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July 14, 2025 16 mins
PASSIONEER Magazine The Podcast | Guest: Lisa Ryan, CSP The Power of Gratitude in Leadership and Legacy-Building

In this empowering episode of PASSIONEER Magazine: The Podcast, Dr. Angela Chester is joined by Lisa Ryan, CSP — award-winning speaker, best-selling author, and founder of Grategy®. As a leading voice in employee engagement and appreciation, Lisa brings her signature warmth, humor, and real-world strategies to help leaders create cultures that thrive.

Together, they dive into the heart of gratitude as a leadership tool, not just a feel-good moment. Lisa shares her journey from corporate life to global stages, revealing how appreciation, authenticity, and intentional connection can drive retention, elevate teams, and leave a lasting legacy.

💡 Topics Include:
• Why gratitude is a leadership strength, not a soft skill
• How to build stronger teams through daily appreciation
• Avoiding burnout with purpose-centered workplace culture
• Her journey to becoming a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP)

Whether you're leading a team, building a business, or just trying to lead yourself well—this conversation will leave you uplifted and equipped. 


#PassioneerPodcast #WomenWhoLead #DrAngelaChester #LisaRyanCSP #Grategy #LeadershipWithGratitude #EmployeeEngagement #PurposeDrivenLeadership #FaithAndLeadership #WomenInBusiness #AppreciationStrategy #LegacyBuilders #WorkplaceWellness #InspiringLeadership
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to Passioneer Magazine the podcast, Well you're here, inspirational stories,
encouraging news, and in depth interviews with authors, influencers, CEOs
and thought leaders. Passioneer Magazine the podcast Bold Ideas, Brave Pursuits,
Boundless Inspiration.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hello, Hello, hello everyone. Thank you so much for joining
us here for Passioneer Magazine the podcast. I am really
excited to have you on today, Lisa, Thank you so
much for joining us here on the podcast. Now, we
were a part of a mutual event and I loved

(00:54):
your interviews and I could not wait to have you
here on the show so that you you could share
some of your expertise and what you do with our
listeners and viewers as well. Now, let's get started with
the first thing. I'm sure they're noticing that there are
some letters behind.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Your name, those magical letters. CSP means that I am
a Certified Speaking Professional in the National Speakers Association. This
is the highest earned designation. Only about seventeen percent of
professional speakers have this, and basically it's not just taking
a test. It's five years of speaking experience with a

(01:38):
minimum of two hundred and fifty programs with a minimum
of earnings per year. Like, you can't have a really
good year one year and then do nothing the next year.
You have to have consistent earnings. You have to have
twenty of your clients fill out recommendation sheets for you.
And then the hardest part is you have to be

(02:00):
judged by four other CSPs who watch a video of
you to deem that you are worthy of having those
letters behind your name. So it's a big deal in
one of the proudest accomplishments of my life.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Oh, my goodness, of course it is. That is awesome.
It is the same way I think that many people
that may be watching that are in mental health. We
know that in order to get that doctor, so and
so it's like, oh, the number of hours if only
you understood. So we definitely understand that. I love that

(02:35):
a What a great designation there. Congratulations, look here on
that piece of hard work. That should definitely be applauded. Now,
speaking of being someone who's very diligent and bringing forth
great information to her client base, one of the things
that you talk about is leadership, and in particular grateful leadership,

(02:55):
which is something that really lines up what we do here.
Tell us more about why is that something that you
feel needs to be a part of the discussion.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Well, the thing is that when you are creating a
workplace culture that attracts and retains people, my thing is
how to keep your top talent from becoming someone else's.
It's really in making them feel valued and appreciated, and
it doesn't take a whole lot, but it does have
to be authentic because employees actually know when you're not.

(03:29):
So when we look at connecting with people from the
heart with you know, and I know I'm dating myself,
but I think back to the movie Avatar with the
I see you. I see you not only when you're
doing things wrong, but I see you when you're doing
things well. And even better than that, I see you
when things are just going swimmingly. You know, it's neither

(03:51):
great because a lot of times we recognize when things
are going really well, or we recognize when things are
going really poorly, but we totally forget yet when everything
is just on course and we don't acknowledge it. You know,
I share this story a lot in my programs. When
a guy came up to me afterwards and he said,
you know, Lisa, when I do something wrong at work,

(04:13):
I get recognized one hundred percent of the time, and
when I do something well, it rarely gets noticed. And
my goal is to flip that switch to change workplace
culture one thank you at a time.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Oh my goodness. Yes, And you know, I find that
it is such a part of human behavior when we
are disgruntled with something. If we don't like a restaurant,
a particular boutique that we went to, we're very quick
to leave that review, to leave the one or two stars.

(04:48):
We should be equally as excited to share. Let me
tell you about this really great place that I found
the five star moments as well. So are you are
so right there? Just kind of workplace related. I could
not agree more. I've heard more and more people talk
about the actions of the leaders in which they work

(05:10):
with or work for. If there is one particular action
that comes to mind that you help your client base overcome, recognize,
be aware of what is that one thing that you're
finding really is a repeat topic for you and your clients.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Well, there's so many of them, but it really is
those day to day conversations. You know, I work with
a lot of manufacturing companies and our associations, and I
will tell them. You know what, as you're walking through
the plant, just say hello to your employees and call
them by name and learn something about them so that
they know because one of my six years of grategy

(05:54):
is access, and that is access to leadership because they
want to know that leaders care enough about them. But
the other reason why this works is that you can
tell a lot about a person just from the way
they answer. You know, if you go up and use like, hey, Joe,
how you doing today? And Joe is normally really chipper,
but with this particular day, they're like, you know, I

(06:17):
can go to my office because I'm busy, man, I
got stuff to do. Or I can stop and I
could say, you know, dude, you're not your normal self today,
what's going on. I don't know that that was the
day that Joe was going to give his notice, But
because I stopped, because I cared enough to notice that
something was a little off, that may be the turnaround

(06:40):
that says that he says, you know what, I'm just
having a bad day. Lisa really does care about me,
and I'm going to continue. So we look for ways
to connect with our employees. I also advocate for knowing
that some of your employees are going to be a
lot easier to recognize than others. So you might actually

(07:00):
have a spreadsheet with all of your employees on it
and just you know, physically putting little check marks or
little hash marks by it so that you can see tangibly,
because a lot of times we think that we're much
more grateful than we are, and we need that piece
of paper to prove us wrong or prove us right.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yes, oh my goodness, and thank you, thank you for
pointing that out in such a gentle way, because sometimes
sometimes it's true, people do not see themselves the way
that others see them, or their intentions are you know, great,
but it doesn't quite make it out of the conversation

(07:43):
in their head, it doesn't display very well. So you
are so right. And how many times have we probably
avoided someone quitting or not giving that recommendation simply because
we were an empathetic leader, or we simply stopped and
said hello, how are you or just how's your day going,

(08:04):
you know, and really listened, as opposed to how we
sometimes do with just a salutation, Hi, how are you okay? Great,
and just move along so quickly. I love that now
you mentioned your program. In that answer, I love it.
I love it now gratgy, and I hope I'm saying
that correctly. Yes, tell us about that now? What we

(08:27):
find online is beautiful. I expect everyone to check it out.
Of course, the information is down below. But tell us
how did that get started and why was it important
for it to be the way in which you set
it up?

Speaker 3 (08:41):
You know, Gratgy is something that I discovered through my
own personal practice of gratitude that I started in two
thousand and nine with some friends and after starting to
keep track of five things every day that I was
grateful for and at that point sharing that with my
group of friends, I really noticed the difference in my

(09:02):
life from people who I hadn't called on for months
calling me wanting me to sell them stuff, and now
I had the best year of my career. At that point,
I noticed the difference from my husband and I had
wanted to be a speaker. I've always done speaking as
part of my job, but I never really thought about

(09:24):
it full time because I really didn't know what my
message would be. I mean, I was in sales, but
I really didn't want to be another sales speaker until
fifteen years later, when I do have that program, but
I knew to the core of my being that gratitude
was supposed to be the message I was bringing. Now.

(09:45):
The interesting thing at the very beginning in twenty ten,
when I shared this with one of my friends who
also owned a very successful business, she kind of patted
me on the arm and she said, oh, honey, you know,
no one's ever going to pay you for that. And
in twenty ten she was right, because people didn't see

(10:06):
the value of these soft skills that they do now.
So I basically changed the message to employee engagement. Exact
same program, exact same content, but in a message that
people understood. And now the interesting thing is I probably
get booked just about as much for employee engagement and

(10:27):
workplace culture as I do for gratitude because people know
the power behind it, They know the numbers behind it,
and the impact that it has on us personally, professionally,
on our health, how it touches every area of our
life and our business.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
You are you are so right. And I had to
chuckle on that one, because it's if we if we
had a dollar for every time someone said that's not
going to work, we would be at a totally different
times bracketing. Yeah again right, because of that the power

(11:03):
of your own vision, you know, and I think that's
something that many entrepreneurs have in common, is that you
you don't allow the obstacles that most people will see,
the naysayers to really live rent free in your head.
You use that as fuel to keep going if you
feel that your vision is yours. Now, of course I

(11:27):
talk about faith soul. I tend to say what God
has given you is what God has given you. It
is your vision, it is your purpose, it is your
calling for your life, and you will be successful in
that regardless of what other people see or say, or
if they agree. So I'm so glad that you were
able to take that message and continue to share it

(11:49):
with the world because you're right, so many people need
to hear that. Now. My last question for you is,
with with all that you do, and again I encourage
everyone to definitely visit your website, what is one thing
that you want to make sure that people take away
from our conversation today.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
You know, honestly, the most powerful thing that you can
do to change your life is to start with a
gratitude practice of some kind. I have a notebook on
my nightstand. When I wake up in the morning, before
I take that will long walk down the hallway, I
write down five things that I am grateful for. And
I've been doing that since two thousand and nine. Are

(12:32):
there times that I forget? Yeah, I get busy, I travel,
But instead of saying, uh, I'm a loser, you know,
I forgot that. I can't do it anymore. No, because
my my notebook also doesn't have any dates in it,
so I don't have to go back and fill in
the spots. But I can go back. I can see
the ebbs and flows of life. You're writing it down,

(12:55):
so you're basically proclaiming it to the universe that you
know what, this is good and you attract more good
because of it.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yes, oh my goodness, And I had a yes moment
for that. Two thousand and nine. That is the year
that I became a breast cancer free. And it was
in that moment of recovering from surgery that I shifted
always grateful, but I started the shift of before my
feet hit the floor, thank you for today. What is

(13:26):
it that I will do today? Like I'm looking forward
to it? So you are so right writing down in
that journal the power of a handy dandy note book.
I'm telling you, guys, it is so important. I'm finding
that that is what I have in common with a
lot of other people, as well as just having that
moment of gratitude in the morning. Now, I want to

(13:49):
shift gears just a little bit for you, because you
are also an author, and I know, as someone who
has written books, that takes our time and our dedication.

Speaker 1 (13:58):
So I want to.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
Give you a moment as well to tell us what
is one of your latest books, and what is it
all about, and how did it come about.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
I'm so glad you asked, because of course I just
happen to have a copyright here. But this is gear
up for greatness, how to transform workplace culture with the
Six Gears of Gratgy. The Six Gears of Gratgy is
my model. But the thing that I love about that
book is my first book of fiction. It's actually a
business fable that I had. I'm such a nonfiction girl.

(14:29):
I mean, I have this that was book number twelve,
and all of them are nonfiction, about as nonfiction as
you can get. But I always had that little like
I wonder what it would be like to write fiction,
and I am not saying that this is anything close
to Harry Potter, but I did really understand, like when

(14:49):
I got to know the characters and they you know,
what would Frank say, what would James say in this situation?
And just going back and forth and being a able
to basically bring those six gears of graategy to life.
It was my friends would even say, I have never
seen you so excited about a book because it was

(15:11):
just fun. It was fun to write. And then of
course at the end, because I am a nonfiction girl,
there is an implementation guide, so all the different chapters
going through the six gears, it's in one simple spot
you can say, Okay, you read the book, now this
is what you can do, so we have the best
of both worlds.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
I love it. I love it because you know, we
can't stop being who we are. Our authentic selves are
always going to come out. And at the end of it,
it really is about helping others be their best, and
that's how we are our best by helping others be
their best. I love it. I love it well at
least a Ryan csp thank you so much for spending

(15:50):
some time with me here on Passioneer Magazine, the podcast.
I truly enjoyed our conversation today.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
You're very welcome.

Speaker 1 (16:02):
Thank you for listening to Passionier Magazine the podcast,
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