Love as a Survival Strategy

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Jeff Ma
Hello, and welcome to love as a business strategy, a podcast that brings humanity to the workplace. We're here to talk about business. But we want to tackle topics that most business leaders shy away from. We believe that humanity and love should be at the center of every successful business. I'm your host, Jeff Ma. I'm a director at Softway, an agency based out of Houston, Texas that specializes in digital transformation, culture and branding. Each episode, we're diving into one element of business or strategy and testing our theory of love against it. And today, we're gonna be talking about a very important and relevant topic for many businesses, probably most businesses, right now in these unprecedented times, we're talking about survival. We want to find out what's it gonna take to survive in today's business climate, what does it What does it look like to survive and what role might love play in it? So to help answer these questions, we've invited a very special guest to the show. But before I welcome him, let me introduce some familiar faces, or should I say voices, who will be joining me in this discussion. We have Mohammad Anwar, president & CEO software. Hey, Jeff, and Chris Pitre, Vice President at Softway.

Chris Pitre
Howdy.

Jeff Ma
All right. And without further ado, our guest today is Jeff Brown. Jeff's specialty is guiding private technology companies through growth and mergers and acquisitions. He is an experienced executive having led startups, turnarounds and many m&a transactions. And for nearly 30 years, he's helped build resilient technology companies and advise their executives, boards and investors. His newest venture is Navant Partners, a specialized consulting firm helping clients prepare their companies for sale by building resilience and driving growth. And most recently, he was Senior VP of Corum Group, a leading global investment bank focused exclusively on technology mergers and acquisitions to launch. Previously, he was president of Worksuite, a British public company subsidiary, which he restructured, led to market leadership and then divestiture he co-founded Intelligis, a pioneer in wireless computing and launched Western Hemisphere operations for another British company, Simon petroleum technology. He was an executive at geo quest systems, a venture backed leader in petroleum software, acquired first by Raytheon, and then Schlumberger. Jeff began his career as a geologist on the research faculty at Columbia University as a published author on climate change. Jeff, welcome to the show. Did I miss anything?

Jeff Brown
Yeah, no, that's, that sounds pretty complete. Thank you.

Jeff Ma
It's amazing

Jeff Brown
Glad to be here. Hello, Muhammad. Hello, Chris.

Jeff Ma
It's gonna be very confusing. I love your first name. First of all, I love it. I'm a big fan of it. But it's gonna be very confusing for this episode, but let's go with it. We have a tradition of starting with some icebreakers I have some survival themed icebreakers for us today to meet the show's theme. And I'll start with you, Jeff. If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring three things with you, what would they be?

Jeff Brown
Oh, what would they be? A good question.

Jeff Brown
A complete collection of Bonny Raitt's music number one.

Jeff Brown
six pack, of Coors, Number two,

Jeff Brown
and an umbrella. Three.

Jeff Ma
I love it. So I've already have a mental picture of that that island is wonderful. It'll be a great hour and a half. I don't know before you run out of.

Jeff Brown
Well, you didn't say anything about resilience or survival in that question.

Jeff Ma
That's true. That's true.

Jeff Brown
I figured I was gonna get rescued at some point.

Jeff Ma
That's true.

Chris Pitre
So somebody is going to come and save him and that's always a good mindset. Like, that's always

Jeff Ma
Mohammed, what's your most? What's your most impressive survival skill?

Mohammad Anwar
The ability to stay without food and water for many hours at a stretch. Hmm, I think could come in handy. I practice it quite a bit.

Jeff Ma
That's true. You do. Chris. What's the best way to survive a zombie apocalypse?

Chris Pitre
The best way to survive a zombie apocalypse? Hmm. I think it's to one understand their patterns as zombies like there's different types of zombies. So there are those that that are nocturnal. There are those that like are, you know, sort of day acting and night I think so. Depending on what you're dealing with. You know, you have to study your enemy. You might find that you know, if you think I Am Legend, right, like you have to have a hideout during the day and night that you You can ward off any human, you're human scent. So you stay safe. And then during the day you got to rummage for food, but if they are fully, you know, active during the daytime, then you have to think about your weaponry. Right? And what are the ways that you can defend yourself and still stay safe? So, I mean, that's not a clear answer, but also you didn't set me up for what the style zombie attack or apocalypse. So.

Jeff Ma
So if anyone out there is wondering, yes, this is what it's like to work with Chris. For sure, but great answer, of course, as always. So let's dive into this. Jeff. I wanted to list out, um, you know, all the things that you've done, because it's really important, this conversation we have today you have some expertise and experience, quite a bit of it, in helping guide us through this current unprecedented kind of economic climate we're in. Can you give us your perspective of what we're seeing out in the world right now?

Jeff Brown
Well, sure, I'll be happy to share my perspective. It's not a very optimistic perspective right now as well. I'll give you some advanced warning on it. But it's a difficult time. And if we're talking about businesses, especially small businesses, and we're also talking about employees, it's a really challenging time on unprecedent. As I think we all recognize, we're in the midst of a virus or healthcare driven economic crisis. And it's creating an awful lot of stress and difficulty for individuals, for small businesses as well as large businesses. And unfortunately, I think the the impact will be with us for quite some time, it will be quite a while before we fully recover from the kind of challenging environment we're faced with right now.

Chris Pitre
I agree.

Jeff Ma
Well, great. Great to start off on that note, and that's why we're here. Right. So we wouldn't have an episode about survival if it wasn't necessary to survive right now.

Jeff Brown
We think it's that's a particularly relevant business topic and culture topic right now.

Jeff Ma
Yeah. So So let's talk about let's talk about survival in your perspective. Jeff, what does survival look like in that climate you just painted?

Jeff Brown
Well, I think in general terms, it's a it's a resilience. It's it's an ability to endure, whether it's an individual, we're talking about an individual, going through difficult times a family trying to navigate difficult times or a business, trying to do the same things. It's the resilience and ability to persevere or endure. And that requires adjustment to the surroundings, adjustment to the pressures, the external pressures we feel, the existential circumstance existential pressures that are now on the business or the individual or the family.

Jeff Ma
Mohammed as a business owner, what's your what's your take?

Mohammad Anwar
So obviously, these times have been very difficult for our business as well. And, you know, there, there are many options that as a business owner I could take during these crisis, like one is I could just go into cash conservation and save all of our cash assets and hunker down and wait for this pandemic in this situation to pass by before I come back out and do stuff. And that has crossed my mind and at another angle, you know, I, which is the route I'm on with with the rest of you guys, as part of her team is to take on this challenge and embrace the situation and figure out ways to survive But not only survive, but also thrive, given the opportunities that have presented itself due to the situation because there's so much change happening and so much of our environment around us is changing. While our existing business model might not be as useful or valuable during these times, it also has afforded us the opportunity to find new avenues for our business to survive and thrive. And that's the angle that I'm counting on. That's the approach that I think our business is taking and every other business is afforded the same opportunity.

Chris Pitre
Yeah, I agree with that, Mohammed and I, I know from my seat and what we're trying to do at Softway. It's not just about like the product sells and the revenue coming in. It's also really the mental shift that as leaders you have to make First, get your business in that mode of operating, right because you know, it's If you think about it, you can't really go out and attack in an uncertain world, if you haven't shifted into realizing that things are not going to be the same for a while, right. And so dreaming about yesterday or reminiscing about the way things used to be, is not productive at this moment. And if the leader is not thinking in that vein, or hasn't shifted into that thinking they could fall victim to like the conservation and the, the mode of waiting it out and not really doing much, because they're hoping things go back to the exactly the way things they way things were when we got into the mess. And I know Jeff, you probably you probably have some thoughts on that. Jeff Brown, to clarify who I'm talking to. We can call you JB from now on.

Chris Pitre
But you probably have some thoughts on that. But I think that that that shift in mindset really helps to get the goings happening around operations. But when that isn't happening, it's just a free For all from what I'm hearing and other organizations,

Jeff Brown
I do have some thoughts, Chris, I appreciate that.

Jeff Brown
You know, certainly there are businesses that will thrive through this difficult time. They're well positioned. They're in the right markets, or they have a business model where, fortunately, the stars have aligned for them. But I think the majority of businesses will be challenged in ways that they haven't been challenged before. And enduring the difficulties is going to require them to make some changes in the way they think about their business, their customers, their products, and embrace those changes. And as Mohammad was talking about hunkering down and conserving in order to survive through this difficulty, that's the strategy and it's, we all need to cut back on things through these difficult times. But as part of that assessment, I think we also need to be thinking about how do we position ourselves To begin to thrive, when this is over, because this will pass, we will get through this, this situation will pass. And businesses want to as a result of this difficulty, take advantage of the challenge, take advantage of the need to make changes and emerge from this a stronger, healthier business, or at least ready to become stronger and healthier, as a consequence. I mean, it's a it's a bit of a, I think, a crude expression, but several have said "never let a good crisis go to waste." And I think there's opportunity in the crisis. Right?

Jeff Ma
Now, you used the word resilience earlier, which kind of resonates as this critical path to move forward. Can you define what you mean by resilience in this context?

Jeff Brown
I think resilience is a is the central concept that businesses need to be thinking needs to be rallying around at this moment. Businesses need to be rallying around at this point in time. In good times, we think about growth as the rallying point for our business. And really the outcome that we're looking for from the way we run the business. But I think in these times, we should be replacing growth, the concept of growth with resilience, at least on the short to medium term. So that we're positioned for for growth when these things when things change. But a resilient business is you know, there are many attributes or many dimensions to what makes a resilient business. We can talk about revenue models, business models, customer need customer segments, etc. And they all come back to they come back to being able to generate results or performance out of the choices you've made in the model you've chosen. I mean, a good example in the revenue model side is a business that is no longer project dependent, but might be dependent on recurring revenues, so that they have some predictability about the revenues that are coming in because customers have signed up for the long term rather than the short term under a recurring revenue model. on the product side, a good example might be a business that has good upsell potential. Once they've entered a customer account and sold something initially into the account. It's a land and expand model. So a business that has that kind of potential, because we all know it's much more expensive to acquire that customer initially than it is to hold on to that customer once we've acquired them. And it's all about customer satisfaction, meeting their expectations and creating customer satisfaction and loyalty. And also it's about process efficiency, how efficiently do we operate as a business? and economically? Do we operate as a business? Our process and procedures? Do they yield good profitability or sustainable profitability? Or is there a lot of waste in the business in the way we're running it? So those are some examples of what creates or what the attributes of a resilient business are.

Mohammad Anwar
So Jeff you mentioned quite a few examples around process and procedures and market strategy, client strategy and so forth. So can you help me talk more about your team and the the employees of the organization are also going through this economic stress personally in their lives and, and we're as a business, how can we get everyone on the team and the company to become resilient as well?

Jeff Brown
You're teeing up the culture discussion, aren't you? Mohammed?

Chris Pitre
That's what it sounds like to me and I'm glad to called him on it. That's a great catch.

Jeff Brown
Well, I yeah. And it, it is. It's the culture is absolutely essential, right. So, you know, culture is, is the behavior of the organization. It affects so much of the organization that use another cliche. Culture eats strategy for breakfast, right? If the organization and the people in the organization aren't of the right frame of mind, if they don't exhibit the right behaviors, and the right attitudes, the business is going to have a hard time pivoting, transforming, even enduring under stresses, like we're feeling right now. And so that culture, that whole element of culture really is the foundation of growth in a strong environment, but even more so resilience in a challenging environment like we have right now challenge, challenging economy, like we have right now.

Jeff Ma
So, so how does a company go about building that resilience then? Do you have any insights into that or any first steps?

Jeff Brown
Well start by putting the pressure on Mohammad and Chris.

Chris Pitre
That's a great strategy. That is a great strategy, Jeff Brown.

Jeff Brown
And this is why. the behaviors start by those that are modeled by the leaders of the organization. If the leaders aren't modeling the behaviors and the attitudes that the organization needs to embrace, then it's really difficult to permeate those behaviors and attitudes down through the organization. So it does start with leadership. Right? Yep. And the leadership behavior. So I'll stop there and give Chris and Mohammed a chance to comment before I go.

Chris Pitre
Yeah, thank you. The first thing for my end from looking at it sort of personally, as I mentioned before the mindset first, like getting your mind into the place of, Okay, this is a new environment and there's uncertainties, right? And I can try and predict all day long about what could happen, when the markets will return, etc. But that's actually a waste of time. And so, taking from that sort of standpoint, it becomes about really embracing risk. Because at this point, as a small business or a medium sized business, you really have, you don't have anything to lose. Right? Like, like all all you have is the ability to try out new things. And so, you know, we've tried to implement and really test a culture of experimentation where, when our team see leaders are willing to experiment and try new things. And that means that doesn't just mean new products, I mean new ways of working new ways of communicating new ways of collaborating new ways of organizing calendar, like all of those things are on the table, like nothing is too sacred to test out or try or scrap, right? And having everyone see that approach and see leaders embrace that wholeheartedly. You know, it removes that fear of punishment if something doesn't go according to a quote unquote plan, or doesn't happen according to expectation, but it does open up the learnings, you know, you get the chance to see if there's a new way to work, earn revenue or even, you know, produce said deliverables or products. And so for me, that's been the biggest learning is that the way I used to operate is not necessarily going to help me out in this case. So you know, what got me to before COVID is not going to get me through COVID right. So how do we you know, as leaders help everyone understand that risk taking and being okay with not meeting maybe the outcome initially. But learning all along the way and using those learnings to catapult the next initiative that much more is one of the the easiest things to try because it doesn't require you to be an expert at anything but curiosity.

Mohammad Anwar
I would also add that resilience from a standpoint of leadership to help influence the whole organization is, is being able to showcase to the rest of the team, how you can feel and still pick yourself back up and move forward and take it as a learning. And so similarly, instead of instead of demonstrating, you know, punishment, or remorse for making a mistake, or failing at trying things instead, if us as leaders, we can encourage learnings from the failure and quickly move on to trying other things and knowing what you learn from that failure and know what not to try and what to try, I think demonstrating that by example, us as leaders we can we can encourage that resilience and that mindset and the attitude to not give up and keep trying. And I do agree with Jeff that I know it starts with the leaders and that's a lot of pressure, I can tell you that's a lot of weight on the shoulder of a leader to be able to lead and guide their team through these crisis and show the resilience and demonstrate the toughness. But I also think at the same time, being able to be vulnerable and being transparent and showcasing to the rest of your org that you are human just like them and you can make mistakes as well and you can have bad days and and be anxious from moment to moment but also demonstrate how you overcome those feelings as a human and become resilient is key to try and help the whole organization follow your lead.

Jeff Ma
I always had the sense that I mean, I've always believed that humans by nature are resilient. Like, as humans, we are just built to be resilient. That's how we evolved and got to where we are today. But it's almost like, that's what's that's the problem when we're trying to build this culture is that we don't always see each other as humans, especially our leaders. Sometimes you see a leader up top as just this, this Pinnacle, you know, sitting in a chair and commanding you know, the you don't see them. As a human, it's really hard to, I think, buy into a culture of resilience when you don't first see that you're being led by a resilient human, first. That's, that's that's a perspective that I'm seeing in this environment.

Jeff Brown
For me, it gets back to a fundamental comfort level. I mean, Chris talked about taking risk. Mohammad talked about excelling. To me, it comes back to a fundamental comfort level with change, the willingness to change, we all get pretty comfortable when things fall into a predictable pattern. And I agree with you, Jeff, as humans, we're more resilient than we give ourselves credit for. And, this sort of resilience requires that we all get comfortable with change and experimentation as well. Because not all change is going to work out as we anticipated. And it's recognizing that Yeah, some failures are acceptable so long as we learn from the failures, but it takes a collaborative model too to consider change, implement, change and embrace the results of change as well. And it takes that trust in one another, also vulnerable ability that Mohammed was talking about.

Chris Pitre
And Jeff, I'm Jeff Brown. I'm curious, you know, you've been, you've been within a lot of companies, but you've also consulted with a lot of companies. Have you seen examples positive or negative of how resilience was or was not a part of culture and how that played out when it came to business outcomes or acquisition or mergers, and you know, not to put you on the spot, but to put you on the spot, would love to learn and see if there's, like some good use cases and scenarios out there that our listeners can learn from?

Jeff Brown
Yeah, well, you warned me, you're gonna put me on the spot at some point in this

Chris Pitre
I did, but you know,

Jeff Brown
yeah, I'll speak from I'll speak from personal experience here. I was part of a of a company that at one point in my career, in an operating role, I was running a portion of the the global footprint of the business. And the business at the top was run by engineers. And and we in Part of the business were much more entrepreneurially oriented. And you see this, this dichotomy in a lot of businesses where you have individuals who have more of an accounting or engineering mindset, trying to work closely with those who have a much more entrepreneurial or nimble, results oriented mindset. Not that not that we all weren't, aren't focused on results generating results. But we were also separated by an ocean. And so communication wasn't what it needed to be was really hard to get face to face with one another. And the situation just contrived against us, conspired against us and we just never were able to pull it together and get on the same page. As well as and work as efficiently together as we would have liked and created a very difficult situation and the organization struggled struggled through this and never really made it through this and never really reached its performance potential as a consequence, which is a shame because it had a product that was, it was ahead of its time required some attitude change on behalf of the customers to embrace it, the early adopters, if you will, innovators to embrace the product, but it had tremendous potential. It was just it was a terrific product. But we just never were able to take advantage of the opportunity because of the culture. Culture got in the way. cultural differences got in the way behavioral differences management, approach to management, communicating. hierarchy got in the way of collaboration.

Chris Pitre
Yeah. I've lived in a company that had a very similar challenge. And it's not fun when you're not in any leadership position. But you're watching sort of the leaders fight against each other and not want to collaborate, and you're trying to make things happen and you need everybody to be on the same page. And you just you're constantly just every day is a battle internally to the place where like you have no more energy to focus on even your competitors. That was not a fun environment when I was in it.

Jeff Brown
Most of my career has been in small businesses, small entrepreneurial businesses or working with entrepreneurial leaders as they work hard to grow their businesses. This stuff is hard. You know, it's not. It's not for the faint of heart. And there's just absolutely no reason to make it more difficult than it needs to be. Right? Building product, recruiting customers, and keeping them happy is hard. There's no reason why working together should be hard as well. And it's, you know, culture shouldn't be collaboration shouldn't be a difficult issue shouldn't be getting in our ways.

Chris Pitre
Yep. And I know that when it comes to time Back to resilience when, when you're faced with an economic calamity or situation that's out of your control. And it's that much harder to communicate, collaborate or get together to figure things out. Like, I really don't know what survival looks like to be honest. I don't know how resilience is even a conversation to embark upon if you can't even just talk about everyday things.

Jeff Brown
Right, right. Well, I think you guys are doing a great job of creating a resilient organization, the way you have approached the whole business, as I call it, business to employee, model, employee, you know, focus on the employee, making sure employees are happy, productive, safe in this environment. is really is so important to establishing the kind of culture that you need to create to survive and thrive in this sort of environment.

Jeff Ma
Flattery will get you nowhere, Jeff.

Chris Pitre
It will get you everywhere with me. Forget Ma and Anwar. I'm kidding. Go ahead.

Mohammad Anwar
So Jeff Brown, what are some of the things that you've been implementing in your personal life and your business? To demonstrate resilience during these tough times?

Jeff Brown
You didn't warn me about this question.

Chris Pitre
Surprise!

Jeff Brown
But it's a fair question. Number one, I think is is choosing an area to work choosing a consultant domain adviser domain that I have a passion for, rather than I do believe Because I need to make a living. So having a real enthusiasm about what I do, is is important. And once again, I'm running a small advisory practice right now. So that's part of it. But I enjoy what I'm doing. I enjoy the the m&a work, I enjoy the advisory work, number one. Number two, it's choosing people to work with customers to work with, who I enjoy working with, so that you know there is joy and satisfaction that comes from those relationships. I'm choosing to work with customers who have, who are coachable, who take advice, take guidance to collaborate and communicate well. Very importantly though, it's choosing customers who have strong business models and who in my opinion, are likely to survive, who have resilience, an attitude of resilience and attitude of adjustment, who are likely to survive. You know, at the end of the day, a big part of this is putting food on the table for our families, right. So working with customers that have little hope of surviving is probably not a good business strategy and doesn't create a resilient business. And working with working with clients who are actually really truly committed to their business and building a resilient, stronger business. Because they're going to put in the work in the effort. And it's building those relationships with them. And it comes back to relationships, right? building those relationships that will endure every relationship is going to have a Rocky, Rocky part of it. Rocky period, or difficulties, we won't always see eye to eye on things, but building a relationship that will endure a resilient relationship with those clients as well. Some of the things I look for so I build my business.

Mohammad Anwar
Right, good. Thank you for sharing.

Jeff Ma
So we mentioned the role of leader in all of this and we opened with how critical that was in terms of just flat out. How do you you know, how do you build resiliance, well it comes from the leader. So if I'm a leader, trying to embrace this concept and make a change, what what am I looking at? What do I need to be changing and looking at today, for the listeners here? And this is to anybody, we got a lot of leaders here.

Chris Pitre
Yeah, I'm gonna let Jeff Brown go first.

Mohammad Anwar
I agree.

Jeff Brown
Well, I think we need to start a new podcast and if we're going to try and answer that question. There's an awful lot, I think, to the answer to that question. Um, you know, it starts with a close examination of the business, the business model. You know, it's a top to bottom assessment of the business. What are we building? what problem are we solving? What customers have we, what customers are we addressing how strong is the need, that those customers feel for what we offer? Can we be sustainable and differentiate in the marketplace, with what we're offering, right, can we so we stand out from amongst the other alternatives, our target customer may have to solve that problem. Are we really bringing value to the customer in the way we solve a problem that's sustainable as well, enduring value for the customer? Can we do this on a repeatable basis, a scalable basis? So if we do it once, can we do it two times three times 10 times and do it efficiently and profitably over and over again? Those are some of the things and can we do it? While we're keeping our employees happy, motivated, growing, as well in the organization, one of the biggest challenges we have is employee turnover. It is so expensive and there's five hidden costs in employee turnover. The cost of recruiting an employee, training an employee and getting them up to speed is significant, it's very high. And if you couple that with the downtime that you have, because a prior employee has left for whatever reason, see a gap in productivity that you have to fill to last. And then you have to find somebody and bring them up to speed in the organization, all very expensive propositions. So, employee retention, employee satisfaction is a big part of very big part of building a resilient business.

Jeff Ma
Moh, earlier you had mentioned that, you know, we're talking about leaders and you talking about your own context. But we talked about how you said how you have to start, you know, walking the talk and basically demonstrating these growth mindsets, essentially, right, you have to start showing that you're resilient. I get the feeling that like even when uppermost leaders might be demonstrating There's still people in the ranks that are just waiting for this to pass, or expecting things to go back to normal or to some sort of normal. Right? I feel like demonstrating is one thing and an important part of it. Like, if you're not doing that, then you're going to miss the mark. But what else? What else can we be doing to generate this culture that brings folds everybody into resilience? Because, you know, I, this is my opinion, I guess my perspective is that people are, there are a number of people who will see you be resilient, but they're either so far removed or not yet bought in enough and they're still just kind of taking their paycheck and waiting for waiting for resilience to benefit them. What do we do about that?

Mohammad Anwar
I think the answer lies in practicing empathy and an empathetic form of leadership. And during these times, I think it's important to have care and compassion for your team. members and employees, given the circumstances that we're all put into and the predicaments that come with it. But we have to also make sure that we are able to hold our teams accountable. Yes, times are tough things are going the way that they're going. And we all have a lot of different problems are facing in our personal lives, work lives because of this pandemic. But I think as a leader, besides just walking the talk, we also have to be able to hold our team members accountable. And that starts with empathy doesn't mean I don't hold them accountable because I am compassionate and care for them. But it means as a leader, how am I going to have the necessary conversations with their team to make them understand how to overcome these situations? How do you help them navigate around these crisis, even in their personal lives, that they're going through stuff? How can I step in and help them and how can I guide them and coach them to deal with With their personal situation, and still get them to achieve the outcomes that are needed from them, for our business and having those crucial conversations and not shying away from it, and talking about the realities that we are up against, is, is one way to start building resilience in your team. And it's not through fear, but it's rather through giving that hope and confidence and showing them that you care and you can, you're there to support them and you want the best for them and, and by by demonstrating that you are able to encourage motivate your team to have that resilience to get through this crisis. And that's something that I I firmly believe in and I am trying very hard to practice it. I sometimes call that kind of relationship with my team as tough love, because I love my team but at the same time Have I'm going to have those tough love conversations and, and make them realize that we got to pick ourselves up. And we got to move on, we got to fight the situation sure where we may have failed here, or we may have made mistakes here. But we can let that keep us back. We gotta get up and keep fighting. And here's how I can show you I can help you, here's what you need to do. And have those tough conversations with your team, to make them realize what, what we're here to do and how we can collectively overcome these crisis. And so having those type of Crucial Conversations leading with example, being transparent, you know, not withholding information, talking about things how it is in a responsible way, but also guiding your team to be resilient is is something that leaders have to be ready to do.

Chris Pitre
And I think the only thing that I would add to that is a lesson that I learned from my sister actually just yesterday Which is during these times, not everybody is going to click in and get everything 100% even if you've been talking and giving them examples, and you know, explaining everything 100% to the best variability, people are just not all going to, you know, are going to be quick on the uptake. And so as a leader, instead of reacting negatively, when they actually click in and start understanding things, and start applying the, the mindset, or the approach, or the ideas that you've been trying to get them leaned into, encourage that. Like, let people click in when they click in because that energy that they have now can actually fuel a lot more productivity, engagement and ideas and innovation, rather than more or less punishing them or complaining that they took this long to get into the program. And so practicing that's that's still part of empathy. But it's more being aware as a leader. When you feel like Well, I've been fighting all this time and you guys are just now realizing I need to start fighting Hey, what's going on, like, you know, I've been, you know, trying to fight, you know, 10 different battles with everybody just watching me. And instead of like reacting to the team, encouraging that, you know, recent, you know, a revelation or epiphany that people have had and encourage them to like, okay, now that you get it now that you're clicked in, now you go own it, you go drive it, right, like you got it, and being that support system, and that, you know, that motivator to keep people into that frame of mind that they may have just clicked into. And I think that in times like these is very easy for leaders to get irritated with teams that are slower on the uptake or who we feel like are not listening, and they hear from some outside perspective, and all of a sudden, you know, they've, they've been enlightened and everything makes sense. And you're like, I've been saying this for three weeks. Okay. So that's been a recent learning of mine that I think is just a part of that resilience play, which is it's very easy for everyone to be hyper emotional, including the leader in times where you're trying to survive and trying to push a company to stay in survival mode. So I would just encourage all the listeners out there to just be mindful of the fact that everyone's sort of uptake is slower, and at different paces, and you're gonna have some people that get it right away and are ready to run. You're gonna have some people that want to see other people running before they get up and run and they're gonna have some people that you know, are gonna watch the entire race until they see you that until they see that like, Oh, my team really needs me and I was I need to get off the bleachers and go, you know, carry the baton right? And that's okay. It's just you have to know that not everybody is moving at your pace as a leader sometimes.

Jeff Ma
Great. So I want to kind of tie this back to love of course, and we know that there's a lot of strategic and tactical Places to understand this. And, Jeff, I'd love for you to expound on some of those connections because I'd love to know like, you know, I, we're always out to prove what does love have to do with any of this? I think this is a great, great place to really sit and talk about that a little bit because there are a lot of tactical business decisions that have to be made to survive. What's you know, what's your take on where love fits in this equation specifically?

Jeff Brown
Wow. I haven't quite clicked in yet Chris. Can I add a little bit more time?

Chris Pitre
And that's okay, Jeff. We all have different paces. It's okay.

Jeff Brown
You know, love is, I think it's the underpinning of the kind of culture that we're trying to create here. Love, I think is is the is the word that that we're using here to capture and describe the kind of productive coachable, empathetic, productive culture that we're trying to create. And so, you know, I tend to think in more hard terms than soft terms. And I look at outputs outcomes. And the outcome of a loving business culture is one that is a business that is fulfilling its mission. Its original mission it set out to fulfill while adhering to its core values at the same time. It hasn't given up its its value set in the process of fulfilling its mission. And that takes a certain it takes a certain foundation of love, if you will, collaboration, teamwork. I think they're all all shades of grey. Same color, if you will, when we're talking about what drives the business forward. You need that human element that collaborates and works well together in order to get anything done. And love is that strategy that optimizes that collaboration.

Mohammad Anwar
Yeah, for me, Jeff, I think my lesson in resilience and love comes from a football game that I was physically present to watch back in 2015. I was able to watch a football game between University of Houston and play University of Memphis Tigers, and they both are ranked. And it was a it was supposed to be at the game of the season for Houston and they were undefeated. This is a lot in line for the team and going into the fourth quarter of the football game, the Houston cougars were trailing by over 20 points and had their third string quarterback out on the field because their first string quarterback, and the second string quarterback got injured. And there was literally from a statistical standpoint, ESPN was predicting we had point 01 chance of winning that night. And I ended up watching the University of Houston cougars come back and win that match that night. They came back with less than 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter. And one by one point against the 21 ranked University of Memphis team. And what I learned from that football game, after, you know, two days when I tuned in to watch Coach Tom Herman speak about that victory, when when he was probed by the reporters as to how their team was so resilient, and how did they end up winning that match that night? What was going on? Tom Herman attribute it all of that to the love that the teammates had for each other, the culture of love that that sports team was following, and embracing. And he said that every single football team member out there wasn't fighting for themselves. They were fighting for the brother, who they love on the field, they were on that field to support one another. And they were, they were, they were fighting to the last second for each other. And that taught me a very important lesson in resilience that resilient teams, whether they're in sports are inside of an organization like our company. When you care for each other to that extent, then you are now becoming resilient for the sake of those that you care for, and love. And so, in an in a crisis like this, I see the culture of love and support for one Another can help build those resilient organizations to achieve those outcomes that the business needs. And you're not just doing it for yourself, but you're doing it for each other, and you're willing to fight for each other. And so that's where I see the parallel. And the benefit of having a culture of love inside of a company where you care so much for one another, that you don't want to see this go away. You don't want to, like quit, you don't want to give up or see this crisis or this situation, you know, keep you from winning. And it drives you even more to keep fighting for each other.

Jeff Ma
That's a great point. I think I'm thinking about myself right now. And, you know, I think there's, there's something to be said about, you know, in this COVID specific crisis, right? Nobody's prepared, like, and it's kind of like, nobody knows what they're doing. A lot of times, like, it's like we're all doing brand new things and when this crisis first hit, I made this mental assumption that I'd be just busy working as soon climb out of this, but as we've played it out, I've actually found that a lot of my time is actually spent connecting and coaching. And, and, and, and connecting to, to people and working. But, but also mainly because it feels like without that we're not able to, to do these new things and step into these really scary places without each other right now, and trying to imagine this entire ordeal with the old mindset of, you know, of a secure and stable, unchanging world or environment is just impossible for me to imagine right now and trying to, you know, try to imagine, you know, without the culture that I feel we've built well, surrounding me I just see all these efforts and initiatives and changes that we need to make falling very flat because I would be scared To bring forth my, my potentially terrible idea or, or product, and I would be and I would be possibly critical of others in the same way without this relationship that we have that kind of forges the trust that I'm like, Hey, I know you're going through it. I'm going through it. We're both in it together. We feel that connection, bring your best, I got your back kind of feeling is so important to me right now. So you saying that helped kind of trigger that thought for me that, that that's where that's where culture really feels necessary, not just beneficial to being resilient right now.

Jeff Brown
Well stated.

Jeff Ma
So, survival. So we're saying survivals about resilience. Resilience is formed through culture, and culture's developed through love, by by our definition, right. Did I miss anything?

Jeff Brown
I think that works. Yeah.

Jeff Ma
Sorry, Chris, did you have anything to add on that?

Chris Pitre
I think everyone summed it up so beautifully that I would ruin it. If I contributed anything, I know people like the sound of my voice. But I will have to refrain and let the words of Mohammed and Jeff Brown and even you Jeff Ma conclude us. I think it's like, I mean, But Michelle doesn't close after Beyonce, Beyonce. I so I feel like Beyonce is already closed this so

Jeff Ma
I asked for that. I asked for that beyond the reference, or did

Chris Pitre
I think everyone wanted it too.

Jeff Ma
Well, with that, I want to first end by saying, Jeff Jeff Brown. I am Jeff but I'll make sure everyone knows I'm talking to Jeff Brown. Thank you so much for being here. You know your your expertise. And your perspective on this matter is, is not only benefits to our audience, but you're helping software through some some tough times as well. And I just really appreciate you taking the time to have this conversation with us today.

Jeff Brown
Well, Jeff, Ma, appreciate that. I've enjoyed it. I've enjoyed working with you guys as well. You guys, there are a tremendous group to work with. And it's wonderful when you can work with a team who you feel you can have an impact working with. And so you guys have created a very exciting culture a soft way. And so you need to feel good about that. And I think it'll serve you well, in the future very well as you go as you go forward.

Jeff Ma
So we post new episodes of love as a business strategy every Tuesday. And if there's a business topic you'd like us to cover something some feedback you'd like to give us. Comments, questions, anything. Find us at softway.com/laabs. That's LAABS. And if you liked what you heard today, please do leave us a review or subscribe on Apple. That would mean a lot. And we will see you all next week. Thank you, Mom and Chris for joining us as well.

Mohammad Anwar
Thank you, Jeff.

Jeff Brown
Thank you, guys. Appreciate it. Thank you.

More Episodes

Podcast Homes

EPISODE 190

02 Jun 2025

Love as a Playful Strategy with Trisha Choi

Discover how Trisha Choi transforms leadership through play, vulnerability, and love — inspiring us to reconnect with our authentic selves.
From hospital halls to healing spaces, her journey redefines success with joy, humanity, and heart. Give it a listen and feel the shift!

https://www.bahaykuboretreat.com/

EPISODE 189

15 May 2025

Love as a Servant Leadership Strategy with John Frey

When teams fail, it’s rarely the process—it’s the people. In this powerful episode, Dr. John Frey reveals how servant leadership, love, and humility fuel high-performing teams in both life-saving volunteer squads and global tech environments. If you’ve ever questioned whether humanity belongs in leadership, this conversation will change your mind.

EPISODE 188

05 May 2025

Love as a Connection Strategy with Bodhi Aldridge

n this powerful conversation, Bodhi Aldridge reveals how integrating masculine and feminine energies transforms leadership—masculine energy provides direction and structure while feminine energy fosters connection and creativity, both essential for business success.

Leaders who balance both energies create psychological safety where innovation thrives.
Listen in!

EPISODE 187

20 Apr 2025

Love as a Leadership Strategy with Tim Lupinacci

In a world obsessed with metrics, what if the key to business success was something more... human? Jeff Ma dives into conversation with Tim Lupinacci, CEO at Baker Donelson regarding a human-centered approach as a powerful driver of success.

EPISODE 186

03 Apr 2025

Love as a Leadership Strategy with Greg Giuliano

In this episode, Jeff Ma sits down with Dr. Greg Giuliano, the author of multiple Amazon bestsellers and a leading voice in leadership development. Greg unpacks his philosophy of 'Ultra Leadership,' focusing on creating environments that foster positive change. Explore practical strategies for shifting from a command-and-control mindset to one of empathy and service.

You can find Greg on LinkedIn:: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ga-ultraleadership/ on his YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/@ultraleadershipand and at his website: http://ultraleadership.com

EPISODE 185

19 Mar 2025

Love as an Underestimated Strategy with Neena Newberry

In this episode, award-winning speaker, executive coach, and former Deloitte leader Neena Newberry unpacks the barriers that hold women back, the power of self-awareness, and the small but transformative steps to build confidence and influence. She’s dedicated her career to helping women step into their strengths and own their impact—don’t miss this insightful conversation on leadership, vulnerability, and breaking barriers

Neena's Contact

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neenanewberry/

Website: https://www.newberrysolutions.com/

EPISODE 184

04 Mar 2025

Love as a Self-Acceptance Strategy with Laura Gallaher

Dr. Laura Gallaher is a best-selling author who’s worked with everyone from NASA to Disney. While you’ll find her featured in Forbes or TEDx, she stops by the podcast to drop some wisdom on introspection, fear, and self-acceptance. There’s so much to learn here, so make sure to listen up!

Laura's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-gallaher-phd

Self Acceptance Quiz: https://selfacceptancequiz.com/

Website: drlauragallaher.com

EPISODE 183

19 Feb 2025

Love as an Anti-Racism Strategy with Jill Wener

Dr. Jill Wener is an anti-racism educator, DEI consultant, trauma specialist, allyship coach, and Co-Founder of Conscious Anti-Racism, LLC. She’s helped countless clients learn practical tools to take self-improvement to the next level - and she joins the podcast to share her perspective and approach.

EPISODE 182

10 Feb 2025

Love as a Relationship Strategy with Jonathan Rosen

Now, more than ever, in a world full of transactions, relationships are the most important thing to foster. Jonathan Rosen brings his expertise to the podcast, and helps us understand the impact of relationships, and how to build them with customers and teams.

Find Jonathan onLinkedIn or connect with himdirectly:

EPISODE 181

23 Jan 2025

Love as a People-Centered Strategy with Kristi Pittman

As the Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Daikin, Kristi Pittman is at the helm of a very unique and impactful workplace culture. In this episode, she shares exactly what “people-centered management” means, and what it takes to really make it work at Daikin.

EPISODE 180

09 Jan 2025

Love as a Revolution Strategy with Karl Pettersen

Karl Pettersen spent over 30 years as a recognized leader in finance, and today he is a thought leader and advisor for Fortune 100 companies. He joins the podcast to talk about the disruption needed in the workplace - centered around humanity.

http://pettersenonline.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/karl-pettersen-95990b45

EPISODE 179

11 Dec 2024

Love as a Care Strategy with Rose Ann Garza

Rose Ann Garza is the Chief Human Resources Officer of Kerbey Lane, one of the most iconic restaurants in Austin, TX. Kerbey Lane is definitely known for its food and its vibes, but more than that, it’s known for its people and culture. We sit down with Rose Ann to hear about how the culture of this restaurant is at the center of its success.

EPISODE 178

27 Nov 2024

Love as a Way out of Chaos Strategy with Irma Neal

Irma Neal believes that every person has worth. In her career and experiences, she has learned a lot from the chaos that surrounded her - an she brings those learnings to this episode. Listen in as she shares those stories, and how she overcame the chaos through love.

EPISODE 177

13 Nov 2024

Love as a Team Health Strategy with Katie McLaughlin

Katie McLaughlin has a unique approach to her speaking, facilitation, and consulting. In addition to her original method of teaching, she’s also developed a method for leaders to reflect on their “team health”. She joins the podcast to share all about it.

Find out more:

EPISODE 176

04 Nov 2024

Love as a Psychological Safety Strategy with Dr. Jonathan Thorp

We talk about Psychological Safety a lot here on the podcast - but Dr. Jonathan Thorp really gives a new and different perspective on it. This episode will help you better understand what real psychological safety looks like, and why accountability is at the center of it all.

Check out more from Dr. Jonathan Thorp here

EPISODE 175

17 Oct 2024

Love as a Gen Z Strategy with Hannah Dannecker

Think you understand the generational divide? Think again. In this episode, Hannah Dannecker shares her insights on Gen Z and how they’re showing up in the workplace. As a Gen Z entrepreneur herself, Hannah has built a business focused on helping organizations and leaders bridge the generational gap. Tune in to hear her wisdom and expertise on navigating this ever-evolving dynamic.

Check out more from Hannah at: https://xtoz.org/

EPISODE 174

01 Oct 2024

Love as an Empathy Strategy with Ravi Singh

Ravi Singh is an expert in UX, UI, Marketing, Development, Product and User Research - but he comes on the show in this episode to help demystify the concept of Empathy. What does practicing empathy look like? How do you empathize with people around what they need vs what they want? He shares his answer to all this and more!

EPISODE 173

19 Sep 2024

Love as a Difficult Conversation Strategy with Michele Phillips

Michele Phillips has over two decades of experience working with some of the biggest companies, guiding leaders with her expertise in happiness and performance. She sits down with the show to zoom in on a topic that many leaders struggle with. This was a great conversation… about difficult conversations.

Check out her book: https://a.co/d/4cSDt4x

EPISODE 172

04 Sep 2024

Love as a Feedback Strategy with Meredith Bell

Meredith Bell is an author, podcast host, and expert in transforming how humans connect with one another. And when it comes to personal interactions, few topics are more discussed and overanalyzed than FEEDBACK. We sit down with Meredith on this episode and pick her brain on what the key to giving and receiving feedback is. You’re gonna love this one.

Check out more of Meredith’s work, along with her books and her podcast: https://growstrongleaders.com/

EPISODE 171

21 Aug 2024

Love as a BizLove Strategy with Diane Hare

Diane Hare founded BizLove to solve problems in a different way, and she believes that business and love go hand-in-hand. (imagine that!) She joins the podcast to share her story, her approach, and her success - and it’s an amazing perspective that reinforces everything Love as a Business Strategy believes in.

EPISODE 170

07 Aug 2024

Love as a Life Strategy with Jacob Baadsgaard

Jake has had a long and winding road to success, and through it all he’s learned how to completely transform his perspective on life, work, and relationships. In this episode, he shares his story of having to break down before breaking through, and talks about how you can’t help others if you’re not working on yourself.

EPISODE 169

24 Jul 2024

Love as a Listening Strategy with Noah Asher

Noah’s story is filled with highs and even more lows. He joins the podcast to share his journey, personal and business - and offers his perspective on what it means to truly listen to others.

EPISODE 168

11 Jul 2024

Love as a Belief System Strategy with David Greer

David Greer is a lifelong entrepreneur who specializes in helping other entrepreneurs overcome challenges and obstacles in their lives. At the core of so much of his work is the concept of our belief systems, and how our beliefs drive our mindsets and behaviors. David breaks it down expertly for us in this episode.

EPISODE 167

27 Jun 2024

Love as a Mental Strength Strategy with Scott Mautz

Scott Mautz literally wrote the book on Mental Strength. If you’re looking to level up your self-awareness, and better understand your mind vs your heart - this is the episode for you.

Be sure to get Scott’s free PDF download here: http://www.scottmautz.com/mentallystronggift

EPISODE 166

13 Jun 2024

Love as a Conversational Strategy with David Bell

David Bell is the Chief Encouragement Officer of Discovery Zone Coaching, and in this episode, he shares what he’s learned (and what he helps others learn) about having meaningful conversations.

EPISODE 165

30 May 2024

Love as a Culture Transformation Strategy with Jasmine Bellamy

Jasmine Bellamy is a pioneer in applying LOVE to business. She is not only a scholar, but also a practitioner - creating the “Courageous Conversations” platform, founding Love 101 Ministries, and being named among Sports Illustrated’s Top 100 Influential Black Women in Sports. In this episode, she shares her LOVE framework, and how to apply it for ourselves.

EPISODE 164

15 May 2024

Love as a Disney Strategy with George Kalogridis

Oh boy are we excited about this one. Frank is back, and he joins the show to talk about his favorite thing in the world: Disney. We are joined by the former President of Walt Disney World Resort, George Kalogridis. George shares his amazing journey from busser to president, and let’s us in on how love plays a role in creating the magic at Disney.

EPISODE 163

02 May 2024

Love as a Wellness Strategy with Kathy Gregory

In honor of mental health awareness month, we’ve invited Kathy Gregory to the show. Kathy is a workplace wellness specialist, and she focuses on instilling a culture of health, well-being, and positive transformation in the workforce. In this episode, we dive into the many aspects of wellness, and how we can improve our mindsets around it.

EPISODE 162

17 Apr 2024

Love as a Stepping Through Fear Strategy with Megan Billnoske

So much of our life, from daily decisions to big moments, is controlled or affected by fear. It’s a natural and unavoidable part of being human, but how we decide to address and face our fear can really change the way we understand love as a business strategy. Megan Billnoske is no stranger to fear, as she shares her story with us in this episode.

EPISODE 161

01 Apr 2024

Love as a Self-Discovery Strategy with Jesse Hernandez

Jesus “Jesse” Hernandez brings a perspective we haven’t had on the show yet - he started his career as a plumber and has worked his way up through the construction industry. And today, he applies his own brand LOVE to help revolutionize the industry.

EPISODE 160

18 Mar 2024

Love as an Unconscious Bias Strategy with Amber Ontiveros

Amber Ontiveros has a one-of-a-kind story, and a unique perspective that has helped her understand the neuroscience of unconscious bias in a totally different way. In this episode, she takes us on a journey that travels through spirituality, science, and life.

EPISODE 159

07 Feb 2024

Love as a Purpose Strategy with Jonathan Bennett

How do you find purpose in your life and in your work? Jonathan Bennett is a leadership coach who specializes in helping people do that. In this episode, he shares some incredible perspective and insights that are sure to help you think about your purpose in a brand new way.

EPISODE 158

23 Jan 2024

Love as a Narrative Strategy with Guillaume Wiatr

Guillaume has been sharing his expertise with CEOs and entrepreneurs to help them build successful businesses that they love. In this episode, he dives into how narratives impact our mindsets, and ultimately our behaviors.

EPISODE 157

11 Jan 2024

Love as an Imposter Strategy with Tiffany Houser

We’re kicking off 2024 with a topic that many can relate to: Imposter Syndrome. Except, Tiffany Houser, an expert on that very topic, doesn’t like to use that term. Listen in to find out exactly why.

Learn more about Tiffany at http://selfworthadvantage.com

The HBR article she references in the episode: https://hbr.org/2021/02/stop-telling-women-they-have-imposter-syndrome

EPISODE 156

20 Dec 2023

Love as a Self-Awareness Strategy with Joni Goodman

As we’ve so often said, self-awareness is the key to transforming ourselves and our behaviors. But what does the journey to self-awareness look like, and how do we embark on that journey? Joni Goodman specializes in exactly that topic, and joins the show to share her thoughts and perspectives.

EPISODE 155

06 Dec 2023

Love as a Core Value Strategy with Jay Steinfeld

Jay Steinfeld is the founder and former CEO of the legendary business blinds.com - one of the most successful e-commerce businesses of all time. Today, he takes the learnings from his success and shares that secret with the world through his book, “Lead from the Core: The 4 Principles for Profit and Prosperity”. In this episode, he joins the show to break down what “core values” really mean, and to share the 4 principles that every business should aspire for.

EPISODE 154

02 Dec 2023

Love as a V.A.L.U.E. Strategy with Chellie Phillips

Chellie Phillips has developed Culture Secrets - secrets any leader can use to build a V.A.L.U.E. Culture. Listen in as she shares what each of these letters stands for, and how you can use them to build the right kind of culture around you.

EPISODE 153

09 Nov 2023

Love as an Inspirational Strategy with Ally Stone

Ally Stone has an incredible story to share. Founder of “The Inspired Leader”, Ally takes the experience of her own life, along with her learnings in developing numerous successful businesses and teams, to help other leaders understand what it means to go beyond, to lead from a place of presence and connection, creating an opportunity to experience their careers in ways that previously had not been deemed possible. Learn more here.

EPISODE 152

26 Oct 2023

Love as a Green Beans and Ice Cream Strategy with Bill Sims Jr.

Green beans? Ice cream? Love? If none of this makes sense, you’ll just have to listen to the episode to find out what Bill Sims has to say about the NUMBER ONE driver of employee engagement.

EPISODE 151

11 Oct 2023

Love as a Fearless Strategy with Cedric Bertelli

So much of what motivates us in the workplace, and even in our lives, is driven from a place of fear. Cedric Bertelli has dedicated his career to helping people overcome stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other negative emotions using powerful tools and techniques - and today he joins the podcast to talk about the fear that manifests at work, and how to face these fears and grow from them.

Learn more about Cedric’s work: http://cedricbertelli.com

Find out more about the Emotional Health Institute: http://Emres.com

EPISODE 150

27 Sep 2023

Love as an Adversity Strategy with Robin Osborn

Robin Osborn knows a thing or two about facing adversity. From the challenges in her youth, to removing a baseball-sized tumor - she has channeled her adversity into what she calls the "Frustration to Freedom Framework." In this episode, she share her story, and her philosophy.

EPISODE 149

21 Sep 2023

Love as a Human Resources Strategy Strategy with John Baldino

John Baldino has been in the Human Resources game for over 30 years, and he sits down with the podcast to share about what he’s seen change over time, what hasn’t worked, and how to do it right. This isn’t just for HR professionals, with all the wisdom he shares, there’s something here for everyone.

EPISODE 148

13 Sep 2023

Love as a Purpose-Driven Strategy with Gayle Lantz

In the workplace, love and purpose go hand-in-hand. But what does it mean to be truly purpose-driven? Gayle Lantz specializes in shaping cultures and igniting transformation - and she shares her expertise around finding and understanding purpose within ourselves.

EPISODE 147

07 Sep 2023

Love as a Forgiveness Strategy with Dena Patton

For 22 years, Dena Patton has been coaching and training leaders on her world-class Greatness Methodology. She joins the show in this episode to dive into one of the most important (and yet rarely discussed) aspects of leadership: Forgiveness.

EPISODE 146

01 Sep 2023

Love as a Marketing Strategy with Christina Frei

Christina Frei is a branding and marketing professional that specializes in what she calls “marketing for humans.” In this episode, she shares about the different marketing archetypes that people fall under, and how to harness the humanity in us all for great marketing results.

Take Christina’s free marketing archetype assessment here: https://www.innatemarketinggenius.com/archetype/

EPISODE 145

24 Aug 2023

Love as a Faith-focused Strategy with Precious Azuree

Precious Azuree wants you to know that you are worthy, you are intelligent, and you are necessary. She authored “The Faith Focus Formula” to help people unlock their full potential and create a life of purpose, fulfillment, and abundance. In this episode, Precious shares her journey and perspective with us - and connects faith, love, and business together.

Learn more about Precious Azuree: https://www.theclaritycoach.co/

EPISODE 144

16 Aug 2023

Love as an Indigenous Tech Strategy with Jeff Ward

Jeff Ward is the founder and CEO of Animikii Indigenous Technology, a leading digital agency that pioneers social innovation through Indigenous technology. In this episode he shares his vision and passion with us, and highlights the amazing impact that can be made when love and purpose come together.

EPISODE 143

10 Aug 2023

Love as an Equal Opportunity Strategy with Marina Guerra

While many businesses prefer not to have a run-in with the EEOC, (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) many people don’t understand what the EEOC actually does. Marina Guerra talks to us about all of the ways the EEOC works to truly help people and businesses, especially when it comes to the prevention of negative workplace experiences.

EPISODE 142

02 Aug 2023

Love as a Success Strategy with Bessi Graham

Bessi Graham specializes in a very important concept: Bringing “doing good” and “making money” together. In this day and age, where greed and profit drive so much of our decision-making process, Bessi helps us understand what real success could look like - and how doing good is at the center of it.

EPISODE 141

27 Jul 2023

Love as a Career Development Strategy with Beth Ridley

We all want to be the very best version of ourselves, especially at the workplace - but that’s often easier said than done. Beth Ridley is an expert in just that, and in this episode she highlights what it takes to find and achieve success in our careers by tapping into our best authentic selves.

EPISODE 140

19 Jul 2023

Love as a Non-Negotiable Strategy with Paul ter Wal

Joining us from the Netherlands, Paul ter Wal shares with us his concept of “Non-Negotiables” in the workplace - and why our individual core values are the key to passionate, creative, and engaged employees.

EPISODE 139

14 Jul 2023

Love as an Authentic Leader Strategy with Candice Hung

What does it take to become an “Authentic Leader”? Why does it matter? Candice Hung helps us explore this concept, and really dives deep into the elements that make up true self-awareness. If you’re looking to start really owning your own story, you won’t want to miss this conversation!

EPISODE 138

05 Jul 2023

Love as a DEI Strategy with Maria Morukian

DEI continues to be an important topic, but it’s reached a point where so much of it is assumed, overlooked, or performative. This refreshing conversation with Maria Morukian takes a closer look at why DEI should still be focused on - and thought about differently.

EPISODE 137

28 Jun 2023

Love as a Sustainability Strategy with Dieter Schultz

In this episode, Dieter Schultz helps connect the dots between sustainability, leadership, behaviors, and love. He not only helps define what sustainability means, but really paints the picture of what it should look like.

EPISODE 136

21 Jun 2023

Love as a Psychological Safety Strategy with Janine Hamner Holman

Janine Hamner Holman’s mission is simple: to create the world of work where everyone can thrive. Well that sounds a lot like bringing humanity back to the workplace - so we had to get her on the show to find out more! This episode is full of incredible perspective and wisdom - you won’t want to miss it.

EPISODE 135

07 Jun 2023

Love as a Time Management Strategy with Miriam Meima

This episode finds the intersection between business and psychology, where we explore the workplace from a culture and psychological angle. Miriam Meima is a passionate and energetic executive coach, who shares with us some valuable perspective and advice around how to manage our mindsets and approaches in the workplace.

EPISODE 134

25 May 2023

Love as an Ego Management Strategy with Christie Garcia

Christie Garcia works with leaders every day on building authentic confidence. Many of us may have some preconceived notions about “ego”, and in this episode, Christie breaks down what our egos really are and how we can begin to understand and address them better.

EPISODE 133

10 May 2023

Love as a Generational Strategy with Lata Hamilton

While the generation you were born into doesn’t completely define you as a person, today’s workplace has shown some undeniable trends in how different people from different generations interact. Lata Hamilton is a Change Leadership and Confidence expert, and her experience in working with teams across global transformations has taught her a thing or two about the trends and gaps in workplace generations.

EPISODE 132

29 Apr 2023

Love as a Possibility Strategy with Darrin Tulley

Darrin Tulley’s perspective completely changed at one point in his career, when he discovered a new world of possibilities for himself. Since then, he’s been hard at work, sharing his message of “Live Your Possible” with the world, and in this episode, he tells his tale and talks about how we can all find possibilities in ourselves.

EPISODE 131

19 Apr 2023

Love as a Generosity Strategy with Sarah Fontenot

Sarah Fontenot is a CFP (Certified Financial Planner), but what she does is unique: Sarah helps people manage their wealth with generosity in mind. Her focus is not just on building and maintaining wealth, but also on how to maximize the amount of good that wealth can impact on the world. In this episode, she shares her story and the role that love plays in her business.

EPISODE 130

12 Apr 2023

Love as a Purposeful Growth Strategy with Mark Mears

Best-selling author Mark Mears is no stranger to building and growing people and teams in business. After a whole career helping major brands and companies build innovation and value, he now channels his experience and knowledge into helping people fulfill their true growth potential while making a positive, lasting difference in the world. Listen in as he explains how you can find and fulfill your purpose.

EPISODE 129

05 Apr 2023

Love as a Local Government Strategy with Paulina Valero

Love as a Business Strategy is important across all kinds of workplaces - especially in government. Paulina Valero is the Community Engagement Manager for the City of Sugar Land, and she shares her story and perspective about what workplace culture looks like for public servants in local government.

EPISODE 128

29 Mar 2023

Love as a Leadership Strategy with Diane Maben

Diane Maben is the Chief Operating Officer at Amegy Bank. As a self-made leader, she’s learned and developed her style as a leader through her years of experience. In this episode, she shares her story, her journey, and her philosophy, and gives insights on how she leads her team to success.

EPISODE 127

23 Mar 2023

Love as a Financial Industry Strategy with Kasia Siwosz

As a former professional tennis player turned investment banker and entrepreneur. Her experience in professional sports has actually played a huge role in her understanding of how the financial industry needs to evolve today. She shares her unique story and perspective in this episode.

EPISODE 126

15 Mar 2023

Love as an Honesty Strategy with Steven Gaffney

You might think that “honesty” is a pretty simple and straightforward concept, but in practice, true and genuine honesty might look a little different from what you’d expect. Steven Gaffney has been helping leaders and teams build high-achieving teams for over 25 years, and in this episode, he shares his powerful approach and philosophy with us.

EPISODE 125

08 Mar 2023

Love as a Belonging Strategy with Paul Haury

What is the difference between “feeling a sense” of belonging, and actual belonging? This is a must-listen episode with Paul Haury, who is an executive coach that specializes in belonging. Paul shares an incredible mind-expanding perspective on what belonging is, and what it looks like when it’s truly practiced.

EPISODE 124

01 Mar 2023

Love as a Safety Strategy with Nat Beuse (Aurora Tech)

Nat Beuse is the Vice President of Safety at Aurora, a self-driving vehicle technology company. Most people understand the importance and priority of safety, but not everyone goes about it the same way. In this episode, Nat shares his mindset and approach towards safety, and helps illuminate the role that culture plays in being successful.

EPISODE 123

22 Feb 2023

Love as a Profit Strategy with Samantha Varner

Somehow, when we talk about love in business, it’s always placed directly opposite of profit. And yet, profit is why we get into business to begin with - without profit, why do business at all? Sam Varner helps us connect the dots, and understand how love and profit go hand-in-hand.

EPISODE 122

15 Feb 2023

Love as a Breakthrough Leadership Team Strategy with Mike Goldman

How do you build a great company, or develop a great team? How do you build a resilient culture? Mike Goldman says it starts with what he calls a “Breakthrough Leadership Team”. He coaches leadership teams to become stronger, leading to great things for the company. In this episode, he shares incredible insights on how to start thinking and building towards a Breakthrough Leadership Team. Spoiler alert: Love has something to do with it. Find his free course here.

EPISODE 121

01 Feb 2023

Love as a Human Connection Strategy with Nanci Appleman Vassil

Nanci Appleman-Vassil joins the show to share from her 25+ years of experience in training, consulting, coaching, and developing high-performing teams. This episode is filled to the brim with her take on our favorite topics: From self-awareness and mindsets, to vulnerability, trust, and feedback. There are a lot of insights and takeaways here, as she helps break down what human connection really looks like in the workplace.

EPISODE 120

25 Jan 2023

Love as a Lovescaping Strategy

Irene and Debbie are on a mission. As much as we talk about Love on the podcast, we rarely get a chance to discuss exactly how and where we learn to love. With Lovescaping, Irene and Debbie have set out to bring learning and practicing love to the education system. With an educational framework that’s been successfully incorporated into schools, they walk us through exactly how we can put love into action.

EPISODE 119

18 Jan 2023

Love as a Business Strategy with Room 3

This week, we sit down with Ed Cuervo and AJ Ferrer, who followed their heart and passion to create their own creative production company, Room 3. Their story gives a great example of how Love as a Business Strategy can be grown naturally when people come together with purpose.

EPISODE 118

11 Jan 2023

Defining Love with Marty Levine

We’re back in the new year, and it’s a great time for us to reset, reflect, and redefine. It’s the perfect time to speak with Marty Levine, who shares some truly interesting ways to define (and redefine) LOVE.

EPISODE 117

21 Dec 2022

Love as a Performance Review Strategy with Noah Pusey

Noah Pusey wants to do away with something that plagues almost all of us: The annual review. Nobody likes to give them, nobody likes to receive them, and it doesn’t actually make anyone better. He started Ripple Analytics to fix this problem. What makes the annual review such a bane to workplace culture? Is there a better way to go about it? Noah thinks so. In this episode he shares his approach to a more timely and effective way to do reviews at w

EPISODE 116

14 Dec 2022

Love as a Law Enforcement Strategy with Chief Jack Cauley

Chief Jack Cauley is a pioneer in the Law Enforcement industry - with his One-By-One Policing philosophy, which promotes building a safe and secure environment for officers and staff so they are better equipped to serve each person they encounter individually. His police department in Castle Rock puts a focus on compassion and treating others like family, and he’s hoping to spread this culture to more and more departments across the nation. He joins us on the podcast to share his story, and why he believes Love should be a Law Enforcement Strategy.

EPISODE 115

07 Dec 2022

Love as a Partnership Strategy with Anthony Marinos

Chris is back on the podcast, and he gets a chance to catch up with his old friend, Anthony Marinos. Anthony leads business development and creator relationships at charity: water and knows a thing or two about forming strong partnerships in business. While the banter here is lighthearted, the lesson is very serious: You can’t build partnerships without forming real relationships.

Be sure to check out all the amazing ways they’re changing the world at: https://www.charitywater.org/

EPISODE 114

30 Nov 2022

Love as a Wall Street Strategy with Wais Achikzad

We sit with Wais Achikzad to discuss leadership, actual experiences and how our world today more than ever needs humanity in the workplace and in general.

EPISODE 113

23 Nov 2022

Love as a Mentorship Strategy with Debbie Richards

By any measure, Debbie Richards has achieved amazing growth throughout her successful career. But what sets her apart from others is her fierce passion for coaching, mentoring, and talent development. She’s someone who puts so much of her own time and energy into others, and has done so for a very long time - we get to sit down with her and find out why she does it, how she does it, and where love comes into the equation.

EPISODE 112

16 Nov 2022

Love as a Business Strategy with Austin Habitat for Humanity

As the CEO of Austin Habitat for Humanity, Phyllis Snodgrass has been been putting her heart into her work for her entire career. She sits down with us today to talk about what Love looks like in her leadership, in Austin Habitat for Humanity, and for non-profit businesses in general. She talks about the importance of relationships and how it connects to success and business results.

EPISODE 111

02 Nov 2022

Love as a Digital Era Strategy with Isabella Wang

In this episode, we sit down with the author of “The Digital Mind of Tomorrow”, Isabella Wang. As we all continue to push forward through digital transformation, what does it look like to incorporate love and business? Isabella shares her insights and more.

Find your copy of her book on Amazon.

EPISODE 110

19 Oct 2022

Love as a 5-star recruiting strategy with Danielle Mulvey

Danielle Mulvey is the pioneer of unique way of recruiting in business - something she calls the 5-star employee rating system. Her method is tried and true, and she’s got proven results - but of course we invite her on the show to ask: What role does LOVE play in finding a 5-star employee?

EPISODE 109

12 Oct 2022

Love as a Business Strategy with Ripple

While still in school, Joe Knopp decided to start a business that would make a real difference in the world. In this episode, he joins us to share his amazing journey, what drives him, and how he sees LOVE play out in his business. Find out more about his incredible business here.

EPISODE 108

05 Oct 2022

Love as an Entrepreneur Strategy with Paul Baron

Paul Baron has done it all. Having started numerous successful businesses throughout his career, from software to retail to restaurants, he joins us for a deep dive into what he’s learned as a serial entrepreneur. So we have to ask: What role does LOVE play in entrepreneurship?

EPISODE 107

28 Sep 2022

Love as a Business Strategy with Maura Barclay

Maura Barclay has spent over a decade consulting and training on business cultures. She is passionate about helping people find their fit, and where they belong. In this episode, we share a profound conversation around what love as a business strategy really looks like.

EPISODE 106

21 Sep 2022

Love as a Recruitment Strategy with Michael Yinger

Michael Yinger has been in the business of talent acquisition for over 20 years, so it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two about humans in the workplace. So we ask the million-dollar question: “What role does LOVE play in recruitment and talent acquisition?” Michael fills this entire episode with great nuggets of wisdom that will change the way you see things.

EPISODE 105

14 Sep 2022

Love as an ESG Strategy with Ighosime Oyofo

What is ESG? Why is it important? How is it practiced? How is it measured? Ighosime Oyofo works to bring sustainable capital market solutions to less-utilized markets in Africa, and he shares his expertise in investment banking, finance, and all things ESG in this episode.

EPISODE 104

07 Sep 2022

Love as a Well-Being Strategy with Jessica Grossmeier

What is "well-being" and how do we ensure that our workplaces are accounting for it? Jessica Grossmeier has done the research, and in this episode, she shares what works and what doesn't.

EPISODE 103

29 Aug 2022

Love as a Trust Strategy with Dr. Mike Armour

Throughout his storied career, Dr. Mike Armour gained a lot of wisdom and insight about what it takes to be successful in business. In this episode, he shares some of his stories and lessons - dropping gems of wisdom centered around what trust looks like in the workplace.

EPISODE 102

28 Jul 2022

Love as a Forgiveness Strategy with Vani Rao

In this episode, we are joined by Vani Rao, Executive Coach to talk about heart-centred forgiveness.

Vani shares real stories from a place of vulnerability you can relate to at the workplace and in life and practical tips on how forgiveness can become a regular practice towards empowerment when it's done with love.

EPISODE 101

21 Jul 2022

Love as a Digital Empathy Strategy with McKenna Sweazey

In this episode, we are joined by McKenna Sweazey, Author & Marketer to talk about an interesting topic — Digital Empathy!

McKenna dives into some quick tips that allow for a balanced consideration of feelings in conversations and decisions that create positive outcomes. Listen in!

EPISODE 100

13 Jul 2022

Love as a Disability Inclusion Strategy with Hugh Breland

In this episode, we are joined by Hugh Breland, CEO of U&I to talk about Disability Inclusion in the corporate world. We look at how LOVE can be a game-changer in bridging gaps that lead to better outcomes across humanity—including business. Listen in to learn how you can be a catalyst of change.

EPISODE 99

09 Jul 2022

Love as a Sustainability Strategy with Manuel Vexler

In this episode, we are joined by Manuel Vexler, Executive Director of the Actionable Knowledge Foundational Institute on a discussion about including the human factor, sustainability and resilience into the profitability equation.

EPISODE 98

30 Jun 2022

Love as a Leadership Strategy with Janine Bensouda

In this episode, we are joined by Janine Bensouda, the Founder and Managing Director of Bensouda Consulting. She talks with us about her framework of how to Lead with Love and we hold it against our framework here at Love as a Business Strategy. We love encountering people out there doing things similar to us, so you won't want to miss this discussion!

EPISODE 97

22 Jun 2022

Love as a Connection Strategy with Matthew Woodward

Can love be a strategy in the world of teaching? Find out on this interesting episode with Matthew Woodward, Choir Director at MacArthur HS as he shows us how connection, love, and respect create a solid foundation for their success as a choir.

EPISODE 96

08 Jun 2022

Love as a Business Strategy with Evolv Consulting

In this episode we talk to Eric Neef, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Evolv Consulting Consulting on some of the ways to practice and adopt and apply the culture within a company.

EPISODE 95

01 Jun 2022

Love as a Leadership Strategy with Brittany Heflin

In this episode we talk to Leadership Coach, Consultant and Enthusiast at Boston Consulting Group, Brittany Heflin on the heart of leadership. We dig deep into how empathy helps strike the right balance between intent and impact . Join us!

EPISODE 94

25 May 2022

Love as an Inclusion Strategy with Kristin Ekkens

A lot of companies find that their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts fail. Kristin Ekkens, the CEO of Exponential Inclusion, is an expert that helps leaders figure out how to create more inclusive cultures that will last. She focuses not on the task-oriented aspects, but the impact that efforts will make. Check this one out for some really helpful tips!

EPISODE 93

18 May 2022

Love as an Asynchronous Strategy with Liam Martin

Whether we like it or not, the workplace is shifting. Remote work environments are becoming more and more common creating a need for asynchronous management. Liam Martin is the author of _Running Remote_ and an expert at managing teams without actually being with them. Check it out!

EPISODE 92

11 May 2022

Love as a Sales Strategy with Jason Marc Campbell

To some, Sales is a nasty word with a bad reputation. But our guest this week, Jason Marc Campbell, is determined to bring humanity back to the selling process. He talks with us about how caring for your buyer will lead to a more fulfilling career and better business outcomes.

EPISODE 91

04 May 2022

Love as a Faith Strategy with Mushfique Shams Billah

Surprisingly, there are still topics that feel taboo in the workplace. Religion is one of them. Mushfique Shams Billah is an attorney that specializes in Islamic finance and a practicing Muslim. He opens up to us about how he is able to bring his full self to work and the importance of inclusion. You won't want to miss this episode where we explore ESG, ethical finance, the workplace and boardrooms.

EPISODE 90

27 Apr 2022

Love as a Business Strategy with Charity Water

We often get asked about what Love as a Business Strategy means and people will mistake it for businesses that are not-for-profit. Today, we actually get to sit down with Ben Greene, Chief Development Officer at Charity: Water to talk about not only bringing humanity back to the workplace, but bringing humanity back to the world.

We have set up a unique donation link in partnership with Charity: Water for this episode. If you would like to donate to their cause, you can do so here: charitywater.org/LAABS

EPISODE 89

20 Apr 2022

Love as an Inspiration Strategy with Tony Martignetti

This week we are joined by Tony Martignetti, Chief Inspiration Officer of Inspired Purpose Coaching to talk about (you guessed it) inspiration! How do we stay inspired in our careers and how do we inspire others? Check it out now!

EPISODE 88

13 Apr 2022

Love as a Recruiting Strategy with Casey Hasten

Like it or not, we are living in a candidate's market when it comes to hiring and recruiting. Casey Hasten is a seasoned recruiter and talks to us about how she seeks first to love her candidates so that they can find their dream job.

EPISODE 87

06 Apr 2022

Love as a Networking Strategy with Frank Agin

To expert networker, Frank Agin, networking and leadership are closely related. We have a fun conversation this week about how success as a leader and success as a networker both come down to one thing: serving others. Check it out!

EPISODE 86

30 Mar 2022

Love as a Spiritual Strategy with Mark Silver

This week we turn our philosophy of 'Love as a Business Strategy' on its head and discuss what 'Business as a Love Strategy' would look like. Business healer, Mark Silver, gets vulnerable with us about how having a spiritual practice has not only benefited him, but many other business leaders.

EPISODE 85

23 Mar 2022

Love as a Resilience Strategy with Dr. Trish Berg

This week we are joined by Dr. Trish Berg, a professor at Heidelberg University and author with a rich career in business. We dive into the topic of resilience and try to understand what makes a company and an individual truly resilient. You won't want to miss this one.

EPISODE 84

18 Mar 2022

Love as a Gig Worker Strategy with Trevor Theunissen

We're always talking about love as a business strategy in terms of the "standard workplace", but this week's guest brings a totally different perspective. Trevor Theunissen discusses with us the impact that love can have on the countless people in the gig economy based on his experience at Shipt and Uber.

EPISODE 83

10 Mar 2022

LAABS Bookclub: Chapter One

This week, we take you behind the scenes of Chapter One from our Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Love as a Business Strategy. Maggie and Chris go over their little episode on vulnerability. Tune in!

EPISODE 82

03 Mar 2022

Love as a STEM Strategy with Suna Lumeh

This week we are joined by Suna Lumeh, the co-founder and scientist at Aja Labs. We discuss how love is incorporated, or not, in the world of research and development. You won't want to miss this one.

EPISODE 81

23 Feb 2022

Love as a Dramatic Strategy with Katie McLaughlin

This week, we are joined by Katie McLaughlin, the creator of the McLaughlin Method, to talk to us about her unique approach to executive coaching. Katie uses her background in theatre and acting to build empathy and emotional intelligence within organizations. We think you're going to enjoy this one.

EPISODE 80

16 Feb 2022

Love as a Great Strategy with Audrey Lloyd

This week we are joined by Audrey D. Lloyd, a transformation expert and author. We get to talk about her upcoming book and dissect the question 'what are you great at?' in order to increase engagement in the workplace. We hope you enjoy!

EPISODE 79

10 Feb 2022

LAABS Bookclub The Foreword

Join us for a new series that we're kicking off called LAABS Bookclub where we deep dive into every chapter of our Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Love as a Business Strategy. We go behind the scenes into what inspired each chapter and offer never-before-heard insights and stories that you won't want to miss.

EPISODE 78

02 Feb 2022

Love as a Middle Management Strategy

This week we are joined by our own Maggie McClurkin and Chelsie Atkinson. They join us in a conversation around what culture looks like from the perspective of middle management and what unique challenges that come with these types of roles. It's a conversation that gets deep real fast, so you won't want to miss it.

EPISODE 77

27 Jan 2022

Love as a Compassion Strategy with Gissele and David Taraba

We always love getting to talk with people who are working alongside us to bring humanity back to the workplace. Gissele and David Taraba are co-owners of the Maitri Centre for Love and Compassion. They bring the concept of compassion to the equation along with some insights that you won't want to miss.

EPISODE 76

19 Jan 2022

Love as an Inclusion Strategy with Gena Cox

This week's guest is Gena Cox, an organizational psychologist and executive coach. She brings her wisdom to a very insightful conversation we had around leadership, inclusion, and organizational culture in today's workplace. Her stories are extremely applicable and her expertise is undeniable.

EPISODE 75

12 Jan 2022

Love as a Psychological Safety Strategy with Mehmet Baha

If you've been looking for a deep dive on psychological safety, then look no further. We were joined by Mehmet Baha who has trained hundreds of leaders across the globe on the importance of psychological safety. Take a listen in order to gain some practical tips that you can apply to yourself and your teams

EPISODE 74

05 Jan 2022

Love as an Emotional Intelligence Strategy with Stephen Barth

This week we are joined by Stephen Barth, a professor, lawyer, and founder of HospitalityLawyer.com who shares some incredible insights with us from his over 30 years of teaching leadership. He breaks down with us why emotional intelligence in the workplace is so important, and we promise you, you'll want to take notes.

EPISODE 73

29 Dec 2021

Love as an Empowerment Strategy with Adette C. Contreras

Today's episode is a conversation with Adette C. Contreras, a CEO and entrepreneur who runs two companies at once. We dig into the conversation of culture in her roles and, specifically, what genuine empowerment looks like within both of her organizations. This is a particularly great listen if you work in a service-based industry. We hope you enjoy!

EPISODE 72

22 Dec 2021

Love as a Women in Leadership Strategy with Johanna Pagonis

Johanna Pagonis is the Founder and CEO of Sinogap Solutions. She is a podcaster, author, and entrepreneur and she joins us today to discuss an important topic: women in the workplace and women in leadership. Johanna is passionate about helping people understand the number of challenges that women face every day in the corporate world. We hope you enjoy this important discussion as much as we did.

EPISODE 71

15 Dec 2021

Love as a Reliability Strategy with James Kovacevic

When we say that we believe in bringing humanity back to the workplace, we mean to any and all workplaces. Today's guest, James Kovacevic, is an expert in maintenance and reliability in the world of manufacturing. In this week's episode, we have a conversation about what love in the workplace looks like from his lens.

EPISODE 70

08 Dec 2021

Love as a Change Strategy with Loubna Noureddin

Today's episode is focused on change and how to create sustainable change that sticks. We invited Loubna Noureddin, an expert in change, to share her wisdom from living through two civil wars and working within healthcare systems.

EPISODE 69

01 Dec 2021

Love as an Unstuck Strategy with Jon Dwoskin

If you've ever felt stuck in your business or leadership, today's episode is for you. Jon Dwoskin is a business coach who helps leaders get unstuck and grow their business. We ask him what role love plays into that equation.

EPISODE 68

17 Nov 2021

Love as an Adversity Strategy with Dustin DeVries

Dustin DeVries is a business owner who went through a life-changing event that put his business and its people to the test. In this episode, Dustin shares his personal struggle through that adversity and how it shaped the way he leads his business.

EPISODE 67

10 Nov 2021

Love as an Authentic Strategy with Michael Seaver

This week we are joined by Michael Seaver, an award-winning executive coach, leadership consultant, speaker, and author. Just like us, he is working tirelessly to bring humanity back to the workplace through his own data-backed methodology. Check out this episode and find out why we felt like a match made in heaven.

EPISODE 66

03 Nov 2021

Love as a Business Strategy with SHR

In this unique episode, Chris has a reunion with one of his old bosses, Rod Jiminez, who is the CEO of SHR. Rod showed Chris early on in his career what love as a business strategy could look like. Join us as we go on this walk down memory lane.

EPISODE 65

27 Oct 2021

Love as an Authentic Leadership Strategy

This week, we are joined by Roxanne Derhodge, a registered psychotherapist and corporate consultant that specializes in helping senior leaders develop authentic leadership. We get the opportunity to dig into our own personal questions and Roxanne shares her wisdom with us. You won't want to miss this one.

EPISODE 64

13 Oct 2021

How to Be Inclusive in the Hiring Process

We get to sit down with our very own, Chris Pitre, this week to grill him on a question that is plaguing many of us today: how can we be more inclusive in the hiring process? Chris shares with us his insights on how the recruitment process is where to start.

EPISODE 63

06 Oct 2021

Love as a Business Strategy with Jet Dental

This week we are joined by CEO and Co-Founder of Jet Dental, Jordan Smith. Jet Dental is an incredibly unique business that does pop-up dental offices for workplaces. Even more interesting is the values and culture that drive the business forward.

EPISODE 62

29 Sep 2021

It Doesn't Have to Be Lonely at the Top

We've all heard the truth that the higher up you go in a company, the lonelier it gets; but it doesn't have to be that way. We discuss how to avoid finding yourself lonely at the top in this week's episode.

EPISODE 61

22 Sep 2021

Love as a Remarkable Strategy

Denise Cooper specializes in executive coaching and leadership training. In this week's episode she shares some relatable stories with us around the realities of trust in the workplace, what it means to be human, how to look at your own values, and the topic of redemption. Buckle up and enjoy the show.

EPISODE 60

08 Sep 2021

Love as a Work-Life Balance Strategy

If you've ever used the term "work-life balance", this episode is for you. At Softway, we believe in something a little different. In this episode we break down the concept of work-life integration and why it is necessary to building a healthy workplace culture.

EPISODE 59

01 Sep 2021

Love as a Recruitment Strategy

Today we get a chance to sit down with Alka who works with us in our Bangalore office. We have a raw and honest conversation with her about the realities of HR and recruitment not only in our own company, but for all businesses alike.

EPISODE 58

25 Aug 2021

Love as a Tough Strategy

In today's episode we sit down with founder of WGNinHR Consulting, Joanne Rencher where she shares her experience with coaching executive leaders. We dig into what works and what doesn't work and, as always, test our hypothesis of love against what she's seen.

EPISODE 57

18 Aug 2021

Love as a Change Management Strategy

In today's episode, we get to pick the brain of an organizational change management expert, Harlan Hammack. We discuss what it really takes to have a successful culture change initiative inside of your organization. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

EPISODE 56

04 Aug 2021

Love as a DEI Strategy

It's been over a year since businesses all over the world shifted their attention to address diversity, equity, and inclusion issues more seriously than ever before. But the question is, have things really changed? We discuss this and the reality of DEI in the workplace today in this week's episode.

EPISODE 55

28 Jul 2021

Love as a Remote Work Strategy

In today's episode, we come together to take an honest look at the state of the workplace in a somewhat post-pandemic world. With job resignations at an all-time high, we wanted to break it down and share our different perspectives on how businesses and business leaders should be adapting. You won't want to miss it.

EPISODE 54

21 Jul 2021

Love as an Advocacy Strategy

This week we are joined by Katharine English, a leader at Google Cloud. We have some insightful and important conversations around women in tech, inclusion in the workplace, and how DEI should be addressed today. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

EPISODE 53

14 Jul 2021

Love as a Travel Strategy

This week we are joined by Olga and Ivan, founders of the travel company YouTravel.me. They share their story of how a really bad travel experience led to the realization that travel requires empathy and how the love of exploration can bring people together. Check it out now.

EPISODE 52

07 Jul 2021

Love as an Empathetic Healthcare Strategy

This week we sit down with Soojin Jun. She shares a powerful story of personal loss and her deep desire to bring empathy back to every component of healthcare.

EPISODE 51

30 Jun 2021

Love as a Legacy Strategy

This is an episode we have been excited about releasing for a long time. We are joined by Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, the CEO of Harris Health System in Harris County, Texas. He vulnerably discusses with us the legacy of love that he hopes to leave behind in his organization and how he tries to practice love every day.

EPISODE 50

23 Jun 2021

LAABS: Remember the Seneca Pilot?

This week we're joined by two of Softway's Associate Directors who were a part of the inception of our leadership transformation experience, Seneca Leaders. We dig deep into some of our biggest learnings from that time and discuss what real empowerment looks like.

EPISODE 49

16 Jun 2021

LAABS: Remember When Frank Missed That Meeting?

This week we take a trip down Softway's memory lane to discuss an incident that played out, have some fun with it, talk about how that what that meant to us in terms of, of culture, our learnings and our personal growth.

EPISODE 48

09 Jun 2021

Love as a Diversity and Inclusion Strategy with JeVon McCormick

We’re back again this week with a crowd favorite: CEO of Scribe Media, JeVon McCormick. This week, we really dive into diversity and inclusion in the corporate workplace. We talk about what it is and what it isn’t as well as what it helpful and hurtful in business. You won’t want to miss this one.

EPISODE 47

02 Jun 2021

Love as a Business Strategy with Southwest Airlines

In this week’s episode, we sit down with Former Managing Director of Culture at Southwest Airlines, Cheryl Hughey. We had an incredible conversation about how love permeates every facet of business at Southwest and how it has become their competitive advantage.

EPISODE 46

26 May 2021

Love as a Happy Teams Strategy

Owner and Lead Teams Coach of Happy Teams, Catrina Ballard, joined us this week to talk about all things culture. Catrina has vast experience in coaching leaders and entrepreneurs on how to build effective teams. This episode felt like a bunch of old friends gathering around for a chat. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

EPISODE 45

19 May 2021

Love as a Left-Brained Strategy

This week Dr. Andrew Kim, upcoming author and CEO of Culture 'n Strategy, joins us to share his journey on improving culture from a left brain. He turned his journey into a strategy for other leaders who understand and value logic, especially in a landscape that centers on emotion, behavior, and non-linear processes. "Love as a Left-Brained Strategy" gives a good look into how to change culture for those who lean on logic first to solve business problems.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 44

12 May 2021

Love as a Teaching Strategy

Ever heard the phrase "love is the best motivator"? Our guest this week, Mike Yates, has found this to be true first-hand with his experience in education. His philosophy is to get kids to love school and then the rest will take care of itself. 'Love as a Teaching Strategy' may be about school, but we'll guarantee you will find insights for your business. Take a listen now!

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 43

04 May 2021

Love as a Culture Building Strategy

This week we had the privilege of sitting down with James Walker, SVP, Digital Innovation Practice Lead in Weber Shandwick’s Washington, D.C. office and have a conversation about culture and the internal side of things. We were able to dig deep on topics of how a leadership team thinks of their employees, in terms of goals, platforms and outcomes. We hope that you enjoy this episode!

EPISODE 42

27 Apr 2021

Love as a Business Strategy: The Book

Writing a book has been a dream of ours for many years, and we can't believe that we can finally say it has come to fruition. Join us as we discuss and celebrate our new book Love as a Business Strategy: Resilience, Belonging & Success on the day of its launch and make sure to snag your copy today.

For more information and to purchase the book, visit LoveAsABusinessStrategy.com.

EPISODE 41

20 Apr 2021

Love as a Health Informatics Strategy

This week, we're joined by Siraj Anwar, Sr. Vice President and Chief Health Informatics Officer at Harris Health System as well as Dr. Rod Brace and Dr. Michael Shabot of Relia Healthcare Advisors to discuss the role of informatics in driving leadership behaviors for high reliability. And as always, we dive into what love has to do with all of this.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 40

13 Apr 2021

LAABS: Remember Softway's Darkest Day?

It was 2015 and it was a day we would rather never remember. But in true LAABS form, we are going to talk about it publicly. Journey back with us to the day that could have been the end of our business and culture as we now it.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 39

08 Apr 2021

Love as a Business Strategy with Scribe Media

What do the son of a pimp, a publishing company, and love have to do with each other? Find out in this week's episode where we are joined by President and CEO of Scribe Media, JeVon "JT" McCormick. He gets real with us as we discuss why people always come first in his organization. This episode will leave you wanting more.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 38

30 Mar 2021

LAABS: Remember when Jeff was a bad boss?

Continuing our trip down memory lane, we invited two project managers, Ashley and Erin, onto the show this week to revisit their experience with Jeff as their boss before he started his behavior transformation journey. It’s awkward but it’s good. Take a listen!

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 37

26 Mar 2021

LAABS: Remember When That One Email Destroyed Our Culture?

This week, we're kicking off a new series where we all take a trip down memory lane and think back on some of the stories that defined our old culture. Before our transformation, we have moments that we look back on and cringe, and we want to re-live those moments with our listeners. We don't want to give too much away, but this one is about a particular strongly-worded email that Mohammad sent in 2015 (and apparently his CAPS LOCK WAS BROKEN). Take a listen to find out what got him so fired up.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 36

02 Mar 2021

Love as a Behavior Transformation Strategy

The reality is that 70% of culture transformations fail. But why? In this week's episode, we unpack our experiences with leaders and organizations that contribute to failed culture initiatives, and discuss how Softway's products and services bridge the gap and pave the way for real change in your organization.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 35

23 Feb 2021

Love as a Commitment Strategy

While there are a million reasons to invest in your company's people and culture, there are always going to be reasons not to. This week, we dig into some of the common excuses we commonly hear about why business leaders choose not to take on a culture transformation in their organization. This may just be our saltiest episode yet.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 34

16 Feb 2021

Love as an Uncomfortable Strategy

This week we had the privilege of sitting down with Victor Scotti, Chief Inspiration Officer of Moving Mountains LLC and former Google team member, to have a raw conversation about equity and diversity in the workplace. We were able to dig deep on topics of introspection, self efficacy, and opportunity when it comes to race and non-dominant groups. This episode is meant to spark conversation and make you look inward on some of these topics. We hope that you enjoy this episode with an open heart and an open mind.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 33

09 Feb 2021

Love as a System Strategy

Joining us this week is author and consultant, Dan Edds. Dan discusses his research with us on how building a system centered around love, respect, and purpose could be the key to improving a high impact organization's culture and even how it can save lives. From healthcare to the military, Dan has seen how love is the answer to a lot of organization's leadership problems.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 32

02 Feb 2021

Love as a B2E Strategy

You've heard of B2B and B2C, but you've probably never heard of B2E or Business to Employee. At Softway, we create solutions that are employee-first in order to build more resilient workforces and higher performing organizations. In this week's episode, we outline why a B2E solution may just be what your company needs in order to succeed.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 31

26 Jan 2021

Love as a Business Strategy with JMMB Group

This week, we have the Chief Marketing Officer of the JMMB Group, Kerry-Ann Stimpson, joining us to explain how love can be evident in the most unlikely of places: the banking industry. JMMB Group was founded on love and is still practiced daily with their employees, clients, and shareholders. Listen now to this deep dive on the JMMB Group and all that they're doing to spread the love.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 30

12 Jan 2021

Love as an Empathy Strategy

Empathy is at the center of everything we talk about at Love as a Business Strategy. If you don’t have empathy for the person sitting next to you at work, you are potentially missing out on untapped potential and innovation. In this episode, we explore what true empathy looks like in the workplace and why you should start practicing it now.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 29

05 Jan 2021

Love as a Forgiveness Strategy

Why is it important to learn about forgiveness in the workplace? Because it is one of the most important things about our humanity. Unforgiveness in business can lead to inefficiencies, lack of innovation, and profit loss. In this week's episode, we unpack why unforgiveness is the silent killer in an organization's culture.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 28

22 Dec 2020

Love as a Humanizing Initiative Part 3

This week, we are joined again by the Humanizing Initiative to continue our conversation around humanistic leadership. We discuss the process of unlearning and relearning together as we examine how we can bring humanity back to the workplace.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 27

15 Dec 2020

Love as a Humanizing Initiative Part 2

This week, we are joined again by the Humanizing Initiative to continue our conversation around humanistic leadership. We use this episode to examine the problem statement that many businesses are facing: why is what we're learning wrong?

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 26

08 Dec 2020

Love as a Public Health Strategy

Communities are what build up our society, and a strong community is built by looking out for the person next to you. In this week's episode, we talk with Alisa Howard, a public health servant leader, to discuss trust and love within a community. Think this doesn't apply to business? Think again.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 25

01 Dec 2020

Love as a Nice Strategy

This week, we were joined by Marc Effron, best-selling author and founder of the Talent Strategy Group to talk about why "nice" cultures are not good for your business. Sometimes love means saying the tough things to your teammates, and that is often the nicest thing you can do for someone.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 24

24 Nov 2020

Love as an Internship Strategy

In this week's episode, we are joined by Katherine Taylor, Executive Director of Genesys Works Houston, to talk about what love and inclusion have to do with corporate internships. We discuss equity of opportunity, the power of a network, and how major corporations are actually benefitting more from their interns than the interns are from them.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 23

17 Nov 2020

Love as a Growth Strategy

This week, we are joined by best-selling author of "Banking on Digital Growth" James Robert Lay to talk about what successful growth looks like within an organization. Why do processes and technologies often fail and why might being purpose-driven be the answer? Find out the answers to these questions now.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 22

10 Nov 2020

Love as a Humanizing Initiative

This week, we're kicking off an exciting collaborative series with The Humanizing Initiative. Their goal is to humanize leaders and organizations in order to cultivate humanistic leadership. In our first episode of this series, we meet the four co-founders and really dive into why The Humanizing Initiative exists.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 21

03 Nov 2020

Love as a Trust Strategy

In this week's episode, we're talking about the elephant in the room: trust. Without it, you will never be able to have a high-performing team, but how do you build trust amongst your co-workers? We answer this question and discuss our experiences with vulnerability-based trust in 'Love as a Trust Strategy'.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 20

27 Oct 2020

Love as a Vulnerability Strategy

Vulnerability is scary, but in the workplace, it's often unheard of. In this episode, we unpack how being vulnerable with your teams will unlock potential and also foster humanity within your organization.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 19

20 Oct 2020

Love as a Healthcare Strategy

Over the past several months, we've seen a resurgence in the need for patient care and well-being with the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the globe. Dr. Rod Brace, former hospital CEO and founding partner of Relia Healthcare Advisors, joins us to talk about what it takes to create a high-reliability culture.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 18

13 Oct 2020

Love as an Empowerment Strategy

Are you constantly wishing that you had more time in your day? Do you feel like the leaders bear the majority of the workload in your organization? This may not be an issue of time management, but a lack of empowerment. How can you lovingly empower your teams so that you are no longer working late nights and weekend - find out in this episode of Love as a Business Strategy.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 17

06 Oct 2020

Love as a Mentorship Strategy

In this episode, we try to get you to think differently about a simple concept. What makes a good mentor? What role should mentorship play in our lives? What’s the right way to mentor someone, or to be mentored? We dive into all of these things, and share about the role that LOVE plays in all of it.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 16

28 Sep 2020

Love as a Platinum Strategy

Have you heard of the “Platinum Rule”? Our guest in this episode, Kandace Cooks, introduced us to this concept. She has devoted her life and career to following the Platinum Rule, and we have an amazing time diving into this concept - and how we might apply it to our lives. And of course, what’s love got to do with it?

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 15

22 Sep 2020

Love as a Team Strategy

What makes a team effective? How do you build a winning team? We’ve all heard of “High-performing teams”, but what’s the secret-sauce? In this episode, we talk about how we approach building teams, and we also try something different and get into an awkward debate. In the end, of course, we try to uncover the role that LOVE plays in every great team.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 14

15 Sep 2020

Love as a Sales Strategy

How can we have a business podcast without talking about sales? As it turns out, we used to do sales all wrong - so we take this opportunity to really understand the drastic difference between how we used to approach sales vs. how we now apply a little LOVE to the process.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 13

08 Sep 2020

Love as an Equity Strategy

We hear a lot of buzz around diversity and inclusion nowadays, but equity is not talked about as often. How is equity different? Why is it important? In this episode, we have an amazing conversation with the co-hosts of the Dear White Women Podcast, Sara and Misasha. Their expertise, experience, and perspective really shine a light on the topic of equity.

Check out Sara & Misasha's podcast, Dear White Women, at https://www.dearwhitewomen.com/ and everywhere podcasts can be found.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 12

01 Sep 2020

Love as a Feedback Strategy

Let’s talk about the F word. That’s right… Feedback. Something that everybody needs, but not everybody always wants to hear. Why is giving and receiving feedback so hard sometimes? How do we unlock the true potential and benefit of feedback in our life? Through stories and discussion, we try to figure it out together in today’s episode.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 10

18 Aug 2020

Love as a Coaching Strategy

In this very special episode, we get a chance to chat with Jane Figueiredo—World Champion and Olympic medal-winning diving coach and Yulia Pakhalina—European Champion, World Champion, and 5-time Olympic medal-winning diver. We talk about love as a coaching strategy, and draw parallels between performing at the highest level of athletic competition and succeeding in business.

Check out the other episodes, see show notes, transcripts, and more at our website: https://www.softway.com/laabs

EPISODE 9

11 Aug 2020

Love as an Agile Transformation Strategy

Whether you’ve been going Agile for years, or you’re just now starting the transformation - an organization’s journey into Agile is not an easy one. In this episode, we talk about what makes an Agile transformation so difficult and what every business should be focusing on to really make Agile work. Spoiler alert: love might have something to do with it.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 8

31 Jul 2020

Love as a Delicious Strategy

Food is a universal connector of people. Food is at the center of every occasion. Sharing food is akin to sharing a piece of our identity, culture, and affection. When you sit and eat together, and when you eat the same food as others - you grow closer. So how is food connected to business? And what role does Love play in it all? Let's discuss.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 7

24 Jul 2020

Love as an Empathetic Leadership Strategy

How can leaders hold their teams accountable while still maintaining a culture of love? In this episode, we explore what it means to be an Empathetic Leader, and how there’s a very big difference between empathy and sympathy when it comes to the workplace.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 6

17 Jul 2020

Love as an Inclusion Strategy

In this episode, we zoom in on the topic of Inclusion. Specifically, how businesses should be tackling it. D&I is obviously still a hot topic, and many companies are scrambling for actionable results. What’s the right approach to address diversity and inclusion issues in your organization? And of course, where does LOVE fit into the equation? Let’s dive in.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 5

10 Jul 2020

Love as a Technology Strategy

Technology is a part of every modern business, and often an aspect that is approached logically and tactically. So often, it’s made up of zeroes and ones and nothing more. Is there any room for LOVE in something so mechanical? We take on that question and more in this episode!

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 4

03 Jul 2020

Love as a Diversity & Inclusion Strategy

Diversity and Inclusion is at the forefront of many business conversation right now. Not everyone is approaching it the same way. We want to explore the different ways to look at and address D&I in a business - and how LOVE changes the equation.

Addressing D&I in your business might look different from what you'd expect!

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 3

26 Jun 2020

Love as a Digital Transformation Strategy

In this episode, we talk about digital transformation and what it really looks like for companies to go through. And of course, we ask: What role does LOVE play in a business’s digital transformation strategy?

While many companies are focusing on digital strategy, it’s more than just changing your process and tools. The real transformation centers around how your teams work with each other, and how people behave.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 2

12 Jun 2020

How Business Leaders Can Actually Help Black Employees

In this episode, we speak with Chris Pitre, and ask him to share in-depth about 9 questions that businesses leaders can ask themselves to start identifying constructs, biases, and policies that contribute to the mistreatment and mischaracterization of Black employees in their organization.

The article we are referencing (How Business Leaders Can Actually Help Black Employees) can be found here.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 1

12 Jun 2020

Love as a...business strategy?

In our very first episode, we get together and talk about what "Love" means in a business context.

We introduce the concept, and share what our experience has been in making this applicable to our business.

See the video version here.

Find out more about about our show and check out other episodes, transcripts, newsletters, and more at https://www.softway.com/laabs.

EPISODE 11

Listen on:

Speakers

Transcript

More Episodes

Love as a Playful Strategy with Trisha Choi

Love as a Servant Leadership Strategy with John Frey

Love as a Connection Strategy with Bodhi Aldridge

Love as a Leadership Strategy with Tim Lupinacci

Love as a Leadership Strategy with Greg Giuliano

Love as an Underestimated Strategy with Neena Newberry

Love as a Self-Acceptance Strategy with Laura Gallaher

Love as an Anti-Racism Strategy with Jill Wener

Love as a Relationship Strategy with Jonathan Rosen

Love as a People-Centered Strategy with Kristi Pittman

Love as a Revolution Strategy with Karl Pettersen

Love as a Care Strategy with Rose Ann Garza

Love as a Way out of Chaos Strategy with Irma Neal

Love as a Team Health Strategy with Katie McLaughlin

Love as a Psychological Safety Strategy with Dr. Jonathan Thorp

Love as a Gen Z Strategy with Hannah Dannecker

Love as an Empathy Strategy with Ravi Singh

Love as a Difficult Conversation Strategy with Michele Phillips

Love as a Feedback Strategy with Meredith Bell

Love as a BizLove Strategy with Diane Hare

Love as a Life Strategy with Jacob Baadsgaard

Love as a Listening Strategy with Noah Asher

Love as a Belief System Strategy with David Greer

Love as a Mental Strength Strategy with Scott Mautz

Love as a Conversational Strategy with David Bell

Love as a Culture Transformation Strategy with Jasmine Bellamy

Love as a Disney Strategy with George Kalogridis

Love as a Wellness Strategy with Kathy Gregory

Love as a Stepping Through Fear Strategy with Megan Billnoske

Love as a Self-Discovery Strategy with Jesse Hernandez

Love as an Unconscious Bias Strategy with Amber Ontiveros

Love as a Purpose Strategy with Jonathan Bennett

Love as a Narrative Strategy with Guillaume Wiatr

Love as an Imposter Strategy with Tiffany Houser

Love as a Self-Awareness Strategy with Joni Goodman

Love as a Core Value Strategy with Jay Steinfeld

Love as a V.A.L.U.E. Strategy with Chellie Phillips

Love as an Inspirational Strategy with Ally Stone

Love as a Green Beans and Ice Cream Strategy with Bill Sims Jr.

Love as a Fearless Strategy with Cedric Bertelli

Love as an Adversity Strategy with Robin Osborn

Love as a Human Resources Strategy Strategy with John Baldino

Love as a Purpose-Driven Strategy with Gayle Lantz

Love as a Forgiveness Strategy with Dena Patton

Love as a Marketing Strategy with Christina Frei

Love as a Faith-focused Strategy with Precious Azuree

Love as an Indigenous Tech Strategy with Jeff Ward

Love as an Equal Opportunity Strategy with Marina Guerra

Love as a Success Strategy with Bessi Graham

Love as a Career Development Strategy with Beth Ridley

Love as a Non-Negotiable Strategy with Paul ter Wal

Love as an Authentic Leader Strategy with Candice Hung

Love as a DEI Strategy with Maria Morukian

Love as a Sustainability Strategy with Dieter Schultz

Love as a Psychological Safety Strategy with Janine Hamner Holman

Love as a Time Management Strategy with Miriam Meima

Love as an Ego Management Strategy with Christie Garcia

Love as a Generational Strategy with Lata Hamilton

Love as a Possibility Strategy with Darrin Tulley

Love as a Generosity Strategy with Sarah Fontenot

Love as a Purposeful Growth Strategy with Mark Mears

Love as a Local Government Strategy with Paulina Valero

Love as a Leadership Strategy with Diane Maben

Love as a Financial Industry Strategy with Kasia Siwosz

Love as an Honesty Strategy with Steven Gaffney

Love as a Belonging Strategy with Paul Haury

Love as a Safety Strategy with Nat Beuse (Aurora Tech)

Love as a Profit Strategy with Samantha Varner

Love as a Breakthrough Leadership Team Strategy with Mike Goldman

Love as a Human Connection Strategy with Nanci Appleman Vassil

Love as a Lovescaping Strategy

Love as a Business Strategy with Room 3

Defining Love with Marty Levine

Love as a Performance Review Strategy with Noah Pusey