Building the SOUL of an Organization: When Purpose and Passion Collide from Dr. Alise Cortez

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<v Speaker 1>If we can help people to nurture those higher emotional states of wonder, joy, awe, passion, compassion, gratitude, peace, now what happens is we open their capacity to experience more deeply meaning and purpose, so everything is much more fulfilling anyway.

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<v Speaker 2>Dr Elise Cortez.

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<v Speaker 2>Purpose meaning passion, how to find it, how to detect it, how to unfold into the greatest version of you.

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<v Speaker 1>You know what the number one response is.

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<v Speaker 1>When I'm out up to an audience speaking and I ask them what are you passionate about?

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<v Speaker 1>What do you guess they say back?

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<v Speaker 1>The most commonly cited answer is I don't know what I'm passionate about.

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<v Speaker 1>People have lost touch to the connection of their heartbeat, which is why I do the work that I do.

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<v Speaker 1>Right?

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<v Speaker 1>Let's resurrect these people while they're still living.

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<v Speaker 2>Can we let's dive into your success with Dr Elise Cortez, all right, so, elise, what is your definition of success?

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<v Speaker 2>How do you define it?

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<v Speaker 1>Well, I have to have it through the lens of, of course, purpose.

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<v Speaker 1>Brad, You're not surprised by that, I'm sure, and I really think that being successful is really being totally true to yourself, what you think is important in your life and the world, and that you've honored that and that you have lived to your purpose.

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<v Speaker 1>To me, that is ultimate success.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, how did you come to that, though?

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<v Speaker 2>Because obviously you know, through life we define success differently.

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<v Speaker 2>How did you come to that?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, thanks for asking.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a great question.

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<v Speaker 1>I love that.

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<v Speaker 1>I would tell you that I got far enough along the journey, the path that means I aged, that I started to learn how to listen to that voice inside of me that was telling me desperately, trying to tell me where to put my foot next instead of what society.

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<v Speaker 1>Even my husband, my friends and my community was trying to tell me that to put my foot next instead of what society even my husband, my friends and my community was trying to tell me that I should be doing with myself in my life.

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<v Speaker 1>And when that happened, brad, what happened was this beautiful, almost like ah kind of experience happened where I heard the voice, and the voice really led me down the path of really continuing to research my meaning and purpose and identity, which really led me in the purpose realm.

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<v Speaker 1>So it was really just drowning out all those other voices.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>Where do you think in life you chose success as like your standard, that you were going to be successful at, whatever you did?

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<v Speaker 1>Hmm, well, I would say there was probably two distinct junctures for that, brad.

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<v Speaker 1>One was when I was in my early 30s and you know I've got.

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<v Speaker 1>I had a pretty decent job, I was making money, I'd lived abroad and had the great experience of living in Spain and Brazil, and then I was back in the States and had, you know, a good sales job, making good money and all sort of thing, and then that was that big hollow place of and is this all there is Right?

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<v Speaker 1>So I would call that the early life crisis and that was about, you know, I don't know, 33 or so for me.

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<v Speaker 1>So my response to that was not to go get a nice sports car, have an affair at the office, go to a Nash room in India.

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<v Speaker 1>I decided instead to get a PhD.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it wasn't the ayahuasca.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's go and do the trip and do the whole thing.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's go get a PhD, got it.

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<v Speaker 1>That was the first time and that was really probably like 1999.

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<v Speaker 1>I was in my early 30s and I was definitely that choice.

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<v Speaker 1>I choose you, elise.

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<v Speaker 1>I choose you and I'm going to invest in you for the journey forward.

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<v Speaker 1>That was the first time.

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<v Speaker 1>The second time, I would say, I truly really chose.

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<v Speaker 1>Success was related to that.

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<v Speaker 1>Fast forward, a good you know several almost a decade, about a decade later, after I've gotten married, after I've had a child, I'd moved to Texas and there was that niggling feeling again, brad, that little niggler that kept saying but there's something else, there's something more.

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<v Speaker 1>And I'd gone back and started teaching classes at Southern Methodist University, university of Phoenix, as well as my consulting.

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<v Speaker 1>And then that just hit me back oh, I love the academic, the research part of things, really sniffing closely what it is to be a human and what do we struggle with.

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<v Speaker 1>And I went back and did this huge big postdoc meeting and work in identity research.

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<v Speaker 1>And once I did that, brad, I had totally stepped on my path, claimed it for my own, and what I didn't know was how I was going to open as well as close doors close the right doors and open others that I could have never imagined.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>I think it's really interesting that we have to listen to ourselves and follow the purpose side of it to stay on track.

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<v Speaker 2>I know that purpose is a big part of yours and we'll get to a lot of that stuff in a moment, but do you have like a formula for success or these are the steps?

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<v Speaker 2>If you do these things, then success will come your way.

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<v Speaker 1>I love that.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know that I've ever been asked that question before, but it's delightful.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know that there's.

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<v Speaker 1>You might be surprised by this.

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<v Speaker 1>I think already I don't know that there's a formula for everyone.

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<v Speaker 1>This is the formula to get you to success, because I think people are just too messy and too individual and there's just too many paths to take to get there, and sometimes the path for one person is really fast and for another, but somebody else, like me, it's the winding road.

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<v Speaker 1>But I would say the first thing is and I just had a great conversation on my podcast last night talking about this very thing, brad which was personality when we are really true and clear about what is it that we really value?

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<v Speaker 1>What lights us up?

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<v Speaker 1>What do we care about, independent of our well-meaning parents that are trying to send us down a well-intentioned path, our teachers, our friends, whoever, who are telling us oh, you should do this, you'd be great at that that we really are clear about.

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<v Speaker 1>What is it that we how is?

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<v Speaker 1>How do we really gel in the world?

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<v Speaker 1>What do we really like doing?

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<v Speaker 1>Like, for example, the example that Eric gave last night on the podcast was he was talking to a young man who, when you ask him what would be the one thing that you would never want to do when it came to work, and the guy said standing, still being in one place all day.

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<v Speaker 1>He said what are you studying in college?

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<v Speaker 1>And he said pharmacology.

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<v Speaker 1>He said what do you plan to do?

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<v Speaker 1>Be a pharmacist?

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<v Speaker 1>He's like, dude, you're going to be standing in one place all day, every day, right?

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<v Speaker 1>So talk about a recipe for disaster, right?

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<v Speaker 1>To complete disaster.

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<v Speaker 1>He said instead, you know, if you want to use a pharmacology degree, do that, but then go into maybe pharmaceutical sales or something where you can be out and about moving.

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<v Speaker 1>And you know, the guy was more of a hunter mentality than a gatherer, anyway.

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<v Speaker 1>So the first thing I would say is man, you got to have some really strong self-awareness of who am I, what do I care about, what lights me up, what kinds of things do I really love doing and, importantly, what do I detest doing so important?

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<v Speaker 1>You start there and then you start looking at what kinds of things really interest me that are worth studying, whether you go to college or not, and start preparing for a field where you have some skills in that space and then finding and enrolling people along the way who can help you to refine that path maybe make it a little bit easier, but the recruitment piece is really important too I know you know this right the social piece of being able to enroll others who can help us along the way and guide the light.

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<v Speaker 1>So to me that's at least the basic start to the journey towards success.

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<v Speaker 1>From my vantage point, I love that.

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<v Speaker 2>So let's go like purpose.

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<v Speaker 2>I want to start with one question that I'm always intrigued by Do we create our purpose, find our purpose?

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<v Speaker 2>What's your thoughts on that?

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<v Speaker 1>I love that.

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<v Speaker 1>There's lots of ways to answer that, but I think really the best way that I've ever heard it described that I tend to align with Brad is that we detect it, and that's individually as well as companies.

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<v Speaker 1>We all detect our purpose.

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<v Speaker 1>It's like being able to finally fine-tune your nostrils enough to be able to smell it right.

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<v Speaker 1>It's right there, oh, and now I can see it as well.

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<v Speaker 1>So it really in many ways, when we get present to it and it took me a while, I mean I wild alive, scratched through my 20s and into my early 30s trying to find it you know so desperate to try to find it and again that once I let the quiet voice a little bit of time come under me was easier to discern.

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<v Speaker 1>But I do think it's detecting and once you sort of get clear about it and it sort of takes hold of you, then you oftentimes two things One, you can go back in your life and you can recognize oh, I see it there.

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<v Speaker 1>I saw it when I was six and back then, even then, I was empowering, you know, my elders to do things.

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<v Speaker 1>Back then at age six I was doing that and you know my elders to do things.

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<v Speaker 1>Back then, at age six, I was doing that.

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<v Speaker 1>And then, secondly, it just starts to make sense to see where you want to go next.

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<v Speaker 1>I would add one more thing, and that is you do need to constantly nurture it to.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, love it, to honor it.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, don't just park it on the shelf once you've detected it.

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<v Speaker 1>You do have to.

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<v Speaker 1>You've got to live it.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, I always talk about this as it's like you got to be able to nurture your, your meaning engines, every day, just like you take vitamins every day, you brush your teeth, you drink water, you sleep, ideally, you exercise.

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<v Speaker 1>It ought to be on that level.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, so once you've, are there any clues, or are there any keys to detecting it?

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<v Speaker 2>Like, because I know there'll be a lot of people who've been years thinking about their purpose, and I remember Buckminster Fuller said maybe your purpose shall forever remain obscure to you, kind of like the bumblebee, but are there some keys to detecting it?

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<v Speaker 2>What are some of the things we can do to find it?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well, the first thing is, if what you think is your purpose makes you feel dull and alive, that ain't it?

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<v Speaker 1>So we can start with that one end of the bookend.

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<v Speaker 1>The other end of that bookend is what is it that really lights you up?

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<v Speaker 1>And that could be one of two things, brad, and I know you probably know this too is one is what is it that just delights you?

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<v Speaker 1>Like today I'm in McAllen, texas, because I get to keynote at a conference that delights me.

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<v Speaker 1>Like today I'm in McAllen Texas, because I get to keynote at a conference that delights me.

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<v Speaker 1>I get to share the message of inspirational leadership that I absolutely jam on.

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<v Speaker 1>I want to create a world where those are the kind of leaders that are the norm.

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<v Speaker 1>Right, so that just jams me.

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<v Speaker 1>But the other way, too, that you can be lit up is by what just breaks your heart that you just can't stand in the world that you want to do something about, right.

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<v Speaker 1>So somewhere in there, whatever it is, it's got to elicit some kind of a charge.

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<v Speaker 1>If it's a deadbeat kind of a thing, that's not it, right?

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<v Speaker 1>So where is it that you find yourself just reaching for?

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<v Speaker 1>Or that, just when you're in it, you just feel the jolt of life.

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<v Speaker 1>That's the first thing that I would say.

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<v Speaker 2>Now, yeah, someone used the word calling with me one time.

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<v Speaker 2>It was a friend of mine who said you know what, brad, and fortunately, or unfortunately as he put it, his son was born high on the spectrum, nonverbal.

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<v Speaker 2>And he said you know what I was given my calling, I'm lucky.

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<v Speaker 2>You have to go and find yours or, as you use the word and I love the word detect it.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's go to that passion side of it then, once we've detected it, how do we live a life that is passionate?

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<v Speaker 2>How do we make that happen?

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<v Speaker 1>Well, I have a you know, really, I guess a particular pursuit or a lens on that, because I'm a logotherapist, which is one who heals through meaning.

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<v Speaker 1>And if you look at the vantage point, if you look at logotherapy and you look at the idea that it's really chief focuses, that we, as humans, our chief concern is finding meaning and that happens to be our chief source of energy.

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<v Speaker 1>So there are, according to logotherapy, we have three sources of meaning.

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<v Speaker 1>We have those, the experiential, which they all align with our values, whatever it is that you value, so yours will be different from mine, but the experiential speaks to.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, what are we giving of ourselves to the world that really matters to us?

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<v Speaker 1>That in the giving of that that we get that energy that lights.

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<v Speaker 1>I call that passion.

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<v Speaker 1>The second source of meaning is experience.

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<v Speaker 1>What encounters or experiences do we have that also really energizes, that matter to us?

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<v Speaker 1>That energizes, I call that inspiration.

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<v Speaker 1>And the third source of meaning is our mindset and what that speaks to.

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<v Speaker 1>How do we choose to relate to the world when it throws whatever it does at us?

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<v Speaker 1>And that could be attitudinal or mindset, but that either.

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<v Speaker 1>Those three sources are, according to logotherapy, are sources of meaning, so that first one, passion, really speaks to.

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<v Speaker 1>What are you doing?

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<v Speaker 1>What is it that you're putting yourself into of yourself?

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<v Speaker 1>You're giving of yourself that, in the giving of it, that you feel this energy, you feel alive, you feel invigorated.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe you lose track of time for hours, or you're just so psyched from it or high from it afterwards that you're not tired, you're higher than when you started.

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<v Speaker 1>Those kinds of activities indicate passion kinds of activities indicate passion.

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<v Speaker 2>Damn, never heard it put that way.

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<v Speaker 2>So the giving and the meaning, yeah, yeah, that's really a cool thing.

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<v Speaker 2>So how does, and like when you're doing therapy with someone, how do you help them find that meaning?

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<v Speaker 2>I guess it's helping them find places where they give of themselves.

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<v Speaker 2>Really, is that the way?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, you know so that my I'm an organizational psychologist really, and so much of my work is working with organizations to help them to transform and lift their culture and their leadership, and then, of course, along the way, ideally all the humans in their care.

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<v Speaker 1>And so, yeah, I meet people all the time who, like I, have been Brad, I mean, I'm not ashamed to say I've been a card-carrying member of the walking dead.

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<v Speaker 1>I know what that's like.

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<v Speaker 1>And why do I do the work today is because I want to awaken people to their passion and purpose and then inspire them to make a contribution worthy of their one precious life.

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<v Speaker 1>And what I've discovered is most of us need a little bit help with that.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, life takes over.

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<v Speaker 1>We're really fast on that hamster wheel.

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<v Speaker 1>Thing has got us out of control.

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<v Speaker 1>If we don't keep moving our feet in that wheel, man, who knows what's going to happen?

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<v Speaker 1>So, finding a way to intervene in that process and help people recognize hang on a minute, here we have one precious life.

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<v Speaker 1>You don't know when the exit ramp is coming.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's talk about what is it that really, really, just as I've been telling you, what is it that, when you give yourself over to these activities, that you're lit up by that.

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<v Speaker 1>And most of the time you know what the number one response is.

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<v Speaker 1>When I'm out to an audience speaking and I ask them what are you passionate about?

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<v Speaker 1>What do you guess they say back Brad, what are you passionate about?

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<v Speaker 2>What do you think the most common response is?

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<v Speaker 2>Helping others, taking care of people, something along that line, I'm guessing.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and I hear all that I do, but the most commonly cited answer is I don't know.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know what I'm passionate about.

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<v Speaker 1>And then, yes, really, I'm dead serious and I understand this, Brad.

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<v Speaker 1>People have lost touch to the connection of their heartbeat, which is why I do the work that I do.

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<v Speaker 1>Right?

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<v Speaker 1>Let's resurrect these people while they're still living, Can we?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah Well, let's talk about that in a business setting then, because when we look at you know you talk about the soul of the matter, the soul of an organization.

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<v Speaker 2>How do we bring purpose into a business setting today?

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<v Speaker 1>You know, I was just talking to an executive about this the other day, somebody who's like, literally lived and traveled all over the world and led businesses all over the world.

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<v Speaker 1>And I was so surprised that when I was talking first about you know some of my own experiences of having inspirational leadership in my life and like, for example, one person that I had in my journey who literally, first, you know, he saved my life first when I was 19 years old by giving me a job in the big exotic city of Portland, oregon, and then 18 months firing me because he saw way more potential in me than he was ever going to be able to provide in that job.

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<v Speaker 1>And that like shaking up, you know, by the scruff of the neck kind of thing and causing me to see my life and possibilities in a whole other way.

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<v Speaker 1>That's inspirational leadership.

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<v Speaker 1>And when I was talking with him about this he said well, in all the years I was always, you know, in charge.

00:15:47.904 --> 00:15:51.081
<v Speaker 1>I always made sure to tell people, you know, tell me if you're not satisfied.

00:15:51.081 --> 00:15:53.642
<v Speaker 1>I said this is nothing to do with satisfaction.

00:15:53.642 --> 00:15:59.086
<v Speaker 1>I was totally satisfied, loved working for this man, but I didn't know what I could do.

00:15:59.086 --> 00:16:09.033
<v Speaker 1>So the first thing is when we're really talking about how do we enliven organizations so that people are just compelled to come to work for this company.

00:16:09.033 --> 00:16:16.337
<v Speaker 1>They give their best persistence because they're so enamored with what they're doing and so connected about it.

00:16:16.337 --> 00:16:21.227
<v Speaker 1>And two, they create new products and services and then they never want to leave.

00:16:21.609 --> 00:16:22.392
<v Speaker 1>How do we do that?

00:16:22.392 --> 00:16:26.323
<v Speaker 1>Is we start by how do we activate the meaning and purpose in organizations?

00:16:26.323 --> 00:16:33.509
<v Speaker 1>And the first part is how do we teach managers to be actually humane people who care about the well-being of their people?

00:16:33.509 --> 00:16:38.789
<v Speaker 1>I know that sounds so simple, but most managers are not really plugged into.

00:16:38.789 --> 00:16:40.140
<v Speaker 1>Who are my people?

00:16:40.140 --> 00:16:41.625
<v Speaker 1>What are their life aspirations?

00:16:41.625 --> 00:16:42.567
<v Speaker 1>What do they care about?

00:16:42.567 --> 00:16:43.510
<v Speaker 1>What are they trying to accomplish?

00:16:43.510 --> 00:16:47.397
<v Speaker 1>What are they dealing in their life in total that I can help them deal with?

00:16:47.397 --> 00:16:54.321
<v Speaker 1>Not because I'm going to give them therapy or watch their kids, but how am I going to help them navigate this whole thing right?

00:16:54.321 --> 00:17:11.203
<v Speaker 1>And then so if we start and we, I have a whole program called managing through meaning that teaches just that how do we actually manage people in a way that gives them feedback that is constructive but also still elevates and knows that it's there to grow and not to punish and diminish them.

00:17:11.968 --> 00:17:13.555
<v Speaker 1>And there's people don't know how to do that.

00:17:13.555 --> 00:17:15.642
<v Speaker 1>It's not something that people learn automatically.

00:17:15.642 --> 00:17:18.547
<v Speaker 1>So anyway, there's all that you can do on the managerial level.

00:17:18.547 --> 00:17:25.792
<v Speaker 1>But then, when you look at the very full of the organization, how do we situate what's the purpose of the organization?

00:17:25.792 --> 00:17:31.348
<v Speaker 1>Why does it exist and why should anyone care beyond the profits, right, why should anybody care about that?

00:17:31.891 --> 00:17:41.434
<v Speaker 1>And when you do that, brad and this is the coolest work that I get to do is going to organizations and helping them, the whole organization, to detect and articulate their purpose.

00:17:41.434 --> 00:17:47.932
<v Speaker 1>Together they wild a live scratch for it to articulate it, not given from the top down to the bottom.

00:17:47.932 --> 00:17:55.019
<v Speaker 1>And then we start to thread it through their behaviors and how to reward people for living that purpose and the values of the organization.

00:17:55.019 --> 00:18:00.022
<v Speaker 1>Now it's really sticky and that culture holds everybody up so that the leaders.

00:18:00.022 --> 00:18:02.971
<v Speaker 1>It becomes an easier lift for the leaders for everything that they do.

00:18:02.971 --> 00:18:13.271
<v Speaker 1>Anyway, that was a lot, but there's so much that we can do to be able to infuse meaning and purpose in organizations and many organizations are not doing it just yet.

00:18:13.460 --> 00:18:22.566
<v Speaker 2>Now, if let's imagine and I'm sure you see this a lot companies that have, they've found a purpose or they've found a meaning, they know what it is.

00:18:22.566 --> 00:18:25.528
<v Speaker 2>How do they live it more on a day-to-day basis?

00:18:25.528 --> 00:18:25.969
<v Speaker 2>How do they?

00:18:25.969 --> 00:18:28.470
<v Speaker 2>You use the word infuse, I think.

00:18:28.470 --> 00:18:30.131
<v Speaker 2>How do you do that more often?

00:18:30.131 --> 00:18:39.877
<v Speaker 2>Because sometimes I get so busy running companies that I forget that thing and it's like I don't know what rituals or what methodologies.

00:18:39.877 --> 00:18:41.567
<v Speaker 2>Maybe you could give us some thoughts.

00:18:42.820 --> 00:18:53.849
<v Speaker 1>Well, first, let's think about it like this, brad Imagine, you know, we all recognize that we're both human beings and we have a body and we know that there's blood flowing through that and we have air moving in and out of our lungs.

00:18:53.849 --> 00:18:58.332
<v Speaker 1>Let's just imagine that we cut off half the source of the blood supply in the air.

00:18:58.332 --> 00:19:10.481
<v Speaker 1>Let's just imagine that for us as humans Okay, that's what's happening when people go into organizations and they lose they don't have contact with that source, that whole purpose source.

00:19:10.481 --> 00:19:13.253
<v Speaker 1>They've lost the connection to the beating heart.

00:19:13.253 --> 00:19:18.567
<v Speaker 1>Essentially, that's driving the blood moving through the body and the air moving in through the lungs.

00:19:18.567 --> 00:19:24.035
<v Speaker 1>So already we've cut off half of that essential life supply when we don't have that.

00:19:24.619 --> 00:19:32.808
<v Speaker 1>So that tells you that you better pay attention to it and you better find a way to spend time infusing, and another word is embedding it into your organization.

00:19:32.808 --> 00:19:42.114
<v Speaker 1>So being very conscious about that, being very mindful about that and monitoring it on a daily, weekly basis is really the first thing.

00:19:42.114 --> 00:19:43.902
<v Speaker 1>And so then, how do we do that?

00:19:43.902 --> 00:19:53.996
<v Speaker 1>Is we create really the rituals where we, like here at this company, we stand for whatever it is saving lives through, whatever it is blood transfers, what it might be.

00:19:53.996 --> 00:20:02.071
<v Speaker 1>So we've got to make sure that people can see the results of their overall work, the patients that survived because of those transfers.

00:20:02.071 --> 00:20:03.815
<v Speaker 1>How are their lives improved?

00:20:03.980 --> 00:20:17.425
<v Speaker 1>So we, you know a lot of the best organizations are making sure that they showcase and bring in the people who benefit, or the organizations, whoever who benefit from the products and services, so people can go oh yeah, that's why we do what we do.

00:20:17.425 --> 00:20:27.787
<v Speaker 1>Whether I'm the programmer who's creating the back office infrastructure, whether I'm the front person selling this stuff, whatever it is, we're like, we've recognized, oh, we're all connected to this.

00:20:27.787 --> 00:20:28.569
<v Speaker 1>We did this.

00:20:28.569 --> 00:20:30.703
<v Speaker 1>So those are just those.

00:20:30.703 --> 00:20:33.050
<v Speaker 1>Take a lot of architecture right.

00:20:33.050 --> 00:20:43.670
<v Speaker 1>A lot of you know just being mindful and conscious and making sure that you know you're, you know, pushing that blood supply into the organization so they're at full steam.

00:20:43.670 --> 00:20:45.982
<v Speaker 1>You know, in their work every day, got it, love it.

00:20:46.503 --> 00:20:51.413
<v Speaker 2>So let's flip that to the leadership style, then, and the methodology.

00:20:51.413 --> 00:20:53.384
<v Speaker 2>Inspirational leadership First.

00:20:53.384 --> 00:20:53.925
<v Speaker 2>Can you give us?

00:20:53.925 --> 00:20:56.532
<v Speaker 2>How do you define inspirational leadership?

00:21:00.519 --> 00:21:00.559
<v Speaker 1>us.

00:21:00.579 --> 00:21:02.343
<v Speaker 1>Can you give us how do you define inspirational leadership?

00:21:02.363 --> 00:21:14.864
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so inspirational leadership really speaks to a leader being able to communicate a couple of things a vision of what the organization is about, that does inspire, that pulls people out of their chairs and says, yeah, I want to be a part of that.

00:21:15.605 --> 00:21:16.608
<v Speaker 1>That's the first part of it.

00:21:16.608 --> 00:21:30.263
<v Speaker 1>The second part of it is that that same leader, just like the one that I was talking about earlier, can see who this person is and recognize and really lead them to where they could be in a loving, encouraging way not where they are today.

00:21:30.263 --> 00:21:35.182
<v Speaker 1>So they're literally helping to pull them toward their possible self and the realization of their potential.

00:21:35.182 --> 00:21:42.252
<v Speaker 1>And what that does is it helps people feel so enlivened and so encouraged they want to follow that leader.

00:21:42.252 --> 00:21:50.945
<v Speaker 1>So, and underneath all of that, brad and this always sounds a little weird in the world of businesses there's this four-letter word that drives all of that, and it's love.

00:21:50.945 --> 00:21:56.644
<v Speaker 1>So inspirational leaders are working from love, not fear, right?

00:21:56.644 --> 00:22:06.867
<v Speaker 1>So that's how I would describe the two-part piece of inspirational leadership the vision, as well as how they're really helping people to realize and pull them to their own individual potential.

00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:13.409
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I've seen such a massive shift over the last probably 10 years of head leadership moving to heart leadership.

00:22:13.409 --> 00:22:21.736
<v Speaker 2>How do you, dr Elise, how do you teach someone that they don't lead a company, they lead people?

00:22:21.736 --> 00:22:26.092
<v Speaker 2>How do you teach that or get people to understand that?

00:22:26.092 --> 00:22:30.944
<v Speaker 2>Because I still struggle with a lot of leaders thinking they're leading the business and they're not.

00:22:31.826 --> 00:22:39.329
<v Speaker 1>Oh well, if we can get them to have experiences like Bob Chapman, who's the CEO of Barry Way Miller, has had.

00:22:39.329 --> 00:22:40.613
<v Speaker 1>Do you know Bob by chance?

00:22:40.613 --> 00:22:42.481
<v Speaker 1>He's an amazing man.

00:22:42.481 --> 00:22:44.226
<v Speaker 1>I had a.

00:22:44.226 --> 00:22:53.780
<v Speaker 1>Well, many of the people who are listening to this maybe have heard of him, but Bob Chapman is the CEO of a manufacturing organization out of St Louis called Barry Waymiller.

00:22:53.780 --> 00:22:55.183
<v Speaker 1>He's been at it for decades.

00:22:55.183 --> 00:23:10.731
<v Speaker 1>He's also a book called Everybody Matters, and what's beautiful is if we can get more leaders to have a bit more of the experience or hear more of something like this, I think we can kind of approximate a directional movement forward, brad.

00:23:10.771 --> 00:23:16.683
<v Speaker 1>And that is that Bob discovered some years into his own leadership work.

00:23:16.683 --> 00:23:30.472
<v Speaker 1>He said I was at a wedding and he said you know, as I listened to the vows being exchanged and I watched the two families come together and I watched the, the, the, the, the, the uh, father say you know who, who?

00:23:30.472 --> 00:23:34.606
<v Speaker 1>When he answered who, who gives this, this woman, over to her husband, he said I do.

00:23:34.606 --> 00:23:35.971
<v Speaker 1>Um.

00:23:35.971 --> 00:23:44.446
<v Speaker 1>Bob said I can't imagine that anybody would say that they want to, to give their, their, their beloved son or daughter over to just mediocrity.

00:23:44.446 --> 00:23:45.949
<v Speaker 1>They want them to have an average life.

00:23:45.949 --> 00:23:48.633
<v Speaker 1>They want the very, very, very best for them, he said.

00:23:48.633 --> 00:24:13.596
<v Speaker 1>In that moment I realized I have at that time, he said, 7,000 people who work for our organization, and not only do I have them for 40 hours a week, when the preacher here has them for 40 minutes, but they're somebody's precious child and they're in my care and so he really refers to you know, they don't talk about the people the number of heartbeats they have in their organization.

00:24:13.596 --> 00:24:25.662
<v Speaker 1>Now they have like 12,000 or so, and so when they acquire companies, brad, they don't just come in and, you know, acquire the company and, you know, get rid of all the leaders and managers that were there before.

00:24:25.662 --> 00:24:28.289
<v Speaker 1>They bring them into, as they say, the family.

00:24:28.289 --> 00:24:35.692
<v Speaker 1>They adopt them, as they call them, and then they invite all of the managers that were there before to come into and learn their way.

00:24:35.692 --> 00:24:45.214
<v Speaker 1>So they have this whole institutional, educational way of listening and connecting that allows people to feel that fullness of humanity.

00:24:45.214 --> 00:24:48.743
<v Speaker 1>We're in a manufacturing company and they're doing that, to have to feel that fullness of humanity.

00:24:48.743 --> 00:24:49.909
<v Speaker 1>We're in a manufacturing company and they're doing that.

00:24:49.929 --> 00:24:56.134
<v Speaker 1>And so Bob Chapman, who speaks all over the world, really talks about what, if you thought about your people as individual heartbeats, who were somebody's precious child.

00:24:56.134 --> 00:25:01.269
<v Speaker 1>So if we could start to move to that and then ask these leaders do you have children?

00:25:01.269 --> 00:25:02.492
<v Speaker 1>Would you want them to be?

00:25:02.492 --> 00:25:10.913
<v Speaker 1>A sentence to a life of mediocrity and aboriginous and where people just get them, you know badly, like they didn't care about them.

00:25:10.913 --> 00:25:22.116
<v Speaker 1>So I think if we can start that process, brett, somehow help them humanize and see you know how, what are the lives of all these people that are connected to that they depend on for their business?

00:25:22.116 --> 00:25:30.788
<v Speaker 1>I think that would go a long, long way in helping them move from I'm managing a business to I'm managing and stewarding the lives of all of these people.

00:25:31.621 --> 00:25:38.092
<v Speaker 2>Well, hey there, and thanks for listening, I've noticed that 78% of you are brand new, which means you haven't hit the subscribe button yet.

00:25:38.092 --> 00:25:45.388
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00:25:47.488 --> 00:25:48.665
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00:25:48.665 --> 00:25:50.165
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00:25:56.210 --> 00:26:02.328
<v Speaker 2>What would be the first steps a leader could take to move to that inspirational leadership?

00:26:02.328 --> 00:26:05.730
<v Speaker 2>What would be some of the things that I need to focus on to get there?

00:26:06.721 --> 00:26:08.721
<v Speaker 1>I was going to say something flip, but I won't.

00:26:08.721 --> 00:26:12.641
<v Speaker 1>It was something about severing their heads so they could stop thinking, but we won't say that.

00:26:14.986 --> 00:26:22.604
<v Speaker 2>Well, getting out of your head into your heart is tough Sometimes, that's tough it is.

00:26:22.683 --> 00:26:25.326
<v Speaker 1>Well, it's really tough, especially for people that you know.

00:26:25.326 --> 00:26:27.469
<v Speaker 1>Here's the thing from a personality vantage point.

00:26:27.469 --> 00:26:33.056
<v Speaker 1>A lot of CEOs are what Eric Guy, this personality guy, would call the Smiths.

00:26:33.056 --> 00:26:39.769
<v Speaker 1>They are very, very intensely rational sort of beings and anyway, and so it is very, very hard for them.

00:26:39.769 --> 00:26:44.450
<v Speaker 1>So let me make sure that we situate that I'm not suggesting that this is an easy path.

00:26:44.450 --> 00:26:54.484
<v Speaker 1>Becoming much more fully, fully human is hard for all of us, and I think that's part of the reason that we're here on the planet in the first place, as spiritual beings having a human experience.

00:26:54.484 --> 00:26:59.382
<v Speaker 1>So I think what's really interesting and what I've seen work beautifully.

00:26:59.603 --> 00:27:01.387
<v Speaker 1>I happen to be a conscious capitalist.

00:27:01.387 --> 00:27:02.731
<v Speaker 1>You won't be surprised by that.

00:27:02.731 --> 00:27:12.172
<v Speaker 1>So I'm part of the global movement of conscious capitalism, which speaks to doing business in a way that serves its higher purpose, with conscious leadership.

00:27:12.172 --> 00:27:31.428
<v Speaker 1>Conscious culture serves all stakeholders, and if you listen to some of the businessmen and women who have gone through that movement, you'll start to hear some of their epiphanies where they began to recognize wow, some of their people are working two and three jobs to make ends meet and we're wondering why we can't get them here on time for this job.

00:27:31.428 --> 00:27:38.183
<v Speaker 1>Well, what would happen if you went out to the field and really came and you started connecting with your people and learned about their lives?

00:27:38.183 --> 00:27:40.553
<v Speaker 1>I think that would be an amazing place to start.

00:27:40.553 --> 00:27:45.907
<v Speaker 1>So, the people that are actually power your business, what is happening for them?

00:27:45.907 --> 00:27:55.861
<v Speaker 1>I mean, wouldn't that be amazing if you even just spent, say, two hours a week going out and connecting with people that work for your organization?

00:27:55.861 --> 00:27:57.644
<v Speaker 1>I think that would be an amazing place to start.

00:27:57.644 --> 00:27:58.227
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

00:27:58.827 --> 00:27:59.750
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I love that.

00:27:59.750 --> 00:28:06.414
<v Speaker 2>So you bring the word love into business and I've often talked about that.

00:28:06.414 --> 00:28:09.040
<v Speaker 2>You know your customer has to love doing business with you.

00:28:09.040 --> 00:28:11.385
<v Speaker 2>Your people have to love coming to work.

00:28:11.385 --> 00:28:18.845
<v Speaker 2>How do we get more of that higher level of emotion into the workplace?

00:28:19.747 --> 00:28:23.079
<v Speaker 1>Okay, now you're speaking my love language, brad.

00:28:23.079 --> 00:28:25.365
<v Speaker 1>You're just making my heart melt.

00:28:25.365 --> 00:28:40.450
<v Speaker 1>So, as we sort of began to talk about before we got on air, one of the things that's happened for me along the course of what I call now another word for you that you might like is my own unfoldment, my own spiritual journey of unfoldment.

00:28:40.450 --> 00:28:43.904
<v Speaker 1>That's a term that I haven't heard very often, but it makes much sense.

00:28:43.904 --> 00:29:00.198
<v Speaker 1>What's happened is, as I continue to host my own podcast now it's been almost 10 years on air I keep finding more and more people coming on that I'm opting into, that have really opened an arena around these higher emotions.

00:29:00.198 --> 00:29:02.945
<v Speaker 1>Maslow might have called them the higher attitudinal B values.

00:29:02.945 --> 00:29:03.507
<v Speaker 1>See, what is it?

00:29:03.507 --> 00:29:05.211
<v Speaker 1>Things like unity and things like that.

00:29:05.211 --> 00:29:15.712
<v Speaker 1>But if I look at today's parlance of what I mean by like higher emotions, it's things like wonder, joy, awe, peace, love, those kinds of things.

00:29:15.712 --> 00:29:24.791
<v Speaker 1>So what I've really come to and part of this is because of the work that I've already done, helping to activate meaning and purpose in organizations is what I've come to and started.

00:29:24.791 --> 00:29:36.682
<v Speaker 1>I actually crafted and I'm now piloting a course with a company here in Dallas and essentially, I think right now I'm calling it nurturing higher consciousness and higher emotions.

00:29:37.345 --> 00:29:44.189
<v Speaker 1>But the idea is, since we begin life as humans really capable of a pretty wide spectrum of emotions.

00:29:44.189 --> 00:29:52.211
<v Speaker 1>We're young kids and we can be mad and we can be frustrated and we can be really happy and so excited to see people and we can just be frustrated.

00:29:52.211 --> 00:29:59.808
<v Speaker 1>And then we start going to school and we learn that we have to kind of tamper down those emotions because you know they're not appropriate and they're kind of explosive.

00:29:59.808 --> 00:30:05.207
<v Speaker 1>And then we get into the workplace and we really realize we better tamper our emotions down, we most certainly better not cry.

00:30:05.207 --> 00:30:16.890
<v Speaker 1>And so by the time I meet people in their late 30s, 40s, 50s, they've gone through this huge open emotional spectrum and they're down to about this little cranny right here.

00:30:17.940 --> 00:30:35.231
<v Speaker 1>And so what I recognize is if we can help people to nurture experience and nurture those higher emotional states of wonder, joy, awe, passion, compassion, gratitude, peace, now what happens is there's a few beautiful things that happen.

00:30:35.231 --> 00:30:41.781
<v Speaker 1>First, we open their capacity to experience more deeply meaning and purpose, so everything is much more fulfilling anyway.

00:30:41.781 --> 00:30:47.029
<v Speaker 1>So now they have a vivacity and an energy level that is incomparable.

00:30:47.029 --> 00:30:50.575
<v Speaker 1>And then, two, what happens when we put them in that elevated space?

00:30:50.575 --> 00:30:54.431
<v Speaker 1>They are much more capable of creativity and innovation.

00:30:54.431 --> 00:31:03.102
<v Speaker 1>So now they're more capable of more creatively solving problems for the organization, reaching for ways to satisfy and delight the customer.

00:31:03.102 --> 00:31:06.434
<v Speaker 1>Now we're in the world of innovation, compassionate innovation.

00:31:07.337 --> 00:31:19.405
<v Speaker 1>And then the third piece of it that's really interesting is when we start to elevate people on this higher consciousness level, they are much more likely to practice what are called pro-social behaviors, where they're helping each other, they're cooperating with each other.

00:31:19.405 --> 00:31:20.670
<v Speaker 1>They're not competing with each other.

00:31:20.670 --> 00:31:24.625
<v Speaker 1>They're looking for ways that how do we pull this off together?

00:31:24.625 --> 00:31:32.769
<v Speaker 1>A team united and I personally think you know from a national front, some kind of unity sounds pretty darn good right about now.

00:31:32.769 --> 00:31:44.904
<v Speaker 1>So that's part of what I'm championing in organizations as well, and it's the really more higher-evolved organizations that can see how that takes them next that are interested in that.

00:31:44.904 --> 00:31:59.239
<v Speaker 1>But I'm really excited about it and I don't know exactly where it's going to go, brad, but it's launched, it's moving down the tracks and we'll see where it takes us you know I I do as we, you know look for the edge in business.

00:31:59.318 --> 00:32:05.553
<v Speaker 2>Today, I still feel that the majority of the edge is in bringing out the best in our people.

00:32:05.553 --> 00:32:07.987
<v Speaker 2>Build the people, they build the organization.

00:32:07.987 --> 00:32:09.162
<v Speaker 2>It's the way to do it.

00:32:09.162 --> 00:32:18.071
<v Speaker 2>Hey, I want to ask you to finish us out today what's the best advice you ever got or the best quote you ever came across on the subject of success.

00:32:19.260 --> 00:32:20.203
<v Speaker 1>Oh, it's easy.

00:32:20.203 --> 00:32:26.505
<v Speaker 1>I finished most of my presentations with this and it's a quote by George Bernard Shaw, who was an Irish playwright.

00:32:26.505 --> 00:32:27.829
<v Speaker 1>You will probably know it.

00:32:27.829 --> 00:32:32.411
<v Speaker 1>I usually try to try to affect something approximating an English accent.

00:32:32.411 --> 00:32:34.082
<v Speaker 1>I can't do an Irish, but I won't do that.

00:32:34.082 --> 00:32:37.671
<v Speaker 1>I'll save your listeners for that and just read it normally.

00:32:37.671 --> 00:32:58.729
<v Speaker 1>But this is by far one of my favorite quotes and it is this this is the true joy in life being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap, being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

00:32:59.089 --> 00:32:59.711
<v Speaker 2>I love it.

00:32:59.711 --> 00:33:03.545
<v Speaker 2>This is the Big Success Podcast, dr Elise Cortez.

00:33:03.545 --> 00:33:06.769
<v Speaker 2>Hit the show notes, follow, learn, study, do all you can.

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<v Speaker 3>We'll be back next week with more for your success.

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<v Speaker 3>You've been listening to the Big Success Podcast with the number one business coach in the world, brad Sugars.

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<v Speaker 3>To learn more about how to achieve business and personal success, as well as how to level up, or listen to past episodes, visit wwwbradsugarscom.