Episode Overview

Bob Pettke interviews two guests about the Midwest Staffing Conference. First, WAS president Clay Pautz highlights the conference’s diverse tracks, top speakers, and vendor networking, emphasizing the value of gaining new perspectives. Then, grit expert Lara Jones shares her inspiring story of overcoming the loss of her son and near-death experience, explaining how she developed the Global Grit System. She discusses reframing challenges, finding meaning in adversity, and how these experiences led her to write Hunt or Be Hunted. Tune in to hear their insights, and then join them and other industry professionals at the Midwest Staffing Conference – register today at issaworks.com!

Listen to the Episode:

Episode Transcript:

Bob Pettke: [00:00:00] Coming to you from the Ultra-Staff Studios in Chicago. Welcome to the Staffing Buzz Network with your host, Bob Pettke.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to another installment of the Staffing Buzz Network. This is our second podcast in a row where we are going to change things up a little bit again. We have two guests. This is a record two times in a row with two guests. So, we are excited to get started today.

So again, my name is Bob Pettke. I am with, as you can see over the shoulder, Ultra-Staff EDGE. We are a staffing software company, so we work with companies that are staffing, that need back- office, front- office solutions and are looking to streamline their business. And although that’s what I do, and that’s what pays the bills, this is not about [00:01:00] us.

This is about, it’s a special episode because we’re in our second series segment of promoting something that’s up and coming here in the staffing world. It’s going to be the Midwest Staffing Conference that’s being held April 24th and 25th near Chicago in Oak Brook, Illinois. So we are here to talk about that because it’s just been a proven venue for people that are staffing professionals across the region to attend and to get some very worthwhile knowledge and information.

With that said, I want to go ahead and introduce our first guest today. Our first guest is Lara, who is a staffing professional. He’s in the Midwest, located near Milwaukee, and he is at Parallel Employment Group in the Milwaukee area.

Now, a little bit about Clay. Clay, nice to see you.

Clay Pautz: Pleasure being here. Nice to see you too, Bob.

Bob Pettke: Hey, if it’s okay, I’m going to go over and share with the audience a little bit [00:02:00] about you before we dive into a conversation. I think it’s good for people to know why we’ve got you here today.

Clay Pautz: Feel free.

Bob Pettke: Perfect. Just a little backstory about Clay, and this is a very similar story, a very similar tale for people that have been in the staffing industry. Clay started in a sales role in 2006. Had some success doing that, was recognized and put into a branch manager position in 2009, continued to shine in the industry, and then moved into a director of sales and marketing in 2013, then vice president of sales in 2016, and as of right now, Clay, if I’ve got this right you’re developing your business development team, you’re working with marketing and, you’re providing some quality service programs and workforce solutions.

You’re delivering a fully integrated sales and service plans to the companies in your area. Is that correct?

Clay Pautz: Yeah, that’s correct, Bob. I think what sums up really what I [00:03:00] do for Parallel is to make sure that from a customer perspective, we are delivering what we have said we were going to the customers and make sure that they’re having a positive experience working with both the staff we’re providing them on the associate level as well as our internal staff that they’re delivering the service markers that we expect and that we again have set forth to them.

Bob Pettke: Right, absolutely. And. I mentioned this on a recent podcast that for somebody to be in staffing for more than a few minutes, it takes a very unique individual. Staffing is people that are listening or they’re going to relate. It’s not for everybody, but if you’re able to thrive, survive, prosper, and grow, you’re part of a very unique group of folks.

And what’s nice is we’re going to have a chance to all come together April 24 and 25 for the Midwest Staffing Conference [00:04:00] located in Oak Brook, Illinois. The reason we’ve got you here is not necessarily or only because of your experience with Parallel, but you are also the new president on the board of WAS, which stands for the Wisconsin Association of Staffing Services. And so you’ve been doing that for how long?

Clay Pautz: I’ve been on the board with WAS for about seven years now and was a board member for several years, was the treasurer for a couple of years, and now in the president’s role.

And yeah, we’re very excited. Midwest Staffing Conference is one of the, if not one of the premier events in the country, definitely in the Midwest, for the staffing industry and we’re very excited. And as I shared with you before, the speaker lineup this year is excellent. I don’t know if there’s been a better speaker lineup. In past years, we’ve had some really strong engagement and keynotes, but this year, from top to bottom, including yourself, Bob, we just have some of [00:05:00] the most fantastic speakers.

Bob Pettke: I appreciate that. And our next guest Lara Jones, who will feature next, who we had a chance to talk with offline. And I did share with her that you are one of her biggest fans.

Clay Pautz: Yes, indeed.

Bob Pettke: So yeah, so we’re excited to talk with her. We’re excited that she’s going to be an integral part of the conference and probably one more of many reasons why people are going to want to make sure that if they haven’t done so already, that they go ahead and sign up to participate in that.

I know in the past you’ve been to these several times in the past. So as an attendee, and this is for the folks that are like, trying to figure out, they ask, what’s in it for me? You’ve been at attendee. Tell us what your experience has been like when you’ve attended this conference.

Clay Pautz: Yeah. I have had a ton of positive experiences at all of the Midwest Staffing Conferences that I have attended, and I had attended. I was thinking back about this more [00:06:00] even before I was on the board for WAS, I had attended Midwest Staffing Conference, and I think really what it offers is a and there are several tracks that you can follow throughout the programming.

So if you really want to go on a recruit, recruiter track, for instance, versus a sales track or a marketing track or leadership, you can do that very easily. The program and the way that we have the conference set up makes that really easy to follow and find the content and the speakers that you want to see and hear.

I think what I really like most about the Midwest Staffing Conference is in number, it can be a small conference again, Midwest Conference but I think we bring in some of the top talent as far as speakers and engagement that rivals even some of the national Programming out there in some of those events.

I have attended Staffing World many years as well. And I think Midwest Staffing Conferences is right there in the conversation with content. The other [00:07:00] part that I really like about it, Bob, that I’d shared with you before, is the engagement that you get with sponsors and vendors. I found myself doing this often and having conversations with vendors during that time when that’s set aside to speak with our sponsors and vendors where all of a sudden, I’m missing part of a session because I’m in such a deep conversation with one of the vendor representatives.

Anyone and everyone is there. If you’re looking at something like Ultra-Staff EDGE, or you’re looking at a payroll service, or the list goes on and on. But it’s fantastic, and they pack in so much content in a two-day program, I think that is the other part of this. Not everyone has a week to set aside to go to different conferences.

I have these experiences. This is, again, if you’re in the Midwest, easy to get to, and it’s an efficient process, and you just get so much packed into those two days.

Bob Pettke: No, and I agree with you from looking at the outline and the venue and looking at the [00:08:00] expectations. And I think we’re up to 34 unique vendors that are going to be on site and let’s face it. In staffing, for as much as we can do on our own, we need to pull in other parties to help.

So this is just going to be one more opportunity where instead of somebody calling us and us trying to figure out, are we going to take this call or not? Or are we going to even entertain making a change, it’s basically, you’ve got a buffet of different vendors to look at and have engaged in those types of conversations.

Clay Pautz: Yeah, indeed. And I do want to also say, we have Lara Jones coming. So that’s the other highlight that I really want to point out that I’m very excited about. We have a wonderful speaker lineup. Folks like Mark Winter who is always fantastic and brings a new perspective to almost every presentation that I’ve seen him do.

I don’t know how he does that. Because I’ve seen him maybe even just a couple weeks apart, and it’s completely different and new information. [00:09:00] A lot of the speakers here, again, this isn’t recycled from last year, this isn’t a presentation that they necessarily give again and again.

What you’re getting is up-to-date information, programs that are addressing the concerns of today, and in staffing, as you mentioned, we’re in an ever-changing Industry, and one of the difficulties that we have is keeping up with trends and keeping up with changes within the industry. And again, the speakers and content here is built for that.

So I’m super excited. And again, Lara Jones, who you have on the podcast here coming up, is top of the list for me.

Bob Pettke: I will make sure that we see if she’s got any buttons like they used to give out in the old days for members of the fan club. And it’ll be my first time meeting her as well.

So she’s come up around the corner, but I’ve got one last question before we move and bring Lara in. There’s a lot of content. There’s a lot of value. Why should somebody, a staffing professional, could be a [00:10:00] management, it could be a salesperson or even a recruiter, why should they take a pause from their day and attend this?

What would be your you have a direct audio, remember on the world wide web. So you never know if we start getting people from Indonesia who decide they want to come to this thing. But in all seriousness, what is your message to why somebody would want to take a pause and attend

Clay Pautz: You know, it’s a great question.

I think what is important to really note is we can get trapped in our day to day business. And I think, in a lot of cases, this is an opportunity for staff and professionals. Again, it doesn’t matter, like you said, Bob, if you’re in sales, if you’re on the recruiting end or operations to get a new perspective, a different perspective from just getting out of your day-to-day bubble and exposing yourself to new ideas, new software and new programs to push your business or your job forward in a positive manner. I think that’s the big piece. [00:11:00]

The other part that I really enjoy about the Midwest Staffing Conference is my colleagues and others in the industry. I think I’ve had some of the most fruitful conversations with others that are in sales, others that are doing recruiting to really just say, “What are you seeing out there?” and “How are things going for you?” and “How are you attacking these hurdles?” and “What do you see on the horizon?”

There’s the fantastic lineup. There’s fantastic vendors. It’s a great venue. But I think ultimately, one thing I look forward to the most is talking with others in the industry and just getting a pulse on where they’re at, so tons of benefits really reasons to attend.

Bob Pettke: Absolutely. And a great reason and a great opportunity for people to go ahead and attend to this. And, just for people that are interested to log in and become familiar with it, they can go to ISSA slash works. They can google that. They could put that into their address bar.

We’re gonna have it following here in our notes or our comments section. And So [00:12:00] yes, Clay, thanks for being here. Congratulations on your new tenured position as the president of WOS, and I am looking forward to spending some time with you April 24 & April 25.

Clay Pautz: Yes, sir. As am I. Thank you for the opportunity to come on today and talk to you more about the Midwest Staffing Conference.

I really appreciate it.

Bob Pettke: Perfect.

Clay Pautz: Great.

Bob Pettke: Thanks Clay. All right. So there you have Clay Pautz, he’s a professional. He’s been doing this for a while. A very similar story to a lot of the people that are in staffing. Worked his way through the system, understands what it’s like to climb through and understands every facet of staffing, from sales to recruiting to management.

And so just really glad to have him on. And with that said, like I promised you, two guests. And so our next guest is Lara [00:13:00] Jones. Lara, welcome to the Staffing Buzz Network.

Lara Jones: Oh, thank you so much, Bob. It’s an absolute honor to be here. And thank you for sharing your audience with me today.

Bob Pettke: Oh, absolutely. How could I, first of all, we talked offline. And besides, Clay being a big fan of yours, you had me at hello. We’re just so glad to have you on board.

Lara Jones: It’s the accent, isn’t it, Bob? It’s the accent.

Bob Pettke: I didn’t even notice. Are you from New Jersey? No, I heard I did hear it a little bit.

Lara Jones: Yeah. Kentucky. Come on now. It’s Kentucky.

Bob Pettke: Perfect. Yeah. But that could be the case. Lara, you’ve got a real compelling story, and I think that a lot of people are gonna really be on the edge of their seat to hear the message that you have, and it’s really important for us folks that are involved in this particular conference to bring some insight, to bring some self-reflection, to bring some grit, which is, I know one of the things that [00:14:00] you’re involved in, but I’m going to tell the audience just a little bit about you, and then we’re going to dive into some conversation here.

But just for those that are listening and they’re trying to figure out why should I attend the Midwest Staffing Conference? We talked a little bit about it already as far as the content, but it’s going to be the keynote speakers as well. And just to give you an idea on Lara Jones, she is one of the most sought after, requested speakers, keynote speakers. She speaks on grit.

She’s an award-winning individual. You’ve received nine Stevie Awards, and I know you were the Stevie Award winner of the year, your female entrepreneur of the year, best female thought leader of the year, and a lot of it stems from your creation of the Global Grit System, and we’re going to talk about that for a second. But before I go into that, you’ve received a new recognition and award that I didn’t have in my notes.

Tell us [00:15:00] all about that.

Lara Jones: Yes, Bob, thank you so much. I mean besides being voted Women of the Year by the Stevie Awards, which was one of my most incredible honors really, I was incredibly honored to be awarded that. And that was because of the creation of the global grit system. And also the creation of the grit type indicator which I can go into in a little bit, but yes, I just recently was awarded with an international award for being the top grit performance expert of 2024.

And as a result, my face and my book was selected to be featured on the NASDAQ billboard in New York Times Square, which I am incredibly honored. So I’m actually flying out there for the big reveal.

Bob Pettke: Is that, are you doing that soon?

Lara Jones: Yes. I’m actually flying out tomorrow to New York, so it will be revealed.

It will be revealed while I’m out there. And then it’s going to be on and off for about a week. Being featured on the NASDAQ billboard. So I’m incredibly honored that the people of New York will get to see my book and my face [00:16:00] featured on there for an entire week.

Bob Pettke: That’s terrific.

And I’m sure that the folks back home in Kentucky are just going to love you even more,

Lara Jones: Right? And If there’s anyone listening that is from Kentucky, I love you guys too. It’s just a bit of a joke because nobody, and nobody, can ever guess where I’m from. The one thing I’m gonna tell you, I’m not Australian.

Okay? So, if you thought I was Australian, guess again.

Bob Pettke: I’ll take another guess. Are you from a similar part in the world? Because I don’t know.

Lara Jones: I guess it depends on what you mean by similar.

Bob Pettke: Are you like in a country…

Lara Jones: Usually, they say Australia.

Bob Pettke: They could say New Zealand.

Lara Jones: Yes. They didn’t say New Zealand.

Nope. Guess again. Let’s see if you get it, Bob.

Bob Pettke: They could say South African.

Lara Jones: That’s always the third one I get. Nope. How can you get it before?

Bob Pettke: They can go very basic, and they can just go right to England.

Lara Jones: Exactly. You hit the nail on the head. There you go. And it’s funny, most people don’t wanna say England because they think that’s too obvious.[00:17:00]

But usually, sometimes, it’s the most obvious answers that are the right answers.

Bob Pettke: Here’s the funny part, Lara. I was telling Jennifer, who’s off camera right now, she’s our director here, I was telling her, I said, I think that Lara’s from London. And I don’t know if it was from London or not.

But then here we are, right? We’re in the mode, but the film’s rolling. And I just I lost it. And then you led me, you led the witness on Australia. So then I’m starting, I’m like, okay, so you threw me a loop, but I came back to, so were you at London? Is that part of it, too?

Lara Jones: Yes. So just remember Lara from London, LL, Lara from London.

There you go.

Bob Pettke: So Lara, it’s no easy task, and it takes some life experiences to get in this place in space to build a career to the space where you are a sought-after keynote speaker. It’s a lot of professional things that have happened in your life and I know [00:18:00] that you were also featured on the PBS BrainLine for your grit and your resilience facing the loss of your youngest son and nearly your own life.

And I’m sure that’s part of your message, right? Because it’s all of those life experiences that we have that put us in a position to be able to deliver a message. And you know, depending on what type of faith you have or just what type of a core common belief you have, people will often say things happened for a reason, even in the depths of despair. If you’re okay with it, talk to us just a little about that and how that’s impacted you and how that’s partly formed who you are today.

Lara Jones: Absolutely. I’d love to share with the audience and with yourself, Bob. So here’s the thing. I didn’t actually want to become the expert in grit. I didn’t want to even write the book Hunter Be Hunted. I didn’t want to be the creator of the global grit system. I didn’t even want to be the creator of the grit-type indicator.

But here’s the thing. I discovered [00:19:00] something at the worst point in my life, And had I not discovered that, I wouldn’t be doing what I do today, which is keynote speaking across the country, delivering workshops, programs, and impacting so many other people. And how did I get there? It actually starts with eight years ago. I moved to this country here in the U. S. from England with absolutely nothing. I had a very successful career over in England. I was actually a sales director. I was a business development director. I helped build businesses from the ground up. That’s all I did. I grew businesses from very small entities into multi million dollars worth of business, like huge businesses.

And that was in Europe, Middle East, Africa, parts of the U. S. One day, I mean, there wasn’t one specific thing that made me move to the U. S., but there was like a multiple amount of things. And one day, I just thought to myself, you know what? I have to choose my grit. Because when grit comes knocking for me, [00:20:00] which of course it did, and it does for everybody, I want to be better prepared for when it does hit.

And one day, I just decided to up and leave, I locked all my money away, I had nothing when I came to the U. S. No money, no food, no home, no social, no car. There was even a period of time in my life where I went three days without eating because it was a choice between a roof over my head or food on the table, and I chose to have a roof over my head.

And as a result of choosing that very grit and seeing what I’ve built today from nothing, just instills not just the belief in me, but the belief in others, and it shows others what is possible. Now fast forward a few years later, after I’d met my husband who’s a marine, we had three beautiful children, three beautiful boys. But unfortunately, two years ago, my youngest [00:21:00] son, Jack, passed away, and I nearly lost my life. And it was that moment in my life that I had this profound moment. And it wasn’t easy, like after I’d lost Jack and I had to make a decision between burying him or cremating him, which no mother, no father, no parent ever wants to go through. But double that, with the loss of nearly my life as well and being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and all the symptoms that I had to deal with that on a daily basis.

Couple those together. I’m now dealing with a double trauma and severe grief. And so I fell into a dark hole for many months. See what had happened is, and I talk about this pretty regularly, there’s four different zones that we go in. We’re either in our comfort zone, we have our fear zone; [00:22:00] we have our learning zone, which gets missed often;

and then we have our growth. I have become stuck in my fear zone because I, and I’m sure that the audience, can relate to this, anything else that’s going on in your life, right? It doesn’t have to be as severe as what I’ve gone through with losing a child, but it could be, maybe you’re having issues at work, maybe there’s conflict, maybe there’s conflict within the leadership, maybe among each other with the team that there’s a resolution that just cannot be reached, whatever it may be, it could be in your personal life, could be with your marriage, could be with your kids, whatever that is, whatever that adversity looks like to you, what happens is we can get stuck in our fear zone, or we run back into our comfort zone.

And for me, I was stuck in my fear zone, but it wasn’t until four months later, and I remember it vividly because it was a Monday. And it was in January of 2022. And I remember waking up on that Monday morning. And I slept in my son’s room that night. And I looked at [00:23:00] myself in the mirror. And I could see the light beaming in from behind me from the window, and the light kind of bounced off the mirror and shone on my face. And I caught myself dead in the eyes, and I said, “You got to wake up today. Your son did not. You get to feel the sun on your skin today. Your son does not. Stop making this about you. This is not about you. This is about others. What are you going to do with what you’ve gone through, with all of that trauma, with all of that grief?

How are you going to impact other people?” What a lot of people didn’t realize, and maybe don’t even realize to this day, is I was running another business. I had another company. I was the leader of that organization. I had a whole team that I had to feed, right? I had to put money on their table so they could feed their children.

I had my own living children. I had my husband. I was the leader. And yet, I was the one in the middle of this trauma and this grief. And I [00:24:00] was the only one that could really pull myself out of this. How did I do it? Here’s the thing, and I really want you to listen to this and think about it. Because anybody that’s going through hard times right now, any type of problem that you’re facing, any type of challenge, just listen to this.

If you can innovate your way out of a challenge, then it’s not a challenge, it’s an opportunity. So what I’ve done right there is reframe how you think about that problem. Now, after Jack passed away, I just really would love to share this with the audience so they can understand how I was able to pull myself through such a terrible time.

I’m naturally a go-getter, right? I am the G in my grits of what I did with my grit system that I didn’t even realize at the time that I had, but I created this global grit system as a result of what I’ve been through. Plus, I do have a background in, I have a bachelor’s and master’s in [00:25:00] psychology and mental health counseling, and I’m also trained in neuroscience.

So, I pull a lot from the cognitive sciences. So I apply a lot of this work in with what I do and my research. However, I’m a natural go-getter. So when adversity hits, I naturally can get back up, brush myself off, and I’m able to push through using the G in my grit. When my son passed away, and I nearly lost my life, I couldn’t do that.

I couldn’t pull from the G in grit. I wouldn’t be sitting here today talking to you had I done that. And so what I had to do was pull from the R in my grit. I had to start reframing how I thought about the situation, and anybody can do this. So instead of saying to myself, look what happened to me, I started to say, look what happened.

Oh, excuse me: look what revealed me. You see what I did? I changed one word. Instead of saying, look what happened to me, look what revealed me. And instead of saying, look what was taken from me, look what was given to me. And I feel that [00:26:00] with all of these tools that I have. And how I was able to grit through, as I call it, that very difficult period of my life, which it never goes away, by the way, it’s something that you do with every single day of your life.

But I realized I had something so unique. I had a system in which anybody can develop grit, regardless if you think you have it or you don’t. And that’s what inspired me to write the book Hunt or Be Hunted because I wanted to share this global grit system with everybody and anybody out there. And it’s pretty detailed.

I’ve got the four elements of grit, I’ve got the four types of grit, and then I’ve got a custom process of how you actually get there and how you instill it in your life.

Bob Pettke: From what I can gather, and again, thank you for sharing. And again, this is, this is part of who you are, and I’m sure this is the same person that we’re looking at and talking to today that somebody might encounter if they meet you on the street in a restaurant or when [00:27:00] you’re, at home in front of the telly, if you like that one.

Yeah.

Lara Jones: I haven’t heard that in a while!

Bob Pettke: I’m glad to bring it back. I’m trying to see if I can bring it here. I don’t think it’s gonna stick. With your grit, with your global grit system in your book, Hunt or Be Hunted, and it says right here, as I’m looking at some of the notes, it really sounds like it is a personal journey with extreme resilience.

And I’m sure that, it’s only full of life lessons for you and it’s just one more example of the world that we live in that just. goes really quick. And it takes one event, in your particular event, the loss of your child, to really hit the pause button, not that you would even do that on purpose, but it also puts you in a place in a space where you recognize that life still goes on and you do have to, like you said, wake up and you do have to, get to it and use your global grit to get that.

So I think it’s great there that, you’ve not only put this together that you’re able to talk to others that are [00:28:00] going to be able to take some information away. I’m a firm believer. If you’re going to give an opportunity to someone who’s going to speak and talk or put together a book, that you’re going to have a platform to leave them better than you found them, or you can replace the word better than equip. You can leave them with something where they’re equipped to handle to the next thing here. So talk to us a little bit. Yeah, go ahead.

Lara Jones: I’m sorry, I was just going to say that’s actually one of my favorite things to do is when I’m speaking, and I think this is a sign of, when you come, when you listen to keynote speakers, the sign of a really great keynote speaker is somebody that’s going to equip you with the tools and the strategies that you need.

So when you walk out of that room, you’re not just leaving feeling inspired, but you’re leaving feeling really equipped and empowered to utilize the very tools that I just taught you off from the stage, and you could apply them immediately. And that’s one of my favorite things to do when I’m keynote speaking across the country.

And often I get asked, can [00:29:00] you come and do a workshop or can you stay into a workshop or can you come back and do a series of workshops? Can we look at the program? Because I give them a taster and then they want more and absolutely. And one of the things I would say is if you haven’t read the book, you should read the book because it is an introduction to the global grit system.

There’s actually only one chapter in there about my life. I didn’t want to make the whole book about me, but I put that in there so the audience can understand why I’m the expert in grit and how I got there. One of the life lessons that I really want people to understand is that grit is not about running away from your situation.

It’s about changing your perspective in the midst of the situation. And that’s why I talk so heavily about the grit you choose versus the grit you don’t. Because if you think you’re safe from grit and you think you’ve protected yourself from any type of adversity, guess again. It will come knocking for you if it hasn’t already.

I hate to be the bearer of that news, but it will. And it will come in different forms, right? What one adversity looks like for one person can look very different to another. [00:30:00] But the same rule applies. It’s still adversity and it’s affecting you in a way that maybe you don’t want it to affect you. So, we have to look at the global grit system.

We have to look at getting it done, reframing how you think, impacting others, and taking responsibility. Here’s the thing that I really would like to share about leadership. Why did most leadership programs fail? I’m sure that anyone listening here has been to a leadership program or been part of one, and they thought it was great in the moment, but then it fades, it goes away.

Yeah, you yourself have had that. It fades, and it goes away, and in a way, it fails, right? Because now you’re not able to either remember or you’re not able to know how to implement. Here’s the thing. There’s three different learning styles. Number one, right? We learn by listening. We learn through visual and we also learn through practical elements.

So you’ve got to cover all three elements, which is why when I’m keynote speaking or when I’m giving workshops or through my program and with my executive coaching as well, I work with executives one-on-one, and I do a lot of this with them. But you have to cover all three elements. [00:31:00] Because every member of your audience is not going to learn the same way.

And so most leadership programs fail because they also focus on usually just interaction between you and either one other person or you and a few others. Here’s the thing. Leadership is not just about interpersonal communication. It’s about getting it done, reframing how you think, impacting others, and taking responsibility.

What does that spell? G R I T. Grit. So leadership is grit. You can’t be a leader without grit.

Bob Pettke: It’s funny, in a prior life at another company I worked for, we were trying to come up with core values of who we are, and one of them was we wanted to be people, but the first one was grit, without knowing a Lara Jones grit.

It was grit. So, true story. As a matter of fact, I could share that with you when [00:32:00] we see you in April 24, April 25 in Oak Brook, Illinois, at the Midwest Staffing Conference. But that’s remarkable. I’ve got one more real kind of question for you here. What can people expect?

Might even be two questions now that I’m thinking about it. What can people expect? What’s going to be a takeaway that they’re going to have? What is the feedback that you get from people once they’ve attended one of your sessions?

Lara Jones: The first thing people say to me is how incredibly inspirational the story is but more so that they now feel empowered and they understand grit in a better manner.

Most people get scared of the word grit because what does grit involve? Discipline. If I use the word discipline, I’m sure you’ve just got chills that have just gone through your body because it has a negative connotation to it. So in my book, I actually speak about this, and I say, look, instead of saying having a culture of discipline, [00:33:00] let’s call it a culture of excellence because that word has a more positive connotation to it.

It means the same thing to have excellence. You’ve got to have discipline, right? To have grit, you’ve got to have discipline. So grit is discipline. And so many people say I don’t know how to even begin with having discipline. I actually teach, I do this live with the audience, by the way, do this live with the audience.

I show you how you can instill discipline very easily with just five basic pillars. Five. I won’t give them away on here. You have to come to the talk to hear it. Okay. But I talk about five different pillars. And here’s the thing. Grit. Most people think that grit is a grind and it will lead to burnout, so they get scared of it.

They think I don’t want to get burnout, so I’m not going to apply grit in every situation. Wrong. Grit does not lead to burnout. Do you know what leads to burnout? Grit unchecked. So, we have to check our grit with the five pillars. So if you want to know what that is, you’re gonna have to come to Chicago and come and hear me speak.

Bob Pettke: You’ve got me on the edge of my seat. Let [00:34:00] me prove it. Do a little scoot. Lara, we’re so excited to have you at the conference. I’m a firm believer that people are going to benefit and maybe even get a little out of their comfort zone. I think you’re going to challenge some people. And I think people are going when I think of the word grit, I also think a little bit of the word friction, right?

That there’s, there is a little bit of a level of that, which creates, friction creates energy. So I’m real excited. And besides Clay, who was on earlier, we’ll make sure that we start that fan club here for you. But I think we’ve got a lot of folks, we’ve got a lot of folks that are going to be interested in the tree to hear your message.

And I think one of the things that seems really beneficial is it doesn’t have to end there for them. They’re gonna have a chance to follow you. They’re gonna have a chance to look at your, Get a copy of your book and be able to really participate, right?

Participate in life and participate on some of the new lessons that you’re going to be able to share. [00:35:00] And, one of the things that I find oftentimes, even in this conversation is, it’s, your concepts may be new, but they resonate to things that already happening in our life. And it’s almost like somebody’s walking through the forest with a flashlight, and it’s pitch black and here comes Laura Jones with her grit, and she shines the light on a couple of different things that can help you perpetuate to the next level.

So we’re so glad you’re here. Thank you for coming. Any parting words before we say goodbye?

Lara Jones: Actually, Bob, you just sent chills down my spine when you just said about walking in a forest with a flashlight. Do we have a couple of minutes? It’s something I actually really want to share. That’s right.

Bob Pettke: You got it. You bring it.

Lara Jones: Okay.

Okay. When you just said that, I was asked the other day who’s my favorite leader. My answer, it was my grandmother. It was my grandmother. Nobody knew who she was, like she wasn’t a famous lady, but she was one of the most inspirational women. And when you just said about the forest, she was actually [00:36:00] German.

And so, during the war, she was trying to escape. And I won’t go into the whole story now, but just as a portion of it where she had to live in a forest on nothing but berries and water from a stream. And she was there for a couple of weeks. She survived, she thrived, and she’s one of the most inspirational women I’ve ever met and had the privilege of knowing and being related to.

And she’s the one that inspired me that no matter what happens in your life, there is always a solution. Even when my son passed, I thought there is no way there’s a solution. And it didn’t come to me for four months. And then I realized, how do I keep his memory alive? How do I keep him alive? And now I get to use what he’s given me to impact so many other people.

I impact thousands of them. So, just last week, I was on the stage in front of a thousand [00:37:00] people sharing this message and educating them and empowering them with these tools and knowledge. That’s another thousand people that are out there. How many people are they going to impact with that knowledge?

It has a knock-on effect. It turns into millions. It turns into millions. So yeah, my parting words: if anyone has any questions for me, even before the keynote out in Chicago, before the event out in Chicago or would like to have a meet and greet, please reach out to me on LinkedIn.

You can follow me on LinkedIn. It’s Lara Jones, L A R A Jones, J O N E S. And you can find me by a grit global or be a legend. So just type that into LinkedIn, and also, the book Hunt Or Be Hunted is available on Amazon, and it’s available on Amazon worldwide. If you would like a signed copy, it’s available on my website, and you can learn a little bit more about me on there.

Just go to Lara Jones, L A R a J O N E S Lara Jones. com. And there’s there’s one thing I will actually be giving away at the event, but you’ve got to, you’ve got to come to the event. In order to receive that. Yes. If you’d [00:38:00] like the book on Amazon, signed copies, go to my website, Larajones. com. And also you can follow me on LinkedIn.

Bob Pettke: We’re glad to have you here, and I’ll be there front and center to see you when you’re here. And I’ll be interested to see what the ripple effect will be of the folks that are in attendance. And, I’m sure that there are ripples that are currently out there.

So, thank you for being here, and looking forward to seeing you here in just a little over a month.

Lara Jones: Absolutely. I’m looking forward to it, Bob. Thank you so much for bringing me on. And once again, thank you for sharing your wonderful audience with me today.

Bob Pettke: Lara, it’s our pleasure. Thank you. Wow. Wow.

She’s amazin,g and what a tremendous experience, what a tremendous message. And again, maybe something that resonates with each of us because there is a commonality in who we are and in the life cycles that we have, and to hear her message [00:39:00] is very inspirational and award-winning congratulate her on her latest award and her opportunity to get in Times Square.

So we are excited to have her. Just maybe 1 more reason: besides the lineup of speakers that we have, you’ve got Lara on and David Atkins, who we talked about on another podcast we’ve got the learning, the training, we’ve got the partnerships there, and it’s just a chance for you to rub shoulders and mingle with people that are like you trying to do the same thing that are fighting the same battles that you’re fighting on a regular basis.

So again, we’re excited to be a part of it here at Ultra-Staff EDGE, our parent company, Automated Business Designs. We’re proud to be a sponsor of this event, and we’re looking forward to it. And we’re hoping that when you come out, make sure you stop by and you see us at our table. And, if you want to learn more about who we are as an organization, that’s always welcome. Just, we offer a [00:40:00] very good software front office, back office solution. And again, very humbling to hear her. So I got a little bit of a different tone as we conclude this but still very enlightening, very inspirational.

And I’m interested to see what the ripple effects are going to be for everybody, not only from her presentation but from just attending this session. And with that said. Again, my name is Bob Pettke here at Ultra-Staff EDGE, and we are so glad that you are here. And just one more time to mention it: we’ve got the Midwest Staffing Conference April 24 and 25. It’s going to be at the Drury Lane Conference Center in Oak Brook, and you’ll be able to find some information in the comments below you can search on ISSA slash works, and I’ll leave it with that, guys.

Thanks for joining us on the Staffing Buzz Network. And don’t forget to like us and let your staffing buddies know who we are. And until next time, thanks for watching us on the Staffing Buzz [00:41:00] Network.