Allowing Humans to be Human with Mark LeBusque
Higher Purpose Podcast
Joining us for another session on what it means to live, love, work, and lead in a humans first kind of way is Mark LeBusque. He describes his work as allowing humans to be human, whether that’s in the workplace, outside of the workplace, or in their communities. We talk about the magic that happens when you allow humans to get back to connecting, and why we need to be human beings before we can become human doings.
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Everybody Matters with Bob Chapman
Higher Purpose Podcast
Adding to this series of conversations we’re having about what it means to approach business from a people first focus is today’s episode with Bob Chapman. Bob is the author of Everybody Matters, and today we’re talking about creating work cultures where people flourish, how that impacts our lives outside of work, and what it means to care about and be a steward for your organization.
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The 7 Laws of Employee Loyalty with Heather Younger
Higher Purpose Podcast
With more and more people switching jobs every few years, how can you as a leader cultivate loyalty in a humans first kind of way? Join us on this episode with Heather Younger, the host of the podcast Leadership with Heart, the author of The 7 Intuitive Laws of Employee Loyalty, and, in her words, an employee advocate.
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Being a Brave Leader with Kimberly Davis
Higher Purpose Podcast
What does it mean to be a brave leader? This is our 10th installment in our HumansFirst series of heart-to-heart discussions on what it means to live, love, lead, and work in a humans first way. Today we’re joined by Kimberly Davis, the author of Brave Leadership and the Founder and Director of OnStage Leadership, and on this episode she talks about showing up as our best selves, making our impact, and leading from the heart.
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How Leadership is Evolving with Sesil Pir
Higher Purpose Podcast
Is there a magic pill to make your team and organization work? Welcome to another installment in what it means to live, love, lead, and work in a humans first way. Today we have Sesil Pir, an organizational psychologist and a leading researcher on workplaces and workplace culture. She’s here to share her keen insights on the future of work and human resources, and why we need to challenge the status quo of work to suit the way we’re built as human beings.
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Finding Real Happiness at Work with Brooke Erol
Higher Purpose Podcast
There’s job satisfaction, and then there’s the real happiness that comes from working at a company whose purpose aligns with yours AND where your job has meaning. We continue our HumansFirst series with Brooke Erol, the founder of Purposeful Business, and she shares how we can become more engaged at work, so we can become more engaged in life.
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The 7 Simple Superpowers of the HumansFirst Heroes
Higher Purpose Podcast
Today, we’re talking superpowers. We’re midstream in a series of conversations on what it means to live, love, and lead in a HumansFirst kind of way, and for this special solo episode, I want to talk to you about some important simple skills. Now, don’t confuse simple for easy. These skills require us to put someone else ahead of ourselves, which is difficult and doesn’t come naturally to many of us. I call them: The 7 Simple Superpowers of the HumansFirst Heroes.
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Being a Chief Heart Officer with Claude Silver
Higher Purpose Podcast
What is it like to mentor almost 800 people? Claude Silver is the Chief Heart Officer at VaynerMedia, a global digital advertising agency. She was previously the company’s Senior Vice President, and was handpicked for the role three years ago by the CEO himself, Gary Vaynerchuk. Today on the show she’s talking about the immense ability we have to touch people’s lives, even in the smallest of ways.
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The Future of Work with Dr. Heather Hanson Wickman
Higher Purpose Podcast
What does the future of work look like? According to our guest, the future of work is ‘Love in Action.’ Heather Hanson Wickman is the co-founder of Untethered Consulting and the author of “The Evolved Executive,” and today we’re talking about what it means to lead with love, not fear. Heather shares that her purpose is to awaken the souls of leaders to create soulful organizations. So how can we do that?
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Making Work More Human with Renée Smith
Higher Purpose Podcast
What does it look like when we make work more human? Renée Smith serves as the Director of Workplace Transformation for Washington State as part of the Governor’s Results Washington Office. She leads the ‘Make Work More Human’ project, and she’s here to answer the question: “What’s love got to do with it?”
info_outlineJoining us for another session on what it means to live, love, work, and lead in a humans first kind of way is Mark LeBusque. He describes his work as allowing humans to be human, whether that’s in the workplace, outside of the workplace, or in their communities. We talk about the magic that happens when you allow humans to get back to connecting, and why we need to be human beings before we can become human doings.
An appetite for the conversation
Talking about humanity at the workplace is not your usual business conversation, but an appetite is now growing for it. As one voice speaks, a second one does, and a third, and then thousands.
Leaders are now starting to realize they can drive this movement and have to start to role model to their people what it’s like — and then hold the line and walk the talk. Cultivating humanity in the workplace is no longer a compliance-based conversation with leaders, it’s one of intention. People want to intentionally bring back the human factor to work.
Experimentation
Mark decided he wanted to find out what happened if he treated his people more like human beings in the workplace, and if he was going to experiment, he was going to experiment on himself first and step into his own discomfort. Sometimes it looked like speaking his truth, even if it was a different opinion from the opinions of those in the room. Sometimes it was trusting someone to do good work. In any case, start small, start safe, and build from there.
Mark shares the story about an experiment he ran, where he asked his people to set personal work-life balance goals: goals for themselves, goals for their family and friends, and goals for the community. He talks about the real-life strategies he used, so that you can do this for yourself as well.
A “To Be” List
Most people have such a long to-do list that they never get anything achieved. So he created a to-be list: every day, be intentional about how you’re going to be. How are you going to behave and turn up? Are you going to be authentic? Are you going to be provocative? Because if you put the ‘being’ before the ‘doing,’ the doing happens so much better.
You can get the 50 Day Humannovation Challenge from Mark’s shop here.
Provocation
Mark considers himself a provocateur, but it really goes back to self-awareness and what’s really going on in the room. He only provokes with good intentions, to help the group make progress, and in the service of the people in the room. What he tries to do is help people get past the facade they put on when they walk into the workplace and deal with the real things.
Belonging
Mark shares a personal story about losing his father, who had said before he died that he felt like he didn’t belong. That’s why Mark does what he does. As humans, we crave two things: connection, and a sense of belonging. And for a species that craves belonging, workplaces have become places of social isolation. Are there any other species on the planet that practice social isolation like we humans do? Mark wagers that the answer is no.
A message for you
When Mark was in the workplace, he worked so hard to fit in: he didn’t push the system so it wouldn’t push back on him, and he spent a lot of his energy to stay unremarkable and average. But now with the humans first work that he does in service of the world, there’s a sense of belonging where Mark doesn’t even have to feel like he fits in.
His advice for you is to hold your nerve and do the hard work. This is the hardest work you’ll do, but once you can do this work, you can look outwards and do the other work as well.
Final thoughts
Ask yourself these three questions: Why this? Why now? Why me?
What are the things that you’re doing that are useful for you? What are you doing that isn’t useful? And be prepared to sit with that.
Resources
Being Human: Why Robots Are Not the Answer to Business Success