Raise Up

Building Your Personal Brand at Work with Terri Lynn Cardona

August 06, 2020 Amanda LeFever Episode 18
Raise Up
Building Your Personal Brand at Work with Terri Lynn Cardona
Show Notes Transcript

With over three decades of HR experience under her belt, Terri Lynn unloads a treasure trove of strategies and best practices to bolster your worth as a professional so that you can effectively navigate your career no matter what’s happening around you ... including living in the middle of a global pandemic. She takes a unique approach to building one’s career by emphasizing the importance of defining your personal brand.

Listen in as Terri Lynn shares how to become clear on your personal brand through raising your self-awareness, getting (and being) a mentor, finding a culture fit, and the exponential power of networking


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Introduction:

Welcome to the Raise Up Podcast. The only podcast focused on how you can get a raise at work every week. We're dishing tips and tricks straight from the industry experts, CEOs, and HR directors. So, you can finally get paid what you're worth. So, buckle up buttercup. Let's break it down. She's a little sassy, but a lot of fun. Here's your host, Amanda LeFever.

Amanda:

What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Raise Up Podcast. My name is Amanda LeFever here to help you make more money at your job. Today we have in our corner, my new friend, Terri Lynn Cardona, owner and HR Strategist at Stone Soup Performance Consulting, bringing 20 plus years of career advancement experience to the show. Terri Lynn has worn a lot of hats, prior to opening her own shop, she was Senior Vice President at Prometheus's Real Estate Group in San Mateo, California. It's one of the largest privately-held Real Estate Development companies in the San Francisco Bay area. And before that, she was the Director of Human Resources at W Hotels. When she's not at the office, she's helping to develop the next generation of HR leaders as an adjunct professor for UC Berkeley's HR certificate program. Terri Lynn founded Stone Soup Performance Consulting to focus exclusively on helping people enhance their bottom line by improving their employee performance. She's all about you learning to bring your best self to work and getting a raise. Hey Terri Lynn, thank you so much for being on the show.

Terri Lynn:

Thank you, Amanda. It's so exciting to be here with you.

Amanda:

I'm excited. We've been chatting a little bit beforehand and you know, COVID's been pretty crazy for everybody. Are you guys doing okay? Your family's okay? Life's okay?

Terri Lynn:

Family's good, life is good definitely in my profession and the folks that I'm supporting, especially a lot of HR folks, it is more challenging times for the folks who take care of the people on the inside. And so, I think it's really about us all just being good people to each other right now.

Amanda:

Yeah, absolutely. And I love that you bring that perspective to your work. And as you know, our show is all about someone improving their financial situation, like getting a raise at your job. So, you were in the perfect position to bring that advice. You've been in corporate America, you know, like the HR ropes, but you aren't conflicted it seems like in helping people improve. So, ultimately, they become more valuable to their employers. So, in your experience, how do you think that people should go about getting a raise?

Terri Lynn:

So, in my opinion, and I love how people always look to HR folks to say, well, you've been on the inside, I'm still an employee. And when you think about being an employee, you have to think about who you are, and what you are. And I always say, what's your personal brand? And so, if you think about being an employee, and who I am, and what I am, and what I'm going to bring from my personal perspective? That also ties into what HR can tell you. And what we tell you is how can you contribute? How can you prove your worth it? And how can people know who I am? So, let's just talk about COVID. I don't want to talk about COVID in great detail, but it's a time right now where a lot of employers are having to figure out, do I have the right people on my team? And do I, maybe I have to let some folks go. And my advice to people are, as I should never be the person that someone's thinking about who they're going to let go, because I don't actually know who I am or how I contribute. So, examples that I can give you is just working with a couple clients right now. I've got a recruiter who's not recruiting anyone. And she's like raised her hand for a diversity and inclusion leadership project. And so taking on maybe some things that you want to do that you've never done and you have capability and capacity right now, making sure that you're adding value to the organization, even if it's outside of your job. So, I think that's one way.

Amanda:

Absolutely. So, I love that your personal brand, I've heard that a little bit. Do you think that that is more of like how you're showing up to work every day? Or do you think it's whenever it's performance review time? Like they at least know who you are, so you're not on the chopping block type of thing.

Terri Lynn:

I think it's a good question. If I were buying a pair of Nike shoes, I'd know exactly what the Nike brand is all about. Personal brand is knowing who you are and who you want to be. And so, when I think about putting together my career strategy, and I think about how I'm going to go about getting my raise, I gotta have some, some roadmap. You know, some people say, do a smart plan. Some people work with a coach, but at the end of the day, I want to know what makes me excited to go to work every day and where I can bring my best self. So, I'll talk about myself a little bit cause I think it shows somebody who really thought through their career path as an HR leader, the common thread, you mentioned Prometheus Real Estate Group, you mentioned W hotels. I also spent the very early part of my career working with Wendy's restaurants. I started in frontline operations, out of college, managing a Wendy's restaurant and between Wendy's and then to Krispy Kreme, which was another incredible company I got to work for. I also worked for who everyone would know today as secure toss contract security, the common thread there is I've always worked with hourly employees. And so, my personal brand inside the company is about organizations that can help individuals be their best selves. But outside, I'm also doing a lot of work with folks who maybe want to grow. That could be folks that are in the immigrant population. It can be folks that maybe are underemployed. It can be women that are in domestic situations that prevent them from actually being their best selves. So, my personal brand itself is about knowing where I want to work when I look for a job because I am in the San Francisco Bay area. It would be really cool to be in tech, but it's probably not me. Where I like to play is high touch, where I can see people who are affecting customer service, and I can actually make their day better so that they can make the day better for the customers that we're actually taking care of.

Amanda:

I love that. So, you touched a little bit about helping outside of work as well. Do you take like a holistic approach to your personal brand then? Like it's not just about who you are when you're at work. It's also about like how you're contributing to society and how you're helping and volunteering.

Terri Lynn:

That's a great question. When, and somebody shared this with me, so, I'm going to share with your listeners too. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up a lot of times. And so, I start changing jobs, right? And I go for this job and I'm looking for the next quarter. And two years later, I go to the next job looking for the next 25 cents. And I just keep switching jobs, but I don't really have a path. And what I need to figure out is what fills my bucket. And when you talk about working outside of work, sometimes I'm not fulfilled. And I'm like, I think I need to go back to school. And so, I'm going to go make the$70,000 investment perhaps to go back to school or take loans. And what I always tell people is why don't you just go take a certificate program? Or why don't you go work for a not-for-profit and volunteer, and do something that you're excited about. So, maybe you love the great outdoors and you want to go build trails or you want to be a ranger, but right now you're in accounting. Why don't you go do some work with REI and go build some trails and see if that really speaks to you. So, rather than just leave one job for another 25 cents, where you want to go is to find the place where you're so excited to go every day. People don't actually have to pay you. And I used to tell Jackie Severe at Prometheus Real Estate Group, Jackie's the CEO. You don't actually have to pay me. No, no, no. I was just teasing, right? But I loved what I was able to do so much that it doesn't feel like work. And so, what you do for volunteer work can often fulfill you, right? In other places where you might be missing something that also means you might need to take care of your spiritual health, your physical health, your mental health. So, all these components that make us great when they're all in balance that we have to feed every one of those even eating well, right? Is a part of our own personal self-care that helps us be a better complete person. That's going to make me more valuable as a family member, as a community member, as an employee, as a team member.

Amanda:

So, where would you suggest that somebody starts, right? When they're feeling unfulfilled, would it be that they find somewhere that they're passionate about? Or is it maybe I need to go down a spiritual path or I need to, you know, where do you figure that out? How do you find that self awareness?

Terri Lynn:

That's a wonderful, that's a wonderful question. And I wish I was a guru and I had all the answers. So, if you work for a company that happens to have an employee assistance program, we know them as EAP and many companies do, EAPs are a free resource to employees. Everyone thinks that they're for the counseling, but they have so much that we can do from them that costs you and me nothing. And so, you can get call your EAP or you can go online, that's number one. If you have gone to a community college or you've gone to a four-year college, always going back to your career center or to your alumni network often helps you figure out what you want to do. If you're someone who hasn't had the opportunity to go to college, you can look at your community centers. You can look at your rec departments, right? Or you can look at your community colleges, which are open to all of us. And we can take a little course. And sometimes you just need to go find a mentor and within the organization, right? It could be, if you're in food service, it could be your restaurant manager. It could be the district manager. It could be a team leader in hotels. There are such wonderful mentorship programs that take place. That's how we grow our associates in hotels. And then of course, I would always say that within an organization, when I'm looking for a mentor, why not be a mentor first, right? And why not find some be open and willing to have lunch with other folks that might be looking to tap into you. And at the same time that exchange actually benefits you more than anyone else.

Amanda:

Absolutely. I've never heard anybody say it like that. And I think that that's extremely valuable for somebody because a lot of times we're looking for upward. Like how can I find someone that can help me instead of how can I help somebody else in the organization?

Terri Lynn:

I've worked for Wendy's early on as, as you know, and then I worked for a company that everyone would know today called Insperity. Both companies actually did a lot of work under the basis of servant leadership. And if you actually look at it on LinkedIn right now, Ken Blanchard has some really wonderful stuff about how to be a leader that is really around serving others first. And I feel very fortunate because servant leadership is about kind of putting others first. And if we apply that in everything we do, regardless of our spiritual beliefs, I mean the, or the world's based on, I believe, good karma, you do good, more good will come, right? Pay it forward. And I think that's the way to look at it. And if you haven't had the opportunity to look at things like servant leadership or anything by Ken Blanchard, those would be some things that I'd take a visit on if I'm a listener and kind of do some research on them for myself.

Amanda:

Yeah. I feel like we need more servant leaders in the world right now. And I love that it's something that is been kind of a hot topic and that people are using and seeing such great success. So, I did want to ask when you're consulting with corporate executives, I saw you use a holistic approach, you call it HPT, human performance technology, and it's understanding the environment, the team, doing a gap analysis on performance, figuring out possible solutions and then execute on the best ones. So, can you tell us about that? Like specifically if our listeners can apply that approach to their own performance?

Terri Lynn:

Absolutely. So, I'm going to tell you a little bit about my story about HPT. So, I was one of those folks that was not a hundred percent satisfied at where I was in my career. I wanted to really get into training and development full time. I'm in 18 years of frontline operations. And I took a certificate program, and I took a certificate program through an association, The Training Association, ATD or TD as it's now called. And it was around human performance improvement. And I got hooked. I got hooked on the topic because when I worked for Wendy's, I, as the person responsible for the training stores, there was a noticeable difference in the performance in the training stores. When people understood how to perform, what the rules were, how to execute well, you had higher customer satisfaction, lower turnover, less food costs, I mean all the metrics came out really good. And in fact, I drove the store that I was responsible for from a sales increase of$19,000 to$26,000 a week. And anyone in food service knows that's a pretty big number, and that's back in 1980. So, those were some huge numbers then. And what happened when I went to this certificate program or on HPI, I was like, that's me, it's about aligning people, and aligning process to create outcomes. So, I went to Boise State University had one of the first programs and human performance improvement says, let's really take a look at the environment. Let's understand what's around and what's in our way, or what's our present state. And let's work through some, some questions like, what's my gap? Like, why am I not able to achieve this? What's my present state and what's my desired state? And therefore, what do I need to do to get this result? So, when I think about that in terms of my career, I wanted to be an executive in charge of HR for an organization. And the reason I wanted to do that is I wanted to be able to drive the culture of a company. And I didn't want to just do the transactional work. I wanted to be the one that said we can make this company a best organization. And the gap that I needed was I had to fill in some competence. So, in my case, I wanted a little more education, which actually just gave me confidence. I wanted to have more of a executive presence. So, I needed to network more. I needed to go to some social engagements. I'm not somebody who's very extroverted. So, I had to fill those gaps in, and I was getting some training along the way at some jobs. And I looked for jobs that would help me fill in my gaps. And you use HPT to say, where am I now? Where do I want to go? And then I can write my plan so that eventually I can get to the results I'm seeking. And so, basically, it's a kind of a way to do business planning. And then from a managerial perspective, I would absolutely say that if we're not getting the best from our people. And if our people are asking for raises and I'm not coaching them or helping them so that they can be their best, I also need to help them where they presently are, what we'd like to see them do differently so that I can help them hopefully achieve their result or at least give them the blueprint and then it's up to them.

Amanda:

Yes. I absolutely love that. So, I have a question. Why do you think that it feels sometimes very taboo to talk about compensation and raises and people are scared, almost have these conversations in their organization?

Terri Lynn:

There's a lot of reasons. There's a lot of reasons. There was a time when we were told not to speak about compensation. And the only reason that we would not speak about compensation is because that it's kind of an indicator that not all comp is equal. So, let's just start there. You want to work for an employer even before you enter, and I know this is about how do I get my raise? And I say, it's the point of entry. That's the first point of, am I going to get the money that I believe I deserve for the job that I'm going to do? So, I want to work for an employer that's pretty clear about our comp is this to this, does it work for you? And let me tell you how it's based. So, that's number one. Number two, I don't, I personally don't believe that compensation and the review process should be tied together. And in America, because of our roots in human resources, compensation or performance reviews came out of the fact that labor is the most expensive piece of the budget item. And so, we came out of kind of purchasing way back when, and so, when I have a review and it's tied to compensation, I can tell you that most organizations set their budgets at whatever the cost of living is. So, if I am an incredible performer and I'm only going to get a 2.5% raise or a 3% raise, which probably sounds familiar with many of your listeners and myself, it is kind of demeaning, right? To always be a stellar performer and then have to go and say, but I did this. So again, I want to look for an organization that maybe is not evaluating my performance just based on the common metric, but maybe has some ways that rewards me on meeting my objectives or the overall company's objectives. What I loved about Starwood hotels was, and Starwood brand was as an organization, as a hotel, each hotel had a responsibility to achieve the overall collective objectives, and then the hotels objectives, and then there were team objectives. And so, we were all in together in guest satisfaction. And if we all made those scores, then we all got X percent of a raise or whatever the dollar compensation was. And then the last piece of why I think people are afraid to talk about compensation. We are entrusting managers to have that conversation, but managers don't even know how to go and ask for more money. And managers are maybe not prepared to have the conversation, either about performance good or bad, but then they're not maybe privileged to how comp decisions are made. And so, if we would educate our managers about how we make comp decisions, allow them to be part of the equation, allow them to be part of the hiring comp and get really good, full transparency. I think it would be a much easier conversation amongst employees, and leadership, and management.

Amanda:

Do you think that's a question that you should ask at the point of entry? Like how do you handle compensation, performance reviews, and things like that before you even decide on a position?

Terri Lynn:

I think it's a really great question to ask. You'd probably freak out the recruiting team, because that'd be like, well, no one's ever asked me that. Why are you asking them? I there's tools such as Glassdoor where we can find reputation about companies. And I would tell you, I think it's a wonderful way to have some understanding. I believe that the career website of a lot of companies will give you a good insight as to who the company is. Is the company telling you that they're about diversity and inclusion? And then I can ask questions about that is the company, a company that really wants me to bring my best self? And therefore, my question would be about what does that look like? And if so, what are you going to allow me to be? And that's where the conflict discussion would be, because comp to me is not only my base salary, but it's all the perks and benefits that I might get. And then I'd also want to, this goes back to my personal brand, and again, this comes from working for W brands. Anyone who's familiar with W brands, it's pretty hip. It always was a very hip kind of a hotel. There's a certain look that they believe the people who work there have. And I basically was always a black suit and a purple shirt, but we would be hiring people called, do you have the W look? And I remember the general manager who hired me said, the one thing about you is people don't think you have the W look and I'm like, I'm a middle-aged woman. I don't know what that is. And she's like, you're not necessarily hip. And I'm like, I got a suit on, I got stockings on. Well, drop the stockings. All right, I can do that. So, the question was, could I fit? And the answer was the core of me could fit at W, the suit maybe didn't work. Right? Definitely, one thing I always wear is really cool flashy earrings. That's a result of W now, right? My little trendiness now is I wear flashy earrings with my still stuffy suits, where suits aren't even popular. So, finding out if I'm going to fit in that organization, I think is more important than how am I going to be evaluated and how are we going to be compensated? Because if I can bring my whole self to work, the money is going to probably follow. Right?

Amanda:

Yeah. It sounds like culture is kind of the number one thing that you want to be looking for whenever you're searching for a new position?

Terri Lynn:

Without a doubt, I would say culture is the most important thing. And I always tell people, if you can go sit in the lobby, maybe not right now, but go sit in the lobby and see how people look when they're leaving work for the day. Go, you know, again, if you're, if you're going to be working in a restaurant, go see what the experience is like in a restaurant. If you're going to be working in a property management, go do a shop, go see what it's like to actually be a customer. There's so many ways that we can experience the customer experience. The employee experience should be as good, if not better than the customer experience because those of us on the inside are actually the ones that make the customer experience come to life.

Amanda:

And so, if people are more concerned with the clients and not their employees, it's just, it's, it feels almost backwards. Yeah. So, if somebody came to you, Terri Lynn, and they asked you, you know, I'm feeling undervalued at my position, I don't think that I can make a transition. How can I go about improving this position that I'm in currently? What would you say to them?

Terri Lynn:

It's a good question. I think the first question is why do you feel undervalued, and understanding what it is that's missing for them? Is it truly something in the work environment? Are they not challenged by the job? Sadly, we are often held back by our own leaders because really good performers. If I'm not comfortable knowing that someday you're going to go and I'm not comfortable growing you. I don't want to lose the one who makes my life better. I'm sure we've all experienced that. So, I think the real question is why are you valued? Or why do you feel undervalued? And once we understand that, then we can talk about, is it something that you need growth potential within the organization? And can we find out ways that you can get that? Can you raise your hand for projects? Or can you offer up some knowledge or insight? If you don't believe that it's the right fit for you in an organization, it might be time for us to have you go shop. I always tell people it's absolutely fine to go look on the market. Your resume should always be ready. And the reason I say that is sometimes you get the call from a recruiter or you actually get lucky and somebody calls you and says, come in and interview. And you actually go, and you cheat on your employer. I'll use that word and you go, Hey, it's pretty good where I am. It reaffirms that you're in a good spot. Statistics actually tell you that by employee engagement, most employees feel unhappy after the first year. And then there's a giant dip in engagement around the seventh year. And that actually mirrors married life. I was going to say like the honeymoon phases, it's exactly the same. And that's what engagement statistics tell us because when you get married, right? The first year is either really rough or it's wonderful. And then it becomes horrible. And then at seven years, all of a sudden you realize that your significant other throws their socks on the floor all the time and expects you to pick them up and doesn't unload the dishwasher. Works exactly the same at seven years. No, one's paying attention to you. You're a star performer. You're steady, you're counted on, but no one is telling you that they love you anymore consistently.

Amanda:

That's interesting. I never thought about that as like mirroring a marriage and relationships, but that's an interesting new perspective. So, I wanted to ask, I know that we talked a little bit about Upwardly Global and you had mentioned that you help immigrants. Can you tell me a little bit more about what it is that you do for them, and how you help immigrants who are underemployed or underpaid?

Terri Lynn:

Absolutely. I think you picked that up from one of my LinkedIn posts. So, one of my passions, as I mentioned, is to really work with non-profits that kind of fit who I am, right? In terms of what I really want to do to help people. And Upwardly Global was founded in 2000, it's a national organization, that's mission is to eliminate employment barriers, barriers in skilled immigrants, and refugees. The reason, here's my story, and why it touches me. I'm second-generation American. My family all came here from Italy. And so, when I really think about my roots and the privileges that I've been afforded through my family, it's because they worked really hard, and they kind of paved the ground for me, right? To be able to go to college and to have this incredible career. And hopefully, my children are doing the same. So, the work with Upwardly Global and why I love sharing a little bit more about it. It's one of those hidden resources also for employers, we're often looking for really talented people. The folks at Upwardly Global already have their visas, their work authorized, you are getting incredible talent from around the world that is ready to go. And what they don't have is the network in the United States to find work. They don't have the connections. And so, what I do with Upwardly Global, been on the leadership council for a number of years. But primarily right now I do a lot of work with counseling or coaching, job applicants, r ight? How to build their network, opening the doors through my LinkedIn, and actually if you visit my LinkedIn, you'll see that I'm spotlighting some of the folks that I'm working with w ho a re amazingly talented right now that just don't have a connection of folks. The other thing about working with people who are kind of new to the US, and want to build their network, it's the same advice for any job seeker. You come here and you often take a job that is below your skill set. They call them survival jobs, meaning they're probably working, unfortunately in quick-service restaurants. I spent 18 years in quick-service restaurants and Krispy Kreme. And I'm, I don't think that was a survival job for me. It was an amazing experience that really shaped my career. So, the language right there, yes, it might be the job you're doing right now, but what can you do in that job to show your worth? Or can you grow within that? The second thing that I always tell folks that I'm working with through Upwardly Global is build your network. And one of the ways you can do that is you can also go to Toastmasters. Toastmasters is a wonderful organization that helps us with our ability to speak and not be shy. And it's a great way to connect and meet people. Conduct info interviews ask people from your network, or just like Amanda did. You reached out and said, Hey, I got an introduction from you from Kurt Kuyper, who was on your show a while ago and said, I'd like to talk to you, ask for information interviews. And then, of course, the main thing is you get one job. That first job is the job that you're going to leverage for the future. So, if I'm currently working, and I'll use quotes, the survival job, if I really, really want to be a winemaker, that's my dream job in the United States, I should probably go find the survival job in the wine industry, right? So, I can work my way up, and then I can prove my worth and many good employers recognize great people.

Amanda:

I love that. So, I never thought about it as actually going and proving your worth. I've heard people say that before, but some people are like, I can't do that. Or I don't want to do that. Like, I feel like that's beneath me. What, how do you coach people out of like that mindset, of that I can't do that? Or I can't work in the fast-food industry or any of those types of situations. I feel like they're, they could be stepping stones to bigger and better things, but I hear a lot of times that they don't want to be in those types of positions.

Terri Lynn:

Oh, that's, that's kind of a loaded question for me because I think that comes back down to your values. No, it's okay. I always, I actually pride myself on what I call the immigrant value, and the immigrant value to me is many of us come to work here. My grandparents are great example. Many of the folks that I know are the frontline employees that I have worked within my career. And they're so proud of the job that they're able to do, whether it's in housekeeping or as the best drive-through cashier or a maintenance worker, right? And those jobs are probably less than what they were doing in their home countries. And so, again, I, as somebody who has the privilege of working and growing up in the United States, it's my bias. That's making me think that job is less than me. One of the things I often hear is, well, I have a college education. I shouldn't be working at, you know, work in the drive-through. And the way I turned that around is if you don't think you should work there, then please don't work there. Because I will tell you without a doubt, and I throw this challenge out there. I still think I'm the best darn sandwich wrapper and sandwich maker at Wendy's restaurants. And it's been 30 plus years because there's a level of pride you need to bring to yourself. If you are not happy, when you go to work, you're not going to get a raise because people are going to know you're miserable and your outward personality is going to show. And nobody wants to work with a grumpy, unhappy person who's bringing down the entire team.

Amanda:

Absolutely. The attitude I think is it can be contagious in a good way, or it can also be very toxic. And that's something that I think we have to realize that if we are unhappy, people know like it's not a secret that we're not happy where we're at. Have you seen that with people that approach you in HR?

Terri Lynn:

Absolutely. You know, and we talked about like, I've never thought about work, like being like a, a marriage or a relationship, it's absolutely. So, this is how I define just the whole recruitment and retention process. From a employment branding standpoint, recruitment is the attracting, right? It's when we're looking all skinny and I'm working out every day and I'm doing my best because I want my resume looked at now, or I want you to date me, right? And then I want to engage with the person, right? I'm bringing you flowers all the time and I'm getting ready to make that permanent commitment. And as an employer, right? I should be taking care of you, I want to make sure you have your benefits, that's what I offer. Or if I don't offer benefits, I want to make sure you have flexible schedule, whatever it is, it's going both ways. So, this is a healthy relationship. The minute you stop bringing me flowers, I'm given a choice, right? In a personal relationship, I'm either like, yo, give me some flowers or I'm going to go find someone else who's going to give me flowers, right? And then the last part of this attract, engage relationship has cementing. Same thing in being, having the opportunity to have a long term relationship, whether your domestic partners or you're married, right? Every day I come home and I'm like to my husband, Hey, how are you? I love you, right? I'm reaffirming that I'm happy to be with you. And by the way, thanks for picking up those socks you left on the floor. It's the same thing at work, right? I want to reaffirm my relationship every day with my employer. And I want them to see that I'm happy to be there. So, when somebody comes to me and it's like, I'm not happy. I'm like, do you even want to be here? I'm that honest as an HR leader, because if you don't want to be married anymore, then why be married to us, right? Now, it's obviously very different on a personal relationship, but in the work environment, maybe not today, but I can guarantee you in 18 months, it will be an employee market again. We were in a drought, and it was really hard to find the employees that we were all looking for. But in 18 months, employers are going to be fighting for the talent they want. And I'm always going to find the talent that comes with a great reputation and is happy to be there regardless of the job. One of the reasons I tell people not to be miserable at work, it doesn't matter when I, when you leave and go look for a job. The new employer is going to call maybe the HR team and the HR team is never going to say, Oh, Amanda was miserable at work. But a lot of us get referred from our network. And if the people you have worked with only remember you as being really unhappy and not willing to contribute, they're not going to recommend you for the next job. So, think about it this way, the people that you are working around, that's your future referral basis as well. And so, I want people to know that I am so thrilled to be at work and I'm pleasant, that they would want to refer me to the next job as well. That's my employment brand again, it's my personal brand.

Amanda:

Yeah. I love that. And I love that you kind of brought it back around to the personal brand because I feel like that's huge for people. And I have so many more questions, but we have to close. This has been so good. Terri Lynn, tell our listeners how they can connect with you and, and find out more if they want to about Stone Soup.

Terri Lynn:

Well, first of all, Amanda, once again, thank you so much. Just the opportunity to share insights and, you know, offer advice. If it is such a thing that people are finding and that it is inspiring to folks, I just am honored and privileged that you have asked me to be here. So, you can find Stone Soup Performance Consulting on the web. It's Stone Soup Performance Consulting.com. My LinkedIn is T L Cardona, you'll find me, I love it when people ping me and reach out. You will find that in my website, and who my story is, and why I love to work with organizations. It's really, for me, it's about building your culture on the inside. And sometimes that's just about making sure that what we are going to promise to employees we actually can deliver. So, that's number one. And then for any executive that really wants to talk further and deeper about how they can take advantage and connect in the community with organizations such as Upwardly Global, or really want to work on their own team and their own thinking, reach out the tabid dialogue. It's always a privilege, and an honor to me to be able to help other organizations. I started my own business because I actually retired, but I love the topic of being able to be a great organization where all people can belong and be included. And then most importantly, that I, as an employer can be a place where everybody wants to be. And I'm an employer of choice because it's the right thing to do, and not because I have to do it. So, I'm the girl who you want to have a conversation with.

Amanda:

Absolutely, and this has been one of those conversations for sure. I feel like you brought so much insight and, and great advice. It was, it was advice. You said you didn't know if that's what it was, but it was. So, I just want to say thank you again for being on the show. This has been an awesome, awesome episode. And I think people are going to get a lot out of this one. So, thank you.

Terri Lynn:

Thank you so much, Amanda.

Amanda:

Yeah, all right. You guys, we will talk to you soon. Bye

Outtro:

Thanks for listening to the Raise Up Podcast. If you want a raise, head to www.RaiseUpPodcast.com and download our step by step roadmap where we've taken all the expert advice we've collected, and put it into a simple PDF ebook called, you guessed it, how to ask for a raise. Before you join us again, make sure to subscribe, share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot, and share it on your social stories and tag,@AmandaLeFever. We'll see you again soon.