The Leadership Vision Podcast

Serve the City: How Small Acts of Service Transform Leaders and Teams

• Nathan Freeburg, Linda Schubring, Brian Schubring • Season 8 • Episode 42

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Have you ever been part of a weekend that you know you’ll carry with you forever?

In this conversation, Nathan is joined by Dr. Linda and Brian Schubring to reflect on their time in Brussels celebrating the 20th anniversary of Serve the City International—a global movement built on a simple idea: many people doing small things together can make a big difference.

Leaders from 35 countries across 6 continents gathered to mark two decades of kindness in action. Linda and Brian opened the event with their keynote experience, “Unfolded: The Transformative Power of Serving,” and led a breakout session on how to approach challenge, change, and uncertainty as leaders who serve.

In this episode, they talk about:

  • The energy of bringing together leaders from around the world who are deeply committed to serving their cities
  • Why they began the conference with a mindfulness practice—a shared moment of stillness, open hands, and collective breathing
  • How acts of service shape leadership: rolling up your sleeves, being in need, and receiving help
  • What 3.5 million volunteer hours and 10 million lives impacted in 2024 say about the power of consistent, small actions
  • How Carleton Deal and the Serve the City team use simple, repeatable phrases (“serving revolution,” “cross the line,” “know them by name”) to create a scalable, sustainable movement
  • The idea of volunteers as “hope artists” in a world filled with uncertainty and negativity
  • Their breakout session on challenge, change, and uncertainty, and how to help leaders remember the internal certainty they already carry
  • Why serving outside the office can unlock deeper compassion and care inside the workplace
  • What it takes to sustain a volunteer movement for 20+ years—and why the Serve the City vision will continue long after its founders

The episode culminates with a powerful quote Brian and Linda wrote in a Paris café as they prepared for their time in Brussels:

“When we serve with open hands, we create a space for something to land.”


Key Themes & Topics:

  • Serve the City International – 20-year anniversary
  • Serving with open hands
  • Leadership and service
  • Challenge, change, and uncertainty
  • Global volunteer movements
  • Sustainable vision beyond the founder
  • Compassion, kindness, and team culture
  • Mindfulness and preparation to serve
  • The “map” metaphor for navigat

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SPEAKER_00:

When we serve with open hands, we create a space for something to land. Part of the inspiration of that quote came from the type of preparation people need to do to show up ready to serve. Oftentimes we need to set things down that would preoccupy our attention. Maybe we need to open up our hearts in a different way and actually release one thing to pick up something else. And to pick up something else could be a paintbrush and a can of paint. To pick up something else could be, you know, to assemble some type of food to distribute to people that are in need. It could be to pick up um recycled bricks to build something in a building where people are going to be living. So it's a it's this mindset and this symbolism that for me to serve, I need to prepare and to release and to be ready to receive.

SPEAKER_02:

In short, our hands need to be unfolded.

SPEAKER_01:

You are listening to the Leadership Vision Podcast, our show helping you build positive team culture. Our consulting firm has been doing this work for the past 25 years so that leaders are mentally engaged and emotionally healthy. To learn more about us, you can click the link in the show notes or visit us on the web at Leadership Vision Consulting.com. Hello, everyone. My name is Nathan Freebrick, and have you ever had one of those weekends where you know you're just gonna carry it with you forever? Well, in this episode here today, I am joined by Dr. Linda and Brian Schubring to reflect on an incredible experience they just had in Brussels, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Serve the City International, which is a global movement built on the simple idea that many people doing small things together can make a big difference. Now, at this gathering, leaders from 35 countries and six continents came together to honor two decades, that's 20 years, of kindness and action. Linda and Brian kicked off the conference with their keynote, Unfolded the Transformative Power of Serving, exploring how acts of service can fold, unfold, and transform us, both individually and collectively. On the podcast today, we're going to talk about the energy of this event, the inspiring people that they met, and how the spirit of serving continues to ripple out across the world. This is a Leadership Vision podcast. Enjoy. Uh, Linda and Brian, welcome back. This is not the How to Get Over Jetlag podcast. Um, but today's leadership you are upside down. How are you guys feeling?

SPEAKER_00:

No, this is my no nap day. This is my fourth day home, and I'm not taking a nap today.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Well, uh, hopefully you're awake enough to be able to talk about this event because it sounds amazing. Uh, my family was recently in brothel brothels? Broth Brussels.

SPEAKER_00:

Don't say brothels.

SPEAKER_01:

My family was recently in Brussels for a brief layover when we were in Europe this summer. Um, but I've heard it's a pretty great city. Tell tell me, I don't know if you have more you want to say about kind of setup to this event, but I would just love to hear about it. Some of like the energy. I Brian sent me literally, I think almost 80 gigabytes worth of video footage from your different keynotes and small group breakouts and whatever. I've sort of skimmed through some of it, but um my initial take is this was a very high-energy event. A lot of interesting people, very, very diverse across you know the planet. Tell us a little bit about this event, and I I would love to hear a little bit more about your keynote as well.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, the event was really a special event with these leaders coming together from all over the world. And what was meaningful to one of the many things that was meaningful to me was that I'm good friends with Carlton Deal, the founder of Serve the City International. And 20 years ago, I remember being in Brussels when Carlton was sharing with me this vision that he had and what he wanted to do with this idea of how to meet the needs of the people that were in the city of Brussels. And then at that point, there's just like a few ideas on what they could do and what they were what needs they were able to meet. The dream was much bigger than the actual service that that was happening fast forward 20 years. And to be in this space with these leaders from around the world to see just the scale and the scope and the magnitude of the vision, at times it was mind-numbing, at other times it was very emotional to hear people tell the stories of all the different needs that they were meeting. And it was just really unique to be there with Carlton and his wife Shannon, and to know that you know, through the number of service projects that I've been involved in with Serve the City, that to see how it's grown over 20 years was both amazing and humbling.

SPEAKER_02:

And there were other people there that were on the original team that had had this vision for service, including a basketball player who was playing in Europe 20 years ago. So fast forward, just this dream and this willingness to just serve people is pretty remarkable. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

One thing I noticed on the videos was that you began the sessions with like a guided meditation. Yes. Is that a new thing? Like it was so cool because as I was watching the video, I was just kind of skimming through it, like lining it up, and then I was like, what is he doing? And then I just was sort of sitting there for a moment, just kind of like doing it. Almost I was just like pulled in, like the trance of it. Like, I'm like, oh, I bet you this is a really helpful way to start a session. Like, is that do you do that often, or is this a unique thing?

SPEAKER_00:

We have a client that starts every one of their sessions with a mindfulness practice, and so we participate in that and we do lead some of those for that client. Oh, yeah. My mindset was this people quite literally had arrived the morning of the conference from places like India and Pakistan and Sri Lanka and South Africa, the Gold Coast of Australia and all over Europe and the West Coast of the United States. And some people were fighting in Minneapolis, and some people, you know, had visa issues and travel challenges. So my mindset was this how can we come together as a collective of global individuals and center ourselves and just be able to give ourselves a gift, and that gift is a moment of stillness and silence. Because you you know, Nathan, international travel is hectic, it's stressful, it's anxiety filled, there's a lot of movement, a lot of noise. And I thought, let's just take a few moments, give ourselves a gift of being still and quiet. And we know that when you have a large group of people that enters into a state of being still and quiet with open hands and they begin to breathe together, it's just something magical because I didn't ask people to breathe in unison, but they all were, which I thought was going to happen anyways, and you could actually hear the inhales and the exhales of this global community. It was profound. That's cool. That's cool.

SPEAKER_02:

And and we had interpreters, so there were some volunteer interpreters that were translating into French, and there were French speaking countries from Africa represented as well as Belgium and France, of course. And and so they were doing interpretation, and it was like the the museum interpretation where you they would put in headphones and like the little earpiece, yeah. Yeah. And I had told the interpreters, uh, they're like, we you know, we'll follow along, and they were incredible. And I just said during this portion, we're it's it's gonna feel quiet, and so just you know, cue it that this is just our a time that um that we're gonna you know center together. And that's great.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it was powerful. And what I was surprised by is how many people came up to me in the next two days and talked about that moment and how much it meant to them and how they they were feeling certain feelings or what their mind was doing. Um and then to to end it with you know thanking their neighbor for coming to the conference, I think was quite special too.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, like I said, it was it just took me off guard. I was just like kind of sucked into this video. I was like, oh wait, and it's like took a moment and it was it was really uh so thank you, Brian. Thank you. Yes. Um I want to talk about your keynote a little bit. Unfolded, which is based on your book.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

The transformative power of serving. Uh what what maybe this is a whole talk, but what what parallels are there between acts of service, service projects, whatever you want to call it, and really good effective leadership? Like what's the connection there?

SPEAKER_02:

There's nothing that transforms you more than serving or being served. Yeah. And there are just lessons that you learn in the process of rolling up your sleeves. There are things that you learn when you're at a s in a state of need and need to receive. One of the things that Brian and I were talking about as we were even preparing for this conference was so many of our examples of leadership and lessons learned in leadership are rooted in our service. So whether it was working with the university students in Juneau, Alaska, whether it was in other service opportunities, volunteer opportunities, there's just been uh uh well, Nathan, I even talked about the our time together in Queens. I heard that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, the the inhaler. I did watch that part too. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. So so you can vouch that it was an actual story. Oh yeah. Uh you were there. And uh so so one thing, one thing led to another, and and we just harnessed some of the stories that that yes are leadership lessons, but lessons that that are from our lived experience that speak to the transformative power of serving.

SPEAKER_00:

And so part of the objective for our keynote, and like we've mentioned before on on the podcast, we don't do a keynote where we speak for 30, 60, or 80 minutes. We do a keynote experience where we're doing little keynote vignettes for five to seven minutes, and then the group breaks up in the into smaller groups and talk. And the reason why that was important is because we know that many of these leaders had not been in the same room with people from different continents. We wanted to give the country leaders a chance to reflect on moments when they were serving and to remember times when they were served, and then to reimagine what it might be like to serve in new ways and just like to give this these leaders moments just for themselves, because I I know that many of these people are so busy coordinating these national efforts that they rarely spend time pausing to remind themselves of what serving means to them, how serving has unfolded and taught them lessons about who they are and how they've reshaped even the serving experience where more people's needs can be met. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And what started as one event in Brussels 20 years ago, now like the the bounces of the of all the acts of kindness.

SPEAKER_00:

The statistic that they were sharing was that there were 3.5 million volunteer hours that were given in 2024, impacting more than 10 million lives.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right. That's globally, obviously.

SPEAKER_00:

In yep, in one year.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that idea of kindness or the serve the city motto philosophy, whatever, just like many, many people doing small things together can make a big difference. I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about like how how do leaders use that same philosophy, like I guess to cultivate a culture of kindness and collaboration and shared purpose on their teens, because I would imagine that that would lead to a lot more productivity, a lot better bottom lines, etc. etc. Like what's what's the uh translation you've just talked about translation, uh, from that context to a more kind of businessy world?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I don't know if it's even translation because there's a lot of people in the businessy world that are leading these volunteer efforts. So there are there are paid there are paid workers as well as there are many volunteers, and they have jobs and PhDs and are literal world changers. And some work in the parliament, some work for the UN, and and I so I think the translation is there there are obviously a lot of organizations that really believe in the power of service. In particular, some of the sponsors of this event included Toyota and UPS, and their companies were founded by people who serve and who believed in making a better place for humans to exist. And so I don't I don't know if there is a translation. I just think it is a almost emerging, emerging. Shannon, one of the kind of co-founders, I guess, as well, she is married to Carlton, and she always likes to say that uh people that serve with Serve the City are hope artists. And uh right, and it's so inspirational to think about in the times of uncertainty and chaos, like what do you do? Well, pay it forward. Well, you know, offer offer that same help to someone that can afford your services. So being around people that were really others focused was important, and our challenge was don't don't forget to to care for yourself and note the needs that you have yourself.

SPEAKER_00:

I had the opportunity to have lunch with the European director of the Toyota Mobility Foundation, and we spent the entire time talking about how important service is within the business context. And this is how the conversation unfolded is we talked about how service opportunities create this unique experience where people begin to learn how they can actually care for someone in need by you know not only being in an environment where serving is an option, but in how they even prepare to show up. Because sometimes in the business context, we don't really prepare ourselves to serve the colleagues that we're working with. So when we go outside the organization and serve people that are in need, we create this connection with one's capacity for compassion and care for someone else. And through the demonstration of compassion and care for a stranger, we can then be reminded of how we can demonstrate similar compassion and care towards those that we work with. Often within a business context, through the experiences that teams have, we become guarded and maybe more protected with the ones that we're working with. And those are actually the people that may need our care and compassion the most, is those that we understand the most in the business context. So this gentleman and I talked about all the reasons why teams, through the act of serving, can not only better understand individual care in capacity, but also how they can serve one another.

SPEAKER_01:

I like that. I think there's something about just doing something like you know, service project or something like that together outside of you know the quote unquote office that gives you a whole different perhaps level of understanding or insight in into someone that uh that you work with, and that in and of itself can be you know a powerful, a powerful lesson. You guys did a breakout session on change, challenge, uncertainty, all words that I'm completely unfamiliar with. Um I would love it if you could tell me uh what that was about and maybe even just like the advice that you gave to some leaders trying to navigate some of those some of those hot words on their teams and their organizations. Like just talk a little bit. Give us a give us a little taste of what uh people took away from that session.

SPEAKER_00:

The objective of our breakout session was to recognize that right now all of us feel overwhelmed by uncertainty. We have uncertainty on many different levels, and it seems like every resource that we use to get our news or recreation or just updates on things is filled with negativity, negative messages, and we just feel that this uncertainty in our social and political world is overwhelming. And people feel paralyzed by that. And what we wanted to do in this session was to recognize that there's uncertainty all around us, but that there's also a certainty within us that will help us navigate whatever uncertainties that we're facing. And the way that we approach this is we want to remind people that throughout our entire lives, we faced challenges every day or each week, challenges that have been met by our own capacity that we have within us. And we've done that successfully. And we've also wanted people to recognize that throughout their lives, they've also faced change where they had to learn something new, change a new direction, and that through reminding ourselves that we've navigated challenge and we've gone through changes, that when we face uncertainty, sometimes the best way to begin to navigate uncertainty is to accept the challenge in the moment or to redirect and pursue change.

SPEAKER_02:

One of the beautiful things that we learned as they were sharing their experiences is the supportive family and loved ones that help them continue to push through in hard times. And to hear that thread and that commonality once again across continents, um, in completely different uh climates and cultures in different cities, uh, was just really encouraging. There were so many, so many similar messages with just a different different flavor or different accent.

SPEAKER_00:

And one of the unique things that happened was because the breakout followed our our keynote, we were able to use one of the dominant metaphors of our keynote, and that is we are each a map, and we wanted to use that map metaphor with our uh breakout session in about uncertainty because we asked people to think of their unfolded map and to think about like reading the map and to name or to put your finger on the places where you faced challenges. Who was there? What was around you? What was the year? What was that challenge like? Then when we got to the change section, we wanted to remind people that change is seasonal, but where on your map did you see change? And people were able to use that metaphor of map to be able to say, This change happened here, and it was at this intersection in my life in 2000. 2007 that I had to face this one experience. And so that metaphor played through to this breakout session on uncertainty. That's great.

SPEAKER_02:

As I was teeing up this session, Unfolded, How to Approach Challenge, Change, and Uncertainty. I realized there are many ways to approach it. And sometimes it's like blah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And I think they were there and they were assuming, I was hoping that they were assuming that this wasn't a lesson in how to freak out more, but actually how to calm down a little bit. Freak out so much. Exactly. Exactly. And oftentimes when when you have servant leaders that are making worldwide impacts in their city, and they they come to a session like this to get some maybe tips and tricks about how to help this person and then what can I grab and take back to my context? And oh, how how could I plug in this nugget here or there? Instead, we flipped the script a bit and started to ask them about some of their needs when it comes to these topics. And not just their needs, we talked about their perspectives when they're facing challenge, change, or uncertainty that sometimes people look for the people first or they look for the places and they want to orientate to uh their surroundings or they're looking at the process. And we take different perspectives when it comes to some of these, some of these topics. And then as we opened up uh different discussion groups, the the learning happened when people were sharing their lived experience about how they how they have navigated these things very successfully.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, as you guys were talking about change, uncertainty, challenge, and also mentioned that this is the 20th year, how how do you with a especially with a volunteer organization what what what could you summarize or offer our listeners about how do you sustain something for that long? Like is it such a compelling vision that that Carlton has? Is it you know what is it or what can we take away from that?

SPEAKER_02:

There is something about how the Carlton deal communicates that is clear and repeatable. So over the years, and they were recounting this as well, that over the years there has been, you know, what is serve the city? Well, it's a serving revolution. Even I can remember that. You know, it's well, what is what is serve the city then? And cross the line. And there there was another um, yeah, you said you say that cross the line one.

SPEAKER_00:

What what Carlton and the movement has done is they've created these phrases, these phrases that are pocketable, they're memorable, they're repeatable by people. And in one of the main sessions, they were talking about all these different phrases. So um one is a serving revolution, the other is cross the line, and that cross the line um was a story about how there are lines in every city. On one line is the affluent, and on the other side are those in poverty. And are we willing to cross the line? Um, there's an another uh phrase, we know them by their need, can we know them by their name? Oftentimes people in in need are known by, oh, the the person that that's begging for money by the corner next to the convenience store. Well, we we know their need and what they're doing, but do we know them by their name? Um small acts of service, like these are all different like phrases that are easy to understand and and to repeat. And what Carlton is doing is he is he has a vision, and the way that Carlton communicates the vision ignites something within individuals that then allows or empowers them to pursue their vision for serving other people wherever they are in the world.

SPEAKER_02:

And I think it's a DNA that has been multiplied and uh and it's contagious. So one of the sessions that we sat in on as well was one where you know uh the service project started in Brussels, but then it went to Geneva, Switzerland, and then someone in Switzerland picked it up and then took it to the Philippines, and then someone from Amsterdam inspired someone in Australia. And so the contagious the the contagious nature of this movement is what actually makes it stick. And some of these um these phrases or these call to actions or these memor memorable and pocketable uh phrases are truly translatable across the globe because it is grounding into human need and uh like the response of kindness. And um yeah, then they collect stories.

SPEAKER_01:

So if Carlton left, would it survive, do you think? I think so.

SPEAKER_02:

Right now, right now it is it is steamrolling. It's steamrolling because it's it's so embedded in the DNA, and I think that's that's the powerful nature of you know, there's not just these city groups, there are it's the Serve the City International. And so there are some people looking at the at the much bigger picture and the ways that they're partnering with um big corporations and other people that are just trying to make a difference as well. It's just it's almost a no-brainer. They they won the NGO of the year in Europe, awarded by the European Union. Um a couple a couple years in a row. I can't remember what years it was exactly, but and so they're they're recognized. And uh the sort of the city logo is uh is a hand, a hand print, and then inside the hand is um like the skyline of a city. And and so to see those hands and to see the cities and um see people wearing their shirts from their cities in their languages in different colors.

SPEAKER_00:

Each city has its own color. So that's so cool.

SPEAKER_02:

It's power, it's it's powerful, and and you feel like you're a part of something, yet you are distinct.

SPEAKER_01:

Huh. I just interviewed Deb Dixon, who wrote the foreword to unfolded. And one of her big things talking about is like, how do I create a leadership team that will thrive after I'm gone? Yeah. And all that you've described seems like Carlton has done that, and this this isn't uh uh a movement based on like a personality, but I have a mission and kind of the shared uh shared philosophy of of doing good and showing kindness and and all of that.

SPEAKER_02:

So And several countries in Africa now where Serve the City is, and someone stood up from Africa and just said it's gonna be in it I almost claimed it. Like Serve the City is gonna be in every country in Africa by such and such date. Like 2030. Wow. And and which is like a right around the corner.

SPEAKER_00:

It is it's into 2025 now. They got four years. Good good luck. But that's their vision.

SPEAKER_02:

So it's not just I I loved because they were honoring Carlton and Shannon, this founding couple. However, they were honoring the people that are keeping it alive, and they were honoring um this guy, Jeremy, and his team uh who created an app called Serve Now, where people, people, and it's it's in three different cities, but in Brussels it is for sure. Uh, where you can go on and you're like, oh, well, you know, it's low commitment. Uh I have two hours on Saturday. Uh I'll click here. And you can try it. If you don't like it, you can, you know, or you can just go back every every single time. And they they've now provided the app open source. So other organizations want to use something like this, and they were clocking around a hundred and forty thousand volunteer hours that were that happened through through the app.

SPEAKER_01:

Um so anyway. Yeah, I'm looking at the map here. There's a chapter in Virginia.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

But nowhere else in the United States. That's that's interesting, and maybe a conversation for another time. But uh to kind of wrap up here, I I'm curious if you there's one takeaway or something that you hope our listeners will remember. I don't even know, about maybe the connection between serving others, leading well, building a culture where people uh can serve and thrive, and maybe it's just a summary of what we've already talked about. But I'm I'm curious if there's kind of one tuck takeaway. We'll put the the romantic music underneath or inspiring music. We'll put their inspiring music underneath whatever you're saying here to really make this point hit home and go in preparation for this time in Brussels.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh Brian and I were sitting in a cafe in Paris, and we didn't want to be jet-lagged as we came to the conference, so we spent spent a little time in the city of lights and sitting in a cafe, we we kind of penned this uh this quote together that that served to frame frame it. So, Brian, why don't you read it?

SPEAKER_00:

When we serve with open hands, we create a space for something to land. Part of the inspiration of that quote came from the type of preparation people need to do to show up ready to serve. Oftentimes we need to set things down that would preoccupy our attention. Maybe we need to open up our hearts in a different way and actually release one thing to pick up something else. And to pick up something else could be a paintbrush and a can of paint. To pick up something else could be, you know, to assemble um some type of food to distribute to people that are in in need. It could be to pick up um recycled bricks to build something in a building where people are going to be living. So it's a it's this mindset and this symbolism that for me to serve, I need to prepare and to release and to be ready to receive.

SPEAKER_02:

In short, in short, our hands need to be unfolded.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you for listening to the Leadership Vision Podcast, our show helping you build positive team culture. If you found value from this episode or any of our other materials, we would appreciate it if you follow us on the social medias. If you followed us on subscribe to our podcast on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your great podcasts. And please join our free email newsletter. There's a link in the show notes. You can click that link to get more information about us or just visit us on the web at leadershipvisionconsulting.com. My name is Nathan Freeberg. I'm Linda Schuberg. And I'm Brian Schuberg. And on behalf of our entire team, thanks for listening.