Joseph Michelli explores the increased importance of emotional value creation for employee and customer experiences. He also offers ways to differentiate your brand through your emotional value delivery.

**Originally recorded as a Livestream on Thursday, March 4, 2021.

"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together." Those are the words of civil rights leader Desmond Tutu.

This is the final post in a series titled The Gifts of the Pandemic.

For me, one of the most significant benefits of this unwanted crisis has been a recommitment to the human experience. By that, I mean, leaders have demonstrated more compassion and respect for their employees' needs. Team members have made sacrifices for one another and exceeded customer expectations.

For more about human experience elevation, please pick-up or gift a copy of my book Stronger Through Adversity, which provides more than 20 pandemic forged lessons from 140 plus leaders like the CEOs and Presidents of Target, Verizon, Kohl's, Microsoft, and Marriott. To elevate the experience of those fighting COVID-19, I'm donating a portion of the book's proceeds to the international nonprofit Direct Relief, which provides food and supplies to those on the frontline.

This week's guest is Tracy Grammer. Tracy rose to acclaim in the late 1990s as half of the legendary folk duo Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer. Following Carter’s death in 2002, Grammer continued to perform, building a devoted following as an interpreter, multi-instrumentalist, storyteller, and champion of Carter’s legacy. Tracy Grammer is among contemporary folk music's most beloved artists. Renowned for her pure voice, deft guitar and violin work, and incantatory storytelling, Grammer has recorded and performed with Joan Baez and Mary Chapin Carpenter, headlined several of the nation's top folk festivals, including Philadelphia Folk Festival and Falcon Ridge, and enjoyed 12 consecutive years as one of folk radio's 50 top-played artists, both solo and with the late Dave Carter. For more about Tracy, visit https://www.tracygrammer.com​.

Originally aired as a video Livestream on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021.

It’s easy to remember a time when someone failed to acknowledge our contribution. However, it’s almost impossible to know how often people walked away from interacting with us feeling underappreciated. Based on my experience this last year, I’ve noticed leaders expressing gratitude more frequently to their team members. Michelle Gass, CEO of Kohl’s, exemplifies this unintended benefit of the pandemic.

Michelle told me one of her top priorities during COVID-19 has been to “consistently express my tremendous gratitude and thanks to our 100,000 associates. In every message, I’ve been very intentional about saying thank you. Sometimes it was in recognition for people who are on the front lines in our e-commerce fulfillment centers. Other times gratitude would be expressed for those who made curbside pick-up possible."

To learn more about the role of gratitude in crisis, please pick-up or gift a copy of my book Stronger Through Adversity, which provides more than 20 pandemic forged lessons from 140 plus leaders like the CEOs and Presidents of Target, Verizon, Microsoft, and Marriott. As an expression of my gratitude, I’m donating a portion of the book’s proceeds to the international nonprofit Direct Relief, which provides food and supplies to those on the frontline. 

This week's guest is Suzanne Tulien. Suzanne is a Brand Clarity Expert, author, and speaker specializing in identifying, defining, and aligning her clients to their distinctive brand value positioning through her proprietary process, to achieve extreme clarity on her clients’ differentiation, master consistencies to build trust and create “on-brand” actions and behaviors from the inside out. She is the author of three books: Brand DNA, Personal Brand Clarity, and The 6 Myths of Small Business Branding. She speaks, trains, and consults internationally. For more about Suzanne, visit www.BrandAscension.com.

This episode originally aired as a video live stream on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021.

The indoor roller coaster ride, Space Mountain, at Disney World lasts 2 minutes and 30 seconds, plummeting riders into darkness and a heart-pounding adventure. Now imagine you strap into your Space Mountain ride, and it lasts more than two and 1/2 minutes. Imagine you're still going for two and ½ hours, and you have no idea when the ride will end. Such is the state of disequilibrium most of us have experienced during the pandemic.

This is the fifth post in my series titled The Gifts of the Pandemic.

Keeping with our Space Mountain example, you've likely struggled to manage the speed of change needed to navigate the continual twists and turns of the pandemic. You probably had few options to slow or stop this ride. So where do you turn?

For more about the gift of purpose, I hope you'll pick-up or gift a copy of my book Stronger Through Adversity, which provides more than 20 pandemic forged lessons from 140 plus leaders like the CEOs and Presidents of Target, Verizon, Kohl's, Microsoft, and Marriott. My purpose is to "serve those who serve well," so I'm donating a portion of the book's proceeds to the international nonprofit Direct Relief, which provides food and supplies to those on the frontline.

I'd like to invite you to join my guests and me for LinkedIn Live conversations every Thursday at 12:30 p.m. Eastern. 

This week's guest is Brad Montgomery. Brad teaches people how to use emotional & social to boost performance, creativity, innovation & profits. He turns typical meetings into transformational events using, the power of encouragement. Other speakers TALK about happiness. But Brad SHOWS them how to harness the power of happiness in hands-on experiences that they’ll remember and implement. For more about Brad, visit https://www.bradmontgomery.com​.

Originally aired as a video live stream on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021.

This is the fourth post in my series titled The Gifts of the Pandemic.

So far in this series, we've looked at pandemic gifts or teachable moments that include:

• Learning
• Humility
• Empathy

Upcoming installments will focus on:

• Clarity of Values
• Gratitude
• Human Experience Elevation

I realize the title of this series can be a bit jarring. How can the pandemic provide "gifts?"

When it comes to adaptivity, the pandemic forced many companies to pivot or perish. 

For more about adaptivity and "pivoting with purpose," I hope you'll pick-up or gift a copy of my book Stronger Through Adversity, which provides more than 20 pandemic forged lessons from 140 plus leaders like the CEOs and Presidents of Target, Verizon, Kohl's, Microsoft, and Marriott. When you purchase the book, you're helping those who are fighting the pandemic since a portion of the book's proceeds is donated to the international nonprofit Direct Relief, which provides food and supplies to those on the frontlines.

Sarah is the author of The Space Between Us: How Jesus Teaches Us to Live Together When Politics and Religion Pull Us Apart. She has worked in the Children’s Ministry of North Point Community Church just outside Atlanta, student ministry at DASH Student Ministry, and ReThink Group. Sarah is a writer and editor for the student curriculum and been a contributing writer to the Orange Parents blog since 2012. For more information about Sarah B. Anderson, visit https://sarahbanderson.com/home/

This episode originally aired as a live video stream on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021.

For me, empathy is best exemplified by neuroscientific research, which shows when we observe the pain of others, it activates the same neural pathways as when we experience pain ourselves. We are hardwired to “feel into” the pain of others, which is the translation of the German root from which the word empathy evolved. Empathy is the gift of feeling into the emotions of others.

For more about empathy and compassion, I hope you will pick up or gift a copy of my book Stronger Through Adversity, which provides more than 20 pandemic forged lessons from 140 plus leaders like the CEOs and Presidents of Target, Verizon, Kohl's, Microsoft, and Marriott. Out of empathy for those fighting the pandemic, I’m donating a portion of the book’s proceeds to the international nonprofit Direct Relief, which provides food and supplies to those on the frontline.