In this final episode of season 2, Ken and Seth discuss the value of touching into our own ambition and our relationship to it. Perhaps you have something inside of you that wants to be expressed, and it's important that you take the time and the energy to express that thing. Toxic ambition is about thinking that you're inherently a better human be…

In this episode, Ken and Seth talk about the value of feedback and how it can change your life. The three types of feedback that are most common are appreciation, coaching, and evaluation. It's so important to be clear on what you want to hear and how you want to hear it. Thanks for the Feedback, by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen. The gift of feedba…

What if you could manage your worry and the worry of your team more effectively by both planning and trusting that you will figure it out? The ability of leaders to meet the worries and concerns of their teams with compassion and a sense of purpose makes the difference between a team that is built on self trust or one that's based on fear and contr…

We can train ourselves to be more comfortable with discomfort and get more out of our own experiences and the experiences of those around us. Being a leader means being uncomfortable most of the time. If you are avoiding that discomfort or if you're trying to manage your team away from discomfort, then you're going to create problems for yourself a…

In this episode Ken and Seth talk about the value of accepting that a career does not have to follow a straight path. Perhaps, it's even better if it doesn't. Ken shares how many of the successful people he works with in IT don't even have a computer science background. As a leader, you can provoke your team to think different about their own caree…

In this episode, Ken and Seth talk about the importance of treating your teams, your employees, and your managers like adults so that they behave like adults. When we treat people like children, they tend to behave like children. When asked why he's willing to let his team decide whether to work remotely or come into the office, he says, "I have a …

How do you feel about conflict? What does it mean to be a "tough boss?" How do we hold ourselves accountable and why? It's important to bring feedback to people that removes the personal out of it. Why? It's because when we feel judged, we tend to shut down. Even so, it's crucial that leaders see the people who worked for them. The more you see the…

Can we find the fun and the spontaneity in our work? What would it look like if people were willing to use a little playfulness in their job? Ken shares how he uses humor and playfulness with his group, and how these things help to create engagement and develop relationships. Sometimes little things like turning presentation slides into a game of f…

Can we be in competition with each other while also wanting each other to be successful? Want does it take to create a culture that celebrates the pursuit of excellence without the pursuit of the ego? In this episode, Ken and Seth talk about the value of healthy competition in an organization and the negativity of unhealthy competition. When your s…

Culture is basically just a set of behaviors and expectations that we have for the people in our organization. In this episode, Ken and Seth talk about how you can influence culture and motivate change even in a hybrid situation. When we are aware of the anxiety that we have about whether our teams are actually doing the work, we can get much clear…

What is a leader's job when you get right down to it? Is it just to have meetings and make decisions? Or is it about helping other people be successful? Yes, there are other things that you're expected to do, but your role as a people-leader (no matter what you do for the company) is to help people be successful. Ken and Seth talk about how leaders…

Leadership isn't always about position power. Often times it's about the ability to influence beyond your sphere of control. In this episode, Ken and Seth talk about the various ways that a leader can influence a culture and bring along peers and management so as to see different perspectives. The more aware you are of what you're trying to say and…

This episode is the culmination of the various topics that we've talked about throughout these podcasts, which ultimately leads to a workplace that's more human and more open. When we make it okay for people to surface problems or concerns, then we make it an environment for them to engage with and work through problems or issues that they may have…

What does it take to turn a group of people into a team? There’s a difference between having a group of individuals that work and communicates well together, versus having a group of individuals who have to coordinate and collaborate on a project. In this episode, we talk about how to create a culture of teamwork, trust, and shared purpose. What co…

We all feel self-doubt in our work and especially as leaders, but it's important to recognize that it's never helpful. Self-doubt fundamentally questions the value of who you are, whereas doubt of our ability can sometimes be helpful, doubting that you're enough gets in the way. Whenever we put our value as a human being in doubt, we make it harder…

What is different between being sorry and being accountable? Listen to Ken talk about the advice he gives his team about sorry. When we apologize too often, we forget to be accountable for our own actions and instead feel responsible for other people's feelings. Be aware of how you use "Sorry" and the impact it has on those around you. It can steal…

The power of story in communication, influence, and collaboration. Ken shares a little bit about how he's used storytelling in his own work as a CIO, and together we talk about how humans are able to better understand information when it's in story form. Just knowing the data isn't enough. We can also learn how we see ourselves as characters in our…

The difference between waiting for someone to finish speaking and actually listening to what they're saying. When we listen to someone, really listen to them, we give them our whole presence, which can not only build trust, but also help solve relationship conflict. Ken and Seth discuss the value of listening with the intent to understand rather th…

What's the impact on a team when you're willing to have a gratitude practice at work? Invite people to be vulnerable and human, while also being grateful for the opportunities that we have. Appreciation and gratitude for your peers and your team can be so helpful in creating space for people to feel more like themselves. Show up for each other in a…

What does it mean to respect someone? How powerful is it to a culture and company when we take the time to give people their "due regard." When we respect other people's point of view and experience, we have an opportunity to learn more about them and about how the world can be perceived. In this podcast we talk about the various ways that we can u…

Have you ever had one of those moments in your life when you knew that you were about to make a decision that would change your life forever? In this episode, Ken and Seth share their moments when they woke up to a new way of looking at their careers and themselves at work. What's your moment? How have you had to change or how has your view on your…

In this episode, we talk about the ways that we can become dependent on the various technologies to do our thinking for us. Whether it's communication through email, Slack, PowerPoint or even the telephone, it's important that we stay intentional in what we want to say and how we're impacting others. There are a lot of great tools out there which m…

How meetings are misunderstood, misused, and maligned. What if we were more intentional in how we used them as an organization and saw them as a tool for communication and connection? Listen to CIO Ken Grady and Leadership coach Seth Rigoletti talk about the different ways that we can think about how to use people's time and how to communicate with…

Why do we get so upset when we have to collaborate with other people? Often times we become fixated on the personality that we come up against and forget to see the person or the human being underneath. When we're able to put our biases aside and not take other people's actions personally, we have a chance to communicate with them in a clear and me…

How do we onboard, engage, communicate, and lead in the 21st century of work? How do we learn to be helpful to each other and see each other as human beings, without getting our egos in the way? Join Ken Grady, CIO and Seth Rigoletti, Leadership Coach, as they talk about the many ways that leaders can help teams collaborate, individuals grow, and p…