Podcast appearances and mentions of Stewart Levine

Spéciale consacrée au concert qui a eu lieu avant le « combat du siècle », celui de Mohamed Ali contre George Foreman, le 30 octobre 1974, au stade du 20 mai, à Kinshasa. Du 22 au 24 septembre, six semaines avant la victoire de Mohamed Ali, le musicien sud-africain Hugh Masekela et le producteur américain Stewart Levine organisent le festival Kinshasa 74. Trois jours de concerts réunissant sur scène 31 artistes africains et afro-américains incluant BB King, James Brown, Bill Withers, Sister Sledge, Fania All Stars, The Supremes, Miriam Makeba, TP OK Jazz, Manu Dibango, Tabu Ley Rochereau, Abeti Masikini, Franco Luambo… Joseph Kabasélé African Jazz - Succès african jazzAbeti Massikini - Mobutu praise songThe Spinners - Could it be I'm falling in loveTabu Ley Rochereau - AnnieJames Brown, Maceo Parker and the Macks - Soul powerManu Dibango - Soul MakossaMiriam Makeba - UmkhokozoFranco et T.P. Ok Jazz - MosalaThe Jacksons - I'll be thereRetrouvez notre playlist sur Deezer. 

Spéciale consacrée au concert qui a eu lieu avant le « combat du siècle », celui de Mohamed Ali contre George Foreman, le 30 octobre 1974, au stade du 20 mai, à Kinshasa. Du 22 au 24 septembre, six semaines avant la victoire de Mohamed Ali, le musicien sud-africain Hugh Masekela et le producteur américain Stewart Levine organisent le festival Kinshasa 74. Trois jours de concerts réunissant sur scène 31 artistes africains et afro-américains incluant BB King, James Brown, Bill Withers, Sister Sledge, Fania All Stars, The Supremes, Miriam Makeba, TP OK Jazz, Manu Dibango, Tabu Ley Rochereau, Abeti Masikini, Franco Luambo… Joseph Kabasélé African Jazz - Succès african jazzAbeti Massikini - Mobutu praise songThe Spinners - Could it be I'm falling in loveTabu Ley Rochereau - AnnieJames Brown, Maceo Parker and the Macks - Soul powerManu Dibango - Soul MakossaMiriam Makeba - UmkhokozoFranco et T.P. Ok Jazz - MosalaThe Jacksons - I'll be thereRetrouvez notre playlist sur Deezer. 

# BB King never make a move too soon # one of the greatest artists ever # King

# the crusaders keep that same old feeling # one of the greatest bands ever # jazz funk fusion versatility # songwriter Wayne henderson # producers Stewart Levine and the crusaders # respect and appreciate --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mr-maxxx/support

If we let our imagination run free, what kind of a future do we see 25 years from now? What does the world look like? Does humanity fulfill the aspirations and dreams that inspire the current generation of searchers and activists striving to create a brighter future? There is a growing network of visionaries active today that is pooling their deep passion and expansive experience with a range of social movements to have that same look into the future. Society 2045 is bringing together the intelligence and inspiration to imagine a compelling future vision and the regenerative pathways that can turn powerful ideas into real transformation. The premise is simple: the planet has reached a tipping point in time where all things we can imagine about the future are possible. Instead of surrendering to the dystopian future vision often offered by science fiction, why not create the kind of positive future we would want for humanity? Join Aviv Shahar as he welcomes Jose Leal, Kim Wright, and Stewart Levine, members of Society 2045, as they delve deep into today's topic: Imagine 2045. KEY TAKEAWAYS 02:38 – Aviv welcomes with Jose Leal, Kim Wright, and Stewart Levine, to expound on today's topic: Imagine 2045 and to share the passion that brings them to the exploration of the future09:48 – Jose, Kim and Stewart discuss the inspiration behind Society 204518:19 – Togetherness, a radical idea24:41 – The freedom to be authentically you31:08 – Jose, Kim and Stewart share how they are integrating their own thinking and awareness to community and the freedom of individuality39:47 – Imagining a bowl of spaghetti45:06 – What a new legal system in 2045 would look like54:44 – What Jose, Kim and Stewart are learning about courage and what they've taken away from being part of Society 20451:04:10 – Surrendering to what wants to happen1:00: – Jose, Kim, and Stewart each provide one final practice and Aviv leaves us with final thoughts and insights on appreciation TWEETABLE QUOTES “Here's a paraphrase from David, ‘Always be in conversation with things that are not you. Let the fear of that darkness allow you to live knowing anything that does not bring you alive is too small for you, and you have made it too small.'” (09:08) (Stewart)“I think it's the convergence that is most radical in my opinion. There are different ideas and new ideas that I hadn't heard before, none of which I feel are all that radical. They're consistent, but different. It's the consistency and the similarity of people's visions. They're always about community, togetherness and breaking down barriers.” (18:39) (Jose)“And if we are interconnected and interdependent, then how do we remain in balance with nature, humanity, all of that? We celebrate that. And if we're doing that, how do we actually have conversations so that we can bring that, because a lot of the rules and structures are meant to keep us separate in the current paradigm. And if we're no longer separate, how do we celebrate the differences and that individuality and authenticity of each person and still live together and take care of the planet?” (24:47) (Kim)“I think the way that I frame what you've just said, Aviv, is human needs drive our behavior with one another. And, the force that we produce in society, the force that we create to compel people to do things, to compel certain structures, to compel the type of organizations that we have, it's a breakdown of force as soon as our ability to wield our needs grows.” (35:19) (Stewart)“Putting the relationships at the core and the success of the relationships as our goal and not what some third party twenty years from now is gonna look back and say should have happened. It's more about our choice making and our authenticity.” (46:10) (Kim)“I think, for me, the evolution from being myopic about the things that I'm working on to whatever the term is in being able to describe the opposite, is I've been growing to see a bigger picture of the emergence of things. And that, what I've been working on - the emerging things that I've been working on - are happening for the same reasons that other people are doing it .” (1:00:10) (Jose)“I don't want to be the guru. I want to be the congregator of the ideas around law.” (1:08:18) (Kim) RESOURCES MENTIONED Portals of Perception WebsiteAviv's LinkedIn Aviv's TwitterAviv's WebsiteSociety 2045Books Mentioned:The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have:

Reyne was born in Lagos, Nigeria. He formed a band called Spiff Rouch. By early 1978 Spiff Rouch had split, and Reyne formed Clutch Cargo, with Binks, Robinson, Williams and his younger brother David Reyne. In late 1978, Clutch Cargo was renamed Australian Crawl and started to gain popularity on the pub circuit. The band went on to sell more than one million albums in Australia in the 1980s. In 1987, Reyne released his self titled debut solo album and started the "Rip it Up" tour. The first two singles released from the album, "Fall of Rome" and "Hammerhead. His debut was followed in May 1989 by his next solo release, Hard Reyne, which featured the hits "House of Cards" (#17 ARIA Charts and "One More River" (#22 ARIA Charts. In 1991, Electric Digger Dandy was released. ". It remains Reyne's highest-charting album in Australia, reaching No. 3 on the ARIA albums chart. In 1992, he recorded a duet with country singer James Blundell. Later that year he joined former Sherbet frontman Daryl Braithwaite, Jef Scott and Simon Hussey to create the album Company of Strangers, which spawned three Australian top 50 singles: "Motor City ,"Sweet Love", "Daddy's Gonna Make You a Star. October 1994 saw the release of his fourth album, on the RooArt label, The Whiff of Bedlam, recorded in Los Angeles with Stewart Levine. Reyne returned to the studio in 1997 to work with producer Ashley Caddell. Now signed to Village Roadshow Music, the first release was "Brand New Emperor's Clothes" in October 1997. In 2004 he released Speedboats for Breakfast, which included the singles "Bug" and "The Rainbow's Dead End". Reyne hosted Dig, a music show on ABC2 (2006–2007), and made an appearance on The AFL Footy Show in Melbourne in 2006. In May 2007, he released a new studio album, Every Man a King, which features the singles "Light in the Tunnel" and "Little Man You've Had a Busy Day". A second acoustic album, Ghost Ships, was released in September 2007. In April 2010 Reyne released, TCB (Taking Care of Business), a collection of Elvis Presley covers. The album debuted at number 32 on the ARIA Albums chart. In the Australia Day Honours of 2014, Reyne was recognised with a Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division "for service to the performing arts as a singer/songwriter, and through support for a range of charitable organisations". Universal Records released a two-CD set, The Anthology, on 1 August 2014. The double album featured all of Reyne's earlier hits on Disc 1 and a collection of his more recent material and radio singles on the Disc 2. In late 2014, Reyne launched a "James Reyne Plays Australian Crawl" series of shows across Australia. Performing only songs from the Australian Crawl catalogue, Reyne stated it was the closest thing to a reunion as fans were ever to get. In July 2019, Reyne released an original song titled "Fearless" for the Australian film Palm Beach soundtrack. In April 2020, Reyne announced the release of his twelfth studio album Toon Town Lullaby, alongside the album's lead single of the same name. Toon Town Lullaby released in July 2020.

Dr. Jim Bramson interviews the self-described “Resolutionary” Stewart Levine, Esq.Stewart Levine is an attorney, poet, artist, concerned citizen, and thought leader in the field of conflict resolution. His earliest books, “Getting to Resolution” and “The Book of Agreement,” shaped the field of conflict resolution and collaborative law. Stewart's model has been utilized by shrinks, mediators, corporate leaders, educators, lawyers, and peaceniks. Stewart has done it all and seen it all. He has consulted with the Harvard Law School, World Bank, Visa, Nvidia, and has even taught at the Esalen Institute - - where we first met.Stewart is a living example of evolutionary consciousness. He cares about people and the planet we inhabit. Currently Stewart is offering a COVID safe on-line conflict resolution course via (ResolutionWorks.com). Stewart jokes that he is all about “Resolutionary” consciousness. He even sees his model as quite simpatico with Buddhist Psychology. Levine believes human beings need to resolve their conflict with the environment and become better planetary citizens. Otherwise, Earth will go on without us. Yes, there is a new book in the works about this subject and much more.In Stewart's last book, “Being The Best Lawyer You Can Be: A Guide to Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Wellness” he notes how attorneys are facing an alarming mental health, physical, and spiritual crisis. Lawyers have higher rates of depression, anxiety, and addiction compared to other professions. His book on the subject has been adopted by The American Bar Association and many law schools. As if that were not enough, Stewart is a prolific poet. He shares two of his stellar poems with us before he drops the mic and exits the podcast studio. I call him my Amanda Gorman. WCMI networking group A networking group for mindfulness-focused clinicians dedicated to learning together & collaborating for more information click here

As both of their teams are unceremoniously knocked out of the playoffs, Tom and Jay are back looking at some of the week's top compliance and ethics stories this week in the Activision Blizzard Sold edition. Stories Activision Blizzard was sold to Microsoft. Check out articles on how the NYT happened, the parameters of the deal in the  WSJ, the compliance mess in Bloomberg, and legal issues in  Reuters. Did the pandemic undo corruption risk models? Dick Cassin explores in the FCPA Blog. KPMG spanked yet again in the UK. Jaclyn Jaeger in Compliance Week (sub req'd). Person of the Year in Compliance? ESG. Mike Volkov in Corruption Crime and Compliance.   Is Abby Normal next? Banks using behavioral science. Vera Cherepanova in FCPA Blog. Businesses and Strategy on Countering Corruption. Sara Paul, Andrea Gordon, and Dane Sowers in the CCI.   Climate change compliance. Jeff Kaplan in Conflicts of Interest Blog. Trust has its moment. Stewart Levine in Forbes.com.  Institutional investors on ESG voting. Lawrence Heim in PracticalESG. The virtual Board Room. Jeffrey Karpf and Fernando Martinez in Compliance and Enforcement.  Podcasts and More Tom and Matt Kelly conclude a 2-part podcast series on issues they are following in 2022. On Compliance into the Weeds, Part 1 and Part 2.  In January on The Compliance Life, I visited Valerie Charles, a partner at StoneTurn. Val has one of the most interesting journeys in compliance. In Part 1, she discussed her academic background and early professional career. In Part 2, she discusses her move to ComTech. In Part 3, Valerie moves into the consulting world.  What is the intersection of Joel Coen's Macbeth and organizational issues in compliance? Tom explores in a 4-part blog series on the FCPA Compliance and Ethics Blog.  CCI releases a new e-book from Tom, “FCPA 2021 Year in Review”. Available free from CCI. Trial of the Century-the Enron Trial. On Monday, January 4, Tom premiers a 5-part podcast series on the Enron Trial with Loren Steffy, who covered the trial for the Houston Chronicle. You can check out the preview here. It will be available on the Compliance Podcast Network, Megaphone, iTunes, and other top podcast platforms.  Check out 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program returns, which runs from January 1 to January 31. Available on the Compliance Podcast Network, Megaphone, iTunes, and other top podcast platforms.  Tom Fox is the Voice of Compliance and can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Jay Rosen is Mr. Monitor and can be reached at jrosen@affiliatedmonitors.com.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stewart Levine, Resolutionary and Author of “Agreements for Results,” offers suggestions as to how the United Nations, governments, the private sector and the general public can resolve thorny differences when confronting the climate crisis, income inequality, gender equity and systemic racism.

Welcome to the Legacy-Makers@Work podcast. The Legacy-Makers@Work podcast is especially created for mid-career aspiring leaders, and Gen Xers, seeking to craft an intentional work legacy despite the pressures of a busy, complex life.Today's guest is Stewart Levine, a Baby Boomer who, though he was not dubbed a “resolutionary” over 20 years ago, had started on that path way back then toward his intentional work legacy. Listen up to the podcast to find out what a resolutionary is and how he determined to make that his life's work through a career with several twists and turns, some clearly unexpected. Isn't that how life generally works, especially in these unpredictable and challenging times? Stewart Levine is the founder of ResolutionWorks, a consulting, training and coaching firm. He creates agreement in the most challenging circumstances and helps organizations create human alignment. He began as a lawyer, served as a Deputy Attorney General in NJ and was the managing partner of his own law firm. Stewart currently teaches nationally to many Fortune 500 companies. He wrote "Getting to Resolution: Turning Conflict into Collaboration in 1998 and “The Book of Agreement" and co-authored and/or edited others for lawyer and broader audiences. And displaying another talent, he is currently writing one poem a day for his anthology of poetry called "Pilgrims Path: Morning Practice for Seekers."We were eager to have him as a guest for our audience because, as you will hear, he has been on a journey to his purposeful work legacy for well more than 25 years – to him it came early - and illustrates it is not too soon to start figuring it out.Having spent a substantial number of years in a legal career in various  environments and roles, he realized it was not for him. He proved he was a very successful problem-solver, but law was too much more about protection of property than people, which was against his main core value of care and concern for other people. Looking for a career transition, he took the opportunity not to totally leave law, but in a totally different role – a good lesson for disgruntled lawyers. Taking advantage of educational opportunities, he changed his “identity", that is, how he was perceived, even to his family. He explains the journey in the podcast.Some of his pithy and memorable insights you will hear are: All problem-solving led him to a great learning journey.Appreciate the power of our own intention.Listen to and follow your own inner voice without analyzing. You'll discover your true legacy there.Contact Stewart at resolutionworks@msn.com, BIO: Stewart creates powerful partnerships. As a lawyer he realized fighting is ineffective in resolving problems. At AT&T he realized collaborations fail because people do not create shared vision and a road map to results. His bestselling book Getting to Resolution: Turning Conflict into Collaboration (Berrett-Koehler) was an Executive Book Club Selection; Featured by Executive Book Summaries and called “a marvelous book” by Dr. Stephen Covey. The Book of Agreement (Berrett-Koehler) has been endorsed by many thought leaders, called more practical than the classic Getting to Yes and named one of the best books of 2003 by CEO Refresher (www.Refresher.com). He Co-Authored Collaborate 2.0.  In addition to his consulting, coaching and mediation work he teaches for The American Management Association and has served on the faculty of University of California Berkeley Law School and Dominican University Graduate Business School.  www.ResolutionWorks.com  You can find his poetry at www.PilgrimsPath.life       Social Media: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stewart-levine-418725/Twitter: @StewartLevineInstagram: stewart.levine.77Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stewart.levine.77 

Powerful Collaborations with Stewart Levine Hugh Ballou: Welcome to The Nonprofit Exchange. Russell, here we are again. Week after week, we have amazing people. Yet today, this is a friend from years ago. I sent out an email asking people if they wanted to contribute to the magazine or be on the show. Immediately, Stewart Levine responded. How are things in Denver today, Russell? Russell Dennis: It's a little cloudy, a little bit cooler than it has been. But we are in the fall season. All is well otherwise. Welcome, Stewart. Thank you for coming. Stewart Levine: My pleasure to be with you guys today. I will be landing in Denver early tomorrow morning and then driving up to Vail for some American Bar Association meetings. Interesting, because I have a new book called Becoming the Best Lawyer You Can Be: How to Maintain Physical, Emotional, Spiritual, and Mental Health. The American Bar Association, 27 authors, I curated it and edited it. I'm actually very excited about it. Hugh: Look at that. Let's back up. I'm sure there is people watching who want to know who this guy is anyway. Why don't you tell them, Stewart? Stewart: Thank you, Hugh. Here's the short synopsis. I practiced law for about 10 years in a reasonably traditional number of contexts, starting off in the New Jersey Attorney General's office. Then I got tired of fighting with people. And it was before the whole ADR, Alternative Dispute Resolution, movement came on board. So I decided to do a little career change. I spent six years inside of AT&T as they were going through huge organizational change and transformation with major law firms as my clients, not in a legal sense, but in an account representative sense. On a parallel track, I started divorce meditation because I wanted to use the skills I had developed as a lawyer. I learned a lot about communication, about collaboration, about conflict resolution working with couples getting divorced because no one is in worse shape than that. Over time, I moved that work over into working with organizations, teens, organizational transformational cultural change work, individual coaching. For the last 30 years, that essentially is what I have been doing. The last 10 years, I have learned a ton of teaching programs and all the soft skills, relationship skills on behalf of the American Management Association. I have done a number of collaborations over time with various other individuals, all in the organizational space. That is the short synopsis, except I have also written a couple of best-selling books. The first one is called Getting to Resolution: Turning Conflict into Collaboration. It was endorsed by Stephen Covey. It was named one of the best business books of 1998, second edition came out in 2008. A follow-up called The Book of Agreement: 10 Essential Elements for Getting the Results You Want. That was endorsed by a number of notable people. That's the short answer. You and I met in the context of both being on the faculty of an organization called CEO Space. It's a pleasure to see your face again, Hugh. Hugh: It's a pleasure. Thank you for stepping up when I sent out that probing email. Actually, we were standing in those groups out in the lobby, and someone was addressing the group. I whipped out my draft of my workbook, Dealing with High Performance Teams, and I said, “Would you do me a favor and review this? Tell me what it's missing.” You sent me an email saying there was nothing about agreements in here. So I asked if I could quote your book of the 10EssentialElementsofAgreementsso I could give you attribution. I refer to those all the time. I send people to Amazon to get that book. It's really a treasure. We are speaking to people who are in the social benefit/for-purpose sector. They are clergy running a church or synagogue. They are executive directors running a for-purpose community-based organization. They are running a membership organization. I see a lot of conflict because people haven't been really good in creating this agreement. They don't write it down. They haven't decided how we are going to define expectations. I would guess, we're talking about collaboration and alignment today. I would think one tenet of alignment is to be able to have your expectations written down. Where do you start with alignment? What is the starting point? Stewart: Sure. Just to frame this, what I always say to people is you can pay me now or pay me later. If you pay me now, you'll pay me a lot less. Essentially what that means is spend a little time on the front end, making sure you have alignment, making sure you have shared expectations. Otherwise, the root of conflict is when people have different understandings of what they are doing together, and they have a different sense of metrics in terms of how we are going to measure whether or not we were successful. Critical piece is spending time on the front end. TheBookofAgreementcontains about 30 models of agreements for getting to a place of alignment. Those ten elements are actually so good I put them on the back of my business card. It's not like I'm trying to keep any secrets. I am happy to give them away. You start off by having a conversation. What is our intent and vision? In other words, what are we doing together? What's our intent and vision? By the way, as a little aside, most legal agreements are something that I refer to as agreements for protection. What if this goes wrong, and what if that goes wrong? There is not a huge amount of time spent on what we are trying to achieve here. That was the perspective that I took. What is our intent and vision? What is the role that each one of us is going to play? In other words, what is each party or person responsible for? What are the specific promises that each person makes? In other words, what is each person going to do to bring that vision into reality? How are they going to contribute? What is the value that each person receives? Why? Because if people don't receive, if they are not getting value out of any form of collaboration, they will stop contributing. They will stop performing. Metrics. How will you measure whether or not you were successful? Get it to a place of objectivity. Concerns and fears. People often have concerns and fears that they don't want to talk about. They are shy. What I like to do is put this in the model. No, this is something you have to talk about. Renegotiation. The idea that when we begin, we know what we know, but we don't know what we don't know. As we work together, moving down the road, we discover things, and we constantly need to be mindful of renegotiating that agreement to make sure we are back in a place of alignment. Consequences or benefits. What's at stake here? What's really at stake in this collaboration for the individuals involved, for the organization, for the community that is being served in the world of nonprofit and benefit organizations? Conflict resolution. We know that things happen. How are we going to resolve the conflicts and differences when they come up? After you have talked about those nine things, you look at the other person or the group and go, Yes or no. This is a project that I am engaged with. What I like to say is if you got good alignment, you don't have to worry about loose panels flapping off the rocket ship that you are trying to get to take off. I'm not sure where that came from. A little feedback from the universe. That's okay. The last element, number ten, is agreement and trust. Are we aligned? This is what is essential to do at the front end. People who start to use this and discover it think it's like sliced bread. It's just amazing, the simple ten element model, what it can create and what it can save you in the long run. Hugh: Absolutely. I call it paying the upfront price. You quoted the oil filter pay me now or pay me later. That's a great commercial. It's so true. It's the price upfront is far cheaper. That's a brilliant model. What happens when you get to #10 is you really know that you have an agreement. Stewart: You know you have an agreement, or you know you don't, which is of equal value. You know that Okay, this is, we're not in alignment. I don't think we can get to alignment. This is not a good project to work on together. Hugh: I don't know if you know I do lots of group board meetings and staff meetings. I am fundamentally a music connector who helps build ensembles, which is synergy in group interaction. In the South, y'all can tell I'm in the South, we say none of us is as smart as all of us. How do you get the best collective thinking without going into groupthink? My answer to that is we teach people how to build consensus. I find most people confuse consensus and compromise when they are the exact opposite. A consensus is a win-win, and compromise is lose-lose. What dawns on me as you are describing that model which I have read so many times is that prompts people to talk in a different way, discover new things, and come to some sort of consensus that whether we can work together or we can't. Is consensus part of alignment? Stewart: Absolutely. Consensus is essentially alignment. I'm glad you mentioned the word “compromise.” You said it exactly correctly, Hugh. Compromise means to lose-lose. People giving up what's important to them. Consensus is we are all in agreement, we are all in alignment, we are all moving forward toward the same things with the same end result in mind. Hugh: It's very misunderstood. What setting it is. A corporate setting, a boardroom, or anything like that. I think it's really misunderstood. It's important that we can build that synergy if we are going to work together as teams. Why is alignment essential in today's world? Why don't you go to D.C. and teach them? You can skip that second part. Stewart: I want to go back a second, and I will come to your question. I want to punctuate this point, Hugh. What also happens in the process of having this conversation is you start to develop a real deeper relationship. I don't mean an intimate personal relationship; I mean a working relationship. And as we all know, when you have relationship with people you are working with, it's much easier to resolve differences, which will inherently come up. The only reason people end up in lawsuits is when relationships break down. That's the only time they resort to those 100-page agreements that attorneys prepare, when the relationship breaks down. Otherwise, they work it out; they want to keep working together. Having said that, why is this more important in today's world? I think it's more important in today's world because we have a lot less face-to-face interaction. So much of what we're doing transactionally is virtual. In those kinds of situations, it's easier to be a jerk. And people don't consciously spend time to build relationships. This is a way to do it. That's one piece. The second piece is it's too costly when things break down. When you end up in conflict and any kind of lawsuits or legal process, you can't afford it. You can't afford to waste that time removing so quick. Three is if you look out at the world, it seems that there is a movement toward a much more values-based business and organizational culture. Much more. Because people realize what goes around comes around. You can't treat transactions as a one-shot deal. We have to be more relational and values-based. Even the millennial generation coming up, for them, it's real important to be part of a mission-driven organization, whatever that mission happens to be. To frame for-profit missions as having a “missionary” value. Business organizations in some sense are becoming a place where people get in culture. Business, nonprofits, in that context, it's where we spend so much time. Bringing values and alignment into that are critical. Probably more than you wanted to hear. To go back to that other question about Washington D.C., about 10 years ago, I was actually doing a two-day program for the Federal Executive Institute, which is run out of the Treasury Department. I had about 75 people for two days. At the end of the program, a bunch of Navy officers came up to me in white uniforms and said, “You need to go down the block and teach those guys in Congress.” Bottom line is, I don't know if you remember those old jokes, “How many blanks does it take to change a light bulb?” How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but it's got to want to change. The guys in D.C., I use guys generically, they don't seem to want to change. They are sitting in some old cultural model, and that's why the rating in D.C. of the folks that we elect as representatives and our employees, the ratings are so incredibly low. Hugh: They are. We are shaped by the culture that we have experienced and the culture we have been injected into. We don't have to accept that. I can't imagine what it's like on the inside. Some of the large companies and some of the large churches I have served have a culture. You refer to this topic of conflict. Before we leave the alignment and agreement piece, what I have experienced when people have those kinds of conversations. By the way, another piece Russell and I present and attend is the Business Acceleration Summit with your cheerleader Shannon Gronich, who studied your program with you. She uses it quite well. In going through that process, there is a transformation that happens with people's perspective, even those who want to change. There is a substantive transformation that happens. Give us the story. Am I right? Does that happen with people exploring those options? If so, is there an example without giving away names of the kind of transformation that happens when people can have a different kind of conversation? Stewart: It creates connection. Connectivity. To me, human connectivity is the key to productivity. That sounds like a rhyme. Connectivity is the key to productivity. It is. If you think about high performance teams, what was it about the teams that made them great? The human relationships. The high levels of trust. When you create alignment, that is naturally going to happen. For religious organizations, go back to the words of Christ. Wherever two or more of you are gathered, there is one. When you create alignment and connection, you create a different kind of energy. It's there. It's there. One other thing I wanted to say about this, Hugh. You mentioned the word “culture.” I do cultural transformation work. People often ask for that. It's a very amorphous concept. When you think about what is culture in an organization, culture is actually held in relationships. Relationships are a function of agreements, implicit and explicit. I say if we can make our agreements explicit, we can change the culture. By having agreements with how we will be with each other, how we will treat each other. I have done this in many organizations over time. It always comes up value-based because people use their highest aspirations when they are creating these kinds of agreements. Culture. Huge piece. Hugh: Let's focus in a minute. As a conductor, I create high performance cultures in choirs and orchestras. If you are familiar, the person at the front influences others. I have a lot of leaders say, “I want other people to change.” I point out, “That ain't gonna happen unless you change.” I don't know if you're familiar with the work of Murray Bowen, the psychiatrist who has a whole leadership methodology. Bowen's wisdom is if you want to change people on your team, you change yourself, and they reflect that. What you are talking about is the vulnerability of the leader willing to open their brains to something new. Stewart: Jim Kouzes, favorite leadership consultant, and his partner Barry Posner. Talk about as one of the key elements of leadership modeling the way. That is a validation of what you just said. Modeling the way. Change yourself. Show others how you want them to be. Critical piece. Hugh: Amen. Stewart: Amen. It's interesting. I did a project for a state government agency a few years ago. You asked for an example. They were implementing a new fiscal system to the entire state. It was coming out of the controller's office. You can imagine the political, the legacy systems. It was a group of professional accountants who were charged with the pilot program. I got a call from someone who had seen me present about 10 years ago for the Project Management Institutes in the Greater Bay Area of San Francisco, which is where I am. I got in there and used the models that we're talking about to get to the bottom of what conflicts were between the various units and to create an agreement about how it was that these folks were going to move forward with the level of human alignment to get this first pilot off the ground and in the implementation off the ground. It's amazing what these ten elements of agreement can do. It's a systematic way of creating an activity, alignment, a shift in culture, how to get humans hooked up and connected. Hugh: I'm coming back. We are champions of transformational leadership. That is a transformational mindset here of people being aware. I think what happens when I have seen leaders go through steps like which you are proposing, there is a transformation of their knowledge and their being. They see the world differently when they start having conversations. Stewart: I call that mindset “resolutionary thinking.” Resolutionary thinking. Mindset is certainly something that I talk about. As a matter of fact, in my first book, when Stephen Covey endorsed it, he actually said, “The mindset and the skillset are just terrific.” Hugh: Love it. I have been hogging all the time here. I want to give Russell a chance. He listens. Russell, I notice Stewart doesn't miss a lick. He comes back to my questions even though I forgot I asked them. Real clarity of thought here. Russell, what are you hearing? Before we switch over to talking about conflict, do you have any observations or questions on this powerful part Stewart is bringing to us? Russell: Thinking about alignment, it starts with ourselves. I am going to go out on a limb and guess that's why you wrote this book: to talk about internal alignment. We all have that. When we recognize that need to align ourselves internally, then we get along better with others. What is critical to this alignment and approaching this process in this manner it stops any problems before they start. People don't do business with entities; people do business with people. If we are not aligned or on the same page, it won't work very well. I really appreciate all of the things that I see. This is a book I keep for myself. I have used it to put agreements together that I put together for people I do business with so that we can create a good set of expectations. We don't want to have problems later. Although this book has been around for a while, people don't seem to be as proactive as they could be. You look at your typical agreement, and it's written in legalese. We don't want to duck for cover. We want to work together and solve some problems. I love your approach in that way. Stewart: It's interesting, Russell. Having practiced law for ten years, I saw all these legal books that their lawyers put their names in. In some ways, when I wrote The Book of Agreement, it was my antidote to that kind of agreement. The legal agreements I call agreements of protection. My agreements I call agreements for results. They help you get to that place you want to. Thank you. Thank you. To validate your point, this whole notion of being aligned internally, having some level of clarity, having some level of emotional intelligence, mindfulness, call it being awake, call it religion, religious people having a level of Christ consciousness, all these things are critical to being able to engage effectively with others. In some ways, having yourself out of the way a bit so that you can listen to the needs and wants of others, which is the only place you get connectivity. When I talk about listening skills, I say that listening is a skill that has you show up as a great communicator, and it's one of the few things you can do unilaterally. You don't need anyone else's cooperation. All you have to do is drop your concerns and be in service to the other to find out what it is they are talking about. That is the foundational piece to create real connectivity. Hugh: Russell, do you have a question you are noodling on here? Russell: No, I was thinking about what the great problem is. A lot of us internally make assumptions. When you make assumptions, the expectations build upon that, which is what leads to conflict. I have heard people define expectations as pre-planned resentment. People don't come to the table. They sit down, they sign an agreement, they assume that the other side knows what it is they want and what those expectations are, and there is a lot of legalese without getting to the meat and potatoes of assumptions. Stewart: Russell, one of the mantras when I was practicing law was when you would come to a resolution of the case, the mantra was, “If everybody is unhappy, then you have a good settlement.” I just scratched my head the first time I heard that and said, “No, there has to be a better way than this.” This is the perfect transition if you want to talk about conflict for a bit. The whole notion of resolving conflict is about when I say getting to resolution, not having an agreement everybody is unhappy with. You haven't resolved anything. Going back to our initial discussion, you compromised, and you ended up in a lose-lose situation to be able to move forward. You killed a relationship. You have killed what may have been an opportunity for real productivity. Hugh: Amazing. This fictitious topic of conflict in the workplace. Why don't you give us a perspective? How do you define conflict? Stewart: An important distinction in this conversation initially is differences versus conflict. Differences as we all know are a good thing. This leads to diversity in opinion, better solution, innovation, creativity. Difference is different perspectives. A good thing. Now, conflict arises when people become committed to being right, when their egos take over, and their way or the highway, or my way is the right way, or I have the truth here. That is when they get emotionally attached. That emotional attachment is what I call conflict. Difference is a good thing. Conflict is emotional attachment. Where that leads to in terms of thinking about conflict, it's never about who is going to get the corner office. It's about the individual's emotional attachment. If you really want to resolve the conflict, and I learned this early on doing divorce meditation, deal with the emotion first, whatever that happens to be. Give people the opportunity to vent and get that emotion out of their system. Then, whatever they were fighting about, it almost seems silly. When people have the opportunity to talk about the emotion that was hanging them up. Or another way of looking at that is you can think of conflict as oppositional. People are gripped in emotion. If we were all emotionally mature and evolved, when something was not working, you could just say to each other, “This isn't working, is it?” We both go, “No, it's not.” Where do we want to go together? Where do we want to go together in the future? As opposed to processing this conflict, let's create a new agreement. Whatever we think we have by way of agreement is not working. Let's create a new one prospectively for where we want to go together from this point forward. Otherwise, we keep dragging the baggage and the cost of conflict with us moment to moment, and the cash register is raining on that cost. So that's a frame, a way to think about it. Yeah, operating on assumptions and crossed expectations is the greatest cause of conflict in organizations. Greatest cause of conflict. Hugh, you look like you want to say something. Hugh: I do find it pretty much in any organization. It's more prevalent when people aren't willing or able to confront the facts. We have spun confront to be a toxic thing when it really means with your front. What I also learned in studying the work of Murray Bowen is that you approach conflict directly and calmly and factually. If you got your agreement form, we have got the renegotiation piece in there. We don't think we can do that. We have made a plan, so we have to work the plan. Wait a minute. Something is wrong. This renegotiation piece, it would occur to me is a part of way to move through conflict. Stewart: Critical piece. Just to validate this notion about confronting. Intel, which has been a pretty successful organization over the years, they actually characterize their culture as one of constructive confrontation, constructive conversation. We tackle what is off in terms of alignment. We want to be in that place of getting back to alignment. The renegotiation is that piece. As you know, people sometimes get attached to being right or their way, especially when the clarity of expectation was not set correctly at the front end with a good, solid agreement of the kind I might help facilitate or the kind that you use. Hugh: Back to the relationship piece. What I find happens, and we had a guest a couple months ago from Australia who has a brilliant tool called the Conversations game. People are able to take down a mask and talk about things they really didn't think they would talk about. People who were enemies asked each other for their phone numbers. Part of it is disarming people by leading them into having conversations of substance rather than the ones we think we ought to have. We learn about the other person. There is this relationship building. That is what is so good about my definition of consensus: an agreement that is worked out in a group process, but is backed by relationship. If you have gone through your agreement, your tenth point is you are in agreement because you know each other by then. Speak to the relationship piece of this moving through conflict. We write the agreement; how do we keep it active instead of a piece of paper we file away? Stewart: Great. First of all, it's not 100 pages. It's probably two or three. As you see from all the agreements in the book. Two, in terms of the relationship piece, people do get emotional. We have different perspectives. We have different observations. We have different feelings because we are unique individual biological machines. We get emotional. Our emotions get triggered. You need to give people the context in which they have the opportunity to get those up and out of their system. In my conversational model for resolving conflict, there are two ways in which that is done. One, people get to tell their stories about the situation, which is a narrative, an open-ended question. Then there is a specific set of questions to move people down a little bit deeper, to make sure what is tied up on the inside actually comes out. It's almost like there is not the truth of what the stories the people hold is, but you need to give them the opportunity to get it out and clear it a bit so then they can resume the positive relationship moving forward in the future. I saw this with couples, which is where I learned, and the emotions do not run so high in organizations. But I saw couples get out of them and given the opportunity to realize, Oh, that was my husband. That was my wife. That was my partner. That was my mate. That was my lover. How have I gotten to the point where I have created them as such a monster by the noise in my own head? They were doing the best they could. That's what most people realize in this process. The other person was not intentionally trying to be hurtful, but they were trying to do the best they can. We all know we are living in a very fast-paced soup that the military of all places, the U.S. military, has defined as we live in a VUCA environment. It is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. This is the soup we are trying to transact in. People get to see and realize they were doing the best that they could now, so what is our relationship going forward? Hugh: This is so synergistic with what we teach, isn't it, Russell? Russell: I thought so. Very much so. As we move through this process, it's taking the You statements out of what you say to people. That's critical. This is a place, and I know that when you talk about marketing, people want to address You statements and talk about the value for the people you are serving. When it comes to conflict though, You statements can escalate it. It's backing away from those things and really setting a frame where people want to cooperate, they want to resolve things, and they don't want to make it personal. There is a skill, and we will probably address it in the personal skills, that for separated people from behavior or from statements. That is critical to creating a place where you got an environment or friend where you want to come to agreement. Stewart: Critical. We have all seen it where you have major breakdowns on a business side, and people realize, Geez, there is too much profit here. We have to make this work. I did a program a number of years ago for a nonprofit private adoption agency. It was a partnership between a county child welfare agency and this adoption agency. What the adoption agency did is they got kids who were considered unadoptable up to speed so they could be placed in permanent homes. The consequences for a kid being emancipated when they are still in foster care and don't have permanent adoptive care are huge. I got Masters in Social Work on both sides, and it was almost like central casting. I am working in a room where I have posters of the kids all around. The bottom line was I kept trying to get them to realize, and they got it, that working together is absolutely essential because there is a larger benefit here. People realize that. To have a programmatic way of moving through the difference in conflict. My goal was to get it so that it wasn't just an agreement on the surface, but people would have a context in which to cleanse that emotion. They would resolve that emotion. That emotion wouldn't linger going forward. As they could actually have real alignment. The technical term I would use is there was no longer any chatter. Hugh: As you are working through this, you referred to some skills. Stewart, what are the critical interpersonal skills that one must pay attention to and embrace? Stewart: This whole area of emotional intelligence, which has become a buzz word these days. Self-knowledge, having some knowledge of who you are and self-awareness. What's going on inside of you at any moment in time. Self-regulation. Capacity to manage your own behavior and your own emotion. Self-motivation. Knowledge of what's important to you, which is like a strategic element of emotional intelligence. Empathy. Care and concern for others. I go back to my electronic signature. People use it all the time. It's a couplet from Longfellow, “If you knew the secret history of those you would like to punish, you would find a sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all in your hostility.” Very powerful. Standing in another's shoes. And the skills of speaking from the I perspective or I statements, as Russell mentioned earlier. Listening skills as a critical skill. Being able to appreciate and understand that the operating system of the human biological machine over there is different than the operating system in this human biological machine. Not good or bad, it's just the way it is. Trying to be more audience-centric in our conversation. Think about who it is we are speaking to. Otherwise, we are just talking to ourselves. So those are probably the most critical pieces. Hugh: Many leaders aren't aware of the impact and influence they have in the culture. Self-awareness is something that I see a lot of leaders struggle with. You probably serve as a confidential advisor to leaders. We call it different things. I choose not to use the word “coach” or :consultant.” It's around that mentoring/coaching/consulting people, and helping people discover some of these blind spots. What is your opinion on successful leaders having an advisor of some sort? Stewart: It's critical because leaders are working alone. If they are at the top of the pyramid, or as Max Dupree would say, at the bottom of the pyramid, I am here to serve everybody else. But essentially, it's in all literature that leaders are working alone. To have someone they can confide in and talk about their own insecurities, it's a critical piece. The self-awareness is- When I am teaching, I always say my goal is to become a more audience-centric, emotionally intelligent, conscious communicator, when I am teaching communications skills. By conscious communicator, you thought through in some ways the impact of what you are saying and doing on other people. Another one I left out is nonverbal. The awareness of your nonverbal skills. As we all know, so much of our communication, somewhere between 60-90% is nonverbal. To be aware that people are picking up messages from you. To be mindful about the presence that you bring. It's so important. Always having two-way communication, or as I like to say, communication happens when you establish shared meaning. Broadcasting messages is not communication. It's broadcasting messages. There is a big difference. Communication is when you have a back and forth, at least to a shared meaning and a common understanding. Hugh: It is a lost art in some places. We are in a high-tech world where people send out data assuming that is communication. I appreciate your reframing of that. In 31 years of working with groups, the subject of communication always comes out, lack thereof. It's like when Barry used to say is you perceive happiness, it eludes you. It's almost the same with communication. When you focus on communication, it eludes you, when really it's a byproduct of building relationships and being clear on our agreements, our purposes, our expectations. Within your strategy and implementation of your strategy, communication happens. You have demonstrated in this call today really good listening skills. That is top in being a conductor. We impact the culture by what we do, and the visual part is huge. One of the trainers of conductors says, “What they see is what you get.” The impact we have in that self-awareness is a huge one. I appreciate that list of skills. Good leaders are always working on those, aren't they? Stewart: Always. It's the whole notion of lifelong learning. After each interaction, you have the level of mindfulness to do a self-assessment. How did I do? How might have I been better at doing that? It's always about creating relationships. Always. Always. One of the things I wanted to say in terms of the context you guys operate in, the religious and nonprofit organizations, in those institutions, it takes an additional degree of focus to some sense. Why? Because people have a different sense of self. By that I mean there is some element of—and I don't say this in a negative way—righteousness. We are engaging and working on a good cause. We are working for something positive and of value. When it comes to interpersonal relationships, that righteousness can have a tendency to get in the way, which I am sure you have experienced over time. This is where these skills become important in those contexts. There is something else I wanted to say in response to what you said, Hugh. It left my mind. The thought drifted off into the universe. Maybe it will come back before we're done. Hugh: I am very fond of people who can encapsulate things. As I am thinking through all of what you're talking about, the leader impacts people. We're anxious. It spreads throughout the community. Richard Rohr, author and founder of OFM, says, “Hurting people hurt people. Transformed people transform people.” It would occur to me working through the system that you have created, which is not really difficult, but is pretty profound in its simplicity and directness and the impact that it has. Stewart: It's really interesting. I was just working with a group of senior scientists. I knew they would love this. This whole model I am talking about I have it drawn down to half a page schematic. Each one of the critical elements. As I like to say with so many things in this area, all of the things we are talking about are simple, but not easy. Simple to understand. This is not rocket science, but it's not easy to do. There is the one-page- Hugh: Cycle of Resolution. What book is that in? Stewart: It's in Getting to Resolution. Page 248. Hugh: You can find out more about Stewart at ResolutionWorks.com. I would imagine your books are listed somewhere on your website, and possibly on Amazon as well. Stewart: Both of those places. Hugh: I will give you a chance to have a parting thought with people. What would you like to leave people with? Russell will close out this interview. *Sponsor message from Wordsprint* Stewart, what would you like to leave people with? Stewart: The importance of relationships. The book Getting to Resolution might have been called Getting to Relationship. That is the critical piece. Alignment, moving through differences and conflict, always back to that place of relationship. That is where productivity comes from. That is where creating value comes from. Critical piece. It only happens as a result of, Russell pointed out, being centered in yourself, having alignment within yourself, and then when you have that foundation, you can use all the tools and techniques I talked about to connect with others. I wanted to thank both of you for the wonderful quality of your presence in this interview. My pleasure to contribute to the community you guys are serving. Russell: Thank you. Folks, take a trip over to ResolutionWorks.com. There is lots of material here. The principles are powerful. The power is in the simplicity. It's not easy. What separates what Stewart is doing from a lot of other things out there that you see is that it's not just dealing with situations or agreements in and of themselves, but it's creating a framework where we can talk to one another and continue to have open conversations together to keep things on track. We are all different. We will not agree on every little thing. If we have a process where we honor one another, the breakouts will disappear. That's a wonderful thing. Hugh: Thank you, guys. Such wonderful material. Stewart Levine, again, a pleasure to be with you. Stewart: My pleasure to be back in connection, Hugh. Thank you for inviting me. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Higher instances of depression, stress, substance abuse, and even divorce amongst legal professionals continues to call attention to the need for an increased focus on lawyer well-being. Digital Edge hosts Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway talk with Stewart Levine about how his ABA-published book, “The Best Lawyer You Can Be: A Guide to Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Wellness,” helps lawyers engage with their own well-being in healthier ways. Stewart Levine is the founder of ResolutionWorks, a consulting and training organization dedicated to providing skills and ways of thinking needed to build strong organizational cultures. Special thanks to our sponsors, Clio, Nexa, Scorpion, and ServeNow.

Higher instances of depression, stress, substance abuse, and even divorce amongst legal professionals continues to call attention to the need for an increased focus on lawyer well-being. Digital Edge hosts Sharon Nelson and Jim Calloway talk with Stewart Levine about how his ABA-published book, “The Best Lawyer You Can Be: A Guide to Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Wellness,” helps lawyers engage with their own well-being in healthier ways. Stewart Levine is the founder of ResolutionWorks, a consulting and training organization dedicated to providing skills and ways of thinking needed to build strong organizational cultures. Special thanks to our sponsors, Clio, Nexa, Scorpion, and ServeNow.

On episode 9 of the Living Peace Podcast our guest is best-selling author, mediator, trainer, and self-described resolutionary, Stewart Levine. Stewart Levine is the founder of Resolution Works and is...

On episode 9 of the Living Peace Podcast our guest is best-selling author, mediator, trainer, and self-described resolutionary, Stewart Levine. Stewart Levine is the founder of Resolution Works and is...

@page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } h5 { margin-top: 0.08in; margin-bottom: 0.04in; background: transparent; page-break-after: avoid } h5.western { font-family: "Liberation Serif", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold } h5.cjk { font-family: "Songti SC"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold } h5.ctl { font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold } p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent } a:link { color: #000080; so-language: zxx; text-decoration: underline } Wealth Transformation - Podcast Show Notes:   In this episode, Dr. Cheryl and Stewart Levine, Attorney discuss:   The Resolutionary approach to any relationship or contract agreement To have all minds in agreement before you take the next legal actions   Key Takeaways:   Connecting to your personal spirit and not giving up Having and practicing no doubt Solutions are the goals   Connect with: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stewart.levine.77 Twitter: StewartLevine   Website: www.resolutionworks.com/about/ Email: stewart@resolutionworks.com YouTube: Stewart Levine LinkedIn: Stewart Levine     Connect with Dr. Cheryl: Wealth Transformation Podcast Twitter: @cherylscheurer Facebook: @CherylScheurer Website: www.cherylscheurer.com/ Email:  drcherylscheurer@gmail.com YouTube: Cheryl Scheurer TV Show:  Comcast Channel 26 and U-Verse 99 Book: Wealth Transformation LinkedIn: Cheryl Scheurer, Ph.D BINGE NETWORKS TV: Wealth Transformation Channel  

@page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } h5 { margin-top: 0.08in; margin-bottom: 0.04in; background: transparent; page-break-after: avoid } h5.western { font-family: "Liberation Serif", serif; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold } h5.cjk { font-family: "Songti SC"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold } h5.ctl { font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; font-size: 10pt; font-weight: bold } p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent } a:link { color: #000080; so-language: zxx; text-decoration: underline } Wealth Transformation - Podcast Show Notes:   In this episode, Dr. Cheryl and Stewart Levine, Attorney discuss:   The Resolutionary approach to any relationship or contract agreement To have all minds in agreement before you take the next legal actions   Key Takeaways:   Connecting to your personal spirit and not giving up Having and practicing no doubt Solutions are the goals   Connect with: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stewart.levine.77 Twitter: StewartLevine   Website: www.resolutionworks.com/about/ Email: stewart@resolutionworks.com YouTube: Stewart Levine LinkedIn: Stewart Levine     Connect with Dr. Cheryl: Wealth Transformation Podcast Twitter: @cherylscheurer Facebook: @CherylScheurer Website: www.cherylscheurer.com/ Email:  drcherylscheurer@gmail.com YouTube: Cheryl Scheurer TV Show:  Comcast Channel 26 and U-Verse 99 Book: Wealth Transformation LinkedIn: Cheryl Scheurer, Ph.D BINGE NETWORKS TV: Wealth Transformation Channel  

A new year, a new you? Stewart Levine has spent over three decades speaking to legal professionals after suffering from burnout as a lawyer himself. His new book—The Best Lawyer You Can Be: A Guide to Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Wellness—combines personal experiences and impactful essays from industry leaders, meant to inspire far beyond January’s best intentions. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, ABA Publishing’s Ashley Alfirevic speaks to Levine about how to engage in self-reflection, and how to implement more positive habits, self-care and collaboration into the often-stressful lawyer lifestyle.

A new year, a new you? Stewart Levine has spent over three decades speaking to legal professionals after suffering from burnout as a lawyer himself. His new book—The Best Lawyer You Can Be: A Guide to Physical, Mental, Emotional, and Spiritual Wellness—combines personal experiences and impactful essays from industry leaders, meant to inspire far beyond January’s best intentions. In this episode of the Modern Law Library, ABA Publishing’s Ashley Alfirevic speaks to Levine about how to engage in self-reflection, and how to implement more positive habits, self-care and collaboration into the often-stressful lawyer lifestyle.

Stewart Levine is the founder of ResolutionWorks, a consulting service dedicated to conflict resolution for businesses and individuals. His clients include NASA, American Express, Oracle, General Motors, and the University of San Francisco. He is the author of Getting to Resolution: Turning Conflict Into Collaboration 2nd Edition (Berrett-Koehler 2009).

Attorney Stewart Levine loved the legal profession because of the ideals it represented. But when he realized the practice of law rarely allowed him to consider human values along with property values, he took down his shingle and became an expert in resolving conflicts in a way that preserves relationships as well as legal rights.  He is the author of Getting to Resolution: Turning Conflict into Collaboration (2nd edition, revised & expanded, Berrett-Koehler 2009). Tags: Stewart Levine, Family, Community, Conflict resolution, Listening, Telling Your Story, Agreement, Disagreement, Responsibility, Legal System, Lawyer, Lawyers, attorneys, justice, judicial system, collaboration, Social Change/Politics, Self Help, Relationship/Partnership/Sexuality, Personal Transformation, Peace/Non-Violence, Family / Community

Attorney Stewart Levine loved the legal profession because of the ideals it represented. But when he realized the practice of law rarely allowed him to consider human values along with property values, he took down his shingle and became an expert in resolving conflicts in a way that preserves relationships as well as legal rights. He is the author of Getting to Resolution: Turning Conflict into Collaboration (2nd edition, revised & expanded, Berrett-Koehler 2009). Tags: Stewart Levine, Family, Community, Conflict resolution, Listening, Telling Your Story, Agreement, Disagreement, Responsibility, Legal System, Lawyer, Lawyers, attorneys, justice, judicial system, collaboration, Social Change/Politics, Self Help, Relationship/Partnership/Sexuality, Personal Transformation, Peace/Non-Violence, Family / Community

Guest: Taura Stinson The Album: Minnie Riperton's Adventures in Paradise (1975) 2018 has been a breakout year for this weeks guest, Taura Stinson. "Mighty River", the song she co-wrote with Raphael Saadiq for Dee Rees' critically acclaimed film Mudbound was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. She is a singer's singer who understands the nuances of song creation, production and arrangement. We couldn't have asked for a better guest and a better album to discuss and were thrilled to have her wax poetic about Minnie Riperton's 1975 Adventures In Paradise. We dug deep on this one - discussing both Minnie's supreme vocal prowess and the sonic and lyrical legacy she left us when she left us just four years after this album was released. With production help from The Crusaders, Stewart Levine and Leon Ware, this peek into Minnie's world is quite the adventure. Get thoroughly into our chat with Taura Stinson and then revisit Adventures in Paradise for the culture. About Taura: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taura_Stinson http://www.musicconnection.com/songwriter-profile-taura-stinson/ https://pandagossips.com/posts/2402 Taura's book Taura's Oscar & Golden Globe Nominated song "Mighty River" Taura's single "Gossypium Thorns" Show Tracklist (all songs from "Adventures in Paradise" unless indicated otherwise): "Baby, This Love I Have" Taura Stinson: Gossypium Thorns (Freedom) "Gossypium Thorns (Freedom)" The Gospel Clouds: "Let Us Pray" "Inside My Love" "Inside My Love" Minnie Riperton: Perfect Angel "Lovin' You" Rotary Connection: Aladdin "Life Could" Mariah Carey: Emotions "Emotions" Rotary Connection: Hey, Love "I Am the Blackgold of the Sun" "Adventures in Paradise" "Inside My Love" A Tribe Called Quest: Midnight Marauders "Lyrics to Go" The Pointer Sisters: Steppin' "How Long (Betcha Got a Chick on the Side)" Gwen McCrae: Lady Soul "Rockin' Chair" Natalie Cole: Inseparable "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)" Labelle: Nightbirds "Lady Marmalade" "Feelin' that the Feeling's Good" Minnie Riperton: Perfect Angel "Take a Little Trip" Minnie Riperton: The Best of Minnie Riperton "Woman of Heart and Mind" Quincy Jones: Body Heat "If I Ever Lose This Heaven" "Love and It's Glory" "Adventures in Paradise" "When It Comes Down to It" "Alone in Brewster Bay" "Baby, This Love I Have" "Simple Things" Minnie Riperton: Le Fleur "Young Willing and Able" "Feelin' that the Feeling's Good" "Simple Things" "Minnie's Lament" Prince: Parade-Music from the Motion Picture "Under the Cherry Moon" "Sometimes It Snows in April" Emage: "Inside My Love" "Don't Let Anyone Bring You Down" If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

Una puntata dedicate ad una antologia in tre Cd (Wrasse Records) che ripercorre gli anni del successo americano di Masekela e della fortunata collaborazione del trombettista sudafricano con il produttore e amico Stewart Levine: una auto-antologia, curata assieme a Levine dallo stesso Masekela, poco prima della morte nel gennaio scorso.

Una puntata dedicate ad una antologia in tre Cd (Wrasse Records) che ripercorre gli anni del successo americano di Masekela e della fortunata collaborazione del trombettista sudafricano con il produttore e amico Stewart Levine: una auto-antologia, curata assieme a Levine dallo stesso Masekela, poco prima della morte nel gennaio scorso.

Una puntata dedicate ad una antologia in tre Cd (Wrasse Records) che ripercorre gli anni del successo americano di Masekela e della fortunata collaborazione del trombettista sudafricano con il produttore e amico Stewart Levine: una auto-antologia, curata assieme a Levine dallo stesso Masekela, poco prima della morte nel gennaio scorso.

All'inizio degli anni settanta Masekela sente il bisogno di riallacciare il rapporto con l'Africa: nel '73, dopo tredici anni negli Stati Uniti, il trombettista è in Guinea, Zaire, Liberia, Ghana e Nigeria. A Lagos è per un mese alla corte di Fela Kuti. Fela poi lo mette in contatto con un gruppo del Ghana, gli Hedzoleh Soundz, con cui Masekela incide l'album Masekela introducing Hedzoleh Soundz, precoce esempio di incontro musicale panafricano. Nell'album successivo, I Am Not Afraid, inciso nel '74, oltre ai musicisti del Ghana Masekela ha accanto due colonne del gruppo jazz-funk Crusaders, in un eccellente amalgama di musica africana e americana: per Masekela e il produttore Stewart Levine l'album è il più notevole risultato conseguito con la loro collaborazione; fra i brani Stimela, che diventerà uno dei grandi cavalli di battaglia di Masekela. Nel '75-76, con una nuova band con alcuni dei musicisti di Hedzoleh, e altri musicisti del Ghana e della Nigeria, Masekela incide The Boy's Doin' It e Colonial Man, all'insegna di una musica afro che oltre che di jazz e Sud Africa si nutre di soul-funk e di Brasile, brillante anticipazione della world music di cui Masekela sarà poi negli anni ottanta uno dei maggiori protagonisti.

All'inizio degli anni settanta Masekela sente il bisogno di riallacciare il rapporto con l'Africa: nel '73, dopo tredici anni negli Stati Uniti, il trombettista è in Guinea, Zaire, Liberia, Ghana e Nigeria. A Lagos è per un mese alla corte di Fela Kuti. Fela poi lo mette in contatto con un gruppo del Ghana, gli Hedzoleh Soundz, con cui Masekela incide l'album Masekela introducing Hedzoleh Soundz, precoce esempio di incontro musicale panafricano. Nell'album successivo, I Am Not Afraid, inciso nel '74, oltre ai musicisti del Ghana Masekela ha accanto due colonne del gruppo jazz-funk Crusaders, in un eccellente amalgama di musica africana e americana: per Masekela e il produttore Stewart Levine l'album è il più notevole risultato conseguito con la loro collaborazione; fra i brani Stimela, che diventerà uno dei grandi cavalli di battaglia di Masekela. Nel '75-76, con una nuova band con alcuni dei musicisti di Hedzoleh, e altri musicisti del Ghana e della Nigeria, Masekela incide The Boy's Doin' It e Colonial Man, all'insegna di una musica afro che oltre che di jazz e Sud Africa si nutre di soul-funk e di Brasile, brillante anticipazione della world music di cui Masekela sarà poi negli anni ottanta uno dei maggiori protagonisti.

All'inizio degli anni settanta Masekela sente il bisogno di riallacciare il rapporto con l'Africa: nel '73, dopo tredici anni negli Stati Uniti, il trombettista è in Guinea, Zaire, Liberia, Ghana e Nigeria. A Lagos è per un mese alla corte di Fela Kuti. Fela poi lo mette in contatto con un gruppo del Ghana, gli Hedzoleh Soundz, con cui Masekela incide l'album Masekela introducing Hedzoleh Soundz, precoce esempio di incontro musicale panafricano. Nell'album successivo, I Am Not Afraid, inciso nel '74, oltre ai musicisti del Ghana Masekela ha accanto due colonne del gruppo jazz-funk Crusaders, in un eccellente amalgama di musica africana e americana: per Masekela e il produttore Stewart Levine l'album è il più notevole risultato conseguito con la loro collaborazione; fra i brani Stimela, che diventerà uno dei grandi cavalli di battaglia di Masekela. Nel '75-76, con una nuova band con alcuni dei musicisti di Hedzoleh, e altri musicisti del Ghana e della Nigeria, Masekela incide The Boy's Doin' It e Colonial Man, all'insegna di una musica afro che oltre che di jazz e Sud Africa si nutre di soul-funk e di Brasile, brillante anticipazione della world music di cui Masekela sarà poi negli anni ottanta uno dei maggiori protagonisti.

Nel '68 Masekela realizza The Promise of a Future, il suo terzo album con Stewart Levine: un brano, Grazing in the Grass, ottiene un clamoroso successo, e proietta il trombettista sudafricano ai vertici della classifica Usa dei singoli pop, dove il 4 luglio l'hit di Masekela prevale nientemeno che su Jumpin' Jack Flash degli Stones. Ma per un artista e un uomo come Masekela, che l'esperienza dell'apartheid ha reso politicamente avvertito e ipersensibile alla questione della discriminazione razziale, gli avvenimenti del periodo (omicidi di Martin Luther King e di Bob Kennedy, riot di Chicago) oscurano la gioia per questo sviluppo della sua carriera: invece di andare all'incasso del successo che sta ottenendo con Grazing in the Grass, il trombettista prosegue con un album molto politico, intitolato semplicemente Masekela, che la distribuzione fa passare inosservato.

Nel '68 Masekela realizza The Promise of a Future, il suo terzo album con Stewart Levine: un brano, Grazing in the Grass, ottiene un clamoroso successo, e proietta il trombettista sudafricano ai vertici della classifica Usa dei singoli pop, dove il 4 luglio l'hit di Masekela prevale nientemeno che su Jumpin' Jack Flash degli Stones. Ma per un artista e un uomo come Masekela, che l'esperienza dell'apartheid ha reso politicamente avvertito e ipersensibile alla questione della discriminazione razziale, gli avvenimenti del periodo (omicidi di Martin Luther King e di Bob Kennedy, riot di Chicago) oscurano la gioia per questo sviluppo della sua carriera: invece di andare all'incasso del successo che sta ottenendo con Grazing in the Grass, il trombettista prosegue con un album molto politico, intitolato semplicemente Masekela, che la distribuzione fa passare inosservato.

Nel '68 Masekela realizza The Promise of a Future, il suo terzo album con Stewart Levine: un brano, Grazing in the Grass, ottiene un clamoroso successo, e proietta il trombettista sudafricano ai vertici della classifica Usa dei singoli pop, dove il 4 luglio l'hit di Masekela prevale nientemeno che su Jumpin' Jack Flash degli Stones. Ma per un artista e un uomo come Masekela, che l'esperienza dell'apartheid ha reso politicamente avvertito e ipersensibile alla questione della discriminazione razziale, gli avvenimenti del periodo (omicidi di Martin Luther King e di Bob Kennedy, riot di Chicago) oscurano la gioia per questo sviluppo della sua carriera: invece di andare all'incasso del successo che sta ottenendo con Grazing in the Grass, il trombettista prosegue con un album molto politico, intitolato semplicemente Masekela, che la distribuzione fa passare inosservato.

Tre puntate di Musiche dal mondo dedicate ad una antologia in tre Cd (Wrasse Records) che ripercorre gli anni del successo americano di Masekela e della sua fortunata collaborazione con il produttore e amico Stewart Levine. La selezione è stata curata dallo stesso Masekela, poco prima della morte nel gennaio scorso, e da Levine. In questa puntata brani da The Emancipation of Hugh Masekela, da Hugh Masekela Is Alive and Well at the Whisky, e da The Promise of a Future.

Tre puntate di Musiche dal mondo dedicate ad una antologia in tre Cd (Wrasse Records) che ripercorre gli anni del successo americano di Masekela e della sua fortunata collaborazione con il produttore e amico Stewart Levine. La selezione è stata curata dallo stesso Masekela, poco prima della morte nel gennaio scorso, e da Levine. In questa puntata brani da The Emancipation of Hugh Masekela, da Hugh Masekela Is Alive and Well at the Whisky, e da The Promise of a Future.

Tre puntate di Musiche dal mondo dedicate ad una antologia in tre Cd (Wrasse Records) che ripercorre gli anni del successo americano di Masekela e della sua fortunata collaborazione con il produttore e amico Stewart Levine. La selezione è stata curata dallo stesso Masekela, poco prima della morte nel gennaio scorso, e da Levine. In questa puntata brani da The Emancipation of Hugh Masekela, da Hugh Masekela Is Alive and Well at the Whisky, e da The Promise of a Future.

Shannon Burnett-Gronich has come a long way since her days as a single mother of two, struggling to make ends meet. Through hard work and a focus on helping others find success, Shannon has developed into a successful, multi-faceted executive. Her expertise has enabled her to help hundreds of people with business development and personal growth by training and coaching them in marketing, event production, networking, and much more. Shannon has spent ten years building an international conscious business community, focused on helping small businesses grow through education, marketing, and cooperation. Known as the owner of an exclusive "Million Dollar Rolodex," Shannon has successfully attained over $3 Million in F-R-E-E press, and has taught hundreds of people how to do the same. Shannon has appeared on television, radio, and in the press, and has co-authored the Amazon #1 best seller "Law of Business Attraction - The Secret of Cooperative Success" with T Harv Eker of the Millionaire Mind.   Shannon Burnett-Gronich has produced over 300 events and conferences since 2001 with 100+ exhibitors and 100+ volunteers. She discovered that most sponsors, speakers, and exhibitors do not have the education or plan to be successful. In order for them to continue to come back year after year, Shannon developed a simple system to train businesses and their teams in the fine art of conference excellence - helping them get the results they want and make more money. She also has been an exhibitor of multiple booths that required planning, marketing, team training, sales, database building, and follow-up. She has the ability to systemize and implement a plan for follow-up so that all leads turn into cash. This is through investors, joint venture partners, product sales, and sponsors. Shannon's event production clients include Dr Linda Hole, Jim Self, Stewart Levine of Resolution Works, Dr. Gary Null - America's #1 Health Guru, and T Harv Eker. - Secret to the Millionaire Mind.   Notes from the session: Secrets for a Great Press Release 1. Tagline that sizzles (12 to 14 point) Think Like Magazine Editors (Checkout at grocery store) 2. Introduction - Invite people to talk about challenge or problem (Quote someone famous as substitute) Lean toward statistics 3. Body - Quote yourself as an expert (preferably from other publicity from known sources) 4. Solution - What the remedy is 5. Call to action to readers to use information, go back for more 6. Contact information   Media Kit Contents - Expert Power Bio, Press Release, Company Pieces, Action Photos, Sample Media Done, Articles or Clippings About You, Fancy Annual Report   www.shannongronich.com/powerbio   The Interview Transcript   Nonprofit Chat with Shannon Gronich Hugh Ballou: Greetings, it's Hugh Ballou. We are in this session of the Nonprofit Chat. We have had a series of really good interviews. Tonight is no exception. We have a special guest tonight, Shannon Gronich. Shannon is a dear friend, and we collaborate a lot together. Shannon has presented at my leadership empowerment symposiums multiple times, and each time, she adds more and more value to what I do. Shannon, welcome to the Nonprofit Chat. Shannon Gronich: Thank you so much for having me. I love the work that you do and really appreciate all of the individuals that you have touched in my life with your skill of how to build a high-performance team and how to collaborate and all that you do. Thank you, Hugh. Hugh: Great. Thank you. We are better when we work with good people, and I enjoy the collaboration that we share. I know things about you. You do a lot of things. You produce events and get sponsorships. Tonight, our channel is about creating the documents and the story to get picked up for free publicity. Tell us a little bit about your background in doing this and how you got to that level of expertise. Shannon: Thank you. That is a great question. I have always been doing events and bringing people together, ever since I was in high school, when I would throw parties and bring people together. When I started doing events, I looked at the marketing budget and the expense of that and how to grow that because a lot of times, you can spend money on marketing and not get the results you want. We were doing a local conference here in Florida and getting about 500 attendees, which is an incredible amount of individuals. So we studied how do we get picked up by TV and radio and print? We cracked the code for developing a press release that anybody can do. You don't have to be a great writer. You don't have to be a nonprofit even, even though this is for nonprofits. You do have an edge because of your nonprofit status. We were able to use this system for our event, and in one press release, we went from 500 to 2,000 attendees. The article got picked up in multiple places. Since then, I have helped attain millions of dollars of free publicity, not only for multiple events, but for multiple projects and individuals and lots of variations in between. Hugh: You have a book on this topic. What's the book called? Shannon: Media Magic: Instantly Get Radio, TV, Print, and Internet Press to Give You Limitless Publicity. Hugh: Where can people find it? I guess you can find it on Amazon? Shannon: Yes, you can find it on Amazon. If you get it there, Hugh, I always say to email me, which is in the back of the book, a receipt because I will give you a free copy of a training with Jay Abraham's ghostwriter that is just powerful. If you get it from Amazon, send me the receipt. Or you can go to my website shannongronich.com and instantly get that recording, too. Hugh: Great. That is a super offer. I know your content is stunning and absolutely works. This publicity thing, in my first book, I had a chapter on publicity. When I worked in St. Pete, I developed personal relationships with all the media, so when I sent in my announcements, they knew who it was from. And I knew how to make it complete so they would be able to print it. They said that was very rare because people would give them in all kinds of forms, and there would be things missing, like what time the event was and where to go in the properties, where it was. I developed a template that had a checklist of important things. I also found that a lot of people, and this was in church music, I had open events that were accessible by everybody, so it was important for me to get the word out. I do find that for many years, publicity was an afterthought. If you wait until the week before, it is too late. I find that that is a common thread with people running a charity or some sort of church program. We are so busy producing the event that we forget about the publicity. Let me run a paradigm by you. I encourage people to appoint someone in the organization to be in charge of communications, which would include event publicity, internal and external communications. There would be one person to develop the system, and that person needs to have certain qualifications. Do you find that that works in groups you have worked with? There is some person dedicated to sharing information? Shannon: Absolutely. Whomever is dealing with the event, whether it be the marketing coordinator, the person in charge of marketing, or the event coordinator, they do need to look at that plan. You hit on a sore spot for a lot of people. I have had people call me ten days before their event. Now, we have worked miracles and have done in the daily. Ideally, if you are looking at a project, if you can be 120 days out, 90 days out, then you can start building those relationships with publications, trade magazines, bi-monthlies, monthlies, quarterlies. We have a beautiful magazine here in our area that comes out four times a year, so you have to plan way ahead to get into their calendar of events or articles or anything like that. Hugh: Would you talk a little bit about that timeline? I encourage people to go backwards from the event. When you are thinking about all of these different types of publications, it's a challenge because magazines have a different kind of lead time. It's the publication day, but there are different kinds of lead time. There is a flow with this. Talk about working backwards from the event. Shannon: Absolutely. Then I want to be certain to share the six essentials that go with it. Working backwards, I always invite people- One of our greatest assets is our media list. We hear our greatest asset is our contact list, which is absolutely true. Another huge asset is our media list. With the media list, I use a simple Excel sheet. I also have them in my CRM system. But I use a simple Excel sheet that has name, publication deadlines, key contacts, but also I target writers or contributors because they can sometimes get us in to publications easier or expedite that process. At least, when you start creating that list, find out where you want to be. Locally seems to be the easiest. You do want to have on your vision board to target big publications and magazines. However, starting local and getting that media list together is key. Find out who does quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily. How about radio shows? You do this chat once a week, and you probably book it out a few months in advance. I even know radio hosts who are booked out six months in advance. The more lead time you can give with an event- I like to have at least 120 days so you can start building those relationships. As you have a relationship with media, it's a lot easier. You can do exactly like you said, Hugh: “Hey, I have something that is coming in.” Let them know your timeline, and they can work within it. But especially as you are building that new relationship, you do need a little bit longer. Hugh: Absolutely. I used to worry about bothering people with my stuff, but it is their job; they are looking for stuff! We are actually helping them do their job. Isn't that right? Shannon: Yes, there is thousands of dollars of free publicity with everybody's who is watching this name on it right now. They are looking for stories. Now they are not looking for free advertising. This is that fine line. They are looking for good stories. I focus on these three primary things. We have all heard of negative news and things like that. You can buy in and tap into some of that. But the three things that I focus on are education; community outreach, which is where a lot of events tie in, community giveback; and human interest. They love human interest, overcoming adversity, challenges that somebody may have. You may ask what this has to do with a nonprofit. How does this benefit me? When people see Hugh Ballou has overcome—Hugh, I am sitting here trying to say something you have overcome, but I have never heard you overcome any challenges. But when they read that, they are going to go, “I need to know about Hugh. Let me connect with him. Who is this individual?” Hugh: I am getting over being bashful. You have hit on a subject, which is so key. Russell David Dennis has joined us. Welcome, Russell. I like his three names; he doesn't usually use them, but I think there is a rhythm to it. I ran a pretty good music program in a major church in St. Pete, Florida, across Florida from where you are in Melbourne. I did really good events. There was a person- I had relationships with writers in music to critics. I had writers that did business. St. Pete Times was my customer, so St. Pete Times had different people who did different writing for different topics. I built a relationship with all of them. There was one time I had Sir David Wilcox, the Queen's Musician, coming from England. We were doing this big-deal concert. I sent in my announcement to the calendar listing, just modestly sending it. The person sent it back to me and said, “We can't publicize this church event. It's not of general interest.” So I went to the music critic, and they jumped on it and did an interview. I had a front-page picture of the rehearsal with Sir David and my choir, which was much better than a calendar listing. This guy being a music critic knew this was a nationally renowned conductor that we were bringing to St. Pete, Florida, and they jumped on it. It was to their advantage to run the story, which they did. It didn't fit one person's model, but it fit another person's model. I could have gone back to her and gone “Nyah, nah, nah,” but I didn't because it didn't fit her model. It fit the other model. Just because somebody said no, like you said, you have different people who have different slants, we can go to another place and it might be of interest to them. Do you have a story around- It's not doing the run-around, but finding the fit, the proper thing to say. Shannon: A lot of people say, “What do you say? You have the press kit together. What do you do?” That is where in the media list, I do identify multiple people. You know we have a bull's eye and aim darts at it? I imagine having a handful or fistful of bull's eyes and I send them out to multiple people. I say, “I'm not sure where this goes. Maybe you can direct me.” Most of the time, where it gets to where it's going, they have heard about it from different locations, so it tends to have more impact or attention. Hugh: The other thing I think is important to know is that you are sending it to the real person. You have checked to make sure it is the right person, and you spell their name correctly. Shannon: I am old-school on picking up the phone as much as possible and getting their permission and letting them know to expect it. Also to follow up and expect multiple No's, No I didn't get it, No I didn't read it, No it's the wrong department, No we don't want to print it. My biggest success was when I was rejected 13 times, and they ended up calling me when they were going to print. They said they had remnant space. Once they did the layout, they realized they had one space, and they did a full-profile picture and an entire article. Hugh: Love it. That is amazing. You slid by something here that I want to come back to. The press kit. What is that? Shannon: That's a great question. That is the six things we have talked about. There are six things to be ready for the media. The first thing is your press release. Having what it is that you are doing. I have a simple system that is one page, double-spaced, title at the top. It's very much story-focused as opposed to advertising. You even quote yourself as an expert. When you quote yourself as an expert, I wouldn't say, “Shannon, author of Media Magic.” I would say, “Shannon, author and marketing strategist,” or something very general because when they look at it and if it looks like you want free press, there is a higher chance of it ending up in the trash. We keep it very simple. The press release is one thing that you want to have ready to go. When you call them or connect with them, they will say to send it over. The other thing is I like people to have ready their expert power bio. An expert power bio- I say power because this is a story about you. If you are a nonprofit, this can be a story about your board or individuals who are involved. Having this ready tends to get people to pay attention and notice who you are, and you are not having to sell yourself. The third thing is company pieces. Do you have brochures or business cards? Have those items ready to send out on a moment's notice. Is there an event flyer you are working with? Sample PR that you have been a part of. Have you been on radio or TV or articles? Sample PR that you have contributed is great. The next one is things that have been written about you, the third-party writing. Those are other items. The last two is your order form. I don't always send this in with the press release. But having that ready because a lot of times, individuals want to know what you offer. Tell me more about who you are and what you offer. Have that ready so they can get an overview is key. The last thing is action photos. Action photos are you in action. I know that we want to update our headshots and have those, but do not send those in with a press release. You are really wasting your time unless they ask specifically for a headshot. You always want to do what they say to do as opposed to what I say to do. I am teaching you a format that has worked, but you want to follow what they say. Hugh, can I share a little story about action photos? Hugh: I love it. You know I had a photo career previously, and I see a lot of really stupid pictures. People standing around smiling is not credible. It's not very interesting. Shannon: Action photos. What happened with me is when I was first learning this formula, they asked if I had any photos. I said yes and sent in a headshot. All I got was a real small article and that was it. I started looking at what they were really looking for. The next time, when they asked if I had an action photo, I said yes and put together a picture of me and a woman standing in front of a booth or display. I am looking at a brochure pointing at it with her. This was our action photo. They gave us a quarter page for the photo and then a quarter page for the article, and it was huge. They really love things that make it stand out. So I send in a few things when we submit the press release so they can pick and choose and connect with an image. Hugh: That's a really good list. I want to make sure we get a numbered list and put it on the website. If I heard you right, nonprofits stand a good chance of getting free publicity because of the kinds of work that we do. Did I hear that correctly? Shannon: Absolutely. Everybody, yeah. But nonprofits have an advantage because many times, they hit all three of those things: the human interest, the community, and the education. If you can tie in all three, that can be more powerful, but it only takes one. Hugh: And you talked about the bio. I guess there is a whole methodology around that, and you speak about that in your book. But why are the leader and team bios important for getting free publicity? Does that lead to more attendance, more donations? What is the net result? Why do we have those bios included? Shannon: With the bio, and Hugh, I think I did get your permission, I am going to give them my 12-step system for free. If they go to shannongronich.com/powerbio, they can get the 12-step system that I take people through. There is actually a 13th step, which is listing your contacts or clients, even if it is a past company you have worked with. I found by adding that number 13, there has been gems, as I have talked to people, where Delta might have been a client for them. They sometimes forget key names they are able to share. So please get that. Why it's important is that one of the most challenging things for individuals to do is to talk about themselves or what people might consider bragging. It is the most powerful thing to stand out in the crowd and get people to pay attention and notice you. I found that in the bio process, it really speeds up that- if you are working with a door, and they want to know who you are and what you are doing and why they should entrust you with their money, they could see this is who you have worked with, this is what you have accomplished, this is what you stand for, it makes it easier for them to write a check. You are actually not having to talk as much. With the media, they want to know who this is. Why do I need to pay attention to this individual? Hugh: Wow. Shannon: With your board, especially with donations and grants, I know that is a separate topic, but it's important. They want to know, even with media, who is on the board and who is running this organization and to be able to share and showcase it, you have some supportive, whether it be big names or their skillset, that this is not just a whim. Or if it is just getting started, you have really positioned it with some leaders. Hugh: You want to position yourself as a professional. You are giving us professional tools. I know sometimes people have asked questions about bragging about what they have done. It is just a factual representation of what you stand for. That way, the person on the other end can choose what they want to extract if they want to print some of that. So those are really good points. I want to go back to the website of shannongronich.com/powerbio. Russell, what do you think of all this? You spent a lot of time working in the nonprofit sector, and there are so many people who keep things they do a secret. Russell Dennis: A lot of them don't want to talk about themselves because they feel like it's bragging, or they are a little bit apologetic about it. It's important to talk about what you are doing. People want to know what it is that you're doing. They are interested. A lot of times, some nonprofits you get social workers, and they are uncomfortable talking about value or bragging, it sounds salesy or markety. You are marketing. You want to present an image and you are telling people about what you are doing. Bob Proctor talks about it: What's so great about that? You have to talk about what's great and what people are getting out of it in the terms that mean something to them because it's not about you. Hugh: Bob Circosta. The Whizcat. You had the Bob part right. I know we know both of them. So Russell, you pinged a couple ideas here. Shannon, we framed this, at least from my limited perspective, in promoting upcoming events. What about continuing to share the important things we are doing, the big successes, as a follow-up to an event or as an ongoing communication with the media? Is that any different than promoting an event or something coming up? Shannon: Even an event, there are ways you want to craft it. What education piece can you contribute? What education piece is your nonprofit? They are always looking for that type of information. If there is something in the media that is happening now that you can piggyback on, that can really get you some traction and mileage. I am just going to use this example. We had one woman tie in Donald Trump in her article and media, and they picked it up and went wild with it. If you are in real estate and the real estate market, something is happening with that trend, see what is in the media and what people are talking about. If there is a way to craft around a story what is happening there, that is a great way to get some steam. Hugh: Is that called newsjacking? Shannon: Yes. I like that. Hugh: Yeah. You can get some extra buzz, can't you, if you piggyback on what is going on. It could backfire though, couldn't it? Shannon: Yeah. I am always real mindful of religion and politics. Don't let that stop you. You just want to be careful. You're right, Hugh. What I have noticed about marketing is that 100% of the time they are inaccurate about something. I just had to always be thankful for what I got. I have had them spell my last name wrong. There is 100% of the time something has been incorrect. I am grateful for it. I have had bad press. I have also worked with people who have had bad press. There are different levels of bad, but there are also different ways of twisting that. One of my bad press stories, they took a picture of our event road sign, which had our website and our phone number and our company name, and it said, “Road signs are loitering our town.” It was negative news. But it was a half-page photo, so that was great. I had another friend come to me with something that was horrible for her when it happened. She was in a lawsuit, and different things were coming up. She was nervous about her event. She wondered if she didn't do her event, if that negative news would be really bad. They kept writing about her in the paper. They even mentioned her event, and her event sold out like a month in advance. But she was a woman making a difference in the world. Her event was around empowering women and leaving an impact and human trafficking. Despite her personal drama going on, she was a woman with purpose and passion, and she had to keep focused on her vision and mission through doing this. It turned out to be just incredible for her. Hugh: So getting attention and getting to what the essential message is. If I'm hearing you also, we want to set ourselves apart and define what is so important about what we are doing. That is what Russ was talking about with the Whizcat. I have seen a lot, and written a lot, of bad press releases. Give us some of the worst practices and how you would change that. You have seen some bad ones, I'm sure. Shannon: Yes. People spend thousands of dollars on publicists, and then they come to me and say, “Nothing got picked up.” So I look at their press release, and it's an ad. All it is is selling. That is the number one mistake: taking a press release and selling yourself. If you are paying for advertising, that is something that would make sense. But a lot of times, they don't pick it up. Don't put your logo on the top. That is free advertising. I know people have that style, but I found that if you just put the tagline at the very top, add a number if you can- The one I said for my event, the tagline was “85 ways to improve your health in six hours or less.” We had 85 booths, it was a six-hour event, and it was around health. That was a very creative way. People are like, “What is this?” and it got picked up. Do as much as you can to not market yourself. Also, keep it one page. Keep it simple. Double-spaced. Less is more. This concept of more is more is going out the window as a whole in life. I found that less is more because that gets them wanting to connect and ask questions. I know this is off the press release, but you also have to remember that you are talking with them. When you are interviewing them or picking up the phone and they say, “Tell me about this story,” don't talk at them for ten minutes. Just give them this snippet. “I want to share 85 ways to improve your health in six hours or less. It's a great event. I think you guys want to know about it. We want our community to know.” Less is more in each aspect of this to where they are kind of pulling it out of you. Hugh: And the less needs to be valuable. Think about what the essential message is. Back to what Russ said a minute ago, why they should care. We need to hit with the why piece of this. These elements are really good. This goes for social media posting as well: I see people hammering really hard and selling. Getting some coverage, whether you want people to retweet it or share the post or you want the media to pick it up in publications, you can't be arrogant about what you're doing and press it out there like you are selling them a used car. I find that very helpful. Shannon: And the other key piece with the publicity is- Do you care if I go through and tell them what the key components are? Hugh: Go for it. Shannon: This is one of the ways I find it's simple to get millions of dollars in free press. The tagline is at the top. Usually in 12-14 font, 5-7 words. Sometimes it can be a little more. Make that sizzle. The way I have learned to make things sizzle is an ongoing practice, not worrying about what the article is saying, but how to write a tagline. Next time you go into a grocery store, look at Oprah or Cosmo, these magazines that have spent billions of dollars in learning how to craft press releases. Take a picture and look at them and figure out how to use it in your business. “Three strategies, nine tools, how to,” those educational pieces are very easy. Use that to start training your brain to look at what works. If you search “Hubspot blog generator,” you can actually put in three nouns and it will help you come up with catchy titles. It's not perfect. You can play with it. But it will help you get that idea of what is going to get them to pay attention. That is the absolute number one most important thing. Then you go into the introduction, which is the second most important thing. That is where most of the time I invite people to talk about the challenge or the problem. It's best if it has stats, numbers, and references of where you find that information. That is really powerful. That is the number one thing I would select. If you cannot for some reason identify a problem, then you can quote somebody famous. Paul Pilzer is an economist I have used. Einstein, I have seen individuals use. You want it to be relevant. But try to lean toward the stats and talking about the challenge. Usually, 2-3 sentences at the most. Real short and sweet. Allow them to want to pay attention a little more. The second paragraph, there are only three in this process. The second one is the body. In the body, you always start with quoting yourself as an expert. When you quote yourself, it's a formula. You do beginning quote, states Hugh Ballou, transformational leadership expert. With Hugh, I would put Forbes-recognized because guess what? Forbes is a big name. That's a little different than Media Magic. You want to put that big name, but otherwise, keep it general. Then end quote. You are quoting yourself as an expert. It's a statement. It's not a quote like you would put in social media. It's more of a statement about what the problem is that you are a solution for or why it's important to address that. Then you give a few more sentences. It could be five or seven sentences because you want to keep it on one page, double-spaced. That is where you start talking about the solution and driving them toward- if it's a solution for stress, you might give them one solution. In the third paragraph, the call to action could be, “Go to my website to get this information.” Do not sell in the press release. It could be a call to action to the readers or the publisher. This press release is something that could help our community, or it can be a call to action to the readers. Take this information to make your nonprofit go to the next level. At the very bottom, you put your contact information, phone number, and website. Hugh: As tax-exempt organizations—Russ can weigh in on this with his experience in the IRS—we have to be very careful with a call to action because we are not selling, and we can be classified as unrelated business income if we are selling a program or a call to action. When you advertise or do an interview on public radio or TV, they are very restrictive. You can say, “For more information, go to,” and it's typically the homepage of the organization. As charities, we have to craft those statements very carefully. Russ, do you have any more wisdom on that point? Shannon: I just want to say it's actually best to do that whether you're a nonprofit or not. The more you can stay away from selling any type of thing, the better it is. Thank you for bringing that up as far as the rules of nonprofits. Hugh: Russ, do you have some wisdom on that? Thank you, Shannon. Russell: Sure. As far as the call to action for nonprofits is building a good story and telling people where they can get more information. You want to give more information. If you can hit them with facts about the problem you solve and why those facts are important, that is what matters. We ned to move forward on this and take action to solve this problem. Find out how you can get involved. You leave it at that. With a nonprofit, you really have to hammer the problem and why it's important to the people you are trying to reach. Hugh: Russ has noted the steps you just went through with the press release in the chat box. I encourage people to register at nonprofitchat.org to get the notes, which will then send you to the archives so you can get all the history of the nonprofit Exchange. We used to do a separate chat and exchange, and the hashtag was #nonprofitexchange on Twitter, which still goes on simultaneously with this live interview. We found that we wanted to incorporate more energy into one event. So interviewing experts and providing worthy information brings a whole lot of value. We are targeting nonprofits, but this works for businesses, too. I don't think there is anything I've heard that wouldn't work for business publicity, right? Shannon: Correct. Hugh: Thinking about some of the things you have talked about before, the elements of the press kit, is there somewhere on your site that people can get that checklist for the press kit? Shannon: It might be in one of my blogs, but I am not certain. Hugh: I want to see if Russ can grab those five. Go ahead, Shannon. Give us those five. I think it's worth repeating. Some people call it a media kit, a press kit. If I understood, you are doing a physical kit that is hard-copy. Shannon: I have it on my website. I have a Media Access to different radio shows, things I have done in the past. When we talk about showcasing what you have done in the past, either things you have participated in or written about you, having those are great. I do like to have something. There are environments I go into, like CEO Space, to have something that is in a folder or include a disc of you. Most of it I put on the website or send in an email for that initial contact. Hugh: Got it. So the things in the press kit are? Shannon: The expert power bio. The press release. Company pieces. Hugh: Company pieces like? Shannon: A brochure, business cards, flyers about the events, anything regarding your company. Action photos. Hugh: Action photos. People doing stuff. Shannon: Yep. Sample media that you have done, anything you have participated in. And then articles or clippings about you. Hugh: Love it. Was that too fast, Russ? Shannon: As a nonprofit, if you have a fancy annual report, or things you have, I would consider the end report as a company piece that a nonprofit has that you can include in that. I would suggest it anyway. Hugh: If you are sending an email, you could include a link to that website, if it is a lengthy report. Sometimes they are. The reporter could go and search that out. Part of what you ran by before, I'd like you to say more about the title. I find that the title can make a huge amount of difference. You mentioned a way to come up with snazzy titles. I use the Google Keywords tool, and I put in what I think is a good title and it gives me other words around that. It helps me think about other words that maybe I didn't think about. You mentioned using Hubspot, and they have a blog title generator. Shannon: Yeah, that's really great. As you are out looking around, see what's out there. What I found that numbers are the most powerful. That gets people to know, “Okay, there is a system here. This is synchronized.” There is an ending. For some reason, if you can tie numbers into your taglines, that is the best. Looking at how to's. My personal human interest was, I sent it smaller, but they printed, “Paralyzed woman heals with ancient Chinese exercise,” incorporating how you overcome adversity. If you are doing charity work and have an impact on a family or in your mission, you can tie that into the tagline. Hugh: Speaking about- Shannon: I don't say any names. Some individuals will say- I wouldn't say “Hugh Ballou is coming to Melbourne.” This is how a lot of people write press releases. I would say, “Forbes-recognized transformational leadership specialist coming to Melbourne.” I wouldn't mention the name because the name won't mean anything in the title. But the Forbes would. Hugh: Got it. This is a gold mine of very useful information, Shannon. Let's give the name of your book again. Shannon: And then Robert Green has a question on Facebook that I want to answer if he is still with us because I love Robert and I know you do, too. I put you two together. You can get the book at shannongronich.com or on Amazon. You can send in the receipt, or if you do it on my website you get it right away: I give you Jay Abraham's ghostwriter's training on copywriting. It is Copywriting Secrets. Shannongronich.com. Media Magic: Instantly Get Radio, TV, Print, and Internet Press to Give You Limitless Publicity. Hugh: It was a while ago that you wrote it. Shannon: That is a long one. Hugh: That is a testimony. He is a well-read man. Shannon: One of my favorite things in the book that a lot of individuals talk about is I have actually given power words. These power words are really groovy, especially around putting around your power bio. It gets you to think of things like “articulated, created, developed.” Those are verbs that are action/results oriented. There is hundreds of them. I alphabetize them. That right there, people say they look at it all the time. It is a great resource. Hugh: Outstanding. Russell, of course you have read that book, right? Russell: I have. I highlighted a few pieces. It's always good to remind myself when I get stuck for action words in a blog post. This is right here in my office. I remember Shannon's action words and flip it to the page. You can say the same thing with several different words. One of the mistakes I see a lot of nonprofit leaders make is when they are writing things, particularly grants, they use passive language. That was a habit I had for a long time. When you are using that passive language, it doesn't convey the message as quickly and succinctly, so you want to use these action words in grants. Especially when you are quantifying your results and how you are going to measure what you're doing, you want action words. When you are talking about what you are going to accomplish, you want to use these action words. We have the number of people who are on food stamps, for example. You want to have these action words there so they are operative and available. In the press release, it has to be short, snappy, and get them to *audio cut* Shannon: Russell, do you find that when you're submitting a grant- And I want to make sure we get to Robert Green's question. Do you find that when you're submitting a grant that them knowing they have media exposure, do you ever submit where they have been in the media, with publicity, with grant proposals? Russell: Depends on what the request for proposal asks for. If you have been highlighted or featured, that is always a piece to add to your credibility. In most bios for board members and that type of thing, the important things you put in there are these are the things we have done. If you have gotten those numbers or results for things you have done in the past with other projects that go into that, that is pretty powerful. It adds to the credibility. You have that in the press kit. I would add that into the nonprofit press kit. Who has funded you? Who have you worked with? What results have you managed to get with other or similar programs, especially if you are following up with something? Now let's take it to the next level and have people come back to learn more about it. Hugh: Really good advice. That whole thing, Russ, about passive language- Russ is a gifted writer, as you might guess, so he pays attention to those things. There is a huge difference in how people are going to receive it. Shannon, what is this question that has been lingering out there? Shannon: Robert Green, with Think Global Start Local, says, “I am on a mission to inspire people to do more planned giving to support nonprofits in general, and one in particular. This is a sophisticated proposition. This is really about shifting people from being considered donors to meaningful donors. Is this something I can craft into a well-written press release or a story?” Absolutely, Robert. I can see a few angles with that. One is the education piece of letting people know the benefits of that, the impact they are having. There are other benefits, like tax benefits. Thinking about the education piece of the benefits. Also, if there are any meaningful stories that can be crafted around this of individuals who have done the meaningful donation, there is probably a number of angles you can take with that press release. Hugh: Thank you, Robert, for that really good question. Sometimes the donations are like a sympathy card. What we want to do. That paradigm shift he is suggesting is so important. We want meaningful supporters who make meaningful donations. I think what people want to know is what is going to happen as a result of my donation? You referenced it when you said what is the impact of the work that you do? Russ talked about it when he said earlier on about the why piece. I keep going back to that. If you have a why piece, why do people need this? To couple it with the impact, and you quote yourself and others in your organization, then they know you have the leadership ability with you and your team to actually accomplish it. There is also a rhythm of getting information out, Shannon, isn't there? You want to be covered on a regular basis so the cumulative impact is stronger than a one-time release. Shannon: This is where if I could leave individuals with anything is scheduling this as part of your operations. It is a meaningful and worthwhile and impactful way. Especially fi you are a nonprofit where you are struggling and don't have much of a marketing budget. I tell you that if you are spending anything on marketing, incorporate this free publicity piece because you can actually expand your marketing dollars even beyond that. Hopefully my story of taking an event from 500 to 2,000 people shows you the value of putting time and energy into this. I have had thousands of dollars in one particular project in publicity and am able to turn that into some great things. Please look at this as part of your operation and plan is getting that coverage on a regular basis. Sometimes you get it and they say, “This isn't going to work,” so you have to tweak the tagline. Even with an expert who has done it a number of times, most of the time, I nail it now, but as you are learning how to do this, you are building relationships and moving things forward. Yes, you should be every week spending time getting yourself out there. Hugh: I want to invite people to check out Nonprofit Performance Magazine at nonprofitperformance.org. We do useful articles. The next edition will be on boards. Shannon, if we wanted to craft a press release on the new board member or the importance of the people on our board, would that seem to be newsworthy if we have high people in our organization doing good work? Speak a minute about that. It seems self-serving or kissing up to people, but in the other sense, it is celebrating a person who has a lot of connections and a lot of value to the community, and they are putting the value into the work we are doing as a charity. Is there a press release piece around new board members or new board initiatives to celebrate the power of the board that we have? Shannon: Absolutely. I would try in your press release to keep it as singular-focused as possible. If you have six people on your board, look at doing some individually. But a new board member would be welcoming. Focusing on what their expertise is that they are bringing to the table. If they are somebody like Hugh Ballou who has been in Forbes, you can name drop. Russell: Shamelessly, at that. Hugh: I love it. I love it. Shannon: It's true. You are such a prime example of when you have had certain levels of accomplishment that are internationally recognized, those are opportunities to name drop and leverage that with your board. It's telling the story where we are welcoming this new person. Here is what they are bringing to the table. Quoting them. This is a place to quote them on the impact they are going to be leaving here. Quotes are real short and sweet. It's one sentence with you in the middle. Hugh: Love it. Think about a parting thought. Maybe there is another tip or thought you want to leave us with. Shannon, you have given us some very useful stuff in this interview, thank you so much. As we are winding down and wrapping up this hour, which has gone way too fast, what is a parting tip or thought you would like to leave people with? Shannon: I just want to share one of the biggest transformations that I see in this media kit process. That is the power of the expert power bio. I did give you the 12-step power bio at shannongronich.com/powerbio. Going through this process and creating that, I have seen this for me personally be able to get wages like an attorney. I have seen individuals get speaking gigs that they didn't necessarily get before. The expert power bio is usually one of the first places I start with people because it has the greatest impact on the results that we have in multiple areas of the nonprofit. When you are talking to donors or media, when you are looking at proposals or agreements, if you don't have that, put energy and time on that because right now, there are thousands of dollars of publicity waiting for you. There are stages waiting for you. There are radio interviews waiting for you. They just need to know who you are and why they want to pay attention. Hugh: Wise words. Russ, thank you as always for being so diligent in capturing the sound bites that matter. Shannon, thank you for sharing your wisdom with the nonprofit world. Shannon: Awesome. Thank you, Hugh, for your work. I can't say enough for how grateful I am and all the lives you have touched in my world at our events. Hugh is on our executive team, so he is just a rock star. Thank you, Hugh. And thank you, Russell. I love you, too. Russell: Good to see you again. I love this. Like I said, this book is in my office. Shameless promotion. It is best to let your friends recognize you, Shannon.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

010 - Confict Resolution - Stewart Levine by colleen mullen psychology motivation self-help life skills social work love relationships resilience san diego coaching therapy

This week we continue our conversation with the great Stewart Levine. For those that don’t remember where we left off  we had decided to break for lunch. I can now confirm that a Badger Salad was NOT on the menu. Please check out part 1 of the conversation because I don’t want to repeat who […]

 Stewart Levine is many things. Record Producer,Musician,Raconteur and Expert Cappuccino Brewer are but a few of these things. Mowo! after much wrangling and convincing got Mr. Levine (a.k.a “The President”) to sit down and talk about his experiences in music and life in general. For those who have ever wondered what it was like to […]

Funky Disco Rework of Adventures in Paradise (1975) the third studio album by Minnie Riperton, produced by Stewart Levine with music by The Crusaders. Joe Sample co-wrote the title song "Adventures in Paradise". The album was the late soul legend's follow-up to her classic, Perfect Angel.