Latest / Mrs. PIE / Journey to Entrepreneurship: Embracing Challenges, Building Connections, and Leaving a Legacy with Kim Blue and Peter Lap

Transcript

Journey to Entrepreneurship: Embracing Challenges, Building Connections, and Leaving a Legacy with Kim Blue and Peter Lap · Mrs. PIE

• 0:00
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  Speaker 1: Who Smart to within.
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  Speaker 1: I made it y'all.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited for this here episode with my friends, so I'm going to do this the right way before I dive into just like, oh my god, can I do it?
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: We are here.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: So welcome back everybody to another episode.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: This is Mrs Pi and we're talking unlocking human potential with two of the most amazing professionals that I know on these streets.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Before we go further, I just want to make sure I say a huge shout out to everybody who's watching on the Facebook channel, linkedin, twitter, youtube, and absolutely want to do a special shout out to those of you who are watching on Parade Deck live TV.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: So hello.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: There's a community of 6.2 million subscribers over on those streets, so I just want to say hello and thank you all for watching, and I'm looking at my side because I just want to make sure that we're rolling over there and we are so y'all okay, so let me do this right.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Kim Blue of K-Blue Consulting is here to talk to us today, along with Peter Lap, and he's a connector storyteller and I think everyone pretty much knows.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: If you follow me, you know that I'm following them because I'm literally diving into everything that you're doing.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: So today I want to talk more about your businesses.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: I want to know what you guys are up to.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: You know, as far as you know, any valuable insights and strategies, and we talk a lot about culture and growth and you know anything around people's strategies, so we're from that kind of world.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: So I think this is going to be really helpful for a lot of HR professionals or managers or town acquisition leaders, but also business owners and entrepreneurs and especially those who are in the military community, who are trying to transition into, you know, the private sector.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: So this is a great way, y'all, for you to get some you know free advice before you're starting even your company and what that would be.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: You're talking to people who are actually really successful at doing that.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: So, without further ado, welcome.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Shelley.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: So good to see you.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: So we go back a ways.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: So I was trying to think of, like, how to introduce you guys, because we go back a ways and it feels like it's been years, but it really has been this past summer, right.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: That's it Just a summer, yeah, just a summer and we were part of a motley crew.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: You guys can find a lot of this content on the YouTube channel streets, on the Mrs Kip, and we were part of a group called People Rising, and so we've met through an amazing individual, lenwood Ross, and he brought us together and every week we would talk, we get these great topics and we kind of you know, thought leaders live right.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: We shared all of the inside, all of our experience, and we were solving problems together with you know, basically anyone who wanted to come out and learn and so so, pivoting to kind of where you are now, I wanted to check in with Kim how are things going at K-Blue Consulting?
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I want to hear that too.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: So things with K-Blue Consulting are going well and I'm excited, jelly, just for the space to be able to like reconnect and talk openly about all things you know business, business ownership, entrepreneurship and just like how the journey has been.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: So it's been amazing.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: A lot of learning is what I will say and it's been real time where I've had to tap into creative spaces that I didn't know existed.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: I had to be intentional about saying yes to things that I did know and yes to things that I didn't know, and really being comfortable figuring it out and owning a lot of things, owning my discomfort but then really prioritizing myself as a leader, which I learned is something that I wasn't really doing.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: I was relying on just sort of old ways of thinking and I really needed to tap into no, I got this and asking questions and really getting intentional and because of that, it's helped me get more clear on these are the verticals that I want to focus on.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: This is the level of talent that I want to engage with and we're not doing enough in some of these areas and we need to be doing more.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: And where are the people that are doing that, so that I can not only cultivate the tribe that I'm in, but, like new tribes, because it's not just one tribe Right now, I know I need multiple tribes to be able to do this.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: So it is a solo endeavor, but it is never a solo community.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Right Community is not a person of one, and so that's been my greatest takeaway over the last four or five months as I've dived into cable consulting more deeply, right and things I was sharing with you all when we were in our people rising community.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: So lots of learning and a lot of gratitude for just not being the same woman I was six months ago.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: So that's how.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: That's how that's how I'm saying it.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: Peter, yeah, I'm kind of upset that you called on her first now.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Forget it, I can't go after that.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: Well, kim, I think you and I had a very similar summer because it has been wave after wave of realization and faith, which has been really, really fascinating.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: And I think it's interesting because I started my entrepreneurial career at 25.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: Really, I fell into it, I was by accident and grew really quickly.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: So, I mean, it's been 20 years between the time that I haven't had a team around me and in 2020, I really walked away from my entrepreneurial career in recruiting and staffing, because recruiting is broken and my business now is at the intersection of purpose and culture and storytelling.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: To fix what's broken about recruiting to help companies make authentic connections with the talent that they need well before they need it, so they can really have more natural relationships with, with their perspective, talent and build pipelines and not have this frenetic transactional recruiting relationship that everybody hates.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: And it's been really challenging but super fun and I'm starting to get some really nice traction with really great had, a really great client engagement.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: That is will continue into next year, which is super exciting.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: But to touch on what Kim says is constantly the things that I have to learn and what I realized is oh, the possibility of creating a company without anybody else, like that's yeah, and it is incredibly exciting, but the things that I'm learning is it's.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: I thought at the beginning it's gonna be so much easier this time.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: I've done this before.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: No, not easier, much harder much more fun and rewarding Wow.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: I love that, and so I know that there's a lot, like I mentioned, there's a lot of a lot of individuals, especially within the veteran community, who are transitioning into private sector, but there are also a lot of members in the veteran veteran community who are starting out in new business, and so I wanted to find out from you, as you're, you're kind of, this is your space and, again, there's successful.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: I a lot of times when I have people that come on the show, I try to remind everyone like these are folks who've been tried and true and have been at this for some time.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: So we're talking about what's happened over the past few months or six months or so, but they've been at it for a long, long time.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Okay, so I just want to be clear that there is no easy way to do this.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: You do just.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: You actually have to know your space, know your expertise, you know what I mean, all of those things.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: So there's no shortcut.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: But I wonder, I wonder if you guys could share what were some of the maybe the unexpected challenges over this past year and how you know, maybe how you overcome, just to help motivate or encourage someone else who might be looking to shift into entrepreneurship.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Maybe we'll go with that, you, kim, and then and then Peter.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Sure thing.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: I love the fact that you opened up by saying right, you have to know your stuff.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: I think that's the thing that I admire the most about both of you is that you know your space, and that is something that is going to support you in the moments where things are less than ideal.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: So, for me, one of the things that was really challenging was realizing how much you get used to some of those what I refer to as creature comforts, when you may be aligned inside of an organization and there's departments that do all of the things that you need, and then stepping out on my own, really having to take a really good look at okay, what am I actually doing and what are the things that I even need to plan to outsource?
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: Where am I going to get a resource?
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Is this something that I can build, buy or borrow?
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: Because if you are a team of one and you're managing your budget, you're looking at your resources, you then learn that really, it is just you needing to do everything that a client or someone is asking you to do, and so that was challenging for me.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: I actually had to spend dedicated time, strategic time, thinking about all right, where are things like where are my templates?
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: What are the tools and platforms that I have access to?
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Where am I going to get the most bang for my buck right?
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: Is it Monday or is it a different project management software?
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Like, where am I in my business to be able to do that?
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: And then, how do I want to be able to scale and what's my year over year plan?
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Again, conversations that I had been in many times as a CHRO or an HR executive, but now owning it for myself and having to do it and realizing that there was a learning curve there and humbling myself enough to go all right.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: So there's a learning curve.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: You've been doing this for 15 years, kim.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Right, you can take right 15 days and spend some time figuring out what this looks like, and that was it in.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: The faster I got comfortable in my head, humbling myself and more quickly I was able to get myself into space with where I was saying okay, this meets the need that I have now and will allow me to grow and will serve what it is that I have going on.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: And where I didn't have it, smart people like Peter, like Peter legitimately.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: We were having a conversation about AI one day and Peter was like happy when you're ready to talk to me about that.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: He taught me all about.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: He introduced me Peter, introduced me to chat, GPT, which is I call him Sean Sean.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like, let me tell you all about Peter and just the things that he knows that I don't and how.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: In our last conversation I was just head nodding and taking your scribbling furious notes to make sure that I didn't, because you have to learn to lean on your, and that's what I mean.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: It's not just your job.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: You have to create new jobs, right when, because what your knowledge is is what it is and that helps someone else.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: And Peter was able to help me get comfortable saying, if I want to be able to save time and leverage things, I absolutely have to be leveraging these resources that are out here.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: So for me, that was the biggest difference is not having access to all of those smart people who did those things and becoming the person who now assemble those things for myself.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: That is awesome.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: How about you, Peter?
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: Wow, yeah.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: So I think, really liking what you're saying, Kim, about knowing who your people are and, on the flip side of this, also knowing what your business really is.
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: And I and you think that's an easy question, but it's not.
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: And I remember, and I'm forgetting his name, but he was the founder of legal seafood and he was just getting started and he took a business class and the professor said you have to know what business area and do you know what business you're in?
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: He's like I mean the restaurant business.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: He's like no, yeah, yeah, think about it and come back and finally realize, no, I'm in, I'm in the business of making sure that seafood is fresh, yeah, and, and that was the basis of that business is, it was a supply chain business.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: The restaurant business was.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: The was the end result of that and honestly, I'm still figuring that out, which is really interesting.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: And so one learning to know that I don't know and I know that you know some, but it's, it is you know.
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: So I am selling recruitment transformation, because that's where my pedigree is, but my passion is really flattening hierarchies and allowing companies to be more human, and so it was a really interesting conundrum for me because I was working with a client doing the and it was a pretty large private private equity back co location company and they had some things that they wanted to look at.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: They had some turnover challenges and recruiting challenges and I did a cultural analysis where I interviewed 30 people 15 from corporate and 15 from their co location services and what was really clear is they definitely could use and benefit from my recruiting consulting, but it wasn't the biggest problem they had.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: And so, learning to, to be able to say, or what's what business am I really in?
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Well, the recruiting business is a tool for me to help organizations be more human and there were better opportunities.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: So it was a really interesting thing when my client sponsor said like I need an estimate for the next step of your recruiting business and for me to say I don't think that's what you need the most and to propose something totally different and to know that I have the trust of that client to be able to take that step.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: There'll be plenty of time for the recruiting transformation but, you know, being able to solve these more core problems and help their executive team with their strategic initiatives and develop the narrative that they need to be successful with that and to speak to their employees and to be able to address those most pressing concerns is really the best opportunity.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: So that for me, has been the real lesson is to be cognizant of the business that I'm really in and look to provide value there, first and foremost.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Can I pull on the thread a little bit about developing the trust with your client.
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: And so there is a comment I just want to read out really quickly learning to get out of your own way by removing pride is important.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: That is true, absolutely.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: Thank you for that, absolutely agree.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: So I want to get your take.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: And when you're thinking about building trust with your clients.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: And so you know, a lot of times you know, when I see the new businesses that pop up, the tendency is to rush into selling the business right before the relationship building in order to build trust with those potential clients.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: And I wonder if both of you could just share your insights on what does that mean for you as, as you're working with your clients, how do you, how do you manage that so that you're building trust with your clients?
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: What does that look like for you?
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: So I'll hit him and then we'll go to go to Peter.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: For me it's everything because, number one, I'm an HR consultant, and so when we, when I think about the business that I'm in, I also have to think about how, historically, human resources has been defined and experienced and how it's been sort of marginalized inside of organizations.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: And so the minute I tell them that I'm an HR consultant, they should write forget how dope Kim, you know that matters, right?
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: This she's here, and so now the who I am and the what I do become one singular thing.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: And so, in order for them to trust that the HR is an extension of my expertise, I have to tell them what my approach is, and in order to do that, I just want them to get to know me right, and so I talk a lot about things like right I'm.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: A conversation was on the fault partner.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: I really want to help you think about how to help your business be successful.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: I say things like my job is to help you get to yes or to help you understand why it is a no and then find a solution.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: I get away from process policy tech, even though that's going to be my vehicle to getting what we do and so once they get to understand number one, that I know how to connect with people and, number two, that I can understand how quickly they are experiencing challenges and what are some of the things that I've seen in my role.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: That then helps them relax, and so that's all right.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: It's just, it's about connecting on a human level.
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: So let me tell you about who I am, and it's also like, what am I doing to help them?
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: See that they're talking to Kim first.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Then, through talking to Kim, they can tap on Kim's shoulder and say, well, what are your ideas, or what have you seen, or what did you do when?
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: Because now they're just having a conversation with me, not talking to their strategic HR partner, which is who I am, but that's different than what I do.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, excuse me, well, that's what I do, but that's different than who I am.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: Kim is a mom, a soccer mom, a dog mom right, I'm a daughter, I'm a southerner, I'm a sports fan, all of those things first.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: So the minute I humanize it, even as the energy, even as the playing field, and I don't feel like I'm now fighting against the tide, right, I'm swimming with them, and I think that that's what helps them relax a little bit and go okay, you know she's not going to come in here trying to change what it is that I do.
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: Quite the opposite.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: I actually want to support what you do and see when it just starts with you understanding who I am as a person first, and so I lead from that place and stay up front.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: Right, I give it freely and it's yours to do what you want with.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: And then sometimes people aren't expecting that when I say that and they'll oh, okay, and that's you know, it's yours right, absolutely being more human and I'm leading Yep.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: I lead from that.
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: And I think, kim, that is the demand of this time and I was thinking about it today, like I don't think we have any idea.
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: The change is coming and it's coming from so many sides and I just got to just take a little diversion on that.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because if you look at, you know what has happened to many of us and I think you know the changes I'm talking about.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: I went through is, you know, coming into 2020, you know, I knew recruiting was broken and as a recruiter, I was part of the problem.
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I had been coming to that realization for a number of years, but I had this expectation of a big payout and all these things and the beginning of 2020, I was like I am never going to get to this big payout.
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because I hate this business and I am not proud and I love that you talk about proud, inspired and empowered as opposed to proud, which is right and pointed out, very, very different.
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: But I was not proud of the work I was doing and it was killing me.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: And so, you know, the summer of 2020, I mean, with everything that was going on, it became impossible for me to continue and made it really easy to walk away.
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: But the world has seen that this is not just an individual experience where I realized by myself that I was living an unsustainable life.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: The entire planet is realizing that.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, and it is coming from multiple sides.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: We've seen the hottest summer on record, where the world is literally on fire, and you know I mean the amount of war, the amount of death that we've seen right in front of us.
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: It is impossible for us to continue as business as usual, and what's more is we have technology that is evolving faster than we can imagine and we cannot foresee what the world will look like.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: So you have this desire from people, particularly in the workplace, where they're demanding meaning and agency.
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: They want to know their work makes a difference and they want to know that they have a say in how they apply their efforts to making that difference.
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: And that demand is getting louder and louder.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: And I don't think the world is ready for that and I'm not ready for it, and I am actively trying to help companies make that change, which is fascinating.
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: So I think we are being.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: When we look at how do we have our clients trust us?
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: There is a degree of humility that I think that we need to be able to bring forward and, in order to be effective, really questioning the methods that I might have used three years ago to apply to it.
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: It just it's not going to work anymore.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: And so how do we have and how do we think about technology to enable relationship rather than to supplant it?
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: And, particularly when it comes to recruiting, that's what we've done.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: We have machines who are reviewing resumes and doing an awful job at it, and it's producing a horrible result, and maybe getting 300 resumes for every opening is not the right way to do it.
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: Maybe we need to use technology differently so we get maybe 15 or 20 candidates, but they're the right candidates and they're pulling that from a multiple of different factors.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: So I think it's true that trust is that sense of humility and that recognition to realize that we don't know, but we can leverage what we do know to create what's next.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: So I was sitting here, I was thinking about those businesses, leaders, other organizations who might be watching again, whether you're watching the live or the replay or you're listening to this on one of the other audible streets a couple of days.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: I was thinking about the amount of experience that both of you bring from both of your areas, and I was thinking, Kim, from the HR, a strategy perspective and Peter, just everything that you're doing to really actually, when we say transform like I'm not dropping it like a hashtag term, I mean he's actually doing it in real life with real solutions.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Okay, so I was.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: I wanted to find out, in terms of those who might be watching, who want to work with you, what does that look like?
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: What does maybe a typical client look like for you, and how do people go about getting to you as leaders who are trying to solve really big, complex problems?
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: So, peter, maybe I'll go to you with this and then we'll come back to Kim.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: What's the best way for clients to reach you?
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Potential clients?
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so usually my website truebearingorg LinkedIn.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: You know I'm probably the only Peter laughter on LinkedIn, I think.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: So we'll get you the comment and listen, we'll make sure everybody will get the contact and y'all can reach me.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: So you know you can reach Peter, I'll get you too.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: So but I think it is really.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: I am in a quieter stage, so my engagements are really coming from previous clients who I've worked with before.
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: I'm not really going out there.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: I've decided because what I'm doing is so out there and new.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: I realized, yeah, if you don't know me, you're probably not going to buy from me.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and there's only so many people I know.
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: So I am really focusing on a speaking career, really talking about storytelling and connection and the brokenness of recruiting.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: Because we are, we think we use this simple process of buying stuff and we apply it to this immensely complex process of engaging with other human beings.
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: And, yeah, and so we, you know, in order to recruit effectively, we're going to need to be much more human and actually use technology to create conversations, which is not how people have thought it.
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there is a group that does all of the recruiting and it's just a service.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: I need person.
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: Okay, give me person and that.
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: But that's not how life works.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: We spend more time with our coworkers than we do with our families in most situations.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but yeah, I, I don't know about y'all, but when you know I would want to get married, I did not call a broker and say can you please set up four or five dates for me and I'll pick one of them to spend the rest of my life with, or at least the next 40 hours a week, until I can't stand it anymore?
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's, that's not how we did it.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and, but that's how we think it's done.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: And so I recognize.
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: Oh, this is going to take some time.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: So I'm really focusing on speaking first and I have a few engagements that will take me into next year, but I'm not being so loud with my business but really talking about this problem and this need for the human connection in the workplace and it's, it was fascinating with this engagement.
• 25:48
  Speaker 3: It was, I could see it.
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this company grew really quickly.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they went from, yeah about you know, 10 data centers to 75 and very, very short.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: Here's how.
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: And yeah, the people have been there for a long time.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: Like I used to know everybody, I don't know anybody.
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: Now I just know that people I work with and and other people are saying like I don't know anybody and there's all these problems.
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: I don't know how to fix them.
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, it's you know.
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: And even in this situation and this is a Anomaly well-run company, but they have it is human connection.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: What people crave.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: And how do we build that in a world of silos?
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: It's, it is.
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: The answers are not clear and they're different for every company.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: It's usually start with an analysis where I just find out what's going on and, more importantly, what are the stories that employees are telling and how does that relate Stories that manager wants to be told or trying to tell, and how do you bridge the gap between those two stories?
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: What, what is the, the, the narrative that leadership needs to be talking about?
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: That will ride the momentum of what their employees are saying.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: That's the core of what I do, and fixing recruiting is is really a way for me to get to that.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you guys can probably tell, is Peter is there, is a real speaker and Life is very, very inspiring.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: And and also I wanted to just you know, make sure that you know, that there are articles that Peter posts on LinkedIn that I I have no shame in reposting it.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: Shame that love.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Awesome, it's just.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: It's just another way.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: If you're interested in learning, maybe you're in another function, another job and you're thinking about Shifting into a recruiting space, or maybe you think moving into a storytelling space or even a future speaker, peter is his content is amazing for you to just go and learn, kind of the state of the union, if you will, what's happening within this space.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: So I definitely highly encourage you.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: If you can't hire him as a speaker, then you definitely want to tag on to the content that he's already sharing for free and again continue your, your development that way.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: So that's another way you can tap into what the rest of us can't afford.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Okay, let's follow you.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: So, peter, before I jump in, do you have a core audience or like, when you talk?
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: I think that's important for anybody who's listening, in terms of whether it's them or and now I say this because I've had a little access to you, right?
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: So I think it's important to be able to know it, like to be able to share that.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: I know this, but like share it with the people.
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: Three groups that I'm most interested in talking to our professional service firms accountants, lawyers and Consultants, because a lot of what I do with connection really does help with professionals who, when they advance in their career, need to start to learn how to sell.
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: And it's really, how do you build networks and connections, which is the the beginning of sales.
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: And so for an accountant, in order to succeed in their career in an accounting firm, they need to come to a point where they stop being a good accountant and become a good salesperson, and I think that's a bad formula.
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: So, and I think, like, learn along the way, you know, let's not be out.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: Do this all at once and maybe have a more diverse group of people who can become partners and yeah, and start the process a little earlier.
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: The second is later stage startups companies that, yeah, are yeah at 30 and need to go to 100, or more often, 100 who need to go to 300.
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: But one of the things a lot of what I do is anchoring storytelling in cultural messages like purpose and values, and so in talking to some of my venture capital, now that the private equity market is, I'm going to slow down for the next year and a half or so, I've been talking to some of my venture capitalists, folks and really using things like purpose and values to create a cohesion within a company, and so, because when you hit 30 people is usually when things get Unruly yeah is where people are, you know it's, you know we're all friends, we don't really need a lot of structures, yeah, and then suddenly things get completely crazy and no one knows, yeah, and so being able to have a set of Understanding this is who we are and where we're going and this is what we value and, based on those values, these are the behaviors that are indicative of those values and these are behaviors that are Counter to those values, and once you know that, then everything can people.
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not just what the CEO likes or doesn't like, or the founders like it's, it's, it's what we've all agreed to, yeah, and that changes creates a co-cohesion that's very powerful going forward.
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: So those are my, my core area people that I work with.
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: But we're in a world where the world where, where people are desperate for meaning, and I think that that is yeah.
• 30:43
  Speaker 3: My larger goal is to create a movement of yeah, because we've put up with thank god, it's Friday this work, life balance lie that life and work are two separate things.
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no.
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: And I think now is the demand where, like no, our work can be enjoyable and should be enjoyable.
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it must be enjoyable, because life is way too short to spend the majority of your waking hours doing something that is that you don't love.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: I think I thought that was important.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: Um, peter, like like Shelley, and I've had some exposure to your Work, but those listening might not know that, so I thought it was.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I really appreciate that, you know.
• 31:23
  Speaker 3: Just say you know, in in New York we have a phrase called mensch, which means a great person, and you all are both like just incredible human beings, and I am honored to know you, shelley.
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: You are a ruthless supporter of the people in your network, and that comes across in ways that are really obvious and ways that are really subtle, um, and I'm just so amazed and really honored to be talking with oh, thank you so much.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: Oh, don't make me fog up my glasses.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I just I will answer your question, tell about I.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: Just I thought that was important because, yeah, we knew, but like they might not know and there may be people who after this might say I can benefit from having that that's right.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: They don't know where they are, so where people can find me.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: So website is under construction right now.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: Um, so I can share that with Shelley Um later, but right now mostly people can find me on linkedin.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: I've got um.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: You know I post.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: I share a lot of Good things that I'm doing.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: People in my network are doing um in the hr community.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: I also sit on the Forbes hr council.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: I am a contributor and so I write and contribute there and this is the season now where I do most of my writing.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: I kind of pull out in the summer because I'm wearing my parent hat and so I don't do that much writing.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: But now that it's fall and I'm back in the routine, I will write, primarily during the school year, and so I try to get something up once a month.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: Um, so you can go and find me there.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: All of my past posts for Forbes are on my linkedin page as well they're good, solid read that you can copy, copy paste.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: And make sure you give kim credit, because I do that as well.
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: Yes and and um, those are the spaces that I'm really curating until my website gets my rips, website is officially revamped, but all of my podcasts, all of the things that I've done Um, all of it is there or it is on linkedin and I make sure that I keep up with that information.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: And then, from time to time, I'm frequently just going in and commenting for reach, liking for reach and just supporting across Um, the hr community, the org development community, the iosike community, certainly in the business world as well, groups that I support so obviously in intact hr teams to come in and do that.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: I am currently a fractional chro so I can go in for one day or one year or whatever it is that is really needed.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: Um, I'm also doing a lot of direct advising or support for um founders and CEOs who are in the startup space or, right now, early stages, where I am.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: So folks who are in Preced or seed and saying let's spend the time now focusing on getting your organization right, especially at the top, because once the top is set, yeah, when you're writing investor memos and when you're telling your story, it's not just the revenue story anymore, it's the people's story, in particular, companies who are who are backed by private equity firms, and this is something peter and I share in common, coming from that bcp e space, right, right, companies in in p e firms are not just having the financial conversation.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: They are getting more into the culture space and looking at who are we hiring?
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: Because the who Leads to the productivity, the innovation and that is what's going to help companies stand out and make their individual brand unique.
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: Because really, about the bottom line in some instances and so if you're not bringing in the talent that's going to Specialize in that, then they're not going to see the return on their investment.
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: Trying to get that through a founder's head early is really important, because they typically are in focused on the product, the outcome, the revenue, and I'm saying if you don't have the right people, your product is not going to matter.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: Let's really spend the time getting your org dynamics in order so that your org help this later, so that by the time you go from pre-seed to seed, from seed to A to B, and you're ready to get to someone like a Peter, you've done the legwork.
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: And then by the time you decide you're gonna do whatever is next, whether you're gonna remain private, whether you're gonna join this fat community, whether you're gonna full stop IPO?
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: Listen, folks, I don't know who was paying attention, but the whole was it Instacart, who just did their IPO right, like just a new point, something like that?
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: That was a massive story and there was a lot of learnings in there, both from a culture standpoint and a timing standpoint.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: It's very important to have a community around you of folks who are advising you the right way, and so I try to bring that into the space the business of people and organizational values, right, like what do you wanna do and do we have the right infrastructure to do it?
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: And I think it can be wildly undervalued because the narrative has not been that for so long.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: But Peter said it right Everything we did yesterday is not what we can do going forward.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: You cannot keep thinking that five years ago, because five years ago we weren't in a pandemic, right, and so we now have to change the way that we think in order to be successful, because workforce of the future is exactly that, and the future is not known or predictable.
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: So that is where I spend my time in helping people redefine what HR partnership looks like, so that it is whatever you need for your business in terms of people's strategy.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: That's where I spend my time and what I'm doing with it.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: I feel like we need to.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to have y'all come back at the beginning of the year to cover purpose and value and dig a little bit deeper and really touch on the human component.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Especially after the holidays, when we get all giddy about kicking off a new year and businesses are trying to go in with new principles and trying to set things.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: I really think there's an opportunity to coach a lot of not just leaders, but regular folks who are listening, folks who are people managers, hiring managers, analysts, admins, whatever the role is within the organization.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: But I really do think we need to have that conversation, because Peter hit on the point about the importance of having those clearly defined and communicated purpose and values that we used to save mission statement.
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: We don't even use that anymore, but I think it'd be really good to come in and talk about, like, what do you do when your organization hands that to you and how do you kind of live that life?
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: Because you're right, there really isn't a separation of work life balance.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: It's just kind of it's life.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: It's just life.
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: We're just lifeing.
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, I love that because you, peter's work, or former work, writing recruitment is the selling of the story of the company.
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: Yes, yes.
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: And if you don't have a mission or a purpose, what are you selling?
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: Like how are?
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: you connected to something, right, and Peter, please, because I'm.
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: And so then they get it to me right.
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: They get into the organization, they look around, like how did I get here?
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: And then they want their CHRO to like save them with programs or initiatives or things like that, and so begins the cycle of things that you heard Peter speak about earlier.
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: So Exactly, and because we know how HR works and the initiatives are gonna roll out for Q1 2024, we wanna get ahead of it.
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: Well, and that's Because it causes this thing where people and I really love it, shelley, that you're working with early stage founders to figure some of these things out Because I think one people Culture is for a long time been something by default, it's just what happens, as opposed to something that people are conscious of and moving in that direction from the beginning.
• 38:45
  Speaker 3: And I think we run the risk is, when we hear of this dissatisfaction of employees, to do things like let's just give them foosball tables and ping pong and happy hours.
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: And no, that is not culture.
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: That is not culture.
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: It is shared belief and meaning and understanding of what is tolerated, what is not tolerated and what is celebrated.
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: And if that's not agreed upon, you're in a world of trouble.
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: It's just it's not gonna work.
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: And I think that is really the excitement of our time is we're.
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: We face this really incredible unknown of what is going to happen when the In the next couple of years with technology, with society, but I think we have a chance of actually really getting the world that we want, and that's what's really exciting.
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: And it really starts with how it is we earn our daily bread and if we can learn to have meaning there and learn how to collaborate, and within that, those spaces will bring it everywhere else Will be a demand for it.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, absolutely great.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: So I have one more question before I let you guys go, and my question is what do you wanna be remembered, or it's my Barbara Walters question?
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: That's massive Shelley.
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: I.
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: If so, my father-in-law, was part of the team that invented scratch off lottery tickets.
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: What yeah, he was.
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: He did a transaction sell gas for Exxon because he distinguished one gas station for the others.
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: He was in promotional marketing but he didn't patent that final scratch off which he had created because people were X-raying the lottery tickets and so he needed a material to scratch off.
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: But he didn't demand to own the intellectual property.
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: But he broke this billion-dollar industry and my wife and my brother didn't really understand.
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: I was like do you know what your father's accomplished?
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: Like billions and billions of dollars have been created just because of his idea, which I think is.
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: But I've always held that.
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: But I think for me it's not a thing.
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: If I could be a part of I wouldn't want to be known but I'd necessarily know and like, oh, peter did that.
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: But to have my daughter tell her children your grandfather helped dismantle the way corporations run and made them more human and enabled people from all over the organization to quickly rise to the top and be more mobile, that would make me, that would be a legacy I could be really proud of.
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: I love that, and you know I mean in similar fashion, right?
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: I think one of the things that I'm passionate about is changing the narrative about what human like, how human resources is defined, and emphasis on that first word.
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: We're humans first, who then bring our resources, our gift, our knowledge, our capabilities, our skill sets to your organization to partner with you on doing that, and so same.
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: When my kid grows up, I want you know people to say you know, your mom wrote an article that helped me redefine the way that you know I look at things.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: Right, you can see it back there.
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: But I was on the cover of a magazine for a company that I do some advising for, and one day he was like why are you famous?
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: And I was like, well, I'm not famous, but I am known for the work that I do in the places that I want to be known, and that is super important to me to be able to connect and do this.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: And so if, if what I'm doing today impacts the future of the world that he will work in later, then that's my legacy, and for him to know that that's what mom spent her life doing was making it so that I can step into work and use my voice and be authentic and not be afraid and command my, my equity, in whatever form that may come in right.
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: Pay experience, whatever that looks like right.
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: So if that happens during my time, then my legacy is a little fun.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: Well, you're both famous.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: I don't.
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: I'm just let me just put it out there right now for those of you all who are watching and listening.
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: They're already there.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: They're just they're being coy.
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: I don't I will brag on my friends all day long.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: I am so honored.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: This was so amazing.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: I again, I definitely want to have us come back and, you know, have a conversation at the top of the year to kind of get things going.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: I think it's going to help a lot of people and I do want to say a quick thank you.
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: I just I'm sorry I just took my head to the TV, but a quick, a quick shout out and thank you to those who are watching on parade deck live TV channel right now, and for all of you all who are going to watch the replay, and also the folks who are going to get to listen to y'all on audible and Spotify and I heart radio and iTunes.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: I'm missing a bunch of them.
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: I'm terrified.
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: My roadmap is going to get me, because I always forget, but you know there's a lot of people who are going to benefit from just the jewels that you shared willingly tonight and I I generally appreciate a lot of experts.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: Don't show up and show you their heart.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: But I think, if, if, if you, if you, if you are willing, willing to learn, then you're you know, whoever is listening and watching you'll pick up on some really cool things and I it's really going to help your career, regardless of where you are, whether you're a leader, hr leader, ceo, ceo, or you're an entrepreneur.
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: Maybe you're not an entrepreneur, you're just thinking about how you can expand your own learning, but Kim and Peter are your people.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: I'm just telling you right now.
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: They are actually famous, so, but they're my friends.
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: That's how it works.
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: Y'all Any time.
• 45:02
  Speaker 3: I love it.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: This was so good, don't hang up.
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: We're going to have our after party.
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: It's not a Beyonce concert, but it's closed, so don't hang up.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: Y'all will tell everybody to have a really good night Everybody.
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for watching and we'll be back next week.
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: Thank y'all.