Love in Action

Today’s guests come from 3 different continents, but they all believe in servant leadership. Dirk van Dierendonck is Dean of Faculty/ Vice Dean of Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in the Netherlands. Vincent Giolito is an Associate Professor and the Director of Executive Education at Emlyon Business School in Morocco. Bob Liden is Associate Dean of College of Business Doctoral Programs and Professor of Management at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In this special episode of the Love In Action podcast, Marcel Schwantes speaks with this panel of expert educators about servant leadership, why it works, and the impact it has on organizations. Dirk explains that servant leadership is other-oriented leadership, but it’s also about the impact that your organization has on the world. Bob adds that servant leadership is most effective when coming from a place of genuineness. [4:29]Dirk, Vincent and Bob dispel some assumptions about servant leadership. “There is a misconception that servant leaders are just leaders who are nice to work with. No, these are people who are very concerned with attaining organizational objectives, but they think about those objectives through people first,” claims Vincent. [7:33]According to Dirk’s research, empowerment is important in an organization. Servant leadership opens up more opportunities for shared leadership; teams with shared leadership are statistically the most productive teams. [13:00]Marcel asks what the best approach may be to servant leadership during the current global health and economic crisis. “Servant leadership relies on close personal interaction with followers, and it involves listening, understanding people’s desires and fears, and perspective taking. The challenge comes with doing it virtually,” Bob comments. He adds that the most challenging trait to fight off as a servant leader is the pursuit of one’s self interest. [21:02]Servant leadership is a mindset. It takes time to grow. [28:11]A top-down approach to transforming organizational culture into one of servant leadership will not work, claims Vincent. The transformation must happen at all levels of the organization for any lasting effect to take place. [30:30]Marcel asks them why they think some leaders still lead through fear. “People don’t seem to understand that management is a skill that needs to be developed,” Bob says, “yelling at people and leading through fear is much easier than listening, understanding and practicing compassion.” [35:59]ResourcesDirk van Dierendonck on LinkedInProf. Dirk van Dierendonck at Rotterdam School of ManagementVincent Giolito on LinkedInRobert Liden on LinkedInRobert Liden at University of IllinoisEmail: bobliden@uic.edu Marcel is offering listeners a chance to be a beta group member of his exciting leadership course “From Boss to Leader.” Beta group members get access to the course at up to 60% off the normal price! Contact Marcel today!Send Marcel a text message!

Marcel Schwantes welcomes this week’s guest, Dr. Stephen Trzeciak, to the Love In Action Podcast. Dr. Trzeciak is Chief of Medicine at Cooper University Healthcare, and Professor and Chair of Medicine at Cooper Medical School. His research has been featured in prominent medical journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine. He is the bestselling author of Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes a Difference. Dr. Trzeciak was granted the 2019 Influencers of Healthcare Award by the Philadelphia Inquirer.Stephen’s mission is to make healthcare more compassionate through science. [3:11]An unexpected question from his 12-year-old-son changed the trajectory of Stephen’s research. [7:33]“I ended up coming to the conclusion that the most pressing problem of our time is the lack of compassion,” Stephen says. “And I believe that transcends almost everything that we’re seeing in society today.” [9:58]Physicians miss 60-90% of opportunities to treat patients with compassion. [13:07]“We're testing the hypothesis that compassion isn't just a nice to have, that it's literally part of the therapeutic relationship itself,” Stephen says. [14:38]Marcel and Stephen discuss how compassion improves patient outcomes. Stephen points out that if you care about your patients, you’re more likely to be meticulous about the technical aspects of patient care. He shares how depersonalization, a major indicator of burnout, is associated with medical and surgical errors. [18:03]Marcel asks how compassion benefits the patient as well as the healthcare provider. [22:48]The three domains of burnout are depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and feeling unable to make a difference. [23:15]There’s an inverse relationship between burnout and compassion, Stephen argues. People who have more compassion are more resistant to burnout. “The preponderance of evidence in the literature suggests that compassion can actually be protective; and perhaps compassion is actually an antidote to burnout…” [25:25]“40 seconds of compassion was all it took to make a measurable difference in the anxiety levels of patients who had gone through cancer,” Stephen says, “...a meaningful compassionate intervention takes less than 60 seconds.” [31:00]You can become more compassionate if you believe you can, and if you work at it. [35:00]Helping others helps you become more successful, Stephen argues. On the other hand, people who are only focused on themselves are more likely to be depressed, anxious, unfulfilled and unhappy. [37:50]Stephen comments, “The three most important things in success is people, people and people. So if you have the people that are going to be modeling behavior that gives other people elevation and that upliftment of witnessing moral excellence, that's just going to be a chain reaction.” [41:25]Stephen advises listeners to “Find the greatest need that you possibly can and then go fill that need in service to others. And the science shows that that is much more likely to give you your true fulfillment.” [43:21]ResourcesCompassionomics.comSend Marcel a text message!

Alain Hunkins is a best-selling author and the CEO of Hunkins Leadership Group. He is also a Senior Facilitator for Eagle’s Flight, The Energy Project, and futurethink, as well as a Senior Consultant for JMReid Group. He is a professional with over two decades of experience in leadership training, facilitation, and organizational development. He joins Marcel Schwantes to discuss the three foundational competencies of good leadership. According to research, only 23% of people think that their leaders are leading well. When the wrong people are put into positions of leadership, it results in disengagement, turnover, poor performance, anxiety and stress, Marcel cites. [00:43]Because of the power differential, most people don’t feel comfortable speaking up and telling their leaders the truth about their leadership. Alain claims that this allows bad leadership to perpetuate itself. [6:33]Charisma and confidence are good, but they don't make leaders. Ultimately, leadership is a skill that can be cultivated and improved when you practice the three competencies of a good leader, which are: connection, communication, and collaboration. [11:46]At its core, leadership is a relationship between a leader and a follower, and what creates that strong relationship is connection. Empathy forms the basis of connection. Alain defines empathy as showing people you understand them. [16:49]Communication is a means to an end. The goal of communication is to create a shared, accurate understanding. Understanding is seeing reality the way someone else sees it, Alain explains. The reason shared understanding is so critical is because it is the platform on which we stand to take all future action, he adds. [21:24]We have to fulfill four fundamental needs in order to achieve optimal performance, Alain shares. These are physical and psychological safety, energy, ownership, and purpose. [28:16]Marcel asks Alain why he thinks some people still lead through fear. “It’s less work,” Alain replies. It takes a certain level of maturity to move beyond fear. When we have been raised on fear, it is an easy go-to strategy of leadership because humans copy the behaviors of those before and around them. [32:52]Join the 30 Day Challenge! Alain is offering two complimentary sports to listeners of Love in Action! Email Alain@alainhunkins.com, and let him know you heard about the challenge on the show.ResourcesAlain Hunkins on LinkedIn AlainHunkins.comCracking the Leadership Code: Three Secrets to Building Strong LeadersSend Marcel a text message!

Rob Chesnut is a former federal prosecutor, an author, General Counsel of Airbnb, and one of the most influential voices in business ethics in the USA. His recent book, Intentional Integrity: How Smart Companies Can Lead An Ethical Revolution, is a manual for cultivating integrous cultures in six steps. He joins Marcel Schwantes to discuss the importance of integrity in business, and how a lack of it leads to one’s own detriment.Rob’s purpose is to help companies be a force of good in the world. He believes that companies can play a part in solving many of the world’s existing issues. [4:19]Leaders are the thermostats for integrity within their companies: by their words and actions, leaders create the environment in which everyone operates. [7:12]Data shows that organizations that are perceived to act with integrity are outperforming their competitors. Consumers favor business with companies whose values align with theirs, Rob points out. [11:22]Marcel asks Rob how leaders can demonstrate integrity when laying people off. Rob responds that leaders must be the first ones to make the sacrifice of a salary deduction. Also, they should exemplify humility, servanthood and compassion in helping former employees transition. [17:21]Intentional integrity involves talking openly about uncomfortable subjects, being clear about what expectations are and removing ambiguity. Rob explains why every company should live by a code of ethics: it reflects your company’s values. He and Marcel discuss the six Cs of intentional integrity. [23:44]“If you make a mistake as a company,” Rob says, “you can't bury it, ignore it, or pretend it didn’t happen. You need to have the self-awareness to acknowledge that you made a mistake and talk openly about where you failed. Once you’ve done that you can set a new path forward to how you’re going to get back on track, but it needs to be done in a clean way. You can’t just change your behavior suddenly and hope people notice; you need to have that conversation.” [36:00]Rob offers advice to leaders who want to start having the difficult conversations. “Recognize that integrity is not an optional subject anymore. You’ve got to get over your discomfort as a leader and recognize that silence and ambiguity are the enemies of integrity. This is part of the leadership that your employees and the world need from you.” [41:18]ResourcesRob Chesnut on LinkedIn | Twitter IntentionalIntegrity.comIntentional Integrity: How Smart Companies Can Lead An Ethical RevolutionSend Marcel a text message!

Jim Kouzes is the Dean's Executive Fellow of Leadership at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. He is also a lecturer and the co-author of the best-selling book, The Leadership Challenge. He has been cited by The Wall Street Journal as one of the 12 best executive educators in the US, and ranked by Leadership Excellence magazine as 16th on their list of the top 100 thought leaders. He joins Marcel Schwantes to talk about the relationship between leadership and adversity.Historically, many leaders who changed and shaped the world did so in the face of adversity and unfortunate circumstances. Jim defines leadership as the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations. [6:23]At Marcel’s request, Jim condenses his years of research and data into three lessons: leadership is a set of skills and abilities; leadership is everyone’s business; and leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow. The five practices of exemplary leadership are: model the way; inspire a shared vision; challenge the process; enable others to act; and encourage the heart. [9:58]“Adversity is the opportunity for greatness,” Marcel quotes from one of Jim’s books. He asks Jim to explain the meaning. Adversity forces you to do things differently, Jim argues. He observed that most people credit their personal best to a challenge they overcame. [13:36]Studies show that leaders who display more empathy and compassion are better able to: walk in another person’s shoes, act on their understanding of others, and have higher levels of commitment to their organizations. Jim gives an example of a micro-action that leaders can do to demonstrate these positive traits. [17:41]Marcel asks Jim why he thinks some leaders still lead through fear. Jim says it may be because of belief: those with fixed mindsets are less likely to engage in exemplary leadership practices. Additionally, one of the ways people learn how to lead is by observing others. If leaders model tactics of fear and intimidation and they seem to work, their successors are likely to lead the same way. However, this kind of leadership is not sustainable, he points out. [24:50]One of the ten truths of leadership is that a leader’s behavior matters, as it has a direct impact over employee engagement. The most challenging exemplary leadership practice is inspiring a shared vision, Jim adds. Many leaders find it difficult to communicate their ideas in a way that they are confident their constituents understand. [30:26]Jim says, “The secret to success is staying in love. Staying in love gives you the fire to ignite a flame in others and have a greater sense of purpose. A person who is not in love does not feel the kind of excitement necessary to get ahead and to lead others. There is no other thing in life that is more positive and exhilarating than love.” [35:56]ResourcesJim Kouzes on LinkedIn | TwitterSend Marcel a text message!

Marcel Schwantes shares a preview of his exclusive leadership training course in this solo episode of Love In Action.Marcel describes the reason behind starting the Love In Action podcast. He says he’s tired of living in a world where organizations see their people as objects or functions to be used for profit, while disregarding their livelihoods. [2:48]Leaders have a responsibility to take care of people. When people feel cared for, amazing things happen in the workplace. [5:13]75% of people who leave a company voluntarily do so because of their manager. A good job - which entails a sense of self-worth, purpose, and belonging, in a caring community of shared values, that is moving towards a fulfilling mission - is the number one determinant of happiness for employees. [9:51]The traditional workplace has been set up for over a century to serve those in positions of power. That model is no longer sustainable. We are in a different era, where people are recognizing their worth and expect to grow and thrive in caring cultures. If they don’t, they will take their services elsewhere. [10:49]Two practices of the traditional workplace that are no longer working in 2020 are the annual performance review, which disengages employees and displays an apathetic approach to ensuring things are in order, and micromanagement, which shows a lack of trust in the capabilities and skills of the employees. [12:04]Marcel proposes three questions for managers to use to reflect on their performance as leaders: As a manager, how may I be contributing to disengaging my employees? How is my leadership team or current company culture contributing to the problem of disengaging our employees? How is my hiring strategy contributing to the problem? [15:33]ResourcesMarcel is offering listeners a chance to be a beta group member of his leadership course “From Boss to Leader.” Beta group members get access to the course at half-price.Marcel Schwantes on LinkedInEmail: info@marcelschwhantes.comMarcelSchwantes.comSend Marcel a text message!

Dr. David Schramm is a family scholar at Utah State University, and a TEDx speaker, consultant and trainer. His research centers on couples, relationships, parenting, and flourishing at home and at work. He joins Marcel Schwantes in this week’s show to prove that successful business culture and outcomes are founded in family science. “Family for me is everything,” David says. “...I want to help other people have wonderful family and relationships just like I did.” [3:50]Marcel featured David in an Inc Magazine article recently. [4:25]Marcel asks, “How did a family scholar find his way into business leadership and work culture?” David explains what led him to this field. [4:35]David’s analysis of research on the top places to work showed that the ninth most frequently used word to describe them was family. [7:12]Humans thrive when three fundamental needs are met: safety, satisfaction and connection. David says that connection is the secret sauce for workplaces to flourish. [10:00]“Fear cripples connection, and it kills creativity. And those are essential in the workplace,” David remarks. He explains what happens in the brain when fear is activated. He adds that fear also cripples trust. Marcel shares his own experience working in a fear-based culture and the devastating effect it wreaked on his health and wellbeing. [13:00]Workplaces built on family culture thrive financially. Employees feel safe expressing their creativity and taking risks, as they know they will be rewarded even if things don’t work out. David says that there is an upward spiral, a spillover effect, when employees are doing well: “...a happy brain turns on all the learning centers in the brain… It spills over into the workplace because creativity, intelligence rises, energy rises.” [17:18]Building a family culture in the workplace comes down to small, consistent, day-to-day positive interactions. [20:38]“Managers who do well, they care about the personal lives of their employees,” David says. [20:55]Strong companies build their culture on a foundation of connection, direction then correction. “When companies get those out of order, and they focus on correction as their foundation, you see all kinds of issues and struggles,” David remarks. [24:05]David shares some tips for managers to help them build connection. These include recognition and showing care and respect for their employees. The top two tips, he comments, are showing gratitude and kindness. He quotes Martin Seligman, “A single act of kindness produces the single most reliable momentary increase in wellbeing…” [25:05]Marcel asks, “I want to begin the process of becoming a more family-oriented culture; is there a first step?” David gives him some practical advice. [27:47]David wants listeners to remember that people are more important than problems. [30:47]This is David’s formula for happiness and success: “Search inward, turn outward, look upward, and press forward.” [31:25]ResourcesDr David Schramm on LinkedInTEDx Talk: Family Fundamentals: The Secret Sauce to Booming BusinessInc Magazine: This Rare Workplace Strategy May Be the Secret Sauce to Booming BusinessMarcelSchwantes.comMarcel Schwantes on LinkedInEmail: info@marcelschwhantes.comSend Marcel a text message!

Karin Hurt is a former Verizon Wireless executive, an accomplished author, and an international keynote speaker. She has over 20 years of experience in customer service, sales, and human resources. She inspires transformational change around the world through her leadership training and consulting firm, Let's Grow Leaders, of which she is the CEO and co-founder. Her newest book, Courageous Cultures, is a practical manual to building an open environment in which ideas are cultivated at every level in an organization. She joins Marcel Schwantes to discuss her work.Many leaders believe that they have an open environment where their employees can speak up, feel heard and understood. They are shocked when they learn employees are holding back. [1:13]Karin shares that getting consistent critique has ensured that her book is thorough and practical. [6:06]According to Karin, 49% of people said they don’t share their ideas because no one asks; 50% don’t because they don’t believe anything would come out of it; and 40% said they lack confidence to share an idea. The number one reason why employees don’t share ideas, the research reveals, is that they don’t believe they would get the credit. [12:27]In the long run, the companies that will have high retention and creativity are those who are connecting humanly and empathetically during the current global crisis. [16:30]The three most toxic behaviors some leaders participate in that are being tolerated and even rewarded are shaming, blaming, and intimidation. These behaviors typically occur in dehumanizing cultures of fear, modeled from the top down. [21:30]Karin offers advice for leaders who want to cultivate courageous cultures. Leaders should use tools provided in the book to proactively ask people for ideas, then respond to those ideas with feedback and gratitude, and suggest another area where new ideas are needed. It doesn’t have to be a grand cultural change strategy, Karin points out. Focus first on making things practical, and then you can move on to the strategy. [27:59]Being vulnerable and asking for suggestions from new employees on how to improve allows for trust to be built, because they see you are willing to let your guard down and actually ask for help instead of just pushing your authority down on them and imposing rigid policies and procedures. [32:11]ResourcesKarin Hurt on LinkedIn | TwitterLetsGrowLeaders.comCourageous Cultures by Karin Hurt and David Dye MarcelSchwantes.comMarcel Schwantes on LinkedInSend Marcel a text message!

“If there’s ever a Mount Rushmore of leadership thinkers and experts that have changed the world,” Marcel Schwantes says, “...I believe that the bust of Edgar Schein should be deserving of a spot.” Edgar Schein is the world’s foremost expert on humble leadership. He is also the author of the Humble Leadership series, the first two of which are Humble Inquiry and Humble Consulting. The most recent addition to the series is Humble Leadership, which he co-wrote with his son Peter Schein, a leadership expert in his own right. Both Edgar and Peter join Marcel to discuss what makes a humble leader.Edgar defines leadership as an activity “that somehow produces something new and different that is actually better.” [4:38]“Here and now humility means embracing that idea that I don't know, I'm gonna have to trust the people I work with, and together we can figure it out,” Peter says. [6:32]Humble leadership requires a level two relationship: subordinates, peers and leaders get to know each other as whole human beings. This type of relationship makes it easy to ask for and tell one another the truth. [8:10]Effective leaders do not maintain a level one transactional role, they build more personal relationships. “They collapse the psychological distance and thereby enable themselves to be more humble and their subordinates to be more open and honest,” Edgar remarks. [9:56]Peter says that many companies are realizing that building open trusting relationships makes their hierarchy work better. [12:07]“Evolving organizations need to continue to emphasize these… personalized relationships between people that have to work together… Sharing information outside of your box is how you innovate, it’s how you prevent accidents, it’s how you grow the organization,” says Peter. [15:15]Edgar says that the purpose of his work is to help leaders become aware of their limitations without taking away their role as a leader. They need to understand that “this future world” demands a different way of thinking. [17:28]Marcel, Edgar and Peter discuss why management still favors command and control leadership. Peter believes that it’s because of job security as well as job insecurity. Edgar distinguishes between hierarchy and command and control: hierarchy is important for society to function, while command and control is when you use your position inappropriately in a hierarchy. [18:02]“What I am most impressed with is that the modern world is a multi-force, global, interdependent system in which figuring out what's right to do is intrinsically impossible,” Edgar says. [23:35]Edgar and Peter share how they think humble leadership will impact the future. [26:35]Marcel asks the guests to share some practical tips leaders should adopt habitually to become better humble leaders. Edgar replies, “I have truly discovered that good and evil is in my daily actions, not in some set of principles or codes… Every human relationship can start with a constructive intent...” [30:40]Edgar suggests that leading through fear comes in part from the US culture of dominance as well as fear of losing its position in the world. Peter adds that leaders fear being out-innovated. They both agree that leaders have to learn to compete as well as collaborate. [34:45]“Situational awareness,” Edgar comments, “...flows from the fact that the world is a complicated place and you have to be very conceptually and emotionally agile in the complex world.” [40:18]Peter emphasizes the distinction between transparency and openness. He shares why openness should be substituted for transparency. [41:38]Edgar wants listeners to embrace humble inquiry as it builds better relationships and allows you to figure out what’s going on and what you should do about it. [43:20]ResourcesOCLI.orgScheinE@comcast.netPeter Schein on LinkedIn MarcelSchwantes.comMarcel Schwantes on LinkedInSend Marcel a text message!

Marcel Schwantes calls this episode “one of the most authentic and real and raw conversations” he has ever had. His guest, JT McCormick, is the CEO of Scribe Media, a multimillion dollar publishing company which has been ranked the number one Top Company Culture in America by Entrepreneur magazine, and number two Best Place to Work in Texas. JT is the author of I Got There: How a Mixed Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty and Abuse to Arrive at The American Dream. He joins Marcel to chat about his amazing life story - his journey from scrubbing toilets at a restaurant to becoming President of a million dollar software company, and now CEO of Scribe Media - and to share the lessons he learned along the way.JT says, “If you wake up in the morning and your feet hit the ground, you’ve got to be excellent… Anything that’s not excellent in my life I’m the only one that can change it, so there’s no need to complain about it, just get to work.” [3:45]“My why is to be a phenomenal husband, a phenomenal father, a phenomenal CEO. And then I would say fourth on the list is to give back to the communities which I came from.” [5:07]Marcel asks JT how he overcame all the adversity of his early life. He replies that he refused to be a victim. He decided, at age eight, not to spend his time trying to get everyone to like him, because some people just would not. This early lesson spared him years of grief. Another fundamental lesson he learned was to believe in himself. [8:38]“I just tend to look at things from a positive standpoint… I choose to figure out, How can we make a positive out of a negative situation?” [10:20]JT shares his journey from scrubbing toilets to President of a software company. Two lessons he learned were to be the best at whatever he did, and the magic of compound interest. [12:22]When JT was promoted to President, it struck him that he was only as good as the people he surrounded himself with. As such, his focus shifted to finding the greatest people to surround the company and himself with. [17:03]“If you are in a leadership position, you're only a leader if you serve,” JT argues. He describes how the principle of putting people first is lived out at Scribe Media. [18:05]Marcel asks, “How does a company become number one in the category of culture?” JT responds that it’s a matter of the little actions taken every day to live out your principles. At Scribe Media, they work with each other, not for JT. They bring their whole selves to work: he doesn’t believe in a work self vs a home self. He shares several practices they adopt at the company that build the culture. [22:37]JT and Marcel discuss Scribe Media’s Culture Bible, which is freely accessible to the public. They talk about three of the principles listed in the Culture Bible: Do right by people;Bring your whole self to work;Ask questions.  [26:46]“A lot of times you can eliminate questions in transparency,” JT points out. [33:21]JT explains why he disagrees with the remote work trend. [35:37]“What’s your best advice for business owners trying to stay resilient during these crazy stressful times?” Marcel asks. JT advises leaders to put their people first, be transparent, be visible and let people know where they stand. Let people feel safe, he adds, and if you have to pivot or make other tough decisions, make them early and let people know so that you can set their expectations. [39:35]JT teaches through sharing his mistakes. [44:19]“I can't become something that I don't even know exists,” JT says. “...I believe if people just know what's possible they can strive to achieve that.” [46:19]“I live by a formula: Mindset, choices and hard work equals success.” [48:48]ResourcesJT McCormick on LinkedInJT@ScribeMedia.comI Got There: How a Mixed Race Kid Overcame Racism, Poverty and Abuse to Arrive at The American DreamSend Marcel a text message!