Hot Mess Hotline

Wayne Patrick is a serial tech entrepreneur whose Hot Mess Hotline conversation is about his lessons learned during the Great Recession in 2008. His "world fell apart," when he got a Monday morning call losing 10% of his sales.  The firm was in hot water.  At the time, Wayne's company, PDD, was firmly entrenched in the automobile industry.  Wayne's world was falling apart and he knew he had no cho...

In today’s episode, Mike Sipple Jr. wants you to know that as a mid-level leader you are an inspiration! It might not feel that way sometimes. You may be asking, "How can I be an inspiration as a mid-level leader?" Here's how: It's through learning experiences and having to make decisions that we grow.  As a leader, you have a vision and you make decisions based on those long-rang planes. Sometime...

Do you ever wish that you could see that your CEO is a human being? That they are vulnerable? That they can mess up? In today’s episode, Aimee Kandrac, CEO and Founder of WhatFriendsDo , tells us about a time where her close friend’s son was diagnosed with a cancer. As her friend’s family waited in isolation in the hospital for 100 days, many stories were shared and stored on Aimee's database. Abo...

Kevin Berkopes talks about the Hot Mess that happened due to COVID which jarred schools: the largest healthcare, childcare, and food programs in the world.  Kevin and his company, Crossroads Education , work to support schools in parenting alongside parents to help create healthy kids by using relationship-based education. Kevin knows that "Everyone has a solidified opinion on what needs to be don...

This episode reveals how a CEO learned powerful lessons during a staff tragedy and how it built resilience for 2020. While we'll never wish this trauma on your team, there are real lessons you and your staff can always take from challenges. Why everyone on a team needs to share responsibility for revenue generation Why having your people share in the spotlight is critical for succession planning H...

This episode discusses the limitations to passion, why being less intolerant can be a great thing, and tools to know people are doing their jobs. Darren Reese is the CEO of the SESCO Group and he is sharing his secrets to success as an unlikely executive, including taking control of your own learning and several key tools to trust your people are doing the right thing. Get these episodes and more...

Stefanie Krievins and Executive Coach and Mastermind Host Cal Ellison discuss the deep questions that the pandemic forced business leaders to answer. The pandemic and economic shutdown forced CEOs and mid-level leaders to really evaluate why and how they were successful. This episode offers new tools to think about planning for and re-thinking growth in the future. Get these episodes and more stra...

Last year, 2020, was the ultimate hot mess. And 2021 is also starting out with a bang. But there's always good that emerges during difficult times. This episode features Armando Lanuti, the president of Creative Works. This company designs the backdrop and experience in family entertainment centers. Their primary customers' businesses closed up shop when COVID hit. They were on track for a blockbu...

We've all seen the inspirational placard "There's No I in Team!" If you want to know how to improve communication within a team, the first thing that you need to know is there IS an "I" in "Team" - and no, asserting your "I"-ness does NOT necessarily make you an A-Hole. I’m talking about how to build trust at work by bringing the personalities, individualism, and egos of your team away from the ex...

Time management is a myth, and today, I’m going to talk about why – and what you should be doing instead to maximize the time you have, manage expectations at work and at home with the emergencies that inevitably arise, and get your best work done without the constant stress. See the full blog post and transcript at https://stefaniekrievins.com/ why-time-management-is-a-myth /   Get these episodes...

Friends, growing up Gen X meant growing up in a really interesting time. We were independent, sometimes latchkey kids, bridging genres, friend cliques, interests, and more. This independence didn’t go away when we entered the workforce, either! It made us confident and awesome. See the full blog post and transcript at https://stefaniekrievins.com/why-gen-x-is-awesome/ Get these episodes and more s...

If you’ve ever asked yourself, “So why is strategic planning important to a small company?” Sam Julka has your answer. As Sam discusses in this episode of the Hot Mess Hotline, she and her team had to figure out how to use tools in new ways, provide clients with a needed service, and keep their doors open despite everything changing.  Listen to this episode now. See the full blog post at https://w...

For Sam Julka, the President and Founder of DORIS Research, 2020 proved that strategic planning can sometimes have unintended or unexpected benefits, such as finding yourself with a team of great advisors during a global pandemic. As a business that revolves around researching the physical office space of other companies, Sam faced immediate client loss and hard decisions. It was clear that their...

In Part 2 of Mike Loggins’ interview, we’re going behind the scenes to learn how Mike, a global vice president of IT, and his team changed their communication style by completely changing their workspace, and how “What can we do to make this work?” became the innovative question they needed to succeed. See the full blog post and transcript at https://www.stefaniekrievins.com/how-1-powerful-questio...

Mike Loggins, a global vice president of IT, and I discuss how to improve communication within a team on this episode of the Hot Mess Hotline. When it came to team communication strategies, Mike had some ridiculous ambiguity on his hands. Mike used to believe that if he just designed the best processes and bought the newest technology then, voila, there will be transformation and cultural change....

Coming into 2020, when you thought of how to overcome change management challenges, you didn’t have the fallout of a global pandemic on your radar. If you’re Jim Morris, CEO of the Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity, you’re also facing the recent merger with another nonprofit. And this is after a nearly 8-year competitive struggle with the board and staff of an organization that you lead. My interv...

Typically when I talk with a client about how to manage conflict, it’s within an organization. On this’s episode of the Hot Mess Hotline, Jim Morris, the CEO of Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity, and I discuss conflict with an outside, competing nonprofit. Jim found himself navigating both internal and external conflict as he spent 8 years in this hot mess with an organization that was supposed to...

If you think change is hard, you’re doing it wrong. And you’re probably doing change management training wrong, too. So what is change management training, and what’s the number one secret that every Pro Troublemaker knows about change? Friends, that’s what I’m talking about in today’s video! I’m hitting three key points today in helping you to identify what change management training is best for...

Over the years I’ve learned that when people ask me what I do for a living, they always have a follow up question! For some, it’s how to deal with *that* coworker or boss: managing conflict within a team, what to do when you report to several people, and so on. For others, it’s how to reach that next level in the workplace, whether seeking a promotion, finding a new job, or beginning to think abou...

Leaders, it’s time to budget for 2021 and today I’m here to say don’t cut your professional development budget! I know it can be tempting, or even seem reasonable, to make cuts here. We’re approaching the recovery phase of COVID-19, you may be tasked with cutting costs in your budget, and you  may not even be sure how much to budget for professional development!   Despite the uncertainty, I’ll say...

As a leader, it's not up to you to keep everyone happy and motivated all the time. But it IS up to you to lead the way on creating a culture where employees motivate each other, where healthy conflict is encouraged, and where social and emotional connections are built even without physical proximity. The webinar starts off with two participant questions, "What's the #1 impact you've seen on your t...

Want to talk about the biggest factor in your team’s success? Want to talk about what success factors are important to small business owners? Want to talk about how to improve change management? Friends, that’s what you’ve got to do: TALK! Today’s Mini Mess is all about how to improve communication within your team. And while there’s no Golden Ticket to communication, there is a Golden Idea, and I...

Here’s the thing about SMART goals: they’re here to stay. Look no further than a quick Google search to tell you that SMART goals are an essential part of strategic planning for any workplace that wants to be successful in reaching their quarterly, annual, or multi-year objectives. In today's Mini Mess episode, originally recorded in January 2020, I'm talking about how SMART goals can help create...

When I start working with a team, the issues that I hear most often are trust, communication, and other problems that are rooted in trust and communication. Today, I’m focusing on how to build trust at work. Leaders, trust starts with you, and what I have to say about what you need to share and what you need to say may make you a little nervous. But ultimately, developing this skill will allow you...

If you've been here awhile, you know I'm a person who likes to get the real shizz done. I love talking sales, strategy, stakeholders, small business and salsa (so if you decide to conduct a goal-setting strategy session over chips and dip, I just might join you). In today's Mini Mess episode, originally recorded in January 2020, it’s time to talk about how to set meaningful, motivational goals to...