Hot Mess Hotline Podcast Archives- Stefanie Krievins & Co.

Leaders Aren’t Fortune Tellers, But They Are Risk Takers with Pamela Diaz

Leadership is about taking risks, not seeing into a crystal ball. Pamela Diaz is a leader that asks her team to trust her enough to take risks with her. And she returns that trust with empathy. Here at The Change Architects, we work with a lot of teams that demand all their questions be answered from their manager before they move forward with plans — which stalls progress and problem solving. And it’s simply impossible. Fortunately there’s another way and Pam knows what’s up.

This was a fun conversation. Listen in to this episode where I reference Indiana Jones and Turduckens. Pinky swear they’re both related to change management.

Resistance to Change Isn’t What You Think It Is with Jessica Carroll

Resistance to change doesn’t always show up in your team like you think it does. Jessica Carroll is an executive who has driven multiple digital transformations as a CIO and Chief Customer Experience Officer. The same lessons that apply to “going to the cloud” also apply to digital transformation and how to use AI in 2023. In this episode we discuss how it’s easy for the leader to think their teammates are resisting, but they really might just need more information; think about the problem from a different perspective; or need to wrap their head around the project in a way that’s different from you.

Listen in to this episode where Jessica describes how you can move your team from needing more information to action.

Deliver Results that Match Your Executive Compensation with Scott Couchenour

Have you ever felt like you weren’t delivering the results as an executive that matched your compensation? Scott Couchenour is our faculty member who can tell you exactly why and how to get you focused on results, actions, and the mindset needed to do the strategic work necessary at your level. It’s easy to get sucked into too many meetings, too many decisions, and too many tasks. As a senior leader you need to focus on delivering the value that only you can. Usually that means more time on strategic planning and execution, managing investments, aligning staff, and business development — not making a decision for a teammate who is abdicating responsibility to you!

Listen in on Scott’s episode to learn why you need your very own “offensive coordinator” so you’re being proactive, not reactive to whatever hits your inbox each day.

Action Can’t Get in the Way of Empathy with Don Monistere

Action and empathy move at different speeds in companies. Don Monistere is a longtime IT leader who has driven a lot of change. He’s led the acquisition and merging of several companies and freely admits that plans on paper sometimes sound great and play out in the real world in a terrible way. He cares deeply about his people and he has a strong bias for action. For those of us who have a bias for action (me included) it’s easy for us to run over people, push them out of the way, or dismiss their concerns because it slows us or the result down. Bottom line is that we end up with less people following us because they don’t want to keep up, can’t keep up, or think we’ve lost our minds.

Listen in as Don describes how he now prioritizes listening and empathy over action and how that leads to more buy in.

How to Come Back from Burnout with Jimmy Burroughes

How do you come back from burnout as a leader? Jimmy Burroughes was an overachiever who tried to prove himself for too long and burned out. In epic fashion. As someone who knows he’s here to make a difference in this world, he wanted to do too much, be too much, and was burning the candle at both ends. One day in 2017 it all caught up with him and the life that he had unraveled.

Luckily for him and for us, he came back from being lost, feeling hopeless, and being unable to get out bed. He now uses his experiences to work with teams and leaders so they never get to where he was. My hunch is that you’ve been where Jimmy has been…or are on the brink of it…or have a colleague who is burnt out now. Listen in for real guidance to re-engage in life with joy.

IT Needs to Say No Sometimes with Heather Darring

How to say “No” in IT is tricky. Heather Darring shares with us what’s even trickier: saying Yes too frequently, projects going out of scope, and then reading an IT audit that says, “You suck.” Okay, okay it didn’t actually say that she and her 1 colleague sucked, but it described missed expectations and she took it personally. Years later she’s able to share how that experience turned into an opportunity to reset expectations across the entire business, to grow, to learn, and ultimately expand her department and become the CIO.

Listen in to this episode with Heather, the CIO of an international nonprofit, as she shares what happens when IT doesn’t say No to their business colleagues (and should) and how they’re mortals like us not magicians! ha!

Courageous Leadership with Deseri Garcia

Courageous leadership is a choice. Deseri Garcia is a coach and faculty member here at The Change Architects. Because she’s been in the trenches as a leader, she knows what it takes to have hard conversations, lead with clarity and vision, and adapt to those around you while maintaining authenticity. Deseri’s experience is now in teambuildng and coaching. Specifically she creates teambuilding experiences that build connection, problem solving skills, and shared results.

Listen in to this episode to hear about Deseri’s coaching success, approach, and how she gets as much as she gives as a coach, trainer, and facilitator. Also, you’ll hear how we met and why everyone should have a happy dance!

Challenge the Status Quo; Business as Usual is Dangerous with Wally Brant

“Challenge the status quo!” The executives I work with shout this from rooftops with their teams. “Business as usual” means a slow decline toward irrelevancy.

The reality is that a business that isn’t growing in some way is in decline and shrinking the value it’s bringing to the world. And “growth” doesn’t always mean revenue, profit, and headcount. Growth in rate of change; growth in technical capabilities; growth in integration; growth in project management skills. These are all forms of valid growth too. “Growth” also means that some things do stay the same to create stability. Listen in to Wally’s lessons as a longtime CEO to reward challenging the status quo now.

Rich Leaders Have Rich Relationships with Jack Gibson

A little-discussed asset class known by rich leaders is to have rich relationships. Jack Gibson is a leader who values trust over money; friendship over revenue. Just a few short years ago, he was feeling hot, hot, hot about real estate investing with a business partner. He referred his friends to this person. Everything was great while everyone was making money together.

Until it wasn’t and they were all losing money. Big time. Jack put on his cape and saved the day. While he’s learned since then that “saving others” isn’t his job, he’ll never regret saving a relationship at the expense of virtually everything else. Listen in to our conversation where lifelong friends have stayed trusted partners because he knows the value of the best investment out there: relationship capital.

Insights into Uncomfortable Race Conversations at Work with Danielle Meadows-Stinnett

Have you ever wanted insights into uncomfortable race conversations at work but didn’t know who to ask? Our guest, Danielle Meadows-Stinnett, is generous enough to share a hot mess she found herself in as the CEO of her marketing company. She describes what it felt like when a client said to her teammate, “Do you even speak English?”

For those of us in more privileged positions in our American culture, we need to learn what it’s like sitting in the chair across from us as a person of color, a non-native English speaker, someone without a college degree whose colleagues all have college degrees, etc. etc. Unfortunately we’ve created too many ways to outrank each other. This conversation is a great reminder that we all show up to work looking to make a difference as a fellow human. Not a fellow human with all the labels we put on each other and ourselves.

Hot Mess Hotline Podcast