MARCH NEWSLETTER

Sharing the Spotlight

Being a generous leader is something that all leaders should aspire to and one of the easiest ways to do that is by sharing the spotlight.? Sharing the spotlight is another form of recognition and can be done in so many ways. The simplest of which is calling out people on your team in front of others to share what a great job they did on their recent work.? There are of course many more to discuss and I am happy to share a few.

It’s always disappointing to me when leaders aren’t secure enough and they take all of the credit for their teams’ work.? Whenever I hear of that happening, I feel so terribly for their direct reports.??

The truth is that when you give credit to your team, and you elevate their work for others to see, it makes you both look good.? Don’t forget, these people work FOR you.? They are a reflection of you.? If you don’t give them space to shine, then people will wonder why.? They might think that either you don’t have a great team or you are micromanaging the heck out of them.

I love the story about the former CEO of Pepsico.? She took the time to reach out to all of her Executive Teams’ immediate relatives (parents mostly) to tell them how grateful she was to be working with their son or daughter.? She went on to compliment them for raising such an incredible human.? These notes were personal and deeply meaningful for everyone who received them.??

Can you imagine receiving a note like that about your own child or having your parents get a note like that about you?? What a beautiful gift.??

Some easy ways to share the spotlight:

• Feature an employee on a team call
• Feature an employee from a team that supports yours on a team call
• Offer for someone on your team to speak on an All Hands Call
• Delegate important work to team members and recognize them for a job well done
• Tell other leaders about the awesome work an employee of yours is doing and sponsor an Executive Interview with another leader in an area of interest for that person
• Write a note to their boss (if they aren’t your direct report) about the incredible work they did
• Recognize them publicly on LinkedIn
• Use your budget to recognize them with a prize of some kind (most managers have a budget to work with)
• Fight for a promotion, raise or band level increase

Don’t miss an easy opportunity to change the dynamic of your organization.? Be a generous leader.? It will always serve you well.

Lyndsay was a featured panelist at the Second Annual Gatherverse Summit on February 22, 2023.

On April 22, 2023, Lyndsay will be featured as a guest at the eWOW Virtual Summit.

She's also going to be featured on a live radio show on Voice of America on March 2.

Being featured on other peoples' podcasts is something we do a lot of around here. Click this link to hear some fascinating conversations with our Chief Heartbeat Officer.

With layoffs being so incredibly pervasive, emotions are running high.? Be thoughtful to the posts you are putting out there.

Remember, the internet is forever.? If you vent about your old employer, the next one may be looking at you and thinking, “Shoot, great candidate but would they talk that way about us?”

Give it time.? Give it space.? You can tell the story once you’ve landed in a new role.? You can still speak to friends and family about how you really feel but remember, you are being watched and scrutinized.??

Don’t lose a potential job offer because of something you put out on a social media platform.

If you haven’t discovered the Heartbeat for Hire podcast- we are so excited to share it with you!? Each week Lyndsay hosts incredible guests who share their story with a lens on culture, leadership and resilience.??

The Heartbeat for Hire Podcast ranks in the Top 10% of all podcasts globally!!

Her podcast is on all the audio channels and video can be found on YouTube.

Podcast guests for March include:

Michelle BB?

Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek is a Chief Marketing Officer, Speaker and Author.? As CMO, Michelle leads Skillsoft’s global marketing. Her brand evangelism is building a vibrant community of passionate learners.?

With 25+ years experience, Michelle’s personal mission is supporting women’s advancement in business. Prior to Skillsoft, she served as CMO of IBM Watson and the global head of marketing for The Weather Company.?

A prolific speaker and podcast host, she’s authored countless papers, championed DEI through free “Leadercamps,” and taught courses on the Pink Pandemic and Public Speaking. She’s currently a driving force as Skillsoft becomes an industry leader in sustainability and corporate responsibility. Michelle is also a founding member of CMO Huddles.

Rich “Trigger” Bontrager

Rich “Trigger” Bontrager is all about making people shine on camera.? He works with speakers, entrepreneurs, coaches and business owners and teaches media skills, dynamic speaking, how to build engaging virtual events, building confidence, your brand and image.??

Rich has been in broadcasting for 30 years and is the CEO of Rock the Stage Media.? He is the creator and host of How To Rock the Stage Show, airing live each Wednesday night. Rich hosts the National Speakers Association (NSA) podcaster, author forums, and the new NSA LIVE show Behind the Stage. Entrepreneurs, executives, and speakers hire Rich to unleash their brand authority by learning media-savvy skills that help them shine on camera and stage.

Erin Brown

Erin Brown got her start in NYC pedaling Xerox equipment while moonlighting as a stand up comic. Four day jobs, a handful of TV & radio commercials, and countless comedy performances later, Erin headed to Hollywood and began crashing events with her personal red carpet doing tongue & cheek interviews. This stunt evolved into an award-winning web series ‘Hot on the Red Carpet’ which featured some pretty famous faces.??

Today Erin is the CEO? of her own company, Hot Red Carpet, where she helps people supercharge the vibe of their events with customized and unforgettable 'hot red carpet' experiences including? live and virtual emcee performance, Survey Sayz - a high energy and engaging team building game, one-on-one confidence coaching, and speaking appearances. She encourages everyone to stop and notice the daily Red Carpet moments.

Morgan Ingram?

Morgan Ingram is a sales rep who happens to be a sales coach that coaches sales teams how to use modern-sales techniques that bolster pipeline, leverage social media, schedule net new accounts and cold call with confidence.

He is the host of the podcast and YouTube Channel called The SDR Chronicles, with more than 100 videos providing SDRs and sales reps with motivation, advice, and tactics for their sales journey.

His work has been featured in Forbes, Sales Hacker, the Hubspot blog, and the Harvard Business Review.? Morgan has trained top companies like Snowflake, Zoom and Salesforce to evolve their prospecting game to schedule meetings.?

He was named a “Top Sales Voice” by LinkedIn in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022.?

YOUR BACKGROUND MATTERS!

For those of us on Zoom every day, paying attention to what’s behind you is something we all should do.? How many times have you caught yourself trying to figure out what you are looking at behind the person you are supposed to be focused on???

I can’t count the times this was the case.? I even once zoomed with someone who had dirty laundry on their unmade bed!? Blech!

You want people to focus on you and what you are saying.? Don’t take away from that by having a poorly tended background.??

There are 2 schools of thought here-?

1. Create a virtual background that speaks to your brand and what you do. (There are experts to help you with that- and I am not one of them.)
2. Have a visually pleasing background so that when people are zooming with you, they aren’t distracted, turned off or confused by what’s behind you.

This is dedicated to the folks in the latter school of thought.? HOT TIPS AHEAD!

• Minimalists win the day!!? Unless you have a well organized bookcase that you have taken the time to curate then less is more??
• If you are an author- you should absolutely feature your book somewhere in your background
• Clutter makes you look like you don’t care or like you were just jamming as many things as you could into one spot
• Be thoughtful with your art choices
• Display things that are meaningful but make sure there is a cohesive color story?
• If you have windows behind you, GET A RING LIGHT!? (unless you prefer to look like you are in the witness protection program)
• Use plants sparingly.? I LOVE a good green thumb, but unless you have a living wall behind you, go easy on the plants
• And for all things holy, please clean your room!??

Cheers!

XO, H4H