People First! with Morag Barrett

Welcome to SkyeTeam's People First! In this series, we explore the people side of successful business and careers. We all have a story to share, a leadership journey that we are experiencing.

We'll be interviewing authors, business leaders, thought leaders, and people like you to uncover the latest ideas, resources, and tools to help you become more effective at work - and in life. As it turns out, the secret is cultivating winning relationships. Business is personal, and relationships matter!

So, sit back, and grab a coffee as Morag and Heather Younger discuss "Caring Leadership!"

Chapter Layout:
0:00 - Open
2:58 - What Did You Want to Be When You Grew Up?
4:08 - Pivot Point
8:54 - New Book
11:11 - Meet People Where They Are At
13:56 - Safety Leadership
15:17 - Am I Seen As A Caring Colleague?
18:14 - Feeling Heard
20:05 - Power in the Pause
22:08 - The 9 Behaviors
24:59 - Do It At Work, Do It At Home
29:04 - The Crucible & Wrap

Links:
Website: http://theartofcaringleadership.com/
Book: https://amazon.com/Art-Caring-Leadership-Leading-Organizations/dp/1523092149/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=caring+leadership&qid=1614564135&sr=8-3
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatheryounger/

Transcript:
- [INTRO] Welcome to Skye Team's, "People First with Morag Barrett."

- You know, when you meet people where you just click? Where it seems that your thoughts and ideas are aligned? Well that's how I feel about Heather Younger. Heather's my guest this week on "People First", and she is a best-selling author, international speaker, consultant, adjunct organizational leadership professor and a facilitator who has rightly earned her reputation as the employee whisperer. And as a champion for positive change in the workplace, communities and in our world at large, Heather founded Employee Fanatics, a leading employee engagement and leadership development consulting and training firm to inspire others by teaching the kind of caring leadership that drives real business results. Heather hosts a weekly podcast "Leadership with Heart." I was just watching a phenomenal episode with Garry Ridge from WD-40 and Chester Elton, which also uncovers the drive for leaders from all over the world and all walks of life to be more emotionally intelligent leaders. Her book, "The Seven Intuitive Laws of Employee Loyalty" hit the Forbes' must-read list and is a go-to source for HR professionals and organizational leaders seeking insight into their organization's dynamics. And she has a new book coming out this year, this week, "The Art of Caring Leadership: How Leading with Heart Uplifts Teams and Organizations." Heather, welcome to "People First." I'm excited for our conversation.

- Thank you. Thank you. I'm very excited. This is awesome. Oh, and by the way, I actually have a podcast. You probably don't know this. So my "Leadership with Heart" podcast plays weekly. So it does play weekly, but it's an audio podcast on all platforms. And then my live show, I wish I could tell you it was more more frequent than it used to be. That live show is kind of an extension of the podcast where I try to bring on people I already spoke with or new people that still are exhibiting some of those caring tendencies so.

- Either way, both very well worth listening to. What I love about the new technology is that they're not a "one and done" because those YouTube videos, those audio podcasts they are there forever. And so whenever you find yourself with five minutes I encourage you to listen to Heather's podcast. It is inspiring, it's uplifting. But more importantly, I mean, I was making notes, Heather. I love the conversation with Gary and Chester and we'll come back to that in a moment. But as ever on "People First" this is about the leadership journeys that we are all on. And the reality that it's rarely a straight line from A to B. In my case, it's a little bit of a crocheted, knotted tangled web that I've woven and as I mix my metaphors. But I want you to flash back to when you were a little girl and the teacher goes, "Right, Heather, what do you want to be when you grow up?" What was your answer?

- Well, it's going to be funny. So just get ready. I wanted to be a model and a singer. A model and a singer. Okay.

- And I don't do either.

- Not even for fun in the shower?

- Yeah, in the shower, in the car, there's some singing going on. My kids, some of them are like, I really love your singing. And some of them are like, mom, can you stop? So yeah.

- It was funny.

- It wasn't my calling.

- I took an hour out of the day yesterday, we're going to talk about caring leadership but it was an opportunity for me to care for myself. And I joined Elliot Maisie's Empathy Concert. And we had three or four professional musicians and artists and performers from Broadway singing. And it was just wonderful to detach, but like you I sing in private, but definitely not in public. all right so, you're not a Broadway star, yet. So what was the pivot point that brought you into leadership and emotional intelligence, diversity and inclusion all of the human elements that you work with.

- I had been managing people for a long time. So then you know, leading teams for a long time and several years ago, I was in an organization that was going through a merger of companies. And through the merger, I kind of sat there. I'm always been kind of like this person with five heads anyway where I'm noticing what's happening around me and I'm seeing how people, the pain is is unfolding around me with employees and customers. And so I look around and I'm like, something's gone wrong. So I go to the head of HR and at that time I was running customer experience. So I was not on the HR side or the leadership development side of things, right. So I went to HR and said, "listen, we have got to do something." I mean, the trust has been eroded. I mean, people are really fearful, our engagement is slow. And she said, "you're right. You should go do something about that." And I'm like, huh, what me? I'm running customer experience. Like, why am I supposed to so it, but it made sense at that point because I was the person who was already kind of like a culture ambassador. Lifted people all the time whether they were my team or not. I always try to bring people together. So I did, I took it on and created an employee engagement council and brought all the different people from all those companies together. And in quick order, I mean, within six months the trust really did start to grow and it was because we forced the people together to learn each other, to you know to understand each other more, to uncover more about each other and the commonalities. And so that went really well but the merger didn't go so well. And so they had hired a lot of people. It was just not good. So they ended up doing a lot of downsizing, about 200 of us. I was in the first round of that 200 and it was an "owie" 'cause I was the breadwinner at that time, a family of six and it just hurt. But I realized like right in that minute this is the pivot really. I realized that no one was listening, no one was listening to employees, no one was paying attention. They were looking at revenue. They were looking at recurring revenue. They were all, the people they were bringing in. They weren't paying attention to what happened on the onboarding side and the people who were already there. And so I just said, someone's got to be that voice. Who is that voice from employees back to leaders about what they can do to really improve the experience? And that's where I came in and I realized at that point that was my calling. So what I've been doing ever since.

- So pivoted from the external customer perspective to the internal customer perspective. And what I love about this, I...

Welcome to SkyeTeam's People First! In this series, we explore the people side of successful business and careers. We all have a story to share, a leadership journey that we are experiencing.

We'll be interviewing authors, business leaders, thought leaders, and people like you to uncover the latest ideas, resources, and tools to help you become more effective at work - and in life. As it turns out, the secret is cultivating winning relationships. Business is personal, and relationships matter!

So, sit back, and grab a coffee as Morag and Sarabeth Berk discuss why you are more than your job title!

Chapter Layout:
0:00 - Open
1:02 - Origin Story
2:38 - Book
5:17 - Intersections
7:22 - Swiss Army Knife
9:35 - ID v PID
12:45 - Make a Difference
16:15 - Implications for Marketing Yourself
19:00 - The Future is Hybrid
22:15 - Final Thoughts
23:05 - Wrap

Links:
Website: https://www.morethanmytitle.com/
TedX Talk: https://youtu.be/fZg6jaMIvIE
Book:https://www.amazon.com/dp/194402767X/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_txi8FbYN5ACBJ

Welcome to SkyeTeam's People First! In this series, we explore the people side of successful business and careers. We all have a story to share, a leadership journey that we are experiencing.

We'll be interviewing authors, business leaders, thought leaders, and people like you to uncover the latest ideas, resources, and tools to help you become more effective at work - and in life. As it turns out, the secret is cultivating winning relationships. Business is personal, and relationships matter!

So, sit back, and grab a coffee as Morag and Amy Cooper Hakim discuss her book, "Working with Difficult People!"

Chapter Layout:
0:00 - Open
1:09 - Origin Story
3:17 - Pivot Point
5:11 - Family Connection
8:32 - Difficult People
11:10 - Start the Conversation
14:45 - 360 View
16:15 - First Steps
19:27 - You Realize It's YOU!
24:40 - Final Thoughts & Wrap

Links:
Website: http://cooperstrategicgroup.com/
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cooperstrategicgroup/
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Difficult-People-Second-Revised/dp/0143111876/

Welcome to SkyeTeam's People First! In this series, we explore the people side of successful business and careers. We all have a story to share, a leadership journey that we are experiencing.

We'll be interviewing authors, business leaders, thought leaders, and people like you to uncover the latest ideas, resources, and tools to help you become more effective at work - and in life. As it turns out, the secret is cultivating winning relationships. Business is personal, and relationships matter!

So, sit back, and grab a coffee as Morag and Stephen Woessner discuss the secrets of successful business owners!

Chapter Layout:
0:00 - Open
1:26 - What Did You Want to Be When You Grew Up?
4:48 - Entrepreneurial Surprise
6:50 - Tip of the Iceberg
9:02 - Crucible
12:00 - Practical Tactics
14:27 - Crack the Spine
16:32 - Favorite Truth
19:15 - IP
22:10 - Critical Questions
24:30 - Final Thoughts
26:08 - Wrap

Links:
https://predictiveroi.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenwoessner/

Welcome to SkyeTeam's People First! In this series, we explore the people side of successful business and careers. We all have a story to share, a leadership journey that we are experiencing.

We'll be interviewing authors, business leaders, thought leaders, and people like you to uncover the latest ideas, resources, and tools to help you become more effective at work - and in life. As it turns out, the secret is cultivating winning relationships. Business is personal, and relationships matter!

So, sit back, and grab a coffee as Morag and Michelle Myers discuss Conscious, Connected, & Courageous Leadership!

Chapter Layout:
0:00 - Open
1:07 - What Did You Want to Be When You Grew Up?
2:35 - Pivot Point
5:55 - Peaks & Valleys
9:08 - HR
14:02 - Pivot #2
18:30 - Brene
23:42 - Final Thoughts & Wrap

Links:
https://www.summitleadershipcoaching.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellejmyers/

Welcome to SkyeTeam's People First! In this series, we explore the people side of successful business and careers. We all have a story to share, a leadership journey that we are experiencing.

We'll be interviewing authors, business leaders, thought leaders, and people like you to uncover the latest ideas, resources, and tools to help you become more effective at work - and in life. As it turns out, the secret is cultivating winning relationships. Business is personal, and relationships matter!

So, sit back, and grab a coffee as Morag and Patricia Downing discuss, Female Leadership in Mining and Engineering!

Chapter Layout:
0:00 - Open
1:58 - What Did You Want to Be When You Grew Up?
2:57 - Pivot Point
4:50 - Women in Engineering
7:07 - Barriers to Entry
9:58 - Fitting In
12:30 - Leaning In
15:03 - Finding a Good Mentor
17:22 - Gender Equality
20:05 - Self Select Out
22:47 - What's Next?
24:15 - Human Skills
28:08 - Forging Your Own Path
30:37 - Wrap

Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricia-downing-46787a4/

Welcome to SkyeTeam's People First! In this series, we explore the people side of successful business and careers. We all have a story to share, a leadership journey that we are experiencing.

We'll be interviewing authors, business leaders, thought leaders, and people like you to uncover the latest ideas, resources, and tools to help you become more effective at work - and in life. As it turns out, the secret is cultivating winning relationships. Business is personal, and relationships matter!

So, sit back, and grab a coffee as Morag and Karen Cornwell discuss, her book, "You Can't Fix What You Can't See!"

Chapter Layout:
0:00 - Open
1:26 - What Did You Want to Be When You Grew Up?
3:37 - Highlights
5:51 - Leadership Philosophy
7:30 - Writing a Book
12:19 - Open the Book
15:20 - Courage
18:55 - Bridge the Gap
22:31 - Baby Steps
25:30 - Final Thoughts
27:40 - 100 Years
28:46 - Wrap

Links:
https://www.youcantfixwhatyoucantsee.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenfcornwell/

Welcome to SkyeTeam's People First! In this series, we explore the people side of successful business and careers. We all have a story to share, a leadership journey that we are experiencing.

We'll be interviewing authors, business leaders, thought leaders, and people like you to uncover the latest ideas, resources, and tools to help you become more effective at work - and in life. As it turns out, the secret is cultivating winning relationships. Business is personal, and relationships matter!

So, sit back, and grab a coffee as Morag and David Cohen discuss Why Corporate Values Matter!

Chapter Layout:
0:00 - Open
5:12 - Inside the Box
7:30 - Grandfather's Story
15:20 - Values Gone Wild
16:46 - Distributed Environment
27:41 - Learn More
33:18 - Wrap

Links:
https://sagltd.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-s-cohen-0b0191/

Welcome to SkyeTeam's People First! In this series, we explore the people side of successful business and careers. We all have a story to share, a leadership journey that we are experiencing.

We'll be interviewing authors, business leaders, thought leaders, and people like you to uncover the latest ideas, resources, and tools to help you become more effective at work - and in life. As it turns out, the secret is cultivating winning relationships. Business is personal, and relationships matter!

So, sit back, and grab a coffee as Morag and Patty Beach discuss her book (and body of work), "The Art of Alignment: A practical Guide to Inclusive Leadership!"

Chapter Layout:
0:00 - Open
1:29 - What Did You Want to Be When You Grew Up?
2:26 - Pivot Point
3:58 - Gender Intelligence
8:18 - Past the Stereotypes 
11:18 - Benefits
14:32 - Which Pocket?
18:30 - The Crucible
21:00 - Horizontal Alignment
26:40 - Learned Helplessness
27:35 - Action/Reflection
29:42 - Wrap

Links:
http://www.leadershipsmarts.com/
http://pattybeach.com/

Welcome to SkyeTeam's People First! In this series, we explore the people side of successful business and careers. We all have a story to share, a leadership journey that we are experiencing.

We'll be interviewing authors, business leaders, thought leaders, and people like you to uncover the latest ideas, resources, and tools to help you become more effective at work - and in life. As it turns out, the secret is cultivating winning relationships. Business is personal, and relationships matter!

So, sit back, and grab a coffee as Morag and Val Ries discuss her forthcoming book, "Chief Inspiration Officer!"

Chapter Layout:
0:00 - Open
0:53 - What Did You Want to Be When You Grew Up?
1:32 - Pivot Point
5:49 - Toxic Behavior
7:15 - CAVE Method
10:00 - Chief Inspiration officer
12:05 - Intentional Passivity
17:10 - Learn More & Wrap

Links:
Website: https://www.executive-muse.com/
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valries/