Year of the Peer

Peers and Beers

Heineken recently invited us to open our world. If you haven’t seen it already, take time to watch! It will be the best 4 minutes of your day! This is what the Year of the Peer is all about!

Leo Bottary’s Year of the Peer Update

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Leo Bottary is an author, keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, and thought leader on the topic of peer advantage. After eight years as an instructor for Seton Hall University, where he was named adjunct teacher of the year in 2015, he now serves as an instructor for Rutgers.

During his tenure at Vistage Worldwide, Leo Bottary led the rebranding of the company and directed a thought leadership initiative on the power of peers in business. This work resulted in a book he coauthored with Leon Shapiro titled: The Power of Peers: How the Company You Keep Drives Leadership, Growth & Success. Leo (and publisher Taylor & Francis Group) will release a new book in Spring 2018, which he’ll tell us more about on the show!

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Gini Dietrich on Influencers, Leading Virtual Teams, and Being Part of a Peer Group

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Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a digital marketing communications firm based in Chicago. She is the author of Spin Sucks, co-author of Marketing in the Round, and co-host of Inside PR. Gini is also the lead blogger at Spin Sucks and the founder of Spin Sucks Pro. Clients who have benefited from Gini’s forward thinking approach to communication have included Ocean Spray, Sprint, Denny’s, GE, and Abbott, to name a few.

Next week’s guest is Louis J. DeGennaro, PhD, president and CEO of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

“I’m Surrounded By Idiots!”

If you’ve ever uttered Scar’s famous quote from the Lion King (as only Jeremy Irons can express it), I suggest you pause for a moment to think about what you said. Consider the possibility that the people you’re talking about are not idiots at all, you might be just treating them that way. Or, on the off chance they really ARE idiots, then why would you surround yourself with these people in the first place?

In either case, surrounding yourself with people you respect is your responsibility – it’s on you, no one else. Who you surround yourself with matters. As you assess progress against your goals for the back half of this year, take stock of the people around you. Are they contributing to your success, holding you back, or dragging you down? While you’re at it, ask yourself if you are contributing positively to the people who depend on you to lift them up. This is the time to course correct on both fronts.

Don’t be a Scar (or one of the hyenas for that matter). Here’s the scene from the movie that inspired Scar’s famous assertion. You can do better!

Ryan Foland on Engaging Your Peers: Listen more, talk less!

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Ryan Foland coaches leaders worldwide on the art of simplifying spoken and written messaging for greater impact. Ryan was recognized in 2016 by Inc. Magazine as a Top Youth Marketer and, in 2017, was named by Entrepreneur Magazine as a Top Personal Branding Expert. Ryan’s company InfluenceTree, specializes in helping individuals discover, build and grow their personal brands. Ryan hosts the radio show Get Notified on KUCI and is a gifted speaker on the topics of communication and personal branding. Ryan is also a sought after TEDx host, having worked with TEDxUCIrvine, TEDxSantaMonica, and most recently TEDxLA.

Next week’s guest is Arment-Dietrich CEO, Gini Dietrich.

Sekou Andrews – Making the Whole Greater Than the Sum Of Our Smarts!

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Sekou Andrews is an elementary schoolteacher turned actor, musician, national poetry slam champion, entrepreneur, and now the world’s leading Poetic Voice. On any given day, Sekou may deliver an original talk for international marketing executives, give a keynote speech at a leadership conference, or perform pieces for Barack Obama in Oprah’s backyard. His work has been featured on such diverse national media outlets as ABC World News, MSNBC, HBO, Good Morning America, Showtime, MTV and BET. Sekou does more than inspire us with his story; he inspires us with our story. You can learn more about Sekou at http://sekouandrews.com and http://rockstarspeakersecrets.com.

Next week’s guest is Paul Michelman, Editor-in-Chief, MIT Sloan Management Review.

Who You Surround Yourself with Matters (No Matter Where You Live)!

Here’s an excerpt from The Power of Peers: How the Company You Keep Drives Leadership, Growth & Success that explains why who surround yourself matters, no matter where you live or what language you speak.

“In 1976, anthropologist Edward T. Hall created a framework for examining cultures across a spectrum of what he called high-context and low-context communication. Think of a high-context culture as a tightly knit group of insiders. Here, there’s a higher level of mutual understanding and, more often than not, less need for specific explanation when communicating complex ideas. In a low-context culture, cultural norms can be more divergent, and conveying anything complex requires more specific explanation.

“High-context cultures tend to be more collectivist, cooperative, and team oriented, and they hold a deep respect for history and tradition. These cultures are more commonly found in Asia and the Middle East. Lower-context cultures tend to be more competitive, individualistic, and task oriented, with a future orientation and a larger appetite for change. Switzerland, Germany, the U.S., and the U.K. are considered lower-context cultures.

“Richard Dool, a former CEO, Fortune 500 executive, and professor at (now Rutgers University), supports Hall’s findings, explaining that, based on his experience, the dynamics in Germany, the UK, and France are all very different, but they’re all still Western or lower context. ‘They’re more individualistic than others. Now, if you look at the higher-context cultures like India, Japan, and China, they are all very different as well, but peer influence, peer respect, and peer relationships are a common theme. And I would argue they matter even more,’ Dool said.

“This concept of peer respect and peer support is deeply ingrained in high-context cultures— much more so than in the U.S. The degree and the manifestation of peer support and the way it is leveraged can be very different, but the concepts and the foundation are the same no matter where you live in the world.”

Food for thought as we celebrate the Year of the Peer!

Larry Robertson on Community and Creativity

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Larry Robertson is an innovation advisor – a rare combination of many parts that quilt together into a greater whole. He’s the author of two award-winning books – The Language of Man. Learning to Speak Creativity and A Deliberate Pause: Entrepreneurship and its Moment in Human Progress. He’s also the founder of two ventures: Lighthouse Consulting, a firm that for 25 years has guided entrepreneurs and leaders, and a non-profit focused on creativity. These things and more make him a widely sought after expert in the areas creativity, entrepreneurship, and leadership. A quick listen to him ‘live’ in this podcast and in other appearances will immediately show you why.

LinkedIn’s Pat Wadors Talks About Finding the Right People

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Pat Wadors is the Chief Human Resources Officer at LinkedIn. Since 2013, in addition to hiring, retaining and inspiring top talent, Pat is responsible for all employee-related HR programs, including compensation and benefits, and performance management. She came to LinkedIn from Plantronics, where she was Senior Vice President of Human Resources. From August 2011 until August 2012, Pat also served as the HR Executive Advisor to Twitter. Previously, Pat held senior leadership positions at Yahoo!, Align Technologies, Applied Materials, Merck Pharmaceutical, Viacom International, and Calvin Klein Cosmetics. She holds a BS in Business Administration from Ramapo College, with a major in Human Resources Management and a minor in Psychology.

Next week’s guest Larry Robertson, Founder, Lighthouse Consulting.

Lolly Daskal and the Leadership Gap

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As we open the second quarter of the Year of the Peer, we do so as a member of the C-Suite Radio family. To get us started, we are joined by Lolly Daskal.

Lolly Daskal is a best-selling author and one of the most sought-after executive leadership coaches in the world. Her extensive expertise spans 14 countries, six languages and hundreds of companies. As founder and CEO of Lead From Within, her proprietary leadership program serves as a catalyst for leaders who want to enhance their performance and make a meaningful difference in their companies and in the world. Lolly’s proprietary insights are the subject of her new book, The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness.

Lolly was designated a Top-50 Leadership and Management Expert by Inc. magazine, and Huffington Post honored her with the title of The Most Inspiring Woman in the World.

Next week’s guest, LinkedIn Chief Human Resources Officer, Pat Wadors.