Doing (good) Business

Consciousness: The dictionary defines consciousness as the state of being awake and aware of one's surroundings. Kelly & Lara talk about what that really means - for leaders and for companies.

For leaders, consciousness means taking care of your needs so you can be your best for your people. For companies, organizations like Conscious Capitalism exist to raise the collective business consciousness.

Join us to hear how the Flowbie, Baking Soda, SC Johnson & Abe Lincoln all tie into this conversation!

Conscious topics:

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Inventions that make life more interesting

Abe Lincoln, “Whatever you are be a good one.”

In preparation for Earth Day on 4/22, D(g)B welcomes Colleen Falicki of Back to Earth Compost Crew! Kelly & Lara affectionately think of Colleen as the Composting Concierge! Her company helps businesses compost all kinds of things - and she tells us exactly what you can and can’t compost - and why a company should do it! Learn about Colleen’s values as a leader of an environmental impact company, how this industry is growing, and perhaps our favorite quote, “Constant improvement is better than delayed perfection” Find Back to Earth on Facebook, Insta, and Twitter.

Environmental resources:

US Composting Council

Forbes Community Compost Article

On today’s episode Kelly and Lara talk about how you can crush your competition, skimp on employee benefits, and boost your bottom line by cutting corners!  

APRIL FOOL!!!

Of course we’re not going to tell you about those things! What we are going to do is flip our conversation. Today’s episode is all about how individual contributors and employees can do good business, because while strong leadership is critical, everybody in an organization is part of the solution. If you’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’ about your workplace, we’ve got you covered...because as Lara’s therapist recently shared with her, novelty is a seed of happiness. From personal responsibility to daily choices, Kelly & Lara share some great ways to make an impact at any level.

Kelly and Lara welcome Steve Van Valin of Culturology! Steve is a corporate culture consultant and thought leader, with a background that includes a little company called QVC!

Steve believes people are your most competitive advantage and he shares his top warning signs of a not-so-great culture, one of his favorite tools to learn more about your people, and how to spot a strong culture internally and externally (yup, there’s a difference).

Check out:

Culture as an organizational value to help diversify thinking

Use the question, “what do you think?” to hear from your more introverted employees

Get an advanced peek at Steve’s book HERE

Connect with Steve

Engagement. Every company wants to improve employee engagement, even if they haven't really defined it, and most are only trying to measure it with a once-per-year survey! Kelly and Lara encourage you to go beyond the engagement survey - and perhaps beat the global average of only 13% of employees who actually say they’re engaged.

Tune in to learn how to engage your employees by:

Not falling into the temptation to “legislate” everything.

Talking to your people! Don’t worry, we tell you how.

Questioning your assumptions on what an engaged employee looks like

And understanding how to know if it's working.

HR Digest Article

Trust. We can all agree that trust is important, but how do you make it happen? Lara gives tips on how NOT to build trust and Kelly shares why it’s so important to an organization, customers, and even vendors & suppliers. The hosts both agree that psychological safety is a big component.

We trust you’ll enjoy:

What is psychological safety?

The Four Agreements

The Edelman 2019 Trust Barometer

How to Build Trust in an Organization  from the Univ of NC

Amy Edmondson’s book – “The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth”

Podcasting...as a force for good? Yes indeed! Today’s guest is Mathew Passy, the podcast consultant and host of CausePods - the podcast that features folks who are using podcasts for good! His guests are using their podcasts to raise awareness for things like MS, animal rescue, Parkinson’s disease, Cancer, and with each episode, Mathew sets up a fundraiser for his clients, so they can raise money in addition to awareness!

Mathew’s background in media started in radio before he even knew what a podcast was! Today he’s a go-to podcast expert, proud twin dad, and has recently taken on the role of Head of Content for podToPod.com. Follow Mathew on Twitter & CausePods on Instagram!

Check out:

Mathew’s podcast audit

Trends in podcasting - and what unsuspecting household technology plays a part!

Doing good business times 2! Our guests today are La’Kita Williams of CoCreate Work & Mel Carson of Delightful Communications. La’Kita & Mel have been partners in business, as well as coach & client, and they have always aligned in their good business thinking.

When a high profile job and a personal tragedy collided, La’Kita looked at her own purpose in her work.
She shares her thoughts on:
How how organizational design can support purpose
People over profits
Operationalizing values
Purpose driven people are more resilient and more committed to the mission

La’Kita recommends The Good Jobs Strategy and knows that we can all create purpose driven work, one step at a time. You can follow CoCreate Work on Instagram!

From actor who lost a role in Rent, to marketing with Microsoft, to entrepreneur, Mel Carson shares why he created Delightful Communications, his commitment to over-promise and over-deliver, and how Delightful Communications folks embody all of their principles in everything they do - from stand-up meetings approved by a physical therapist to having gratitude meetings 3 times per week!  

You can follow Mel and Delightful on Twitter and get to know Delightful’s Principles below:

We truly believe people are our best asset as well as our clients’. While we celebrate technology and data, people should be placed at the heart of everything we do. We always seek the human, emotional connection, both in our work and as we grow as a team.

We are curious about the world and our industry and are always eager to learn and improve our skills by constantly working to understand the future and ensure we meet it. We are data-driven torchbearers, highlighting new ideas and opportunities for ourselves and our clients.

We create an energizing place to work and aspire to work with remarkable people. We deliver exceptional results and always go the extra mile for ourselves and our clients. We hold each other accountable to high standards and drive each other to constantly progress with our productivity, performance, insight, and character. We promote positive energy and have/are fun.

We create worldwide connections for ourselves and our clients that fosters the growth of a global community. We prioritize wellness, flexibility, and togetherness. We embrace direct and productive feedback, holding each other accountable to ensure we grow together.

We are willing to take risks and dive into new projects and challenges. We are not afraid to solve problems and suggest improvements inside and out. We believe in straightforward talk that’s candid and open, but sincere and well-meaning.

We hold ourselves accountable for diversity AND inclusion.  We encourage diversity of thought, experience, race, color, creed, and style. We recognize and appreciate each other and value our individuality and that of our clients’.

We uphold the same values in both our professional and personal lives to promote fairness, honesty, and respect for all people. We promote and relish feedback, transparency, and authenticity, and we speak up, even when it is uncomfortable.

We live through a “learn by doing” approach because we know that Experience + Feedback makes the best teacher. We take ownership of our development and ask for what we need to increase our abilities. We stay curious and are always on the lookout for new ways of doing things and constantly develop new skills.

Mindset! Our very special guest is none other than our own, Kelly Stewart! In addition to being co-host of Doing (good) Business, Kelly is the founder of The Positive Business and is a Positive Business Consultant.

Kelly helps business leaders break through the burden of doing business as usual and make the world a better place in the process - which is a fancy way of saying that she helps companies make things like giving back or being environmentally conscious, become quantifiable business practices that positively impact the bottom line!

Learn what a positive business really is, how you can implement positive business practices in your leadership and company, and how being disruptive...can be a positive thing!

We positively recommend you check out:

John Elkington: A concern for people and planet can coexist with an ambition for profits

Growth mindset

16 Personalities

Kelly’s What if You Could workshops

Kindness! Our very special guest is none other than our own, Lara Heacock! You know her as the co-host of the Doing (good) Business podcast, and this is your opportunity to learn about the inspiring work she does as a “Kindness Ambassador”, author of Practical Kindness, and Editor in Chief of the popular Kind Over Matter site where people are inspired to change the world through kindness.

In her role as a leadership coach, Lara helps emerging and established business leaders recognize and value when people take care of themselves, because healthier people are better for business.

Learn about her “love and loathe” strategy and how to break the “lather, rinse, repeat” habit that people who are burning out adopt just to get through their days.

Kindly check out:
Negativity bias

Healthy Striving