The Marcel Podcast

By Marcel SchwantesBusiness Management

The Marcel Podcast episodes

December 15, 2022 Alex Budak: Becoming a Changemaker
Alex Budak is a social entrepreneur and professor at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. He teaches, speaks, consults, and advises organizations around the world, with the mission of helping people from all walks of life, become changemakers. He’s a graduate of Georgetown University and UCLA and received UCLA’s recent graduate of the year award. He loves spending time with his two favorite changemakers: his wife, Rebecca, and their baby son. Alex teaches one of the most popular courses at Berkeley, the namesake of his book, “Becoming a Changemaker.” Together Marcel and Alex discuss the 3 parts of becoming a changemaker: Mindset, Leadership, and Action with interesting anecdotes from his class and student experiences!

Humility
“We’re all attracted to confidence in great leaders…but yet if you take one wrong turn it becomes overconfidence and then people look at you as arrogant.” [4:08] Co-host Robb Holman and Marcel discuss the perfect paradox in leadership which is humility and confidence. Humility is often seen as a weakness yet it instead has immense power for gaining trust and respect. Humble leaders put their egos to the side, spotlight their employees, and give credit where credit is due.

Changemaker Mindset
Marcel and Alex discuss the mindsets involved in becoming a changemaker, including the importance of failure. How can failing actually be a good thing? Alex shares about an incredible teaching opportunity where he requires his students to go out and fail on purpose and all of the shifts and mindset changes that occur when they do this. “The data shows that those who succeed the most, also fail the most. Sometimes it's not about one stroke of genius but rather having that willingness to keep going again, and again, and again.” [54:37]

Changemaker Leadership
When Alex works through leadership with his class, he has his students list all of the traits of the bad leaders they’ve encountered. How do you change these traits? Reinvent leadership, led as a changemaker. Stop waiting for permission to lead, start asking the right questions, and see leadership in its simplest form, leadership moments. “I think we so often look at these courageous, heroic leaders and we say if that’s what leadership is and I am not naturally as charismatic as this…does that mean I can’t be a leader? I think absolutely not..there is an opportunity for us to shift from thinking of leadership as a title to leadership as an act.” [1:02:08]

Changemaker Action
“The sum of your mindset and your leadership, multiplied by your action…that’s how you have impact as a changemaker….It doesn’t take a math Ph.D. to know that if you multiply a number by 0 the result is 0….Even if you have that mindset, even if you have that leadership, if you just sit on it and never do anything with it, you will never have any impact as a changemaker. Impact is driven by action.”[1:04:06] Alex explains how changemakers should see themselves as scientists, constantly learning from unplanned outcomes and failures, running tests and experiments, and keep moving forward.

Mentioned in this episode:
Alex Budak - Helping People Become Changemakers
Becoming a Changemaker
Alex Budak on LinkedIn
Robb Holman
Marcel Schwantes on LinkedIn
Marcel Schwantes
Send Marcel a text message!
1 hr 16 min
December 08, 2022 David Achata: Embrace What You Don’t Know
David Achata is the author of Embrace What You Don’t Know, as well as a coach, trainer, facilitator, and speaker. Living in the mountains of Tennessee with his wife and two children, he brings over 20 years of leadership experience. Marcel and David dive into his book and the idea of asking the right questions instead of having the right answers. David gets real about toxic shame, how to combat it, and the impact of leadership orientation.

Stewardship
Robb Holman and Marcel break the ice with today’s co-host segment on stewardship. Being a good steward of your organization is important to leaders but too often personal stewardship is neglected. A good caring heart can cause leaders to become stretched too thin. Robb and Marcel discuss setting boundaries, getting focused, and embracing your unique identity to not only impact personal stewardship but stewardship across all of your leadership. “When we understand and embrace being the best version of ourselves, this has everything to do with stewardship.” [4:00]

Embracing What You Don't know
Marcel quotes guest David Achata, “What sets leaders apart is not having the right answers, it’s learning to ask all the right questions.”[21:55] David explains that embracing what you don’t know is all about understanding these categorical blindspots, first personally, secondly in our leadership, and thirdly in our organizations. If you can learn to ask questions in these facets of your life, leadership, and organization you can gain a lot of clarity.

The Shame Leaders Carry
“Shame is whenever we feel inadequate, the feeling that we’re not enough.” [39:00] David jokes that we need just enough shame to not go to the store naked, shame helps us understand our boundaries and our limits. However, toxic shame can make us feel like failures, and we compensate by puffing out our chests and bringing out our egos. David says that when leaders show this toxic shame, they are trying to overcome inadequacy by posturing themselves as something that they’re not. To combat this shame it is critical to address the blindspots David mentions, get to the root of shame, and be vulnerable.

Leadership Orientation
It’s important to understand and ask, ‘What kind of leader am I?’ David says that it's not better or worse but about understanding your influence, and what you’re influencing your people toward. Influence is about your power and voice in the world and how it expresses yourself in the world, and your orientation. “Understanding these pieces about orientation help make up the matrix of who a leader is.” [53:06]

Mentioned in this episode:
David Achata Coaching
Leadership Books by David Achata
Embrace What You Don't Know: A Stupid Guide to Smart Business Leadership
David Achata - LinkedIn
Robb Holman
Marcel Schwantes | Professional Profile | LinkedIn
Marcel Schwantes
Send Marcel a text message!
1 hr 15 min
December 01, 2022 Seth Goldenberg: Radical Curiosity
Seth Goldenberg is the author of Radical Curiosity: Questioning Commonly Held Beliefs to Imagine Flourishing Futures. In his book he explains how to reignite curiosity, today he talks with Marcel about what Radical Curiosity really means and how people can improve their ability to be curious. Goldenberg's approach to stimulating curiosity was launched by a re-interpretation of the 18th and
early 20th-century Salons. These informal gatherings were forums that advanced feminism, the Enlightenment, informal learning sciences, and the notion of the “public sphere”. Seth and Marcel discuss curiosity and activism, systemic prevention of curiosity, and some of the 28 building blocks for curiosity he includes in the book.

Show-Notes:
Well-Being
To kick off the episode, Marcel Schwantes brought on co-host Robb Holman. Robb brings up the idea surrounding so many reasons for changing workplaces, the environment, or leaders not prioritizing the well-being of their staff. But what really is well-being, “When I think of well-being I think of physical, spiritual, emotional, mental, there are so many aspects that makeup who we are.” [6:00] Robb defines well-being as this holistic view of ourselves, and too often leaders are looking only at the professional view and not even making time for their own well-being.
Radical Curiosity
Seth Goldenberg is the author of Radical Curiosity: Questioning Commonly Held Beliefs to Imagine Flourishing Futures. “What's holding us back..from being curious, asking questions, and digging down into the roots to find the answers to our problems.” [25:27] Marcel asks Seth about the barriers keeping us from being more curious, because as a whole, we are not collaborating, getting together, and asking questions to solve core problems.
Improving Curiosity
So if we’re not being curious…can we get better? Seth says, “Curiosity is an innate capability in all of us” [36:29] Just like breathing, we are born with the ability to be curious but with the right work and focus, we can hone in and refine our curiosity to be better. In the book, Seth has 28 building blocks to improve curiosity, he discusses a few of his favorites at the end of the episode.
Exploring What You Don’t Know
This podcast is all about leading with love, and empathy…Seth proposes that a systemic prevention of curiosity is actually eliminating love and empathy. He explains how curiosity and breaking the path of prevention is the way to successful leadership. “That origin point of how to zero in and figure out what a great question is, to really unleash value… that is the leadership practice of the 21st century.” [48:10]
Curiosity is Activism
Seth in his book describes that curiosity can be a form of activism, in the way of unlearning. “So many core ideas are getting rewritten, we don’t have to make a new product…we have to actually unlearn.” [54:29] We are moving forward from many ideas in the past and keep this momentum and live successfully in this new era, we must unwind our minds and unlearn ideas so that we can be curious again.
Mentioned in this episode:
Curiosity & Co.
Radical Curiosity - Bookshop.org
Seth Goldenberg - Founder & CEO - Epic Decade | LinkedIn
Robb Holman
Marcel Schwantes | Professional Profile | LinkedIn
Marcel Schwantes
Send Marcel a text message!
1 hr 9 min
November 24, 2022Marcel Schwantes: The Season for Gratitude (Thanksgiving Edition)
This Thanksgiving, embrace the spirit of gratitude and take these activities back to work with you to spread more gratitude after the holiday. [00:49]
For You, I Am Thankful
For the first activity, write down 5 people you are thankful for. These five people should be people who report to you and have a relationship with you that you value. [1:35]
Gratitude Reflection
For the second activity, think back on the key contributions, accomplishments, projects, and other things that have happened during the year involving these people. Relive these moments involving your 5 people in your heart and mind. [2:10]
Let Your People Know
In whatever method you can, let these people know how special they are. Let them know how much you value them, their character, their work, and what their relationship means to you! [3:00]
The Science
This isn’t just lovey-dovey gratitude, there is real science behind these three activities. Positive psychology research states that by simply expressing gratitude for two minutes a day for a period of 21 straight days is the fastest way to learn optimism and increase brain productivity by 31%. These activities train your brain to scan for positives instead of negatives. It will significantly improve your optimism even six months later, and raise your success rates significantly. [3:50]

Mentioned in this episode:
Marcel Schwantes | Professional Profile | LinkedIn
Marcel Schwantes
Send Marcel a text message!
7 min
November 17, 2022 Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa: Inner Mastery, Outer Impact
Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa, Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School, is the author of Inner Mastery, Outer Impact. Dr. Wadhwa joins Marcel to discuss where everyone’s success truly comes from our Inner Core. He explains his story behind the inspiration for his latest book, and unpacks a few of the 5 Core Energies to mastering your Inner Core; Purpose, Wisdom, Growth, Love, and Self-Realization.

The Inner Core
Dr. Hitendra Wadhwa discusses the book Inner Mastery, Outer Impact. The Inner Core is a place we can all find success, when focused on it and living truly from your Inner Core you will see from faith that the opportunities on the outside will manifest. The Inner Core can be fully accessed by activating these 5 Core Energies: Purpose, Wisdom, Growth, Love, and Self- Realization. While we unpack several energies, Dr. Wadhwa details all of the 5 stages for each of these energies in the book, “The essence of the book is inviting us to become familiar, and activate and to let our Inner Core shine through by putting these energies in action in everything we do.” [34:00]

Purpose
The first stage of purpose Dr. Wadhwa calls a “Stirring” in which people hunger to get more out of life or from a crisis mode that changes your outlook or circumstance. This first stage leads to the following 4 stages: searching for the answers, defining values, focusing and affirming yourself by living by the things you’ve discovered, and finally fusion where you create a magical moment of living your purpose in all facets of your life. Can anyone pursue their purpose? Dr. Wadhwa says, “We may be restricted by our own imagination. What is it that we can manifest and do in the present moment in the circumstances that the universe has put us in?” [31:30]

Love
You do this by putting love into action. This core energy utilizes this beautiful analogy of love as a flower. Stage 1: Prepare the Soil. Dr. Wadhwa explains that the research says you must get to a place where you yourself feel adequately and fully loved because you cannot give what you do not have. Stage 2: Sew the Seeds. Look for the virtues, strengths, and beauty in life with appreciation, gratitude, abundance, and empathy. Stage 3: Remove the Weeds. In love, this means removing the hatred, grudges, and judgment from all places in your life. Stage 4: Prune the Branches. This critical piece in which you must take care of yourself even when it comes to the hard decisions. Stage 5: Make Love Bloom. Dr. Wadwha says, “The way I define love is, it’s about taking joy in other people's joy, and taking success in other people’s success… You are not meant to sit in splendid isolation from the rest of humanity but you’re meant to be intertwined with them in beautiful ways.” [34:40]

Removing the Weeds
Commenting on Stage 3 of the Love Core Energy, Marcel comments that there are a lot of weeds, and the weeds are so tall we aren't able to see over them to the other side. He seeks tips from Dr. Wadhwa about truly removing judgment and hatred given the circumstances of our world. Dr. Wadhwa challenges the idea of Heroes versus Villains, and how we view the people who agree and disagree with us and reframes the way we think about the “Villains” with a lens to see them as “Heros”. “There is value in seeing things from a place of humble curiosity, and recognize that truth is more nuanced than a quick atomization and polarization of the world.” [54:25]

Mentioned in this episode:
Hitendra Wadhwa
Hitendra Wadhwa (@HitendraWadhwa) on Twitter
Mentora Institute
Mentora Foundation
Send Marcel a text message!
1 hr 8 min
November 10, 2022 Marcel Schwantes: Six Building Blocks of a High Performance Organization
Marcel shares a compelling leadership model that will get results for leaders and the best out of their employees. These are six building blocks you want to develop in your leaders to create a high-performing organization.

Highlights:

1. Display Authenticity
Dr. Laub’s research shows that the best leaders display authenticity by being learners. Meaning they are open to input from others, they are transparent, and they are self-aware. ”By showing up daily with their most authentic selves, they generate trust seamlessly and develop more productive relationships than their less authentic counterparts.”[3:20]

2. Value People
True leaders value their people by putting others (their employees!!) before themselves. They believe and trust in their people as well as their strengths, abilities, potential, and commitment to the job. “These leaders value people by maintaining a high view of them, showing them respect, and listening receptively to their needs in a nonjudgmental way.” [4:10]

3. Develop People
In our research, we found that they provide for learning and growth, and develop potential and career paths for others. They also model appropriate behavior and build up their people through encouragement and affirmation. “Developing people is a key strength of great leaders.” [5:10]

4. Provide Leadership
“Providing leadership is pointing the way forward.”[5:40] Dr. Laub noticed that they will envision the future and use foresight to direct the organization. These leaders take initiative, move out ahead, and they consistently clarify goals and expectations to get to the vision.

5. Share Leadership
The strength of great leaders comes from sharing power and decision-making and pushing authority down to empower others. We found in the research that because of their selfless nature, sharing status in relation to position or honor is a given. “Leaders that share leadership use persuasion to influence others instead of coercion.” [6:22]

6. Build Community
“Building community can only happen through fostering positive relationships at work.”[7:04] Dr. Laub said that great leaders relate well to others at all levels. They promote a sense of belonging and connection for all team members, they work collaboratively and emphasize teamwork, and they value the differences of others differing strengths, expressions, ideas, personalities, and viewpoints.

Mentioned in this episode:
Servant Leadership Training Course
Marcel Schwantes | Professional Profile | LinkedIn
Marcel Schwantes
Send Marcel a text message!
10 min
November 03, 2022 Steve Brass: Servant Leaders at WD-40
Highlights:

A Pioneer in Servant Leadership
Former CEO and global thought leader, Gary Ridge, has retired and he can be noted as the catalyst for the incredible culture and employee engagement at the iconic company WD-40. Gary, as a leader and role model, provided mentorship to Steve Brass since he was 25 years old. As Steve takes over as CEO, how will he follow? "My role is about sustaining success going forward, there is nothing that needs to be fixed. It's really about taking this wonderful business, this wonderful culture, and building on this huge legacy." [11:08]

Succession Planning
"If it's not properly executed, then the culture suffers." [14:42] Marcel explains how well-planned and executed succession is so important in leadership transitions for huge companies like WD-40. Steve Brass calls this process "Talent Management". Where high-level leaders nurture, grow, and support the talent of their teams. Steve explains the direct transition with Gary Ridge and how the planning, training, and responsibility began over 8 years ago!

Culture
What makes the WD-40 Company culture so special and a competitive advantage? "We have clearly articulated and lived values, the critical piece is in living them and leaders demonstrating them." [21:05] Steve shares how leaders quarterly write down and discuss how they are living and demonstrating the company values. He explains the inverted organization at the heart of the Servant Leadership Mentality, where the CEO is at the bottom of the structure serving all of the stakeholders above them.

Learning Moment
Steve explains the way Gary Ridge created immense psychological safety in this global company with "Learning Moments". At WD-40 they don't play the blame game, when mistakes are made there is something to be learned. Marcel agrees that the evidence behind the learning culture, "One of the top reasons people come to your company [WD-40], is because they are seeking career growth and development." [23:50]

Leadership in the Pandemic
"Looking back at the pandemic, it's going to be one of the biggest periods of learning we've ever had. The agility we've learned by pivoting on a daily basis to meet the challenges of the pandemic is just incredible, and we're a better business because of it."[28:46] Steve explains the changes, adaptations, and challenges they faced during the Pandemic. Now post-pandemic during the Great Resignation, Steve explains they have not experienced a loss of employees because of their positive culture and highlight on employee growth. They have in fact actually strengthened because of remote tools and hiring possibilities.

WD-40, Weird Hacks
During his research for the episode, Marcel found the WD-40 Fan Club in which they shared over 2000 uses for the product. One is removing pythons from a bus in Thailand!! Steve shares his favorite WD-40 hacks, some recommended and others not so much. "We get people writing in, they use it for arthritis, they use it for their joints…that is not a recommended use by WD-40" [32:55]. Some more practical uses…removing crayon marks from your walls, and bugs from the front of your car!

Mentioned in this episode:
Steve Brass on LinkedIn
WD-40 Company
Send Marcel a text message!
39 min
October 27, 2022 Edward Sullivan: Leading with Heart
Highlights:
The Journey Behind Leading with Heart

What makes the difference between great leaders and mediocre leaders? In their research Edward Sullivan and coauthor, John Baird found that the nuts and bolts behind effective leaders are authentic connections. Edward Sullivan says, “We found that leaders who are very successful lead with heart and leading with heart isn’t simply being a good guy or it’s not simply caring with a capital C. We found that there are actual specific conversations that people have to create the connective tissue in the workplace that lead to better results.” [9:45]

Organic Conversation

The way Leading with Heart was written, is to be used as a tool. These conversations and questions are organic, it's more about the conversations than one-liner questions. The book includes conversation starters to create ongoing conversations and dig into the richness behind them. “At the end of the day, leading with heart is about engagement. It’s about conversation. It’s not about interrogation.”, Edward explains the way the book can be used by teams. [15:23]

Heart Centered Questions

What do you need to be at your best? People like their work when they are treated like individuals and feel seen and as a member of the team. Leaders who promote this check in with their team, assessing and providing what each member might need to do their best work. “You can tell when people like their work… and it’s not because of those superficial benefits.” [19:53]Edward shares the powerful question leaders can ask to support their team.

What fears are holding you back? A fear-run organization is going to cause more turnover, less transparency, more politics, and all of the other negativity that is commonly seen in the workplace. Edwards provides a powerful analogy from the book, “If your team is afraid to tell you when they smell smoke, you’re always going to be putting out fires.”[22:08]

What desires drive you, and which might derail you? This is the “gas pedal” conversation… It’s the leader's responsibility to ask the questions and start the conversations to figure out what is going to motivate their team and get them going but also be conscious of what might get them off track. Leaders naturally desire acceptance and belonging but can also face the struggle of connection versus having difficult conversations. Edward reiterates by saying, “We can’t let the maintaining the relationship get in the way of maintaining effective performance of the team.” [31:32]

What are your greatest gifts? This is the question that gets leaders and team members lighting up. Our gift is something that often goes unappreciated, something that comes so naturally but we don’t value it the way other people might. “As soon as you gain awareness of your gift you start seeing applications for it in many other places in your life, and many other places in the business” [35:24] Edward explains how great leaders can see gifts and use them to add value to not only the business but by allowing their team member to see the gift for themselves as well.

What is your purpose? In Leading with Heart, all the previous four questions lead to the why. Get all the other information and feelings out there so that you can determine a real why and a real purpose. To Edward, purpose means how do you wanna leave the world? Who do you want to serve? What impact do you want to have? Edward defines this as, “Ultimately purpose comes down to figuring out how to use your gifts to their highest and best use. In service of something bigger than yourself.” [44:26]

Mentioned in this episode:
Send Marcel a text message!
54 min
October 20, 2022 Marcel Schwantes: 3 Decisions To Be A Better Leader
25 years ago, my leadership skills were on life support, but over time my toxic patterns were broken as I repeatedly chose to perform actions that created value, built community, and increased my influence. Neuroscience and positive psychology research have led us to a better understanding of how to improve our leadership behaviors and shift from a fixed to a growth mindset. To take neuroscience for a test drive and begin to reshape your own brain to become a better leader, there are three time-tested decisions you must make:

1. Practice New Behaviors
You become a leader by first unlearning and subtracting old habits. Then shift to a growth mindset, showing curiosity and openness. When you surround yourself with leaders exhibiting character and emotional intelligence — soak up their wisdom, and model new habits and behaviors. Then apply your new learning and knowledge, and add experience to your everyday life. “Application and practice is the key.” [3:40]
2. Change
“You must be willing and motivated to change and grow as a leader.” [4:30] Your intentions to become a great leader someday have to be heart-based. In other words, great leaders connect to the hearts of their followers to gain their trust. Both the head and heart need to be in the game. Without the heart, you’re stuck in autocracyland — focusing heavily on the end results while treating people like cogs — and forgetting the relationships that will achieve even greater results while making people’s lives better.
3. Seek Feedback
“To develop leadership skills, you must be motivated to seek out and receive feedback from others to see yourself more clearly.” [5:54] This will take great courage. You have to be willing to go down deep to explore old habits and behaviors below the surface that need to be identified and changed. In other words, unlearning and subtracting old behaviors and learning and adding new habits.

Which of these ideas do you agree with? What would you add?
I’d love for you to continue the conversation on LinkedIn. Tag my name and use #loveinactionpodcast. Let’s keep it going.

Mentioned in this episode:
Marcel Schwantes | Professional Profile | LinkedIn
Marcel Schwantes
Send Marcel a text message!
8 min
October 13, 2022 [REPLAY] Frances Frei: Unleashing Empowerment Leadership
Highlights:

Leadership and Empowering People
True leadership extends beyond being in the trenches. It’s about the ability to empower people even when you’re not around - even after you’re no longer in the company permanently, your influence remains. “Leadership is about empowering other people as a result of your presence and making sure that impact continues into your absence.” [5:46]

Empowerment Leadership as a Target
Empowerment leadership can be represented by a target - the bullseye being TRUST which is the foundation. Leaders move outward with each ring representing an element that empowers people. The first ring is LOVE with the idea of: How can I set up one other person for success? The next ring is BELONGING: What can I do for a varied group? The next rings are STRATEGY & CULTURE where you truly make a difference with your influence going past the bounds of the organization, rippling out to the customers and the clients where strategy is silent. "It starts with ourselves with trust and it goes all the way past the bounds of the organization with culture." [8:38]

Building a Trustworthy Culture
Trust is broken down into 3 traits: authenticity, logic & empathy. Each component has a role and what’s prescribed for the lack of empathy cannot cure the diagnosis for authenticity. If your culture is broken, start with trust. Frances describes the role of each component in building a trustworthy culture. “The reason that people haven’t been able to make much progress on trust is they kept trying to move to trust without understanding its very different but comprehensive component parts.” [18:40]

Love By Setting High Standards
Love is empowering people by setting high standards and revealing deep devotion to them. To bring out someone’s best, they have to feel your high standards as much as your devotion to them. Marcel comments that people often forget the leadership part of servant leadership: high standards and accountability are as important as caring. Both are necessary for a great leader. "Servant leadership in its definition, people only focus on the servant part and forget that the leadership part is setting those high standards and holding people accountable." [23:44]

Diversity and Inclusivity in the Workplace
One of the strategies that often fails in making a workplace more diverse and inclusive — especially for women — is the recruitment process. Frances shares why the recruitment process fails - they fail to acknowledge that their recruitment system fails in attracting. She stresses that if an organization’s recruitment system is great for attracting men, keep doing that. But if an organization is looking to attract highly qualified women using the same recruitment system, it’s not going to work. Acknowledging who your system attracts is the first step in creating diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. "If women are not applying, your systems are great for attracting men. Keep doing it every time you want to attract men but acknowledge that it's failing at attracting women. So now, how do you recruit differently for different demographics?" [42:31]

A Leader’s Takeaway
Frances wants leaders to take away this point: if you notice something wrong, address it now. “Meaningful change only happens quickly,” she argues. “Meaningful change happens when the thing you want to change is your number one priority…So when you see something, address it; address it with all your might, close it, & move on to the next thing.” [51:06]

Mentioned in this episode:
Frances Frei on LinkedIn
Send Marcel a text message!
57 min