The Kindness Matters Podcast
So. Much. Division. Let's talk about how to change that. Re-engage as neighbors, friends, co-workers and family. Let's set out to change the world. Strike that. Change A World. One person at a time, make someone's life a little better and then do it again tomorrow and the day after that, through kindness.
Kindness is a Super-Power that each of us has within us. It is so powerful it has the potential to change not only your life but those around you, too. Let's talk about kindness.
The Kindness Matters Podcast
The Ripple Effect of Gratitude on Business and Beyond
Unlock the secret to a thriving business with Lisa Condon's expertise on integrating gratitude into corporate culture. As an executive coach, she reveals how a simple 'thank you' can transform team dynamics, attract ideal clients, and even boost your bottom line. But it's not just about profit; it's about cultivating a workspace where appreciation is part of the daily routine, and the positive effects ripple throughout every aspect of the company. Our conversation with Lisa is an eye-opening look at the surprising power of gratitude in the business world.
Journey through the personal narrative of a business leader whose 37-year career became a testament to the power of aligning personal values with professional goals. She shares how Scrum and Agile methodologies have introduced adaptability to her business, paralleled by the timeless wisdom of the Fish philosophy. The story doesn't end there; "Stepping into Gratitude," a book capturing profound gratitude stories, is the new milestone we're thrilled to share. It's a reflection of how embracing gratitude can lead to life-altering transformations, and I'm proud to contribute to this ripple effect with my own philanthropic endeavors in Delta Phi Epsilon sorority and Cardinal Opportunities.
Ending on a heartwarming note, we spotlight the remarkable efforts of Girl Scout Troop 6000 as they work with homeless children. Their initiative is an inspiring example of how kindness can shape futures and touch lives. As we wrap up today's session, remember that each act of kindness can set off a chain reaction. We're here to foster positivity and encourage support for those making a difference. Let's carry this message into our daily lives, creating waves of change with every act of gratitude and kindness.
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Lisa:Kindness, we see it all around us. We see it when someone pays for someone else's coffee or holds the door open for another person. We see it in the smallest of gestures, like a smile or a kind word. But it's different when we turn on the news or social media. Oftentimes what we hear about what outlets are pushing is the opposite of kind. Welcome to the Kindness Matters podcast. Our goal is to give you a place to relax, to revel in stories of people who have received or given kindness, a place to inspire and motivate each and every one of us to practice kindness every day. Hello everybody and welcome to the Kindness Matters podcast.
Lisa:I am your host, mike Rathbun. Before we get into the show, let me just talk about a few things that need to be talked about here. First of all, deluxeeditionnetworkcom podcast of the month for March is going to be Bacon Is my Pod, followed by I Need Some Creep and Beard Laws. You're going to want to check those out, deluxeeditioncom. Also, you may have noticed that I'm partnering now with Coffee Bros, coffeebroscom. When you go to their website and order coffee, you can put in kindness 10 when you check out and get a 10% discount off of your entire order. And now let's get back into the show. My guest today is an executive coach, a consultant, a sought-after and energetic speaker, an author, a philanthropist, and I have it on good authority that in any given football season, she is a strong contender for Super Bowl MVP. Welcome to the show, lisa Condon.
Mike:Thank you for having me. I absolutely love that introduction. I think every time it's going to need to be used.
Lisa:Just checking to see if you're listening. I'm just going to start doing that on every because I think it's fun.
Mike:I don't know.
Lisa:My next guest is maybe perhaps running for president of the United States in 2024. Just get people's attention. Welcome, Lisa. How are you today?
Mike:I'm fantastic. How are you?
Lisa:I am goofy Gosh, I don't know why. Maybe hump day, I don't know. Maybe.
Mike:It's February 7th. We'll just say that's why you know it's funny thing.
Lisa:I just got home from my paying job and all of a sudden the sirens are going off. And I'm like what they do that the first Wednesday of every single month at 1 pm they test the tornado warning, the weather warning sirens.
Mike:Wow, I see Interesting. Well they're keeping you safe.
Lisa:I'm like, oh, that's right. First Wednesday of the month. It seems like we should be a lot further into February than we are, I think.
Mike:You're the first person to say that, because I have to say everybody keeps that I'm interacting with is talking about how they can't believe it's February already, that we've already over a month into 2024 and people are still catching up.
Lisa:Yeah, well, that's true too, I don't know. Let's talk about gratitude, because you are an expert on all things, gratitude, are you not?
Mike:I, you know. I would like to say I'm a professional in gratitude and an expert. But I think truly we all are experts in our own right and gratitude, because we know what it is that we're grateful for and how we practice it. But what I do is I like to help people get to that space and businesses get to that space. So so sure, we can call me an expert, why not?
Lisa:Okay, so now I understand how you could help people get to that space, because not everybody wakes up in the morning, goes oh wow, I woke up another day, thank you. You know the sun shining, thank you, and being graded, gratified, being grateful for you know those things and being cognizant and noticing things to be grateful for in their life. But businesses, oh yeah. How do you get a business to be into that gratitude mindset?
Mike:Yeah, so great question. So if you think about a business as being its own entity and having its own personality, then you can think about it as being able to have gratitude, and ultimately, gratitude really is the foundation of a culture within a business, and so it helps with team collaboration. It helps with the bottom line, because you start attracting the right clientele and the right vendors to work with and you also end up again just with a motivated staff, and so turnover tends to be less, so you spend less dollars on training, so there's all kinds of benefits. But again, you have to start with helping a business understand where gratitude fits in and the fact that they are their own entity, and then again it's starting from that foundational standpoint and then you find ways to build in that gratitude work, and it could be recognition programs, it could be job descriptions, mission and vision statements or purpose and promise statements, so all kinds of ways.
Lisa:Sure, and you understand this, I think, better than most of us do, because you have been in business in so many different roles over the years. And you're a young thing, you're so young. I love the first thing.
Mike:And yet it seems like you've been in business.
Lisa:What's that?
Mike:I said I love you for saying that. Tell me that all day long, Okay.
Lisa:Well, no, I mean in comparison, but you've been in business, you've been working in the business world for quite a while, have you not?
Mike:I have, yeah, so I've been in the business world and before I started my own company. So in general I've been in the business world and corporate world. My gosh. So let me I'm going to do math here so for 30, no, yeah, 37 years, like doing some type of business right, and then my own company I've been running for this is year it'll be 17 years in May Wow, Congratulations.
Lisa:Thank you.
Mike:Yeah, it's really exciting and you know, but when I worked for other companies and corporations, you know, I was always in leadership roles and I think one of the things that happened for me and really my progression into the work that I do now was when I felt out of alignment or things just didn't feel right.
Mike:I didn't know what that meant, I just knew that it didn't feel right. I knew values weren't aligned or whatever it was. It felt icky that's the only way I can describe it. Now, as I progress and I've gotten older and I've dug into the work that I do with gratitude and values and all of that, I just I realized that there was just a mismatch and so I learned. I grew up professionally, you know, in the newspaper industry, I was in the financial industry, like he said, I crossed industries a little bit, but I learned so much from that that I'm able to bring in to the work that I do and then tie all of that back into the foundation of gratitude, the foundation of values, and help to build that into the normal corporate practices of roadmap work, of corporate strategy, that type of thing.
Lisa:You have a lot of letters after your name.
Mike:I have some alphabet soup. Yes, that is true.
Lisa:Okay, and I was reading through and I'm like, and I have not been in the corporate world for some time now I, unlike yourself, I could not wait to get out of the corporate world and start my own business, which my wife and I did in 2006. Okay, so is other orders too. Yeah, so yeah, we're selling. We're almost Almost the same amount of time right absolutely yeah so Okay, what is scrum that's? That's one of the sets of letters after your name. You're a scrum master.
Mike:I'm a scrum master and a certified scrum owner, so so essentially what that means is, when you think about program and project management, there are a couple of different ways that you can actually run Building out process right and building out okay.
Mike:That type of thing, and so one is called waterfall, and that is where you do a bunch of work and then you release something at the end of it all at once. When you work within scrum or you work in an agile way, and what that means is you do these sprints. So basically, every two weeks you're releasing new Whether it's technology, new process, new development, whatever that looks like and then you live with that as you're working on the next two weeks and and it's a lot of prioritization work and things may work, they may not that you may change them. So it's it's really. I actually love being a scrum master because the agility and the flexibility that you have, you watch the transformation happen all the time Versus this big reveal at the end. So sure.
Mike:Yeah. So I think that it's. It's been in technology For a long time in the tech field and I think that it was brought into more mainstream Industries over the past. I would say seven, seven to ten years. You see more and more of that right.
Lisa:I think the last time I was in, the last time I was in Corporate, I think the fish theory was probably pretty, pretty new. That's how long it's been.
Mike:You know what I have to tell you? The fish theory still exists. So oh yeah it's about it in continuous improvement.
Lisa:It does not go away, mike management bought I Don't know many, how many copies of that book and we each got one to read. That was yeah, but okay so. So that's how you kind of not scrum, but I I understand more now how you get a business into that gratitude mindset and I love your focus on that. Is that what you work on when, when you consult as well, individually coaching? I?
Mike:Always pull gratitude into the conversation.
Mike:You know, when I, when I do coaching, I would say it's more of it's really everything, because while it's executive coaching, we are all.
Mike:We're just one person, and so you bring all the pieces of you to life and business, and so Gratitude is definitely part of that conversation in terms of how are you practicing it, what does that look like for you, how are you building that into your work and life? And and I, we really start from there, and there's a lot of other things, obviously, that we do and talk about, and and Strategies that we build again, for both life and business and your plan. But if you're not starting from a place of gratitude, then let's get you there, because that's where. That's where that magic dust is how you are going to make a difference, not only in the lives of others and community, ultimately the world, but also in your own life and how you talk to yourself and how you show up for yourself, and how are you are filling your cup, how you're building out your calendar. There's, there's an impact of gratitude Woven throughout every single thing that you do, in every choice that you make.
Lisa:Nice. Yes, I agree, I have got this and I told you this, I think, when we spoke offline. I've got this sign on my wall. My camera is static so I can't show you but it said gratitude equals happiness, equals kindness, because when you're grateful you feel happier, and when you feel happier you tend to be kinder. We'll be right back with my interview with Lisa Condon, after this brief message from another fantastic Deluxe edition Network podcast.
Mike:Hi, I'm Marissa, hi, I'm Alicia, and we're just dropping in to let you know that we are doing literally what everyone else you know is doing. Starting a podcast.
Lisa:Hell yeah, and it's called. I need some great.
Mike:Yeah, we will be talking about horror movies that we love, horror movies that we hate and making some pretty inappropriate jokes along the way. Oh yeah, it's gonna be so fun so fun. So please tune in every Sunday, the Lord's Day, yeah, to hear us geek out about horror. Do it, do it, do it do it. Do it, do it.
Lisa:Is that? Have you found that in your work? I mean because Gratitude and kindness are kind of intertwined, are they not?
Mike:Um, I would. I would say that they are siblings for sure, and and I do find that, and I think the kindness piece is a symptom, if you will, of gratitude, because when you are practicing gratitude and you're in that space of gratitude, you are, you are going to be kinder, and that's going to reflect in word choices, it's going to reflect in even just how you listen and how you communicate with somebody else, how you are intentionally showing up, and oftentimes I mean think about it. Yeah, so I had a situation recently with an airline and and I fly a lot, I fly a lot and the situation was where I, gratefully, I had been upgraded, but my husband, who was with me, had not been, and so the first person I spoke with over the phone, they couldn't do anything. The second person I spoke with, they couldn't do anything and I was, and I just was like you know what? It's going to be, fine, this will all work out. And then we got to the gate and we're waiting, and I ended up speaking with the gentleman who was letting us on the plane and I explained the situation is like, let me see what I can do and sure enough, as I knew it, would it worked out.
Mike:What happened, though, was I watched another individual who needed something, and I don't know exactly what it was.
Mike:I wasn't overly listening in, but I watched how they interacted with these poor staff. I felt terrible for the staff, but they were yelling, and it got pretty escalated, and I thought to myself you know it's, it's not about what you get out of it, but the anxiety that that person must have had to get so worked up and get so angry at an individual, a stranger, that they don't even know who could truly help them in whatever situation they were going through. Yet they chose to approach that with with such anger and such angst, and, you know, I just I wanted to give them a hug, you know, because they obviously needed it. So, whatever is going on, so when I think, when you practice it, it just, it brings out kindness, it attracts kindness, and, ultimately, you know happiness as well, and and again, I think they're all siblings or cousins, you know they're all in the same, but I do think. I do think gratitude is like the matriarch, truly the matriarch of the family okay, all right, I like that.
Lisa:The matriarch, yeah, and, and you know, we've seen, we saw a lot of that those angsty people who chose, you know, especially during the pandemic. You know, I had a guest on and she had been in she owned or not, at one she was a hairstylist holy cow, that was hard to get out but and she was talking about that and that's one of the reasons that she decided to retire. I mean, aside from the physical toll that being a hairstylist takes on your body, but another big reason was just the interactions with the people were getting to be horribly, horribly hard for her yeah everybody wanted to argue, everybody, and and so, yeah, I you think, if more people practice gratitude, we could get this whole country back together again.
Mike:I, you know what I do and I I laugh only because I just had this conversation yesterday with somebody and you know you can't, you can't make these things up. You have to start paying attention right to right, just to the signs that come up. But but I actually do. I do believe that if everybody found a way to start practicing gratitude actively, practice it, consistently practice it, because that's where that change and transformation comes in and those sparks of gratitude and those seeds of gratitude start to get planted and people will be happier, ultimately, will be kinder to one another, and then we could cultivate great change oh god, there's so much we could do if we could all just get together there is, there really is and and and.
Mike:So that's to me, that's why this work is so important be and and now, probably more than ever, at least in my lifetime, that I have seen such a such a divide, such a divide between people, including in families and friendships, and you know, I think, I think we're in a world that truly needs gratitude and needs happiness and kindness, and so whatever I can do to help each individual, one, one business at a time, one person at a time, and then that's that's what I'm here to do, that's my purpose yeah, and you're doing a great job at it, I'm sure.
Lisa:Okay, so let's, I mentioned it in your introduction, but let's talk about your new book. Stepping into gratitude came out October, november.
Mike:November. I'm sorry, november 8th, yeah, so it's a new release still yeah, yeah, so. So this book. So I'm so proud of this book and, interestingly enough, I have a few other books that are coming out. This one was not one that was on my list of books to do.
Mike:And it came kind of as a download to me. So how this happened was there's a women, an international women's group that I'm a part of, and they have a major conference every year, and one of the women with whom I'm friends. We didn't really get to catch up and so we caught up afterwards. So this was in 2022, in the fall of 22. And as we're talking, and I knew she does a lot of different things and I knew that one of the things that she did was she's a publisher, but she publishes and works with authors that do compilation books.
Mike:And as I'm talking to her, I said you know, I think I wanna do a compilation book on gratitude. And then, mike, I'm not even joking I turn around and looked over my shoulder because I needed to know who said that, because I knew it wasn't me, and yet it was me that said it. And I was like, well, I guess this is what I'm supposed to do, because it literally just came out of my mouth. And then, over the course of the next eight months, I worked with authors, interviewed them first to see if their story that they were bringing and their chapter that they were bringing and what they wanted to talk about, as it resonated with gratitude fit fit my vision, and I will say I turned away more authors than I brought in, and the ones that I did bring in.
Mike:They shared stories of things that happened in their life that helped them either find gratitude or how the practice of gratitude allowed them to approach a situation maybe differently than they would have. And I think one of the things that's incredibly special about this book for me is that the woman who I really give the nod to for how I started practicing gratitude her name's Terry, she. I reached out to her and I just said this is what I'm doing and this book would not be the same if I didn't at least have you say something. So she actually wrote the forward in my book and I appreciated that so much, and just her little piece of sharing her gratitude changed the entire trajectory of my life and I don't know that she ever really knew it until that moment. So anyway, so the book is.
Lisa:You're gonna make me cry.
Mike:It's amazing, right? So this book is. I'm so happy. So it came out as an e-book first and we became an international bestseller, in three countries, actually. You know cause when you release it, you look and you see where you're at, and at one point I had the screenshot of it. My book was higher in like numbers. I think I was at that point, I was reaching number one, but I think I was at number six, but I was beating out the fawns. Henry Winkler had put out his book that day and I was beating the fawns.
Lisa:Oh, you did not.
Mike:That was pretty fantastic.
Lisa:How cool was that? Yeah, cause Henry Winkler's book.
Mike:Yeah, so it was super cool, and I think, too, that that lends itself to. People are attracted to gratitude. They want it, they crave it, they want to know more and they want to hear the stories about it. So, yeah, so that's the book and I'm super excited about it. Yeah, thank you for asking.
Lisa:That is so cool. So now let's talk about your philanthropy, can we?
Mike:Which part? What would you like to talk about?
Lisa:Oh gosh, I don't know. My introduction said you were a philanthropist.
Mike:Okay, so I am Pick one.
Mike:So, no, I appreciate that as well. You did your research, mike. I like that. So I really believe in the giving back of either time, talent or treasure and I give all of that in every way that I possibly can in the things that align with where I want to give that. So right now, some of the things I'm involved in. So I am the international president of a women's organization. It does happen to be a sorority and I'm very proud of it because this particular sorority Delta Phi, epsilon is a game changer in the world of Greek and fraternity and sorority life and they really have stepped forward on the DEI front. They're doing a lot of work around what defines a woman, but we're also doing a lot of work on, I would say, the modern day sorority and how this organization is there for every step of the way in the life.
Mike:So that's pretty amazing. Yeah, it's really great. Also, I am the co-founder of Cardinal Opportunities and this is an organization that gives back to underserved populations through soft skills. So whether it's helping them figure out how to build resumes or how to do basic financial education, how to do a job interview really those soft skills that aren't taught and working again with with all kinds of underserved populations, so that's a labor of love that I started with a friend of mine, Angela, and that just came out of a conversation sitting on a back porch when we both lived in Vermont oh gosh, I don't know, like 15 years ago and so that's just something that's so special that we love.
Mike:But again, when you think about it, so when you think about time, that's really about volunteer time and you can do that how often you want to with different organizations, whether it's a clothing driver showing up for Habitat for Humanity and Building. But when you talk about talent, I think that's the one that people get mixed up on. Talent is where you truly use the skills that you have usually professional, some type of professional or hands-on skills and you sit on a committee, you sit on a board and you tap into that of something you would normally get paid for and you're giving that back to that organization. They need it, they absolutely need it. We all know that nonprofits that run like a business are the ones that make the most difference, because they sustain and they don't fall apart. And then, obviously, treasure is financial, financial contribution.
Mike:But I help people write, give back plans that are in alignment with their values and where they want to give money. That way, it's not the squeaky wheel gets the oil, as they say. It's very thoughtful and methodical about what they do and where they spend their time and money.
Lisa:That's nice. I love that. I love that you do that. Another guest of mine started a company or a philan. It's called Beach Bum Philanthropy.
Mike:I love that, isn't that cool.
Lisa:And he's out of New Hampshire and they do a lot of things through the unhoused community. But yeah, I so admire Because there's a lot of times you'll go I'd like to start a nonprofit and then you talk to somebody who's done that and they go. I wouldn't recommend it. There's a lot of paperwork. But one of these days mark my words, which reminds me have you heard about that Girl Scout troop in New York City?
Mike:Yes, oh my gosh. I just read about that this morning. I love that you brought that up. How amazing is that?
Lisa:How amazing is that that is so cool? I'm going to buy all my Girl Scout cookies, and it is not a small sum.
Mike:No, Well, that's funny. So I was a Girl Scout and I used to knock on doors, door to door, selling cookies, and obviously in this day and age that really doesn't happen.
Lisa:They don't do that anymore.
Mike:But I haven't bought cookies and I don't know how long. But I'll tell you what. I'm buying them now. I mean it's unbelievable. And when this comes out like man, we should share that link or at least a link to it.
Lisa:It'll be in the show notes.
Mike:Oh, wonderful.
Lisa:For that Girl Scout troop yeah.
Mike:Yeah, because it truly is incredible. And so because, number one, I can't imagine being homeless.
Lisa:Right.
Mike:I mean it's just nothing that I've ever experienced. And to be young women I mean Girl Scouts are young. And to be homeless, but then to come together as a girl.
Lisa:I guess you're Goosebumps, right.
Mike:Love it so much.
Lisa:Well, lisa, it has been so much fun having you on the show. I really I know you're busy. You're doing all those things. Did you freeze? No?
Mike:I'm here. Oh, ok, I'm sorry.
Lisa:I thought you froze. I'll take that out now. I know you're busy, I know you are. You're a whirling dervish. That's a good thing, right.
Mike:I was going to say are you going to have me start singing? Because you know, julie Andrews, I can sing that if you want.
Lisa:Maybe next time.
Mike:Perfect, love it, love it.
Lisa:Thank you so much for your time being on today. I really do appreciate it. I appreciate the conversation. I'm grateful for your presence here.
Mike:Well, mike, thank you, and I am grateful for you and our time together, and I can't wait for the next time we're able to connect.
Lisa:Fantastic. Thanks so much and we'll talk to you again soon. That was such a fun interview. Lisa Condon, lisa Condon Enterprises. Lisacondoncom. I'll have their links in the show notes there. But just yeah, if my mind is a whirl with the things that we could do as a community, as a country, as a world, if we could all practice a little bit more kindness and gratitude. And yeah, now I'm all riled up. But so much fun to have her on. And if you're wondering about the Girl Scout troop, it's Girl Scout troop 6000 in New York City. Again, link will be in the show notes. Buy your cookies from them. Help out some homeless kids. That would be fantastic. And that will do it for this episode of the Kindness Matters podcast.
Lisa:I appreciate the time that you took to sit down and listen to this episode. Thank you so much for that. We will be back next week with another episode. I don't know why I said it like that, but oh well. But in the meantime, you know the drill Be that person who roots for others, who tells a stranger that they look amazing and encourages others to believe in themselves and their dreams. You've been listening to the Kindness Matters podcast. Now I'm your host, mike Rathbun. Have a fantastic week.
