Love in Action

In addition to being a sought-after speaker, Dr. Jennifer Goldman-Wetzler is the founder and CEO of Alignment Strategies Group, a premier consulting firm based in New York City. She is also the author of a new book, Optimal Outcomes: Free Yourself From Conflict At Work, at Home and In Life. Jennifer joins Marcel Schwantes on this week’s show to show us how we can experience conflict freedom.Jennifer defines a conflict loop as a vicious cycle of conflict that usually occurs because of family cycles. In her own case, her grandfather’s angry response to conflict influenced how she responds in similar circumstances. Now her understanding of conflict cycles helps her help others deal with their anger. [5:36]40 years of research suggests that we have conflict habits. When our conflict habits interact with other people's, it forms a pattern of interaction that keeps us stuck in the conflict loop. Jennifer identifies four conflict habits in her book:Blame others - one person blames the other, and that person blames the first person.Shut down - we avoid conflict to the extent that we stop communicating.Blame and shame oneself - your knee-jerk reaction in any conflict is that it must be your fault.Relentlessly collaborate - continuously trying to be kind, generous and collaborative when the other party is not interested in collaborating. [7:40]There are 16 variations of conflict patterns. Jennifer names 5 of the most common patterns in her book. [14:46]Conflict that can be resolved efficiently within a relatively short period of time can be healthy conflict. [16:05]When you try over and over to resolve a conflict and you keep failing, Jennifer says stop the madness! Acknowledge that the issue is not likely to be resolved. It doesn’t mean the situation is hopeless, rather that you need to apply a different approach. You can free yourself from the situation, Jennifer says. [19:03]“If you're someone who has anger issues or you're dealing with someone else who tends to get angry, the work begins by looking inside of yourself,” Jennifer says. [24:00]Marcel asks about practical ways of freedom ourselves from conflict, in particular, the mindfulness practice of pausing. Jennifer recommends that we all practice pausing every day. She describes the difference between a reactive pause and a proactive pause. The more we practice proactive pausing, the better we would be able to catch ourselves when we’re about to fall into a trap in conflict, she says. [25:06]The most important thing to do when you’re stuck in a conflict loop is something pattern breaking. First, acknowledge what pattern you’re in - you can use the free assessment on Jennifer’s website to find out your primary conflict habit. Once you identify your habit, try to identify the other person’s habit. Then, do something pattern-breaking which can be anything besides what you usually do! [29:01]Marcel comments that you need to have intentionality and courage in order to do many of the practices in the book. Jennifer says that the book is for people who are ready to make the mindset and skillset changes necessary to experience conflict freedom. They are called practices because you need to do them on a regular basis, she points out. [33:31]Marcel and Jennifer discuss how values play a role in conflict. [35:07]“Empathy doesn’t mean you let someone off the hook for bad behavior,” Jennifer says. It simply means taking the time and effort to understand why they are the way they are. As a leader, having empathy towards your employees means that you can take a step back and recognize that it’s not about you. This new insight could be the thing that breaks the pattern of interaction and frees you from conflict. [44:33]ResourcesOptimalOutcomesBook.comFree Conflict Habit Assessment Dr. Jennifer Goldman-Wetzler on Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook MarcelSchwantes.comSend Marcel a text message!

This week’s distinguished guest is Raj Sisodia, Conscious Capitalism thought leader, international speaker, and bestselling author. Raj is the F.W. Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business and Whole Foods Market Research Scholar in Conscious Capitalism at Babson College. He has co-authored a new book with organizational innovation expert Michael J Gelb, entitled The Healing Organization: Awakening The Conscience Of Business To Help Save The World. Raj chats with Marcel Schwantes about how for-profit businesses can become agents of healing for their employees, customers and communities.The word healing comes from two root words: wholeness and holy. Healing, therefore, is about reducing suffering, elevating joy and promoting healthy growth. [4:27]Work, as it’s traditionally viewed, has a high human cost. Raj is on a mission to show that we don’t have to kill people to make money. In fact, when our employees are happy and thriving, our businesses will prosper. [ 6:15]An example of a healing organization in Raj’s book is Greyston Bakery. Its founder Bernie Glassman started the bakery to “give people a first chance.” Their model is that they don’t hire people to bake brownies, they bake brownies to hire people. This open hiring policy has transformed the lives of countless people. [10:29]Raj says that we were put on this planet to care for one another. It’s what gives us the deepest satisfaction and happiness; it helps us heal. Business gives us the opportunity to care for each other at scale. [15:02]“Unexpressed love is the greatest untapped resource on this planet,” says Raj. [17:50]We should allow people to express love and be vulnerable about their challenges, Raj advises. Leaders modeling this make their employees comfortable to do the same. Suffering would then be replaced with joy and healing. [18:38]Strength, courage, focus, resilience, and discipline are desirable masculine qualities but they should be counterbalanced by feminine traits. “Out of balance masculine traits have caused a lot of devastation in the world,” Raj comments. We should be both tough-minded and tender-hearted, as Martin Luther King Jr said. [24:53]Raj says that the ultimate message of his book is to invite leaders to heal themselves. [26:00]It’s deeply ingrained in our culture to consider anything feminine as being weak. However, there is a strong correlation between so-called ‘feminine qualities’ and the traits of great leaders. When we elevate the feminine we will see many of our challenges go away. [28:05]Marcel asks if any for-profit company can become a healing organization. Raj says that they can by selling to their customers in a way that serves their wellbeing. Internally, a healing organization’s purpose should be to improve the lives of their own people, their families, and the community. [31:21]Raj talks about how his mentor Bob Chapman transformed over 100 businesses through his mission to touch the lives of as many people as possible. He says that when Bob Chapman shows up to invest in your business, you know there’s hope and a future for your company. Raj describes Bob’s work as a healing ministry. [32:33]Raj explains why he believes leaders still lead through fear. [40:09]Marcel and Raj discuss NKC, who says that: “Leaders driven by love will bring sustainability and healing to the business as well as for themselves.” [44:20]Healing organizations lead with love, innocence, simplicity, and truth. [46:12]A healing organization helps its customers engage in meaningful consumption. [48:04]Raj wants you to think about your own need for healing. “You are your most important stakeholder,” he says. Heal yourself and then bring that into the world. [50:15]Send Marcel a text message!

This week’s guest, together with his co-founder Chuck Runyon, made the bold decision to reinvent the culture of work in their business. Today their company, Anytime Fitness, is the world’s largest and fastest-growing coed fitness club franchise and has earned numerous industry awards including Top Global Franchise and one of America’s Most Promising Companies. Dave Mortensen is the President of Self Esteem Brands, the parent company of Anytime Fitness. He has been featured on ABC’s Secret Millionaire and Be The Boss Canada. He is a sought after speaker on leadership culture and employee engagement. He and his partner have also written a book, Love Work, about how to inspire a high performing culture at the center of people, purpose, profits and play.Marcel says that Dave and Chuck have revolutionized the fitness industry. He asks Dave to share how they did it. Dave replies they saw a gap in the industry and thought about how they fill that need by making fitness more accessible to people. He describes the changes they made to help their members make fitness a part of their lifestyle. Their franchise operates in 35 countries today and continues to grow. [4:52]“If you can’t lead the same way you want to be an example of your life, then how can you call yourself a leader?” Dave asks. [8:43]We all have challenging moments and those times impact our ability to be productive. Dave says that your team should be able to share their personal and work-related challenges so that you can help them grow in life. [9:45]Real love is being willing to provide some tough love along the way. When you love someone enough to be willing to tell someone what they need to hear, it’s amazing what they will do for themselves, which will, in turn, help you build a great organization. [12:39]Dave says that their business is built around the four P’s: People: The most important part of the business is their staff. They invest 50% of time and energy on performance. The other 50% centers around their staff’s personal development. [14:52]Purpose: People want to work in an organization with a purpose. Start living out your purpose one person at a time, and it will spread until you have a movement. Speak your purpose, act on it, and live it. [15:46]Profits: A business cannot survive without profits. If you can drive profits, you can make a difference. Profit can be emotional as well as financial. Dave talks about ROEI - Return on Emotional Investment. You should invest your time in something that you love doing and you’re happy with. [16:40]Play: Don’t take yourself too seriously, Dave says. [17:47]Marcel asks: “Is it appropriate to express that much emotion in the workplace…?” Dave responds that it’s appropriate to be who you are as a person. People filter information either with their head first or their heart first. No matter which is true for you, the important thing is to be authentic. [20:38]Vulnerability is being open about the challenges you face. You grow and learn by being real about them. If a leader is vulnerable with his or her team, they will reciprocate. You can’t force vulnerability though. You can only ask great questions to draw vulnerability out of others. [22:54]Dave shares why he thinks there is still so much fear-based leadership in the workplace. He also gives advice about how to combat the fear. [25:04]People don’t give themselves enough credit, Dave finds. He wants to help people see themselves as great people that bring a lot in life. He urges listeners to put love in action, to believe in themselves and to love themselves first. “You’ll find great things that surround you,” he promises. [31:00]Marcel comments, “A healthy ROEI makes for a healthy bottom line and that is what creates a strong and healthy culture that's able to grow into the future.” [33:08]Send Marcel a text message!

John Eades is the CEO of LearnLoft, a leadership development company that transforms managers into leaders. In 2017 he was named a LinkedIn Top Voice in Management and Workplace. He is also a renowned speaker and host of the Follow My Lead podcast. He joins Marcel Schwantes on this week’s show to talk about his new book, Building the Best: Eight Proven Leadership Principles to Elevate Others to Success, and to equip you with the tools you need to become the kind of leader the world needs today.John describes his book as a collection of stories, principles and best practices to help elevate the way you lead. He specifically included tools in the book to help readers apply the principles in their daily leadership practice. [4:23]Marcel cites a line from John’s book: “The most effective leaders who elevate others, lead with high levels of love and discipline.” John defines love as ‘to contribute to someone’s long-term success and wellbeing.’ But there also needs to be discipline. Discipline, in this case, means to promote standards so that those we lead can choose to be at their best. [5:16]John has created an assessment tool to measure both love and discipline. He cites statistics from his research that proves that leaders who use high levels of love and discipline get better business results. [7:37]If as a leader you only look at results, John says, your people will start to cut corners to get the results you want. Instead, you should focus on the daily behaviors and habits that live out your core values. The more your employees buy into your values, the more you will see the desired results. [12:52]John lists the five leadership styles in his book. The top-level leadership style is called Elevate, which entails high levels of love and discipline. He says that you can put this type of leader in any company and they will elevate others. The performance will also elevate. [14:00]Leadership is a journey. We can all develop our skills and become better leaders. [15:58]Once we set high standards we have to hold ourselves and others accountable. John comments that we shouldn’t look at accountability as negative; it also means that giving praise and recognition when standards are exceeded. [17:44]Marcel asks John to share one love competency. John chooses trust because there is no effective leadership without mutual trust. He quotes an old saying, “Rules without relationship lead to rebellion.” You build trust by putting competence and care at the center of your relationships. It takes time though, so you have to be willing to put in the effort. [19:41]John says that it’s a leader’s responsibility to understand the purpose behind the work and communicate that purpose to the team repeatedly. When work is tied to purpose, employees are more engaged and less likely to leave. [23:51]“What are the core responsibilities of a modern leader?” Marcel asks. John responds that a true leader elevates others by inspiring, empowering and serving them. He defines what each of these words mean for a leader. His definition of ‘inspire’ in particular, resonates with Marcel. [25:47]John explains why leading with fear is still so rampant in the workplace. Leaders need to combat fear by choosing to be courageous, he says. [31:16]Marcel comments that great leaders surround themselves with a team of mentors. John names several of his mentors and points out that you have to seek out people who you want to learn and grow from. He wants listeners to actively seek out good mentors because they add so much value. [33:57]John wants you to know that the most faithful wins. He encourages you to do your best wherever you are to elevate others, and don’t give up. In due time you will be rewarded. [40:42]ResourcesTake the Leadership Style assessment BuildingTheBestBook.com John Eades on LinkedIn | Instagram | TwitterSend Marcel a text message!

Marcel Schwantes reflects on the biggest lessons he learned in 2019 from his guests about being a better leader. His mission to spread the Love In Action message is the Why behind this podcast, and the reason he spends most of his time interviewing the world's top leaders and influencers as well as writing, speaking and coaching leaders. Marcel once landed in the ER because of stress due to toxic work conditions. [3:15]What if you really connected with your co-workers at work? What if you felt safe to experiment and fail and not feel ashamed? What if you worked alongside others who share your values and you achieved great things together? If people came to work and felt those positive things, the dynamic in the workplace would be radically different. [4:00]Businesses that truly put people first are more profitable. Love in action shows up at every leadership level. Marcel stresses that it’s your duty as a leader to take care of your people. Amazing things happen for your business when you do. [4:45]Marcel shares his top 10 takeaways for 2019, including:Erica Keswin in episode 2 - The ability to connect on a human level, experience emotions and display the best of our humanity are going to become the clear differentiators in this age of technology. [6:18]Ken Blanchard in episode 3 - The key to creating a great organization is to catch people doing things right so you can praise, encourage and celebrate them. When you do this you're reinforcing those right behaviors systematically and you’re showing unconditional love. [7:01]Steve Farber in episode 26 - When love is baked into the employee experience, the customer experience is gonna be off the charts. Your customers are going to reciprocate with loyalty and referrals. That's the impact of love all the way around. [9:00]Kristen Hadeed in episode 18 - The more you invest in people the more engaged they are on the job because they know that the organization cares about them. That does something to a person's heart.Bob Chapman in episode 5 - Business can be the most powerful force for good in the world if we simply cared about the people we have the opportunity to lead. [17:08]ResourcesLove In Action podcast Send Marcel a text message!

We’ve moved from the Information Age into the Imagination Age, and creative thinking skills are now just as important as the so-called ‘hard’ business skills. Imagination plus leadership is the formula to unleash all kinds of potential. So says Brian Paradis, author of the compelling new book Lead With Imagination. Brian is a senior partner of C-Suite Solutions, a national advisory firm that helps health care organizations move from volume to value. He served previously as President of Florida Hospital’s central region, a $4 billion enterprise, and under his leadership it became the number one ranked hospital in Florida for three years.Enter to win a free copy of Lead with Imagination by filling out the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8MKBJSK Brian has always wanted to be a difference-maker, to help others find their God-given potential and all they’re capable of being. [8:11]Brian wanted to make Florida Hospital, a gigantic organization, human and liveable. He asked himself how he could think and do differently, and when he saw the difference it made, he wanted to share his experience in case it could be helpful to others. [12:10]Marcel asks what makes Brian’s book different from other books on leadership. He responds that it’s more of a journey than a topical discussion, that he shares real stories of successes and failures. It’s got some humor, so it’s an easy read with some practical advice. Overall, it inspires leaders to build something different that affects the cultures they lead and the people they care about. [12:49]Seven principles kept recurring as Brian was trying to figure out the process to lead with imagination, including:Love is the root of it all;Authenticity and humility;Tolerating curiosity;Humor. [17:10]The bottom line is that as a leader, you’re the servant and you need to do whatever it takes to help your people succeed. The success of your organization is ultimately what you do as a leader. [21:09]By design we want to love other people, Marcel says, but the business of business gets in the way. If you put loving your employees first, your business results are going to be better. [24:51]In his book, Brian describes ego as a disease. Marcel asks him to explain that statement. Brian shares his experience of dealing with chronic heart disease and says that ego is very similar. It’s there and denying it doesn’t make it go away. You have to take your medicine or it will kill you. [30:05]Brian’s ‘medicine’ for ego is saying sorry, having a trusted person call him out, and practicing a spiritual discipline. He also stays humble by admitting when he doesn’t know something. He says that everyone has to figure out their unique medicine for ego. [34:29]Brian shares a story from his tenure at Florida Hospital to illustrate what a high trust organization looks like. [38:00]You build trust when you’re consistent, Brian says. It also comes down to being proactive, fostering curiosity and accountability, staying focused and keeping your integrity. If you’re doing otherwise, it’s not love. [41:40]Love is powerful and when you infuse it into anything, that thing gets better. [47:17]Brian says that it takes courage to lead with love. Leading with fear allows you the illusion that your weaknesses won’t be exposed. [48:46]When things go wrong, the first thing a leader should ask him or herself is, what am I doing that’s in the way of what I want? [53:33]Tapping into our imagination to create something different is not just a matter of good business, it’s a matter of a good life. [55:13]Your imagination is the beginning of your victory. If you can’t see it be different, it’s hard to make it be different. [56:02]ResourcesImagination Works Media on Facebook | Instagram | TwitterWin a free copy of Brian’s book! Submit your story of love and fear.Send Marcel a text message!

Marcel’s guest on this week’s Love In Action show is Jacqueline Carter. Jacqueline is the international partner and the North American director for Potential Project. She has over 20 years of experience working with organizations around the globe, including Cisco, Marriott and Google, to improve performance. She is also the co-author along with Rasmus Hougaard, of the exciting new book, The Mind of a Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People and Your Organization For Extraordinary Results. The book is based on extensive research, including assessments of more than 35,000 leaders, and reveals how leaders can disrupt how they lead by training their brains. Most leaders are overwhelmed and overworked. Jacqueline calls it a leadership crisis. She says that it’s tough to be a leader today and it’s not getting easier. [4:30]Her research gave three major insights: The workplace has dramatically changed - people are looking for meaning, purpose and happiness in their jobs. Creating an environment where people feel happy is a big task for leaders, and most feel ill-equipped to do it. [5:41]Leadership is an inner game - it starts with understanding, managing and leading your own mind before you can lead others. [6:30]Mindfulness, selflessness and compassion are the three core qualities that make great leaders. [6:43]We’re most stressed first thing in the morning because of cortisol spikes, so it’s the most important time to do mind training practices which will help settle the mind and give us more clarity. [8:17]If you don’t set an intention, your day will just happen. [9:00]Because of its neuroplasticity, we can change the way our brain looks and functions. [9:52]Mindfulness is the ability to be present in the moment, to be focused on the task at hand and aware of what’s going on around us. Our mind has a natural tendency to wander, and research shows that our attention span is getting smaller over time. However, attention matters in business. Mindfulness training helps to train the attentional muscles so we can be more focused and more effective. [13:33]Marcel asks Jacqueline how to practice mindfulness. She shares a simple A-B-C-D technique and invites listeners to join in. [16:25]The main reason meetings are not as effective as they can be, Jacqueline says, is because people are not paying attention, their minds are wandering. She shares how practicing mindfulness helped one organization decrease their meeting time by 35% and become more efficient. [22:47]Marcel asks what to do with our devices so we can be more mindful. Jacqueline comments that even the mere presence of a smartphone during a conversation negatively impacts our ability to feel connected with each other. She shares some practical tips to help us get the best of technology without letting it get the best of us. [28:10]Selflessness is not allowing our natural egoistic tendencies to get in the way of being a good leader. We naturally see the world from our own point of view. Selflessness asks us to be more intentional about others and their needs and how we can best be of service. The foundation of selflessness is bringing more humility and gratitude into our leadership. [30:35]Empathy is when we feel with someone. Compassion is more focused on how we can make their life easier. If as a leader, you can help to alleviate some of the unnecessary stress and pressure your workers face, you will be able to create a kinder and more effective workplace. [35:23]Jacqueline appeals to listeners to put your own oxygen mask on first. You can’t take care of other people if you’re not taking good care of yourself. Her research has proven that the most successful leaders are disciplined about taking care of themselves. [41:14]ResourcesPotentialProject.com Email: jacqueline.carter@potentialproject.com Send Marcel a text message!

Whitney Johnson has been recognized as one of the world’s foremost management thought leaders by Thinkers 50 and Fortune magazine. She is an advisor, speaker and host of the weekly podcast, Disrupt Yourself. She joins Marcel Schwantes to discuss her recent book, Build An A-Team: Play to Their Strengths and Lead Them Up the Learning Curve, in which she shows leaders and managers how to reduce turnover and enhance loyalty by leading their team members up their current learning curve and designing their jobs to maximize learning and engagement.High growth organizations need high growth individuals. Whitney’s why is to provide ideas to make it less scary to continue to grow and develop. When you’re learning and growing, you are happy. [4:02]Marcel asks how music has influenced Whitney’s work. She responds that when she’s writing or giving a speech, she infuses musicality and structure. Also, music has taught her how to listen and interact deeply with others. This impacts her speeches and her coaching. [5:23]We disrupt ourselves many times throughout our lives. The difference between business and personal disruption is that with personal disruption you're both the disrupter and the incumbent. [8:09]If leaders allow their people to disrupt themselves, to learn and leap, these employees will help the business be a high growth organization. If you let them disrupt themselves, you as an organization will not get disrupted, Whitney says. [8:52]The S-curve of learning is a framework for high employee engagement. Disruption is really about people. Whitney describes the S-curve framework and what managers can do at each point to lead their team along. [10:00]Whitney lists the seven accelerants for leading people along the S-curve of learning:Take the right risks;Know your distinctive strengths;Embrace constraints or impose the right constraints;Battle entitlement;Step back in order to grow;Give failure its due;Be driven by discovery. [13:00]This framework of personal destruction allows you to accelerate and move up the S-curve quickly so that you can learn, leap and repeat quickly. The faster you can do that, the higher growth individual you become. [21:01]When someone you’re managing is at the top of the curve, you can help push them back into the sweet spot by either getting them a coach, letting them mentor others or by stretching them. [21:35]Marcel asks how fear-based management styles affect the learning curve. Whitney says that fear means that there isn’t enough for me as a manager. "So when I have people on an S-curve and they're in the sweet spot, I might start to feel threatened by them." Another way that fear affects the learning curve is when a leader has a high performer on his team who is ready to leap forward, the leader may not want to allow the team member to do so because it would affect his or her future prospects. [25:19]Organizations whose business models are built on command and control find it hard to create a sense of belonging because the structure itself does not allow for it. [27:25]The best advice Whitney would give to managers is to understand where your people are on the S-curve and manage them accordingly. When you do that, you will find that everyone is a high performer. [30:42]ResourcesWhitneyJohnson.com Disrupt Yourself Podcast, episode 120 Email Marcel: marcel@loveinaction.clubSend Marcel a text message!

Bestselling author Dan Cable is this week’s guest on the Love in Action podcast. Dan is a social psychologist and Professor of Organizational Behavior at the London Business School. He has also been ranked among the top 25 most influential management scholars in the world. His teaching and work are focused on culture and employee engagement, and the link between brands and employee behaviors. His research has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and Business Week and his clients include some of the biggest brands on the planet including Coca Cola, Estee Lauder, and Twitter. Dan joins host Marcel Schwantes to discuss his research as detailed in his book, Alive at Work: The Neuroscience of Helping Your People Love What They Do.The big idea in Dan’s book is that the emotions of winning have changed. Fear is not the emotion that leads to change agility, innovation, and creativity. The book is a quest to understand how leaders can activate the emotions of competitive advantage. [3:50]The seeking system in our brain causes us to want to learn from and experiment with the environment to see how it responds to us. When we follow this urge to experiment and learn, our brain rewards us with dopamine. [5:55]Marcel asks what playfulness in the workplace looks like in a way that makes business sense. Dan responds that it is freedom within a frame. If we're only being playful and experimenting without minding our existing business, we don't have much of a business. Leadership is about welcoming playfulness and ambiguity in constrained ways that help us learn, grow, and stay relevant without sinking the ship that we're on. [7:36]Emotions are our feelings that motivate behavior. They solve problems which help our survival. If leaders want to encourage employees to try new things or take risks, they need to activate emotions such as curiosity, excitement, and enthusiasm. These are the emotions of competitive advantage today. Fear is stronger than these emotions, so if you activate fear, you quelch the curiosity or enthusiasm. [10:21]Dopamine opens up our learning centers, Dan says. It causes the feeling of zest, where life feels like an adventure we get to do. It’s a brain chemical that makes us feel enthusiastic about working and about life in general. [12:46]Dan explains that leaders can encourage curiosity, enthusiasm, and excitement in three ways: Highlight people's unique strengths and what they bring to the table;Prompt curiosity by making a safe place to experiment and learn;Personalize purpose: each employee should know how and whom their work is impacting. He relates how KLM became one of the top 5 social media savvy companies in the world by using these three strategies. [14:10]Marcel asks how a job seeker can know if the company they’re interested in is the kind of employer that activates the seeking system of their workers. Dan shares a few tips that a prospective employee can use to determine this. [19:00]The faster the world changes, the more the seeking system becomes the solution to organizational problems, Dan says. Artificial Intelligence cannot replace the human element of understanding the customer’s needs and strategizing new solutions. [23:41]If leaders can activate positive emotions at work, they will put more life into their employees. [27:28]ResourcesDan Cable on Twitter | LinkedInSend Marcel a text message!

Marcel welcomes Dr. Randy Ross, Founder and Chief Enthusiasm Officer at Remarkable, to the show. Randy is a master of cultural transformation who has traveled internationally as a speaker, coach and Fortune 500 consultant, building teams and developing leaders. He has a unique understanding of employee engagement and he offers practical solutions for increasing both team morale and performance in his new book Relationomics: Business Powered by Relationships.Few business books have been written about building healthy relationships in the workplace, even though people and organizations thrive in relationally-rich environments. Randy wrote his book to help leaders use principles that foster good relationships among their teams. [5:09]Marcel asks Randy about the four principles that cultivate healthy relationships. Randy says that these principles are:Intentionality - making relationships a priority;Humility - being honest about yourself with yourself;Accountability - creating continuous feedback loops to get the information you need to grow;Sustainability - leading in a way that deeply connects with your people. [6:15]Randy defines culture as the collective expression of the values, beliefs and behaviors that individuals brings to any endeavor. If we build teams that embrace and embed our values within their very core, it will flow over into our beliefs, which will then impact our behavior. [10:40]The deeper the connectivity within an organization, the stronger the return on equity. [13:17]The great deception is that we can elevate ourselves to our highest potential without anyone else’s influence. This is a lie, Randy emphasizes, because we all have blind spots that other people see but we can’t. We need feedback from others to grow. [18:03]Randy shares three questions people ask themselves before they choose to follow someone: Can I trust this person? Can I count on this person? Does this person have my best interest at heart? [21:47]Humility is just being real: it’s being comfortable with who you are, leveraging your strengths and acknowledging your weaknesses. [28:55]Marcel asks how leaders can practice humility without coming across as soft or weak. Randy responds that humility means that I'm not only comfortable with myself, but I'm comfortable with you. It’s acknowledging that everyone brings their own mix of talents and experience to the table, and that I welcome those gifts. If I lead with humility, I bring out the best in my people and I can rally them to bring more to the table than they take away and create value for others. [32:11]One of the things that breed toxicity in the workplace is unresolved conflict, Randy says. He gives five rules of engagement that help to resolve workplace conflict and build healthy relationships. [35:44]Leading with love is about having someone’s interest at heart. Leaders can demonstrate love by sharing their time, their knowledge, their relationships, and their affection and appreciation. [46:31]Creating open loops of continuous feedback throughout an organization will create organizations that become self-coaching and self-correcting. Performance will shoot through the roof as a result. [52:19]75 years of research proves that good relationships keep us healthy and happy. [53:40]ResourcesDrRandyRoss.comCreateRemarkable.com Send Marcel a text message!