Susan Signing Off – Thank you – It has been a wonderful journey! | HR 74

Hi. Welcome to my last podcast in the series. HR,

inside out, I'm your host. Susan nay, this podcast experience has

been a truly wonderful one, and one that I partly encourage you

to try. I took a class to learn how from amplify you great

organization. I did this after meeting the head of the business

at a course that I was taking on how to actually publish and

write a book. Intrigued, I investigated further, and I'm

sure glad that I did. When I gave amplify you noticed that

I'd no longer be needing their editing services, I was actually

congratulated on my persistence. As most podcasters, many new

podcasters, don't stay with their creation after both the

first five episodes. Was also reminded that I had recorded my

first podcast back in February of 2021, so Hey, pretty good

run. My intent had been to with invited guests. We have a

tapestry of information, insights and guidance around HR,

people management and the work processes that we can all

understand and do better by sharing examples, both

personally and through others who walked the path of daring

greatly, insights for those who wish to support their own

journey and become the best version of themselves, both

personally and also within their organizations. As I prepared

this podcast, I thought back and oh my goodness, I distinctly

recall my anxiety when reaching out to someone that I very much

respected, author, consultant and keynote speaker, John Izzo,

I wanted to ask him to join me to talk about the importance of

stepping up in purpose. He said yes, and he was my lucky 13th

podcast. Oh my goodness. I was so nervous, and I had no reason

to be. He was lovely. He's always lovely, and he's now

doing his own podcast the way forward, generative

conversations, a podcast you might want to look into further.

I've had so much fun with this podcast. I've always been

curious about others careers, ones that I didn't pursue, but

felt that listeners might want to consider. So. It was a

delight to interview individuals who kindly agreed to speak with

me about their experiences in some of these professions. I

still think of Malcolm white when watching the big tugboats

that he assisted into the Vancouver harbor and of some of

the harrowing experiences that he shared on the podcast on

becoming a tugboat captain. Paul Moffat was a dear when he agreed

to answer my questions about what it's like having to drive

double decker busses in snowy conditions, and what do bus

drivers do when they need to go to the bathroom? Lots of fun,

lots of laughter in his podcast career choices, becoming a bus

driver. Stuart McNish as another example. Stewart's the producer

of the television series conversations that matter shared

his career journey and our time together a career in

broadcasting and conversations that matter. I learned from him

that a high school teacher felt that he would amount to nothing.

Wow, was that teacher ever wrong? But you know,

unfortunately, at a recent high school reunion, these same kinds

of comments had actually been made to others, including

someone who just graduated with her doctoral degree. But what

these comments from people who we respect can do to our self

esteem and self confidence. So bravo Stewart and the others who

pushed past these potentially soul destroying criticisms in my

podcast, loving my library as a career choice, you would have

met Monique little, the manager of operations at the city of

North Vancouver library, a place that she's called home for over

a decade, but not a place that she had originally envisioned

working when she graduated from the British Columbia Institute

of Technology with a certification in design

management, interior design management. Now our libraries

are so much more than a repository of books and

information, Monique was able to use the skills and expertise

that she'd built over the years to secure a similar and yet very

different type of position within her local library, and

yes, she's actually been able to use her training and interior

design as part of those respite possibilities as Valentine's

gift, my husband bought me time with Pamela Jones, of sounds,

right. I was so taken with her and my time with her that I

invited her to share some of the tips that she taught me when she

agreed to be. A podcast guest on I love my job. I help people use

their voice more effectively. Now, Pam provided tips on how to

use the speaking voice more effectively to present our best

self, especially in situations where we're aiming to influence

things like interviews presenting reports as two

examples that I can think of. Pam absolutely loves her work,

and it shows now she shared a little bit about her own career

path, why she and her partner decided to establish their

business. Sounds right, and some thoughts on her personal

journey. I'd anticipated doing a lot more podcasts on careers,

but what I discovered is that many people are not comfortable

being in the spotlight, and we also bumped into the situation

that some potential guests asked permission from their

organizations and were told no, which I found quite interesting.

So I appreciate the guests who were able to muster up the

courage to be interviewed and have their shots, thoughts

shared with you, the listeners reflecting on those past years,

I know that there were times that I'd read a fabulous book

and really felt the need to say something similarly challenges

and organizations that I was learning about or working within

the things that they were struggling. So sometimes I

created the script for myself, but most times, I sought out an

expert in the area that I was exploring. As a consultant, I

had worked with Debbie comas when she was the chief

administrator officer, administrative officer of the

city of Parksville. I reached out to her to explore the topic

of team dynamics within corporate culture, what it takes

to build and keep vibrant teams, ones that most of us wish to

work within. She talked about the impact of Team behavior on

employee engagement. She talked about working with cross

departmental teams, and also how great teams can effectively

manage change. In her podcast, corporate culture and teams,

when I wanted to talk about transitioning the culture of an

HR department, I thought of a past boss that I'd worked with

who I very much admire, David Harvey. He'd been my boss when I

was at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. In this

podcast, David talked about the transition of the human resource

department from one that had been focused on administration

and process to that of strategic partner, assisting with the

building of the skills and knowledge of supervisors and

managers. Its impact on the department, the HR department,

when we made that transition, but also the organizational

culture, the ripple effects of that, the challenges and, of

course, the lessons learned. Now, David also shared insights

on how HR is currently being perceived, as three seen through

his students experience, he's a factor. He's retired now, but he

was faculty at Kwantlen as they've worked through projects

and assignments, so with a myriad of other organizations

now, looking back at some of the podcasts broadcast. I shouldn't

be surprised at the number that I chose to record on leadership.

And when I think of leadership, I think of James ridge. He spoke

on leadership and local government, and all about his

experience as a chief administrative officer working

in the public service. I also reached out to Dr Keith Dietz,

my Scotland buddy, speaking on leadership and leading in

uncertainty, sharing thoughts from his own experiences his

schooling, and also reflections from the global dialog group.

Recreate eight that I've often mentioned, that meets virtually

every Thursday morning and again, something that I

encourage you to investigate further. Guest, Lisa Wilson,

author of leading with ease, addressed the reason for writing

her book leading with ease. She'd been confronted with the

reality of losing both her job and her health, and she chose to

heal. She changed her mindset the goal of what she describes

as what she used to be, or who she used to be. She, in her

journey, witnessed the impact of both poor and great leadership.

So she now coaches leaders to enable their teams the

excellence that they deserve by creating exceptional workplace

cultures.

We also looked at the leadership of letting go guest Victoria

miles shared her research, her insights and her personal

journey of transition, a journey of what. Called liminal

leadership, the focus of her Master of leadership, major

project and her thesis and the podcast, the leadership of

letting go, what guides the good goodbye, Victoria shared that is

all about leading a transition and conscious in a deliberate

way, about letting go in increments, about dealing with

the betwixt and between of transitions and seeing

uncertainty as an opportunity Victoria reflected on the value

of showing up with integrity and recognizing that doubt and

uncertainty are an integral part of the journey. Now, by this

point, I felt that I had arrived as a podcaster. Publishers were

actually starting to contact me to gage my interest in

interviewing their clients. And so once I had read count flower

lessons for leaders and knew how great a fit it would be for the

podcast series, I met Tony Martinelli, or martinetti Tony

unearth concepts like the significance of flashpoints in

our lives, using question bursts, removing our social

masks, using experimentation to fail forward, replacing fear

with Curiosity, living our core values, making brave, brave

spaces, slowing down to go fast and lots more. Tony uses the

foundation of what he calls his three C's, curiosity, compassion

and connection. One. He also considers his core personal

values and ones he very definitely practices Now, if

you're responsible, for people oversight, you're often in the

middle of everything. You are a boss. You have a boss being in

the thick of it, at work, dealing with change imposed from

above, and leading your team through it. It can feel

difficult and exhausting, but it can also be very rewarding. In

the podcast, in the thick of it, mastering the art of leadership

from the middle. Guest Gwen tea Troy, author of in the thick of

it, mastering the art of leadership from the middle. And

in this podcast, we were taken on a journey of awareness,

growth and purpose to help master the art of leadership, to

become the kind of leader that delivers results while valuing

every human being and engendering trust and loyalty

and bringing out the best in others. Gwen provided the map to

successfully navigating the waters of planned and unplanned

change and coached us on how to incorporate autonomy, mastery,

purpose, innovation and creativity in our leadership

toolkits. Now, given that I've continued to work as a

consultant in my semi retirement years, I enjoyed researching and

speaking on topics that, as I mentioned before, I saw

organizations struggling with as they tackled their people

oversight responsibilities. So I developed podcasts around those

topics as examples changes dealing with the ripples created

by change. Psychological safety, aging, what is a grievance?

Communications and fierce conversations and demystifying

corporate culture. I'll leave you to check these out if you're

interested. Some of the areas that I wish to delve in

definitely involved areas requiring others expertise. So

it is with continued gratitude to individuals such as Paul

harrietha, author of gender equity and the invisible rules,

who spoke about the topic of his book's subtitle, what's really

holding women back in business, and how to fix it. It hadn't

really dawned on me before speaking with Paul that often

due to home responsibilities, women are often not able to join

in the after work get togethers at the pub, or perhaps weekend

golf games, venues where bonding takes place, often between the

males in the office, often helping these same individuals

with promotional opportunities because they're better known

entities due to this time socializing, Paul talks about

the need to recognize some of these, what he calls norms, and

in doing so, taking steps to change them, he confirms that

women are held back from advancement opportunities,

Particularly the C suite and board positions by a number of

invisible rules that continue to tilt the playing field in favor

of white men, using a quote from his book, Paul and his author

wrote the book based on direct one to one interviews with 50

senior one. Female Canadian executives who shared their

personal insights, experience wisdom and real life challenges.

It's a fascinating book. Now, as I shared in many of the

podcasts, I believe that we are all leaders, that we don't have

to be in formal leadership positions to display leadership.

The topic is important enough to me that I wrote the book

leadership inside out, affecting change from within. I also

hosted a number of podcasts on my own over the series. As

examples, I see you as a leader, C in quotation marks, the letter

C, gratitude and leadership, conflict and conflict

resolution, dealing with the ripples created by change

leadership, reflections and leadership, you have all you

need inside of you. I really believe that now. I also knew

that keeping ourselves healthy and helping you as listeners

with tips also seemed important given our stress laden work

environments now, I relied primarily on the expertise

available. Except for the podcast exploring stress

management, I was thrilled to be provided the opportunity to

interview dimple de Balia and the podcast, challenging the

narrative of service before self. Dimple has woven both her

own story and that of others that she's worked with into a

phenomenal book, tell me my story, challenging the narrative

of service before self, a book that digs deep into the

realities that so many of us who provide service to others

because, and I'll take a quote from her book, caring for others

is inherent to who we are, and to do anything different would

lead us feeling unfulfilled and restless and what we experience.

Did you know that vicarious trauma can result from repeated

exposure to other people's trauma and their stories of

traumatic events, and that compassion fatigue can result

from caring for those who are in significant pain and distress.

It will likely come as no surprise that factors such as

lack of transparency decision making that doesn't consider

workforce health and perceptions of unfairness in the workplace

can tip our organizations into what is termed organizational

trauma, all of which contribute to toxic work environments,

burnout, disengagement and sickness. If your role includes

oversight of people, you could be having to deal with all of

these both as the leader of the team you're responsible for and

personally temple shared the good news that we can reset and

redesign once traumatized cultures again. Another thought,

they're all fabulous books and the podcast, nurture, nurture,

nourishing your well being to prevent burnout. Sharon

Summerfield, founder of the nourished executive, delved into

the topic of stress and burnout, and how making small, micro

changes, which begins with the desire of living a more

nourishing in all contexts and fulfilling life, can turn

adversity into adventure, active activism and alignment with who

You are your core. Now. Sharon's a registered holistic

nutritionist, and she's a certified breath coach, and

she's certainly a model of lifelong learning and of paying

it forward to help others in their journeys. Melissa dealey

is a registered Health Coach and an integrated health

practitioner. Now she had originally been employed as a

business executive in the in hotel industry, getting let go

when big fish bought little fish, as she says, And when the

reality of both daughters suffering concussion,

concussions from sports injuries, caused her to reassess

priorities and to refocus on a different journey, one that has

led her to her current work. She talks about her journey, and

she's shared invaluable health tips, tips meant to help each of

us on our own health journeys. And the podcast, your health is

important. Don't wait for your wake up call

Melissa reminds us that health isn't everything, but without

it, everything else is nothing. Helping others improve their

health journeys has become her life's passion and purpose, and

it shows words like newfound energy, gut health, dealing with

brain fogginess, certainly caught my attention, and Melissa

continues to share her wisdom through her podcast. Don't wait

for your wake up. Call her YouTube channel your guided

health journey and the programs that she offers, I suspect that

many of you are like me, especially when it comes to how

we're feeling perceived by. Our worlds, we all pick up on body

language changes in vocal tone and other indicators that an

individual's words as one example may not be an accurate

reflection of what they're truly feeling. And yes, this provides

a wonderful playground for those negative voices inside of us in

the podcast, grappling with our Gremlins, those negative inner

voices I talked about, that negative chatter inside our

heads. Some call it our gremlins. It is the stuff that

holds us back, erodes our self confidence, and can create havoc

in our ability to present as our very best. I've not yet met

anyone who doesn't struggle with this. In the podcast, we explore

identification of those Gremlins and tools to use to enable a

refocus when they're having their fun with us. Guest Julia

Wooster grew tired of being an administrative assistant. She

also hated her fingernail biting habit. Hypnotherapy answered

both of her quandaries when she decided to pursue certification

with the National guild, if hypnotherapists now, that was

more than a decade ago. She's now a seasoned hypnotist and a

Reiki Master. She helps people kick their habits, heal from

past traumas and begin loving the life of their dreams. In the

podcast hypnotherapy and healing, Julia told us about the

career choice and provided answers to all those questions

that you might have about hypnosis, how it works, whether

it sticks, and for those of you worried that you might start to

collect like a chicken, she answered the entertainment

hypnosis questions to fun podcast. We all know that

there's sometimes things that happen to us that we have no

control over, like life altering illnesses, employment

termination and then being cut off Ltd benefits. Dealing with

one of these is difficult enough, but when all occur at

the same time, it can feel like a virtual tsunami. We can let

these kinds of circumstances take us out, or we can decide to

fight those choices, determined where we go next in this life of

ours, in the podcast resurfacing from circumstances beyond our

control, you met Katherine Elliot, one of my heroes,

someone who models courage, resilience and tenacity and what

Deciding to react differently can look like even in truly

adverse circumstances. Another hero of mine, Steve servic,

shared his personal story and the work he's doing to change

the culture and fire and protective services departments

across North America are working with him and much of what he's

written about in his book The Unbroken, a firefighter's

memoir, and the podcast Steve Steve servic, Assistant Fauci

talks about fire culture and mental health, contains many of

those insights Steve talked about the Culture of fire

services departments, and the fact that although surveys

conducted have found that 95% of firefighters feel critical

incident stress, 65% are traumatized by calls. Over 80%

of firefighters don't feel that they can talk to a peer or seek

help about how they're feeling due to a concern that they might

be perceived as weak or unfit for duty. Horrible. Statistics.

The suicide rate for this profession is high. Steve

continues to make it his business to bring voice to this

reality and to this concern, in the podcast, I also talked about

personal development, the process of working to become the

very best version of ourselves. It takes time, and it takes self

awareness as such, it made sense to explore and provide podcasts

around the topic of personal development, I created podcasts

passion and legacy, finding and living the power of your joy,

nurtured by nature, what can happen when you say yes, and

then reached out to very valued guests for More. Have you ever

heard of negativity bias? Have you ever felt yourself

constantly ruminating over a comment where you felt

criticized, perhaps still fuming over that driver that gave you

the finger on your way to work, really down over that

disappointing performance review, and hypersensitive over

what felt like a disappoint. Did look towards you from your boss,

perhaps? Do you like me, tend to brush off compliments, focus on

the poor grades you received instead of the good ones, and

look to the next goal without really recognizing and

celebrating the one that you just accomplished. You're not

alone. GUEST, Cheryl Brewster helped us understand why we do

this and provide us with tips to help change this in her podcast,

understanding and dealing with negativity bias, we need to be

modeling this, because when we help ourselves, we also help

those that we lead, and these tools help all aspects of our

lives, so also those that we love. Guest Sam theara in the

podcast, ignite the dream does a deep dive in discovering the

extraordinary and the ordinary. Why? I'll use the quote from his

book, everyone's life is an autobiography. Make yours worth

reading. He encouraged everyone to go towards a path that is

authentic to them, because often we're in a role that earns us a

paycheck. But is that enough? In the podcast, we learned of Sam's

journey as also captured in his book, Lost and Found, seeking

the past and finding myself, Sam talked about living by

gratitude, changing the world and dealing with the haters as

examples and of the power of acronyms and anchors to help

discover who we are and how we can learn to live our best life.

In the podcast, finding or rediscovering your life's

purpose. Barb Ashcroft shared that she works with individuals

with a desire to grow, to change the current normal and unearth

what might be holding them back from a more fulfilled, vibrant

and healthy life. She asks, and I quote, are you ready for some

self development and confidence building as a natural leader.

She's learned a great deal about mindset, attitude and positive

thinking with the desire to raise people up to their full

potential, she helps shifts people's belief in themselves.

She asks, Are you ready to lose your frustrations and fears? As

Barb said, your mind is your biggest barrier to an optimal

life. Now with the podcast titled HR, and set out it was

important to address topics of the media and interest to those

with people oversight responsibilities. So I hosted

recruitment tips and tails importance of fun play at work,

conflict and conflict resolution, but again, sought

other expertise from other areas of interest. We're aware that

our work teams are comprised of multi generations, and research

indicates that each generation tends to have specific

preferences and characteristics. GUEST Amal Anup chats about one

of these Gen Zed on the podcast, Amal T Anup on engaging Gen Zed.

Amal is originally from Kochi karala In India, and he speaks

passionately about changes that we could be making to our

education systems and our organizations to better engage

this newest generation to our work environments. Did you know

that 50% 57% actually, of employees feel invisible at

work, and 20% of new hires will quit their first job in the

first 45 days? Many don't even show up on day one, particularly

when the gap, there's a big gap between the job offer and the

start date,

according to a 2021 research study by McKinsey, a lack of

connection and appreciation is the number one driver for

attrition. In fact, people are nearly three times more likely

to quit because they don't feel that they belong at work than

because of poor compensation. In the podcast with guest Dr Alia

remtilla, enhancing the employment experience,

onboarding and retention, we learned that it is Dr REM Tiller

mission to help companies foster stronger, more authentic human

connections amongst their employees. She's the Chief

Scientist and co founder of storytelling, a platform that

uses anthropology and technology to bring more authenticity to

workplace relationships. It's a simple, automated way to create

impactful, personalized films that show employees that they

matter. Kate bravery, co author of the recently published book

work, different 10 truths for winning in the people age. The

10 truths, headings, goodbye, employees, hello. Contributors,

stressed out, burnt out and quietly quit. Thing, it doesn't

pay to stay purpose, rules and empathy wins. Trust and

Accountability are a team sport. The new rhythm of work. Skills

are the real currency of work. Supply is unchanged.

Intelligence is getting amplified, and sustainability

starts with people piqued my curiosity, as did the learning

of the impact of AI ESG and the very vocal expectations of our

younger generations. Kate shared her research and her insights in

the podcast work different 10 truths for winning in the people

age, originally from last Nigeria, ayo owoduni migrated,

immigrated to Canada in 2016 as an economic migrant. His his

initial experiences were not positive ones, and I don't think

he's, it's, he's that's unusual. He learned from these and he now

works with both businesses and individuals to change this.

Canada needs the 500,000 immigrants scheduled to make

Canada their new home per year. I shared what we as their

colleagues and they as new immigrants can and should be

doing differently to make this experience better for everyone

in his podcast, ayo owadoni on the Canadian immigrant

experience, Tracy Lee Lawrence, and in her podcast insights into

organizations use of personality profile tools and Tracy's

Paragon Strategic Services, she dove into the topic of

personality profiling tools, tools that we often use In

Recruitment Training and as a communication tool within our

organizations for personal insights and growth and how they

can be effectively used and misused. GUEST Nadine hanshar on

the podcast, creating better relationships at home and at

work, Knowing Me, Knowing you, the Pep. Pep personality

researched and developed her own personality profile instrument,

one that I found knew me better than any of the others that I've

been introduced to in my career. Now, if you're interested in

learning more about the impact of shame and the inner critic of

the toxic shame spiral and our shadow and of the negative

impact that unexpressed anger can have on our health, you

would have found the podcast anger management with guest

Alistair moose fascinating as he explored the importance of anger

management. Alistair shared that the pain, sadness, hurt, fear,

anxiety, shame, and often trauma that we experience are what

leads us to react disproportionately to events,

and it's only when this is examined with compassion and

deep respect that we can alter our response to the triggers in

our lives and learn To relate to the emotional reactions that

have led us astray. Alistair moose and his team at Moose

anger management have been humbled and inspired by the many

people who have taken up the courage to take on this type of

investigation. My friend and guest Mark Miller spoke on

strategic HR and the role of HR technology in his podcast. Now,

Mark published his first book, heroic HR in May 2012 and he

calls it a little book with big ideas, where he presented his

passion and philosophy, philosophy of the need for HR to

align itself with the business of the company in which it works

to present strategic value added information to all stakeholders,

stakeholders, and to move from data management to information

craftsmanship. In his most recent book, The Death of HR,

who killed H Harriet R rose job is a cautionary tale and a

detective story which provides further insights and actions for

all members within the HR workforce, HR technology, human

management, capital, HCM strategies, workforce, cyber

awareness, all leveraging technology to position HR as a

strategic partner, and each of which remain a huge passion for

Mark that he continues to teach, consult and to speak on in the

podcast, we also talk about mentoring, both the formal and

the informal versions that our experience. Experiences with

these one of the podcasts on mentoring with guest Carolyn

Cooper mcquot. Over the years of her careers, Carolyn's been very

involved in setting up mentoring programs through her role as a

trainer, advisor and coordinator at local college. Now, these

have been quite structured. My personal experiences have been

with the more laissez faire ones and those that just simply came

about because, well, they just seemed meant to in this era of

so much brain drain, engaging that wisdom and experiences, one

way to pay it forward is something that we're both

certainly encouraging and we even deal with finances. Guest

Heather Abbott's passion is helping empower individuals with

confidence in their finances and joy in their lives. Yeah, I

think that's the first time I put finance and joy in the same

sentence, combining the left brained money and financial

details with the right brained emotion, spiritual Woo to

improve your life is her specialty. In the podcast on

financial clarity for prosperity, Heather shares tips

to make the money stuff more manageable. It is your future

that we're talking about here, and Heather encourages us to

make it a prosperous one. I met Stephen Hammond, a lawyer turned

professional speaker, many years ago, and was impressed at how he

delivers his message now. Stephen helps clients avoid the

landmines that are getting so many people and workplaces in

trouble. For 27 years, he's educated 1000s of Canadians

about the importance of preventing and responding to all

the inappropriate stuff that does go on at work. In

particular, he's focused on harassment, bullying and

discrimination. Now, despite the serious nature of these issues,

Stephen's known for his humor, his wit, and for discussing

issues that are current and relevant in the podcast,

bullying, harassment and discrimination, Steven shared

the importance of dealing quickly with matters that can

erupt very quickly into more serious situations, especially

when these appear To violate individuals ability to work in a

respectful work environment or in it or an infringement on the

protections provided on human rights, on the charter of

freedom legislation. Steven stories are real, taken from

actual cases. His lessons using his recent book, the new norm, a

manager's guide to improving workplace behavior and keeping

out of legal hot water are practical. Steven makes a

subject that could be overwhelming and mired and

legally approachable and understandable. Alex Kane,

Senior Project Manager with Maximizer software incorporated

dug deep into the topic of employee engagement, looking at

some of the statistics around disengagement, and reviewing the

practices and culture that Alex has found successful in helping

to create an engaged workforce. In his podcast with me,

exploring employee engagement, digging deeper, Alex provided

lots of tips for those who lead teams and for those struggling

to keep excited about their own employment.

I reached out to guest Cindy Rogers as well, who taught to

talk about employee engagement, both her own and that of the

employees that she's worked with in the podcast, engagement on

our employment experiences. Cindy also talked about the

employee engagement project that she had assigned to her

students. She talked about what they've learned from their

research and how that learning compares with their own

employment experiences. To date, I rounded out that podcast focus

with my own podcasts on what's happening to customer service,

on simplicity and a further exploring employment engagement.

I also wanted to do podcasts from the union's perspective, as

I shared my book leadership inside out, affecting change

from within. I became interested in the union movement when I

first started employment after graduating from high school.

Now, the interest led me to accept employment with the

Communication Workers of Canada, first as a union organizer and

then as a national representative. But eventually,

the call of love and returning to the West Coast drew me back

to Vancouver to pursue an undergraduate degree at SFU and

to the eventual employment within human resources I've

always cherished. The years I worked for the CWC, the lessons,

the mentoring I was provided, the people I met, many of whom

remain friends to this day, the time I spent on the. Quote, the

other side, unquote, gave me tremendous insight into how the

worker sees things and how individuals representing the

workers view issues. It is an experience that I hold dear, and

I really hope that it's positively impacted my how as I

practice my people recite responsibilities over the years.

So I reached out to two of my mentors when I worked for the

CWC, hoping they might agree to be interviewed. They became

immediately obvious I was still the new guy to them, and they

loved the chance to share their own stories. It wasn't a tough

sell. First, I reached out to Bill house for a podcast titled

a career of building equity and justice. Now Bill someone who,

through every action, every word he spoke, exuded leadership

alignment with core values and absolute passion for what he

did. He knew what he was good at. He built leaders along the

way, and he has continued to make a positive difference, even

in his retirement activities. Bill spent most of his career

working for and with unions as a paid employee within those

organizations, as Bill shared when we are able to fulfill our

life's purpose, in Bill's case, helping ensure people's voices

were heard, inequities were addressed and choice was

actioned as part of the responsibilities of what we're

paid to do, we tend to infuse really positive stuff onto those

that we work with. I was one of the lucky ones. Provided that

opportunity at a very early point, point in my career, being

able to work with such an individual Bill Howes, I also

reached out to my other mentor, Ed Seymour, for the podcast, the

importance of mentors in creating our personal career

histories with guest Edward e Seymour in this podcast, Ed

shared his thoughts on the importance of mentors,

especially during your key developmental years and when

you're feeling stretched beyond what you think you might be

capable of. He also spoke on the creation of our personal career

histories, the ones that evolved from the decisions that we make

along the way, when we say yes to opportunities and create, at

times, roads less traveled as part of our learning and

development. Using Ed's rich and diverse career history as a real

life example of the tapestry that we can choose to weave over

the years, I remain very glad that I became a thread in Ed's

tapestry, and of course, he and mine. Next, I reached out to

Brian Schramm. Now Brian was working as the business manager

for the West Vancouver Municipal Employees Union when I was the

director of human resources and payroll services with the

district of West Vancouver, Brian left the wvmea to join

another union, the BCG you where he became an expert on the BC

public sector pension plans. At the time that we recorded our

podcast, he was probably one of the most knowledgeable

individuals around when it came to public service pensions.

Brian joined me on the podcast understanding BC public sector

pension plans, where he shared some of his knowledge and

addressed questions that we've both been asked in our

respective positions over the years. And the next chapter, I'm

in the semi retirement chapter of my life. I took early

retirement to be able to what I called color outside the lines.

My HR years were wonderful, and I was fortunate to be able to

leave full time employment and transitioned into working as a

consultant, Coach and Trainer. I'm well aware of the challenge

that employment transitions can create, especially when the

decision to move to a next chapter might not be our own. It

was an area that I felt warranted a deeper dive. In my

conversation with guest Charlene Wright on the podcast on career

transition, especially for creatives, Charlene noted that

people only really get ready for a career transition when they

have to and thus find the process something that really

shakes them to their core. She also talked that we need to get

better at self managing our careers. Charlene founded smart

career solutions. SCS to recognize and celebrate that a

significant number of professionals don't fit into a

traditional service model, and that not all professionals wear

a suit or would consider themselves an average job

seekers. Seeker. She asks a. Are you an out of work creative

professional that wants a new job or wants to build a creative

business or both? Do you leverage your creative and

artistic skills to your advantage? Are you missing out

on better opportunities? Have you married the elements of

being creative, finding meaningful work and generating

money. She offers job search online courses and career

coaching if you're ready to leverage your superpower, or at

least be willing to be held accountable. And all her work is

aligned with her belief that creatives bring valuable

contributions to the workplace and to the world. I heartily

agree. Cheryl, Brewster of the intuitive life, left her

corporate job to pursue a calling. Cheryl walks us through

the aha moment and the journey that she's been on to find and

to live her true purpose, the business that she has grown as a

result, and the lessons that she's learned through the

process in her podcast, leaving corporate to become an

entrepreneur. Now, retirement is a topic becoming of

significantly more importance and interest to individuals of

my generation, the boomers, and it's also something that those

just wishing for those golden years should start giving some

thought to although it might not feel like it at the time, the

years do pass by quickly, and more importantly, once you're

finally there, thanks in large part to our better health care,

many of us have many years ahead of us. And for those of you have

been going warp speed for decades, the sudden stop can

feel like heading into a collision with a brick wall, and

it doesn't need to be that way. With a little planning. We're

all different, and we all yearn for different things in our new

chapter, in the next chapter, a topic that I addressed in the

podcast, transitioning to retirement. In the podcast,

there was resignation and reality, reassessing priorities.

We learned that 50% of our workforce were considering

quitting McKinsey and Company and Harvard Business Review

articles in September 2021 when the podcast was broadcast, noted

that people were choosing not to return to work, even without the

safety net of alternate employment. Very unusual, they

shared that we're assessing our priorities, yearning to be

appreciated and recognized, to be considered and treated more

than a transaction, and that companies that understood this

were doing what needed to happen to change. Still others were not

willing to shift. And resignation isn't truly an

option for many of us. In the podcast, I talk about what we

can do to help create the changes that we wish to see in

our own lives, as individuals, within our teams, within our

organizations. Two years later, this is still relevant.

I find myself increasingly speaking with individuals who

have chosen to lead their careers to pursue something

different in their later years. Perhaps you are mid career and

asking whether there could be something more or a way you

could be applying your skills, experience and education

differently, like me, you want to color outside those

proverbial lines and do differently with more passion

and refining that sparkle that you haven't seen lately when

looking at you in the mirror. In the podcast, career choices,

even after retirement, you met individuals who made that leap

and never looked back. And for many of you who spent your lives

at one speed, full on, retirement might not be what you

had contemplated. For those who had absolutely no time

whatsoever to pursue hobbies and fashions, the hours now

available to you may seem long and unproductive, perhaps

becoming a podcaster might be of interest to you. I really didn't

have any idea what I gotten into when I began my podcasting

journey. I had no idea that I would need a license and that I

would need to either self edit or engage an editor. I didn't

know I would need a better microphone and that I would need

to have everyone else off the internet, internet, when I

scheduled podcast recordings, I have learned so much about

myself. I've learned from my guests and the research required

of each episode. Thank you again to Pam Jones of sounds right for

teaching me how to prepare my voice and posture before

recording podcasts. I still forget that coffee and dairy are

no no's and that I need to be well hydrated. Thank you to my

guests for saying yes and for sharing their expertise. Thank

you for my loving husband for his constant support, and to you

my listeners for making the decision to listen to HR and. It

out for your time and for your interest. It's Susan signing

off, saying a farewell. Finally, for the last time, remember,

dare to soar. Believe you can I do and always will. Take a look.

Take a listen. There are the wealth of podcasts with

wonderful individuals on your favorite podcast site still

available to you for your listening and for your your

learning. It's Susan signing off. Have a great day, everyone.

Bye for now, and thank you. Thank.