Lead the People

Gabrielle Bourret-Sicotte is the co-founder and CEO of Greenr. Gabrielle’s background includes a PhD in Solar Panel Research at the University of Oxford. Her research led her to inventing a technique to improve the efficiency of Silicon Solar Panels leading to a world record efficiency. Gabrielle also spent time working on Climate Policy and Transition Risk in developing countries.  Gabrielle quickly realized that many businesses lacked the time and resources to invest in expensive consultants for one-off carbon emission assessments. This  led her to co-found Greenr, a sustainability as a service organization helping businesses to measure and reduce emissions at source. Top 3 Takeaways Put it to the test. Running a business is a lot like conducting a science experiment. Be clear about your hypothesis and remain as objective as possible while testing it. Do your part. There may be some differences in attitudes across the generations, but we all want a healthy planet, and we can all do small things that add up. Know your numbers. Even the most heartfelt ideas need a rational defense. Gather your research around the business benefits before making your pitch to start up a sustainability program. From the Source  “You don't really get feedback as a CEO. You don't get  performance reviews in terms of how your colleagues and the people working for your company are perceiving you.”  “You have to self-motivate. There is an end goal, which is either revenue or finishing your degree, but at the end of the day, you just have to lead yourself along the path of putting a hypothesis out there—whether that's science or looking at consumer needs—and then you just test this hypothesis again in science or whether your customers like it, and then you build it, and then you iterate.”  “I won't say that millennials and Gen Z's are more active in the climate than actually our parents or our grandparents. I don't think that's necessarily true.”  “We have a lot of stats around what is the actual business add and business value add for companies to actually use a product like Greenr or an employee engagement tool. So we have a lot of stats on average employee retention. I think it's 31%. You get an average retention of 31 percent increase when you have a sustainability policy that involves employees. You can actually  also attract 74 percent more talent and range of talent by having a sustainability policy. So we have all of these metrics that we can go to top management and say ‘these are the numbers’ that you can use in order to get the budget and get a decision.” Connect with Gabrielle and Greenr Website: http://www.greenr.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/greenr-technologies Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wearegreenr Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearegreenr_/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielle-bourret-sicotte/

Dr. Deborah Watts has more than 20 years of experience helping people and organizations grow. Her passion is developing professionals into tomorrow's leaders and coaching leaders on how to optimize their performance as well as the performance of their team. Her experience has come from many unique opportunities spanning a wide range of disciplines and industries including organizations such as the Governors Literacy Foundation, RJ Young, Lands End, Humana, Harley-Davidson, Seaspan, Starbucks and Zillow. Currently, Deborah is the Founder and CEO of Hayde & Company, a talent optimization consulting firm and the Director of Graduate and Executive Education at the University of Tennessee, Haslam College of Business.  She also serves as a Certified Partner for Predictive Index and Senior Consultant for the Leadership Pipeline Institute.   Top 3 Takeaways Follow the joyful energy. When Deborah felt a similar energy in the classroom that she had during her work in the motorsports industry, she set an intention to make a shift and she never looked back. Find your why. When you have a clear understanding of your purpose, even the most menial tasks have meaning. Without it, you may produce big results but still feel something is missing from your work and your life. Commit to the craft. Deborah built a powerful learning experience for leaders who are willing to put in the work to reach their next level. Be a student of leadership for your own benefit as well as to serve others. From the Source “Someone on the board had the idea of ‘Hey, we need to bring in a consultant to help us.’ Well, that consultant came from the Oliver group and the very first thing they did is have us take the Predictive Index Behavioral Assessment, and I was blown away.” “We realized that if we wanted to go acquire these dealerships and then have them perform at a higher level, we had to invest in the people. So I think that was just a powerful experience for me.” “I remember feeling that same excitement I felt for the power sports industry I felt in the classroom. So I thought, what do I do to make that happen?” “I ended up teaching a class at a university in Europe, and it really started expanding how adults learn and how in the U S, how we only promote if you're going to manage people. Typically for the most part, you have to take that role of ‘I'm going to manage human beings to get a raise or get a better title.’ Europe has a lot of specialist programs. If you say, ‘I don't ever want to manage people, but I want to continue to grow’ then you move into maybe a specialist role.” “When I was at the Ohio State University, I remember our janitor was awesome. He was super friendly, great guy. He was there when we woke up and there when we went to bed, and our dorm was spotless. And I remember us talking to him someday about ‘Where do you get this drive and passion from?’ And the way he saw it was, ‘I keep people healthy. I keep you all healthy. Because of me, you all get to stay healthy, come to school, get a degree and go do great things in the world.’ And so he had a bigger understanding. He understood the why behind his job.” “I get the opportunity to work with a lot of folks that do have that combination of workplace, corporate experience, or non profit experience. And they also have the academic piece. And so together, I think in the classroom, it just equals some really powerful stuff.” “There will be moments where you're thinking about your organization, like you just said, like where you're working and you think, ‘Is this my leader? Is this how they operate? Is this a place I want to continue to invest my time,?’ which is very valuable time that you're not with your family. You want to make sure where you do spend it is worthwhile. And so it does make you think. It absolutely makes you think, and it makes you take the stories that you're hearing and apply them to your own personal situation.” Connect with Deborah Website: https://www.haydeandco.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahwatts1/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdeb5413 Email: deborah@haydeandco.com C-Suite Insights at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business: https://haslam.utk.edu/c-suites-insights

Saunders spent more than two decades as a Wall Street SVP, sales team leader, and award-winning sales executive. He is now a coach, consultant & author. He spent years as a member of the Georgetown McDonough MBA Alumni Advisory Council and is an active angel investor. He is a long time regular contributor to the Executive MBA mentorship program and spent 3 years on the committee that built the mentorship program for the EMBA and MBA programs. Top 3 Takeaways Follow your heart. Life throws a lot at us, and we’re asked to make tough decisions every day. Being clear about our values helps us navigate with intention. Put it to the test. When you’re clear about your mission and vision, these serve as a kind of litmus test to determine whether a given idea is worth pursuing. Otherwise, an idea may fizzle. Balance it out. As storytellers, we need to ensure that our message is rooted in a strong foundation. Persuasion, structure, and the right amount of detail turn a good story into a great one. From the Source “The simplest definition of vision I'd like to use is: It's your ideal and maybe aspirational future. And maybe you never get there, but it's that big North Star that you say, ‘Hey, that's what we want to be when we grow up,’ right?” “That's where the power is, that's where it became really powerful. It was pushing her, challenging her to think bigger.” “It brings clarity on sort of how to think about things and how to bring new ideas forward for innovation and growth.” “We're all in this together, but we need you all to come forward with ideas on how we get this, get this going. And it was all based on their values, mission, and vision.” “It gave them something to lean on to say, ‘How do we make these decisions here in this very difficult environment?’” “This is a message that needs to permeate every aspect of your organization.” “You know that the inevitable stress point is going to come. And that cannot be the day that you suddenly say, ‘This is what we stand for, people.’” “It's such an important part of being a leader to live and breathe those values and showcase that ‘This is how we do things.’” Connect with John LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcs-optimizer/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jcs_optimizer/ Links Get John’s storytelling tip sheet: https://www.johncsaunders.com/storytelling

Joel Zeff creates energy. His spontaneous humor and vital messages have thrilled audiences for almost 25 years. As a national workplace expert, speaker, author and humorist, Joel captivates audiences with a unique blend of hilarious improvisational comedy and essential ideas on work and life. He has shared his experience and insight on collaboration, leadership, change, communication, innovation, fun and passion at more than 2,500 events. His book, Make the Right Choice: Creating a Positive, Innovative and Productive Work Life is consistently listed as one of the top work/life balance books on Amazon. He has appeared on CNBC and featured in the Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, The Kansas City Star, and many other media outlets. Top 3 Takeaways Show up. Treat every leadership opportunity with the care it deserves. You never know who’s watching and what they’re taking away from your performance. Go first. Nobody will consider you an expert before you do. Give yourself the recognition you deserve after you’ve worked diligently to develop your capabilities. Share the love. Offering your appreciation doesn’t take a lot of time or a lot of money, but it can make a huge difference in the performance and welfare of those around you. From the Source “I have a job where I get a round of applause. I do my job. People clap. Most people don't have a job where they get a round of applause. It doesn't mean they don't deserve it. They absolutely do.” “You have to perform, whether you're performing in front of a crowd of a thousand people and they're all energized and excited, or there's eight people and and stale coffee and the bad lighting, you have to perform, like there's a king in every audience because you never know where that next opportunity is coming from.” “The first person that calls you an expert is you.” “It's not the first time you're gonna jump on stage, you're just gonna be brilliant. It's gonna take hours and hours and hours, but every little step takes you to your destination.” “I love making people laugh, and I love telling people what I think, and so I figured out a way that that was my career.” “I don't know if I like the word burnout. I think it's just, people just don't feel fulfilled or rewarded. They're not happy, and they're not happy because they're not receiving that fuel that rewards them.” “You shouldn't be doing it thinking, ‘What am I going to get out of it? What's in it for me?’ If you're helping people, it will come back to you, but that's not why you made that choice. You made that choice because you're passionate, you're energized, you're supportive, you're being a great leader, a great teammate.” “We don't give enough positive support. We don't say enough. ‘We appreciate you. Thank you for taking that extra time. We know that we're really busy right now and you've gone above and beyond.’ It's a gift and it's the best gift you can give anybody, and it really takes little time. It takes no budget.” Connect with Joel Website: http://www.joelzeff.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelzeff/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/thejoelzeff

Dave Hill Jr. is a former leadership team member for two successful tech startups—Ableton (2003-2011) and iZotope (2011-2016). He founded Go 2 Market Coach in 2016 offering coaching, mentoring, and now, musical healing to his wide array of clients worldwide. His new book, Doubt Riding Shotgun, documents Dave's life journey with self-doubt as well as helpful practices from his coaching practice. Dave is an active singer/songwriter, drummer, and public speaker. He lives with his wife and kids near Seattle. Top 3 Takeaways Not all bad. Doubt never feels good, but it’s a mistake to think that doubt can’t serve us. Doubt calls attention to our strongest values and potential risks. Be decisive. Rather than get stuck in an endless loop on the roundabout of doubt, we need to commit to a plan of action and execute. Failure is an option. Things aren’t always going to break in our favor. We need to moderate our relationship with failure so we can find a sweet spot between risk taking and recklessness. From the Source “Doubt likes to say ‘Be afraid, be afraid. Oh, watch out. Don't raise your hand. Don't take a risk. Don't sing in public. Don't do public speaking.’ but it doesn't really tell you why.” “The metaphor was like that we have these recurring voices, and they're kind of like a bad loop in a video game of music where it just repeats the same sound.” “The Nike slogan of everything: Just do it. Just feel the fear and do it anyway. But sometimes the fear can be so paralyzing and confusing.“ “If we take a more mindful approach, take more steady, and have a more friendly relationship with doubt like we're working with this partner that is helping you learn where your edge is today.” “The brain creates thoughts, you know? And when we think about witnessing our thoughts, it's about slowing down. And maybe we'll talk a little bit about mindfulness, but practices that get us to slow down and hear the voice and then allow the voice to move away.“ “How we change our body or how we work with our body is reflected in our mind.“ “If you can have a coach that can help you create that experience to see the mind differently, or to see the body and work with the body, then I think you can have the experience and then you can't deny your own experience.“ Connect with Dave Website: http://www.davehilljr.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davehilljr/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davehilljr/

Donna Rustigian Mac is the President of iVoice Communication, a company dedicated to creating confident speakers, successful interpersonal communicators, and healthy-human business connections through updated, 21st century communication skills. Donna works with individuals and companies who understand the power of their people. As people expand, business expands. Donna’s distinguished career includes more than 30 years in communications, in broadcasting and the media, as an executive communication coach, motivational speaker, and workforce trainer. Donna is also a certified mindfulness teacher and a qualified change facilitator, studying with Dr. Daniel Goleman and Dr. Judson Brewer. This work enables Donna to help people break old communication ‘patterns & habits’ so they can update their communication skills and integrate them into today’s modern business environment. Donna is the author or Guide to a Richer Life: Know Your Worth, Find Your Voice and Speak What’s True, and soon to be in publication Know and OWN Your Worth. Top 3 Takeaways Be brave. Speaking up and communicating during high stakes situations can feel intimidating, but taking a beat to re-establish your self-worth can help. Touch all the bases. When you’re communicating to a large audience, remember that we’re all wired differently. Balance your technique to deliver ethos, pathos, and logos in your arguments. Step by step. When you seek to make a large transformation, look for waypoints on the journey. It’s easier to stay focused and motivated on the next step instead of dwelling on how far you have to go. From the Source “Take time to know and own your worth and your value, and then practice—speaking about it, establishing it right up front and then sprinkling it in along the way.” “So as stress goes up, access to the executive part of your brain actually goes down.” “I think fear of speaking and the anxiety of communicating is actually increasing, and my theory, I'll tell you, remains the internet.” “If you do indeed want to become more influential with your listeners, then it really takes a combination of ethos, pathos, and logos.” “Very often in your audience, you'll have more than one person who cares about different things, so it's really important to take time to be proactive to who is going to be in the audience or who is your listener and what matters to them.” “It's amazing because once you begin to turn inward and really get a good sense of your traits, your strengths and where you're vulnerable, and then you're able to move the needle.” “So instead of thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, I really have to get out of my comfort zone and go from A to Z.’ No, you just need to go from A to B and B to C. Incremental change leads to lasting change.” “Do the best that you can with the tools you have and know what your strengths are and know what lights you up and where you want to go, and the doors, I believe, will start to open.” Connect with Donna Website: http://www.ivoicecommunication.com Website: http://www.inspiringvoice.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnarustigianmac/

Nannapat "Nanna" Sage: the dynamic Executive Leadership Coach, Consultant, and CEO of Potentia Consulting Group. With a diverse background spanning executive recruiting to talent management in Asia, Europe, and the US, Nanna specializes in enhancing leadership capabilities and building top-tier teams. Awarded as a top leadership coach by the International Women Network and Coach Foundation, she holds a Master's in English and an ICF Certified Professional Coach accreditation. Catapulted into leadership at a mere age of 22, Nanna transformed her early challenges into a profound passion for leadership development. Her mission? To nurture professionals into thriving, confident leaders, thereby sending waves of positive change throughout corporate circles. Fun fact: Nanna's journey took her from the bustling streets of Bangkok to the dazzling lights of Las Vegas, as depicted in the Hangover movie, and now to the rich history of Detroit, MI. Top 3 Takeaways Everybody hurts. Even those leaders at the top who seem to have it all experience their share of ups and downs. We’re each on a journey, and we can expect a bit of turbulence at times. More to the Story. As leaders, we love a good story. Our favorites are those we tell ourselves. When your story isn’t serving you, it’s time to take the pen and write yourself a new one. Shine a light. We may wonder whether our leadership efforts are visible to those around us. When we showcase our team’s accomplishments as well as those of our peers, ironically, we gain visibility for ourselves as well. From the Source “If we focus on other people—focus on a bigger purpose—then we don't need to promote ourselves. We can just shine a light on everybody else on our team.” “Each lesson will come to you at the right time.” “If you look at the themes, it's more like something is bigger than yourself. So you can start getting up in the morning, even though it's hard, even though it's difficult, but you have that mission, you have that purpose.” “It's a critical moment when the leader can step back a little bit and think about what stories am I telling myself when I need to pivot, or when I need to make a leap?” “The story dictates how you behave and how you think about things around you, think about yourself, and think about other people.” “When you gain the awareness, what do you do about it? If you don't do anything about it, it's just something where you have the aha moment, and that's it.” Connect with Nannapat Website: http://www.nannasage.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nannasage/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nannasage/ Executive Ascend Resource: http://www.nannasage.com/ascend

With over twenty years of experience in software development and application security, Laura Bell Main specializes in bringing Application Security and Secure Development practices into organizations worldwide. She is the co-founder and CEO of SafeStack, an online education platform offering flexible, high-quality, and people-focused secure development training for fast-moving companies, focusing on building application security skills, practices, and culture across the entire engineering team. Laura is an experienced conference speaker, trainer, and regular panel member and has spoken at various events such as BlackHat USA, NDC, RenderATL, and OSCON on application security, DevSecOps, secure development, and security mindset.  She is also the co-author of Agile Application Security and Security for Everyone. Top 3 Takeaways Small is beautiful. When we need our teams to tackle BIG problems in work and life, it’s helpful to break the issue down to make it more manageable. Otherwise, our people may be too overwhelmed to act at all. Show and tell. If you want people to care about your work, you’ve got to make them aware of it first. Get creative and take every opportunity to showcase your efforts and the positive impact you’re having on something everybody cares about. Stay positive. It can be tempting to frame negative consequences in an attempt to garner attention and resources, but use this technique sparingly. Instead, communicate the benefits of action which can lead to sustained interest and investment. From the Source “We need to get rid of this superhero mentality, and we need to really give everyone a little bit to do, and to do it consistently over time.” “You are the complex combination of everything you've done before and everything you've seen. So when you look at something, you see it one way, but the other 20 people on your team have all got different journeys, and they can look at exactly the same thing and see something you never saw.” “We believe that we are stronger when we work together, that it's easier to do security when we all do a little bit, rather than expecting one person to do an inhuman amount of work.” “You, as a security person, cannot stand outside what makes that business successful. You have to be an integral part of that success, which means you need to come to their language and speak.” “​​You've got to engage people, not their fear, but their curiosity.” “It's like buying a gym membership. Technically it can make you fit and healthy, but it only works if you then invest the resources and the time to actually use the thing to build your skills.” “For many of our organizations, things that are going to kill your business, if you were to write them down as a list, security probably isn't in the top five. It doesn't mean it's not important, but we have to be pragmatic.” Connect with Laura Website:  http://safestack.io Linked In: https://nz.linkedin.com/in/lauradbell Twitter: https://twitter.com/lady_nerd Laura’s Books Agile Application Security Security for Everyone

Kelsey Buell is an authentic and enthusiastic team builder. She is also an accomplished violinist and singer having performed in front of audiences as large as 20,000. She has given hundreds of presentations on preventing burnout, stress management, and leadership skills. As a former corporate recruiter, she conducted over 2,000 candidate interviews. And through her experience, she uncovered the fact that many people are disengaged in their jobs. This led to her strong passion for training and development. She sees the value in investing in yourself and your team. Kelseys goal is to help you discover ways to flourish in all areas of your life - both personally and professionally. She founded You Flourish Company as a way to invest deeply in those throughout her community of Fargo and beyond. Top 3 Takeaways Grow for it. Flourishing means growth, and while it may not always feel like it, growth is possible in any environment with the right mindset and behaviors. Make space. You want to be available for those around you, and you’re going to have a hard time doing that if your calendar is always jam packed. Open it up, and open yourself as a result. Cut the “should”. It’s too easy to convince ourselves that we ought to be doing more and more if we want to measure up. Better to ask ourselves whether an opportunity is inline with what we really want most. From the Source “One of the biggest challenges of the workplace today is that we move so fast that we don't have true opportunities and we don't truly take time to ask how each other is doing.” “If you're always in a hurry and you don't have time to truly pause and connect with people and ask them how they're doing, that might be a signal to you that you need to relook at your calendar and your priorities.” “Although we love workshops and we love professional development, the magic isn't always in what we're delivering. The magic is just getting the people who are attending to set time on their calendar to get together, connect, reflect, and then ultimately grow.” “I think a lot of times burnout comes from not having a chance to pause and reset a little bit. And I think what we're trying to do is give teams an opportunity to pause, reflect, and think about ‘How can I alleviate, even if it's just a little bit of stress?’” “We need time to calm our minds down because oftentimes the things that are coming at us outpace our ability to really process them.” “That accountability is so valuable too, when it comes to taking care of yourself. because I don't think as humans, we're naturally wired to do it on our own because we have that ingrained need to serve and to help others and to be successful and all these things.” “We're in this gray area of all the things that we feel we should be doing. And then it just weighs us down so much the more and more we live in that space.” “No matter what job you're in, you're always on that track to burnout. So it's up to you to find ways to constantly be reinvigorating your passion for your job.” Connect with Kelsey Website: http://www.youflourish.co LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelsey-joy-buell-94998774/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youflourishco

Senior Director of Talent, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, small business owner, wife, mom, and farmer...any of these can be used to introduce Amber, who likes to keep her plate full! Amber began her career 18 years ago as a project manager for an Executive Coaching firm and quickly decided she was more interested in the talent side of the business than project management. Since then she has grown from Coordinator to Senior Director of Talent, and recently completed her Doctorate of Psychology degree. She and her husband operate a successful dog care business in MA, and she is an adjunct professor at Southern New Hampshire University. In the middle of all of this she had a surprise baby boy who she dedicates all of her spare time to, getting him used to the farm life with goat, horses, chickens, cats and dogs. Top 3 Takeaways Take charge. You are accountable for your own career trajectory. Don’t look for others to lift you up, rather do the hard work of calling your shot. Make the connection. Too often we have business conversations or people conversations. Recognize that these are inextricably linked and when we do right by our people, we boost our business. Be an influencer. One of the most challenging yet rewarding types of leadership is influential leadership. Tap into your powers of vision, persuasion, and motivation to draw out others’ enthusiasm and action. From the Source “You don't always need to go external to find talent. You might have it sitting with you already. Maybe it's just not in the right spot or not the right fit.” “The one big thing that I learned from you was that my career was up to me. It wasn't just going to land in my lap. I needed to intentionally make whatever I wanted to happen, happen.” “Talent could be sitting in our organization and we don't know it if we're not having those conversations.” “Talent is so broad, but we can't lose focus on the details and how important the talent is. It's not just a cliche or a fad word. Our talent, they're humans. They’re people. We don't have businesses without our people.” “It’s all about influence and how you share what you do have and what you do know and how you influence those around you.” “It's helping organizations understand what motivates your employees and not just for the sake of knowing that, but for making the connection between understanding how your employees are engaged or motivated literally impacts your bottom line.” “I think without a focus on the whole change management aspect and how that impacts employees and how do you best manage that, we are going to continue to see massive struggles with hiring, with keeping our employees.” “Employees need to be able to trust their leaders and that they're keeping them apprised of organizational changes, organizational decisions, team decisions, things that impact their role and their job and how they fit into the company.” “People don't leave companies. They leave people.” Connect with Amber LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-amber-cerone-psyd-5a60659/ The Barker House: ​​https://barkerhousedogs.com