Insight at Work with Ken Blackwell

In this Episode:

Even for experienced job-seekers the process of recruiting, and what recruiters actually do, can be a mystery. One that can often lead to confusion, anxiety and unmet expectations. To provide some clarity and guidance, I spoke with experienced recruiter Ed Han about what recruiters actually do, how job requirements come together and some tips for job-seekers to improve their chances of landing the job.

About our Guest:

Ed Han is a recruiter and job seeker ally with a passion for networking and helping professionals return to the workforce. As a veteran of several industries, including publishing, financial services and software, Ed has a keen understanding of, and appreciation for, the skills and traits valued in a wide range of environments, regulated and otherwise.

Although he came to recruiting six years and change ago, Ed finds fulfillment professionally as a recruiter, and that the diversity of his prior work experience is a great boon in connecting with people from a broad range of industries and experience.

Active in his community, Ed helps facilitate the job search group NJ JobSeekers in Princeton NJ, has previously served as the Executive Chair of the PSG of Mercer County, and as the online community manager for the HR networking group Whine & Dine. Since autumn 2017 he is also an adjunct instructor at Princeton Adult School where he leads a course about LinkedIn.

Ed holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Albright College (Reading, PA) awarded in 1993. Ed is also an avid social media fiend.

Show Notes:

To connect with Ed on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmhan/ 

Insight at Work Podcast theme music:

Our theme music is composed by Chris Lucca, Jr.. You can listen to more of Chris' work on SoundCloud: SoundCloud.com/fliplucca and find him on Twitter: @FlipLucca.

About the Host:

Ken Blackwell is a speaker, trainer, facilitator and executive coach. His signature practice is "rescuing Accidental Leaders and Dysfunctional Teams". His firm InKlaritas, based in Princeton, NJ, works with teams and leaders in companies in the U.S. around the world. You can find out more about InKlaritas at: www.InKlaritas.com and connect with Ken on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethjblackwell/.

IN THIS EPISODE:

It can be hard to make tough decisions even in the best of circumstances. It’s even more challenging in times of crisis when you or a loved one are suffering with a chronic or potentially life-threatening illness or injury.  It can be overwhelming and it’s easy to feel lost. It's the job of hospital chaplains to support patients and family members in navigating these trying times and helping them make what can be some of the most difficult decisions they will ever face.

Today’s guest, Ted Taylor, is a chaplain and Director of Pastoral Care & Training at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton.  Ted supervises the spiritual and emotional care provided by the hospital’s more than twenty volunteer and intern chaplains.  He also supervises a clinical pastoral education training program affiliated with the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (CPSP).  Ted is a liaison to nearby religious communities and partners with area congregations to provide compassionate support to neighbors in need.  He also is a clinical resource for bioethical and end-of-life dilemmas.

In today’s episode Ted and I discuss: what a chaplain does in their everyday work life; using “reverent listening” to discover, understand and clarify what’s most important; making sense of complex and/or vague situations; defining hopes instead of outcomes; and how to maintain a sense of resiliency and calm when the world around you is chaotic and tumultuous.

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Chaplain Tedford J. Taylor, MDiv, BCCC, FHPC, Dip. CPS, Director, Pastoral Care & Training

Ted joined Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton in 2007 as the Director of Pastoral Care & Training. Prior to joining RWJ Hamilton, Ted spent five years as Manager of Spiritual & Complimentary Care for Samaritan Hospice, Marlton, NJ.  Prior to this, Ted served as the executive director of the New Jersey Unit of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (now Learning Ally) in Princeton, NJ.  Ted also has parish ministry experience as a lay pastor in the United Methodist Church and business administration experience as a community banking officer in the Baltimore, MD region.  

Engaged in the life of our greater community, Ted has served on the Board of Trustees for Mercer Street Friends (a local human services agency). Ted is also a founding member of the NJ Goals of Care Coalition.  He is active as a member and treasurer of the Princeton Chapter of the College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy (CPSP) and serves on the Medical Society of New Jersey Bioethics Committee.  On a national level, Ted is a member of the Certification Committee for CPSP, and also recently chaired the steering committee for Quakers in Pastoral Care & Counseling.

Ted holds a diplomate in pastoral supervision through CPSP, and is board certified as a clinical chaplain with CPSP, with a clinical fellowship in hospice & palliative care.  Ted is also a member of the Association of Professional Chaplains, the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education, and the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, a graduate certificate in Healthcare Law & Policy from Union Graduate College, and a Bachelor of Arts from The College of William & Mary. He has attended the theological studies programs at Regent's Park College at Oxford University, Oxford, England; and The Ecumenical Institute in Baltimore, MD.  Ted completed Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) training through Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia and Cooper Hospital / University Medical Center, Camden, NJ.  He completed his CPE Supervisory training at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ. 

Ted resides in Ewing Township, Mercer County, NJ with his husband Kevin Hulbirt.  He is a recorded minister in the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and an active member of the Yardley Monthly Meeting in Yardley, PA, who endorse his pastoral care ministry. 

SHOW NOTES:

Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom, on Amazon at https://amzn.to/31kplJi.

INSIGHT AT WORK PODCAST THEME MUSIC:

Our theme music is composed by Chris Lucca, Jr.. You can listen to more of Chris’ work on SoundCloud: SoundCloud.com/fliplucca and find him on Twitter: @FlipLucca.

ABOUT THE HOST:

Ken Blackwell is a speaker, trainer, facilitator and executive coach. His signature practice is "rescuing Accidental Leaders and Dysfunctional Teams". His firm InKlaritas, based in Princeton, NJ, works with teams and leaders in companies in the U.S. around the world. You can find out more about InKlaritas at: www.InKlaritas.com and connect with Ken on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethjblackwell/.

In this Episode:

So you might ask: “Where does a coach go when they need coaching?” The answer is to go to another coach: one they trust, one who has wisdom, and one who can help them see things from different perspectives. But most importantly, one who can foster the insights that can help solve the dilemmas they’re confronting.

In my case, that person is Linda Sepe. She’s has been a dependable and wise source of counsel and clarity for nearly 30 years.  She’s helped me navigate my way through some tough and challenging times, keeping me both focused and grounded. She does so with a strength and purpose that is always bounded by both hope and humor.

Today Linda and I explore the nature of insight, how to get it, how to validate it, and what to do with it once you’ve got it.

About our Guest:

Linda Sepe was born and raised in northern New York State and is a graduate of Syracuse University.  

Most of her early work life focused on teaching and learning.  She was especially interested in the measurement of learning. She is the co-creator of the New York State Adult External High School Diploma program - an applied performance test mechanism which certifies learning and awards adults with a high school diploma when they demonstrate required skills.  

Innovation has been a constant focus throughout her career.  In 1995, she completed the Coaches Training Institute's coaching course, concentrating her work on the innovative energies of entrepreneurs, creatives and individuals with ADHD.  

Show Notes:

You can reach Linda at [email protected], please put “Insight” in the subject line.

Insight at work Podcast theme Music:

Our theme music is composed by Chris Lucca, Jr.. You can listen to more of Chris’ work on SoundCloud: SoundCloud.com/fliplucca and find him on Twitter: @FlipLucca.

About the Host:

Ken Blackwell is a speaker, trainer, facilitator and executive coach. His signature practice is "rescuing Accidental Leaders and Dysfunctional Teams". His firm InKlaritas, based in Princeton, NJ, works with teams and leaders in companies in the U.S. around the world. You can find out more about InKlaritas at: www.InKlaritas.com and connect with Ken on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethjblackwell/.

IN THIS EPISODE:

Employee engagement is always a challenge.

The most recent Gallup survey shows 34% of US workers are engaged, tying the highest results in the survey's history, while “actively disengaged” is down to 13%, a new low. However, it still means 66% of US workers are not engaged at some level. We know engagement is highly correlated with positive business outcomes so even though the numbers are up, there's still a lot of work to be done.

To explore the topic of engagement, I invited a professional colleague of mine, Rich McLaughlin, to join us on the podcast.

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Rich has been an observer and practitioner of innovation and employee engagement processes for over 20 years. He has over 13,000 hours designing and facilitating leadership and interpersonal skills workshops, and innovation explorations with teams to help them jump start their change and innovation efforts. He has helped teams as small as 8 and departments as large as 100 learn how to blend external developments (to understand where customer needs are moving) with internal employee engagement processes (to show how to stimulate internal experiments and capitalize on those opportunities). Rich also enjoys helping leaders grow by focusing more on people skills and less on technical ones. He brings an experiential approach in his work with client teams. His client's value the engaging way he works with their people whether facilitating a leadership workshop, working with a specific team, or challenging employees to be more accountable for the whole.

Rich spent time learning about instructional design and change management at Accenture, helped Square D Company develop and implement their TQM programs and processes and developed the leadership curriculum and internal consulting practice at Baxter Healthcare during his time as an internal OD practitioner. The last 8 years of his practice he has been following the intersection of Innovation and Design Thinking.

Rich received his M.A. in Training and Development for Business from Ohio State University, and has been consulting faculty for the University of Notre Dame's College of Business since 2000. He is author of, Rules of Engagement: A Story About How Leaders Can More Effectively Engage Employees. And he co-authored The Experience-Based Learning Guide: Consulting Tools and Exercises that Facilitate team Performance and Learning Through Action. He is also certified in EQi 2.0, Rummler-Brache process mapping methodology, MBTI, TMI, CCL's 360 Benchmarks, the Hermann Brain Dominance Index, the Matrix Management Institute's Project Management Methodology, the Experience Innovation simulation and Barrett Values assessment tools.

Presentations:

-  Emotional Intelligence: Key to Sustaining Employee Engagement

-  The Leadership Challenge: Compliance or Commitment?

-  Team Genius: Simple Ways to Enable Team Innovation

- “Oh No, It’s the Millennials!” Leveraging Generational Differences

SHOW NOTES:

Connect with Rich on: LinkedIn and at www.McLaughlinCommunity.com 

2019 Gallup Employee Engagement Survey: click here

INSIGHT AT WORK PODCAST THEME MUSIC:

Our theme music is composed by Chris Lucca, Jr.. You can listen to more of Chris's work on SoundCloud: SoundCloud.com/fliplucca and find him on Twitter: @FlipLucca.

ABOUT THE HOST:

Ken Blackwell is a speaker, trainer, facilitator and executive coach. His signature practice is "rescuing Accidental Leaders and Dysfunctional Teams". His firm, InKlaritas, is based in Princeton, NJ and works with teams and leaders in companies around the world. You can find out more at: www.InKlaritas.com.

IN THIS EPISODE:

Let’s say you have some questions on mentoring: What if you could ask a football player, a wrestler, a coach, a ship captain, a teacher, a physics historian, a published author, a person who lost most of their eyesight, a cancer survivor, and a director on several nonprofit boards, for their perspectives. You’d have a rich and diverse collection of opinions and advice, but getting a hold of all those people might be a bit difficult. 

We are lucky that today's guest, Dr. Terry M. Christensen, is all of those things. There are few people who have had careers with the wide ranging and multidisciplinary experiences that Terry has had. From his life-long love of football and wrestling both as a player and a coach, his time as a merchant marine captain, the loss of eyesight that reignited his academic career, his non-profit board service and his battle with cancer. Terry has done it all. And it’s given him some unique perspectives on the topic of mentoring and the value of passing wisdom along to the next generation.

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

From an early background in commercial fishing, Terry transitioned to the ocean-towing industry. In 1981, he earned a Merchant Marine Deck Officers License and continued his professional advancement with the vast majority of his merchant sea service being spent in Alaskan waters.  

From 1985-1988, Terry served as Chief Instructor of the U.S. Department of Labor Seamanship training program at Tongue Point Job Corps Center in Astoria, Oregon. He also served as Master of the Training Vessels INLAND CHIEFand BIG ED. In 1988, he returned to sea as a deck officer in the ocean towing and salvage trade.

In 1990, Terry joined the Maritime Science Department at Clatsop Community College and became one of a select group of maritime instructors across the nation, who were authorized by the U.S. Coast Guard to prepare and administer professional examinations for Merchant Marine personnel.  

In 1994, Terry developed a degenerative disease of the optic nerve. The consequent loss of functional vision precipitated a change in career and he began the process of establishing the academic credentials that would allow him to return to teaching. 

He earned MS and PhD degrees in the History of Science from Oregon State University and has published several academic papers.

Terry continues to volunteer as a coach in the wrestling and football programs at The George School in Newtown, PA.

He also has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations including: The Peace Center, the Alumni Association of Guide Dogs for the Blind, Yardley Friends Meeting, and Friends Home and Village.

SHOW NOTES:

To connect with Terry on LinkedIn: click here

INSIGHT AT WORK PODCAST THEME MUSIC:

Our theme music is composed by Chris Lucca, Jr.. You can listen to more of Chris’ work on SoundCloud: SoundCloud.com/fliplucca and find him on Twitter: @FlipLucca.

ABOUT THE HOST:

Ken Blackwell is a speaker, trainer, facilitator and executive coach. His signature practice is "rescuing Accidental Leaders and Dysfunctional Teams". His firm, InKlaritas, is based in Princeton, NJ and works with teams and leaders in companies around the world. You can find out more at: www.InKlaritas.com.

IN THIS EPISODE:

Networking is a misunderstood activity, and is often associated only with job search. But it’s much more than that.  

Done well, networking can of course help you land a job, but it can also expand your circle of professional contacts, be a source of referrals, or perhaps allow you to find a mentor or even a friend.

However, done wrong, it can be a painful and awkward series of one-way interactions that not only won’t help you succeed but may cause people to run in the opposite direction.

Today’s guest is Jerome Laday, a master networker who has been successfully networking for over 25 years.

In that time he’s learned a lot about how to do things right and how to avoid the pitfalls that can derail your efforts. 

He’ll share a simple plan of how to get started networking including:

• How to begin with the right approach & mindset
• Key Do’s and Don’ts
• Steps for effective follow-up after the first interaction
• How to avoid “dive bomb” networking
• Building relationships instead of having a transactional approach
• How to handle the emotional roller-coaster when you’re networking and also in job search mode
• Understanding the spirit of how to network – that it is more about giving than receiving.

And most important guiding principle of all: “Networking is not just for Not-working”

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Of course, Jerome's done a lot more than just network over the last 25 years. He has worked as an Human Resources professional for some of the top companies in manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.

He is a holder of both SPHR and SHRM-SCP certifications, which are the highest possible in the world of human resources. He has been active in several professional associations and is one of the founding members of the Whine & Dine Networking Group.

INSIGHT AT WORK PODCAST THEME MUSIC:

Our theme music is composed by Chris Lucca, Jr.. You can listen to more of Chris's work on SoundCloud: SoundCloud.com/fliplucca and find him on Twitter: @FlipLucca.

ABOUT THE HOST:

Ken Blackwell is a speaker, trainer, facilitator and executive coach. His signature practice is "rescuing Accidental Leaders and Dysfunctional Teams". His firm, InKlaritas, is based in Princeton, NJ and works with teams and leaders in companies around the world. You can find out more at: www.InKlaritas.com.

IN THIS EPISODE:

What happens when success isn't enough, when you want to stop climbing the corporate ladder? What are the consequences of not listening to that inner voice? In Amanda Michelle Eschevarria's case, it took a diagnosis of cancer to begin an inner conversation and start asking herself some deeper questions. In this episode of Insight at Work, "Mish" (as she is known to friends and clients alike) takes us on her journey of self-discovery and shares some of the key questions she used to discover her aspirations, reprioritize her life and career, and find a new definition of happiness.

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Amanda Michelle Echevarria, known to clients and friends as “Mish”, is a Fulbright Alumna, specialized business consultant, coach, and mentor who assists Fortune 500 companies in the Latin American region in achieving their business goals and improving their corporate culture and stewardship.

Before launching her coaching firm, Mish worked for over 15 years in the corporate world as Regional Senior Human Resources Manager and Organizational Development Culture Leader. She had a successful career in helping high profile managers, and members of the C-Suite in turning toxic environments into high-performance organizations.  She now advises and coaches senior leaders on how to maintain a culture that nurtures well-being while delivering high-value results. 

Mish has established two coaching scholarships:

• the WBECS Executive Coaching Scholarship for newly appointed executives who otherwise could not afford a full coaching engagement to improve their careers.

• the Judith E. Glaser Wellbeing Coaching Scholarship for people who have been diagnosed with chronic diseases and who could benefit from a life & well-being coaching engagement.

SHOW NOTES:

To connect with Mish on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/amechevarria

INSIGHT AT WORK PODCAST THEME MUSIC:

Our theme music is composed by Chris Lucca, Jr.. You can listen to more of Chris’ work on SoundCloud: SoundCloud.com/fliplucca and find him on Twitter: @FlipLucca.

ABOUT THE HOST:

Ken Blackwell is a speaker, trainer, facilitator and executive coach. His signature practice is "rescuing Accidental Leaders and Dysfunctional Teams". His firm, InKlaritas, is based in Princeton, NJ and works with teams and leaders in companies around the world. You can find out more at: www.InKlaritas.com.

IN THIS EPISODE:

Ken Blackwell welcomes you to the inaugural episode of the Insight at Work podcast and lays out his vision for the episodes to follow:

"On this podcast I talk with top performers in diverse fields of work to uncover their secrets to success. We explore the insights and breakthroughs that have changed the way they work and, at times, how those insights that have transformed the way they live their lives.

Along the way, we’ll also delve into topics like: leadership, teamwork, communication, managing time and stress, mentoring & coaching, and conversational intelligence.  And just generally, how to make work, and life, more productive, engaging and rewarding."

INSIGHT AT WORK PODCAST THEME MUSIC:

Our theme music is composed by Chris Lucca, Jr.. You can listen to more of Chris's work on SoundCloud: SoundCloud.com/fliplucca and find him on Twitter: @FlipLucca.

ABOUT THE HOST:

Ken Blackwell is a speaker, trainer, facilitator and executive coach. His signature practice is "rescuing Accidental Leaders and Dysfunctional Teams". His firm, InKlaritas, is based in Princeton, NJ and works with teams and leaders in companies around the world. You can find out more at: www.InKlaritas.com.