Lead the People

Jim currently leads the revenue team for The Predictive Index (PI), a firm focused on the Talent Optimization discipline. Before joining PI, Jim built and ran the velocity sales team at Black Duck Software, an application security company. Jim has been in software sales for longer than he cares to talk about. In his spare time he is raising three children and a cat. When he is allowed out of the house, Jim likes to hike, snowboard and pursue his passion for the Onewheel. Top 3 Takeaways Choose wisely. After experiencing an excruciating level of voluntary turnover, Jim examined and redefined his philosophy. Now, he’s able to tap into a larger talent pool and boost retention in the process. Mind your mindset. When sellers and any other workers feel too tied to the outcomes they produce, they’re walking along a slippery slope. Raise attention to the wholeness of being a successful human and watch the results follow. Leaders listen. The active listening skills Jim teaches his sellers are the same that make for effective leaders. Rather than push ideas and solutions onto others, quiet down and ask insightful questions that lead you both to the right outcome. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com.  From the Source “In sales, you often tend to hire extroverts. And there's nothing wrong with being extroverted, but extroversion does tend to lead to a behavior that looks like talking a lot. And at least in my view, sales is better if there's a mix between listening and talking.” “A lot of salespeople actually come to the table with the exact wrong mindset and belief system. And while they may still get results, they're not as optimal as they could be if they would shift gears.” “It's much like the difference between going to see a therapist and feeling like that therapist is pushing their ideas on you and going to a therapist and feeling like ‘This therapist is listening to me. They're hearing about my concerns. They're letting me do the talking. And together we come up with a plan of attack for whatever problem or challenge I face.’ And so the mindset is becoming ‘I'm not a salesperson, I'm a business therapist.’” “Leaders need to focus on developing mastery, allowing autonomy, and the sense of purpose that comes with being a part of your organization and being on your team or representing your product line. What is that sense of purpose and how do you connect your people to it?” “The 1-to-1 is sacred time for the person being led, the employee. It's their sacred time to be heard, to be listened to, for you to understand what their pain is, for them to communicate up to you what is making their job harder. And then your job is to listen.” “We weren't experiencing anywhere near the level of people quitting because they weren't the right fit for what we were trying to do. Instead we were able to grow a team of nine inside sellers to about 150 inside sellers going from mostly a lead gen team to a team that was generating half of the net new ACV or annual contract value that the company was building.” Connect with Jim LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/speredelozzi/ Website: http://www.predictiveindex.com

Deb Smolensky is a #1 best-selling author, speaker, and award-winning thought leader in the area of human performance at work. She serves as NFP’s Global Well-being and Engagement Practice Leader, and for the past 25 years has worked with hundreds of employers, including Fortune 500 companies, developing strategies, programs and practices that empower employees and leaders to lead healthy, productive lives at work through innovative, meaningful, and highly engaging solutions. Top 3 Takeaways Mind your brain. We don’t often stop to think about how our brain works, but it’s impossible to realize our full potential without doing so. Commit to learning about brain basics. Beware of the default. We spend a great percentage of our day on autopilot, but we don’t appreciate how our default patterns of thought may actually be inhibiting our success. Make the switch to Brain On! early and often. Take responsibility. You’re not managing robots, you’re managing others’ brains. We must accept that our behaviors and decisions take root in the brain chemistry and functioning of the collective brain around us. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com.  From the Source “I decided to present to the executive committee on the stress response system. While others in my field at the time I was an accountant started presenting on the general ledgers, the financial journals, and all the leaders really took to it as, ‘Wow, we had no idea.’ I became kind of a stress management expert as I was navigating my career path.” “I like to think of our brain as the computer. I've always looked at what's going on through the lens of ‘I can control my thoughts and my experiences through my brain.’” “Over the years—especially through the pandemic—I've come to really believe that everything hinges on our thoughts and emotions.” “Put whatever you have hardest at the beginning then insert those menial tasks as we go, preserving brain power, which is a finite resource every day.” “Our brain always approaches things as a threat that's going to kill us until proven innocent. So we always show up Brain Off, and the goal is to quickly show up Brain On as as much as we can.” “Companies won't survive if they're not mentally strong now, since most of the work is now human work. Soft skills, power skills, whatever you want to call it. That's what's going to start making and driving whether you're successful or not as a business, as a collective brain.” Connect with Deb Book: https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Fitness-Strategies-Sharpening-Boosting/dp/1637556640/ Website: https://debsmolensky.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbiesmolensky/  

Joshua Berry is a world-class facilitator of change. As an author, speaker, entrepreneur, and director of Econic, Joshua has spent the last two decades evolving the what, who, and why of Fortune 500 companies and venture-backed startups. Along with his team, Joshua has sparked change in organizations like US Bank, John Deere, Procter & Gamble, Nelnet, Ameritas, Omaha Public Power District, Farm Credit Services of America, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska, among others.  Top 3 Takeaways Get quiet. Sometimes the thoughts and voices in your head can drown out the deeper wisdom and inspiration that lies within. Take the opportunity to get still and listen. Ease up. Too often, we’re tempted to label our intuition as naive or impractical. In fact, some of the biggest breakthroughs have come from those who had a willingness to eschew conventional lines of thinking. People for the win. It’s a lot easier to say people come first than to actually operate this way. Always ensure alignment with business priorities, but after that, keep the conditionals to a minimum and give priority to people-related decisions and investments. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source “It wasn't until some of the time stubbing my toes in those ways that I started to learn that this intentional desire to maybe not quiet those voices that sometimes came up in my head that others might deem as naive but actually might be coming from a deeper spot within me. Those were the things that actually made me unique and were some of the best ideas that were brought out into the world.” “There was a common pattern that a lot of those leaders told me in the interviews, ‘Uh, this might sound naive, but…”, and then they started to share an interesting idea or business philosophy or whatnot.” “Beliefs are merely a mental model. There are best guesses at how the world works, and until you can understand that, I don't think you can truly appreciate the diversity of another person's view or beliefs and that there's some validity that's coming from that too.” “Most decent organizations will say ‘we put our people first’. Or ‘people are important.’ But it almost always ends up as ‘as long as the business is successful.’ And what I challenge in that chapter, and provide some research and stories around this, is what happens when some organizations actually put the growth of their people even ahead of business growth and those goals.” “When you start to have people that you trust and they start to see, ‘Oh, if I make this decision, that actually hurts what we could do over here and that hurts this other person over here,’  you just create greater alignment in that and eventually you sometimes get business growth that comes out of that too.” Connect with Joshua Book: http://www.daretobenaive.com Website: https://www.econic.co/joshua Website: http://www.joshuaberry.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshberrygphr/

Adam is the Chief Product Officer of The Predictive Index. He joined PI when the talent optimization leader acquired Charma where he was co-founder and CEO. Previously, Adam was part of the founding team and President/CMO of NextRoll which he helped build from 3 to over 500 employees and $0 to over $200m in revenue. Top 3 Takeaways Growing pains are real. As we find success and add more customers and employees, things get complex in a hurry. Be vigilant around breakdowns in communication and execution as you grow. Don’t make assumptions. When we promote high-potential people into management roles, we often assume they will be natural leaders. Instead, we need to give them the training, tools, and templates they need to succeed in this new people-first role. Make it easy. Being a manager is stressful. When we provide them with solutions that streamline and automate certain aspects of their role, we preserve their energy and enthusiasm to execute the strategy and engage their people. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com.  From the Source “The thing that I really found challenging is that as we grew, the expectations evolved from being in that swim lane and focusing on your expertise—and I'm kind of a product minded entrepreneur—to evolving to start to manage teams and then not just manage teams, but manage managers who are managing teams. And that scaling process is pretty unnatural.” “The skillset of being a manager is that just that: it's an actual skillset and it's not just, ‘Oh, you do your regular job and then manage people on the side.’” “The skillset of being a manager is not something that's automatic. It's not something that's necessarily always obvious, and it's a place where software could play a role in guiding people to best practices and guiding them to do the things that would help them be a better manager.” “People want predictability. They want to know that these activities in terms of check-ins and, having one on ones and follow through and commitments and feedback and guidance and clarity on their objectives and priorities… Those are just universal, no matter how or where you work.” “One of our core principles is making best practices automatic. And so taking that mental overhead and friction off of doing the things that you should be doing as a manager. Having to wing it every time and feel like you're kind of entering into a freestyle rap battle, every time you go into a one on one is stressful.” Connect with Adam Website: http://www.predictiveindex.com/perform LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamberke/

AmberLyn Bryant is a passionate advocate for transforming workplaces into havens where employees are not just heard, but truly valued and empowered. Drawing from her personal journey navigating toxic and thriving work environments, she is on a mission to guide businesses in creating intentional employee experiences that fuel growth, engagement, and loyalty. Top 3 Takeaways Know thyself. Self awareness is a gift. Ensure that you’re creating a culture where workers want to learn about their natural tendencies and potential snags. Slow down to go fast. When welcoming a new hire or standing up a new team, resist the urge to dive right into the work. Take a few minutes to learn about one another to accelerate long-term performance and cohesion. Partner up. Optimal organizations get that way due to a strong partnership between line of business leaders and HR partners. People dynamics are too complex to leave to chance, so work together to help one another succeed. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source “I had my fair share of working in those toxic environments and trying to push through and find your way in life and that passion that really fulfills you.” “What really works, at least for us, is that we really start to understand who a person is. And so then that helps you to be able to approach any one on one meeting, any conflict, any just regular hangout sesh with being able to really personalize information to people, at least for me in an HR way. But then in a meeting situation, it's great because it helps to really understand the whole person.” “I had an employee that worked at a different position, moved over to another one, and now is partnered with somebody who would be a new manager. And the very first thing I did was get into the PI, talk about the data, and it's really been actually mind blowing… The development has just been so much quicker and they’re so much more on the same page and they know what the other one needs. It's just more clear.” “The first thing I do is build relationships and make sure that these managers know that they can trust me and that I'm here to help them move forward.” Connect with AmberLyn LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/amberlyn-bryant-54178840 Website: www.amberlynsolutions.com

Leveraging two decades of expertise in coaching, talent development, and people operations, Akkshada Maniyan leads Learning and Organizational Development for Innova Solutions, a global digital transformation solutions provider. Akkshada has worked with renowned global firms including IBM, GlobalFoundries, Amazon, and Deloitte driving talent programs for over 50,000 employees. She has optimized her background as a Columbia University Certified Executive Coach and mastery in incorporating various personality assessment tools to impact over 10,000 leaders and learners. A published author, she regularly shares her wisdom on leadership, change, and curiosity with followers across various platforms. Top 3 Takeaways Seek agility. The future is uncertain, so we need to be flexible. Embrace a culture of testing and iteration that builds on established principles and practices without being constrained by them. Will over have. When building a team, don’t get too hung up on demonstrated experience. High potential performers who have the will to do the job will adapt and persevere when given the chance. Get down to business. As a support function leader, you likely find your work very interesting. Ensure that you can draw a thick line to how what you do drives business results. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source “in a company that's not that well established or that is growing, there's much more of a starter mindset. Amazon in particular I want to call out as they have a Day One mindset. Every day is Day One. They like to keep their founder’s mindset and attitude.” “Companies that tend to go above and beyond to look at learning in a less established way and more of an experimental manner? It tends to be a lot more fun.” “I chose people not necessarily strong with a learning background, but more of a sociology background, anthropology, or somebody who was interested in learning. People who are passionate about really making a difference in somebody's life. That's all we really looked for.” “There are no set learning skills. Maybe instructional design. Yes. Right. Maybe some specialized skills within L&D/OD. Yes. But you can coach people. You can really empower your team members to get better.” “The real magic is finding the will. If anybody who has the will to want to do more, they'll always find a way, and our job is only to enable them.” “I've implemented a QBR system so each learning business partner, along with the learning delivery lead or the facilitator, they present results on a quarterly basis to the business teams using a dashboard. So we're very metrics driven.” Connect with Akkshada Book: https://www.amazon.com/Serial-Influencer-Akkshada-Maniyan-ebook/dp/B0CW2WX86M LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akkshadamaniyan/

Krishna Rajagopal served as the Chief Operating Officer and managing partner of a small manufacturing company in the Chicago land area. Now he provides strategic vision, direction, and corporate governance that helps other manufacturers achieve aggressive growth while maintaining profitability. He’s the Chief Facilitator of Great Outcomes at Narish International Top 3 Takeaways Rise up. While it can be tempting to spend all your time solving day-to-day problems, your role as a business owner is at another level. Make time to work on your business and not just in it. Seek advice. When you spend nearly all your time inside your own four walls, you may lose perspective. It’s very likely that the problems you’re facing have already been solved by somebody else. This is where an outside consultant can help. Play the long game. Manufacturers should emphasize the long-term prospects employees can expect. For the right candidate, stability and consistency are exactly what they want most. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source “In small businesses especially, owners tend to be in the weed. So they're constantly working in the business as opposed to on the business.” “It's really important for business owners and managers to remember that almost everything doesn't have to be invented from scratch.” “When you're a CEO or president of a company, you tend to think that you're alone. So it's really important to reach out and walk through and talk through processes and ask for help, and if you do not know something, say you do not know.” “The biggest challenge that I think we have around us is to find the right people to do the right job.” “For me, it's all about, it's all about making sure we understand the person and making sure we provide the environment that makes them successful.” Connect with Krishna LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krishnarajagopal/ Website: http://www.narishintl.com

Phil Wesbury is Vice President at Builtech Services, LLC focusing on business development. He leads Builtech’s business development initiatives across the country with an emphasis on delivering sustained growth across all of Builtech’s key verticals and areas of operation. Phil works with local, regional, and national clientele specializing in Retail, Multifamily, Education, Office, Hospitality, and Industrial development. He thrives on Builtech’s entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to doing what’s right. Top 3 Takeaways Awareness opens doors. Where we lack self-awareness, we invite confusion and frustration. Tools like those from The Predictive Index raise understanding and open dialogue. Hit the pause button. When friction arises, call time out. Ask yourself what’s really contributing to the escalation. Competing styles and goals are often the culprits. Look at all sides. An investment in talent optimization produces a hard return in the form of performance and reduced turnover but don’t sleep on the so-called “soft” benefits of a better working experience for all. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more about Builtech's journey at predictiveindex.com. From the Source “If you're okay with being self aware, and you can kind of make fun of yourself a little bit, no matter what PI profile you have, in different situations, you're going to have strengths and weaknesses.” “When there's a pinch point, and we're having friction, and we're like, ‘My gosh, why aren't we getting along right now?’ then you can kind of point to the fact that, ‘Hey, you're detailed. I'm not.’ And you acknowledging it goes a really long way.” “We had these flashpoints of stress. Our business cycles really quick, sometimes it can be really slow, and there are so many competing dynamics that affect my world and every other department.” “If you can drop your unplanned attrition, if you can cut that in half…that’s a pure return.” “‘Hey, does it feel like we're getting along better?’ Put whatever dollar value you want on it. It's a lot easier to go to work and be productive when you're not stressed through your eyeballs because you're dreading having to battle through a challenge with somebody who doesn't see the world the same as you. And I think that's worth a heck of a lot of money.” Connect with Phil Website: http://www.builtechllc.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipwesbury

Dr. Steven G. Rogelberg, an organizational psychologist, holds the title of Chancellors Professor at UNC Charlotte for distinguished national, international and interdisciplinary contributions. He is an award-winning teacher, has over 200 publications, been cited well-over 10,000 times in the academic literature, and was recipient of the very prestigious Humboldt Award for his research on meetings. Adam Grant has called Steven the world’s leading expert on how to fix meetings. Dr. Rogelberg's previous book, The Surprising Science of Meetings: How You Can Lead Your Team to Peak Performance (Oxford) has been on over 25 best of lists including being recognized by the Washington Post as the #1 leadership book to watch for, His new book, Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings came out in January and is already receiving tremendous praise including a SHRM Top 12 Workplace books recognition. He was the inaugural winner of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) Humanitarian Award and just finished his term as President of SIOP, the largest professional organization in the world for organizational psychology. Top 3 Takeaways Make the time. 1:1 meetings are too often an afterthought. This is a miss since these meetings offer a unique opportunity to boost employee performance and commitment while helping the manager exercise their personal values. Open the door. While the manager should own the meeting cadence, the direct report should be allowed to own the meeting agenda. You can get a status update whenever you like, but the 1:1 offers a unique opportunity for a direct report to have their needs met. Get it in writing. When you document your discussion notes and action items, you’re doing more than practicing good meeting hygiene. You’re demonstrating to your direct report that you sincerely care about their perspective and welfare. From our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source “As an organizational psychologist, I'm just drawn to study pain at work and try to identify science that can help rectify it. And clearly, meetings are a fabulous target when it comes to pain.” “When I'm talking about a one on one meeting, what I'm talking about is a regular recurring meeting between a manager and their directs that's orchestrated and facilitated by the manager, but it's not for them. It's for their directs.” “When you do these right, employees are more engaged. They're more successful. They're more aligned. They thrive more. They're good for you! They're really good for managers because when their people are successful, that's a direct reflection on the manager.” “It often comes from these that the manager says, ‘okay, I'll do X, Y, and Z.’ And the employee says, ‘I'll do X, Y, and Z.’ And then there's just clarity around that handshake of sorts of commitments. And then ideally you take notes, because you want to capture the conversation, but also note taking is a really great signal. When an employee sees you taking notes physically with your hand on a piece of paper, they think that you really cared about that conversation.” Connect with Steven Glad We Met (book): https://www.amazon.com/Glad-We-Met-Science-Meetings/dp/0197641873/ Website: http://www.stevenrogelberg.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rogelberg  

Before navigating the intricacies of the real estate sector, Andrew made his mark in the legislative landscape, contributing to homeland security-related legislation while working for Congress at the Committee on Homeland Security in Washington D.C and clerking in the judicial system for the Supreme Court in New York. Since graduating law school, and thereafter obtaining a Masters of Laws in real estate he has worked with companies from all parts of the globe adding to his diverse knowledge of workplace meets the workforce dynamics. This unique background equipped him with a multifaceted skill set, laying the foundation for a career where adaptability is paramount. Top 3 Takeaways Location, location, location. Many companies have begun to return to the office, but we need to ensure that we’re asking WHY workers want to come back and HOW they want to do their work. Make room for HR. While CEOs and CFOs once managed real estate transactions, our people leaders now need to weigh in. The workplace needs to reflect your intentional culture and the needs of your workforce more than ever. Make it count. If you’re counting on collaboration, innovation, and efficiency, your real estate had better be up to the task. While we don’t always run the people-intensive numbers, they show up on our bottom lines all the same. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source “Real estate was booming in 2018, 2019. It was the era I call the flexible workspace era. There's a place for everybody to go to work. You know, WeWork became the largest occupier of real estate in Manhattan at that time, and then we kicked off what was called Hudson Yards, right? It sold out faster than a Taylor Swift concert.” "We've finally entered the rebuild where—’Who wants to come back to work?’. It's been answered the WHY they want to come back to work has been established but not implemented fully and the HOW, right? That’s now at the real estate forefront. How do we get them back to work?” “If you're going to be on ten different floors when you could be on one or two floors, you might as well be remote. You might as well do everything over zoom or over phone, right? You want to have the ability to interact and be on one floor and see results.” Connect with Andrew LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-zang-esq-38023b25/ Website: https://www.savills.us/

David Lahey’s academic background includes an MBA graduate from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University, Graduate coursework at Harvard University and Graduate Adult Education coursework at the University of Toronto. David has been specializing in predictive leadership development, talent acquisition, change management and productivity with analytics with an improvement for over 25 years across a variety of industries. Under David’s leadership, Predictive Success was awarded to three-time Profit 500 company status. His company was also named to The Globe and Mail’s Fastest Top 400 Growing Companies List in 2019. Top 3 Takeaways Faith dispels fear. Whether launching a new venture or deciding to advocate for yourself, the best way to push past your fears is by believing in yourself and the positive future you’re building. Build the right team. You may be starting from scratch or you may have inherited a team. Ensure that their natural and potential abilities are a match for what you’ll be asking them to do. Get it in gear. Pit Grit is the tenacity and skill to get an organization moving at top speed. This requires attention to orchestration, communication, and a willingness to do the hard work quickly. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source “One of the risks was the fear of the unknown, but I've always said ‘faith versus fear.’ I had faith in the software, faith in my own abilities, and faith in what I saw was the future of predictive analytics.” “I have ridiculously high expectations and they keep exceeding them every year. But we also celebrate success.” “I was looking at my team, and I said, ‘All of my doctors are wonderful people, but they are process and precision people, very detailed, very sequential. They're not innovators.’ And I needed an innovative solution to come in and take over because I wasn't going to live.” “Pit Grit means that you have a team around you that can get you into the race quickly, because we know from my experience that in the business world today, the race is lost in the corners.” “Do you have a process? Do people have confidence in the role? Do they drop match to the job model and then in certain roles, do they have the tenacity and assertiveness needed to get things done in the, in the scheduled time.” “Leaders today must act more like scientists. Scientists would only do work after they've got the research done and leaders today are running so fast. They don't have time to hire a chief analytics officer, but they will make time for software that will enhance their decisions and bring the data to them so they can be a scientist of people to execute on what they need done.” “America is full of great companies as is Canada, but I am worried about the lack of managers that have the training and analytic leadership. Gartner says that analytic training is a top five skill for the next five years. How many companies out there are not aware of that, and they're not training up to that.” “I always say every year, ‘You're going to ask your manager and leaders for more in the year ahead. That's great. So now what are you going to do to equip them to be able to execute on that?’ If the answer is nothing, then shame on you as a business owner. So that concerns me is that people forget that. That in the future, there's more information that needs to be harnessed, and that information needs to be at the fingertips of your people managers, not just in the HR area.” Connect with David Website: www.predictivesuccess.com From Hire to Inspire (book): https://www.amazon.com/Hire-Inspire-Become-Best-Boss/dp/1770414878/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davelahey/  

Dean Wegner graduated from West Point in 1993 and served 7 years in the Army as a helicopter pilot and Army Ranger. After the Army, the majority of Dean’s business career was spent in business development, marketing, and strategy with Procter & Gamble and Mars. In 2017, Dean founded Authentically American, a Veteran owned, American made premium apparel brand. Dean is active in his church and serves on the board of several for-profit and non-profit companies and organizations. Dean and Authentically American are riding a wave of national media exposure having been featured in Forbes, Inc. Magazine, FOX News, MSNBC, Nasdaq, Newsmax TV, and SiriusXM Radio. Dean and his bride Kelly have been married for 29 years and they have 4 children, with the youngest being adopted from Ethiopia. Top 3 Takeaways Get to the point. Your mission statement and sentiment aren’t nice to have. Top talent and customers are looking to work with organizations they find meaningful. Emphasize the point your organization exists and distill this into a clear and compelling mission. Get real. If your mission statement is only going to amount to empty words, don’t bother taking the time to create it. Make sure your mission is authentic, tangible, and apparent in all that you do. Share the wealth. Manifesting and reinforcing an organization’s mission isn’t the sole responsibility of the CEO or the executive team. Leaders at every level honor the mission through their decisions, attitude, and actions. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source “One of the recruiting posters they sent me at West Point said ‘Much of the history we teach was made by people we taught’ and had pictures of Eisenhower and Grant and Lee, and that really struck home. Just thinking, ‘Wow. I'm walking through the same hallowed halls as former presidents and generals.’” “As I built this vision over five years, it was really grounded in ‘How do we change an industry? How do we make a difference?’” “You want it to be real. You just don't want it to be those nice, fancy, pretty posters on the wall.” “How can you take the context of your current business, your product, or service, and see how you can go ahead and think creatively? Because especially in today's digital age with social media, the power of story, the power of giving back is so impactful.” “I think the way to [reinforce mission] is not start from the top. I think you turn that pyramid upside down and you say, ‘You know what?’—whether you get a focus group or you have a big town hall, I think you really start to have discussions with your team, with your employees, and understand—‘What is really our culture all about? What do our employees really value?’” Connect with Dean Website: http://www.authenticallyamerican.us LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanwegner93/

Brian is an Oklahoma native who moved to California with the goal of building leaders and cultivating change around the world after graduating from the University of Oklahoma. With a mix of enterprise recruiting experience at HP and Google with a foundation in agency recruiting at TEKsystems, he has found a love for the industry. As an Executive Recruiter with Hewlett-Packard, he strives to enable the development of better technology for everyone, everywhere highlighting the intersection of his career interests and passions. He is strategically learning ways to connect exceptional talent with their dream careers and passion projects, the type of operations that impact how we relate and interact with people and places across the globe. Each day he is sharpening his skills to promote and maximize professionals' global impact, quality of life, and career aspirations while building lifelong relationships that extend beyond the connection. He is a brother to three siblings, a running enthusiast, and a LinkedIn wizard! If you're seeking some career advice, know of an epic California coffee shop, or are in search of a surfing /skiing buddy, he is happy to connect! Top 3 Takeaways Seek to understand. Gen Z is bringing a very different emphasis regarding their interests in social impact, sustainability, and work/life balance. Rather than try to change them, first listen and learn about their interests. Coach with caution. Gen Z wants coaching around the things they want and not necessarily around what older more experienced mentors want them to want. Focus on impact and growth. Pay fair. Inexperienced Gen Z workers may not advocate for themselves when it comes to fair pay. Build trust and mutual commitment by ensuring all workers are paid fairly today and tomorrow. From Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source “We're a fun generation. I think we're an opinionated one, and we're a really excited one about the future. And at the end of the day, I think both Gen Z and other generations have the same goal, and that's to make a social impact, to do something empowering and inspiring for this world and something that's gonna really extend beyond just us in our lifetime.” “With the advancements of technology, we're realizing that maybe we can rely on these new technologies to help us get our work done a little more efficiently. And with some flexibility, we can both live our lives and do our day to day jobs really well.” “My generation is more skeptical of employers than probably any other generation, and I think it's rightfully so.” “We need to create a work life balance and a culture around getting to live your life but also be happy at your job. And when you're happy at your job, you live a happier life, and, honestly, your work is better too. So I think when an employer doesn't Immediately take the defensive and kinda push back and get upset and says, ‘This person's challenging our traditional view of work. I've not been challenged like this before, but this is the future. So maybe we need to hear them out and see how we can meet in the middle.’” Connect with Brian LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-phillips-b00mer/

Vicky's passion for helping entrepreneurs is rooted in her own entrepreneurial journey. After two decades of leadership roles in the corporate world, Vicky founded her own HR consultancy, Idomeneo Enterprises, in 2001. Faced with countless questions and challenges, Vicky realized how valuable a step-by-step guide would be. From these experiences, she developed a vision to offer comprehensive, accessible HR guidance and educational resources - this vision led to the creation of the Leaders Journey Experience, an education program specifically designed to equip entrepreneurs and business professionals with the tools, guidance, and confidence to navigate the sometimes complex world of HR, in a less complex way. Top 3 Takeaways Don’t go it alone. If you have a business, you have a people business. You can hire, contract, or outsource to meet your strategic human resources needs, but you can’t neglect these. Get clear. Before you bring on an employee, ensure that you can articulate exactly what you need them to do rather than exactly how they need to do it. They may surprise you in a good way! Culture is king. Whether you think you have a distinct culture or not, you actually do. The question is how intentionally you designed it. Partner up with a people pro to shape or reshape your culture as needed. From our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source “Finding and bringing in the right people is a huge concern. Then, what do you do when you get them? How do you get them to continue to support and be committed and really contribute to the organization?” “Finding the right people starts with knowing what you need, and that starts with fun HR jargon—a job description.” “You want to say, ‘I knew hiring someone was a bad idea.’ Well, it's not a bad idea. You have to give them a chance. You have to give them a clear roadmap, and then you have to get out of the way and let them do it because they actually will bring different perspectives, different experience. They may bring some innovation to that process that you never even thought about.” “People say, ‘You know, I want to build a culture. I want to create a culture.’ I have news for you. Your organization already has a culture because it's going to get created whether you contribute or not.” Connect with Vicky Gift: http://morehumanmoreresources.info/podcastgift Website: https://idomeneoinc.com/  

Ed Doherty is the founder of One Degree Coaching. One Degree helps leaders create intentional and cohesive cultures. Ed believes that helping employees find fulfillment in their work life is the highest calling for any organization. Top 3 Takeaways Evolve your approach. Command and control leadership was once all the rage, but times have changed. To drive the highest level of performance and engagement, we must now shift toward servant leadership and related methods. People make the difference. Ed’s staggering results didn’t come from technology innovation or new marketing techniques. He got the people part right and this became a phenomenal engine of growth. Make the connection. Ed did something that is all-too-uncommon among would-be leaders. He made a personal 1:1 connection with each of the team members at his restaurant. His genuine human interest is still appreciated all these years later. From our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com. From the Source "The transactional nature of the boss and the employee changed during the Great Resignation. So now [workers are] still in the driver's seat. That's starting to abate a little bit, but they now have a little bit more power in what they want from their work, and the bosses are trying to adjust to that.“ “I didn't know what servant leadership was. I wasn't taught that. I didn't know anything. … I didn't have that lesson of how enlightened leadership—which is completely counterintuitive initially—is the way to go to create buy-in and to build a better culture. I just didn't have that lesson, so I had to kinda figure it out the hard way.” “What I realized is that every organization has a vision statement or some type of vision—where they're gonna go and what they wanna be. Then there's the values, which is the behavioral, the how. The why and the how.” Connect with Ed LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ed-doherty-68177a31/ One Degree Coaching (including Ed’s Notes newsletter): https://onedegreecoaching.com/  

Maureen Mo Berkner Boyt is the Founder and CEO of The Moxie Exchange. She’s spent over 25 years helping organizations grow by creating inclusive workplaces where talented people can thrive. She has leveraged the power of technology to build scalable, actionable, measurable inclusion tools, including the first-of-its-kind comprehensive diversity and inclusion solution, Everyday Inclusion. Everyday Inclusion was named one of the Top 20 Most Innovative Products of 2020, a solution that infuses DEI into daily operations by Forrester Research and has been called, the future of diversity and inclusion. Top 3 Takeaways Aim high. Don’t be satisfied with performance and engagement. Set the bar even higher by striving to create a workplace where people can thrive. Run the numbers. We’re beyond the stage of wondering whether inclusion can benefit the business. It simply does. Use readily available calculators to put rationale behind the right thing to do. Trust your brain. Our default behaviors can produce something known as an amygdala hijack. Make the time to recognize the brain science that can help or harm those around us. From the Source “How do we create workplaces where every single person can thrive—not just be engaged—but thrive? Because when we do that, we can solve some really big, gnarly global issues like climate change.” “Whether it's Gallup, Credit Suisse, McKinsey, Korn Ferry, lots of universities including Stanford, the data just continues to pile up. Literally on every measure, inclusive teams outperform.” “When you're talking about diversity and equity, those are systems level things. Who are we hiring? How are we compensating them? Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging is every person, all day long—behaviors, actions, choices, leadership. When you start to break it down in that way, then it's like, ‘Okay, I get it.’” “Although our brain only takes up a small part of the mass of our body but a lion's share of oxygen, we stay in habit. So to protect that, to protect our big, beautiful brain for that higher level thinking, if we're already in habit, if we want to change a habit, if we can hack into an existing habit loop, we're halfway there.” “We are, as human beings, hardwired for belonging. Millions of years ago, if we didn't belong, it was a death sentence.” “We all need belonging. This isn't one group or another group. Fundamentally, we all do. So if we're all walking around what we call nice but clueless—NBC—and we're perpetuating these microaggressions without even knowing it, and people are walking around in constant amygdala hijack, it's no wonder that feelings of exclusion are over 80%.” “Once people understand the neuroscience of pain, it's unethical to hire and to bring in folks from marginalized, underrepresented, diverse, groups and put them in toxic environments. There's a race for diversity without inclusion. Those are disastrous results.” Connect with Mo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maureenberknerboyt/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/momoxieboyt/ The Moxie Exchange: https://themoxieexchange.com/ About Our Sponsor The Predictive Index (PI) is an award-winning talent optimization platform that aligns business strategy with people strategy for optimal business results. More than 60 years of proven science, software, and a curriculum of insightful management workshops make PI the solution for any company looking to design great teams and culture, make objective hiring decisions, foster engagement, and inspire greatness in their people anywhere in the world. More than 10,000 clients and 480+ partners use PI—including Nissan, Citizens Bank, Subway, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Omni Hotels—across 90+ countries. Learn more at predictiveindex.com.

Jessica Ivins is a veteran User Experience (UX) researcher. She leads UX research and research operations at The Predictive Index. Before joining The Predictive Index, Jessica honed her skills through a variety of roles in UX research and design. She’s dedicated much of her time to the UX community, presenting at conferences, appearing on podcasts, and writing many blog posts. Top 3 Takeaways Words matter. There’s ample confusion about the difference between management and leadership. The most important definition of leadership is your own. Lead by example. As a leader, all eyes are on you. You’re always in control of how you comport yourself through modeling your attitudes and behaviors in any situation. Go for growth. A fixed mindset may be common, but it’s not the only option. A growth mindset is not only possible, it’s preferred. From the Source “To be a manager, you have to be given a title with management responsibilities, and at the core of your responsibility as a manager is you're responsible, responsible for retention and results.” “A leader can be just about anybody, and as a leader, you're moving other people toward change and hopefully positive change.” “ I think most people have the potential to be a leader, and that's the beauty of being a leader, right? And it's very fulfilling, too, right? You don't have to earn a management title. You don't have to earn a leadership title, so to speak. You can just help other people move toward positive change.” “I do see it go the other way, too, though, where people who have pretty lofty titles are reticent or hesitant to consider themselves to be a leader, even though they'd be managing large groups of people.” “I have a daughter and so modeling is huge for me as a parent, but it's really showing up in the career context. It's really showing up as the professional that you want to be and that can make your workplace better, that can make the people around you better, and just basically modeling that for everybody. It can start with simple things like showing up on time being a decent professional and also the harder things like handling stressful situations with professionalism.” “People often go to their peers because it's safer to go to your peers and vent than it is to go to your boss. I think even just listening, sometimes just being a sounding board, can really help people because sometimes people just need to vent and get it out of their system and then move on.” “I've managed a lot of perfectionists and perfectionism unfortunately often comes with a fixed mindset. So it's just been a lot of reframing.” “When people come to you for help, they usually don't want advice. They want you to help them think things through.” “If you know in your heart of hearts that you don't want to be a manager, then it's probably best not to do it.” Connect with Jessica LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicaivins/

Gabrielle Bourret-Sicotte is the co-founder and CEO of Greenr. Gabrielle’s background includes a PhD in Solar Panel Research at the University of Oxford. Her research led her to inventing a technique to improve the efficiency of Silicon Solar Panels leading to a world record efficiency. Gabrielle also spent time working on Climate Policy and Transition Risk in developing countries.  Gabrielle quickly realized that many businesses lacked the time and resources to invest in expensive consultants for one-off carbon emission assessments. This  led her to co-found Greenr, a sustainability as a service organization helping businesses to measure and reduce emissions at source. Top 3 Takeaways Put it to the test. Running a business is a lot like conducting a science experiment. Be clear about your hypothesis and remain as objective as possible while testing it. Do your part. There may be some differences in attitudes across the generations, but we all want a healthy planet, and we can all do small things that add up. Know your numbers. Even the most heartfelt ideas need a rational defense. Gather your research around the business benefits before making your pitch to start up a sustainability program. From the Source  “You don't really get feedback as a CEO. You don't get  performance reviews in terms of how your colleagues and the people working for your company are perceiving you.”  “You have to self-motivate. There is an end goal, which is either revenue or finishing your degree, but at the end of the day, you just have to lead yourself along the path of putting a hypothesis out there—whether that's science or looking at consumer needs—and then you just test this hypothesis again in science or whether your customers like it, and then you build it, and then you iterate.”  “I won't say that millennials and Gen Z's are more active in the climate than actually our parents or our grandparents. I don't think that's necessarily true.”  “We have a lot of stats around what is the actual business add and business value add for companies to actually use a product like Greenr or an employee engagement tool. So we have a lot of stats on average employee retention. I think it's 31%. You get an average retention of 31 percent increase when you have a sustainability policy that involves employees. You can actually  also attract 74 percent more talent and range of talent by having a sustainability policy. So we have all of these metrics that we can go to top management and say ‘these are the numbers’ that you can use in order to get the budget and get a decision.” Connect with Gabrielle and Greenr Website: http://www.greenr.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/greenr-technologies Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wearegreenr Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearegreenr_/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-bourret-sicotte/

Dr. Deborah Watts has more than 20 years of experience helping people and organizations grow. Her passion is developing professionals into tomorrow's leaders and coaching leaders on how to optimize their performance as well as the performance of their team. Her experience has come from many unique opportunities spanning a wide range of disciplines and industries including organizations such as the Governors Literacy Foundation, RJ Young, Lands End, Humana, Harley-Davidson, Seaspan, Starbucks and Zillow. Currently, Deborah is the Founder and CEO of Hayde & Company, a talent optimization consulting firm and the Director of Graduate and Executive Education at the University of Tennessee, Haslam College of Business.  She also serves as a Certified Partner for Predictive Index and Senior Consultant for the Leadership Pipeline Institute.   Top 3 Takeaways Follow the joyful energy. When Deborah felt a similar energy in the classroom that she had during her work in the motorsports industry, she set an intention to make a shift and she never looked back. Find your why. When you have a clear understanding of your purpose, even the most menial tasks have meaning. Without it, you may produce big results but still feel something is missing from your work and your life. Commit to the craft. Deborah built a powerful learning experience for leaders who are willing to put in the work to reach their next level. Be a student of leadership for your own benefit as well as to serve others. From the Source “Someone on the board had the idea of ‘Hey, we need to bring in a consultant to help us.’ Well, that consultant came from the Oliver group and the very first thing they did is have us take the Predictive Index Behavioral Assessment, and I was blown away.” “We realized that if we wanted to go acquire these dealerships and then have them perform at a higher level, we had to invest in the people. So I think that was just a powerful experience for me.” “I remember feeling that same excitement I felt for the power sports industry I felt in the classroom. So I thought, what do I do to make that happen?” “I ended up teaching a class at a university in Europe, and it really started expanding how adults learn and how in the U S, how we only promote if you're going to manage people. Typically for the most part, you have to take that role of ‘I'm going to manage human beings to get a raise or get a better title.’ Europe has a lot of specialist programs. If you say, ‘I don't ever want to manage people, but I want to continue to grow’ then you move into maybe a specialist role.” “When I was at the Ohio State University, I remember our janitor was awesome. He was super friendly, great guy. He was there when we woke up and there when we went to bed, and our dorm was spotless. And I remember us talking to him someday about ‘Where do you get this drive and passion from?’ And the way he saw it was, ‘I keep people healthy. I keep you all healthy. Because of me, you all get to stay healthy, come to school, get a degree and go do great things in the world.’ And so he had a bigger understanding. He understood the why behind his job.” “I get the opportunity to work with a lot of folks that do have that combination of workplace, corporate experience, or non profit experience. And they also have the academic piece. And so together, I think in the classroom, it just equals some really powerful stuff.” “There will be moments where you're thinking about your organization, like you just said, like where you're working and you think, ‘Is this my leader? Is this how they operate? Is this a place I want to continue to invest my time,?’ which is very valuable time that you're not with your family. You want to make sure where you do spend it is worthwhile. And so it does make you think. It absolutely makes you think, and it makes you take the stories that you're hearing and apply them to your own personal situation.” Connect with Deborah Website: https://www.haydeandco.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahwatts1/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdeb5413 Email: deborah@haydeandco.com C-Suite Insights at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business: https://haslam.utk.edu/c-suites-insights

Saunders spent more than two decades as a Wall Street SVP, sales team leader, and award-winning sales executive. He is now a coach, consultant & author. He spent years as a member of the Georgetown McDonough MBA Alumni Advisory Council and is an active angel investor. He is a long time regular contributor to the Executive MBA mentorship program and spent 3 years on the committee that built the mentorship program for the EMBA and MBA programs. Top 3 Takeaways Follow your heart. Life throws a lot at us, and we’re asked to make tough decisions every day. Being clear about our values helps us navigate with intention. Put it to the test. When you’re clear about your mission and vision, these serve as a kind of litmus test to determine whether a given idea is worth pursuing. Otherwise, an idea may fizzle. Balance it out. As storytellers, we need to ensure that our message is rooted in a strong foundation. Persuasion, structure, and the right amount of detail turn a good story into a great one. From the Source “The simplest definition of vision I'd like to use is: It's your ideal and maybe aspirational future. And maybe you never get there, but it's that big North Star that you say, ‘Hey, that's what we want to be when we grow up,’ right?” “That's where the power is, that's where it became really powerful. It was pushing her, challenging her to think bigger.” “It brings clarity on sort of how to think about things and how to bring new ideas forward for innovation and growth.” “We're all in this together, but we need you all to come forward with ideas on how we get this, get this going. And it was all based on their values, mission, and vision.” “It gave them something to lean on to say, ‘How do we make these decisions here in this very difficult environment?’” “This is a message that needs to permeate every aspect of your organization.” “You know that the inevitable stress point is going to come. And that cannot be the day that you suddenly say, ‘This is what we stand for, people.’” “It's such an important part of being a leader to live and breathe those values and showcase that ‘This is how we do things.’” Connect with John LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcs-optimizer/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jcs_optimizer/ Links Get John’s storytelling tip sheet: https://www.johncsaunders.com/storytelling