In this weeks highlight episode from my conversation with Beth Ridley [original air date July 27th], I unpack some tools to help people ease the discomfort associated with personal growth, in an effort to help underrepresented groups  feel like they belong and illuminate unconscious bias in a healthy and collaborative way. When a person of privilege, recognizes their privilege publicly, it invites feedback when an unconscious bias is revealed, micro aggressions are all but eliminatedMore about Beth Ridley:Beth Ridley is a corporate executive turned organizational transformation consultant, speaker, author and CEO of Ridley Consulting Group. Beth combines 25 years of leadership and management consulting experience to simplify what it takes to integrate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices throughout the business with strategies that are approachable, relevant and doable for everyone.Beth’s work is featured in national publications and she frequently delivers keynotes and workshops at events around the world.Beth holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Virginia, an MA in International Relations from Tufts University and an MBA from Columbia University.

In a world of cancel culture and micro aggressions, how can we bridge the gap for white men, who want to do more as active allies or sponsors to bring women and BIPOC into leadership,  but are afraid that one misstep may cost them their careers or reputation? Beth Ridley and I unpack the messy middle and how to move forward.More about Beth Ridley:Beth Ridley is a corporate executive turned organizational transformation consultant, speaker, author and CEO of Ridley Consulting Group. Beth combines 25 years of leadership and management consulting experience to simplify what it takes to integrate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices throughout the business with strategies that are approachable, relevant and doable for everyone.Beth’s work is featured in national publications and she frequently delivers keynotes and workshops at events around the world.Beth holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Virginia, an MA in International Relations from Tufts University and an MBA from Columbia University.

Most leadership teams are so conditioned to focus on performance, they hinder their ability to change or innovate in a way that would actually drive performance. In this episode, I highlight some key concepts from the amazing conversation I had with Greg Galle  [Original air date July 13th], the founder of Think Wrong.More about Greg Galle:Nikolai Gregory Galle has over 30 years of experience thinking wrong about leadership, motivation, coaching, planning, and decision making as well as a broad array of private, public, and civil sector innovation challenges including product, service, process, systems, policy, experience, engagement, talent, professional development, and culture innovation.  Greg co-founded Solve Next in 2012 and reaches thousands of people per year through client work and invitations to participate in top conferences and events around the world. Recognizing that the way we are solving problems is broken, he built a first-of-a-kind cloud-based problem-solving system with co-founder Mike Burn that enables individuals and organizations to transform what is and innovate what’s next for themselves, their organizations, their communities, and their countries. Think Wrong is used around the world across all sectors and society—from global corporations to individuals running local non-profits. Greg, Mike Burn, and John Beelinberg co-authored Think Wrong: How to Conquer the Status Quo and Do Work That Matters (Visit thinkwrongbook.com for more). In 2001, Greg co-founded C2 Group, a brand strategy firm, to help leaders from technology start-ups, Fortune 500 companies, and the world’s top business management consulting firms develop, build and protect their brands.  Greg also serves on the board of Not For Sale, is an advisor to Fuse Corps, and a board member emeritus of Hope Street Group.

This week's C-Change guest has over 30 years of experience THINKING WRONG about leadership, motivation, coaching, planning, and decision making! Recognizing that the way we are solving problems is broken, he built a first-of-a-kind cloud-based problem-solving system with co-founder Mike Burn that enables individuals and organizations to transform what is and innovate what’s next. Discover what thinking  wrong can help you achieve!Just for my listeners! The generous people and wrong thinkers of Solve Next are offering a discounted rate for C-Change subscribers for any of their ground-breaking intensive trainings. Use the code:  “MAURA30” when you sign up for the IntensivesReady to think wrong into innovative solutions as a leader? Leaders of Next Intensive If you are a trainer, teacher or facilitator you don't want to miss this learning opportunity: Think Wrong Facilitators Intensives.More about Greg Galle: Nikolai Gregory Galle has over 30 years of experience thinking wrong about leadership, motivation, coaching, planning, and decision making as well as a broad array of private, public, and civil sector innovation challenges including product, service, process, systems, policy, experience, engagement, talent, professional development, and culture innovation.  Greg co-founded Solve Next in 2012 and reaches thousands of people per year through client work and invitations to participate in top conferences and events around the world. Recognizing that the way we are solving problems is broken, he built a first-of-a-kind cloud-based problem-solving system with co-founder Mike Burn that enables individuals and organizations to transform what is and innovate what’s next for themselves, their organizations, their communities, and their countries.  Think Wrong is used around the world across all sectors and society—from global corporations to individuals running local non-profits.  Greg, Mike Burn, and John Beelinberg co-authored Think Wrong: How to Conquer the Status Quo and Do Work That Matters (Visit thinkwrongbook.com for more).  In 2001, Greg co-founded C2 Group, a brand strategy firm, to help leaders from technology start-ups, Fortune 500 companies, and the world’s top business management consulting firms develop, build and protect their brands.   Greg also serves on the board of Not For Sale, is an advisor to Fuse Corps, and a board member emeritus of Hope Street Group.

In my interview with Traci Austin [original air date June 29th, episode 58], we talked about the disconnect between senior leadership, and having a HR voice at the table. Do you know why the number of HR executives on US public company boards has almost tripled from 84 to 243 in the last 12 years? Because boards are beginning to recognize that HR perspective makes your board perform better.  Strategic HR is contributing more and more to the greater strategic objectives of executive leadership. In this weeks episode, I talk about how to change HR language to speak “executive”.More about Traci Scherck:Traci Scherck, is a certified HR professional with two decades of experience building HR departments from the ground up for small businesses. Her mission is to create the container for every employee, if they choose, to be fulfilled in their work while meeting business outcomes. She does this through employee development and engagement, performance consulting, training facilitation and coaching HR professionals. Traci uses her consulting expertise to serve clients in applying behavioral concepts to hiring and selection, designing and implementing talent pathways, coaching, motivation, and leadership.  She is a highly sought after expert on these topics.  She hosts a weekly podcast titled, Talent Optimization with Traci Scherck and has been distributed to thousands of HR professionals and business leaders across the globe. She is the Chief Strategy Consultant and owner of Elevated Talent Consulting, a certified women owned business, that impacts small business and HR professionals in exceeding performance expectations while being fulfilled in their work

HR is proving to be more of a strategic role, especially in our current hot talent market. Attracting the right people and giving them REASONS TO STAY (*cough CULTURE *cough) is predominantly guided by whip-smart HR advisors like this week's guest on the C-Change show Traci Scherck. Her data-driven approach to creating an EVP culture worthy of the hottest talent is a must-hear!More about Traci Scherck:Traci Scherck, is a certified HR professional with two decades of experience building HR departments from the ground up for small businesses. Her mission is to create the container for every employee, if they choose, to be fulfilled in their work while meeting business outcomes. She does this through employee development and engagement, performance consulting, training facilitation and coaching HR professionals. Traci uses her consulting expertise to serve clients in applying behavioral concepts to hiring and selection, designing and implementing talent pathways, coaching, motivation, and leadership.  She is a highly sought after expert on these topics.  She hosts a weekly podcast titled, Talent Optimization with Traci Scherck and has been distributed to thousands of HR professionals and business leaders across the globe. She is the Chief Strategy Consultant and owner of Elevated Talent Consulting, a certified women owned business, that impacts small business and HR professionals in exceeding performance expectations while being fulfilled in their work.

Whether you are cultivating leadership in your direct reports or inspiring them to perform at their optimal level, Michelle Haggerty's direction to "Lead with high expectations and high support." is a proven way to lead people to their greatest accomplishments, regardless of their interest in leadership. Helping people dig deep and find greatness in themselves they didn't know was there is the job of leadership.Original interview air date: June 15th, episode 56.

"Lead with high expectations and high support." ~ Michelle Haggerty,  Prosci COOThis week on C-Change, Prosci's Tim Creasey, who has amassed the largest body of knowledge in the world on change management and Prosci's COO Michelle Haggerty, Prosci’s Chief Operating Officer, discuss the realities of helping companies manage the change to shift their cultures  to a more resilient and sustainable model to achieve their business objectives.Find them at www.prosci.comSubscribe on youtube: PROSCI ON YOUTUBEMore about Tim:I enable change teams to catalyze adoption and usage to deliver results and outcomes. I know that the "soft" side of change is actually the harder side of change and strive to empower teams to more successfully manage it. I conduct best practices research in change management and develop holistic, easy-to-use and research-based models and tools for managing the people side of change. Recent efforts: Lead Prosci change management research and development. Conceptualized and created the CMROI (Change Management ROI) model and calculator. Spearheaded the creation of the Prosci Portal - a virtual workbench for change practitioners. Served as editor and lead analyst of Prosci's 2015, 2013 2011, 2009, 2007, 2005 and 2003 Best Practices in Change Management benchmarking studies. Presented at numerous conferences (Conference Board, Gartner BPM Summit, ACMP). Wowed the crowds. Designed and facilitated over 300 change management webinars. Authored numerous tutorials and whitepaper, as well as the book Change Management: The People Side of Change. Initiated work on Enterprise Change Management - building organizational capabilities and competencies - in 2005.Specialties: Change management theories, processes, best practices, benchmarking, communication, resistance management, leadershipMore about & Michelle:Michelle Haggerty, Prosci’s Chief Operating Officer, oversees Prosci’s service portfolio and internal Operations while leading the organization's strategic direction as a member of the executive team. Michelle has led proci’s program, service delivery and instructional teams through growth and global expansion. Formally Proci’s Strategic Director of Training, She helped individuals and organizations of all sizes develop and deploy change management solutions. In that role, she also ensured program delivery quality while supporting all Prosci certified master instructors as well as leading the executive training team. Michelle holds a bachelor degree in journalism from the School of Journalism and Mass communication University of Colorado at Boulder. ​​Michelle Hagerty overseas. Proceeds With proceeds People First Culture as a guiding star. Michele's overarching goal is to help organizations achieve optimal outcomes. From change management through premium training programs and advisory services that deliver unforgettable experiences.

Is it possible for a CEO of a MASSIVE, global enterprise to create an inclusive high-trust culture? 100% yes. In this episode, I highlight an important story Ed Essey shared on his episode [original air date June 1, 2023] about the extraordinary  inclusion and belonging demonstrated in a meeting by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. His care and curiosity spoke volumes and should be considered a slam-dunk for senior leaders who genuinely do care and absolutely do want a high-trust culture but aren't sure how to go about it. Learn more about Ed Essey:  Ed Essey helps intrapreneurs have, test, and grow brilliant ideas in the Microsoft Garage. He is an MIT grad, serial founder, and veteran product leader who is passionate about technology, creating great culture, and innovating through experimentation. During his engineering career, he's researched AI, developed intelligent agent-based systems, and democratized parallel computing. He has led company-wide change management programs in innovation, design-thinking, and agile methodologies that have helped over 25,000 employees earn raving fans for their products. He founded the Garage experimental outlet that has delivered over 130 new and exciting projects to market.  Ed practices mindfulness to bring his most courageous and caring self to every connection. He champions wise technology, because the best products cannot stop at intelligence, they need wisdom. He lives in Seattle with his two children.

How can representation for women in tech continue to grow? Through active allyship and sponsorship. I had the great fortune of interviewing Microsoft's one-and-only Director of Intrapreneurship about how his role as a coach supports women and BIPOC success in tech. He is a neuro-diverse super-genius with a gift for seeing talent and nurturing abilities in others. Learn more about Ed Essey:  Ed Essey helps intrapreneurs have, test, and grow brilliant ideas in the Microsoft Garage. He is an MIT grad, serial founder, and veteran product leader who is passionate about technology, creating great culture, and innovating through experimentation. During his engineering career, he's researched AI, developed intelligent agent-based systems, and democratized parallel computing. He has led company-wide change management programs in innovation, design-thinking, and agile methodologies that have helped over 25,000 employees earn raving fans for their products. He founded the Garage experimental outlet that has delivered over 130 new and exciting projects to market.  Ed practices mindfulness to bring his most courageous and caring self to every connection. He champions wise technology, because the best products cannot stop at intelligence, they need wisdom. He lives in Seattle with his two children.