Quotes: “There’s a growing body of research that finds organizational kindness, in how people treat each other, how leaders manage the workforce, how customer-facing employees interact with their clients....has enormous benefits. It’s just great for business.” [0:35] As Marcel opens the episode, he begins with an excerpt from his forthcoming book, expected Fall 2024. He discusses kindness and the difference it holds from just “being nice." It’s about intention, and it goes beyond surface...

Erica Keswin is a globally renowned workplace strategist, consultant, speaker, best-selling author, and professional dot-connector. Her latest book is The Retention Revolution. Erica first joined Marcel in the very first episode of Love in Action. Now in a post pandemic world, she returns to share the “7 Surprising (and Very Human!) Ways to Keep Employees Connected to Your Company” as written in her latest book.  Quotes: “The world of work has changed, there is no going back.” [10:00] As...

Dr. Michelle K. Johnston is a renowned executive coach and business professor. She is the author of The Seismic Shift in Leadership. Dr. Johnston is a champion of connection in the workplace. She talks with Marcel in this episode on how leaders can serve their team and ultimately how connection drives results. Quotes: “You have to figure out right now how you can communicate and lead in a way that makes your people feel seen, heard, valued, respected, and appreciated.” [11:51] Dr. Michelle...

Kristina Mänd-Lakhiani is the co-founder of Mindvalley, the world’s most powerful life transformation platform. She’s the author of Becoming Flawsome: The Key to Living an Imperfectly Authentic Life. Kristina speaks about personal transformation, authenticity, understanding and accepting oneself and a path to happiness. Quotes: “Authenticity is the force without direction, because it’s your relationship with yourself. The moment you use authenticity in your relationship with the outside...

Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, and is renowned for her research on psychological safety. She is the author of Right Kind of Wrong. In this interview, Amy sets the stage for how leaders can learn and thrive through intelligent failure.  Quotes: “That is love in action, when you find work that you feel is almost meant for you and you can do it in a way that people seem to appreciate.” [13:04] Amy Edmondson shares her...

“Leadership and life is about human relationships.” [1:04] Servant leadership has emerged over the last 40-50 years as a solution for leaders in the business world changing their attitude when it comes to leading their organizations “Listening lands first on my list because it’s a crucial yet frequently absent trait in leaders.” [3:08] Marcel credits Robert Greenleaf as responsible for the modern Servant Leadership movement as he dives into the characteristics of a servant leader. “Empathy...

HUBERT JOLY is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Best Buy and is now a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School. He is also a member of the board of directors of Johnson & Johnson and Ralph Lauren Corporation, a member of the International Advisory Board of HEC Paris, and a Trustee of the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Joly has been recognized as one of the top 100 CEOs in the world by the Harvard Business Review, one of the top 30 CEOs in the world by Barron’s and one...

Dr. Jennifer Nash, a leadership expert and consultant to Fortune 50 organizations, is the bestselling author of “Be Human, Lead Human”. She invites you to radically disrupt your leadership thinking and practice to lead effectively in a post COVID-19 world. She shares a research-based, actionable framework to transform leadership thinking and practice, engaging human connection as the cornerstone of organizational performance. Quotes: “There is no personal self and no professional self, we’re...

When it comes to using love in the workplace, our guests on this podcast literally wrote the book. Zina Sutch and Patrick Malone are the co-authors of Leading with Love and Laughter. Zina has been leading development and diversity programs in the U.S. government for 20 years. Patrick Malone spent 23 years in the Navy, serving as an officer in the medical service corps. Today, Zina is also a faculty member of the key executive leadership program at American University, where Patrick is the...

Dr. Natalie Baumgartner is Chief Research Officer and Partner at Contemporary Leadership Advisors (CLA) and Chief Workforce Scientist at Achievers.  She has spent over a decade focused on driving the translation of culture research and theory into SaaS based software, working to help make it possible for organizations to solve problems and achieve goals that advance their performance. In this conversation, Dr. Baumgarnter brings home her passion for connection within organizations with the...

Todd Finkle, Gonzaga University Pigott Professor of Entrepreneurship, is the author of Warren Buffett: Investor and Entrepreneur. He was the entrepreneur of six ventures and obtained a PhD & MBA in Entrepreneurship & Strategic Management, and with over 250 books, articles, presentations, and scholarships. Quotes: “He [Warren Buffet] was doing so many entrepreneurial things through his youth that he made $76,000 by the time he graduated.” [15:08] By the age of 10, Warren Buffett...

Amelia Dunlop is Deloitte Digital’s Chief Experience Officer and the author of Elevating The Human Experience. Amelia writes and speaks regularly on the topics of human experience, design, and customer strategy. In this episode of Love in Action, she touches on the three paths to elevate the human experience involving self love and worthiness at work and in life.  Quotes: “So many traditions and philosophies teach that the fundamental human condition is one of suffering. There are many...

Julie Winkle Guilioni is the author of the international bestseller Promotions Are So Yesterday: Redefine Career Development. Help Employees Thrive. As a champion for workplace growth and development, she believes that everyone deserves the opportunity to reach their potential. Julie supports organizations and leaders who want to make that happen with keynote speeches, consulting, and training. Quotes: “It really does feel like Promotions Are So Yesterday is the sequel [to my previous book]...

“To this day, Bruce is my favorite boss because of his penchant for leading with love.” [0:44] Marcel ‘introduces’ Bruce, a favorite boss from his corporate career. He explains the qualities of love Bruce led with and how they impacted him at work.“While he was still "the boss," I was much more satisfied and engaged in that job than at any other time during my corporate career. The big difference? Bruce never managed people from the top down; instead, he led from the bottom up.” [1:30] When...

“The way most Western businesses operate today can be traced back to Friedman’s essays. Love and care as business values were as distant to Friedman’s model as Pluto is to planet Earth.” [2:35] Marcel references Milton Friedman, a champion of free enterprise, and his NYT articles from the 1970s that share a doctrine of shareholder primacy and his ‘Greed is Good’ mentality. “We will need to completely overhaul our selection process to identify, hire, and promote leaders and potential leaders...

Heather McGowan is one of the leading voices on the Future of Work. She’s the co-author of The Empathy Advantage. McGowan is a sense maker, a dot connector, a deep thinker, and a pattern matcher who sees things that others miss. Heather gives people the courage and insight that illuminates their path forward. She’s transforming mindsets and entire organizations around the globe with her message about how the next phase of work will focus on continuous learning and how leadership must shift to...

Matt Poepsel hosts the “Lead the People” podcast and is the author of Expand the Circle. His mission is to help us liberate ourselves from outdated attitudes and behaviors that hold us back from our true potential. When working with organizations, Matt partners with HR Leaders, Executives, and Team Leaders who seek to help their leaders—and themselves—embody an enlightened leadership approach. Quotes: “We are grateful and honored that you choose to spend time with us every week...because...

“A toxic work culture was found to be 10.4 times greater than compensation in predicting a company's attrition rate relative to its industry average.” [1:23] Marcel explains the not so shocking reason why workers left jobs in droves in the 2021 Great Resignation. “When leaders lack empathy, fail to communicate clearly, or prioritize their own interests over the well-being of their employees, it can lead to a toxic environment.”[2:13] As Marcel says, toxic work culture is not built overnight,...

Marshall Goldsmith is a renowned executive coach recognized as the #1 Leadership Thinker in the World. His latest book is The Earned Life: Lose Regret, Choose Fulfillment. Quotes: “So if you’ve ever been caught in a cycle of regret—and I think that’s most of us—Marshall is here to tell us how to remove the obstacles that prevent us from creating our own fulfilling lives. And who better to help us remove those obstacles than the #1 ranked executive coach in the world.” [3:47] Dr. Marshall...

Sally Helgesen is the world’s premier expert on women’s leadership and the author of Rising Together.  She became the first person to write about inclusion in the workplace in 1995 with her book, The Web of Inclusion. In this episode of Love in Action, Sally and Marcel discuss the nuances of triggers and inclusive behaviors.  Quotes: “A trigger is a situation, or person, or a comment that stirs an emotional response in us.” [15:15] Whether it’s anger, shock, resentment, or horror, these...

Enjoy this sneak peek for Marcel Schwantes’s Fall 2024 upcoming book. Marcel shares something too many managers are missing, 3 attributes that make up the best leaders. Show Notes:  “In transparent work cultures, you can count on the guardians of the culture, trusted team members and associates, to watch out for politics or favoritism behind the scenes and squash such behaviors as soon as it happens.” [2:54] Marcel starts his list of the three attributes of the best leaders with...

In a preview for his upcoming book in Fall 2024, Marcel Schwantes shares a personal story of the physical manifestation of stress and the adverse effects of a fear driven work relationship. Show notes: “After checking myself into the emergency department, the ER physician called my condition stress and anxiety related. He explained that people may experience psychological distress as physical pain, a process known as somatization.” [1:35] Marcel Schwantes shares an excerpt from his...