Gratitude Through Hard Times

https://www.store.rubbettinoeditore.it/catalogo/per-i-prossimi-175-anni/

Takeaways

• Leaders need to be adaptable and learn from both successes and failures.
• Creating a culture of connection and psychological safety is crucial for fostering innovation and engagement.
• Investing in a premium experience and building a brand that evokes emotions and experiences can differentiate a product from a brand.
• The world is moving towards premiumization, where people are willing to spend more for products and brands that offer value and a sense of accomplishment.
• Success in the long run requires investing in people's well-being and creating a culture that attracts and grows talent.
• Empathy is a crucial trait for leaders, and being intentional about connecting with people in an empathic way can have a significant impact.
• Enrico's purpose is to leave a better place for future generations and to give his children the opportunity to be happy.
• Authenticity, simplicity, and connection are key elements of effective leadership.
• Success and happiness come from being true to oneself and serving others.
• Taking small steps, such as asking people how they feel instead of how they are, can lead to more meaningful connections and better understanding in the workplace.
• Leaders should strive to be consistent in their awareness of who they are and be open to learning and growing.
• Changing one person's whole world is a powerful way to make a positive impact.
• The Italian culture embodies a commitment to tradition and innovation, honoring history while dreaming of the future.

Sound Bites

1. "Sometimes you also need to be looking at the positives even when something doesn't go well. Everybody can be somebody you can learn from."
2. "Peroni is a historical icon, but every icon has to be relevant in the moment. To be relevant in the moment, it has to look at the future to ensure that when the moment comes, it is ready."
3. "When you look back too much, it becomes a form of nostalgia. It's not something you actually look for to find your strengths."
4. "We are here for a legacy. We always need to think what the new people of Peroni and the new Italians and consumers worldwide will think of us in 20 years, in 25 years."
5. "Successes of the past can be a fuel for future success, or they can be a weight that should hold you back."
6. "Excellence is something that changes every year. Whatever helped you have success yesterday, probably it's not going to be enough."
7. "You need to learn from your failures, but also from your successes because there is always an inch that you can gain and be faster in what you do."
8. "In an organization, the ability to deliver a plan, to build a strategy cannot be of one person. Whatever strategy you are building is going to be old tomorrow."
9. "You need people that don't feel like they have a hierarchical barrier in front of them or they need to feel like they have the courage to actually talk and express what they think."
10. "The more you realize that with the impact you can do good, then you can be much more intentional in doing good at being empathic with people."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Earthquake

01:10 Welcoming Repeat and New Listeners

03:36 Enrico's Book and Peroni's History

04:15 Expressing Gratitude to Enrico's Father

07:18 Remembering Challenging and Great Moments in Peroni's History

10:15 Understanding the Present Moment and Building the Future

12:25 Learning from Successes and Failures

13:24 Managing Ambiguity and Elevating Excellence

15:35 Creating a Culture of Connection and Horizontal Leadership

19:10 Avoiding Excuses and Investing in People

21:22 Investing in a Premium Experience and Building a Brand

23:25 The Shift Towards Premiumization

25:18 Investing in People's Well-being and Talent

25:45 Translating the Italian Lifestyle into Global Success

26:42 The Power of Rugby and Ferrari in Peroni's Brand

31:36 The Importance of Empathy in Leadership

41:24 Leaving a Better Place for Future Generations

45:34 Authenticity, Simplicity, and Connection in Leadership

We’ve all experienced it: that feeling of being stuck on an endless treadmill. It can be soul-crushing, but our guest on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times is a peak performance coach is here to help us change the narrative heading into 2024. Erin Stafford, author of "The Type A Trap: Five Mindset Shifts to Beat Burnout and Transform Your Life," explains to Host Chris Schembra the underpinnings for her five mindset shifts. Each of her valuable techniques is designed to check and challenge the assumptions that leave us stuck in overdrive. You’ll learn how to interrupt hyper-focused pursuits, be agile in the face of dead-ends, let go of counter-productive self-criticism and celebrate the wins that are often all too fleeting. “Burn-out will keep knocking on our door. It’s not going anywhere,” says Erin, who has herself been on the frontlines as marketing director for a healthcare brand undergoing exponential growth, “but there are tools you can gather to get you out of that black hole.” Find out about the tools this dynamic keynote speaker uses to help business leaders connect with and honor their highest selves with an attitude of gratitude all along the way!

Ready to read Erin’s new book? Click here to get your copy of "The Type A Trap: Five Mindset Shifts to Beat Burnout and Transform Your Life." Or click here to book a discovery call!

If you’d like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to his newsletter, please visit this link.

Click hereto hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainers who have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.

KEY TOPICS:

• If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you don’t give enough credit or enough thanks to – that you’ve never thought to thank – who would that be? So many amazing people, but most importantly a high school math teacher, Randy Scott, who showed Erin respect and taught her to simplify hard things.
• The Trap: Why so many of us don’t realize the full-scale stress we’re under until a life-altering (often painful) experience opens our eyes to the toll “success” is taking.
• Type A Profile: What it looks like to define success based on ability to achieve and derive self-worth based on a scarcity mindset.
• Getting Off the Treadmill with Five Key Mindset Shifts:
• Decoding Your Flow: Realize that you don’t have to do it all. 
• Releasing the Reins: Focus on letting go, rather than grasping and controlling.
• Pivot Like a Pro: Be nimble and able to shift away from a singular goal.
• Slow Down to Speed Up: Be okay with doing a little less.
• Take that Victory Lap: Enjoy your wins before moving on to the next challenge.
• Stress Is Here to Stay: Why Erin believes there’s no silver bullet for curing (or avoiding) burn-out. It’s the small decisions we make and self-care we practice daily.
• Moving Towards Gratitude: How human connection is crucial in today’s world and finding like-minded people leads us deeper into our most authentic selves and self-acceptance.
• What’s Your Status? Why everyone can benefit from taking Erin’s self-assessment (featured in her book) to determine their place on the burn-out spectrum and set a course for inner balance.

QUOTABLE

• “The more simple you can make it, the more you actually understand the subject matter.” (Erin)

• “I think we live in a world that rewards stress, burnout and anxiety. We idolize people who are ‘doing it all.’ … but we don’t know the toll it is taking on their physical and mental health, relationships and spirituality.” (Erin)

• “You can have the big dream of things you want to accomplish AND you can take care of yourself and the people around you and do it in an efficient way. Both can be true at the same time.” (Chris)

• “Just because you’ve said you’re going to do something doesn’t mean that if it’s no longer interesting you can’t pivot. Move! Change. Be okay with cutting losses.” (Erin)

• “We have to make the mindset shift. We have to change ourselves, our thinking, our behavior, so that we don’t burn out again.” (Erin)

• “All you really need to make this full shift away from burn-out into well-being is yourself. You don’t have to rely on your external situation to make the change.” (Chris)

• “Burn-out will keep knocking on our door. It’s not going anywhere … but there are tools you can gather to get you out of that black hole.” (Erin)

LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:

• Find out more about Impact Eleven trainings at this link.
• Listen to this talk by Laura Gassner Otting to find out why “I’ll be happy when” are the four worst words in the English dictionary. 

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Erin Stafford is a marketing guru, burnout survivor and hyper-growth business leader. From working with the world’s highest achievers throughout her 20+ year career, being a Type A poster child herself and interviewing Olympians, start-up founders, Fortune 500 CEOs, leading researchers and celebrity coaches, Erin has seen firsthand how Type A personalities and constant over-achievement are coveted in the world of business, yet can lead to debilitating burnout. In addition to her current role as the head of marketing for the country’s largest healthcare staffing company, where she leads dozens of marketing professionals and has helped the organization grow by 9x in two years, Erin has made it her mission to help leaders, most recently with her book: "The Type A Trap: Five Mindset Shifts to Beat Burnout and Transform Your Life."

FOLLOW ERIN:

WEBSITE | LINKEDIN | BOOK

ABOUT OUR HOST:

Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.

FOLLOW CHRIS:

WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | LINKEDIN | BOOKS

Nothing creates team buy-in more effectively than the “ownership mindset” espoused by our guest on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times. What’s the secret sauce? Kerry Siggins, CEO at StoneAge Inc., shares with Host Chris Schembra her powerful building blocks for cultivating workplace cultures rooted in accountability. It’s about caring – for colleagues, customers and ourselves – and ensuring that everyone feels seen and heard as well as empowered to act. She explains how StoneAge, an employee-owned manufacturer of waterjet tools and equipment for industrial cleaning based in Colorado, instills a sense of community and the safety to fail among its 250 employees (all of whom Kerry hopes to see become millionaires one day, thanks to their Employee-Owned Stock Plan, or ESOP). You’ll also hear all about Kerry’s latest passion project, her recently released book, "The Ownership Mindset: A Handbook for Transforming Your Life and Leadership." In it, she highlights her personal “hero’s journey” as well as hard-won lessons about how to conceive and execute corporate strategy. The formula includes several ingredients, the most important of which is learning how to formulate the right questions. Then ask, ask, ask again! Says Kerry: “You learn so much and quickly get to the root of what’s really going on if you’re curious. So that’s my superpower: Questions!” Find out how to find and foster an “ownership mindset” in your workplace by prioritizing gratitude, empathy, agency and curiosity. The show wraps up with a reminder from Chris that in today’s business global environment, these aren’t just soft skills, “they’re the hard skills needed to instill an ownership mindset within your team!”

Click here if you’d like to grab a copy of Kerry’s just-released book, "The Ownership Mindset: A Handbook for Transforming Your Life and Leadership."

Or check out her podcast, Reflect Forward: Conversations on Leadership, at this link.

If you’d like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.

Click here to hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.

KEY TOPICS:

• If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you don’t give enough credit or enough thanks to – that you’ve never thought to thank – who would that be? So many people, but above all her first boss out of college, whom she “did wrong” and disappointed but who taught her so much nonetheless.
• It’s Never too Late: About the power of bringing shame out of the shadows.
• Why Now and Why This Book?
• For starters, Kerry loves to write!
• It provided a creative outlet and alternative to her day-to-day tasks as CEO.
• A compelling need to give back by sharing her personal story. 
• Changing One World at a Time: How Kerry’s journey – both personally and professionally – is a reflection of the “ownership mindset” she exemplifies.
• Defining “Ownership”: Why taking full responsibility for everything that happens in your life is transformational, empowering and foundational to leadership. 
• Leaning In: About what it looks like to take full accountability, even when the future is unclear and outcomes unpredictable.
• Building an Ownership Mindset Culture:
• Ensure everyone feels like part of something bigger than themselves.
• Cultivate engagement and self-motivation.
• Encourage an ethos of caring – for co-workers, customers and ourselves.
• How StoneAge Team Members Learn to Take Full Agency:
• Training in both how to give and receive feedback.
• Teaching strategies for collaborating with people who hold differing viewpoints.
• Making it easy for people to admit mistakes and learn from them.
• Infusing the workplace culture with a communal sense of purpose, commitment and accountability.
• Modeling behaviors that reinforce an “ownership mindset” across the enterprise.
• You Must Act: Why all the best intentions in the world will not make things happen.
• Three Key Components to an Ownership Mindset:
• Take ownership: 
• Lead yourself: 
• Lead others.
• Curiosity is Key: How a growth mindset depends on asking questions.
• Kerry’s Superpower: Giving people the space to open up and brainstorm valuable ideas!
• Best Advice for Leaders: Learn how to ask good questions!Then ask, ask, ask!
• Research Shows: Managers who demonstrate empathy by asking their direct reports questions are viewed by bosses as better performers in their jobs.
• Gratitude & Recognition: Why people excel and businesses thrive when leaders foster workplace cultures in which everyone feels seen, honored and empowered.
• Look Inward: How problem-solvers and champions can (and must!) come from up, down and across the corporate structure.
• Two Questions to Check Imposter Syndrome and Quiet Self-Doubt: 
• What’s the best things that can happen?
• What’s the worst thing that can happen?
• The Power of Reframing: What it looks like to move from a place of fear to a “posture of otherness” that focuses on bringing tools like empathy and gratitude to others.
• What’s Next for Kerry?
• She can’t wait to get started on her next book, about transformational change and the power of purpose in the workplace of today – tomorrow!
• Leveraging a culture of ownership, growth and innovation to create a thousand millionaires through StoneAge’s employee stock ownership plan.
• Speaking about and inspiring others to build an “ownership mindset.”

QUOTABLE

• “When you feel shame, regret or guilt, the action urge is usually to hide, avoid, withdraw, shy away, be meek and small and that doesn’t help. Then we just ruminate on the guilt and shame.” (Chris)

• “It was really important for me to get back in touch with the creative, free spirit that is within me. And writing is a way to do that!” (Kerry) 

• “If (my story) inspires even one person to overcome their own shame around choices they’ve made in life or show up differently as a leader and be the very best version of themselves … then I’ve done my job.” (Kerry)

• “(The ownership mindset) is the idea that things don’t happen to me, they happen because of me and I’m willing to lean into the responsibility of my choices, attitude and the way I show up.” (Kerry)

• “(The ownership mindset) is really a tool to help people feel like they’re more in control of their work, that they have autonomy and are trusted, that they’re cared about.” (Kerry)

• “The only way to own it is to act, but you have to create the safe space for people to act.” (Chris)

• “People want to share their stories, their opinions and ideas. So, if you ask really good questions, you can find out all kinds of information and get all kinds of new ideas.” (Kerry)

• “You learn so much and quickly get to the root of what’s really going on if you’re curious. So that’s my superpower: Questions.” (Kerry)

• “The economic potential of any successful team or organization lies not in the strength of individuals on your team but in your ability to help them connect, collaborate and champion a shared vision.” (Chris)

• “When we’re feeling Imposter Syndrome and fear, we’re really focused on ourselves ... (but) you can make it about somebody else and turn that negative self-doubt into a positive impact on someone else’s life.” (Kerry)

• “The power of questions, empathizing with those around you, giving gratitude around you – these are not just the soft skills that were once avoided in the boardroom. They’re the hard skills needed to instill an ownership mindset within your team.” (Chris)

LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:

• Learn more about “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” by Dr. Seuss, at this link.
• Click here to find out about “the hero’s journey” and work of Joseph Campbell.
• More about the Gallup Organization’s survey work and CliftonStrengths here.

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Kerry Siggins is the CEO of StoneAge, Inc., a global leader in designing and manufacturing high-pressure waterblasting and sewer cleaning tools and equipment used in the industrial cleaning industry. StoneAge sells and supports its products throughout the world and has over 170 dealers in 45 countries. She is also the Vice President of the Waterjet Technology Association (WJTA). Kerry joined StoneAge in January of 2007 as the Director of Operations. In 2009, she was named CEO by StoneAge’s Board of Directors and has since led the company in building a robust global presence resulting in double-digit growth year over year. She recently acquired Breadware, an Internet of Things (IoT) product development firm based in Reno, NV. 
 

FOLLOW KERRY:

WEBSITE | LINKEDIN | BLOG

ABOUT OUR HOST:

Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.

FOLLOW CHRIS:

WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | LINKEDIN | BOOKS

Seek the stress. Scale with soul. Embrace your uniqueness. These are just a few of the pearls of wisdom flying fast and furious when Christina Luconi, Chief People Officer at Rapid7, visits with Host Chris Schembra on this episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times. Her self-awareness, strength and positive vision have not only been central to building out staff for some amazing startup companies (from inception through IPO). These are also the traits that have defined her full and fascinating life – whether taking her teen-aged daughters on a transformational trip to Tanzania or snatching life-giving lessons from a life-changing cancer diagnosis. This is a woman who brings her whole, authentic self to every interaction and in the process offers connection and empathy to others. You’ll learn about how Christina expresses gratitude and the powerful benefits it confers, rippling out in how she frames “negative autobiographical experiences.” Where did she find the courage to reinvent herself at the age of 14 without erasing who she was before? When did she realize that she held within her the ability to embrace things in tension and turn them into opportunity? Christina shares her journey and explains how she has been able to bridge her reality as the lone woman in many C-suites by staying true to her core values: “If you work hard enough, there aren’t a lot of boundaries you can’t overcome. IF you’re committed and drive towards that!” Tune in to find out why this Bostonian dynamo hopped in her car to pay Chris a visit. It’s a very special episode chalk full of “news you can use” and that you won’t want to miss!

Interested in hearing more from Christina? She offers a treasure trove of interesting perspectives in more than 200 LinkedIn posts you can find at this link.

Check out this brand new website to learn about the keynote topics and workplace leadership trends that are top of mind for Chris these days! And if you’re interested in having a 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribing to our newsletter, please visit this link.

Click hereto hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainerswho have shared their human stories on Gratitude Through Hard Times.

KEY TOPICS:

• If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you don’t give enough credit or thanks to – that you’ve never thought to thank – who would that be and why? Although she’s always been very intentional about sharing her appreciation, she still feels she couldn’t possibly have thanked her parents – whom she so admires – enough.
• Using the Right Words: About the power of expressing gratitude in language that resonates with the recipient.
• Breaking Rules: How Christina reinvented herself at the age of 14, figuring out how to expand her world and thinking in ways that have served her well ever since. 
• Three Options for Managing Through a “Negative Autobiographical Experience”:
• Ignore it, pretend it didn’t happen and just move on.
• Talk it out with a therapist or by journaling and then move on.
• Specifically assign positive benefits that have occurred as a result and give thanks to it for becoming a beneficial part of your life story, a practice known as "grateful processing."
• Why Not Me? What Christina has come to understand about our ability to challenge our self-imposed limitations through humility, determination and drive.
• Breaking the Ceiling: How Christina figured out ways to leverage being the only woman in the room to break boundaries and elicit vulnerability in C-suites full of male entrepreneurs. A superpower!
• Buck the Statistics: Why it’s important not to get trapped by what is and surrender to a victim mentality rather than pushing the envelope and making change!
• Leading With Empathy: About the importance of understanding other people’s experiences and perspectives when navigating corporate culture and decision-making.
• Be the Change: When living with unresolved conflict impacts others with forms of entitlement and hearts at war.
• How Trauma Lands: Why every person’s threshold is different.
• Scaling With Soul: How to stay authentic under even the most stressful circumstances, like taking Rapid7 from being a startup with 75 employees to a publicly traded company with more than 2,000 global personnel.
• Christina’s World View: About the role of challenge and seeking while also keeping balance through life experiences that promote openness and awareness.
• Observing Versus Engaging; Empathy Versus Sympathy: It’s all in the perspective!
• Hope & Healing: How an attitude of gratitude – not found in comparison – yields very real mental, emotional and physical rewards. 
• 365 Days: About Christina’s decision to write – and post publicly – her thoughts and experiences by pretending no one was reading them! It was about seeking connection with others and by putting herself out there, she did exactly that.
• When In Rome: How pasta and all its associations creates magic for Chris and Christina!
• Three Things From the Conversation:
• The power of Mudita, the dharmic concept of joy that comes from delighting in other people’s well-being (as Christina experienced in her chemo encounter).
• Christina lives life in a dialectic posture, embracing black and white as well as the gray. She is able to hold things in tension.
• While she’s open to therapy, what Christina finds most helpful and healing is candid conversations like this one with Chris!
• Timing Is Everything: How, when and why Chris and Christina connected.
• Honor the Moose: About the concept of aligning individual and team collaboration as part of the core corporate ethic at Rapid7.
• The 3C Model of Collaborative Leadership: Connect, Collaborate and Champion.
• In Parting: What it was that inspired Christina to get in her car and drive 3.5 hours from Boston to NYC in order to connect and share meaningful conversation with Chris!
• Closing the Gratitude Loop: Christina’s message for her parents and daughters.
   

QUOTABLE

• “Life is about connections … For me what has made the work that I’ve done or my life interesting is the connections I’ve made with people. It makes my world expand.” (Christina)

• “There’s something beautiful about (not) turning your back on the past but looking for the positive benefits in it and keeping it as part of your life story.” (Chris)

• “Everything I have lived through is an opportunity. There are things that I’ve screwed up or am not proud of, but I don’t dwell on them. I look at what I can take away from that moment and do better.” (Christina)

• “If you work hard enough, there aren’t a lot of boundaries you can’t overcome. IF you’re committed and drive towards that!” (Christina)

• “Life is not about avoiding bad things happening to you. Life is about avoiding a negative mental attitude when those things occur.” (Chris)

• “Scaling with soul is about how you keep the essence of your value set and what you’re trying to be … You can still be a really great place!” (Christina)

• “You can observe or you can engage. And those are two really different things.” (Christina)

• “There’s good in everybody. You just have to be open to finding it and open-hearted to know that just because someone is different from you doesn’t make them better or worse. We’re all just humans.” (Christina)

• “Hard times don’t have to create loneliness. Hard times can create meaningful moments of connection.” (Chris)

• “All the best things in my life have happened when I’ve said ‘yes,’ versus ‘no.’ ” (Christina)

LINKS/FURTHER RESOURCES:

• Click here to learn more about “Taking Care of Business? Grateful Processing of Unpleasant Memories,” the study conducted by researchers at Eastern Washington University.
• "The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict," by The Arbinger Institute.
• More about the many benefits of an attitude of gratitude available at this link.
• "No One Wins Alone," by Mark “the Moose” Messier.

ABOUT OUR GUEST:

Christina Luconi leads Rapid7’s strategic people initiatives as its Chief People Officer. She is responsible for the entire employee lifecycle, with critical focus on recruiting stellar talent, building and inspiring corporate culture, acquisition integration, and “scaling with soul.” Prior to joining Rapid7, Christina was the owner of People Innovations, an independent consulting firm focused on the creation of innovative people strategies for startups and high-growth companies, primarily in the high technology industry. Christina also served as Chief People Officer at @stake, a professional services security firm that she helped build from the launch through its acquisition by Symantec. She also played the role of Vice President of People Strategy at Sapient Corporation. Joining the company prior to its public offering, she was responsible for building the people-focused side of the company from the ground up, aligning business strategy with people needs. Christina also played a critical role as a member of the senior management team, focusing on the strategic and operational direction of the company as well as executing acquisitions, from due diligence through integration.

FOLLOW OUR GUEST:

WEBSITE | LINKEDIN

ABOUT OUR HOST:

Chris Schembra is a philosopher, question asker and facilitator. He's a columnist at Rolling Stone magazine, USA Today calls him their "Gratitude Guru" and he's spent the last six years traveling around the world helping people connect in meaningful ways. As the offshoot of his #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling book, "Gratitude Through Hard Times: Finding Positive Benefits Through Our Darkest Hours,"he uses this podcast to blend ancient stoic philosophy and modern-day science to teach how the principles of gratitude can be used to help people get through their hard times.

FOLLOW CHRIS:

WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | LINKEDIN| BOOKS