IAM361- Natural Motivator Uses Humor to Tap into Truth about Workplace Dynamics

Born to share words of wisdom, Ilene Marcus (MSW, MPA) is a natural motivator. Using humor to tap into truths about workplace dynamics, Ilene’s signature speeches will make you laugh; make you cringe; and ultimately make you change. See your actions as others do. It’s powerful.

• CEO Hack: Smiling
• CEO Nugget: Say what you mean, mean what you say but don't get angry even when you're mad at it
• CEO Defined: Setting the example and approaching situations in the right way

Website: http://alignedworkplace.com/

Book on Amazon: MANAGING ANNOYING PEOPLE: 7 Proven Tactics to Maximize Team Performance, forward by Rudolph Giuliani available on Amazon.

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE.

Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:31

Hello, hello. Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Ilene Marcus of Managing Annoying People.

Ilene, it's awesome to be on the show.

Ilene Marcus 0:40

Very unannoying to be here. Gresh.

Gresham Harkless 0:43

Exactly. It's great to have you on the show. I appreciate you being on and what I want to do is just read a little bit more about Ilene so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing and born to share words of wisdom. Ilene Marcus is a natural motivator, using humor to tap into truths in workplace dynamics, Ilene signature speeches will make you laugh, make you cringe, and ultimately make you change. See your actions as others do. It's powerful. Ilene, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Ilene Marcus 1:11

I was born ready Gresh.

Gresham Harkless 1:13

So let's go. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more about your background and your CEO story. What led you to start your business?

Ilene Marcus 1:20

Well, basically, I was annoying most of the CEOs I was working for. So I decided I needed to be my own CEO. And the truth is I have a really varied experience in budgeting and managing operations and policy. And I couldn't find the exact position where I wanted to do just what I wanted to do. But I always did find annoying people and people who needed to get out of their own way who were stuck. So I basically built a business around it. And it's been a lot of fun.

Gresham Harkless 1:47

Nice, definitely. Yeah, I appreciate you making the transition, I'm sure the CEOs as well appreciate that as much. And now I wanted to hear a little bit more about managing a million people, can you tell us a little bit more about what you're doing? How are you serving the clients you're working with?

Ilene Marcus 2:02

So basically, we try to hook into clients, most to I say, have this mantra going on in their head, they manage up, they manage down and they're annoyed all the way around. So we're not talking about incompetent people, we're talking about people who have a board of directors, people who have people below them, a C suite team or a management team, they're managing up, they're managing down.

And together, they're just not managing through their day, there's a lot of conflict, there's a lot of stops and starts, there's a lot of getting in their own way. When you think things should go smoothly, they don't. So I come in, and I give you an annoying assessment of where you are, how come your mission vision and actions aren't aligning, aligning, and teach you how to use those points of conflict or stuckness to get past what you need to get on to productivity results and more profits.

Gresham Harkless 3:00

Nice. Absolutely. And I'm sure that definitely everything, especially in business, comes back to that bottom line. So do you find that and definitely correct me if I'm wrong, but when you are so close to some of the conflicts maybe? Or do you can't see any way to get around? Like those stop gaps? Are things that happen? Do you sometimes need that different perspective of people that are able to come in and show not only what those stop gaps are, but also how to get around them?

Ilene Marcus 3:29

Yeah, I have a trick, I know, you're gonna ask me about my unique value proposition. But I'll start here and talk about it later, which is you have to find humor, you have to find a way for people to see what they're doing. So I have CEOs that say to me, I don't understand, all I want is a team atmosphere. And I go into my team meetings, and everyone just clams up, and I can't get them talking.

So what do I do, I go watch them in a team meeting. And he walks in late, Puffy throws his stuff down on the desk, and he's on his phone the whole time. How's his team going to talk when he's operating like that? So I have to reenact it for him and he can laugh at himself, and then realize what he's doing. As I said, makes you laugh, makes you cringe, and ultimately makes you change. You got to see yourself really, honestly, to be able to get unstuck. And I try to do that with humor and grace and make you have fun with yourself.

Gresham Harkless 4:21

Yeah, absolutely. I especially think that in those tense moments, and I guess that's the secret sauce that you were talking about. I feel like sometimes when there is that conflict or is there tension, you need something out of the norm to be able to lighten everybody's mood and I feel like humor sounds like a great way to do that.

Ilene Marcus 4:40

Absolutely. I think it's the number one tool in the workplace. Because we know from all the data and statistics that happy workers are more productive. Instead of a raise instead of a bigger office. They do like more time off, but people's number one rate is being happy at work which is the best thing that's going to make them productive.

Gresham Harkless 5:00

Absolutely. So to be able to do that, and incorporate that is definitely great, that you're able to do that for these organizations. And now I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app book or habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Ilene Marcus 5:18

Well, I like to say, smile, like you have a secret. It's a really good way to start a meeting, it's a really good way to answer a question. It's a really good way to greet someone in the hallway, it's a really great way to defuse a tough situation, smile, I can no more than you're saying. It really changes the tension or the feeling in the room and gets people on a different page.

Gresham Harkless 5:42

Absolutely, absolutely. And I think and is this right? Or do you have you heard the same thing? Where I think is I forgot the phrase or the word I think it's physiology, whereby smiling or even physically changing the way that you look or changing when you're making phone calls, I think if you strike the power pose, while you're making the phone call, even though the person can't see, it emits like a certain kind of interaction or just says something to the person, so you seem a lot better. So smiling sounds like it has that exact same kind of effect.

Ilene Marcus 6:15

Exactly. We know that it takes less muscles to smile than it does to frown. But we also know that frowning and getting upset has a whole physiological reaction that starts in the meld and says that word that's annoying, the amygdala. And then your blood pressure goes up, and everything starts getting involved in your lymph node system, and you start sweating, and you start acting crazy. So yes, smiling is the body's natural way of getting back to normal. And like a baseline peacefulness, so really does change your temperature, your physiological, physiological stuff, and the whole temperature, the room, and people around you.

Gresham Harkless 6:58

Nice, that makes perfect sense. So that's definitely a great CEO hack. And I appreciate you for pronouncing that because I was gonna jump in and try to save you, but I knew I couldn't.

Ilene Marcus 7:04

So I just gotta laugh at yourself, like I tell you to flub on through.

Gresham Harkless 7:10

Yeah, definitely mastered that part. So I appreciate you for sharing that hack with us. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you could happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Ilene Marcus 7:24

Say what you mean. mean what you say? But don't say it mean? Like, you need to be very clear with people and very straightforward without being nasty and angry, even when you're mad. So don't dance around it, say what you mean. Make sure you back it up. It's what you really meant to say. But just don't be mean about it. I think that goes a long way.

Gresham Harkless 7:48

Yeah, absolutely. I feel like a lot of times we forget certain aspects of that. But it goes back to that golden rule where you know if you have something that you want to say to somebody, do those and follow those exact same things because you would want somebody to do the same to you.

Ilene Marcus 8:03

Correct.

Gresham Harkless 8:05

Nice. And now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote-unquote CEOs on this show. So Ilene, what does being a CEO mean to you,

Ilene Marcus 8:16

It means setting an example. Shine the light on who you want to be on, who you want your business to be, and show others how to get there. I have a favorite Henry Kissinger quote, that says the task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have never been. And I think the leader is supposed to show you how. And that's not by the tactics and goals. It's how you approach situations, how you enter the room, how you inspire them, how you smile, how you show up. So I think it's all about setting an example.

Gresham Harkless 8:51

Absolutely, and a lot of times that begins and ends with us and not end with us but I should say, begins with us. And then it manifests itself in our team and everything that we're doing, and we're hoping to kind of accomplish. So I appreciate that definition. And Ilene, I appreciate your time even more. And what I want to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and then of course, how best to get a hold of you.

Ilene Marcus 9:15

Well, I want you to know before saying a fancy word on a podcast or radio, practice it sometimes that doesn't even work. So you gotta laugh at yourself. Please, you can contact me you can find me by googling, Managing Annoying People. My website, my phone number, they'll all be in there. There are many interviews. You can find my book on Amazon, Managing Annoying People seven proven tactics to maximize team performance. And that's it. I look forward to hearing from you and not being annoyed anymore.

Gresham Harkless 9:45

Absolutely. Well, we definitely appreciate you and appreciate your time and we'll make sure to have all that information in those links in the show notes as well. But again, Ilene, I appreciate you and I hope you have a phenomenal day.

Ilene Marcus 9:56

You too, Gresh. Thank you so much.

Outro 10:05

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating. Grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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