In this episode of the Leadership Vision Podcast, host Nathan Freeburg discusses the profound connection between gratitude and leadership. The discussion highlights how gratitude is not only beneficial for personal well-being but also plays a crucial role in building positive team cultures. Freeburg references research from a Harvard Business Review article demonstrating a strong link between gratitude and increased well-being, suggesting that gratitude helps individuals experience more joy, navigate difficulties, and foster stronger connections.
The episode takes a deeper dive into gratitude with insights from an interview between Stephen Colbert and Anderson Cooper. Colbert shares his personal philosophy on gratitude, reflecting on the tragic loss of his father and brothers. He articulates a nuanced perspective, suggesting that gratitude should encompass all life experiences, good and bad, as they shape our humanity and capacity for deeper connection and love. Similarly, Cooper reflects on wisdom from his mother, contemplating the balance of joy and sorrow in life.
We have three reflective questions for you to consider as you contemplate your own challenges, connect with others' suffering, and embrace the full spectrum of your humanity. The episode aims to inspire leaders to practice vulnerability and gratitude, recognizing that these qualities can transform personal adversities into profound leadership strengths.
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Speaker 1:
Open your favorite social media app or Google the words gratitude quotes and you'll find dozens and dozens of what appear to be pithy quotes about how being grateful is just so good for you. For example, actor Will Arnett says I'm happy because I'm grateful. I choose to be grateful that gratitude allows me to be happy. And professional cyclist Kristen Armstrong says when we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in. And former president John F Kennedy says as we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them. And my favorite author, anne Lamont, says that gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into behavior. But these few examples aren't actually just glib ideas from privileged famous people. No see, research has shown that expressing gratitude for what we have makes a measurable difference to how happy we are. For example, in a Harvard Business Review article from 2021, they note that research and positive psychology has found a robust and persistent their words link between gratitude and increased well-being. And they go on to say that practicing gratitude enables individuals to experience more joyful emotions, to save or pleasant experiences more deeply, to enhance their health, better, navigate through difficult times and forge more robust connections. Hello everyone, this is Nathan Freeberg, and you are listening to the Leadership Vision podcast, our show helping you build a positive team culture. Our consulting firm has been doing this for 25 years so that people are mentally engaged and emotionally healthy. And guess what helps us become more mentally engaged and emotionally healthy? Well, many things, but yep, expressing gratitude.
Speaker 1:
Now, as the autumn, leaves turn and the scent of pumpkin spice permeates everything, we approach the time of year when Americans gather to celebrate Thanksgiving. It's a period that's traditionally earmarked for feasting and family and buying things on Black Friday, but at its core, thanksgiving is a collective celebration of gratitude. It's a time when we pause the relentless pace of our lives to reflect on the bounties and the blessings that we often take for granted. Now, this practice not only brightens our perspective, but it can fundamentally shift how we engage the world. Since 2014, the first full year that we had a blog, the Leadership Vision team has paused to reflect on the things that we are grateful for.
Speaker 1:
But this year I'm going to be sharing something a little bit different. It's actually an interview between late night talk show host Stephen Colbert and journalist Anderson Cooper. This originally aired on CNN back in August of 2019, and it offers what I think to be a much more let's call it a nuanced view of this concept of gratitude. Most of what you're about to hear is mostly from Stephen Colbert, talking with his characteristic mix of humor and depth, he's going to share how he has learned to recognize gratitude in his life, for all parts of his life, including the most challenging parts, the good and the bad. It's a profound example of our capacity for growth that often emerges from pain.
Speaker 1:
For some context, he explores the most profound loss early in his life, which was the death of his father and brothers, and how that has shaped his understanding of gratitude. He says that this experience has allowed him to connect with others, acknowledging their suffering, and has made him able to love more deeply. Now, the message here, to me at least, is that we need to find ways to be grateful for all of life, embracing every moment as part of the richness that forms our human experience. Now, similarly, anderson Cooper is reflecting on his mother's wisdom, who, at the time of this recording, had also passed, and Anderson had also lost his father early in life, but he reflects here on his mother's wisdom and philosophies that have influenced his thinking and invites us to contemplate the interconnectedness of joy and sorrow and the profound humanity that can be found in embracing both of them.
Speaker 1:
Now, as you listen to this, I hope you can find something that resonates with your own experiences and perhaps a new way to look at this idea of gratitude as we enter the season of thankfulness. Yes, it's important to write down all those little specific things that we're thankful for you know, hot coffee in the morning, listening to our children's laughter, a big project at work that was received well but also the things that we'd like to maybe forget. All of them make us into the people and ultimately, the leaders who we are today. Now I have some specific reflection questions for you after this short three minute interview clip with notes and a worksheet in the show notes, if you'd like to process this more later. Enjoy.
Speaker 2:
You told an interviewer that you have learned to, in your words, love, the thing that I most wish had not happened. Um, you went on to say uh, what punishments of God are not gifts? Do you really believe that?
Speaker 3:
Yes, it's a gift to exist. It's a gift to exist, and with existence comes suffering. There's no escaping that, and I guess I'm either a Catholic or a Buddhist when I say those things, because I've heard those from both traditions. But I didn't learn it that I was grateful for. The thing I most wish hadn't happened is that I realized it Is that, and it's an odd, lovely guilty feeling.
Speaker 2:
It doesn't mean you are happy I don't want it to have happened.
Speaker 3:
I want it to not have happened. But If you are grateful for your life, which I think is a positive thing to do um, not everybody is, and I'm not always but it's the most positive thing to do then you have to be grateful for all of it. It can choose what you're grateful for and then? So what do you get from loss? You get awareness of other people's loss Well, that's true which allows you to connect with that other person, which allows you to love more deeply and to understand what it's like to be a human being.
Speaker 3:
If it's true, they're all human, sufferer, and so at a young age I suffered something, so that by the time I was in serious relationships in my life with friends, or with my wife, or with my children is that I have some understanding that everybody is suffering and, however imperfectly, acknowledge their suffering and to connect with them and to love them in a deep way that not only accepts that all of us suffer, but also then makes you grateful for the fact that you have suffered, so that you can know that about other people and that's what I mean, it's about the fullness of your humanity what's the point of being here and being human. If you can't be the most human you can be I'm not saying best because you're going to be a bad person and a most human. I want to be the most human I can be, and that involves acknowledging and ultimately being grateful for the things that I wish didn't happen, because they gave me a gift.
Speaker 2:
One of the things my mom would often say is that she said you know, I never ask why me, why did this happen to me? She would always say why not me? Why would me be exempt from sure what has befallen Sure everybody, countless others over the centuries. And I think that's another thing that has helped me think yeah, of course, why not me? But this is part of being alive. The suffering is the sadness. Suffering. These are all you know. You can't have happiness without having loss and suffering.
Speaker 1:
I've now listened to this interview at least half a dozen times and I encourage you to actually listen to the whole thing. I'll leave a link in the show notes and it's hard not to feel moved by the way that both of these men have learned to embrace and be grateful for the full spectrum of what life has thrown at them. I think Colbert's reflections guide us through the understanding that even in loss, there can be an unforeseen depth of gratitude, his ability to find profound connection and the essence of shared human experience within his own losses. I think it nudges us to look at our trials through a lens of gratitude. Now, in the spirit of reflection, I offer you three questions to ponder as we carry this message of this podcast into our daily lives and as leaders. I think we can model this form of gratitude by being vulnerable, both of ourselves and those that we lead. Now consider using these questions, maybe in a team setting or even with your family. Okay, so the first question is what challenging experience in your past has unexpectedly shaped you for the better, and can you find space for gratitude within it? Number two how can recognizing your own suffering help you to connect with others in their times of need. Number three in what ways can embracing the fullness of your humanity, both the peaks and the valleys, lead to a more compassionate and understanding life? As we hold these questions in our hearts, may we all strive to be, as Colbert suggests, the most human we can be, acknowledging the gift of existence and the complexity of our journeys. Let's carry forward this idea that every element of our lives, especially the most challenging, contribute to the profound narrative of who we are.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to the Leadership Vision podcast, our show helping you build a positive team culture. We would love to help your team do that. If you have questions about anything you heard here today or any of our other materials on building strong people, strong teams or strong culture, we would love it if you could reach out to us. You can send me an email, connect at leadershipvisionconsultingcom or visit us on the web at leadershipvisionconsultingcom. We would also really appreciate it if you could review our podcast and Apple podcast and Spotify, really wherever you get your podcasts, you can like us on all the social feeds and you can also. We would actually really appreciate it. It would actually be really helpful for you if you would join our email newsletter. You can just go to leadershipvisionconsultingcom. There is a sidebar signup form on any of our pages. On behalf of our entire team, we are grateful for you. We're thankful for you. Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for listening.