Forget technology and hyperscalers for a minute. If your company is going to survive its inevitable move to the public cloud, you need to start focusing on your people — retraining your team, hiring new talent, and in some cases – letting some people go. That’s right, we’re going to talk about a forbidden topic in this episode: firing people.
This is first in my three-part HR series about the people-side of big change. I’ve known our guest, Jim Abolt, for two decades. You may have heard my interview with him about leadership in Episode 1. If not, take a listen when you get a chance. It’s great.
Jim is an SVP of Human Resources and a leadership guru. He knows more than anyone I’ve met about the effect of big change on the people within an organization. Hit the play button to hear Jim’s take on:
- A framework for ushering in change that can be used by anyone – from Girl Scout Leaders to say, President-Elects [04:16];
- The most overlooked element that can inspire team members to lead the way [05:06];
- The three reasons some changes don’t gain traction [03:15];
- How to model the way forward [08:28];
- How to handle resistance to your new vision [10:57]; and
- The intersection between Spock and Mother Teresa [12:20].
this week’s guest
Jim Abolt is a senior HR professional and leadership guru. He’s widely regarded as an expert in leadership development, culture shaping, and large-scale organizational change. Throughout his career, he has played key roles in helping multimillion-dollar companies with global growth, merger and acquisition integration, and succession planning.
Listen to our conversation by clicking play above or subscribe through your favorite podcast feed.
- Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
- Listen on your favorite podcast platform – see the links above under the audio player.
- You can find the transcript for this episode here.
Links and Resources
- Check out my blog posts about Jim’s five-step framework for making your cloud vision a reality:
- Listen to Telco in 20 Episode 1 to hear Jim talk about transformational leadership
- How not to implement change: watch Office Space, the movie. The leaders in this movie don’t explain why the changes are happening and instead hire consultants to figure out how to change the culture.
- A really good example of leadership in a movie is Remember the Titans. Denzel sets an ambitious goal and takes over a team 100% opposed to him and turns it around. Inspiring.
- Download my guide, Time to go to the public cloud! The essential steps for complete cloud success
Follow DR
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- Want to set up a meeting? Get in touch
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Podcast Credits
- Executive Producer and Host: Danielle Royston, TelcoDR
- Executive Producer: Kristin Donelson, OneLouder Marketing
- Senior Producer: Lindsay Grubb, TillCo Media
- Editor/Producer: Alisa Jenkins Wilson, Springboard Marketing
- Audio Capture: Aaron Joslow, Rally Point Webinars
- Audio Editing: Andrew Condell
- Music: Dyami Wilson
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