October 1, 2025 • 32 mins
Marnie Swedberg's extraordinary journey reveals how embracing your uniqueness can transform challenges into strengths. As someone who struggled with dyslexia and couldn't read properly until adulthood, Marnie defied expectations to become an accomplished author, international leadership mentor, and successful entrepreneur.
Through vivid stories—like watching seagulls scatter in fear as her car approached a beach—she illustrates how leaders must recognize their positional power and consciously create environments where people feel safe and valued.
Thanks for listening!
Click here to take the LeaderImpact Assessment and to receive the first chapter of Becoming a Leader of Impact by Braden Douglas.
Remember, impact starts with you!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast.
We are a community of leaderswith a network in over 350
cities around the world,dedicated to optimizing our
personal, professional andspiritual lives to have impact.
This show is where we have achance to listen and engage with
leaders who are living this out.
We love talking with leaders,so if you have any questions,
comments or suggestions to makethe show even better, please let
us know.
(00:25):
I'm your host, lisa Peters, andour guest today is Marnie
Swedberg.
Marnie is an accomplishedinternational leadership mentor,
media expert and master ofgenerating those aha moments.
She is the author of 14 books,a keynote speaker and has graced
stages worldwide and the hostof a number one ranked blog talk
radio show.
Her dynamic approach toleadership, life and faith has
(00:48):
captivated audience at hundredsof events, conferences and
summits for religiousorganizations, ngos, fortune 500
companies and governmentagencies.
Welcome to this show, marnie.
Thanks, lisa.
It's great to be here.
It is great to see you again.
I'm just going to give a hugeplug.
Recently I was on your show,marnie's Friends Talk Radio.
(01:09):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yes, oh, we had such a good time, so I'm excited for
today.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, it was nice to sort of get that, you know,
initial, like we're best friendsalready.
So, yeah, right, thanks fortaking the time.
We love hearing about people'sjourneys and, of course, we
speed it up a little bit becausewe want to hear about those
pivotal turning points thatreally got you to where you are.
So can you give us a couplesnapshots, a couple snapshots of
(01:36):
those pivotal moments that gotyou here today?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yeah, I'd love to.
So first of all I started off alittle behind the eight ball
because I didn't really learnhow to read until I was an adult
.
So I just really struggledthrough school, dyslexic, and
didn't have the kind of helpthat's available these days, and
so just really really struggledand barely graduated.
I really shouldn't havegraduated from high school.
(02:00):
They just let me graduate, theyjust let me graduate.
And it was after I was out fromunder the pressure of school
that my mind relaxed enough tobe able to read, to figure it
out, to figure out how to read.
So I was able to start reading.
And then, lisa, you couldn'tstop me.
(02:20):
I just read and read, and readand read.
When my kids were little Iwould sometimes interlibrary
alone 40 books a week.
I just couldn't get enough ofreading and it was so exciting,
opened up a whole new world, andthat was part of the reason why
I decided we'd homeschool ourkids.
So we homeschooled our threekids from K to 12.
And just loved that journey,kind of learned everything again
(02:44):
for the first time with mychildren as they were learning
it, and it was just an amazingjourney.
As a young adult, as a teenager,I started working for
entrepreneurs Just happened thatour family knew a guy who had a
janitorial company, so me andmy sister worked for him and
then I started working in hisoffice.
(03:05):
I knew another guy who had aceiling tile company and I
started doing part-time officework for him and then went to
work for a fitness organizationthat just had five branches
local organization and I wasjust exposed to a lot of
entrepreneurs early on, fell inlove with that business model.
Instead of working corporate orwhatever.
(03:26):
I tried that and I justcouldn't really do that and so I
loved the freedom of theentrepreneurship lifestyle.
So later, when our kids wereteens, my husband first bought a
restaurant that I managed andthen we bought a retail store
that I managed and along thistime I was also owning, managing
(03:46):
womenspeakerscom, which is adirectory, now with 1800
speakers and thousands ofplanners you know the speakers
traveling all over the world.
So always loved thatentrepreneurial lifestyle and
just still doing that today andlove it, love it, love it to
have trained it all over theworld.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Wow, what Okay, I'm gonna go right back to dyslexic.
Yeah, how did you get throughschool?
Speaker 1 (04:11):
You know that I could .
So I memorized a lot of words.
So most of what we read are thesame words over and over.
So I memorized a lot of wordsand then I just had to slow down
and sound out a lot of words,just slow way down.
I remember being in 11th gradeand just my science teacher.
I just said I just need help, Ineed help, I want to learn this
(04:36):
, I just can't.
And he said if I gave you thetest in advance, would you be
willing to work on that?
And I did, and I got 100% onthat test.
I just couldn't do it in thetime pressure of the moment.
It was a pressure thing that mybrain just couldn't relax
enough.
Right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
That's a great, great story in that they were willing
to work with you.
Yeah, I mean, I'm just going toguess our ages.
That was a while ago.
You know where we're, becauseschools are way more flexible
now.
So, um and aware and aware.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I mean learning disabilities at that time was
kind of not a normal thing.
There were no special edclasses, there was nothing to
help that, and and we werealways in private schools um,
small, you know, not expensiveprivate schools, but the small,
small schools that the parentssent you to if they just wanted
to tuck you away and have you,you know, have you learn from
(05:31):
their biblical perspective,which I'm always grateful for.
But what's amazing now is I'vewritten 14 books and I'm a
trainer of writers.
So I think when you're facedwith a challenge in your youth,
you can either give into thatand not try, or you can be the
(05:51):
person who really kept onworking toward it, and I think
what it did for me is developeda lot of skills that I wouldn't
have today.
I had to figure out ways tomake it work without the
advantages of other people.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, which I think really is a great thing for
being a coach, is recognizingthis in others and knowing the
tools that can be provided.
So thanks for sharing that,Marnie.
On our podcast we talk a lotabout principles of success and
we're wondering if you have oneand if you can share a story
that illustrates that.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Oh, my goodness, I have so many.
So I would think I think thething that I love to share the
most is the uniqueness of youand the principle of truly
discovering and embracing whoyou are.
I say it this way when Godstrung together your 3 billion
base pairs of DNA, he did it ina particular way, and I just
(06:47):
always encourage people spendsome time doing some mission and
vision work for yourself.
Figure out what turns yourcrank, what you're really
excited to do.
It's not that we get to do thatall day, every day, but once we
identify what that really isand, like Lori, beth Jones has
(07:09):
an amazing book out it's beenout forever called the Path.
I love that book.
I have a mission visiontraining at marnicom, but
however you go about it, taketime to figure out who you are
and then really lean into that.
I'm going to just talk about myown story, where people have my
(07:30):
whole career in business andentrepreneurship.
People have encouraged me toniche down to pick one lane,
lisa, I'm so glad I didn'tlisten to that advice because
for me that wouldn't have worked.
For most people that's verygood advice, but for me that
wouldn't have worked and insteadI was writing books and
(07:58):
homeschooling my kids, managinga restaurant and managing a
retail store, managing a women'sspeakers site online and
traveling and speaking and beinga missionary at the same time
speakers site online andtraveling and speaking and being
a missionary at the same timeso for me, that would have
really shut down.
I believe what I was created todo, but, because I mentioned
earlier, my parents sent us toChristian schools.
At the time.
That was very unusual to takeyour children out of a public
(08:20):
school and put them in aChristian school, and so we had
to deal with a lot of not abuse,but a lot of incoming.
Why are you doing this?
And it's going to ruin yourchildren.
I mean things that we wouldhear all the time and my parents
drilled into us.
There's only one you.
You be the best you you can be.
It'll be all right, and Ireally feel like that was just
(08:43):
the best advice.
And as I work with women aroundthe world, some of these girls
have the most incredible callson their life, like what they're
here to do.
I have some girls who literallygo into strip clubs and
befriend the strippers in orderto help them to have a best life
possible.
(09:04):
If they want to get out.
They help them get out If theywant to stay in.
They just befriend them wherethey are and everybody that's
listening to us right now.
You're doing things the way youdo them that nobody else can do
them.
Other people could maybe dosomething similar, but nobody
can do it the way you do it.
So I just encourage you, as theprimary thing, that you have to
(09:32):
offer the world and then figureout how to do whatever it is
that you're doing.
You're bringing that full giftto the table.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
It's a great principle.
So are you thinking of theuniqueness of you?
You were very busy.
You listed all the things youwere doing and you didn't niche
down.
Are you still like, when I lookat your website and I see the
virtual summits and I see thetalk radio and I see the women's
, like there's still a lot?
Are you still that busy?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I'm not.
I'm not busy in the same way,yeah, and definitely I'm not as
busy as when we own therestaurant, the retail store.
At the same time, I tell youwhat, lisa, every day I get up
and I thank God I'm not in theretail or the restaurant
business anymore.
Those are, you know for thoseof you listening, who that's,
that's your gig.
It's so much work, it's just anincredible amount of physical
(10:21):
labor to run a retail store, torun a restaurant and you know,
for those of you who aremanaging a bunch of people, wow,
that's insane, that is so muchwork.
So now I am busy myself.
I have a team of outsourcersfrom all over the world who work
with me, through Upwork mostly,and I am very busy, but it's
(10:42):
not the same.
It's not the same type of busyand, like when I was
homeschooling my kids, okay,that's a whole different type of
busy again.
So you have seasons.
You have seasons where it'sdifferent types of busyness.
But, yeah, I still get up veryearly every morning usually 5, 5
, 30 in the morning and I startworking with my teams around the
world and then, as the day goesby, I'm doing meetings and
(11:03):
talks with people here in thestates and it goes from there
it's.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
It's unique.
It's not unique.
The working around the world wecan do that now.
I mean, look at us.
We are not in the same countryand we're, you know we're.
We're sitting here talking likeit's, we're just down there,
you know, down the street.
It's really, and we can, we canwork around the world anytime,
anyplace.
Our next question we talk a lotabout our failures and we know
(11:27):
we learn from our failures andmistakes.
We learn way more and I'mwondering if you have one of
your greatest failures ormistakes that you can share with
us and what you learned from it.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Okay, so I'm just.
There's so many, where do Ibegin?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
That's why we're so smart.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I remember one day I had a girls club in my home my
children were ages probably fiveto 10 at the time and girls
would come off the school busafter school three days a week
Monday, tuesday and Thursday andwe would together from three to
530, we would make meals forfamilies that were in trouble.
(12:07):
Just coming back from a medicaltrip or just welcoming new baby
or maybe you know, back wentout on the mom or something you
know, just went out on the momor something you know, just
something lost a loved one,whatever.
And I taught these girls how tocook and then we would sing
together.
I taught them how to sew littlebaby bibs, to applique little
baby bibs, and we'd send thosewith the meals.
And these were, these were justgirls that I had.
(12:29):
I had this club in my home for10 years and it was just an
amazing time.
And there was one day when Iwas exceedingly tired and I went
into my room and I laid downfor a little bit before they
came and then, finally, therewas a little tiny knock, knock,
knock on my door and so I saidcome in and it was one of the
girls.
Her name was Wendy, I rememberspecifically, and she said
(12:51):
Maureen, we're here.
And I'm like, oh my goodness,oh, wow, wow, wow.
And I had totally fallen asleepso hard, I didn't realize what
time it was at all, and theywere all out in the kitchen and
she said to me she said we'vebeen here for about 10 minutes,
but your kids said don't knockon the door because you can't
interrupt her when she'ssleeping.
(13:11):
And so we were too scared tocome in.
And that really hit me hard.
I thought, oh gosh, you know, Ididn't really mean to have my
kids be that scared of me takinga nap, and so that was a big
one.
There's so many things that wedo and we don't recognize how it
affects people.
I remember the day I walked intothe back door of our retail
(13:34):
store and I walked past and Ilooked over to the right and I
saw my manager there.
She was just standing there andwhen she saw me she jumped.
She had that look of terror inher eyes and she jumped.
But we were like best friends.
So I went over to herafterwards and I said I saw that
(13:54):
when you saw me, your startlereflex was fear.
Are you afraid of me?
Have I done something to causeyou to be afraid of me and she
said not at all.
She said I just have thatreaction to authority figures.
Her mom had been pretty abusiveas a child and she had it
toward me because of my role.
(14:15):
And what I'm trying to say withthese two stories is, as a
leader, you carry with you theability to scare people when you
don't mean to scare people.
You're not meaning to scarepeople.
I'm going to bring this homewith one more illustration.
One morning early we lived onbeautiful Lake of the Woods up
(14:35):
in northern Minnesota.
It was really really remote butit was absolutely beautiful.
One morning I took my car and Idrove my little tracker down
toward the beach.
I was just going to watch thesunrise a moment before I
started the day and as I cameinto the parking lot I was the
only vehicle there.
As I came into the parking lot,it was covered with seagulls,
(14:55):
just thousands of seagulls, andas I drove right in, they all
lifted up in this big, beautifulrise.
And in my heart I heard God saynever do that to people and I
thought, wow, sometimes as aleader, that's exactly what we
do.
We walk in with so much power,we walk in so much bigger, not
(15:18):
because we're trying to bebigger, just because our
position makes us bigger and theseagulls lift and move out of
the way and they're scared.
You're going to run them overand you know.
It's nothing you've done.
Actually, it's just theposition you're in.
So I feel like we all have tolearn this at some point to
tenderly carry the souls that welead.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, and to ask that employee that you scared,
actually ask her, did I like youknow what is it?
Did I scare you?
Right, that's a hard thing fora leader to not everyone can do
it, they just sort of go.
Oh, I scared her.
But to actually ask and to findout the why, right.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yes, well, and one of the things is people told us
before we bought our firstbusiness, the restaurant people
told us, don't hire your friends, it just doesn't work out well.
And we did not listen to thatadvice and we hired our really,
really best your friends.
It just doesn't work out welland we did not listen to that
advice and we hired our really,really bestest friends.
We had one manager who workedfor us the full 14 years we
owned that business and she wasour best friend before we owned
it.
She was our best friend afterwe owned it and a lot of our
(16:27):
friends came to work for us.
But I had all through the yearsI had managers of other
businesses tell me well, youknow, you can't really be
friends with your employees andI just say, why not?
Why not?
So if you will tenderly carrythe hearts of the people who
work for you, you can help themidentify that there are
(16:47):
different roles in this, butwe're all in this together and
one of the ways that Icommunicated that, especially at
the restaurant super easyduring a rush just walk in and
do whatever needed to be done,whether it was cleaning up a
mess on the floor, doing dishes,chopping veggies, whatever it
was, walk in and do whateverthey needed.
They boss me around in thatmoment.
(17:08):
I don't walk in pretending Iknow what's going on, because
I'm walking into a firestorm andI don't know what's going on,
but I can help.
I am a couple hands and I canhelp.
So I think, just being humbleabout the leadership position
you're in, it's a position andthere are responsibilities and
privileges that come with it.
But as long as you recognizethat theirs is also just a
(17:29):
position, there are privilegesthat come with that.
One is they don't have to thinkabout where the payroll is
coming from.
You know, I mean, there's someprivileges and just clocking in
and clocking out as well.
So I think as long as we'rejust aware of that and humble,
we can have the most amazingrelationships, even with our
teams.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, thank you for sharing that story and I think
that's really important.
It reminds me of a man that Iused to work for and he was the
most humble leader and to thisday, when I see him, it just
brings such good feelings.
Because we were on site at alocation and he came and had
lunch with us.
We were having subs the man isthe president of the company,
(18:08):
very large and he came, and Idon't forget that, and that was
20 years ago and it's more abouthow he saw himself.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
He just saw himself as having a different role from
you, but not being higher thanyou in any way.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah, yeah, and as you say that we ran into him
about two weeks ago and he saidI used to work with Lisa versus
Lisa works for me.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I was.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Lisa's boss.
He said to my husband I workedwith Lisa, I'm like you were the
president.
Okay, we work together.
I love that.
Oh, good stories, Marnie, Thankyou for sharing.
So at Leader Impact we are, wewant to grow personally,
professionally and spirituallyfor increasing impact.
So I'm wondering if you'rewilling to share an example of
(18:58):
how the spiritual makes apractical difference in your
life as a leader.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Oh, it's so fun Because before we bought the
restaurant, my husband was stillworking corporate and because
before we bought the restaurant,my husband was still working
corporate and so before webought the restaurant, he said I
want to buy a brick and mortar.
So he'd been doing investing instock market.
He said I want to buy a brickand mortar.
He said I want our kids to growup in it and to learn best
practices of doing a smallbusiness.
And he said and I also want totrain other teens in the
(19:25):
community.
You know what the Bible teachesabout running a business?
And I thought, pie in the sky,it's a restaurant, you know, and
I was going to be managed again.
I thought, you know, that wasjust a completely unrealistic
goal.
But that is exactly whathappened, lisa, is that we were
able to bring to the restaurantbusiness biblical principles of
(19:50):
treating people kindly, of beingfair.
One of the things when webought this restaurant it had
been there for 14 years when webought it and then we had it for
14 years before we sold it.
But when we came in, thebiggest complaint was you never
charged me the same thing twotimes in a row and it was
because there were so manydifferent ways they could ask
for their food that it was avery customized order, and so
(20:13):
you could either you know, takeit over here and do a deduction,
or you could bring it from hereand add things on, and
everybody wasn't doing it in astandardized way.
But that's one of the thingsthat the Bible teaches is that
you do a fair accounting so thatwhen a person comes in, they
can expect what they're going toget when they pay a certain
amount, and that.
So that was one of the thingsthat we had to handle first was
(20:34):
just that, and then anotherprinciple that we had in all of
our businesses I still use thisto this day is to listen very
closely to the complaints.
Listen to what people aretelling you.
Very closely to the complaints.
Listen to what people aretelling you.
The restaurant doctor I can'tremember his first name now, but
I took a course by him way, way, way back, and he said that
(20:58):
only one out of 20 people willcomplain.
So when you hear one of thesecomplaints, it's gold.
Most people are too nice to sayanything, but you're messing up
somehow.
So when you get a complaint,that's when we would really go
to work.
We would say okay, how do wenever have this happen to
somebody again?
And go forward from that.
And then the opposite.
The flip side of that was wedid have a three strikes and
you're out policy where we hadone lady who would come in and
(21:21):
she'd order a salad and then shewould take it back to her desk
at work, wherever that was, andthen she'd call and she'd say it
really wasn't, it wasn't doneright.
And then, oh, I'm so sorry,come on in and we'll make it
right next time you're here.
So then she actually paid forsalads three times calling, and
(21:41):
each time it wasn't right.
On the third time we just had apolicy when that would happen.
On the third time we would justsay something like it seems
like that particular menu itemisn't working out for you, maybe
we could interest you in adifferent menu item.
Yes, let them know.
We see you and we see thatyou're taking advantage here.
But by doing that we had theopportunity to save customers
(22:06):
who would have otherwise beenlost.
My husband went to greatextremes at the retail store to
do this.
One story that I just loved wasthere was a guy that kept
bouncing checks and he wouldcome in for coffee.
We had a coffee shop and aBible bookstore in the retail
store and he would come in andhe'd bounce a check for $5.
And then you know, he'd have acheck for $5.
And then you know, he'd havethe huge fee and we'd have.
(22:29):
You know, it's just a hassle.
Anyway, after he did this a few,several times, and I told my
husband, why are you doing this?
Just stop it, just don't takechecks from him.
But he said, no, I just want towork with them.
And so he just, he just satdown with a guy and he just said
you know, this isn't good foryou, this isn't good for us.
He said what about?
And he did this, lisa, he didthis most amazing thing.
He said what about if you wouldjust put your coffees on
(22:51):
account with us and when youhave the money, just come in and
pay that account off?
And I thought crazy, he'llnever do it.
But he did.
Not only did he do it, but overthe years that we were there
and we had that store for 10years, over the years we were
there, not only did he startcoming in and paying cash for
his coffees, one at a time, butthen he went through the.
There's a program, a financialprogram.
(23:13):
I can't remember the name ofthe guy right now, but anyway he
went through this wholefinancial program.
He started paying off his house.
He became this money managerguy that just was so good with
funny, because my husband hadtaken time to extend love and
give him hope that there washope for him that he could learn
to manage money.
So I feel like these principlesthat we bring in with us yeah,
(23:35):
so many of them are from theBible, god's idea first.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
So question when you were?
Because there's there's a lotof companies that are run by
biblical principles.
No one would know Exactly.
Yeah, so would you say.
Your employees never knew thatthe word Bible was never used
the word, but it was kindnessand it was giving and it was
meeting them where they're at.
That's how you would explainthat.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Well, we were small businesses, so there was simply
no way not for the word Bible tobe used or not for us to be
clearly obviously Jesus lovers.
I mean, there was simply no waynot for the word Bible to be
used or not for us to be clearlyobviously Jesus lovers.
I mean, that's just who we are,and so our conversations were
sometimes about that, but wedidn't have any kind of rules
that you had to be a Christianor you got to go to a certain
church or anything.
We didn't have any rules likethat, for our employees were all
over the board that way.
(24:20):
It was a culture, though, wherehonesty and integrity and
biblical principles were carried, and so, a lot of times,
somebody who didn't like thatdidn't stay because it wasn't a
good fit for them.
But yeah, I remember walking inone time and I never did this
myself, but I remember walkingin one time and one of the
(24:43):
teenagers had put a Bible verseon the wall that said something
about do your work as unto theLord, and I just went.
I remember tipping my head,going well, that's cool.
So I mean, your employees arewatching you, your employees are
watching what you're doing,even if, like I say, I never put
a Bible verse up, but if theywant to, sure.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Right, oh, I love that.
Great example.
Great example.
Thank you for sharing Marnie AtLeader Impact we are dedicated
to leaders having a lastingimpact.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
We are almost done, but as you continue to move
through this journey, have youconsidered what you want to a
funeral?
And then, when the person'sdead, everybody says all these
great things about him, and I'mlike, why aren't we saying these
things to people now?
Say them to people now.
And so I do think of thosethings for other people, like
how have you affected me?
(25:40):
I want to communicate that toyou now, and so, of course, I've
thought about it for myself too, and a book I wrote in 2015 is
called flow through vessel, andit's about how God created us to
be literally a flow throughvessel of whatever.
Whatever comes in, that's whatcomes out.
Basically, if you're taking intoxic content all day long,
(26:04):
you're going to be speakingtoxic content later in the day
or the week, because that's howit goes.
So we're flow through vesselsfor something, and so my heart
is to just be a flow throughvessel for God, to just be
always hanging with Jesus andalways letting the Holy Spirit
flow and just to be his flowthrough vessel.
So if you could say one nicething about me and my future, it
would be that I just flowedlight, life and love to the
(26:27):
world from heaven down, and Iwould love that to be my legacy.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Oh, that's great, I am.
I'm gonna have to look up flowthrough vessel, your book.
I love that.
It was a great, great legacyyou will leave and our final
question is what brings you thegreatest joy?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I am.
So my parents didn't know thatthey were naming me Joyful Joy
when they named me Marnie Joy.
They just named me Marniebecause they liked the sound of
that, and joy because theythought that was cool.
And so they named me Joyful Joybecause Marnie in Hebrew means
joyful.
So what brings me the most joy?
I mean I just find joy ineverything.
This morning I had a chance tojust snuggle on a couch and read
books to my grandchildren.
(27:09):
I mean that was just amazing,and just being here with you
brings me so much joy.
Yesterday morning I was sittingearly.
I was sitting on a beach withmy sister looking out at the
water and there was a dolphin.
That brought me joy.
Being with her on a park benchbrought me joy.
I mean everything, everythingyou know, when you, when your
(27:31):
spirit is free, everythingbrings you joy.
Yeah, you find joy in thesmallest little details and,
lisa, you bring me joy.
You are a delight.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Thank you.
So when because life isn't fullof joy, marnie there are
situations and where do you findI just have to ask, like, as I
listened to it, I think we'rejust doing a study and we're
talking about problems andobstacles and, and you know what
, is my thought going into them?
And when you, when you come upwith a problem, is my thought
(28:07):
going into them?
And when you, when you come upwith a problem, you know I have
to change my, my mind and go.
You know what we can do this.
You know what.
What do you when you, when youhave a problem, where does your
mind go?
Are you like you're superexcited, you're going to solve
this?
Do you acknowledge it?
To give yourself a pity party?
You know, because you do have avery beautiful spirit and I
(28:28):
love to hear, because I thinkyou got to have problems.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, yeah, I love to hear howpeople, what are your?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
first thoughts.
Yeah, so I'm just gonna whipoff a bunch of stuff here.
That's in my long bio.
I have lived through fires andfloods, tornadoes and hurricanes
.
Bio.
I have lived through fires andfloods, tornadoes and hurricanes
, cancer in the family, headinjury in my husband, sudden
death in the family.
I have lived through so manyhard things.
And in the book Flow ThroughVessel again, I didn't know I
(28:58):
was going to plug that, but herewe go.
So in the book Flow ThroughVessel I go through the four R's
that are my life.
So first of all, jesus is my911.
And everybody has a 911.
It's either anger or it's, likeyou said, pity was mine for a
long time.
I'm just feeling sorry formyself.
But I changed and now I have a911 that I just start saying the
name of Jesus and then I do thefour R's and I teach these.
(29:19):
So I'm going to go through themreally quick.
But the first R is to recognizeI've got a problem and that God
wants to help me.
And then second R, release it.
I just give the problem to God.
And then the third R is toreceive his reciprocal gift,
(29:40):
which is usually something verybeautiful, like peace or joy or
patience or long suffering, oran idea hope, whatever.
And then I just respond withgratitude and I say teasingly to
God, I say, well, thanks fortaking that off of my shoulders.
Is there anything I can do foryou today?
And then if there's somethingI'm supposed to do about it, it
comes right then, but it's in awhole different way than it was
(30:02):
when I thought I had to solvethe problem, and I think that
the learning disabilities andall the things that I have lived
through have taught me I caneither try to do it myself or I
can allow the God who made meand loves me, help me do it, and
that's what I prefer to do.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Yeah, marnie, thank you.
I'm glad I asked that, I'm gladyou shared, because I think
sometimes people who havewonderful lives, other people,
look at you and go your life hasalways been good, you know, and
it's not.
It's how we react to it andwhat we do with what happens to
us.
Absolutely so I'm thankful youshared that I'm glad I knew
(30:42):
there was something that wantedme to ask that.
Well, marty, this brings us tothe end of our podcast, and I
have absolutely loved the lasthalf hour.
If anybody wants to connectwith you, find out more about if
you have any conferences orspeaking, or your books.
What is the best way to get intouch with you?
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Well, lisa, I am old enough and my name is unique
enough that I got my own name asmy website, so it's just
Marniecom M-A-R-N-I-Ecom so easyand everything's over there.
The summits I do nine virtualsummits for women a year,
training summits they're soamazing.
A bunch of us get together andjust celebrate and women from
(31:20):
all over the world come andenjoy those with us.
And then all kinds of my booksare over there and the training
programs, all of that.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Awesome.
Well, mari, thank you forjoining us.
You are a blessing, thank you.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Lisa, thanks for having me All right.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
All right.
Well, if you're part of LeaderImpact, you can always discuss
or share this podcast with yourgroup.
And if you are not yet part ofLeader Impact and would like to
find out more and grow yourleadership, find our podcast
page on our website atleaderimpactca.
You can also check out groupsavailable in Canada at
leaderimpactca, or, if you'relistening from anywhere else in
the world, check outleaderimpactcom or get in touch
(31:55):
with us by email.
Info at leaderimpactca and wewill connect you.
And if you like this podcast,please leave us a comment, give
us a rating or review.
This will help other globalleaders find our podcast.
Thank you for engaging with usand remember impact starts with
(32:24):
you.
Welcome to the Leader Impact Podcast.
We are a community of leaderswith a network in over 350
cities around the world,dedicated to optimizing our
personal, professional andspiritual lives to have impact.
This show is where we have achance to listen and engage with
leaders who are living this out.
We love talking with leaders,so if you have any questions,
comments or suggestions to makethe show even better, please let
us know.
(00:25):
I'm your host, lisa Peters, andour guest today is Marnie
Swedberg.
Marnie is an accomplishedinternational leadership mentor,
media expert and master ofgenerating those aha moments.
She is the author of 14 books,a keynote speaker and has graced
stages worldwide and the hostof a number one ranked blog talk
radio show.
Her dynamic approach toleadership, life and faith has
(00:48):
captivated audience at hundredsof events, conferences and
summits for religiousorganizations, ngos, fortune 500
companies and governmentagencies.
Welcome to this show, marnie.
Thanks, lisa.
It's great to be here.
It is great to see you again.
I'm just going to give a hugeplug.
Recently I was on your show,marnie's Friends Talk Radio.
(01:09):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yes, oh, we had such a good time, so I'm excited for
today.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, it was nice to sort of get that, you know,
initial, like we're best friendsalready.
So, yeah, right, thanks fortaking the time.
We love hearing about people'sjourneys and, of course, we
speed it up a little bit becausewe want to hear about those
pivotal turning points thatreally got you to where you are.
So can you give us a couplesnapshots, a couple snapshots of
(01:36):
those pivotal moments that gotyou here today?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yeah, I'd love to.
So first of all I started off alittle behind the eight ball
because I didn't really learnhow to read until I was an adult
.
So I just really struggledthrough school, dyslexic, and
didn't have the kind of helpthat's available these days, and
so just really really struggledand barely graduated.
I really shouldn't havegraduated from high school.
(02:00):
They just let me graduate, theyjust let me graduate.
And it was after I was out fromunder the pressure of school
that my mind relaxed enough tobe able to read, to figure it
out, to figure out how to read.
So I was able to start reading.
And then, lisa, you couldn'tstop me.
(02:20):
I just read and read, and readand read.
When my kids were little Iwould sometimes interlibrary
alone 40 books a week.
I just couldn't get enough ofreading and it was so exciting,
opened up a whole new world, andthat was part of the reason why
I decided we'd homeschool ourkids.
So we homeschooled our threekids from K to 12.
And just loved that journey,kind of learned everything again
(02:44):
for the first time with mychildren as they were learning
it, and it was just an amazingjourney.
As a young adult, as a teenager,I started working for
entrepreneurs Just happened thatour family knew a guy who had a
janitorial company, so me andmy sister worked for him and
then I started working in hisoffice.
(03:05):
I knew another guy who had aceiling tile company and I
started doing part-time officework for him and then went to
work for a fitness organizationthat just had five branches
local organization and I wasjust exposed to a lot of
entrepreneurs early on, fell inlove with that business model.
Instead of working corporate orwhatever.
(03:26):
I tried that and I justcouldn't really do that and so I
loved the freedom of theentrepreneurship lifestyle.
So later, when our kids wereteens, my husband first bought a
restaurant that I managed andthen we bought a retail store
that I managed and along thistime I was also owning, managing
(03:46):
womenspeakerscom, which is adirectory, now with 1800
speakers and thousands ofplanners you know the speakers
traveling all over the world.
So always loved thatentrepreneurial lifestyle and
just still doing that today andlove it, love it, love it to
have trained it all over theworld.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Wow, what Okay, I'm gonna go right back to dyslexic.
Yeah, how did you get throughschool?
Speaker 1 (04:11):
You know that I could .
So I memorized a lot of words.
So most of what we read are thesame words over and over.
So I memorized a lot of wordsand then I just had to slow down
and sound out a lot of words,just slow way down.
I remember being in 11th gradeand just my science teacher.
I just said I just need help, Ineed help, I want to learn this
(04:36):
, I just can't.
And he said if I gave you thetest in advance, would you be
willing to work on that?
And I did, and I got 100% onthat test.
I just couldn't do it in thetime pressure of the moment.
It was a pressure thing that mybrain just couldn't relax
enough.
Right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
That's a great, great story in that they were willing
to work with you.
Yeah, I mean, I'm just going toguess our ages.
That was a while ago.
You know where we're, becauseschools are way more flexible
now.
So, um and aware and aware.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
I mean learning disabilities at that time was
kind of not a normal thing.
There were no special edclasses, there was nothing to
help that, and and we werealways in private schools um,
small, you know, not expensiveprivate schools, but the small,
small schools that the parentssent you to if they just wanted
to tuck you away and have you,you know, have you learn from
(05:31):
their biblical perspective,which I'm always grateful for.
But what's amazing now is I'vewritten 14 books and I'm a
trainer of writers.
So I think when you're facedwith a challenge in your youth,
you can either give into thatand not try, or you can be the
(05:51):
person who really kept onworking toward it, and I think
what it did for me is developeda lot of skills that I wouldn't
have today.
I had to figure out ways tomake it work without the
advantages of other people.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, which I think really is a great thing for
being a coach, is recognizingthis in others and knowing the
tools that can be provided.
So thanks for sharing that,Marnie.
On our podcast we talk a lotabout principles of success and
we're wondering if you have oneand if you can share a story
that illustrates that.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Oh, my goodness, I have so many.
So I would think I think thething that I love to share the
most is the uniqueness of youand the principle of truly
discovering and embracing whoyou are.
I say it this way when Godstrung together your 3 billion
base pairs of DNA, he did it ina particular way, and I just
(06:47):
always encourage people spendsome time doing some mission and
vision work for yourself.
Figure out what turns yourcrank, what you're really
excited to do.
It's not that we get to do thatall day, every day, but once we
identify what that really isand, like Lori, beth Jones has
(07:09):
an amazing book out it's beenout forever called the Path.
I love that book.
I have a mission visiontraining at marnicom, but
however you go about it, taketime to figure out who you are
and then really lean into that.
I'm going to just talk about myown story, where people have my
(07:30):
whole career in business andentrepreneurship.
People have encouraged me toniche down to pick one lane,
lisa, I'm so glad I didn'tlisten to that advice because
for me that wouldn't have worked.
For most people that's verygood advice, but for me that
wouldn't have worked and insteadI was writing books and
(07:58):
homeschooling my kids, managinga restaurant and managing a
retail store, managing a women'sspeakers site online and
traveling and speaking and beinga missionary at the same time
speakers site online andtraveling and speaking and being
a missionary at the same timeso for me, that would have
really shut down.
I believe what I was created todo, but, because I mentioned
earlier, my parents sent us toChristian schools.
At the time.
That was very unusual to takeyour children out of a public
(08:20):
school and put them in aChristian school, and so we had
to deal with a lot of not abuse,but a lot of incoming.
Why are you doing this?
And it's going to ruin yourchildren.
I mean things that we wouldhear all the time and my parents
drilled into us.
There's only one you.
You be the best you you can be.
It'll be all right, and Ireally feel like that was just
(08:43):
the best advice.
And as I work with women aroundthe world, some of these girls
have the most incredible callson their life, like what they're
here to do.
I have some girls who literallygo into strip clubs and
befriend the strippers in orderto help them to have a best life
possible.
(09:04):
If they want to get out.
They help them get out If theywant to stay in.
They just befriend them wherethey are and everybody that's
listening to us right now.
You're doing things the way youdo them that nobody else can do
them.
Other people could maybe dosomething similar, but nobody
can do it the way you do it.
So I just encourage you, as theprimary thing, that you have to
(09:32):
offer the world and then figureout how to do whatever it is
that you're doing.
You're bringing that full giftto the table.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
It's a great principle.
So are you thinking of theuniqueness of you?
You were very busy.
You listed all the things youwere doing and you didn't niche
down.
Are you still like, when I lookat your website and I see the
virtual summits and I see thetalk radio and I see the women's
, like there's still a lot?
Are you still that busy?
Speaker 1 (09:57):
I'm not.
I'm not busy in the same way,yeah, and definitely I'm not as
busy as when we own therestaurant, the retail store.
At the same time, I tell youwhat, lisa, every day I get up
and I thank God I'm not in theretail or the restaurant
business anymore.
Those are, you know for thoseof you listening, who that's,
that's your gig.
It's so much work, it's just anincredible amount of physical
(10:21):
labor to run a retail store, torun a restaurant and you know,
for those of you who aremanaging a bunch of people, wow,
that's insane, that is so muchwork.
So now I am busy myself.
I have a team of outsourcersfrom all over the world who work
with me, through Upwork mostly,and I am very busy, but it's
(10:42):
not the same.
It's not the same type of busyand, like when I was
homeschooling my kids, okay,that's a whole different type of
busy again.
So you have seasons.
You have seasons where it'sdifferent types of busyness.
But, yeah, I still get up veryearly every morning usually 5, 5
, 30 in the morning and I startworking with my teams around the
world and then, as the day goesby, I'm doing meetings and
(11:03):
talks with people here in thestates and it goes from there
it's.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
It's unique.
It's not unique.
The working around the world wecan do that now.
I mean, look at us.
We are not in the same countryand we're, you know we're.
We're sitting here talking likeit's, we're just down there,
you know, down the street.
It's really, and we can, we canwork around the world anytime,
anyplace.
Our next question we talk a lotabout our failures and we know
(11:27):
we learn from our failures andmistakes.
We learn way more and I'mwondering if you have one of
your greatest failures ormistakes that you can share with
us and what you learned from it.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Okay, so I'm just.
There's so many, where do Ibegin?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
That's why we're so smart.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I remember one day I had a girls club in my home my
children were ages probably fiveto 10 at the time and girls
would come off the school busafter school three days a week
Monday, tuesday and Thursday andwe would together from three to
530, we would make meals forfamilies that were in trouble.
(12:07):
Just coming back from a medicaltrip or just welcoming new baby
or maybe you know, back wentout on the mom or something you
know, just went out on the momor something you know, just
something lost a loved one,whatever.
And I taught these girls how tocook and then we would sing
together.
I taught them how to sew littlebaby bibs, to applique little
baby bibs, and we'd send thosewith the meals.
And these were, these were justgirls that I had.
(12:29):
I had this club in my home for10 years and it was just an
amazing time.
And there was one day when Iwas exceedingly tired and I went
into my room and I laid downfor a little bit before they
came and then, finally, therewas a little tiny knock, knock,
knock on my door and so I saidcome in and it was one of the
girls.
Her name was Wendy, I rememberspecifically, and she said
(12:51):
Maureen, we're here.
And I'm like, oh my goodness,oh, wow, wow, wow.
And I had totally fallen asleepso hard, I didn't realize what
time it was at all, and theywere all out in the kitchen and
she said to me she said we'vebeen here for about 10 minutes,
but your kids said don't knockon the door because you can't
interrupt her when she'ssleeping.
(13:11):
And so we were too scared tocome in.
And that really hit me hard.
I thought, oh gosh, you know, Ididn't really mean to have my
kids be that scared of me takinga nap, and so that was a big
one.
There's so many things that wedo and we don't recognize how it
affects people.
I remember the day I walked intothe back door of our retail
(13:34):
store and I walked past and Ilooked over to the right and I
saw my manager there.
She was just standing there andwhen she saw me she jumped.
She had that look of terror inher eyes and she jumped.
But we were like best friends.
So I went over to herafterwards and I said I saw that
(13:54):
when you saw me, your startlereflex was fear.
Are you afraid of me?
Have I done something to causeyou to be afraid of me and she
said not at all.
She said I just have thatreaction to authority figures.
Her mom had been pretty abusiveas a child and she had it
toward me because of my role.
(14:15):
And what I'm trying to say withthese two stories is, as a
leader, you carry with you theability to scare people when you
don't mean to scare people.
You're not meaning to scarepeople.
I'm going to bring this homewith one more illustration.
One morning early we lived onbeautiful Lake of the Woods up
(14:35):
in northern Minnesota.
It was really really remote butit was absolutely beautiful.
One morning I took my car and Idrove my little tracker down
toward the beach.
I was just going to watch thesunrise a moment before I
started the day and as I cameinto the parking lot I was the
only vehicle there.
As I came into the parking lot,it was covered with seagulls,
(14:55):
just thousands of seagulls, andas I drove right in, they all
lifted up in this big, beautifulrise.
And in my heart I heard God saynever do that to people and I
thought, wow, sometimes as aleader, that's exactly what we
do.
We walk in with so much power,we walk in so much bigger, not
(15:18):
because we're trying to bebigger, just because our
position makes us bigger and theseagulls lift and move out of
the way and they're scared.
You're going to run them overand you know.
It's nothing you've done.
Actually, it's just theposition you're in.
So I feel like we all have tolearn this at some point to
tenderly carry the souls that welead.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, and to ask that employee that you scared,
actually ask her, did I like youknow what is it?
Did I scare you?
Right, that's a hard thing fora leader to not everyone can do
it, they just sort of go.
Oh, I scared her.
But to actually ask and to findout the why, right.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yes, well, and one of the things is people told us
before we bought our firstbusiness, the restaurant people
told us, don't hire your friends, it just doesn't work out well.
And we did not listen to thatadvice and we hired our really,
really best your friends.
It just doesn't work out welland we did not listen to that
advice and we hired our really,really bestest friends.
We had one manager who workedfor us the full 14 years we
owned that business and she wasour best friend before we owned
it.
She was our best friend afterwe owned it and a lot of our
(16:27):
friends came to work for us.
But I had all through the yearsI had managers of other
businesses tell me well, youknow, you can't really be
friends with your employees andI just say, why not?
Why not?
So if you will tenderly carrythe hearts of the people who
work for you, you can help themidentify that there are
(16:47):
different roles in this, butwe're all in this together and
one of the ways that Icommunicated that, especially at
the restaurant super easyduring a rush just walk in and
do whatever needed to be done,whether it was cleaning up a
mess on the floor, doing dishes,chopping veggies, whatever it
was, walk in and do whateverthey needed.
They boss me around in thatmoment.
(17:08):
I don't walk in pretending Iknow what's going on, because
I'm walking into a firestorm andI don't know what's going on,
but I can help.
I am a couple hands and I canhelp.
So I think, just being humbleabout the leadership position
you're in, it's a position andthere are responsibilities and
privileges that come with it.
But as long as you recognizethat theirs is also just a
(17:29):
position, there are privilegesthat come with that.
One is they don't have to thinkabout where the payroll is
coming from.
You know, I mean, there's someprivileges and just clocking in
and clocking out as well.
So I think as long as we'rejust aware of that and humble,
we can have the most amazingrelationships, even with our
teams.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, thank you for sharing that story and I think
that's really important.
It reminds me of a man that Iused to work for and he was the
most humble leader and to thisday, when I see him, it just
brings such good feelings.
Because we were on site at alocation and he came and had
lunch with us.
We were having subs the man isthe president of the company,
(18:08):
very large and he came, and Idon't forget that, and that was
20 years ago and it's more abouthow he saw himself.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
He just saw himself as having a different role from
you, but not being higher thanyou in any way.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Yeah, yeah, and as you say that we ran into him
about two weeks ago and he saidI used to work with Lisa versus
Lisa works for me.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
I was.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Lisa's boss.
He said to my husband I workedwith Lisa, I'm like you were the
president.
Okay, we work together.
I love that.
Oh, good stories, Marnie, Thankyou for sharing.
So at Leader Impact we are, wewant to grow personally,
professionally and spirituallyfor increasing impact.
So I'm wondering if you'rewilling to share an example of
(18:58):
how the spiritual makes apractical difference in your
life as a leader.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
Oh, it's so fun Because before we bought the
restaurant, my husband was stillworking corporate and because
before we bought the restaurant,my husband was still working
corporate and so before webought the restaurant, he said I
want to buy a brick and mortar.
So he'd been doing investing instock market.
He said I want to buy a brickand mortar.
He said I want our kids to growup in it and to learn best
practices of doing a smallbusiness.
And he said and I also want totrain other teens in the
(19:25):
community.
You know what the Bible teachesabout running a business?
And I thought, pie in the sky,it's a restaurant, you know, and
I was going to be managed again.
I thought, you know, that wasjust a completely unrealistic
goal.
But that is exactly whathappened, lisa, is that we were
able to bring to the restaurantbusiness biblical principles of
(19:50):
treating people kindly, of beingfair.
One of the things when webought this restaurant it had
been there for 14 years when webought it and then we had it for
14 years before we sold it.
But when we came in, thebiggest complaint was you never
charged me the same thing twotimes in a row and it was
because there were so manydifferent ways they could ask
for their food that it was avery customized order, and so
(20:13):
you could either you know, takeit over here and do a deduction,
or you could bring it from hereand add things on, and
everybody wasn't doing it in astandardized way.
But that's one of the thingsthat the Bible teaches is that
you do a fair accounting so thatwhen a person comes in, they
can expect what they're going toget when they pay a certain
amount, and that.
So that was one of the thingsthat we had to handle first was
(20:34):
just that, and then anotherprinciple that we had in all of
our businesses I still use thisto this day is to listen very
closely to the complaints.
Listen to what people aretelling you.
Very closely to the complaints.
Listen to what people aretelling you.
The restaurant doctor I can'tremember his first name now, but
I took a course by him way, way, way back, and he said that
(20:58):
only one out of 20 people willcomplain.
So when you hear one of thesecomplaints, it's gold.
Most people are too nice to sayanything, but you're messing up
somehow.
So when you get a complaint,that's when we would really go
to work.
We would say okay, how do wenever have this happen to
somebody again?
And go forward from that.
And then the opposite.
The flip side of that was wedid have a three strikes and
you're out policy where we hadone lady who would come in and
(21:21):
she'd order a salad and then shewould take it back to her desk
at work, wherever that was, andthen she'd call and she'd say it
really wasn't, it wasn't doneright.
And then, oh, I'm so sorry,come on in and we'll make it
right next time you're here.
So then she actually paid forsalads three times calling, and
(21:41):
each time it wasn't right.
On the third time we just had apolicy when that would happen.
On the third time we would justsay something like it seems
like that particular menu itemisn't working out for you, maybe
we could interest you in adifferent menu item.
Yes, let them know.
We see you and we see thatyou're taking advantage here.
But by doing that we had theopportunity to save customers
(22:06):
who would have otherwise beenlost.
My husband went to greatextremes at the retail store to
do this.
One story that I just loved wasthere was a guy that kept
bouncing checks and he wouldcome in for coffee.
We had a coffee shop and aBible bookstore in the retail
store and he would come in andhe'd bounce a check for $5.
And then you know, he'd have acheck for $5.
And then you know, he'd havethe huge fee and we'd have.
(22:29):
You know, it's just a hassle.
Anyway, after he did this a few,several times, and I told my
husband, why are you doing this?
Just stop it, just don't takechecks from him.
But he said, no, I just want towork with them.
And so he just, he just satdown with a guy and he just said
you know, this isn't good foryou, this isn't good for us.
He said what about?
And he did this, lisa, he didthis most amazing thing.
He said what about if you wouldjust put your coffees on
(22:51):
account with us and when youhave the money, just come in and
pay that account off?
And I thought crazy, he'llnever do it.
But he did.
Not only did he do it, but overthe years that we were there
and we had that store for 10years, over the years we were
there, not only did he startcoming in and paying cash for
his coffees, one at a time, butthen he went through the.
There's a program, a financialprogram.
(23:13):
I can't remember the name ofthe guy right now, but anyway he
went through this wholefinancial program.
He started paying off his house.
He became this money managerguy that just was so good with
funny, because my husband hadtaken time to extend love and
give him hope that there washope for him that he could learn
to manage money.
So I feel like these principlesthat we bring in with us yeah,
(23:35):
so many of them are from theBible, god's idea first.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
So question when you were?
Because there's there's a lotof companies that are run by
biblical principles.
No one would know Exactly.
Yeah, so would you say.
Your employees never knew thatthe word Bible was never used
the word, but it was kindnessand it was giving and it was
meeting them where they're at.
That's how you would explainthat.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
Well, we were small businesses, so there was simply
no way not for the word Bible tobe used or not for us to be
clearly obviously Jesus lovers.
I mean, there was simply no waynot for the word Bible to be
used or not for us to be clearlyobviously Jesus lovers.
I mean, that's just who we are,and so our conversations were
sometimes about that, but wedidn't have any kind of rules
that you had to be a Christianor you got to go to a certain
church or anything.
We didn't have any rules likethat, for our employees were all
over the board that way.
(24:20):
It was a culture, though, wherehonesty and integrity and
biblical principles were carried, and so, a lot of times,
somebody who didn't like thatdidn't stay because it wasn't a
good fit for them.
But yeah, I remember walking inone time and I never did this
myself, but I remember walkingin one time and one of the
(24:43):
teenagers had put a Bible verseon the wall that said something
about do your work as unto theLord, and I just went.
I remember tipping my head,going well, that's cool.
So I mean, your employees arewatching you, your employees are
watching what you're doing,even if, like I say, I never put
a Bible verse up, but if theywant to, sure.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Right, oh, I love that.
Great example.
Great example.
Thank you for sharing Marnie AtLeader Impact we are dedicated
to leaders having a lastingimpact.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
We are almost done, but as you continue to move
through this journey, have youconsidered what you want to a
funeral?
And then, when the person'sdead, everybody says all these
great things about him, and I'mlike, why aren't we saying these
things to people now?
Say them to people now.
And so I do think of thosethings for other people, like
how have you affected me?
(25:40):
I want to communicate that toyou now, and so, of course, I've
thought about it for myself too, and a book I wrote in 2015 is
called flow through vessel, andit's about how God created us to
be literally a flow throughvessel of whatever.
Whatever comes in, that's whatcomes out.
Basically, if you're taking intoxic content all day long,
(26:04):
you're going to be speakingtoxic content later in the day
or the week, because that's howit goes.
So we're flow through vesselsfor something, and so my heart
is to just be a flow throughvessel for God, to just be
always hanging with Jesus andalways letting the Holy Spirit
flow and just to be his flowthrough vessel.
So if you could say one nicething about me and my future, it
would be that I just flowedlight, life and love to the
(26:27):
world from heaven down, and Iwould love that to be my legacy.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Oh, that's great, I am.
I'm gonna have to look up flowthrough vessel, your book.
I love that.
It was a great, great legacyyou will leave and our final
question is what brings you thegreatest joy?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I am.
So my parents didn't know thatthey were naming me Joyful Joy
when they named me Marnie Joy.
They just named me Marniebecause they liked the sound of
that, and joy because theythought that was cool.
And so they named me Joyful Joybecause Marnie in Hebrew means
joyful.
So what brings me the most joy?
I mean I just find joy ineverything.
This morning I had a chance tojust snuggle on a couch and read
books to my grandchildren.
(27:09):
I mean that was just amazing,and just being here with you
brings me so much joy.
Yesterday morning I was sittingearly.
I was sitting on a beach withmy sister looking out at the
water and there was a dolphin.
That brought me joy.
Being with her on a park benchbrought me joy.
I mean everything, everythingyou know, when you, when your
(27:31):
spirit is free, everythingbrings you joy.
Yeah, you find joy in thesmallest little details and,
lisa, you bring me joy.
You are a delight.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Thank you.
So when because life isn't fullof joy, marnie there are
situations and where do you findI just have to ask, like, as I
listened to it, I think we'rejust doing a study and we're
talking about problems andobstacles and, and you know what
, is my thought going into them?
And when you, when you come upwith a problem, is my thought
(28:07):
going into them?
And when you, when you come upwith a problem, you know I have
to change my, my mind and go.
You know what we can do this.
You know what.
What do you when you, when youhave a problem, where does your
mind go?
Are you like you're superexcited, you're going to solve
this?
Do you acknowledge it?
To give yourself a pity party?
You know, because you do have avery beautiful spirit and I
(28:28):
love to hear, because I thinkyou got to have problems.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, yeah, I love to hear howpeople, what are your?
Speaker 1 (28:35):
first thoughts.
Yeah, so I'm just gonna whipoff a bunch of stuff here.
That's in my long bio.
I have lived through fires andfloods, tornadoes and hurricanes
.
Bio.
I have lived through fires andfloods, tornadoes and hurricanes
, cancer in the family, headinjury in my husband, sudden
death in the family.
I have lived through so manyhard things.
And in the book Flow ThroughVessel again, I didn't know I
(28:58):
was going to plug that, but herewe go.
So in the book Flow ThroughVessel I go through the four R's
that are my life.
So first of all, jesus is my911.
And everybody has a 911.
It's either anger or it's, likeyou said, pity was mine for a
long time.
I'm just feeling sorry formyself.
But I changed and now I have a911 that I just start saying the
name of Jesus and then I do thefour R's and I teach these.
(29:19):
So I'm going to go through themreally quick.
But the first R is to recognizeI've got a problem and that God
wants to help me.
And then second R, release it.
I just give the problem to God.
And then the third R is toreceive his reciprocal gift,
(29:40):
which is usually something verybeautiful, like peace or joy or
patience or long suffering, oran idea hope, whatever.
And then I just respond withgratitude and I say teasingly to
God, I say, well, thanks fortaking that off of my shoulders.
Is there anything I can do foryou today?
And then if there's somethingI'm supposed to do about it, it
comes right then, but it's in awhole different way than it was
(30:02):
when I thought I had to solvethe problem, and I think that
the learning disabilities andall the things that I have lived
through have taught me I caneither try to do it myself or I
can allow the God who made meand loves me, help me do it, and
that's what I prefer to do.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
Yeah, marnie, thank you.
I'm glad I asked that, I'm gladyou shared, because I think
sometimes people who havewonderful lives, other people,
look at you and go your life hasalways been good, you know, and
it's not.
It's how we react to it andwhat we do with what happens to
us.
Absolutely so I'm thankful youshared that I'm glad I knew
(30:42):
there was something that wantedme to ask that.
Well, marty, this brings us tothe end of our podcast, and I
have absolutely loved the lasthalf hour.
If anybody wants to connectwith you, find out more about if
you have any conferences orspeaking, or your books.
What is the best way to get intouch with you?
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Well, lisa, I am old enough and my name is unique
enough that I got my own name asmy website, so it's just
Marniecom M-A-R-N-I-Ecom so easyand everything's over there.
The summits I do nine virtualsummits for women a year,
training summits they're soamazing.
A bunch of us get together andjust celebrate and women from
(31:20):
all over the world come andenjoy those with us.
And then all kinds of my booksare over there and the training
programs, all of that.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
Awesome.
Well, mari, thank you forjoining us.
You are a blessing, thank you.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Lisa, thanks for having me All right.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
All right.
Well, if you're part of LeaderImpact, you can always discuss
or share this podcast with yourgroup.
And if you are not yet part ofLeader Impact and would like to
find out more and grow yourleadership, find our podcast
page on our website atleaderimpactca.
You can also check out groupsavailable in Canada at
leaderimpactca, or, if you'relistening from anywhere else in
the world, check outleaderimpactcom or get in touch
(31:55):
with us by email.
Info at leaderimpactca and wewill connect you.
And if you like this podcast,please leave us a comment, give
us a rating or review.
This will help other globalleaders find our podcast.
Thank you for engaging with usand remember impact starts with
(32:24):
you.
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.