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056 It’s The Manager w/ Jim Harter

It’s The Manager w/ Jim Harter Follow Your Different™ Podcast

According to Gallup’s management practice Chief Scientist Jim Harter, the productivity of people at work has been increasing… but at a declining rate. More concerning is how only 34% of American workers and two-thirds of managers are engaged at work.

On this episode, he touches on the topic of bosses versus coaches, workplace engagement, people efficiency, and a lot more.

“I want my job to kind of reflect who I am, match my identity… I don’t want my manager to just be an expert on my weakness, I want them to be an expert on my strengths.” – Jim Harter

Changes in Workplace Productivity

The numbers Jim and his teammates have tracked for a while hint on how workplace productivity trends upward, albeit slowly. The figures clearly tell of a room for growth for most organizations.

Workplaces are changing tremendously, and this creates an even bigger burden on leaders. These changes include the massive increases in diversity, technology, remote work, among other things. Needless to say, all these factors affect productivity.

Theory and Practice of Management

There is also the dissonance between the science and practice of management. Leveraging the science is one area for improvement of working environments, and more so its application in practice.

“We’ve seen that the practice of management hasn’t kept up with the science of management. The science of management has advanced significantly in recent decades but the practice of management hasn’t.” – Jim Harter

One such example is how the new workforce has evolved and now ask for a coach, not a boss. Therefore, one of the more critical things organizations need to be thinking about is moving from a culture of boss to coach. This ultimately relates to leaders asking for a change of culture to match the changing workforce.

People Efficiency is the Future

Jim says leaders need to keep up with the changes to both the workforce and the science of management. That is, they need to shift the focus from process efficiency to people efficiency.

“People efficiency is getting people into roles where they know what’s expected of them, where they have clear expectations, where they’re coached on an ongoing basis to do what they do best, to use their strengths.” – Jim Harter

In flexible and remote working environments that are more common nowadays, it becomes even more important to be purposeful about three things. First, there is setting expectations, and then continually touching base with people. Lastly, a workplace needs to be of high trust and accountability.

To hear more about strength-based environments, extrinsic versus intrinsic motivations and more from Jim, download and listen to the episode.

Bio:

Jim Harter, Ph.D., is Chief Scientist for Gallup’s workplace management practice.

He is the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller 12: The Elements of Great Managing, an exploration of the 12 crucial elements for creating and harnessing employee engagement.

Dr. Harter’s book, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements, is based on a global study of what differentiates people who are thriving from those who are not.

His research is featured in First, Break All the Rules, and he contributed the foreword to Gallup’s new edition of this groundbreaking bestseller.

Dr. Harter is the primary researcher and author of the first large-scale, multi-organization study to investigate the relationships between work-unit employee engagement and business results.

Updated periodically, this study currently covers 82,000 business units and includes 1.8 million employees in 230 organizations, across 49 industries and in 73 countries.

His work has appeared in many publications, including Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company and TIME Magazine, and in academic articles and book chapters.

Dr. Harter received his doctorate in psychological and cultural studies in quantitative and qualitative methods from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).

Book Overview:

IT’S THE MANAGER

Today’s decline in global productivity has every business leader scrambling to break through with one failed strategy after another.

But the real strategy is already right in front of them. It’s the manager.  

In fact, there is no better investment a company can make in its future growth than updating their management playbook to align with today’s very different values and realities.

Based on the largest study of its kind (37.2 million people surveyed) as well as Gallup data from more than 30 years of U.S. and global workplace tracking, including interviews of employees and managers across 160 countries, IT’S THE MANAGER (Gallup Press; May 7, 2019; ISBN: 9781595622242; $34.00) by Chief Scientist for Gallup’s workplace management practice, Jim Harter, Ph.D. with Chairman and CEO of Gallup, Jim Clifton, and is the definitive up-to-date guide to what really works in management today.

IT’S THE MANAGER explores 52 game-changing insights including how to:

  • Adapt organizations and cultures to rapid change and new workplace demands
  • Meet the challenges of managing remote employees, a diverse workforce, gig workers and the rise of artificial intelligence
  • Attract, hire, onboard and retain the best employees to make your organization one of the most desired places to work for current and future stars.
  • Transform your managers into coaches who inspire, communicate frequently and develop employee strengths.

The manager has been brushed aside as a middleman that is no longer needed in business today, but Gallup’s data supports a radical claim: that managers should be the cornerstone of every company strategy.

When you build great managers you will experience organic revenue and profit growth, and you will give every employee what they most want today: a great job and a great life.

Links:

LinkedIn

Gallup – It’s The Manager

Gallup.com

Amazon – It’s The Manager

We hope you enjoyed Jim Harter on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

055 Beware the Fraudcast — Podcasts that Charge Guests

Beware the Fraudcast — Podcasts that Charge Guests Follow Your Different™ Podcast

Lochhead rants about a topic for a raging debate within part of the podcast community. He puts in his two cents on the subject of the fraudcast — podcasts that charge their guests to come on.

“We have never once been paid by a guest to come on this podcast and I think when podcasters do that, they break what you might think of as the social contract with their audience.” – Christopher Lochhead

The Conversation on Fraudcasts

Recently, Christopher’s buddy and fellow podcaster Eric Hunley, host of Unstructured, invited him over for a discussion with another award-winning podcaster Super Joe Pardo. The topic of the conversation? There are certain podcasts like Super Joe’s that for a while now have started the practice of charging guests who come on the podcast.

“I call these podcasts, fraudcasts. And to put it mildly, I think it’s bullshit for a podcaster to charge the guest to come on.” – Christopher Lochhead

Christopher’s Personal Guest Criteria

Every single guest that comes on Christopher’s podcast is someone he is dying to have a conversation with. And all of them, he hopes, are people the listeners would love to listen to. This is the very criteria that he uses, and he does not care whether the guests are big celebrities or not.

“We have many legends whose names you don’t know and these are just people who I think are doing legendary shit that’s different, that’s courageous, and that’s fundamentally interesting, and I’m dying to have a conversation with them.” – Christopher Lochhead

The criteria that he does not use is how much they paid him.

Gray Areas in the Fraudcast Discourse

Of course, there are some gray areas in this discussion. One is that it is fine for guests to pay you as long as you disclose it to your audience.

It is no podcast Christopher would personally listen to. But there are people who would willingly sit through hours of O Shopping Network’s infomercials. To each their own, after all.

To hear more about this hot topic of fraudcasts and relevant information from Christopher, download and listen to the episode.

Links:

Eric Hunley’s Unstructured Podcast: Should Podcast Guests Pay?

Payola Radio Scandal

Payola: Influencing the Charts

A Brief History of American Payola

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, TwitterInstagram and subscribe on iTunes!

054 Claude VonStroke Legendary DJ & Music Entrepreneur

Legendary DJ & Music Entrepreneur Claude VonStroke Follow Your Different™ Podcast

Hailed as the best DJ in America, Claude VonStroke regularly performs for five to ten thousand people and even more.

He shares his origin story, how his truly genius and original plan to learn from the best DJs made him America’s #1 DJ and how worked for 15 long years to make his dreams come true.

“I’m trying to tell you that going after the golden goose isn’t always the best path to success… only a few can get lucky so we don’t even try to go that route. We just try to be legit. We just try to be who we are, and because we do that, it works.“ – Claude VonStroke

Claude’s Early Foray into Music

In an industry that celebrates mostly teenage geniuses, Claude stands out as someone who did gain music production until he was about 32. He grew up in a realm where a youngster could not just find anything on the Internet. Nobody in the neighborhood played the music he wanted to create so he had to forge an unusual path.

“There’s no generational group of artists, every six years flipping over, that’s showing another group of younger people that, ‘Oh, you can be a huge techno DJ from Milwaukee.’” – Claude VonStroke

Cleveland-born, Claude’s musical influences evolved after moving to Detroit. From listening to Uncle Vic playing Journey in Cleveland, he went on and began listening to The Electrifying Mojo’s playlist of Prince and Run-DMC. As the kind of kid who was obsessed with listening to the radio every night, these artists shaped his music taste.

Fifteen Years in the Making

Claude didn’t always want to make music. In the past, he also wanted to be a film director. He took a solid fifteen years to realize that he “sucked” at the project and people management aspect of filmmaking.

“The path is just totally different. It’s like you need to be a real manager of personalities to be a great filmmaker. But to be a musician, you just kinda have to learn to manage yourself.” – Claude VonStroke

Music remained in the closet for years.

Claude knew he was good at it but he didn’t want to admit it and didn’t see that DJing could be a job. He didn’t start going to underground raves until he was 23.

A Genius Plan to Learn

To overcome the fact that he did not know anybody in the music industry, Claude put to use his filmmaking talent. He decided to make a documentary about some techno music and every music DJ who came to San Francisco after moving from Detroit.

In a fascinating turn of events, his inability to license songs forced him to make music that sounded like his interviewee’s. By the end of it, he not only got every single piece of information about these DJs. He learned to make the songs that they made, and the rest is history.

“My first record was big because I’ve been bottled up for 20 years waiting to release a huge record.” – Claude VonStroke

To hear more about Claude’s story of creativity, entrepreneurship and massive risk-taking, download and listen to the episode.

Bio:

Barclay Crenshaw (a.k.a. Claude VonStroke)

  • DJ Magazine says he is the best DJ In America
  • Billboard Magazine says his label, Dirty Bird is one of the top 5 Independence Dance Labels
  • Mix Magazine named Dirty Bird the label of the decade
  • He’s also got a critically acclaimed Radio Show and podcast called “The Birdhouse”

In this day and age of music cross-pollination, Claude VonStroke sits at the forefront of all that is good, proper and most importantly, fun.

VonStroke is just as relaxed in his home studio building beats as he is dropping massive underground records in a room filled by thousands.

DJ-wise, his relentless touring of every major city, festival and basement after-party around the world has only enriched his unique perspective on music.

As the owner of the record label, DIRTYBIRD, Claude also built an impeccable A&R roster signing acts like Justin Martin, Julio Bashmore, Catz n Dogz, Riva Starr, Tim Green, Breach, Eats Everything, Shadow Child and Shiba San, well before they broke out of their hometown scenes. (And even naming a few of these artists.)

Today, DIRTYBIRD continues to surprise and innovate in the underground dance scene, releasing an enigmatic combination of house, funk, dirty-bass and electronica.

Sonically, VonStroke has released three original artist albums, a remix album and several high profile mix and remix compilations.

Highlights include working with and on records for Bootsy Collins, Rihanna, Disclosure and Green Velvet as well as a few number #1 & #2 hits on Beatport.  

Most importantly, VonStroke has kept it original, fun and funky.

A lot of his success can be attributed to a good attitude. Claude does not scowl and look mean while he DJs.

He does not pretend to know everything and he truly loves his fans.

He is grateful to be curating, creating and performing music for a living and he knows that the reason people go to parties is to shake their booty and have fun.

Catch him play at numerous festivals, clubs or even better at his legendary DIRTYBIRD BBQ series of outdoor events.

Links:

ClaudeVonStroke.com

https://claudevonstroke.com/

Twitter

The Stroke Show

Best DJ: Claude VonStroke

10 MOMENTS THAT DEFINED CLAUDE VONSTROKE

Meet the Women Running One of Electronic Music’s Biggest Labels

The 5 Best Independent Dance Labels of 2017

#1 Label of the Decade, Mix Mag

We hope you enjoyed Claude VonStroke on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

053 The Difference Between Fact & Stories w/ Dushka Zapata

The Difference Between Fact & Stories w/ Dushka Zapata Follow Your Different™ Podcast

Dushka Zapata joins us for another fun and life-affirming conversation. Dushka and Christopher talk about the origins of her soon-to-be-released book, how recounting something differently is valid, and how stories differ from facts.

Recounting Things Uniquely

Dushka is very aware of her unique thought process that translates into her writing. Oftentimes, her recollection of shared experiences differs from that of other people.

She finds this fascinating. Regardless of what other people say, these instances remind her that she has the license to say things in a different way in order to tell a story. She knows it is not some conscious effort but her recounting of things as exactly as she can.

“I’ve known for a long time that I look at things differently than other people. I think that’s what makes me worth reading—because it’s less about what happened but more of my perspective about it.” – Dushka Zapata

Different is Valid

She will soon be releasing a book about stories from her childhood and her family. She shared some of these stories to her siblings and as expected, they were surprised with the way she saw things. And for such a book, what title can be more fitting other than, This is How I Remember It?

Her book not only celebrates the uniqueness of each individual’s perspective but also nullifies the notion that one point of view is superior to another. The memory of a loved one’s passing is generally painful, but for some people like Dushka, it can also be beautiful.

“I feel really strongly about the way I remember things. It matters to me about how other people claim that I’m not recounting something right… I think that’s a gift. I’m so happy that the way I remember things is like that.” – Dushka Zapata

A Thin Line Between Facts and Stories

Dushka puts simply the difference between facts and stories through an answer to a Quora question. We often make assumptions about people’s behaviors that seem out of the ordinary. And these assumptions, those add-ons, are usually the stories that embellish facts.

Failure to see the difference between the two results in struggles for most people.

“It’s a wonder we understand each other at all because we look at the world through our assumptions and our insecurities, but I also think that we look at the world through a lot of things that never actually take place.” – Dushka Zapata

To hear more about Dushka’s powerful answers to Quora questions, her deeper take on stories and facts, download and listen to the episode.

Bio:

Dushka Zapata is one of the most prolific and popular writers working today.

On question and answer site Quora her work has been viewed over 135 million times.

She’s the author of eight best-selling books.

Dushka has over 20 years of experience as a senior communications executive in Silicon Valley.

When she’s not writing, she serves as a communications executive at tech juggernaut Zendesk.

Links:

Quora Profile

Books on Amazon

New Book –  You Belong Everywhere: and Other Things You’ll Have to See for Yourself

Twitter

LinkedIn

Quora Answers:

We hope you enjoyed Dushka Zapata on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on FacebookTwitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

052 Professor Scott Galloway on the Algebra of Happiness

Professor Scott Galloway on the Algebra of Happiness Follow Your Different™ Podcast

A powerful, researched-based look at happiness with Professor Scott Galloway from NYU. Professor Galloway is one of the most respected voices on the Internet today. He shares how the happiness curve dips in our 20s and 30s, the many “algorithms to achieving a happy life” and why “follow your passion” is the worst advice ever.

The Arc of Happiness

According to Professor Galloway, the arc of happiness starts off at a peak from the age of 0 to 22, when there’s not a lot of responsibility to deal with. Around 25, shit finally gets real. Everything we have been told is simply not going to happen and handed to us on a silver platter.

By the time we’re in our late 20s and 30s, we come to grips with the fact that as a species, we are competitive. We vie for the title of most successful, and when we fail at that, disappointments come in one after the other. At 35-45 years old, we reach the bottom of the smile, where we slowly work our way up once again to a more rewarding life.

“The happiest people in the world are probably the people who shouldn’t be, and that is, [the] seniors.” – Professor Scott Galloway

Algorithms and Equations to Happiness

Through his research, Professor Galloway found about 10 or 12 algorithms and equations directly correlated to someone’s happiness. A lot of factors contribute to happiness—financial, geographical and even demographic.

For instance, the difference between being poor and being financially secure is enormous in terms of contribution to one’s happiness. After all, money can buy you happiness up to a certain point. Where you choose to settle can also affect your chances at success and opportunities for growth, especially as a young person.

“You wanna get to where the snow and the waves are great such that you have the greatest opportunity to be good at what you do.” – Professor Scott Galloway

Why “Follow Your Passion” is Bad Advice

We have heard it time and again. Any speaker would typically sign off with doing what you love when they themselves achieved financial success through, say, iron ore smelting. And the notion that they are actually passionate about such a thing is utter bullshit.

Professor Galloway says that we are most passionate about finding what we are good at and becoming great at it. Only then can we become one step closer to happiness.

“The financial and psychological and emotional accouterments that come with being great at something will make you passionate around whatever it is.” – Professor Scott Galloway

To hear from Professor Galloway about the state of young men in America today and why love is ultimately the key to being happy, download and listen to the episode.

Bio:

Scott Galloway is a Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business where he teaches Brand Strategy and Digital Marketing to second-year MBA students. He is the author of the Digital IQ Index ®, a global ranking of prestige brands’ digital competence.

In 2012, Professor Galloway was named “One of the World’s 50 Best Business School Professors” (Poets & Quants).

Professor Galloway is also the founder of several firms including:

  • L2, a subscription business intelligence firm serving prestige brands;
  • Red Envelope, an e-commerce firm (2007, $100mm revs.); and
  • Prophet, a global brand strategy consultancy with 250+ professionals

Professor Galloway was elected to the World Economic Forum’s “Global Leaders of Tomorrow,” which recognizes 100 individuals under the age of 40 “whose accomplishments have had impact on a global level.” Professor Galloway has served on the board of directors of Eddie Bauer (Nasdaq: EBHI), The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), Gateway Computer, and Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

He received a BA from UCLA and an MBA from UC Berkeley.

Links:

ProfGalloway.com

NYU Faculty Bio

Twitter

Medium

TED Speaker Bio

Vox Interview

Penguin Random House Author Bio

We hope you enjoyed Professor Scott Galloway on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

051 Should I Start a Business?

Should I Start a Business? Follow Your Different™ Podcast

On today’s special episode, Christopher answers a question from a young woman who wants to know whether she should start a business. He touches on two points: the effect of formal education on entrepreneurial success and the distinction between missionaries and mercenaries.

Entrepreneurship is Not for Everybody

Christopher received an email from a 20-year-old woman thinking about leaving school to starting a business. Perhaps inspired by his own story, she sought out his help.

With very few options after getting thrown out of school at 18, Christopher started a business. Entrepreneurship was a way out of a life of struggle for him. However, even a huge proponent of entrepreneurship like Christopher thinks it is not the answer for everybody.

“It’s an interesting thing that for many entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship is the only root that we have.” – Christopher Lochhead

Education Remains Valid for Most

The first thing that you should ask yourself when you consider quitting school to start a business is whether you are really ready. True, a lot has been said about success after dropping out and how college is slowly dying.

But according to the Kauffman Foundation, adults without formal education are much less likely to be entrepreneurs than their educated counterparts. Research also shows that the more educated you are, the more you are going to make. While the media portrays lots of dropout-turned-rockstar tales, the truth is that most entrepreneurs get some education.

“This is coming from a guy who didn’t go to school. but I think you need to think twice before dropping out because for most people, school pays off.” – Christopher Lochhead

Are You on a Mission?

Another question to ask: are you a missionary or a mercenary? Christopher’s buddy Eddie Yoon makes this very important distinction. If you are the latter, then you are going to tap out when it gets hard.

There will be massive losery along the way and the disappointments will be huge. Things that will make you want to quit will happen on a fairly regular basis. Being mission-driven, like what most top VCs dub successful entrepreneurs, is the way to charge forward.

“Your commitment to the mission is what will get you through the hard parts. And there will be hard parts and the hard parts will be way worse than anybody ever expressed to you.” – Christopher Lochhead

To hear more about Christopher’s take on whether you should start a business, download and listen to the episode. Got a question for Christopher? Email him at bl*******@******ad.com.

Link:

Quora – What would be your advice for a 21-year-old starting a company?

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on FacebookTwitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

050 Can Sales & Marketing Work Together? with Brian Burns

Can Sales & Marketing Work Together? with Brian Burns Follow Your Different™ Podcast

On this episode, a no BS leader in the sales world, legendary author and podcaster Brian Burns.

Brian and Christopher had a captivating free-range conversation about sales & marketing and they unearth some powerful ideas for how the two can work together and they tackled the always important topic of – sales and marketing alignment.

“Certainly in marketing, we’ve got a lot of shiny objects to play with and what I found working with CMOs is they pick the shiny object who enhance their portfolio versus enhance the company’s position.” – Brian Burns

Sales and Marketing Alignment

Have you ever run into this issue? Lochhead found some easy ways to get it right where sales and marketing were completely in sync.

First is for CMOS to treat the quarterly sales number like it was your 100% responsibility.

“If you’re the head of sales and I’m the head of marketing and we’re working together, it’s not your number, it’s our number. It’s not your company, it’s our company.” – Christopher Lochhead

Breaking the Gap between Sales and Marketing

Being in a field is where you will really learn.

“I think the misalignment of sales and marketing, generally is the fault marketing.” – Christopher Lochhead

To hear more about Brian a no BS leader in the sales world, download and listen to this episode.

Bio:

Brian Burns is the sales guru in Silicon Valley and a host of two podcasts in the top 15 in business on iTunes, The B2B Revenue Leadership show, and The Brutal Truth about Sales and Selling.

He has authored four books on B2B sales and marketing and he has over 25 years of experience.

Links:

B2BRevenue.com

Twitter

LinkedIn

We hope you enjoyed Brian Burns on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

049 How to Build a Business that Works for your Life with Ever Gonzalez

How to Build a Business that Works for your Life Follow Your Different™ Podcast

On this episode, we have a podcaster who is loved by entrepreneurs Ever Gonzalez.

Ever and Christopher had a fun and informative conversation about designing business that serves your life, not the other way around, and what he’s learned in talking to over 400 success entrepreneurs on his popular podcast.

“I would much rather take it a little bit easier and have the things that are important to me my family, freedom, time than to hustle, hustle, hustle and have all the money in the world for what reason.” – Ever Gonzalez

Outlier On Air

Ever had an amazing journey in his life, a great career, and he a successful run as an entrepreneur running a freight management company all starting his podcasting in December 2013.

At first, it was strictly for entrepreneurs, but halfway thru it, he became curious with other authors and people that he wanted to know more. He’s enjoyed talking about business and people and now, it has over 422 episodes.  

Unpacking Hustle

A lot of people today wants to be famous and they are losing money trying to follow this dream because they were hustling. As we get older, we have to step back, think and slow things down in order to get good results.

Ever said that he’s living a life that he can control, a life that provides him freedom, still makes some money and working on projects that he’s passionate about.

“Hustle is a no shit, Sherlock. You can go back and look at any book, of what anybody who’s ever been successful, it takes hard work.” – Christopher Lochhead

Finding the Right Pace

Most people don’t know how to value time and being in balanced is something that is hard to do especially working in entrepreneurial businesses.

In reality, what we shared with younger entrepreneurs is that there will be plenty of time and they will be less effective, if they burn themselves out.

Remember the point of all of this work is to deign a legendary life, not kill yourself “hustling”

According to Ever, he had seen the ups and downs, but it’s the mental health that scares him.

In a lot of ways, success is about learning to manage you own psyche.

To hear more about Ever a podcaster who is loved by entrepreneurs, download and listen to this episode.

Bio:

Ever Gonzalez is an entrepreneur, CEO, a top podcaster and the Founder of OutlierHQ, a media and events company that provides resources to help entrepreneurs start, grow, and scale their businesses. He is also the host of Outlier On Air, a weekly podcast that interviews Founders, Disrupters, and Mavens.

Links:

Outlierhq.com

Twitter

LinkedIn

We hope you enjoyed Ever Gonzalez on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, TwitterInstagram and subscribe on iTunes!

048 How to Make Any Career Creative with Tania Katan

How to Make Any Career Creative Follow Your Different™ Podcast

“Every rockstar business needs a punk.” – Tania Katan

On this episode, the incredible Tania Katan has a riveting conversation with Christopher about how to put the spark of joy back into work and life, how she overcame breast cancer and how it shaped her life.

Tania is a powerful example of someone who “used her different” to make her place in the world.

She shares the captivating story of how she went from acting, to working in enterprise technology, to becoming an advocate for women in tech, to becoming a successful author and more.

Tania is famous for starting the empowerment campaign #ItWasNeverADress. 

“We don’t need to be in a job or a field that is uniquely creative in order to be uniquely creative within the work we do.” – Tania Katan

Authoring Bestseller “Creative Trespassing”

Tania wrote the book as a dialogue and a monologue.

This reflects the way she holds her book tours and keynote speeches. She lets her audience talk and give her feedback while she listens to them.

Real conversations inspire her.

When she went to record the audiobook, she brought a photograph of her friends, family and other people who inspire her to the studio. This allowed her to feel that she was sharing her stories with them.

Unpacking the Dedication

Tania says that she was born as an outsider.

She wrote about the reality of her life and how she found a way to use “outsiderness” or “misfitness” to create a value for both companies and the people around her.

Her being different is how she makes a difference.

“Embracing the fact that we are misfits and we are flawed allows us to actually take risks and know that the outcome is going to be better than ‘okay’.” – Tania Katan

We Teach When We Most Need to Learn

At the age of 21, her breast was removed to save her life.

Following this event, she felt less—“other”—until she came to a realization when she became an adult.

Nobody is perfect.

Being an outsider can be painful for some people, and this is the epitome of irony. Every human being goes through the same dilemma and we all can feel uncomfortable and scared of becoming misfits.

This is where Tania’s need and desire to speak for them came from—the need to learn herself.

“To be perfect is like to be invisible.” – Tania Katan

By finding a way to harness her different, Tania is the epitome of “why fit in, when you can stand out”.

To hear more about how Tania went from theater to tech industry and how she thinks every rockstar business needs a punk, download and listen to this episode.

Bio:

Tania Katan is an inspirational speaker, creative consultant and co-creator of the #ItWasNeverADress campaign. She is also the best-selling author of the book, Creative Trespassing.

She has been a featured speaker at CiscoLive!, S.H.E. Summit, Business of Software, Expedia, Uber, Etsy, Humana, Google, Amazon, Comedy Central Stage, TEDx, and more. 

Links:

TaniaKatan.com

LinkedIn

Twitter

TaniaKatan.com/book

TaniaKatan.com/audiobook

We hope you enjoyed Tania Katan on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, TwitterInstagram and subscribe on iTunes!