Make My People Better

Taja Graham is the Market President at Emmis Communications, a founding company in the radio industry. To make this even more notable, she is the first African-American woman to hold this position. 

Taja has a lot of experience being “the only” in her circles, but she has never let that stop her from climbing the ladder to success with fierce determination. In this episode, Taja discusses the importance of not fearing the unknown and being okay with not having all of the answers. Listen to how her willingness to seek answers from others to educate herself pushed her far in her career.

Shen Macheel is the VP and Director of Government Programs at LER TechForce and their affiliate company, LHP Engineering Solutions. She arrived in the United States at the age of sixteen as an accidental concert pianist and later transitioned to business. 

In her life and career, Shen has had to observe, adapt, and grow. In this episode listen as she shares her story of fearlessness, curiosity, and how positivity is the key to breaching D&I issues. 

Dr. Lynn Shaw is an Associate Professor at the University of Indianapolis in the Department of Social Work. She is a certified social worker and a certified laughter yoga leader who has spent the last 25 years understanding how laughter can be a coping mechanism for stress. 

In this episode, Dr. Lynn shares her perspective on playfulness as a tool for productivity and highlights the distinct relationship between laughter and connectedness. Listen in to find out how to incorporate the principles of laughter therapy into your daily routine.

Jimmy Rayford stepped into his role as the CEO of Dealers Wholesale during the COVID season. Transitioning to a new job has enough challenges without a pandemic, but Jimmy made sure to lean into his leadership style of empathy and clear communication to ease the shift for himself and his new employees. 

In this episode Jimmy shares resources he keeps in his “toolkit” to help cultivate leadership development and growth, and be a leader of people versus an organization. 

Book Recommendations: 

• You’re in Charge, Now What? by Thomas J. Neff and James M. Citrin
• Mindset by Carol Dweck
• Chase the Lion by Martin Batterson

LaJuana Warren is the Owner and Founder of the consulting firm Tapestry Solutions for Inclusion.

In this episode, LaJuana shares her mission to help others incorporate diversity and inclusion into their organizations and point them towards the true importance of pursuing DEI efforts.

John Elliott is the President and CEO of Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, where they seek to provide food for communities in need of assistance. 

Like many other organizations, Gleaners had to shift their operations during the pandemic, but their problem was unique. Their volunteer force dropped by 40% while the needs of the community and the work doubled. Listen to this episode as John shares how leaning on partnerships helped them continue to serve the community.

Book Recommendations:

• Win the Day by Mark Batterson

Erica Ballard is a healthy living expert and coach with her own business, Erica Ballard Health. 

Erica was on a mission to have the “perfect body”, but once she achieved her weight goals, she realized that optimal health is much more than weight loss and what you eat. It includes stress management, purpose, community, and spirituality as well. 

In this episode, Erica breaks down what it looks like to have a healthy-living workplace and offers advice for making the change in your organization.

To hear more from Erica, check out her podcast The Lies We’ve Been Fed.

Book Recommendations:

• Beyond the Pill by Jolene Brighten

Podcast Recommendations:

• The Doctor’s Farmacy 
• Earn Your Happy
• Redefining Wealth

Perhaps no one exemplifies the mission of trueU more than JoDee Curtis, Founder of Purple Ink, an HR consulting firm. After spending many years in accounting, JoDee discovered her true passion for helping people bring out the best in themselves. Today, she and her team work with companies to find creative solutions to HR problems with one goal in mind: creating a JoyPowered workplace.

What’s the key to making work joyful? For JoDee, it’s about discovering your strengths and leaning into them every day.

On Make My People Better, JoDee talks to Kyle DeFur and Gretchen Schott about the importance of engagement and retention and why you should work into your strengths.

Entrepreneurship often manifests at a young age, and for Bob Kort, President of Kort Builders, the entrepreneurial bug bit him as a young boy watching his father run a pizza business. Today, Bob owns several businesses in central Indiana from restaurants like The District Tap to construction companies like Kort Builders. 

How do you succeed as an entrepreneur? For Bob, it comes down to two words: Trust and Loyalty.

On Make My People Better, Bob talks to Kyle DeFur and Gretchen Schott about the importance of building a better culture, and the integrity that comes with following through on your word.

Entrepreneurship and leadership often go hand-in-hand, for Andy Medley Co-founder and CEO of PERQ, it’s this connection that spurs his passion for creating a great place for people to work. 

This past year, PERQ was voted as best place to work and the best tech startup in the 2020 B2B Innovator Awards.

How does Andy help foster this award-winning culture? In a word: transparency. 

On Make My People Better, Andy talks with Gretchen Schott and Kyle DeFur about the importance of sharing how each team member’s role impacts the overall business objectives, and how you can transfer his lessons learned into your business. 

Book Recommendations

• Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

• High Output Management by Andy Grove
• The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker