Jennifer McClure`

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Written by Jennifer McClure

How AI Is Changing the Game for Thought Leaders and Content Creators With Laurie Ruettimann and Jennifer McClure

On episode 93 of the Impact Makers podcast, author, speaker and coach Laurie Ruettimann joins me to discuss the topic of how generative AI tools can aid in content creation.

I asked Laurie to join me to chat about how we’re using generative AI tools as content creators, and just humans in general, and what’s working or not working for us as we try to make peace with our future overlords.

We share our personal experiences with using these tools and how they’re saving us precious time, as well as adding immense value to our work, and we unpack the different user types of AI: creators who leverage it for automation and editors who utilize AI to refine existing work.

Laurie and I also explore the potential of AI in personal and professional communication, and the use of generative AI tools for writing emails, newsletters, and even crafting professional messages. Communicating effectively with AI is critical to getting satisfactory results, and the secret lies in writing the right prompts that will yield better results. Don’t miss out on the tips and insights we offer on how to get the best results from any AI platform that you choose to work with.

In the latter part of our conversation, we focus on the power of AI in enhancing our creativity and decision-making processes. Laurie and I both talk about how these tools suggest ideas we may not have thought of, and how they can be used without interfering with the creative process. Finally, we share our vision for the future of generative AI tools and how they will continue to shape our lives.

As usual with Laurie, it’s a fun and insightful conversation, and I think you’ll find it interesting how we’re both using AI tools in our content creation processes, including how we use them to save time, and add value to our work.

Topics Discussed In Today’s Episode:

  • Jennifer’s experience in expanding ideas and editing content using ChatGPT.
  • Laurie’s use of ChatGPT in content editing and refining — particularly with emails.
  • Laurie’s thoughts on the two types of users of generative AI tools.
  • The advantages of using AI as an editor or copywriter.
  • Using AI tools for brainstorming and generating ideas.
  • Understanding how ChatGPT “learns” and retains information, and whether or not it can be trained to truly mimic a writer’s unique voice.
  • Our thoughts on which generative AI tool is better – ChatGPT or Google Bard?
  • Why it’s important to not over engineer your prompts when using AI tools.
  • Our thoughts on the balance between human creativity and AI assistance.

LISTEN TO IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 93

Listen on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts or Spotify

People & Resources Mentioned In This episode:

Laurie Ruettimann – website, LinkedIn, Instagram

Punk Rock HR / Corporate Drinker podcast

ChatGPT

Google Bard

Vadim Liberman

Impact Makers podcast episode 036:  The Random Show — Conversations with My BFF Laurie Ruettimann 

Betting on You: How to Put Yourself First and (Finally) Take Control of Your Career by Laurie Ruettimann

Categories: Blog, Future of Work, Podcast
Posted on September 28, 2023

Written by Jennifer McClure

How to Create a Company Culture That Attracts and Retains Top Talent: 4 Essential Elements

Quick request: Think about the company you’ve either loved or hated working at the most in your career…

If you had to describe your experience working at the company in just one word, what would that word be?

I’m going to make a confident bet that the first word that came to mind for you is related to the company’s culture.

Whether your word is something like caring, fun, challenging – or stressful, discouraging, difficult – your one-word assessment is a direct reflection of how YOU experienced the company’s culture.

Does this mean that your experience is the same as others who have worked for the organization? Not necessarily.

While one person may find an environment that’s fast paced and low rules to be energizing, another person who enjoys working in an environment that’s more laid back and structured may find that same environment to be extremely stressful.

Does that mean that something’s wrong with a company’s culture, because one person finds it to be a place where they’re very satisfied, while another is unhappy?

Nope.

What exactly is company culture?

The Great Place To Work® Institute defines company culture as follows:

Company culture is how you do what you do in the workplace. It’s the sum of your formal and informal systems and behaviors and values, all of which create an experience for your employees and customers.

At its core, company culture is how things get done around the workplace. “How” includes both the formal systems, and the informal behaviors.

What makes a company culture “successful”?

1. Established Values That Are Visibly in Action

The foundation of a successful company culture is a clear set of values. These values must be clearly understood and communicated, and the company’s leadership must be supported — as well as rewarded — for “walking the talk” and enforcing those values with their teams.

A great example of this is Hubspot, which clearly articulates who they aspire to be as a company on their website:

We’re building a culture where personal and professional growth are just as important as business growth. That’s why we created the HubSpot Culture Code. It shares our key values, like HEART — humble, empathetic, adaptable, remarkable, and transparent — and much more.

In their 128 page Culture Code slide deck, Hubspot states:

“We don’t just believe in these values, WE BET ON THEM. We recruit, reward and release people based on these values.”

The company also reinforces their values with THE HEART AWARDS, which are awarded to those who live those values every day and make others proud to work at HubSpot.

2. Awareness and Authentic Communication

How well a company understands their culture and communicates about it honestly and visibly is a key factor in both their leaders making good hiring decisions, and in prospective employees being able to determine if a workplace is one where they can thrive – or one that they should avoid like the plague.

For example, before starting my own business, I worked in three different HR leadership roles in start-up, high growth, and turnaround environments.

How would I describe those experiences? Fun. Challenging. Stressful.

And I loved almost every minute of it. Without consciously thinking about it at the time, I can now see that I was drawn to opportunities where the challenges were growth, change, and overcoming resistance.

However, in those same environments where I thrived, others were miserable. For some of my colleagues, consistent change, dealing with unknowns, and constant pressure to solve big problems was overwhelming – not energizing.

I learned that when it came to recruiting and hiring for each of those companies, it was critically important that we understood the work experience that we were offering to current and future employees and communicated those challenges/opportunities in our employment branding efforts, as well as during the interview process.

As my friend Kris Dunn, SVP of Global Talent Acquisition at Marriott International and author of The 9 Faces of HR: A Disruptor’s Guide to Mastering Innovation and Driving Real Change says in one of his classic DisruptHR Talks from a few years ago – Who To Hire When Your Culture Sucks:

“If you have a freak show, go ahead and tell the world you’re a freak show. You’ll actually get better matches, and people will think you’re authentic.”  

Whether your company is a loveable “freak show” where only the strong survive, or it’s a Zen garden where the brightest minds blossom in tranquility — or somewhere in between — the most important thing is that you call it what it is. Because if you don’t, you’ll be called out by others who found out too late, and that can prevent you from being able to attract (and retain) the great talent that is truly a match for your culture.

3. Consistent Evaluation and Evolution

While it’s important for companies to have founding principles that establish and drive culture initially, the reality is that in our constantly changing world, company cultures must evolve and change as well.

To evaluate your company’s culture, I’d suggest at least a semi-annual review of employee satisfaction surveys, as well as customer feedback to understand how your culture is performing.

If feedback and results are positive, then no change may be necessary. But even when feedback is positive regarding the current state, maybe there are challenges ahead within your industry, or with the environment (workforce trends, economic shifts, societal norms, etc.) that will require removing, changing, or adding new values to create and sustain an environment that supports the company’s goals.

Companies that aren’t consistently doing a “culture check” may find themselves in a situation similar to the one faced in recent years by Uber.

Of course, Uber is known for completely disrupting an industry, and consistently having to overcome extreme resistance to change the way we think about transportation. When the company was founded, their original values included Meritocracy, Toe-stepping, Superpumped, and Always Be Hustlin’.

However, as the business matured, and the internal and external work environments evolved, this type of culture no longer served them well, and that led the company to near catastrophic failure. After several negative events involving both employees and customers, the company was forced to make significant changes in both their leadership, and their values, in order to survive.

4. Culture Is Not One Size Fits All

The importance of company culture, and what it is/what it isn’t doesn’t have to continue being debated. We all know it’s important, and every company is different. The path to success is not in trying to make your culture like another company’s, but to determine the values that you want to infuse into your own workplace, to communicate and re-enforce those values, and to be willing to change them as needed to meet the needs of our employees and customers.

The world — and the world of work — has dramatically changed over the last few years and will continue to change at a faster pace than ever before.

As a leader, one of your most important responsibilities is to ensure that your organization can attract and retain the RIGHT PEOPLE who not only have the skills necessary to do the work, but also are aligned with how the work is expected to be done (your company’s culture.)

_______________________________________________

As a keynote speaker and leadership coach, Jennifer McClure helps leaders to embrace the future of work, and to develop the skills necessary to lead their organizations and the people on their teams to take bold actions that positively impact business results.

Want more leadership and future of work insights from me?

SUBSCRIBE to get my weekly Impact Makers newsletter delivered to your inbox!

Categories: Blog, Company Culture, Employee Engagement
Posted on September 26, 2023

Written by Jennifer McClure

My Best Career Advice to Position Yourself for the Job You Want [Replay]

A career change is a huge thing that many of people are dealing with right now, whether they feel stuck in their current job or they just want to do something different that they enjoy.

But how do you position yourself for the job that you want?

As an employee, you’ve got to figure out how to get noticed to move your career ahead and make sure that you’re getting the interactions and developing the relationships that you need. That being said, networking and relationship-building is a two-way street. Leaders also need to figure out how to provide a safe space and environment for their people to connect, even in remote and hybrid environments.

In episode 92 of the Impact Makers podcast, I’m sharing a conversation that I had with Chris Villanueva when he invited me to be a guest on the Career Warrior podcast to chat about networking, relationship building, and how the changing world of work impacts both job seekers and human resources leaders.

Chris is the CEO & Co-Founder of Let’s Eat, Grandma, an online resume service that helps professionals rebrand themselves to land interviews for their dream jobs. Recently ranked by The Balance as the best resume service of 2022, Let’s Eat Grandma helps people during one of the most stressful areas of life – the job hunt. They’ve assisted over 7,000+ paying clients with their resumes, and hundreds of thousands more through their blog and the Career Warrior Podcast.

Topics Discussed In Today’s Episode:

  • The future of work, and what both job seekers and HR leaders should be paying attention to.
  • The skills that will be most in demand in the workplace of the future.
  • Will working virtually affect your career negatively, versus being present in an office?
  • Should job seekers try to negotiate remote work, if it’s not part of the job offer?
  • How to properly build relationships and networks when many people are working remotely and networking less.
  • How to position yourself for new opportunities when you’re interested in making a career change.
  • The worst things job seekers do with their resumes that annoy HR and hiring managers.

LISTEN TO IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 92

Listen on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts or Spotify

People & Resources Mentioned In This episode:

Let’s Eat Grandma Career Warrior Podcast

Career Warrior Podcast #274 – The Future of Work for Job Seekers with Jennifer McClure

Let’s Eat Grandma | Best Resume Writing Service

Chris Villanueva LinkedIn

The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk

Julie Turney / HR@Heart Consulting Inc.

Personal Brand Workbook

Steve Browne

Categories: Blog, Job Search, Networking, Podcast
Posted on September 25, 2023

Written by Jennifer McClure

4 Steps to Building a Business Case That Will Get Your Proposals Approved

As a leader, you fill a critical role inside your company. You lead or initiate key projects that can positively – or negatively – impact business performance.

As a result, you must master the art of building (and selling) an effective business case in order to gain executive approval and implement key strategies necessary to achieve strategic business objectives.

Following a workshop that I delivered on the topic of “Building an Effective Business Case for Leadership Development” at a conference attended by senior human resources and talent acquisition leaders, one of the attendees came forward at the end of the workshop and explained to me that she was having difficulty getting her executive team to agree to move forward with a leadership development program she and her team had recently proposed.

Obviously frustrated, she was seeking any tips or tricks that I might be able to offer her to get the CEO and the executive team to buy-in to the proposed program that her team had spent months researching and creating.

Before offering any coaching or advice, I wanted to gather a little more information. So, I asked:

“Why did you initially decide to create a leadership development program?”

She thought for a minute, before jokingly saying,

“I don’t really know. I guess because it seems like the right thing to do.”

Okay. 🤔

Sensing why she might be having difficulty selling her proposal to the executive team, I tried another angle:

“Is there a specific problem in your organization that you believe implementing a leadership development program would solve?”

Seeing where the conversation was going, she smiled and said,

“I can’t really think of anything specific. I guess that’s a big part of the problem.” 

Boom! 💥

To gain approval for any new program, initiative, or process – basically anything that requires the decision to allocate money, time, or resources – business leaders MUST build an effective business case.

Four Critical Steps for Building a Successful Business Case

1. Define the problem.

Success Tip: Opportunities are problems with smiley faces.

Problems in need of a solution can come in the form of areas that cause pain, or areas that represent missed opportunities. There’s a reason that you’re compelled to investigate a solution.

To set your business case up for success, you’ve got to be able to articulate the source of pain or opportunity to your organization by using data.

If you can’t effectively explain the problem or opportunity? Then you’ll have even more difficulty explaining the need for a solution.

2. Quantify how the problem negatively impacts business results.

Success Tip: This is always about money.

Business executives speak the language of money.

To communicate with them effectively, you must be able to analyze available data, and explain how not solving the problem(s) identified is costing the company money – or where the opportunity to make money is not being capitalized upon because a solution has not yet been implemented.

If executives cannot see how failure to act on a problem negatively impacts their bonuses and the bottom line, they’ll apply their focus and resources elsewhere – and your business case will go nowhere.

3. Evaluate possible solutions and make a recommendation.

Success Tip: Always propose more than one possible solution.

The savvy business leader always explores and proposes multiple solutions – or versions of a solution – in order to open the minds of decision-makers to possibilities, rather than giving them only one option that they must approve or reject.

However, it’s not enough to just propose options.

The executive team will expect you to utilize data analysis, and your expertise, to recommend the best solution. They’ll also expect you to be able to defend your recommendation and to negotiate alternatives – because that’s how business gets done.

4. Quantify how your recommended solution positively impacts business results.

Success Tip: This is also always about money.

The final step in building an effective business case involves defining an implementation plan for your recommended solution, and detailing how successful implementation will enable the company to make more money, increase customer satisfaction, improve retention, improve employee engagement, etc. — in financial terms.

To get approved, a business case must include liberal use of numbers with currency signs and/or percentage symbols. Key words that executives pay attention to include increase, decrease, improve, grow, reduce, etc.

—

At the workshop I mentioned previously, after taking a few moments to share these critical steps for presenting a successful business case with my new friend, she left the workshop realizing that she had quite a bit of homework to do before making her proposal again — IF she was able to show that it was truly worth the investment of time and money by her organization.

I’m confident that by working through the four steps to building a successful business case listed above, she’ll increase her chances for gaining approval for her initiative — or have a better understanding as to why it’s not important to pursue.

And you can do this too.


As a keynote speaker and leadership coach, Jennifer McClure helps leaders to embrace the future of work, and to develop the skills necessary to lead their organizations and the people on their teams to take bold actions that positively impact business results.

Want more leadership and future of work insights from me?

SUBSCRIBE to get my weekly Impact Makers newsletter delivered to your inbox!

Categories: Blog, Leadership
Posted on September 19, 2023

Written by Jennifer McClure

Create High-Impact Presentations and Build a Profitable Speaking Business With Jennifer McClure and Dr. Daniel Crosby [Replay]

I’ve had the best job in the world for over 10 years now – where I have the privilege of speaking on stages and in training rooms to groups of leaders around the world about how to increase their influence, focus strategically, and make a positive impact at work and in life.

When I stepped out on my own in 2010 to start my speaking business, I had a little bit of experience, a healthy dose of confidence, and a whole lot of hope that I could build the relationships, and create impactful presentations that would result in a successful speaking business.

But like a lot of things in my life where I tend to jump off the cliff first, and then think about my parachute later, I wasn’t fully prepared for what it would take to find my lane, to determine how to set my speaking fees, or how to become a recognized expert.

So, queue admission into the school of hard knocks, where I’ve gained quite an education along the way, and as a result, have ultimately managed to build a business and life that I truly love.

Last year, my friend Dr. Daniel Crosby – who is a great public speaker himself, and was a also my guest on episode 14 of the Impact Makers Podcast, where he talked about understanding human behavior to do well, do good and do you – asked if I would join him on his Standard Deviations podcast to talk about what it takes to create great presentations — and if you’re into that kind of thing, how to actually get paid to speak, which is one of the most frequently asked questions we both receive.

Over a year later, the content of our conversation is still accurate and timely, and I continue to hear from people in Dr. Crosby’s audience who have found it helpful. So I asked him if I could share it with you today, and if you’re interested in crafting great presentations, and/or getting paid to speak, I think you’ll find it helpful.

Topics Discussed In Today’s Episode:

  • My path from HR executive to professional speaker, and why I felt like I needed at least 20 years of work experience before starting.
  • How giving away 10% of my time to help others helped me to get started as a speaker, and discover the work that I truly loved.
  • My personal recipe for crafting a great presentation.
  • What comedians and preachers can teach us about giving great presentations.
  • What adult learning theory tells us about what makes for a good speech.
  • Strategies for determining your speaking fee, what can happen if your price is too low, and how to get paid more.
  • Three books that I recommend for speakers to help with picking a lane, determining your pricing strategy, and building a memorable brand.
  • What Dr. Crosby did that 10x’d his speaking revenue.
  • 3 concrete steps to take to build a profitable speaking business.

LISTEN TO IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 91

Listen on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts or Spotify

People & Resources Mentioned In This episode:

FREE RESOURCE: 10 Tips To BUILD YOUR BRAND and LAND Gigs as a Speaker!

Dr. Daniel Crosby LinkedIn

Dr. Daniel Crosby Twitter

Standard Deviations Podcast

Impact Makers Podcast Episode 014: Understanding Human Behavior to Do Well, Do Good and Do You with Dr. Daniel Crosby

Standard Deviations Podcast Episode 14: Jennifer McClure – On Becoming a Public Speaker

Centennial, Inc.

Mike Sipple, Sr.

Michelle Cushatt

Million Dollar Speaking: The Professional’s Guide to Building Your Platform by Alan Weiss

Million Dollar Consulting: The Professional’s Guide to Growing a Practice by Alan Weiss

Ryan Estis

Jane Atkinson

The Wealthy Speaker 2.0: The Proven Formula for Building Your Successful Speaking Business by Jane Atkinson

Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt

Laurie Ruettimann

Jon Acuff

Toastmasters International

Categories: Blog, Speaking
Posted on September 15, 2023

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Recent Posts

  • How AI Is Changing the Game for Thought Leaders and Content Creators With Laurie Ruettimann and Jennifer McClure
  • How to Create a Company Culture That Attracts and Retains Top Talent: 4 Essential Elements
  • My Best Career Advice to Position Yourself for the Job You Want [Replay]
  • 4 Steps to Building a Business Case That Will Get Your Proposals Approved
  • Create High-Impact Presentations and Build a Profitable Speaking Business With Jennifer McClure and Dr. Daniel Crosby [Replay]

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  • How AI Is Changing the Game for Thought Leaders and Content Creators With Laurie Ruettimann and Jennifer McClure
  • How to Create a Company Culture That Attracts and Retains Top Talent: 4 Essential Elements
  • My Best Career Advice to Position Yourself for the Job You Want [Replay]
  • 4 Steps to Building a Business Case That Will Get Your Proposals Approved
  • Create High-Impact Presentations and Build a Profitable Speaking Business With Jennifer McClure and Dr. Daniel Crosby [Replay]

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