080: From 'clowning around' for laughing audiences with Cirque Du Soleil to leadership skills training with Google bosses who want amazing results

Is your leadership team 'clowning around'? Making Conversations about training leaders Count! "The sun is shining or the clouds are raining, or all of the structures that we've built are standing. Mostly everything is going well." Jay Guilford, Making Conversations Count - (April 2022) Psst! Low on data? Here's a lower bandwidth version for you. Who is Jay? As a face of Cirque du Soleil's training program "Spark", Jay had the opportunity to work with some of the most creative minds in the world. He was constantly amazed at the circus performers’ ability to turn their art into a demonstration of leadership – to use teamwork, training, and focus to create seemingly impossible feats. Once a man who was clowning around with the circus, Jay Guilford is now highly respected for his skills in training leaders, and if he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings he might have missed his cue. And this is the teaching he preaches to his clients at Fortune 500 companies. In this episode of the "Making Conversations Count" podcast, Jay explains to Wendy how he gets the best out of today's leaders, using skills he's gained from being the front man in the big top! You'll learn.... In this episode of "Making Conversations Count", in which Jay Guilford shares how he helps train leaders, covers: Jay’s job: telling leaders to ‘calm down’ Be your authentic self Listen!! And everyone lies! Communicate like they’re a seven-year-old Everything is going well – even when it feels like chaos A poignant moment from the episode: Wendy What would your top tip be for those starting out in terms of communication and leading themselves? Jay In my heart, the top tip is authenticity. It's something that I've had to learn early in my career. I did things because I needed a job or I wanted this amount of money or I wanted the prestige of a certain set of things, and that was different from being my authentic self. So early on, especially when you're younger, the world forgives you for a lot of stuff. Like, if you're in your 20s, you can be sleeping on a couch or, like, hopping from job to job and you have a lot of leeway because you're 20 something and not 40 something like me. I think everyone has a lot of leeway, but when you're younger, it's easier to take those chances. Click here for the full transcript What IS Making Conversations Count? "Making Conversations Count" is a podcast from WAG Associates founder and telemarketing trainer Wendy Harris. Missed our previous episodes? You can catch up with any of the other guests we've been making conversations count with, here: https://makingconversationscount.com/episodes/ Listen to Making Conversations Count On your mobile device? Hear them in your favourite platform (Apple or Spotify etc) here: https://makingconversationscount.studio/listen Once you've listened, remember to leave us a review!  https://makingconversationscount.studio/Review-all-episodes NEVER MISS AN EPISODE AGAIN!! You are following the show on socials, right? Only there will you see sneaky peaky teasers of the upcoming episodes, as well as updates and news on the show!  Here are the links just in case you need them: Twitter Facebook Pinterest YouTube Instagram Lower quality version Strapped for data? You can hear a lower-quality version of the episode that's less data intensive, here: http://traffic.libsyn.com/makingconversationscount/Lower_bandwidth_-_from_clowning_around_for_laughing_audiences_with_Cirque_Du_Soleil_to_guiding_Google_bosses_towards_amazing_results_along_the_leadership_tightrope.mp3 Transcript version Hard of hearing? Read the episode using a transcript: http://traffic.libsyn.com/makingconversationscount/WAG_MCC_80_Jay_Guilford_transcript_PDF.pdf Make sure you're following the podcast in your favourite app, as every Sunday, we're carrying on the conversation.... https://makingconversationscount.studio/listen