Watch the full video here!

About the Episode

In episode #4 of the Get On Board podcast, Michael Mendillo and guests Ilana Maimon and Walter Christian, dive deep on empathy and what it means to truly care about your employees, team and other people in general. They define empathy as the ability to emotionally understand what other people feel, see things from their point of view, and imagine yourself in their place – and how that relates to business and in life.  

The trio discusses how empathy plays a pivotal role in empowering people to grow personally and professionally and how having empathy from the “top down” can lead to and nurture a culture of collaboration and innovation.  

About the Guests

Ilana Maimon

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Senior Marketing Campaign Manager, FirstService Residential 

Ilana Maimon is the Senior Marketing Campaign Manager for FirstService Residential. With over 10 years of industry experience, Ilana oversees our research team, as well as, drives growth marketing initiatives and campaigns within markets throughout the East region. In her role, she runs intelligent, automated marketing campaigns to our prospects, analyzes the metrics around those campaigns and then optimizes based on performance. 

With a background in accounting, operations and marketing within the real estate industry, Ilana draws on her intersectional expertise to inform marketing strategy. Ilana earned a BA degree in Communication from University of Massachusetts Amherst. 

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Walter Christian

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Regional Technical Director, FirstService Residential 

Walter Christian is the Regional Technical Director for FirstService Residential. With over 22 years of experience in real estate related technology, Walter oversees all technology operations, systems, security and infrastructure for the various departments within markets throughout the East region. In his role, Walter manages all technical associates, voice and data, technical budgets and expenses, designs and implements local environments to meet national guidelines, and negotiates technical contracts for the region. As an evolved and strategic thinker, Walter’s expertise lies in real estate but he is also well versed in hospitality, legal and accounting vertical markets, with a focus on allowing the business to drive the technology. Walter earned a BBA and MS from Baruch College. 

In his spare time, Walter enjoys a good bowl of Mac n’ Cheese and long walks in the park. 

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About the Get On Board Podcast

The Get on Board podcast is a leadership podcast that will help you discover leadership wisdom through thoughtful and real conversations. Join your host and FirstService Residential, president, Michael Mendillo, as he shares perspective on culture, people and what being a great leader truly means. 

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Michael Mendillo is an equity partner with FirstService Residential, the largest residential management company in North America. As president and principal, Michael’s responsibilities include client retention, leadership development, culture building, organizational growth and strategic initiatives. Michael possesses first-hand knowledge of industry and corporate trends and challenges, having directly pitched and closed some of the largest communities in the region. Michael is responsible for identifying, due diligence and negotiation of all regional acquisitions – through closing and integration. He has been involved in 24 such strategic acquisitions including The Niles Company, Community Management Group and the Abbott Group, attributing to the key growth of the organization. 

Listen and/or watch the full episode above! For more Get On Board podcast updates, follow FirstService Residential on Facebook and LinkedIn, and don’t forget to subscribe on the podcast platform of your choice! 

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You Can Read the Full Episode Transcript Below! 

0:01  

  

[Music]  

  

0:15  

  

yeah so i want to i want to bring  

  

0:17  

  

clarity to our our listeners on that  

  

0:19  

  

because i look at it like  

  

0:21  

  

in in  

  

0:22  

  

through my lenses is  

  

0:25  

  

if you work all year  

  

0:28  

  

to  

  

0:29  

  

play in a game  

  

0:31  

  

and we'll use baseball as an analogy  

  

0:34  

  

and you play  

  

0:36  

  

all the games throughout the year and  

  

0:37  

  

you make it to the playoffs and you end  

  

0:39  

  

up winning the world series  

  

0:41  

  

after you take your month off or two  

  

0:43  

  

months off  

  

0:45  

  

what do you do  

  

0:46  

  

you go right back to training  

  

0:48  

  

you go right back to training because  

  

0:49  

  

what do you want to do you want to win  

  

0:50  

  

again  

  

0:52  

  

you actually want to win again it  

  

0:54  

  

doesn't guarantee you you won you're the  

  

0:56  

  

world champions best  

  

0:58  

  

team best baseball team  

  

1:00  

  

so you work  

  

1:02  

  

harder  

  

1:03  

  

then you go to spring training  

  

1:05  

  

and you work harder and you condition  

  

1:08  

  

and then you start playing one game at a  

  

1:10  

  

time  

  

1:11  

  

to do it again  

  

1:13  

  

now if you enjoy what you do  

  

1:16  

  

and you really buy into the winning  

  

1:19  

  

mentality and you really  

  

1:22  

  

care about your fellow teammates and  

  

1:24  

  

caring doesn't mean you love them every  

  

1:26  

  

minute caring doesn't mean you're all  

  

1:28  

  

identical  

  

1:29  

  

caring means that you have the ability  

  

1:32  

  

to kind of understand and respect the  

  

1:35  

  

importance of each other and how to work  

  

1:37  

  

together as a team  

  

1:39  

  

then it doesn't feel like work and i  

  

1:41  

  

agree with you that that's that that's  

  

1:42  

  

right but i wanted to bring a little  

  

1:44  

  

more  

  

1:45  

  

additional clarity to that because i  

  

1:47  

  

think  

  

1:48  

  

achieving success  

  

1:50  

  

takes just this amount of time  

  

1:53  

  

to maintain  

  

1:54  

  

that because you because again walter to  

  

1:57  

  

your point  

  

1:58  

  

kodak pontiac  

  

2:00  

  

they were the number one zenith they  

  

2:02  

  

were the number one brands  

  

2:04  

  

who's gonna tip past them you ever think  

  

2:06  

  

pan am would go out of business  

  

2:08  

  

when you see those  

  

2:10  

  

icon  

  

2:11  

  

icon brands  

  

2:13  

  

getting their ass kicked  

  

2:15  

  

by someone else coming in it's because  

  

2:17  

  

they weren't innovative they were they  

  

2:19  

  

weren't watching that person going i'm  

  

2:21  

  

going to train harder i'm coming in  

  

2:23  

  

different this time and i'm going to  

  

2:25  

  

take them down in those situations and  

  

2:28  

  

that's what that's what happened so it's  

  

2:30  

  

always constantly  

  

2:32  

  

us staying on our game as individual  

  

2:34  

  

leaders being relevant  

  

2:37  

  

right i get i get a lot of times  

  

2:38  

  

questions of you know you still go to  

  

2:40  

  

these events or wow you still come out  

  

2:43  

  

like  

  

2:44  

  

yeah  

  

2:45  

  

like what does that mean you you hit a  

  

2:46  

  

plateau and you you're not  

  

2:49  

  

you're not going to learn or you don't  

  

2:50  

  

want to meet new people or see other  

  

2:53  

  

people look if you're  

  

2:55  

  

taking a different chapter in your life  

  

2:57  

  

or a different direction i get it but at  

  

2:59  

  

the end of the day you know of course  

  

3:01  

  

i'm going to stay in i want to learn i  

  

3:03  

  

want to i want to be you know relevant  

  

3:06  

  

relevant in in today's  

  

3:08  

  

kind of thinking  

  

3:10  

  

so those are things i feel you know  

  

3:12  

  

really really resonate as individual  

  

3:15  

  

leaders and and and company as well  

  

3:19  

  

um  

  

3:19  

  

walter  

  

3:20  

  

from  

  

3:22  

  

a standpoint of the power of  

  

3:25  

  

self-awareness  

  

3:26  

  

does that in your mind is self-awareness  

  

3:29  

  

and what do you  

  

3:30  

  

what do you think self-awareness is and  

  

3:32  

  

does it play a part  

  

3:34  

  

in the culture that you're a part of  

  

3:38  

  

so michael i i  

  

3:40  

  

i totally feel self-awareness is part of  

  

3:42  

  

the culture and  

  

3:45  

  

just to attack onto what alana was  

  

3:46  

  

saying about culture  

  

3:49  

  

it doesn't necessarily go on cruise  

  

3:51  

  

control it doesn't stay static it's  

  

3:54  

  

something that  

  

3:55  

  

once you're in it  

  

3:57  

  

and you're living it it becomes  

  

3:59  

  

contagious almost like a virus where it  

  

4:02  

  

spreads itself and when you look at this  

  

4:05  

  

country  

  

4:06  

  

this country had a culture of innovation  

  

4:09  

  

if it didn't have that culture  

  

4:11  

  

i'd be going to los angeles via railroad  

  

4:13  

  

and it'll take me five days still right  

  

4:16  

  

but now i hop on a plane and it's five  

  

4:18  

  

hours it's  

  

4:19  

  

that's the way things  

  

4:21  

  

are in this country and that's the way  

  

4:24  

  

you want your company to be as well  

  

4:27  

  

now like for me personally one of the  

  

4:30  

  

biggest things that  

  

4:32  

  

i and i do a lot of self-reflection um i  

  

4:36  

  

i live by a lake i walk around the lake  

  

4:39  

  

sometimes i'll smoke a cigar walking  

  

4:40  

  

around the lake and just think about  

  

4:42  

  

myself where i'm going in life what am i  

  

4:45  

  

do what i'm doing and things of that  

  

4:47  

  

nature and one of the biggest things  

  

4:49  

  

that  

  

4:50  

  

i like one of the big revelations that  

  

4:53  

  

came to me  

  

4:54  

  

some years ago was  

  

4:56  

  

i need to accept myself for who i am  

  

5:00  

  

work on my strengths  

  

5:02  

  

acknowledge my weaknesses  

  

5:04  

  

and not let my weakness be  

  

5:07  

  

something that i  

  

5:09  

  

hide  

  

5:11  

  

but embrace it except that's part of who  

  

5:14  

  

i am because people can you see let me  

  

5:16  

  

ask you do you so the the the weakness  

  

5:19  

  

right  

  

5:20  

  

are  

  

5:21  

  

the challenges right whatever  

  

5:22  

  

terminology we we want to use around  

  

5:25  

  

that  

  

5:27  

  

i have to  

  

5:28  

  

assume  

  

5:31  

  

that at one point  

  

5:33  

  

before you  

  

5:36  

  

i'll say grew as a leader and continue  

  

5:38  

  

to think differently and more mature in  

  

5:41  

  

a sense of things you it had to be a  

  

5:43  

  

time where you didn't want to show that  

  

5:45  

  

weakness right you were embarrassed or  

  

5:47  

  

you you skipped over it um  

  

5:51  

  

what have you learned now  

  

5:53  

  

when you had that and then obviously  

  

5:54  

  

you've now  

  

5:56  

  

gone forward with now  

  

5:58  

  

not you said showing that or speaking  

  

6:01  

  

about it why do you think that that's so  

  

6:03  

  

important for some of your team members  

  

6:06  

  

or even your colleagues  

  

6:08  

  

on an executive level to see that i mean  

  

6:11  

  

don't you think that that weakness shows  

  

6:13  

  

that you're not good you're not strong  

  

6:15  

  

you're not gonna uh uh be the right  

  

6:17  

  

leader what's your  

  

6:19  

  

what's your thinking on that  

  

7:50  

  

yeah good  

  

7:52  

  

yeah that's that's that's great so you  

  

7:54  

  

see  

  

7:55  

  

sharing  

  

7:57  

  

that area of what you're working on to  

  

7:59  

  

improve  

  

8:01  

  

uh the areas that you want to improve  

  

8:03  

  

your weaknesses  

  

8:05  

  

you see that as a positive even to share  

  

8:08  

  

with the teams that report to you you  

  

8:12  

  

see that you see that now and i i agree  

  

8:14  

  

with you because some people challenge  

  

8:16  

  

that and say well why would i let the  

  

8:18  

  

people who report to me know where i'm  

  

8:20  

  

weak they're going to take advantage  

  

8:21  

  

well then i say well then you have the  

  

8:22  

  

wrong people on your team  

  

8:24  

  

and where's your trust  

  

8:26  

  

you know where's your trust in the  

  

8:28  

  

process or where's your trust that  

  

8:29  

  

they're gonna look at that and say thank  

  

8:31  

  

god you are human  

  

8:33  

  

you screw up you know that's okay to to  

  

8:36  

  

do those things so i i'm i'm i'm right  

  

8:38  

  

there with you i think it's uh terrific  

  

8:41  

  

the yankee example is just painful now  

  

8:43  

  

because they're not in the playoffs so i  

  

8:44  

  

don't don't appreciate that one but um  

  

8:47  

  

alana um  

  

8:49  

  

uh  

  

8:50  

  

your thoughts on  

  

8:52  

  

empathy how important is empathy  

  

8:56  

  

in a culture  

  

8:58  

  

empathy is everything yeah and and it's  

  

9:01  

  

not to be confused with sympathy because  

  

9:03  

  

while it's important to  

  

9:05  

  

um  

  

9:06  

  

be able to you know provide supportive  

  

9:10  

  

uh maybe sensitive support to  

  

9:12  

  

individuals who need it i think it's  

  

9:14  

  

even more important to be empathetic  

  

9:16  

  

because then you can push yourself in  

  

9:17  

  

the shoes of another person  

  

9:20  

  

and i think that just really connects us  

  

9:21  

  

all um it makes us human um i i love  

  

9:24  

  

what walter was saying about you know  

  

9:26  

  

sharing those vulnerabilities to instill  

  

9:29  

  

trust in those around us and to you know  

  

9:32  

  

be human and show those weaknesses and  

  

9:34  

  

um i think it's important to convey  

  

9:36  

  

those weaknesses if you're comfortable  

  

9:38  

  

with it with the members of your team  

  

9:39  

  

because it just brings you closer yeah  

  

9:42  

  

that's that's that's great  

  

9:44  

  

and and your thoughts during  

  

9:46  

  

uh the pandemic  

  

9:49  

  

did empathy play  

  

9:51  

  

a bigger part not as much  

  

9:53  

  

was it needed what was your your  

  

9:56  

  

leadership view on that and and is there  

  

9:59  

  

any  

  

10:00  

  

areas or examples that you can share  

  

10:02  

  

that you saw in real time with that  

  

10:06  

  

absolutely um you know from a marketing  

  

10:08  

  

standpoint it's imperative to be able to  

  

10:11  

  

empathize with your audience  

  

10:13  

  

you want to deliver on the needs that  

  

10:15  

  

they're looking for you don't want to  

  

10:17  

  

over communicate because you can imagine  

  

10:19  

  

that you know in in times of crisis that  

  

10:21  

  

people are already seeking out you know  

  

10:24  

  

various media outlets to try and do some  

  

10:27  

  

research of their own maybe they're  

  

10:28  

  

feeling the fatigue of all of the  

  

10:30  

  

communications from any brand they  

  

10:32  

  

subscribe to  

  

10:34  

  

it's you don't want to over burden  

  

10:36  

  

people and you want to try to anticipate  

  

10:39  

  

what they might be going through and  

  

10:40  

  

just be  

  

10:41  

  

kind and thoughtful  

  

10:44  

  

so that you can  

  

10:45  

  

be there for them be that light in a  

  

10:47  

  

dark time um and can really show that  

  

10:50  

  

you're listening and you care so i think  

  

10:53  

  

with the pandemic you have this intense  

  

10:57  

  

shared trauma experienced by everybody  

  

10:59  

  

at different calibers  

  

11:01  

  

and to be able to harness onto empathy  

  

11:05  

  

i think really  

  

11:06  

  

brings us a little closer because at the  

  

11:08  

  

end of the day we're all going through  

  

11:09  

  

the same experience  

  

11:11  

  

maybe some people have more  

  

11:12  

  

complications they're taking care of  

  

11:14  

  

their kids they're trying to maintain  

  

11:16  

  

their job while working from home after  

  

11:18  

  

working in an office for maybe 20 years  

  

11:21  

  

or more  

  

11:22  

  

and so there's a lot of pivoting  

  

11:23  

  

involved and a lot of  

  

11:26  

  

challenges as far as changes as i had  

  

11:28  

  

mentioned before it's not comfortable  

  

11:29  

  

for everyone so if you can empathize and  

  

11:33  

  

try and put yourself in the shoes of  

  

11:35  

  

another person and just  

  

11:37  

  

try and understand what their life might  

  

11:39  

  

be like i think that will  

  

11:41  

  

really help you connect with them and  

  

11:42  

  

and deliver on uh providing what they  

  

11:45  

  

need  

  

11:46  

  

yeah that's that is  

  

11:48  

  

that is terrific and i'm i'm so  

  

11:50  

  

shoulder-to-shoulder on you this with  

  

11:52  

  

this  

  

11:53  

  

especially during the pandemic  

  

11:55  

  

that it was so  

  

11:57  

  

important  

  

11:59  

  

that we created kind of hope  

  

12:02  

  

during that time  

  

12:04  

  

because speaking on behalf of our  

  

12:06  

  

associates in the service business  

  

12:10  

  

they personally were going through it as  

  

12:12  

  

you pointed out and some people might  

  

12:14  

  

not have been able to see their loved  

  

12:16  

  

ones some people have lost their loved  

  

12:17  

  

ones some people had to deal with their  

  

12:22  

  

ailments of of of being careful of what  

  

12:25  

  

they may catch during the covet time  

  

12:28  

  

then it's some people's  

  

12:30  

  

environment at home might not be as warm  

  

12:33  

  

and  

  

12:34  

  

engaging than other people and some  

  

12:36  

  

people lived alone and it was very  

  

12:38  

  

lonely and quiet some their homes maybe  

  

12:41  

  

weren't  

  

12:42  

  

uh  

  

12:42  

  

large enough when you're there 24 7 for  

  

12:46  

  

six months  

  

12:47  

  

but then your day-to-day job is to  

  

12:50  

  

service  

  

12:51  

  

people who are feeling the same thing  

  

12:53  

  

and we're getting paid to service them  

  

12:55  

  

but at the same time we're human being  

  

12:57  

  

in the same uh appointment well i'm not  

  

13:00  

  

really sure there's a lot you can do  

  

13:02  

  

around it except  

  

13:03  

  

constantly remind that empathy is real  

  

13:07  

  

and being authentic in that which  

  

13:09  

  

creates hope  

  

13:11  

  

so you know a lot during this time  

  

13:14  

  

uh we had a lot of business  

  

13:16  

  

conversations around this and figuring  

  

13:18  

  

out how and what we can do so you know  

  

13:20  

  

you have your your resources your  

  

13:22  

  

technology or  

  

13:23  

  

layers of other resources you can put in  

  

13:25  

  

which is all good  

  

13:27  

  

strong differentiators uh in those areas  

  

13:30  

  

but the other part was  

  

13:32  

  

i think we got to keep in touch with our  

  

13:34  

  

people that's just how you doing  

  

13:36  

  

like really no how are you doing and  

  

13:39  

  

when that culture goes the answer is  

  

13:42  

  

you didn't do really anything to cure it  

  

13:45  

  

you didn't give them the magic pill that  

  

13:47  

  

made it go away you kind of knew you  

  

13:49  

  

weren't going to  

  

13:51  

  

but you made someone feel a little bit  

  

13:53  

  

better  

  

13:54  

  

and doing that might have just got them  

  

13:55  

  

through that one day that it was a  

  

13:57  

  

little bit more than it was the day  

  

13:59  

  

before  

  

14:00  

  

and that's that's acting on empathy  

  

14:03  

  

that's really acting on empathy and  

  

14:06  

  

using that to leverage to benefit as a  

  

14:09  

  

team  

  

14:10  

  

and how that team can can benefit from  

  

14:13  

  

that so i am i am so right there with  

  

14:15  

  

you and we saw it in in real time and by  

  

14:17  

  

the way folks you know we're not out of  

  

14:20  

  

this  

  

14:21  

  

the if you look at history  

  

14:24  

  

of anything of crisis in history  

  

14:26  

  

the actual act of the crisis if it's  

  

14:30  

  

a storm  

  

14:32  

  

of any sort you know a hurricane if it's  

  

14:35  

  

a a horrific fire a terrorist attack  

  

14:39  

  

whatever it is  

  

14:41  

  

in the moment  

  

14:42  

  

is one part of the impact  

  

14:45  

  

then it's the post  

  

14:47  

  

and the post lingers  

  

14:50  

  

because you have time to think about  

  

14:51  

  

what happened and then you have to  

  

14:53  

  

process  

  

14:54  

  

so i share this because i i wish it  

  

14:58  

  

won't happen i wish it doesn't happen  

  

15:02  

  

but realistically i feel the post part  

  

15:05  

  

of this is going to have some ripple  

  

15:07  

  

effect now the good news is you know  

  

15:09  

  

this too shall pass but when i don't  

  

15:13  

  

know nobody knows we can predict but  

  

15:15  

  

nobody knows but it's a matter of how  

  

15:18  

  

are we going to get by together as a  

  

15:20  

  

team utilizing leadership utilizing a  

  

15:22  

  

culture  

  

15:23  

  

that is embracing to help but here's the  

  

15:26  

  

deal is  

  

15:27  

  

it's not going to be smooth  

  

15:29  

  

you know it's going to people are going  

  

15:31  

  

to hit different walls they're going to  

  

15:33  

  

need different types of areas of what to  

  

15:35  

  

reach out to but if your culture of your  

  

15:36  

  

company or the culture on your team  

  

15:39  

  

is one of where you welcome  

  

15:42  

  

you welcome  

  

15:44  

  

conversations you allow an environment  

  

15:46  

  

for people to  

  

15:48  

  

voice their thoughts or  

  

15:50  

  

their feelings  

  

15:52  

  

or their emotions at the time  

  

15:54  

  

it's healthy it's healthy yes we all  

  

15:56  

  

have a job to do yes there is a  

  

15:59  

  

day-to-day that needs to get done 100  

  

16:02  

  

you know during during the early parts  

  

16:04  

  

of of the pandemic  

  

16:06  

  

it didn't stop the weather  

  

16:08  

  

it didn't stop leaks  

  

16:10  

  

it didn't stop you know things that  

  

16:12  

  

needed to be done on projects right so  

  

16:15  

  

your day-to-day still ought to go on it  

  

16:17  

  

but oh by the way we're clumping this on  

  

16:19  

  

top of it and you got to deal with that  

  

16:22  

  

you know so i believe a culture  

  

16:25  

  

is incredibly powerful  

  

16:28  

  

in times of when you need them  

  

16:30  

  

so um i want to  

  

16:32  

  

you know end the culture  

  

16:35  

  

theme  

  

16:36  

  

uh with with that and thank both of you  

  

16:41  

  

is uh before though uh we  

  

16:44  

  

we we sign off here  

  

16:46  

  

um  

  

16:47  

  

any last words  

  

16:49  

  

if you were to sum up  

  

16:50  

  

you know  

  

16:52  

  

in the future will culture culture  

  

16:55  

  

always play a part  

  

16:56  

  

or do you think you know culture will at  

  

16:59  

  

one point not be important  

  

17:01  

  

in the future so i'll give ichi ichia  

  

17:03  

  

uh you know a little time to to answer  

  

17:06  

  

that so uh walter  

  

17:08  

  

your thoughts on that  

  

17:10  

  

so  

  

17:11  

  

michael let me tell you i'm a big  

  

17:13  

  

believer in culture  

  

17:15  

  

i believe in it in so many different  

  

17:17  

  

aspects of my own personal life so my  

  

17:20  

  

kids are into youth athletics and  

  

17:23  

  

i coach  

  

17:25  

  

and my teams are abnormally successful  

  

17:29  

  

we're either winning championships or  

  

17:31  

  

getting to championship games and we're  

  

17:33  

  

beating top tier talent  

  

17:35  

  

and we're pulling from a five mile  

  

17:36  

  

radius where we're beating teams that  

  

17:38  

  

are pulling from 100 mile radius and one  

  

17:40  

  

of the main reasons i think we're  

  

17:42  

  

beating people is because we have a  

  

17:44  

  

culture a culture that is nurturing  

  

17:48  

  

a culture where we teach our kids to  

  

17:51  

  

respect one another respect their  

  

17:54  

  

teammates respect the coaches respect  

  

17:57  

  

their opposition  

  

17:58  

  

and we teach them  

  

18:00  

  

how to be in a winning environment to  

  

18:03  

  

win with dignity and class to be  

  

18:07  

  

professional even at the ages of eight  

  

18:10  

  

and nine  

  

18:11  

  

we're teaching them how to do that we're  

  

18:13  

  

building that type of culture where we  

  

18:16  

  

had a circumstance where a player came  

  

18:18  

  

onto the team who didn't fit in that  

  

18:20  

  

mantra and  

  

18:22  

  

caused the bit of a  

  

18:24  

  

let's say a a little ruffle in the waves  

  

18:28  

  

and that player left the team and then  

  

18:31  

  

we went back to being the team we were  

  

18:34  

  

where we would just go out there be  

  

18:36  

  

supportive you wouldn't hear negative  

  

18:38  

  

words from players coaches towards one  

  

18:41  

  

another or anything like that and that  

  

18:43  

  

is the culture of a winning team that's  

  

18:46  

  

the culture of a winning organization  

  

18:49  

  

and we have that  

  

18:51  

  

in children  

  

18:52  

  

and if we as adults see that and we use  

  

18:55  

  

that same formula in our everyday lives  

  

18:59  

  

we'll have positive circles all around  

  

19:01  

  

us and we'll continue to build and grow  

  

19:03  

  

positively  

  

19:05  

  

in any endeavor that we take on yeah  

  

19:08  

  

that's great i love that you chose  

  

19:11  

  

to take it personal the last part is  

  

19:13  

  

because it does show that culture is in  

  

19:16  

  

our towns  

  

19:18  

  

in our communities we live in at our  

  

19:21  

  

churches  

  

19:22  

  

uh our family our friends all of the  

  

19:24  

  

above  

  

19:25  

  

is it and and teaching  

  

19:28  

  

that and paying forward  

  

19:30  

  

on  

  

19:31  

  

the  

  

19:32  

  

next generation coming up sets the tone  

  

19:35  

  

of the power of culture so love love  

  

19:38  

  

that you put that in uh that was that  

  

19:40  

  

was great  

  

19:41  

  

uh alana okay  

  

19:43  

  

will you say something yeah one other  

  

19:44  

  

thing michael yeah one thing that people  

  

19:46  

  

have to realize  

  

19:48  

  

is  

  

19:49  

  

like people think talent is something  

  

19:51  

  

that you're born with and it may be your  

  

19:53  

  

birthright they don't understand that  

  

19:55  

  

talent is something that you develop  

  

19:57  

  

it's something that you can improve from  

  

20:00  

  

day one to whatever your last day is  

  

20:03  

  

that's something you can develop and it  

  

20:05  

  

will evolve with you and that's what  

  

20:07  

  

culture is culture is not something that  

  

20:10  

  

is static once it's created it sits it's  

  

20:13  

  

something that you have to constantly  

  

20:14  

  

evolve and grow and that's what my  

  

20:17  

  

thinking is with my teams and that's  

  

20:19  

  

what that's what we need to do as an  

  

20:22  

  

organization just continue to evolve  

  

20:24  

  

sorry lana i didn't mean to cut you off  

  

20:26  

  

no that was that's that's great attitude  

  

20:28  

  

uh and again choice right hard work  

  

20:32  

  

that's what i'm i'm hearing on it you  

  

20:34  

  

know on the punch line on it and you  

  

20:37  

  

know this just doesn't come easy you  

  

20:39  

  

know you don't you don't watch a podcast  

  

20:40  

  

or read read a book on culture and say  

  

20:43  

  

okay i get it like it's action what are  

  

20:46  

  

you taking action every day where do you  

  

20:48  

  

take an action that's going to make a  

  

20:50  

  

difference on your leadership continuing  

  

20:52  

  

to develop and and and rise above the  

  

20:55  

  

other leaders that that you're you're  

  

20:57  

  

with so great great stuff  

  

20:59  

  

um alana your thoughts  

  

21:02  

  

um i love everything that walter said i  

  

21:05  

  

wish to echo those sentiments um on top  

  

21:08  

  

of that i think that um culture is  

  

21:10  

  

inherently tied to identity  

  

21:12  

  

and so with that you will absolutely see  

  

21:15  

  

culture playing a major role with  

  

21:16  

  

organizations and just with individuals  

  

21:19  

  

and you know maybe where they identify  

  

21:21  

  

themselves and how they operate  

  

21:24  

  

i think that  

  

21:26  

  

culture  

  

21:27  

  

will really shape the future  

  

21:29  

  

organizations of the world and i think  

  

21:31  

  

the strongest cultures in those  

  

21:33  

  

organizations will will reap you know  

  

21:36  

  

the rewards of the success they sow  

  

21:39  

  

and i think that it leaves a profound  

  

21:42  

  

impact on the people that are involved  

  

21:45  

  

in those communities in those  

  

21:46  

  

organizations and it just improves their  

  

21:49  

  

quality of life overall  

  

21:51  

  

so i i love the real life application of  

  

21:54  

  

uh walter with his coaching his baseball  

  

21:56  

  

teams and i think that if we can take  

  

21:59  

  

that message of you know focusing on  

  

22:02  

  

growth fostering respect being kind  

  

22:05  

  

having empathy um and you know  

  

22:08  

  

moving forward that we're going to see a  

  

22:11  

  

lot of incredible things in the future  

  

22:14  

  

that's great great and a great great  

  

22:16  

  

ending because i think again  

  

22:18  

  

um people who feel  

  

22:20  

  

you know keep your home issues at home  

  

22:23  

  

and keep your work issues at work  

  

22:25  

  

i think there's really not a there's not  

  

22:27  

  

a realistic thought process there  

  

22:28  

  

because we're human we take those into  

  

22:31  

  

both both ends because we're human it's  

  

22:33  

  

it's very difficult to detach from  

  

22:36  

  

something that you care about if it's  

  

22:38  

  

your family how do you not take it to  

  

22:40  

  

work if you care about your work and  

  

22:42  

  

you're passionate about your work how do  

  

22:43  

  

you not come home  

  

22:45  

  

if you're happy uh or not or if you're  

  

22:48  

  

unhappy how does it not affect your home  

  

22:50  

  

life you know and again  

  

22:52  

  

it's great to hear that because this  

  

22:54  

  

just doesn't happen at work it really is  

  

22:57  

  

a choice  

  

22:58  

  

and it's a  

  

23:00  

  

lifestyle  

  

23:01  

  

thought process  

  

23:03  

  

lifestyle change and we can always  

  

23:05  

  

always improve it so  

  

23:06  

  

you know we're thrilled to be here we're  

  

23:09  

  

thrilled to have these conversations  

  

23:11  

  

with great people that are bringing  

  

23:12  

  

different views  

  

23:14  

  

uh from it  

  

23:16  

  

and we hope in that uh there are some  

  

23:18  

  

nuggets that you took with it and maybe  

  

23:20  

  

again on the self-awareness where you  

  

23:22  

  

can also see where the areas that you  

  

23:24  

  

can improve and get to the next level  

  

23:26  

  

and it's all about get on board  

  

23:28  

  

like you got to get on board folks  

  

23:30  

  

because if not the the ship's leaving  

  

23:32  

  

without you and you're going to stay at  

  

23:34  

  

the port so to be able to go out there  

  

23:36  

  

and venture off is you gotta get on  

  

23:38  

  

board so uh love the topic near and dear  

  

23:42  

  

to my heart and you you both did a  

  

23:44  

  

fabulous job so it was great spending  

  

23:47  

  

time with you all the best and thank you  

  

23:49  

  

until we see  

  

23:52  

  

[Music]