By Doug Fine
The podcast currently has 56 episodes available.
Paul met a teenage boy of 17 at an orphanage in Niurobe, Kenya. As he was leaving John Maina said, "Never forget me." Paul Higdon never did forget and went back to the slum where he had met John. John was found in short order and their reunion was the beginning of a new and true family relationship for John and Paul. Paul is now John's father, his wife Linda is now John's mother. Paul's book is dedicated to telling John's life story from being orphaned at the age of 5 and living his life on the streets of Africa's fifth largest slum, until today.
In this BookCast Paul Higdon and Doug Fine talk about the book and just after that they have a conversation with John Maina all the way from Africa. There are points of inspiration, points of HOPE, points of RENEWAL. Join them in learning about John's life journey and how he is doing today! We also have the privilege of speaking to a friend of Paul's, Tom Gikunda. Tom tells his amazing story about how he began saving street boys from the slums and giving them everything they need for a successful life.
Find the book Hope and a Future here: https://tinyurl.com/mdnvvpv6 All the proceeds for Hope and a Future go to Little Boost Children's Fund, a charity that Paul founded to help the neediest . You will learn a lot at Little Boost's website and learn more about Tom's place, Hope House Street Boys Home. There are ways to donate to help Tom directly. Go to: https://www.littleboostchildrensfund....
This is a conversation that I would have never dreamed possible. I got to spend some time with the great Tom Peters, one-on-one speaking about things and ideas and experiences that he and I are passionate about when it comes to leadership, workplace culture and environment, and other stuff too. He was gracious and kind and generous with his time. That’s who he is. In the beginning of this BookCast I introduce Tom Peters and I share the influence his books and thinking have had on my own work and how I attempted to make a positive humanistic difference at every place that I worked and everything I did. When I read Tom Peters he would inspire me to, in some ways, throw caution to the wind and try new things to make things happen in perhaps unconventional ways. Speaking with a true business hero of mine was such a treat. I hope that you will enjoy our chat and, most important, begin to learn from Tom Peters via his books, his training, and the amazing resources that he provides on his website. Thank you Mr. Peters for this once-in-a-lifetime privilege.
Find all of his books on Amazon.
Find more at www.tompeters.com
In this BookCast Tracy and Doug Fine talk in depth about his two books. Discussing Engagement MAGIC, Tracy disputes the myth of awful employee engagement in today's workplaces. It's not as dire as you might hear about. Actually, Tracy's data show engagement to be stratified in to 4 levels. But common understanding claims that a mere 25-30 are fully engaged in their jobs and the rest are disengaged. Tracy explains how a simple look at work groups will dispel any notion that 70% of the country are disengaged at their work. We also discuss other important aspects of engagement: That it is a 50-50 proposition, that there is a data-driven model that, when understood, can help leaders and their teams better understand and participate in working towards their own engagement - it's the MAGIC model and you will come to understand the role it plays in organizations that want to amp up engagement. Speaking about Tracy's 2nd Book, The Employee Experience, he shares that most organizations are looking in the wrong place to improve their customers' experience. The main thing that brings about a great customer experience, is designing the best employee experiences across the board in everything that occurs. Delighted customers come from delighted and nurtured employees. There is a connection with the MAGIC Model here too. Highly engaged employees will have the best Employee Experience. We unpack a lot in this BookCast and we think it can help in meeting your employee engagement, employee experience, and customer experience goals and objectives.
Tracy is the CEO of DecisionWise and has over 25 years of consulting experience and organizational measurement and improvement activities world-wide.
You can find out more about Tracy and his company and work here:
LinkedIn Profile
decision-wise.com (Company Website)
Employee-X.com (Company Website)
engagementmagic.com (Company Website)
Twitter: @TracyMaylett
This is Shane Metcalf's and my follow-up conversation about 18 months after our first chat in 2019. We focus on the ups and downs and the challenges he and his company experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, the aftermath of the George Floyd murder and what they did to keep their noteworthy company culture strong while meeting their business objectives. Shane speaks of the influences he had that molded his thinking about organizational culture and leading people in a way that honors their individual traits and talents while encouraging them to become their best and highest selves both at work and in life. Some of those influences will surprise you, by their unconventionality. They might literally blow your mind as some might say.
Here are some ways that Shane can be found:
His LinkedIn Profile
Company website
Twitter: @shane_metcalf
Email: [email protected]
HR Superstars Podcast: https://www.15five.com/podcast/
Safari Jema translates to "Good Journey," and Teresa provides the background and specifics of a very good journey that she made with her husband in Africa. Her book's subtitle is "A Journey of Love and Adventure from Casa Blanca to Cape Town."
We cover a lot of territory in this BookCast: why her and Scott chose the unconventional life of travel adventuring, individual stories about their over- land experiences in Africa in a span of 10 months, and the feelings and emotions that Teresa shares in thinking back on this time of her life. I hope you enjoy this BookCast. It's the first one that I've done with the author of a book that is not related to concrete subjects in the business or personal finance realm. Engagement with life is what we have here and that falls very much in line with the mission of these D.FINED Engagement BookCasts.
Enjoy!
Find Teresa's Book Here: https://tinyurl.com/3fa3vfk4
And here is Teresa's Blog: http://teresaokane.blogspot.com/
She keeps her blog updated regularly about her life with Scott and their amazing adventures.
Laurie Ruettimann authored "Betting on You: How To Put Yourself First And (Finally) Take Control Of Your Career."
Doug Fine and she had a wide-ranging discussion about her book and the things in her life and career that let up to it. This is a book that Laurie wished something like it had existed in her early career as an HR professional. The workplace can be pretty awful at times and even toxic to people, doing real harm with their health, well-being, and family life. But Laurie advocates, even while admitting that reality, that people can improve their work lives by improving their overall outlook towards themselves which includes wellness, personal and career growth, self-leadership and taking better risks.
Their discussion includes ideas about setting healthy boundaries with work and having a rich and almost unrelated personal life as opposed to the 100% Productive All-The-Time ethos that can exist for some in these times. Laurie calls that "hustleporn." It can also coincide with working people thinking about themselves too much and some needing to be 'on" 24/7. "Always thinking about myself is a terrible place to live," she shares.
The fundamental premise of "Betting On You" is fixing yourself before you can do anything effective about fixing your work life or work in general. Hers is an action-oriented book which requires doing things rather than merely thinking about things. I know you will enjoy this bookcast and I strongly encourage you to buy the book and give it as a gift to friends and especially to those who are new entrants to the ever-changing world of modern work and workplaces.
Find "Betting on You"
Find Laurie Here: https://laurieruettimann.com/
Laurie's LinkedIn Profile
In our final episode Laura and I talk about the overarching theme of her book, It's Not Them, It's You: Why Employees "Breakup" With Their Managers and What To Do About It.
Good positive relationships between managers and employees are the key to any organization's success in meeting their goals, serving their customers, and making sustainable profits. An important foundation to those relationships are regular 1:1 meetings between individual employees and their manager.
These meeting are not merely a "check-in" to see how things are going with specific tasks, goals, or projects. Of course those are important to discuss. But effective 1:1s go much deeper than that. These meeting should be seen as almost "sacred" time between people and distractions and interruptions should be minimized. Managers will need to practice supportive attending skills which includes active listening, proper sitting arrangements, and enough time to build better trusting relationships. Laura's book offers many great questions that a manager can use to help them in having rich, effective, and meaningful 1:1s. 1:1s are NOT meeting for meetings sake. Rather they are the means to build strong partnerships and mutual satisfaction and engagement between a manager and a team member.
We discuss the overarching theme of the book, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, which coincide with the seven leadership traits that Laura's book emphasizes - Relationships, Empathy, Support, Promotion, Empowerment, Consideration, and Trust. Laura explains that the first trait, respect, is woven through all the others traits.
Many thanks to Laura Sukorokoff for giving of her time and leadership expertise to me and the listeners of the D.FINED Engagement BookCast.
Here's a link to Laura's book. It will greatly benefit a manager / leader at any stage of their career. We think it would be a great addition to a management library. https://tinyurl.com/y3fe2k2c
Laura can help you personally or bring her expertise to your workplace.
Her Website: https://www.cchangelearning.com/
Her LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/laurasukorokoff
Her email: [email protected]
Doug Fine and Laura Sukorocoff talk about the final Leadership trait covered in her book, "It's Not Them, It's You: Why Employees "Break Up" With Their Managers and What To Do About It." That trait is "trust."
She tells the true story of Tom who, like most people, began his new job with high enthusiasm. It was a good fit and he believed that he could learn and grow a lot working from the owner of a small training company. However it was not long before there were signs that Tom joined a company that might not have been financially strong enough to support him as an employee. Tom's trust in the company and his manager was being eroded by a series a things that happened to him. Although Tom enjoyed the work, promises made to him were not fulfilled and his manager was becoming unreliable and untrustworthy. Tom had to look for another job as a result.
Laura emphasizes that you cannot have a effectively operating organization without sufficient trust between the people and especially between a manager and her team. There are significant business costs associated with a low trust work environment. Especially now, in a global pandemic, foundational physical and safety needs are being threatened by companies towards their people. Things are particularly uncertain now and it is extremely important to maintain mutual trust to weather the storm together.
Another aspect touched upon in this conversation are actions to take when a manager does or says something to damage trust with their people. Laura lays out the steps that must occur for there is to be a chance that trust can be reestablished.
Here's a link to Laura's book. It will greatly benefit a manager / leader at any stage of their career. We think it would be a great addition to a management library. https://tinyurl.com/y3fe2k2c
Laura Sukorocoff can help you personally or bring her expertise to your workplace. She helps everyone she encounters to grow!
Her Website
Her LinkedIn Profile
Her email: [email protected]
I continue my fun and informative conversations with Laura Sukorokoff about her recent book, "It's Not Them, It's YOU: Why Employees "Break-Up" With Their Managers and What To Do About It."
Leaders of people, most often called managers, need important so-called "Soft-Skills" to move a business forward. Laura is an expert in leadership training and she brings the wealth of her experience to this book. Caitlin took pride in her work. She had an "ownership" mentality in her part-time retail setting. She was an expert in the products sold, the customers loved her and they kept coming back for more - to see Caitlin and to spend money!
But something happened that popped Caitlin's balloon. It was her leader's treatment of her. She soon ended up saying she was going on an extended vacation and never came back, even though she was wanted back. Caitlin's manager showed little consideration for her and you will learn the details in our discussion. Laura uses real-life people and stories to make her leadership lessons speak to all levels that can use the help that her book provides.
First, here's a link to Laura's book. It will greatly benefit a manager / leader at any stage of their career. https://tinyurl.com/y3fe2k2c
Second, contact Laura, she can help you personally or bring her expertise to your workplace. She helps everyone she encounters grow!
Her Website: https://www.cchangelearning.com/
Her LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/laurasukorokoff
Her email: [email protected]
The subtitle of Laura's book is "Why Employees "Break Up" with Their Managers and What To Do About It."
This episode we talk about Elton and his situation. He gets a new manager who disregards any work and any accomplishments of Elton's team the minute he arrives. So off to a bad start. On top of that, new manager is a classic micro-manager. Laura and I talk about what the natural consequences are when a manager micromanages. Eventually people shut down, and in frustration, stop exercising any individual initiative. They only wait for the next order to be told what to do, and how to do it by the boss. The complete opposite of micromanaging is to empower people to unleash their ideas, innovations, problem-solving abilities, and engagement. We briefly discuss the legendary culture at Zappos and how empowered people make dedicated and long-term employees, even in their call centers. Call centers are notorious for high turnover, miserable management, and awful work environments. Laura and I think the Episode with Elton just might be our favorite of our time together so we hope you enjoy!
Here's a link to Laura's book. It will greatly benefit a manager / leader at any stage of their career. https://tinyurl.com/y3fe2k2c
Here are ways to get in touch with Laura:
Her Website: https://www.cchangelearning.com/
Her LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/laurasukorokoff
Her email: [email protected]
The podcast currently has 56 episodes available.