Celebrating 100 Episodes of Building Better Managers: Special Edition with Our Top 5 Clips

Wendy:

Welcome to Building Better Managers. I am your host, Wendy Hansen, and I am delighted to have you with me today to learn from some wonderful guests who are going to share their information and their brilliance and their experiences around management and leadership and building great teams in organizations. I am also the co-founder of New Level Work. So check us out, newlevelwork.com. Thanks for tuning in.

Greetings, everyone. Oh, I'm so happy to be here. It is the 100th episode celebration. What a ride it has been the last few years to get to deliver some great information to all of you only through my fabulous 100 guests. And they have been fabulous, HR people, L&D experts, all kinds of people that really focus on leadership, how to be the best manager we can be, emotional intelligence, all kinds of things we've talked about. I really think that if you go back and look at some of the episodes, you'll find some things that you'll want to re-listen to. So that's why I picked out the top five. These seem to be the ones that have resonated with you the most, and I'm going to play a tiny snippet of each one, but it will give you a chance to go back and listen if it's something that you're interested in.

I just think that Building Better Managers has been just such a delight for me and getting information that is pragmatic. People are able to take action on it right away, really learn something from it. And we have had some great guests.

Well, let me start with our first guest, was Ginger Hardage. Ginger was the head of culture for Southwest. And Ginger talks about the importance of what culture is. And we all know at Southwest there is a good culture if you've ever flown that, that people have a sense of humor. They may be a more economic airline, but I think they take treating their customers very seriously. And in the episode with Ginger, she talks about how they onboard people, how they treat them, because we know that in any company, you have to treat people in your company the way you want them to treat others. And some of the lessons that I learned from Ginger on that first episode was all about that. So I really encourage you to listen. She's amazing and now has her own website. She's left Southwest, but she still worries about culture, thinks about culture, and teaches about culture. So hold on for a minute and let's hear from Ginger Hardage and see what we can glean from this. And then please go on and listen to the full episode. I think you will like it.

Ginger Hardage:

So I believe that culture is contagious. And it can be contagious in a great way with some of the companies that all of us like to follow, whether it be that Disney or Zappos or whatever company, we are studying their particular culture. But culture can also be contagious in a bad way. If any of us have ever watched the Office and Michael Scott and Dunder Mifflin, it can be contagious in a bad way. So organizations that want to make a difference in their culture, optimism starts at the top because as you know and as your listeners know, the speed of the team is rarely faster or better than a leader. So as the leader, we set the tone for our team and we set the example of what the culture is going to be like for our organization.

Wendy:

So greetings again. Hope that was good, listening to Ginger. So the second one is Denise Brosseau. Now, Denise has been on two episodes because Denise is a thought leader. She's based in California. And she really leads the way, especially with women, helping women believe in what they say, go out there and talk about it. One of the podcasts we're about thought leadership. Then being a leader that she is, she knew that AI is something that's really important and we need a simple way in. There are many podcasts about AI, but if you listen to what Denise has to say, you'll be able to get some real tricks to be able to see how you can use AI in your business. And so she points out a few tools, a few pieces of software, and it may really get you to think, "Ah, this is easier than I thought." And if you listen to her whole episode, you'll learn a lot of different things because she really is using it as a "how to use AI" to really elevate yourself and your business. So take a listen to Denise Brosseau.

Denise Brosseau:

And then I asked it to rewrite it in my voice, even though I had originally written it. And because I have a lot of content and these other two people have a lot of content out there, it literally gave me three perspectives that were written in those voices. Then I took the best of the best phrases and threw some of them in to my piece. So I think there's a lot of ways in which these tools can be super helpful, writing a stronger headline, finding topics that people want to know more about in your field. Let's say you're struggling to write content, you can get some inspiration by saying, "Tell me what the top 10 most requested articles are about X subject." And now maybe you want to go write about that instead of some random topic you might've been thinking about. So I think those are all really good ways. Thought leaders should be using these tools.

Wendy:

The next one is Jane Finett. And Jane does a wonderful job working with women and especially young women all around the world. And she talks on hers about how women need to connect, support each other and really ends up talking about a lot of DEI issues also. I so respect Jane because she really is committed to what she's doing. You can feel her passion when she talks. And she really wants people to know really what they need to do to be able to move forward and move women forward. So I was very touched when talking to her. There's so much compassion and empathy in her work. So take a listen to Jane Finett. It will be worth your while.

Jane Finette:

The one number that hadn't shifted was the number of young women first time managers. In six years, the number has not changed. So what that meant was that for every 100 young men who become a manager, only 85 white women would be a first time manager, 71 Latina, and 58 Black women. So when people say there's a pipeline problem, it irks me, but it's kind of true. Because if those young women don't get their first break into management, and this doesn't necessarily mean managing people, this can be managing a project, managing some field, some area in the organization, they will never catch up. They just won't. They're just set up to fail.

Wendy:

The next person that I'd love you to think about listening to again is Meg Bear. Meg is the ex-CEO of SAP SuccessFactors. She's an investor, she's a consultant. She does so many different things. And we talked about human experience management. And given her position in very big companies, she cares deeply about the people and really how do we work with people, because that's how business gets done. It gets done through people, and the human factors are what make the big difference. And I was so pleased with Meg being in a company so large with such big impact, was able to share so much of what the importance that she feels about the human experience at work and how we are responsible to give it to people so that people can really feel like they're making a difference in the company. Listen to a few words from Meg Bear.

Meg Bear:

So human experience management is a perspective that the business of the future requires a deep understanding of how employees work and a real appreciation for bringing their experiences into how the business gets done. And so I think it's really exciting. It gives us an opportunity to talk about things we already were working on, but to do it in a much more holistic way and helps us to clarify that it's about the people. And as you would say, it's about the human factors because that is the key that is going to make the difference in business in the future.

Wendy:

And number five, the last one I'm going to share today is Sam Horn. Sam Horn is just an amazing person. She is a marketer and she really helps people to understand what's happening out there and how to really explain yourself. She has written so many books, I think it's up to 11. You can look at any of her books and be able to learn so much. And the way that she writes them and the way she speaks is really also the style that I love, is she's pragmatic. She wants you to take something away and go do something with it. So Sam Horn is going to talk about one of the favorite things that she does, which is really listening to people's quotes. It's just one thing that she shared in one of the episodes, but she's worth listening to the whole thing again so I hope this will be a good reintroduction.

Sam Horn:

I riff off quotes and I attribute them because that was their original idea, not mine. I want to give credit where credit's due. However, as you said, it can lead into an example. It can lead into an epiphany or I can perhaps, once again giving credit, change some of the words of the quote so we have a new revelation. So some of my favorite is that Pema Chodron said, "Do not let people pull you into their storm. Pull them into your peace." And Elvis Presley said, "When things go wrong, don't go with them." And Joyce Meyer said, "Life may give you a cactus. You don't have to sit on it." And Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, "We are different. We are one."

Do you see the river that runs through those quotes, Wendy? It's all about, once again, how we can understand that when we are different doesn't mean they're wrong. We are one. How can we pull together instead of pull apart? How can we respond and be the lead domino and go first in acting with proactive grace so that we really are on the same side instead of side against side?

Wendy:

So thank you to these top five. There's really a top 95 that are standing right beside them and behind them. And I really appreciate everybody who has taken time to be a guest on this podcast. And I hope we're going to have another 100 podcasts to keep you what you need to be a better manager, L&D leader, HR leader, and any kind of leader that requires that you have emotional intelligence, that you care about your people, that you care about the culture in your company, you think about strategy. There is so much we talk about on this podcast. So I hope that you'll benefit from this.

And as part of the celebration of our 100th episode, I have a request for you. Would you please go to newlevelwork.com/review? You'll be able to write us a review, which really helps get the word out and helps change the lives of managers, leaders, and the people on their teams, because it's important to be able to learn more every day and exchange information. So please go to newlevel.com, check out our resources of what we do for leadership development. one-on-one coaching, and all kinds of other programs. There's a lot of free resources on there too. So we'll see you soon and we'll shoot for another 100 episodes. Have a marvelous day.

Thank you for joining us today. For more information, show notes, and any downloads from today's podcast, please visit newlevelwork.com. We would also be so appreciative if you'd write a review. Go on to newlevelwork.com/review and you can write a review on your favorite podcast app. It makes a big difference because we want to really grow managers and leaders around the world, and we need your help. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day.

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