If you've ever wondered why the way you say thank you doesn't always land the way you intend, this episode is for you. I sat down with Dr. David Knapp, president of Marathon Leadership in Thornton, Colorado, and author of the 2024 book Marathon Leadership: 26.2 Essential Lessons for Leaders, to talk about what happens when leaders finally understand the 5 languages of appreciation. 

David has trained everyone from Silicon Valley startups to Fortune 100 companies to county public works crews in Colorado, and he shares two stories that show exactly what changes when people feel appreciated the way they actually want to be. We also talk about why leadership is a marathon and not a sprint, how to stay authentic while being intentional about appreciation, and the two biggest challenges leaders face when they try to put the 5 languages of appreciation into practice: hybrid work and generational differences. 

If you lead people and want them to feel it, not just hear it, you'll want every minute of this one.

⏱ CHAPTER BREAKDOWN

00:22 – Meet Dr. David Knapp, President of Marathon Leadership

01:56 – From corporate HR to full-time leadership consulting

03:03 – How the 5 languages of appreciation found him

03:52 – The moment it clicked: not everyone wants appreciation the same way

04:36 – David's own appreciation language: words of affirmation

06:01 – Why it's called Marathon Leadership

07:37 – Two stories that prove appreciation drives real engagement

11:19 – Balancing authenticity with intentionality

12:43 – The two biggest challenges: hybrid work and generational gaps

15:40 – One practical step you can take this week

17:15 – Connect with Dr. David Knapp

📚 BOOKS MENTIONED

- Marathon Leadership: 26.2 Essential Lessons for Leaders by David D. Knapp, Ph.D.

Reach out to David through the contact button at marathonleadership.com, or email him directly at [email protected].

Interested in more training like this, where you can earn SHRM and HRCI continuing education credit? Check out the Appreciation at Work® HR Professional Membership at https://hr.joinaaw.com/.

Ever wonder why you double-check one person's work but never think twice about another's? That gap isn't about skill; it's about trust. In this episode, Dr. William Attaway breaks down the three pillars every person on your team is unconsciously measuring in you: competence, consistency, and character. 

He walks through the three most common ways leaders accidentally destroy trust with their team (usually while trying their best) and shares a real story of a director who rebuilt trust with her team after learning they'd quietly stopped bringing her problems. 

Harvard Business Review found high-trust teams perform roughly 50% better. This episode gives you three practical shifts to start building trust with your team today, whether you're starting from scratch or repairing something that's been damaged.

Interested in more training like this, where you can earn SHRM and HRCI continuing education credit? Check out the Appreciation at Work® HR Professional Membership at https://hr.joinaaw.com/.

What if your top performer is quietly doing the math on when to leave, even while you're celebrating her as Employee of the Year? 

This week I sit down with JC Hite, co-owner of Appreciation at Work, fresh off a workshop with one of the fastest-growing therapy clinics in Arkansas. JC breaks down the framework that compounds appreciation — knowing, appreciating, and serving — and tells the story of an award-winning employee who nearly quit because her company confused recognition vs appreciation. 

We dig into the six-week rule for staying connected to your team, the five levels of service that separate forgettable interactions from unforgettable ones, and the Gallup data behind it all: 23% higher profitability, 78% lower absenteeism, and 70% more employees who say they're genuinely thriving. 

If you've ever wondered whether your culture efforts are actually landing, this conversation will change how you look at every touchpoint with your team.

Interested in more training like this, where you can earn SHRM and HRCI continuing education credit? Check out the Appreciation at Work® HR Professional Membership at https://hr.joinaaw.com/.

You can't promote everyone, and the budget for bonuses only stretches so far, so what do you do for the people who are doing great work but won't see it reflected in a raise? 

That's the exact tension Jasmine Liew, founder of Breakthrough Catalyst and Singapore's premier partner for the Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, walked into years ago as an HR leader reading engagement survey results. What she found reshaped how she leads: recognition vs appreciation isn't a semantic debate; recognition is tied to results, but appreciation is something you can offer every single person, every single day, regardless of KPIs. 

In this conversation, Jasmine unpacks how the MBA Inventory takes the guesswork out of appreciation, why her own go-to language backfired with her team, and how psychological safety and words of affirmation are helping multigenerational teams push through AI adoption anxiety without feeling judged. 

If you've ever felt like you're doing everything right and your team still doesn't feel valued, this episode is your reset.

Connect with Jasmine via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmine-liew-psychsafety/ or by email at [email protected]. Her website is breakthroughcatalyst.org.

Interested in more training like this, where you can earn SHRM and HRCI continuing education credit? Check out the Appreciation at Work® HR Professional Membership at https://hr.joinaaw.com/.

If your team isn't feeling it, a generic "great job" email isn't going to fix that. I've seen leaders try, and I've done it myself. 

In this episode, I sit down with Jennifer Gray, Chief Deputy Director at Marion County Community Corrections in Indiana and a certified Appreciation at Work facilitator, who has been implementing the Appreciation at Work framework with her 200-person agency for several years. 

What Jennifer shares will challenge the way you think about recognition and show you what a genuine workplace appreciation culture actually looks like in practice. You'll hear how her agency went from scattered, one-size-fits-all gestures to intentional, language-specific appreciation that cut turnover, boosted engagement, and earned a 99% "worth my time" rating from staff. If you lead people and care about culture, this one is for you.

Want to learn how Jennifer's agency implemented the Appreciation at Work framework, including the custom training survey they developed? Reach out to Jennifer directly at [email protected]. She's generous with her insights and willing to share what's worked.

Interested in more training like this, where you can earn SHRM and HRCI continuing education credit? Check out the Appreciation at Work® HR Professional Membership at https://hr.joinaaw.com/.

If you've ever told someone "good job" and watched them walk away unmotivated, there's a reason, and it's not about effort. It's about the difference between recognition and appreciation. 

In this episode, I sit down with Sheryl Driggers, keynote speaker, leadership coach, and entrepreneur with 25 years of business leadership experience. She co-founded a collision repair company in Tallahassee in 2001, grew it to three thriving locations, and sold it in 2021. Today she works with Collision Advice, helping leaders create cultures that customers love and teams don't want to leave. 

Sheryl shares how she went from task-driven operator to culture-focused coach and what shifted everything. This conversation is for any leader ready to stop confusing output with human worth and start building an employee appreciation culture that actually retains your best people.

BOOKS MENTIONED:

• The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman
• The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace by Dr. Gary Chapman and Dr. Paul White

Connect with Sheryl on LinkedIn and explore her speaking and coaching work at SherylDriggers.com. 

Interested in more training like this, where you can earn SHRM and HRCI continuing education credit? Check out the Appreciation at Work® HR Professional Membership at https://hr.joinaaw.com/.

If you're leading a team that's stretched thin, and you're wondering whether building an employee appreciation culture is even realistic, this episode is for you.

I'm joined by Melanie Bazile, Director of Innovation and Expansion at Compass, an organization that provides supported and independent living services for adults with disabilities across the entire state of California. Compass has been doing this work for 30 years, and over the last five, Melanie has been the driving force behind embedding the Languages of Appreciation into the fabric of their culture.

What she'll share isn't theory. It's a real-world blueprint for what it actually takes — the buy-in battles, the consistency challenges, the moments where it almost slipped — and why she'd do it all again. If you've been hesitant to start, Melanie's message is simple: just start.

Compass offers consulting for organizations that provide services to people with disabilities, as well as mastermind experiences for peer learning. Reach out to Melanie directly at https://www.compasscares.com/staff/melanie-anderson/

Interested in more training like this, where you can earn SHRM and HRCI continuing education credit? Check out the Appreciation at Work® HR Professional Membership at https://hr.joinaaw.com/.

Recognition tells your team they performed. Appreciation tells them they matter. If you’ve been leaning on one and wondering why culture still feels hollow, this episode is for you.

My guest today is Krista Kindley, a training and development professional with the Family and Children’s Resource Program at UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Social Work. With 16 years in child welfare, Krista has seen some of the most burnout-prone, resource-stressed workplaces in the country, and she’s been quietly building a culture of genuine peer appreciation at work from the inside out.

In this conversation, Krista shares the “Appreciation Station,” a simple, zero-budget tool built inside Microsoft Teams that allows any team member, at any level, to express appreciation to anyone else on the org chart. No management approval required. No formal authority needed. And she walks us through exactly why that matters.

If you’re an HR leader, manager, or business owner who wants your people to feel genuinely valued, not just evaluated, this one will stay with you.

Books Mentioned

- The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace by Gary Chapman and Paul White

- The Five Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman

- A Culture of Appreciation by Frank DiMazio

Krista is doing meaningful work in the human services space through the Family and Children’s Resource Program at UNC Chapel Hill. You can connect with her and learn more at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Social Work website.

Interested in more training like this, where you can earn SHRM and HRCI continuing education credit? Check out the Appreciation at Work® HR Professional Membership at https://hr.joinaaw.com/.

You're doing the work. 1:1s, recognition programs, team meetings fill your calendar. And still your best people leave. 

What if the problem isn't effort? What if you're focused on the wrong moments?

In this episode, I sit down with Chris Dyer, Inc. magazine's #1 leadership speaker, three-time bestselling author, and former CEO who earned best place to work recognition fifteen times, to unpack his new book, Moments That Matter. What Chris discovered after selling his company and sitting down with former executives wasn't about consistency or personality. It was about moments. The big ones. The ones where leaders either show up, loudly, intentionally, and meaningfully, or they miss the window entirely.

If you want to build the kind of culture your people look back on as the best of their career, the moments that matter framework will show you exactly how to get there.

**This episode originally aired on The Catalytic Leadership Podcast, and Chris Dyer was kind enough to give permission for his interview to be shared with this show.

Books Mentioned

• Moments That Matter by Chris Dyer
• The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
• The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack
• Good to Great by Jim Collins
• The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss

Connect with Chris and grab your copy of Moments That Matter at ChrisDyer.com/moments or search "Moments That Matter Chris Dyer" on Amazon. If you bring speakers into your organization, Chris would love to talk.

Interested in more training like this, where you can earn SHRM and HRCI continuing education credit? Check out the Appreciation at Work® HR Professional Membership at https://hr.joinaaw.com/.

If your team members aren't staying (or aren't fully showing up), the answer might not be compensation. It might be that they don't feel genuinely seen. I'm joined today by Nick Hoard, founder of Patient Care Marketing Pros and a business owner who has done the real work of building a culture where appreciation isn't a nice idea; it's a system.

Nick shares how he took the 5 Languages of Appreciation through his entire team, embedded appreciation profiles into their virtual workspace, and built intentional practices that span three countries. The result? Loyalty, trust, and team members who don't want to leave.

This isn't theory. It's employee appreciation that works, told by someone who failed forward with semicolon stickers, won big with an $8 TikTok pickle, and learned that the most powerful thing you can do for your people is pay attention to what actually fills their tank.

Books Mentioned
- The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace by Gary Chapman & Paul White

- Giftology by John Ruhlin

Connect with Nick on LinkedIn or visit NicktheMarketer.com to explore his work.

Interested in more training like this, where you can earn SHRM and HRCI continuing education credit? Check out the Appreciation at Work® HR Professional Membership at https://hr.joinaaw.com/.