IDL19 Season 1: Enough About Me with Richard Lui
How does business intersect with gratitude? How can practicing selflessness and gratitude affect your business and your personal life? What is the connection between empathy and storytelling?
One of the biggest things that I got from this conversation with Richard Lui is that we live in our own little bubble. He and I have vastly different backgrounds and upbringing, yet the perspective that he shares with me reiterates the idea that despite our differences, not only are values the basis and foundation for impactful leadership but having these important conversations can draw people closer and make you appreciate these differences and open you up to be a more understanding person.
Meet Richard Lui
Veteran journalist Richard Lui has more than 30 years in television, film, technology and business. Currently at MSNBC and previously with CNN Worldwide, he is the first Asian American man to anchor a daily national cable news program, and a team Emmy and Peabody winner. In addition to journalism, Richard’s 15-year business career involves a fintech patent and launching six tech brands over three business cycles. He has lived, worked, and volunteered on every continent. Richard is a Celebrity Champion for the Alzheimer’s Association, Caregiving Champion for AARP and Caregiving Ambassador for BrightFocus Foundation. His first book, Enough About Me: The Unexpected Power of Selflessness, released in March 2021.
Visit his website. Connect on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
In this episode we discuss:
Empathy and gratitude
Storytelling in selflessness
Selflessness is business
EMPATHY AND GRATITUDE
We can dispel the feminine and masculine dichotomy when it comes to empathy because empathy has nothing to do with the sexes: it has to do with being a decent human being.
“Gratitude is the important cousin of selflessness, and [in the book] we dig into gratitude as an expression of vulnerability, as an expression of also giving others that opportunity to understand that they were selfless themselves. ”
Gratitude that is both given and received in individuals can increase and maintain high levels of oxytocin and dopamine in them both for about a month, which illustrates its importance in building and maintaining strong relationships.
Therefore, it is not only important to give thanks but it is equally important to be thankful for others because it is a practice of selflessness and a practice of equalizing,
STORYTELLING IN SELFLESSNESS
“[DARPA] determined that storytelling is a way to actually create empathy with other groups that may not have empathy for you.”
Through storytelling, whether visual, literature, or the spoken word, people can be put in the shoes of someone else and see their lives from the other person’s perspective; their hardships, and their struggles, and this was proven to encourage empathy in a group of people that did not feel empathetic to another group before.
In order for you to learn about someone else, you need to take the spotlight away from yourself and place it onto them. In order to be involved and encourage someone else’s storytelling, you need to be willing to be an audience and listen which means practicing selflessness.
“In order to create that bond we have to have that storytelling, that empathy, that ability to connect, and then we can move forward … Being selfless is “I have to not think less of myself”, the definition of humility, but “I have to think more about you”. ”
SELFLESSNESS IN BUSINESS
“In leadership, in a business, if you simply show gratitude consistently, your productivity would go up 50%. ”
When leaders show gratitude to their employees, and give them the space to achieve the things they need to do in their own lives, the workforce and culture within the business is strengthened and boosted to grow.
There are more and more statistics coming out that show how leadership based on accountability, honesty, and gratitude create workforces that are far more motivated and focused on their work because they know that their leaders have got their backs.
Resources, books, and links mentioned in this episode:
Visit Richard’s website. Connect on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Read his book Enough About Me: The Unexpected Power of Selflessness
The Impact Driven Leader YouTube Channel
Join the Impact Driven Leader Community
Connect with Tyler on Instagram and LinkedIn
BOOK | Richard Lui – Enough About Me: The Unexpected Power of Selflessness
About the Impact Driven Leader Podcast
The Impact Driven Leader Podcast, hosted by Tyler Dickerhoof, is for Xillennial leaders who have felt alone and ill-equipped to lead in today's world. Through inspiring interviews with authors from around the world, Tyler uncovers how unique leadership strengths can empower others to achieve so much more, with real impact.
Rate, review and subscribe here on Apple Podcasts or subscribe on Stitcher and Spotify.
In leadership, in a business, if you simply show gratitude consistently, your productivity would go up 50%.
Richard Lui
Podcast Transcription
[TYLER DICKERHOOF]
Welcome back to the Impact Driven Leader podcast. This is your host, Tyler Dickerhoof. I'm glad you're listening in and glad you're here for another episode. Today's guest man, I'm excited. I'm excited about the time I got to spend with him learning about him and really a champion for his cause and who he is. So today's guest is Richard Lui. Richard is a news anchor, he's worked with different companies, but he's also an author. He wrote the book Enough About Me, which is just right with one great information, but also this heartfelt story of a son taking care of his aging parents. I'm 41, almost 42 and as my parents live in the same town, it's a luxury that I can be here and be a part of that as that goes forward.
Richard had to travel across the country, lived in New York, was taking care of his parents in San Francisco. This was during the COVID pandemic in 2020 where he describes, he wrote this book, but this goes back for a while. He shares the story about how his manager, his boss, she allowed him to really take on more of caring for his parents and less roles in his corporate career, which really in, as I've learned in journalism can be a death sentence, but it opened up so many doors for him. We have a great conversation. I learned about some of his family history where his real last name isn't even Lui. You guys have to learn about that because I learned about a piece of history I had no idea and I'm thankful for it.
I'm thankful for Richard just spending time with me. And as I have more of these conversations, and as I get to be around people, the challenges of leadership aren't so much the X's and O's. It's the stuff between the lines that isn't written. It's learning about people, the struggles they're going through, what they're going through. And as we develop empathy, Richard and I talk about that, that's an imperative part for leaders to take on. So enjoy this episode. I hope you get a tremendous amount of value out of it.
[TYLER]
Richard, thank you for joining us on the podcast, Richard Lui, and I'm glad for the pronunciation. I got that right, right?
[RICHARD LUI]
You got it. And my friends, by the way, my friends okay, right?
[TYLER]
You're good. You're perfect. So author of the book Enough About Me and when I had the opportunity to get a chance to chat with you, I was like, man, I'm excited about this because I think as an aging generation of gen X and millennial, I'm a little bit younger, right there on the cusp, but yourself it's in that age frame, we really have to battle this. How do we lead well in the workplace? How do we lead our families well, and also know we have this big, really dominant generation of our parents that need to be cared for and how do we balance that well? So that's what, when I heard about your book and the premise of your book, that's what got me excited. So I'd love to take some time to chat about that.
[RICHARD]
Yes. Tyler, and look, when we think about the number of folks like you and me of all ages, like from the age of five, up to 105, we've got family taking care of family and we've got 53 million people doing it. And what I love about it on one side, and it's a big part of the discussion here is it's just people taking care of people. I know it's sometimes a little heady, it's a little, I don't know, "Hey, good to meet your Tyler. Let's talk about caring about other people." You know, you don't lead with that, but ---
[TYLER]
We should.
[RICHARD]
Yes, when we want to, we should, but when we do do it, maybe I wish it wasn't such a big deal, but I understand we're human. That's the way it works.
[TYLER]
Yes. Well, so for our listeners, just unpack a little bit about your experience and how you got here. You do a great job in the book of doing it, but I'd love for you to share even more from your voice perspective of how you ended up on this journey of like, "Oh, I got to really be more selfless."
[RICHARD]
It's kind of like, oh, when I got up this morning is I can't believe there's a book. We were talking a second ago before I hit record that it's my first rodeo. I don't know what I don't know still, but I would have never thought that caring for my father who is in California and I work in New York, will ever lead to a book about selflessness. Somehow he can't talk right now, my father's Alzheimer's is year eight. He can't talk and he can't walk and he can't swallow food right now, but I believe he's still there, but maybe he's in there laughing at me going, "I can actually talk Richard."
But I'm making you write a book. I'm going to make you talk about being selfless. I know he's a pastor and maybe he's like, "Finally I get my kids to do this stuff. I should have done this a long time ago." I'm joking. I'm joking. And you got to learn how to laugh despite the difficulty. You know Tyler I don't mean that I'm making fun of my father's journey because it's been tough for him.
[TYLER]
Well, I think that's, hey I've gone through personal tragedies. I've gone through, I'll share with you the death of a brother when I was 14, but I think as we look back on those, as you share your journey through life of a lot of racial tension to personal tension to, I love the story about how your family ended up here and really your last name isn't your last name. And it's just those stories though. But if we get to, if we try to grab a hold too much on our status is in this framework of what we should believe it to be, we're no longer able to serve the people we're here to serve.
[RICHARD]
Right. And to grow and to learn and to be more connected where we need to be. And that's sort of the thing, like I probably had to re-identify who I am and the last eight years, Tyler, after I started caring for my father, probably two or three times. And even this process I got the inkling that I don't know what's next, but I kind of got the inkling that things are moving, but you're right about that. We got to be open to these things that sometimes are total gut punches.
[TYLER]
Mm. Yes. One of the topics that you talked about that I believe will be the defining element for leaders of our generation is empathy and really embracing it and understanding what empathy is. I think we can dispel with the feminine masculine, "Hey, let's learn how to be healthy and empathetic of others, be strong when we need to be strong, be caring when we need to be strong." And you talk about that in your book, and I'd love for you to unpack your lens, how you see that really playing out in our world.
[RICHARD]
Yes. It's sort of like empathy 360 and these things about gender associated with these values. You're right. we shouldn't do that. One of the important chapters, and it's towards the end, it's called gratitude and that's kind of the important cousin of selflessness. We dig into gratitude as an expression of vulnerability, as an expression also of giving others that opportunity to understand that they were selfless themselves and the oxytocin and the dopamine measured in individuals that are not only the giver of gratitude or the receiver of gratitude is high for a good month. It is well worth, not only because it just feels great, but number two is that it is what we should be doing. So gratitude is really a great way of showing that empathy to an nth degree. Selflessness is obviously a great foundation, but gratitude, thank you. I mean, that is so much an important part of this book.
[TYLER]
I have a friend that mentioned to me and you, I think reflected in different words, but it's the same, is use gratitude as a weapon. And when we use gratitude as a weapon, we do that, it's kind of like you can choose to be defensive or you can choose to pour out good. And when you're pouring out good through gratitude, that's a weapon and now, as you just said, and as you just talked about in the book, the effect of oxytocin, one of the things that I'd love to really get you from your background in journalism, you understand writing stories, knowing stories, how to develop stories. You share in your book that really storytelling is a great way for us to move forward in selflessness. Could you really just take some time here to unpack and really go through, because your professional expertise, you're better at this than a lot of people. You have to be, but I'd love to learn from you and take notes and really how you digest that whole process.
[RICHARD]
So DARPA did a study on this, the power of storytellers, like DARPA, like a government agency that is focused on intelligence of those who might be seen as not our friends and they determined that storytelling is a way to actually create empathy with other groups that may not have empathy for you. And that very idea was shown by giving, showing a movie to a group of, I will say those in the security industry, those who are working for a government that is in Middle East versus Israel. And they showed those who are working for the idea a movie that was about the life of what a Middle Easterner might be going through. By showing them the movie, all of a sudden the barriers or the ideas of what another group may be went away and that then, they were more productive in the work that they did to go through a story.
We can go to Stan Lee, which I bring up in the book as well, and that he is always talking about those who might be the individuals that we look up to, or that's just the superheroes that we look up to. And because we do look up to these, this hero's journey, that it is the positive part of who we are as individuals. So I dig into actually the steps that you can go through, the words you can use in storytelling, but the very power that DARPA showed that by telling a story you can bring people around the pike, that is quite dynamic.
[TYLER]
Well, and I think to, we started off this and we talked a little bit about college football. You know, you went to Michigan Ross School, I'm a Buckeye and those are two tenuous points and you bring up the kind of, I would say the Middle Eastern tension and I had the opportunity to go to Israel a year ago and really to see that firsthand, you know, standing on the Israeli Syrian border and understanding standing by an abandoned tank and realized that the Shian army could just pluck us off at any point they wanted to. And it's understanding that tension, that even though we have this massive tension, and as you and I, we talked a little bit earlier about college football, we empathized with each other. And I think it is so true that once you understand these perspectives and really can empathize and how powerful that is to be selfless.
[RICHARD]
The first thing I thought about, you said that Tyler, because there was another study that we quoted out of Stanford and when we looked into it, this is definitely a, well, I don't know, there's definitely a sort of a Michigan Ohio state issue. Like, do you have, okay, let me start with, first of all, what they found. They found out that if we have prejudice against each other, so like, you don't like the Wolverines, I don't like Buckeyes. Let's just start with that. But if we have three lunches, three coffees, three meetings, maybe three games, I don't know, maybe three beers, whatever the case might be is if we have this prejudice, that's up here, high that the end of those three meetings that goes down to just above zero. Now they did it about race, which one might think is even more intense than what we're talking about. But if we can just gather three times and if there's an opportunity to reduce the selfishness that we have of my way's the right way. The way I think, the way I was brought up is the right way, then how much could we fix? And I think that that was a really powerful study that they did that showed us, "Hey, it's worth it. Let's hang out."
[TYLER]
Well, I just got done reading a book, and I think what's powerful to me is you've gone through this research and your experiences and showing it. And I just got done reading another book and as we're sitting here talking about this, I'm realizing the parallels. Adam Grant, Think Again he talks about that element, New York, Yankees, and Boston. And to me, this is again, you're just reemphasizing this impact that we can have in our society if we just take time to understand each other's stories. But if I want to know more about Richard, I have to not make it about me. And for you to know about me though, I have to share my story in order that we can create that bond. We have to have that storytelling, that empathy, that ability to connect, and then we can move forward. To me, that's really this element that you shared of being selfless is I have to not think less of myself, the definition of humility, but I have to think more about you. And if I can care for you, as you have given the description, how do you care for your parents, even when it's not easy. You made some sacrifices to be able to care for, I'm going to say your parents. So it wasn't just your dad, it was your parents.
[RICHARD]
That's correct. And so this is the word. I dig into the thinking and the connotation of the word sacrifice because sacrifice sometimes, it is this way sometimes, but when we equate it with one plus one equals two or less, my argument is that often we, 80% of the time that when we are selfless, it is not one plus one equals two or less. It actually, it goes two or greater. One plus one equals three that it, I know there's a, then a deer you had to get really, it's tough sometimes. Like, "Oh, if I put $10 out, if I donate it that's minus 10. Zero return." I hate to be so business, like, but no, actually you'll get it back in spades. You've heard it before. And what I've realized is like caring for my father over the last seven, eight years is that, I work half-time, I am tired as all get up, because I'm getting in the subway at 3:00 AM to get into California 10 hours later, but here I am with you. We get to talk about the big idea, a big idea that I know is one, my dad cares about a lot, that you care a lot about. And we're lucky. I mean, I feel really lucky to be able to talk about stuff like this, because I know it makes it all better for all of us.
[TYLER]
Well, and I think that's where, you know this podcast is about leadership. It's about studying. Your book is really about being selfless, which fits all segments of our society. And we're all leaders to some extent, even if it's leaders in our family and I think if we can grasp ahold of the idea of being selfless and I would contend it, I would pose this to you, I believe probably the biggest challenge in being selfless is our own insecurity. How have you wrestled through that?
[RICHARD]
This is a big part of I think the approach. It's that we're not perfect, but sometimes we feel like we need to be. And I share in the book how I wanted to be like this amazing, perfect person since being a pastor's kid, I thought, oh, 12 years old, I was going to be the world's youngest apostle. I was going to save the world. That was the funny thing about it. And the reality about learning about that space, which meant me learning about people in general is that folks aren't perfect and that's fine. My dad is absolutely imperfect, supremely imperfect, but he embraced it and probably halfway through his life, he embraced it, but he shared how he was going through that struggle. I have to be a perfect person, but I'm not. And so to embrace that idea is the biggest part.
Now we have something called 10 stones. You have two choices and you have two or three buckets. You put the stones in the buckets and based on that, whichever bucket has the large number of stones is your decision. It is effectively a conjoined analysis done with stones. Now, the good thing about it is it gets us to decision number one, number two in front of you. It says, "Hey, it ain't a perfect decision, but so long as it is more good than bad, then we should do it because there's, unfortunately, there are not a lot of perfect decisions out there. So we do our darndest to at least push the ball farther down the field and get into the red zone, seven, six points for Wolverines. Thank you very much.
[TYLER]
Yes, there it is. And they're not very good at that lately, I just remind you, but ---
[RICHARD]
Richard's scratching neck on camera.
[TYLER]
Yes. I want people to realize that that was something I really enjoyed. It's this, the humor that you bring to it. And I think it's important that, "Hey, if we can't laugh at ourselves, then we got a bigger problem." You know, I'm going to share that. I mentioned it earlier, because I think this is a funny little thing. You talked about this story. One, let me ask this question. I'm going to give a little nugget here, but I'd love to know one or two things that you've learned about your dad, about your family, that you didn't know in this process of the last eight years of caring for them, but I'm going to share this one thing and it goes about your last name. And again, I think it is, you make the joke and it's, if you, I'm trying to teach my 12-year-old son, this, you can laugh about yourself, but you can't laugh about others. And you share the amazing story about how your family made it to the United States, the continent of the north, the United States continental, and that your family's name was different. You said "Oh, it was the "wong" name.
[RICHARD]
Yes.
[TYLER]
Well, the name was Wong and so I thought that was really kind of funny.
[RICHARD]
Did it work? Because I use it when I speak it. Because when I'm out there and I'm talking about the story and I just, I'll stop talking for a moment and I say, then I realized, well, let me tell you this. Do you mind if I tell you the story real fast?
[TYLER]
Please. Please, yes, the audience would love to know.
[RICHARD]
My grandparents, two of them came to the United States illegally and they came here because there was a law back in 1882, which was a Chinese exclusion act. It was the only law in our country's history, a law passed by Congress that said, "If you are a certain ethnicity, you cannot come here." We've never done it again. We've come close, we've never done it again. So that's how my grandparents skirted the law. They bought the name, Lui, [L U I] because it was for sale. The reason why it was for sales, because we had a big earthquake in San Francisco, that earthquake destroyed all the records of names, so the mayor said, "Hey, well, we got to put you on record. So y'all come on down. You can claim up to six or eight kids." And so of course, all the Chinese folk who are not allowed to come to the United States because of the law said, "Oh, all of a sudden I got six to eight kids." So there they were done.
[TYLER]
A business was born.
[RICHARD]
Boom. And then they sold it in China. So my grandfather bought that name. So my real last name is not Lui. My real last name is Wong [W O N G]. So Tyler, I have the "wong' name.
[TYLER]
Yes. But again, that comes back to telling a story.
[RICHARD]
Yes, sound effect.
[TYLER]
Yes, well, yes. [imitates sound track]. That comes back to telling a story where it's now all of a sudden I have a greater appreciation. I did not know about the the paper transaction. I didn't know about that, but now I will forever know that based upon your story. And there's a greater appreciation to it because it's just not something you're told you can be like, "Oh no, I know that story." And I think that really continues to underline this idea of being selfless. And it's not about me. It's not about you. It's not about me. And if we can really hold onto that as a society and as leaders ... go ahead
[RICHARD]
And that is generational. S that kid, I'll call him a kid because he was young, a teenager when he came over, just didn't want me, his children or me to be a poor Chinese farmer, bottom line. And this is not only him passing on that selflessness of really risking it. He also committed a, broke the law, which I don't like, but I do know that he was acting in a selfless nature. And his selfless nature was, "Richard, my grandson, whoever I'm going to have, won't have to grow up in this very poor, poverty stricken area." And I think it's another point about how great our country is, is that I can actually talk to the grandfather I never met and say, "Thank you." I am a network anchor in the United States. I am not a poor Chinese farmer. And that's powerful to me, man. This place is unlike any other place. That's why I tell that story. Not only because of a selflessness, but because of it is generational. What you give to your son at 12, it's going to keep on happening. It's going to keep on happening.
[TYLER]
Well, you share a lesson and I'm going to go back to this, I'll use this as a lesson you learned from your dad and maybe take this a jumping off point. You in the book said "being ordinary can be extraordinary." And you shared that something your dad said to you, and I think it is, you just talked about that. Your grandfather was just being ordinary, but it ended up being this extraordinary element for you and your family and everyone else. Are there other lessons that you now in the last couple of years, really being devoted to caring for your parents and especially your dad with Alzheimer's have really learned?
[RICHARD]
I put a lot in the book because I wrote it at the beginning of COVID, through October of last year, and it was at time where I was unable to visit people that I cared about and see them physically, my father, who is in the, probably the final stage of Alzheimer's yet, he still is able to react to the physical touch. And the fact like, whenever you put your hand on his forehead, he would smile, he would look at you, it was the moment you knew he was there and he knew you. You hold his hand, same idea. Now I had to look at him through glass and he couldn't hear me. I'm screaming, "Hey," and wave to him. So that, which our country and the world's gone through is just, it highlights the simple things. When you hug your kid today and your parents like, it's those little things, Tyler and I had no idea how important they would be. I had no idea. It continues to change though, continues to change.
[TYLER]
In what way?
[RICHARD]
Well, in this coming year we're going to go back to some wrong word. We are going to move to another place and what that new place, my friend? I do not know. I just know that, which I experienced in the last year, it's not going to be the same. So I'm concerned because folks of that age, can't jump back. My mom can't jump back. She can't play the violin the way she used to play because she had to stop to take care of my father for two years now, stuck in a house. There's a lot of folks that are just not going to be what they were before. That's okay, but sometimes it's not okay. I just don't know the answer Tyler.
[TYLER]
Well, and I think that's a great opportunity to be vulnerable about and say, "Hey, we don't know." And each day is a day for us to reclaim a portion of our life, but now we get to evolve into something new and who knows what that's going to be. I believe this, and I certainly believe this from this time to talk to you and from your book, the more selfless we are, the greater opportunities we're going to see come before us.
[RICHARD]
I totally agree. And because you focus on leadership, I mean the ideas behind being a selfless leader is so important. The opportunity, if you're in an organization, for-profit or not-for-profit to bring in the institutional learnings that we are living through today, my building, for instance, we are down to 5% of employees of what we typically had. We're still able though to put on 24 hours of programming, and we're a very physical, as you know, since you have a podcast, we're very physical, audible, video, everything together with lights and makeup and everything, but somehow we've been able to get it done. And somehow we've been able to keep most of the employees employed. I think that's pretty amazing and as organizations and as leaders have made some tough decisions, this is going to be indicative of a new model, a new way of doing business that is far more embracing, empathetic, as you brought up earlier, a more grateful organization.
We know that before this happened, that in leadership, in a business, if you simply showed gratitude consistently, your productivity would go at 50%. We're now in a different phase where gratitude is going to be at a much higher level. I think what we're about to see are selfless businesses. I think self-less Inc is now going to be a little bit more typical. We used to call that what, social impact businesses? I don't think we're going to use that word because now every, after we've lived through this all business, all organizations are going to have that quality.
[TYLER]
Well, and to me, that's very exciting because that gives the opportunity to people that see a new vision, a new paradigm as you've lived through it, and that's ultimately what kind of, is a lot of your writing. And to me, that's, again, when we create a new opportunity to show up, that gives us great opportunity to grow and develop new skills. And I love that. I love that personally and I think that's where it's also gives people like yourself to speak, to, to help others go through that process.
[RICHARD]
And sometimes it's way out of left field. Like when my boss said, "Hey, Richard, we're going to, we don't have this job here for you by the way. We don't have like a guy that can come in Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. You're like a square peg round hole. Don't bother." But instead she said, "No, I'm going to, I want to figure it out for you." Well, I was just writing, I was just signing a book for her yesterday and I was like, "Dear Yvette, you changed my life and you didn't even know it. How would have I ever directed a movie about student caregivers? How would have I ever finished a book like this about selflessness? Unless you said, yes, Richard, we will do something different for you."
I don't know if she realized that, but those are the things as leaders in organizations that can be small in the beginning can be ordinary, but can be extraordinary. And what she did was certainly above the fray, but man, I'm blaming this all on her. That's what I got to say. I'm blame that all on her and we do it with a smile because she is a hard hitter Tyler. She will not, I mean, it was amazing. I just, it came out. I was just like, "Yvette, really?" So you never know. As a leader in organizations, it really does pay off. We're going to have a more caring corporate structure, I believe in the next phase. And that's going to be amazing.
[TYLER]
Well, that's how you make an impact and I believe people will gravitate to those companies and cultures, because as you mentioned earlier, which I think is pretty astounding, 5% of the people in production there as compared to what, that means people can be anywhere. And when we start raising the bar, it's no longer local-based. It's like, how do you want to be involved in this organization? And the best organizations will continue to rise because of people like Yvette who rise above and into the impact that she's making on yourself and so many others. Because of that to me is what I want to be a part of.
[RICHARD]
We're about to be, we're going to have caregiving, ERGs and every single organization. We're going to gather, we're going to talk about family. We're not going to be there in a way that corporate leaders will think, "Oh, that's not good. They'll be asking for more benefits." It is the right thing. I mean, Harvard Business Review shows, "Hey, look, if you're a more caring organization, if you take care of caregivers, guess what? You will be more profitable. You're not going to be subjected to that $16 billion loss that happens annually because of the lack of attention to that topic. You're going to keep your higher performing leaders, your middle management, your upper management. You're not going to be losing two X because you're not identifying and allowing them to live what they're actually living through." Those are some amazing things.
[TYLER]
Yes. Well, I love it. Richard, thank you so much for your time. I'm excited for this book and the impact it's going to make. Thank you for joining us.
[RICHARD]
Oh, thanks for having me Tyler. And I know you have the last word, but I'll try nevertheless, go blue.
[TYLER]
It's all right. They need all the help they can get.
[RICHARD]
We're going to have free lunches.
[TYLER]
You know, one of the biggest things that I got from Richard was, you know we live in our own personal bubble. Now, I grew up in the Midwest, traveled across the country, live in the Pacific Northwest now, and as Richard grew up in that real religious church home in California, ends up living in Atlanta and going to New York, he sees a different part of the world. Being at work, different races, he's Asian, I'm Caucasian, I'm white, and yet this perspective that he gives me from his family history of living in Chinatown, in San Francisco provides this richness that, yes, we're so different, but these commonalities, these connections, these value-based interactions that we can get, I'm convinced that not only our values, the basis and foundation for impactful leadership. Simply having the conversation about values can draw people closer.
You can appreciate other people, their differences, and you can start to see why they do what they do. I mean, I know if I were sitting down and Richard came to me and he said, "I got to take care of my family," I would have done now, knowing what I know exactly what his boss did. Because I'd want him to be a part of the team because he brings so much value to it. You know, Dr. Sasha and I talked about that a couple of weeks ago and I think that has to be the paradigm as leaders that we start to change. It's not who can fill a box, but yet what value do they bring and how can they contribute to the entire team? You know, that's, to me, what makes an impact.
I'd love for you to be a part of the Impact Driven Leader round table. We have that going on, where we meet together once a week, we get together on Zoom, we talk about these episodes, we talk about the book we're reading. We're talking about how we can learn together. Man, I'd love for you to be a part of that. But I also ask you to do one thing, just give me a review, rate this podcast, how did I do, what did you think? What are you learning and growing because that's what's going to help me learn and grow as well. Thank you for being the audience. Thank you for contributing and making the conversation with Richard more and more meaningful.
