The Switchboard

When I was a summer camp counselor, anime was the anchor of an unexpected, transformational experience that resonates years later. I shared my lessons learned along with the summer job and internship experiences of leaders featured on The Switchboard. These are our key takeaways: 🛍️ Julie Inouye: The Importance of Preparation  ❤️ Claude Silver: Determination and Joy through Resilience  🐕 Gorick Ng: Three C’s of Competence, Commitment, and Compatibility. 📘 Morgan Baden: Always Over-communicate  🍜 Kevin Lee: Attention to Detail and Craftsmanship 🪜 Jason Yoong: Ask How You Can Help 🤝 Q Hamirani: Build Trust  🏙️ Janelle S. Kpeli Develop Relationships 🏢 Ryan Anderson: Don’t Always Ask for Permission  👗 Tiffin Jernstedt: Have Fun! Throughout their stories below, there are three shared themes: (1) the Power of Soft Skills to Shape your Path, (2) How we can Learn from Challenging Experiences and (3) the Value of Preparation and Being Proactive. Read more via the link in the comments.

Welcome to this special new LinkedIn edition of The Switchboard. Typically, I feature interviews and best practices weekly. Recently, I’ve been saving great posts from others that I’d like to share. I'm calling it The Switchboard Exchange with 9 posts in this first edition, featuring the following: Growth 🦪 Amy Edmondson: Failures 🎯 Shivani Berry: Ask Specific Questions 🚢 Dickie Bush 🚢:  Make Decisions Easier Internal Communications 🪄 Molly Graham: 30-day presentation 📖 Nathan Baugh:Storytelling Culture 🥣 Nir Zicherman: Bowl Talk 🦒 Robin Weinick, PhD, ACC: Recognition 💙 Richard Hua: Start a Work Club 🪀 Suzanne Roach Dellmann: Play Day Learn about their lessons here:

"Anyone who is successful is very intentional, relentless and creative in pursuit of whatever product they are building, unreasonable hospitality is about bringing that same relentlessness in pursuit of people – it’s not just the people you serve, but it starts with people you work with." -Will Guidara I read Will Guidara's "Unreasonable Hospitality" and loved it.  As I dived deeper into his hospitality stories, I kept seeing parallels to the ways we communicate and connect at work. I had an awesome conversation with Will, and it's the most recent edition of The Switchboard. In This Edition How hospitality is a state of mind Why leaders must take time to do the most menial tasks When starting a new role, just listen Thank you to Maren Patrick for helping make the interview happen. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Link to article in the comments.

There’s something about summer and reading, perhaps it’s assigned school reading lists and library rewards programs. I asked a few leaders what's on their book list. To learn from their top picks, check out this article: https://lnkd.in/emusFPYj 📚 Brooke Kruger 📕 Michelle Lee-Schmidt 📘 Ben Lang 📗 Lorraine K. Lee 📕 Adrian J. Hopkins 📖 Chase Warner 📗 Katia Verresen 📘 Kursat Ozenc From Newsletter Writers I Admire: 📗 Molly Graham 📚 Adam Grant

There’s one section of Investor's Business Daily that I enjoy reading as fast as they are published — Leaders & Success highlights career and life stories of CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs across industries. As an interviewer, I admire these articles for the stories they weave together with leadership lessons applicable to any career. The communications learnings stand out the most to me. I selected five recent favorite stories with lessons on resilience, empathy, simplicity, teamwork, kindness, values and change through a communications lens. Learn more about these leaders with me: 📛 Sylvia Acevedo: past CEO, The Girl Scouts USA ⛰️ Erik Weihenmayer: Adventurer, Author, Founder and Disability Advocate 🥞 Julia Stewart: past CEO, IHOP and Applebee's 🧲 Lonnie G. Johnson: Inventor, Super Soaker  ⛽ Tom Love (late father of Jenny Love Meyer): Founder, Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores View The Switchboard article linked in the comments.

📚What can work learn from Silent Book Club? It turns out a lot! I sat down with the co founders Guinevere de la Mare and Laura Gluhanich to celebrate the 1000th chapter and look back at the learnings over the years. Here are two of my favorite quotes from our conversation: 📘 "Bring in good people and get out of the way." - Guinevere de la Mare 📗 "It’s the volunteers who enable the larger community. These organizers are core to our community. We’ve given them the sandbox, and they’ve built it." -Laura Gluhanich Learn more:

It was fun, uplifting and thought-provoking to talk with Jason Yoong, Operating Partner at Level up with Ethan Evans VP. On careers, Jason said: "This windy road has had one common theme — I’ve followed great leaders and managers. This has given me the chance to work across different industries, big companies, startups, and now a two-person team. In a business partner, I value intelligence, high energy, and high integrity. Ethan Evans, retired Amazon Vice President and my co-partner on Level Up, hits all three. When you find a partner like that, you just run with it." May we all find that business partner for us, someday! In This Edition of The Switchboard, learn these top lessons: 📚Transform career-growth through community-learning ❣️Contribute to culture to positively impact your workplace 🐸 Consider eating the frog before lunch, a fun work hack Also, I've done 100+ of these interviews and it wasn't until this one that I thought: can we take a Zelfie?!? Thanks to Jason for just going for it with me. Read the full The Switchboard article via link in the comments.

It was uplifting to talk with Brooke Kruger, Communications Recruiter and Founder of KC Partners. We spoke about her experiences and the ways she helps others in their professional path: "As you think about your career, you have to ask yourself: what motivates you and where do you get the most joy and look to find a role that helps you get to these things. If you look at your day, identify what areas of the day you are feeling good and not stressed. Figuring all this out takes a lot of self-reflection." Learn how she leads with values, champions people in incredible ways and makes a major impact on the communications field. Our interview is below:

Here's my case for creating a Culture Menu at work: an appetizer, main course and dessert approach to employee engagement. It's inspired by The Varsity's iconic phrase: "“What’ll ya have? What’ll ya have?” Customize my menu template to empower internal culture leaders. Let me know how it goes and if you serve any favorite foods to accompany it. Read more below. https://lnkd.in/eWEQmFRP

As graduations approach, I’ve been thinking about the career beginnings for today’s students — what will spark their career paths? While writing The Switchboard, I’ve asked this question to 100+ leaders I’ve interviewed. This week, I took a nostalgic look back to analyze common themes and wisdom for this year’s graduates. These are the top five sparks — family, curiosity, bold steps, friendship, and community. Each of these leaders navigated their paths their own way. I believe that’s the most important message to take away from this edition. We can learn from others and discuss possibilities, but ultimately, we must find and seek the spark ourselves. Thank you for the powerful quotes from these leaders: Zofia Ciechowska, Gorick Ng, Michelle Lee-Schmidt, Jiyoung Yoon, Ryan Anderson, Farrah Mitra, Jared Taylor, Michael Maney, Phillip Hales, Sean Langston, Jr., Chase Warner, Roberta Thomson, Ben Lang, Janelle S. Kpeli.