The Transformative Echo of Kindness: Lisa Ryan on the Ripple Effects of Gratitude and Connection

Imagine a world where a simple "hello" could lead to a chart-topping band, or a small "thank you" could redefine a company's culture. That's the universe we unravel in today's conversation with Lisa Ryan, a crusader for gratitude in the workplace. Join us to discuss the monumental impact of the minute. Leila Mitchell also joins the conversation and recounts the serendipitous discussion that birthed a musical sensation, and Lisa, with wisdom drawn from her experience as an executive search consultant, illustrates how a workplace infused with appreciation can transform into a vibrant community of engaged and interconnected individuals.

This episode is a tapestry of such stories and insights. We celebrate the resilience and strategic savvy of artists like Sheryl Crow and Taylor Swift, who remind us that owning our narratives—in art and life—is not just possible but necessary. Leadership, too, gets a fresh coat of understanding as we highlight the shift toward the soft skills that breed conscious, appreciative, and effective leaders. As we navigate the complexities of today's technological and demographic shifts, this conversation serves as a reminder of the strength found in simple acts of kindness and the enduring impact of heartfelt gratitude—a lesson for both the boardroom and the daily walk of life.

About Lisa Ryan, CSP:
Lisa Ryan, MBA, CSP, is the Chief Appreciation Strategist, Founder, and the visionary of Grategy. She is a Certified Speaking Professional who helps organizations develop employee and customer engagement strategies that keep their top talent and best customers from becoming someone else’s. Lisa is an award-winning speaker and best-selling author of eleven books, including “Thank You Very Much: Gratitude Strategies to Create a Workplace Culture that ROCKS.” Lisa has been blissfully married to Scott since 1996 and they are the proud parents of two very spoiled cats. Lisa excels in transforming workplace cultures with her innovative gratitude strategies, focusing on manufacturing, construction, and skilled trades. She brings a wealth of knowledge in enhancing employee engagement and strengthening organizational resilience.

Connect with Lisa:
Website lisaryanspeaks.com
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/asklisaryan
Twitter twitter.com/grategy
YouTube youtube.com/user/mygrategy

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Transcript

Announcer: 0:00

Entrepreneur, author and financial consultant, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing entrepreneurial business owners create a vision for the future and follow through on their goals and intentions. Ang Onorato is a business growth strategist to blend psychology and business together to create conscious leaders and business owners who impact the world. Founders Forum is a radio show podcast sharing the real stories behind entrepreneurship as founders discover more about themselves, while providing valuable lessons and some fun and entertainment for you. Now here's Marc and Ang.

Marc Bernstein: 0:35

Good morning America. When I say good morning, I mean good morning, whatever time of day it is, for you, meaning it's a fresh time of the day, it's a new start, it's a time of rebirth. So good morning. And we have. I am very lucky to have three amazing women with me today. First of all, Ang Onorato, who you all know. Second, Leila Mitchell, who was our guest on our last show and we. She came from Boston so we asked her to stay in the studio with us. And Lisa Ryan, who I will introduce formally in a minute. But as we start, we always have a thought for the day, and Ange has one. So why don't you start that conversation and everybody can chime in?

Ang Onorato: 1:17

Yeah, good morning everybody. So I was driving in this morning and I passed a. I was kind of in a moment of not having many thoughts. Actually, it was kind of nice for a minute but I kind of passed a church actually I wish that would happen.

Ang Onorato: 1:29

I know the blank stare sometimes but I drove by this church and they had this display out front and you know it's the holiday season but their display was really caught my eye. It was a bunch of colored t-shirts and they just had names of people and sadly they were representing people that had recently been lost to gun violence and the impact obviously was kind of a gut punch as I drove by and it got me thinking about small actions, big impact and what that means in my own life, in business and I think we were talking with Leila earlier in the show about. You know, we all do things, particularly in our business, to kind of be big and grand and have, you know, big exposure and big income, but is it really sometimes the small actions that can be leave that biggest impact and that biggest imprint? So it really got me thinking and you know I'm curious about what you think.

Ang Onorato: 2:20

Marc, I'm going to love to kind of hear from our guests too, because I think it's an underpinning of a lot of you know what makes a lot of us want to be entrepreneurs. You know, to begin with, right, what's the impact that we want to make.

Marc Bernstein: 2:29

Well, this is not a real serious comment, but it's, but it's occurred to me. So we just heard Leila's story about a conversation with her friends over a holiday celebration about why don't we start a band, and they started this band and the band is now having a national impact in some ways.

Ang Onorato: 2:47

It's a very small thing Can't get bigger than Kelly Clarkson right now, right, so that's awesome.

Marc Bernstein: 2:51

That's not such a social impact thing, as much as it is a fun thing. But you know, ripple becomes a wave and I've seen that a lot of times. I see it in business, I see it in philanthropy, I see it, you know. I don't think there's any question that that is a phenomenon. How about Lisa? Any thoughts on that?

Lisa Ryan: 3:11

It's funny that you say that quote, because I use that a lot in my programs about the fact that it's the small impact that makes the the, the small gestures that make a huge impact, because a lot of times when you're talking about retaining employees, a lot of times people think that it's all about, well, I can't pay these people enough, you know, I don't have enough money, I don't have this. It's like no, when you get the culture right and getting the culture right as things like you know, saying hello to your employees, knowing a little bit about them, just the little things that that lead to that connection with them, that, after marketable wages, it doesn't have to be these big, huge things that we think it is. It's the smallest gestures that really do have that huge impact.

Marc Bernstein: 3:57

And Leila, how about you yeah?

Leila Mitchell: 3:59

I mean, I'm thinking about it as a creative person, as a designer, and you, you all, have heard this saying that it's all design is all in the details, and it's again, it's not those large gestures, it's not that big idea, but it's the small ways that you implement it, that you know what is the feeling of the fabric that they're touching on the napkin, what is the the type of light that's in the room in which they? I'm thinking about my hotel room last night. Right, those small little details are all about the lasting impressions that your, your customer, your client, your employee takes with them.

Marc Bernstein: 4:38

So thank you for those thoughts, ladies. I appreciate that. And good time to introduce Lisa Ryan. So Lisa is founder and chief appreciation strategist at Gradigy. So she is a certified she's MBA CSP, a certified speaking professional, that is, who helps organizations develop employee and customer engagement strategies. They keep their top talent and best customers from being being someone else's.

Ang Onorato: 5:09

That's an admirable goal.

Marc Bernstein: 5:11

Lisa's award-winning speaker and bestselling author of 11 books, including Thank you Very Much Gratitude Strategies to Create a Workplace Culture that Rocks and Lisa is has been blissfully married to Scott since 1996. And they are the proud parents of two very spoiled cats, so which I can relate to. So nice to have you here, Lisa, and thank you so much. Why don't you tell us a little bit about your story and how you got to where you are today? You told us today it was an interesting path.

Lisa Ryan: 5:46

Yeah, I actually started my career in sales. I was an executive recruiter first, right off the bat. One of the few people on the planet who can actually say that they sold their mother Mom actually hated the job that I placed her in, but I said, mom, you've got to stay there at least 90 days because I have a guarantee and I can't afford to give back the commission I made on you. Mom was there for two and a half years. She was fine. From then, I spent 13 years in industrial sales, including seven years in the welding industry and, yes, I do weld, and so that's what really why I focus my business a lot with manufacturing, skilled trades, construction and then when I left that job, I went into medical sales, and when my very lucrative medical sales job was eliminated via group conference call with 12 of us getting canned at the same time on October 12, 2010, I basically said no company will ever do that to me again, and Gratigie was born on that day.

Marc Bernstein: 6:54

So, Angie, you could tell your quick Cheryl Crowe story if you wanted this. There's a metaphor there or an analogy there.

Ang Onorato: 7:00

Yeah, so it's very, very similar to that. So we were talking offline about. One of the many reasons I love Cheryl Crowe is that when her first album came out and it was so hugely successful when it came time to do the second album, nobody in the business believed that she had actually done it, that she wrote it, that she produced it, that she was the brainchild behind it. So she said, okay, then I don't want any help, I'm just going to produce it myself again. And it became a blockbuster and she's won nine Grammys again and I just love that story because I feel like that's similar to what you just said. When companies kind of hold the power, I mean modern day. Taylor Swift did the same thing. Right, they tried to own all of her and they did a scammy move to own her music rights and she said, okay, I'll just re-record everything again and I'll own it, and so I love that. I'm hearing a lot of that already in your story and obviously doing this kind of work for the last 13 years is really fantastic.

Marc Bernstein: 7:58

So I know you have some questions for Lisa about what she does, because there's some overlap with what you do, so I'm going to Well, absolutely, I have a career in executive search and everything that you're about to tell us I think is going to resonate.

Ang Onorato: 8:11

Didn't place my mom, but would have loved to, so tell us about what is the actual work you do today? What is it when you get up on stage in front of your clients? What is the message and the impact that you're leaving with them?

Lisa Ryan: 8:25

Yeah, my main focus is to help companies to keep their top talent from becoming someone else's, but instead of it being yet another employee engagement talk like, oh my goodness, what do I have to do to engage my people now? And it becomes more of a checkmark item. My theory, or my focus, really is on gratitude, which is gratitude strategies. So to create a culture of foundation, a culture of gratitude, where people feel that they're valued, that they're making an impact, that they're contributing to the organization. And so when I have primarily leaders in the group leaders, owners because I speak at a lot of association conferences, so a lot of times you have more of the owners and leaders in those groups. So I focus on retention and company culture. When it's more of a mixed group if I'm doing like an all staff day or something or it's more of a mix then I focus on gratitude strategies to create a workplace culture that rocks, because I'm from Cleveland and we rock. You do have the whole of fame as we mentioned Cleveland rocks.

Lisa Ryan: 9:41

Yes, we do, but it's all about, again, those small gestures and just it's almost reminding people or giving them permission to build relationships with their employees, because so many times, particularly when you're looking at male-dominated industries like manufacturing, construction, there was this mentality that people like well, if I'm nice to them, they're going to either take advantage of me or they're going to think I'm weak. And in a post-pandemic economy where everything has changed and we're not going back to the good old days of 2019, things change and no longer can company owners expect their employees to change. They must change their companies if they want to attract and keep people in today's environment.

Marc Bernstein: 10:37

So I wanted to ask you about that. I would imagine there's a lot more openness in 2023 than there was, let's say, in 2018. Is that fair?

Lisa Ryan: 10:47

Yeah, absolutely, because we had to ask ourselves questions that we never had to ask before. I mean, I think back just in my business and I never asked myself the question. Gee, I wonder what would happen if my speaking business got shut down for two years because of a worldwide pandemic? I mean December 31st of 2019, I had more business going into 2020 than I had done in 2019. It was going to be my best year by far and I never, ever, thought that something like that could happen. So, when it comes to people in manufacturing, usually we would say we wouldn't put like flexibility and manufacturing in the same sentence. What do you mean? People have to be there. We have shifts, shifts right.

Lisa Ryan: 11:35

But what can you do instead? How can you offer more flexibility? How can you shorten your work week? Can you offer the mom shift 10 to 2? Can you have split shifts? Can you have people job sharing? So all of these different questions, and not just in manufacturing, but in all industries. We're asking ourselves questions that we never had to ask before, and mental health is also one of them. It's become much more like back in my day if we were taking a mental health day.

Lisa Ryan: 12:10

it kind of went like this yeah, I don't feel well today I won't be it and we would joke about it and say it's a mental health day. And now that's a real thing, because we're stressed and we were lonely and we were isolated, and all of these things happened because of the disconnect we had during the pandemic, and so there's much more awareness of those kind of issues that we didn't necessarily think about before.

Marc Bernstein: 12:40

We were talking a couple of weeks ago on the show about resilience. You know everyone needs resilience, entrepreneurs need resilience, but we talked about, you know, I used to think of resilience as something you had to summon up every once in a while when you hit hard times and it feels like and I've asked Angie and I've asked guests and I've asked, I'll ask you it feels like resilience is something you really need to as a strength every day. These days. You know it's not, there's there. There are so many. The world just seems like it's gotten a lot more complicated over the last few years. What would your? What are your thoughts.

Marc Bernstein: 13:13

Would you agree?

Lisa Ryan: 13:14

Well, you know, part of the thing that I talk about is having a regular practice of gratitude, which I have had since 2009, of just writing down five things that I'm grateful for every day.

Lisa Ryan: 13:27

And rewiring your brain, and there's science behind that that when you focus on the good, you find it. And it's the same thing with resilience. If you just remember that. You know I, you know this too shall pass. It's the good. If things are going really well for you, well, this too shall pass. If things are going really bad for you, this too shall pass. So we know that life is this cycle that's going to keep going, ebbing and flowing, no matter what we do. But when we have a regular practice of of focusing on the positive, it helps us build that that resilience much more, much better, stronger.

Marc Bernstein: 14:09

And, by the way, I think it was always like that. It's not like that. It's not like. This just appeared over the last couple of years but, but I think it's more magnified.

Marc Bernstein: 14:16

I think everyone's feeling the need for that and hopefully there's a whole feeling that maybe a lot of bad stuff happening in the world at the moment, but there's maybe this feeling that there's about to be a shift, because people are much more looking inward and looking towards gratitude and looking towards, you know, the spiritual side of their lives and what's behind their, their actions, the impact that they have on others, et cetera, which is a lot of what you're talking about in business, which is so great to hear that that's common talk in business now. You know, you wouldn't have thought that 20 years ago that would be having those kind of conversations.

Ang Onorato: 14:54

Yeah, so we call it conscious leadership, and it's more than just a term. It's really becoming a movement now, which is something I know. We're going to take a break in a minute. We could love to dive into that a little bit after the after. We have a break.

Marc Bernstein: 15:05

Yep, and I think with that, if TJ is ready, I think we're ready for a quick 60 second break and we'll be right back with Lisa Ryan.

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Marc Bernstein: 16:11

We are back on Founders Forum and, Ann, you were in the middle of a thought as we took a break, so let's continue on that plane.

Ang Onorato: 16:19

Yeah, so just before the break we were talking about and I mentioned summarizing kind of what Marc and Lisa what you were mentioning, which is today's term, is really about conscious leadership, right? So it is the leaders doing that inner work, developing their own self-leadership, seeing how their actions, words, behaviors do affect their teams and how they're leading. So I'm just curious, you know to dive a little bit deeper into the earlier conversation about how you're seeing that shift and people are more receptive to doing things to show gratitude of their employees. But are you also seeing it in any way where the leaders themselves are embarking on a little bit more of that journey Marc was talking about? Are they willing to do some of that work to understand their own actions and how does that create culture and or impact culture in a negative sense, and understand maybe personal issues, traumas, wounds, whatever that might affect their people? How are you actually seeing them going about making this change?

Lisa Ryan: 17:12

Really good question. There's definitely been an evolution, because I remember in 2010, when I was first starting my business and it was going to be all about gratitude that's what I was going to focus on and one of my girlfriends, who was a very successful business owner, kind of padded me on the arm and she said you know, nobody's ever going to pay you for that right. And in 2010 she was right, because no, it wasn't, we weren't looking at the soft skills. So I basically switched the language to employee engagement exact same program, you know but I switched the language to engagement and more quote unquote corporate speak. And now the shift has been that, probably especially post pandemic, I'm probably 6040 doing gratitude, using the word gratitude too, I no longer have to disguise it versus retention and again, people are just getting it and I have a gratitude thought of the week.

Lisa Ryan: 18:18

It's been coming out every week since 2011. I've never missed a week and it's basically just a short email. It's not a fancy newsletter, it's a quote, a story, a lesson and a question and it's real life. Like I wake up in the morning and I, on Thursday mornings, I'm like huh, when am I going to write about to be grateful for? So my subscribers have gone through everything from, you know, when my dad first had a stroke, to my great niece and nephew being born preemies to my other great niece being born with cancer, to the point where I'd show up at a program and people who had who had, were on my list would be like, how's your dad doing? So the reason why I share that is because I get some of the most beautiful responses from people and that's why I keep doing it.

Lisa Ryan: 19:09

I haven't monetized it or anything, I just like sharing.

Lisa Ryan: 19:12

You know, especially when the world is kind of crashing around you, it's nice to hear back from people and a lot of the people who have been in my programs who are the same thing, like the least likely people that you would think would respond to these little you know thoughts that come out every week. They do and they share some really heartfelt stories. So I believe that when you're talking about something that is so personal, like gratitude, and you can show for the people who need the numbers, who need to know that this is more than just soft, spiritual, fluffy stuff, that there's significant research behind it, so you can satisfy that side of the equation and then you can also satisfy. You know the people that are more in tune with that, because there's a lot to it and my challenge to the audiences is you know, take the 30 day challenge, try it for 30 days. You may not notice the difference, but the people around you, they're going to wonder, like what is up with you? You're so happy. So that's the evolution that I've seen.

Marc Bernstein: 20:26

Believe it or not, we have five and a half minutes left, which is unbelievable how fast time goes on. The show, lisa, I want to ask you about I know you're a future looking person and I'm all about forward movement and forward focus myself If I were to ask you in 2026 of December of that year, if you were looking back on the last three years, what would have to happen in your business, your life, for you to feel that that was a successful three year sequence in your life?

Lisa Ryan: 20:58

Well, it's building on like I have a different theme for my business every year. So this year's theme was working on my keynote and I did extensive, extensive investment in my business so that I can be better from the stage. In 2024, the focus is going to be more on establishing more long term relationships with clients, whether it be through training, group, virtual training, consulting, whatever that looks like. So it's a little less. I don't like to say one and done with the keynote, but to have those relationships with people and then also looking at how I can better serve from an online. So in 2026, as I'm evolving into developing different products and having a pretty good online presence as well, with products and 24 seven access, so that it doesn't always have to take me being in a location on a stage giving a keynote to expand the, to expand my business.

Ang Onorato: 22:12

That's that small action and big impact that you're always available.

Leila Mitchell: 22:16

Yeah, I have a quick question on opportunity. It's one of my favorite words. In the industries where your clients work, what are some of the opportunities that have come up that you've been able to uncover or investigate for them? What is something really innovative or interesting that's happened in these industries because of the change that they've made?

Lisa Ryan: 22:42

Since the pandemic, technology has gotten so much easier and less scary than it was before the pandemic, particularly when you're looking at an aging population, when you have your boomers and older Gen X that aren't wired for technology like you have your millennials and Gen Zs coming into the workplace and being more comfortable with that, but realizing that again it's these small things to bring in.

Lisa Ryan: 23:16

To start with, automation and coming in, finding out the jobs that your employees hate doing the most and automating that, and then that almost becomes a recruiting tool, because then you have younger people coming in and going ooh, robot, I want to work here. So it's not like it was back in the day when manufacturing was dark, dirty and dangerous that we're starting to change the conversation. And the other thing, too, is just encouraging people to be more willing to step out and work with their local tech schools and community colleges and high schools and guidance counselors to change the conversation so that it's not just the four year college degree path, that having that tech certification going into the trades is just as valuable and just as needed as any four year degree.

Marc Bernstein: 24:14

I'm glad you brought that up, actually, because, working with a lot of manufacturers myself, it's been very hard to find employees, and I think when you talk about opportunity, Leila, you're talking about there's great opportunity for young people in manufacturing and not it's not just assembly line work. If they can embrace AI as an example, embrace automation, as Lisa's saying, there are some really great opportunities out there. Lisa, we're just about at our closing questions and when I want to ask you I know you're an avid reader what books do you like to read? What's your favorite?

Lisa Ryan: 24:45

Well, I know it's going to be a little cliche when I say think and grow rich but, it's one that I read every year.

Lisa Ryan: 24:52

I love that book, but in my top four, the Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz how to win friends and influence people, because Dale Carnegie is basically the person who got me started on this path and the biggest investments that a manager made in me was sending me to the Dale Carnegie course. And then Lynn Grabhorn's book Excuse Me, your Life is Waiting is just another classic favorite of mine. And it's funny that you talked about how the future and how I think I'm future thinking, because the book that I'm listening to right now on Audible is J Sam. It's Future Proofing you. So I want to make sure that everything that I'm doing, I'm staying relevant.

Marc Bernstein: 25:38

So your book list is almost the same as mine. It's amazing. So my first was my father getting me to read how to Win Friends and Influence People, which led to the Magic of Thinking Big, by David Schwartz, which led to Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich. And then I really I was in a group for like years that studied the laws of success, which is his like.

Lisa Ryan: 25:59

Bible, which is really a great book. And if you haven't read Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill, it's fantastic.

Marc Bernstein: 26:07

Yeah, I have not read that yet, but I'm glad you reminded me of that, because I do want to read it. I am writing it down as we speak. And, lastly, ange has a closing question for you.

Ang Onorato: 26:19

Yeah, so we've talked so much and again, we could go on and on about your work today and how you got into it. I think is very relevant. But, lisa, if you, as you're sitting back and you're looking back that hindsight window and you're looking at your younger self, what advice or what would you say to her that might be impactful for her or the next generation?

Lisa Ryan: 26:41

I would let her know that her persistence and tenacity in doing everything is going to be her superpower as an adult.

Ang Onorato: 26:53

And that's very, very needed. I think a lot of we talked earlier about you know failing forward and you know having those opportunities to not be successful at something, because that builds that ability to you know to persevere and to keep going, and I just, you know, love the opportunity. It's been a great opportunity to speak with both you and Leila today, very successful, persistent female leaders and, moving into the new year, this is a great time to have these conversations. So thank you so much for joining us today.

Marc Bernstein: 27:24

Thank you very well and I'll echo that. Thanks so much, lisa, for being here. Thanks for being here with us again, Leila. Everybody enjoy the holiday season, have a great week and we'll see you next week again on Founders Forum.