Misalignment is one of a company's biggest sicknesses. It constantly drags down results and reduces profitability. Instead of just accepting the symptoms of misalignment, you could have sustained results. All it takes is to align your company's strategy, culture, and operations. The key to success is to change team mindsets, measure team outcomes, and monitor progress. That's all there is to it. In this episode, Wayne Washington shares his experience on how your company can apply these changes and achieve proper alignment to reach strategic goals.

Fast Leader Show | Real-life stories of failure and triumph

326: Wayne Washington - Company Alignment: How to Bring Your Company's Strategy, Culture, and Operations Together

Every human being has the potential to become their best selves. Unfortunately, we live in a world where the control system limits our potential. It is very important for every individual to develop their own internal motivation in order to realize their full potential. In this episode, Judy Ryan shares her responsibility-based approach in the human system where people are intrinsically motivated to develop their true selves and unleash their full potential.

325: Judy Ryan - How To Develop Intrinsic Motivation In The Human System: A Responsibility-Based Framework

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). These three words pop up almost everywhere. Every modern workforce has a discussion revolving around these three words, but what exactly is the difference between diversity, equity, and inclusion? What does it mean? If you are an executive leader, you have to understand that the workforce today faces a huge problem with regards to psychological safety, and how a business handles diversity, equity, and inclusion may directly affect its bottom line.  Listen to Omar L. Harris as he shares his thoughts on DEI and how you can be more inclusive

324: Omar L. Harris - Why is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Important in the Workplace?

What do effective leaders do when they’re at their personal best? Our guest today has done all the research, and he outlines five exemplary leadership practices that leaders display when they’re at their personal best: Model the way Inspire a shared vision Challenge the process Enable others to act Encourage the heart In this episode, Jim Kouzes sheds light on the five exemplary leadership practices and how leaders can use them to overcome the most difficult challenges.

323: Jim Kouzes - Five Exemplary Leadership Practices: How To Be an Exemplary Leader

The goal of transformative influence is always to make other people better. However, there is a void in trust in the marketplace today - people no longer trust each other. Employees don’t trust management, employees don't trust the board, and investors don't trust the employees and the board. As a result, transformation is almost impossible. As a leader, if you want to build trust, you need to understand that it’s not about you. It’s about the influence you have on other people. It’s all about trying to make other people better. If you can make them better, you’ll be surprised to see that they will actually perform for you. In this episode, Walt Rakowich shares his experience on transformative influence and the steps you can take to transform your team and make your organization better.

322: Walt Rakowich - Transformative Influence: How to Build Trust and Lead Others in Today's Climates of Change

The CEO Test is a list of 7 questions written by Adam Bryant to help you reflect and evaluate yourself in how well you are performing in your current leadership role. Let’s face it, being a top leader is a tough job. There are lots of pressures, challenges, and responsibilities that you carry alone. From time to time, we need to reevaluate ourselves whether we are staying competent and effective in our current roles. Adam Bryant shares the many different challenges that top CEOs face and how you can face these challenges and navigate through them. He's interviewed over 600 CEOs, and you'll be surprised to know that these challenges are hardly unique to top executives. If you're discouraged and disengaged, I want to help you to be hopeful. I'd like to encourage you to learn from the wisdom and experience from these top executives and how you can learn from them and apply them in your current leadership role.

321: Adam Bryant - The CEO Test: 7 Things to Determine How Well You are Leading Your Companye

You may be running a company right now and you're calling yourself an entrepreneur. That's great, but do you have an entrepreneurial mindset? What's the difference between the two you may ask? Depending on how you think, you might be running a business that simply earns the least possible margins on a transactional basis, or a business that knows how to leverage the true worth or value that its products and services bring to the market. Read on and I'll explain more. Let's start with defining what an entrepreneur is. An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business. An entrepreneurial mindset is a set of skills that enable people to identify and make the most of opportunities, overcome and learn from setbacks, and succeed in a variety of settings. In short, "entrepreneur" is a title that easily gets thrown around by anyone. Being entrepreneurial is an attitude. It's the behavior that separates out the ones who are truly successful, and it's being entrepreneurial. I don't care what your title is right now, but you need to start to be entrepreneurial. You need to develop this entrepreneurial mindset in order to build a highly profitable, fast-growth company. And Kent Billingsley, helps you do that.

320: Kent Billingsley - Develop an Entrepreneurial Mindset: How to Think Like a Real Entrepreneur

According to a study by KPMG, 53% of executives do not realize sustainable value from business transformation. I assume the reason for this is that they focus so much on changing the business and the operational model that they forget the one thing they can change - self. If you want to see a breakthrough happen in your business, then you must change within and not force it on others. Transformational leadership is all about changing yourself and inspiring others to change. Customers are becoming smarter and wiser, and their behaviors and expectations are the most influential source of insights. As leaders, you must change and become more empathetic and understanding of their needs. According to Nick Jankel, it's not just about your clever product. Change is about empathy, connection, trust, and customer-focus. You must develop a culture that is adaptive and quick to respond to the changing customer and their needs. If you cannot solve a pain that people cannot solve for themselves, you do not have a business.

319: Nick Jankel – Transformational Leadership: Changing the World by Changing Myself

We have all heard the maxim, “The customer is always right.” Top companies like Amazon lays the foundation of their success on customer-centricity and customer-focus. We believe that a happy customer is the heart of any organization. But how do you make them feel valued? Most of the time, it relies on your people leadership – your employee experience. According to a report by Gallup, a global analytics firm, engaged workers have significantly higher productivity, profitability, and customer rating than disengaged workers. There is no doubt that leadership is important in creating wonderful customer experience. In this episode, Jonathan Raymond shares how you can lead your people and develop that people-centric culture in your organization.

318: Jonathan Raymond – People Leadership: How the Employee Experience Impacts the Customer Experience

With most of our audience working in the customer experience industry, I asked Cheryl China some of her best tips and advice for leaving behind an unforgettable legacy in CX and how to be happier and more successful in the workplace. Some leaders have been working in the customer experience industry for years and have not left a positive legacy to their team members and employees. They leave behind negative thoughts and memories and retire miserable and unhappy. I understand that work can be toxic, and we can get lost in the moment, but it is important that we detach ourselves and reevaluate our career paths sometimes. Where are we headed and what are we working for? These career advice not just apply to the overall leadership, but also to employees as well. Some of these things might sound cliché, but you’ll be surprised to know that not many people actually do them: Be willing to move sideways in your career. Don't hesitate to take risks. Don't let perfection hold you back. Don't be afraid to ask the hard questions. Learn from your mistakes but don't wallow in them. Always represent and protect your brand and your reputation. Engage, network, and build relationship. Know that what you say and do matters. Be kind to others. 

317: Cheryl China – 9 Pieces of Career Advice Wisdom for Leaders and CX Professionals

There is no doubt that a successful organization runs on inspired and positive people. As a leader, it is your job to make sure your team members are inspired and that you are a positive influence to them. Team members that are positive can serve customers better and create a more wonderful customer experience. In this episode of the Fast Leader Show, Glenn Parker shows us how you can have that positive influence on others. Positive influence leaders see the good in someone else. They help them become better and position them for success. According to Glenn, there are four types of positive influence leaders: Supportive positive influence leader Teacher positive influence leader Motivating positive influence leader Role Model positive influence leader You might be a mix of either one of them, but the most transformational one will encapsulate all of them and inspire positive change.

316: Glenn Parker – How to Become a Positive Influence Leader and Inspire Others in CX

Have you ever wondered why geese fly in a V-formation? Scientists gives us two explanations, and we can actually learn a lot important collaborative leadership lessons from them! First, it's about energy conservation. Each geese fly just a little bit above the bird in front of him in order to reduce wind resistance. They each take turns being in front and fall back whenever they get tired. This allows them to fly longer distances without stopping to rest. The second is that it allows them to keep track of everyone. The V-formation allows each bird to communicate and coordinate with each other, which is also the reason why fighter jets also fly in this formation. These are the secrets in why geese are able to successfully migrate from one place to another, and if you apply them in your organization, you can be surprised how positively it can impact your customer experience strategy. In this episode of the Fast Leader Show, Dr. Edward Marshall expounds on this more and shares other important leadership skills for you to apply in your strategy and organization.

315: Edward Marshall – What is Collaborative Leadership and How to Apply it in Customer Experience?

They may not be in the frontlines talking directly with the customers, but a leader's influence to the team impacts the way an agent performs and how they deliver the customer experience, which is why leadership is important. According to Dr. David Arrington, "Everything a leader does impacts the organization. It all trickles down. If you have solid leadership at the top and set those priorities that the customer is important from that perspective, people from that organization will follow that line."

314: Dr. David Arrington – Why Leadership is Important in Creating Really Wonderful Customer Experience

Playing at work have been traditionally unacceptable in the workplace. As adults, we think playing is childish and working meant being serious all the time. However, based on what we see from top performing companies in the world today, play has been an important aspect in their success. Play has led to innovation of products like Gmail, Google Meet, and many others. So, if you are a call center executive or have a call center business, should you allow or encourage playing at work? Does play make a positive impact in your customer experience strategy?   Listen as Jeff Harry helps you rediscover your play. Playing is not merely having fun at work and wasting time and reducing productivity. Playing encourages fun and allows your employees to feel positive, thereby leading to enhanced creativity and a more positive customer experience.

313: Jeff Harry – Playing at Work (Enhancing CX with Play)

Character Development in CX is one of the foundations for being able to deliver the best possible experience for the customer. People never forget the way they are treated by others, and each person wants to be treated with respect, dignity, and truth. Every single customer wants and deserves to be treated with integrity. And integrity only comes from someone with a healthy spiritual character.   So, what is character? How do you develop character in your agents and from within your call center? In this episode of the Fast Leader Show, Jim Loehr shares how to do that. Listen as he expounds on how to lead with character.

312: Jim Loehr – Character Development in CX

The Fast Leader Show is a podcast created to help you move onward and upward faster in your career and life. We deliver to you leadership tips, quotes, and inspirational stories in a fun way. Host, Jim Rembach delivers an informative and fun show for employees, leaders, entrepreneurs, and all who lead self and others every Wednesday. Each episode brings you a guest who shares their story that will help you get over the hump. We end each show with the Hump Day Hoedown where our guests provide robust yet rapid answers to the questions we all like to ask. Are you ready to hoedown? Woot Woot!

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Fast Leader Show | Real-life stories of failure and triumph

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