79: Inside-out leadership -- How to overcome a lack of purpose and passion in the workplace with Robb Holman

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79: Inside-out leadership -- How to overcome a lack of purpose and passion in the workplace with Robb Holman on the TalentGrow Show podcast with Halelly Azulay

Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose? According to leadership expert Robb Holman, answering these age-old questions is the key to infusing your career with the purpose and passion you need to be an exceptional leader. There is a major problem of disengagement in the workplace. Approximately 90% of workers and 80% of leaders lack purpose and passion. It’s turned into a $500 billion problem. But what can leaders do to improve our own performance – and then our team’s – if it’s suffering from a lack of meaning and purpose? In this compelling episode of The TalentGrow Show, Robb shares the ideas and core convictions for Inside-Out Leadership – the kind of leadership that breeds success. Listen to learn how to fight disengagement in the workplace, discover your true self, and infuse potent purpose and passion into your career and your team’s performance!

ABOUT ROBB HOLMAN:

Robb Holman is an internationally recognized leadership expert, executive coach, keynote speaker, and author who has a heart for authentic relationships and a true talent for equipping people with the skills and the knowledge necessary for their success.

With passion and exuberance, Robb’s dynamic teaching style has successfully led countless business owners, executives, and leaders through his exclusive and proprietary method of Inside Out Leadership™ Coaching. In helping his clients learn how to connect with their unique life’s purpose, they are finding success in a way they never expected – from the inside out!

As a lifelong serial entrepreneur, Robb has founded numerous, highly influential organizations, both for-profit and non-profit. His current endeavor is as author of bestselling book, Lead the Way, and CEO of Holman International, a global leadership consultancy revolutionizing the way business leaders operate.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

  • Robb identifies the major problem that he discovered in the business world: a lack of meaningful purpose and passion (6:15)
  • What Robb realized could be done to fight this problem of disengagement (7:41)
  • Robb describes one of his core convictions: lead yourself first (8:47)
  • The importance of setting good boundaries and take care of yourself in the workplace (10:08)
  • The more that we say “no” to things we ought not to engage in, the more we get to say “yes” to the things that matter (10:45)
  • Robb explains what he calls the Boundaries-Decision Trade, which he created to help leaders with prioritization (11:23)
  • Many leaders don’t know where to draw the line when it comes to taking on extra responsibility (12:11)
  • Recognizing the difference between obligations and opportunities (12:32)
  • Halelly: “The clearer you are about what you’re trying to achieve, the clearer you are about what becomes a detour from it.” (13:15)
  • Robb discusses some of his other core convictions, starting with Personal Purpose (13:21)
  • “Why am I here?” “What is my purpose?” How can we infuse the answers to these questions into the workplace? (14:16)
  • Five basic areas you should examine to help you discover who you are (14:33)
  • What Robb means by giftedness, and how to identify your gifts in the workplace (17:44)
  • Halelly plays the devil’s advocate with Robb and challenges the practical value of discovering your true self and infusing it into your work-life (21:33)
  • When your perspective changes in your personal life, it naturally feeds right into your professional life (22:25)
  • You are not your business, but you shape it and impact it. It can even help to view your business as a person! (23:18)
  • Robb shares an example of working through his process with a leader, and the great results that they saw (25:48)
  • What’s new and exciting on Robb’s horizon? (27:05)
  • Robb’s actionable tip for listeners (29:05)

RESOURCES:

Transcript:

TEASER CLIP: Robb: So many leaders, I know so many of your audience members do a great job in giving and serving those people around them. But, sometimes they sacrifice too much of themselves in the process. So I work with leaders in helping them lead themselves first. Matter of fact, we can only give what we’ve received. You can only give what you’ve got, that kind of mentality. So what place are we giving out of? Sometimes if we’re honest as leaders, we’re giving so much of ourselves. We’re sacrificing so much and we’ve worn ourselves thin. We’re stressed out, we’re stretched way too thin and running on fumes if not burned out and don't even fully realize it. Halelly: So what’s an example of a typical situation where leaders might fall into the trap of giving too much and how specifically do you suggest they respond?

[Music] Announcer: Welcome to the TalentGrow Show, where you can get actionable results-oriented insight and advice on how to take your leadership, communication and people skills to the next level and become the kind of leader people want to follow. And now, your host and leadership development strategist, Halelly Azulay.

Halelly: Hey, welcome back TalentGrowers. This is an episode of the TalentGrow Show, with Halelly Azulay, that’s me. I’m your leadership development strategist here at TalentGrow, and my guest today, well, I think that you’ll be able to see how … you know how some people have so much energy you feel like they’re going to just burst right out of the box they’re in and just flood you with it? I think this guest is like that. Robb Holman talked with us about leadership and self leadership, really, and figuring out what your purpose and passion and values are, how to reignite people at work and try to solve the problem of so many people being disengaged. He’s written a book about this and he brings lots of interesting ideas and specific suggestions for you. I hope that you enjoy this very energetic and I think very inspirational episode of the TalentGrow Show. Here we go.

Welcome back, another episode of the TalentGrow Show and this time my guest is Robb Holman, and internationally recognized leadership expert, executive coach, keynote speaker and author and he has lots of passion, a lot of great ideas and I’m looking forward to bringing his insights to you today. Robb, welcome to the TalentGrow Show.

Robb: Thank you so much. It’s a joy to be with you. I’m looking forward to the conversation.

Halelly: Me too. Before we get into your latest book, Lead the Way, and all of your insights, I’d love for folks to get a sense of who you are and what your journey has been, your professional journey, so just give us a brief overview of where you started and how you got to where you are today.

Robb: I have to go back very briefly to when I was 21 years old. I’m entering the best year of my life, so to speak, my senior year of college. Went to a small, private school based right outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, called Widener University. About 3,000 or so undergrad. Going into my senior year I’m a basketball player, business student and life couldn’t be any better until what I’m about to describe to you. I had a mass in my abdomen area that was extremely painful. And so I went and got my college basketball physical in late August, entering into my senior year and the doctor said, with kind of a worried look on his face at the time, “You have to go in and get a series of tests done.” I can remember this, remember going into the doctor’s office and walking out of the doctor’s office after he told me just that, and it was the loneliest walk of my life, walking about a half mile across the college campus to my apartment.

To fast forward, this condition was so abnormal that it went undiagnosed, clear diagnosis, for about a month and a half. I missed some of the preseason in basketball and I was frustrated. Spiritually, emotionally and physically, I was like, “What’s going on?” Until what I’m about to describe to you – and this changed my life and I think it really launched who I am today. I go in to see an ultrasound specialized at U Penn Hospital, and this is an ultrasound specialist I’d never seen before and this time was so different. I go in and what I came in with, I left without. The doctor checks me out and says, “Robb, I cannot explain what I’m about to tell you. The mass that you clearly have had and you came in with, you no longer have. But I don’t understand exactly what’s happened.” It was literally a modern-day miracle. Let me just tell you something – leading up to this point in my life, purpose for me, the big “why,” like why do I exist as a 21-year-old, it was winning the next basketball game, it was making new friends. Even hanging out with the guys and going drinking on the weekends. If I’m really honest, sometimes Thursdays too! But now, after coming out of something like this, I was shaken at my core, and I was asking a set of questions I had never asked before. Little did I know, I fast-forward 20 some years later, and I am now helping people discover or rediscover why they exist, so they can see that infused into what they do as a profession. And it’s just awesome. It’s an awesome opportunity.

Halelly: Wow. So, you had something and then it just disappeared the next time you had it tested?

Robb: It just disappeared. It literally was a modern-day miracle. The doctors still to this day do not understand exactly what happened. They’re trying to figure out everything. It was so abnormal, but to my advantage – again, I was just looking for a diagnosis at that point – but that did something to my core. The best way I can describe it, I was awakened, I was stirred up, and life just started to have more meaning, more purpose. The people I met with, the things that I would do, the basketball season my senior year, even the schoolwork, my studies, I started to engage in them in a whole different way. It’s as though the world around me slowed down and I was able to start squeezing slowly but surely more and more out of it. And that’s what I help people do today.

Halelly: Cool. Interesting. Give me a little bit more of a taste of the kind of work you’re doing? What really has you energized right now, or what type of work are you most commonly doing?

Robb: At the end of the day I’ve noticed a huge problem in business. The problem in business, there was a Deloitte study back in 2014 that I often times will go to, refer to, but also just my own experience as a serial entrepreneur in starting about nine different organizations in the last 20 years. There are people, the average worker, the average employee, is disengaged from their work day in and day out. Not to mention the leaders of those people, high-level managers, owners, executives, etc., are disengaged as well. As a matter of fact, the stats say that the average worker, the average team member or employee, approximately 90 percent of them are disengaged. Whereas the leaders of those individuals, it’s about 80 percent. There’s a huge disengagement problem, which I’ll describe disengagement as a lack of meaningful purpose and passion in what people do day in and day out. So therefore, not maximizing performance. Seeing this huge gap, and a matter of fact too, there’s a lot of money in North America – about $500 billion – is being thrown at this problem. Again, because leaders know there is a problem because performance isn’t exactly where they want it or need it to be. But it’s what they’re throwing at this problem. I’m not saying all this stuff is bad. It’s more of outside things trying to get inside to the worker’s heart and mind. Like incentives, motivational tactic strategies and even incentives to try and help a person, a team member, respond in a good fashion.

Whereas, I’ve just found there’s a better way, a different way and even a better way, and that’s called inside out. Really trying to look into the heart and the mind of the worker, and inspire them, and in inspiration you begin compelling them to action. They actually go from a place of outside in techniques of trying to reason with a person, reason for them to act, into truly inspiring them, literally inspiring them at their core and who they desire and crave to be, so they’re compelled to action. It seems like a subtle difference, but it makes a world of difference at the same time.

Halelly: And hopefully they’re seeing the results of this, but I’m curious to hear more about this model you’re proposing. So tell us more. How do people do this, inside out leadership? What do you teach?

Robb: There’s some foundations of inside out leadership and even core conviction. I’ll give you a prime example. One of the core convictions of what I call an inside out leader – and I’ll tell you, I’ve had some amazing opportunity to travel around the world. I do work in the Middle East, I do work in Europe, and of course the United States as well. I’ve been able to not only observe, but interview who I call inside out leaders. There’s a set of core convictions that just drive them and inspire them to literally have an impact around the people they influence and leave an imprint on this world. So here’s the thing. One of them is learning to lead yourself first. So many leaders, I know so many of your audience members do a great job in giving and serving those people around them. But, sometimes they sacrifice too much of themselves in the process. So I work with leaders in helping them lead themselves first. Matter of fact, we can only give what we’ve received. You can only give what you’ve got, that kind of mentality. So what place are we giving out of? Sometimes if we’re honest as leaders, we’re giving so much of ourselves. We’re sacrificing so much and we’ve worn ourselves thin. We’re stressed out, we’re stretched way too thin and running on fumes if not burned out and don't even fully realize it.

I like to work with a leader very practically on, all right, what is good boundary setting like? What does it mean to take care of yourself in the workplace, outside the workplace? Engage in the things that impassion you, that maybe fill your cup to overflowing, that don’t seem as much like work for you. What are those things? Things that you can begin to consistently and intentionally engage in so that your cup remains full and you began to pour out on people that you get a chance to serve and influence all around you? So I work with people on leading themselves first. It begins with you, and the more you lead yourself first, again, you become a fire hydrant and help other people do the same exact thing.

Again, boundaries is a huge aspect of it, because so many leaders are running around and are about some real activity, but activity doesn’t always equate to good activity. So if we understand what our priorities are, in any given season of life, and we hold true to those priorities, then as people are tugging on us, all around us, we know what to say no to, and what to say yes to. And always say this – the more that we say no to things we ought not engage in, we get to say yes more to our priorities. So at the end of the day, I’m all about helping leaders practically and in an inspirational fashion take care of themselves first so they can have a greater impact and influence on those around them. That’s just one of the core convictions.

Halelly: I’d love to follow up on the idea of setting boundaries a little bit. So what’s an example of a typical situation where leaders might fall into the trap of giving too much and how specifically do you suggest they respond? It sounds like you’re saying some kind of say no to more things?

Robb: If you have the leadership gift and ability, the demand on your time, resources and energy is only going to grow in time. That’s just reality. It’s not going to go away. So it’s your management of it that means the world. At the end of the day, I created something called the boundaries decision tree, and it basically helps you sift through, based on your priorities, you can even take a look in your personal priorities, you workplace priorities as a leader, what are they? And hold onto them, know them, own them. So then when someone comes to you and says, “Hey, I need a little help here,” does it fit into those? Or not as much. Because some things we engage in, when people are tugging on us, some things are a bit more of an obligation and sometimes we just have to weigh those things. Should I really take on this or shouldn’t I take it on?

Sadly, my experience tells me and even research backs it up, that many leaders because of the right heart and the right attitude, they want to take on things. They want to come alongside their workers and team members and even take on some increased responsibilities, but should they be doing that? Is that the best thing they should do? Or is it going to run them tired? Is it going to get them stressed out, not just in the short-term, but in the long-term? I think at the end of the day, be able to realize, when someone is tugging on you, is this more of an obligation or is it an opportunity? At the end of the day, an obligation is, “Wow, I feel like maybe I should be doing this, but at the end of the day, based on my priorities, is it the best decision to really help a person? Or the amount of time in which I help them, I have to really be cautious about.” Whereas an opportunity, when someone knows their priorities inside and out, and they help other people understand them as well, and an opportunity comes about and someone tugs on you, ah. Now this is something maybe I should seriously take a look at, because it’s not only going to better me, it’s going to better the goals that I have, the team members I have on board, and it’s going to help us accomplish overall what we’re all after.

Halelly: Makes sense. I totally agree. The clearer you are about what you’re trying to achieve, the clearer you are about what becomes a detour from it, right?

Robb: That’s right. What are some of the other convictions?

Halelly: Another conviction is, discover or rediscover your personal purpose and be led according to it. A lot of times, as leaders, whether we own a business, we’re an executive team, whatever the case may be, we’re quick to maybe even work on our business purpose. Why does my business exist? I’ve just found this out – the more we’re on point with understanding why we personally exist, our personal purpose, now we can see that slowly but surely become infused into our business purpose. Whether it’s we own a company or we’re a manager or an executive, a supervisor of a department, whatever the case may be. I love helping people practically, discover or rediscover why they personally exist and help them see that come about more fully in the workplace, their professional department, business, etc.

Here’s what I’ve discovered along those lines. Everyone wants to discover why they exist. But I’ve just found that if you want to discover the big why question – why am I here? Why do I personally exist? And see that infused in the workplace – we need to understand and be encouraged and affirm in who we are as an individual. The who helps us understand the why. So, five basic areas that I love people to examine to help them understand who they are, number one is, do you understand your personal core values? The thing that at the end of the day, you’re making decisions out of these. The things you stand firm in, you stand by. They’re core convictions of the heart. That you’re making decisions out of this place all day long, and may not even fully realize it. What are your top personal core values?

Second, what are your top strengths? I love StrengthsFinder 2.0, you know, Tom Rath and the Gallup poll. They describe strengths as natural talents. The things that you’ve engaged in pretty much your whole life or certain seasons of your life, where it’s just not as much work as you’re engaging in these things. Things that come easier to you. It’s maybe things that you do that there is an abundance of good positive fruit that come from them. What would you say are your top strengths?

Third, what are your top passions in life? The things that literally have you leaping out of bed in the morning and wish to accomplish? Whether it’s a hobby of yours, something you do in the workplace, that just have you beaming. And you could talk all day long about it as though it’s the first time you’ve ever discussed it.

Fourth, how about your life milestones? Talking about a time of reflection. What are the things, good, bad and ugly, that have happened in your life that have helped shape you into the person you are today? And sometimes it’s hard to take a look at some of those things. My argument, my encouragement for people is take a look at them, because they have everything to define who you are and really start asking the question of why you’re here. If you know who you are, thus it can help you understand why you exist – what is your primary gift you’ve been given in life. Gifts aren’t as much meant for us to unwrap and use for selfish reason or selfish gain. A gift is given so you can actually be a gift, utilize this gift, for the world. For people around you, to lead, to influence, to impact, that actually when you’re no longer here on earth, it’s a legacy you leave behind upon the earth.

I’ve just understood this, when you begin to unpack these five practical areas, they’ll help affirm and encourage you with who you are, and then out of that place we can help and start asking the question, “Okay, now, why am I actually here?” Even to unpack that a little bit, when you start to understand who you are, now you’re encouraged, you’re edified, you’re built up, you start walking not in cockiness but in confidence and boldness in who you are. Now it’s like, “Okay, what’s a problem on this earth that when I come across it, I see it, I hear about it, I brush shoulders with it, and when I come across it in one form or fashion, I want to do something about it.” As long as I live, maybe this is a problem that I’ve observed, and as long as I live, I’m on this earth to do something about it. I'm telling you, when you understand who you are and why you exist, now you begin walking with extra bump in your step, popping your step in the workplace, and what you do 9-to-5 so to speak, and you can start to see passion and enthusiasm just infused in the workplace.

Robb: I have a couple of questions. When you say your gift, the fifth way to know who you are, to me that sounds a little bit vague. Like I'm not 100 percent sure. I totally get core values and strengths – I teach about that, I wrote a book about it – your top passions, your life milestones, these make sense to me. But when you say what’s the primary gift you’ve been given, I think I don’t know how to answer that, so give me an example from a couple of people that you’ve met in the business realm and what maybe their gift was, just so that we can concretize that.

Halelly: A couple of gifts I’ll bring to everyone’s attention. One could be are you just a gifted encourager? Encouragement isn’t about you. You just see someone that is a little down and out and you just have this way about you, you just love to come alongside people that are a little down and out, a little discouraged, and you want to bring about hope. You want to look into their eyes and say, “You know what? You may feel down and out but I know you. You can do this.” See, encouragement is a gift because it’s not about you. It’s not meant for you. It’s a gift you’ve been given so you can actually help other people very directly, very specifically. Encouragement, and I’ll maybe discuss another one, encouragement isn’t merely making another person feel good about themselves. That certainly can be an aspect of it, but it’s far more than that. It’s deeper, has a deeper and greater impact. Encouragement is instilling courage in another person. So they seem down and out, like one of my primary gifts is encouragement. If I see someone that is just, I don’t know, they’re having a cloudy day, they can’t see which way is up, I love whether it’s through calling them up on the phone, shooting a social media message, speaking to a group where maybe a senior leader says, “The company morale is just and out a little bit. We need someone to come in and ignite this group.” I’m like, “Sign me up! This is what I’m made for.”

Another example of a gift is, some people are really gifted teachers. They know how to equip people, they know how to build people up by picking apart training material and making it become relevant and real. That teaching gift is as much meant for them, they’ve been given this gift to actually help other people grasp things that much easier, and make it applicable. Those are just two kind of real life examples of gifts that people have given. I’ll make an argument, we all have a variety of different gifts, but helping understand maybe what your primary gift is, and maybe I can jump in another one. Another one could be I run across people who are very compassionate people, that maybe someone is going through a really difficult season. Very trying time. And they can sit with a person like this. They can talk with a person that is really down and out, maybe they have a family member that passed away or whatever the case may be, or a major fire to put out in the workplace. A person with the gift of compassion, they can spend long periods of time sympathizing and being present with that person that is really struggling. And they can cry with them, they can laugh with them. They’re so present and they want to make sure by spending time with that person, that that person knows they understand. Those are just three examples.

Robb: Great. So they sound to me like they’re very related to strengths.

Halelly: Very, very much. Sometimes, if you look at all the five areas that I brought up, there is going to be a lot of overlap, but for various reasons, I like to separate. The separation isn’t as much like black and white lines and categorical nature. It’s more like dotted lines and a lot of gray, because the end of this five-part discovery process, if you will, it’s really meant to affirm and encourage a leader and a person. So they walk with the confidence they’ve been given.

Robb: Makes sense. You’re helping them look, almost like you’re looking at the same thing from different angles, just to help flush it out. The one other question I have, and we have to wrap up pretty soon, but I’d love to talk to you for hours and hours more because I do love this stuff – my listeners know that I sometimes put on that dreaded devil’s advocate hat. Because unfortunately, I a lot of times totally buy into something, and then I go into an organization and share it and somebody eventually doesn’t, so I’m trying to think about it, put myself in their shoes if they’re listening, just to help them through it. I know that someone listening might say, “Okay, that’s really great. Let’s just say that you’ve helped me, Robb, and I really understand who I am and I’m passionate and then I come to work and then no one really cares about those things. Or my job doesn’t really allow me to do that, or it’s not something really that meshes with the work that I’m being asked to do. What should I do then?”

Halelly: You know, a couple of things. Number one, you need to understand that the more you understand who you are and why you personally exist, your perspective begins to shift. It begins to change. Slowly but surely. So I say to that individual, don’t lose heart. Because the more that you know who you are, you know why you exist, your perspective on maybe even some of the mundane things about what you do in your workplace can suddenly begin to change. They can change. Because your perspective on yourself has changed. Thus, your perspective on your team members, your perspective on your responsibilities, your role, even your title, can slowly but surely begin to change. I’ve even witnessed and experienced, some people, it’s an overnight thing. For many though, it’s a slow process. But when perspective begins to change, in your personal life, just a natural byproduct, it’s going to feed right into your professional life. That’s number one.

Secondly is, I also like to help people out. Now that you understand your personal why, let’s talk about your business. Let’s talk about your department. Because here’s the deal – at the end of the day, if you own a company, the state in which you come from, your company, your business, is a person legally. I even make an argument that maybe you’re the head of a department. Maybe you’re an executive. Maybe the company is not yours, but almost view your department, your team, your area of expertise, view that as a person. Kind of sounds weird, but view it as a person. You have a chance to mentor this person, called your business. Called your department. So, the more that you understand who you are and why you exist and you now get a chance to rub off and through this new lens, this new perspective, let’s take a look at why your business exists. Let’s take a look at the vision for your business. Let’s take a look at the core values for your business. Now, again, you are not your business. But you influence. You impact. And you can begin to have and shape the culture of your shape through your personal lens, and that is when things get really crazy dynamic and you can begin to engage in your work out of a new lens with passion and with courage, but in a very practical fashion. Again, what you’re hearing me say, we begin to go through this personal journey and then I start to bridge the gap into someone’s professional life, so holistically your life is a wheel with many spokes as opposed to black and white categories. Here is who I am as a person and over here as a working professional, and they don’t match up.

Robb: Because those days are over, right? The day and age where you came to work, you wore your gray flannel suit and you put your head down and did your work and didn’t expect to feel any kind of passion.

Halelly: That’s right.

Robb: I love it. I definitely can see how listeners can … when you allow yourself to be this clear about your own purpose and you bring that kind of reignited passion or just clarified passion to work, there is no doubt that your change in how you approach the work that you do as a leader will have, I’m sure, a ripple effect on everyone around you. Of course if we had another half hour or hour, we would dig into how you would then help others experience the same thing, which is of course your job as a leader to inspire and influence and motivate others. If you start with yourself, you’re already going to influence them sort of vicariously by them feeling your passion and approach, and becoming more excited about everything else.

Halelly: Could not agree more. I’ll tell you, it brings an example – I’ll be very brief with this – I was once working with a leader that worked for SAP. Huge organization, and had tremendous influence. I was taking him through this process. He was very honest with me and said, “I think I’m on the way out. Because I think it’s time for a career change.” I worked through this process with him and not just the inspirational aspect of it, because if you just stay up in the clouds, that’s one thing. But it needs to be anchored and practical tools and things like that. And I started working through this process only to find out that going through this personal process, and then connecting that with professional aspect of it, now there is more life breathed into his title, roles and responsibilities. No longer did he want to leave the company. There was so much life breathed in and so much purpose infused in his team members, because it started with him. And now, he’s found new roles and exciting opportunity within the company. He doesn’t want to leave. He hopes it never happens, because he’s so happy and vibrant and he’s been able to help other people because of it. Just kind of jumped in my mind, hearing you talk, because I think sometimes it really is like talking about some of these principles, these convictions, but yet what’s a real life example? And what’s the play on that, so I want to at least mention that.

Robb: Thank you. Great. Love it. Well, before you share a specific action that you recommend our listeners take, what’s something new and exciting on your horizon?

Halelly: I have so much going on, in a good way. I recently wrote my first book called Lead the Way. It’s something I’ve been speaking on. Everything you’re going to get into the heart of the matter today during our conversation. I’ve been speaking about it, doing workshops on it for the last 20 years, but the last two years I finally said, “I need to write a book,” and the book was published at the very end of October of 2017 and now it’s out for people. I’m just so excited about it. Because now I have my whole process laid out to encourage people, now I’m going on a speaking tour for the better part of this year, and so I’m looking forward to a lot of keynotes and workshops to just get my message out, because of the impact and influence it’s had on so many up to this point. So that takes a lot of my time. But I’m thrilled that I have the opportunity to do what I do. I don’t take one day for granted, and it’s awesome. That’s what I’m doing now. I’m going to spend the next 12 months going on a speaking tour, a book tour so to speak, and then my wife said this to me – she said, “Robb, you’re going to take some time off to enjoy,” which I did around the holidays. She said, “When are you going to write your next book?” I said, “The first of the new year, I’m starting the second book,” and sure enough, there is so much momentum in my life and people really wanting further content that I’m already starting to write my second book, my follow up book, which is so exciting.

Robb: That is exciting. Congratulations. That is a very big accomplishment to write a book, I can tell you from personal experience and also speaking to many, many people who just talk about it and don’t do it. Congratulations. And your excitement and enthusiasm and passion are definitely very apparent in your voice, so I know that people will check out your book. I’m going to link to it in the show notes and your website, which is a very nice website, lots of resources on there, and I’m sure that they’re going to want to stay in touch with you. We’re going to give them all of that in a second. So, we always wrap up the TalentGrow Show episodes with one specific action that people can take right away, this afternoon, this week, to ratchet up their own leadership effectiveness. So from your perspective, what should they do?

Halelly: Oh, here we go. No doubt about it. Take times to have intentional gratitude. I mentioned just a few minutes ago, when your perspective begins to change, when it begins to shift, it just is a snowball effect all around you. Take times to just be grateful for who you are, the people in your life, and the impact you’ve already made and will make. I start every day, I call it the first fruits, the first fruits of my day. I grab my cup of coffee in the morning and I make a list of the things and the people that I am most grateful for. When you have intentional times of gratitude, now all of a sudden, you know, life happens! Curveballs are going to be thrown at us. Fires to put out. But how do we tackle them means everything. When you begin to start your day and be very intentional and very consistent with having times of gratitude, and then that curveball comes in, our perspective on it just begins to change. Now, we actually are more solution-focused than problem-focused. Now we’re more people-driven than we are our to-dos. That’s when the levies can break down in life and we go from gratitude being something that we do into actually who we are. We become grateful people. So I encourage your listeners with that.

Robb: Good, I love it. Sometimes, people feel like, I’m grateful for getting up. Yeah, well, you’re going to write that every single day? That’s nice. But stretch, right? Sometimes you can be grateful for something very small, like this coffee tastes delicious. And you can be grateful for, let’s say, this thing happened. It wasn’t what I wanted, but I'm grateful that it wasn’t this other thing which would have been even worse. So, sometimes you can shift your perspective from something very broad to something very narrow, and practice stretching your gratitude muscle to be able to see angles of gratitude in almost everything.

Halelly: Halelly, I’ll say this too – could not agree more, by the way – something that I’ve found to be very powerful, it’s one thing to be grateful for what happened yesterday or a moment ago. But when you actually begin going for grateful for what has already happened into what’s to come, now we’re taking it to a whole other place. Be grateful for the people you’re going to meet that you don’t even know tomorrow. Be grateful for the business opportunities and the open doors, the new possibilities that are right around the corner even though you can’t necessarily fully see them today. I think that just opens up a world of life and vibrancy and in my opinion long-term sustainability as well.

Robb: Very optimistic. Well, Robb, thank you so much for sharing your insights with the TalentGrowers. How can they learn more from you and about you?

Halelly: It’s been great to be on your program. Really appreciate it. Probably two ways. One is my personal website which is RobbHolman.com. And another would be the book website which is LeadTheWayBook.com.

Robb: Great, Robb is with two B’s. I know, my mom and the doctor came up with that when I was younger. It wasn’t some rebellious act I did in my teenage years.

Halelly: It gives you a unique twist. Very good. So of course we will link to that in the show notes, and thank you so much for your time.

Robb: Thank you for everything you do. I applaud you for the work you are doing and continue to do. It’s impacting and influencing people positively all over the world, and it’s great to team up with you on today’s program. So thank you Halelly, really appreciate you.

Halelly: Thank you. What did I tell you, TalentGrowers, right? Like a ball of energy. I love it. It’s very exciting to hear people that are on fire about their mission, and that share their energy with us. So hopefully you enjoyed that. I’d love to hear what you thought about it. Definitely leave me a comment in the show notes page, which you can find on the TalentGrow Show website, TalentGrow.com/podcast/latestepisode, and I also would love to hear from you about the podcast in general, when you leave an iTunes review. Shouldn’t take very long, but it helps so much and I appreciate you for doing that. I hope that you take Robb’s suggestion and put in that gratitude practice. All you need to do is just spend some time everyday, thinking about what you’re grateful for. I am grateful for you. I am grateful that you listened, that you stuck it out to this point, and I’m grateful for any feedback that you provide me so that I can continue developing and making this show even better for you. Because I do make it for you. All right, TalentGrowers. That’s it for another episode. I am Halelly Azulay, your leadership development strategist here at TalentGrow. And, until the next time, make today great.

Announcer: Thanks for listening to the TalentGrow Show, where we help you develop your talent to become the kind of leader that people want to follow. For more information, visit TalentGrow.com.

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