Lead the People

Brandon Harding is a military chaplain and relationship coach with two decades of experience. His passion is assisting people and organizations in their pursuit of purpose and meaning, leading to greater productivity, healthier work cultures, and deeply satisfying relationships. He also has a coaching business, Reset Coaching, where he fuses experiences in the wild with the Immunity to Change process in order to facilitate personal and organizational development. Top 3 Takeaways Don’t fear vulnerability—Just because you’re acting in a leadership role doesn’t mean that you have to be perfect or impenetrable. Make yourself human in order to connect with your team members in a deep and meaningful way. Develop resiliency—Things aren’t always going to go your way. What’s most important is how you bounce back from work and life’s inevitable challenges. Put people before performance—It takes a bit of trust, but your people will perform for you if they know you’re developing them. If you focus on performance at the expense of people, you’ll get neither. From the Source “Within the Marine Corps, there's this culture where you can't be vulnerable, you can't express any kind of weakness, and that infuses up and down the chain of command. The irony is that the best leaders that I've experienced go against that. They do have vulnerability“ “The focus question is ‘What's the one thing that you need to change about yourself as a leader?’ The takeaway they were going to take back to their command was ‘To be the most effective leader, I've got to be human. I can't just be this automaton robot. That's harsh and demanding. I have to be a human to be really effective.’”​​ “Personal resiliency is the ability to bounce back in a healthy way from challenges. We all have challenges. So if I have resiliency, I can have setbacks at work—I can have personal setbacks—but if I'm resilient, I'm able to kind of stay calm in the moment.” “When you shift away from outcome-focused versus people-centric leadership, the outcomes happen. The outcomes just sort of naturally come along, because people will perform the best for you when they know that you're interested in developing them rather than just you're fixed on the outcome, whatever that might be.” “On a retreat, we share meals, we share hardship, there's no digital distractions. Just being in nature without any other responsibilities out there just creates an environment where people can really connect. The outcome is a deep sense of connection.” Connect with Brandon Website: http://www.resetcoaching.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-harding-a6aab858/

Michelle Clarke is obsessed with helping soul-led entrepreneurs achieve transformational success by up-leveling their energy, mindset, and habits and by helping them step into their power and speak to their authentic message. She encourages women to be unapologetically brave AF, tap back into their inner knowing and unleash their magic so they can become magnetic to their soulmate clients and bring their purpose into the world - because the world needs what they have! Top 3 Takeaways Conditioning runs deep—From the time we’re born, subtle social norms and influences shape our perspectives about ourselves and others. Make space for self discovery—You have to create opportunities to develop the self awareness that will be critical to your leadership effectiveness. Follow the energy—Pay careful attention to those activities and experiences that fire you up. These provide clues as to where you should be investing your time and effort. From the Source “We think that we've moved so far—like at least we're allowed to show our ankles now and talk at the dinner table, but we really actually haven't moved that far.“ “We're taught that good girls don't talk back or that good girls let others take the leading role. No one likes a bossy woman. We still get those subliminal messages that hold us back. Boys just don't get those messages when they're growing up.“ “When you do anything that forces yourself to move away from who you truly are, you get miserable.” “The way that you'll find out who you are is by taking time and space, like walking around in nature or doing something that makes you feel completely lit up. Then you'll be vibrating at the right frequency. You'll be free thinking.“ “Whenever you're doing something that you're really happy about, your fears get out of the way. It's impossible to feel fear and love at the same time. So if you're doing something really awesome, fear steps out of the way and then your real feelings and thoughts can step forward.” “Watch the people that have energy. They're all happy because they're doing what they want to do.”​​ Connect with Michelle Website: http://www.empowermentempires.com Michelle’s book “Woo Woo for Women in Business”: https://www.amazon.com/Woo-Women-Business-empowered-business/dp/B09G9NCV7B/

Liz Palmieri helps the C-Suite solve people problems with science and data. She’s a former member of The Predictive Index team and has been a proud steward of the Talent Optimization discipline since its inception. Throughout her career and varied experiences, Liz’s guiding light has been making an impact and being of service to others. Top 3 Takeaways Being a CEO is a big job—just like yours! It’s helpful to think about your responsibilities and opportunities inline with this lofty and well-recognized title. Go beyond the hard stuff—You’re likely to earn advancement based on your job performance, but it’s your people abilities that will determine your long-term success. Seek out support—Find a coach or a mentor and make it easy for them to help and support you by taking on as much of the heavy lifting as you can. From the Source “I think really excellent CEOs are storytellers who are able to share the story of that vision with internal stakeholders, employees, team members, leaders of the organization, and also publicly to really make the brand vision pretty clear.“ “When you think about your employees and team members, how much of the industry information do they need to understand? How can you speak in a way that's going to feel really relevant and accessible to them? And most importantly, how do you explain what's in it for them?“ “When we think about the up and coming workforce—Millennials and Gen Z—the culture piece, it's like: underline, bold, exclamation point, exclamation point!” “This person may really know a lot about the nature of our business or the industry or where we need to go and where we're headed, but if they can't make me feel really excited about all of that, then how are they going to lead me there?“ “Oftentimes we make our first foray into people management and leadership because we were high performers. And oftentimes there's a pretty significant gap there between being successful at the doing and then leading people.” “If someone is willing to share their expertise and advice and coaching, show that you're really engaged in that process and ready to take action on the things that they share. Take responsibility for the relationship by scheduling those meetups, creating an agenda of what it is that you would like to talk about, what you need help and support on, and making sure that you circle back on those items that you discussed last time. What action steps have you've taken since then? What went well? What didn't?“ Connect with Liz LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizpalmiericoonley/

Douglas E. Noll, JD, MA left a successful career as a trial lawyer to become a peacemaker. His calling is to serve humanity, and he executes his calling at many levels. He is an award-winning author, teacher, trainer, and a highly experienced mediator. Doug’s mission carries him from international work to helping people resolve deep interpersonal and ideological conflicts to training life inmates to be peacemakers and mediators in maximum-security prisons. Top 3 Takeaways Conflict is brain science—our response to emotion has a biological basis, and understanding this is key to resolving conflict in the workplace. Stop shouting—We yell when we feel that we’re not being heard. We can de-escalate others and ourselves when we stop the yelling and start listening to and conveying emotions. Prioritize leadership development—learning “soft” skills like mediation will serve you well as you progress in your leadership journey and advance in your career. From the Source “When people get under stress—when they're in a situation they can't handle—there are emotional centers in the brain that activate. They're going to revert right back to the last stage of their emotional development.“ “Deescalation works because we start listening to emotions rather than words. It’s done in three steps: Ignore the words, read the emotions, reflect back the emotions with a simple statement.” “What I teach is to address the emotions before you address the words. Deescalate before you problem solve.” “We yell at each other and argue and fight because we're not being heard. So yelling is simply an indication of not being heard. And all you have to do is listen to the emotions and the yelling stops. Because now people feel heard, they feel validated.“ “The time that you invest in building your skills and becoming an effective leader is far more valuable than increasing your technical proficiency.” Connect with Doug Website: http://dougnoll.co/leadthepeople LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougnoll/

Angela Maiers is considered one of today’s most influential thought leaders in education and transformative thinking. It is fair to say when she speaks, she leaves no room unchanged. She has been praised by leaders in business, the military, and administrators of schools of every level from elementary to graduate, around the globe for the life-changing, world-changing impact she has had on the hundreds of thousands of lives with whom she has reached with her message of Mattering. Top 3 Takeaways Mattering is essential—More than a mere nice to have, mattering is a fundamental need that must be met for ourselves and for those we lead. Mattering makes business sense—even beyond the human interest aspects, making sure our people feel they matter boosts their productivity and performance. Priorities have shifted—the pandemic has sent millions of workers looking for greater meaning from new employers. Now’s a great time to make sure your team members know they matter. From the Source “When people don't feel like they matter, they become everything from apathetic to angry and everything in between.“ “Human beings as a species need to know they matter. They need to feel seen. They need to feel heard. They need to feel valued and of value, and they need to understand and be able to express their essential needs.” “When people don't bring their best self to the world or to the work, everyone suffers.” “If you want the best out of human beings, they need to know they matter. Period.” “You get to that place that you start thinking, what, what am I doing in my life? What is my life work? Am I making the impact that I can make that I should be making? Do people even recognize that I am valuable?“ “People want to belong to something. They want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. If you can fulfill that as a company, then you have a workforce that will stay with you.” Connect with Angela Website: https://angelamaiers.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelamaiers/ Angela’s TED Talk, “You Matter”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FHdHUzRnms

As the Audacious Confidence™ Growth Expert and former Mrs. Elite U.S. Woman of Achievement, Alicia Couri strives to Influence, educate, inspire, and entertain to empower leaders to walk boldly in the direction of their dreams despite fears, feelings, or past failures.  She’s the Founder and CEO of Alicia Couri Inc., a boutique consulting firm working with CEOs and Executives to develop audaciously proactive leaders & teams using brain science and people data. She produces and hosts a nationally syndicated podcast: Leading with Audacious Confidence and 2 webshows: “Small Business Saturday Shout-Out” and “Love My Body Love Myself”. Top 3 Takeaways Confidence isn’t automatic—No matter how confident or capable other leaders are in your eyes, they weren't born that way. They worked at it just like you can starting right now. Perfectionism is a threat—Resist the urge to think that you’re not good enough or that you don’t know enough or that you can’t make a mistake. Have a bias for action instead. Know thyself—When you take the time to truly learn about yourself—your strengths and your gaps—you can embrace your authentic self and infuse boldness into your leadership. From the Source “I thought you were born confident, you couldn't develop confidence. And I also saw the same thing with leadership—that you were born to be a great leader or you weren't. And boy, was I wrong on both counts!“ “And the thing that freed me a lot was that not everybody has everything altogether. You know, you might see them and think that, ‘oh my gosh, I could never be like that’. Or ‘they have everything all together’ and they're not. So don't believe the hype.“ “We have to take responsibility for our own thoughts and our own mindset.”​​  “When I talk about lacking confidence, it was this idea that I had to get. I had to be perfect and get everything right. In order to feel confident enough to do something, because I wasn't leaning into my truth. And that was the big aha that I had is when you lean into your zone of genius (or your super powers as I refer to them) then you don't have to feel this need for perfectionism,“ “All of this is learned. It's shedding the old ideas and the old thought patterns and the old things that we probably grew up with. It's about shedding those things and really understanding ourselves on a deeper level and being able to then lean into those.” “When people carry those negative labels with them, they can't really see their own superpowers. They can't see their zone of genius because they keep trying to be something they're not.“ “I’m launching ‘Love Your Body Love Yourself’ because it's all about really understanding who you are. Falling in love with YOU instead of criticizing, belittling, or minimizing all the great things about you.” Connect with Alicia Website: http://alicia360.com Website: http://aliciacouri.com Links “What’s Your Makeup?” quiz references: https://www.trngcmd.marines.mil/Portals/207/Docs/FMTBE/Student%20Materials/FMST/Block3/FMST%20307.pdf https://beautybrainsblush.com/glossary/

Toby Pasman is a neurophysiology researcher who graduated from the University of Oregon in 2018 with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and completed his Masters of Psychology through Lynn University in 2021. Toby has board certifications in neurofeedback along with QEEG brain mapping. Toby is the founder of Roscoe's Wetsuit Neuro, an applied neuroscience company offering premium brain health coaching to clients globally, along with targeted neuromodulation services to clients interested in peak cognitive performance in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area. Toby is also the host of the applied neuroscience show Roscoe's Wetsuit Neuro Podcast, which features unfiltered conversations with clinicians, researchers, and neuroscientists. Top 3 Takeaways Our brains are beautiful—we don’t think about it often, but the structure and functioning of our brains holds the keys to all that we do, achieve, and experience. There is a neurophysiology of leadership—the way we master our development, inspire others, and deliver results all are rooted in our brain science. You can stack the neuro deck—rather than operate unconsciously, we can use neurofeedback and simple techniques to put our brains in an optimal state to learn and perform. From the Source “Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to adapt to rewire itself in different ways based off different things but one being experience. Neurons that fire together wire together.“ “The more regulated brainwaves, the more we're able to manage our emotions, control our behavior and be able to show up In every aspect of our life is the best version of ourselves. I think it absolutely applies to work.”​​ “Whenever we're communicating with other people, we are replicating their brainwave state which is being transmitted to ours and it's reflected. So that's why we're able to, you know, very readily pick up on other people's energy and be able to feel it.” “We know there are certain things that great leaders oftentimes possess—one of the things being what's called waking Delta. They've found that actually in people who are great leaders who are very persuasive—influential people—they actually have the unique capacity oftentimes to produce Delta brainwaves while they're awake, while they're giving that speech.” “Long-term, the prefrontal cortex is able to sort of battle with the reward centers and they know that in people whose prefrontal cortex is able to kind of win out. They're able to be much more successful in life.“ Connect with Toby Website: https://roscoeswetsuitneuro.com/ Podcast: https://roscoeswetsuitneuro.com/podcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobypasman/ Special Offer! Use the code "LEAD21" to get 15% off your first Neuro Health Coaching session when you visit https://roscoeswetsuitneuro.com.

Roberta Dombrowski is a passionate research leader focused on building research practices inside organizations. Over the years, Roberta has researched and designed experiences for communities of learners, educators, and enterprise clients at companies like Year Up, edX, Pluralsight, and The Predictive Index. Throughout it all, she strives to lead with empathy and mindfulness with everyone with whom she works. Top 3 Takeaways Leaders operate at every level—Whether you’re an individual contributor or a CEO, if you woke up this morning, you have the opportunity to be a leader. No leader is perfect—You’re a work in progress, and as you expand your leadership scope, you won’t have all the answers. Be transparent and honest about this with your team. Your leadership is an experience—Take a moment to check in with your followers and peers to find out where that experience is positive and where it could use some polish. From the Source “I think a lot of people who move from IC—individual contributor—into management still have that perception too. I've met tons of managers over the years who think about managing rather than leading and inspiring and things like that.“ “It's very robotic when you're just leading with managing tasks and outcomes. People are the best part of business and the work that you do. I remember every relationship that I have with someone that I work with. “ “What are the relationships that I want to build with people? What are the types of impacts? And building up my own confidence while I was doing it as well.” “Whenever I go into an environment or I have the opportunity to give back to others, I always try to do that.” “You're human. You're making your mistakes right along with your direct reports later on, along with other leaders too. So there's vulnerability and truth in that too. “ “If you're trying to think about your direct reports or even if you're hiring somebody—so say a candidate applies for a role on your team—What is your experience from the moment they hear about your organization?” ‘I do a lot of surveys when I'm doing employee experience work. Depending upon the size of the team that I'm working with or organization, I've done things like company values or team values surveys, quarterly reviews. So seeing how your team—Are they motivated? Are they inspired—keeping track of that, especially with COVID, sometimes you don't know, and you're not able to check in one-on-one with everyone.’ “I set up my mornings for deep work because that's what I know works best for me.” Connect with Roberta LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertadombrowski Website: http://robertalearns.com Website: http://learnmindfully.co Links “Six Degrees of Design” reference: https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-colleges-for-design/

Juliana Marulanda is a business operations expert, speaker, and the founder of ScaleTime. With over 18 years of experience across Wall Street, the nonprofit sector, technology startups, and family-owned businesses, she has now served over 200+ digital agencies. Featured on Forbes and Entrepreneur, she helps uplevel businesses into lean, mean, profitable machines. On average, Juliana and her team create ways to free up at least 40 hours per week for her clients so they can have successful agencies that run without them. Top 3 Takeaways Speed things up—leaders need to have a bias for action and make decisions without always having the luxury of time, information, and certainty. Learn while doing—you may be tempted to try and learn how to do a thing well before you have to do it, but the best and deepest learning happens during the action, not ahead of it. Make success automatic—create systems that automate the tactical aspects of your day-to-day work that otherwise absorb your precious time and energy. From the Source “I think sometimes it's amazing when really intelligent people will go into a room and think, “How the hell is that person doing that? they don't know as much as I do, but they're willing to make the decisions, they're willing to implement the thing, they're willing to take the risk.“ “Eliminating the self doubt and moving forward quicker is definitely one of the things that will really differentiate not only how big your potential can be, but the rate of your potential.” “You have a particular set of skills in a particular circumstance in a particular point of time. So you're learning curve and doing something—especially if it's new—is going to happen while you do it.” “I think one of the things that we have to look at is: what are your unhappy places? Like, where are you mucky? Where are you just in the weeds? So much of our time is spent in the weeds.“ “You shouldn't create automation until you have good process. Because if not, then you're just automating, and sewing inefficiencies and things that are just like, hairy.“ “You need to have that individual that wants to get promoted, basically fire themselves.” Connect with Juliana LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianamarulanda/ Website: www.scaletime.co

Hema Crockett is a military spouse, entrepreneur, and recovering HR executive, who worked in the private sector as well as for the DOJ and State Department for 18 years before becoming an entrepreneur. She is the co-founder of Gig Talent, a modern talent collective connecting best in class HR consultants and leadership coaches with forward-thinking organizations. Hema has been published in Forbes and Thrive Global, among other publications and her first book, Designing Exceptional Organizational Cultures, was released in February and was Amazons #1 new HR release. She lives in San Diego with her husband. Top 3 Takeaways Culture is a team sport—Enlist your employees’ help to define the culture since they’re definitely going to be the ones who will reinforce it every day. Performance is purposeful—Traditional definitions of high performance tend to focus on results, but it’s time to include upholding values in that definition, as well. You always have an audience—Your team is watching how you think, make decisions, and behave and they make their own interpretations as a result. From the Source “The way I define culture is really looking at it based at this intersection of values, actions, and behaviors.“ “A lot of times people think—especially in small companies—that whatever the founder or co-founders values are, those are the values of the company. And the truth is that may be where it starts. Absolutely. And then as the company starts to grow, and more people come in, and we start to really see that culture that is created—again whether it's intentional or not—there's always a culture that's created. It's time to revisit what those values look like.“ “It's not the executive team sitting in a room behind closed doors coming up with words that they want to represent the organization. It's actually a much more collaborative event or process.” “In any organization that I was part of when I was still an in-house HR executive, we used values as one of our performance management methods.” “With open PTO policies or these unlimited PTO policies where the time is available, as a leader, what are you telling your employees about that time? Are you really allowing them to unplug and are you as well setting the tone? Are you unplugging during that time?“ “I think the culture influences leadership development and expectations of them, but also leaders influence the culture.” “Leaders have the ability to completely derail the culture. If they're not self-aware, if they're not embodying those values, if they're doing one thing and saying another, then what is the message that's actually being conveyed?“ “Subcultures are always going to exist whether a leader is intentional about creating one or not. So with that said, the leader actually does need to get a little bit intentional.” “If you really want a high performing organization—if you really want to be an employer of choice, —the best way to do that is to make sure that what you are doing is anchored in those values. And then you can keep building from there.” Connect with Hema LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemacrockett Website: http://www.gogigtalent.com Book: Designing Exceptional Organizational Cultures: How to Develop Companies where Employees Thrive New Book: The Everyday Leader: 14 Marine Corps Traits to Unlock Your Leadership DNA Links “Over/Under” game segment source: https://blog.smarp.com/the-importance-of-company-values