Timeout With Leaders

Have you ever realized that YOU, yourself are the common denominator? We take a TIMEOUT with Brittany Simmons Willis 9-5preneur and a franchise business owner when she is off the clock with the day job.

More and more professionals are realizing that they have more time and value they can give in return for a "side" hustle. Starting your own business can seem "crazy" to some because they would never take the risk themselves. However, it is NOT crazy when you have a little faith and you have done your homework. It is always a "little less crazy when you do your research"

With every opportunity you are present, did you leave that conversation, relationship, or environment better than when you found it?

Boxing, Life, and Leadership what do they all have to do with one another? 

Tyler White and Kevyn Rustici take a TIMEOUT with Mayhem, aka Jeff Pier, Executive Director at the Child Care Council in Rochester, NY! There aren't many leaders like Jeff but then again not many people have a theme song written for them either. "Bring out the Mayhem" 

He shares his stories of sparing with Oscar De La Hoya and other boxing legends with a few pairs of Golden Gloves himself. The lessons he learned in the ring have taught him how to become a truly electric Executive Director, no matter what challenge he is faced with.

Jeff shares that preparation is key in order to be ready for both the wins and the losses. If you make the training harder than the fight, you will be prepared for just about anything. 

We sit down with Pat Smith, CEO of Serve Denton located in Denton, Texas down is Tyler's country, everything is said to be bigger in Texas!

His favorite meal and musician is George Strait, and he has a big heart for his community and our country. He is a veteran and now has turned his mission into serving the Denton, Texas community. 

Desperation is a powerful force, if you aren't failing then you are not trying. FAIL stands for the first attempt at learning. He empowers his employees, by embracing the Toyota Way where failure is celebrated. If you fail in Pat's mind the process is broken not the person. It is if the company has set that individual up for success or failure with the given policies, procedures, and processes. 

Pat shares that we in leadership today need to give our employees space. Trust them, that they can and will fail but as long as we learn and continue to improve we are always getting better. 

We take a TIMEOUT with Wade Norwood, Chief Executive Officer for Common Ground Health, one of the nation's oldest and most effective regional health planning organizations located in Rochester, NY!

Wade shared that leaders today need to find more joy and peace in their lives today in order to lead effectively. Practicing gratitude often helps to keep things in perspective for him. Wade's focus on building real meaningful connections with his team is special, noting that he is preparing to "give this community to our children."

It isn't about the title for this CEO, he understands there is no "easy button" to leadership today but his honest understanding and constant reflection helps him to focus on what matters most. 

Join Tyler and Kevyn as we sit down with Anthony Ditucci, President and COO at Livingston Associates. Tony is a father of 5 but takes the lessons he has learned at home and brings them into his leadership style and practices. 

Tony has learned early on that it is all about the people, the relationships that you are able to build with those individuals and how you drive #teamthink in order to uncover the BEST IDEA. It is not about who is right and who is wrong, or we have always done it that way with Tony, which is a lesson most leaders need to learn today. 

It is ok to celebrate the wins but also the losses as a team to create that continuous learning environment and sharing of intellectual capital across the entire business.  

We sit down with Mohammed Ahamed, CEO and Chief Diversity Officer at EDI Executive Search to discuss leadership today and how it has changed over time. Sometimes we must wear the cap if it fits in leadership in order to learn or unlearn to make positive progress in our learning journey. 

Mo starts and ends each day in reflection focusing on gratitude to see the sun rise and set that day, knowing he has been given the opportunity to make a difference by being ALIVE! It is that intentionality, to make the most out of today, that energizes Mo in the work he does. 

We could all be a little more grateful and thankful today to realize what we do have and not focus all our energy on what we do not. 

"Don't count the days make the days count" - Muhammed Ali

This week Tyler and Kevyn sit down with Kim Brumber, past CEO of East House, Volunteers of America Upstate NY, and NeighborWorks Community Partners.

Kim shared her journey from being a girl from rural America and how she became a prominent leader in our community. She mentioned that it can take a while to find your voice and that being broken is totally OK! We have the chance to build it back or build it better than before.

Kim 2.0 is a force to be reckoned with as she continues to "earn her followership" in both the professional world but also her personal life! She mentions how these key people helped her and continued to show up during certain phases of her life. Reminding us that we are "human if we are HONEST about it."

We sit down this week with John Sheehan, President/CEO of Rochester RHIO, which focuses on providing better care through better information.

John shared his passions for Food and Music and a little Florida State trash talk with the 93' National Championship. He was open in sharing more about his work in mental health and how he has seen this stigma change for the better, sadly it was always viewed as lesser than some of the other health needs in our communities. Let us be courageous and talk about these real challenges as it relates to addiction, mental health, trauma, and available treatment. 

In leadership, John brings a top-down mentality to create a safe place for his employees to thrive. He has found the Platinum Rule is his secret recipe to success in leadership, "Understand how they want to be treated first, not how you think they would want to be treated."

Join Tyler and Kevyn as they sit down with Tom O'Connor, President of Al Sigl which focuses on providing affordable commercial real estate for human services non-profits in Rochester. 

From for-profit to non-profit Tom was able to find more work-life balance as well as more fulfilling work knowing he was making a difference in the community. As a leader Tom is all about ACTION, yes we will make mistakes but let's ask questions, work together and come up with the BEST solutions with all the institutional knowledge of the team. 

Tom shared "I don't have to win but I hate to lose" and that he is constantly curious which allows him to be comfortable with change and build the trust necessary with his team to get through prevailing winds. 

When we are constantly curious we will always seek to find new and better ways of doing things while evolving as a leader, "nowhere near the best me yet!"

The mythical legend, Bob Duffy joins Timeout with Leaders, to discuss his time in policing, politics, and today serving as CEO of the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce. 

When he is running in one of his marathons you might catch him listening to a little rock-n-roll, R&B or even a little soul. Bob loves basketball and continues to see the parallels between coaching and leadership today.

Bob's life journey helped teach him critical life lessons that helps him to see all individuals as they are equally important. This allows Bob to really connect with ALL individuals on his team while treating them all equally important. "If you respect them you will listen to them" it is about elevating everyone's quality of life.