Aug. 25, 2026

Curing the Busy Brain: From Stress-Success to Sleep, Sanity, and Purpose

Curing the Busy Brain: From Stress-Success to Sleep, Sanity, and Purpose
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Join Romie Mushtaq, MD as she unpacks the “Busy Brain”—the stress-fueled cycle behind anxiety, poor focus, and sleepless nights. Learn how her brainSHIFT microhabits help high achievers restore sleep, energy, calm, and purpose without walking away from meaningful work. She shares the personal health crisis that woke her up to the cost of wearing stress as a badge of honor. You’ll also hear why sleep, technology boundaries, food, hormones, and belonging are essential to reclaiming your vitality.

Working on Purpose is broadcast live Tuesdays at 6PM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Working on Purpose is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

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WEBVTT

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The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are

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solely those of the host and their guests and not

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those of W4CY Radio, its employees or affiliates. We make

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directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W4CY Radio.

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What's working on purpose anyway? Each week we ponder the

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answer to this question. People ache for meaning and purpose

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at work, to contribute their talents passionately and know their

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lives really matter. They crave being part of an organization

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that inspires them and helps them grow into realizing their

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highest potential. Business can be such a force for good

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in the world, elevating humanity. In our program, we provide

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guidance and inspiration to help usher in this world we

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all want, working on purpose. Now, here's your host, Dr.

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Elise Cortez.

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Welcome back to the Working on Purpose program, which has

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been brought to you with passion and pride since February

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of 2015. Thanks for tuning in this week. Great to

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have you. I'm your host, Dr. Elise Cortez. Most leaders

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are sitting on untapped human energy and capability. I help

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them unlock it. I'm an organizational psychologist, workforce advisor, Vistage chair,

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and the founder of the Guster Now Movement. But the

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title I live by is much simpler. I traffic in energy,

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not the surface level motivation of another engagement initiative, but

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the deeper force, what I call gusto, the life force

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of performance, that drives commitment, perseverance, and genuine ownership of

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a shared mission in the clients we serve. You can

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learn more about us and how we can work together

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at gusto-now.com or my personal site, elisecortez.com, for information on

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my speaking and my books. With us today is Dr.

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Romi Mushtaq. She's a triple board-certified physician, award-winning speaker, and

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nationally recognized wellness expert. She brings together over two decades

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of leadership in healthcare and hospitality and Today, she is

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on a mission to transform workplace culture and leadership with

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brain science-based solutions. She speaks and consults with Fortune 500 leaders,

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professional athletes, and global associations on helping leaders build future-ready

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teams that move from pressure to performance. Today, we're talking

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about her book, The Busy Brain Cure, The Eight-Week Plan

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to Find Focus, Tame Anxiety, and Sleep Again. She joins

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us today from Chicago. Dr. Mushtag, welcome to Working on Purpose. Hello, Dr.

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Elise. Thank you.

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So great to see you. Am I seeing your last

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name right? Or please correct if I'm wrong. Perfect.

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Thank you so much for asking, but everybody knows me

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as homie, Dr. Romi. And now that I've aged a

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little bit at Great Wolf where I'm chief wellness officer, Dr. Auntie.

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So I love it all. And I, you know, of

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course I read your book cover to cover as you

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saw from my notes. I love that your full name

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is what Romila?

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Romila is the full name. And I grew up in

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a small town in Illinois and, uh, At that time,

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having a unique name was not a currency or did

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not give you an edge. And so my best friend's

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parents gave me the nickname Romy and the entire world

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knows me as Romy.

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I love that. It is so memorable. I could probably

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just type in Romy in the internet and get just

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straight to you. So we'll take it. Well, let us

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celebrate this thing you brought out to being in the world.

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It's beautiful, Romy. It's beautiful. It's just chock full of

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so many great stories, including your own, which we'll get

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to here in just a second. But I want to

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first start by talking about who you wrote this book for.

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You were very clear about who you wrote this book for.

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Can you tell us who it's for?

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The unapologetic type, a driven success driven professional. The last

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thing anybody wants to be told is to slow down.

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There ain't no time for berries and breathing and setting boundaries.

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We have mortgages to pay.

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We have teams.

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We lead philanthropy. We do in communities. And yet, something

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isn't quite right in our brains and I term that

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as busy brain. And that's why you're here today, because

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somehow you've lost your focus, low-key anxiety, high doses of

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caffeine in the morning, and a bottle of wine are

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no longer helping your brain at night.

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I'm here with a solution, Dr.

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Elise.

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I love that. You're so spunky. I love it. Well,

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and I love reading about your story. I mean, you

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knew early in life and you had a lot of

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goals and your aunties were encouraging in this year, you're

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going to be a doctor, you're going to marry well,

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you're going to do all these things and have great style.

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I loved all of your descriptors on your fashion. It

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was like I was right there in your closet with you,

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picking out your outfit for you. But things didn't quite

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allow you to go down that really steady path of roses.

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So give us the brief overview for those who haven't

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read the book about your own journey, your own health scare,

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your journey to health that really propelled you to write

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this book and now do the work that you're doing today.

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Yeah, you know, I will start by this thing. We

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often define our lives and our purpose by titles and acquisitions,

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whether that's the title of professor and doctor or acquisitions,

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the latest pair of Jimmy Choo stilettos. And I thought

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I had made it in life. And in 2010, long

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before we dare talk about mental health in the workplace,

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even in a hospital or burnout, I learned firsthand that

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chronic stress causes disease. Chronic stress can kill you. And

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it nearly killed me. I should have known better. I'm

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a brain doctor, a neurologist. And I ended up in

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life-saving surgery. And at least I woke up in the

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ICU after surgery, not worried what the cardiothoracic surgeon was

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going to say to me, but a deeper, darker feeling

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that hope had departed my soul. And I remember of

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all the The loneliness, there was a key haunting memory,

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which was nobody at work asked if I was okay

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and I was visibly struggling. So today, as the CEO

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and founder of the Brain Shift Institute, my work on

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human neural performance and leadership is so that everybody at

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work feels seen, heard, and no one is alone at work.

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I take that into my keynote lectures. I take that

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into my work as a chief wellness officer at Great

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Wolf Resorts for over 14,000 employees.

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Well, so listeners and viewers, that was a much abbreviated version.

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When you read her book, you will be on the

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front lines and really recognize this woman has been in

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through the trenches to come through the other side to

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teach us what she learned by going through this. It's

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really an amazing journey that she's been through. So that

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just means you've got to buy the book. Okay. So

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you've already situated for us this idea of the busy brain.

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And I appreciate that you talk about that. And also

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this whole notion, you said, of course, difficulty focusing. the anxiety,

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difficulty falling and staying asleep. So of course, you want

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us to move into the brain shift or use the

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brain shift. So what's the brain shift? And give us

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some ideas about what that's about.

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You know, Dr.

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Leis, in today's world where we're dealing with rapid change

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and AI integration in our workforce and our businesses, most

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of us feel overwhelmed. And I find most people are

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using the term burnout incorrectly. Now, you or I here

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in the United States and around the world, we couldn't

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think of getting a mortgage or car insurance without someone

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running our credit score. Why shouldn't we be checking our

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brain score to know, number one, where's the state of

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my health? And number two, am I fit to lead

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or scale this company? And that's exactly what we did.

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I started to speak and realized that nobody wanted the

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berries breathing in the boundaries. We needed a number. So

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we actually have a validated neuropsychology stress test that we

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relabeled the busy brain test. And we'll put it here

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in the show notes for the podcast. It's on my

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website for free, LinkedIn.com. We looked at 17,000 people between

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December 2020 and December 2022. And these same high-achieving professionals

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asked them 20 quick questions to gauge what exactly does

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change fatigue look like? What exactly is happening in your body,

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your sleep, your memory, your emotions when you're burned out?

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And that's how we came up with you either have

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change fatigue, a busy brain, or you're burned out. Now,

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what do those symptoms look like? You wake up every

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day and you reach for your phone and you're already angry,

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even though you've checked seven times at when your first

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meeting of the day is. You're checking Teams. You're checking emails.

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Maybe you're scrolling on TikTok shop, whatever it is, and

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you know better. And then it's a battle to get

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you and your family out the door if you have

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loved ones or a pet. And you're caffeinating. And by

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that time you get to the office, you're already exhausted

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and you're caffeinating even more, maybe a little bit of sugar.

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And then all of a sudden you look and there's

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too many browser windows open on your computer and in

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your brain.

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Oh, I'm anxious.

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You pop a supplement, a bagel, and it doesn't get better.

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And you get to the end of the day, absolutely

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wiped out, feeling like I got nothing done. And you

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remember the show with Dr. Elise and Dr. Romi, and

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you're like, I'm going to go stand on self-care tonight.

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And you need a bottle of wine to take the

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edge off. And you put your head down to bed,

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and there's 72 warring conversations having a battle in your brain.

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And that is busy brain. The curse of the imbalanced

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brain and neuroinflammation in high-achieving professionals.

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So I can just virtually see all the nodding heads

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of the listeners and viewers as you were going through

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that whole description of the day. Yeah, that's me. She's

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talking about me.

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No judgment. I was there once and I thought it

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was just me. You feel like you're alone and you

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look around at work or in your community and you're like,

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am I the only one struggling in life right now?

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Yeah. And I appreciate, you know, I've had other guests

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on that talk about similar kinds of things as you do,

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but not the, of course, the way that you do.

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And I, what I also appreciated about your book, that's so,

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it's just so graspable, if you will, you make it

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easy for us to grasp is that you talk about that.

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The way to a brain shift is through a series

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of micro habits and that these micro habits are around

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things like sleep and hormones and markers of inflammation. Food

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is fuel and technology. So if you could, we're going

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to talk about each one of those a little bit

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more in detail, not, not, not intensely because I know

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we want to talk about culture, wellness and culture as well, but,

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if you could just speak to why those five things

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are so important to start to create these micro habits around.

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There isn't a one size fit all dress or suit

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for everybody, nor is there a solution once you have

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change fatigue, busy brain and burnout. And when we looked

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at those 17,000 brains, we found that once the neuro

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inflammation hits the brain, the airport traffic control tower, hypothalamus

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in the brain, a different pathway and inflammation will affect

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people differently in five key areas, which is the shift

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as to sleep, H is hormones for men and women,

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both thyroid and sex hormones. I is markers of inflammation,

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like your vitamin D as in dog levels. F is

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the right food without going on a diet. And you

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and I are going to break that down. And T

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is the role of technology. We can't scoff Stop the scroll.

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Our busy brains are addicted to the dopamine.

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Let me just check.

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Email one more time tonight before I go to bed.

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And when we identify what that is, we then have

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an eight-step, eight-week program that we tested in 1,000 executives

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that can actually break that cycle, get to the root cause,

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heal the inflammation so you can focus, sleep again, and

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be your best self.

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Mm-hmm.

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Again, I could see the listeners and viewers just their

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shoulders drop as they just imagine what that would be like. Imagine. Well,

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we are going to talk about that a little bit later.

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I want to talk briefly about those eight steps a

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little bit later here. But before we do that, I

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just want to also step into this realm here when

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you talk about, is there really a cure? And you're like, yes,

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there really is, or else I wouldn't be gallivanting all

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over the world and doing all these speaking engagements talking

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about this if I didn't believe that there was a

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cure and I didn't see it in action. So I appreciate, too,

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that part of what you're talking about here is this

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idea of choosing to be productive instead of busy. And

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I really can relate to that. I can pride myself

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in working so hard like I'm just beating the horse,

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but focusing on that productivity instead of busyness. And there

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are so many other things and replacing the dopamine instead

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of checking that to do this one more time like

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you were talking about. I think when we get language

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around this stuff, what I've been learning here for myself

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and for my listeners, Dr. Romi, is that it really

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helps us to take away that fuzziness of these things.

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We just know we feel bad, but when we have

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language around why we feel bad and what we can

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do about it, now we have, back to your word earlier, hope. Yes,

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we have hope.

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And that's where people ask when you heal burnout and

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busy brain, what happens is I have hope. And now

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as a leader, I am other people's hope holders. I

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ask specifically, what hope can I hold for yourself? I

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think it is the greatest duty and honor I have

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as a chief wellness officer. And we have to look

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at that. But first it starts with protect your brain,

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know your brain score. And, you know, this isn't about

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another productivity tool or hack. It's literally calming down the

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neuroinflammation in your brain, checking a brain score and checking

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labs to fix the problem and get you back on track.

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You know, part of what I also appreciate about your

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cure piece, too, when you talk about one of the other,

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you have five main points there. I gave two of

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them already. But I also love the idea when you

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talk about be present in the role that is required

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of you in the present moment. And we're all guilty

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of thinking about six steps ahead and where we've got

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to be next, et cetera. And there's something about that

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presence that is so magical for ourselves and people around us.

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So I want to celebrate that. You already talked about

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the idea of healing the neuroinflammation in the brain so

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that we can alleviate that negative impact and stress on

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our health. But the other piece that I want to

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really speak to that very few people that have talked

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to on this program, Dr. Romi, is the idea of

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restoring the balance in diurnal variation of circadian rhythm. Yes.

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Very few people have talked about that, Dr. Romi.

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That's what we're missing. This is the science of our

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circadian rhythm in layman's terms, the biological clock. I really

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hate that term as a female physician because as a

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woman talking, people will automatically look down at my pelvis

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and think about my ovaries or they think about sleep.

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But your circadian rhythm is a 24-hour biological clock that

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governs how your brain and your entire body is working.

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When you have neuroinflammation in the airport traffic control tower

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of the brain, the hypothalamus, that is where the circadian

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rhythm lives. This is why you are craving something sweet

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and have a second wind of energy late at night

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when you should be falling asleep. It's why at 10 a.m.

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in the morning, you're in a brain fog despite excessive

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amounts of caffeine. Your energy and rest dynamics in a

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24-hour cycle change.

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Are imbalanced.

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And the quickest way to do that, and we'll break

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that down in a second, is we start with the

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seven-day sleep challenges. The easiest modifiable circadian rhythm is your

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sleep and the cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, including key

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supplements that we found that help to reset that circadian

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rhythm so that everything else starts to fall into place.

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Two things on that that come to my mind really quick, Dr. Romi.

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One is I think about the times that I've traveled

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around the world when it's like, you know, you only

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get three hours of nighttime in like Northern Europe or something.

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And I, so if you could speak a little bit

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to why does that just so mess us up? Yeah.

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Number one, we are creatures of habit and we don't

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talk about that enough because there's something sexy about change

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and going and doing, but our brain is, knows our

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time zone and our circadian rhythm. So once we cross

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typically over two time zones, we're already disrupted in that

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what hour should I be awake and energized and when

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should I be resting and digesting life and everything happening

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in all the trillions of cells in all of our

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different organs. when you travel abroad, now that biological clock

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is off and we are fighting against what the brain

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was trained to do against a new time zone. This

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is the only case when I will prescribe melatonin for

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three to seven days to help offset and signal to

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your brain that we're raising melatonin. It is now time

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to rest and sleep. I will tell you, as you

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alluded in yourself too, we're speakers and consultants, I'm on

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the road almost every week. I've actually stopped using melatonin,

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even in international travel, and have switched over to the

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supplements I use as a sleep protocol instead. And we'll

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dig into those a little deeper, the 5-HTP and the

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magnesium glycinate.

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And just really quick, what is it that causes us

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to get the, why do you have a sweet tooth

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when it comes to that disruptions? It is.

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That's so important. We don't realize that we have insulin

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receptors in our brain as well and in our pancreas.

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And what happens is when we have change fatigue or neuroinflammation,

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not only does it raise our cortisol levels and drop

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our glucose levels, then our insulin receptors in our brain

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are hyperactive. And all of a sudden, we're craving a

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sugar in any form it could even be bread or

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anything that'll spike the blood sugar as a dopamine hit

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it may be that sweet tooth or you may not

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have a sweet tooth but you're opening up a shopping

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app and looking at the sales and putting something in

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your um internet it's it's that dopamine.

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Reward addiction habit that we're breaking got it okay Well,

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on that note, let's let our listeners and viewers just

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sit there and think about how much of this, what

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you've been talking about so far, resonates with their lives.

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And we'll take our first break. I'm your host, Dr.

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Elise Cortez. We're on the air with Dr. Romia Mushtaq.

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She's a triple board certified physician, award winning speaker and

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nationally recognized wellness expert. She brings together over two decades

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of leadership in health care and hospitality. And today she's

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on a mission to transform workplace culture and leadership with

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brain science based solutions. We've been talking about her whole

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notion of brain shift and brain cure after we dig

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just a bit deeper into sleep and move on to

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the rest of her formula. We'll be right back.

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Dr. Elise Cortez is a management consultant specializing in meaning

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and purpose, an inspirational speaker and author. She helps companies

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visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose-inspired leadership

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and meaning-infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and commitment within

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the workforce. To learn more or to invite Elise to

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speak to your organization, please visit her at EliseCortez.com. Let's

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talk about how to get your employees working on purpose.

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This is Working on Purpose with Dr. Elise Cortez. To

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00:19:00.019 --> 00:19:03.049
reach our program today or to open a conversation with Elise,

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00:19:03.289 --> 00:19:09.609
send an email to Elise, A-L-I-S-E, at EliseCortez.com. Now, back

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to Working on Purpose.

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Thanks for staying with us and welcome back to Working

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on Purpose. I'm your host, Dr. Elise Cortez, as I

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am dedicated to helping create a world where organizations thrive

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because our people thrive a lot like Dr. Romi in

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some ways. They're led by inspirational leaders that help them

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find and contribute their greatness, and we do business that

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betters the world. I keep researching and writing my own books.

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Some of my latest came out called The Great Revitalization,

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How Activating Meaning and Purpose Can Radically Enliven Your Business.

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And I wrote it to help leaders understand today's very

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discerning workforce. What do they want and need from you

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to give you their best and want to stick around?

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And then I give you 22 best practices to equip

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you to provide that for them. in your leadership and

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your culture. You can find my books on Amazon or

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my personal site, EliseCortez.com. If you are just now joining us,

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my guest is Dr. Romy Mushtaq. She's the author of

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The Busy Brain Cure, The Eight-Week Plan to Find Focus,

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Tame Anxiety, and Sleep Again. So, so question for you,

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because I do want to, I want to dive into

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those five areas, including what we were just starting with sleep.

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The question I have for you is, is it going

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to be more efficient for us to talk about that

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when we get into the eight week plan? Yes.

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Okay.

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Let's do that then. Okay. So then let me move

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on then in terms of, because I definitely want to

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talk about circadian rhythm, which you did then, then I

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want to, I do want to say just quickly about the,

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about technology before we get to that place, because this

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is one of the things that I had a major

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aha out myself before I before I even met you.

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And that is the notion of blue light and technology

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and how that impacts how it is that we sleep.

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We could just hit that lightly because I think it

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bears repeating here as well as when we get to

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an eight week.

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It is.

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And right now, how many people are going to be

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reaching for their readers or classes that have the blue

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light blockers? And please know, as I'm putting myself on,

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if you're seeing the video, this will only help with

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eyestrain looking at the computer still does not help block

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the blue light. that emits from any of our devices,

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our phones, even the e-readers that are there, unless you

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have a generation one Kindle, which I think is a

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rare antique now over a decade later. And what that

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does is it permeates through the back of the eye

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to the retina. And that retina is attached to your

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occipital lobe. And it tells my brain, aha, wake up,

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start stressing and guessing and thinking again. And that stimulates

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also the pathway to the hypothalamus. And it's actually telling

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your circadian rhythm, this is not nighttime and time to rest.

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I need you to wake up. And guess what's even

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more profound in this, Dr. Elise, is that if you're

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up and watching a crime drama or action movie, your

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brain consciously and subconsciously on a very superficial level, I

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know this is something I'm streaming on television, but your

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brain and psyche actually thinks it's inside the trauma. This

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is why you're addicted and your adrenaline is pumping and

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your dopamine is off. And so that fuels the neuroinflammation

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even more and you thought you were just watching the

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news or a great show to unwind and forget your

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work day, but it's actually disrupting your busy brain even more.

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So powerful because so many people, as you say in

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your book, you know, we, we go to bed, you know,

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holding this phone to the last minute, we check it

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during the night when we go to get up, go

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to the bathroom, whatever. And we are just undoing everything

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about a good sleep. So just wanted to highlight a

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little bit more. Okay, the next thing I have to

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have you talk about, because I thought it was so intriguing.

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You've mentioned a bit about other research, but I really

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would love to hear you share a bit more about

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the research you did for Project Evo and those 21 days.

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And even just the way you approached the CEO, that

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you were like, I want to do this experiment where...

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the employees aren't going to touch their phone at night

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for whatever it was, two weeks, three weeks, whatever it was.

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Three weeks, yes. Three weeks, and you actually got that

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person to approve it. Yes. If you could say a

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bit about the research, there's four key areas in the

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research that I definitely want to share the before and

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after stats that came with that.

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This was done in late 2017, early 2018. We are

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recording this in 2026. At that time, There had been

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no research in the field outside of a sleep lab

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looking at what's happening with our digital devices when we

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go to bed. They had only happened in sleep labs.

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And by this time, I had been speaking on mindfulness

459
00:23:35.549 --> 00:23:38.019
and mental health in the workplace. And I realized, like,

460
00:23:38.190 --> 00:23:40.460
I'm not the only one with a busy brain. Let's

461
00:23:40.539 --> 00:23:44.490
put this to the test. And in Evolution Hospitality, where

462
00:23:44.529 --> 00:23:47.549
I was previously chief wellness officer, we manage hotels that

463
00:23:47.589 --> 00:23:50.849
are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week,

464
00:23:50.849 --> 00:23:55.180
365 days a year. So it was bold to say

465
00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:58.380
your top leaders, your general managers, directors of sales that

466
00:23:58.420 --> 00:24:02.140
have to be on all the time for operations, no

467
00:24:02.180 --> 00:24:05.220
phones before bedtime. We had a deal that if there

468
00:24:05.319 --> 00:24:07.799
is an emergency, like a fire in the building, an injury,

469
00:24:08.019 --> 00:24:10.529
you're going to get a phone call. And so we

470
00:24:10.690 --> 00:24:14.869
signed up over 500 executives and they became their own

471
00:24:15.750 --> 00:24:18.319
A-B test because half of them said, forget it.

472
00:24:18.589 --> 00:24:18.809
Dr.

473
00:24:18.910 --> 00:24:21.349
Romeo, I'm sorry, I can't do that. We were measuring

474
00:24:22.250 --> 00:24:25.230
whether they were doing digital detox and half did. And

475
00:24:25.299 --> 00:24:31.039
the results were profound in four key areas. They were

476
00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:35.420
sleeping better than had I prescribed Ambien or some sleeping pill,

477
00:24:35.940 --> 00:24:39.089
the people that did digital detox. But what surprised all

478
00:24:39.109 --> 00:24:41.599
of us was their energy the next day and their

479
00:24:41.630 --> 00:24:45.579
daytime energy. They were requiring less caffeine, less energy drinks,

480
00:24:46.200 --> 00:24:49.420
and felt like they were on purpose, you know, working

481
00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:53.339
on purpose. The other areas where we had a marked

482
00:24:53.759 --> 00:24:56.900
reduction in anxiety in the group that did digital detox,

483
00:24:57.309 --> 00:25:00.430
and they were falling asleep and staying asleep better. So

484
00:25:00.470 --> 00:25:03.170
those four key areas, and we did nothing. But by

485
00:25:03.210 --> 00:25:05.549
the way, we made this a fun wellness activity and

486
00:25:05.589 --> 00:25:09.519
a challenge and and celebrated everyone and the team that

487
00:25:09.579 --> 00:25:12.799
had the most people complete it and won prizes. And

488
00:25:12.839 --> 00:25:16.240
when all that was said and done, this became the

489
00:25:16.309 --> 00:25:20.890
most popular challenge that was requested by employees for six

490
00:25:20.990 --> 00:25:24.089
years after that. And they still do the 21-day digital detox.

491
00:25:24.549 --> 00:25:26.829
Then I started to go out to conferences and present

492
00:25:26.849 --> 00:25:30.559
this research. And it was contagious. They saw what a

493
00:25:30.579 --> 00:25:32.980
24-7 operation was doing. So all of a sudden, I

494
00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:36.380
had surgical teams saying, we're going to institute this digital

495
00:25:36.420 --> 00:25:40.359
detox and no pajama time for electronic health records, finance companies.

496
00:25:40.420 --> 00:25:44.559
So it became a movement before the book ever came out.

497
00:25:44.680 --> 00:25:48.779
And for that, I feel so grateful to the CEO

498
00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:52.240
of Evolution Hospitality, their head of HR, and all the

499
00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:54.539
500 plus people who said, okay, we're going to try

500
00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:58.000
this because now it seems like basic next level advice

501
00:25:58.059 --> 00:26:01.079
to say, no digital devices 30 minutes before we're done.

502
00:26:01.299 --> 00:26:03.980
But this is where that research actually came from. And

503
00:26:04.009 --> 00:26:05.069
I feel very proud of that.

504
00:26:05.349 --> 00:26:07.049
Well, I love it. And I love how you, I

505
00:26:07.089 --> 00:26:09.049
can see, I can feel your passion. I can feel

506
00:26:09.089 --> 00:26:11.690
your pride. It's wonderful. I want more people to do

507
00:26:11.829 --> 00:26:14.029
work that makes them feel like that, Dr. Remy. That's

508
00:26:14.069 --> 00:26:15.329
what I'm out to do in the world.

509
00:26:15.630 --> 00:26:18.099
I love that. And do you find it similar that

510
00:26:18.140 --> 00:26:20.500
sometimes we have to go through a pain to find that?

511
00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:24.059
Oh, 100%. That was my path for sure. 100%. And

512
00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:27.700
then there were a lot of other, you know, broken

513
00:26:27.720 --> 00:26:29.660
glass to crawl through along the way to continue that

514
00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:30.400
journey for sure.

515
00:26:30.519 --> 00:26:31.480
Amen.

516
00:26:31.640 --> 00:26:35.119
Okay, well, let's do this. Let's celebrate. I really love

517
00:26:35.259 --> 00:26:38.359
that you've got sort of a three-prong or a three-stage

518
00:26:38.440 --> 00:26:40.869
process that you take people through. And then we'll talk

519
00:26:40.900 --> 00:26:45.190
about those eight weeks. I think it's so compelling, even

520
00:26:45.470 --> 00:26:48.809
the triangle that you have that you adopted from Evolution Hospitality,

521
00:26:49.150 --> 00:26:50.789
if you could sort of set that up so that

522
00:26:50.849 --> 00:26:52.410
we can stand on that when we go through the

523
00:26:52.690 --> 00:26:53.089
eight weeks.

524
00:26:54.210 --> 00:26:58.539
Yeah, when we look at a whole person wellness program, right,

525
00:26:58.980 --> 00:27:02.839
most wellness programs, whether it's designed for you, the individual listening,

526
00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:06.700
or for your team, it comes from a bias. For instance, Dr. Elise,

527
00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:08.720
I love yoga, so I'm going to make everyone do

528
00:27:08.779 --> 00:27:12.579
yoga because I know the benefits. Instead, when you're looking at,

529
00:27:12.660 --> 00:27:14.680
we created what was a wellness triangle, looking at the

530
00:27:14.789 --> 00:27:18.509
key areas of wellness in a person, and the foundation

531
00:27:18.670 --> 00:27:22.309
was sleep. And after that, the second most important thing

532
00:27:22.509 --> 00:27:27.630
was working in your life's purpose. Then came their nutrition

533
00:27:27.759 --> 00:27:30.579
and healthier habits. And on the outside of the triangle,

534
00:27:30.940 --> 00:27:33.900
the most important thing was being in community with loved ones,

535
00:27:34.220 --> 00:27:37.599
meaning your workplace culture is a community where you feel

536
00:27:38.039 --> 00:27:41.640
cared for as well as your personal life. And that

537
00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:44.660
is also the model we took into my current work

538
00:27:44.700 --> 00:27:48.289
at Great Wolf Resorts with BPAC positive. It's a balanced brain,

539
00:27:48.609 --> 00:27:52.029
healthier habits, and social connections. And that's how we build

540
00:27:52.049 --> 00:27:56.650
the programs to scale, to mitigate chronic stress and burnout

541
00:27:56.670 --> 00:27:57.230
in the workplace.

542
00:27:58.299 --> 00:28:00.259
You make it sound so simple when you say it

543
00:28:00.299 --> 00:28:01.079
like that, right?

544
00:28:01.880 --> 00:28:06.039
Well, this is a quick interview for radio and podcast,

545
00:28:06.509 --> 00:28:09.589
but this is why, you know, these can take, it

546
00:28:09.670 --> 00:28:12.230
is when I go into an organization, both quantitative and

547
00:28:12.289 --> 00:28:15.769
qualitative assessment of the people and the culture that alone

548
00:28:15.809 --> 00:28:18.089
can take three to six months. And then putting the

549
00:28:18.150 --> 00:28:21.049
program together and branding it and testing it. And so

550
00:28:21.349 --> 00:28:24.420
that was a 12 to 18 month process at Great

551
00:28:24.460 --> 00:28:25.200
Wolf Resorts.

552
00:28:25.299 --> 00:28:27.269
Yeah. Yeah. That I wanted to make sure we got

553
00:28:27.289 --> 00:28:29.759
that across because it isn't just we decide this today

554
00:28:29.779 --> 00:28:31.619
and we're good tomorrow kind of thing. No, it isn't.

555
00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:33.920
We sent an email out and why is everybody not

556
00:28:33.940 --> 00:28:37.039
doing yoga? Like Dr. Romi said, why aren't they being positive?

557
00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:41.150
We're talking about actual change in culture. And, you know, Dr. Elise,

558
00:28:41.190 --> 00:28:43.009
you and I both know this and your listeners, but

559
00:28:43.650 --> 00:28:48.369
when you see an opportunity to shift your cultural organization

560
00:28:48.390 --> 00:28:51.490
and It is a commitment from the top that can

561
00:28:51.579 --> 00:28:55.079
take three to five years to actually see measurable impact.

562
00:28:55.140 --> 00:28:57.180
And we'll talk about it a little later. We were

563
00:28:57.200 --> 00:28:59.319
blessed to start seeing it in about 18 months at

564
00:28:59.339 --> 00:28:59.799
Great Wolf.

565
00:29:00.359 --> 00:29:04.099
Amazing. Amazing. Well, so we are going to take a

566
00:29:04.099 --> 00:29:06.660
break in about three minutes here. And I want to

567
00:29:06.740 --> 00:29:09.410
give you the opportunity as you see fit to take

568
00:29:09.470 --> 00:29:11.329
us through those eight weeks. And so I don't know

569
00:29:11.349 --> 00:29:13.369
if we have enough time to do it. We do. Okay.

570
00:29:13.549 --> 00:29:17.559
We absolutely do. you've read the book Atomic Habits, you

571
00:29:17.619 --> 00:29:19.960
know about micro habits, and then you still don't know

572
00:29:19.980 --> 00:29:22.900
where to start. Or you do the shoulda, woulda, couldas.

573
00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:27.000
I should be exercising more. I would save more money

574
00:29:27.160 --> 00:29:31.160
if my child's school tuition didn't do that. The shoulda, woulda,

575
00:29:31.180 --> 00:29:34.509
couldas haunt us. So step one is get your brain

576
00:29:34.549 --> 00:29:38.849
score and then understand what symptoms am I having right

577
00:29:38.869 --> 00:29:40.339
now from chronic stress and burnout?

578
00:29:40.460 --> 00:29:41.200
Is it the sleep?

579
00:29:41.299 --> 00:29:44.599
Is it chronic indigestion issues? Is it joint pain?

580
00:29:44.680 --> 00:29:45.480
Whatever that is.

581
00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:50.799
Step two is the seven-day sleep challenge. We've broken it

582
00:29:50.900 --> 00:29:52.160
out for you in the book. If you take the

583
00:29:52.180 --> 00:29:54.119
busy brain test, we email it to you for free.

584
00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:56.500
We send it to companies and teams to do the

585
00:29:56.539 --> 00:29:58.609
sleep challenge exactly how we used to do it at

586
00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:03.599
Evolution Hospitality. with additional supplement recommendations and how to use

587
00:30:03.640 --> 00:30:07.099
them to reset your circadian rhythm. Only after that do

588
00:30:07.140 --> 00:30:10.059
we go to step three, which is the digital detox.

589
00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:13.980
And we work on the three hour rule during the

590
00:30:14.019 --> 00:30:16.900
day and then three minutes, 30 minutes and three hours

591
00:30:16.980 --> 00:30:20.019
once a week. And then the digital detox 30 minutes

592
00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:24.369
before bedtime. Step four is now that we've started to

593
00:30:24.450 --> 00:30:29.109
restore their circadian rhythm, we need to calm the nervous

594
00:30:29.130 --> 00:30:32.069
system down And how many people would tell me, you know,

595
00:30:32.089 --> 00:30:34.230
I try to meditate and my brain won't stop. So

596
00:30:34.250 --> 00:30:37.809
we've introduced sound healing and the power of music. So

597
00:30:38.130 --> 00:30:41.450
those are the first four steps. Here's the best part.

598
00:30:41.650 --> 00:30:43.960
Did you notice that I didn't put anybody on a diet?

599
00:30:44.700 --> 00:30:46.700
Yes, and I love that about you. You said you

600
00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:49.799
still have comfort food. You said that in your book. Yes.

601
00:30:50.869 --> 00:30:53.980
I think the sixth love language that we don't talk

602
00:30:54.019 --> 00:30:57.740
about is comfort food. Comfort food is not stress eating.

603
00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:02.000
When I'm having a bad day, I couldn't you finish

604
00:31:02.160 --> 00:31:05.119
three slices of bread with butter, a bag of potato chips,

605
00:31:05.190 --> 00:31:08.009
and that's just getting started. Whatever your stress eating pattern

606
00:31:08.069 --> 00:31:12.240
is or stress drinking, right? Comfort food is, is a

607
00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:15.200
meal that gives you joy. It may be tied to

608
00:31:15.220 --> 00:31:19.549
a memory of where you've traveled, your favorite holiday, your country,

609
00:31:19.569 --> 00:31:23.390
your state of origin, and sharing it with somebody else.

610
00:31:24.349 --> 00:31:26.869
And here's a fun story. The year my book came out,

611
00:31:26.930 --> 00:31:29.490
I turned 50. I also keep saying I'm still 50, Dr.

612
00:31:29.490 --> 00:31:30.630
Elise. So thank you for.

613
00:31:31.430 --> 00:31:34.369
Living in that busy brain delusion with me. And I

614
00:31:34.789 --> 00:31:38.849
had 50 meals around the world with loved ones that year.

615
00:31:40.130 --> 00:31:44.130
And I didn't gain weight. Because it was really intentional.

616
00:31:44.250 --> 00:31:47.009
And I was following steps five and six, which is

617
00:31:47.430 --> 00:31:50.130
any other time, if you're going to eat a food

618
00:31:50.190 --> 00:31:53.700
that spikes your blood sugar, white potato, white bread, white flour,

619
00:31:53.740 --> 00:31:56.819
white rice, white sugar, then no caffeine. And if you

620
00:31:56.839 --> 00:31:59.700
have caffeine, then nothing to spike your blood sugar one

621
00:31:59.740 --> 00:32:02.740
hour before or after. And then you had healthy fats

622
00:32:02.779 --> 00:32:05.509
to every meal. Now I'm a chief wellness officer and

623
00:32:05.529 --> 00:32:07.410
I'll end on this note. And we want everyone to

624
00:32:07.430 --> 00:32:10.109
feel welcome at your lunch table or dinner table at work.

625
00:32:10.809 --> 00:32:14.190
And whether you're vegan or paleo or you just grab

626
00:32:14.230 --> 00:32:16.700
some food in the refrigerator and put it in Tupperware,

627
00:32:16.740 --> 00:32:18.359
praying to God it didn't have mold on it that

628
00:32:18.380 --> 00:32:21.420
you'll have something to eat for lunch, everyone should feel welcomed.

629
00:32:21.559 --> 00:32:24.880
And we can't put people on restrictive diets. That's actually

630
00:32:24.980 --> 00:32:26.420
making the busy brain even worse.

631
00:32:27.880 --> 00:32:30.200
You covered that beautifully. Thank you for that. That was

632
00:32:30.220 --> 00:32:33.069
just gorgeous. It feels also very accessible, I think. It

633
00:32:33.190 --> 00:32:34.990
does to me and I hope for our listeners and viewers.

634
00:32:35.250 --> 00:32:36.730
So let them chew on that as we take our

635
00:32:36.769 --> 00:32:39.700
last break. I'm your host, Dr. Elise Cortez. We're on

636
00:32:39.720 --> 00:32:42.809
the air with Dr. Romi Mushtaq. She speaks and consults

637
00:32:42.849 --> 00:32:46.309
with Fortune 500 leaders, professional athletes, and global associations on

638
00:32:46.349 --> 00:32:50.289
helping leaders build future-ready teams and move from pressure to performance.

639
00:32:50.430 --> 00:32:53.170
We've been talking through how to create this healthy brain.

640
00:32:53.849 --> 00:32:55.470
After the break, we're going to talk about the work

641
00:32:55.490 --> 00:32:59.400
that she does inside organizational cultures to create that culture

642
00:32:59.420 --> 00:33:09.359
of wellness. We'll be right back. Thank you.

643
00:33:16.200 --> 00:33:19.740
Dr. Elise Cortez is a management consultant specializing in meaning

644
00:33:19.819 --> 00:33:23.589
and purpose, an inspirational speaker and author. She helps companies

645
00:33:23.660 --> 00:33:28.009
visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose-inspired leadership

646
00:33:28.109 --> 00:33:32.390
and meaning-infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and commitment within

647
00:33:32.410 --> 00:33:35.289
the workforce. To learn more or to invite Elise to

648
00:33:35.349 --> 00:33:39.880
speak to your organization, please visit her at EliseCortez.com. Let's

649
00:33:39.940 --> 00:33:42.799
talk about how to get your employees working on purpose.

650
00:33:48.440 --> 00:33:51.700
This is Working on Purpose with Dr. Elise Cortez. To

651
00:33:51.740 --> 00:33:54.769
reach our program today or to open a conversation with Elise,

652
00:33:55.009 --> 00:34:01.349
send an email to Elise, A-L-I-S-E, at EliseCortez.com. Now, back

653
00:34:01.410 --> 00:34:02.750
to Working on Purpose.

654
00:34:08.309 --> 00:34:09.869
Thanks for staying with us and welcome back to Working

655
00:34:09.929 --> 00:34:12.389
on Purpose. I am your host, Dr. Elise Cortez. As

656
00:34:12.429 --> 00:34:14.719
you know by now, this program is dedicated to empowering

657
00:34:14.800 --> 00:34:17.179
and inspiring you along your journey to realize more of

658
00:34:17.219 --> 00:34:19.849
your potential. If you'd like to learn more about our

659
00:34:19.889 --> 00:34:23.070
gusto leadership spectrum, you can go to LinkedIn, find me,

660
00:34:23.130 --> 00:34:25.829
Elise Cortez, and then scroll to the featured section. You

661
00:34:25.869 --> 00:34:27.840
can find the free assessment there. You will be able

662
00:34:27.880 --> 00:34:30.059
to learn a lot about yourself and the spectrum of

663
00:34:30.099 --> 00:34:34.440
potential awaiting for your ongoing development. It's pretty revealing. If

664
00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:37.480
you haven't, if you are just joining us now, my

665
00:34:37.519 --> 00:34:39.769
guest is Dr. Romi Mushtaq. She's the author of The

666
00:34:39.809 --> 00:34:43.469
Busy Brain Cure, The Eight-Week Plan to Find Focus, Tame Anxiety.

667
00:34:43.550 --> 00:34:44.130
And Sleep Again.

668
00:34:45.230 --> 00:34:47.550
So in this last section, this last segment here, Dr. Rumi,

669
00:34:47.570 --> 00:34:50.550
let's dedicate it to your work that you're doing to

670
00:34:50.690 --> 00:34:54.789
help organizations elevate themselves to our cultures of wellness. Where

671
00:34:54.829 --> 00:34:58.429
does it start? What's the possibility? What's the promise? Yeah.

672
00:34:59.199 --> 00:35:00.889
We call it the culture shift program.

673
00:35:01.110 --> 00:35:03.880
And it's literally how are you protecting your brain and

674
00:35:03.940 --> 00:35:07.780
your team in the future, right? Which we are living

675
00:35:07.820 --> 00:35:10.739
in now. Rapid change, the fears of AI, and the

676
00:35:10.780 --> 00:35:16.639
fears of unknown. We can't have the external environment affect

677
00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:20.159
our moods as leaders personally, and we can't let it

678
00:35:20.619 --> 00:35:23.320
become a pressure cooker for our teams. You and I

679
00:35:23.380 --> 00:35:26.480
both thrive in this area. So one of the key

680
00:35:26.519 --> 00:35:31.280
messages I have is, unfortunately for most companies, wellness is

681
00:35:31.429 --> 00:35:36.349
a perk that lives within the human resources department. or

682
00:35:36.690 --> 00:35:40.349
celebrating the culture is something that's done after we've taken

683
00:35:40.389 --> 00:35:42.110
care of a business. If there's a budget and time

684
00:35:42.150 --> 00:35:44.650
left over, we're going to throw a pizza party or

685
00:35:45.190 --> 00:35:47.829
go to a bar or do something like that. And

686
00:35:47.869 --> 00:35:50.829
my message in culture shift is, is that one of

687
00:35:50.889 --> 00:35:55.449
your key pillars of a strong culture that is future

688
00:35:55.570 --> 00:35:59.059
ready is wellness. And so we break it down into

689
00:35:59.099 --> 00:36:02.599
three pillars, protect your brain, protect your team and protect

690
00:36:02.619 --> 00:36:07.480
your business. Most CEOs, CFOs and Business owners are surprised.

691
00:36:07.579 --> 00:36:10.260
Notice that I didn't say the priority is the client,

692
00:36:10.780 --> 00:36:15.280
the service you're providing. We know from organizational wellness and

693
00:36:15.300 --> 00:36:18.480
psychology data, and you can speak to this so well,

694
00:36:19.119 --> 00:36:22.900
is that if you as a leader are not healthy,

695
00:36:23.800 --> 00:36:26.300
you're now creating a toxic workplace.

696
00:36:26.699 --> 00:36:29.300
Even if you're covering up your.

697
00:36:29.159 --> 00:36:31.849
Own health and that. If you have a high busy

698
00:36:31.889 --> 00:36:35.380
brain test score, I know that. from the data that

699
00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:38.460
when I come in to measure your culture and people

700
00:36:38.739 --> 00:36:42.880
by looking at markers of trust and empathy, they're already struggling.

701
00:36:43.559 --> 00:36:46.989
And then that's affecting the third pillar, your business operations.

702
00:36:47.829 --> 00:36:50.949
Why was this born? Because I'm a doctor and I

703
00:36:51.110 --> 00:36:54.090
burned out practicing clinical medicine. And when I go back

704
00:36:54.150 --> 00:36:55.889
into healthcare, and by the way, this is true in

705
00:36:55.929 --> 00:36:59.219
every industry, they say, Dr. Romi, don't tell me about

706
00:36:59.280 --> 00:37:02.500
healing my burnout. You need to fix the electronic health

707
00:37:02.579 --> 00:37:04.280
record system. And you know what?

708
00:37:04.300 --> 00:37:05.360
They're absolutely right.

709
00:37:06.239 --> 00:37:09.110
Nurses and doctors are spending hours every day in front

710
00:37:09.130 --> 00:37:13.409
of a computer. And if you don't heal your burnout

711
00:37:13.570 --> 00:37:15.849
and work on your culture, the empathy and the trust

712
00:37:15.889 --> 00:37:19.210
within the teams, we could fix that electronic health record

713
00:37:19.590 --> 00:37:22.289
and it's not going to fix the burnout. So fixing

714
00:37:22.369 --> 00:37:25.949
operations is about protecting your business, but it starts with

715
00:37:26.010 --> 00:37:28.409
your brain. And that's exactly the first two segments.

716
00:37:28.699 --> 00:37:29.360
We talked about that.

717
00:37:30.099 --> 00:37:33.159
Know your brain score. There is an eight-week plan. The

718
00:37:33.239 --> 00:37:34.980
only thing I will add to that that we didn't

719
00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:37.179
get to before the break, if you don't mind, Dr. Elise,

720
00:37:37.260 --> 00:37:41.820
is people listening must know that there are integrated functional

721
00:37:41.860 --> 00:37:43.539
medicine doctors like me, and you think you have to

722
00:37:43.579 --> 00:37:45.949
go to someone fancy and spend tens and thousands of dollars.

723
00:37:46.610 --> 00:37:48.750
That's not how I roll. When I was in an

724
00:37:48.809 --> 00:37:51.409
integrative medicine practice, it really bothered me that only the

725
00:37:51.449 --> 00:37:54.369
top 1% of the 1% could afford this kind of care.

726
00:37:54.989 --> 00:37:58.090
I thought, how do I democratize this? And inside the

727
00:37:58.130 --> 00:38:01.179
book is a lab slip, week seven, that helps you

728
00:38:01.199 --> 00:38:03.590
to figure out where are your imbalances happening from the

729
00:38:03.639 --> 00:38:06.539
neuroinflammation and what can we do to fix it? Certain

730
00:38:06.579 --> 00:38:09.480
labs for men and women that get checked. And that's

731
00:38:09.519 --> 00:38:12.500
how you protect your brain. When you're functioning as a

732
00:38:12.579 --> 00:38:16.099
leader and you no longer have a busy brain and

733
00:38:16.139 --> 00:38:19.000
you're what I call a hope holder, then all of

734
00:38:19.039 --> 00:38:24.630
a sudden those tasks of delegating the right duties, having productivity,

735
00:38:25.030 --> 00:38:27.849
you know, not being reactive, not feeling like you're spending

736
00:38:27.889 --> 00:38:31.300
the entire day putting out fires in your business, that's

737
00:38:31.409 --> 00:38:33.719
what gets better for you as a leader. So number one,

738
00:38:33.760 --> 00:38:38.190
protect your brain. Number two, protect your people. This isn't

739
00:38:38.250 --> 00:38:41.630
about yoga or Peloton, but this is actually, we have

740
00:38:41.690 --> 00:38:45.489
found when we look, the number one driver of feeling

741
00:38:45.530 --> 00:38:48.559
people are working on purpose in a healthy culture is

742
00:38:48.619 --> 00:38:52.320
that they feel cared for and the empathy. And so

743
00:38:52.400 --> 00:38:55.880
that is what we instituted at Great Wolf Resorts. People

744
00:38:55.940 --> 00:38:57.480
are hearing, oh, it must be nice to be a

745
00:38:57.500 --> 00:39:00.579
big company and have a big budget. We're like every

746
00:39:00.619 --> 00:39:05.010
other organization and being mindful of budget. My budget is

747
00:39:05.070 --> 00:39:08.070
the opposite of limitless budget. And what did we do?

748
00:39:08.349 --> 00:39:11.610
We went to the positive psychology and neuroscience data and

749
00:39:11.730 --> 00:39:17.119
developed an empathy framework to train our supervisors, managers, and

750
00:39:17.159 --> 00:39:20.619
directors on and directly implemented it. And then we measured

751
00:39:20.679 --> 00:39:25.349
it in our engagement survey data. So we could see

752
00:39:25.429 --> 00:39:29.929
exactly the lodges, the water parks where we had put

753
00:39:30.090 --> 00:39:32.199
this in place and where it hadn't. There was a

754
00:39:32.469 --> 00:39:36.480
big discrepancy in engagement. So we knew from the data.

755
00:39:36.679 --> 00:39:39.579
And the second step was teaching teams how to build

756
00:39:39.719 --> 00:39:43.159
trust again. And This is the number one mistake I

757
00:39:43.199 --> 00:39:46.750
think so many leaders make. I loathe the term soft skills.

758
00:39:46.809 --> 00:39:49.269
They think you and I are just talking about soft skills,

759
00:39:49.590 --> 00:39:52.670
where women, so psychologically, they dismiss it even more. These

760
00:39:52.730 --> 00:39:56.449
are key leadership skills that are a measure of the

761
00:39:56.510 --> 00:40:00.769
health of your business. Do your employees trust you? Do

762
00:40:00.809 --> 00:40:03.909
they trust your ability? Do they trust your word, your benevolence?

763
00:40:03.949 --> 00:40:07.019
And do they trust your values, your integrity, A, B, I?

764
00:40:07.530 --> 00:40:09.750
And so we measure that. That's the second pillar. And

765
00:40:09.769 --> 00:40:12.949
then the third is protect your business. And that isn't

766
00:40:13.289 --> 00:40:18.090
protect your clients. It's actually protecting the systems in your business,

767
00:40:18.159 --> 00:40:22.440
the operational roles. So as I was out in our

768
00:40:22.440 --> 00:40:26.360
23 lodges and two corporate offices, empathetic listening, I would

769
00:40:26.420 --> 00:40:30.570
hear all sorts of operational ideas and challenges going on.

770
00:40:30.639 --> 00:40:32.449
And it was my job as a chief wellness officer

771
00:40:32.489 --> 00:40:34.750
to sit down with our HR and operations team and say,

772
00:40:35.230 --> 00:40:37.909
here are some themes. What can we do to fix it?

773
00:40:38.070 --> 00:40:40.690
And that was exactly what we tackled. And one was

774
00:40:40.789 --> 00:40:45.980
changing the type of foam masks that were behind the

775
00:40:46.019 --> 00:40:48.539
front desk where our guest service agents are standing and

776
00:40:48.579 --> 00:40:52.159
checking in hotel guests. That is an example of protecting

777
00:40:52.199 --> 00:40:54.539
your business, taking care of the people. And that was

778
00:40:54.579 --> 00:40:58.190
an operational issue. Your technology upgrades have can either be

779
00:40:58.230 --> 00:41:00.170
protecting your business or it can be a headache to

780
00:41:00.210 --> 00:41:01.550
your business. It depends, right?

781
00:41:01.630 --> 00:41:02.869
But those are the.

782
00:41:02.849 --> 00:41:06.070
Three framework that now when I go and give a

783
00:41:06.400 --> 00:41:11.539
culture and leadership talk, we discuss those and we've missed

784
00:41:11.559 --> 00:41:15.000
the boat and we can't. AI is changing the way

785
00:41:15.039 --> 00:41:17.550
we do business and is changing the way our brain functions.

786
00:41:17.989 --> 00:41:19.909
We have got to take care of our people.

787
00:41:20.409 --> 00:41:24.250
Mm-hmm. I really appreciate and align with so much of that.

788
00:41:24.329 --> 00:41:27.769
And it's interesting. There's an organization that I'm also connected

789
00:41:27.809 --> 00:41:29.610
with and associated with and do some work with called

790
00:41:29.650 --> 00:41:31.030
Compassion 2.0.

791
00:41:31.030 --> 00:41:31.269
Yes.

792
00:41:31.469 --> 00:41:35.059
And do you know them? I do. They're amazing work.

793
00:41:35.199 --> 00:41:39.119
So this idea of teaching managers, you know, care and compassion.

794
00:41:39.400 --> 00:41:40.880
We also talk in the work that we do for

795
00:41:40.940 --> 00:41:44.590
our culture building on helping to teach managers. We do

796
00:41:44.650 --> 00:41:47.449
it's managing through meaning. but helping them to teach people

797
00:41:47.489 --> 00:41:49.639
how they matter. So how does their team actually matter?

798
00:41:49.699 --> 00:41:51.460
How do they feel that they are valued and how

799
00:41:51.480 --> 00:41:54.679
do they add value? And so I really appreciate what

800
00:41:54.699 --> 00:41:55.719
you're doing. Yes. Right.

801
00:41:57.050 --> 00:42:00.530
It is exactly what we do when we're building trust

802
00:42:00.869 --> 00:42:04.210
and we call it the circle of trust. Everyone would

803
00:42:04.269 --> 00:42:06.360
laugh at Dr. Antti when I went around and I

804
00:42:06.429 --> 00:42:09.920
realized there is that meet the parents movie and circle

805
00:42:09.940 --> 00:42:12.400
of trust has gone viral. This is very different. And

806
00:42:12.780 --> 00:42:17.000
this is actually training employees and leaders to put someone

807
00:42:17.039 --> 00:42:19.639
in the center of circle. And to your point, share

808
00:42:19.739 --> 00:42:23.849
with them with the right words of empathy. why you

809
00:42:23.929 --> 00:42:26.869
as a human are important to me, why you're important

810
00:42:26.909 --> 00:42:30.679
to this team, outside of the titles and the accolades

811
00:42:30.739 --> 00:42:33.639
that we collect. It isn't about your title and your

812
00:42:33.699 --> 00:42:38.039
promotion or your sales numbers or your medical degrees or

813
00:42:38.099 --> 00:42:42.389
the designer labels on your body. And that was exactly

814
00:42:42.429 --> 00:42:44.650
why I share that in my Busy Brain Cure book.

815
00:42:44.710 --> 00:42:48.989
It's shifting from the armor of titles and accolades to

816
00:42:49.110 --> 00:42:52.360
actually understanding How can I be of service to others?

817
00:42:53.760 --> 00:42:57.559
You know, I'll say this speaks to belonging and connection

818
00:42:57.599 --> 00:43:00.719
really quick. You may know that I live in Dallas. Yes. And,

819
00:43:01.230 --> 00:43:05.469
you know, what's an icon of Dallas Southwest Airlines? And

820
00:43:05.530 --> 00:43:09.130
so I had that years ago. Gosh, it would have

821
00:43:09.150 --> 00:43:11.010
been well over 10 years, maybe 12 years ago. I

822
00:43:11.190 --> 00:43:13.920
was taking an early morning flight from Dallas to Houston

823
00:43:14.360 --> 00:43:16.159
and I was late and I was the last one

824
00:43:16.199 --> 00:43:17.920
on the plane and I was scrambling to get there.

825
00:43:18.599 --> 00:43:20.280
And I'm on the jet bridge, and then there's all

826
00:43:20.320 --> 00:43:24.219
this hubbub going on behind me. I'm like, what's happening

827
00:43:24.280 --> 00:43:29.059
behind me? Well, Herb Killeher, the CEO of Southwest Airlines,

828
00:43:29.139 --> 00:43:32.360
is getting on the plane too. So we all sit down,

829
00:43:32.449 --> 00:43:33.469
and then, of course, as soon as we're up in

830
00:43:33.489 --> 00:43:35.929
the air, he's up and he's handing out peanuts to everybody.

831
00:43:35.969 --> 00:43:39.670
He's of service. He's not above anything. He's just of service.

832
00:43:40.409 --> 00:43:43.449
And then we get into Houston. We get off the plane.

833
00:43:43.750 --> 00:43:46.409
We're now walking through the airport, and I'm right behind

834
00:43:46.449 --> 00:43:49.139
him again. And I am not kidding you, Dr. Romi.

835
00:43:49.679 --> 00:43:54.139
There was like this prong of people that came running

836
00:43:54.219 --> 00:43:56.179
to him as we were going through the airport and

837
00:43:56.219 --> 00:43:58.679
giving him hugs and kisses. Everybody was connected. They knew

838
00:43:58.699 --> 00:44:01.500
who he was. And there was that beautiful connection and

839
00:44:01.599 --> 00:44:05.099
sense of belonging. And therefore, you know, that sense of

840
00:44:05.880 --> 00:44:08.829
trust that came with that. And it was so beautiful

841
00:44:08.889 --> 00:44:09.679
to witness that.

842
00:44:10.030 --> 00:44:11.889
So these were other Southwest employees?

843
00:44:12.239 --> 00:44:14.539
They were both. They were everybody, not just Southwest employees.

844
00:44:14.559 --> 00:44:18.659
They were passengers. They were employees. They were workers.

845
00:44:18.840 --> 00:44:21.099
Doesn't that speak to the three pillars of protect your

846
00:44:21.119 --> 00:44:25.380
brand and protect your team and protect your business? What

847
00:44:25.440 --> 00:44:28.219
happens to most people when corporate is coming in the building?

848
00:44:28.519 --> 00:44:32.679
You make sure everything is clean, that everybody is saying, yes, ma'am, yes, sir, that,

849
00:44:33.030 --> 00:44:36.889
you know, everything is operationally perfect. And we create this

850
00:44:37.190 --> 00:44:40.619
pressure on our teams rather than what I model through. And,

851
00:44:41.269 --> 00:44:43.530
you know, what all of our leaders of regional HR

852
00:44:43.570 --> 00:44:46.780
and operations leaders do is we're walking back of house,

853
00:44:47.179 --> 00:44:50.940
talking to our employees are known as PAC members and

854
00:44:51.420 --> 00:44:54.550
conversing with them and catching up on their family and

855
00:44:54.650 --> 00:44:59.940
practicing that empathetic listening. And that is an embodiment of that. And,

856
00:45:00.739 --> 00:45:03.539
you know, rest in peace to that Southwest culture and

857
00:45:03.559 --> 00:45:06.960
may they continue to thrive. But that's a key example

858
00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:11.590
of an organization that is changing. They had a model

859
00:45:12.030 --> 00:45:13.670
and now they're trying to find their way again of

860
00:45:13.730 --> 00:45:15.949
how do you protect your brain? How do you protect

861
00:45:15.989 --> 00:45:18.070
your team? And how do you protect your business? And

862
00:45:18.550 --> 00:45:20.849
it's not been an easy journey. And I'm not putting

863
00:45:20.889 --> 00:45:23.510
Southwest Airlines down because any organization where I go to

864
00:45:23.550 --> 00:45:28.369
speak or consult, they are facing that same struggle, but

865
00:45:28.449 --> 00:45:31.880
not as maybe publicly as Southwest Airlines did, getting, you know,

866
00:45:32.880 --> 00:45:35.400
all of its, you know, all the tea being spilled

867
00:45:35.460 --> 00:45:39.039
by the employees and loyal passengers on social media.

868
00:45:39.440 --> 00:45:43.179
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, so you and I know that,

869
00:45:43.219 --> 00:45:44.960
you know, because this is a work that we do,

870
00:45:45.019 --> 00:45:47.599
but it may not, how, for listeners and viewers that

871
00:45:47.679 --> 00:45:50.210
are not so steeped in this, What are some of

872
00:45:50.289 --> 00:45:53.309
the signals or symptoms that would indicate that they need

873
00:45:53.349 --> 00:45:54.210
some help with this?

874
00:45:55.949 --> 00:45:58.610
I think if you've waited for your engagement data survey

875
00:45:58.699 --> 00:46:00.940
or some survey and the employees are saying you're burned

876
00:46:01.059 --> 00:46:04.119
out and you're trying to give another resilience training, you're

877
00:46:04.139 --> 00:46:07.460
already there. I mean, it is, right? There are earlier

878
00:46:07.579 --> 00:46:13.179
signals than that. It's when your star performers start checking

879
00:46:13.380 --> 00:46:17.059
out your high-achieving professionals, that theme that I'm going back

880
00:46:17.139 --> 00:46:21.530
to again. And the number one instinct leaders and HR

881
00:46:21.570 --> 00:46:24.789
people have is, oh, that high achieving leader, they just

882
00:46:24.849 --> 00:46:28.269
must have something going on personally. And depending on how

883
00:46:28.309 --> 00:46:30.369
your culture is, they're given grace or they're not based

884
00:46:30.429 --> 00:46:34.550
on past performance and trust. That is your first signal

885
00:46:35.449 --> 00:46:37.760
that one of the three pillars is in balance. Protect

886
00:46:37.780 --> 00:46:41.840
your brain, protect your team, and protect your business. Then

887
00:46:41.880 --> 00:46:45.809
there's the quantitative data that goes on behind this. When

888
00:46:45.849 --> 00:46:48.840
we go into an organization, it's a fun keynote or workshop.

889
00:46:48.880 --> 00:46:51.800
Everybody gets a brain score. In the background, I've now

890
00:46:51.840 --> 00:46:56.039
got aggregate data about the cognitive mental health and physical

891
00:46:56.119 --> 00:46:59.980
health and how your employees feel about their life purpose,

892
00:47:00.019 --> 00:47:03.550
their meaning. And we look at that aggregate data and

893
00:47:03.610 --> 00:47:06.530
then shape where is the culture. Then on top of it,

894
00:47:06.630 --> 00:47:11.309
through roundtables and your ongoing engagement data, we look to see,

895
00:47:11.409 --> 00:47:14.699
are you measuring things such as engagement and trust? And

896
00:47:14.739 --> 00:47:19.190
it's eroding. So if your engagement data is showing disengaged employees,

897
00:47:19.849 --> 00:47:24.030
employees talking about, gosh, there's favoritism at work, or it's

898
00:47:24.130 --> 00:47:26.889
really hard as a new person to be in with

899
00:47:26.929 --> 00:47:30.909
the in crowd, we start shaming the employee or thinking

900
00:47:30.929 --> 00:47:34.190
that it's an isolated incident in one department. But that's

901
00:47:34.409 --> 00:47:37.309
really a signal that one of those three pillars is

902
00:47:37.369 --> 00:47:38.610
imbalanced in your culture.

903
00:47:40.739 --> 00:47:43.510
Well, we've managed to do this so quickly. We're at

904
00:47:43.530 --> 00:47:47.550
the end of the show already here, Dr. Romi. What

905
00:47:47.590 --> 00:47:49.139
would you like to leave our listeners with today?

906
00:47:50.570 --> 00:47:53.940
That of everything we talked about, if you're struggling to

907
00:47:53.980 --> 00:47:57.500
get by at work and you're like, must be nice, Dr. Romi,

908
00:47:58.320 --> 00:48:01.059
I'm doing this for a paycheck. I just want to

909
00:48:01.079 --> 00:48:03.639
give you the message that I wish somebody had told me.

910
00:48:04.199 --> 00:48:06.969
I see you, I hear you, and you're not alone.

911
00:48:07.349 --> 00:48:08.030
I believe in you.

912
00:48:08.969 --> 00:48:11.909
You can take our hands and Go take the busy

913
00:48:11.929 --> 00:48:14.670
brain test for free. The protocol is emailed to you.

914
00:48:15.269 --> 00:48:19.309
And start by protecting your own brain. Everything else will follow.

915
00:48:20.449 --> 00:48:22.320
Dr. Romi, it is a delight to know you, to

916
00:48:22.360 --> 00:48:24.500
have read your full book, to be educated by you,

917
00:48:24.519 --> 00:48:26.119
to be inspired by you, and now share with my

918
00:48:26.159 --> 00:48:28.159
listeners around the world. Thank you so much for coming

919
00:48:28.219 --> 00:48:29.099
on Working on Purpose.

920
00:48:29.480 --> 00:48:30.940
It's an honor to be of service, Elise.

921
00:48:30.980 --> 00:48:31.199
Dr.

922
00:48:31.219 --> 00:48:31.880
Elise, thank you.

923
00:48:32.039 --> 00:48:34.699
Thank you. Listeners and viewers, you are going to want

924
00:48:34.719 --> 00:48:36.969
to learn more about Dr. Romi Mushtaq and the work

925
00:48:36.989 --> 00:48:40.099
she does to transform workplace cultures and leadership with brain

926
00:48:40.119 --> 00:48:43.460
science-based solutions, her book, The Busy Brain Cure. You can

927
00:48:43.480 --> 00:48:49.260
start by going to her website, drromie.com. That's D-R-R-O-M-I-E, drromie.com.

928
00:48:49.570 --> 00:48:51.489
That's also where you will find the assessment that she's

929
00:48:51.530 --> 00:48:54.469
been talking about. So go there. Last week, if you

930
00:48:54.489 --> 00:48:56.869
missed the live show, you can always catch a re-recorded podcast.

931
00:48:57.389 --> 00:48:59.929
We were on air with Brad Johnson and David Smith

932
00:48:59.989 --> 00:49:02.599
talking about their book, Fair Share, How Men and Women

933
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Can Create a More Equitable Workplace Together. They shared that

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73% of the workforce were caregivers in some way, whether

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00:49:09.429 --> 00:49:12.309
for children, aging parents, loved ones who need more physical

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or mental care. So consider how few organizations are operating

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00:49:15.630 --> 00:49:18.710
in a way that accommodates those needs outside the workplace.

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We also talked about how more men are wanting to

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assume greater caregiving roles and have supportive partnerships at home

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00:49:25.699 --> 00:49:28.239
and how much the workplace cultures must evolve to meet

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those demands and those needs. Next week, we'll be on

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the air with Stacey Winsett. She's a chief people officer

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00:49:34.030 --> 00:49:37.369
here in Dallas talking about her book called Ashes to Influence,

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00:49:37.510 --> 00:49:40.440
Leadership Forged Through Fire and Faith, We'll be talking about

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00:49:40.480 --> 00:49:42.860
the incredible story of how she navigated her own life

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00:49:42.920 --> 00:49:45.619
and career and the leadership lessons she's learned as a result.

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It's a very, very compelling story and set of lessons.

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00:49:48.889 --> 00:49:51.329
See you then. Let's continue learning how to help more

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00:49:51.369 --> 00:49:54.130
people flourish, elevate your operating system as a leader, and

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00:49:54.170 --> 00:49:57.869
create destination workplaces where legendary business takes place. Let's work

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00:49:57.929 --> 00:49:58.309
on purpose.

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See you there. Let's work on purpose.