Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
We need a new definition of success—one that harmonizes meaning and money.
Imagine diving into your workday with renewed energy, leaving behind the exhaustion or dread of a monotonous grind.
Traditional beliefs about success and the root cause of burnout are the same:
Prove yourself.
Work harder.
Take care of the business, and it will take care of you.
We’re recycling the mindset and practices that keep us stuck. Our souls need a jumpstart into The Age of Humanity.
Tune in for a new way of working that honors our nervous system and the bottom line, using knowledge of the brain, the Bible, and business. We’ll discuss timeless truths that amplify growth, ignite change, and reshape the world of work. No corporate speak or business BS. Let’s get to the heart of a rewarding career and profitable growth.
We speak human about business.
What’s in it for You?
Value, Relevance, and Impact (VRI): No, it's not a new tech gadget—it's your ticket to making your work genuinely matter to you and your company.
Human-Centric Insights: We prioritize people over profits without sacrificing the bottom line. Think less "cog in the machine" and more "humans helping humans."
I'm your host, Rebecca Fleetwood Hesson, your thrive guide leading you into the new Age of Humanity. I’ve navigated the highs and lows of business and life, from achieving over $40 million in sales, teaching thousands of people around the world about leadership, trust, execution, and productivity to facing burnout, divorce, raising a couple of great humans (one with ADHD), and navigating the uncertainty of starting a business.
I’m committed to igniting change in the world by jumpstarting business into profitable growth with the timeless truths of our humanity.
Sound crazy? It’s only crazy until it works.
Hit subscribe to never miss an episode, and leave a review to help other listeners discover our show.
Want insight and advice on your real career and business challenges? Connect with me on social media or email me at rebecca@wethrive.live. Your story could spark our next conversation.
[00:00:00] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Welcome back to the Business is Human podcast. I'm your host, Rebecca Fleetwood Hession, and we're here to bring you episodes that blend meaningful work with profitable success. Here to steward what I call the Age of Humanity. I believe if we transform the way we work. We can transform the way that we live.
[00:00:28] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: As always, my friendly request, if you like what you hear, hit subscribe so you don't miss any episode and leave a review to tell the other humans that they might like it too. Always looking to help you and connect with others. All right, let's get into it, shall we?
[00:00:43] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Welcome back to the show. I want to share with you today a bit about an event that I have coming up that I host every single year called Stand Tall in Your Story. And it's not just the event details that I wanna talk about. I wanna tell you how and why I've structured the event the way that I have, because I believe.
[00:01:10] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: The way it's based in neuroscience and connection, that you could use some of the ideas for your gatherings, for your work meetings for. Anything you have coming up where you want people to truly connect? 'cause when I started my business nearly 10 years ago now, I knew and still do that. My purpose in this world is about connection and so I want.
[00:01:40] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Everything that I do to honor my purpose, and it's the thing that I most enjoy doing, obviously. God tries not to give you a purpose that you don't enjoy, I think. And so when I was structuring this rise and thrive experience for seven women to go through over a seven month period, I, of course. Thought about the content.
[00:02:07] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: What was I going to share with them, teach with them, what did I want them to take away from it? But how they experienced it was as or more important to me than the content. So I knew that it was gonna take, you know, seven months to truly, have the transformation that I wanted them to have. And I wanted them to really build community.
[00:02:29] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And so at the end of this seven month experience, these women. are the speakers for an event that I host called Stay and Tell in Your Story. It's this big capstone event, the culmination graduation. It's been called a lot of things I know from the work that I had done previously with Franklin Covey that to go through this kind of effort and experience needs a celebration.
[00:02:55] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: that's tip number one. So if your teams are working on big goals together, working on a big project together, and you've got a deadline and a timeline, most likely, I hope, it's best to schedule something that allows them to report out. On the experience, the outcome celebration.
[00:03:20] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And even if it didn't go exactly like you hoped it would, you didn't hit the exact target. They've put a lot of time and effort into this experience, and so you want them to have the opportunity to share the story, not just the outcome. And that's what I wanna talk to you about today is the way that I've structured this event.
[00:03:43] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: It's actually this year on March the 12th, it's in Indianapolis, Indiana at the Indiana Roof Ballroom, which is a beautiful venue. I scheduled this event so the people going through my experience know there's this celebratory end. Because it's really not all that fun or motivating or engaging to get up every day and engage in work that doesn't have some sort of, how does this all end?
[00:04:15] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: How does this all come together? And the end shouldn't just be an Excel spreadsheet saying if you won or lost, saying what percentage you hit. And so. This event that I do, is in celebration of International Women's Day.
[00:04:31] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Most of business celebrates this. So it is a reason to come together and celebrate not just about their stories, but about this date, this thing that's already on people's calendars. So that was a beautiful, beautiful thing. So why this event works for real connection or things that you can borrow for yourself, it's.
[00:04:57] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Not just about business, it's emotional. So we as humans, Business is Human, we're personal, emotional, and social. And when you bring people together, clients, colleagues, your vendors, any group of people that you want to have a better relationship with. So just think about that for a moment. who do I hope to have a better relationship with?
[00:05:24] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: When you bring them together, and the reason I want people to buy a table to come to this event is you are going to bond with this group of people. So I'm constantly saying to sales professionals, get a list of your best prospects, your best customers, and bring them to a table at the stand tall on your story event, because I promise you, they're going to bond over this experience.
[00:05:49] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: and They're going to bond to you, and it's going to be a great way for you to build trust that helps you in your sales endeavors. Same way, if you're bringing colleagues, many people that have attended this event have said that they've had more meaningful conversations at my event than they have in the sometimes 10, 20 year history that they've had working with these same people.
[00:06:14] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Now, think about that for a minute. They work together every single day, but I brought them together for a handful of hours in an evening, and they bonded better than they have over all of those years. So I'm telling you, I got some things to share with you today that will help you and PS. You really should
[00:06:36] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Bring a group of people and buy a table to the event. And so what happens when you come together around an emotional event? it changes the dynamic, especially when it's about stories our brains are designed to process information as a story. And so when you bring people together at an event, and don't just talk about the data, but you talk about the story, there's a neurological impact.
[00:07:10] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: There's a shared emotional experience that builds bonds faster. And so when I host this event, I have these women tell a seven minute, that's another thing. They're brief TED-like talk. About their story. So we've had women tell stories about, the lessons they've learned from their autistic son, people that have shared stories about the labels they feel like they've picked up, over their life that have shaped them some positively, some not so positively.
[00:07:44] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Some have shared about, how important it has been for them to learn to let some things go. But these are real stories. These are stories that when people are on that stage, sharing a brief story, again, it's just seven minutes. They're hearing something that connects to them emotionally and when that happens, your brain watching this story.
[00:08:10] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Releases oxytocin, which is the chemical that drives trust, empathy, connection. Oxytocin is what moves the relationship from this professional acquaintance where you may have been meeting together for years talking about results and customers and spreadsheets into one that says, you know what? I really trust this person.
[00:08:37] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: I respect this person. And so what I do in this event is after the women on the stage share their story and this oxytocin is stirring around, then I say, okay, at your tables, I want you to talk about how this story has impacted you. What are you taking away from this experience? How has it touched you?
[00:09:06] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And then what happens is when you talk at your tables, after you've had this release of this oxytocin, now you are starting to have that feeling about the person that's sitting next to you. And I love it when you bring people that you want to build great relationships with, because I know this happens.
[00:09:27] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: I can promise you this happens. Now I have other people that buy general admission tickets. They say, you know what? I'm having coffee with this person next week that I met at your event that I didn't know before tonight. Some people have gotten jobs from people they've met at this event because they have quickly bonded with someone over these shared conversations, shared emotion.
[00:09:55] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Literally synchronizes brainwaves between people that are talking and listening. neuroscience calls it neuro coupling and that's why people say things like, wow, I really, I felt that from you. It's not really just a feeling, it's this biology. Science experiment that's happening, that's connecting people and stories activate more of the brain than facts ever can.
[00:10:27] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: So typically business events or your meetings or your, quarterly updates, those are great, but let's take 'em up a notch. They speak to the neocortex. the stories that I have these women tell on stage, which you could absolutely do for your meetings, they reach the limbic system, the emotional center of decision making.
[00:10:53] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: So it's not just about data and facts. 'cause listen, I hate to tell you this, but people don't remember your PowerPoints. I know. I know. You spent a lot of time on them and they were beautiful. Some people even took pictures of them and they're never gonna look at those again. Okay? Maybe sometimes, but we remember how someone's story made us feel, and that emotional recall is what connects you.
[00:11:22] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: It's what connects people to your brand, to your relationship. In their memory last way longer than that night. let's picture this for a moment. If you'll, if you invited a group of your prospects, so there's eight people at a table. So let's say that you, one of them and, two of them are your best customers.
[00:11:50] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: That's three and four of them are your prospects. The people that you really want to do business with, and you bring them together to this event and they have to conversations at the table that are nothing about your products or your solutions, please don't show up with your marketing sheets and think you're selling at this event.
[00:12:12] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: I will just be mortified. That's not what this is about. But as they're having this shared experience and getting to know you and your clients and your other, prospects at this table, based on the stories that my clients are telling on the stage about their real life, they leave this event and they have felt something, they have felt bonded to one another.
[00:12:32] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: They have felt all kinds of amazing emotions. You'll laugh, you'll cry, it's just an amazing experience. Weeks after that event, they're thinking about that positive experience they've had, and by nature they're gonna associate it with you because you invited them. And so you have built trust and a authentic, organic human way, which is really good for you and your business.
[00:13:09] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: I'm telling you, it is an amazing thing. Same thing with colleagues. You're building trust. they're bonding in a different way. I think it would be an amazing place to bring all your vendors, bring all the people that serve you and your business, and let them get to know one another and rally around your company in a more human kind of way.
[00:13:29] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: the table conversations are creating psychological safety, which people talk about, we try to teach classes on, but this is a real time happening because when you're talking with each other, having this small group reflection about the story that you heard on stage. You are relating to one another.
[00:13:52] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And from a science perspective, this is in that ventral vagal state, the calm, connected part of the nervous system. 'cause by this time I've, served. Wonderful food. There's cocktails, but it's not a let's come in and get hammered kind of thing. This is a beautiful social event. I give you a glass of champagne, whether it's a real champagne or non-alcoholic version.
[00:14:18] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: It's the experience. It's beautiful and people feel calm and connected and they're just in their feels before the show even starts because it's beautiful there. And this is where learning and listening and trust all starts to meld together where people feel seen, they feel heard, they feel safe. And that is the foundation of building great relationships, strong teams, strong partnerships.
[00:14:55] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Again, it lasts well past the event. So how could you use this thing that I know works? Because this is the seventh year that I've been doing it, and sometimes people say, you know what? I look for these certain people every year because I know they'll be there and I can't wait to reconnect with them, or I just know it works.
[00:15:17] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: I have companies that have come every single year because it does have this experience and they look forward to. Having that time together. So why couldn't you do something very similar for your quarterly update meeting? and I'm not saying you have to spend a bunch of money.
[00:15:35] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Listen, I spend a bunch of money on. Because I want it to be beautiful and special, and the venue is expensive, and the food and all that is expensive. You don't have to do that to do something beautiful, but think about where you're holding your meetings. If you really want bonding, either if there's something that you're celebrating about a huge, accomplishment or, information that you want people to really remember and connect with a Zoom isn't probably gonna do it.
[00:16:11] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Well, and I know sometimes we gotta do what we gotta do and I'll talk about how to do it still well over Zoom. But if you can get together live. And people's pheromones, oxytocin, all of the things I talked about from a science perspective. Are there mixing in the room? It's different. It's far more human, so spend the money because it's going to have a positive impact on the type of the relationships and the type of work that people do after they've spent time together.
[00:16:45] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Now, don't bring them together. Don't waste the money bringing them together. If all you're gonna do is put a couple people on a stage and talk at them, don't bother. You can do that over Zoom. this is my experience from the events that I host. This is my experience from the years and years of work that I've done helping people, schedule these types of events, being a speaker at these types of events.
[00:17:09] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: My experience as an employee at these events, like I can tell you hard and fast, don't bother bringing them all together if you're not gonna let them have conversation and shared experiences.
[00:17:22] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: You talk at them all day long while they're sitting at a table as a hostage and then you say, we're done for today, and you release them at five o'clock and tell them the bus lease or dinner at 5 45. Some of them go to their room, and this is the funny thing that's on TikTok. It'll show people, it'll say, when you've got 30 to 45 minutes between all day meetings in the company dinner, and it shows this exhaustive professional walking into this motel room and then just falling face first on the bed.
[00:17:55] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Like, I just can't, and I've been that person. This is real. they're already exhausted. They just get to have a little bit of conversation at the bar with somebody they really wanted to talk to besides just you talking at them from the stage.
[00:18:11] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And then it's time to, for their assigned seating at dinner. So you break the connection there too. those are awful meetings. Unless you're the one on stage. then the conversation prior to the meeting is, well, if we got 'em all together and you just try to pack it all in.
[00:18:27] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: There's no space in between for conversations. Somebody calls and says, Hey, while you're having that meeting, can I come in and present for 20 minutes about the updates on the blah, blah, blah? Sure. Put them on stage. Somebody else calls, Hey, and pretty soon it is back to back and people don't even get to go pee.
[00:18:46] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: you're probably laughing because you know, I'm telling the truth. Stop doing that. Just because it's always been done doesn't mean you have to keep doing it. That's the definition of insanity. Stop. Just stop. So just borrow my format for your next get together. If you're gonna do it in person, have someone present whatever it was they wanna present, here's the update on the company.
[00:19:14] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And then share the context and the story and how you got to this place. Because another thing that we do wrong is we have all of this experience that gets us to this place of, what you're gonna share. Like all the strategy meetings, all of the, the emotions, all of the stuff. Then you just get on stage and do like a 10 minute update of here's what we decided to do without telling the story of all the context.
[00:19:45] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And then people want to know, well, how did you decide that? how did you decide that's what it was gonna be? And if you don't tell them the why. Hello, shout out Simon Sinek. Start With Why. If you don't tell them why all of this matters. their limbic system is just like, wah, okay, take a picture of the slide.
[00:20:07] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: I'll try to remember this. When I go back to work, they ain't gonna remember it. they don't know why it matters. And if you wanna connect to somebody's heart and mind and really want them to engage. Then you gotta tell the story of how you got there and you gotta tell it quickly and get to the point.
[00:20:30] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Hire a speaking coach for your executive so that they can tell a seven minute TED-like talk instead of a 20 minute update with 45 PowerPoints. That is money well spent. And that speaker, that executive is gonna be grateful to have the support because they don't wanna get up there and balm and they may be nervous about doing the presentation.
[00:20:57] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: I'm telling you, I'm giving you gold today, ladies and gentlemen. 'cause I love you. I love you, and I want it to be better. So have them tell the seven minute TED-like talk of how you got to this place of, what you've decided about the strategy, why it matters. and don't hold back on the real emotion and say, you know what?
[00:21:17] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Our competitors are eating our lunch, and so we don't wanna be second or third or last. we're using this strategy because based on blah, blah, blah, blah, we believe blah, blah, blah, and we wanna win. Whatever it is,
[00:21:32] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And then once they've shared what's going on what are you thinking about? What questions do you have? What are you excited about? And then let them talk. and then take a microphone around and say, what do you think? Let them talk
[00:21:49] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And you want somebody taking notes recording this because these are the issues and the opportunities that you are gonna be leading and dealing with after this meeting. We call it the meeting after the meeting, I'm saying have that meeting in your meeting and then when people say, I don't know if this is gonna work,
[00:22:13] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: if there's something that's said as the microphone goes around that isn't somebody clapping for you and your strategy, check your ego at the door. You gotta do it. In this situation as a leader, you gotta do a humility. Humility, not pride. That's science, that's Bible. As they're sharing their concerns, you want to know how to respond to them.
[00:22:36] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Well again, hire a coach and you'll say things like, you know what? That's a really good concern. I'm glad you brought it up. let's sit down and talk more about that. We're gonna schedule some time with you and some others and, talk more about this.
[00:22:51] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: I wanna hear more about that concern. 'cause I mean, you still got a rest of your meeting run, right? But now you know what the resistance is gonna be and you're scheduling something based on that. you're getting the best data possible to run this play of whatever you're trying to accomplish.
[00:23:07] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: and tell 'em ahead of time, Hey, we're gonna just spend about, you know, 10, 15 minutes here so they know this isn't like we're spending all day on this. And then give them what the follow up is. Hey, we're gonna grab some people from each region, we're gonna grab some people from each department and bring this list of things together and let's have another conversation
[00:23:26] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Then do that one over Zoom. But I'm telling you what. You will help fuel your strategy in such an amazing way if you allow them to share some of the concerns and say, you know what? These are the things we wanna hear, and I know we're all together tonight. So today, tonight, however long you're gonna be there.
[00:23:47] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: So as you have other thoughts and concerns, here's a special email address. Send them to me at. 20 twenty6@companyname.com. Create a special email account for this and say this email account is gonna be open for the next 30 days. And we wanna hear from you. I'm telling you, I'm giving you gold today. when you do this, you have given them.
[00:24:16] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Information, emotion, and space to have conversation. You've opened up bonds and relationships and real, personal, emotional, social for your organization. Beautiful thing. Now, if you have other people presenting at the. Conference, whatever it is you're having. And it's not just like company strategy updates.
[00:24:43] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: maybe somebody does need to come up and talk about the new CRM Same principle applies. Here's what we're gonna do, here's why we're doing it. Tell the story. here's why it's important. To us as a company to you, how it's gonna serve you. Quick seven minute Ted, like talk.
[00:25:02] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Here's why it's important. Then let them talk, then let them share their concerns. it works for any conversation y'all be trying to have. And if you want help with this, book a coaching session with me, probably be the best money you ever spent and let me help you. If you want me to open up as a keynote at the conference and talk about Business Is Human and we're personal, emotional, and social, and the business needs to control, measure, optimize.
[00:25:31] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: I can open this up laying the foundation and say, you know what? What we're gonna do for the rest of our time together is we're gonna make sure we tell you the control measure, optimize, but we're gonna give you the human side of the story and we're gonna let you have conversations around it. Listen, I'll facilitate the conversations for the rest of the meeting.
[00:25:52] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: I'll stay and be the one who facilitates it all for you. All this just came to my mind in the moment, so I'm feeling pretty good about that idea, but I'm telling you, it will change the game. I'm always wanting to help you and think about ways that I can help you. So what if getting together is not an option, which I think people believe that too soon I bet you test me on this.
[00:26:19] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: I bet you if you and I got on the phone and you shared with me all the details of what you're wanting to share with your team. I could build a really solid return on investment case and conversation for you to take to somebody to get this considered, maybe not approved. 'cause some people just like to say no, no matter what, no matter how good the idea is, but at least considered
[00:26:41] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: there is huge ROI in building and bonding and, having stronger relationships. But let's say you're like, nope. We are a Zoom teams, whatever group. You can still build the emotional component in different ways. So one of my clients, found out that one of their, I think it was IT or Finance, was a dj.
[00:27:07] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: that was his side thing. And so they had him build and curate an amazing playlist, and he was the dj. And so they showed him on camera, introduced him that he was gonna DJ for the event. and so everybody's like, oh my God, that's so and so from it. That's so and so from, they like, oh my gosh, bonding all of a sudden, like, I didn't know that about him.
[00:27:32] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: That's cool. Hidden into the limbic system, you're getting some oxytocin going already, and the playlist was really good based on the age demographic of the company and the teams. And it was cool. I was a keynote speaker, so I got to hear some of this. talking about Business Is Human and the human side of business and the things that they need.
[00:27:51] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And they said, you know what? We care about you. so they're opening it up saying, we know we've had a lot of change. We know there's a lot going on here, but we care about you most. and it was well received.
[00:28:03] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And then as they were presenting the information, they made sure it was a human story. And so you can use the same format. You can say, you know what, here's the seven minute TED-like talk. Get to the point, give the context, the human side of the story, and then open up the chat. Hey, what do you guys think about this?
[00:28:24] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Because then you can save the chat information and you've got all this great diagnostic about how people really feel about this thing. And then same thing, say, Hey, we're gonna do a follow up. I know some of you're really passionate about this, really appreciate your feedback, And then because it was an all day meeting online for this particular client, there was an intermission.
[00:28:46] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: And because I had taught them about. Daily stillness practices and the science behind grounding and all of these things. It was, Hey, go out and try some of these things and then come back and tell us how you feel after you've tried some of them. Like things like, go outside and take your shoes off and stand in the grass.
[00:29:04] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Here's why it works. Here's a breathing exercise. Here's why it works to regulate your nervous system. So in this break time, they had lunches delivered to them, the logo and it was branded and all, you know, they had like merch stuff that came to them.
[00:29:20] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: So they were, yes, we're having a, we're having a meeting. And then when they came back in we're like, how'd it go? Like, oh my gosh, I can't believe how much more calm, I feel like I think I'm gonna be able to actually do this. There are so many ways that you can build human connection into your meetings.
[00:29:38] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: We're not being intentional enough with it. And so I wanted to share with you this stand tall in your story format because I know that it will work for you. So
[00:29:54] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: I would love to be your partner in it. We've got the new year coming up. all of you are probably planning these types of meetings right now. Let's make 'em great. Please, if you're gonna spend the money and the time to get people together for the love of everything, holy, let's make 'em fantastic.
[00:30:12] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: Shall we? Ready to serve connection. that's my purpose. God put me here for this. Let me use it. All right, y'all go get your tickets for my event. It's March 12th. If you go to my website, rebeccafleetwoodhession.com, you'll see the navigation for Stand Tall event and all the deets are there.
[00:30:32] Rebecca Fleetwood Hession: All right, love you mean it, bye.
Thanks for being here. You can follow us on Instagram, Business Is Human, or TikTok, Rebecca Fleetwood Hession. It's a great way to share some of the clips with your colleagues and friends. Alright, make it a great day. Love you, mean it!