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Darlene Drew: From Warden to Consultant on Pricing and Grief

November 19, 2025 by John Ray

From Federal Warden to Leadership Consultant: Darlene Drew on Building Your Practice, Pricing Mistakes, and Running a Business Through Grief, on The Price and Value Journey podcast with host John Ray
North Fulton Studio
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From Federal Warden to Leadership Consultant: Darlene Drew on Building Your Practice, Pricing Mistakes, and Running a Business Through Grief, on The Price and Value Journey podcast with host John Ray

From Federal Warden to Leadership Consultant: Darlene Drew on Building Your Practice, Pricing Mistakes, and Running a Business Through Grief (The Price and Value Journey, Episode 153)

Do you want to know how to build a professional services business when you have deep expertise but no client base? Darlene Drew shares exactly how she did it after retiring from 32 years in federal corrections, including her time as the first and only woman to serve as warden at the U.S. Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta.

Darlene didn’t join the John Maxwell Team for certification. She joined for resources, guidance, and a roadmap to build relationships in a world entirely different from the one she knew. She reveals her strategic approach to launching her speaking, training, and coaching business, including how she used free speaking at Rotary Clubs within a 90-mile radius to build visibility and generate paying clients. You will learn why she initially wanted to leave “Warden Drew” behind and how her clients taught her that her unique background was actually her greatest asset.

This conversation gets practical fast. Darlene shares the underpricing mistakes she made early on, how demanding clients helped her recognize she was undervaluing her work, and the internal signals that told her it was time to raise her rates. She discusses client red flags she missed, the one engagement she deeply regretted taking, and why giving yourself grace to say no is critical to building a sustainable business.

The second half of the episode shifts to navigating one of life’s hardest challenges. Darlene opens up about losing her husband to pancreatic cancer in 2024 and what it’s been like to rebuild her business while grieving. She shares what helped her, what didn’t, the language that serves grieving people versus the well-intentioned phrases that fall flat, and why “moving forward” isn’t the right frame. If you’ve ever supported a colleague or client through loss or faced it yourself, this part of the conversation offers real wisdom on presence, boundaries, and incremental steps back to work.

The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of the Business RadioX® podcast network.

Key Takeaways You Can Use from This Episode

  • Speaking for free at the right venues can build your business faster than waiting for paid gigs. Darlene used Rotary Clubs within a 90-mile radius to showcase her expertise, build relationships with business leaders, and generate training contracts.
  • You don’t need certification to start. You need resources, guidance, and a way to meet your ideal clients. Darlene joined the John Maxwell Team not for credentials but for content, community, and a roadmap to build her business outside corrections.
  • Clients will tell you what they value, and it’s often not what you think. Darlene wanted to retire “Warden Drew,” but corporate clients saw her corrections background as a unique asset for leading difficult conversations and motivating teams under pressure.
  • Underpricing reveals itself through client behavior. When clients who barely paid demanded more than those who invested significantly, Darlene realized she wasn’t valuing her own work and adjusted her pricing accordingly.
  • Red flags in client conversations matter. If a potential client does not invest time in understanding the problem or co-creating solutions, they are likely seeking a quick fix rather than a solution. Trust those signals early.
  • When supporting someone through grief, presence beats advice. A weekly card, an offer to help without expectation, or simply waiting to listen means more than advice, scripture quotes, or questions about “moving forward.”
  • It’s okay to set boundaries around your grief and ask for what you need. Darlene paused her workaholic tendencies, took incremental steps back into client work, and communicated clearly with her network about what “navigating grief” looked like for her.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

Darlene Drew
Darlene Drew

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
02:02 Darlene Drew’s Career Journey
04:01 Transition to Leadership Training
07:23 Joining the John Maxwell Team
18:38 Building a Speaking Business
26:29 Networking and Referrals
29:17 Developing Pricing Strategies
31:19 Using Google as a Starting Point
33:22 Recognizing Underpricing Signals
35:30 Identifying Poor Fit Clients
37:51 Lessons from a Difficult Client
40:54 Coping with Personal Tragedy
44:35 Navigating Grief and Business
45:28 Support Systems During Grief
52:05 Healing Routines and Self-Care
59:28 Future Plans and Moving Forward
01:01:28 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

Darlene Drew, CEO, Leadership Conditioning, Personal & Professional Development

Darlene Drew, speaking at the 2024 GNFCC BOLD Women's Leadership Summit
Darlene Drew, speaking at the 2024 GNFCC BOLD Women’s Leadership Summit

Darlene Drew is the CEO and Founder of Leadership Conditioning, Personal & Professional Development, LLC. She is also a certified & independent leadership trainer, professional speaker, and executive coach with the Maxwell Leadership Team.

Darlene serves businesses, companies, and organizations by helping leaders develop leaders. Through her training sessions, she equips, engages, and energizes participants with leadership and professional development training by providing them with tools that can immediately be applied in their personal and professional lives.

As an authority in leadership, building relationships, and communications, she helps organizations develop their staff in a manner that improves their bottom line of first valuing people, which improves the operation of their business and the performance and production of their staff.

She has been recognized in the Maxwell Leadership Team as one of the Top 20 Nominees for the Maxwell Leadership Team Culture Award. She’s a 2019 Stage Time Winner. Darlene has been featured in the Peachtree City Magazine on two occasions.

More recently, in 2023, Darlene was one of only 10 recipients of the Culture Award from the John Maxwell system. Her specific award was on “Lead and Lift.”

Her prior career began in the federal government at the entry level as a correctional officer, promoted up to a Senior Executive Service Appointment to the position of Warden. One of her most groundbreaking accomplishments was becoming the first and only female to serve as warden at the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, GA. She served as warden of three federal prisons after being told early on in her career that she would never make it!

These dynamics brought leadership expertise that has positioned her to help those she partners with in their growth.

Website | Facebook | Darlene’s LinkedIn

John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey

John Ray, Author of The Generosity Mindset and Host of The Price and Value Journey
John Ray, Author of The Generosity Mindset and Host of The Price and Value Journey

John Ray is the host of The Price and Value Journey.

John owns Ray Business Advisors, a business advisory practice. John’s services include business coaching and advisory work, as well as advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their pricing. John is passionate about the power of pricing for business owners, as changing pricing is the fastest way to change the profitability of a business. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, consultants, coaches, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.

John is a podcast show host and the owner of North Fulton Business Radio, LLC, an affiliate of Business RadioX®. John and his team work with B2B professionals to create and conduct their podcast using The Generosity Mindset® Method: building and deepening relationships in a non-salesy way that translates into revenue for their business.

John is also the host of North Fulton Business Radio. With over 900 shows and having featured over 1,300 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in its region like no one else.

John’s book, The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices

John Ray at Barnes & Noble with his book, The Generosity MindsetJohn Ray is the author of the five-star rated book The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices, praised by readers for its practical insights on raising confidence, value, and prices.

If you are a professional services provider, your goal is to do transformative work for clients you love working with and get paid commensurate with the value you deliver to them. While negative mindsets can inhibit your growth, adopting a different mindset, The Generosity Mindset®, can replace those self-limiting beliefs. The Generosity Mindset enables you to diagnose and communicate the value you deliver to clients and, in turn, more effectively price to receive a portion of that value.

Whether you’re a consultant, coach, marketing or branding professional, business advisor, attorney, CPA, or work in virtually any other professional services discipline, your content and technical expertise are not proprietary. What’s unique, though, is your experience and how you synthesize and deliver your knowledge. What’s special is your demeanor or the way you deal with your best-fit clients. What’s invaluable is how you deliver outstanding value by guiding people through massive changes in their personal lives and in their businesses that bring them to a place they never thought possible.

Your combination of these elements is unique in your industry. There lies your value, but it’s not the value you see. It’s the value your best-fit customers see in you.

If pricing your value feels uncomfortable or unfamiliar to you, this book will teach you why putting a price on the value your clients perceive and identify serves both them and you, and you’ll learn the factors involved in getting your price right.

The book is available at all major physical and online book retailers worldwide. Follow this link for further details.

Connect with John Ray:

Website | LinkedIn | Email

Business RadioX®:  LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Tagged With: atlanta, Business Development, business pause, career transition, caregiver experience, client boundaries, consulting business, corrections leadership, Darlene Drew, executive coaching, Federal Bureau of Prisons, federal prison warden, Georgia, grief and business, incremental recovery, john maxwell, John Maxwell Team, John Ray, Leadership Conditioning Personal & Professional Development, leadership training, navigating loss, networking strategy, pancreatic cancer, pricing strategy, prison warden, professional services, professional speaking, Rotary Club speaking, Service Business, The Price and Value Journey, underpricing

Transforming Communities Through Wellness: The Blue Zones Experience

April 8, 2024 by Karen

Transforming-Communities-Through-Wellness-The-Blue-Zones-Experience-Feature
Phoenix Business Radio
Transforming Communities Through Wellness: The Blue Zones Experience
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Transforming Communities Through Wellness: The Blue Zones Experience

In this episode, Karen Nowicki has a dynamic conversation with Kathleen Gramzay and Sarah Kearney, delving into the transformative impact of the Blue Zones Project in Scottsdale. Kathleen brings her expertise in holistic wellness, stressing the vital link between individual well-being and community health. Sarah elaborates on the Blue Zones Project’s mission to promote longevity and wellness based on lifestyle principles from global longevity hotspots. Together, they explore the project’s community-driven approach and collaborative efforts with local organizations to tailor initiatives to Scottsdale’s needs.

They both share the importance of aligning values and fostering connections for long-term well-being, seamlessly tying together the episode’s overarching themes of personal empowerment and community engagement in pursuit of healthier, more resilient lifestyles.

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Blue Zones Project is a community-wide well-being improvement initiative designed to make healthy choices easier through permanent changes to surroundings and environments – places where people work, eat, live, walk, learn, ride bikes, and spend time together. By helping people live better, longer through behavior change, communities can lower healthcare costs, improve productivity, and boost national recognition as a great place to live, work, and play.

Sarah-Kearney-Phoenix-Business-RadioSarah Kearney leads Blue Zones Project Scottsdale as the Executive Director. Her leadership experience is diverse and rooted in community well-being, service, and forward-thinking optimism. She most recently worked for Experience Scottsdale, a destination marketing organization whose mission is to enhance the Scottsdale community through tourism.

In Sarah’s 16+ year tenure at the organization, she held several senior leadership roles and specialized in partner development strategy, membership and community engagement, program development, and more.

Driven by her passion for the Scottsdale community, Sarah has served, led, and guided several local organizations, leaving a cross-sector imprint. She has served as the Board President for Scottsdale Leadership, the Board President for Community Celebrating Diversity, a Board Member for Scottsdale Sister Cities, the Officer of Membership for Millennials in Travel, and the Vice President of Community Outreach at GiGi’s Playhouse Phoenix/Scottsdale.

Sarah holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a B.A. in Communication from Arizona State University. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, reading, sports and spending time in the Scottsdale sunshine. She is a proud wife and hockey, dance, and dog mom to her two children and golden retriever.

Follow Blue Zones Project on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

KinLLC-logo

Kinessage LLC provides organizations with resilience strategy and body/mind resilience training, teaching leaders and teams to reduce stress, burnout, and pain for more resilient workforces and healthier, happier people.

Kathleen-Gramzy-Phoenix-Business-RadioKathleen Gramzay, LMT and Founder of Kinessage LLC operates as a fractional Chief Resilience Officer, resilience strategy consultant, and body/mind resilience trainer to optimize organizational and individual sustainability.

Kathleen has been a body/mind resilience innovator for over 20 years. In addition to her practice as a 20-year board-certified massage therapist, she developed and taught Kinessage® Massage Through Movement and Kinessage® Self Care to occupational, physical, and massage therapists around the country.

Kinessage is a unique massage method and method of self-care that uses the nervous system and movement to self-release the chronic tension patterns underlying musculoskeletal disorders without drugs or need of a practitioner.

Her own entrepreneurial experience with chronic stress and burnout bringing the do-it-yourself Kinessage® Virtual Self-Care System to business and the public necessitated her discovery of body/mind reset tools to restore her own mental function and well-being.

Connect with Kathleen on LinkedIn.

Tagged With: blue zones, Blue Zones Project Scottsdale, BZP Scottsdale, leadership training, resilience training

Navigating Leadership: Insights from Industry Pros E46

January 31, 2024 by Karen

Navigating-Leadership-Insights-from-Industry-Pros-feature
AZ TechCast
Navigating Leadership: Insights from Industry Pros E46
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Navigating Leadership: Insights from Industry Pros E46

This dynamic podcast interview, hosted by Karen Nowicki and Steven Zylstra, featured esteemed guests Victor Assad from Strategic HR Consulting; Carol Stewart from Tech Parks Arizona and Art Taylor from PayPal. These leaders engaged in a comprehensive exploration of effective leadership in the rapidly evolving tech landscape.

The group discussed the challenges faced by leaders today, including navigating remote work arrangements, adapting to changing regulatory landscapes, and maintaining strong organizational cultures amidst hybrid work setups. Victor emphasized the importance of aligning executive expectations with employee concerns, while Art stressed the need for ethics-based compliance programs. Carol highlighted the struggle of preserving a strong organizational culture in remote settings, focusing on creating inclusive environments and fostering connections among employees.

Transitioning to essential attributes for effective leadership and team development, the discussion continued with Art underlining the importance of openness to new approaches and creating a culture of trust. Victor emphasized transparency and flexibility, while Carol added courage and empowerment to the mix.

The conversation concludes with insights into the multifaceted nature of leadership, highlighting the significance of diversity, mentorship, and continuous growth in leadership roles, encapsulating a holistic understanding of effective leadership in today’s tech-driven world.

Fostering leadership growth is an important function of the Arizona Technology Council as they hold annual peer-to-peer networking groups for industry leaders to eagage with and learn from each other.

Victor-Assad-logo

Victor Assad Strategic HR Consulting works with companies to transform HR, conduct executive and technical searches, implement hybrid work, improve compensation and performance management, leaders, teams, and cultures of innovation so they can grow profitably.

Assad-Victor-AZ-TechCastVictor Assad is the CEO of Victor Assad Strategic HR Consulting Managing Partner of InnovationOne, LLC. He works with companies to transform HR, conduct executive and technical searches, implement hybrid work, and improve leaders, teams, and cultures of innovation.

Victor is the author of the highly acclaimed book, Hack Recruiting: The Best of Empirical Research, Method and Process, and Digitization. He publishes a weekly blog and is quoted in journals such as The Wall Street Journal, Workforce Management, Human Resources Executive, and CEO Magazine. He publishes weekly blogs.

Victor has led human resources in strategic business units at Honeywell and Medtronic’s fast-growth, high-technology businesses. He has led HR globally from Mumbai to Milano. Victor has significantly improved HR and recruiting at business units of Honeywell and Medtronic and in his consulting, often cutting recruiting cycle time in half, improving diversity representation, and cutting costs per hire.

He has pioneered remote and hybrid work, improved performance management and compensation, built learning organizations, managed benefits, and developed great cultures, leaders, and teams.

He has worked in various industries with large and small employers, including medical devices, health care, semiconductors, high tech, real estate, retail, and with government agencies, such as the US Department of Energy, to name a few.

Victor holds a Master of Arts Degree in Human Resources and Industrial Relations from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. He has executive leadership certifications from Harvard and Kellogg. He and his wife live in Scottsdale, AZ.

Connect with Victor on LinkedIn.

TechParks30yearlogolockup

Tech Parks Arizona advances companies of all sizes and facilitates university-industry interaction in alignment with the research, mission and goals of the University of Arizona (UA). Companies that partner with Tech Parks Arizona are linked to a world-class team that is invested in their success and directly connected to the research expertise and talent of the university through purpose-built environments which include the UA Tech Park, the UA Tech Park at The Bridges and the University of Arizona Center for Innovation.

The UA Tech Park, a thriving employment hub in southeast Tucson, houses over 100 companies and 6,000 knowledge workers, contributing a remarkable $2 billion annually to the local economy. As one of the nation’s premier research parks, it encompasses 1,267 acres and has 2 million square feet of tech offices, R&D, and laboratory facilities in southeast Tucson.

The University of Arizona Center for Innovation (UACI), the university’s incubator network, provides access to people, programming, and places that help entrepreneurs take their companies from idea to market. With the mission to fuel the Arizona economy, UACI works to help scale science and tech-based startups through a 28-point structured roadmap.

The UA Tech Park at The Bridges is a 65-acre community of innovation within a larger 350-acre mixed-use development project, strategically located minutes from the University of Arizona Main Campus, Downtown Tucson and the Tucson International Airport.

The campus is perfect for tech-focused businesses and organizations that want to co-locate with the university and draw upon the talent and sharp minds that can be mined from the University of Arizona.

Tech Parks Arizona is proud to commemorate its 30-year anniversary. Shaping the Future at the Speed of Business – Technology’s Best Address.

Carol-Stewart-AZ-TechCastCarol Stewart, a long-standing authority on research parks, is the Vice President for Tech Parks Arizona at the University of Arizona. Carol Stewart leads the UA Tech Park at Rita Road and is developing the UA Tech Park at The Bridges.

She is also president of the University of Arizona Center for Innovation (UACI), a technology business incubator network serving the University of Arizona, Tucson and international community.

Stewart’s expertise in university research parks spans decades and nations with more than 20 years of experience working with research parks, technology commercialization, business incubation, governmental relations and business development.

As a pioneer in the research parks world, she has driven national policy, standardized programs, created national and international networks, built technology clusters, engaged stakeholders, and assisted countries with the development of their national science and technology policies.

Stewart is passionate about her community and serves as a champion in university-based economic development. She is a member of Southern Arizona Leadership Council, Flinn Foundation Steering Committee, a member of the Canadian Global Mentor Program and she also serves on the Board of Directors for Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce, Pima County’s Workforce Investment Board, Arizona Technology Council, Desert Angels, and is the Vice President on the national University Economic Development Association (UEDA) board, and a member of the North American CEO Council for Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW).

She also serves as the North American Division President for the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP). IASP is the worldwide network of science parks and areas of innovation. IASP has nearly four hundred members in 74 countries. Previously, Stewart served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of University Research Parks (AURP), which represents 170 research parks in North America. She collaborates with numerous leaders world-wide to build and grow university-related research parks through education, unification, and collaboration. She helps to expand and advance the impact of research parks and areas of innovation by showcasing best practices across the globe.

Her proven success record also includes co-founding the Canadian chapter of the Association of University Research Parks, founding director of the David Johnston Research + Technology Park at the University of Waterloo spearheading the development of the park, advancing the park to over the one-million-square-foot milestone, leading the marketing efforts and launching the professional services division of Maplesoft, a global spin-off company from the University of Waterloo, and enhancing the entrepreneurial culture of Canada at the Canadian Industrial Innovation Centre (CIIC).

Follow Tech Parks Arizona on LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Instagram.

PayPal allows any business or individual with an email address to securely, conveniently and cost-effectively send and receive payments online. Our network builds on the existing financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards to create a global, real-time payment solution.

Art-Taylor-AZ-TechCastArt Taylor serves as a vice president within PayPal’s Global Compliance Investigations division. In this capacity, Taylor leads a team of industry experts in charge of risk and compliance investigations in North America, ensuring PayPal fulfills its commitment to combat money laundering, terrorism financing and other related financial crimes.

Taylor’s team is primarily concentrated in two main hubs — Phoenix and Omaha, Nebraska — and encompasses approximately 400 talented subject matter experts. Taylor brings over 10 years of financial crime risk management and operations experience to PayPal.

Prior to joining the PayPal team in 2016, Taylor worked for American Express and Bank of America serving in a variety of compliance and operations leadership roles.

Over the last decade, Taylor has led global teams and developed organizational processes in the financial and compliance industries In 2015, Taylor earned the designation of Certified Advanced Financial Crimes Investigations Specialist (CAMS-CFI).

Taylor earned his master’s degree in global business management from the University of Phoenix, and a bachelor’s degree in international business from Menlo College.

Connect with Art on LinkedIn.

About Your Hosts

Steven-ZylstraSteve Zylstra serves as president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council, a role he assumed in 2007. He is responsible for strategy, operations, finance and policy development. Zylstra is a vocal spokesman for the value technology can provide in raising social and economic standards in Arizona.

Zylstra serves on numerous councils, committees and boards, was named “Leader of the Year, Technology,” by the Arizona Capitol Times, and “Most Admired Leader” by the Phoenix Business Journal. In addition, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of science in technology from the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Ariz.

Zylstra earned a bachelor’s degree in automotive engineering technology from Western Michigan University.

KarenNowickiv2Karen Nowicki is a successful author, speaker and the creator of Deep Impact Leadership™ and SoulMarks Coaching™. She is a two-time recipient of the prestigious national Choice Award® for her book and personal development retreat. Karen was crowned the first-ever “Mompreneur of the Year” Award in 2010 for the southwestern states. She was recognized for her leadership, business acumen, and work-life balance.

Karen has been an expert guest on regional TV and radio shows, including Fox Phoenix Morning Show, Sonoran Living, Good Morning Arizona, The Chat Room, and Mid-Day Arizona. She has been a regular contributor to many print and online magazines – publishing articles and blogs for business and education.

In addition to working with private coaching clients, Karen is also the Owner & President of Phoenix Business RadioX. The Business RadioX Network amplifies the voice of business – serving the Fortune 500,000, not just the Fortune 500. Phoenix Business RadioX helps local businesses and professional associations get the word out about the important work they’re doing to serve their market, profession, and community.

Of all the experiences Karen has had the privilege of participating in over her vast career, she shares that Phoenix Business RadioX is a pinnacle adventure!

Connect with Karen on LinkedIn and follow Phoenix Business RadioX on Facebook and Instagram.

LeslieMarquezHeadshotsmallerLeslie Cooper Marquez is a dynamic marketing professional with over 17 years of broad-based marketing, public relations and advertising experience in both in-house and agency environments.

Originally from Birmingham, AL, Leslie has honed her expertise across diverse sectors, including non-profit performing arts, legal marketing, mortgage technology, and residential mortgage marketing.

Leslie has been an integral part of the Arizona community for the past 5 years. Most recently, she served as the Marketing Director for Scottsdale-based mortgage technology firm, focusIT, Inc., and previously as the Director of Marketing for Ballet Arizona.

Beyond her professional commitments, Leslie is an active member of the community. She serves as a Sustainer with the Junior League of Phoenix, volunteers with the Distinguished Young Women of Arizona scholarship program and is an alumna of the esteemed Valley Leadership Accelerate class of 2019.

In her spare time, Leslie shares her passion for fitness as a dedicated barre instructor at TenPoint5 Central. Above all, she cherishes her roles as a devoted mother to a young son and a loving wife to her husband, David.

About Our Sponsor

The Arizona Technology Council, Arizona’s only statewide organization serving the technology sector, fosters a climate of innovation to enhance technology in Arizona.

A trusted resource in strengthening Arizona’s technology industry, the Council proactively eliminates impediments that companies face, accelerates the entrepreneurial mindset in the state’s expanding innovation ecosystem, and works to create a destination for companies to be, thrive and stay.

Follow Arizona Technology Council on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

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Tagged With: business advantage, compensation, cultures of innovation, executive coaching, executive search, Human Resources, hybrid working, leadership training, Recruiting, team development, university research parks

The Importance of Talent Development and Custom Solutions for Business Growth, with Lori Fancher, TrainingPros

November 27, 2023 by John Ray

Lori Fancher
North Fulton Business Radio
The Importance of Talent Development and Custom Solutions for Business Growth, with Lori Fancher, TrainingPros
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Lori Fancher

The Importance of Talent Development and Custom Solutions for Business Growth, with Lori Fancher, TrainingPros  (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 721)

Lori Fancher, Relationship Manager with TrainingPros, joined host John Ray to discuss the significance of finding the right talent at the right time for businesses. Lori shared her passion for lifelong learning and human resource development, highlighting how they align with her current role at TrainingPros. She focused on the shifting landscape of the corporate world due to COVID-19 and the evolution of gig work as an accommodating solution. Lori outlined how TrainingPros helps leaders manage their project loads and how she has seen a rewarding transition of contract employees into permanent roles within companies.

The discussion also covered Lori’s award-winning project with Synovus Bank as well as an introduction to the Cana Foundation, a non-profit supporting leadership development and personal growth. They concluded by emphasizing the importance of flexibility, coherence with corporate goals, and how rigorous identification of the right talent forms the foundation of organizational success.

North Fulton Business Radio is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

TrainingPros

For more than 25 years, TrainingPros has served the training, eLearning, and technical writing communities by providing qualified learning and development (L&D) consultants to clients on a contract basis. In addition to staffing services, TrainingPros provides custom eLearning and instructor-led training development for companies through managed services.

The company has relationship managers in locations throughout the United States to serve both clients and consultants. TrainingPros is certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.

When learning leaders have more projects than people, TrainingPros can provide the right L&D consultants to start their projects with confidence.

Company website | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube

Lori Fancher, PhD, Relationship Manager, TrainingPros

Lori Fancher, PhD, Relationship Manager, TrainingPros

Lori Fancher, PhD, is a relationship manager at TrainingPros, Lori guides talent development consultants, leaders and executives in the selection and placement of expert contract-based staff to realize strategic business results. Her background working with operations and human resources leaders spans multiple industries, including health care, insurance, retail, transportation, and banking. Having been a client of TrainingPros in the past, Lori is well acquainted with the firm and its mission.

Bringing over 18 years of experience as a consultant and a leader in the enterprise learning and design industry, Lori has advised clients in achieving strategic imperatives by maximizing capabilities and improving the performance of large companies. She also has a combined 10 years of business research and consulting experience in talent and organization development (OD), HR metrics and strategy, internal capabilities and organizational culture.

Lori earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, and holds a doctorate, in human resource development and OD from Georgia State University. She is a member of the Association for Talent Development, is certified in CCI DISC and Uniquely You from Arrow Coaching+ (formally Christian Coaching Institute) and is a Hogan Leadership Coach by Hogan Assessment Systems.

LinkedIn

Questions and Topics in this Interview:

  • 01:19 Guest Introduction: Lori Fancher from TrainingPros
  • 01:50 Lori’s Passion for Human Resource Development
  • 03:34 The Role of Learning in Organizational Development
  • 04:36 Lori’s Journey to TrainingPros
  • 06:02 Understanding the Role of a Relationship Manager
  • 08:01 Trends in Talent Development and the Impact of COVID-19
  • 11:16 The Rise of Gig Workers and Advice for New Gig Workers
  • 14:50 Understanding the Business of Contracting
  • 15:34 The Importance of Marketing and Branding Yourself
  • 15:48 The Role of TrainingPros in Your Business
  • 16:11 Addressing the Challenges of Leadership Development
  • 17:05 The Art and Science Behind Successful Training
  • 17:27 The Role of TrainingPros in Project Prioritization
  • 18:11 The Impact of TrainingPros on Organizational Transformation
  • 18:30 Celebrating Success: The Synovus Project
  • 20:44 The Cana Foundation: A Nonprofit Initiative
  • 23:57 The Success Stories of TrainingPros
  • 26:14 The Versatility of TrainingPros Across Industries

North Fulton Business Radio is hosted by John Ray and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.

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Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions, with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management, and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

Since 2000, Office Angels® has been restoring joy to the lives of small business owners, enabling them to focus on what they do best. At the same time, we honor and support at-home experts who wish to continue working on an as-needed basis. Not a temp firm or a placement service, Office Angels matches a business owner’s support needs with Angels who have the talent and experience necessary to handle work that is essential to creating and maintaining a successful small business. Need help with administrative tasks, bookkeeping, marketing, presentations, workshops, speaking engagements, and more? Visit us at https://officeangels.us/.

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] From the business radio X studio inside Renasant bank, the bank that specializes in understanding you it’s time for north Fulton business radio.
[00:00:17] John Ray: Hello again everyone. And welcome to another edition of North Fulton Business Radio. I’m John Ray and folks, we are broadcasting from inside Renasant bank in beautiful Alpharetta. And if you’re looking for a bank that’s big enough to handle pretty much any need you can throw at them. But they’re small enough to deliver their services in a personal way on, and I know this myself because I work with them. Renasant bank is your choice. At least I think, and again, know this personally. Here’s what I would tell you about them. And maybe the way to test, go to Renasant bank.com.
[00:00:55] John Ray: Find one of their local offices and give them a call. See if a live person answers the phone. They will. And imagine that for a, in the banking world today, that’s just the way they do their business. And it’s indicative of wait, what happens if you become a Renasant customer.
[00:01:13] John Ray: Renasant bank, understanding you, member FDIC.
[00:01:19] John Ray: And now want to welcome Lori Fancher. Lori is a relationship manager with TrainingPros. Lori, welcome.
[00:01:25] Lori Fancher: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.
[00:01:27] John Ray: Yeah. Delighted to have you here. Let’s talk about you and your work, how’re you serving folks out there.
[00:01:33] Lori Fancher: Yeah. So I’m helping people find the right talent at the right time to get their training projects done.
[00:01:40] John Ray: Oh, nobody needs that these days.
[00:01:41] John Ray: Right? Everybody needs that. Okay. This is a timely interview. Glad to have you here. Let’s talk about your journey and what makes you passionate about human resource development, organizational development. Whatever you want to call it. That’s your world. What makes you passionate about that work?
[00:02:05] Lori Fancher: Sure.
[00:02:05] Lori Fancher: So I’m a lifelong learner. I’m an achiever too. And I’m a connector according to StrengthsFinder. Anyway. And so it lines up perfectly with where I am today. The journey for me started out with, I got involved a little bit in corporate and having an opportunity to train others. And my love of learning led me to pursue how to do that better and how to help learners learn what they need to do to be successful on the job. And at throughout that journey. What I realized is that. Sometimes training.
[00:02:37] Lori Fancher: Isn’t the answer. And if training is not the answer, then what. Can be the answer. And what role does organization two organizations play? And helping people learn and grow. So that led me down the path of pursuing my education and human resource development, which is really focused on organizational development. Training and learning and career development. That’s how we get our people.
[00:03:05] Lori Fancher: That’s how we keep our people.
[00:03:06] John Ray: Yeah, for sure. I want to come back to what you said about training there in a minute, but you’ve got a PhD in human resource development and organizational development now. My bride is a. PhD and I know what it takes to get a PhD in any. Discipline. So that reveals some passion that you have about your work. Talk about that passion.
[00:03:34] Lori Fancher: Yeah.
[00:03:34] Lori Fancher: So when you look at learning and you look at what help, what, how do we learn? We have to, we learn from our environment. We learn from other people that are modeled around us at work. We learn from our leaders. We learn from our colleagues. Exposure to resources, right? It’s very complex.
[00:03:49] Lori Fancher: The discipline itself has a lot of other disciplines involved in there. And so I pursued the PhD to be able to have credibility. And helping organizations at that highest level understand. If we want to create corporate learning. If we want to operate corporately corporate, it means. We are. Yeah. That’s many, that’s the collective operating as the individual. How do you take all these people? Learn differently and they pursue work differently. And get them to all align and operate corporately as an individual. And I loved that.
[00:04:27] Lori Fancher: So that’s why I pursued the PhD.
[00:04:31] John Ray: Wow. What. What a great testimony for that. You’re at TrainingPros. I don’t want to talk about your work with TrainingPros, but talk about your journey prior to TrainingPros. Yeah, I
[00:04:42] Lori Fancher: was the client. Okay. So I’ve been, and I was a consultant. So consulting in this space and then going in and out of corporate in my corporate roles, I was responsible for bringing in the right people to help me on these projects. anD use trading pros for a lot of that time training process has been around for 26 years. And had a relationship with them maybe 20 at 24 years ago.
[00:05:04] Lori Fancher: Okay. I’m working with them and they’ve provided me with the, as a client. The ability to find just the right person at the right time.
[00:05:13] John Ray: And for those that don’t know TrainingPros let’s give them a little overview there.
[00:05:17] Lori Fancher: Yeah. So TrainingProsos was started. 26 years ago by Steve Kapaun. He had. I was working at IBM through Accenture and had a need to find an instructional designer to help him with his projects. And didn’t know where to go.
[00:05:30] Lori Fancher: Couldn’t find the the right kind of talent. So we started TrainingPros fast forward, 23 years and his right-hand person, Leighanne Lankford took over the company as president, when Steve retired. And we became a women owned. We bank diversity supplier, still serving. Out of Atlanta, which is home base.
[00:05:51] Lori Fancher: Awesome. And then have grown into 11 major markets. Is it serving the country nationwide now? COVID really changed a lot of things for us to, in a good way.
[00:06:00] John Ray: Yeah. Yeah. So you, your role at TrainingPros, you’re a relationship manager there. Explain what your role is that what that means?
[00:06:09] Lori Fancher: Yes, absolutely.
[00:06:10] Lori Fancher: So relationship manager means I’m meeting with clients. I’m bringing in new clients, I’m meeting with existing clients. Because I have been in this space as a practitioner for a long time serving corporate. And I’ve been a client. I’m able to. Meet them where they are. In their process of implementing all of their L and D projects.
[00:06:32] John Ray: L & D being for those that don’t know, what’s L and D
[00:06:36] Lori Fancher: learning and development projects.
[00:06:37] Lori Fancher: Okay. And organizational development projects. I understand the full life cycle behind both of those. So at any given point in time, connecting with them on where they’re at. And in order to help them complete those successfully. Providing them at the right talent at the right time.
[00:06:54] John Ray: Yeah. Correct me if I’m wrong, but what I think I hear you saying is that it’s one thing to staff the position. It’s another thing to create the environment to make help that person be successful in the position. Is that what we’re talking about here?
[00:07:08] Lori Fancher: Yeah, absolutely. I’m glad you brought that up because. I’m focused on contract.
[00:07:13] Lori Fancher: First of all, if I mentioned that already, but contract staffing is what I do the most of. Okay. And so when you are recognizing the need, what I’m looking for is not the person that can just meet the immediate need. But the person that can come into the organization knowing what’s ahead. And knowing what’s required in terms of skillsets. Throughout the full life cycle of that project, having been there. I’m able to find the right person. To come in and see it all the way through if necessary.
[00:07:41] Lori Fancher: So not meeting the immediate need, but it potentially the future needs as well.
[00:07:45] John Ray: Got it. Folks were here. Speaking with Lori Fancher. Lori is a relationship manager. With TrainingPros Give us an overview of what talent development looks like in the corporate world these days.
[00:08:01] Lori Fancher: Yeah, so talent development boy. We’ve really been through it, like a lot of other functions within the organization through COVID. Now I just came on board at, in this role with TrainingPros three and a half years ago. I Can speak to the last three and a half years, which were pretty tumultuous, right. COVID with the advent of COVID and then the move. The immediate move. From onsite workers to remote workers. What do you do? How can you continue to keep those folks engaged? And the work.
[00:08:30] Lori Fancher: And how do you connect with them? Providing the right learning and the training for the managers who need to now manage remote workers versus onsite. It created a whole slew of training and learning opportunities for everyone. At the same time, we also had the concerns and the. Voices from the community, the raise in awareness around DEI. So how do we get leadership? Involved and help them provide, help them be developed and have those opportunities to understand what does this mean for my organization, my people, and how do I lead differently as a result? Of COVID of DEI, remote workers, very difficult times. And so yeah, seeing a lot of changes in the talent development space as a result of that.
[00:09:17] John Ray: Yeah. And.
[00:09:19] John Ray: Particularly given the. I guess the mentality of people that are out there, the workforce, right? That’s another aspect of this. That creates some turbulence, if you will.
[00:09:33] Lori Fancher: Yeah, absolutely. If you think about the Def the pure definition of work, we were made to work. We were born to work.
[00:09:40] Lori Fancher: I tell my kids this and they don’t like to hear it.
[00:09:44] Lori Fancher: Yeah, i. I get that, but we were made to work and your definition of work isn’t about doing something to make money. It’s about pursuit of purpose. That’s to me at the root of what work is about. And corporate is a place to go and try out. That work, that pursuit of purpose, but corporate also has corporately operating as an individual, their own purpose, and that alignment between the two. Is Is really tricky.
[00:10:14] John Ray: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So any particular trends that you’re seeing in Staffing and L and D staffing in particular.
[00:10:25] Lori Fancher: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:10:26] Lori Fancher: So when it comes to L and D staffing what I have seen as of recent is a little bit of anxiety about whether we’re in a recession, whether we’re not in a recession. And a need to re. Usually when we go through these kinds of challenges, economic challenges, we see training functions. Cut. That’s one of the first places to cut.
[00:10:46] Lori Fancher: And so I’ve got a lot of people who are clients, a lot of people who had permanent. Positions in talent development who are now looking again as contractors. This is the ebb and flow of our world. And the folks I work with within a three-year time period have either been consultants and clients or clients.
[00:11:02] Lori Fancher: So we’ve got this revolving. At the cycle of. Folks who are coming in and out of these permanent roles. As adjustments are made in the economy and anxiety is addressed. Yeah.
[00:11:14] John Ray: So the.
[00:11:16] John Ray: The
[00:11:18] John Ray: whole issue of gig workers. And we’re. We read a lot about that, about the rise in gig workers. What’s your perspective. On that. And what the trends are there?
[00:11:31] Lori Fancher: Yeah, I think the COVID really opened the door to. Allow workers to have flexibility in their lives. To be able to work wherever they want to work from. And now we’re seeing that change with a call to return to the office.
[00:11:46] Lori Fancher: And a lot of folks are bucking that they don’t want to return to the office. And so in. I think the last thing that I read on the gig economy, there was a government report out that said that 2.1 million new gig workers were introduced to the market. And 2020. Which makes sense, and then in 2021 net another 2 million work gig workers at it.
[00:12:11] Lori Fancher: So is continued growth, right? People want freedom to be able to work at wherever they, they want to be and have flexibility to take care of young ones or elderly, or, just have that work-life balance.
[00:12:23] John Ray: What advice would you give to a gig worker. That’s a, will that newly minted. In with the, It’s coming out with that. Coming out of corporate and they’re leaving that shelter, if you will. What advice do you give someone that’s new to working in that way?
[00:12:42] Lori Fancher: I like to talk to him about what they liked the most about their permanent roles. And understand the differences between that and gig work, because when you’re an independent contractor, you have to be careful. And an understanding that you don’t really you’re leaving the structure of corporate. And you’re going for the freedom.
[00:13:00] Lori Fancher: So embrace the freedom. If that’s really what you want. That means flexibility and not falling back into the constraints of permanent work, because that causes legal. Legal implications. When you act, when you work as a contractor, but you, your employer treats you as an employee. So being careful that first of all, and then making sure that that freedom is really what they want.
[00:13:25] Lori Fancher: They’re not going to be climbing the corporate ladder. They’re on their own. And then there’s the ebb and the flow. The cashflow. Yeah. The month to month and what that looks like and the vulnerability there. And the sacrifices and the trade-off. Where are you financially? Are you ready to make a decision like this?
[00:13:41] Lori Fancher: What are your career goals? How does this help you achieve your career goals? A lot of people will step into the gig economy or the contract role because they want to experience new and different and innovative ways. Of doing the work of learning an out and out. Of learning and development. Can’t necessarily experience that as much in the corporate world, because there’s a prescribed way of doing things.
[00:14:03] Lori Fancher: So there’s a trade off there.
[00:14:05] John Ray: Do you find that Individuals step out into the gig. Gig. World or the gig worker. Environment. Maybe a little too. Quickly because they. Their first client, if you will, is their ex employer, right? And That they step into it thinking it’s ready. Made.
[00:14:27] John Ray: And maybe they don’t. Do what they need to do to understand what this new. Way of working. Is going to look like for them. Do you find that.
[00:14:40] Lori Fancher: Yeah, I do. It is ready and easy. Go back. The contract with your employer? Yeah. Yeah, walking those fine lines between being a contractor again in our permanent employees. Super important on both ends. The person contracting you and for yourself, right? And yeah, understanding that it. It’s temporary.
[00:14:58] Lori Fancher: It could be temporary. And you are in a more vulnerable place as a
[00:15:03] John Ray: result. Yeah. And you are in business now. It’s the business of you, right? There’s a book with that title. It’s the business of you. You have to think about that way, right?
[00:15:13] Lori Fancher: Yeah, because when that consistent. Permanent employer turns around and asks you to come back as a contractor.
[00:15:19] Lori Fancher: When that work ends, what do you do next? Yeah. How do you set up your own business? What kind of people can come into your world and accountant to finance person that can help you get set up in that business? And I’ve also found even a lawyer can help you with that as well. And then marketing.
[00:15:35] Lori Fancher: How do you market and brand yourself?
[00:15:36] John Ray: Lots of issues to think about Lori Fincher’s with us folks. Certainly can help us think about those issues and Lori. Is a relationship manager with TrainingPros. Let’s talk a little bit more specifically about your work.
[00:15:51] John Ray: How do I know when I need to call Lori? What problems. I am out encountering in my organization that made me think I need your help.
[00:16:01] Lori Fancher: Yeah, too many projects and not enough people.
[00:16:06] John Ray: Yeah. There’s plenty of that going on.
[00:16:08] Lori Fancher: And then not having the expertise to really follow through. Once you’ve got the budget to make a difference in the organization with a project like leadership development. That’s a big, huge expense, not just in providing the training. But in also taking leaders out of their day to day.
[00:16:26] Lori Fancher: So losing productivity, losing. Potentially during that time some opportunity in the market to be able to go out and learn so that you can come back and do more and better. There’s a big expense to training every time. So when you get that big budget or when you don’t, when you have a budget to do something right, How do you make sure that what you are doing and what you are teaching and what you were helping your leaders understand and learn? Is something that’s going to help the business move forward.
[00:16:56] Lori Fancher: There’s an art to that. And a lot of folks that were SMEEs and subject matter experts. Have understood the art and stepped into the ability to train right there. There. The expert and what they know, and they’re going to go train on it, but there’s also a science behind it, too. So we find the people that have both the art and the science. Behind the ability to make training successful.
[00:17:18] John Ray: Do you help someone – you’ve mentioned having too many projects, not enough people. Do you help
[00:17:25] John Ray: business owner leader, team leader in a big organization, prioritize those projects based on the availability of people. You get down in that kind of. depth with clients?
[00:17:38] Lori Fancher: Yeah, we can. So the roles that we provide for the contract roles that we provide are not just instructional design, which is mainly what I’ve been talking about. But we provide everything that touches training.
[00:17:50] Lori Fancher: So if you need that training schedule or that training coordinator or someone who’s a program manager. Project manager. Tech writer, even a content developer. You X person. We have, we provide all of those different roles that touch training, change management and ODI included because oftentimes. When a company is undergoing a transformation. There’s a huge training learning component to that.
[00:18:16] Lori Fancher: Of course. And it’s inevitable that occurs and we’re ready when that does. So organizational development people and change management, people are also roles that we provide.
[00:18:26] John Ray: Great work. So you. Have won an award. Alongside your client. Synovus. That’s a small little out of the way bank we’ve heard of.
[00:18:38] John Ray: But actually quite well managed and well known bank. I headquartered here in Georgia. So what talk about. That project. That led to this award.
[00:18:51] Lori Fancher: Yeah. So Synovus reached out to me because they had received a an agreement from their top C level suite to be able to provide some new leadership training. They saw a surge and some of their old some of the leaders who had been around for a long time were leaving, moving on and they had a large group of new leaders they needed to help get settled in.
[00:19:13] Lori Fancher: They also had some changes going on at Synovus and so they were looking for the ideal solution for their learning and that they got this budget. So what do we do? They had some off the shelf programs, Blanchard, Covey, some of the other big wigs in the space. They had some of their training components, but really we’re trying to understand how do we put this together?
[00:19:32] Lori Fancher: Something that means that’s customized for Synovis. Customized learning solutions is what we do at TrainingPros. There’s nothing off the shelf. So we take what’s existing or we create new and we make a customized. So that process throughout that process, it. Took us a little bit of time to find the right person. Because in the beginning, they didn’t really know what they needed. They were sending them different candidates and exploring various roles and places in the in the project where they would need the most need and help based on who they had in their current team. And the gaps, we were able to find a person that came in that allowed them to create a learning solution.
[00:20:10] Lori Fancher: That was award-winning. It had war award-winning features to it. It had done some things. To leverage digital assets and provide learning tools to leaders on an ongoing basis. So it wasn’t a once and done. They had people that went through the training who would come back and facilitate to other leaders.
[00:20:27] Lori Fancher: So leaders, teaching leaders. Platinum award at the end, recognized by C-suite. They did a lot of things. And they want a Brandon Hall award as a result. So we’re pretty proud of
[00:20:36] Lori Fancher: that.
[00:20:37] John Ray: Wow. You should be that’s. Congratulations on that work. That’s fantastic. Let’s
[00:20:42] John Ray: Switch gears here.
[00:20:44] John Ray: And talk about another little piece of your world, which is a nonprofit that you. We’re and I think your husband too, we were talking about before we came on the year. So shout out to him. A nonprofit, the two that the two of you are driving.
[00:21:00] Lori Fancher: Yeah, my husband’s an entrepreneur at heart. He also works for another large bank. We haven’t talked about, but anyway he had experience in creating a workspace.
[00:21:11] Lori Fancher: Like I think we work throwing a brain. Brand out there. A building where people could come and explore their themselves, their skillsets, their talents, and help them grow their business. And provide all the support to be able to do that. Then COVID hit so that wasn’t going to be an option.
[00:21:28] Lori Fancher: People weren’t going into a building. So we created an opportunity to have people go out and be immersed in the community of need. And use their talents and gifts and offer those up to folks who don’t have access or couldn’t afford it. And the way that we did this is we took a team of dentists out to Costa Rica. To a lodge that we own with several other partners out there to do mission related work. And we served a village of 300 people. We had clients and our connections provide other materials, products, resources. And we gave those out to the individuals to like eyewear so that they could see better. While they were getting also dental care. And it was fabulous. So rewarding.
[00:22:12] Lori Fancher: We learned a lot and our ability to do that. The dentist and the dental team learned a lot in our ability to do that. And so we wanted to continue to do this again. So we created con a foundation to provide those opportunities.
[00:22:27] John Ray: How do folks plug in to Cana foundation? Talk about that. How do. You did this. Big project in Costa Rica gets where does that go and who should be in touch with you?
[00:22:39] Lori Fancher: Yeah. So folks who are want to I’ll just throw this out there. Do leadership development. Bring their leaders to a place where they can serve others. Learn more about themselves, about who they are as leaders as well as be able to give back.
[00:22:55] Lori Fancher: We do some of that already. At the lodge and Costa Rica. Anyone who wants to. He wants to be able to take their, I’ve got some hairdressers and some other folks that I know that are going out next. To provide resources and help to, for women who are underprivileged there, Costa Rica. Prostitution is legalized.
[00:23:17] Lori Fancher: So it’s a very different environment for a woman who maybe is limited on their work opportunities in terms of being able to speak English and being able to serve in and. A better industry in a better environment. And so they’re going out there to this team of hairdressers is going out there next to be able to.
[00:23:37] Lori Fancher: mAke these women feel more professional and better about themselves.
[00:23:40] John Ray: Yeah. Yeah. But you don’t have to necessarily be. In a industry like the dental end. Practice where there’s a specific service you can offer.
[00:23:52] Lori Fancher: No, you don’t. Okay. You can do.
[00:23:55] John Ray: Yes. Okay. Awesome. So back to your work with TrainingPros let’s talk about. First of all the success story you don’t have to mention any names, but just one that you’ve already talked about Synovus, but talk about a success story that stands out that helps illustrate the great work you do.
[00:24:14] Lori Fancher:
[00:24:14] Lori Fancher: There’s a lot of success stories. I would say the consistency across those success stories are the people that are hired permanently. They were such a good fit as a contractor that they ended up staying permanently. I would define that as a success story. For example, I’ve got a a client that Only hires contract first, they bring them in and try them out.
[00:24:35] Lori Fancher: And then to see whether or not they’re a good fit for their team. And I’ve been able to provide them. I think the number is 70 to 80% of the time. Those folks who they then hire permanently. Wow. Pretty darn good.
[00:24:50] John Ray: I was
[00:24:50] John Ray: going to say that sounds terrific.
[00:24:53] Lori Fancher: Yeah. So those are the real success stories.
[00:24:56] Lori Fancher: We had another real quick, one other one in New York. So New York had an opening there. Airport. Where they needed to have someone come in and. They had a transformation. The airport was old and outdated and they needed to update the airport. One of the terminals in the airport. And they wanted it to be new and different and welcoming, and they wanted to provide learning to all of the airport staff and all the airport vendors to make a difference for passage, for people traveling through like you and I. And they wanted a trainer who could come in New York that lived in New York that could speak Spanish that had experience in transportation. That also had a background in adult learning that had taught how to understand or talk taught in projects of cultural transformation and knew how to connect the dots for people that were undergoing it. That’s a unicorn. And we were able to find somebody and they won awards for that terminal. Or the experience now of passengers traveling through that terminal.
[00:25:52] Lori Fancher: So that was pretty, it was pretty impressive.
[00:25:55] John Ray: That’s quite impressive. Apps. Absolutely.
[00:25:58] John Ray: Let’s you talked about. The types of the situation that an organization finds itself in where they have. Too many projects, not enough people that’s really the driver. For you and they need to be in touch with you. Are there any particular industries that you work with that are you’re more apt to be helpful on than others or. You will work across the board.
[00:26:25] Lori Fancher: I work across the board. I work a lot with financial institutions. And banks.
[00:26:30] Lori Fancher: I work with transportation. I work with retail. I work with healthcare a lot. Those are some of my more recent telecommunications. Those are some of my more recent clients. But yeah, across the board.
[00:26:41] John Ray: Okay. Okay. Awesome. Lori, this has been great. And I can’t imagine there aren’t some folks that hearing your success and the great work you do.
[00:26:50] John Ray: And by the way, congratulations on that work. Wouldn’t want to be in touch, so let’s tell them how they can
[00:26:55] John Ray: do that.
[00:26:55] Lori Fancher: Thank you. Yes. Of course, LinkedIn LinkedIn, Lori Fancher on LinkedIn and then Lori dot Fancher. At TrainingPros. Dot com.
[00:27:05] John Ray: Terrific. Lori Fancher with TrainingPros, Lori, thanks again for coming in.
[00:27:11] John Ray: We appreciate you and your work and keep it up.
[00:27:13] Lori Fancher: Absolutely. My pleasure. Thanks John.
[00:27:17] John Ray: Hey folks, just a quick thought for you. If you’re as we’re recording this show here at the end of November, 2023, and as the year winds down. You start to think about how you can improve your business for the coming year.
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[00:28:13] John Ray: It’s 6 7 8 5 2 8 0 5 0 0 and let, them know we sent you a, you can go to office angels dot.us if you’re shy, but just give them a call, explain what your problem is. And. I think they’re the folks for you. And I think that because they are the folks from me, they do. They helped me in my business and I couldn’t do my business without them.
[00:28:35] John Ray: So give them a call. You’ll be glad you did.
[00:28:39] John Ray: And a couple of things as we wrap up here I’ve got a book coming out in mid December, 2023. If you’re listening to this show after that, then the book’s out. But it’s for solo small professional services providers. If you’re having trouble with business development or your pricing issues like that’s what this book addresses.
[00:28:58] John Ray: It’s called The Generosity Mindset Method for Business Success. Raise Your Confidence, Your Value and Your Prices. Go to, to go to the generosity mindset.com to learn more. Either sign up for updates or learn how to the book being on when you’re listening to this show. And I want to thank you,
[00:29:17] John Ray: our listener. You have wow. Continue to support us over the years. This is show number. 722 or something like that. And we, we have, wow. It’s hard to believe we have gone down the journey we have gone, but it’s been because of you in the support you have given us. You continue to like us on social media.
[00:29:37] John Ray: We appreciate that North Fulton BRX on all the major platforms. But you also share the show and thank you for that. Please continue to do that. If you’ve heard something here that makes you think I know somebody that needs to hear from Lori. And the great work she does. Please share the show or in for any of our business leaders. That we have that helps. Us help them. In their work. It also helps us fulfill our mission to be the voice of business. In the north Fulton region. So for my guests, Lori Fancher John Ray. Join us next time here on north Fulton business radio.

 

Tagged With: Cana Foundation, John Ray, L & D, leadership training, Learning and Development, Lori Fancher, North Fulton Business Radio, Office Angels, relationship manager, renasant bank, Synovus Bank, TrainingPros

Forget the Sales Tactics and Develop Relationships, with Adam Scharfer, Not In Sales, LLC

July 31, 2023 by John Ray

Business Leaders Radio
Business Leaders Radio
Forget the Sales Tactics and Develop Relationships, with Adam Scharfer, Not In Sales, LLC
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Forget the Sales Tactics and Develop Relationships, with Adam Scharfer, Not In Sales, LLC

When he formed his company, Not in Sales, LLC, Adam Scharfer gave himself the title of “Not a Salesperson.” Adam joined host John Ray on this edition of Business Leaders Radio to discuss legacy sales tactics and why they need to change or be discarded altogether. He said the best sales practices of yesterday are often not the best ones to follow today. Adam revealed how relationship building, not a perfect sales process, can naturally lead to sales through listening, providing helpful information, being a subject matter expert, and more.

Business Leaders Radio is produced and broadcast by the North Fulton Studio of Business RadioX® in Atlanta.

Not In Sales, LLC

Not In Sales helps technology-focused organizations expand adoption of its offerings and further drive revenue by rejecting archaic s@!es processes and embracing authentic relationships.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE:
★ Leveraging a unique combination of technological and business development leadership
★ Strategic planning for business development without fear of simplicity
★ Fractional or interim sales leadership
★ Identifying processes that do not match present-day procurement psychology
★ Breaking org-chart barriers of sales, delivery, and technical teams
★ Not fixing things that aren’t broken
★ Finding people to help grow your business in the places least checked
★ Training leaders and team members on ways to contribute to success without the sales feel.

Company Website

Adam Scharfer, Not a Salesperson, Not In Sales, LLC

Adam is a hands-on, high-energy business development and delivery leader with over 20 years of integrating enterprise software solutions and consulting across multiple industries. He prioritizes a customer-focused work ethic and specializes in client relations.

LinkedIn

 

Questions and Topics in this Interview

  • How did you get into sales and come to the conclusion that you’re “not in sales”?
  • What are some of the legacy sales tactics you’re looking to change?
  • What mistakes do small technology companies often make when presenting their offerings to a prospective client?
  • How would you define a good business relationship versus a not so good one?
  • Sales leadership seems like an important role within an organization. Why do you think it doesn’t have to be a full time role?
  • What advice would you give to leaders of technology companies trying to grow their business and sales teams?

Business Leaders Radio is hosted by John Ray and produced virtually from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® in Alpharetta.  The show can be found on all the major podcast apps and a full archive can be found here.

Tagged With: Adam Scarfer, Business Development, Business Leaders Radio, leadership training, Not In Sales LLC, relationship building, sales expert, sales management, sales process, Sales Tactics, Software Solutions

Gayle Ely, Total Life Leadership

March 30, 2023 by John Ray

Gayle Ely
North Fulton Business Radio
Gayle Ely, Total Life Leadership
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Gayle Ely

Gayle Ely, Total Life Leadership (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 626)

Gayle Ely, Leadership Coach at Total Life Leadership, joined host John Ray to chat about her work as a leadership coach and trainer. Gayle discussed the inspiration for the Passionate Leadership Model she developed, the six pillars of that model, misconceptions about leadership, her work with non-profit organizations, success stories, and much more.

North Fulton Business Radio is broadcast from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

Gayle Ely, MBA, PCC, Leadership Coach, Total Life Leadership

Gayle Ely, MBA, PCC, Leadership Coach, Total Life Leadership

Gayle Ely is a Leadership Coach, Trainer and Team Facilitator known for partnering with non-profit and public sector leaders who secretly ask themselves the question “How Do I Become a Better Leader?”

Using the Six Pillars of Passionate Leadership, together, Gayle and her clients create a firm foundation from which to successfully lead teams and organizations. Gayle’s clients no longer find themselves saying “I love my work – except for the people part.” Instead they find themselves as passionate about leading people as they are about the service they provide. The result is higher impact and more successful outcomes for clients and customers.

Gayle has also co-authored the book Spiral Up: The Surprising Secret to Great Team Results. The leadership fable provides an innovative framework for effective teamwork and reveals the secret that can take a team to new heights.

Gayle’s community activities include:
• Adjunct professor teaching leadership and self awareness classes for Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) graduate students.
• Board President for Creative Community Services, a non-profit agency serving behaviorally and mentally challenged children in foster care and adults with disabilities.
• Pro bono coach for students in the Georgia State University WomenLead program.

Website | LinkedIn

Questions and Topics

  • What’s your story? What got you interested in working with non-profit and public sector leaders?
  • What are non-profit and public sector leaders grappling with today?
  • Tell me about the Passionate Leadership Model you developed.
  • What is one area leaders don’t focus enough on?
  • How could “Passionate Leadership” address the challenges facing the leaders you work with?
  • What’s the one thing people often don’t understand about leadership?
  • What type of person would enjoy working with you?
  • What’s the best way to engage with you?

North Fulton Business Radio is hosted by John Ray and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.

RenasantBank

 

Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management, and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

Since 2000, Office Angels® has been restoring joy to the life of small business owners, enabling them to focus on what they do best. At the same time, we honor and support at-home experts who wish to continue working on an as-needed basis. Not a temp firm or a placement service, Office Angels matches a business owner’s support needs with Angels who have the talent and experience necessary to handle work that is essential to creating and maintaining a successful small business. Need help with administrative tasks, bookkeeping, marketing, presentations, workshops, speaking engagements, and more? Visit us at https://officeangels.us/.

Tagged With: Facilitator, Gayle Ely, Leadership, leadership coach, leadership training, nonprofits, North Fulton Business Radio, Office Angels, passionate leadership, renasant bank, Spiral Up, Total Life Leadership

Building Culture Through Human Connection E29

February 3, 2023 by Karen

Building-Culture-Through-Human-Connection-feature
Phoenix Business Radio
Building Culture Through Human Connection E29
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Building Culture Through Human Connection E29

Do you ever feel like you are moving through the motions at work and not really connecting with the people there? You want to know them more and truly connect but you aren’t. Do you ever feel this same way when you are at a networking event? As if it is a competition for how many names and business cards you can share?

This is because you are not finding the real connection with people.

True human connection and communication is what really builds culture and relationships. True connection with others helps good leaders to become the best leaders. We discussed this with Craig Forman with CultureAmp and Bobi Seredich with Southwest Institute for Emotional Intelligence on this episode of the Culture Crush Business Podcast.

When we reflect on this podcast, we have so many topics that were discussed.

Self awareness
Military culture and influence
Emotional intelligence for the workplace
Ways to inspire people through culture
Having the courage to be vulnerable
The fitbit affect with culture
Leveraging data to grow culture
Stop, Breath, Ask

If you are curious about these topics then you will have to listen to the podcast to hear more from Bobi and Craig about them.

In the meantime, we do have a few other quick takeaways from the podcast about shifting your attitude and actions.

Intent versus impact: We all have good intentions but others judge us by our actions. When you are forming a relationship or bond with someone, be curious instead of judgemental. Love human beings, not human doings. Let’s try to be more intentional.

Transformational versus transactional: Let’s try to be less transactional and more transformational. When it comes to connections and relationships, it does not need to be a tit for tat game. If we come at relationships with the want and need to help support and transform, then the relationship has the opportunity to build in a more unique way.

culture-amp-logo-full-purple-reversed

Culture Amp is a culture-first software company that is building a survey and analytics platform for people and culture.

The Culture Amp team combines deep knowledge in psychology, statistics, user experience and engineering into a platform that is transforming organizations worldwide.

Craig-Forman-Culture-CrushCraig Forman is a Lead People Scientist at Culture Amp, an employee experience platform used by over 6000 organizations worldwide. He both supports organizations in building effective people and culture strategies along with building the world’s largest community of people focused on building a better world of work. Behind all of his work is a mission to help the world work better by improving the places we work.

He holds a Masters degree in Industrial / Organizational Psychology, and is a proud veteran of the US Air Force.

Connect with Craig on LinkedIn.

SWIEI_LogoMark_HORZ_Orange

The vision at the Southwest Institute for Emotional Intelligence is to enhance life and leadership through Emotional Intelligence (EI) mastery. They have a proven approach to teaching EI skills that are immediately applied to business growth.

They teach influencers and leaders to connect confidently with each other in more meaningful and productive ways – to better collaborate, communicate, express empathy, perform under stress, adapt to change, and drive results.

The Southwest Institute for Emotional Intelligence offers keynotes, workshops, online courses, coaching, and consulting.

Bobi-Seredich-Culture-CrushBobi Seredich is the Co-Founder & President of The Southwest Institute for Emotional Intelligence. She is a certified coach and trainer in Emotional Intelligence from the Institute for Health and Human Potential. She is a recognized speaker, author, trainer, and successful entrepreneur specializing in leadership development.

Her passion is to guide individuals and organizations to a higher performance level through her own business knowledge, inspirational stories and leadership emotional intelligence training. She has spent over 25 years of her career dedicated to creating, directing, writing and presenting leadership programs for top companies in the U.S. and around the world.

In 2001 she founded Equanimity, Inc. also known as EQ Speakers, a speakers bureau, and leadership training company. It fast became a top speaker bureau that booked hundreds of speakers with large Fortune 500 clients. EQ Speakers was sold in 2012 and continues to be a leader in the industry.

Her book, Courage Does Not Always Roar Ordinary Women with Extraordinary Courage, was published by Simple Truths in the spring of 2010. The book is a collection of her experiences and stories of women who have had the courage to overcome very difficult life events. She is a mother of twins, Alex and Gia.

Follow Southwest Institute for Emotional Intelligence on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About Culture Crush

Culture is not just a tag word to be thrown around. It is not something you throw in job descriptions to draw people to applying for jobs within a company.

According to Marcus Buckingham and Ashely Goodall in their book Nine Lies About Work, “Culture is the tenants of how we behave. It’s like a family creed. This is how we operate and treat each other in the family.”CultaureCrushKindraBanner2

As a growing company- Culture Crush Business Podcast is THE culture improvement resource that supports companies and leaders.  Our Mission is to improve company cultures so people WANT to go to work. Employees and leaders should like where they work and we think this is possible.

Within the company: Culture Crush has Vetted Resources and Partnerships with the right people and resources that can help improve your company culture.

On this podcast:  We focus on everything surrounding businesses with good company culture. We will talk with company leaders to learn about real-life experiences, tips, and best practices for creating a healthy work environment where employees are finding joy and satisfaction in their work while also striving and growing within the company.  We also find the companies that offer resources to help improve company culture and showcase them on the show to share their tips and tricks for growing culture.

About the Host

ABHOUTHOSTHEADSHOT

Kindra Maples  is spartan racer, past animal trainer, previous magician’s assistant, and has a weakness for Oreo cookie shakes. Her journey working with people actually started working with animals as a teenager (don’t worry we won’t go that far back for her bio).

She worked for over 15 years in the zoo industry working with animals and the public. Her passion of working with animals shifted into working with people in education, operations and leadership roles. From there her passion of leadership and helping people develop has continued to grow.

Then came the opportunity for leading  the Culture Crush Business Podcast and she jumped on it. Leadership, growth, and strong company cultures are all areas that Kindra is interested in diving into further.

Shout Outs

We want to thank a few people for their behind the scenes effort in helping this relaunch to come to life. James Johnson with Tailored Penguin Media Company LLC.– It is a small, but powerful video production company with a goal to deliver the very best by articulating the vision of your brand in a visually creative way. Gordon Murray with Flash PhotoVideo, LLC. -Flash Gordon has been photographing since high school and evolving since then with new products that will equip, encourage, engage, and enable. Renee Blundon with Renee Blundon Design – She is not only one of the best free divers (that’s not how she helped with the podcast) but she is great with graphics design and taking the direction for the vision that you have while also adding creative ideas to bring to your vision to life.

These are just a few of the folks that supported the relaunch of the podcast. If you would like to be part of the Culture Crush team or would like to support underwriting the show- please reach out: info@culturecrushbusiness.com

Tagged With: company culture, Culture, Culture Amp, Culture First, emotional intelligence, Employee Engagement, leadership training, Learn EI

Darlene Drew, Leadership Conditioning, Personal & Professional Development, LLC

January 23, 2023 by John Ray

Darlene Drew, Leadership Conditioning Personal & Professional Development
North Fulton Business Radio
Darlene Drew, Leadership Conditioning, Personal & Professional Development, LLC
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Darlene Drew, Leadership Conditioning Personal & Professional Development

Darlene Drew, Leadership Conditioning, Personal & Professional Development, LLC (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 601)

Darlene Drew, CEO of Leadership Conditioning, Personal & Professional Development, joined host John Ray on this episode of North Fulton Business Radio. Darlene discussed her career as a warden in Federal Bureau of Prisons, leadership lessons from that career, women in leadership, the boss versus leader mentality, preparing emerging leaders, and much more.

North Fulton Business Radio is produced and broadcast by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.

Darlene Drew, CEO, Leadership Conditioning, Personal & Professional Development

Darlene Drew, CEO, Leadership Conditioning Personal & Professional Development

Darlene Drew is the CEO/Owner of Leadership Conditioning, Personal & Professional Development, LLC. She is also a Certified & Independent Leadership Trainer, Professional Speaker and Executive Coach with the Maxwell Leadership Team.

Darlene serves businesses, companies and organizations by helping leaders develop leaders. Through her training sessions, she equips, engages and energizes participants with leadership and professional development training by providing them with tools that can immediately be applied in their personal and professional lives.

As an authority in leadership, building relationships and communications, she helps organizations develop their staff in a manner that improves their bottom line of first valuing people which improves the operation of their business and the performance and production of their staff.

She has been recognized in the Maxwell Leadership Team in the Top 20 Nominees for the Maxwell Leadership Team Culture Award. She’s a 2019 Stage Time Winner. Darlene has been featured in the Peachtree City Magazine on two occasions.

Her prior career began in the Federal government at the entry level as a Correctional Officer promoted up to a Senior Executive Service Appointment into the position of Warden. One of her most groundbreaking accomplishments was becoming the first and only female to serve as Warden at the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, GA. She served as Warden of three Federal prisons after being told early on in her career that she would never make it!

These dynamics brought leadership expertise that has positioned her to help those she partners with in their growth.

Website | Facebook | Darlene’s LinkedIn

Questions and Topics in this Interview

  • Women in leadership
  • Boss vs. Leader
  • Preparing emerging leaders
  • Being a leader other will follow
  • The essentials of leadership

North Fulton Business Radio is hosted by John Ray and broadcast and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.

RenasantBank

Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

Since 2000, Office Angels® has been restoring joy to the life of small business owners, enabling them to focus on what they do best. At the same time, we honor and support at-home experts who wish to continue working on an as-needed basis. Not a temp firm or a placement service, Office Angels matches a business owner’s support needs with Angels who have the talent and experience necessary to handle work that is essential to creating and maintaining a successful small business. Need help with administrative tasks, bookkeeping, marketing, presentations, workshops, speaking engagements, and more? Visit us at https://officeangels.us/.

Tagged With: Darlene Drew, Federal Bureau of Prisons, John Maxwell Team, John Ray, leadership coaching, Leadership Conditioning Personal & Professional Development, leadership training, North Fulton Business Radio, Office Angels, prison warden, renasant bank, warden

Prepare Leaders for the Present and Future, with Darlene Drew, Leadership Conditioning, Personal & Professional Development, LLC

July 30, 2020 by John Ray

Darlene Drew
North Fulton Business Radio
Prepare Leaders for the Present and Future, with Darlene Drew, Leadership Conditioning, Personal & Professional Development, LLC
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Prepare Leaders for the Present and Future, with Darlene Drew, Leadership Conditioning, Personal & Professional Development, LLC (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 265)

Darlene Drew joins host John Ray to discuss her leadership development practice, how her experience as a federal prison warden informs her work, and much more. “North Fulton Business Radio” is produced virtually by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® in Alpharetta.

Darlene Drew

Darlene Drew is a public servant.  She’s a Leadership Trainer and the CEO/Owner of Leadership Conditioning, Personal & Professional Development, LLC.  She’s a Certified Leadership Trainer, Professional Speaker and Executive Coach with the John Maxwell Team.  Darlene helps businesses, companies and organizations by helping leaders develop leaders.  She has made a tremendous impact on the lives of many people.  “How great it is to greet each day doing what you love to do equipping people with training that helps them grow,” she says.  Over the course of my journey in leadership, it’s allowed me to train thousands of people. Training is my purpose, passion and a priority in my life. My early learnings about leadership was taught in my home from my dad and my large, loving, imperfect family of eleven children.  Such family dynamics brought leadership lessons that would equip me for a lifetime.”

Darlene has been a public servant through employment in law enforcement which began as a Correctional Officer where she was initially told, “You’ll never make it!” Having decided to “make it,” she continued this career path with a focus on making the field better for staff and inmates.  Throughout it, she was asked interesting questions, some of which were: “Why are you here? What should we call you? Why do you do it?” These were all learning and teachable moments from Darlene’s perspective to do what she loves: learn, teach and train.   She placed her focus on effecting change, mentoring and developing staff and inmates.

In August 2019, Darlene was one of ten winners of  2019 Stage Time at the International Maxwell Certification Conference.  In the public sector, she earned the distinction of Senior Executive Service.  Darlene served as Warden of three Federal prisons.  She’s the first and only female to serve as Warden at the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta. Darlene served as Adjunct Professor at Lewis University, in Romeoville, Illinois. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Peachtree City and serves on the Board of Georgia Laws of Life.

Darlene earned her Bachelors Degree from Illinois State University and Masters Degree from Governor State University.  She was awarded a Certificate of Completion for the Women and Power Program, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Executive Education.  She is a Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education alumni (HKS EE alumni).  Darlene is the recipient of the prestigious Attorney General Award and Susan M. Hunter Award from the Association of Women Executives in Corrections.

Darlene’s passion is “building up people,” through teaching, training and speaking.  Her guiding life and leadership principle is, “Don’t teach what you don’t know, Don’t lead where you won’t go and Don’t ask for what you won’t give.”  Lead Well!

Point of Contact for Darlene Drew

Website

Facebook

LinkedIn

Questions/Topics Discussed in this Show

  • It’s About Building Relationships!
  • How Darlene’s experience as a federal prison warden informs her work
  • Helping Leaders Develop Leaders
  • The Biggest Challenges Leaders Face, Passing the Baton, Overcoming Obstacles in leadership
  • Solutions to Workplace Conflict
  • Where did your passion for leadership begin?
  • How do you best serve your clients?
  • What are the concerns that clients bring to you most often?
  • What are some of the results that’s been shared with you?
  • What lead you to the path of being a Leadership Trainer?
  • Effective leadership in a pandemic

“North Fulton Business Radio” is hosted by John Ray and produced virtually from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, iHeart Radio, Stitcher, TuneIn, and others.

Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has grown to become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions with over $13 billion in assets and more than 190 banking, lending, wealth management and financial services offices in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.

Tagged With: certified leadership trainer, correctional officer, Darlene Drew, effective leadership, executive coach, International Maxwell Certification, John Maxwell Team, Leadership, Leadership Conditioning, Leadership Lessons, leadership training, Personal & Professional Development, prison warden, professional speaker, warden, women executives, workplace conflict

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