Love in Action

Best-selling author Stephen M. R. Covey is the former president and CEO of The Covey Leadership Center, where he increased shareholder value by 67 times. Through his methods, he led The Covey Leadership Center to be the #1 leadership group in the world. He’s a Harvard MBA, who founded and currently leads Franklin Covey’s global speed of trust practice.“I saw firsthand the high cost of low trust,” [7:40] says Stephen. He points out the toxicity of a low-trust environment from his own personal experience: “We became aware that we need to build trust with each other intentionally.” [8:00]“Trust matters. It impacts everything.” [9:50] As Stephen says, trust is a performance multiplier and a leadership creator. It impacts organizations at virtually every level, creating benefits big, small, and everywhere in between. “My work on trust is ten times better because I also experienced the negative side. I experienced what it was like to not be trusted and to have a low-trust culture,” [12:05] Stephen says. His book isn’t just based on theory: Stephen has experienced low-trust work environments, and he’s seen firsthand how that quality can cripple an organization. “The world has changed but our style of leadership has not.” [13:03] One of the man great insights that Stephen provides is the world’s need for a new style of leadership.“This is not just a book on trust. This is a book on a new kind of leadership that is needed to succeed in our world today.” [14:41] It’s important to remember that Stephen’s book isn’t just about the idea of trust, or even the idea of trust in the workplace. The book can be applied to every aspect of your life. Stephen emphasizes the importance of elevating caring above competing. In business, it’s easy to fall into the trap of scarcity. But Stephen believes in an abundance mentality, and discusses how this can create trust in an organization. Stephen pointed to Satya Nadella as an example of a trust hero. He describes how Nadella changed Microsoft from a company on the decline to an innovative leader in their industry. “We need to become more trusting in our world, not less,” [37:45] says Stephen. There are a lot of doubters, saying that there’s too much risk in trusting. But Stephen always concludes that we need more trust, and that there’s some risk involved in trusting people, but there’s more risk in not trusting people.ResourcesFrom Boss to Leader: https://www.marcelschwantes.com/Trust and Inspire Book: www.trustandinspire.comStephen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-m-r-covey-6400191a5/Stephen on Twitter: ​​https://twitter.com/stephenmrcoveySend Marcel a text message!

When it comes to using love in the workplace, our guests on this podcast literally wrote the book. Zina Sutch and Patrick Malone are the co-authors of Leading with Love and Laughter. Zina has been leading development and diversity programs in the U.S. government for 20 years. Patrick Malone spent 23 years in the Navy, serving as an officer in the medical service corps. Today, she is also a faculty member of the key executive leadership program at American University, where Patrick is the director. “I look for people having fun at work – laughing. If I see people in a staff meeting cracking up with each other… that’s a good team. So, why hasn’t anyone written a book about this?” [9:05] The two talk about how they decided to write a book about love, laughter, and the workplace. “The perspective that we had on love was that it was a mutual admiration, respect, and care for one human being to another.” [11:00] It’s important to define ‘love’ early on – there are a lot of different types of love, after all. “People have this false idea that having emotions in the workplace, feeling love, and exuding that love for other people is a weakness.” [13:50] This isn’t true, as Zina says: “But the exact opposite is true: When you are so confident in yourself, in who you are, you know yourself well enough to know boundaries, to know what is right and wrong, how to approach people, what love feels like to you, what it should feel like to others, then you become the strongest person in the room.” [14:05]If you think you’re a leader, and you look over your shoulder and no one is following you… you’re just taking a walk. This happens at all levels of an organization. The science backs up Zina and Patrick’s book. According to research from Microsoft, the single most important factor for organization success and mission accomplishment is psychological safety. Check out the book for more deep dives into the science of love and laughter in the workplace.“Laughter in the workplace, people think ‘OK, I’m going to be a joke teller. But that’s not what it is at all. It’s much deeper than that.” [29:50] If you can develop environments where people feel free to laugh and love one another, you’re on the right path. If you walk into the room and everyone stops talking, there’s a problem. It’s important that your presence in the workplace breeds positivity and good feelings: or, love and laughter in other words. Love starts with self, as Zina says. Everyone, from the bottom of the corporate ladder to the very top, should focus on loving themselves. That’s how you really begin to love others. Take time out of your day to self-analysis, and determine what ‘self-love’ means for you. Small, one-on-one interactions create love. “Don’t make it about work,” [41:24] as Patrick says. Ask your employees or coworkers about their lives, about what’s going on with them. That’s how you create real, authentic connections.ResourcesFrom Boss to Leader: https://www.marcelschwantes.com/Zina Sutch and Patrick Malone: www.sutchmalone.comSend Marcel a text message!

Mark Minukas is the co-author of the book Unfear: Transform Your Organization to Create Breakthrough Performance and Employee Wellbeing. He’s the managing partner of Co-Creation Partners and an engineer by trade. He began his career as a Navy officer, before working as a consultant at Mackenzie and Company. There, he mastered the art of transforming teams and creating success. He has worked across multiple industries to build high-performing operations. “Even the most profitable companies on the planet aren’t fear-free. But here’s what makes them different: Those companies know how to transform that negative energy of fear and anxiety and uncertainty into opportunities for learning and growth and development.” [3:20]“Sometimes we see fear and love as two completely separate things. But part of what we want to communicate to the world is that fear can actually be this amazing cue for learning and growth.” [6:55]“I looked around and had this intense experience that it was all a mirage.” [9:45] After striving for the approval of other people, forces, or circumstances, Mark remembers an intense realization that would change his life forever. There’s the Fight Club and the Nice Club. Each of these groups represents different peoples’ approaches to life. The Fight Clubs needs to stand out and be special. The Nice Club, by contrast, are people that just keep their heads down. Likeables, minions, sticklers – people that shy away from conflict. “How can you drive performance and human well-being at the same time?” [20:00] is one of the questions Mark tackles in his book. All too often, leaders think it’s one or the other – it doesn’t have to be. “There’s a few key mindsets we talk about in our book. One of those is that you are infinite potential.” [24:22]“Shifting from a knower to a learner mindset” [25:45] is a critical part of Mark’s strategy. He affirms that we should go into situations ready to learn and ready to ask questions, rather than assuming we already know what to do. “Almost always we live through our assumptions and interpretations of the world… Oftentimes we engage with people without acknowledging the difference between observation and interpretation.” [36:15]“Organizations don’t transform, people do.” [39:05] “When a critical mass of people start shifting what they’re believing you can get the whole system to tip over.” [39:12] Mark says that this is how you enact true, meaningful change in an organization. Resourceswww.cocreationpartners.comwww.unfearbook.comSend Marcel a text message!

In this mini-episode, Marcel Schwantes shares practical insights on how to lead with integrity. He discusses the impact this has on an organization.Send Marcel a text message!

Jennifer Moss is a burnout expert. She is also an international speaker, award-winning journalist and author, and a frequent writer for Harvard Business Review and SHRM. As a nationally syndicated radio columnist, she reports on topics related to happiness and workplace well-being. Her articles have been featured in publications such as Forbes, Fortune, and The Huffington Post. Her most recent book, The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It, emphasizes the impact of corporate burnout and shares steps organizations can take to mitigate this crisis. She is Marcel Schwantes’ guest this week on Love In Action.Marcel asks Jennifer to share her story. “Happiness is in love and action; it’s about resetting priorities and understanding what makes us happy,” she claims. “We spend about 50% of our waking hours at work, and it’s really depleting us. How do we make sure that the place where we spend so much of our time is happy and healthy?” [3:48]Jennifer had the privilege of working with the world’s leading experts in her research on burnout, collecting thousands of qualitative responses through WHO from 46 different countries. She was able to hear, in their own words, how people were feeling, and the results were devastating: 89% said their well being had declined; 85% said their job demands had increased and were getting worse; 67% were unable to talk about their mental health at work. “Only 2% of people in our data across 46 different countries said that their well-being was excellent,” she remarks, “so you imagine most people are really unwell.” [8:37]Burnout has been especially hard on women during the pandemic, Jennifer’s research shows. One respondent resumed working but had no assistance in caring for her eight-month-old baby while attending to her duties. Her husband couldn’t even help her, as he was backed up with work as well. [11:04]“Workload is the leading cause of burnout,” she cites. “Overwork is responsible for the deaths of over 2.8 million workers per year.” Industries like tech, finance, education, and healthcare are where people are extremely burnt out, to the point where there are trickle-down effects. For example, hospitals are shutting down due to a lack of available nurses who can support people in their communities. People are burning out this year from too many unsustainable workloads, Jennifer adds. [16:31]The transition from the face-to-face, physical workplace to the virtual one has forced leaders to assume their responsibilities from afar, but this has led to people feeling micromanaged. This is especially the case for the employees who remained working from home when restrictions were relaxed and the workplace became a hybrid of onsite and remote. [20:30]“We constantly recognize people for growth or revenue, and we don’t recognize them for going above and beyond for a fellow coworker in a time of need,” Jennifer comments. “We need to think about changing the reward metrics… sometimes those metrics have biases that we don't realize. We need to change the bias in our metrics so that we are creating a more diverse group of people that we are recognizing in our organizations.” [26:48]When making policies, we should consider equitable paternity and maternity leave; that way, we make family planning a socially accepted part of the way we work. Additionally, we should advocate for extra leave days for emergencies, in the event that time needs to be taken off for domestic duties. [34:41]“Organizations that embrace vulnerability in leadership are faring way better than those organizations that aren’t,” Jennifer affirms. “They’re saying… ‘I’m also feeling stressed out, so please give me grace,’ [and] that’s all people want.” [40:00]ResourcesJennifer Moss on LinkedIn | TwitterJennifer-Moss.comThe Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix ItSend Marcel a text message!

In this mini-episode, Marcel Schwantes discusses the importance of psychological safety at the workplace. He explains why fear is not a valid motivator, and shares three action items leaders can use to foster psychological safety.Send Marcel a text message!

Robb Holman is a thought-provoking global keynote speaker, and the founder and CEO of Holman International, a global leadership consultancy. In 2022, he was named as one of the Top 30 World’s Leadership Gurus. He is also the founder of Meeting House Ministries, and a best-selling author whose work has been featured in Inc, Forbes, and Fast Company. Robb’s most recent book, Move the Needle: How Inside Out Leaders Influence Organizational Culture, takes a deep dive into why we must prioritize people over procedures to get better results. He is Marcel Schwantes’ guest this week on Love In Action.Though many of us have lived through some kind of trauma, many of us don’t have the mindset or awareness to work on healing the hurt that came from these traumatic events, Robb claims. “The trauma manifests itself in things like fear, shame, guilt, or grief that we haven't dealt with, and we carry that through our lives, [which] impacts how we lead people and our relationships with others.” [8:35]“The greatest dreams, accomplishments, and goals come out of [a] place of genuine community; we have to get past the [notion] that asking for help is weak,” Robb advises. “Asking for help is an act of vulnerability that some people can’t [bring themselves to do],” Marcel adds. “[In a previous episode], Ken Blanchard said that people aren’t willing to be vulnerable leaders because of ego; if it’s not your true self, you are leading through arrogance and not authenticity.” [11:09]“We’ve been given our gifts, our skill sets, our personality, and our life experience as a gift to be used to benefit other people,” Robb says. “We [need] to get out of our own way and channel our significance and uniqueness to serve other people.” [15:02]There are many ways to serve, but whichever path you choose, make sure that you serve your team members personally and professionally. Are you spending time on a consistent and intentional basis with your team members? Do you know what makes them come alive? Do you know their hobbies, interests, and life milestones? You must commit to the process of learning these things, Robb shares. [19:01]Leaders often make decisions based on their gut, Robb claims. Undoubtedly, having the facts and the truth is important, but how do you make the right choice when the facts are pointing in one direction and your gut is leading you to the other? “The accuracy of going with your gut goes up drastically when your team members [focus] on their areas of expertise,” he comments. He explains why. [24:54]“Servant leadership is about getting under a team member only to elevate them above you… In my estimation, the greatest and most effective leaders are ones that get out of the way [of recognition]; they’re looking to serve faithfully through guidance, encouragement, correction, and love,” Robb remarks. [35:46]Marcel asks Robb why leaders prioritize processes, procedures, and policies over people. “We want quick fixes,” Robb replies. “We want to reach the goals yesterday ... But I believe that slow is the new fast. With anything [that’s] great and long-lasting, we need to slow down in order to learn what speeding up is all about.” [39:13]Robb talks about leaving a legacy. “When we start with the end in mind and re-engineer this thing, we could be much more intentional about the people we spend time with, and the reasons behind that. In the first place, I think we give too much attention to things that don’t matter.” [46:50]The more we practice servant leadership in and out of the home, the smoother we will lead in service within our sphere of influence in the workplace, our culture, and society, Robb affirms. [52:01]ResourcesRobb Holman on LinkedIn | TwitterRobbHolman.comMove the Needle: How Inside Out Leaders Influence Organizational CultureSend Marcel a text message!

Amelia Dunlop is Chief Experience Officer and US Customer Strategy and Applied Design Leader at Deloitte. Her core belief is that before we are consumers, we are humans with values and emotions. She uses that belief to influence how she connects businesses with their customers. As a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal’s CMO Journal and Adweek, Amelia holds a deep passion for the written word. Her first book, Elevating the Human Experience: Three Paths to Love and Worth at Work, tells the story of how Amelia discovered her own sense of love at work, and embraces the readers who may be struggling with that very same thing. She is Marcel Schwantes’ guest this week on Love In Action.Elevating the human experience is fundamentally about acknowledging human work and nurturing growth through love, Amelia says. “So many traditions and philosophies teach that the human condition is one of suffering,” she remarks. “There are many things you and I may not have in common but [we can understand] that feeling of suffering we share, and so that’s why I believe every experience could be made just a little bit better.” [7:56]Burnout, loneliness and isolation are not new concepts, Marcel comments. People were burning out pre-pandemic, but it’s at the forefront now. Amelia shares how workplaces have created these problems, and how they intersect with lack of self-worth. The increasing amount of attention around burnout, DE&I, purpose and well-being shows that we all want to feel loved and worthy, she explains. When you don’t put the human at the center, these problems arise. [10:21]The first path to elevating the human experience is the path of the self; you must see yourself as inherently worthy of love. “For me, one of the struggles growing up is that all we were taught about external affirmation… Everything you do is graded, and so we have this mindset that we’re only worthy when we get a certain letter grade,” Amelia claims. She talks about how this translates into the workplace. [14:17]In order to continue growing professionally, we need to learn to grow personally, Amelia quotes. It takes the whole head and heart to show up equally. She recalls how she learned to understand herself in the context of an obstacle. [19:46]Amelia describes the four ways we can show up as allies at work. “The first is as a friend, [who] just wants to be there on your journey with you; the second is as a mentor, who offers you a short way to see the world a little differently; third is as a sponsor, who uses their power, formal or informal, to remove obstacles for someone else; and fourth is as a benefactor, which is the combination of the first three.” [27:26]When workers feel like they belong, are respected, and are psychologically safe, it creates the ideal work environment, which translates to better results and productivity, Marcel cites. “Some of these things seem intuitive [in that] it’s definitely the type of world I want to live in and the workplace I want to be a part of, but we’ve also done the research to demonstrate,” Amelia adds. “Organizations that focus on this human experience are twice as likely to outperform their peers over a three year period.” [31:04]“We have about 40 years of research from Gallup that says [recognizing your employees’ contributions improves employee engagement,” Marcel affirms. “It does something special to the human spirit when somebody lifts and builds you up through gratitude.” [37:00]ResourcesAmelia Dunlop on LinkedInSend Marcel a text message!

In this mini-episode, Marcel Schwantes discusses what makes good leaders memorable and more effective. He asks listeners, “Are you approachable?”Send Marcel a text message!

In this mini-episode, Marcel Schwantes explores the three worst management habits: self-service, spotlight-hogging, and a lack of direction.Send Marcel a text message!