This week we explore a phenomenon that few leaders understand, and even fewer take full advantage of, despite the powerful effects in can have on your company. We're talking about the office subculture.

Sure, a lot of leaders are starting to come around on the idea of company culture. But what about subcultures? How do they work, and how might they have a place in your business?

What do we mean by subculture? We mean a distinct team or department culture within an already well-defined company culture.

We wanted to know how these smaller cultures develop, why they might be necessary in your organization, and how to go about shaping and defining them. To help us find out, I spoke to Chelsie Lee, the VP of Customer Success and Experience at SnackNation.

Think of this episode as a case study on office subcultures, and our subject is SnackNation’s Member Success Team (or MST), a team that embodies this idea more than any we've seen. Not only did we have Chelsie weigh in, we also had a chance to hear from her amazing team to get their take on how these ideas work in practice, and how this subculture affects their productivity, job performance, and overall wellbeing.

Chelsie and her colleague Clay Telfer also share the eye-popping employee rewards and appreciation program that they rolled out for 2017. Think of it as a video game achievements program made real - complete with custom-made badges for unlocking milestones and participating in team campaigns. It’s utterly unique, and in our opinion perfectly illustrates the identity and culture that this team embodies.

Huge thank you to the tenacious team builders on the Member Success Team, especially Chelsie, Clay, Kelsey, and Lexi for taking time out of their schedules to chat with me.

Key Takeaways

• While your tactics might not always perfectly align, your department’s underlying values should never clash with your company’s values and culture.
• A great recognition program inspires individual development, and helps foster a culture of teaching and learning.
• Thoughtful is better than fancy when it comes to employee recognition.
• Any recognition program you launch has to come from a please of sincerity… otherwise, it doesn’t stand a chance.

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Introducing SnackNation Market.  

For the past few years SnackNation has only been available to businesses, but now it’s available for homes and awesome individuals too.

SnackNation Market brings health- and taste-conscious folks expertly curated boxes of the most delicious, innovative and healthier snacks right to your doorstep.  With SnackNation there is no more worrying about having a weak, unhealthy and tasteless snack game.

We’ve secured a special offer for the listeners of this show: you can try SnackNation for FREE.

Just visit SnackNation.com/AO right now, and get your first box free (just cover shipping and handling).

That’s SnackNation.com/AO.

 

For a lot us, the beginning of a New Year is all about change.

Our sights are set on changing our diet, changing our habits, changing our careers - changing our lives.

But as we explore in this week’s episode none of this change is possible unless we first change our beliefs.

Hold your beliefs constant and your life is guaranteed to stay the same.

Change your beliefs and… real magic can start to happen.

Sean explores this idea in much further depth in the episode, but here’s a quick rundown of the 3 new beliefs you can adopt to experience a better life in 2017.

Belief #1: The way others are around us is a reflection of ourselves, not them. When we start to take complete ownership of our surroundings it forces us to look at ourselves and see how we can improve.

Belief #2: The way we view the world says much about ourselves and very little about the world. As human beings we love to label people and things. That person is arrogant. That activity is stupid. But what do these labels, and these perceptions, say about us?

Belief #3: Those things that we resent in others is typically due to deficiencies or dislikes we see in ourselves. Think about a person you resent, or a particular trait of a person that you resent. Dig deep here. What does this resentment say about you?

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Introducing SnackNation Market.  

For the past few years SnackNation has only been available to businesses, but now it’s available for homes and awesome individuals too.

SnackNation Market brings health- and taste-conscious folks expertly curated boxes of the most delicious, innovative and healthier snacks right to your doorstep.  With SnackNation there is no more worrying about having a weak, unhealthy and tasteless snack game.

We’ve secured a special offer for the listeners of this show: you can try SnackNation for FREE.

Just visit SnackNation.com/AO right now, and get your first box free (just cover shipping and handling).

That’s SnackNation.com/AO.

 

The New Year isn’t just a chance to hit the reset button on our individual goals, it’s also a great opportunity to start a new path for your company and its culture.

At SnackNation and Awesome Office Inc., we’ve started 2017 in a brand new 21,000 square foot space, and it’s reenergized the entire company after a fast-paced year that saw growth in every aspect of the business.

But you don’t have to switch offices to give your culture - and your business - a transformative boost. There are things that you can do right now that won’t cost you a dime.

In fact, that’s exactly what this podcast is all about - the top 8 ways to transform your company in the new year without spending any money.

Here’s a cheat sheet to give you a quick rundown.

1. Make Vulnerability A Priority 4:45
2. Implement Individual Development Plans 7:05
3. Build-In FORCED Gratitude & Recognition 9:35
4. Create & Experience Frequent Company Challenges 11:45
5. Take a Day Off & Get More through Volunteering 14:38
6. Make Hand-Written Cards Part of Your Culture 16:08
7. Launch Your Own University 17:46
8. Mix-it Up with Newness 19:40

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Introducing SnackNation Market.  

For the past few years SnackNation has only been available to businesses, but now it’s available for homes and awesome individuals too.

SnackNation Market brings health- and taste-conscious folks expertly curated boxes of the most delicious, innovative and healthier snacks right to your doorstep.  With SnackNation there is no more worrying about having a weak, unhealthy and tasteless snack game.

We’ve secured a special offer for the listeners of this show: you can try SnackNation for FREE.

Just visit SnackNation.com/AO right now, and get your first box free (just cover shipping and handling).

That’s SnackNation.com/AO.

 

Most leaders shy away from it. It makes people uncomfortable, and the mere mention of it can  inspire off color jokes, or send grown men and women into fits of nervous laughter.

We’re talking about sex, of course. In the workplace.

Well, not sex exactly, but sexual energy. As author, coach, and expert Diana Chapman discusses in part two of this illuminating interview, to deny the existence of sexual energy in the workplace is to deprive your business of one of its most creative forces.

To be clear, we’re not talking about sex itself. In this context, sexual energy has more to do with creativity and an affinity for or attraction to ideas.

Like so much of what Chapman and her co-authors teach, the key is to recognize and acknowledge sexual energy dispassionately, as an objective fact, and to use the intelligence contained within it to your advantage.

Diana discusses this and a whole lot more in the conclusion of our interview.

Takeaways

• The difference between blame and accountability, and why new knowledge should be the end result of every mistake. 1:37
• A breakdown of the five primary emotions - fear, anger, joy, sadness, and sexual energy, and why sexual energy has more to do with creativity than sex. 4:47
• Diana tells us about her completion process, and why her company goes completely offline every December in order to work on Commitment #6. 9:59
• Diana shares her most surprising findings from twelve years of going through this completion process. 12:15
• Why withholding saps people of energy, and why clearing resolutions to completion is so energizing. 15:48
• How to integrate these practices for people who are new to your culture, and why curiosity is the key. 16:48
• Why the way you view the world has more to do with you than it does about the world. 18:30

Links

• Conscious Leadership Group
• Diana on LinkedIn
• Gay and Katie Hendricks

Recommended reading

• The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Chapman, Klemp, and Dethmer
• The Power of Full Engagement by Tony Schwartz

 

Special Offer for AO Listeners - Try SnackNation Market for FREE

Introducing SnackNation Market.  

For the past few years SnackNation has only been available to businesses, but now it’s available for homes and awesome individuals too.

SnackNation Market brings health- and taste-conscious folks expertly curated boxes of the most delicious, innovative and healthier snacks right to your doorstep.  With SnackNation there is no more worrying about having a weak, unhealthy and tasteless snack game.

We’ve secured a special offer for the listeners of this show: you can try SnackNation for FREE.

Just visit SnackNation.com/AO right now, and get your first box free (just cover shipping and handling).

That’s SnackNation.com/AO.

It's no secret that we’re huge fans of the book The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership. Not only have we have offered a cursory breakdown of this awesome book in earlier episodes, but the entire leadership team at SnackNation HQ is currently going through it to become better in 2017.

So you’ll understand our excitement when we found out that we landed one of the book’s co-authors, Diana Chapman.

Diana has been a trusted advisor to over 700 organizational leaders and many of their teams. Clients from Genentech to Yahoo! value her clarity, compassion, ferocity and playfulness, and she’s a well-respected facilitator for the Young Presidents Organization.

In this episode, Diana revisits some of the topics from our initial exploration of conscious leadership, but gives a much deeper understanding of both how to do it, and why it’s so important, both to our businesses and our lives. 

Diana also sheds new light on the subject of stress, and explains how many of us are actually addicted to the adrenaline that comes along with it. It's why so many of us consider ourselves "always on," and wear the term "workaholic" like a badge of honor. Ultimately, Diana teaches us that all this stress is damaging our health and limiting our teams' ability to succeed.

Diana was an amazing interview, and it’s such a rare treat to read such a transformative book and then have the opportunity to go even more in-depth with the author herself.

Diana also brought so much magic to the table that we decided to release this one in two parts.

Top takeaways:

• Diana explains the “Why” that drives her passion for helping people live more consciously, and explains why she and her co-authors focus on leadership. 3:56
• The distinction between “content” and “context,” and why every problem in business can usually be solved by examining context. 4:12
• What it means to be “above” or “below the line” - and what it means to be a “conscious leader.” 7:05
• Why we are naturally below the line, and why reaching an above the line state takes work. 9:58
• Why it’s inevitable that we sometimes do go below the line, and what that really means in terms of costs and benefits. 11:11
• Why we’re addicted to stress, and the harmful effect that’s having on our health and physical wellbeing. 12:35
• Why conscious leadership is essential to managing Millennials. 15:00
• The three most important commitments on which leaders should focus. 17:13
• What it really means to “feel all feelings” (the third commitment of conscious leadership), and why leaders should recognize that emotions are a form of information. 19:13
• How stress manifests as physical pain. 20:30
• Why we should listen to and learn from the wisdom in our emotions rather than either ignoring them or using them as justification for impulsive decisions. 23:05
• The importance of vulnerability in this entire process. 25:25
• How the words “I feel” can help us communicate in a more objective, constructive way. 27:52
• Why the stories we make up about the facts are the source of conflict and negative emotions, not the facts themselves. 30:21
• The importance of asking “what if the opposite of my story is true.” 32:28
• The most difficult commitment for leaders. 33:27
• How leaders can rid themselves of the scarcity mindset and think in terms of abundance. 34:29
• The difficulty in making this mindset a habit, and why it requires constant proactive attention. 35:12

Links

• Conscious Leadership Group
• Diana on LinkedIn
• Asana
• Dr. John Sarno

Recommended reading

• The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership

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Introducing SnackNation Market.  

For the past few years SnackNation has only been available to businesses, but now it’s available for homes and awesome individuals too.

SnackNation Market brings health- and taste-conscious folks expertly curated boxes of the most delicious, innovative and healthier snacks right to your doorstep.  With SnackNation there is no more worrying about having a weak, unhealthy and tasteless snack game.

We’ve secured a special offer for the listeners of this show: you can try SnackNation for FREE.

Just visit SnackNation.com/AO right now, and get your first box free (just cover shipping and handling).

That’s SnackNation.com/AO.

If you’ve ever listened to the show, you probably know that we get FIRED UP around this time of year. And not just for things like holiday parties and time spent with loved ones.

We get amped by the fact that the holidays are the perfect time to reflect, reset, and look ahead to the coming year. It’s a chance to think about who we want to be and how we’re going to get there.

Yep, it’s the time for ANNUAL GOAL SETTING.

(Fired up yet??)

There’s a bit of an art and science to setting proper goals. In fact, the vast majority of people who set goals - as in 92% - never achieve them. And only 45% of people even set them to begin with.

In other words, if you can set and achieve your goals, you’re truly in rarified air.

In this episode, we present a peak inside the culture at SnackNation and Awesome Office Inc. HQ with Sean’s annual goal setting presentation to his team. Sean has spent more than a decade refining his approach to goal setting, and shares his top ten tactics and strategies for getting it right. He also dives deep into one of the most important (yet most under appreciated) aspects of goal setting: the emotional aspect.

Here’s a quick recap of the ten steps to become the best version of yourself in 2017.

1. Set a Theme
2. Only Set 5-10 Goals
3. Attach a Why
4. One Goal for Each Area
5. Ensure Goals are Compelling
6. Make Specific & Measurable w/ Deadlines
7. Don’t worry about the HOW
8. Write them Down, Keep Visible
9. Write the Next Action Step for Each Next Goal
10. Get an Accountability Partner (Or 2)

For more tips for setting yourself up for success in the New Year, check out episode 62 - How to Start Your Year with a Bang.

Special Offer for AO Listeners - Try SnackNation Market for FREE

Introducing SnackNation Market.  

For the past few years SnackNation has only been available to businesses, but now it’s available for homes and awesome individuals too.

SnackNation Market brings health- and taste-conscious folks expertly curated boxes of the most delicious, innovative and healthier snacks right to your doorstep.  With SnackNation there is no more worrying about having a weak, unhealthy and tasteless snack game.

We’ve secured a special offer for the listeners of this show: you can try SnackNation for FREE.

Just visit SnackNation.com/AO right now, and get your first box free (just cover shipping and handling).

That’s SnackNation.com/AO.

If you’re anything like me, I’m guessing you grew you up with this familiar maxim:

As long as you set your mind to it, you can be whatever you want to be.

Now what if I were to tell you that this idea was flawed, and might actually lead you down the wrong path?

Still with me?

That’s exactly the idea that we explore in this week’s episode of the Awesome Office Show, which is all about helping you discover your life’s authentic purpose. And it's pretty important stuff, for it’s a sense of purpose that gives us a lasting sense of fulfillment.

As Sean uncovers, the key is to listen to the feedback that life gives us in order to discover our strengths and take the path that’s right for each of us. It’s not just about discovering your strengths and your passions, but pointing them towards something even greater - your authentic life’s purpose.

Sean recently gave a version of this presentation to a group of young investors in Mexico City, and thought it would be relevant to our Awesome Audience. Here are the main points. 

Key Takeaways

• Sean starts by asking you to consider that one of the fundamental axioms of childhood - that you can be anything that you want to be as long as you set your mind to it - actually starts with the wrong premise and leads us astray. 2:50
• Sean breaks down why trying to find out who we want to be often prevents us from discovering where we’re supposed to be - and why listening is the key to it all. 3:15
• Sean explains that while conventional wisdom teaches us that we’re all blank slates, this belief tends to ignore our unique strengths and abilities. 5:00
• Sean explains what he means when he says that we need to “understand what crayons we have and where the lines are.” 6:13
• Sean extolls the value of listening, and why it’s so important to listen to the right things.  7:30
• Sean describes his own process of discovery, and the path that led him to find his life’s purpose. 8:05
• Sean pinpoints the turning point in his own story, and describes how listening played a major part in transitioning from becoming a doctor to an entrepreneur. 12:11
• Sean explains why understanding our lives as energy is essential to finding one’s true passion. 17:35
• Sean provides a more useful definition of a “weakness,” and breaks down what distinguishes weaknesses from strengths. 19:32
• Sean explains why authenticity is the foundation to this entire discovery process, and why it can be the key to finding your true purpose. 20:42
• Sean tells us the purpose of life in his view, and how your unique purpose fits into the equation. 23:31
• Sean shares an exercise to help you find your unique abilities. 24:10
• Sean tells us why action does not come from inspiration, but rather the other way around. 28:29
• Finally, Sean breaks down why purpose can give you the greatest state of fulfillment. 30:05

If you’re a regular AO listener, you know that we’ve interviewed people from across the business spectrum - from first time entrepreneurs, to CEOs of hugely successful multinational brands, to scientists taking their cutting edge research to the market themselves. But there’s one business we just haven’t tackled yet.

The family business.

Thankfully Ginny Simon was kind enough to spend some time with us this week to tell us all about it. Ginny is the founder and CEO of GinnyBakes, a Miami-based company that makes gluten-free cookies and bake mixes, and that sees itself as a “gateway” to healthier eating. GinnyBakes is also a true family business, with Ginny’s son Michael and husband Steve playing integral roles in the brand’s daily operations and growth.

In the interview, Ginny sheds light on both the advantages and challenges of running a business with your spouse - both of which will probably surprise you - as well as what it took to finally convince her husband to wind down his law practice of 26 years and dive into GinnyBakes full time.

As Ginny tells it, their decision to join forces and bring son Michael into the fold is proving to be the right call. Today GinnyBakes has 35 employees, services more than 3,000 doors, and boasts deals with airlines and a thriving ecommerce business. Oh, and they also experienced 300% growth last year.

Ginny was a delight to interview - and we think you’ll agree that her “sweet” story is one worth devouring.

Key Takeaways

• Ginny tells the story of going from a mother of four boys to the CEO of a natural products startup, and how being a mom prepared her for the demands of a growing business.
• Ginny describes the moment that she knew she was onto something with GinnyBakes.
• Ginny pinpoints the greatest challenge she has faced as an entrepreneur over the last six years, and how she has learned to overcome it.
• Ginny also explains the biggest obstacle in the food business, and why part of her company’s mission is to fix it.
• Ginny explains how (and why) she brought her husband and sons into the business, and lays out the challenges and advantages of doing so.

Links

• GinnyBakes Website
• Ginny on LinkedIn
• Ginny on Instagram

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Introducing SnackNation Market.  

For the past few years SnackNation has only been available to businesses, but now it’s available for homes and awesome individuals too.

SnackNation Market brings health- and taste-conscious folks expertly curated boxes of the most delicious, innovative and healthier snacks right to your doorstep.  With SnackNation there is no more worrying about having a weak, unhealthy and tasteless snack game.

We’ve secured a special offer for the listeners of this show: you can try SnackNation for FREE.

Just visit SnackNation.com/AO right now, and get your first box free (just cover shipping and handling).

That’s SnackNation.com/AO.

On the surface, feedback seems like an uncontroversial topic. Most of us probably agree that accurate, timely feedback is critical to our jobs, no matter if we’re a junior team member or at the top of the organization. But in reality, our understanding of feedback is mostly one-sided - especially when it comes to leadership.

While most leaders focus on techniques and strategies for providing feedback for others, only the top leaders focus on the right way to receive it.

Why? Because even for the most accomplished among us, feedback is scary.

When we receive feedback, often our first instinct is to put up our defenses. We are naturally averse to it. We bristle at the idea that we aren’t perfect, and believe that recognizing feedback will reveal our flaws and shatter our perception of ourselves.

But as this episode reveals, to deny feedback is deprive ourselves of one of the greatest gifts in life. Because while change might be inevitable, growth is optional. Growth is up to us, and much of it depends on our ability to receive the feedback the world is gifting us, in all its forms.

Yep, as it turns out, receiving feedback is an art unto itself. Here’s how to master it.

(This episode was recorded live in front of the team at Awesome Office HQ in Los Angeles.)

  Key Takeaways

• Why receiving feedback is just as - if not more - important than giving it. 5:05
• Why feedback is fundamental for growth, and the difference between change and growth. 5:30
• Why it’s so hard to receive feedback, and the first step to becoming open to it. 7:05
• The benefits of recognizing imperfection in ourselves, including the impact on relationships. 8:29
• Why it’s better to find the truth than to be right, and why teams who see reality for what it is are the ones who win. 9:27
• Only when you are not willing to change are you able to achieve great things, and why feedback that triggers your defenses is actually a gift. 12:28
• How to practice conscious listening. 15:31
• The importance of body language and posture when receiving feedback. 17:05
• Why it’s important for both parties to repeat the feedback. 17:42
• How to evaluate the feedback you receive. 18:56

  Special Offer for AO Listeners - Try SnackNation Market for FREE

Introducing SnackNation Market.  

For the past few years SnackNation has only been available to businesses, but now it’s available for homes and awesome individuals too.

SnackNation Market brings health- and taste-conscious folks expertly curated boxes of the most delicious, innovative and healthier snacks right to your doorstep.  With SnackNation there is no more worrying about having a weak, unhealthy and tasteless snack game.

We’ve secured a special offer for the listeners of this show: you can try SnackNation for FREE.

Just visit SnackNation.com/AO right now, and get your first box free (just cover shipping and handling).

That’s SnackNation.com/AO.

 

We're back with part two of our exploration of The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, a book that's full of powerful and practical prescriptions, and one that I find myself reaching for again and again. (Missed part one? Check it out here.)   Commitments 8-15 build on the themes of candor, curiosity, and integrity that we talked about in part one. Some of the ideas might sound familiar. Commitment 8, for instance, bears a resemblance to several concepts from positive psychology, while Commitment 11 reminds me of the Stoic philosophy I discussed with author Ryan Holiday in a previous episode.   I think that's one of the reasons that I love this book so much - it combines brand new insights with proven leadership advice, and packages it in a way that's useful and just makes sense.   Here's a quick rundown...

Commitment 8 - Express Your Zone of Genius

• This commitment is all about finding that one thing that you do well and love to do. Similar to concepts like "unique ability" and flow state,  your "zone of genius" is the area where you make the most valuable, creative contribution.

Commitment 9 - Remember to Play

• Contrary to what most of us are taught earl in life, work doesn't have to be nothing but stress, misery, and toil. Play, laughter, and improvisation are vital to being productive and fulfilled. (Besides, what good is life without a little bit of laughter?)

Commitment 10 - Consider the Opposite of Your "Story"

• We all have a "story" - it's the way we see the world, the assumptions we take with us when we approach problems. The idea here is to consider that the opposite of your story is as true or truer than your own.

Commitment 11 - Be Your Own Approval

• Commit to being your own source of approval, rather than relying on it from others.

Commitment 12 - Recognize You Have Enough

• How many times have you caught yourself saying "if only I had enough time. Enough money. Enough support. Enough space. Enough energy." This commitment reminds us that this imagined state of "enough" is never going to happen, and asks us to be satisfied in what we have now - and get stared solving problems!

Commitment 13 - See People as Allies

• Whether or not you consider someone an ally or obstacle is largely a matter of choice. So which would you rather have, enemies or allies? Choose allies. 

Commitment 14 - Win for All

• Recognize that life is not a zero-sum game and commit to creating win-for-all outcomes.

Commitment 15 - Be the Resolution

• Finally, the most important commitment - be the resolution the world needs. Stop being content with apathy and recognize problems as opportunities to step up and become the solution.

To see more of what the 15 Commitments look like in action, check out the Conscious Leadership Group.

Recommended Reading

• The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Klemp

  Special Offer for AO Listeners - Try SnackNation Market for FREE

Introducing SnackNation Market.  

For the past few years SnackNation has only been available to businesses, but now it’s available for homes and awesome individuals too.

SnackNation Market brings health- and taste-conscious folks expertly curated boxes of the most delicious, innovative and healthier snacks right to your doorstep.  With SnackNation there is no more worrying about having a weak, unhealthy and tasteless snack game.

We’ve secured a special offer for the listeners of this show: you can try SnackNation for FREE.

Just visit SnackNation.com/AO right now, and get your first box free (just cover shipping and handling).

That’s SnackNation.com/AO.