What the world needs right now, especially at this time, are solutions that are only possible through individual empowerment that leads to trustworthy collaboration and civic engagement. This requires an understanding of the conditions and conversations that create a civil society in which people show up as the best they can be.
 
Unfortunately, most people don’t know what these conditions are or how to ensure that healthy people strategies are adopted. Without the right mindset, common language, tools and necessary support, the ability to create win/win outcomes is unlikely. A way is needed for developing leadership and personal responsibility in every person no matter their age, title, experience, or role. Only then do they know how to manage relationships well, and be productive, caring and committed to their best. Only when people are encouraged to exercise critical thinking and to use personal power intentionally and wisely, can they cause positive consequences and feel the joy in knowing they belong and matter.  
 
What often gets in the way of this is a belief in the inferiority of one’s self and others. This superior/inferior mindset conditions people to feel shame and self-doubt, leading to every kind of struggle - inside of people and with one another. This results in toxic workplaces, homes, schools, neighborhoods and an uncivil society. The saying "We are only as strong as our weakest link" is true and requires that as a people, we must strengthen and support every person in knowing themselves as empowered, lovable, connected and contributing. This is the only way we will ever have a civil society in which we all participate as healthy and caring members. 
 
A powerful leader who lives, models and articulates this so well is my guest today, Terri Williams. Let me tell you a little about Terri… 
 
Questions we may cover:

1. Can you tell our audience some of your beliefs, stories, and personal experiences related to living from power-within and power-between rather than power over or power under?
2. What do you think are the reasons people don't own their personal power or take the time to develop it and use it intentionally?
3. I've heard you say that so many people do not exercise critical thinking? Why do you think that's happening and what do you think would turn this around? 
4. What are some of the most inspiring stories of people using their personal power that feed your soul and inspire your full engagement in your life and in creating a civil society?
5. What challenges did you face when working as a mayor and citizens advocate and how did you overcome them? 
6. What do you think people need to know and do to create solutions and to fully and passionately engage in using them to create a safe and positive future?
7. What is your vision of the best kind of society we are capable of having and how do you see people getting there?  

Watch: https://youtu.be/JJ8RbkOJXIU 

What are the conditions and conversations that ensure people become confident and committed to creating caring collaboration and positive teamwork, where everyone wins and supports wild success in one another? Equally important is recognizing what conditions and conversations hinder these dynamics and outcomes. Knowing the difference between toxic conditions and ways of communicating that must go, and those that are life-giving is vital to empowering the creation of constructive outcomes that bring about healthy belonging and significance. 
 
Effective leaders are those who recognize the importance of such considerations and learn to integrate needed changes into the focus of influence they bring to those they lead. Such leaders are highly committed to understanding what concepts, terms, tools and strategies contribute to the constructive development of individuals and teams. They model and instill what they learn that's helpful, first in themselves and then in others. This is the stuff of emotional and social intelligence. This is not for the faint of heart. This kind of leader lives intentionally, seeks to be informed, and is committed and courageous. They invest in whatever it takes to lead exceptional lives, modeling self and social awareness and self and relationship management. My guest today is such an amazing leader. 
 
Questions we may cover include:

1. What are some of the conditions and conversations you see as vital for healthy individuals and teams? 
2. What challenges do you find in the people you lead whether in your church community or in your sports community?
3. Why does win/win matter so much at this time in the US? In the world? 
4. What gives you hope for win/win? What discourages you?
5. What have been some of your greatest personal challenges in becoming a role model for the mindset and behaviors you know are required for healthy development of people, no matter their age, role and experiences? How do you overcome these challenges and hold strong in your work and living your purpose despite them?
6. In addition to your faith and personal relationship with Jesus, who else has inspired you to live win/win? Your parents? Religious people? Historical figures? Personal friends and mentors? What was it about each that inspired you and how do you draw strength from the way they think, live or have lived, and have led you? 
7. What are some of the stories you have about your own successes and failures in developing confident, caring and collaborative youth? Confident, caring and collaborative adults?
8. What are some of the tools you have had success with and why? 
9. What are some of the ways you see people have been conditioned to create win/lose rather than win/win? Can you share personal stories to show the contrast between win/lose and win/win? 
10. What are some of the beliefs you hold about people that help you focus on and choose win/win and use of personal power to intentionally cause loving outcomes? 
11. What is most difficult about being firm AND respectful as you guide people in healthy ways of becoming confident, caring and collaborative?
12. What inspired you to be on my show "When Everyone Wins?"
13. What words of wisdom do you want to impart to our audience? 

Wherever people and organizations retain outdated and toxic culture practices that result in win/lose dynamics, everyone pays a price. Most people constrict in such environments and are stunted in their development. They fail to bloom into their greatest potential to be creative, innovative and empowered. These potentialities are crucial at this time in order to meet current challenges such as the speed of change, complexity, new technologies, globalization and much more.
 
Over time, toxic practices result in failures and mediocrity for individuals and organizations. New strategies that prioritize the evolution and wellbeing of people over profit, still too often considered unconventional rather than mainstream, are vital. These new strategies lead to greater sustained profit and consistent engagement, critical thinking, emotional and social intelligence, trust, wellness and innovation. Leaders adopting the shift from profit first to people first recognize what is toxic and should be removed, and equally what needs to be adopted instead and additionally. Today, this requires extra courage as those in support of win/lose are often holding onto the status quo with a death grip and are threatened AND threatening to those who stand for win/win. Win/win leaders are those that respect and protect the peace, equity and inclusion of all. That’s why now is the time to hear from such courageous leaders. My guest today is one of them.
 
Questions we may cover:

1. Can you tell our audience about your work as an advisory council member and spokesperson for End Workplace Abuse? At Walker Advertising? 
2. In your 8 years as a Diplomat at the US Department of State, you managed staffing and recruitment for all public diplomacy and information management positions for 80 embassies, consulates, and offices with the Bureau of European Affairs. You made policy recommendations which ensured United Nations technical programs were efficient and spearheaded efforts to promote American citizens to high positions within the UN system. You expanded Department Leadership Institutes to include a total of 124 government officials and administrators from 53 countries.Can you share what you are most proud of and want our listeners to remember about themselves?
3. What inspires you to be involved in the work you do?
4. What are your greatest challenges and how do you overcome them and hold strong in your work and living your purpose despite them?
5. I read that you responded to this question: How much does a brilliant jerk really cost? Can you share your thoughts on this?
6. You posted this quote: “The Cave You Fear to Enter Holds the Treasure You Seek.” What cave are most people afraid to enter? What would you say to help them? 
7. How do you think helps people overcome their fear of change and to develop a belief in, and a commitment to win/win?
8. There are some amazing men who believe in win/win. Having said this, I feel women are essential to bringing a new view of power that is not the traditional zero-sum, dog-eat-dog, win/lose models. Who inspires you to create the safety and mutual respect inherent in win/win?
9. Can you share some stories of changes you’ve brought to others and how these have made a positive difference? 

Creating a Culture Where People Stay and Thrive with guest Doug Less
 
Creating a healthy culture where people stay and thrive only happens when it is consciously created. Leaders must adopt certain conditions, cultivate conversations, and set up specific support processes so people build trust, collaborate effectively, think critically and develop social and emotional intelligence. Then, they move from self and social awareness to self and relationship management. This involves providing the right concepts, terms, tools and support processes so people feel a healthy sense of belonging and significance. When they do, they feel empowered, lovable, connected and contributing. This is the only way people will want to stay in an environment. This is the only way they will show up in ways that ensure they thrive along with their coworkers and the organization. Together, everyone and everything becomes whole and capable, including emotionally, socially, financially and even spiritually. Now is the time to examine these conditions and how to best foster them so the ways and means for cultivating loyalty and success is made obvious and can be replicated to breed further success in similarly powerful ways in many workplaces, homes and society overall.
 
My guest today is Doug Less. The questions I have for Doug may include: 

1. You have been trained in the LifeWork Systems CultureEX program. What are some of the things you have learned through the content and immersive process that create loyalty in people? That help them thrive?
2. What is it about a healthy, responsibility-based workplace culture that is difficult for people to understand and adopt?
3. What are the things you have seen in your life and work that have made people disengage and leave organizations? What can be done about these?
   
   Watch: https://youtu.be/cJ0DC10Ny0M 

The title of this episode is Creating Win/Win Where it Seems Least Likely! That’s because when win/win dynamics are created and power is expanded and then used to foster the good of many, this gives everyone hope about what’s possible where it might seem impossible! It also highlights what conditions and conversations are needed to get such a win/win result when it seems the least likely. This is why I am so excited to introduce my guest to you. He has had the courage and the heart to bring innovation where most people see only negative behavior, often feel hopeless, and can be harshly judgmental - when they consider prisons! 
 
In my work in applied Adlerian psychology, I know that where positive outcomes are most mind-blowing are in prisons. That’s why as soon as I set up my show in January, I immediately invited my next guest on this show! I am thrilled beyond belief to introduce you to him - Sheriff Eric. S. Higgins, best known by many for his innovative approaches to law enforcement and rehabilitation that have drawn national recognition, including being the visionary behind Netflix's Unlocked: A Jail Experiment series. This is where I became passionate about inviting Sheriff Higgins on my show. Questions I may be asking could include:
 
1. For most people, the prison system has always been a place to house criminals and to mete out punishment.  Can you tell our listeners about this experiment and what it is in your own background that helped you shift from a power-over, punishing mindset to one in which you prioritized encouraging the men in that unit to create a caring community?
 
2. I recall you saying that if we treat people as humans rather than sub-human, they will likely act better. We call this taking people out of the monster box. What helped you to see the men in the unit as capable of using their personal power in a positive way? 
 
3. I noticed that at first, the older inmates set themselves up in the role of “elders” and proceeded to try and use a conventional autocratic “management” approach with the younger inmates which did not go over well! How did you feel as you watched the conventional control models of those who decided to be the “elders” when they showed up at the start of the project?
 
4. Did you feel confident about the process and how directly connected did you stay in terms of watching the video feed and adjusting your approach?
 
5. What did you learn and what do you think they learned from this phase of the experiment?
 
6. What you put in place there led to the men growing in care for one another and more focused on their future. Do you believe the lessons that you, the other law enforcement personnel, and the inmates all learned in this experiment could help our society in general and if so, what lessons specifically? And, how might they be helpful to anyone in any setting, in our society?
 
7. In researching you for this episode, I noticed some people were angry with your vision for this experiment because they were so deeply committed to punishment as the priority, not rehabilitation. How much resistance did you get from people before, during and after this experiment? How did you overcome it? What are your thoughts about this?
 
8. When authority figures in a prison system adopt a firm and respectful approach like you did, and expect goodness from people, and demonstrate a belief in equality and dignity for all, we know that recidivism is greatly reduced. We have seen this when our own psychology model has been used in a similar way. You said recidivism in your prison was around 50%. What was it at the end of the 6 weeks and what has happened since then?
 
9. Did you ever truly have doubts once it started?
 
10. How often did you watch the video feed?
 
11. At the end of the show, the experiment was going to be started in other cell blocks. How is it going?
 
12. How have things evolved and what were the greatest lessons you learned?
 
Watch: https://youtu.be/HTNVBxrFV3o

I met my guest when he read one of my articles and then shared one of his own called An Open Letter to Business Leaders – Please Embrace Humanity. In a more recent article, he wrote these words: “I know what humanizing behavior looks like. It’s uplifting, empowering, kind, compassionate, and constructive. I also know what dehumanizing behavior looks like. It’s cruel, vindictive, petty, and destructive.”
 
What I already knew about my guest is that he gets it that how we use our power determines whether we create the conditions that lead to win/lose or win/win. In speaking with him in preparation for the show, I could see that we both recognize that most people want to create a world of shared power and win/win, but without prioritizing what it takes to fully embrace humanity, we fail to commit to, and do the necessary work for expanding human potential and bringing out the best in one another. When Everyone Wins is a show about creating such a world so that all people experience healthy belonging and significance and feel empowered, lovable, connected and contributing. By embracing humanity, we commit to help each other feel seen, safe, and reassured in our place and our relevance. Only then will we be able to create the uplifting, empowering, kind, compassionate, and constructive society that is described in my guest’s article.
 
Questions we may discuss include:
 
1. You shared we spend more money in the US (and elsewhere too) to destroy and/or replace humans than we do to uplift, empower and support them. What do you believe are the root causes of this?
 
2. You referenced the doomsday clock, the harmful impacts of AI, climate change scenarios, and even the # of workers who want to leave their jobs, all in an effort to raise the alarm about how humanity is at serious risk. Why is there a lack of urgency and what should be done about it?
 
3. What does it take to help leaders prioritize humanity, and to embrace it so that those they lead center their power, trust it and use it in kinship and care for one another and as the means to create a way out of such a collective crisis?
 
4. Most leaders think ‘embracing humanity’ where the development of people and their level of fulfillment and agency is a “nice to have” not an essential “need to have”. What should be happening inside organizations so that leaders recognize the crucial need to prioritize this for the survival of our world and all living people and creatures within it?
 
5. Many people act as if they would rather abdicate responsibility or avoid using their personal power. What are some next steps a leader can take to make embracing humanity a priority and communicate the urgency and necessity of empowering their people to see and respond to this too?
 
Watch: https://youtu.be/b-0hIBPkRlE

Many people lose themselves in relationships. They clue into what’s expected and begin to compromise their own priorities and sense of self in order to maintain a bond in which they’ve become attached. Over time, the love offered loses its meaning and value, and the sense of self takes too many hits. Sometimes people decide it’s just better to be alone because at least then we can hold onto ourselves and remain intact. But…that’s not the only option.
 
In relationships lie the opportunities to maintain ourself while managing our interpersonal dynamics with others, all without selling our soul. This requires we develop our power within and refrain from trying to get the upper hand by engaging in power-over, or letting ourselves be dominated as in power-under either. The power-within that strengthens our sense of self requires we let go of the need for love, approval and acceptance from others. And, from that place, we keep our hearts open while managing relationships, making what we think and feel matter more than what others want from us or think of us. This is not done by separating ourselves from them. It’s done by keeping our hearts open and determining to be the constant. We decide to be the one responsible for the love we hold for ourselves and for others no matter what they do or decide. This is not always easy.
 
I can’t think of a better person to be discussing this with than my guest today. She is a woman who has declared for and made decisions to own her voice and to live a life of authenticity so that she can help others – particularly women - but men too, do the same. Just as when we declare for peace, all war breaks out to be cleared, so too does her declaration for women’s empowerment bring up all that needs to be cleared away within women, including herself. When life tests us, we can become defeated or we can realize these tests are the gateway to a life we love because we gain the skill to remain intact despite them. 
 
Some questions asked may be: 

1. Where have you struggled to remain intact in relationships?
2. How do people sell their souls in relationships and play power-under?
3. Why is it difficult for even accomplished, successful, adults (men and women) to remain intact?
4. What are the costs of people pleasing?
5. What are the costs of avoiding relationships altogether or engaging with authenticity?
6. Where have you been maintaining being the constant in your life and in relationships and how does this feel?

 watch: https://youtu.be/mugEfqxiZ7Y
 

In this episode, we explore how the use of power can be used to control and dominate or to encourage, guide and support. Control tactics (some of which are not considered to be so, or critically challenged) are widely promoted and endorsed as conventionally acceptable in many homes, schools, and organizations - but at what cost? The hits to internal motivation, wellbeing, exploration, discovery, trust, and joy in living are often overlooked. Perceptual blindness about honoring alternatives locks many people into behaviors that lack faith and positive beliefs in the potential and possibilities within all living beings. Today’s guests provide such honoring and effective alternatives and share exceptional outcomes accomplished when bringing connection, respect and trust to the table that increasing the internal drive to live from purposeful intention and to operate from values, as is only possible through caring influence and support.
 
Questions asked during this interview may include:
 
1. What conventionally accepted ways of influencing behavior are harmful and why?
2. What beliefs underlie current use of control tactics and support required compliance?
3. What are alternatives to the status quo and the positive impacts that come from them?
4. Describe success stories you have experienced and seen occur when people make the shift to supportive connection in which the result is internal motivation and collaboration?
Watch: https://youtu.be/6kSfGcgrLSE

In the culture transformation work of my company LifeWork Systems, we consider leadership development to be the development of leadership in every person, in every role. We also consider servant leadership to mean a way of operating in which everyone serves one another in every direction from CEO to front-line staff and back again. Who better to understand this than a man who knows how important leadership development and servant leadership are to a winning outcome than former NCAA champion and coach Matt Doherty!?  
 
What we discuss in this interview may include:
 

1. It's clear that from the time you were a very young man, you have always been a person who has sought excellence and continuous improvement. What are some of the key influences that helped to develop these in you from such an early age?
2. Can you tell us about your book Rebound: From Pain to Passion. Leadership Lessons Learned
3. You learned at Wharton that leadership is a learned behavior. I agree. How has this borne out in your own life in becoming the leader you are and in helping others to become leaders too?
4. What are some of the leadership strategies and time-tested lessons you most value and why?
5. You advocate painting a picture of success and hanging it on the wall. What does your current picture on the wall look like at this point in your life and work?
6. You believe that culture does not happen by accident or change but rather must be intentionally driven. What kind of culture do you believe in and why? Is it one in which everyone is supported to be successful?
7. You say “Little things are big things. If you take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves." What are some of the little things you believe most people fail to take care of and what advice would you give them for noticing and addressing them? 

Watch: https://youtu.be/y8SKh2YhOEI

What happens when a commitment to ethical and spiritual beliefs and practices required for a win/win culture are at odds with default to status quo bottom line considerations? How is this navigated in order to satisfy business owners and investor alike? When investors or business owners want to make people, purpose and principles the top priority, with bottom line considerations secondary, what is needed for such an atypical shift?
 
In today's world of work these are often unquestioned and unaddressed considerations for  those interested in creating conscious business alliances with values-based initiatives and collaboration in mind. What deliberations, strategies, lessons learned and commitments must be considered, discussed and agreed upon for a successful outcome for all concerned?
 
In this interview, we may address the following: 

1. What is your personal journey in your work and in the writing of your new book "Enlightened Bottom Line"?
2. Can you tell me some stories that highlight challenges and rewards experienced by those aligning with the priorities of people, purpose and principles over a profit-first mindset and strategy?
3. What does the research bear out in the short and long-term for those operating in the too often status quo ways of operating from an unenlightened bottom line of profit first? 
4. What does the research bear out in the short and long-term for those operating from the less common commitment to an enlightened, win/win bottom line? 
5. What are your reflections and what would you most like to share concerning the importance of cultivating and operating from purpose at an individual and organizational level?  

Watch Here: https://youtu.be/DRFbfjWbTNQ