Getting Unstuck – Cultivating Curiosity

The performance of U.S. education is often the recipient of criticism – and much of it is justified. Despite mountains of research on what works and the strong effort of most educators, many of the students coming out of our K-12 system are only basically equipped to participate in and contribute to society. Why? Jay McTighe , a renowned educator, and Dr. Judy Willis , a neuroscientist and teacher...

Why do some of our communications land as intended and others don't? Say "Hello!" to Lila Smith , a messaging consultant and "Communications Breakthrough Coach." Lila has successfully leveraged her theatrical training to become one of the world's most recognized and sought-after communications experts. Here, we'll learn how to improve our messaging so that it's serving our purpose and the listener...

Most of us encounter adversity of some juncture during our lives. How we respond to it says a lot about who we are. Heather Younger certainly encountered adversity through a particular set of circumstances early in her life. We'll learn how Heather responded through the remarks she made at the May 2019 Colorado Springs TEDx. The title of her talk was "Transform Adversity into Opportunity with One...

In this "Transformation Story," we talk with Jessica Du Bois. Jessica is a consultant and leader in the employee benefit industry who helps organizations by creating people- and purpose-focused benefits programs.  Jessica's transformation story began when she was asked to join a small gathering of influential leaders. Listen to what two of the participants said to her and how that catalyst prompte...

What does it mean to provide candid and compassionate feedback? Why is this "ying" and "yang" of helping staff to improve so important to changing behavior? We'll get answers to these questions and others from two seasoned educators and prolific authors, bloggers, and podcasters, Joe Jones and T.J. Vari .

How might you think differently about how your organization works and approaches change? Here, we'll learn how Rona Wilensky , Ivette Visbal, and a team of educators wrestled with this question when they decided to break the mold of the traditional high school. Rona is the founding and former principal of New Vista, an alternative high school in Boulder, Colorado, and Ivette Visbal is currently th...

How human is your workplace? How can what works well at work, work even better? Whom do you rely on to initiate change at work: Yourself? Or "leadership" from above? We'll discuss these and other questions with Mike Vacanti , an organizational change catalyst. Mike is also the inspiration behind the #Human First Club – an intimate conference that seeks to "address the future of work, personal and...

In this episode of "Getting Unstuck – Shift for Impact," we're joined by Kris Macc . Kris is the founder and president of KMACC Solutions, a consulting firm specializing in emotional intelligence and leadership development in the workplace. She is also the author of the recently published and highly acclaimed #NOAPPROVALNEEDED, a book that brings together the consistency of voice of women in their...

Kevin Strauss is the CEO of Uchi, an app for connecting with others authentically and privately. Kevin trained as a biomedical engineer and invented medical devices for improving people's lives. Over time, he realized that a key element in whether individuals and teams could innovate successfully had more to do with soft-side human skills than their hard-side technical skills. Kevin turned this pa...

In this episode, we're joined by Marvin Cadet, a Project Manager for The Mission Continues. The Mission Continues is a national, nonpartisan nonprofit that supports Armed Forces' veterans to continue their service, and empower communities with their talent, skills and preparedness to generate visible impact. Marvin helps run critical community service projects in the Northeast – revitalizing neigh...

In this episode, we're joined by Bill Ruggles , a true Zen-master of project management. Bill will help us demystify the role of PM as it pertains to complex change initiatives. He'll talk extensively about three factors that organizations must consider when planning a major shift. Along the way we'll learn how PM can help organizations avoid having their change initiatives become part of the 70%...

Do you have to be naturally creative to innovate? Or is there a method and are there tools that everyone can use innovate? We'll explore this question and others with Amnon Levav, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Systematic Inventive Thinking (S.I.T.), a Tel Aviv-based innovation firm that works with organizations all over the world. Amnon will explain why innovating against the product,...

Do you have to be naturally creative to innovate? Or is there a method and are there tools that everyone can use innovate? We'll explore this question and others with Amnon Levav , co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Systematic Inventive Thinking (S.I.T.), a Tel Aviv-based innovation firm that works with organizations all over the world. Amnon will explain why innovating against the product...

Sarah Elkins is a keynote speaker, a Gallup certified Strengths coach, the creator of the annual and unique #NoLongerVirtual conference. She is also a communications coach, the host of the podcast, Your Stories Don't Define You. How You Tell Them Will, and the author of a forthcoming book by the same name. The river that runs through her work is communication – the stories we tell, how we tell the...

Gallup reports that some 70% of all U.S. workers are on the spectrum of disengagement at work. A number of factors converge here: ineffective leadership, a stifling culture, and unclear agreement on what impact the organization is trying have. So, too, does the fact that many workers are grinding away at jobs that reflect neither their passion nor their talents. in this interview, we'll hear from...

If you uttered "Ugh, resumes. . . ." when you saw the title of this episode, you're not alone. Writing resumes is one of those things we love to hate. To sort things out, we went to an acknowledged authority on the subject, Lynda Spiegel of RisingStarResumes. Lynda worked in an HR capacity for most of her career before going solo as a resume consultant. She's looked at countless resumes to know wh...

What it takes to market to anyone about anything is different today. The smart phone and access to unlimited information on the internet changed everything. It's no longer about a company's great products and or services – their "features and benefits." According to marketing veteran, Zach Messler, it's about the buyer – what they are thinking and feeling at any given moment. Listen in as Zach rev...

Innovations in technology are happening with ever-increasing speed. In this interview, we'll hear from Neil C. Hughes , a highly respected authority on technology, on how to develop a healthy relationship with it. Neil is a much sought after speaker and writer on technology trends. He hosts the incredibly popular daily podcast, "The Tech Blog Writer Podcast" with 50,000 listeners world wide. And s...

We all have a "river" that runs through our veins – a theme that punctuates our life. Sometimes that theme is muted, and some times it's loud. And sometimes it's there, but hidden. Listen in as millennial Jordan Gross talks about his path of self-discovery – how he tore away the obstacles that stood in his way of realizing what he is meant to do in work and life.

Have you ever caught yourself wondering if you weren't supposed to be doing something different? Maybe you thought, "I know I'm not cut out for doing 'this,'" but at the same time "I don't know what a different 'this' might look like." Coach Andrea Barry has heard that observation before – many times before. After a long and successful career as a military officer, Andrea decided to help business...

When we think of "project management," we probably think of plans, schedules, deliverables, resources, and dependencies among various functional departments. But in the following episode, senior project manager, Bob Prol explains how project management is a "people business." Projects succeed or fail based on the team members and their efforts. To help reinforce the human side of project managemen...

In this episode of "Getting Unstuck," we'll hear from social activist Orville Morales . Orville is a community outreach and change specialist. We'll learn how he marshals community support for the causes he's undertaking – support that has different perspectives on the desired change and on the kind of support need to enact a change. We'll learn about the critical importance of education and its u...

Why do some complex changes stick, while others fail miserably – up to 70% according to the Gallop organization. How much of change failure is the lack of attention paid to planning, resources, and other technicalities of change, and how much responsibility falls on the shoulders of people leading or implementing the change? Listen in as marketing communications expert, Mark O'Brien – who has witn...

How often as a leader do you find yourself worrying about what happened yesterday, or catastrophizing about all the things that could happen tomorrow? In this episode, the third in our series on mindfulness, we'll get insight into these questions and others with mindfulness teacher Oksana Esberard . Note: We'll also experience a bit of mindfulness by participating in a brief "whole brain" meditati...

What does it mean to be "mindful"? How can you work toward being more mindful? How does the mindful leader behave, and what impact does he or she have on those with whom they work? We'll get answers to these questions and more in this interview with Michael Bunting . Michael is the author of a number of books, most notably The Mindful Leader . And, as a mindful consultant and trainer, Michael work...