2 Minute Takeaway Podcast

Assessments are becoming increasingly popular in the business world but have they become nothing more than a fad, like the Macarena? You may remember the Macarena as a popular song and dance craze from the 1990s. It was everywhere and then one day, it was gone. The same could soon be true for workplace assessments. While the tools can be valuable, most are being given without any kind of long term action plan. In this week's 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast, we talk about these shortcomings and what smart leaders should do to get the most out of assessments. 

The 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast gives you easy to implement tips that will improve your productivity, performance, and profits, Professional Speaker, Author, and former broadcaster, Ken Okel, understands what it's like to feel overwhelmed at work. For more about Ken, his live speaking presentations and workshops, plus his weekly productivity tips, visit KenOkel.com.

Ken Okel laughed years ago when a potential employer described him as being “too versatile,” to hire. Rather than run from this title, he’s embraced it.

For more than a decade, TV audiences watched Ken on the news. At several stations, they saw him perform as a TV news anchor, a reporter, a weatherman, and even a talk show host. Ken covered natural disasters, school shootings, and grieving families. It wasn’t always sad as he got to meet celebrities, find out what makes unforgettable people tick, and get paid to do things like free fall 70 feet, ride through the streets in a motorized armchair, and be safely attacked by a police dog. Ken then moved into the nonprofit world for several adventures. These saw him do everything from running a professional ballet company to organizing more than 100 hurricane relief volunteers.  Today people know Ken for his leadership presentations to companies and associations. Audiences are engaged and entertained as they receive the tools necessary to transform their professional lives. Some enjoy taking part in Ken’s popular Paper Hat Exercise.

I'm proud to announce that this is the 200th episode of the 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast. To put it in perspective, I've been giving you bite sized leadership and productivity tips for close to four years. Keep in mind that most podcasts don't make it past episode seven. In this week's 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast, I thought it would be fun to break the format and give you an extended listen to one of my live presentations. And of course, thanks to all who have supported this podcast over the past 200 episodes.

The 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast gives you easy to implement tips that will improve your productivity, performance, and profits, Professional Speaker, Author, and former broadcaster, Ken Okel, understands what it's like to feel overwhelmed at work. For more about Ken, his live speaking presentations and workshops, plus his weekly productivity tips, visit KenOkel.com.

Ken Okel laughed years ago when a potential employer described him as being “too versatile,” to hire. Rather than run from this title, he’s embraced it.

For more than a decade, TV audiences watched Ken on the news. At several stations, they saw him perform as a TV news anchor, a reporter, a weatherman, and even a talk show host. Ken covered natural disasters, school shootings, and grieving families. It wasn’t always sad as he got to meet celebrities, find out what makes unforgettable people tick, and get paid to do things like free fall 70 feet, ride through the streets in a motorized armchair, and be safely attacked by a police dog. Ken then moved into the nonprofit world for several adventures. These saw him do everything from running a professional ballet company to organizing more than 100 hurricane relief volunteers.  Today people know Ken for his leadership presentations to companies and associations. Audiences are engaged and entertained as they receive the tools necessary to transform their professional lives. Some enjoy taking part in Ken’s popular Paper Hat Exercise.

How do you protect yourself from distractions when you don't know when those distractions are coming? It's an understandable challenge but not one that is insurmountable. It's all about creating a frameworks that allows you to take action when a distraction arrives. You protect yourself from distractions though something I call, a safe place. We'll take about this concept in this week's 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast. It's a story that begins with a landscaping crew and ends with you getting more done. 

The 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast gives you easy to implement tips that will improve your productivity, performance, and profits, Professional Speaker, Author, and former broadcaster, Ken Okel, understands what it's like to feel overwhelmed at work. For more about Ken, his live speaking presentations and workshops, plus his weekly productivity tips, visit KenOkel.com.

Ken Okel laughed years ago when a potential employer described him as being “too versatile,” to hire. Rather than run from this title, he’s embraced it.

For more than a decade, TV audiences watched Ken on the news. At several stations, they saw him perform as a TV news anchor, a reporter, a weatherman, and even a talk show host. Ken covered natural disasters, school shootings, and grieving families. It wasn’t always sad as he got to meet celebrities, find out what makes unforgettable people tick, and get paid to do things like free fall 70 feet, ride through the streets in a motorized armchair, and be safely attacked by a police dog. Ken then moved into the nonprofit world for several adventures. These saw him do everything from running a professional ballet company to organizing more than 100 hurricane relief volunteers.  Today people know Ken for his leadership presentations to companies and associations. Audiences are engaged and entertained as they receive the tools necessary to transform their professional lives. Some enjoy taking part in Ken’s popular Paper Hat Exercise.

When you are perched on top of a dunk tank, you get a different perspective of the world. While the position has its ups and downs, you can gain some valuable insight on human behavior.   In this week's 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast, we talk about this view and how the dunk tank can teach you a lot about business, promotion, and customers.

The 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast gives you easy to implement tips that will improve your productivity, performance, and profits, Professional Speaker, Author, and former broadcaster, Ken Okel, understands what it's like to feel overwhelmed at work. For more about Ken, his live speaking presentations and workshops, plus his weekly productivity tips, visit KenOkel.com.

Ken Okel laughed years ago when a potential employer described him as being “too versatile,” to hire. Rather than run from this title, he’s embraced it.

For more than a decade, TV audiences watched Ken on the news. At several stations, they saw him perform as a TV news anchor, a reporter, a weatherman, and even a talk show host. Ken covered natural disasters, school shootings, and grieving families. It wasn’t always sad as he got to meet celebrities, find out what makes unforgettable people tick, and get paid to do things like free fall 70 feet, ride through the streets in a motorized armchair, and be safely attacked by a police dog. Ken then moved into the nonprofit world for several adventures. These saw him do everything from running a professional ballet company to organizing more than 100 hurricane relief volunteers.  Today people know Ken for his leadership presentations to companies and associations. Audiences are engaged and entertained as they receive the tools necessary to transform their professional lives. Some enjoy taking part in Ken’s popular Paper Hat Exercise.

The chorus of a song helps remind you of certain themes and major points. In your business, do you have a similar reminder system, where you celebrate your big picture goals?

If you're not restating these goals, there's a good chance the song may be changing and certain priorities are being forgotten.

In this week's 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast, you'll learn why how creating a business chorus can bring sweet music to your organization.

The 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast gives you easy to implement tips that will improve your productivity, performance, and profits, Professional Speaker, Author, and former broadcaster, Ken Okel, understands what it's like to feel overwhelmed at work. For more about Ken, his live speaking presentations and workshops, plus his weekly productivity tips, visit KenOkel.com.

Ken Okel laughed years ago when a potential employer described him as being “too versatile,” to hire. Rather than run from this title, he’s embraced it.

For more than a decade, TV audiences watched Ken on the news. At several stations, they saw him perform as a TV news anchor, a reporter, a weatherman, and even a talk show host. Ken covered natural disasters, school shootings, and grieving families. It wasn’t always sad as he got to meet celebrities, find out what makes unforgettable people tick, and get paid to do things like free fall 70 feet, ride through the streets in a motorized armchair, and be safely attacked by a police dog. Ken then moved into the nonprofit world for several adventures. These saw him do everything from running a professional ballet company to organizing more than 100 hurricane relief volunteers.  Today people know Ken for his leadership presentations to companies and associations. Audiences are engaged and entertained as they receive the tools necessary to transform their professional lives. Some enjoy taking part in Ken’s popular Paper Hat Exercise.

While HR policies can shape an organization, they can also hurt its productivity. The common complaint from Human Resources departments is that they have too many rules. 

As a result, they spend much of their time policing policies, some of which are out of date. This isn't a problem that's restricted to the HR world.

In this week's 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast, you'll learn why less can be more when it comes to policies and how too many policies may suggest a leadership problem.

The 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast gives you easy to implement tips that will improve your productivity, performance, and profits, Professional Speaker, Author, and former broadcaster, Ken Okel, understands what it's like to feel overwhelmed at work. For more about Ken, his live speaking presentations and workshops, plus his weekly productivity tips, visit KenOkel.com.

Ken Okel laughed years ago when a potential employer described him as being “too versatile,” to hire. Rather than run from this title, he’s embraced it.

For more than a decade, TV audiences watched Ken on the news. At several stations, they saw him perform as a TV news anchor, a reporter, a weatherman, and even a talk show host. Ken covered natural disasters, school shootings, and grieving families. It wasn’t always sad as he got to meet celebrities, find out what makes unforgettable people tick, and get paid to do things like free fall 70 feet, ride through the streets in a motorized armchair, and be safely attacked by a police dog. Ken then moved into the nonprofit world for several adventures. These saw him do everything from running a professional ballet company to organizing more than 100 hurricane relief volunteers.  Today people know Ken for his leadership presentations to companies and associations. Audiences are engaged and entertained as they receive the tools necessary to transform their professional lives. Some enjoy taking part in Ken’s popular Paper Hat Exercise.

While losing a great employee can hurt your organization, have you thought much about making sure the replacement is set up for success? This about more than trying to hit the jackpot with another candidate and hope you'll have great results.

Sometimes success is about the work that's done before and being able to easily transition someone new into the position.

In this week's 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast, we talk about this important process and how you may want incentivize your departing employee to make sure the replacement will be successful.

The 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast gives you easy to implement tips that will improve your productivity, performance, and profits, Professional Speaker, Author, and former broadcaster, Ken Okel, understands what it's like to feel overwhelmed at work. For more about Ken, his live speaking presentations and workshops, plus his weekly productivity tips, visit KenOkel.com.

Ken Okel laughed years ago when a potential employer described him as being “too versatile,” to hire. Rather than run from this title, he’s embraced it.

For more than a decade, TV audiences watched Ken on the news. At several stations, they saw him perform as a TV news anchor, a reporter, a weatherman, and even a talk show host. Ken covered natural disasters, school shootings, and grieving families. It wasn’t always sad as he got to meet celebrities, find out what makes unforgettable people tick, and get paid to do things like free fall 70 feet, ride through the streets in a motorized armchair, and be safely attacked by a police dog. Ken then moved into the nonprofit world for several adventures. These saw him do everything from running a professional ballet company to organizing more than 100 hurricane relief volunteers.  Today people know Ken for his leadership presentations to companies and associations. Audiences are engaged and entertained as they receive the tools necessary to transform their professional lives. Some enjoy taking part in Ken’s popular Paper Hat Exercise.

There's an old broadcasting rule that can teach you a lot about controlling your team. It's not that your team is made up of bad people but sometimes they may need reminders of your important procedures and policies. Otherwise, they may start to undermine you and your organization. In this week's 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast, we talk about what can happen if you lose control of you team and how you may have to grab a metaphorical microphone out of their hands.

The 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast gives you easy to implement tips that will improve your productivity, performance, and profits, Professional Speaker, Author, and former broadcaster, Ken Okel, understands what it's like to feel overwhelmed at work. For more about Ken, his live speaking presentations and workshops, plus his weekly productivity tips, visit KenOkel.com.

Ken Okel laughed years ago when a potential employer described him as being “too versatile,” to hire. Rather than run from this title, he’s embraced it.

For more than a decade, TV audiences watched Ken on the news. At several stations, they saw him perform as a TV news anchor, a reporter, a weatherman, and even a talk show host. Ken covered natural disasters, school shootings, and grieving families. It wasn’t always sad as he got to meet celebrities, find out what makes unforgettable people tick, and get paid to do things like free fall 70 feet, ride through the streets in a motorized armchair, and be safely attacked by a police dog. Ken then moved into the nonprofit world for several adventures. These saw him do everything from running a professional ballet company to organizing more than 100 hurricane relief volunteers.  Today people know Ken for his leadership presentations to companies and associations. Audiences are engaged and entertained as they receive the tools necessary to transform their professional lives. Some enjoy taking part in Ken’s popular Paper Hat Exercise.

You may be used to hearing disclaimers on commercials, where an announcer is quickly listing something, like the side effects of a medication. Disclaimers are a kind of an excuse. I'm hearing more and more disclaimers coming out of the workplace. In this week's 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast, we talk about this problem and why some you are issuing disclaimers way too much. In more and more cases, these disclaimers have become an excuse for mediocrity.

The 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast gives you easy to implement tips that will improve your productivity, performance, and profits, Professional Speaker, Author, and former broadcaster, Ken Okel, understands what it's like to feel overwhelmed at work. For more about Ken, his live speaking presentations and workshops, plus his weekly productivity tips, visit KenOkel.com.

Ken Okel laughed years ago when a potential employer described him as being “too versatile,” to hire. Rather than run from this title, he’s embraced it.

For more than a decade, TV audiences watched Ken on the news. At several stations, they saw him perform as a TV news anchor, a reporter, a weatherman, and even a talk show host. Ken covered natural disasters, school shootings, and grieving families. It wasn’t always sad as he got to meet celebrities, find out what makes unforgettable people tick, and get paid to do things like free fall 70 feet, ride through the streets in a motorized armchair, and be safely attacked by a police dog. Ken then moved into the nonprofit world for several adventures. These saw him do everything from running a professional ballet company to organizing more than 100 hurricane relief volunteers.  Today people know Ken for his leadership presentations to companies and associations. Audiences are engaged and entertained as they receive the tools necessary to transform their professional lives. Some enjoy taking part in Ken’s popular Paper Hat Exercise.

Employee Engagement sounds like one of those trendy buzzwords until you learn that a lack of engagement costs U.S. businesses hundreds of billions of dollars. To make matters worse, more than 60% of the workforce will tell you that they don't feel engaged on their jobs. In this week's 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast, we talk about this ongoing challenge and what you can do to get the most out of your team.

The 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast gives you easy to implement tips that will improve your productivity, performance, and profits, Professional Speaker, Author, and former broadcaster, Ken Okel, understands what it's like to feel overwhelmed at work. For more about Ken, his live speaking presentations and workshops, plus his weekly productivity tips, visit KenOkel.com.

Ken Okel laughed years ago when a potential employer described him as being “too versatile,” to hire. Rather than run from this title, he’s embraced it.

For more than a decade, TV audiences watched Ken on the news. At several stations, they saw him perform as a TV news anchor, a reporter, a weatherman, and even a talk show host. Ken covered natural disasters, school shootings, and grieving families. It wasn’t always sad as he got to meet celebrities, find out what makes unforgettable people tick, and get paid to do things like free fall 70 feet, ride through the streets in a motorized armchair, and be safely attacked by a police dog. Ken then moved into the nonprofit world for several adventures. These saw him do everything from running a professional ballet company to organizing more than 100 hurricane relief volunteers.  Today people know Ken for his leadership presentations to companies and associations. Audiences are engaged and entertained as they receive the tools necessary to transform their professional lives. Some enjoy taking part in Ken’s popular Paper Hat Exercise.