Hot Mess Hotline

Insider threat detection comes from new school technology and old school relationships. Robert Field learned of sabotage coming from one of his employees from a trusted relationship outside of the organization. Yes, technically, technology could have detected this. But the reality was that Rob’s focus on relationships saved his company’s bacon. He had people around him that cared about his success.

As a leader, do you have strong enough relationships to tell you the hard stuff, the stuff you don’t want to hear? Do you lead with integrity every day? Do you have people and technology to protect you from the bad stuff? Listen to this episode for how insider threat detection is a people, process, and tech problem and how to fix it.

About Robert Field

An expert at leveraging technology to turn corporate strategy into reality, Robert is a Senior Technical Leader with 20+ yrs. of experience leading client engagements. Highly accomplished, versatile global leader with a proven track record of success in building deep, meaningful relationships across the organization driving business change. Demonstrated success in leading large-scale, cross functional teams and delivering strategic solutions that drive growth, efficiency, and competitive advantage. Leveraging a coaching leadership style engaging and motivating teams beyond their expected potential. Highly adept at identifying and seizing new opportunities, leveraging technology to disrupt traditional business models and achieve transformation.

What got you here won’t get you there if you’re a leader driving growth and transformation. Ravi Bommireddipalli is a CEO who focuses on unlearning as much as he learns. For Robosoft’s next level, he’s being charged with leading the company to where it has never been. Along the way he’s going to become a leader he’s never been. And he’s going to grow more leaders so that not all operational details continue to come through him.

This episode covers great ground on how CEOs and CIOs need to problem solve at higher levels, cover both the offense and the defense, communicate simply, and hire people who challenge them.

Ravi Bommireddipalli

Ravi took charge as CEO of Robosoft Technologies in late 2017. Since then, he has been a change agent at Robosoft, leading the transition to a full-service digital transformation company. He has expanded the service offerings and set up systems and talent in place to deliver end-to-end digital solutions for enterprise customers. He believes in forging relationships with customers and being a true partner in solving their business problems through digital solutions.

Ravi Teja is a student of Ontology (the science of Being) Business and Engineering and believes that the power of empathy, human understanding and technology can solve a large number of societal and business problems. An Electronics engineer from NIT, Allahabad, an MBA in Technology Management from IIT Bombay, Ravi has 25+ years of experience in technology consulting and implementing digital transformation. His previous stints included Nihilent Technologies, TCS and Rolta. Ravi was the Chairman of Institute of Management Consultants of India (IMCI), Pune chapter and is an active member of the India CEO forum of IMA and the prestigious Forbes Technology Council – an ‘invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives’.

Every step of growth has its own challenges and hot messes. CEO Asad Ur Rehman learned these lessons the hard way as he’s grown from freelance software developer to CEO of a 300-person global firm. There’s a myth about success that when you achieve a certain salary, revenue, job, client, etc. etc. etc. THEN things will get easier, better.

Here’s the good news: as you uplevel, you get more challenges. These challenges get bigger and you have to uplevel your problem solving skills. The only way is through and a commitment to learning. 

I learned from Tony Robbins a long time ago that modeling the behavior and learning from other folks who have “Been there. Done that.” is a powerful way to jumpstart my plans. You can do that most simply by reading the books your role models write. Listen to Asad’s and my conversation to hear how Asad learned how to become a successful CEO when growth was often 2 steps forward and 1 step back.

About Asad Ur Rehman

Asad Ur Rehman is a dynamic entrepreneur and technology visionary who has transformed his passion for software development into a thriving global business empire. With a career spanning over a decade, Asad's journey from a software developer to the CEO of Cubic Solutions Inc. a technology company headquartered in the United States with a significant presence across Europe and Asia, is a testament to his unwavering dedication and visionary leadership.Asad's entrepreneurial journey began in 2011 when he embarked on his career as a freelancer in the world of software development. His innate talent for coding and problem-solving quickly gained recognition, allowing him to build a solid foundation in the industry. As a freelancer, he honed his skills, gained invaluable experience, and cultivated a deep understanding of the tech landscape.

Do you know how to tell the story of your career when there’s too much variety in your resume? Adrian Koehler is an executive coach who has transformed a “hot mess” of career experience into clear confidence for how he delivers compelling value every day and in the present moment.

This episode is for you if you’re working to develop the through-line to communicate how your variety of positions can contribute to your next career move and frame conversations so you can tell the story of your future impact, not justify your past career moves.

Making decisions isn’t always hard, but taking action on the decisions can be hard. Alexei Miller is a leader who lived that firsthand when his company’s locations were caught in the middle of international conflict. When Russia invaded Ukraine, Data Art’s “people first” philosophy was put to the test. 

A decision for their Ukrainian employees felt like a betrayal of their Russian colleagues. And a decision for their Russian colleagues felt like a betrayal of their Ukrainian colleagues. Which people do you put first when global politics interrupts everything? And you have employees who need to be moved to safety and you have the resources to help?

These decisions aren’t easy but they have to be made. Listen in as Alexei shares how the entire company and their clients pitched in to help during difficult times and no-win decisions.

Leaders lead humans and people working together, not robots working together. Denise Cooper and I explore this topic in a very frank conversation. We’ve gone off course with leadership when we think that multi-tasking and motivating all employees in the exact same way is going to work in the 21st century. 

Humans can’t multi-task; hell we’re not even supposed to have multiple priorities. (“Priority” was created in 1400 and “priorities” was created in the 1900s.) And each individual needs something slightly different to do their best work. But we still see leaders treating their folks like robots: same expectations, same hours, same communication, same motivations, multi-task everyday all day, and keep multiple plates spinning.

The most successful organizations of the future will choose their priority: what to focus on first. Listen in to learn more.

What's the Difference Between Orientation and Onboarding? And why does it matter?

With turnover and retention being very painful and expensive problems (especially right now!), leaders need every tool at their disposal to help the right people stay. Onboarding is an incredibly powerful tool and we have the stats to back it up!!

Plus it's not really about the expense, it's about welcoming people into your culture, showing them a good time, giving them the tools and information to be successful, connecting them to their colleagues, and demonstrating that you want them to be successful in their role.

If you've ever wondered what you can do past the first 90 days to make it more like your people seen seen, heard, and equipped for the work ahead, this podcast episode is for you! Listen in for these lessons and so much more:

• Orientation is like inviting a dinner guest over but not serving them dinner
• Build an onboarding plan for much longer than you think
• It takes years before an employee is actually capable of being fully competent in their role
• The right onboarding plan keeps your employees for longer than the right orientation plan

Stronger leaders are made through multiple hot messes. Jerry Jones, former president of Cannon IV, shares his decisionmaking, sleepless nights, and strategy pivots during some tumultuous times. In this Hot Mess Hotline episode, he shares how 50% of their revenue evaporated in 90 days because of a supplier's switch in sales strategy.

This episode is powerful for those leaders who feel fatigued by change or have teams who are complaining about too much change. "Why can't things just go back to normal?" When change is forced upon your team because of external factors, there is no going back to normal. There's a new reality which forces new ways of working and new needed results.

Listen in for these lessons and so much more:

• It's not a matter of IF a hot mess happens...it's a matter of WHEN
• External factors that you have no control over will disrupt your business
• Even if you're good at your game of business, it may not be your game to play
• During a Hot Mess, you must answer the question, "Who are we?" and go back to basics
• Bigger isn't better
• Worrying about what could go wrong stops you from celebrating what's going well
• Culture eats strategy for breakfast: the CannonIV story is how
• Your past tells the story of today's success
• Signs that your people are with you through tough times
• Quit on people faster
• Be willing to share the workload and the stress
• Get a mentor to be success
• Build a culture of communication
• Care, concern, and accountability is a two-way street
• Define your successful exit

In 2017, Jerry Jones retired as the President and CEO of Cannon IV, Inc., one of the strongest independent Hewlett-Packard printer dealers in the United States, as well as one of the leading MPS dealers in the U.S.

Cannon IV is headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, with additional locations in Ohio and Texas. Cannon IV sales are nationwide. Cannon IV was founded by Richard Jones in 1974. Upon Richard’s death, Jerry became president in 1978 and his 3 brothers eventually joined him to lead the company.

Cannon IV’s business and civic awards include:

• Indiana Small Business of the Year
• Indiana Business Ethics Award
• Spirit of Service Award presented by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis
• One of the “Best Places to Work in Indiana” in 2009, 2013 & 2014

Jerry’s business and civic awards include:

• 1997 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award
• Legatus National President of the Year – 2017

What do you do when you lose your job and it's your whole identity? Steve Spiro has been there and has some words of advice! Almost every successful leader I know has been fired from a job and/or had a crisis of conscious. They often go hand-in-hand because we over invest our happiness in the role we play at work, the title, the salary, the perks.

It's great to find purpose in our jobs. Our work can be the place where we make a difference and impact on the world. And at the end of the day, I hope you'll see that your humanity comes from just being the amazing, awesome, fully human person that you are. That's what Steve discovered too.

During this episode of the Hot Mess Hotline, Steve shares with us the power of mentorship, foresight, and what to rely on instead of your job for your identity. I also share what I went through when I lost my identity. If you're going through this time, please know I feel and see your pain. If someone you love is going through this too and/or just lost their job, won't you share this episode?

About Steve Spiro

Steve Spiro started his first company right out of college in advertising. Additionally, he holds a 4th degree black belt in Karate & 1st degree in Jujitsu, including having his own Karate studio. Steve contributes much of his successes to a strong work ethic, a can-do, never-quit attitude, discipline, integrity and fearlessness that he cultivated in the martial arts. 

Steve is a master connector with over 35,000 contacts. He does a LinkedIn Live broadcast every week called the Master Connector Show.  He eventually pivoted from advertising into technology and now is a business automation consultant.

Steve is big on self-development and loves to inspire people to get out of their comfort zone too, through speaking engagements or coaching and mentoring.

You've probably spent your entire life believing that you should do what you're good at. Surely, if you're a natural at something, then it's your life's calling, right? But what if you've been wrong all along? Gary Hobbs, electrical engineer turned entrepreneur, believes it's the challenges you face, doing what you love, and doing what you're GREAT at will drive your success.

In this episode of the Hot Mess Hotline, you will hear how important it is to weigh the risks of doing what you're good at when you're feeling unfulfilled. Can you find freedom by facing challenges and being fulfilled by chasing your passion? Gary took a leap that changed the course of his career. Although initially he felt like he made a big Hot Mess, what he really uncovered was his passion, his calling, and more success than he could have ever dreamed of. Exploring the tension of leaving a successful business for the unknown was a leap of faith, but it's usually the biggest leaps that have largest rewards.

Join Gary and myself as we talk all things risk, reward, failure, success, and overcoming challenges on this interview. You will laugh along side us, learn several lessons listed below, but most of all, you will be challenged to ask yourself if you're comfortable enough to step out from behind the ease of success to embrace the risk of facing challenges to uncover your greatest passions.

Here are a few lessons that Gary learned the hard way so we don't have to :

• More focus equals more success
• Not all skills are transferable
• Just because you're good at something doesn't mean you should stick with it
• Success is more than just money
• If you can let go of what isn't your work to do, you'll see greater blessings
• Increased confidence comes from overcoming challenges
• Humility comes from understanding there are some external factors that could shut down your business or career
• Use your faith and spirituality to stay grounded
• Empathy is the ultimate leadership skill

Gary Hobbs is an entrepreneur and former corporate executive with extensive experience in real estate, technology, education, and healthcare. He started his career as an electrical design engineer and has successfully migrated through the corporate ranks of companies like AT&T, Eli Lilly, and Roche Diagnostics. As an engineer, project manager, business executive, developer, and entrepreneur he has led organizations of up to four hundred people and budget responsibilities spanning well over $100M.

Currently, he is CEO for Black and White Investments, LLC. Gary founded BWI in 2005 as a development and construction management company. BWI’s target market is urban development within Indiana and their primary focus is multi-family and mixed-use tax credit developments.

BWI, LLC is a construction, real estate development, property management, consulting and electrical firm in the greater Indianapolis area that focuses on not only construction management of general, large development projects, but also niche, energy-efficient urban revitalization projects. BWI has extensive capabilities helping clients design, develop and manage their projects with a special emphasis in electrical and eco-friendly, sustainable development. Their development and construction services can be accomplished under a consultative or design-build basis. BWI, founded in 2005, is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Their number one aspiration is to bring hope to under-served urban communities via economic development that align with their Quality of Life aspirations and initiating in collaborative partnerships.

There's a balance in leadership success between being nimble and controlling the right kind of controllables. Karen Mangia is that leader who has found personal and professional success because she decided to prioritize — and control — what that looks like on a daily basis for her.

You'll hear in this interview how Karen was letting other people's definitions of contribution, meaning, and boundaries drive her. And it wrecked her body, mind, and spirit. Lucky for us she found her way out and even used the pandemic as her reset time. She has changed her relationship with her career and invites you to do the same.

Our episode brought tears to my eyes and I hope it touches you in a similar way with these lessons:

• Saboteurs will hold you back if you keep listening to them.
• Success doesn't mean more, more, more.
• Commitment to success can be toxic.
• Blending in to fit in will cause you to lose yourself.
• It's not other people's responsibility to meet your needs.
• Do you have an addiction to activity? Do you know your body's warning signals when it's time to slow down?
• The difference between dopamine happiness and joy
• Set priorities to do your best work and communicate to those you work with.
• Divest before you invest.
• You always have choices.
• Why you need to stop asking others for approval
• Busy is a belief
• You only need 10 minutes a day to define success for yourself.

High-performing teams are built when individuals go through challenges together. Sean Murray and Doug Beal bring us the real-life story of a gold metal Olympic team from the 80s who could barely work together in the beginning. In today's episode you'll learn that you actually don't need the smartest, most talented, highly skilled players for your business team to be high performing.

During much of the 2010s (and still today), there was a fixation on hiring "the best talent." We think if we just hire the Lebron James of business intelligence, or the Peyton Manning of sales leadership, then we'll have a high performing team. Yes a team can be better because of one superstar, but that superstar alone doesn't create a high-performing team.

For my fellow Hoosiers, you'll remember the Colts won 2 games in the season Peyton had to sit out. They had no back up plan or strength on the team without him and the ENTIRE team failed because of it.

The same is true for your team at work. Listen in to this episode with leadership coach Sean Murray and volleyball coach and executive Doug Beal for timeless lessons on creating innovative, successful teams — in sports, business, and life:

• To move from a group of rock stars to a cohesive team, you need a shared challenging experience
• You can't ignore the lack of success indicators and expect to win
• Shifts in strategy require new leaders to step up in new ways
• When you're too close to a problem, you can't see it objectively
• Team culture is differentiator from your competitors
• Team goals require individual players to put their own goals second to team goals
• You have to be willing to risk failure if you want to win
• Getting uncomfortable creates dramatic shifts in cultures and new leaders
• As a leader you must have a range of opinions around you
• Bonds of trust are created through serving each other
• Copying others will only get you so far, but it won't make you successful
• Be willing to look foolish
• Sometimes you have to fire the best player

About Sean Murray

Sean Murray, the founder and CEO of RealTime Performance. Sean has over twenty years of experience in leadership and organization development. Sean helps organizations unleash the human factors that drive business success.  He has facilitated programs in leadership, inclusion, decision making, team building and innovation for clients including Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, FedEx, and Nordstrom.  Sean is also the author of “If Gold Is Our Destiny: How a Team of Mavericks Came Together for Olympic Glory”, about the 1984 U.S. men’s national volleyball team and their improbable journey to a gold medal.

About Doug Beal

Doug Beal is the former Executive Director of USA Volleyball, serving in that role from 2005 - 2016. Prior to that, Doug served various roles for USA Volleyball, including two stints as the head coach for the men's national team. First, from 1976 - 1984, he coached the team to its first gold medal at the 1984 Olympics and again from 1997 to 2004.

Chris Clews, speaker and author, bring us rules to live by for good and bad leaders straight from the 80s! Again! He has such a valuable perspective to share (and we have laugh so much when we're together), I just had to have him back.

This time we're talking about Road House and other 80s favorites. Plus if you're thinking about pivoting your career or there's a creative idea you keep thinking and dreaming about, Chris has some great advice on how to take action on it.

Here's just a snippet of all the lightbulb moments you'll get from this fun and insightful conversation:

• Don't underestimate your opponent.
• Continue to expect the unexpected.
• Take it outside...to have the tough conversation.
• You don't always have to be nice.
• Be the Cooler as a leader.
• Time will pass regardless. How you use it is what makes the difference.
• It's always the right time to reinvent yourself.
• A new tattoo suggestion
• Do what's right for you...not what's expected of you
• No one knows what they're doing
• Act on those little ideas that you keep thinking about
• You have to put in the work to make your dreams come true
• We're all weird. Don't hide it.
• Start small and keep going.

Some teams use 2-week sprints to get the right work done at the right time. I've taught 90-day sprints to my clients. Tony uses 6-week sprints. And it's working  for them!

Here is just a snippet of all the insights you'll get from this humble leader who creates massive change:

• The highest need of any leader is to drive change
• Growth requires re-thinking alignment
• Your largest flaw is that your human; there's no escaping that
• Why a roadmap will connect functions and departments are your company
• Set the vision and outcome before ever taking any action steps
• Everyone wants to do a good job: how you can make that happen as their leader
• Powerful self coaching question: how can I and we create more value in this world?
• Why it's a privilege to be able to think long term
• Just because you're paying attention to the details doesn't mean you're not delegating
• Don't chase status updates
• Have a process to kill process
• It's a must for you to delegate so that your company can grow
• How to be a leader who improves the team, not tears it apart
• Don't overestimate your impact
• You can't lead if you can't see the possibilities

About Tony Newcome

Tony Newcome is the Chief Technology Officer of ActiveCampaign, where he leads technology and product and works to set the vision for those teams.

Previously, Tony was a Senior Vice President of Engineering at Salesforce, where he was responsible for building products in the Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Tony joined Salesforce through its acquisition of ExactTarget, where he spent several years building a number of products.

Tony has been nominated for and won several awards, including an INITA Million Dollar Award for Key Technical Achievement, an Outstanding Technical Contributor award, and both a Compass and Leading Orange award for leadership accomplishments while at Salesforce.

In 2019, Tony co-founded INpact Indy with a mission to connect technologists throughout Central Indiana to strengthen Indiana’s vibrant technology ecosystem. He holds a BS in Computer Technology from Purdue University.

About ActiveCampaign

Charlie Garcia, president of C Garcia and Associates, has learned that every project management problem really needs a people-focused solution. He grew up in the construction industry and learned early on to take responsibility for what's broken AND what's going right. In this episode, you'll hear Charlie describe a problem completely caused by other people but making him look bad. Like losing millions of dollars bad. He lost a lot of sleep fixing this hot mess, but didn't waste a second trying to blame others. He simply got to work. During this episode listen to Charlie tell how he solved an expensive problem by working with people, not against them. Plus many more insights like these:

• If you're growing and leading, hot messes are unavoidable
• If you can't figure out what's going on, go watch the problem in action
• A plan isn't the only thing you need to be successful
• Don't circumvent the process; running your ideas up the chain of command is essential
• Take responsibility for solving problems...not fixing people.
• Being stuck in emotion stops you solving problems
• The curse of the overachiever: you think you're failing; others think you're a rock star
• There is great wisdom in a multitude of experiences.
• You don't need others' permission to lead.
• Success comes from taking risks.
• Instead of saying, "What don't I have?" Ask, "What do I have?
• To be successful, be more selfish. Selfishness means taking the responsibility AND the rewards.
• Don't be Teflon Pete.
• What overachievers get wrong about outpacing other people
• If you have a hard time asking for help, at least seek counsel
• Simple solutions have big impact
• Powerful self coaching questions you can use to feel successful

About Charlie Garcia

Charlie J. Garcia is the owner and President of C Garcia Associates consulting firm and has won numerous awards including the 1994 Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young, and Small Businessman of the Year in 2000 by the SBA.

He has proudly called Indianapolis his home since the late 1980s. Born in San Francisco, California, Garcia attended the College of San Mateo, and graduated from the Way College of Biblical Research. Garcia attended Butler University, and has also graduated from Dartmouth University, and University of California, Los Angeles Executive Programs.

Charlie has served the business and nonprofit community extensively on boards such as Butler University, Bank One (Indiana) Federal Reserve Bank, the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Eiteljorg Museum, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, Indiana Progress Industry Committee, Crossroads of America Boy Scouts, and the Challenge School Academy Charter School.

Garcia’s greatest contributions in many ways are his efforts to mentor aspiring entrepreneurs. The mentoring program he developed has been adopted by the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce to assist minority and women-owned businesses to grow at rates of 20 to 60 percent.

Joe Topinka, founder of CIO Mentor, shares his experiences learning that leaders don't judge and how to really lead by example through a tough moment in his career. A new CEO came in and he was removed from the executive leadership team. An average leader will let their ego take over. An exceptional leader will take another route.

Listen in this episode for Joe's top lessons, his source of inspiration, and our top insights you can put into practice immediately.

• Your ego overreacts and lies to you.
• Not only step out of the drama triangle, but bring others along with you.
• When a phone call is better than in person or a video call
• Great self coaching question: "Are you who you think you are?"
• Leaders don't judge. They help solve problems.
• Why your team needs rules of engagement and how often to discuss
• Bring a brick, not a cathedral, to your team for new ideas

About Joe Topinka

Joe Topinka is a visionary Chief Information Officer, mentor, author, and speaker with more than 35 years of success in elevating and leading IT organizations to drive meaningful business results. A CIO with success across multiple industries, he creates agile, business-minded IT functions that are viewed as valuable assets to executive teams through a variety of business cycles. He is a passionate mentor who builds loyal, high-performing teams based on accountability, integrity, and consistency. Joe has been awarded CIO of the Year 3 times by 3 separate entities.

As the founder of CIO Mentor, LLC, Joe leverages his expertise and empowering leadership style to guide companies in capturing the power of technology to achieve profit-driven business results. For more than 15 years, he has applied his successful methodology that creates a bridge between business stakeholders and IT organizations, establishing a people-powered platform that aligns teams to compete. He also coaches IT leaders in transforming corporate relationships, leveraging the right technology, and prioritizing investments.

Whynde Kuehne, founder and managing director of S2E Transformation Inc., teaches us how to lead through a crisis from her firsthand experience. She was having a normal, fabulous day when she receives a call from the big boss saying her boss was out immediately and she's now in charge of a 100-person team. Gulp.

In a matter of days she came up with a way forward for the entire team. Listen in for these key insights and so much more from our powerful conversation.

• Why a "bridge" is a powerful metaphor for leadership
• Technical, consulting, and thought leadership are different than people leadership
• Acknowledge the different roles you play in people's lives and work
• Leadership is a responsibility to your employees and their families
• Work is an ecosystem, not a place

About Whynde Kuehn

Whynde Kuehn is the Founder and Managing Director of S2E Transformation Inc., helping organizations bridge the gap between strategy and execution. Whynde has extensive experience in enterprise transformation and planning and is a passionate advocate for using business architecture to enable effective strategy execution and business and digital transformation. She was a key business architect in one of the largest business transformations in the world and also led one of the largest business architecture consulting practices. Whynde has worked with an extensive array of organizations around the world to help them improve their strategy execution ability, including Fortune 500 companies, governmental and non-profit organizations, social enterprises, startups, and cross-sector initiatives.

Whynde is a long-time business architecture pioneer, practitioner, educator, community builder, and recognized global thought leader. With a strong track record of creating successful teams that become embedded into their organizations, one of her most recognized competencies is helping clients build their business architecture practices. She is author of the book Strategy to Reality: Making the Impossible Possible for Business Architects, Change Makers and Strategy Execution Leaders, to be released in September 2022. Whynde is also the founder of Biz Arch Mastery, a dedicated online platform that helps professionals master the art and science of business architecture and its practical usage. She is Co-founder, Vice President, and Academic Chair of the Business Architecture Guild®. Whynde is also a Co-Founder and Principal Instructor at Business Architecture Associates, a Senior Consultant with Cutter Consortium, and a Fellow with the Institute for Digital Transformation.

​Chris Clews, speaker and author, brings us the top leadership lessons from the 80s in this Hot Mess Hotline episode. Combining his marketing leadership experience and love of Gen X culture, he's written a books series, "What 80s Pop Culture Teaches Us About Today’s Workplace." He travels the country sharing what we can all learn from our childhood favorites: movies that play on Saturday afternoon reruns and music originally released on vinyl.

Chris originally got inspiration for this work while at home on a mental health day trying to figure out what he wanted to be when he grew up. As he revisited Gen X childhood favorites and translated them into contemporary leadership lessons, he found how much they resonated with his peers.

From non-skinny jeans (thankyoujesus) to Doc Martens and Stranger Things, nostalgia for the 80s and 90s have made a full comeback in our culture. Listen in for these key insights and much more from our fun conversation.

• There's a danger in nostalgia and there's opportunity in looking to history for lessons to learn from
• Hair metal taught Gen Xers to appreciate the value of differences
• If you have a formula for success, you may be over using it
• Freedom allows for better problem solving skills
• Digital connection takes away our creativity
• The benefits of sitting next to someone while playing video games
• The difference between rulers and leaders
• Encouragement costs you nothing but can be worth everything
• Unearned leadership earns pleasers
• Why the 80s showed us how to believe in the power of nerds
• Problem solvers don't come in a one-size-fits-all package
• Don't wait your turn and don't wait for permission to lead
• Buzzword Bob is nothing but a buzz kill

If you received value from this episode, would you share this link with others?

About Chris Clews

Chris Clews is a speaker and author of the book series "What 80s Pop Culture Teaches Us About Today’s Workplace." Growing up in the 80s and with over 20 years of experience in corporate marketing he knew 2 things very well: 80s pop culture and business. So he combined the two and created “What 80s Pop Culture Teaches Us About Today’s Workplace”.

He’s spoken to a diverse set of organizations and companies including Visa, DHL, University of Florida, UPenn Medicine, WIFS (Women in Insurance and Financial Services), DisruptHR and more. He's a frequent guest on podcasts with topics ranging from workplace culture to 80s pop culture and he has been referenced or interviewed in numerous publications such as Entrepreneur.com and Esquire UK magazine.

A graduate of Elon University in North Carolina, Chris has held marketing leadership positions in a variety of companies ranging from Planet Hollywood to DHL. He’s passionate about animal rescue and donates a portion of the proceeds from his book and speaking engagements to the SPCA International. He lives by the quote from the poet laureate Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Emil Ekiyor, CEO of Innopower, learned some tough lessons before finding his purpose. He came to America from Nigeria in high school, never having played football. He learned the game and earned his way into the NFL. He put his head down and got to work. Every. Single. Day. Working on his mind and body to always be competing against himself and the league's best with his speed, strength, and endurance.

One day it was just over.

After injury and an unexpected termination, his name was at the bottom of ESPN's screen and he was packing his bags to head home. If you've ever been fired, you know how Emil felt. If you've never been fired, it feels like that time you belly flopped off the diving board, smacking your whole front side and knocking the wind out of your lungs. Then trying to get back up to air as soon as possible.

Our conversation reminded me that we over-romanticize hard work. We forget that an amazing career has hard work, luck, serendipity, tears, setbacks, and maybe, sometimes, success. Hard work might gain us visibility to the right powers that be, but it's not the only thing that takes us to the top.

About Emil Ekiyor

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Emil Ekiyor left his family (7 sisters and two brothers) in Lagos to pursue educational opportunities in Daytona Beach, Florida, at the age of 15. Emil participated in basketball, soccer, and football in high school and received a full athletic scholarship to attend the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. At the University of Central Florida, Emil was named a captain of the football team. After an outstanding college career, Emil went on to play six years in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons, and Las Vegas Raiders (formerly Oakland Raiders).

Upon retiring from the NFL, Emil started several businesses in the United States.  He launched several projects in Nigeria as CEO of EnabekSolutions, which works with companies in Sub-Saharan Africa and the United States to expand and take advantage of the rapid growth in Sub-Saharan imports and exports.  He also served as the National Executive Director for the GEO Foundation, a nonprofit organization that partners with local community leaders to start, support, and manage high-quality K-12 charter schools in the country; President of the Indianapolis Chapter of Indiana Black Expo, President of Indy Youth Sports, Indianapolis Prayer Breakfast Leadership Team, and Board of Directors for the Friends of Education, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to improving K-12 education in the state of Minnesota since 1999 and Board of Directors of the NFLPA Former Players Indy Chapter.

Growing up in Nigeria and then coming to the US without family, Emil’s journey offers a unique perspective on the gaps in Black communities in Sub-Saharan Africa and the US. These experiences and the desire to close the wealth and opportunity gaps for African Americans and Africans are the driving force behind the creation of INNOPOWER.

About INNOPOWER

Jason Weddle, CEO of Hamilton, has been successful precisely because he's willing to answer the hard questions and have the tough conversations. Even with himself. For this episode of the Hot Mess Hotline, he shares the confusion that existed in the 6 inches between his ears and describes why mental clarity is more important than the business plan at certain times.

His willingness to answer these tough questions and wrestle with himself has led to his success so far. (I mean, "wrestle," figuratively of course. Otherwise that'd be weird.)

Jason is raw and vulnerable and wants you to know what it really takes to advance from manager to director to the C-suite. He reminds us that the grass looks greener until you realize how much manure makes that growth possible.

This succession plan was 5+ years in the making and full of hard work. And no one does this work alone. He describes the power of coaching, which you know if my favorite tool, and reminds us: "The moment it becomes uncomfortable is the moment you will grow or you will want to pull back."

Don't pull back, my friend. Dig into this episode and then find those challengers and cheerleaders to get you to step up your game.

You'll want to listen to the full episode for Jason's wise advice:

• Why you need to embrace your unabashed ambition, the sooner the better
• The 6 inches between your ears can be the hottest of messes
• The deep questions you must answer in your career to get what you want
• Why you need to embrace the awkward and be willing to be challenged
• Why coaching almost always feels weird at the beginning and that's a good thing
• Your drivers may not be what you think they are
• Your ambition might be dangerous to others but you still deserve to have it
• Make sure you allow others to embrace their ambition too

About Jason Weddle

Jason has worked for Hamilton since 2005, starting as a logistics manager and now serving as the chief executive officer. While not one to brag on himself, his biggest fans will tell you that he is one of the most articulate, inspirational leaders they have met. He is naturally positive and has a can-do attitude in an industry where deadlines and client expectations are high. He is consistently creative and innovative. Jason operates from the highest integrity, treats everyone with empathy, and expects them to perform to their highest potential. He leads by example and is a true servant leader. Jason graduated from Indiana University and participated in Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management's Executive Scholar program.

Jeff Ton has risen through the ranks of IT from manager to director to CIO. He's now bringing the wisdom he's learned to current IT leaders through a CIO networking group in Central Indiana. On this episode of the Hot Mess Hotline, he shares how to overcome mistakes at work through a gut-wrenching management and leadership experience.

He faced his 150-person team to explain himself and explain why they saw their names on the chopping block in a slide deck before the time was right.

It was tense. Seriously, my tummy gets flippy and floppy just thinking about how he felt in that moment as I write this.

His story is for you if you're looking for ways to respond better when tensions are high — to get out of your head and take the right kind of action. This episode has so many words of wisdom, including:

• How to overcome mistakes at work by learning the right lessons from oh shit moments
• What "owning up" looks like (it's not as scary as you think it is)
• A process to use when you've got to face the music
• What the true responsibility of leadership is
• When to allow your people to be all up in their feelings
• People need to know the why, even if they don't agree with the decision
• Why you need to have the conversation with those impacted sooner than you think
• If part of your work is too easy, you shouldn't be in that job
• How empathy can be built in the toughest of times
• Why you need to meet people where they are, especially when they tune you out after a difficult message
• One question you can ask your team members to find their motivation
• What vulnerability looks like in the C-suite
• What the tightrope is between confidence, calm, and worry
• Giving leaders the benefit of the doubt
• Two definitions for API (if you're in IT you need both)
• What not to do when you get sensitive info

Jeff Ton is a sought-after speaker, author and thought leader, having led powerful teams and built successful Information Technology departments for over 30 years.  As a speaker, author, advisor, and coach, Jeff’s mission is to change the face of IT. Saying, “Businesses today are demanding more from their technology and their technology leaders.”

In more than three decades, Jeff has served as Chief Information Officer with Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana and Lauth Property Group, as well as 14 years in various technology roles with Thomson Multimedia (RCA).  Later in his career, Jeff “moved to the other side of the desk” by joining the executive team at InterVision Systems.  After helping to guide several acquisition integrations, he left to devote his energies to his mission.

Speaking to audiences from 5 to 1,000, Jeff has mastered the art of simplifying complex IT issues and is always looking for opportunities to drive value in organizations now and in the future.

He serves on numerous boards and advisory councils including Forbes Technology Council, Hoosier Environmental Council board of directors Connected World Magazine Board of Advisors, and the Mud Creek Conservancy board of directors. He is also a Fellow Alumni for the Institute of Digital Transformation.

Jeff is the author of Amplify Your Value (2018) and Amplify Your Job Search (2020) and is a frequent keynote speaker on topics related to the evolving IT landscape and the changing role of the CIO.

This episode is a replay of an IT panel that Stefanie Krievins moderated in April 2021 with successful IT leaders who also have remarkably diverse perspectives of this world and in their companies.

Diversity is strength. Strength is resilience.

IT leaders and consultants will be responsible for ever-increasing results because of the rate of change during the pandemic: our adoption of technology advanced 10 years in just 10 months.

Also those companies who can't attract, retain, and develop candidates with minority identities stand to lose out, BIG TIME. Listen in for compelling business research that demonstrates the link between profit and diversity in the C-suite.

This episode is for any leader who wants to take the lessons learned from 2020 and re-think how to approach diversity in IT or re-think the future of work at your company.

About the Hosts

This All-IT Community Panel was co-hosted by Indy's premier IT leadership associations.

Leslie Murphy is the owner of an association management firm with tenured experience in managing people, teams, volunteers, and herself.

She shares her stories about learning more about herself and how to navigate and negotiate change with others.

Leslie shares how her lack of emotional intelligence earlier in her career didn't taken into account others' perspectives or needs. And a few interactions where others were willing to teach her some painful lessons.

Now she knows herself well and knows how to work around her driven, check-the-box mindset to navigate tricky stakeholder relationships and get more out of entire groups.

Because she leads many trade associations, she also has some secrets to share on how to get ahead in your industry too.

About Leslie Murphy:

Leslie has been a leader in association management for more than 35 years, contributing to a variety of associations from professional, educational and philanthropic groups to an emerging trade association.

Bringing her wide skill-set of strategic planning, visionary management, and increasing member value to the organizations she serves, Leslie has a proven record for revitalizing associations and their Boards.

About Raybourn Group International:

Raybourn Group International is an accredited, award winning association management, consulting and event planning firm. Founded in 1988, RGI specializes in helping nonprofit professional societies, trade associations and other membership-based organizations thrive, not just survive.

RGI serves local, state, regional, national and international organizations that total 60,000+ members in 107 countries. In 2021, RGI was named a Best Places to Work in Indiana, demonstrating our company’s exceptional culture and the commitment of our team to ongoing professional excellence.

Wayne Patrick is a serial tech entrepreneur whose Hot Mess Hotline conversation is about his lessons learned during the Great Recession in 2008.

His "world fell apart," when he got a Monday morning call losing 10% of his sales. 

At the time, Wayne's company, PDD, was firmly entrenched in the automobile industry. 

Wayne was dealing with multiple issues:

1. What would he do about losing 10% of the company's revenue? How would they recover from that? 
2. What, if anything, could he do to not lose the other 15% of his existing business?
3. What could he do to hold onto another automotive prospect he had in his pipeline?

Wayne and his team were willing to do the really hard, difficult things that you have to do to make it and get through. It could have been easy to throw up their hands in overwhelm but they never quit.

Show Resources:

In today’s episode, Mike Sipple Jr. wants you to know that as a mid-level leader you are an inspiration!

It might not feel that way sometimes.

You may be asking, "How can I be an inspiration as a mid-level leader?"

Here's how:

It's through learning experiences and having to make decisions that we grow. 

As a leader, you have a vision and you make decisions based on those long-rang planes. Sometimes these decisions create the outcome that is planned and sometimes they don't. Either way, you get to you learn. 

So even when...

• an ad campaign goes wrong
• your messaging isn't right
• or a pandemic hits

You may be hurt emotionally, but you still have to lead.

Realize that when these things happen it hurts those around us as well. From your family to your team it's important to let them know that it hurts you too: share your energy, your experience, and your fear. Let some of it out.

About Mike and His Work

Kevin Berkopes talks about the Hot Mess that happened due to COVID which jarred schools: the largest healthcare, childcare, and food programs in the world. 

This episode reveals how a CEO learned powerful lessons during a staff tragedy and how it built resilience for 2020. While we'll never wish this trauma on your team, there are real lessons you and your staff can always take from challenges.

• Why everyone on a team needs to share responsibility for revenue generation
• Why having your people share in the spotlight is critical for succession planning
• How the more you invest in your people, the more it will pay off
• How to connect self care and stamina