Beneath the Transaction

A current leader in Groundwork, Jasmine White, shares key realizations she has made over the past two months participating in the program. Innovation emerged as a focal point of our conversation--especially the contribution it has in creating conditions for transformational change. Jasmine is the Executive Director of Capital Community Media and has moved to Salem from the opposite side of the country to fill that role. We are excited to have her as part of our community and our Institute as we strive for excellence together!

With us again is Seth Elliott, author of The Merlin Advantage. Seth joined our show last year through a mutual connection for one of our listeners' favorite episodes (#33), to discuss ideas from his book. He was in town to speak at one of our monthly leadership sessions recently, so we had to get him in studio again and go deeper into his book. Seth is a joy to be with and this episode delves further into the nuances of leadership.

Jim Ferrell, bestselling author and Founder of Withiii Leadership Center, visited Groundwork to speak at our end-of-year banquet. We had to get him in studio for the second time to discuss concepts that are pertinent to what we teach within our institute. Jim has a vision for bridging divides and bringing people together, which is in line with our desire at Groundwork to create "conditions" for transformational change. We go deep in a fairly short amount of time in this episode--it is a must-listen, and probably one you will want to come back to. Enjoy! A big thank you to Jim and the Withiii Leadership Center.

The average school superintendent serves for about 5 years at a time, which makes education a breeding ground for organizational change and leadership transitions. Mary Paulson has served as the Chief of Staff for many superintendents; she has seen the reality of change up close. Change is difficult and the majority of people resist it. Mary provides such a great perspective from what she has learned over the years regarding change and transitional periods. If you are going through change or any type of transition, this episode is for you.

The CEO of our local Chamber of Commerce, Tom Hoffert, joins us in studio. Together we discussed the interplay between what we know and what we learn. We talked about our community and what leadership means within a community; the principles of leading at the community level apply at all levels. Leaders bring people together, unite them, and galvanize them toward a common goal. Strong leadership is needed in every community, and it starts with you.

Too many of us, especially leaders, get caught up in problem-solving, day in and day out. This is not necessarily bad--problems need to be solved, after all. The question we should be asking is, who should be solving them? As a leader, getting caught up in continuous problem solving can lead to days that feel consistently busy, without much closure or direction. If we can learn to give people the tools they need to solve their own problems, not only are solutions found, but leaders know exactly what they have done at the end of each day. Their role is to develop people. Are you developing the people you influence in your life? Justin Allen, COO of Neighborly Ventures, joins us this episode to discuss.

An experienced community leader, Tim Sinatra, joined us in the studio to discuss what he has learned from leading turnaround efforts inside of organizations. Tim has a breadth of knowledge valuable to anyone. This is a must-listen episode with a guest that we have wanted on our show for a long time. Salem is lucky to have him.

Special guest and consultant Kay Hazen spoke at our leadership institute and we were lucky enough to steal a few additional moments of her time for the show. We pick up the conversation right where we left off when she last joined us, focusing on leadership brands. It doesn't matter if we hold the title of being a leader or not, if we are young or old, in our personal life or professional life. What do people say about you when you leave the room? What they might say is what our brand is. Does that match with what we want it to be?

Over the past couple years, we have made a consistent effort to learn, grow, and improve our Rooted curriculum. In this episode, Chris and Tk Ford discuss several of the theoretical underpinnings of the framework. If you are curious about the Rooted curriculum or want some inspiration for the day, this is a great episode for you.

Good friend and CEO/Founder of NGO Rebuild for Peace, Christopher Udall, joins our show. We have been wanting to get Chris as a guest for a while now and we finally found a mutual time to connect. Chris has already had what seems to be a lifetime of experiences across the globe, engaging in peacebuilding efforts surrounding illicit trades (human trafficking, drugs, etc.). This episode is both heavy and refreshing as we learn from Chris's approach and about what each of us can do to improve our own relationships and communities.