20 Minutes with Bronwyn

“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” That is a quote from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden and it speaks to something that has become quite top-of-mind for us these days: empathy. The concept of empathy is finally enjoying some well-deserved attention in the zeitgeist right now. We are seeing the limits of a black/white, right/wrong view of the world. We crave connection and understanding not through judgement and confrontation, but through the lens of understanding … through the lens of empathy. My guest today is Maria Ross, author of The Empathy Edge: Harnessing the Value of Compassion as an Engine for Success, a Playbook for Brands, Leaders and Teams. In it, Maria shares some fantastic stories from executives, changemakers, and leaders of all stripes proving that empathy is not only good for us at a personal level, but that it is also great for business. The Empathy Edge is full of practical tips, insights, and opportunities to exercise empathy, and I am thrilled to bring you this conversation with Maria Ross.

Have you ever met someone and just known you were going to become friends? That’s exactly what happened to me when I met my guest today, the amazing JD Schramm. JD and I met when I was doing the speaker coaching for the TEDxStanford program, and immediately connected. JD founded the Mastery in Communication Initiative at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he’s served as a lecturer in Organizational Behavior for 13 years. JD has given not one but TWO TED Talks, which have nearly 2 million views. And earlier this year, before Covid hit, he launched a new book into the world called Communicate with Mastery: Speak with Conviction and Write for Impact. The book is so helpful, so practical, and so filled with great stories, I wanted to bring him on to talk about it.

A few years ago, I was in a 1:1 coaching session with a very bright young woman who came to our session with a very specific communication problem: She felt she lacked “presence” in the room. Jane and I worked on lots of different ways to show up in the room … ways to signal her power, her strength, her intelligence. Ways of replacing the negative thought patterns she was telling herself about herself and about the people with whom she was meeting. But one of the pieces of advice I gave her made her do a double take. I asked her: what do you to bring pleasure and joy into your life? In this episode, I make my case for the connection between "presence" and our commitment to cultivating pleasure and joy in our lives.

It seems every week, I hear of a new round of layoffs, and more talented people losing their livelihoods. It's tempting to feel helpless, hopeless, and at the mercy of circumstances way beyond our control. But my guest today has the kind of perspective and advice we need now more than ever ... the value of changing the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. Meet Nick Onken, a photographer who has shot celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Gerard Butler, Jessica Alba, and entrepreneurs like Tony Robbins, Jay Shetty, Todd Herman, Latham Thomas, Gabby Bernstein, and Lewis Howes. But he’s also a … wait for it… hat maker AND podcast host. If you need a shot of inspiration, Nick has so much to say about creativity and staying in flow, despite what may or may not be happening all around you.

Usually, when I plan a podcast episode for you, I plan it from the highest possible vibe I can offer. I pray. I meditate. I call forth my highest self. I create a mental state of Xanadu. It’s where I believe all of the juice is. All of the real inspiration. If I’m honest, I think I’m attached to a self-concept that is dependent on being positive all the time. But this is a season of life that is calling us not to be relentlessly positive, but rather, relentlessly open and awake.

At the beginning of this Coronavirus nightmare, as we sat isolated in our houses glued to screens, we craved laughter. We craved moments of humanity, of humor. My guest today gave us just that. You are about to meet Deion Broxton, a reporter with NBC affiliate KMTV, who became an overnight celebrity when a clip of his went viral for an unintentional moment captured on film … the moment when he faced down a herd of bison. The video has been viewed over 11 million times … And it is hilarious. But I wondered what the backstory was. Not just the bison backstory, but Deion’s backstory. But I wondered what the backstory was. Not just the bison backstory, but Deion’s backstory. Tune in, and meet the man behind the moment.

Remember that Bruce Willis film, The Sixth Sense? Spoiler alert: I feel just like his character felt at the film's end, when he realizes he's a ghost. Only in my case, I realize I'm unconsciously living in and benefitting from a racist societal construct. In this episode, I'm sharing the steps I'm taking, and resources I'm utilizing to evolve as a human being, and to become a part of the solution, vs. staying comfortably inside of the problem.

I rarely exclude any audience type from this podcastLINK. But this week, I am making an exception. This episode is for one specific type of person: the working mother (or father) of very young children. School is nearly out, and childcare is still spotty/nonexistent, and the all-important, life-saving Summer Camp is just not happening this year. To be managing children, babies, and even pregnancy whilst also working and providing for a family is to be teetering at the edge of sanity. If that’s you, I want you to know, I SEE YOU. And I want to offer you a gift this week … the gift of Kelsey Murphy, mother of two little ones, business coach and host of the Whiskey & Work podcast. Enjoy.

Friends, this pandemic is offering us the opportunity of a lifetime: To re-examine our relationship with our own thoughts … our own minds. This moment in history is giving us the space and time needed not just to Marie Kondo our physical closets. It is high time we got our MENTAL house de-cluttered and organized. Because here’s what: Before Corona virus, we were too busy to even notice the incessant stream of thinking happening between our ears. We barely had time to pee let alone sit and bear witness to the thoughts that drive our emotional lives and behaviors. And to be clear, that is exactly what thoughts do. I didn’t make this up, this is a central tenant of CBT: Thoughts make us feel emotions, which make us act. And that formula works backwards too. But now? The calendars are a helluva lot clearer. There’s nowhere to go. No one to visit. No plans to make. And here we are. Alone with our thoughts. It’s just Me, Myself and Mind. In this episode, I will teach you a powerful strategy for bringing our minds out of continual loops of worry and anxiety and sadness into a state of power and presence.

During times of crisis, humans tend to turn to religion and spirituality for comfort. We finally come to the end of our tether, of what we’re able to comfort ourselves with, and we reach for something bigger. But the year is 2020, and the role organized religion is playing in our lives is profoundly different. With fewer and fewer of us attending religious services even without a pandemic, and more and more of us identifying as “not affiliated” with a religious group (I didn’t make this up, this is from the Pew study from just last year), what happens when we need answers and comfort? What happens when we feel let down or betrayed by our religions of origin, and yet we feel drawn back into them during times like this? What does spiritual leadership look like during a time where we couldn’t even go to a church service if we wanted to? Friends, I want to invite you into one of the most interesting and satisfying conversations I’ve had about spirituality in a good long while. May I present, the good Reverend Dr. Rob McClellan.