This week’s guest, together with his co-founder Chuck Runyon, made the bold decision to reinvent the culture of work in their business. Today their company, Anytime Fitness, is the world’s largest and fastest-growing coed fitness club franchise and has earned numerous industry awards including Top Global Franchise and one of America’s Most Promising Companies. Dave Mortensen is the President of Self Esteem Brands, the parent company of Anytime Fitness. He has been featured on ABC’s Secret Millionaire and Be The Boss Canada. He is a sought after speaker on leadership culture and employee engagement. He and his partner have also written a book, Love Work, about how to inspire a high performing culture at the center of people, purpose, profits and play.Marcel says that Dave and Chuck have revolutionized the fitness industry. He asks Dave to share how they did it. Dave replies they saw a gap in the industry and thought about how they fill that need by making fitness more accessible to people. He describes the changes they made to help their members make fitness a part of their lifestyle. Their franchise operates in 35 countries today and continues to grow. [4:52]“If you can’t lead the same way you want to be an example of your life, then how can you call yourself a leader?” Dave asks. [8:43]We all have challenging moments and those times impact our ability to be productive. Dave says that your team should be able to share their personal and work-related challenges so that you can help them grow in life. [9:45]Real love is being willing to provide some tough love along the way. When you love someone enough to be willing to tell someone what they need to hear, it’s amazing what they will do for themselves, which will, in turn, help you build a great organization. [12:39]Dave says that their business is built around the four P’s: People: The most important part of the business is their staff. They invest 50% of time and energy on performance. The other 50% centers around their staff’s personal development. [14:52]Purpose: People want to work in an organization with a purpose. Start living out your purpose one person at a time, and it will spread until you have a movement. Speak your purpose, act on it, and live it. [15:46]Profits: A business cannot survive without profits. If you can drive profits, you can make a difference. Profit can be emotional as well as financial. Dave talks about ROEI - Return on Emotional Investment. You should invest your time in something that you love doing and you’re happy with. [16:40]Play: Don’t take yourself too seriously, Dave says. [17:47]Marcel asks: “Is it appropriate to express that much emotion in the workplace…?” Dave responds that it’s appropriate to be who you are as a person. People filter information either with their head first or their heart first. No matter which is true for you, the important thing is to be authentic. [20:38]Vulnerability is being open about the challenges you face. You grow and learn by being real about them. If a leader is vulnerable with his or her team, they will reciprocate. You can’t force vulnerability though. You can only ask great questions to draw vulnerability out of others. [22:54]Dave shares why he thinks there is still so much fear-based leadership in the workplace. He also gives advice about how to combat the fear. [25:04]People don’t give themselves enough credit, Dave finds. He wants to help people see themselves as great people that bring a lot in life. He urges listeners to put love in action, to believe in themselves and to love themselves first. “You’ll find great things that surround you,” he promises. [31:00]Marcel comments, “A healthy ROEI makes for a healthy bottom line and that is what creates a strong and healthy culture that's able to grow into the future.” [33:08]

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