Customers Choose Trust and Employees Own Their Engagement

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortes. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five. It's working

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on Purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortes. Welcome back to

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the Working on Purpose Show. Thanks
for tuning in again this week. I'm

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your host, Elise Cortes, Joininguli
from Dallas, Texas, which is home

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base for me. If you've been
tuning in for a while, you know

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this program is all about helping people
create more meaningful and purposeful lives and equipping

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leaders inside organizations to cultivate meaning and
purpose that elicits passion inspired contribution, innovation,

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and persevering performance. I talk with
my guests to draw on their expertise

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and share my own experience consulting,
speaking and developing workforces across the globe.

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Each week. In these conversations,
I hope you walk away with something you

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can immediately use in your life or
work. And if I can do anything

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to help you along your journey.
Go to my website at a Leasecoortes dot

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com and use the contact meet future
to message me. Let's open a conversation

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and explore what's going on for you
and how I might be able to help

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you. Whether you want to learn
more about how to develop purpose inspired leadership

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and meaning infuse culture in your organization, you want to see about joining a

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cash fire online inspiration accountability, or
master my community to nurture your own passion

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and purpose, or you'd like me
to speak for your company or conference at

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the rate. I'm glad we're connected, and thanks for listening. Now onto

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this week's program with us today is
Meredith Elliott Powell, who was voted one

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of the top fifteen business growth experts
to Watch, top forty one motivational speakers,

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and top fifty sales speakers. She
shares the business growth strategies you need

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to turn uncertainty to competitive advantage.
She is the author of six books,

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including her latest own it Redefine Responsibility, which uncovers what it takes to grow

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a business in a constantly shifting marketplace. Today, we'll be talking about the

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state of today's world and what it
takes to do business in it some old

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and new approaches to employee engagement and
the new frontier for individual employees to redefine

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personal responsibility to own their own path
to success. Meredith, being the dynamic

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woman that she is, is actually
on the road and joining us from deep

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Detroit Airport, so hanging with us
as you might hear some sounds coming from

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the air airport. But Meredith,
thank you so much for making this radio

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program happen, and welcome to working
on purpose. Well, thank you,

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and luckily for me, Detroit is
about my favorite airport. Bye Hendy had

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stuck somewhere. This was a good
one to be in. Absolutely, and

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you are such a dynamic professional and
individual you can swing anything. So we're

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just glad to have you. So
thanks. So I picked you up,

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or we picked each other up,
shall we say, at one of the

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conferences that we were speaking at,
and when we first started talking about you

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coming on the radio, I remember
distinctly in that opening conversation that we talked

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about how we both really wanted to
address that. August nineteenth, twenty nineteen,

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knew imperative that the Business Roundtable set
up by redefining the purpose of a

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corporation which has become quite a bit
controversial, and it was in the statement

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called the Business Roundtable redefines the purpose
of a corporation to promote an economy that

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serves all Americans. What was important
about that, listeners, if you don't

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know about that, is that the
statement really took it took the focus away

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from shareholder primacy to include commitment to
all stakeholders. And so it was signed

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by one hundred and eighty one CEOs
who commit to lead their companies for the

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benefit of all stakeholders, including customers, employees, suppliers, communities, and

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shareholders. And so there is so
much going on in the world today in

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terms of business. So let's just
kick off Meredith with what is your perspective

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on that new statement. Well,
you know, I think it's interesting that

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he says, you know, there
was so much controversy around it, because

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I remember it and then reading about
it. I actually saw it on the

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news first and then went online to
read a little bit more about it,

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and as I went out and I
talked to people about it, there was

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this combination of Oh, it's great, it's about time, that's really what

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corporate should you know, CEOs should
be about combined with wow, did they

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really do that as a business move? Or is that really you know,

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do they really mean what they say? Let's see how many live up to

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it. And I kind of wrap
all that together and ask does it really

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matter? I mean, it's it's
a great step and if it's altruistic,

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wonderful. If it isn't, well, it's still a move that says that

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corporations get that. If they don't
give back to their communities, if they

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don't give back to their people,
if they don't work on a bigger purpose,

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are they really going to be a
sustainable industry? Mm hmm. I

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love that. And from my vantage
point, Meredith, my first thought was,

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you know, I look at capital
as at being such a great force

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in the world, and I really
think we can do so much better than

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just simply serving only the shareholders.
So to me, I thought, yes,

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we can do more. We can
do much more than this, and

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so I saw it as unleashing more
of the potential of human beings as well

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as businesses to serve a much greater
need that is well beyond time. And

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I think it's I think that it
is smart business. I mean, really

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if I don't know about you,
but as I work with as I is,

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I experience or work with companies right
now that are very very shareholder focused.

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They're solely shareholder focused. They're dealing
with some challenging times. They are

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struggling to find talent, they're struggling
to keep talent, They're struggling to make

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customers happy. So smart business in
this day and age is to have a

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bigger picture. Lovely. I love
that. In fact, of course,

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for this first segment, I really
wanted to presence for our listeners what's just

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going on in today's business world.
And I know that when you're out speaking

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and consulting, you talk a lot
about how we're living today in a business

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climate that's just so ripe with unpredictability
and constant flux. Say more about that.

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Well, you know, I think
that we are living in a time

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when it's the first time ever since
I have been alive and I have been

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working that more that can impact the
success of your business is outside of your

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business. I mean, think about
this kind of when I was growing up.

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I'm old enough, I'll kind of
age myself here. But competition meant

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the guy down the street, I
mean, we had two banks, we

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had two department stores in our town, kind of one grocery store, and

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ordering online meant to Sears catalog and
you waited three or four months for it

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to happen, and nobody really ordered, you know, nobody. It wasn't

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commonplace. And now we just live
in a time where if something, if

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something happens in China, it can
impact your local business. I was looking

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at, you know, all the
things that are happening with you know,

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with these with these tariffs and what
they're talking about within the GM strike,

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and they're talking about the fact that
it's bigger than the GM strike. It's

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all the businesses internationally that supply or
or are dependent upon GM workers. We're

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just so connected now that if the
economy changes, is gas prices changed,

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if a new administration comes in,
if consumers decide that plastic isn't isn't cool,

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then if you're in the plastic business, guess what you're in trouble.

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There's so much that you don't have
control over that it is. It is

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very we are living very much in
an age of uncertainty, far behind the

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far beyond the uncertainty of the economy, and I think what you're getting to.

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I really love this this notion that
you put in your book here you

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talk about that we're in a pull
economy, no longer a push one where

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technology and international marketplace has made our
products and services at commodity. Is that

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really what you're getting to? Is
this? Is this the the area or

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a topic that you're presencing just now. Yeah, it's the fact that you

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know BacT I was speaking about this
today, that that you know, we

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are not living in a world where
I mean, think about this, the

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sales cycle starts long before we get
into it. I mean the moment that

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you know, somebody decides that they
you know, they need insurance services.

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The first thing they do is they
go Google online. Then they go to

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a party or they go to a
meeting and they ask other people who they

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are using. So in today's marketplace, you've definitely got to attract business before

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you ask for business. You've got
to get into that sales cycle by building

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your reputation, increasing your visibility,
and doing things that are buzzworthy, which

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is very much what I think those
CEOs were doing, you know, with

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their decision to say it's bigger than
just shareholders. Yes, and I think

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also, what you're presencing, at
least this is the lens that I'm hearing

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it through, is just the importance
of, you know, a trustworthy relationship

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in any business that we do today. Yes, yes, absolutely, trust

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is every thing. I mean when
you think about it, there is no

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product that you sell that your competitor
can't sell, won't sell, or could

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sell. So it is not the
product that is differentiating you. I mean,

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you can you can make yourself crazy
trying to sell customers on how you

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know, what an amazing speaker you
are, what unbelievable consulting purposes you do.

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But the end of the day,
in all this high tech work world,

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we are back to the old fashioned
stuff, and it is how well

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do you connect with people, how
well do you listen to them, how

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well do they get them to believe
in you so that they build trust,

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and if they build trust or anything
is possible. And to that end,

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one of the messages that you talk
about in your book, Meredith, that

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I think is just so powerful and
it ought to be very sobering for anybody

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who either owns a business, runs
a business, or leads is a key

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leader in a business, is that
you talk about how clients and employees are

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now more in the driver's seat than
ever before. Say more about that.

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Well, you know, think about
this. I mean for a number of

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reasons, but you you are hard
pressed to talk to any leader CEO today

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that doesn't tell you one of their
number one issues is talent finding, talent,

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keeping talent, engaging talent, and
so in order for you know,

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back in the day again when I
was growing up, I mean, you

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didn't worry about holding on to a
customer long term, and you were competing

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on products. So you know,
even if I had bad service at a

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store, I still would go back
to that store because it was the only

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place I had an option to buy
something. Well, now, our success

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is one hundred percent dependent upon how
much our employees care. I mean,

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I may have an unbelievable interaction with
you, but then your assistant is just

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last to day's a pull to me, just not that interested. Well,

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in that moment, I think there's
sixteen hundred people other people I could buy

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the same product from. I'm out
the door. So our success is based

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on our reputation in the customer experience, and that is completely tied to the

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employee. So good employees are hard
to come by, and they know they

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are in the driver's seage. And
you know, Meredith, you and I

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chatted about this briefly when we first
met. So much of what I'm up

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to personally in the world is I
believe in the world of work. I

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think work is a beautiful, noble, important part of our lives. And

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for many people, about eighty five
percent of them, recording to Gallup,

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it sucks. And I'm really out
to try to help organizations change that because

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it wanted helps them stay in business, it helps them much more robustly compete,

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and two, it greatly and vastly
improves the quality of their employees' lives,

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which cascades to their communities, their
families, everybody, and so so

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much of what I'm up to and
why I wanted to have you on the

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show is because I stand to help
making the experience of what it is to

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be an employee so much better.
You know, I think that is I

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think that's such important work. You
know, I have a theory about why

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work truck and it's not based in
it's not based in any scientific research,

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but I know that I'm right about
it, and that is the fact that

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when two thousand and eight happened,
and you know, we should probably have

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a moment of silence for two thousand
and eight. But what two thousand and

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eight happened was, you know,
we had a lot of people ready to

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retire and they didn't retire because two
thousand and eight happened. And then they

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came back into business and anybody who
owned a business at that point was just

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holding on with everything they've got.
Aka they become micromanagers, drill sergeants,

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and employees were just trying to keep
their heads down, not try just trying

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not to get fired, not to
be the one that got laid off,

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and work just went into the survival
mode. And here we are ten eleven

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years past it, and we can
come out of it, but we're caught

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in a grind. And the grind
is that people are trying to control the

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outcomes. Leaders are trying to control, and then employees that causes them just

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not to give it and engage at
the level that would make them happy,

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that would make them feel purposeful,
that would make them feel like work is

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someplace where they are doing work that
matters and they're making a difference. You

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know, it's so great about you's
presence there, Meredith. And it's just

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so incredibly timely, as it turns
out, because what you're speaking to from

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my lens is something that Aaron Hurst
speaks to in the book he wrote called

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The Purpose Economy, and he talks
about how the whole notion of purpose and

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the hunger for purpose was in fact
launched in that magical time that year two

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thousand and eight when the rest of
the world came crumbling down and you couldn't

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count on what you had worked for
and having a stable job, etc.

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So we went then and we turned
more toward things that were based in meaning

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and purpose. And I say it's
timely because today is October fifteenth. I

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will be going to his second annual
Purpose Conference in New York City on Thursday

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the seventeenth and eighteenth and convening with
people from all over the world role who

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are who care about helping organizations presence
and create environments of purpose and meaning.

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So talk about, you know,
a Kismet conversation. You know, I

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think that purpose is to me,
Purpose is the found It's the foundation of

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engagement. You know, there's there's
no incentive you can give, there's no

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bonus you can give. There's no
flex stage you can give, there's nothing.

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All of that for employees is icing
on the cake. You have to

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lay a foundation of purpose. I
mean people want to feel like they're making

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a difference, like they're a part
of something bigger than themselves. And you

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have only to look at the employee
engagement statistics to know that. I mean,

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you know, the highest rated engaged
employees work for nonprofits or some of

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the lowest days with some of the
worst benefits. And time after time,

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when you read employee engagement surveys,
government workers rank is the lowest, and

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there's a guaranteed job with a great
set of benefits, it lacks a feeling

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like your part of a team,
You're part of something bigger, no question.

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And with that, because we're going
to talk about engagement after the break,

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let's grab our first break. I'm
your host, Alis Cortes. We've

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been in the air with Meredith Elliott
Powell, a business growth expert and global

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keynote speaker. She joined us today
from Detroit Airport, where she's en route

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to try to get back home.
We've been talking about the state of today's

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business world and what it takes to
do business in it. After the break,

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we're going to talk about and contrast
some old and new ways and approaches

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to employee engagement. Stay with us, we'll be right back. Alis Cortes

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is a speaker and engagement and development
catalyst. She designs and delivers professional development,

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leadership and engagement workshops and can bring
her expertise to your organization. She

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will help ignite meaningful development within your
workforce that will increase employee engagement, hormans

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and retention. To learn more or
to invite Elise to speak to your organization,

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please visit her at www dot Elisecortes
dot com. She would welcome the

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opportunity to help get your employees working
on purpose. This is working on Purpose

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with Elise Cortes. To reach our
program today, send an email to a

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lease Alise at Aleasecortes dot com.
Now back to working on purpose. Thanks

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for staying with us, and welcome
back to working on purpose if you're just

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joining us. My guest is Meredith
Elliott Powell, who is voted one of

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the top fifteen business growth experts to
Watch, top forty to one motivational speakers,

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and top fifty sales speakers. She
shares the business growth strategies you need

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to turn uncertainty to competitive advantage,
and is the author of six books,

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including her latest own it, Redefining
Responsibility, which uncovers what it takes to

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grow a business in a constantly shifting
marketplace. I'm your host at least Cortez.

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So for this next segment, Meredith, I really want to talk about

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and compare and contrast some old and
new approaches to employee engagement. And the

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first thing that I thought was pretty
darn interesting that you talk about in your

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book is that you advocate for each
company to create its own definition of employee

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engagement. So before we kind of
talk about that point in and itself,

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how do you generally define and describe
employee engagement? Well, I usually describe

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it as an emotional connection to the
company's success and the company's goals. I

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mean, are you emotionally connected,
are you vested? Are you all in?

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And That's that's really how I describe
it, especially when I speak about

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it from the stage. An emotional
connection means that I believe in you,

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I trust you, and I'm and
I'm I'm ready to follow you. M

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h. I can I align with
that as well, now let's take the

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point here. I think it's fascinating
and I don't know if that I have

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actually heard someone advocate for this,
but that you encourage companies to create their

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own definition of employee engagement. Why
because you're because you know, here's the

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problem. You have twelve execs in
a room and they say, we've got

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to engage employees, and then the
only employees we're going to promote are going

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to be are going to be the
ones who are engaged. Well, your

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definition of what engagement looks like and
my definition of what engagement looks like may

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be totally different. I mean,
one of my favorite exercises to do with

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execs is to sit down and have
them rank their ABC and D employees and

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have them do it across the company. And somebody who is an a employee

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in one person's department is not an
a employee in another person's point of view.

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So if you want to communicate to
your team that they need to become

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engaged, you need to define as
a team what engagement looks like. Taking

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that definition of emotional engagement a little
bit further, I mean, does it

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mean that it's people that you know
they come to work early and they leave

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late. Or is it people that
you know? Are you looking for people

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to show up at every employee party
you know they are the people that you

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know. Make sure that we have
birthday month. I mean, I don't

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know what your definition of but you
need to get clear and you may need

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to make sure as an executive team
you agree on that. I think that

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is a stellar point, Meredith.
I love that, completely agree with that.

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Okay, Well, now I want
to presence some what I would consider

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to be dire numbers essocially with employee
engagement or better said, lack thereof.

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And these numbers came from your book, which are which was of course published

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in twenty sixteen, so I got
to believe they're even higher today. But

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let's just get them out there for
our listeners. Here's the first number,

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four hundred and fifty billion dollars.
That's the number Gallop says it's costing US

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employers per year in disengagement. Wow. Second number seven hundred million dollars.

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That's the US companies spend annually to
face and solve the problem, which is

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expected to go to one point five
billion dollars in the next few years.

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And the last number I want to
share for now is seventy percent, which

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is the number of employees who report
being checked out. Meredith, what do

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you think where this is pretty a
dire state of affairs here? You know

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it could be a dire state of
affairs, or the optimist in me says,

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hey, is there opportunity here?
If those are the numbers that Gallup

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is estimating, you know that that, you know are the average companies.

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That's what we're suffering and losses,
that's what it's costing us. That's you

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know, the level of disengagement.
I think it is probably very true.

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But at the same time, does
that motivate you? Does that inspire you

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to be the you know, to
be the organization that engages people? But

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you know, I think that it's
more important to understand why those numbers are

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where they are. Well, I
really appreciate that. I too am an

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optimist and I look at this this
this well, I wouldn't be doing what

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I'm doing now right if I if
I weren't an optist, I didn't think

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we could address this right otherwise I
have to be insane, right, There's

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no there be no other explanation for
it. So I too am an optimist

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about this, and of course I
do believe in the power of people to

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learn, to grow, to transform, and for businesses to change the way

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that they work with, hire,
engage, motivate and develop people. So

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I'm completely completely with you. Well, you know, here's the thing is,

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you know, when so many executives
and leaders, when when we all

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were growing up, the world we
grew up in is that we graduated from

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high school, graduated from college,
got a job, and we believed as

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long as we wanted to work there
that that job would be there. And

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then we believed if we worked hard, we might get promoted, and if

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we just didn't cause too much trouble, we could probably retire there and probably

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get a pension. No matter their
age believe that anymore. And as leaders,

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I think those numbers reflect the fact
that we're taken guarantee off the table,

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and with guarantee off the table,
employees are thinking downside the outsourcing merger

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acquisition, why should I give this
company by all when they're just going to

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cut their knees out from under me. And whether that's true or not,

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as a leader, you've got to
recognize that and say, okay, I've

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removed guarantee. I can't promise anybody
they'll retire my company. What am I

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going to put back in its place? And then that begins with purpose?

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Mm hmm. Well, and to
that end, one of the other things

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that I've really really liked and certainly
endorsed about what you say in your book,

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Meritith, is that you say that
when it comes to engagement efforts,

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that we need to move away from
an HR function handling the employee engagement and

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put it in the CEOs imperative.
Then and then you go on to compare

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and contrast you know some old approaches
to employee engagement with you know that include

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the generic automated surveys to some of
the other other approaches that you recommend.

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So let's get into that a little
bit here. First, talk a little

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bit about this notion of taking employee
engagement off the HR plate and putting it

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on the CEO's desk. Well,
you know, I so love that you

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asked me that, because so I'm
working on a new book now that's coming

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out in January and it's basically date
to book I wrote called Winning in the

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Trusted Value Economy, and that book
is Thrive What are, and it's based

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on leaders and organizations that have seen
record consistent growth since two thousand eight.

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They have not had a blip,
not have problem, seen twenty thirty and

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forty percent growth. And one of
the most interesting things. While everybody has

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a different strategy, everybody has a
different approach, the one thing every CEO

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has in comment that I have interviewed
is one of their two or three jobs,

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and all have no more than two
or three jobs. When I ask

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them is the engagement, happiness level
and leadership development of their employees. They

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are not out sourcing it to anybody
else, and I think that's really important

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because Number one is, you know, we used to think that a company

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was nowhere without sales and customers.
Still true, you've got to have sales

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and customers that have a company,
But in today's in today's economy, you

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have to have great employees. They're
your greatest competitive advantage and really forward thinking,

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innovative CEOs have said, if this
is the most important asset in my

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company, I am not going to
outsource that to another department. That needs

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to be on my plate. It
needs to be my responsibility and it needs

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to be something that I'm held accountable
form. I think that's that's so fresh,

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and I completely again am aligned with
this. And then to that end,

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you talk in your book about a
couple of just very simple, newer

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approaches to assessing and managing employe engagement
that I thought were pretty fresh. Let

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me just start with one, and
if you want to add whatever else.

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But I love the notion of choosing
five to ten percent of an employee base

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for focus groups, really engage in
them in conversation about what it's like to

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work there, what's good, what
doesn't work, what do they think we

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should do about it? I thought
that was brilliant, so simple and brilliant,

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it's so it's so simple. I
was doing a I was getting ready

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to do a strategic plan for our
company, maybe about a year ago,

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and I sat down with the CEO
and I said, I want to do

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a focus group with your with you
know, some of your team before we

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start. And he said, you
don't need to do that, that's you

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know, it's fine. I've got
some surveys I could share with you.

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I said, well, this is
a deal breaker for me. If I

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can't do that piece, I don't
I'm not interested. He thought about it,

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a little bit, and he let
me do it. And what you

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find out through conversation is so much
more powerful than what you find out from

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a survey for a number of reasons. It is it is body language,

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it is tone of voice. It
is you can read something in somebody's eyes

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and have the ability to go a
little bit deeper. And you have the

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ability to establish report and trust so
that people will open up with you and

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tell you more. And I just
did another one for a company that has

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unbelievable engagement scores. But when we
did the focus groups, I'm talking to

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a group of people who loved their
company. They're excited, they're all into

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it, but they had ideas on
how to improve it. And I don't

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know that you really capture that in
surveys. Yeah. I completely agree with

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that. And then the other piece
that you mentioned that I thought was really

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pretty powerful and kind of turns the
old approach employe engagement on its head is

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then once you do get the data
back from what the employees tell you,

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that you get the employees to weigh
in on the interpretation of those results.

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Wow, what a concept. Yeah, you know you've got to you know,

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I always tell people when I do
surveys and focus groups for them.

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I always say, part of this
is the information we're going to get,

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and the part of it is marketing
communication and pr is because send me a

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variant loud message that says, hey, I'm interested in your opinion, and

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then when I get that information,
I'm going to go back to you and

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I'm going to say thank you for
your opinion, and I'm going to tell

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you what I learned, and then
I'm going to ask you they so what

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I learned is this is this the
right direction that to focus on? And

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the power of that is now all
of a sudden, people are like,

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Wow, they really care about my
voice. The other is they own those

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ideas, and if they own those
ideas, they'll implement it. Mm hmmmm.

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I love that. I completely see
that. I've done a lot of

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work around investigating meaning and motivation and
identity, which is not related to this,

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but I completely understand the importance of
when somebody owns an idea, how

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much more willing they are to champion
it. Yes, well, I mean

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absolutely well. And then speaking of
that, another thing that you talk about

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in your book that I think is
quite important, and we're going to talk

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more about it in the next segment. But you also talk about that the

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current beliefs about personal responsibility and entitlement
are at the of what is wrong with

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employee engagement programs today and why they
fail. Would you say more about that,

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Yeah, so I wrote I wrote
an article a while ago that that

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got a lot of traction and and
the article was about the fact that when

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I started really looking at employee engagement
programs, quite frankly, they looked more

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like going to a spa or a
vacation, you know, I mean what

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what companies were rolling out to try
to get employees to engage or to recruit

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them and stuff. And it was
just like it just was so over the

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top, and it was it was
missing the basic things at you know,

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the basic things at the bottom.
Those those purpose, that ownership, that

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people feeling valued and important and feeling
out real idea I have a career.

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But I think we went off to
chart and we forgot the most important part

404
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of employee engagement, and that is
that we cannot engage employees. We can

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create a culture and invite people to
engage. But the back half of the

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book, what I wrote about was
the fact that it's your life, it's

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your career. What are you doing
waiting for somebody else to engage? You

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get to the plate and take ownership
of it. So employees have a role

409
00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:15.440
and a response in it. Yes, absolutely, And that's that's how we're

410
00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:18.240
going to We're going to finish this
conversation today. But the last thing I

411
00:29:18.319 --> 00:29:19.960
want to say about, or I
want to get to I should say around

412
00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:23.720
employee engagement that I think that is
so important that you talk about is and

413
00:29:25.160 --> 00:29:27.519
back to back to this notion and
forget all these great SPA programs. What

414
00:29:27.720 --> 00:29:32.960
in the world is the company in
existence for? And so you talk about,

415
00:29:33.079 --> 00:29:36.599
you know, the importance of that's
the purpose piece of leaders who make

416
00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:40.799
a point of clarifying what it is
that the organization actually does and why do

417
00:29:40.960 --> 00:29:44.839
they do that, and then communicating
what that what they stand to and for

418
00:29:45.079 --> 00:29:48.240
to their employees and their customers,
and then iterate the importance of what the

419
00:29:48.279 --> 00:29:52.680
employees are doing that matter to fulfill
on that. That's much more engaging,

420
00:29:55.400 --> 00:29:59.720
much more I mean it is.
You know, we're not human beings,

421
00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:03.799
are not complicated, and I think
as leaders one of the most important questions

422
00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:07.559
we can under it we can communicate
is walk, why are we doing this?

423
00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:11.839
People understand the why, they start
to understand the purpose, and they

424
00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:15.799
start to you know, they start
to engauge, and you can't communicate enough

425
00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:18.039
as a leader. I mean,
people want you to be transparent, they

426
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:21.720
want you to be open. They
want to know what's going well with the

427
00:30:21.799 --> 00:30:23.599
company, they want to know where
the challenges are, and then they want

428
00:30:23.640 --> 00:30:27.039
to help you fix the problem.
You can give them a spaw treatment,

429
00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:30.200
but if you don't have those things
underneath it, none of those spats,

430
00:30:30.240 --> 00:30:36.079
treatments and great vacations are going to
work. Completely agree and also too right,

431
00:30:36.119 --> 00:30:40.119
the importance of ongoing communication, constantly
presencing why do we do what we

432
00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:41.240
do? Why does it matter?
Why do you matter? Right? This

433
00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:45.680
isn't a one time, once a
year session where we bring everybody together and

434
00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:48.400
we just do a big, you
know, celebration. This is something we

435
00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:52.799
live every day absolutely, you know. You know, if you're back to

436
00:30:52.039 --> 00:30:56.759
the interviews I'm doing for my new
book, and I've said that those CEOs

437
00:30:56.839 --> 00:31:02.880
have two three jobs next more than
that, and the reason is because communicating,

438
00:31:02.960 --> 00:31:07.319
connecting and engaging employees is really a
full fun job and you have to

439
00:31:07.400 --> 00:31:10.880
be out there talking to people.
You have to start meetings the same way

440
00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:14.240
and meeting the same way. I
mean you can't. You can't expeed it

441
00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:17.759
enough. It needs to get to
a point where you walk back in a

442
00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:22.559
year later and everybody can. Everybody
can recite of the things that the leader

443
00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:26.039
has to say. And who doesn't
want to live in a space of Wow,

444
00:31:26.200 --> 00:31:29.599
you know we matter? I'm at
or who doesn't want to? You

445
00:31:29.640 --> 00:31:33.839
know? Hear that on a regular
basis, right, everybody? Everybody does.

446
00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:36.319
And I think one of the biggest
things people make the mistake of is

447
00:31:36.440 --> 00:31:40.279
do not confuse the fact that employee
has been there thirty five years with the

448
00:31:40.319 --> 00:31:42.599
fact that that employee is engaged.
I don't care how old you are.

449
00:31:42.920 --> 00:31:45.559
You want to feel like you're like
you matter, and you want to feel

450
00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:49.200
like your voice is heard. And
that's the beautiful thing about being a human

451
00:31:49.240 --> 00:31:53.160
being. We've got this beautiful,
full complement of logic, rational and beautiful

452
00:31:53.200 --> 00:32:00.200
emotions and work auto appeal to all
of them. Yes, absolutely so.

453
00:32:00.680 --> 00:32:02.440
And you know, I know there's
so much work on the generation, but

454
00:32:02.519 --> 00:32:06.640
I think at the end of the
day, people are people, and you

455
00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:10.559
know, the leaders to me that
are successful are understanding and appealing to those

456
00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:15.920
things and they're asking. They're setting
a very clear direction and saying I've got

457
00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:17.559
this, I know where we're headed, I know where we're going, but

458
00:32:17.640 --> 00:32:21.359
they're balancing that by that with saying
I want to hear from you. I

459
00:32:21.480 --> 00:32:25.240
need your help to get there absolutely. And with that, let's grab our

460
00:32:25.319 --> 00:32:28.799
last break. I'm Elise Cortez,
your host. Weben on the air with

461
00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:32.319
Meredith Elliott Powell, a business growth
expert and global keynote speaker. She joined

462
00:32:32.359 --> 00:32:36.799
you today from the Detroit Airport en
route trying to get back home. We've

463
00:32:36.839 --> 00:32:40.319
been talking about the old and new
forms of employee engagement programs. After the

464
00:32:40.359 --> 00:32:44.920
break, we're going to talk about
the new frontier for individual employees and how

465
00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:49.160
they can redefine personal responsibility and owning
their own path towards success. Stay with

466
00:32:49.279 --> 00:33:00.359
us, we'll be right back.
Alice Cortez is a speaker and engagement and

467
00:33:00.440 --> 00:33:07.400
development catalyst. She designs and delivers
professional development, leadership and engagement workshops and

468
00:33:07.559 --> 00:33:12.319
can bring her expertise to your organization. She will help ignite meaningful development within

469
00:33:12.400 --> 00:33:16.720
your workforce that will increase employee engagement, performance and retention to learn more or

470
00:33:16.839 --> 00:33:22.480
to invite Elise to speak to your
organization. Please visit her at www dot

471
00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:28.119
Elisecortes dot com. She would welcome
the opportunity to help get your employees working

472
00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:38.440
on purpose. This is working on
Purpose with Elise Cortes. To reach our

473
00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:45.559
program today, send an email to
a lease Alic at Aleasecortes dot com.

474
00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:52.200
Now back to working on purpose.
Thanksteresting with us, and welcome back to

475
00:33:52.279 --> 00:33:54.880
working on purpose if you're just tuning
in. My guest is Meredith Elliot Powell,

476
00:33:54.960 --> 00:33:59.079
who has voted one of the top
fifteen business growth experts to watch,

477
00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:02.839
top four when Motivational Speakers, and
top fifty sales speakers. She shares the

478
00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:07.239
business growth strategies you need to turn
uncertain into competitive advantage and is the author

479
00:34:07.280 --> 00:34:12.960
of six books, including her latest
own it, Redefining Responsibility, which uncovers

480
00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:15.480
what it takes to grow a business
in a constantly shifting marketplace. I'm your

481
00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:20.599
host Elis Cortes. So for this
last segment here, Meredith, I really

482
00:34:20.639 --> 00:34:24.159
want to talk about the employee,
the individual employee, and really celebrate and

483
00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:30.719
position presence and empower them essentially.
And one of the things that you say

484
00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:34.920
in your book that I think is
incredibly compelling is that you want to redefine

485
00:34:34.960 --> 00:34:37.920
responsibility and to bring it back to
the workplace. And you say you want

486
00:34:37.960 --> 00:34:43.840
to transform the concept of personal transformation
from an association with feeling burned and overwhelmed

487
00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:47.360
to a concept that implies taking control
of her life and experiencing a greater overall

488
00:34:47.440 --> 00:34:53.599
level of freedom, passion, and
power. I love that, you know.

489
00:34:53.719 --> 00:35:00.000
When I first when I first told
my publisher I wanted to responsibility and

490
00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:07.000
the title, he said, you
can't write a book on responsibility. Nobody

491
00:35:07.039 --> 00:35:09.440
will want to buy it. Nobody
wants to be responsible. And I said,

492
00:35:09.519 --> 00:35:15.079
that's the point, is that we
have made responsibility and ugly word.

493
00:35:15.400 --> 00:35:22.119
And so the kind of backstory on
that was I am obsessed with self made

494
00:35:22.199 --> 00:35:30.280
people, people who came from absolutely
nothing and achieved whatever level of success they

495
00:35:30.400 --> 00:35:34.480
set out to achieve, you know, people who had all the odd shacked

496
00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:39.239
against them. And as I interviewed
and talked with people like that, again,

497
00:35:39.320 --> 00:35:43.000
while they had different stories and stuff, the one thing that it came

498
00:35:43.119 --> 00:35:47.800
down to was there was never anybody
to bail them out. They always had

499
00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:54.159
to take responsibility for every obstacle they
had to get around one of the women

500
00:35:54.239 --> 00:35:58.360
that I interviewed said, she said, I've flown my whole life without a

501
00:35:58.480 --> 00:36:00.760
net, and I thought that was
such a beautiful visual. And she said,

502
00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:04.480
if I fell, if I got
hurt, I had to dust myself

503
00:36:04.519 --> 00:36:07.800
off and I had to get myself
up. And I just thought, responsibility,

504
00:36:08.559 --> 00:36:13.639
struggle, those things are a necessary
part of life and success, and

505
00:36:13.760 --> 00:36:17.760
without founds, we can't ever really
achieve the levels that we want to achieve.

506
00:36:17.880 --> 00:36:22.239
So responsibility is not a birth.
The moment you take responsibility, it's

507
00:36:22.280 --> 00:36:28.239
your ultimate path to freedom. And
when I, of course love about that,

508
00:36:28.320 --> 00:36:31.079
Meredith, is that it's so empowering, it's encouraging, it's inspiring,

509
00:36:31.280 --> 00:36:37.000
and it does it takes away this
notion that the corporate America has to give

510
00:36:37.400 --> 00:36:39.960
employees an engaged experience and puts them
back in the driver's seat. And I

511
00:36:40.079 --> 00:36:44.360
think that is so compelling. I'm
right there with your marriative. But I

512
00:36:44.440 --> 00:36:47.079
appreciate the way you presence and say
that. I don't know that I've heard

513
00:36:47.119 --> 00:36:52.360
it spoken so crisply before. One
other thing is is that there's nothing more

514
00:36:52.440 --> 00:36:57.519
fun than going to the water cooler
and complaining about what did your boss is

515
00:36:57.639 --> 00:37:00.239
and how this company. You can't
believe they lowered your insurance benefits and we

516
00:37:00.360 --> 00:37:04.480
only got a three percent raise this
year. I mean, I'm right there

517
00:37:04.519 --> 00:37:07.480
with you. I'll I'll grab the
cup of the water pooler and I'd love

518
00:37:07.480 --> 00:37:09.840
to sit around for an hour and
wind. It's fun. The problem is,

519
00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.360
at the end of that hour,
you're still in the exact same spot.

520
00:37:14.760 --> 00:37:16.960
The problem with being a victim is
the end of your story. It's

521
00:37:17.000 --> 00:37:21.800
all you're ever going to be.
And so when you take responsibility for the

522
00:37:21.880 --> 00:37:23.679
fact that you know, if you
haven't gotten the raise you want, if

523
00:37:23.679 --> 00:37:28.360
you don't have the insurance benefits,
if you don't like your boss, what

524
00:37:28.480 --> 00:37:31.159
are you going to do about it? What can you do to either survive

525
00:37:31.239 --> 00:37:34.760
it and make the best of it, or what can you do to change

526
00:37:34.800 --> 00:37:38.519
it? That's the path out,
and that's why responsibility is so important,

527
00:37:38.519 --> 00:37:43.360
and it's it's such a definer.
So if you're in a company and that

528
00:37:43.519 --> 00:37:46.079
engages employees, yah you. But
if you're like most of the you know

529
00:37:46.239 --> 00:37:51.000
most employees, and you don't.
If you decide to engage yourself, if

530
00:37:51.079 --> 00:37:53.800
you decide to go all in,
you're going to be the one who's going

531
00:37:53.840 --> 00:38:00.719
to wind up in the next five
ten years with unbelievable opportunity. Contrast that

532
00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:01.800
in the book Beautifully when you talk
about and you say, you know,

533
00:38:01.920 --> 00:38:07.599
people employe individual employees operate so much
today from fear. They're afraid of being

534
00:38:07.639 --> 00:38:12.119
able to find a job, keep
a job, not being successful, getting

535
00:38:12.199 --> 00:38:15.320
laid off, And you say so
beautifully in your book, Meredith, you

536
00:38:15.320 --> 00:38:17.599
talk about, well, if you
would just take all of that energy that

537
00:38:17.719 --> 00:38:22.480
you that you put into being afraid
and concerned, and put it into engaging

538
00:38:22.599 --> 00:38:25.400
yourself fully in your work and becoming
the employee the company wants to keep,

539
00:38:25.480 --> 00:38:30.920
strives to keep your back in the
driver's seat. I think we lost you

540
00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:32.519
there. So I was talking about
Oh I'm back, Yeah, Okay,

541
00:38:32.639 --> 00:38:35.800
I'm sorry about that. I don't
know, I don't know. Yeah,

542
00:38:35.960 --> 00:38:40.599
talking about becoming that employee that people
strive to keep correct, yes, and

543
00:38:40.760 --> 00:38:44.599
instead of instead of falling, you
know, back to the word victim,

544
00:38:44.639 --> 00:38:47.039
falling victim to being owned and run
by their fears about losing their job,

545
00:38:47.199 --> 00:38:51.039
you know, being laid off,
et cetera. If we could just take

546
00:38:51.119 --> 00:38:53.480
all of that energy and effort and
pour it into being an engaged employee,

547
00:38:54.039 --> 00:39:00.599
bringing value and being the person that
a company strives to keep absolutely because you

548
00:39:00.639 --> 00:39:04.480
know that you are talk about uncertainty. We are living in a world where

549
00:39:04.519 --> 00:39:08.320
you have absolutely no control over whether
your company is going to be healthy long

550
00:39:08.400 --> 00:39:13.320
term, whether they're going to be
bought, whether you're going to be acquired.

551
00:39:13.880 --> 00:39:16.639
So if you follow the strategies to
put yourself in the driver's seat of

552
00:39:16.719 --> 00:39:20.800
your career, if your company goes
a direction that you want to go,

553
00:39:21.480 --> 00:39:23.280
great, then you'll be there.
You'll be the employee they want. But

554
00:39:23.360 --> 00:39:28.320
if they take a turn that you're
not interested in, you're so dynamic and

555
00:39:28.440 --> 00:39:31.599
so incredible, you're going to have
another job in half a second. You're

556
00:39:31.639 --> 00:39:35.760
going to be in control of your
career. One of the biggest points I've

557
00:39:35.800 --> 00:39:38.039
gotten that is that you know,
build your network, change your life.

558
00:39:38.360 --> 00:39:42.960
And one of the saddest things I
see people do is that they once they

559
00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:45.280
have a job and they walk into
it, they quit connecting and they quit

560
00:39:45.400 --> 00:39:50.920
networking and you know, and the
problem with that is is that then the

561
00:39:51.000 --> 00:39:53.880
world changes. And if you need
somebody to help you and you're already you

562
00:39:53.960 --> 00:40:00.679
haven't contacted them in three years,
then you know then and it's too late.

563
00:40:00.840 --> 00:40:04.320
So you've got to You've got to
be in charge in doing those steps

564
00:40:04.440 --> 00:40:07.159
that the company owes you nothing.
Just take that, just take that phrase.

565
00:40:07.400 --> 00:40:10.960
Well, you also you don't you're
not sold to the company for the

566
00:40:12.039 --> 00:40:15.280
rest of your life either, and
you're in. You're the person who is.

567
00:40:15.280 --> 00:40:16.639
As long as the company is giving
you what you want, you're all

568
00:40:16.760 --> 00:40:20.719
in. But if it isn't,
you get to make another decision, you

569
00:40:20.880 --> 00:40:23.719
get to go somewhere else. You're
in charge of your career. Well,

570
00:40:23.800 --> 00:40:27.719
and just listen to you know,
the way you're describing that. You say

571
00:40:27.760 --> 00:40:31.559
in your book several different benefits that
comes with engaging yourself at work, and

572
00:40:31.679 --> 00:40:37.360
one of them automatically is you talked
about building relationships and getting developing the peer

573
00:40:37.400 --> 00:40:40.800
support. What are some of the
other benefits we get from really engaging ourselves

574
00:40:40.960 --> 00:40:45.599
like this at work. Well,
number one is you're going to be in

575
00:40:45.639 --> 00:40:51.119
a constant learning, growth, and
development mode. I remember, I remember

576
00:40:51.519 --> 00:40:55.000
years ago when I waited tables and
and I was learning to run the cash

577
00:40:55.079 --> 00:40:59.760
register, and I remember one of
the other waitresses saying me, don't don't

578
00:40:59.800 --> 00:41:01.320
learn to run the cash register,
then they'll ask you to do it.

579
00:41:02.079 --> 00:41:06.679
And I thought, what a sad
what a sad answer that is. So

580
00:41:06.719 --> 00:41:08.360
I learned to run the cash register, I learned to wash the dishes,

581
00:41:08.440 --> 00:41:12.079
I learned to be the hostess.
I learned how to do all that stuff.

582
00:41:12.519 --> 00:41:16.320
And so later I went to interview
at a really high end restaurant where

583
00:41:16.320 --> 00:41:20.800
the tips were much better than where
we were working. And when I sat

584
00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:22.000
down for the interview and they said, you know, tell us what you

585
00:41:22.079 --> 00:41:23.760
can do, and I said,
well, I'm a great waitress. I

586
00:41:23.800 --> 00:41:27.360
can do this, but I've also
learned to do all those other things.

587
00:41:27.840 --> 00:41:30.920
So you're in this learning and development, which a makes it much more interesting,

588
00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:36.199
but the makes you more valuable,
the more skills you have, the

589
00:41:36.280 --> 00:41:40.119
more initiative you show. The other
is if it builds your confidence. If

590
00:41:40.199 --> 00:41:45.280
I know I'm engaged and I'm giving
you everything i've got, then when they're

591
00:41:45.320 --> 00:41:47.960
talking about layoffs and stuff, I'm
not worried about it. I'm not as

592
00:41:49.119 --> 00:41:52.639
worried about it for two reasons.
Number one is I'm a great employee.

593
00:41:52.719 --> 00:41:53.800
They're probably not going to let me
go. The other is if they do,

594
00:41:54.239 --> 00:41:59.840
I've got options. So there's so
much in it for you to engage.

595
00:42:00.559 --> 00:42:02.920
Mm hmmmmmmm. When it goes back
I love, I really, really

596
00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:07.639
really like the whole undergird of you
of your book about bringing that personal responsibility

597
00:42:07.679 --> 00:42:15.079
back to the individual employee element because
it is it's empowering. Oh, it's

598
00:42:15.239 --> 00:42:17.679
very empowering. I mean, you
know, especially in the age of uncertainty

599
00:42:17.800 --> 00:42:22.199
there there are there's so much you
can't control, but there's a lot that

600
00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:24.039
you can. And that's what you
want to do, is put yourself in

601
00:42:24.119 --> 00:42:29.880
the driver's seat to control the things
that you can control. And one you

602
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:32.039
can control is what you do in
your career and how far you go.

603
00:42:32.599 --> 00:42:36.480
Mm hmm. Yeah. One of
the main things that I wanted to be

604
00:42:36.519 --> 00:42:38.800
sure we talked about on this program, Eddith, because I'm very much aligned

605
00:42:38.800 --> 00:42:44.000
with that and because I stand to
empower individuals, leaders and organizations across the

606
00:42:44.039 --> 00:42:45.960
globe. It starts on the individual
level. It has to, Yes,

607
00:42:46.960 --> 00:42:51.039
it does. And leaders are out
there really kind of banging their head against

608
00:42:51.079 --> 00:42:53.440
the wall trying to get you know, trying to get employees to gauge.

609
00:42:53.480 --> 00:42:57.800
But it's just two way street.
Employees have to step to the plate,

610
00:42:58.599 --> 00:43:00.400
you know, I have to step
to their play too. If you're not

611
00:43:00.480 --> 00:43:04.559
getting what you need to be successful, then raise your hand, ask for

612
00:43:04.719 --> 00:43:06.920
it. If there's things you want
to learn, things you want to do,

613
00:43:07.079 --> 00:43:09.199
raise your hand, ask for it. Find your voice and it will

614
00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:14.840
change your life. Well. And
speaking of that, I'm coaching an executive

615
00:43:14.840 --> 00:43:16.840
woman right now, and she was
talking about how she gets these stellar performance

616
00:43:16.880 --> 00:43:20.039
reviews, and I say, well, don't you get anything in there that

617
00:43:20.119 --> 00:43:22.679
says what they would encourage you to
work on or take on next? She

618
00:43:22.719 --> 00:43:24.679
goes, no, they always just
say keep doing what you're doing. I

619
00:43:24.719 --> 00:43:29.239
said, that is a cop out. You need to ask them for specific

620
00:43:29.440 --> 00:43:34.320
feedback that tells you what specifically am
I doing well, and ask for feedback

621
00:43:34.400 --> 00:43:37.639
and direction on how you're going to
grow. Completely agree with that statement.

622
00:43:38.960 --> 00:43:43.079
Yeah, it's funny, you know. I always when I'm working with younger

623
00:43:43.159 --> 00:43:45.599
leaders, I always say, if
you get one good boss in your lifetime,

624
00:43:46.000 --> 00:43:51.679
your fortune, you're more fortunate than
other people and it's going to be

625
00:43:52.159 --> 00:43:57.480
rare that you're not going to need
to manage the person that you're reporting to

626
00:43:58.519 --> 00:44:01.119
the world. You know, bosses
would be concerned about our careers and our

627
00:44:01.199 --> 00:44:05.519
futures, but the world isn't perfect, so accept it, step up and

628
00:44:05.679 --> 00:44:08.519
do what you need to do to
get where you need to get to now.

629
00:44:08.599 --> 00:44:12.599
Speaking of leaders, one of the
things you talk about is the importance

630
00:44:12.639 --> 00:44:16.199
of developing into a transformational leader and
involving and inviting employees in the engagement program

631
00:44:16.280 --> 00:44:20.920
itself. We're starting to run out
of time, so can you just speak

632
00:44:20.960 --> 00:44:27.639
briefly to that. Yeah, it's
going from in the essence what transformational leadership

633
00:44:27.840 --> 00:44:30.960
is leading through the power of the
question. As the leader, you get

634
00:44:30.039 --> 00:44:35.679
to decide what the company goals are, where the company is headed. But

635
00:44:35.760 --> 00:44:38.559
the question of how belongs to your
team, because when you ask people how

636
00:44:38.719 --> 00:44:45.960
you transform them by giving them police
ownership and responsibility. People support what they

637
00:44:45.119 --> 00:44:51.679
help create. As we said before, Yes, well this is you know,

638
00:44:51.880 --> 00:44:53.360
Meredith, what's so great about talking
with you? One of you you

639
00:44:53.480 --> 00:45:00.199
just have a just an earth load
of information and experience to draw from.

640
00:45:00.239 --> 00:45:01.920
But two you're so crisp and it's
easy to get a lot of information out

641
00:45:01.920 --> 00:45:07.519
of you quickly. So you know, this show is heard by listeners across

642
00:45:07.559 --> 00:45:12.519
the globe and it really is designed
to help individuals and leaders more meaningfully and

643
00:45:12.599 --> 00:45:15.880
purposely connect with their work. Given
that, what would you like to leave

644
00:45:15.880 --> 00:45:20.039
our listeners with today? You know, the biggest thing that I'd like to

645
00:45:20.119 --> 00:45:23.679
leave listeners with, is that understand
the greatest competitive advantage you have in today's

646
00:45:23.719 --> 00:45:29.079
marketplace is the engagement and the level
of your employees, and the CEOs and

647
00:45:29.159 --> 00:45:32.519
the leaders who understand that, who
prioritize that are going to be the ones

648
00:45:32.559 --> 00:45:37.440
who win. They're so little you
have control over in this world. But

649
00:45:37.599 --> 00:45:40.159
every problem you have, every issue, can be solved by just having the

650
00:45:40.320 --> 00:45:47.039
best employees. Yes, wonderful,
wonderful way to finish. And again,

651
00:45:47.119 --> 00:45:50.639
Mereth, I want to thank you
for one, you know, making this

652
00:45:50.719 --> 00:45:53.360
conversation happen, given your extremely busy
life. I know how many trains,

653
00:45:53.360 --> 00:45:57.760
plans, and automobiles that you navigate
in a year to get to where you

654
00:45:57.840 --> 00:46:00.840
need to go. And you were
expecting to do this conversation from the comfort

655
00:46:00.920 --> 00:46:05.360
of your home and ended up on
the road, stuck in Detroit, and

656
00:46:05.440 --> 00:46:07.559
we can hear some of the noise
that comes with that, and I just

657
00:46:07.639 --> 00:46:10.800
want to thank you for making it
happen. I appreciate it immensely. And

658
00:46:10.880 --> 00:46:15.920
so to our listeners, well,
I loved I loved being on the show,

659
00:46:16.039 --> 00:46:21.199
loved the conversation, and I really
look forward to having more of them.

660
00:46:22.239 --> 00:46:23.679
Excellent, Yes, You can run
for me, but you cannot hide

661
00:46:23.719 --> 00:46:29.719
from me. So listeners. If
you want to learn more about Meredith Elliot

662
00:46:29.840 --> 00:46:31.920
Power Powell, visit her website.
It is just her name, but it

663
00:46:32.000 --> 00:46:36.880
spelled a little bit differently, so
Meredith Elliott Powell dot com. So it's

664
00:46:37.119 --> 00:46:42.000
m E r I d I T
h E L l I O T T

665
00:46:42.519 --> 00:46:46.360
p O w E l L Meredith
Elliott Powell dot com. Last week,

666
00:46:46.400 --> 00:46:50.199
if you missed the live show,
you can always catch it be recorded podcast.

667
00:46:50.360 --> 00:46:53.280
We were on the earth Jenna Cooper
Heller of United Against Human Trafficking.

668
00:46:53.760 --> 00:46:58.679
She helped us understand the sheer size
of this global problem and the hugely important

669
00:46:58.719 --> 00:47:01.119
work she and her colleagues are doing
to realize their vision that one day,

670
00:47:01.159 --> 00:47:05.760
in the not so just the future, no human being will ever be for

671
00:47:05.920 --> 00:47:10.000
sale or purchased. Incredibly inspiring conversation. Next week we'll be on the air

672
00:47:10.039 --> 00:47:15.079
with author Rachel Stewart talking about her
book Unqualified Success, bridging the gap between

673
00:47:15.119 --> 00:47:19.199
where you are now and where you
want to be to achieve massive success.

674
00:47:19.679 --> 00:47:22.000
See you there. Remember that work
is one third of our life, so

675
00:47:22.199 --> 00:47:30.199
let's work on purpose. We hope
you've enjoyed this week's program, be sure

676
00:47:30.280 --> 00:47:36.079
to tune in to Working on Purpose, featuring your host Alis Cortes, each

677
00:47:36.159 --> 00:47:40.360
week on the Voice America Empowerment Channel. This week, find your life's purpose

678
00:47:40.920 --> 00:47:42.440
at work.