Improving Your Health, Well-Being, And Resilience To Reduce Burnout With Richard Ollis

Life happens, and not always the way we expect it to. Every single day we face change, stress, and uncertainty. What if you could learn to thrive no matter what life throws your way? Resilience expert Adam Markel and his inspiring guests explore breakthrough strategies to fully embrace change and build the resilience required to become change-proof.

Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Change Proof podcast. I have today with me Richard Olus. He is a 4th-generation insurance consultant focused on reducing risk and improving business results. He is also a board member for the Wellness Council of America, where he advocates for improved health, well-being, and get this, resilience for working Americans. I happen to know Richard quite well, done some work for his organization, an organization that has been around since 1885. So they have been themselves a model of resilience. I know you're going to love this conversation, as am I. So sit back and enjoy this episode of the Change Proof Podcast. Okay, Richard. So I've been chomping at the bit to have this conversation with you since we met just a couple of weeks ago. And before we get into all the meat and the juicy stuff, I want to ask you a question about your bio, about your history. And I've just shared with our audience a bit about your background and all that kind of thing, but what's one thing that is not in your, let's call it your standard introduction or bio that you would like for people to know about you?

Oh boy, that's a tough question. I guess I'd say I'm obsessed with being involved in my community. Have started that early in my career and frankly sometimes get a little too involved. In fact, I've just served on my last city council meeting last night, and bittersweet that I won't be as involved as I have been in the community, but obviously also ready for a little bit of a break. But I guess it would just be that whatever you're passionate about, and I'm certainly passionate about Springfield, Missouri, I'd encourage any of our audience to really get involved in it and just go for it. In fact, I had an issue come up last night that I I was involved with, and I told my wife, maybe I should have just kind of faded into the sunset. But that's not me, Ed. So, so it was quite the meeting last night. But when you're passionate about something, I kind of like you, I think you ought to go for it and be yourself.

Well, you and I, I know we're simpatico for a number of different reasons, probably some we could articulate, some we don't have to, we don't even need to know what those are. We just, it's just a feeling you get about somebody, you just get them. Or they get you or something like that. But, and passion being for sure one of those things I think we share. So without diving into the details, if it sounds like it was a bit of like, you know, go out with a bang last night is what it sounds like.

It was, we actually had the state director of our highway system down and there was a little bit of a disagreement about how the road should be managed given our economic growth. And so the good news is the outcome I think was positive in that we're going to collaborate on it moving forward. But needless to say, we had everybody, the crowd was packed, and we had the dignitaries there. And anyway, I'm glad it worked out well in the end. So got to go out on a high note.

That's good. As I said before we even hit the record button that we're going to follow the breadcrumbs, that's the way that I like to proceed in these conversations, at least From the feedback I've gotten, I think that our audience really appreciates that part of it, that it's not a canned conversation. And I mean, I have some questions I ask routinely each time. The answers are always different. But what I really, for me, what's interesting, and I assume what's interesting for listeners too, is that this thing evolves in an organic way. So I'm just going to follow the thread on that for a moment more. In the last couple of years, the arena, I'll call it, of the public meeting, the public forum, whether it's city council or other meetings, you know, has become Contentious. Now, you've been doing this a minute, and I know you've been doing it for longer than just over the last couple of years even. So my first question is, is it more contentious, do you think, now over the last several years than it had been before, prior to the pandemic? Is that true or false?

Yeah, I think that's absolutely true. In fact, we were talking about that earlier today. I don't know that I have the answer or can put my finger on the exact reason. But certainly both during the pandemic, and as you can imagine, as a public body, we had to implement decisions about things that people frankly had a lot of different opinions on, whether it be masking, whether it be stay-at-home orders, right? All of those things we were dealing with pandemic. And candidly, as an elected public official at the local level, I mean, I have no real clue about a pan— I have no experience in pandemics, right? Or what to do. You try to do the best with the information you have. And we got through that pretty well. But coming out of it, I think there was this, just this, people were on edge and a little bit more negative and critical. And frankly, we've seen that continue on. not only at the local level, but as you suggested, across our country and maybe the world. And I don't know that I can put my finger on it, and it's not true of every case, as you know, but I think the atmosphere is different than it was before the pandemic.

Yeah, it was wonderful, if I could use that term to describe it, but when that topic came up, briefly during the time I got to spend at your wellness conference. So, for background for our listeners, I was invited and it was just a great privilege. It really was an honor for me to show up and speak to an audience of folks that Olas Acres Arney, your firm in Springfield, Missouri, gathered together to talk about wellness and to really dive into how it is that we create a greater collective environment for wellness. in our communities. And this is not something that all of a sudden your firm decided, well, I hear a lot of people are pretty tired and people are pretty anxious, we should do this kind of thing. Because this is, if I'm getting it right, was the 16th consecutive year that you guys have put on that conference.

That's right. And as we talked about, wellness has certainly evolved over that time. When we first began, it was really about nutrition and fitness. And since then, the whole world of wellness has expanded into many different facets of health and wellbeing, and whether it be financial. We certainly had a big talk about resiliency, which frankly, I think is right on point in today's environment. And so one thing I think we've all learned is all of those things kind of fit together. Let's just say, hey, look, if you're If you're not eating at least a reasonable diet and you're not getting some type of exercise or activity and you're not drinking water, right, regularly, those very basic things tend to catch up with you and bleed over into mental health and frankly financial health and all sorts of things. And so learning how to manage yourself and your body so that you can live in this kind of unusual time that we're in now is exceptionally important. And I love your take and your input on resiliency. I got so much out of that session.

Well, what I love about it, as you said, it doesn't have a boundary on it. It's not really a thing that's in a box. And I appreciate that because it makes it Potentially relevant in almost any conversation or context. So in that room, for a brief period, I asked the audience, I said, well, why is it that we are experiencing what we are seeing in terms of people being as burned out as they appear to be? You know, what are the signs of that burnout? And people are angry, they're anxious, they're apathetic, they're feeling all these things. And I think that is, if we were going to point to anything that has changed or anything that would be, let's say, the point of inflection for the kinds of things that you were discussing earlier that have gone on in some of those public forums. I think it's not that anybody has changed. We haven't as a species, as a community, we haven't really changed all that much. I think we're depleted. I think it's what you said, that people are showing up in these moments where we are in need of patience. Where more listening is required and more empathy and compassion may be what is most important in that moment, would meet the moment best. And yet, when we're half empty, when our tank is half empty or it's lower than half, we're not able to utilize those best aspects of ourselves, the parts we know, things we know better about. And I think that's where the conversation was really intriguing to me, when I could feel people's energy, leaning into that and heads nodding and just understanding that's not ideological. That's just how we are as, you know, mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, even as, as human beings. We have to be in a charged state. And I don't mean emotionally charged, but I mean that our energy is, it can meet the challenges of the moment. And I think everybody got that. So yeah, is it good to, to be thinking about your diet and your sleep and Of course, all those things, but sort of the broader picture that I think we were able to— and conversation we were able to have that day was really about how it is that we think of resiliency as less about gutting it out, gritting it out, grinding it out, and more about how we make the time intentionally so to create moments of recovery, pockets of recovery, the kind of things that wouldn't be any different than plugging your phone in when you see that the battery is low. But so often it is that we are sort of not programmed to do that. So it's not habitual for a lot of folks. And also that there's sort of a, maybe even a sense that grinding is really actually a positive thing. So that just philosophically speaking, we may even be looking through the telescope from the wrong side at times. Yeah. And I thought it was cool too, because you brought together a lot of your own clients as well as other people from the community as a way to bring About more awareness in this area?

We obviously, as you said, very strongly believe that in a company, in a community, in a family, right? If we're all resilient and better health and a better being, in a better state, we're all gonna work together more effectively. We're gonna serve our clients more effectively. We're going to serve our family members More effectively, all of those things. And I think your point is really just so relevant, and that is if you're depleted and you're tired and you're irritable, you're just not going to be up to providing the best that you can, no matter who you are or how great you are. It's just not there. And I know you and I, one of the things we immediately connected on, I remember when we went out to dinner, Was sleep. And gosh, if you're not well rested and you don't get that recovery and you're— boy, I'll tell a quick story. And I know many parents have gone through this, but our second daughter, Sabrina, had colic for 6 months. And my wife and I, oh, just struggled for 6 months to try to find a solution, right, for our little infant. to sleep. And over a period of months, I became very irritable and very challenged mentally by the lack of sleep. And I really empathize with parents or anyone, frankly, going through periods of time in their life where they're not well rested and they can't get the rest that they need and deserve. And boy, I experienced firsthand how debilitating that can be.

I mean, you're an entrepreneur. I want to talk about the firm and the firm's history, but you operate a business, I operate a business. I mean, business is like a crying baby, isn't it?

It kind of is. And obviously, if you want to serve your clients and serve your fellow employees as well as the community, you need to be at a level that you can perform at. And I know we compared this a lot to athletics, right? And the top athletes, right, have a regimen that they follow and they stick to it and they get rest and they understand recovery and all of those things. And they're feeding both their body and mind. Even the top golfers have mental coaches where they're going over positive outcomes of shots in their minds and all sorts of things. And obviously, we're not going to live our lives like a top 10 golfer probably, but we can take, I believe, some of those practices and learn from what they're doing so we can live our best life. And I think that's so important. And I'm really pleased that we had the opportunity to be with you so we could expand that even further because that resiliency piece is so important.

Yeah, I'm so glad you brought that up because for a couple of weeks I've been noodling on this thing when I was in the hotel in Springfield. And for a half hour before bed, I was watching the Golf Channel, which is That's a great way for me to get ready to sleep before I do my final evening ritual, which includes legs up the wall and a few minutes of just sort of quiet thinking and stillness and prayer and all that. Getting my body ready for the kind of sleep that you mentioned that is truly restorative. Because at my age, when I was 28, I didn't get a good night's sleep. I don't know that I could have told much was different the next day. You know, I might've been a little sluggish or whatever, but it was pretty much the same. If I get a crummy night's sleep now, I really feel it in the next day. Yeah. And then I feel like there's some part of what that next day is about and the blessing of that next day and its potentiality that I feel like I'm not ready to meet it. I'm not ready to maximize it. And that doesn't feel good. So as you said, the sleep is so paramount for that. But I'm watching this golf thing and it was the LPGA Tour event somewhere in like Arizona. And the commentator is talking about this one particular athlete and how She has a specific person on her team that is in charge of helping her with her mindset. And what this other commentator, who is a former professional golfer herself, was saying was that the thing about golfers is outside of the fact that you're out there on that course alone, and there are other sports where it's really a solo thing, you've got your caddy and your team, but you're out there swinging that club yourself. They lose most of the time. They lose all the time. In fact, they have a great year, they might win, let's say, 3 times. They win 3 PGA tournaments or LPGA tournaments in the year. It's a very successful year financially and from sponsorships and any number of other things. You think about if they played dozens of events and you lose, I don't know, 90% of the time or more, you go, wow. How do you manage your mind and create a ritual for resiliency when you're constantly facing defeat? It's defeat after defeat after defeat, only to sort of set yourself up for that, the opportunity to win at a later time. And that's, I think, what I appreciated about that was, of course, the whole aspect of how you manage your thoughts and manage your mind in those situations. But also the long view, because to me, that's how I would define our particular brand of resiliency. The research that we share and our own philosophy about it is that you've got to see what the long-term impact is of depletion. We can see it now because the environment we're in, the long-term effects are showing themselves at this moment with 2 or 3 years of a pandemic and massive change, continuous change. And uncertainty and anxiety over those unknowns has produced is a lot of exhaustion and even burnout. So we can see what that looks like. But we have to think in terms of how in the long term do we think that the problems that we're dealing with right now are somehow going to become simpler? And I don't know, I'm a pretty pragmatic, and I would say a person that leans into what is right versus what's wrong first. But I see the world as being only going to accelerate in velocity in terms of change, innovation. I mean, even since the time when I was with you, which is about a month ago, the whole conversation around AI has just shifted into a whole nother gear, right? It has. So you go, the challenges and the problems that we're likely to face will become more complex. The goal is not somehow to try to, I don't know, use what you've got and use the gas that you've got and make it sort of ration it out for as long as you can. What we have to do, I think, is fill up our tank because we've got to outperform those challenges. Meaning the level that we have to perform at isn't even gonna— will not stagnate or, or be static. That's a dynamic thing. It's gonna require, like in your business right now, you're in the insurance business and in the business advisory space. And this is an organization that, to the tune of another book title of mine, Pivot. This is a business that I would imagine had to pivot many times since its founding in 1885. And people hearing that, I want you to say it again so you hear it right. 1885 is when this business began. Would Tell us a little bit about the origin story with— I guess that would be what, your great-great-great-grandfather, is that correct?

No, no, I'm— I guess I'm pretty old. It's my great-grandfather that founded the company and his 2 brothers, although my great-grandfather was the survivor of 3 brothers and he was 18 when he and his other 2 brothers founded our company.

Wow.

And it passed through 3 generations, father, was in the business, and then I am the last and the 4th generation to be in the business. And like you said, our business has evolved and changed over time from— and frankly, Adam, it used to be that you sold basic property insurance, right? That is what people bought. In fact, you didn't even buy liability insurance because People really didn't sue one another back when insurance was first developed. And then liability became more of an issue, obviously, with the advent of the automobile that created more risk. You can imagine how health and life insurance has changed over the years, just frankly in the last few years as far as health insurance. And then We have really pivoted into more of an advisory role where we're really visiting about risk and health with our clients. And insurance is just frankly an outcome of what we do. But many different changes. And frankly, the world, as you say, is changing at a rapid pace. And so is our company along with many, many others. other companies. And so it's invigorating, but as you mentioned, it can be exhausting. And I think many, especially business people, can really get caught in that cycle of exhaustion if you're not careful and if you're not managing those things we talked about. It's interesting as we talk about all of these things, how though some of the very, very basics of what yours and my grandmother may have taught us back when we were younger about just basic things about health and life. And if you'll kind of remember those things about eating effectively and getting sleep and taking care of yourself and supporting family members and all those things, how much those things can help all of us. And frankly, I think in some cases we've kind of wandered away from those very, very basic things that, that could really be beneficial for most of us.

Yeah. I mean, on some level it is a back-to-basics thing. And also I think when we've moved into the age we're in where technology is driving so much of our daily interactions anyway, I think we lose a bit of the rhythm of life that was simpler In the day that you're talking about. Because I could think about a lot of things that my grandmother mentioned to me and many that I don't remember or that were mentioned to my dad or my mom that they either did or didn't pass on. So we have lost, I think, track of some of the basic stuff, like in football terms, blocking and tackling, things that you just can't— if you forget them and you don't do them, then you realize later on why they're so important. I really hope you're enjoying this episode of the Change Proof podcast. If you've not yet gone out and gotten your own copy of Change Proof, it's not too late. You can get your copy right now by going to changeproof.com and not only getting the book and all the bonuses there, but getting access to our proprietary resilience Resilience Assessment Tool. It'll just take you 3 minutes to do, and it's something that will really help you to utilize the book even more effectively to create practices and rituals and habits that will increase your mental, emotional, physical, and even spiritual resilience for the long term. Again, go to changeproof.com to get your copy today. I want to go back to the meeting last night for a second. I meant to ask you this. I'll come back to this. Is there a word of wisdom for somebody that might sit in that seat at some point? Because you were a part of that city council. I don't know, how many years did you serve?

6 years.

6 years. That's a good bit of time. And both before and during the pandemic. Is there some advice that you would give to people that might take your advice from earlier to say, hey, get involved in those community meetings, or maybe they're already attending them or they're on a board of some kind and maybe they're exasperated because they're seeing some of those things that we talked about before. Is there advice that you could give to folks like that for longevity, how to be resilient in that public forum space?

Yeah. The one thing I kind of missed a little bit, Adam, out of the gate Was I have always been very involved in the community. And so that part of my skillset was pretty good, right? I understood that. I think the part that I missed was really focusing on building relationships with my fellow council people and also city staff and not jumping out in front of something until I had collaborated with my fellow associates, as well as the staff that supports us and the entire city. And, you know, in other words, you may be right about something, or you may have a great idea about something, but if you haven't built consensus and relationships around it, you're not going to be successful. in implementing a change or an objective. And so, if I had to go back and replay it again, I would have focused a little bit— well, frankly, a lot more time on building those relationships so that people do not only support you, but you can gain their input into an idea or a process. Not only makes it better, but it also creates more buy-in. And as I began kind of learning a little bit more of that, I frankly realized that I had been a little remiss in my own business in using that very philosophy. And so today in my business, I spend more time building relationships, gaining input, Understanding different perspectives. And frankly, it's a better outcome and you get far, far more buy-in when you do it. Now, it does take a little bit longer, but the outcome is so much better and so much more positive. It is absolutely worth the additional time. That's the piece of advice that I'd give myself as well as somebody else. And I, I think it applies, frankly, you can use that application in your family, in your business, with your friends, right? It, and really understanding their perspective and working together collaboratively.

Yeah. I mean, you answered my follow-up questions there, Richard. So I appreciate that because I was going to ask you, so where does this show up, that type of thing? Where does that also show up in some other area of your life or your business? And you've already answered that. It's, I would say that that's a strength that you're working on. That's something that maybe, because I think if I was gonna point the finger at myself in terms of where I've been weak, or it's been a weakness of mine in my business and in relationships, really, it has been to sometimes be too much in a rush. Yeah. And to be, I'll just say, be impatient with the process of getting things accomplished and skipping over Some, some of that which you just described. It's long, long ago, I think. I don't know why I remember this, but it was like 1987 when I was first considering going to law school. I had just graduated from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. And, and I remember reading an article that was, I think, in the magazine section of the Sunday New York Times by Laurence Tribe, was then the dean of Harvard Law School. And as I was considering being a lawyer, I'm reading this article and he's talking about lawyers as the wheel greasers. of commerce and in society as these people that grease the wheel kind of thing. And I didn't love that. I just remember being like, somehow that didn't seem that romantic to me. I mean, I ended up going to law school, so I guess it didn't really dissuade me. But now I understand better what he was getting at there. And that lubrication, if you will, is vital because—

Oh.

Otherwise things are, they're just abrasive. They are Harder, right?

They are. And let's face it, if you start with a relationship of trust and appreciation, things are a lot easier, aren't they? When you start where you've already drawn a line in the sand and been combative and threatening, it's hard to recover from. So much of this Looking back and looking at my past mistakes can be vastly improved with just positive relationships and positive collaboration. And we won't get into too much political stuff, but if you look at our political spectrum today, that really is frankly tough to recover from getting started off on a path like that.

Indeed. I mean, I'm not a fan of any time in history that you would study that I had looked at politics, for example. I don't think there's ever a time that's like the golden age of politics. Like you go back to Julius Caesar, you're never going to find a time when you went, oh really? They had it. They knew what they were doing then. That was just wow. How, you know, how civil, how organized, how flawlessly they communicated with one another. We're not going to do that. But I will say that over time, what seems to be happening or has happened is that that lubrication, if you will, has just gotten thinner and thinner and thinner. And now, whereas that was a part of how things got done, and again, I think this is what Lawrence Tribe was getting at. So I'm glad this came up because somehow or another, this is really proving for me anyway to be on point. The idea that you have to keep the wheels greased. That there's a job there, there's an important function there of making sure there's that lubrication, social lubrication, whatever you call it. That's how things continue to move. They continue to evolve and move forward. And I would dare say even improve, even if the improvement isn't as fast as people would like, or it's not as far-reaching as might even be equitable. But there's still this discernible improvement when you look at it from the future and looking back at it. But without that, when that lubrication is eroded, when the discourse and, and maybe that lubrication is just civility. And it's a funny word, but in a world where people just sort of speak their minds and can say almost anything and call it, and I'm a lawyer, so I'll say it and call it, say it's okay, I'm safe here because it's First Amendment. I call my First Amendment right to say whatever I darn want. It's just that it, it erodes that thing where people just sort of would go, well, no, we're gonna be civil to one another because there's a bigger picture is that that's how we can continue to speak or collaborate, to use your word. Whereas what you described earlier where, where you don't do that is that the collaboration starts to stop or seize up.

It does. And we were talking about energy earlier, right? And Think about the energy that it takes when you're combative with someone, or as you say, being civil and collaborative, the energy that you have to expend and the either positive or negative thoughts and actions that are coming out. And I think it's a human type of scenario. It's not blaming one side or another. Whatever debate is going on. It's just a natural human tendency to either expend positive energy in collaboration or negative energy in bickering. And we've all heard it, but surrounding yourself with people who do like to collaborate, are willing to challenge one another, right, and provide different ideas but work together to a common solution. And so, it's kind of It's interesting how our conversation has evolved here, but I think it all fits together, right, into this subject of resiliency and wellness and well-being, et cetera, that we're, I think, all searching for, especially today.

Yes. I mean, I couldn't agree more. I mean, you go innovation. If you think about innovation, we think about how it is that new things, new solutions are created to existing challenges. That happens in many ways because people don't accept the status quo, right? I mean, it's just an obvious way that new things evolve is out of a problem that needs a solution. So somebody goes, yeah, the status quo isn't going to work here, even though we might have a bias towards status quo, honestly, for safety reasons and all that kind of stuff. But somebody's got to be the one, or not a person, but teams of people that go, yeah, we're going to Try to do something differently here. We're going to look at this, explore this, et cetera. And that in and of itself is a disruptive process. So it's what kind of environment will lead to somebody feeling safe enough to expend their energy, as you pointed out, in the pursuit of disruption, meaning of looking at the status quo and challenging it, but challenging it in a way that is not a sort of trying to take away something from someone else, but additive, that ultimately solutions for a business mean new sources of revenue and new opportunities in the marketplace and all that kind of stuff. So I'm just fascinated, as you pointed out, with the whole umbrella concept of resiliency, because when you think about a company made up of people, is that an environment, a culture in that organization that creates the safety, sometimes used today, they call it psychological safety, but creates that safe place where people can have vigorous debates about things for the purposes of disturbing the status quo so we can continue to innovate, but where there is civility, where we're not ignoring that I'm still collaborating with another human being, another divine being, another, as John Prine wrote in that one of his beautiful songs, you know, another child who's grown old. Like, that's to me intriguing that those kind of environments. And I'm going to blow a little smoke at you now to say that when I spent time with your team, many of the people on your team over those couple of days I was in Springfield, beautiful Springfield, Missouri, and we were at the Bass Pro Shops headquarters. Johnny Morris has done some really wonderful things there for the community. And, and you collaborated with him and with his organization. I just got to meet so many people that that's what I felt. I felt that these were people that were so open to the conversation and the collaboration, and just the care for the person. That's what I felt. I felt cared for. And I felt that everybody in that space was also similarly being cared for. And that didn't happen by accident. That's a by-design thing. And that's a credit to the culture at your company at Olas. So—

Well, thank you. And we work hard at it. And I tell Tell you, it wasn't always that way, meaning that we've learned a lot along the way. I've learned a lot along the way and still learning every single day. But it kind of gets back to where we talked originally, Adam, and that is if you'll focus on relationships and collaboration and understanding the other's point of view first, Then what comes out of that is this much better and stronger team environment and caring philosophy. And I really believe, again, going back to the lessons I learned on my little city council stint, and that is, is that's a piece I missed a little bit initially. I frankly got a little headstrong because of my experience in the community and experience in business and thought, boy, I'll just come in here and change things. But the bottom line is that I missed that really, really important piece. And it's one of the most important pieces, I think, to building an organization, building a strong family, et cetera.

Richard, I just so enjoyed your company again, and thank you very much for being on the Change Proof Podcast today. There'll be more information in the show notes. This is an announcement to my listeners out there and those in our community that may be even consuming this on YouTube, for example. There'll be show notes that you can find out more about the advisory services that Olis Akers Arney is, I think, at the forefront of, let's say, as well as the blocking and tackling, the stuff that everyday businesses and people require in the form of insurance. You guys are all throughout Missouri, right? And maybe—

We are. We're all throughout Missouri. We're based predominantly out of southwest Missouri, but we travel the state and actually the 4-state region and continue to grow and expand and looking forward to the future. But, it's always a pleasure to visit with you, Adam. I hope you're enjoying your eye bag. Is that something that you've used some, I hope?

So, Richard, actually, I think this may have been someone else's. I'm not sure. I don't recall if it was yours or it was your honey's that I ended up getting, but this It is a beautiful weighted— I don't know what's inside of it. It's like maybe it's these little beads or something, but it sits over your eyes at night when you go to sleep. But I use it for other things too. I actually use that eye bag when I do my legs up the wall in the middle of the afternoon. Oh yeah. I love that.

Yeah.

It smells good. It's got the right weight, you know? It was an ideal gift for me and I so appreciate that you did that.

Awesome. I thought you might enjoy that. Well, I certainly hope that we'll We'll get together again soon. We are starting, not to the extent that you have, but a little series here this next year. And so I'd like to invite you on one of our shows and would love that if you'd join us.

That's a yes, an absolute yes. Folks out there, please, if you've loved this episode, we'd love to hear about it. You can go to adammarkel.com/podcast and leave a comment for Richard or for myself, or a question if you've got it, and it'll be we answering, not a bot or any other kind of a thing like that. Of course, if there's somebody that you know who's in business or not, I mean, somebody that just you think could benefit from hearing some of the things that were shared today's episode, it's always wonderful when you share that with a friend, with a family member, with a colleague. That's also greatly appreciated. And again, Richard, thank you so much for your time today. Everybody out there, I'll just say ciao for now and stay resilient.

Okay. Take care, Adam.

Well, as promised, as billed, the conversation with Richard Olus was Wonderful. I mean, he is a seasoned and experienced business owner, operator, leader. But what I really love about Rich is just his authenticity. And I don't normally love that word, so I'm using it, but I just feel like he's so comfortably himself and he's a thoughtful person. He's somebody that you just know when he speaks, he's speaking from his heart and being transparent with his views and his feelings. And he inspires me. People like that are inspiring to me to be around. I feel like he helps all of us elevate our game. He's been running a business advisory and insurance group in the state of Missouri for a number of years. He's a 4th generation running this particular operation. They've acquired other businesses, so the name has changed or expanded, let's say, over time, but they've been around since 1885 and they've pivoted and been resilient. And modeled that kind of agility that I think we're all after, both personally and professionally speaking. Today we got to really dig into some key things and important things that I didn't expect that we would even get into, which is talking about community and community leadership and his role on the city council in the city of Springfield, Missouri, and the lessons that he's learned. And some of them were hard lessons. He was honest about mistakes that he's made in that arena and the changes that he made to be more successful and how those particular lessons in leadership, those lessons in consensus building and collaboration actually expanded well beyond or outside of the scope of city council meetings and agendas, but led to more collaboration in his office, in the workplace at Ollis Akers Arney, his firm, as well as at home in his personal life. So I again love Our conversation around how important that all is. I contributed on my end a few stories and things from my past as well, and areas that I've been working on, areas that I've struggled with, areas that have been weak, and the role that we all have today in being more resilient, not just for ourselves, but for our communities and how it is that in the face of what seems to be greater and greater change, greater velocity of change and more, if you will, disruption. The status quo? How do we ourselves show up as those best versions that we are capable of being so that we are resilient ourselves, but also helping other people around us to be themselves, be resilient themselves? So loved again, the conversation that I got to have today with Richard Olus. He is an absolute gem of a human being. I know you've enjoyed it. Please share this episode with any one of your family, friends, colleagues that you think would benefit from, from listening to Richard's wisdom. Of course, if you've not yet determined for yourself just how resilient you are, all you have to do is go to resiliencerank.com, resiliencerank.com, and in 3 minutes entirely for free, you will get a snapshot of how mentally, emotionally, physically, and even spiritually resilient you are, how you're doing, and where there is room for your own higher level, your own improvement, your own increased capacity to get more of the stuff done in your life that you truly want to do, that you feel called and passionate about doing in the world. That all depends on our energy levels and how it is that we are able to deal with, again, this shifting landscape, the ever greater challenges and problems and need for solutions and innovation to solve today's most complex issues. All of that requires energy. And so, I'm gonna implore you to take really good care of yourself and let's say better care of yourself. I hope we can be a resource to you. The work that we're doing at Workwell, I think, is helping organizations to operationalize resilience. And we look forward to having a conversation with you anytime about that. Check out the show notes and look into how it is that we can connect there. And of course, you can always get in touch with me directly by leaving a comment at Adam Markel .com/podcast. It will be me who responds. I promise you that. Take care. Have a great rest of your day. Stay resilient, and ciao for now.

Thanks for listening. We hope you now have even more tools and greater insights to build resilience and become change-proof. Remember to leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and you may be featured in an upcoming episode. For more resilience tips and strategies. strategies, including support for building change-proof teams, visit adammarkel.com. To get your own free resilience assessment, go to rankmyresilience.com.