The Fifth National Climate Assessment summarizes the best available information on the risks, impacts and responses to climate change in the U.S. Our expert guest, Geoff Dabelko, is one of the 500 distinguished authors of the massive Assessment. He is a Professor at Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service, and he’s an international thought leader on environmental matters. In this episode, Geoff shares an overview of the report, touching upon both conclusions and recommendations. He mentions several trends, like the convergence of climate issues with concerns related to aging. He describes the $6 billion in new federal investments intended to make communities more resilient, partly by strengthening the electric grid. And we discuss the NCA5’s implications for the job market. For info on NCA5 see: https://nca2023.globalchange.gov For more on Geoff see: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffdabelko/

Our guest, Karen Eber, says stories build connection and trust, inspire new thinking, and are more memorable than other forms of information. Karen is a global leadership consultant who works with corporate leaders and universities to build teams and transform cultures. And she understands the science of why storytelling is such an effective way to communicate and connect with people. Her interesting new book, The Perfect Story, explains why storytelling is so powerful, and how you can learn to tell stories that are engaging. Today Karen shares tips from her book, including specific suggestions for becoming a stronger communicator. She explains what science has revealed about the power of stories. And, of course, she shares tales about how storytelling has shaped her life and fueled her career

Today’s returning guest is William Vanderbloemen, a pioneer in executive searches for faith-based organizations. Since he started the Vanderbloemen firm 15 years ago, he and his team have done in-depth interviews with about 30,000 of their top candidates. And they have studied the information from the best of their best candidates, working to understand why some leaders so clearly stand out from the crowd. William says their research helped them identify 12 habits that separate the strongest leaders from everyone else. Here William talks about his new book, Be the Unicorn, which describes those 12 strengths, all of which involve soft skills. William says all these important skills can be developed or improved, and Be the Unicorn is a workbook to help you along that path. He shares tips to help you nurture positive habits and outshine the competition. He also models how to describe yourself during an interview, and he urges job seekers to get feedback on their strengths and weaknesses. For more see: https://www.vanderbloemen.com/about

Not only is today’s return guest, Gerald J. Leonard, an accomplished professional musician, but he is also an expert on workplace culture, strategy and productivity. On top of that, he is an author. The full title of his interesting new book is long and descriptive: A Symphony of Choices – How Mentorship Taught a Manager Decision-Making, Project Management and Workplace Engagement – and Saved a Concert Season. The book is a primer on how to make decisions amidst complex and multifaceted challenges. While it is full of excellent advice, it reads like a novel, because Gerald uses an engaging story to make his lessons clear. The tale’s hero, Jerry, is a symphony orchestra musician who suddenly has the job of orchestra manager. A college professor mentors Jerry, helping him to quickly get a handle on the orchestra’s big challenges. As Jerry works his way through difficult personal and professional decisions, readers learn about project management. In today’s episode, Gerald, an engaging story-teller, shares lessons not only from Jerry’s experience, but also from his own life. For more info and free resources from Gerald Leonard, go to: https://geraldjleonard.com/jazzed/

When it was launched about 20 years ago, LinkedIn felt like a fancy Rolodex -- a robust digital address book for professionals. But today this platform (now owned by Microsoft) is the place to build and nurture your career network, forge a strong brand, and research many kinds of professional opportunities. Our guest today, Donna Serdula, wrote a book about how to make LI work for you: LinkedIn Profile Optimization for Dummies (2nd Edition). Donna is an expert in branding and social media marketing, she has 44,000 LI followers, and her company, Vision Board Media, does LI makeovers. In this episode, Donna explains why every professional should have an LI profile, whether or not they expect to pursue a job search. And she shares specific tips from her book, about how you can make your LI profile more effective. For more, check out Donna’s website: https://donnaserdula.com And see her on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/todonna/

The value of good decision-making is a theme in this episode. Our guest is Aaron Mitchell Finegold, the chief marketing officer at Kingsley Gate, a global executive search firm. As far back as college, Aaron wanted a career involving creative expression, a focus on human behavior, a business environment and a global setting, and those elements do shape his current role. Aaron describes a Kingsley Gate study into how and why successful organizations are good at deciding things. The report suggests that the skill of making effective, timely decisions is often overlooked in the process of hiring leaders. And yet dissatisfaction with an organization’s decision-making processes is a major reason why executives resign. Research suggests that the capabilities to decide, and focus on people-centric factors, can transform an organization. Aaron says a good way to get better at deciding may be to map out the key decisions to be made over the next six months. Simply becoming aware of which decisions are important can make an individual or a team more effective. For more see: https://www.kingsleygate.com/insights/white-paper/bad-decisions-why-companies-miss-the-most-important-factor-in-executive-hiring/

Today we explore ways to help young people prepare for careers that are meaningful. Our guest, Erin Lewellen, had an opportunity as a college student to live in Cape Town, interning at a center for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. There, Erin says, she learned in a new way, and transformed how she viewed the world. Now Erin is CEO of Global Citizen Year, a nonprofit that creates experiences to help college students develop the emotional and intellectual toolkit to impact global issues. In this show, Erin shares thoughts about how Generation Z is focused on overcoming huge societal challenges. We discuss what Gen Z looks like as it enters the workforce, and talk about ways this young crowd is unlike other generations. Erin offers suggestions about what employers might consider as they bring Gen Z-ers on board. And she shares thoughts about how you – or your kids – might structure an enriching international learning experience. For more, see: https://www.globalcitizenyear.org and https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinlewellen/

In this episode we talk about personal branding, and about how your brand impacts your career, whether or not you choose to manage it. Our lively guest, Tyler Mount, is a business consultant and international branding expert. And he is the CEO of Henry Street Creative, a New York agency with expertise in social media, video production, and digital marketing strategies. Tyler is a man of many skills, including those that helped him become a Tony award-winning producer. He talks about his journey from living in a small Texas town, to becoming a presence on Broadway and an influencer in the world of theater. He describes how he built his brand, and discusses things to consider as you shape yours. He emphasizes that your brand should be based on the real you. For more see: https://henrystreetcreative.com/

Our guest, Alex Atwood, has been interested in creating and managing businesses since childhood. And in the last 20 years this serial entrepreneur has created and led 4 startups in the hospitality and staffing space. Today he tells us about how, at the start of COVID-19, he and his staff quickly reinvented their organization and kept workers busy serving as disinfection professionals. He describes his current company, GravyWork, whose app helps people find side gigs or full-time jobs with flexible shifts. Alex is deeply interested in purpose-driven, participative leadership, and he describes his approach to running a company. He cares about transformational growth of the mind, body and spirit, and talks about one of his own side-gigs: coaching. And he touches upon microdosing, a tool he sometimes suggests to coaching clients, to cultivate presence, regulate emotions and promote awareness. For more, see: https://alexatwood.co

According to Dr. Amy Serin, many in our society suffer from stress, anxiety and all sorts of trauma. Our nervous systems are over-active; we lie awake at night, consumed by worries; and our bodies and minds become chronically unwell. In this episode, Amy describes her own struggles with excess stress, as well as her journey to “democratize” various therapies by making them more accessible. And she shares information from her book, The Stress Switch, including how stress works, and how it can hijack the calm, wise part of our brain, and throw us into a frantic state of fight or flight. She says that with techniques like bilateral stimulation, you can reset your “stress switch,” recalibrate your mental filter, and make better decisions. Amy also describes TouchPoints, her patented small, wearable devices for reducing stress symptoms through the use of gentle vibrations. For more, visit her website: https://serincenter.com/specialists/dr-amy-serin/ And if you purchase her book or TouchPoints there, use this discount code: Jazzed15