How you present yourself and communicate with your peers is critical to successful leadership and moving up in the ranks. But for many people, a powerful executive presence can be elusive as they struggle to understand what’s holding them back. Anna Wildermuth, Founder and CEO of Personal Images and an award-winning executive image consultant, talks with Diana about some of the most common struggles when it comes to looking and acting the part of an executive leader.

Training that truly serves the needs of today’s employees has evolved beyond the classroom and formalized instruction to point-of-need support. How do learning and development professionals keep up? Bob Mosher, Chief Learning Evangelist at Apply Synergies, talks about keeping up with the rate of change in organizations and creating a culture shift that gets people learning and performing at a much faster rate.

In a world of stiff competition for talent, companies are doing everything they can to create an environment that attracts the right people and keeps them on board. As SVP of HR, Learning, and Organizational Development at Vi Senior Living, Judy Whitcomb and her team have worked to build a culture that's a powerful force for attracting and retaining talent. Listen now to learn how they established the culture and what they're doing today to keep it strong.

Talent leaders are challenged to drive business results, and there’s no shortage of measurement tools purported to help you squeeze insights out of your data. Dr. Stacey Boyle, Chief People Planner at Smarter People Planning and Diana’s co-author on Be More Strategic in Business, talks about approaching analytics from the bigger picture view—why are you measuring? What do you want evaluation to help you accomplish?

Chief human resource officers are challenged to be strategic business partners by recruiting talent for open positions and filling the leadership pipeline for future needs—all while balancing the day-to-day HR needs of a growing workforce. Carol McBride, CHRO of Germania Insurance and author of HR, Where's your freaking sense of humor? talks with Diana about what her team is doing to meet business needs and how she stays relevant in a competitive field. Carol also offers important advice for aspiring CHROs.

We all have many demands on our time. How do you make sure you’re accomplishing the right things and using your allotted hours as efficiently as possible? Kory Kogon, author of The Five Choices: The Path to Extraordinary Productivity and a VP at Franklin Covey Co., shares tips, tricks, and prioritization methods for surviving in a fast-paced business world. View more content and download the resources that were mentioned in the episode at https://www.talent-champions.com/episode-5

Networking is a critical and underrated success factor for talent champions, which is why we’re devoting another episode to talking about how to build your own strategic and intentional network. Michael Dulworth, a professional networker and CEO at Executive Networks, addresses some of the biggest challenges people associate with networking.

Building a strong, active network is one of the biggest secrets to success for leaders in almost any field, but so many of us struggle to make and nurture authentic connections. Mary McNevin, a long-time successful talent leader and power networker, talks about how to create your own network of powerful connections who can help you when you need it most. Learn more at https://www.talent-champions.com/

Technology has radically changed the talent field, and that's not stopping any time soon. Casper Moerck, Head of Learning Technology for the Americas at Siemens, talks about what's on the horizon and gives practical ideas to help talent champions keep up this critical competency.

How can learning leaders stay on top of everything they need to succeed today and tomorrow? I discussed that question in depth with Sarah Kimmel, VP of Research for Human Capital Media, a division of MediaTec Publishing, which publishes Chief Learning Officer, Talent Economy, and Workforce magazines. Sarah was the lead researcher on an unprecedented report called "The Role of CLO: What's next?" Even our talent champions in HR without direct responsibilities for learning will want to hear Sarah's great insights.