Timeout With Leaders

S2:E9 Timeout with Dr. Kymberly Cruz ”Voice & Choice”

Are children more emotionally intelligent than most CEOs today? 

We sit down with Dr. Kymberly Cruz, Chief Educational Officer at Renaissance Academy Charter School in Rochester New York. She shared that she feeds off the kid's energy and innocence because they believe in her, trust her, and will let her make mistakes. Maybe we all need to channel our inner child self when it comes to leadership today before it wasn't cool to be smart, kind, and when we didn't give in to peer pressure.  

Dr. Kymberly talks about how her school teaches THROUGH the arts, as she has worked her entire career in education she sees how important their education is to prepare our young people for a future of success while improving the community one class at a time. They focus on giving them the 21st-century skills like empathy and creativity to be successful in the new world of work. 

We need to pay teachers the salary they deserve as they prepare the future generation we ALL will rely on. Stop waiting for an endorsement and build confidence in the journey of life. 

S2:E8 Timeout with Kevin Schulte ”Same at Work as I am at Home”

One word "Transparent" which would describe this interview with Kevin Schulte, CEO for Greenspark Energy focus on bringing economical and sustainable ways to push us away from the use of fossil fuels.

The one thing that you will hear is that Kevin Schulte never wanted to be a different person at home, at the office and even out with friends, because that is acting. He has found it to be most effective in leadership to be the SAME person who is open, honest and transparent.

Kevin is an employee-first leader who understands the importance of his people while also understanding there is no purpose without profits. Requiring him and his team to make some tough decisions in 2018, (Greensparks D-Day) which oddly had them properly prepared to take on the COVID pandemic through transparency, grit, grace and some great communication across all teams.

Let's work to build those social, individualized relationships with our people, get personal and build the social fabric that will ready your team for the next adversity they will face.

S2:E7 Timeout with Jim Malvaso ”How Many Leaders Have You Created?”

We got to sit down with Jim Malvaso, VP of Human Resources at Constellation Brands to talk Michigan State hoops, Dave Mathews Band World Tour, and about leadership in HR. 

 

From the opening song "Can you feel the love tonight" by Tyler White, we knew Jim was different. We talked about the importance of his experience in Selma and how he is on his own learning journey as we reflected on MLK. 

 

Jim is a leader who is helping to understand how he can help improve the lives of employees while still building the trust and respect of other business leaders within Constellation Brands. After listening you will know why Constellation Brands is always leading and never following!

 

 

S2:E6 Timeout with Ken Glazer ”Becoming Aware of Who You Are”

Join us to listen to episode 6 with Ken Glazer, CEO of Buckingham Properties, a growing real estate and property management company in Rochester. Ken recently was awarded the WNY Power 100, for his work in and around the Rochester community.

Ken shares with us his life journey in being put into a leadership role before he was even able to prepare himself for the challenge. Due to a tragic accident, losing both his mother and father he had to work on himself first and heal before he could lead a company.

Ken shared the steps we can start making to understand more about who we are and what do we like to do for fun... all so we can become better leaders in our own lives eventually being able to lead others.

Through Ken's own experiences and life lessons he has learned that by "doing less as a leader, more work gets done." He goes on to explain that the team had to learn how to make decisions again and he learned trusting his people to get the work done was the best way to make them feel empowered.

S2:E5 Timeout with Patrick Tobin - ”Put People in the Best Position to Succeed”

Kicking off 2022 in style, Patrick Tobin, CEO and President of Han-Tek, joins Timeout with Leaders to talk Terps basketball and leading a family-owned company, picking up right where his father left off! Patrick might be the calmest, coolest and collected leader we have ever met.

Patrick started by telling us that he never wants to be the smartest person in the room, he wants to surround himself with smarter people to bring forth the constant innovation required in their industry. He creates opportunities for his team to ask questions, share insights and speak openly to help build trust, resilience, and a sense of TEAM. This has helped his team to fight through adversity, solve problems and more importantly listen to one another. 

Don't ask Patrick about Steve Blake but if you want to learn about what it means to be a leader today, ask Patrick. Keep your commitments to your people and put them in the best position to succeed, for starters. His message to leaders is to hire attitude and aptitude over a resume!

 

S2 Episode 4 Timeout with Amy Gould ”Finding a Uniting Purpose”

Episode 4 of Season 2: Amy Gould, Chief People Officer at Regional Transit Service, joins as our first HR leader to be on Timeout with Leaders. Amy has a passion for people and building relationships to improve the daily lives of employees, creating a uniting purpose to bring over 1,000 employees together to serve the community daily. 

Top 3 Gould Family Christmas Movies

-Christmas Vacation

-A Christmas Story

-Elf 

 

Amy spoke about the competitive labor market and believes companies need to hire for character and train for skills. While increasing communication across all teams to get the full story on what is really going on internally. She has found more communication limits surprises for the business, so they can take a more proactive approach. 

Amy reminds us that the customer experience should match the employee experience as they are interacting daily with one another, a direct representation of the company, so they better be happy! 

"It is so important to know your employees today" - Amy Gould

S2 Episode 3 Timeout with Ken Johnson ”Opportunities to Create Change”

Ken Johnson CEO of Leonard's Express a multi-generational family-owned and operated business, recent winner of Rochester Top 100 places to work joins us for episode 3 "Opportunity to Create Change" 

When we think about leadership today, Ken shared that he has found you must be "fair" and "firm" but you must have built the right relationship establishing trust to hold the team accountable. Ken shares that running a family business is never easy from arm wrestling competitions with his brothers but also how to they have had to learn how to utilize each of their strengths. 

What was most fascinating is their dedication to their people, the industry, and looking to make a change, even if it "ain't broke". Ken's commitment to the community, "we have a responsibility to give back, we need to be a part of the community in which we live and work" 

You "got to listen" in leadership today.

S2 Episode 2 Timeout with Jaime Saunders ”Touch the Heart Before You Teach the Mind”

Season 2 is off to a HOT start with guest Jaime Saunders, President and CEO of the United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes. Her energy sucked us right in for an incredible conversation about what it takes to be a leader today.

She spoke about the "Great Resignation" as the "Great Re-Think" for most leaders and businesses. 

Jaime's positive mindset, thinking about how she can "leave the world a better place" as a leader in our community here in Rochester. She reminds leaders that they are the followers, the champions, and the cheerleaders to effectively build trust across their teams uniting them with a common purpose. She mentioned that this can all be found in the children's books of old teaching the same lessons leaders need today. 

We can be more effective leaders if we "touch the heart before you teach the mind!"

Season 2- Episode 1Timeout with Kenneth Rhee ”Be Self Disruptive”

What a way to kick off Season 2 of “Timeout with Leaders” with Kenneth Rhee, Dean of the School of Business and Leadership at Nazareth College in Rochester.

Well, his favorite movie is “Chariots of Fire”, he knows when it’s the best time to go to the grocery store in Green Bay and he’s a huge Apple fan.

What we also learned about Kenneth is he’s an amazing and progressive leader that puts a primary focus on leading by example. He said today we should change our focus to the inputs and process rather than just the desired output result. 

He shared leaders of today need to be "self disruptive" in order to get comfortable with the changes necessary in today's business environment. Today leaders new to be honest, transparent and most importantly authentic to earn the trust of their people. Our people should feel safe to say what you NEED to hear not just what you want to hear. 

Kenneth pumped us full of wisdom and experiences and educated us on how to start with ourselves if we want to change the universe.

Episode 27: Timeout with Coach Kevin Clifford ”Thrive in Chaos”

Episode 27 -  Business Owners and Coaches, get your pen and pad out because we are taking a "Timeout" with Coach Kevin Clifford, Head Coach for Roberts Wesleyan Women's Basketball Team and he's what we like to call.... "ahead of the game."

 

Coach Clifford's knowledge, wisdom, and experience with processes recruiting, and finding our way are unmatched. Coach Clifford's approach to recruiting in the sports world can absolutely be used as an instrumental tool in today's business world. 

 

Coach is much more than a basketball coach, he increased his team's GPA from a 1.6 GPA to a 3.5GPA in just one year!!! We loved it when he said, "team, we're going to the library for practice today!" 

 

Coach puts a tremendous value on building relationships in this episode that you all will find extremely valuable. His character shines as bright as the sun in our conversation and was a BLAST!!!!