Hardcore Soft Skills Podcast

In today’s episode we will talk about Meeting Management. No matter if you work in office, at home or if you have your own business, you must attend meetings. Seems like a lot of our life is spent in these and oftentimes these are not productive at all. Today you will learn how to be the person that creates meeting people want to actually attend. We will learn about scientifically proven methods. My guest today has been studying meetings for many years. Dr. Steven Rogelberg (https://www.stevenrogelberg.com/) is an Organizational Psychologist and his work is quite well known around the world thanks in part to his book The Surprising Science of Meetings. Today we talk about dos and don’ts of meeting management, and specific lessons to improve your experience, especially in world where virtual meetings are simply the norm. You can find resources shared by Dr. Rogelberg here: https://www.stevenrogelberg.com/speaking-consulting-outreach If you want to receive more information, subscribe to my newsletter via https://www.hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com/  Connect with me via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yadiraycaro/  or email me at yadi@hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com 

In todays’ episode we talk to author and TedX speaker Mark Metry (https://www.markmetry.com/). He was one of the first guests we had on this podcast (https://www.hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com/self-awareness/) and during that episode he shared his story about growing up with social anxiety. how he fostered the skill of self- awareness and take steps towards becoming a better version of himself. Today we had a great conversation and talked about his new course where he shares with others various methods to help overcome social anxiety. If you do consider yourself to suffer from social anxiety or know someone who may, you will learn a lot in this episode. Also its very important to remember to seek professional help if necessary. If you want to receive more information, subscribe to my newsletter via https://www.hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com/ Connect with me via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yadiraycaro/ or email me at yadi@hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com

This episode marks the end of Season 3. We have learned about skills such as curiosity, agility, mindfulness, change management, writing, grit and others. One skill that for many of us is quite difficult to master is personal branding. How can we make this less uncomfortable or basically how can we just feel better about promoting ourselves? In this episode you will learn each step to do so. My gust Peggy Klaus (https://peggyklaus.com/ ) is the author of two best-selling books BRAG! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It and The Hard Truth About Soft Skills (needless to say I love the title). For more than two decades Peggy has shared her vast expertise in leadership and communication with C suite executives, and managers. Today we talk about the right way to do personal branding bot in person and virtually. We also discuss office politics and why this should not be considered a dirty concept. If you want to receive more information, subscribe to my newsletter via https://www.hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com/ Connect with me via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yadiraycaro/ or email me at yadi@hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com

In this episode we talk about Mindfulness. My guest Jon Macaskill (https://macaskillconsulting.com/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonmacaskill/) is a a retired Navy Seal Commander who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Panama. He is now co-host of the podcast Men Talking Mindfulness (https://mentalkingmindfulness.com/) and he is also a mindfulness and meditation teacher. Jon talks how mindfulness and meditation helped him deal with the experiences in combat zones. He discusses some of the myths of meditation and gives us some key steps to improve on the skill of being mindful. If you want to receive more information, subscribe to my newsletter via https://www.hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com/ Connect with me via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yadiraycaro/ or email me at yadi@hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com

Today we will talk about Confidence. Have you felt at any point in your career that you were underqualified for a role? Or perhaps you fear that at any moment someone will find out that you don’t really deserve that position? Impostor Syndrome is very real and frequent among many of us. My guest has focused his career studying this and providing solutions for people on how to beat self-doubt. Dr. Richard Orbe-Austin is a psychologist and career coach (https://www.dynamictransitionsllp.com/). He and with his partner Dr. Lisa Orbe-Austin wrote the book Own Your Greatness which addresses specific techniques on overcoming impostor syndrome and gaining confidence. They also have a great Ted Talk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2zbcZBI0Do) on how it affected their own lives In this episode we talk about some of those techniques in the book, the misconceptions about impostor syndrome and how you can take cation today.

Today we will talk about what you need to do make change happen. My guest is the authority on change. John P. Kotter (https://www.kotterinc.com/) is a best-selling author, award winning business and management thought leader, business entrepreneur and Harvard Professor. One of his books Leading Change was selected by Time magazine as one of the most influential books ever written. We talk about his 8 step process for leading change, how you can become a better change agent and the opportunities we have after the pandemic. If you want to receive more information, subscribe to my newsletter via https://www.hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com/ Connect with me via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yadiraycaro/ or email me at yadi@hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com

This week’s interview was one I had wanted to do for a long time. I work as Product Owner working closely with software developers creating apps at a military organization. We use the Scrum framework, which is one of the multiple agile approaches focused in delivering solutions quickly to customers. The approach is not just about being technically savvy, but on making good use of those critical skills like teamwork, listening and management. As many organizations are talking today about becoming “agile” it is important to know what it really means. Dr. Jeff Sutherland (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsutherland/) is the ideal person to discuss this. He is the chairman and founder of Scrum Inc. (www.scruminc.com) , a signatory of the Agile manifesto, coauthor of the Scrum Guide and the creator Scrum@Scale. He is also the coauthor of the best selling book Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time. Today we talk about the misconceptions of Agile, the origins of the Scrum framework, ,and how his military experience and his work doing scientific computer modeling influenced him.

In this episode we talk about Curiosity. This time we talk about the scientific research on Curiosity with Dr Alison Hostmeyer (https://www.dralisonh.com/). She is a humanistic researcher and talent development consultant. Her research focuses on curiosity and associated mental, emotional, and motivational attributes. Dr Hortsmeyer is also adjunct faculty for USC Marshall School of Business Executive Education and the inaugural Research Fellow appointed to USC Annenberg Center for Third Space Thinking. Today we talk about science says on curiosity and what can we do to cultivate this skill. You can read some of her work here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WZvA_lhtY8GoXzkFrS1fUa4vlop8wmLeq8os2s9yl8s/edit  If you want to receive more information, subscribe to my newsletter via https://www.hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com/  Connect with me via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yadiraycaro/  or email me at yadi@hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com 

Today our focus will be not on the concept of skills but attributes. If you are a frequent listener of this podcast you know I really enjoy talking with current and former members of the military because they have great insights learned on the field which we can apply basically anywhere. I was very happy to have this guest on the show to share his lessons as a Navy Seal Commander and which he captures in his book The Attributes (https://theattributes.com/buy/) Rich Diviney  draws upon over 20 years of experience as a Navy SEAL Officer where he completed more than 13 overseas deployments – 11 of which were to Iraq and Afghanistan. Since retirement a few years ago, Rich has worked as a speaker, facilitator, and consultant with the Chapman & Co Leadership Institute and Simon Sinek Inc.  We talked about attributes and you will learn how he differentiates these from skills. The attributes he talks about are quite similar to those we address here   These are grouped into the categories of mental acuity, drive, leadership, teamability and grit. You can take the Attributes Assessment here: https://theattributes.com/blog/about-the-assessment/ You can get in touch with Rich via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richdiviney/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rich_diviney/  If you want to receive more information, subscribe to my newsletter via https://www.hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com/  Connect with me via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yadiraycaro/  or email me at yadi@hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com

In this episode we talk about one of the skills most difficult to master: good writing.  My guest is Leslie O’Flahavan is a get to the point writer and experienced instructor. She is the owner of the company E-write (https://ewriteonline.com/) and she has provided customized writing courses for Fortune 500 compnaies, government agencies and non-governmental organizations. She is also a LinkedIn Learning instructor with courses on writing for social media, chat and others.   This is one of the episodes where we will really delve into some tips we can use right now. We also talks about why she is not a fan of the term “soft” skills. You can get in touch with Leslie via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leslieoflahavan/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeslieO If you want to receive more information, subscribe to my newsletter via https://www.hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com/  Connect with me via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/yadiraycaro/  or email me at yadi@hardcoresoftskillspodcast.com