Exploring the power of lived experience.
Episode Notes
In this episode of "52 Humans," host Paul Wolf interviews Derek Lundsten, the president and Chief Culture Officer at Life Guides. Life Guides is a technology platform that connects people who have experienced specific life challenges with those currently going through similar situations, providing empathy, compassion, and resources. The mission of Life Guides is to reduce unnecessary human suffering and help people live with greater purpose, vitality, and joy. Paul and Derek discuss the concept of human-first and empathetic leadership, emphasizing the importance of connecting and supporting others based on shared lived experiences. Derek shares how Life Guides was founded and the transformative impact it has had on individuals and workplaces. The episode highlights the power of empathy, compassion, and building a community of support to foster well-being and personal growth. Paul encourages listeners to embrace empathy in their own workplaces, promoting a culture of kindness and understanding that can contribute to a better world.
Derek Lundsten
President and CEO
LifeGuides
Currently serving as the President and Chief Culture Officer at LifeGuides, Derek Lundsten leads a transformative platform for conscious leaders and values-driven cultures. He is also the Chairman Emeritus of Scrimmage, a modern mobile learning, development, and training technology firm with a global reach, which was successfully acquired by ACTO in August of 2020. Lundsten's leadership and support have been pivotal in driving the growth of numerous businesses, always with a focus on serving all stakeholders and using business as a force for good in the world.
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Transcript (auto-generated)
Evante at 10:35 AM
0:15
Hello and welcome to another weekly episode of 52 humans, the vlog cast on stories of human first leadership.
0:21
I'm Paul Wolf, your host.
0:23
And I started this show to inspire us all to transform our workplaces by returning to the humanity that binds us today.
0:30
I'm looking forward to chatting with Derek Luton about human first and empathetic leadership.
0:34
Derek is the president and Chief Culture Officer at Life Guides and an amazing human being.
0:38
Who I happen to know.
0:39
Derek.
0:39
Welcome to the show.
0:41
Thanks Paul.
0:41
It's really an honor to be here.
0:43
Thank you for the time.
0:43
I appreciate it.
0:44
Thank.
0:44
Tell us a little bit about life guides and, and kind of what your mission is and what, what, what you're trying to do to change the world.
0:49
Absolutely.
0:50
Life Guides is a technology platform that connects people who have been through a particular life experience, life event or life challenge and are now on the other side to provide direct empathy, compassion and resources to someone going through that same experience, event or challenge.
1:03
The big vision from the founding has been about reducing unnecessary human suffering or the inverse of that about helping people live in greater purpose, vitality and joy.
1:13
I love it.
1:13
I was speaking at an event yesterday and I it was an, a mixed audience and I talk about in, in my book, I talk about my challenges with O CD and anxiety.
1:24
And one of the questions that it was a fireside chat.
1:26
One of the questions I got asked was to talk about kind of how leaders can be vulnerable.
1:31
And I gave them the extreme example of disclosing the 12,000 people that you have O CD and you're struggling with it.
1:36
And, I, I got done at the end and somebody from one of the companies on the tech side came up to me, one first asked me where I got my shoes and I, I told him where I got my shoes.
1:47
But then he said he goes, I so appreciate you talking about O CD and you're challenged with it.
1:52
He's like I have it too.
1:53
And I've had some challenges.
1:54
So we started to talk about that and it's what you all do at Life guides is so amazing because it is, it's, it's about lived experiences.
2:00
Like nobody truly understands it.
2:02
Like I, you know, for a long time, I tried to explain to my husband like what, what it's like to have O CD.
2:08
And it, it never, I, I could never like really explain it.
2:12
Oddly enough, there is this, there is a commercial running.
2:16
I don't think it's on anymore for a, a trial of a new O CD drug.
2:20
And I, I said you need to watch this because this is what I've not been able to explain to you.
2:25
This is exactly what it feels like every single day.
2:28
But it, it's, the lived experience is so, is so challenging and being able to connect and match people to get that support with somebody that's had the same lived experience is I, I love, you know, I love what you, what you all do.
2:41
And I'm sure you could talk days about human first leadership, but can you, can you talk with the audience about your example of human first and empathetic leadership?
2:48
Yeah, I mean to that point, what you describe life guides is in many ways the expression of human first leadership in action.
2:57
It is the idea that connecting people for sharing experiences, sharing stories, collaborating is the entire basis of what we're doing and why I've chosen to commit my time and my work and my energy and in leading this company and building this company is the idea that we can give people a new way to express themselves.
3:17
We can give people the tools and resources within companies to be healthier, thereby creating healthier families, create the healthier communities.
3:24
I mean, this is the literally the embodiment of the work that we're doing.
3:29
I love it.
3:29
Talk to me.
3:30
So how did, how did it come about like, where did the idea come from?
3:34
How did you kind of pull it all together?
3:36
Because that's, I'll go back, way back.
3:39
Yeah, I'll go way back and then I'll go to the founding.
3:41
So way back when I was a kid, literally, when I was a young kid, about seven years old, I remember asking the question about why am I here?
3:48
Right.
3:48
Literally, at a very young age, I was, and that's, that was driving me through a lot of my, of my young adulthood.
3:54
And I, and I was, and I actually studied philosophy in college and that was a huge driver.
3:59
What, what drives people, what motivates people?
4:02
What's our purpose?
4:03
So seeking that and, and studying that, I was, I would say I was a philosopher first before I was a businessman.
4:10
but then to kind of go forward because that's an important foundation to go forward.
4:15
Well, I should take a step back in college.
4:17
I also studied, you know, Eastern philosophy Buddhism and the idea about the boat, the fact that there are people who are here literally to be guides and to walk with others on the path of greater growth of, of development and potentially even, you know, enlightenment, right?
4:31
As an example.
4:32
And I think that's I use that just as an example, not, not in the spiritual sense, but just helping people to be at their best with in all dimensions of life.
4:40
And so what happened was when I was building another venture in the education space.
4:44
I met my business partners and we had shared this idea around, hey, caregiving, the idea that, you know, someone who's been through the experience of caring for loved ones who go through dementia or Parkinson's or other experiences like that.
4:58
That takes a huge amount of responsibility time, emotional investment, financial investment, identity investment, and it takes a period of time and the system as we know it is complex, it's challenging and people don't necessarily have the access and education that they need to do it well.
5:14
So the idea was if we could have a platform that connected caregivers who successfully been through that to be mentors or guides for their caregivers, how could we help people through that experience in some different ways?
5:24
And then what we saw was this is beyond just caregiving.
5:26
This idea of the quote unquote guides model, someone who's walked half the head of you, someone who can be with you applies to any life experience and like, you know, having a new baby to, you know, relocating for a promotion to a chronic illness, to, you know, a loss of your job, any one of those things warrant someone being with you and giving you advice and counsel in your, in your moments of, of, you know, challenge or triumph.
5:50
So, yeah, no, it's like, like we, we said before, that the lived experience is so it's, it's, you know, you can perceive and assume what it's like, but you never know really what it's like until you've been through it.
6:04
and everybody can give, you know, advice and opinion and, and sometimes that's helpful, you know, to have somebody who hasn't been through it.
6:10
That, that has a more kind of, I guess, objective view of things.
6:14
What, when you, you, even when you go into companies or you kind of roll this program out in companies, what have you, what type of feedback have you gotten from employees that have used it from hr leaders that are a part I assume of, of kind of rolling it out.
6:27
It just becomes part of a, not necessarily a mental health but more of a, just a, a wellness if you will.
6:32
And I think about wellness in all senses, you know, it's not just physical mental, you know, financial, it's, it's everything, it's just that, you know, human beings being OK.
6:42
Yeah, it's so many different dimensions, but to just go back to your very clear question.
6:45
On the member side, the feedback has been beyond what anyone could imagine.
6:49
We've had testimonies of people literally telling us that we saved their lives.
6:53
We've had feedback of people saying that I feel seen, I feel understood, I feel that I can actually talk about something that I've never been able to talk about before.
7:01
The fact that this resource is made available by companies.
7:04
They feel a greater level of trust and connection with their colleagues, with their team, with the, with the, you know, the purpose and meaning of the companies that they're working with or for.
7:12
Right?
7:13
And so it's been, I believe we're in the early stages of truly transformational opportunities.
7:18
But this, you know, we talk about this idea of, you know, fully expressed at work and people bringing all dimensions of their self.
7:23
This is a tool that really helps operationalize empathy and compassion, individualize to families needs and helps to bridge the gap between employers and their families and leaders and what's possible as people.
7:37
Because at the end of the day, we are all human beings, we all struggle, we all have challenges, we all have opportunities for growth and we all have a desire to connect with one another and be and be in a community and lifeguards facilitates that, you know.
7:49
Absolutely.
7:50
I, I, I always say like the premise of my book is the Universal Truth is we're all human beings and that's what makes us the same after that.
7:57
It gets, it gets messy and we all know that it gets messy in a lot of different ways.
8:00
But we all, and I, you know, somebody asked me the question a couple of days ago about, you know, work life balance and like it's, this doesn't exist like that's not a thing to me.
8:09
It's and you could call it work life integration.
8:10
But, you know, to me it's all just life and you want to help somebody live their best life and work is a part of that, but also their family is a part of that.
8:18
Friends, pets, kids, like hobbies, whatever, you know, whatever the case may be, like those are all the chapters that make about my life and like I want to live the best life possible.
8:32
And, you know, I think if we all, you know, your, your the mission of your company clearly is human first.
8:38
And I think if everybody kind of approached, you know, think about it, I get, I get a little Polyana, I, every once in a while and not just think about leaders and companies.
8:45
But if everybody on this earth approached everybody from the perspective of we're the same at our core.
8:54
And instead of judging there's this, you know, there's this quote that gets attributed to Walt Whitman, but it's, it's un attributable.
8:59
Nobody knows who said it, but it's be curious, not judgmental and I love it because like from a, if you talk about it from ad I N B perspective, it's like instead of judging somebody the minute you see them because they're different than you just sit down and have a conversation with them and ask questions, you can, you and you can apply that to politics, which is very polarizing it to some extent here in the US or any kind of aspect of life.
9:20
But, like, just ask a question and it's not that everybody's gonna, you know, be friends and agree at the end of the day.
9:26
But I think you can have a better understanding of somebody if you just sit and ask and listen, which is something we all don't do very well.
9:34
we don't sit and actively listen because we're distracted by, you know, 20 other things at the same time.
9:39
Completely agree.
9:40
I mean, that's the nature of being human and I'll just mean my hat, I wear this hat for reason because I think it sums up what you just said really, really well as one word that most people have an understanding of in, in, in inwardly, they just, we just know it right.
9:54
And so, that helps us to really cultivate that, that external that we're talking about.
9:59
So that's so perfect.
10:00
I love what you all do, you know that.
10:02
and I'm, I'm happy to support in any way.
10:03
Thank you so much for being on today, Derek.
10:05
I appreciate it.
10:06
Thank you, Paul.
10:07
I appreciate the work that you're doing and amplifying people's great work in the world.
10:10
And I, I'm humbled that you chose us to be a part of that.
10:12
So, thank you so much.
10:15
Thanks for joining us on 52 humans.
10:17
If you enjoyed this, please give me a follow to be notified of future episodes.
10:21
I so appreciate all of your support.
10:23
If you wanna watch past episodes or you have a story yourself of human first leadership that you'd like to share.
10:28
Please go to Paul Wolf dot com forward slash 52 humans.
10:32
And lastly as I ask each week, please reflect on one way that you can bring greater empathy into your workplace.
10:38
It's these small acts of humanity and kindness that make for a better work culture and ultimately a better world.
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I'm Paul Wolf and I'll see you next time on 52 humans.