What's Your Story: How Leaders Tell Stories to Influence and Connect with Audiences

On today's episode, we're joined by a group of women who have learned the power of sisterhood in career. Through personal development, overcoming ego and fear, and integrating passion into their day to day life, these women have grown to cherish the powerful bonds between strong women who lift one another up rather than cut one another down through competition and cattiness. Today, they'll teach us what they've learned on their way.

More about today's guests:

Ashley Hill:

Ashley Hill manages the Supplier Diversity and Risk Management programs at Cox Automotive. She's been at Cox for 9 years in various finance roles including the FORGE rotational program. Prior to Cox, Ashley worked at Cisco Systems and Cbeyond. Ashley received a Bachelor's degree from Georgia Tech in Business Management with concentrations in Finance and Operations Management. Growing up as a military brat and traveling the world, Ashley developed the skill of adaptation and a love of diverse foods.

Lainey Sibble

Lainey started her career at KPMP in the Real Estate Audit practice. Upon realizing she wanted to redirect her focus within business, Lainey returned to graduate school and earned an MBA from Columbia Business School. Since Columbia, Lainey has found her passion in strategy. She spent two years working in strategic finance roles at Unilever, and then joined Cox where she has worked across the different divisions. She started in a financial investment strategy role at Cox Business, rotated across divisions and functional groups through a leadership development program, and ultimately found a strategic planning director role at Cox Automotive, where she works today.

Julie Meier

Julie joined Cox Enterprises in 2013 after beginning her career in public accounting, and has since held roles in Audit, FP&A, Strategy, International Finance, and Business Operations. In her current role, she helps Cox's Sales and Marketing teams understand the impacts of proposed changes on financial statements and customer relationships. Julie enjoys supporting her alma mater, Notre Dame, by serving on the alumni board as well as volunteering around Atlanta with the Special Olympics, Habitat for Humanity, and Ronald McDonald House.

Lauren Kicklighter

Lauren Kicklighter is a team-oriented and dedicated individual that enjoys driving results. She also enjoys an environment in which she can learn and grow and coach others to do the same. Experienced in managing projects, she learns quickly and is enthusiastic about adopting best practices and procedures. Her goal is to improve the efficiency and quality of business operations through utilizing data-driven metrics. With strong executive presence, Lauren builds relationships quickly as well as effectively communicate sound strategic recommendations.

Kristi Roche

Kristi Roche is a Director of Audit Services at Cox Enterprises, Inc. with 10+ years of experience across a variety of finance disciplines. She joined Cox in 2014 as part of the Cox Automotive Strategy team before joining the leadership program in 2017. Prior to Cox, Kristi worked in finance and strategy roles for Carter's, Accenture and Protiviti. She's an avid Georgia Bulldogs fan after earning both her BBA and MBA from the University of Georgia.

• What sorts of issues cause trepidation about joining groups of other women in a career setting? Do issues like catfights and competitiveness often cause problems? Are these traits of strong women?
• How did these women find their own rules and cadence for the group? What role did personality tests play from the beginning on?
• How did a sorority approach (vs. a competitive approach) build vulnerability, bonding, and the ability for the women to help one another?
• What types of stress behaviors came out when the women had to do their bi-yearly reports to top leaders from various companies? Why was this their least favorite part of the program? How did having support from other women help?
• What things were important to the bonding of the women in the group? What role did shared life experiences and rope courses play in creating the sisterhood?
• How does personal development (vs. work skills) assist in careers at the early stage and the leadership stage? What did they learn about how to build a team (and how not to)?
• How did the timing of this program affect women differently? What major life events occurred during the program? What discoveries did this result in as far as choosing a path forward, regardless of what was happening in life?
• What archetypal roles did the women play in the group and what difference did these combinations make to the team? How do you integrate your passion into day to day life when it isn't an integral part of your day job? Satisfaction emerges from finding opportunities to add your passion to your role.

On today's episode, we're speaking with Sarah Stansberry about how to take a disparate panel of marketing experts and integrate them into a cohesive team with common goals. Sarah discusses her seven tips for leaders to help guide teams through the use of shared principles and methods to open engagement and conversation. Sarah's insight into storytelling expresses how the simple act of telling a story changes both the listener and the speaker alike.

More About Sarah Stansberry

Sarah Stansberry was named Interim Chief Marketing Officer of Equifax in March, 2019 and brings strong expertise in general management, digital marketing strategies, global demand generation, product marketing, public relations and brand activation across web, social and search channels. As the Interim CMO, Sarah champions corporate marketing as the catalyst for Equifax growth focused on strengthening stakeholder engagement, demonstrating market leadership and optimizing marketing effectiveness globally.

Sarah joined Equifax in 2013 and has held numerous marketing leadership positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as the SVP, Solutions Marketing and SVP, Marketing Operations where she and her teams focused on creating and activating customer-centric marketing strategies across the Equifax enterprise. During her tenure, Sarah has led lead product marketing, digital strategy and web experiences, product and solutions sales training and marketing operations teams.

Her focus on aligning people, process, tools and team dynamics helps change marketing organizations from reactive, sales support teams to true business partners that enable business growth through delivery of integrated marketing strategies.

Previously, Sarah held other marketing leadership roles including VP Marketing for LexisNexis Risk Solutions and SVP Marketing for AccuData Integrated Marketing. She has also served in a number of marketing positions for start-up and large enterprises such as Click Commerce, RR Donnelley & Sons and PLATINUM Technology.

Sarah was recently recognized as the 2018 Marketing Executive of the Year by the Technology Association of Georgia. She holds a degree in Marketing from Loyola University, and an MBA in Strategic Management from DePaul University.

Interested in learning more about Sarah's take on fostering collaboration across teams or her little book of tips? You can reach out to her via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-stansberry/

On this episode we discuss:

• Specialized teams vs. a general focus on marketing: how do you solve the challenge of bringing together subject matter experts to generate broad insights and effective teams?
• How do themes and stories play a role in helping people do self-checks? How can this help with guiding principles of a company in order to keep disparate teams on the same page?
• Educate, enable, empower. For example, you shouldn't create from scratch if you don't have to. Utilize templates to help generate common work such as go to market plans. How does this three word concept help with team cohesion and trust?
• The Tiny Book of Teamwork… What is this guide about? How did this guide come about? What are the green boxes of love, and how do they set expectations among teams?
• Many Ways for Many Brains… How do people consume content differently? Why is it important for marketers to keep this in mind? Plus, other segments of the book and what they mean to the modern marketing team.
• Check Yourself… Why it's important not to be a jerk. Negativity in the workplace is each individual's responsibility.
• One of the responsibilities of leadership is developing future leaders. Sarah discusses the ways her seven tips help foster this mindset, even subconsciously, allowing leaders to be more thoughtful and get more engagement from their teams by providing a way and framing to have a conversation.
• Sarah discusses stories and storytelling and their impact on both listeners and the communicator themselves.

Today, we have the pleasure of speaking with Allison Hunt Eubanks about the LexisNexis CAM conference. How and why does a company host an event of this magnitude? How do they bring it all together, train their speakers, and generate a cohesive gathering? And what role does storytelling play in an event where attendees are meant to walk away with a message? Find out on today's episode!

More About Allison:

Allison Hunt Eubanks is Director, Content Marketing and Events for the insurance business at LexisNexis Risk Solutions where she leads the content marketing team, and is responsible for the overarching messaging strategy, which includes driving messaging alignment for four business lines. In her role, she oversees content for four blogs, and for more than 110 annual events, including a national customer meeting for approximately 500 attendees. Allison joined LexisNexis in 2014 and has more than 15 years of insurance marketing experience. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism – Advertising from the University of Georgia.

• What exactly is CAM and how does it relate to Lexis Nexis? If not lead gen, what is its purpose? How do you measure its success?
• What is the process behind choosing the theme and the topics discussed at CAM for the breakout sessions? How do you make it look like it all goes together?
• LexisNexis itself is huge. What is the purpose of bringing everyone together? What value to attendees of CAM receive? What sort of customer feedback do you get from customers in reference to CAM?
• Are there other actionable measures of success? And, on the topic of success, is there a formula, whether that be the venue, the topics, entertainment value?
• What challenges do you have with assembling many technical experts? How do you help train and prepare your speakers to ensure the event goes smoothly? What are the benefits of bringing in an outsider instead of staying internally focused?
• What are good and easy ways to facilitate connections? Can storytelling play a role? What story does Allison have to share? How does she use stories to show the value of CAM to customers?

Today, we have the opportunity to discuss women in leadership and the value of sisterhood and structured mentor programs on the success of modern business women with four female leaders from TD Bank. These ladies will also share how stories impact authenticity, growth, and inspiration within an organization when operating as leaders.

More about Molly Abair:Molly Abair is the Executive Credit Officer for TD Bank's New England Metro. In this role, she is responsible for adjudication of commercial loan requests, ensuring the portfolio grows within the banks' risk appetite. She's honed the ability to bring together stakeholders with differing views, understand their perspectives, and facilitate a collaborative approach to success. Molly's instinctive approach to leadership and talent development aligns TD Bank's vision and framework. Her intent focus on customer and employee experiences has contributed greatly to consistently strong business results.More about Rachel Wilner

Rachel Wilner is a respected leader and senior executive for the commercial banking team managing the Delaware and Chester County regions for TD Bank. She has demonstrated the ability to produce strong results in multiple regions of the bank and within other financial institutions during her career. Rachel is a recognized coach and mentor, has successfully developed high caliber teams, has cultivated deep relationships with clients who view her as a trusted advisor, and is also deeply committed to the communities she serves.

More about Emily Stoddard

Emily Stoddard is the Middle Market Team Lead for New York City. Emily is responsible for leading a commercial banking team to grow TD Bank's loan portfolio through deposits, products and services offered to middle-market businesses throughout the five boroughs of New York City. She is recognized as a strong client professional and a strategic leader who consistently motivates her team to deliver results while being passionate and disciplined.

More about Cindy Stover

Cindy S. Stover is the North Florida Market President for TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank®. As Market President, she has leadership responsibilities over the Jacksonville, Gainesville, Daytona Beach and Ocala areas of Florida. Cindy is responsible for the successful operational management of Commercial banking while providing leadership and guidance for TD Bank's North Florida overall strategic and market performance.

• On women in leadership… 1 in 5 leaders are women in the finance industry. How has TD Bank improved this statistic for themselves? How does diversity play a role? What about confidence?
• What are the top skills needed to help leaders develop? Are any of the necessary skills particular to women? How do relationship building, listening, and communication skills play a role in reaching collaborative solutions?
• Where did these ladies find feedback early in their careers? What difference did it make? How important is having a mentor?
• How did the team begin to think about mentoring, and how did the program come together and evolve at TD Bank? In what way did "paying it forward" help develop the program? What does the group do when they meet and how do these group sessions assist the women involved? How did they structure it?
• Sisterhood plays a role, but the right leaders need to be in the room and be able to mentor. How did Cindy get involved in the program? And what does she get out of her mentee relationships? Have the men within the organization been supportive?
• How has structure benefited mentors and mentees alike? What would women leaders who believe they are already good mentors gain from being part of a structured group of mentors?
• How does a woman's image impact her career? How can a woman's image detract from her ability to bring focus to herself and her words? In what way can mentors give visual feedback from a good place to help women further their careers?
• How do stories help leaders instill authenticity and inspiration within their organization? Which stories do these ladies use to guide their mentees?

On today's podcast episode, we are meeting with Helen Nghiem of Epsilon to learn what makes a good leader and how she trains leaders from all over the world. How important is communication as leaders take on more teams, and how does the pressure shift as leaders are no longer able to manage projects on their own? Are leaders the same across the globe, and is the modern economy changing what is expected of leaders? Helen Nghiem discusses how to use leadership skills to tell stories in order to communicate effectively, to instil a sense of loyalty and excitement for a company, and how these stories make memories stick.

Helen Nghiem is a seasoned consultant and corporate learning and development leader with a passion for galvanizing leaders and employees for change. Throughout a 20-year career, Helen's industry experience is wide, spanning management consulting, energy, travel and hospitality, technology, and digital marketing. She drives business results by drawing from deep expertise and insight to build unique talent and organizational development solutions. In her current role, Helen helped Epsilon grow from a $500M company to a Fortune 100 global enterprise. She cites the company's steadfast investments in leadership and employee development as the agent of growth.

You can find more information about Helen on Linkedin:

www.linkedin.com/in/helennghiem

• 1:00 Leadership development and creativity. Skills needed in communication, influence, and engagement in order to develop leaders
• 2:00 What is Epsilon? What do they do regarding leadership interaction and management? What technology do they use and how does data play a role?
• 5:00 Did Helen focus on people who were becoming new leaders who were taking on responsibilities they'd never had? Or did she focus on seasoned leaders? What was the business need Epsilon chose to approach and why?
• 7:00 How does Helen define a leader? How does vision play a role? What about the shared experience of change and ambiguity? And communication skills?
• 10:00 How does pressure shift to communication as the number of teams reporting to a leader grow in number? What makes leaders not able to take over a task if the team falls through?
• 12:00 Did Helen have a master plan for what would make a leader successful when starting her program? What sorts of topics did this entail?
• 17:00 What did Helen learn from leaders in the program over 9 years? What did the leaders get out of it? Have leadership needs changed in that timeframe? How does leadership change across cultures?
• 23:00 What are the most impactful stories Helen has heard from leaders? How do leaders fare with managing the requirement to tell an impactful story in front of other leaders? Does she remember the stories told by leaders over the years? What makes them stick? What benefits does this have?
• 30:00 How are senior leaders impacted by Helen's program? Open, honest, and vulnerable are expectations of leaders. How do stories promote these sensations?
• 36:00 Where has Helen seen the impression of a leader strengthened or expanded based on their experience in the program? What part did storytelling have in this? Plus, Helen shares her own story.

Barry Blyn is the Vice President of Original Content and Brand Intelligence at ESPN. A graduate of the NYU Stern School of Business, Barry has worked with insights, data, and people throughout a variety of industries including politics, comedy, and sports. Currently in sports, Barry offers insight into the mind of the fan from ancient history until now and the nuances that lie therein. Do sports have meaning? And, if they don't, why do fans engage in such deep loyalty practices, wearing their team's colors and painting their faces? Can you convert a sports fan to a new favorite team?

He tells us of ESPN's consumer image, sponsorship opportunities and how fans react to them, the virality of sports stories, and the ever-accelerating sports news cycles. Because of his time in other industries, Barry is able to home in on what really sets the sports industry apart, and what changes content creators and storytellers should make to target this audience.

Most importantly, Barry talks to us about stories themselves, often while using stories himself that demonstrate the concepts he discusses. How do you know when a story works? What if you hear your story repeated back—and what if you hear it repeated wrong? Find out in today's episode!

• 1:00 Sports stories fit almost all types of business situations. But what about if you're in sports? What type story do you use then to explain the business situations?
• 2:00 What does Barry Blyn's team do at ESPN? What tools do they use?
• 4:00 How has the business of giving insights changed? What impact has Big Data had, and what's important now when so much information is available?
• 6:00 What insights does Barry try to collect in regards to sports? How does history and brain wiring play a role in sports insights? Are all sports fans the same?
• 8:00 How have things changed over the years as it pertains to sports and events? Is that a particularly interesting or complex area of sports insights? How has the sports news cycle changed?
• 12:00 Stories are how information gets remembered and repeated. Are sports fans one of the audiences who repeat content the most? Are sports stories the original viral content?
• 14:00 How is sponsorship in sports different from advertising in other niches?
• 20:00 What were the early risks of Game Day?
• 25:00 Are the sports fans Barry profiles constantly changing or easy to profile? What changes can occur?
• 34:00 Are there times Barry's stories get repeated back to him? Barry describes some important moments in his career that assure him his storytelling works.

On today's podcast, we have the opportunity to speak with Intuit HR executive Nick Mailey. He shares with us his insights on building not only a brand, but a "work brand." How do work brands influence the types and levels of talent that an organization can attract?

Why is that so important in today's world of talent deficits? Nick expresses a need for a culture and a mission that's meaningful to future employees—and a data-driven plan to make these future hires aware of these important facets of a business. Nick's expertise highlights what new and existing companies can do to facilitate an engaged, loyal workforce with high mobility.

More About Nick:

Nick Mailey is an HR executive who leads Talent Acquisition at Intuit, a Most Admired Software Company that also ranks among Fortune magazine's 100 Best Companies to Work For. A passionate talent executive with over 20 years of experience leading recruiting teams in Silicon Valley, Nick is enthusiastic about driving business results by attracting awesome talent.

Nick's expertise is in developing creative recruiting strategies, assessment methodologies and innovating recruiting solutions. He focuses on cultivating highly engaged teams. He encourages his team to develop creative and innovative solutions to solve problems.

Nick received his Bachelor's degree from Temple University and his Master's degree in Organizational Development from the University of San Francisco. He's been recognized by HRO magazine as an HR Superstar and one of the Top Talent Acquisition Leaders in Industry today.

• 1:00 How do you create an environment that makes workers want not only to join the company but also to stay? How does storytelling play a role in this?
• 6:30 "Powering Prosperity" How has Nick Mailey used research in the workplace to understand how well people recognize Intuit? How is this relevant to the brand and, more relevantly, employment brands? Why is it important to have a purpose and a more mission-driven focus?
• 9:30 How do you expose potential employees to what working for a company would entail? How do you convey the experience and culture? How does the data support the methods Nick shares?
• 17:30 How much are "Follow-Me-Homes" part of Intuit culture? How is this a testament to the power of stories? How does this story build a higher degree of commitment to the cause of powering prospering? What percentage of Intuit employees don't know that story?
• 27:00 How does Intuit bring a candidate into the company after having exposure to the brand and its mission? What is the interview process like? How was it developed? How does Nick coach candidates through this process to help them get ready?
• 36:00 How does Nick leverage leaders and their stories within Intuit? What is the purpose of a "talent magnet?"
• 40:00 What is the importance of highlighting the challenges in a story, especially for leaders? How do the twists and turns of a story humanize leadership?

On today's episode, we're chatting with first-time entrepreneur Christian Ries about storytelling, professional entrepreneurship, and pitching to investors. Christian can attribute much of his success to his growing storytelling abilities and customer-focused approach. Learn about his techniques and evolution as he tells us his story today, from the very first thought that sparked JonnyOnIt.

More about Christian:

An established entrepreneur and proven leader in the sales and technology industry, Christian Ries does what he says he's going to do. In just under a year, he has not only founded and grown his home services business—JonnyOnIt—but has expanded it and has continued plans to increase its geographic footprint in 2019 and beyond.

JonnyOnIt is a mobile app that instantly connects homeowners (in real time) to hundreds of home service providers, like electricians and plumbers, saving both parties time and money.

Driven by original thought, interpersonal skills, and technology orientation, and with an extensive background in marketing, sales, and project management, Christian possesses a unique talent for integrated marketing and brand voice development. He devises strategic initiatives, builds efficient and cohesive teams, and inspires progress using a modern, hands-off leadership style.

• 2:00 How did Christian come up with the name JonnyOnIt? What's his background?
• 5:00 How has the business done so far? How has putting the customer first impacted that? How does Christian see himself compared to serial entrepreneurs and how much does he need to learn?
• 7:00 Is there more to successful startups than the big three—great dea, funding, and ability to tell a story? How important is it to articulate your message well? How hard is it to work with investor audiences? Should you expect particularly difficult questions when telling your stories?
• 10:00 How did the concept of having perspective from actual realtors impact investors? Why is it so important to show investors more than just a good product? Why do you need to first understand your customer?
• 12:30 Why should you look forward in an investor pitch more than tell them what you've done already? How should new startup founders limit explaining their track records?
• 14:00 Should you tell the same story to investors as customers? Should you focus on everybody?
• 17:00 How has Christian's story changed over time? How did it progress from "how" to its current, engaging form?
• 24:00 Stories that are remembered and repeated are the most powerful. What is Christian's experience with this regarding investors, large audience speeches, and other entrepreneurial events?
• 29:30 What's ahead for 2019? Who is involved in Christian's team?

JonnyOnIt

Today, we're going to be chatting with Kermit Randa about the power of story and the struggles leaders must endure during the first 90 days at a new company. How do leaders settle into their roles and what sorts of pressures do they feel? What strategies are most important to implement in the first three months?

As Chief Executive Officer of Kaufman Hall's Software division, Kermit Randa oversees all product development, sales, implementation, training, and support functions for the firm's Axiom and Peak Software products.

Kermit has more than 20 years of experience spanning healthcare and software. His areas of expertise include enterprise software insights and adoption, business transformation and innovation, strategic partnership cultivation and management, and risk identification, monitoring, and mitigation. Prior to Kaufman Hall, he served as Chief Growth Officer with Waystar, and Chief Executive Officer for PeopleAdmin.

Kermit received his M.H.A. from Xavier University. He completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Kermit is a strong supporter of data gathering and utilizing information to guide decision-making processes. In today's episode, Kermit will explain that power behind surveys and offer us a glimpse into how he and his team sorted nearly 90k data points into condensed, actionable intelligence. How do top leaders utilize modern technology and fast communication? Find out more on today's episode.

• 3:25 How did Kermit get started? What was most important to learn about the business? How did surveys play into this discovery process?
• 8:30 Learn to listen and be disciplined in what you're listening for. Are leaders asking the same things throughout their information collection process? Why does it matter?
• 11:35 How did Kermit and his team break down more than 89k data points into actionable information in under three months? Which facets of business have been guided by this information?
• 14:00 How did Kermit take all of the information he gathered then synthesize it into what he wanted to say to employees?
• 24:09 How do leaders determine how much context to give to employees? How do you offer them clarity? Kermit asks himself, "What does this sound like at the kitchen table?"
• 27:25 How has Kermit personalized himself to his employees through the power of story? Kermit tells his story and explains how he knows this story works. "Opportunity doesn't come from a thing… Opportunity comes from a person."

We all accept what we've been told about the generic marketing and sales cycle, but should we? Why are stories and experiences just as important, if not more important, to sell than your product? How do you stand out in today's saturated world, and how much do the experiences of your employees impact your customers? Today, we'll find out all of this and more with our special guest, Tim Minahan. Tim Minahan is the Executive Vice President, Business Strategy And Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Citrix where he has a proactive role in helping to drive focused strategic initiatives and the company's overall business strategy. In addition, he leads global marketing strategy and operations for the company's vision of securely delivering the world's most important apps and data to enable people and businesses to work better.

A technology industry veteran who specializes in defining new markets and positioning companies to own them, Minahan has served in a broad range of business leadership roles at leading enterprise software, cloud, and services firms. He most recently spearheaded SAP's successful transition to the cloud as CMO of the company's Cloud and Line of Business unit. Minahan joined SAP when the company acquired Ariba, where he was SVP of Business Network Strategy and global CMO.

At Ariba, Minahan led the commercial strategy for the Ariba Network, the world's largest and most global business network, and oversaw the design and execution of go-to-market programs and marketing initiatives to fuel its growth as a leading cloud company. Previously, Minahan was senior vice president of marketing at Procuri Inc., where he helped drive the company's strategic direction and emergence as one of the fastest growing Software as a Service (SaaS) application providers. He also served as chief services and research officer at Aberdeen Group, a leading independent market research firm, and held several leadership roles at Reed Business Information.

Minahan is on the board of Made in a Free World, a non-profit technology company that is using the power of networks and big data to detect and mitigate forced labor from global supply chains. He holds a bachelor's degree from Boston College and completed the CMO Program at Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management.

Find out more about Tim Minahan and learn his tricks for telling engaging and useful stories on today's podcast episode, "Why You Should Sell a Story and an Experience, Not Just a Product With Tim Minahan of Citrix."

• Why is the current model of business not working? How great is the shortage of mid and high-level talent going to be in 2020? Why don't centralized work hubs work? Tim explains why you need to be able to develop the talent you have with new skills, even though the majority of talent you do have is largely disengaged at work.
• Why are employees so frustrated at work? Why are we using so many applications, yet utilizing only 10-15% of their functionality?
• Experience, balance, and choice—how does a company provide a superior experience for employees and customers, balance it with an increasing need for security, and do all of this without limiting employee choice of cloud, device, etc.?
• What stories make their way back to Tim, verifying their function? What stories are most compelling, and why must it reach beyond the generic—faster / better / cheaper / simpler?
• The CIO & CHRO must engage in a true partnership in order to create a solution via the convergence of three things: digital workspace, physical workplace, and culture. What tools do employees use? Is there openness and collaboration but still room for privacy and mindfulness?
• How does Tim leverage customer stories in order to illustrate his story? Tim brings to life what he does through a story about Red Bull's Formula One racing and their use of Citrix.