October 5, 2023 • 56 mins
Business and Impact Coach Michael Messer is sharing six key points to help you become intentional about the impact you are making as an organization, business or individual. Michael explores these points with true-life examples of honoring and uplifting the values within yourself and your business. He further explains how to "live" those values within your organization and how to stay-the-course with finding and filling the gap of needs in your community.
Learn more about the voices in this episode:
Producer Dee Daniels, Dee Daniels Media Podcast Network
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
What does growth look like in your business in your life as a business owner,
executive or individual,
you can live and lead with intention to create the change you want to see in your community and the world.
Welcome to the Discerning Strategies Podcast,
a place where we can see clearly and act wisely.
(00:30):
Welcome to the Discerning Strategies podcast.
I'm your producer,
Dee Daniels alongside your host,
Michael Messer.
And we are getting into a very interesting topic,
actually,
six interesting topics on this episode.
Uh Michael already the the meaningful line that is that is happening with the guest on this podcast is,
(00:52):
is something something to talk about.
There is,
there's a,
there's an impact in every episode.
I feel like already that was the point kind of,
yeah,
like people,
I think undervalue how impactful the little things can be,
right?
And I love shining a little bit of light on how people and organizations can make that better choice to have that impact and just see a little bit of good in the world.
(01:25):
And I actually think it's,
it's for everybody's benefit just because we live in the world.
But also like from a business point.
It just makes sense.
It's good business.
It's being a good human.
Why not?
Right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And we're doing just that,
I know we've got really six things that we really want to touch on in this episode.
Talk a little bit about where these six points come from and who they're intended for.
(01:49):
So,
really,
this is just continuing a theme,
I think in some of the conversations that we've had in other episodes of the podcast,
which is what does it mean to be intentional?
And what I mean by that is how do we think about envision and then act on the impact that and create the impact that we want to see in the world,
(02:12):
right?
And so I've told stories about how I,
I had kind of this epiphany moment in which I realized that businesses can actually choose to empower people,
they can choose to lean into the community for mutual benefit.
They can choose to run themselves in ways that measure their impact,
(02:32):
not solely just on their bottom line,
but,
but what's happening with the real people that they're coming in contact with?
So the big picture here is that,
that can seem really daunting to a lot of people.
Gosh,
they look at,
they hear corporate social responsibility or ESG which is environmental,
social governance,
(02:52):
language and business.
And it seems like it's really reserved for these mega corporations or really well resourced organizations that have an army of people to throw at it.
My point here is to say,
no,
I believe any organization,
any person can have an impact as long as they're intentional.
And so I wanted to talk a little bit today about,
(03:13):
well,
what does that mean?
How do you,
how do you,
how do you be intentional?
And there's like six points to it,
right?
There's like knowing your value,
your values and your purpose.
What are you doing?
Making sure it's really authentic planning for it.
Starting small,
start at home,
get your own house in order and stay true to the course and the vision that you have for yourself and kind of have fun and communicate along the way.
(03:38):
All of those things are in direct service to creating positive impacts that are aligned with your values,
that can just have incredible spillover effects in ways that you can't even anticipate.
I know we're gonna talk about each one of those in a little bit of detail and,
and sort of map that out for,
for all of us to sort of look at,
(04:00):
you know,
starting with the big question of how can individuals,
how can business owners,
how can organizations be intentional?
I think that's the question we all start with,
you know,
when we're looking at the mountain,
right?
And we're like,
how do,
where do we start?
How do we do it?
Is this too big for us to even take on?
(04:20):
It's never too big because the,
the thing that can have an impact is sometimes so small but so meaningful it gets overlooked.
I'm gonna give you an example.
Um I've done a fair amount of work in my community in the nonprofit space and there,
you know,
we happen to be or I happen to live in a place that has a really big bustling port logistics and believe it or not,
(04:42):
there are companies out there that will choose to abandon goods in their warehouse when their lease is up,
it's cheaper for them to just walk away.
Stuff is perfect.
Hasn't been sold.
It's like off the boat.
I'm not exactly sure the provenance of can be anything.
And so I was actually confronted with a situation in which we were trying to figure out how can you donate that stuff into the community?
(05:07):
The big impact I am telling you the missing link.
And in this particular instance,
it was,
it was um sports supplies,
think about and a lot of it.
So like footballs,
helmets,
baseball bats,
think about how many community programs,
school programs,
(05:28):
children's groups could benefit from that stuff.
Right.
There was no way to move it,
impact the impact there,
literally one guy a truck in two hours and it,
it could have it,
it could have made the difference for so many kids in the community that actually doesn't have a great ending to it or one that I'm not aware of because we weren't actually able to figure that out.
(05:54):
And that's really disappointing and it's almost a little bit motivating.
Like,
why am I doing this podcast?
Why am I putting these messages out?
Because I see that as a huge missed opportunity for my community.
And we tried.
So I just wanna,
I just wanna put it out there that like,
when people think about impact,
it's not necessarily about,
you know,
Middle East peace or like curing cancer or any of that,
(06:17):
which is amazing if you can do it hats off.
But like getting the donated school supplies to the school or the community center that's impact.
Don't underestimate,
don't undervalue how much of a difference that could make in one person's life,
right?
And you think about,
you're right,
you think about some of these,
uh big,
(06:37):
big races that people have,
right?
And,
and,
and it's in your community and it's a,
you know,
thousands of people are coming to the race and you're like,
I could never put that together.
I could never do something on that level.
What if we started at a different level or we took away the levels and we just focused on the issue and the need.
(06:59):
Yeah,
absolutely.
I will tell you,
one of the biggest things that organizations can do is donate their space to a nonprofit that needs it.
Like people need free meeting space,
like stay open or like open your office up for an extra hour after your employees go home and let them coordinate there.
Let let them entertain a donor or have an event in your space like that is not gonna cost you anything really.
(07:26):
But it it makes a difference.
Like little things like that actually can be super meaningful,
particularly for organizations that are trying and scrapping and scraping and like trying to really serve people on less than a shoestring budget.
Every little bit helps if we get into a little bit of the first um of the first tier of,
(07:48):
of our six year about knowing your values and your,
and your purpose.
You know,
I know that you work hand in hand,
Michael with a lot of business owners um who are maybe trying to recalibrate and,
and sort of get to know their values a little bit more and maybe say,
you know,
how can I bring that up to the surface where I'm actually using that to make a difference?
(08:11):
Absolutely.
I always say when you're thinking about impact work your values or your vehicle,
ok.
It is the thing that is gonna,
it's the car that's gonna get you to your destination.
Ok.
So nothing can really happen until you identify what your values are.
And so it's important for a business to be thoughtful about it,
(08:32):
right?
Because there's actually different kinds of values that we all have,
we have our personal values,
deeply held beliefs that we each possess,
right?
And they may or may not be the right values for your business.
But what I try to encourage my clients to do is to identify values that are really authentic and meaningful for them.
(08:53):
And then ask the question,
how does this value contribute to a culture in my business?
Because that,
that value that starts creating culture becomes a business value.
That is a value.
Then you can start um communicating and engaging with your employees,
your customers,
your community about it starts to pervade how you show up day to day within your business.
(09:18):
And then there's actually even another level of values beyond that,
which is to say your strategic values as a business.
And that really means,
OK,
you've got this culture,
it's rooted in your personal values and your business values,
your strategic values are like,
how do I want to show up and how do I want this to be expressed in products?
(09:40):
My offerings like the little things that go into running and making a business,
right?
So let me give you an example,
maybe you have a value around single mothers,
maybe that's something that is very close to you,
right?
That's a lived experience.
And so you have a lot of compassion for people that are struggling with that your business values around that could be really around inclusion,
(10:05):
it can be around,
it can and can show up strategically as like your hiring practices.
Like perhaps you want to specifically try to help economically disadvantaged mothers by hiring them and creating a safe space within your business that they can,
they can thrive,
right?
So I'm,
(10:25):
that's just kind of AAA made up example,
but just to give you a sense of how your personal values can then translate into a strategic value of inclusion,
economic inclusion,
social inclusion,
and then can be expressed in a very concrete way in terms of how are you hiring,
how are you recruiting people who are you trying to serve that kind of thing and the community around you,
(10:49):
the public,
they,
they see all of this,
you know,
you think about the ripple effect of that.
It's all about leading with your values.
So organizations that want to engage with the community,
it's about figuring out the thing that you're basically gonna waste and put up the flag pole,
right?
Like it's the thing that you're gonna show people and it's not,
I wanna be really clear about this.
(11:10):
It's not telling people this is my value.
Like everybody's seen those value statements we believe Xy and Z compassion inclusion,
blah,
blah,
blah,
nothing wrong with that much better live your values.
That's what people notice.
That is what people see.
It's how when your customer walks in or your colleague at work interacts with you.
(11:36):
If it's on a personal level,
how are you making them feel?
How are you treating them?
How are you showing up?
Right.
That's what's important you know,
because your values do a lot of the heavy lifting it,
your values are not,
again,
they're not marketing,
that's not the takeaway here.
It's not marketing,
they're actually established to help you make better decisions.
(11:59):
So when you identify your values and you know exactly what you stand for,
then you suddenly have a template upon which to evaluate the really hard practical decisions day to day.
If I do this,
am I violating one of my values?
If I do the other thing,
am I advancing my values somehow?
Like it becomes very practical,
(12:21):
very actionable and suddenly starts becoming,
it's like you're turning your car on and you're moving forward,
but it's your values that are getting you there.
Right.
Hm.
Yes,
it's like your values are the engine thrust.
You're absolutely right.
It's the car,
it's the car that's gonna get you to where you wanna be.
Right?
Whether you're an individual in life or running a business,
(12:45):
if you are not aligning your actions with your values,
you are not,
it's not gonna feel good.
We've all worked.
I think so many people just taking it to the individual level.
I,
I do some career coaching work too.
The number one reason people get disenchanted with their work is because they feel like their personal values are not aligned with those of their employer and that causes they may justify and I'll put myself in this category.
(13:15):
I lived that life for a long time,
I had a good paycheck working for some great organizations that ultimately were not completely consistent with the way I wanted to live my life.
And I will tell you that does not engender happiness,
had a paycheck.
The paycheck did not make me happy.
I guarantee you aligning in,
(13:37):
in taking steps where I was living my life in alignment with my values.
That is when I started personally feeling fulfilled.
And I believe that more people need to really take a sober look at what's important to them so they can decide for themselves whether they're in alignment or not.
Oh,
I know so many of us can,
can relate to that where,
you know,
there,
(13:57):
there are those times where you're making decisions around your work within your work,
about your work,
about the business you're working for and you're like,
oh,
I'm going home feeling bad about myself because I did XYZ or I supported XYZ and why am I doing this?
And you're like,
oh,
because it's paying the bills and,
you know,
you have that,
(14:17):
that moment of friction within yourself that how long,
you know,
how long can we all put up with that?
Yeah,
it's not sustainable.
Like,
you know,
I,
I distinctly remember,
you know,
I had a good career on Wall Street and,
uh,
I remember the first time I got a Wall Street size bonus,
I was like,
oh my God,
that's amazing.
(14:38):
I went out,
I felt on top of the world.
I will tell you the next day gone.
And I had to work with 364 days of the year until like,
living from like that one high point to high point when it's just about the money or the paycheck or whatever,
(14:59):
completely unsustainable.
I,
every time I did that it drained my battery and I was consistently not showing up the way I wanted it to be in my life.
And,
um,
now I'd like to think that I've,
I've gotten a little bit.
I,
I hate to use the word wisdom in connection with myself,
but like it was my big aha moment,
right?
Which is like,
(15:19):
it was that aligning values with activity that really unlocked things for me.
And I just,
I love helping people figure out what's that thing for them personally or their business that leads us nicely to be real.
Um,
which is,
is the next point.
And I,
I think too with,
with being real,
I,
what,
you know,
(15:40):
I know a lot of people come to the table and they're like,
ok,
I feel like as a business we're real,
like we're doing the real thing like this is this is us.
Is it really though,
have we taken the time to really dissect all of that?
Is that what that means?
So when I think about be real,
it's really about authenticity and,
and,
and it not just authenticity,
(16:00):
it's about your intrinsic motivation.
So if values are,
are your vehicle,
it's your car that's gonna get you to where you wanna go,
authenticity and motivation being real and really connecting with what it is.
That's the gas in your tank.
OK.
So here's,
here's the important point here,
which is,
let's say you're a business owner and you decide,
(16:24):
hey,
I would like to do good work in the community.
I think it's gonna be good for my business for whatever reason my employees want it.
Uh And then you just kind of go out and pick a thing.
I'm gonna pick animal rescue completely made up.
You don't have a connection to that.
It is gonna be so hard for you to show up and more importantly to do the work like your heart might be in the right place like I wanna do good.
(16:49):
It's not about doing good,
it's about doing the right,
good for you.
OK?
Figure out what the right good for you is.
And somebody says,
well,
gosh,
I own an auto parts distributor.
That's my business.
And so how does that relate to doing good in the community?
Here's the secret.
It doesn't have to,
(17:10):
doesn't have to,
it doesn't have,
you don't have to uh I mean,
if you can find a cause or a community partnership,
this is the the kind of the gold standard,
right?
That is directly connected to something that is related to your brand,
your business whatever.
Awesome.
That's a huge win if it's authentic,
(17:31):
right?
And,
and,
and it gets you jazz motivated.
I'm gonna go back to the single mother's example for a minute.
Maybe that's your thing and you own this,
you know,
auto parts distributor still.
OK,
you get to still have an impact and work with those populations.
(17:52):
It doesn't have to be completely consistent.
What you're doing is you're saying,
you know,
hey,
this is important to me and how would that look like?
You could say,
hey,
here's my story,
tell stories,
right?
It's all about storytelling,
tell stories.
Why is this important to me?
Here's my team,
this is,
you know,
we,
we support these people and this is these are,
(18:13):
you know,
our team looks like this too or we work with these organizations because it's important.
It doesn't have to be about auto parts,
it doesn't have to be about the thing you're selling.
It really is about telling people and showing them what your values are and what's important and asking them.
Would you like to be part of this?
I have this vision of change.
(18:34):
Would you like to help us support that?
I bet that's so freeing Michael for,
for a lot of people to hear.
You know,
because you think about a lot of people who may have not done something to add and uplift their parts of their community because they thought this,
this doesn't fall into our brand.
Like how does single mothers.
(18:56):
How does animal rescue fall into our auto parts brand?
That's so freeing for a lot of people.
Absolutely.
Like,
it's,
it's really like one of the big takeaways here is,
it's about the impact and it's about being real.
Right.
That's what people care about.
You know,
(19:16):
what consumers today from a business perspective want to do is they want to align with companies that are values aligned.
So,
just because you're selling auto parts,
doesn't mean that you don't have values that somebody wants to connect with.
(19:36):
Gonna throw out a couple of um like stats around this,
right?
Because a lot of times businesses will say I don't have,
you know,
the time,
the money or the energy to do this.
OK?
I very strongly feel that the case for trying to do this and trying to find the authentic thing that's gonna work is good business.
(19:57):
It's what you need to be doing anyway,
right?
So a 2017 study by Co Communications found that 88% of American consumers are more loyal to companies that support social environmental issues.
88% OK?
86% of American consumers expect companies to have a purpose that goes beyond profit.
(20:24):
And this is a global,
there was a global study that Nielsen did.
This.
One is a little bit more dated,
but I have to think intuitively that these numbers have probably gone up over time.
They did AAA survey of millennials globally,
73% of global millennials reported being willing to pay more for products and services viewed as being socially responsible and engaged in their community than otherwise.
(20:51):
And in fact,
even with inflation last year,
there was a really interesting um study that came out.
I trying to remember who it was.
I think it was IBM that did it.
And they said,
hey,
you know,
inflation is really high,
the holiday season's coming up.
What are you,
how are you planning to allocate your spending for the holidays?
And what the survey found was that the share of wallet for consumer spending even though it was going down for everybody,
(21:18):
consumers were prioritizing continuing to buy the goods and services from the responsible businesses at even if prices were higher.
So again,
I feel like the market signal right there is like,
it's not about creating this perfectly crafted curated story about how your auto parts supplier is completely connected with something that makes sense.
(21:43):
And there's an arc,
it's really just about telling people who you are,
how you want to show up and asking them to join self select.
I care about that.
So I'm gonna give you a second look.
Oh yeah,
that,
that's so that's so impactful because uh again,
I think it's very freeing for so many business owners that are,
you know,
feeling like they're in a box because of their brand and you know,
(22:07):
we can't reach out beyond that box when really you're right.
The consumer,
we just want to know who you are.
Well,
it's interesting too.
So here's the flip side of this again,
authenticity word.
Like,
don't just pick it because,
right.
So then people will say to me or ask,
I'm not sure there's a lot of things I feel like I could do but like I,
(22:29):
you know,
the famous thing is you can do anything but you can't do everything.
So you have to pick,
right?
So how do I know I'm picking the right thing for me,
right?
If you're not sure that's OK.
Hey,
ask,
start going into the community,
talk to people that,
you know,
uh talk to other businesses,
talk to your customers,
talk to community organizations and ask like,
what are the things they're struggling with?
(22:51):
See if they resonate.
You know,
we,
we,
we spoke to um my friend Sandy Pros on one of the other episodes where she was saying,
hey,
I got,
she had a ton of success,
right?
Uh in her business because she closely affiliated her business development with authentic work she was doing in the community.
(23:14):
And one of the things she said is I didn't initially come into that thinking like I was that it was authentically me.
She was given an opportunity,
she investigated and then she realized that it was deeply resonant with her when she started doing a little bit of research and understanding what the cause was actually about it was Leukemia lymphoma,
(23:35):
right?
And she realized like this actually has touched her family,
you know,
and,
and in her community and it became real and meaningful for her.
So you can ask,
you don't have to,
you don't have to there,
there's no purity test here but just make sure it's real.
Yeah,
if you haven't listened to that episode,
go back and listen to it.
Um So good and you can just feel Sandy's uh story,
(23:59):
really,
you can feel the passion around all of it and,
and you can see the impact almost just as she tells the story,
it's a really,
really great episode.
Well,
when we get into key point number three about having a plan,
um again,
that sounds like a really big one.
It's like,
ok,
you know,
what is this a business plan we're making it?
(24:20):
What do we,
we need to pick our nonprofits at the beginning of the year?
How,
how do we have a plan?
No,
it doesn't need to be like,
I,
I think we,
we all have this tendency to kind of overcomplicate things.
Um It's about being intentional,
right?
Uh You could have an intention,
but a plan just gives you uh a little bit of structure and I do mean that little bit of structure so that you're not drifting morphing and,
(24:46):
and,
and the impact that you envision ultimately fades away,
right?
So the plan can be as simple as asking yourself kind of five foundational questions.
Who,
what,
where,
when and how,
that's,
that's it,
that's a plan.
It's not flying by the seat of your hands,
but it's having a clear vision for yourself of,
(25:08):
of where you wanna go,
the impacts you wanna have and how you think you might be able to get there.
So who do you want to help?
What do you wanna do?
So when you think about what do you wanna do?
What's there?
You know,
what do you want?
It's,
it's,
it's imagined for yourself.
What do you imagine the community can get out of whatever time,
treasure and talent you're contributing,
(25:30):
right?
Um Really important.
One.
Mind the gaps.
I told the story about the,
you know,
the guy with the,
the truck in two hours,
like that's a gap.
OK.
There was no way literally to get goods from point A to point B where they were gonna have their better impact.
So,
you know,
where's the gap just asking?
And it's like,
can you fill a gap someplace?
(25:50):
Where do you wanna do it?
Is it in your office?
Is it out in the community?
Is it someplace else?
When,
when are you gonna have the most impact?
Does this,
your impact doesn't always have to be year round.
You know,
your values have to be around important,
but your impact like you can choose to be like,
you know what,
for whatever reason I'm gonna do the most good pick a season around the fourth of July.
(26:17):
Uh you know,
it doesn't win.
Like when is,
when,
when is the need the greatest where you can step in and fill the gap,
right?
It doesn't have to be 3 65 and then just ask yourself like,
what's gonna feel good and satisfying to you?
Importantly,
one of the,
how is like,
how much time,
energy and financial resources can you commit a lot of people feel like because they're trying to do good that suddenly they have to take on mortar syndrome and give until they're dry.
(26:48):
No part of being intentional is saying once you understand and have a vision of,
of kind of what you wanna do and how you want to get there is saying,
am I creating enough space so that I can show up,
am I creating time for this impact that I wanna have?
Um If it's,
if it's in kind or monetary in nature or something like that,
(27:11):
do you literally have the resources so that you can show up once you've established that you want to help?
Right?
Um And then how much is too much and just being clear with people,
this is what I can do.
It's just about clarity.
People don't expect you to,
to put yourself in the poor house or you know,
(27:31):
to have no personal time or whatever.
It's really about being clear about what's gonna work for you.
That's part of the authenticity too.
And I think this falls under the,
have a plan conversation.
But,
you know,
what do you say to when,
when some,
you know,
organizations and,
and business owners are like,
(27:51):
ok,
if I'm crafting a plan,
do I have to have like 100 little buckets that I'm putting things in?
Do I find one big bucket?
You know,
where do I go with?
Do I spread it out as much as I,
you know,
possibly can or,
or how do,
how do I make that sort of plan?
Does the public expect me to be doing more or,
you know,
(28:11):
giving more to these organizations?
The number of organizations?
I think when you really understand the impact that you wanna have the,
the answer to that is simply it's gonna,
it's gonna depend and you get to choose.
Right?
So,
for example,
uh I would be hesitant if a client was like,
uh there's,
you know,
50 different organizations that I'm all in on.
(28:33):
There's a practical,
there's a practical issue there.
Can you really give focus and attention to 50 different things?
Right.
Um,
now,
is it possible that there could be two or three depending on your circumstances,
potentially?
Yeah,
absolutely.
But to the point about what is,
what are people expecting from me?
(28:54):
Right.
It's almost not relevant in the sense that like this is what I'm,
what I feel like I can do and what I'm willing to do.
Um,
you,
you can,
you can be clear about that.
So if,
if,
if there's three things and you,
and you know,
you end up deciding on one thing,
um be really clear with people.
(29:15):
You can say like,
you know,
we intentionally are putting all of our effort into this one community partnership or this one issue or this one thing because we think we can do the best work,
have the greatest impact and,
and create the most good by doing it.
(29:36):
By the way,
we also love these other organizations,
support them,
they're affiliated,
you know,
they're,
you know,
they're in our ecosystem of good,
but we're focusing on this thing over here.
That's OK.
You can be a connector for those other things.
You don't have to invest like the same level of attention in detail.
(29:58):
But I if it really is meaningful and,
and you've run out of bandwidth,
people are gonna be attracted to you and when they start asking like,
how can I get involved?
Like that's a great opportunity to say,
hey,
have you thought about these other organizations?
We're helping this one?
These others need help too.
You might wanna check them out,
right?
It's the pay forward.
That's all I can say,
right?
(30:19):
It's so good.
Yeah,
I mean that even given it a title like I can,
our business can be a connector like,
you know,
maybe we can't give all the time and all the focus and all the energy and all the money and,
you know,
maybe we don't have the space for that.
We still love them.
You know what just being honest about like this is what we're doing.
(30:39):
This is why we're doing it.
And we'd still love to connect you to these other organizations that we're not devoting all of this time and,
and money to love that.
Yeah,
it doesn't have to.
I think we tend to overcomplicate things and one thing I just want to make sure like we talk about the plan,
like I'm not suggesting that you write this document out or that you have this like something that's gonna sit on the shelf.
(31:04):
That's not what I'm talking about.
What I'm talking about is think it through.
I do think if you write things down,
they gain significance and importance if for no other reason than that biologically,
when you write things down,
it forces your brain to start working on it whether or not you're even conscious of it.
So like there's,
(31:24):
there's good reasons to write things down but ask yourself,
who are you writing it down for?
If you're a solo pne or you have a small company or you're a private individual,
write it down for you.
It's not like you're gonna post it on the,
on your website.
You might want to,
if you were a larger organization maybe,
but make it work for you.
(31:44):
When you do have to make decisions,
you can go back and maybe say,
hey,
this is really what I had in mind is this is this,
are we still tracking or are we still true to,
to,
to the vision that for the impact that we wanted to have?
So key point number four is start at home.
Are we turning the mirror onto ourselves as,
as organizations and business owners and individuals?
Are we saying,
ok,
(32:05):
we've got to start in the house before we go outside.
Yeah,
the phone call is coming from inside the house.
Totally.
Totally.
That right.
No,
again,
because,
ok,
we've all probably worked with either individuals or maybe with,
come with n or with companies um that talk a good game.
(32:27):
They're like we stand for XY and Z OK.
And the lived experience of people in that company or in that organization or the experience of,
of individuals that come in contact with that personal organization is so not that right?
So if you go out into your community and you start telling them what your values are and what impact you're gonna have and all this stuff and people are like,
(32:53):
oh bro,
slow down,
like I'm not sure that's my experience with you.
You've got a huge problem.
You actually,
what you just did is you actually reduce the trust that you as a person or as an organization are bringing out to the community.
You're inauthentic people are not gonna believe you,
(33:13):
they're not gonna want to follow and resonate with what your vision is.
So start,
start at home really means look at yourself and this can be a person,
this can be a company.
Like,
are you able,
are you doing the things in your life or in your company that you can control right now that support your values and support this idea of impact?
(33:38):
Ok.
So let's say,
you know,
a again,
diversity,
equity and inclusion is,
is a topic that a lot of people talk about,
right?
And whether or not they agree with it,
but if that's important to you and then you look around in your own organization and you've done nothing to address that.
That's an issue.
I have a,
(33:58):
I have a funny story.
Um I used to work on Wall Street large organization.
Um I remember going to a global conference where a lot of the senior leaders of the organization were some senior leaders who were all white men got up in front of the stage and started talking about how committed to um not just diversity,
(34:21):
but um you know,
elevating more women specifically into leadership,
physical leadership positions within the organization.
So you're thinking great,
OK,
they're thinking about it.
They're thinking about disparities like this is,
this is part of the values.
And then they turned around in the same breath in front of all of these people and said,
(34:42):
and we commit to interviewing at least one woman for every position,
even if she's not the most qualified,
literally came out of their mouth.
Yikes yikes.
So I'm sitting there with a bunch of incredibly talented,
very strong whip,
smart women who I respect and I'm just like awkward moment for me personally,
(35:04):
right?
But like,
that's what I'm talking about.
You gotta start at home because there was a whole campaign going on about this.
And it was like one of the craziest things I've like directly experienced,
right?
Uh where I was like,
oh my God,
like start here.
You can actually control what's in this room.
And you know,
(35:25):
so there was a lot of stuff going on there,
but that's just something that's always stuck with me as a as a w why do you need to start at home?
That's a great example.
I mean,
I feel like,
you know,
if we could open the vault of all the stories that have happened to all of us,
those cringy moments where your,
your leader,
(35:46):
your boss,
your supervisor,
the owner was taking a stance on something we need to grow in this area or we commit to doing XYZ.
Um And yet they're not living that actual thing,
it's not actually happening.
It's just something for the public.
Those stories are,
(36:06):
are many,
many,
many and they're very deep and uh and very hurtful to a lot of people.
A absolutely hurtful is a great word.
Like I remember this internal communications campaign around this is what we stand for and it was,
they,
they,
they stuck there these values on the wall.
One of them was agile.
It's very sexy to talk about being agile.
(36:28):
One of the most bureaucratic places I've ever worked.
Nothing got done transparently.
Nothing got done with uh managing up and like managing egos.
It was ridiculously bureaucratic.
And I was like,
really,
that's our value.
So again,
like the lived experience,
it was such a disconnect that even and there were a number of values that I think so many people,
(36:51):
even if one of them's off and you're talking about,
this is what we are and this is what we do.
It invalidates all of it.
So whatever you're telling people you stand for and how you're,
you've gotta do all of it.
And that sounds super scary.
That's why being intentional and understanding how you want to show up and communicating around it didn't really say that much about communication,
(37:15):
but you got to communicate a lot around this internally so that people get it.
So ideally before you go into the community at large,
with this idea of having an impact,
the people that represent your company,
your business or if it's just yourself and your personal capacity,
right?
You,
they should be the evangelists for what you say you stand for.
(37:38):
They should feel it.
You actually need to make sure that the people that represent you and your business are the people that can represent your values.
So you've got to hire intentionally,
right?
You've got to engage people.
So they understand what it means.
They have to raise their hand and say,
yes,
I'm willing to sign on to this.
(38:00):
Right.
Um,
and it doesn't have to be so top down and I think this is a mistake,
a lot of organizations make.
It doesn't have to be like,
ok,
the corporate guys,
you know,
the,
the leadership team are mandating our values.
And then OK,
we are now standing for Xy and Z.
Uh everybody will be Xy and Z starting immediately.
(38:22):
No,
not authentic.
How about this?
Hey,
here's our culture.
This is what we want to bring.
How do you think we can best express that?
How do you,
how do you employees think we can bring this better out into the world?
Talk to us,
coc create this with us be part of be part of the development of it,
asking people what they think,
(38:44):
engaging them,
asking them to kind of do the thing that they,
that they feel is meaningful for themselves.
That's where your culture and some of your values were start naturally expressing themselves,
right?
That's what I mean,
start at home because then when you're ready,
you can say,
hey,
we've been doing this for a while.
We know this is our culture.
We know these are our values.
(39:05):
Why we talk to our employees about it?
This is what's important to them.
This is what's important to me as the business owner or as the leader or whoever,
right?
And we know that we live these values because we see this every day and this is the lived experience of the people that are on our teams.
When you can say that you're ready to go out and tell other people outside.
Oh And how powerful too to,
to just even put it,
(39:26):
put it in that context of saying,
ask the people that's in your house.
You know,
I mean,
yeah,
so many people that don't do that or so many businesses that are like,
wait,
we should ask our employees what,
what they're,
you know,
what,
how to co create this uh this new,
this culture,
our culture.
It's a,
it's a great question and it feels really good on the other end to be a part of that.
(39:53):
Totally people don't do it because they're afraid of what they're gonna get back and they're,
it really what they're afraid of is how it's gonna make them feel like it's 100% imposter syndrome because if somebody comes back and says something that's kind of not what they had in mind or different or maybe not the value that the leader or the,
the,
you know,
has people have a tendency and this is just humanity.
(40:17):
Like I,
I say this with a great deal of compassion,
but like they turn it against themselves and they say,
oh,
you know,
this is somehow a critique of me as a person,
right?
It's not about that.
It's about creating and being open to the possibility that is gonna bring out the best in everybody that you're around.
And that might mean everybody needs to stretch a little bit.
(40:41):
Sometimes values can be aspirational,
right?
Maybe you're not totally there.
And I think it's OK to admit it.
But even saying like,
hey,
we think this is kind of how we want to show up and how we wanna be.
We think we might need to do a little bit of work.
Let's let's figure out what we need to do to get where it feels more comfortable and more authentic.
(41:02):
That's a hugely important outcome of even just doing this work,
right?
You haven't impacted anybody out in the community visibly yet.
But what you have impacted is you've galvanized people within your organization,
you've started giving more meaning and purpose,
you've empowered people,
you've started important conversations and that will have a ripple effect even if you're a work in progress.
(41:28):
Totally.
Um I'm thinking about our key point number five,
which is stay the course.
And one of the questions that comes up for me about that is so I'm an individual wanting to make a big impact.
I'm,
I'm a business owner wanting to make an impact.
I'm part of an organization that really wants to create just good,
(41:51):
good stuff um and make a difference.
So we sign on to do these things.
We,
these are our values.
We've made a plan,
we're,
we've started at home,
we're building,
building all of these things and,
and growing does that mean?
We have to,
we have to stay with the organizations that we pick to,
you know,
support,
(42:11):
we have to stay with this uh particular section or segment of our community.
What does stay the course mean?
So I can answer that in two different ways.
Let me talk about what it means for an individual first and then I'll talk about maybe as a company.
So with an individual,
like when you're talking about values,
values are forever things,
they don't change.
(42:32):
If your values are changing over time,
I'm gonna argue that they're not actually a value or they're not a strongly held value,
right?
Like this is something that is really innate,
right?
So as an individual,
it's really about say the course is about keeping your end point in mind.
So it's,
you wanna show up in a certain way in your community or you want to have an impact,
(42:53):
you wanna have a certain contribution to the world at large,
that vision of the future of what the future can be and how you can help doesn't change.
What can change is how you get there.
So just like if you're in your car,
you've gassed up the car,
you've got your destination in mind.
(43:13):
You know,
if you're driving to New York,
New York's not moving.
But do you have to take 95 all the way up?
No,
you can,
you can take,
you can get off in random exit and take a totally different route.
You can turn left,
you can turn right,
you can go loop de loop,
right?
Because what happens is this is long term work.
It's not,
this is not short term tactical stuff.
(43:36):
This is something that you're,
you're raising your hand and you're saying my values are forever values.
This is a cause or it's something that I feel strongly about.
It's gonna take a while to have an impact.
So I'm in it for the long haul as the world changes around you,
your tactics,
your direction,
the way you get there should change because community needs change,
(43:56):
those things change.
Right.
That's ok.
But if you tell everybody,
I'm driving to New York,
don't end up in L A.
Mm mhm Right.
Same thing with business,
right?
Um We have seen so many,
so,
so many quote,
socially responsible businesses profess to be supporters of pick your cause.
(44:25):
And then as soon as there's any blowback resistance,
questioning any kind of friction whatsoever,
suddenly they're out and they're trading in and out.
My point here is you don't get to trade in and out.
As soon as you trade out,
you're done and you're not done for a little bit of time.
You're done.
Like people remember that for a really,
(44:46):
really long time.
So people say,
well,
doesn't that seem risky?
Should I be doing this?
That's a choice that you have to make as a business owner.
If you're a business owner that is values and mission driven and you're very clear about what you want,
you have to be prepared to stay the course when you're,
(45:07):
when you encounter those who may disagree with you,
that's what stay,
the course is really all about.
It's,
it just put it in a different perspective for me about the drive to New York.
Where's our destination?
That's the course.
It's not the avenues to get there.
Yeah,
it's not,
it's not taking highway 95 or like a different road,
(45:27):
right?
You can take like you,
you can take whatever road is gonna be best for the circumstances,
right?
But you still got to end up in New York.
Um And I'll tell you so,
you know,
I,
I was speaking at a conference recently and um one of the individuals who was speaking told us really impactful,
(45:50):
empowering story,
you know,
I was talking to the owner Scott Mitchell who owns the Bohemian Den in Macon,
Georgia.
Macon's not a particularly,
you know,
it's pretty red,
it's pretty conservative traditional place.
Um,
Scott felt strongly that he wanted to become a safe space for LGBT Q youth,
ok.
(46:10):
And so he used his business to do that and he told a story about like I was really worried about what impact this decision and being so overt about it was gonna have and he was terrified that he was gonna lose a bunch of customers.
And he said,
yeah,
I did,
I I lost customers.
He gained three fold,
the number of customers he lost because he showed up and didn't back down and showed and proved to people that this was an inclusive space.
(46:41):
So he was walking the talk,
people saw it and they rewarded him for it.
And so,
uh Scott,
if you happen to hear this,
uh you know,
I hope you agree with my characterization of uh of this story.
But uh for those of you that might be in central Georgia,
you know,
go check out the Bohemian Den if uh uh if that's of interest to you so many community um moments that I,
(47:06):
you know,
I'm thinking about while you're talking about staying the course,
I mean,
just in different communities that I've been in and,
and how there is there is that chance there is a risk that you will stand up for something as an individual,
as a business owner.
It doesn't matter and you will lose a friend because of it or you will lose a customer or they don't agree with that and they don't stand with that and staying the course through that kind of friction or what feels like friction at the time can be,
(47:41):
can be very difficult for people to swallow and not,
maybe not take that risk.
But again,
maybe it's,
it's more about us focusing on the long game.
Yeah,
I mean,
staying the course it's,
it's,
it's,
again,
just,
it's showing up authentically and doing what you say you're gonna do.
Right.
Like,
it's really about that.
(48:01):
Like,
you know,
it,
it reminds me of trust,
all of this comes back to trust,
like,
on some level,
what you're trying to do is you're trying to create trust between yourself as an individual or as a business and those that you want to interact with and serve whether that's your employees,
your customers,
the community at large.
(48:21):
And so when you think about how do you build trust,
right?
This is some other work that I do kind of in my business.
Um you know,
there's there's certain aspects of trust.
So one of them is character and this all comes from the,
the Trust Edge Institute.
This is all very well researched.
Um really smart guys,
David Weer pioneering this,
(48:42):
this work,
but character is about doing what you say you're gonna do.
OK.
Compassion,
compassion is a part of trust.
Are you leading with your heart?
Do people feel he do the people feel seen connections?
Do you have relationships with people?
Are they genuine and importantly,
consistency.
Think about a time in which you,
you just deal with somebody in your life.
(49:03):
It's completely inconsistent.
You never know which person is gonna show up,
that doesn't build trust.
It's the same thing with staying the course,
right?
So when I help organizations,
so II I just recently helped a,
a pretty large nonprofit,
um do some work around values and when we sort of selected the values that we thought,
(49:23):
OK,
these are gonna be the values that are gonna work for,
for this organization.
I said,
here's my litmus test questions.
What would you violate this value if you were given more money than you ever knew what to do with your nonprofit?
Would you violate this value?
If all of your major donors or half of your clients walked tomorrow?
(49:45):
Because you talked about it.
Would you,
you know,
that's the kind,
would you sacrifice this value if it meant achieving next year's goal?
You know,
those are very foundational questions,
right?
And so it's the same thing with when you're picking your impact in your cause,
right?
(50:05):
You can ask those same hard questions and if you can think of a circumstance and I do mean any circumstance and,
and we really went into really like improbable kind of things,
right?
If you ever answer,
yeah,
I can see why we might not want to live that value in that specific circumstance.
Not a value doesn't mean that it's not important,
(50:26):
not a deeply held value that you want to lead with the community.
Same thing with your impact,
that's big and,
and you're right that you really like lit that sign up for everybody on that this,
it's trust,
there's a trust base uh in all of that.
And wow.
Yeah,
that,
that totally makes sense.
Um Our final key point is taking pictures.
(50:47):
Does this mean we have to get on social media?
What,
what are you asking us to do?
Michael taking pictures along the way is it's,
it's leading with your values just means talking about it,
telling stories,
report on your progress.
So here's the thing,
I think a lot of um one of the major kind of inner critic,
savager voices that hold people back from being their best selves is you know,
(51:10):
that those perfectionist tendencies,
right?
We want to be perfect.
We wanna,
we want everyone to feel like we've got all of our stuff in order and we've got it.
This is messy work almost by definition because stuff is changing people's emotions are usually tied to this kind of impact work.
I guess my point here is,
but still talk about it,
talk about your journey,
(51:30):
tell stories what was meaningful.
What did you learn humility?
Right?
Like let's say you screw up because I think I think this is what terrifies so many people to get into the space in the first place is we see situations where there's not a lot of compassion and forgiveness in society at large when anyone makes a mistake.
What I'm saying is I think that if your heart's in the right place and you're really trying to do the right thing and you make a mistake or you don't,
(51:56):
you fail to have the impact or you try to do it,
you,
you took a swing and,
and,
and you lift it,
whatever own it,
be vulnerable.
Let tell people what you learned,
hey,
we really thought we were trying to do this.
We did.
Why?
Here's what we learned.
If you do something and you have to apologize for it,
make it sincere.
(52:16):
People absolutely know it and I think are willing to forgive it,
right?
So I think this becomes more of a kind of a hobgoblin of people not doing the good thing because they're afraid that it's gonna be used against them at some point.
But I actually think that if you're authentic and engaged in telling the stories consistently celebrate the wins,
um throw light on what go so well and just own it.
(52:41):
It goes a long way to that authenticity and people really connecting with what you're trying to do because none of us are perfect.
No organization is perfect and we all live by grace,
right?
The other thing I would say about taking pictures along the way is uh we tend to live in a very curated society and social media is a good example of that.
Uh You asked about social media.
(53:02):
Do I think you have to do this on social media?
No,
you can do it in any way.
That makes sense.
You might not have any social media presence whatsoever.
But if you get in front of a customer or get in front of a supplier or you're having a conversation,
you can let it drop there.
It's about storytelling,
it's about letting people know,
right?
So if you want to do it on social media,
great,
(53:22):
you have to know.
But here's the important thing when you're doing impact work,
don't be the main character.
This is not curated to just lift you up and,
and make you or your business look amazing.
That's not it.
The stories need to serve a purpose,
which is,
who are you serving?
Who's he,
who's getting helped in this?
Why is your work meaningful?
(53:43):
Which partners if you're partnering with other people in the community for your impact,
shine the light on them.
It's about other people.
So don't,
don't be the main character.
Don't think this has to be a perfect curated like,
you know,
case study of,
you know,
responsible business or philanthropy.
No,
make it real but make it about others.
(54:06):
I love that.
I,
I,
you know,
I'm,
I'm remembering an organization that was very supportive of a children's hospital and in the community,
I was in years ago and one of the ways they did that exact thing,
just a perfect example of that um was they brought some of the kids from the hospital in to do a volunteer piece of,
(54:27):
of what they were doing on a particular Saturday in a community event and the kids were able to tell about the connection between the business and the children's hospital.
The kids who wanted to be there,
they told the story,
you know,
and it's,
it wasn't,
and there was nothing forced in the story.
And I,
I feel,
I feel like that's what you're,
that's what you're saying is,
(54:47):
is,
it doesn't have to be forced.
It's not about bragging,
it's not about make,
you know,
shining the light on,
on you as an individual or your business.
It's just about the authentic experience,
make it about the thing that people want to win against.
Right.
That's the thing.
You are one of many ideally that are trying to find your tribe of people that are moving towards a common purpose.
(55:12):
Let's say homelessness is something you end dear,
your heart.
And that's what you're leaning into.
The story is never how you ended homelessness.
It's not,
it's,
it's about how can we together improve lives of people who are unhoused?
Like they're the heroes of the story.
You're not.
I love that.
I love that.
Well,
we all have our homework now.
(55:33):
Thank you,
Michael Six.
It's easier than it sounds.
Uh I felt like a lot but it,
it doesn't have,
it doesn't have to,
it doesn't have to be like that.
No,
no,
I love that.
And I,
I love that.
I don't know,
you just always give off this,
like,
free feeling for everyone that's sort of it's liberating because it's like it doesn't have to be this big thing and what you can do that might seem small,
(55:59):
might actually be a really,
really big impact.
Yeah.
And I mean,
my challenge to anybody listening to this out there is think about one small thing you can do today this week.
Do it see what happens if everybody did that,
think of how much better our world would be.
(56:21):
That's,
that's what I love.
You can find Michael Messer at discerning strategies dot com.
Set up a free 20 minute consultation,
clarify your goals,
scale your business,
amplify your impact,
discerning strategies dot com.
What does growth look like in your business in your life as a business owner,
executive or individual,
you can live and lead with intention to create the change you want to see in your community and the world.
Welcome to the Discerning Strategies Podcast,
a place where we can see clearly and act wisely.
(00:30):
Welcome to the Discerning Strategies podcast.
I'm your producer,
Dee Daniels alongside your host,
Michael Messer.
And we are getting into a very interesting topic,
actually,
six interesting topics on this episode.
Uh Michael already the the meaningful line that is that is happening with the guest on this podcast is,
(00:52):
is something something to talk about.
There is,
there's a,
there's an impact in every episode.
I feel like already that was the point kind of,
yeah,
like people,
I think undervalue how impactful the little things can be,
right?
And I love shining a little bit of light on how people and organizations can make that better choice to have that impact and just see a little bit of good in the world.
(01:25):
And I actually think it's,
it's for everybody's benefit just because we live in the world.
But also like from a business point.
It just makes sense.
It's good business.
It's being a good human.
Why not?
Right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And we're doing just that,
I know we've got really six things that we really want to touch on in this episode.
Talk a little bit about where these six points come from and who they're intended for.
(01:49):
So,
really,
this is just continuing a theme,
I think in some of the conversations that we've had in other episodes of the podcast,
which is what does it mean to be intentional?
And what I mean by that is how do we think about envision and then act on the impact that and create the impact that we want to see in the world,
(02:12):
right?
And so I've told stories about how I,
I had kind of this epiphany moment in which I realized that businesses can actually choose to empower people,
they can choose to lean into the community for mutual benefit.
They can choose to run themselves in ways that measure their impact,
(02:32):
not solely just on their bottom line,
but,
but what's happening with the real people that they're coming in contact with?
So the big picture here is that,
that can seem really daunting to a lot of people.
Gosh,
they look at,
they hear corporate social responsibility or ESG which is environmental,
social governance,
(02:52):
language and business.
And it seems like it's really reserved for these mega corporations or really well resourced organizations that have an army of people to throw at it.
My point here is to say,
no,
I believe any organization,
any person can have an impact as long as they're intentional.
And so I wanted to talk a little bit today about,
(03:13):
well,
what does that mean?
How do you,
how do you,
how do you be intentional?
And there's like six points to it,
right?
There's like knowing your value,
your values and your purpose.
What are you doing?
Making sure it's really authentic planning for it.
Starting small,
start at home,
get your own house in order and stay true to the course and the vision that you have for yourself and kind of have fun and communicate along the way.
(03:38):
All of those things are in direct service to creating positive impacts that are aligned with your values,
that can just have incredible spillover effects in ways that you can't even anticipate.
I know we're gonna talk about each one of those in a little bit of detail and,
and sort of map that out for,
for all of us to sort of look at,
(04:00):
you know,
starting with the big question of how can individuals,
how can business owners,
how can organizations be intentional?
I think that's the question we all start with,
you know,
when we're looking at the mountain,
right?
And we're like,
how do,
where do we start?
How do we do it?
Is this too big for us to even take on?
(04:20):
It's never too big because the,
the thing that can have an impact is sometimes so small but so meaningful it gets overlooked.
I'm gonna give you an example.
Um I've done a fair amount of work in my community in the nonprofit space and there,
you know,
we happen to be or I happen to live in a place that has a really big bustling port logistics and believe it or not,
(04:42):
there are companies out there that will choose to abandon goods in their warehouse when their lease is up,
it's cheaper for them to just walk away.
Stuff is perfect.
Hasn't been sold.
It's like off the boat.
I'm not exactly sure the provenance of can be anything.
And so I was actually confronted with a situation in which we were trying to figure out how can you donate that stuff into the community?
(05:07):
The big impact I am telling you the missing link.
And in this particular instance,
it was,
it was um sports supplies,
think about and a lot of it.
So like footballs,
helmets,
baseball bats,
think about how many community programs,
school programs,
(05:28):
children's groups could benefit from that stuff.
Right.
There was no way to move it,
impact the impact there,
literally one guy a truck in two hours and it,
it could have it,
it could have made the difference for so many kids in the community that actually doesn't have a great ending to it or one that I'm not aware of because we weren't actually able to figure that out.
(05:54):
And that's really disappointing and it's almost a little bit motivating.
Like,
why am I doing this podcast?
Why am I putting these messages out?
Because I see that as a huge missed opportunity for my community.
And we tried.
So I just wanna,
I just wanna put it out there that like,
when people think about impact,
it's not necessarily about,
you know,
Middle East peace or like curing cancer or any of that,
(06:17):
which is amazing if you can do it hats off.
But like getting the donated school supplies to the school or the community center that's impact.
Don't underestimate,
don't undervalue how much of a difference that could make in one person's life,
right?
And you think about,
you're right,
you think about some of these,
uh big,
(06:37):
big races that people have,
right?
And,
and,
and it's in your community and it's a,
you know,
thousands of people are coming to the race and you're like,
I could never put that together.
I could never do something on that level.
What if we started at a different level or we took away the levels and we just focused on the issue and the need.
(06:59):
Yeah,
absolutely.
I will tell you,
one of the biggest things that organizations can do is donate their space to a nonprofit that needs it.
Like people need free meeting space,
like stay open or like open your office up for an extra hour after your employees go home and let them coordinate there.
Let let them entertain a donor or have an event in your space like that is not gonna cost you anything really.
(07:26):
But it it makes a difference.
Like little things like that actually can be super meaningful,
particularly for organizations that are trying and scrapping and scraping and like trying to really serve people on less than a shoestring budget.
Every little bit helps if we get into a little bit of the first um of the first tier of,
(07:48):
of our six year about knowing your values and your,
and your purpose.
You know,
I know that you work hand in hand,
Michael with a lot of business owners um who are maybe trying to recalibrate and,
and sort of get to know their values a little bit more and maybe say,
you know,
how can I bring that up to the surface where I'm actually using that to make a difference?
(08:11):
Absolutely.
I always say when you're thinking about impact work your values or your vehicle,
ok.
It is the thing that is gonna,
it's the car that's gonna get you to your destination.
Ok.
So nothing can really happen until you identify what your values are.
And so it's important for a business to be thoughtful about it,
(08:32):
right?
Because there's actually different kinds of values that we all have,
we have our personal values,
deeply held beliefs that we each possess,
right?
And they may or may not be the right values for your business.
But what I try to encourage my clients to do is to identify values that are really authentic and meaningful for them.
(08:53):
And then ask the question,
how does this value contribute to a culture in my business?
Because that,
that value that starts creating culture becomes a business value.
That is a value.
Then you can start um communicating and engaging with your employees,
your customers,
your community about it starts to pervade how you show up day to day within your business.
(09:18):
And then there's actually even another level of values beyond that,
which is to say your strategic values as a business.
And that really means,
OK,
you've got this culture,
it's rooted in your personal values and your business values,
your strategic values are like,
how do I want to show up and how do I want this to be expressed in products?
(09:40):
My offerings like the little things that go into running and making a business,
right?
So let me give you an example,
maybe you have a value around single mothers,
maybe that's something that is very close to you,
right?
That's a lived experience.
And so you have a lot of compassion for people that are struggling with that your business values around that could be really around inclusion,
(10:05):
it can be around,
it can and can show up strategically as like your hiring practices.
Like perhaps you want to specifically try to help economically disadvantaged mothers by hiring them and creating a safe space within your business that they can,
they can thrive,
right?
So I'm,
(10:25):
that's just kind of AAA made up example,
but just to give you a sense of how your personal values can then translate into a strategic value of inclusion,
economic inclusion,
social inclusion,
and then can be expressed in a very concrete way in terms of how are you hiring,
how are you recruiting people who are you trying to serve that kind of thing and the community around you,
(10:49):
the public,
they,
they see all of this,
you know,
you think about the ripple effect of that.
It's all about leading with your values.
So organizations that want to engage with the community,
it's about figuring out the thing that you're basically gonna waste and put up the flag pole,
right?
Like it's the thing that you're gonna show people and it's not,
I wanna be really clear about this.
(11:10):
It's not telling people this is my value.
Like everybody's seen those value statements we believe Xy and Z compassion inclusion,
blah,
blah,
blah,
nothing wrong with that much better live your values.
That's what people notice.
That is what people see.
It's how when your customer walks in or your colleague at work interacts with you.
(11:36):
If it's on a personal level,
how are you making them feel?
How are you treating them?
How are you showing up?
Right.
That's what's important you know,
because your values do a lot of the heavy lifting it,
your values are not,
again,
they're not marketing,
that's not the takeaway here.
It's not marketing,
they're actually established to help you make better decisions.
(11:59):
So when you identify your values and you know exactly what you stand for,
then you suddenly have a template upon which to evaluate the really hard practical decisions day to day.
If I do this,
am I violating one of my values?
If I do the other thing,
am I advancing my values somehow?
Like it becomes very practical,
(12:21):
very actionable and suddenly starts becoming,
it's like you're turning your car on and you're moving forward,
but it's your values that are getting you there.
Right.
Hm.
Yes,
it's like your values are the engine thrust.
You're absolutely right.
It's the car,
it's the car that's gonna get you to where you wanna be.
Right?
Whether you're an individual in life or running a business,
(12:45):
if you are not aligning your actions with your values,
you are not,
it's not gonna feel good.
We've all worked.
I think so many people just taking it to the individual level.
I,
I do some career coaching work too.
The number one reason people get disenchanted with their work is because they feel like their personal values are not aligned with those of their employer and that causes they may justify and I'll put myself in this category.
(13:15):
I lived that life for a long time,
I had a good paycheck working for some great organizations that ultimately were not completely consistent with the way I wanted to live my life.
And I will tell you that does not engender happiness,
had a paycheck.
The paycheck did not make me happy.
I guarantee you aligning in,
(13:37):
in taking steps where I was living my life in alignment with my values.
That is when I started personally feeling fulfilled.
And I believe that more people need to really take a sober look at what's important to them so they can decide for themselves whether they're in alignment or not.
Oh,
I know so many of us can,
can relate to that where,
you know,
there,
(13:57):
there are those times where you're making decisions around your work within your work,
about your work,
about the business you're working for and you're like,
oh,
I'm going home feeling bad about myself because I did XYZ or I supported XYZ and why am I doing this?
And you're like,
oh,
because it's paying the bills and,
you know,
you have that,
(14:17):
that moment of friction within yourself that how long,
you know,
how long can we all put up with that?
Yeah,
it's not sustainable.
Like,
you know,
I,
I distinctly remember,
you know,
I had a good career on Wall Street and,
uh,
I remember the first time I got a Wall Street size bonus,
I was like,
oh my God,
that's amazing.
(14:38):
I went out,
I felt on top of the world.
I will tell you the next day gone.
And I had to work with 364 days of the year until like,
living from like that one high point to high point when it's just about the money or the paycheck or whatever,
(14:59):
completely unsustainable.
I,
every time I did that it drained my battery and I was consistently not showing up the way I wanted it to be in my life.
And,
um,
now I'd like to think that I've,
I've gotten a little bit.
I,
I hate to use the word wisdom in connection with myself,
but like it was my big aha moment,
right?
Which is like,
(15:19):
it was that aligning values with activity that really unlocked things for me.
And I just,
I love helping people figure out what's that thing for them personally or their business that leads us nicely to be real.
Um,
which is,
is the next point.
And I,
I think too with,
with being real,
I,
what,
you know,
(15:40):
I know a lot of people come to the table and they're like,
ok,
I feel like as a business we're real,
like we're doing the real thing like this is this is us.
Is it really though,
have we taken the time to really dissect all of that?
Is that what that means?
So when I think about be real,
it's really about authenticity and,
and,
and it not just authenticity,
(16:00):
it's about your intrinsic motivation.
So if values are,
are your vehicle,
it's your car that's gonna get you to where you wanna go,
authenticity and motivation being real and really connecting with what it is.
That's the gas in your tank.
OK.
So here's,
here's the important point here,
which is,
let's say you're a business owner and you decide,
(16:24):
hey,
I would like to do good work in the community.
I think it's gonna be good for my business for whatever reason my employees want it.
Uh And then you just kind of go out and pick a thing.
I'm gonna pick animal rescue completely made up.
You don't have a connection to that.
It is gonna be so hard for you to show up and more importantly to do the work like your heart might be in the right place like I wanna do good.
(16:49):
It's not about doing good,
it's about doing the right,
good for you.
OK?
Figure out what the right good for you is.
And somebody says,
well,
gosh,
I own an auto parts distributor.
That's my business.
And so how does that relate to doing good in the community?
Here's the secret.
It doesn't have to,
(17:10):
doesn't have to,
it doesn't have,
you don't have to uh I mean,
if you can find a cause or a community partnership,
this is the the kind of the gold standard,
right?
That is directly connected to something that is related to your brand,
your business whatever.
Awesome.
That's a huge win if it's authentic,
(17:31):
right?
And,
and,
and it gets you jazz motivated.
I'm gonna go back to the single mother's example for a minute.
Maybe that's your thing and you own this,
you know,
auto parts distributor still.
OK,
you get to still have an impact and work with those populations.
(17:52):
It doesn't have to be completely consistent.
What you're doing is you're saying,
you know,
hey,
this is important to me and how would that look like?
You could say,
hey,
here's my story,
tell stories,
right?
It's all about storytelling,
tell stories.
Why is this important to me?
Here's my team,
this is,
you know,
we,
we support these people and this is these are,
(18:13):
you know,
our team looks like this too or we work with these organizations because it's important.
It doesn't have to be about auto parts,
it doesn't have to be about the thing you're selling.
It really is about telling people and showing them what your values are and what's important and asking them.
Would you like to be part of this?
I have this vision of change.
(18:34):
Would you like to help us support that?
I bet that's so freeing Michael for,
for a lot of people to hear.
You know,
because you think about a lot of people who may have not done something to add and uplift their parts of their community because they thought this,
this doesn't fall into our brand.
Like how does single mothers.
(18:56):
How does animal rescue fall into our auto parts brand?
That's so freeing for a lot of people.
Absolutely.
Like,
it's,
it's really like one of the big takeaways here is,
it's about the impact and it's about being real.
Right.
That's what people care about.
You know,
(19:16):
what consumers today from a business perspective want to do is they want to align with companies that are values aligned.
So,
just because you're selling auto parts,
doesn't mean that you don't have values that somebody wants to connect with.
(19:36):
Gonna throw out a couple of um like stats around this,
right?
Because a lot of times businesses will say I don't have,
you know,
the time,
the money or the energy to do this.
OK?
I very strongly feel that the case for trying to do this and trying to find the authentic thing that's gonna work is good business.
(19:57):
It's what you need to be doing anyway,
right?
So a 2017 study by Co Communications found that 88% of American consumers are more loyal to companies that support social environmental issues.
88% OK?
86% of American consumers expect companies to have a purpose that goes beyond profit.
(20:24):
And this is a global,
there was a global study that Nielsen did.
This.
One is a little bit more dated,
but I have to think intuitively that these numbers have probably gone up over time.
They did AAA survey of millennials globally,
73% of global millennials reported being willing to pay more for products and services viewed as being socially responsible and engaged in their community than otherwise.
(20:51):
And in fact,
even with inflation last year,
there was a really interesting um study that came out.
I trying to remember who it was.
I think it was IBM that did it.
And they said,
hey,
you know,
inflation is really high,
the holiday season's coming up.
What are you,
how are you planning to allocate your spending for the holidays?
And what the survey found was that the share of wallet for consumer spending even though it was going down for everybody,
(21:18):
consumers were prioritizing continuing to buy the goods and services from the responsible businesses at even if prices were higher.
So again,
I feel like the market signal right there is like,
it's not about creating this perfectly crafted curated story about how your auto parts supplier is completely connected with something that makes sense.
(21:43):
And there's an arc,
it's really just about telling people who you are,
how you want to show up and asking them to join self select.
I care about that.
So I'm gonna give you a second look.
Oh yeah,
that,
that's so that's so impactful because uh again,
I think it's very freeing for so many business owners that are,
you know,
feeling like they're in a box because of their brand and you know,
(22:07):
we can't reach out beyond that box when really you're right.
The consumer,
we just want to know who you are.
Well,
it's interesting too.
So here's the flip side of this again,
authenticity word.
Like,
don't just pick it because,
right.
So then people will say to me or ask,
I'm not sure there's a lot of things I feel like I could do but like I,
(22:29):
you know,
the famous thing is you can do anything but you can't do everything.
So you have to pick,
right?
So how do I know I'm picking the right thing for me,
right?
If you're not sure that's OK.
Hey,
ask,
start going into the community,
talk to people that,
you know,
uh talk to other businesses,
talk to your customers,
talk to community organizations and ask like,
what are the things they're struggling with?
(22:51):
See if they resonate.
You know,
we,
we,
we spoke to um my friend Sandy Pros on one of the other episodes where she was saying,
hey,
I got,
she had a ton of success,
right?
Uh in her business because she closely affiliated her business development with authentic work she was doing in the community.
(23:14):
And one of the things she said is I didn't initially come into that thinking like I was that it was authentically me.
She was given an opportunity,
she investigated and then she realized that it was deeply resonant with her when she started doing a little bit of research and understanding what the cause was actually about it was Leukemia lymphoma,
(23:35):
right?
And she realized like this actually has touched her family,
you know,
and,
and in her community and it became real and meaningful for her.
So you can ask,
you don't have to,
you don't have to there,
there's no purity test here but just make sure it's real.
Yeah,
if you haven't listened to that episode,
go back and listen to it.
Um So good and you can just feel Sandy's uh story,
(23:59):
really,
you can feel the passion around all of it and,
and you can see the impact almost just as she tells the story,
it's a really,
really great episode.
Well,
when we get into key point number three about having a plan,
um again,
that sounds like a really big one.
It's like,
ok,
you know,
what is this a business plan we're making it?
(24:20):
What do we,
we need to pick our nonprofits at the beginning of the year?
How,
how do we have a plan?
No,
it doesn't need to be like,
I,
I think we,
we all have this tendency to kind of overcomplicate things.
Um It's about being intentional,
right?
Uh You could have an intention,
but a plan just gives you uh a little bit of structure and I do mean that little bit of structure so that you're not drifting morphing and,
(24:46):
and,
and the impact that you envision ultimately fades away,
right?
So the plan can be as simple as asking yourself kind of five foundational questions.
Who,
what,
where,
when and how,
that's,
that's it,
that's a plan.
It's not flying by the seat of your hands,
but it's having a clear vision for yourself of,
(25:08):
of where you wanna go,
the impacts you wanna have and how you think you might be able to get there.
So who do you want to help?
What do you wanna do?
So when you think about what do you wanna do?
What's there?
You know,
what do you want?
It's,
it's,
it's imagined for yourself.
What do you imagine the community can get out of whatever time,
treasure and talent you're contributing,
(25:30):
right?
Um Really important.
One.
Mind the gaps.
I told the story about the,
you know,
the guy with the,
the truck in two hours,
like that's a gap.
OK.
There was no way literally to get goods from point A to point B where they were gonna have their better impact.
So,
you know,
where's the gap just asking?
And it's like,
can you fill a gap someplace?
(25:50):
Where do you wanna do it?
Is it in your office?
Is it out in the community?
Is it someplace else?
When,
when are you gonna have the most impact?
Does this,
your impact doesn't always have to be year round.
You know,
your values have to be around important,
but your impact like you can choose to be like,
you know what,
for whatever reason I'm gonna do the most good pick a season around the fourth of July.
(26:17):
Uh you know,
it doesn't win.
Like when is,
when,
when is the need the greatest where you can step in and fill the gap,
right?
It doesn't have to be 3 65 and then just ask yourself like,
what's gonna feel good and satisfying to you?
Importantly,
one of the,
how is like,
how much time,
energy and financial resources can you commit a lot of people feel like because they're trying to do good that suddenly they have to take on mortar syndrome and give until they're dry.
(26:48):
No part of being intentional is saying once you understand and have a vision of,
of kind of what you wanna do and how you want to get there is saying,
am I creating enough space so that I can show up,
am I creating time for this impact that I wanna have?
Um If it's,
if it's in kind or monetary in nature or something like that,
(27:11):
do you literally have the resources so that you can show up once you've established that you want to help?
Right?
Um And then how much is too much and just being clear with people,
this is what I can do.
It's just about clarity.
People don't expect you to,
to put yourself in the poor house or you know,
(27:31):
to have no personal time or whatever.
It's really about being clear about what's gonna work for you.
That's part of the authenticity too.
And I think this falls under the,
have a plan conversation.
But,
you know,
what do you say to when,
when some,
you know,
organizations and,
and business owners are like,
(27:51):
ok,
if I'm crafting a plan,
do I have to have like 100 little buckets that I'm putting things in?
Do I find one big bucket?
You know,
where do I go with?
Do I spread it out as much as I,
you know,
possibly can or,
or how do,
how do I make that sort of plan?
Does the public expect me to be doing more or,
you know,
(28:11):
giving more to these organizations?
The number of organizations?
I think when you really understand the impact that you wanna have the,
the answer to that is simply it's gonna,
it's gonna depend and you get to choose.
Right?
So,
for example,
uh I would be hesitant if a client was like,
uh there's,
you know,
50 different organizations that I'm all in on.
(28:33):
There's a practical,
there's a practical issue there.
Can you really give focus and attention to 50 different things?
Right.
Um,
now,
is it possible that there could be two or three depending on your circumstances,
potentially?
Yeah,
absolutely.
But to the point about what is,
what are people expecting from me?
(28:54):
Right.
It's almost not relevant in the sense that like this is what I'm,
what I feel like I can do and what I'm willing to do.
Um,
you,
you can,
you can be clear about that.
So if,
if,
if there's three things and you,
and you know,
you end up deciding on one thing,
um be really clear with people.
(29:15):
You can say like,
you know,
we intentionally are putting all of our effort into this one community partnership or this one issue or this one thing because we think we can do the best work,
have the greatest impact and,
and create the most good by doing it.
(29:36):
By the way,
we also love these other organizations,
support them,
they're affiliated,
you know,
they're,
you know,
they're in our ecosystem of good,
but we're focusing on this thing over here.
That's OK.
You can be a connector for those other things.
You don't have to invest like the same level of attention in detail.
(29:58):
But I if it really is meaningful and,
and you've run out of bandwidth,
people are gonna be attracted to you and when they start asking like,
how can I get involved?
Like that's a great opportunity to say,
hey,
have you thought about these other organizations?
We're helping this one?
These others need help too.
You might wanna check them out,
right?
It's the pay forward.
That's all I can say,
right?
(30:19):
It's so good.
Yeah,
I mean that even given it a title like I can,
our business can be a connector like,
you know,
maybe we can't give all the time and all the focus and all the energy and all the money and,
you know,
maybe we don't have the space for that.
We still love them.
You know what just being honest about like this is what we're doing.
(30:39):
This is why we're doing it.
And we'd still love to connect you to these other organizations that we're not devoting all of this time and,
and money to love that.
Yeah,
it doesn't have to.
I think we tend to overcomplicate things and one thing I just want to make sure like we talk about the plan,
like I'm not suggesting that you write this document out or that you have this like something that's gonna sit on the shelf.
(31:04):
That's not what I'm talking about.
What I'm talking about is think it through.
I do think if you write things down,
they gain significance and importance if for no other reason than that biologically,
when you write things down,
it forces your brain to start working on it whether or not you're even conscious of it.
So like there's,
(31:24):
there's good reasons to write things down but ask yourself,
who are you writing it down for?
If you're a solo pne or you have a small company or you're a private individual,
write it down for you.
It's not like you're gonna post it on the,
on your website.
You might want to,
if you were a larger organization maybe,
but make it work for you.
(31:44):
When you do have to make decisions,
you can go back and maybe say,
hey,
this is really what I had in mind is this is this,
are we still tracking or are we still true to,
to,
to the vision that for the impact that we wanted to have?
So key point number four is start at home.
Are we turning the mirror onto ourselves as,
as organizations and business owners and individuals?
Are we saying,
ok,
(32:05):
we've got to start in the house before we go outside.
Yeah,
the phone call is coming from inside the house.
Totally.
Totally.
That right.
No,
again,
because,
ok,
we've all probably worked with either individuals or maybe with,
come with n or with companies um that talk a good game.
(32:27):
They're like we stand for XY and Z OK.
And the lived experience of people in that company or in that organization or the experience of,
of individuals that come in contact with that personal organization is so not that right?
So if you go out into your community and you start telling them what your values are and what impact you're gonna have and all this stuff and people are like,
(32:53):
oh bro,
slow down,
like I'm not sure that's my experience with you.
You've got a huge problem.
You actually,
what you just did is you actually reduce the trust that you as a person or as an organization are bringing out to the community.
You're inauthentic people are not gonna believe you,
(33:13):
they're not gonna want to follow and resonate with what your vision is.
So start,
start at home really means look at yourself and this can be a person,
this can be a company.
Like,
are you able,
are you doing the things in your life or in your company that you can control right now that support your values and support this idea of impact?
(33:38):
Ok.
So let's say,
you know,
a again,
diversity,
equity and inclusion is,
is a topic that a lot of people talk about,
right?
And whether or not they agree with it,
but if that's important to you and then you look around in your own organization and you've done nothing to address that.
That's an issue.
I have a,
(33:58):
I have a funny story.
Um I used to work on Wall Street large organization.
Um I remember going to a global conference where a lot of the senior leaders of the organization were some senior leaders who were all white men got up in front of the stage and started talking about how committed to um not just diversity,
(34:21):
but um you know,
elevating more women specifically into leadership,
physical leadership positions within the organization.
So you're thinking great,
OK,
they're thinking about it.
They're thinking about disparities like this is,
this is part of the values.
And then they turned around in the same breath in front of all of these people and said,
(34:42):
and we commit to interviewing at least one woman for every position,
even if she's not the most qualified,
literally came out of their mouth.
Yikes yikes.
So I'm sitting there with a bunch of incredibly talented,
very strong whip,
smart women who I respect and I'm just like awkward moment for me personally,
(35:04):
right?
But like,
that's what I'm talking about.
You gotta start at home because there was a whole campaign going on about this.
And it was like one of the craziest things I've like directly experienced,
right?
Uh where I was like,
oh my God,
like start here.
You can actually control what's in this room.
And you know,
(35:25):
so there was a lot of stuff going on there,
but that's just something that's always stuck with me as a as a w why do you need to start at home?
That's a great example.
I mean,
I feel like,
you know,
if we could open the vault of all the stories that have happened to all of us,
those cringy moments where your,
your leader,
(35:46):
your boss,
your supervisor,
the owner was taking a stance on something we need to grow in this area or we commit to doing XYZ.
Um And yet they're not living that actual thing,
it's not actually happening.
It's just something for the public.
Those stories are,
(36:06):
are many,
many,
many and they're very deep and uh and very hurtful to a lot of people.
A absolutely hurtful is a great word.
Like I remember this internal communications campaign around this is what we stand for and it was,
they,
they,
they stuck there these values on the wall.
One of them was agile.
It's very sexy to talk about being agile.
(36:28):
One of the most bureaucratic places I've ever worked.
Nothing got done transparently.
Nothing got done with uh managing up and like managing egos.
It was ridiculously bureaucratic.
And I was like,
really,
that's our value.
So again,
like the lived experience,
it was such a disconnect that even and there were a number of values that I think so many people,
(36:51):
even if one of them's off and you're talking about,
this is what we are and this is what we do.
It invalidates all of it.
So whatever you're telling people you stand for and how you're,
you've gotta do all of it.
And that sounds super scary.
That's why being intentional and understanding how you want to show up and communicating around it didn't really say that much about communication,
(37:15):
but you got to communicate a lot around this internally so that people get it.
So ideally before you go into the community at large,
with this idea of having an impact,
the people that represent your company,
your business or if it's just yourself and your personal capacity,
right?
You,
they should be the evangelists for what you say you stand for.
(37:38):
They should feel it.
You actually need to make sure that the people that represent you and your business are the people that can represent your values.
So you've got to hire intentionally,
right?
You've got to engage people.
So they understand what it means.
They have to raise their hand and say,
yes,
I'm willing to sign on to this.
(38:00):
Right.
Um,
and it doesn't have to be so top down and I think this is a mistake,
a lot of organizations make.
It doesn't have to be like,
ok,
the corporate guys,
you know,
the,
the leadership team are mandating our values.
And then OK,
we are now standing for Xy and Z.
Uh everybody will be Xy and Z starting immediately.
(38:22):
No,
not authentic.
How about this?
Hey,
here's our culture.
This is what we want to bring.
How do you think we can best express that?
How do you,
how do you employees think we can bring this better out into the world?
Talk to us,
coc create this with us be part of be part of the development of it,
asking people what they think,
(38:44):
engaging them,
asking them to kind of do the thing that they,
that they feel is meaningful for themselves.
That's where your culture and some of your values were start naturally expressing themselves,
right?
That's what I mean,
start at home because then when you're ready,
you can say,
hey,
we've been doing this for a while.
We know this is our culture.
We know these are our values.
(39:05):
Why we talk to our employees about it?
This is what's important to them.
This is what's important to me as the business owner or as the leader or whoever,
right?
And we know that we live these values because we see this every day and this is the lived experience of the people that are on our teams.
When you can say that you're ready to go out and tell other people outside.
Oh And how powerful too to,
to just even put it,
(39:26):
put it in that context of saying,
ask the people that's in your house.
You know,
I mean,
yeah,
so many people that don't do that or so many businesses that are like,
wait,
we should ask our employees what,
what they're,
you know,
what,
how to co create this uh this new,
this culture,
our culture.
It's a,
it's a great question and it feels really good on the other end to be a part of that.
(39:53):
Totally people don't do it because they're afraid of what they're gonna get back and they're,
it really what they're afraid of is how it's gonna make them feel like it's 100% imposter syndrome because if somebody comes back and says something that's kind of not what they had in mind or different or maybe not the value that the leader or the,
the,
you know,
has people have a tendency and this is just humanity.
(40:17):
Like I,
I say this with a great deal of compassion,
but like they turn it against themselves and they say,
oh,
you know,
this is somehow a critique of me as a person,
right?
It's not about that.
It's about creating and being open to the possibility that is gonna bring out the best in everybody that you're around.
And that might mean everybody needs to stretch a little bit.
(40:41):
Sometimes values can be aspirational,
right?
Maybe you're not totally there.
And I think it's OK to admit it.
But even saying like,
hey,
we think this is kind of how we want to show up and how we wanna be.
We think we might need to do a little bit of work.
Let's let's figure out what we need to do to get where it feels more comfortable and more authentic.
(41:02):
That's a hugely important outcome of even just doing this work,
right?
You haven't impacted anybody out in the community visibly yet.
But what you have impacted is you've galvanized people within your organization,
you've started giving more meaning and purpose,
you've empowered people,
you've started important conversations and that will have a ripple effect even if you're a work in progress.
(41:28):
Totally.
Um I'm thinking about our key point number five,
which is stay the course.
And one of the questions that comes up for me about that is so I'm an individual wanting to make a big impact.
I'm,
I'm a business owner wanting to make an impact.
I'm part of an organization that really wants to create just good,
(41:51):
good stuff um and make a difference.
So we sign on to do these things.
We,
these are our values.
We've made a plan,
we're,
we've started at home,
we're building,
building all of these things and,
and growing does that mean?
We have to,
we have to stay with the organizations that we pick to,
you know,
support,
(42:11):
we have to stay with this uh particular section or segment of our community.
What does stay the course mean?
So I can answer that in two different ways.
Let me talk about what it means for an individual first and then I'll talk about maybe as a company.
So with an individual,
like when you're talking about values,
values are forever things,
they don't change.
(42:32):
If your values are changing over time,
I'm gonna argue that they're not actually a value or they're not a strongly held value,
right?
Like this is something that is really innate,
right?
So as an individual,
it's really about say the course is about keeping your end point in mind.
So it's,
you wanna show up in a certain way in your community or you want to have an impact,
(42:53):
you wanna have a certain contribution to the world at large,
that vision of the future of what the future can be and how you can help doesn't change.
What can change is how you get there.
So just like if you're in your car,
you've gassed up the car,
you've got your destination in mind.
(43:13):
You know,
if you're driving to New York,
New York's not moving.
But do you have to take 95 all the way up?
No,
you can,
you can take,
you can get off in random exit and take a totally different route.
You can turn left,
you can turn right,
you can go loop de loop,
right?
Because what happens is this is long term work.
It's not,
this is not short term tactical stuff.
(43:36):
This is something that you're,
you're raising your hand and you're saying my values are forever values.
This is a cause or it's something that I feel strongly about.
It's gonna take a while to have an impact.
So I'm in it for the long haul as the world changes around you,
your tactics,
your direction,
the way you get there should change because community needs change,
(43:56):
those things change.
Right.
That's ok.
But if you tell everybody,
I'm driving to New York,
don't end up in L A.
Mm mhm Right.
Same thing with business,
right?
Um We have seen so many,
so,
so many quote,
socially responsible businesses profess to be supporters of pick your cause.
(44:25):
And then as soon as there's any blowback resistance,
questioning any kind of friction whatsoever,
suddenly they're out and they're trading in and out.
My point here is you don't get to trade in and out.
As soon as you trade out,
you're done and you're not done for a little bit of time.
You're done.
Like people remember that for a really,
(44:46):
really long time.
So people say,
well,
doesn't that seem risky?
Should I be doing this?
That's a choice that you have to make as a business owner.
If you're a business owner that is values and mission driven and you're very clear about what you want,
you have to be prepared to stay the course when you're,
(45:07):
when you encounter those who may disagree with you,
that's what stay,
the course is really all about.
It's,
it just put it in a different perspective for me about the drive to New York.
Where's our destination?
That's the course.
It's not the avenues to get there.
Yeah,
it's not,
it's not taking highway 95 or like a different road,
(45:27):
right?
You can take like you,
you can take whatever road is gonna be best for the circumstances,
right?
But you still got to end up in New York.
Um And I'll tell you so,
you know,
I,
I was speaking at a conference recently and um one of the individuals who was speaking told us really impactful,
(45:50):
empowering story,
you know,
I was talking to the owner Scott Mitchell who owns the Bohemian Den in Macon,
Georgia.
Macon's not a particularly,
you know,
it's pretty red,
it's pretty conservative traditional place.
Um,
Scott felt strongly that he wanted to become a safe space for LGBT Q youth,
ok.
(46:10):
And so he used his business to do that and he told a story about like I was really worried about what impact this decision and being so overt about it was gonna have and he was terrified that he was gonna lose a bunch of customers.
And he said,
yeah,
I did,
I I lost customers.
He gained three fold,
the number of customers he lost because he showed up and didn't back down and showed and proved to people that this was an inclusive space.
(46:41):
So he was walking the talk,
people saw it and they rewarded him for it.
And so,
uh Scott,
if you happen to hear this,
uh you know,
I hope you agree with my characterization of uh of this story.
But uh for those of you that might be in central Georgia,
you know,
go check out the Bohemian Den if uh uh if that's of interest to you so many community um moments that I,
(47:06):
you know,
I'm thinking about while you're talking about staying the course,
I mean,
just in different communities that I've been in and,
and how there is there is that chance there is a risk that you will stand up for something as an individual,
as a business owner.
It doesn't matter and you will lose a friend because of it or you will lose a customer or they don't agree with that and they don't stand with that and staying the course through that kind of friction or what feels like friction at the time can be,
(47:41):
can be very difficult for people to swallow and not,
maybe not take that risk.
But again,
maybe it's,
it's more about us focusing on the long game.
Yeah,
I mean,
staying the course it's,
it's,
it's,
again,
just,
it's showing up authentically and doing what you say you're gonna do.
Right.
Like,
it's really about that.
(48:01):
Like,
you know,
it,
it reminds me of trust,
all of this comes back to trust,
like,
on some level,
what you're trying to do is you're trying to create trust between yourself as an individual or as a business and those that you want to interact with and serve whether that's your employees,
your customers,
the community at large.
(48:21):
And so when you think about how do you build trust,
right?
This is some other work that I do kind of in my business.
Um you know,
there's there's certain aspects of trust.
So one of them is character and this all comes from the,
the Trust Edge Institute.
This is all very well researched.
Um really smart guys,
David Weer pioneering this,
(48:42):
this work,
but character is about doing what you say you're gonna do.
OK.
Compassion,
compassion is a part of trust.
Are you leading with your heart?
Do people feel he do the people feel seen connections?
Do you have relationships with people?
Are they genuine and importantly,
consistency.
Think about a time in which you,
you just deal with somebody in your life.
(49:03):
It's completely inconsistent.
You never know which person is gonna show up,
that doesn't build trust.
It's the same thing with staying the course,
right?
So when I help organizations,
so II I just recently helped a,
a pretty large nonprofit,
um do some work around values and when we sort of selected the values that we thought,
(49:23):
OK,
these are gonna be the values that are gonna work for,
for this organization.
I said,
here's my litmus test questions.
What would you violate this value if you were given more money than you ever knew what to do with your nonprofit?
Would you violate this value?
If all of your major donors or half of your clients walked tomorrow?
(49:45):
Because you talked about it.
Would you,
you know,
that's the kind,
would you sacrifice this value if it meant achieving next year's goal?
You know,
those are very foundational questions,
right?
And so it's the same thing with when you're picking your impact in your cause,
right?
(50:05):
You can ask those same hard questions and if you can think of a circumstance and I do mean any circumstance and,
and we really went into really like improbable kind of things,
right?
If you ever answer,
yeah,
I can see why we might not want to live that value in that specific circumstance.
Not a value doesn't mean that it's not important,
(50:26):
not a deeply held value that you want to lead with the community.
Same thing with your impact,
that's big and,
and you're right that you really like lit that sign up for everybody on that this,
it's trust,
there's a trust base uh in all of that.
And wow.
Yeah,
that,
that totally makes sense.
Um Our final key point is taking pictures.
(50:47):
Does this mean we have to get on social media?
What,
what are you asking us to do?
Michael taking pictures along the way is it's,
it's leading with your values just means talking about it,
telling stories,
report on your progress.
So here's the thing,
I think a lot of um one of the major kind of inner critic,
savager voices that hold people back from being their best selves is you know,
(51:10):
that those perfectionist tendencies,
right?
We want to be perfect.
We wanna,
we want everyone to feel like we've got all of our stuff in order and we've got it.
This is messy work almost by definition because stuff is changing people's emotions are usually tied to this kind of impact work.
I guess my point here is,
but still talk about it,
talk about your journey,
(51:30):
tell stories what was meaningful.
What did you learn humility?
Right?
Like let's say you screw up because I think I think this is what terrifies so many people to get into the space in the first place is we see situations where there's not a lot of compassion and forgiveness in society at large when anyone makes a mistake.
What I'm saying is I think that if your heart's in the right place and you're really trying to do the right thing and you make a mistake or you don't,
(51:56):
you fail to have the impact or you try to do it,
you,
you took a swing and,
and,
and you lift it,
whatever own it,
be vulnerable.
Let tell people what you learned,
hey,
we really thought we were trying to do this.
We did.
Why?
Here's what we learned.
If you do something and you have to apologize for it,
make it sincere.
(52:16):
People absolutely know it and I think are willing to forgive it,
right?
So I think this becomes more of a kind of a hobgoblin of people not doing the good thing because they're afraid that it's gonna be used against them at some point.
But I actually think that if you're authentic and engaged in telling the stories consistently celebrate the wins,
um throw light on what go so well and just own it.
(52:41):
It goes a long way to that authenticity and people really connecting with what you're trying to do because none of us are perfect.
No organization is perfect and we all live by grace,
right?
The other thing I would say about taking pictures along the way is uh we tend to live in a very curated society and social media is a good example of that.
Uh You asked about social media.
(53:02):
Do I think you have to do this on social media?
No,
you can do it in any way.
That makes sense.
You might not have any social media presence whatsoever.
But if you get in front of a customer or get in front of a supplier or you're having a conversation,
you can let it drop there.
It's about storytelling,
it's about letting people know,
right?
So if you want to do it on social media,
great,
(53:22):
you have to know.
But here's the important thing when you're doing impact work,
don't be the main character.
This is not curated to just lift you up and,
and make you or your business look amazing.
That's not it.
The stories need to serve a purpose,
which is,
who are you serving?
Who's he,
who's getting helped in this?
Why is your work meaningful?
(53:43):
Which partners if you're partnering with other people in the community for your impact,
shine the light on them.
It's about other people.
So don't,
don't be the main character.
Don't think this has to be a perfect curated like,
you know,
case study of,
you know,
responsible business or philanthropy.
No,
make it real but make it about others.
(54:06):
I love that.
I,
I,
you know,
I'm,
I'm remembering an organization that was very supportive of a children's hospital and in the community,
I was in years ago and one of the ways they did that exact thing,
just a perfect example of that um was they brought some of the kids from the hospital in to do a volunteer piece of,
(54:27):
of what they were doing on a particular Saturday in a community event and the kids were able to tell about the connection between the business and the children's hospital.
The kids who wanted to be there,
they told the story,
you know,
and it's,
it wasn't,
and there was nothing forced in the story.
And I,
I feel,
I feel like that's what you're,
that's what you're saying is,
(54:47):
is,
it doesn't have to be forced.
It's not about bragging,
it's not about make,
you know,
shining the light on,
on you as an individual or your business.
It's just about the authentic experience,
make it about the thing that people want to win against.
Right.
That's the thing.
You are one of many ideally that are trying to find your tribe of people that are moving towards a common purpose.
(55:12):
Let's say homelessness is something you end dear,
your heart.
And that's what you're leaning into.
The story is never how you ended homelessness.
It's not,
it's,
it's about how can we together improve lives of people who are unhoused?
Like they're the heroes of the story.
You're not.
I love that.
I love that.
Well,
we all have our homework now.
(55:33):
Thank you,
Michael Six.
It's easier than it sounds.
Uh I felt like a lot but it,
it doesn't have,
it doesn't have to,
it doesn't have to be like that.
No,
no,
I love that.
And I,
I love that.
I don't know,
you just always give off this,
like,
free feeling for everyone that's sort of it's liberating because it's like it doesn't have to be this big thing and what you can do that might seem small,
(55:59):
might actually be a really,
really big impact.
Yeah.
And I mean,
my challenge to anybody listening to this out there is think about one small thing you can do today this week.
Do it see what happens if everybody did that,
think of how much better our world would be.
(56:21):
That's,
that's what I love.
You can find Michael Messer at discerning strategies dot com.
Set up a free 20 minute consultation,
clarify your goals,
scale your business,
amplify your impact,
discerning strategies dot com.
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