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Tired of your expertise staying hidden? "Writing & Influence," hosted by Elaine Acker, features interviews with accomplished writers and empowers business executives to confidently unleash their thought leadership through compelling content. Discover how to trust your instincts, silence your inner critic, and publish content that truly showcases your unique value. Each episode is packed with actionable insights to help you build your influence and grow your business using the power of words. Ready to turn your expertise into impact? Learn how to transform your knowledge into a powerful content strategy that leads to real results—all with the help from Elaine and her guests!
Ta-Da! Leadership: How Joy, Improv, and Celebration Fuel Better Teams with Joel Zeff
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[00:00:00] Welcome to Writing and Influence the podcast where words Meet impact. I'm your host, Elaine Acker, and I believe that publishing, whether it's a book, a blog, or even a simple social post, has the power to amplify your influence and change lives. Your words have power. Let's start writing with purpose.
Hey everybody. Welcome back to the show. Today's guest is someone who knows how to bring the fun and the fire when it comes to leadership, teamwork, and making the most of the moment. Now, I first saw him speak at a conference a few years back, and he had a ballroom full of educators laughing and clapping and learning.
All at the same time, and that's no easy feat. But Joel Z made it look effortless. Now he's a national [00:01:00] speaker, he's an author, which we will of course talk more about improvisational, humorist and workplace expert who's going to help leaders and teams really embrace change. Boost collaboration, bring more joy to the work.
And his book, make the Right Choice is a call to lead with passion, connect with purpose, and maybe even say TODA a little more often. So let's dive in. Joel, thanks for being here. That was quite an introduction. I don't even know if we do the podcast. I.
Except a a ta gimme a ta-da. That was a big ta-da introduction. Yeah, you should write that. I, if I, I might have to send that to some of the other podcast that I appear on. I go, can you just say what Elaine said because that was perfect. Well, we are talking about [00:02:00] words here and they are my favorite thing, so hopefully.
Yeah. Glad that worked out and I Today we're color coordinated. We are. We pointed that out when Yeah. We didn't plan this, that on. We did not plan this. I chose this shirt independently, so I feel good. I feel good. I feel we need a little salmon color. We do. I guess it's more of a salmon. Right. And your book cover kind of blends in.
Get your book. Yeah. Hold it up. It's more of an orange. Yeah. And light blue, but it's in the same color. Family. Yeah. Yeah. Bright, fun. Energizing. So tell me about Tadda moments because you've made this a thing. I did. I don't know it, it didn't start that way. It just became a thing. Uh, you know when your kids are younger?
Mine are old now. When I say older, they're older, 18 and 22, so they barely talked to me. Um, so face, yeah, it is when they were younger, you know. Everything's a [00:03:00] taha moment. You celebrate everything when your child is, uh, young, when they're learning to walk, when they're, uh, picking themselves up, when they use the fork for the first time.
You know, when they eat their whole, uh, all the strawberries, everything's a tadah. We celebrate everything. And when you celebrate and you go tadah, you did it. You know, they build confidence. They get a big smile. It's important. And as we get older. We still do great things. We just don't celebrate these moments like we did when we were children.
And you know, and I say in my keynote, remember, uh, when your child went to the bathroom by themselves for the first time, big ta-da. And probably months after that was a big ta-da. We had stickers. And if you did five in a row, uh, a Sesame Street character would call. Oh yeah. Would call like, yeah. And then, and then unfortunately my daughter, who's really smart, [00:04:00] uh, started asking for different Sesame Street characters to call.
After she went to the bathroom by herself five times. And, uh, my Sesame Street imitations were limited. Same with my wife. So we were like splitting them up and you know, she was asking for, you know, asking for can, can can Big bird call? Yeah. Yeah. Big bird can call. I can't do a big bird. Anybody can do cookie Monster.
The big bird count cookie. Those are easy, but when we start talking about big bird, Ernie, those are, those are getting hard. So, uh, I'm off topic. I think you can make a business out of that though. I'm just saying somehow as we Yeah, I think so. Somebody should, uh, as we get older, we, we don't celebrate, but that fuels our passion.
It fuels our innovation. It fuels, um, our ability to be great leaders and great teammates, and we don't celebrate. Enough, when was the last time we went to the bathroom by ourselves and walked out with ta-da and hoped that [00:05:00] the Cookie monster called
that kind of set Cookie Monster and Yoda are very close, by the way. Oh, hmm. Yeah. On impression, I could see that. Yeah. It, it goes back and forth, but, um, it's about, ta-da is about celebrating these moments, celebrating each and every day because it fuels us. It fuels our passion, it fuels. Everything that we do to be our best.
And it's important to celebrate because if we don't have that fuel, what takes his place is stressed. Mm. And as adults, we, we still crave those to die moments. Yeah, we do. We keep it secret. Hear it. We keep it secret. But everybody wants to celebrate. Everybody wants positive support. Everybody wants to be appreciated.
It's a gift. It's the best gift you can give anyone, and it just barely takes any time. So we can celebrate each other and we can celebrate individually. But describe how you're taking [00:06:00] that into the workplace, because you know, you can, you've seen how it can transform a team. Yeah. Or the whole organization's dynamic.
So can you describe a, or tell a story around one of those? Well, I think it's all about, so in my keynotes, we, uh, we stand, I get the whole group at the very beginning to stand up and everybody, you know, in count of three we do big tado, we yell tado, and, you know, that's out of some people's comfort zones.
It's out of a lot of people's comfort zones. And, but we do it once and, you know, most of the group does it. And then we talk about, you know, that we have to celebrate that we have to be, we have to stand and be recognized. And then everybody does it and you know, and they're supporting each other and they're creating this energy because some people are a little tentative, but they look around and everybody else is doing it.
And so they know they have the support. The entire team. And when we take that to our work, it's really about every [00:07:00] day creating that positive environment, saying Thank you and I appreciate you and you did a great job. And, and thank you for your support. Thank you for those words of encouragement. Thanks for helping me on that project, because it's a gift.
And that gift creates confidence and it creates a connection and it creates passion. You know, nobody, uh, when they, when they get hired, there's no document that says. You have to have passion for this job. It's required. You have to be passionate each and every day. I mean, that'd be great. I would love for everybody on the team to be passionate, but it's the leader's job to create the foundation for that passion to happen.
And what happens is you have to give opportunity, opportunity. Is different for everybody. Some people want a different role, more positive support. They want appreciation, they want to more training, they want a mentor. What is that opportunity? Everybody has to answer for themselves? That's a, you know, that's their own [00:08:00] truth, their own guiding light.
But as a leader, we create and give that opportunity and match it with positive support, celebrating these ta-da moments. And that's what ha what happens is people start to care. Because part of that opportunity is creating ownership and, uh, I use improv. You mentioned that in the introduction. And so I use improv to, um, to show these choices.
We play an improv game and I invite some audience volunteers to the stage. I, um, give them a few minutes of instruction, and I mo most importantly, give them opportunity to be creative, to work together as a team, to play this improv game, to take ownership, to be accountable. It's their game. I'm not gonna tell them what to do in the game.
I'm just gonna show them, okay, this is, this is the rules of the game. But you play the game your way, you take ownership and then the audience gives positive support. So what happens is those audience volunteers start to care. They [00:09:00] care about the game. They wanna be successful. They want it to, um, they wanna be great teammates.
They want it to be funny. And the next step after you care about something is that you have passion. Right. We don't have passion unless we care about something and we don't care about something unless we have ownership. And so that is the model, the guiding light, I think we have to create as leaders.
Mm-hmm. What inspired you after, after the time that you've put in, you've been on so many stages and entertained, you know, so many audiences, what, what threads were you seeing? What inspired you to finally put this into book form? Uh, true story is the publisher, which is Wiley huge, uh, business book publisher.
Uh, for my first book, they called me out of the blue and they said, Hey, I was researching, uh, some other authors or potential, uh, authors, and I came across your name and I noticed that you [00:10:00] didn't have a book. And I said, yeah, and, and she said, this is a true story. She said, why don't, why don't you have a book?
And I said, I was waiting for you to call me as a true story. I kinda love that. Yeah. And somehow they still wanted to work with me. Uh, so to all the potential authors out there. The best way to get your book published is if the publisher calls you. So now Sparks 360 needs to start calling more people.
Got it. Yeah. You just wait for them to call you. And that's the best way to get your book published. So this, this book, I'll tell you actually this a pretty, it's a great story is, um, I, uh. Was presenting. I did a keynote for cinema for their technology team. Right. The movie, movie theater, the awesome movie theater.
Um, and the leader wanted to purchase books for everybody. And this was a couple years ago. And right after the pandemic, some [00:11:00] of the books, um, my, they, they hadn't published or they hadn't printed copies. They, they had ran out, they had run out. So there was, it was hard to find. And, um. And I said, well, you know, my clients are having a hard time finding the copy of my first book.
And, um, so I don't know. And the person, uh, uh, she was one of those people that get things done and she goes, well, we'd still like to get copies of the book. And I go, okay, well I guess I can send an email to the publisher and see if, you know, they can do another printing. And uh, lemme, lemme do that. And then.
I let that just sit on my to-do list. I didn't call, I didn't email, I didn't do anything. And then Petruska, that was her name. Uh, she again, remember she gets things done. Uh, she call emails me. She goes, where are we? Where are we on those books? We need a, like 150 copies. I go, oh, I, I emailed, but I haven't heard back.
I hadn't [00:12:00] emailed. So I'm like, well, I guess I better. Email somebody. And so, um, I connected, you know, with the publisher with Wiley. Um, and they were phenomenal. They were like, absolutely we can get, how many copies do you need for this client? And then we'll print enough, you know, to get you through your events this summer.
You know, because it was coming outta the pandemic and things had changed. Yeah. You know, and all that was happening. And so, um, so they printed up copies. And, uh, for, for cinema, which was awesome. And this, so on that phone call, it's all about sometimes timing the right time, the right place, the right person.
And so my connection, my editor, uh, at Wiley, she said, Hey, we should do a, a, you should do a, uh, a revised edition, a second book. Uh, and I'm, and I said, yeah, that's a great idea. Again, it's really, if they call, [00:13:00] it doesn't work. If you just send it out there and want it, you gotta wait for them to call. And, um, so it's really a brand new book.
We, we, uh, it's five new chapters. We revise every other chapter. I, uh, new cover, new subhead. So I'm really considering a new book. Um, it's technically a second revised edition, but it's a new book because there's so much new and, um, and so that, that's, that's how the book this, this book happened is cinema.
And wanting copies and me not doing anything about it. The cinema client going, we need the, what do you do? You know, getting on me to get the, and so, and then of course it's in that story's in the acknowledgement. Yeah. Uh, so it's magic. So it's changing 'cause she was all over that She wanted it. Yeah. And so what is changing for these leaders as they're reading your book?
I mean, [00:14:00] when, what is their takeaway when they've read this? I want the book to be an extension of my keynote. I want it to be fun. I want it to be engaging. I am not a big, I'm gonna read a business book, and it's all very technical. Yeah. You know? And. You know, it's just, uh, it's a snooze fest. I don't think people want to read books like that.
I think people want to be engaged and they wanna be excited and they wanna be inspired, and they want to be, um, they don't necessarily have to be funny, but I think they, a good, a great business book should inspire and should motivate and should energize, you know, through. The stories and through the words.
Mm-hmm. It shouldn't be just, just laying flat. You need to do this and here's this acronym and here's this acronym. I think it needs to be, you know, and so my book, I want it to be fun. I want it to be engaging. I want people to smile and laugh, but learn about these great choices that improv taught me about how we create opportunity for each other and, and we're positive and [00:15:00] supportive, and how we stay in the game, and how important it's to be present in the moment.
How we find success during change and disruption. Uh, how we communicate, how we innovate, and so all these choices, each chapter. Sometimes, um, each, the subject has a couple chapters. We, we kind of dissect some of the choices and how they're made. I'm using the improv games and all the audience volunteers that played the improv games kind of as my foundation, what I've learned from them and what I learned from the games.
So the book should be fun and engaging, and I want leaders and teammates or or team members when they read the book to be inspired and be energized and be motivated. And then at the end of each chapter, I have a lot of ideas that they can, uh, use with their groups to create that fun. To talk about some of these messages, to interact, to connect, to engage.
What kind of feedback have you gotten? Have you gotten any stories coming back, you know, after [00:16:00] people have, have applied some of this? Yeah. You know, uh, it's funny, I had lunch with, uh, uh, uh, a client connection yesterday and she brought her book to, uh, have me sign it, and it was. Full of Post-it notes, you know how we put Post-it notes, you know, to Mark.
I mean, it was, uh, she took a photo of me signing her book and I was li and I, and I kind of, I zoomed in and it's just full of post-it notes and that was just, that was a ta-da moment, you know? Yeah. Obviously a lot of the messages connected with her. And so, uh, the feedback's been great. Everybody seems to be, um, enjoying it and you know, as you know, it's just.
When you're marketing a book, it's just one little victory at a time, you know? Yeah. Uh, I mean, I would love to go, you know, on the Today Show and talk about the book, but, and I think you should. Yeah, I'm, I'll let them. Yeah, if you could, Elaine, that would be great. [00:17:00] Uh, so, you know, when you publish a book, it's some of these big books, you know, somehow.
The gatekeeper gave somebody the key and opened the door and it just got huge. And sometimes they are, um, you know, they, they, it's deserved, right? Sometimes it's absolutely deserved. It is a great book. It should have, you know, gone huge mainstream. And then there's a lot that go mainstream that didn't deserve it, but somehow.
The door opened, the gatekeeper opened the door, and there was a key, and it's all magic. Mm-hmm. And it's kind of, you're just doing, you're just finding one little victory at a time. One podcast, one little article. A client, um, sends a, you know, an email out to their team or includes you, um, you know, in their newsletter.
You know, it's one small victory at a time and you just kind of, you know, um, you champion the book and you, you [00:18:00] fight for it and you just keep telling people about it. And hopefully, you know, one person at a time that people, somebody reviews it on Amazon and. Tell somebody else. And you know, it's just, yeah, it's just, you know, it, it's just one little, um, you know, you kind of can't see.
There's a big picture and you're trying to get there, but you can't be, you can't get frustrated that it's not going faster or you can't be impatient. You just. Yeah. Enjoy the process. Well, and there are two pieces to that because there's the whole creative process and production process Yeah. That brings this book to life.
And then there's, you know, kind of sending it out into the world to grow up and be what it will be, become and Right. Have an impact on others' lives and your life. But talk to me a little bit about your writing process, whether it's. For your keynotes? Yeah, or for the improv piece. And even for the [00:19:00] book.
Talk to me about your writing process. So I am a journalism. I have a journalism degree. I started as a newspaper reporter, so that means I was always trained to write on deadline. So if you don't have a deadline for me. And so what, so the most important, the, the best thing that the publisher and editor did was they just created fake deadlines.
Like, you know, nobody's sitting around going, this, you know, Wiley, there's no meeting at Wiley. We're like, we gotta get this, make the right choice book out for this quarter, you know, to get our numbers, whether it came out in November, December. Yeah. Who cares? Right? And so, uh. So, but they created deadlines, you know, and so then I would write and get that chapter done to make sure that I met the deadline, because that is just how I am wired.
Um, and, and I write at my best when, [00:20:00] um, like if you give a week to write something and it's due on Friday, I'm gonna start on Friday or Thursday, because that's just how. You don't lose that when you spend so much time writing, you know, on deadline. You just, it's just, it's just how you're wired. Um, and, but I will say once you're in the, for me, once I'm in the process for writing the book, both this book and the first book, is that it has to be a habit.
Yeah. It has to be like brushing your teeth. Like if you don't brush your teeth at night. You feel weird? I hope. I hope most of the people are listening. Like, I don't brush my teeth at night. Whatcha talking about? I hope you feel, you know, you're like, oh, I gotta brush, you know, you, there's no, I'm thinking about it.
I might do it. I might not do it. You're going to brush your teeth. And so you have to create that habit in writing where if you don't write, you feel, you feel [00:21:00] you miss something. You feel, yeah. Something, something. Should have happened that didn't happen. And so when you get in that habit and that you have to write and you figure out what time in the day are you, ri you, are you at your best?
Mm-hmm. Like, I'm not gonna be the best writer at this time or that for me morning. And then sometimes like, uh, not late afternoon, but like early evening is a good time for me sometimes. Sometimes I'll get going and I'll really. Um, you know, just really get going and, and then they're like, is, you know, it's time for dinner.
And you're like, ah, no, no, not that, you know, but the morning, morning hours dinner, yeah, around early evening is a good time. Sometimes later. It just depends on, not every time, but sometimes like, um, late at like nine, 10 o'clock, sometimes I can get inspired and start going and, um, so you gotta find. [00:22:00] Don't, you can't force if you don't feel like writing, you can't force writing.
If you feel like it, you know, if you have the luxury to choose what time you write and you can't just sit down and nothing's coming, then you're, you need to get back up and. Walk around and get motivated. There's no one size fits all to that writing process. And some people are morning people, some people are night owls.
Yeah. And you have to find what truly works for you and, and then make that habit that you are describing. So there's, it's really an individual thing. And, and that's been one of the things that I've talked through with people time and time again. And, and just to go. Yeah, it's, there's no ideal. I wish there was no, there isn't that.
There isn't. This not. Yeah. And the other thing that I think is important for auth, for either new [00:23:00] authors, for any writer is that learning when it's time to let go, because you can edit forever. Yeah. And I was getting in for, for this book, I was getting into that. That I would just not, I couldn't let a chapter go.
I would just constantly write and rewrite and edit and add a story and do this. And then, I mean, that you could be, I could still be working on it. So what'd you do to get yourself to let go? You just have to. You just have to, it's never going to be that absolute perfect, you know? And um, and again, it goes back to.
You know, my journalism background and some of my professors who, you know, believe that, you know, I was taught there's one copy edit mistake is one too many. We don't, there's no, yeah, there's no errors in our copy. That's how I was taught. Yeah, you don't, there's, there's not a [00:24:00] misspelling, there's not a comma out of place.
There's not a, um, you know, uh. Sentence that ha doesn't have a subject verb agreement. And so that's how I was taught. And it was, uh, and I was taught by old school tough journalists. Yeah. And, um, and so one, sometimes, you know, that edit going through and making sure that each chapter met those guidelines and met those, you know, met.
Those expectations that I, that I set for myself. But as far as the content, you know, at some point you just have to let go and go. It's good. It's you, you have to let it go. And I think that's, I can't tell you when that moment is, but you have to realize when you're reading it over and over and you're just cha, you know, you're changing one the to, to an and or, you know, you're like, all right dude, just done let it go.
It's fine. It's [00:25:00] time. It's time. One thing I've learned to tell people is that every day you delay getting that book out where people can read it is a day that somebody doesn't have access. Yeah. To the knowledge and wisdom and advice that could have a serious impact on their life, on their business, on their team.
And uh, so that's. That's one thing, one bit of coaching that we do to try to get past that. Yeah. It, it's, it's a hard process, you know, because it is your, when you write and you have to take some of, I mean, you want to have it. It is your baby, but you also have to give that baby up at some point. You gotta let that baby go to college.
If you've done your job, they get on their own.
Let that baby fly. So I'm mixing my metaphor, but, um, yeah, and, and [00:26:00] that's a, it's a hard process to do that. Um, but you have to, you know, be confident. And then I think it's also, you know, in the editing process when, you know, there was, uh, uh, uh, the first editor, you know, which was really about content and, and, um, making sure that if I wrote something that they understood what I was writing.
Right? And, and she was really great in, um, you know, giving some advice and giving some ideas. So I think it's really important to listen to that. Third party, you know, that person that is, you know, doesn't have a, you know, is not the author and, and can look at it through a different set of eyes. And so to take that advice because they're the reader.
Yeah. View them as the reader. And then, you know, when the editor says, oh, you should expand this part, or this part didn't make sense, or you kind of duplicate, or you kind of repeated yourself [00:27:00] and you take that into consideration on that edit. Um. But it's also important to have a good editor that does not, that understands your voice.
Yeah. You know, an editor shouldn't change voice, right. It's about making sure that that voice is clear and concise and, and, and organized. That's important too. Um, and so be who you are. Don't be funny if you're not funny. Don't be emotional if you're not emotional. Um, be who you are as a writer and an author, and then connect in that with, with the word, um, and also when you edit.
I think it's also important for me, I had, uh, one of my first jobs was at a newspaper in Michigan and the editors were very big on active variety, meaning verb, [00:28:00] active. Yeah, and there was a rule that in your copy you could not use be being Ben, you could not use. Those words were off limits and it was hard, really hard.
It can't be hard. It's very hard try riding without be being Ben. And, but it forces you to be active in your writing. And then the verb usage and the subject, it becomes. Um, it, it, the active writing and active, and I hope everybody understands what I'm talking about there. Right, right. You know. Well, and I will do a review Yeah.
If anybody needs it, but yeah. Ba ba basically, you know, Bob danced around the room instead of, uh, you know, Bob was dancing. Was dancing. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and so it, it. That also, because when you write, a lot of that will not show up in that first edit, and so you have to have an edit where you just go where [00:29:00] that's, for me, that's my process that I just go through and make everything more active, you know?
Mm-hmm. That one of my edits for me when I write a chapter is just doing that. Yeah. I love it. And, and I wanna point out that. What you're saying is there are multiple edits. There are multiple revisions. Yeah. And that's what it takes to get to a point where there is something that's truly engaging for the reader, for the audience, which was the reason you wrote the book in the first place.
It's about the audience and the reader. Yeah. Like my process, I'm, I'm writing it, I'm putting things down. And then the editing process is just, you know, moving things around. I just want to get everything, get as much of what I want in that chapter down, and then now I'm moving in things around and there's gonna be, uh, an edit that's just about active.
There's gonna be an edit that, uh, I might just, Hey, can I add a little more energy? [00:30:00] Can I add a little more fun? There might be an edit of, did I put enough ideas in this chapter? Right do. Yeah. Is there a takeaways? What are my, you know, um, there might be an edit that I'm just focused on the organization of the writing, you know, taking maybe some of the paragraphs and bullet pointing them or numbering them so they stand out and it's easier for the reader.
I might have an edit just about that. And then once I get through that process and I feel like that chapter's at the right place, then I'm gonna have an edit, a copy edit. I'm copy editing the whole time, but I'm gonna have a specific copy edit. Thank you for that, because I think people like to have that sneak peek behind the scenes Yeah.
To see what it takes. Yeah. I mean it's, you know, uh, I was just talking to some, and I was talking to someone the other day, and I think sometimes people look at writing a book as this huge, you know, oh my gosh, this huge project, and I, how am I gonna climb that mountain? And I think you just need to take it one step at a time [00:31:00] and make it, you know, first, the first thing you need to do is think about your idea.
And then think about an outline. What would the outline of the chapters be in your book? Mm-hmm. Okay. And then take each chapter as an essay. As one. Just work on one. I'm not writing the whole book. I'm writing one chapter, and then I'm gonna move on to the next chapter and each chapter, you know, and, and so if you think of it as this huge process, it is overwhelming.
It can be very daunting, but if you look at it and take it as little bits and little pieces, it's not, not, not that overwhelming, and you just gotta take one step today and tomorrow. Take a couple more steps and the next day, and then look at what you've accomplished in that past week, and then take that out to a month.
Look what you've done in the past month and now two months. It's just one step, one day. You don't have to do everything today. You're not gonna write this, doesn't this, this didn't happen [00:32:00] in one day. It was a lifetime. Yeah. Of events, of knowledge, stories. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You know, I've, I've found the same thing that if people will get to that outline point.
They'll feel like they have a bit of a roadmap Yes. And can kind of go from there. And, and I have done, um, workshop sessions and it's in our course where we do a little bit of an index card thing and people are always so surprised at what's already in their head and how much they can put into, you know, on index cards that can be organized into chapters in probably 30 minutes.
Yeah. And then you tweak it, you add to it, you come back and you, you round it out. But you can get a lot of stuff outta your head really quickly. Yeah. I love And it starts to take shape. Yeah. You're organizing kind of your thoughts. Yeah. And when you do that, all of a sudden you're realizing, oh wow, there is a book [00:33:00] here.
Here's 15 chapters. But just, you know. I think it can be very overwhelming to people. Yeah. Especially if, if someone isn't trained as a writer, um, I think that is also daunting. And I think, um, sometimes people lack the confidence in their writing ability and good writing is just rewriting and rewriting.
The first thing I write is not, I'm like, oh, what is that? You know, sometimes I look, ugh, you know, where did that come from? I don't even like anything. I don't like any of that. And, um, you know, it's writing and rewriting and, and, and rewriting till you get to something that you're, that you feel good about, that you're proud of.
Yeah. Yeah. And you're happy. And even then though, you go back and sometimes I, I'll read a sentence like, what was that? Oh, you know, so you, I'm, I'm [00:34:00] very critical of my, um, I can be very critical and very hard on myself as far as my writing and, um, but again, that was part of, um, being trained as a journalist.
I was very hard on myself, you know, and I had, um, uh, but then you have to let it go. That's the great thing about writing on deadline is, is that it. The deadline gotta go. Paper's gonna be printed, so you better with or with that? Better send it out there. Better get it out and, and, um, uh, and then you realize it's amazing what you can create when you have that focus or any encouragement for people who are considering a book start.
That's the hardest. The hardest is just to start to do it. Yeah. And, and take that first step and you'll be real proud of yourself. And just write that first line and write that first paragraph. And that paragraph will turn into three and then it'll turn to 10. And next thing you know, you almost got a [00:35:00] chapter and, um, you, everybody has a story.
I believe that was another thing that, uh, I really believed in when I was a newspaper reporters, that everybody has a story. Yeah. And everybody has something to share that will guide or help others, um, and that people are interested in. And it's sometimes just finding that story and then crafting it for, for the reader.
And so now you are the storyteller and. It should be a fun process. It should be a, it should not be a hard process. It should be fun. Yeah. I mean, it's a lot of work, but you should have fun doing it and, um, be energized by it and be excited by it. And think about, you know, when you finally have that book done.
It's just, you know, a really, you know, unboxing [00:36:00] the book, you know, unboxing, you know, and, and seeing the book for the first time is, is pretty exciting. And when someone, uh, you know, when you sign that book or you give that book to somebody or somebody buys the book, or somebody, um, writes, review or sends you an email, then you know, you, you know, why, why you did it.
And it's, it's, um, uh, one step. And that step leads to another step, which leads to another step and have fun. The process should be fun and I guarantee it will open doors. You didn't even know were there. It does, it does. You know, it's funny. Well, you wrote a book, you must be the expert. Once you publish something, you're like, well, he wrote a book.
And, you know, I think it's, um, it's a, it's a great platform. It's a great, uh, for, for me as a speaker, it's a great, um, way to build credibility. [00:37:00] Mm-hmm. And it's a great way, it's a, it's just a great, here's this is, this is me and I'm gonna give this to you. Yeah. And, um, so it's, it's a, it's a great connection.
Well, thank you so much for being here with us today. Um, oh, it's my pleasure. I love it. It's a good reminder just of. Have some fun in the leadership process. You know, don't be afraid of change. Um, you know, work with your teams, show up fully. Yeah. And most especially, don't forget to celebrate those little wins and the, and the tda moments that happen every day.
Yeah. And I tell you what, this book is here because of all my teachers and professors. That taught me the power of word and writing and telling a story. You know, people like, uh, Rick Musser and Tom Lin and, um, Paul Jess and, uh, Suzanne Shaw, and even going back to high school and Rita Vaughn [00:38:00] and, and, um, you know, you think about your teachers and how much influence they have.
Um, for, you know, you as a writer and it's, um, I was very lucky to have a lot of great teachers and professors that taught me a lot of different aspects of writing, and that's, that's kind of the ultimate influence is, is the impact that they've had on you and how that gets passed forward. Yeah. I mean, to more and more people, right, right.
I'm still talking about, you know, my reporting professors from. 35, more than 35 years ago. And, uh, shh. But, um, it's, um, that it's, it's important. Well, we're gonna make sure everybody knows how to find you. Yeah. And find your book. I would love that. Um, is there any place in particular you want people to follow you?
Uh, LinkedIn is my preferred social media. [00:39:00] Connect with me on LinkedIn, and then of course my website's just my name, joel z.com. Uh, but yeah, LinkedIn is the preferred social media, and, uh, a lot of my videos are on, you know, I have a YouTube channel and lots of speaking videos on the, on the, on the YouTube channel.
We'll find all kinds of, yeah. Oh, there's, there's plenty. Share those. There's plenty. Thanks again. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you, Elaine. I appreciate it. I had a lot of fun.