Joyosity

“Ugh, I swear I’ve answered that 5 million times.” You’ve thought that, haven’t you? Some days, as leaders, it feels like all we’re doing is repeating ourselves. When LaShonda recognized this as an entrepreneur speaking to her clients, she did something brilliant… She started posting her “how to’s'' on Youtube. It changed her career. Now she works a 20-hour week and makes real money from the platf...

When you’ve been performing since age four, the line between your work and your worth gets a little fuzzy. Jeff Koziatek shared with us his philosophy of separating the performer from the performance and how you apply this in your own work, whatever field you’re in. Jeff shared how he made a major shift in his work by focusing on the audience more and himself less. He also talked about the power o...

Command and control leadership. Most of us loathe these types of leaders, and I can count on one hand the organizations that need this type of leadership. The rest of us? The rest of us need authentic leaders. But here’s the kicker: we still need strong leaders. Leaders that aren’t afraid to voice their point of view… even if it’s a little spikey. In this conversation, one of my business coaches (...

I’ve learned through poor (and positive!) leadership examples that workplace culture isn’t just fun Fridays and ping-pong tables. Being a leader requires a lot of hard work, humility, and empathy. In this episode, Shed shares his definition of culture — it’s a formula for all of you visual learners out there — and the markers you should be paying attention to so you can create a culture that’s not...

An engaged workplace is productive, joyful, and most importantly, requires a brave leader. Now when I say brave, I don’t mean that you have to go bungee jumping off bridges or step in front of cars to save kittens. Bravery is a set of skills. You can learn the actions of bravery…even when you’re not feeling it. In this episode, I share the 5 skills every brave leader needs in order to lead a healt...

You can be really good at your job and really… inexperienced at leading others. It’s a tale as old as time (Yes, cue the Disney tune). I see it often when working with teams for workshops or keynotes. Fabulous nurses, engineers, graphic designers, etc. get promoted to leadership positions, but they’ve had no guidance on how to lead effectively. It’s not really their fault. It's just a gap in train...

Resilience is not something we are, it's something we work at. As a fellow finding-joy-at-work believer, Jenny and I are on the same page about SO much. What I loved hearing most from Jenny is what the physiology of stress looks like in the body and, more importantly, what we can do with that physical response! We each have our own lingo for the parts of the brain that takeover when stressed, but...

When the panic rises. When the emotions are high. Where are your thoughts? As a leader, your ability to control your thoughts is directly linked to your ability to lead. Full stop. In this episode, I’m sharing my recent experience with panic and inner thoughts and sharing something I will ALWAYS get on my soapbox about: leading yourself first. In my newsletter this week, I gathered what stories ar...

"A hard conversation is a negotiation with an attitude.” Have you heard a better explanation?! I will never go into another hard conversation again without Kwame’s words echoing in my head. Kwame, a negotiation expert, author, and podcast host, joined us live to talk about how our internal stories influence our conversations and our negotiations. How we talk to ourselves — and the stories that we...

At some point in life, all of us are going to experience something that impacts the way we show up at work. Talking about it might feel scary, but you may never know the ripple of change you could cause by sharing. As a financial advisor and Enneagram 8, Kristin isn’t usually the type to overshare at work. She’s great at her job and has been (and continues to be) successful in her career. When she...

Are you really leading? You’re crossing off todo’s. You’re pushing projects through. You’re even checking in on teammates. But are you leading?   Leadership starts with values. Getting clear on your values is essential to leading effectively but who has time for that? It seemed like something others get to do but definitely not me, definitely not in my job, I’m too busy!   Once I started...

Wit, wisdom, and an intense Alabama accent stopped me in the middle of my kitchen. Do you ever hear someone speak and think, “I have to know you more”? Someone else (so unmemorable I couldn’t even tell you who they were) was rambling on in a Clubhouse room when this delightfully direct drawl smoothly interrupted as the moderator, summarized the nugget of wisdom, and made me laugh. Each of those is...

Great leadership starts with a great mindset. It’s something I’ve come to learn, and you might be surprised to hear, it’s not always something I’ve believed.    I used to think working a little bit harder, putting your head down and your emotions to the side was the way to go. But after running into the same walls every couple of years, I realized it does start with the mindset and first...

The thought, “Does this work even matter,” has crossed all of our minds at some point. Have you ever found yourself scrolling and thinking, “oh my gosh, I have to do more!” thinking that the work you’re involved in isn’t quite important enough, isn’t doing enough, or changing enough in our world in some way? It’s an easy rabbit hole to fall down, which is why this conversation with Jordan was so i...

One woman can change the world. No really, ask Ronne. She and I both believe wholeheartedly in this statement. During our conversation, we dove into what changing the world actually means… and how it’s not that we should be doing everything. Especially as women leaders, we often find ourselves thinking, “Oh, I’ll just do that real quick,” and we push our real gifts and talents to the bottom of the...

A horrible knot forms in your stomach. Your ears fill with that whooshing sound. You start to wonder, “Is that true?!” From overhearing something to unhelpful feedback or even just mean words…those stories stick with us. And it will impact the way you show up in the world and will overflow into your team, your career, and your business. So what do you do next? Lauren, Principal Storyteller of Fore...

Growth can be scary as a business owner. Culture shifts with growth; there's no way around it. The more members of the team you bring on, the more that shift is going to happen. So how do we lean in? How do you shift and grow in a way that works for you and your business? After seeing insane growth at Clutch, Kiersten called me in to talk to her team about the Enneagram and the way that our person...

A 2-hour commute each way, a never-ending to-do list, and the stress piling on both at work and at home. Sound familiar? Corrie found herself in a chronic state of overwhelm. Like so many of us, she avoided the inevitable: change. One way or another, things had to change. She just knew it couldn’t be this, and it could be so much more. Corrie made a few bold choices, and through her work developed...

I remember VIVIDLY the first time a leader yelled at me at work. I know now that what I was feeling in that moment was shock but back then I had no clue how to address the situation. I knew how to handle conflict with my students but never with someone who was supposed to be in control and in charge. From that conflict and others like it I’ve learned that avoiding hard conversations still causes d...

You talk to yourself more than anyone else. Do you even know what you’re saying? Sometimes I look for someone else to enter the discussion and give me permission to just do the thing. I’ll tell you why — because sometimes I worry I am being too big for my britches and need to take a step back. But why do I tell myself that? There’s the little Regina George, mean girl saying, “You are in over your...

Humanitarian work. The root word — human. Nurses, teachers, counselors, and anyone in a service position that cares for other humans. But are these humans that care for humans being cared for? Often they are sacrificing themselves for the “work” and suffering burnout, exhaustion, and struggling to stay. Dimple Dhabalia is on a mission to challenge the narrative of service before self. After spendi...

Wonder — more than staring up at the night sky, wonder changes your leadership.   On the flip side, this misuse of wonder can show up in the form of worry and anxiety just as easily. And they older we get, we can lose the wonder that changes us in the best ways.   How do we keep the “wow” in our work? The good, positive kind?    How do we share that wonder with our team?  ...

Remember when you were a kid and you went to the swimming pool or the beach and you swam your heart out? You’d come home that happy kind of exhausted. The kind of exhausted that left a smile on your face. A positive culture should feel like that. You should be doing meaningful work, creating an impact, and coming home feeling thrilled and content. Does that sound impossible? In this episode I give...

This meeting could have been an email? How about this meeting could have been Butter? Engagement and collaboration are key to your success as a team but when we’re working remotely and CONSTANTLY looking at talking heads on a screen, the fatigue sets in, and the joy gets zapped. Jakob and his team saw the need for a better tool for meetings and webinars. They bring joy and silliness into their wor...

Change in an organization can be terrifying. As a leader, knowing change is necessary but standing at the bottom of that mountain staring at the peak that seems SO far away can be daunting. In this week's Linkedin Live, Leilani Bloomquist joined us, as a Transformation Consultant she is well aware of how change can impact the workplace. Leilani talked with us about the impact of new technology. Th...