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Video

How to Use the Enneagram to Create Marketing Narratives

November 22, 2022 by Matt Schlegel Leave a Comment

Matt Schlegel presents to an SBA T.H.R.I.V.E group of emerging leaders on how to use the Enneagram to create marketing narratives.  Matt shares how to create a narrative for each Enneagram type, and then works with two leaders in the group to create specific narratives, one to market to Enneagram Type 4 clientele and the other to market to Enneagram Type 6 customers.

#leadership #Enneagram #marketing

[Video Transcript]

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Let me welcome Matt to the SBA Thrive group for entrepreneurship and all the CEOs of the group. Matt is going to talk to us about the nine market narratives for using the Enneagram to market your business. Is that correct? Right. Yeah, I’m pretty sure.

So anyway, I’m just going to introduce Matt Schlegel. I’ve known him for quite a while. I’m learning a lot through him through the Enneagram. He’s teaching me a lot, but anyway. So Matt, why don’t you just go ahead and get started. As the other people want to come in, I’ll just add them.

Matt Schlegel:

Sounds great. Thank you, Mari-Lyn for having me speak today. I’m delighted to be here. I appreciate the interest in your group for this powerful tool that I use called the Enneagram. This is a follow-up session to a previous session where we just talked about an overview of what the Enneagram is and how it can be used as a personality dynamic system to better understand yourself, better understand others on your team, better understand the interpersonal dynamics that occur. The Enneagram is a wonderful tool for that.

But, it can be used for so much more. One of the things that we’ll talk about today is how to construct a marketing narrative that will tune to specific Enneagram types. If you are knowledgeable about the type of person that you are marketing to, then you can craft a message that is specifically tuned for their Enneagram type that will really resonate with them, so it really becomes a very powerful communication tool as well. Each Enneagram type has specific things that they’re listening for and specific things that they’re motivated to do. In as much as we can craft a narrative designed to that, then it really makes a difference.

I will just jump ahead. Just a little bit about me. I have been using the Enneagram now for over 20 years. I started using it in the way that most people do with friends and family, found that it was very powerful. I introduced it to my team at work, and it proved to be a very effective communication tool there. Then, I asked this question, “Why are the Enneagram types numbers? Why not colors or letters or…” It turns out there is a reason why they are numbers. It’s because it describes the order of a process, and it turns out it’s the exact order… Those Enneagram dynamics are exactly in the order that they appear in human problem-solving, so I started using the Enneagram as a problem-solving system, and it works amazingly well as that as well.

It’s not a well known aspect of the Enneagram, which is why I ended up writing a book about that particular aspect, how to use the Enneagram as a problem-solving tool with your teams. This is my book, Is Teamwork 9.0. It’s available on Amazon. I encourage people who want to explore that side of the Enneagram to check it out.

Today we’re going to look at yet another aspect of the Enneagram as we dive into these lines that we see inside of the Enneagram. When we look about problem-solving in general, you can see it’s one through nine. But if you start with any specific point, say… Let’s start with seven. You can see that there’s these blue lines inside of the Enneagram that trace from seven to five to eight to two to four to one, and then back to seven. At an individual level, not necessarily as a team level, but as an individual level, that tends to be a trajectory that we will take as we work through individual problem-solving and as we construct narratives from our specific point of view.

That’s really what we’re going to talk about today, is how to construct a narrative out of these lines in the center. This is very good if you, say, understand that I’m going to be speaking to a group of sevens or I’m going to be speaking to a group of threes. In the broadest sense, if you don’t know what your target demographic looks like, then you probably want to stick with the one through nine narrative around the circle. But if you’re going to be marketing to a seven, then there is a better way to do it that will really resonate with the seven.

As you become familiar with the Enneagram, you will start to see that certain Enneagram types are drawn to certain roles. For instance, I find that at companies oftentimes a chief financial officer tends… There tend to be a lot of type ones in that role. Or if you’re a financial controller at a company, there tends to be a lot of type sixes and on, and on, and on. There’s specific types that are drawn to certain roles. If you know, “Hey, I’m marketing to CFOs at companies. I want to craft a narrative around that type one path of those lines in the middle,” so that’s kind of what the main idea is that we’re trying to do here.

Let’s start with the seven. If you look at those lines, it will start with the seven, then it will go to the five, then the eight, the two, the four, one, and back to seven. Now, we’ve talked about that seven personality dynamic. One of the main things that the seven wants is to keep things fun, and positive, and light. They tend to be friendly, talkative, charming. That’s the starting point. In crafting your narrative, you want to start with something that is fun and positive because that will catch their attention.

Then, the next step in that will be to go to the five. Sevens love information. They love to have their brains tickled, so you want to provide them with information. That’s in that Enneagram type five dynamic. Then, going from there, you want to show them how you can use this information to take action. That’s the type eight. Then, you want to show how that action that you’re taking is going to be very helpful, and that’s the type two dynamic. Then, you want to know from there how that helpfulness will let them stand out as being special or unique. That’s that type four dynamic. Then, it goes back to the type one where sevens really resonate with principles. So you can bring it back to the principle of why you did all of that, so you ground it in principles. That’s the type one dynamic. Then you bring it back to, “Wasn’t that fun? And we had so much fun doing it.”

You can see how just following those lines around you can create and craft a story that will really resonate with that type seven personality. Does that make sense, Mari-Lyn, when I describe it that way?

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Mm-hmm.

Daniel:

Yes. Thank you.

Matt Schlegel:

Awesome. Awesome. In this slide here, we deconstruct each one of those elements from that type seven point of view, so you’ll be able to refer back to this slide, but it’s essentially what I just described.

Then, as you move around, each one of these types has a different starting point. Now, the order when you’re looking at the blue lines connecting the seven, the five, the eight, the one, the four, two, it follows in the order of the direction of the arrows. It’s just the starting point is different for each type. When you start with the five, you want to lead with, “I’m going to provide you with lots of information.” Fives love that information. Then, you start there and then you follow it around through the eight, the two, the four, the one, the seven, and then back to the five. That is the way you craft a story with the fives.

Now, fives, engineers. They tend to be researchers. Anybody in academia will kind of fall into this five category. Whether they’re a type five or not, it’s kind of the world that they live in, researchers, that type of area. If you’re marketing to folks in that area, you want to use a five strategy.

Then, let’s go to the next, so eight. The eight strategy is starting with action. When you’re marketing to a type eight… And a lot of CEOs are type eights, very action oriented. You want to lead with, “We’re going to get stuff done here. We’re going to take action,” and then you go through the remaining steps of, “It will be very helpful. It will make you stand out. It’s really based in principles. It will be fun. It will be informative. And we’re going to get a lot done.” That’s how you build the narrative with the eight. But just remember to start with action with them.

With the two, this is starting with caring about other people and that being helpful. That’s how you resonate with the two, is you start off with appreciation, and kindness, and giving, and caring. Now, Mari-Lyn, I know you’re a type two, and so I know that this really would resonate with you. What do you think of this approach for the type two?

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Yeah, pretty close. Pretty close. But as you’re talking, too, I see myself in other roles, in other numbers, too, so [inaudible 00:15:18]. But, that’s true.

Matt Schlegel:

That’s exactly what this speaks to. This is one of the reasons why I love the Enneagram, is because we do move through all these dynamics in our… As we move through our lives and we move through our personal problem-solving, we are all cycling through these. That’s why crafting a narrative in this way will just really speak to each Enneagram type, and knowing that starting point is really helpful.

For twos, we know if you’re marketing to caregivers, lot of twos in caregiving. Actually, lots of different service roles, fire firefighters, police, the military, a lot of twos are drawn to those types of service roles. So when you’re marketing to an organization that is really based in providing services to their customers or their community, you can use this two narrative because it will really speak to them.

All right. So, same thing. I think you get the idea with the four. You want to start off with the uniqueness and the emotional impact that you’ll have. Then with the one, I mentioned before, a lot of CFOs in the one category, so you want to start off with precision, and accuracy, and competency, and principles. These are things that resonate with type ones, like it will resonate with CFOs because that’s kind of their world.

That kind of gives you a way of crafting messages for all of the Enneagram types that are connected by these blue lines, because you can see they’re all interconnected. But now let’s go over to the red lines. This is the triangle, the three, the six, and the nine. The same idea will happen here. When you’re going to start with the three, you want to start off with a success narrative. Threes are drawn to success. They want success, so they want to see how whatever you’re presenting is going to be successful. So you lead there, and then you move to the six dynamic, which is predictable. You want to have something that’s essentially a system for continuous success.

Then, after that, you move to the nine dynamic and show how this success will end up creating harmony within the community that the three is working with so that success will reflect well on them. You don’t want conflict or discord where… The three would be very sensitive to things not going well, so you want to show how whatever you’re presenting is going to be very harmonious. Then you come back to that success. You can see how if you are a three, these are the points that are going to be really important to the three, which is why it makes it such a powerful narrative when you’re marketing to threes. All right?

Now you get to the six. Again, we’re just now sticking to that triangle in the middle, and we’re… Sixes are looking for consistency, for low risk. They want it well thought out, all these things, so with an eye towards predictability. You lead with that, and then you show how the community will embrace that system, that predictableness, and allow things to continue on in a predictable, non-chaotic way. Then you show how all of this leads to successful outcomes. Then, you finally draw back to that predictableness. This is the narrative that would work really well with the six.

Then, the nine is leading with the harmoniousness. You remember nines, they want to minimize conflict in the community, and they want to make sure that everybody’s perspectives are taken into account. You lead with that part of your narrative of how everybody is going to feel really good about this solution, and then you go to the success. It will lead to success, it will be predictable, and it’s very harmonious. Everybody will love it. That’s the narrative that you want to construct for the type nine.

That gives you a brief overview of how to think about narratives for each one of the Enneagram types. Then again, if you don’t know, or it’s early on, or you’re working with somebody new that you haven’t met and you don’t know their Enneagram type, then you can fall back on the generalized form of the narrative, which is to simply follow the numbers from one to nine. You can use essentially a problem-solving narrative, a generalized problem-solving narrative when you’re constructing that because everybody will resonate with that. You start off with the problem and the goal. You show what stakeholders are impacted and who will care about that problem and that goal. You’ll want to show all the great ideas for success, so that’s step three. You want to show how you’ve taken into account any emotional feedback from those ideas and how you’ve vetted the most positive ideas with the community.

Now you move over to five, which is where you analyze the ideas, so you want to show how the idea that you’re presenting has been validated and will be effective. You move then to six, and you want to show how you have a plan in place to implement the idea. Then, essentially, in a marketing narrative, you’re working on steps one through six, and then your action is the seven. You’re promoting this plan to get something done, and you want to get your buy-off from your clients or customers, and then you want to act on the plan, and that’s step eight. Then, you want to make sure that the solution was effective for your customer or clients, and that’s nine. You could see how you can essentially follow this generic marketing narrative one through nine just around the circle. Those are the different ways to construct a marketing narrative using the Enneagram just really, really briefly. I hope you enjoyed that, and love to hear your thoughts on it.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Thank you. Actually, I think after your presentation, I actually learned a little bit more about the other numbers. It was like, “Oh, okay.” That was very good. Thank you.

Matt Schlegel:

You’re very welcome.

Daniel:

When you’re engaging in this process, what’s the timeline between one through nine? How much time are you putting into it?

Matt Schlegel:

It really depends on the situation. In the case where you are presenting to a customer or a client or a prospective client, you can construct this narrative and lay it out in 30 minutes. That means you’ll have had to do all of that work beforehand to validate the ideas and all that. But when you’re laying it out, you can just lay it out very sequentially. If you’re actually working with teams to solve a problem, that’s a different thing. Does that answer your question? Do you want to talk about team problem-solving or just using it as a marketing narrative?

Daniel:

No, the marketing narrative, I mean, that’s really what I’m keying off of, and that makes sense. I appreciate the clarity. Thank you.

Katie:

Thank you so much for that information. I own a dance studio, and this week I wanted to roll out a couple key things for… Not necessarily Black Friday special, but it is a special. I wanted to target people who had taken first lessons but never really continued, maybe because of price, because we are pretty pricey, or those people who had taken four lessons, which is the first layer, and never really continued. When you talked about doing a marketing narrative that covers all across, that was super helpful.

In a sense of timeline, most of the marketing tactics are either email. Some of them are even texts. This is the first time I’m going to go through texts. I have to really shorten that into, I don’t know, four sentences with a visual. Anyways, that was super helpful to me. If you have any other tidbits on specials that’s happening, especially for the holidays, to just incentivize people to continue or purchase, that would be great.

Matt Schlegel:

Yeah. Well, I love that because I think that you probably have a sense of the type. How old? Are these junior high school level students or high school students, adults?

Katie:

Oh, these are adults.

Matt Schlegel:

They’re adults.

Katie:

Yeah, these are adults.

Matt Schlegel:

You might have a sense for the types of people who are coming to your class, are they mostly sevens or are they… I mean, that would probably be one group that you could construct the marketing narrative to. I would imagine that there might be some fours in there as well, just people who are very artistic and expressive and want to use different forms of emotional communication. You might have some fours in there as well. Do you have any sense of the types of Enneagram types that are your clients?

Katie:

Absolutely fours, people who appreciate music and connecting in a different sense, people who are… As of right now, I think most of the people who didn’t purchase maybe are a little bit more money… or budget focus. That’s why the incentives are there, like sweeter deal to start dancing, just so that they can try. Because sometimes it’s, unfortunately, you have to try it for at least… Not just four lessons just to get it in and really fall in love with it because you can only feel a progress over a little bit longer period of time. You do get a little bit of progress in a sense of one month, but imagine if they were there for three months or six months. They would feel a lot more progress, and they could see fuller the investment if they’re very short term like that thinking.

They want things quick and easy, right away. But if they could see just a little bit longer to be part of the community, to improve a little bit longer, longer sense of time, I think they would have a better idea and maybe be more lifelong students. That’s really my goal. I don’t want 100%. Maybe 80% lifelong students. No matter what, that dancing… Ballroom dancing is what I do.

Matt Schlegel:

Oh, okay.

Katie:

Ballroom dancing and partner dancing is going to be a part of their lives in a positive way. It just takes a little bit of time, like learning a language. You learn a language for, I don’t know, four lessons, and it doesn’t really impact you as much as you would in a consistent basis. It just takes a little bit of investment, and time, and money.

Matt Schlegel:

Let’s imagine that we’re marketing to a four or a group of fours. Some things about the fours that you’ll want to know are that they really want to be able to express themselves in emotionally impactful ways. That would be where you’d want to lead, is, “We’re going to give you the tools and the platform to be able to fully express this very beautiful and emotionally impactful dance.”

Then you might want to say, “We don’t want…” Now we move to one with the principles. “We don’t want cost to be a barrier to you having fun with this amazing form of dance, and so we want to give you…” Now I’m moving to five. “We want you to be able to have access to all the resources that we have that will help you achieve this,” and then you’re moving to eight, “and then be able to dance and fully express yourself.” That’s the action. “Then imagine as you grow how helpful that will be to your partner, and you’ll be helping each other.” That’s the two. Then you get back to four. “Then you and your partner will be able to create something beautiful and unique together.”

Katie:

I love that. Thank you.

Matt Schlegel:

Does that make sense?

Katie:

Yeah. Yeah.

Matt Schlegel:

When you construct it that way that, you’re just following the way the four naturally thinks, and that story will like, “Oh, yeah. I want to do that.”

Katie:

That’s great. Super helpful. Thank you.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Hey, Kate. I don’t know about Matt, the promoter, would they be a customer too or not?

Matt Schlegel:

I think you’re talking about the seven.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Yeah.

Matt Schlegel:

I think you find sevens in any social community. Sevens are very social. They like being in community. The nice thing about the four narrative is that it does overlap with the seven narrative. It’s just the sevens will be leading with the fun as opposed to that uniqueness of their personal creative emotional expression. The fun is more important than the emotional expression. For the four, the emotional expression is more important. But you can see the narratives overlap, so the sevens can be drawn into that as well.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Cool. Daniel, did you have any questions far as marketing or…

Daniel:

No. Matt was able to answer the questions I had. I’m going to be working with this in our marketing department and see where we go from there. But if I have something else, I’ll reach out directly. Thank you.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Great.

Matt Schlegel:

Perfect. What kind of folks do you tend to market to, Daniel?

Daniel:

We run private security consulting firm, so we’re working with larger industries, production, and manufacturing. We do colleges and universities. We work with hoteliers, car dealerships, work with municipalities, and small government.

Matt Schlegel:

Nice. For that type of business, you are likely to be marketing to the type sixes for the most part. Because you can see one of the things that the six likes is to minimize risk. Essentially, that’s what you’re doing, You’re a risk minimization firm.

Daniel:

Absolutely.

Matt Schlegel:

You want to build, I would say, a narrative around you’re going to provide predictability, you’re going to create a harmonious environment for everybody that is conflict-free because you’re there to make sure there’s not conflict. You’re going to allow your customers to maximize their success, and you are going to just be that predictable service in the background that is making sure that they can achieve their success.

Daniel:

Matt, and I think you’re spot on, especially with the predictability part. What our clients love is knowing we’re there and not needing to talk to us. They don’t want to be bothered. If they know we’re there and we’re on the job, I mean, that’s a huge selling point for us. No, I think you’re spot on, man. This is good stuff.

Matt Schlegel:

Awesome. Awesome. I mean, it’s pretty remarkable once you know what you’re targeting how you can distill down that message that will really hit all of the main points.

Daniel:

I love it.

Matt Schlegel:

Well, great. I’m glad that I was able to share this and hopefully offer some tidbits of advice that will help you achieve your successes.

Daniel:

Matt, we can get ahold of you on LinkedIn?

Matt Schlegel:

Absolutely. I’m on LinkedIn. I’ll have my contact information on these slides. I’m happy to share those as well.

Daniel:

That’d be great.

Katie:

Thank you.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Hey, you’re welcome, guys. Well, thank you so much, Matt, for coming back on and going through your presentation. I certainly really enjoyed it. I learned a lot, too, but anyway.

Matt Schlegel:

I really appreciate the opportunity, Mari-Lyn. It’s always a pleasure.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Hey, you’re welcome.

Daniel:

Happy holidays, sir.

Matt Schlegel:

Yep. Happy holidays.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Happy holidays, everybody. In that ending, we’ll just maybe end the call, unless you have something else you’d like to say, Matt.

Matt Schlegel:

No. Again, it’s just been a real pleasure. I think we all can learn so much from the Enneagram and the different aspects of how you use it. It’s one of those tools that the deeper you go, the more you learn.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Yes.

Matt Schlegel:

I encourage people to explore it, and play with it, and learn, and grow with it.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Are you still doing your community Enneagram groups or-

Matt Schlegel:

I do. I have a monthly group that meets. We discuss different topics related to the Enneagram. Well, it’s not just beginning Enneagram. Most of the people who come to the program are very familiar with the Enneagram. We come up with these different applications, just like the one we went over today, how to apply the Enneagram to marketing. The one that we did this last month after the election was how does the Enneagram relate to politics. That was a very lively discussion.

We’re going to take a break in December, but we’re going to come back in January, and we’re going to talk about empathy and sympathy. Each Enneagram type has a different take on empathy and sympathy. I’ve come up with a model that goes over the different empathy and sympathy levels of each Enneagram type and put that into a framework that’s easy to understand. That, I think, will be really helpful.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Especially for a lot of workplaces or people that need the extra boost or how to cope.

Matt Schlegel:

Yes, yes. Type twos, I’ll say right now, Mari-Lyn, type twos are the most empathetic and the most sympathetic.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Yes. Yeah.

Matt Schlegel:

You’re firing on all cylinders there.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Yeah, yeah. Well, certainly for the type of work I’m doing right now, certainly need it.

Matt Schlegel:

Exactly. That’s why you’re drawn to the work that you do.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Great. Thank you, everybody, for showing up today. You will be able to get a recording of this call, because I did record it. I’ll send you out the links. Okay, everybody. Have a great day. I guess we’ll see you soon. Happy [inaudible 00:40:54].

Matt Schlegel:

See you guys soon. Thank you.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Have a great-

Katie:

Thanks so much.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

… happy Thanksgiving.

Matt Schlegel:

Thank you.

Mari-Lyn Harris:

Bye-bye.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Enneagram, Marketing, Video

Charged with Feelings, Climate Leader David Ligouy on his Solar-Powered Bike Trek from Argentina to California

July 19, 2022 by Matt Schlegel Leave a Comment

Author and climate leader David Ligouy focuses on developing green energy solutions for developing countries. His book – Able to Be Human – is currently being translated into English. His organization is an NGO called Peace Movement based on the Resistance Movement in France.  His current project, #BankOnTheClimate, is devoted to producing very economical, light electric vehicles for people in developing countries, like solar powered electric bikes!   To raise awareness and funding for this effort, David has ridden a solar powered bike from Argentina to California, and he’s currently on his way up the west coast to Canada.

Subscribe and follow #BankOnTheClimate on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeruw6lJCHyCjyvSHUzZzcg

Website:  https://www.bankontheclimate.com/

#Leadership, #Commitment, #EmotionalIntelligence, #EQ, #climatechange

[Video Transcript]

 

Matt Schlegel:

Thanks for joining me in conversations with leaders who are using their feelings as a leadership tool for both inspiration and motivation.

Matt Schlegel:

Today, I’m speaking with author and climate leader David Ligouy. David works to bring solutions to people in developing countries that will help meet the internationally recognized sustainable development goals. And now for the conversation.

Matt Schlegel:

Today, I’m speaking with a remarkable climate leader and author David Ligouy, who focuses on developing green energy solutions for developing countries. His book, Able To Be Human, is currently being translated into English. His organization is an NGO called Peace Movement and his current project, Bank on the Climate, is devoted to producing very economical light electric vehicles, for instance, solar-powered electric bikes. To raise awareness of this effort, David has ridden a prototype solar-powered bike from Argentina to California, and he’s currently on his way up the West coast to Canada. I am so eager to hear about what is inspiring him and motivating him on his journey. David, thank you so much for joining me today. Welcome.

David Ligouy:

Thank you very much, Matt. So, my inspiration come from science. I met a world scientist about EPCC, is a panel of climate change, is from Vietnam, and is an expert of integrate risk. So he did studies on integrate risk. So when you isolate a problem, you don’t see, okay, this maybe 20, 30 years. But he say, “Okay.” He said to me, “If we want to have a chance to save a lot of people, we are by 2020.” And I met him in 2015. So he says.

David Ligouy:

So I start to be conscious that we don’t have a lot of time. I prepare myself to the improbable. So in case it happens, maybe we all get together. We have, it’s for me an enormous hope that we can fix climate change, but also other solution my NGO Peace Movement, French Peace Movement is originally from the resistance, the resistance movement.

David Ligouy:

And in the resistance movement in 1941, Germany was as a Nazi was all over Europe for maybe four decades for… So, and the German army was the best in army in the world. So the Nazi was the best army in the world. So it was almost impossible to defeat them, improbable. But in two days, the Japanese decide to bomb Pearl Harbor and the USA enter in the war with us. So, and then USA has enormous potential. Okay. And the second one is the Nazi were defeated in studying God by the Russian. So in two days it changed completely the perspective of French resistance, that maybe there is a chance.

David Ligouy:

So, my NGO is focusing on social solution, economical solution, and also on environmental.

Matt Schlegel:

You said that your inspiration came out of science, but how did that make you feel? What are you feeling now?

David Ligouy:

I first feel overwhelmed by the situation. And also when I’m getting older, I have a lot of frustration because I think I didn’t do much. I did a lot, actually. We do. We Matt too. You did a lot. But we didn’t manage to, for the moment, we still didn’t manage to fix the situation. So it’s very frustrating sometime I have a lot of anger and I am overwhelmed by my anger. So, and also it’s a new field. That mean I was diagnosed with eco-anxiety one year ago and I’ve been suffering for 20 years. So, and…

Matt Schlegel:

So you were actually diagnosed with eco-anxiety, but you realize you’ve been feeling it for 20 years?

David Ligouy:

Yes, I didn’t… And then, so now I know what is my problem before. So, and I really like the book of this professor of Stanford.

Matt Schlegel:

Yes. Dr. Britt Wray Generation Dread. Yes.

David Ligouy:

Wow. So she’s very courageous because she’s attacking this main problem.

Matt Schlegel:

Yeah.

David Ligouy:

That I didn’t even know last year I was sick of it. I have all the feeling.

Matt Schlegel:

Yeah.

David Ligouy:

All the bad feelings. You name it, I have it. All of them in a short time and a big amount of them. So it’s very hard to cope, but it’s preferable that I, and you Matt, are dealing with it than teenagers or children because they are not ready to face it. They don’t have the structure. If I have big problem to face it, I imagine the children. And so one of them is also denial. Me, I should be the guy who should know most the problem because I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it, but sometimes I don’t want to see it because it’s too much.

Matt Schlegel:

Yeah.

David Ligouy:

So I have, my brain should do some denial to protect myself.

Matt Schlegel:

Many people are starting to have very strong feelings. But the easiest thing to do is to just be in denial. It’s a self-defense mechanism. And once you get past denial, it essentially uncorks all these other feelings that will come out, frustration, anger, grief, anxiety, all of these things are being bottled up now. And once you get past denial, they’re going to come out. And I think more and more people as they come to grips with climate reality, they will be starting to feel these feelings, which… So I guess what I want to ask you next is now that you are feeling all these feelings, how do you channel them into constructive positive action?

David Ligouy:

I have to know what is my… What’s called resilience. You have to look for resilience. Resilience, it’s a mechanical term. That’s if you hit somebody, if you hit a metal, it becomes stronger.

Matt Schlegel:

Mm.

David Ligouy:

So it’s a natural property of steel. If you hit it with hammer, it make it become every time stronger. So, but there’s a limit. So me, I have to find my resilience factors and everybody’s different.

Matt Schlegel:

Right?

David Ligouy:

So my… And then I do, because when you are overwhelmed by all these feelings, it’s not possible.

Matt Schlegel:

Right?

David Ligouy:

So you have to prepare it a little bit before that to get ready. So what I do first for me is swimming. So when I travel with my bike, I try to go to near the coast to be always near the Pacific coast or Atlantic coast. That’s what I do. Caribbean. So I know if I am too much overwhelmed by situation, I go to the sea. The sea calm me down.

David Ligouy:

And second one is, I do, what I do is biking. Because biking is generating sport. It’s generating also like swimming on the veins or calm my body and calm down my brain. And then, and biking, it’s helping me also with nature because I have to look the nature. I have to, not to look to my problem like this. I have to open to look left and right. It’s very basic. But to do that, look left and right, nature. “Oh, there’s a bird here. Oh, there’s a car here.” It just calm me down because I stop concentrating on my problems, on my fears. I look around. So that’s the second one. And the third one is dancing.

David Ligouy:

So in Latinos, they have been suffering for 500 years. So they are very resilient. They are not from a consuming society where they can have everything, because they don’t have money. So they found some ways to be resilient. So it’s dancing and singing. So they are poor, but they are allowed to dance. Don’t need too much to dance. So the third for me is dancing. I’m looking, I take some time to dance. And maybe a fourth, it’s maybe also very important is my bike, because bike will provide curiosity, provide…

David Ligouy:

So that’s one that was part of the project. That mean if you stress people, they’re already very stressed. Two third of the young people on the planet are stressed by the problem. And they are not in denial, because they don’t have this mechanism so elaborate. Adult are more in denial because they are too busy or obviously, cause they have way to be in denial. Young, especially young children, are not in denial. They are quite straightforward. They see the reality and they speak the reality and they are afraid. They are really afraid. They’re in panic.

David Ligouy:

So what I do with my bike, I bring curiosity, creativity, and joy. So, “Wow. What is this?” And then, and I provoke the meeting and I have a lower bike that also provoked humility, because I’m lower than people. That was part of the plan. So what I’m promoting is women is emancipation through transportation, who is the biggest… So also I’m tackling the problem. Action, so this, if I do action, if I’m just worry about my feeling, it doesn’t help. I have to act.

Matt Schlegel:

What advice would you give to them?

David Ligouy:

It’s everything is interactive. So I have to work on myself and I have to work with others. I have to also believe that it’s possible to do it on the world level. I have to work with the institution. Has to be a complete change.

David Ligouy:

So, and we have to do it fast. So it’s like a disruptive change in everything. So my advice is really based on the SDG. People should know first, what is SDG? And SDG, they have 169 target. So young people, especially, they should know that because it is going to help them to have an overview of the solution. This whole thing is interconnected. And after they have to feel in their heart, what is the most important for them? Because like in your book, everybody’s different. So you can work on one target, on of the 169 target and say… And maybe sometime you can even change in time, but you can constantly say, now I am more concerned about this target for could be gender equity could be integrated in education. It can be write a book or it can be okay… Or maybe sometime maybe you just too overwhelmed, just take care of yourself first. You can be taking care of others and this will take care of yourself.

Matt Schlegel:

Whenever you are going to start to have feelings about something it’s about a problem. That’s usually what is the starting point of having feelings is whether it’s your head or your heart or your gut is telling you that something isn’t right. There’s a problem. And…

David Ligouy:

It’s never face problem of humanity. Nobody have faced such a problem before.

Matt Schlegel:

Right. And you bring up the very good point of study the problem, really take the time to understand what the problem is. Don’t just assume, you know it, don’t just assume that your gut is right or your heart is right or your head is right. Actually take the time to understand the problem and then let that really good understanding of the problem inform your head or your heart or your gut, what to do next. I think that’s what I heard you say. And everybody is different. Everybody will bring a different strength or a different focus and we need it all. We need everything.

David Ligouy:

That’s biodiversity.

Matt Schlegel:

That’s right. Exactly. And if we’re all on the same page in terms of what the problem is, as we all contribute, we will all be working towards solving the same problem.

David Ligouy:

Yeah. It’s a patchwork of solution.

Matt Schlegel:

Yeah.

David Ligouy:

It’s like a puzzle of solution and it will all come together.

Matt Schlegel:

Yeah.

David Ligouy:

And it’s already planned by the SDG. So, okay. Okay. It’s going to work. You’re going to work on mental health of people because that’s your knowledge.

Matt Schlegel:

Well, David, thank you so much for all of your insights and sharing your feelings and for all of the work that you are doing and your focus, it’s really truly an inspiration for me. And I just appreciate you so much and what you’re doing, and I wish you the very best on your continued journey. And you know, much success to you as we solve our collective problem. Bank on the climate

David Ligouy:

Hashtag bank on the climate.

Matt Schlegel:

Yes. And I will put a link to bank on the climate in the notes here. And you said that you have a YouTube explanation. So I’ll also put that in the notes for people so that they have a way to follow you and stay in touch with you.

David Ligouy:

Thanks so much, Matt.

Matt Schlegel:

Okay. Thank you.

Matt Schlegel:

Thanks for watching. David shared so many fantastic insights for leaders who are facing a big problem and are starting to have strong feelings about that problem. He highlights the importance of taking care of yourself so that you don’t become overwhelmed. He emphasized the role that community plays in problem solving. And he says that you never know from when or where a tipping point will occur. So you have to prepare and be ready to take advantage of it when it does.

Matt Schlegel:

If you found this conversation helpful, please click on the thumbs up button and subscribe to the channel to get notifications of future episodes. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section and I’ll respond as soon as I can. Thanks again.

Filed Under: Climate Crisis, Leadership, Video

How is Gen Z responding to stress in the Roaring 2020s workplace?

July 12, 2022 by Matt Schlegel Leave a Comment

Gen Z is entering the workforce at an extraordinarily stressful time. Authors Twiana Armstrong, Kimberly Layne and myself discuss what we are seeing, how Gen Z is responding, and what leaders can do.

Kimberly Layne: https://www.kimberly-layne.com/

Twiana Armstrong: https://linkedin.com/in/twianaarmstrong

#Roaring20s #Roaring2020s #MentalHealth #GenZ

[Video Transcript]

[Twiana Armstrong]

Recently read an article posted in 1999 that read, “Not that the older generation, hasn’t always heaped hopes and fears on the rising one, expecting it both to carry on what adults value and avoid their mistakes.”  As we reflect on our hopes and fears, we now witness five generations co-existing in the workplace: traditionalists, baby boomers, generation x, millennials, and generation z. Overlay this context with generational differences impacted by societal, political and community ills; all of which highlight differences between behaviors and outlooks. This generational diversity emphasizes that there is no one size fits all approach to leading and managing workers, especially our younger generations, the gen xers, millennials and the gen zers. Growing up, their worlds have been shaped by extremely significant events, oftentimes violent and chaotic, that subsequently influence their daily motivations. Leaders who do their homework have identified the keys to adapt, to communicate, to accommodate and prioritize for these generational variations.  Be bold in your efforts to invest in psychological empowerment and psychological flexibility, both of which promote mindfulness and positive mental health and quality of life, allowing for employee self-care.

[Kimberly Layne|

As parents, as teachers, as leaders, if we really stop and look, I mean really stop and look, …How do we see our younger generations faring, not just physically, but mentally?

Disruption is no longer temporary, but our “new normal.” The pandemic is in its third year, and we are also facing geopolitical conflicts, extreme climate events, sexual abuse, and inequality

For many adults, we have past memories, …happier and more positive memories that keep us keeping on, but, for our younger generations their lives have been a slew of unpredictable traumatic events:

Plane attacks, school Shootings, lock downs, terrible isolation, and disconnection. These constant unpredictable events, …hit the human core and are a terrorizing threat to their internal safety.

No wonder we see increased ADHD, depression, suicide, and violence against each other There is an absence of control, understanding and a helplessness on how to fix the problem.

Our youth are fighting to gain control

They press their employers to tackle climate change and find halfhearted responses that have minimal reach.

They have inspired organizations to address workplace mental health, yet they themselves suffer mentally, and are fearful to ask for help or take advantage of resources.

How can you as a leader meet these generations where they are?

Insightful David Rock, co-founder and CEO of the Neuro Leadership Institute, states

. “When the outside world is really uncertain, we all need more purpose and control in our day-to-day.” Getting our younger generations intrinsically tied to their work and meaning of the work they are doing is one way to give them back control.

Another way to give back control is to develop higher emotional skills. Such as Empathy, vulnerability, and an emotional understanding of ourselves and our struggling youth.

Your emotional strength as a leader provides a controlled environment for emotional safety and security.

Our younger generations are crying out; we as leaders need to be able to empathetically read, understand, and motivate them through this erupting landscape and keep them keeping on in a healthy mental state.

[Matt Schlegel]

Thanks, Kimberly.

Yes,  Gen Z is entering the workforce during a very fraught time.

This is the first generation fully raised on Social Media.

This is a Generation that grew up with the multiple threats of school shootings, pandemic, and climate change.

They’ve learned that the adults in their lives ostensibly there to protect them are resoundingly failing to do so.

They have no allusions that their employers will behave any differently than other adults in older generations.

One way that Gen Z is responding is by putting their social media skills to use and organizing to create worker-led movements. Famously, there’s a wave of Starbucks workers forming unions.  As of today, over 150 stores in 25 states voted in favor of unionizing and hundreds of stores across the country are awaiting union votes.

Workers at other high profile companies are also unionizing: Amazon, Apple , REI and Trader Joe’s just to name a few.

Younger generations find that building community in the workplace is an effective way to address the mental wellness issues of our age. I am expecting to see this trend continue.

Cynically, some employers have responded by co-opting the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion movement to bust union organizing efforts. In his recent article in the Intercept,  Lee Fang also points out that employers are discontinuing using terms like “human capital” which speaks to the commodification of people at the company.

While these rebranding efforts may work on older generations, Gen Z sees these as the union-busting efforts they are, which further enrages and activates them.  They’re seeking actual material benefits, not just words.

A Gen Z version of Jerry MacGuire might say: Show me the Diversity, the Equity, the Inclusion, and the Money!

Thanks.

Filed Under: Leadership, Millennials, Roaring 2020s, Video

Keep Your Chin Up? Why Not?

June 18, 2021 by Matt Schlegel Leave a Comment

I’ve got a problem.   I keep my chin up.  Despite the saying, keep your chin up, I’m advised it’s not always a good idea to do that. Why not? Relatability. Why do I do it?  I found two reasons that may explain this tendency. Here’s what I discovered…

YouTube Channel

I launched a YouTube channel on which I periodically post videos on change management and the Enneagram.  I’ve enlisted the help of coaches to advise me on various aspects of the videos, including my presentation style.  Two coaches pointed out that I keep my chin up when addressing the camera. One even suggested that I explore the psychology reason why I was doing that.  So I did.

Why Keep Your Chin Up

A search of the psychological importance of keeping your chin up reveals two angles.  In short, they are to exude confidence and to lower stress.

This Harvard Crimson article cites a Harvard Business School and Columbia University study which found that keeping your chin up in a power pose results in an…

Increase in testosterone, a hormone traditionally associated with a sense of power, and an equally dramatic decrease in cortisol, a hormone linked to stress.

Posing in displays of power caused advantaged and adaptive psychological, physiological, and behavioral changes.

And these findings suggest that embodiment extends beyond mere thinking and feeling, to physiology and subsequent behavioral choices.

Being prone to stress, it makes sense that I’ve adopted this chin-up behavior to help me lower my cortisol levels. Likely there are other non-verbal cues and feedback that I’ve received over the years which reinforced this behavior.

More reasons to keep your chin up include improved posture and better golf swings.  All seems great, right?  Well, not always…

Why Not Keep Your Chin Up

My coaches tell me that when I exhibit chin-up behavior on video, I become less relatable.  To better relate to the audience, they advise, I need to maintain a “forehead forward, chin down” posture.  I have even been advised to keep the camera below eye level to force my chin down and my forehead out.  This all feels very uncomfortable to me, but they assure me that with practice the chin-down pose will become natural.  I just hope that my lower testosterone and higher cortisol levels don’t cause other problems!

It’s also very distracting for me to do this. If I am concentrating on what I am saying, then my chin wanders back up. It’s like my Adam’s Apple just wants to be seen.  But, I don’t want to appear like I’m looking down my nose at my audience. To prevent this,  I surround the camera with sticky notes reminding me, Forehead Forward, Chin Down!

Of course, when I explain this dilemma to anyone, I always receive a warm word of encouragement—Don’t Worry, Keep Your Chin Up.  Aaaaargh!

 

 

Filed Under: Video

How does the Roaring 20s’ Speakeasy Influence the Roaring 2020s?

March 9, 2021 by Matt Schlegel Leave a Comment

Themes from the Roaring 20s run right through to our Roaring 2020s.   Authors Kimberly Layne, Clare Price, Sam Cibrone and I share our thoughts on the importance of the Speakeasy both then and now, highlighting the importance of staying connected, running a business in adverse times, finding joy and happiness, and making memories.

Meet the Authors

Kimberly Layne is author of Connections Change Everything and principal at the Kimberly Connection Company: https://www.kimberly-layne.com  Kimberly coaches and consults with Leaders and Organizations who desire to upskill their leadership and organization with the necessary soft skills that drive positive relationships that increase retention, engagement and profitability in our virtual, disconnected, and dynamic world. It is proven, strong connections build better business results! Find Connections Change Everything here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1947480936/  or get your personally signed copy at https://www.kimberly-layne.com/resources

Clare Price is author of Make Remote Work and principal of Octain Growth: www.octaingrowth.com Make Remote Work is for everyone who is looking to reinvent their business for our new remote economy. Find Make Remote Work here: https://www.octaingrowth.com/ebook1/

Sam Cibrone the small business myth-buster debunks these myths about small business startups and growth.  His book:  Cracking the Startup Code: 5 Myths to Starting or Growing a Small Business focuses on the mindset needed to start or grow a business, the core values needed for growth and he uses real life examples from 5 small businesses he owned in his 23 years of owning small businesses. Free copy of the book on Sam’s website: http://www.samcibronebusinesscoaching.com

Matt Schlegel is author of Teamwork 9.0—Successful Workgroup Problem Solving Using the Enneagram and principal at Schlegel Consulting: www.evolutionaryteams.com Teamwork 9.0 cracks the code for turbo charged team creativity and extraordinary team effectiveness. Find Teamwork 9.0 here:  https://www.amazon.com/Teamwork-9-0-Successful-Workgroup-Enneagram/dp/1733478809

 

Video Transcript

[Kimberly Layne]

I like the sultry secretive nature of the Speakeasy. They defied the law, had unlimited hours, and proliferated anywhere and everywhere… including covert locations such as stank basements, intimate back rooms, and unofficial store locations.

Interestingly enough, people flocked to these hideaways. Why? because as natural human beings we seek pleasure, enjoyment, celebration, and community! (especially during hard times). Most likely the Speakeasy and its alcohol was fortified by a wealthy owner, and its party goers were the poor.  For the first time in American history, rich and poor patrons illegally drank together. It did not stop there, in some cases even racial barriers were broken down, and African Americans and whites in unison indulged outside of the law, and celebrated life and community.

I believe when natural ability is to come together in community and in celebration especially in challenging times, is denied, we will find avenues even, if illegal, in order to meet our huma needs for human connection.  We will dissolve differences, and absolve judgment of race, and socio and economic status. Why? Because At the end of the day we are all humans craving connection.

As we move forward in our celebration of our roaring 20’s I challenge you to dissolve manufactured barriers of interaction and to establish easy pathways to human connection. WE all are craving connection!  It is something we all are craving!.

[Matt Schlegel]

That’s fantastic, Kimberly.

Let me share a story.

It was towards the end of the day, and a co-worker came into my office completely exasperated.  She started listing off all the challenges that she was facing on her project.  After listening a while, I suggested that we head over to a bar, have beer, and talk things through. She stared at me in amazement before saying, “okay.”  We got over there and had a long conversation about all the issues.

That was twenty years ago, and my co-worker, now friend, still brings up this story.  For her, it was exactly the thing that she needed at that moment, to disconnect from the problems for a while and reflect on them objectively.  For me, it highlights the value of building relationships with co-workers both inside and out of the workplace.  A change of scenery broadens our perspectives.  And a drink can certainly help us into more open conversations.  It does help us to Speak. Easily.

What do you think, Sam?

[Sam Cibrone]

Thank you, Matt.

The Roaring 20s Speakeasys teach us many lessons about business to apply to the Roaring 2020s.  The interesting thing is that they demonstrate many characteristics on Entrepreneurship.  For example, Speakeasys were places that understood the concept of taking risks.  As you know Alcohol was prohibited so selling a was dangerous.  As businesses we must take risks to be successful. Secondly, Speakeasys demonstrate the ability to meet a want or need of the consumer. In those days, it provided alcohol and more importantly socialization.  Currently, businesses must focus on the constantly changing needs of customers.  The Speakeasys teach us many lessons about the culture of the Roaring 20s which correlate to the Roaring 2020s.  We learned that taking risks is vital for progress.  In addition, we learned that you must solve a want or need of the customer.  So, when we reflect back on the Speakeasys, let’s remember those lessons, so that we can have a great Roaring 2021!!!

[Clare Price]

When I see pictures of the Speakeasys of the Roaring 20s, I see joy, exuberance and just plain fun. Ok. Maybe a little bit too much fun. Speakeasies have something to say to business owners today as we start to recover from our pandemic prohibitions. That is, how can you do more for your customers? How can you bring them joy? For one of my manufacturing clients it was literally searching the globe to source materials a vendor needed to make custom packaging for a virtual trade show event. In true Speakeasy fashion, let’s all find ways to bring joy into the lives of our customers and employees.

 

Filed Under: Leadership, Video

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