Connect Change & Challenge

Earlier this spring, we saw a resurgence of supporting small and local businesses as our communities suffered from the impact of COVID-19. There are many ways you can help those in your community that support your sports teams, your fundraisers for a family suffering and your local festivals. Let’s not let this movement die. I challenge you to take on these five steps and see how you can support those that support you. Also, just because a small business is not in your community, that doesn’t mean you can’t support them. They are supporting their local community and still need your love!

1. Like their social media channels

2. Post a review

3. Share them with your friends

4. Word of mouth

5. Shop, download, listen and do business with them.

Find the full notes and more insights at http://connectchangechallenge.com/insights/shopsmall

It’s only fitting that for my podcast episode on lifelong learning I’m joined by my first manager, who instilled in me the importance of growing, evolving and absorbing new information.

Rhonda Brooks is a true student of life, and I appreciate that some of that wore off on me. In this episode, we discuss the importance of building safety nets for those we manage so they can learn in an environment that fosters growth. If you are pushing your boundaries and trying new things, the last thing you want to face is believing that if you mess up, or don’t get it right the first time, you have people to answer to. 1:02

From safety nets, we evolved into discussing mentorship. If you want to be a mentor to help enable others to learn and grow, how do you get started? Rhonda stressed the importance of being self-aware and knowing what you are good at. Mentor others in those areas that are your strengths. We also discuss the importance of understanding when you may get asked to mentor someone in something that is not your strength. An example could be someone in your network who needs help starting a new business. If you’ve never started a business, you could let them know that you can help them refine their mission statement and values, but your personal experience isn’t going to fill the whole gap. That being said, you don’t want to leave them hanging, so if it’s someone you trust, bring them into your network and connect them with someone who has built a business and would be willing to help. Know the boundaries of what you are good at and do the best work there until you stretch yourself over time. 15:03

Through Rhonda’s tenure, she stressed she has had lots of different types of bosses, but she was fortunate to know they all had her best interest at heart. She felt she had always been in an environment where she could stretch her wings and her skills, but knows she had the safety net to learn in a controlled environment. She also recognizes how unique that is, and if you don’t feel that you are set up for success, then it might be time to pull out your resume and find a new opportunity. Life is too short to be stuck long term in a position that does not allow you to achieve your purpose and help the organization while doing it. 21:05

Our challenge for listeners ties into being thankful in November. Listen in to see what we suggest is the first step to continuing your learning journey. 25:40

For more information on the great work Rhonda and her team does, you can check out agweb.com.

Want to find out more or check out Stacy's free Personal Brand Evaluation? Visit http://connectchangechallenge.com/brand

The year 2020 has shown me lots of things about myself, my habits, my needs. One aspect of understanding both my habits and needs is also taking a look at my inner circle that I go to for advice. Those people that I go to when I’m working through professional changes and hurdles. If you look at your circle, or some call the group their tribe, did those mentors and guides get into that place of importance recently or decades ago? Do they know they are one of your go-to people?

I launched a new series with Connect Change & Challenge podcast called Quick Chats, where we dive into topics brought up in previous guest episodes or just hot issues. The first topic is one I hold close to my vest, talking about your inner circle. So, are you intentionally choosing your inner circle? When you look at the people that are around you, are those people helping you? Are they pushing you? Are they building a safety net for you? What purpose do they have in your life? And this stems from a conversation about intentionality that we talked about in Episode 7, with Dena Bunnel. Dena is now just getting settled in and in Nigeria, in her role with Nuru International. Dena is a great example of how you can build a career, networks, connections. She focuses on growing herself, pushing herself out of her comfort zone while helping others achieve a life of self-sufficiency. She has done this very intentionally and we dive into this discussion in that episode. Here is the link to that bigger discussion on intentionality. https://stacymayomartinez.com/episodes/beintentional

For the Quick Chat, I talk specifically about being intentional with your inner circle or go-to peeps. Here are the highlights for questions to consider:

• Do those in your inner circle know they are part of this group for you?
• Who are the people in your circle? Are their experiences different from you? Do they ask you hard questions or just agree with you and your concerns?
• When you go to your guides, do they know what you need from them? An ear, advice? Do you define your expectations for your conversation?
• If you see an experience is missing from your circle, how do you look to grow? Where do you go find new connections, how do you make that bridge to listen first before you connect to new people?
• When you ask a connection to help connect with you to another professional, what are the rules of making new connections to care for it appropriately?

These exercises are something I have found helpful as I grow and evolve once again in my career. I hope you can find them useful in your personal-professional growth. Please share your feedback on how you grow your circle intentionally; I’d love to learn from your experiences! Also, if you have thoughts on the quick chats, please share. They are only worth it if they are helpful to others!

Looking for a way to learn more about yourself? Check out my FREE Personal Brand Evaluation course: https://stacymayomartinez.com/brand

Our culture focuses on the hustle. Do more, work harder, grow your business or career. When you are an achiever or have a goal-driven personality, it’s essential to make sure you are not pushing too hard to grow that you are no longer true to yourself.

We finish season 1 by looping back to the importance of your personal brand but focusing on being true to yourself in our hustle culture. I’m joined in episode 12 by Chelsea Northrup. Chelsea and her husband are publishers, photographers and YouTubers. My husband Ray and I have followed their channel, Tony & Chelsea Northrup, and their journey for seven years, and I am excited to have her join me for the show.

CONNECT

When you are entering an industry — or maybe you’ve been in the industry for years — and you are the only one that looks like you, it can be intimidating. Chelsea and I both discuss having careers in male-dominated fields, and how intimidating it can be to pull up a seat at the table and show that you are worthy of the invite to the discussion. 

It can feel like a lot of pressure when you are invited and are the only woman, person of color, or maybe someone with a unique background, education, sexual orientation or gender preference. But just remember, you got the same invite others did, so be confident in your involvement. It’s also important to remember when you are the only one representing a group of people that your being there will help those in the room and the event/meeting host to recognize the value you brought. Maybe they will be more open to inviting more people like you to the next discussion. All that being said, be confident in your skills and blaze trails for others.

Chelsea shares, “I had to learn how to respect my own skill set and my value in my space. It’s still challenging to hold your space in a place where you don’t always feel welcome and reassure yourself. I belong here. I have value here, and I need to be myself here. This is something that I work on all the time.”

CHANGE

While Chelsea and her husband Tony work together and are both photographers and publishers, they both approach the business with their own individual skillsets. This is key to remembering that you may see others in your line of work doing X to approach a problem, but that doesn’t mean that you have to go that route.

“I think that it’s really about respecting balance. I named our series Art & Science of Photography, and that is us. I’m the art and he’s the science, and we need those two things to work,” Chelsea shares.

Because no two people — whether they are photographers, podcasters, marketers or salespeople — go about the same process with the same approach and intention, it’s critical for us to remember it takes all types. There is no one right way. As we change and become honest with ourselves and our processes, we are more self-assured in what we feel is the right way to get the job done. But that’s not the only way. That’s why we sometimes have to check ourselves to see if we are pushing our bias, our confidence, on others as the right way, and proclaiming theirs to be the wrong way. 

“I think that seeing the value of other people is a skill. I see it all the time in the photography world where people value the skill that they have. If they are a very technical photographer, they think that is the only part of photography that matters. If you’re a very artistic photographer, that’s the only thing that matters, the art. The same thing happens on any team in business.”

As you grow, change and evolve, that means your personal brand and your approach to work and business will also transform. This is when it’s important to do a gut check and see that you are still staying true to yourself. It could be that your current role has evolved and you no longer enjoy the work you are doing or the responsibilities you’ve taken on. Maybe it’s the opposite and you are realizing that you could do your job in your sleep, but it’s not challenging you the way you need to be pushed. Check out my personal brand evaluation guide. You can download it for free to see if you are still the person you think you are, or determine if maybe it’s time to be true to yourself and move into the next phase.

CHALLENGE

Like many of the other episodes in season 1, the week’s challenges are focused on personal evaluation in the near term of two weeks to 30 days.

1. Identify two hurdles you have encountered that you feel held you back from putting yourself out there. Write them down. Now, if those hurdles come up again, how do you get past them? Think ahead for a plan and approach to not let them slow you down the next time they arise.
2. Find two opportunities for your business to work with customers or collaborators that will enhance your brand, but still stay true. Write down those audiences that still fit within your business strategy and look for ways outside of your current approach to reach new customers.

If you found this discussion and topic helpful, check out my free personal brand evaluation guide to help you form, establish or rehab your personal brand to help and not hinder your professional development. Visit connectchangechallenge.com/brand.

For episode 11 I'm joined by Elizabeth Burns-Thompson who does more than talks the talk about getting engaged, she gets her name on the ballot. Tune in to find out how we can all take small steps to be engaged.

Find more synopsis, key time codes and the transcript at https://linktr.ee/Connectchangechallenge

There is a time, in all of our lives, when we are on a team that just gels. It could be your senior football team, college marketing competition team or maybe your first job out of school. When you look back at the time you were on that team, and you think about why you were able to accomplish big things there are a few common denominators across successful teams. If you break it down, more times than not, it is because you had clear leadership; everyone knew the goal and there were clear expectations for each member of the team.

Now, think about a team you are currently on. The team could be a volunteer board or your daily work team. Are you working at your full capacity? I don’t mean stretching yourself so thin that you get sick. But is the team, as a whole and each individual, performing to the best of their ability to ensure the team succeeds? Unfortunately, it seems more times than not, one of the elements of the group is broken, something’s missing.

Don’t get me wrong, you may be working with high-achieving Enneagram 3s who are meeting or exceeding goals, but there is room for improvement. And working towards those improvements can mean less stress and a happier workplace for everyone.

My guest for episode 10 is a leader that helps guide his team to that productive place — I know because I was on one of his teams.

Tim Lindstedt has experienced a variety of environments working across the marketing agency spectrum, and he’s always been passionate about helping others succeed and achieving goals.

CONNECT

This episode evolved from a chat Tim and I had this past February at an industry conference. We were fortunate to be part of a high-functioning team that created top-notch work and exceeded client expectations. After that discussion, it got us both thinking about our experiences, and how the expectations of team members and leadership create a cohesive, high-output work environment. 4:30

An essential aspect of bringing your team together is celebrating yourselves as individuals and maintaining a life outside of work too. Tim shared, “What made our team so strong is that all of us were undeniably human as a team. We celebrated and recognized those human moments. We worked together.” This was key to our team’s success, and we celebrated everything from weddings to baby showers. We competed in the Halloween costume competition many times dressed in a team theme, one time even during a client meeting. I have photos to prove the fun. 5:28

Tune in to understand what Tim means when he says, “I truly believe one of our great leaders and mentors when they said, ‘Do something that you have never done. Do something that makes you uncomfortable’.” 11:40

CHANGE

Leave it to Tim to bring a quote from the Marvel character Spider Man into a conversation about teamwork. “With great power comes great responsibility.” –Spider Man 17:11

For this team Tim and I describe, I was what I’d say a junior/mid-level member. But I was one of the original members, so I was there from inception. The team we built together worked because every time someone was hired, we didn’t search for someone who was the mirror image of our leaders. We evaluated what skill set and personality was missing on the team and hired to fill the void. Many times, as leaders, we find someone who is like us ten years ago and think that’s a perfect idea. But do you need two of you? No. You need someone who will push you, think differently and bring new ideas to the team? 19:41

During times of change and uncertainty, like many of us are experiencing right now, there must be open communication between leadership and the entire team. Unknowns and lack of communication get filled with each person’s ideas and, many times, doubts. It’s ok if leadership does not have all the answers, but it’s not ok if there is no communication. That communication can be as simple as, “We don’t know exactly what the future looks like, but we want you to be part of it.” Ask your team, how they feel about what’s going on, and what questions and concerns they have. 21:29

CHALLENGE

The show closes out with two challenges for listeners to consider.

1. Evaluate your team. Do you have clear goals and expectations laid out? Does everyone on the team understand the overall plan and where they fit?

If you are not the leader, do you have this for yourself on your team? If not, can you ask your leadership to lay this out for you and others, to ensure you are meeting expectations?

1. Are you creating opportunities for your team to be in sync? Do you know each other outside of work? How can you build a sense of community? Is your team’s work environment and day structured to help build community?  

This episode is another jam-packed 40 minutes of discovery. If you are currently a part of a team — any team, and/or serve in a leadership role, I hope you’ll listen or watch this episode. Take it all in, there’s insight for every team to take away.

Visit http://connectchangechallenge.com/ for more episodes and discussion. Full transcripts also available.

We’ve learned so many lessons from 2020: the importance of your health, the joy of being able to hug your family and loved ones and how to login to zoom. But we are not the only ones going through changes in 2020—this pandemic has shown the value of organizations and leadership agile enough to pivot.

Our current situation has helped us to realize that there is no time to work without direction and a clear goal, which allow you to take a step back and make the quick, sound decisions needed to pivot.

My guest for episode 9 of Connect Change & Challenge emulates these traits.

Walter Kinzie is the CEO of Encore Live, based in Fort Worth, Texas. Walter’s company had previously focused solely on in-person events from headlining tours for the country’s top acts to inaugural balls and concerts at South by Southwest. Unfortunately, Walter’s business model didn’t leave room for a global pandemic that continues to threaten in-person opportunity and disposable income.  

To understand who Walter is today, we have to look back to his beginnings. Walter grew up in a small town in southeast Kansas, and had a rough hand dealt to him that landed him in the hospital most of his only college year. After an auto kidney transplant, he decided to humble himself to starting at the bottom and working to earn his stripes vs. staying in college and needing to declare bankruptcy to move forward.

In our conversation, Walter humbly shares what it means to enjoy years of mustard sandwiches and drive a vehicle that needs to be parked blocks away from a meeting to not distract from the professional networking. After paying off his debt, he started a fantastic company with the $500 he had left. 13:41

CONNECT

While Walter worked his full-time job, he dedicated his two weeks’ vacation to making connections and building his part-time work. That meant putting himself in the right place at the right times. He knew he wanted to work in the entertainment industry, so he spent his time where artists and managers were. He made connections and built trust which led to more opportunity. In time, Walter found himself the go-to person for hosting $25 million birthday parties, and he became a party planner for billionaires around the country. 9:07

“When you look at all the connections, you can make when you are trying to tackle an industry as daunting as the entertainment industry,” Walter shares, reflecting on advice he heard in a commencement speech. “You are going to eat three meals a day, so you might as well save room for dessert,” an advisement he confesses to taking very seriously these days, “and secondly, surround yourself with the five people you most want to be like.” 13:41

Walter says that this is different than your tribe of everyday supporters and encouragers, and goes on to explain that your five people should be those who are on the path you aspire to be—those who are already accomplishing what you want to accomplish. Your tribe will keep you grounded, and your “five” will keep you motivated and inspired. And both groups will change as you grow personally and professionally. 21:09

CHANGE

Walter’s company, Encore Live, will be celebrating 10 years in the business had planned to celebrate $40 million in place—their best year to date. That all changed on March 7, 2020. Walter said the realization first hit him on a jet bridge headed to the Daytona Speedway for events they were managing.

The four days following wiped out their whole business. “We can lick our chops or we can lick our wounds,” Walter shared with his team.  23:34

A team he developed based on advice he took from the campaign of former President G.W. Bush.

Not one to focus on the negative, Walter focused on the importance of having a team of smart, innovative, hard-working leaders who could organization to work through the hurdles, and shared how he refocused to pivot for success. There’s no room for egos on his team. 26:49

Walter and his team got busy assessing the company’s business portfolio and chose to “lick their chops” at the opportunities. 27:43

The pivot allowed Encore Live and Walter’s team to step back and realign with the programs that were most successful while cutting the roster of “because we’ve always done it” programming from their line-up.

In my opinion, this is something that every individual and leadership team needs to do in 2020. There is no room for flub that takes your team’s time and brainpower…if you remove those hurdles, think about the opportunities that will show themselves!

Encore Nights became the central opportunity Walter and his team needed.

The team created a first-of-its-kind series of drive-in concerts that, to-date- has graced more than 360 drive-in theatres across the U.S. The entertainment line-up boasted some of the biggest names in the music industry, and the drive-in venue has created a COVID-19-safe environment. And talk about opportunity, the series has also blown attendance records out of the water, hosting more than 10X the 120,000 person capacity of the largest stadium venue in the world. 30:18

A genuine leader, Walter is the first to admit that his success has a lot to do with the people he surrounds himself with, and understands the value “big thinkers’” guidance can offer both personally and professionally. He shares his views on big egos, collaborative thinking and executing major ideas. 34:07

CHALLENGE

After my conversation with Walter, I can tell you my energy level was through the roof, and I was ready to conquer mountains. We did come up with two challenges from this episode, as I try and do each week. 37:31

1. Without looking back, what can you, as an individual or an organization, do that will drive success?

Ask yourself or your team to think about what things look like moving forward. The world will likely never see the “normal” of February 2020 again. So capitalize on it. Don’t think about what you HAVE been doing. Think about what you COULD be doing.  

Are you carrying around dead-weight because of things you’ve “always done”?

2. Identify two things you have learned about yourself since March 2020, and (if you work on a team) two things you have learned about your organization and team.

These are personal and professional challenges. The more the merrier—and more collaborative and forward-thinking your team can become.

…some may say that “unprecedented” is the word of 2020—make yours “pivot”!

This episode was a jam-packed 45 minutes of reflection, growth and innovation. Believe me, you’ll want to listen and pass along the wisdom of the insights Walter provides! I’m all about big-picture thinking, and want to build a community that shares the aspiration to Connect. Change. Challenge.

When you meet my guest for episode 8, he immediately draws you to him. He has spent the majority of his career as a college professor, but he taught so much more than what was on his students’ syllabus. Actually, he didn’t just teach, he created environments and opportunities that helped everyone become a student that wanted to learn. We all had those teachers that taught you, made you memorize the financial formulas or repeat back the parts of the body, but you were lucky if you got a teacher that enabled you to dig deeper and ask questions. They push you to immerse yourself in learning. If you experience this, you walk away being confident in your understanding and possibly mastery of the topic or task, but even more, you learn “soft skills” and life skills along the way.

Dr. Fadi Aramouni is the epitome of an enabling teacher. You can talk to any of his students over his 30+ years as a college professor and they will agree. But furthermore, he also had the opportunity to work with small and large businesses across the industry to also help them to immerse themselves and grow as problem-solving innovators. With a focus in food science Dr. Fadi knows the importance of providing an environment to learn, without providing all the answers. In this episode, we dive into how to foster others’ ability to learn and so much more. Dr. Fadi had spent the majority of his career at Kansas State University in the Food Science Department and has recently taken a new position to tackle more challenges.

CONNECT

I remember being about six years into my career and thinking I’d like to train to become a manager. I find that it’s rare for medium to small businesses, and sometimes even large businesses, to train their employees to move into management positions. Instead, it seems you change jobs and start managing to get promoted. If you are in a similar position, maybe now is a good time to help create an environment for interns or maybe students still in school. How can you help them learn and make connections, but build a safety net so it’s not so intimidating? 7:08

Dr. Fadi shared specific advice from his experience on how to build a culture of learning and growing for others. He mentioned that he worked with many female students that were some of his top students, but they weren’t comfortable enough in their knowledge. So he helped. He reminded them that nobody was born knowing everything. Second, he created that safety net. If they failed, together they would look for the reason why they failed and he would be the fall guy, so there was less risk. 8:14

CHANGE

When you are a driven individual who wants to grow, that means change is inevitable. If your goal is to get a promotion with your current company or get hired for a role with a new company, that means change. What are you doing today to prepare yourself for that change? Are you surrounding yourself with individuals who will help you grow, but also that you can help in return? If you are looking for a position in management, but have yet to manage employees, look for opportunities to lead the team on a project. Take this chance to look at what you like about managing, what you are good at and where you can improve. Create opportunities for yourself to grow. 12:29

A great mantra that Dr. Fadi shared is perfect for a time when you are changing and evolving. A ship in the harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for. If you are built for bigger things than where you are today, take the leap. Or maybe it’s not you that is ready for bigger things. Do you have a teammate that reports to you and is on the fringe of the next step in their journey? If so, how can you create the opportunity for them to leave the port? Make it so they can fail, but not be scared to learn from their mistakes and come out the other side. 13:38

Another important idea that Dr. Fadi shared from his experience was the need for cross training. He started his career at a poultry processing facility and he managed 13 individuals. At the beginning of his time in the role, if any one employee was sick, there was no one to fill in for them during their shift. This was not productive. So, Dr. Fadi saw an opportunity for cross training. Each of the 13 employees were trained in each position. That way if someone was out, they could fill in the missing position and production could continue. If you, or someone on your team is out for the day or an extended period, could someone fill in? We can’t be intimidated to have someone else know how to do our job. If they can keep the balls in the air while you are out, productivity continues and you can shift back once you are back for your position. Cross training also allows managers to identify opportunities for their teammates to find skills or responsibilities that they would like to learn more about and grow into in the future. 14:43

Once you’ve identified those areas for your teammates to learn, it may mean you stepping aside and letting them step up. In my last position I had a few aspects of my job that I held on to, even as our team grew. Why? Not because I was the only one that could do them, but because I liked them. If you are wanting to grow, that means you must let go of some of those fun aspects of your job, and let your reports and teammates have a chance to learn that element of the job and have their opportunity to challenge themself. 19:09

Even though 2020 has put a damper on some of our adventures, traveling to other countries or even eating at multicultural restaurants are great ways to stretch ourselves. If you have the opportunity to travel to another country, take it. Dr. Fadi provided that opportunity for many students and it helped them to grow in their cultural awareness and understanding. 21:04

CHALLENGE

Before you focus on building others, you have an opportunity to look back at those that have helped build you and your career. The first challenge is to consider two of these individuals. What did they do to help you grow? How can you take what they taught you and help others? What tactics did they use? Now, go and say thank you. Everyone could use a pick me up of merry mail. Send a thank you to at least two of these supporters. It will go a long way for your relationships. 24:01

The second challenge is to think about one person that does not work with you currently that you could help grow. Maybe it’s a student, a young professional, relative or someone you are connected to socially. Meet with them and see where they want to grow in 5 to 10 years and see how you can help. Is it an experience you have been through, that you can share about, or maybe a connection you have who is in the position they would  like to grow into? Find a way you can help build others, and you will find yourself growing. 24:49

Also, if you are in a time of transition, don’t be afraid to reach out to those that have helped you, or those that you have helped. Connect with them on LinkedIn or ask for reviews and feedback. Maybe you need a reference - just ask! 30:01

I hope you gained some insights from my friend, the insightful, fun and caring Dr. Fadi Aramouni. Just remember, if you help others, you are learning and growing at the same time.

Our guest for episode 7 is Dena Bunnel. Dena and I met 15+ years ago, and I have enjoyed watching her grow and create change throughout her career. She has recently taken a role with Nuru International where she will step out of her traditional international development government roles and into a non-profit leadership role in west Africa. Nigeria to be exact. Dena has intentionally dedicated her career to helping bring individuals and communities out of poverty by creating opportunities for growth that is right for them. She sounds pretty amazing, doesn’t she? Well, that’s because she is. Dena and I chat about the opportunities to take intentional steps in your career, no matter what phase you are in, to discover your true passion, and find a way to create or modify your career to focus on that passion.

CONNECT

Dena and I chat about the importance of making connections when you are both in the discovery phase and the building phase of your intentional career building. 

If you are a student, take classes that will help you learn the skills that you need to succeed in the career, not just the major that sounds like the best fit. If you want to work internationally, consider taking a foreign language, but maybe also look into organizations that work with international students to learn about different cultures and make global connections. Or, you can take it head-on like Dena. She realized that to help individuals make real, long-term change she needed a stronger economics background, and she decided to go back for a masters in economics to gain the tools she needed to intentionally position herself for success.

Maybe you are currently out of work, or looking for your next move. Ask yourself some hard, but important questions: 1. What do you like to do for work? 2. But why do you like that work? 3. Why is that work fulfilling? 4. Do you have the skillset to continue to grow in that type of work? 5. If not, what skills do you need to refine? 6. Look back at your current or your last job.What happened in that role, that you could’ve done better? Not what could others have changed, but truly, what could you have done better? The answer may be nothing, but if you dig deeper, I bet there is something you can take away from that experience that you could have changed. Now, set up a plan to intentionally capitalize on what you do great--grow a business or organization by doing the great stuff even better, but most importantly, write down 3 ways you can grow in the area that you could improve. Make your weaknesses stronger and stretch yourself.

CHANGE

Dena and I have both worked with farmers in various roles. Farmers are very similar whether they are in southeast Kansas where Dena grew up, or in Bangladesh or Nigeria. You give them the challenge of growing a crop and they will conquer it. They will care for the seed, grow the crop and harvest the fruit. However, there are many different ways to approach the process and inputs that can change the outcome. Through Dena’s work, she has seen firsthand that many times we will go into a first world country, see what their problems are with growing crops, and make the recommendation for change in practice. What we don’t do is take time to understand the local approach to why each step has been chosen to grow the crop. As highly-productive farmers, we see a need for more fertilizer, but what we don’t always consider is if that farmer is producing on low margins and delayed payments, then he might not have the cash flow to purchase that fertilizer. If he does, he has to give up something else. The expense that he sacrifices could cover the cost of sending his daughter to school. 

These are choices that luckily for many Americans, we don’t have to make. Dena’s intentional suggested approach is not only to help them produce a high-quality crop, but also to find ways to build more processing facilities in country to add value to the local economy, consider transportation of the crop, seasonality of the harvest, financial support for costs associated with growing a crop and growing a business. The holistic approach takes an intentional look at the issues and a solution that will be helpful in the long run versus a band-aid approach of just adding fertilizer to grow a better crop.

So, how can you change your approach? How can you change your approach to not just solve the short term issue, i.e. not having in-person events in 2020 and look at the long-term opportunities? Think about being intentional with your budget, your team’s time and your customer or audience’s time. I’m a hard-core extrovert and love to be around people and gain my energy from others; however 2020 has made me take a step back and evaluate work travel and time away from my family. So, as an audience member, I want to host and attend in-person events when it’s safe to do so, but I will be very choosy as to who gets my time moving forward.

When you are going to make changes in your life or your job, you are most likely uneasy. This can sometimes overwhelm the good that can come from the change, and instead, leave you stuck. So, who of us has ever laid out the plan, put it on paper, had it vetted by other experts, and still can’t take the first step? Well, my guest for episode 6 joined me to talk about the theme: Go for it.

Tianyi Joe Zhu is an entrepreneur and managing partner at Playground Capital. While Joe is still young in his career, he has not let fear hold him back and has accomplished great things including working with partners in Asia to build his current venture. He’s also a millennial that doesn’t let the critics get him down. He has built relationships through two administrations in Washington, D.C., and recently testified as part of the Millennial Debt Coalition to discuss how today’s decisions will affect the younger generations of our society. He also was named AABDC 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business. 1:07

When you are early in your career, I’d say at least for the first 15-20 years, it’s critical that you make connections. This is definitely important if you want to strike out on your own. It’s important to remember if you build your connections, you don’t have to know everything, you just have to know someone who does. Joe discussed the importance of building relationships domestically and abroad and the key points of finding common ground to build on. 4:06

COVID-19 created change for all of us. In our home lives and work lives. When Joe began working with a global team, part in the United States and part in China, he had to adapt new ways to do business. Enter tools like Zoom, that we all have become accustomed to. In our house, we even celebrated birthdays with people from three countries through Zoom. There is still a need to nurture your network and create new relationships, it’s just currently through the screen instead of with a handshake.

So, we have new tools, and it has helped us hobble along through this time of decreased travel. But, for those of us that are used to spending so much of our time on the road, it has also let us take a step back and analyze the need for work travel. When is it necessary to get on a plane and go, or when can we jump on a video call and accomplish what we need to? I am a big fan of face-to-face conversations when you are building relationships, but efficiency is attractive and will now be part of our considerations moving forward.

We also talk about the environment in which so many decisions are being made right now that affect us all in Washington, D.C. Joe and I both have had the opportunity to work across departments and legislative bodies in our nation’s capital. The need to build relationships and connections in Washington is real, almost tangible. It should not be a city that intimidates us, but instead, a city that we can visit, connect, and make our voices heard. 6:25

We discuss two challenges. First, find one example where you may be suffering from analysis paralysis and see what you need to get past to go. Do you truly have all the information you need? If so, it is time to go, and know that until you dive in, you won’t know everything you are going to face? You have to be ready to evolve and make changes once you have started. The second challenge is to think about one to two ways you can build relationships during this time. Maybe it means sending a note in the mail or reaching out to someone who has been on your leads list, but you haven’t talked to because you are normally on the road traveling. Identify those people and make it happen. 20:54

Thank you again for tuning in. Please leave reviews and comment if you have personal examples for either of these challenges or people that you have reached out to with success since you have more desktop time.

If you liked this episode, please give us a rating or review. Your greatest gift of support is to share the podcast with your friends and network. If you take a screenshot and share it, be sure to tag me on Instagram at @Connect_Change_Challenge. Thank you all for following along and joining me on this journey as I take this leap and go for it!