Leadership Lessons from Stand-up Comedian Stephanie McHugh - Part Two

Are you curious about the secret sauce that transforms a group of people into an unstoppable team? Stand-up comedian Stephanie McHugh joins us again today to share her unique insights. Stephanie's secret recipe involves a careful blend of energy, focus, and authenticity that she brings before her presentations.

In this episode, we delve into the importance of bringing that energy and authenticity to meetings as well. We reveal our secret preparation tactics, discovering why it's essential to be transparent about our energy levels and the power of being present at the moment. So, join us for an episode packed with laughter, insights, and invaluable lessons that will help any leader create a vibrant, cohesive team environment.

In this episode you'll learn the following:
1. Understanding and connecting with your audience or team in a relatable way.
2. Adapting to your audience's or team's energy and engagement.
3. Bringing personal energy and authenticity to meetings or presentations.

CONNECT WITH STEPHANIE:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephaniemchughcomedy/

This episode is sponsored by LucidPoint
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CONNECT WITH SUSIE:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susietomenchok/

CONNECT WITH JAMES:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/capps/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Welcome to the Quick Take podcast, the show where you get targeted advice and coaching for executives by executives. I'm Suzy Tomonczuk.

Speaker 2: 0:24

And I'm James Capps. Give us 15 minutes and we'll give you three secrets to address the complex topic of issues that are challenging executives like you today.

Speaker 1: 0:35

Hey, welcome to Quick Take. I'm your host, Suzy Tomonczuk, along with my co-host, James Capps, and we're already laughing which is a good sign.

Speaker 2: 0:43

Oh, it's such a good sign and it's a good indicator that, yes, today we've got our special guest come back, brought back Stephanie McHugh, who was a lot of fun last time. So welcome back, Steph.

Speaker 3: 0:53

Thank you. Thank you, james Hi Suzy.

Speaker 1: 0:56

Hi, it's so good to see you. I know James was talking about how there's such a parallel between I'm not going to put words in your mouth, James, so take it but between me and you.

Speaker 2: 1:05

So you did, yeah, I think that it's so interesting that you know the work that you do. Suzy is a coach and working with large teams at offices and events, and then, steph, you get brought in by executive groups for off-sites, for team building, for goal settings, and I think that you both have really great, obviously, professional experiences, but also great insights, and so both of you leverage those in the corporate environment, and so it's just great to have you back, steph, to give us some more of the insights from the stage.

Speaker 3: 1:38

Thank you. Yeah, it is kind of one of my favorite things to do, and a lot of times people think, oh, I'm going to have a comedian, but I don't want an hour long, you don't want to have times an hour to devote to that. A lot of times there's a woman's entrepreneur group, the Dames, and they have different chapters all along the front range and all over the country actually, and I'll just Laughter is one of their core values. Oh yeah, I love that, and so I will come in and do 10 minutes right up front just to kind of bring the energy up, get that laughter in and that focus, and then they go on and do the rest of their meeting. So that's another thing that I think is fun and kind of cater it to that group. And then, yeah, sure, it brings people together.

Speaker 2: 2:27

I love that. That's kind of what the icebreaker is ultimately, but what a different way of doing it. I mean, I can hear the cringing of our audience when I say the words icebreaker, but to do what an icebreaker does in a very different way is always great. So thank you for joining us again and giving us some insight. So we have our patent pending three pieces of advice that we'd like to dish out to our quickster. So what's your first piece of advice?

Speaker 2: 3:01

Yeah, the first thing that I have as I'm looking nonchalantly at my notes is it was so nonchalantly your chalance is very nonchalant, I mean, when you told us that kind of did to Goy, bish and Malan.

Speaker 3: 3:19

How do you find things for that group?

Speaker 1: 3:23

Oh yeah.

Speaker 3: 3:24

For example, what I just brought up. I've got 10 minutes, and so I will often interview the person who hired me or some people in that organization just to find out. And I'm not looking for funny things, I'm looking for what's a common.

Speaker 3: 3:45

Yeah, context, pain or problem that you have or something like that. For example, I was doing during the pandemic. They had one chapter in Scottsdale and so I talked to them and I said so what are some traits or what? And they go well, a lot of in Arizona, scottsdale is considered snobby. We're kind of the real and I'm like you don't want to pun, you can't make fun of them per se. So I kind of spent a day and like how can I sort of make fun of that? So I just said that they were really bad at it. Like I just met with them there for nice. So I don't think you got the memo that you're supposed to be a little snobby, it's not.

Speaker 2: 4:30

Well, it's what they said Well done, well done Actually.

Speaker 3: 4:34

So you just find something and a twist on it, a misdirector or what. So that's an example and it keeps it kind of fun for me. I have the jokes that I've done before that I know are going to work, but it's kind of fun to go. All right, we got this one time that this is going to be relatable, and do that Okay.

Speaker 1: 5:01

I really like that, because when you think about the interests of the team before you walk in and what's going to really land with them, that shows that connection and that dedication to understanding that you're not just bringing a presentation, you're not just bringing a message, you're not just trying to tell them. This is how I need you to think differently. You're meeting them where they are. You're kind of showing them that you did your homework and you're invested in this meeting. What do you think, James?

Speaker 2: 5:26

Yeah, I think you're right, as a leader, though, to take that into. What am I going to do with that every day? It's always about having that connection and understanding the common thread between your teams. I think when you go into a meeting, it's great to make sure that everyone's aligned and find a way to create that commonality. Sometimes you do get everybody in a room and you give them an update of what this is the thing we're going to talk about, so we're all on the same page. You can talk about. Boy, we had a rough quarter, everybody knows but it's about creating that cohesion in a group that really allows them to be better. I think what you're doing there stuff is really finding a common rallying, creating a unifying message for everybody. I think that just is a great way to build a team.

Speaker 1: 6:12

I love. It All right, what's your?

Speaker 3: 6:14

second one. Okay, the second one is how do you get people back? Let's say they're not interested and whatnot.

Speaker 1: 6:22

Oh yeah, oh, that must be hard when people aren't laughing. It is yeah.

Speaker 3: 6:26

I hate it, but also I'm kind of used to it a little, not used to it. I'm not used to it because I'm not happy. Well, yeah, I mean I'm used to it, I mean it's just every day, but I feel, go ahead, it doesn't throw me it's like you would think it is, and a lot of times when you audition, you audition for the Friday night late show because, that is the hardest audience and you will do the first show on a Friday.

Speaker 3: 7:00

Everybody's going out on a date. It's the beginning of the weekend, Everybody's excited and you get off and you're like I am so funny, you know it was the beginning of the heart. This is just fine. And then same night, same venue. Now it's. The show starts at 10 or 10 30. Now everyone's worked all day, they've gone to happy hour, they've had a couple drinks and they're tired. So the energy is just different.

Speaker 3: 7:27

So I think just meet them where they're at, be okay with it. Don't take it personally. It's your so just go with it. Don't try to make them the early show Friday. Be with them there, be yourself and be with them there, or make them stand up. Sometimes I think about that in the meeting. You know like hey, let's just you know, stand up and yell something at the person next to you, or whatever.

Speaker 2: 7:57

No, but I think that it's so great as a leader that you you have to meet people where they are Right. Yeah, and sometimes you'll go into a meeting. I've gotten into my staff meeting thinking we're going to have a really detailed discussion around some sort of meaty topic and I could just tell they're not there, they're not ready for that. We weren't prepped. The energy isn't there, we don't have the right person and as a leader, you have to be. You know, you have to be very present with your staff. You have to be very present and aware of what's going on with your people. And sure, you can plow through and, like you know, in your situation you can plow through and do your set no matter what's going on in the audience. But that's just not going to be effective. And as a leader you've got to, you could just plow through and do whatever you think is going to be right, but that's just not going to be as effective. And I think being connected to your team, being connected to your audience, is huge.

Speaker 1: 8:44

You know, this is really hits home for me too as a coach, and when people are paying me, I feel like I have to bring all the content. And I've had this recent shift that I really need to be in the moment and be in the room and it's about them and how they're shifting, and so that mindset shift for me has been kind of empowering to be like it's not about me at all, it's about what am I doing for the people in the room.

Speaker 2: 9:12

Susie, do you find sometimes that you're asked to do something and you get there and it's, and that's not what you're there for? Yes, yeah. And, Steph, do you sometimes go in thinking that this is going to be the thing that hits? And that's not the thing that hits at all. It's something else that your, your, your, your B set, your B material is the is the home run.

Speaker 3: 9:30

Yes.

Speaker 2: 9:31

That's really interesting that there's a similarity there.

Speaker 3: 9:34

Yeah, absolutely, and sometimes this happened. Recently I was brought in for a fundraiser and they said what the goal was, but it was actually different. Yeah. So you kind of have to adjust a little bit, right yeah.

Speaker 1: 9:50

And sometimes I'm sorry, james, but sometimes I go in and I I intentionally reiterate the goal so that everybody on the room understands that that's our goal, so that they know we've hit it at the end, cause if I don't do that, then I don't know, or they don't know what we're going toward.

Speaker 2: 10:10

I don't know that. That would be great as a hello.

Speaker 1: 10:12

Steph Good meeting.

Speaker 2: 10:14

I'm your comedian for tonight. The goal will be laughter. Now let's take, let's, let's go on to the first practice yeah let's try it. Okay, excellent point, let's go through. Can we recap my first three jokes?

Speaker 1: 10:28

No, but I do have an idea for you, Steph, If you go to the 10 o'clock version, you say, hey, listen, I'm going to do the whole the same set I did for them and they laughed hysterically. So it's really up to you. It's up to you on how you react.

Speaker 2: 10:42

Cause I'm hilarious, right, yeah, I mean you may not get paid for that, but it's funny, let's be on the get far, all right.

Speaker 3: 10:54

What's your third one there?

Speaker 1: 10:57

Um, I can't remember what it is.

Speaker 2: 10:58

I.

Speaker 3: 10:58

I thought I would do before you go in, not that I know you do before you go in to get yourself hyped up.

Speaker 1: 11:07

That was totally being in the moment.

Speaker 3: 11:09

Just a little side note for everyone when I'm getting ready, putting on my face and doing my hair, I will listen to another comedian just to kind of get the rhythm or whatever, and sometimes I'll listen to my own set a little bit just to get the, to make sure.

Speaker 2: 11:26

I've got the joke.

Speaker 3: 11:28

You know, I remember him specifically if it's been a while since I've done those, and then I just tend to be a little bit more excited about the, the the, the the the most, and then I just tend to be more laid back. That's my I don't. I'm not trying to change myself, but I'm just trying to bring the energy up a little bit more. So sometimes listening to another comedian just sort of helps me get the the rhythm. I'm not trying to be them, I'm just sort of enjoying listening to them.

Speaker 1: 12:01

Yeah, yeah, you know, it's the same for me. I learned that if I'm speaking and I'm, I'm, I'm speaking after another really great speaker. I love following somebody.

Speaker 2: 12:12

It's really great, like me, like yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:15

If I follow James. I know I'm going to do. Well, it's, it's amazing, yeah, but you have to watch the video if you want to know what happened there. But if somebody that has it, has a lot of confidence, just brings my confidence up, and so it's kind of the same thing that you are saying is what, what is your, your warm-up music? What is the thing that's going to make you at your best to do right before you walk in?

Speaker 3: 12:39

Right, Sometimes I'll listen to a a Haka too.

Speaker 2: 12:43

Oh, yeah, yeah, I can see that.

Speaker 3: 12:44

Have you heard of that? Yeah, it's a. There's a wedding one that they did at a wedding. So basically I just feel like that's like that's playing full out but you know the energy that they bring. It's so beautiful and, um, yeah, I just think it's the most beautiful thing and to to watch them.

Speaker 2: 13:01

Really what that is is you have to bring your own energy. It's BYOE. I think that as a leader boy, there's nothing worse than when I can see somebody comes into a room or an executive and they are not there. They're not present. Their energy is down. It affects the room like nothing else. I find that my job half the time is to bring people to. I have to be a cheerleader, I have to be positive, I have to be the spin guy, because if you don't bring that energy, nobody does. I think both of you in your roles see that and you find ways to get yourself there. As a leader, there are absolute moments where I'm walking into a room and I have to go. All right, I just got my ass kicked in that last meeting and I got to just move on. And because this next one has nothing to do with that, but I can't afford this one to be affected by that one.

Speaker 2: 14:00

So, it's one challenge.

Speaker 3: 14:02

That's a great point, James. I wish I could say it's always going to work every time, but sometimes things just don't work out, and so that's part of the process, and then you just move on.

Speaker 2: 14:12

I love that. I mean even as a leader, I think sometimes I go into a room and I'll just have no choice but to say hey guys, I'm not here, I just got my ass kicked, or whatever.

Speaker 1: 14:22

Do you, do you say that? I absolutely do. I love that.

Speaker 2: 14:24

Yeah, there are times when it's just the alternative is look, it's like it's not being authentic If you're set, if you're not, you know, if you're not present, you're not doing a good set, it's just not. It's not a good set and you can, you're. You're getting paid to do it, steph, and it's a very different scenario. But you know, I get points. I get paid, if you will, for authenticity as well, and maybe that meeting isn't great, but I'm still getting paid. If you, I'm getting a connection to my team, my rapport, that there's the benefits I still get out of it If I'm just transparent and say, guys, we're going to have to reschedule because this isn't working right now, for whatever reason, and I think that's just my style. So energy is a real thing. So I'll stop my rant there and I'll wrap it up there.

Speaker 1: 15:08

OK, bring me home.

Speaker 2: 15:10

You go. I don't know if I could do it. You know, steph, you had some really three really good pieces of advice. Can you, can you wrap those up for us?

Speaker 3: 15:21

Yes, I can. How do you find things to talk about that specific to that group?

Speaker 2: 15:28

Know your team, know your people Love it.

Speaker 3: 15:30

Yeah, Uh-huh, Find you know possibly a common pain or something that they haven't come in. What do you do to get people to focus right, To get people focused on what you're talking about?

Speaker 2: 15:47

And make sure you're all on the same page. Be present with your team.

Speaker 1: 15:50

Have everyone together Love it Yep. Right yeah.

Speaker 3: 15:53

And then the third one is for my getting ready is all I will, as I'm putting on my makeup and my doing my hair, I'll listen to another comedian and then I'll listen to Haka which is a.

Speaker 2: 16:07

B yeah, yeah, bring your own energy.

Speaker 3: 16:11

Yeah, love it, love it, love it.

Speaker 2: 16:13

But three really great pieces of advice that really are applicable to, to, to, to certainly your space, the coaching space and the leadership space. So yeah, thanks, so much, yeah, it was.

Speaker 1: 16:25

yeah, it was really interesting to look at those different parallels. What a great idea, james. As always so great. Thank you, it was a lot of fun. We hope you found this valuable as well. We certainly had fun doing it and we were definitely in the moment. I'll just say that, so feel free to share this with somebody. Connect with James or I on LinkedIn. Steph, how can people find you?

Speaker 3: 16:48

They can send me an email at Stephanie, at Stephanie McHughcom. That's a lot of letters.

Speaker 2: 16:56

You can also on.

Speaker 3: 16:57

Instagram at Steph S T E P H comedy. Steph comedy, that's comedy. That's easy. Send me a message or follow me there, that's, and she's so fun to watch.

Speaker 1: 17:07

So it's just fun to have her in my feed every day. So definitely connect with Steph, especially if you have something coming up and even in, like she said, it's just fun to have her in my feed every day. So instead it's just a small segment. I mean, james, you would definitely leverage that Right.

Speaker 2: 17:22

No, it's a great, great way of creating not only an interesting energy around the event, but also just something different, and I think that's what a lot of people need for those types of things.

Speaker 3: 17:30

So lovely, love the idea, great idea, so it goes. Is another great way to start a meeting as an icebreaker.

Speaker 2: 17:37

Okay, there's a freebie.

Speaker 1: 17:39

There you go, Steph don't give away your don't give away your secret there. All right, that's another episode, so we'll come back to that and break that down. So thanks for joining us. We appreciate you. ["we Appreciate You"]. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Quick Take, where we talk about the questions that are on the minds of executives everywhere. Connect with us and share what's on your mind.

Speaker 2: 18:04

You can find us on LinkedIn, youtube or whatever nerdy place on the internet. You find your podcasts. All the links you really need are in the show notes ["We Appreciate You"].