Whether we’re talking about our customers or teams, loyalty is the currency of successful relationships. In the business world of yore, loyalty was one-sided, it was buy something or do something to get something. Today that quid-pro-quo style falls flat.

Just like Taylor Swift…brands who do well understand that having customers and employees is a privilege, and they aim for relational loyalty, not transactional relationships.

How do we put authentic loyalty at the heart of our businesses? What has changed about leadership as the world of work continues to evolve?

In this episode, I’m joined by loyalty and CRM expert and the founder of Incendio, Jenn McMillen. We talk about the shift in customer loyalty programs and what all businesses can learn from it.

Guest Bio

Jenn McMillen is the founder and Chief Accelerant of Incendio, where her specialty is increasing topline revenue by building and fixing customer programs. Her team helps companies solve and overcome their CRM, loyalty, and customer experience challenges. She is also a nationally known loyalty & CRM expert, recognized by the CRM community and her peers with major industry awards for programs such as GameStop’s PowerUp Rewards, which has more than 35-million members, many of whom pay an annual subscription fee for an enhanced experience. She has also created and/or run several well-known loyalty and subscription programs like myGNC Rewards, United Airlines’ Silver Wings Plus, Vail Resorts PEAKS, Payless ShoeSource Points, Neiman Marcus InCircle, and one of the first big national loyalty subscription programs in the 90’s, Blockbuster Rewards. For more information, go to https://www.incendioworks.com/ or connect with her on LinkedIn.

You know that job that makes you miserable, that boss who makes your life hell and that co-worker who’s difficult to work with? They are specially wrapped gifts that can work in your favor.

Hear me out…

Do these situations suck? Do they test our patience? Yes and yes. But, what you might not see in that moment are the skills, competencies, and empowering opportunities these difficulties give you. I mean, I can personally attribute starting my own business to my own workplace adversity!

Difficult bosses and peers serve as live training grounds for enhancing our emotional intelligence. They teach us to manage our emotions, respond rather than react, and navigate complex interpersonal dynamics. They can even help us understand ourselves better. Working with challenging individuals tests our limits, but that makes us more resilient and more effective as leaders and people.

So how do we reframe the way we see our workplace adversities? What are all the great things we can get from all the crappy stuff we go through in our careers?

Decisions, decisions…the hallmark of good leadership is swift and impactful decision-making. But let’s be real, amidst the whirlwind of emails, meetings, projects, and strategic pivots, the decisions we have to make can be so overwhelming, that we can decide not to decide at all.

Here’s the problem though, not making a decision can be just as detrimental as making the wrong one. It causes projects to stall, innovation to wane and it erodes trust and competence.

So whenever we’re holding off on making a choice - we have to be clear: is it a strategic pause to gather more info, or is it just avoidance? How do we use strategic non-decision to create better outcomes?

In this episode, I talk about the silent yet profound impact of not making a decision and how to avoid creating a culture of uncertainty.

Influence is a powerful currency for motivation and success…it’s no wonder why influencer marketing has become a literal billion-dollar industry! Being influential doesn’t just work on social media. In a workplace, it’s the lifeblood of leaders who can propel the collective without demanding, manipulating, or dictating.

A combination of trust, inspiration, and communication - influence is the silent force that packs a mega punch, and the more influential a leader you are, the more success you’ll have.

What are some of the effects of influential leaders? How do we become influential? In this episode, I talk about cultivating your own influence and the difference it will make in your organization.

“My people don’t do what I ask them to, they don’t listen and they don’t come up with innovative ideas.” Leaders say it all the time, and if I had a penny for everytime I heard this, I could buy my own private island!

But before you point a finger at your team, what if this is all because you’re addicted to being right. Yes, like sugar and shopping, being right can be the drug of choice for leaders, and because they are so accustomed to getting it, they alienate their teams.

How do you know you’re addicted to being right? Here’s an easy tell: notice how you feel when the good idea in the room isn’t yours…

How does an addiction to being right block innovation and ultimately the growth of our organization? What can we do to cure ourselves of this affliction?

In this episode, I’m joined by co-hosts of Bossy, Brilliant and Badass, Liz Green and Lisa Lindsey. We talk about how to eliminate fear from our organizations, why leaders need to look inward to solve problems and how to build trust in our teams.

Guest Bio

Lisa Lindsey and Liz Green are entrepreneurs, coaches and co-hosts of Bossy, Brilliant and Badass. Bossy, Brilliant & Badass is a weekly conversation about business, careers and personal development, designed to inspire, educate and motivate you to show up powerfully, live fearlessly and to find and unleash your inner badass! Lisa and Liz share their paths to success, the obstacles they overcame, and the tools, tips, resources, and mindset strategies of successful women.

When conflict arises at work, there are two ways people deal with it. Go directly to the person in question or tell other people about it first. Many times, we take the latter route, and it never goes well.

If you ever played telephone as a kid, you’ll know that the original message always gets twisted somewhere along the way. At work, the stakes are much higher though.

The result: gossip, miscommunication, damaged team dynamics, a toxic work environment, and the question you can’t shake: is everyone talking about everyone else behind their backs?

When information gets passed through a third-party, it creates something known as triangulation. There’s no bigger culture killer than that.

To combat triangulation, we have to foster workplaces where people feel comfortable for people to address conflict directly.

In this episode, I talk about how to remove triangulation from our work culture, and move toward a healthier way to communicate and deal with conflict.

Ever tried to have an insightful conversation in a room with loud music? It’s noisy…and that’s what leading feels like today. From the oceans of emails flooding our mailboxes, back-to-back meetings filling our calendars, to the urgent but not important tasks that demand our attention. There’s a lot to wade through in today’s world.

When we’re distracted and living in the noise, we get stuck there, and sometimes, we don’t even notice it…maybe that’s why they invented noise-canceling headphones.

If we want to stay focused on what matters and what moves the needle, leading through the noise is a must-have skill. You may not be able to shut all the noise out, but there are intentional steps we can take to turn the volume down so we can hear ourselves think (and lead).

In this episode, I share how to remove the noise from our day-to-day and why it’s key to the success of our teams and organizations.

Now that we know a lot more about how the brain works, a lot of what we’ve been taught about leadership is just plain wrong. We have to throw it out the window and never look back.

From a neuroscience perspective, there are 2 categories of chemicals constantly firing off in our brains - happy hormones and fear hormones.

The old school model of leadership did nothing but trigger a good old cortisol hijack - induce fear and kill innovation. In order to have cultures that bring out the best in people and produce great results, everything we do has to mitigate fear.

In a nutshell: in the modern world, leadership isn’t about power, it’s about empowerment. How do we create psychological safety and eliminate fear?

In this episode, I’m joined by speaker, leader, and host of The Leadership Excellence podcast, Danny Langloss. We talk about the brain chemicals of leadership and how we can create environments that induce the right ones

Leadership isn’t about power and control, it’s about service and empowerment. -Danny Langloss

Guest Bio

Danny is an innovative and progressive leader who specializes in creating winning cultures and championship teams fueled by the X Factor of purpose-driven ownership. Danny's leadership has been tested by the most difficult situations. He helped lead the City of Dixon back from the $54 million Crundwell embezzlement, lead the Lee County COVID Unified Command Team, lead the City through the 2016 Dixon High School Active Shooter Incident, and has led the police department through several high profile murder investigations. One of Danny's greatest skills is creating diverse and specialized teams to address complex issues that span across several professions. From creating public / private partnerships between local government, developers and financial institutions to accelerate community and economic development to working with state and national organizations to create several innovative programs that are alternatives to the traditional criminal justice system. He has led multiple statewide task forces and helped create "first of its kind" laws in the country to prevent child abuse "Erin's Law" and to help those suffering from substance use disorder. For more information, head to https://www.dannylangloss.com/.