Episode 18 - Lori Highby - Creating Culture -Some People Make it Look Easy

Owning and running a business is not for the faint of heart, businesses open and close all the time. Even if you manage to succeed you then have to manage the business, and the team, and then as you grow you have to create an environment that people want to work in. Lori Highby is a fantastic example of a successful entrepreneur, who puts a great emphasis on culture, growth, and education. This is and must hear episode.  

Leighann Lovely  00:19

If you are an HR professional business owner or at the operations level trying to understand what people want. You may be struggling our systems have been shocked practices have been questioned and culture is the leading conversation. Let's learn how culture is created, sustained, and why it should be the leading conversation when discussing hiring, training and retention. This is the foundation of any business and it's time to address it. So tune in to Let's Talk HR Humanizing the Conversation. We tackle topics that influencers of change need to understand and struggle to overcome every day, such as where to start, and what the new workforce wants and how to attract and keep positive momentum going. I'm your host Leighann Lovely.

 

Leighann Lovely  01:06

Lori highby is a podcast host speaker, educator and founder of Keystone Click a strategic digital marketing agency. Using her vast multi industry knowledge gained from experience and education. She has the ability to see the potential of greatness within the already established good of a business. Through strategic actionable moves. She has worked with Fortune 500 Companies such as ABB and Syngenta, to micro business owners to achieve their marketing goals. Laurie carries her energy and drive into her professional engagement in order to empower and educate other fellow lifelong learners. Lori, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm really excited to talk with you.

 

Lori Highby  01:55

I'm excited to be here, Leighann. Thank you for inviting me to be on the show.

 

Leighann Lovely  02:00

So why don't we dive right in? Why don't you tell my audience Tell me a little bit about yourself?

 

Lori Highby  02:07

Oh, where do I get started? There's it's been a fun journey so far. You know, besides what you shared in the intro, you know, owner of Keystone click a strategic digital marketing agency. My background is in marketing, I worked at two agencies prior to starting my my company in 2008. I also am a huge advocate and Ambassador of all things related to education. So I'm a lifelong learner. I taught at the local university for a while and I continue to teach not at the university level but professionals nationally on topics related to marketing, which is something I'm extremely passionate about.

 

Leighann Lovely  02:50

Yes, you have to be if you're if you own your own business, right.

 

Lori Highby  02:53

Indeed and I do, go on

 

Leighann Lovely  02:57

I was gonna say or one would hope.

 

Lori Highby  02:59

Sure. Absolutely. Especially in the in the space we're in. I mean, digital marketing is changing so fast that we have to continue to educate ourselves to stay on top of it and really be in the know of, you know, the direction that it's going. On the personal side. I'm super active and you know, can't sit still the word boredom is not something I've experienced in a long time. Maybe since I was a kid. Travel, play a lot of sports, watch sports, adventures and experiences. That's what I'm all about.

 

Leighann Lovely  03:37

Excellent. And, you play hockey, right?

 

Lori Highby  03:40

Yep, I play hockey. I been getting into cycling. I'm working on right now I'm training to do a 100 mile bike ride and look at your face. And I golf, or pretend to golf, I don't know, whatever you want to call. And, you know, willing to try new things to Uber die.

 

Leighann Lovely  04:04

Okay, I want to go back to the the 100 mile the only way I'm going 100 Miles is in a car or a train or a plane. So what how did you decide to do that?

 

Lori Highby  04:17

Well, I probably I've been cycling for like, really focused on it maybe like three years now. And I there's just a big milestone in the cycling world of doing a century ride, which is, you know, centuries. 100. So, last year, I did a 70 mile ride and this year I committed to doing the century, right. And I've found that if I have a target that I'm working towards, and it keeps me motivated to get up and train which you know, I was up at 5:30am this morning to put 10 miles in so yeah.

 

Leighann Lovely  04:55

And I envy the people who have the discipline to be able to do that because I absolutely know myself well enough to know that I do not. And I have a girlfriend who, who ran a marathon and she, she trained and trained and trained. And I remember her saying, you know, halfway through that I was like, What the hell am I doing? But when? Right when she and then she finished, and she's like, and it was the greatest feeling in the world that I was able to finish that I did it. She's like, but there were moments during it that I was going, why am I even doing this? Well, you know, and as you're right, as your body is just screaming at you going, wow, you know, Stop, just stop. But yeah, there is there's that that complete sense of accomplishment? I'm sure. At the end of that.

 

Lori Highby  05:41

Well, yeah, I mean, I made a commitment to myself to try to. So my word for 2022. I don't know if everyone does this or not, I always pick a word was health and I really wanted to be mentally healthy, physically healthy and financially healthy. So I started with the mental really focusing on the physical, and the financials in a positive spot. So I feel like I'm knocking it out of the park with my word this year. But it is a commitment that I made to myself, and I knew that, if I'm going to do a century, if I'm going to do it, I need something to target. So you know, I signed up to do it, and, you know, the, the third quarter of the year, so that it gave me time to really focus on the training throughout the summer. And it's the main reason why I get up at 530 in the mornings, right? Because I know I have to put the edit the time in so that I'm ready to go on, on game day.

 

Leighann Lovely  06:39

Right? Yeah. Well, and picking a word that is that's a real, that's an excellent thing to do. Not just for personally, but as you mentioned, there's there's three things in there. One, you have to be mentally healthy in order to really do anything. I mean, and I think a lot of people out there forget, like, Oh, I'm just gonna keep pushing through and pushing through and pushing. No, you can't push through your mental health, if anything, if you're not mentally capable of doing that. So, you know, kudos to you to, you know, one picking that word and then holding yourself accountable each step of the way. Because it's, it's, it's tough, it's hard thing to do. But that's, that's awesome. I mean, yeah, thank you. So you own a successful thriving business, you said, you know, financially, you're in a good spot. So tell me a little bit about how you started this. And you know, how you built your team? And tell me about how that's going.

 

Lori Highby  07:36

Yeah, well, when I started it, oh, there's so many different things that I can share related to that. But we don't have that much time on the show today. So up from a marketing standpoint, I literally sent a message out to every single person that was in any sort of contact address book email list, literally, like I direct mail, snail mail, quick tangent. I told someone about snail mail on my team the other day, and they're like, what is that? And it's about died. Anyways, like, I actually put physical letters in the mail, and emailed everyone whose contact I ever had saying, Hey, this is what I'm doing. If you're interested, or you know, someone who's interested. Here's my contact info. And that's how I got my first three clients.

 

Leighann Lovely  08:24

Wow. So okay, and you did this in 2008? You said? Yep. So this was during a time when obviously, the world is recession, you know, in a word, right. In a complete state of crap. I mean, this is. So I'm thinking of what I'm doing at this time right now. 2008, I am struggling to make ends meet because I've been laid off multiple times. And now I'm taking on contract positions. So did were you in that? Were you in that boat? Were you laid off, were you, I mean what?

 

Lori Highby  08:58

No, actually, I was at an agency that was doing really well. The short story is I was unhappy there and decided I was trying to find a new job. But because of the state of the world at that time, there wasn't really much that interest me if I was going to make the change of my terms. I wanted to find something that was best suited for me. And that's when I decided that I could, I could go out on my own. And so I took the big leap. And, you know, I would say a ton of ignorance, maybe a little cockiness. But I've learned a lot over the years and helping to share some of that too, you know,

 

Leighann Lovely  09:47

But sometimes that ignorance takes away the fear that we should have. I mean, now the things that I know actually puts up some of the the blockers from me saying, Oh, I'm gonna go start my own business because I know too much about all of the things that could allow me to fail? And I'm like, I can't do it. I can't do it. You know, I know too much about how many people actually fail. Now, if I was back in my 20s, I'd go, oh, yeah, I can do this. I've got this. I mean, there's no way I'm gonna fail, you know, if so, the younger you are, you also have a lot less to lose when you're, you know? Sure, a little bit younger. So, ideally, you know, and maybe that's maybe that naiveness maybe that, you know, kind of, again, like I said, you also have a lot less to lose, you know, I, now I would have a house to lose versus an apartment.

 

Lori Highby  10:42

Yeah, would you? Sure. Yeah. I mean, there's, I mean, I think no matter what, there's always risks. There's always challenges. There's always stress. I mean, regardless of how much you know, or don't know, and there's factors in this world such as COVID, that you can't control, you know, so when you decide to start it, it's, I would say, the sooner the better, because the sooner that you start to learn those experiences and how to make, how to make it it, what am I trying to say, learn from learn from your mistakes. I mean, at the end of the day, I think I am actually in a better position from an intelligence wisdom experience standpoint than if I were to just continue to have worked for other people over the last 15 years. Because of all of the challenges that I've faced running a business,

 

Leighann Lovely  11:39

Right. And 15 years ago, who could have possibly imagined that we were going to go into a world? pandemic?

 

Lori Highby  11:48

Yeah, nobody, right. Maybe some smart people somewhere, knew what was happening, potentially.

 

Leighann Lovely  11:53

But somebody's sitting in a, you know, a round in a circle going, huh? I have a psychic ability. And guess what? So tell me, you know, now you've started your own business, you have your first three clients. How did you, you know, where do you go from there? How do you start to do the work create a team?

 

Lori Highby  12:17

Yeah, so I actually started out with some contractors initially, and then one of the gentlemen that was contracting with me, he basically said, you know, it would be great to just work full time with you. And I agreed, so I actually got some financing in order to support. My first two hires. Were, which was one was an account manager. And then another was a lead developer. So my first two full time hires were with me, one of them was with me for about three years. The other one was with me for about 10 years, actually. Which is insane and awesome at the same time. But that's that's basically how I got started. And then over time, we've, as we grew, and there was more demands, continued to add new people to the team. One of the ways that I did that actually was I built an internship program. So a lot of my team members started out as interns, which is, again, this goes back to my my passion for education, and teaching. So I was able to share and educate with eager students how how the business world actually works, and also simultaneously kind of test them out before they officially were offered a full time position. So I'd say a good percentage of people that have been interns at Keystone click actually converted to full time employees and stuck around for another two years or so before they took the leap to their next big professional advancement.

 

Leighann Lovely  14:05

That's awesome. Wow, I'm so stinking you you clearly have a culture that and you don't see that a lot anymore. But and because of the fact that some of the larger organizations the culture is not one that drives people in and keeps people for the long haul. 10 years, you're basically your first employee, one of your first employees was with you for 10 years. And I mean, that's that says something about you as a as a manager as a boss, and then to have you know, people that you're willing to spend time to train who ultimately want to stay and have a what an average length of time at their first position in In a very competitive industry, for what two years, you said? Yep. Yeah, that's, that's amazing. Because your industry is definitely one that is, is very competitive there with the constant, like you mentioned the constant changing the the variety of areas and disciplines that individuals can go in. That's, that's really awesome. So thank you, how do you? How do you nurture that culture? And how have you kind of worked with the individuals? And before I actually say, what is the total number of employees that you have now?

 

Lori Highby  15:43

Nine full time employees and probably about a dozen contractors that we work with on a fairly consistent basis

 

Leighann Lovely  15:50

Wow. Okay. So you definitely have had it? And I guess I don't know, compared to an agency marketing company, your ear, your a decent size, then?

 

Lori Highby  16:02

I mean, yeah. It's so hard to say that it's, you know, agencies are small and large agencies can be one person with a couple of part time people and some freelancers or hundreds of people. So yeah, I mean, I'd say, I think the average agency size is like around five or six employees, actually, yeah.

 

Leighann Lovely  16:25

Yep. And that's what well, with the ones that I come across on a regular basis, that's usually over here. So yeah, you are definitely a decent, decent size. And I will say, every time I see you, I know that you are running around and crazy busy. So you're doing something right. So so how do you, you know, how do you continue to? And I've, I'm asking this question, kind of knowing the answer, because you have you have told me a little bit about some of the practices that you have. But how do you continue to be available and let your employees know that you're there to continue to not just only lead them, but also continue to maintain and manage that culture that exists?

 

Lori Highby  17:14

Sure. Yeah, that's great question, and I'm happy about our culture, it's definitely taken time. And I want to just emphasize that it didn't happen overnight. I'll share a quick story, then I'll explain kind of the evolution of how we got to where we are today. But in in 2017, my father unexpectedly passed away. And I was not in a really good positive state. And then I want to say about 10 months after that happened, I had three employees all quit on the same day. And I realized very quickly, that I was I was the number one reason why that happened. And it was because of how I was representing bringing myself my energy, you know, to the organization. So that was a huge reality check for me. But one thing I've always done over whenever anyone departs is an exit interview. And I really started to pay attention to what people were saying during those exit interviews and learning from from that while also doing some self education, to be a better leader. And to really create a culture of a positive, positive energy where people are excited to get to work and excited to hang out with their co workers and do do the work that they're doing. So some of the things that I've incorporated over the years. I have my annual word, every quarter, I have everyone on my team pick a word that they're trying to focus on themselves. And we talk about it every Monday in our Monday meetings. How did you live up to your word last week? Right now, my quarterly word is intelligence, because I'm personally doing research on artificial intelligence and how it's incorporated into the world of marketing. And so I want to make sure that I'm continuing to honor that word and show my team that I'm doing that and everyone's got their own word. Another thing that's really so we do quarterly meetings, and this is where I share the state of the business, I share where we are today I share where we're going, how we're getting there, the wins the losses that we've had. So it's a very open, transparent conversation. And I let them ask any question that they want to ask. within the group. I also have bi weekly one on ones with each team member, where the it's they're facilitating the meeting. And then everyone that I would say is considered a A junior team member, I do monthly mentor chat. So this is really where I'm learning about, what are their long term professional and personal goals? And how can I help them achieve those goals? And I open up those mentor chats every single time with the same question of besides like, is there anything that you want to talk about? What I say? Is there anything that I did in the last month that you have questions on, so that they can feel comfortable just talking to me when I want about, you know, is it why it took a meeting with a certain person or why I, I handled the situation a certain way, because I want to make sure that I'm elevating their experience. So that in the future down the road, they're going to be the best professional that they can be. My goal, and I'm very transparent with all of my team members is I know, you're not going to stay with me forever. But I want you to be the best that you absolutely can be while you're with me, but also in the future, and I want you to reflect back, may not realize it right away, but know that you are where you are, in that point of time. And I maybe had a step towards helping you get there somehow someway. So in addition, every quarter, they have a word, and they have a rock, which is like a strategic initiative that they're working towards elevating the business, but they also have a personal educational goal that they have to achieve on a quarterly basis as well. And that's where they're, that's part of their own, you know, professional personal growth. You know, sometimes people are reading a book, sometimes they're learning a new skill, or a software or program or a process. But I think a combination of all of those factors, and just being really transparent, and open to being available as often as I can has helps to create that, that culture, where the team knows, they can come to me with anything a question and idea, a challenge. And I'm gonna listen and do my best to support however I can.

 

Leighann Lovely  22:16

So something that that really resonated with me that you started off, you know, obviously telling a story of something that you really learned from you, we we all have moments in our lives where we reflect on and we go, wow, I may have, you know, failed at this moment. But you are somebody whom, you know, I aspire to be more like many should, you know, aspire to be more like you were you can reflect on a situation and go, I made a mistake here, how can I fix it, and you actively sought out a way to not repeat the same mistake, which is something that I continuously do, and try to make sure that I don't, you know, repeat the same mistakes that we continue to make. And you've you've adjusted something that I also the question, and I love that I love that you ask your your employees to basically kind of interview you. So that they they can spread their wings. Because yes, you're right. I get it all the time in my business of a while I want the the next hire that I bring in, I want it to be somebody young and hungry, that's going to come in and be with me until they retire. Well, that's great. We all want that. But it's unrealistic. Into this isn't, you know, this isn't the day of the baby boomers where they took one job. And they stayed up until they retired. It's just not we, we have a society where there are companies that offer certain certain things. And I've had, I've had employees that that left, because there was, you know, better health insurance at a different company. And there's just so many options that are available now. And the idea that you as an employer want to be able to set that employee up not only to be successful at your agency, but to possibly be successful at their next career is amazing, because most companies don't think that way. They think what can you do for me today? And how are you going to make me better? And it's all about me, me, me, me. You're giving you're you're giving yourself to them in in a sense of No, I want to help mentor you not just be your leader, I want to mentor you for the future. And that's awesome. It's not something that people do on a regular basis because you're not just coming in as a as a manager or as an owner of this as mine helped me here you're you're coming in as a as a true leader and mentor of people.

 

Lori Highby  24:46

Yeah, thank you. I've, I've got relationships with a number of paths, team members. And I've mentored a number of them over the years to you know, someone will reach out and say, Hey, I'm considering this out. Opportunity, can I talk to you about it, and I'm always open. And I've told them that, you know, as they as they move on to their next stage, you know, don't be afraid to reach out if you if you want to have a conversation or your, you know, need to just talk through something. Yeah, there's a handful of people that still reach out, or they've moved on to out of state and when they're in Milwaukee, they, they reach out to Hey, Laurie, let's grab lunch, you know, I'd love to catch up. So I just love that I love that they've, they've, I've built the type of relationship with them, various team members that goes beyond just, you know, boss employee, and it's, you know, that it's a trusted adviser. It's mentor, it's friend, you know, and I think that's really important to do.

 

Leighann Lovely  25:44

And here's a question that I love to ask some of my some of my team, I'll ask them, you know, is there anything that you need from me today? And then, is there anything that I did today that I shouldn't be doing? Is there anything today that I should have done? Or that I forgot to do for you? And I, I love to ask that question. Now. I am not there. I'm not an owner. I am not technically their their direct boss, I am, you know, in a kind of a limbo stage, I guess, as it will more of a supervisory role where, you know, I, I'm I providing a lot of the, you know, the stuff they need to do to their job kind of thing. But on the other hand, you know, there are so many times where you never know if you say it sometimes the wrong thing, it rubbed somebody the wrong. Hey, I'd much rather have them come back and say, Yeah, you know, you kind of said this, and it pissed me off, versus have them walk away and just be resentful for like, the next five days and have them eventually be like, oh, man, she's such a bitch. I just don't want that hanging out there. Yeah. So it's like, Hey, Did I do anything that that I shouldn't have done? Like, if I did just tell me because we'll work through it.

 

Lori Highby  27:02

Great question. Oh, that is a good question. And I've learned because most people when they first meet me, they're very intimidated by me. And I don't know why that is. I'm trying to figure that one out. Probably my super A plus personality of some sort, like type A, gotta go constantly. But I've told New team members, part of the onboarding, I say, This is my communication style. If you have a different expectation, or preference, you need to tell me otherwise, I'm going to be strong and direct and right there, and I'm not going to beat around the bush. So you got to tell me if you have other ways you want me to communicate with you.

 

Leighann Lovely  27:46

As I used to get this all the time. There are, I guess, I don't know that there's a name for this. I am a not a soft Walker. I am a I'm heavy footed. There we go. I'm heavy footed. And people used to say like LeighAnn I always know when you're walking down, like the row and they're like, it's, it's, there is no other person in this office. That sounds like you when you walk. And I'm like, I don't I don't get what that means. What do you mean? They're like, you sound like elephants coming? I'm like, Okay, it's somebody finally goes, it's just a determined walk. I'm like, Okay, let's go with that versus elephants. Because I'm very much like, if I've got something to do, I'm boom, boom, like, Let's go like I'm Yeah. But you know, obviously being destroyed. I'm definitely in a personality like, and I never really realized that. Yeah, I and I can't stop it. Like there's times at night, my husband sleeping, my daughter's sleeping, and I'm trying to walk and I'm like, How do I walk quietly? it those are just, you know, the intimidation. You know, there are people other people that have said, Yeah, everybody seems to be intimidated. But Brad herder. I'm gonna give a shout out to he says, everybody that meets me says that I'm intimidating, you know, when they meet me and I'm like, I can see that he's he has a presence about him. You have a presence about you. I think that people who have those a type personalities, those people who are determined those people who have there is a presence that exist man or woman, it doesn't matter. It just you have that authoritative, like, I'm gonna get it done. You got something to do. I'm gonna I'm gonna go and get it done kind of thing. Yet there are people that you would think would be more intimidating and I could throw out a number of names. They're not going to do that. Yet. They're not because I could I can actually list out some personality things that they do. There's one very tall individual, I think you probably know who I'm talking about. I don't know if you do or not. But

 

Lori Highby  30:10

In my head, I know, you talked about where you haven't even described him yet or her.

 

Leighann Lovely  30:16

When you talk to him, he actually bends over and crouches and gets a little closer to you, and talks a little softer, and he becomes immediately very comforting and kind. And he's no longer intimidating at all. But if you see him from across the room, he he is a very intimidating person. But the moment you start talking to him, he's just, he's a big gigantic teddy bear. And that's his charm is that he can draw people in and I'm sure that he could sell water to that's probably a bit ice to an

 

Lori Highby  30:52

Eskimo

 

Leighann Lovely  30:53

Eskimo, there we go. Because as soon as you start talking to him, he just, he kind of just pulls you in, and he gets to level despite the fact that he's ridiculously tall. And it's, it's very interesting on on, Okay, anyways, we went off on a tangent, I love tangents.

 

Lori Highby  31:12

That's okay. Me too.

 

Leighann Lovely  31:13

So, um, and, you know, you recognize these things when you're standing in a room of, you know, business owners. And, and it doesn't mean that, you know, again, once sitting down and having a conversation with you, or some of the other individuals, it's like, wow, I was because when I first met you, I have to say, I was like, wow, she's a little intimidating.

 

Lori Highby  31:39

From everyone, no, I know this about me. But thank you for verifying that it's still a legit thing that's happening.

 

Leighann Lovely  31:48

Because you, you have very much of a, okay, you said you don't know why. Because you are a wildly successful woman who people either want to be like, or fear they're not good enough, or at your level. Sure. But once you sit down and have a conversation with you, you're a very warm and welcoming person, but your intelligence level and your knowledge is through the roof. So you're like, Wow, can I keep up? Can I keep up with this person? So it's, it can be it can be hard to, to do that. It can be hard to keep up. And so especially people who have you know, the, what is it? Imposter syndrome? They're like, Oh, my gosh, she's gonna find me. It's it's one of those things that, you know, step push and pull constantly. Yeah,

 

Lori Highby  32:41

I've got impostor syndrome. Everyone does.

 

Leighann Lovely  32:44

I know, I know, every time. There's periods in everybody's lives, where they're like, Oh, can I do this? And am I right? I know.

 

Lori Highby  32:52

That's a whole another podcast episode. I was just about to go on a big long tangent decided we'll pause.

 

Leighann Lovely  33:01

Right? Yes, everybody has in the house. You right, that is a whole nother. So you also have a you have two podcasts now?

 

Lori Highby  33:10

Yes, I do, Social capital, which is, let's see episode like 370 something, I believe. So I interviewed professionals globally on the topic of networking, and how networking has really helped them get to where they are today. And my newest podcast, I have two amazing co hosts is called a broadcast for manufacturers. And worse, three broads. Talking about broad topics. Some of them may be a little taboo to some people and touchy. And others are just more like realistic related to the current times, you know, supply chain. People shortages and whatnot, but all focused around the manufacturing industry.

 

Leighann Lovely  34:00

Interesting. And you say some topics may be a little bit more touchy. And you don't have to go into extreme detail. But are we talking? I'm nosy?

 

Lori Highby  34:11

Well, sure. So I mean, we're three female and manufacturing is typically a very masculine industry. So that's really where we're talking about, you know, elevating women in that space. For sure. But, I mean, we're not it's not just a show for for women, it's a show for anyone that's in manufacturing, but I think it's important to talk about you know, the challenges that are being faced, depending on you know, not just you know, what gender you are but your sexuality and you know, your you know, people are discriminated often and in many different ways and, and unfortunately, you know, historically manufacturing is, is a white male industry and I think that And we're trying to say, especially from the people side of things, like there's a lot of extremely intelligent and very capable individuals out there, and they don't all have to be white males to work in that industry.

 

Leighann Lovely  35:14

Yeah, that's Wow, that's I'm gonna have to listen to that. That is a absolute great topic. And it's interesting. Last season, I had interviewed two women who wrote a book about Lean Manufacturing. Because both of them came up through the ranks and manufacturing, came together to wrote, wrote an awesome book about that. And talked about some of the struggles they had, as leaders in the manufacturing industry. And it was it's just, and there's a story that they go through and that they talked about, you'll have to, you know, anybody listening, you have to check that out. I don't even know what number episode that was. But because it's true there, you know, one of them how to get a membership to a, you know, Country Club, but it was like, areas of the country club that only men were allowed to go in. And she's like, how am I supposed to have meetings? Yeah, because it was usually only a man who held the, the position that she was in. So it's definitely, I mean, I'm seeing more and more women, I have a woman interviewing for, you know, a product management role. Yeah. And that's, and I get excited about that. Like, yes, we are seeing more and more women rise to the top in those types of positions. But it's, it's a struggle to see some of the women take on some of those positions, and you feel like you're still seeing discrimination in pay, you're still seeing discrimination and a lot of those things that that it's taken years to overcome. I had a conversation with a woman the other day who she says I want to be over the over the road truck driver, and she goes, and I just feel like, I won't be taken seriously, even in school. And I'm like, What? No, you you, if you want to do that you do you like that? Just because you're a woman doesn't mean you can't do it. Yeah. Yeah. And she's like, I don't know. I'm like, yeah, like, you got to stop thinking in the old way, or will never progress to a point in life where everybody else in the rest of the world stops thinking like that. Yep. So I love those conversations. I love the, again, you know, having conversations with dei experts on, you know, the, the psychology behind why our society still is struggling to get over some of them. I say get over, but it's not what I how I mean, it I mean, to evolve to evolve. Yes, yeah, I don't want to use a word that people are gonna, like, get over. Now evolve. And it's an understanding that, you know, psychology behind that is, is definitely. It's fascinating. It's also sad, when you really dive into it and go, Oh, okay. Because I grew up in Oconomowoc, in, you know, the 80s and 90s. And there was no black people living in Oconomowoc at that time. So I grew up very privileged, very blind to the world. And then I went to the military and got complete and total culture shock and started to actually experience the real world. Sure. Thank God. So, okay, another tangent. So that how many episodes are you in on that? And what is it called again?

 

Lori Highby  38:39

It's called a broadcast for manufacturers. I want to say we're at like, 10 episodes now. No, we're, we're in the double digits.

 

Leighann Lovely  38:48

It's amazing.

 

Lori Highby  38:49

Which is yeah, super, super exciting. Yeah, it's, great. It's I mean, the topics are broad, and that's intentional. The focus is manufacturing. So you know, we've talked about supply chain, we've talked about software and technology and manufacturing. So it's, it's a fun conversation, but we're not afraid to bring up the things and the topics that some people might not feel comfortable talking about.

 

Leighann Lovely  39:19

Right? Well, and, yeah, you shouldn't be you shouldn't be afraid to do that. This is a great, this is a great time for me to just say if somebody wants to listen to either one of your podcasts or reach out to you, and you I know that your business Keystone click also you kind of have a niche in that manufacturing space. Correct? Yep, yep. Yes.

 

Lori Highby  39:41

So if so, my contact info Sure. Lots of get in touch with me. Sorry. I'm used to being the host. Sorry. I'm like, I know what the question is. I'm ready to know Yeah, can you still click.com social capital podcast.com And I think it's MFG. You know, the podcasts you can find on all the podcast shows or Apple, you know, Google Play all that fun stuff. The best place you're gonna be able to connect with me though is LinkedIn. So just look for Laurie J, hi, V. And you can follow me I post daily information on marketing, plus, all podcast episodes get published there as well. Or just send me a message and say, you heard me on the on super awesome show.

 

Leighann Lovely  40:31

And this will also be in the show notes, too. So I'll put all your contact and everything in the show notes. And yes, my super awesome show. Okay, so we are coming to time, but you are not out of answering the question of the season. If you could go back to your younger self and give yourself advice. So when would you go back? And what advice would you give yourself?

 

Lori Highby  40:53

That is a good question. You know, I would actually go back to my college years. And my advice would be to create relationships with the students that I was in school with, but more so the relationships with the professors that I had. And I think nowadays, it's so easy to do that, like you can, when I taught, I would just tell the students connect with me on LinkedIn, you know, and I, I can easily stay in touch with them. But when I was going to college, I mean, you didn't even have an email address. See, you would, you would either go to the scheduled open office hours of the professor, or you had their like home phone number, you would call them. Okay, that makes me feel really old right now. But that's because no one had like cell phones, you know, it wasn't common practice that everyone had a phone at that time. So it wasn't the same way you couldn't, you couldn't really foster a relationship with a professor back then. And I think I would do it more. So from a mentor standpoint, like I didn't really have a go to mentor to give me advice and counsel of my professional career, I really was all focused on figuring it out on my own. And that probably led to the whole ignorance and starting the business. Because I just was like, I could do this by myself. But I, in general, I think everyone should always have a mentor. That's probably why it's so important to me to help mentor, the team that I have now, because I didn't necessarily have one. And that was their age.

 

Leighann Lovely  42:43

You know, it's so I always think, Wow, I'm so far behind. I started networking so late in life. And then I realized that I really didn't I just kind of, I started networking right away. It just was done so drastically different. When I was coming. I mean, we Yeah, you still went to these events, but you just couldn't communicate the way that we do now. Yeah, like, I mean, I was on LinkedIn, when LinkedIn very first came out. I was, I just I always look back. And I'm like, why, why wasn't I doing this like this when I first started my career, and then I go, Oh, right. Right. Yeah, because we didn't have the ability to do this.

 

Lori Highby  43:25

Yet LinkedIn didn't exist. And we were going right on to college and right, first got started. Yeah. And actually, it took a while for LinkedIn to turn into what it is today, because it was almost like a phone book, you know, a contact book, to some extent for the longest time

 

Leighann Lovely  43:41

We used to, So when it first came out, we used to connect, we used to go to a party, it was called a LinkedIn party. We would meet people, then we would connect with them on LinkedIn. And that's how we that's how we made those connections. You had that when it very first came out? Yeah. I mean, I was like, on it, like, immediately. And then I was part of training people on how to use that. I mean, but that's how it wasn't like, go look somebody up on LinkedIn and connect with them and then eventually talk with them and build the relationship. It was no you met them first. You connected with them. And I mean, it was just it was really weird. Like, when I think back to the days of like, when I first joined, it was weird. Anyways, this has been such an awesome conversation. You know, we could have an entire like series of you and I talking about a whole bunch of different stuff. Yes, but um, thank you so very much for coming on and talking with me.

 

Lori Highby  44:52

Oh, this was super fun. I appreciate the invite and happy to go on tangents as many times as you want.

 

Leighann Lovely  45:01

Thank you again for listening to Let's Talk HR. I appreciate your time and support without you the audience this would not be possible so don't forget that if you enjoyed this episode to follow us, like us or share us have a wonderful day

 

Lori Highby

 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorihighby/

 

https://mfgbroadcast.com/

 

https://lorihighby.com/social-capital-podcast/

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/cruen/family-time License code: 2330NZD3BLNDKPYI

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

people, started, work, business, mentor, world, employees, team members, talk, question, manufacturing, conversation, linkedin, culture, women, word, agency, tangent, keystone, continue