisioning new possibilities. It focuses on the "big picture" and the underlying principles or frameworks that shape a situation. This might involve combining products or services together to reach new customers. It could include drawing on lessons from a completely different industry. Leaders need to employ analytical thinking to analyse data, evaluate risks, and make evidence-based decisions. At the same time, conceptual thinking enables them to envision future possibilities, set strategic direction, and inspire their teams. By leveraging both approaches, leaders can develop comprehensive insights as an input to decision making. Coming up with our Leadership Today On-Demand service involved both analytical and conceptual thinking. The conceptual idea was to draw lessons from online fitness training and apply these to leadership development. So our service feels quite different to traditional online courses. You don't have to access content in any particular order. Just start where you're interested and expand from there. The analytical thinking involved testing the market, reviewing the content people were most interested in, and analysing competitor offerings. Second element, the outputs. Once we've gather information and have completed our analysis, an effective decision needs to consider what could be called both the head and the heart. The head is logical, rational, cold and detached. Here we focus on consistency and objective facts. The heart focuses on the impact of our decisions on people. It's empathetic, warm, involved and connected. When using a heart approach things can become more subjective, however we can still use rigour when considering the implications of our decisions on the people likely to be impacted. Third and final element, involving others. We each have preferences around how we take information in and make decisions. I tend to be more of a conceptual and heart kind of person when it comes to analysis and decision making. While that brings some strengths around drawing together broad trends and considering the human impact of decisions, I risk not considering enough data and involving too much emotion in decision making. I therefore involve others at the input and output stages. I find this helpful to check my thinking and ensure I'm not overlooking important information or implications. It's particularly helpful to involve people who may be directly impacted by the decision making. Here we do need to be clear about what help we are seeking. Is their involvement an input to decision making, or are they actually making the decision? Clarity around involving others is very important. I hope you found these three elements of effective decision making helpful - the inputs, the outputs and involving others. This week I encourage you to apply one aspect that stood out to you.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary Many people want to be more assertive at work. This week we explore assertiveness as a type of conversation.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 191 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to be more assertive at work. Many people want to be more assertive at work - you might be one of them. Perhaps you feel your perspectives are overlooked, or you struggle to get your opinions across to people, or you're frustrated that others just steamroll through and always get their way. To address these challenges, we really need to break some misconceptions about assertiveness. Assertiveness is not something you're born with. It's not a personality type or preference. Rather, assertiveness is a set of skills any of us can develop and improve. A helpful way to think about assertiveness is to picture a line. At one end of the line is passive. If I'm being passive it's 100% about them, the other person and their needs, wants and interests, and 0% about me, my needs, wants and interests. It's okay to be passive sometimes, particularly on issues that really matter to the other person but don't matter to you. If it's genuinely not important to you, it's perfectly fine and even a great idea to let the other person get what they want. However, if we're passive about things that matter to us, then that can be a problem. At the other end of the line is aggressive. Here it's 0% about the other person, and 100% about my needs, wants and interests. Again, sometimes it's perfectly appropriate to put your needs and wants first. There are issues where it's important to hold your ground. But if you're aggressive about every issue, even ones you don't care about, that's likely to limit your effectiveness and relationships. So assertiveness isn't being passive, and it's also not about being aggressive. Assertiveness also isn't the midpoint on the line - it's not 50% about them and 50% about you - that's compromise not assertiveness. Instead, assertiveness is a type of conversation - one where my needs, wants and interests are 100% on the table, but so are the other person's needs, wants and interests. The best way to measure your assertiveness isn't by seeing whether you got your way or not - that's really more a measure of aggressiveness. Instead, you can measure your assertiveness by whether the other person understands your perspective and why it's important to you, and also whether you understand their perspective and why it matters to them. We may then have a shared problem to work through - you can't always get a win-win solution right away. Here are a few quick tips for more assertive conversations: Be clear about needs, not just your wants. Sometimes what people present as what they want isn't the same as what they actually need. Write down your needs, interests and wants before a meeting then make sure you share these during the meeting. Preparation really helps. Acknowledge where there is disagreement and your willingness to work with the other person towards a solution. If you found this helpful, check out our Boost Your Assertiveness course.   Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary The week we explore how to prepare for a job interview to give you the best chance of winning that new position.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 190 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we explore how to prepare for a job interview. Job interviews are stressful and unpredictable. There are no guarantees in an interview and it can feel like a guessing game. But there are some simple things you can do to dramatically improve your chances of success. Take their perspective. An interview is an opportunity to learn more about you and your capability to take on a role. Think about the goals of the interviewer. They want to be confident that you can do the role, so the interviewer will be looking for specific things, which brings us to the next tip. Ask about the interview format and selection criteria. You will most likely already have the selection criteria as these are typically spelled out as part of the application process. If you don't have the selection criteria, ask your contact if they can provide them. In addition it's helpful to know the general format of the interview,  number of interviewers, and any tips they might have to make sure you're as prepared as possible. Complete a self-assessment against the selection criteria. This will help prepare you to address any gaps that might come up during the interview. Create a narrative. How is this role a sensible next step in your career journey? It will be helpful to the interviewer to demonstrate the story or narrative that has led up to this point. Why this job specifically? And why this job now? Do your research. If you're applying for a listed organisation, read through their annual report and latest investor briefings. If it's a smaller organisation, look for any media releases or newsletters. Demonstrating that you understand how this role fits in to the broader organisational challenges and opportunities will impress any interviewer. Come into the interview with the mindset and awareness of an investor. Clearly explain how you can add value to the organisation through this role. Prepare evidence and examples. There are two broad types of interview questions - hypothetical and behavioural. A hypothetical question could be about a scenario such as “How would you deal with a difficult customer?” A behaviour question looks for a specific example of when you've done something, such as “Tell me about a time when you've dealt with a difficult customer?”. With either approach, make sure you include actual examples. Even if the questions are hypothetical in nature, providing behavioural answers through real examples is far more compelling. Ask a friend to help you practice by asking behavioural questions. Come with questions. A pretty standard way to finish an interview is to ask if you have any questions, so it is worth having one or two genuine questions prepared in advance. A great question to ask is whether there's any other information you can provide that might help their decision making. Arrive early and dress appropriately. Make sure you're not in a rush for the interview. If it's online, log in early to test your technology. For clothing, err towards a step up from what others wear at the organisation. Dress standards vary widely between organisations and even offices. Wear something that makes you feel comfortable and confident, but that also shows you've made an effort for the interview. Follow up. Send an email to say thank you for the opportunity, offer to provide further information if needed, and ask for feedback. I hope these tips have been helpful. Interviews are always going to create some stress, but with a bit of planning and thought you can improve your odds of being successful dramatically.     Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

Summary Delivering a presentation is a fear-inducing situation for most of us. This week we look at practical ways to manage pre-presentation nerves.   Transcript Hello and welcome to episode 189 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we share practical tips to improve your leadership. This week we look at ways to manage pre-presentation nerves.   Most of us will need to give a work presentation at some point. Whether it's to a group of 5 at a team meeting or 500 at a conference, speaking in public can be very stressful. This applies to online presentations as well. These nerves impact people differently, but many will experience an elevated heart rate, sweating, feeling hot or going red, and struggling to concentrate.   If we let our nerves get the better of us we may not present as well as we had hoped. Our fear might even lead us to avoid opportunities to share our ideas in the future. However there are some practical steps you can take to deal with pre-presentation nerves that will help you to be more confident and clear. Prepare. Be really clear about what you're planning to say. I've found keeping presentations to three main points works well. Your notes should be bullet points rather than a script. You can start by outlining the three points you will cover, then go into more detail for each of the points, then summarise the three points at the end. Practice. Run through your presentation in front of the mirror or, better yet, video yourself. Don't ever let your actual presentation be the first time you've said it out loud. I find it helpful to visualise the room I will be presenting in. If you have access to the room ahead of time that's even better. Run through the presentation until you only need your notes occasionally as a prompt. Know your audience. Take the time to understand their interests and needs. Speak with people one-on-one before the presentation to gain their perspectives and insights. You can even gather further information during the presentation by getting a show of hands or asking questions. Great presenters focus far more on their audience than themselves. Reframe your emotions. Being nervous or feeling excited have the same physical signs. It's down to how you interpret your physical state. It's far better to say to yourself “I feel like this because I'm excited about this opportunity to present and want it to go well”. This won't remove all the physical signs of stress, but it will help you to use these feelings to your advantage. Breathe. We breathe all day long, but we rarely focus on our breathing. We can use our breathing to calm us. A great approach is the box breathing technique. The box is a simple way to remember the structure - inhale for four seconds, hold for four seconds, exhale for four seconds, hold for four seconds. Doing this for just a minute will calm you down dramatically. Pose a question for discussion early. Asking a question of the group and having them discuss it with one or two others provides an engagement point and also gives a chance to settle in, take some deep breaths and focus. Focus on individuals not the group as a whole. Another presentation technique which can work well is to focus your attention on a single person for a sentence, then shift to someone else for the next sentence. You need to make this natural for you, but making eye contact will draw people in. It is also a reminder that you are communicating with a room of individuals, not just a group of people. Seek feedback. This can feel painful, but feedback is a great way to improve. Find someone who can provide you with balanced feedback and speak with them prior to the presentation to set this up well. After the presentation, ask them to share anything that worked well, and things you should do differently next time. Then thank them for the feedback.   Your presentations will continue to improve with practice. If you can learn to expect and even enjoy the discomfort, you will be able to deal effectively with pre-presentation nerves.     Leadership Today On-Demand Special Offer We have a great deal for podcast listeners on our Leadership Today On-Demand subscription. Just go to www.learn.leadership.today and checkout using the promo code PODCAST for 25% off an annual subscription. Leadership Today On-Demand is a video subscription service that allows you to work on your leadership in your own time and at your own pace. It is available online and through our Apple iOS and Android apps for phones and tablets. Our mission is to help you to become an even better leader. Your subscription brings together all of our video content in one place including: - Our annual conference including a range of leadership experts - valued at $450 - Five online courses with workbooks - valued at $250 each - Five five day challenges with workbooks - valued at $150 each - Nineteen recorded webinars - valued at $100 each - A searchable library of 140+ "how to" quick videos on a range of leadership challenges - valued at $350 That's over $4,500 of content for less than the price of a single online course. And there are more videos added each week.   Get Connected Find out ways to get connected here: https://leadership.today/connect

TRANSCRIPT:Hello. Welcome back to the Cultivate Women's Podcast. We are so excited to be back. We took a little bit of time off. There was just things going on in life that was inevitable and we had to take a step away and really focus on other things. But we are relaunching our podcast. And just as a reminder, I am Jordan VanCamp. I am a pastor's wife at Passion Creek. We have been a church for, wow, like almost seven years now or something like that. And so it's been. I've got three daughters. They're all in school now, which is really fun. And I am so excited that I have a new co-host with me. I have Sarah Beth with me, and I know, just, I wanna, how about you to introduce yourself, tell us about you. Awesome. Thank you so much, Jordan, for inviting me here. I'm excited to be here. I'm a leader, educator, and passion for, and have a huge passion for servant leadership. I've had the privilege of creating and. For several companies and businesses where I was always trying to create a positive and inclusive work environment and space for people. In addition to my professional pursuits, my faith in Jesus is super important to me. I'm married to my husband of Devin of 16 years together for 18. We have two daughters, Morgan and Alex. This, and they are definitely on their own now. And so I'm super excited to be here. I am a proud alumnus of Grace Christian University at a Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I graduated Summa CU Loud in their seminary program with a focus in leadership and women's ministry. I'm just really humbled by the opportunity to use my skills and experience to encourage and inspire others in their faith journey. I'm really looking forward to discussing topics related to faith and cultivating meaningful relationships on the Cultivate Podcast. So thank you so much for having me and inviting me to join you. Yeah, absolutely. I'm so excited. So today's episode, we're just gonna go over just what are, what's our vision for the podcast? What do we, where do we see it going? What topics do we see covering? And then in the next episodes, we'll obviously dive into specific topics. And so there are just like we did before, we talked a lot about leadership, about family, about marriage and so we want to do all of those same things and then expand. We really have a heart for discipleship at Passion Creek. And as I've run the women's ministry over the years, that has been my biggest like heart. My biggest goal was for us to be able to pour into women of all ages, like older women, pouring into younger women, pouring into older women, because we really can. Just because we're younger doesn't mean an older woman can't learn from us. And then vice versa, obviously. Yep. And I love that. One of those things is we find that in scripture, we find it in Titus to  chapter two verses three through five. Sir bet. Do you wanna read that like verse specifically? Absolutely. So Titus two, three through five reads, older women likewise are to be relevant ENT in behavior, not slanderous or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children to be self-controlled, pure, working at home kind and submissive to their husbands that the word of God may not be. I don't know what that word is. Reveled. Reviled. Rev. Reviled. I'm gonna have to reread that. No Naval . I'll have reread that. Reviled, right? Reviled. I think that's what it is. Okay. I'm gonna reread that. We'll just have him pause that way. Absolutely the verse in Titus two, three through five reads, older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanders or slaves. Too much wine. They are to teach what is good. And so to train the young women to love their husbands and children to be self-controlled, pure, working at home kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Yeah, I love that. I love that it speaks so much. Both older women and younger women, we both have a place and a role in the church. And I think that it's really important and I think that just a podcast that is going to touch on those things. It's going to give encouragement and tips and suggestions and and then just have like women who there is an age gap between SarahBeth and I. Yeah. I'm not a huge one. Sure. But enough that, like you raised a daughter who is. older now, and her, she's in her twenties and absolutely, it's like I still have young kids, so there's a lot of stuff that like of life that you have been through that I have not yet gone through. And so I feel like there's so much that we can talk through and discuss that's gonna be beneficial just for our individual lives, but also for all of you guys who are listening in. Who may have be in that same season of life that I am or may be the same season of life that Sarah Beth is in. Absolutely. I also think it's important that the goal of this podcast is to find ways to help teach both you and I and our listeners to cultivate great relationships with others and really inspiring everyone to be part of our community and enjoying what that looks like together, creating that togetherness, the groups together. Enjoy life together. And I think along with enjoying life together and cultivating those relationships, we learn great lessons that can also inspire us to live in alignment with what Titus Two three through five is talking about. Absolutely. I think that on this podcast we also wanna talk about Just like the importance of self-control and purity how these virtues can help us as women cultivate those strong, healthy relationships, like you were saying. I think that those are big things that society doesn't hold much value in. Self-control. I agree. Purity, like it's very much a , women today, this is my body. I'm gonna do whatever I want with it. , there's, and that we're old fashioned. Yes. That we're just like, oh my gosh. You said the word purity. That means something from the 1920s. Yeah. Why are we talking about something like purity? That's weird. And there's also a, a. Some somewhat of a stigma, I think about talking freely and openly about things that the Bible talks about. Yeah. Because people don't understand how it could be relevant today. And so I think through this podcast, we're gonna try to be a positive role model for everyone that's listening. And for each other, living in alignment with the way that we should go and what the Bible teaches us. So I think it's important that we share. We long for everyone to have that openness to hear what self-control means. And it may not mean what you think society is saying it means. Yeah. Cause there can be misconstrued statements and, popular people or famous people that we listen to that talk about those things and they give it a bad reputation. But our goal is to really share with you the goodness that those things bring. Yeah. And how it actually provides more peace in your life. And it removes. Guilt that we have had by not living in alignment, alignment with that, if that makes sense. Absolutely. And I think it's important too that.  there. It's one thing to reach scripture and to figure that out and dissect it and really dig through okay, what is the Bible saying here? What is God saying here? What is Paul teaching about? Like that's all very important. But it also is like, how do I play that to my own life? , and so as a listener, I think it's really like crucial to hear like how do I, like how does Jordan struggle with self-control? Like what are ways that I have failed and. The Lord has worked through that and taught me, like Amen. So giving these like personal examples and being on some level vulnerable, trans transparent. Yeah. Not like you we're spilling everything here. There's things that you keep to yourself, but Yes. Yes. But having even just as a general, this is a situation I was in and here's how like I handled it wrong and here's how, like the Lord taught me through that, and maybe this is what I should have done because I think it's so easy to.  to a podcast and have like someone sharing their story and you're sitting back going oh my gosh, I've done that too. You're like, oh, wow. Like I had a friend who did that meet to me yesterday, and I didn't even think that maybe that was her thought process and I got mad and maybe I, Yeah, you just, you get different perspectives and you hear different sides of the story. And when it's all based in scripture, yes. It, when we bring it back to this, these are our faults, these are the ways we messed up. . I was in a situation and I was so proud the Holy Spirit provided, and I handled it correctly. Yeah. A win. Yeah. But when we drive it all back to scripture, I think that's what's most important, yes. It's those holding those with two hands, like yes. Personal experience, things that we've been through, things that we have done, but also , how that aligns with the Bible or how it didn't align with the Bible. Yeah. And how we should change that. And I also think that there's often times where you might listen to a podcast and you might hear somebody talking about something that aligns with our faith, that aligns with what we're working on right now, or what we're reading in the Bible. . But we don't actually, maybe we have new believers on here that are just trying to understand. Stand, how to, pray or how to live in a godly way, how to be a godly woman. And I think our leader, our, everyone who's listening to this, could probably benefit from learning what we are doing, how you do it. , giving them actual practical steps in their journey, that they can follow and align with. I think that it's easy to, like you said, read your Bible and then try to dig into what that looks like. But one of the challenges can be, okay, but what do I do after I read the Bible and after I try to research what that verse might mean to somebody else on Google? , because that's common, if you're a new believer, you might say, you might Google, Hey, give me a Bible verse. How I can overcome my worthlessness if I don't feel worthy, like what do I do? But here, I think on the Cultivate podcast, our goal is to give you true actual meaningful steps that you can take as a follower of Christ. And, we're gonna share with you what Jordan and I have done individually and together. Yeah. And just the way that we have worked to love on our family, our friends, our marriages, and make certain priorities that are important. , just as you were talking it, just I don't even think we have this on our notes, but I was just thinking I know that your heart, like you love to learn, you love knowledge, you love reading and all of that. And so there are, and we've done this in the past in previous episodes of the Cultivate Women's Podcast, but we've brought up like books that we have read that were helpful resources and so that's something that we will definitely be doing also in the future. There, we did a whole series. If you guys, if you're a. Seasoned listener, if you've been around since the beginning. , we did a whole series on the book Rhythms of Renewal by Oh yes. Rebecca Lyons. Yes. And it was fantastic. Yes. And so we just did four episodes and they were a little bit longer cuz those are big sections of the book. Yes. What, but what did you know, what did that look like? What did, what are those rhythms of. And all of those things look like. And so I know that's probably something that we'll also do in the future is Yes. Found a book that Zerbe loved and she's Hey, you need to read this. Yes. And then we're gonna share about it because this was, this will be so helpful for women in every stage of life. Or that are going through this specific thing or whatever it is. Yes. Or vice versa. I read a book and I'm like, Hey, you've gotta read this. Yes. Cuz I know that's a heart for both of us. So you can definitely look forward to. I wouldn't say book reviews, but Yeah. But just communicating together and teaching you guys what we learned from different books. . And maybe even teaching you how you can become a reader. Yeah. Sometimes you might hear that people are reading a book and you're like, oh my gosh, that's so lame. Why are we reading a book? Yeah. But there actually is, So much knowledge and truth that you can get from books and different ways to think about things. And they actually can help me in diving into the Bible and learning more things about what scripture has to say. So I love to read. I think it'll be awesome to do a few book reviews and have you guys go along with us, maybe even read along with us. Yeah, absolutely. And learn what we're learning about and ways that are different. When you read through an author's. , so many different things come to light and you can learn in such a different perspective. . Yeah, absolutely. So those are just the, some of the things. Was there any other ones that, that you were thinking, Sarah Beth, of just like topics, ideas that we wanted to touch on? I think that one of the things that I wanted to make sure we touched on was that our goal is to really help encourage women to live a godly life and. Younger women and older women both have that ability to do that. You don't have to be a specific age. I believe that with, in all women, we all can be leaders in our own way, right? Yeah. And we can be encouragers in our own way. And so just the, to drive home that this podcast is all about encouragement, inspiration and really sharing with you. How you can be, part of our journey and how we can impact your life in a positive way. So that's my biggest hope here for what the podcast is gonna represent. Yeah, I love that. And I, that's definitely both of our hearts and our desires. And we just want to be an encouragement. We want to encourage you to cultivate relationships in your own life, cultivate your relationship with the Lord. Cultivate a love for learning, for reading.  Memorizing scripture for a relationship with Jesus. Yeah. We wanna drive that home. , our life would be nothing without him. And so I think that bringing in the importance of actually what that relationship can look like as a woman. Yeah. It's so easy to go to church and hear all these different things, as women we just think so differently and we have so many different things going on. A hundred million ideas at one moment, right? ? Yes. So I think this is a great safe, spla safe space for women to come and for us to just encourage them in that. Yeah, absolutely. That is all we have for today. We are so excited. We hope that you would tune in for the episodes in the future. We are going to be diving to all the things that we just talked about today, and we cannot wait. All right. Thank you, Jordan, for allowing me the opportunity to participate in the relaunch of the Cultivate podcast. I just really hope that the conversation is meaningful and helpful to all of our listeners.

Hey there, I'm C.Lee Cawley and yesterday I shared what advice I would give my younger self and after pondering this question, I realized, I have MORE to add.  Tune in today to hear what I've really hung onto over the years and why it matters for our happiness.      Transcript   Hello, everyone. You are listening to Everyday Happiness with Katie Jefcoat. But today I am C.Lee Cawley, taking over her podcast.   Katie asked me yesterday what advice you'd give your younger self, and after pondering it a little bit more, I have more to add.   One of the other bits of advice I would give my younger self and I actually think I did a really good job on this, is to think long and hard about the people you are dating and choosing to spend your life with. And this is not just romantic partners, but also friends.   I have been so blessed that I have had literally lifelong friends that I still keep in touch with today. So I know that younger people are very consumed with higher education and establishing themselves in careers, but careers change.   I've had seven careers in my lifetime, and I might have a couple more up my sleeves, who knows? But what hasn't changed are my relationships.   So my advice to my younger self is to nurture those relationships. And if they are friendships that don't serve you well, then give yourself permission to let go of them. Really surround yourself with the people that lift you up.   I've been very, very lucky that I chose very well. I'm still on my first husband, I like to say, and we've known each other for over 33 years, and we've been married over 30, and I feel so lucky for having the chance to date a lot of frogs before I met my prince. As well as establishing my friendships, I have friends that I'm sending 40 year gifts to for our Ruby anniversary, because we've been close for 40 years.   And I'm not saying not to make new friends, but I'm saying be sure to focus on the relationships as much as you might focus on your education or career.   So that was my second bit of advice for my younger self, and I've got one more question to share with you, and I will see you tomorrow. I hope you tune in. See you then.   About C.Lee:    As an award-winning Certified Professional Organizer – of which there are fewer than 400 worldwide - C.Lee is an “agent of change” for her thousands of clients, students, and followers - transforming their lives and homes with her adroit advice and insightful instruction.   Her current mission is to clear desks and minds around the world with her signature course “The Paper Cleanse”. In it, she teaches people how to declutter their paper piles and curate frustrating files for a lifetime of paper organization.   C.Lee lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband of over 30 years and considers herself "indoorsy".  She delights in having friends over for decadent drinks and deep discussions.  And it appears that she adores alliteration!    You can connect with C.Lee On Instagram = https://www.instagram.com/c.leecawley_simplifyyou/   On Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/DMVOrganizing   And at her website which offers tips, tools and a resourceful blog = https://www.cleecawley.com/    *   *   *    Get Everyday Happiness delivered to your inbox by subscribing at: https://www.katiejefcoat.com/happiness   And, let's connect on social at @everydayhappinesswithkatie  and join the community on the hashtags #IntentionalMargins and #everydayhappinesswithkatie on Instagram   Links:  https://onamission.bio/everydayhappiness/

Hey there, I'm C.Lee Cawley and today I share how I use Intentional Margins® in my everyday life and especially how I start my day for success.     Transcript   Hello, people. You are listening to Everyday Happiness with Katie Jefcoat. But today I am taking over. I'm C.Lee Cawley, and I'm thrilled to be here.   Katie asked me, how do you use Intentional Margins® in your everyday life? And I think that I call Intentional Margins® having routine and rewards, but it's the exact same concept.   So when Katie spoke of this, I was like, “Oh, yeah, I do that all the time.” One of the ways I do that is every day I get up, I get on my treadmill or I go to Zumba class. I try to start my day with movement, and that sets my day up in a really positive way. I've already accomplished something before my day is even started.   The second thing I do is every day I make my husband and myself a healthy breakfast. And we sit and eat breakfast while doing the Wordle. And it's such a nice time of connection. Sometimes it takes us no time at all. Sometimes it takes us quite a lot of time, but it's something that we're doing together.   And talking about our day gives me a point of reference. So just starting my day in those two ways by incorporating movement into my day as a routine and connecting with my husband, we've been married for over 30 years.  And by having a healthy breakfast that I prepare him lovingly, that he eats happily and doing this kind of brain exercise on Wordle. And sometimes we even go on and do the Heardle and then he'll do the Worldle.   But it starts our day off in a positive way, and that sets me up for a lot of success. So making the time, just as Katie says, really does make a difference.   So I suggest you decide how you're going to use Intentional Margins® in your life, and know that I'm still going to be here tomorrow to chat to you more. I'm loving this podcast takeover and I'll see you then.   About C.Lee:    As an award-winning Certified Professional Organizer – of which there are fewer than 400 worldwide - C.Lee is an “agent of change” for her thousands of clients, students, and followers - transforming their lives and homes with her adroit advice and insightful instruction.   Her current mission is to clear desks and minds around the world with her signature course “The Paper Cleanse”. In it, she teaches people how to declutter their paper piles and curate frustrating files for a lifetime of paper organization.   C.Lee lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband of over 30 years and considers herself "indoorsy".  She delights in having friends over for decadent drinks and deep discussions.  And it appears that she adores alliteration!    You can connect with C.Lee On Instagram = https://www.instagram.com/c.leecawley_simplifyyou/   On Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/DMVOrganizing   And at her website which offers tips, tools and a resourceful blog = https://www.cleecawley.com/    *   *   *    Get Everyday Happiness delivered to your inbox by subscribing at: https://www.katiejefcoat.com/happiness   And, let's connect on social at @everydayhappinesswithkatie  and join the community on the hashtags #IntentionalMargins and #everydayhappinesswithkatie on Instagram   Links:  https://onamission.bio/everydayhappiness/

Transcript: Hello everyone! I am Georgiana, founder of speakenglishpodcast.com. My mission is to help you speak English fluently. This week is a bit special because it is Black Friday and all my courses have a 60% discount. I've received several messages with questions about the courses. In this short episode, I'm gonna try to answer some frequently asked questions. By the way, you can get the deal at: speakenglishpodcast.com/blackfriday Hurry because the offer is only available until this Sunday at 12 p.m.   Let's start with the most frequently asked question:  What is the difference between the podcast and the courses? That's a great question! In the podcast, I discuss very diverse topics that allow you to improve your vocabulary. This is great listening practice.  In each episode of the podcast, I also give a small example of a lesson. This can be a mini-story of questions and answers or a point of view. Because of time limitations, I can barely develop these lessons, yet they allow you to test the method in an easy and fun way. Besides, it is good practice. Instead, the courses are complete programs designed to improve your spoken English dramatically.  In fact, the courses contain hours and hours of questions and answers. Imagine for a moment a podcast episode multiplied by 100.  Also, the courses allow you to work much better on grammar aspects such as the plural, singular, all kinds of verb tenses, and certain common expressions of English. All this is integrated, following one or several stories that offer a rich and entertaining context. For example, the Fluency Course (level II) contains more than 8 hours of audio, thousands of questions and answers (mini-stories), and almost 200 pages of transcription text. Of course, many points of view lessons also allow you to work very deeply on aspects of grammar.One rule I always follow is to create lessons with complex characters and funny stories with unexpected endings. That way, you'll never forget what you learn best, and it's a lot more fun. Another question: Can the courses be used on the iPhone, iPad, Android, and so on? Yes, of course. You can use them without problems. An important thing to keep in mind is that the courses are not apps. That is, you don't install them. It's much more flexible. The courses consist of MP3 audio and text (PDF). This is much simpler and prevents technical problems. Transferring the content to any device is quite easy. However, when you buy one of the courses, I send you instructions with detailed steps to know what to do. In any case, you can contact me by e-mail with any questions.  Is there a monthly payment for the courses? No, there is no such thing. When you buy the courses, they are yours for personal use and forever.  How many courses are there, and what is the difference? There are currently four courses. I will describe them briefly: 1) 30-Day Crash Course (level1): This course is for beginners with no knowledge of English. It is a course that works very well, and I am happy with the result because it helps a lot to start with English. I don't recommend it in your case because if you are a follower of this podcast, you are no longer a beginner.  2) The Fluency Course (level2):  The level of this course is a bit easier than this podcast, but there is almost no difference. This program will help you automate the most common structures when speaking. It consists of 20 units with 20 unique and fun stories. For example, two penguins who escape from the zoo to surf, a person who wants to learn to be a cook but is a disaster, someone who wants to quit smoking and visits a very strange guru, and so on. I recommend this course if you're trying to stop mentally translating when you speak English, even with relatively easy expressions. 3) The Magic Course (level3): This course is very ambitious because it goes one step beyond the Fluency Course. The aim is to practice all the verb tenses in the context of a long and well-developed story. There is a lot of vocabulary, and grammar points are very useful. When you finish this course, you will have an advanced level of English. 4) The Business Course (Job Interview Course): This is the last course created. With this course, you will master the 30 most common questions asked at a job interview, learn specific vocabulary, and when to use it. You will get examples of how to answer the questions.  And the exclusive mini-stories will help you speak English more confidently. Georgiana, what if I don't like them or don't adapt to the courses? That's all right. If, during the first 30 days, you are not convinced by the program, you can request a refund without any problem.  Are there any free samples of the courses? Yes, of course. You can get some samples at: SpeakEnglishPodcast.com/samples Very well, I think I have answered the most frequently asked questions. I hope you found this useful. Remember that you can benefit from the Black Friday promotion at: speakenglishpodcast.com/blackfriday If your goal is to improve fluency, these courses can really help you. I repeat for the last time: speakenglishpodcast.com/blackfriday Only until this Sunday at 12 p.m. All right. That's all for today. I will see you next week for another episode of the podcast. See you soon! Bye! Bye! Get the transcript on my website: SpeakEnglishPodcast.com/podcast  

In todays episode, Betsy shares some tips for dealing with holiday stress and defines what she thinks is going haywire at the holiday time. After you listen, you'll have a new way of thinking about everyone at the table and a new way of protecting your energy… and sanity! Transcript: Hello fellow adventurers. Hi. Welcome … 322: Dealing with holiday stress Read More »

Transcript: Hello! This is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective! In our current cultural climate, we are increasingly tempted to absolutize politics. We, thus, become convinced in our own rightness, and so begin operating in a very “us vs. them” framework. In contradiction to this Jesus calls us to a different posture. He calls us to humble service and love, even toward those we might think are wrong. There is no righteousness, there is no truth, without humility. Proverbs tells us: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”—the “beginning of [true] knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10). True wisdom begins with humbling yourself. True wisdom never ceases to be a humble servant, a humble learner. That's why James challenges us in our prideful “wisdom”: Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him, by his good behavior, show forth his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. (James 3:13-16) Does your “wisdom”, or your “rightness”, lead you to bickering, hatred, and bitterness? Then, it is not from God—no matter how right your position might be. Rather, true wisdom is: …first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, free of hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:17-18) And that is something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” ~ James 3:13-18 (ESV)

Transcript: Hello! This is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective! Your ultimate hope will drive what you obsess about. Said another way, wherever you find your greatest sense of belonging will determine what you think is ultimately valuable. “Home” is always where the heart is. Paul calls this our “citizenship”, and it effects how we think of ourselves, especially in our public engagement. Although the Bible tells us that we are indeed citizens of this world, with all the rights and responsibilities thereof, our ultimate “citizenship is in heaven from which we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:21). Such a hope functions like an anchor in the stormy world of politics. It doesn't keep us from the public square; it keeps us steady in the public square. While everyone else may be getting sucked up in the vortex of divisions and partisan politics, we are able to operate with both shrewdness and gentleness. It gives us the strength from which we can both obey God, love our neighbor, and testify to the truth. Thus, at the end of the day, we must be formed not by the kingdom of this world but by the kingdom of heaven. Since we are citizens of God's kingdom, we are thus called to be ambassadors in this world. The most political act you will do this week is not campaigning for an election or voting. Rather, it is gathering with God's people and calling on the King of Heaven—asking that His kingdom come and that His will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven. Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective. “The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he! The King in his might loves justice. You have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he!" ~ Psalm 99:1-5 (ESV)

Hello UK Giant Robots listeners! Our next event allows you to hear from and connect with both Founders and Investors on all things Fundraising. The event will be 1 part panel discussion and 1 part breakout sessions. We hope you can make it! Register today at: tbot.io/fundraising-uk (https://thoughtbot.com/events/fundraising-uk-event?utm_source=socials&utm_medium=socials&utm_campaign=UK%20fundraising%20event) Daniëlle Keeven is VP of Finance at Paddle, the only complete payments infrastructure provider for SaaS companies. Victoria talks to Daniëlle about helping companies with taxes while assuming the liability and risks associated with global tax compliance, financial literacy, and taking proactive measures and steps to manage cost effectively before it is required. Paddle (https://www.paddle.com/) Follow Paddle on Twitter (https://twitter.com/PaddleHQ), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/paddleteam/), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/paddlehq/), YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK1qyXbgE-kcGA4LMGdL7PA), or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/paddle/). Follow Daniëlle on Twitter (https://twitter.com/gsandahl) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-keeven/). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: Hello, United Kingdom Giant Robots listeners! Our next event allows you to hear from and connect with both founders and investors on all things fundraising. The event will be one part panel discussion and one-part breakout sessions. We hope you can make it. Register today at tbot.io/fundraising-uk. VICTORIA: This is the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Victoria Guido. And with us today is Daniëlle Keeven, VP of Finance at Paddle, the only complete payments infrastructure provider for SaaS companies. Daniëlle, thank you for joining us. DANIËLLE: Hi, Victoria. Thank you for having me. Super excited to be here. VICTORIA: Wonderful. Yes, I'm excited to have you here and to hear a little bit about your background. I was curious how it was different going from a finance role in a large corporation like Marriott to the startup world and to Paddle. DANIËLLE: Well, Victoria, I was actually quite fortunate because even in the Marriotts and the Hyatts that I've been in in hospitality, I've been exposed to a lot of in the trench type of accounting and finance. Being in the Caribbean and just a Latam market, you learn to look at situations differently and make sure you work towards compliance. So I think that's really groomed me for stepping into the tech space as well, where I think following the money is the first directive of any finance professional walking into a scale-up or startup. So I think it's groomed me for the move. Booking was a little bit easier because it was also a little bit of leisure and travel. When I stepped into a telecom for MessageBird and then Paddle as a payments end-to-end provider of infrastructure, there was a little bit of a challenge there. But I love being part of a company now that's completely a finance product which has really given finance roles a partnership with product and engineering to partner in the way forward and design of the product. VICTORIA: Yes, that's exciting for us as well. And tell us a little bit about Paddle, actually. DANIËLLE: So Paddle is an end-to-end platform. We strive not to just help software companies; we strive to do the work for them to be able to roll out globally. So basically, Paddle is the only end-to-end infrastructure that will enable you to invoice your customers and get payments support, offering different payment methods, as well as make sure you're globally compliant and file your taxes so that you don't have to. I think what sets Paddle apart from a lot of other companies that are helping companies with tax is that we actually do it for you. In addition to that, we assume the full liability and risks associated to global tax compliance. VICTORIA: Right. Yes. And I saw a product that you all have or information that you shared called the Sales Tax Agony Index. Can you tell me a little bit about that? DANIËLLE: Well, I think, in general, tax is painful. [laughs] I think personal tax is painful. Anything that has to do with business tax is amplified significantly. And I think for software companies, often, you build a great product, and you want to bring it up to market. But then you're limited and slowed down from really expanding globally. I mean, that is where we come in to really take up the tax burden for software creators to be able to look at it as a stepping stone instead of a roadblock if that makes sense. VICTORIA: I think that makes a lot of sense. And it's interesting where we are right now with the current climate and economics that companies may be focusing on their finances to reduce cost but also to identify new areas to invest in, right? DANIËLLE: Yeah, right. And I think that's super interesting to me, which I keep saying I'm not sure why not all of the software world is on Paddle. Because I think if you look out there in the market, there's such a piecemeal solution to everything. So you have to, for example, if you're going to not build your own billing, you have to outsource buying software for your billing. You have to go find a payment provider that's compatible and then the resources to get them into your platform to make sure checkout is seamless. Then you have to get an accountant to reconcile your payment. You have to get customer support to support your customer payments. You have to get more additional headcount to make sure your chargebacks and your fraud rates stay down. And all of this, Paddle just does it for you, which I think especially in this climate where cost is becoming a subject, I think Paddle is a great business partner to enable software companies to grow at a reasonable cost and pricing, and really explore all of the global market out there versus having to do it yourself. VICTORIA: Right. And Paddle could maybe help you identify where your spend also has a high return on investment. Is that right? DANIËLLE: We do put you in direct contact with your customer, so your customers are not masked or anything like that. So you do have access to all of your customer data. And in addition to that, we've recently made an additional acquisition to grow the Paddle family by adding ProfitWell, which is really an expert in anything that has to do with retention and pricing. And we are working to integrate this product and make it available to our Paddle customers as well. So that is not something that is there today but soon will be. VICTORIA: Oh, interesting. And I read a recent interview that you did, and I liked how you connected retaining your customer base to your billing and invoicing process because that might be an afterthought for a lot of startups and founders. But it is really key in keeping your customers happy is having that easy billing and invoice process. Is that your perspective? DANIËLLE: Yeah. I definitely think that with any SaaS company, there's definitely something known as well as an abandoned cart like somebody that will, you know, maybe we do it ourselves as well when we go out shopping online. We drop stuff in our cart, and we never make it to checkout. And I think to make sure you optimize your checkout, and your revenue is to make sure that the process is as seamless as possible, that your customers can just flow through this process and not have any challenges during that journey to make sure that your conversion rates stay high. VICTORIA: Right. That makes a lot of sense. Do you have other insights about customer retention that may relate to the Paddle platform? DANIËLLE: I think what's unique for me as a finance professional looking at the Paddle product...given I am by little biased because I do work here, and I'm a big fan of our product. But I think, and I've talked about this often, there are so many software solutions or tools that finance folks are trying to be sold. We get them sold to us, like, oh, this will automate 100%, and this will reduce this, or this will reduce that. I think what Paddle does well and how we are uniquely positioned is that what should be automated is automated and what needs a human touch has a human touch. And what I mean with that as well is in the sense of your customers making a payment and having a challenge we actually offer customer support with real people. And we do support your customers to make sure that they have a pleasant journey in the checkout process or resolve any payment issues that they have. So I think we balance the two out. And it's similar to, for example, taxes as well. We automate what we can, but we have a team of tax analysts really looking at the data and making sure everything is running correctly and is exactly compliant as it should be. So I think we bring together the best of both worlds in saying we automate a portion of the journey and where we can use and should use the human touch and intellect we do so. So we're not promising 100% percent automation. We just promise that we will do it for you by combining the best of both worlds. VICTORIA: That makes sense, right? Because, at some point, the automation can become more effective than hiring. But how can you scale your business without having to double your finance reporting and your tax teams, right? DANIËLLE: And I fully agree. And I think you bring up a very interesting point. I think from my past; I had been at Booking where you were in a situation where you have an endless means of cash flow that you can really build your dream automation tools. I think a lot of the big automation that Booking has achieved in finance is really admirable, and a majority of it has been done in-house. So I think they've done a really great job with that. But then, when you step out of an organization like that into a smaller startup scale-up, you do not have infinite funds. You are talking mostly about cash burn and then your cash runway. And you do have to optimize between a decision of should I invest in tooling to automate? Or does it make sense for me to hire a person because hiring a person is more cost-effective than automating? I think in a cash-tight environment, you do have to evaluate what makes more sense; sometimes, it is hiring a person. Sometimes hiring one person will get you scaled for two years. And other times, if you looked at you will have to hire one or five people per year to do a certain task, then it makes sense definitely to invest in automation because the cost will be upfront, but the benefits will be scalable, and you'll have definitely benefits from that point. VICTORIA: And there's a mix of you need people to do the work, but you also need to give them the tools to be able to do their job, right? DANIËLLE: Yes, I think most of us in finance still find that Excel is our best friend. [laughs] VICTORIA: Well, I won't complain about Excel myself. I have a background in economics, an undergraduate, so I'm an Excel pro. DANIËLLE: Yeah, I think definitely Excel has brought us all a very long way. [laughs] VICTORIA: So what's different about your customers that you're targeting with Paddle? What's unique about them? DANIËLLE: I think what is unique about them is that we want to really bring the creator of softwares their dreams to life, which means it's almost like we want to dream with them if that makes sense. We want to make sure that whatever they build becomes available to the world, whether they are a small startup or a small company or if they are a giant in the industry and very good at their skills. So we want to target the entire market for software. And I think what makes them unique is that our customers are usually a fan of our product, but we are a fan of theirs. So I think, typically, that works both ways really well. VICTORIA: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And do you find that your customers are facing a different set of challenges today than they might have a year ago? DANIËLLE: I think the SaaS industry has changed. I think it's no secret that definitely the economic landscape has shifted. I think we were very fortunate to close our Series D in very favorable circumstances before the climate changed. I do think it will change back, and I don't think this is all doom and gloom. But I also do think that we are all facing the situation where we should be taking proactive measures and steps to manage our cost effectively before it is actually required. For some of the SaaS industries, it may already be required, and for others, I think even those doing well should be mindful to take steps where possible. Cutting costs does not necessarily mean cutting quality or immediately reducing staff. I think it just is more taking a step back and critically looking at your spend to see, do I have opportunity to renegotiate existing contracts? Are there, especially in my cost of goods sold, can I get this reduced somehow without reducing the quality of my product and what we're delivering as a business? And I think these are very good and big opportunities that we can definitely seize in addition to our operational spend. Just taking a critical look at this can really go a long way. VICTORIA: That makes sense. It sounds like, as a VP of finance, those are things that you might be able to bring to the table. Or tell me more about how the role of a finance person plays in a startup in making some of those decisions. DANIËLLE: I think the role of a finance person is super critical in the sense of you're looking back to see what the spend was and where we've been and to look forward to what the trends will be. You're also trying to inspire vision and strategy and work together with the sales team to both have realistic forecasts on what we will do, can do, and what we'll actually deliver. And I think as a finance leader, more than ever, it is so needed for us to partner with the business instead of being chucked away in a corner somewhere processing financial reports or looking at them. So I think the finance literacy is definitely something that we can add to our organizations. I'll give you an example, as we rolled out our budget, it wasn't just to deliver it to the board or to our executive committee, but it was also to talk about it with our senior leadership. I think the senior leadership is also so critical to any organization to say, "Hey, we are going to commit together with our own leaders to make sure that we're executing the plan and that we will also get all of our teams to partner and create that buy-in as a company." So I think as a finance leader, it's not just my job to go out there and say, "Hey, we have to cut costs," but also to explain what is happening to the economic climate, why we have to cut costs, and what are the benefits of doing it before it is needed. And definitely paving the road to say, "Hey, this is beneficial for all of us because these are our financial goals that we can achieve, but we can only achieve them together." So I think creating that buy-in and building that team across the organization that is committed to the correct finance management is super critical in this day and age. It used to be that it was just finance's role to watch the finances; I think now it's a collaborative effort of the entire company. VICTORIA: I really like that I have a background in DevOps, and that's breaking down silos between different parts of the organization. And so I love to hear that finance is getting really involved and be a part of the overall decisions that everyone's making in the company, right? DANIËLLE: Yeah, definitely. VICTORIA: How does Paddle build stakeholder buy-in within the company? What does that process look like for you all? DANIËLLE: I think very early on, we identified that, obviously, our executive team is key. I think this is the tip of the arrow really leading the organization in giving vision and direction. I find that we've been very fortunate, in my humble opinion, because we have a great CEO and a great COO. And I really enjoy working with the entire executive team. They're just a wonderful group of people. Besides being amazing professionals, they're just generally nice, [chuckles] which is always great. But we've identified early on that actually your senior leadership right underneath that is so critical to your company's culture, how you hire, how you buy, how you move, how you invest, but also how would your future be like. Because while the executive team definitely is key in giving the direction, the vision, and mission, I think the team right underneath that, the senior leadership team, is really the one that is going to go out there and materialize that dream and vision, and really live that dream, and really get the right people and to get the job done. So I think what we've identified early on is to make everybody an active stakeholder, do the planning together. Like, before the executive team rolls out a mission and vision, it's not going to be a total surprise to the senior leadership. We've all taken part of it, and we've all supported it, and we've discussed it, and we've fine-tuned it. So I think definitely taking people along in the journey goes a long way. The other thing I think that is very critical is just being transparent and being honest. At the end of the day, we're people. We want to know what's happening, why it's happening, and what we're working towards. And I think that is something that Paddle has done very well as well internally as a team. We have great values and great focus on what we want to deliver, where we want to go, and we definitely are focused on doing so together. VICTORIA: That sounds great. You all have a shared vision of where you're going and where you are currently. And that probably helps get everyone on board with what we're working on in the future. It gets everyone motivated a little bit more, right? DANIËLLE: Correct. Exactly. VICTORIA: So, is there anything particularly exciting coming up with Paddle that you are looking forward to? DANIËLLE: I think I'm super excited to see what ProfitWell, how it will integrate, and the product that it will offer, and the opportunities that it will offer to our Paddle customers. I'm super excited to see that materialize and seeing all of this come together. We've been waiting, and we've been working towards this deal for a very long time, so seeing it materialize is quite exciting. And I'm definitely looking forward to that. VICTORIA: And do you think that that cultural strength you mentioned with Paddle and having that transparency and quality of support from the leadership does that help translate when you're doing big deals like that and closing deals with other companies? DANIËLLE: Yeah, it definitely does. I think, in general, the finance team has had quite an exciting first half of the year. I want to say, you know, being in Series D, having due diligence done, ProfitWell, at the same time preparing for an audit, having your financial team build out your reporting. I think we've had so many things run at the same time, and the pressures are quite high. So I think just having that positive culture together as a team gives you strength as well together to be your best self under pressure instead of really crumbling or not getting along and struggling with it. VICTORIA: Yeah, that makes total sense. If you feel like you're supported by other humans in your company, [laughs] then when you're stressed, it makes it easier to get along. That makes a lot of sense. Do you have any other advice for finance leaders or startups who are navigating the economic downturn at this time? DANIËLLE: I would say keep an eye open. Do not stop investing. Do be critical about your ROI. Make sure that where you're spending your money is where it makes the most sense for the business, and just keep an eye out for opportunity. Because just because the climate has turned does not mean that it will not turn back, and it does mean that there are loads of opportunities out there that we can still seize as a business. VICTORIA: Right. It means that different markets are more active, right? [laughs] DANIËLLE: Usually. Correct. VICTORIA: Do you have any questions for me or for thoughtbot? DANIËLLE: I'm just curious, for you as well, what's your favorite subject that you discuss on thoughtbot? VICTORIA: Ooh, a favorite subject. That's tough because I love hearing from our designers and our developers. We have many developers who are some core contributors to Rails, and so they are very knowledgeable about things like we have random meetups that happen at thoughtbot. So you can sign up and just randomly pair up with somebody else in the company. And the first random meetup I had, I met up with someone who is like the expert on security [laughs] and dotfiles and helped me finish setting up my developer environment. And so I love that at thoughtbot, you can start a random conversation with someone, and they'll end up having this wealth of knowledge around a particular subject that you might have been struggling with and can just immediately solve your problem. I also like the fun parts. There's actually a blog that just captures all of our jokes from Slack [laughter] just… So it's a part of like making it fun and being human at work and kind of showing up with your whole self. I think that adds a cultural strength for those moments like you describe when things are difficult, or you have a hard project. You feel bonded to your teammates and feel like you're all working together, and that positivity stays throughout. DANIËLLE: Yes, definitely. VICTORIA: So, are you currently in Amsterdam? Is that right? DANIËLLE: I am based in the Netherlands. I'm actually based in Alkmaar, which is 30 minutes outside of Amsterdam, but I typically say Amsterdam because that's the city that most people know where it's at. [laughs] VICTORIA: Same for me. I go with San Diego, but I'm actually in Encinitas. It's a little bit further north. So is there a difference, or what is the startup environment or community like in Europe then? DANIËLLE: I think I'm quite impressed because before moving to the Netherlands, I wasn't aware there was so much happening, but there are actually some channels called Silicon Canals, so the canals for the boats, so it's a bit of a play on words. And there's such a vibrant startup and scale-up community in the Netherlands, which was quite surprising for me to run into. So I do think by nature...I was born in the Netherlands, and I moved to Aruba when I was five. So I wasn't raised here. But I think if I look at the Dutch culture, it is quite innovative. And they do tend to find different ways of doing things when it comes to water or building dams. And I think that curiosity and innovation has moved over to the tech space. So I think that Amsterdam is definitely a city to watch in terms of scale-ups that pop up and the progress that they make. VICTORIA: I've heard a lot about new technologies and new solutions coming out of the Netherlands with agriculture specifically, but I am not surprised that there's a burgeoning startup community there. [laughs] That's wonderful. DANIËLLE: Yeah, it's quite exciting. VICTORIA: That's very cool. All right, is there anything that you expected me to ask that I did not ask? DANIËLLE: No, I can't think of anything off the top of my head. I think we covered quite a bit. VICTORIA: Yes. I'm watching the time and making sure that I'm giving you enough time. DANIËLLE: [laughs] VICTORIA: I liked this quote from your blog, actually, so I'll repeat it here, "Bad companies are destroyed by crises, good companies survive them, and great companies are improved by them." DANIËLLE: Yes, that is definitely one of my favorites. VICTORIA: Do you have an example of a company where they went through a crisis, and they came out great afterwards? DANIËLLE: I have a friend of mine, actually, that started a company called Limelights. And I think when he started this, he was so focused on marketing and development and so on. When the COVID crisis hit...and he's actually the one that shared that quote with me, we're close friends. He was sharing with me that quote and how he has completely revamped his company from a marketing company, which is basically the first thing that most companies...the expense they started cutting, to an online learning platform, and events, and team development program. So I think he's done this so successfully that his business started thriving during the COVID period. And still now, after when things are relatively normalized in the tech space and just the overall spend, he is doing better than he did before this happened. His story of his company was so inspirational to me. And we were talking about that quote, and I'm just like, that's it. That's exactly that innovative culture that you want to see in times of crisis. You don't want people to back down and say, "Oh, times are hard. Let's just ride this out." You want people to start looking around, like, how can we do this differently? And how can we navigate these new waters that we're in? And proactively be engaged with your environment to really find alternatives to what is happening. VICTORIA: I would guess that having a clear picture on your finances and your customer information would help you be able to make those pivots. Is that right? And how Paddle can help you get out of those [inaudible 23:21] DANIËLLE: Yes, that is definitely correct. [laughs] Like I said, we're an end-to-end platform. So you can literally have all of your data at the tip of your fingers to make sure that you make the right financial decisions in addition to us taking off some of the financial tasks off of your plate. Like I said, we want to do it for our customers, make sure that everything is running smoothly. So I think this is a massive opportunity for companies to have additional support in their processes because we take them over to a degree as well as indeed have clarity and transparency into their financial reporting and how their revenue streams are doing. VICTORIA: Right. Because I imagine that task that work to put all that together would take up a lot of founder's time. DANIËLLE: Yes. VICTORIA: So freeing up that time and giving you a chance to understand where you're at now, and where you can go, and be able to pivot in those times of crisis. DANIËLLE: Exactly. VICTORIA: That makes a lot of sense. Has Paddle found that offering free information or these tools like the Sales Tax Agony Index does that help you bring customers into your platform? DANIËLLE: Yes, definitely. I think there's a bit of humor here as well. Obviously, this was not put together by a finance person. [laughs] But I do love that our sales and marketing team is super creative in bringing the finance story and the tax story to life. I think as soon as people hear tax, if you can tune out, you do. So I think they've done a great job at pointing out the Sales Tax Agony Index, and they are not exaggerating. [laughs] In many of the jurisdictions, it is quite challenging. And I think one thing that makes it challenging as well...so while software is not new to most of us as users, software is still quite new to most governments, and most countries are not certain when or how to tax this. So I think everybody is trying to figure this out globally, which is where we can step into the space, as well as we do monitor the global landscape for taxes. The changes happen fast. They happen continuously. And implementation of taxes is not always logical because taxes are not always logical. So I think looking at the tax agony that our sales and marketing team has put together is definitely not an over-exaggeration. I think the risks are real for misunderstanding or misreading the tax laws that are in place, and so that's where we come in to really bring our experts and really dissect some of the meanings of these. We have partners globally to ensure compliance. I think that the tax that is charged on software can be so variable that, as a business by yourself, it's going to be super tricky to monitor. Like in some countries, the software is taxed locally only if you sell to a local customer. It is not taxed locally if it's sold internationally. So there are so many little hooks and needles. In some countries, you don't have to pay tax unless you exceed X amount of sales on your software. So all of these rules and regulations can be quite obstacles and blockers to rolling out your business globally. VICTORIA: Right. I hadn't even thought about a lot of that complexity. One of the things I'm excited about most with thoughtbot is that it's an international company. And so I'm out of my DC bubble, and we have customers in England and team members all over the world. So I think it's exciting that there's a product out there that can help you navigate things like taxes across all different countries, which I wouldn't have even thought would be that big of a problem, but apparently, it is. [laughs] DANIËLLE: And I think especially when you talk about the tax agony panel, you can also see what the challenges are, and worst penalties, and fines, and prison. VICTORIA: [laughs] Yeah, right? It's like, it's very difficult, and the agony is high, and the penalty is high. [laughter] So that's...you don't want to go to prison for accidentally misunderstanding the tax code. That's a real serious risk that you'd face. DANIËLLE: Yes, it is. [laughs] VICTORIA: Awesome. Do you want to do any final takeaways for our listeners today? DANIËLLE: I would say chin up. The economic downturn is not going to last forever. While it's good to look for opportunity to save costs, it's also a great opportunity and moment to look for the right investments to make to grow your company. VICTORIA: Wonderful. Well, thank you so much, Daniëlle. I really enjoyed our conversation. DANIËLLE: Thank you, Victoria. It was great meeting you. VICTORIA: You can subscribe to the show and find notes along with a complete transcript for this episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. You can find me on Twitter @victori_ousg. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thanks for listening. See you next time. ANNOUNCER: This podcast was brought to you by thoughtbot. thoughtbot is your expert design and development partner. Let's make your product and team a success. Special Guest: Daniëlle Keeven.