Episode 182: New to the improve it! Podcast? Start Here!
First-time listener? Come on in, the water’s fine.
In this short and sweet ep, Erin gives you the improve it! Podcast history so you have it at the ready for your next Trivia Night, what it is we actually do here at improve it!, what’s in it for you, and what’s on the horizon. The whole nine!
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Connect with Erin Diehl:
Email Erin: info@learntoimproveit.com
Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the improve it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award.
This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre.
When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight-pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl.
You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online!
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Episode 182 Transcription
Erin (00:00):
Hi new friend. I'm Erin Diehl, business improv ed Entertainer, fail Flu and keynote speaker who is ready to help you improve your it, it being the thing that makes you, you. So think of me as your keeping it real. Professional development bestie who is here to help you develop yourself into the best version of you possible so you can develop your team and lead with intentionality, transparency, and authenticity. Oh, and did I mention we're improving your IT through play? That's right. I'm an improvisational comedy expert who uses experiential learning to help you have your aha haha moment. Those are the moments when the light bulb goes off and you're laughing at the same time. So grab your chicken hat, your notebook, and your inner child because I'm gonna take you on a journey that is both fun and transformative. Welcome to the Improve It Podcast.
Erin (01:08):
Hello. Hello. Improve It Peeps. And hello to you, our new listener. If you are someone new to the Improve IT podcast, I wanted to create this short, quick, easy episode for you to get reacquainted with myself as well as the mission behind this show. So first of all, welcome. Thank you for being here. You have chosen to invest not only in yourself, but in your professional development. We have so many new listeners to this show. We have almost 200 episodes of the Improvement Podcast, so this is a tangible place to start. Now, first of all, I wanted you to get to know me. I am Erin Diehl, the founder of Improve It. I'm an improv comedy expert, a facilitator and a podcast host, turned author who has taught over 35,000 people to chicken Dance. That is a real fact spoken on stage with former President Barack Obama and helped thousands of people improve their workday through experiential learning workshops.
Erin (02:24):
So know that I know a thing or two when it comes to improving your life and improving how you show up to work. I'm the founder of this amazing company, improve It who has over 22 improv professionals facilitating our work. I'm a keynote speaker as well as, like I said earlier, a first time author. So when you're listening to this show, whenever it might be, my first book should be coming out in the spring of 2024. So welcome to the show. Welcome to this amazing space on the interwebs that can help you grow both personally and professionally. So I wanna tell you a little bit about Improve It the company, just to give you an idea of what we do, like I mentioned, we've trained over 35,000 people. We've worked with at this time, over 363 unique clients. We've conducted over 787 professional development events.
Erin (03:32):
We worked with corporate clients, including the Obama Foundation, United Airlines, Gatorade, Motorola, Lowe's, Walgreens, Deloitte, Uber Freight, LinkedIn, Warby, Parker, Kellogg's, just to name a few. And we've reached not only audiences local here and the United States, but global audiences in India, Israel, and Europe. And we've most recently traveled to London to deliver workshops to a global audience with one of our amazing clients, AXA xl. So let's just take a quick trip down memory lane. We've been in business since 2014, but due to the Global Pandemic in 2020, we pivot. We had to pivot our completely in-person business to become completely virtual. We made everything so all 10 of our in-person offerings available via Zoom. We launched this podcast and we created two new service offerings, our laugh breaks, which can be seen in Forbes as well as our virtual keynotes. So now back here in 2023 is when I am giving you this episode.
Erin (04:48):
We have launched this show for the past three years. We're now back in person doing hybrid events, doing in-person events, workshops, keynotes, and we've had the Improvement podcast rocking and Roland for over three years. Now, let me take a quick pause right there. Just if you're new to the show, if you scroll back to one of the first 50 episodes, you'll see that the podcast was called The Failed It Podcast. Now, I want you to know that that was intentional. We started off talking about failure because one of the biggest rules of improv comedy is there are no mistakes, only gifts. We leaned into this concept. We interviewed amazing people from authors, thought leaders, influencers, corporate America leaders, and talked to them about their successes through the lens of their failures. 50 episodes in we realized it was a great concept, but there's just so much more to what we do here at Improve It.
Erin (05:55):
We changed the name of the show to the name of our business, the Improve It Podcast, and here we're today, rocking and Roland 182 episodes later. So I want you also to know some of the guests that we've had on the show. So if you wanna go back, start at the beginning, you can listen to some fantastic people. So we've had authors including Kim Scott, who's the author of Radical Candor, Kara Golden, who's the author of the book, undaunted and also the founder of hintwater. We've had Liz Foss Lean, the author of Big Feelings, Judy Haller, the author of Fear is My homeboy. And Sharine Daniels the author of the Anti-Racist Organization. We've also had amazing thought leaders in the professional development space, including Chris Doe, who is the future, C e o, Claude Silver, who is the Chief Heart Officer of Vayner Media with Gary Vaynerchuk.
Erin (06:56):
We've had John Miles, who's the c e o and host of the Passion Struck podcast. Aubrey Blanche, the senior director of People at Culture Amp, mark Metre, who's the top 10 voice in mental health. Christine Michelle Carter, the number one voice for working moms Madison Butler, a thought leader on LinkedIn in corporate Unicorn, Tara Robertson, one of LinkedIn's Top Voices, and Rocky Howard, the Chief Equity and Impact Officer at the Mom Project. So we've also had so many fantastic guests in the personal development space, including Angie Lee, who is a Forbes Top podcast host, Helen Hall Leland, who is the founder of Blender Bombs, Ashley Bowen, who's a self-sabotage coach, and may soon Zed, who is a disability activist. We've had so many amazing comedians pop in on this show and more to come, but would love for you to go back and check out some of these episodes, whether it's from the first 50, which are the Failed It Podcast, or the next 50 plus, which is the Improve It Podcast.
Erin (08:04):
So here's what you can find in each episode, every single month, we set an intention to surround our content with, so that intention helps us book guests that bring content and information about that intention. It helps us come up with shows and episodes for you based on that intention. And if you follow us on social media, you'll see our content will surround that same intention. So you're getting a theme every single month here on the show. And if you aren't following me on social, let's be social friends. I am keeping it real Deal that's keeping with no G i t, real D I E h L, which is my last name on Instagram, and then I'm Erin deal on LinkedIn, the only Erin deal at Improve It. So let's connect there, but you can find deep dives into this content on our social channels as well as here on the show.
Erin (09:09):
Now, just to give you a peak on what's on the horizon for the Improve It Podcast, we were doing three episodes a week. It was awesome. We were rocking and rolling, and what we found from our audience, we call the Improve It Peeps. So hi, improve it Peeps listening here today was that you were liking the shorter, more bite sized content, but it was harder to keep up with so many episodes. So we're scaling back. We're going back to one show a week with very intentional content. However, the length will be kept in mind because we know you like that bite-size content. Another really cool thing on the horizon, my friends, is as I mentioned, I am a first time author and will be launching a book in the spring of 2024. It's all happening, but this book is transformational for you, the leader, the busy leader who loves people, their teams, and helping to inspire the people around you.
Erin (10:13):
I'm not gonna share a lot about it right now, but we're gonna have a lot of episodes coming your way with sneak peeks into the book, how you can get your pre-order, how you can help spread this message and help us create this beautiful mission and actually not create, but help implement this beautiful mission that we are here to get out to the world and spread the message far and wide. So if you're looking for a professional development podcast that will hold your hand guide, you be your personal cheerleader, as well as professional development bestie through the highs and the lows of your career, look no further. You've landed in the right place. Welcome to the Improve It Podcast. Hey, friend, did you enjoy today's show? If so, head on over to iTunes to rate and subscribe. So you never miss an episode. Now, did I mention that when you leave a five star review of the Improve It Podcast, an actual team of humans does a happy dance? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>? That's right. So leave a review for us on iTunes, screenshot it, and send me an email at info learn to improve it.com. I'll send you a personalized video back as a thank you. Thanks so much for listening. Improve It Peeps. I'll see you next Wednesday.