People Business w/ O'Brien McMahon

Chet Scott is the founder of Built to Lead, a band of coaches that believes creating sustainable high-performance teams is not only possible but also worthy of the effort. Together they awaken, challenge, and transform a few individuals, teams, and leaders. In this conversation, he explains the basic tenets of his work and shares a foundational exercise for understanding who you are and building a strong core. Mentioned in this Episode: CORE Exercise ExplainedBuilt to Lead Blog The Long Walk by Slavomir RawiczSolitary by Giora RommBecoming Built to Lead by Chet Scott  Time Codes(3:47) - What does it mean to have a strong core?(7:21) - Chet’s journey to founding Built to Lead.(11:45) - What’s your process for self-study?(15:01) - What do you do with a book once you're done with it? (18:59) - What is your process for onboarding a new client?(20:55) - Why is writing so important?(26:51) - What’s the process for someone to build out a strong core?(36:45) - O’Brien’s identity(44:40) - Where’s the line between having a growth mindset and being strong in your identity?(47:29) - Principals: I will _____(56:39) - Passions: I love to ____(59:54) - What advice do you have for people when they discover how they are living their life is not truly aligned with who they are?(1:08:24) - Becoming Built to Lead

Nicole Dessain is the Founder and Chief Employee Experience Designer at Talent.Imperative Inc, an employee experience design company. During her 19-year career in human resources, Nicole discovered design thinking while collaborating on a client project. She became a student of the method and got certified by IDEO U and LUMA Institute and is now a SESP Lecturer at Northwestern University’s Masters in Learning and Organizational Change Program which explores how design thinking might be applied to innovation in organizational effectiveness. Nicole runs her own podcast, Talent Tales, where she features leaders who have pioneered design thinking in the field of Human Resources. Time Codes(3:03) - What is Talent Imperative and what do you do?(3:39) - What drew you to this work?(4:20) - Design Thinking(7:48) - What is the process for Design Thinking?(10:35) - Assessing and redefining a problem in Design Thinking(16:04) - Thinking of feedback as data(18:35) - How do you foster the right kind of teamwork going into a Design Thinking project?(21:02) - How do you prime people to get on the same page?(24:46) - The tools people in use in ideation of Design Thinking(27:26) - “Prototyping is NOT piloting”(33:22) - Slowing down is actually speeding up aka Change management 2.0(34:15) - How long does it take for someone to become effective in using these skills?(40:38) - Defining a human experience mindset(41:57) - What have you learned about people in the last 6 years?(43:04) - What does it mean to treat someone as an adult?(44:55) - What are some common mistakes beginners fall victim to when they venture into Design Thinking?(47:10) - What are the misconceptions about Design Thinking?(48:02) - Do you have an example of a group that was apprehensive toward Design Thinking but ended up responding very well to it?(51:52) - Improv & Storytelling(55:28) - What are you sick of talking about?(56:55) - What is the purpose of business?(58:17) - How can people get in touch with you?

Claire Haidar is CEO and Founder of WNDYR and  Pattyrn, two companies focused on shaping the world of work. Through AI-driven data analysis of how and where teams work, Pattyrn is transforming organizations to work in ways that were inconceivable a mere few years ago. Claire has dedicated her career to rebuilding the workplace and reshaping the future of work across the globe. Mentioned in this Episode:The Nature Fix by Florence Williams Principles by Ray Dalio The Way of the Warrior Kid by Jocko Willink Time Codes:(2:50) - Where does your obsession with the future of work come from?(5:45) - What is the same about work around the world and what is different?(8:26) - How is work different in a rail city versus a driving city?(12:23) - How easy is it to unplug from physical work versus thought work?(16:31) - Using data on nature and mental health when creating workspaces?(20:27) - What is the difference between focusing on the future of work and being a Futurist?(23:07) - Pitching WNDYR and PATTYRN.(27:22) - Is WNDYR tech-based or human workflow-based?(29:52) - Where do you start with new clients when thinking about the future of their work?(36:34) - Design Thinking.(43:45) - Defining the employee experience.(49:06) - The #1 problem for HR Leaders today.(57:09) - Embracing risk as an HR leader. (58:02) - How Claire is using PATTYRN to identify leadership and management improvements.(1:02:40) - Using data to battle burnout.(1:06:30) - Is there a correlation between people who switch tasks less often and their productivity or happiness?(1:09:17) - What is the purpose of business?

Dr. Erik Korem is a High-Performance pioneer that introduced sports science and athlete tracking technologies to collegiate and professional (NFL) football. He has worked with the National Football League, Power-5 NCAA programs, gold-medal Olympians, Nike, and the United States Department of Defense. Erik is an expert in sleep and stress resilience, and he is the Founder and CEO of AIM7. Mentioned in this Episode: BJ Fogg on MotivationErik Korem & Peter Harberl Podcast: Attention is the Currency of Performance SMART GoalsStart with the End by Matt Wallaert The Practice of Groundedness by Brad Stulberg Time Codes(2:40) - Erik’s background in performance and motivation(6:33) - Motivational, Desire, & Dopamine(11:34) - Is there a way to create or build someone's belief in themselves?(15:14) - Behavior Design(16:28) - The 5 Whys (19:08) - Starting small & learning to stick with the work(30:24) - O’Brien losing his habits and routines after child #2(38:14) - The Aim7 Calibration(42:06) - How people reacted to the pandemic(43:52) - What do people get wrong about sleep and what are easy corrections they can make?(50:51) - More information on Aim7(53:17) - Is this relevant to improving your work performance?

Derek Gaunt is a lecturer, author of Ego, Authority, Failure©, and trainer with 29 years of law enforcement experience, 20 of which as a team member, leader, and then commander of hostage negotiations teams in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. As a member of the Black Swan Group, he is a negotiation trainer and personal coach. Derek has trained throughout the US and around the world, instructing business organizations on how to apply hostage negotiation practices and principles to their world. His training has helped leaders and their organizations increase their performance by changing the way they think about communicating one person to another.Mentioned in this Episode:Ego Authority Failure by Derek Gaunt Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss Time Codes:(3:14) - Derek’s background in law enforcement and hostage negotiation. (5:58) - What were some tactics you used as a street cop to get people to comply?(8:18) - Derek’s mindset during a confrontation and the importance of humanizing suspects.(14:31) - How do you protect yourself emotionally from the toll these confrontations take on you?(17:52) - What’s the mindset someone should bring into a negotiation conversation?(22:07) - How do you define a negotiation?(23:42) - What should someone do when triggered during a tough negotiation conversation?(27:49) - Can you train yourself out of being emotionally triggered?(30:00) - Labeling negative emotions.(32:38) - The Accusation Audit.(38:23) - Can you overdo these techniques? (44:35) - How do you define ‘Tactical Empathy’?(46:13) - You can't plant a negative idea in someone's head.(53:12) - What are you sick of talking about? What are you most excited to be talking about?(54:42) - Wrap Up

At the age of 30, Jon Morris started a digital marketing agency called Rise Interactive. When Jon sold Rise 16 years later, it was one of the largest Independent Digital Agencies in the world. Through Ramsay Innovations, Jon’s new passion is to help 1,000 businesses grow and thrive, just as Rise did.Time Codes:(2:48) - What is Ramsay Innovations?(3:42) - What’s the origin story for Rise Interactive?(4:52) - Are companies looking to be taught skills or to offload work?(11:18) - What made you think that financial people would be good for marketing roles?(13:00) - What does it mean to be "data-driven"?(14:22) - How do you ask the right questions? (18:00) - Is your process Design Thinking?(19:27) - When do you know that you’ve looked at enough data?(22:08) - Having only 60-70% of information to make a decision.(23:54) - How do you coach your clients to make more decisions?(26:01) - It's business AND it's personal.(28:32) - Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable.(33:58) - What is the Ramsay Method?(39:15) - What does ‘Grow Simply’ mean?(40:38) - What are the mistakes you see leaders making when it comes to growth?(43:51) - Defining Sales vs. Marketing(45:29) - Thinking of your business budget as financial investing.(47:21) - What are you sick of talking about?(48:02) - What are you most excited to be talking about?(48:35) - What is the purpose of business?

 Debra Moritz is the Head of Strategic Consulting for Cushman & Wakefield, the third-largest commercial real estate broker in the world. She oversees a team of consultants helping clients reduce cost, increase revenue, and mitigate risk. Her team has represented Fortune 1000 and mid-cap clients in business transformation, portfolio analysis, workplace solutions, M&A, and headquarters evaluation and repositioning. Debra has developed an in-depth understanding of the complex and unique challenges businesses face in ensuring that major real estate decisions are aligned with and support core business objectives. She is an expert on the physical spaces where people do their work and has insights into what the post-pandemic workspace will look like.  Mentioned in this Episode:The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson Research shows  working from home reduces productivity and creativityTime Codes(3:36) - What is Cushman & Wakefield and what do you do at the firm?(4:20) - Where do you begin when helping a new client rethink their office strategy?(6:03) - What data should business leaders pay attention to?(9:28) - People vote with their feet.(13:16) - How important is the physical workspace to the work being done?(24:36) - Is it too early to see what a successful post-Covid work strategy looks like?(30:10) - How do you get people up and moving and interacting with each other?(32:02) - Adaptable workspaces.(36:12) - What do you say to the leader who is hesitant to change the way people work?(38:34) - Why there won't be a shift in the square foot required per person.(41:50) - How do you measure experience-per-square-foot?(45:24) - Mental and Behavioral health impacts.(47:36) - The benefits of nature.(52:05) - What is the wildest thing you’ve seen people do with their office space?(55:19) - How should a small to mid-sized business think about improving their office space?(59:55) - What is the purpose of business?(1:01:17) - How can people get in touch with you?

Jill Pollack and Beth Nyland are the founders of StoryMode, where they help business professionals spice up their communications, connect with others, and drive results. With Beth's career in corporate communication and Jill's background in creative writing, they are the perfect team to help individuals tap into their creative confidence and craft messages that inspire the audience to action.   Mentioned in this Episode: Why Inspiring Stories Make Us React: The Neuroscience of Narrative by Dr. Paul Zak How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens  Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark Time Codes:(3:33) - What is StoryMode?(5:01) - What makes a good story?(7:49) - What is it about a story that makes us connect emotionally?(13:15) - What place does storytelling have in business?(16:10) - What are the misconceptions from the business community around the value of story?(19:50) - What is C.R.A.P.?(23:00) - How do you help clients cut the C.R.A.P.?(31:01) - How can people begin to use story?(35:18) - What are the best ways to practice building a story into a business setting?(39:05) - Workshopping & Peer Editing (46:01) - How do you use stories in data-heavy presentations?(50:57) - The importance of note-taking, first drafts, and peer feedback.(57:41) - Do clients have to change their workflows to better understand story?(59:25) - The power of word choice.(1:05:59) - What are you sick of talking about when it comes to storytelling?(1:09:16) - What are you most excited to be talking about?(1:10:56) - What is the purpose of business?(1:15:00) - Where can people learn more?

Tony Lenhart is a partner at Sales Empowerment Group (SEG). With a degree in Selling & Sales Management, he has worked on honing the art and science of sales through direct sales, sales leadership, and entrepreneurship. He spent the first decade of his career in various sales and leadership roles and the last ten years scaling a successful sales consulting and staffing organization. Since founding SEG, Tony has worked alongside over 200 small and mid-sized organizations and 1,000+ salespeople to help build or rebuild their sales cultures.  He maintains a monthly newsletter, Sales Drummer, which lays out his learnings over the years. Mentioned in this Episode: Margaret Heffernan: Forget the Pecking Order at Work7 Habits of highly effective people by Stephen CoveyThe 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman Drive by Daniel PinkDan Price on LinkedInGong Call Recording Software Timecodes:(2:48) - What is Sales Empowerment Group?(4:00) - Tony’s origin story.(4:51) - What makes a good salesperson?(6:15) - Is there a difference in traits based on industry or type of sales?(7:22) - How would someone know whether to hire one sales style over another in their company?(9:15) - Do you see companies looking for the wrong traits in their salespeople?(11:28) - What are good leaders doing to get the most out of their entire sales team?(14:41) - Onboarding rookies vs. seasoned salespeople.(20:32) - Why veteran salespeople struggle at new jobs.(23:01) - When the client’s team turns over.(24:46) - Is it the salesperson's responsibility to be organized & structured or the company’s?(27:25) - How should companies deal with different personalities when it comes to basic organization requirements?(29:45) - Do you see companies managing the wrong metrics?(34:17) - Collaborative sales environments.(39:20) - Accountability vs. Micromanagement: what is proper sales accountability?(41:47) - What are the first things a new sales leader should do when taking over a team?(43:40) - Where do sales leaders go wrong?(48:47) - Why do companies change sales compensation so much?(50:59) - What really motivates salespeople?(56:22) - O’Brien’s origin story at Lockton.(59:19) - What are you sick of talking about?(59:46) - What are you most excited to be talking about?(1:00:19) - Thoughts on automated sales cadence.(1:02:11) - What is the purpose of business?

Lynn Thomas is a tax-attorney-turned-consultant who finds innovative and novel ways to create fiercely loyal clients and employees. She is an expert in client and employee retention and helping companies thrill the people they work with. Consequently, these businesses achieve higher levels of profits, growth, and retention.Mentioned in this Episode:Thomas ConsultingExtreme Humanism by Tom PetersEpisode: Preventing Burnout w/ Kaitlyn Lyons Time Codes(2:21) - How does a tax attorney become a client and employee retention specialist?(9:48) - Redefining what it means to "win".(14:11) - What are the shared principles between customer and employee retention?(17:43) - Examples of companies delighting their employees and clients.(24:25) - What does it mean to be a good leader?(28:31) - What are companies getting wrong regarding employee retention?(31:50) - Q-TIP: Quit Taking it Personally(33:51) - How do you break down the walls when a client or customer won’t tell you the problem?(38:59) - How did you develop the ability to ask questions?(41:50) - Tragedy’s effect on mindset.(46:24) - How do you coach people to change their mindset?(50:32) - Why are people afraid to get fired from jobs they hate? (51:54) -  What are you sick of talking about?(57:20) - What is the purpose of business?