96: Network like a Rockstar -- Advice for Authentic Networking from Rock Musician Sean Hurwitz

96: Network like a Rockstar -- Advice for Authentic Networking from Rock Musician Sean Hurwitz

We all know about the importance of networking for our careers. But many of us struggle with making authentic and truly valuable connections, and what’s more, not losing touch with them in the flow of our busy daily lives. On this episode of The TalentGrow Show, Halelly brings on a unique guest: musician and producer Sean Hurwitz, who succeeds in making time for seemingly everyone and maintaining truly authentic connections and relationships with people in his network. How does Sean think about networking? How does he make time to connect with so many people? What resources and implicit strategies does he leverage to maintain those connections and turn them into win-win relationships? While networking comes naturally to Sean and he doesn’t view it as a business strategy, he breaks down for us the day-to-day realities of making and keeping authentic connections and shares the stories that highlight how networking helped him become the successful musician and producer he is today. We even discuss strategies for seeking and being a mentor. Listen now and don’t forget to share with others in your network!

Read More

95: Leadership, Goal-Setting, and Free Will -- The Psychology of Motivating Your Team to Success with Dr. Edwin Locke

95: Leadership, Goal-Setting, and Free Will -- The Psychology of Motivating Your Team to Success with Dr. Edwin Locke

Dr. Edwin Locke’s pioneering work in the field of goal-setting and job satisfaction has greatly enriched our understanding of motivation and changed the way many leaders think about their roles. For this episode of The TalentGrow Show, Halelly makes an exception to the format, allowing it to run over-time, so that we don’t miss a thing. Drawing from his renowned Goal-Setting Theory, Locke discusses questions such as how to set rational, achievable goals for your team, what many leaders misunderstand about extrinsic motivation, and which visionary questions leaders should ask themselves to inspire their team and ensure job satisfaction. Locke also gives us a glimpse into the fascinating research and ideas behind his latest book, The Illusion of Determinism. Plus, what did visionary leader Steve Jobs get right that Elon Musk seems to be getting wrong? Listen and find out!

Read More

91: The Art of Strategic Storytelling for Leaders with Ryan Williams

91: The Art of Strategic Storytelling for Leaders with Ryan Williams

Storytelling isn’t just for marketers or creative types. It’s a dynamic tool that can be leveraged by leaders and professionals across the career spectrum. In this episode of The TalentGrow Show, author and international speaker Ryan Williams joins Halelly to talk about why leaders should learn to become storytellers and how you can start crafting and cultivating your stories today. Discover why strategic storytelling can make you a more effective leader and communicator, the three “anchor stories” you should have under your belt, and the best tips and techniques for improving your ability to captivate and influence others in conversation. Ryan also shares a gamut of interesting personal stories throughout the podcast so you can learn by example as well! Listen and don’t forget to share with current and aspiring leaders in your network.

Read More

90: [Ask Halelly] How to handle senior manager who plays favorites with my team on the TalentGrow Show with Halelly Azulay

90: [Ask Halelly] How to handle senior manager who plays favorites with my team on the TalentGrow Show with Halelly Azulay

It’s time for another super short and highly informative Ask Halelly episode of the TalentGrow Show, where Halelly answers a question from a listener, a learner in one of her corporate workshops, a member of the audience at one of her conference speaking events, or a member of the media. This week’s question is: “What should I do if my senior manager is playing favorites with my team?” Halelly’s  Answer: Of course, it depends on the context such as your relationship with the senior manager. In general, you need to advocate to protect your authority to influence decisions about your team more directly. But of course, beware of your blind-spots and approach the situation tentatively, with curiosity instead of accusatory judgment. Halelly even shares a personal story about a time when this happened to her. Get the deets by listening to the full episode (it’s only approx. 6 minutes long!) and be sure to submit your own question that might be featured on a future episode of Ask Halelly on the TalentGrow Show!

Read More

87: [Solo] Why and How to say No (plus Halelly’s 5A Formula for Saying No Without Seeming Like an Unhelpful Jerk)

87: [Solo] Why and How to say No (plus Halelly’s 5A Formula for Saying No Without Seeming Like an Unhelpful Jerk)

If you have a tendency to say Yes too much (we discussed why you shouldn’t in episode 82), or have a hard time saying No to requests from your boss, co-workers, employees, clients, or even in your personal life, then this solo episode is for you.

Listen on to learn some of the typical reasons we are reluctant to say No, some totally legitimate reasons why you should be saying No, and how to do it in a way that protects your time, independence, integrity, and your relationships and trust using my 5A Formula for Saying No. Listen now and share with someone who could use this advice!

Read More

86: Growing Your Network Based on the Science of Human Behavior with David Burkus

86: Growing Your Network Based on the Science of Human Behavior with David Burkus

Think networking is all about handing out business cards and having small-talk with strangers at networking events? Best-selling author, keynote speaker, and professor of leadership and innovation David Burkus explains why that’s not what truly beneficial networking is and shares two commonly-overlooked secrets to growing a truly beneficial network that can transform your life and career: diversity and multiplexity. (They’re especially key for leaders.) In this exciting episode of The TalentGrow Show, David discusses with Halelly why all leaders and professionals can benefit from networking IF they do it right, and ways to overcome the dangerous yet pervasive phenomenon of “homophily” in your network. Discover how to grow or revive your network based on the cutting-edge science of networking. Listen now!

Read More

85: The Power of Perception – How to Leverage Gender Differences to Maximize your Leadership Effectiveness with Dr. Shawn Andrews

85: The Power of Perception – How to Leverage Gender Differences to Maximize your Leadership Effectiveness with Dr. Shawn Andrews

Most of us have heard about the gender pay gap, but have you ever heard about the gender leadership gap? One surprising statistic shows that only 4.6% of CEOs at Fortune 500 companies are female. Organizational consultant and keynote speaker Dr. Shawn Andrews has studied leadership styles and emotional intelligence from a gendered perspective, and argues that perception plays the key role in perpetuating the gender leadership gap. In this episode of The TalentGrow Show, Halelly talks with Dr. Andrews about what we can do to make a positive impact on gender perception and representation in the workplace, and how we can individually leverage our biological and socialized gender differences to maximize our potential for leadership effectiveness. Listen and don’t forget to share with others!

Read More

83: Daniel Pink on the Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

83: Daniel Pink on the Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing

Timing, according to bestselling author Daniel Pink, is a crucial element of productivity and performance. In fact, research shows that our performance on cognitive tests is affected by up to 20 percent by the time of day alone. So how can we use this information to increase our own performance? In this exciting episode of The TalentGrow Show, Daniel Pink explains the big ideas behind his new book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, and shares very actionable advice for arranging your own schedule – and your team’s – in a way that takes advantage of your peak-performance times. Our lives are a never-ending stream of “when”-decisions, and Daniel shows us how to base these decisions on science rather than intuition or guesswork. Learn about the three performance stages we each experience in any given day, the different chronotypes we all fall into, and how to use all of this information to help us flourish at work -- especially as current or aspiring leaders. Listen and share with others!

Read More

82: [Ask Halelly] How might I be sabotaging myself at the office without even realizing it?

82: [Ask Halelly] How might I be sabotaging myself at the office without even realizing it?

It’s time for another super short and highly informative Ask Halelly episode of the TalentGrow Show, where Halelly answers a question from a listener, a learner in one of her corporate workshops, a member of the audience at one of her conference speaking events, or a member of the media.

This week’s question is: “What’s a way that I may be sabotaging myself at the office without even realizing it?”

Halelly’s  Answer: Saying ‘Yes’ too much. If you’re guilty of this kind of behavior, you need to recognize that it may sabotage you in more than one way. Get the details by listening to the full episode (it’s less than 6 minutes long!) and be sure to submit your own question that might be featured on a future episode of Ask Halelly on the TalentGrow Show!

Read More

81: How to step outside your comfort zone and unlock your leadership potential with Andy Molinsky

81: How to step outside your comfort zone and unlock your leadership potential with Andy Molinsky

When you find yourself in a tough situation in the workplace, the most effective solution often lies outside of your comfort zone. Going against the grain of our regular routines and responses, however, can be incredibly difficult to do. That’s why author, professor, and consultant Andy Molinsky works to help people develop the insights and courage necessary to act outside their personal and cultural comfort zones when doing important, but challenging, tasks in work and life. In this energizing episode of The TalentGrow Show, Andy and Halelly talk about why it’s so important to step outside of our comfort zones, the five key challenges that stand in our way, and three great tools Andy recommends for implementing his advice. Listen to learn the simple, practical steps you can take to overcome the difficulty of breaking out of your comfort zone, and how you can become a more effective leader and professional as a result. And be sure to share what you’ve learned with others as well!

Read More

80: How to make your likeability your most lucrative asset with Michael Katz

80: How to make your likeability your most lucrative asset with Michael Katz

We’ve all heard the now cliché phrase, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” But how many hours have we spent networking and trying to impress the right people with no tangible results? Marketing consultant and author Michael Katz firmly believes that likeability has more upside than capability, and in this episode of The TalentGrow Show, he shares deliberate, actionable advice on how to effectively build and leverage your relationships and your reputation to propel your career. Learn the simple steps you can take every day to stand out from the crowd, build your visibility, and turn your connections into fruitful relationships that help accelerate your career’s success momentum. Plus, find out why content-creation is such a powerful tool for creating visibility and how you can take advantage of today’s technologies to create effective content of your own! Listen and share with others in your network!

Read More

79: Inside-out leadership -- How to overcome a lack of purpose and passion in the workplace with Robb Holman

79: Inside-out leadership -- How to overcome a lack of purpose and passion in the workplace with Robb Holman

Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? According to leadership expert Robb Holman, answering these age-old questions is the key to infusing your career with the purpose and passion you need to be an exceptional leader. There is a major problem of disengagement in the workplace. Approximately 90% of workers and 80% of leaders lack purpose and passion. It’s turned into a $500 billion problem. But what can leaders do to improve our own performance – and then our team’s – if it’s suffering from a lack of meaning and purpose? In this compelling episode of The TalentGrow Show, Robb shares the ideas and core convictions for Inside-Out Leadership – the kind of leadership that breeds success. Listen to learn how to fight disengagement in the workplace, discover your true self, and infuse potent purpose and passion into your career and your team’s performance!

Read More

77: How to cultivate 4 essential capabilities to catapult your leadership success with Ron Carucci on the TalentGrow Show podcast with Halelly Azulay

77: How to cultivate 4 essential capabilities to catapult your leadership success with Ron Carucci on the TalentGrow Show podcast with Halelly Azulay

Based on their ten-year longitudinal study on executive transition, Ron Carucci and his team discovered why more than 50% of leaders fail within their first 18 months of appointment. Ron shares the four differentiating capabilities that set successful leaders apart. On this information-packed episode of the TalentGrow Show, hear the theory and research behind the four capabilities along with actionable advice on how you can cultivate them to bolster your own leadership ability. Plus, learn the surprising truth about how most leaders react to newly-acquired power and why your humanity, your flaws, and your weaknesses are actually some of your greatest assets! Listen now and remember to share with others!

Read More

74: [Ask Halelly] What if I ask if I can give feedback and they say no? on the TalentGrow Show with Halelly Azulay

74: [Ask Halelly] What if I ask if I can give feedback and they say no? on the TalentGrow Show with Halelly Azulay

“Should I ask first if it’s okay to give feedback, and what if they say ‘No’?” That’s the question I’m answering on this second-ever Ask Halelly episode of the TalentGrow Show podcast, and this time, it’s a voice-recorded question! Listen to my answer and the follow-up discussion that ensued via voicemail and email, and chime in via the comments in the shownotes – what do you think? Have you ever experienced this? And of course, don’t be shy and submit your own question that might be featured on a future episode of Ask Halelly on the TalentGrow Show!

Read More

73: How to become a better leader by using Polarity Thinking with Laura Mendelow

73: How to become a better leader by using Polarity Thinking with Laura Mendelow

As leaders we are sometimes stumped by seemingly opposing pulls and blind to the downsides of our actions and intentions. Leadership coach Laura Mendelow explains how the concept of Polarity Thinking along with a helpful Polarity Map can help us manage the conflicting goals we often feel tugging on us in opposite directions as leaders. Plus, polarity thinking gives us a positive and constructive way to boost our strengths and manage our weaknesses. On this fun and interesting episode of the TalentGrow Show, Laura shares some great examples and actionable advice for creating balance and increasing your effectiveness as a leader. Learn how to use polarity thinking to discover and overcome your greatest challenges, such as balancing the need to connect with your team and avoiding feeling burned out. Listen now and share with others who could benefit from this shift in thinking about leadership!

Read More

70: Creating White Space in the Workplace: Building Your Team’s Productivity with Juliet Funt

70: Creating White Space in the Workplace: Building Your Team’s Productivity with Juliet Funt

As a leader, you should always be looking for ways to boost the productivity of your team. On this episode of the TalentGrow Show, Halelly Azulay interviews consultant and speaker Juliet Funt about productivity-enhancing ideas and techniques, especially the concept of “white space.” Did you know that the financial costs of not having white space are about a million dollars of annual waste per 50 people in a team? That’s right, which means you should be thinking about finding ways to create white space in your workplace today! Listen now to learn some great practices for creating and using white space, get advice for overcoming what Juliet calls the “thieves of productivity,” and actionable steps that you can take today to boost the productivity of your team!

Read More

Ep069: Why all leaders should be speakers and how to find your "secret sauce" topic with Alexia Vernon

Ep069: Why all leaders should be speakers and how to find your "secret sauce" topic with Alexia Vernon

Today’s episode of the TalentGrow Show features thought-leader, speaker, coach and trainer, Alexia Vernon, with a ton of fresh and valuable insights for you to take with you into the new year! Alexia has been on the show once before, but this time around she shares some great tips for discovering your “secret sauce” as a speaker. Find out why improving your speaking can benefit you even if you’re not a speaker by trade, discover the best questions you can ask yourself to improve your speaking, and the big mistake Alexia made (and you should definitely avoid) when she published her first book! Alexia also talks about being honest and vulnerable as a speaker, which is something that might seem simple but is actually really hard to do. Give this a listen and take your speaking to the next level!

Read More

Ep068: Understanding emotional intelligence and the “cocktail of behaviors” with Hile Rutledge

Ep068: Understanding emotional intelligence and the “cocktail of behaviors” with Hile Rutledge

Did you know that EQ (emotional intelligence quotient) is actually a better predictor of workplace success than IQ? It’s true, and in today’s episode of the TalentGrow Show with Halelly Azulay, the fascinating subject of emotional intelligence is brightly illuminated by one of the world’s foremost trainers in EQ assessment tools and models: Hile Rutledge. Our discussion centers around one of the best EQ models out there—The Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i)—and how you can understand it to improve your own EQ. Take a listen to find out what the “cocktail of behaviors” is, which EQ-i element is most associated with leadership, what improves self-regard more positively than anything else, as well as an actionable tip aimed at getting you out of your “bubble”. In fact, Hile urges you to do it as soon as you can and we both agree it might actually change the world if more of us did it!

Read More

Ep067: Unstoppable you – the 7 practices of lifelong learning with Pat McLagan

Ep067: Unstoppable you – the 7 practices of lifelong learning with Pat McLagan

In today’s stimulating episode of The TalentGrow Show, award-winning learning expert and author of Unstoppable You: Adopt The New 4.0 Mindset And Change Your Life Pat McLagan explains what the “learning 4.0” framework is all about and how you can use it to become a much better lifelong learner and leader. Listen to find out how learning 4.0 compares to “1.0”, “2.0”, and “3.0” learning techniques, what’s something that managers and supervisors can no longer afford to do, and most importantly what are the 7 powerful practices of lifelong learning (which she says “apply whether you’re learning by yourself, learning in a team, helping someone learn, or being helped by someone to learn”). This episode is chock-full of insights and wisdom so take a listen now! Please remember to subscribe and share!

Read More

Ep065: Networking for quiet people with Lori Saitz

Ep065: Networking for quiet people with Lori Saitz

A lot of people think that the best leaders and the best networkers are extroverts. But according to networking strategy coach and professional speaker Lori Saitz, that’s not true at all. A networking maverick who describes herself as naturally quiet, Lori is firm about her central message that you don’t have to be different than you are to be good at networking. Rather than telling people that success at networking requires becoming more outgoing or gregarious, she prefers to share simple strategies and suggestions that anyone can use to improve their networking game. On today’s episode of the TalentGrow show with Halelly Azulay, Lori shares a tip for how to make connecting with people at networking events less intimidating and warns against a common mistake she sees people make when it comes to thinking about networking. Plus, she explains how to get the most out of the networking you do (and therefore, not have to do as much of it!) and gives specific advice for leaders on how to understand (and nurture) their quiet people. Listen now and please share with others!

Read More