143. The 'All Up In Your Bizness' Blueprint: A Fun Interview with Author, Julianna Newland

[00:00:07] So Julie, welcome to Girl Take the Lead. We're so grateful to have you join us and tell us about your book and we're looking forward to it. Well good. I'm happy to be on the show and I thank you for the invitation.

[00:00:20] Yeah, definitely. So you want to introduce yourself to our listeners and tell them about your book. Sure. I'm from Indianapolis and I've lived here most of my life. I've worked here most of my life. I've been working for a Fortune 500 company

[00:00:38] and for 24 years as a matter of fact and also for two nonprofits and for the state government and for a trade association. All that is over 30 years and then I retired. And after I retired, I thought, well, what am I going to do with myself? And

[00:00:55] I had while I was working, I would keep these notes of funny and different things that I've observed in the workplace, interactions between men and women and I decided then to compile them and put them in a book. And that's what resulted in all up in your business

[00:01:13] managing your business crap book that I wrote. And I'll tell you a little bit about the book. It's really an eclectic and witty look at the interactions of men and women in the workplace as they deal with

[00:01:30] lots of things such as asking for a pay raise, working on a team, an ever popular office hookup and working on team projects. So that's basically what the book is about. Well, it seemed that I don't know. I got this underline message from the book that

[00:01:54] we should all kind of have a sense of humor. Yes. I found that to be very helpful because if not you'll just cry I think when you think about all of the trauma that you may be going through but seriously just having

[00:02:11] a good sense of humor in life is good for you in your home as well as at the workplace. Yeah. Well, I know definitely that any listener that needs a shot of humor in their maybe very frustrating day, your book would certainly be a solution for that.

[00:02:32] I think so too. Yeah. So I know throughout the book you've got it kind of separated that there's some research that you did and that you've got in the different generations represented in your interviews there. Was there anything that you've kind of learned that surprised you?

[00:02:54] There was really nothing that surprised me and the generations I had were generation X, baby boomers and millennials. There wasn't really anything that surprised me but one thing that's

[00:03:05] that I found to be, I found this one answer to be really more forceful than I thought it would be and that was a comment from a generation X employee who commented on how the younger people

[00:03:21] have sort of a one and done like the University of Kentucky basketball team, one and done attitude where they don't feel they necessarily have to put in a hard day's work because they're maybe gone anyway, have laptop will travel and that really irritates her cohort

[00:03:40] people of her age but she was pretty forceful on it and it got some nodding heads as well. Interesting. And I know in each section you have some fun cocktails that you put in. Can you tell our listeners about why you did that and what they're about?

[00:04:00] Well, I have nine cocktails, original craft cocktails that were created by two bartender friends of mine and I had been talking with them about my book as I was writing it and just to get kind of a reaction from them as I was going along.

[00:04:18] They are very good bartenders and they're very good mixologists and so I said why don't you guys create some drink recipes that are original and I can put them in the book and we'll give them business titles such as thinking outside the box and networking etc.

[00:04:36] So that's what they did so they're in the book. And so did they match the cocktail to the section of that book like, you know, like what one should drink for that particular?

[00:04:50] Not necessarily. I think I just tried to spread them out in the book so that we didn't have a cluster of one liquor versus another and their, I think readers will find that some of them are somewhat

[00:05:05] similar to others but they're truly original. I've tried not all of them, most of them and I had my favorite but what's your favorite? My favorite is thinking outside the box. And what's in that? It's a lemon drink. I love it. Instead of using vodka and lemon,

[00:05:25] it uses lemon chello which is Italian lemon liquor as I recall but that is very tasty. It's nice and crisp and it goes down smooth. Some of our listeners might get the book just to

[00:05:41] enhance their ecstology, right? You also mentioned in the book your muse, right? Why don't you talk a little bit about that and did she have a name? No, she did. Well I've asked her twice for her name

[00:05:58] and she has sold me to go by my own business but she is a two foot tall nymph-like creature who is supposed to be on this earth to help me with my creative writing but she thinks her purpose

[00:06:14] in life is to go out clubbing so that ends up creating a lot of friction between the two of us especially when I'm on deadline and need to get a story written but so we have our tangles back

[00:06:28] and forth and she's basically a smartass if I could say that. She's basically a smartass but she's very knowledgeable and she is my muse and that's why I have to keep reminding her.

[00:06:42] And that's a part of you, I mean would you say that for those who are trying to wrestle with this idea of a muse, is it a part of you that you see that kind of lightens you up and keeps you going?

[00:06:56] Yes, I think so. I think some who have read the book said that perhaps she's my alter ego and but she's almost like a human-like character for me. She wears goucho pants and a tube top

[00:07:13] so she's quite the fashionista and she made me my alter ego now that I think about it a little more when I wrote about her she really came to life. Yeah, the book and I enjoyed writing about

[00:07:29] it. It was kind of cool to see how you wove that in and in the book. Well, you brought a lot of creativity to the book, a lot of different elements. Yes, it's very eclectic. Yeah, no it's really kind of it's very entertaining.

[00:07:47] With all the advice that you've put in that book, what were the ones that had the most charge for you? Easily number one was the Good Old Boys Club. In my 30 years I have observed that it is less

[00:08:06] prominent now than it was 20 or 30 years ago but it still exists and I've talked to younger employees, my sister is one example who deals with upper management who might say 90 percent males

[00:08:22] and we talk about how women can rise to upper management levels and there still is a good old boys club and it's almost like tribalism that they may never go away I think as long as

[00:08:38] until there are more women in upper management who do who can pull other women up to higher management positions. The other thing that I really like to write about is mentors.

[00:08:56] They are very they were very important to me when I was working. I had both male and female mentors and I can't stress it enough to employees to find a mentor, work with them, talk with them,

[00:09:10] be candid and try to help your mentor think of ways that you could benefit other teams and other departments so you get more exposure to those other managers which can help you rise up to the ladder. Yeah well and would that advice be different at all for younger

[00:09:33] generations or? I think it's needed for younger generations just because the dynamics of the workforce are changing so much now with people working partly at home, partly in the office so that that dynamic is a lot different and maybe even more challenging for them where a mentor

[00:09:56] would be very helpful. I know I always felt that when I had even just a work friend or a mentor that it helped me stay centered and grounded with all of the things right going on. Yes.

[00:10:19] Yeah those work friends are precious I think. I still want to talk to you who can understand what you're going through and have some empathy. Yeah I know that some of them listen to the podcast

[00:10:36] some of them it's so great to be that connected you know still. Yes. I think that is part of the beauty of women helping women. Yes that is a wonderful thing yes. Yeah and that connection.

[00:10:53] Have you gotten any feedback from your readers on things that hit them? Yes one of my Boomer readers told me that as she was reading my book she sort of relived a lot of things that occurred to her

[00:11:13] and her career along the way and found that quite interesting and funny. Most people have said found the book to be funny which is good because that's what I wanted it to be. I wanted them to

[00:11:26] realize it is written tongue and cheek but I also offer good advice to employees. So the feedback has been that it's good. I asked a couple of men I said do you think it's too heavily tilted

[00:11:40] towards women and they said no they found it also funny too and thought it would be enjoyed by men as well. Oh that's great. Well when we think about humor I think humor when we see ourselves in it or we see

[00:11:56] the obvious truth that you're talking about we relate to it and we all kind of well oh yeah when we can get a little chuckle and laughter from what you're saying so right maybe we're all seeing ourselves in those different situations right and they can relate to that.

[00:12:18] Yes. Yeah I just wondered if there was anything else that you want to pass along to our listeners and our younger generation listeners especially given all of the experiences you've had and the

[00:12:41] great book you've written what would you say to them what is the most important thing for them to take away? I would direct this message to females and say when you do get a bump up the ladder

[00:12:58] raise your put your arm down and grab up someone else another female too be on the lookout for women who are struggling to get an advancement at work or struggling to get a pay raise

[00:13:12] find opportunities where they can work on a project where they could be a team leader and suggest that to their manager so that way it helps women have more visibility within their job and can help them possibly with the pay raise or increase in their position.

[00:13:32] Well great anything else that you would like to pass along? I do I want them to know that my book is available online at amazon.com and barnsandnoble.com and I would appreciate it if

[00:13:47] people would it's a short book you could read it over a two hour lunch or two hour potty break so just enjoy it I think it would be a lot of fun and I'll have that information in the show notes

[00:14:01] for everybody too so that they can link to it and print it easily. So Julie I think I think unless there's something else we missed that might be our episode. That's good I enjoyed it I hope the listeners found it interesting. Yeah well I think

[00:14:20] the different elements and the creative elements you've put into it just make it most a lot of us are looking to be entertained and educated at the same time right? Yes especially in this environment

[00:14:35] it's just become so I don't want to even use an adjective to describe it but I think just the general mood of the country is getting very pessimistic and sad to see. Yeah we had a

[00:14:50] very early episode I think it's our first one no second one maybe on humor and leadership and how important that is to have you know to kind of neutralize the stress a bit for people

[00:15:04] that we're leading and help them to interpret what is going on in a way so I think you're a great reminder for all of us on keeping our sense of humor. Yes indeed. Thank you for that. Oh you're

[00:15:20] welcome. Okay and thank you for joining us today. Thank you so much. Okay.