Belonging — Podcast — 12 Geniuses

The Pursuit of Perfection with Gymnast Lisa Carmen Wang

Failure is rarely celebrated and when we fail it can be difficult to forgive ourselves and move forward. Competitive gymnastics is founded on the pursuit of perfection. For 4-Time National Champion and USA Hall of Fame Gymnast Lisa Carmen Wang, that pursuit of perfection is not something that ended when her competitive athletic career ended. She has carried it over into her business career as well.

In this interview, Lisa describes the drive and discipline that helped her become a world-class gymnast and how her experiences as an athlete helped her succeed once her career as a gymnast ended. Lisa also talks about the sacrifices she has made to perform at her highest levels, her approach to risk taking, how she overcame the disappointment of narrowly missing the 2008 Olympic Team, her struggle to separate her personal identity with her “entrepreneurial obsession,” and how she is working to empower others to succeed in business and life.

Lisa Carmen Wang is the Founder of the Bad Bitch Empire and author of The Bad Bitch Business Bible. She is a 4-Time National Champion and USA Hall of Fame Gymnast, an ex-Wall Street hedge funder turned serial entrepreneur, angel investor, executive coach, and global speaker. A graduate of Yale University, Lisa’s mission is to empower women to build unapologetic worth and wealth to invest together in the next wave of female-led businesses.

Listen Without Labels with Brad Deutser

We have all been in situations where we felt left out. We might have even been the ones to make other people feel left on the outs. In a variety of ways, we have all been told, “you don’t belong here.” Most leaders think of belonging as yet another social concept that doesn’t embolden the vision, direction, and responsibility of the C-suite, but this point of view is too dangerous to ignore. Organizations that create a strong sense of belonging for all employees have a far greater chance of experiencing financial success while providing an environment where employees can flourish.

In this interview, Brad Deutser - entrepreneur and author of the new book “Belonging Rules” - shares his definition of belonging, the five crucial actions leaders must take to create the space necessary for belonging, the business case for creating belonging, and how these rules can be used outside of work to address our political division, fight gang recruitment, and help marginalized children in our schools. Brad also dives deep into one of the belonging rules specifically - “Listen Without Labels.” In one example, he talks about how the terms “Democrat” and “Republican” associated with political leaders in the news cause viewers and readers to dismiss the content of the message, while instead focusing on whether or not they agree with the leader based on party affiliation.

Brad Deutser is the visionary leader behind Deutser and Deutser Clarity Institute (Houston, New York, Bermuda and Arizona). He is a trusted counselor, executive coach and leadership guru for CEOs, Board Chairs, and top corporate management. His unique insights and original approach to affecting a human approach to sustainable organizational change have impacted top businesses, leading universities, professional sports franchises, and cause-based organizations. He is an expert in creating spaces and leadership capacity for belonging and inclusion. Brad is recognized for his ability to navigate complex, contentious, ambiguous business and people challenges, both inside and outside organizations. He is sought after as an authority and innovative thinker on matters of organizational change, belonging, DEI, and complexity in leadership. He is the bestselling author of Leading Clarity: The Breakthrough Strategy to Unleash People, Profit, and Performance.

Curiosity, Compassion, and Courage in Leadership with Tom Fishman

The United States is more politically and culturally divided than it has been since the 1960s and Americans are fatigued. They are demanding solutions. Tom Fishman believes if curiosity, compassion, and courage can be cultivated into daily habits, we can overcome the polarization, blind tribalism, and dehumanization threatening the social fabric of our communities.

Not only does Tom believe teaching others to be curious, compassionate, and courageous will heal the differences in our communities, he makes the case for bringing these skills into our organizations to make them run more effectively.

In this episode, Tom discusses the extend to which division exists in the United States, how we got here, and how we can bridge this divide. The key is not to demand people come to the middle. Rather, a willingness to understand others without judgment is critical to erasing the notion that people with different ideas than our own are our enemies. Tom talks about how Starts With Us is using social media and technology to teach people the skills needed to communicate and understand others who may see the world differently. Tom also talks about how leaders who teach these skills to their teams can elevate performance in their organizations.

Tom Fishman is CEO of Starts With Us. With an education in physics, Tom has spent his career solving complex problems for media companies like Facebook, Viacom, and Condé Nast. Now, Tom is using his experience with media and technology to habituate the daily practice of curiosity, compassion and courage in order to foster independent thinking and constructive communication across lines of difference. Starts With Us is a movement working to overcome extreme political and cultural division in America.

Building a Championship Team with Lou Nanne

In the competitive business of professional sports, there is no template or formula for building a winner. It does, however, require effective leadership from ownership, general managers, and coaches all the way down to the trainers, traveling secretaries, and front-office personnel. Lou Nanne has been involved in professional hockey for six decades and has studied the attributes of winning cultures across the major professional team sports throughout that time.

In this interview, Lou discusses the creation of a championship professional sports franchise and the leadership necessary to build a winner. Lou talks about culture creation, dealing with failure, mitigating the complications of a mid-season trade, setting expectations, managing emotions, creating a sense of belonging, promoting pro-social behavior, forgiving failure, and how the lessons he has learned about leadership in professional sports apply to other businesses.

Lou Nanne has been a leading figure in the hockey community for decades. Lou was captain of the 1968 United States Olympic Hockey team. Later he played, coached, and served as general manager for the Minnesota North Stars. Lou is a member of the United States Hockey Hall of Fame and the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame. He has also been awarded the Lester Patrick trophy for his impact on the sport of hockey.

Being CEO with Evamarie Schoenborn

In this episode, 12 Geniuses host Don MacPherson and guest Evamarie Schoenborn talk about the attributes of great leadership, they discuss how Evamarie honed her listening skills by emulating financial advisors with whom she worked, and she shares how she and her team led Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management through the pandemic. Evamarie describes her approach to talent management, assessment, and succession planning as CEO and she is candid about the challenges of being CEO, including the difficulty of transitioning into that role from another company. Evamarie also talks about creating a sense of belonging across the entire organization, why she spent so much time on developing others, and she leaves us with her thoughts on what she would like her legacy as a leader to be.

Leading Through Loss with Maj Lauren Serrano

In this episode, Maj Lauren Serrano shares the tragic story of a Marine who took his own life while under her command. We candidly discuss mental health, how she led the more than 200 other Marines under her command through the loss, and how she managed herself through that difficult period of her life.

Most importantly, Maj Serrano provides advice for other leaders who may have a team member or colleague struggling with mental health challenges. Over the last two years, so many people in leadership positions have had to deal with unexpected loss and mental health concerns among members of their teams.Mental health issues are not to be ignored whether they are our own issues or issues with members of our team. Please seek professional help if you or someone on your team is having suicidal thoughts. In the United States, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 800-273-8255. In the UK, the Samaritans hotline can be reached at: 116 123.

Creating a Leadership Driven Culture with Ray Kelly

In this episode, leadership expert Ray Kelly and 12 Geniuses host Don MacPherson discuss the five-levels of leadership. A level-five leader mobilizes a group of people around a common cause to drive a result consistently and develops other leaders who can do the same. This is the key to creating a leadership driven culture. Ray provides advice for how leaders can ascend from levels one, two, and three to levels four and five. They also talk about the importance of leaders continually developing themselves and others, why creating a sense of belonging is critical to effective team performance, how values enable employee engagement, and why high-potential employees need to constantly be challenged or they will leave for other opportunities.

How Leaders Build Exceptional Teams with Dr. Vanessa Druskat

In this episode, Dr. Druskat and 12 Geniuses host Don MacPherson discuss building great work cultures and how leaders can influence the creation of high-performance teams. They talk about the importance of creating and collaborating team norms, how those norms should be governed, the importance of building a sense of belonging, and why hiring the best, most experienced people is not the solution to creating a superior-performing team.

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