SPEAKER_01: 0:01

Welcome to the Multiply Your Success podcast, where each week we help growth-minded entrepreneurs and franchise leaders take the next step in their expansion journey. I'm your host, Tom Dufour, CEO of Big Sky Franchise Team. And as we open today, I'm wondering if you are aware of how your attitude and behaviors impact the rooms that you walk into as the leader. And that's impacting it positively or negatively. Well, our guest today is Lisa Even, who shares with us and talks about how your attitudes and behaviors as the leader of your company create a ripple effect throughout your team. Now, Lisa is a keynote speaker, best-selling author, and leadership coach who helps teens create what she calls a good ripple effect. With a background in healthcare operations and team leadership, she now is work with companies like ESPN, Sherm, and Disney to teach leaders how to show up with presence, build trust fast, and shape stronger cultures. She's also the host of the Have Good Ripple Effect podcast. You're going to love this interview, so let's go ahead and jump right into it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:10

Thanks for having me. I'm Lisa Even, like the opposite of Odd. And I am the founder of Lisa Even. I'm a keynote speaker. I talk to teams about leadership and a little bit of life. And my tagline is Have Good Ripple Effect.

SPEAKER_01: 1:26

Fantastic. I love it. Well, that's part of the reason I wanted to have you on the show is to talk about the entrepreneurs ripple effect. A lot of the folks that tune into this are founders, they're leaders of organizations that are small businesses or franchise companies. And so I'd love for you just to talk about what is the entrepreneur's ripple effect. Give us an overview. What do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_00: 1:51

Yeah, well, I'm I go back to like the what is the description of a ripple effect? And it really is a disturbance. And so this idea that your ideas and what you say and what you do is creating a disturbance out in the world, and hopefully in a good way, which I'm guessing as an entrepreneur, we don't go into this business for anything other than that. And so the idea is that how are you thinking about the space that you're in and what they what you're doing? And how can you really kind of create something that touches the people around you? That's really how I'd say it.

SPEAKER_01: 2:24

What led you to start going down this pathway to start thinking about this and talking about it and investigating it and learning more about it? What prompted that?

SPEAKER_00: 2:32

I would say it started before I was an entrepreneur, but it certainly is like something that I use every day. I was an operational leader in the healthcare space. And I worked in some teams and became the leader of some teams where it was really hard. Like we were the neurosciences and behavioral health teams. And when you think about giving people bad news or just having to like save lives, literally, I'm not clinical, but our team was. It kind of became our mantra of everything we say and do is a ripple, happy or crappy, our choice. And so there was a lot of this like choosing that even though we're operating in a really hard, busy, fast, regulated space, we needed to make sure that that was a priority. And you, I that as an entrepreneur, like you can say, like, well, that sounds just about like what I do every day. It's like, yeah, we live in this like busy, wild, fast-paced environment where we can't control a lot of things, but we can certainly control our reaction to it. We can create a really impactful disturbance in a good way. So that's kind of how it got started. It became our tagline for our team. And then my husband and I moved states, and he's like, My husband was like, you should start your own business, like get out there and you know, teach people how to lead people. And I thought, well, what in the heck would be my tagline? And he's like, I know your tagline. He's like, I was like, oh, right. So have good ripple effect really kind of became the the flagship for how I think about the world, how we approach it, and what I do.

SPEAKER_01: 4:05

I love how you ended up kind of the why, a little bit of the origin story there on this. And let's talk a little practical. One of the things I like about our show is we try to make sure we leave some practical things here. So, how do you help people have good ripple effect and help leaders of organizations do that?

SPEAKER_00: 4:24

Yeah, I really focus on three things. The first being, how are you showing up? I had a team member who kind of pointed out that I was showing up busy. We were actually, just to give you a quick story, so you can almost imagine being there. We were in the lobby of one of the clinics because I managed multiple locations, much like you all with franchises, right? You're at a particular location, you're standing in the lobby, and what one of our doctors walked through looking like the mad scientist and slightly disheveled, you know, like hair, papers everywhere. And one of my team members like said, She, you know, she they pointed at the doctor and they're like, Doctor so-and-so is so cute. She's always so disheveled, like brilliant mad scientist. And then they started to go around the circle of like, well, you show up like this and you show up like that. And they got around to me. And my team member Haley turns to me and she goes, Well, you kind of show up, I don't know, kind of busy. And I remember being like, I am fun, I am energetic, I am not busy, right? Like in my mind, I'm like, oh my goodness, what? And I kind of laughed it off, right? Got through the interaction. And as I was walking back to my office, I was like, I'm showing up busy. On I was thinking I was doing a ton of work on their behalf, getting a lot done, like, but that was how they were experiencing me. And so it's really around this idea of how are you showing up? And similar to the weather, what weather are you bringing into the room? Like, if you were to describe your, you know, your energy at the time, like, are you bringing stormy weather, cranky weather, like good weather? So it's a lot around that. I think that's one of the easiest, quickest, most practical ways that you can create good ripple effect is to prepare for the interactions that you're gonna have. Like, how am I showing up? And what will people remember or describe me as? And I certainly didn't want to be described as busy.

SPEAKER_01: 6:15

Great. Well, I like the uh thinking about it as the weather too. What are you bringing in here? And instead of being kind of a weatherman prediction type thing out there where who knows what it could bring, right? If you're planning ahead. So, what would a process maybe look like that if you're trying to say, okay, how am I showing up? What am I showcasing and what I'm presenting then?

SPEAKER_00: 6:36

Yeah, absolutely. I think it's twofold. Number one, it's really around a recognizing the energy that you have. We all know when we're angry, right? I'm so angry, or like, eh, I'm feeling kind of blah today, or like just taking almost to your temperature of like, where are you at? And then the second thing is is really thinking about when I enter that room, what's that energy gonna look like and what's it gonna feel like? And the second part that I always talk about is how are you engaging with your team? And I think if, you know, I often will think, well, I wanna be a little bit maybe calm, but I also want to be curious. And so then after you've identified what you want to do, then I often say, Well, what would that look like? And I know that sounds so silly, but we wouldn't go out onto the football field and be like, well, we're gonna run play four, five, six, but we don't know what that is, right? Like you're almost like putting the playbook together prior to that. So in my mind, curiosity looks like I'm gonna ask a question of a team member. I have a great worksheet on my website, LisaEven.com, and it's called a PBJ worksheet. And it's for one-on-ones. It's got a great list of questions that you can start to ask people. And the P really is perspective. Like, I want to take some perspective. What are they thinking about? What's their personal life? Like, I just want to get a sense of like, hmm, what are you thinking about? And then the B is better ways. So oftentimes, even in our franchises, somebody's got an idea. They just need to be asked, right? Like, does anybody have any ideas on how we could make this better? And so, you know, I've asked that question of like, is there something that we should have improved a long time ago that we haven't? And usually if they feel safe enough, they'll be like, Yeah, this, you know, this has been a problem forever. If we just moved this piece of equipment over here, I think it'd save us a whole lot of time and money. And then you sit there as a leader and think, huh, good thing I asked. Right? Like, good thing I asked. And then the J is really around their joy, just identifying like, are they having joy in their personal and professional lives? Because that's an indicator of a lot of things in the world, is like, how are you doing? So that's just one way.

SPEAKER_01: 8:39

Oh, fantastic. Well, I do want to go back to a couple of the other points I think you were gonna get to, but one of the things that I was very intrigued about having you talk about on the show is this idea of joy. And one of the things that stood out in some of the pre-show material was you had this phrase that stuck with me that said, Joy is my job. And so I'd love for you just to build on this idea of joy is your job and what you mean by that, and especially with the PB and J formula you described.

SPEAKER_00: 9:09

Yeah, absolutely. So when I first became a leader around that time, my husband and I both like climbing the corporate ladder, we had little kids, we were exhausted. And I said to him one night, I feel like life is happening to us instead of us happening to it. I feel like our schedule is way too full. And when I look at the calendar, I don't see a lot of joy. And I said, I just have this sneaking suspicion that if we wait, you know, after this next project or after our kids sleep through the night, or after, after, after, and we kind of keep pushing this idea off of like, well, when we get done with this, then we're gonna have a little fun. I said, I just have this suspicion that we'll get to the end of our lives and we'll look back and be like, shoot, we were supposed to have like joy back then. And so in healthcare, we measure everything, right? Like we take your blood pressure, we check your pulse, we weigh you. I said, I want to make, I don't know, I just want to make joy our job. And I want to figure out a way to measure it, to track it like a bank account or like a health outcome. And he looks at me and he's like, hmm, he's a really quiet guy. He's like, how do we do it? I'm like, I have no idea. So we ended up hanging a whiteboard in our bedroom, and that became like our our first, like literally our first joy list. And now we track, we have a joy list, it moves over to the calendar. My husband and I have a meeting once a month where we literally sit down and look at our calendar and we like almost in a British accent, say to ourselves, like, do we have enough joy? Do we need to add some? And if we don't see enough joy on our calendar, we sneak some in. And we I do the same with my work teams. And a lot of it, they're in like 15, 30-minute increments because we it's not a lot of time, but I want to see it and I want to be able to track it.

SPEAKER_01: 10:56

Again, getting back to that first point you were making, being more intentional, right? Some intentionality and some pre-thought into that. And I have a sense of what joy is, has maybe changed season to season, whether it's professional or personal. Can you give us some examples of what that might look like?

SPEAKER_00: 11:14

Yeah, absolutely. So I do a lot of keynote speaking on team culture and being a good leader. And then I do a lot of speaking on joy. And it was cute because one woman raised her hand during a session and she was kind of in a like a funny voice, was like, I have enough joy. Thanks. And if you can see my face, like I loved that. I was like, Yes, that is exactly it. If you don't want it, great. But if you do, great. And your season of life is really going to dictate like how that looks. For example, our kids are now in middle school. And so we don't, we don't often have time to do like a date night. And so our dates are usually Wednesday afternoons from three to four. And our kids get home from school and we literally say, Would you hang technology and a snack? And they're like, Yes, we would. And we literally we have a list of coffee shops printed on our refrigerator and we pick one. And then we go have coffee. We literally drive there, order, drink it, drive home. And that was date night. And so that's kind of the season that we're in when our kids were littler. It looked different. And my parents recently retired and they have a joy list and a joy calendar. And, you know, some of their comments are like, Well, what do you do when you have a lot of time on your hands? And it's, you know, I just laugh. I'm like, I could never imagine. So it really does like take a little bit of forethought to think, okay, I have 20 minutes, I have 40 minutes, or someday when we're rich and retired, you know, we're gonna be like thinking, Oh, I have so much time.

SPEAKER_01: 12:45

My wife and I are in a very similar season as you. Our kids sound like they're about the same age. And so it's interesting. I find as you described your afternoon coffee for an hour, we have something similar that we try to get in, you know, midday where you know, we could have lunch or it's just a moment while the kids are occupied and you're not running them around to practice and schedules and time with friends or whatever else they're into. So I totally, totally agree. You had mentioned there were three things you could do, and I think you shared with us the first one before I started interrupting you. So I'd love for you to continue to finish that list there.

SPEAKER_00: 13:26

Yeah, absolutely. So the first one was show up, just thinking about how you're showing up in the room. The second one is really around engaging, and that's kind of this idea that you want to be intentional about how you do it. And I will often say, like, asking questions is a good one. And then the other piece to that is really thinking about what people care about, their values. You know, we we carry our values like literally on our forehead. We talk about our kids, we talk about the things that we're doing, and then we carry our values even when we're upset. Like they don't trust me. I wish they would respect me, you know, I'm so angry about X. Like people literally, if you're listening, they give you what they care about. And so I always say, like, engage with people's values. If they want to be the funny guy in the room that's driving you bonkers, well, engage with that. Like that's a top value for them. And so if you can get really good at just kind of starting to notice what people care about and what's really important or even what makes them cranky, you're like, oh, trust is a big deal for you. Like, and then when you're interacting with them, like, I'm gonna give you this task because I trust you. All of a sudden they're like, boom, uh, okay, I'm on deck for this. And then that third piece is really the idea of looking at how you're collaborating as a team and what your culture looks like. You know, what's the attitude of the room? What are the behaviors? Are we complaining a lot? Are we walking out of meetings saying, well, that could have been an email? Right? Like, what is going on? Do people, what is what are people like behaving like? And I start to take note of those behaviors. Like, are they cutting corners? Are they complaining? Are they, you know, a new behavior will pop up? And I'm like, oh, that one's interesting. And I start to kind of like take tabs on it. One of the behaviors that I had is in healthcare, sometimes we're too busy to be friendly. Like, I am saving lives. I do not need to be nice to my coworkers. And I'm like, oh, really? Right. Like just starting to notice those things because ultimately your attitudes turn into your behaviors, which turn into your beliefs. Like nothing changes around here. Right. Like, if you can start to get a handle on like kind of zooming out and really starting to identify like, what does our team look like and feel like and act like? Those are the three keys, I think, to really having a powerful business or a powerful team, even if it's a party of two.

SPEAKER_01: 15:49

And then the third piece there, uh, the third.

SPEAKER_00: 15:52

Yeah, it's really around your attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs. That's really what your team culture is about. You can do the same thing with your family. It's my favorite exercise in the world. It's just zooming out and saying, How are we feeling? What are the weird behaviors that we're seeing? And then what do we believe? Our belief in our family is joys our job. You know, you can start to like see that kind of sprinkled across. So those are the three.

SPEAKER_01: 16:14

Really, really great. Very well said. And sorry if I missed the third one there. Very good. Ask you to repeat it for me. Uh thank you very much. Well, what's the best way for someone to get in touch with you, learn more? You talked about that PBJ worksheet. How can people get in touch to learn more?

SPEAKER_00: 16:31

Yeah, my website is lisaeven.com. And then I'm also on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and I'd love to hear from you. I do send out a weekly email that has a really practical leadership tip in it, like something you can go and do. So you can sign up for that on the website. I've got downloads and blogs and all the things.

SPEAKER_01: 16:50

Well, Lisa, this is a great time in the show. And we make a transition. We ask every guest the same four questions before they go. And the first question we ask is have you had a miss or two on your journey and something you learned from it?

SPEAKER_00: 17:02

We were talking a little bit before the show, and I think about the misses, and I'm like, gosh, there's so many, right? There's so many. But I think the biggest miss is that I left my old job and that was in corporate America. And then I moved into entrepreneurship, and I thought that doing all the same things there would work in your business. And I think that part of being in corporate America, at least I found, is figuring out how to like fit in and make sure like you're following all the rules, and then all of a sudden you get out on your own and you're like, wait, what are the rules? And so my miss was kind of a combination of not being creative enough and brave enough really to try new things. I think that was the myth. And I tried to like replicate the things that I did in corporate, and I was like, oh, in corporate, you want to blend in. In entrepreneurship, you want to stand out. And for like a good bit of time, I was like, why isn't this working? I don't know if you can relate to that, but that would probably be one of the misses that I started with.

SPEAKER_01: 18:05

Absolutely. It's easy to try to say, well, if I'm gonna start a business, I'll just do what everyone else does. And then just kind of it doesn't always go that way.

SPEAKER_00: 18:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 18:16

Well, let's talk about a make or two, a highlight you'd like to share.

SPEAKER_00: 18:20

I would say the highlight. So after my, you know, stressed out time of realizing like I'm gonna have to do this a little bit different, I decided to take on the view that I needed to live in the lab like a scientist. I needed to like put on the goggles, run, you know, beaker in hand, and run some experiments. And I think one of the experiments that I'm most probably proud of and surprised by is the joy is my job, that I took an idea that we were just doing as a family and said, well, how can I A, share this with the world because I want to have good ripple effect? And B, like, how can I make it into a thing or a product that people will purchase? And so I took that from kind of the idea to then keynoting about it, then writing the book. There will be a workbook coming soon where families can get, you know, can actually fill that out. So I'd say that's probably the make that I was like, huh, you can take a really abstract idea and make something out of it that really does like create good in the world, but also provide for your family.

SPEAKER_01: 19:23

Make sure I'm on your list for when that workbook comes out. That sounds like something fun to do with our family and to share with our listeners as well. The next question we ask is have you used a multiplier to multiply yourself personally or professionally or any of the organizations you've run?

SPEAKER_00: 19:39

Yeah, I think the multiplier, and it's kind of like, but I do have a coach. And I think that if you're an entrepreneur and you don't either have a mastermind or a coach or some group that you're a part of, that for me has been amazing. Not only to go and, you know, sort of commiserate of like, it's not fair, but also to say, like, hey, how do I get from here to there? Do you know anybody who knows how to do this? Or I'm dealing with this particular situation. Having a coach and a group of people I can go to has been an extreme multiplier for my business.

SPEAKER_01: 20:13

And the final question we ask every guest is what does success mean to you?

SPEAKER_00: 20:18

This is the hardest one. And I laugh because you ask it last for that reason, I'm sure. I think success for me looks like, you know, if I go on the practical side of things, that, you know, things are paid for in our family, we're we're on track for retirement. And then I think beyond that, there is this idea that I'm out in the world helping people, but also I love music, food, and travel. So if I can do that with a little bit of travel, a little bit of good music, and a little bit of good food, I think I would be set.

SPEAKER_01: 20:53

Fantastic. Well, Lisa, as we bring this to a close, is there anything you are hoping to share or get across that you haven't had a chance to yet?

SPEAKER_00: 21:00

No, I don't think so. Other than I just really hope that the folks that are listening get a little bit inspired to kind of be like, yeah, how am I showing up? How am I engaging? And am I thinking about my team? That's what I hope because they're you're the you set the tone for that ripple effect.

SPEAKER_01: 21:17

Lisa, thank you so much for a fantastic interview. And let's go ahead and jump into today's three key takeaways. So, takeaway number one is when she talked about the entrepreneur's ripple effect. And I like how she defined this by saying, what you do and say creates a disturbance in the world. And how does that ripple effect occur and impact others? I thought that was great. Takeaway number two is when she talked about how you create that entrepreneur's ripple effect. And she said there are three ways to help engage with people. She asked the question, how are you showing up? And she described this as what kind of weather are you bringing into the room? Number two is when she talked about engaging, and it was to find out what do people care about, what are their values and the different things we care around and express and how do we express them. And number three is how you're engaging as a team and what's that culture like. And are people cutting corners? Are they complaining? And what are your attitudes? What are those behaviors? And she said, if you can zoom out and see what your team look like, feel like, and act like as a great way to look at that, and even described applying this to your family. Takeaway number three is when she talked about the P, B, and J method. I thought this was great. She said P is for perspective, B is for better ways, and J is for joy. And so this is for a one-to-one or a team meeting with one of your team members where you ask them, What's your perspective on this? Number two is are there any better ways? Do you have better ideas or thoughts? And J is for joy. Are you having fun or finding joy in your personal and professional life? And now it's time for today's win-win. So, today's win-win to me is when she talked about what if joy was your job and finding joy for yourself personally and professionally, as well as helping your team members to find their joy. Now, we have to be realistic and understand that our job cannot just be all the fun things all the time. Certainly, we all have things that we have to do that we might rate a five out of 10 or a 3 out of 10 scale in terms of whether we enjoy it or not, or like it or not, but we can still find joy in that process. And so, how can you help your team find that joy as well as for yourself? And that'll be a win for you and a win for them and a win for your customers, a win for your franchisees. And so that's the episode today, folks. Please make sure you subscribe to the podcast and give us a review. And remember, if you or anyone you know might be ready to franchise their business or take their franchise company to the next level, please connect with us at bigskyfranchise team.com to schedule your free, no obligation consultation. Thanks for tuning in, and we look forward to having you back next week.