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We've come to the end of season one of The Manager's Moments. I wanted to take a few minutes to:

• reflect on my own journey with this podcast,
• reflect on two things I observed that emerged through the course of the conversations guests have had with me in this season and
• let you know about my plans for season two - and even a brand new podcast I'm collaborating on, launching imminently.

Follow this show so that you don't miss out on the launch of Season 2. And follow me on Linkedin so that you have the latest news on the new podcast.

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin. And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here.

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In the world of animation, change has been the only constant. From hand-drawn cells to CGI, artists have continually adapted to new technologies, pushing the boundaries of their craft.

Colum Slevin, an animation industry veteran, witnessed and shaped these transformations firsthand. In this bonus episode of The Manager's Moment, he reveals the artistry behind the pixels and ponders the age-old question that characterised the digitisation of the animation process: How do we use the machine to make art? Today too, we have tipped over the precipice of another technology revolution: artificial intelligence. How will this new tool reshape the landscape of animation?

Prepare for a fascinating dive into the past, present, and future of animation as Colum takes us all the way back to his first job as a cell painter.


About Colum

Colum Slevin has over thirty years of experience in leadership roles at the intersection of technology and creativity. He began his career in animated TV and features, eventually serving as Director of Computer Graphics at Industrial Light & Magic and later as Vice President of Studio Operations at Lucasfilm. At Lucasfilm, he oversaw animation and game development teams in California and Singapore, including the award-winning _Clone Wars_ animated TV show.

In 2013, Colum became Studio General Manager at Telltale Games before joining Meta in 2015. At Meta, he led media and narrative VR content development, overseeing products like Oculus TV, Media Studio, and Oculus Venues. Under his leadership, the team produced award-winning VR experiences, including Vader Immortal, The Wolves In The Walls, and The People's House, earning 15 Emmy nominations and 7 wins.

More recently, Colum led the Positive Play experiences team at Electronic Arts, developing products that promote safe and inclusive gaming experiences. He resides in San Rafael, California, with his wife Marie and remains obsessed with technology in the service of creativity and storytelling.

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin. And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here.

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Growth often comes from our most challenging moments. Risk. Failure. Consequences. Humility. What then? What does a leader do next?

In this episode, we journey through the peaks and valleys of Colum Slevin’s career, from the animation studios of Dublin to the cutting edge of player safety at Electronic Arts.

Colum's story is one of curiosity-driven evolution, peppered with moments of triumph and humbling failures. He shares with raw honesty his hubris and the weight of decisions that shaped not just his own path, but the lives and careers of those he led.

We explore the transition from being the 'utility player' - always ready to be useful - to becoming a leader who understands the delicate balance between taking risks and protecting his team. Colum's journey teaches us that true leadership isn't about having all the answers, but about the courage to be transparent when you don't.

Join us as we unpack the lessons learned by skinning knees and dislocating shoulders in the world of creative management. This is a story of how failure can be the crucible for authentic, empathetic leadership - a reminder that our greatest growth often comes from our most challenging moments.

About Colum

Colum Slevin has over thirty years of experience in leadership roles at the intersection of technology and creativity. He began his career in animated TV and features, eventually serving as Director of Computer Graphics at Industrial Light & Magic and later as Vice President of Studio Operations at Lucasfilm. At Lucasfilm, he oversaw animation and game development teams in California and Singapore, including the award-winning _Clone Wars_ animated TV show.

In 2013, Colum became Studio General Manager at Telltale Games before joining Meta in 2015. At Meta, he led media and narrative VR content development, overseeing products like Oculus TV, Media Studio, and Oculus Venues. Under his leadership, the team produced award-winning VR experiences, including Vader Immortal, The Wolves In The Walls, and The People's House, earning 15 Emmy nominations and 7 wins.

More recently, Colum led the Positive Play experiences team at Electronic Arts, developing products that promote safe and inclusive gaming experiences. He resides in San Rafael, California, with his wife Marie and remains obsessed with technology in the service of creativity and storytelling.

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin. And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here.

Send Belinda a message.

Are people around you so busy regulating their stress responses that they aren’t doing their job properly? If so, there might be a break-through leadership moment waiting for you.

Trauma-informed care has gained ground in the healthcare setting. It is an approach to patient care that recognises the physical changes adverse childhood experiences can have on the brain and how this shows up in affected people in their adult years. In the second part of this episode, Tracy Kite brings the notion of being trauma-informed into our workplaces.

She helps us understand what trauma-informed leadership is and the place it has in the workplace. Anchored firmly in the understanding that managers are not therapists, why would and how can managers incorporate a trauma-aware approach in how they lead? In this conversation, Tracy provides very practical ways to support people in the work place whose stress responses may be consciously or unconsciously triggered by everyday events at work.

Tracy also revisits the supporting theme of giving feedback that features in her first book, Love to Lead. In our conversation, Tracy busts a feedback myth, and offers a far more real-world, compelling and trauma-aware approach to providing feedback.

Join us for the second part of this special episode of The Manager’s Moment, with Dr Tracy Kite, author of Love to Lead, and Lead Like you Give a F**k!.

About Tracy
Tracy commenced her career as a mental health nurse in 1984 and has remained a proud nurse, on the NMC register for the past 40 years. She worked in the NHS, becoming a ward sister aged 25 and a senior ward manager aged 27. Leadership and learning was always her core passion, and Tracy worked routinely with student doctors and student nurses throughout her NHS career.

In the late 1990s, following a few years working clinically in the private healthcare sector in specialist dementia care, Tracy switched careers to work in learning and development roles and leadership learning roles. Whilst these roles included clinical teaching and NVQ and apprenticeship programmes, Tracy’s core passion has always been in leadership learning.

In the early 2000s, Tracy helped to create a Business School in the organisation she worked in, which qualified more than 70 senior leaders in Masters in Management and other post-graduate management qualifications. She gained a Masters in Management of Change from Sussex University and a Doctorate during that time. Her research and thesis focus on human-centric leadership and the relationship between executive coaching and successful corporate leadership.

Tracy is a qualified psychological coach, focusing on executive and leadership coaching. She is an experienced Action Learning facilitator and develops leadership learning programmes for organisations. She is the author of two leadership books, which showcase her experience and research – Love to Lead (Panoma Press, 2018) and Lead Like You Give a F**k! (Rethink Press, 2024).

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin. And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here.

Send Belinda a message.

Are people around you so busy regulating their stress responses that they aren’t doing their job properly? If so, there might be a break-through leadership moment waiting for you.

Tune in on Thursday for Part 2 of this episode with Dr. Tracy Kite in which she provides very practical ways for managers to enable people, challenge them and to give them feedback by practising trauma-informed leadership.

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin. And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here.

Send Belinda a message.

Have you ever felt so out of your depth that you wanted to throw your something across the room? Or found yourself in a leadership position before you felt ready?

Tracy Kite's journey from nurse, to frustrated mature student to leadership expert and author is a testament to the power of determination and the human capacity for growth.

Her story yields universal wisdom like: Sometimes, personal leadership is born from moments of self-doubt and frustration, and the simple act of truly listening can transform what other people can achieve. And a way to approach writing a leadership book.

Join us for a special episode, in two parts, of The Manager’s Moment, with Dr Tracy Kite, author of Love to Lead, and Lead Like you Give a F..!.

About Tracy
Tracy commenced her career as a mental health nurse in 1984 and has remained a proud nurse, on the NMC register for the past 40 years. She worked in the NHS, becoming a ward sister aged 25 and a senior ward manager aged 27. Leadership and learning was always her core passion, and Tracy worked routinely with student doctors and student nurses throughout her NHS career.

In the late 1990s, following a few years working clinically in the private healthcare sector in specialist dementia care, Tracy switched careers to work in learning and development roles and leadership learning roles. Whilst these roles included clinical teaching and NVQ and apprenticeship programmes, Tracy’s core passion has always been in leadership learning.

In the early 2000s, Tracy helped to create a Business School in the organisation she worked in, which qualified more than 70 senior leaders in Masters in Management and other post-graduate management qualifications. She gained a Masters in Management of Change from Sussex University and a Doctorate during that time. Her research and thesis focus on human-centric leadership and the relationship between executive coaching and successful corporate leadership.

Tracy is a qualified psychological coach, focusing on executive and leadership coaching. She is an experienced Action Learning facilitator and develops leadership learning programmes for organisations. She is the author of two leadership books, which showcase her experience and research – Love to Lead (Panoma Press, 2018) and Lead Like You Give a F..! (Rethink Press, 2024).

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin. And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here.

Send Belinda a message.

“Yes! Yes! Of course!” Saying ‘yes’ all the time can be thrilling and self-affirming. And it can go a long way to carving out the career you want. Saying yes without boundaries though can be tricky, with unintended consequences.

In this episode, Brandi Yates, a senior L&D professional, shares a moment that, for her, brought about a different way to say yes. Brandi explains how she has borrowed from the healthcare concept of operating at the ‘top of your licence’ as a way to pay more attention to the things that matter to her. And how she has come to understand that it is her job as a leader to let go of things that ultimately present opportunities to others.

She also draws little distinction between Management and Learning.

About Brandi

As Associate Vice President of Learning & Development for Ultimate Medical Academy (UMA), Brandi Yates is responsible for the creation, execution, and enhancement of organizational learning and development (L&D) strategy across the institution.

Brandi is a sought-after L&D public speaker, speaking at dozens of conferences like Contact Center Week, Corporate Learning Week, Women’s Conference of Florida, the AR/VRA Association, and has been featured on the podcast InfoPro Learning. Highlight presentations include leading teams in a virtual world, virtual training and facilitation techniques, employee engagement and retention strategies, pre-boarding, and leveraging adult theory to reshape how we train and develop for the future.

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin. And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here.

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This episode will be released on 25 July 2024. Brandi Yates, a senior L&D professional and popular speaker on all things to do with workplace and learning shares her journey into L&D and leadership, and a much-needed moment of resolve that itself became an act of leadership.

About Brandi

As Associate Vice President of Learning & Development for Ultimate Medical Academy (UMA), Brandi Yates is responsible for the creation, execution, and enhancement of organizational learning and development (L&D) strategy across the institution.

Brandi is a sought-after L&D public speaker, speaking at dozens of conferences like Contact Center Week, Corporate Learning Week, Women’s Conference of Florida, the AR/VRA Association, and has been featured on the podcast InfoPro Learning. Highlight presentations include leading teams in a virtual world, virtual training and facilitation techniques, employee engagement and retention strategies, pre-boarding, and leveraging adult theory to reshape how we train and develop for the future.

Join the conversation and make connections by joining The Manager's Moment Club on Linkedin. And connect with me, Belinda Brummer, there too. For bonus bits, show notes and episode transcripts, click here.