Driving Positive Leadership in Today's Workplace

Bring up the talent. Bring up the talent. Bring up the talent. Welcome to Bring Up the Talent, a podcast featuring learning and development experts discussing innovative approaches and industry insights.

Tune in to hear our talent. Help develop yours. Now here are your host, TTA CEO and President Maria Melfa, and talent manager Jocelyn Allen. Good afternoon, Jocelyn.

I feel like I haven't seen you in 150 years. You look completely. So to you as always, darling. Yes.

So excited to be back after a little summer break. And we have such a special guest. So it's going to be a good one. Today is going to be wild, folks.

I hope that you are sitting down. Absolutely. What day is it? Today is Wednesday.

Friday. Friday. Friday. Okay.

I'm feeling a little slap happy today. Yes. Very much. Okay.

And actually, what a perfect feeling to feel for today's episode because we are talking about driving positive leadership in today's workplace. So, what does higher productivity, stronger trust, and healthier cultures all have in common? Do you know, Jocelyn? Me.

You are correct. They are all fueled by one thing, positive leadership, because nobody likes negative leadership. As we always say, we spend the majority of our working hours, a majority of our waiting hours at work. And that would not be fun being an environment that is run by negativity.

In this episode of Bring Up the Talent, we're joined by Jason Murphy, president and chief consultant of JRM Human Capital, keynote speaker, executive coach, believer, and master facilitator, and a great friend. With over 25 years, Jason has helped Fortune 500 companies, mid-sized firms, and mission-driven organizations unlock the full potential of their people by making leadership a lived experience. Known for his high positive energy, authenticity, and hashtag everyday great day mantra.

I love seeing your videos, by the way, Jason, on that. He's inspired leaders around the globe to transform how they lead, connect, and grow. This conversation is all about what it really takes to drive positive leadership in today's workplace from closing the gaps in clarity, connection, commitment, and care to shutting out negativity and fueling teams with purpose. Jason offers practical steps that leaders could put into action right away.

Get ready for an engaging, energizing discussion that will leave you rethinking how positivity can transform performance, culture, and leaders at every level. Welcome, Jason. Yay! Maria, thanks so much for having me on the podcast.

Jocelyn, it is so great to see you again. So I've been a friend and a partner to TTA for over a decade, and I'm really excited about today's conversation. As you are, positive leadership isn't just something I coach, facilitate, speak about. It's how I try to live every single day, where hashtag everyday great day comes from.

And so what we're going to talk about today has the power to transform not just how you lead, but how your people show up, connect, and perform, Maria and Jocelyn. I love it. I can't believe you didn't pick up on my believer part. I love it.

I love it. Okay. I needed to make sure I heard that correctly. I went and I looked at the bio and I was like, did that she sure did?

She's like, I'm right there with you. When you're with Maria, you believe anything. Anything. Yes.

Exactly. So what do you think about JB's new album? Oh, you know what? It takes me back to the days, my friend, but I'm so happy for him and his family.

He is one of the examples of positivity in this world with so much that's unfolded for him and has impacted his craft over the past 10 years. I'm really, really happy for him and I continue to support him. Absolutely. It's hard to be in the spotlight like that.

It's not, it's I know it. You know, you have to be the right person all the time. I think he's exactly it's not easy to do that from the time that you were like 10. He's he's been in it a long time.

Okay, Jason. So as we mentioned, you've been an incredible friend and partner to TTA for well over a decade. And we're very excited to learn from you today. What first led you to pursue the training in John Gordon's positive leadership program?

I think my journey started first when I read his first book called The Energy Bus. I thought to myself, wow, like these rules are simple, however, they're powerful. So at the time I was working with a client who basically had everything they needed on paper: talent, strategy, resources. I don't think they were winning.

And the reason wasn't skills, it was things like energy, it was trust. Maria, it's what you said. I think it was belief. So John's framework really gave me a language for what I'd been experiencing.

And sometimes people think positivity is fluff. Positivity isn't fluff, it's fuel. And for John and I, it's a competitive advantage. That's what led me to pursue the certification through John.

I've been through all of his inaugural certifications and became one of the first 20 to do that, and eventually a master level trainer coach and facilitator with him. So what's interesting, I remember working for a mid-sized healthcare group years ago. They had brilliant clinicians. However, morale was low.

So a few months after I introduced the energy bus principles, guys, one leader came up to me and said, Jason, for the first time in years, I actually look forward to leading my team again. That moment is what cemented my belief that positivity changes everything. I love that. I am a people used to give me a hard time and they would call me the and be like, every time I said something like positive, they're like, oh, feeling a little toxic today, Jocelyn.

Like the toxic posity. And I have a great sense of humor. So I handled it, trust me. I clapped right back.

But that being said, I do I think that there's a lot to be said with just it doesn't have to be like toxic positivity. It's just what are you handed and how can you see the benefits in moving forward versus like what is holding you back? Find ways to see the brighter side of things. And I love your approach going back to what Maria said.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing everyday great day hashtag because it's like it's your message and I know it's always coming from you. And there's an authenticity from it because that is your label and you live and breathe it every day. So I see the side of integrating yourself into that by recognizing, like, oh, this is who I am as a person. I can do more with it by following this program.

I think that's beautiful when people make those connections in their personal and professional life. What would you say from your perspective, are some of the biggest leadership and like team challenges that you're seeing in the workplace today? Like, why, how are you utilizing these skills and passions that you've developed to help people face the challenges and their work environment? I think there's probably two or three big ones as my clients are reaching out to me in 2025.

I think number one, disengagement. We are all fans of Gallup and the programs that we teach. And so Gallup is saying that disengaged employees are costing US companies. I want you to wait for this.

Not 1.9 billion, but 1.9 trillion a year is what it's costing us. I think number two, we still have RTO and the complexity of hybrid.

Leaders are managing across rooms and zooms, and then everything in between. And so this requires more intentional communication of our leaders. Probably the third one, which you know I'm a huge fan of emotional intelligence, is emotional fatigue. I think that people aren't running out of time.

All I hear is Jason, I need more time in my day. They're running out of energy. And I think if leaders don't acknowledge that culture quietly erodes. So there's a financial services firm that I coached last year that asked me to do some help with culture transformation with them.

And so people were technically excellent. I mean, we're talking about some of the greatest financial industries that they're supporting in the top 100. But Zoom fatigue had crushed engagement. So I went and I said, by reworking how we connect, how they connected, shorter meetings, more intentional recognition.

We saw this year in their engagement scores a jump and productivity increase 18% in one quarter. And how can you talk about like some of the methods that you used to do that? Because I know you made like a blanket set statement, but what were some of the techniques that were deployed, for lack of a better word, to create that 18%? Well, I think number one, like if people don't know their why, they don't know their way.

And I think that when people lose their why, they lose their way. So we really have to be intentional about the way we communicate with people. Number two, I think that if we want people, right, to lead, we have to have leadership that they can model. And so I think it starts with us as leaders, it starts with the entire environment.

Culture isn't just one thing, Jocelyn. Culture is everything. Culture eats strategy for breakfast every single day. So I am privileged of when I'm sent through my NDAs documents that have 250 pages of 1375, 2x, 3x, 5x, 10x.

And then I'm asked, how are we going to do it? Crickets. Crickets? Crickets.

Yeah. It's if you don't have the people, the buy-in from the people, if you haven't allowed them to weigh in, which is part of building the culture, your strategy's gonna fail. Absolutely. So I know you often talk about the gaps and the four C's, the clarity, connection, commitment, and Maria.

I love the four C's. Maria, I can't believe you've remembered that. I'm so glad this is being recorded. Because everybody needs to witness Jason's like physical reaction to that in their lifetime.

That was the And this is why I have been partner, friend, and family for 10 years. So, Maria, would you like me to talk about those gaps? That would be wonderful, Jason. Maria, if you remember, and Jocelyn, I don't know if you remember talking about this, but you have such a great memory and recall that you probably do clarity, connection, commitment, and care.

Let me do them again. Clarity, connection, commitment, and care. You guys, it's one of the core principles of John's programs. All five programs, if you ever had the opportunity to go through them, this is where we focus a lot of our time.

Number one, without clarity, the teams spin in circles. It's like orbiting the hairball. Number two, without connection, everything feels transactional. I want things to feel relational.

Number three, without commitment, credibility disappears. And we won't even talk about love versus accountability. Next podcast. Without care, guess what?

And Maria knows this because Maria, Maria's people are bought in, they're checked, and every time you go in their office, there is this phenomenal buzz, a noise that can't be defined. It's magic. It's only for her. So without care, people check out.

Even if just one C, in my opinion, I think is missing, culture starts leaking energy. So there's a tech company last year that I worked with. They had two departments who built competing solutions because of lack of clarity. So can you imagine the duality, right?

The just the resource failure there. Not only did it wait six, waste six months of work, Maria and Jocelyn, it created this tension, this dissonance between the teams. So I was brought in to create alignment. And I said, here's how we're going to create alignment.

We're going to have clarity, we're going to build connection between the two teams, and we're going to collaborate. And guess what? Everything improved dramatically, and we were able to ship the product faster. Love that.

I do too. I can I sidebar because I this is my role in the show, Jason. Is I may be positive and fun and I mean just stunning in all capacities, but I am also the devil's advocate. But I'm about the connection piece.

And to transparently, I may be thinking on maybe a more customer service level, but of course, that applies both internally and externally, as we know. But we are seeing that there are in this day and age, and I think exorbitantly so post-COVID, people wanting connection without interaction. Does that make sense? Like they they want to feel the priority and that they are the ones, but they don't care if they ever see you, as long as that's the feeling, right?

And I understand that because we've talked about it before that there are a lot of people who don't necessarily want that face-to-face experience, but still want all of the benefits of what you get by having somebody dedicated in that way. So what I guess maybe my I have a several questions, but overall is maybe have you seen that type of maybe conflict in trying to establish that in certain organizations? And what's the how do you solve that problem? I know it's loaded and it's not on our list, so I'm definitely throwing you for a little bit.

Thank you for challenging me, Jocelyn. You always have, and I think that's what helps continue to allow me to grow, to expand, and proliferate this knowledge. It starts out with number one, I support your statements and I am in agreement with them as an expert. Number two, I think that when we do the research, again, maybe, maybe another podcast, another time, we can look at some of the variables that are creating this disparity, if you will, between connection.

What really interests me though is we can't talk about connection until we address the issue of communication. Communication, as with the newest generation, is at an all-time low. And I have nothing against the newest generation. I am one of their biggest fans and supporters as I go into organizations and talk about how we have five generations existing today.

However, the lack of communication creates the lack of connection. I'm experiencing things in retail and service industries, like people not even telling me the amount that's owed on the screen. They're just pointing to it. People not welcoming me.

I like going to Moe's. And one of the reasons I still go to Mo's is whether they like it or not, they say, Welcome to Moe's. The one thing they could go further is stop, see me, make eye contact with me, let me know that I'm valued and seen, and then say welcome to Moe's. So communication has to come before connection.

So we have to address what communication challenges and differences exist across all the generations. And then we can talk about connection. And in this program, we talk about communication. We talk about communication because we want to get you to connection.

I think that's where the real impact from a relationship exists. That was such an incredible and thoughtful explanation, Jason. Like, thank you. Because it it not only ties the four C's together, but it is incredibly clear.

Oh my God, there's clarity why they why it's so important to have one without the other. Because you're right. Like if you're not, if you're not diving in, being inquisitive, being curious, what is there to give the other side that shows the intention of connection? I I just have a beautiful explanation.

If I may, there's something else I'd just like to add to it. When we talk about communication, I do several workshops, learning experiences on listening. Do you know, fun fact, do you know that only 2% of the entire world's population has ever had any formal training on listening? I am yeah, I'm not I'm not surprised, but it's a small number.

No, you're hearing. Hearing is physiological. If you have the ability to hear, you will hear me. Listening is psychological.

Listening means it means that you actually feel what I say. It's the same thing between communication and connection. You can communicate with me, you can use words, but to connect with me, you have to use vocal qualities. There's body language, there's emotional intelligence in the way that you bridge the gap between the physiological aspect of communication and the psychological aspect of connection.

It's so right on. As we know, there's so many leadership programs out there, but do they really address this? Because the this is the baseline, the must. If you don't have this, you have nothing.

Maria, you're absolutely right. And Maria, you and I spent 10 years looking at leadership programs. And you know that that's a huge differentiator for me is the neuroscience, the psychological aspect of leadership, the emotional intelligence, because that is what's going to be make it make a difference, right? Am I saying that the foundational and fundamental skills are not important?

I never said that. But if you really want to move from manager, keep contributor to leader, this is where the success takes place. Love it. So another theme that is part of this program is the energy vampires.

Love that statement. The energy vampires that just like makes you exhausted just thinking about it. Why do you think negativity and low trust are such pressing issues today? And what impact do they have on performance?

And I bet a part of it is also working like remotely and not having the connection, but I'll let you speak. Wow. Yeah, you you always have that neck of derailing me and having me going down the chain, right? That's unfortunately not part of this.

You are so you're so right. I want to table that. One of the things through our research that we've learned is that negativity spreads faster than positivity. If you don't name it, it owns you.

And so that's why I use the term energy vampires. I think that every leader has had that experience. That one person, that one behavior, that one attitude just sucking the life out of them and a team. And so if you ignore it, Maria, I think it becomes a hidden tax on every meeting, every project, every culture.

And then there's trust. Research is showing us that. Low trust teams underperform by nearly 50% compared to high trust trust teams. So you think about schools, we're back in session.

I'm so excited for our youth as learning continues. I was asked by a school district I supported, and they had rising turnover amongst teachers. We're experiencing this in the United States at a large rate. However, based on the statistics, I think we have a higher rate here in the state of Florida.

So trust between staff and leadership was at an all-time low. So once we focused on rebuilding trust, leaders making commitments and following through, we've seen a 15% lift in retention in a single year in one school district. That's the power of trust. I know we've had conversations many times on our podcast about like negativity and how that can really damage a culture.

What do you see in your work? Do you feel that a lot of times you can change that by working with an employee? Or do you feel a lot of times the person just might be a negative person and they'll continually be a negative person no matter where they go? Maria, let me ask you something.

Jocelyn, please, when you see a negative person, and and I don't want you to filter, I want you to react because I know both of you are tremendous leaders and tremendous culture builders. So I think you have the right questions, but I want you to be vulnerable, okay, and transparent for a minute. You see someone negative, what do you want to do? In the works, what's your problem?

I'm sorry, Jocelyn. Sorry, sit in the works there like on the street. No, I mean, like for instance, like one of the things I think as a leader is separate from them, right? Exterminate them.

Right. Get them out of the way. Don't want to be around them. Yep.

Right? Can you guys think of any other things that you would do? Confront them? Yeah, confront them.

Yeah. Confront them. Maybe ask them. Ignore them.

Confront Jocelyn. Guess what confronting them is called? What do vampires not like the most? Sunlight.

Garlic. Stakes in the heart. Stay with sunlight, and we're just going to call it light, Jocelyn. Okay.

So what we need to do with these energy vampires is we don't need to separate them. We don't need to berade them. We need to turn the lights on for them. We need to make them aware.

Some of them don't even realize that through some of the words they're choosing, their body language, their vocal qualities, that they're even being negative. And a lot of times when we turn the lights on on them, all of a sudden, it changes them from an energy vampire to an energy energizer. I love that. I do.

I and I agree. I think that I say it a lot because this kind of parallels to me conflict resolution in a way. And I'm a huge fan of that. Like if we're to going back and talking about our strengths, something that, again, the teasing, it's all very playful.

But I one of my top strengths is positivity. And then towards the bottom is harmony. And I've always been of the opinion that the harmony is because I'm such a big fan of healthy conflict and challenge and learning from each other that that's why things aren't harmonious all the time. Because by just being in agreement, then there's your status quo.

And if that's what you want to do, then then cool. But if you if you want to evolve and learn, then it takes difficult conversations and learning from each other. So I think like for that to me, that showing the light to the energy vampire would be like my form of conflict resolution, confronting an issue and or a concern, problem, call it what you will, keyword. And coming out of the other side of it, agreeing with each other's sides.

Like agree, even if it's agreeing to disagree, there's an understanding between both parties. And so I I love that. I I think I don't like to call it confrontation. I just I like to call it healthy conflict.

Well, John's gonna be really happy with you because that's exactly what he calls it in the program, my friend. Oh, well thank you. You are a John, give me my certificate. I will.

I I use two words. I either call it productive conflict, which is a whole other program from JRM Human Capital that we teach that's based on disc styles. And then we have this one that's created by John, which is healthy conflict. And so through this program, we actually teach you about having difficult conversations using the star model.

So that is yet just, I know that we have limited time on this podcast today, but that's yet another topic that we can talk about and another program that we're gonna be offering in the very near future. Oh excited about that. Let me go. How would you say, Jason, that leaders can start embedding these tactics into their daily routines to like start their organization off to a really good start with this pause positive change in their environment?

Things like fueling positive energy and giving life and light to those areas and then muting or saying no, confronting the energy vampires. Like, how do you start doing that if you are completely unenabled to do so? Yeah, I think let's go back to the four C's because I think that there's small actions in the four C's that you can do right away. So let's start clarity.

Number one, guys, clarity. Start the week by sharing your top three priorities as an individual, as a key contributor, as a team leader, as an executive leader. And number two, connection. Let's schedule a 15-minute pulse check, right?

Just a 50-minute pulse. How are you doing? What can I do for you? Do you need any assistance?

Should we be doing anything differently? Number three, commitment. Model the behavior that you expect. It's that simple.

Model behavior that you want people to emulate. And then number four, care. Send a handwritten note, Jocelyn, right? A personal thank you each week.

Thank you for coming today. Thank you for assisting us with X today. A leader in Fortune 500 company, and it's it's a company we know well, Campbell Soups, started writing one handwritten note every single week. And so at first it seemed small.

By the end of the year, they were told that these notes had completely shifted the relationship. Employees felt seen and team performance rose. So again, it doesn't have to be anything expensive or grand or resource taxing. It can just be small things, Josh.

That's fantastic. Are they still doing that? They are. Right?

When I was partnering with TTA years ago under my keyboard. I can't let you, I can't even explain how that made me feel. I had access to you, we were vulnerable, we talked all the time. We had productive conflict, we committed to each other, we held each other accountable.

That note, that meant such the world to me. So thank you. Building trust quickly is easier said than done. So, what is one of the rituals that you talk about or team practice you've seen work really well to really help break down the silos and organizations and to really help build a connection?

Oh my God. One of my favorites is an exercise called Fast Connect. So I don't know if you've had the opportunity to see any of the videos that I've shared of this on social media, but each person shares something unique about themselves that connects them to the person before them. It sounds small, but it builds instant bonds.

I mean, when you feel the energy in that room, Maria and Jocelyn, during that activity, it is, oh my goodness. And I have goosies. It is excellent. Another is the two-minute daily huddle.

Quick wins, quick roadblocks. It keeps keeps people aligned and it builds rhythm. Fast Connect is something that I'm telling you, senior leaders, all the way down to team leaders and non-people leading teams, they love it. And this connection has really broken down barriers that have existed now for years.

I love that. I have not seen the videos, Jason. Oh, it's one of my favorites. We're gonna have to do it, Maria.

Okay. I'd love to do that. So when you put all, when you think about all of these principles together, Jason, the clarity, connection, commitment, care, trust, positive energy. What's the bigger picture here?

Like how do they come together to create the lasting change that organizations are looking for and that you've witnessed by implementing this? Wow. Wow. I feel in my heart like these are just add-ons.

I feel that physically and emotionally, they're work and we need to make space for them. I think when leaders align the four C's with trust and energy, teams just don't meet their goals. Jocelyn, they surpass them. Leaders stop firefighting, they start future building.

That's when organizations don't just survive, they thrive. I have to go back to because you're saying so many good like one-liners and keyword things. Back what you said in the beginning that if people don't know the why, they won't know the way. I'm drooling over that.

Like I love that so much because I think that it's something that's talked about a lot. And that's what happens so much with leadership, which is why I feel like it is still such a debatable topic as far as content is concerned, as far as retention is concerned. How do you judge the effectiveness of like what you're doing, right? Because it's so what's the word?

It's so customizable or it's so dependent on like you and your organization, what you're looking for, like what success means. But the you can't just say these things and be like, oh yeah, that's our why. It's like you really have to embody them and understand that by putting something out there, you then receive it back, and that's not where it ends. You then have to like plant it and water it and let it grow.

And I think that that very simplistic way of saying without the why, they don't know the way is like uh like it, it's like it's it's like a duh, but it's also something that people don't even know what to do with because they haven't thought that far through it. They're just like, here's my business, here's what I want to do, and I need people to do it with me, right? And it's just it's so much more than that, and it's a lot. Like the ed is a lot to handle.

So, like a singular person writing an organization, like you can't do that alone. That's impossible. That's like it's too much to even think about in a single day. But can you put it in a very simplistic way that says if I start here, people will understand their path?

Yeah, yes, you can. No one, no one creates success alone. I'm gonna tell you that again. No one, no one creates success alone.

I am here obviously because of the hard work and dedication that I've done for myself, but it's people like you and Maria and the rest of TTA that have contributed to the person that I am today. It first starts out with a vision, and you have to look through your telescope, you see the stars and you find out what your north star is and you start going towards it. But we also have to think about the microscope. What are the daily activities?

What are the tactics that are gonna support the vision? Whenever I feel lost and I need to find my way, I'm reminded of my mission and vision. I'm reminded that I'm here to engage, empower, and elevate everyone in organizational culture so they can just have a chance to succeed. I I would like for audiences to really understand that this is Jason at a two.

Yeah. That when they join us for our webinar that we're going to have, they're gonna get a four or a five. And if they so choose to join us for the opportunity that we have in November, we're gonna get hands-on. We're gonna build a vision of their leadership, we're gonna practice quick trust bills, we're gonna do an energy audit, we're gonna create an action plan.

We're gonna be at a 10. And here's the key these aren't just gonna be theories, ladies. These are gonna be tools that they can use the minute they leave the learning experience with us. What's better than that?

Exactly. Let's well, let's sidebar a little bit about that. Thank you for the wonderful segue, Jason, because we do want to talk about some really exciting news about our upcoming webinar with you fuel your leadership teamwork and culture, which is happening on Wednesday, November 12th. I hope that this ready?

This is what we do for our podcast listeners. Alexa, mark my calendar for November 12th. You're welcome. Where you'll be diving even deeper into the principles of your positive leadership program and everything that we've been talking about today.

So, can you tell, give us a little teaser? Tell us a little bit more about what participants can look forward to in that session and and why it's worth bringing a colleague or two along for the info. Absolutely. As mentioned before, with all the things, and I'll tell you again, it's gonna be hands-on.

So we're gonna try to make a webinar as interactive as possible. We're gonna be doing talking about vision for leadership and mission when I talk about telcoscope and microscope. We're gonna look at trust drills, right? If you come to the webinar, I'm gonna be giving away free tools during that webinar that will only be available to people on that webinar.

So we'll be pushing live documents, live tool kits out to people that will only be available that day. In the webinar, Jocelyn, we're not just gonna talk theory. We're like, for instance, we're gonna do an energy audit live. And so one leader told me after doing it on a webinar I did last year.

They said, Jason, I finally realized that I was the biggest energy vampire on LiveStream. And so he said, it changed the way that I led the next day. That's the kind of insight that people walk away with. By the way, that same individual has now put 250 people through all the programs or through the programs, power of positive leadership, power of a positive team, and the energy bus.

I love the accountability of that. Like that, the oh my god, it was me. Guess what? Okay, here guys, this training really helps.

Like, go take it. And she tossed that. He was like, he's like, he's like, he's like, hey, need to talk to you. And I'm like, okay, I coach a lot of senior leaders across the United States.

And so when I get messages like that, your brain doesn't automatically assume something positive. It's okay, Jason, they need you to help with challenge. He goes, Jason, that's what I did this morning. He said, I walked through the door, I smiled, I greeted everyone, I walked by everyone's desk, and they all thought they were gonna get fired.

So again, it's gonna be shocking to people at first, but now he says, if I come in and I don't do my walk-out and I don't say hello to people, I get messages. I get people that are concerned about me. Yeah, it's opposite. Because now I've gone from communication to connection with people.

And so now here's the other C people now care for each other. Yeah, and they probably trust him so much, right? Because they recognize that he implemented change and that it wasn't a weird thing. That oh, oh my God, he's actually trying now.

Yeah. I think that positivity isn't ignoring reality. Yeah, it's leading with clarity, connection, communication, and care. It's fueling teams with the energy that they need not just to survive, to thrive.

What a great test. Here's the last thing I'll say. Here's the real truth. Negativity, everyone's looking at PLs right now.

We have an economy where some people would say, I don't understand what's going on. I don't know how to pull up, how to plan because it's such a VUCA, a volatile, uncertain right environment. And then I'm telling you, negativity is going to be the most expensive line item, right? That's not on your PL this year.

Absolutely. And and kudos to you for addressing it too, because I think it's also one of the hardest things to stomach in an organization is that that is a reality that's affecting somebody. It's not as black and white as performances, right? So it's just it can be really hard to understand and then recognize and deal with.

Jocely, as much as we're challenged with financial accountability and fiduciary responsibility, now is not the time to cut growth and development of the people in our organizations. Now, more than ever is the time to invest in your people because your people are going to build the business. Yep. Yep, absolutely.

Right on. Absolutely. Very excited for the webinar and having some in-person classes following after that. Same.

In-person. And I'm coming to Boston, Maria. I believe we already have more information. Well, you can't take any vacation off in December.

I've denied the rest of the year. I've already going to be on Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas because we figured those are really surprised in Santa Claus. Your gift baskets will be Santa filled with video case. No, more information to follow on that.

So yes. How wonderful. Great information. Absolutely.

And I mean, even more fun to be had because Jason, we're not done. We have 10 more questions that we need to rattle off to you. What? And I'm just saving and filling words, waiting for producer Dave to arrive because it is the time for the TTA 10.

It's the TTA 10. 10 final questions for our guest. Okay, Jason. So now we are adding 10 more questions to the day.

Playful questions, a little bit of a get to know you, rapid fire. Answer them as fast as you can without even thinking about it. We have a producer he can edit, okay? I'm gonna ask you 10 questions.

Answer them as quickly as you can. If you succeed, we will celebrate you. If you do not succeed, we'll probably still celebrate you, but it might have a little bit of a different tone, okay? So before we proceed, any questions?

And are you ready? Let's go. All right, David. Clock, please.

90 seconds on the TTA 10 clock beginning now. All right, Jason, do you prefer coffee or tea? Coffee. What's the first app that you check every morning when you wake up?

LinkedIn. What's a song that will always put you in a good mood? Um, dance, dance, dance, just in Timberlake. If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

Jamaican beef patties. What's your go-to karaoke song? Oh my goodness. Um, probably anything matchbox 20.

Okay. Do you work better in the morning or at night? At night. What was your first ever job?

Arby's in a mall in concurrency. Fries cannot be beat. What's a guilty pleasure TV show that you love, but won't necessarily admit it. Oh, Love Island.

Okay. You can admit that. If you could instantly master any skill tomorrow, what would you choose? Oh my gosh.

Um, probably playing football. Yeah. Me too. Um, what's the best advice that you ever received?

No matter where you go or who you meet, touch the lives of the people that you come in contact with. Love that. And you certainly are, Jason. And with that, probably the fastest 10 questions ever.

So, David, can you give us The verdict, please. Yes. With a time of just one minute and ten seconds. We have a winner, absolutely.

Congratulations, Jason. I love winning. And well we hope so good. Every day, great day.

Well, we hope you love the salute. We prepared to celebrate your victory. Here we go. Good morning, good morning, good morning, Jason.

Jason Murphy walks in, boom, the lights goes up. He's the energized bunny in a business casual cap. Never stops crackling like bacon in a pan. Good morning, good morning.

Here we go again. He likes the boost buttons, he's already awake. Let's do it a few. Every day, three days more than a tag.

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. I love this.

There you go. That was phenomenal, David. What a great tribute to Jason. That's your new theme.

That's your new theme, song. When you walk in, please female engagement share that. I will it's one of the perks. It's a podcast guest, like um uh free cheese is your is your dedicated.

That's what we give away. You guys are the hosts with the most. Aren't we awesome? I'm pretty great.

Dave, great job calling all that film and video there. That was phenomenal. It's a labor of love. Tremendous guest today.

Yeah, absolutely. I was pretty enthused myself. To register for our upcoming free 90-minute webinar with Jason on November 12th, visit our events page at trainingassociates.com slash client-event, or simply click the link in our show notes available now.

We'll see you later.