Higher Purpose Podcast Episode 74: The Top 10 Books on Purpose

Welcome to the last episode of the Higher Purpose Podcast for 2018. This special release is coming to you on Boxing Day and we’re wrapping up this year with the 10 most influential and inspirational books on purpose Kevin has read this year, and his takeaways from each of them.

Leading from Purpose by Nick Craig

Purpose is defined as the unique gifts you bring to the world that only you can bring, the way you bring it.

“Purpose is most valuable to us when there are no right answers, just choices for which time alone will give us the clarity to choose wisely.”

Find that life of purpose and occupy it as much and as fully as you can.

The Power of Meaning: Finding Fulfillment in a World Obsessed with Happiness by Emily Esfahani Smith

Happiness is better as a byproduct than as the main search. People who live meaningful lives have satisfied three conditions: Number one, they evaluate their lives as significant and worthwhile — as part of something bigger. Number two, they believe their lives make sense. And number three, they feel their lives are driven by a sense of purpose.

How Will You Measure Your Life? By Clayton M. Christensen

“The first step down the path is taken with a small decision. You justify all the small decisions that lead up to the big one, then you get to the big one, and it doesn’t seem so enormous anymore.”

If you have life principles and values, and those are how you say you're going to live your life, stick with them 100% of the time.

Story Driven: You don't need to compete when you know who you are by Bernadette Jiwa

“Great companies don’t try to matter by winning, they win by mattering.”

If you're always focused on what others are doing, it’s hard to be great at what you do, in the way only YOU can do it. If you’re a business owner, you need to give customers a reason to be loyal to your brand, rather than 100 reasons you’re better than the competition.

The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle

In this book, Dan goes behind the curtain of some of the groups who are known for their legendary accomplishments and teamwork that’s so fantastic, it’s an outlier. He shares the secrets of how they do it, and how you, too, can have that kind of amazing culture.

“Culture is a set of living relationships, working towards a shared goal. It’s not something you are, it’s something you do.”

Chief Joy Officer by Rich Sheridan

This is the follow-up to the book, Joy Inc., and it shows how to put those priciples into practice. Rich believes a leader’s primary job is to ‘pump fear out of the environment.’ But the biggest takeaway from the book is the story of the book, and Kevin explains why.

“If we get the definition of success right, leading becomes much easier.”

The Hospitable Leader by Terry Smith (special link for HPP Podcast listeners)

The message of The Hospitable Leader is a topic we need more now because polarization happens not just in politics, but in the world at large: people are shouting at one another, instead of having a conversation. The Hospitable Leader is a strategy for humanizing the workplace and being intentional about being hospitable.

“If you really want to see people flourish, you invest in the environment.”

Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown

Shame is the intensely painful feeling of believing that we're flawed and therefore unworthy of love, belonging, and connection, and Brené goes into that and unpacks it.  Where shame exists, empathy is almost always absent, and that’s what makes it so dangerous. Belonging and connection is what heals, and we all have a longing for belonging under the banner of culture.

“Daring leaders must care for and be connected to the people they lead.”

The Abundance Loop by Juliana Park

Fear leads to anxiety, anxiety leads to poor choices, poor choices produce negative outcomes. If you want a different outcome, start with gratitude. Gratitude produces peace of mind, peace of mind leads to wise choices, and wise choices allow you to have a positive outcome. That’s the abundance loop.

Deep Listening: Impact Beyond Words by Oscar Trimboli

Listening is a critical skill, and is an accelerator for greater opportunity.  The single greatest barrier that most of us have to listening is the conversation that’s already going on in our minds. We can all become better listeners, and the biggest productivity gain comes from listening more, not learning more.

Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman

Would you rather be known as the genius — the smartest person in the room — or the genius maker —the person who unleashes the brilliance of the people around you? A Multiplier can get twice the productivity from their team by making everyone else smarter, and I believe you're listening to this podcast because you want to be a multiplier and bring out the best in others.

What books have you read, and what would you recommend to other listeners of the Higher Purpose Podcast?

Let Kevin know at kevin@higherpurposepodcast.com.

If this book list has got you thinking about your plan for personal and professional development as you go into 2019, Kevin has created a simple resource and a reading list to help you develop your plan. Just send him an email.

If you want to do a deep dive into a year long, transformational journey with a very small group, email him as well.

Resources

Episode 56: How to Find Your Purpose with Nick Craig

Episode 37: Story Driven with Bernadette Jiwa

Episode 72: Hospitable Leadership and the Discipline of Hope with Terry Smith

Episode 63: Abundance and Scarcity Loops with Juliana Park

Episode 64: Experiencing and Cultivating Abundance with Juliana Park

Episode 57: Becoming a Deep Listener with Oscar Trimboli

Higher Purpose Podcast Episode 73: Creating a People and Service Centered Business with Josh Watts

Have you ever started a business you didn’t know anything about? On the show today is Josh Watts, CEO of MedTrust Holdings, a private ambulance provider who specializes in "inter-facility care”: the medicine in between buildings when patients transfer from one facility to another. Josh got into the private ambulance business after beginning in aviation sales and recruitment, and shares what that journey was like, the challenges along the way, and what it’s like to be one of the fastest growing companies in South Carolina. Listen to the full episode here:The journey to MedTrustJosh shares how he started in sales and recruitment in the aviation industry — that is, until 9/11 happened and he ended up moving departments. There, he met his wife who was working in pharmaceuticals, and that’s when he fell in love with healthcare. He worked as a pharmaceutical sales representative, and even got into real estate, but nothing felt quite right.Eventually, he was approached with the idea of starting an ambulance company. The problem, they said, was that most ambulances are run by burned-out paramedics. The industry was ripe for innovation — not a dramatic one, just one about taking care of people better — and in 2012, MedTrust was born.Growing pains and motivationsIn 2014, one of the co-founders passed away. With an investor and a right-hand person on board, they tore the company down to the studs and had to decide what they wanted to be when they grew up. Many companies want to be everything to everybody, but a company serving many audiences doesn’t serve any of them well. They made the decision to focus, and built the foundation from a system and people perspective into the company it is today. Josh has two ‘why’s’ that spur MedTrust’s growth: First, if you truly believe what you’re offering is dramatically better than what other people are currently experiencing, then you want more people to have that thing.Second, there are 160 families that depend on the company; the families of the people who work for MedTrust. Josh wants to build a company worth owning and a company worth working for that is able to provide that opportunity for the staff.Challenges along the wayThe initial challenge was showing that they could serve one hospital, since they had never done it before.As the company grew, so did the challenges. Josh shares that currently, their main concerns are 1) maintaining the company’s quality and performance while his attention as CEO is divided, 2) growing without falling over as they add more and more clients at a faster and faster pace, and 3) expanding and being experts in an altogether new market: Florida.So the team took time to engage with their clients on a deeper level and focus on areas for improvement. For patients to come first, the company has to take care of their employees, and Josh shares what that means for them. He also shares how they recruit the right people by leveraging MedTrust’s differences and core values, and Kevin coaches Josh on how to make those core values come to life as they scale the company.What message would you like to pass on to other business owners?Don’t be afraid of losing control by bringing in really smart people and look for them beyond the four corners of your area. Challenge your team: Can you take all that great knowledge and build us a different, better box?It’s easier to see the opportunity for innovation from the outside, but it takes humility to say, “I don’t know everything.” That creates a unique partnership. Transform YOUR Team!If you're a leader who is, or wants to be entrusted with the transformation of your team, join me and 6 other leaders for a year-long journey of transformation that will help you release your brilliance, and help others do the same. Email Kevin@Kevindmonroe.com to begin the application process.ResourcesJosh Watts (LinkedIn)MedTrust Website

Higher Purpose Podcast Episode #72: Hospitable Leadership and the Discipline of Hope with Terry Smith

On today’s episode, we have Terry Smith, Lead Pastor of The Life Christian Church, and the author of The Hospitable Leader: Create Environments Where People and Dreams Flourish. What does it truly mean to be hospitable, and how can it transform your leadership? And what do you know about the discipline of hope? Listen to the full episode:What does it mean to be a hospitable leader?Being a hospitable leader is about creating environments of welcome. It’s a worldview, mindset, approach, and philosophy that can have multiple expressions. Terry discovered this connection between hospitality and leadership from the church he serves. Their congregation is extremely diverse across several measures, from age to race, and even religious backgrounds — and yet these people who are so different love each other. Creating an environment where people and dreams flourish“Flourish” might be looked down upon as a soft word, but it’s been proven again and again that soft leadership skills bring hard results: an environment where people and their dreams can flourish is an environment that paves the way for success.Creating an environment that’s hospitable to people engages their hearts and makes them ready to run through a wall and make something happen. Terry breaks this down into five different environments — physical, spiritual, emotional, attitudinal, and communicative — and shares how all of this is paralleled in the story of The Last Supper.When you prepare this environment, you can say things that people will hear in a way that they wouldn’t have heard otherwise.The corporate implications of a spiritual environment in the workplaceWhether or not you’re a believer, there is tremendous power in being connected to something transcendent and bigger than you are. You want to connect what the people in your organization are doing to something beyond themselves, something that has meaning. The challenge now becomes: How do you get your people to think about what they’re doing as more than just their tasks? From hostility to hospitality Right now, everyone is yelling at each other left and right, and that doesn’t accomplish a bit of good. This is true in families, in churches, and in businesses. We need to be able to sit at a table and talk about differences in a way that speaks the truth, wrapped in grace. At the end of the day, we all want the same things: a world where people are respected, and a world where nobody is falsely accused. What’s keeping us from working that out?The word hospitality in the original Greek means to love a stranger. We need to love people who are strange to us and to whom we are strange. When you’re willing to approach life like that, you’ll discover that people can expand your life in ways you never could have contemplated.What are the empty seats around your table? What perspectives and insights are you missing out on because you’re not welcoming those who may be strange to you?Hospitality, influence, and the discipline of hopeLeadership is about influencing people, but for that to happen, you have to speak truth. Hospitable leaders create environments where truth can be spoken… and most importantly heard. And when truth is received, it can be acted on. To practice this kind of leadership, you need to practice the discipline of hope. You cannot encourage others as a discouraged person. Create an environment in your own person so full of hope and happiness that it bleeds out into whatever you are creating, and people will be more inclined to follow your lead. ResourcesTerry A. Smith (website)Special Resources PageThe Hospitable Leader: Create Environments Where People and Dreams Flourish (Amazon) 

Higher Purpose Podcast Episode 71: Becoming the Chief Joy Officer of Your Company with Rich Sheridan

We’re pleased to welcome Rich Sheridan back to the Higher Purpose Podcast. He joined us for episode 36 and what a great episode it was! Rich is the author of two books: Joy, Inc. and Chief Joy Officer. He’s also the CEO, Chief Storyteller, and Tour Guide of Menlo Innovations, a software design and development company. In this episode, we dive even deeper into creating a culture of joy in the workplace and what that looks like in practice. Listen to the full episode:Starting from the topWhere do you begin? By creating the kind of company you want to come into every day. Rich is the first person in the office every morning, turning on the lights, putting on the coffee, cleaning the kitchen, and watching what he likes to call the “Sunrise at Menlo.” He emphasizes that the role of the CEO is the example setter; you set the tone, and the tone Rich wants to set is, “Hey, this is everybody’s job, including mine.” There’s nothing he would ask his employees to do that he wouldn’t be willing to do himself. Where does this joy come from? Rich wasn’t always joyful. He often shares that, in fact, he found joy from escaping from the tough and miserable times he was going through. He reveals this because he wants people to see that, if they were as miserable as he was, and he found a way out, then maybe they can, too. Joy is something they can achieve.What is joy?Joy is different from happiness. It isn’t possible to be happy every day. But joy is about having a purposeful long-term view of where you’re going, how you’re going to get there, and what you’re willing to put up with to get to that outcome.To Rich, joy is serving others, and you won’t find joy until you can answer these two questions: Who do you serve? And what would delight look like for them?Leading with love at MenloAt every point in our dealings with others, we can be harsh or kind. Both approaches are free, but one comes at a high cost.One of Rich’s core values is taking a chance on people, which rolls all the way back to their interview and hiring processes, and rolls forward to a company culture of helping people succeed. He shares more anecdotes about how love manifests at Menlo, from parents sending their children to work there, to what happened collectively, as a community, when one of his team members had a new baby and couldn’t find child care.When it’s time for tough love, Rich drives home the fact that we don’t have to harm the other person to do that. The conversation needs to shift from “build an employee” to “build a human being” — a lesson underscored when he ran into the first person he ever fired, years later, and also as he recounts the story of another employee who had left Menlo and returned… thrice!Final thoughtsRich shares with us some parting messages:Stop the contemplation, and just start trying small things. Run small experiments, and see what one thing you could do today to make things a little better tomorrow for you and the people around you. Be the example you want to see throughout your organization, and that contagion can ripple quickly. You have permission to think differently. There's nothing stopping you, except that moment where you take a step. Ready to make your OWN transformation?We all feel the need to transform our lives, whether personally, in business, or in the way we lead others. Join Kevin for a 28 day sprint to transform your life!ResourcesRich Sheridan (LinkedIn)Rich Sheridan (Twitter)Menlo Innovations (Website)Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love (Amazon) Chief Joy Officer: How Great Leaders Elevate Human Energy and Eliminate Fear (Amazon)

Higher Purpose Podcast Episode #70: How Purpose Intertwines in Business and Life

Joining Kevin today is Jeremiah Smith, the Founder and CEO of Simple Tiger. Simple Tiger is an SEO agency specifically for software companies, helping them drive simple, effective marketing for clients they love. Today, Jeremiah shares the joy of discovering purpose along the way: in business, in life, and how the two intertwine. Listen to the full episode:A business with a clear set of valuesJeremiah’s company, Simple Tiger, has a clear set of values — simplicity, integrity, and joy — that’s evident as soon as you land on their website. Jeremiah shares the journey behind each of these core values, and how they are brought to life in the company. Integrity is an especially relevant value in the SEO field. Because it’s so complex and so lucrative, it’s easy to become a snake oil salesman and confuse unsuspecting customers. But by carrying core values into the way we build and run our companies, we can go back to having a solid, healthy, wonderful impact on people.Humanizing of the workplaceA more human workplace starts with the business owner bringing their whole self to the business. You don’t lead by shouting or yelling or directing: you lead by doing. You lead by example. To have a company made up of people who ascribe to the core values, you must bring that in as a leader and exemplify it yourself.Jeremiah then shares examples of how these values shape the culture of the workplace: from screening applicants during the recruitment process to brainstorming with the team when it comes to making decisions. This has built an extremely strong, incredible team, which is important because they work remotely and everybody is spread throughout the country. It’s a unique culture with its own unique challenges, so a top concern is always to make sure everyone has a healthy morale, feels good about their work, and is enjoying things.Discovering personal purposeJeremiah shares how his journey of discovery began in church. The more deeply involved he got in his ministry, the more he started growing: becoming someone who was much more patient, much more loving, and able to deal with people much deeper and much better. Soon this growth found its way back to how he interacted with the team, and it produced massive fruit. The team began to excel, and Jeremiah found himself shifting his personal thinking: maybe I should try to start letting go of things and letting other people run them. The business now is the means by which Jeremiah could live out his personal life’s purpose, and how he wants his team to have that as well: the realization of their purpose, and to live fulfilling lives. Jeremiah hopes that his company can help them along the way, and shares stories of how this has trickled down to his team. Final thoughtsJeremiah challenges anyone who may not be clear on their purpose to focus on something that’s free. You're not guaranteed to get anything tangible out of it right away, and getting that selfishness out of the way helps you to be clear on your life’s purpose. If you’re on this path of figuring out your purpose, Jeremiah shares the advice his mother gave to him: keep doing whatever you’re doing. Eventually it will find you, and eventually you will figure it out. But what you can’t do is sit down and be bumped. It will show up; you just have to get up and go back to work. And just keep working until it shows up. ResourcesJeremiah Smith (LinkedIn)Simple Tigerjeremiah@simpletiger.com

Higher Purpose Podcast Episode 69: The Epic Partnership that Created the WD-40 Culture with Garry Ridge and Stan Sewitch

We’ve got a dynamic duo joining us today to talk about the epic partnership they share and the culture they’ve helped build in WD-40 Company. Garry is the CEO and Stan is the CHRO of this wildly successful organization. Today, they share their stories about creating a unique and fulfilling company culture, what it means to run a business with values at the forefront, and emphasizing the importance of fun and meaningful work. Listen to the full episode here:

• When Garry became CEO, he realized micromanagement wasn't scalable. They had to come up with a way of empowering people around a culture that was very specific about what they wanted it to accomplish. Coming from Australia, the concept of tribes was a perfect fit for Garry. He wanted to encapsulate the qualities of an enduring and positive place to work where people wanted to be and stay.
• In a tribe, you belong. Garry and Stan envision a place where you go to work every day, make a contribution to something bigger than yourself, learn something, feel respected, feel safe, and go home happy. It’s working: the current employee engagement measure is at  93.3%, compared to the average 33%.
• Garry shares that he and Stan share common beliefs in life: that they have to be in a position to empower people to do good work, that it’s all about people and helping them succeed and develop, and that ego is not a positive place to be. Many leaders fail because the ego eats their empathy instead of empathy eating their ego.
• Stan adds that another thing they share is the idea that leadership is about serving the organization and its future. It’s not about you. If you’re not the best solution for the need of the moment, you should happily step aside for someone else who could lead better. It's a function that needs to be done. It's not a prize, it's not a place on a ladder, and it's not a right. It's a service.
• Garry talks about how a company culture is like a petri dish, and should any foreign bodies get into that petri dish, he and Stan don't allow them to impact the quality of the culture; they get them out of there as quickly as they can.
• If people are looking to work at WD-40 Company, the first thing that pops up on the website is the company values. And they say: if these don't align with you, don't bother going any further. There are only two measures of values: you either live them or you visit them. And we don't want a lot of visitors.
• Stan and Garry share how they bring values to life at the WD-40 Company: detailing what each one means so there isn’t any misinterpretation, ranking and prioritizing them, and a values-based exercise Garry uses to make decisions.
• A supportive CHRO needs to understand the business and have complete alignment with where the company wants to go. If you're providing value in your role, if you understand the business, if you know how to contribute towards that organization, strategy, and long-term set of goals. If you know how to advise, then you won’t have to ask for a seat at the table - people will drag you there.
• The CEO, on the other hand, needs to think of themselves as the chief people officer that others can follow by example. It means living the values, living the culture, and adopting the role of an elder and teacher. That cannot be delegated; the head of the company must set that example.
• It’s important to keep the business strategy and people strategy synchronized, especially in an international company this big. This cannot be managed through policy books; instead they’ve arrived at a coherent set of principles, values, and philosophies, and then delegate accountability for implementation to the regions. Garry and Stan dive in to other practices they’ve developed and maintained to cultivate a culture of mutual respect: reframing mistakes as learning moments, a video series called “What were we thinking?”, and a practice they call honoring the absent.

Final thoughtsStan says to other leaders of HR: if you're complaining about not being at the table, then you're paying attention to the wrong things. Be better, get better, be more valuable, be a better advisor, a better business partner, and honestly, quit whining. Go get it done.Garry’s message to CEOs: you will have a much richer, more enjoyable, and more fulfilling role in an organization where you have people at the forefront, improving themselves and their lives. That’s more important to you than the 30-day result. It is very possible for any other organization to create a culture of fun and meaningful work. It doesn't take anything except the intention to make real, meaningful connections with human beings to jointly try to improve their lives.Ready to make your OWN transformation?We all feel the need to transform our lives, whether personally, in business, or in the way we lead others. Join Kevin for a 28 day sprint to transform your life!Resources: Garry RidgeStan SewitchWD-40 CompanyGarry’s Blog PostHelping People Win at Work: A Business Philosophy Called "Don't Mark My Paper, Help Me Get an A" (Amazon)

Higher Purpose Podcast Episode 68: Experience, Innovation, and Transformation with Chris Holt

Our guest today is Chris Holt. She is the Chief Experience Designer at Holy Redeemer in Pennsylvania, a faith-based institution that offers diverse healthcare services to families and patients. In this episode, she tells the story of her organization’s innovative transformation that centers on purpose and service. What she did differently - looking at experience as a way to innovate, will inspire you.

• About ten years ago, Holy Redeemer began an initiative to become more innovative as an organization. In their research, the team found a book called The Experience Economy by Joseph Pine and James Gilmore, which led to the idea of looking at experience as a way to innovate. Experience that is uniquely grounded in who they are and who they want to be as an organization is a way to not only differentiate themselves, but transform themselves.
• The team then worked with Gary Adamson of Starizon to apply the concepts of an experience economy to a healthcare organization. They took these concepts and molded them to fit their culture and their beliefs. It has become a way to provide better service AND to brand the experience as being unique to Holy Redeemer.
• The healthcare system has been under a lot of pressure to do more with less, not to mention that technology has raised people’s expectations for service. So the question was: how can we, as an organization, learn to be more innovative and stay ahead?
• Experience design was one of the ways Chris and her team discovered they could innovate. When providing an experience to someone, it should be a representation of who you are as an organization and how you want to be seen in the eyes of your customer. It’s the definition of your brand. By doing this you can transform the organization at the grassroots level while improving the experience people have with it. In short, you ‘activate’ your brand.
• Transforming the organization was not about trying to be something they’re not. It was about becoming clear on who they are and what makes them unique. They had to own that and turn it into an experience, no matter where a customer is experiencing the brand, from before entering the hospital to becoming a patient. Chris shares that in the transformation process, the organization’s values and mission remain unchanged.
• Pushing the envelope from incremental improvement to transformation meant losing the baggage and allowing yourself to dream and imagine, then working backwards without putting barriers in your way.
• It’s important to give people a context with which to dream. It needs to be a dream that’s aligned with who you are as an organization. Chris shares the guiding questions they asked themselves throughout the process, and how they boiled down their mission to an emotional connection.  
• What does it mean to do your job with an emotional connection? Think purple icing. If the job description is “blue” and the experience is “red,” Chris doesn’t want people to do blue with something red on top as something extra. She wants people to live in purple, and explains more about what that means.
• My. Life. Story. is a declaration video and statement based on Holy Redeemer’s mission and values that states what the organization knows, what they’ve learned, what they believe, and therefore how they behave. Kevin invites you to watch the declaration — it’s powerful how it comes to life.
• There’s a line in the declaration that says, “Every day, we’ve received the gift of a blank page.” Chris shares that it means we’re all reading our story together. Every day you can make choices that help us as an organization, live out our brand, help you personally live out your personal purpose.
• The declaration, which is used in training, is also sent out when engaging in new partnerships and is used in recruitment efforts. This gives everyone involved a better understanding of the organization, who they are, and whether values align. Kevin gives suggestions on how you can implement something similar, even if you don’t have a formal video.
• What is happening in Spark now? Plenty. They have a talent agency, a marketing arm, consultants that help people in the health system apply the concepts in their own areas, a team of producers that helps elevate normal meetings and events into experiences, life coaching services, and the Experience U team that delivers all the non-clinical education and leadership development training. Their goal is to model the future of the health system, as they also serve communities beyond Holy Redeemer.
• Chris shares how this entire process has changed how she sees the people she works with, and how it’s work that’s both energy giving and energy fulfilling. When people who are aligned move forward in a new direction and see things differently — it’s that spirit. It’s that spark.

Ready to make your OWN transformation?We all feel the need to transform our lives, whether personally, in business, or in the way we lead others. Join Kevin for a 28 day sprint to transform your life!Resources:Chris Holt (LinkedIn)Spark! Transformation CenterHoly Redeemer The Holy Redeemer Declaration The Experience Economy by Joseph Pine on Amazon Higher Purpose Podcast interview with Joseph Pine: Purpose at Work Higher Purpose Podcast Interview with Gary Adamson: Explore, Discover, and Transform WorkStarizon Studio

Higher Purpose Podcast Episode 67: Bringing Your Business Culture to Life with Hagen Kern

What’s different about a business when it’s grounded in purpose? Everything. Your business’s culture is your only real competitive advantage: people can attempt to copy your products and positioning, but no one can copy your culture. When companies don’t design their culture in a specific way, they allow it to be 'by default.' But purpose-powered businesses have a unique culture, because they recognize the power and privilege of designing one that is an expression of their purpose to the world. In this episode, we discuss culture; specifically values as the bedrock of culture. The wrong approachMany companies create a list of words and hang them on the wall. That doesn’t tap into the real value of values. This doesn’t work because:

• If you’re just using words, you’re using words most other companies are already using.
• Words’ meanings can vary from person to person.
• Many times, these values exist only on the wall and are not personified anywhere else.

Values personifiedKevin shares a few stories about his stay at the Heathman Lodge in Vancouver and their exceptional customer service — unlike many other hotels he has visited in the past. He recounts the story of the room switch, the story of the green button, the unexpected cappuccino machine, and meeting with the lodge’s VP of Revenue Development.Why was the Heathman Lodge so different?

• They have the Heathman Lodge Treaty, a list of all their values and examples. For example, “Whose job is it?” will never happen at the lodge. It’s everyone’s job to make the customer happy.
• When hiring, people get a copy of the treaty first, and only get an application form if they agree to the treaty and sign it.

How do you bring values to life in your organization?Personalize the values into expressions of who you are and what’s different in your organization or business. And then:

• Use this as your criteria for hiring

• Rank-order them, so people know what’s important when making a decision.
• Use your values as your compass to make things right when things go wrong.
• Operationalize your values: put them into action. Get them off the wall and into hearts.

Unless and until values translate into behaviors and beliefs, the benefit of values will either be marginalized or minimized.Meet HagenHagen Kern is the owner of Junk King Chicago Downtown, a full-service junk removal business in their early stages of formalizing their company’s values.Purpose according to Hagen is having clear, defined objectives on what they want to achieve with the business.

• “It’s not just about making money. It’s, what do we bring to the table? What are we actually solving? What are we for? What do we stand for? It’s important that we can relate this to our employees, and employees can relate this to customers.”

Why have a purpose statement?

• Hagen talks about having issues with high turnover rates. That’s when they realized it was time to find theright people for the business, those who can stand behind their purpose and values and identify with them — so they can represent them.

• Vision and mission statements can be too vague and too far removed from employees’ and customers’ everyday experiences. He wanted a purpose statement that everybody in the company could be involved in, see their part in, connect with, and make come to life on a daily basis.
• Everybody is a stakeholder for that purpose.

The purpose statement in actionHagen’s company’s purpose statement has a list of 7 values they live by.

• For example: Honesty. As a hauling company, sometimes things get damaged or scratched up. Living by the value of honesty means owning up to it, and never leaving it for the customer to find out. The customer must hear it from them.
• These are basic, relatable values, and Hagen shares the process behind coming up with them.

What do they do with this list?

• Integrate it into the hiring application, because they want to hire by character
• Relate to them when situations come up, or when there are miscommunications. (e.g. “Yeah, we probably didn’t go the extra mile this one time.”
• Bring it up during team meetings, and on occasion, have a team member pick a value and articulate what it means to them in their own words.
• Keep it on display all over the office, to keep them top of mind.

Hagen wants to inspire and encourage others to incorporate purpose and values into their work. If you can make what you want to achieve relatable, then you’ll keep your employees motivated, and they, in turn, will do their day-to-day work in a superior and excellent manner.Parting words and next stepsIt’s not too early or too late to bring purpose into fruition through your work. If this resonated with you and you want to take the next step, check out Kevin’s free resource: go to 28daysprint.com and download the free Value of Values worksheet.Resources mentioned in this episode:Kevin Monroe’s LinkedIn profileThe Construction Leading Edge Podcast by Todd DewaltDownload the Value of Values checklistHagen KernLinkedInJunk King WebsiteFacebookTwitterYouTube

Higher Purpose Podcast Episode 66: The 10 Characteristics of Purpose-Powered People

We live our lives in search of our purpose. We go where everybody else goes, trying to answer the same questions everyone else is asking. But then you realize you're different, weird even! The answers everyone else finds don’t make sense to you or don’t live up to your expectations. If this sounds like you, congratulations! You manifest the signs of a purpose-powered individual. Today, Kevin shares the 10 characteristics of a purpose-powered individual and how you can tap into that power to become a better leader.Just because life doesn't always give us the answer we want when we want it, doesn't mean it isn't there. The big picture is often a blur before it becomes clear. Sometimes life leaves us on an unreasonably long and winding road, unaware of the amazing journey that lies ahead. This is because life's mysteries often don't unravel until we're ready. Once we're ready, that's when life hands us a gift - the pleasant surprise of ‘suddenly.’ Suddenly is that pivotal moment of clarity, where random moments suddenly make sense.Now, clarity might not come as soon as you'd like or in a way that you would like, but it will come. So how do you stay in tune with the universe and be ready for clarity when it does come? You must live your life with action and contemplation. You must live your life passionately pursuing your purpose in all aspects of your life.We're going to walk you through 10 purpose-powered characteristics:You are purpose-powered if money is not your only motivator, nor is it your ultimate measure of success.We understand that money matters. Money is a tool or a resource, but it's not a primary goal in life. It's not the only measure of success. A purpose-powered individual's motivation is grounded in stewardship and significance. Purpose-powered people resonate with those who value the meaning in life and not just money in life.You are purpose-powered if you want to make a dent in the universe.You want to be a positive influence in the world. You want to make a significant contribution to people's lives and make the world better. You believe that there's room for change, that the world can be better as a result of your hard work and involvement. Leaders have a huge opportunity to make a lasting impact by supporting a great cause. Business owners can make a dent in the universe by using their business as a force for good.You are purpose-powered if you want to live a life of legacy.A legacy is leaving behind something so significant that it lives on long after you are gone. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean your death. It can be after you've left an organization or parted ways with someone. The mark you leave, how people remember you, is your legacy. Throughout your life, you will leave several legacies - your mark and significant contribution to those around you.You are purpose-powered if you see yourself as a steward, not a celebrity.As a steward, the universe will bless you with gifts, talents, and opportunities to make the world a better place. You want to maximize the way you wield your blessings, not for fame and fortune, but for the sheer fulfillment of being one of the stewards of this planet.You are purpose-powered if your why, what, and how are closely connected or interconnected.Why you do what you do forms how you do it and who you do it with. Your purpose is the criteria that evaluate what activities you pursue, how you'll do it, and who you will connect with. "The end justifies the means," or so they say, but purpose-powered people believe that it's actually the motivation (why) that helps shape the means which leads them to the end.You are purpose-powered if you see what you do through the lens of mission.Purpose-powered people see the 'mission' element through their work. When something doesn't feel right in the world, they work to correct it. If something is broken, they work to fix it. Their mission is to address the unmet need with the gifts they have. Purpose-powered leaders want to see their work advance a mission and fuel change.You are purpose-powered if you have a set of principles and values that inform your decisions and inspire your actions.How you do what you do matters. List and rank your principles and values. Then focus your actions on principles and values that matter the most to you. Remember to think and act with integrity - doing the right thing should always come first.You are purpose-powered if you are more 'we' focused than 'me' focused.  Our purpose is so much bigger than us, and we cannot possibly accomplish it all on our own. We have to learn how to share the stage, the spotlight, and the power with others. The drive to make a dent in the universe must be larger than our ego. Purpose-powered people find contentment in knowing that, "Together, we made a difference. We made it better than it was when we got here."You are purpose-powered if you persevere through difficulties.Purpose-powered individuals understand that the journey won't be easy, and yet they persevere knowing their mission is worth the sacrifice. Setbacks, struggles, and challenges will come, but you will plow through and overcome it anyway. You are what Viktor Frankl calls "A Tragic Optimist," someone who experiences hardship but perseveres.You are purpose-powered if you truly care.Purpose-powered people are compassionate. They genuinely care for other people's well-being, they invest in others so they too can grow and advance.Going through this list, we believe that YOU are purpose-powered. You don't have to get all ten characteristics to identify as a purpose-powered leader - 5 is enough. As long as your purpose is what drives you and defines you, then you are purpose-driven. You belong to a tribe of passion and compassion. Find ways to connect with others like you, like us, because we need one another to thrive, grow, and make a dent in the universe.Do you need clarity on how to move forward?Are you at a crossroads or facing a transition and not confident about what to do now or next? Then you're invited to join Kevin Monroe for a Clarity Call. You can enter for a free call or book right away!

Higher Purpose Podcast Episode 65: Faith at Work with Bob Hasson

How do entrepreneurs balance faith and business when one is focused on trust and confidence in the unseen, and the other relies on facts and data? It might not be a matter of balance. Perhaps you are making results-driven decisions because you’re listening to your calling. Bob Hasson, CEO at Hasson Inc. and co-author of “Business in Honor,” shares his insights on living as a person of honor in business and how faith fits into work life.

• It's amazing how Bob's painting career led him to build a successful brand that's been in the business for 40 years. You might be surprised that despite being the boss, Bob has always been more of a ‘behind-the-scenes’ kind of leader than a ‘front lines’ leader. This all changed after his friend, Danny Silk, got him to co-write "The Business of Honor" in 2017. This stirred Bob's passion and courage to serve the leadership community as a consultant. He talks about his business, his calling, and his faith.
• Speaking of faith, how do you show your faithfulness when you're in business? Kevin and Bob talk about how there's really no one way for us to demonstrate our faith. You can stamp symbols on parcels all you want, but it’s faith in action that gets people’s attention. It's present in your hard work, how you treat others, and how you purposefully live your life.
• A business that's built in the spirit of faith is grounded in honor, it strives to do the right thing even when doing what’s right isn’t easy. It's about finding and believing in the best part of people despite their shortcomings. Bob talks about how organizations benefit when they empower their people to talk, take risks, and share ideas without the fear of punishment.
• We have aspirations of how we want to lead, and most of us don't live up to our aspirations all the time. Being human beings, we have to accept that sometimes we respond in ways that we're not proud of. Bob talks about how trust and vulnerability help in building meaningful relationships. And how being honest and vulnerable in saying, "forgive me," goes a long way.
• Basically, everything that flows in life and in business boils down to the quality of relationships we forge. Kevin and Bob touch on the 3 vital areas we have to invest in when building relationships.
• Beyond sharing their vision, giving direction and clarity, a leader's heart must focus on service to accomplish their goals. Bob and Kevin talk about the energy shift in the organizational pyramid. Instead of the bottom lifting and supporting the top, the leaders' flow of support should go towards setting the front lines up for success. Bob shares how he demonstrated quiet trust during one of his business meetings, and how this delivered dramatic results.

Do you need clarity on how to move forward?Are you at a crossroads or facing a transition and not confident about what to do now or next? Then you're invited to join Kevin Monroe for a Clarity Call. You can enter for a free call or book right away!Bob Hasson:LinkedInInstagramFacebookBookHasson ConsultingHasson Painting Contractors Inc.Resources:How Amazon Prime Was BornDanny SilkCulture of Honor: Sustaining a Supernatural EnvironmentKeep Your Love On

Higher Purpose Podcast 64: Experiencing and Cultivating Abundance with Juliana Park

Are you living your life in alignment with what you value? Last week, Kevin and Juliana talked about the origins and fundamentals of the scarcity and abundance loops. It was such a powerful conversation that Kevin invited her back this week to take you deeper into the mindset loop discussion. In particular, they dive into how you can cultivate abundance in different aspects of your life.

• Recently, Juliana talked about 2 mindsets: the scarcity loop and the abundance loop. According to her, the scarcity mindset stems from fear. And that fear is the voice in your mind that says, 'this is not enough and you are not enough.' When you're not careful, it's easy to fall into the fear spiral.
• Juliana reminds us that fear leads to anxiety. Anxiety leads to desperation. And desperation leads to poor life choices. The scarcity loop goes like this: fear leads to poor life choices, and poor life choices lead back to even greater fears.
• How do you willfully seek abundance and make purposeful life choices? Look past the negative circumstances and ground your life in gratitude. Focus on shifting your mindset to gratitude instead, because fear cannot thrive in the heart of someone who's brimming with gratitude. The abundance loop goes like this: a positive mindset leads to positive outcomes; positive outcomes reinforce the positive mindset.
• The scarcity and abundance loop exist beyond our work life. It's present in our relationships, health, and other facets of our lives. No one is too rich or too poor to be exempt from the experience of scarcity and abundance.
• What practices can we embrace to help us spend more time in the abundance loop? Be intentional and aware of what brings joy and purpose to your life. Each person’s experience of abundance is unique, so be clear with what you want and commit your best efforts to get there.
• You have the power to make your own choices. You can choose to stay stuck in scarcity or shift towards abundance. Either way, all these shifts you make throughout the day add up, and sometimes the smallest of shifts can make the most impact. It's up to you to make the effort. Find the courage to get out of your own way and be honest with what makes your life purposeful. The simplest cure for your fear of not having and being enough is to be grateful for everything else in life.

Do you need clarity on how to move forward?Are you at a crossroads or facing a transition and not confident about what to do now or next? Then you're invited to join Kevin Monroe for a Clarity Call. You can enter for a free call or book right away!Juliana ParkWebsiteThe Abundance LoopTwitter

Higher Purpose Podcast 63: Abundance and Scarcity Loops with Juliana Park

Have you ever been pressured into making a decision that didn’t sit well with you? What happens when we silence our gut alarms and signals? Join Kevin and Juliana Park for a life-changing conversation grounded in abundance and purpose. They talk about what leads us to poor decision making and how we can shift away from the scarcity mindset. They will unravel the experience that led to the wisdom in Juliana’s book, The Abundance Loop, and how it can change your mindset today.

• How is Juliana living her higher purpose? Juliana has seen so many others and herself struggle in the pursuit for ‘more.’ This opened her eyes to her true mission: Help people shift away from scarcity and live in abundance.
• People go through life with the stress from thinking that there isn’t ‘enough.’ We live under the assumption that acquiring more wealth and success would mean more validation of our worth. Juliana and Kevin talk about how true gratitude leads us from ‘not having enough’ to ‘being enough,’ and how her scarcity loop enabled her to verbalize the contrast between scarcity and abundance.
• What does abundance mean? To Juliana, it’s being present in the moment and realizing that we have enough. It’s feeling we’re enough inside, ‘I am enough,’ and outside, ‘I have enough.’
• When you reach that point where your inside and outside are in an abundance loop, then you'll start seeing the truth - there’s more than enough out there. There’s more for us to share and more for us to become because of our potential, and the possibilities aren’t finite.
• What is scarcity? Most people are stuck with the scarcity mindset. Scarcity is believing that we don’t have enough - it’s like falling in a downward spiral and into a vortex. In the scarcity loop, we unconsciously pick choices that make us feel even more inadequate.
• What compels us to make unwise decisions? Juliana talks about how she retraced her steps leading back to the root of that choice. What pushed her to jump and ignore reason? Anxiety. Stress. Fear. These made her blind to other choices that might have made all the difference.
• It seems that in our desire to be loved by others, we often forfeit self-love. We shout a louder 'YES,” every time our gut screams, “NO.” We’ll say yes because we want the pain and fear to stop so we opt for temporary relief and mistake it for happiness. Our discomfort in experiencing discomfort compels us to run with the least reasonable choice because we want some semblance of feeling okay again.
• Kevin and Juliana dive even further into the value of understanding the difference between making conscious choices under the abundance mindset vs. those poor, unconscious choices we make when stuck in the scarcity loop.

Juliana returns next week for another amazing conversation with Kevin Monroe. Subscribe now so you don't miss it!Do you need clarity on how to move forward?Are you at a crossroads or facing a transition and not confident about what to do now or next? Then you're invited to join Kevin Monroe for a Clarity Call. You can enter for a free call, or book right away!Juliana ParkWebsiteThe Abundance LoopTwitter

Higher Purpose Podcast 62: HR on Purpose with Steve Browne

Are you the same person at work as you are at home? Are you ‘busy’ or are you ‘full?’ Is your life gloomy or great? It might be time for a mind shift. Imagine what would happen if you were to reframe your thoughts around purposeful intentions and action. It could drastically change the way you live at home AND at work. Join Kevin and his guest, Steve Browne, as they talk about the power in feeding the positive mindset, our choices, and how they affect the people around us.

• Steve Browne is the Vice President of Human Resources for La Rosa’s, Inc. - an iconic regional pizzeria that’s been in business for more than 64 years. He is also part of the SHRM Board of Directors, an organization where he has served for almost 20 years.
• How does he understand his personal purpose? As an HR professional, Steve talks about how he fills his day with lots of meaningful interactions. He goes beyond the ‘hi-hello’ of the day to connect with, marvel at, and acknowledge people’s unique contributions to the organization.
• Steve shares how when we take the time to observe and care about those around us, everything becomes so much lighter for everyone. It’s harder than it looks, though, right? Especially when we have no genuine interest in people and their lives. This is why Kevin and Steve talk about authenticity and how this element amplifies our ability to inspire and serve others.
• Positive impact doesn’t have to be a grandiose act of kindness. Sometimes all it takes to shift our day from gloomy to great are two words, “Happy Monday!” You can pick any day, any greeting, but the point is that we have the power to transform transactions and other mundane day-to-day stuff into meaningful encounters IF we choose to do so.
• HR is the part of an organization that deals with people the most. Steve talks about his book, HR on Purpose, and how HR can do better when it comes to supporting people rather than dwelling on all the negatives. Companies, and we as people need to empower others to be who they are and work with purpose. When you celebrate people in all their diversity, don’t forget to celebrate what they do to benefit the organization.

Today’s conversation dives deep into how we always have an opportunity to do our jobs well and with purpose. We have to stop treating certain jobs as “just a ___,” to see beyond the task and acknowledge the person behind it. Let’s not leave room for people to belittle others, and it begins with how WE refer to them. The sooner we treat each other like we matter, the faster we can grow to become better, and more purposeful, people.Do you need clarity on how to move forward?Are you at a crossroads or facing a transition and not confident about what to do now or next? Then you're invited to join Kevin Monroe for a Clarity Call. You can enter for a free call, or book right away!Steve BrowneEveryday PeopleLinkedInTwitterHR on Purpose (book)ResourcesJennifer McClure

Higher Purpose Podcast 61: 7 Shifts That Move You Towards Purpose

Last week, Kevin had a deep and insightful conversation with Nick Tasler about what good people do when bad things happen to them. They touched on Dr. Viktor Frankl’s view on “Tragic Optimism” - the unwavering belief that life is good despite episodes of adversity. This inspired Kevin to share 7 mindset shifts that will ground your life in gratitude and meaning.1. Changing your default setting to become more receptive to opportunities.

• How do you naturally respond to unbelievable opportunities that come your way? Kevin shares how the book, Immunity to Change, helped him rewire his brain to change his immediate response, from “Who am I?” to “Why not me?”
• Why is there a need to shift your default setting? Sometimes we don’t feel qualified when we are called to do great things. We are often too critical of ourselves. This makes us blind to our own qualifications. Kevin calls on you to stop disqualifying yourself from claiming these once in a lifetime opportunities. Own your qualifications and seize your opportunities.

2. Adopt, cultivate, and develop a growth mindset.

• When people box themselves up in limiting beliefs that describe their resources as finite, they get trapped in the Fixed Mindset. They don’t believe that they are capable of change. They are stuck thinking “this is it” when it comes to who they are and what they have. Life is unfair and there’s nothing they can do about it.
• Studies have shown that the human brain has the capability to constantly learn and adapt throughout our lives. Which makes sense now that we're shifting to the Growth Mindset. People who live by the Growth Mindset open themselves up to abundance and potential. They believe that life, although sometimes difficult, has limitless possibilities.
• How can you live by the Growth Mindset? Nourish your mind. Surround yourself with positive people. Work on intentionally transforming those limiting beliefs into liberating beliefs.

3. Moving away from egocentrism and becoming other-centric.

• Do you think about yourself more than you think about others? In Rick Warren’s book, Purpose Driven Life, the opening statement says, “It’s not about you.” If we want to create significant change in our lives, we must go out of our way to build meaningful relationships with the people around us. Find ways to dedicate yourself and resources to support efforts that improve the lives of those around you. Do something for someone who has no way to repay you. Consciously shift away from self-service and focus on being authentic when you’re extending service.

4. Focus on what matters most.

• Kevin shares how his routines help him focus and keep his priorities straight. We may have different priorities in life, but it acts as our anchor for when the beauty and chaos of life happens. When we learn to rank and understand what’s most important to us, we are better able to walk our journey without distractions.

5. Live in the now in light of eternity.

• "Now" may be the only time we have, but now is not an isolated time. This very moment is a slice of eternity. Now connects with everything that came before and everything that follows. Live knowing that your life is the product of all the nows that you have lived so far. Live wisely and make those nows count. What you do now, at this moment, is both the soil and the seeds of what is to come in your life.

6. Live a more led, less driven life.

• What is the driven life? It’s the hustle and bustle, the fast-paced and high energy demanding life. Living your life as if you were on fire and attempting to put it out yourself by flailing your hands.
• What is a led life? It’s living a responsive life, following the leading and rhythms of life. It’s about living a life of connectivity, creativity, and community.

7. Live in the abundance loop.

• Ground yourself in gratefulness and seek to live in abundance. Do you know what’s holding you back from living a fruitful life? It’s called the scarcity mentality. It distracts you from enjoying the good things that are present in your life with the belief that it will come to an abrupt end.
• You always have something to be grateful for. Kevin encourages us to find ways throughout our day to incorporate and include gratitude so that we flourish in the abundance loop.

Resources:Man Search For MeaningImmunity to ChangeMindsetThe ShallowsPurpose Driven LifeLeadership and Self Deception: Getting out of the boxOutward Mindset: Seeing Beyond Ourselves

Higher Purpose Podcast 60: What Good People Do When Bad Things Happen with Nick Tasler

Life doesn’t always go the way we want, and we’re left wondering why. You might wonder why bad things happen to good people, but you should be wondering what good people do when bad things happen. Life doesn't always seem fair, but there's a way to overcome this mindset issue. Navigating North with Kevin today is Nick Tasler - an Organizational Psychologist, Speaker, the author of 4 books, and father. Together they discuss how to adapt to change, become a better decision maker, and the beauty of tragic optimism.

• A common trait most thought leaders share is their incredible sense of gratitude. Nick, for example, is especially thankful for all the gifts and blessings he has in his life - family, community, and career. Equally as important, he is thankful for all the times he had been through hardships - when life didn't go as planned.
• Nick shares why we should not attach our value and purpose to our life's circumstances. That being grateful for both the good and the bad should be our goal to understand the grand scheme of things.
• Another key both Kevin and Nick believe is vital in finding your true North is keen decision-making. But how do you make the best decision where there are multiple ways to do the right thing? This is where your moral and ethical compass comes into play. Use it to find your way towards the direction that makes the most sense to you.
• Nick shares his insight on what separates resilient people from those who aren't. Change and adversity are inevitable. But resilience comes from shifting away from an immediate response of, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" to an actionable mindset, "What do good people do when bad things happen?"
• Our guest also unpacks the concept of ‘tragic optimism’ and why adversity is necessary to live a meaningful life. Following the teachings of Dr. Viktor Frankl, Nick talks about how people can be optimistic and pragmatic even in the face of adversity.
• Kevin and Nick talk about the importance of focusing on fixing and adapting to change rather than resist and resent it. Change is constant and we can't stop it, but we do have the freedom to decide how to respond to that change.

Network, Share Ideas, and GrowReady to connect to other purpose powered people like yourself, so you can network, share ideas, and grow together? Join us in the Higher Purpose Community on Facebook for conversation, extra content, and access to Kevin.Nick Tasler:LinkedInWebsite Ricochet: What to Do When Change Happens to YouReferences: Meals on Wheels Conference 10 Tips for Living with Higher Purpose Starting TodayDr. Viktor Frankl

Higher Purpose Podcast 59: Navigating North in Business, Leadership, and Life

 So many things seem the same from day to day, but today is uniquely different. That’s the guiding thought in today’s podcast as Kevin unpacks what that means to him. How can you take today and make it matter? We are all on a journey to somewhere we’ve never been, and it’s up to you to make every minute count.

• How often do you use GPS in your car? If you’re like Kevin, you’ve become reliant on it, so much that you don’t think about direction. But do you do that with your life as well, allowing someone else’s voice to guide you? How do you navigate when you don’t have a map? Kevin tells the story of how ancient mariners used to find their way, and there’s an important lesson there for you as you explore uncharted territory.
• You’ve heard the saying, ‘a ship is safest in the harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.’ Kevin gives his own spin on this: you can live a life without risk, but life itself is a risk. If you live without taking any risks, then you haven’t truly lived. Even if you’ve taken risks and found yourself beaten, bruised, and wondering why, you have to get up and try again. Kevin assures you: you have a unique gift to offer to this world, and it’s worth the risks. Purpose isn’t a privilege of a select few.
• There are some misconceptions around purpose. One of them is that purpose is the privilege of a select few. Another is that your purpose is hidden, and it’s some big mystery you have to unravel. Or that, to find your purpose, the stars had to come into alignment and everything had to be perfect. In fact, your purpose is your birthright, and it isn’t hidden, nor will your understanding of it be perfect.
• Have you ever arrived at a dream destination and discovered it wasn’t all you dreamed it to be? Kevin shares the story of the worst travel decisions he ever made that landed him in a motel outlined in tacky blue neon with a 24-hour package story right next to his room. Certainly not what Kevin expected, and he shares what he learned from this experience, and how those lessons apply to all areas of your life… especially your purpose.
• Kevin talks on how you have a desire deep inside you to ‘build a brighter world’ in a way only you can. But you might not know how to do it, what direction you need to take to get there. Kevin has three key elements to get you on that path. First, start where you are, acknowledge how you got there, and be willing to forgive yourself. Second, decide what your ‘true north’ really is. Third, chart your course and start navigating north. You don’t need to know the exact destination. As long as you know the direction you need to go, you’ll figure out the details and course-correct along the way.

Network, Share Ideas, and GrowReady to connect to other purpose powered people like yourself, so you can network, share ideas, and grow together? Join us in the Higher Purpose Community on Facebook for conversation, extra content, and access to Kevin.

Higher Purpose Podcast 58: 10 Tips for Living with Higher Purpose Starting Today

Life is — and will always be — full of twists and turns. It’s a pendulum swing between triumph and defeat, fulfillment and frustration, clarity and confusion. On this journey, we all walk towards finding, following, and fulfilling our higher purpose. In today’s episode, Kevin shares 10 tips that you can practice today to start living with higher purpose and why you’ll be glad you did.Kevin’s ability to welcome and encourage rich conversations with people has played an instrumental role in his growth as a thought leader. He has persevered through his own experiences with failure and frustration, and is driven to share 10 enlightenment tips to encourage us to relentlessly pursue and follow our path to a higher purpose.Action leads to clarity, and so, here are 10 tips to get you started on your higher purpose journey today:Make peace with your past.

• Reconcile everything from your past that seeks to hold you back from the present and your future. Make peace with your past, however painful it is. Don’t let it keep you captive.
• Forgiveness is your friend. If you’re disappointed in yourself, forgive yourself. If you’ve wronged someone, ask for forgiveness. If you’ve been wronged, choose to forgive your oppressors even if they don’t ask for it.
• Lewis B. Smedes shares: “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” Whatever’s hurting you or holding you back, make peace and when necessary, let go.

Your deepest hurt can be the source of your greatest strength.

• There’s no denying that we all inevitably encounter hardships in our lives. But these awful moments are what transform us into more empathetic beings, who learn to channel their deepest hurt to bring comfort and understanding to those who are suffering the same.

Stop comparing yourself to others.

• Don’t be tempted to drive yourself down by comparing yourself to others. No one can be you, except you, so find the courage and strength to be your genuine self.

Cultivate your willingness to stand out.

• It’s funny how we perceive babies to be perfect the way they are, and yet we torture ourselves into believing we are completely flawed. In Psalms 139:14, it says: “I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows full well.” When did you start looking in the mirror and stop seeing yourself as fearfully and wonderfully made? Whatever the reason, remember that YOU are valuable and marvelously made. Your gifts are proof of that.

See the people others overlook.

• If you truly want to live your life with higher purpose, open your eyes and ears – be aware of those others often overlook – touch the untouchables, befriend the friendless, acknowledge their value and remind them of their value.

Shine your light and share it with others.

• If you are given the choice of either fanning the flame of someone else’s dream or dousing that flame – FAN IT.

Be kind every day.

• Bring kindness unto the world that has become increasingly calloused and unkind. The ripples of kindness has a catalytic effect, so there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. So please, always be kind, always be kind, always be kind – there is really no excuse not to be.

Be an encourager.

• Offer encouragement. When you see someone’s potential, do whatever you can to affirm, encourage, and invest in them. If you see someone distressed, depressed, discouraged; stop, ask, and listen.

Discover your dream.

• Write it down, draw it up, or map it out – make your dream vivid and visual. If you have not discovered your dream yet, invest your time and find out where you want to be in the future.
• Be careful with whom and how you share your dreams. Some people won’t be able to understand and appreciate your dream, so build meaningful relationships with people who are committed to living their lives with higher purpose, connect with people who will believe in you and support you in your journey.

Abandon scarcity and embrace abundance.

• Scarcity holds you back from living your life to its full potential. Kevin recalls how every bad decision he’s ever made was born under the scarcity mindset, whereas every good decision he’s ever made happened out of an abundant mindset.
• It’s possible to rewire your brain and adapt the abundance mindset, all it takes is a few seconds because abundance is really all about practicing gratitude. If you want to make great life decisions, cultivate abundance and let gratitude permeate your day.

Clarity will find you when you take action, so seize this moment to start living with higher purpose today. Take the time to reflect, “What do you need to do between now and the end of 2018, so that when the new year arrives you are ready to find, follow, and fulfill your purpose with gusto?”An Extraordinary ExperimentThank you for listening to this episode of the Higher Purpose Podcast. Remember, if you ever think that your work could be less ordinary, there’s not much between you and something extraordinary. Just 13 weeks, and a bold experiment. Find out more about the Extraordinary Experiment here!ResourcesOscar TrimboliNick CraigThomas Winninger

Higher Purpose Podcast Episode 57: Becoming a Deep Listener with Oscar Trimboli

Joining Kevin on the Higher Purpose Podcast is Oscar Trimboli - a mentor, leadership coach, speaker, and the author of Deep Listening: Impact Beyond Words. Oscar has an outstanding track record of helping leaders become even more impactful leaders by teaching them the complex yet fulfilling act of deep listening. Today’s focus is how to grow beyond the trenches of average listening and learn how to harness the power of pause for effective communication.

• Fun fact: Oscar was already an adult when he first learned to swim. His wife had challenged him to swim in the ocean, and although adamant, he was determined to give this challenge a shot.
• He had 2 coaches to help him prepare for the big swim, a swimming pool coach and a surf coach. Within weeks of training, he had learned how to swim well enough to go 2 kilometers in the pool. But when he hit the ocean, he struggled to make 40 meters, which didn't make sense to his coach at first, since he had been doing most of the techniques right. Except for one vital micro skill - proper breathing.
• He had been swimming 2 kilometers without following proper breathing techniques this whole time. He had been struggling in the surf because he "heard" his coach's instructions, but didn't actually "listen" to them.
• So, Oscar and his surf coach worked to bridge this disconnect by asking the right questions, narrowing the down the variables, and communicating how they were going to achieve the goal together. More training ensued, micro skills relearned.
• The result? He finally swam in the ocean. It’s amazing how aside from learning how to swim, he had also acquired valuable life lessons that would change his perception as a leader, learner, and listener. Everything you learn in life is connected with your higher purpose in some way, all you have to do to connect the dots is to listen for the instructions.
• In case you didn’t know, an average person listens 50% a day, and leaders listen to about 80% a day - with only 2% trained in deep listening. You may be wondering, “Why is there a huge gap in listening capabilities?”
• Oscar explains that hearing is our birthright, it's the first sense that gets developed while we’re in our mother’s womb, and the last sense that shuts down when we die. So, hearing in many ways is the beginning and the end, but the distinction between hearing and listening is, listening is an intention you set before you commence, whereas hearing is instinctive.
• Hearing is about processing sounds. Listening is an intention to make sense of what the sounds are. Think of hearing as seeing in black and white, and listening as viewing the world in full color!

• But whether you’re listening at 50% or 80%, you’ll find great inspiration in today’s unusual podcast flow. Especially since Oscar's book, Deep Listening will take center stage in this conversation. The book touches on several Deep Listener concepts such as the power of pause, the 125:400 rule, the 5 levels of listening.

An Extraordinary ExperimentThank you for listening to this episode of the Higher Purpose Podcast. Remember, if you ever think that your work could be less ordinary, there’s not much between you and something extraordinary. Just 13 weeks, and a bold experiment. Find out more about the Extraordinary Experiment here!Oscar Trimboli Website Deep Listening: Impact Beyond Words LinkedInResourcesArlene Dickinson Speaker & Listener Breathing Synchronization Study Speaker-listener Neural Coupling

Higher Purpose Podcast Episode 56: How to Find Your Purpose with Nick Craig

Nick Craig is the Founder and President of the Core Leadership Institute, and his expertise comes from over 25 years of working with top teams, leadership programs, executive coaching, and much more, with companies like Ben and Jerry’s, Lego, Heineken, Unilever, and the US Military. What makes Nick’s approach truly unique is that he focuses on helping leaders tap into their deeper wisdom rather than giving them rote instructions on how to be a good leader. Today, Kevin and Nick talk about some key takeaways from his new book, Leading from Purpose.

• So many of us have great ideas but lack the belief in ourselves to carry them out and share them with others. Nick is no different. He briefly shares with Kevin how he went through several challenges of his own bringing his unique leadership training to the world. It began as Authentic Leadership and is known today as the Core Leadership Institute, and it all hinges on purpose, something he had reservations about from the start.
• Kevin notes the forward of the book, Leading from Purpose, and the “CAUTION” written there might give you second thoughts about reading the book. We can’t put the exact text here, but in short, once you live your purpose, you can’t unlive it. There’s no going back. Nick has his own purpose, naturally, but he defines it in two parts: the key to get into the room, and the room itself. Have you ever thought about your own purpose in this way?
• Do you have a purpose statement, and if so, does it sound like a mission statement? Or worse, is it filled with corporate speak? According to Nick, purpose is the unique gift you bring to the world – keyword ‘unique.’ He shares some of the most delightful, meaningful statements of purpose he’s heard, including one from the president of Hershey’s, that aren’t at all what you think a purpose statement should be.
• Many of us have lived our lives trying to live up to the expectations other people have of who we SHOULD be, instead of living according to the purpose of who we were MEANT to be. That’s a paraphrase of a line in Nick’s book, and he and Kevin dive deeper into what it means, and more importantly, how it can keep us unhappy with what we do. Do you ever feel like a fish trying to climb a tree? Then this will resonate with you.
• Finding the key to get into your own purpose room can be a real challenge, and Nick has an exercise for you. Sit down and write out a story of a magical moment from your childhood, but not from your own perspective. Write it like a movie script: what happened, who was saying it, what happened next. Nick shares what to do with that story, and it’ll floor you how easy it can be to locate your purpose.
• Once you discover your true purpose, you may realize that you’re in for a rough time. Think about it: are you the one who tells people what they don’t want to hear but need to? It’s not always the case, but a lot of people Nick has worked with find that their purpose is edgier than they ever realized. And that’s fantastic. Out of ‘10,000 encounters,’ there are some that really stand out for Nick, and he shares some of them. They’ll touch your heart.
• You might be Gandalf or Buzz Lightyear in your personal statement of purpose, but that doesn’t mean you should proclaim that to everyone you meet. While you should absolutely stay true to the spirit of it, Nick also advises you to keep another version of your purpose statement to share with others, once your relationship with them deepens.
• Nick closes with some very poignant thoughts on choices, time, perspective, the Divine, and more, and it’ll put you in the right state of mind to dig in and find your OWN purpose.

An Extraordinary ExperimentThank you for listening to this episode of the Higher Purpose Podcast. Remember, if you ever think that your work could be less ordinary, there’s not much between you and something extraordinary. Just 13 weeks, and a bold experiment. Find out more about the Extraordinary Experiment here!If you liked this...Then you'll like the interview Kevin did last year with Thom Winninger about Divine Gifts. You can give it a listen right here!Nick CraigLeading from Purpose AssessmentCore Leadership Institute WebsiteLinkedInFacebookTwitterYouTubeLeading from Purpose Book

Higher Purpose Podcast Episode 55: Change Your Brain, Change Your Life with Kevin Breeding

Kevin Breeding started Mindset Engine as a way to generate leads for his business. But he soon realized that it was far more than that. In fact, he realized he was rewiring his own brain in creating it. Kevin realized that when you change your brain, you change your life. Today, he shares how you can rewire your own brain to change your mindset and enjoy a far better life.

• Kevin shares the story how he created his Mindset Engine app, how he ‘rewired’ his brand, and of his personal VA who used to suffer from daily panic attacks in a corporate setting before using the app. It’s been two and a half years since her last attack.
• Some people don’t understand the importance of mindset – they wave it off as ‘woo.’ Kevin asks his guest how important the connection is between mindset and success in leadership, business, and life. As you might have guessed, it’s integral. He responds to the question with something he’s observed over the years. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs and influencers would change one very important thing about their trajectory: they would put the mindset stuff first. Many of them believe they would have gotten to where their business is today twice as fast for half the cost.
• It might seem like Kevin was throwing spaghetti at a wall and the Mindset App was what stuck, but that isn’t the case. Intuitively, Kevin knew he needed a coach for himself after a midnight panic attack. His life was ‘on fire,’ and Kevin believed he’d be dead from stress by the end of the year, both from bankruptcy and a divorce. And he knew the place to start was in the way he thought about things. Kevin shares the story of how he began journaling and eventually got to the Mindset Engine.
• Do you ever wonder where the best coaches get the material they use to help others? In Kevin’s case, it was the journal he kept. He explains how he captured his emotions, the progression of his own brain rewiring, and turned it into lessons he uses to this day to help others through his 5-part framework.
• You might cringe at yet another guru touting how, if you mimic what he did exactly, you can succeed, too. But that’s not what Mindset Engine is. Rather than focusing on a single path to success, it focuses on principles – and Kevin believes that to be successful, you have to do it in a way only YOU can, not how a guru did it.
• It’s a shift in mindset that results in a shift of action, of ‘milestone moments.’ Kevin shares a poignant thought: “My fear of failure is nowhere as big as my fear of mediocracy.” Think on that a moment – it takes bravery to succeed and to fail, and bravery is a mindset. Kevin reveals how this shift in his life took him from extreme fear to where he is today.
• Kevin has a free resource available, Mastering Mindset, and he shares some of his favorite insights. The first is about focusing on the process rather than the goal (contrary to what many people teach), and the second is that we are to be a witness of ourselves, not a judge. Powerful thoughts, and Kevin goes into more detail. He also shares some powerful actions you can take today to begin the shift in YOUR life.

An Extraordinary ExperimentThank you for listening to this episode of the Higher Purpose Podcast. Remember, if you ever think that your work could be less ordinary, there’s not much between you and something extraordinary. Just 13 weeks, and a bold experiment. Find out more about the Extraordinary Experiment here!Kevin BreedingWebsite (Mastering Mindset Resource)Get Mindset Engine for FreeJoin Catalyst UFacebookTwitterInstagramLinkedInRick Rigsby’s The Wisdom of a Third Grade Dropout Speech