The Leadership Mind

Massimo’s guest is Kristen Hartley. In her coaching, Kristen brings all of her experiences to bear; these include working as a coach, organizational consultant, facilitator, trainer, and manager of many teams. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology and Communications from the University of California, San Diego and an MBA from Vanderbilt University with a focus in Human and Organizational Performance. She lives in Northern California with her husband and their two young, very active sons. She is on a lifelong pursuit of balance in her own life, as someone who loves her work, being a parent, and getting more than 6 hours of sleep! Being a parent has more parallels to being a coach and leader than she ever could have imagined and is experimenting and learning every day how to be better at all of these roles. She loves working with fellow parents who are on a similar journey. Highlights from this episode include: The struggles Kristen faced going from a manager and recipient of trainings to being the trainer and facilitator herself Her advice for managers and leaders navigating uncharted waters like hybrid working and quiet quitting How Kristen would rebrand feedback and better ways to have hard conversations than the traditional ways we are taught Connect with Kristen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristenhartley www.Khartleycoaching.com To download my Conscious Communication Workbook to support you in turning toxic conflict into collaborative gold, please visit Massimobackus.com/workbook

In today’s episode, Massimo is joined by James Adams. James has been an engineer and builder all of his life. James first learned to code when he was five years old. After graduating from high school at the age of sixteen, he studied Computational Mathematics at Arizona State University. He has been in IT professionally for 22 years. James spent half of my career developing large, distributed web applications, primarily in Java. After rising through the ranks as an engineer, architect, team lead and manager, he pivoted to full-time consulting and moved his focus to cloud infrastructure. The second half of his career has been spent building cloud-focused consulting companies. James has built two Premier AWS Partners (Slalom and Caylent), and is now building his own called Ackolyte Consulting, which launched in July of this year. Ackolyte is an all-in-on-AWS Advanced Tier consulting partner which runs in a regional remote plus travel model, with 100% US-based consultants. Highlights from this interview include: How he learned how to let go of control and perfectionism and step into delegation and trust of his team His strategy for hiring and why he allows his team to interview the person that will be hired to manage them Tips for effective one on ones with team members The surprising policy he has implemented for his consultants and how it is driving more productivity How he has created a space that people feel comfortable asking for help Connect with James: https://www.ackolyte.com @ifjamesthen - Personal handle on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. @AckolyteHQ - Company profile on Twitter Personal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmadams Company LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ackolyte To download my Conscious Communication Workbook to support you in turning toxic conflict into collaborative gold, please visit Massimobackus.com/workbook

In today’s episode, Massimo is joined by Matt Burns. Matt transforms organizations. As a business executive, he led a group recognized in 2018 as the Canadian HR Team of the Year - Retail / Hospitality, following-up their 2017 award for the Most Innovative Use of HR Technology. Today as the Founder & CEO at BentoHR, Matt simplifies digital transformation; aligning strategy, technology & human capital in organizations to improve performance. And as the Host of the Thinking Inside the Box podcast, Matt interviews innovative business leaders to discuss complex issues related to work and culture. Highlights from today's podcast include: How to stave off empathy fatigue How he knew he was on the verge of burnout and the advice he got before he completely burned out The touching story that inspired him to create BentoHR The advice Matt has for you if you’re currently feeling rudderless Mistakes leaders are making that they may not be aware of How you can make better use of your technology and data Connect with Matt: Bentohr.com https://linktr.ee/mattinvr To download my Conscious Communication Workbook to support you in turning toxic conflict into collaborative gold, please visit Massimobackus.com/workbook

In today’s episode, Massimo is joined by Abigail Morgan Prout, a passionate advocate for poetry as a medium of cultivating professional leadership. Abigail has worked as a professional Co-Active coach for the last 20 years and has spent the last 8 years as faculty for the Co-Active Training Institute, leading their coaching and leadership courses. She returned with her husband Clive to Washington State to live on the small island where she grew up to raise their two children, Iona and Jax. She can be found rambling, singing, and listening in the coastal forest every morning with her silky black lab, Bella. Walk Deep is the winner of the 2021 Homebound Poetry Prize and published by Homebound Publishing October 4th, 2022. Highlights from today's podcast include: What inspired Abigail to write one poem per day for an entire year and what she learned from it The benefits of spending more time in nature and how to do it, no matter where you live What has to be present for leadership to occur Connect with Abigail: Website Facebook Instagram: @abigail_morgan_prout & @the_spiralway To download my Conscious Communication Workbook to support you in turning toxic conflict into collaborative gold, please visit Massimobackus.com/workbook

In today's episode, Massimo is joined by, Keith Hildesheim, a strategic Learning and Development leader focused on developing a culture of learning and teaching with the organizations he serves. He’s an expert in building L&D teams and experiences – most recently he’s been leading the core learning and development team at Slalom focused on learning programs for consultants, sellers, recruiters, and business operations leaders, and more. Listen in as we discuss how Keith passionately brings his knowledge and experience in human psychology to improve workplace wellbeing and inclusivity. This was one of our most downloaded episodes from Season 1 so we are sharing it with you again in Season 2 of the Leadership Mind Podcast. Highlights from today's podcast include: Deconstructing the the sales process and how to apply behavior analysis to scale and make great gains. How to reframe your approach to avoid burn out and unlock your greatest potential. Why building resilience is a key to personal growth, how you contribute to a team, and how you can move forward together. Connect with Keith: LinkedIn To download my Conscious Communication Workbook to support you in turning toxic conflict into collaborative gold, please visit Massimobackus.com/workbook

In today’s episode, Massimo is joined by Entrepreneur and Co-host of the Gratitude Blooming Podcast, Omar. Omar is inspired by nature, gratitude, and web3. He co-founded the gratitude app gthx (as in “gee thanks”), facilitates Gratitude Circles for leaders across sectors, and recently launched Long Horizon to advise on and invest in web3 projects. Previously, Omar was the founding executive director of RiverLA where he collaborated with architect Frank Gehry and local leaders to reimagine the 51-mile Los Angeles River. He has held leadership positions across the areas of finance, land use, and social impact. Wherever he is, Omar makes sure to take a beat to notice beauty and share his joy. Highlights from today's podcast include: The power of using a beginner's mind to find innovation and solutions The turning point when he realized he needed to direct his focus away from changing the world and more to changing himself How to build trust in order to drive change  How to disrupt our default habits to create long-term change Connect with Omar: Website Linkedin Twitter: @Obrownson Instagram: @Omarthanks To download my Conscious Communication Workbook to support you in turning toxic conflict into collaborative gold, please visit Massimobackus.com/workbook

In today’s episode, Massimo is joined by Julie Winkle Giulioni, a champion for workplace growth and development and helps executives and leaders optimize talent and potential within their organizations. One of Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 speakers, she’s the author of Promotions Are So Yesterday: Redefine Career Development. Help Employees Thrive and the co-author of the international bestseller, Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Organizations Need and Employees Want, translated into seven languages. Julie is a regular columnist for Training Industry Magazine and SmartBrief and contributes articles on leadership, career development, and workplace trends to numerous publications including The Economist. You can keep up with Julie through her blog, LinkedIn and Twitter. Highlights from today's podcast include: Valuable alternatives to promotions What employees really value in their careers How to close the gap between what employees really want and what employers can offer How to initiate a conversation with your employer about opportunities outside of a promotion Connect with Julie: Facebook  LinkedIn  Twitter  YouTube JulieWinkleGiulioni.com

In today’s episode, Massimo is joined by Karen M. Allen, a professional speaker and mindset thought-leader who is committed to guiding people and organizations to reach their highest potential by developing their mental strength. After the unexpected loss of her husband followed by years of transformational experiences, Karen discovered methodologies and lifestyle changes that helped her find her way back to a whole heart. Now, she shares practical advice and research-based strategies that empower audiences to overcome stress-induced burnout, pain, stress, anxiety, and other mindset challenges we all face in life and work. Karen is the go-to mindset and success coach for high-achievers who are hungry to master their mind and establish sustainable habits that will give them the confidence, clarity and energy to achieve deep, lasting change as they reach their full potential. Karen's client list includes AT&T, Kaiser Permanente, Travelers Insurance, NBC’s Golf Channel, Hubspot, Universal Orlando Parks & Resorts, Sprint and many more! Her work has been featured in Forbes, Parent Magazine, on Good Morning America, MSNBC, and many others! Highlights from today’s episode include: How consciousness is defined so that you can choose it everyday in order to live a purposeful life Using mindfulness to make conscious decisions in your life Identifying your guiding compass How to claim your boundaries in the workplace How to shorten the time that you experience overwhelm and stress The one question to ask yourself if you are currently unhappy in your situation Connect with Karen: www.karenallen.co To download my Conscious Communication Workbook to support you in turning toxic conflict into collaborative gold, please visit Massimobackus.com/workbook

In today’s episode, Massimo is joined by Shannon Flanagan. Over the course of her career, by design, she has chosen to grow through different types of roles in order to develop a well-rounded perspective of how to optimize the levers that propel organizations through: first and foremost people, and connecting the dots across strategy, process and technology. She’s particularly passionate about how to open the aperture of what it means to empower a truly diverse and inclusive environment to enable realization of individual and organizational potential. One of the most important human needs is to feel included and a part of a community. Sadly, to date, most organizations have created environments that recruit and reward like thinking and experience. For visions and missions to be realized, diversity and inclusion must be a priority in action, resulting in better decision making and happier employees who pay that energy forward to customers, colleagues and the world around them. Leading with authenticity, empathy, enthusiasm, pragmatism and integrity is the cornerstone of her approach. At the end of the day, we all want to feel valued, productive and proud of what we do – creating the conditions for that to actualize is what fuels her fire. Highlights from today’s episode include: How leaders can foster an environment for others to share their mental health story Ways that leaders/organizations, and even individuals, can create space for the tragedies in the world How to practice radical acceptance Overcoming the challenge of other people not accepting you Connect with Shannon: www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-colquhoun-flanagan To download my Conscious Communication Workbook to support you in turning toxic conflict into collaborative gold, please visit Massimobackus.com/workbook

In today’s episode, Massimo is joined by Johnathan and Melissa Nightingale, the founders of Raw Signal Group and best-selling authors of How F*cked Up Is Your Management? An Uncomfortable Conversation About Modern Leadership and Unmanageable: Leadership Lessons from an Impossible Year. Prior to Raw Signal Group, the Nightingales worked in tech for 20 years. Between them, they’ve run every part of a start-up and learned a lot along the way about how to grow teams. They met in the early days of Mozilla and have been collaborating in one form or another ever since. Johnathan and Melissa have worked with thousands of leaders across the globe. They also write a wildly popular biweekly newsletter about management, leadership, and work. Highlights from today’s episode include: Good management is often neglected and transcends industries. Good management is about listening and implementing based on feedback. Working out problems in groups can go a long way. You can manage almost any person or group of people with the same fundamental principles that everyone can relate to. Connect with Melissa and Johnathan: Website: https://www.rawsignal.ca/ Twitter Accounts: https://twitter.com/rawsignalgroup https://twitter.com/shappy https://twitter.com/johnath To download my Conscious Communication Workbook to support you in turning toxic conflict into collaborative gold, please visit Massimobackus.com/workbook