The Inspire Podcast

In today's episode of the Inspire Podcast, Bart Egnal speaks with Michael Lombardi. Michael is an American Football executive, media analyst, and former assistant on the coaching staff of the New England Patriots.

Michael and Bart talk about leadership lessons from the NFL, and what it takes to build a winner.

Here are some moments from the conversation:

Gridiron Genius -03:30.1

Start with your story from NFL to today -03:46.0

Bill Walsh -04:23.2

Learning leadership -04:46.0

West coast offence -05:09.4

Walsh's foundation: culture and leadership -05:21.9

You can't 'see' culture - but it is crucial -05:55.8

Don't sell hope -- build a strong culture -08:38.0

5 things that need to be at the top of an organization's hierarchy - 09:12.8

1. Common sense, 2: create stability, 3: Believe in people 4. Preserve the pride of building, 5: Care -09:21.2

Working with Patriots - winning 2 more Super Bowls -12:13.1

Bill Belichick -12:18.7

Does Belichick have a negative communication style? -12:57.8

"Chasing something bigger than a win" - 13:32.4

Corrective environment -13:42.9

Descriptive coaching -14:41.0

Very direct truth telling -15:05.3

Can't avoid the tough conversations -15:22.7

What is "common sense"? -17:24.2

The limits of "mission statements" -19:20.0

Patriots - 4 principals -19:43.5

1: do your job -19:51.0

2. Speak for yourself -20:00.6

3. Be attentive -20:15.0

4. Put the team first -20:19.6

Applying football knowledge to business -20:43.7

8 qualities that people need form their leaders -21:03.5

1 Have a plan -21:13.1

2: Speak the truth -21:50.9

3: Push people -22:02.8

4. Make them think -22:17.6

5: Restore faith in the plan -22:27.3

Inspire and be an inspiration -22:34.6

Success: stand behind them, Failure: stand in front -22:45.9

In today's episode of the Inspire Podcast, Bart Egnal speaks with Jennifer Reynolds. Jennifer is the President and CEO of Toronto Finance International (TFI). TFI is a public-private partnership between Canada's largest financial services institutions and the government.

Jennifer and Bart talk about why women are still under represented in the Canadian workforce , and what companies need to do in order to fix this.

Here are some moments from the conversation:

How did gender diversity become a cause for you? - 02:53.8

Statistics on representation of women in the workplace not changing much - 04:33.1

Barriers to women in leadership - 05:24.4

Why not recruit 50/50? - 06:23.4

Why aren't there more female CEOs? - 06:57.8

How to get women into executive suite - 07:56.2

Mid-career talent pipeline - 09:04.0

What is causing the disconnect? - 09:24.8

Diversity metrics not effective enough - 09:54.4

3 things that can be done? - 10:10.4

Targets -- not Quotas - 10:33.3

Measuring representation and promotion statistics - 10:55.5

Anecdotes vs Real data - 12:37.1

Step up and communicate when you see something - 13:09.9

Kinds of responses to diversity issues - 13:40.2

Can juniors call out seniors on these issues? - 14:27.1

Personal example of young male employee standing up for Jennifer - 15:02.2

Sponsorship - 16:12.9

Broadening the diversity conversation - 17:22.9

Raptors tapped into diverse markets - 19:08.9

Attracting talent is a huge issue for organizations - 19:55.3

How to communicate inclusiveness - 20:49.5

Work at TFI - 24:37.6

Talent is a key element - 24:49.7

Engineering and computer science - skewed towards men - 26:16.7

Focus on values when communicating with young people - 27:49.4

How to get more women into the engineering and technology sectors -29:17.5

Women in teenage years lose confidence - 29:37.7

Moving beyond "bro" culture - 30:20.9

Summing it up.. - 32:09.5

Giving more parental options to men - 33:45.1

Advice to people interested in speaking up... - 34:55.1

In today's episode of the Inspire Podcast, Bart Egnal speaks with Richard Rooney. Richard is the President and Chief Investment Officer at Burgundy Asset Management Ltd.

Listen in to learn how Burgundy has been able to create a culture of - responsibility with authority for its employees.

Here are some moments from the conversation:

Building a responsibility culture - 02:57.0

The human mind can't handle capital markets - 03:46.8

Most funds give people a place to hide - 04:06.3

Clarity around decision making - 04:26.3

Delegate responsibility AND authority - 04:35.8

Best investment people like to be generalists - 06:06.0

History of Burgundy - 09:13.1

How did the responsibility doctrine work when you first implemented it? - 10:06.4

Tech bubble -- big test - 11:27.1

Building the Burgundy team - 12:46.0

Concentrate on individual investments and shut out macro stuff - 14:53.3

Dealing with excessive information - 16:18.8

Keep it clear: understand the strategy - 16:47.5

Circle of competence - 17:43.6

Couldn't anticipate the extent of disruption in the economy from '95 till now - 18:01.2

Getting better at avoiding value traps - 20:27.6

Going against mainstream market thinking and sticking to it - 21:23.8

Create a counter-narrative to prevailing financial wisdom - 22:00.3

Communicating culture - 22:22.8

What do the best companies do - 23:08.0

The best companies have a good business at their core and they respect that - 23:29.4

"De-worse-ification" - 23:41.7

Companies that respect their core business - 23:53.7

Can a large company have a 'corporate culture'? - 24:06.6

Putting culture second to profitability - causes problems - 24:20.4

CEO's denying reality of changing market forces - 24:36.1

Tim Hortons - 25:21.4

Public shareholders create conflict of interest with clients - 25:48.3

Authenticity - 26:22.0

Impending retirement - 27:12.1

What guidance would you give around communication - 28:34.6

Advice to his successor around responsibility culture - 29:20.7

Be consistent when giving responsibility and decision making over - 29:56.2

Analyze mistakes - but applaud thoughtful failures - 31:20.6

In today's episode of the Inspire Podcast, Bart Egnal speaks with Billy Anderson. Billy is the Founder of The Courage Crusade. The Courage Crusade helps people define what their version of success looks like and making it a reality.

Here are some moments from the conversation:

What is the Courage Crusade? - 02:45.1

Fear seemed to be the common thread holding people back - 03:05.0

What is "Courage"? - 03:22.0

Being scared and doing it anyway because of a bigger want - 03:26.0

Deloitte study: "Fortune favors the bold" - 04:17.0

How Billy works with clients - 05:22.9

What does success look like when we're done? - 06:22.0

Ask questions until you get to the uncomfortable pause - 09:02.7

What are you aiming for with coaching? - 10:00.7

Fear of being judged - 10:23.8

Uncovering fears -- hard to do... - 11:35.0

Our subconscious wants to keep us in our comfort zone - 11:54.6

Examples of what realizations people come to.... - 12:22.7

What is your biggest fear and how it's affecting you? - 13:06.3

What do you do with your limiting belief? - 13:46.4

The link between life purpose and most limiting belief - 14:29.1

When work just seems "off" - 15:19.3

Billy shares his inner critic - 16:21.8

You've found your limiting beliefs -- now what? - 18:23.6

The courage to be vulnerable - 20:05.3

It's tricky to feel satisfied with work....who are you doing this for? - 22:56.0

Going too far to please parents... - 23:37.1

Self sabotage - 24:39.6

Courageous communication - 25:29.6

There's a part of you that doesn't want clarity--it's scary - 28:17.7

Plugs - 32:24.4

In today's episode of the Inspire Podcast, Bart Egnal speaks with

Margo Gouley, Director of Program Development, The Humphrey Group

Here are some moments from their conversation:

Reimagining what it means to inspire - 01:57

Humphrey group history -- speech-writing firm - 02:41

Speechwriting is a hard job - 04:11

Democratization of training -- leadership at every level - 04:58

Reasons for decline is speechwriting - 05:16

The Digital Transformation and the Death of Formality - 07:27

Is the 'speech' dead? - 07:54

What has come to the fore to replace formal communications? - 08:39

No Gatekeepers to communication anymore - 09:23

New voices -- and pressures for organizations - 10:16

How did Humphrey group change? - 10:48

Influence has changed and so has Humphrey - 11:38

Re-imagine what leadership and leadership communication - 14:35

What it means to inspire today? - 15:21

What do people expect of leaders? - 17:24

Engagement - 19:38

People expect to be engaged with a genuine purpose - 19:54

Moving from persuasion -> broader idea of influence - 21:43

Inspiration - 22:22

3 Streams at the Humphrey Group - 23:05

Describe the 3 Streams - 23:44

REFLECTION- 23:45

CONNECTION - 24:11

PERSUASION - 25:24

Final thought: What do you stand for? What inspires you? - 27:46

Last take away from episode -- you can build these skills - 28:46

Inspire Podcast Season 2 Episode 3

In today's episode of the Inspire Podcast, Bart Egnal speaks

with- Mary Legakis Engel - The Management Coach

How to adapt your style to inspire anyone

Here are some moments from their conversation:

What is a "Management-whisperer"? - (02:10)

Common management challenges - (02:57)

Time management and hitting skill limits - (03.:09)

Common communication challenges - (04:43)

Authenticity in management - (05:58)

"Situational management" - (07:28)

Relationship vs Task orientation- (08:53)

"Developer" Style manager -- values relationship over task - (09:06)

The "Benevolent Autocrat" - Style - (10:03)

The "Collaborator" style - (11:35)

"The Administrator" Style - (15:03)

Autocrats can create "Deserters" - (17:40)

Difference between personality type and behavioral models - (15:34)

How do you use situational management - (19:22)

How much is the manager responsible for choosing style? - (25:57)

Understanding your demands as a manager - (26:22)

Different types of work require different styles - 26:50)

Practicing adapting styles - (30:42)

Example of leader who had a hard time adapting styles - (31:17)

3 things to get started with situational management - (34:15)

Check out: www.e-suite.com

In today's episode of the Inspire Podcast, Bart Egnal speaks

with Tim Bezbatchenko - President and GM of Columbus Crew SC

Here are some moments from their conversation:

Tim's Footballer experience (3:23)

Tim's Law School experience (4:25)

Tenuous future of MLS league (4:53)

Vision for MLS (6:38)

The new vision for the MLS (7:16)

Transition from League Office to General Manager of TFC (9:37)

The risks of coming to Toronto as a GM (11:13)

How do you start building a vision? (12:20)

Collaborate on vision creation (13:20)

The first vision and its evolution (14:16)

What to do with those who don't buy in to vision (18:07)

Measure your day in the number of hard conversations you've had (21:27)

Bart and Tim talk about hard conversations for leaders (22:16)

Winning the Championship and how that affected the vision (23:16)

Creating a vision for Columbus Crew (25:03)

3 pieces of advice on creating vision (30:21)

1 - Write it down (30:57)

2. Grand enough that it can't be achieved in a short period of and broad enough (31:43)

3 Understand that change is inevitable (32:05)

The Inspire Podcast returns for Season 2! Thanks for everyone who listened and help make season 1 a success. We launch Season 2 today with Tony Fratto, Former Deputy White House Press Secretary.

Tony left the US Treasury level of Assistant Secretary of Treasury, then moved to the White House, where he was Deputy Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Press Secretary. Today Tony is leading Hamilton Place Strategies, a communications consulting firm he founded.

Bart and Tony discuss:

Tony’s work (3:56)

Changes in media/government and how they communicate (7:52)

Changing news cycles ( 8:53)

No rhythm to the day anymore (10:35)

Current news cycles are unsustainable (13:35)

What regulators need to change (15:36)

A time of great uncertainty (17:46)

Don't forget tried and true methods of communication (18.03)

New targeting channels can be very effective (24.31)

Problems with social media and twitter (27:27)

How to combat misinformation during elections (29:33)

Link to Hamilton Place Strategies: https://www.hamiltonplacestrategies.com/

Follow Tony on Twitter @TonyFratto

Learn about The Humphrey Group at www.thehumphreygroup.com

Follow Bart on Twitter @THG_Bart

In this episode of the Inspire Podcast, Bart Egnal speaks with Alizabeth Calder, Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer at HomeEquity Bank. They talk about how to communicate with confidence at the Board and Executive level.

Alizabeth is a senior technology strategist, published business author, certified corporate director (ICD.D), and recognized speaker. She delivers governance and leadership at the Board, CEO and CIO level, including in Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), cybersecurity, and crisis management.

Here are some moments from their conversation:

Alizabeth's book: Duty of Care. (3:22)

Make technology a management conversation. (6:32)

Mindset of the C-suite. (8:10)

Find a "loving critic" and board level articles. (10:20)

Steps to prepare for presentations. (11:26)

Gauge the room. (13:00)

"Nose in, fingers out." (15:15)

The boardroom experience. (17:53)

Get people looking at you. (21:41)

Redirecting tangential questions. (22:49)

Wrapping up. (24:00)

Elevator chat with senior executive. (26:01)

Listen now to hear more!

Learn more about Alizabeth Calder:

http://alizabethcalder.com/

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This week on the Inspire Podcast, Bart Egnal speaks with Maggie Huculak, Consultant at The Humphrey Group. They talk about presence and how to connect with your audience and achieve a leadership presence.

Maggie is a seasoned executive coach, providing one-on-one training, seminars, and workshops for leaders at all levels in many industries in Canada and internationally. She is also a professional actor, and has been acting for 35 years.

Here are some moments from their conversation and *exercises you can try to achieve a strong presence:

What is presence. (3:05)

Presence and authenticity. (4:40)

When nervous, make connection. (7:38)

*Power, intelligence, and compassion - chair exercise. (8:51)

*Grounding exercise. (12:13)

Grounding stabilizes you and others. (17:45)

Gestures and hand use. (19:43)

Eye contact - keep the connection. (23:00)

Expression. (25:39)

Be present, be vulnerable, make connection. (27:14)

Listen now to hear more!

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Listen on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud and Google Podcasts.