Human Capital

Jeff interviews Dr. Scott Behson on the show and explores his book “The Whole Person Workplace.” Scott and Jeff discuss how leaders can better understand the needs, wants, passions, and personal situations of employees, and how to create a whole-person workplace to attract the best talent, keep people engaged and ultimately lead them to treat customers better.

Scott shares several examples of how the leaders he interviewed applied personalized strategies to create a more integrated approach to work for employees, and how in many cases these initiatives can be inexpensive or free.

In this bonus episode, Jeff takes the role of the guest and is interviewed by Brad Rencher, the CEO of BambooHR in his podcast "The Era Podcast". Jeff and Brad talk about core values and workforce alignment, and they dive deep into the deeply human aspect of work. Jeff shares with us how culture can be a great differentiator for a business and how putting employees first really leads to better business outcomes while bringing some humanity back into the workplace.

On this episode Jeff interviews Rasmus Hougaard, the founder and CEO of Potential Project and the author of "Compassionate Leadership, How to Do Hard Things in a Human Way." Jeff and Rasmus explore how leaders can expect top performance while also being compassionate. They discuss important differences between compassion and empathy, and Rasmus shares some examples of exceptional leaders who are also compassionate. He discusses how mindfulness can be used at work to help prevent burnout. Rasmus talks about his extensive research on the difference between female and male (identifying) leaders, and what that research says about who is the better leader, and how gender is not a limiting factor. Rasmus guides listeners through a short yet powerful mindfulness exercise to reconnect with the present.

Jeff welcomes Katie Burke, Chief People Officer at HubSpot onto the podcast for a discussion about the HubSpot Culture Code. Katie shares about how to make inclusivity part of your organization’s DNA through transparency, measurement, integrity, and authenticity. Jeff and Katie discuss ways to leverage both the head and heart to make the case for diversity improvement, and why these elements must be a business priority.

Katie talks about the importance of treating employees well even when things are not going well at your organization. She shares about the importance of vulnerability and how therapy can help reduce defensiveness and reactivity while leading to improved self-awareness.

On this episode, Jeff welcomes Pat Lencioni, one of the best business authors of our time to explore his new book “The 6 Types of Working Genius.” They discuss the concept of how work happens in three phases: ideation, activation, and implementation. Pat talks about how each of us is created uniquely with two working geniuses that motivate and inspire us and help us reach a state of “flow.” He also shares how we have two competency and two frustration areas. Jeff and Pat talk about how teams must have people that represent these six areas of “Genius” to maximize team effectiveness and personal fulfillment.

Jeff returns to the topic of meetings with this replay of a favorite episode. Jeff and his guest Dr. Steven Rogelberg discuss Steven’s book “The Surprising Science of Meetings: How You Can Lead Your Team to Peak Performance.” Steven is an organizational psychologist who holds the esteemed title of Chancellor’s Professor at UNC Charlotte for distinguished national, international, and interdisciplinary contributions.

Steven shares best practices for meeting well – before, during, and after meetings. Jeff and Steven talk about how effective meetings can be engaging, productive, build trust, and can be enjoyable. He shares tips for meeting well virtually and why hybrid meetings don’t work. Steven talks about “social loafing” and what it looks like to be a good steward of people’s time.

Christy Pruitt-Haynes and Jeff explore the topic of continuous performance management. Christy heads the Performance Practice at the NeuroLeadership Institute. She and Jeff talk about the evolution of traditional performance management processes, and the definition of continuous performance management. They discuss how critical it is for managers to be properly trained in continuous performance management. Christy shares the best strategies for working with managers and employees that don’t have the skillset to give and receive feedback in a healthy way. Jeff and Christy talk about the makeup of quality one-to-one meetings, the downsides of numerical ratings, and how organizations can move away from them.

Jeff interviews Bradley Rencher, CEO of BambooHR where they have an inspiring conversation about leading from where you are, one of BambooHR’s core values. Brad shares how this comes from making an impact, and how it often means you're promoted before you get the title.

Brad and Jeff discuss how most careers are not linear, why senior leaders must proactively mentor less experienced leaders, and how cultures that pitch and catch feedback well outperform their peers. Brad helps listeners understand the need to develop domain expertise at all levels of the organization and why eliminating silos at the top is paramount.

Link to Brad’s article on Entrepreneur Magazine:

On this episode Jeff brings the topic of mental health at work to the forefront. Jeff shares from a recent large-scale study of mental health in the workplace that an overwhelming 84% of respondents reported at least one workplace factor that negatively impacted their mental health. Jeff’s guest, Frank Ramos is uniquely qualified to discuss this topic based on both his own personal experiences, and how he has helped others.

Frank is one of the top Lawyers in the U.S. and is someone who overcame a season of deep depression many years ago. He shares with Jeff how his depression affected him at work, consuming his relationships, tasks, thoughts, and projects. Although those 2 years were the darkest of Frank’s life, since then he has healed and become devoted to helping others that struggle with mental health challenges. Frank helps listeners understand how to improve mental health awareness at work and how to compassionately support employees or peers that are struggling.

Jeff invites Ginger Lapid-Bogda back on the show to further explore the Enneagram and her new book “Transform your Team with the Enneagram. Build trust, decrease stress, and increase productivity.” Ginger helps us take a pragmatic look at team dynamics and shows us how the different Enneagram types relate to the “forming, storming, norming, and performing" model.

Ginger shares a great definition of psychological safety, which is the belief that you won’t be humiliated or punished for sharing your thoughts and feelings. She also talks about the importance of feeling safe to take personal and interpersonal risks with others. Jeff and Ginger discuss the difference between a group and a team, and why impatience is the greatest enemy of becoming a high-performing team.