Brilliance: Leadership Learning

How important is company culture? For John T. Meyer of Lemonly, a visual storytelling firm based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, it's about more than just keeping employees productive and happy - it's about raising the standard. From publicly stating company benefits on their website to providing "adventure bonuses" that employee are required to spend on an international trip of their choice, John tells us more about how and why he approaches Lemonly's policies the way he does.

Rich Laxer, CEO of GE Capital, shares his thoughts on bridging strategy and application of digital industrial, facing into your fears, and exponential vs. incremental growth.

Katrina Collier is a social recruiting trainer, speaker, and founder of The Searchologist. She teaches companies how to get candidates' attention and the benefits that follow - like increased engagement. It got us wondering: what if we apply some of the same principles for engaging employees we already have? In this episode, we discuss how recruitment and retention has become one and the importance of adopting social collaborative skills to encourage authentic, diverse interaction within an organization toward creating a culture that helps employees feel like they belong. You can follow Katrina on Twitter @KatrinaMCollier and check out her website: www.thesearchologist.com

Deirdre Latour was the Leader in Residence at Crotonville last week. As the Chief Communications Officer for GE, we spent some time getting her advice on how to best communicate - especially in challenging times - while keeping factors in mind like your stakeholders and self-awareness. Follow Deirdre on Twitter @DeirdreLatour

Equality in the workplace is critical for innovation, so how can we make sure we're not excluding others as a result of specific inclusion efforts? Sangita Kasturi, a diversity and inclusion expert and founder/CEO of Action Inclusion, discusses gender diversity while helping us remember the importance of including men in the conversation. We chat about perceptions of both men and women, why recognizing bias in all directions is critical to truly achieving equality in the workplace AND at home, and what truly inclusive behavior looks like. For more information or to contact Sangita, please visit www.ActionInclusion.org, follow her on Twitter @ SangitaInSight, or email her at skasturi@actioninclusion.org Additional references: > 15:29 - Take the social attitudes test at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/ > 10:45 - Article from The Atlantic: "America, Home of the Transactional Marriage" - http://tinyurl.com/y7h9fj75 > 19:44 - Stanford Research: http://gender.stanford.edu/news/2014/why-does-john-get-stem-job-rather-jennifer

This episode marks ONE YEAR of the Brilliance: Leadership Learning podcast! What better way to celebrate than having some time with Susan Peters, GE's Chief HR Officer, to talk about leadership development. Hear how Susan builds in time for personal growth, what questions she asks other leaders, and her thoughts on the "hardware and software" of the company.

Our latest Leader in Residence at Crotonville was a real treat to work with. Ana Lucia Caltabiano provided us with great insights on how she started writing to better share deeply moving experiences, how she senses the company has changed (or not), and what she has learned from her reverse mentor. We also learn what she does in her free time (hint: it involves 350 large animals!)

Deborah Streeter, Sr. Professor of Personal Enterprise and Small Business Management at Cornell, joins us on this episode to cover a few key topics from eCornell's Women in Leadership courses (an online series which she authored and developed). Among them are gender bias, negotiation, and work-life balance/flow. Find Deborah's Women in Leadership program at the following link: https://www.ecornell.com/certificates/leadership-and-strategic-management/women-in-leadership/ Sound Advice - clips from Deborah on entrepreneurship: http://deborahstreeter.com/soundadvice/ GE Employees can discover additional eCornell offerings on BrilliantYOU.

21: VP Supply Chain Europe, Melissa Twiningdavis - Leader in Residence by GE Crotonville

Linda Boff, GE's CMO and our first Leader in Residence at GE Crotonville this year, arrived on campus within minutes of Jeff Immelt's announcement a few weeks ago. Listen in to hear Linda's initial observations and insights on other impactful topics, like separating the urgent from the important, what digital industrial means to her, and the importance of "Balance the Equation".

Anyone can produce content, but how do we produce content that matters? Focus on purpose! Melanie Fawcett, a creative director and storyteller, spent some time with us to discuss the era of "mobile thought leadership", how to connect with users who are at the point of choice, and shifting our perspective from "creating" per se to "documenting". One major takeaway we had: Vanity stats = numbers while engagement = people. Preach! You can connect with Melanie on Facebook under her name, Melanie Fawcett.

Sarah Ellis, Director of Digital Development for the Royal Shakespeare Company, graciously gave us some of her time to talk about the mind-blowing work done in collaboration with Intel and Imaginarium Studios on their production of Shakespeare's "The Tempest". We discussed how technology can be used to help enhance the message in storytelling, the importance of collaboration in multidisciplinary teams, and why she thinks art informs technology and technology informs art. You can follow Sarah on Twitter @scarahnellis and learn more about the RSC at RSC.org.uk Full video mentioned and sampled in this episode available here: http://tinyurl.com/IntelRSCTempest

The power of community cannot be understated, especially when it comes to minority communities. In this discussion with Rick Rodriguez, hear how his community both challenged and inspired him to make a career change and become an advocate for other minorities, specifically those in the Hispanic and LGBTQ populations.

Is executive presence something everyone should have? How can you be more confident when you are presenting? Harrison Monarth, an executive coach, leadership consultant, and New York Times best-selling author of Executive Presence: The Art of Commanding Respect Like a CEO and Breakthrough Communication, gives us valuable insights based on his extensive executive coaching experience. You can find Harrison at www.Gurumaker.com

How we communicate with others has a big influence on our success in many areas of life. In this episode, hear how Megan Parker, Director of Culture Communications, prepares senior leaders across GE to deliver messages with impact - and what advice she has for anyone looking to improve this skill.