LIVE from HR Collaborative - Afternoon Session

[00:01:12] What's going on everybody? David Noe with SpeakEasy HR. We are back for the afternoon session here at the HR Collaborative. So it has been an amazing day. We've had a lot of great conversations with the speakers and rolling into the afternoon with one more breakout and a closing keynote. And my next guest, which is going to be speaking in the third breakout this afternoon, a familiar face to SpeakEasy HR.

[00:01:40] He was one of the first, I think, 10 guests ever. I'm on Episode 70 now. Wow! You are one of the first 10, I think, guests on this podcast. So Scott McGowan, welcome back. Hey, welcome. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. You do a great job by the way. Yeah, appreciate it. It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun to talk to people like in this environment. Usually it's at home talking to someone maybe across the world and, you know, being here with people, like-minded HR professionals.

[00:02:10] And people like you that want to come and share your story. And so your story and your path to this point and your new venture, not new venture, but you're getting into the new rhythm with One Morning. So I know we only have about 10 minutes and I want to just dive into your background, people that don't know you, and really what you're trying to talk about today with your topic, which is embracing mental health in the workplace. And it's still a hot topic, just like the others out there, like AI.

[00:02:38] So, so tell everybody a quick summary of your background and then we'll dive into your topic. Yeah. So fast version, married 39 years to my best friend, Lori. Got to do it. There you go. Four grandkids, should have had him first. Yeah. Fantastic. Lots of fun. Worked at EMB for 35 years. Okay. Retired for 15 days. 15 days. 15 days. 15 days. 15 days. Not recommended. Not recommended.

[00:03:06] And then on my way out, I really wanted to test kind of, could we bring a sense of belonging to a brokenness in the workforce? And that's really kind of where One Morning kind of births itself inside of the walls of EMB. Yeah. Yeah. And you wrote a book, Culture is an Inside Job. Yeah. And I've, I've heard you talk about that, that book. So your topic today, embracing mental health in the workplace.

[00:03:33] So people that are coming to your breakout will hear it for those that are going to another one or for myself who won't be in the room. You know, what are some of the things that you're going to try to talk about in that discussion? I think for the most part, a lot of employers, I think everybody, great cultures kind of almost sadly sometimes mandate everybody show up. Yeah. In a really good mood. Yeah, exactly. And sometimes people aren't in a good mood.

[00:04:00] And sometimes life is throwing really tough stuff at people. And what, what I'm really trying to encourage is just allowing people to space. Yeah. To kind of raise their hand and say like, I'm not okay right now. Yeah. And there's lots of resources. There's external resources. There's internal resources. And then there's, there's friends. Yeah.

[00:04:24] That we can reach out to, but we hide in ego, we hide in vanity, we hide all those things. Yeah. And what, what people need to know is like, um, you're not alone. Right. You are, you are not alone. Yeah. And, and I, I talk to people about this as a business. You have a family business, you have a generational success story as a business. And some of those people want to keep that going.

[00:04:54] But part of that is to hire humans and hire people and people are messy. Yeah. People come with a smile on their face to do their job, to take care of your customers, but you don't know what's going on in their world. And so businesses that can embrace that and show empathy, the things that technology will not really help in a sense, you've got to have that human connection. And so I think what you do is so critical.

[00:05:21] And I think you're impacting so many people as you've seen since you started this. So knowing that you've got to jump off here very soon, I've been asking everybody this question. So it's about your career and advice you've been given. So think about that and who, who has given you advice and what's been the biggest piece of advice that you've received that stuck with you? Yeah. Well, there was, there was actually three. Okay.

[00:05:48] Um, so it was, it was really, um, stay profitable. Stay profitable. So you can always make good decisions. Yeah. Uh, cause financial fear I think is one of the worst fears in the world. Number two is treat your employees the way you want your customers treated. Uh, and number three is give back to a community that gives to you.

[00:06:14] Uh, and in other words, be selfless, not selfish. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it sounds easy. Yeah. But to a lot of people it is difficult. Right. And we've talked about it earlier today about leadership when you're dealing with multi-generations kids in the workplace and the mental health that's happening with people that are just entering the workforce and what they've dealt with, you know, maybe in high school and college

[00:06:43] and the pandemic and a, in a virtual world. And now they have to go and maybe work in an office for the first time with, with people twice their age. And they're like, you know, what is that going to do to their anxiety level and their, their mental health? Is it going to benefit it or is it going to make it worse? So it's, it's, it's such an important topic. And I, and I hope that if you are listening to this and you're not connected to Scott on, on LinkedIn or, or, you know, check out one morning, definitely look at that.

[00:07:13] And in his book, culture is an inside job. Really, really great piece that you wrote there. So where's the best place to find, you know, your work? Is it LinkedIn? Yeah. LinkedIn, Scott at one morning.com. Scott at one morning.com. Yeah. Okay. So there's some goofy stuff out there. You know, I'm 60, gosh, I'm 62, but I'm, I, I act like I'm a 10. It's just a number, you know, it's just the number. Grandkids probably keep you young. 100%. Yep. Married to your best friend keeps you young. Right.

[00:07:42] Life's good. How's the day been for you so far? Really good. This is amazing. Great facility. Great people. Yeah. Great speakers. Yeah. New, new venue this year. So at the Oasis conference center, there's a golf course outside. We're staring at it. It's pretty nice. And I think the next time we do this, as Pete Schramm told me, you should make it part of a day where you go golfing. We've got a seven iron from the green. Right. Right. Yeah. And it's a little chilly out today. Maybe an eight iron for you. I don't know. Yeah. But, but yeah, so it's a great venue.

[00:08:12] And, and so we're, we're glad to be here. We've got, you know, a really good list of speakers, vendors. We have a happy hour coming up after the closing keynote with Andre. So Scott, I'll let you get to your breakout. So good luck. Absolutely. Thanks for stopping by. Thanks for having me. Take your key chain, personal gift from me. I think I gave it to you, but it's the, yeah. Yeah. It's the bourbon barrel. That's not full of bourbon. It's just a key chain with a payroll partners and the speakeasy HR.

[00:08:43] So thanks again, my friend. I appreciate it. Good luck. Thanks for having you do. Keep doing what you're doing. Keep making noise. Keep making noise. Make good noise. Yeah. Perfect. Appreciate it. Just one minute from our sponsor and then we'll be back with, uh, hopefully another speaker coming up. So one second here. Finding a new employee takes time and money. For one position on a single job board, you could easily spend a minimum of five to $10 a day advertising a job post. It's worth noting that the average time it takes to hire a new employee is 36 days.

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[00:09:42] And this feature lets you e-blast your network, hosting jobs on multiple boards at once, all managed in one location. Payroll Partners, elevating your payroll and HR experience. So we are live at the HR Collaborative in Cincinnati, Ohio.

[00:10:08] I have been fortunate to interview so many great speakers that we've had that we've got several more coming up and we're just wrapping up lunch. So everyone's kind of getting situated and trying to find the next few. If you see Davis or Diane, so Davis can come on and whenever. So he speaks now. Not now, but very soon. Well, he was at 11. Davis was. Robinson. He was? Yeah.

[00:10:37] So we might bring up Davis Robinson next. He is known as the Fulfillment Doctor. He's a leadership coach, speaker, author, employee engagement experts with more than 25 years of experience across healthcare, manufacturing, government and higher education. Dr. Robinson is recognized as a top 100 human resource influencer on LinkedIn. Awesome.

[00:11:04] And is widely respected for his work in learning, organizational development and leadership effectiveness. And this is a two time author. Dr. Robinson focuses on motivation, discipline and personal fulfillment, helping individuals and organizations unlock higher levels of engagement and performance through practical behavior, change and leadership development.

[00:11:36] Dr. Robinson focuses on motivation, and the organization. Dr. Robinson focuses on motivation, and the organization is a part of the organization. So he is supposed to come up at 1.30, but I'm going to try to get him a little early. And do you want to come on and say a couple words as part of the committee? Dr. Robinson, I got to give you an air horn though, Matt. One of the committee members.

[00:12:07] I said, Hey, come on and talk for a few minutes. And he's running around grabbing, grabbing lunch. Dr. Robinson, I got to give you an air horn. So anyway, if you have comments, questions for people that you hear on and hear their topic and what they're talking about, throw it in the chat. We can try to get to it if we see it. But we are live on LinkedIn and YouTube. I love being at this event. This was last year at a different venue.

[00:12:34] This is a bigger venue for us as a conference. So it's one of the only HR all day conferences that I'm familiar with in the Midwest. If there's something else that I should be at to do a live podcast, connect with me on LinkedIn. Would love to hear what the conference is. I'm certainly well aware of Disrupt HR. We have an event coming up in Kentucky on July 8th if you're in the Cincinnati region. So check that out at the Disrupt HR website.

[00:13:04] But again, we have an afternoon session of live interviews with the speakers. And it's been so fascinating to hear what some of these people are bringing these topics. And really, they're all very unique. They're all very different. And the closing keynote today with Andre Young is going to be all about Evolve Your Leadership. So that's a new twist this year that we have as a keynote and then a closing keynote. So before we did not have a closing keynote.

[00:13:34] And then we'll have a happy hour bourbon tasting. Thanks to the folks at Wenzel Whiskey in Covington, Kentucky. They're doing some amazing things in the bourbon industry in our region. So again, Dr. Robinson will be coming on. And he already spoke this morning. So we can kind of hear his reaction to that topic. I did hear somebody in the lunch line say that they have heard him before, heard him before, speak live. And this one was even better.

[00:14:03] So they were so happy to pick that breakout session. Because again, this is a conference all day with three breakout sessions. But each breakout session, you have to pick from three different people speaking. And you cannot have a chance to meet and hear all of the 11 speakers. So we have nine breakout speakers and two keynote. And Dr. Robinson is about to join Speakeasy HR. What's going on my friend? What's going on Dave? How you doing man?

[00:14:33] You can clip that onto your, I already talked about your bio. So you don't have to do that. I don't have to do any of that. Teeing it up as we are by the golf course. We're teeing it up. Ready to talk. So welcome. Nice segue. Thank you. Thank you sir. How's the day going so far? Day is going well. Okay. Yeah. You know, hearing a lot of great feedback. Yeah. And people are complaining in a positive way that there's so many great opportunities to hear

[00:15:00] people speak that wish we even had more time. I know. That's what I was just trying to tell people that are, that are, you know, listening here. Can I get in? I can go the other way. There we go. So, so as I've been telling people, this is an all day event, three breakouts, but you have to pick from three. So not everybody got a chance to hear you. And I was talking to somebody in the lunch line and they said they've heard you speak before, but this one was, was even better. Like they, they picked up on so many things.

[00:15:28] And so your, your topic today, and we had obviously amazing speaker submissions for this. Being part of the committee, I got a chance to see who, who submitted, what the topics were, and it's just a really good blend from top to bottom on topics. And so yours was about re-imagining employee engagement, prioritizing the employee, not the organization. So for those of you who were not in the room, like myself, you know, what were, what were

[00:15:56] some of the key points in that conversation when you were, when you were talking about that? Yeah. I talked about a lot of different key points, David. And, you know, I talked about the, the, the understanding that we've been doing employee engagement for over a quarter of a century for over a quarter century. I mean, when you think about, we've been doing this for a quarter century, but the engaged, the highest engagement has ever been is like in the mid thirties. Yeah. It doesn't make sense. And so I made that point.

[00:16:26] And the other point I made is that engagement should be less about keeping score. Yeah. Because, and I said, you know, because when you keep score, it becomes a game. And in this game that we've been playing for over a quarter of a century, the court, the question is, you know, who's winning. Yeah. And then the other thing, I hope this really hit home. I showed, uh, two studies that were, uh, one study that was done in the journal of applied psychology in 2002.

[00:16:56] And it was by hard to at all. And they published the article that showed a profit linkage between employee engagement with employee engagement. Yeah. And then someone else followed up the following year, disseminating literature about the linkage between those two. And ever since then, we've been on this expedition of employee engagement. And the other key that I talked to him about, I said, even though we've been doing this for

[00:17:24] 25 years, there's no common conceptualization or definition of employee engagement. Yeah. So I think it's about time that we re-imagine employee engagement and begin prioritizing the employee, not the organization. Because when you take a look at the drivers, David, we look at strong leadership. We look at culture. We look at communication. We also look at work life balance. Those are the things that organizations do to employees. Right. They're doing to employees.

[00:17:51] And I call them the inputs of the organization rather than the inputs of the employee, which is to focus on who David is naturally innately who you are at your core. And so those were the points I was driving home. Okay. Okay. How did the crowd receive that? Do you feel like they were excited? Were they nodding? Were they engaged? Actually, I thought I heard an amen at one point. Really? How about that? I got to do the mini arrow one for that.

[00:18:21] I was ready to pass the tray around for that one. I was like, we're in church. Amen. All right. But no, we had some great discussion. We had some breakout groups and the noise level in the room was great. Great. That's what I heard. No, that's awesome. And so this event, and I don't know how many events like this you've been a part of, but I threw it out there to people listening to this.

[00:18:48] In our region, in the Midwest, Cincinnati, Kentucky, we have some of the other conferences and things that are going on. Maybe an evening event, Disrupt HR kind of vibe, or you have a state HR conference with SHRM, but like an all day collaborative kind of event like this. You know, I don't know how many are out there still like this. I don't know many like this. So, you know, I think it's so important that we have this.

[00:19:14] I look forward to it and having conversations with people like yourself that come on and talk about these topics because it's so critical and not everybody's going to take away what they learned from you and be able to apply it in the same way. But everybody that owns a business that hires people, whether they want to manage people or not, you have a business and you have to have humans doing the work majority of it.

[00:19:42] Obviously there's fixes to some of the technology out there to make your job a little easier and streamlined, but you know, you have a business, you're going to hire people. If you want to retain them, it's hard to retain every single person. Yes. So when you think about employee engagement at the front end, so if somebody is responsible for hiring and you are in several interviews, you're trying to figure out, okay, who's the right fit?

[00:20:09] Who's the person that we feel like is going to be staying around for a while? You know, was that, was that brought up in today or is that stuff that you kind of see with your work with Horizon Consulting Services when it comes to like the front end of a company trying to bring people into the company? I actually, I was having a conversation with an attendant at lunch about this. And I said, that's where the work needs to happen. Yeah.

[00:20:36] Because what we do is we hire people for their skills because if, because we're a skill based organized society, right? We go to school to learn work workplace skills. I said, in order for you to make sure that you have the right person, you first must, as a HR person who's hiring, you have to know what is the talent, the natural ability that is important to this role. Yeah.

[00:21:04] So for example, if you're looking for a trainer, the talent, the, or the thing that gives that person energy should be an individual who loves to be in front of people. Yep. A person who has a dynamic personality. Right. Why? Because people with dynamic personalities, people who are, are engaged with others, people are able to connect with them immediately. Right?

[00:21:33] So if you know that this is a talent that is needed, forget the skill. Yeah. They should have already got the skill in school. Yep. So if you know that that is a criteria that you need someone who's outgoing and loves the stage strength finder calls it a woo. Woo is that, woo is that talent? Yeah. You need to answer that question. So what is, how does your talent, if you know what it is, how does that relate to this role?

[00:21:59] And if that person says, well, you know, um, I, I, I just like training. No, we don't want that. I want to know why do you like training? If it was me, I love being on stage. Yeah. I love being in front of people. I get to use my talents, which I call three P's, my presence, my personality, my positivity. Yeah. Those three things, once I'm on stage, come into play along with those skills and boom, that's when I'm able to maximize who I am.

[00:22:25] So it's up to asking the right questions and knowing what are the, what, what, what are the core talents that person needs to have in order to be effective in this role? So you have 25 years of experience in healthcare, manufacturing, government, higher education, two-time author, and your top 100 human resources influencer on LinkedIn. That's incredible. I want to be like you one day.

[00:22:51] Uh, so all of that work and kind of what you're doing now, tell us about, you know, your day to day now with, with horizon consulting services. Well, to be honest with you, horizon consultant is not my day to day. Okay. Horizon consultant is the way in which I scratch my itch. And so what I'm talking about here is because all of us went to school, David, to learn workplace skills. Every single one of us.

[00:23:19] So we can take our skills, give it to an organization who needs them, but we're not priority number one. And so what we do when we select majors, we select majors based on what society says is important, what our family says is important, and even influences through our peers. Right? So we go for those STEM, STEM jobs. Yep. We go for hot jobs and we go for jobs that hit the four P's payroll, power, position, and prestige. That's what we go for. Right?

[00:23:44] And so I told, told him in my class, I said, the only reason why I majored in psychology was because I had 30 years. I mean, 30, 30 hours of psychology I needed to graduate. That's the only reason. I didn't know that I love being on stage. Actually, at one point I thought I was shy. Yeah. But when I'm able to engage there.

[00:24:06] So what I'm talking about is scratching my itch for individuals who are in a role that is not connected or aligned with their innate abilities and natural talents. They got to find a way to scratch their itch. Yep. And if you're not able to scratch that itch, then you're always going to be kind of in this lull, if you will, you know, and not being, not being able to maximize who you are. And so Horizon Consultant was done. I put it up or built it or have you want to call it.

[00:24:36] See, it's so I can scratch that itch because while I'm able to scratch it a little bit in healthcare and manufacturing, those other things, this is a way in which I can scratch it when I want to, however I want to. And it's mine in a sense. So this is a personal situation for me with kids growing up. I have teenagers. One day they will have to get a job, right? You know, they won't be living at home.

[00:25:04] They'll have to provide for themselves, find a career path. So when you're talking to young, younger professional, you know, environments or are there certain, I guess, paths that you are trying to encourage people to still stay on like human resources. I just talked to Jessica Plathka from Miami this morning. She's, she's there in a newer role in, in, in the, uh, in the school.

[00:25:33] And it's great because it sounds like there's a need for people that want to get into our profession for HR. It's a, it's a need. It's going to be a need. But I had a friend say, my daughter's going to college for market. Like, is that going to be a waste of money? Like, is she gonna be able to get a job in four to five years? And I'm like, I don't, I don't know.

[00:25:54] So projecting out and, and, and kind of what you might hear and, and kind of look at from a, from a future career aspect, you know, same with engagement, like people that are engaged in their job, in their career, I think stay in that profession. Like me, I've been in HR for 20 years. I've enjoyed it. I have obviously had ups and downs, but you know, are you, are you in those conversations

[00:26:20] now with, with younger people about like, I would encourage you to get to healthcare, right? You've been in healthcare. You know, is there any kind of advice you've been given people? Yeah. I've had opportunities to talk to young kids. And one of the things when I talk to them, um, is that just because there's a need doesn't mean it's a need for you. Yeah. Right. Healthcare. We know that there's a shortage of nurses. Yep. Go be a nurse. You can get a job.

[00:26:48] We know that, you know, physicians that, you know, it's going to be a dearth of physicians in the upcoming years. Become a doctor. And also guess what, David? Well, your, your father was a doctor. Your, his father was a doctor and his father was a doctor. And guess what? So we create this legacy. We want to create this legacy, but we never do tap into who that person is. Who is David? Well, there are vacancies out there. Yep. And just because there's a vacancy. And what I remember when I was an unemployed one point.

[00:27:18] And my wife said, Hey, here's a job for you, Davis. And I knew internally that didn't connect with me. It was a very detailed, very analytical, highly organized. And I know that drives me crazy. And I said, no, I'm not going to do that. Yeah. Because I wanted something to find, find something to connect. So what I tell, what I, um, the reason why I wrote the book for Phil is because there's a quote that I have.

[00:27:44] And I say that for success, doesn't breed fulfillment, but fulfillment breeds success. So I try to encourage them to find out what fulfillment looks like for them, because I've never found anyone who's fulfilled, who is not successful. Because we all base it off on what we see from society based on the four P's. I think I've said it payroll, power, prestige, and position.

[00:28:08] And the other thing about that, talking to the kids, I would love to talk to their parents because parents can sometimes drive us away from the things that we really want to do. No, you don't want to be a social worker. It doesn't pay any money. No, you don't want to be an artist. How are you going to make a living? No, you don't want to be a teacher. Teachers don't make any money. Why don't you do X, Y, and Z? Let's put you in this STEM course manufactured. Great. You know what? They get out. They make more money than I probably ever would see in my life.

[00:28:34] But when they come home, but when they go to work, what's going on? Are they engaged? Are they really kind of trying to find something else? And that's the reason why it's not so surprising, David, when we find out that Carl in accounting ends up abruptly leaving after 25 years and goes off to write books for children, because that's what he loves to do. Yep. So it's not surprising. So those are the conversations I like to add. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:29:02] I feel like there's going to be jobs created that weren't available to us in the past. And I've heard some statistics on that with the way AI and technology is changing. So the year 2030, there are going to be jobs out there and jobs that aren't out there because of what's happening. So it's just a really interesting time right now to think about the workforce and how people are entering the workforce, leaving, transitioning in their careers.

[00:29:30] And really, at the end of the day, are they excited to go to work on a Monday? Do they have the Sunday scaries? Do they have the Sunday scaries? Are they just not fulfilled in their job? And a lot of people aren't. Mm-hmm. You know? And so that's where the leadership, their mentor, their manager, the organization they're with, they play such a huge impact in that. They play a huge role in that.

[00:29:55] I've asked everybody this question up to this point today, and it's really about your personal journey in your work and your exposure, primarily with advice you've been given. So if you look through and think about all the times you've heard advice and what to do and where to go, and like, does anything stand out to you that was like the best advice you've received? I don't think I was listening, Dave.

[00:30:24] You know, the way in which I asked that question is that I was really influenced by my great grandmother. Okay. Great grandmother born in 1901, graduated from high school at the age of 45. One of her child, one of her children, her son went to Tuskegee. One of her daughters was a teacher at Kentucky State University.

[00:30:50] One of her children who have polio graduated when they pushed her across the stage in a wheelchair that they purchased, and her two other daughters, both of them had a high school education. So the, I guess the indirect advice was that education was important. Right? Right? Because for her growing, coming up through the times, it was the way in which you can grow, that you can develop, that you can become successful.

[00:31:19] That was the key for me. And so that was an indirect piece of advice from her, even though it wasn't stated. In our house, it was not stated that you were going to go to college or high school. It was one of those unstated known things that you were going to do. Yeah. So it was, for me, it was the education piece. And then later on, I figured out things on my own. Yeah. That's great. So two time author. Yep. What, what got you to write?

[00:31:48] I wrote specifically for, what is it called credibility? Okay. And because, you know, I've, I heard that, and if you want to be kind of be titled as a speaker or public speaker, that if you have that, it will help with your credibility and your credentialing. Okay. So that's the reason why I'm not a good writer. And the reason why, first time I wrote my book, I was talking to Willie Jolly, Dr. Willie Jolly.

[00:32:17] Now he came and spoke at Norton Healthcare. And I asked him, I said, Hey, I said, how do you write a book? He said, dude, he said, just write one page a day. And the first book I wrote, I was unemployed. And so I got that published in 2008. This last book I got published last year. I did a video every week posting. I posted it on Tik Tok and Instagram and Facebook. Use that information to help with creating the book. So, and I embellished on that.

[00:32:47] So I'm not a writer. Yeah. I'm not a reader. Yeah. I don't even think I read my book. I don't even think I read my book. Well, you're a content creator and you just use your, your, your, your writing in that way. And that's kind of what I do with this. It's like, you know, I can sit here and write a book about a lot of stuff, which I'm actually in the process of writing a book, which is exciting. And, you know, but it's like, I don't expect someone to sit down and read the whole book cover to cover.

[00:33:16] The videos keeping people's attention right now and engaged is, is difficult. Even as you sit and talk for some 45 minutes in front of people, right? Like, how do you keep them engaged when you're sitting there talking to an audience? Yeah. So it is hard. It's not easy. So to become a top 100 human resources influence on LinkedIn, is that, is that a, is that a process? Like how did that happen? That was cool. I do not know how it happened.

[00:33:45] Um, you know, just tell you one day, like, Hey, here you are. This is, this is where you're at now in the, uh, in the ranking of LinkedIn. Yeah. I loved it when I got it. I was surprised by it. And you know, the other role that I have, I'm in leadership development. And, um, some of the programs that I developed internally, St. Elizabeth. Yeah. I posted them on LinkedIn and evidently they got a lot of hits and you know, um, whatever algorithm they use, that's how it came around. I was happy and surprised that I got it.

[00:34:16] And, um, yeah, I don't know if it was brand new or not, but I'll, you know, I'm, I'm holding on to it. However old is going to be David. Well, maybe one day I'll get there. I don't know. I've, uh, I've joined a podcast community. I'm on the HR channel on Roku, um, and fire TV, Amazon fire TV, which is brand new. So if you are, you know, enjoying this conversation, there's several others like me out there on the

[00:34:42] HR channel with Roku, just like you would download Hulu or anything else out there. It's, it's a, it's a different way of, of getting the, uh, the content across to the, to the audience. So it's, it's awesome. It's a good time. So, um, thanks for coming by. David, I appreciate you having me on this. On this, man. This has been a lot of fun. Been looking for it. I was really looking forward to this. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I've, I've done the podcast once before and, uh, I just love being able to share the

[00:35:10] information and helping out with the content creator like yourself. Yeah. Getting it out to the public. Well, we'll get you on as a full guest for a full episode in the future as some of these others have already been on Andre and, and Scott McGowan. They've been on as a full, a full guest as part of the previous 70 episodes. And so you'll, you'll be out there in the future. You're, you're more than welcome to join that group. So, and I'm local man. So, you know where to find me. Yeah. All right, man. I appreciate it. All right.

[00:35:39] I appreciate you coming by and enjoy your, uh, key chain. It's got the key chain, a little, uh, payroll partners, barrel bourbon. It's not full of bourbon, but that's for you, man. I'm going to Buffalo trace tomorrow. Give me some. There you go. We're gonna have a happy hour here. We're gonna have Wenzel. So. Okay. Get to try their bourbons. I sure will. Thanks a lot. All right. Take it easy. Take care.

[00:36:12] You can find yourself paying hundreds of dollars a month for a single job board. And if you're using multiple job boards for multiple positions, this could add up to thousands of dollars a month. There is a much simpler and more affordable way of finding the right candidate. At payroll partners, we offer an applicant tracking system to help manage your hiring process.

[00:36:39] Our ATS is customizable, allowing you to decide which days you want to run the job and when to close it. So you don't break the bank. And this feature lets you e-blast your network, hosting jobs on multiple boards at once, all managed in one location. Payroll partners, elevating your payroll and HR experience.

[00:37:10] Welcome to Ghosted by the Machine, the podcast about work, hiring, and all the things no one explains after you click Submit Application. We talk about broken hiring systems, AI filters that eat resumes for sport, recruiter ghosting, and the very real humans trying to survive it. Each episode features real stories, honest conversations, and just enough sarcasm to stay sane. No buzzwords, no thrill to announce, no advice written by an algorithm pretending to be a

[00:37:40] thought leader. If you've ever wondered where your application went, you are in the right place. This is Ghosted by the Machine. No resume required.

[00:37:49] Why do I look so short? You and I are about the same. I don't know. You can fix your chair a little bit.

[00:38:18] I don't know why I'm fixated on that today. It's all good. It was good to see a keynote speaker that wasn't super tall. Right? Yeah. Yeah, right? I know. So we are back with our next speaker guest on Speakeasy HR, a former guest of Speakeasy HR, which is great to have back on and actually meet him in person. So Todd Birch, welcome to Speakeasy HR Live from the HR Collaborative. It's been a fun day.

[00:38:49] We've been looking outside and it's sunny. There's a golf course. And I think in the future, if it's at this venue, it would be great to be able to go out and play some golf with people that would want to play golf. But so you're here. Yes. As a breakout. And so you had the morning session. I did. So you're one of those earlier. And so how did, how did the overall session go?

[00:39:16] We're going to talk a little bit about your topic because obviously I wasn't able to go. Yeah. And other people that decided to go to another one, shame on them, but it's okay. That's okay. You got to pick and choose. You got three options, A, B, or C. I know. Right? So yours was, um, Ignite Your Spark. Right. Turning resistance into resilience. A framework for leading change. Yes. So break that down, but also share a little bit about your background for people that

[00:39:41] may not know who you are because I've, I've got your, obviously your bio and just everything you've been doing with the spark. I love it. I love your content and your, and your, your approach to it all. So maybe start with kind of your background and give people a good sense of like what you've been focused on. And then we'll dive into your, your topic today for a little bit. Yeah, absolutely. So my, what I'm doing right now is I'm a keynote speaker and a mental fitness coach,

[00:40:08] specifically in the positive intelligence framework, which is a neuroscience backed program. And the talk today was about embracing change. And it's been interesting, David, this whole conference has had a theme and I don't think it was selected necessarily. The theme has been growth, choosing growth over comfort, a growth mindset and embracing change. Cause let's be honest. The one thing that's inevitable is change.

[00:40:37] So you can either get on board with it or you can run and be miserable, but we could, there are ways that we can start to embrace change. And that's what I talk about is really how do we move from resistance to possibility? Yeah. Let's see it as a learning opportunity as growth as possibility. Yep. And then I go into my spark framework, the five pillars, which is curiosity.

[00:41:03] So igniting that spark with curiosity, mindset, fueling your mind with mental fitness, building that resiliency and having that self command. And then going into action, intentional action with small steps. And then you start to see that growth compound. You get the momentum, confidence rises, fear lowers. And then the last is impact. That's what I love David the most is that impact. Because when you see that multiply and you see that scale, right?

[00:41:33] That's the most important thing that we can do in HR or as leaders, as parents. It's not only our responsibility, but it's a privilege, right? To be able to go out and spread that light into everybody we serve. Yep. So that's really what the talk was about. It went great. I feel like, you know, you're always your hardest critic, which is actually part of my work as saboteurs and getting rid of the judge that's in your ear all the time. But no, the feedback was great.

[00:42:03] You know, I felt energized. You're right. The space, we're in this golf course, country club, and there's tons of natural light. It's a sunny day out. Yeah. You know, it's funny, David. I started off with gratitude. I said, you know, hey, thank you, HR. Yeah. Thank you. He brought me this today. Look at that. Just said, thank you. Thank you for everything you do. Yeah. Being the people behind the people. Thank you for navigating change, for working through uncertainty. I mean, let's be honest.

[00:42:32] Times right now are tough and we need HR more than ever. Yeah. Right now. So, you know, I just feel blessed and grateful that I was able to drive down here. Yeah. And it was cool that this is my second year. Yeah. I got to meet you. Yeah. You know, in person. Matt Stein, who helped coordinate, brought me down again this year. Yeah. So, it's great. I love being here. I love the HR community. It's funny. I didn't really like HR to begin with. Yeah. We're a unique group. I'm not a traditional HR guy.

[00:43:03] I did not grow up wanting to do HR, but here I am 20 years later and getting to do this podcast and talking to people that have such a great message. And so you were, your background, I like your journey about, you were very marketing driven. Right. Yes. You were the CEO of, it was called Evolve Marketing. Yep. Still is. Yep. Still around. But now you do this kind of work. Yes.

[00:43:31] You know, looking at the different people that you talk to in HR operations and leadership and like you were talking impact. Mm-hmm. And anybody can impact other people. Yes. Andre's message before when he talked to me and he's the closing keynote is, you know, you may not be the leader in the organization, but you can still be in a leadership mentality Yes. And you can still be in a leadership role in your organization to help the culture and the people around you. Mm-hmm.

[00:43:59] Because again, we talk about generations working together and like I've got, I was just telling Dr. Robinson about, I have teenagers and it's like the thought of them going into the workforce and the people that they will work with. Right. Depending on the job that they get. It's kind of like, you know, I think I'm doing a good job as a dad, but like, is everybody going to be prepared when the next generation comes into the workforce and what that's going

[00:44:27] to look like with, with AI and technology and the way people work and being in person. Right. Like, I feel like you make an impact way more. I feel when you're in person versus virtual. Preaching to the choir. Right. Yeah. So, so as you look at, you know, your, your message and like some of the things that you might have said, like what was maybe something that you might've said where you saw like people

[00:44:57] go, okay, I get this. Was there like something that you might've said that really got them like their spark lit? Yeah. I think it was two things really gratitude. Yeah. And a lot of my talk is all based on very simplistic things that we can do. But here's the thing, David, most people don't do them because one, they're simple. Two, they're free. And then there's just obvious. Yeah. So we take it for granted. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

[00:45:25] I can't tell you how many times I say to the audience who here has a gratitude practice like built into your routine, two out of 50 people, almost every single talk. Dude, that's depressing to me. And I'm not beating down on people. I didn't have one for many years. I do now. It's about creating a habit, right? James clear atomic habits. Yep. We have to just make it our default. But if you start your day with gratitude, you're focused on what you have and not what you don't have.

[00:45:52] And that's a great way to instill positivity, empathy into the workforce, into the culture. So, boom, boom. Mini air horn. Yes. Gratitude, baby. Yeah. That's awesome. That was the reframe game. It's a simple mindset shift from, oh, I have to, David. I have to go be on this podcast. I really don't want to. Right. To reframe that I get to. I get to.

[00:46:19] I get to get out of my comfort zone, be live with David. Who knows? Everything I say is not going to be perfect, but it's an opportunity to build connection, maybe spark, you know, spark somebody's interest in HR or just in the topic in general. So, yeah. So, did you challenge people when you talked about the gratitude part? Mm-hmm. And I'm at fault for that. Like, do I wake up and I think about gratitude and telling people, hey, I appreciate what you do?

[00:46:47] Or like, is there a routine that you have in your day, your habits that you start your day with gratitude somehow, some way? Like, what does that look like? How can you challenge someone to do that? Absolutely. And that's the key, David. It's just fear. It's not the same, right? There's not a formula. So, what works for you? It only takes two minutes. And what works for me is that I blend that into meditation and prayer. So, every morning I have five, maybe seven minutes, depends on the day, but it's always there.

[00:47:17] Meditation, quiet, not this, you know, crazy, um. You know, really, it's just a mindfulness practice. But then I have, you know, a minute or two of prayer and then I mix that into my prayer. You know, it generally, you know, just makes sense, right? It fits right in. And that's what I do. Right. But you can do it in your commute to work. Yeah. Just turn off the radio, turn off the podcast and just say it out loud. I'm grateful for being able to drive to work, to have a job.

[00:47:47] I'm grateful that I'm alive. I'm grateful that my kids are healthy. I'm grateful for the opportunity to come to a conference and learn and grow. My company is really investing in training and leadership, personal development. So, it's easy. It's one of those things. And it's all about habits. Our life is governed by patterns and habits. Yeah. So, the more that we can really be intentional about the habits we want to create, all it takes is two months. Yeah.

[00:48:17] 66 days, research says. And you can have a brand new habit. Just like brushing your teeth and tying your shoes. Yeah. You can have gratitude or curiosity, embracing discomfort, cold plunge, you know, whatever it is, you know, there's a number of things. Start small. Yeah. Absolutely. That's the thing. Because most people, it's change. It's something new. And if it feels overwhelming, you're not going to do it.

[00:48:43] So, I say, you're not going to go run a marathon tomorrow if you've never ran before. Right. And James Clear says in Atomic Habits, first day, go get your shoes and set them by the door. Done. Next day, put your shoes on. Done. Next day, you can see, right? And then you're doing, you're walking a couple miles, 5k. Half marathon. And next thing you know, you're running a marathon. Yeah. Yeah. Small steps. Build confidence. Celebrate the wins. Next thing you know, you're a machine. A gratitude machine. Gratitude machine.

[00:49:16] There you go. So, you got a podcast of your own? Yes. The Bolt. The Bolt. What a name. What a thunk. How long did it take you to think of that name? Ignite your spark. The Bolt. There it is. There's the Bolt right there. Yeah. Matt, Matt's walking around with that shirt on. So, tell me about the Bolt. Yes. Or people that have not heard of it. So, what's, what's your take on that? What's, what's your focus?

[00:49:42] Like, what are you trying to portray in that discussion with people that you bring on? Yeah. It's really extending the conversation of the work that I do in coaching. Yeah. We focus on leadership. Yeah. Development and personal growth. And a lot of it really is two things, really. And I was just talking to an attendee who was in my talk. And we, we both kind of aligned with, it's about men getting vulnerable. Mm-hmm. Especially, most of these people are leaders.

[00:50:12] Authors, speakers, executive coaches, and empowering women. Those honestly seem to be the two main. Not, it wasn't intentional per se. Yeah. But I think both of those, actually I know, for me at least, those are really important to me. And topics that need to be discussed. Yeah. You know, so I had, you know, Kathy Sullivan on. You know, Moms, Moms Eats Last. Yeah. You know? And then you were on the show. Yeah. John Bernanovich was on the show.

[00:50:41] So it's not an HR specific show. Yeah. It's leaders, but I mean, leadership is work. Yep. The state of the work. What's it look like? Absolutely. But that's it. We're focusing on specific topics. I had a doctor and we talked about empathy, how important empathy is as a leader. We talked about EQ last week. So it's whatever that person has, but somebody that is a thought leader. Yeah. And whatever that thought is in their industry. Yeah. That's been the focus. It's been fun.

[00:51:11] And you know, it's a lot of work, but, and you were on the show. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome conversation about the state of HR and what HR looks like this year, the challenges and, and, and some of the things that we can work on. Definitely. I'll end you with, I'll, I'll end it with this question for you. Okay. I've asked everybody else and, and I, I might've asked this on the episode with you and shame

[00:51:36] on me if I, if I did, but your career and advice you've been hearing from other people that you have really thought about and used, you know, biggest piece of advice you've received in your career. Anything stand out to you? That's really helped. You know, it's sad. Nothing stands out. And here's why, because I really wasn't open to feedback. Yeah.

[00:52:06] You know, that was something that I had to work on. Yeah. I'm not saying I was, I definitely, I had some major issues, but I really wasn't open to So, so I don't think I really had those mentors or people that felt like they could give me anything. Yeah. But what I've learned David and just thinking about this, cause I've been asked this before it's going back to my father who was blue collar. Him and I were both janitors at Akron city hospital and I watched him.

[00:52:32] He never taught me anything per se, sat down and said, Hey Todd, this is what I think you should do leadership. But I watched him and it was all about just treating people with respect. Went back to the golden rule. Yeah. Which is honestly, if we just went back again to the basics, everything, all the tools we have are right there. We don't need a fancy leadership program or expensive training. I'll be at those are great. Yeah. Strength finders.

[00:53:26] Yeah. I'll be here the rest of the day, brother. All right. Thank you. Thanks for stopping by. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. We'll see if the next one's ready and just a few minutes of messages from our sponsor and we'll be right back. Finding a new employee takes time and money for one position on a single job board. You could easily spend a minimum of five to $10 a day advertising a job post. It's worth noting that the average time it takes to hire a new employee is 36 days.

[00:53:54] However, it can take longer than that. You could find yourself paying hundreds of dollars a month for a single job board. And if you're using multiple job boards for multiple positions, this could add up to thousands of dollars a month. There is a much simpler and more affordable way of finding the right candidate. At Payroll Partners, we offer an applicant tracking system to help manage your hiring process. Our ATS is customizable, allowing you to decide which days you want to run the job and when to close it so you don't break the bank.

[00:54:24] And this feature lets you e-blast your network, hosting jobs on multiple boards at once, all managed in one location. Payroll Partners, elevating your payroll and HR experience. We are back. One of the final guests to come on Speakeasy HR today, Sean Olson. Welcome to Speakeasy HR. Thanks, man. How are you? Awesome. Having a good day so far.

[00:54:53] Yeah. It's been a lot of fun. It started early and had a great keynote. Had breakouts this morning and finishing up one right now before the closing. So, you talked about a really interesting topic from fixer to influencer and a leader others want to follow. Yep. So, start and I have your bio. I'm not going to kind of read through it all, but...

[00:55:23] We want to keep their attention. Keep their attention. You know, want to pull out things that I feel like people need to know. So, I think just high level stuff on your background. Sure. You were obviously picked and selected to be here from the group of submissions. And I was on the committee and got a chance to see and hear a lot of people's topics and see what was, you know, being brought up. And so, you were picked to be here.

[00:55:50] And we are very appreciative of you to be here. So, kind of explain your background a little bit to people that don't know who you are. Sure. So, I'm Sean Olson, co-owner with my wife. We founded Renegize Professional Coaching 15 years ago. Okay. And we're blessed now today to have a team all across the US and Canada. Okay. And so, we do executive coaching, leadership development. And with that leadership development comes a lot of speaking, facilitation.

[00:56:17] With the growth of the company now as CEO, my job is getting on stages, running our podcasts, being the ambassador for the company to scale. Yeah. Okay. How long have you had a podcast? We just hit year three. Three years are done. So, we're starting year four. Exactly. There you go. It's been fun. I look back at year one and some of the audio sessions early on and I'm like, man, that was horrible. But hey, it still had an impact.

[00:56:46] We're getting better every day. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I normally don't have this setup. I'm normally home, better mic, better setup, you know, and I'm talking to someone either local on the other side of the world. Yeah. And it's just, it's so fun to meet and connect with people in all parts of business and HR and these topics that we talk about. So, today I didn't get a chance to go to any of the breakouts. I've had a chance to interview everybody.

[00:57:14] And, you know, so looking at your focus within the organization and what you're bringing to this, you know, the fixer to influencer. And you were this morning's second breakout. I was. So, how did that session go? Yeah. Was it what you thought? Was it better? It went well from the standpoint the audience was engaged. Good. So, the whole topic behind this is most of us think we're good leaders, right? Yeah.

[00:57:43] When in reality we're fixers. And especially when I think about HR because when people come to HR, what do they need? They need an answer or a solution. So, what does HR do? Quick answers, quick solutions. We're fixers. Well, as a result of that, we actually negate our ability to influence and lead other people. Not only just those external partners that come in, but even internally with our HR teams. Yeah. We're still fixing all the problems. And when you fix, we as leaders become the bottleneck.

[00:58:13] Fixing is not leading. So, we want you to transition from being a fixer to an influencer. Yep. And then you're setting them up for success. Yep. It's a total mindset change. Yeah. And it's easier said than done, I'm sure. Oh. Everything in leadership sounds simple, but it's not easy. Yeah. And leadership styles for somebody new to leadership or someone that's been in leadership for 30 years.

[00:58:40] Owning a business, running a business, trying to manage people. Messy people. People are messy. 100%. Yeah. It's not getting any better. You know, I think as I talked with Scott McGowan in mental health and people that are dealing with a lot of things outside of work, you know, it's about how you can as a business and leader really help impact those people around you that you hire and want to keep on your team.

[00:59:07] So, within your work industry-wise, are there certain industries that you feel like you have really been able to move the needle? Yes. Do you have a student? We're in generically four different groups. Four. Okay. Yeah. We're 25% of works in higher ed. Okay. And so, if you think about higher education, let's say you're a professor, you're a brilliant faculty member. You're a professor, because you get good student scores, good faculty scores. We're not going to make you a chair, make you an assistant dean, associate dean.

[00:59:38] Well, now all of a sudden, we're taking you away from the podium and the PowerPoint. You've got performance management. You've got P&L. You've got strategy. You've got promotions. And that goes in other sectors too, right? And you don't have a clue. Yeah. And so, we're coming in to really educate them. So, we're in higher ed. We're in healthcare, a lot in healthcare, government, and then just corporate in general. So, we're actually pretty broad. But here's why we're able to be broad. Leadership is not about skill, technically.

[01:00:07] What the organization is, their business, their function is irrelevant. I don't care if you're in HR, if you're in finance, if you're on the manufacturing floor. Leadership is people. You manage processes, you need to manage them well. You need to lead people. It's a totally different ballgame. Yeah. You are the author of This Is How I Roll. Yes. Play on words. R-O-L-E. Yes. Seven strategies to accelerate your leadership growth and promotability. Yes.

[01:00:38] So, hence how I roll. Yeah. I keep changing roles. Yeah. So, what got you to write a book? And what was that experience like? So, what got me to write a book was everybody saying you need to write a book. Yeah. Some unique thoughts. And I would say to any of your listeners, if they have a unique lens on a topic that's already done, share your unique lens. Yeah. We all think I'm not unique. No, you probably are unique.

[01:01:08] And share that lens, right? In the end, my wife calls the book a big business card. Yep. It's driving business. It gets me on stages like this. Exactly. And it has the opportunity with that. And so, just generically speaking, I hired a book coach. I hired somebody else for the proofing. I hired somebody else for layout getting on Amazon. Yeah. Cost me like 8K, right? We can say, that was five years ago, right when COVID hit, it came out. Great timing. Yeah.

[01:01:36] We can honestly say it's driven half a million to a million dollars of business for our company, for an 8K investment. Mm-hmm. There you go. That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah. I have met a lot of authors in the process of, and I've talked about it already, but I'm in the process of writing a book. Awesome. I'm writing book number two right now. There you go. Yeah. So, it's always fascinating to hear someone talk about that journey and why they wrote a book and what that was about.

[01:02:05] I'm being a little bit more scrappy. I'm not hiring a publisher, and it's more for my nonprofit that we have, my wife and I. So, you know, it's maybe next year at this time. Hopefully before then, it'll be out. Yeah. But, you know, what's your next? I want to say one thing about that though. The title on the promotability and stuff. Yeah. People are like, why? Because I'm talking about that unique spin, right? We track all of our data. What we found was really interesting is 43% of our coaching clients got promoted during or within a year of their engagement progress.

[01:02:35] So then we started reverse engineering. What are we doing in our coaching that's setting them up for that promotion? Yeah. Right. And that's why I wrote about it because it's a unique perspective of being promotion ready because coaching is the great accelerator. So you're going to be here in two years, no matter what. You work with us for six months. You're going to be there in six months, not two years. Yeah. It accelerates your growth, promotability. The next one is actually what I spoke about today.

[01:03:02] From fixer to influencer, a leader others want to follow. Okay. Okay. Yep. So I'm building out that entire framework, publishing that. Very cool. Really hoping to drive people because it's opening eyes. I do this little thing about like Jeff Foxworthy. I did it in the session today. Jeff Foxworthy, you might be a redneck if. Ask all these questions. You might be a fixer if. And people don't think they're a fixer. I went through six questions today. I said, okay, are any of you a fixer?

[01:03:32] Every hand went up. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yep. Yeah. Well, that's exciting. When, when are you trying to have that out? Any idea yet? I am. Great question. I plan on having it done in August. Okay. But then the actual work begins. Yeah. Getting all the back end stuff done, getting it set up for effective launch. Yep. I am going to shop it to a few publishers this time. Okay. We'll see what happens. Yeah. But I would expect that you would see it.

[01:04:03] Q1. 27. Okay. That's exciting. Well, I know that's going to be a huge success as, as you're talking about it. And I can just hear the passion about it. And, you know, seeing, seeing that you're using that skill in this way, it's, it's awesome. So the podcast, it's, uh, from a business aspect, what, what got you to start the podcast? To expand our brand. Yeah. Uh, and even expand internationally. Yeah. So half of our guests have been international leaders.

[01:04:33] So that's been intentional. Um, yeah. And honestly, what I, I didn't expect that I love about it. This happens in coaching too. I literally learn as much about them and about leadership as they do from me. Yep. Just by having these conversations and ours, it's called the intentional leader podcast. Cause everything in leadership has to be intentional. Yeah. And so I'm asking them like, if you were a guest on there, David, Hey David, walk us in your professional journey, but leadership lessons learned on the way.

[01:05:03] Cause the point is there are listeners out there who are like, well, I'm like David. Cause people think that like, I have to be a John Maxwell, a Tony Robbins, a Tim cook. No, no. Everyday leaders are normal people who have developed the skillset to get there. Yeah. And so people always say nature nurtures leadership, nature, nurture 10% of people. It's nature. They're born leaders. 90% of us nurture.

[01:05:30] Anybody can become an effective leader as leadership is influence. Exactly. Yeah. That's really cool. Well, I just joined a Roku channel for my podcast called the HR channel. Okay. It's, it's a brand new venture. That's another, uh, podcast host decided to just start. So it's on Amazon fire TV and Roku. So we're looking to bring in more.

[01:05:57] So maybe we'll talk more about yours and see if it might be a good fit. Cause Hey, I am, I am opening game. Another way to get people access to the content, you know, in the podcast world. So, um, so I've asked everybody this question about their, their background. And their advice they've received along the way. Yeah. So your journey of being an owner, an author, doing a podcast. I've been doing a podcast.

[01:06:23] Has there any, has there been anybody that has given you that kind of advice that has been the best advice you have received? And what was that? Wow. That is a loaded question. I can probably name five or six people for sure. Um, I'm going to name one. So I made a career transition. Yeah. 15 years ago. Okay. First 17 years of my professional career. I was a preacher. Okay.

[01:06:52] My greatest passion was teaching, developing leaders. I'm doing the same thing. Just a different context now. But when I transitioned out, ended up working in higher ed. That's why we do a lot of work with higher ed. Okay. They gave me a mentor. Um, he was incredible business mentor. And in my four years with him, I got like a lifetime of experience education. He was Jack Welsh's right-hand man during the turnaround in GE. Okay.

[01:07:20] And everything I learned from him has set me up for success with every risk we've taken in our business. And I use that phrase intentionally. Even if you know something, it's still a risk. You still have to step out. Right. There is no such thing as luck. There is no such thing as hope and sense of if you want to grow a business, if you want to go in your career, become an effective leader, there's intentionality behind it. Every single step of the way. Yeah. You create luck because you're intentional. That's awesome.

[01:07:49] Well, thanks for sharing all that. That was- Hey, my pleasure, man. That was awesome. And with everybody that's come on, I just, I'd love to hear their answer to that question and just about their journey and what they've been working on. So, you know, was this the first time you've been to this event? It is. Or have you been here before? No, first time this event. Okay. The way this kind of goes, one of the guys on the committee here, Matt Stein, he heard me speak at a conference a year ago, came up to me right after I was done.

[01:08:18] He's like, have you ever heard of HR Collaborative? I'm like, no. He's like, you need to come speak. Yeah. And so it's because of people like Matt that it allows me to expand my network of people. Yeah. And you know, no matter what we provide and impacting people at HR Collaborative, the gift is to us. Right. It's all people. I wouldn't have known you. We would be sitting here today and who knows what the future holds now because life is relationship. Absolutely.

[01:08:44] People have used the phrase that your network is your net worth referring to cash. I like the phrase, but I split the second two words. Your network is your net space worth. This is the value of life. This is the worth. Absolutely. It's our network. Yeah. You are absolutely correct with that. And I love meeting new people. A lot of these people here, I know just from other events being on Speakeasy HR.

[01:09:12] And so definitely you are welcome on as a future guest for a full guest. Let's do a swap. Yeah. I've done that many times. Me too. So it's been a lot of fun to be on other podcasts, people that do it as part of their job. And then I have people on that it's the first time on a podcast. That's awesome. I think it's fun that people take that leap and get out of their comfort zone. And, you know, I feel like some people today were not really familiar with this concept,

[01:09:40] but here we are and it's, it's great. So it's conversation. Yeah. Well, I appreciate you coming on. This is your, um, all right to you. This is a mini bourbon barrel, which doesn't have any bourbon in it, but I see Wenzel setting up for their bourbon tasting and the happy hour after the keynote closing. I'm a bourbon fan. So, Hey, appreciate you, man. Thanks for having me on. Appreciate it. Thank you, listeners. Just a minute of our sponsor message and we'll be back with the, uh, keynote.

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[01:11:12] So we are wrapping up the afternoon session and thrilled to see that Wenzel is here for the bourbon tasting after the closing keynote.

[01:11:36] So for those of you watching live, this has been an amazing day of speakers and conversations with the speakers on Speakeasy HR. So I'm just very fortunate to have this opportunity to come on and do this. So our final speaker coming on is the keynote, Dr. Kevin Snyder.

[01:11:57] He is globally recognized as a keynote speaker, best-selling author, multi-time TEDx presenter, and has inspired over a million people across 1,500 audiences. I was starting your bio and then he comes up. So here he is. I'll let him introduce himself a little more. Come on down. You're the next contestant, final contestant. Come on down. Who was on the Price is Right. You can clip that on. Look at this. Oh my gosh.

[01:12:25] He's got the actual name tag from the Price is Right. How about that? Welcome to Speakeasy HR. Good to see you. Good to be seen. You are closing the afternoon out. So you have a mini brick. You have a large brick. You've got a book. You've got a basketball. I've got a mini air horn. Oh, that's so cute. So we've got a lot of fun toys here. So I'm not going to go through your bio.

[01:12:55] I think you can probably tell everybody listening a little bit about your background pretty quick. And you were the keynote for this year. So we really do appreciate you coming in to be a part of this event and hopefully you've enjoyed it. But so tell everybody about your background. I started a little bit and then I stopped because I saw you coming by. So who are you? Who am I? Who are we? What's well, first off, I'm honored. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. Yeah. You and the planning committee.

[01:13:23] These conferences are special because no matter what they're called, they're all leadership conferences. I mean, if we're going to lead others, we have to lead self, right? Yep. Exactly. I love being the opening speaker today to help hopefully set a positive energy tone for the event. And then all these great breakout sessions and we're getting ready to have a closing keynoter as well. So, yeah, but my background, not a naturally motivated person. I'm not a natural speaker.

[01:13:50] I talk openly about that because it ties in not just the message, but the purpose of what I do. Yeah. I'm struggling with depression and what I had some turning points in my life that made me really want to share more of my message and my story with others to help others in the spirit of positive change. So it wasn't a mental health program, but I try to deliver everything with an uplifting tone. And today was all about becoming a shift thinker. Okay. So you got to say that real carefully. Shift. Shift. Shift. Thinker. Thinker.

[01:14:20] Say that after a few bourbons. That's coming up too. That's, that's going to be cool. That's going to be cool. Yeah. No, this has been, I got a chance to hear a lot of your speech this morning and talking to everybody. And you know, you're the, you're the opening keynote. People are kind of awake and kind of not. So you're trying to get them engaged and raising hands and the price is right videos of you being on the price is right.

[01:14:47] So I think overall people came up to me after, and I've heard from many people about how great the keynote was. So obviously every year we, we, we try to bring a keynote in. Um, and this year it's a little different cause we have a keynote and then a closing keynote, but you know, we just obviously think that your message was such a great way to start it.

[01:15:07] So people that weren't here listening live or, or in, in, in, in, you know, future recordings, tell us about, you know, this becoming a shift thinker, uh, your competitive advantage in HR leadership. So what, what were some of those things that you wanted to throw out there to the crowd and just get them to like grab onto it?

[01:15:26] Sure. Well, and there's a, there's a lot of backstory too, on like why shift thinker and that's kind of the play on it. Um, but you know, during the pandemic, I mean, the pivoting that phrase really struck a chord with me because I grew up playing basketball and that was a basketball term.

[01:15:46] Um, and well, that's short term protection. There's a purpose, but at some point, if we want to progress in life, if we want to move forward in life and leadership and our organizations and our teams and our own personal goals, anything, uh, we have to like learn. All right, now I need to dribble. Now I need to pass the ball to shoot the ball. So instead of pivoting, we need to shift. Otherwise we are just going around in circles.

[01:16:10] Um, and as the world shifts and we'll continue to always shift, we have to actually shift, not just with it. We have to be proactive. And I feel like, especially with this type of audience, um, with this audience of HR professionals, they're in important leadership roles that, you know, with pulse on the organization and all the different hats that they wear.

[01:16:31] I mean, change isn't, it's, it's, it's, it's happening. So how are we proactive to that? And so the shift thinker keynote that I delivered is all about four main fundamentals on how to shift. And ultimately, um, you know, cause, cause organizations can't grow unless their people do. At least that, that's what I believe. Yeah. So, yeah. Um, so you, you travel a lot. First time to Cincinnati.

[01:17:00] I'm a big Reds fan. I've been here a few times. Okay. Okay. Um, I, I travel wherever I get asked to go. Uh, but I love Ohio. Um, my family grew up here. My dad, my mom and my dad actually met at Miami, Miami of Ohio. My dad grew up in Dayton. Okay. Um, we have Jessica Plaska from Miami, Ohio. She was my first, she was supposed to be in this slot and she went to the first one since you had so many people signing your books and that was great.

[01:17:25] So we wanted to keep you out there and be a part of the following piece of your, of your keynote. So I ask everybody this and it's about your career and advice you've received. So what is the biggest piece of advice you've ever received? So I've, I have two career prior to speaking. I worked in student affairs. Um,

[01:17:54] from a speaking, I've had several mentors as well. And I feel like I've never met Steve Martin, but there was a quote by Steve Martin, the comedian and the actor. Um, um, well I hope this is what he, I feel like he's quoted this by saying, be so good that they can't forget you. Yeah. And I think as a, as a presenter, which is what I do, I mean, it's not about, it's about, it's about impact, right? It's about influence, impact to help people personally and professionally.

[01:18:24] Um, and I, I feel like that's always been something because it's not about me, it's about the message. And if I'm delivering impact, then people wouldn't be able to then hopefully remember content, remember actionable strategies that then they can apply, whether it's at work or at the dinner table. So, um, that's, that's kind of the, and I wish I could give you a better answer, but that's, that's, that for some reason, there's not a wrong answer. That's the spirit moving to answer it that way.

[01:18:51] I've heard so many different answers to that. And I, and I love hearing everybody's because it's like, you can talk about a very similar topic compared to other people that come on, but like your background and who have influenced you, it's all different. And so I just, I hope people listen to everybody that has been on this show and just somebody will connect to what you said or what Andre has said or

[01:19:16] Julie or anybody out there. So that's, that's really why I do this. It's more about helping people explain their career background, their advice, their, their, you know, their path and what your message is today. And I'm curious about these bricks. So what are these bricks for? Yeah. Uh, so these are, uh, props, uh, but you know, I carry a bag with me that's got a variety of items,

[01:19:41] but they're, they're, they're, they're visual enhancements, uh, you know, kind of to the content within the speech. So there's a segment in my speech when we talk about envisioning new possibility or new opportunity, envision the no, um, it's an acronym because ultimately we have, you know, the story was, or is there's three bricklayers. They're all asked the same question. What are you doing? Well, the first gentleman saying, I'm laying brick. That's all he thinks he's doing is just laying brick.

[01:20:07] Well, second person, their answer is, um, I'm, I'm building a wall with, with the brick. And the third bricklayer is asked, same question. What are you doing? His answer is I'm building. And there's a slide that shows the Biltmore estate made out of brick. And ultimately we all deal with bricks on a daily basis. All the distractions, the interactions, compliance, the procedures, the trainings, all the, just think of the different bricks that we deal with.

[01:20:36] And they're not just bricks. They're opportunities to build. So for me, working as an academic advisor in my prior role before speaking full-time, you know, there were times where, yeah, I had a lot of work to get done and I had deadlines. And when I had that knock on the door by a student who needed help, there were times I had to shift my own thinking. And I didn't realize that would be an upcoming

[01:21:00] keynote 10 years later, but I realized students, not a distraction to my work. They're the purpose of it. And every email, every phone call, every meeting, every, even frustration was a building block opportunity. So the bricks are a symbol of reminding us that every interaction matters. And we decide whether we're placing a brick down to build a wall or we're picking it back up.

[01:21:25] That's awesome. So there you go. How about that? And they're fake bricks. They're not heavy. They're, they're foam. Yeah. That's very cool. Well, I'll give you a little, this is one of a kind. I don't have any more of these. I do have for all my guests, a little, uh, urban barrel key chains with the

[01:21:47] Carol partners logo and the speakeasy HR logo. Love it. Um, it's been a pleasure to have you on speakeasy HR. If you ever want to come on as a full guest, we definitely want to get you on in the future. And, uh, that's how I've had several people just like this, you know, last year, several have come on as a full guest and then got to see him again here, uh, this, this year. So it's

[01:22:13] been, it's been awesome. So hopefully you enjoyed it. I did. Thank you for all you've done and you make a speaking easy, hence the speakeasy, speakeasy podcast. And, uh, it's got the bourbon theme, right? It's got the bourbon vibe. We've got, you know, a happy hour coming up bourbon tasting with Wenzel whiskey, great friends over at Wenzel. So I appreciate you being a part of this event. Thank you. I hope everybody listened to this and who were not here. Hopefully you consider coming

[01:22:41] next year to the HR collaborative and seeing this amazing event. It's the 16th year doing it, 17th year, something like that. So it's, it's a great all day event that I don't know in our region. There's something like this out there. Um, so you get access to so many great people speaking today and you don't get a chance to hear them all as, as, you know, part of the breakout. So this is why I love doing this is to be able to talk to everybody. That's brilliant. Love it. Well, thanks everybody for

[01:23:09] joining. Thanks for coming and being a part of this. Everyone have a great afternoon. We're going to go enjoy the keynote closer, Andre, and then we're going to go to the happy hour. So thanks a lot. Have a great day, everybody. See you later.