Afleveringen
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In this episode of "Gratitude Through Hard Times," Chris Schembra welcomes Elaine Knight, the Chief People Officer at Behavioral Health Link. Elaine shares her journey and insights on creating a positive and supportive work culture in the behavioral health sector. The conversation delves into the importance of gratitude, mindfulness, and empathy in leadership, and how these values can transform workplace dynamics. Elaine also discusses the challenges and rewards of crisis work, the significance of servant leadership, and the systems that support employee well-being and engagement. Join Chris and Elaine for a heartfelt discussion on leading with purpose and compassion.
Takeaways:
1. Gratitude in Leadership: Integrating gratitude into leadership can foster a positive and resilient work culture.
2. Servant Leadership: Effective leadership involves removing obstacles to help team members perform their best.
3. Importance of Onboarding: A smooth onboarding process is crucial for setting employees up for success.
4. Performance Management: Regular feedback and clear communication are essential for maintaining employee engagement.
5. Systems Theory: Addressing systemic issues can help prevent employee burnout and enhance productivity.
6. Personalized Leadership: Tailoring leadership styles to individual needs can strengthen manager-employee relationships.
7. Role of Optimism: Maintaining a positive outlook can significantly impact personal and organizational success.
Quotes:
1. "Gratitude is an expression of love. It's the heartbeat of a thriving work culture, fueling our connections and lifting our spirits."
2. "People inherently want to do well; we just need to create systems that empower them to unleash their full potential."
3. "Slow down to speed up. In the rush of daily life, taking a moment to breathe and reflect can propel us forward with greater clarity and purpose."
4. "Servant leadership is about removing obstacles so your team can shine. It's about putting others first and fostering an environment where everyone can succeed."
5. "Mindfulness and self-care are not just nice-to-haves; they're essential for well-being. They are the anchors that keep us grounded in the stormy seas of life."
6. "Leadership is about inspiration and helping others find their best selves. It's about lighting the path so others can walk confidently and boldly."
7. "Invest in your people proactively to prevent burnout and attrition. A thriving team is the backbone of any successful organization."
8. "Start with why: It brings clarity and motivation. When we understand our purpose, we are unstoppable."
9. "Optimism is a great predictor of success. Believing in positive outcomes can create a self-fulfilling prophecy of achievement."
10. "In the face of adversity, ask yourself: What is this challenge teaching me? Every struggle is an opportunity for growth and learning."
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Elaine Knight, MBA, SPHR, is a transformative and engaging HR executive with over fifteen years of expertise in human capital strategy and execution. As the Chief People Officer at Behavioral Health Link, Elaine has crafted unparalleled employee experiences through well-planned and data-driven business strategies, specializing in environments where high performers thrive and drive optimal business results.
Elaineâs distinguished career includes a proven track record in revitalizing performance management initiatives and ensuring legal compliance across multiple states. She excels in supporting rapidly growing organizations with a unique blend of corporate and consulting experience. Elaineâs credentials include a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification and a Masterâs in Business Administration from Georgia State University.
At Behavioral Health Link, Elaine has implemented organizational strategies, HR system infrastructures, and programs to drive operational excellence and employee engagement. Her leadership has been instrumental in streamlining contract workflows, launching a new talent acquisition strategy, and overhauling the performance management system. She has also played a key role in supporting the organizationâs growth across 26 states, improving retention, and reducing turnover.
Elaineâs dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), wellness, employee relations, and engagement is reflected in her past achievements, including the creation of employee resource groups and fostering a companywide culture of inclusion. Her service-oriented mindset and team-oriented approach have made her a strong communicator and collaborator, providing executive teams with invaluable HR insights.
Elaine is deeply passionate about mindfulness, gratitude, empathy, and self-care She believes that nurturing these qualities within workplace cultures is essential for building resilience and fostering a supportive environment. Her personal interests include enjoying nature walks by the Chattahoochee River, practicing yoga, and exploring new cultures and cuisines through international travel.
ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours," he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
FOLLOW CHRIS:
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | LINKEDIN | BOOKS
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In this conversation, Chris Schembra interviews Enrico Galasso, the CEO of Peroni, an iconic Italian beer brand. They discuss Enrico's new book, âPer I Prossimi 175 Anniâ, the importance of empathy and meaningful connections in leadership, and the challenges and opportunities of managing a brand with a long history. Enrico emphasizes the need for leaders to be adaptable, to learn from both successes and failures, and to create a culture of connection and psychological safety. They also explore the value of investing in a premium experience and the role of emotions and experiences in building a brand.
Enrico talks about Peroni's efforts to translate the Italian lifestyle into a global success, focusing on rugby and Ferrari as partnerships that embody the brand's values. He emphasizes the importance of empathy in leadership and shares his personal journey of becoming more empathic. Enrico's purpose is to leave a better place for future generations and to give his children the opportunity to be happy. The conversation highlights the power of authenticity, simplicity, and connection in leadership.
Support Enricoâs New Book HERE
https://www.store.rubbettinoeditore.it/catalogo/per-i-prossimi-175-anni/
Takeaways
Leaders need to be adaptable and learn from both successes and failures.Creating a culture of connection and psychological safety is crucial for fostering innovation and engagement.Investing in a premium experience and building a brand that evokes emotions and experiences can differentiate a product from a brand.The world is moving towards premiumization, where people are willing to spend more for products and brands that offer value and a sense of accomplishment.Success in the long run requires investing in people's well-being and creating a culture that attracts and grows talent.Empathy is a crucial trait for leaders, and being intentional about connecting with people in an empathic way can have a significant impact.Enrico's purpose is to leave a better place for future generations and to give his children the opportunity to be happy.Authenticity, simplicity, and connection are key elements of effective leadership.Success and happiness come from being true to oneself and serving others.Taking small steps, such as asking people how they feel instead of how they are, can lead to more meaningful connections and better understanding in the workplace.Leaders should strive to be consistent in their awareness of who they are and be open to learning and growing.Changing one person's whole world is a powerful way to make a positive impact.The Italian culture embodies a commitment to tradition and innovation, honoring history while dreaming of the future.Sound Bites
"Sometimes you also need to be looking at the positives even when something doesn't go well. Everybody can be somebody you can learn from.""Peroni is a historical icon, but every icon has to be relevant in the moment. To be relevant in the moment, it has to look at the future to ensure that when the moment comes, it is ready.""When you look back too much, it becomes a form of nostalgia. It's not something you actually look for to find your strengths.""We are here for a legacy. We always need to think what the new people of Peroni and the new Italians and consumers worldwide will think of us in 20 years, in 25 years.""Successes of the past can be a fuel for future success, or they can be a weight that should hold you back.""Excellence is something that changes every year. Whatever helped you have success yesterday, probably it's not going to be enough.""You need to learn from your failures, but also from your successes because there is always an inch that you can gain and be faster in what you do.""In an organization, the ability to deliver a plan, to build a strategy cannot be of one person. Whatever strategy you are building is going to be old tomorrow.""You need people that don't feel like they have a hierarchical barrier in front of them or they need to feel like they have the courage to actually talk and express what they think.""The more you realize that with the impact you can do good, then you can be much more intentional in doing good at being empathic with people."Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Earthquake
01:10 Welcoming Repeat and New Listeners
03:36 Enrico's Book and Peroni's History
04:15 Expressing Gratitude to Enrico's Father
07:18 Remembering Challenging and Great Moments in Peroni's History
10:15 Understanding the Present Moment and Building the Future
12:25 Learning from Successes and Failures
13:24 Managing Ambiguity and Elevating Excellence
15:35 Creating a Culture of Connection and Horizontal Leadership
19:10 Avoiding Excuses and Investing in People
21:22 Investing in a Premium Experience and Building a Brand
23:25 The Shift Towards Premiumization
25:18 Investing in People's Well-being and Talent
25:45 Translating the Italian Lifestyle into Global Success
26:42 The Power of Rugby and Ferrari in Peroni's Brand
31:36 The Importance of Empathy in Leadership
41:24 Leaving a Better Place for Future Generations
45:34 Authenticity, Simplicity, and Connection in Leadership
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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In this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times, we're thrilled to welcome Lisa Besserman, a luminary in both the technology and venture capital worlds. Lisa, the Founder of Startup Buenos Airesâwhich was successfully acquiredâhas made remarkable strides in the tech industry, earning her a spot among Business Insider's "Top 100 Most Influential Women in Tech," alongside notable figures like Sheryl Sandberg and Arianna Huffington. It's worth noting, with a humble chuckle, that she ranked #94 on this illustrious list.
Currently, Lisa serves as the Head of Innovation at JP Morgan Chase Operations. In her role, she collaborates with startups and leverages emerging technologies to address complex challenges within the world's leading financial institution. Before this, she was the Managing Director at Expa VC, a venture fund and startup studio with a $350M investment focus ranging from pre-seed to series A startups.
Lisa's entrepreneurial spirit was sparked as the Founder and CEO of Startup Buenos Aires, an accelerator program designed to nurture and connect startups across Latin America. Her influence and insights have been recognized by NBC, Bloomberg TV, Reuters, Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes, and CNN, and she's shared her knowledge through guest lectures at prestigious institutions like NYU, MIT, Northwestern, Harvard, Berkeley, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Aside from her professional accolades, Lisa shares her personal journey to Everest Base Camp in this episode. She delves into the essence of mountaineering versus hiking, the value of setting finite goals, and the emotional rollercoaster of nights spent on the mountain. Lisa's story is a testament to the power of living in the moment, embracing challenges, and the profound impact of pursuing meaningful goals.
Takeaways
Mountaineering offers a unique sense of completion and achievement, unlike many other pursuits.Embracing the present and the journey itself is key to personal fulfillment and happiness.Success in reaching challenging goals demands perseverance, effort, and an open mindset.The investment in meaningful experiences yields lasting benefits.Chapters
00:00 The Dream of Everest
03:20 Mountaineering as a Finite Goal
05:22 Atelic Activities
06:22 Finding Calm in the Midst of a Daunting Goal
08:57 The Moving Goalpost of Success
11:21 The Challenges of Nights on the Mountain
13:41 Type 1 Fun vs Type 2 Fun
15:42 The Desire to Achieve
17:04 Living in the Present
19:44 Stepping Out of the Future and into the Present
22:02 The Positive Benefits of Bucket List Achievements
23:23 The Impatience of the Impulsive World
27:14 Investing Time for Energy
33:16 Feeling Nothing at the Destination
39:48 The Trainer Who Took a Chance
42:07 Closing Remarks
Lisa's multifaceted lifeâfrom her accolades in tech to her adventures in the great outdoorsâinspires us to pursue our passions, tackle formidable goals, and cherish the moments of tranquility along the way.
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Weâve all experienced it: that feeling of being stuck on an endless treadmill. It can be soul-crushing, but our guest on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times is a peak performance coach is here to help us change the narrative heading into 2024. Erin Stafford, author of "The Type A Trap: Five Mindset Shifts to Beat Burnout and Transform Your Life," explains to Host Chris Schembra the underpinnings for her five mindset shifts. Each of her valuable techniques is designed to check and challenge the assumptions that leave us stuck in overdrive. Youâll learn how to interrupt hyper-focused pursuits, be agile in the face of dead-ends, let go of counter-productive self-criticism and celebrate the wins that are often all too fleeting. âBurn-out will keep knocking on our door. Itâs not going anywhere,â says Erin, who has herself been on the frontlines as marketing director for a healthcare brand undergoing exponential growth, âbut there are tools you can gather to get you out of that black hole.â Find out about the tools this dynamic keynote speaker uses to help business leaders connect with and honor their highest selves with an attitude of gratitude all along the way!
Ready to read Erinâs new book? Click here to get your copy of "The Type A Trap: Five Mindset Shifts to Beat Burnout and Transform Your Life." Or click here to book a discovery call!
If youâd like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to his newsletter, please visit this link.
Click hereto hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainers who have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you donât give enough credit or enough thanks to â that youâve never thought to thank â who would that be? So many amazing people, but most importantly a high school math teacher, Randy Scott, who showed Erin respect and taught her to simplify hard things.The Trap: Why so many of us donât realize the full-scale stress weâre under until a life-altering (often painful) experience opens our eyes to the toll âsuccessâ is taking.Type A Profile: What it looks like to define success based on ability to achieve and derive self-worth based on a scarcity mindset.Getting Off the Treadmill with Five Key Mindset Shifts:Decoding Your Flow: Realize that you donât have to do it all. Releasing the Reins: Focus on letting go, rather than grasping and controlling.Pivot Like a Pro: Be nimble and able to shift away from a singular goal.Slow Down to Speed Up: Be okay with doing a little less.Take that Victory Lap: Enjoy your wins before moving on to the next challenge.Stress Is Here to Stay: Why Erin believes thereâs no silver bullet for curing (or avoiding) burn-out. Itâs the small decisions we make and self-care we practice daily.Moving Towards Gratitude: How human connection is crucial in todayâs world and finding like-minded people leads us deeper into our most authentic selves and self-acceptance.Whatâs Your Status? Why everyone can benefit from taking Erinâs self-assessment (featured in her book) to determine their place on the burn-out spectrum and set a course for inner balance.QUOTABLE
âThe more simple you can make it, the more you actually understand the subject matter.â (Erin)âI think we live in a world that rewards stress, burnout and anxiety. We idolize people who are âdoing it all.â ⊠but we donât know the toll it is taking on their physical and mental health, relationships and spirituality.â (Erin)âYou can have the big dream of things you want to accomplish AND you can take care of yourself and the people around you and do it in an efficient way. Both can be true at the same time.â (Chris)âJust because youâve said youâre going to do something doesnât mean that if itâs no longer interesting you canât pivot. Move! Change. Be okay with cutting losses.â (Erin)âWe have to make the mindset shift. We have to change ourselves, our thinking, our behavior, so that we donât burn out again.â (Erin)âAll you really need to make this full shift away from burn-out into well-being is yourself. You donât have to rely on your external situation to make the change.â (Chris)âBurn-out will keep knocking on our door. Itâs not going anywhere ⊠but there are tools you can gather to get you out of that black hole.â (Erin)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
Find out more about Impact Eleven trainings at this link.Listen to this talk by Laura Gassner Otting to find out why âIâll be happy whenâ are the four worst words in the English dictionary.ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Erin Stafford is a marketing guru, burnout survivor and hyper-growth business leader. From working with the worldâs highest achievers throughout her 20+ year career, being a Type A poster child herself and interviewing Olympians, start-up founders, Fortune 500 CEOs, leading researchers and celebrity coaches, Erin has seen firsthand how Type A personalities and constant over-achievement are coveted in the world of business, yet can lead to debilitating burnout. In addition to her current role as the head of marketing for the countryâs largest healthcare staffing company, where she leads dozens of marketing professionals and has helped the organization grow by 9x in two years, Erin has made it her mission to help leaders, most recently with her book: "The Type A Trap: Five Mindset Shifts to Beat Burnout and Transform Your Life."
FOLLOW ERIN:
WEBSITE | LINKEDIN | BOOK
ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
FOLLOW CHRIS:
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | LINKEDIN | BOOKS
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Nothing creates team buy-in more effectively than the âownership mindsetâ espoused by our guest on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times. Whatâs the secret sauce? Kerry Siggins, CEO at StoneAge Inc., shares with Host Chris Schembra her powerful building blocks for cultivating workplace cultures rooted in accountability. Itâs about caring â for colleagues, customers and ourselves â and ensuring that everyone feels seen and heard as well as empowered to act. She explains how StoneAge, an employee-owned manufacturer of waterjet tools and equipment for industrial cleaning based in Colorado, instills a sense of community and the safety to fail among its 250 employees (all of whom Kerry hopes to see become millionaires one day, thanks to their Employee-Owned Stock Plan, or ESOP). Youâll also hear all about Kerryâs latest passion project, her recently released book, "The Ownership Mindset: A Handbook for Transforming Your Life and Leadership." In it, she highlights her personal âheroâs journeyâ as well as hard-won lessons about how to conceive and execute corporate strategy. The formula includes several ingredients, the most important of which is learning how to formulate the right questions. Then ask, ask, ask again! Says Kerry: âYou learn so much and quickly get to the root of whatâs really going on if youâre curious. So thatâs my superpower: Questions!â Find out how to find and foster an âownership mindsetâ in your workplace by prioritizing gratitude, empathy, agency and curiosity. The show wraps up with a reminder from Chris that in todayâs business global environment, these arenât just soft skills, âtheyâre the hard skills needed to instill an ownership mindset within your team!â
Click here if youâd like to grab a copy of Kerryâs just-released book, "The Ownership Mindset: A Handbook for Transforming Your Life and Leadership."
Or check out her podcast, Reflect Forward: Conversations on Leadership, at this link.
If youâd like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.
Click here to hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you donât give enough credit or enough thanks to â that youâve never thought to thank â who would that be? So many people, but above all her first boss out of college, whom she âdid wrongâ and disappointed but who taught her so much nonetheless.Itâs Never too Late: About the power of bringing shame out of the shadows.Why Now and Why This Book?For starters, Kerry loves to write!It provided a creative outlet and alternative to her day-to-day tasks as CEO.A compelling need to give back by sharing her personal story. Changing One World at a Time: How Kerryâs journey â both personally and professionally â is a reflection of the âownership mindsetâ she exemplifies.Defining âOwnershipâ: Why taking full responsibility for everything that happens in your life is transformational, empowering and foundational to leadership. Leaning In: About what it looks like to take full accountability, even when the future is unclear and outcomes unpredictable.Building an Ownership Mindset Culture:Ensure everyone feels like part of something bigger than themselves.Cultivate engagement and self-motivation.Encourage an ethos of caring â for co-workers, customers and ourselves.How StoneAge Team Members Learn to Take Full Agency:Training in both how to give and receive feedback.Teaching strategies for collaborating with people who hold differing viewpoints.Making it easy for people to admit mistakes and learn from them.Infusing the workplace culture with a communal sense of purpose, commitment and accountability.Modeling behaviors that reinforce an âownership mindsetâ across the enterprise.You Must Act: Why all the best intentions in the world will not make things happen.Three Key Components to an Ownership Mindset:Take ownership: Lead yourself: Lead others.Curiosity is Key: How a growth mindset depends on asking questions.Kerryâs Superpower: Giving people the space to open up and brainstorm valuable ideas!Best Advice for Leaders: Learn how to ask good questions!Then ask, ask, ask!Research Shows: Managers who demonstrate empathy by asking their direct reports questions are viewed by bosses as better performers in their jobs.Gratitude & Recognition: Why people excel and businesses thrive when leaders foster workplace cultures in which everyone feels seen, honored and empowered.Look Inward: How problem-solvers and champions can (and must!) come from up, down and across the corporate structure.Two Questions to Check Imposter Syndrome and Quiet Self-Doubt: Whatâs the best things that can happen?Whatâs the worst thing that can happen?The Power of Reframing: What it looks like to move from a place of fear to a âposture of othernessâ that focuses on bringing tools like empathy and gratitude to others.Whatâs Next for Kerry?She canât wait to get started on her next book, about transformational change and the power of purpose in the workplace of today â tomorrow!Leveraging a culture of ownership, growth and innovation to create a thousand millionaires through StoneAgeâs employee stock ownership plan.Speaking about and inspiring others to build an âownership mindset.âQUOTABLE
âWhen you feel shame, regret or guilt, the action urge is usually to hide, avoid, withdraw, shy away, be meek and small and that doesnât help. Then we just ruminate on the guilt and shame.â (Chris)âIt was really important for me to get back in touch with the creative, free spirit that is within me. And writing is a way to do that!â (Kerry) âIf (my story) inspires even one person to overcome their own shame around choices theyâve made in life or show up differently as a leader and be the very best version of themselves ⊠then Iâve done my job.â (Kerry)â(The ownership mindset) is the idea that things donât happen to me, they happen because of me and Iâm willing to lean into the responsibility of my choices, attitude and the way I show up.â (Kerry)â(The ownership mindset) is really a tool to help people feel like theyâre more in control of their work, that they have autonomy and are trusted, that theyâre cared about.â (Kerry)âThe only way to own it is to act, but you have to create the safe space for people to act.â (Chris)âPeople want to share their stories, their opinions and ideas. So, if you ask really good questions, you can find out all kinds of information and get all kinds of new ideas.â (Kerry)âYou learn so much and quickly get to the root of whatâs really going on if youâre curious. So thatâs my superpower: Questions.â (Kerry)âThe economic potential of any successful team or organization lies not in the strength of individuals on your team but in your ability to help them connect, collaborate and champion a shared vision.â (Chris)âWhen weâre feeling Imposter Syndrome and fear, weâre really focused on ourselves ... (but) you can make it about somebody else and turn that negative self-doubt into a positive impact on someone elseâs life.â (Kerry)âThe power of questions, empathizing with those around you, giving gratitude around you â these are not just the soft skills that were once avoided in the boardroom. Theyâre the hard skills needed to instill an ownership mindset within your team.â (Chris)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
Learn more about âOh, the Places Youâll Go!â by Dr. Seuss, at this link.Click here to find out about âthe heroâs journeyâ and work of Joseph Campbell.More about the Gallup Organizationâs survey work and CliftonStrengths here.ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Kerry Siggins is the CEO of StoneAge, Inc., a global leader in designing and manufacturing high-pressure waterblasting and sewer cleaning tools and equipment used in the industrial cleaning industry. StoneAge sells and supports its products throughout the world and has over 170 dealers in 45 countries. She is also the Vice President of the Waterjet Technology Association (WJTA). Kerry joined StoneAge in January of 2007 as the Director of Operations. In 2009, she was named CEO by StoneAgeâs Board of Directors and has since led the company in building a robust global presence resulting in double-digit growth year over year. She recently acquired Breadware, an Internet of Things (IoT) product development firm based in Reno, NV.
FOLLOW KERRY:
WEBSITE | LINKEDIN | BLOG
ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
FOLLOW CHRIS:
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | LINKEDIN | BOOKS
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Seek the stress. Scale with soul. Embrace your uniqueness. These are just a few of the pearls of wisdom flying fast and furious when Christina Luconi, Chief People Officer at Rapid7, visits with Host Chris Schembra on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times. Her self-awareness, strength and positive vision have not only been central to building out staff for some amazing startup companies (from inception through IPO). These are also the traits that have defined her full and fascinating life â whether taking her teen-aged daughters on a transformational trip to Tanzania or snatching life-giving lessons from a life-changing cancer diagnosis. This is a woman who brings her whole, authentic self to every interaction and in the process offers connection and empathy to others. Youâll learn about how Christina expresses gratitude and the powerful benefits it confers, rippling out in how she frames ânegative autobiographical experiences.â Where did she find the courage to reinvent herself at the age of 14 without erasing who she was before? When did she realize that she held within her the ability to embrace things in tension and turn them into opportunity? Christina shares her journey and explains how she has been able to bridge her reality as the lone woman in many C-suites by staying true to her core values: âIf you work hard enough, there arenât a lot of boundaries you canât overcome. IF youâre committed and drive towards that!â Tune in to find out why this Bostonian dynamo hopped in her car to pay Chris a visit. Itâs a very special episode chalk full of ânews you can useâ and that you wonât want to miss!
Interested in hearing more from Christina? She offers a treasure trove of interesting perspectives in more than 200 LinkedIn posts you can find at this link.
Check out this brand new website to learn about the keynote topics and workplace leadership trends that are top of mind for Chris these days! And if youâre interested in having a 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribing to our newsletter, please visit this link.
Click hereto hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you donât give enough credit or thanks to â that youâve never thought to thank â who would that be and why? Although sheâs always been very intentional about sharing her appreciation, she still feels she couldnât possibly have thanked her parents â whom she so admires â enough.Using the Right Words: About the power of expressing gratitude in language that resonates with the recipient.Breaking Rules: How Christina reinvented herself at the age of 14, figuring out how to expand her world and thinking in ways that have served her well ever since. Three Options for Managing Through a âNegative Autobiographical Experienceâ:Ignore it, pretend it didnât happen and just move on.Talk it out with a therapist or by journaling and then move on.Specifically assign positive benefits that have occurred as a result and give thanks to it for becoming a beneficial part of your life story, a practice known as "grateful processing."Why Not Me? What Christina has come to understand about our ability to challenge our self-imposed limitations through humility, determination and drive.Breaking the Ceiling: How Christina figured out ways to leverage being the only woman in the room to break boundaries and elicit vulnerability in C-suites full of male entrepreneurs. A superpower!Buck the Statistics: Why itâs important not to get trapped by what is and surrender to a victim mentality rather than pushing the envelope and making change!Leading With Empathy: About the importance of understanding other peopleâs experiences and perspectives when navigating corporate culture and decision-making.Be the Change: When living with unresolved conflict impacts others with forms of entitlement and hearts at war.How Trauma Lands: Why every personâs threshold is different.Scaling With Soul: How to stay authentic under even the most stressful circumstances, like taking Rapid7 from being a startup with 75 employees to a publicly traded company with more than 2,000 global personnel.Christinaâs World View: About the role of challenge and seeking while also keeping balance through life experiences that promote openness and awareness.Observing Versus Engaging; Empathy Versus Sympathy: Itâs all in the perspective!Hope & Healing: How an attitude of gratitude â not found in comparison â yields very real mental, emotional and physical rewards. 365 Days: About Christinaâs decision to write â and post publicly â her thoughts and experiences by pretending no one was reading them! It was about seeking connection with others and by putting herself out there, she did exactly that.When In Rome: How pasta and all its associations creates magic for Chris and Christina!Three Things From the Conversation:The power of Mudita, the dharmic concept of joy that comes from delighting in other peopleâs well-being (as Christina experienced in her chemo encounter).Christina lives life in a dialectic posture, embracing black and white as well as the gray. She is able to hold things in tension.While sheâs open to therapy, what Christina finds most helpful and healing is candid conversations like this one with Chris!Timing Is Everything: How, when and why Chris and Christina connected.Honor the Moose: About the concept of aligning individual and team collaboration as part of the core corporate ethic at Rapid7.The 3C Model of Collaborative Leadership: Connect, Collaborate and Champion.In Parting: What it was that inspired Christina to get in her car and drive 3.5 hours from Boston to NYC in order to connect and share meaningful conversation with Chris!Closing the Gratitude Loop: Christinaâs message for her parents and daughters.
QUOTABLE
âLife is about connections ⊠For me what has made the work that Iâve done or my life interesting is the connections Iâve made with people. It makes my world expand.â (Christina)âThereâs something beautiful about (not) turning your back on the past but looking for the positive benefits in it and keeping it as part of your life story.â (Chris)âEverything I have lived through is an opportunity. There are things that Iâve screwed up or am not proud of, but I donât dwell on them. I look at what I can take away from that moment and do better.â (Christina)âIf you work hard enough, there arenât a lot of boundaries you canât overcome. IF youâre committed and drive towards that!â (Christina)âLife is not about avoiding bad things happening to you. Life is about avoiding a negative mental attitude when those things occur.â (Chris)âScaling with soul is about how you keep the essence of your value set and what youâre trying to be ⊠You can still be a really great place!â (Christina)âYou can observe or you can engage. And those are two really different things.â (Christina)âThereâs good in everybody. You just have to be open to finding it and open-hearted to know that just because someone is different from you doesnât make them better or worse. Weâre all just humans.â (Christina)âHard times donât have to create loneliness. Hard times can create meaningful moments of connection.â (Chris)âAll the best things in my life have happened when Iâve said âyes,â versus âno.â â (Christina)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
Click here to learn more about âTaking Care of Business? Grateful Processing of Unpleasant Memories,â the study conducted by researchers at Eastern Washington University."The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict," by The Arbinger Institute.More about the many benefits of an attitude of gratitude available at this link."No One Wins Alone," by Mark âthe Mooseâ Messier.ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Christina Luconi leads Rapid7âs strategic people initiatives as its Chief People Officer. She is responsible for the entire employee lifecycle, with critical focus on recruiting stellar talent, building and inspiring corporate culture, acquisition integration, and âscaling with soul.â Prior to joining Rapid7, Christina was the owner of People Innovations, an independent consulting firm focused on the creation of innovative people strategies for startups and high-growth companies, primarily in the high technology industry. Christina also served as Chief People Officer at @stake, a professional services security firm that she helped build from the launch through its acquisition by Symantec. She also played the role of Vice President of People Strategy at Sapient Corporation. Joining the company prior to its public offering, she was responsible for building the people-focused side of the company from the ground up, aligning business strategy with people needs. Christina also played a critical role as a member of the senior management team, focusing on the strategic and operational direction of the company as well as executing acquisitions, from due diligence through integration.
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ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
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Core values take center stage on this heartfelt episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times, featuring a highly successful entrepreneur whose accomplishments reflect his commitment to creating human connection. Rich Balot, CEO at Victra (the largest authorized retailer of Verizon products in the nation), is all about fostering innovation, collaboration and integrity â at home, on the job and in his community. That passion for doing the right thing infuses the ethic youâll encounter at any of his 1,700 locations across all 50 states and in the dedication his 7,500 employees bring to their work. Host Chris Schembra gives us a window into what drives Rich â from his reverence for family to his belief in offering kids alternatives to traditional four-year college educations; from thoughts on how to build a great and growing company to why celebration is critical to making a meaningful life. âIf you get a really well-functioning group of people together, you can get way more out of them and they can accomplish much more than they would individually,â says Rich, whose leadership and vision have secured for Victra a place on Inc. Magazineâs list of top 5,000 fastest growing U.S. companies every year over the past decade. Most of all, youâll come away with the strong sense that â no matter the current economic, technological or political climate â weâre not meant to be in isolation or make the journey all on our own!
Donât miss the far-ranging and fascinating topics that Rich and his team tackle in the Victra Blog. You may also be interested in supporting Haven at Blue Creek, an amazing nonprofit run by Richâs wife, Colleen, that provides residential support for women in recovery.
Check out this brand new website to learn about the keynote topics and workplace leadership trends that are top of mind for Chris these days! And if youâre interested in having a 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribing to our newsletter, please visit this link.
Click here to hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you donât give enough credit or thanks to â that youâve never thought to thank â who would that be and why? Mom! Marlene is on the quieter side and not in the business, but sheâs the heart of Richâs family-oriented company!The Quiet One: How listening is a skill that Rich has cultivated (with assists from his mom and wife) as part of a bigger philanthropic mission to give back on a daily basis. The Hitchhiker Rule: Why itâs important to recognize those who are trying to help themselves. Itâs about giving a âhand upâ not a âhand-out.âCritical Skill: How a desire to reach, give effort, try to do better shows up in outcomes.Big-Picture Education: About Richâs belief that traditional four-year colleges arenât for everyone and that trade schools are a great, financially viable alternative.An Entrepreneur is an Entrepreneur: Anyone who founds their own business â no matter its size â represents independence, innovation and opportunity.The Pursuit of Happiness: How challenging, meaningful work intertwines with and serves our sense of purpose, quality of life, mental, physical and emotional well-being.Renewable Resources: Why itâs important to cultivate practices and hobbies that nourish us and recharge our batteries so we can be of service to others.Brand Identity: How a sense of belonging is woven into the culture at Victra, where customers are considered âguestsâ and given the attention and help they deserve.Rich Cultivates Human Connection in the Workplace By: Recognizing that humans need social interaction.Looking for ways to replicate things that work.Sharing notes about what works â and doesnât!Promoting collaboration as the secret sauce!What Drives Victra's Success: A good model, a good team. Itâs not just a J-O-B.What Excites Rich Most? Learning! And inspiring curiosity and drive among younger generations as well. (Also: catching fish â including a recent 500-pound blue marlin!)In Closing: We arenât meant to be alone or isolated on our journeys â and we donât have to be when we persevere, keep faith, seek connection and hold space for one another!QUOTABLE
âOne of the goals of our giving has been to not tell people what weâre doing ⊠because weâre not doing it to get credit.â (Rich)âWhen you can give, you do. When you can do, you do. And youâre not doing it because you need credit for it. Youâre doing it because itâs the right thing and needs to be done.â (Rich)âThere are some people out there who say they want help but donât do anything about it.â (Rich)âI canât make someone hungry â and Iâm not talking about food but about wanting that next thing.â (Rich)âNot everyone needs to go to college. Not everyone needs a college degree ⊠Kids need to be exposed to more than technology and books. Technology is very important but they need to be exposed to other opportunities.â (Rich)âNot everyone was designed for college and, by the way, in our work force we need tradespeople to keep the world moving forward day by day.â (Rich)âAn entrepreneur is an entrepreneur. It doesnât matter whether youâre running a huge company or a small company.â (Rich)âIâm in business to make money for both myself and my employees but weâre not going to just cram things down peopleâs throats.â (Rich)âIf you get a really well-functioning group of people together, you can get way more out of them and they can accomplish much more than they would individually.â (Rich)âYour people are your secret sauce for human connection and that leads to outsized business results.â (Chris)âDo the hard stuff you need to do to get ahead in life, but celebrate it all thoroughly â with your family, amongst community. Do things that are good for the heart at the same time that youâre doing things that are good for others.â (Chris)âWe are suffering under the agitation of uncertain times. But the good news is that we can get through these tough times if we go through it together. Donât go through it alone!â (Chris)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
More about Ron Carson, Founder of Carson Wealth, at this link.To learn about Catholic Charitiesâ relief efforts, click here.Find out about the Ron Clark Academy charter school in Atlanta, Ga.Harness passion with Dwayne J. Clark and his E.P.I.C leadership offsite at this website.Learn more about the residential recovery work being done at Haven at Blue Creek.ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Rich Balot is a serial entrepreneur with a demonstrated history of building successful teams and businesses. Skilled in Business Planning, he also provides coaching expertise in sales and retail strategy as well as how to build a winning culture.
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ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
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Are you all in? Our guest, Valeria Torres, wants to know! As Director of Operations & Strategic Consulting at 8 Figure Firm â a fast-growing Atlanta-based provider of professional services for law firms â she is sharing with Host Chris Schembra the key ingredients for leadership success on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times. A research maven, Valeria explains the value in personality assessments and has stats to back up her approach to increasing workplace flow (and life flow, too, for that matter!). Youâll learn about the pivotal figures (shout out to her brother, Pablo) and very personal experiences that have shaped Valeriaâs dynamic approach to life. Sheâs also teaching us how to managing through those inevitable âfight-or-flightâ moments and highlighting the benefits that accrue to leaders (at law firms and everywhere else) who recognize the good in themselves and extend that gratitude out towards others. As we know, both from science and lived experience, an atmosphere of empathy in which people feel seen, heard and valued is an atmosphere of growth without limitation. Donât miss this lively conversation with an industry thought leader whose unique perspective and suggestions will leave you clamoring for more!
Whether youâre looking for dedicated consulting, group coaching, marketing management or a mastermind experience, 8 Figure Firm was created by lawyers for lawyers. Founded by Seth Bader and Luis Scott, based on practices developed in their tremendously successful practice, they offer the tools you need to grow the legal team you desire!
In other breaking news, please join us in inaugurating a new phase of 7:47âs quest to help amazing companies build strong, connected client and team relationships. With the launch of ChrisSchembra.com comes an exciting opportunity to explore the power of asking the right questions and framing the important conversations. Founder Chris Schembra, the bestselling author of "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours," offers compelling keynotes on topics such as how to elevate workplace engagement by fostering human connection and why itâs critical to cultivate client relationships that are transformational â not just transactional!
If youâd like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.
Click hereto hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you donât give enough credit or thanks to â that youâve never thought to thank â who would that be and why? Her brother, Pablo, whose empowering love has been an âinstrumentalâ part of her life.Finding the Words: How Pabloâs acts of service and ability to express love set the stage for Valeriaâs drive and commitment to âbeing there.âMaking the Climb: Why itâs important to remember that leaders are made â not born â and itâs a process that requires grace along the journey.Valeriaâs Leadership Learnings:Allow yourself to sit back and listen rather than speak.Ask â donât assume.Donât take things personally.Find ways to receive constructive feedback.Put yourself in a place to embrace the wisdom of others.Holding Space: How Valeria learned (through mentors as well as trial and error) to take a step back and open herself to lessons she needed to learn and hear.Listening vs. Solution Design: Chris shares a recent client breakthrough â realizing that leaders donât necessarily have to have all the answers. Not at all!Teaching Leaders How to Listen:Know who you are talking to and how they can best be reached.Tailor your message in a way that your audience can hear it.Use the âmirroring techniqueâ to shift motion and tone.Ask questions that reframe the communications dynamic.Use what, when, where, why and other questions to open conversation.Leveraging Your Personality Profile:Be self-aware and able to step back, observe.Know that thereâs no such thing as perfection.Leverage personal tendencies to optimize potential.Valeriaâs Formula for Strong Law Firm Leadership:Moving drive into discipline.Moving motivation into obsession.Having a drive to succeed and accomplish goals.Being all in!Passing on the Gratitude: Why thanks for things or people in the past canât always be given, but the chance to pay it forward is always there!Getting Into the Flow: How a challenge to her mental health enabled Valeria to know and face fears that were holding her back from claiming an authentic life of self-awareness.Know Your Amygdala: How to manage ânegative memory biasâ by deliberately balancing "fight-or-flight" reflexes with gratitude, which invites positivity.Scaling Gratitude: Why Valeria invites participants in leadership trainings to offer something thatâs going right! Opening Doors: About recognizing the good in ourselves as a conduit to feeling similarly generous and open-hearted towards others. It creates community!Concentric Circles of Gratitude: First: Find gratitude for yourself.Second: Find gratitude for your team.Third: Find gratitude for your customers.Fourth: Find gratitude for your communities and humanity as a whole.In Closing: Valeria asks, âAre you all in?â If not, itâs time to commit to locating your truest self and purpose!QUOTABLE
âIâve learned to sit back and listen rather than speak; ask and not assume.â (Valeria)âThe biggest lesson in asking a question is not asking just to ask it, but asking and waiting to listen to what has to be said.â (Valeria)âItâs about creating space for transformation â asking or sharing something that might shift a perspective on life. You need space to process that.â (Chris)âYouâre going to touch peopleâs ego when you try to teach them something. Youâre going to have doubt, fear, all these emotions that are very human and normal but that people donât talk about.â (Valeria)âNot all successful people know everything. Not all successful people are without fear or doubt. All of us have it. Itâs just how well can you manage it and move forward rather than stay stagnant and stuck?â (Valeria)âNot all gratitude given is gratitude heard. Gratitude ⊠can sometimes come across as convenient, selfish or lazy.â (Chris)âThe failures and bad moments can be a privilege to experience ⊠(because) what you donât know can start eating away at you.â (Valeria)âGratitude is just really good for business and itâs really good for people. Because, at the end of the day, we arenât profit-making monster machines. We are humans and every human deserves to be loved, heard and valued.â (Chris)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
More about Dr. Gary Chapmanâs 5 Love Languages can be found here.Learn about mirroring and other communication techniques in Chris Vossâs book, "Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It.""The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer," by Steven Kotler.Learn about how Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) works at this link.ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Valeria Torres is the Director of Operations and Business Portfolio Consultant for 8 Figure Firm. She provides operations management methods to law entrepreneurs nationwide, helping them streamline their operations and strengthen their businessesâ portfolios. Using a specialized methodology, she fosters new ways of thinking and develops strategic opportunities and managing projects intended to enhance your law firmâs growth.
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ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
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Weâre shining a light on the difference between luck and blessings when Patty Arvielo, co-founder & CEO of New American Funding, joins host Chris Schembra on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times. Running the largest Latina-owned mortgage company in the U.S. while nurturing a network of younger women coming up behind her, Patty is all about leaning into humanness. She shares the many ways in which gratitude and empathy have served as beacons professionally, as a parent and throughout a 27-year marriage that embodies commitment and respect. Youâll learn about how Patty and her husband, Rick, founded New American Funding in 2003 and grew it into a juggernaut that has underwritten 250,000 mortgages worth $69 billion and employs 4,000 people â a majority of whom are women and 41% of whom are minorities. All this success is rooted in Pattyâs intentionality around core values, like creating positive impact and improving the lives of others. Want to manifest abundance and overcome fear? Patty is here with words of wisdom and perspective you wonât want to miss!
You can learn much more about what Patty is up to and the mentorship opportunities she hosts by clicking this link to follow her on Instagram and following #WeAllGrow and the many initiatives she supports.
Cultivating moments of meaningful connection is hard â and perhaps not a value central to our workplace cultures. But if we show up in vulnerability and truth, we erase poverty of the soul while building great businesses!
If youâd like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.
Click hereto hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainers who have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you donât give enough credit or enough thanks to â that youâve never thought to thank â who would that be? Her husband, Rick, who has committed his life to the project of building a life, business and family together.It All Takes Work: How her commitment to marriage mirrors the commitment Patty believes is required to establish and grow anything meaningful in life.Expressing Gratitude: Why itâs so important that we teach our children to appreciate and cultivate a sense of appreciation in the day to day.Consider This: Are you using fear or a lack of gratitude as a protection mechanism against pain or disappointment?Managing Fear:Look at life holistically as a full range of experiences, including adversity.Build self-awareness and spiritual strength into your framework.Prepare for hard times.Learn from setbacks (and how to stop repeating them!).Climbing Out of the Hole: How lifeâs hard times provide us a necessary invitation to growth and human connection.Being Blessed: How Pattyâs commitment to doing the right thing combined with hard work and gratitude add up to âgetting what I give.â Itâs not luck!Dreams v. Manifestations: About being fully awake to the visions we want to work towards and building a solid infrastructure for what we want.Being in the People Business: Why the heart of Pattyâs daily work is understanding, developing, mentoring and celebrating the people with whom sheâs in business.Seeking Change and Practicing Radical Acceptance: How Patty pursues her goals and dreams while also tempering them through self-awareness and understanding the âwhy.âQuestioning: The key to growth, purpose and recognizing whatâs most important!Daily Impact: How Patty is using her experience and skill set to empower and support younger Latinx women embarking on their entrepreneurial paths.Closing Thoughts:The person Patty respects most on the planet is her husband, Rick, with whom she has built a committed and intentional life.Because of its positive nature, Patty felt good about visiting the GTHT pod.Promoting empathetic leaders in all their humanness is a core value and priority for Patty, who leads with her heart.The levels of despair among members of the American workforce â including among executive ranks â are troubling. You can push back by focusing on abundance, gratitude and human connection.QUOTABLE
â(My husband and I) see commitment as a daily event in our lives. Not just walking down the aisle and a piece of paper.â (Patty)âWhen I feel fear or am scared of making decisions, itâs in action that Iâm able to move forward. Iâm not complacent. I donât hide. And I donât complain.â (Patty)âIf you look at a negative autobiographical experience that put you in a hole or a moment of adversity, the positive benefits far outweigh the negative. You can actually be grateful that that thing occurred.â (Chris)âAnything you intend to do to impact your life and make it better is creating blessings for yourself and putting in the work to create the life you want. That isnât luck. Thatâs work!â (Patty)âI find myself getting a lot of satisfaction in helping others and creating happiness for others when theyâre aligned with things that Iâm doing.â (Patty)âIf youâre competing with companies that are like yours, they have the same journey and struggles as you. When youâre around like-minded people in the same business as you, itâs really an âahaâ moment!â (Patty)âWhen you seek out and find your purpose, things will become clearer to you ⊠I know my purpose is to impact others. Itâs what I enjoy. I love the little wins.â (Patty)âYes, cultivating meaningful moments is hard. It requires unyielding vulnerability and courage and deep trust and truth ⊠but it erases the poverty of the soul. Itâs the way to build a business that youâre proud of.â (Chris)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
Check out Gary Chapmanâs book, "The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts."Find out more about the Hogan Personality Assessment.Click here to find out about Kurt Vonnegutâs âMan in the Holeâ theory.About "Grateful Processing," a concept developed by Prof. Phillip Watkins of Eastern Washington University.Explore Mike Fosterâs "Seven Primal Questions."Follow this link to learn about âUbuntuâ and how the South African philosophy triggered one of the biggest turnarounds in NBA history.ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Patty is an award-winning entrepreneur and Co-Founder and CEO of New American Funding. A first-generation Hispanic, her path to mortgage industry began at age 16 with a hard-work ethic and an entry-level position at TransUnion Credit. From there, she landed a job at a prominent mortgage company, where she would rise through the ranks and learn the business from the ground up, eventually becoming branch manager and assistant vice president. In 2003, Patty and her husband, Rick Arvielo, launched their own mortgage company, New American Funding. In the years since, Patty has helped transform the company into one of the largest independent mortgage lenders in the United States today with a servicing portfolio of over 250,000 loans for $69 billion. She also oversaw the creation and expansion of the companyâs retail lending operation, which grew a small local operation to a national powerhouse with more than 170 locations and thousands of employees across the country. Today, Patty oversees nearly 4,000 employees, 54% of whom are women and 41% who are minorities.
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ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
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Are you ready to awaken your greatness? On this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times we learn why Darleen Santore â known affectionately as âCoach Darâ â is all about cultivating self-awareness and clarity â not tomorrow, but today! A bestselling author, she mentors professional athletes at the peak of their careers as well as C-suite leaders across a spectrum of Fortune 500 companies. Host Chris Schembra invites Coach Dar to share insights into the 9 Principles that form the basis for her powerful new book, "The Art of Bouncing Back: Find Your Flow to Thrive at Work and in Life -- Any Time You're Off Your Game." Weâve all experienced â and will continue to experience â adversity. Thatâs just part of the human condition, explains Coach Dar. The question is: Are we willing to do the work and bring the awareness? Do you have the toolkit to ensure âSetbacks donât define you. Comebacks only refine you.â If not, youâre in luck! Youâll come away from this compelling conversation with actionable ideas to help propel you through even the toughest downturns (which Coach Dar, who has battled back from three strokes, understands very intimately). Based on decades of experience as an occupational therapist, mental strength and conditioning coach, her book is full of scorecards, exercises and a concrete framework to help us find our flow and thrive â even (or especially) when weâre facing hard times! Hereâs your invitation to increase mental toughness, resilience and a sense of wellbeing. Embrace your âwhyâ power!
Visit this link if youâd like to order Coach Darâs empowering book full of tips to shift your mindset and ensure peak performance, "The Art of Bouncing Back: Find Your Flow to Thrive at Work and in Life -- Any Time You're Off Your Game."
If youâd like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.
Click here to hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
âIf you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you donât give enough credit or thanks to â that youâve never thought to thank â who would that be? The go-to has to be Darâs mom, Linny. Even though sheâs no longer alive, the inspiration and faith she inspired in her daughter are a living, breathing part of every day.Setbacks donât define you. Comebacks only refine you! About understanding the power of getting back up from our knees, only to do better and be stronger.Cultivating Resiliency: What it looks like to use Coach Darâs tools to develop mental toughness (of the kind she has used in overcoming multiple strokes).Raising the Bar: Why human beings have within them the ability to sow seeds of hope and nurture them into powerful advances for the collective good.Understanding Principle #6: Activating emotional intelligence â and embracing the full range of human response â is not only empowering but a platform for leadership and connection.Learn to take a pause, bringing intentionality to what youâre feeling and then expressing it in a clear, constructive way.Reactivity does not serve or enhance communication.Itâs a balancing act between expression and self-restraint that leaves room enough for meaningful conversation.Actionable Advice: How Coach Dar interweaves scorecards, worksheets and other exercises throughout the 9 Principles framework spelled out in her bestseller.The Transformational Power of Gratitude:Principle #1: Embracing the suck fosters hope.Principle #7: Reframing setbacks shifts perspective.About the Journey: The message of hope Coach Dar found while recovering from three strokes and how it applies to the lives of professional athletes and the rest of us as well!Itâs All Waves: Coach Dar reflects on the cycles of challenge we all inevitably face and how we can navigate adversity by marshalling tools like those she offers.Words to the Wise:Do not do this work alone!Our life journeys require communal wisdom and support.Never be too proud to work on being better!âWhyâ Power: About the importance of developing a clear understanding of what motivates you and will propel you forward, even when things get tough.Remember: Will power dies where âwhyâ power stays lit and lives on!QUOTABLE
âItâs all about the impact we make on the community in front of us.â (Coach Dar)âWhen you give someone hope and something to hold onto and look forward to, theyâre going to get up â even when everything is working against them.â (Coach Dar)âI canât take adversity away from you but I can sure as heck help you be stronger when it hits!â (Coach Dar)âWe connect not through our accolades but through vulnerability. When we behave vulnerably we have a bond that is so beautiful. Itâs showing the humanness in us.â (Coach Dar)âFeeling emotion is so important. And then what you do with it is equally important ... Feel emotion and then do the right thing with it!â (Coach Dar)âWhen you shift your perspective, you shift your life. If you can go to a place of gratitude, then you can start to see ⊠how obstacles become opportunities.â (Coach Dar)âWhen you love and are grateful for where you are, everything starts to shift.â (Coach Dar)âYouâre going to leave this world. How you leave it, what people feel around you, the work you put out there â let it be of excellence, service or gratitude.â (Coach Dar)âWhen you live with greater intention, you show up better. And when you show up better, things happen. Let your âwhyâ fuel you!â (Coach Dar)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
More about the Pixar film â heartily recommended â "Inside Out."Click here to find out about Kurt Vonnegutâs âMan in the Holeâ theory.ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Known as âCoach Dar,â Darleen Santore helps individuals gain mental strength, clarity and focus in order to live well, lead well and reach new heights. She believes the key to achieving goals and dreams is to Raise the Bar in our thinking and daily approach to life through customized coaching techniques. Coach Dar has spent the past 24 years as an occupational therapist, personal development, and mental strength & conditioning coach helping thousands reach their fullest potential. Her clients range from Fortune 100 executives, artists, professional athletes to high school and college students as well as large organizations.
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ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
FOLLOW CHRIS:
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Welcome to another insightful episode of 'Gratitude Through Hard Times,' where we explore the profound impact of emotional intelligence in leadership and its role in fostering meaningful connections within the workplace. I'm thrilled to introduce our esteemed guest today, Cinzia Beretta, a true trailblazer in the world of global communications and people operations.
With over two decades of experience, Cinzia has not only honed her expertise in culture, employee engagement, talent growth, and leadership development, but she has also become a champion of emotional intelligence. Her passion for her Italian heritage and her remarkable journey within a multinational American company have provided her with a unique perspective on the power of EQ.
In this episode, we have the privilege of delving into Cinzia's wealth of experience and wisdom. She will share practical insights on how to leverage emotional intelligence to transform leadership styles and achieve remarkable results. Cinzia's approach is grounded in authenticity, empathy, and self-awareness â key pillars of EQ that can revolutionize the way we connect with others.
In a world where the dynamics of workplaces are constantly evolving, Cinzia's insights remind us of the timeless value of emotional intelligence. By embracing these principles, we can navigate challenges, nurture genuine connections, and pave the way for exceptional personal and professional growth.
If youâd like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.
Click hereto hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
Importance of Connection: Gratitude, empathy, and human connection in the workplace for meaningful interactions.
Workplace Challenges: Addressing disengagement crisis and loneliness epidemic, advocating for authentic connections.
Emotional Intelligence (EQ): Introduction of EQ as a solution for better relationships, based on the EQ I 2.0 model.
Mindset Shift: Emphasizing present moment awareness, acknowledging emotions, and demonstrating empathy in leadership.
EQ I 2.0 Model: Overview of the five key areas - self-perception, self-expression, interpersonal relationships, decision-making, stress management.
Living in the Present: Discussion on the value of being present, fostering authentic interactions and connections.
EQ and Leadership: Exploring EQ's role in effective leadership and building meaningful workplace relationships.
EQ and Well-Being: Linking EQ to personal well-being and improved performance, leading to a positive outlook.
Practicing EQ: Encouragement to actively develop emotional intelligence, cultivate empathy, and create genuine connections.
QUOTABLE
"We have a disengagement crisis. We have a loneliness epidemic and the principles you'll hear today help solve that pressing issue.""This is a podcast series around the importance of gratitude, empathy, and human connection to create meaningful moments of connection within your workplace.""The great news about what Cinzia has just said to build your emotional intelligence muscle. The good news is that you don't have to be born with emotional intelligence. It can be developed over time.""We have record low stakeholder engagement levels within the workplace and that creates record high stress and depression levels amongst our teams.""The need to create meaningful moments of human connection within the workplace is greater now than ever before.""If you're not living in the present moment, how can you authentically react, relate, connect, or serve authentically?""We are wired to react emotionally first and then we move on to rationalize them.""You have all the answers so you are empowering this person to find their own way. You're just walking next to them.""Emotional intelligence might be expressed and shown like all emotions in different ways across the world because of different cultures, diversity.""Acknowledging the emotions of others, that's developing empathy, that's understanding the feelings and perspectives of those you serve."ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Cinzia Beretta is a multicultural global leader living in Italy. She is passionate about diversity, cultures, languages, inclusiveness and building meaningful human connections across the globe.
Her energy comes from leading and working with senior leaders, teams and individuals, enabling them to thrive, unleash their potential and stay engaged with experiential learning, transformative growth programs, coaching and culture communication.
She has spent her 20+ year career working in a variety of communication areas, focusing in particular on culture and employee engagement and (more recently) on leadership development in a big multinational company. On top of her communication activities, she currently leads multi-language learning, growth and coaching programs for emerging leaders, to accelerate their transformative growth in international environments and retain top talents during moments of change.
She believes coaching and emotional intelligence are key to help leaders (and people in general) connect with other human beings in an authentic way and pursue a fulfilled balanced and ultimately happy life.
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Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
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Welcome Back to Gratitude Through Hard Times! Youâll learn on this episode how one of the nationâs insurance leaders is fueled by authenticity and vulnerability, superpowers available to all of us if weâre brave enough to go there. In the case of our guest, Heath Ritenour, a bout with cancer proved an opportunity to drop the corporate mask in favor of prioritizing human connection among the 1,500 employees and 72,000 customers affiliated with Insurance of America (IOAUSA), among the nationâs largest private agencies. We learn about how Heath came to embrace the family business, founded by his parents, and carve out a leadership style that has supported exponential growth. As he explains to Host Chris Schembra, Heath has reaped profound rewards through the practice of gratitude, personally and in the workplace context. He doesnât bother with the posturing and business armor so many of us reflexively wear, looking instead for those human places where relationships flourish. Itâs a formula that attracts and retains great talent and cements loyalty among customers in direct proportion. âThe transformational side of building deeper relationships and being open, of being connected with your team, is more growth, more profit and a happier, more cohesive team,â says Heath. And thatâs exactly how things have played out at Orlando-based IOAâs 60 locations and counting. Empathy is woven into the corporate fabric and serves as an invitation for growth through hard times. So go ahead! Be brave. Drop the mask and make that shift. When we remember to witness lifeâs blessings, we are generating more of the same. Itâs all a question staying mindful, says Heath: âItâs not what you gotta do but what you get to do!â
Want to follow what the thought leaders at IOAUSA are up to? You can find their blog at this link. You can also learn all about their corporate 1° Difference philosophy by clicking here.If youâd like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.
Click hereto hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you donât give enough credit or thanks to â that youâve never thought to thank â who would that be and why? Coach Fred, a recently deceased high school football coach who was tough but also helped Heath learn to prioritize his commitments in business â and life!Shifting Mindset: How thoughtful, deep conversations with an early mentor helped Heath reorder his sense of what really mattered in life (well beyond girls, partying and football!).About Authenticity: A look at the sense of trust and honesty Heathâs high school football coach cultivated and how it enabled the younger man to embrace enduring values.Leaning Into Vulnerability: Why Heath has come to understand that being transparent, even where we feel weak or challenged, is integral to establishing real trust with teams.Getting Real: About Heathâs bout with cancer and how that journey became an opportunity to shed the posturing, discard the corporate mask and lead with empathy.Tip of the Hat to Mom & Dad: What it looks like to develop a business based on advocacy, partnership and consultative advice and how Heath ultimately took the baton.If Not You, Who? How Heath came to a spiritual understanding that he had something to bring to his family business and clientele.Exponential Growth: About the organic way in which Heath (in spite of his fears) has worked with his team to build IOA and its unique corporate culture and values.Itâs the Setbacks! Heath explains why challenge and adversity are a growth opportunity. Itâs when we blow it or fall short that weâre offered the chance to evolve and deepen.The Impediment to Action Advances Action: Why todayâs atmosphere of scarcity, anxiety and rapid technological change offers an invitation to turn suffering â and whatever stands in the way â into a path towards promise.Heathâs Top Advice:Take stock and recognize that very likely the most challenging times are also the ones that prompt the most growth and spiritual development.Recognize the power in offering vulnerability as a meeting place and valuable intersection for bonding in every arena of life.Be brave. Drop the mask â then watch good things happen!Remember that profit and growth are an outgrowth of nurturing relationships.Closing Thoughts:Navigating the current crisis of disconnection and alienation in the workplace demands an attitude of empathy, service and heart. Do business the right way â by investing in your people â and the community will thrive and demonstrate great returns!When you cultivate gratitude through daily practice, you have it to share!Make the shift! Remember: Itâs not what you âgotta do,â itâs what you get to do!QUOTABLE
âHeath has grown his company by investing in his people, doing business the good way, honoring faith, taking care of families and knowing your business is only as good as your people.â (Chris)âSo much in peopleâs lives we forget the importance of the impact we make on people ⊠and thereâs nothing better than (changing lives). Itâs better than money or anything I can think of.â (Heath)âGratitude just feels good to give, even if the recipient isnât here to receive it.â (Chris)âWhen Iâm open with my weaknesses and challenges â when Iâm authentic and vulnerable in that way â it opens (others) up to feel comfortable being more open with me. And then you can build a more cohesive relationship from there.â (Heath)âWe all know thereâs no perfect. Itâs a foolâs errand. Itâs a treadmill to nowhere. Weâre all flawed and we all have issues!â (Heath)âThe greater you can empathize with what your teammates are actually going through, the greater your ability to actually work together to innovate and create outsized business results.â (Chris)âThe transformational side of building deeper relationships and being open, of being connected with your team, is more growth, more profit and a happier, more cohesive team. And thatâs what I think any business leader should want!â (Heath)âItâs very simple: Take off your mask. Number two: Invite your team to take off their masks. Number three: Invite your customers to take off their masks.â (Chris)âHaving a mindset of being grateful changes the way you feel and how you show up. It changes the way you deal with and overcome difficulties. Take a few minutes to think not about what you want and donât have but the blessings in your life!â (Heath)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
Click here to listen to episode 225, featuring Geoff McDonaldâs insights into Mental health and well-being.Learn more about âemotional regulation,â why itâs important and strategies to help you get there at this link.Click here to find out about Kurt Vonnegutâs âMan in the Holeâ theory.More thoughts on gratitude from CEO Ron Carson on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times.Check out works by Marcus Aurlelius and the Stoics at this website.Listen to Jim Harter of the Gallup Poll correlate customer engagement with employee engagement on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times.ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Heath has been in the insurance industry for over 20 years, and I currently serve as chairman of Insurance Office of America (IOA). He also holds the property and casualty general lines (2-20) and health and life (including variable annuity contracts, 2-15) insurance licenses. His experience with insurance includes personal, business, risk management, and countless other types of coverage. Since becoming a member of the team in 1996, Heath has worked with his peers and professional network to continue expanding and improving IOA â which is now one of the largest privately held insurance agencies in the country.He also plays an active role as president of the IOA Foundation and is proud to have been acknowledged as an industry leader.
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Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
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If you havenât been part of the conversation about Human Resources and its impacts on workplace cultures and society at large, then you need to check out Hacking HR, a global community of 350k+ members invested in transforming the way we live. Founder Enrique Rubio joins Host Chris Schembra on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times for a blunt exploration of what it means to demonstrate human-centered core values and how that translates into critical business ROI in the form of retention, productivity and positivity that uplifts not only enterprises but the lives of everyone we touch. Enrique challenges us to look in the mirror and ask: Are you practicing kindness, compassion and empathy in your daily transactions and â if not â why not? Is your ego or a sense of entitlement keeping you from meaningful connection in the workplace or on the elevator, at the grocery store or over the course of transacting business? A vocal advocate for giving remote work a chance, Enrique shares thoughts on leveraging our roles â whether as leaders or individual contributors â for social change in the workplace and beyond. Youâll also learn about why mental health is a critical component of overall corporate health and how we can find in gratitude the baseline for starting important conversations. âThere are so many things we can do in HR to leave an incredible legacy of transforming work for good,â says our guest. âWe know that itâs not fluffy and doesnât make you weak.â Join us for a fascinating no-holds-barred discussion that will challenge you to bring your best self to work and every other area of your life. And donât forget those words of affirmation, an investment in positivity youâll never regret!
To hear more of Enriqueâs groundbreaking insights, tune in to his Hacking HR Podcast, featuring a range of leading innovators in the human relations space. You can also join his huge and growing Hacking HR community by clicking this link.
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a fellow trailblazer! Click here to hear all the fascinating conversations Chris has had with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
If youâd like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.
KEY TOPICS:
Meeting of the Minds: Why Enrique is energized by the vision he and Chris share of workplaces (and a world) informed by values like empathy, gratitude and authenticity. If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you donât give enough credit or thanks to â that youâve never thought to thank â who would that be? Mom and Dad â whose radically different (but complementary) views of the world shaped Enriqueâs approach to life. He can never offer enough thanks!The Power of Modeling: About the positive energy Enrique very consciously puts out into the world in all his everyday interactions, even when itâs not reciprocal.Hacking HR: How Enrique has built a community by offering an umbrella to 350k+ members interested in the full spectrum of human resources issues â from mental health to technology to making cultural change in the workplace.Trailblazing Ambitions: About closing gaps by using HR as a leader in creating community and connections with transformational impacts on workplace cultures.Understanding the Gap: Chris and Enrique take a closer look at the new technologies and social mandates that HR must learn to balance against the traditional admin. and other corporate services they provide.The Role of Gratitude: Why itâs important to acknowledge that progress â especially of the proactive variety â doesnât magically happen.Enriqueâs Two-Pronged Gratitude and Appreciation:For the journey and lessons learned along the way.For the community â including those who challenge or push back on assumptions.Operationalizing Empathy: Why itâs so important to provide the framework for a variety of points of view, building bridges among competing interests and blending core values.Two Sides of the Same Coin: How business success hinges on âpeopleâ success and vice versa. They are mutually reinforcing and transformational.Regarding Retention: About appreciation as a valuable source of engagement that bonds employees to their jobs and each other â far more than any product or mission.Epidemic of Entitlement: How ego-based demands for recognition and empathy erode gratitude, which requires an atmosphere of mutuality. Itâs a âgive in order to getâ thing!The Language of Gratitude: Enrique reflects on the words of affirmation that his parents deserve in recognition of the example they set â and he never wants to take for granted!Parting Thoughts:Whatever your role, you can make things happen. You can create a better workplace and world just by being compassionate and kind.Donât let ego divert or block your best intentions. You can transcend!QUOTABLE
âThere are so many people in the world working on all things empathy, kindness, compassion, gratitude. We know that itâs not fluffy and doesnât make you weak.â (Enrique)âWith all my imperfections, limitations and shortcomings, I am the way I am because of the way (my parents) raised me and for that Iâm forever thankful.â (Enrique)âAll of these conversations need to happen for HR to close the gap ⊠between where we are and our potential to become that (cultural) leader.â (Enrique)âThere are so many things we can do in HR to leave an incredible legacy of transforming work for good.â (Enrique)âHacking HR hasnât gotten too far from its original vision. Itâs still a vehicle for connection, learning and coming up with innovative ideas.â (Chris)âPeople are more engaged, more satisfied, happier, finding more joy, are more creative and even have higher financial returns ⊠when they are treated with kindness and respect, dignity and compassion at work.â (Enrique)âWhen you practice gratitude, it broadens the thought-action repertoire within your brain needed to seek innovation, creativity, curiosity, joy and pride.â (Chris)âThe greatest cultures are not built because of something a leader says. Great cultures happen because of everyday interactions. You see it and feel it in the way people talk to each other and work.â (Enrique)âWhether you are in a leadership position or you are just an individual contributor, donât let your ego get in the way. Just get it done. Begin the conversation!â (Enrique)âIf you know that gratitude, compassion, empathy and kindness are the right thing to do and youâre not doing them, youâve got to look at yourself in the mirror because your ego is blocking you from doing the right thing.â (Enrique)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
About Jim Harterâs Harvard Business Review article about worker satisfaction, "What Great Managers Do to Engage Employees."Read the âBroaden and Buildâ chapter in Chrisâs bestseller, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Dark Hours."ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Enrique Rubio is passionate about Human Resources, People Operations, Technology and Innovation. He is an Electronic Engineer, Fulbright Scholar and Executive Master in Public Administration with a focus on HR. Also certified in Design Thinking, Scrum Master and PMP, Enrique has over the past 20 years worked in the HR and tech worlds. He is very interested in the digitization of the workplace, Human Resources and the intersection of the future of work, technology and HR.
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ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
FOLLOW CHRIS:
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Are you tired of constantly comparing yourself to others? Do you feel like you're not measuring up to society's standards of success? In this episode of "Gratitude Through Hard Times," host Chris Schembra interviews Shauna Schwartz, author of "How to Stop Caring What Others Think for Real," about the concept of internal success. Shauna explains how internal success differs from external success factors such as grades, money, and career achievement, and emphasizes the importance of recognizing internal growth and development. She also discusses the negative impact of the hoax of self-esteem on children and encourages people to embrace failure as a path to personal success and growth.
Shauna's book focuses on bringing acceptance to the reality in front of us and shifting our focus from external factors of success to our internal essence. She emphasizes that leaders cannot see themselves as puppeteers who control everything and everyone around them. Instead, they need to recognize that the people they lead are not puppets and cannot be controlled. The desire for control can create unhealthy anxiety and lead to unhealthy behavior from leaders. Chris and Shauna discuss the importance of emotional regulation in leadership and how it relates to dialectical behavioral therapy.
If you're ready to shift your focus from external success factors to your internal essence, this episode is for you. Join Chris and Shauna as they discuss the importance of recognizing internal growth and development, embracing failure, and letting go of the need for control.
đ What does success mean to you? Is it all about external factors like money and career achievement or is there more to it?
đŹ Do you think the hoax of self-esteem can have negative effects on children? How can we encourage them to embrace failure and personal growth?
đ„ The desire for control can create unhealthy anxiety and lead to unhealthy behavior from leaders. It's time to shift our focus from external factors of success to our internal essence.
đ Embracing the three C's - complaints, criticism, and compliments - can lead to personal success and growth. Let's focus on balancing acceptance and change to achieve internal success.
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In the world of marketing, customer advocacy has moved in recent years from a piecemeal hit-or-miss effort to a scalable discipline and Ari Hoffman is at the forefront. Vice President of Customer Marketing & Advocacy at Influitive, he shares his powerful framework on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times with Host Chris Schembra. Itâs all about building authentic community and loyalty to your brand, product or service not by soliciting the same customer testimony over and over again but by engaging fans as part of a growing, dynamic ecosystem. Youâll learn what makes this marketing approach so powerful, how Ari rolls out programs that generate customer obsession across sectors and why defaulting to ad-based lead generation is not the way to go in times of recession. If youâve been trying to figure out how to connect with customers in meaningful ways and turn them into spontaneous evangelists for your company, then hereâs your starting place. Ari is a thought leader with the set of tools (like his DRIVE methodology) youâll need on the journey!
Learn more about Influitiveâs Fearless 50 Elite 18 Awards and how to nominate, vote for or otherwise celebrate the customer-led marketers whose work you appreciate most!
If youâd like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.
Click here to hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
Freeze and Squeeze: Ari spells out some of the sales-centric, demand-gen defaults, like emphasis on advertising, that companies mistakenly fall back on in times of recession.Customer Obsession: Why companies oriented towards user experience see 2.5 times faster growth and 1.7 times better retention.Fearless 50 and Elite 18: How Influitive is inspiring a customer-first approach through awards that exemplify it.Moving Messages: Ari highlights the importance of creating ecosystems that engage customers and inspire them to proactively speak up on behalf of your product or service.Stepping Stones for Moving Towards Customer Engagement:Start an advocacy âwell,â documenting customers who are already in your corner.Identify customers youâve gone back to for testimony too often â burning them out and generating a stale message.Create a mini-advocacy program that invites customers to connect.Map out a handful of things to ask of your customers, including:Committing to connect with other customers.Writing a review.Providing 30 minutes of product or messaging feedback.Incentivize customer advocacy by offering in exchange things like:Early access to your new lines of business or free use for a limited time.Swag bags.Free attendance at dinner gatherings.An honorary jacket.Scaling requires an engagement engine to nurture customers and help them see the value-add in advocacy. Giving versus Taking: How customer advocacy programs can turn on generosity and other benefits in the long run.Why Customer Obsession is a canât-lose campaign because itâs all about:Being thankful.Celebrating people who are doing things right.Leveling up the skill sets of others.Inspiring others while creating demand generation for your company.Spreading the Love: How to nominate, vote or otherwise tee up gratitude by participating in Influitiveâs Fearless 50 customer-led marketing awards.Uncovering Marketing Gold: How Ari connects with customers and helps them see their importance by providing connections, resources and words of affirmation.DRIVE Advocacy: Deliver value first.Refine what people are good at.Iterate the Value.Expand the delivery.Leveling Up: How Influitive trains people to become internal and public advocates for â and champions of â their own customer success and achievement.The Heroâs (and Heroineâs) Journey: About gratitude as a tool that taps into powerful emotions that create a symbiotic customer narrative and outcomes.Value Realization: You can deliver value all day long, but if the person receiving it doesnât realize it then did you actually do anything?If Itâs Just Transactional, It Wonât Work! The gratitude youâre giving has to:#1 Be of value to the recipient.#2 Be inconvenient or cost you something in some way. #3 Be genuinely something youâre glad to be offering.Donât forget to check out Fearless 50 and if youâve missed the nominating or voting window, bookmark it for next year!QUOTABLE
âWe are the biggest of the big in customer marketing ⊠but the reality is that the customer marketing world is a fractional sliver of the entire marketing world.â (Ari)âThe more collective value our industry and each individual contributor and thought leader in our space has, the more that rubs off on the larger marketing community and the way that we think about leveraging our customers.â (Ari)âItâs about creating a community and ecosystem where customers are literally raising their hands because they want to share their success stories.â (Ari)âThe neat thing that gratitude has the ability to do is reactivate weak or dormant ties.â (Chris)âI donât make champions, but I find them and I shine a spotlight on them. I find those diamond-in-the-rough people who donât even realize the talent they have.â (Ari)â(Your customers) are the champions. They are the heroes of the story. Let them shine and bring you along for the ride.â (Ari) âWeâre dealing with humans at the end of the day, but we lose sight of that. We get caught up in the numbers, then canât understand why we canât move the needle the way we want to.â (Ari)âThe heroineâs journey is filled with emotion and connection and reflection and introspection. And gratitude is the tool that taps into those emotions.â (Chris)âMake someone feel personally validated, appreciated and connected to your community of customers and they will talk about you âtil the cows come home.â (Chris)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
Click here to learn about Forresterâs thought leadership around Customer Obsession.Gartnerâs Top Customer Experience Trends for 2023.More about Influitiveâs Fearless 50 and Elite 18 at this link.Visit this link to learn more about Mark Granovetterâs work at Stanford around the strength of weak ties.Click here to find out what all the buzz about Gong is about!About Googleâs study, "Promotion to Emotion: Connecting B2B Customers to Brands."Learn about Barbara Fredericksonâs groundbreaking research on happiness and the power of positivity.ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Ari Hoffmanis the VP of Customer Marketing and Advocacy at Influitive. His human-first approach to work and passion for customer success are fixtures of his career. A seasoned veteran and trusted advisor, Ari supports customer-centric businesses, primarily in the enterprise SaaS industry. He is a natural organizer and people-connecter, using empathy to relentlessly shine light on others.
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ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
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Get ready for fascinating and relevant insights on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times, featuring Jim Harter, PhD, Gallupâs Chief Scientist of Workplace Management and Wellbeing. Heâs sharing with Host Chris Schembra all the eye-opening research and analysis behind his latest book (co-authored with Jim Clifton of the Clifton Strengths Assessment),"Culture Shock: An unstoppable force has changed how we work and live. Gallup's solution to the biggest leadership issue of our time." The key takeaway? Nothing cements employee performance, satisfaction and retention more effectively than regular, meaningful conversations â especially when they include recognition for work well done. It costs leaders very little and, data indicate, pays off over and over again in bottom-line results. Dr. Jim explains the research and analysis that the Gallup organization has undertaken to address the biggest leadership challenges of our time, including the stresses of remote work, the limited wellbeing associated with four-day work weeks and the critical role that empathy plays in engaging with and bringing out the best in our workplace cultures. Dr. Jimâs new book is jam-packed with stats and evidence-backed solutions to align your companyâs purpose with employee satisfaction â which ultimately translates into that all-important customer success!
Want to hear much more from Dr. Jim Harter? Pick up a copy of his latest collaboration, "Culture Shock," check out his bestselling book, "12:The Elements of Great Managing" or click here to check out "Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements."
If youâd like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.
Click here to hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainers who have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you donât give enough credit or thanks to â that youâve never thought to thank â who would that be and why? Frank Schmidt, PhD, a research scientist and mentor who reshaped Dr. Jimâs approach to people, research and the role of gratitude in the context of employee engagement.Culture Shock: Co-authored with Jim Clifton, this latest collaboration uses Gallup data and qualitative snapshots to unpack the post-Covid workforce and workplace future.Important Findings:For workers, overall stress has continued on an upward trajectory but remote work has offered welcome freedom (from things like commuting).For leaders, thereâs uncertainty about how to monitor remote worker productivity.Data suggest that thereâs plenty of room for businesses to thrive.A Great Reset: Why leaders who clearly define (and communicate) workplace culture, customer experience and organizational values are most likely to ride out recession. Customer Success: About the importance of employee satisfaction and loyalty when it comes to quality service delivery and long-term, bottom-line corporate results.Managing Strengths: Understanding employee styles, aspirations and experiences is a key component for engagement, retention, job and customer satisfaction.Manager to Employee to Customer: How the interplay among all three elements determines corporate success. Changing the Dialogue: How empathy can open up the conversations that managers need to be having with employees to overcome workplace disconnects.Meaningful Conversations: Gallup research indicates that recognition and gratitude are among the most powerful tools we have to cultivate workplace community and loyalty.Components of Meaningful Conversations:Recognize specific, recent work efforts.Understand what motivates good work.Know the context of the employeeâs particular work.Meet on an ongoing basis.Collaborate and coordinate remote compared with in-person hours.Wellbeing v. Engagement: Why stats indicate that the benefits of four-day work weeks are offset in many cases by the stress of compressed schedules and loss of autonomy.Blenders and Splitters: About the difference between people who prefer to compartmentalize work and family life and those who take a multi-task approach.Step. No. 1: Dr. Jim recommends managers adopt the coaching habit of one meaningful conversation every week grounded in empathy, understanding and accountability.QUOTABLE
âA lot of people donât know their impact on you until you tell them.â (Dr. Jim)âGratitude is an inherently pro-social trait that feels good to give, to receive and to observe. But we have to take the first step.â (Chris)âGratitude is contagious and creates a positive upward smile. Itâs one of the most positive forces in the universe because it keeps on giving.â (Chris)âThereâs plenty of data to show that great managing can make workplaces more productive than theyâve ever been before. If we combine autonomy with great performance management, we can reach all-time highs.â (Dr. Jim)âTo get the right customer experience, youâve got to have the right employee experience.â (Dr. Jim)âSometimes all you need to do to shorten the distance between employer and employee is just ask your team, âHow do you like to be recognized? How do you like to receive gratitude?â How do you like your wins celebrated?â â (Chris)âThe reason managers are so important is that theyâre the only ones inside organizations who know the idiosyncrasies of each person and have the opportunity to get to know their situations â and thatâs never been more important than it is right now.â (Dr. Jim)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
Learn more about the Clifton Strengths Assessment.Jimâs Harvard Business Review article, "What Great Managers Do to Engage Employees."ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Jim Harter, Ph.D., is Chief Scientist for Gallup's workplace management and wellbeing practices. He is the coauthor of the No. 1 Wall Street Journal and Washington Post bestseller, "It's the Manager", released in 2019. His work has appeared in the Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company and Time magazine in addition to many academic publications.
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ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
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On this very special episode Gratitude Through Hard Times, Host Chris Schembra and his guest, DrahomĂra Mandikova, celebrate meaningful connection and its power to generate profitable solutions not just for shareholders but the world at large. Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Asahi Europe & International, âDrahusâ (as she is known to friends) shares with us the unique North Star principles that drive one of the worldâs largest alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer companies, with 19 breweries exporting to 90 markets globally. You will be intrigued to learn about the meaning, power and intentionality behind Asahiâs emphasis on four simple words: âLetâs have a beer.â Itâs about bringing awareness and building community â person to person â as the foundation to individual wellness and a sustainable âhuman-environmental ecosystem.â For Drahus, the first step is the critical one: Pause. Reflect on the talent, passion and ultimate purpose you bring, as well as the legacy you wish to leave. Her values-driven vision has shaped Prague-based Asahiâs workplace culture and brought clarity to the companyâs mission statement. âWe have all these goals,â says Drahus, âbut to really bring them to life and enjoy the good feeling, we need to be in the present, work together and create connections to step-by-step bring about those long-term dreams.â We are on the road together, folks, and it starts with gratitude!
If youâd like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.
Click here to hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
If you could thank someone who helped you through some of your darkest hours, who would that be and what were you going through? A mentor with an especially keen way of helping Drahus unhitch from unnecessary catastrophizing and impatience.A Moment of Reflection: About the importance of taking a pause to come into the present, then step into the past through reflection.2030 Legacy of Good: How Drahus and Asahiâs company culture have coalesced around a mission based on a multidimensional balance of past, present and future.A Mentorâs Advice: About Inner Child work and how it can reintegrate intuition and help return us to the essence of who we are and wish to be.Empathy is Everything: Why Drahus believes that the companies that actually care about the human-environmental ecosystem in which they function will bring profitable solutions to very real pain points. A win-win-win!Embracing Failure: False starts and falling short are part of a holistic learning process.Brand Purpose: About the Asahi brandâs commitment to fostering a sense of belonging and community for its tens of millions of consumers.Remarkable Marketing: How Asahi has mounted campaigns that bring people together, helping them feel connected and seen on a personal, human level.The Problem of Loneliness: About the creative ways Asahiâs multi-national team is trying to build bridges â old to young, left to right, across lifestyles and geographies.Asahiâs Legacy Mission Includes Being Bold:Speak directly and compassionately to tough issues, like mental health.Moving 20% of the corporate portfolio into nonalcoholic beverages.Beer as a vehicle for making meaningful connections.Drahusâs Personal Purpose: Making business and environmental growth sustainable.What Sheâs Up To:Coordinating breweries across Europe to build sustainability into their production.Creating a strategy to ensure Asahi becomes carbon neutral.Midwifing a new economic model driven by profitable solutions for all stakeholders â not exclusively profit for shareholders.Action Item: All purpose-filled journeys start with a pause to reflect and re-center on your personal talents, passion and the positive impact you wish to make.Remember: When we are clear about ourselves and our purpose, the work comes into focus â and it becomes easier to shed obligations and distractions that do not serve!Why Do We Do What We Do? From intentionality flows business success and ultimately a healthier, more sustainable world.Parting Thought:Focus on what you want to know say ânoâ to rather than whatâs driving you to say âyes.âResist the shiny things that distract your ego but donât serve your greater purpose or desire to create impact.Meaningful connection is fueled by gratitude â and makes life much, much easier.QUOTABLE
âWe have all these goals ⊠but to really bring them to life and enjoy the good feeling, we need to be in the present, work together and create connections to step-by-step bring about those long-term dreams.â (Drahus)âYou have to have a long-term dream so that you know where youâre going.â (Drahus)âBe proud of the past so you can build the confidence and learning, but what is really important is how you bring everything to the present: Your âself,â your actions, reflecting on the future and also on the past.â (Drahus)âOne of the biggest pain points I see in our world is the loneliness epidemic, the idea that there are a lot of people on this planet who are disconnected or do not feel seen.â (Chris)âBelonging is not about blending in. Itâs not about meeting people that believe in the same things that you believe in. Belonging is about showing up as you authentically are and being accepted.â (Chris)âMy purpose now is really to advocate for a new era for businesses to think about the new economy, where we are moving from maximizing profit for shareholders to bringing profitable solutions for all stakeholders.â (Drahus)âWhether youâre an accountant, a lawyer or CEO of a software firm, you can find your purpose and it can be as simple as creating meaningful connections with others.â (Chris)âYears from now â when weâve long passed on â maybe someone will look back on our life and say, âThey made others feel safe, seen and heard.â And if thatâs your purpose, itâs going to be a great legacy â and lead to some good profitable growth!â (Chris)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
Click here to listen to episode 225, featuring Geoff McDonaldâs insights into Mental health and well-being.Listen to Johann Hariâs Ted talk, "Everything You Think You Know About Addiction is Wrong."ABOUT OUR GUEST:
DrahomĂra started her career working for the banking sector in Slovakia. In 2000, she joined Plzensky Prazdroj in Slovakia, and worked in a variety of Corporate Affairs roles, before becoming Corporate Affairs Director in the Czech Republic in 2010. She played a key role in the integration of the Czech and Slovak businesses and contributed to strengthening a positive reputation of Prazdroj as the most responsible company in the Czech Republic. She was also seconded to SABMiller in India to support them with their long-term CA strategy. DrahomĂra became Corporate Affairs Director of Asahi Europe in 2017 and following this Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of the newly created Asahi Europe & International in 2021.
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ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
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Youâve got the business, the car, the boat, the house. Youâre blessed with a great family, friends, access to more than your wildest dreams. But something is missing. Something is gnawing at you. If this sounds familiar, you may be in need of âsoul fulfillment,â which is what Host Chris Schembraâs guest on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times has provided thousands of people. At his Rythmia Life Advancement Center in Costa Rica, Founder & CEO Gerry Powell offers comprehensive plant-based medicine retreats. The modalities work at a deep level to help remove shame, fear, trauma and the anger that fuels â and is a downfall for â so many hyper-successful people. Youâll learn about Gerryâs transformational journey and how he stepped away from the multimillion-dollar serial IPO lifestyle he thought would bring him happiness â but that instead left him profoundly empty and suicidal. Working with plant-based shamanic techniques opens up new pathways to self-acceptance and compassion. Itâs a journey that 97% of Rythmia participants describe as nothing short of a âmiracle,â a source of relief and revelation that transcends our ingratitude, confusion and old, unhealed wounding. Most of all, says Gerry, people leave his one-week retreats with an entirely new regard for life: âI made it out of sheer perseverance and brutality, but there are so many other ways to do it and feel different.â Youâre invited to explore and see your soulâs fulfillment in a completely new way!
More information about the medically licensed plant medicine and transformational retreat experience offered at Rythmia is available at this link, along with a video about Gerryâs very personal journey to wellness (here).
If youâd like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.
Click hereto hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
When the Bucket Doesnât Feel Full: Why Gerry wants to reach out to successful entrepreneurs who very often feel something missing and donât understand what or why.If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you donât give enough credit or thanks to â or that youâve never thought to thank â who would that be? So many people, but Shaman Gina was pivotal.The Gift of Perspective: How plant medicine can help reveal to us the ways in which even those who hurt us are of help in our lives â even when we donât see it.Sections in Chrisâs book that are relevant to plant medicine:Connect the Dots Backwards: About gratitude as a link to our past.Struggles into Benefits: About the science behind âgrateful processing.âFeeling the Feelings: How a lifetime of numbing and other corrosive emotional coping mechanisms turned around only after Gerry was able to embrace a shamanic experience with plant-based medicine.Repairing the Fraction: Gerry turned his life over to healing, creating a unique retreat space at @Rythmia in Costa Rica, changing the lives of more than 14,000 seekers.Coming from Ingratitude: How a hypervigilant âbruteâ approach to the pursuit of goals yields only more anger, shame, guilt, regret.Plant Medicine: Itâs a conduit to compassion, self-love, wisdom and generosity that enables us to be collaborative, empathetic, curious leaders.Knowing When Youâre Ready: Plant medicine comes into focus when we are ready to put the pieces together and open ourselves to transformation.The Comeback Story: Rythmia is about taking people out of their hole, to the brink and back from despair to a âmiracle.âJoining the Tribe: Why plant medicine work of the type Gerry practices offers hyper-achievers a place to reconnect, work through shame and guilt and find wholeness in a safe community environment.QUOTABLE
âItâs the perfect time to be in this work as the world is waking up that there is a greater human potential out there.â (Chris)âThere are people who help pull you towards your higher self and people who hurt you who keep pushing you towards your higher self.â (Gerry)âGratitude is about looking into the past and being grateful for all the steps that took you to where you are today â the good and the bad.â (Chris)âOnce you die you can actually live life without the fear of death, which makes you really want to be more than anything a beneficial presence here on earth.â (Gerry)âThe secret to success and happiness is not necessarily a new go-to-market strategy, not a higher intellect or new network ⊠Itâs actually to look inside yourself and be at peace with who you are.â (Chris)âVery few of us who are hyper-successful were raised in the right way. Thereâs a reason those folks are in the one-tenth of one percent. And itâs not because everything was nice and tidy.â (Gerry)âGuilt and shame and regret are extremely lonely emotions and the thing you think you should do is not talk about it. But itâs actually the opposite: Confront it, talk about it and forgive yourself. Plant medicine really helps you do that.â (Chris)âThe obstacles youâve overcome â the shame, guilt and trauma you feel right now â are the best parts about you because true human connection and belonging do not occur when our lives appear to be perfect.â (Chris)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
More about the global leadership community YPO at this link.About "Grateful Processing," a concept developed by Prof. Phillip Watkins of Eastern Washington University."The Magic of Thinking Big," by David J. Schwartz, PhD.About Michael Beckwithâs Agape Spiritual Center.More about author Kurt Vonnegutâs "Six Emotional Arcs of Storytelling."ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Gerry is Founder and CEO of Rythmia, an all-inclusive, luxury, medically licensed plant medicine center in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. His singular goal is to serve guests and help each individual get their Miracle.
FOLLOW GERRY:
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ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
FOLLOW CHRIS:
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These are bumpy times economically and for many of us itâs a period of professional redefinition. What path are we on and is it the career we truly desire? How can we best showcase our skill sets and the value-add we bring? Host Chris Schembraâs guest on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times has a methodology that focuses on these questions and much more. Loren Greiff, Founder & President at PortfolioRocket, has developed a framework thatâs applicable across industry sectors as well as the many phases of our career development. Itâs as much about defining our own core values and the expertise we offer as it is identifying the workplace culture best suited to our fundamental vision. Loren shares her proprietary four-step process for reimagining â and bringing to reality â a job that feels like exactly the right fit. Youâll come away inspired to redefine what you bring to the table and leverage your network â most especially those 2nd, 3rd and 4th degree contacts that hold far more promise than you might imagine! The market right now is fluid, but the one thing that remains consistent always, says Loren, is the importance of being fully ourselves and clear about what we have to contribute: âThis is not about contorting yourself and playing Cirque du Soleil with your career,â says Loren, who also hosts Career Blast in a Half. âThis is about really advocating and treating yourself as somebody who is going to transform an organization.â
If youâre ready to retool your career trajectory, now is the time to book a discovery call with Loren, which you can do at this link. Youâll also find inspiration and wisdom in her podcast, Career Blast in a Half.
If youâd like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.
Click hereto hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you donât give enough credit or thanks to â that youâve never thought to thank â who would that be and why? No doubt or hesitation â Eileen Jones, a high school English teacher who was the first person to acknowledge Lorenâs writing talent and develop her voice. Cheers to her!Yes, And: What enabled Loren to be both an outlier and standard-bearer; perform as a maverick while also maintaining impeccable dignity.Research shows that thought leaders are regarded as having two things:Authenticity.Information to share of value to others.Applying the Methodology: How Lorenâs framework has proven elastic enough to adapt easily across the full range of industry sectors, from legal to ops to HR to creative.Shedding the Cloak: What prompted Loren to break with the hiring/recruitment industry status quo in order to establish a creative alternative model.Sheltering: About putting a repeatable process in place for migrating out of blocked, unhappy workplace situations.Lorenâs Four-Step Proprietary Process:Step 1: Get Clear!Ask yourself what youâve been doing and why.Determine your core values, the benchmark for evaluating opportunities going forward.Establish how people are going to find you via 15-20 keywords relevant to your skill set .Identify 10-15 companies that meet your ideal criteria.Showcase specific problems youâve solved or successes youâve had.Create boundaries around the conditions under which you want to meet.Step 2: All about Your Assets!Reimagine LinkedIn as more than a profile. It needs to convert interest and generate activity/connections.Create content â which includes strategically commenting on other peopleâs posts. Join conversations!Develop marketing materials with effective (timely) messaging.Design collateral (visual and written) that is accessible.Step 3: Networking with strangers!Reach out to 2nd, 3rd and 4th degree links â which are going to be your more useful allies in finding a new niche.Formulate pitches that will demonstrate preparation and initiative.Learn how to ask sharper, more mind-blowing questions.Step 4: Do your homework (aka Sniff Testing)!Perform due diligence on your prospective employer.Ensure that onboarding and your 30/60/90-day plan are in place.Keep eyes and ears open for unexpected leads or connections.Scan the landscape for business challenges to which you can bring your vision, expertise and solutions.Shout-Out for Eileen Jones: Thank you for your example, bravery, wit, class â all the known and unknown gifts youâve given Loren over the years!QUOTABLE
âBeing a rebel can be blended with a lot of discernment, decorum and the ability to be kind and loving and just a really wonderful person.â (Loren)While itâs not without its merits, the whole industry of hiring and recruiting was just broken. It was a calling for me that you are either going to be part of a continuous problem or you are going to create a different kind of solution.â (Loren)âI realized that if I was going to launch a business it had to solve a big problem â a problem so relevant that it resonates with anyone in the job search process.â (Loren)âIf you donât know how to navigate forward in your career, you need to have a system that is rinseable and repeatable (because) with the churn rate this will happen over and over and over again.â (Loren)âAt some point in life when we realize weâre miserable, we either continue the same patterns and getting the same jobs ⊠or we take a pause and a new approach.â (Chris)âThe real transformation happens when you are developing relationships with 2nd, 3rd, 4th degree connections, which are known as your weaker ties. The weak links are your stronger ties.â (Loren)âThe hidden job market is available to every single one of us ⊠and can come through multiple areas â content, conversation, somebody standing in line at the post office. You donât know so you have to keep your eyes and ears open.â (Loren)âThis is not about contorting yourself and playing Cirque du Soleil with your career. This is about really advocating and treating yourself as somebody who is going to transform an organization.â (Loren)âYouâve got to figure out the unique problem that you can solve ⊠You want to really know and be able to articulate what that problem is and what it will change.â (Loren)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
Senecaâs Letter 13 on âgroundless fearsâ can be found here.More about Stanford's study: "Strength Through Weak Ties" by Mark Granovetter as featured in "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,""Personal Socrates: Questions That Will Upgrade Your Life from Legends & World-Class Performers," by Marc Champagne.Learn about the podcast Big Questions with Cal Fussman.More about the marketing and branding maestro, Seth Godin, available here.ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Loren Grieffâs career took off in New York as a VP at J. Walter Thompson. For the past decade+ she has established herself as a top performer recognized for a unique ability to serve demanding clients, identify talent unicorns and drive excellence in the industry. PortfolioRocket is the culmination of more than 25 years of corporate design and marketing positions across global agencies, corporate in-house teams, creative staffing and management consulting.
FOLLOW LOREN:
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ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
FOLLOW CHRIS:
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This episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times issues an unmistakable call to action: Join the crusade for workplace openness and compassion! Host Chris Schembraâs guest, Geoff McDonald, is explaining the business and moral case for making mental health integral to our corporate cultures. Why? Because beyond fostering top performance and competitive advantage, it saves lives. As a keynote speaker and business transformation consultant with decades of HR leadership at Unilever, Geoff is uniquely positioned to destigmatize the mental health challenges that are all too common in todayâs noisy world. Having navigated a diagnosis of anxiety-fueled depression, he understands the paralyzing impacts and basic ingredients for restoring equilibrium. His experience was painful and frightening but, as Geoff shares, it was also an invitation to enable change and human connection. Youâll learn through this conversation how a combination of unconditional love and willingness to be vulnerable ultimately empowered Geoff, a UK-based native of South Africa, to open a global dialogue around mental health in the workplace. âToo often we have not focused on the concept of the health and energy of our people as a critical enabler of performance,â says Geoff. But we can reject stigma and isolation! Join us as Geoff outlines the steps we can take to bring more gratitude, kindness, quality of life and bottom-line results to our workplaces!
If you want to be further inspired by Geoffâs perspective on mental health and wellbeing as key indicators for thriving workplace cultures, check out his powerful TedX Talk, "Let's Talk About Mental Health."
If youâd like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.
Click here to hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainers who have shared their human stories about Gratitude Through Hard Times.
KEY TOPICS:
If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you donât give enough credit or enough thanks to â that youâve never thought to thank â who would that be? It has to be mom, in recognition of the unconditional she provided as Geoffâs baseline.Midnight, January 25, 2008: How a massive panic attack on the eve of his daughterâs 13th birthday triggered debilitating anxiety, a diagnosis and a transformational choice.The Power of Love: About the curative effects of both embracing his humanity and accepting the love Geoffâs family and friends offered through a dark passage.Four Ingredients that Healed Geoffâs Anxiety-Fueled Depression:Getting a concrete diagnosis that integrated various symptoms.Being authentic and forthright about the feelings he was experiencing.Trusting the credibility and respect heâd built over 20 years at Unilever.Working for a compassionate leader who had experience dealing with mental illness within his circle of family and friends.How Geoff empowered himself â and others â through openness and vulnerability.Common Conditions: Why depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges are just part of being human in the world today.Implementing the Cure: Why purpose is integral to creating workplaces that are healthy.About a Finite Resource: How pervasive burnout and pernicious stress erode the energy we need to fuel our teams and move mountains.Making Mental Health and Wellbeing a Strategic Priority:Supports and energizes workers â a key ingredient for workplace success.Enhances peopleâs lives â which is simply the right thing to do.Yields performance metrics â that support leadership objectives.Why actively de-stigmatizing mental health at an organizational level cultivates psychological safety, retention and potentially saves lives.Chris Captures the Alchemy: About the combination of openness and cushion of unconditional love that supported Geoffâs recovery and fuel his mission today.In closing, please join this crusade by doing three things:Reflect on (and get curious about) your own relationship to mental health and ask: Is it one of intolerance or true compassion?Keep the conversation going. The more of us who are candidly discussing mental health, the greater the de-stigmatization.When youâre ready, consider sharing your story, which is like sending a small lifeboat out into the ocean of people now suffering in silence and feeling alone.QUOTABLE
âThe purpose-driven work that we do is very tiring ⊠But every time I talk to (Geoff) the energy is real, I feel it in every bone in my body and it inspires me to do greater good for our world.â (Chris)âThat sense of unconditional love â and how powerful that can be ⊠is so important.â (Geoff)âThe decision I took was that I wouldnât be burdened by the stigma associated with (mental) illness and that empowered and liberated me.â (Geoff)âA sense of love and a sense of hope were probably the two most powerful ingredients in my recovery ... Those two emotions kept me going.â (Geoff)âI am not good at masking my feelings. Itâs just who I am and â you talk about gratitude â I am so thankful that my personality is âwhat you see is what you get.â â (Geoff)âAn expression of your vulnerability just makes you more human and allows for deeper, more meaningful connection between two human beings.â (Geoff)âIf overall health and wellbeing is a critical enabler of performance, then why donât you make it one of your strategic (business) priorities? Why donât you create workplaces ⊠that will enhance the lives of people working there?â (Geoff)âToo often we have not focused on the concept of the health and energy of our people as a critical enabler of performance.â (Geoff)âItâs time to step up bigger and think of the purpose and legacy that youâre leaving with the people that surround you ... the energy and connection and social wellbeing.â (Chris)âSometimes just being more open to receiving love from others is the first step to your own healing.â (Chris)LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:
About Alastair Campbell, podcast host and communications strategist.More information about the WorkHuman Live Conference, where Geoff will be a keynote speaker, from April 17-20, 2023 in San Diego.Geoffâs Tedx talk "Let's Talk About Mental Health."ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Geoff McDonald is now best known as a global advocate, campaigner and consultant who is passionate about addressing the stigma of mental ill health in workplaces, and about helping organizations embed purpose as a key driver of business performance. Prior to this he was the Global VP of Human Resources for Unilever. In 2008 he was diagnosed with anxiety fueled depression, recovery from which led him to discover a new personal purpose. And in 2014 he left his role with Unilever to devote his time, energy and expertise to ending the stigma of depression and anxiety in the workplace. He tells his powerful story to audiences around the globe, knowing first-hand that talking about mental health saves lives.
FOLLOW GEOFF:
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ABOUT OUR HOST:
Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.
FOLLOW CHRIS:
WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | LINKEDIN | BOOKS
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