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If you've ever joined a company and everybody's looking inward, so when they need information,

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they're looking to somebody inside. When they're looking for what the new regulations mean,

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they're looking for someone inside the organization to help them. And I think when you're only

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looking inward, you don't have the same view, vantage, or information as when you look outward.

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Welcome to the Executive Connect podcast, a show for the new generation of leaders. Join Melissa

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R. Skog as she speaks to a wide variety of guests that bring new insights into leadership,

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prosperity, and personal growth. While no one has all the answers, by building a community of

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open-minded and engaged leaders, we hope to give you the tools you need to help you find your own path to success.

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Welcome to the Executive Connect podcast. Today I have Diane Kenyon here with us to talk about

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community. Thank you so much for being here today. Diane, would you mind introducing yourself?

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Hi, I'm Diane Kenyon. I've been active in the Austin community of the tech community

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and the nonprofit community for a long time. Currently I'm active with Austin Women in Technology,

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Society of Information Management in Ostehn. Austin Technology Council LinkedIn Local. So I'm

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active with a lot of groups in the community, both giving and learning from these groups.

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Thank you so much for being here today Diane. What does the concept of community mean to you?

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Well, I hear a lot of people talk about work like Falons, like it's Polar. There's two things and you know,

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you're either at work or you're at life and they're talking about integration and instead of this

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teeter-totter approach to our lives, I really see it as a three-legged stool. When in addition to work

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in life, there's community and that's the people you interact with that are optional. Like it's not

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your immediate family, it's not your work family, it's optional. So looking at a three-legged stool

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from that perspective, the seat becomes yourself. That's you. And to find balance, you need all three

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legs in the game. So you know, you you want that community, that tribe, those people, the place where

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you know you can learn and grow, where you can connect with like-minded folks where you can learn from

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people that think differently than you. But you know, both participating in community, whether it's

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in professional organizations or nonprofits, volunteering, both participating, giving,

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leading in those areas, there's just a lot of things that happen in community with others.

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I think we all felt it when we went into the pandemic, right? So you know, that that community went away.

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And so, you know, let's let's talk about how to get it back. Yeah, that's a really great point. You

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know, we have our lives are becoming more digital each and every day. We're online, Zoom meetings,

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team meetings. We're all Zoom fatigued out. So from your perspective, how do we balance

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virtual communities versus in-person communities and connections?

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I think the answer varies differently when you talk about balance. But I think the keyword that

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comes to my mind every time I think about community is intentionality. Like what am I intentionally doing?

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Where do I intentionally want to give? Then my time, what do I want to learn? How do I want to grow?

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Who, how many connections do I want to make this month? So being intentional around what your goals

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are, what your learning opportunities are, what your cost-benefit analysis is, I mean, everything

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around what you're doing in that space, right? So if you're a high-entrevert, being intentional may be

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meeting one-on-one with somebody for coffee once a month, somebody different. It may be only

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joining virtual sessions and joining the discussion when you feel comfortable, but doing that at least

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once a month. If you're an extrovert and you get your energy from people, they don't have to be

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as intentional because they thrive in that space. They want to go meet new people. They want to learn

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new things. They're wanting to contribute in the space, give back in some way. So I think we see it

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that it's easier for them, but it's not always easier for them. When you have children at home,

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you have commitments. So you have to find what works for you and what's intentional for you.

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And I would say you want to plan it, you want to set a goal, you want to measure it, you want to see

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how you did, and then you want to repeat. So just start, maybe it's, maybe it's two events a month.

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That's where I started when I moved to Austin. It was like, I didn't know anybody. And I said,

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I'm going to go to two external events a month. I'm going to meet people. I'm going to meet at least

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two people that I will follow up with at each event I go to. And you track that and you measure that,

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and then you know what you're building and you're gaining for the time that you spent.

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Yeah, well said. I think, you know, I also think community, it's, you've got to have a community

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before you ask from the community, right? You have your work, like you mentioned in your family,

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but your community, they can help you in all different areas outside of, you know, job stuff that can

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help you. I've had some of my community friends move me many times in my life and they would have never

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come in and helped me move unless I had those relationships because nobody likes moving.

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And that's a really good point to measure it. I think just saying once a month or twice a month,

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we're going to attend something, but it's easy to push those things off like when you are an introvert

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in person because you're nervous and, you know, maybe you stand in the corner of the first 10 times

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of doing it and over time you get better and more comfortable getting out there and building a

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community with people. And, you know, I think about like maybe an experience. Can you share with us

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either a personal or professional experience of where being part of a community had a significant

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impact on your life? I can think of several. I'd like to maybe sure when I started, you know,

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when I first came to us and I was doing two events a month and one of the organizations I joined at

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that time was the CIO, CTO form, the Austin Technology Council had. Actually, I think it's Austin's

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before council at the time and it's evolved over time. And then when Sim started, then it folded into Sim.

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And I joined that group to get references for vendors for active. I was running IT department. I

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needed somebody to cable. I needed somebody to help me with my phone systems. I needed, you know,

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somebody to talk to that had dealt on a much larger level than I had with Microsoft. And so, you know,

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I formed those relationships and I gave and you know, I asked, I mean, it was a given take, right? And

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at one point, and I don't know that it was a mutual benefit, but I was, I happened to be between jobs.

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I was actively looking for a full-time opportunity and I got a call from one of my CIO

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connections who just said, you know, Diane, are you still looking for work? And I said, yes, I am.

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He said, have you considered contract? I said, I can. He says, I really, I really need a favor.

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And so, that was an opportunity for me to help him as much as he was helping me.

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And so, as a favor to him, you know, I got engaged and went in and did some

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contracts CIO work for a business, an associate business that his company worked with. So, you know,

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I think it helped me and it helped him. And that's what community is about. You're giving and you're

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receiving. Yeah, absolutely well said. I think they think of you, right? When you have a relationship

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and you build a relationship, they're like, oh, I have this problem and I know Diane can solve it. So,

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your top of mind when you're regularly around people and following up like you mentioned and

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keeping in constant contact or some kind of cadence with people at networking events. And

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how do you think building communities can help you from a professional growth perspective and

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maybe a personal growth perspective? A lot, you know, I guess, you know, if you've ever joined a company

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and everybody's looking inward, they're always looking inward. So, when they need information,

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they're looking to somebody inside. When they're looking for, you know, what the new regulations mean,

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they're looking for someone inside the organization to help them. And I think when you're only looking

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inward, you don't have the same view, vantage or information as when you look outward. And so, you

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know, I've been a part of Agile Austin over the years and going to their events and hearing their

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challenges and their discussions and participating in those has gained me so much knowledge about

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Agile processes, Agile challenges. And it's able me to really coach my people. So, personally,

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I'm always learning. I may have an interest in something. I may not have an interest in it. I

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share, I'll share, I went to an event one time and you can find free events everywhere. If you want

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to go to anything, whether it's professional or personal, you can find free events in your area

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that you can attend. And so, it was a co-working space. I was having an open house. I wasn't looking

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for co-working space, but I didn't know a lot about co-working space at the time. This was, you know,

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probably four or five years before we were. And so, I signed up. I went to their social. I heard

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their sales pitch. I met some people. One of the people I met there has a huge network of central

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Texas entrepreneurs and business connectors. So, now I'm a part of his network as well. So, you know,

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it's both personal and it's professional. And, you know, it's like if you don't ask for something,

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you're assuming the answer is no. And if you know someone that might be able to help you and you ask,

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they're going to go above and beyond to help you. And it's both give and take. I, I, I respond to a lot

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of requests and in return, a lot of people respond to my requests. But that's what makes the world go

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around is that community and helping and supporting each other. And whether you're going for professional

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benefit, learning, education, knowledge, new ideas, or whether you're going for a hobby,

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there's an opportunity to expand your network. I love it. It sounds like you push yourself out of

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your comfort zone as well in areas that you may not be an expert in. I think a lot of times we are

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drawn to areas that we know about or we have interest in. And it sounds like you, you've just shown

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out places to learn something new that you otherwise would not have and been open to make new connections

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which is amazing. I know that I didn't even think about just doing it myself. I think that's a great

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idea because I usually myself just go to technology events that interest me in AI or cyber women.

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But you're right. You do learn a lot about other things and you never know when you might need to

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take that tool from your toolbox or who knows who you're going to meet at these at these events.

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So how do you, is there a specific like tool you use to manage yourself or process that you

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flow through to keep track of all your connections? How do you nurture them both personally and online?

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Well, that's a challenge. In the good old days, you know, I had a huge roller dex of business cards

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and those days are out the window, right? I will say LinkedIn is my tool of choice. And I

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I try, anyone I meet, I try to connect with on LinkedIn. The QR code, there's really simple so you

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can do that. I meet people that aren't on LinkedIn, it's a little bit harder. I try to make sure I

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get them in my contacts and my email and things like that. So, you know, I think that's the tracking part

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of it from my activities. I normally track those on my calendar. So I know how I'm doing against my

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goals and my metrics. But you talk about connecting and I think it's connecting people with people,

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it's connecting people with ideas, it's connecting people with opportunities. And one of my innate

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abilities is really, you know, putting the pieces together. So if I, I was at a recent Austin women

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technology event and there were a lot of people around and hi, Diane, hi, Diane, hi, Diane, and at some

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point I was like, do I know this person? I guess I do. Yeah, it was hard to connect the dots because when

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you don't see them for so long, it's not as easy to recognize and recall their, their name as it was

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when you saw them last month or the month before. And I had one of the board members ask about,

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do you know of any UI or UX positions? And since I'm currently in the job market and I'm looking at

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different opportunities, I came across one and then I was like, who was that? Who was that that was

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running it? I knew Emily had asked and so I posted it on Slack and she responded and she connected me

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with the person and I've been, as I see opportunities, I've been sending them to her.

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You know, but it's, you know, it looking at people online, looking at LinkedIn, seeing somebody's

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business in the news and sending them a note, you know, congratulating someone when they get promoted,

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you know, being there when somebody needs a conversation about this doesn't feel right that they're

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asking me to do this at work. I mean, just making yourself available, trying to find as many ways when

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someone asked me for help to say yes, let's figure out when we can do this. And when I'm asking for help

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being very intentional and specific about what I would like or what I would need. And it's being

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active on LinkedIn is part of it because if I post and people see it, then, you know, it's different

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than if they haven't thought about me for five years. So, I'm just, and sent you mentioned LinkedIn

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and my phone's sitting right here. I think you nailed on a point that we should use our phone on here.

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So you mentioned connecting with people on LinkedIn. Correct. Awesome. Okay. So, you know, the good old

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fashion way, we'd give our business card, we stick it in our pocket, we stick, stick it in our

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purse, and then we forget about the business card, your kid would get it, the dog would get it,

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you'd lose it, whatever happened. We're right. Everybody has a phone now. So, if you download the LinkedIn

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app and I'm on my links in here, oh, let's ignore that. If you go to the top right here,

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there's the search bar and next to the search bar, there's a QR code and it should look just like

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this. And you could scan it and people can directly, like you said, connect with you on LinkedIn. So,

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it's done for you. You don't need a business card and you can connect with them that way. It's a

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great, great point, Diane. I don't think many people know that trick. I am amazed at how many people I

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show that to when I'm networking or out socially. So, thank you for that. It's a good point.

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One other thing I was thinking about when you were talking is sometimes in fields, like if you're an

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engineer, there's society of women engineers or American society, civil engineers. I've been part of

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those organizations for my career. Are there instances where you would think that if you were

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convenking or compliance that maybe it's you should join certain organizations because it could

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negatively affect your job? So, is there any important factors to consider when you're thinking

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about joining an organization or adding that group to your social media?

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Well, I think we all think that politics and religion really don't have a place in the business world.

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It doesn't mean that you can't. You just want to be careful.

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Yeah, if you're a Trump Patriot patriot and you want to blast that and join groups and show that

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on LinkedIn or on Facebook, just know that other people can see that and you know you might be asked

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about it. If you feel strongly about it and you can defend your position on it and your reasoning

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and that doesn't make you uncomfortable, I think it's okay. Whether it's about church, whether it's

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about something controversial, but it becomes part of your permanent digital footprint.

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And it's not really something you can erase over time. So, you just want to be cautious about what's

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in your professional footprint and what's in your digital footprint, especially if you're going to

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be working for others. Yeah, well said. I think I've seen some stuff on social media where I'm like,

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"Uh oh, hopefully, knowing what they did for a living, hopefully, they're careful on how they

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reply." So, I think it's right having, you know, being mindful that, you know, your bosses, your

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employers, your CEOs, people may not be a Republican, they might be a Democrat, so be careful on,

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you know, how you reply to, you know, politics, the religion, or all the things that could be

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misconstrued. I know there's one other point I wanted. I always think of, you know, like you mentioned

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at the beginning, communities have changed a lot since the pandemic, where people originally,

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you know, were working out of an office, and now, you know, they're working remote at their desk

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in their home by themselves. So, how do you think in the world today that the at-office hybrid,

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how does that work from your perspective these days, from a community perspective? Good, bad, and different.

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I don't know. The hybrid versus remote versus full-time in office, this is a debate that's going to

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continue for many decades as to which is better and why. I mean, it's like, work-life balance was

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introduced in kind of the 70s and the 80s, and it's still being talked about, right? So, I think it's

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something that's going to continue. I think a lot of those decisions are made not because you

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need community or you don't need community. A lot of those decisions are made based on the amount

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of flexibility you would like, the other obligations you have in your life, your priorities, and how

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much time you want to spend on the commute. I think, you know, those are individual things that need to

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be assessed and determined for each person. Whether you're working 100% remote or you're 100% in the office,

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you're expected to work with your teammates, right? So, that's the small work community and you just

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want to think about what are you doing to expand that community within the organization? Because

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community, inside the organization's important community, outside the organization's important.

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So, what are you doing to nurture that? Are you scheduling coffee or virtual coffee? Are you

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scheduling a virtual, let's have a Friday afternoon, game? What are you doing to nurture that and

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encourage that? The water cooler conversations are not gone. If you're not in them, how are you going

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to get involved? Well said, I think for the people that are virtual employees that work from their

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home, you know that the water cooler discussions are important. Make yourself visible. If you're not

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near an office, how can you still connect with your peers, your bosses? Either getting to their

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corporate office is getting on a plane, getting on a train, an automobile, however you have to get there,

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but making yourself known and getting your own brand into the organization. So, if you're just at

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your desk, whittling away at your job, you're not really being seen, right? From other people in the

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organization. So, you have to, like you said, setting up a virtual coffee or getting to connect with

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your peers is super, super important. I would absolutely echo that. I know that subject I'm always,

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I'm like, is it good? Is it bad? Where have we gone? You know, the one thing I do think is,

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you know, if you're a mountain employee, you've lost a lot of your sense of community by going to

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the office. Like you mentioned, work cooler conversations, collaborating with people. You lose a lot of

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that touchy feeling, you know, collaboration with your peers. And like you mentioned at the beginning,

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it's really important if you're a hybrid person by yourself all day, get out of the office and talk

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to an adult, talk to some other people and build a community around your area. So, in closing day,

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and just kind of final thoughts, I mean top three things people could do from your perspective to

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build a community and maybe secondly part me, how do they get started if they've never done it?

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I think I would say the three-step process is kind of, you know, think about it and set a goal.

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You know, build a plan for 30 or 60, 90 days, execute on the plan and then see how you're doing.

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And to get started, you know, I'm a big believer in looking at Facebook events, looking at meet-up

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events, looking at event bright, looking at LinkedIn events, there's do 512, there's do whatever

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your area code is, and there's options out there. You know what you're working on to professionally

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grow and so if you want to do professional, then go find those people. If you want to learn more

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about agile or you have agile problems you want to solve, go join an agile team or a group or a

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special interest group. If you want to learn more about healthcare, join a healthcare organization,

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you know, networking organization, if it's not professional, then find something personal that's

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of interest. You know, whether it be at church, whether it be volunteering, whether it be, you know,

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some other hobby or interest that you have, if you want to learn more about drones, go find

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somebody else you can connect with and learn more about drones. So, you know, it's taking action,

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it's being intentional and it's acting, you know, it's, you know, seeing how it goes, building

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the network, connecting with them, having follow-up conversations, you know, feeling like you're

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there worth your time and that, for your time or and money that you invested or your company invested

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for you to attend a conference or a training class or go to a networking group that you have

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something to show for it. And, you know, when it's my time and my money, I want something, I want

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to return on that. And so, I'm intentionally looking for those first two people that I'm going to

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follow up with after the event each and every time I go. So, you know, building community,

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strengthen your soul, like, lengthen your stool leg and strengthen your stool leg and create some

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balance and it kind of sits between work and life because it doesn't have to, your community doesn't

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have to be about just your personal life and it doesn't have to be just about your work life.

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It can be about that. I love that. It is, it's a good point because some of my best, best, best

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team I met at a networking event that are my community, but they're like my family and when I need advice

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like you mentioned in the beginning, they're the people I call before I make, you know, different

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major decisions in my life or they talk me off my ledge for whatever I'm going to do next.

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So, thank you so much for being here, Diane. We really appreciate your insights and all your nuggets

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that you shared with us today. Until next time, thank you for joining in Seconded Connect.

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You've been listening to the Executive Connect podcast. If you have questions or ideas on how to

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bring leadership to your next level, email us at ExecutiveConnectPodcast@gmail.com. And don't forget to

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subscribe so you can catch every new episode. Until next time.