mashup

066: Eryc Eyl: I got laid off and I went broke

Intro: Welcome to the Fast Leader Podcast, where we explore convenient yet effective shortcuts that will help you get ahead and move forward faster by becoming a better leader. And now here’s your host, customer and employee engagement expert and certified emotional intelligence practitioner, Jim Rembach.

Need a powerful and entertaining way to ignite your next conference, retreat or team-building session? My keynote don’t include magic but they do have the power to help your tennis take a leap forward by putting emotional intelligence into their employee engagement customer engagement and customer centric leadership practices. So bring the infotainment creativity the Fast Leader show to your next event. Go to beyondmorale.com/speaking to learn more. 

Okay, Fast Leader legion, I’m excited to have the guest that I have on the show today. When I saw his DJ Savior Breath: Life is a mashup on YouTube@ignite Denver, I just had to invite him eon the show. Eryc Eyl was born in Boulder, Colorado and grew up in rural Northern Colorado with ducks, turkeys, chickens, cows, pigs, parrots, ferrets, raccoons, and dogs. After high school he ran off to the East Coast to attend Vassar College, which forever change his life, though not immediately. After college, Eryc went broke living in Austin but found the gravitational pull of Colorado too powerful to resist for long. He returned to attend graduate school at the University of Colorado and has worked in nearly every function of businesses and nutrition, IT distribution, telecommunications, consumer packaged goods and publishing. Through Eryc’s diverse experience he had developed a focus on improving the human experience of business. While he has worked in corporate America for more than 20 years, Eryc has invented most of the jobs he’s had. 

Eryc is an author, speaker, storyteller, coach, consultant and DJ who helps working folks integrate their work with a meaningful fun and fulfilling life, so they keep their heads and their hearts while keeping their jobs. Eryc currently lives in Longmont, Colorado with his incredibly talented actor, director, community organizer wife, his brilliant and kind 11-year-old daughter and their overly affectionate cat. Eryc Eyl are you ready to help us get over the hump?

Eryc Eyl:     I sure am Jim, thanks a ton for having me.

Jim Rembach:     I’m glad you’re here. I’ve given our listeners a little bit about, but can you tell us what your current passion is so that we can get to know you even better? 

Eryc Eyl:     Absolutely, absolutely. I think as you mentioned, my current work is really all around the improving the human experience of business. You and I met through work that I do around customer experience but I also do a lot work around employee experience and specifically work life balance. That YouTube video you saw, Life as a mashup is a piece of what I’m trying to work on which is helping folks integrate their work with the meaningful fun and fulfilling life. But for me it’s really all about the fact that business is humans serving humans and I feel it’s too easy to lose sight of that. So, it’s my mission to improve the focus on that and give folks some tools and techniques in human experience. 

Jim Rembach:     I know that when you start talk about this human experience both inside and outside of organization I think there’s this is slow and it’s this undercurrent that is happening in society that people are bringing those two things together. And you had talked about this mashup concepts, can you explain that? What does that really mean?

Eryc Eyl:     Absolutely, I can explain that . I think one of the big Aha’s that I’ve had in my working life—I’ve worked in a lot of corporate organizations, a lot of rules and one of the  big aha’s along the way was way more effective and were way happier when we bring our whole selves to work. And so the idea of life is a mashup, there’s all these aspects of ourselves that we tend to think of our work life and our home life and our life with our significant other and our life in our community we tend to think about these things as separate and when we do separate those things me miss out on opportunities where one my actually make the other stronger or better. 

So, I to look at life as a mashup concept, when I DJ I play mashup, that’s what I do. Just to make it clear for your listeners, a mashup is when you take two or more songs and put them together to create something that is new and in some ways not better than the original but includes the power of the original in a multiplicative way. So, I think the Life is a mashup idea is, you know, are there things from your personal life that would actually make you more effective at work or vice versa or are there things from your work life that would make you better able to help out your kids school or your church or somewhere in your community, so really helping folks look at how these things are complementary as opposed to separate pie pieces that you’ve carved up. 

Jim Rembach:     I think you bring up a really good point and thanks for sharing, is that when you start looking at creative thinking and innovation—really the mashup I guess based on how you explained it is what truly accursed, the argument is that everything that has is going to be invented has already been invented and the difference is taking the powers of two things and putting them together to make something that isn’t necessary—actually I would disagree, I say it is greater when you’ve actually taken the power of the two, and that synergistic relationship we all talk about but that really is what invention, the definition of invention, a lot of people think it’s the lightbulb moment but that isn’t really it it’s the mashing of the two that makes the  difference.

Eryc Eyl:     Absolutely will. And I think that’s really interesting perspective because the idea of invention and innovation and everything has already been done. The one thing that hasn’t been invented yet is your life and you have the opportunity to create that actively and I think taking an active approach is really the key to creating the life that people want.

Jim Rembach:     I think that word that you said, active is vitally important these days, there was a statistic that I saw in regards to entrepreneurship and the percentage of people that were starting businesses at an earlier age so when you look at people under 30 years old essentially. I was looking at the statistic 15, 20 years ago and it was almost double digit it was like 11, 12% something like that were entrepreneurs who are starting their own business and these days it’s down like 3%. So when you start talking about your action, what is something that somebody can do in order to do just that, take action?

Eryc Eyl:     I think it’s so vital, it’s so important. When I work with coaching clients or when I work in organizations we often run up against this. If work inside an organization you’re working within rules and procedures and policies and that sort of thing and what’s interesting is that a lot of times folks can spend and I’m as guilty of this as anybody, can spend a lot of time just complaining about where we are, what the limitations are and oftentimes we find when we ask questions about those limitations is that some of them may not even actually exist. And oftentimes we assume that limitations with their arms and so I think that the first step to take is really asking questions. It’s really looking at things and saying, “So why is that? Why do we do it that way?” And I think that’s the genesis of all sorts of great ideas.

Jim Rembach:     And when start talking about innovation and great ideas and mashups, there’s a lot of inspiration to be found there, and on the show we look at leadership quotes for inspiration. Is there one or two that you can share with us the gives you that? 

Eryc Eyl:     For myself personally?

Jim Rembach:    Certainly.

Eryc Eyl:     Yeah, yeah. I think you mentioned in my introduction there’s something that I really strong feel which is we all need to keep our heads and our hearts while keeping our jobs. And the reason I say that is that first of all a lot of literature and advice around careers is either about climbing the ladder or jumping off of it it’s either about how much can you achieve or you’ve got to strike out on your own. And so many of us we want the safety, security and stability of the job and so if we we’re going to have that then we need to make sure that we’re keeping our heads, that means that were thinking clearly we’re being clear about what we’ve want to accomplished and then were keeping our hearts which is that we’re keep in focus on what matters to us and who we want to be in the world and what we want to do for others so that’s the one that I come back to again and again.

Jim Rembach:     I think that’s also a really true statement associated with like mindfulness, I mean be mindful of where you are, enjoy where you are, make the most where you are, we can definitely do that and remove some of those humps that we oftentimes put in front of ourselves inappropriately inexplicably, I mean all of those things. So I think that’s a really good quote is that we just need to know remind ourselves of on an ongoing basis. I know you had mentioned something about having quite a few different jobs in different organizations creating your own job, and I know one of the reasons why I wanted you on the show is because you’re one of those unique creators that has the ability to make things understandable for those that aren’t necessarily out on the edge in regards to creativity is concern and I appreciate you being able draw those links for us. But when you start talking about yourself, is there a hump or two you had to get over that kind of help you move in a better direction that you can share?

Eryc Eyl:     Absolutely. First thanks for the kind words I really appreciate it but we all have those struggles and I think for myself in those 20+ years that I’ve worked in corporate organizations I could tell a lot of stories I think it’s appealing to have a narrative with one single epiphany but I think in reality the way that we can transform is through a bunch of little micro moments that that changes over time and change the way we approach things it’s like those little mini sneezes that you have before you have that one big satisfying and exhausting sneeze I think my working life has been like that. I’ve worked for a company for 10 years in which I’ve got to work in a lot of different roles a lot of the capacities got to learn most of what I know today but at the end of those 10 years I got laid off. And when I got laid off I went broke to tell you the truth and that was one of those—I’ve had this thing that was certain for 10 years and then it was no longer certain that feeling of the bottom just dropping out when you are laid off, I’m sure a lot of folks can relate to that.

And then ultimately being broke and having to go back to work and realizing, well I’m going to do things a little differently this time. How I’m going to approach my work differently? How am I going to make my work an integral part of my life not just this thing I do for certain set number of hours a day? How am I going to integrate it? So, that was one of the big ones I think. In my first job ever I was fired and the experience of getting fired and actually—I got fired and the firing got rescinded which was the really interesting experience. And through that experience learning some things about humility and integrity and how I’m approaching my work that was not in line with actual values were things like that changed me along the way, there’s just so many but I think what it all comes down to in terms of what the big thing that I needed to overcome for myself was this notion of bringing your whole self to work. I think for a long time I was trying to be what I thought I needed to be. I was now trying to fit a mold that I thought existed and the journey I that I’ve gone on has led me to believe that we all have this unique combination of experiences and expertise and eccentricities. And we have to bring all of those to work for if we’re going to add the most value we’re going to add, it’s not about being a certain kind of person it’s about being the best version of you.

Jim Rembach:    When I started reading your bio the thing for me that stuck out is just a huge uniqueness is when you mentioned something about basically creating all the jobs that you have had. So when you think about a job that you created that was the most fulfilling and rewarding, how did that happened? 

Eryc Eyl:     Great question. You know, after I’ve gone broke and went back to work—when you’re seeking a job out of desperation you don’t get the right job, you get a job. And I got a job and it was not the right fit it was not something I really wanted to be doing. As I was doing it though what I was doing was paying attention to what was going on around me. And I was looking around in the organization where I worked and identifying opportunities and problems that I felt like I was uniquely set up to help solve to help the organization get better. And I actually kept documentation of these things, make notes, put together little proposals and then brought those to my boss and said, ‘Hey, you know what, I know you’ve got me doing this work but I see this is a bigger problem we need to solve and I think I’m going to solve it.” And that was the first time that I had that experience and my boss said, “Okay, that’s your job now.” It’s as simple as that but it was—I say simple, it took a few months and it took a lot of work to get there but it was really my saying, what unique value can I add? What’s the problem that needs to be solved? And I’m going to solve it. 

Jim Rembach:    Thanks for sharing that because I know a lot of folks in the past year or two that I’ve spoken with fell into that scenario where they were affected, in other words, their job as it existed kind of went away. And it makes you think that, what if the things that you were doing in order to find or create that new position, and it’s something that we all could do if we are in a job, in other words you don’t wait for the effect or getting affected and getting downsized and eliminated happen, do the creative work all along the way.

Eryc Eyl:     Absolutely, absolutely. I think that’s one of the things that I talk to folks especially when you’re in a position where you know downsizing is happening for example in an organization. The tendency that we all have is, well just keep your head down and don’t make any waves and let it be a let go by. But the thing to really do is to stand up and say, here’s how I can help in this situation. And yeah, there’s a risk you’re going to lose your job either way, but would you rather be on your feet or on your knees? 

Jim Rembach:    I think those are some great points that I think everybody could really benefit from. In addition to as you are talking through it I also saw that it wasn’t in a scenario or situation where you are trying to save your rear…

Eryc Eyl:     Not at all. 

Jim Rembach:    Yeah, it was done in a positive way, it was done in the helpful and assisting way and that’s really the best that we can do. And I think that also probably aligns with what you’re talking about as far as bringing yourself to work cause I know for me I’ve had times where essentially I’ve sunk to a level because of the environment and because what  was happening that I’m not just proud of. You’re talking about add an additional burden, unfortunately I was just too young to know that I was doing such of a thing until it was too late. 

Eryc Eyl:     Right. 

Jim Rembach:    So I know you and I had the opportunity to chat about the things that we’re working on things, things that we would like to be able to accomplish and you have a lot going on. But when you start thinking about some of your goals, what are they?

Eryc Eyl:     Well you know, this year looking at 2016, this is a year that I’ve got a couple things I really hope to accomplish, one is more professional one as more personal, but they’re related. So, I’ll start with the professional, as we’ve talked about a lot of the work that I do is about helping folks  integrate their work with their meaningful fun and fulfilling life and I get that balance that people talk about. I question the paradigm of work life balance, there’s some other better paradigms, there’s work-life integration, there’s work-life alignment is what we’re all striving for. But what I’m looking at right now is specifically so many parents that I know who are just burdened—a double burden of being working parents the way I characterize that burden is kind of comes with three flavors of guilt. One is you’re at work and feeling guilty because you’re not spending time with your family, the other is you’re spending time with your family and you’re feeling guilty about what’s not getting done at work. And then the third and the one that people don’t talk about very much is you’re spending time with your family and you really wish you were able to go to work, that make all of those things, and that’s real and trying to figure out how to—and this idea of work-life balance for a working parents. Most working parents I talk to say, well that’s a nice concept but I’m sure that’s not possible. And so, what I’m working on is some tools and resources and specifically an online course to help working parents make a plan and figure out how to integrate all those things together so that you can be a great parent and a great professional. So that’s the professional part that I’m really focused on this year and really excited to be able to reach people and help people. 

On a more personal side, I’ve been really struggling, myself looking at things that are going down the world that I wish I could do something about. We all have those things, and you know, I had a list of things that I could get involved, things that I thought I could help with, then I  realized I can’t, I can’t do all those things. But for me I’m big at getting to the root cause, one of my many jobs along the way was I was a six Sigma black belt and we’re all about getting to the root cause. And when I look at all these problems in our world that I wanted to help with, I feel like the root cause is a lack of empathy. Each year I like to have a word, an imperative, that guides my life for that year, and this year it’s empathized. And for me that’s twofold, on the one hand it’s my personal work of trying to empathize with everybody that I encounter especially those with whom I am most vehemently disagree and really try to understand as opposed to worry about trying to—whether I like them or not, do I condemn them or not, I’m just really try to understand and that’s a struggle. The second part of the whole empathize equation is frankly talking to other people about that concept, kind of evangelizing a little bit about what would it mean if we had more empathy, what would it mean for you how would you do it and really trying to spread that word. Those are the two things that really, for this year, I must focus on.

Jim Rembach:    And the Fast Leader Legion wishes you the very best. Now before we move, let’s get a quick word from our sponsor:

The number one thing that contributes to customer loyalty is emotions.  So move onward and upward faster by gaining significantly deeper insight and understanding of your customer journey and personas with emotional intelligence. With your empathy mapping workshop you learn how to evoke and influence the right customer emotions that generate improved customer loyalty and reduce your cost to operate. Get over your emotional hump now by going to empathymapping.com to learn more. 

Alright here we go Fast Leader legion it’s time for the Hump Day Hoedown. Okay Eryc the ump Day Hoedown is the part of our show where you give us good insights fast. So, I’m going to ask you several questions and your job is to give us robust yet rapid responses that are going to help us move onward and upward faster. Eryc Eyl are you ready to hoedown?

Eryc Eyl:     I’m so ready, Jim, thanks. 

Jim Rembach:    Alright. What do you think is holding you back from being an even better leader today? 

Eryc Eyl:     Jim that’s easy. Doing too much. We all need to focus a little bit more and say no to a lot more things. 

Jim Rembach:    What is the best leadership advice you have ever received? 

Eryc Eyl:     The best leadership advice I have ever received was from Kurt Richardson, founder of Otter Box. And I don’t even think of it as trying to give advice but in the conversation that we had I came away with an insight and that was—I don’t ever want to be a person who’s trying to convince people to follow me or collaborate with me instead I want to be so absolutely clear about my mission and purpose that those who share it will join me. 

Jim Rembach:    What is one of your secrets that you believe contributes to your success?

Eryc Eyl:    Jim I try always to focus on being of service to others and I try to focus on quality relationships. 

Jim Rembach:    What do you feel is one of your best tools that help to lead in business or life?

Eryc Eyl:     Good questions.

Jim Rembach:    What would be one book from any genre that you recommend to our listeners?

Eryc Eyl:     I can’t pick one book Jim it’s not fair but if I would, if I’d talk about one book that actually just dramatically changed how I think about how things work in organizations it has a ridiculous title it’s called—A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap book about studying organizations by author Chris Grey.  

Jim Rembach:    Okay Fast Leader listeners you can find links to that and other bonus information from today show by going to fastleader.net/Eryc Eyl. Okay, so let me share with you Eryc’s name is a little unique just like Eryc. 

Okay Eryc this my last Hump Day Hoedown question: Imagine you were given the opportunity to go back to the age of 25 and you have been given the opportunity to take the knowledge and skills that you have now back with you but you can’t take everything you can only choose one, so what skills or piece of knowledge would you take back with and why? 

Eryc Eyl:     I don’t know if my 25-year-self would appreciate but I have two pieces of advice, one is freaking exercise more you lazy jerk. And number two would be, stop trying to pretend to be you’re other people and be the best version of yourself. 

Jim Rembach:    Eryc it was an honor to spend time with you today, can you please share with the Fast Leader Legion how they can connect with you?

Eryc Eyl:     Absolutely. The easiest place to find is via my website, that’s eryceyl.com. and you can also find me on LinkedIn Eryc Eyl, love to connect with folks. 

Jim Rembach:    Eryc Eyl thank you for sharing your knowledge and wisdom, the Fast Leader Legion honors you and thanks you for helping us get over the hump. 

Thank you for joining me on the Fast Leader show today. For recaps, links from every show, special offers and access to download and subscribe, if you haven’t already, head on over the fastleader.net so we can help you move onward and upward faster.

END OF AUDIO