b CAUSE with Erin & Nicole: Recent Episodes
Erin Hatzikostas
to break the norm. Two longtime friends, who are opposites in just about everything, come together to help you contemplate and contend with the “bS” that is in work, life and everything in between. The b CAUSE podcast will take you into Erin and Nicole’s lives - on Nicole’s couch, to the streets and everywhere in between - while they explore authenticity in work...and in play. Grab a drink, put your feet up and come along for a journey that will involve hysterics, unsanitized thoughts, career advice, random encounters, important guests and who the hell knows what else.
Listen in for laughs, love and authentic self-reflection as Erin and Nicole meet for a 'How Was Your Week?' episode. Delving into the world outside of America, Nicole discusses her trip to Spain and reconnecting with her inner-traveler (a traveler who likes to sneak high-quality ham back to the U.S).
While Erin talks about her tactics for handling multiple projects - and finishing them - with a creative twist. As well as a quick intro into her upcoming video series of online classes.
Discover inspiration, discover cultures, discover authenticity.
DISCLAIMER: This content is not explicit, however, contains mild swearing that may not be suitable for younger audiences.
Tweetable Comments:
"My profound input: we've gone full circle. We used to communicate with pictures on the wall, and now we use emojis. We're right back where we started."
"There's so much joy in seeing other places, sometimes the getting there is hard, but the being there is amazing. I suppose that's true for everything."
"She was very inspiring for me, she basically told me 'you have a formula that works for you' and since then I've come to terms with it and realised, I work best when I'm inspired."
"You confronted something that didn't feel authentic and you owned it, you thought let me recapture this and let me not be afraid to do this again, and di it differently, better."
"I feel like I've found ways to take these big audacious goals that are stacked on top of each other, including releasing this podcast, and I've found creative ways to make it flow better and more authentically, and also not have an anxiety attack - so I feel good."
How do Erin and Nicole define authenticity? Well, they certainly each have their own point of view. They come to some rough definitions...including moral compi or compassesses.
Nicole discusses her role working in warzones and dangerous locations, and how compassion and integrity play an important role in her authenticity. Where did she most test her authenticity? When negotiating her way out of being detained abroad (in transit, no arrests!)
Erin talks humility at work and the facade of the corporate smile, and she's clearly passionate about the inauthentic corporate communications that leave employees underwhelmed.
Disclaimer: This show is not explicit, though contains mild swearing that may not be suitable for younger audiences.
Tweetable Comments:
"When I think of authenticity I think of compassion because that is how you interact with the world at it's most basic, critical level."
"And at the end, when they were putting all my bobby pins back in my suitcase and putting the guns away, they said, "we've talked to a lot of people like you...but nobody actually told us what you were doing."
"For a long time, my definition of doing good in the world was trying to help everybody, but I had to step back from that and say "I have a certain set of tools, and I can help a certain set of people at a certain time with a certain thing."
"Operate in front of the curtain, if you have to act behind the curtain then something is wrong."
"The bcc is bullshit."
be transparent, because if you can't be transparent, if you can't be honest, especially with yourself, you've got work to do."
"For me, authenticity is humility, and maybe that's because of the context of working in a corporate world, but people weren't authentic."
"99 out of 100 people do not read those communications written by somebody else, and the one person that does regrets it."
"There's just so much that happens in the corporate world that is an exercise in futility, to check a box and to look good for the people that don't matter."
"At the end of the day, it's remaining true to that inner voice. Would I do that at a dinner party? Then I'll be like it at work too."
"My phone was congratulating me for having the most activity I've ever had before 10am: I walked a whole quarter of a mile. I think that's because I walked up your driveway from my car."
Turning the table (and the microphone) we delve into Erin's backstory, her journey from small-town Mid-West to the high-rise corporate life, and all the butts sniffed along the way. As well as a few insights from Erin's six-year-old son, managing life as a top ranking CEO, a mother, and a wife, there's something for everyone in this rollercoaster of an episode. DISCLAIMER: This content is not explicit, though contains mild swearing that may not be suitable for younger audiences. Tweetable Comments: "Acquiescing, and forcing people to take the lead, is the biggest enablement and support you can give."
"We're running around like crazy sniffing butts." "I think Corporate America is too traditional, it isn't diverse, certainly in women's leadership, people of color, and overall diversity, that segregation won't get us far." "We've got a new acronym, non-Pinterest moms, I'm and NPM."
"You learn these leadership principles, and then you go home and it all goes to hell in a handbasket."
"Mick looks at me, six years old, and says 'at least you made it to 43' - thanks Mick."
Erin pops the question(s) to Nicole in this totally impromptu first episode. Hanging out in Nicole's living room, along with their friend Megan, Erin breaks out her phone and interviews Nicole to get her thoughts on starting this venture, how she thinks about authenticity, and so much more.
We dabble in Nicole's backstory, Erin's quirky questions, and both their authentic laughs.
From ghosts taking Corporate America by hostage to the infallible Mother Teresa, there's no topic that can't be put under the microscope of authenticity.
DISCLAIMER This content is not explicit, though contains mild swearing that may not be suitable for younger audiences.
Tweetable Comments
"I think hostage taking is a pretty effective tool."
"I'm still holding on, but I tell you, the granny panties will come out at some point."
"What is authentic, that's an important question and I don't think we have an answer, I don't think we know in this day and age what that means."
"Hello, America Waste Company. Welcome to urban America. Real problems, real things, real distractions, authentic distractions."
"It's going to be through the community, through talking about authenticity you're kind of giving permission, and I think that there's a lot of people out there that need that permission to be authentic."
"I don't want like-minded, that's why we want to investigate this notion of authenticity and we're not looking to just sit in a sound room, we want to talk to people who aren't like ourselves."
A podcast that is determined to break the norm. Two longtime friends, who are opposites in just about everything, come together to help you contemplate and contend with the “bS” that is in work, life and everything in between. In this first special episode, Erin & Nicole sit down in podcast-land AND in YouTube-land (check out the video on YouTube if you want to see your hosts) to give you a glimpse into what this podcast is all about.