It's DO-BE Time

In the first part of this discussion, Chad Wiggins, Co-Founder and Partner of PulseOne discussed building a winning leadership team. As the conversation continues, Chad talks with Tony and Brian about how PulseOne has built a winning culture. Starting with transparency and creating strong interpersonal relationships, the leadership team has successfully guided the organization to a people-first way of being both within the organization and with the clients they serve.

What happens when you launch a business that you are passionate about, and then discover that there are significant parts of being successful that you just don’t have the skill to do. In Part 1 of our conversation, Chad Wiggins, Co-Founder and Partner of PulseOne, joins Tony and Brian to discuss his first attempt at starting his business, what he quickly discovered about his ability to be successful going it alone, and how he stepped back and created the leadership team that has brought PulseOne to the level of success it has achieved today.

Max Lambright (President and CEO Executive Coach and Mentor), Tony, and Brian continue the conversation looking at one of the most significant challenges facing organizations today. Successfully addressing employee engagement will significantly slow attrition and turnover, along with quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction. Also on the table in this episode, employer mandates and “forced fun.” The conversation concludes with the responsibility of leaders to “do, teach, and prepare the next generation to lead.”

Nick Saller (Saller Strategic Advisors) joins Tony and Brian to discuss what many business owners consider “the small stuff” that can make the difference between business success and failure. Some of these are what Nick refers to as “destructive details;” he provides a simple case study of a destructive detail that almost led a business to bankruptcy. Others may seem small or unimportant but are vital elements of success. Among those topics covered in this conversation are the importance of listening to those closest to the problems, having a winning attitude at all levels of the business, and valuing the front line…those individuals that are the face of your business to your customers and communities.

“Our businesses are like instruments that need to be constantly tuned.” Jacqueline Wales (Transformational Strategies for Success) joins Do-Be Associates Tony Carnesi and Brian Gorman to discuss the leader’s role in tuning the business not only through the eyes of the leader, but from the perspectives of those who work in the business and those the business serves. Addressing fear of failure and fear of success; approaching feedback from a perspective of curiosity rather than judgement; trust; and psychological safety all have a role in tuning the business and leading for success.

“Be honest with yourself” says Jacqueline Wales. Jacqueline, an advocate for fearless change and advisor to high-achieving women who are ready to accelerate their career, joins Do-Be Associates Tony Carnesi and Brian Gorman in this provocative episode that challenges leaders to honestly look at themselves and how they approach interactions with others.

Meredith Bell (Performance Support Systems), Tony, and Brian focus the second part of the conversation on changes in today’s workforce that require changes in leadership style. What is now important to workers is different than what was important when leaders were “down in the ranks.” Failure to respond to those changes results in ineffective leadership that has a direct cost on the bottom line through increased turnover, lower productivity, and more. Several insights on how to lead today’s workforce are addressed.

The question isn’t whether the need for tough conversations will arise, it is “What do I do about it?” In Part 1 of this discussion, Meredith Bell, Co-Founder and President of Performance Support Systems joins Tony and Brian to explore the challenges of tough conversations and what is required to take them on. Among the questions addressed are the following. How do you as a business owner or leader approach a person working for you who is not fulfilling their responsibilities? How do you as a person whose supervisor is verbally abusive to you take on a tough conversation to address their behavior? And what is required for a tough conversation to come to a successful conclusion?

Mark Iorio, Founder of the Mega Group and Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Brand and Culture Alignment Toolkit (BCAT), returns to the podcast for a far-ranging discussion with Tony and Brian. Beginning with an exploration of why managers are often hesitant to make decisions, the conversation turns to the importance of business owners and leaders at all levels of the organization caring about the people who work for them as people, and not just as employees.

In this replay of Episode 38 ("It’s Time for A Leadership Evolution"), co-hosts Tony Carnesi and Brian Gorman address what were then the early waves of the Great Resignation. They discuss a series of questions regarding employees and their relationships to their jobs, their managers and leaders, and their employers. And they introduce the roll-out of their 4-Day Work Week assessment, now available on the Do-Be Associates website.

Concluding this conversation on leadership in 2022 and beyond, Hamza Khan, Tony, and Brian look at the importance of empathy, servitude, diversity, and innovation play and why these aspects of leadership are so important. Hamza makes the case that “we’re going to have to be more human as leaders.” The behavioral attributes of leaders who are successfully moving their businesses into the future vs. those who are trying to hold onto the past are also discussed.

In Part 2, Hamza Khan, Tony, and Brian explore the impact that Covid has had on the future of work, and what that means for the future of leadership. Citing the differences between dark triad leadership personality traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) and light triad leadership personality traits (Kantianism, Humanism, and faith in humanity), Hamza makes the case for the latter as the leader of the future. The conversation also addresses the need to redefine the relationship between organizations and the people that work for them.

Hamza Khan, author of Leadership Reinvented: How to Foster Empathy, Servitude, Diversity, and Innovation in the Workplace, joins Tony and Brian for an extended conversation on leadership for today’s workforce. In Part 1, we discuss the leader’s responsibility to the worker and the organization and different approaches to working with difficult employees. Hamza also tells the story of his TEDx talk (Stop Managing, Start Leading), now viewed almost 2 million times, and what led to his then supervisor calling it seditious.

In part 2 of this conversation, ResultsResourcing Founder and CEO Elizabeth Eiss, Tony, and Brian continue the conversation about integrating gig workers into your business. The focus is on how to create a team environment across employees and external contractors. As Elizabeth says, “the freelancer chooses the employer the same way the employer chooses the freelancer.”

Building your workforce, whether by hiring or contracting, can be a significant challenge. In Part 1 of this podcast, ResultsResourcing Founder and CEO Elizabeth Eiss shares what it takes to attract the right talent pool and how to screen that pool for the best candidate; it isn’t as easy as it might seem. Whether you are hiring or seeking to be hired, Elizabeth points out the importance of the entrepreneurial spirit in making a successful match.

Tony and Brian continue our conversation with Lisa Snow (Founder and President of On the Mend Fitness and Massage) with a look at the benefits of wellness programs to both organizations and the people that work for them. Lisa describes the ways in which both in-person and virtual programs contribute to building person-to-person relationships, strengthen trust, and address a sense of isolation. Each of these changes benefit the individual and the employer.

One of the benefits that employers often see as unnecessary is the wellness program. Yet, those who have left, or are considering leaving, their jobs, “employers who don’t care about my physical and/or mental well-being” is one of the driving factors. Lisa Snow, Founder and President of On the Mend Customized Fitness and Massage joins Tony and Brian to discuss the benefits – to the organization as well as its people – of fitness programs. The conversation addresses ways in which such programs can be integrated into both in-person and virtual workplaces.

Part 2 of our conversation with Joann A. Seery turned from building relationships to business planning. At the heart of the discussion is business planning and business plans. Joann, Tony, and Brian make it clear, business plans aren’t just a good idea, they are essential to the growth and success of the business. Among the roles that business plans serve are intentionally shaping the organization’s culture, hiring for passionate alignment to mission and vision, financial triggers for decision-making, and planning for the owner’s exit.

As the Co-Founder of Serious Business Solutions and Executive Director of BNI (Business Network International) for the State of Hawaii, Joann A. Seery knows what it takes to build and sustain strong business relationships. In part 1 of this podcast, Joann, Tony, and Brian discuss how to be intentional about building and maintaining your personal brand, which is the basis for the relationships you establish.

Charles Bernard, Founder and CEO of Criteria for Success, continues his conversation with Tony and Brian with the premise that during unstable times you should be making promises to your customers. He describes how to do so with integrity and candor. The conversation also addresses the application of a Management By Objectives approach to performance and incentives. But perhaps Charles’ most innovative idea in the podcast is how to establish leading indicators in sales that literally drive a change in the behavior of your sales team.