Explore every episode of the podcast Working on Purpose

Fear. A powerful and necessary human emotion. Yet, deadly once it seeps into the very DNA of an organization. Once there, it silently and insidiously drives dysfunction in every aspect of the organization: strategy, operations, cross-functional collaboration, human capital management, team dynamics, employee engagement, and employee well-being. It’s not about removing fear or denying it, but rather to transform our relationship with fear. In this episode, we learn how to achieve both high performance and employee wellbeing by addressing how people relate to their fears individually and collectively.

Developing your ability to lead effectively in a remote or hybrid environment has become a whole new game. Learning to be an effective leader in this demanding environment requires you to be agile enough to grow and, lead and influence the team at a time when so much change and turmoil is still occurring. This is the new normal. Are you fit for the job? And how can you lead your team so they can perform at their best and succeed?

As close to 40 percent of employees returned to the office in March, the notion of “the workplace of the people” has become clearer than ever before – and it’s been quite a challenge for senior leadership. In this episode, we talk with a work culture guru about the more democratized environment appearing in workplaces around the country, and how leaders can take the reins on purposeful work and employee wellness.

Let’s get real – it’s difficult and uncomfortable for almost everyone to talk about race and racism at work. And yet, doing so in a way that increases understanding and connection is essential to reduce the costs of the lack of diversity in your organization. Study after study proves again and again that diverse businesses perform better on every metric that businesses use to evaluate success. It’s time to move away from excuses to take action on diversity and inclusion and recognize that there is still so much you can do to foster an environment of equity where all stakeholders can feel comfortable, welcome and wanted, and valued for their contributions. Yes, that’s the world we all want to live in.

In this conversation with the author of FIXED, she helps listeners to effectively articulate ideas and goals that encourage tangible and strategic development. Works of art are engaged to address breakdowns in communication, navigate new landscapes, and remove assumptions. She shares how you can use the powers of observation to promote best practices and more effective problem-solving. Since the pandemic began, Amy has worked with a myriad of organizations to address various issues through the lens of art, including burnout, unconscious bias, and navigating the new landscapes that COVID has presented. Amy gives listeners tips to hone their powers of perception and discover deep-seated truths that can obstruct clear-thinking and optimal decision-making.

Many people set artificial limitations on themselves and their lives. They convince themselves they can’t reach their highest goals because they’re simply too far out of reach. What they need is someone to help hold up a mirror to their full potential and what lies beyond their immediate perception. A coach can help activate and awaken what is already present in someone and ignite their flow state. And in that place, all manner of possibilities await. In this episode, we talk with an executive flow coach who helps people realize their wildest dreams. Tune in and glimpse the possibilities for your own life.

Leading in today’s COVID times requires a whole new breed of competency. The workforce’s needs and wants have changed, and employees are voting their preferences in strong numbers by resigning from their jobs, often before their next one is secured. Leaders are scrambling to keep their businesses running and are desperate to find ways to shore the tide of departing talent. In this episode, Dr. Garlick provides a perspective on the importance of companies stewarding a good experience for all stakeholders and the critical roles pride in work and pride in the company play in keeping them fulfilled and staying.

Are you and your team willing to take personal risks for the sake of your company and its performance? No? Why not? Likely because there exists at least some element of workplace toxicity that is stifling innovation, collaboration, succession planning, and productivity. Particularly attuned to the critical effects of a toxic environment, Melanie spent more than 20 years of progressive corporate experience studying the impact leaders and workplace cultures have on employee security and performance. Through that effort, Melanie learned how to shape a corporate environment to manifest powerful teamwork, authentic communication, diverse creativity, and heartfelt loyalty.

“Do you really care about me? Or, do you just need me to get the work done?” Such a common refrain among a frazzled workforce still weathering the COVID fallout after two years. People everywhere have gotten sick with the virus, their loved ones have died from it, and the intensity of it seems to have both led to burnout and elevated what is wanted and possible in life. As employees contemplate their choices and options, they are increasingly leaving their current employer often without having a new job secured, a phenomenon referred to as The Great Resignation. Companies understandably are, for their part, scrambling to remain viable in a world turned upside down by supply chain issues, labor shortages, and a whole myriad of other challenges. As the pandemic continues to unfold, one trend is that talent, especially the millennial generation which comprises the majority of workers, is on the hunt for companies who will honor their well-being.

The term “purpose” has been deployed superficially by companies to appear virtuous without the benefit of using it as a core operational principle. Companies that treat purpose as an existential intention that informs every decision, practice, and process are thriving in today’s times where business is expected to be a force for good in the world. This new breed of stakeholder capitalism adopts purpose as their operating system, perceiving it as a vital animating force with near-spiritual power. As a result, these companies can navigate the tumultuous terrain of multi-stakeholder capitalism far more adeptly than most, increasing value for all stakeholders, including investors, over the long-term.

Confidence, or the lack of it, is the ultimate deal maker or breaker, and no one is immune from its tenuous presence. Whether just starting your career or leading a large organization, and everything in between, your ability to learn, improve, and apply confidence makes all the difference in your desired achievement. In this conversation with the Director of Performance Psychology Program at the United States Military Academy West Point, you will learn how to understand confidence, build it, protect it, and rely upon it when your performance matters most.

There is promise for a brighter future when we learn to lead by unlocking a new navigational system built on the Unfolding Path. By enacting the set of reinforcing commitments and practices that underpin the Unfolding Path approach, we can create a powerful cycle that builds on itself. When we lead from this way, the more we find our inner stability and power, the more we step into the fullness of who we are and who our lives want us to be, and the more we all shine and lift everyone around us. This is your invitation to shine by leading brighter.

Purpose is essential to a fulfilled life. Yet, it’s not necessarily about “finding” our purpose as much as it is building a concrete web of purpose that suits our goals visions, and desires. Crafting your purpose doesn’t have to be difficult. When you do so, you can transform your role at work into something much more fulfilling, build positive relationships, and connect your work to service and beyond. Crafting work well worth the effort.

What’s your relationship with change? Friend? Enemy? We seem to do better when we opt for change. But what about those foisted upon us? In this playful episode, we’ll learn about 8 counterintuitive superpowers that help us develop a “flux mindset.” The future of work, our climate, personal relationships suppl chains, investing, and technology – they all require radical changes in our response and connection to them. This episode will help equip you for a vibrant, innovative future.

Did you know your business could be so much more than an engine of profitability? That through it, you and your team can be much more impactful and exponentially more valuable? The way to do it? Shepherd your business, with brilliance, guts, and grace, to venture outside the superficial into the profound, past the collection of things into the realm of connection. Go beyond fragmentation into belonging, past the ordinary into the extraordinary, beyond transactions into transcendent experiences. Here as evolved leaders we become alchemists of possibility and can create “a beautiful business,” crafted intentionally with conscious capitalism principles and an eye to making the most of your one, precious life.

Want to unite your remote team and elevate them to a whole new level? How about incorporating Virtual Reality (VR) to blend exquisite human creativity with the extension and scale of technology? You can utilize VR to connect remote teams to enable learning what comes from diving off with wild abandon that can only come (safely) with VR! We’ll learn from the ever-adventurous CEO of Vestigo just how to make this happen by inviting everyone to go into a VR headset and shatter communication barriers by having teams meet in VR worlds in which their survival depends on their ability to listen and be heard. Next level!

What if we lived every day of the year as if it were Christmas – and as if we were Santa Claus? What if we let ourselves be called into a higher state of being that embodied love, gratitude, and giving, every day – not just during the holidays? It’s a good bet that not only would our own immediate life and well-being skyrocket to a higher level, but the ripple effect could literally cascade across the world. Christmas is a state of mind that is available to us all, no matter what religion we observe. Let it live on every day of the year and thread us together as a unified, grateful whole.

Corporate “short-termism” is killing a robust, resilient and purpose-driven future. Companies are governed by the quarterly profit reporting system that encourages short-term, smaller value results. The opportunity is to help companies and their leadership to develop smarter, more strategic financial incentives and instilling an ownership culture among employees to take actions that materially increase long-term value by linking strategy and execution to the core drivers of Total Shareholder Returns.

Did you know your business could be so much more than an engine of profitability? That through it, you and your team can be much more impactful and exponentially more valuable? The way to do it? Shepherd your business, with brilliance, guts, and grace, to venture outside the superficial into the profound, past the collection of things into the realm of connection. Go beyond fragmentation into belonging, past the ordinary into the extraordinary, beyond transactions into transcendent experiences. Here as evolved leaders we become alchemists of possibility and can create “a beautiful business,” crafted intentionally with conscious capitalism principles and an eye to making the most of your one, precious life.

Ambition is a precious resource in life that can drive people to pursue all manner of initiatives important to them. But pursuit of ambition at the expense of growth and well-being has serious repercussions. Learning to understand the source of ambition and the strengths and weaknesses associated with its pursuit are critical in transforming the energy transmitted into a worthy result. This episode explores seven “frenemies” of ambition, healthy ways to optimize it, and discusses ways companies can create a culture where ambitious people thrive.

System Choreographers. These are the disruptive big picture generalists rule breakers that drive high impact system innovation. They comprise an emerging career breed that pushes innovation beyond simple products and incremental change. They are a passionate band of talent that help organizations confront the “wicked combination of urgent threats and exceptional opportunities.” In this episode, we meet a leading member championing the cause, Dan McClure.

We can choose to respond to whatever life serves up to us, no matter how grim, heart-breaking, or devastating. We can and, arguably, must develop resilience to help us deal with and grow from those experiences. And happily, humanity has an infinite wellspring always available to each of us in the endeavor. It comes in the form of the defiant power of the human spirit, which is man's capacity as a spiritual being to resist and brave whatever conditioning, circumstances or suffering he may face or endure. On the near eve of Thanksgiving, this episode peruses the importance of wandering through the darkness to find the light and celebrates the magnificence of what every human being can do and be in life when we summon the defiant power of the human spirit.

With the vision and dream to make logotherapy available officially in the MENA region, Daliya Zgheib founded LOGOTHERAPY MENA, a Meaning Centered Institution, which primary cause is to help people find meaning and purpose through logotherapy and existential analysis. Her vision of the institute is to build communities and empower individuals to undergo a fulfilled life primarily anchored on meaning and this through spreading the philosophy, teachings and practices of Logotherapy in the MENA region and reaching all the sectors of the community. This episode explores her goal to anchor the MENA region in meaning as a basis to build communities and overall nations.

What the world needs more than anything right now goes beyond a simple or even shared purpose. It needs to be a collective purpose, a single rocket ship we can all fuel, board, and navigate with, together. Unless every one of us, together, embrace the critical prioritization of the whole, our most well-intended efforts will continue to be undone by others choosing not to play along. And we certainly won’t meet the contracting timelines drawn by the crises we face. The LEAD WITH WE philosophy and approach build on previous notions of purpose-based capitalism, then thrusts it light-years forward, because this prescription calls for all of us to act on a single purpose. That’s our only hope for continued business relevance. For our very survival.

More than 60 percent of American adults report they feel isolated, with a similar trend in Europe. The consequences are dire for individuals and the businesses that employ them, manifesting in mental and physical illness, decreased productivity, and toxic workplaces. Workplace and social violence can also result from loneliness. The key to health is to increase your relational energy, which may also delightfully elevate your purpose.

Meet Ethne, where passion meets purpose. With a focus on social injustice, this dynamic organization is out to eliminate the double jeopardy of poverty and its manifestations that hinder the empowerment of women and children. Powered by the meaning underlying the word “ethne,” its name is a reminder that we are all called to lead meaningful lives, serving one another beyond the scope of our geographical constraints.

After nearly two years of havoc brought on by COVID-19 and blood, sweat, and tears of executives working to survive the ongoing pandemic, business owners are seeking guidance for reinvention and recovery. Customers have shifted purchasing behaviors, staff has turned over, markets have changed, and hybrid working models continue to challenge. This episode with turnaround expert Lisa Gable features her experience in leading organizations in times of dramatic change. She shares concrete tips for ensuring business continuity and ways to shift to help ensure future viability and growth.

The field and inquiry of purpose is about to take a whole new leap into the possible. By taking what we know of the physical world through the science of color, we can understand more about our internal would through color theory. Color can give us access to conscious and unconscious purpose. In this episode, we enjoy a fireside chat with Dr. Smith who has spent a lifetime researching and practicing leadership, organization and social systems development inside large and complex organizations like the World Bank and the United Nations. He lets us in on how he continued to discover and iterate his model based on purpose being the source of power and how it’s expressed in at least five dimensions. He also shares his ground-breaking additional lens through color theory to illuminate our purpose choice. Hearing the narration is rather like being taken on a tour of his fine mind, bearing witness to the unfoldment of his consciousness, while elevating our own understanding of the topic through a profoundly simple elegance.

Business can be such a force for good in the world, especially when it is consciously and purposefully crafted and executed. Building on a long career in technology, we learn in this inspiring and possibilities-blasting episode just how large-scale and multi-stakeholder enlivening business can be. Tune in to learn the birth story of Regenrus, a woman-owned, women-led, heart-centered and science-based social impact community. The company is guided by a sense of reverence for all life and a collaborative spirit. Its stakeholders share a sincere commitment to awakening a renewed way to achieve wellness, balance and joy while making a difference for people, animals and our planet.

After decades in pursuit of striving, working, competing, achieving, and accumulating, we can draw from wisdom and serenity in navigating our second half of life. In this deep and connecting conversation with two Sage-ing mentors, we discuss the newest frontier in human development to set a path and purpose for the boomer generation to complete life with fulfillment while creating a legacy.

At a time with ever increasing change and uncertainty, it is extremely challenging to set a course direction in business. As the pandemic has highlighted, successfully navigating this uncertainty can be the difference between success and failure. Yet, we humans are naturally wired to “wait and see” when uncertain of a way forward. In this episode, the authors of Provoke share how the best leaders move faster than their peers to identify and shape important inflection points. In short, they take action to provoke the future, rather than react to that which has been brought forth by others.

Samuel Cook learned a thing or two about how precious and fleeting life is during his tours serving in the US Army and losing a brother early. Those experiences instilled a steadfast determination to do all the things, with focus and intention, that both he and his early departed brother wanted for themselves. Add on a life-long study of history and teaching it, and today you have Samuel at the helm of SanityDesk. He and team are out to craft a better digital world in the otherwise “surveillance capitalism” world we live in where big tech takes our data and packages it without our consent. Behold the possibility of a future of free will, informed by choice, powered by conscious capitalism principles.

Behold a new frontier of organically grown thought leaders, courtesy of the philosophy and culture media outlet, Planksip. On this platform, emerging writers and thought leaders have the opportunity to literally sip on the planks of fellow members’ works, while each lifting the other in growth and inspiration. In this episode, founder Daniel Sanderson shares why he created this platform and his vision of what it can do to help launch and develop a whole new breed of philosophers and academics.

A call for human-centric organizations is in order, says Executive Advisor and Futurist Deborah Westphal. This new organization embraces the messiness and beauty of people, iterates policies and procedures, and constantly challenges and refines strategies and goals for both itself and all the stakeholders it serves. Human-centered organizations optimally balance technology, business, and people to create a human-centered future that lifts us all.

Natalie Benamou found her career of 29 years entirely altered when Covid hit. Her world came to a crashing halt when trade shows were cancelled right and left. Doors were swiftly closing everywhere. And that’s where the magic happened. In that vast, ever opening gap which Natalie then began to see as a window, she got quiet and listened for that which called her. She could then turn her passion of empowering and lifting women and express it as her purpose through the HerCsuite platform she created. We all need a hand up, with a steady diet of mentors and advisors to guide and empower our efforts. HerCsuite is Natalie’s hand up for women.

Much of what traditional diversity programs teach is wrong … and sometimes illegal. The EEOC said that our focus needs to be more on building skills so we can create an environment of workplace civility, which means focusing on such topics as trust, tolerance, and conflict resolution -- and not teaching about different cultures. No one should ever be denied an opportunity to work or be promoted, yet they often are due to bigotry and misguided diversity and inclusion policies. We’ll learn from a white, Anglo-Saxon protestant, straight guy that diversity, inclusion, and tolerance initiatives often miss their intended mark and what we can do to more effectively address them in the workplace.

In an age when people ache for meaning and purpose, there is a tremendous opportunity to connect with nature to let in its wonder. Doing so affords emotional and spiritual well-being and can awaken the path to purpose. In this episode, we learn from wildlife conservationist and journalist Swati Thiyagarajan the sheer magic available in the everyday nature around us. She helps us see that only when we love the planet we live on can we save it.

Lars Peter Niessen has managed to find a special niche most of us like to avoid – he’s got a knack for working productively in “messes” and has done so all over the world. His mission through the organization he has created and stewards is to see the crisis for what it really is and change the outcome. Critical to necessary change is often very uncomfortable truth, another unusual area he is adept at navigating. In this episode, we learn from this soft-spoken wizard how he blends truth and humanitarian efforts to enable agencies to make the world a better place for us all.

Most people lack the clarity of who they really are and seem to be in an endless search for a better job. And this is the problem; people are looking for a good job, the ideal job, instead of first figuring out their purpose, why they are here on earth. When you understand your purpose, the work you pursue becomes the channel through which you express that purpose. Purpose gives us crazy energy and courage. In this episode, we explore with a “Sweet Spot” Career Coach just how to go about putting our purpose to work.

People are yearning to tune in to their unique reason for being, desperately seeking ways to matter. Purpose is available to anyone, anywhere in the world, and when we discover and serve from it, we encounter unparalleled fulfillment and can make the difference worthy of our one, precious life. In this fireside conversation, a few of the women who authored their story in a soon-to-be-released anthology weigh in on why the world needs purpose and what can happen when we live from it. Ours is a collection of stories, from Australia to Zambia, featuring women of all ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, and areas of influence sharing our paths to discovering our purpose, finding ways to express our gifts, and in doing so, making contributions that better the world.

The ache for meaning and purpose can quite literally drive us to insane ends. Ask Ken Banks. His pursuit of meaningful work that makes an impact took him to do volunteer development work Zambia and Uganda, work at a primate sanctuary in Nigeria, then teach English in Finland among other pursuits. Along the way, he leveraged his technology talents to create a text-messaging platform for non-profit organizations in developing countries. And that seemingly simple act has cascaded a wave of impact he could hardly imagine and is still humbled about today. Meaning and purpose are essential, and we will literally go to the ends of the earth to find it.

It’s hard to remember the times when people began a business, in order to make a “boat load of money.” Of course, that still happens. But more and more people are looking for ways to balance profit and purpose through their business – AND society and customers are asking them to do the same. Enter the B Corp certification for business. Rather than focusing on profit maximization, these business owners and leaders consider the impact of their operations on their workers, customers, suppliers, community and the environment.

Today’s business climate calls forth the best leaders and companies can offer. No longer is it sufficient to simply offer a well-positioned product or service to remain viable in today’s ever-evolving consciousness in business. Companies must embrace purpose and giving in order to stand up to the scrutiny in today’s business climate that expects them to steward a better tomorrow, especially around ESG (environmental, social and governance) initiatives. In this episode, we learn how Founder and CEO Charles Antis of Antis Roofing and Waterproofing goes “all in with both arms” to answer the call of purpose and profit.

Come along with us in this conversation as we discover the new consciousness weaving its way through communities of women, connecting, caring, and uplifting each other. Activated through the power of circle, there is increasing evidence of an emerging culture of community-minded activists and artists collaborating to create the change we all desperately need. The feminine soul is rising, and she is running for office and changing policy to create new communities connected through caring. Enter the embrace in a brave new world.

After committing to 50/50 of his time equally between work and a service project, Bob Graham found himself enjoying a golden age of personal transformation. He founded Namaste Direct in 2004 as a project for his family foundation to assist low-income women microentrepreneurs in Guatemala with their business development. Using three techniques – individual mentorship, financial literacy classes, and small loans – they have trained nearly 4,000 women to make more money and lift them from poverty. This episode explores where the vision came from, Bob’s transformation along the way, and the difference they are making to generations to come in Guatemala.

Who could have predicted the recent trifecta of a global pandemic, recession, and level of social unrest around such matters as the George Floyd murder? An unprecedented level of sensibility toward what is expected of business leaders on environmental, social, governance (ESG) issues affecting companies has emerged. Now is the moment for businesses and brands to determine what they will stand for. Figuring out what you think about and will do on matters of social justice, inclusion, climate change or pay equity can energize the positive forces of company character, helping your organization attract and retain loyal employee, customer and investor followings that strengthen communities. Doing so is not just good for the bottom line but also enlivens the overall ecosystem in which you operate.

People are hungry for meaning and purpose. People want to know the work they are important and the work they do matters. Consciousness is evolving as education and interdependence across the world increases. Gender roles are changing, as men and women share domestic roles at home and participate alongside each other in the workplace. To become our best selves, both genders are learning from each other to claim their highest humanity. In this episode, we explore embracing the feminine in order to heal and transform men on a deep level and the benefit of infusing compassion into masculine workplace cultures.

Nutritionists tell us that we are what we eat. As a clinical psychologist, Dr. Arthur Ciaramicoli believes that we are what we perceive. We are in a dark time and in need of enhanced empathy to allow us to regain our civility and our sense of reason. The cancer in the United States is deep and it is growing, but it is still curable if we devise a treatment plan that we are all willing to implement. This episode will teach us how.

East meets West in this mindset as we discover how moving from surviving to thriving starts with moving from a destination to journey mindset. Getting access to powerful tools along the journey, like self-awareness and learning how to gauge our energy fuel help us propel meaningfully along the path. Finally, learning how to recognize and navigate past obstacles along the way is essential to live the biggest, best expression of our purpose and make the contribution we crave.

Work and the people with whom we do it can be such a source of connection and fulfillment. Yet, it often presents frustration, misunderstandings, and grievances. Part of the problem is that companies don’t have a viable culture that supports open communication when things go awry – people don’t feel comfortable sharing their hurts and disappointments. That’s when problems can escalate to bigger levels than need be. Companies that create a culture and set of practices to address these ongoing opportunities for misunderstandings so people feel heard, understood, appreciated, and the situation rectified are positioned to avoid discrimination and harassment while enjoying stronger engagement and growth.