Greatness Podcast

Do you sometimes feel like you are failing at everything? Not juggling fast enough? Not prioritizing your health? Danielle Dobson, author of Breaking the Gender Code, joined the Greatness Podcast to share the insights she gained through dozens of interviews and research on why many  women have these feelings. Danielle shares that women often work "the triple shift" - paid work, domestic work, and emotional work. She encourages each of us to build our own code, not just around the gender code, but also around the class code, the race code, all the "codes" that influence our thinking. Danielle shares great advice for how we "decode" and "recode" to help us all build resiliency and avoid burn-out.

Concrete examples of how artificial intelligence (AI) is helping organizations accelerate performance are quite helpful to me. I was completely blown away by a CURT presentation by TD Industries Vice President Jamie Dabbs and Barry Nelson, Founder and CEO of FactorLab, describing how they used an app to collect 500,000 daily planning conversation videos, then analyze 90,000 of these videos. The output, understanding things like what words and phrases truly engage crews, and how to then train superintendents to be more effective in leading safety conversations, resulted in a significant improvement in the safety results of this company. This is a must-listen as they describe the steps it took to enact this significant change and embrace cutting edge technology.

How do we attract more women into construction, and specifically into the trades? And keep them? Jennifer Wilkerson, Vice President of Innovations and Advancements for the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) joined the Greatness Podcast to share the results of a recent research, In Her Own Words: Improving Project Outcomes, that explores why we need more women in the trades (currently we have about 4%) and how we build the inclusive industry that will help them thrive. The research involved 29 focus groups, 176 interviews with tradeswomen, and 770 surveys; and discusses specific actions we can all take such as stressing zero tolerance for disrespectful behavior and properly fitting PPE.

Is your organization developing an AI strategy? If not, you should be. Dr. Sarah Buchner, Founder and CEO of Trunk Tools, started out working in the trades in construction, and now is driving artificial intelligence (AI) innovation and practical implementation. It's mind bending for me to think about how millions of pages of construction documents can be loaded into an AI application that allows you to ask a question, like "What is the paint specification for Room 83, Level 4" and receive an immediate answer. I firmly believe that, regardless of your industry, creating and executing an AI strategy is essential to future success. Sarah shares many practical tips that are applicable in any industry.

I admire people who consider themselves to be "servant leaders", and John Foong, Chief Commercial Officer of Domain and former Google executive, exemplifies this concept. John recently joined the Greatness Podcast to share his leadership experiences including his passion for unleashing the best in others and leading the change necessary to enable long-term success. John's ideas about why you are not doing anyone any favors if you keep someone in a role they are not suited to, and how to maintain a lens of curiosity about your employees, are spot on. We also delved into the topics of digital transformation and AI, how the technology of today is not going to get us to tomorrow. One key idea John shared is that the challenge as a leader is not to solve problems, it is to overcome the blindspots and determine that the problems exist.

Long-time friend and amazing author/speaker Gabrielle Dolan, "Ral", and her amazing podcast partner, executive coach and Director Jac Phillips, started their podcast, "Keeping it Real with Jac and Ral', to share their incredible insights out into the world. They describe it as a "live free coaching session" and I agree, fabulous insights into topics like confidence, negotiation, and continuous learning. 

Do you dread "networking" but believe you should be spending more time doing it? Speaker, coach, and author Deborah Grayson Riegel joined the Greatness podcast to discuss her thinking on going both "broad and deep" on relationships; and how to think strategically about the types of people you might need to connect with for both your short and long-term needs. Deborah's tips for building out your support system via networking, especially for women, are spot on.

Wendy Swire, global leader, coach, author, and speaker, joined the Greatness Podcast (and created a unique page of resources for you listeners - https://swiresolutions.com/greatness/) to share her incredible insights on Brain Science and how to get the most out of your brain. This includes sleeping more which lets your brain "clean itself"; focusing on mental fitness to generate positive versus negative thinking; and realizing our brains are not structured for modern life, including "a high level of chronic inputs". Listen for insights to develop "cognitive resilience" and practical, specific tips.  

I firmly believe that we have a duty as leaders to provide the people we lead with regular feedback. When I read Kim Scott's Radical Candor, her framework immediately resonated with me - the care and courage that feedback requires. Kim's associate Amy Sandler joined the Greatness Podcast to discuss the framework. Giving feedback takes time and thought. "It's not mean, it's clear" - a great line from one of the stories Amy shares. Amy does a great job of explaining the framework - care personally, challenge directly - and how to use it to effectively provide feedback. I appreciate Amy's reflections on intentions. We understand our intent, those we are interacting with may not.

I work with hundreds of women leaders in engineering, construction, energy, and mining, and the topic of how to be confident without being arrogant comes up repeatedly. I'm so grateful to Dr. Tracy Brower for taking the time to join the Greatness Podcast to talk about the difference between confidence and arrogance, and how to own and share your superpowers. Tracy's research on happiness at work and confidence, including how our insecurities can actually be perceived as arrogance, is incredibly insightful.