Brain Chatter

Many company leaders are asked to serve on boards of directors, whether with nonprofits or for-profits of various sizes. There are many questions and issues to consider before saying yes and after saying yes. It is always an honor to be elected to boards, and it allows someone to have far-reaching positive impact beyond their normal job or company. Board service comes with fiduciary responsibilities and can include personal liabilities and reputation risk.
In this episode, Laura Gregory, an experienced attorney and now a management consultant associate with KC&A, explores the spectrum of questions we should ask and issues we should evaluate related to board service.
Our leadership is important to nonprofits all around us- industry associations, local youth sports leagues, homeowner associations, school booster organizations, chambers of commerce, hunting clubs, civic clubs, etc. And our leadership can also have far-reaching positive impact on job-creation and economic opportunities with for-profit boards of small, medium, or large companies, whether closely held or publicly traded.
Laura provides a series of questions and concerns to consider before saying yes, as well as a series of responsibilities and methods to maximize your impact and usefulness on a board after saying yes, including when to stop serving. She also offers a list of strategies to measure your success in board service, as well as specific, critical, and costly mistakes to avoid.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
> Laura Gregory on LinkedIn
>Laura Gregory Bio
>US Bar Associations' Directories
>West Alabama Community Foundation
>Eagles Wings
>Weekly Leadership Quotes on LinkedIn

Brain Chatter, a podcast where we listen past the daily noise and explore topics at the intersection of leadership, workplace culture, profit, and sustainability.

The Agent of Your Own Life episode contrasts the long-reaching negative impacts of perennial victimhood mentality, with the never-ending positive impact of being an individual who is 'the agent of their own life.' As agentic, this individual recognizes that they can take actions and make decisions today that will make their tomorrow better. This contrasts with the perennial victim who always believes someone else's decision controls their access to success.
Someone who is the agent of their own life is a person who makes the choices that takes them where they want to go, overcoming disappointments, unfortunate hardships, and failure, by seeing each as an opportunity to learn. They never come back from a bad experience without having learned something important they apply today or another day in the future.
A person who is the agent of their own life retains their power and control over their attitude and future, and is empowered and emboldened to see themselves as unstoppable with their goals because of their grit. Contrast this with the perennial victim who is stuck, bitter, and angry, believing that the decisions made by others has complete control over their life. This person has surrendered control of their life and future to someone else.
All of this has immense impact on modern workplaces, families, and society. As a leader, can you help lead someone from victimhood mindset to being an agent of their own life? Dr. Chapman says yes, and explains how in this episode. How can each of us self-assess, accurately, to determine if we are effective agents of our own lives? Dr. Chapman also walks through practical strategies for this in the episode. This thirty minute episode answers many other questions related to this topic, as well.
EPISODE RESOURCES:

>Bio of Ken Chapman, Ph.D.
>Follow Ken Chapman & Associates, Inc. on LINKEDIN
>Follow Ken Chapman & Associates, Inc. on FACEBOOK
>Safety Beyond The Numbers (book and seminar)
>Podcast interview with Tony Orlowski about Safety Beyond The Numbers
>Wall Street Journal Jonathan Haidt Article (referenced in episode)

Brain Chatter, a podcast where we listen past the daily noise and explore topics at the intersection of leadership, workplace culture, profit, and sustainability.

How are current high school students being prepared for the US workforce at a time when employers are desperate for qualified workers? What are the students' pathways and options? Are schools getting the input from local industry about what those companies need most in foundational skills as well as developed skillsets? Do schools want involvement from local employers?
This episode takes an in-depth look at current high school education and workforce preparation with someone on the front lines. Grayson Lawrence is principal of Winterboro High School in rural Talladega County, Alabama. Grayson explains what College and Career Readiness means on a practical, measurable level and what it looks like for the students, educators, and future employers.
Winterboro High has been a recipient of of the "National School Change Award", presented to six or fewer schools nationwide annually as a joint program of the National Principals Leadership Institute and The School Superintendents Association. It recognizes schools that have significantly improved, such as Winterboro, which has raised graduation rates from around 60% to close to 100%, among numerous other gains. And, 100% of Winterboro graduates leave school with a personalized career plan mapping out what steps to take to achieve their personal goals.
EPISODE RESOURCES:
> Winterboro High School website
>Grayson Lawrence on Twitter
>Winterboro High on Twitter

Brain Chatter, a podcast where we listen past the daily noise and explore topics at the intersection of leadership, workplace culture, profit, and sustainability.

At the same time as historic unemployment, there has never been a greater number of well-qualified disabled people who want to work. These prospective employees are sitting on the sidelines. John D. Kemp, CEO of the Lakeshore Foundation and author of a new book entitled “Disability Friendly, How to Move from Clueless to Inclusive” talks practical strategy in this episode.
How can an employer find, hire, and retain qualified workers who happen to be disabled? What do disabled employee prospects want? Who is considered disabled? Why do some employers avoid disabled prospects altogether? What accommodations are required? John even tackles the often undiscussed question, 'what if you have to fire a disabled person for lack of meeting performance requirements'? What are the strengths that disabled people bring with them to a new workplace? Where does an employer, particularly a small to mid-sized company, even start with becoming a workplace that welcomes disabled applicants?
>John's Bio
>Connect with John on LinkedIn
>Lakeshore Foundation
>Links to purchase John's book:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble

Brain Chatter, a podcast where we listen past the daily noise and explore topics at the intersection of leadership, workplace culture, profit, and sustainability.

What does it take to last 100 years? Nancy Meadows, CEO of BridgeWays, shares her insights on how and why her organization has lasted almost a century. She discusses necessary organizational pivots of mission, programs, branding, and more that BridgeWays has made over the decades. So, how do you know what or which pivots to make (or not make)? What's the appropriate timeline for successful pivots? Should the process be fast or slow? What types of data and analysis is useful when it comes to decisions about large and small changes? How do you select the right people to surround yourself with in order to accomplish successful pivots?
Nancy also discusses their organizational role in bridging "where youth are" and "where they can be" as it relates to life and career preparation. She explains BridgeWays focus on Social and Emotional Learning, including interpersonal skills building, goal setting skills, exposure to healthy teamwork, conflict resolution skills, and other skillsets sometimes illogically termed 'soft skills' that, in reality, are often deemed as "critical skills" by employers.
This episode also includes discussions about “Hindsight Bias,” alternately called “Knew-It-All-Along Phenomenon,” as it relates to the perception that successful pivots in the past were much more obvious than they actually were in real time.
RESOURCES:
>BridgeWays website
>Nancy Meadows' Bio
>BridgeWays Facebook Page
>Pauline Fletcher's Story
>Camp Fletcher

Brain Chatter, a podcast where we listen past the daily noise and explore topics at the intersection of leadership, workplace culture, profit, and sustainability.