Linda Valente is the Director of Training and Employee Development at the non-profit, CDD, or Center for Developmentally Disabled. Here Linda and her organization provide much-needed residential care services and day habilitation to adults with developmental disabilities across the greater Kansas City, MO area. Linda is the first person in her position, laying the foundation for supporting not just their residents, but their caregivers.

Linda has worked in the Learning & Development field for 14 years now and holds two master's degrees in Adult Education and Family Therapy. Outside of academics, Linda is a lover of music. She is a part-time vocal instructor and currently studying to become a voice-over artist. But most important to Linda is her female-dominated family with two daughters and two granddaughters, with her first grandson on the way! 

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• How Linda got into training and development
• Center for Developmentally Disabled information
• Importance of "listening tours"
• How can L&D positions help employees reach their full potential
• Dealing with failure
• Tips to decompress the mind
• How can talent leaders best position themselves for their own growth within a company?
• The power and importance of vulnerability and creating psychological safety
• Servant leadership model
• Defining success
• How to make "others-focused" a leadership/business practice
• Tips for building relationships
• Watch outs for psychological safety

‍Resources/Links:

• Connect with Linda: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindavalente1/
• Learn about CDD: https://cddkc.org/
• Connect with Tom on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomfinnleggup/
• Connect with Tom on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomfinnleggup
• Podcast website: https://www.talentempowerment.com/

Our Sponsors:

• LeggUP: https://www.leggup.com/

Welcome to the Talent Empowerment podcast where we lift up people leaders so you can lift up your organizations!

Our guest today is Shana Robinson, a Senior Human Resources Business Partner with a large Fintech organization with numerous years of people operations experience under her having worked for the likes of Blue Apron, Twitter, Google, eBay, and Compass Real Estate, just to name a few! She is also an expert in bringing wellness initiatives into the corporate experience, focusing heavily on helping employees cultivate all facets of emotional and physical intelligence. Her personal mission is to empower individuals and corporations to navigate challenges and transitions through work, life, health, and wellness in an ever-changing world.

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Talking Points: 

• How food and mood are connected, moving Shana from the role of chef to people leader
• What do you learn in a restaurant that you can bring into the corporate world? 
• Shana's morning ritual to avoid "FLC"
• What should you do as an HR leader when starting with a new company?
• How to best get to know your new colleagues to build trust early on
• How does data come into play for HR leaders?
• How to speak the different "languages" or motivating factors of leaders
• Why the push for "physical wellbeing" in the workplace didn't work
• Work/life Integration over balance
• It's time to explore new ways of working
• Live from a place of "calm and ease" even in stressful situations

Resources/Links: 

• Connect with Shana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanarobinson/
• Connect with Tom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomfinnleggup/
• Connect with Tom on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomfinnleggup
• Follow the podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqUsHmbq_8rScNvZ0f5FUjA
• Follow the podcast on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/talent-empowerment-podcast/
• Visit the podcast's website: https://www.talentempowerment.com/

Welcome to the Talent Empowerment podcast where we lift up people leaders so you can lift up your organizations!

My guest today is Aysha Alawadhi, an HR and Organizational Effectiveness specialist, with a decade of international experience that cuts across various HR and operational functions, with a focus on diversity, culture, development, and people analytics. She prides herself on being industry agnostic and is a huge believer that HR can be done right in any industry if people are the true focus of the strategy. She currently works for a large healthcare organization, Anthem.

Talking Points:

• Aysha's experience growing up in Dubai
• How wanting to make a difference led Aysha to HR
• Takeaways as hire No.2 at a startup - helping it grow from 2 to 2,000+ employees
• How HR can move from the "kiddy table" to a C-Suite and stakeholder conversations
• Recognizing and overcoming misaligned incentives for employee engagement
• The importance of understanding the core business over specializing in HR
• Identifying key barriers preventing employees from performing their best
• Don't do culture for the sake of culture
• Aysha's two major lessons from her mistakes
• The importance of understanding your stakeholders
• Effective tactics for change management
• Effectively communicating with the CFO and stakeholders
• Harnessing your power as an individual to make real change

Resources/Links:

• Connect with Aysha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aysha-alawadhi-ms-gphr/
• Connect with Aysha on Twitter: https://twitter.com/aysha_alawadhi
• Connect with Tom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomfinnleggup/
• Connect with Tom on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomfinnleggup
• Follow Talent Empowerment on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/talent-empowerment-podcast/

Visit Talent Empowerment's Website: https://www.talentempowerment.com/

My guest today is Brian Bogert, a human behavior and performance coach, speaker, and business strategist, Brian teaches disruptive strategies on how to create sustainable growth and lasting change personally and professionally. His life philosophies on “how to embrace pain to avoid suffering,” “people before profits,” and “who before what” has helped individuals and companies discover and activate their limitless potential. In a world that is disconnected, Brian is revolutionizing how individuals, leaders, and entrepreneurs deeply connect with their authentic selves to achieve the best version of themselves.

Brian’s passion for positive leadership extends beyond his business career and into the nonprofit sector. He is a founding member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s professional advisory board, the Vinnies, and serves on various other advisory boards and committees like the American Cancer Society, Adelante a lonte —Healthcare, TGEN, United Blood Services, the YMCA and many more! 

Talking Points: 

• Brian's unique origin story
• The difference between pain and suffering
• Embracing pain to avoid suffering; but pain is not always what we need to embrace
• How embracing pain relates to leadership teams and building cultures
• Identifying pains you tend to avoid; how leaders relate this to strategies that don't seem to work
• How emotional triggers hold you back personally and professionally
• Scarcity vs. abundance mindsets
• How do companies take these insights to establish an effective culture? 
• Dropping your body armor to allow everyone to be seen and heard
• Work/life balance versus work/life integration

Brian's Exclusive Offer for Listeners: 

http://www.nolimitsprelude.com/

Resources/Links:

• Brian's Website: https://brianbogert.com/
• Connect with Brian on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogertbrian/
• Connect with Brian on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrianbogertCompanies/videos
• Connect with Brian on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BogertBrian
• Connect with Brian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianbogert/
• Talent Empowerment Website: https://www.talentempowerment.com/

Our Sponsors:

LeggUP: https://www.leggup.com/

Our guest today is the energetic, innovative, working mom, Stephanie Crook, Vice President of Organizational & Talent Capability at Intel. She is responsible for building talent strategies and solutions in support of Intel’s business execution.

An accomplished Organizational Development professional, Stephanie has fifteen years of experience leading cross-organizational transformation projects both in and outside Intel. Throughout her career, she has maintained close ties to thought leaders in the organizational development, talent and strategy fields and is known for bringing industry best practices to the teams she leads.

Stephanie holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and Russian from Utah State University and a master's degree in organizational behavior and business administration from the Marriott School of Management at BYU.

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Talking Points: 

• Stephanie's professional history
• Her early experiences as a working mom of 4 children
• The importance of a personal brand or reputation in the workplace
• Bringing humanity into the workplace
• The shift in understanding how culture impacts the value of the firm
• Challenges of aligning the right talent with the right projects
• Stephanie's proudest accomplishments
• Stephanie's advice for younger employees
• Building and investing in networks
• 3 things you can do to stay engaged with your network

Resources/Links:

• Connect with Stephanie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanie-crook-a48a2038/
• Connect with Tom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomfinnleggup/
• Connect with Tom on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomfinnleggup
• Visit the Talent Empowerment Website: https://www.talentempowerment.com/
• Talent Empowerment podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/talent-empowerment-podcast/

Thank you to our sponsors: 

LeggUP: https://www.leggup.com/

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Our guest today is Craig Thomas! Craig grew up in Jamaica and is now an HR Specialist in Nova Scotia, Canada. An amazing connector of people with a very diverse educational background and professional career, Craig’s true industry expertise lies in change management, Training and Development, DEI, and employee retention strategies. Prior to working in HR, Craig spent 19 years in the Banking and Finance industry specializing in risk management, Credit adjudication, and Banking Operations. He is also a certified trainer and educator, teaching at the University level for over 15 years. And to round out his impressive and one-of-a-kind experience, Craig served as a program manager for a key International Donor Agency, USAID, where he provided guidance to regional, national, and community-based organizations in Jamaica and the Bahamas on matters related to Grant Funding policy, operations, and capacity building initiatives.

Talking Points: 

• How Craig found many role models growing up in Jamaica
• Craig's history from finance to HR
• What does it feel like to be in-between leadership and employees?
• Overcoming stigmas of a finance background working in HR
• Tips to lead from the front
• What is the role of culture in HR?
• Company values versus individual values
• Equality vs. Equity
• Craig's work in the education sphere
• The importance of financial literacy for HR and employees
• What disciplines should all HR practitioners be well-versed in?
• Craig's experience with LeggUP
• How to be strategic with networking
• Be alive while living! 

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Resources/Links: 

• Connect with Craig on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigdthomas/
• Connect with our host, Tom, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomfinnleggup/
• Visit Talent Empowerment's Website: https://www.talentempowerment.com/
• Follow Talent Empowerment on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/talent-empowerment-podcast/
• Visit our sponsor, LeggUP: https://www.leggup.com/

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Thank you for joining the Talent Empowerment podcast and we hope this conversation lifted you up so you can lift up your teams and organizations. Let’s get back to people and culture together. We’ll see you on the next episode!

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Cassie Whitlock is the Director of Human Resources at BambooHR. She has over 20 years of HR experience with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Accounting and a Master’s degree in Human Resources. She loves the intersection of business and humans and believes that when companies focus on the human aspect of their people, the people, in turn, focus on the business needs. She enjoys her work most when she can take her talents in data, processes, and human psychology to make someone's day better. She is also a proud mom of 2 and is absolutely loving life being a Nana to 4 (soon to be 5) wonderful grandchildren.

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Talking Points: 

• Cassie's journey from accounting to people leader
• Unique obstacles SMBs face
• Moving anti-harassment training from compliance to a way to enhance company culture
• What is the role of a people leader? 
• How do you build a culture of support? 
• Mission, Vision, Values model
• How BambooHR selects what benefits are worth investing in
• Crafting a mission statement for your 401k plan
• How to find value in any work project?
• Frameworks for constant improvement in your organization

Resources: 

• Connect with Cassie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassie-whitlock/
• Visit BambooHR's Website: https://www.bamboohr.com/
• Connect with Tom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomfinnleggup/
• Connect with Tom on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomfinnleggup
• Follow the podcast on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/talent-empowerment-podcast/

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Our guest today is someone obsessed with all things employee engagement and HR tech, Partha Neog, the CEO and Co-founder of Vantage Circle. He has over two decades of expertise in product and executive management. He has demonstrated a proven track record of scaling great businesses and was instrumental in the conception and launch of 99acres.com. Partha gained valuable experience in a variety of industrial verticals while working for organizations like Airy Cent Aricent, Hughes Software Systems, and Bharat Electronics. Through his frequent association with several companies and HR departments over the years, he has gained deep insights into the employee engagement space. Partha's vision for Vantage Circle has helped it become one of Asia's leading HR technology companies, as well as one of North America's and Australia's fastest-growing employee engagement platforms. A global savant, if you will! 

Talking Points: 

• What does employee engagement mean in today's workforce?
• Perks vs. rewards and recognition
• The product expansion journey of Vantage Circle
• The Serendipity of starting your own business
• Moving outside of the Asian marketplace and scaling a business internationally
• Has Partha experienced equal treatment/equal air time while trying to expand internationally? 
• What's the next thing coming in the recognition and rewards space?
• Is employee pulse work critical for HR leaders? 
• Where is the value in rewarding employees? 
• Partha's take on employee adoption of the company mission
• Partha's challenges along the way

Resources/Links: 

• Connect with Partha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parthaneog/
• Vantage Circle Website: https://www.vantagecircle.com/
• Vantage Circle Blog: https://blog.vantagecircle.com/
• Talent Empowerment Website: https://www.talentempowerment.com/
• Connect with host, Tom Finn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomfinnleggup/
• Connect with host, Tom Finn on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomfinnleggup
• Connect with Talent Empowerment on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/talent-empowerment-podcast/

Our Sponsors:

• LeggUP: https://www.leggup.com/

Today's guest is Corky Curtis, the Learning & Development Director of MBK Real Estate Companies, the leading developer and investor in senior living communities, multi-family residents, and industrial real estate. Prior to joining the MBK team, Corky served in the US Army for more than 20 years, eventually retiring as a Senior Training Manager. He is an experienced people leader specializing in organizational development, recruitment, and operational planning with a passion for finding innovative ways to keep his team motivated and engaged. 

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Talking Points:

• Corky's personal story and Army background
• What do you do after retiring from a long military career?
• Authentic Leadership Theory
• Guarding your calendar as a leader and maintaining "doorway conversations"
• How to communicate with the new generation of workers
• Training leaders on how to give feedback
• Corky's experience working with LeggUP to address burnout
• Leadership development
• Learning from mistakes and leaning into your personal strengths as a leader

Resources/Links:

• Connect with Corky on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corky-curtis-b571aa45/
• Learn about MBK: https://www.mbk.com/
• Connect with Tom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomfinnleggup/
• Connect with Tom on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tomfinnleggup
• Talent Empowerment podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/talent-empowerment-podcast/

Susan Schmitt Winchester is SVP, CHRO for Applied Materials with 30 + years of HR experience, previously serving as CHRO for Rockwell Automation and multiple leadership roles for the Kellogg Company. She is a National Academy of HR Fellow, the highest professional honor for HR leaders, and a Board member for the HR Policy Association, member of the Executive Committee, Peer Roundtable for CHROs, Vice Chair Leadership Advisory Board for the Dean of Engineering, U of Michigan, and a Forbes HR Council member.

She is also the co-author of the book, Healing at Work: A Guide to Using Career Conflicts to Overcome Your Past and Build the Future You Deserve, with Martha I. Finney. 

Talking Points: 

• Susan's role at Applied Materials as CHRO
• How Applied Materials worked through the pandemic and return to the office for different positions
• Managing hundreds of global people leaders within the organization
• How to maintain a calm presence during difficult times
• How your childhood can affect your work life
• The stressful reality of perfectionism and people-pleasing
• Adult Survivor of a Damaged Past (ASDP)
• Unconscious responses to co-workers' behaviors' and understanding emotional triggers
• "Bumper car moments" concept
• Competency models vs. suitability model
• What's one thing most people don't know about Susan

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Resources/Links:

• Healing at Work: A Guide to Using Career Conflicts to Overcome Your Past and Build the Future You Deserve: https://www.susanjschmitt.com/about-the-book/
• Sign up for Susan's newsletter: https://bit.ly/3M4ORuf
• Susan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanschmittwinchester/
• Susan's Personal Website: https://www.susanjschmitt.com/
• Talent Empowerment Website: https://www.talentempowerment.com/
• Talent Empowerment LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/talent-empowerment-podcast

Our Sponsors: 

• LeggUP: https://www.leggup.com/‍