Embers and Wind

 Welcome to Embers and Wind!

In describing how he helps people keep their dream job after helping them land it, guest James Kennedy states “So in terms of helping them keep it, well in terms of the skills and stuff that I’ve given them, Keith. Okay, what’s a dream job one day might not be what they want to do forever. Right. So the tools I’m giving to people as part of the resume course as a part of the training and everything I give them, is a skill for life. So that when they’ve had enough of that one job, they can start looking for the next level in whatever the next level is for them. Because when I work with people, I say your resume is a living document, right. The next job that you get into, there’s going to be stories, there’s going to be problems that you’ve had there that you need to keep documenting all the way through so that when it comes to the next job you already have the stories there, you’ve kept up to date, to help people go on to the next level whatever the next level is for them.”

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling. 

In this episode, James shares how his journey through six careers over 20 years prepared him to help unappreciated high performers find their dream job. He talks about what it feels like to be pigeon-holed by his employer. He notes he knows what is going on in the mind of a hiring manager from having been a hiring manager. He talks about how he helps people he works with to utilize the Star Method in job interviews to help job candidates address those responsibilities in the past by sharing their stories and experiences. He shares how about viewing job descriptions as a list of problems that a hiring manager wants a job candidate to solve. He shares how he helps people write their cover letter and CV (curriculum vitae) to respond to the problems a hiring manager wants a job candidate to solve. He shares stories to imspire those who join this conversation about people he has helped find their dream job. Through the stories he tells, you will notice that many discover their passion after meeting James.

To connect with James Kennedy, his LinkedIn profile is the website listed for this episode in the Show Notes. He posts a video every day on LinkedIn and enjoys connecting with people on LinkedIn.

To learn from James, you can join his free Facebook group: Dream Job Search Support Network: https://www.facebook.com/groups/449373452409333. He believes connection comes first in a coaching relationship. He offers a free coaching session to be helpful. This provides a means to assess whether James could help you further.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Embers and Wind!

In talking about his Communications Mastermind, guest Larry Kettle states: “People hear you with their ears, but they listen with their heart. In that course we talk about if you talk to a person in a language they understand they will hear you. But when you talk to them in their language, they will listen to you. And sometimes people don’t understand different one’s love languages. We don’t speak the same language even if the language we’re speaking is English. Not everybody looks at things the same way or talks about things the same way. And so learning how to listen is one of the greatest components of connection instead of just over talking. For instance one of the things we go over is that when people are listening to somebody talk how many times are they in their own minds going over what they are going to say when this person gets done. And so they’re listening to respond instead of listening to understand or listening to support. And so in this course we teach people how to listen to understand.”

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling. 

In this episode, Larry shares his story about how he felt called by God to become a pastor. He shares his experience serving as presbyter for the Assemblies of God and being responsible for many pastors in this role and the life coach training he received through the church while in this role stimulated his interest in life coaching. He believes serving as a life coach is how God wants him to be an encourager of others. He talks about becoming a student of leadership expert John Maxwell who is also a pastor. He shares how what he learned as a life-coach helps him in pastoral counseling empower his parishioners to get a grip on their current reality. He asserts his belief that acquiring these life coaching skills could help other pastors in a similar way. He provides an overview of how he helps people he serves grip their mission, vision and values by utilizing their left hand as a metaphor. He shares stories about people he has helped through his passion to serve people. He shares tips to helps those who join this conversation such as the tip in the quote above to listen to understand and support instead of thinking about how you are going to respond.

To connect with Larry, you can reach him by phone at 719-429-7006. Due to spam phone calls, he utilizes voice mail. He will return calls within 24 hours. You can also reach Larry by email. His email address is: [email protected]..To learn more about Larry and his work, his website is listed as the website for this episode.

To learn from Larry, he offers a complimentary coaching session. He encourages those interested to utilize either his phone number or his email address to contact him. He welcomes the opportunity to answer your questions about his business and the services he provides. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Embers and Wind!

“Decades ago, I was disengaged when I was a leader, and I was exploring career options. I enrolled in an 8-day course to learn how to help people solve their own problem in one conversation. By participating in this course, I wound up getting a graduate degree. And it was only after I had my graduate degree that I was able to perceive my role in my job differently. And I could see that there was a tremendous opportunity right in front of me. And I chose to stay and seize it instead of leave. I want to help every leader who wants a benevolent advantage to learn how they can do this too with minimal investment of time and effort.  When you do this, you elevate your engagement and performance too.”  

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling. 

In this episode, Keith will share how reading the Gallop Report’s State of the American Workforce brought to his attention the need to speak in a different English language, to use the words employee engagement. He shares two engagement stories from decades ago and another from 5 years ago. He asserts no employee aspires to be disengaged from their work. He notes that helping someone who is disengaged become engaged involves helping them change their perception. He notes two ways leaders can elevate employee engagement and performance: 1) express their gratitude for an employee to them; and 2) give an employee sincere positive feedback can help them change their perception. He asserts each time a leader succeeds in elevating an employee’s engagement and performance, that leader also elevates theirs. He closes the episode by inviting you to invest 2 to 5 minutes daily for the next 5 workdays to: 1) Express your gratitude to one person each workday; Do this with the intention that they feel your gratitude by the way you express it; 2) Be attentive to their verbal and non-verbal response; Utilize their response as feedback for continuous process improvement; (Gleaming eyes and a shining face are preliminary indicators your expression of gratitude had the effect you intended;) 3) Watch for any subsequent change in their engagement and performance; 4) Log in a personal journal any significant observations, including stories you can tell to elevate engagement and performance.

To connect with Keith Weedman, you can schedule a 30-minute Zoom chat by clicking on this link: https://my.timetrade.com/book/J1LRC. You can reach him by email at: [email protected]. His company’s website is the website listed for this episode.

If you are a benevolent leader with an employee engagement problem, click on this link to schedule a 30-minute complimentary session to help you elevate employee engagement: https://my.timetrade.com/book/H4W6P. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Keith Weedman states: “I believe we’ve all been called to serve others, and I believe we’ve all been given an abundance of gifts much of which we’ve never used. Autophagy is an example of a gift that we all have. Yet most people don’t even know that they have this gift let alone use it. Something else that I’ve learned is a gift too. We all have this gift but it’s never been taught in traditional schools. And if I share it with you, because you’re probably smarter than me, you could easily acquire this knowledge to build your skill to elevate employee engagement and performance…. I intend to utilize autophagy to extend how long I get the privilege of doing this.”    

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling. 

In this episode, Keith how after recording Michael’s episode, Keith learned more about the benefits of fasting to experience autophagy. He talks about Japanese Biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi who won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his autophagy discoveries that Michael introduced Keith to. He describes autophagy as your body’s self-cleansing mechanism: after 3 days of fasting, your body will eat fat cells, damaged cells, unhealthy protein and other debris in your body. He talks about the YouTube video by Dr. Annette Bosworth describing autophagy as a means to prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease which led him to conduct his own research. Keith shares his personal experience from last week’s 4-day fast and the lessons he’s learned from it. He shares a story to bring a smile to your face and others to inspire you. He shares the fear he feels and why he is focusing this episode on the benefits of fasting to experience autophagy. He explains that last week’s fast marks the beginning of his personal research to explore whether autophagy can help him prevent Alzheimer’s Disease. He notes this type of research where the researcher immerses themselves in their own research is called a heuristic inquiry. He notes adherents of heuristic inquiry assert objectivity is not possible because you cannot remove the observer from the observed. He shares multiple ways he utilizes heuristic inquiry in continuous improvement processes in his work. He references his passion to help benevolent leaders elevate engagement and performance within people they lead.

To connect with Keith Weedman, his company’s website is the website for this episode. You can reach Keith by email at [email protected]. You can also find Keith on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-weedman-34335051/.

To learn more about autophagy, you can click on this link to Japanese biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi to find his YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bAkvnvX0W8 . You can also listen to last week’s episode of Embers and Wind to learn about autophagy from guest Michael Christian utilizing your favorite podcast platform. To learn more about Keith's work helping leaders elevate engagement and performance in people they lead through his company Level 3 by Design, please email Keith.

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Guest Michael Christian states: “I want to turn around and help those who haven’t reached that happiness, that fulfillment. It doesn’t matter if you’re a CEO or if you’re a guy over at McDonalds. Anyone can reach that attainment of sheer joy and happiness. It’s really just how we reprogram ourselves and our view, our perspective, how we clean our glasses and put them back on. Sometimes we need somebody who’s been through those challenges to help us get there a lot sooner. That’s what I love to do, to help and support people to the life they dream.”

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling.

In this episode, Michael Christian shares the challenges he’s overcome to find joy and happiness in his personal and professional life. He talks about dropping out of high school, joining the U.S. Army as an escape and how it became a blessing because it helped him grow up. He shares how he became dependent upon alcohol in the Army and then other drugs. He talks about his father, a physician, who taught him to take prescription medications to treat symptoms. He shares that his father had a problem with alcohol too. Even though he has always wanted to be an engineer, he acknowledges that he became one because he believed that he needed a desk job because of his back injury. He notes, like many engineers, how he became complacent and gained excess weight sitting in front of a computer. He states he did not learn about fasting and autophagy until years later when he was overweight with high blood pressure and high cholesterol. He recounts being at his doctor’s office and remembering his father who took prescription medications every day.  He talks about changing his mind, referring to the mind as the world’s strongest supercomputer that people had not learned how to program. Michael shares that he learned how to program his mind by changing how he perceives and reacts to things. He learned from well-known thought leaders how to strengthen his mindset. Then he ended his reliance on medications. He dives into fasting and autophagy which helped him get his blood pressure and cholesterol levels in a normal range without needing prescription medications. He talks about the Japanese biologist who won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Science in 2016 for discovering autophagy, how the body eats fat, dead cells and other junk in the body when people fast for more than 3 days. He shares some of the supplements he takes when fasting for extended periods of time. He recommends beginners start by giving up sugar and high fructose corn syrup. He discourages the use of substitute sweetners and diet drinks. He shares the essential oils he uses for his skin to clear up skin conditions that he once believed were with him for the rest of his life.

To connect with Michael, his LinkedIn profile is listed as the website for this episode. You can also find Michael on Facebook by clicking on this link:

https://www.facebook.com/michael.christian.750331. and on Instagram by clicking on this link: https: //www.instagram.com/michael_christian_sr/. If you want to have a 30-minute video call with Michael, then click on the website link in his Instagram profile

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Laura Diaz in talking about her book Choosing Confidence: 21 Ways Women Can Increase Self-confidence states “The book is about how I decided to choose confidence for me and build a position of strength and I’m sharing that so that way for the reader to realize that all of us can choose a position of strength which I define as choosing confidence. And in this book, I talk about 21 ways …that I chose to really accelerate the confidence and the position of strength for me to just keep going for my own self-actualization and my own personal development and to share that as the way for other people to really learn from this. And I mention here for women because I’ve known more women that I’ve worked with that confide in me about their lack of confidence.”

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling.

In this episode, Laura shares her story how she became a life and business coach. She tells how her life coach helped her gain confidence and clarity. She shares how Toastmistress helped her overcome her fear of public speaking and build her leadership skills. She shares how fulfilled she feels from having chosen a life purpose of serving professional women who are going through a personal or professional transition through bringing joy and harmony to them as she helps those interested to choose their life purpose.  She shares how two of the twenty-one ways she built her self-confidence and how she wrote her book, Choose Confidence: 21 Ways Women Can Increase Self-Confidence to help professional women build their confidence. She encourages people to be willing to reach out and ask for help.”

She shares how her sales coach Eric Lofholm inspired her to write her book by participating in his Write a Book in a Day class. She talks about the differences between a coach and a mentor and encourages listeners to have both.  She shares about the transition from employment to retirement and the importance of having a plan for what you intend to do during your retirement years. She stresses not having a retirement plan is a risk to your emotional, mental and physical health. She talks about the uncertainties associated with career transitions which she helps professional women work through. She shares continuing education is a must for her as a coach and encourages it for other professions.   

To connect with Laura Diaz, her company’s website is the website for this episode. She can be reached by email at [email protected]. To learn more from Laura, she offers a free coaching session. She provides individual and group coaching. Her book is available on Amazon as an e-book or paperback by clicking on this link:   https://www.amazon.com/Choose-Confidence-Women-Increase-Self-Confidence-ebook/dp/B08VHRWDHC/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Choose+Confidence%3A+21+ways+women&qid=1634018741&sr=8-1

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Keith Weedman asserts: “A leader is always accountable for the results, for what happens in response to the words they say and the actions they take. The story that I told you earlier that happened when I was 27 years old; I consider her crying, then sobbing, and then lashing out at me as criticism. It is useful for me to utilize that as feedback and look for value. What can I learn from what happened? I know that I brought less than the best out of her…. You could say that a leader is accountable, at any given moment, to bring the best out of the people they lead.”

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling.

In this episode, Keith shares how he became engaged in building his skill giving and receiving constructive feedback to elevate engagement and performance. He shares how he acquired rare knowledge to build uncommon leadership skill to elevate engagement and performance. He talks about the mandatory staff development he implemented to share the knowledge he acquired to help employees build their skill engaging people they served and one another. He shares how this stimulated his interest in building his skill to give constructive feedback to elevate performance. He shares how the pain associated with losing community volunteers stimulated his interest in building his skill receiving constructive feedback and criticism to elevate volunteer and employee engagement. Keith shares the correlations he sees between employee engagement problems and engagement problems with society and life for people who have received public assistance for an extended period of time. He shares many stories to inspire you. He asserts each time you know that you succeeded in giving or receiving constructive feedback to elevate engagement and performance within someone you lead that you also elevate your engagement and performance. He provides you a continuous improvement process to build your skill giving and receiving constructive feedback to elevate engagement and performance. He shares his belief that there is value in any criticism a leader receives and shows you how to find it.

To stay connected with Keith, you can reach him by email: [email protected]. This link is to Keith’s LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-weedman-34335051/.

To learn more from Keith, subscribe to Embers and Wind because he will be back frequently with new content to help you build your skill elevating employee engagement and performance.  If you want to receive a weekly friendly email nudge with a story to inspire you to take benevolent action to elevate engagement and performance in people you lead, then send Keith an email and he will add your name to this group.

If your people struggle because their work is not fulfilling; if your employee turnover rate is too high; if you lose sleep worrying about how to elevate engagement and performance of people you lead; if you are a benevolent leader; if you want to be the first of many internal champions with the intention to impact your corporate culture, then send Keith an email to schedule a Zoom chat.

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 Welcone to Embers and Wind!

“And he grew up in poverty without a father and started working at age 14 so he taught us the value of hard work.... and to appreciate people. He’s very caring. His Catholic background is very important to him. And I worked for him in a couple of his different businesses throughout the years. And one thing he always taught me was 'When you hand out that paycheck, you thank the employee.' And so when I’m working with people, I always like to thank them. 'I don’t care if they messed up big time at the end of the night. I want you to thank them because you’re not in business without those people.' And so I use kind of that same theory with the participants. I always thank them for being there at the end of the day. And that I look forward to seeing them in the morning, So that's really the biggest coach of my life and to this day." Special guest Bartholomew County Work's coach Dawn Bieberle shares in describing her father.

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling.

In this episode, Dawn defines what she means by lighting a spark in others. It includes doing whatever it takes to help participants overcome barriers. She shares her story how she enrolled in BCW in her 50s after earning her college degree, then applying for 76 jobs, having 12 job interviews and no job offers. Longstanding BCW volunteer Harriett Armstrong, Purdue referred Dawn to BCW.  She enrolled to build her job interviewing skills because she had never interviewed for a job before getting her degree. Then she shares how her former BCW coach encouraged her to apply for BCW coach when her former coach retired. Dawn shares her current role fulfills her personal vision. She shares that the program begins with 32 hours of classroom training which includes mock interviews. She relies heavily upon community volunteers whom she calls community partners to present on topics that include healthy eating, legal issues, empowerment and how to deal with stress. She stresses how much participants benefit from their mock job interviews and the feedback they receive to build their interview skills. She notes how participants build confidence throughout the week and is humbled by the positive feedback participants provide her at the end of the week and beyond. She feels warm inside knowing she made a difference. She shares two stories to illustrate how much participants are helped by BCW.

She appreciates Yes Cinema and Sans Souci for providing work experience to build job skills for those who need work experience and positive work habits. She shares that after the workshop, she maintains weekly contact until they land their job. Then she stays in touch through text messages and Facebook Messenger.

To learn more about the Bartholomew County Works, their Facebook page is the website listed for this episode.  To email Dawn, her email address is:  [email protected]. She is always looking for volunteers and is currently seeking volunteers to help prepare resumes for participant and for volunteers who can help Dawn access credit reports for participants. 

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Guest Peter Hobler states “As a parent, everything we say and do teaches and impacts our children. Especially in nasty divorce scenarios, contentious divorce scenarios, there’s so much arguing, fighting, accusations. There’s no communications. There’s no more trust. And every single aspect of that, of every interaction, whether the kids are present or not, and again this is partly why they are the innocent victims, they have nothing to do with it. Sometimes they’re not present but it will still affect your kids and the potential for life long emotional and psychological trauma is huge for children whose parents are going through or already divorced as long as all of this is still happening.”

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling. 

In this episode, Peter shares his story about going through a divorce where his greatest fear was that his child’s mother would deprive him of having contact with his daughter. He talks about how JT, his life coach at that time, helped him through a coaching session that focused on personal responsibility. After hanging up the phone he remembers looking in the mirror and asking himself who is responsible for his angry reactions toward his estranged spouse. He knew it was the person in the mirror who was responsible. He started assuming responsibility for his reaction. When he got angry at his ex, he apologized after calming down. Peter applied the lessons he learned in his first marriage to become a better husband for his second wife, Laurie. Ensuring his then 3-year-old daughter thrived in spite of his divorce was his priority then. Several years ago, Peter committed himself to helping divorcing and divorced dads help their children thrive in spite of their parents divorce, he founded the Ex-Factor, created course curriculum and wrote two books. His love for his daughter is still the driving force behind setting his intention to help divorcing dads have the love for their children be the force that drives them.  His wife Laurie helped him edit his book, Split Harmony: Turn the “Ex-Factor” from Chaos to Compassion by bringing to Peter’s attention that forgiveness belonged in his book. Peter has already launched a Masterclass and he has a second course nearly completed.

To connect with Peter his company’s website is the website listed for this episode. He offers a free clarity exercise to help dads going through a divorce gain clarity. To access this free tool, click on this link: www.Theex-factor.com/clarityexercise. To reach Peter by email, his email address is [email protected].  

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

In describing their volunteer work at Robert’s Wish, guest Lisa Hunter states “We’re there. We listen. We let them talk, express what they’re feeling, express their frustrations, their fears. We listen to what they’re saying. They feel heard. They feel like they’ve got someone to turn to. But more importantly, they feel like they are not alone. And that’s the biggest, biggest message that we can give to anyone who is struggling is that you are not alone and that’s exactly what we do. Based on what the person says, we actually then from there point them in the right direction of resource…. We’ll then connect them with an organization that can help them even more.”

I'm your host, Keith Weedman. In each podcast episode, you will hear stories. These stories will feel like a tender wind blowing on the embers of service that glow within you. In this weekly show, you will learn ideas, kindling for your embers. It will be your choice to utilize the gentle wind to ignite the kindling. 

In this episode, we talk about Lisa’s first encounter with bullying in high school in South Africa. She was bullied because she was different, having grown up in a different geographic area in South Africa. She talks about a different type of bullying she experienced in the workplace where she felt pressured to help management build a termination case. She shares that her personal experiences being bullied helped her develop her sensory acuity for the needs of others. She how her friend Robert taking his own life led her to become an advocate and start Robert’s Wish, a place where people who have been bullied or their parents can find a caring person who will listen, affirm them and refer them to resources to help resolve bullying. She shares two stories of people who have been helped by Robert’s Wish, a teenage boy who was bullied in school and the parents of a teenage daughter who was bullied. Both were bullied for their sexual identity. She notes that Robert’s Wish will help with any type of bullying at any stage of life. She talks about her faith. She believes God wants people to accept and love others unconditionally. While she has experienced some push back from a minority of Christians, most are supportive of the work of Robert’s Wish.

To connect with Lisa Hunter, you can click on the website link for this episode. She welcomes those seeking help to address bullying to reach out to Roberts Wish website. Her podcast, Seen and Heard with Lisa Hunter can be found by clicking on this link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seen-and-heard-with-lisa-hunter/id1564673275.  If you have expertise in addressing bullying, Lisa is looking for podcast guests. If you have a story to share about how you worked through being bullied, Lisa is also interested in having you as a guest because sharing your story could help someone else address their problem.  

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