In this episode of Culture From the Heart Podcast, hosts Larry Levine and Darrell Amy are joined by Justin Ricklefs, the founder and CEO of the Guild Collective. They discuss the importance of incorporating heart-centered leadership within organizations. Justin shares his personal journey of transitioning from a head-focused to a heart-focused leadership style. They explore practical strategies such as curiosity-driven dialogues and structured feedback sessions for understanding employee perspectives. Justin emphasizes the significance of storytelling as a powerful tool for sales and building authentic connections with both employees and customers. The episode highlights actionable advice for leaders aiming to cultivate a culture of empathy, connection, and trust.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Heart-centered leadership requires personal work - Leaders must understand their own hearts, pain, and challenges before building authentic culture
• Curiosity over certainty - Leading with compassionate curiosity and sourcing team perspectives creates better outcomes than command-and-control approaches
• Structured heart connection - Implementing regular "Perspectives" meetings (biannual 90-minute sessions) helps surface important team issues that wouldn't emerge through open-door policies alone
• Story is the ultimate sales strategy - Humans connect through stories, not facts and figures; brands that position customers as heroes (not themselves) build loyalty
• Heart work is hard work - Building heart connectivity is more difficult than surveillance and control, but essential for authentic leadership and healthy culture
QUOTES
• "It's really, really challenging to lead well from a shallow heart."
• "Story is the greatest sales avenue ever created. Story is the best sales strategy period."
• "I've never regretted sourcing the perspective of my team."
• "The heart connectivity piece is really difficult. Don't fool ourselves. It's hard work. It's much easier to try to command and control and surveil people."
• "The distance between the head and the heart feels like a mile away, even though it's 18 inches."
• "You can't have culture from the heart if the leadership team isn't doing their own work to understand their own journey, their own pain."
• "The brand thinks of itself far too highly. The customer is the hero of the story."
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What is Culture From the Heart?
Welcome to the Culture from the Heart Podcast, on the From the Heart Business Network.
In a business world where employees and customers crave authenticity and trust, hosts Larry Levine and Darrell Amy are on a mission to find and showcase heart-centered executives and the companies they lead.
This show features inspiring conversations with a visionary leader that’s bringing heart into the workplace—empowering employees, serving their clients, and uplifting communities--all to create true success.
This is Culture from the Heart! The movement starts here.