If there’s one thing you can count on in this world, it’s irony. 

To cut to the chase, my guest this week is Rena Cook, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Oklahoma who teaches a myriad of subjects including voice, speech, dialects, acting and directing. 

…and for some. dang. reason. my normal audio setup betrayed me. 

So please don’t think I ‘masked’ my voice for fear of being judged by the vocal coach.

Now, with that little caveat out of the way, this week’s conversation is pure gold for anyone whose job involves frequent communication - but honestly, these topics are pretty much applicable to everyone.

With decades of teaching experience, Rena earned her MFA in Theater & Production from Oklahoma University, as well as an additional Masters in Voice Studies from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

She has written multiple books on authentic, confident communication, including one specifically for women in the legal profession. 

Rena and I cover a lot of ground in this episode, but that only means there’s more for you to pick and choose from. 

Topics range from how posture affects speech, teaching formerly incarcerated women how to find their voice, and why ending sentences with the “question-y” up-inflection feels like nails on a chalkboard. 

Oh, and because it’s an episode about voice, there’s plenty of impersonations and even more laughter. 

Enjoy the Show!

This week on Legal Grounds we’re here to ease you into your holiday with our  annual Thanksgiving Light-Roast

The past year has seen a lot of changes in my life.

From stepping back from my managerial role to more jury trials than I’ve had in years, 2022 is on track to close out on a high-note for me.

So as you can imagine, my list of things to be thankful might have to be cut short, lest the food get cold.

So for this Thanksgiving, I wanted to take time to meditate on the nature of thankfulness, its causes, and the way in which it can (and should) weave its way through our lives. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and we’ll be back next week with fresh episodes!

Be Easy and enjoy the show!

One of the best pieces of wisdom I ever received came from a judge talking to a defendant before his sentencing. 

The judge looked at the man and said, “Sir, you have made a mistake, and you will pay for it. But do not let this mistake define who you are as a person.”

The only downside of receiving that advice was being the defendant the judge was addressing. 

Owning a complicated past is never easy. 

And every time I mention my own period in The Ditch there is still a small part of me that tenses up, that worries about what others may think or say behind closed doors. 

But in the grand scheme of things, my troubles were a cake-walk compared to many of the guests on my show - and this week’s guest may break the mold. 

Jay Barnard has been the Executive Chef at some of Canada’s best restaurants. 

In 2015 he founded his own seafood agriculture company, FreshWater Cuisine, which would go on to win the Premier's Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence. 

He has catered for celebrities and is a TEDx Speaker who continues to talk to audiences big and small about, what I will call, a path to redemption.

Because before all of those accolades, Jay would struggle out of a ditch that I think would bury most of us. 

Struggling with addiction by the age of 12, at the age of 18 he was selling drugs to support his habits, and by the age of 21 he had his house raided by police and was charged and served time in prison.

Fast forward to 2021 and Jay is the founder of HYPE Recovery Coaching where he and his team use their combined experiences to help custom-tailor programs and solutions for clients overcoming addiction. 

This conversation is raw, both in content and language, so probably best to put your headphones in. 

Enjoy the show!

If you hadn’t noticed by now, this is an employee’s economy. 

Over the past year there have been, on average, two job openings for every one unemployed person. 

And though it’s still not enough to keep up with inflation, since the beginning of the pandemic, workers have seen wage-growth go from 3.2% in 2020 to 6.7% in 2022. 

Now, as leaders, it’s not only our job to seek out the best talent but also to train and retain it. 

In a sense, it’s become just as important for the employer to convince the employee that they are the “right fit.” 

And while it may seem like an uncomfortable shift in the power-dynamic for employers, as this week’s conversation will show, I welcome it. 

 Sarah Andrus, is the founder and CEO of Avarah Careers, a career coaching business. She’s worked on all sides of the hiring equation, as a recruiter, hiring manager, and a career counselor, serving in the corporate world, non-profits, and academia. When it comes to the hiring process and how it works from the inside, she’s seen it all. You can check out her two TEDx talks ( 1 | 2 ) as well.

In addition to leading Avarah Careers, she currently teaches as an adjunct professor and serves as the Assistant Director of Career Services at the University of Delaware, coaching MBA students and alumni. When she’s not working, she enjoys reading, writing, good food and wine, running through Delaware’s beautiful parks, and hanging with the people she loves the most.

We talk about what leaders can be asking themselves during the hiring process and what potential employees can do to optimize themselves and their chances at getting the job they want. 

Enjoy the show!

As both an attorney and business owner, most of my days are split between being “serious work Mike” or “relaxed and fun not working Mike”. 

Now, this doesn’t mean my day is binary. 

And even though there are a lot less people in the actual office, those little hall-way moments and inside jokes still let the fun Mike peek in on the serious Mike from time to time. 

But what if we could have the mindset of play when we are performing the act of working?

There’s a chance that many of you have done this unconsciously, and often it’s the idea of time-limits that become a conduit for play. 

For example: have you ever ‘beaten’ a drive-time to work?

Washed the dishes in the time it takes to finish an episode of something that’s on in the background? 

Tried to clean your house before a podcast is done?

But when it comes to “grown-up” work, we often leave playfulness at the door. 

Instead, time constraints become sources of pressure, frustration, and anxiety which is exactly why my conversation this week felt so freeing. 

Ellen Goodwin is a TEDX speaker and the author of the fantastic book, “DONE: How to Work when No One is Watching,” which teaches readers how to let go of perfectionism and build habits that actually last.

She has founded two businesses over the course of her professional life, first as a graphic designer, and as of 2013, the head of her own productivity consulting firm. 

Ellen’s no-nonsense assessments and wicked sense of humor make her a sought-after speaker and coach specializing in the implementation of real-world solutions to the obstacles of productivity.

And in the spirit of our topic, this conversation is as full of laughter as it is helpful advice.

Enjoy the show!

For this week’s episode, make sure you don’t mistake the casualness for lack of substance. 

I’ve known Clarence Easterday for a “hot minute” as the kids say. 

He is a veteran of the trucking industry with more than three decades of experience and, luckily for me, a dear friend. 

Clarence is now a Senior Advisor for Western Express, a motor carrier with 3,330 power units and over 1,800 trailers, but he can rub elbows with drivers as easily as he can shake hands with the suits. 

And because of this, he has seen a LOT of mediations in his tenure. 

As of 2021, Clarence is also the founder of McCalla Unlimited, an organization focused on resolving conflicts through mediation for those whose financial means often don’t allow them to afford such services. 

We talk about Clarence’s early years and how his military service shaped him as a leader. 

Other topics include the importance of empathy in mediations, the growing disconnect between the insurance industry and young attorneys, and a litany of war-stories from our time as mediators. 

While it’s definitely heavy on the legal side of things, I think the light-hearted nature and focus on conflict-resolution makes it a conversation for anyone.

Enjoy the show! 

We’ve talked a lot about the emotional aspects of leadership on this podcast, and the concept of vulnerability is (I hope) a through-line that appears in each episode. 

But there is another emotion that I don’t think we’ve covered in-depth: forgiveness.

Now, I know we’ve touched on this idea, especially in the realm of forgiving one’s self, but I can’t say we’ve ever dedicated an entire episode to the concept. 

That is until this week. 

Not only has my guest become a master on the subject of forgiveness, he has done so in response to one of the most heartbreaking tragedies one can imagine - the loss of a child. 

Azim Khamisa was an international banker pursuing the American Dream when in 1995 his only son, Tariq, was murdered while delivering pizzas part-time. 

Tariq’s killer, Tony Hicks, was only 14. 

He would become the youngest person in California history to be tried as an adult. 

These facts alone would have made Azim’s story a notable one, but it was the steps he took after his son’s murder that make it one for the history books. 

Shortly after losing Tariq, Azim met with Tony’s grandfather, Ples Felix, and together they began what is today known as the Tariq Khamisa Foundation with a mission to teach non-violence and conflict management to young people. 

And the foundation of their work is rooted in radical forgiveness and restorative justice. 

Azim and I discuss what it means to truly forgive, the necessity for a belief in something bigger than yourself, and why violence is a behavior that can be - thankfully - unlearned. 

This one is definitely on the heavier side, but I think it’s well worth the listen. 

Enjoy the show!

-Azim’s TED Talk
-Azim’s Books
-Azim’s Courses

So this week’s episode is different from anything we’ve ever done for the podcast to date. 

It’s not quite a fully brewed episode, but it’s also not one of our lightroasts either.

My guest this week is…well, me. 

Now don’t worry, I relinquished my hosting rights to a dear friend, so I promise this won’t sound like some experimental one-man-play where I interview myself.  

And in fact, it was this same friend who nudged me to give listeners a peek behind the curtain that agreed to stand in as our host. 

So for this week’s episode I hope you’ll join me and Amy Stewart for a conversation about some of the larger things I’ve experienced over the course of 2022, including one of the biggest cases of my career. 

I can’t say these will be a regular occurrence moving forward, but I’ll admit it was a little refreshing to hand over the reins. 

On top of jury-trial-filled year, Amy and I discuss transitioning into different stages of leadership, what juries are expecting in our second digital age, and what the future holds for yours truly.

Enjoy the show!

There’s a lot of jargon when it comes to relationships in the professional world. 

Networking, collaboration, client development, team-building events – all of these are simply another way of saying you’re attempting to build a lasting, meaningful, and trust-filled connections. 

But as important as getting along with others is to…well, everything… this week’s conversation was a good reminder of why working on our relationships often starts by working on ourselves first. 

My guest this week is corporate relationship expert, Paula Quinsee. 

Long before Covid threw a wrench into the concept of work-place culture, Paula was stressing the need for companies to invest in their employees on the personal level so that they could better contribute on the professional level. 

Paula has been a TEDX speaker who is sought out by companies big and small to facilitate and implement new strategies for finding balance in all areas both inside and outside the office. 

In 2009 she founded Engaged Humans which aims to bring employees and leaders together so they can achieve a growth-mindset in all areas of business - and this all starts with building lasting, trusting, relationships.

She is also the author of two books, “Embracing Conflict” and her most recent book, “Embracing No,” which aims help eliminate the guilt too often associated with self-care. 

We discuss how to make the word “No” into a full sentence, why understanding someone’s past is key to working with them in the present, and how leaders can protect their most important asset – their Team. 

 Enjoy the show!

One thing young lawyers often have to learn the hard way is that you could have the most air-tight case in history, but if you don’t understand or anticipate how people will process information, then you can quickly lose a jury, and then, of course, your case.

But understanding how people react isn’t just a skill reserved for jury trials.

From depositions, to mediations, to simple client correspondence, knowing how a case looks from the outside is one of the most necessary tools a lawyer can (and should) have. 

But since I know very few lawyers who also happen to be practicing clinical psychologists, there’s a good chance that in major cases most lawyers will hire a consulting company to do things like run mock-trials and prepare witnesses for depositions.

My guest today is one of those consultants, and with full disclosure that he’s a dear friend, I would argue he’s one of the best in the business.

Bill Kanasky and I go way back, but just as our friendship has evolved, so has the nature of our work. 

He and his team at Courtroom Sciences work on thousands of cases a year, and so while I may practice the law, it’s guys like Bill who really have their pulse on the legal landscape.

We discuss jury temperament, how defense lawyers can be more “offensive,” and the rise of nuclear verdicts. 

Oh, and there’s plenty of smack-talk.

Enjoy the show!