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Welcome to the new Manager 
podcast. 

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I'm your host, Kim Nichol. 
Hello and welcome. 

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I'm glad you're here and I hope 
you're doing well. 

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I just got this box and inside 
is the Ester Perel Culture Amp 

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card deck. 
Where should we begin at work? 

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And so I'm going to open this 
up. 

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We're going to see what's 
inside. 

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I'm excited. 
OK, so let me see here. 

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Be very careful with sharp 
objects. 

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Close that away. 
OK, let's see here. 

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Oh, this is pretty. 
I like it. 

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OK where should we begin? 
At work. 

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I'm going to get my knife out 
again. 

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I'm going to open this up. 
Very careful here. 

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So I'm been a fan of Ester Pearl
for a long time. 

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I think the way she talks about 
relationships is really smart 

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and practical and useful, and I 
love that she talks about 

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relationships in the workplace, 
not just in our romantic life. 

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Oh, this is nice. 
It feels like, oh, what's 

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happening here? 
Oh, I see. 

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Yes. 
OK, so cool. 

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We've got a little satisfying 
magnetic closure and then, oh, 

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it opens up and let's see, we've
got more shrink wrap, which is 

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good. 
OK, we got all the cards staying

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together. 
Let's try to open this up one 

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more time and get the shrink 
wrap off. 

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All right, so we have got a 
bunch of cards here and maybe 

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what I'll do is I'll bring it 
back up so we can talk through 

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this and look through this very 
substantial card deck together. 

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Well, very cool. 
OK, one second. 

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So these are the cards and I 
haven't shuffled them so that 

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it's one side of the card. 
It looks all the same. 

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It's just this nice pattern and 
we can put them into the box and

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we'll just pull the top card. 
So the top card says I secretly 

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taught myself how to. 
I secretly taught myself how to.

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That's a fun one. 
And I'll also note that on the 

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box there is this QR code for 
how to play. 

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I haven't looked at that yet at 
all. 

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We're just going to dive right 
into the product. 

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If I pull up another stack of 
cards we've got here. 

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Oh, I'm seeing some interesting 
things. 

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OK, here's another card. 
It is difficult for me to ask 

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for help when. 
It is difficult for me to ask 

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for help when. 
And I'm noticing there's a 

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different icon in the corner. 
This is a paper clip compared to

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the first one where the icon in 
the corner was like this little 

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document shape. 
So there are different sort of 

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categories or themes here. 
Let's pull another one of the 

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paper clip questions. 
A passion I lost touch with but 

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want to reignite. 
So one of the things I'm already

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appreciating about this deck is 
that it's providing prompts, 

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right? 
Like, how would you answer the 

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rest of the question? 
Here's another one I hope to be 

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remembered at our company for. 
If I were doing this, I would 

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change the word company to 
organization because not 

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everyone works in a company, 
right? 

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Like if you work, you know, in, 
in higher Ed, if you work for a 

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government agency, sometimes if 
you work in a nonprofit, you 

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might not use the language of 
company. 

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You might use the word of 
organization. 

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I personally like that language 
because I feel like it's most 

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accurate for, for, for the most 
people. 

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And it also, I think speaks to 
the real heart. 

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Like whatever organization you 
are in, how do you want to be 

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remembered? 
I hope to be remembered at our 

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organization for. 
And so the so coming back. 

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So one of the things I'm really 
appreciating about these prompts

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are I can see how it would be a 
way to, you know, invite 

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reflection both, you know, just 
for you, if you were going 

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through this deck and you were 
getting more clear as you were 

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reflecting on some of these 
prompts, but also with your 

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team, I can see how you might 
use some of these prompts to get

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to know each other a little 
better, but without being too 

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invasive or personal. 
And they're all still, you know,

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kind of related or connected to 
how we work together and what 

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are, you know, preferences and 
styles are and kind of, you 

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know, fun facts about us, but 
they're still, you know, sort of

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like safe for the work 
environment and and also 

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interesting, right, and kind of 
fun. 

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So here's one. 
It says my go to emoji instead 

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of using words. 
This would be a fun one to ask 

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of colleagues, right? 
Like not a lot of pressure, but 

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sort of fun to learn. 
Like what's your go to emoji 

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instead of using words? 
So my guess is that, you know, 

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if I went through the entire 
deck or if I went through the 

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instructions, I would find that 
each icon means something 

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specific. 
Here is 1. 

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It has a like a little pencil 
icon in the bottom and it says, 

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you bring out the best in me 
when. 

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That's a wonderful question, 
right? 

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And you can even think about 
using that in your personal life

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too, like you bring out the best
in me when. 

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But think about what this would 
mean for the workplace. 

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What kind of conversation might 
ignite by sharing this? 

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You bring out the best in me 
when I'm even imagining that. 

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If you had this deck, you could 
use it to help think of what 

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kinds of conversations do you 
want to have with people on your

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team without necessarily making 
it a formal activity. 

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So it doesn't have to be, hey, 
let's all pull a card and do a 

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conversation starter. 
But you might go through these 

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and it might have you pause and 
think, you know, I actually do 

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want to to talk about, you know,
you bring out the best in me 

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when because that helps me 
clarify what within our 

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relationship allows us to do the
best work. 

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And maybe that means going to my
manager and saying, you know, I 

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just wanted to let you know, I 
was thinking about, you know, 

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the way that we work together. 
And I just wanted to, to call 

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out, you really bring out the 
best in me when you do this. 

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You bring out the best in me 
when you know, like you said 

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this or you help me with this 
challenge or you, you bring out 

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the best in me when you tell me 
kind of what the bigger vision 

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is, because that always makes me
feel really inspired and helps 

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me focus on what's really 
important. 

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And I really appreciate that 
about you. 

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So I can see how you might be 
able to use these to enhance 

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your working relationships in a 
few different ways, like 

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formally, informally, and even 
thinking about my goodness, your

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own career journey. 
You know, if you, if you had 

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that question, you know, you 
bring out the best in me when 

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and thinking about your, your 
work experience, you say, wow, 

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actually nothing about this 
place brings out the best in me.

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I feel like this current 
environment brings out the worst

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in me. 
And getting clear about that for

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yourself, You know, sometimes we
forget that what we're 

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experiencing is sometimes in 
response to an environment 

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around us. 
And of course, like, this is 

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actually very top of mind right 
now because I've had a few 

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conversations in the last couple
of weeks with people that have 

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made changes in their like 
career direction or have gotten 

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new jobs. 
And a lot of times it was 

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because they didn't feel like 
the current work environment was

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bringing, bringing out the best 
in them. 

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It was more like bringing out 
the worst in them or bringing 

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out the most exhausted version 
of them or the most like 

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frustrated version. 
And there's a point where we 

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say, you know, how much of this 
is me, how much of this can I 

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work to change? 
And how much of it is actually 

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you Like this is I don't know. 
It's not me. 

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It's, I'm having a very 
reasonable response to very 

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challenging circumstances. 
And now that I've, I've 

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attempted to make things better 
where I am, I'm also now 

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thinking of where do I want to 
go next? 

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What is the environment or what 
is the working relationship that

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would bring out the best in me? 
And why don't I articulate that 

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for myself so I can start 
looking for it elsewhere. 

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So, you know, I like this deck. 
I think that this is pretty 

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cool. 
I mean, as you can see, it's a 

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pretty substantive deck, right? 
There's a lot. 

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There's a very thick stack of 
cards here with so many 

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different prompts, so many 
different ways to be thoughtful 

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about using them. 
Oh, here's a really good one. 

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A team building activity I hope 
to never do again. 

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Have you ever done a team 
building activity and you think,

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please no, never again? 
That can be a good one too. 

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You know, we all have 
differences. 

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For some folks the, you know, 
the improv activity is their 

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favorite, and for others it's 
the absolute worst. 

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You know, we're different, we 
have different preferences. 

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So anyways, I'm going to tuck 
all of these little cards back 

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into the box. 
I really do like this container 

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and I'll say too, like the card,
it does have like a playing card

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feel. 
So it's got some substance to 

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it. 
Like it's not super flimsy. 

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I like the card feel and it even
has a very subtle texture. 

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So it feels there's just like a 
good feel to the paper of it and

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it can sit in this nice little 
container and just like sit 

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right on your desk. 
So this is the where should I 

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begin at work card deck from 
Esther Perel and Culture Amp. 

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A game of stories is what it 
says a game of stories. 

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And let's look on the back. 
What does it say here? 

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Where should we begin at work? 
Esther Perel, the renowned, 

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renowned, renowned Esther 
Ferrell, the renowned 

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psychotherapist and relationship
expert, joins forces with 

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Culture Amp, the groundbreaking 
employee experience platform, to

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introduce a game designed to 
transform your work culture, one

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story and one relationship at a 
time. 

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Oh, contents. 100 cards. 
So there you go. 

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There are 100 cards and I'll 
share too. 

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Like I bought this, this, this 
wasn't, you know, sponsored. 

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It wasn't gifted to me. 
I was just genuinely curious 

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about it because I'm, as I 
mentioned, I'm a big fan of 

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ester's work and I like simple 
things. 

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If it's simple, then it's more 
likely to be used simple 

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framework, simple tools. 
It's so easy to get lost in the 

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complexity. 
And I think a tool like this, 

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where it's simple and it can be 
used immediately and easily 

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means that you will have a 
greater likelihood of it being 

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effective and having a positive 
effect. 

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So from what I can tell, this is
a recommend, I would say in, in 

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terms of tools to support, you 
know, you as a manager or you as

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a colleague and a person at work
who wants to have better work 

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relationships. 
I think you could even use these

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for journal topics, you know, to
think through your own work 

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experience and maybe even the 
experiences that you would like 

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to have, whether in your current
organization or maybe in the 

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next 1. 
So that's where we're at. 

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That's where what we've got 
today. 

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Thanks so much for watching, and
I hope to see you again next 

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time. 
Bye. 

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When you're more effective at 
work, you're happier in your 

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life. 
And when you're happier in your 

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life, you're more effective at 
work. 

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I can help. 
Go to my website, Kim Nicholcom,

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and sign up for a coaching 
consult. 

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It can get better.