Pivot with Jenny Blake

(Recorded 2/12/20) Laura Huang is a professor at Harvard Business School who studies interpersonal relationships and implicit bias in entrepreneurship and in the workplace. In this conversation, we’re talking about her new book Edge: Turning Adversity Into Advantage. You’ll learn about her framework: Enrich, Delight, Guide, Effort — and how she recovered from almost getting kicked out of Elon Musk’s office within the first two minutes of their meeting. Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/181 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here in the U.S., a record 10 million people have filed for unemployment in the last two weeks, and employment estimates are at a mind-boggling 13%—which doesn’t even include gig economy workers. I have friends who are pregnant, slated to get married, and who have family members who are sick that they can’t visit. On a personal level, I am staying buoyant, although in the last few weeks I have lost 90% of my projected income for Q2, including money that I had been planning on putting directly into a six-month business reserves account long before the pandemic hit. I did end up applying for the Small Business Association’s COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (also called the Payroll Protection Plan), despite initial hesitations that there were people who needed it more than me. We are all feeling it. I have been trying to journal through this, both in my 5 Star Spiral Notebook (a 15+ year staple) and my new One Line a Day: Five-Year Memory Book.Along those lines, today I’m sharing some reflection questions that have been helpful for me and others. We’re still early in all this, so I recommend revisiting these even on a monthly basis (as well as episode 173 with Steven Morris on beautiful questions that reorient one’s life trajectory). I am purposefully not going through my analysis on the podcast yet, because I want to give you the space to reflect on your own without influence from my responses, but I’m happy to share in a future episode.  ❤️ Finally, remember the Buddhist saying: nothing is permanent, personal, or perfect. What’s on your mind? Submit follow-up questions for a future conversation at http://pivotmethod.com/ask Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/180 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Recorded 4/1/20) Dr. Michael J. Conseulos and I are back for part two of this week’s “huddle” as we discuss what’s in the news now, along with practical tips and tools for the business side of things. What’s on your mind? Submit follow-up questions for a future COVID-19 conversation at http://pivotmethod.com/askCheck out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/179 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Recorded 4/1/20) Dr. Michael J. Conseulos and I are back for part one of this week’s “huddle” as we discuss what’s in the news now on the medical front. I ask about make-at-home supplies like masks, and re-washing gloves, and managing our energy (and workload) through the daily ups and downs.What’s on your mind? Submit follow-up questions for a future COVID-19 conversation at http://pivotmethod.com/askCheck out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/178 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Recorded March 25, 2020) How do we help others navigate change, particularly during moments of crisis? In this episode, I’m including a replay from another recent workshop I delivered on March 25: Pivot for Managers, Mentors, and Coaches. This mirrors the keynote I give within organizations around helping managers and coaches improve their career conversation capabilities, but I have shifted (ahem—pivoted) the content to more directly address what we’re all going through now. Listen for strategies and reflection questions on how to apply the Pivot Method as a coaching tool, even just to help others envision one day, one week, or one month from now. To watch the video version of this session, with slides, visit http://pivotmethod.com/watch. Submit follow-up questions or audio notes for a future conversation at http://pivotmethod.com/ask Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/177 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Recorded March 18, 2020) How do we map what’s next when the ground underneath us shifts on a daily, if not hourly, basis? How do we navigate change when change is accelerating so quickly? In this episode, I’m including a replay from the recent Map What’s Next workshop I ran for individuals. This mirrors the keynote I give within organizations and my annual “Set Your Strategy” podcast episode, but I have shifted (ahem—pivoted) the content to more directly address what we’re all going through now. Listen for strategies and reflection questions on how to adapt the Pivot Method to envisioning even just one day, one week, or one month from now. To watch the video version of this session, with slides, visit http://pivotmethod.com/watch. Submit follow-up questions or audio notes for a future conversation at http://pivotmethod.com/ask Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/176 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

(Recorded March 4) How do you know when to trust your intuition? What is it about certain people that prickles your spidey senses? I’m delighted to bring you this conversation with former FBI Agent Robin Dreeke on how to read behavior signals for who we can trust — and who we can’t. Robin and I also discuss one of the lowest points of his career, six months after 9/11. As he writes in his book, Sizing People Up, “The destruction of my dreams left me with nothing to lose, and my mindset shifted, as if on its own, and settled in a place that said it was acceptable to help one person at a time. It felt like neither capitulation nor epiphany.”Although this was recorded just on the cusp of things getting quite serious around the pandemic here in the U.S., that advice is more true now than ever. Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/175 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do your eyeballs hurt?! No matter my joy and awe at humanity’s creativity in times of crisis in terms of moving everything online—everything. is. online. Even pre-pandemic, our phones were already spitting out weekly Screen Time reports to help us put down the devices . . . now we’re glued to them as the only outlet for social connection, culture, and productivity. In a New York Times article, When a Home Becomes Headquarters—also titled “Logged on from the Laundry Room” (LOL)—even the CEO of Cisco, the company that runs meeting software WebEx, Chuck Robbins acknowledged the difficulties. He said, “I tell you…this whole teleworking thing — as much as we sell it to our customers, I’m not sure I want to do it 100 percent of the time. Nobody prepares for this,” he said.  At the same time, people want to connect! We are hungry for it, going stir crazy, and missing our cultural outings. I wholeheartedly agree with Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, who said “It’s a miracle you can run a company this way." So today I’m sharing 16 strategies for staying sane amidst the endless screens—particularly for work-related meetings—across three categories: for meeting leaders, participants, and during the meeting best practices. Got a brilliant solution I’m missing? Submit follow-up questions or audio notes for a future conversation at http://pivotmethod.com/askCheck out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/174 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“There’s nothing more powerful than a united group of souls ignited in a common cause with love at the core.” – Steven MorrisSteve Morris is on a mission to help organizations and their leaders rise to their potential to live and work wholeheartedly, while making a positive impact on the world. In this conversation we talk about beautiful questions that reorient one’s life trajectory, moments of truth, and the practice of pivoting, or evolving.We me after he sent me a handwritten thank you note, then two years later we got to meet in person when I took his 2018 workshop on how to cultivate a life of curiosity. Steve’s emphasis on curiosity, conscious business, and wholeheartedness are an inspiration to me, and I know you’ll love his take on how to cultivate habits and a path of choosing curiosity over fear. Be sure to also check out his free Care Package for COVID-19.What’s on your mind? Submit follow-up questions at http://pivotmethod.com/askCheck out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/173 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you ever feel like a sponge for the energy (and moods) of people around you, particularly during times of massive change or crisis; if you feel flooded by emotion, overwhelmed with empathy, more sensitive than usual to sights, sounds, and media; and/or hit with powerful bursts of intuition, this episode is for you. Sarah Santacroce and I recorded a two-way conversation for Pivot and her podcast, Gentle Business Revolution (be sure to also check out the PDF of her manifesto, Gentle Business Revolution Manifesto). View full show notes from this episode at http://pivotmethod.com/172 » Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices