Guest Speaker #1 Reflection
claudiadixon
Children's names which I have four children. So it's JC Bryson even chaos fees for accordion and the case for Chi my oldest son. So I actually have three kids who are in college just like you and they're also my children and they get on my nerves but I let them stick around and apparently you have to feed them now. So I just do what I can so I got into Financial education and management and business.
Building because actually I made some really bad choices. So when I was 19 years old my mom passed away and she left me with about a quarter of a million dollars and I was like, okay, I'm sorry.
Oh, okay. So she left me with some money and I was just like, okay. What am I gonna do with the money? And of course I blew it on frivolous things. I bought motorcycles and cars and just anything. I took a lot of trips and I was like if I can help somebody to not make the same mistakes that I made without guidance and I'll do what I can and so that's when I started the public speaking part of what I do. I also have a another company called music and money.
And what music and money does is we teach financial principles and financial education using music and lyrics so, I don't know if anybody's a Jay-Z fan but Jay-Z had 444 and I pulled a lot of content from his and I made it applicable. I made it relatable. Hopefully the people that are of all ages I pull R&B Apple hip hop. I haven't done any country just yet.
And I think that basically we span across genres. So just in my experience with management.
It was something that I want to be able to tell like I want to say that it came naturally. Like I want to say that oh, this was easy. It was just the easiest thing I've done and I just got in there and I was a natural absolutely not that is definitely not what happened when I was in banking. I had to manage a staff of 10. It was overwhelming managing people is probably one of the most difficult things that you guys will encounter you have people from all backgrounds all.
Personalities it's equivalent to college and you have to manage people that have different socioeconomic status people that are somehow children some do not I remember like the biggest challenge I ever had was smoke breaks like for whatever reason, you know people who took smoke breaks got more time. They got more time off. They got the ability to step out and go smoke and I remember an employee coming to me and saying well, you know, why don't I.
I get that time. Why don't I get the opportunity to participate in a smoke break and I had no response and even to
claudiadixon
People who took smoke breaks got more time they got more time off, they got the ability to step out and go smoke and I remember an employee come to me and saying, well,
You know, why don't I get that time. Why don't I get the opportunity to participate in a smoke break and I had no response and
Even to this day. Like, I'm like, oh, I don't, I don't know what to say. I think that, you know, you want to take a five minute break to go step out and do whatever it is that you need to do, then so be it. But, you know, knowing how to Be considerate and be kind, but also, you know, not let people take advantage of you and
Not draw you want to draw from personal experiences to have empathy, but you also want to ensure that you are
Not letting people take advantage of you. That's the easiest way to put it. Um, so like I said my experiences. My background is in finance. It's in banking. It's in business development, the business that I have now.
I took the opportunity to make it scalable. It was difficult at first it was very hard. I left the bank.
With a 401K and I thought it was going to be the easiest thing in the world, like I just thought it was going to be so simple, like, okay.
I'm going to do taxes. I'm going to do payroll. I'm going to do accounting and bookkeeping.
And then I stepped out into the world and I was like okay the clients are just going to come and that did not happen.
And I was a single mom and I was trying to make it work. And I had no idea how in the world. I was going to do that. And I was working three jobs ultimately that's what happened. I was
bartending. I was managing my business. And then I was working for one of my clients and
I'd gone through my 401k money i had i was just flat on my face because I did not have a plan. I did not have a business plan. I just felt like
People were just going to walk through the door like I was just going to tell someone come and see me and they were just going to show up and that is definitely not what happened. It took me several years to where I could live off of my business several years to where
I was able to sustain my family and sustain my livelihood through my business. Um, it doesn't just
It's word of mouth. It's referrals. It's hard work.
It's when I first started my business. I remember my pricing. I didn't even know a pricing structure. I had done research.
But I was still learning and I was fresh out of college, I was trying to figure out what everything was going to look like.
So I continue to invest in myself. I took a lot of external training. I did a lot of training online.
I know that y'all are in college and I hate to be the person to say that, but a lot of your experience is going to come hands on, like, a lot of it. A lot of it is going to come from.
Working in your field and working in your industry. I always felt like
I'm trying to decide what I wanted to do for the rest of my life at the age of 18 19 which is when most of us are picking our major for college and we haven't had a chance to work and we haven't had an opportunity to be in the
Workforce, it's, it's very
Difficult, you know, it's very difficult to say like, I think when I started college, I was a biology major. I thought I wanted to go to medical school and
I did not know what I ended up doing. And so I started my business and people eventually started to call people. It grew it was referrals. It was word of mouth. It was a lot of hard work, a lot of footwork, um,
But eventually I got to the point where I am now. And you know, I remember the first time I got my first large client. I remember the first like there were their little micro successes and you're kind of going to celebrate SOME OF THEM VERY INDEPENDENTLY like I wish I could say
04:09That you know there's going to be a crowd cheering you on. And some of you have supportive family. Some of you have
parents or siblings who are going to push you, you have friends who are going to push you. But a lot of times, it'll just be you.
It'll just be you in that silent corner you'll have enough time to do like a three minutes. Celebrate story, whatever. And then it's on to the next task. You know, it's on to the next thing. Um,
So for me it was just continuing to push myself I was motivated by my children. I was motivated. I had so many failures. And I kept getting back up and I kept pushing myself and
Ultimately, you know, now I'm very proud of what I've accomplished. I'm, I'm proud to have conversations I talked to people about managing their credit, I talked to people about budgeting.
I talked about finances. I mean, like, it's, it's, again, and I've spoken the kids at dow dow has Leadership Academy has spoken there I've spoken on behalf of Louisiana economic development SBA is
Um, I don't know. Are there any people in the class who like one of the small business owners or you can just do like a hand up reaction or you know do most of you want to work for someone or has anybody determine that at this point.
No Hana. You want to be employed. Yeah.
Dr. Tammy Hall
Courtney, raise your hand as well.
claudiadixon
Okay, Courtney.
Hannah Goins
Yes, I do. I'm sorry, I'm thinking, there was a brother, I don't have my camera on. Okay.
Um, I do want to be a small business owner, I'm not sure. Like, what I want to do, but I've always like growing up. I've always wanted to own my own business.
And my mom just
Opened up her own like medical clinic. She's a nurse practitioner. So that's also giving me another push to keep going towards that goal.
Yeah.
claudiadixon
That's awesome. And I'll say to that. Like it's one thing, like if you have something that you love to do and that's where the experience comes in. But if there's something that you love to do.
And you can get paid to do it or you can figure out a way to monetize it. Like that's like the best stuff ever like you'll never work. It's always just you're doing something that you like. That's how I started music and money like I love live music
I love helping people to better themselves financially. So it was amazing to. I was like, How in the world can I incorporate my love of music other cultures and travel I speak Spanish, too.
And so I was like, how can I do this, how can I incorporate this into finances. Like it just seemed like they were as far from each other as it is from day and I'm like, well,
Hell if Michael Jordan can sell hot dogs. Surely I can figure out a way to incorporate music and money and that's literally like what I do like it's music and money. That's it. So somebody else had their hand up.
I think, Courtney. Courtney you wanted to speak to this. Yeah.
KourtneyWilliams
I just wanted to state that I have a small business, and I wanted to ask the question, what I'm like the number one way to get more customers get your name out there recently we started
Basically advertising our business on different platforms, but it's still moving a little slow and right now we just feel stagnant.
claudiadixon
07:29What kind of business do you have
KourtneyWilliams
07:31A boutique
claudiadixon
07:32A Boutique. Okay.
07:33So I think it has a lot to do.
07:35With the type of business that you have, um, some businesses because they're visual. They're just really easy to market. So like if you have
07:45Like a food business, you know, if you post around lunchtime, you're probably going to sell out like people just food is easy to sell. Oh my god. That looks so great and presentation is everything.
07:57I think the same thing applies with boutiques, this would be my encouragement to you if you have a boutique and
08:07There are so many boutiques out right now that you have to differentiate yourself.
08:12And what could differentiate you from other boutiques is really telling your story. Like, how did you get into fashion. Why is it important to you what
08:21And and sometimes people want to appeal to like such a broad market that it's very hard for them to like minimize it. But if you know that the closer your boutique is selling is primarily targeted towards
08:32College students or people between the ages of 20 and 35 then focus on that market and focus on what's important to that market. So like
08:40I'm Oh my God, I hate to say this but I'm from the Facebook generation. So
08:45Because I'm from the Facebook generation and the people who are my clientele or who's my clients their Facebook, too. So I focus my marketing heavily on Facebook. And then I appeal to things, who
08:57I appeal to what people my age are going through. So my advice to them is based upon like you know they're considering retirement people my age are losing their parents.
09:07So we're talking about you know what that looks like. How does that play into your financial future. Or if your parents are sick and elderly, you know, I just think that if you can
09:17Target that market Instagram and I'm assuming your age, but you know Instagram is like really popular for like the
09:25You know, the late teens and early 20s, like they just love Instagram. I know I just got an alert that tick tock was banned, um,
09:33So that's the thing, but I think that if you can kind of focus on Twitter and then wear your own clothes.
09:40If you don't wear your clothes. Nobody else is going to wear your clothes wear your clothes in the environments that you think people are going to want to see. So, tell your story. So instead of just putting
09:50You know, midnight happiness dress $35 you want to talk about, oh, no, this is the dress that I wore when I was having a coven Grammy party at my house.
10:01And I watched the Grammys in this dress and I prepared a red carpet and I mean like, show yourself like with a makeshift red carpet. I don't care if you make it out of like red plastic runners, like, just do it because people want entertainment. People want to see.
10:16Something that just helps your boutique to stand out from, you know, the thousands of others that are on Instagram right now. And if you are, have a Louisiana base crowd. You know what we love. We love to eat. We love to drink. We love to party that's your segue right there.
10:33So does anybody else have any questions before I move
Dr. Tammy Hall
10:37On I do have a question. I love the fact that you shared with the class about
10:44Kind of some things that you did when you were younger.
10:47Can you talk more about not letting I guess mistakes that you make early on sort of define you for the rest of your life.
claudiadixon
10:55Absolutely. So, um,
10:58I'll give you an I'm definitely not saying that children are a mistake, but I will give you the ages of my children. So my oldest son will be 21 in December, my middle son who's actually in Lafayette.
11:10He's 19 and then my youngest son is 18 so i was about 22 years old with three children.
11:17Um, I don't know if there's anybody in this class right now that's 22 or even approaching 22 but I would venture to say that, you know,
11:24And some of you may be parents. But it's, it's very difficult to be a parent at that age or you're not even considering being a parent at that age. And so, running into that amount of
11:34Opposition. It was so difficult to date. It was so difficult to date and and I think that when we're younger or when I was younger, I was really looking for that companionship.
11:45I was really looking for something that I wanted to build and so anytime I would meet somebody who was like my intro was like, Hi, I'm Claudia. I have three kids, I
11:53wanted people to know. I just had to put it out there so that it could be
11:57Just in the forefront and that was such a challenge. There was so much to overcome with schooling. I had to. That's how I ended up in banking because banking hours were the closest to my kids school hours.
12:09I'm and I'm even the weekends off. And so the bank kind of afforded me that. So it was like, allowing myself to accept like first of all your children are are not
12:22Signs of failure and other people would say, oh, well, you need to, you know, just give up on college. No, I went to college online. And I finished and I got my undergraduate degree. And then, you know, I kept going. So people like don't
12:40I hate to say that it's like a defeatist mentality. But seriously, you have to keep going like it no matter what, no matter if you feel like, oh my god, I failed this test I failed this class. I'm gonna have to repeat it. Repeat the class.
12:55Don't drop out of college because you fail to class don't
12:59beat yourself up because you know you you fell short of a deadline or I read something yesterday that said procrastination is the
13:11Misleading assumption that God will give us a second chance to do something to do an opportunity that he's already given us. And that's, you know, kind of how I look at
13:22Anything learn from your failures and don't take it for granted. Don't feel like you failed because
13:30You know you didn't study for something or you miss an opportunity or you did it show up in class or you party too late or whatever. These are all learning opportunities like this is the
13:40Home. So making mistakes right now at 40. But these are all opportunities for you to develop your character and to develop the person that you're going to
13:47Become and now you know. Okay, I can't stay out past whatever hour or I can you know do this particular thing. I know now that you know I can't really drink on weekdays.
14:01Kinda. You know, so now I know that about myself. I'm very transparent so it's easy for me to say, okay, well, you know, in this particular instance I'm gonna bow out. But I'm always the person that's down to
14:15Do some of the other stuff because I know my limits. I know my capability. So don't look at failure as an opportunity as a
14:22Disappointment look at as an opportunity for you to learn and to grow and to get better. And who knows where I'd be if it weren't for my kids I probably be a gypsy or
14:31Somewhere in Bucharest selling beads. I don't know. I mean, I'd be all over the place. They GROUNDED ME. They've stabilized me they've given me something to push for when I
14:42Felt like I couldn't go any further. And so, like what is that thing for you. What is that motivating factor within you, that's going to allow you to say, okay, I want to be.
14:51A business owner or I want to open up my own boutiques okay I fell short here, but I'm going to learn from this, what can I take from it. How can I move forward.
15:00As a chat going on. Am I missing questions in the chat.
15:04Thank you. Okay, no. Alrighty.
15:07So, um,
15:10Another topic that I wanted to touch on
15:12Was
claudiadixon
15:16The positives that's wrapped up in something that you guys you know it may look negative. I'm just kind of piggybacking on the failure conversation. So really quickly.
15:29 And you know, I am not going to get overly religious but I'm just speaking about my own specific experiences. So sometimes there's a blessing wrapped up in something that appears to be
15:42Distorted so I bought this house that my realtor tried to talk me out of buying it was in a flood zone, everybody was like don't get this House.
15:50And my accounting and finance saw it as an opportunity. So I was able to get the house at a relative relatively low price.
15:58Um, and I got it. And I purchased it, and I made sure I had flood insurance and I bought it in July of 2016 and I'm sure most of you know what happened in August of 2016 we had the hundred year flood
16:11And you know, I was so stressed out and so worried. And then my flood insurance kicked in and I had eight and a half feet of water in my home. And so it was definitely to the roof line and
16:25I was able to remodel my whole house because of it. It was just a
16:29Bad basically got a brand new house, and then some other stuff happened and, you know, just little things here and there, where it's just been like
16:37Little blessings that have come. I mean like money just from the house just from me having that house. It's like, oh, you're in this district. So you qualify for this grant or whatever the case may be.
16:47And I had people that were in my ear. That was like give the House away sell it, whatever, and I am proud to say that for years later that investment has turned despite the flooding, despite the
17:01Everything else that has happened with that house. It's now about to turn a huge profit and I'm so grateful that I didn't listen to all the naysayers, all the people that were telling me.
17:10Don't stay there don't live there, you're going to have the stress of worrying about whether or not you're going to flood and all this other kind of stuff. And in one ear out the other. And on the other end of it. Me trusting my gut and knowing what I was capable of and knowing
17:26That there was something better, that there was a reason why I was drawn to this particular investment and now it's paying off so just trust yourself. Trust your gut. Trust your instincts. Sometimes we have a tendency to ignore it, but
17:40It's usually accurate.
17:43So if I use apartment, hear me, I don't wanna
17:47Yeah.
claudiadixon
17:49I'm okay
Dr. Tammy Hall
17:50Yeah, we're 1121 please stop. If you have any questions before we we go on, guys.
claudiadixon
17:59Okay, so let me ask. Has anyone had been in any management positions like working in management.
18:07Okay, can you tell me about it. What did you learn like, what was your takeaway from it. How many people did you manage
Robert Bogan
18:14Manage the gym in Baton Rouge and we had about 15 workers under us maybe maybe 16
18:22I will say, like you said, the hardest thing is balancing the workers and just trying to make sure everybody's schedule was working
18:30I called you know several times in the morning when people didn't show up for shifts and stuff because it was around. It was around the college. So it was hard to manage
18:39It
Robert Bogan
18:40And then also, for me, the other hardest part was kind of the owners and the upper management trying to justify costing them and
18:48Listening into the gym and how we could turn a profit and all that. Yeah, but it was definitely a learning experience
claudiadixon
18:56Right. Did you find that the upper management, um,
19:01It was kind of removed from your day to day stuff that you had to do or did you find that they were they were pretty aware of what was going on.
Robert Bogan
19:09They had no clue what was what was going on. They were, they just give me the p&l. Let me see the numbers. Yeah
claudiadixon
19:16Right, yeah.
19:18That easily challenge.
Robert Bogan
19:20Yeah, so it was like, hey, we need money to, you know, fix this machine or get some more supplements or something to try to sell and then maybe like I get some estimates and then go back to them and then they still dragging their feet and trying to justify every expense was was tough
claudiadixon
19:38Yeah, I honestly like I help a lot of businesses get started and you know it's it's a shift. There's definitely a shift. And I think that
19:49More businesses can benefit. Like, I see the impact of coven on business right now. Like, I find that so many like working from home.
19:58That when I first got into the workforce that was not even an option. And I think that your generation will definitely benefit more from the working from home.
20:09than any generation prior to I think code is kind of open that door but the shift was happening there was a shift that was happening where more people were working remotely and
20:20You know that that traditional 40 Hour Workweek was kind of going out the door, but I think now because of Kobe like businesses are seeing that they're saving more money, they don't have to
20:31Pay for these brick and mortar places they can allow people to work from home and, you know, parents are able to stay home with their children like it's just beneficial.
20:40But I've also seen exactly what you are describing, which is upper management is so removed from the people who were like on the ground, doing the work and aware of what's happening every single day. And sometimes they don't listen and that could ultimately be the death
20:55Of a business when they're not paying attention to the people. It's like, you know, they want you to just go, just go and do and make things happen and and make me money.
21:04Then that's it. Anybody else going to manager.
Blake Richard
21:08I was a manager for the teller staff for the bank branch.
claudiadixon
21:14Oh, yeah.
Blake Richard
21:15I think the biggest lesson I took from that was getting ahead of conflict, making sure you're keeping tabs with how people were feeling because if you let if you let bad feelings faster than it can just, you know, it's a lot more to do with at that point. Absolutely.
claudiadixon
21:30Did you have to manage people who were older than you.
Blake Richard
21:32Yeah, actually, like I was, I think, the youngest on staff regressed started
21:38And that some of the people that was managing been in a similar role before. So, I mean, we all got along. But it was definitely
21:46It was definitely kind of tough.
21:49To make sure that I was, you know, carrying it. Don't worry, I guess
claudiadixon
21:54Well, absolutely. Absolutely I would, I was a branch manager.
21:59At regions, I would say I was probably maybe, with the exception of a couple sellers. I was one of the youngest people in the brand and to get them to respect your experience to get them to respect your authority when they look at you is like, you know, a baby like that was
22:16Yeah, are motivating. I mean, that was a challenge for me. Motivating people who, you know, like
22:22Different people have different motivating factors. So we had this document, and I'll share it with Dr. Hall, we have this document where we literally ask people, like what motivates you.
22:32So it would be something like, what's your favorite candy, um, you know, what do you like to do if you're asking like, are you motivated by money are you motivated by time off, are you motivated by
22:46Free dressing like something that doesn't cost the company anything but let us wear jeans like that was something that people really liked them and some people want praise.
22:54You know, some people want to be acknowledged. So I think that understanding that it's almost like teaching you know when you're in a classroom each child is going to learn different as the exact same way.
23:05In management because anybody else had to
23:09Manage someone that was significantly older than them or even if it wasn't significant
23:18I know that
23:20One of the biggest challenges is has always been like getting them to see your perspective, like motivating someone who's older very, very difficult. Extremely. It was not i'm not to say that it was difficult in some instances when people are just there for a paycheck
Dr. Tammy Hall
23:41Yeah, I can also add to Claudia that guys we haven't talked about it yet, but I do a lot of research in generational diversity in the workplace.
23:51And so like right now where you are undoubtedly when you go into the workforce. If you go into a management position or leadership position, you're going to have the baby boomers, you know, that's
24:02That's my mom, you may even have a veteran, you know, my Mom's Mom, you know, somebody that's about 78 years old, that's still in the business. You may think Walmart, you know Walmart has that happy greeters that are at the front.
Claudiadixon
24:14Right.
Dr. Tammy Hall
24:15More than likely they are retired. So think about the manager that's Blake age or Eric's age or Logan's age. So think about you having to manage
24:24That person that has, you know, those generational components that are contributing to how they see work.
24:30Then you have the baby boomers, my parents, you know, 70 years old and you have me you know 50 and then you, you continue going and then you got a 17 year old that you know has a totally different perspective.
24:42Of what life. You know what life and work is so so think about that, you know, it is very serious and it can absolutely disrupt you know how you manage and how you lead. So think about that when you're going into positions, you know, not everybody's going to be your same age.
25:00So so so please consider that, and we'll talk more about it in the course, a couple of chapters chapters later.
claudiadixon
25:07And then it becomes relative to how you're dealing with clients I can honestly say that having clients from different backgrounds. Initially when I started my marketing plan, um,
25:23I was like, how do I tap into a market that is relatively untouched, like, you know, because every time you turn around, like I'm a tax preparer also
25:32So every time you turn around. There's h&r block. There's Jackson Hewitt there's somebody that's like let me prepare your taxes largest refund ever we can give you money back. So all this competition in my industry. How am I going to separate myself.
25:47From other people. And so maybe about three years ago, is when I started to learn Spanish because I felt like the Hispanic market in Baton Rouge specifically was totally under service, but I found that
26:01There was a lot of opportunity there for me. And so I initially started like
26:06I'm targeting and seeing like, What can I do. So I became an acceptance agent for the IRS, which means I basically help
26:12Non US citizens to get tax identification number so that they can file their taxes and it just kind of grew into something bigger than that. Um, but
26:26I can honestly say that understanding, different cultures understanding different age groups.
26:34Allows me to deal with all types of clients and it allows me to deal so I'm able to come and talk to you guys.
26:39And then I'm also able to go to the Council on Aging and have a completely different conversation. And of course, I tried my best to modify my presentation for the group of people that I'm servicing um
26:52You, you will like. I remember
26:56When I would speak to people at the bank and
Kristen Tanner
26:58There was a couple that would come in
claudiadixon
27:00And I would always talk to the guys, and I would like I would always get these really dirty looks from women like they would just look at me and I ultimately
27:12After a conversation with one of the ladies who later became a close client and came in a couple times by herself. She was like, sometimes it comes off as though you're flirting.
27:22With the male customers like you're being flirty
27:25And I was like, what, that's the furthest thing from my mind but
27:30I had to place value in what it is that she was saying.
27:34So I immediately shifted. And then I started talking so if there was a couple that came in, I would talk to the woman.
27:41I had to modify the conversation so that you know I wouldn't make the woman feel isolated, or I wouldn't make her feel like I was flirting, which I wasn't
27:49But I wouldn't make them feel like I was fighting with the husband, um, there are certain instances where like we're in the south and you know we like to say the. Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am. But yes, sir. No, sir. Um,
28:01But I've recently had to modify that because I was offending. Some people with the with gender identities. You know, I have to, like, I remember
28:12In one of my classes, the professor. She said her name. And then she said, these are the pronouns that I like to use like you can address me you know I am. She I am her I am, whatever. And then I had another person who was working for me that did not continue was not conforming
28:31They were non conforming, so I had to ensure that my pronouns reflected how that person wanted to be addressed. So
28:38Management now is completely different. When I first started managing in the bank, you couldn't wear different color fingernail polish. You couldn't wear different color hair, it had to be the color that the hair grew from your scout
28:52Or it had to mimic a call a natural hair color, you couldn't have visible tattoos men cannot have piercings like all of those things applied in banking.
29:02Now that is completely changed. Like there's so many transitions in the workforce. Now, especially with people working from home to where
29:12That's not even a factor anymore. Um, so you guys are afforded opportunities and environments that were not available, and I mean I'm not
29:22That old but that I would venture to say they weren't available 10 years ago they weren't options 10 years ago. So, um,
29:30But also in managing those personalities and managing different people from different backgrounds and whatever, like you have to be receptive of that.
29:39Luckily, I've been able to end this conversation make reference to a spiritual belief or reference or whatever. But there will be starting in bombs. I remember like we couldn't discuss politics and we could not discuss religion and banking.
29:52And now that's probably you know it's it's it's very difficult with so much is happening right now with the different campaigns that are happening, it's everywhere, it's in. It's in athletics. It's in
30:07Our education systems. It's in police reform. It's like everywhere. It's there. So it's almost hard not to. So what is a
30:17Comfortable way to have those conversations or if a client brings it up like what's the response ANYBODY CAN Y'ALL. Tell me, like if a client comes to you and they're like,
30:26You know, they want to talk about the president or they want to talk about you know how they feel about Black Lives Matter how they feel about
30:34The NFL or the NDA, like, you know, what's the PC response. Can somebody give me one have. Does anybody have one
30:43I'm see if I can learn from y'all.
Blake Richard
30:45Not likely
claudiadixon
30:48Just changed some
Blake Richard
30:50Are not widely. Oh.
claudiadixon
30:52Yes. Okay, so if they ask you a direct question. How would you respond like
KourtneyWilliams
30:59Could you just be honest and tell them know, like, hey, my job prohibits speaking about politics or that
claudiadixon
31:08Absolutely.
31:10Absolutely, you definitely can.
31:13I mean i i think that that's when in doubt, if you're ever in a situation where you can't make a statement than just to say, you know,
31:23And so anybody else. Does anybody have a PC answer.
31:31Do you like
Matthew Cangelosi
31:33You could agree with them or seem to agree with them, even though you may not
claudiadixon
31:39Okay, okay. So do you feel that agreeing could be potentially taking a stance.
Matthew Cangelosi
31:46Well, it's more of a let's pacify the conversation sort of tactic. I would say
claudiadixon
31:53Okay. Okay, got it. Anybody else
Robert Bogan
31:58When I was in personal training, you're always having to carry the conversation with people. So a lot of times
32:05You can I kind of agree with Blake like kind of nod. But you can kind of make a vague reference and then immediately change the subject or kind of move on so
32:13If you're advising a client or something you could basically kind of nod, like you're not really agreeing, but you're there and you're mentioning
32:20Present, but then go into what you need to tell, talk to them about basically what their finances are, you know, basically why they're there to see right
Blake Richard
32:30I'm not concerned about
32:32Like if you agree with them. You must kind of invite them to, you know, escalate to where every time they come in. You're having conversations and sometimes you don't really like the direction that it goes
32:44Right.
claudiadixon
32:46And I, I've always just acknowledge their statement, which I think that's kind of what all of you are collectively saying, which is like just acknowledge what they're saying like, wow, I can totally understand how you feel that way. Um, so about this accounting
33:02And just just transition immediately because it's exactly what you're saying. Like, they will. They'll pull you in. Sometimes they're fishing.
33:11Sometimes they're trying to assess if they have an ally. Um, and, you know, it's just very difficult in and I mean I've had ladies like I've dealt with.
33:23Mentally ill patients that came in and said some stuff that I was just like wow, um, I have had people that have tried to undress in my office. I've had
33:38One guy in particular that I don't know if he was blind but please tell me all the time that he did not like black people and I'm sitting right in. But he and I, he would say to me as though I wasn't black and so I you know maybe he had
33:54I had no idea you
33:57Will always be something, you know, but he said to me as though like, you know, like either, you know,
Dr. Tammy Hall
34:04Like you do
claudiadixon
34:05Actually reach a point where you're just like, Okay, you know. Oh, I can completely understand why you would feel that way.
34:12Um, and then to not be aggressive, you know, to not come back and just be like, well, that's your opinion, you're entitled to your opinion.
34:19You know I it's not fair. So, you know, Courtney. I agree that sometimes it's best to lean on policy and just like, Well, Mr. Johnson, you know, the
34:29Bank doesn't like of talking about that. So let me get back to your accounting work. I think that that's a very safe way and just brush it off and somebody else you know it doesn't hurt. It definitely
Dr. Tammy Hall
34:40Claudia. We just talked about. We just finished.
34:43Ethics. I'm really talking about ethical responsibilities and doing the right things. So I think this kind of goes into that conversation as well. We also talked about workplace cheating.
34:55So I like that you talked about, you know, the smoke breaks, because we actually had a conversation about, you know, Is that cheating time, you know, is that, you know, people getting more more than the 215 minute breaks that are that are like, can you talk
35:11We've only been together, probably about four or five weeks. So, you know, we haven't really kind of gotten to know each other very well in this course. And I just adore them. They are so conscientious
35:21But I have been probably hitting ethics quite a bit in the conversations that we have had. Can you talk about the importance of, you know, having values and morals and ethics, you know, overarching as a manager.
claudiadixon
35:38Oh, absolutely. Um, let me
35:42There is no blanket statement, you know, things are never black and white.
35:50However, you know,
35:53You want to feel as though there has to be a sound moral compass. I'm
36:01Working regardless of what your background is your culture, your religion, you know, most of us have an internal thing that tells us. This doesn't feel right. You know, this feels like I may be hurting someone or offending someone or, you know,
36:18Most of us have some type of
36:20Internal morality. I think that
36:25As it pertains to management. I remember that nothing was ever black and white. I've had instances where you know I had employees that were dating.
36:34And I knew that they were dating. I had proof that they were dating, who knows about the term fruit from a poisonous tree just raise your hand if anybody's heard of that.
36:46So, okay, got it. So fruit from a poison is tree is a term that is used to describe you obtain something the wrong way. Right. So I had an employee.
37:02Who brought me evidence that two of my employees were dating, but the way that she obtained the information was from going in another person's phone. She went into that person's phone
37:13took a picture of it with her phone and then brought it to me as evidence that the people were dating. Why couldn't do anything with that. And not only that, but I also had to reprimand employees for
37:24You know, messing with someone's personal affairs. Um, so like I said, there's no black and white. You are going to have to take each situation independently, whether it be with employees, whether it be with customers.
37:39Or even as a representative of the company that you work for your own company. If you're self employed, you have to always
37:48Take into consideration.
37:51How you want to be perceived
37:54When you have the option to be right and to be kind, you should always choose kindness, you should always treat people with respect and I feel like these are kind of like golden rules, but
38:04You know, one visit to your local neighborhood McDonald's and you understand that apparently we are there to serve them who is not the other way around.
38:14And then you turn around and you go to chick fil a and it's like what
38:18Is the manager here and bring them back so
38:21You know, and that's an adaptation to management. Like, I, I wish I could say McDonald's just has bad employees. Nope, they're all pulling from the same pool.
38:31This is, this is the management, but let me go back to around them come back to that. But I'm from a moral perspective, like you have to be able to have sympathy.
38:42And empathy for the people that you're working for the people that you're working with. You have to be able to put yourself in their shoes, even if it's not a situation that you can relate to.
38:53There's a difference between someone who is out a lot because they have a sick child.
39:01And someone who is out a lot because they're making bad choices. Unfortunately, the outcome will be the same but
39:09Is it wrong. And I'll ask, is it wrong to give special consideration to the employee who has extenuating circumstances versus the same employee or different employee who's abusing
39:22The kindness.
39:24My tell me
Matthew Cangelosi
39:30Don't make me call on people.
39:32Um, I would
39:33I would guess. There would be many, many factors like depending on anything from the company, the industry, how long the person has been an employee was their living situation was their role.
39:48I would say it's a lot of things that ultimately, it comes down to a judgment call. Whether it's ethical, moral, however, you put it
claudiadixon
39:59Okay, so in in Matthew, I'm going to ask, like in this particular situation. You have two employees that have been there for the both of them have been with you for five years.
40:11And both of them have been out the same number of days one has been out because of a sick child and the other one has been out, you know, because maybe
40:23Social media told you that this person was using sick days to do something. They weren't supposed
Kristen Tanner
40:28To do.
claudiadixon
40:30Do you show additional consideration to
40:34You know the mom or do you remain very blanket and what are the pros and cons of each. So if you if you don't show consideration if you treat them both equally.
40:46What are the pros of that.
Matthew Cangelosi
40:51Well, if you both treat them equally, you are a tree. You're treating them as like it's both an absence.
40:58Right for different motives, but so absent. So, right, that would be correct, just from on paper speaking
41:06But you have to think I, I would say you have to think one is doing it for a morally good purpose versus an irresponsible purpose which may potentially mean the mom employee may be a better employee going forward. If you would choose to keep her
41:22Yeah
Matthew Cangelosi
41:24It's up for debate.
claudiadixon
41:25Got it. So anybody else want to chime in on the pros.
Blake Richard
41:33I just the lack of conflicts with that employee, because if you start initiating disciplinary action you're going to start alienating that employee. So you have to weigh out how you know the benefits of their continuous deployment versus
41:49Maintaining your policy.
claudiadixon
41:51Absolutely. The cost of hiring someone is ridiculous.
41:55A lot of times we think it is, you know, it's just, okay, we're paying this person the hourly rate know it's the cost of training if the investment in training. It's the time
42:06That they're not working and all of that, the cost of of onboarding and employee is very expensive. That's a great point.
42:15Kristen, did you want to say something.
42:20Okay. So, um, what are the cons. What are the cons of
42:27handling them the same way.
Sarah Kramer
42:31I think you would set a precedent for other employees that like if maybe they did like take off and they like maybe like took a day trip somewhere.
42:40Like they wouldn't get reprimanded for it. And so you probably have more employees in the future teaching sick days and not actually being sick or not having any success and necessity to take a day off, rather than just go on vacation.
claudiadixon
42:52Absolutely, or the morale for the ones who are there, who also have sick children and they're still coming to work, you know, or who also want days off, and they're still coming to work. Okay, that's a great point.
43:06Anyone else, what are the cons.
43:13So as managers, you're going to be faced with these questions every time, every single day, you're going to have some opportunity some experience something that will
43:27Make you question like, did I make the right choice and the situation with the employees that I had that were dating. I had no proof.
43:36All I could do was ask them, and because I had no proof I there was nothing I could do about it and I left the bank in 2013 and this year. Those two employees just bought a house.
43:53You have a house together. So clearly, they were dying, but you know they're different. They're different banks now and so
44:04You know, sometimes you can only go and it's almost like the court system. Now you can only go up on what you know there was nothing I could do, despite the fact that I truly felt that they were there was nothing I could do about that. So I'm
44:18Everyone there they're looking at you to be the example you know you are. They are expecting you to be fair, they are expecting you to be considered.
44:26What you do from one you'll have to do for others, and I can assure you it's going to come back up again.
44:31It will come back up again. They're going to remember exactly what you did for some other employees, whether they know the details or they don't, they're going to compare it to their own situation and they're going to feel isolated or they're going to feel
44:47Like they're being singled out and it's going to be very hard to
44:52Explain that.
Dr. Tammy Hall
44:54Yeah, if I can add you know that that has oftentimes been a struggle for me and consistency comes in, into play. I mean, you have to think about almost immediately. The way that I respond to this, am I going to be able to consistently apply it across the board.
45:14Because
45:15You know, think of me as your professor. So my rule is you know you can't show up late to class.
45:23You know if that were the rule, and if I continue to let you know, Sarah, you know, come to class and not say anything late and not say anything to her.
45:32Alex going to say some court is going to say, or even if you don't say it you know it and you see. And so you're going to think of me, you know, Gosh, you know, she's really not who she says she is because she's letting that that thing slide. So, you know, you got to think about
45:49Those decisions that you make good thing about it is you know when you go to another job or you you know get another
45:55turnover of staff or whatever, you get to kind of rectify it but you got to be mindful of it. You got to think about you know what the way I responded, the last time didn't show consistency or it wasn't received
46:06And, you know, so I'm going to fix it. You know, so, so don't let it be. I made that terrible mistake I made that terrible decision I let Sarah get away with something that
46:15She should not have. But, you know, the next time you know I'm going to be consistent. I'm going to try really hard to be consistent. So
46:22And that's rewards and punishment, you know, you have to be consistent around rewards and punishment with with staff and I use punishment loosely with your staff when you're managing because it will come back to bite you, it will come back.
46:36Absolutely
claudiadixon
46:39So,
46:40I'm just
46:43Ensuring that you are moving forward growing learning remaining consistent. That would be the number one thing that emphasizing and piggyback on Dr. Hall said but like that is the one thing that people, it will come back and bite you. Every single time. I'm
47:06people's opinions of you as a manager and whether or not they want to work for you and also have everybody will want to work for you. If you're the lacs manager. If you're the manager that lets people get away with everything and and doesn't
47:18uphold the laws are the rules of the company or the organization that either you set for yourself or whether you're working for someone else.
47:27Um
Dr. Tammy Hall
47:29We are at 1151. I know some of the guys have
47:34Classes after
47:36I feel like we can go to 1155 but if you need to jump off please jump off.
47:41You know, please. No, I'm, you know, I think I kind of always come across as the mama type because I got you know 24 and 29 year old, but you all don't know how much I appreciate you showing up on time being here. You know, I know it's an assignment, but
47:57You know I invited mystics and because I know she is awesome at what she does. And I'm so glad
48:03That you got a chance to hear you know her story and to hear how she's kind of been, you know, moving through her career. So if you have to jump off please jump off but we got about probably another three more minutes.
48:15And we'll finish up, and then I need to get to my other classes. Well, but I'm sure that you know she will extend her contact information. And if you know we don't get it captured here I will make sure that you get it because 48:30Remember I told you these guest speaking opportunities about making connections.
48:33And learning from people who are you know doing this thing.
48:37So,
claudiadixon
48:42Um, so if each of you. I'm going to post in my office number here.
48:48If anybody has any questions or if you want to just communicate with me outside of here, feel free to do so.
48:58Thanks. No problem. If you have any questions, please post them in the chat or ask them right away. I'm here for the next two minutes.