Cascading Leadership - The Show

Adapted from interviews with James Davermann and several other leaders, here are 6 things you can do to create a high-performance team. 

Shifting from an individual contributor to a manager to a leader is extremely difficult. Use this framework to make that transition easier. 

Music Credit: Maarten Schellekens - Riviera 

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How do you maintain your federal contractor status and meet your federal diversity obligations? 

This 4 step process will set you on the right path. 

Take a listen to this micro-episode and reach out if you have questions. 

Music Credit: Maarten Schellekens - Riviera 

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One of the best ways to mitigate a persistent turnover issue is to create a workplace where everyone has a seat at the table and is seen and heard. 

Here are 4 things you can do to build an organization that is built to last. 

Music Credit: Maarten Schellekens - Riviera 

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If you are dealing with an employee turnover issue, this quick episode gives you 5 actionable steps you can take to shift that dynamic. 

Music Credit: Maarten Schellekens - Riviera 

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Summary/Abstract

Ashley  discusses her commitment to her job and how it is tied to her ability to brand build for Atlassian. She notes that as the company has grown, they have realized the need for a more formal process for brand evangelism and that she is a part of that process.

In the conversation, Ashley discusses how her hobbies and skills have helped her become a more valuable asset to her company. She talks about how her love of public speaking and acting has helped her become a face for the brand, and how her knowledge of agile topics has made her a valuable speaker on behalf of Atlassian. She also discusses how the company's value of be the change you seek has helped them build their brand in a more flexible way, allowing employees to be more involved in the company's public image.

She discusses the benefits of being a values-driven company, and how this benefits both the company and the individual employees. She also discusses how being empowered to build one's personal brand helps attract new talent to the company.

Ashley also makes recommendations on how to begin the process of creating a personal brand and getting started with the content creation process. This can help you to start thinking about how your work relates to your personal life and expertise.

Timestamps

00:02:00

The Benefits of Building Your Personal Brand Within Your Company

00:03:47

The Benefits of Being a Values-Driven Employee

00:06:00

How to Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn

00:08:47

How to Get Started With Writing Professional Content

00:10:56

The Benefits of an Active Social Media Presence for Businesses

00:12:38

How to Create Content That Drives Conversations

00:14:34

How to Create Content that Connects with Your Audience

00:16:53

How to Create Consistent Social Media Content When You Feel Stuck

00:18:11

The Importance of a Personal Brand

00:20:08

The Power of Personal Branding with Ashley Faus

00:21:52

The Benefits of Consistent Thought Leadership

00:25:28

The Importance of Branding and Positioning in Your Career

00:27:00

The Importance of Personal Branding in Career Success

00:28:45

The Power of a Prepared Mindset with Ashley Faus

Music Credit: Maarten Schellekens - Riviera 

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Summary/Abstract

Ashley Faus of Atlassian joins Dr. Jim to discuss a range of topics related to success, including weighted decision matrices, brand building, and credibility. Ashley shares her story of how she found success in multiple passion areas, and offers advice on how others can pursue their own goals.

In this conversation, Ashley discusses her work in product marketing for Atlassian, her experience in a number of different industries, and her philosophy on work-life integration. She also talks about her hobby of baking, which she picked up during the Covid pandemic.

In the beginning of the conversation, the idea of a weighted decision matrix is introduced. This matrix is a tool that can be used to help make decisions. The matrix takes into account different factors that are important to the decision maker and assigns a weight to each factor. The factors are then used to help make the final decision.

Ashley  and her husband used this matrix when deciding on colleges. They considered different factors such as location, cost, and degree programs. In the end, they were able to make a decision that was best for them.

Ashley  spoke about how to  make decisions by weighing different trade-offs. This theory can be used when making decisions about things like job offers, where someone might consider factors such as growth potential, compensation, work-life balance, and the tasks of the role. To use the theory, Ashley recommends picking five categories of things that matter to you, and then assigning a percentage to each category to show how important it is to you. You can then score each job offer you receive in each category, and multiply that score by the percentage to get a total satisfaction score for each job. The job offer with the highest satisfaction score is the one you should take.

Timestamps

00:00:00

Ashley Faus: The Road to Though Leadership - PT 1

00:02:00

Ashley Faus: Work-Life Integration and Baking

00:04:42

The Benefits of a Weighted Decision Matrix

00:06:19

The Benefits of Using a Value-Based Decision Framework

00:10:23

The Power of Defining Your Priorities in Career Progression

00:11:53

The Different Industries I've Worked In

00:13:28

The Reality of Marketing: It's Not Always the 'Cool' Stuff

00:15:38

The Importance of Choosing the Right Manager When Starting Your Career

00:19:46

The Importance of a Sampling Period in Your Career

00:22:28

The Importance of Intentionality in Career Development

00:25:19

The Power of a Weighted Decision Matrix: How Ashley Faus Got Her Dream Job

00:27:00

The Importance of Growth and Development in the Workplace

00:28:41

The Power of Internal Moves: A Conversation with Ashley Faus

Music Credit: Maarten Schellekens - Riviera 

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Summary/Abstract

Nick believes that one of the most important things early career professionals can do to build their brand is to engage with like-minded people in their industry. He recommends finding content creators whose work you admire and adding value to their conversations on a daily basis. By doing this, you will organically drive people back to your own profile and begin to build a personal brand.

Nick talks about how he built his large and engaged LinkedIn community. He says that consistency and generosity are key to success on the platform. He also advises other LinkedIn users to go into the world with a curious mindset in order to build their own communities.

Nick and Jim also  discuss how LinkedIn can be used to build relationships and communities. Nick emphasizes the importance of helping others in their mission, rather than leveraging the conversation to help oneself.

Timestamps

00:00:00

"Nick Bennett: Building Your Brand"

00:02:43

The Benefits of Social Media for Professional Networking

00:04:13

The Benefits of Consistency and Generosity in Building an Engaged Community

00:07:29

The Power of Generosity in Community Building

00:09:01

The Power of Being Authentic and Building a Community

00:11:35

The Benefits of Community in Professional Development

00:13:21

The Benefits of Following Early Career Professionals on Social Media

00:16:13

The Most Impactful People to Follow for Community Building Efforts

00:17:49

Sales Team Fans: A Conversation with Nick Bennett

00:19:17

Building Your Brand: The Key to Success on Social Media

00:20:44

The Power of Consistency in Leadership with Nick Bennett

Music Credit: Maarten Schellekens - Riviera 

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Summary/Abstract

In this episode, Dr. Jim and Nick Bennett discuss how to build an effective community, how to build authentic relationships, and how to execute a level of consistency in order to establish a cohesive, personal, professional brand.

In March of 2020, Kyle Coleman, then-boss of LinkedIn user and field marketer Nick  challenged him and a few other of his direct reports to start posting on LinkedIn and see what would happen. Nick, being a competitive person, took him up on the offer.

Nick began posting about his experiences in field marketing, and found that his posts began to gain traction. He never imagined that his posting on LinkedIn would take him  where it has today, but he is grateful to have started on the journey.

In this conversation, the value of LinkedIn is discussed in terms of its ability to help build relationships and credibility. It is noted that LinkedIn can be leveraged in different ways depending on one's industry and the specific pain points they are looking to address. It is also mentioned that LinkedIn can be helpful for introverts in terms of building relationships and getting to know people on a deeper level.

Nick talks about how he has built up his career over the last few years, and how he is now in a position where he can be selective about where he works. He talks about how his responsibility as a leader is to help his team members grow in their careers.

Timestamps

0:00:00

Building Your Personal Brand with TikTok Famous Nick Bennett

0:01:19

The Journey to Becoming a Top LinkedIn Influencer

0:02:57

The Power of LinkedIn for Building Relationships and Sharing Your Expertise

0:08:01

The Benefits of Building a Strong Professional Network

0:09:21

The Importance of Building a Personal Brand

0:10:37

The Power of Personal Branding with Nick Bennett


Music Credit: Maarten Schellekens - Riviera 

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Summary/Abstract

The conversation discuss the importance of customer feedback and how it can help drive innovation. Susan describes how she started to hear from customers when they built their podcast, and how they leaned into the fun to attract people's attention.

In this conversation, Susan  discusses the importance of adding entertainment value to content in order to make it more engaging. Susan shares the story of how she came to write her book UnBoring, and the process of choosing the title. She also discusses the idea of prevailing wisdom, and how it is often outdated or inaccurate.

Susan also discusses the importance of being interesting and engaging, rather than boring, in order to build relationships with others. 

Timestamps

0:00:00

The Death of The Hero's Journey - Flashback 

0:02:17

The Importance of Preventing Unconscious Bias in Innovation

0:03:43

The Power of Being UnBoring

0:08:09

The Dangers of Being Boring in Business Relationships

0:10:17

The Flywheel Effect: How Anchor Content Can Help You Stay on Track

0:14:42

The Initial Way to Organize Your Brand

0:16:04

The Importance of Discipline in Creating Consistent Content

0:17:45

The Benefits of Pivoting and Being Disciplined in Your Content Strategy

0:19:47

The Power of a Pattern Interrupt

0:21:44

How to Advance Your Career with Podcasting with Susan 




Music Credit: Maarten Schellekens - Riviera 

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Summary/Abstract

In this episode, Jim and Lawrence chat with Susan Diaz about creating an evergreen content flywheel. They discuss how to effectively distribute and repurpose content, as well as how to build a personal and professional brand.

Susan, a content creator and strategist, discusses her experience with podcasting and why she decided to make the pivot to this medium. She highlights how podcasting allowed her to reach a wider audience and how, as a result, she was able to grow her business.

Susan started her business with video production, but quickly realized that she needed to switch to podcasting in order to serve her customers better. She made the decision to niche down and focus on podcasting, and has since then built a successful business in this area. She attributes her success to her customer-centric approach and her willingness to learn and pivot as needed.

Susan Diaz talks about her upbringing and how it led to her love of adventure. She talks about how her family moved around a lot, and how that led to her and her husband eventually moving to Canada. 

She talks about how she found her people in the Arctic tundra (lol) and how she loves it there.

Timestamps

0:02:12

The Power of Podcasting 

0:04:14

The Journey to Podcasting: How Susan Found Her Niche and Built a Business

0:08:39

The Origin Story of Susan Diaz

0:11:34

The Zone of Genius: What It Is and How to Embrace It

0:15:37

The Power of Seeing Patterns

0:17:15

The Benefits of a Long-Form Content Flywheel Strategy

0:22:35

The Flywheel Effect: How to Achieve More with Less Work

0:23:22

The Power of Customer Insights in Marketing

Music Credit: Maarten Schellekens - Riviera 

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