Speaker 1: How do you think about your health? Do you just
Speaker 1: try to do and eat the things that are traditionally
Speaker 1: thought of as healthy or have you dug a little
Speaker 1: deeper to find out more about what your body wants
Speaker 1: and needs and how it reacts to different things. Do
Speaker 1: you even think about the mind as part of that
Speaker 1: health routine? When it comes to physical and mental health,
Speaker 1: there are so many different options out there, but how
Speaker 1: can you know for sure that you're getting it right?
Speaker 1: When Radik Sally was the CEO of Vitamin Giant Swiss
Speaker 1: Wellness Group, he had a lot of time to think
Speaker 1: about wellness and he's taken his investigation a little further
Speaker 1: than most by digging deep into his DNA. He's also
Speaker 1: not afraid to lead by example and can be regularly
Speaker 1: found meditating just around the office. And Radik is also
Speaker 1: a big fan of the execs I give health check,
Speaker 1: something he now gets done religiously every couple of years.
Speaker 1: So why are routines for the mind just as important
Speaker 1: as our regular health and hygiene routines like brushing our
Speaker 1: teeth or having a daily shower. And what can our
Speaker 1: DNA tell us about our health habits? And what does
Speaker 1: it mean to truly have good mental health at work.
Speaker 1: And here's a hint, it starts with the people around you.
Speaker 1: My name is doctor Amantha Imba. I'm an organizational psychologist
Speaker 1: and the founder of Behavioral Science Consultancy Inventium, and this
Speaker 1: is how I work a show about how to help
Speaker 1: you do your best work. So when I was researching
Speaker 1: for this interview with Radek, I've learned that he had
Speaker 1: had a DNA test when him and his wife were
Speaker 1: trying to get pregnant. So I was very keen to ask,
Speaker 1: why do you do that? And what on earth does
Speaker 1: the DNA test involve?
Speaker 2: So a DNA test is just like a blood test.
Speaker 2: It seems a bit scarier because a lot of sci
Speaker 2: fi movies have run away with various subplots of what
Speaker 2: you could do with your DNA, But ultimately the DNA
Speaker 2: you can find out a whole lot of things about yourself.
Speaker 2: And what we found is that we had a matching
Speaker 2: DNA jeene that meant our chances of falling pregnant through
Speaker 2: natural conception and without doing this this radical treatment that
Speaker 2: we did was going to be very low. And so
Speaker 2: thankfully we got onto that piece of advice and ten
Speaker 2: years down the path. We finally had a baby girl,
Speaker 2: so she's threed ow.
Speaker 1: Wow, amazing. I have got a seven and a half
Speaker 1: year old girl, so it's very very joyful. Lots of pink. Now,
Speaker 1: what else did you find out in that DNA test
Speaker 1: that I guess helped shape some of your health behaviors
Speaker 1: and rituals.
Speaker 3: Good question.
Speaker 2: So the DNA test we did was really focused on
Speaker 2: finding out whether we had that matching DNA, but there
Speaker 2: was this there is an investment that we made as
Speaker 2: a grouper's lot. Were in a company called my Dna
Speaker 2: and that and I did the test there and that
Speaker 2: is focused on wellness outcome. So what best matches your
Speaker 2: DNA from a lifestyle point of view, So your diet,
Speaker 2: your exercise, your capacity for digesting caffeine, So tips on
Speaker 2: keeping your DNA as healthy as possible. And over ninety
Speaker 2: nine percent of our DNA is influenced by lifestyle factors, so.
Speaker 3: We can improve the health of our DNA.
Speaker 2: We're not set sailing down the path of ending up
Speaker 2: with a chronic disease unless we switch on our DNA
Speaker 2: receptors and through through bad lifestyle choices.
Speaker 1: So, what have been some of the most powerful things
Speaker 1: You've found out about yourself through DNA testing.
Speaker 2: That I have an extraordinary capacity for endurance, which it
Speaker 2: doesn't surprise me now looking back at my life. But
Speaker 2: I also get injured very easily and hence why my
Speaker 2: knees are pretty ordinary and I struggle with running and
Speaker 2: things like that, So that was one thing that was reassuring.
Speaker 2: I also found out that it takes me six to
Speaker 2: eight hours to process caffeine, so if I'm to have
Speaker 2: a cup of coffee.
Speaker 3: Late in the afternoon, I'm going to struggle with sleeping.
Speaker 2: And also that a Mediterranean diet is the diet of
Speaker 2: choice for me, whereas my wife was more focused on
Speaker 2: a plant based diet. So it really comes back to
Speaker 2: your personal situation and with the DNA you've been blessed
Speaker 2: with and how can optimize that.
Speaker 1: Are there any other health tests that you've done that
Speaker 1: have influenced like how you think about health and well
Speaker 1: being in your life.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I love doing an executive health check at the National
Speaker 2: Institute of Integrated Medicine and we do that every two years,
Speaker 2: and it's a full health check on the standard things
Speaker 2: a stress test on your heart through to blood tests
Speaker 2: and measuring things like cholesterol, all things that you'd go
Speaker 2: to a doctor as a one off if you're concerned.
Speaker 2: But also the benefits of this as you see a
Speaker 2: psychologist and you have an evaluation where you're.
Speaker 3: At, you have a good chat about your life and stress.
Speaker 2: And because stress is the number one cause of all
Speaker 2: chronic diseases, that's the.
Speaker 3: Number one thing we need to get in hand and manage.
Speaker 2: And so there's a whole lot of stress markets that
Speaker 2: are well that can be measured through your blood. And
Speaker 2: then also they look at things like your nutrition, like
Speaker 2: your vitamin D levels, which is a goad essential for
Speaker 2: our health throughout winter. A respiratory system just doesn't do
Speaker 2: well unless our D levels are optimal, and many studies
Speaker 2: have shown that over fifty percent of people.
Speaker 3: In Melbourne alone we have a too low vitamin D levels.
Speaker 3: And envitamin D is.
Speaker 2: Essential for protecting us through winter through viruses and so
Speaker 2: forth through to things like B vitamins and B vitamins
Speaker 2: I ensure that your nervous system and your brain functions
Speaker 2: operating correctly. So it's just a wondrous mix of great
Speaker 2: information that I could go on about. And actually I
Speaker 2: was just looking at the book that you get as
Speaker 2: a result of that process at the end of it,
Speaker 2: which is about a two hundred page document on your
Speaker 2: health and how you can optimize it and do better
Speaker 2: by it, and also markets that you need to be
Speaker 2: aware of and regularly monitor.
Speaker 3: And so to me, we go.
Speaker 2: And do that with our cars very regularly by servicing them,
Speaker 2: and we pay extraordinary amounts of money to fix our cars.
Speaker 2: And yet when we talk about our health, we don't
Speaker 2: think about it the same way. We should be doing
Speaker 2: proactive system checks and how it is performing and how
Speaker 2: we can optimize what we do each day through health.
Speaker 1: And in terms of your own life with general health
Speaker 1: and wellness behaviors, I'd love to know what are some
Speaker 1: of the daily or weekly rituals that you have in
Speaker 1: place to just function better as a human.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I think number one for me is just
Speaker 2: the state of mind and making that choice to really
Speaker 2: concern myself about the controllables in my life and what
Speaker 2: I can do to manage that, because every day we
Speaker 2: just get served with a set of uncontrollables and we
Speaker 2: need to be the.
Speaker 3: Best state possible to deal with those uncontrollables.
Speaker 2: So the controllables are things like choosing to get the
Speaker 2: right amount of sleep each night, choosing to exercise the
Speaker 2: amount of times that make makes you feel invigorated, and
Speaker 2: that's become more over time for me.
Speaker 3: And I started out with three times a week and
Speaker 3: now I'm.
Speaker 2: Doing five to six times a week for an hour,
Speaker 2: and that's something that I've just found it helps me
Speaker 2: a lot through to choosing to do things practices like yoga,
Speaker 2: which I now do three times a week and wasn't
Speaker 2: doing three years ago, but had done as a child.
Speaker 2: But probably if I'm frustrated thinking if I've done it
Speaker 2: for the last twenty years, some of those injuries that
Speaker 2: I was talking about earlier, I might have managed them
Speaker 2: in a more positive function that said, my body is
Speaker 2: moving better than it ever has as a result of
Speaker 2: choosing to practice those modalities.
Speaker 3: Also meditation.
Speaker 2: Hella and I, my wife, we gave each other the
Speaker 2: great gift of meditation a good bet seven eight years
Speaker 2: ago where we got a meditation coach to coach es
Speaker 2: both because we both thought we needed meditation to help.
Speaker 3: Us deal with stress.
Speaker 2: And I've done meditation as a child and many times
Speaker 2: I've gone for mindful courses.
Speaker 3: But what I discovered it was the best.
Speaker 2: Coach that got me going and making it a practice
Speaker 2: that I'm devout to where I do twenty minutes minimum
Speaker 2: per day and then in stressful times like we see
Speaker 2: at the moment where there are a lot of uncontrollables,
Speaker 2: twice a day, twenty minutes is absolute necessity and it
Speaker 2: should be something that you look forward to, like you know,
Speaker 2: I look forward to brushing my teeth every night or
Speaker 2: having a shower every day. The state of our mind
Speaker 2: really should be something that we make a priority.
Speaker 3: So that's been really important.
Speaker 2: Choosing healthy food too, I mean the gift of doing
Speaker 2: something healthy for your partner and preparing them a healthy
Speaker 2: meal is a wonderful process just to go through and
Speaker 2: to feel that that level of gratitude as a result
Speaker 2: of doing that each other for each other. So service
Speaker 2: and service, service in partnership with those around you, but
Speaker 2: service to others around you is what I see is
Speaker 2: essential as a leader in this day and age to
Speaker 2: get by and see your role as a person that
Speaker 2: serve and support those around you.
Speaker 1: And how does serve and support those around you? How
Speaker 1: does that work in practice? Can you give me examples
Speaker 1: of what that looks like with the teams that you
Speaker 1: work with, for example.
Speaker 2: I'd probably like to think about it from a broad
Speaker 2: point of view first, to just to break it down
Speaker 2: and know, we all just saw the AFL Grand Final
Speaker 2: on the weekend, and any kind of sporting event requires
Speaker 2: a great coach to be there to support. And if
Speaker 2: you watch the football or any sport you might be into,
Speaker 2: there's permission for that coach to talk openly about the
Speaker 2: player's development and team strategy and how the group is
Speaker 2: going in delivering on that. And if you saw a
Speaker 2: team member turn around and backchat to a coach and
Speaker 2: say mat or there was generine disagreement amongst that group
Speaker 2: that things weren't going to plan, the team's less likely
Speaker 2: to win. And yes, sometimes that can become you know,
Speaker 2: it could be a heated moment and a challenging moment
Speaker 2: and they get through it.
Speaker 3: And that ends up.
Speaker 2: But when that's the fine balance of service and being
Speaker 2: there to support, the thing that's always kept me up
Speaker 2: at night is how people feel about the work they
Speaker 2: do and whether they feel purpose in how they go
Speaker 2: about doing it, And that, to me is our great
Speaker 2: responsibility as leaders in society. Our version of democracy is
Speaker 2: under attack. You democracy and capitalism, and the next best
Speaker 2: version is autocratic capitalism, and I'm not too excited about that.
Speaker 2: And so you know, eighty percent of people work in
Speaker 2: workplaces in these free societies and in businesses, twenty percent
Speaker 2: only work for government. So it's our responsibility as leaders
Speaker 2: to ensure that people feel really great about the work.
Speaker 2: We'll get better performance, but also we'll have a much
Speaker 2: happier society as.
Speaker 3: A result of it.
Speaker 1: So with the idea of feeling a sense of purpose
Speaker 1: at work, firstly, I want to know how do you
Speaker 1: know if you're feeling it or if you're not.
Speaker 2: Exactly, I think the most important thing is that you're
Speaker 2: reviewing your culture and your values as often as your
Speaker 2: business plan and so your KPI. As you budgeting, you
Speaker 2: focus on the numbers, and the outcomes of those numbers
Speaker 2: need to be really closely aligned. How's the culture doing
Speaker 2: and does the organization have a value set? A guide's
Speaker 2: decision and our people brought him to that value set
Speaker 2: and hence the culture.
Speaker 1: And are there specific questions that you like to ask people,
Speaker 1: because I imagine like a lot of listeners would work in
Speaker 1: organizations that have value stuck on the wall, Whether they're
Speaker 1: lived or not is a whole other discussion. But you know, anecdotally,
Speaker 1: like for example, when you're at Swiss and you're you know,
Speaker 1: walking down the corridors back when we used to be
Speaker 1: in an office, like, are there questions that you would
Speaker 1: ask people just casually to get a sense as to
Speaker 1: you know, people like really dialed into the purpose of
Speaker 1: they're feeling it.
Speaker 2: And so that's where it has to be a fundamental
Speaker 2: choice from everyone in the organization that they are going
Speaker 2: to brace those values. There's nothing worse than having the
Speaker 2: values on the wall and no one connecting with them,
Speaker 2: that there's no reason for them, that there's no decisions
Speaker 2: that are clearly guided by them. And the number one
Speaker 2: thing that went to is when anyone presents to us
Speaker 2: that's leading one of our businesses that we're invested in,
Speaker 2: we get them to present the business player, present the values,
Speaker 2: and then the culture player and then communication plan along
Speaker 2: with that.
Speaker 3: And I asked them to cover their eyes and repeat
Speaker 3: the values.
Speaker 2: And the amount of times people don't know what they
Speaker 2: are it just continues to kind of make me smile.
Speaker 2: Whereas if we're talking about the revenue targets, the bunch
Speaker 2: of targets, the cost of goods, the payroll targets.
Speaker 3: It's all very clear. Everyone knows KPIs. So you really
Speaker 3: need to work really really hard on this notion of
Speaker 3: it coming to life.
Speaker 2: And so how we did, how I've done that in
Speaker 2: past life, say at Swiss, was to make sure that
Speaker 2: our choice of language is always constructive. You think about
Speaker 2: if you go to a personal trader and they say
Speaker 2: to you, right through your ten push ups, and you're
Speaker 2: so halfway through that ten set of push ups and
Speaker 2: they start telling you look tired. You're not going to
Speaker 2: get through this, and this is how workplaces are.
Speaker 3: You know, we.
Speaker 2: Don't use constructive, positive language. So we threw out words
Speaker 2: like problem. At Swiss it was replaced with challenge. I
Speaker 2: still hesitate before I say a lot of these things
Speaker 2: because of so against our nature to use these words,
Speaker 2: because it was so ingrained.
Speaker 3: It was so important for me as a leader to
Speaker 3: reinforce you.
Speaker 2: Know, instead of saying I we would talk about week
Speaker 2: all the time, and you know, we talk about LGI moments,
Speaker 2: so learn grow and improve moments. So that's when something
Speaker 2: went wrong, we would talk about this is an LGI
Speaker 2: and what you can learn from because from fun.
Speaker 1: Out, I've heard you say that the people that you
Speaker 1: have around you are really key to having good mental
Speaker 1: health at work. Can you tell me what you mean
Speaker 1: by that?
Speaker 3: Well, I think that let's start with the basics.
Speaker 2: We do so much better when we're around people that
Speaker 2: enable us to thrive.
Speaker 3: And that's a balance of not just telling each.
Speaker 2: Other how great we are all the time, but also
Speaker 2: being brave enough to say, hey, these are the areas
Speaker 2: you need to improve it, and have enough respect in
Speaker 2: that individual to want to make those changes to move
Speaker 2: forward and become better.
Speaker 3: So I like it.
Speaker 2: So we've all had a bad relationship, you know, a
Speaker 2: bad boyfriend and girlfriend, husband and wife, and we're just
Speaker 2: such a not the best version of ourselves in that relationship,
Speaker 2: and that other person wasn't either when I look back
Speaker 2: at it. And then when you break up with them
Speaker 2: or your friends say hey, I knew that was bad
Speaker 2: for you, we's like, why didn't you tell me during
Speaker 2: the situation.
Speaker 3: And so a lot of us.
Speaker 2: Are in this bad relationship at work and know, for me,
Speaker 2: whenever someone didn't click with our culture, didn't get it
Speaker 2: and didn't want to make those positive constructive choices to
Speaker 2: deliver to work and you know what is quite confronting
Speaker 2: to have quite honest and genuine conversations about how we're
Speaker 2: going to improve, but.
Speaker 3: Also hugely rewarding.
Speaker 2: And the amount of people whose husband's wives partners told
Speaker 2: me after that started working with us how much of
Speaker 2: a better person they'd become as a result of the
Speaker 2: wonderful culture that we had and the spy they have
Speaker 2: in all our businesses. Just just underline this fact that
Speaker 2: you can do it and do it in a way
Speaker 2: that feels positive and great. And those one percent that
Speaker 2: didn't work out five percent at certain times now maybe
Speaker 2: they just want to be miserable in the workplace, and
Speaker 2: I'd say that's wonderful. Go and be somewhere where others
Speaker 2: are miserable, and you've all be miserable together.
Speaker 1: Now, what's your process for vetting people if they're going
Speaker 1: to be someone that is an energy giver as opposed
Speaker 1: to more of an energy taker.
Speaker 2: Well, I think that you've got to be really careful
Speaker 2: because you need diversity and all shapes and sizes, and
Speaker 2: you don't want just people, you know, on that kind
Speaker 2: of extrovert end that are just all about rah rah
Speaker 2: and calling out this is the way we go about it.
Speaker 2: What I really love was seeing each of it really
Speaker 2: embrace choice of languages but doing it in their style
Speaker 2: and way, and it was really really effective. So you
Speaker 2: need to be careful over just being a genuine chemistry
Speaker 2: that you have, But it's about assessing what you think
Speaker 2: that the organization needs and having that kind of that
Speaker 2: perspective that you really need that mixture of personalities to
Speaker 2: get the best outcomes.
Speaker 3: Just like a great.
Speaker 2: Team needs all sorts of people with shapes and sizes
Speaker 2: and speeds and strength to get things done, but there's
Speaker 2: a level of high performance that's required to get amazing
Speaker 2: out now.
Speaker 1: I like how you use a lot of sporting analogies
Speaker 1: to the world of work. I'm curious what other ones
Speaker 1: have you found really resonate with people in terms of
Speaker 1: getting concepts to really click a land.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just I'm a big one for why waste
Speaker 2: time at work? You know, when I got my first
Speaker 2: job out of school, I worked at Village road Show
Speaker 2: and I started in the candy bar, and I was
Speaker 2: getting paid casually like all my mates.
Speaker 3: Then funk job because you're in cinemas.
Speaker 2: And then at the same time I was studying university,
Speaker 2: and I was paying to go to university. I was
Speaker 2: getting paid to learn about business and work and how
Speaker 2: to manage people and so forth. So I worked really
Speaker 2: hard and tiresly from there on this kind of development
Speaker 2: of my leadership style, and there was just no room
Speaker 2: for me to be any anything else but authentic because
Speaker 2: a lot of these people that I worked with with
Speaker 2: my mates that I would catch up with Drew in
Speaker 2: the week for a drink outside of work, and then
Speaker 2: I have to go to work and say, hey, guys,
Speaker 2: we're going to upset today or we're going to make
Speaker 2: some chop tops. And as I progressed through the ranks
Speaker 2: and took on my role seriously and.
Speaker 3: Saw it as this great opportunity.
Speaker 2: To learn, and it became as more important than my
Speaker 2: university in the gray.
Speaker 3: So you know, I.
Speaker 2: Kind of liken that sort of lifetime journey to me
Speaker 2: making the choice that I was going to be professional
Speaker 2: about my work, professional.
Speaker 3: Like a sportsperson. So if you want to win one
Speaker 3: hundred meter rays, you have to have some talent first.
Speaker 2: The goal that that goal at the Olympics is a
Speaker 2: really difficult thing to do. You have to make a
Speaker 2: whole lot of life sacrifices that are probably a whole
Speaker 2: lot more aggressive than a lifetime in business. But there
Speaker 2: are still a huge amount of choices that you need,
Speaker 2: sacrifices that you need to make to be successful and
Speaker 2: to operate at that high performance level. It won't just
Speaker 2: happen automatically. It takes a whole lot of work and
Speaker 2: commitment to it.
Speaker 3: So why waste your time?
Speaker 2: You're at work for the great This amount of your
Speaker 2: waking hours that is your chosen profession, just like a
Speaker 2: sportsperson has chosen that profession to be number one end,
Speaker 2: just like a person in the arts might choose theater,
Speaker 2: or an actor might choose to be top of aircraft.
Speaker 3: It is a huge amount of hard work. And you
Speaker 3: know what I've.
Speaker 2: Realized too now the grand age of forty five is
Speaker 2: that I won't be a CEO again. I don't have
Speaker 2: the energy to do that again. It's a massive effort
Speaker 2: and it took me good ten years of my life
Speaker 2: that I don't think I could deliver again.
Speaker 1: We will be back very shortly with Erratik, where we'll
Speaker 1: be talking about why he thinks focusing on community is
Speaker 1: the foundation for well being and also why erratic has
Speaker 1: been known to often secretly pay for strangers coffees. Now,
Speaker 1: if you are not fo me on the socials, but
Speaker 1: you want to consume more content and get additional tips
Speaker 1: and tricks and so forth for being better at work,
Speaker 1: why not connect with me. I am on LinkedIn. You
Speaker 1: can find me at Amantha INMBA. I'm also on Twitter
Speaker 1: at Amantha and on Instagram at amantha I. And if
Speaker 1: you do connect with me, shoot me a little note
Speaker 1: to let me know that this is how you found me.
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you, so, Radik, I've heard
Speaker 1: you say that focusing on the community is a foundation
Speaker 1: for well being. Can you tell me what you mean
Speaker 1: by that?
Speaker 2: Well, it's about filling your soul, filling your cup. And
Speaker 2: I know I talked a little bit earlier about how
Speaker 2: culture and how can affect families and how they feel
Speaker 2: feel so much better going to a workplace feeling purpose.
Speaker 2: But for greater meeting and organizations to have greater meeting,
Speaker 2: they not only have to have a purpose for making
Speaker 2: I suppose the world a better place. How they go
Speaker 2: about doing business and the products they create. Uh, that
Speaker 2: goes also into to working with community and doing work
Speaker 2: that's above and beyond, and you know, the meetings that
Speaker 2: I have and again that mood barometer. If I walk
Speaker 2: out of a meeting that I've had with it a
Speaker 2: not for profit, there's a beaming smile on my face
Speaker 2: and my wife notices the difference. And being intuitive and
Speaker 2: aware of these sorts of things is so important and
Speaker 2: so yeah, one thing after yeah. So so just just
Speaker 2: that that that feeling of gratitude, contentment, and that that
Speaker 2: that sense of when you give something you feels so great.
Speaker 2: I always love giving people presents and watching the reaction
Speaker 2: from that happened. I gave more from that than than
Speaker 2: than receiving a president a gift. So there's just so
Speaker 2: much joy in giving. And so to be in the
Speaker 2: lucky position where we sold Swiss wellness for an extraordinary
Speaker 2: figure and now to have, you know, to sort of
Speaker 2: step back and get a real sense of what's important
Speaker 2: in life. I've chosen now to spend half my time
Speaker 2: working with community, working alongside them, and that's not because,
Speaker 2: you know, not only because I'm giving, but I get
Speaker 2: so much more from that and just from the interaction
Speaker 2: of extraordinary leaders that are out there just doing extraordinary things.
Speaker 2: In society and being there to support, not help, AT's
Speaker 2: walk alongside them.
Speaker 1: And what do you recommend for people that are not
Speaker 1: able to do that, because it's such a fortunate position
Speaker 1: that you're in, So, you know, for people that aren't
Speaker 1: able to dedicate half their life to doing not for
Speaker 1: profit work or half their time, what do you see
Speaker 1: as some effective, smaller ways that people can get that buzz.
Speaker 2: There's so many things that you can do to just
Speaker 2: make people's day better. And so your choice in terms
Speaker 2: of getting out of bed and making that decision to
Speaker 2: smile at someone as they walk past you, wave, do
Speaker 2: the unexpected. I used to me for a long time,
Speaker 2: I've just paid for people's coffee, sometimes in queues well
Speaker 2: before I've done well financially, just to get a sense
Speaker 2: of giving. So there are little things like that going
Speaker 2: above and beyond. And then just knowing your responsibility in
Speaker 2: the workplace to create a great culture and trying to
Speaker 2: find ways to create purpose and meaning in what the
Speaker 2: organization does and.
Speaker 3: How you.
Speaker 2: Kind of tread on this world and the impact it
Speaker 2: has to those around you.
Speaker 1: I love that example about paying for other people's coffee,
Speaker 1: is that where you like say to the cashier, Can
Speaker 1: I just give you some extra money for the person
Speaker 1: behind me? Is that how that works for you?
Speaker 3: Or you just yeah, you.
Speaker 2: Get you give them some extra cash and say please
Speaker 2: just take this off the the next bill. I mean,
Speaker 2: cash isn't as popular now, but it's a bit more challenging.
Speaker 2: But you know, in cues and grocery cues too, you know,
Speaker 2: you might have an elderly person that you know, we
Speaker 2: should be looking towards with respect and love. Again, just
Speaker 2: just putting an extra fifty one hundred dollars towards their bill.
Speaker 1: That's so cool. What are some other examples of things
Speaker 1: that you do, like, whether that be in the workplace
Speaker 1: or around your community, just those little things that really
Speaker 1: like light up someone's day.
Speaker 2: I think it's just been thoughtful and asking people questions
Speaker 2: as to what interests them or what's happening and you
Speaker 2: know what might be challenging them. And you know, sometimes
Speaker 2: it's organizing an appointment with the doctor or a chiropractor
Speaker 2: or an osteopath or acupuncture specialists and helping them deal
Speaker 2: with something. So it's just asking questions, been truly interested
Speaker 2: and then taking that a step further by doing something.
Speaker 1: That's so cool. So you might speak to someone like
Speaker 1: a friend or a colleague and they would express a
Speaker 1: problem and you would go, hey, I'm going to book
Speaker 1: you in to see this person. That's really awesome. Is
Speaker 1: that right? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? Or well you might know about a friend that's
Speaker 2: going going out for an anniversary dinner that has been
Speaker 2: really special to you for a long time, and give
Speaker 2: that restaurant a call and pay the bill.
Speaker 1: That's so awesome. I love that. And what are some
Speaker 1: things that you do, like back at Swiss for example,
Speaker 1: Just like just those little things that really make a
Speaker 1: big difference to people. I'd love to hear some examples.
Speaker 2: Well, this simple as language, And we talked a little
Speaker 2: about a bit about the fact we chose words like
Speaker 2: challenge instead of problem and instead of that there was
Speaker 2: an issue with someone's performance, you know, in terms of
Speaker 2: giving them feedback, would say, it's a learn, grow and
Speaker 2: improve moment, an LGI moment, and so just opening up
Speaker 2: with a little bit of humor and softening the situation
Speaker 2: with positive anecdotes for how we can improve instead of
Speaker 2: dealing with something in a negative way. You can so
Speaker 2: quickly turn around a situation and it feels so much better.
Speaker 2: You know, all of these things, you feel better as
Speaker 2: much as the other person feels better if you're if
Speaker 2: you're just awares of the way you approach things. So
Speaker 2: you know, being a bit dorky is good fun. And
Speaker 2: that's why a lot of the things I'm saying is
Speaker 2: it sounds a bit dorky, but you know, that's a
Speaker 2: good thing in life. I don't know if we're playful
Speaker 2: enough in our everyday lives. We've got to have a
Speaker 2: little bit of fun and just soften the moments, remember
Speaker 2: that we're we're all human.
Speaker 1: You mentioned gift giving and just you know the joy
Speaker 1: that you get from giving, and I can definitely relate
Speaker 1: to that like I you know, I love sending people
Speaker 1: things in the mail, you know, whether it's a book,
Speaker 1: whether it's some flowers or a bottle of champagne. It's funny.
Speaker 1: One of my close friends just started a new job,
Speaker 1: and I'd arranged for a bottle of champagne and some
Speaker 1: flowers to be sent to her on her first day,
Speaker 1: because it's a weird time to start a job at
Speaker 1: the moment, because you don't go into an office. It's
Speaker 1: a bit anti climactic. So I thought that would be
Speaker 1: a really cool thing. And her start date changed about
Speaker 1: four times, so I felt like every day I was
Speaker 1: emailing the Hamper company, going, we just need to change
Speaker 1: the date again, we need to change the date again.
Speaker 1: But I'd love to know, like what a you know
Speaker 1: the topic of you know, playfulness and fun. What are
Speaker 1: some fun gifts that you've done that you've given to
Speaker 1: people that have brought a lot of joy.
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, even just you sharing that story,
Speaker 2: I was beaming smiling the whole way through at the
Speaker 2: other end, and I can hear you with the same
Speaker 2: And isn't that just the one wonderful thing that you
Speaker 2: get from giving? And it's just such a nice remind
Speaker 2: And I'm sure our listeners are feeling the same way
Speaker 2: because they're all going back to that warm place that
Speaker 2: you go to when you have that opportunity to give
Speaker 2: someone that the unexpected and that's the key in life.
Speaker 2: And so part of it was also setting up situations
Speaker 2: where you created rewards for the team and those rewards
Speaker 2: would be unexpected. So we did what was called a
Speaker 2: H and H day Health and Happiness Day. We announced
Speaker 2: at an end of year where we've done really well.
Speaker 2: It was many years ago, back at Swiss time in
Speaker 2: Swiss days, and so we gave people a day off
Speaker 2: when when there was a public holiday in that month,
Speaker 2: and it was fantastic and it was beautifully received. But
Speaker 2: the one thing I'd say with warning is that if
Speaker 2: you need to be careful around structuring gifts to those
Speaker 2: people that have gratitude about it and thinking about how
Speaker 2: they can step up their game too and give back.
Speaker 2: So it's a constructive relationship, not just a one way relationship.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it can be that way spontaneously, but not the norm.
Speaker 2: And when you start to create as a normal in
Speaker 2: a great culture, I think it's really important to create
Speaker 2: performance around that and high performance and making sure that
Speaker 2: you're getting this much back both ways. And it's the
Speaker 2: same even with my not for profit organizations that I
Speaker 2: work with. Sometimes it can be very one way and
Speaker 2: there's not much regard for how much work that's actually
Speaker 2: being done, and you kind of lose your wie and
Speaker 2: that's not healthy. So it needs to make sure that
Speaker 2: whatever you're doing, you're feeling better about it, it's making
Speaker 2: forel warm and you're both gaining from it in their
Speaker 2: equal way. And that's why I always say that we
Speaker 2: don't help organizations, we walk alongside them because we gain
Speaker 2: as much back from the knowledge, their inspiration and what
Speaker 2: they're doing as working with them. So going back to
Speaker 2: those performance measures in a corporate organization, you need to
Speaker 2: make sure that it's geared around high performance and if
Speaker 2: the team are performing great And so we actually had
Speaker 2: to turn that H and H day, the Health and
Speaker 2: Happiness Day into something that you earned out of having
Speaker 2: a conversation with your manager on how you're performing. So
Speaker 2: then that conversation has had too so people understood where
Speaker 2: they stood and there was good open feedback on how
Speaker 2: we can improve and do better, and then there was
Speaker 2: a reward for good behavior that was mutually agreed and
Speaker 2: it would be very rare. People wouldn't get it because
Speaker 2: they wouldn't last long in the culture because again, if
Speaker 2: it was one way, the organization would quick you know,
Speaker 2: it wouldn't be me that would have to drive at
Speaker 2: the organization, and peers around them would suggest it's probably
Speaker 2: not the place that they're going to be happiest in.
Speaker 2: Some people just love being miserable, so they're better off
Speaker 2: working with other miserable people.
Speaker 1: Definitely, Definitely, and for people that like like, Oh, I'd
Speaker 1: love to do volunteer work, but I just don't even
Speaker 1: know where to start. Like how does one find volunteer
Speaker 1: work or not for profit that they want to volunteer for?
Speaker 1: Like where do you start?
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's about thinking about your superpowers. We've
Speaker 2: all got superpowers that we do things, you know, particularly
Speaker 2: better than other things in our lives. So we need
Speaker 2: to think about that and think about where we're going
Speaker 2: to offer most. And then once we've got a good
Speaker 2: sense of what that superpower is, we start to think
Speaker 2: about our circle around us and asking, you know, are
Speaker 2: there people that might be better off with the support
Speaker 2: of your superpowers? And so, Yeah, aligning yourself with organizations
Speaker 2: that are aligned with your cause and on what you're
Speaker 2: looking to do is really really important, and it takes time.
Speaker 3: It's a constant journey.
Speaker 2: And I've been involved with some not for profits for
Speaker 2: most of my working life twenty twenty five years, and
Speaker 2: others have come in and out, and others I've connected
Speaker 2: with in the last five six years that I see
Speaker 2: a lifetime ahead of working with them.
Speaker 1: I want to come back to meditation. I'm intrigued by
Speaker 1: the fact that you got a coach. And I also
Speaker 1: heard that from Josh Pitterman, who I have had on
Speaker 1: the show and is actually someone that mentioned you and
Speaker 1: said what a good guest you would be as and
Speaker 1: I said before we started recording, I've followed your career
Speaker 1: for years and I'm a fan from afar. But in
Speaker 1: terms of getting a coach for meditation, how did you
Speaker 1: even go about finding a coach that was going to
Speaker 1: be the right fit for you?
Speaker 2: Well, the universe still visit you what you wanted if
Speaker 2: you focus your intent on it enough. And so funnily enough,
Speaker 2: we'd talked to probably two or three other people about
Speaker 2: meditation and they both mentioned this coach, and so it
Speaker 2: just felt like that it was the right thing to
Speaker 2: follow that calling and follow that circle of people that
Speaker 2: you know, we like a track's like and you have
Speaker 2: these kind of conversations with and we did it under
Speaker 2: recommendation as a result of conversation. And yeah, we looked
Speaker 2: up Johnny and you know, he's amazing and thankfully for everyone,
Speaker 2: you can do his free course. It's one giant line
Speaker 2: with the number one giant mind. It's an app on
Speaker 2: the Apples and the Android store, and it sets you
Speaker 2: up with a thirty day challenge and the amount of
Speaker 2: positive feedback I've had from people taking that up is wonderful.
Speaker 2: But look, to be honest with you, meditation isn't for everyone.
Speaker 2: And as I said, I tried mindfulness and I did
Speaker 2: Japanese ink brush painting. There's a lot of meditation link
Speaker 2: to that, and do meditation with that. And you know, really,
Speaker 2: until I'd found what felt right for me, I hadn't
Speaker 2: been too successful in practicing every day. So I just
Speaker 2: encourage people to go out and an experiment and try
Speaker 2: different things, you know, like some people like running, others
Speaker 2: like to play golf or go for a walk. It's
Speaker 2: the same thing with finding our center. Just as long
Speaker 2: as that process. You know, it might be breath work.
Speaker 2: I might be whim half and jumping into you know,
Speaker 2: ice an ice bath, or getting in the ocean every
Speaker 2: morning and going for a swim. It's just something that
Speaker 2: settles the noise in our heads, that doubt, or just
Speaker 2: makes us aware of it. That you know, we're so
Speaker 2: much happier if we've got that noise in check and
Speaker 2: we realize what's going on, so then at least we
Speaker 2: can start to address it.
Speaker 1: And so I've heard that the type of meditation you
Speaker 1: did with Johnny focused on a mantra. Can you tell
Speaker 1: me about the sort of mantras that you use.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, the wonderful thing about having the mantra is
Speaker 2: that it gives you something to focus on. And what
Speaker 2: you basically do. You're given a Sanskrit word and essentially you.
Speaker 3: Repeat that word while you're practicing your meditation.
Speaker 2: And the wonderful thing about the style of meditation, which
Speaker 2: is vain meditation, is that you're taught to it's okay
Speaker 2: to have thoughts, and that's part of you do stressing.
Speaker 2: So what I find for that twenty minutes is that
Speaker 2: while I'm repeating the mantra, things come up, but they're
Speaker 2: almost dream like. They're kind of makes sense but they din't.
Speaker 2: But they're obviously causing me stress, and I need to
Speaker 2: decant them and go through a detoxifying process. By letting
Speaker 2: them go, you know, those thoughts wonder and dissipate. And
Speaker 2: so the great challenge for me in other forms of
Speaker 2: meditation is that you weren't encouraged to think anything, and
Speaker 2: that's near impossible I think for.
Speaker 1: Humans to do it, definitely, And so is the mantras
Speaker 1: in Sanskript, like, can you give me some examples of
Speaker 1: ones that you use and maybe what they mean translated?
Speaker 3: Well, I'm not allowed to give up my mantra that's
Speaker 3: part of all.
Speaker 2: But there is a generic one that's rum rum that's
Speaker 2: on the app that that that is used.
Speaker 3: But we all get.
Speaker 2: A personalized mantra given to us by our Vedic coach
Speaker 2: and that's based on our chakras and kind of what
Speaker 2: they see is necessary for oatgroundings.
Speaker 1: That's fascinating. Now I heard that you like you meditate
Speaker 1: in public and this was something that you've brought into
Speaker 1: workplaces that you've been a part of. Can you tell
Speaker 1: me like if I was, you know, just happened to
Speaker 1: be walking into an office like you know when back
Speaker 1: in the days where we worked in an office, like
Speaker 1: what would I see?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So we had Johnny come and coach the team,
Speaker 2: and we probably had seventy percent of our team meditating
Speaker 2: twice per day, and we'll be a morning session around
Speaker 2: eight am and another one around three o'clock. Now, I
Speaker 2: generally couldn't join those group sessions, but I would do
Speaker 2: do mine and around five or sometimes.
Speaker 3: At three in my office.
Speaker 2: But my office had big glass windows and everyone and
Speaker 2: also I'd be in the office at eight am and
Speaker 2: be meditating in the office. So I'd always meditate in
Speaker 2: the office to lead by example in a very public
Speaker 2: place where people would see me and see that I
Speaker 2: was living what I preached.
Speaker 1: So, Radik, I've loved our chat for people that want
Speaker 1: to connect with you and find out more about what
Speaker 1: you are doing. What is the best way to do that.
Speaker 2: I'm most engaged on LinkedIn side. Just look me up
Speaker 2: on LinkedIn and we'll go back to you.
Speaker 1: Wonderful Radick. Well, this conversation has brought a huge smile
Speaker 1: to my face. So thank you so much for sharing
Speaker 1: all these gems with me today.
Speaker 3: You're the best. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to today's show. I
Speaker 1: hope you found some useful tips from Radik. And if
Speaker 1: you are not a subscriber or follower of How I Work,
Speaker 1: now might be time to hit that button because I've
Speaker 1: got some great episodes coming up in November, like Phil Livin,
Speaker 1: who co founded ever Note, which is possibly your note
Speaker 1: taking software of choice, and we'll be talking about all
Speaker 1: sorts of things with Phil, including how he approaches decision
Speaker 1: making How I Work is produced by Inventing and with
Speaker 1: production support from Dead Set Studios. The producer for this
Speaker 1: episode was Jenna Coder, and thank you to mat Nimba
Speaker 1: who does the audio mix for every episode and makes
Speaker 1: everything sound so much better than it would have otherwise.
Speaker 1: See you next time.