Dickie Smothers (half of the comedy duo The Smothers Brothers) joins me to talk about authenticity, celebrity, and re-invention. Dickie’s hard-earned wisdom and thoughtfulness eclipses his immense comedic talent. Join me for a fun and informative discussions about partnership, longevity, and creativity with my friend Dickie Smothers!

Thank you for joining me for this series titled "Stronger Through Adversity." This series highlights key takeaways from my upcoming book of the same name. That book is based on conversations and work with more than 140 global leaders. This installment is titled "Put Your Mask On First."

Leading through the pandemic has been an adventure. According to the CEOs and board members with whom I interacted, that adventure often meant self-sacrifice. Many leaders were working 16, 18, and 20 hours a day. I will be honest I was in that 20 hours a day camp myself.

In Stronger Through Adversity, leaders share how they maintain balance, self-talk, exercise, deep breathing, and movement. Leaders link improved performance to self-care rituals, where (as in the instructions of flight attendants) they put their self-care masks on first so they could assist others.

What are your self-care rituals? How diligently have you been putting your self-care mask on first? How do you remind yourself to pause, breathe, and move?

If you would like to learn more about Stronger Through Adversity and get your special pre-order offer head to strongerthroughadversity.com.

I pitched and had the concept for Stronger Through Adversity accepted by the publication board at McGraw-Hill. In the next two months, I engaged in over 140 conversations with remarkable business, nonprofit, and public safety leaders. CEOs and Presidents of companies like Target, Verizon, Kohl's, Microsoft, Farmers Insurance, Dairy Queen, Mercedes-Benz, Zappos, United Way, Salvation Army, and so many more kindly took time to talk about the lessons they were learning or affirming during the pandemic. I captured these conversations in Stronger Through Adversity and you can step into these resilience conversations in the pages of the book. I will tell you about the five main areas covered in the book throughout this series. Right now, I wonder, what book or conversation of yours needs to be captured? If you would like to learn more about Stronger Through Adversity and get your special pre-order offer head to strongerthroughadversity.com.

Thank you for joining me for this series titled "Make it Technology-Aided and Human-Powered." This series provides tools to help you position your customer and employee experience for relevance in a COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 world. This is the final installment in this series.

Like all retail and restaurant brands, Starbucks took a massive hit throughout the pandemic, but as of today, 90% of its stores remain open. That is a stark contrast to most global restaurant chains. I am convinced that Starbucks' pre-pandemic investments in technology and people contributed to the company's resilience.

Forbes has described Kim Crowder as the "Anti-Racism Educator Your Company Needs Now!" Kim shares her critical insights about diversity and inclusion. This is a conversation every leader should hear. https://www.kimcrowderconsulting.com

Thank you for joining me for this series titled "Make it Technology-Aided and Human-Powered." This series will provide tools to help you position your customer and employee experience for relevance in a COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 world. This installment is titled "Map the Hybrid Journey."

I now know how my mom felt when I lost my driver's license at age 16 for repeatedly speeding in my '57 Chevy. She didn’t mince words and forcefully said, "I told you what would happen if you didn't change your ways."

As a consultant, I've never actually said to a client, I told you so, but sometimes I've entertained the thought. Particularly, when I look back on consultations with leaders who were reluctant to invest in technology-aided human service before COVID-19.

Thank you for joining me for the second installment in the series "Make it Technology-Aided and Human-Powered." This series provides tools to help you position your customer and employee experience for relevance in a COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 world. This installment is titled "Compassion in Action."

In my last post, I distinguished between compassion, empathy, and sympathy. I also shared that from the onset of the pandemic, I've worked with leaders and businesses that have responded to the full-frontal blow of COVID-19. They have done so by showing tenacity, adaptivity, generosity, and most importantly, compassion.

Thank you for joining me for this new series titled "Make it Technology-Aided and Human-Powered." This series will provide tools to help you position your customer and employee experience for relevance in a COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 world. This installment is titled "Be Compassionate."

People are in love with technology these days, and well, they should be. It's hard to imagine how we would have operated any business if this type of pandemic had occurred in the late-1970s without the benefits of the world wide web.

Many of us undoubtedly will look back on COVID-19 (whenever we can put this virus in the rearview mirror) and remember the value of cloud computing, online commerce, home delivery, and video conferencing. But what else will we recall?

Have you ever wanted to have a business do-over? In golf, we call it a mulligan. It's when you are forgiven your first shot and allowed to take another because, let's just say, the first ball didn't go where you intended.

Guess what? COVID-19 has hit the GIANT reset mulligan button for every business.

If pre-pandemic, you had cumbersome processes, now is the time to shed them and act like a start-up.

If you didn't invest enough in contactless processes, you have a great chance to fix that now.

Let's assume you didn't solicit customer feedback regularly and deploy it effectively? Fear not, you are living in the "Better New Days."

For me, the "old normal" world of business was too often like going to a chamber of commerce or networking event where everybody was selling, and no one was buying. There are a lot of business cards passed around, but very few people listening and understanding how they can be of service.

In this "Better than Normal" world, more people are willing to share input, and some companies are capitalizing by being more willing to listening. That listening takes the form of informal inquiries. For example, they track sentiment on social media and ask people to have casual conversations. Formal listening includes pulse surveys or more extensive customer or team member engagement surveys.

So here's the big question, are you one of those listening companies? If you are listening, what are you doing with what you are hearing?