Ladderburners Unite!

Colleagues Will Hines, Davin Stavroplos, Alex Ostermann, and Ben Larson continue their discussion on how, as young professionals, their experiences and insights as they maneuver moving through the early stages of their careers. Insightful discussion about right off the bat about the difference between performance and judgement of performance. This discussion is highly instructive for a group of co...

Dan Castle has traveled far and wide in his career, a jouney of emotional and spiritual growth. His career reaches across a range IT positions, yet he is grounded in the pursuit of meaning and purpose. Dan is a story teller, which makes listening to him nothing short of thought provoking to your core. Podcast Notes This dialogue reveals the extraordinary life journey of Dan Castle, who navigates t...

In this case study, George Wheaton, CFO, (not his real name) embarked on a journey to change the image of the accounting and finance from that of policeman to a one of supporting the business. Everything was up for discussion - the structure , processes, roles and responsibilities, and use of new skills. The overarching objective was to change the culture by aligning the F&A organization with...

While the need to change the culture is as great as I've seen it, the commitment and perservance needed is one of the toughest initiatives to implement - and even harder to sustain. George Wheaton (not his real name), was one such person who pulled it off. Here's how. SHOW NOTES Case Study: Strategic Talent Development at Real Resources   This script studies the case of Real Resources and...

Patrick Walters is a childhood friend, colleague, and among the world's best people who care - a lot. In this brief session, he explains how asking for permission comes from a number of sources, including growing up in a loving and "chaotic" family. But it was a boss at roughly mid-career that gave Patrick and his colleagures self -confidence to bypass the issue of permission and for...

In the first of two installments, four colleagues - Will Hinz, Ben Larson, Davin Stavroplos, and Alex Osterman, share their experience in moving from college into their careers. They discuss the importance of taking responsibility for their own career development, the concept of perfectionism, the role of failure, the pressures of education, and the need for a sense of community in the workplace.

Why is that people feel the need to ask permission? Members of the Ladderburning Crew- Jenny Knuth, Nick Pretesky, and Alan Patterson discuss the impact that needing permission has on personal competence and organizational capacity and culture.

It doesn't matter how much experience you have in the work world — truly listening, caring, connecting, and helping other people be successful will ALWAYS get you ahead in your career. If it doesn't, you're working at the wrong place or with the wrong people. In this bonus episode, we chat with a young professional, William Hinz. It's 8 mins of your life that will inspire you and f...

Doesn't matter whether you're a new or seasoned manager. There are three common mistakes that will sneak up on you when you least expect it. Take note!

What is it with trust? Nobody argues with its importance, but yet we never really spend the time needed to break it down to better understand it. When was the last time you unpacked trust? Join Alan, Jenny, and Nick as the dig into the components, behaviors, and feelings of trust. There are three unique takes on trust shared. Is trust more head or heart? We hope you make connections to this discus...

It doesn’t matter if you’re a young professional starting out in your career, stuck in a career slump, or just punching the clock to earn a paycheck. A healthier and more fulfilling path forward depends on a mindset devoid of climbing the ladder or being the best.  Listen to how Professor Steve Hart and recent grad, Dajana Walters, discuss how believing in the importance of people and connecting,...

There wasn't much of a debate on this one. Hands down, we all agree LISTENING is a top skill to build bridges (a.k.a. improve your relationships) – be it at work, at home, with friends, or out in the community. But why are we soooooo bad at it and CAN we get better? Join the discussion as Dr. Trouble, Jenny Knuth, and our newest Burner, Nick Pretasky, share their struggles and explore candid w...

We're excited to kickoff the podcast again this fall. Stay tuned.

Do you have a job description? Here's how to best use it.

 One of the toughest things for a high achiever to do is give up control for the quality of her work. What happens, however, when that person is promoted into a leadership position? Do they hold tight to their standards and tell people how to do the work, can they delegate even though the quality might now be there, or do they just tell the team to figure it out for themselves. Listen to a ro...

What happens when you're not speaking to the audience - whether one person or hundreds- who don't understand what you're talking about. That's a big problem. It's the responsible of the leader to speak to any audience at their level of understanding. And then there's the issue where the written words- such as in an email - and the spoken words -such as those delivered at a department meeting &nbsp...

In our last episode Alan Patterson and Kelly Norton discuss the over-reliance on email and the impact of virtual communication. In this  episode they  discuss the importance of on-going communication and why " I know how you feel" makes people nuts. Ladderburners, unite!  

No communication? Dumb. "I know how you feel." Dumber. Next episode will be out on Wednesday. Come join us!

In today's episode, Alan Patterson and  Kelly Norton  discuss two critical modern-day communication vehicles that are used, misused, and abused. Email owns us. Since it's one-way communication, there's a lot we can get out of our heads without anyone interrupting us.  It enables us to  write dissertation-size messages,  solve  problems, start wars and spread rumors wi...

Getting commitment and buy-in requires pre-selling your ideas and getting others to help in getting support you need. 

Kelly Norton says she's "organized chaos, " hardly the way that most describe their careers, much less their work philosophies. Then again, Kelly is not most people. She's nonlinear, discerning, curious, and by her own admission, not that interesting and not that smart. Oh, and she likes to study people. Listen as she describes  what it means to deal with uncharted situations and why helping peopl...

In this week's episode you'll hear from Kelly Norton why building relationships and searching for meaningful work outweigh the quest to climb the corporate ladder. 

A stunning conversation with Kelly Norton!you don’t want to miss it!

What happens when you realize that a good job does not speak for itself? And then you discover that self-promotion has nothing to do with you? Here's my story and what I learned along the way - admittedly a little self-promotion on my part!

One  characteristic leaders share in common is confronting their sense of weakness and  insecurity , even though they may not admit it. Meet  Kevin Faul, founder of Conway Electric - colleague,  classic entrepreneur and quintessential Ladderburner.  Kevin explains why he believes  "chance favors the prepared," even, as he claims, when you're not that smart.  Is y...