Higher Purpose Podcast

Kevin Monroe goes solo in this end-of-year episode of This Extraordinary Life. He reflects on the past 90 days of the podcast and 150 days of the This Extraordinary Life community.  You’ll hear him talk about:  The joy of being associated with gratitude. The fallacy of perfection. The serendipitous moments that the year 2020 has instigated. A new project under the This Extraordinary Life banner. Intentionality. Kevin encourages anyone who is willing to add their take to This Extraordinary Life to call or text him at 404-713-0713, or send their suggestions to kevin@thisextraordinarylife.com  Resources Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  ThisExtraordinary.life Reach out to Kevin at 404-713-0713 to find out more about his newest project!

Today’s guest is Paul Haury, a self-proclaimed Belonging Coach and Evangelist for heart-based leadership in workplace culture and happiness. He is the founder of Heart Based Leading, a coaching and consulting service dedicated to making workplaces happy, healthy, and fun in order to perform better.  This week’s theme is about belonging. As most of us spend most of our time at work, our experiences there have the potential to impact all other aspects of our lives. When you belong at your workplace, it improves your quality of life. You go home happy which encourages a happy and healthy home atmosphere; this then enables you to go to work happy and healthy, and the cycle continues.  You’ll hear Paul and Kevin Monroe talk about: What happens when teamwork, love and the environment work together in harmony. The misconceptions surrounding leadership from the heart. How belonging is more than just a feeling. What true courage is about. The full value of belonging. Paul stays for the Community Magic segment and shares his experiences with belonging in the This ExtraOrdinary Life community. Resources Paul Haury on LinkedIn | Twitter HeartBasedLeading.com Email: paul@heartbasedleading.com  Call or text Paul at +206-714-6113

This week’s guest is Theo Prodromitis. Theo is a keynote speaker, Amazon Entrepreneur and Marketing Strategist, and the Author of The Balance Between Hustle and Flow. Her work is motivated by philotimo, a Greek personal and cultural imperative that life has a deeper meaning through larger contributions, to honor your God-given gifts by improving the lives of others.   This week’s episode is all about balance and energy. Theo and Kevin talk about the different ways energy shows up in our lives and how to balance the different kinds we experience to be happier and more fulfilled, and ultimately able to do more for others.  Some of the topics they explored are: The importance of family, history and culture - and how they shape us. How ideas take work - even inspired ones. Pairing hustle with flow can make all the difference in how you approach things.  Presence - being present is the ability to suspend the chatter in your mind. This is a gift you can give to the people you spend time with. You are the curator of your own life and can make space for what you want to have in it. This is true for people, projects, energy and emotions.  The importance, and sometimes the difficulty, of being kind to yourself, and the micro strategies you can use to do so.  This week’s community magic - we have another wonderful thought from Theo ConnectWithTheo.com The Balance Between Hustle and Flow

Today’s guest is Marc Brackett, the Founder and Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and the author of Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive. He is a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Yale University, with a Ph.D. in Personality and Social Psychology.  This week’s theme explores emotions. Emotions carry over into every aspect of our lives, from decision-making to relationships and our mental and physical health. Emotions also fuel the creative process. Developing emotional intelligence unlocks untapped potential and has the power to change our whole lives. You’ll hear Marc and Kevin Monroe discuss: The effect that emotions have on our personal and professional lives. Why there is no such thing as a ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ emotion. There’s no correlation between your inclination to experience strong emotions and your skill in managing them.  How community affects the individual. Why it’s important to identify which emotions are best suited for different tasks. Arlene Mendoza of the This ExtraOrdinary Life community talks about emotional language. Resources Marc Brackett on LinkedIn MarcBrackett.com Permission to Feel: Unlocking the Power of Emotions to Help Our Kids, Ourselves, and Our Society Thrive

Today’s guest is Terry Smith, the lead pastor of The Life Christian Church (TLCC), a nondenominational faith community known for its diversity and robust leadership culture. Terry is the co-founder of the New York CIty Leadership Center, a speaker, and an author. He is a firm advocate for incorporating hospitality into leadership. The theme of this week’s episode is hospitality. When we say hospitality, we don’t mean how to set a table; it’s about creating a genuinely welcoming climate in an organization. When you create an environment that is truly welcoming to a diverse group of people, you have amazing potential to combat the difficulties of the world today.  You’ll hear Terry and Kevin Monroe talk about: How hospitality combats polarization. The five welcomes of hospitable leadership. Hospitality and belonging. How hospitality intersects with diversification and inclusivity. What it takes to be hospitable. Kat Haste, the resident artist for the Gratitude Challenge, shares what excites her most about creating art that inspires gratitude.  Kevin and Kat are proud to announce the unveiling of a new facet of the Gratitude Challenge: the Gratitude Challenge Card Deck! This deck consists of 54 prompts in a lovely gift box sized for your convenience to use anywhere at any time you wish.  Resources Terry Smith on Twitter | Facebook | Instagram TerryASmith.com The Hospitable Leader: Create Environments Where People and Dreams Can Flourish Pre-order the Gratitude Challenge Card Deck

Today’s guest is Lorin Beller, a business and life strategist and the owner of Lorin Beller & Co. Lorin is dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs and helping them grow their businesses, build powerful partnerships, and become extraordinary leaders. She has been empowering entrepreneurs since 2001, providing exceptional coaching and training to help them achieve their goals. Lorin is also the founder of Change Maker Nation, an intention-driven community committed to making a difference, one intention at a time. This week, we explore the theme of intention, a concept that is often misunderstood. Intention is energy: living intentionally shortens the amount of time one gets thrown off course. Choosing to live intentionally gives you more options for how to go about life. It takes practice, and is a conscious choice you have to make every day.  You’ll hear her and Kevin Monroe discuss: The connection between intentionality and serendipity. What success really means. The disciplines of focusing on one thing. The definition of intention. How intentionality impacts your life. Kevin Monroe reflects on the impact that the This Extraordinary Life community has had on his life so far. Resources Lorin Beller on LinkedIn | Twitter LorinBeller.com | ChangeMakerNation.com

Today’s guests are Emma Lloyd and Joanna Suvarna. Emma is the Head of Experience at MB People and the Global Facilitator, Director, Coach and Director at Create the Ripple Ltd. Joanna is a voluntary Ambassador for BulliesOut, a voluntary Learning Community Champion at CIPD, and the Founder of the ‘Be The Ripple’ movement. Dubbed ‘Kindness Champions’ by Kevin Monroe, they both embody the spirit of compassion and possess a passion for making a difference through other people. This week’s theme is kindness, and why we need it. Kindness is bigger than just being kind; it involves being your authentic self, warmth, depth and empathy. Kindness is not a soft skill. Though society sees kindness as a weakness, it requires immense strength. You’ll hear them and Kevin Monroe discuss: What kindness means to them. Instances where they were recipients of kind acts. Why we should be kinder to ourselves. The correlation between kindness and gratitude. Overcoming your negativity bias. Sarah Radican of the This Extraordinary Life community returns to share more thoughts about community and belonging. Resources Emma Lloyd on LinkedIn | Twitter Joanna Suvarna on LinkedIn | Twitter BeTheRipple.co.uk

Today’s guest is Nilofer Merchant, a speaker at Speaker’s Spotlight and a former writer for Harvard Business Review. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed book “The Power of Onlyness,” and was ranked number 1 by Thinkers 50 as the Most Likely Person to Influence the Future of Management.  The theme of this week’s episode is belonging, and how it impacts your life both personally and professionally. Onlyness is the experience, purpose, talent and perspective that lies untapped within every person. Feeling a sense of belonging is key to untapping the potential of your employees. You’ll hear her and Kevin Monroe talk about: What onlyness means. The power of questions. The importance of choosing your friends wisely. What belonging feels like. Defining your identity. Linda Simpson of the This Extraordinary Life community shares past experiences with belonging at work.  Resources Nilofer Merchant on LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram Call or text Nilofer: 404-713-0713 Join Nilofer on a journey to change the workplace at @work. The Benefit of Belonging

Today’s guest is Gina Bianchini, the co-founder and CEO of Mighty Networks, the software that powers the online home of This Extraordinary Life. Mighty Networks is a website-building platform with a mission to pilot a new generation of creative business founded on community. It provides creators with the tools they need to create their brand and business.  The theme of this week’s episode is the intersection of modern technology and social networks. Software has a generative ability to unlock positive, constructive relationships and build deeper connections. Additionally, creator-led communities present us with the opportunity to redefine success.  You’ll hear Gina and Kevin Monroe talk about: The origins of Mighty Networks. The role of software in facilitating community and connection. The keys to a flourishing online community. How software has been weaponized to destroy rather than construct. How community is more than just having commonalities. Sarah Ratekin of the This Extraordinary Life community shares thoughts and reflections about community.  Resources Gina Bianchini on LinkedIn | Twitter MightyNetworks.com

Today’s guest is Jeff Durso, a serial entrepreneur with more than 15 launches. He is the co-founder of Blitzr. He is also the President of Native Britain, the parent company of an e-learning application for mathematics with almost 600,000 learners. Jeff’s experience with entrepreneurship enables him to help visionaries turn big ideas into high-growth opportunities.  The theme of this week’s show is that conversation begets connection, and connection begets community. Our conversations have the potential to be profound and life-changing in the simplest of ways. Within the last 50 years our means of communication have advanced tremendously; this enables us to have more conversation, make more connections, and build more communities.  In this episode you’ll hear him and Kevin Monroe discuss: The definition of conversation. Serendipitous encounters. How to replace expectation with anticipation. Blitzr, an online platform that lets you interact with and have stimulating conversations with new people. Practical steps one can take to create better conversations with those we’re distanced from. Hedden of the This Extraordinary Life community talks about his experiences with conversations and how they led him into the extraordinary. Resources Jeff Durso on LinkedIn | Twitter JeffDurso.com Blitzr.com Jeff and Kevin are extending an invite to listeners to join a Blitz with them! Visit the website to learn more.

Today’s guests are Jane Adshead-Grant and Oscar Trimboli, who are both long-time friends of host Kevin Monroe. Jane Adshead-Grant is an author, speaker, and Master Certified Coach and Facilitator at Ashvale Consultancy Ltd. Oscar Trimboli is the Head of Coaching Faculty at The Marketing Academy Australia and a speaker, author and mentor at Oscar Trimboli Pty Ltd. They have, collectively, more than half a century of extensive experience in leadership, coaching, and mentoring. Listening is the willingness to have your mind changed, and the difference between hearing and listening is the action we take. Kevin and his guests explore the concept of active listening with the intent to understand and act, not just to respond. What’s the role of a listener, and how can we be a better one? They’ll share: The difference between hearing and listening. How the state of listening has changed during the current pandemic. Ways to address interruptions or distractions. How to be an ear of reason in a global crisis. How to create a listening environment.   Scott James of the This Extraordinary Life community touches on how today’s guests have impacted him along his personal and professional journey. Resources Jane Adshead-Grant on LinkedIn | Twitter Email: jane@ashvaleconsultancy.com JaneAdsheadGrant.com Oscar Trimboli on LinkedIn | Twitter OscarTrimboli.com

Kevin Monroe talks to listeners about the transformative power of conversations and community in this second episode of This Extraordinary Life. He shares instances in which a conversation turned an ordinary transaction into an extraordinary encounter.  You’ll hear him talk about:  The impact that community has on your life. How to humanize transactional interactions. His encounter with Congressman John Lewis. How a simple decision gave him the opportunity to witness the history lesson of a lifetime. A truly extraordinary connection between two of his friends, Arlene Mendoza and Jason Miuchi. Resources Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  ThisExtraordinary.life

One of today's guests is Steve Foran, the founder and CEO of Gratitude At Work, and the Forum Chair at MacKay CEO Forums. Steve’s mission is to shift corporate culture by helping companies bring gratitude to work each day. He’s accompanied by Lilian Jans Beken, who is a speaker, writer, researcher, and the founder and CEO of the Thriving Human Science Center. Lilian is often referred to as Dr. Gratitude because of her PhD in positive psychology. They both feature as the first guest speakers on this pilot episode of This Extraordinary Life.  Being extraordinary and living an extraordinary life is a matter of choice and not chance. You already have everything you need to live this extraordinary life. In this exciting new podcast, Kevin Monroe provides listeners with the tools to maximize their life’s full potential by having stimulating, insightful conversations with highly successful professionals in various industries. You’ll hear Kevin chat with Steve and Lilian about: What gratitude means to them. How gratitude helps you cope with difficult situations. How gratitude affects your perspective. The physiological benefits of practicing gratitude. How we can dig deep to find gratitude when it seems impossible. Sandy Anderson and Rachel Drukenmiller of the This Extraordinary Life community share stories of how gratitude has recently impacted their lives. Resources Steve Foran on LinkedIn | Twitter GratitudeAtWork.ca Lilian Jans Beken on LinkedIn | Twitter LilianJansBeken.nl

The Higher Purpose Podcast is being rebranded and refocused into the This Extraordinary Life Podcast. As part of the transition, we are replaying some of the episodes that have resonated deeply with Kevin and you, the audience. In this final episode - a replay of Episode 3 - Kevin thanks listeners for tuning in to the Higher Purpose Podcast as he wraps up the series. He shares a story about three allies in his quest to a higher purpose and expresses his gratitude for their impact in his life. One of the themes that we are going to be returning to again and again is the idea of the 7 people who enter your life and make a huge impact on your journey to finding your purpose.   There are certain people who you will meet in your life, who are going to make a huge difference for you in different ways. They will impact how you think and feel, and what you do.   These people may appear once in a lifetime, or regularly. They may be in your life for a long time, or for only a brief window – no matter what kind of relationship you have with them – they are going to matter.   Here’s a quick list of the roles these people play in your life: Awakener – who alerts you to your purpose Doubter – who questions your worth Encourager – who encourages and has confidence in you Hero – who inspires and models greatness Mentor – who you have a close and trusting relationship with Critic – who thwarts your progress Ally – who supports and helps you   Even though some of these people can cause you pain – they are ALL instructive and necessary to help you connect with your purpose. For those that bring you comfort and joy – tell them!  Resources Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

The Higher Purpose Podcast is being rebranded and refocused into the This Extraordinary Life Podcast. As part of the transition, we are replaying some of the episodes that have resonated deeply with Kevin and you, the audience. This week’s replay is Episode 134 with Laurie Cameron. Laurie Cameron, founder of PurposeBlue and bestselling author of The Power of Self-Compassion, talks with Kevin Monroe about the benefits of mindfulness and the journey to self-compassion, as well as the hurdles one might come across on that journey. The Inner Critic Laurie shares a disheartening experience with someone in which her trust was broken. Her first thought was critical of herself and the red flags she ignored: her “inner critic” had reared its head. The inner critic is part of our biology and is there to protect us to ensure we survive both physically and emotionally, Laurie says. The first step in practicing self-compassion is not ignoring the inner critic, but acknowledging it and moving past the cognitive analysis of the hurtful event.  Shifting Your Perspective Laurie communicates that some of our feelings of being hurt are due to a narrative that we tell ourselves. Mindfulness training helps you to observe your narratives, and analyse how you interpret others’ actions and intentions. Only then would you be able to shift your perspective to objectively understand your situation and avoid miscommunication.  Touch as Self Care Kevin quotes from Laurie’s book, “Touch activates the physiology of care,” and comments that he hadn’t considered an individual’s touch to themselves falling under that category. He now realizes that you can apply the physiology of care to yourself. Laurie adds that the tool of touch is one of many approaches to practicing self-compassion and is a primal development of our biology. I’m Not That Voice We’re born with a negativity bias that has good intentions - to protect us - but is counterproductive as it creates a fixed mindset which is demotivating and stunts growth. The voice may be more dominant in individuals conditioned to be critical. We may associate our identity with that negative inner voice instead of seeing certain behaviors and patterns as transient. Thankfully, Laurie conveys, we can recondition or unlearn the negative voice and relearn a positive voice. Self-Compassion is Not Self-Esteem Self-esteem is tied to ranking, rating, and comparison to others. Comparison has caused much emotional suffering and loneliness in society. On the other hand, self-compassion has nothing to do with metrics; it’s all about how we see and treat ourselves in the moment. Laurie offers some insight and practical tips on how to practice self-compassion. She hopes that people can engage in mindfulness, self-awareness and self-acceptance. Mindfulness is accepting that life is messy and mistakes are normal, she adds. It’s the practice of accepting what is and amplifying the good.  Resources The Power of Self-Compassion  PurposeBlue.com Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

The Higher Purpose Podcast is being rebranded and refocused into the This Extraordinary Life Podcast. As part of the transition, we are replaying some of the episodes that have resonated deeply with Kevin and you, the audience. This week we are revisiting Episode 117 with Jane Adshead-Grant. Executive coach and author of Are You Listening or Just Waiting to Speak, Jane Adshead-Grant is the guest on today’s show. She shares deep insights about listening with host Kevin Monroe, including why she discourages note-taking during conversations. Don’t Take Notes  Kevin often creates some questions to ask podcast guests as a springboard to their conversation. While they are speaking, he jots down notes so that he remembers important points or ideas he wants to revisit. Jane discourages this practice. She says that instead of taking notes, he should trust himself. When you listen deeply, you’re allowing the speaker to continue to think and speak at their very best. You will remember the essential elements of what they said, she assures Kevin. To listen deeply, you must first be at ease with yourself as the listener; you must know that both speaker and listener have equal capacity to think, listen and share; and you must appreciate each other for the qualities that you see in one another. The Gift of Time Kevin asks what listeners can do to be more present in the conversation. Jane advises them to give themselves the gift of this time, free from judgment, distraction and interruption. Distraction can be both internal and external, she says. An example of internal distraction is when your mind wanders; she advises that you should mentally check yourself when this happens and bring your focus back to the conversation. The most common external distraction is the phone: just put it on silent. When you actively give your attention - paying attention is more passive and reactive, Jane says - you’re giving respect to the other person. You’re saying that in this moment they are more important than anything else. Let Silence Do the Heavy Lifting Jane writes in her book that we should let silence do the heavy lifting. Kevin asks her to unpack that statement. She explains that people need time to process questions or information. Giving them the opportunity to pause while they process their thoughts is a real gift. Humans think in waves and pauses: we have a wave of thinking, and then we naturally pause. If we allow that silence for long enough, the brain itself will soar once more in a new way, Jane says. Don’t Interrupt The brain receives an interruption like an assault, Jane reveals. One of the greatest things we can do is resist the urge to interrupt and allow the person to complete their thoughts, feelings and ideas. Interrupting prevents the person from flourishing into who they are meant to become. If you absolutely must interrupt, you should do it as gracefully as possible, while the person takes a pause. If you inadvertently interrupt someone, apologize.  Listening is a Gift Jane reminds us that listening is a gift that is worth mastering because it shows how much you care. When you listen to someone to generate their best thinking, it frees them to be more, to create more, to feel more courageous. Whereas time is the currency of leadership, listening is the currency of relationship. Resources JaneAdsheadGrant.com Jane on LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram

The Higher Purpose Podcast is being rebranded and refocused into the This Extraordinary Life Podcast. As part of the transition, we are replaying some of the episodes that have resonated deeply with Kevin and you, the audience. This week we are revisiting Episode 142 with Nilofer Merchant, a conversation Kevin describes as one of the most pivotal in his journey. Nilofer Merchant is a famous author and speaker for TED Conferences. Her most recent book, The Power of Onlyness, talks about worthiness and the connected individuality of all human beings. She joins Kevin Monroe to discuss her book and how the principles in it apply to current events. The New Normal Nilofer talks about the things people are doing to help those in need. People now have the voice to create change, she says. She gives an example of altruism that arose due to the coronavirus, and states that society may come to the point where we realize our fates are linked rather than ranked or separated. She ponders on the possibility of the care with which we treat others and the connectivity we have established becoming the new normal. Onlyness’ role in this is to be the combination of voice and belonging that creates real change and lasting connection between people.  Making a Difference There are people who feel like they should be doing more. Part of their struggle is that they think they need to do something of a grander scale to make a difference. All they need to do is care for the person next to them, Kevin says. Nilofer adds that whatever you pay attention to grows, so if you focus more on having a grand plan rather than actually showing love, it’s counteractive. Center on what you know and what you can do right in the moment, and the rest will take care of itself.  Onlyness Nilofer defines onlyness as the source of all ideas and innovation. Onlyness is contrary to the traditional hierarchy of worthy contribution, and holds an egalitarian view that everyone has something of value to add to the world. We have been conditioned to believe that our level of capability relies solely on measures such as level of education, but that is a lie, Nilofer says. For example, we now realize how dependent we are on grocery store workers, a position that has historically been considered low-skilled. They are part of a system that feeds us, which allows us to exist and do our creative work. Contribute, don’t compare. Part of A System When you enter a room, your light illuminates the entire space. This makes it difficult to discern your own ‘only’ because the light you shine is also the filter you see the world through. Here is where others come in to help you, as they have the perspective to see the difference in the world when you are present and absent. The meaning of individual is the smallest measure of humankind, so even alone, you are never disconnected.  Parking Your Fears Nilofer says she has to park her fears in order to be present for a conversation. Fear always demands to be heard and gets louder the more it is ignored. She believes fear acts as a signal, like every other emotion. It doesn’t have to rule you, but you need to pay attention to it. Hope Is A Bridge “Hope is a thing with others that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all,” Nilofer quotes. She shares a past experience in which she thought hope was something lightweight, but now she defines it as the bridge we have to walk across in order to get to a new future. She believes that unity happens because two people are both going toward the same thing together. Resources Nilofer Merchant on LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook NiloferMerchant.com The Power of Onlyness: Make Your Wild Ideas Mighty Enough to Dent the World Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

In this solo episode of the Higher Purpose Podcast, Kevin Monroe speaks to listeners about his journey during the past 5 years. He shares journal entries documenting his struggle for inspiration and creativity, and the questions which led to discoveries.  Kevin describes an interaction with a colleague that caused him to have an epiphany. After pondering about his purpose, his colleague proposed that he was already fulfilling it. He talks about playing it safe in his professional life by spreading his energy evenly into all his projects. He was “making a millimeter of progress in a million directions rather than going far in one direction.”  You already have everything you need to live this extraordinary life. Instead of framing, “What if I go all-in on this extraordinary life?” as a rhetorical or theoretical question, Kevin used it as a clarifying question for all facets of business. This prompted the re-branding of the Higher Purpose Podcast to This Extraordinary Life podcast. Kevin details the changes and new features expected to come with the re-branding. This Extraordinary Life is expected to launch between late August and early September. Resources ThisExtraordinary.Life Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Emily Elrod is the President of Workzbe, an organization dedicated to helping clients create optimal environments for people to bring their authentic selves to work. She joins Kevin Monroe to discuss what makes people extraordinary, as well as how our thoughts influence our behaviors. Everyone’s Extra We are all ordinary people, but what sets us apart is our “extras.” Extra is defined by Emily as a gift or calling unique to each individual. Sometimes we only recognize or identify our extras when other people point them out to us. We often undervalue them because they come so easily to us that we think of them as things everyone can do. That which you are gifted to do, you do not understand; you cannot deconstruct it and teach it to other people because you do it naturally, Kevin quotes. The Little Things People are hung up on the idea that your extras need to be extravagant and large to set you apart, but in reality, the cumulative effect of the little things unique to you is what brings the extra to the ordinary and transcends you to extraordinary. The Power of Thoughts and Feelings Thoughts trigger biochemical secretions which generate emotional responses, or feelings. The nature of these thoughts, whether positive or negative, affect the subsequent emotional response. According to Emily, 97% of our decisions are made off of feelings. We like to think we are logical in our decisions making, Kevin remarks, but almost every buying decision we have ever made has been an emotional decision, which we then use logic to justify. Emily describes her background and how she learned the importance of addressing her feelings through her experiences. Killing the ANTs A step to breaking bad habits and behaviors is addressing our thoughts by killing the ANTs. ANTs are Automatic Negative Thoughts, that correlate to the negativity bias instilled in all of us, Emily says. Think of your automatic negative thought as an ant you need to squash. Start by acknowledging the thought, and questioning why it is there.  Failure is Not the Antithesis of Success Failure is a process of success, Emily argues. If you don’t fail then you won’t succeed. Most of us think that success or failure is about the final outcome, Kevin adds. Rather, failure is part of the journey to success, not its antithesis. Kevin quotes a response he received to the question of what makes life extraordinary. “For me,” he says, “it is to continue to seek and create harmony. When I am in harmony, there are four things that are aligned: what I do; what I think; what I say; and how I feel. In those moments, things flow without a sense of agitation, tension, or stress.” Resources Emily Elrod on LinkedIn Workzbe.com Email: emily@workzbe.com Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Lucas Skrobot is an author, podcaster, business owner, and the founder and host of The Lucas Skrobot Show. He joins the Higher Purpose Podcast to discuss moments, opportunities, love, and fear. In Safe Hands Lucas shares an experience that reminded him to not take the safety of his family for granted. He thinks about two coordinating realities everyday: we are on the precipice of complete disaster and pain in our daily lives, yet there is comfort in that we are not in control and someone is always watching over us.  Hidden Extraordinary Opportunities Ordinary events have the opportunity to be much more than just mundane moments, Kevin says. He prompts Lucas to share another experience, in which he made a choice to help someone in need even though his best interest was to carry on his way. He stepped into something extraordinary by responding to an ordinary opportunity, Kevin remarks. It was a divine appointment that, though it was planned for him, he could have elected to ignore. This is why fatalism and/or passive faith can be fatal, Lucas says. We are slothful in our hoping and expect that if something is meant to happen, it will magically manifest. He speaks about the impact that experience had on his life.  Love versus Fear or Love & Fear? Lucas describes an experiment that sought to discover whether gain or fear was the bigger motivator, by using rats in a maze with cheese before them and the scent of a cat behind them. The results revealed that the simultaneous presence of both gain and fear motivated the rats more than just gain or just fear. Kevin references the work of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross on love and fear being the only two primary emotions. We often try to make binary choices, he says, as though we can shut off one or the other. If we are solely motivated by fear, then we will be reactionary in nature, Lucas adds. However fear reminds us that there is always something at stake. Furthermore, love propels us towards a goal. They can both be present at the same time. Identity and Truth Lucas believes the reason young people search so desperately for identity and purpose is to find freedom. Though there is agency on the outside, they don’t feel free on the inside, and so equate freedom with purpose, identity and destiny. Only the truth will set you free, he advises, and the truth is love. You don’t need to have a platform to make a monumental dent in the universe; you just need to love the people right in front of you. Kevin urges listeners to choose to be kind and show love in a world full of choices. Resources Lucas Skrobot on LinkedIn | Instagram LucasSkrobot.com Call or text Lucas: 202-922-0220 Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Kerry Wekelo is an author and the Chief Operating Officer of the Culture Infusion program for Actualize Consulting. Her most recent book, Gratitude Infusion: Workplace Strategies for a Thriving Organizational Culture, is a practical guide to implementing action plans that improve the work climate. She joins Kevin Monroe to discuss her book and how its principles apply. Gateway to Abundance Gratitude is the gateway to abundance, Kevin says. It is easier to focus on what we lack or what we’ve lost due to our negativity bias. However, no amount of regret changes the past and no amount of anxiety changes the future, but any amount of gratitude has the power to change your present. Shifting one’s mindset towards gratitude during challenging periods can relieve feelings of negativity, Kerry advises. There is always something to be grateful for. She describes an experience in which expressing gratitude for someone she considered a friend enabled her to repair their relationship, which was interrupted by feelings of hurt. What Gratitude Does Life challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, but rather, help you discover who you are. Focusing on gratitude allows you to move forward into being the best version of yourself. Kerry urges listeners who may be experiencing difficulties in their personal and professional lives to practice gratitude by connecting with people that inspire them. People want to do a good job, she adds, and they will be more motivated to put more effort into their work if they feel genuinely appreciated. You can start by finding one person on your team and expressing your gratitude, emphasizing why they earned it. It will make a difference in the organization. Kerry shares an experience in which she expressed her gratitude to everyone in her company and they doubled their reciprocation of her gratitude.  Infusion Kevin asks Kerry what infusion means. Kerry defines infusion by using an analogy she learned from her grandmother: when cooking, you do not just add flavor to the food and call it a day. You must layer the flavors so that it is present in every bite. Similarly, gratitude must be a regular practice that is present in every level of an organization. It has to be cultivated and nurtured continuously.  Receiving gratitude is often harder than practicing it. Kevin and Kerry urge listeners to graciously accept gratitude when it is expressed, because it is coming from a place of sincerity that should not be overlooked.  Resources Kerry Wekelo on LinkedIn | Twitter KerryAlison.com  ActualizeConsulting.com Gratitude Infusion: Workplace Strategies for a Thriving Organizational Culture Episode 118: Infusing Your Company with Culture  Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Kevin Monroe continues to discuss living an extraordinary life in this solo episode of the Higher Purpose Podcast. Anyone Can, But Not Everyone Will Kevin believes that the act of listening to his podcast shows that listeners are aware that their lives have meaning and purpose, and strive to live an extraordinary life. This extraordinary life is here in the now rather than far in the distance. Anyone can do it regardless of their current circumstances, but not everyone will, he says. Though simple, it is not an easy task. It is available to everyone, but not all will say yes to the invitation, and some are so preoccupied with other things that living an extraordinary life is not one of their pursuits.  Takeaways from the 90-Day Challenge Kevin talks about the 90-Day “Extraordinary Experiment” challenge and what it taught him. Purpose starves in isolation and thrives in community, he says. An extraordinary life is other-centered, and is best lived with others who are on the same journey. We need one another to inspire, encourage, and lift ourselves up. It is through shared passions, perspectives and experiences between ourselves and others from around the world that we realize there is more that unites us than that which divides us. In addition, we all desire safe spaces where we can freely share our thoughts and ideas.  Deaths of Despair Kevin discusses “deaths of despair”: deaths during the current global pandemic caused by isolation and feelings of loneliness. These prove that we are designed for community, Kevin says, and crave to be around like-minded people who see our value.  Kevin gives details about a guide to living an extraordinary life: his collaborative project with Debbie LaChusa. He urges listeners to maximize their life’s full potential by not settling for an ordinary life, and to inspire others to do the same. Resources Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade  Episode 152 ThisExtraordinary.life TheGratitudeChallenge.community TNT ESQ: Episode 9 with Kevin Monroe

Kevin Monroe discusses how to live an extraordinary life in this semi-solo episode of the Higher Purpose Podcast. Debbie LaChusa, an author, blogger, and online instructor, joins in to share details about their collaborative project. It’s Natural Kevin reads responses from colleagues and listeners to the question of what makes life extraordinary. Being extraordinary and living an extraordinary life is a matter of choice and not chance; it is not contingent on being born with a rare talent or ability. There is an assumption that it is the result of a monumental experience or achievement. “An extraordinary life is made of a myriad of what many may perceive as mundane moments, lived with such fervor and flair that the ordinary things of life are transformed into extraordinary,” Kevin says. We already have what we need to make life spectacular, he adds.  Transform your Life Debbie joins in to talk about a new course developed by herself and Kevin about how to transform your life from ordinary to extraordinary, as well as what motivated them to start this project. It’s not about being special, she says; it’s about living your life more consciously and intentionally. Additionally, it’s not all about you, but involves the people around you as well. Kevin extends a promotional offer to listeners: purchase the course within the next 5 days for a discounted price! Resources Debbie LaChusa on LinkedIn DebbieLaChusa.com ExtraordinaryLifeCourse.com  How to Live an ExtraOrdinary Life: Transform your Life from Ordinary to ExtraOrdinary and Live with More Intention, Meaning, and Purpose Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Dr. Rick Rigsby is the President and CEO of Rick Rigsby Communications, a motivational speaker, pastor, and best-selling author. He returns to the Higher Purpose Podcast to share his views on the current civil unrest across the US. This Podcast is a Platform Many are silent out of fear of saying something wrong, ignorant, or insensitive. Now is not a time to be silent, Kevin Monroe begins. The Higher Purpose Podcast is a platform of responsibility and opportunity, and Kevin sees it as his duty to speak up instead of sitting back and doing nothing.  An Offense to God The civil unrest in the United States of America is as a result of neither political or legislative problems; rather, it is as a result of an offense to the heart of God, Rick claims. The Bible calls for love and equality in both the Old and New Testaments. The issues present today are moral issues, rather than issues about specific topics like police and/or race. Rick adds that even during this time of uncertainty and darkness, there are positive things occurring in response. Circumstances are never completely bad, he says. There are always opportunities for growth and improvement.  The Media’s Agenda Rick’s background in media prompts Kevin to ask him why he thinks it is harder for the media to give more attention to positive news. Rick replies that while the media represents an important estate of society, the profession is narrow. Their goal is to tell a story, which requires certain dramatic features and elements such as a hero and a villain to keep viewers intrigued. The media only shows a glimpse of life, which is more often than not very emotive and spectacular because that interests viewers the most. This births a narrow, myopic view of the world.  Perspective Rick shares his beliefs regarding the rights and freedoms of all people. As a pastor in the Christian faith, he views the world through a spiritual lens. All people are children of God, he says, and should be treated with equal love and respect regardless of their differences. He believes that God is speaking to His children through the chaos of current events, and is passing on an instruction of humility, repentance, and obedience. Protests Then vs. Protests Now Kevin asks Rick about the main differences between the protests of the 50’s and 60’s and the current protests. Peaceful protests did not mean the protesters were not angry, he says. Rick replies that the black church was largely responsible for shaping the moral compass of the civil rights movement, which shaped the narrative of the leadership. The protests of today lack direction, and while the energy and pragmatism is admirable, the absence of leadership provides no moral compass to point people towards, he claims.The blame for that partially falls on the baby boomer generation for not teaching their successors enough about their rights according to the Constitution and nonviolent, passive resistance.  People should fear saying nothing at all more than saying the wrong thing, Rick argues. People die for the right to speak out and do something, so those with that freedom should utilize it to its full power. America cannot afford for her citizens to be silent any longer. There is a common, misguided belief that argumentation and dissension are negative, but dissension advanced citizenry and democracy. “If you’re sitting on your butt, you can’t move forward,” Rick urges. In the end we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.  Resources Rick Rigsby on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook  RickRigsby.com Rick’s Podcast: How Ya Livin’? Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Alain Junkins is the Managing Director of Hunkins Leadership Group, and Leadership Development Consultant at AlainHunkins.com. He is also Senior Facilitator at Eagle’s Flight, futurethink, and The Energy Project, as well as Senior Consultant at JMReid Group. He chats with Kevin Monroe about his bestselling book, Cracking the Leadership Code: Three Secrets to Building Strong Leaders, and shares insights about becoming great stewards in the workplace in light of current events. Leader of the Future Many leaders see people as human resources instead of human beings. They are still stuck in the industrial age mindset, Alain says. The leader of the future must be able to embrace both masculine and feminine archetypal energies in order to effectively carry out their duties. Alain gives examples of good and bad leadership during the current global crisis. He and Kevin also comment on the civil unrest within America, talk about their privilege as white men, and call for systemic change in order to combat racial oppression.  Qualities that Leaders Need to Have Kevin cites Alain’s book about the four important characteristics of good leaders according to a study involving 1700 CEOs from 64 countries and 18 industries. The four characteristics are: communicative; collaborative; flexible; and creative. These soft skills are essential for today’s leaders because the industrial-age, hierarchical, command, and control style of leadership doesn’t work anymore. Leaders should instead see themselves as facilitators of groups.  The Three Secrets The three secrets to building strong leaders are connection, communication, and collaboration, in that order. Alain describes the model for these principles as concentric circles that include each one before it. Rather than a title or position, leadership is a relationship between one who chooses to lead and one who chooses to follow. The quality of that relationship is based on the quality of their connection, communication and collaboration. In addition, the person who chooses to follow has the final say about the quality of the relationship, and only 23% of leaders understand this. Alain details each secret, how they intersect with one another, and how they apply currently.  The Three Trends The three trends of the current working world are choice, transparency, and technology. These trends largely make up the key differences between the 21st and 20th centuries: past generations were not aware that they had a choice in following a leader, neither were they able to access the technologies that we have today. Subsequently, there was barely any demand for transparency.  Alain calls on leaders to become familiar with discomfort; if you’re always comfortable then you’re not growing. Resources Alain Hunkins on LinkedIn AlainHunkins.com | Blog Email: alain@alainhunkins.com  Cracking the Leadership Code: Three Secrets to Building Strong Leaders Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Shawn Askinosie is an author and the founder and CEO of Askinosie Chocolate. His book, Meaningful Work: A Quest to Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul, takes readers on his journey to self-actualization and is a guide to how they can discover the secret to purposeful business. He joins Kevin Monroe for a follow-up episode to further explore concepts included in the book, as well as how they enabled him to help others. How Much is “Enough”? Kevin asks Shawn when he started thinking about the concept of “enough.” Shawn replies that as he embarked into a new career the idea of financial success and notoriety began to lose its luster. The paradoxical and mysterious connection between his joy and sorrow gave him clarity of purpose during those years of transition. “If you want to find yourself, lose yourself in service to others,” Shawn quotes.  Scale Shawn claims that rapid growth is the temptation of our time, especially for entrepreneurs and people with ideas. In certain cases, scale is necessary and optimal, but you risk losing something when growth is valued above all else. He describes scaling as a dark temptation and warns that even when it’s for ostensibly good purposes, it may not actually be good. He describes an experience with a major retail company in which they give a fitting depiction of Askinosie Chocolate: they are about reverse scale. Kinship Kinship, Shawn says, is woven deep within the fabric of his company, is highly valued, and is another part of the human connection. He details how Askinosie Chocolate strives to engender kinship among their members, partners, and customers. Doing business with these values at the forefront is a much more rewarding pathway, he points out.  Relationships Affect Your Product If you bake a bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger, Kevin quotes. He asks Shawn to elaborate on the correlation between a good product and human connection. Who we are and the product or service that we deliver are inseparable; we can’t peel them apart, Shawn replies. The value chain is enhanced through relationships. Shawn talks about the projects Askinosie Chocolate has undertaken, the impacts they have made in numerous communities internationally, and how the connections he has established with people have positively enhanced his life. Fair and Direct Trade Fair trade began with good intentions, but has become so ubiquitous that it is now a victim of its own good marketing. Studies show that the premium added to the market price of products is not making its way to producers and is gradually lost along the complex supply chain. Shawn describes how Askinosie Chocolate has redefined fair trade into direct trade, including modified travel practices that ensure their producers get the profits they rightfully deserve. Resources Shawn Askinosie on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: hello@shawnaskinosie.com Askinosie.com ShawnAskinosie.com Meaningful Work: A Quest to Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Shawn Askinosie is an author and the founder and CEO of Askinosie Chocolate. His book, Meaningful Work: A Quest to Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul, takes readers on his journey to self-actualization and is a guide to how they can discover the secret to purposeful business. He joins Kevin Monroe to discuss his book and how its teachings apply to current events. Threshold Poet and philosopher John O’Donoghue would consider this current period a threshold, Shawn says. A threshold can be a dark place of panic, discomfort and depression, but also a place of teaching, awakening and connection with our higher selves, if we allow it. You have to understand your present position and acknowledge your fear, instead of waiting to reach the other side of the threshold. Kevin adds that he has realized that current events are the world’s “temporary new normal,” and we must learn to adjust to it rather than hold on to the normal of the past. We may all be in one of three places right now, according to Shawn: on a threshold; on the path to awakening, where you have a daily practice that keeps you grounded; or among the masters or teachers from whom we gain wisdom. The tools you can access on your path depend on where you are.  Success Kevin quotes a line from Shawn’s book and asks him to elaborate. Shawn shares a story about a young girl’s positive experience with an employee of one of his stores, and says that even if his business fails, that moment of impact will be around forever. He considers that as part of his redefined meaning of success. “What people want to know is that they are joyfully alive,” he says.  The Journey Shawn’s experience of losing the love and motivation he had for his career led him on a quest to discover a new passion. He shares some of the activities he participated in along his journey, a notable one being volunteer work in hospice care. Accepting his broken heart, caused by the death of his father, enabled him to connect with his true self. “Our greatest joy is sorrow unmasked,” Kevin quotes. This joy wants to explode out of our sorrow, and to access it we must be willing and open to find that pathway.  Floundering and Flourishing The greatest freedom in humanity is the choice we make in response to the stimulus in our lives. Even in the midst of challenge and difficulty, we can decide whether to flounder or flourish. However, we must be able to surrender to the moment, and not just survive it. We do not have to wait until we cross the threshold to flourish, Shawn says.  Resources  Shawn Askinosie on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: hello@shawnaskinosie.com Askinosie.com (Blog) ShawnAskinosie.com Meaningful Work: A Quest to Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Kevin Monroe connects with listeners one on one in this week’s show. He discusses three activities leaders engage in and whether they are beneficial to their organizations. Decade of Difference Kevin’s previous expectation for the turn of the decade was for 2020 to open a decade of difference. He describes the current global pandemic as a “legacy shaping event,” one that will impact how people are regarded post-crisis based on how they responded and lived through it. Leading now is different, but many leaders are doing what they’ve always done in hope for a magically different result, Kevin says. The way of life and business pre-COVID-19 is no longer sustainable and so we must adapt.  Excuse-Making The first activity is excuse-making. Kevin advises anyone who participates in making excuses to stop. When a leader makes excuses, they are not leading. When people engage in excuse-making, their focus is usually in the past. However, leadership involves accepting responsibility and being accountable for one’s decisions.  Sense-Making Sense-making is the ability or attempt to make meaning in situations that are uncertain, complex or ambiguous so that you know what actions to take. The challenge the current crisis poses for sense-makers lies in the fluidity of events and how liable they are to rapid change. Sense-making is a leadership responsibility, highly valuable, and may enhance your legacy. However, it does not necessarily result in action, as there is often no end to the information that comes. There comes a time where you must make do with the information you have. Way-Making Similar to sense-making, way-making is defined as forging a solution despite difficulty, impossibility or uncertainty. The key differentiator between the two activities is that way-making is action-based and dependent on sense-making. It bridges the present to the future, invokes the pioneer spirit, and incorporates what you have learnt in the sense-making process, Kevin adds. Way-makers begin their journey by assessing where they are now. They don’t need to have it all figured out; they just find the next step, and follow it forward.  Resources Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Dr. Rick Rigsby is a former college professor, motivational speaker, minister, and President and CEO of Rick Rigsby Communications. He is also a USA Today, Amazon, and The Wall Street Journal best-selling author. He returns to the Higher Purpose Podcast to talk about hope: an invaluable asset to living a happy life. The Benefits of Being Broken Circumstances never leave you the same as you were before them. If a difficult season in your life breaks you, there's an unknown authenticity that can pour out of you as a result. Rick tells Kevin Monroe he feels at ease around broken people because they are authentic. He shares a definition of humility from his late friend: “Humility is the absolute God-given ability that eliminates the need to prove the worth of who you are and the rightness of what you do.” Broken people are humble, which is why Rick enjoys their company. Losing Perspective We are all leaders, Rick says. Leadership is influence; you are a leader if you are influencing anyone within your periphery. The first thing that's lost in a crisis is perspective, which it is incumbent upon a leader to lead with. Maintaining perspective is crucial to leadership during difficult times, as it can lead to hope for a better day. Feeling like you’ve lost hope is a result of losing perspective. As long as you are still breathing, you have hope. Hope is... Our casual use of the word hope has relegated it to the basement of human emotion and neutered its power. Rick defines hope as a quality contained within every human spirit that places a transformative demand upon the heart to believe for the absolute best outcome. Hope is more powerful than a strategy: a strategy is a plan, whereas hope is a belief; strategy is external, whereas hope is an internal virtue that can improve your quality of life.  Hope energizes, it’s active, alive, passionate, and transformative. It requires courage. Fear is a reaction; courage is a choice. One must choose to be brave even through fear. Hope requires faith. Lastly, the characteristic that moves hope out of the realm of strategy is the requirement of an immediate decisive response.  Renewing Your Mind The thoughts we cultivate have a butterfly effect on other aspects of our lives, so we should pay careful attention to them. You have to renew your mind in order to not be negatively affected by external factors. Every day a choice must be made to replace thoughts of negativity with positive thoughts and affirmations, especially during the current crisis.  Unfounded Hope Kevin shares a saying his friend told him; misplaced hope is more dangerous than not having hope at all. Rick says that rather than misplaced, the more applicable description would be unfounded hope, which he defines as hope based on a set arbitrary condition. While it is critical to have hope, one must remain realistic with one’s expectations, else they will be reducing hope to wish fulfillment. However, not having any hope at all, Rick believes, is death to the soul. Hope is idiosyncratic, so even if your hope may seem unfounded to others, if it is what keeps you moving forward, there is no room for judgment.  Resources Rick Rigsby on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook  RickRigsby.com Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Rajendra Sisodia is an author, and the cofounder and co-Chairman of Conscious Capitalism Inc. He is also the FW Olin Distinguished Professor of Global Business, and Whole Foods Market Research Scholar in Conscious Capitalism at Babson College. His latest book, The Healing Organization: Awakening the Conscience of Business to Help Save the World, explores the idea of business as healing. He joins Kevin Monroe to discuss his book, and how its principles apply to organizations around the world. Epidemic of Silent Suffering Raj claims that the current crisis has only exacerbated underlying problems within the workplace and society: it has “made explicit what was already quite implicit and under the surface.” The faults in our systems have always been the unseen part of the iceberg. He shares statistics concerning stress-related deaths, overworking and disengagement, stating that it is evidence of an epidemic of silent suffering. Vulnerability has always defined us as human beings, he comments, but now it unites us. He and Kevin discuss their personal response to the current crisis. Raj says that he has been thinking about how he can serve.  The Healing Organization A healing organization recognizes the role of business in the world. Raj believes human beings are put here to take care of each other. If you start a business, you could touch the lives of potentially thousands of people. Businesses which have the mindset of serving others and meeting their real needs are places of healing for those who work there. Employees leave work at the end of the day feeling better off than when they came in. They can also be a source of healing for customers and communities, as they provide goods and services that make a positive difference in their lives, rather than simply feeding their desires and addictions. Capitalism, Raj says, is the way in which we can cooperate with each other to achieve things we cannot do by ourselves, and come together with a shared purpose and shared values. Healing Leaders Unexpressed human caring is the most abundant underutilized resource in the world. Human beings have a need and desire to care: it brings fulfilment to our lives. If we can connect silent suffering and unexpressed human caring, we would have the opportunity for healing to take place, for both the receiver of care and the caregiver. Leaders must model the vulnerability and the willingness to express their needs. Kevin asks what differentiates regular leaders from leaders of healing organizations. Raj replies that leaders of healing organizations have a more expanded view of leadership; they recognize that leadership is the stewardship of the lives entrusted to them, and that the way they lead impacts the way people live. Leaders, however, cannot be healing leaders if they haven’t yet healed themselves. Kevin inquires whether every business can become a healing organization. Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future, Raj quotes. The Right Thing to Do Organizations shouldn’t decide to do the right thing purely because it may be good for business. Leaders must believe that taking care of people is the right thing to do in order to do it for the right reasons. The notion that the wellbeing of people is only an instrument which contributes to profits has to change. The business of business is people. True business creates value.  Resources Raj Sisodia on LinkedIn | Twitter RajSisodia.com The Healing Organization: Awakening the Conscience of Business to Help Save the World HealingOrganizations.com Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Tim Arnold is the author of The Power of Healthy Tension: Overcome Chronic Issues and Conflicting Values. He is a speaker and facilitator at StoryBrand, and the President of Leaders for Leaders.  He joins Kevin Monroe to share the secrets to resilience and results during challenging times. Tensions Everyone deals with tension in their everyday lives, and tension is generally considered to be a bad thing. However, Tim says, not all tension is inherently bad. Ignoring or avoiding tensions may only cause them to escalate; if we choose to embrace them, it can lead to a level of effectiveness, and more impactful relationships with others. During challenging times, there are a few tensions that matter and need to be managed in healthy ways.  When you’re dealing with tension you need to see both sides of the struggle. We may want to pick one side more strongly when we’re under pressure, but Tim warns that it is the worst time to choose one side and neglect the other. Resilience Tim defines resilience as the ability to keep going when your circumstances are against you. It is something you assess over time. Three tensions that are critical to obtain and maintain resilience are: optimism and realism, embracing change while staying rooted in stability, and caring for others while not neglecting to care for yourself. He explains each tension and what they entail.  Optimism and Realism There is something in our psyche that loves binary options, Tim says. Though the tension is between picking a side, in order to be resilient you must be fully immersed in both ends of the spectrum of both optimism and realism. Kevin likens it to an infinity loop rather than a pure continuum. One must retain hope for a better future while remaining aware of and acknowledging the bitter facts of reality, Tim paraphrases. He shares three steps to managing tensions: accept the tension; assess the tension; and leverage the tension.  Change and Stability Change brings with it new circumstances, which may cause you to neglect your core values and let go of what really matters. When difficult times pass, ensure that you are still the same regarding who you serve, the values you are committed to, and the level of quality you are known for. However, you must be open to change and the experience and perspective it gives. Caring for Others and Oneself Tim and Kevin discuss how you can reach out to others during the pandemic, and what you can do to help them. Kevin recounts a lesson from a previous episode: people think that they need to do grand gestures in order to assist anyone. Rather than thinking of all the things you wish you could be doing, think about one small thing that you’re going to start doing, Tim says. He comments on the misconception of self-care perpetuated by mass media, stating that simplistic rituals such as sitting down to enjoy a cup of coffee are just as effective. Resources Tim Arnold on LinkedIn | Twitter LeadersForLeaders.ca Join Kevin and Tim for their first series of WayMaking Sessions -- helping you navigate your way forward: ZoomMeIn.com Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Karl Staib is the founder and President of Domino Connection, an author, and owner of Bring Gratitude LLC. His most recent book, Bring Gratitude: Feel Joyful Again with Bite-Sized Mindset Practices, talks about bringing gratitude to each and every situation in your life, whether good or bad. He joins Kevin Monroe to discuss the contents of his book and how its principles apply to the current pandemic. Gratitude is the Foundation More emphasis needs to be placed on gratitude in our daily lives because gratitude is the foundation of where we can start to make changes, Karl says. The more we put our focus on the things we are grateful for, the more those things will come to light and add abundance to our experiences. Gratitude is a key component in living a more joyful life. According to Karl, gratitude is the best way to release endorphins in your brain. These ‘feel-good’ chemicals make us less stressed and help calm us. When we are calm, we make better choices, which enables us to do things that truly matter to us.  An Opportunity The current global pandemic gives us the opportunity for us to understand and have more compassion for those around us. We can use this time of social distancing to make shifts in our mindsets and habits. Although it is scary and we must remain cautious and vigilant, we should not let this opportunity go to waste. Finding Gratitude in the Challenge “If I can turn any situation into a growth experience, I can appreciate any moment now,” Kevin quotes from Karl’s book. He asks Karl how it may apply to our current situation. Karl replies that everyone struggles on a daily basis, and if we practice compassion, it opens up our hearts and makes it easier to feel gratitude even during the struggle. He describes a challenge he faced during the pandemic, and how he was able to subvert it by his regular practices of gratitude.  The Strength of Gratitude In addition to sending out endorphins, gratitude shifts our mindsets. It has a direct effect on what we choose to think about, which dictates who we are and how we behave. It is a powerful tool that helps moderate our reactions to negative experiences. Karl says that bringing gratitude to negative interactions with people allows you to be thoughtful of your next steps. Meditation is a huge part of gratitude, he adds, because it enables you to pause and appreciate the whole moment. This ensures that you do not get swept away by your thoughts and succumb to your ‘inner bully.’ It teaches you your triggers, and once you are aware of them, then you can use gratitude and compassion to make sure you stay level-headed. Positive Rumination The things you think about at the end of the day will go into your long term memory. Additionally, what you put into your head at night solidifies as thoughts and feelings the next day. If you focus on negative things like dwelling on your mistakes, you gain nothing but negativity. However, if you acknowledge your mistakes and approach them with the intention of learning from them, you gain knowledge and perspective. You must take the negative moments and flip them into positive ones in order to live a joyful life. The people that grow and achieve success are the ones who learn from their mistakes.  Resources Karl Staib on LinkedIn | Twitter BringGratitude.com/plan Bring Gratitude on Facebook Bring Gratitude: Feel Joyful Again with Bite-Sized Mindset Practices Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Nilofer Merchant is a famous author and speaker for TED Conferences. Her most recent book, The Power of Onlyness, talks about worthiness and the connected individuality of all human beings. She joins Kevin Monroe to discuss her book and how the principles in it apply to current events. The New Normal Nilofer talks about the things people are doing to help those in need. People now have the voice to create change, she says. She gives an example of altruism that arose due to the coronavirus, and states that society may come to the point where we realize our fates are linked rather than ranked or separated. She ponders on the possibility of the care with which we treat others and the connectivity we have established becoming the new normal. Onlyness’ role in this is to be the combination of voice and belonging that creates real change and lasting connection between people.  Making a Difference There are people who feel like they should be doing more. Part of their struggle is that they think they need to do something of a grander scale to make a difference. All they need to do is care for the person next to them, Kevin says. He shares a story from a children’s book about contribution, explaining that even the smallest thing makes a difference. Nilofer adds that whatever you pay attention to grows, so if you focus more on having a grand plan rather than actually showing love, it’s counteractive. Center on what you know and what you can do right in the moment, and the rest will take care of itself.  Onlyness Nilofer defines onlyness as the source of all ideas and innovation. Onlyness is contrary to the traditional hierarchy of worthy contribution, and holds an egalitarian view that everyone has something of value to add to the world. We have been conditioned to believe that our level of capability relies solely on measures such as level of education, but that is a lie, Nilofer says. For example, we now realize how dependent we are on grocery store workers, a position that has historically been considered low-skilled. They are part of a system that feeds us, which allows us to exist and do our creative work. Contribute, don’t compare. Part of A System When you enter a room, your light illuminates the entire space. This makes it difficult to discern your own ‘only’ because the light you shine is also the filter you see the world through. Here is where others come in to help you, as they have the perspective to see the difference in the world when you are present and absent. The meaning of individual is the smallest measure of humankind, so even alone, you are never disconnected.  Parking Your Fears Nilofer says she has to park her fears in order to be present for a conversation. Fear always demands to be heard and gets louder the more it is ignored. She believes fear acts as a signal, like every other emotion. It doesn’t have to rule you, but you need to pay attention to it. Hope Is A Bridge “Hope is a thing with others that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all,” Nilofer quotes. She shares a past experience in which she thought hope was something lightweight, but now she defines it as the bridge we have to walk across in order to get to a new future. She believes that unity happens because two people are both going toward the same thing together. Resources Nilofer Merchant on LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook NiloferMerchant.com The Power of Onlyness: Make Your Wild Ideas Mighty Enough to Dent the World Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Jane Adshead-Grant is an ambassador for Truly Human Leadership, and this week’s guest. She was recently a part of the Truly Human Leadership World Tour. She joins Kevin Monroe to talk about the importance of hope, optimism, and connectivity. Visions of Hope Jane has been collecting and sharing stories of acts of kindness and compassion, which gives her hope that we will get through this pandemic. She believes that we will also sustain the compassion and connection we are practicing right now. In many situations in life, you have the option to become either better or bitter, Kevin reminds listeners. He is glad that the birds, unlike much of the global population, didn’t get the memo to stop singing and be joyful. Truly Human Leadership World Tour Jane describes her experience in the Truly Human Leadership World Tour as profound and meaningful. One point that seemed to resonate deeply with the audience was the concept of treating your team members like they are your precious children. This concept is especially relevant today, when leaders are working remotely with team members in this unprecedented time. How Leaders are Taking Charge Kevin shares what he learned about Truly Human Leadership from the last episode with Bob Chapman, and asks Jane what it was like to see it in action. Jane mentions what Bob did to make people feel acknowledged and appreciated. She also discloses how the leaders she coaches are navigating through the pivot to a remote work environment, while displaying admirable values in their leadership. Jane believes it is important, during virtual meetings, to let members express how they feel, as it enables them to feel more connected to their team. Acknowledging people by their names with a short, heartfelt greeting as they join meetings (and even in emails) makes them feel seen and cared for.  Why Optimism Is Important Kevin asks why Jane thinks optimism is essential and not frivolous. She replies that it is a tool leaders can use to lift others up and create a sense of hope. With optimism comes empathy and sensitivity. Jane recounts how Bob answered a difficult question on the tour. When told some people would take him for granted, Bob said that while he is aware it’s a possibility. It’s not his job to focus on those people. It’s important to look at the goodness of people, so they can be who they are meant to be. Jane describes optimism as a grounded reality.  Resources Jane Adshead-Grant on LinkedIn | Facebook  JaneAdsheadGrant.com Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Bob Chapman, author, CEO and Chairman at Barry-Wehmiller Companies, is this week’s honored guest. He joins Kevin Monroe on the Higher Purpose Podcast to discuss the true meaning and responsibilities of leadership.  Perpetual Optimism Kevin asks Bob how his optimism equips him to navigate seasons of uncertainty. Bob responds that our greatest growth comes from our greatest challenges, and that he takes life on one day at a time. Everybody has a lens, Bob says, and though he’s not sure what creates the lens through which we see the world, he was blessed with one of optimism so he sees the good in people. Leadership Bob believes that a leader’s fundamental responsibility is to give the people in their care a sense of hope for a better future. A core issue is that leaders are not taught to care for people, and instead know how to to use people for their success. Bob defines management as ‘the manipulation of others for your success,’ whereas leadership is ‘the stewardship of those entrusted to you.’  Span of Care Bob describes ‘employee’ as too much of a technical term to apply to humans. He had a key revelation that everyone in his span of care is someone’s precious child. Research shows that the way leaders treat those in their span of care has a profound effect on their health. Every business should be the most powerful force for good in the world because they have people in their care for at least 40 hours a week, every week. The way people are treated will affect not only themselves, but their families and lives and communities.  Truly Human Leadership Leadership during a crisis starts with a fundamental responsibility to both the individual and the organization, Bob says. You can’t decide to do the right thing for the people without considering the impact it may have on the business, because the business provides for the people. Truly human leadership looks at both the organization's health and the people’s health, and leads with it in a positive way.  Kevin and Bob hope that leaders are able to keep their feet on solid ground and lift their vision to see beyond this current crisis. Many are making hard decisions that affect the lives and futures of many others, and so, should be a voice of reason and a source of hope for those they lead. Resources Bob Chapman on LinkedIn | Twitter TrulyHumanLeadership.com Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Chester Elton is a speaker, coach, mentor and best-selling author at Gostick & Elton, as well as a partner and the Founder of “The Culture Works.” His most recent book, Leading with Gratitude: Eight Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results, is the topic of discussion in this week’s episode as he joins Kevin Monroe to talk about gratitude and recognition. Gratitude Kevin believes gratitude makes a huge difference in times of calm, crisis, or chaos. Chester adds that we often get caught up in the moment and forget to take a longer view. Even during the chaos of current events, there are many amazing things in your life that you could be grateful for. And when put in perspective, they give you the strength and momentum to overcome hard times, and the opportunity to deepen the relationships you have with people.  Feeling Forgotten There’s nothing worse, in both the workplace and especially in one’s personal life, than feeling forgotten, Chester says. Nothing connects people more than simple acts of reaching out, such as texts saying ‘I love you’, which affirm feelings of value and importance. People are less likely to express gratitude at work than any place else; consequently, people are more likely to feel forgotten at work. Saying ‘thank you’ in the workplace is the moral equivalent of saying ‘I love you’ in your personal life, Chester adds. A study shows that 82% of people will work harder if their boss expresses gratitude. Gratitude creates feelings of belonging. Leading with Gratitude Gratitude attracts gratitude, Chester says. When you’re happy, engaged and motivated at work, you are 150% more likely to be the same way in your personal life. The goal of Chester’s book is to create great workplaces which have that ripple effect into homes and communities. It’s so we can take our best selves home after taking our best selves to work.  Kevin says a sincere ‘thank you’ never gets old, to which Chester adds that general praise has no impact, and specificity is meaningful. In showing gratitude to your employees, you must remember that what works for one person may not work for someone else, which is why it’s important to know your people. Not only must the expression of gratitude be appropriate to the person, it should also be appropriate to the accomplishment. Find Your Gratitude Kevin and Chester extend a special invitation for listeners to participate in a new collaborative project. Find out more at FindYourGratitude.community. Resources Chester Elton on LinkedIn | Twitter The CultureWorks.com LeadingWithGratitude.info Leading with Gratitude: Eight Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results The Carrot Principle: How the Best Managers Use Recognition to Engage Their Employees, Retain Talent, and Drive Performance FindYourGratitude.community Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade 

Michelle Prince, CEO and founder of Performance Publishing Group and the Book Bound Workshop, is this week’s guest. Michelle is a Ziglar Certified Speaker and best selling author. She joins Kevin Monroe in this week’s episode to chat about her most recent book,The Power of Authority, passion and purpose, and sharing your story. The GPS of Life Michelle likens the mind and subconscious to a GPS. You program your GPS to take you to your destination, and often don’t care what route you end up taking, so long as you get there. Sometimes there are potholes and detours, but eventually you will arrive at the destination you programmed. The opposite is also true, she warns. If you dwell too much on destinations you don’t want to go to, your GPS’ programming will be inclined to take you there. Michelle is a big believer in getting clarity on what you truly want in life and positively affirming where you want to go. It doesn’t prevent difficulties, but it allows you to easily reset your coordinates and get back on track. It comes right back to gratitude, Michelle says, which doesn’t mean that everything is great; gratitude just means you choose to focus on what is good in the moment. Your Story is Not About You Michelle recalls that she wrote her first book with the intention of only her family being her readers. However, a friend convinced her to share it to a wider audience so she could make a difference to others. She advertised it on Facebook and people started buying the book, and gradually she began getting calls asking her to speak and coach in many places. Sharing your story is all about serving people, she says. Your story is not about you, but about someone else and the benefit you can provide to them.  Passion and Purpose Passion is a clue to your purpose. Michelle believes everyone was put on Earth for a reason, and that the intersection of passion and purpose gives people their stories. Most individuals have a measure of pain in their stories, and if there is no connection between your pain and a passion to help others with the same or a similar experience, it may not be sufficient enough to write a book about. Kevin shares some advice that was relayed to him by a friend: it’s helpful when we can talk about our pain from our scars and not our wounds. There needs to be distance between when your pain was first dealt and when you start to share the story behind it, because you need enough time to heal. The Power of Authority Everyone has a story worth telling, and this book will help you write it. The Power of Authority teaches readers that we all have the power to be the authority in our lives. You can’t spell authority without the word author, Michelle says. She believes that becoming an author is one of the easiest ways to gain authority over one’s niche. However, if you don’t want to write, this book will teach you how to claim the authority of your story. Resources The Power of Authority Winning in Life Now PerformancePublishingGroup.com Michelle Prince on Facebook | LinkedIn Email: support@michelleprince.com MichellePrince.com Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Kevin connects with listeners as he reflects on the path that led him to this week’s episode of Higher Purpose Podcast. He shares insights about purpose, culture, and leadership in business and how they are the trifecta for success. Servant Leadership If servant leadership is the answer, what question is being asked? Kevin recounts his experiences working with numerous companies who were drawn to servant leadership. Companies that operate on servant leadership usually characterize themselves as either purpose-driven, value-based, or people-focused. They tend to gravitate toward this type of leadership because they feel it is the best approach to achieving their purpose. Servant leadership aligns with the values they want to see come alive in the world.  The PCL Framework Kevin describes a purpose-powered business as a Venn Diagram of three interlocking circles, with one circle below and two on top. The lower circle is purpose (P) because it is the starting point, direction and destination of a business. When done well, purpose permeates all facets of a business and unites all departments and initiatives into a symphonic endeavor. The top circles are culture (C) and leadership (L). Kevin defines culture as the way things are done daily in an organization. While in most organizations culture happens by default, purpose-powered businesses design their culture, anchor it in a rich set of values and beliefs, and actively cultivate it. In addition, purpose-powered businesses recognize leadership as a function and not a position, and empower employees at all levels to think for themselves. Every purpose powered leader is a coach seeking to encourage everyone on the team to live out the company values and use the values combined with data to make prudent decisions. Kevin says that to make a difference, purpose needs to be paired with action around culture and leadership. If an organization is strong in purpose and culture but lacks leadership, they may have a high degree of devotion to the purpose, but do not have as much movement toward their results and outcomes. If they are strong in purpose and leadership but do not cultivate culture, they may have a high sense of drive, but it may be to the detriment of their people. Finally, if a company lacks purpose but has leadership and culture, they may have a high sense of duty, but it may be adrift. Resources Listen to Episode 103   Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Kevin Monroe chats with Moshe Engelberg, author and CEO of ResearchWorks, Inc. about his latest book, entitled The Amare Wave: Uplifting Business by Putting Love to Work (The Amare Way). They discuss key points in the book, as well as how they can be applied and practiced. Writing the Book Kevin asks Moshe what inspired him to write his book. Moshe answers that it would be more appropriate to say the book wrote him instead. The common business mentality of disdain towards customers, combined with the predatory and warlike language of business, and his own spiritual journey were his muses for the book. Surfing the Wave Kevin comments on the bandwagonist behavior that some companies have: he says that they adopt a certain principle or behavior to get ahead, rather than sincerely believing it in their hearts. Moshe shares two perspectives on this: sometimes we need to change our behaviors before we change our beliefs, and so some companies that genuinely want development adopt these practices to promote change. The other perspective is that some companies have an opportunistic view of promoting love in the workplace, and use it for financial benefit. Love, and Its Many Names Moshe stresses that it doesn’t matter what you choose to call love; as long as you practice it, you can call it whatever you wish. Some people embrace the concepts of love but are uncomfortable with the language, and so use other words like appreciation as a substitute Actions, Words and Values Companies that practice the Amare Way do so by actively expressing authenticity, belonging and collaboration. Their words and actions are consistent with their values. Moshe paraphrases Plato, “What is honored in a company is cultivated there.” The ideal is to achieve alignment between what people believe, say and do. Moshe hopes that more and more companies will develop the courage to implement love at work, treat their employees well, and have leaders that learn to love themselves. “It starts from the inside and spreads outwards. You can’t give what you don’t have,” he says.  Resources The Amare Wave: Uplifting Business by Putting Love to Work (The Amare Way)Moshe Engelberg on LinkedInKevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade 

Dr. Gabriella Kellerman, Chief Innovation Officer of BetterUp, head of BetterUp Labs and co-author of the article entitled The Value of Belonging at Work, converses with Kevin Monroe about the missing link between diversity and inclusion: belonging.  The Missing Link Kevin asks whether BetterUp has uncovered the answer to the question of the missing link between diversity and inclusion. Gabriella answers BetterUp has been able to prove that belonging is, in fact, that missing link. Gabriella describes her organization as a “mobile development platform” that does one-to-one coaching with individuals around the globe on personal professional development. Belonging is one part of BetterUp’s six pillars of employees’ experience index, and, as such, is a significant part of how they help and support their clients in their development. Unbelonging and Belonging Researchers at BetterUp coined the term “unbelonging” to describe someone’s internal  experience, not considering external factors such as inclusion or exclusion. Kevin adds that the idea of unbelonging expresses one’s personal experience of a group, independent of what may be happening within the group. Gabriella says that BetterUp’s definition of “belonging” is your internal experience of feeling like part of a group which cannot be triggered by people behaving inclusively. The Impact of Unbelonging Gabriella shares research recorded by BetterUp Labs. People usually respond to feelings of exclusion in one of three ways:  You work less hard:  If you perceive exclusion, you may have a decreased motivation to work and you would put in less effort.  There is no impact: You are not affected by feelings of exclusion and it doesn’t affect how you perform. You work even harder than you are required to: You feel motivated to go above and beyond in your work to earn your spot. Belonging in Business Having a sense of belonging in an organization is good for business. According to Gabriella, people who feel they belong are 50% less likely to quit their jobs, and perform up to 56% better than those who feel they do not. Individuals who experience high degrees of belonging take 75% fewer sick days. Gabriella describes the research her team did and the evidence-based practices that lead to greater sense of belonging they discovered from their investigations. How to Belong at Work Positivity resonance is a concept that describes the depth of connection you feel with someone in a particular moment. You have to allow yourself to feel a certain degree of vulnerability in order to have that deep connection. The same is true at work. Feeling connected to your coworkers means that you allow them to get to know the real you, and vice versa.  Gabriella shares practical tips to help you if you feel you don’t belong. If you want to help someone feel like they belong, she has advice for you as well: Share your own experiences of feeling like you don’t belong, and how you got through it; If you’re in a position to effect change, create more conditions of belonging for them. Simply being a fair minded ally can be of tremendous help. Resources The Value of Belonging at Work (Report) The Value of Belonging at Work (Whitepaper) BetterUp.com Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Laurie Cameron, founder of PurposeBlue and bestselling author of The Power of Self-Compassion, talks with Kevin Monroe about the benefits of mindfulness and the journey to self-compassion, as well as the hurdles one might come across on that journey. The Inner Critic Laurie shares a disheartening experience with someone in which her trust was broken. Her first thought was critical of herself and the red flags she ignored: her “inner critic” had reared its head. The inner critic is part of our biology and is there to protect us to ensure we survive both physically and emotionally, Laurie says. The first step in practicing self-compassion is not ignoring the inner critic, but acknowledging it and moving past the cognitive analysis of the hurtful event.  Shifting Your Perspective Laurie communicates that some of our feelings of being hurt are due to a narrative that we tell ourselves. Mindfulness training helps you to observe your narratives, and analyse how you interpret others’ actions and intentions. Only then would you be able to shift your perspective to objectively understand your situation and avoid miscommunication.  Touch as Self Care Kevin quotes from Laurie’s book, “Touch activates the physiology of care,” and comments that he hadn’t considered an individual’s touch to themselves falling under that category. He now realizes that you can apply the physiology of care to yourself. Laurie adds that the tool of touch is one of many approaches to practicing self-compassion and is a primal development of our biology. I’m Not That Voice We’re born with a negativity bias that has good intentions - to protect us - but is counterproductive as it creates a fixed mindset which is demotivating and stunts growth. The voice may be more dominant in individuals conditioned to be critical. We may associate our identity with that negative inner voice instead of seeing certain behaviors and patterns as transient. Thankfully, Laurie conveys, we can recondition or unlearn the negative voice and relearn a positive voice. Self-Compassion is Not Self-Esteem Self-esteem is tied to ranking, rating, and comparison to others. Comparison has caused much emotional suffering and loneliness in society. On the other hand, self-compassion has nothing to do with metrics; it’s all about how we see and treat ourselves in the moment. Laurie offers some insight and practical tips on how to practice self-compassion. She hopes that people can engage in mindfulness, self-awareness and self-acceptance. Mindfulness is accepting that life is messy and mistakes are normal, she adds. It’s the practice of accepting what is and amplifying the good.  Resources The Power of Self-Compassion  PurposeBlue.com Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Dr. Bruno Cignacco’s latest book - entitled, The Art of Compassionate Business: Main Principles for the Human-Oriented Enterprise - is one of the only textbooks about the importance of love at work. He chats with Kevin Monroe about the book and why love is good for business. A Textbook Kevin says that he was surprised that Bruno’s book is a textbook. Bruno responds that it’s both an entrepreneurial book and a textbook, about how companies can be more humane in the business environment. His research goal was to gather some principles about human-oriented enterprises that could be applied to any company, regardless of size, sector or nationality. Love Is Good For Business At the heart of compassionate business, Bruno says, is the principle of love. Business is based on relationships, so if you only focus on KPIs, you’re dismissing an important part of your business activity: the human aspect. If your business treats stakeholders - employees, customers, community, even the government - in a loving way, your KPIs will improve automatically as they are a natural result of a healthy relationship between your company and its stakeholders. He is gratified that there is a new generation of businesses that adopt a human-oriented approach. Holistic vs Fragmented Kevin quotes Bob Chapman’s book, Everybody Matters, to point out that employees would give their best if they are respected and cared for. Bruno agrees that leaders need to see their employees as whole human beings with different needs. He says that the principle of reciprocity suggests that how you treat your employees influences the way they treat your business. If you adopt the fragmented approach, where you only see them as cogs in your organizational wheel, they would take a defensive mode, and only do the minimum. However, treating employees in a loving way by embracing their humanity, encourages them to give their best. A Definition of Love Bruno says that there are two incompatible polarities in business: love and fear. Some workplaces are full of fear, while others operate through love. When you’re focused on love, you connect with others, you feel that you belong, and you’re warmer, kinder and more supportive. Love is much broader than romance, Bruno points out. It includes care, empathy, respectfulness and willingness to help. Love people because they are human, he says, because we’re all interconnected. Kevin mentions that there are over 30 definitions of love in Bruno’s book. He asks Bruno which is his favorite. Bruno replies that he likes the definition of love as service to others.  Love vs Fear “Love is the natural heightener of people’s human qualities,” Bruno writes in his book, a quote which Kevin shares. “In other words, when people adopt a loving attitude, their positive human side is gracefully enhanced. On the other side, when people adopt an unloving attitude, even their greatest human qualities are degraded.” Love is always expansive, Bruno adds: it helps us to connect with and trust one another; it helps us cooperate better and think more creatively; it makes us more intelligent. Fear, on the other hand, makes us focus only on a narrow set of factors when we perceive a threat. It is immobilizing and does not bring about any positive change within a company.  Bruno offers some practical tips for leaders to build a loving environment. He hopes that love and the idea of embracing the whole human being in the world of work, become common practice. Focus on growing your relationships, and your business will naturally flourish, he advises. When you focus on the people, they will help you achieve your objectives. Resources HumanOrientedEnterprise.com  Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Kevin Monroe starts the show with two heartwarming messages he received from listeners. These connections and interactions are what this podcast is truly about, he comments. He then introduces this week’s guest, Lorie Corcuera, who is a consultant and speaker, and author of the soon to be released book, Love First, The Rest Will Follow. Live Wow Lorie’s life mission is to “live wow and love completely.” She defines living wow as the intention to create wow experiences, and loving completely as a reminder to love herself and others completely because it’s only when we accept our whole being that we can love others more freely. Kevin responds that ‘wow’ is the perfect response when something happens that grabs your attention and your heart. Love Belongs In The Workplace It all comes down to love, Lorie says. Workplace culture is something that is felt. In a fear-based organization we can’t be our real selves because we don’t feel psychologically safe. Love is what we need, even though the word seems inappropriate in a professional setting. To ease their dissonance with the word love, Lorie asks her clients to think about what they want their customers to say about their products, or their staff to say about the company. Usually, they want customers to say that they love their product, and staff to say that they love working there. She then tells them that if they want customers and staff to love, they need to love as well.  Amazing Results Kevin asks Lorie to define love as it relates to the workplace. She responds that when love exists in the workplace, people feel connected, they work well together, they’re fully engaged and excited about making a contribution. In order to achieve this, leadership has to feel the same way. Imagine if every team member feels worthy, valued, seen and cared for, she says. We would be able to create amazing things together. Love By Example Lorie wants people to love by example. We may not all be leaders at work, but we are leaders in our own lives. The best leaders are good with themselves, Lorie comments. Start with embracing and accepting who you are as a person. That will build your confidence to show up as your authentic self. Then you can focus on loving others. Her dream is for a workplace where every person feels love for themselves so that they can love others. That loving energy is shared with customers and team members, and ultimately with their families. “At the end of the day,” Lorie says, “it's all about relationships. Love is the key, because that's the basis of relationships.” Kevin adds that in a fear-based environment you leave work drained and there’s nothing left for your family or community. On the other hand, when you work in a love-filled organization you may be physically tired at the end of the day, but you are not emotionally drained. You can be fully present with your loved ones. Lorie comments that we all want to look back and say we had an amazing life because we were fulfilled in so many ways. It all starts with love. Kevin challenges listeners to love by example: do something every day for the next seven days to lift and encourage others, he says. Resources Lorie Corcuera on LinkedIn  Episode 15 with Kari Enge  Radical Loving Care book Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

Kevin Monroe chats one-on-one with listeners this week. He shares gratitude and encouragement as well as the uplifting backstory that inspired this week’s show.  He’s Grateful For…  It’s amazing how projects like the Gratitude Challenge bring like-hearted people together in community, Kevin says. We find one another, engage in conversation and encourage one another. Sharing our stories allows us to connect and build friendships. He is grateful that he is able to provide opportunities for people to connect, collaborate and become friends. Who’s Your Mahalia? Kevin sat down to write the blog post for the Big Dreams challenge on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Naturally, he began to reflect on MLK’s famous I Have A Dream speech, and its inspiring backstory. He relates that 10 minutes into Dr. King’s prepared message, he went off script. At one point he paused, and famed gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who was standing behind him, encouraged him. “Tell them about the dream, Martin,” Mahalia urged him. It was then that Dr King ad libbed - vividly and passionately - about his cherished dream. His inspiring speech breathed new life to the civil rights movement, and gave hope to millions. What’s the dream in your heart? Who is your Mahalia, the person in your life who knows you have a dream inside of you that needs to find fulfillment and expression, and encourages you to keep going? Kevin’s Dream Sharing your dream is what allows it to take root and grow, Kevin says. Certainly Dr. King didn’t have a 12-step plan of how his dream would be accomplished, but that didn’t stop him from sharing it. In the same way, Kevin shares his dream with listeners.  Kevin has a dream of a world where:  Everyone sees themselves as difference makers and gives some part of themselves to making a difference for others. We all take a moment every day to share an act of compassion and kindness with those around us. Difference makers from around the world connect and collaborate with one another so that together we are inspired to take action on a larger, broader scale than any of us could take alone. Everyone has the opportunity to be involved in meaningful work and workplaces around the world are filled with love, dignity, freedom and respect. Where workers return home safely at the end of each day with energy and zeal for their families, because they feel valued, appreciated and respected at work.  Leaders see themselves as serving those they lead, as shining the spotlight on the great work of others, and creating environments where people flourish and thrive. Everyone has a strong sense of belonging; where acceptance is extended as a birthright rather than earned as a bonus for good behavior and performance. Resources I Have A Dream speech How Martin Luther King Jr Went Off Script in ‘I Have A Dream’ Kevin Monroe on LinkedIn | Twitter  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

This week’s guest is Rachel Druckenmiller, speaker and founder of Unmuted. Host Kevin Monroe promises that their conversation will be inspiring and enjoyable, but also a bit challenging and controversial.  Rachel says that she has always been an overachiever. Once she realized that she could be successful at school, she decided to keep at it and carried the same attitude into her career. Kevin reflects that the hustle for approval started very early for him as well. Approval is dangled in front of us as a carrot, he says, and it’s the reward that keeps us performing. We have this idea that if it's worthwhile, it's going to be hard; and if it's not hard enough, we're going to make it harder. Rachel says that she had to be the best, and that meant constantly looking for ways to prove herself to people. When we're insecure, she says, we have this tendency to oversell ourselves instead of just letting our work speak for us. Kevin posits that more money is traded on the Insecurity Exchange than the Securities Exchange. We do all these things to prove that we’re good enough. Tying your identity, self-worth and sense of belonging to your achievements is a very dangerous place to be, Rachel warns. Kevin calls this the “will be when ____” phenomenon, because we think we will belong or will be good enough when we achieve something or check some box. He argues that there’s never an end to the boxes we need to check because once we’ve checked one box, we replace it with another. As such, we never feel like we belong or that we are good enough. Rachel agrees; she says that she always felt that love and acceptance were on the other side of achievement. Rachel relates that she burned out three years ago, and how that experience led her to realize her value as a person. Kevin talks about Dr. Emil Brunner’s Cycle of Grace. Flip the cycle and start with acceptance, he says. We punish ourselves mercilessly to get acceptance, which is really a free gift, Kevin says. None of us can make any impact on anybody else in isolation, Kevin points out. Even if you work by yourself, he advises you to find a way to connect with other people. Start with what brings you joy, Rachel says, and invite others into that joy. Reach out and have a conversation. Take the initiative to join or create the kinds of communities that you want to be a part of. Rachel lives by these principles now: What is meant for you will not pass by you. If you're meant to do something in the course of your life, everything will conspire to make it happen despite how you might try to prevent it.  No amount of achievements and accomplishment will ever fill the hole left by a lack of connection and belonging. You were born to belong. The fact that you exist means that you’re wanted in the world. Kevin asks Rachel how she experiences life differently now. She says she now makes it a priority to make time for the people who mean the most to her. She quotes a poem by Bruce Wilmer, Be Yourself. Resources Unmutedlife.com Rachel Druckenmiller on LinkedIn | Instagram  Cycle of Grace by Dr. Emil Brunner Be Yourself by Bruce B. Wilmer Episode 127: Living an Inspired Life with Debbie LaChusa  Episode 116: Are You Listening? with Jane Adshead-Grant  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade

This week’s inspiring guests are Claude Silver, Chief Heart Officer at VaynerMedia, and Cody Royle, author, podcaster and head coach of the AFL Team Canada. Host Kevin Monroe is excited that they both are travelers on the Road Less Traveled. They chat about creating a workplace culture that helps people grow. One of the most enlightening challenges of the Gratitude Challenge, Kevin says, is Phone-A-Friend. You ask someone else, If you were me, what would you be grateful for? Kevin poses that very question to Claude and Cody. They bring tears to each other’s eyes with their answers. The #1 request Claude hears from employees is “Help me grow.” This is what people are actually saying when they ask for feedback or when they want to improve their skills, she says. Along their journey, they’re going to experience many micro-journeys - some successes, some failures - and that is what they’ll remember in life. People want to get from point A to point B. As a leader, what are you doing to coach and mentor to get there? Cody is happy that the conversation is moving away from management towards coaching and mastery. The sports world can teach us so much about this, he says.  When you master your craft, you notice that the game slows down, Cody says. The coach’s job is to get the athlete to reach that point by honing skill as well as removing barriers. Kevin finds this a beautiful description of the idea of mastery. He comments that the game slows down because you’ve grown and developed your skill, so you are now able to show up in the environment differently.  Claude says you can help others grow by creating an environment of psychological safety. Be real, inspire them and live by example so that they feel comfortable to talk about anything with you. She shares a game she uses with employees that opens them up and helps them to talk about what matters to them personally. Cody adds that everyone has to be involved in creating a psychologically safe environment. We can all help each other then because we all feel safe. Kevin, Claude and Cody discuss the difference between drinking the water vs drinking the Kool Aid. Kevin asks, “What does it take for people to shift and get comfortable with a trusting, welcoming human environment?” Claude says that her company gives trust first not last. It takes time for people and interaction with other workers to accept that it truly is as good as it sounds. Cody comments that it starts with being truthful at recruitment. It’s just like dating: if what you deliver is not what you promised, things go south pretty quickly. We have the impression that someone has to stay at an organization for a long time in order to have an impact. We need to rethink this idea, Cody argues. A more productive approach is to ask, How can I help this person right now and maybe momentarily in their life, whether that's with us or not? A good coach helps his players grow so much that they don’t need him anymore, Cody says. Accept that they may leave, but ask them to give you their best while they’re with you, and be the best coach and mentor to them you can be.  If you want your company culture to change, you be the change, Claude encourages listeners. Find a mentor to guide you if you need to. Resources ClaudeSilver.com CodyRoyle.com  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade 

Happy New Year!  As Kevin Monroe reflects on 2019, he is grateful for all the people he has met. He is also grateful for hope of a brighter future and fresh clarity about who this podcast serves best. In this first episode of 2020, he invites listeners to look at business, leadership and life through a different lens by embracing a decade of difference.  You’re Qualified! This takeaway from episode 125 with Tim Arnold resonates with Kevin: Everything in your life up to this moment - the good, the bad and the ugly - has prepared you for your present and your future. Therefore, nothing disqualifies you from making a decade of difference. In fact, the things that you think count you out, actually attract people to you. Your life message resonates with others who have had a similar experience, so you have the moral authority to reach them in a way no one else can. Your past lights the way for you and for others who have known the same struggles, difficulties, and challenges. Kevin invites you to make peace with your past, so it no longer casts a shadow over your future.   Characteristics of Difference Makers Here are some traits that difference-makers commonly share: They are other-centered. They’re focused on making a difference in the lives of others, rather than making things better for themselves.  They are purpose-powered. There’s a purpose that inspires and motivates them to do what they do. They are ‘tragically optimistic’. No matter how difficult the circumstances, they believe that good will emerge in the end. They are dealers in hope. They inspire others by depositing hope into their lives. They are kind, compassionate, caring and humble. Ripples of Influence When you make a difference in someone’s life, Kevin says, you may not even be aware of it. There’s no way of knowing how far the waves and ripples of your influence will reach, so don’t even try to track it. The important thing is to realize that your decade of difference cannot be outsourced. It must be insourced; that is, it starts with you thinking differently, seeing the world differently and living differently. Start with your own personal development, and your influence will ripple out to your family, and community, and maybe even the world. Permission To Live A Decade of Difference Whether you know exactly what difference you want to make in the world, or you’re not quite sure, Kevin is cheering you on. He invites you to give yourself permission to dream, imagine and discover your decade of difference. You live a decade of difference one day at a time, he says. If you go off-track, reorient yourself and keep moving forward. Connect with a community of others who are also on the journey. Prepare for challenges and tough times because they will inevitably come, but seize the decade nonetheless, and be a difference-maker whatever arena you’re in.   Resources Episode 125: Managing Tension On Your Journey To Greatness with Tim Arnold Episode 127:  Living An Inspired Life with Debbie LaChusa  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Join the community: KevinDMonroe.com/decade 

When you get out of your own way and stop trying to make things happen - when you pay attention to what’s calling on your heart - you end up exactly where you’re supposed to be. Following where inspiration leads is the subject of Debbie LaChusa’s book, The Following Inspiration Experiment. She joins Kevin Monroe on this week’s show to talk about living an inspired life. Following inspiration means listening to that little voice in your head, Debbie says. It’s trusting your gut, listening to your intuition, or it can be feeling called to do something. For her, it meant stepping away from planning every aspect of her life, and just paying attention to the people, events and opportunities that showed up. Kevin and Debbie relate how they came to this view of life. Kevin says that four words came to his mind one Sunday: “More led, less driven.” Since then he has been intentional about following the invitations that show up in life, rather than trying to make them happen. When Debbie started to let go and started doing what showed up, amazing things began to happen. Following inspiration has been a 10-year experiment for Debbie. Kevin asks if she is there yet. She responds that there is no ‘there’. There, she says, implies that happiness and success is someplace else. The best place to be is right here, right now, because when you’re present you notice the inspired path, you pay attention to the ideas that show up, and they stick. It’s simple, but it’s not always easy to practice, she points out. Your work will be harder, frustrating, and not as good when you force it. Kevin says that he has never produced inspired work in make-it-happen mode. Debbie adds that the recipients of your work can tell the difference: there’s an energy in your work when you do it from an inspired place that’s just not there when you plow through. We’re all going to end up where we’re supposed to be if we pay attention to what speaks to us. We each have our own path, and it’s different from everyone else’s. If we open ourselves to what shows up, our purpose will find us. Flow is being in the zone. It’s when life and work feel effortless, peaceful, and purposeful. Debbie says that being in flow is all about getting out of your head and into your heart. Kevin adds that it’s moving effortlessly with energy and direction towards an intention. Drifting, on the other hand, is feeling lost; it’s aimless. Synchronicity is a perfect, meaningful coincidence: it’s something that happens that you just couldn’t plan, but feels right. Let yourself follow through on the ideas and opportunities that feel right to you, Debbie advises. Trust that there’s a reason you’re being attracted to them. Ultimately, that’s what synchronicity is, and it’s one of the ways inspiration shows up. Living an inspired life makes you feel at peace. Even when bad things happen, you find the lessons and the good that comes from the bad. Debbie describes how her book title came about. It was an inspiration in itself, she relates. She says that her ‘marketing’ strategy has been to put her book out there, and trust that it will get in front of the people that it needs to. “That's what's happened,” Debbie says. She urges listeners not to be afraid to try something different. If life seems harder, and you’re feeling unsettled, if you’re thinking that there must be a better way, just give it a try, she says. Resources DebbieLaChusa.com The Following Inspiration Experiment  Join the Joy Challenge Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Schedule a call: KevinDMonroe.com/2020

Merry Christmas! In this special holiday episode of the Higher Purpose Podcast, Kevin Monroe takes the opportunity to reflect. He begins by expressing gratitude to listeners and collaborators. He also counts down the top 10 episodes of 2019. Finally, he shares his wishes for listeners for 2020 and beyond. So Much To Be Grateful For More than any other time of the year, its popular to express gratitude during the holidays. Kevin asks listeners to think about something they are grateful for in this moment. He shares that he is grateful for the gift of podcasting which gives him the privilege of engaging in conversations and forming relationships with guests as well as listeners. He quotes Barbara Sable who said, “Relationships are primary. All else is derivative.” Kevin reflects that 90% of his guests in 2019 were new relationships that came to be because someone he knew introduced him to someone they thought he should know. None of us knows everybody we need to know, he says, but everybody we do know, knows someone we need to know. When they open the door, beautiful things happen. He goes on to thank his collaborators, without whom the podcast and his other projects would not have been possible.  Clarity Comes Through Action 2019 was a year of experimentation, Kevin reflects. Years ago his mentor Rich Sheridan taught him to stop overthinking and just “run the experiment.” As a result, most of what he now does in life starts as an experiment. Major projects in 2019, such as the Gratitude Challenge, the Humans First Hangout, and the This Extraordinary Life community, came about because of experiments. Kevin points out that clarity comes through action: as he took action, the next steps became clearer, and he is ending 2019 with greater clarity than he started with. His wish for listeners is that clarity comes for them as well. Top 10 Episodes of 2019 There were several episodes that resonated most with listeners in 2019. Kevin recalls the Top 10 episodes of the year. He wants you to take time to celebrate your progress and come up with your own list of your Top 10 Moments of 2019. Make peace with your past, he urges; celebrate your progress, and prepare for the future. Holiday Wishes Kevin wishes you a Merry Christmas. May peace, love and joy be magnified in your life. May you have true peace, which is wholeness and harmony in every dimension of your life. May you have abiding joy even in difficult times. May you have the deep and unconditional love you deserve.  Resources Top 10 Episodes of 2019: Episode 88: Everybody Matters with Bob Chapman Episode 101: The Power of Gratitude with Steve Foran Episode 82: Being a Chief Heart Officer with Claude Silver Episode 102: Dealing With Impostor Syndrome with Kimberly Davis and Melissa Hughes Episode 91: The Pulse of Your Organization with David Niu Episode 117: Are You Listening? with Jane Adshead-Grant Episode 97: Higher Purpose and Self Worth with Traci Fenton Episode 96: The Employee Experience with Ben Whitter Episode 105: Gratitude Is A Way of Life with Steve Foran Episode 98: The Definition of Success with Al Lopez Join the Joy Challenge Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Schedule a call: KevinDMonroe.com/2020 

Tim Arnold, this week’s guest on the Higher Purpose Podcast, is no stranger to tension. He was a team building and leadership development consultant for 10 years before starting and running a homeless shelter. Today he is the author of The Power of Healthy Tension as well as a sought after speaker. A critical lesson he learned throughout his career was that decisions - and life! - are not always this OR that; many times it’s a matter of managing this AND that. These dilemmas are called key tensions. He chats with Kevin Monroe about these key tensions and how to manage them on the road less traveled. It’s All Preparation When Tim decided to leave the consulting business to open a homeless shelter, he felt that he was starting a totally new chapter in his life. He soon realized, however, that his prior experience was preparing him for this new path. He says that when you choose to live a purpose-oriented life you should assume that your experiences - good and bad - have all been preparation for the present. Teaching the concept of healthy tension for so many years prepared him to apply it at the shelter, often in very challenging situations.  Healthy Tension Kevin asks Tim to define the concept of healthy tension. Tim explains that we’ve been conditioned to see things from an either-or perspective, that decisions are problems to solve and we should choose the right answer. While problem-solving is a critical and laudable skill, there are situations in life that are not problems to solve but tensions to manage. In these moments we have to be able to hold two opposing positions in tension, or adopt an ‘and’ mindset instead of an ‘either-or’ one. For example, manage both flexibility AND structure, don’t try to choose either only flexibility OR only structure. If we want to achieve our higher aspirations, there are some underlying tensions in work and life we should embrace rather than avoid. What Does It Look Like To You? Choosing one side may feel good but it will work against you in the long term, Tim points out. Rather than picking one side, he advises, think about what living on both sides looks like for you. Many times an ideal, such as fairness, means different things to different people. The goal is not to compromise your values, but to embrace both sides fully. Kevin comments that oftentimes organizations would choose words to portray their values without fully defining what those words mean to their business. Tim adds that if you don’t fully understand the underlying tensions you have manage to live out those values, then they are just words. Dig into those underlying tensions and learn how to leverage them. Key Tensions on the Road Less Traveled Kevin and Tim discuss a few key tensions that difference-makers need to leverage on their journey to greatness. These include: Fun and seriousness; Purpose and profit; Caring about the right people’s opinions and not caring what everyone else thinks; Idealism and realism. Tim says that once we realize that idealism and realism go together, we will be able to hold on to our vision while accepting the reality of what needs to be done now.  A Challenge For Listeners Tim’s challenge to listeners is to think about what tensions they are going to manage in the coming year. Are you willing to embrace them? What would it look like to get the value of both sides? Kevin has his own questions for listeners: Are there any issues that you previously saw as problems to solve that you now realize are actually tensions to manage? What are the key tensions you face as a difference-maker? What do you plan to do with what you've learned today? What’s your next step and how can we help? Resources Book and other resources: ThePowerOfHealthyTension.com  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Schedule a call: KevinDMonroe.com/2020 

The Higher Purpose Podcast’s new intro clarifies what the show is about and that it is for people who have chosen the road less traveled in business, in leadership and in life. Host Kevin Monroe says who better than Mike Vacanti to share the first conversation under this new banner? Mike is the first guest to appear on the show three times in a calendar year.  Kevin congratulates Mike on the launch of his first book, Believership: The Superpower Beyond Leadership. Both Kevin and Mike choose not to accept commonly held beliefs or ‘best practices’ if those beliefs and practices do not make sense to them. Mike calls it having the strength to resist becoming someone else.  Mike shares an experience of corporate culture, of “feeling that I had to conform and become one of them rather than the best of me.” To his mind, if you’re going to work together, you should enjoy the experience. His way of leading his team was producing high-level results, yet he was told they didn’t like his methods. It led him to make the difficult decision to leave the company in order to stay true to himself. He saw their entrenched ideas of how he should behave as a leader as authority, not leadership. The way he led his team was the way he believed leadership should be. Mike’s book, Believership, emerged from his exploration of the question, What happens because of me? He discovered that his teams performed well together because they all believed in what they were doing and they believed in each other. He comments that we’re in a new era of business so a lot about leadership needs to change. He wants to open up the dialogue about what that change looks like and what we need to discard to get there. Kevin admires that Mike’s approach is not prescriptive; rather, it is an invitation into a conversation. An idea from Mike’s book that Kevin loves is, Lift Others. Mike says that it is an intention that he starts each day with.  There are repeatable things that we can do to make work better, Mike says, and we should apply those patterns. When they no longer work, we should look for alternatives. Mike is resistant to the term “best practices” as it’s often used as an authoritative statement - the one best way - which closes off ideas, creativity and ingenuity.  Mike talks about his upcoming book launch event at VaynerMedia in New York City. We can do better, Mike says. Things can improve and we can lift others along the journey with us. He sees a decade of difference as an invitation to become excited about the challenges and opportunities in front of us. He encourages listeners to imagine how much we can accomplish this decade simply because of the technology and tools we have available to us. Kevin asks Mike to encourage listeners who may be facing difficult times. Mike responds that we need each other. As such, we should be there for one another. When we can support each other, especially when it’s most needed, we’re actually doing greater service. That is when we’re actually winning, he says. The road less traveled is lonely when you try to go it alone. When you realize that there are people on the same journey as you, it motivates you and gives you hope. There is a ripple effect that multiplies to others. Kevin sums it up in a phrase: Open hearts, love others, multiply impact. To become comfortable with only knowing the next step and taking it, Mike says we should realize that when we take that step forward, our vantage point changes. We can see more clearly what’s possible, and maybe the end result will be much better than what we imagined at the beginning.  Resources Believership: The Superpower Beyond Leadership   Humans First Club Mike Vacanti on LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook MJVacanti.com  Email: kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com  Call or text Kevin: 678-744-5111 Schedule a call: KevinDMonroe.com/2020