To be a great leader, you must first establish and follow your own life plan. That’s the premise of the book Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want, co-written by Daniel Harkavy, founder and CEO of Building Champions. On this week’s episode, Angela Perkins of Xenium HR guest hosts the podcast and talks with Daniel on why big-picture life planning is as important as planning for your next vacation. Read the full transcript   Click here to sign up today for Xenium's 2017 What People Want From Work Survey.    How to Support this Show: Subscribe on your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, etc.) Review us on iTunes Take our survey and we'll enter you in a drawing for a free book Follow Xenium HR (@XeniumHR) and Brandon Laws (@BrandonLaws) on Twitter and LinkedIn Learn more about Xenium HR at xeniumhr.com About the Guest:  Daniel Harkavy Get the Life Plan Tools

The recruiting and onboarding process allow an employer to set the tone and expectations for a new employee's experience with a company. So how do you ensure that it's a successful process that attracts not only someone with the skills for the job, but someone with the right personality for your company? Jenny Berkedal, Director of Employee Experience at Metal Toad Media, joins the podcast to share how she approaches hiring and to offer tips to hire for cultural alignment within a competitive industry. Click here to sign up today for Xenium's 2017 What People Want From Work Survey. How to Support this Show: Subscribe on your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, etc.) Review us on iTunes Take our survey and we'll enter you in a drawing for a free book Follow Xenium HR (@XeniumHR) and Brandon Laws (@BrandonLaws) on Twitter and LinkedIn Learn more about Xenium HR at xeniumhr.com About the Guest: Jenny Berkedal is the Director of Employee Experience (HR + Recruiting) at Metal Toad Media. Jenny's career is anchored in the desire to hire great people and then construct the most effective conditions for each person to thrive. She believes that we thrive when immersed in an atmosphere of trust and in a culture that supports us to play to our strengths. Her passion to grow people is guided by two strengths of her own: strategic thinking that informs decision-making and a drive to learn that helps her constantly improve. She is impassioned to create lean processes and innovate solutions to combat inefficiencies, close skill gaps, promote engagement, and increase performance in the workplace.

Getting your company off the ground to a sustainable place should be the hardest part of starting a company, right? That’s what many think, and how the growing pains and problems that occur within larger organizations go unanticipated or considered until it’s too late. Rick Thomas, business advisor at Pilot Wealth Management, joins Brandon Laws in a discussion of the common issues companies experience when they go from 10 employees to 20 employees and beyond, and how you can lay the groundwork for a successful organization – no matter its ultimate size. Click here to sign up today for Xenium's 2017 What People Want From Work Survey. How to Support this Show: Subscribe on your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, etc.) Review us on iTunes Take our survey and we'll enter you in a drawing for a free book Follow Xenium HR (@XeniumHR) and Brandon Laws (@BrandonLaws) on Twitter and LinkedIn Learn more about Xenium HR at xeniumhr.com About the Guest: Over his thirty year career Rick has leveraged his diverse background and interests in business leadership, culture and communication to create a unique offering of advisory services. Through his work as a trusted advisor, Rick has facilitated success in organizations from small partnerships to multi-billion dollar corporations.

Fear can often be a helpful emotion – it keeps us from ending up in risky, potentially harmful situations. But when does fear hold us back from reaching our full potential either as individuals or organizations? Darrin Murriner, author of Corporate Bravery: Eliminate Fear-Based Decision Making, joins the podcast to discuss how mistrust and being overly cautious can set us back personally as well as how it can impact a company’s growth and success. Drawing on personal stories, the current political climate, and more, listen in on the discussion and find out how encouraging people to be comfortable with the potential for failure leads to ultimate success. Click here to sign up today for Xenium's 2017 What People Want From Work Survey. How to Support this Show: Subscribe on your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, etc.) Review us on iTunes Take our survey and we'll enter you in a drawing for a free book Follow Xenium HR (@XeniumHR) and Brandon Laws (@BrandonLaws) on Twitter and LinkedIn Learn more about Xenium HR at xeniumhr.com About the Guest: Darrin Murriner has over a decade experience with some of the largest corporations in America. Darrin has worked as an outside consultant, led operations and finance teams and worked in risk management. These experiences has provided the thesis for Corporate Bravery. In addition to his corporate experiences, Darrin has also started businesses as well. He founded BabysitEase with his wife Peggy in 2005 and the local news site Fort Thomas Matters in 2008. In late 2014 he started his latest venture - Stockpilz.com, a marketplace for commercial paper, with the idea that business to business sourcing can be accomplished more efficiently. He is currently the President and Co-Founder of Cloverleaf, a development tool for teams. In addition to his business experiences he lives with his wife Peggy and three children in Fort Thomas, Kentucky - a small suburb located a couple miles from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Time is precious. So why is it so challenging for us to prioritize and effectively manage where our time goes? Are there proven methods that could help us take back control of our time, easing our stress and improve many aspects of our work and personal lives? Bethanne Kronick, owner and CEO of Simplify Northwest, joins Brandon Laws in a discussion of all sorts of time management hacks and tricks, from how to prioritize tasks, get through email more efficiently, ensure meetings are useful and productive for all involved, and the one quick task you should do every morning to better organize your day and set yourself up to get more done.   How to Support this Show: Subscribe on your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, etc.) Review us on iTunes Take our survey and we'll enter you in a drawing for a free book Follow Xenium HR (@XeniumHR) and Brandon Laws (@BrandonLaws) on Twitter and LinkedIn Learn more about Xenium HR at xeniumhr.com About the Guest: 

In this unusual podcast episode, Senior HR Business Partner Molly Kelley opens up about her decision to transition out of her role at Xenium. She and Brandon discuss the ideal process and communication for smooth transitions for key employees, from the angles of both employee and employer. Listen in for recommendations on timelines, employee communication, client communication, as well as how to handle less amicable employee transitions.   How to Support this Show: Subscribe on your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, etc.) Review us on iTunes Take our survey and we'll enter you in a drawing for a free book Follow Xenium HR (@XeniumHR) and Brandon Laws (@BrandonLaws) on Twitter and LinkedIn Learn more about Xenium HR at xeniumhr.com   About the Guest:  Connect with Molly Kelley

Episode number one started with Lacey Halpern, a Senior Human Resources Business Partner at Xenium HR, so we brought her back to celebrate episode number 100. In this "mailbag" episode, Lacey answers rapid fire questions on everything from defining illegal interview questions to how much time managers should spend with low performers versus high performers to what she believes the future workplace will look like.    How to Support this Show: Subscribe on your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, etc.) Review us on iTunes Take our survey and we'll enter you in a drawing for a free book Follow Xenium HR (@XeniumHR) and Brandon Laws (@BrandonLaws) on Twitter and LinkedIn Learn more about Xenium HR at xeniumhr.com   About the Guest:  Connect with Lacey Halpern  

What's the difference between bullying and harassment, and when do they become the same thing? What are the stages of bullying and how can you catch the signs early before it escalates into a real issue that emotionally impacts people, both those involved and those observing? Catherine Mattice, author of Back Off! Your Kick-Ass Guide to Ending Bullying at Work, founder of Civility Partners, international speaker, HR consultant and expert in workplace bullying joins Brandon Laws to discuss the often overlooked issue of workplace bullying and the root cause of the problem of bullying.   How to Support this Show: Subscribe on your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, etc.) Review us on iTunes Take our survey and we'll enter you in a drawing for a free book Follow Xenium HR (@XeniumHR) and Brandon Laws (@BrandonLaws) on Twitter and LinkedIn Learn more about Xenium HR at xeniumhr.com   About the Guest:  Buy Back off Learn about Civility Partners Connect with Catherine Mattice  

There's a lot of buzz around establishing a compelling mission, vision, and values for your company. But what are the real world impacts of having these in place, and how do you use them to create value for your employees and customers? Shawn Busse, CEO of Kinesis Inc., joins Brandon Laws in a discussion of how their work as marketing leaders overlaps and coexists with the work of human resources when it comes to integrating the mission, vision and values inside of people practices, recruiting, and marketing processes. How to Support this Show: Subscribe on your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, etc.) Review us on iTunes Take our survey and we'll enter you in a drawing for a free book Follow Xenium HR (@XeniumHR) and Brandon Laws (@BrandonLaws) on Twitter and LinkedIn Learn more about Xenium HR at xeniumhr.com   About the Guest:  Learn about Kinesis Connect with Shawn Busse

Conflict and disagreement are inherent parts of human existence. The simple fact is that no matter how congenial and friendly and inclusive your organization is, problems should and will arise. The real question is how we respond to those problems. Maybe an employee chooses to say nothing, hoping the problem will go away, until their anger bottles up and bursts out one day. Then what happens? As an HR manager or the employees' supervisor, what strategies should you use to resolve the disagreement? How do you foster genuine empathy between employees and encourage either/one of them to offer true, full apologies - and what actually makes an apology true and full? Chris Sheesley, founder of In-Accord NW and a conflict management professional with over 25 years of experience, joins the podcast to discuss the ins and outs of conflict resolution and recommendations for responding to these all-common issues in the way that benefits everyone involved.   How to Support this Show: Subscribe on your favorite podcast app (iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, etc.) Review us on iTunes Take our survey and we'll enter you in a drawing for a free book Follow Xenium HR (@XeniumHR) and Brandon Laws (@BrandonLaws) on Twitter and LinkedIn Learn more about Xenium HR at xeniumhr.com   About the Guest:  Learn about In-Accord NW Connect with Chris Sheesley