June 13, 2024 • 46 mins
Welcome to another episode of the Brothers Creed podcast, where we inspire fathers to build the blueprint for the next generation. Hosted by the Thomas Brothers, Jared and Ethan, this episode features a special guest, Danny Goldberg. Danny shares his compelling life story and professional journey as a workplace culture care expert.
In this episode, Danny discusses how he helps corporations enhance their work culture through effective leadership. He emphasizes creating a workplace where people feel happy and valued. The conversation also delves into Danny's personal experiences, including the loss of his parents before the age of 25, which gave him a unique perspective on life and work.
Drawing parallels between workplace culture and family dynamics, the Thomas Brothers and Danny explore how leadership principles can be applied at home. They discuss ways to make family members feel like they have a voice and belong, creating a supportive and loving environment.
This episode is packed with insights on leadership, personal growth, and the importance of never taking life for granted. Join us for an inspiring conversation that will leave you motivated to improve both your work and home life.
Find more from Danny at these places:
Instagram.com/dannygoldbergspeaks
For more from us follow us on these platforms:
Follow us on Instagram @a.brothers.creed
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Follow us on TikTok @a.brothers.creed
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Brothers Creed podcast,
where we inspire fathers to build the blueprint for the next generation.
We're the Thomas Brothers, and I'm Jared.
And I'm Ethan. And today, we have a guest on the podcast named Danny Goldberg.
And he has a really interesting story, and we talked through his career.
(00:21):
So he is a workplace culture care expert. So he connects with corporations,
both large and small, to kind of help build out their culture.
And he mainly does it through talking about leadership and how leaders can create
a better culture, a place where people want to be and a place where people can feel happy.
(00:47):
And so we really kind of talk through this strategy of what he does,
and then he gets a little personal and he shares some things with us about the
loss of both his father and his mother before he turned 25.
It really kind of gives him a perspective on just kind of life in general and
(01:11):
never taking what you have for granted.
Everything has an end to it.
And so his website, DannyGoldbergSpeaks.com, he is there and is able to really
teach what he preaches and building a better place to be.
(01:32):
And we on the podcast try to kind of apply that to the family.
And it was really interesting how closely the workplace and the family was related.
How can we make our kids and our spouse feel like they truly have a part and
(01:54):
a say and a culture in the family?
And so it's an awesome conversation, and you guys will really enjoy this one. Let's dig in.
Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day.
Music.
(02:16):
You should be a monster, an absolute monster, and then you should learn how
to control it. No retreat, no surrender.
You can't conceive of what I'm capable of.
Music.
(02:40):
All right, Danny, thank you so much for joining us. We are really pleased to
have you on the podcast today.
We know you get a lot of insights and good information to share with us. So thanks for coming on.
Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having me. Love doing a podcast with the duo.
Jared, Ethan, great to be here with both of you. Of course.
Danny, I know that you've got such an interesting kind of a backstory as well
(03:02):
as just in our pre-talk here,
you kind of have of found yourself in this really cool space where you're doing
a corporate kind of coaching or motivational speaking, if you will.
And so I would love to hear kind of that story.
And maybe, and I know that part of your story is something that we want to talk
about more in the episode.
We can maybe expound on that after you give us a little preview here,
(03:25):
but just about the loss that you've experienced in your life.
And so maybe that will be a second question we can address later in the podcast.
But if you could just give us a little more background on you and where you've
come from, where you are now.
Yeah, absolutely. So a little background on me. Today, I'm a workplace care catalyst.
I go in and work with leadership teams, helping them understand what I call
(03:46):
the new rules to effectively lead with care, to drive greater levels of engagement,
retention, performance, commitment, and ultimately greater levels of happiness
and fulfillment for all those that they serve.
What led me here is a lifetime of experiences and And multi-decade long story
of living my life, loss, love, and a bit more, which I'm sure we'll get into on this episode today.
(04:08):
Excellent. Just quick. So a
question, maybe we can dive a little bit more into what you're doing now.
So you're doing, it's interesting the way that you talk about the work that
you do now and that you work with companies who care about their employees or
who at least want to care about their employees.
I feel like the narrative online nowadays, at least, is that companies don't care about you.
(04:32):
And that in many ways, it's the most impersonal that possibly the relationship
with an employee and employer it has ever been.
People don't hang around their jobs very long. There's no more pensions.
It's just people, you know, employees will ghost their employers.
So I feel like there's a lot of work that is need to be done around what you're doing right now.
(04:54):
So wanted to get your take on kind of the landscape and how you chose this work
to do. Yeah, absolutely.
It's definitely an interesting time. And I mean, especially over the last several
years, so much has changed so quickly with emerging technologies like AI and
with hybrid and remote work here to stay.
I mean, it's crazy to think that three, four or five years ago,
hybrid remote was never a thing, right?
(05:16):
So the workplace has changed, I think, more rapidly than ever before.
And truly, I believe, understanding how to.
As the world continues to become increasingly complex, I think companies' advantage
in ultimately hiring, retaining, and engaging top talent is going to be understanding
how to bring a human side to the workplace.
(05:38):
So that's what I'm trying to teach them. And regarding the landscape,
certainly, you know, you'll read plenty of stories of people, organizations,
leaders that drop the ball, that don't do the human thing, that let their people
down and the ripple effect of that. And you'll certainly see that publicized.
And I think that's one of the things that teams and organizations need to be
(06:01):
on the lookout today because people today have such a loud voice.
And there are people who are able to take a bad work experience and post it
on TikTok or social media and it goes viral.
And now all of a sudden, millions of people are talking about an organization,
but for all their own reasons. So I think it's an incredibly important topic to discuss.
But I think really, for my own research, is that companies fall into one of two categories.
(06:25):
Either leadership teams, ultimately, they know and they understand how important
care is, and they really believe in it, and they try to make it part of the DNA.
Or unfortunately, there's a lot of people who still don't. They view people
more as resources and see people as more like a commoditized resource source
and looking for someone to get the job done. And that's it.
(06:46):
And I think ultimately those organizations and those leaders who view people
that way are going to struggle, not necessarily short-term, but certainly midterm
and long-term and winning in the future of work.
So it's definitely been an interesting journey in helping both leaders on either
side and organizations on either end of that spectrum.
Yeah. And it's definitely, it's a crazy time to be alive and to be working.
(07:09):
And there's, there's, I think the world just continues to like evolve at such a rapid rate.
So it's going to be interesting to see what the world of work looks like in
three, four or five years from now.
Yeah. As you were talking through, I think that's, that's so awesome.
I mean, that people say, you know, some people work to live and some people
live to work, you know, there's different types of people, but personally,
(07:31):
and I've been in both of these situations, how you feel about work,
like when you go to work Work has such an impact on even just your day-to-day like mental health.
I mean, and I'll go ahead and go there, but, you know, I've gone,
I've worked at a company before that just, I just dreaded going to work.
It was like every morning I just got up, I was like, oh man,
(07:52):
I got to freaking do this again.
You know, it was just like every single day. And it wasn't that I didn't want
to work. It's just, I didn't want to work there with the people that I was working with or for.
And I've been in that spot, but then, you know, I'm in a different spot now
where it's like, you know, yeah, it kind of sucks to get up and go to work for the man or whatever.
But at the same point, like if you enjoy who you work with and,
(08:14):
you know, you can kind of, it just, it makes life so much better personally.
Absolutely. And, you know, I always say leaders have the opportunity to give
their people the greatest gift or the greatest curse and it's in their hands,
which one they want to give.
Yeah. And I think a lot of that comes down to, yeah, leadership and managers
and different things like that.
(08:34):
I was going to ask, is your organization or leadership team,
are they supportive of the podcast?
Yeah, actually. And it's kind of every place that I've gone,
I've made sure to be like, hey, you know, I have this side thing with my brother, we do this podcast.
And there's been a couple of times where we need to be maybe try to be a little
bit careful with what we say, you know, but most of the time they're just like, yeah, sure.
(08:57):
As long as it doesn't interfere with your day-to-day or with...
I think on one time, there was one podcast where I accidentally wore one of
the company shirts and it had the company logo on it.
And I was just like, I got done. I was like, oh, shoot.
So I had to go back and edit out this block over my shirt so that the company logo didn't show.
(09:17):
Yeah. I think that's awesome. And I think that's a great example.
And I'm not sure exactly what organization you work with, but that's a great
example of work-life integration. And I think.
Truly, one of the things that I encourage leaders to do is to understand who
their people are and what's important to them.
And the better we can let go of our own assumptions and rather really understand
(09:39):
who our people are when they come to work and the things that are truly most
important to them, the better we can honor that.
So how cool is it that the organization you work with honors that and lets you
do your thing and you come to work probably more energized because they're supportive of that.
On the contrary, if they weren't, maybe you'd feel differently.
Yeah. I don't like people tell me what to do. I think anyone does.
(10:02):
Yeah. So, so just to piggyback off that real quick, you know,
I don't know what, if you kind of stick to certain industries or whatnot,
but I would be curious to see if there are certain industries,
certain types of, of companies, organizations, or maybe, you know,
industry or a size of a company that you feel are kind of better or worse at,
(10:23):
at, at kind of creating this, this culture.
Yeah, I don't necessarily think size matters.
I think it's really surprising, actually. I spoke to a small law firm recently,
and it was small, like less than 20 employees.
And I was shocked at how quickly silos develop within such a small organization.
And I think the same problems that are happening in organizations with 300 people
(10:46):
or 3,000 is also happening with organizations that are 30 people.
So I think while no two organizations are truly alike, I think they're all facing the the same problems.
And after all, we're all building with human beings are building these businesses
and they're human beings with fears, anxieties, hopes, dreams,
(11:06):
aspirations, and understanding how to harness those people, support them through
life, through life changes.
That's like, I think what leadership comes down to at the end of the day. And I think,
perhaps in a smaller organization, you might be able to really get to know each
and every single person.
But I think even in larger organizations, you have similar opportunities,
(11:27):
it might just be a little bit more challenging.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. I went from working for an absolutely behemoth.
I've worked for a lot of big companies. I've worked for Goldman Sachs,
I've worked for Citibank.
Most recently, I worked I worked for Vanguard, which is one of the biggest companies
on earth, at least asset-wise.
And now I left Vanguard about a couple months ago and went to a very small company
(11:53):
doing analytics for just a small shop.
And there's a lot of differences. And so it just – there's a lot more – it's
interesting just to see the difference between a major company and a small company.
The resources that they can bring to bear to make you feel at home sometimes
can feel genuine. Sometimes they can feel disingenuous.
(12:13):
But other times, like at the small company, just having the CEO come by and
say, hey, how's it going? Or good morning.
That means a lot. So it's interesting having been on both sides of the coin,
kind of huge, huge companies and then kind of small shops.
Yeah, absolutely. So obviously leadership is huge, right?
(12:34):
And Jared and I in the podcast have talked about leadership a lot in some of
the examples we've given and what we try to do as men and as husbands and as fathers,
right, is constantly leadership is something that we constantly think about. out.
Are there any, like in, in your, your presentations or your experience,
(12:59):
your interactions with different companies and things like that?
Are there certain key, and I'm going to put you on the spot here.
We didn't actually ask this question, so I'll just preface with that.
But are there certain like types of leaders or like certain things that leaders
do that kind of stand out to you that is like, oh man,
this organization has a really good, whether culture or feeling or is an awesome
(13:25):
place to work because this leader does this or because this leader acts this way or has this quality?
Yeah. So in the context of my body of work and what I study,
which is connection, belonging, and ultimately care, I see leaders do three things extremely well.
Number one is build a safe environment. So they create a safe space for their
(13:47):
employees where when people come to work, they know they're safe in their role,
but also safe to be their authentic self.
Number two is to seek to understand their people.
They really strive to understand who their people are when they come to work
and strive to understand what's most important to them.
And the third is continuous connection.
(14:09):
They make connection of priority, whether it be once a week, once a month.
They make connecting with their employees continuously a priority so they can
best understand how they can
tailor and personalize how they lead to serve the people that they serve.
So I'd say across the board, those are the three things that I've seen some
of the most cutting edge organizations and leaders do that have built thriving
(14:31):
workplaces where the retention is extremely high,
where the engagement is extremely high, and the cultures where people who join
tend to never leave and they never have some of those feelings that you woke
up where they dread going to work.
And those are some of the stories of the leaders that I share in the work that I do today.
I'm always hesitant about that, bring your whole self to work.
(14:51):
I'm like, I don't know if they want my whole self. I think I should probably
give some of my thoughts and opinions to myself.
Well, I think what I would say is important is that organizations need to know
not everyone is going to want to open up.
Not everyone's going to want to bring their whole self to work, but plenty of people do.
And I think it's about creating, going back to creating that safe space.
(15:13):
It's about creating the space where people are able to, if that's what they choose to do.
And one of the things going back to it, it's not like a major thing,
but great leaders create that space.
They take the lead in opening up, being vulnerable and making people feel safe
to truly be their whole self at work and open up and talk about life outside
of work and know that that's okay.
(15:34):
And that it's okay to express a full emotional range of scale of things that
are going on in your life outside of work and just be a human when you come to work.
And so much of what led me to doing this is the range of life experience that
I had from when I was 20 years old till 30.
So when I was 20 years old, my dad passed away from cancer.
(15:57):
And life was really different then for me. I'd say there was like before he died and after he died.
And when my mom passed away five years later from cancer, and there was certainly
life before she died and life after she died.
And I think the thing without a doubt that I bring when I speak to organizations
and leaders is this human side.
(16:18):
It's not, I'm not the most tactical person. I'm not telling you that this is
the playbook you need to do exactly A, B, C, D.
But I can give you a set of things that I know that are heart centered,
that people want, that people need to thrive both in their role at work and in life.
And my own experiences with grief and loss have really shaped my own perspective
(16:39):
on what's important when we show up to work on a regular basis and go home so
we could be the present husband,
father, and friend that we want to be in this bigger picture of life.
Were you in school or were you working when this happened? You said you're 20,
so it sounds like you might have been in school.
So when my dad passed away, I was in school. I was a junior.
(17:01):
It was summer from my junior year to my senior year.
So I'm very entrepreneurial. I started my first business when I was 14 years
old, really thanks to my dad, which I can get into if you want to hear a little bit of the backstory.
But when he passed away, so leading up to his death, I had a boxing glove business
that I started when I was 14 years old. I imported boxing equipment from Thailand.
(17:22):
I sold here in the States and it became a pretty successful business early on
as a high schooler going into college.
And as the business continued to grow, my dad really encouraged me,
pushed me from an early age to lean into my love and passion for boxing and
pursue it, not necessarily for sport, but more from the business side. died.
And when he died, a lot of my love for what I was doing shifted from this love
(17:50):
for building this business,
this thing that was really evolving on its own at that point,
to me starting to ask new questions like, how do I make the most money possible to take care of my mom?
And through that, it led me down a very different path. I ended up selling my box club business.
I started another business, which led to another business. And ultimately,
when I was in my early 20s, I started a consumer product manufacturing agency.
(18:16):
And that business took off way faster than any business I'd ever been involved in.
And from really 21 till... From 22 till 25, when my mom passed away,
all I was focused on was making the most money possible, building my business up.
And when my mom passed away, it was the first time truly in five years of my
life that I sat down and asked myself, how and where do I want to spend my time,
(18:41):
knowing that my time is limited?
Because up until that point, I was kind of like on.
I was kind of like living automatically in some sense of just like,
go, go, go, keep building, keep building.
And I told my mom on her deathbed, all I wanted to do was give her,
was buy her an apartment that would be closer to me in New York City and provide
(19:02):
some sense of financial security for her.
And that was my driving force in my early 20s. And when she passed away,
everything changed for me. Yeah.
You'd mentioned a little bit something there about your purpose.
Your purpose was providing for your mom and you were go, go, go, go.
(19:22):
And then your mom passed away. So I'm curious, what would you say that purpose is?
What has that purpose become? Because it sounds like you shifted away from that.
Maybe you're not as go, go, go on that specific business that you have,
but you're still driving pretty hard. What would you say your purpose maybe
(19:42):
has shifted to now that it's not just to provide a good life for your mom?
Yeah, so... That's a hard question to answer. I realize that.
Yeah, well, what's your purpose in life? No.
Listen, I'll give you my best answer. I actually feel like I could confidently answer, to be honest.
So I'd say like twofold. One, after she died...
(20:04):
I made a lot of changes in my personal life. I re-evaluated.
The number one single question that I kept asking myself on repeat is,
knowing my time is limited, knowing tomorrow is not guaranteed,
how and where do I want to spend my limited time?
And that led to a string of different things, not just in business and in my
professional career, but personally.
(20:25):
I ended up telling my now wife that I had feelings for her and today we're married.
I ended up restructuring so much of how and where I was spending my personal
time to better align the life I really wanted to be living.
And on my business front, so I was in my own business at the time that was growing.
I started to have the feeling like this isn't the work that I really want to be doing.
(20:48):
So I asked Ethan at the beginning if the company is supportive of the podcast.
So I started a podcast the day before the world shut down with COVID,
started growing that. and my business partner at the time, it became a friction
point where he said, you know, he'd say things like, you can either work the
business or you could work the podcast, but you really should choose one.
Really unsupportive of this thing that became very important to me.
(21:11):
It gave me like this second life because I spent, you know, two hours a week
interviewing cool, interesting people about how to live an intentional life
outside of just the go, go, go and bustle of work.
I mean, it it became a friction point and there were other things of course
but i'd say within building my business i had a team of about 10 and then the
(21:32):
the number one thing that i enjoyed the most were,
the people yeah i never viewed anyone
as like a resource as hey we need to fill this role to do xyz i always viewed
them as people first and interestingly enough my business was based in hong
kong so this before covid like even before the world shut down i was in new
york running my company with my team in Hong Kong and we get on phone calls.
(21:56):
And whenever I'd go to Hong Kong or to China to visit these factory partners,
I really tried to be hyper-intentional around how do I make the most of my time
together with my employees, with my team, because I had.
Seven, 10, 14 days at a time when we weren't together every single day.
So I'd really try to understand who they were, what was important to them,
(22:19):
what were their dreams and aspirations?
What's their motivation for coming to work with me and for me and my business?
And how can I support them? How can I support them to get them to go where they want to go?
So that was the thing that I loved.
And when I decided to leave my business because of a lot of friction that was
caused, really a catalyst of starting a podcast, I.
(22:43):
It wasn't exactly a straight line to where I am today, but I quickly realized
like, wow, there are so many people who are in similar situations where the
stakes perhaps are much lower.
Like I walked away from a very successful business that I spent eight years of my life building.
And I walked away from all that to go and help other leaders understand what
(23:03):
not to do and what they can do to thrive in the future of work.
And I think that that's like a really exciting thing. And I guess one other
thing that I want to bring up, I mentioned it a little bit earlier,
but the whole point of, to me, there's many reasons to connect with your people at work.
But one of the biggest things is that in five years of my life,
(23:24):
I went through two major life changes. My dad passed away and then my mom passed away.
My mom, I was already working. My dad, I was in school. But plenty of people
who are working in the day-to-day, they are dealing with life changes on a regular
basis and going through those changes.
And the only way that you can possibly support their people is to truly understand
who they are and connect with them.
(23:45):
And I said it already, but leaders have the opportunity to give people the greatest
gift or the greatest first.
And I think people can thrive and change people's lives in those moments.
And I'm in the business of impacting those people and helping them understand
how to serve those people.
No, I love that. I think that, you know, as Ethan and I, you know, we're both dads.
(24:06):
We're both actually dads of four. We have four kids each.
And so we've got a lot of little rascals running around.
And at this point, they're all real little, all under the age of 10,
or 10 or younger, at least.
And, you know, just listening to what, and that's one of the themes of our podcast.
We talk about fatherhood, leadership, and as I'm kind of hearing you talk about
(24:27):
the need in the corporate space
for, to bring your authentic self and to understand what people are doing.
I think, I just can't, I see that so much in fatherhood and being a leader in your own family.
Are we as fathers providing a space for our kids to be their authentic selves in our own homes.
(24:51):
Maybe Ethan, you go to work and you're like, I can't be my authentic self at work.
Maybe your kids feel like they can't be their authentic self at school.
But when they come home, are you allowing them to be their authentic selves at home?
If they're upset or if they're... This is something I've been trying to work
on in my home is that if my kids are upset or they're They're feeling a certain way.
(25:12):
Am I allowing them to feel those feelings or am I allowing them to be silly at home?
Or am I saying like, no, you've got to be this way. You've got to be that way.
Am I not allowing them to bring their authentic selves into our own home?
And that's the last place where you can be yourself.
And so I never want to make my kids feel like they can't be themselves in their own home.
(25:37):
And that especially as I, as their father, don't love them for who they are.
There's a kind of a phrase or saying that I've always loved that sometimes people
view parenting as like shaping children, like you're molding clay.
But I think a better analogy is like, I've been given different types of seeds.
(25:58):
I view each of my children as a seed. Now, they could be different.
One could be an oak tree. One could be a pine tree. One could be a palmetto tree.
But my job isn't necessarily to shape them exactly how I think they should be,
but rather to grow them into whoever it is that they are, into their authentic
selves, which I think is kind of what you're saying about the the corporate environment as well.
(26:20):
You want to understand what exactly these people want and you said,
why do you guys want to work for me?
What is it that you want in life? How can I help you get there?
What do you want to be in your career?
So it's kind of that same exact thing, but as fathers and mothers as well,
how can we help our kids grow into themselves and discover who their authentic
(26:40):
selves are so they're not just pretending all the time to be something thing
or to fit a mold that you've cast for them.
And I think that a lot of issues arise when kids eventually outgrow this mold
or they're uncomfortable in this mold that you put them in, and then they don't
really have a place to be their authentic selves.
(27:01):
And so they might go looking elsewhere for that. So those are some of my thoughts
about parenthood and how the things you're saying apply to being a father as well.
Yeah, that's cool. I never thought about it that way, obviously,
but that that's awesome to hear.
Yeah. I wanted to, I want to take a step back to kind of the earlier conversation
that you were talking about with your, your parents as well.
(27:22):
And this kind of relates to the parenthood and fatherhood as well.
First off, thank you for, for sharing about your, your parents and,
and a little bit about them and then your experience with, with having to deal with them passing.
I can't even imagine the, the, the pain and the
heartache that yeah that that took to go
through that but from the sounds of
(27:45):
it and when you're talking about kind of your your boxing business that your
your dad you were talking was was kind of he was supportive of you he was he
was there and he wanted you to succeed and giving you advice and different things
like that is there anything that you you learned from your
dad that you feel has, has stuck with you? Yeah.
(28:09):
Anything I learned so much, you know, and continue to continue to.
Yeah, I really feel like I hit the lotto with my parents. And although our time
was cut short, I wouldn't trade anything.
I think one of the things that my dad did exceptionally well was really believing in me.
And it's funny because it was just actually last week was 10 years since he passed away.
(28:33):
And I just made a post on LinkedIn the other day around how he gave me what
I believe is the greatest gift, which was his belief in me. And whatever it
was, he really made me feel like it's possible.
And early on, before I started the boxing business, not necessarily that I had
the aspiration to become a professional fighter, but I had the aspiration to step in the ring.
(28:56):
And he believed in me. He said, go and do it and put your heart into it and make it happen.
And I had a couple amateur kickboxing fights as a teen, which was exciting beyond
belief. And that later turned into him channeling my energy in a different direction,
which was more the business sense.
But once I started that, our bond grew tenfold because when we weren't talking
(29:22):
about the fights that were on Saturday night, we'd hang out talking about the
business, how to grow the business, what's next.
And one of the things that's really cool about just like the way that he supported
me was that it was never like he told me you must do this or you should do this.
Once the business was kind of operational, it was maybe try that out and see what happens.
(29:45):
It was very experimental and figure it out, like be curious and see what you can make happen.
And there was never anything that was too far out of reach. And I'll give you
a perfect example of the time, a boxer that I love that was up and coming from
Brooklyn. His name was Demetri Salida.
Um, and he's still a friend today. He was on the rise.
On the rise he was top contender he fought for
(30:07):
a world title and i wanted him to wear my gloves i had no
idea like i was 14 years old at the time no idea
how to get in touch with him how to find him all those things and um as a 14
year old i figured out like where he was who to speak to and i ended up finding
him and i reached out to him to do like the first photo shoot with in our boxing
gloves and whatever christ they came back i was like dude i'm a 14 year old
(30:30):
kid i don't have that type of money.
And we ended up talking and he ended up agreeing to do it for like a couple hundred dollars.
And it's a perfect example where my dad wasn't like, oh, that's far-fetched
or that's not going to be possible. What are you crazy?
He was supportive and just like he really believed, go and figure this thing out.
And that's really what my life was like from like 14 to 20 until he passed away.
(30:52):
That's cool. It's a cool story. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that out.
Demetri is still like, today, he's still like a close friend. And it's like,
oh, we shared a lot of fun experiences after that that's cool that's awesome
yeah so i think i think just to answer your question like really as a as a you
know when i look at a parent or my dad specifically,
(31:13):
he he he gave me he just gave me this like this belief and i i i don't know
if i don't know if anyone like since he's died has given me like similar maybe
my wife you know but like there's nothing like a parent's love in terms of really
believing in their children.
And I really felt like that carried me then and continues to like carry carry with me today.
(31:36):
That's awesome thank you for
sharing that that's i mean that that's
a person that you want to look up to just in general as a father like be supportive
and and you know the the different interests and things and believe in your
kids when they say that they're interested or they want to try something yeah
(31:56):
that's awesome i'm not i'm not a parent yet i mentioned i just have one
beautiful golden retriever, but, um, you know, I,
I, I do think a lot about, you know, the, the parent that I want to be one day.
And I, I think about the power of like our words and the belief and it is important,
you know, like who's, I'm just using this as the example and the cards unfolded how they were.
(32:19):
I decided not to like pursue kickboxing, but who's to say like,
you don't know what your kid's potential is or will be.
And I think it's, it's a parent's job to harness that and to support them in
growing and figuring those things out as they embark on their own journey.
And I feel like that was very much my own experience, at least with my dad.
(32:41):
And after he died, I'd say my mom was still extremely supportive in her belief.
But for whatever reason, I think my dad's held a little bit more weight,
if I'm being completely honest.
But my mom- He's your dad. Yeah.
It was just like, there's a little bit difference, I guess. Guy to guy.
Yeah, yeah. That's awesome.
(33:02):
Kind of getting back to kind of your current business and being this kind of
this workplace culture care expert.
I'm sure that a lot of the experiences that you had in your life and,
and the relationships you had with your dad and your mom,
and I'm sure some other great people as well have helped kind of guide some
(33:25):
of your, kind of your main talking points maybe,
or your, your kind of your, your keynotes that you talk about when you give presentations,
would you ever kind of walk us through what that might look like?
I mean, and maybe it's different for every organization, Maybe it's different for the size or the type,
you know, but what is your goal whenever you go in to to give one of these speeches
(33:52):
or classes or whatever you consider them?
What's your strategy going into these? Yeah, so.
It's a great question. And I think they are a little bit different. It totally depends.
It's not necessarily my goal. It's more the goal of the client and those that
are hiring me and those that I'm serving.
It totally depends on what they're hoping to achieve and what they're looking
(34:14):
to accomplish in hiring me and bringing an outside speaker and expert to their workplace.
They typically tell you that beforehand, like, hey, this is what we're trying to do. Yeah.
So we'll do plenty of calls beforehand and I'll totally understand what problems
they're facing, what their friction points are, why they're bringing in an outside
speaker like myself, what pain points they're trying to solve.
(34:36):
And I'll try to cater or customize and personalize my content to make sure that
I'm delivering a product and a speech that helps them. And really,
I try to go beyond just the speech.
And there are other ways that I'm working with organizations more in an advisory capacity.
So it doesn't just end with the 45-minute keynote or 60-minute keynote.
(34:57):
But typically, in a 60-minute keynote, I'd say I look at my own job as more creating a spark.
Like I'm trying to create a flame of what's possible for those organizations
and give them a framework that they can take after the keynote and apply it
in their organizations.
But I give them stories where and true stories, true experiences that have taken
(35:21):
place to really help them understand what's possible and the infinite ROI of
care and what can become,
you know, if they take the framework that I give them and apply it in their workplace.
Place. And I, and I, and I show them with those stories, you know,
what, what can unfold when they do that.
But I look at as like a 45 minute keynote, your job is to go in and get people
(35:42):
to think, feel, and ultimately act differently.
Yeah. Interesting. It's, it's hard to change people's behavior.
Oh yeah. It's, it's, it's not an easy thing to influence somebody for change.
A lot of times, I think, especially probably in the corporate world,
you'll get people that, you know, oh,
this is the way we've been doing it for, you know, they've been in the industry
(36:05):
for 40 years and, you know, it's, it's like they've got their groove that they're
just trucking along in until retirement.
Have you ever kind of run across or have like stories from, you don't have to
name any companies in particular, but you're like, oh man, that was like,
that was some tough things that they were trying to overcome. come?
(36:28):
So I'd say typically, organizations that are...
So just to go back one step, the thing that people really feel when they leave
my experience is that it's a spark of the power of what's possible.
And hey, maybe we should be a little bit more intentional about this.
(36:49):
Maybe this is something we should pay a little bit more attention to.
And it creates that conversation, I gave a keynote internally at an organization a couple of weeks ago.
And at the end, it was really cool to see the huddles as I was leaving.
And they're talking about why we stopped doing this.
And they're talking about team lunches. And the person who handled it said,
(37:09):
if I drop the ball, no one picks it up. And sometimes I forget.
Oh, someone else stepped up and they said, during our one-on-ones,
you've been crushing it.
So we've been doing a one-on-one instead of once every week.
We're now doing it once a month.
Why did we stop doing that? This is a great moment to connect.
So by the end of the keynote, I'd say most people have this experience to know
(37:30):
that this is something we can and should pay more attention to.
And I'd say specifically to answer your question around leaders or people who
maybe are a bit more resistant to making change.
Change of course they're out there but typically when i'm getting hired for
those organizations it's the people beneath them that are saying hey we need
(37:52):
you to come in and hold space to have this conversation so the leadership team
at the top can hear how important it is to do these things,
yeah yeah that makes sense and i like that kind of it's
almost like you're planting a seed right you're you're like i'm just
gonna leave a little bit of hope right here on what things could be
and then i'm going to back off right and and
(38:13):
kind of let things resolve themselves to to a certain extent yeah because there's
lots of people that have some great ideas and sometimes they just a little shy
to say them absolutely and that's why you know creating a safe space is important,
that's true hey we came full circle.
(38:35):
No yeah I think that I've seen I mean I've seen a lot of kind of both situations
I mean I've worked for several big companies where,
And we've had a lot of, you know, kind of corporate speakers come in and kind of talk.
And at some companies I've worked for, they have a huge holiday party every
(38:56):
year. And they have Halloween parties.
And they have, you know, kids come to the office and trick-or-treat through the office.
And then I've had other companies where I'm like, do you guys do like a Christmas party or anything?
And they're like, nah, it's not on the budget. Or we're not interested. Nobody would come.
And so it's like, oh, okay. And so it definitely does create,
(39:16):
I think, the larger companies that I've worked for realize the importance of that.
And so they put a lot more emphasis on creating a unity or like a culture of togetherness.
When I was at Vanguard. Which I think is just so like, and you already said
this, Jer, but it's just so comparable to like your family.
(39:37):
And so comparable to the community you live in and just talks about the effect
that you can have on just those people around you. But sorry,
I interrupted you, Jared.
No, I was just saying when I was at Vanguard, they have this big,
huge thing called Partnership Day.
It's like a big party. I mean, half the day, they cater food for everybody.
(39:57):
They have a bunch of games.
It's kind of a big, huge shindig. And they actually announced this big bonus
on Partnership Day that everybody gets. It's just kind of in the middle of the
summer type time frame. And it's really cool.
It was just a really cool way to bring together the company for people just
to take a little bit of a beat and relax and get to know one another.
(40:20):
I mean, heck, I had a team in Dallas when I was working there that I went to
that was some of my analysts that I managed were in Dallas. And we'd go there.
And one time we went and did like a 3D zombie apocalypse simulation game.
One time we went to do an escape room. So it's just like these types of things
when you bring it together, when you're having fun, you're kind of bonding in that way.
(40:43):
And so I think the work that you're doing is incredibly important.
Just like in the family, you know, you got to go do stuff. You got to go do
fun stuff, not just the day to day. You got to go on vacations.
You got to go do fun things.
Yeah, absolutely. I think what I'm learning through this conversation is that
my body of work is very, very applicable to. You're going to be a great dad.
Yes. Yeah, totally. In fact, I heard once that like there was like some study
(41:09):
done about like vacations and how important vacations are.
And you could akin this to like, you know, doing a work dinner or not a work dinner,
but just like a company dinner or a company party where like,
the study showed that it's important to have a much more, like many small vacations
rather than one big vacation.
(41:29):
And so I've tried to do that, you know, throughout this summer with my kids.
We just have a lot of little things planned almost every other weekend to just
go do something fun or something exciting. I mean, I feel like I only have so
much time with these kiddos as they're young.
And so I've got to take advantage of that and really live that life to the fullest
(41:50):
and spend that time while I have it.
So I think they're very similar things.
And being the leader of my wife and I trying to be leaders of our home and raise
these kiddos, it's an important thing to really build those bonds.
And when you're on vacation, you don't have to deal with all the nuances of
the day-to-day life. if you're actually just enjoying time together. Yeah, I love that.
(42:15):
Yeah. Well, Danny, I think this has been great.
This has been just really interesting conversation on what at first might seem
like two completely separate different topics, but like you said,
there's a lot of crossover in what you do and your work and Jared and I's mission
on Our Brother's Creed to really just create an environment of.
(42:36):
We're trying to, we always say, build the blueprint for the next generation.
So one thing that we always ask our guests on the podcast is we ask them a question
about their own personal creed.
So a creed is a set of beliefs or principles that guides your actions.
(42:57):
And this could be like a mantra or a quote or scripture or life advice that
you got one time or whatever it might be.
But we wonder if you'd be willing to share a bit of your personal creed with us?
What guides, Danny? What makes you you? Yeah, absolutely.
(43:17):
I said it earlier, but knowing your time is limited, how and where do you want
to spend your limited time?
I think that's probably one of the single greatest questions we should all ask
ourselves multiple times in our life.
For me, I asked it briefly when I was 20, And then again, when I was 25,
I think it's fascinating that.
(43:37):
Truly, I think early on in your, like when I think back to life,
when both my parents were alive and healthy, how different my life was then
because I thought, hey, I'm going to be running around on this earth forever
and tomorrow is certainly guaranteed.
That was at least the mentality that I had in my early 20s.
Sorry, my late teens. And I think for me,
(44:00):
grief and loss has been one of the greatest gifts in some ways in truly understanding
just how precious life is and that tomorrow most certainly is not guaranteed.
And I think how and where we choose to spend our time is we all have truly some ownership over that.
(44:20):
And I think that that's the thing that continues to be my guiding light now
and I think forever will be.
Yeah. A little bit of perspective for sure.
No, that's great. Thank you so much for sharing that. I think that's a very unique perspective.
I mean, again, like Ethan said, thank you for sharing your story.
And I feel like that's a very personal thing and it's quite tragic,
(44:44):
but it's also has kind of propelled you into being able to appreciate the life
that you have and really live life to its fullest.
And so, So, you know, I just want to thank you for coming on the podcast today
and sharing us with your story and then a little bit about what you do and how
you are actively working to impact the world around you in a positive way.
It's been great. Yeah, absolutely.
(45:06):
And I think in the context of like being a parent,
you know, I think that one of the things that I think about,
again, I'm not a parent yet, but I think about it with my grandma and just on
both ends of the spectrum, whether it be someone who's old in your life or,
you know, your, your kids, you don't, there won't be like tomorrow,
tomorrow is, tomorrow is, sorry, today is gone already.
(45:28):
So, you know, like you'll never get this moment to, to, to do over.
So say yes, if you're tired, go kick the ball, have a catch.
Do the thing because tomorrow may not, you might not have tomorrow.
And that's just unfortunately the harsh, the harsh reality we live in. Absolutely.
Well, thank you so much. That resonates with me, and I'm sure that will resonate
(45:50):
with our audience for sure.
And as Ethan and I always talk about on our podcast, this podcast is about building
our creeds, building our personal value sets so that we can be better fathers,
better husbands, better employees, better leaders.
And I think that we've definitely been uplifted today in all that you've shared with us.
So thank you, Danny, and to our audience, let's build our creed together.
(46:13):
Music.
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Brothers Creed podcast,
where we inspire fathers to build the blueprint for the next generation.
We're the Thomas Brothers, and I'm Jared.
And I'm Ethan. And today, we have a guest on the podcast named Danny Goldberg.
And he has a really interesting story, and we talked through his career.
(00:21):
So he is a workplace culture care expert. So he connects with corporations,
both large and small, to kind of help build out their culture.
And he mainly does it through talking about leadership and how leaders can create
a better culture, a place where people want to be and a place where people can feel happy.
(00:47):
And so we really kind of talk through this strategy of what he does,
and then he gets a little personal and he shares some things with us about the
loss of both his father and his mother before he turned 25.
It really kind of gives him a perspective on just kind of life in general and
(01:11):
never taking what you have for granted.
Everything has an end to it.
And so his website, DannyGoldbergSpeaks.com, he is there and is able to really
teach what he preaches and building a better place to be.
(01:32):
And we on the podcast try to kind of apply that to the family.
And it was really interesting how closely the workplace and the family was related.
How can we make our kids and our spouse feel like they truly have a part and
(01:54):
a say and a culture in the family?
And so it's an awesome conversation, and you guys will really enjoy this one. Let's dig in.
Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day.
Music.
(02:16):
You should be a monster, an absolute monster, and then you should learn how
to control it. No retreat, no surrender.
You can't conceive of what I'm capable of.
Music.
(02:40):
All right, Danny, thank you so much for joining us. We are really pleased to
have you on the podcast today.
We know you get a lot of insights and good information to share with us. So thanks for coming on.
Yeah, thanks. Thanks for having me. Love doing a podcast with the duo.
Jared, Ethan, great to be here with both of you. Of course.
Danny, I know that you've got such an interesting kind of a backstory as well
(03:02):
as just in our pre-talk here,
you kind of have of found yourself in this really cool space where you're doing
a corporate kind of coaching or motivational speaking, if you will.
And so I would love to hear kind of that story.
And maybe, and I know that part of your story is something that we want to talk
about more in the episode.
We can maybe expound on that after you give us a little preview here,
(03:25):
but just about the loss that you've experienced in your life.
And so maybe that will be a second question we can address later in the podcast.
But if you could just give us a little more background on you and where you've
come from, where you are now.
Yeah, absolutely. So a little background on me. Today, I'm a workplace care catalyst.
I go in and work with leadership teams, helping them understand what I call
(03:46):
the new rules to effectively lead with care, to drive greater levels of engagement,
retention, performance, commitment, and ultimately greater levels of happiness
and fulfillment for all those that they serve.
What led me here is a lifetime of experiences and And multi-decade long story
of living my life, loss, love, and a bit more, which I'm sure we'll get into on this episode today.
(04:08):
Excellent. Just quick. So a
question, maybe we can dive a little bit more into what you're doing now.
So you're doing, it's interesting the way that you talk about the work that
you do now and that you work with companies who care about their employees or
who at least want to care about their employees.
I feel like the narrative online nowadays, at least, is that companies don't care about you.
(04:32):
And that in many ways, it's the most impersonal that possibly the relationship
with an employee and employer it has ever been.
People don't hang around their jobs very long. There's no more pensions.
It's just people, you know, employees will ghost their employers.
So I feel like there's a lot of work that is need to be done around what you're doing right now.
(04:54):
So wanted to get your take on kind of the landscape and how you chose this work
to do. Yeah, absolutely.
It's definitely an interesting time. And I mean, especially over the last several
years, so much has changed so quickly with emerging technologies like AI and
with hybrid and remote work here to stay.
I mean, it's crazy to think that three, four or five years ago,
hybrid remote was never a thing, right?
(05:16):
So the workplace has changed, I think, more rapidly than ever before.
And truly, I believe, understanding how to.
As the world continues to become increasingly complex, I think companies' advantage
in ultimately hiring, retaining, and engaging top talent is going to be understanding
how to bring a human side to the workplace.
(05:38):
So that's what I'm trying to teach them. And regarding the landscape,
certainly, you know, you'll read plenty of stories of people, organizations,
leaders that drop the ball, that don't do the human thing, that let their people
down and the ripple effect of that. And you'll certainly see that publicized.
And I think that's one of the things that teams and organizations need to be
(06:01):
on the lookout today because people today have such a loud voice.
And there are people who are able to take a bad work experience and post it
on TikTok or social media and it goes viral.
And now all of a sudden, millions of people are talking about an organization,
but for all their own reasons. So I think it's an incredibly important topic to discuss.
But I think really, for my own research, is that companies fall into one of two categories.
(06:25):
Either leadership teams, ultimately, they know and they understand how important
care is, and they really believe in it, and they try to make it part of the DNA.
Or unfortunately, there's a lot of people who still don't. They view people
more as resources and see people as more like a commoditized resource source
and looking for someone to get the job done. And that's it.
(06:46):
And I think ultimately those organizations and those leaders who view people
that way are going to struggle, not necessarily short-term, but certainly midterm
and long-term and winning in the future of work.
So it's definitely been an interesting journey in helping both leaders on either
side and organizations on either end of that spectrum.
Yeah. And it's definitely, it's a crazy time to be alive and to be working.
(07:09):
And there's, there's, I think the world just continues to like evolve at such a rapid rate.
So it's going to be interesting to see what the world of work looks like in
three, four or five years from now.
Yeah. As you were talking through, I think that's, that's so awesome.
I mean, that people say, you know, some people work to live and some people
live to work, you know, there's different types of people, but personally,
(07:31):
and I've been in both of these situations, how you feel about work,
like when you go to work Work has such an impact on even just your day-to-day like mental health.
I mean, and I'll go ahead and go there, but, you know, I've gone,
I've worked at a company before that just, I just dreaded going to work.
It was like every morning I just got up, I was like, oh man,
(07:52):
I got to freaking do this again.
You know, it was just like every single day. And it wasn't that I didn't want
to work. It's just, I didn't want to work there with the people that I was working with or for.
And I've been in that spot, but then, you know, I'm in a different spot now
where it's like, you know, yeah, it kind of sucks to get up and go to work for the man or whatever.
But at the same point, like if you enjoy who you work with and,
(08:14):
you know, you can kind of, it just, it makes life so much better personally.
Absolutely. And, you know, I always say leaders have the opportunity to give
their people the greatest gift or the greatest curse and it's in their hands,
which one they want to give.
Yeah. And I think a lot of that comes down to, yeah, leadership and managers
and different things like that.
(08:34):
I was going to ask, is your organization or leadership team,
are they supportive of the podcast?
Yeah, actually. And it's kind of every place that I've gone,
I've made sure to be like, hey, you know, I have this side thing with my brother, we do this podcast.
And there's been a couple of times where we need to be maybe try to be a little
bit careful with what we say, you know, but most of the time they're just like, yeah, sure.
(08:57):
As long as it doesn't interfere with your day-to-day or with...
I think on one time, there was one podcast where I accidentally wore one of
the company shirts and it had the company logo on it.
And I was just like, I got done. I was like, oh, shoot.
So I had to go back and edit out this block over my shirt so that the company logo didn't show.
(09:17):
Yeah. I think that's awesome. And I think that's a great example.
And I'm not sure exactly what organization you work with, but that's a great
example of work-life integration. And I think.
Truly, one of the things that I encourage leaders to do is to understand who
their people are and what's important to them.
And the better we can let go of our own assumptions and rather really understand
(09:39):
who our people are when they come to work and the things that are truly most
important to them, the better we can honor that.
So how cool is it that the organization you work with honors that and lets you
do your thing and you come to work probably more energized because they're supportive of that.
On the contrary, if they weren't, maybe you'd feel differently.
Yeah. I don't like people tell me what to do. I think anyone does.
(10:02):
Yeah. So, so just to piggyback off that real quick, you know,
I don't know what, if you kind of stick to certain industries or whatnot,
but I would be curious to see if there are certain industries,
certain types of, of companies, organizations, or maybe, you know,
industry or a size of a company that you feel are kind of better or worse at,
(10:23):
at, at kind of creating this, this culture.
Yeah, I don't necessarily think size matters.
I think it's really surprising, actually. I spoke to a small law firm recently,
and it was small, like less than 20 employees.
And I was shocked at how quickly silos develop within such a small organization.
And I think the same problems that are happening in organizations with 300 people
(10:46):
or 3,000 is also happening with organizations that are 30 people.
So I think while no two organizations are truly alike, I think they're all facing the the same problems.
And after all, we're all building with human beings are building these businesses
and they're human beings with fears, anxieties, hopes, dreams,
(11:06):
aspirations, and understanding how to harness those people, support them through
life, through life changes.
That's like, I think what leadership comes down to at the end of the day. And I think,
perhaps in a smaller organization, you might be able to really get to know each
and every single person.
But I think even in larger organizations, you have similar opportunities,
(11:27):
it might just be a little bit more challenging.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. I went from working for an absolutely behemoth.
I've worked for a lot of big companies. I've worked for Goldman Sachs,
I've worked for Citibank.
Most recently, I worked I worked for Vanguard, which is one of the biggest companies
on earth, at least asset-wise.
And now I left Vanguard about a couple months ago and went to a very small company
(11:53):
doing analytics for just a small shop.
And there's a lot of differences. And so it just – there's a lot more – it's
interesting just to see the difference between a major company and a small company.
The resources that they can bring to bear to make you feel at home sometimes
can feel genuine. Sometimes they can feel disingenuous.
(12:13):
But other times, like at the small company, just having the CEO come by and
say, hey, how's it going? Or good morning.
That means a lot. So it's interesting having been on both sides of the coin,
kind of huge, huge companies and then kind of small shops.
Yeah, absolutely. So obviously leadership is huge, right?
(12:34):
And Jared and I in the podcast have talked about leadership a lot in some of
the examples we've given and what we try to do as men and as husbands and as fathers,
right, is constantly leadership is something that we constantly think about. out.
Are there any, like in, in your, your presentations or your experience,
(12:59):
your interactions with different companies and things like that?
Are there certain key, and I'm going to put you on the spot here.
We didn't actually ask this question, so I'll just preface with that.
But are there certain like types of leaders or like certain things that leaders
do that kind of stand out to you that is like, oh man,
this organization has a really good, whether culture or feeling or is an awesome
(13:25):
place to work because this leader does this or because this leader acts this way or has this quality?
Yeah. So in the context of my body of work and what I study,
which is connection, belonging, and ultimately care, I see leaders do three things extremely well.
Number one is build a safe environment. So they create a safe space for their
(13:47):
employees where when people come to work, they know they're safe in their role,
but also safe to be their authentic self.
Number two is to seek to understand their people.
They really strive to understand who their people are when they come to work
and strive to understand what's most important to them.
And the third is continuous connection.
(14:09):
They make connection of priority, whether it be once a week, once a month.
They make connecting with their employees continuously a priority so they can
best understand how they can
tailor and personalize how they lead to serve the people that they serve.
So I'd say across the board, those are the three things that I've seen some
of the most cutting edge organizations and leaders do that have built thriving
(14:31):
workplaces where the retention is extremely high,
where the engagement is extremely high, and the cultures where people who join
tend to never leave and they never have some of those feelings that you woke
up where they dread going to work.
And those are some of the stories of the leaders that I share in the work that I do today.
I'm always hesitant about that, bring your whole self to work.
(14:51):
I'm like, I don't know if they want my whole self. I think I should probably
give some of my thoughts and opinions to myself.
Well, I think what I would say is important is that organizations need to know
not everyone is going to want to open up.
Not everyone's going to want to bring their whole self to work, but plenty of people do.
And I think it's about creating, going back to creating that safe space.
(15:13):
It's about creating the space where people are able to, if that's what they choose to do.
And one of the things going back to it, it's not like a major thing,
but great leaders create that space.
They take the lead in opening up, being vulnerable and making people feel safe
to truly be their whole self at work and open up and talk about life outside
of work and know that that's okay.
(15:34):
And that it's okay to express a full emotional range of scale of things that
are going on in your life outside of work and just be a human when you come to work.
And so much of what led me to doing this is the range of life experience that
I had from when I was 20 years old till 30.
So when I was 20 years old, my dad passed away from cancer.
(15:57):
And life was really different then for me. I'd say there was like before he died and after he died.
And when my mom passed away five years later from cancer, and there was certainly
life before she died and life after she died.
And I think the thing without a doubt that I bring when I speak to organizations
and leaders is this human side.
(16:18):
It's not, I'm not the most tactical person. I'm not telling you that this is
the playbook you need to do exactly A, B, C, D.
But I can give you a set of things that I know that are heart centered,
that people want, that people need to thrive both in their role at work and in life.
And my own experiences with grief and loss have really shaped my own perspective
(16:39):
on what's important when we show up to work on a regular basis and go home so
we could be the present husband,
father, and friend that we want to be in this bigger picture of life.
Were you in school or were you working when this happened? You said you're 20,
so it sounds like you might have been in school.
So when my dad passed away, I was in school. I was a junior.
(17:01):
It was summer from my junior year to my senior year.
So I'm very entrepreneurial. I started my first business when I was 14 years
old, really thanks to my dad, which I can get into if you want to hear a little bit of the backstory.
But when he passed away, so leading up to his death, I had a boxing glove business
that I started when I was 14 years old. I imported boxing equipment from Thailand.
(17:22):
I sold here in the States and it became a pretty successful business early on
as a high schooler going into college.
And as the business continued to grow, my dad really encouraged me,
pushed me from an early age to lean into my love and passion for boxing and
pursue it, not necessarily for sport, but more from the business side. died.
And when he died, a lot of my love for what I was doing shifted from this love
(17:50):
for building this business,
this thing that was really evolving on its own at that point,
to me starting to ask new questions like, how do I make the most money possible to take care of my mom?
And through that, it led me down a very different path. I ended up selling my box club business.
I started another business, which led to another business. And ultimately,
when I was in my early 20s, I started a consumer product manufacturing agency.
(18:16):
And that business took off way faster than any business I'd ever been involved in.
And from really 21 till... From 22 till 25, when my mom passed away,
all I was focused on was making the most money possible, building my business up.
And when my mom passed away, it was the first time truly in five years of my
life that I sat down and asked myself, how and where do I want to spend my time,
(18:41):
knowing that my time is limited?
Because up until that point, I was kind of like on.
I was kind of like living automatically in some sense of just like,
go, go, go, keep building, keep building.
And I told my mom on her deathbed, all I wanted to do was give her,
was buy her an apartment that would be closer to me in New York City and provide
(19:02):
some sense of financial security for her.
And that was my driving force in my early 20s. And when she passed away,
everything changed for me. Yeah.
You'd mentioned a little bit something there about your purpose.
Your purpose was providing for your mom and you were go, go, go, go.
(19:22):
And then your mom passed away. So I'm curious, what would you say that purpose is?
What has that purpose become? Because it sounds like you shifted away from that.
Maybe you're not as go, go, go on that specific business that you have,
but you're still driving pretty hard. What would you say your purpose maybe
(19:42):
has shifted to now that it's not just to provide a good life for your mom?
Yeah, so... That's a hard question to answer. I realize that.
Yeah, well, what's your purpose in life? No.
Listen, I'll give you my best answer. I actually feel like I could confidently answer, to be honest.
So I'd say like twofold. One, after she died...
(20:04):
I made a lot of changes in my personal life. I re-evaluated.
The number one single question that I kept asking myself on repeat is,
knowing my time is limited, knowing tomorrow is not guaranteed,
how and where do I want to spend my limited time?
And that led to a string of different things, not just in business and in my
professional career, but personally.
(20:25):
I ended up telling my now wife that I had feelings for her and today we're married.
I ended up restructuring so much of how and where I was spending my personal
time to better align the life I really wanted to be living.
And on my business front, so I was in my own business at the time that was growing.
I started to have the feeling like this isn't the work that I really want to be doing.
(20:48):
So I asked Ethan at the beginning if the company is supportive of the podcast.
So I started a podcast the day before the world shut down with COVID,
started growing that. and my business partner at the time, it became a friction
point where he said, you know, he'd say things like, you can either work the
business or you could work the podcast, but you really should choose one.
Really unsupportive of this thing that became very important to me.
(21:11):
It gave me like this second life because I spent, you know, two hours a week
interviewing cool, interesting people about how to live an intentional life
outside of just the go, go, go and bustle of work.
I mean, it it became a friction point and there were other things of course
but i'd say within building my business i had a team of about 10 and then the
(21:32):
the number one thing that i enjoyed the most were,
the people yeah i never viewed anyone
as like a resource as hey we need to fill this role to do xyz i always viewed
them as people first and interestingly enough my business was based in hong
kong so this before covid like even before the world shut down i was in new
york running my company with my team in Hong Kong and we get on phone calls.
(21:56):
And whenever I'd go to Hong Kong or to China to visit these factory partners,
I really tried to be hyper-intentional around how do I make the most of my time
together with my employees, with my team, because I had.
Seven, 10, 14 days at a time when we weren't together every single day.
So I'd really try to understand who they were, what was important to them,
(22:19):
what were their dreams and aspirations?
What's their motivation for coming to work with me and for me and my business?
And how can I support them? How can I support them to get them to go where they want to go?
So that was the thing that I loved.
And when I decided to leave my business because of a lot of friction that was
caused, really a catalyst of starting a podcast, I.
(22:43):
It wasn't exactly a straight line to where I am today, but I quickly realized
like, wow, there are so many people who are in similar situations where the
stakes perhaps are much lower.
Like I walked away from a very successful business that I spent eight years of my life building.
And I walked away from all that to go and help other leaders understand what
(23:03):
not to do and what they can do to thrive in the future of work.
And I think that that's like a really exciting thing. And I guess one other
thing that I want to bring up, I mentioned it a little bit earlier,
but the whole point of, to me, there's many reasons to connect with your people at work.
But one of the biggest things is that in five years of my life,
(23:24):
I went through two major life changes. My dad passed away and then my mom passed away.
My mom, I was already working. My dad, I was in school. But plenty of people
who are working in the day-to-day, they are dealing with life changes on a regular
basis and going through those changes.
And the only way that you can possibly support their people is to truly understand
who they are and connect with them.
(23:45):
And I said it already, but leaders have the opportunity to give people the greatest
gift or the greatest first.
And I think people can thrive and change people's lives in those moments.
And I'm in the business of impacting those people and helping them understand
how to serve those people.
No, I love that. I think that, you know, as Ethan and I, you know, we're both dads.
(24:06):
We're both actually dads of four. We have four kids each.
And so we've got a lot of little rascals running around.
And at this point, they're all real little, all under the age of 10,
or 10 or younger, at least.
And, you know, just listening to what, and that's one of the themes of our podcast.
We talk about fatherhood, leadership, and as I'm kind of hearing you talk about
(24:27):
the need in the corporate space
for, to bring your authentic self and to understand what people are doing.
I think, I just can't, I see that so much in fatherhood and being a leader in your own family.
Are we as fathers providing a space for our kids to be their authentic selves in our own homes.
(24:51):
Maybe Ethan, you go to work and you're like, I can't be my authentic self at work.
Maybe your kids feel like they can't be their authentic self at school.
But when they come home, are you allowing them to be their authentic selves at home?
If they're upset or if they're... This is something I've been trying to work
on in my home is that if my kids are upset or they're They're feeling a certain way.
(25:12):
Am I allowing them to feel those feelings or am I allowing them to be silly at home?
Or am I saying like, no, you've got to be this way. You've got to be that way.
Am I not allowing them to bring their authentic selves into our own home?
And that's the last place where you can be yourself.
And so I never want to make my kids feel like they can't be themselves in their own home.
(25:37):
And that especially as I, as their father, don't love them for who they are.
There's a kind of a phrase or saying that I've always loved that sometimes people
view parenting as like shaping children, like you're molding clay.
But I think a better analogy is like, I've been given different types of seeds.
(25:58):
I view each of my children as a seed. Now, they could be different.
One could be an oak tree. One could be a pine tree. One could be a palmetto tree.
But my job isn't necessarily to shape them exactly how I think they should be,
but rather to grow them into whoever it is that they are, into their authentic
selves, which I think is kind of what you're saying about the the corporate environment as well.
(26:20):
You want to understand what exactly these people want and you said,
why do you guys want to work for me?
What is it that you want in life? How can I help you get there?
What do you want to be in your career?
So it's kind of that same exact thing, but as fathers and mothers as well,
how can we help our kids grow into themselves and discover who their authentic
(26:40):
selves are so they're not just pretending all the time to be something thing
or to fit a mold that you've cast for them.
And I think that a lot of issues arise when kids eventually outgrow this mold
or they're uncomfortable in this mold that you put them in, and then they don't
really have a place to be their authentic selves.
(27:01):
And so they might go looking elsewhere for that. So those are some of my thoughts
about parenthood and how the things you're saying apply to being a father as well.
Yeah, that's cool. I never thought about it that way, obviously,
but that that's awesome to hear.
Yeah. I wanted to, I want to take a step back to kind of the earlier conversation
that you were talking about with your, your parents as well.
(27:22):
And this kind of relates to the parenthood and fatherhood as well.
First off, thank you for, for sharing about your, your parents and,
and a little bit about them and then your experience with, with having to deal with them passing.
I can't even imagine the, the, the pain and the
heartache that yeah that that took to go
through that but from the sounds of
(27:45):
it and when you're talking about kind of your your boxing business that your
your dad you were talking was was kind of he was supportive of you he was he
was there and he wanted you to succeed and giving you advice and different things
like that is there anything that you you learned from your
dad that you feel has, has stuck with you? Yeah.
(28:09):
Anything I learned so much, you know, and continue to continue to.
Yeah, I really feel like I hit the lotto with my parents. And although our time
was cut short, I wouldn't trade anything.
I think one of the things that my dad did exceptionally well was really believing in me.
And it's funny because it was just actually last week was 10 years since he passed away.
(28:33):
And I just made a post on LinkedIn the other day around how he gave me what
I believe is the greatest gift, which was his belief in me. And whatever it
was, he really made me feel like it's possible.
And early on, before I started the boxing business, not necessarily that I had
the aspiration to become a professional fighter, but I had the aspiration to step in the ring.
(28:56):
And he believed in me. He said, go and do it and put your heart into it and make it happen.
And I had a couple amateur kickboxing fights as a teen, which was exciting beyond
belief. And that later turned into him channeling my energy in a different direction,
which was more the business sense.
But once I started that, our bond grew tenfold because when we weren't talking
(29:22):
about the fights that were on Saturday night, we'd hang out talking about the
business, how to grow the business, what's next.
And one of the things that's really cool about just like the way that he supported
me was that it was never like he told me you must do this or you should do this.
Once the business was kind of operational, it was maybe try that out and see what happens.
(29:45):
It was very experimental and figure it out, like be curious and see what you can make happen.
And there was never anything that was too far out of reach. And I'll give you
a perfect example of the time, a boxer that I love that was up and coming from
Brooklyn. His name was Demetri Salida.
Um, and he's still a friend today. He was on the rise.
On the rise he was top contender he fought for
(30:07):
a world title and i wanted him to wear my gloves i had no
idea like i was 14 years old at the time no idea
how to get in touch with him how to find him all those things and um as a 14
year old i figured out like where he was who to speak to and i ended up finding
him and i reached out to him to do like the first photo shoot with in our boxing
gloves and whatever christ they came back i was like dude i'm a 14 year old
(30:30):
kid i don't have that type of money.
And we ended up talking and he ended up agreeing to do it for like a couple hundred dollars.
And it's a perfect example where my dad wasn't like, oh, that's far-fetched
or that's not going to be possible. What are you crazy?
He was supportive and just like he really believed, go and figure this thing out.
And that's really what my life was like from like 14 to 20 until he passed away.
(30:52):
That's cool. It's a cool story. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that out.
Demetri is still like, today, he's still like a close friend. And it's like,
oh, we shared a lot of fun experiences after that that's cool that's awesome
yeah so i think i think just to answer your question like really as a as a you
know when i look at a parent or my dad specifically,
(31:13):
he he he gave me he just gave me this like this belief and i i i don't know
if i don't know if anyone like since he's died has given me like similar maybe
my wife you know but like there's nothing like a parent's love in terms of really
believing in their children.
And I really felt like that carried me then and continues to like carry carry with me today.
(31:36):
That's awesome thank you for
sharing that that's i mean that that's
a person that you want to look up to just in general as a father like be supportive
and and you know the the different interests and things and believe in your
kids when they say that they're interested or they want to try something yeah
(31:56):
that's awesome i'm not i'm not a parent yet i mentioned i just have one
beautiful golden retriever, but, um, you know, I,
I, I do think a lot about, you know, the, the parent that I want to be one day.
And I, I think about the power of like our words and the belief and it is important,
you know, like who's, I'm just using this as the example and the cards unfolded how they were.
(32:19):
I decided not to like pursue kickboxing, but who's to say like,
you don't know what your kid's potential is or will be.
And I think it's, it's a parent's job to harness that and to support them in
growing and figuring those things out as they embark on their own journey.
And I feel like that was very much my own experience, at least with my dad.
(32:41):
And after he died, I'd say my mom was still extremely supportive in her belief.
But for whatever reason, I think my dad's held a little bit more weight,
if I'm being completely honest.
But my mom- He's your dad. Yeah.
It was just like, there's a little bit difference, I guess. Guy to guy.
Yeah, yeah. That's awesome.
(33:02):
Kind of getting back to kind of your current business and being this kind of
this workplace culture care expert.
I'm sure that a lot of the experiences that you had in your life and,
and the relationships you had with your dad and your mom,
and I'm sure some other great people as well have helped kind of guide some
(33:25):
of your, kind of your main talking points maybe,
or your, your kind of your, your keynotes that you talk about when you give presentations,
would you ever kind of walk us through what that might look like?
I mean, and maybe it's different for every organization, Maybe it's different for the size or the type,
you know, but what is your goal whenever you go in to to give one of these speeches
(33:52):
or classes or whatever you consider them?
What's your strategy going into these? Yeah, so.
It's a great question. And I think they are a little bit different. It totally depends.
It's not necessarily my goal. It's more the goal of the client and those that
are hiring me and those that I'm serving.
It totally depends on what they're hoping to achieve and what they're looking
(34:14):
to accomplish in hiring me and bringing an outside speaker and expert to their workplace.
They typically tell you that beforehand, like, hey, this is what we're trying to do. Yeah.
So we'll do plenty of calls beforehand and I'll totally understand what problems
they're facing, what their friction points are, why they're bringing in an outside
speaker like myself, what pain points they're trying to solve.
(34:36):
And I'll try to cater or customize and personalize my content to make sure that
I'm delivering a product and a speech that helps them. And really,
I try to go beyond just the speech.
And there are other ways that I'm working with organizations more in an advisory capacity.
So it doesn't just end with the 45-minute keynote or 60-minute keynote.
(34:57):
But typically, in a 60-minute keynote, I'd say I look at my own job as more creating a spark.
Like I'm trying to create a flame of what's possible for those organizations
and give them a framework that they can take after the keynote and apply it
in their organizations.
But I give them stories where and true stories, true experiences that have taken
(35:21):
place to really help them understand what's possible and the infinite ROI of
care and what can become,
you know, if they take the framework that I give them and apply it in their workplace.
Place. And I, and I, and I show them with those stories, you know,
what, what can unfold when they do that.
But I look at as like a 45 minute keynote, your job is to go in and get people
(35:42):
to think, feel, and ultimately act differently.
Yeah. Interesting. It's, it's hard to change people's behavior.
Oh yeah. It's, it's, it's not an easy thing to influence somebody for change.
A lot of times, I think, especially probably in the corporate world,
you'll get people that, you know, oh,
this is the way we've been doing it for, you know, they've been in the industry
(36:05):
for 40 years and, you know, it's, it's like they've got their groove that they're
just trucking along in until retirement.
Have you ever kind of run across or have like stories from, you don't have to
name any companies in particular, but you're like, oh man, that was like,
that was some tough things that they were trying to overcome. come?
(36:28):
So I'd say typically, organizations that are...
So just to go back one step, the thing that people really feel when they leave
my experience is that it's a spark of the power of what's possible.
And hey, maybe we should be a little bit more intentional about this.
(36:49):
Maybe this is something we should pay a little bit more attention to.
And it creates that conversation, I gave a keynote internally at an organization a couple of weeks ago.
And at the end, it was really cool to see the huddles as I was leaving.
And they're talking about why we stopped doing this.
And they're talking about team lunches. And the person who handled it said,
(37:09):
if I drop the ball, no one picks it up. And sometimes I forget.
Oh, someone else stepped up and they said, during our one-on-ones,
you've been crushing it.
So we've been doing a one-on-one instead of once every week.
We're now doing it once a month.
Why did we stop doing that? This is a great moment to connect.
So by the end of the keynote, I'd say most people have this experience to know
(37:30):
that this is something we can and should pay more attention to.
And I'd say specifically to answer your question around leaders or people who
maybe are a bit more resistant to making change.
Change of course they're out there but typically when i'm getting hired for
those organizations it's the people beneath them that are saying hey we need
(37:52):
you to come in and hold space to have this conversation so the leadership team
at the top can hear how important it is to do these things,
yeah yeah that makes sense and i like that kind of it's
almost like you're planting a seed right you're you're like i'm just
gonna leave a little bit of hope right here on what things could be
and then i'm going to back off right and and
(38:13):
kind of let things resolve themselves to to a certain extent yeah because there's
lots of people that have some great ideas and sometimes they just a little shy
to say them absolutely and that's why you know creating a safe space is important,
that's true hey we came full circle.
(38:35):
No yeah I think that I've seen I mean I've seen a lot of kind of both situations
I mean I've worked for several big companies where,
And we've had a lot of, you know, kind of corporate speakers come in and kind of talk.
And at some companies I've worked for, they have a huge holiday party every
(38:56):
year. And they have Halloween parties.
And they have, you know, kids come to the office and trick-or-treat through the office.
And then I've had other companies where I'm like, do you guys do like a Christmas party or anything?
And they're like, nah, it's not on the budget. Or we're not interested. Nobody would come.
And so it's like, oh, okay. And so it definitely does create,
(39:16):
I think, the larger companies that I've worked for realize the importance of that.
And so they put a lot more emphasis on creating a unity or like a culture of togetherness.
When I was at Vanguard. Which I think is just so like, and you already said
this, Jer, but it's just so comparable to like your family.
(39:37):
And so comparable to the community you live in and just talks about the effect
that you can have on just those people around you. But sorry,
I interrupted you, Jared.
No, I was just saying when I was at Vanguard, they have this big,
huge thing called Partnership Day.
It's like a big party. I mean, half the day, they cater food for everybody.
(39:57):
They have a bunch of games.
It's kind of a big, huge shindig. And they actually announced this big bonus
on Partnership Day that everybody gets. It's just kind of in the middle of the
summer type time frame. And it's really cool.
It was just a really cool way to bring together the company for people just
to take a little bit of a beat and relax and get to know one another.
(40:20):
I mean, heck, I had a team in Dallas when I was working there that I went to
that was some of my analysts that I managed were in Dallas. And we'd go there.
And one time we went and did like a 3D zombie apocalypse simulation game.
One time we went to do an escape room. So it's just like these types of things
when you bring it together, when you're having fun, you're kind of bonding in that way.
(40:43):
And so I think the work that you're doing is incredibly important.
Just like in the family, you know, you got to go do stuff. You got to go do
fun stuff, not just the day to day. You got to go on vacations.
You got to go do fun things.
Yeah, absolutely. I think what I'm learning through this conversation is that
my body of work is very, very applicable to. You're going to be a great dad.
Yes. Yeah, totally. In fact, I heard once that like there was like some study
(41:09):
done about like vacations and how important vacations are.
And you could akin this to like, you know, doing a work dinner or not a work dinner,
but just like a company dinner or a company party where like,
the study showed that it's important to have a much more, like many small vacations
rather than one big vacation.
(41:29):
And so I've tried to do that, you know, throughout this summer with my kids.
We just have a lot of little things planned almost every other weekend to just
go do something fun or something exciting. I mean, I feel like I only have so
much time with these kiddos as they're young.
And so I've got to take advantage of that and really live that life to the fullest
(41:50):
and spend that time while I have it.
So I think they're very similar things.
And being the leader of my wife and I trying to be leaders of our home and raise
these kiddos, it's an important thing to really build those bonds.
And when you're on vacation, you don't have to deal with all the nuances of
the day-to-day life. if you're actually just enjoying time together. Yeah, I love that.
(42:15):
Yeah. Well, Danny, I think this has been great.
This has been just really interesting conversation on what at first might seem
like two completely separate different topics, but like you said,
there's a lot of crossover in what you do and your work and Jared and I's mission
on Our Brother's Creed to really just create an environment of.
(42:36):
We're trying to, we always say, build the blueprint for the next generation.
So one thing that we always ask our guests on the podcast is we ask them a question
about their own personal creed.
So a creed is a set of beliefs or principles that guides your actions.
(42:57):
And this could be like a mantra or a quote or scripture or life advice that
you got one time or whatever it might be.
But we wonder if you'd be willing to share a bit of your personal creed with us?
What guides, Danny? What makes you you? Yeah, absolutely.
(43:17):
I said it earlier, but knowing your time is limited, how and where do you want
to spend your limited time?
I think that's probably one of the single greatest questions we should all ask
ourselves multiple times in our life.
For me, I asked it briefly when I was 20, And then again, when I was 25,
I think it's fascinating that.
(43:37):
Truly, I think early on in your, like when I think back to life,
when both my parents were alive and healthy, how different my life was then
because I thought, hey, I'm going to be running around on this earth forever
and tomorrow is certainly guaranteed.
That was at least the mentality that I had in my early 20s.
Sorry, my late teens. And I think for me,
(44:00):
grief and loss has been one of the greatest gifts in some ways in truly understanding
just how precious life is and that tomorrow most certainly is not guaranteed.
And I think how and where we choose to spend our time is we all have truly some ownership over that.
(44:20):
And I think that that's the thing that continues to be my guiding light now
and I think forever will be.
Yeah. A little bit of perspective for sure.
No, that's great. Thank you so much for sharing that. I think that's a very unique perspective.
I mean, again, like Ethan said, thank you for sharing your story.
And I feel like that's a very personal thing and it's quite tragic,
(44:44):
but it's also has kind of propelled you into being able to appreciate the life
that you have and really live life to its fullest.
And so, So, you know, I just want to thank you for coming on the podcast today
and sharing us with your story and then a little bit about what you do and how
you are actively working to impact the world around you in a positive way.
It's been great. Yeah, absolutely.
(45:06):
And I think in the context of like being a parent,
you know, I think that one of the things that I think about,
again, I'm not a parent yet, but I think about it with my grandma and just on
both ends of the spectrum, whether it be someone who's old in your life or,
you know, your, your kids, you don't, there won't be like tomorrow,
tomorrow is, tomorrow is, sorry, today is gone already.
(45:28):
So, you know, like you'll never get this moment to, to, to do over.
So say yes, if you're tired, go kick the ball, have a catch.
Do the thing because tomorrow may not, you might not have tomorrow.
And that's just unfortunately the harsh, the harsh reality we live in. Absolutely.
Well, thank you so much. That resonates with me, and I'm sure that will resonate
(45:50):
with our audience for sure.
And as Ethan and I always talk about on our podcast, this podcast is about building
our creeds, building our personal value sets so that we can be better fathers,
better husbands, better employees, better leaders.
And I think that we've definitely been uplifted today in all that you've shared with us.
So thank you, Danny, and to our audience, let's build our creed together.
(46:13):
Music.
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