Episode 205: Winning at Business and Life with Coreyne Woodman-Holoubek

This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and and what you do.

Hi, Professor Pete. Thanks for having me on. My name is Karine Wooden-Hollebeck, and that's Hollebeck like Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl. Yes, it is. And I'm the founder of Progressive HR and also the host of Progressive HR Live. So Progressive HR is a service that helps tech— HR tech founders connect with decision makers and get them ready to buy. As well, I advise HR professionals to stand out and make a difference on LinkedIn.

Corinne, it's great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?

Um, I laugh every day because I like to have fun, uh, but what makes me smile is connecting with people and finding their unique and powerful ways to help showcase their knowledge and their content, their perspectives, and of course their technology, um, on LinkedIn to build that trust and rapport with others. And so we can all make a difference.

Oh, I love it. I can hear the passion in your voice. It's so fun. Question number 3. I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?

The one called Resourceful Humans. And I say that because we're all HR. We're all humans. We're all resourceful. We're all unique, resourceful humans. And I say we all have to be kind to each other. Each other, not have judgment for each other, and surround yourself— surround ourselves with supportive and unique people. Because there's so many supportive and unique people out there. Talent is all around us. I don't know if you heard of the Korn Ferry prediction that they predict that in 2030, there will have— we will have about 85 million— a gap of shortage of 85 million jobs. Because we can't find people who are skilled enough to do that. And I say that is baloney because, like I said, tech talent is all around us. Um, transformation, digital transformation, any type of transformation is about people and tech, not just tech and not just people.

I love it. Very insightful. And it's interesting too because I'm seeing articles on LinkedIn being posted. I'm sure you have as well about the certain types of jobs that are most in demand now. And of course, a lot of it has to do with the dynamics that have been changed by COVID, etc. So this is a perfect example of that. So I love that you, you use that as a chapter. It's a great selection. Question number 4: Other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?

Um, have fun, have fun with life. Uh, you know, you gotta have fun. And here's the thing too, is like, don't compare yourself to other people. What you have to offer is uniquely your own because you're innately talented and you're an individual. And it really works when you focus on what your value offering is as that unique individual. Um, when you talk about and create content that resonates with your audience, Creating content from your knowledge and perspective builds relationships, trust, and rapport. And that's something only you as a unique individual can provide.

I love that. And specifically when you were talking about having fun and stuff, I can't tell you how many times I had roles where fun, which is something that's a personal value of mine, wasn't there. And it makes those days so much longer and those weeks so much longer and the stress that's added to that. I mean, is that something that you've found as well?

Yeah, absolutely. One of the things that I did to improve my professionalism, I went to an improv class. And that ended up just improving my life so much. Like, improv improved me. And I went to, like I said, I went to improve my speaking, to improve my presence. But what it did in turn was help me have a zest and a vigor, a zeitgeist for life.

I think that's a great idea. There's several people I know that have done that, including myself too, with the improv. It is amazing how that can really build confidence for you to be able to respond to stuff on a whim, right? I mean, that's, that's, that's what I experienced.

Yes, and there's so many guiding forces in improv. One of the main things that we learned is like, it's okay to make mistakes. Like, celebrate your mistakes because that's where the beauty happens.

Absolutely, because if we don't make mistakes, how do we know what's the right thing to do? You know, it's, it's, you know, you got to learn from those mistakes. It's great. I love it. Absolutely love it. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?

Yeah, someone very close and personal to me, my husband Bruce Hollibeck from Contracted Leadership.

Oh great, well thank you. I'll reach out to him. And our final question, question number 6: Please tell me about your first job.

So my first job, uh, when I believe I'd say I was 10 years old, um, was working in my family's business. So my family, uh, is, um, back then we were the, um, family owners of a grocery store, independent grocery store in Janesville, Wisconsin that was founded in, uh, I almost said 2019, but no, 1919.

Speaking about making mistakes, right?

I know.

I know.

Yeah. You gotta call them out and laugh about them. So yeah, it was about— so I was thinking about this the other day is that so my great-grandfather founded Woodman's Food Markets in 1919, and he was alive during the Civil War. Like, I was thinking about that because we were watching the Free State of Jones the other day. Anyway, so that was one of my digressions. I do a digress a lot. It's part about having fun. So I was, I did a number of different jobs. My father did pay me a wage. It was like maybe 50 cents. And it wasn't child labor because we were family members and that was the law at the time. So I don't want anybody thinking that. So I did everything from stocking bananas to helping package hamburger, sorting coupons, copying, running messages from the office to the store. And since then, so I learned so much from that, just from doing the little things in a business to make it run. And the family business has grown so much and it's now all employee-owned. We don't, we are like the overseers of the business. When I say we, but I meant my father. And we have been, the Woodman's Food Market has been in national news lately. And you know what, want to know why?

Why?

Because Aaron Rodgers loves our commercials.

Oh, how great! Yeah, you've got to have a big celebrity like that.

Yeah, yeah, he— his last interview, he— people were sitting there and like, well, do you still go to grocery stores? And he's like, yeah, I went to Woodman's the other day. He goes, Woodman's Food Markets, you gotta love those commercials that Phil Woodman— Phil Woodman does. And then they asked him another question and he was like, what? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I was just thinking about the Woodlands commercial still.

Oh wow. Talk about a double whammy plug. That's awesome.

I know, I know. You can't, you really can't pay for promotion like that. So look it up, look it up. It's in the news.

I will. I will. Thank you for that. And thank you so much for being on the show. How could people find you?

Um, I'm on LinkedIn every single day except for Well, varying Saturday, Sunday, but yeah, every weekday you can find me on LinkedIn. So DM me, uh, follow me, um, maybe send me a connection request. It's up to you guys, uh, out there. I'm here to help.

Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.

Thanks everyone.