Management Muse

Ep 31 Beyond Likability: Expert Tips for Effective Management with Barry Couch

In this episode of Management Muse, hosts Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin explore the essentials of people skills with their friend and people guru, Barry Couch. Barry, an experienced business leader and entrepreneur, shares his expertise on navigating interpersonal dynamics, emphasizing trust-building, personal connections, and managing complex people issues. He also discusses the critical role of communication and adapting your management style to meet your team's evolving needs. Whether you're an experienced manager, a new supervisor, or are just aiming to improve your people skills, this episode offers actionable strategies for fostering an inclusive, growth-oriented work culture. 
Tune in for insights to become a more empathetic and effective leader in today’s diverse workplace.
Episode Highlights: 
Discover the importance of meeting people where they are to foster genuine connections.
Learn how building trust can enhance management effectiveness and interpersonal relationships.
Explore strategies for strengthening workplace relationships through active listening.
Hear insights on managing the delicate balance between retaining talent and preserving a positive workplace culture.
Understand the value of flexibility and diverse perspectives for improving leadership and decision-making
Barry Couch is the Founder and Chair of HealthSure a company specializing in insurance, risk management, and quality programs for healthcare organizations. With decades of experience, Barry has redefined self-insurance through innovative strategies to help hospitals and medical groups across America manage complex risks. Known for his strategic thinking and people skills, Barry is a sought-after consultant and speaker on leadership and effective management across the United States.
Resources Mentioned: 
Peters, T. J. (1982). In search of excellence: Lessons from America's best-run companies. Harper & Row.
 
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Ep 30 Innovation Through Diversity: How Women Are Reshaping the Investment Landscape with Marla Shapiro

In this episode of Management Muse, hosts Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin explore the crucial role of innovation, diversity, and women in entrepreneurship with Marla Shapiro, the visionary founder of HERmesa. Marla shares her inspiring journey from the corporate world to startups, where she launched an angel investment group to support women-owned businesses. Marla highlights how diversity fuels successful innovation in all companies and addresses complex challenges, stressing the need for more women in early-stage investing to break the male-dominated status quo. This episode offers valuable insights and practical advice for managers and entrepreneurs on fostering a culture of innovation, embracing risk, and amplifying diverse voices. Through real-world examples of startups like Byway Travel and Code First Girls, Marla provides vital wisdom on how to solve pressing problems and drive meaningful change in today’s business landscape.
 
In this episode you will learn / Episode Highlights: 
Discover how diversity fuels successful innovation in startups and established companies.
Learn why increasing women's participation in early-stage investing is key to finding unconventional founders with unique solutions
Understand the importance of fostering a culture that embraces risk-taking and tolerates failure to fuel innovation.
Gain insights on how to identify and solve "hair-on-fire" problems that address urgent customer needs.
Learn practical strategies for managers to elevate diverse perspectives and create lasting impact within their organizations.
Marla Shapiro is the founder of HERmesa, an angel investment group investing in women led startups in the UK & Europe.  After a career spent in male dominated spaces such as Wall Street, MIT, and tech startups, Marla resolved to change the status quo and give women a seat at the table as investors and founders
Her work with HERmesa has created a thriving community of operators-turned-angels that bridges the gender gap in early stage investing and fosters innovation in the startup ecosystem.
Learn more about HERMesa here - www.hermesa.co.uk
 
Resources: 
Culsure - www.culsure.com
On-Demand Leadership - https://www.ondemandleadership.com/
 
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EP 29 Why Failing Is the Secret Ingredient to Winning Big

In this episode of Management Muse, hosts Cindi Baldi and Geoffrey Tumlin explore the value of failure with academic and author Spencer Fraseur. Spencer shares insights from his book Failing Upward and his dissertation research, emphasizing how failure is a crucial part of success and the significance of resilience, passion, and continuous learning. He offers actionable strategies for reframing failure as an iterative process, much like engineers approach problem-solving. Whether you're navigating setbacks in work or life, this episode provides tools for using failure as a stepping stone to growth and innovation.
Tune in for actionable strategies on how to embrace failure, pivot with purpose, and ultimately find success through perseverance and self-awareness.
 
Episode Highlights: 
Learn how failure is a stepping stone to success rather than a stopping point.
Discover how personal failures can lead to significant growth and new opportunities.
Understand why success often requires learning through multiple failures.
Explore when quitting may be the right choice based on passion and adaptability.
See how career pivots can be guided by valuable lessons learned from setbacks.
Find out why having a "sparring partner" for constructive feedback is essential for progress.
Learn the importance of documenting failures to avoid repetition and uncover unexpected opportunities.
 
Spencer Fraseur is an academic and author of Failing Upward, a book that challenges the traditional views of failure and offers a new framework for embracing it as part of the journey toward success. Spencer is currently preparing to defend his dissertation at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he continues to explore themes of resilience, learning, and personal development. His passion for teaching and helping others reframe their setbacks into opportunities makes him a sought-after speaker and mentor. His first book, The Irrational Mind, won the Royal Dragonfly Book Award in 2020.
 
Order Spencer's Books: https://www.amazon.com/Spencer-Fraseur/e/B08BKSFTFX
Connect with Spencer:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencerfraseur
 
Resources Mentioned: 
Fraseur, S. (2023). Failing upward: The secret ingredient to success. Great Failure Press.
Mark Rober's quote: "Failure is not a bug; it’s a feature."
Dweck, C. S., & Molden, D. C. (2005). Self-theories: Their impact on competence motivation and acquisition. In A. Elliot & C. Dweck (Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation (pp. 122-140). The Guilford Press.

EP28 Meaning and Performance: People are Unruly. Manage them Anyway with Kent Keith

In this episode, we continue our conversation with Renaissance man Kent Keith, exploring the relationship between meaning, motivation, and performance.Managers can often help their employees find meaning in the work they do and should take time to help others see the bigger picture or reimagine their work, when possible, as meaningful. This matters because people are usually more motivated and better when they feel connected to their work.In this discussion, Kent also encourages managers to share the meaning they find in their work as an example for others to do the same.Episode Highlights:• People rise to the challenge if they see meaning in their work.• Managers can motivate their employees by highlighting how the work they do impacts others. Communicating the greater impact or the bigger picture can also help others see meaning they may have overlooked in their work.• Meaning at work can boost motivation and performance.• Prosocial motivation (desire to help others) + intrinsic motivation (enjoyment of the work itself) = highest levels of persistence, performance, and productivity (This is Kent’s summary of Adam Grant’s research finding in his book, Give and Take.)• Managers may need to redesign work, where feasible, so it is more meaningful to employees.Quotes:“People will rise to almost any challenge if it is meaningful to them.” – Kent Keith“There’s a lot of meaning in helping other people to find meaning.” – Kent Keith“We need more people who, as leaders and managers, are aware of the meaning they find and share the example of that.” – Kent Keith“Managers care about meaning because it tends to unlock internal motivation, and usually that leads to better performance.” – Geoffrey TumlinResources:Kent Keith (2021). The paradox of personal meaning.Adam Grant (2013). Give and take. Viking.Fredrick Herzberg (1968). One more time: How do you motivate employees? HBR Press.Alfie Kohn (1993). Punished by rewards. Houghton, Mifflin and Company.Daniel Pink (2011). Drive. Canongate Books.Key Words: Personal meaning, servant leadership, intrinsic motivation, work-life balance

EP27 Meaning and Performance: The Story of the Paradoxical Commandments with Kent Keith

What does a meaningful career and a fulfilling life look like? Kent Keith is an author, a university president, and a businessman who has thought deeply about what makes a meaningful life. In this episode of the Management Muse podcast, Kent helps us build a more fulfilling life, one decision at a time.Episode Highlights:• As a college student who wanted to encourage his peers, Kent wrote the Paradoxical Commandments, which went viral long before the Internet age.• Success involves identifying how your work matters and finding the personal meaning in what you do.• The symbols and trappings of success, like power, wealth, fame, and prestige don’t provide lasting happiness.• Kent’s research shows that the source of meaning for most people comes from living your values, being in relationship, and serving others.Quotes:“If you have the meaning, you don’t have to have the glory.” – Kent Keith “Our lives are shaped by a degree to what the world does to us, but they are really shaped by how we respond to what the world does to us. And the response is always up to us.” – Kent Keith“We can find meaning in adversity, and the way that we choose to respond is a large part of our legacy.” – Geoffrey Tumlin“I think unconditional love is what can hold our families and communities together. There’s just not enough of it in the world.” – Kent KeithAbout: Kent Keith is an author, a university president, and a businessman. He's also the kindest person you'll ever meet.Resources:Kent Keith (2021). The paradox of personal meaning. Kent Keith resources and writing here: https://www.kentmkeith.com/Key Words: Personal meaning, servant leadership, work-life balance

EP26 Confidence: Legal Legend Lynne Liberato Helps us Get in Over our Heads

Super-lawyer Lynne Liberato talks with Management Muse about the importance of expertise and genuineness in building our confidence. In this discussion, we explore overconfidence, bluffing, and how confirmation bias can impact confidence.Managers build confidence in their employees through feedback and mentorship. By walking them through situations and highlighting how key decisions were made, staff can build their own confidence through the acquisition of knowledge.This episode also covers the importance of body language, speech patterns, and appearance, as well as the crucial difference between confidence and arrogance.Episode Highlights:• Your confidence builds confidence in other people.• Without knowledge and experience, it’s bull, not confidence.• Mentoring helps managers instill confidence in younger workers.• Managers also build confidence in their staff by providing feedback. Be timely, be honest, and be encouraging.• Lynn shares a story about an incredibly skilled lawyer who had to overcome credibility issues because she didn’t look confident.Quotes:“You have to have credibility before you can say I don't know without a penalty. Don’t walk in unprepared. – Cindi Baldi “The best thing to do is to be confident, but have the facts and the work to back it up.” – Lynne Liberato“I always believed if I tried hard enough and I was prepared as I possibly could be I had earned the right to be confident.” - Lynne Liberato“When you cease to be open, to even consider other positions, perspectives, and arguments you then cross the line from being confident into counterproductive arrogance.” – Cindi BaldiAbout:Lynne Liberato is a legendary Texas lawyer. Pray to your maker that she’s on your side.Keywords: Confidence, Confirmation Bias, Mentoring, Feedback, Arrogance

EP25 Unwinding Stress: No Edibles Required

In this episode, Cindi and Geoff dive into the myth that a little bit of stress helps your performance. The conversation touches on the idea of procrastination and deadlines, where the stress of a time constraint can encourage task completion but may degrade performance. Cindi and Geoff also look at individual stress sensitivity and expertise as intervening variables that allow people to handle challenges without flipping out.Finally, the hosts play a parlor game to see if they can track every habit back to a stressor and talk through strategies for managers to help employees unwind performance-draining work habits.Episode Highlights:• Stress in any dose can degrade performance, even though stress is ubiquitous. The same goes for deadlines, even though they are essential.• Managers can help prevent people from excessively inflating stress and anxiety.• Most habits form as a response to stress and anxiety.• Managers require tools to help employees manage their stress so performance and quality of life aren’t negatively impacted.Quotes:“You have to be careful about high-drama people in organizations because they run around cranking up everyone’s anxiety.” – Cindi Baldi“We want to encourage managers to build the kind of organizations where people feel like they're able to relax more into very challenging work.” – Geoffrey TumlinResources: Malcolm Gladwell, The Art of Failure. New Yorker, August 13, 2000. Judson Brewer (2021). Unwinding Anxiety. New York: Avery.Keywords: Stress, anxiety, habits, performance

EP24 Strong Families: Superguru Larry Allman Blows up the Wall between Work and Home

On this episode of Management Muse we talk to the extraordinary family therapist Larry Allman. Since no one can fully separate home from work, it’s important for managers to know strategies for building strong families.Home problems create work issues and vice versa, so it’s prudent to think through pitfalls and obstacles to building resilient, thriving families. Master mentor Larry Allman helps us maintain families that last.Episode Highlights:• Larry proposes that organizations are not only hiring the individual but should provide something for the family so they feel nurtured by the institution.• Managers need to remember that employees are people with feelings and families, and those feelings and families will impact how employees interact with others.• How you interact with your family impacts how you interact with your employees.• A compassionate work environment leads to healthier employees. • Managers need to identify why they are having a strong reaction to others. Self-reflection is key to improving relationships.Quotes:“If people can't resolve differences with their family, they're probably going to have trouble resolving conflict at work.” – Larry Allman“Anybody who believes that family life doesn't impact work performance hasn't ever been at work.” – Geoffrey Tumlin“There’s no such thing as a normal family. Everybody's struggling with family issues, everybody.” – Larry AllmanResources:David Cantor (2012). Reading the Room. Hoboken, NJ: Jossey-Bass.Jennis T. Jaffe (2020). Borrowed from your Grandchildren. New York: Wiley.George E. Valliant (2015). Triumphs of Experience. Boston: Belknap Press.Daniel Goleman (2005). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Random House.James S. Gordon (2019). The Transformation. San Francisco: HarperOne.Key words: Family resilience, boundaries, performance, work-life balance

EP23 Risk: Moonshots and Smart Gambles with Space Cowboy Joe Guzman

In this episode of Management Muse, outer space expert and Earthling extraordinaire Joe Guzman shares his unique perspective on managerial risk and decision making. Uncertainty looms large in risk taking, since decisions with certain outcomes aren’t risky at all. The good news is that managers can often take risks incrementally by experimenting with small decisions and running pilot studies to see what happens before going all in. Risk, reward, and failure are usually interconnected, but with some forethought and wisdom from experiences managers can learn when to most appropriately turn smart risk on. Strap into your chair because in this episode space cowboy Joe Guzman takes us on a lively ride.Episode Highlights:• Joe emphasizes the importance of failure and humility in understanding risk and highlights timeless lessons from Stoicism, including embracing failures as part of the growth process.• Cindi, Joe, and Geoff discuss the significance of calibrating risk when possible, and talk about the dangers of too much success leading to a bulletproof gambler illusion. Good feedback and reflection processes also help us learn practical and important lessons from failures.• Geoff, Cindi, and Joe discuss some key factors the impact risk-taking, including openness to experience, the situation, our personal strategy, our age, and Kahneman and Tversky’s prospect theory (which states that individuals may take bigger risks after experiencing losses).• The gang discuss the importance of morals and principles as guideposts for risky decisions.• Cindi, Joe, and Geoff talk about what fear can and can’t teach us about our decisions.• When possible, experiment and start small to reduce some uncertainty and test larger decisions. • Without risk, too much of our potential is left on the table. A fulfilling life requires risk, failure, reward, and learning.Quotes:“Every challenge in your life makes you into the person you are now.” -Joe Guzman“You’ve got to be willing to fail if you're going to take risks.” -Cindi Baldi“A meaningful life has a well-calibrated acceptance of risk.” -Geoffrey Tumlin“You're going to get into trouble if you don't fail and if you are missing feedback mechanisms.” -Geoffrey Tumlin“A lot of times we don't have to predict. We should just experiment.” -Geoffrey TumlinAbout Joe Guzman:Joe Guzman is the founder of Space Cowboy. He also went to high school and college with Geoff. He retired from the Army's Space Force as a Colonel.Resources:Selected works from Nassim N. Taleb:Taleb, Nassim N. (2017). Skin in the game. Penguin Books.Taleb, Nassim N. (2013). Antifragile. Penguin Books. Taleb, Nassim N. (2008). The black swan. Penguin Books.Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic Podcast: https://dailystoic.com/podcast/ Amor Fati is Latin for “the love of fate” https://dailystoic.com/amor-fati-love-of-fate/Selected work from Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky (and Paul Slovic):Kahneman, D., Slovic, P. & Tversky, A. (1982). Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kahneman, Daniel. (2011).Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Principles by Ray Dalio: Dalio, Ray. (2017). Principles: life and work. Simon and Schuster.Key words: Risk, fear, risk management, failure, feedback, decision making

EP22 Ideas: Good Idea Machine Dan Schmisseur Helps Us Create New Things

Where do good ideas come from? In this episode, entrepreneur Dan Schmisseur shares his experience generating and exploring ideas to find gems worth pursuing. Dan shares how the best ideas often come from connecting the dots to what may seem like unrelated information. The ability to create the space to think, explore, and learn broadly all aid in coming up with unique and valuable ideas. Additionally, relationships are key to bringing your ideas to life. In this episode, managers will learn to foster a culture of idea generation by encouraging employees to deeply explore their industry, share their interests and experiences with each other, and build an atmosphere where people share ideas without fear of being immediately shot down.Episode Highlights:• Great ideas are often ahead of the time other people are ready for them.• Support and relationships are crucial for helping good ideas become great.• Sometimes thorny problems lead to creative solutions. Occasionally, this is out of desperation.• Never be afraid of looking stupid. Don’t shoot down ideas. People are much more willing to share their ideas when first reactions aren’t criticism.• Outside perspectives can sometimes offer the necessary vantage point for meaningful change.Quotes:“Never be afraid of looking stupid because of your ideas.” - Dan Schmisseur“It’s a weakness for managers to always be constantly busy, which may not be the best use of their time. When endlessly busy, there’s no time for developing people under them, and they are also making it so they have no time to think about new ideas.” – Cindi Baldi“One of the myths of entrepreneurs is that they go all for broke when the truth is that most successful entrepreneurs have safety nets.” -Dan SchmisseurAbout Dan Schmisseur:Dan Schmisseur is a serial entrepreneur who is half of the brains behind the consulting firm Cromwell Schmisseur. Resources:Adam Grant (2016), Originals: New York: Viking.Adam Grant (2013), Give and Take: New York: Viking.Clayton Christensen (1997), The Innovator’s Dilemma: Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Scott Shane (2008), Illusions of Entrepreneurship: New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Sehgal, Kabir. "Why you should have (at least) two careers." Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr. org/2017/04/why-you-should-have-at-least-two-careers (2017).Keywords: Ideas, idea generation, relationship building, networking, creativity