The Transformative Power of Helpfulness in Teams and Organizations 🌟 #HelpingOthers

Good morning, LinkedIn. Happy Thursday, August 29 Good Lord.

Going, man.

It's going somewhere, that's for sure. Welcome to another episode of let's Build Super Humans. How you doing, George?

I'm doing great. I woke up this morning, which is always a good sign. It means you got another day. I love the conversation that we're having today. For me, it's always been about being a happy, helpful, humble human. I just think there's some powerful things that maybe we'll talk about. Maybe, Chris, that when we think about the word helpful, maybe don't come immediately to mind, but how being helpful might actually be the best selfish thing you can do. Anyway, I'm, I'm excited.

Yeah, me too. And let's just dive in. I mean, we're in the third pillar. Why does it make sense to do this one?

Yeah, so I mean, we've talked about holistic, right? And that's just like, listen, we're going to talk about these framework elements. You need to be thinking about all 10 of them. We talked about happy because we want happy humans. And by the way, one of the ways to double down on having happy humans is if the humans were helping the other humans because then they're happy because they're actually getting help. This translates to, like, something that I say in my daily life and even professional of like, I'm here to be a blessing bomber. I'm here to give people a hand up. I have worked really hard to become who I am in the spaces that I'm in. Not just to be like, hey, look at me, because that's like a straight up dick move, but to be like, now how many people can I bring along with me? How can I be a helpful human along the way? And Chris, again, everything that you and I talk about around this, it stems from that. Beyond your default podcast, and we built the Superhuman framework, and now we're expanding the Superhuman framework out to individual humans, teams, and organizational culture. And so that's what I want everybody done. If this is the first one that you're watching, you have to realize that we're coming from that three tier lens. And we did that for holistic, we did it for happy. Today, we're doing it for helpful. And here's where I want to start, Chris, is I want to ask the listeners, I want to ask you a question. And it's like, do you want any of these things in your life? And what I mean by that is, do you want confidence in your life? Do you want self esteem in your life? Do you want to be able to build skills and experience. Are you sitting here and you're like, man, I hear people say that my network is my net worth. I need to build a personal network to be able to like. If you want confidence, self esteem, skills, experience and like a strong personal network, then the humans that are watching this or listening to this, Chris, they should understand that the long term personal benefits to being helpful. So many times I talk to people and I'm like, be helpful. They're like, oh yeah, it's a, it's a good in the moment feeling, Chris. It's not an in the moment feeling. Like yeah, being helpful is about cultivating these habits that we have as humans to lead to a more fulfilling and meaningful life. In other words, a life beyond your default, a life past you being stuck. Becoming a helpful human regularly in your life can build confidence and self esteem because when you help others, you realize this very important piece of life, that your actions matter. And when you realize that your actions matter, you can significantly boost your confidence and what's really important. I love the selves that I get to talk about and this is one of them, your sense of self worth. You're like, I am worthy, I am great. By the way, if you don't do a mantra of like I ams and talk positively about yourself, like this is something that you should probably implement into your life because again, building confidence and self esteem through helping people and realizing that your actions matter is a real thing. It's going to help you develop these skills and experiences that I'm talking about. Because helpfulness when you're involved in it, when you're in the trenches, it's, it involves problem solving. If you're helping them, it's because they probably have a hurdle that they can't figure out. The fun part. And another word that I love to talk about is you're going to have to activate your empathy side of your brain because if you're going to help them get from point A to point B, you probably at least mentally empathetically have walked a mile in their moccasins to understand like, oh, this is what they should do. Like, in other words, you've probably dealt with it in the past, but it's also like to be helpful. Even though you might not consider yourself a leader, you are showing leadership skills and you're going to have to communicate by the way to help the human. And guess what? All of these are valuable skills that can enhance our personal and professional development. Think about that, like problem solving. Empathy, leadership, communication, What? Like those are the core skills. Like if you're going to like again, build that professional network and make that network your net worth, like those are pieces that you're going to need. Being helpful, I said can create a strong personal network. By the way, I'm living proof that when you end your videos with happy, helpful, humble human, and you're creating the videos because you're trying to be helpful and you're involving yourself in a community, whether it's inbound or HubSpot, listen, people are going to come. Being known as someone who is genuinely helpful builds strong, lasting relationships. Go figure. Wow.

Dropping the knowledge today, George.

It's mind blowing. Like that people want to be around people that are helpful. And here's the thing, if I swing open the doors and I give folks like data to this next point, being a genuinely helpful human opens doors to new opportunities. The number one lead generating source for Sidekick strategies or George B. Thomas LLC in the last two years has been other humans saying, you need to work with that guy. Sure. Are we doing SEO? Yes. Are we doing social? Yes. But when I go to revenue dollars and the one that wins out, it's because George decided to be 10 years ago, 12 years ago now, actually, a helpful human. Build a network, build some skills along the way. And now people are like, you gotta work with that dude. So it opens the doors to you personally and professionally. And so this is why, Chris, I jokingly said, and jokingly, not jokingly right now, will tell you be selfish and be helpful. Because it's literally the thing that is like going to bring it into you by putting it out in the world. You put helpful out, all of these things come back in. Where's your brain go, Chris, if you're.

Listening or watching and you want those skills that you mentioned and you have this playground of LinkedIn where you can find whoever you want, you could reach out to them and you can try, right? But when you do it, and this is like the nuance between selfish and helpful, like, and kind of like the humanity of it all, like you have something to say. No matter who you are, no matter where you are in your career, you have something to say that could help somebody else. And when you come at it from that angle instead of pitching or like when it's about what you want, right? You're always coming from the angle of am I worthy? Is this person going to care? Why should they be talking to me? And like, so when you said confidence, that, that resonated a lot. Where instead it's like, hey, I have something to share because I have experiences that this person does not have. So maybe if I share this, this will be helpful for them. If you just approach it that way, all of a sudden, all those things you mentioned become available to you. Otherwise you're always in the. In the seat of trying to prove yourself and trying to prove that you can be helpful. And then even there, it's not in your control. Really?

Yeah. It's funny because, like, when I think about this and where you're going, like, to be honest, prove and control should not even enter your brain when it comes to being helpful. Like, one of the things that I learned a long, long time ago is take it or leave it. But I'm going to say it. Yeah, take it or leave it. But I'm going to say it. Like, I have this visceral gut response that I'm supposed to say this thing to you, or I have this visceral or gut response that I'm supposed to put this thing out in the world. And I literally mean, like, I'll be having a conversation. I'll be like, oh, oh, that's supposed to be a video. Oh, oh, that's supposed to be an article. Or I'll be talking to an individual human and be like, forewarn you. This might sting, but I feel like I should share this. Take it or leave it. I'm not trying to prove anything. I'm not trying to control anything. I'm just trying to give a narrative that opens a mind to a different perspective that they can look at something. And so, Chris, here's the thing. I want to dive more into the word helpful because again, it seems like it's a simple word, but it's a simple word that actually is very complex if you try to break it down. And I want to get into this lens of, like, the power of helpfulness in, again, the personal growth, the teams, and the company culture. I have to say, in all of three of these, we cannot just look at helpfulness as a simple act. We have to look at helpfulness as a mindset and in an approach to life itself that can transform how we as individual humans grow, how we as groups or teams of humans interact with each other, and how when it's a helpfulness mindset, that we can build a strong company culture. Because when we choose to be helpful, we create. And Chris, you've been around long enough to hear me talk about this. We create this ripple effect of benefits that are not just for ourselves, but for everyone around Us. But we have to ask and answer a vital question to this conversation. And the question that I would ask the listeners would ask you, I'm going to give you some thoughts around it. But when I say, or when we say helpful, what do we mean? That's the fundamental question that we have to start with. And so I want everybody to realize inside this simple word that is helpful, there is supportive, there is assisting, there's considerate, there's cooperative, there's beneficial, there's encouraging, there's accommodating, there's servanthood, right? Like, when I think of helpfulness, I think of all those things and I think of servanthood. But then when I start to think about, well, well, well, okay, but what's servanthood? Then I start to think of, like, it's selfless, it's charitable, it's generous, it's nurturing, it's compassionate, it's altruistic, it's devoted, like servanthood, right? And so then I'm like, okay, well, let's go full circle. Like, if helpful are these things and it leads us to servanthood, and it's those things. And then so, like, helpfulness at a larger extent is like, I think about lending a hand, I think about going the extra mile. Company culture, being there for others, offering support, ready to assist, providing guidance in service of others. All of that is in the word helpful. So when I say helpful human, I'm saying all of that, but I'm simplifying it to that word. Chris, can I be aspirational for a second? Is that okay if I do that for just a few minutes?

Like, yeah.

Yes, yes. Okay.

Yeah.

If you could be a human and encompass all of those words that I just said, and if you could be a team and focus on all those words that I just said, and if you were an organization that embraced the mindset of helpfulness based on all the words that I just said, you would have individual humans living with purpose and connection. I want you to close your eyes for a second. You don't really have to close your eyes, but if it helps, close your eyes and imagine a person who, when they wake up, they start every day looking to help others, offering support and being genuinely considerate to the humans that they're going to interact with in that day. This mindset opens them up to deeper and more meaningful relationships as they walk this planet. Because those relationships are built on trust and mutual respect of the people that they're engaging. They will feel more connected to their community. They will find greater purpose in life because they're making a positive impact wherever they go because they woke up with the mindset of, who am I going to help today? Their actions inspire others, and they create this ripple effect of kindness and service. Now, teams, when we think about embracing these words that I said earlier, these are teams that are thriving on trust. Do you work with teams that you trust and collaboration? I don't know if you have that in your organization or not, but again, close your eyes if it helps, because I want you to picture a team where everyone is ready to help, everyone is ready to share knowledge, and everyone shows up at work as a team ready to support each other. Is this where you work? I don't know. I can't answer for you. But in this environment, people aren't afraid to ask for help or take risks because they know without a shadow of a doubt that they're supported. This kind of team becomes more innovative, cohesive, resilient. They move quickly. They get past challenges. Why they're not afraid. They're not afraid to bring ideas to the table because it's not as if you will fail. It's not as if it is a bad idea. Any idea is a good idea in this kind of environment. They. They. These teams achieve more together because they're motivated by a shared sense of purpose and the trust that is built in a team without being afraid, without fear. If you think about that individual human and how they're showing up and these teams in the way that they're interacting together. If we again, go aspirational, you end up with organizational cultures built on compassion and built on purpose. I don't know about you, but if I'm working for an organization that I know is compassionate internally and externally, and we're headed somewhere down the road with some purpose, ooh, I'm going to get passionate about being helpful. Drive us down that road. Right? So again, if it helps, close your eyes, because you might not live in this culture right now, but I want you to be able to envision it. Think of an organization where helpfulness is a core value. Leaders serve their teams. Let me say that again. Leaders serve their teams. Employees support one another and everyone. Leaders and teams, individual humans feel safe and valued. They feel safe, valued, and, dare I add in seen and heard. This culture attracts passionate people who just fundamentally want to make a difference. It becomes a place where employees thrive, customers feel connected, and everyone is committed to a larger purpose beyond, oh, dare I say profit. A larger purpose beyond profit. The world we could create together if individual humans, teams and organizations did this would bring values like being supportive, being selfless, generous. And because of that, we would create a world where kindness is the norm, not the exception that we potentially might be living in right now.

Little. Yes. And here.

Yes, yes.

Do it.

Go for it.

Like beyond profit and beyond value for me.

Yes.

And like, no matter what the habit is, no matter how the human in front of you is presenting themselves that day, there's the innate human. I don't know if it's necessarily a need, but there's definitely a will that people enjoy being helpful.

Yeah.

And I know you and I, I'm.

Going to go back to that. Keep going. But I'm going to go back to that. Enjoying being helpful, but keep going.

You and I experience this every day. And I think a couple years ago when we started working together, always talking about, like, why are adoption rates so low? Why aren't all these clear cut benefits getting through to people? And I started thinking of, we get so focused on the what's in it for me? How are we addressing that? What is the value that they're getting? Why should they do this? And I was like, man, I think we've been delivering this all wrong because I'm seeing people. The difference between, hey, you can save yourself 15 minutes by setting up this meeting link, right. Or if you put your data in here now, the team over here, it's easier for them to do their job. You're helping them do their job. People want to be helpful. So if that's all you can do to be helpful for them is to help them be helpful, like that's value. I'm experiencing that so much right now in the ecosystem that we're in where people are struggling to get that help. But there are a lot of people who want to give it. And if you just put them in a spot where they can give it, that's all the value that they need because they value being able to help people. They value it a lot.

Yes, to everything that you said. So it's funny because Chris, you, you said people who like to help. Chris, have you ever heard of the helpers high?

I think so.

Okay. And by the way, viewers, listeners, you might be like, well, George, what is this helpers high that you're talking about? There's this thing and it's called the helper's high. It's this amazing feeling that you get after doing something kind or helpful for another human that you're helping. Okay. And it's a term that psychologists invented back in the 1980s. Now some of you are like the 80s, the olden days. I mean I'm pre Internet, I grew up in the 80s, so I'm like, okay, sweet. It doesn't feel old to me. But some of you might be watching this or listening to this and go, woo. Was that back when the cavemen were around? It's not. But these psychologists noticed that people who engaged in good deeds, things like volunteering, donating or simply lending a hand, maybe God forbid, open a door for somebody today. By the way, often reported feeling happier, more energized, and overall better. What you can think of is like, it's like the buzz that you get after a great workout but without having to sweat at the gym. But it's that kind of like runners high or like helpers high. It just comes from helping others. Quite literally, ladies and gentlemen, you can get high on your own supply of being helpful. Like the helper's high kicks in because of some really cool things that you have no control over happening in your brain. Like here's how it works. First of all, endorphins get released, your brain reward centers light up, oxytocin levels go up, stress levels drop and serotonin gets a boost. So when you do something like I'm going to wake up and be a happy, helpful, humble human today. And the helpful human is a big part of this, your brain releases endorphins, the body's natural feel good chemicals. And these are the same chemicals released during exercise that give you that euphoric running runner's high. Therefore why we're talking about the helper's high, it's your brain of saying, that felt great, let's do it again. Why do you think I've created probably over 4,000 HubSpot tutorials in the last 12 years? Because that felt great, let's do it again. These acts of kindness activate the reward center in your brain. That's the part that makes you feel pleasure and satisfaction. Pretty sure that we all love that part of our brain, like pleasure and satisfaction. But this activates not only like the feel good, but also encourages you to keep up the good deeds. In other words, how do you create helpfulness as a habit? Because you're getting the helpers high and you want to do it again. And if you start to urge and want these like places that you can do these good deeds and give these hand ups. It's known as the love hormone. Oxytocin gets released during positive social interactions, like when you're kind to others. Have you been kind to somebody today? I Mean, I know it's early. Were you kind to somebody yesterday? When you are, this hormone helps build feelings of connection. This is where when we talked earlier about these, these feelings of trust, this is where when you're like, I wish I could bond better with people, that's what's happening. When this chemical in your brain is released. This is what makes you feel closer to those around you and less stressed out. So the more you help people, the more you feel connected and the less you feel stressed because kind acts lower your cortisol levels. So by the way, anybody noticing all the positive like internal chemicals that are firing and the negative ones that are getting dropped because cortisol levels now, which is that hormone that causes you to stress the frick out, there's less cortisol means that you feel relaxed and happy and dare I even say, at ease helping others. It also cranks up your serotonin, which is the chemical that regulates mood and anxiety. More serotonin can mean fewer feelings of depression and anxiety. Something that our culture definitely needs to focus in on this bad boy right here, which leads to a greater sense of mental well being. So when we lend a hand, give someone a compliment or do a good deed, like you're not just helping them, you're giving yourself a healthy dose of happiness too. And so this is why I said at the beginning, like this is probably the most selfish great thing, helping others that we can do from an individual human group of teams or cultural organizational level. We don't think about any of that. And I don't need you to think about any of that. I just need to program you to have habits, be a helpful human. And then I realize you get all that.

If we assume that will, you know, and the joy from being helpful is in everybody. And then we think about what they're trying to do every day on the job, especially all the customer facing teams. Usually they're trying to help somebody else do something even if it's selling to them. Hopefully we've identified that we're getting them something that solves a problem that they have.

Yeah.

And so like if you don't enter with this mindset, like all the good things that should happen and now you're putting this tool in front of me, this obstacle in front of me that makes it harder for me to get to those things because I don't know how to help people, like I can't do that. I literally, you're not allowing me to help another human being. The consequence of that and like the stress and anxiety Like, I've seen it, like, in teams, it's literally like we don't know what to do with ourselves. And that's where we just. We take evasive action and get it done however we need to.

So, Chris, I want to throw one more thing in here. Well, maybe a couple more things. I know we're getting close to time, but I want to challenge. And I have another challenge before we close. Close before we really land the plane. But I want to challenge anybody who watches this to realize that going to work could increase your life expectancy. Going to work could equal longevity in you being on the planet. Don't believe me? Let me explain. Studies suggest that people who frequently help others. Oh, that's right. I should give a caveat. Going to work as a helpful human can create longevity in your life. Just going to work. Maybe not going to work as a helpful human. Dare I say, I don't even go to work. I go to play. But that's a whole nother podcast. But going to work as a helpful human because studies suggest that people who frequently help others tend to live longer. This may be due to the combined effects of reduced stress. It could be due to the effects of the improved mental health that's happening, or it could be because we have stronger social connections. But if you quit showing up as I have to go to work and you start showing up as I get to go to work and be a happy, helpful human, you just might be on the planet longer, which means you just might get to help more people, which means you just might get to be on the planet longer, which means you just. I'll stop right there. You get my point.

And this is like, leaders. This is the power in your hands. Like, if you're setting. And I think back to, like, when I first became a manager and, you know, there was a guy who just had health issues and there's absenteeism, and I'm like, like, how do you solve for this? I don't want to tell this person how to live their life. And, you know, you think about all the reasons that they might be out, but, like, what you just mentioned and the importance of creating this space, and you make it hard for me to show up at work and be a helpful human. Right now, I don't even have the option. I'm just going to get a check. And we hear about that all the time. And that's behind the great resignation behind all this. Like, this innate human will to do something impactful to help others. If I can't connect those Dots to where I'm spending eight hours a day. Right. Why should I keep doing that? Why should I not try to find something else to spend eight hours a day on?

Hopefully people are understanding, Chris, the power that we're talking about today. Because again, my fear is that when we think about this or when most people have thought about this historically, it's like, oh, helpfulness. Yeah, be kind and polite. Yeah, I get it. Nah, it's this power. It's about being able to create a unified purpose that connects personal growth that just empowers team dynamics, that captivates and explodes most these amazing company cultures. Helpfulness, it's the thing, it's the power that aligns everyone towards these shared goals and it establishes servant leadership as the standard. Oh, what a world it is. Is servant leadership your standard of your organization right now? Are you putting others needs first? Because if you aren't, if you are, just know that you're headed in the right direction because this leads to deeper, more authentic relationships and long lasting success. Like, this is the power that we have. And so, Chris, as we land this plan, as we close out today, I would just want the folks watching or listening to this to think about a couple of things moving forward. We can paint the picture of the power. We can even tell them what's happening in their brain if they can just embrace like being a helpful human. But some action items that I want them to think about, jot down as notes is like, how can I as a leader, as a individual human, as a person, on a team, how can I encourage myself and those around me into small consistent acts of helpfulness? How can I be the catalyst to create an environment that celebrates helpfulness? How can I, or the organization or the team foster a growth mindset around helpfulness? How can we build helpfulness into the DNA of our organization? If you jot down those things and some bullet points around them and diagnose your own brain, bring it to your next team meeting or bring it to leadership for like a larger core values, mission, vision, purpose even. Sounds like a workshop, I'm telling you. Hey, when you're ready to book a superhuman framework workshop, ladies and gentlemen, you just let me know. I will hop on a plane, fly there and help assist with this in a heartbeat. Because hopefully everybody's realizing over the last four of these, we've done just general holistic happiness and now helpful. I'm a little bit passionate about this, Chris. Like I believe in this fully anyway, just jot those down bullet points and start to from a personal Teams and cultural standpoint, start to focus in on.

Those, and amazing things will happen again. I think this is another spot where just the decision to do it is the hardest step. And once you do, like, things start happening because you're opened up for all these positive things that we're talking about.

I mean, I can. I could talk about this all day.

Go all day, for sure.

Yeah. But let's be honest. The thing that everybody has to realize is that while it can become a team sport, this is an individual sport to begin with. You have to be the agent of change to help others change, to want to be helpful humans.

There you go. So find that opportunity. Find that opportunity. Ask yourself, ask your team. Instead of, what job did you get done today? Like, what tasks did you check off the list? Where did you help somebody else?

Yes.

I think that'll spark some stuff to just talk about and some momentum will be built. And that's when change happens. It's not about getting things done. It's about helping other people. And just watch the magic happen. As you talk to your teams about that, you can talk to your leaders. Find that opportunity, and let's grow. Have a great day, everybody.