Geeks, Geezers, and Googlization Show

Eventually, the COVID-19 crisis will pass. Management will reach for its playbook for getting back to normal. Unfortunately this time, there is no playbook. There is no modern-day parallel. This pandemic triggered one of the biggest economic shocks in history and a world of uncertainty. All of us will need to get comfortable with things being different, for living in a constant state of disruption. That requires a new playbook. The time to start writing it is now. You can't wait for the "all-clear" signal because it's not coming. When you reopen your doors for business, a significant number of employees will be anxious, stressed, and fearful. Many may be grieving or experiencing varying degrees of PTSD. What is your plan to re-board, re-assimilate, re-engage and re-synchonize your workers when the coast is clear? Without such a plan you may be replacing one crisis with another. To help get you started we invited two experts to the show. First, we've got Bo Mitchell who has spent his entire adult life dealing with and training for emergencies. He now helps companies prepare for everything from natural disasters to active shooters. He is president of 911 Consulting and a former police commissioner. Our second guest, educational and cognitive psychologist Jason Cochran, is on a mission to help organizations build a culture of growth. He is co-founder of iAspire, a turnkey software solution for human development.

The Shift just got real! The Covid-19 pandemic turned the theoretical exponential curve into a very personal experience. The lines between sci-fi and reality blurred almost overnight. Welcome to the age of the new normal, where uncertainty and ambiguity are constants. Fortunately, the pandemic will pass but the changes it forced are more permanent and transformational. Each one of us is being challenged to think and act differently. The door behind is locked and sealed. The-way-it-was is written in the history books. What's the best way to adapt, get back on your feet, and prepare for future success: Shift your mindset. Mike Smith from Hiring Stage Inc joins us.

To say the shift hit work plans this week would be a gross understatement. Thanks to the Covid-19 response, millions of people without warning began working from home - or not working at all. But despite the threat of massive layoffs hanging over the heads of millions of workers, many industries (healthcare, distribution, transportation) are hiring like crazy. Unfortunately, social distancing makes the traditional interview impractical and nearly impossible. Welcome video interviewing. Has its time come? Will video interviews become the new normal? What are the best practices? How should you select the best platform and technology for your company? To answer these questions and more, we invited Phil Strazzulla from Select Software Reviews, an HR technology research company, to join the show.

Our health and wellbeing are being severely tested. Personal stress levels are in overdrive, or as we like to say on Geeks Geezers and Googlization, the SHIFT is hitting a lot of plans. Just minutes before this episode, WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic. The stock market fell into bear territory. More conferences and events were canceled and many schools announced they were closing. With everyone's business and personal plans susceptible to disruption, it's no wonder our stress levels are skyrocketing. So we decided the best advice we could offer would be to stop and take a deep breath. The timing was perfect because today's guest happened to be Joe Burton, CEO of Whil, a company founded in 2014 to fight the global stress epidemic. As a mindfulness advocate and author of Creating Mindful Leaders, Joe leaves you with practical skills you can use immediately to power down, even if for only 5 minutes. Most importantly, he offers hope that no matter what is happening in our lives, mindfulness can help each of us how to power forward to a future when everything's alright.

There's a lot of things your company can't control and the coronavirus is just one of them. But how you respond should be at the tip of your tongue. According to our guest, crisis communication expert Bill Coletti, "Plan now like your company's reputation depends on it because it does." According to Coletti (via way of Seth Godin), your reputation is no more than what people expect you to do next. What you say and do (or don't do ) to calm employee fears and ease customer concerns may have long-term implications, even when you have no control over the actual event. How can you prevent a moment of crisis from evolving into a media "shift" show? How do you balance messages of "the sky is falling" with caution and optimism? How do you take a crisis like the Covid-19 and shape and protect your reputation going forward? Reputation management is what we're talking about on this week's episode of Geeks Geezers and Googlization.

A job candidate should walk away from the recruitment experience feeling good, even if rejected. But despite billions of dollars invested in HR technology and countless human hours spent working on improvement, many candidates walk away disappointed, resentful, and even angry. According to The Talent Boards 2019 Research report, candidate resentment has increased 40 percent since 2016. That should be horrifying news since resentment means 71% of rejected candidates will tell their inner circle and one-third will publicly shame you on social media. That's not just bad for HR but bad for the brand, bad for the business, and bad for the bottom line. To better understand the state of candidate experience 2020 and how some companies are responding, converting resentful detractors into a positive relationship and referral partners, listen to two of the leading experts on talent acquisition and candidate experience: The Talent Board's Kevin Grossman and CareerXRoad's Gerry Crispin.

Do you get your best ideas standing in the shower or when you wake up a few minutes early? Or how about a "hunch" that something good or bad is going to happen but have no facts to back it up? They don't happen by accident! It's time to say "Yes" to intuition, the ability to see the unknown clearly, see things you missed that are literally standing right in front of you. For some of you, intuition might seem like hocus pocus. But neuroscience research says otherwise. Listen to our guest Arupa Tesolin, author of Ting: The Surprising Power of Intuition to Transform Work & Innovate, and learn how you can transform, grow, and innovate your life by harnessing the transformative power of intuition.

Companies spend billions of dollars trying to get the best of their people. They coach, mentor, and train and yet talent shortages grow and employee engagement sinks. To find out what's missing we went straight to Heartstyles experts Mara and Stephen Klemich. For nearly two decades they've been researching why people do what they do and too often don't live up to their potential. Along the way they discovered four universal principles that drive our effective and ineffective behaviors and have been on a personal mission to help companies help employees to become better versions of themselves. And in an oddball strategy that is working, they put the L-word back in the C-Suite: Love! Whether you're interested in growing talent or just becoming a "better me," this episode is a must-listen. As a special bonus, learn how you can complete a FREE Heartsyles Indicator survey. Make sure you check out their new book too: Above the Line: Living and Leading with Heart.

It just doesn't get any wilder than this triple play of odd HR topics: phishing, Civil War, and job descriptions. But as it turns out, lessons learned from the Civil War can be applied to modern day workforce challenges such as cybersecurity, recruitment, and retention. To help make this connection between the battlefield of Gettysburg and HR, cyber-security specialist and Civil War enthusiast Clinton Eppleman, from Morefield Communications, joins us. You don't want to miss the part when he shares how job descriptions may expose your business to dangerous phishing attacks. It's just mind-blowing. That tip alone is well worth the listen.

Kobe, Shaq, Bono, Sting, Madonna, Cher are celebrities recognized by one name. A less famous but no less extraordinary individual was also recognized in the entrepreneurial and business community by one name - Clay. The father of disruptive innovation Clayton Christensen died last week so we decided to dedicate this week's show to him. In 1997, Clay published what The Economist calls one of the six most important business books ever written. "The Innovator's Dilemma." We interview 2 business leaders, Carlos Castelan from The Navio Group and Chris Howard from Callahan & Associates, whose personal and professional lives have been deeply impacted by Clay's wisdom, teachings, guidance, and the way he chose to live his life.