Whether you own your business or work for someone else, communication is the key to PR. Never is the importance of communication highlighted more fully than in times of crisis. If you want to know more about PR in the time of a global pandemic or just want to make it through any other type of PR crisis, join me for today’s conversation.
Adele Cehrs is CEO and founder of Epic PR, When+How Agency, and a bestselling author. Beginning her career as a journalist for George magazine and the Asbury Park Press, Adele cut her teeth on marketing and PR on Madison Avenue and K Street. In her 16 years at the helm guiding Epic PR’s success, Adele became a renowned authority on how organizations can get into the news and get out of the news. Today, Adele is heralded as a crisis communication expert by the Wall Street Journal. She works with companies such as Lockheed Martin, DuPont, and Verizon, and helps their executives and leaders navigate the ups and downs of tough customers, hostile rooms, and challenging situations. In this episode, Adele shares actionable steps for staying cool in a crisis, and how to make rapid decisions without losing sight of your long – term goals. She also shares an actionable framework for reading people, navigating crisis situations, and negotiating to win. Whether you’re in management, HR, or sales, effective communication is crucial to success.
Adele says that it’s tough to be a good publicist if you haven’t spent time in a newsroom. You really need to spend time on the other side of the fence to understand the intricacies of how the media works. This experience gives you a decided advantage. Getting caught up in the glitz and glamor of PR will make you lose your creative edge, but Adele has been able from the beginning to work with celebrities without being awed by the spotlight. Her experience working for JFK, Jr. at George magazine gave her the foundation for later success and gave her much empathy for the celebrity experience.
Adele helps people get into and out of the news. Becoming a crisis communication expert was an accidental journey that began when she was at a PR firm, and a crisis arose with a client. Adele came up with a strategy, and the firm used it. She loved that feeling of solving the problem and alleviating the crisis, and she was hooked on crisis communication from that point forward. Being naturally adept at gauging possible outcomes and predicting human behavior, Adele was able to merge her interests of journalism, messaging, human behavior, and emotions to form a fast-paced career that she loves. In addition, her personal 9/11 experience taught her how she could be calm and thoughtful in the middle of others’ crises.
A unique and unlikely partnership was born when Adele met Chip, a former FBI hostage negotiator. She became curious about the language of crisis communication, and she and Chip teamed up to teach a master class together. They realized that they made an unprecedented team of crisis communication firm meets FBI hostage negotiator. Their skills merged into a unique perspective in that she helps people with career suicide moments, while Chip’s experience is in helping people in a real suicide crisis. It’s become a partnership that works well as they each bring their interesting gifts, strengths, and skillsets to the table.
With When+How, Adele and Chip are launching the idea of behavior-based crisis negotiations regarding the different personalities that show up in a crisis. They have identified 12 different personality types. One of these types is the Quick Draw, a person who has too many ideas and makes decisions too quickly. With their new system, When+How identifies your personality type under stress, how other people see you and react to you, and how you can improve your reactions and modify your behavior.
We all are triggered by certain people, their behaviors, and how they speak to us. Adele shares an example of a business colleague whom she finds extremely triggering, especially with his brusque and misogynistic manner. She’s taken that situation to change her perspective, using these interactions to learn about herself and grow, removing herself from the caustic situation without relinquishing her power. It’s a matter of wanting the knowledge more than the pain. The key in many business relationships is not to personalize these triggering interactions, but to look at these moments as plot twists in your journey. Figure out how you can grow and become better because of those triggers.
For a competitive person like Adele, the key she’s found is to compete with herself and not other people. She tries to set 12 – 15 goals on a yearly vision board as a way to inspire her to reach every day for those larger goals. However big or small those goals are, she says to look at them every day and feel great satisfaction as you achieve them. It’s easy during a crisis to lose focus on those goals, but they can keep you grounded.
Check out Adele’s website for free resources about communicating during a crisis. She says to look at any crisis as an opportunity for your company to take risks. A year from now, people everywhere will be receiving awards and recognition for the risks they took during this global crisis. Use any crisis as a chance to get ahead and take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves.
The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth by M. Scott Peck
1. Favorite book to recommend for women?
2. Favorite self-care hack?
3. Best piece of advice and who gave it to you?
4. Female CEO or thought leader you’re into right now?
5. One piece of advice you’d give your five years younger self?
Creating A Company That Puts Its Values Into Practice – with Shannon Adkins
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What kind of difference would it make if a company were run by women who are committed to authenticity, transparency, and connection? What if that company’s leadership put their values into practice, developing a workplace culture where diversity, self-expression, and creativity thrive? If this sounds like a place where you would love to work, then you’ll want to hear more from today’s guest.
Shannon Adkins is CEO of Future State, a woman-owned, employee-owned consulting company that she returned to revive after a downturn. Future State works with Fortune 100’s and non-profits, treating their clients as the smartest person in the room, making them feel cared for and collaborated with. Shannon originally planned to be a women’s rights lawyer, but when the dotcom boom hit, she found herself working for a small company full of wacky women with magical powers who were not playing by the rules, and a new passion was born. In this episode, Shannon shares how she was able to build and create a team and company culture focused on leading with heart, the roles of empathy, intuition, and transparency in business success, and the 21st-century skill sets leaders need to rise to the occasion during times of great change and ambiguity in order to rewire organizations and people for adaptability.
When Shannon says that Future State is a woman-owned company, what she means is that 100% of the C-suite and board members are women. To go a step further, Future State is also owned by several hundred employees, 87% of that ownership being held by women. What makes the company unique is the deep commitment to community, team members, and sustainability. Shannon explains that it’s important that people can work for Future State and take good care of their families, sit on managing boards, and experience success. The leadership at Future State is committed to using best management practices in several key areas.
It’s important to Shannon and the other Future State leaders to create a culture of care, connection, authenticity, and transparency; they are committed to these values, which means a lot more than merely saying you hold them. Because the company is employee-owned, Shannon answers to the shareholders, who just happen to be Future State employees. She strives to be an open book to the team members because it’s their company. This foundation of trust allows Future State to reassure their employees in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic that the company will survive and thrive on the other side. Even though challenging decisions and policy changes have happened, as with any company’s growth, the leaders have remained authentic and transparent while holding their commitment to the company’s purpose.
Shannon believes the key to empowering employees is role modeling. As she stepped into the CEO role, her authenticity and transparency freaked some people out because she was so frank and open about asking people to contribute answers and solutions to problems. She believes the answer is to share more with team members, so they are in on every decision and every problem, even the minute details of banking and company finances.
It’s not only that women compete with each other and bring each other down, but it’s true that women have higher expectations of each other than they do of men. We tend to have less tolerance for missteps, mistakes, and struggles. Shannon had to learn to let go of the fear of hurting people’s feelings, even though she doesn’t do it intentionally, but it’s something that comes with any leadership role. That fear was just one of the limiting beliefs she had to overcome as she learned to listen to the people around her.
In interviews, Shannon likes to get a sense of people’s aspirations and how they see the company. It took a certain amount of selling the company’s values and vision for the future,, because it’s difficult for someone to come in from the outside and immediately catch sight of that vision. Shannon shares a story of how showing up to an interview in leather pants in a moment of self – expression made all the difference in an interview for her.
Diversity is more than just a buzzword at Future State. Shannon says that leaders have to be curious about the things that trigger them, like disharmony, for example. A leader has to learn to integrate different voices into the organization and listen to those who are different than they are. A culture of growth won’t happen if everyone thinks and speaks the same way, so there is value in varying opinions and voices. Disharmony becomes unproductive when people don’t agree on the vision and the path ahead. Diversity means differences of opinion can still keep you aligned with the overall vision.
Through her personal experience with her mom’s early Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Shannon developed a philosophy that life is for living, and that there are no guarantees. She learned to step up and do what she wants instead of toughing out a bad situation. In doing so, she formulated a policy about allowing herself to suffer. She vowed that she would quit any job at which she suffered for ten days in a row. This philosophy has led to a proactive approach to anything that brings her suffering, either by having a necessary conversation with someone or deciding on another way to take action.
The company remains committed to transforming the world of work and creating organizations where human beings can be self-expressive and creative while they work on meaningful projects. Future State wants all of their work to be purpose-driven for their clients. Shannon says they recently added 15 people to make the team number about 100, and they are committed to creating wealth opportunities for their employees-owners. The leaders there want to be role models while keeping the company human-centered, responsible, agile, and purpose-driven.
1. Favorite book to recommend for women?
2. Favorite self-care hack?
3. Best piece of advice and who gave it to you?
4. Female CEO or thought leader you’re into right now?
5. One piece of advice you’d give your five years younger self?
Trust Your Body to Tell The Truth – with Lyn-Genet Recitas
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The post Creating A Company That Puts Its Values Into Practice – with Shannon Adkins appeared first on NextFem.
If you’re looking for answers as to why your body doesn’t respond to those trendy diets and restrictive eating plans, then this is the show for you. It makes sense that each person’s body is different, and therefore, the way we metabolize foods can lead to either weight loss or weight gain. The shocking truth is that many of those healthy foods you are eating may be the reason you aren’t losing the weight you want to lose. Join us for today’s show to learn more.
Lyn-Genet Recitas is a nutritionist whose work has transformed my life in many ways. She’s a NY Times and international bestselling author of The Plan and The Metabolism Plan, groundbreaking anti-inflammatory nutritional protocols which have been published in over 15 countries. Lyn-Genet has been featured on Dr. Oz, Huffington Post, Thrive Global, CBS, NBC, FOX, Women’s Running, More magazine, and more. Her work has helped hundreds of thousands of men and women reach their best health by finding their chemical responses to food and not counting calories. In this episode, Lyn-Genet shares how to rev up your metabolism at any age under any conditions, how hidden stress and many of the foods typically labeled as healthy, like Greek yogurt and salmon, could be causing inflammation and weight gain, and why lowering inflammation is the key to mental, emotional, and physical vibrancy.
Every food has potential health benefits and risks, and these results can vary from person to person. Simply put, many foods have compounds that aren’t going to work for your body. Spinach is an example of a healthy superfood that has two compounds that can be reactive for many people regarding thyroid function and the neurological system. When we gain weight while eating healthy foods, we become distrustful of our bodies. The reality is that your body’s response will tell you which foods work and don’t work for you.
You’ve heard it stated as a fact that metabolism slows down as you age. Lyn-Genet’s work debunks this myth; the truth is that your body’s responses to food and exercise change as you age. Her work is all about analyzing how the body responds, and as we age, we lose digestive enzymes. Foods that worked well for us in our 20s and 30s may not work for us in our 40s and 50s. In The Plan, Lyn-Genet helps you analyze your body’s response so you can make an individualized plan that works to empower you and help you find success in the quest for a healthy weight.
Lyn-Genet’s plan begins with a three-day cleanse in which you reset your body and rapidly lower inflammation. There are generous calorie goals for men and women, and people experience anywhere from 5-14 lbs of weight loss. The key is to measure the body’s histamines produced in response to inflammatory foods, which cause short-term water weight gain. As new foods are introduced, weight gain is measured. The truth is that even healthy foods like turkey can turn out to be a culprit. The traditional weight loss process can cause self-esteem issues in men and women as they try so hard to lose weight with the wrong methods. Empowerment comes from making the choices that are best for your body, and that’s where Lyn-Genet can help.
We’ve all felt the guilt from eating the wrong foods, the ones Lyn-Genet calls fun foods. The truth is that so-called healthy foods can affect our bodies in negative ways much worse than what we consider cheat foods. Cucumber and pineapple can be inflammatory for you, while a ballpark hotdog and a beer might help you lose weight. Bread can be a healthy food for some people while it incites inflammatory responses in others. We are not all the same, which is why Lyn-Genet’s system brings success and transformation to many people.
Lyn-Genet is a believer that joyful foods can and should be enjoyed. With a specific person, it could be cottage cheese and cantaloupe that cause weight gain, and not the occasional ice cream treat. Lyn-Genet says that every person is eating at least three healthy foods that are causing inflammation. Unfortunately, as we age, that number increases to six foods that we think are healthy; in truth, they are increasing inflammation and making us feel sicker as we gain weight with age. Identifying and removing these foods from our diets allows our bodies to heal. When we make digestion easy on our bodies, we will be at our healthiest.
The body reacts to reactive foods with a histamine response and short-term water weight gain. A cascade of other responses follows, like higher levels of cortisol and long-term fat storage. This skews hormones in women, and estrogen dominance causes irritability and carb cravings. Next, the thyroid is attacked and can’t control metabolism as it should. This happens all because we are eating foods that don’t work for us. Our gut function is affected, which affects our overall immunity and serotonin levels. The final result is an increase in depression and anxiety.
In most traditional diets, you are told to eat or not to eat certain foods because they work for 60-70% of the population. That doesn’t mean it will work for you. The inflammatory response you have to a food or exercise can last for up to 72 hours. Many people are eating a vegetarian diet because they think it’s a healthier way to eat, when it may be causing inflammation for them. Lyn-Genet cautions us about the studies we read; they are misleading because they don’t represent everyone, and they are usually funded by a company with a vested interest. Be cautious about the research you read.
Are depression and anxiety connected to what you eat? Lyn-Genet says that there is a definite connection and that inflammation and illness always go together. The body’s inflammatory response will affect your mental state. For you to feel better, you have to lower inflammation, and that means identifying and removing what causes the inflammation. Only then will the energy of life and joy return. We have to be committed to nourishing our bodies.
Eating out at most restaurants will subject you to hidden culprits in your food. Restaurant meals are notorious for too much salt, which leads to hypertension and major carb cravings. Another culprit is soy since most restaurants fry with soy oil. You must be mindful and understand your body as you go out to eat. If you think that vegan restaurants are superior in health, you should know that many ingredients in vegan cuisine are highly reactive, like quinoa and roasted nut butters. Rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca can all be featured in vegan and gluten-free dishes, and they are highly reactive components. Lyn-Genet says that the starch from any food is the most inflammatory part of that food. Surprisingly, french fries can be healthier than a baked potato because the fries are soaked to remove the starch, and if they are fried in a good oil, then the antioxidant capacity of the potato is increased. Keep in mind that almond flour and coconut flour are very low on the inflammatory scale, so look for these ingredients in vegan and gluten-free dishes.
1. Favorite book to recommend for women?
2. Favorite self-care hack?
3. Best piece of advice and who gave it to you?
4. Female CEO or thought leader you’re into right now?
5. One piece of advice you’d give your five years younger self?
Attract More Positive and Live Your Best Life – with Kristine Fredheim
Subscribe to the show on iTunes (Android here).
Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who took the time to write a review on iTunes! If you write a review this week, send a screenshot to support@nextfem.com and we’ll give you a shout-out!
The post Trust Your Body to Tell The Truth – with Lyn-Genet Recitas appeared first on NextFem.