Ep044: The Top 10 Episodes of 2016 and A Networking Tip and Challenge for 2017 by Halelly Azulay
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As we wrap up 2016, let's walk down memory lane and count down the top 10 most downloaded 2016 episodes of the TalentGrow Show. Then, I will give you a helpful tip you can use to take your networking skills to a new level with zero ick factor. I also issue a challenge to you (AND me) for an easy ritual to incorporate in 2017 that will be just like brushing teeth. What? Really. Listen and do it! Dare you! Thanks for listening and please comment and share.
2016 on the TalentGrow Show: The 10 most downloaded episodes
It’s been a great year on the podcast. I released an episode on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month, like clockwork. Based on your downloads for 2016, here are the top 10 most downloaded podcasts (starting with no. 10):
No.10
Episode 27, “From busboy to big kahuna, leadership lessons from Hilton’s Chief Learning Officer Kimo Kippen”. I love the lessons that Kimo shared in this episode about how he started as a busboy in the Marriott chain and worked his way up to the C Suite. Then he joined the Hilton Worldwide brand where he served as the Chief Learning Officer and the Global Brand Ambassador and he’s doing some amazing work there. Lots of good lessons there.
No. 9
Number nine was a solo episode – yay, I am in the top 10 – and that was episode 38 with the “10 conversations every leader should have with every employee.” That was an interesting episode because I released it in three different formats. I originally published this content on the blog, and then I released it as a vlog (video blog) as well as this podcast episode. So you can see it, or listen to it, or read it, however you prefer to learn, and I think that every leader should have these 10 conversations.
No. 8
Number eight is episode 22: “How to handcraft your dream job and how to make work better with Chip Joyce”. Learn about organizational culture and how creative Chip was in going after the job that he wanted. When it didn’t exist, he just created it! I love stories like that – they’re very inspiring. I love sharing stories like that because I want to inspire you to think outside the box in terms of how you want to work and where you want to work and with whom you want to work and about what you want to work.
No. 7
Number seven is episode 26: “Career success and philosophy with Don Watkins”. This interesting episode also focused on career development, career success, and how to forge your own way. Don is a philosopher and a writer, so he gave us a little bit of a different perspective than most of the guests I usually have on about what’s the right philosophy to have in terms of achieving your top performance and also inspiring and motivating and leading others to top performance.
No. 6
Number six was episode 25: “How to be a more engaging communicator” -- another solo episode. Solo episodes are infrequent, maybe every fourth or fifth episode. This one is based on one of the most popular blog posts I wrote about how to be a more engaging communicator – I provide seven specific tips in this episode, so check it out if you haven’t already.
No. 5
Number five is episode 31: “The coaching habit – how to say less, ask more and lead better through 10 minute coaching conversations with Michael Bungay Stanier”. He is a funny guy I really admire, a friend of mine and a mentor. This podcast episode was all about how, as a leader, you can also be coach-like to the people that you lead with these very short, 10-minutes-or-less conversations. Michael shared specific examples of the kinds of conversations and questions that you can ask.
No. 4
Number four in the top 10 most downloaded 2016 episodes of the TalentGrow Show is episode 35: “Workplace poker – how to handle backstabbers and promote yourself positively without being like Donald Trump with Dan Rust”. Dan Rust wrote the book Workplace Poker and gives great advice in this episode about how to “play the game so that you don’t get played” and how to do it in an authentic way with integrity.
No. 3
Number three is episode 37: “How to make better, faster decisions with Jeff Annello”. Jeff is one of the authors of one of my favorite newsletters, Farnam Street. He focuses on decision making and thinking biases and he geeks out on the work of Charlie Munger and ‘Mungerisms’, as he calls them. He shared several with us on that episode so take a listen.
No. 2
The number two most downloaded episode of 2016 was episode 36: “Fierce leadership, radical transparency and deeper human connectivity with Susan Scott”. I got a great email from a listener on that episode – she told me how she listened to this episode on her drive into work and was inspired to deal head-on with a coworker that she was having a conflict with. She was initially going use her usual approach which was not to talk about it. But because she listened to this episode about radical transparency and fierce conversations she was motivated and inspired to have a conversation with that colleague. She wrote to say that it went very well and increased the level of trust between them rather than damaged. She was pleased that she had listened to this episode and it really made a big difference! I love that review because that means I’m achieving my goal of helping my listeners in an impactful, meaningful way.
No. 1
Drum roll please… The number one most downloaded 2016 episode was episode 34: “How to be a great people manager – learn from one manager’s leadership development quest with Jeremy Epstein”. Jeremy is very transparent, charming, and real. He is not an expert on leadership. Rather, he is a manager who got some negative feedback that stung at first who decided to reframe it as an opportunity to develop his leadership and people management skills. I mean, spreadsheets and the whole gamut. Jeremy shares a lot of insights with us on this episode and it was the most popular episode of 2016. So Jeremy, thank you, I appreciate you!
A networking tip and a challenge for 2017
I speak and write about networking quite a lot. In fact, I’m working on publishing a book about networking without the ick factor.
In the workshops that I lead about networking , the top two barriers to networking people perceive the most challenging are that they don’t feel like they have enough time and that they feel shy or uncomfortable networking (or what they perceive of is ‘doing networking’).
First, let’s make sure we are clear on what networking is and isn’t
Networking does not have to consist of going to events, shaking hands, and having meaningless ‘small-talk’ conversations with strangers you don’t care about.
In fact, networking is all about building and nurturing meaningful, mutually-beneficial, long-term relationships.
That outcome can’t be accomplished by going to an event, although of course it can start with a conversation with someone you meet at an event. Or you could nurture an existing relationship by running into someone you know at an event and connecting with them again. So, events can play a role in networking but networking does not equal events.
Networking does not equal small-talk.
So when we see networking as building mutually-beneficial relationship, we realize that it involves a lot of long-term give-and-take. I suggest that you stack the decks in your favor by always being the first to give and giving more than you take, over time. That way, if you ever need help or a favor from anyone in your network they’ll be very eager to help you because you’ve given more than you’ve taken in that relationship with that person over time. Humans are hard-wired with an instinctive desire for reciprocity.
And now, let’s look at networking and brushing teeth (what?)
Since networking happens over the long range, you can do networking in lots of tiny little increments that are quite manageable for busy people, and not very intimidating even if you’re shy.
Sometimes I use the metaphor of brushing teeth to help people think about networking differently.
Most people brush their teeth regularly. And we do it because it’s a habit that is in our long-term benefit that we’ve built by repeating it daily for many years. For most of us, it’s not a habit we enjoy or love particularly. We just do it.
If you have kids or know people with kids, you know that it’s not something we’re born doing or valuing. When you try to teach kids to brush teeth, you kind of have to nudge them at first to get them to get into the habit and stop wanting to skip it. Right?
And I would also venture to say that most people don’t hate it anymore. Maybe when you were a kid you hated it and you had to do it and your parents forced you to do it, but at some point, you just sort of make the switch to “Okay, I just brush my teeth.”
Well, we can make networking be a habit that we build by incorporating small actions into our daily life that don’t take a long time or require a lot of decision making resources from us!
Just like tooth-brushing, what if we had networking habits that we simply do habitually?
It could be something as simple as writing a thank you note or email, or thanking someone in person, and doing that every day for, say, five or ten minutes. That could be a networking practice because you are nurturing your relationships with a ‘give’.
Another example could be that once each day, or once a week, you introduce two people from your network that you think could benefit from knowing each other. That doesn’t take very long and you could just make it a habit you do it at some regular frequency.
Or it could be sending someone a relevant and helpful article every day. That is also a form of giving that nurtures that relationship.
What if you decided to meet three new people every day? At the coffee shop, the water cooler, in the grocery store, at the PTA meeting, or even in the elevator. Wherever you already are, you could challenge yourself to meet three new people today.
Start small and just build habits. All those activities add up in the long term to help you maintain and nurture meaningful, mutually-beneficial relationships. Just like brushing teeth once is not that meaningful but as a habitual practice, the benefits compound in the long run.
A networking challenge in 2017
So, my challenge to you (and to myself) is: let’s make 2017 the year in which we build a habitual tooth-brushing-style networking habit.
LEAVE A COMMENT: I would love to hear what is your networking habit that you’re willing to commit to that’s going to be very similar to brushing teeth. One that you’re going to do regularly.
Write your commitment in the comments below because I would love to hear from you and get a conversation going.
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There you have it. That’s my review of 2016 and my challenge for you and me in 2017. Of course, there are lots of other things you should be doing in 2017. But this could be such an easy win and a small step you could incorporate to take your networking skills to the next level, and as a result take your career and personal success to the next level as well.
As always, thank you for listening. I am very grateful to you. I wish you happy holidays and a very Happy New Year and I look forward to talking with you more in 2017. Make today great!
Resources:
Links to the 10 episodes:
- Ep034: How to be a Great People Manager – Learn from One Manager’s Leadership Development Quest with Jeremy Epstein
- Ep036: Fierce Leadership, Radical Transparency, and Deeper Human Connectivity with Susan Scott
- Ep037: How to make better, faster decisions with Jeff Annello
- Ep035: Workplace Poker – how to handle backstabbers and promote yourself positively (without being like Donald Trump) with Dan Rust
- Ep031: The Coaching Habit – How to Say Less, Ask More, and Lead Better through 10 Minute Coaching Conversations with Michael Bungay Stanier
- Ep25: How to be a more engaging communicator
- Ep26: Career Success & Philosophy with Don Watkins
- Ep22: How to hand-craft your dream job and how to make work better with Chip Joyce
- Ep038: 10 conversations every leader should have with every employee [solo]
- Ep027: From Busboy to Big Kahuna with Kimo Kippen
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Intro/outro music for The TalentGrow Show: "Why-Y" by Esta - a great band of exquisitely talented musicians, and good friends of Halelly's.
About Halelly Azulay
Have we met? I'm Halelly Azulay. I'm an author, speaker, facilitator, and leadership development strategist and an expert in leadership, communication skills, and emotional intelligence. I am the author of two books, Employee Development on a Shoestring (ASTD Press) and Strength to Strength: How Working from Your Strengths Can Help You Lead a More Fulfilling Life. My books, workshops and retreats build on my 20+ years of professional experience in communication and leadership development in corporate, government, nonprofit and academic organizations.
I am the president of TalentGrow LLC, a consulting company focused on developing leaders and teams, especially for enterprises experiencing explosive growth or expansion. TalentGrow specializes in people leadership skills, which include communication skills, teambuilding, coaching and emotional intelligence. TalentGrow works with all organizational levels, including C-level leaders, frontline managers, and individual contributors.
People hire me to speak at conferences and meetings and to facilitate leadership workshops, but what I love most is to help fast growing organizations create a leadership development strategy and approach. Contact me if I can be of service to your organization!
I'm a contributing author to numerous books, articles and blogs. I was recently described as a “Leadership Development Guru” by TD Magazine. I blog, publish a leadership podcast (doh - it's right here!), and have a popular free weekly subscription newsletter – so you should definitely sign up now.
Transcript
Announcer: Welcome to the TalentGrow Show, where you can get actionable results-oriented insight and advice on how to take your leadership, communication and people skills to the next level and become the kind of leader people want to follow. And now, your host and leadership development strategist, Halelly Azulay.
Halelly: Welcome back to the TalentGrow Show. I’m Halelly Azulay, your leadership development strategist with the last episode of 2016. So it will be a solo episode and a shorter one as most of my solo episodes are. As regular listeners know, most of the episodes on this podcast are actually interviews that are in the 30-minute format, but sometimes I pepper in a couple of solo episodes here and there to share some knowledge and insights from yours truly.
So as I look back at the year of podcasting in 2016, I wanted to share with you the top 10 most downloaded episodes of 2016. That is, the ones that were published in 2016 that were most downloaded, and because some of the episodes that were most, most downloaded were some of the ones that were older but that’s probably because they’ve been around longer, so they continue to add the numbers. It’s unfair competition toward some of the newer episodes. Then I wanted to share a networking tip with you and a challenge. The challenge is going to be for you and for me.
Let’s first talk about my year in podcasting. It’s been a great year. I release the podcast on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month, like clockwork, and I really enjoy that. Based on your downloads for 2016, here are the top 10 most downloaded podcasts, and I’ll start with 10. So episode that was tenth in downloads for this year was episode 27, “From busboy to big kahuna,” leadership lessons from Hilton’s Chief Learning Officer Kimo Kippen. I love the lessons that Kimo shared in that episode about how he did really start as a busboy in the Marriot, chain, worked all the way up to the C Suite and then hopped on over to Hilton where he is not only – I think at this moment he’s no longer the Chief Learning Officer, but he is the brand ambassador and he’s doing some amazing work there. Lots of good lessons there.
Number nine was a solo episode – yay, I am in the top 10 – and that was episode 38 with the “10 conversations every leader should have with every employee.” That was an interesting episode because I released it in three different formats. I had it as a blog, and then I released it as a vlog, a video blog, and then also as a podcast. So you can see it or listen to it or read it, however you prefer to learn, and I think that every leader should have these 10 conversations. Of course others as well. But if you didn’t listen to that one, go grab it.
All right, number eight is episode 22, which was “How to handcraft your dream job and how to make work better” with my friend and colleague Chip Joyce. That was a good episode for learning about organizational culture and also about how very creative Chip was in going after the job that he wanted. When it didn’t exist, he just made it. And I love stories like that. I think they’re very inspiring and I really am happy when I get to share that with you because I want to inspire you to think outside the box in terms of how you want to work and where you want to work and with whom you want to work and about what you want to work.
Number seven is episode 26 and that was “Career success and philosophy” with Don Watkins, who is also a friend of mine. That too was kind of an interesting episode in that it focused a lot on career development and career success and how to forge your own way. Don is a philosopher and a writer, so he gave us a little bit of a different perspective than most of the guests I usually have on about how to marry the idea of philosophy and what’s the right philosophy to have in terms of achieving your top performance and also inspiring and motivating and leading others to top performance.
Number six was episode 25, “How to be a more engaging communicator.” Yay hooray, that was me again. I’m happy, that means that you all like the solo episodes and that’s good news. Like I said, I don’t do them regularly, but I do every maybe four or five episodes, I throw in a solo episode. That one is actually based on one of the most popular blog posts I ever had about how to be a more engaging communicator.
Number five, episode 31, “The coaching habit – how to say less, ask more and lead better through 10 minute coaching conversations.” And that was with Michael Bungay Stanier. He is a funny guy, I really admire. Also a friend of mine and a mentor and this podcast episode was all about how you could as a leader also be a coach to the people that you lead with these very short, 10 minutes or less, conversations and Michael shared really specific examples of the kids of conversations and questions that you can ask.
Number four in the top 10 most downloaded 2016 episodes of the TalentGrow Show as episode 35, “Workplace poker – how to handle backstabbers and promote yourself positively without being like Donald Trump,” and that was with Dan Rust. Dan Rust wrote the book Workplace Poker, and he gave really great advice about how to play the game so that you don’t get played and how to do it in an authentic way with integrity. We threw in Donald Trump into the title, because it’s provocative in this election year. This was before he was elected as President elect, and while he was obviously in the news all the time. But also because Dan Rust actually mentioned him as part of his example for one of his points, so you’ll have to listen to see what he meant and why he mentioned Donald Trump.
As a little side note, when I released my newsletter which is a newsletter that I send out to people who opt in to receive it twice a month – it’s very short and very actionable, always ahs a quick tip in it and always has a link to my latest blog posts and my latest podcast episode, so I hope that you’re on that list and if you’re not, let’s get that fixed, shall we? So when I released the newsletter that had this episode linked in it, of course I went for the controversy in the title of the newsletter as well, and I did get a little bit of hate mail from people who got really mad that I said something bad about Donald Trump. One particular person didn’t want to get my newsletters anymore. Oh well. I wasn’t say he was bad. I was just mentioning the tip from my guest on my podcast episode. But you have to listen to it, so it’s episode 35 if you’re curious.
All right, number three, episode 37, “How to make better, faster decisions,” with Jeff Annello. Jeff is one of the authors of one of my favorite newsletters, Farnam Street. And he’s a really, really smart guy and he focuses a lot on decision making and thinking errors and thinking biases and he geeks out on the work of Charlie Munger and ‘Mungerisms’, as he calls them, so he shared several with us on that episode. It’s great, I love it.
All right, number two, episode 36, “Fierce leadership, radical transparency and deeper human connectivity” with Susan Scott from Fierce Inc. I got a great email from a listener on that episode that told me that she listened to this episode on her drive into work that day and she had an issue with a coworker and at first she was just going to go with her usual approach which was just try not to talk about it. But because she listened to this episode about radical transparency and fierce conversations, she was motivated and inspired to go ahead and have a conversation with that colleague and she wrote back to say that it went really great and it actually increased the level of trust between them rather than damaged it and she was all the better for it. So she was pleased that she had listened to this episode and it really made a big difference, and I love that review.
So thank you to that listener and to whoever else has left a review for the podcast, because that just makes such a big difference in terms of how other people can find the podcast and also decide to listen to it to give it a try. If you haven’t yet left us a review or a rating on iTunes, it really doesn’t take a long time and it makes such a big difference. I mean, really, you just have to write one or two or three sentences, and if you don’t want your name to appear, you can even use some kind of a pseudonym, so I beseech you to please do that for me. That would be a huge gift you could give me in return for the podcasts that I give you, and I thank you in advance.
All right, are you ready, drum roll please – the number one most downloaded 2016 episode was episode 34, “How to be a great people manager – learn from one manager’s leadership development quest,” with Jeremy Epstein. And Jeremy is such a great guy. Very transparent and I think very charming and very real. He is not like an expert on leadership, but he was just a manager who got some negative feedback that stung at first, and then he just turned it around and approached it like he approaches any problem and just went with gusto on how to develop his leadership skills, his people management skills. I mean, spreadsheets and the whole gamut. So he shares a lot of those insights with us on that episode and it was the most popular episode of 2016. So Jeremy, thank you if you’re listening. I appreciate you.
And those who are listening today, I appreciate you listening here and so here’s the tip and the challenge that I promised. I speak a lot about networking and I write about it. In fact, I’m working on publishing a book about networking without the ick factor. And one of the things that comes up a lot in the workshops that I lead about networking is people always feel like the biggest barrier that they have to networking is it’s always a tie or sort of a competition between two specific barriers. One is that they don’t feel like they have enough time, and two is that they feel shy or uncomfortable doing networking, what they perceive of networking. So we talk a lot about what does networking actually mean and what it’s not, and networking does not have to be going to big events where you have to just go around, shaking hands, having small meaningless conversations with strangers you don’t care about. It really doesn’t have to be that.
Because networking is actually about starting and building and nurturing meaningful, mutually beneficial, long-term relationships. That doesn’t happen in an event, although of course it can start with a conversation with someone you meet at an event. Or you could nurture an existing relationship by running into someone you know at an event and connecting with them again. Of course events can play a role in networking, but networking does not equal events. It does not equal small talk. So if you think about networking as relationship building, and mutually beneficial relationship building means give and take, and I always suggest that you actually stack the decks in favor of the give on your end. So always start with give and give more than you take. Because that way if you ever need a favor from anyone, if you ever need help from anyone, because you’ve given more than you’ve taken in that relationship with that person over time, they’re going to go bonkers trying to help you. They’re going to be super eager to help you, because of human nature and reciprocity, that reciprocity need we have.
But anyway, here’s the thing – you can also do networking ongoing in small, tiny little increments. Sometimes I use the metaphor of brushing teeth to help people think about networking differently. If you think about brushing teeth, I think that most people brush their teeth regularly. Most of us do. And we do it because we recognize that it’s in our benefit and it’s a habit that we’ve built over many, many years. If we peel back and if you have kids or know people with kids you know that it’s not something we’re born with and it’s certainly not something that we welcome as kids as a habit. When you try to teach kids to brush teeth, you kind of have to fight them for a while, maybe years, to get them to just get into the habit and stop wanting to skip it. Most people just are not doing it because they love it, they’re doing it because it’s just a habit and they just do it. I would also venture to say that most people don’t hate it anymore. Maybe when you were a kid you hated it and you had to do it and your parents forced you to do it, but at some point you just sort of make the switch to, “Okay, I just brush my teeth.”
Well, we can make networking be a habit that we build, a practice that we incorporate into our daily life, that doesn’t take a long time and that doesn’t take a lot of resources from us in terms of decision making. We just do it. It could be something as simple as I could write a thank you note or email or in person thank someone that I know today, everyday, for some period of time. Like how long does it take to write a thank you email? That could be a networking practice. Because you are feeding your relationships. Another example could be that you might say, “Okay, everyday or once a week, I introduce two people that I know that should know each other and make an introduction.” In another episode – I think maybe it’s a vlog – I talk about how you should make it a double. But anyway, that doesn’t take very long and you could just make it a habit, like do it at some frequency that you decide on and you just do it. Or it could be what article could I send to whom, everyday? That means you’re sharing insights, you’re giving, you’re sharing something helpful, and you’re feeding that relationship. Or it could be that I am going to meet three new people everyday. So that means that when I’m at the coffee shop or at the water cooler or in the grocery store or at the PTA meeting or in the elevator or wherever it is that I am, I’m going to meet three new people today. Everyday. Or that could be one person. So you can make whatever amount of work, however, whatever duration you want to, but if you start small and just build it into habits, then all of those things add up in the long term to help you maintain and nurture meaningful, mutually beneficial relationships.
So, my challenge to you and to myself is let’s make 2017 the year in which we build a habitual tooth brushing-style networking habit. I would love to hear what is your networking habit that you’re willing to commit to that’s going to be very similar to brushing teeth that you’re just going to do regularly? Please put that in the comments, because I would love to hear from you and get a conversation going. The comments are going to be on the show notes page, which for this episode is www.talentgrow.com/podcast/episode44.
There you have it. That’s my review of 2016 and my challenge for you and me in 2017. Of course there are lots of other things you should be doing in 2017 but this could be such an easy win and a small thing that you could do to take your networking skills to the next level. I think as a result, take your career and your personal success to the next level. As always, thank you for listening. I am very grateful to you. I wish you happy holidays and a very Happy New Year and I look forward to talking with you more in 2017. Make today great.
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