Working On Purpose

What do you ache to be and accomplish in life? And do you have the sheer ambition, persistence, and work ethic to achieve it? I recently had the profound pleasure to cross paths with and be touched by the pure grace and strength of Ashley Kate Adams - akastudioproductions.com. In this episode we witness the power of the human spirit to pursue dreams with resolute intention, the magical power of seemingly unexplainable sheer persistence to continue on against life’s loss and immense grief, and the wonder of a social network who is committed to seeing you through and contributing to your journey.

Millennials will comprise 50 percent of the workforce by 2020. Do you have an effective strategy in place to market to them and attract them to your employment brand? Then once they’re in the door as employees, are you on solid footing to manage and motivate them? In this episode, we converse with Generational Guru Sherri Elliott-Yeary about these topics and others relative to the five generations living today.

Is your head spinning from the rapid changes in technology? And how do we stay in real dialogue when life encourages us to live at 140 characters or less? In this episode, we talk about the tumultuous changes in the workforce fueled by digital transformation, how companies can prioritize people as they navigate the chance, and how the art of dialogue can be resurrected as a vibrant practice.

In this episode, we venture into a warm and personal exchange between Abhijit and Alise that explores how understanding neuroscience can help our relationships across all of life. We talk about how meditation and mindfulness can give us access to our inner state and how doing so can help us continue our spiritual journeys in ways that may even contribute to a more peaceful world.

People are the engine that companies run on. Yet, many companies struggle with their human capital practices as they are first established or as they grow over time. Creating an environment and job tasks that motivate employees to want to give their best is no small order. And finding ways to keep employees engaged and persisting even through organizational challenges or restructuring can perplex even the quite experienced executives. And finally, recognizing employees for their performance and contribution comes in many forms – which ones work well for your organization?

Amazing the power of a simple piece of feedback. It can mean the world to us on that day, or it can crush us for eternity. But maybe, when requested and received over the lifetime of a career, it can shape our professional growth, create meaning and fulfillment, and ultimately be the ripple in a wave to cause greater connection and appreciation across the globe. In this episode, we learn what feedback means to Pay Compliment and the possibilities ongoing feedback means to careers, employee engagement, and performance in companies across the globe.

Change. It’s everywhere. Whether we actively seek it, or it’s foisted on us at work or in our personal lives. Downsized or just asked to move on? With a dose of courage and choice, we can entirely reinvent ourselves for a better professional future, if we want. Or, if we are coached well or can manage to change our own thinking about what the world presents us. In this episode, we talk with a whole person coach who has walked the talk, reinvented herself professionally, and is now on a quest to help more people transform their lives and become the person they most wish to be. Tune in and join us on the journey!

According to the Gallup Organization, the employee engagement rate at the average U.S. company is 29 percent. That is dismal by most any standard. As an owner, shareholder, or leader in a company, creating a culture that significantly increases employee engagement ought to be priority one. What results could your company realize if every team member came to work every day excited? What if each employee were committed to the company’s vision and their role in making it a success? What if had a company full of high performing people? And you consistently attracted and retained top talent? Just what could your company accomplish that is simply not possible today?

Gary Alan has made a life as American talk show host and journalist. He is an ardent researcher who exchanges ideas on current events and looking into the lives of guests with national eminence. In this conversation, he shares some of the ideas and insights he’s gained by interviewing on his “The Express” radio show extraordinary people up to remarkable things.

People are the engine that companies run on. Yet, many companies struggle with their human capital practices as they are first established or as they grow over time. Creating an environment and job tasks that motivate employees to want to give their best is no small order. And finding ways to keep employees engaged and persisting even through organizational challenges or restructuring can perplex even the quite experienced executives. And finally, recognizing employees for their performance and contribution comes in many forms – which ones work well for your organization?

Society and the workplace are undergoing transformation as gender dynamics shift in initiative taken and roles assumed. More women are graduating college today than men. Men in committed relationships are opting to stay at home to care for the children. Male counterparts are on the receiving end of companies granting them assistance to find jobs in their new cities of residence, alongside their career-climbing female counterparts. There is a decided rising tide for women who are taking charge of their lives, unleashing their passions, and working on purpose. And some of these women are considered “alpha females,” who are making a big splash in boardrooms, in their communities, and with their families, and are the subject of this episode.

Advances in technology are constantly changing the way we live and work. Think back not that long ago when we physically went to the library to check out books or sent a courier to ferry a document from one office to another. Now, thanks to the internet, we just click a few buttons and have the information or service we want. The number of new technology apps being launched daily is mind boggling. Soon in the future, technology will continue to evolve to include driverless cars that shuttle us to work that is situated in smart cities. Energy and other necessities of life and industry will be further networked into a central heartbeat. What possibilities does this new frontier open for us in our everyday lives and how we do our work? Tune in and let’s see!

What does it take for leaders to encourage or even cause innovation in their organizations today? It takes a strategic focus and a rigorously applied set of ongoing actions across and through the organization. The right mix of talent and the conversational tone and culture are potent components of the ingredient mix as a platform to launch innovation. To stimulate the environment toward ongoing innovation, leaders will need to cast meaningful and inspiring visions and purposely engage in two-way dialogue with the team members. Leadership assessment and development, strong change management, and culture transformation work are critical parts of supporting innovation in the long term.

What we do with life’s challenges makes us the people we ultimately are – it’s how we respond to life’s curve balls especially that determines our character and what we achieve. It’s truly astounding, and can be incredibly intimidating, that possibility is boundless. We can reinvent ourselves over and again, if we summon the courage and put forth the worthwhile effort. We’re only as stuck in our lives as we convince ourselves to be. Question is – what is it that each of us aches to become in this lifetime? And can we find the courage, determination, and persistence to realize these precious dreams for ourselves? In this episode, we meet someone who has, and might just show us the way, as she continues to reinvent herself.

Customers, especially successful ones, are the lifeblood of any business. Creating successful customers—with a memorable customer experience—is increasingly the differentiator in a competitive marketplace, according to Bill Lee. After all, your buyers, your prospects, your market will find out how much your customers value you—whether you want them to or not—in today’s uber-connected world. Marketing and sales no longer sell to customers—customers sell to other customers. Responding to that reality is not just good for the bottom line health of a business – it turns out it’s also a conduit to an engaged workforce. Tune in to this episode and find out why it matters who we hang out with at work – and just what it is those people say about us in the marketplace.

Getting people in organizations to perform at extraordinary levels may be at the very heart of outstanding leadership. And building a solid team that executes on a leader’s vision and strategy is key. But what does it take to find the right talent, assemble a strong team collection, and elicit their best performance? In this episode, we talk with Mareo McCracken who has carefully studied and now cultivated a set of practices that build teams quickly and effectively.

Do you know your LeaderType(s)? And did you know that you just might have more in common with great leaders, even those who have occupied the United States Oval Office? In this episode, we talk with leadership expert Cash Keahey who has researched 42 presidents and distilled 8 distinct LeaderTypes. Tune in and catch a glimpse of what your LeaderType(s) might be and consider how you can leverage them for great success and impact.

Where the workforce is going in the future is anchored in lessons learned from the past, and also rapidly evolving to meet the ever-changing and competitive global marketplace. Most people embrace the importance of continually learning in order to remain employable, though there is uncertainty on how to integrate human talent with artificial intelligence and robotics. In this episode, we enjoy a “fireside chat” with the Chief Learning Officer and guru of life-long learning Kimo Kippen to explore these topics as well as other workforce trends that affect us all.

Have you ever really considered, “Am I made of the stuff to achieve really great things? Are my dreams realistic?” It turns out, there is quite a difference between how famous, quite accomplished people consider motivation and goals and the way everyday people do. The good news? We can learn something from these stellar humans and apply it to create more of the life we really want for ourselves. In this conversation, we talk with the ever curious author Jeff Haden to hear what he’s learned by studying famous people – and how they structure their lives that can make a sweeping difference to our own.

Each time a New Year clicks past, many of us are overtaken with an extreme resolve to finally go after the goals we believe will fulfill our lives. We achingly pledge, “new year, new me.” But how many of us really surge forth in a disciplined, intentional manner throughout the full year to realize those ardent dreams and fulfill on the ambitions that we know would make the difference between living a rich and full life, or one we feel we need to apologize to ourselves at its conclusion? In this episode, we talk with motivational author Shawn Anderson who travels the world encouraging people and sharing his secrets to always “go the extra mile” in pursuit of their dreams and living the life they desperately want.