The New Leader with Ian Daley

"Slow, fast, slow is how you grow."

 

You know those moments when you're chatting with someone, and it's so interesting that time just flies by? That's how I felt when speaking with Whitney Johnson!

 

In today's episode "Smart Growth: How Managers Can Grow Themselves, Their People, and Their Business" Whitney talks about her brand new book, Smart Growth, and how new managers can use it to create a breakthrough in 2022.

 

Whitney was named one of the top ten most influential management thinkers by Thinkers50 in 2021, and is CEO of Disruption Advisors, a tech-enabled talent development company. She is an award-winning author, a LinkedIn Top Voice (1.79M followers), and she frequently writes for both HBR and MIT Sloan Management Review. 

 

In this episode, you'll learn:

 

• The framework known as the S Curve of Learning, and how to apply it meaningfully in your own development
• How to navigate through the three phases of growth (Launch Point, Sweet Spot, and Mastery)
• How to use the S Curve Insight Tool to develop and grow your people
• How this piano-playing music major ended up on Wall Street (cue Working Girl theme song)... and a lot more!

 

The S-Curve of Learning

Slow-fast-slow is how you grow. And when you understand the emotional arc of your growth, then you’ll be able to increase your learning and growing capacity as well. That’s what we call the S-Curve of learning.

 

The Influential Role of the Manager

The first thing that you want to really examine is do you actually want to be a manager?

I meet lots of people who say I’m good at motivating people and inspiring people, but I’m not good at the day to day of managing people, and that’s okay. You want to know that before you get into the job because you have a lot of influence on people, and so you want to make sure you’re up for that kind of job.

 

Managing People Who Have Mastered Their Job

People start becoming bored once they mastered something because they are no longer challenged. So for your people who are already very good at their job, what will make them grow is when you give them a new challenge.

From that point on, growth may seem slower, but they’ll be able to unlock new levels in their professional journey.

 

 

 

Links and Resources

Connect with Whitney: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Website, Email, Disrupt Yourself Podcast

Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company by Whitney Johnson (book)

The Female Advantage by Sally Helgesen (book)

How Women Rise by Sally Helgesen (book)

Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace (book)

My guest today is Mark A. Herschberg, author of The Career Toolkit - Essential Skills For Success That No One Taught You. Mark received his BSc in Electrical Engineering and a MEng from MIT, and has been a MIT instructor for the last 20 years.

 

Have you ever encountered workplace skills you were told were important, yet no one helped you develop them? Mark's book helps you master these vital skills that can yield outsized returns for your career and your income.

 

In this episode you'll learn:

• The powerful effect of career planning, and how to construct an actionable career plan now
• How to effectively communicate with people from any background
• How ethics can guide you through common challenges you are sure to face at some point
• Mark's reflective lessons as a new manager....and more!

How to Get to Your Dream Role

For any role that you want in the future, dream role or anything else, you can’t just hope to wind up there. You have to recognize that it’s a step by step process. You’re going to have your plan, and it’s going to have checkpoints along the way.

So when you look at that dream role which is probably five/ten years out, to get there, ask yourself, what are the intermediate steps along the way and how can you achieve each one of those steps? Because you can’t just take that one giant leap - you need to plan it out step by step.

 

How to Combat Unethical Behavior

There are a few different things you can do, but the main ones are first, “keep records”, because having records will help avoid ‘he said, she said’ situations.

Second is to speak up. Don’t do so alone if you can have others come in, because if you have an issue, other people probably do as well.

Third, you want to shine the light. Making people more aware [about the problems within your company] is going to help ameliorate the problem or at least bring pressure for those who are involved in it to reconsider their actions.

 

Managing Introverts vs. Extroverts

One thing we need to be more cognizant of as managers is that we are extrovert-oriented in many of our in-person interactions. Extroverts tend to spring into action immediately while introverts like to think first before doing anything.

 

So we need to acknowledge that we have different styles of engaging and then create a channel for each person to bring their personal capabilities through their preferences.

 

 

 

Links and Resources

Connect with Mark: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

The Career Toolkit Socials: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Link by Author (book)

The Career Toolkit by Mark A. Herschberg (book)

The Career Toolkit App

"Your job is to learn and understand, not know everything." - Christopher Littlefield

Today my guest is Christopher Littlefield, international speaker, author, and founder of Beyond Thank You. Chris' company is a training and consulting firm specializing in employee appreciation, recognition, and workplace culture. He is a writing contributor to both HBR and Forbes, as well as being a genuinely good human! Today he sits down with us to discuss how you, as a leader, can level up your employee appreciation game.

In this episode you'll learn:

-Why employee appreciation matters (now more than ever)

-How to recognize teams and individuals in a remote/hybrid world

-Practical tips and tricks that you can start using right now, today

-And much more!

How to create a ‘safe space’ at work

People talk about psychological safety, but how do we create that? We create that by sending signals to people every single day that we value who they are and what they contribute, and what it takes to do their job each day.

 

Employee appreciation is also conflict prevention

When people feel valued at work, they will be able to relate to your feedback as a contribution and not as an attack. If you show your appreciation often, they’ll be able to take in your suggestions and not feel defensive about it.

 

What makes a good manager

It’s so easy as new managers to feel like you have to prove you’re worthy of your position. But what proves to people that you’re worthy is if they can feel that you understand them and that you’re willing to help them succeed.

And when you serve them to support their success, then they’re going to make you shine as well.

Links and Resources

Connect with Chris: LinkedIn, Website, Newsletter

75+Team Building Activities for Remote Teams by Christopher Littlefield (book)

The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer (book)

`Conscious Business by Fred Kofman (book)

Managing Transitions by William Bridges (book)

"Don't be afraid to make a mistake." - Lisa Bowman

When employees experience toxic culture and harassment at work, it's often swept under the rug

Not today.

My special guest is Lisa Bowman, author of Harrasshole: A Cautionary Tale of My Time at America's Favorite Charity. Lisa bravely shares her story of being an award-winning Chief Marketing Officer in a highly dysfunctional workplace. It takes a lot of courage to call out this type of BS publicly, and Lisa is not afraid to lay it on the line.

I hope this episode may help others who are experiencing the same thing right now.

Thank you Lisa for reaching out and having this conversation.

Why people don’t speak up about workplace harassment

What I realized is that when you step up and make some noise about harassment in your workplace, you become the problem.

75% of people that report harassment in the workplace are also subjected to retaliation in the workplace. And that’s why people do not come forward, that’s why they don’t speak up.

 

Are women supporting other women in the workplace?

Women are talking about supporting women, but they are violating the code of sisterhood because they do not pay attention and they look the other way when something was happening.

And I guarantee you that these women are mentors, champions and sponsors of women’s advocacies and resource groups in the workplace. But when they are informed about a problem at an organization, they completely ignore it.

 

Why some people do not take up the cause and push it forward

There is still today a shortage of women and women of color in the C-Suite. So if one woman falls just because they spoke out about harassment, there’s a whole line of women behind them waiting to take that seat.

Because of self-preservation, women in higher positions are not willing to take that risk of losing their job to stand up for others, and for me, that’s the wrong thing to do.

 

Links and Resources

Connect with Lisa: LinkedIn, Twitter

Harasshole: A Cautionary Tale of My Time at America's Favorite Charity by Lisa Bowman (book)

Be Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back by Gretchen Carlson (book)

 

"If you solve the problem on the whiteboard, you're only 10% of the way there." - Greg Rice

Sometimes I'm lucky to listen to a leader who walks the talk.

Someone who exemplifies leadership in all they do, and genuinely cares about treating people right. The type of leader you'd want to work with, and work for.

That person is today's guest, Co-President of Klick Health, Greg Rice. He shares valuable insights from his career journey, from his early days as a new pharmacist to being part of the leadership team at the world's largest independent health marketing agency. And we also chat about the famous Klick culture!

In this episode, you'll learn:

- How leaders can create clarity and calm amidst the chaos

- Why aligning your values to your work is critical to long-term success

- The importance of amplifying the voice of junior staffers

- What makes Klick's culture so special vs. other companies..and much more!

Don't miss it!

 

Hiring the best talents

When we go and pitch a large piece of business, sure the spec work that we showed them on that day is important, but we all know that spec work will never see the light of day. What they are buying into is the capability. And at that moment, we are also trying to build instant trust with them, and that comes down to the talent in the room.

So if it’s about talent, then from a leadership standpoint, we better try to find the best in the business and that’s what we really strive to do.

 

Delivering clarity as a leader

A leader’s job is to create calmness and clarity. And that level of clarity takes time and effort. And if you get stingy on that, it can bite you. It can result to this unsettled, exhausting atmosphere that lack of clarity creates within an organization.

So make sure you pause and communicate. And for any change that happens, get a feedback and continue to refine that overtime and you’ll be highly rewarded for that high amount of clarity that you delivered as a leader.

 

Training your replacement

Find and coach your replacement. What that means is scaling your capability to a point where you can have someone step in and you can focus your energies elsewhere, maybe into some new initiatives, new areas of interest or opportunities for you.

That inherently means you coaching and guiding someone else into your role. That kind of scale mindset may not be applicable to all leaders in different roles, but certainly it has been for me in scaling and growing a successful business.

 

Links and Resources

Connect with Greg: LinkedIn, Website (Klick)

Link by Author (book)

Conscious Business by Fred Kofman (book)

Todoist app

"Your job is to learn and understand, not know everything." - Christopher Littlefield

Today my guest is Christopher Littlefield, international speaker, author, and founder of Beyond Thank You. Chris' company is a training and consulting firm specializing in employee appreciation, recognition, and workplace culture. He is a writing contributor to both HBR and Forbes, as well as being a genuinely good human! Today he sits down with us to discuss how you, as a leader, can level up your employee appreciation game.

In this episode you'll learn:

-Why employee appreciation matters (now more than ever)

-How to recognize teams and individuals in a remote/hybrid world

-Practical tips and tricks that you can start using right now, today

-And much more!

How to create a ‘safe space’ at work

People talk about psychological safety, but how do we create that? We create that by sending signals to people every single day that we value who they are and what they contribute, and what it takes to do their job each day.

 

Employee appreciation is also conflict prevention

When people feel valued at work, they will be able to relate to your feedback as a contribution and not as an attack. If you show your appreciation often, they’ll be able to take in your suggestions and not feel defensive about it.

 

What makes a good manager

It’s so easy as new managers to feel like you have to prove you’re worthy of your position. But what proves to people that you’re worthy is if they can feel that you understand them and that you’re willing to help them succeed.

And when you serve them to support their success, then they’re going to make you shine as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Links and Resources

Connect with Chris: LinkedIn, Website, Newsletter

75+Team Building Activities for Remote Teams by Christopher Littlefield (book)

The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer (book)

`Conscious Business by Fred Kofman (book)

Managing Transitions by William Bridges (book)

 

 

What does the future of work have in store for us?

It's a question pondered by many. Lots of opinions, far less data.

Today my guest is Eric Termuende, whose company has quantified much of that chatter into tangible insights. As a well-known corporate keynote speaker (400+ speeches), he's observed the changes companies are experiencing, and can share what leading organizations are doing to chart a path forward.

Want to learn what you can do to help grow your team and deliver results, in an unpredictable world? This episode is for you!

The Best Quality of an Early Leader

The best quality that an early leader can have is the ability to think critically, but more importantly, listen – listen, digest, and then act. And I don’t just mean from clients, but from your people as well.

What the Future of Work Is

The future of work is less about space, place, perks, and benefits, and it’s more about how we feel when we’re doing the work that we do.

We often have this picture of ping pong tables, 4-day work weeks, and more flexible schedules when we talk about “the future of work”, and that’s partially true. But unless we work at a place where we feel like we can do our best work with people that we want to do great work with, we’re never going to stick around.

It’s About Connection And Purpose

The future of work is about deep connection. It’s about having a sense of impact, purpose, and making a difference, and it’s about doing incredible things with people that we trust.

 

Links and Resources

Connect with Eric: LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Website

Exactly What to Say by Phil M. Jones (book)

Phil M. Jones (Website)

Small Giants by Bo Burlingham (book)

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely (book)

The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle (book)

If you haven't been living under a rock for the last few years, you've heard some version of the question, "Why do so many incompetent men get promoted?" 

 

It's a fascinating question. Mostly because we've all seen it in action.

 

If you'd like to hear a brutally honest assessment of lacklustre male CEOs, today's episode is for you. My guest is Denise Conroy, former SVP Marketing at HGTV, and former EVP, Marketing & Research at Outdoor Channel. Denise is currently CEO of Themy LLC, a professional coaching and training business and today you'll hear straight talk from a female executive's perspective.

 

I love guests that are willing to speak the hard truth. About their own traumas, work experiences, and how others can learn from their life's story. Denise covers all that ground and more - I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

 

Implementing change from the ground up

When I first go into an organization, the first thing I do is I look at systems. I want to know, can we do something great on top of the foundation that we already have here?

 

Asking people how they want to be communicated

Whenever I work with new people, I love to ask them how they want to be communicated to, because we all have different communication styles that we prefer. That way, I can speak to them how they want to be spoken to, it improves receptiveness, and it moves my day along.

 

Improve your self talk

When I was a new manager, I was 30 at that time and I haven’t received treatment for my anxiety yet. And my self-talk was very negative, telling myself I was not good enough, telling myself I should push harder, etc.

But what I learned from that is that your internal self talk has an effect on the people you work with. So if your self-talk is bad, that’s the place you’re coming from when you’re managing other people and working with them.

 

 

 

Links and Resources

Connect with Denise: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Website

Atomic Habits by James Clear (book)

3 Practical Ways to Be More Productive by Ian Daley (article)

When by Dan Pink (book)

"Have the courage to be wrong. And right!"

 

As a new leader, are you curious about what happens in the C-suite? Interested in learning astute lessons from someone who's been coaching executives at the highest level?

 

Today my guest is CB Bowman, who was named one of the Top 50 coaches in the world by Thinkers50. She is a keynote speaker and CEO of Courage Consultant. In this episode, CB will reveal the best lessons she curated from her time as an executive coach - and how new leaders can leverage this into their own world. Don't miss this one!

 

In this episode, you'll learn to:

• Harness the courage to ask for what you want
• Understand the role of mentors & sponsors, and why you should have both
• Shut up! And why that can be a powerful move as a new leader :)

And a lot more!

 

The way you communicate matters

What’s the preferred way to communicate, not from your perspective but from the perspective of the receiver? If you can adjust the way you deliver information so that it’s received well, then you’re starting to build that credibility. Because people will see that you communicate differently to different people, and they’ll perceive that as respectful.

 

Letting go of control

When I started to let go [of control], the organization started to grow. And it allowed me to focus on other things that I’m good at that people in the organization are not good at or things that they cannot handle.

 

Have the courage to ask

If you have the courage to say ‘I don’t know’, your credibility goes up. It does not go down like most people think, because people can respect the fact that you are willing to learn, you’re willing to hear another voice.

 

 

Links and Resources

Connect with CB: Email, LinkedIn, YouTube, Website

Association of Corporate Executive Coaches

Blue Ocean Strategy by Renée Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim (book)

As a leader, have you ever struggled to communicate your vision? Are you puzzled when others don't quite understand what you are trying to convey? Then this episode is for you!  

Today my guest is Todd Cherches, author of VisuaLeadership, and he'll help you leverage the power of visual thinking, not only in your leadership role but also in life.

 

Todd is the CEO and co-founder of BigBlueGumball LLC, an NYC-based management and leadership consulting, training, and executive coaching firm. He is also a two-time award-winning Adjunct Professor at the NYU School of Professional Studies, in their Division of Programs in Business, where he teaches the top-rated graduate course, “Leadership & Team Building” for their Human Capital Management master’s degree program.

 

In this episode, you'll learn how to:

• Change the way you think and communicate as a leader using your "mind's eye"
• Easily leverage the power of visual imagery, mental models, analogy, storytelling and humour to supercharge your communications skills
• Become a more innovative thinker, better presenter, and effective coach

And a lot more!

Identify the Resources and Roadblocks

I came up with the RnR method, which means Resources and Roadblocks. What are the resources you need to do your job and what are the roadblocks that stand in your way? It really helps to know this.

First of all, people appreciated being asked and that I cared enough to stop telling and to start listening. Second, if someone lacked resources to accomplish something, we’re able to brainstorm and find a solution for it.

 

VisuaLeadership

Everyone has a viewpoint based on your background, upbringing, culture, and life experiences, and you see certain things in a certain way because that’s who you are and that’s what you know.

But there are other perspectives that we may not be aware of what's outside our own experiences and background. And so VisuaLeadership allows us to start opening our eyes to other ways of looking at things.

 

Applying the concept of VisuaLeadership in the workplace

People are not mind-readers. So often, we say something and it’s so clear in our mind what we want and what we need, but we’re not able to communicate that effectively to others.

So we need to have a picture in our mind and think about how we can bring it to life so that people can see what we’re saying and deliver what we want and what we need.

 

 

 

 

Links and Resources

Connect with Todd: LinkedIn, Twitter, Website

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (book)

7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey (book)

VisuaLeadership by Todd Cherches (book)