The Leadership Podcast

In this episode, Jim and Jan welcome Vincent Stanley, Co-Author of The Responsible Company, visiting Fellow at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, and Director of Philosophy / Chief Storyteller at Patagonia. Vincent shares the evolution of both product design and company leadership since his start at Patagonia in 1973, and the ways they integrate new employees with existing culture. He speaks to what makes Patagonia’s story unique and authentic, the burdens of being responsible, and offers advice to those looking to be change agents and storytellers within their own community. Vincent believes that one of the most important responsibilities we have is the right to be responsible.

Key Takeaways

[2:39] Vincent has been at Patagonia on and off since 1973, and is the nephew of the founder, Yvon Chouinard. He and his uncle co-wrote The Responsible Company with two different yet powerful intentions. Yvon wanted to create something practical for people who are motivated to see how Patagonia operated as a business over the past several decades. Vincent’s motivation was to come to an understanding the core culture. These responsibilities encompassed much of what we saw was important in the early 1960’s.

[3:35] Vincent discusses how people are yearning for full agency throughout their day. He discusses the traditional 1960’s corporate model where businesses focused both on the financial health and bottom line of a company, and also the strong commitment to honor the employees, customers and community of which they serve. Patagonia took this and added in environment, as this area has been compromised immensely by population and economy growth over the past several decades.

[6:52] When Vincent started work in the 1970’s, the population was now 3.8 Billion. It is now doubled, with economic activity up 500%. This has put tremendous pressure on economic and social systems, so Patagonia aims to do their part to stay responsible to traditional stakeholders, and our original CEO, nature.

[7:11] Leadership at the top is important, but there must also be a strong middle management with a sense of agency built into everyone’s role. The more coworkers that feel a kinship and responsibility to help others in the company, the easier it is to add new people while helping current ones expand their skills.

[11:35] Vincent’s discusses what the title of Chief Storyteller means to him, and Patagonia as a company. He helped write some of the early catalogs and business philosophies, so he pulls from the foundation of their core values and creates the story to reflect their authentic meaning in today’s world. Vincent feels as though Patagonia’s success in its ability to be a model for other companies, is that their stories are based in reality and not to create spin. Patagonia’s story is complex, however it’s important for the story to consistently build credibility and trust with employees, customers and suppliers.

[13:23] There are many fibers woven into Patagonia’s story. One being their position as an outdoor gear company, with products designed for technical performance. Then, the origin story of the company coming out of climbing equipment, and their community activism; donating 1% of sales to environmental causes; and use of catalogs and websites to educate the general public.

[14:57] Vincent shares a story on when they changed to organic cotton, and how they took steps that entailed a financial risk in order to do the “right thing”. It was a huge move, as they broke their connection to the global supply chain. They took providing an explanation to everyone involved very seriously, and bussed 40 people in at a time from all different departments to cotton fields. Here they could see the difference between conventional cotton and organic cotton, and now the reason for the change went from abstract to tangible. They invested both time and money in explaining why the change, and it paid off in dividends.

[20:20] One of Vincent’s key tenets of success is maintaining the impulse towards improvement. Two of the dirtiest industries are apparel and agriculture, and he sees this as an opportunity to make a difference.

[22:47] Many associate Patagonia as a super responsible brand, but Jim and Jan note that how well their gear actually performs and holds up while used for exactly what it was meant to do. Patagonia also makes a lot gear for the Military.

[25:55] Vincent describes their different environmental campaigns, and how they started small in the 1980’s by giving 1% to organizations that were respected locally but not getting a lot of coverage. He talks about the need to restore agricultural soil to health, and what Patagonia is doing about it.

[35:21] There is a strong sense of culture and permission to be active at Patagonia. The employees are outdoor enthusiasts and it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for a group...

As the CEO of Imagine Think, Nora Herting helps expand the definition of creativity in the business world. As the author of the best-selling book, “Draw Your Big Idea,” Nora has inspired thousands to think visually to access their own creativity. Nora breaks down the myth that drawing is only for the creatives, and showcases real examples of how leaders can add another dimension to their ideas (and execution effectiveness) through simple doodles. Listen in to unlock and inspire others in new ways beyond the written word!

Key Takeaways

[3:15] Nora shares insight about visual leadership.

[5:00] Paintings have been a form of communication for thousands of years.

[7:10] When we use our brain, we don’t just use the right brain or the left brain hemispheres while doing a task, we use the entire brain.

[9:10] If you or your team is stuck somewhere, try drawing a picture!

[9:15] Nora explains how leaders can empower their staff to embrace their artistic side more effectively.

[14:45] Jim shares an example of how powerful visuals are in a presentation to bring home the core message.

[20:10] An important skill to have is to patiently wait for people to finish and to know when they’ve finished their point.

[21:55] Nora shares the difference between having a liberal arts degree vs. an MBA.

[25:35] Instead of looking within your industry and what the competition is doing, look elsewhere. Look at politics, cultural events, or other industries not related to you for inspiration.

[28:05] Creatives and implementers tend to clash with one another, but Jim talks about the book Loonshots and how you can blend these two groups together for collaboration.

[34:10] Nora offers resources on the types of visual tools leaders and teams can use.

[35:55] Jim and Jan admit that their handwriting is horrible. It’s hard to multitask when talking and writing.

[37:00] If you have terrible handwriting, Nora offers a quick tip on how to fix this.

[39:45] Listener challenge: Ask your team to draw out the description of their role and what they do every day.

Quotable Quotes

• “If you’re stuck on a problem, try solving that problem visually.”
• “We are wired to think in pictures and we’ve been doing it as a species for so long.”
• “The business world has a real fascination with creativity, but it mystifies business leaders.”
• “Artists are looking outside for inspiration all the time. They’re not just looking at what people in their field are doing but they’re pulling things from all over, like science, politics, and cultural events.”

Resources Mentioned

• Sponsored by: Darley.com
• Imagethink.net
• Nora on Linkedin
• Nora on Instagram
• Grab Nora’s book, Draw Your Big Idea: The Ultimate Creativity Tool for Turning Thoughts Into Action and Dreams Into Reality
• Think About 4u Conference
• Theartofvision.com
• Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries, by Safi Bahcall
• Jamboard.google.com

Siobhan McHale led a radical seven-year culture change project that transformed her organization from the lowest-performing bank in Australia to one of the highest-performing and most globally admired banks in the world. This gave Siobhan an insider role and a different perspective on culture change, which led to her book, The Insider’s Guide to Culture Change. Siobhan provides an overview of how to best measure change, what to do if you feel powerless in an organization, and how to be an effective catalyst to improve culture.

Key Takeaways

[3:00] Siobhan noticed that a lot of organizational change and literature was written from an outsider’s perspective. She wanted to write a book on how to make a change from within.

[4:10] Culture is often framed for employee experience, but culture is much more than that. It’s about impact.

[5:30] Middle management feels powerless about creating lasting change within an organization, but change can happen at all levels.

[7:30] Siobhan shares cultural differences between how leadership is led in North America vs. Australia.

[13:40] People are running low on energy, and passion projects can be great ways to revitalize yourself. However, we first need to define ourselves and the various roles we have in our life.

[18:30] Siobhan was led down this path of culture when she was fired by an organization for going “too fast.”

[21:30] Change is not someone else’s responsibility, it’s yours. Instead of empowering your employees to “change,” it’s about framing it around a goal and bringing accountability to everyone involved.

[25:15] It goes back to: People help support what they create.

[29:00] You can measure change by defining key metrics early in the beginning. For example, you can measure employee engagement, customer satisfaction, financials, and sustainability.[31:10] We all have a mental map of our roles, but it’s time we update that. You don’t want to operate just on a functional basis, you want to keep modifying and improving the culture so that it's healthy, vibrant, and adaptable.

[34:40] A sign of a good culture is when, if there is a position available, thousands of people are trying to apply.

Quotable Quotes

• “Culture change is led at all levels.”
• “It doesn’t matter where you are, you can start to shape the culture in your organization. You don’t have to wait for it to be instigated from the top.”
• “It’s not so much about empowering your employees, but about framing the goal and not co-creating the pattern where change is someone else’s responsibility.”
• “Can you measure culture? No, you can’t measure the patterns of the culture, but you can measure the impact it has.”
• “If you do change right, your part of the business will start to navigate its way through this crisis.”
• “Ultimately, culture is in service. Culture is not in competition with strategy. Culture enables strategy.”

Resources Mentioned

• Siobhan’s website & book: Siobhanmchale.com

The Leadership Podcast is Sponsored by:

Cultivate Grit. Amplify Action.

Click HERE to learn more.

Free downloads of Quick Reference Guides on Delegation, Time Management, Sales, and more.

Kwame Christian, ESQ. is an attorney, meditator, and the author of the best selling book, Finding Confidence in Conflict: How to Negotiate Anything and Live Your Best Life. His book is an Amazon Best-Seller and has helped countless individuals overcome the fear, anxiety, and emotion often associated with difficult conversations through a branded framework called Compassionate Curiosity. Kwame walks us through how to leverage emotions to effectively bridge the gap between negotiation and conflict.

Kwame is also the host of the world’s most popular negotiation podcast, Negotiate Anything. Kwame’s TEDx talk, Finding Confidence in Conflict, was the most popular TEDx Talk on the topic of conflict in 2017, and has been viewed over 150,000 times.Kwame also serves as a negotiation and conflict resolution professor at The Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law. The Dispute Resolution Program at Moritz is the top ranked dispute resolution program in the country. He is also a professor in Otterbein University’s MBA program. Prior to practicing business law and founding ANI, Kwame worked at the Kirwan Institute doing civil rights work. While at Kirwan, Kwame focused on criminal justice and health equity.

Key Takeaways

[4:25] When you travel abroad to new and exotic locations, it can really test your negotiation abilities as you haggle for items you want at the market.

[8:45] Kwame’s book, Finding Confidence in Conflict, can be used in high-level stressful business negotiations as well as trying to communicate effectively with family.

[10:05] Whether we like it or not, we are not thinking machines. We are feeling machines that happen to think. Emotions play a big part in everything we do.

[11:25] Most times when people fail at negotiation, it’s because they didn’t address the underlying emotional issues.

[14:10] The “natural” human doesn’t want to engage in conflict.

[16:20] Conflicts break down because there’s a developed “me vs. you” narrative.

[20:55] When addressing conflict or a difference in opinion, it’s important to first recognize the emotions in ourselves as well as the emotions in others.

[25:35] Kwame shares his thoughts on diversity and inclusion and what we need to be doing better to bridge the gap.

[27:15] Everyone needs time to process their emotions to effectively communicate what they’re feeling. However, men often do feel comfortable saying words like ‘disappointed’ or ‘sad.’

[29:15] Sometimes you need an outside perspective to help you dig deep within yourself in a way that you can’t do by yourself. This can be a trusted friend, coach, or therapist.

[29:55] When it comes to the way women negotiate and the literature out there, Kwame recognizes we’re asking women to fend for themselves when we should all be advocating for them.

[36:45] You’re not going to be able to overcome your own biases unless you have a bit of self-awareness, and take the time to create solutions for them.

[43:25] Listener challenge: Use the Compassionate Curiosity Framework:

1. Acknowledging and Validating Emotions.
2. Getting Curious with Compassion.
3. Engaging in Joint Problem Solving.

Quotable Quotes

• “The best things in life are on the other side of difficult conversations.”
• “Our emotions are going to get the first shot of interpretation of anything.”
• “We’re working against our psychology when we just say, ‘I’m going to pretend I don’t have any emotions.’”
• “You can’t overcome a problem if you don’t know there’s a problem.”
• “Strengthen the foundation of your business by ensuring all employees feel heard, supported, and honored.”

Resources Mentioned

• Negotiate Anything Podcast
• Negotiation Guides
• Kwame’s TEDx Talk
• Finding Confidence in Conflict: How to Negotiate Anything and Live Your Best Life
• The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt
• The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance — What Women Should Know, by Katty Kay

Jen believes every single person on the planet is capable of tapping into their creativity. She helps people trust their own instincts and find the courage to take action with authenticity and heart.

Using her 20+ years of experience in the Broadway community and her background in the arts, Jen encourages creative thinking and imagination, so that others can cultivate new ideas and share them with the world.

Jen and Simon Sinek united several years ago when Jen began using the Golden Circle to inspire artists to make a greater impact with their work. Jen and Simon recognized that their combined efforts could help people across many different industries discover their WHY and bring it to life.

Jen presents WHY-inspired keynotes and workshops on leadership, communication, and presentation skills so that individuals and organizations can have more impact with their ideas.

Key Takeaways

[3:40] We all possess the power to be creative. It is a skillset anybody can learn.

[9:25] Everyone should take an acting class because the basic principles of acting are the basic principles of living.

[12:15] We can all get better at listening to the end of a sentence.

[16:45] A lot of Jen’s clients have been with her for 15 years, so when COVID-19 hit, it didn’t make sense to close down the business for good. Instead, her team decided to pivot virtually.

[19:00] When we lose social connection, we end up being in threat mode and all we care about is survival.

[23:15] As an optimist on Simon Sinek’s team, Jen helps leaders develop their character through values-based ideas.

[27:20] People’s greatest fear is often public speaking. However, the heart of this fear really is the opinions of others.

[33:45] Actors work and develop their “characters.” Leaders and professionals can do the same to instill confidence and trust in the people they serve.

[42:15] Listener challenge: Bring art into artless spaces.

Quotable Quotes

• “Anything that can be interrupted doesn’t actually have a right answer.”
• Get better at listening to the end of a sentence
• “We talk about social distancing, but what we really need to do is rebrand that. It’s physical distancing, but we need to find ways to be socially close to each other.”
• “At the end of the day, it’s not about the speaker, it’s about the message.”
• “Working on your character is understanding that everything you do has storytelling value. People are creating narratives out of your behaviors all the time.”
• “We can work on our character and it doesn’t make us any less authentic. It gives us the opportunity we know we can be.”

Resources Mentioned

• Simonsinek.com

The Leadership Podcast is Sponsored by:

Cultivate Grit. Amplify Action.

Investing in yourself isn’t selfish. Click HERE to get gritty!

Free downloads of Quick Reference Guides on Delegation, Time Management, Sales, and more.