Creating a Culture of Character

Mary Crossan is the Co-founder of Leader Character Associates and Virtuosity Character, which enhance organizational leadership characteristics. She is also the Professor of Strategic Leadership at Western University’s Ivey Business School.

Recognized on the global list of the top 2% of the most cited scientists in her discipline in 2021, Mary received the Lifetime Career Achievement Academy of Management Distinguished Educator Award in 2023. Her research includes leadership character, organizational learning, strategic renewal, and improvisation. A prolific author, Mary has contributed to over 100 articles and books and is the co-author of The Character Compass.

Mary Crossan
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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

  • [3:30] The anatomy of character through 11 dimensions and 62 behaviors
  • [4:09] How to apply the concept of character to an organization
  • [7:43] Developing and identifying your character strengths and weaknesses
  • [11:13] Mary Crossan talks about the Virtuosity Character app, a tool for personal character development
  • [17:25] Character development’s impact on leader effectiveness and employee engagement
  • [22:06] How can embedding character into your organization’s culture sustain growth?

In this episode…

Is “character” a mere buzzword, or does it hold tangible value for those in leadership positions? Cultivating a specific set of behaviors can improve your personal effectiveness and enhance your team’s performance and commitment. How can you define and develop your character to uplevel your organization?

According to leadership researcher Mary Crossan, leaders must develop and hone 11 character disciplines, including integrity, humility, and courage, to empower their companies. Each discipline holds a set of behaviors that leaders can self-assess to identify strengths and weaknesses. By promoting a culture that nurtures and rewards positive characteristics and reflecting daily on actions and behaviors, you can increase employee engagement and satisfaction.

In the latest episode of the Lead Like a Woman Show, Andrea Heuston sits down with Mary Crossan, the Co-founder of Leader Character Associates, to talk about developing leader character. Mary discusses The Character Compass, an innovative approach to shaping leadership character, and explains the implications of character on organizational culture, performance, and commitment.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

Quotable Moments:

  • “Wherever competence resides, character belongs.” – Dr. Mary Crossan
  • “We judge ourselves on our intention, and we judge others on their behavior.” – Dr. Mary Crossan
  • “You’re always becoming something; you can be more courageous or less courageous, more humble or less humble.” – Dr. Mary Crossan
  • “In between stimulus and response, there is a space… In that response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Dr. Mary Crossan
  • “The moment you start to move the needle on the development of character… you move everything that matters to an organization.” – Dr. Mary Crossan

Action Steps:

1. Self-assess your character dimensions using tools like the Virtuosity character app.

  • This step helps to identify areas of strength and weaknesses, which is essential for balanced leadership growth.

2. Integrate character-focused questions into your hiring process.

  • Effective alignment of character traits with company values can enhance team coherence and reduce turnover.

3. Encourage daily reflections on actions and behaviors to cultivate desired character traits.

  • Reflection increases self-awareness, which is pivotal for continuous personal development.

4. Promote a culture that values and rewards demonstrations of positive character.

  • A supportive culture can lead to increased employee voice, commitment, and engagement.

5. Equip yourself to navigate unfamiliar systems with character confidence.

  • Recognizing and utilizing one’s character strengths can alleviate the effects of impostor syndrome.

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Artitudes Design by Andrea Heuston. Artitudes Design is an award-winning creative agency that has been creating visual communication for Fortune 500 companies for over 25 years. They have worked with notable companies such as Microsoft, Starbucks, Expedia, and have also served startups and nonprofit organizations.

They specialize in connecting speakers with audiences by creating visual value with presentations and through the creation of motion graphics, video, and content.

To learn more about Artitudes Design, visit their website today. Checkout their portfolio to see their previous projects, and contact them today to find out how they can help you bring your business a cut above the rest.

Uncontainable Growth

Ali Cudby is the Founder and CEO of Alignmint Growth Strategies, a consultancy transforming businesses through intentional customer experiences. As the author of the best-selling book Keep Your Customers, she specializes in customer experience and loyalty, employing a unique four-step method that she crafted from her extensive background in corporate planning, strategic marketing, and customer relations. Ali’s experience includes pivotal roles at the New York Times, Golf Digest, and Animal Planet TV network.

Ali Cudby
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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

  • [03:56] How Ali Cudby’s experience at the New York Times influenced her business philosophy
  • [09:37] The impact of making employees and customers feel valued and engaged
  • [11:56] Alignmint Growth Strategies’ unique brand mantra
  • [14:31] How adapting to AI can be a game-changer for contemporary businesses
  • [17:59] Practical steps to crafting customer retention strategies that eliminate churn
  • [22:06] The importance of aligning your company to serve customers effectively
  • [34:51] Advice for women leaders to embrace relationship-oriented leadership for long-term success

In this episode…

With one fundamental shift in your business approach, you can make a meaningful impact on your team and customers. Could crafting more intentional customer experiences be the key to explosive growth?

Ali Cudby, a customer experience maven, emphasizes developing retention strategies that make the customer feel seen, heard, and valued. This involves making small but powerful shifts in your communication and service-delivery tactics, which fosters customer and employee loyalty. You can enhance satisfaction by communicating service benefits from the customer’s perspective and developing a clear and consistent process for customer engagement.

In this episode of the Lead Like a Woman Show, Andrea Heuston welcomes Ali Cudby, the Founder and CEO of Alignmint Growth Strategies, for a discussion about crafting superior customer experiences. Ali talks about the “mint method,” her company’s unconventional name origins, and the importance of data in aligning your organization’s strategies.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

Quotable Moments:

  • “When you make people feel seen, heard, and valued, that’s when you create long-term loyalty and customer retention.” – Ali Cudby
  • “AI becomes so powerful as it takes away the barriers to keeping information up to date and engaging with the customer more effectively.” – Ali Cudby
  • “Empathy is not just a soft skill, it’s a business strategy that underpins uncontainable growth.” – Ali Cudby
  • “The bullseye is about defining who we are for our customers, not just for ourselves.” – Ali Cudby
  • “Women leaders, listen to your relationship-oriented instincts; they hold the key to successful business outcomes.” – Ali Cudby

Action Steps:

1. Develop a clear and consistent process for customer engagement.

  • It ensures every employee understands how to make customers feel valued, fostering loyalty and retention.

2. Create a customer-centric mantra for your business.

  • It keeps the focus on customer experiences, driving decisions that enhance their satisfaction and loyalty.

3. Utilize AI tools to keep customer communication relevant and updated.

  • AI streamlines updating processes, making it easier to maintain fresh and engaging content for customers.

4. Communicate benefits from the customer’s perspective.

  • Doing so enhances empathy and relationship-building, leading to more effective customer interactions.

5. Foster an internal culture that prioritizes valuing employees.

  • When employees feel valued, they are more engaged and likely to deliver higher-quality customer service.

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Artitudes Design by Andrea Heuston. Artitudes Design is an award-winning creative agency that has been creating visual communication for Fortune 500 companies for over 25 years. They have worked with notable companies such as Microsoft, Starbucks, Expedia, and have also served startups and nonprofit organizations.

They specialize in connecting speakers with audiences by creating visual value with presentations and through the creation of motion graphics, video, and content.

To learn more about Artitudes Design, visit their website today. Checkout their portfolio to see their previous projects, and contact them today to find out how they can help you bring your business a cut above the rest.

You Are the One You’ve Been Waiting For!

Jess Weems Thibault is the VP of Growth at HireEducation, an organization dedicated to growing executive, sales, marketing, and product teams in the education sector. With an MBA from the University of Wisconsin and a solid background in secondary science education, Jess bridges the gap between teaching and ed tech. She has over a decade of experience in various nonprofit settings, including passion-driven involvement in middle school education.

Jess’s diverse career spans from being a self-employed artist to an energetic marketer, using her deep belief in human potential to shape the future of education and talent development.

Jess Weems Thibault
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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

  • [3:30] How Jess Weems Thibault’s background as a teacher influenced her career in EdTech
  • [6:13] The role that creativity and structure play in Jess’s approach to education and technology
  • [10:32] How ed tech can transform teaching experience and student learning
  • [13:59] The significance of flexibility and support in the professional growth of women
  • [19:07] Why middle school education holds a special place for Jess
  • [25:51] The driving force behind Jess’s enthusiasm and passion
  • [30:04] The importance of believing that everything we need is already within ourselves

In this episode…

Ever felt like you’re waiting for someone or something to unlock your next step in life? What if the keys to your boldest moves and successes were always within you, just waiting to be realized?

Jess Weems Thibault, an educator turned growth marketer, explores her dual approach to making informed decisions that resonate with both the creative and analytical sides of problem-solving. Jess emphasizes the importance of believing in human potential and using our innate abilities to navigate the path of innovation and change. Reflecting on how her passion for maximizing human potential translates into her current role, Jess highlights the power of balancing your gut instinct with data for an enriched decision-making process. 

In this episode of the Lead Like a Woman Show, Andrea Heuston hosts Jess Weems Thibault, the VP of Growth at HireEducation, to discuss the power of informed decisions. Jess highlights the importance of ‘internal resources,’ such as self-belief and the combination of analytical and creative strengths, in pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

Quotable Moments:

  • “Humans are fascinating creatures, like, we have so much more capacity than we give ourselves credit for.”
  • “Good marketing should help people, right? It just helps them see the need that they have or know how to fix a need that they have.”
  • “There’s an energy in every conversation you have that has the potential to impact something else or be a connection later on.”
  • “I’ve always been obsessed with maximizing human potential.”
  • “You are the one you’ve been waiting for, everything you need or want is already within you.”

Action Steps:

1. Embrace a multi-disciplinary approach: Integrating various fields like education, marketing, and technology can spark innovation in your career.

  • This embraces the diversity of skills and knowledge, empowering leaders to tackle problems from different angles, as demonstrated by Jess.

2. Combine intuition with data in decision-making: Allow your gut feelings to guide you but back them up with factual data.

  • Balancing intuition and empirical evidence can lead to decisions that are both innovative and grounded, thus more likely to succeed.

3. Build, launch, and empower: Develop your ideas and give them life, but also empower others to take the reins.

  • Leverage personal leadership to initiate change, but foster a culture of ownership and innovation among team members for sustained growth.

4. Cultivate your unique superpower: Identify and harness your unique blend of skills and passions.

  • Recognizing and utilizing one’s distinctive capabilities can lead to more authentic and impactful leadership, as revealed by Jess’s left-brain right-brain synergy.

5. Maximize human potential: Seek to bring out the best in yourself and others by fostering environments of growth and learning.

  • Encouraging the development of potential in others can have a ripple effect, leading to a more engaged and productive workforce.

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Artitudes Design by Andrea Heuston. Artitudes Design is an award-winning creative agency that has been creating visual communication for Fortune 500 companies for over 25 years. They have worked with notable companies such as Microsoft, Starbucks, Expedia, and have also served startups and nonprofit organizations.

They specialize in connecting speakers with audiences by creating visual value with presentations and through the creation of motion graphics, video, and content.

To learn more about Artitudes Design, visit their website today. Checkout their portfolio to see their previous projects, and contact them today to find out how they can help you bring your business a cut above the rest.

The Connector’s Advantage

Michelle Tillis Lederman is the Founder and CEO of Executive Essentials, a training company that provides communication and leadership programs and executive coaching services. She is an accomplished speaker, trainer, coach, and the author of four books, including The Connector’s Advantage.

As a former NYU professor, financial executive, and recovering CPA, Forbes named Michelle as one of the top 25 Professional Networking Professionals. She inspires individuals and organizations in the government, academia, Fortune 500, and nonprofit spaces to build relationships and get results. 

Michelle Tillis Lederman
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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

  • What led Michelle Tillis Lederman to write The Connector’s Advantage?
  • Cultivating mindsets to grow your influence and impact 
  • Michelle defines a connector and shares how to become one 
  • The 11 laws of likeability
  • Why Michelle wrote her early books
  • What is the Connected Leader Club?

In this episode…

Connecting and networking are crucial for personal and professional development. Anyone can be a connected leader. So how can you scale your influence and impact?

Versatile leader and networking professional Michelle Tillis Lederman has identified the core mindsets you must adopt to become an actionable leader. One approach involves cultivating a generous spirit by identifying ways to help others and maintaining curiosity about their situations. Connectors also prioritize relationships in each interaction and possess a keen sense of self-awareness. By being likable through authenticity, positive energy, and a confident self-image, you can empower those around you.

In this episode of The Lead Like a Woman Show, Andrea Heuston invites Michelle Tillis Lederman, the Founder and CEO of Executive Essentials, to speak about becoming a powerful connector. Michelle explains the qualities of a connector, her impetus to write her books, and how to join the Connected Leader Club.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Artitudes Design by Andrea Heuston. Artitudes Design is an award-winning creative agency that has been creating visual communication for Fortune 500 companies for over 25 years. They have worked with notable companies such as Microsoft, Starbucks, Expedia, and have also served startups and nonprofit organizations.

They specialize in connecting speakers with audiences by creating visual value with presentations and through the creation of motion graphics, video, and content.

To learn more about Artitudes Design, visit their website today. Checkout their portfolio to see their previous projects, and contact them today to find out how they can help you bring your business a cut above the rest.

Choose Excellence and Success Will Follow

Carolyn Ward, MD is the Director of Clinical Strategy and Head of Product Marketing at Particle Health. With over eight years of experience in the health sector and a background as chief resident at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, she leads the charge in shaping clinical product roadmaps and represents the voice of providers and patients in the development process. At Particle Health, Carolyn’s mission is to revolutionize healthcare access and patient outcomes through innovative, data-driven solutions, transforming how patient information is shared across the medical landscape.

Carolyn Ward
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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

  • [3:31] Carolyn Ward, MD shares the inspirations behind her journey into medicine and health tech
  • [5:47] The challenges patients and providers currently face with sharing medical records
  • [8:06] Carolyn discusses the need for a cohesive patient data system for better healthcare outcomes
  • [9:55] How Carolyn’s move to Particle Health allowed her to play a pivotal product-facing role
  • [12:35] The concept of patient encounter alerting and mapping for predictive healthcare
  • [15:57] The significant role AI plays in healthcare’s future in managing patient data and trends
  • [18:20] Why innovation is critical to advancing healthcare practices

In this episode…

Have you ever been frustrated filling out endless forms at a doctor’s office, wondering why your current healthcare provider can’t access your medical history? Isn’t it ironic that despite how advanced medical treatments have become, patient data management seems stuck in the past? What if there’s a way to change that?

Carolyn Ward, MD, a dedicated physician and health tech innovator, introduces us to the revolutionary world of medical data integration. She discusses her path from the halls of Rutgers, delving into medicine, and eventually finding her true passion in the dynamic field of health tech. Particle Health stands as her current platform, where she strives to dismantle the fragmented healthcare system by promoting the unification of patient data for personalized care. Carolyn emphasizes the potential of AI in understanding and predicting individual health outcomes, and how innovation is key in reshaping the relationship between patients and providers.

In this episode of the Lead Like a Woman Show, host Andrea Heuston sits down with Carolyn Ward, MD, the Director of Clinical Strategy and Head of Product Marketing at Particle Health, to talk about leveraging data to transform patient care. Carolyn showcases the power of unified data, the possibilities of AI, and the importance of innovation in the medical field, exploring a future where technology and human touch seamlessly enhance patient outcomes.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

 

Quotable Moments:

  • “Chase excellence, not success because if you chase excellence, success will follow.”
  • “Being a physician is one of those few jobs where you can really go to sleep every night, knowing that you actually made a difference in somebody’s life.”
  • “The future of healthcare lies in our ability to create a cohesive narrative from the data generated throughout a patient’s journey.”
  • “The healthcare system is so fragmented that we expect patients to be the vehicle of transfer for their data.”
  • “AI has the potential to simulate the human body in a way that personalizes treatment and propels healthcare into a new era of precision medicine.”

Action Steps:

1. Foster a curiosity-driven approach in your professional endeavors to unlock innovative solutions.

  • Curiosity leads to unexpected connections and collaborations that fuel innovation, addressing complex challenges as discussed in the episode.

2. Embrace a holistic view of healthcare, integrating Eastern and Western practices.

  • This approach can enrich patient care and lead to more comprehensive treatment strategies, as indicated by the convergence trends mentioned by Carolyn.

3. Advocate for and support advancements in healthcare technology.

  • Embracing tech-driven healthcare changes, such as AI and data integration, can lead to improved patient outcomes, which align with Carolyn’s mission.

4. Leverage personal health data to inform and improve your health journey.

  • Actively managing and understanding personal health data can lead to more personalized care, mirroring the predictive models Carolyn highlighted.

5. Prioritize transparent communication between patients and healthcare providers.

  • Improving communication can reduce data fragmentation and improve the quality of care, tackling one of the main concerns raised by Carolyn in the episode.

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Artitudes Design by Andrea Heuston. Artitudes Design is an award-winning creative agency that has been creating visual communication for Fortune 500 companies for over 25 years. They have worked with notable companies such as Microsoft, Starbucks, Expedia, and have also served startups and nonprofit organizations.

They specialize in connecting speakers with audiences by creating visual value with presentations and through the creation of motion graphics, video, and content.

To learn more about Artitudes Design, visit their website today. Checkout their portfolio to see their previous projects, and contact them today to find out how they can help you bring your business a cut above the rest.