Virtual Coffee

🌿Join me as I delve into the topic of de-stigmatizing cannabis use, highlighting the benefits of informed and moderate consumption.

Explore the intersection between cannabis and mental health, discussing how cannabis can provide relief and support for various conditions. Tune in for an insightful conversation challenging stereotypes and promoting a more open-minded approach toward cannabis with advocate, author, and social media guru Stephanie Huston.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

"It’s OK to say “I’m having an off day” It doesn’t mean we get to show up however we want. But there’s empowerment in giving ourselves permission to call out what’s present. "

That's just part of the insightful conversation I got to have with Wade Brill.

At the age of 21, Wade survived Hodgkin’s Lymphoma while simultaneously losing her mother to Leukemia. This major life interruption inspired Wade to realize how precious life is and that practicing radical self-care is smart, not selfish. Wade devotes her life’s work to helping others connect to their own inspiration.

Learn more about the Compassionate Leader Workshop on Dec. 1st.

You can learn more about Wade here:

Schedule time to chat

Website:

Noah Everly is the Chief Positivity Officer at Ghilotti Construction. He also serves as Co-Chair on the Ownership Culture Team which was established in 2023 and plays a major role in managing the company’s transition to employee-owned. I asked Noah to be a guest on Virtual Coffee. This month I am focusing on interviewing individuals who work for organizations that live their values. When I saw the “Day in the Life” videos that Ghilotti and Noah produced and also noted that he was the first ever “Chief Positivity Officer” I had ever met, I had to learn more. Join our conversation! I think you will enjoy it!

Hi friends! I’m excited to share this podcast for a couple of reasons. 1) I think it’s inspiring and motivating to hear from people who love what they do for a living, and who are really making a positive change, and 2) It’s about emotional intelligence, and resilience, two things we can all benefit from learning more of.

Kim Bilyeu is passionate about training and leadership. She works in education and leads the worldwide team in charge of developing all the training materials for all employees globally, for Johnson & Johnson, in their cardiac department. When I saw her present on “Mastering Emotional Intelligence Training” as a guest on an ATD webinar, I was struck by the story of how she helped introduce EQ training to help resolve issues they were seeing. Surgeons and college grads were struggling to work together. With Kim's recommendation, Johnson & Johnson tried EQ training on a small pilot group and saw that it had a positive impact - so much so that they saw increased success rates with product adoption and a decrease in turnover. EQ is now a fundamental part of training for all employees at J&J.

You can access the ATD webinar with your ATD member log in here.

You can access the Brene' Brown video on empathy that we reference here.

Bio:

Amber Dawn is a neurodiversity advocate, writer, and coach. She works with neurodiverse people of all ages to support them in building processes and applying tools for resiliency, stress and anxiety reduction, self-knowledge, compassion, and self-advocacy. She self-identifies as gifted and autistic. She is a certified Positive Discipline Parent Educator and a certified Organic Intelligence Practitioner. Through the process of learning to better support her daughters and strengthen herself, Amber discovered Organic Intelligence. Organic Intelligence is a protocol she now integrates into her work for building neurological resilience and expanding capacity to support healing and embodiment with her clients.

Books:

Our House Is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis by Greta Thunberg, Svante Thunberg, Malena Ernman, Beata Ernman https://www.pegasusbookstore.com/book/9780143133575

Raising a Sensory Smart Child: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child with Sensory Processing Issues, Revised and Updated Edition by Lindsey Biel and Nancy Peske https://www.pegasusbookstore.com/book/9780143115342

Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, and Thrive Outside the Lines by Jonathan Mooney https://www.pegasusbookstore.com/book/978125077126

Websites:

http://www.sensoryschool.org/

https://neuroqueer.com/neurodiversity-terms-and-definitions/

https://organicintelligence.org/

https://www.additudemag.com/

Social Media:

https://www.facebook.com/Understanding-Neurodivergent-Partner-Dancers-103561738480819

https://www.facebook.com/Sensoryschoolca

https://www.facebook.com/Neurobeautiful

https://www.facebook.com/theautisticadvocate

https://www.facebook.com/NeurodivergentRebel

Bio: 

Amber Dawn is a neurodiversity advocate, writer, and coach. She works with neurodiverse people of all ages to support them in building processes and applying tools for resiliency, stress and anxiety reduction, self-knowledge, compassion, and self-advocacy. She self-identifies as gifted and autistic. She is a certified Positive Discipline Parent Educator and a certified Organic Intelligence Practitioner. Through the process of learning to better support her daughters and strengthen herself, Amber discovered Organic Intelligence. Organic Intelligence is a protocol she now integrates into her work for building neurological resilience and expanding capacity to support healing and embodiment with her clients. 

Books: 

Our House Is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis by Greta Thunberg, Svante Thunberg, Malena Ernman, Beata Ernman

Raising a Sensory Smart Child: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child with Sensory Processing Issues, Revised and Updated Edition

Normal Sucks: How to Live, Learn, and Thrive Outside the Lines by Jonathan Mooney

Websites:

http://www.sensoryschool.org/

https://neuroqueer.com/neurodiversity-terms-and-definitions/

https://organicintelligence.org/

https://www.additudemag.com/

Social Media:

https://www.facebook.com/Understanding-Neurodivergent-Partner-Dancers-103561738480819

https://www.facebook.com/Sensoryschoolca

https://www.facebook.com/Neurobeautiful

https://www.facebook.com/theautisticadvocate

https://www.facebook.com/NeurodivergentRebel

I’ve been hearing a common narrative from friends and family. We are all in some state of re-defining who we are and how we are perceived as our post-pandemic selves. I recently had the chance to sit down and re-interview Melanie Franklin; Melanie is an experienced practitioner, trainer, and agile change management consultant. Along with running her own global change consulting business, Melanie is the chief examiner for the agile change agent certification, which I completed and received April of 2021 and enjoyed immensely. Listen to our discussion to learn tips for applying agile change methodology in personal and professional settings. Share your thoughts, and if you enjoy this episode, share it with a friend who's going through change. 

Thank you for listening!

I recently had the privilege to interview author, professor, TED speaker, and all-around nice guy, Drew Dudley on Virtual Coffee. We had a lively and candid conversation about his book, how his viral “Everyday Leadership” TED talk almost never happened, and, among other things, the importance of having a personal leadership philosophy. 

This episode's guest is Ann Rhoades. Ann is the author of “Built on Values”: Creating an Enviable culture that outperforms the competition.

I had firsthand experience working for a company where we put the suggestions in the book to work for us. The result was a truly values-based culture, where we had specific, measurable behaviors that supported our company's core values. These values were the core of an employee recognition program, they were woven into our performance review and development programs, and they could be cited by any employee across the organization.

I thought it was one of the most impactful ways I’ve seen an organization live its values. I highly recommend the book and the practice of tying measurable behaviors to your organizational values. I reached out to Ann, to see if she’d be willing to let me interview her, and to my delight, she said yes!

Ann is now the founder and PRES (which stands for Person Responsible for Extraordinary Service), for People Ink.  where she provides the inspiration and strategic direction for creating values-centric cultures for clients.

Melanie Franklin is the author of several textbooks on agile change management, and the director of Agile Change Management, LTD. Mel and I had a great discussion on change fatigue, resistance, building empathy, and finding silver linings. Check it out!