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Uncomfortable Conversations | Kim Bode’s Inaugural Episode for The Hard Cost of Soft Skills

September 10, 2026

Uncomfortable Conversations

Chris Holman welcomes back Kim Bode, Dog rescuer, community advocate, and proud Michigan business owner, 8THIRTY FOUR Integrated Communications, Grand Rapids, MI, this time as she launches her show/series ‘Uncomfortable Conversations. She’s welcomed to MBN, interviews Chris, and then gives thorough insight into what everyone will learn about over the course of the mini-series.

Hear Kim and Chris interview each other as is tradition for new shows on MBN and then Kim sets the stage for the upcoming six episodes. Uncomfortable Conversations: The Hard Cost of Soft Skills is not an argument against technology or AI. It is a conversation about keeping people at the center of business while Michigan employers navigate a rapidly changing workforce in the SoundCloud podcast shared below:

Michigan Business Network · Uncomfortable Conversations | Kim Bode’s Inaugural Episode for The Hard Cost of Soft Skills

Segment 1

Chris Holman welcomes Kim Bode to the Michigan Business Network and reacquaints listeners with her work as the owner of 8THIRTYFOUR, a communications and learning company in Grand Rapids. Kim explains how the business has evolved over nearly two decades, expanding beyond communications into what she calls the “learning space,” with a focus on developing people and telling the stories of the people who matter.

Kim then introduces Uncomfortable Conversations: The Hard Cost of Soft Skills, a seven-episode series examining the growing challenges employers face with talent, early-career professionals, and workplace skills. She explains that the issue has a measurable business cost, from employee turnover and lost productivity to the cost of not hiring, and says the series will bring employers, Gen Z professionals, and experts into the conversation to better understand the gap and explore solutions.

Segment 2

Kim takes over as host and turns the microphone on Chris, asking him to reflect on workplace dynamics and employer-employee relationships during the 1980s. Chris describes a very different employment environment, particularly the importance of communication and interpersonal skills in sales, while also explaining how expectations and technology have continued to change the workplace. Their conversation highlights the need for workers across generations to adapt as technology becomes increasingly central to how businesses operate.

The discussion then turns to Gen Z and the distinction between growing up with technology and actually knowing how to use it effectively in a workplace. Kim points to communication, listening, problem solving, critical thinking, and accountability as essential “survival skills,” while Chris connects the discussion to the continuing talent challenge identified through the Michigan Future Business Index. Kim closes by previewing a series that will bring together business owners, young professionals, thought leaders, and behavioral experts to examine the disconnect from multiple perspectives.

Segment 3

Kim begins by challenging the idea that today’s young workers simply lack preparation, pointing instead to changes in how generations have developed communication, problem-solving, and other workplace skills. She reflects on the role that experiences such as Home Economics and shop class once played in preparing young people for everyday challenges, and connects their disappearance to some of the challenges employers are now experiencing. With Michigan small businesses reporting staffing difficulties and hiring reaching historically low levels, Kim argues that simply avoiding younger workers is not a sustainable solution.

She then previews Episodes 2 and 3 of the series. The Cost Nobody Is Calculating will examine the real cost of losing an employee, including recruiting, onboarding, lost productivity, and management time, while asking whether skills training can deliver a meaningful return for employers. Understanding the Gap will shift the perspective toward young professionals, exploring the effects of the pandemic, remote school, and a fractured social environment on workplace readiness, while moving beyond labels such as laziness or entitlement to focus on what employers and young workers can do to close the gap.

Segment 4

Kim previews Episode 4, The Shortcut, beginning with the complicated relationship between young professionals, technology, and artificial intelligence. She questions the assumption that a generation raised with technology automatically knows how to use AI effectively in the workplace, particularly when businesses are investing heavily in technology without necessarily investing at the same level in the people expected to use it. The episode will explore whether AI is actually creating efficiencies or simply creating new work involving fact-checking, editing, problem-solving, and oversight.

The episode will feature Jason Dodge, founder of Black Truck Media, and examine how AI is affecting digital marketing, content strategy, SEO, and client work. Kim plans to explore the difference between being AI-assisted and AI-dependent, the liability and limitations surrounding AI, and the workplace skills employees still need to develop. The larger question is whether AI is truly a shortcut for businesses or whether the technology can become more costly when the underlying human skills are missing.

Segment 5

Kim previews Episode 5, Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace, focusing on how anxiety, burnout, emotional regulation, and mental health challenges can ultimately show up as business performance issues. She argues that what employers may see as missed deadlines, disengagement, short tempers, or other performance problems can sometimes reflect an employee who is struggling and does not know how to communicate what is happening. For small-business owners without dedicated HR departments or employee assistance programs, understanding how to respond can be particularly challenging.

The episode will look at emotional intelligence from both business and behavioral perspectives, including how workplace expectations and emotional regulation can differ across generations. Kim will explore what reasonable mental health support can look like inside a small business, where the line falls between being a supportive employer and becoming an employee’s therapist, and how communication, empathy, and emotional intelligence can affect productivity, retention, and workplace culture.

Segment 6

Kim shifts the series toward solutions with a preview of Episode 6, What Good Looks Like. Rather than simply identifying the cost of employee turnover, the episode will examine what meaningful investment in people actually looks like inside a Michigan small business. Kim emphasizes that effective employee investment is not necessarily about ping pong tables, perks, or simply increasing pay. It involves clear expectations, opportunities to ask questions, time to learn systems and processes, and a workplace structure that helps people understand how they contribute to the business.

The series will then conclude with Episode 7, What Changes Now, which focuses on creating a new employer-employee relationship built around honesty, clear expectations, and adaptation. Kim sees Michigan’s relationship-driven small-business community as being particularly well positioned to take action rather than simply continue discussing the workforce gap. She will provide practical resources and starting points for business owners, while returning to the central theme of the series: workplaces are ultimately built around people, and meaningful solutions require real conversations between those people.

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