Embers and Wind

Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Keith Weedman, quoting a person of influence, states: “His name is Charlie Brown. He once said ‘Sigh, doing a good job around here is like going to the bathroom in the swimming pool. You get a warm feeling inside, but no one else seems to notice.' Have you ever worked anywhere where you felt like your good work was not appreciated? I’ve been asking this question for many, many years, and I have never heard a ‘No’ yet. The key question is do people feel appreciated where they work now with you? Do you express your sincere positive feedback in a way where they feel and know that you value them, that you appreciate their work?”

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 knowledge about positive feedback that people joining this conversation can apply to build their skill giving positive feedback to elevate performance. He stresses the importance of being sincere when giving positive feedback and explains how to utilize a continuous improvement process by utilizing how people respond to your action as feedback to build your skill giving positive feedback to elevate engagement and performance. He talks about the preliminary indicators that your feedback was received effectively including a smile, a shiny face, and a thank you. Receiving an unanticipated response provides a means to deepen your relationship by seeking to understand why. He states giving people positive feedback can change how someone you lead perceives themselves and their situation in a way that evokes positive emotions within them which then generates positive emotions within you. He emphasizes the importance of accepting positive feedback from people you lead and talks about the unintended consequences of failing to accept positive feedback. He share several stories that illustrate the impact positive feedback can have upon both the giver and the receiver. He closes with a 5-day Call to Action that can be done in 2 to 5 minutes each workday to apply what you learn in this conversation to give someone you lead sincere, positive feedback and experience the benefits that result from taking this benevolent action.

To connect with Keith Weedman, you can go to the Embers and Wind website listed with this episode. You can also reach Keith by email: [email protected] or by cell phone, 812-343-2697. Keith offers a complimentary 30-minute one-to-one introductory leadership training session on Zoom. In this session, you will learn how to effect change that elevates engagement and performance through brief interactions. He does not ask you to buy anything during this session. He wants you to experience the benefits that result from a two-week daily Call-to-Action applying what you learn in 2 to 5 minutes each workday.

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Special guest Bruce Hodes states “I like what I do. I mean several times in this interview I mean I get excited about what’s possible for people and what’s possible for groups of people and in that I get what’s possible for me. And as long as that’s exciting and engaging and worthwhile, I’m in! And when it ceases to be that way, I’m out.”

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, Bruce talks about growing up in a family where his father was a business executive, and his mother was a psychotherapist. He followed in both parents’ footsteps. Bruce shares his love to interact with people through his company, CMI Teamwork so they have more possibilities, more freedom and more ability to make a difference and elevate their performance. We talk about Bruce's expertise working with family-owned business and taking the family dysfunction out of family business to help their business succeed. He tells a story about working with a family-owned business where the CEO had to have a conversation with his semi-retired father to get his father to stay home, stop interfering and allow the son to lead the company. Bruce shares he gets asked to help business teams who are having trouble functioning. He becomes the catalyst to help them perform effectively. He also gets contacted to help companies develop and execute strategic plans. Bruce talks about the Keyne Methodology that he utilizes to help companies execute their strategic plans. He shares a story about how a company turned their business around after ½ of their customers did not want to renew their 5-year contracts. They dramatically improved their customer service and now have one of the best customer service ratings in their industry in the country. Their profitability improved, customer retention improved, and their employee satisfaction ratings and employee retention statistics improved. We talk about Stupid Games and how Bruce utilizes these games as practice fields to help teams problem solve and collaborate effectively. Bruce notes that unlike sports teams and military teams, business teams do not typically practice. Through practice, Bruce helps them elevate their performance. Bruce shares a story about how he utilized Stupid Games to help a company overcome silos.  

To connect with Bruce Hodes, his company’s website is the website listed for this episode. His email address is: [email protected]. His phone number is: 708-476-7970. He is excited to learn what you’re doing and support you. 

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Special guest Liesel Mendoza states: “I mentioned that I had to go into discernment mode thinking on what give back would I do. Should I join some companies that are doing good around world hunger, around health or scientific exploration because I think I can offer my program management, business development, as well as operations management skills? And so I had to continue discerning, and I realized that one of my passions is really developing people. Ever since I became a manager at 24 years old, I find myself training people in the technical aspects of the work, but I also find myself sharing my values with them. Little things like if you promise somebody something, make sure you deliver it on time and on quality. And if you can’t do it, make sure they know. And I’ve seen a lot of people mature professionally in that way and I feel good that I have been part of that process.”

In this episode, Liesel describes herself as an immigrant. She shares that she grew up in the Philippine’s before immigrating to the United States. She shares how she felt pulled to give back after investing 30 years as an information technologist in Silicon Valley. She talks about how fulfilled she felt developing people. She shares how she learned about the unmet need for mentors listening to Millennials. She defines what it means to be a mentor in The Mentoring Club and what they expect from mentors and mentees. She shares the importance of mentees having “skin in the game” and how they provide it. She draws a distinction between mentoring and coaching. After initially envisioning mentees as Millennials, she shares that she now sees the need for mentors in mid-career transitions and among senior leaders. She shares their mentors and mentees come from 6 continents  and 22  countries.  Her vision for The Mentoring Club includes mentee alumni becoming mentors. The silver lining in this pandemic is the ability to meet globally on line. In addition to utilizing Zoom extensively, The Mentoring Club is meeting two times each week on Clubhouse. 

To learn more about The Mentoring Club, click on the website link for this episode. The Mentoring Club is on many popular social media platforms.    

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

Guest Ethan Crough states “Achondroplasia is the type of dwarfism I have. And so, in my TEDx Talk, I talk about achondrophobia, which is a made-up thing because occasionally I’ll meet people who are afraid of me because of what I am, not who I am. Just the dwarfism itself frightens people which is odd.” About Ethan’s passion to educate people about dwarfism “It really got lit 15 years ago when our first child was born because then I knew I was an agent of change and an agent of service to a broader, a bigger cause.”

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 how Ethan discovered his passion for teaching. You will learn about dwarfism and achondroplasia and his passion to educate as many people as possible about dwarfism, diversity and inclusion. Ethan talks about his gift as a communicator that he attributes to achondroplasia. He shares that it is uncommon for two, normal height parents to bear a child who has achondroplasia. He shares how much the odds increase when a parent with achondroplasia has a child. Ethan shares about his experience with dwarfism as a minority group that often unintentionally gets excluded from dialogues about diversity and inclusion. He shares stories to make his point.  We talk about Ethan’s 5-year journey in Toastmasters and how Toastmasters prepared Ethan to deliver his TEDx Talk. We talk about his friendship with Toastmaster Ant Blair and how Ant and Ethan challenging one another resulted in both of them getting onto the TEDx stage. Ethan talks about his work at Cummins Inc. in corporate responsibility and the calling that he felt which led him to transition back into teaching as a full-time Tech Ed teacher for Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation.  We shares that his work experience at Cummins was helpful to Ethan in rewriting the tech ed curriculum to make it a STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) lab.

You can contact Ethan through his LinkedIn profile which is listed as the website for this episode. He would be pleased to have a conversation with you if he can help you. You can reach him by email: [email protected].  And if you want to watch his TEDx Talk, then click on this YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlr3T9uf7iY&t=8s.

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Comparing his work as an executive and life coach to his corporate career in the financial services sector Bas Lebesque states: “The transformations I realize with my clients they are so profound, and they are so exciting. And the feedback I get from them on how I saved their lives, saved their marriages, saved their careers! These things I’ve never ever heard in my 25-year corporate career.”

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, Bas shares how his mother’s death when he was 12 influenced him to become a life coach and how he moved into executive coaching.  You will learn about Bas’s first coach who was a cross fit coach. You will understand how a life coach could have helped him expedite his 3-year process to move from the corporate world into the coaching world and how he became a life coach through the Health Coach Institute and then got into lifestyle coaching including diet and fitness. He sees lifestyles as symptoms to deeper problems which he likes to tackle. He shares life and executive coaching stories to inspire you.  He shares how his 25-year career in corporate finance prepared him to become an executive mindset coach. He shares tips you can immediately apply such as finding little steps you can take every day and what to do when you get triggered. He enjoys working with executives because of the ripple effect. By helping an executive, Bas can also help the people that executive leads. He describes how he helps with high performance.

To learn more from Bas, you can visit his company’s website which is listed as the website for this episode. You can also find Bas on LinkedIn and additional contact information by clicking on this link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/baslebesque/. If you want to explore coaching, Bas offers a free coaching session to ensure a good fit and that he can help you with the issue you are dealing with. 

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

Eric Riddle shares how his church, Asbury United Methodist, unknowingly prepared to play a key role in helping Columbus, Indiana recover from the June 7, 2008 flash flood: “Asbury had been doing these mission trips for a number of years, and a lot of organization went into that. So, it was part of the DNA of the congregation to be able to do this outside of Columbus. No one at Asbury would have ever dreamed that we would be doing that same sort of work here in our own town, but we were able to hit the ground running really from the very beginning of the flood.”

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 how writing a book about the first year of the recovery from the flash flood in Columbus, Indiana and reading the essays written by the leaders of not-for-profit organizations integrally involved in flood recovery deepened his affinity for Columbus, Indiana and the role these organizations play. He talks about his role as a case manager in flood recovery and how his mission trips to help New Orleans recover from Katrina prepared him and his church. Eric talked about how the Pleasant Grove neighborhood was destroyed, how the empty lots that were devastated by the flood fueled him to help create a flood memorial park where the houses used to stand. His desire to create a park has led to a love for native plants, pollinator species, birds insects, and bats. Then he got involved in first creating a people’s trail at Blackwell park. Eric has become a steward of the environment and enjoys organizing people. He serves on a Columbus Pollinator Committee established for the Pleasant Neighborhood Park that is focused Looking to create a pollinator park. He shares about landscape architect Rachel Kavathe, and her company, Loci Creative has donated her landscape architure services to design the landscape for Pollinator Park. and the leadership from Columbus Parks and Recreation staff in getting Columbus to earn the first B city in Indiana. He also shares what attracted him to join Rotary. Eric shares how his employer, Cosco, supports his involvement in the community.  

If you are interested in getting involved as a volunteer, you can reach Eric by email: [email protected]. Community events are typically listed in the Friends of Pollinator Parks FB group. The website address for this Facebook group is listed as the link for this episode.

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Welcome to Embers and Wind!

In describing his work, guest Paul Levin states “I work with people’s minds, and I help them change the way their mind works, the way it functions, the way it processes information. And the reason we do that, you see Dr. Wayne Dyer, who is no longer with us, he was very famous in the world of metaphysics. He told us that when we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. Well by changing the way the mind functions, we can change the way you look at things. And as a result, those things you are looking at will change and your life will become perfect which is the name of my business: I Deserve a Perfect Life (because you do).”

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, you will learn how Paul felt called by the Spirit to help people live a perfect life after learning how to live one himself at the age of 50. You will learn Paul is an electrical engineer and computer engineer before feeling called to pivot into teaching people how to live a perfect life. You will find out that Quantum physics and the work of Dr. Wayne Dyer influenced Paul to first create a perfect life for himself before being called to teach others. You will learn that Paul was not happy before he turned 50. In his words, his life sucked before he made it perfect. This is why the title of his book is Your Life Sucks No More: The Ultimate Guide to Manifesting Your Perfect Life.

To learn more from Paul, he has a free 30-minute video. You can access this webinar by clicking on the link: IDeserveAPerfectLife.com/BeMoreHappy. In this video, Paul teaches you how to be more happy. He notes being more happy will improve other areas of your life including your health.  Paul asserts that this is the first step to have the perfect life you deserve.     

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Terri Levine states “I believe everyone, regardless of what business, industry or leadership role they have, has this in them. And sometimes, we’ve been taught so much stuff that we bury this, and we’re not being authentic. And that’s the first thing that I do is I peel away all of those layers. And I say stop communicating with fluff and jargon and politeness and start communicating in a transparent way. And the communication starts to change everything.”

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, you will hear a story about how Terri’s teacher planted the seed for what became Terri’s lifelong passion for writing when she was only seven. “I had a teacher, a very inspirational teacher, who said you’re going to write books and be an author.” You will learn about Terri’s entrepreneurial journey from speech pathologist, to coach, to consultant. You will laugh when she shares her story when other coaches were empathizing with her when they learned that she had only one coaching client. You will be astonished to learn she has written 47 books and by the high profiles of two of her co-authors.  You will discover what it means to be a heartpreneur and can assess how well you fit this definition. You will engaged by the story of how she became a heartpreneur. Terri will share some of the powerful ideas in The Conversion Equation, her 47th book. You will learn why this book is relevant to you. You will find out about her consulting company’s plans for the future. You may find value in her final teaching moment. It is a question you can utilize to focus your brain in a healthy direction. 

To learn more from Terri, she has a private Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/heartrepreneurswithterrilevine where she provides free training weekly; She also has a free masterclass that you can reach by clicking on this link: https://www.tlwebinar.com/training-conveyorbelt. The Kindle version is available now. 

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

Jeanie Cisco-Meth states “We all have the ability to choose our response to what’s happening around us, and so often it’s really easy to blame someone else for the junk that’s going on in our lives. However, when we go down that path, we lose all control, and we’re not able to manage what it is that is going on around us. Whereas, when I realize that thoughts are things and I pull that back in and I take that space between the stimulus and response … And I realize that it is my choice that is creating either the order or the chaos around me. So that’s what I mean by managing the weather in my space.”

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, Jeanie Cisci-Meth talks about Viktor Frankl and how his book Man’s Search for Meaning influenced her work. She shares her first encounter with bullying growing up and the reasons why she was bullied. You will learn how she helped her children deal with bullying. Then you will find out how as a teacher she became intrigued with why some students are devastated by being bullied while other students simply dismiss it. You will understand why Jeanie strongly disagrees with zero tolerance policies. Discover how God guided Jeanie’s purpose and hear her commitment to affirm God as she fulfills her purpose. You will learn two Bible verses Jeanie frequently leans on. She shares statistics on bullying in school and asserts why she firmly believes the statistics are too low. She explains what she means when she says they are mute and we are blind. Jeanie acknowledges she was blind to the seriousness of her daughter’s problem. You will learn about the internal bully, the one that lives in your own head.  You will understand how Jeanie’s experiences as a parent and a teacher are the foundation for her book, a home-study course, where she teaches: Bully Proofing You: Improving Confidence and Personal Value from the Inside Out.  She provides a free workbook to help you apply what you learn.

If you want to learn more from Jeanie, you can visit her website: https://bullyproofingyou.com/. You can listen to Jeanie’s weekly Bully Proofing You podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/al/podcast/bully-proofing-you-improving-confidence-personal-value/id971908617?mt=2. You can reach Jeanie by email: [email protected].  

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Pastor Felipe Martinez responded “For me to sit across a table and sharing a meal with a Muslim member of the community means that we share a sense of commitment and a sense of dedication to live a life of faith, to live a life of peace and community, in support of community. I have much to learn from our Muslim siblings because theirs is a tradition that I am not very familiar with. There’s an opportunity for learning about their particular religion as well as different cultures that might be involved.”

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 Felipe’s passion for social justice. We talk about what the words “all are welcome mean” and why they are important to Pastor Felipe, First Presbyterian Church in Columbus Indiana, and Presbyterian Church (USA). You will learn about his Columbus church’s initiative to build relationships with the GLBTQ community and why this is important to Pastor Felipe. You will learn how the Black Lives Matter movement intersects with his faith. You will learn about Pastor’s penchant for learning from people of different faiths and people who lack faith in an established religion. You will learn how growing up in Monterrey, Mexico impacted his life and about his parents’ influence.  He shares how his culturally diverse background helps him build bridges across cultural differences. You may notice his curiosity to explore and learn from differences.

To connect with Pastor Felipe Martinez, you can find his contact information at https://fpccolumbus.org. From this website, you can find links to First Presbyterian Church on multiple social media websites. 

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