Leading Up

In this episode, Traci interviews Ron Kitchens who is the senior partner and chief executive officer of Southwest Michigan First, an economic consulting firm which has been named one of the best places to work by The Wall Street Journal, Outside Magazine and Brightest and Best. So naturally, we talk about company culture.

Ron has great tips on interviewing for companies and individuals. He also shares some great advice for Millennials about the importance of being uniquely ourselves in this world full of Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook.

Traci and her friend Amber talk about everything you need to know about branding. Equally as exciting as typefaces (ok maybe only for some of you) is Amber’s story of taking a huge risk, quitting her job at 24, and starting her own branding firm. Boom.

PS - Amber and her team did all the Leading Up branding, which we love.

Meet Summer - she is an Officer in the Air Force and she’s leading in an unexpected way. Summer is acting as a Millennial Mediator so to speak, bridging the gap between the younger and older generations in the military. She is helping each side communicate their motivations and passions - which isn’t an easy job.

Have you ever gone to work one day and realized you made the wrong career choice? Traci and Kameron Baumgardner, Chief Technology Officer for RS21, talk about some tell-tell signs you may need to think about pivoting your career. The earlier the better, trust us.

After that, the two talk about managing as Millennials and the struggles that can come with being a leader and the youngest person in the room.

We all hate this topic, don’t we? Ugh. Asking for a raise or promotion is never easy, it can be the worst. Host Traci Baumann will help you navigate this seemingly daunting task with a 5 step process for nailing that conversation.

References:

https://www.roberthalf.com/salary-guide

www.glassdoor.com

In this episode, Traci talks with Todd Cyphers from Advent about managing millennials, the main thing that kills a company’s culture and how to create an impactful work environment.

Plus, Traci shares an embarrassing story about how she landed her first job after college. Get excited.

Check out Advent’s work here: https://adventmovespeople.com/

A lot of leaders struggle with how much personal information they can share with their team. In this episode, Traci talks with Colton Mulligan from FoxFuel Creative about just that. Colton shares his story about starting the agency the same month he found out he had Type 1 Bipolar. He chose to be totally transparent about that information, and has learned just how much to share with his team.

Do you ever feel like you just don’t connect with someone at work or in your community? Chances are you are speaking with different leadership voices. In this episode, we interview Amy Norton with GiANT Worldwide about their super helpful communication tool - 5 Voices. Amy describes the importance of self awareness at work, and how you can use the 5 Voices to improve communication with your teams and in your life outside of work.

Host Traci Baumann talks about productivity and getting into a good rhythm for the week. This will help you be more efficient and hopefully free up a little space to dig into that side hustle you’ve been dying to start. Ready, set, go!

In this episode, Traci mentions a couple tools for productivity including:

Wunderlist:

https://www.wunderlist.com/

Trello Tutorial:

https://help.trello.com/article/899-getting-started-video-demo

Example Trello Board:

https://trello.com/b/kLhu9Jfm

Would you ever guess a recipe for a cranberry jalapeno dip would drive over 1 million page views? Me neither. In this episode, we have a conversation with Lindsey Maestas, the creator of the super popular blog Sparrows and Lily. Learn how Lindsey got started, some of the struggles she’s been facing lately and hear her advice for anyone wanting to start a side hustle.