How are some companies able to create 'tribes' or raving fans around not just their individual products but their entire company? According to Simon Sinek, author of Start with Why, they focus on the fact that people do not buy what you do, they buy why you do it. After listening to this episode, you will understand what it is that makes Apple, well Apple. We touch on a possible reason why HMV, Blockbuster and KODAK fell to the competition when they had what seemed like an insurmountable lead. It may have come down to losing their 'Why'. Get on our mailing list at www.UseBecause.com/subscribe

As an educator or trainer, are you feeling exhausted and unproductive at times to teach via e-learning platforms like Zoom? In this episode, we discussed how learning and development (L&D) changes under COVID-19 and introduced various innovative L&D technology usage. If you are interested in enhancing interactivity with and engagement of audience in e-learning.

In a career spanning the globe, Graham Owens is currently living in Qatar in the Middle East working in an L&D function within global operations in a Qatar gas – Pre-Covid they worked an 80/20 blended learning an approach which was working them, but most L&D always wanted a more online course. Since Covid happened, they broke down some barriers by working online and had to pivot very quickly with the teams' help internally to ask how they would like to learn now. Bringing in external people to help in the business they produced lots of different online styles and switched the focus entirely online. They have completed more courses than they had delivered on the previous year by 20%, which helped us deliver projects more efficiently. Graham learnt how open people were to engage in online learning was surprising when we asked the head of the business to do more online now that conversation changed as soon as we had to change. This now helped us within the L&D to be more creative in how we had to deliver the training and doing things are different and fully engaged. What's been learnt is that the time cost and effort to travel around the world to do 1 - 4 days of training, hotels entertainment is not necessary. We would like to see a 50/50 split going forward as the employees know the benefit of how powerful doing more of the workshops, learning. We should see the holy grail of the blended approach which is very powerful to the employees and will see a more engaging the workforce that will help the people learn and grow further.

Orlaith is a Leadership, Talent and Development Director, Executive Coach (EMCC Senior Practitioner) and High-Performance Trainer with global experience. She runs her business with her partner/Husband Gavin Duffy and works with senior executives and organisations on personal and business growth. Orlaith started her career as a journalist and worked with RTE until she had kids' and then pivoted her learning to do a masters in communication and then as an executive coach as she had already clocked up over 1,000 hours coaching clients adding education to her toolset. Over the last few years, we have seen the trend in introducing online to part of the agenda with our clients, but we prefer the in-person approach which gives us more rapport with our clients that we engage with due to the pandemic like most companies like us we have had to go fully online and be creative how we have had to adapt how we now interact. eLearning can be great as an addition to the blended approach, but we still miss the traditional method of being with people in person. Our whole communication style within organisations is now flattened. We need to use discussions, problem-solving and be there on purpose. The learning comes from within and finding a respectful way to help and adopt the way people want or need to learn. How we create a buzz in the real world, or online the very first thing you can do is gain learners trust. Open up with a story or question and grab their attention so they can decide that this person is worth listening to and make sure they feel that they are being heard.  Setting up the scene that this will be easy to follow but before we do this, we have to make sure that people are at ease so little things like having something social-first to get to know each other. Our concentration is a lot less online, so you have to get movement back so taking regular breaks to get the energy back in so they are ready to learn more as we know it can be tough with lots of distractions around us like our phones etc.

A psychopath is not necessarily a serial killer, your friendly neighbourhood neurosurgeon could possibly be a psychopath and believe it or not that is probably the best person for the job. There is so much to be learned from the characteristics of a psychopath that we can apply to our own lives and careers. In this podcast we delve into what those characteristics are and how to apply them. This episode covers two books that are essentially two sides of the same coin. Get new content on our mailing list here (www.usebecause.com/subscribe)

There is a wealth of information on what leadership looks like. But I really believe this book hits upon an aspect of leadership that you might not have considered. Author Sam Walker devised stringent criteria for choosing 16 top performing sports teams and asked himself a very definite question - 'What, if anything, do these teams have in common?'. His discoveries are insightful because they are unexpected but when you hear what he figured out about what real leaders are you cannot help but think 'Of course that's what a leader is!'.

If you are anti-participation medals or you are overwhelmed with trying to please everyone…. If you are tired of trying to ‘crush it’ everyday, then this is the episode for you. Mark Manson has a no holds barred book based on the realities of life. Chapters with names such as ‘You are not Special’ and ‘You are always wrong’ will wake you up to the things you are spending your time on that perhaps you should not be spending your time on. The message is pretty clear - we all have a limited number f fu*cks to give in this short life of ours, so decide what really matters to you and get on with it. A profound book with a quirky title, have a listen and if you want to get more and go deeper, go to www.SkillDing.com

One of the most difficult things about leadership is finding the balance between opposing forces. When to mentor or when to let someone go. When to provide instruction and when to leave your team to figure out their own solutions. You can understand all of the 'rules' of leadership but what sets this book apart is the explanation of how  these rules can come into conflict with each other. You will not find a solution for these dichotomies through reading books or listening to podcasts. You must take each situation  where you find these dichotomies on it's own merits and figure out a way to success in real time. This episode explains what each of these leadership conflicts are and provides a map for finding a way through each of them.

The way you stand, sit, talk, shake hands, in fact the way you do EVERYTHING communicates something. In his book 'The Book of Tells', author Peter Collett moves through the different tells that we put out into the world. From submissive tells to dominant tells to how to spot a liar. This episode will make you a better leader, salesperson and communicator because you are going to understand not just what to look in someones body language for but how to interpret it. 

You have heard a lot from us on books about negotiation. That's because it is a topic that lends itself to ever area of business and leadership.  There is no right way to do it because it is so nuanced with a lot of moving parts. There is however, lots of wrong ways to do it. Being too aggressive, being too timid, being willing to split the difference. All of these are the wrong ways...or are they? Each and every negotiation you enter into means you are beginning at square 1. There are no shortcuts. Each and every negotiation contains its own opportunities and roadblocks. Knowing when to give in or when to hold your position is key. You must continue to deliberately practice the key components of negotiation. Remember to check out the free months access to the action log at UseBecause.com