Doing (good) Business

Even if your business isn’t a family business, you need to hear from Nike Anani. Nike is a consultant, family business therapist at times, and one of the top 100 Family Business Consultants in the world. 

A few of the things we loved:

• How are you being in your business is a much more important question than what are you doing in your business. 
• You don’t emerge as a leader, you practice it.
• You don’t emerge as a visionary, you practice it.

We laughed, we had “wow!” moments, and we got off track in all the best ways. We can’t think of a better way to finish up our third season than with this conversation. 

Nike shares why she moved back to Nigeria after spending most of her life in London, how working with her dad in the family business changed her in ways she never expected, and what we can all learn from family businesses and how they exist in the world (hint: in Nike’s experience, they’re very rarely focused on profit-over-all.)

Key concepts:

• Clarity Communication Collaboration: Nike’s 3 Cs for success in family businesses (ahem, or any business or team!)
• Past Present Future: the Past led us to where we are today & it’s important to understand history, we need to work in the Present to guide the future, and we need a vision of the Future to understand what we’re working toward.

Learn more about Nike at https://nikeanani.com/ and check out her podcast, The Connected Generation 

Anthony Hayes is the Founder and President of The Hayes Initiative, an LGBTQ+ owned and operated public affairs firm based in NYC, and he joins Kelly and Lara to talk about the intersection of advocacy and leadership, and so much more!

• We know that inclusivity means different things to different people and Anthony gives us his definition (hint: it all starts with awareness!) and reminds the most well-intentioned leaders to take a breath before you take action. 
• What are some business practices that work? Kelly’s tracking-loving heart lit up when Anthony shared his experience on this one!
• Anthony helps Lara question an assumption and she is so glad to be wrong.
• We talk about transparency, authenticity, trust and the battle against misinformation - in addition to the what happens when the urgent rushes out the important, the perils of the 24 hour news cycle, and Anthony’s #1 tip to people or orgs in a crisis. 
• What gives someone who does crisis management & communication for a living hope? Stay tuned to the end to hear Anthony’s truly meaningful response. 

The Hayes Initiative (THI) is a boutique, certified LGBTQ-owned and operated public affairs and strategic communications firm that helps organizations, leaders, and candidates focus on the issues that will advance their mission and better position them in the broader political, business, entertainment, or philanthropic landscape.

What happens when the CEO of a company has a personal awakening? Turns out, the answer is a whole lot of good business. D(g)B is thrilled to welcome Matt Tinney to the show. Matt is the Founder & Chairman of WME, a Microsoft solutions partner, and on Labor Day 2020, Matt became incredibly ill. A month later when he started coming out of it, everything changed - including his company. Matt did what few Founders would do, and he stepped down as CEO, promoting his then EVP Vickie Moore to CEO, and assuming the role of founder & chairman. He also made WME a culture first organization, wrote an ethics clause into their contract, and implemented 401K matching. What’s the business result? You probably already have a hunch! People can get a paycheck anywhere, but not every company genuinely cares about the employees at a human level. This was one of the most vulnerable conversations we’ve had, and Matt is truly an inspiring leader.

Connect with him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matttinney/ 

If you have ever given or received feedback, listen in! There’s endless advice on giving feedback - how to do it, when to do it, how to coach instead of scold, etc...but there’s not a ton of info out there on receiving feedback - until now! Enter Glade Holman and Generative Feedback. Yes, we talk about giving feedback, and perhaps more importantly, we talk about receiving feedback. Whether you’re a people leader, business owner, spouse or friend, knowing how to receive feedback can truly be life changing. As Glade says, if you can get that one tool, you can get anything. 

Glad is the Managing Director of LearningBridge and he knocked our socks off when he shared this, “Changing feedback from measure and assess to grow and improve.” BOOM!  Mic dropped.  

Connect with Glade on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glade-holman-a7548b1/

Can you imagine a workplace without management structure and titles, and that talks about love? Doug Kirkpatrick can, and does, particularly at Morning Star, as well as in other teams & organizations he describes to Kelly & Lara. 

It's called Organizational Self-Management and there are 2 simple principles: No Coercion and Keep Commitments. 

Try this definition of work: creating value for another human being. If that was your definition, how would that impact your leadership and organization?

Our mic drop moment: Bureaucracy is designed to destroy accountability. 

Doug shared SO many fantastic resources: 

• CommitKeeper software
• Sylvia Garcia of Coca Cola Happiness Institute 
• Do you have the will to lead? Fast Company article 
• Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford
• The Winner Effect by Ian Robertson
• Maverick by Ricardo Semler 
• The backwards bicycle video on YouTube 
• The Brave New Work podcast 

Find Doug on LinkedIn and check out his books (The No Limits Enterprise, Beyond Empowerment, and more)

From self-awareness to #MeToo, Carol brings it all to this episode and we are here for it! Her first book, Breaking Through Bitch, got our attention, and her second book, Collaboration Code, is unbelievably timely. 

Carol shares what her research revealed and a blueprint for men who want to become more collaborative leaders. Thinking about the shifts all leaders and workplaces have encountered in the last year, collaboration has taken a hit. Start getting it back with this episode. 

Our biggest takeaway might be this simple statement: Look at people as a leading indicator; finances are a lagging indicator. 

Books: Carol Vallone Mitchell, Ph.D. 

Company: Talent Strategy Partners 

Connect: http://www.linkedin.com/in/carolvallonemitchell

Social: https://www.facebook.com/collaborationcode/ & https://www.facebook.com/btbbook/

In honor of Women's History Month, D(g)B welcomes the first of 2 amazing women! Meet Amy Lynn Durham, who takes us one step beyond Emotional Intelligence, into the realm of Spiritual Intelligence (SQ). As a “Corporate Mystic”, she shares how to foster SQ in the workplace through unique and effective strategies she's described in her new book, “Create Magic At Work”.  

What in the world is SQ? Amy uses Cindy Wigglesworth's definition, which is, "the ability to maintain inner and outer peace regardless of the situations." It's faith neutral, and helps us to see our interconnectedness, and step more deeply into empathy. 

Amy shared some really accessible practices that can be used to increase a team or organization's SQ.

Other notes we took:
Loneliness in the workplace (HBR) is as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day

"Selectively data driven" executive sticks with what they’re comfortable with, which is why change often doesn't happen

Arianna Huffington's recent Tweet: Leaders are paid for their judgment, not their stamina. “Powering through” is not a sustainable quality for leadership – it’s ultimately a recipe for failure.

Be a magic maker and learn more about SQ21 at www.CreateMagicAtWork.com

We can all use more play in our lives - especially right now - and our guest today brings just that! Jeff Harry helps companies play more. You read that right! Think play, leadership, and bottom line results aren’t related? Think again! Jeff’s work helps leaders pursue a future where the fun is, that is how they can navigate uncertainty and address problems head-on while creating a psychologically safe work environment.  He combines positive psychology and play to help organizations and individuals address their most challenging issues - like office politics, toxicity in the workplace, and many more. 

Jeff has  been recognized as one of the Top 100 HR Influencers of 2020 by Engagedly and BambooHR, and recently had his work featured in the NY Times Article: How To Add More Play To Your Grown-Up Life - Even Now.  

We really needed this time with Jeff, and know you’ll walk away feeling lighter and with tangible ways to add more play into your work.

Connect with Jeff https://www.rediscoveryourplay.com and click Let’s Play!

Carley Hauck, Founder of Leading from Wholeness has a new book, Shine, coming out in February 2021 on conscious leadership and businesses. Shine highlights the way that anyone who feels called to lead can cultivate the qualities of consciousness on the inside and help to build a workplace and world that works for everyone and is living in greater harmony with the planet. In the book, Carley showcases 9 conscious leaders whom she has served who are really prioritizing people and planet as central to their businesses mission and making quite a positive wave of goodness as a result.

Carley shares a sneak peek into 1 of those conscious leader case studies with us, and so much more!

Notable leadership moments:

Rhea Singhal...Founder and CEO of Ecoware

We are part of an integrated system….Mark Benioff, Salesforce 

By the Numbers: https://carleyhauck.com/developing-people/ 

Project ROI, by Campbell’s Soup & Verizon

Want more from Carley? Hop onto her newsletter list for info on her free events and grab the book on February 23rd!

Think personal development programs for employees is a “big company” thing or a “fancy startup/West Coast” mentality? Think again! 

Erin Jernigan, CEO & Co-founder of Victory Supply Chain Services and team members Brandon George & Mary Anne DeCosta join Kelly & Lara to talk about Group Grow - a personal development program Erin brought into her organization after experiencing the value of working with her own personal coach. 

There’s so much goodness in this episode - from how the idea came to Erin (and how she got support to implement it), to Brandon & Mary Anne’s feelings about participating in something like this (which, by the way, happens after work AND during a pandemic), and so much more. We get into what Group Grow is, how it’s going, and how it fit into Victory’s Fly Wheel. 

Bottom line? You have to be a leader who cares about their team to make a program like this work - and if you are, it will make the organization even stronger.