Ep027: From Busboy to Big Kahuna: Leadership Lessons from Hilton’s CLO Kimo Kippen

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Ep027: From Busboy to Big Kahuna: Leadership Lessons from Hilton’s CLO Kimo Kippen

It’s not every day we get to learn about leadership from a man who started as a busboy and rose to the C-Suite of major hospitality brands like Hilton and Marriott. Today our guest is Kimo Kippen, chief learning officer, global talent development leader, and brand ambassador at Hilton Worldwide, who was awarded the prestigious 2015 CLO of the Year award by CLO Magazine. In his conversation with Halelly Azulay, host of the TalentGrow Show podcast, Kimo defines leadership and shares how to practice authentic leadership, ways to develop your self-awareness, and how to be a better coach to your team members. He suggests ways to navigate the complexity of today’s diverse workforce realities and specific questions you can put to use right away to help you build trust and invoke higher performance from your team. Plus, Kimo reveals the biggest mistake leaders make and suggestions for becoming a better leader (and even networker!).

 

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Ep26: Career Success & Philosophy with Don Watkins

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Ep26: Career Success & Philosophy with Don Watkins

The way we approach our career affects our success and fulfillment, says philosopher, author, and thinker Don Watkins. In his conversation with Halelly Azulay, host of the TalentGrow Show podcast, he discusses common misconceptions and mistakes about career success and what motivates people to high performance. Halelly and Don discuss how to properly view achievement and pride and what is the proper role of money and status in your career decisions. Don discusses the reason why equality is not necessarily the fair way to manage your team (based on insights from his new book, Equal is Unfair). Business performance is not a zero-sum game, so we shouldn't compare it to sports. He also shares the key benefits you can gain by aligning your philosophy and your actions and drops a great action tip that can get you started right away to achieving greater success.

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Ep24: How to make work more purpose-oriented with Aaron Hurst

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Ep24: How to make work more purpose-oriented with Aaron Hurst

The TalentGrow Show host Halelly Azulay talks with award-winning entrepreneur and author, Aaron Hurst, about how leaders can bring purpose to work and change the very nature of work in the process. Aaron busts three common myths about purpose and describes ways that each of us can identify our purpose. He shares some staggering statistics about the deficit of purpose-oriented workers in today’s workplace and why we should hire for this trait to bring higher performance and better culture to organizations everywhere (plus he suggests exactly how to screen candidates for this illusive characteristic). Aaron also tells Halelly about different purpose types and how leaders can use them, and common mistakes leaders make and how to avoid them. Finally, Aaron shares one highly actionable tip that listeners can take to improve your leadership skills

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Ep22: How to hand-craft your dream job and how to make work better with Chip Joyce

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Ep22: How to hand-craft your dream job and how to make work better with Chip Joyce

Listen to this fascinating conversation with Chip Joyce, CEO & Co-Founder of Allied Talent, about what the essential problem is with workplaces nowadays and his vision for how it could be so much better if we evolved the way in which we view the employee-employer relationships. Halelly Azulay, the host of the TalentGrow Show, first explores the highly unusual and very inspiring way in which Chip created his perfect job when the right job wasn’t simply waiting on some job board (and is it ever?). Then they discuss how managers should craft a professional alliance with their employees to build trust and create value and ways to make incremental positive changes in the world of work. Chip and Halelly talk about how companies and leaders need to get used to being in ‘permanent beta’ mode and iterate constantly, adapting to the needs and information presented by the moment and by the environment. Finally, Chip shares a great, actionable tip that will help you upgrade your leadership effectiveness and even offers a downloadable worksheet to help you implement his suggestion – see the link in the show-notes!

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Ep21: How to be more strategic about networking

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Ep21: How to be more strategic about networking

Networking - it's not a 4-letter word, and it's not just for getting a job or selling stuff. It's a key professional competency for everyone, regardless of your level, role, profession, or industry. In this episode, Halelly Azulay talks to networking expert Lynne Waymon about ways to be more strategic about developing your networking know-how. They review the eight networking competencies and the six trust-building stages, as well as how you can use networking to accelerate your career growth and increase your leadership effectiveness. Lynne offers listeners a chance to get her 40-item online assessment to diagnose their current networking proficiency and how to ratchet it up. Finally, as always, Halelly invites Lynne to share one actionable suggestion that you can use right away to give your networking a booster shot in the arm. Do it!

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Ep18: Accelerate your career and build better relationships: How to be a world-class connector of people and ideas like Michael D. Simmons

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Ep18: Accelerate your career and build better relationships: How to be a world-class connector of people and ideas like Michael D. Simmons

Connecting online can be both more or less authentic, depending on your approach. But in the 21st Century, we have many new opportunities to connect with more and different people in a different way than ever before because of how we can create content online. We can leverage these opportunities to share more of ourselves, to be more thoughtful about how we share about ourselves, and build amazing connections and networks. In this episode, Halelly Azulay chats with Michael D. Simmons, an award-winning serial entrepreneur, best-selling author and internationally-acclaimed speaker who is a world-class connector of people and ideas who loves to research, synthesize, and share ideas about building relationships in the 21st century. We also talk about how contexts collide online, creating new challenges for managing our personal brands and calling on us to become more holistic and authentic so that we’re not trying to put up a front or share the wrong things in the wrong contexts. Michael also shares the fascinating concept of the “expert generalist” or “broker” as a massively effective way for professionals to accelerate their career success (by 65%!) and increase their own learning and the value they offer to their employers, employees, and clients. With so many people focusing on being seen as a specialist or expert, this counter-intuitive approach can be a powerful one to consider tapping into.

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Ep14: Optimize your leadership growth using the triangle of trusted advisors with Jonathan B Smith

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Ep14: Optimize your leadership growth using the triangle of trusted advisors with Jonathan B Smith

Do you sometimes feel stuck or frustrated with your own and your business or team’s growth? Lots of leaders experience this, which is why they need a triangle of trusted advisors, says entrepreneur, author, and EOS Implementer Jonathan B Smith. I chatted with Jonathan about who exactly these three trusted advisors are and how everyone listening needs them. Jonathan shared very practical and actionable advice about how to scale this idea to any situation and budget, and how his new book, Optimize for Growth, can help you assess where to start and how to proceed. We also discussed the most common mistake leaders make and ways to avoid it, and Jonathan’s takeaway tip that you need to implement right away, at your very next meeting, to make a significant positive impact on your effectiveness.

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Ep10: Communicating as a thought leader through speaking and workshops with Alexia Vernon

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Ep10: Communicating as a thought leader through speaking and workshops with Alexia Vernon

Do you want to enhance your communication skills? Would you like to be known as a thought-leader to accelerate your career and success? Communication and leadership expert Alexia Vernon and I talk about how she has found success doing just that, and how she teaches others to do the same. Learn how to become a better speaker, presenter, and communicator and how to be better as a leader by connecting with your audience and showing your true self in an impactful way. Be sure to check our Alexia's free video training and leave a comment about your insights and feedback.

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Episode 05: Elaine Biech’s Secret Focus Formula, 3 Big Workplace Trends, and the 2 Career Accelerators for Leaders

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Episode 05: Elaine Biech’s Secret Focus Formula, 3 Big Workplace Trends, and the 2 Career Accelerators for Leaders

In this episode of the TalentGrow Show, I talk with award-winning organizational development consultant, prolific author, sought-after speaker, and “Trainer’s Trainer” Elaine Biech. We discuss the relationship between generosity and career success, Elaine’s four step formula for achieving total focus for those really important, deep-dive types of projects, and the three huge workplace trends that Elaine sees in our next five years that every leader and employer must pay attention to. Elaine also shares her two key actions that leaders must take to ensure they’re ready to succeed in our fast-moving world of work. Plus, learn about the insane number of books Elaine has authored and edited, why work-life balance is dead and what replaces it, and the surprising age at which organizations are currently beginning to develop leaders (it’s too old!).

What You'll

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Episode 4: How to Balance Being a Successful Leader in Your Day Job While Rocking All Your Other Passions, Too! Learn the secrets of exemplary leadership from Larry Gioia

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Episode 4: How to Balance Being a Successful Leader in Your Day Job While Rocking All Your Other Passions, Too! Learn the secrets of exemplary leadership from Larry Gioia

In this episode of the TalentGrow Show, I speak with my colleague Larry Gioia, an IT Consultant and Advisor with one of the world's largest professional services firm, PwC. Larry is an inspirational role model you can really learn from. Not only is he a top leader in his firm – he was selected to participate in a special development program only available to the top 5% firm leaders globally – he is also a successful people manager, a 'road-warrior' business traveler who usually works in a different state and is only home on the weekends. Yet, Larry manages to have a very rich life outside of work: he's a serial entrepreneur who has several side business and a an active volunteer and community builder. Plus, he manages to have an active leisure and family life on top of it all, and stays positive and productive! I was so inspired by Larry that I wanted to share his advice and secrets with all of you. He doesn't teach people to be successful and balanced leaders - he models it with his actions! Learn from a leader who is walking the talk every day.

 

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Episode 2: The Small Secret to Engaging and Retaining Your Employees with Dr. Beverly Kaye

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Episode 2: The Small Secret to Engaging and Retaining Your Employees with Dr. Beverly Kaye

In this episode, listen to my conversation with Dr. Beverly Kaye, an internationally-recognized authority on career development, employee engagement, and retention and best-selling author of numerous books. Learn the one small idea about leadership that ANY manager and leader can use to make a huge difference in employee engagement and retention. Why are so many leaders afraid of applying it? Bev will teach you really practical and specific techniques for overcoming those fears. 

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