Welcome to episode 237 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [@NerdJourney]! We’re John White (@vJourneyman) and Nick Korte (@NetworkNerd_) – two technology professionals with backgrounds in IT Operations and Sales Engineering on a mission to help others accelerate career progression and increase job satisfaction by bringing listeners the advice we wish we’d been given earlier in our careers. In today’s episode we share part 1 of a discussion with Leanne Elliott, detailing what got her into psychology as a profession, her experience as a coach and what the coaching profession is, and the events prompting her specialty in business psychology. We’ll also talk about the psychological impact of layoffs on employees impacted, employees that remain at a company, and the managers who have to execute layoffs.
Original Recording Date: 07-04-2023
Topics – Meet Leanne Elliott, An Interest in Studying Psychology, A Crisis Provides Clarity, The Discipline of Coaching, Thoughts on Resumes, The Emotional Baggage of Layoffs, Decoupling Our Identity and Checking Vitals, Generational Attitudes, Interviews and Future Focus, The Manager’s Experience in Layoffs
3:20 – Meet Leanne Elliott

* Leanne Elliott is a certified business psychologist and leadership coach. She founded a consultancy to help owner-led businesses navigate people and culture with her co-founder and husband Al Elliott.

* In their consultancy Leanne and Al help leaders who may not have the experience in how to engage and motivate people.
* If you missed our discussions with Al Elliott that led up to this discussion with Leanne, check out Episode 235 and Episode 236.


* Leanne is also the co-host of the Truth, Lies, and Workplace Culture Podcast with Al Elliott (part of the Hubspot podcast network). The podcast has a similar focus to that of their consultancy.

* On Truth, Lies, and Workplace Culture you will find discussions on topics such as leadership, neurodiversity, and toxic workplaces with the goal of giving owner-led businesses the tools they need to create amazing workplace cultures.



4:11 – An Interest in Studying Psychology

* For a great background story on Leanne from her own podcast that we really enjoyed listening to before we interviewed her on the show, check out this episode of Truth, Lies, and Workplace Culture. Al’s background story for reference can be found here.
* Early on Leanne knew she wanted to pursue psychology. This may have been what author Dan Coyle refers to as ignition.

* When Leanne was in high school a friend lost her mother to meningitis. This was shocking to understand as a 14-year-old, and Leanne didn’t know how to navigate that moment or how to support her friend.
* At the time the school brought in a clinical psychologist to speak to the entire class. The person spoke to the class about how they were feeling, what was normal to feel in that situation, and helped them understand it was a trauma / something unusual for young people to go through.