Angelic Gibson joined AvidXchange in October 2018 as the Chief Information Officer.

Angelic has spent over 20 years in Information Technology serving the following industries: Higher Education, Wholesale Distribution and Logistics, Retail and Manufacturing in public, private equity and IPO models; including Technekes, LLC, American Tire Distributors (ATD), Estee Lauder, Inc, Sleepy’s, and the State University of NY.

Angelic has held various leadership positions, including most recently, the SVP, Information Technology at Technekes, based in Charlotte, NC. Previously, she worked for American Tire leading various IT operations functions since 2008.

Angelic has deep experience in enterprise technology systems and management practices supporting databases, networks, telecommunications, and infrastructure.  She was also central to the development and execution of information security standards, a technology program management office, and disaster recovery best practices.  She has built and supported business intelligence/data management platforms and has extensive cloud computing strategic insight.

Angelic holds a B.S. degree in Management Information Systems from American InterContinental University.

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For 30 years as a management consultant, executive coach, and facilitator, Liz Kislik has helped clients such as American Express, Orvis, The Girl Scouts, Comcast, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Highlights for Children solve their thorniest problems while strengthening their top and bottom lines. Her specialty is developing high performing leaders and workforces.

She is a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and Entrepreneur, and a TEDx speaker on “Why There’s So Much Conflict at Work and What You Can Do to Fix It”. She has also written for the European Financial Review and the Forward.

Liz’s articles have been included in Harvard Business Press books Guide to Motivating People and Dealing with Difficult People, the Wall Street Journal’s Morning Download, and the Washington Post’s Work Advice column, and she has been interviewed for The Muse, European CEO magazine, Thrive Global, and The Financial Times Ignites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l-AOBz69KU

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Being a leader demands bravery. In this episode I talk about overcoming FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real) and leading with confidence. I list and explain these 4 steps for dealing with fear:

In order to be a leader, you must be brave.  For some people it comes naturally, but for others of us,

we have to work at it.  If you want to work at it with other like minded folks, please sign up at https://techleaders.group.  I’ve focused on leadership for many years now, and my wife even says I focus on it too much sometimes. I see countless people that have so much potential for leadership, but havenever stepped out and gave it shot due to fear. Now Fear isn’t always bad.  There are good fears too.  For example, I’m afraid of snakes.  God gave me that fear so that I don’t get bit by one of those suckers and die.  That’s a healthy fear, at least I tell myself it is.  Okay, another example.  I want my kids to have certain fears.  I want my son to be afraid of crossing the street without holding an adult’s hand.  Having that fear may save his life.  But I don’t want him to be afraid to have fun because of what others might think.  Remember there are healthy and unhealthy fears.

It’s amazing that my 5-year-old son will sing at the top of his lungs when a song comes on that she knows.  He has no fear of what others will think.  That’s something we learn.  I’m afraid to sing in public, although I was known for rapping at karaoke in college. I bet I wasn’t afraid when I was 5.  I learned to be afraid of what others might think.  We can call that fear, or maybe shame.  I’m ashamed of how I sound when I sing. Many leaders have a fear, or shame of their leadership.  They don’t know if they are good or not, because they haven’t ever tried.  Maybe this isn’t the best example, but the point I’m getting at is that your fear isn’t a healthy one.  Its not in place to save your life.  It is something you learned to protect yourself from a perceived risk, which isn’t even real.  People don’t care if you’re good or bad at leadership… at least not at first.  You aren’t expected to know everything.  In order to be good at something you must be brave, or as Todd Henry put it in one of his talks, Brilliance Demands Bravery.

1)Breathe – A few years ago, at TEDxCharlotte I heard Jonathan Winn tell his story on the power of one breath. – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oqYovTjD6Q He talks about how deep breathes can calm your nervous, relax your mind and body.  When I’m nervous, I breathe.

2) Reason with yourself why you’re afraid – Figure out what your fears are all about.  Many time it is not the act that we’re afraid of, but rather the reaction of others.  Before I started teaching college, I was afraid to speak in front of people.  On my 1st day of class, I suffered from The Imposter Syndrome and I didn’t want to go, but I muscled through it.  I knew that when I got In front of that class they would find me out as a fraud.  They would ask me a technical question that I didn’t know the answer too, then start booing and throwing papers at me.  Well, they did ask some questions that I didn’t know the answer to.  But they accepted that I didn’t know, and a quick Google Search got us the answer and got the class back on track. People actually liked and learned from what I had to say. I was helping people.  My fears had not justification.  Now, to break this down. I wasn’t afraid of teaching or speaking.  I was afraid of some reaction that I thought the people I was teaching might have.  I was afraid of something that I thought might happen, but was 99.9% likely to NOT happen.  Figure out what you’re really afraid of.

3) Accept your fears – Accept the fact that you’re afraid, and that it is okay to be afraid.  But also play out that fear.  What’s the worse thing that can happen?  No Really, what’s the worse that can happen.  So, let’s play out the teaching scenario… I show up the first day of class, with my zipper down.  The students laugh at me.  They ask me questions I don’t know the answers to.  I freeze, the students throw things at me. One of the students works for the local news paper and writes a story about how dumb I am.  I get fired from my day job… Really?  Really?  Doesn’t this sound ridiculous?  That’s because it is.  Most of our fears are for things that have never happened and most likely would/could never happen. In the 4 Hour Work Week, Tim Ferris, says to list out your fears, play them out, then list how you would recover from them if they actually played out as you think they might.  That’s some good advice, but I like to add one more thing to it.  If you’re afraid of something, then you need to evaluate if that’s a good fear, or a bad fear.  Will the fear save your life?  If not, then it is probably hiding something that’s meaningful for you and it might be where you need go.  If you’re afraid of stepping out and taking the lead, then it is probably the one thing you need to be doing the most.

4) Visualize the Win – Visualize yourself overcoming your fears.  When I talked about negotiation, and when I was learning about negotiation, I was taught that you need the to let the other party, visualize the win.  Let them see a way for this negotiation to be over and them to get an outcome they are satisfied with.  When I’m bartering a deal for some website work that I am doing, I show them what the website might be like, then work our way backwards to the win.  Getting over your fears and being brave is sort of like negotiating with yourself. You have to convince yourself that the bad things you think might happen, likely won’t, and if they do, you can get past them, and be stronger for having gone through them.

5) Execute – Gary Vaynerchuk says ideas are crap, execution is everything.  That statement is spot on.  Sometimes I let fears get in the way of my execution, but in order to be brave, step out and be a leader, you must execute.  If you don’t execute, you’re leaving your best work in the graveyard.  You’re depriving the world of something you should give them.  If you want change, you must execute. If you want things to get better, you must execute. If you want to be a leader, you must execute.  Be BRAVE – Breath, Reason, Accept, Visualize, Execute.

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“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” — Jim Rohn

In this solo show I talk about the people you spend the most time with. I’ll dig into the importance of networking with leaders at your level and above at other organizations.  I’ll talk about how to meet those leaders then tell you about a special project I’m working on, https://techleaders.group. Tech Leaders is a small group of like-minded technology pros that I will organize and provide ongoing leadership discussions with and meet with on a weekly basis with the goal of becoming the best leader we can be. Some benefits of joining a small group like Tech Leaders is:

If you are interested in learning more about Tech Leaders, please visit https://techleaders.group, and fill out the form to learn more.

Also this week I’m rolling out our Sponsors and Affiliates page.  Go there to check out some products that I use and stand behind.  Also be sure to use the link and/or affiliate code to get special savings.

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Dr. Liz Bywater is a one-of-a-kind leadership expert who works at the intersection of business and psychology. She integrates deep expertise in human behavior and organizational dynamics with her pragmatic mindset and engaging personal style to help her clients thrive in an increasingly complex world. C-suite leaders and boards consistently enlist Liz’s help to:

Results include rapid and dramatic improvements in revenues, profitability, productivity, work culture, leadership, and more. Dr. Bywater works with top executives and management teams across an array of companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, AmerisourceBergen, Biotronik, EMDSerono, Nike, Boeing, Thomson Reuters and more. She provides her clients with expert advice and actionable tools for success, based on more than 25 years of experience. She sits on the Editorial Advisory Board for Life Science Leader and frequently provides leadership insights for Fast Company, FierceCEO, the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other top media outlets. Dr. Bywater has also been a featured guest on CBS’s Philadelphia Agenda and Marilyn Russell’s Remarkable Women. A longstanding member of the American Psychological Society and the Society for the Advancement of Consulting, Dr. Bywater has been recognized as one of the best consultants in the world. In 2018, she was inducted into the Million Dollar Consultant® Hall of Fame.

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John D. Wood, Esq. is a graduate of NYU School of Law and TCU where he earned his bachelors degrees summa cum laude in English and Philosophy. He is a member of the New York and Texas State Bar Associations and has provided Continuing Professional Education programs on insurance, copyleft, and artificial intelligence and the law. He represents real and intellectual property owners in insurance matters through his law firm, and consults on technology policy through The Humachine LLC.

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Today I’m back with a solo show about rewards and recognition. I started the draft of this episode more than a year ago but I haven’t found the right time to air it… until now.

Rewards often involve something of monetary value being given to an employee or team in response to achieving something pretty great.  A recognition, however, is something that doesn’t need to be associated with an accomplishment, but it can be.  A recognition is usually praise or something with  psychological value and not necessarily monetary value. I’ll give some examples on the show.

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Today I’m doing a solo show talking about building  better teams.  In this episode  I talk about the following:

FIRE is the acronym I use when describing building in this talk.  Under each heading I discuss things I feel are important.

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Vennard Wright (PMP, ITIL v3 Practitioner) is currently the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Vice President (VP) of Operations for Iron Bow Technologies.  As CIO/VP of Operations, he provides leadership and oversight for the information technology (IT), order operations and manufacturing functions.  In this capacity, it is his responsibility to transform the management of business technology capabilities and client services to support Iron Bow’s operations by ensuring that service delivery is in full alignment with senior leadership’s strategic goals and objectives.

Prior to joining Iron Bow, his professional IT experience was comprised of multiple senior leadership roles which included serving as CIO for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC), CIO for Prince George’s County Government (MD), Director of Technology for Hillary Clinton during her successful United States Senate re-election campaign and subsequent 2008 Presidential Campaign, as well as serving as Director of Technology of Technology during Rushern L. Baker III’s successful run for County Executive of Prince George’s County, MD in 2010.  He was also Chief Technology Officer and Technical Organization Delivery Manager for Electronic Data Systems (EDS), which was subsequently acquired by Hewlett Packard (HP).

Mr. Wright has also served as a volunteer and participated in numerous fundraisers and philanthropic efforts for various worthy causes. In addition to more than two decades of IT management experience, Vennard brings an equal amount of hands-on experience in working with young people through myriad avenues.  His experience includes mentoring students in multiple settings. As a USA Track & Field (USATF) Level-One certified coach and USATF certified official, he has coached many young athletes into NCAA scholarships.

Because of his work in the technology industry, he has received numerous awards, authored multiple articles and spoken publicly on many topics, ranging from the importance of experiential learning in our educational systems to the changing role that emerging technology plays in future career prospects.

Mr. Wright also serves on a number of boards that help to widen his perspective on the latest methods for effectively applying the latest technologies and best practices to solve common enterprise level problems.  He is applying those same principles to solve some of the most vexing IT challenges in the Washington DC Metropolitan region.

Vennard Wright resides in Clinton, MD with his wife, Janelle, and four children.

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Christopher O’Donnell is a technologist, musician and public speaker who has built dozens of web and mobile products. His product portfolio ranges from language learning products for the U.S. military to the most popular free CRM product in the world. Today, Christopher serves as Senior Vice President of Hubspot Product, which he led from startup ($50M in revenue) to successful publicly-traded company ($600M in revenue). Christopher has become a staple in the product management community, and was recently named one of the Best Product Leaders of 2019 (via Comparably). As an experienced leader, he is passionate about leading and supporting teams to build anything, from developing tech products to creating rock & roll records. He is a highly-rated public speaker and a frequent guest lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management and major global corporations, speaking on topics like leadership & team-building to audiences of over ten thousand. Outside of his day job, Christopher spends his time as songwriter and guitarist for his band The Providers, with whom he has recorded dozens of albums across a variety of musical genres.

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