Unleashing the Power of Laughter in suicide prevention with Frank King

In this eye-opening episode of Training Unleashed, host Evan Hackel sits down with Frank King, a renowned Suicide Prevention Speaker, comedian, and former writer for The Tonight Show. With humor, vulnerability, and insight, Frank shares his personal journey with depression and suicidality, and how he’s using his platform to save lives through his work. From overcoming life-threatening heart conditions to delivering 12 powerful TEDx talks, Frank’s story is a testament to the strength of the human spirit.

Listeners will discover how Frank uses humor to break the stigma surrounding mental health, his approach to preventing suicide, and the importance of creating safe spaces for open conversations. Whether you’re a leader, trainer, or just someone seeking inspiration, this episode is packed with invaluable lessons on resilience, empathy, and the healing power of laughter.

Key Topics Discussed:
  • The intersection of comedy and mental health
  • How humor can be a tool for suicide prevention
  • Frank’s journey as a speaker and mental health advocate
  • The importance of talking openly about depression and suicidality
  • Overcoming personal health challenges and using them as fuel for positivity
  • Leadership and mental health in the workplace
Practical Takeaways:
  1. Using Humor to Address Serious Issues: Frank demonstrates how injecting humor into serious conversations can break down barriers and create space for openness and healing.
  2. Mental Health Awareness in the Workplace: Leaders and trainers should encourage open discussions about mental health to foster supportive environments.
  3. Resilience through Adversity: Personal challenges, no matter how severe, can be turned into opportunities for growth and helping others.

About Our Guest

Frank King is a Suicide Prevention Speaker and comedian who wrote for The Tonight Show for 20 years. Having battled depression and suicidality, Frank has turned his experiences into 12 TEDx talks aimed at raising awareness and preventing suicide. He’s shared stages with top comedians and entertainers and has survived significant health challenges, all while keeping his sense of humor intact. Frank travels the world speaking to organizations and schools, offering lifesaving insights through his unique blend of comedy and advocacy.

How to Connect:

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or having thoughts of suicide, please reach out for help. Call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 9-8-8. You don’t have to face this alone—support is just a call away.

Stay connected with Training Unleashed beyond the podcast! Join our growing community and be part of the conversation about leadership, training, and personal growth.

2024-10-23T10:21:06-04:00October 23, 2024|

Unleashing Trust-Centered Leadership with Dr. Michael Armour (Part 2)

In this insightful episode of Training Unleashed, host Evan Hackel welcomes back Dr. Michael Armour, a seasoned executive coach and leadership expert, for his second appearance on the podcast. Dr. Armour, founder of Strategic Leadership Development International, brings decades of experience coaching and mentoring leaders across various industries, government agencies, and non-profits. This episode dives deep into the concept of Trust-Centered Leadership®, with Dr. Armour sharing practical strategies on how leaders can build trust within their teams to foster stronger relationships and drive success. Tune in to learn more about the vital role trust plays in leadership and how you can implement these strategies to enhance team performance.

Key Topics Discussed:
  • The Power of Trust: Dr. Armour explains the critical role trust plays in leadership and how it can be the difference between a thriving team and a failing one.
  • Building Trust in Teams: Actionable tips on how leaders can create a culture of trust that promotes open communication, collaboration, and high morale.
  • Trust-Centered Leadership®: An overview of Dr. Armour’s Trust-Centered Leadership® framework and how it guides his coaching philosophy.
  • Real-World Applications: Dr. Armour shares examples of how these principles have been applied successfully in different sectors, from corporate settings to non-profits.
  • Improving Leadership Skills: Learn how self-awareness, authenticity, and integrity are key elements to becoming a more trustworthy leader.
About Our Guest

Dr. Michael Armour is a highly experienced leadership coach and founder of Strategic Leadership Development International. With over three decades of experience, he has mentored top-level executives across industries and authored numerous books on leadership, including the best-selling Leadership and the Power of Trust. Dr. Armour’s work has been translated into over two dozen languages, and his Trust-Centered Leadership® framework is widely respected. He holds a Ph.D. from UCLA and has studied at the Naval War College.

How to Connect:

Watch the previous Episode with Dr. Mike Armour.

Stay connected with Training Unleashed beyond the podcast! Join our growing community and be part of the conversation about leadership, training, and personal growth.

2024-10-16T10:58:26-04:00October 16, 2024|

Unleashing the Power of People Potential: Transforming Workplace Cultures with Tamien Dysart

In this enlightening episode of Training Unleashed, host Evan Hackle speaks with Tamien Dysart, Co-Founder and Culture Coach at Think 3D. Tamien shares powerful insights on how organizations can unleash the full potential of their people by creating intentional and positive workplace cultures. With a focus on leadership development, Tamien and his team at Think 3D guide businesses through cultural transformations that drive performance, engagement, and long-term success.

Tamien explains how cultures emerge naturally—whether intended or not—and emphasizes the importance of investing in intentional culture building. He shares practical tips for leaders to tap into the unrealized potential of their teams, promote growth, and avoid common pitfalls in organizational culture. The episode also touches on how younger generations are increasingly seeking workplaces that prioritize personal growth and development.

Key Topics Discussed:

The power of culture: How a positive workplace culture can significantly impact employee performance and organizational success.

Leadership development: Why great leaders focus on developing their teams and creating environments where individuals can thrive.

People potential: The importance of investing in employees’ personal growth and how that leads to better organizational outcomes.

Best practices for cultural transformation: How Think 3D partners with organizations to evolve their workplace cultures by coaching leaders and teams toward success.

This episode is a must-listen for leaders looking to improve workplace culture, maximize employee potential, and create a thriving, engaged workforce.

Key Takeaways:
  1. Culture is Critical: Workplace culture will emerge whether intended or not. To succeed, organizations need to invest in a positive, intentional culture.
  2. Leadership Development: Great leaders are dedicated to helping their teams succeed. They focus on creating opportunities for their employees to grow and develop.
  3. Investing in People: Giving employees the tools and space to realize their potential not only benefits them personally but leads to better performance for the organization.
  4. Cultural Transformation: Think 3D works alongside organizations, coaching them through the evolution of their workplace culture and helping them become the best version of themselves.

Special Offer: Dan is offering a free eBook titled From Myth to Meaning: Awakening the Leader Within, which takes readers through their own hero’s journey. To receive a copy, listeners can email Dan at [email protected].

About Our Guest

Tamien Dysart is the co-founder and CEO of Think 3D Solutions, a leader in cultivating high-performing cultures. With over 16 years in the financial industry and 8 years leading Think 3D, Tamien is renowned for his ability to elevate team performance and mitigate the negative impacts of poor organizational culture. At Think 3D Solutions, Tamien leads a dynamic team committed to providing organizational coaching and leadership development to businesses of all sizes, with a mission to construct intentional and sustainable cultures that drive optimal performance.

How to Connect with Tamien:

2024-10-09T12:07:52-04:00October 2, 2024|

Leading with Encouragement: A Path to a Positive Workplace Culture With John Robertson

John Robertson is the Founder and President of FORTLOG Services. John built his services with a focus on an encouragement-based approach, resolving root causes as opposed to treating crisis and transition in the workplace symptomatically, as is often the practice. In this episode of Training Unleashed, host Evan Hackle and guest John Robertson discuss how wellness is more than not being sick.

Quit playing whack-a-mole

A common practice in most workplaces is to treat a crisis when it arises. This is all done symptomatically. John’s approach centers on analyzing and confronting the root causes of problems. He underscores the significance of leaders’ roles in not just reacting to issues but comprehending why they arise in the first place. Instead of jumping up and whacking the “mole”, you need to stop talk about what the cause is.

Instead of playing the game, unplug the machine.

The Power of Encouragement

The conversation takes an authentic turn as the significance of genuine encouragement is explored. John emphasizes that effective encouragement requires leaders to be authentic and transparent in their interactions. He also highlights the challenge of time in a fast-paced work environment, where patience and encouragement may be undervalued.

Encouragement creates a culture where individuals can learn from mistakes and grow, without fear of punitive reactions.

About Our Guest

John’s been a trusted thinking partner with 30+years of assisting individuals and organizations in managing all forms of crisis/change. He leverages a values-anchored ethos as a leadership development specialist, helping organizations and individuals to define the new norm and thrive.

2023-11-17T15:48:19-05:00September 27, 2023|

Choice of software an expression of company values with Ian Robinson

Ian Robinson is founder of Enliven Design, a company he started in 2012 to create highly functional business software. In a recent Training Unleashed podcast, Ian and host Evan Hackel discussed the art of creating software that enhances all aspects of doing business, including training.

Taking the Pain Out of Software Development

Many people have come to accept the idea that developing new business software has to be difficult, frustrating . . . and painful. But Ian believes that software development should be a positive experience.

The best approach, he believes, is to start by creating a very specific work environment that is imbued with the company’s world view and culture. That environment will help companies create software that is just right for them.

Then when the worldview of the company is expressed in the software that a company uses, it becomes easier to onboard new employees and to train people to perform in ways that express the company’s deeper values.

Advantages of Using Custom, Not Off-the-Shelf, Solutions

If your company has only a small number of employees to train to perform a particular function, off-the-shelf software might be your best, cost-saving option. But you have to remember that off-the-shelf training software was designed to be used by as many companies as possible, and it typically bundles training on more functions than you need. “It wasn’t created for you,” Ian explains, “it was created for people like you.”

One Tip for Members of the Training Unleashed Audience

The most important underlying goal is to create software that is reassuring.

Ian explains, “An architect once said, `The one job in architecture is to make a space that’s reassuring on at least a subconscious level.’ So if a human is in a space, they should be subconsciously reassured. I think that’s a great way to look at software implementations and custom software builds. Put yourself in the place of your employee and create something that’s reassuring.”

Empathy is at the root of all these good practices.

About Our Guest

Throughout a successful career in software development, Ian Robinson has been sought out as a trainer and speaker for numerous engagements in the US and abroad and has interacted with a broad spectrum of clients and projects. These experiences have helped him cultivate his vision for Enliven Design, which he founded in 2012.

Enliven was founded with a mission to create highly functional business software that doesn’t compromise on creative design or user experience.

2023-09-27T13:47:57-04:00April 11, 2023|

New realities of post-Covid training with Hilmon Sorey

Hilmon Sorey is an author, keynote speaker and . . . incredibly . . . a man who has trained more than 15,000 people and 5,000 senior executives around the world. He is also Co-Founder of ClozeLoop, a consulting firm based in New York, Houston, Silicon Valley, and Johannesburg.

Hilmon has written eight top-selling books, including 46 Reasons Why Your Cold Calls Fail. . . and How to Fix Them Fast.

You will want to listen to this empowering discussion between Hilmon and Evan Hackel, the host of Training Unleashed. But before you do, please read these excerpts from their conversation . . .

Hilmon on What Is New in Training

In only five years, Hilmon’s training company ClozeLoop has gone from being a startup to one of the most watched training development companies in the world. So what is new in the world of training? Hilmon is in a position to know.

“There is so little being done right now in the area of advancing training,” Hilmon told Evan. One of the obstacles is that many people are still working remotely from home, which has made it difficult for companies to deliver uniformly high-level, high-quality training to large groups of employees.

“So the bottom-line thing here is technology,” he summarizes. “Technology has become the force that catalyzes training in the broad respect, because you need technology to train people who are distributed across the organization.”

Hire the Right People Before You Train Them

“A lot of folks begin to construct the training they need only after they have hired the person who needs to be trained,” Hilmon told Evan. “Instead, they need to step back ahead of time and use what we call a competency matrix to hire the right people. That might mean saying, `I understand I have three roles to fill that might be critical: for the distribution of my product; the sale of my product; and the ongoing development of my product going forward.’”

And then you hire the right people because you have defined the competencies you need them to have.

“Then I can actually imbue these people with information that results in significant performance gains,” Hilmon notes, “but a lot of people don’t take this step before they hire.”

Overcoming Resistance to Cold Calling

Hilmon pointed out many salespeople hate to make cold calls, for many reasons. Some of them feel that cold calling is “beneath them.” Others say they will do it but make it a very low priority and avoid it.

Remember, Hilton wrote the book 46 Reasons Why Your Cold Calls Fail. . . and How to Fix Them Fast, and you will want to hear what he has to say about cold calling in this Training Unleashed podcast.

A Special Offer

Hilmon is offering a free trial version of his coaching/training platform COACH/CRM to members of the Training Unleashed Podcast community. As part of your free trial, you will also receive a complimentary free session with a member of the COACH/CRM staff. Sign up here.

About Our Guest

Hilmon Sorey is Co-Founder of CoachCRM sales coaching software for managers. He has coached and consulted high performing teams in companies that range from early-stage startups to Salesforce, Box, SurveyMonkey, Bill.com, and some of the fastest-growing companies in the world totaling over $600B in valuation and market cap.

He is also Co-Founder of ClozeLoop, a management consulting firm based in New York, Houston, Silicon Valley, and Johannesburg. He is Partner in 2.12 Angels, a seed-stage venture capital firm.

Hilmon has written eight top-selling books on sales, sales management, and coaching.

2023-02-27T10:48:42-05:00February 27, 2023|
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