Jan. 1, 2025

Leading with Heart: Self-Awareness, Kindness, and the Strength of Vulnerable Leadership

Leading with Heart: Self-Awareness, Kindness, and the Strength of Vulnerable Leadership

What happens when a leader brings self-awareness, kindness, and vulnerability to the forefront? In this episode, Christy Pretzinger shares her journey in building WG Content—a company where people feel valued and thrive both professionally and...

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What happens when a leader brings self-awareness, kindness, and vulnerability to the forefront? In this episode, Christy Pretzinger shares her journey in building WG Content—a company where people feel valued and thrive both professionally and personally. Join us as we explore a purpose-driven approach to leadership that empowers teams to grow and feel that they truly matter.

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 express in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

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those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We

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make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,

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or products mentioned on air or on our web. No

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Radio or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments

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should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for

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choosing W FOURCY 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, doctor

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Elise Cortes.

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Welcome back to a Working a Purpose program which has

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been brought to you with passion and price since February

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of twenty fifteen. If to meet it again this week,

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great to have you. I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes.

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If we have not met before and you don't know me,

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I'm an organizational psychologist, local therapist, speaker and author. My

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team and I at Gusto now help companies to enliven

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and fortify their operations by building a culture or leadership

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activated by meaning and purpose. Our mission is to help

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our clients create a destination workplace where people flock to join,

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are intrinsically motivated to perform at their best, can grow

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to their fuller potential, and are committed to stay in

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an a good deliver on the company's mission, which translates

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to higher profits for you. You can learn more ab

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us and now we can work together at Gusto Dashaneau

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dot com my personal website at least coretest dot com.

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Before we get into today's program, I am thrilled to

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announce that registration is now open for a fabulous new

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conference for women which I'll be serving as the MC.

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It's called Thrive in twenty five and it is jam

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packed a few days in Chicago. That's June twenty fifth

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through June twenty eighth, twenty twenty five, and it is designed

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to develop women as whole selves, from bolstering their mindset

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to financial acumen, to leadership, to incorporating nature and art

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into your life, to raise consciousness, and so much more.

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You can visit the website. It's thrive dash in twenty

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five dot com twenty five. The number thrive dash in

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twenty five dot com. Information into register, you can use

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my promo code Gusto all caps to gain access to

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some additional free books and programs that I will also

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gifting to registrants. See you there getting into today's program.

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We have with us today Christy Pretzinger. She's the CEO

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of WG Content, a nationally recognized healthcare content consultancy. We'll

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be talking today about how she has built her company

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on the basis of a positive culture, with all employees

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working remotely. She's doing just today from Cincinnati, Ohio. Christy,

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welcome to working.

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On a purpose. Thank you so much for having me.

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I really appreciate it at.

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Least so welcome. And I think it was through this conference.

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Was it at Hope Mealer that put us together?

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Yes, the master reminder of this ARRIVEE conference.

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So let's call that out as well. Wonderful to be

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on the other side of the mic with you. I

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wanted to just start with just the fun story, if

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we can, on Christie of how how it happened that

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she came to acquire what was then called writer Girl

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some twenty years ago?

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How did that happen? I was actually a freelance writer

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and had been for quite a while at that time.

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This was back in two thousand and four three, I

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think it was, and the person who had founded writer

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Girl at the time was going on a maternity and

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even wanted me to run it for her while she

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did that. She had a high risk pregnancy. The company

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at the time was really just her and one writer,

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and they had pretty much one large client. At the time.

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She had not actively been building it as a big organization,

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and it was much more focused on kind of advertising

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copy naming things like that, so more short form copy.

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So I did that, and then about a year later,

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that one client was actually a subject to an FBI

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search and was then indicted for accounting fraud. And she

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was pregnant again and said she wanted out, and I said, okay,

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I will, I will buy you out. So I did,

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and then fast forward. I had been, as I said,

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a freelancer, so I had a lot of different clients

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around town. And a client was doing a very large

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content management system at the time. It's funny that I

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thought it was larger as the thousand pages that's nothing

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to us now. But they needed a group, a team

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of writers to work on that and to do it

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very quickly. I think they started out with eight weeks.

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Then they cut it down to six weeks, and so

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we did that and it went really well, and that, oh,

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I'll bring teams of writers to big projects. And then

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fast forward, and another former client was a marketing director

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at a hospital system just north of Cincinnati, and she

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needed a team of writers to work on three hospital

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websites that were launching concurrently. So I didn't know anything

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about hospitals or anything at all. But within a week

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I had about thirty five writers on the project. And

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so we did that successfully. That one took a bit longer,

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and then when that was over, I told myself the

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necessary entrepreneurial lie that it will be easy to bring

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teams of writers to hospitals. So yeah, it wasn't easy.

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Nobody in fact in Cincinnati would even talk to me.

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Can't be a profit in your own hometown. So I

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started going to different cities and getting clients. One of

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the first big clients was the Ohio State University, which

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is still one of our clients, and then it kind

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of went from there. So that was I think. I

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did buy her out in two thousand and four, and

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so I've been actively building it for about twenty years.

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How wonderful I love.

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It's such a there's serendipity in this, there's a blind

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leap of faith in this. There's oh yeah, I can

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do this, no problem. So maybe something of an accidental

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entrepreneur here, but it sounds like but how wonderful for

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lifeful to learn from that being inspired by that. And

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before that, you said you were a freelance writer. Why

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did you choose this field? Why aren't you an accountant,

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Why aren't you an architect?

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Well, I was a French major in college, so there's

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limits to my knowledge. So what I learned when I

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graduated from school and then got my first job, which

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was in the incentive industry, incentive travel industry. At the time,

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I was doing just a little bit of writing, and

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then I moved to another company and became a writer there.

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And what I realized over time was that when you

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are fluent, which I was at the time, in another language,

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it helps make you more articulate in your first language. Yes. No, yeah,

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I was really easy to you know, it was easy

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for me to write, and I really started doing more

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long form content. That was always my area of comfort

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and expertise. I was never a short copywriter, headline kind

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of person. That just wasn't my forte. So when I

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had worked at a publishing company for almost five years

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and had a really good run there, but there were

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some circumstances things going on, and my dad had been

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self employed as an engineer, and so I always kind

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of thought that being self employed would be nice, and

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so I, as you mentioned, took the leap and became

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a freelance writer. And I always say that when you

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jump out to do something like that, it's like jumping

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off a cliff and trusting that you have wings. And

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so I did that, and I did that for really

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ten years before I ended up taking over writer role,

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and then we changed the name just this past April.

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We'd looked at it many times as changing it, but

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we had that brand has such equity within the marketplace

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that we were hesitant to do it. But then we

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realize now is the time. We're a much larger organization

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certainly than we were back then. And also we do

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a lot of strategy as well as content creation, so

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that we really and there's a lot of us. We're right,

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a girl. It's really easy to think it's one person,

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which obviously it's not. So that's how we landed with

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the content strategy and creation.

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Okay, fantastic, fantastic, And do I have it right that

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you are still focused on just healthcare and hospitals.

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Yes, yeah, largely. Really big hospital systems tend to be

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our larger clients, and then also agencies and businesses that

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serve those large clients. By the way, there's not very

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many small hospitals anymore. They've been kind of gone by

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the wayside, gobbled up.

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I remember when we first met and we talked about

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having you come on my podcast. I recall you saying

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something about why what it was about the healthcare and hospitals,

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why that was such a good fit for you, and

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why it was important for you to serve that particular segment.

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Yeah, it was funny, you know, luck is preparation meeting opportunity,

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and this was not a key thing actually, But right

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about as I started building it and really focusing on healthcare,

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both of my parents were diagnosed with cancer within a

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month of each other. And I realized at the time,

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because we were just kind of getting into healthcare, we

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weren't fully into it yet exclusively, and I realized that

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there is so much information out there that's just not accurate,

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and it's very easy and as you know, even more

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so now, we are just inundated with information, and especially

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back at the time this would have been about two

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thousand and eight or so, that people just didn't even

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know where to go to get accurate information. And it

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was kind of happening at the time when we moved

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in this area that a lot of hospitals were emerging

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they were doing complete website overhauls, So we kind of

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jumped in right at the right time when they needed

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content help, and there wasn't anybody else doing it at

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the time. Now there's quite a few. But when I

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started doing it, we actually created a new category. And

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again I didn't even know that until in retrospect, when

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I realized it was a new category. Because I had

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to explain what we were doing by telling them what

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we were not so that they could understand it. And

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so so yeah, that's kind of the origin story. Yeah,

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and I appreciate that.

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And I think you also mentioned something about just having

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a heart for people who are trying to find information

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at a time when it's they're not they don't feel

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good there, right, They're in dire straits oftentimes, and to

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try to make it make it easier for them too.

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No one's looking for health converse, I mean health content

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from a hospital, you know, surgical things diagnosed, these things

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like that, because they're in a good place now. Of course,

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there's a whole different area which we also write about

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for hospitals largely is wellness and things like that. That's different.

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But yeah, and it was really largely because of what

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I was going through and really being able to empathize

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with with you know, what a loved one is ill.

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You really want to be able to make good health

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care decisions, and you need to get good information in

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order to be able to do that.

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Yeah, yeah, I really, I really of course, you know

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the purpose girl in me is that just makes my

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heart saying of course, so I'm right.

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And so thank you.

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And now, of course I would be remiss if I

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didn't if I let you come finish off this interview

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and go off air without us talking about the fact

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that you are, if I have this right, a purely

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remote or remotely run organization. You don't have an office

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in which people come to go.

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To work, correct? We have always been that way? Yeah?

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And what was behind that?

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Why? Why not?

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Because you are a weirdo, you know in today's world,

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I know to be to be blunt. I didn't want

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an office because I didn't want to have to go there.

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I loved being a freelancer and you know, working in

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casual clothes and working in my home, and I always

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felt the integration of my life and my work, and

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I wanted to continue doing that. And then as the

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organization grew, I really wanted to offer that to employees too,

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so that they knew that, you know, if you want

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to throw on a load of wash, if you need

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to take your dog for a quick walk, that you

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are you have an agency over your own time. And

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you definitely have more agency when you are in your

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own home or wherever you choose to go. A lot

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of people will cowork, you know, the ones who are

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in the same city will go meet at a coffee

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shop or something and do things like that. So there

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are ways of building community without necessarily having an office

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and a water cooler.

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Really really, really really applawed this, Christie. My first book

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came out in twenty twenty. It's called Purpose Ignited. And

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of course, you know, we were full swing in the

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pandemic when that happened. And part of what I wrote

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in that book that I was so cognizant to so

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present to as a social scientist as well, is how

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people had their this moment to kind of take stock

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of their lives. How do they want to work, how

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do they want to connect, how they want to be

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with their families. And I say, I remember witnessing in

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my front big windows what I call moving caravans and reconnection.

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And so it was people from from my neighborhood. You

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know that the adults strolling along sipping on something, and

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the children, you know, merely coming along with them on

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their tricycles or bicycles or skateboards or whatever. And the

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pet's merely coming along as well. And I thought, nobody's

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going to want to give this up right, and so well,

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I really really appreciated, applaud that you have made this

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a mainstay. It started with what you wanted, but then

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now you extend this to the people that work with you,

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and I am so just amazed how these companies are

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now requiring a mandate return to office five days a

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week or you're out kind of things.

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I know, I think that's in my experience, I would

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think that would be a very large mistake. People don't

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like giving up freedom right right, and and so you know,

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I liked what you said before you said work life integration.

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I like the phrase work life harmony, where you know

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you can make a harmonious connection between the elements of

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your life. So I just really want to applaud that.

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And then let me let me go one step further,

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Christy on that you've clearly, you know, created a very

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successful organization operating.

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The way that you do.

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I would venture you do need to be a bit

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more proactive at least in your your your communittion or

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how you connect with people to keep that the culture alive,

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working operating. So can you just give us a couple

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of tips or what are you doing to really make

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your remote culture work.

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You know, it's grown up over the years. And what

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I always say now is that you know, I cast

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the vision for the culture, but the employees live it

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out and if they didn't, it wouldn't be this amazing culture.

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And so with their own impetus. There are several like

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small groups. There's a book club and they meet virtually

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in a zoom meeting and I think they do it

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over lunch. We also have something called Kindness Counts where

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we get in person the people who are in town

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in person go and do community service in various places

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so that we have things that we do together as

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a group. We have a monthly all hands meeting and

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in that meeting, prior to the meeting, our HR coordinator

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will ask, will tell everyone the value this month that

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we're going to talk about or recognize is empowered because

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we are empowered, curious, kind, and fun, And we ask

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people how they have demonstrated empower empowered and not how

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have they felt empowered because that's that's switched in the brand,

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And how did you act kind? How did you have

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fun or create fun? So we'll she'll pick one of

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the values and they just kind of go through them

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and then people. She solicits nominations for someone to win.

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We call it the Wuhu Cup, but for someone to

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win that award at the meeting, and whoever submits a submission,

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they write a little reason why they've nominated this person

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as someone who has demonstrated empowerment or fund or curiosity,

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whatever happens to be. And so that way it accomplishes

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several things. First of all, employees get to give each

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other kudos and recognize each other. It keeps the values

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top of mind, and it makes it's a fun way

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to end the meeting. We always end the meeting with that,

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and you know, it's a little presentation and all the thing,

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and then the award they get it. We used to

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have a cup that we had to figure out how

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to get around to people, but I think one of

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the employee's daughters decided she really liked it and kept

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did so she has just a toy. And then we

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started getting Haley, the HR coordinator started getting some sort

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of small reward that would correspond with what the value was.

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How lovely, I really appreciate that.

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I do want to talk more about your culture here,

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but let's take our first break. I'm your host doctor

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Elise Cortes. We've been on the air with Christine Pretzinger.

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She's the CEO of WG Content, the nationally recognized health

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care content consultancy. We've been talking a bit about how

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she got her got herself into that business and now

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how she's been growing it.

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After your break, you're going to hear more about how

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she keeps it alive and thriving. We'll be right back.

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Doctor 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 a greater purpose stakeholders and develop purpose inspired

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leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and

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commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to invite

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a lease to speak to your organization, please visit her

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at elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get

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your employees working on purpose. This is working on Purpose

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with doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today or

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to open a conversation with Elise, send an email to

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Alise A Lisee at elisecortes dot com. Now back to

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working on Purpose.

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Thanks for stating with us and welcome back to Working

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on Purpose. I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes As I

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am dedicated to help and create a world where people

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realize your potential. At work are led by inspirational leaders

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that help them find and contribute their greatness, and we

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do business that betters the world. I keep researching and

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writing my own books, so my last one came out

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in March of twenty twenty three. It's called The Great Vitalization.

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How activating meaning and purpose can radically in liven your business.

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And I've wanted to help leaders understand kind of what.

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Christ and I've been talking about.

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What do people want today from the workplace and what

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do they how can they be motivated to give their best?

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And then I offer twenty two best practices to help

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you build that into your culture to create that for them.

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You can find my books on Amazon, and you can

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see more about them on my website Gustodashow dot com.

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If you are just now joining us.

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My guest is Christi Pretzinger, who is about to release

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a book at Chico author called Your Cultural Balance Sheet,

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Keys to Creating an Environment where people can thrive. I

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can't wait to read that. I'm sure we will be

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very aligned up on that, Christie. So where I want

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to go next, and you already you've already qued it up.

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For us here.

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But I do know in both our first conversation and

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of course it's all over your website, that you have

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really built your business on the platform of kindness. Why

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is kindness so important to you and how are you

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actually living that in your business?

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I love that question, Alie. Thank you for asking it,

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because the first time it was asked of me it

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was a little while back, and no one had ever

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asked me that before. I think about it. And actually

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the follow up question that that gentleman asked was did

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you work for unkind people? I said, I think about it,

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and I was like, you know, no, I did not

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work for unkind people, but I realized that the structures

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within which they worked did not foster kindness. And so

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again in retrospect, I can look and see the impact

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that that has had on the structure of WG content,

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how we've actually built it and the things that we do.

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To your previous question about how do you create a

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culture virtually, is that we engineer the structure to allow

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for the magic of the weaving of the tapestry. So

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we have a pod structure, as some businesses do. So

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we have pods, but then we also engineer it so

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that there are meetings between similar roles across pods, so

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that they're not siloed, so that they can can share

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information and find out if they're working on parallel projects,

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that they can share different tips about how something has

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worked or not worked for them, you know, things like that. So, yeah,

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that did that into your question.

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You know, let's hoek a little bit deeper, though, what

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does kindness mean to you?

401
00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:20.400
You know, it's it's it's nuanced, do isn't it. There's

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a lot a lot to it. I think a lot

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of it is kind of what you led with. And

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I know you've said this in speaking also in your

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introduction about people need to know that they matter. And

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I believe that to the core of my being, that

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that is a common human need and it doesn't matter

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whether it's work, family, friends, whatever, people need to know

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that they matter. And so that's always been important to me.

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And I think in terms of the kindness piece, again

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didn't work for unkind people, but I think it just

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is kind of who I am, and I am always

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seeking ways to be kind, you know, buying lunch for

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someone standing behind you in line and not telling them

415
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that you've done it, you know, those little kinds of things.

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It's somebody I've heard somebody once say it's like the

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helpers high. Being kind makes you feel good about yourself,

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you know, boos your self esteem. So it's kind of

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a win win. So when as the business grew, I

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had said, if I couldn't build a business based on kindness,

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I would go back to being a freelance writer. But again,

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as you know, when you start building a business, you're

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wearing all the hats. You know, you're selling, you're operating,

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you're doing accounting, you're doing all the things. So while

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that was my intention, I didn't think about it a

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whole lot. The business based on kindness is really about

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the fact of who I am and the way I

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want to live my life. And I was always someone

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who sought out ways to be coming. And I think

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that the people as they were joining the organization, as

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we were building it, they vibed with that, they liked that,

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and then as a result, especially at the very beginning,

433
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but it still happens now, employees would refer people they

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had worked with before, or friends that were appropriate for

435
00:21:55.880 --> 00:21:58.359
you know, a certain position, things like that, and so

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00:21:58.440 --> 00:22:01.119
we've grown very much by that. So there's a lot

437
00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:02.559
of like mindedness in it.

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And that's one of the great things about culture, as

439
00:22:05.480 --> 00:22:07.960
you know, right, is that when we really live our

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purpose of values, people either opt ended up because they

441
00:22:11.799 --> 00:22:13.880
like it. It resonates with them where they say no thanks

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to want any of that kind of thing. I'll go

443
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down where you know people are direct and short and

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terists or whatever.

445
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Yeah, people those are my jam.

446
00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:27.240
Right, Okay, So let's talk about your other three values

447
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as well, and I'd love for you to bring them

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to life because I just I think one of the

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things I love to do when I'm working with organizations

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and leaders is to help them discover or find additional

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00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:39.519
ways they can really live and reward their values among

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their teams. So one of one which really really aligns

453
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with mind. In fact, it is one of my values

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as well, and that's empowered or empowerment. Well, first, first,

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what does that mean to you and why is it important?

456
00:22:53.319 --> 00:22:56.720
You know, empowerment is for me, a lot of it

457
00:22:56.759 --> 00:22:59.839
is about agency over your own behavior, your own action,

458
00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:02.799
is your own thoughts all of those things. And the

459
00:23:03.160 --> 00:23:05.240
tag that we have for is we think like owners,

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so that people are empowered to make decisions. They don't

461
00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:12.400
need to run something every little thing by someone. If

462
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they have a question about something or of the authority

463
00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:17.559
that they have in a certain situation, obviously they can

464
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ask on that. But you know, I recognize very fully

465
00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:23.839
and I say this frequently in our team meetings, and

466
00:23:24.039 --> 00:23:26.759
I have small meetings with the different groups as well,

467
00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:30.000
and I say that you know you wouldn't be here

468
00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:33.759
if you weren't extremely intelligent and capable and competent. So

469
00:23:34.119 --> 00:23:38.119
you are empowered to use your considerable talents in the

470
00:23:38.119 --> 00:23:40.839
way that you deem appropriate. I trust you to do that,

471
00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:44.920
so that that sort of encapsulates empowerment for me.

472
00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:49.319
And then how do you champion that in your organization? Besides,

473
00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:52.160
of course, you know those one went conversations and I

474
00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:54.640
would imagine that you know that living in a day

475
00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:57.160
to day basis, But how do you champion that and

476
00:23:57.319 --> 00:23:59.599
ensure that it's actually being lived in your organization?

477
00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:02.480
As I mentioned earlier, we do recognize a value in

478
00:24:02.559 --> 00:24:04.519
every team meeting, which is once a month, so that

479
00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:07.039
helps keep them top of mind. But not only that.

480
00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:10.799
We have a week newsletter excuse me, that comes out

481
00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:13.839
every two weeks in internal. It's called the WG Roundup,

482
00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:17.359
and again people are asked to you know, it's really

483
00:24:17.400 --> 00:24:19.519
just internal what's happening with people, because we're not in

484
00:24:19.559 --> 00:24:21.880
an office whose kid is going to college or won

485
00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:24.240
an award, or you're going on vacation whatever. It's all

486
00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:27.319
those personal things. And we also have a section in

487
00:24:27.359 --> 00:24:30.480
that newsletter that is for kudos employee to employee, and

488
00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:33.279
it's really interesting because probably almost fully half of that

489
00:24:33.319 --> 00:24:36.400
newsletter is people giving each other kudos around these values.

490
00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:39.400
So again it does keep it top of mind, and

491
00:24:39.880 --> 00:24:42.680
it's really it's lovely to see how people live these out.

492
00:24:42.759 --> 00:24:45.440
Every single person. If you ask them what the values are,

493
00:24:45.480 --> 00:24:47.759
they would tell you, oh, we're empowered, curious, kind and fun.

494
00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:51.240
And they would say, what's your mission, Oh, building relationships

495
00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:54.079
one word at a time. Everybody knows that, there's no

496
00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:58.000
question about it. We talk about it frequently. Like I said,

497
00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:01.440
it's in our newsletter. Again, engineer the processes and structure

498
00:25:01.720 --> 00:25:04.039
to allow for the weaving of the magic of the culture.

499
00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:05.960
And so that's how we keep those top of mind.

500
00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:10.920
Sounds good to me. Do you have any openings? I

501
00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:14.039
think you're doing just fine on your own. Okay, okay, okay.

502
00:25:14.599 --> 00:25:15.799
I've said that.

503
00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:18.079
I was without speaking to a group of Fidelity investments

504
00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:20.599
some months ago and I said that in one of

505
00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:22.519
the people in the audience said, I think you should

506
00:25:22.519 --> 00:25:23.480
stay doing what you're doing.

507
00:25:23.759 --> 00:25:27.079
Yeah, okay, well let's talk about curious.

508
00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:29.839
That also is a fantastic value and not one of

509
00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:31.559
my top ten, but I like it.

510
00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:35.400
Yeah, it's curiosity is probably again we did this. This

511
00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:37.079
was a group effort. It wasn't just me coming up

512
00:25:37.079 --> 00:25:38.920
with values, which, by the way, in my own experience,

513
00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:41.160
I highly recommend doing it that way because then you

514
00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:43.240
get buy in from the people. Because if this was

515
00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:45.480
many years ago, so not nearly as many people, but

516
00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:48.039
you're buy in from people like this is how we

517
00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:50.119
define ourselves. This is who we are as a people.

518
00:25:50.480 --> 00:25:54.160
So when it comes to curiosity, there's a lot around curiosity.

519
00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:58.319
We're curious about each other personally. We're curious about the

520
00:25:58.359 --> 00:26:01.680
work that we do, and actually curious about our clients

521
00:26:02.440 --> 00:26:05.279
personally as well as the project that we're working on.

522
00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:09.640
We're curious about challenges or opportunities they have within their

523
00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:12.839
organization that we might be able to that we should

524
00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:17.359
know about if there's a certain sandbox issue that comes

525
00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:20.319
into play. We like knowing about that because it helps

526
00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:23.359
us understand where they're coming from and what our role

527
00:26:23.400 --> 00:26:26.759
can be to help that. And also we're curious about

528
00:26:26.839 --> 00:26:30.319
new things. Everybody's always curious. AI obviously is all over

529
00:26:30.359 --> 00:26:32.480
the place since chat GBT came out. Everybody thinks that

530
00:26:32.759 --> 00:26:34.960
chat GBT that is the only aid there is and

531
00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:37.160
that it's writing, which we all know is actually more

532
00:26:37.160 --> 00:26:40.279
than that. We've been using AI for years in many things,

533
00:26:40.279 --> 00:26:42.160
but the writing element is a tool, is a piece

534
00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:45.400
of it. So we have an AI champion. She's actually

535
00:26:45.480 --> 00:26:49.680
our digital Director of Digital Activity, but she's our AI Champion,

536
00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:53.359
and their teams within the organization put together to look

537
00:26:53.400 --> 00:26:55.200
into how to use it more effectively as a tool,

538
00:26:55.240 --> 00:26:57.160
What different kinds of things can we do. We're curious

539
00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:00.759
about the effect that might have on our business and

540
00:27:00.839 --> 00:27:04.079
the world going forward. I find curiosity is a good

541
00:27:04.079 --> 00:27:07.200
way to stave off fear as well. You become curious

542
00:27:07.200 --> 00:27:10.079
and you get more information. Fear often stems from a

543
00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:13.039
lack of knowledge, you know, a fear of something you

544
00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:16.240
don't really the unknown, right, so if you learn more

545
00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:18.799
about it, it helps stave off that fear too.

546
00:27:20.039 --> 00:27:23.640
I love the idea of just you know, cultivating curiosity

547
00:27:23.640 --> 00:27:26.079
everywhere you go and rewarding it and just you know,

548
00:27:26.160 --> 00:27:29.960
I just I got the image of you, you know,

549
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:32.440
as an organization, just all of these little, you know,

550
00:27:32.759 --> 00:27:35.720
curious people that are peering around and just it's a

551
00:27:35.720 --> 00:27:39.400
workful image just to like, thanks, you're welcome.

552
00:27:39.480 --> 00:27:39.920
You're welcome.

553
00:27:39.960 --> 00:27:41.920
Then, of course, related to that for me, of course,

554
00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:43.559
is the last value. Fun.

555
00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:47.119
We're fantastic value to have. Yeah, well we try to

556
00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:49.839
have fun and we do a lot of fun things.

557
00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:52.720
One time, it was my birthday and we were having

558
00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:55.240
we're having a Zoom meeting, and everybody came on and

559
00:27:55.279 --> 00:27:57.000
nobody had their cameras on, and that's not part of

560
00:27:57.000 --> 00:27:58.640
our culture. So I was like, well, that's weird. So

561
00:27:58.680 --> 00:28:00.240
I turned mine off too. I'm like, why I used

562
00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:02.079
to bring up their cameras off. Well, then it come

563
00:28:02.119 --> 00:28:04.000
to find out they all turned their cameras on at

564
00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:05.599
the same time, and they all had like I think

565
00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:08.000
they might have had hats on or something, and like

566
00:28:08.119 --> 00:28:09.839
signs that said happy birthday and all that kind of

567
00:28:09.880 --> 00:28:12.160
stuff just I mean, that's not a big deal, but

568
00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:14.440
it was fun. It was a fun surprise for me.

569
00:28:14.759 --> 00:28:17.960
And they'll do things like that frequently on our team meetings,

570
00:28:17.960 --> 00:28:20.519
like on Halloween we had wonder most people came in

571
00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:25.319
some sort of costume. They'll frequently do little coworking, even

572
00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:28.160
if it's just online co work together because then you've

573
00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:29.759
got somebody that you feel like you're in the same

574
00:28:29.839 --> 00:28:33.279
room with someone. And also it's a way to build

575
00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:37.640
relationships but also ask questions in the curiosity, but also

576
00:28:37.799 --> 00:28:40.319
be like, hey, I'm doing this thing here. Do any

577
00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:42.000
of you guys have a shortcut or a way that

578
00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:44.440
you do it that's better than what I do? And

579
00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:47.319
that's curious. But it's also fun to learn some and

580
00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:48.839
be like, oh wow, I can't believe I didn't know

581
00:28:48.839 --> 00:28:51.640
how to do that. So we try and weave it

582
00:28:51.720 --> 00:28:54.359
into everything that we do, because while you know, work

583
00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:58.160
is sometimes difficult, especially with our clients, we really try

584
00:28:58.200 --> 00:29:01.920
to make it enjoyable and fun. And in the different

585
00:29:02.200 --> 00:29:04.720
surveys that we do of our clients, one of the

586
00:29:04.759 --> 00:29:06.799
things that comes up besides that, I mean, there are

587
00:29:06.839 --> 00:29:08.279
other people, as I said, that do what we do

588
00:29:08.359 --> 00:29:09.880
now and they do it fine, they do it well.

589
00:29:10.599 --> 00:29:12.279
I still think we're the gold standard, but they do

590
00:29:12.319 --> 00:29:15.559
it well. But why people choose us, They frequently say,

591
00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:18.440
it's because we really enjoy working with the people. You know,

592
00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:21.279
it's not transactional, and we're not someone who comes in

593
00:29:21.319 --> 00:29:23.400
and tells them you're doing everything wrong. Here's what you

594
00:29:23.480 --> 00:29:25.440
got to do. We very much meet them where they

595
00:29:25.480 --> 00:29:28.960
are and help them get where they need to go. Delightful.

596
00:29:29.160 --> 00:29:29.880
Sounds good to me.

597
00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:32.519
And then one of the things that we talked about

598
00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:35.880
when we first met that you can't again leave without

599
00:29:35.880 --> 00:29:38.880
talking about, and that is your I would say, fixation

600
00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:42.319
on the role of self awareness in leadership. So where

601
00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:44.880
did that come from? Why is that on your radar?

602
00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:48.359
Let's start there, and why is self awareness so important?

603
00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:51.440
Yeah, it is a fixation. I appreciate you saying that,

604
00:29:51.480 --> 00:29:55.839
because it is. It became so as you know, as

605
00:29:55.920 --> 00:29:58.480
you get older, you develop wisdom, but as you're on

606
00:29:58.559 --> 00:30:01.079
the way, you start realizing seeing you have some gaps.

607
00:30:01.200 --> 00:30:04.359
I started studying the enneagram, which is you're probably familiar with,

608
00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:09.240
but FUS personality typing program that the reason I am

609
00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:12.079
so attracted to is because it looks at motivation as

610
00:30:12.119 --> 00:30:14.680
opposed to behavior, because behaviors can look similar, but why

611
00:30:14.759 --> 00:30:18.319
we behave the way we do. So when I started

612
00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:21.240
learning about my Enneagram type, of course it was a

613
00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:23.400
big part of it. I was like, oh, yak, which

614
00:30:23.400 --> 00:30:25.480
is how you know it's actually your type? And I

615
00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:28.519
started learning about you know, as an adult, I can

616
00:30:28.519 --> 00:30:31.880
moderate my behavior. There are behaviors that are that are

617
00:30:31.880 --> 00:30:36.279
innate to me that can be terribly off putting, particularly

618
00:30:36.319 --> 00:30:39.440
as a leader. So I started really working with that.

619
00:30:40.119 --> 00:30:43.000
And at the same time, I was working with a

620
00:30:43.079 --> 00:30:45.400
coach and she had said to me at one point

621
00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:47.359
the company was still called Writer Girl, and she had said,

622
00:30:47.640 --> 00:30:50.160
writer Girl is you, and you are a writer Girl,

623
00:30:50.240 --> 00:30:52.759
and it won't grow until you do. That was a

624
00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:55.880
bound to me. And what I started doing is I

625
00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:59.319
started a daily meditation practice and I started reading even

626
00:30:59.319 --> 00:31:01.519
more books. But I didn't just read business books. I

627
00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:04.480
read some business books, but my focus really was on

628
00:31:04.519 --> 00:31:07.960
personal development with an emphasis on self awareness. So I

629
00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:09.799
did a lot of that kind of reading, a lot

630
00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:12.799
of digging. I ended up going to therapy for a

631
00:31:12.839 --> 00:31:15.440
while too, which if you have access to it, it's

632
00:31:16.200 --> 00:31:17.839
the hardest work you'll ever do and the best work

633
00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:20.920
you'll ever do. And so through all of that, you know,

634
00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:24.599
really kind of unpacking who I am and what has

635
00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:29.160
formed me. And also with the anagram, with the any gram,

636
00:31:29.160 --> 00:31:33.039
I think that because there are a sensibly only nine types,

637
00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:34.880
there's a lot more than that goes into it. But

638
00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:37.519
essensibly there's nine types. But when you learn about your

639
00:31:37.559 --> 00:31:39.759
own and you also can learn about the other ones,

640
00:31:40.039 --> 00:31:44.119
that that leaves the groundwork for radical empathy. And empathy

641
00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:46.599
is definitely part of self awareness. It's being able to

642
00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:51.599
literally put yourself in someone else's shoes and understand, you know,

643
00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:54.759
the ground on which they stand compared to that of

644
00:31:54.799 --> 00:31:57.640
your own. I find, you know, I always thought it

645
00:31:57.640 --> 00:31:59.119
was Girto, but I think of somebody else who said

646
00:31:59.160 --> 00:32:01.599
the unexamined life is not worth living. It might have

647
00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:04.000
been Amazon, I'm not sure, but in any case, it's

648
00:32:04.000 --> 00:32:06.759
one of my favorite quotes because I think that the

649
00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:11.319
ongoing development of self awareness is the work of a life.

650
00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:15.799
I mean, it's never done. Keep digging deeper and learning

651
00:32:15.880 --> 00:32:18.400
more about yourself and seeing things. I mean, in very

652
00:32:18.440 --> 00:32:21.039
recent memory, I have had many things that I've learned

653
00:32:21.079 --> 00:32:24.319
about myself and like, oh wow, that's interesting. You know

654
00:32:24.440 --> 00:32:27.400
how it's very easy to get in your own viewpoint

655
00:32:27.480 --> 00:32:30.079
of something and miss what is right in front of you,

656
00:32:30.440 --> 00:32:33.160
right and totally miss it, and it was right there

657
00:32:33.559 --> 00:32:36.319
the whole time. So you know something, you just keep learning.

658
00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:38.359
And I think that when you become more self aware,

659
00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:41.920
you become a better person, and you become a better employee,

660
00:32:42.000 --> 00:32:45.359
but you just become a better friend, a better human being.

661
00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:48.759
And that's really what my mission really is, which kind

662
00:32:48.759 --> 00:32:51.200
of aligns with yours, which is reinventing the way people

663
00:32:51.200 --> 00:32:53.400
look at the world of work, and that has to

664
00:32:53.400 --> 00:32:55.519
start with the human beings. They have to be better

665
00:32:55.640 --> 00:32:59.000
humans in order to make the world of work a

666
00:32:59.000 --> 00:32:59.920
more joyful place.

667
00:33:00.759 --> 00:33:03.839
Completely agree, and I'm going to pepper back just after

668
00:33:03.880 --> 00:33:05.559
we come back from our last break here because I

669
00:33:05.599 --> 00:33:08.759
have more to drill on that probably we can make

670
00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:11.359
a whole show just out of that one topic. I'm

671
00:33:11.400 --> 00:33:14.160
your host, Doctornlie's Cortez. We've run here with Christi Pretzinger.

672
00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:17.880
She's the CEO of WG Content, a nationally recognized healthcare

673
00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:20.960
content consultancy. We've been talking a bit about the importance

674
00:33:21.039 --> 00:33:24.599
of how she lives her company values. After the break,

675
00:33:24.599 --> 00:33:26.119
we're going to dig a little bit deeper into what

676
00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:28.319
we were just talking about the self awareness piece, but

677
00:33:28.400 --> 00:33:31.640
also talk about why focusing only on the bottom line

678
00:33:31.720 --> 00:33:32.640
is apparent thinking.

679
00:33:32.759 --> 00:33:33.559
We'll be right back.

680
00:33:48.799 --> 00:33:52.359
Doctor Elise Cortez is a management consultant specializing in meaning

681
00:33:52.400 --> 00:33:56.200
and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author. She helps companies

682
00:33:56.319 --> 00:33:59.559
visioneer for a greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose

683
00:33:59.599 --> 00:34:04.000
inspired leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance,

684
00:34:04.039 --> 00:34:07.079
and commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to

685
00:34:07.160 --> 00:34:10.039
invite a lease to speed to your organization, please visit

686
00:34:10.079 --> 00:34:13.280
her at elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to

687
00:34:13.320 --> 00:34:21.840
get your employees working on purpose. This is working on

688
00:34:21.920 --> 00:34:25.480
Purpose with doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today

689
00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:28.360
or to open a conversation with Elise, send an email

690
00:34:28.440 --> 00:34:33.519
to a lease a lisee at elisecortes dot com. Now

691
00:34:33.760 --> 00:34:35.360
back to working on Purpose.

692
00:34:40.920 --> 00:34:42.320
Thank you for staying with us, and welcome back to

693
00:34:42.360 --> 00:34:45.039
working on Purpose. I'm your host, Doctor release Cortes. I

694
00:34:45.119 --> 00:34:47.199
mentioned in the last break that my last book came

695
00:34:47.239 --> 00:34:50.599
out in March twenty three, called a Great Vitalization. What

696
00:34:50.679 --> 00:34:52.400
I did for you is I created a three page

697
00:34:52.440 --> 00:34:55.440
assessment that you've been download from my website customdationnel dot

698
00:34:55.480 --> 00:34:57.559
com and you will help you entertain the extent to

699
00:34:57.559 --> 00:35:00.400
which your current culture is meeting the needs of today's

700
00:35:00.440 --> 00:35:03.800
discerning workforce. If you are just now joining us. My

701
00:35:03.840 --> 00:35:06.679
guest is Christy Pretzinger, who is about to release a

702
00:35:06.760 --> 00:35:09.840
book she co author called Your Cultural Balance Sheet, Keys

703
00:35:09.880 --> 00:35:13.480
to Creating an Environment where people can thrive. So back

704
00:35:13.480 --> 00:35:16.039
to what we were saying before the break, starting with

705
00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:18.159
the idea of the role and the importance of self

706
00:35:18.199 --> 00:35:20.679
awareness and leadership and certainly in life to be a

707
00:35:20.679 --> 00:35:23.639
better human. I recently had in my podcast someone that

708
00:35:23.679 --> 00:35:25.480
I think you would probably really be interested in. His

709
00:35:25.559 --> 00:35:28.920
name is doctor Josi Amren, and he is all about

710
00:35:28.960 --> 00:35:32.440
developing spiritually intelligent leaders. And of course what he means

711
00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:35.639
by that and that aligance with my work also is

712
00:35:35.679 --> 00:35:39.199
developing leaders who are compassionate, who are kind, who are passionate,

713
00:35:39.239 --> 00:35:42.440
who are focused on purpose and goodness, and you know,

714
00:35:42.480 --> 00:35:44.480
so many things that are that higher level that most

715
00:35:44.519 --> 00:35:47.280
of the you know, the ancient traditions or faith would

716
00:35:47.320 --> 00:35:50.960
recognize as being ideals. And I love that, I love

717
00:35:51.039 --> 00:35:53.239
champion that I'm trying to do the same thing for myself,

718
00:35:53.280 --> 00:35:55.480
and I do think that makes us better leaders.

719
00:35:55.519 --> 00:35:57.199
So I just wanted to celebrate.

720
00:35:57.079 --> 00:35:58.880
What you're doing there and that why that you know

721
00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:00.880
that your fixation on that is just I think so

722
00:36:01.199 --> 00:36:02.239
such a healthy fixation.

723
00:36:03.840 --> 00:36:05.679
Yes, and it is a fixation, And in fact, I

724
00:36:05.719 --> 00:36:08.239
love what you just said with that, gentleman. I haven't

725
00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:09.559
had a chance to listen to that one, but I

726
00:36:09.559 --> 00:36:12.559
will for sure. I also am a fan of Ryan Holliday,

727
00:36:12.599 --> 00:36:14.639
who is the Stoic, the guy who writes all of

728
00:36:14.679 --> 00:36:19.239
the daily Stoic and ego is you know, the but

729
00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:23.280
I said, the ego is the obstacle obsolet anyway, he's

730
00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:25.039
great if anybody hasn't read him. But it's very much

731
00:36:25.079 --> 00:36:28.159
the same thing. There's virtues, you know that that we

732
00:36:28.199 --> 00:36:30.800
are called we are we have a duty to be good.

733
00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:34.280
We have a duty to do what is right and

734
00:36:34.360 --> 00:36:39.280
to your point, kind and compassionate and not really selfless,

735
00:36:39.360 --> 00:36:42.599
because I think that can be problematic and can create

736
00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:45.719
all sorts of side issues like codependency and things like that.

737
00:36:46.039 --> 00:36:50.159
But being being really really aware of the needs of others,

738
00:36:50.199 --> 00:36:52.480
and that you don't have main character syndrome, you know

739
00:36:52.519 --> 00:36:55.719
where you're the most important person in every room. I

740
00:36:55.760 --> 00:36:57.320
love that. I've never heard that before. Christy.

741
00:36:57.559 --> 00:37:00.360
That is eminitely quotable. Thank you.

742
00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:01.119
Okay, well, well.

743
00:37:01.039 --> 00:37:03.679
Related to this, as if everything else we've been talking

744
00:37:03.679 --> 00:37:05.920
about hasn't already been yummy, now we're getting we have dad.

745
00:37:05.960 --> 00:37:09.079
One more other really interesting bit to the fold, and

746
00:37:09.159 --> 00:37:12.360
that's this notion of vulnerability that's also really important to you.

747
00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:17.880
Why. Yeah, you know, back in twenty ten, when Brene

748
00:37:17.960 --> 00:37:21.920
Brown did her talk on vulnerability, I would have gone

749
00:37:21.920 --> 00:37:25.159
to my grave insisting that vulnerability was weakness. I mean,

750
00:37:25.199 --> 00:37:27.639
I just didn't know any better. I mean ten years ago,

751
00:37:27.960 --> 00:37:30.639
I had no idea. And you know, I always say

752
00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:33.760
nobody gets out of childhood without bruises, and so the

753
00:37:33.760 --> 00:37:36.760
ones that I had were things that you don't really

754
00:37:36.760 --> 00:37:39.400
show people your vulnerability because it felt like weakness and

755
00:37:39.440 --> 00:37:42.039
they'll use it against you. So I was like, no,

756
00:37:42.360 --> 00:37:44.800
I am not down for that. So then I listened.

757
00:37:45.119 --> 00:37:46.519
At the time, I was listening to a lot of

758
00:37:46.519 --> 00:37:48.239
Ted talks, and I came across her as I think,

759
00:37:48.239 --> 00:37:50.119
by accident, probably everybody in the world was watching it

760
00:37:50.159 --> 00:37:51.960
at the time, and I think I watched it at

761
00:37:52.039 --> 00:37:56.440
least ten times. I was so taken in by the

762
00:37:56.519 --> 00:38:00.079
whole idea of that, and I think she's such a

763
00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:02.920
brilliant speaker and is so relatable, and it really, I

764
00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:07.559
really could relate to it, and I started reading more

765
00:38:07.599 --> 00:38:09.840
about it. I started reading everything that Brene has written

766
00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:13.039
had written at the time, and continued and started really

767
00:38:13.079 --> 00:38:17.440
looking at that and trying to understand why I was

768
00:38:17.480 --> 00:38:21.639
so resistant to vulnerability. And you know, over time, I've

769
00:38:21.679 --> 00:38:24.840
come to realize that that most humans are resistant to vulnerability.

770
00:38:24.840 --> 00:38:29.079
It's not a natural inclination to want to expose your

771
00:38:29.159 --> 00:38:32.639
foils to other people. It's much more of an inclination

772
00:38:32.760 --> 00:38:35.599
to protect yourself and act like everything's great, which you

773
00:38:35.599 --> 00:38:39.599
know it never is for anybody, but so for me.

774
00:38:39.639 --> 00:38:43.519
As I learned to be more vulnerable, I realized that

775
00:38:43.559 --> 00:38:48.800
by leading with vulnerability, it encourages others to be vulnerable back.

776
00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:51.159
And it is in furtherance of our mission of building

777
00:38:51.199 --> 00:38:55.039
relationships one word at a time. I want authentic, real relationships.

778
00:38:55.079 --> 00:38:58.159
I don't want ones based like I call Facebook fake book.

779
00:38:58.280 --> 00:39:01.880
You know, I don't want that of relationship. And I

780
00:39:01.880 --> 00:39:04.159
want people to be as vulnerable as they feel comfortable being.

781
00:39:04.199 --> 00:39:06.440
They don't have to open their comment and show people everything,

782
00:39:06.880 --> 00:39:09.800
but I want to lead with vulnerability, so people know

783
00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:13.000
this is a safe space and you are allowed to

784
00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:15.559
make mistakes and you're allowed to have faults, things that

785
00:39:15.639 --> 00:39:17.960
you know, you know you're working on just like everybody

786
00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:22.440
else is. But just again the commonality of the human

787
00:39:22.480 --> 00:39:25.760
experience where no one is perfect, and as the leader

788
00:39:25.760 --> 00:39:29.400
in particular, being willing to demonstrate that actively.

789
00:39:30.519 --> 00:39:33.440
Really applaud that. I have one coaching client that I've

790
00:39:33.480 --> 00:39:36.360
been working with for years. She's an executive, and she

791
00:39:36.400 --> 00:39:40.920
has this mantra she oftentimes when she's working with people,

792
00:39:40.920 --> 00:39:44.000
and she worked in the Laurie Building is safel thousands

793
00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:48.239
of employees around the world, and she will oftentimes when

794
00:39:48.239 --> 00:39:51.320
she's connected with them, she'll say, this is me being vulnerable,

795
00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:53.559
and then she will go and share what's really on her.

796
00:39:53.920 --> 00:39:56.119
And she's doing that just in the same way to

797
00:39:56.199 --> 00:39:58.159
model it and to showcase it. And you know, it

798
00:39:58.199 --> 00:40:02.280
has been delightful to watch her just over the I

799
00:40:02.280 --> 00:40:04.920
think seven years we've been working together, her career is just,

800
00:40:05.360 --> 00:40:06.719
you know, really really taken off.

801
00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:09.760
And I think that's part of it. I would agree,

802
00:40:09.760 --> 00:40:12.719
and I think to your point that people on my

803
00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:15.679
leadership team, well, the whole organization uses the enneagram. They're

804
00:40:15.679 --> 00:40:17.440
all typed before they join, and they get a book

805
00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:19.920
and they have we've lunch and learns and things like

806
00:40:19.920 --> 00:40:22.639
that around it. And the ones who are closer to me,

807
00:40:22.679 --> 00:40:25.360
the leadership team. It has been so interesting over the

808
00:40:25.440 --> 00:40:28.440
years my CEO has been with us for twelve years

809
00:40:29.079 --> 00:40:32.719
and watching her do the work, working individually with an

810
00:40:32.800 --> 00:40:35.719
enneagram coach and now with the business coach and watching

811
00:40:35.800 --> 00:40:37.280
her and she's one of the ones who will all say,

812
00:40:37.320 --> 00:40:40.480
this is me being vulnerable, you know, And I see

813
00:40:40.480 --> 00:40:42.880
her demonstrate that, certainly to me, but also to the

814
00:40:42.880 --> 00:40:45.000
people that report terming. She runs the whole thing day

815
00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.159
to day, and it has been one of my greatest

816
00:40:49.280 --> 00:40:52.840
honors actually to watch her grow and change that way

817
00:40:52.840 --> 00:40:56.000
because she did the work. I just provided access, but

818
00:40:56.119 --> 00:40:58.400
she did the work, and that is a real joy

819
00:40:58.599 --> 00:41:03.679
to see. It is now I really can't resist. Would you?

820
00:41:03.719 --> 00:41:06.119
Are you comfortable sharing what your type is for your integrams?

821
00:41:06.239 --> 00:41:10.199
Of course, I'm a seven on the enneagram parts, Hi

822
00:41:10.320 --> 00:41:14.840
says me too. Yeah, hard right, It's like, oh gosh,

823
00:41:14.880 --> 00:41:17.000
all those things where I can just be too directive

824
00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:21.400
and move too fast and talk too fast and yeah,

825
00:41:21.559 --> 00:41:24.480
all the things that you know. The gluttony is the problem,

826
00:41:24.559 --> 00:41:27.920
and it's a gluttony with knowledge with things sometimes and

827
00:41:29.280 --> 00:41:31.880
recognizing those things. But the great part is that if

828
00:41:31.920 --> 00:41:34.039
I again I have to reframe because I'm a seven,

829
00:41:34.280 --> 00:41:38.760
everything's got to be okay. So the good thing about

830
00:41:39.039 --> 00:41:42.159
knowing those things is that I can fix them, you know,

831
00:41:42.239 --> 00:41:44.440
I can. I can moderate those But if I didn't

832
00:41:44.480 --> 00:41:47.199
know I was doing that, I'd be walking around offending

833
00:41:47.199 --> 00:41:50.280
my my team all the time, right, and that would

834
00:41:50.280 --> 00:41:54.119
be so bad, so many reasons.

835
00:41:54.920 --> 00:41:57.519
One of the things I like about the integram is

836
00:41:57.559 --> 00:41:59.159
you know the nine levels, and so when you get

837
00:41:59.159 --> 00:42:02.039
in those higher levels, some more healthy behaviors, healthy ways

838
00:42:02.039 --> 00:42:05.480
of being, you can better moderate those things. So anyway,

839
00:42:05.639 --> 00:42:08.440
just was very curious, because you've now mentioned it twice.

840
00:42:08.679 --> 00:42:11.639
I'm going in, yeah, all right, all right, now, I

841
00:42:11.760 --> 00:42:14.599
really this is just an irresistible question. And what was

842
00:42:14.800 --> 00:42:18.000
again it came up in our first exchange, this notion

843
00:42:18.079 --> 00:42:21.519
that you have of of how what it is to

844
00:42:21.960 --> 00:42:23.800
just focus on the bottom line, which for you is

845
00:42:23.920 --> 00:42:25.000
aberrant thinking.

846
00:42:25.559 --> 00:42:28.840
Help us understand why. Yeah, you know it's funny and

847
00:42:28.960 --> 00:42:32.039
you might experience the same thing with your sevenness, But

848
00:42:32.119 --> 00:42:35.239
I sometimes I'm such a verbal processor that sometimes I

849
00:42:35.239 --> 00:42:36.880
don't know what I think until I say it, Like

850
00:42:36.920 --> 00:42:39.440
it occurs to me, I'm like, oh, that's the title

851
00:42:39.440 --> 00:42:41.119
of the book. Came up because I just happened to say,

852
00:42:41.280 --> 00:42:43.199
you know, I look at my business through the lens

853
00:42:43.239 --> 00:42:44.760
of a cultural balance. And I was like, oh, well,

854
00:42:44.760 --> 00:42:47.280
that's the title of the book. And the same thing

855
00:42:47.280 --> 00:42:49.000
with the aberin thinking. I was in a small group

856
00:42:49.119 --> 00:42:51.559
meeting with some employees I do from time to time.

857
00:42:51.800 --> 00:42:53.599
We don't have that many people that I can't meet

858
00:42:53.679 --> 00:42:56.119
with them and just talk about the world of the book,

859
00:42:56.159 --> 00:42:58.559
whatever work is going on. So we were talking one

860
00:42:58.599 --> 00:43:00.800
day and I was talking about the book and I said,

861
00:43:00.840 --> 00:43:04.320
you know, it occurs to me that looking at your

862
00:43:04.360 --> 00:43:06.880
business only through the lens of the bottom line is

863
00:43:06.880 --> 00:43:10.559
actually aberin thinking, because we're talking about our culture. And

864
00:43:10.599 --> 00:43:12.519
I said, I'm a firm believer and in my own experience,

865
00:43:12.559 --> 00:43:16.360
I know it to be true that people are wired,

866
00:43:16.519 --> 00:43:21.440
hardwired to connect. We're hardwired for relationship. That is who

867
00:43:21.480 --> 00:43:24.760
we are as human beings. And if you look at

868
00:43:24.760 --> 00:43:27.960
your business and devoid of that piece and only at

869
00:43:28.000 --> 00:43:31.119
the bottom line, certainly you can be very successful. You know,

870
00:43:31.199 --> 00:43:34.679
two unpleasant people in my opinion, Elon Musk and Jeff

871
00:43:34.679 --> 00:43:37.840
Bezos come to mind. They've done brilliantly with their businesses,

872
00:43:37.880 --> 00:43:39.800
and I don't think either of them give a wit

873
00:43:39.880 --> 00:43:42.800
about any of their people. So clearly you can have

874
00:43:42.840 --> 00:43:45.599
a successful business by looking at the bottom line. But

875
00:43:45.639 --> 00:43:48.679
for me it doesn't bring joy. I mean, my humanity

876
00:43:48.760 --> 00:43:51.679
is tied into this business, my life, get it. Yeah,

877
00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:54.719
and it's so I want there. Yes, we need to

878
00:43:54.760 --> 00:43:57.199
make money. Yes, we are a for profit organization. We

879
00:43:57.280 --> 00:43:58.840
need to make money so that I can continue to

880
00:43:58.840 --> 00:44:01.119
give people raises that we can grow, so we have

881
00:44:01.199 --> 00:44:03.880
career pathing for the employees that we do have. But

882
00:44:04.360 --> 00:44:08.960
my driver for the growth and for more money is

883
00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:11.719
not about buying more shoes, and it's certainly not about power.

884
00:44:13.280 --> 00:44:16.519
I think that those are okay, this is just my

885
00:44:16.559 --> 00:44:18.719
own experience. I think people that focus on their money

886
00:44:18.800 --> 00:44:21.519
probably could benefit from a good therapist, because there's a

887
00:44:21.519 --> 00:44:23.440
lot of things that they're not maybe looking at.

888
00:44:24.320 --> 00:44:27.960
You're right, you, my dear, I'm sure probably know this

889
00:44:28.199 --> 00:44:29.840
or maybe already embrace it.

890
00:44:29.960 --> 00:44:34.519
You're a conscious capitalist. Yes, yes, I am very much.

891
00:44:34.760 --> 00:44:36.760
I am the embodiment of that, and I think it's

892
00:44:36.840 --> 00:44:38.760
kind of a shame that we don't use that in

893
00:44:38.800 --> 00:44:41.559
the real world anymore. Because I always like when I

894
00:44:41.599 --> 00:44:44.000
talk to people about anything, and if I'm sounding liberal

895
00:44:44.039 --> 00:44:46.360
about sorry, I may I remind you that I own

896
00:44:46.400 --> 00:44:50.239
a business, so I'm by definition of capitalists, and I

897
00:44:50.360 --> 00:44:52.639
anybody else here, you know own a business usually like no,

898
00:44:52.679 --> 00:44:55.599
I'm like, okay, so my definition, I'm the capitalist here,

899
00:44:56.000 --> 00:44:58.320
you know. But I think that I think, as you

900
00:44:58.360 --> 00:45:01.960
say in your introduction and in your commercial set, you know,

901
00:45:02.159 --> 00:45:04.840
business can be a tool for wonderful things. You know,

902
00:45:05.440 --> 00:45:08.519
we spend so much time at work, why not use it?

903
00:45:08.639 --> 00:45:11.119
And I used to always say that, yes, we are

904
00:45:11.119 --> 00:45:13.800
a for profit business, But what's really happening here is

905
00:45:13.800 --> 00:45:16.519
we are all rubbing up against each other and other people,

906
00:45:16.559 --> 00:45:20.800
and we are smoothing the rough edges of our personalities,

907
00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:23.800
because that's what you're actually doing. It's like two stones

908
00:45:23.840 --> 00:45:27.119
in the stone polisher, you know, we're polishing each other's

909
00:45:27.119 --> 00:45:30.159
sharp edges. It's such a great way to talk about it, Christy.

910
00:45:30.159 --> 00:45:32.320
I love that we're so close to.

911
00:45:32.280 --> 00:45:33.920
Being out of time that maybe, just within a minute,

912
00:45:33.920 --> 00:45:36.119
would you just tell us about your upcoming book, your

913
00:45:36.119 --> 00:45:38.079
cultural balance sheet, and when is it coming out.

914
00:45:38.840 --> 00:45:40.599
It's coming out in January, and I will certainly send

915
00:45:40.639 --> 00:45:41.960
you a copy, and I'm going to begin use your

916
00:45:41.960 --> 00:45:44.559
book as well. I wish I would write it before

917
00:45:44.559 --> 00:45:47.000
I wrote mine, because I'm sure there'd be interesting information,

918
00:45:47.679 --> 00:45:50.280
but in any case, it's called your cultural balance sheet,

919
00:45:50.360 --> 00:45:53.159
Keys to creating an environment where people can thrive. And

920
00:45:53.280 --> 00:45:55.559
the whole idea emerged out of a dinner conversation with

921
00:45:55.559 --> 00:45:59.280
some fellow entrepreneurs and a couple of them had had

922
00:45:59.280 --> 00:46:02.079
successful eggs. It's meaning one had sold to a publicly

923
00:46:02.119 --> 00:46:04.960
traded company, another one had sold to VC or something.

924
00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:06.639
I'm not sure, I don't remember, but we were talking

925
00:46:06.639 --> 00:46:09.199
about it, and that's when I said, you know, I

926
00:46:09.599 --> 00:46:11.679
definitely look at my financials, but it's almost like I

927
00:46:11.760 --> 00:46:13.599
look at my business through the lens of a cultural

928
00:46:13.639 --> 00:46:15.360
balance sheet. And so one of my friends who had

929
00:46:15.360 --> 00:46:16.960
been after me to write a book, was like, well,

930
00:46:16.960 --> 00:46:18.920
there's your book. So I was like, okay, well I

931
00:46:18.920 --> 00:46:20.639
can do that. So then I was trying to see

932
00:46:20.679 --> 00:46:24.480
if I could make that analogy even work, and through

933
00:46:24.599 --> 00:46:27.800
some help with people I went to I went overseas

934
00:46:27.840 --> 00:46:31.280
to the UK to go to something called Global Speakers Academy,

935
00:46:31.320 --> 00:46:34.719
which is a program offered through the Entrepreneurs Organization, which

936
00:46:34.920 --> 00:46:36.960
anybody who's an entrepreneur here we don't have time, but

937
00:46:37.000 --> 00:46:41.280
definitely look up EO Entrepreneurs Organization, Global Organization and like,

938
00:46:41.280 --> 00:46:45.320
I don't know, seventy countries, twenty thousand numbers, something like that. Anyway,

939
00:46:45.360 --> 00:46:47.840
so it's a wonderful organization. So I went to Global

940
00:46:47.880 --> 00:46:51.800
Speakers Academy and they had these wonderful guys from Canada

941
00:46:52.280 --> 00:46:55.400
called Speaker Labs, and they came in and I was

942
00:46:55.480 --> 00:46:58.039
they were helping each of us craft to signature talk

943
00:46:58.760 --> 00:47:01.039
and I was trying to talk and I was like,

944
00:47:01.079 --> 00:47:03.679
I don't even know if this analogy works. And thanks

945
00:47:03.719 --> 00:47:07.119
to their brilliant coaching, they really helped me flesh it out,

946
00:47:07.280 --> 00:47:09.480
which then allowed it to become the foundation of the book.

947
00:47:09.519 --> 00:47:12.719
So we talk about you know, cultural assets, cultural liabilities,

948
00:47:12.719 --> 00:47:15.639
and cultural equity, and just to give away the secret,

949
00:47:16.320 --> 00:47:18.920
your assets, of course are your people. There's many other ones.

950
00:47:19.639 --> 00:47:22.800
Your liabilities are all sorts of various things. But the

951
00:47:22.840 --> 00:47:26.280
thing about cultural liabilities is if you have both intention

952
00:47:26.480 --> 00:47:31.519
and attention toward those liabilities, you can turn them into assets. So,

953
00:47:31.559 --> 00:47:34.360
for example, if you're too rigid and you're aware of that,

954
00:47:34.440 --> 00:47:36.920
and you can allow yourself to develop more flexibility. That

955
00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:40.599
flexibility in turn can become an asset. And then the

956
00:47:40.639 --> 00:47:43.480
cultural equity is actually the culture itself that you have

957
00:47:43.599 --> 00:47:47.760
built by you know, your assets minus your liabilities, or

958
00:47:47.800 --> 00:47:50.920
turning your liabilities into assets. So that's in a nutshell

959
00:47:51.000 --> 00:47:53.000
kind of I think, and it's key sort of like

960
00:47:53.039 --> 00:47:55.840
you said, you have twenty two tips or things for

961
00:47:55.880 --> 00:47:58.719
people to do. These are keys that are actionable because

962
00:47:58.719 --> 00:48:00.440
of you know, we all have the attention span ofm

963
00:48:00.440 --> 00:48:03.320
in that, so we tried to keep them shorter and

964
00:48:03.320 --> 00:48:07.039
an actionable so that people could walk away from each

965
00:48:07.079 --> 00:48:11.440
one like, Okay, what can I do to take action

966
00:48:11.559 --> 00:48:12.559
on this particular thing.

967
00:48:13.639 --> 00:48:15.559
It sounds amazing. I look forward to reading it. I

968
00:48:15.599 --> 00:48:17.400
want to thank you for coming on to Working the Purpose.

969
00:48:17.440 --> 00:48:19.719
It has really been a delight to connect with you well.

970
00:48:19.760 --> 00:48:21.800
I have loved being on your show and I'm really

971
00:48:21.840 --> 00:48:23.800
looking forward to listening to that. When you just told

972
00:48:23.840 --> 00:48:25.960
me about I love listening to like minded people and

973
00:48:26.039 --> 00:48:28.800
meeting like minded people like yourself, I think you'll love it.

974
00:48:29.719 --> 00:48:31.400
So listeners and viewers, you are going to want to

975
00:48:31.440 --> 00:48:33.480
learn more about Christy Prejinger and the work she and

976
00:48:33.599 --> 00:48:36.000
r team are doing at WG Content, as well as

977
00:48:36.039 --> 00:48:39.480
her forthcoming book, Your Cultural Balance Sheet, So visit her website.

978
00:48:39.519 --> 00:48:43.480
It's wgcontent dot com, so WG and then just the

979
00:48:43.519 --> 00:48:46.719
word content dot com. Last week, we missed the live show.

980
00:48:46.719 --> 00:48:48.679
You can always catch it be a recorded podcast or

981
00:48:48.679 --> 00:48:51.000
wherever you get your podcast. We were on air with

982
00:48:51.159 --> 00:48:54.079
Eric Gee talking about his book The Power of Personality,

983
00:48:54.440 --> 00:48:57.679
Unlock the Seecrets to understand everyone in your life, including yourself.

984
00:48:58.079 --> 00:49:01.239
It was a fabulous conversation where he explained the forming

985
00:49:01.320 --> 00:49:05.599
types of personalities gatherers, hunters, Shamans, and smith's and what

986
00:49:05.639 --> 00:49:08.320
they most value, introducing the means to understand people we

987
00:49:08.400 --> 00:49:10.920
work with in Care About See you next week for

988
00:49:10.960 --> 00:49:14.840
another educationally nourishing and inspiring episode. And remember, work is

989
00:49:14.880 --> 00:49:17.000
one of the best adventures and means of realizing our

990
00:49:17.000 --> 00:49:19.000
potential and making the impact we create.

991
00:49:19.280 --> 00:49:20.599
So let's work on Purpose.

992
00:49:22.559 --> 00:49:26.400
We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to

993
00:49:26.440 --> 00:49:30.079
tune into Working on Purpose featuring your host, doctor Elise Cortes,

994
00:49:30.199 --> 00:49:33.440
each week on W four C. Why Together, We'll create

995
00:49:33.440 --> 00:49:37.599
a world where business operates conscientiously leadership inspires and passion

996
00:49:37.639 --> 00:49:40.679
performance and employees are fulfilled in work that provides the

997
00:49:40.760 --> 00:49:43.719
meaning and purpose they crave. We'll see you there. Let's

998
00:49:43.800 --> 00:49:44.880
work on purpose.