Richard Canfield: Kolbe Index

Welcome to The Inspired Culture, where leadership meets purpose and culture becomes your greatest advantage. I'm Eric Himes, executive coach and founder of INSPO Strategic Advising and Coaching. Through this show, we're going to uncover real stories, bold strategies, and everyday breakthroughs that help leaders transform not just their teams, but their lives. This isn't theory, it's transformation in action. So grab your seat and get ready to lead with heart. Today we have the honor and privilege to have Richard Canfield to join us. He is an authorized Infinite Banking Practitioner, Colby Certified Consultant, and a 4-time Amazon bestselling author. He coaches and mentors entrepreneurs and financial advisors to create leverage and maximize their natural instincts. Welcome to the show, Richard Canfield.

Excited to be here, Eric. Let's, uh, let's have some fun.

Yeah, let's do it. That will be fantastic. I'm excited to have some fun with you. Designing a culture that honors instincts, not just titles. Richard is a big advocate of letting people be themselves. And building systems that unleash rather than restrict. Colby speaks to how people take action. This topic reframes culture around honoring natural strengths rather than job titles or resumes. Richard, one of the questions that we have for you is, why do job titles often hide someone's real value? And how can culture shift when we let people operate by instinct instead of instruction?

Well, Eric, there's a ton of great things to unpack there. And at the end of the day, we all have natural gifts, and sometimes we're aware of them. Other people often become aware of them before we even do. A lot of those natural gifts never appear on a resume, and you may find a position, you may find a job, you may be working with a team, having a great time, but over time you may recognize you start to develop a little bit of burnout. And there's an often an area where you might be skilled at something, you might have the knowledge, the skill to do it. But just because you can do it doesn't mean it's naturally something you should be doing. And what happens if you find yourself in a position like that on a repetitious basis? Eventually, it leads to a level of burnout, and then that ends up causing a rift in the workplace. It ends up causing a rift sometimes with leaders and managers and other members of your team. And then the result is, often people tend to move on to something else. And so once we can recognize where someone has a certain natural gift and a talent, and then we can leverage that as a manager or a leader in an organization, we can bring that individual and their, and their natural energy into different environments to give them not only the, the energy that they need to utilize, but also to inspire and create, you know, positive change and advantages in other parts of the organization. So being aware of these natural instincts, what we call the Kolbe Index, is just a phenomenal way to enhance overall teamwork and overall satisfaction in the workplace.

Ah, that's fantastic. And tell us a little bit about how Kolbe helps with this, with the index and understanding where your natural abilities would align and the gifts that you've been given.

Well, a lot of people have never heard of Kolbe before. It was invented and created by Cathy Kolbe. Unfortunately, Cathy passed away very recently on May 5th, 2025. She was 85 years old. She started this as her life's work in 1975, focused on elementary and teens, and then eventually applying it to the entrepreneur realm. And so that's how I first discovered the Kolbe Index was in 2013. I have to tell you, it completely changed and revolutionized my life. Finally, I had in, in words, a way to explain to other people what I knew to be true about my life. And it quantified and clarified the words for me so that I didn't have to feel, you know, negative or at odds with others because I was operating differently than they were. We were able to get similar work done. We were able to do things together and work in teams. But I always felt out of place in a lot of areas. Finally, the Kolbe A Index helped quantify and clarify where I felt out of place. And it gave me the words and the language and the tools to be able to advocate and explain that for myself in different environments. And it was, it was a lightbulb moment. And I'll give you an example. On my Kolbe A Index report, one of the things that suggests that Richard Canfield should do is to start my day with a not-doing list, not to begin my day with a to-doing list and focus on priorities. Whereas another individual like my assistant, hers would indicate something like that. And so doesn't mean that we're not able to get similar work accomplished or we have a similar knowledge and skill set. It simply means that the way we go about solving problems and doing the work is fundamentally very different. And so when we get really clear on that, it allows you to amplify those strengths through that knowledge base and awareness. And I've really taken that to heart. And so that's why A decade later, I went and decided to get certified with the Kolbe program because it's just been a revolutionary game-changer for me and the people I work with. Many of my clients have taken it, folks that I work with in the insurance practice, members of our team, and serving other organizations to help them recognize how they can amplify teamwork by having a clarity of knowledge on natural gifts. So there's 3 parts to the mind. There's the cognitive, that is around IQ, knowledge base, skill sets, all the trivia that's wrapped up in your head, your learned, the learned skills and knowledge that you accumulate over a lifetime. Then there's the affective part of the mind. Affective has to do with feelings, emotions, values, you know, things like that, that, that are more around how we recognize and feel things. It's more of the heart-based aspect of life, motivations go goes into that category. And then there's a third part of the mind that most people have never heard of. It's called conation, the conative part of the mind. Conation is all about natural instinct. It's, it's your way of doing. So we have the thinking model, the feeling model, and the doing model, the three parts of the mind. Kolbe is the only thing that assesses, validates, and then confirms your way of doing. So it's 100% about this thing called conation. And so, This is where we really start to see an amplification, because when problem solving occurs in the human life and in the workplace, we all attack a problem differently. And we might attack it with our knowledge base and with different feelings. But the method by which we will start that process and go through the problem-solving behaviors is the same. And it's the same for you. It might be different for another person, but the way you're gonna do it will be the same every time. Because it's created by instinct. I'll give you an example. You know, the lion doesn't need to realize or really be trained that it needs to go and, you know, chase after the gazelle because it's hungry. It has an instinctual nature to go and chase the gazelle. Okay? That measurement of instinct is how we attack problems in the human world. And that's what the Kolbe Index really defines.

That's really neat. You know, and the Inspired Culture, what we believe is intrinsically motivating people and individuals. And in order to do that, they must be connected to knowing who they are themselves. So it sounds as though the Kolbe Index helps provide some clarity in and around that to create intrinsically motivated individuals. The other thing, the other part of the mind is the frontal cortex, right? Where we make all of our decisions and we go through a process to, you know, find our patterns and our habits, right? And so, when you're talking about these different areas of the mind, it's driven through the mindset on the front end of how we make decisions. And so, this Kolbe Index is great because it brings a level of awareness to yourself and really what matters most to you and best how to leverage the gifts that you've been given. I think it's really neat. You know, just curious, Richard, how long did it take you on the journey to understand this for yourself? For those watching and listening in today?

Well, I was blessed beyond good fortune to have the Kolbe Index presented to me as something to learn about in 2013. And so being someone who we would refer to as a quick start, so I initiate in an area that we refer to as quick start. That's where I begin all problem solving. It's very much brainstorming, innovation, very time-based, do things in the now, in the moment versus, you know, think on it for a day and then do something. It has to be very now-oriented. And so that is how I naturally attack problems. So of course, as soon as I heard about Kolbe, within minutes or the moment I left that particular environment, I went directly to go get my Kolbe Index done. And so once I was able to go through it, when you, when you complete the Index, you're not only provided with a report, but you're also provided with audios where Kathy Kolbe, who invented it, walks through the different sections for you, provides a lot of insight. And it's really game-changing. And as I learned about these things, it was just that this made so much sense. This tells me— it's like it's been in my mind the whole time. And, you know, I used to hear things when I was young or even in school and even in the workplace like, hey, Richard, why can't you focus on one thing at one time? How come you can't just complete this one task? Or why don't we get this done first? Well, the reality is I'm actually built to multitask. And it tells me that because by instinct, I need to vary the things that I do on a regular basis. And I also am not meant to be overly scheduled. Doesn't mean I don't need a schedule and don't need a calendar to remind me of things, but if I have a similar appointment that's a recurring appointment all the time, eventually that appointment becomes white noise to me. So my assistant knows she needs to mix it up every once in a while. We need to change the date, change the time frame so that I have a varied aspect and it keeps my mind mentally engaged. These are little things that, you know, are unique to different individuals, and that's Richard Canfield's way, but Your way might be very different. And so when we have the Kolbe identified, and we're able to now take one person who's got a certain Kolbe of a different way and, and this person, we can now match them together by doing what's called a Kolbe A-to-A report. And we can find areas where there might be potential conflict, and we can address them at the instinct level, not at the knowledge base level, not at the personality level, because those are different areas. And they may require work there as well. But at the instinct level, relative to how we solve problems, it's really, really important to do that. And I'll give you an example, Eric. You know, my previous assistant, Alin, she's amazing, wonderful. We have almost polar opposite kolbis. And that actually can be a very good thing because we are able to get work done in a very efficient way. She complements a lot of the areas that I need help in, which was fantastic. But she's very much in a linear start, top to bottom, prioritize the top thing, write it in a list from 1 to 10. And go to the top of the list. Don't skip any steps. Don't go to the bottom of the list. Don't even read the bottom of the list. You have to check off things one at a time. And so when she would present, uh, things that she'd captured in tasks on a list and I would see it on the screen, my brain has already scanned it in nanoseconds and I've jumped to the bottom and the middle and I'm, you know, doing verbal diarrhea all over her saying, oh, here's how we tackle this, here's how we tackle this, here's how we tackle this. And I'm immediately taking her out of her game. So she's instantly uncomfortable because I'm overriding her instinctual way of solving the problem. And that put her, you know, not at ease, and it made it a bit of frustration. So as soon as we were able to identify that, and we used Kolbe to identify it, we came up with some solutions. And one of the solutions was, you know what, part of the issue is that I'm seeing the list. And when I see the list, I can't help but see it in the way that I see it. So what we're going to do is I need to be mobile and active We're going to take these meetings every week or the 2 times a week that we do it, and we're going to transfer the telephone. I'm going to pop in my earbuds. I'm going to go pace in my yard and walk around in circles. So I'm mobile. I'm active. You just tell me what's on the list so I can't see it. And we'll tackle the problem in your way. So I was getting a need to move and a need to think creatively by having movement in my life, which is also identified in my Kolbe, while she was able to meet the need of checking off the list and the satisfaction that was necessary to do it in her way. Because she built the list, she had to complete it in that format. So this is an area where we were able to accomplish more work together by finding a compromise just based on problem-solving capacity.

No, that's great. And so with the, with the Colby, you know, um, personally and professionally in the work that we do at INSPO and the inspired culture, one of the things that I think is really important is, uh, invaluable is perspective. And I think there's so many different tools out there to teach us about ourselves and Kolbe being one of them. So, as you went through it, you knew you kind of had this, but you weren't totally sure about it. And so, by this helping it, defining it for you, what clarity did you get personally from it? Did you feel seen and heard and did you feel you know, how did it make you feel once the results came in from your assessment?

Well, I love that question. And there's a couple of components there. So really, it felt validated, I guess, is the word that I would use, and validated internally, not with anyone else externally, because I didn't really need or seek that external validation. But there was always a scenario in my life where I thought, you know, why is it, or what is it about Richard Canfield that doesn't makes it so it's difficult for me to do these types of things. This is a consistent problem. It doesn't seem to be getting any better. You know, yeah, I might show up late or show up just in the nick of time to things and meetings on a consistent basis. I know better, but I'm doing it all the time. So is that a habit problem? Yeah, to a degree, there's some, some aspect of that. But it's actually more based on the instinct and the way that I design how I do work and how I feel most, most accomplished at doing work. And because it's so consistent, there has to be something here. So the Kolbe helped identify that for me to a large degree, because as an initiating quick start, that's where I begin the problem-solving process. I have a desire to race the clock. It's actually something I'm supposed to do. I'm not— not race the clock. Not racing the clock actually limits my effectiveness. Racing the clock amplifies my effectiveness because my brain thinks at a rapid pace to be able to do things in that way. And I get the most amount of work done in the 10 minutes prior prior to the next meeting. You know, so there's a consistency there. And that's about instinct and natural talent. So it doesn't mean that I should suppress that. When you start working on the things that you think, quote unquote, you might be weak on, all you end up with is really strong weaknesses. What's the point of amplifying weaknesses when instead you can amplify strengths that are already naturally there? So Kolbe can help identify a lot of that. And that's how I felt. And now, over time, you know, a decade later, 11 years later, Having infused that into my life, in different environments, I'm able to advocate for what I need in a circumstance. And I'm also able to advocate very quickly for how I can add maximum value into a circumstance. Hey, you know what? You should bring me into that meeting because I know what you're talking about. And probability is, you have a bunch of people who are all very similar in their Kolbe structure, their instinctual way, they're all going to come at the problem the same way. But if you bring me into the meeting, I'm going to bring a totally different perspective to that. And so that's a way that we can borrow and utilize instinctual energy, not just knowledge base, but instinctual energy to amplify problem solving and team effort on different projects. Because there's a challenge that can exist, Eric, with something called conative cloning. It's where you end up hiring people that are very similar of nature, similar skills, and then you put them all in a group or in a room together. And they all do things in the same way. And so that— there could be an advantage to that. But one of the disadvantages is that you can get into a rut, and that rut needs to change every once in a while. But it needs someone who's thinking about it differently to initiate that change. And if you're solving problems all in identical or a similar way and no one knows how to advocate for it differently, then the result is you can create almost a negative spiral sometimes. So you need to infuse that different energy in there. And if it is in the organization, they don't need to be in that that group or that department all the time. But if they're over in a different— maybe they're in a sales area, you know, bring that person in for a couple of meetings. Schedule them in for a meeting once or twice a month where you go through the laundry list of challenges and systems that you're working on and have them propose alternatives. They're going to activate, they're going to love the fact that you brought them in, and they're going to create a new energetic in that team and organization that's going to create momentum. And that's a powerful force if we can harness it by leveraging these problem-solving capacities in a knowledgeable way. So, you know, there's individuals, often you hear about people who go through analysis paralysis. Okay. Now that can happen to all of us. And Kolbe is a continuum. So on a 1 to 10 scale, everyone can do everything on a 1 to 10 scale. The difference is how much energy, mental energy, is it taking you to do that? If I'm a 3 Fact Finder, it doesn't mean that I can't get a lot of details and data. Versus someone who might be a 7. However, it takes me a drastically increasing amount of energy to go into specifics and research. So I limit that to my degree. I get what I need and I get out so I can simplify the information for someone else. So it doesn't mean that I don't have the capacity. It just means it takes a lot more effort for me to do it. And so if that's the case, when you're exercising tremendous amount of effort on a regular basis, weekly, daily, monthly, in an organization doing something that feels not natural, the result, the result of that is always a burnout situation. And then if you're feeling burned out on a repetitious basis, what do you do? You look for another place to go to work. You look for another career. You look for something else. And that's where you start to see a lot of turnover take place in organizations. Good people leave because we're not recognizing some of the, some of the frustrations or restrictions that they're feeling about being able to do things in a way that feels natural to them.

Yeah, and that's definitely an interesting viewpoint in and around that and how Kobe could help recognize that. One of the things that you said about teams, and I couldn't agree more, is we got to take an objective approach, right? As a leader in an organization, you have to have well-roundedness. We can't have everybody be the same. Having the same gives you the same. And really, we need to have different viewpoints, different people that can look through different sets of lenses to provide other perspectives, because that's going to help us give the best opportunity to cast the greatest vision. If we're all looking through the same lens, we're all going to see the same spot, but it doesn't mean it's the right place to be. And so, we got to have that objectivity when it comes to the team, to hiring those individuals that are on it, and recognizing that we do need other skills than our own. And the best leaders hire the gaps that they don't have in other people, where those people bring those skills, they bring those ability, their leadership traits to truly develop the best team and the best organization, right? We don't have everything. I don't, as a leader, I don't have everything to offer just as the next person would, but together as a team, we can do a lot when we bring those skill sets forward and bring the different core leadership traits that each organization needs and every team needs. You know, Richard, we're going to take a break. And when we come back, we're going to hit the next segment together. We'll be right back. We're back with more on the inspired culture. Richard, welcome back. We're excited to have you here on The Inspired Culture. And this segment, we're going to be talking about culture as a team sport. So, I'd love to hear from you, Richard. What do you see when it comes to team sport being culture in organizations today?

You know, I love the idea about being a team sport because everyone's familiar at some point in time in their life, maybe in their youth, maybe even still, today, they're involved in some kind of team sports. You know, even as adults, we, we use our extracurricular time to go and get involved actively in team sports. And there's such a common element there where we can all pull lessons from our past on how a team rises together. You know, whether you're playing soccer or baseball or hockey, because I'm Canadian, you know, you have this, this, this ability that, you know, no one scores in the net on their own. It's Passing. It's all the different elements coming together. You might have an all-star player that everyone knows about, but that all-star player doesn't do anything without having all the other members of the team and a coach involved. And so similar in an organizational structure, we need to have members of a team coming together so that we can accomplish key objectives. Leadership and management is all about setting and clarifying what are those key objectives, what is the vision and what we're trying to accomplish in a given time period or project, and to try to help hold people to working towards those common areas. But if we can't address what those common areas are, we don't know where the goalpost is, it's really hard to work towards it, and it's hard for teamwork to flourish. So it's important that we make sure people recognize, where are they a part of a team? And sometimes, depending on the organization structure, you might have people working remotely, you might have them working on their own, they might be detached or disconnected from other members of the organization. And they don't get that feeling or connection of teamwork. So creating an environment that allows people to have some camaraderie and some, some shared goals and objectives and giving them the ability to connect on a regular basis is really critical. That's why teams have practices. You have practice to learn how to be better together, and you have practice so that you can work on your skills. But you're not working on just your skills. You're simultaneously working on your skills and team objectives.

Absolutely. You know, one of the things that I, I love is influence. And I think that every team and every individual has it. It's just, how are we using it? And I love what you had said about, you know, nobody scores a goal in the net, um, without everybody else on the team supporting that goal. Right. And it's just the same with, uh, objectives and key results in organizations that we don't get to the end. Without the entire team going there together. And I think that, you know, with all of that, there's a rooted foundation that every team has to have to be successful. And I think the first thing is, is we have to know where we're going from a visionary standpoint. As a team, we have to understand the vision that we are to live out each and every day and influence within those that work with us as well. And so the leadership of that team, if it's a leadership team, they have to understand where we're going and then how are we contributing to the end goal. Because the reality is, is that all of us seamlessly have to show up and do our part. We're not there to do all parts, but we do have a role and every role does matter. And when these visions are casted and we understand what our role and responsibility is, What it does is it creates us to be empowered and intrinsically motivated to support the greater good, because we know that we do make a difference and we make an impact. And those people we work with, we're influencing them to make an impact too, connecting them to their own personal why as well in these organizations. And so, if the team isn't cohesive and together, it's almost impossible, if not completely impossible to get to the end result successfully.

Well, when, you know, setting that vision, and again, whether it's, uh, the, the full and complete direction that the organization is going, really from a CEO perspective, that top-down level, you need to have that. You need to have a driving force. Which, which direction is the ship headed? But then on the ship, there's a lot of little activities that are taking place to make sure that things are working and operating on the ship properly. So then you have little micro things, projects, you have little sprints and spurts of things being done. And they're all done with time elements to them, deadlines, etc. So setting now the secondary or tertiary method of a vision on a smaller project is just as important. And then connecting what that is to the larger, bigger aspect of where the, where the company, where the direction is going. And so pulling those pieces together and mentioning them frequently You talked about, you know, the importance of having that influence. Another thing that kind of connects with influence is proximity. Proximity to the knowledge, the information, the team, proximity to that vision. So having influence on mentioning and providing that vision on a regular basis develops almost like a, like a, like a recurring theme. And so it drills it, you know, repetition is often our best teacher. We have instincts on how we do things, but. But then we have knowledge and skills that we learn generally over a consistent time of usage, you know, to develop mastery. I think they say it's 10,000 hours to develop mastery in any given thing. Well, that's all about reps. You need to get enough reps at doing it, and that's how you build and generate proficiency. So now you connect those reps and the learned skills, natural elements, natural instincts, with a regular recurring theme of what is, what is it we're shooting for? What is the vision? What's our mini goal? What's the big goal? How are these things connected? Let's all work on it together. That's how we create also a combination of inspiration and focus. And that focus is really helpful for teams because it's easy, especially if you're working remotely or you have, you know, multiple components of an organization. Maybe you have different office buildings, you have different people offsite. It helps them bring those people together towards that common element.

Absolutely. You know, one of the things that you said that stuck out, um, was reps. You know, the 10,000-hour mentality and all of that. And so, uh, I, I agree, reps are key. The more reps you get in, the better you're going to get at it, the more you're going to learn through it. You know, for all of our viewers today, what would you say to them to encourage them to get their reps in, um, in a space that they're passionate about? And how do they endure through that length of time?

Well, I mean, endurance can be a matter of determining, again, a little bit of willpower and knowing, you know, is it, are you connected and tied to that, to that vision, the thing that you're doing? Sometimes we have to develop some reps of things that we maybe don't want to do, or it's not really something that we're excited about, but we have to do it. Well, you have to get through those periods as well. And the more that you do them, the more that you have simplicity and ease of doing it on a consistent basis. So, so what might be hard becomes much easier through going through that REP model. You know, the other thing that's available to people today, again with the advance of modern technologies, and this is where we have a lot of leverage being created in different areas of technology with AI, etc., we're able to take a lot of commonly repetitive or sometimes call them boring or less exciting tasks, as it were, and find a new way of doing them. But that all begins with asking the right question. And that question often starts within our own mind. And so what might I do differently or specifically to get this task done or to get this done or to make more leverage or to do this faster or to do this in a way where I can spend more time doing this other thing that I have to work on or want to work on? So now you're asking your brain the right questions and it's going to actively try to solve those problems. Once you've got some ideas, now you can present those ideas to other members of the team and say, hey, what if we tried this? What if we tried that?. And there's a way to do that where you can, you can frame up your idea in a way that's very effective. Now, you may or may not be familiar with Strategic Coach organization, being someone who participates in the Strategic Coach program by Dan Sullivan. Dan Sullivan, well known for Who Not How, The Gap and The Gain. You know, they've developed a program called the Impact Filter. It's a tool that you can use that helps you frame up your ideas and helps determine what's the best result, worst result, and what are the 8 Creek key criteria, success criteria, that need to be true in order for this idea to be functional and valuable. And it's a good filtering system. So if you're on a team and you're looking to present something to management or an upper-level individual, or, or vice versa, you create and walk through one of these things, and then you have a written document that you can say, here's why I think this will really benefit us. That's now adding a ton of value to the team. Even if they don't move forward with the idea, it does showcase that you're willing to put the extra effort in, work on your own thinking, and present solutions. Everybody loves it when someone comes to the team with a solution.

Absolutely. And, uh, and that's so key, right? We can all raise the flag about problems, but the reality is it's how we bring solutions. Richard, uh, it's great to have you here on this segment with us. And, uh, for everybody viewing and watching in NOW Media, You can download the app to catch us either on Apple and Roku or from your iPhone and catch our show, The Inspired Culture. We're going to be back in a few moments with Richard Canfield as we get into the next segment, which you're not going to want to miss. We'll be right back. We're back with more on The Inspired Culture. Well, we're excited to welcome back Richard to the Inspired Culture TV show. And, uh, just so everybody knows, Richard has his own TV show airing Monday nights at 6:00 PM on NOW Media TV, and it's Innovate and Overcome. It's a show that you don't want to miss. Uh, and Richard's an action-packed host with a lot of great insight information, and the guests that he brings on are absolutely incredible. So, don't miss his show. And as we hop in with Richard here, we're going to be looking at spotting burnout before it happens within the culture of various organizations. Richard, glad to have you back.

Yeah, we're having such a great time. This is fantastic, Eric. And like, burnout is something that happens. We see it. We've probably all experienced some degree of it in our own life.. And there's a ton of reasons why that can take place. It could be from a lack of sleep, could be from your diet. It could be from, you know, ancillary things going on in your personal life that might be impacting, you know, your, your, your work life. There's, there's things in the physical nature and other endeavors emotionally that, that are attacking us, you know, really at all times. We're always being bombarded with things as, as human beings. But it can happen for another reason that people don't realize. And so often I think we tend to recognize or think or see burnout either in ourselves or wonder if it's existing in others because of a lot of background elements. But very rarely are people aware that something like just doing things out of your instinct could be creating. And so, I'll give you an example of this, Eric. Now, may I ask you a question? Are you right-handed or left-handed?

Right-handed.

Right-handed. Okay. And as long as you can remember, that's been the case. When you first started learning how to write and doing you know, cursive signing your name, you're always signing your name with your right hand.

Absolutely. Yep.

Okay. This can be a fun experience for those of you watching at home. Whatever handedness you are, right-handed or left-handed, I want you to just grab a piece of paper and sign your name the way you would normally sign it. Just sign it naturally. And you'll feel that this feels right. This is how I do it. And there's my signature. It might be like mine, might be a mess. It might be potentially like yours where it's easy to read. I know my wife's is easy to read compared to mine. And so that's a very simple, easy thing, and it becomes a natural fit. And so handedness is a very instinctual, natural way. There are a select number of people in the world who are ambidextrous when it comes to that. Now, if you were to take that same pen or pencil, switch hands— and so I'm also right-handed— if you switch hands and now you go about signing your name, 90% of the population will find when they do that, that they're immediately uncomfortable. And you can picture it in your own mind here. You can, you can put yourself in that position and you'll know, I just, even putting the, putting the pen or the pencil in that hand just seems weird to me. And then actually attempting to write with it. And sometimes we have to do that because we have an injury to a hand, you know, maybe a sporting injury or something. And so there's periods of your time of your life where you probably had to learn to do it with the other hand. And so you can do it and you can learn the skill and you can practice and even you become very proficient.. But it's not natural. You're actually working against the grain, if that makes any sense. So that's a perfect physical example of how natural instinct happens. So that feeling of putting the pencil in the other hand, of signing your name, the uncomfortableness, what it looks like when it's done, the weird kind of disconnect that you feel, the whole physiology of your body is impacted by that element. Well, when you're operating and doing things in a work environment, where you're outside of your natural instinctual way and you're doing it all the time, it's the exact same thing. It's the same idea as trying to write with the opposite hand, but you're doing it in a work environment and you're doing it all the time. Can you see how that might lead to some burnout?

You know, it definitely is gonna push and lean into a lot of challenge, you know, and I think it's a mental mindset, um, for everybody there to face that, you know, and and everybody's got a different depth of what they're willing to overcome or become exhausted by. And they have to spot and make a determination of, is this for me or is this costing me? And, you know, and there's a purpose in behind it. And so I could totally relate to the writing thing because as a kid growing up, I loved playing baseball and I'm right-handed, right? So guess which arm I throw with? My right arm. And, you know, I injured my shoulder to where I couldn't throw a ball as hard as I wanted to or needed to, to be a successful outfielder. Um, I played left field and, um, growing up, that's what I really wanted to do. I put in the hours and the time to train to do it, and I had a shoulder injury. So I had a decision. I was on the team. And I wanted to play, but I couldn't throw, so the team couldn't really use me. And I didn't want to sit the bench. So what I ended up doing is learning to throw left-handed. And I bought a, you know, a left-handed mitt instead of a right-handed mitt and did everything that we needed to do to figure out how to catch with my right hand, how to throw with my left hand, how to throw well with my left hand and then how to throw hard with my left hand. But I had to learn first the technique of it, then the accuracy, and then to put power behind it. It was extremely hard to do, but I did it only because my purpose at the time was to play baseball. And so And that gave me the energy to overcome burnout. Um, but I could see that if it's not within who you are and how you're wired, that would become very exhausting, um, over a quick period of time because you wouldn't have the energy behind it to want to accomplish it.

And that makes perfect sense because it ties into the affective part of the mind because it was really based on motivation and desire and purpose, like you identified. Your focus on the thing that you wanted outweighed the extra effort and all the other things. And so, we can overcome or train ourselves as you did to make all these things work and happen. But it still isn't necessarily natural. You know? So, even now, maybe if your shoulder is repaired, you would probably still prefer to throw with your right arm, but you know you have in the background the ability and the knowledge that you can reactivate a skill that you learned in the past that you had. So, the same things are possible, again, with writing, you know, injured on the wrong hand, etc. And this can happen in your life. But if you're in a business or a work environment, and you're doing things where you know you need to get the task done, but you dread it because it doesn't feel right. So, a way to approach that is to start to say, okay, how might I choose to do this task so it can get accomplished, but do it in a way that serves me? Is there another way I can complete the same job and the same task, but approach it in a way that I know I, I can do it that works for me? And can I present that to a leader or as an option? You know, so now you can advocate and negotiate a little bit around getting the work done because you want it completed, but finding ways that fit for your desire. Sometimes we're given a process and a procedure that was written and created by someone else, and it feels pretty foreign. It doesn't mean that it doesn't work and it's not effective, but is it the same effectiveness for you, as an example? So I'm, I'm like the bureaucracy killer. If you want to eliminate and cut through bureaucracy, you bring me into a meeting. And if there's too many steps in a process, I will cut through it, find the shortcut, eliminate, cut, try something new, and I will blow it all up and we'll create something that is probably more streamlined. That's really one of the areas that I've found that I'm a, I have unique gift for. That gift is almost 100% derivative of my Colby instinct. Yes, there's knowledge base, there's an awareness there. But the instinct to do it that way is driven by the way that I'm built naturally. And so why ever give up that ability or that talent? So that's a powerful thing when you understand it about yourself. And I'll give you a couple of examples around this. You know, so I have a colleague who is an insurance advisor, a gentleman who's been training for the last year on our team. He's I'm an authorized Infinite Banking Practitioner now. So we do a lot of mentorship with folks and help people in that area in part of what I do. And this gentleman, he has some similarities to myself in his Kolbe dynamic. He's a Quick Start person initiating. He needs to be in that brainstorm idea. And he also has in the area we call Implementer, which has to do with the physical space and tangible things. So it's, it's around the physical realm. And in Implementer, if you're low in the implementer category, or a 1 to 3 zone, it means that you're generally more visual. You do pictures in your mind. You tend to explain things in words. And there's a lower likelihood that you will own a lot of hand tools, drills, screwdrivers. You know, you'll probably be less likely to be the person that does the renovation. You know, you'll be the person that calls the plumber, calls someone to fix it. Very unlikely that you'll go do it yourself if you're in that 1 to 3 zone. There are some outliers. That are hobbyists, but in general, that's kind of the case. Whereas if you're more like myself and you're in a 4 to 6 range, you're going to renovate, you're going to repair, you're going to want to restore things, you're going to want to be very tactile, you're going to have almost a need to do it. And I discovered this for myself at least 2 times a year. I have a requirement that's almost an unshakable force where I need to go and renovate something or do a project. I can't be stopped. It typically happens in the fall and it happens in spring. Because it's spring cleanup. And so the energy really activates at that time. And I used to find that I would get so, so wrapped up in a project that I wanted to do, and there was a time element to it because it's a certain season, that I would completely forego all other work and get 100% absorbed into this other thing. The reality is it's an energy recharge for me because I wasn't getting that energy utilized anywhere else. Standing in front of a Zoom screen you know, working at a home office, working through internet meetings didn't give me the physical element I need to get that energy out. There's only so much conative energy that you have available in a given hour, day, week, year. And the way that you use that energy determines where that burnout comes from. And there's certain things you can do to recharge the energy if you're not getting it. So some people like me, they might like to cook or use cooking tools as a way to get that out or do painting or do craft projects. And so, that's a way they can get their energy out. Well, this gentleman, his name is Quan. Quan was now in an environment where he's working 9, 10 hours a day on Zoom meetings, sitting at a computer screen and not getting any movement because he needs to be in front of the screen. One of the things he needs to do though is make a bunch of follow-up calls. I said, well, here's this first initiation you can do as an action. Take, book all of your follow-up appointments where you're going to do it by telephone. Get out and go walk around and pace in your yard or go pace around the house and do them. So, you're physical, you're active, you're mentally engaged because of it in a way that's unique to you, you'll think better on your feet, and you'll recharge your battery before you have to go back to the screen. So schedule your day to accommodate your need to do that. And then the next thing is you need to have certain physical things around you, like fidget tools. I've got fidget tools all around me here, things that you can do. You may not see this, Eric, but I'm actually standing on a treadmill. I'm not using it right now, but I'm on a treadmill. So I will do a lot of walking meetings.. And I'll just let my clients know and they think it's a great joke. I'm like, hey, we're having a walking meeting today. I don't know about you, but I'm going to get my steps in. I need 10,000 today. And we just have a lot of fun with it. And so, that is a way that you can take natural things that you require and implement them to solve the same problem without creating that burnout. So, the more you can understand that about yourself, the more you can activate and elevate your work-life balance.

Absolutely. Well, and I mean, and it's important, right? We accomplish the things that make us who we are. And what we need to have in our life with our purpose and intention. And you having a meeting on a treadmill makes me smile because it's habit stacking, right? You're having the capacity to take care of two things in one moment, but they both operate completely separate from one another, even though they're together. And so, you're creating these opportunities, Richard, for yourself to grow and develop every step of the way, literally. And I think that's really, really neat for you. And I think for our listeners too, because the way that we've been doing things doesn't mean they have to be done that way going forward. We can innovate, we can create, and we can learn to grow differently. And I think, Richard Canfield, you sharing just some of the experiences you've had shows us that. And it's because you understand who you are. And so you have the ability to create the best operating procedures for yourself to be successful through utilizing the Kolbe Method. I think that's pretty neat. What do you think?

Well, I appreciate the observation, and I do. And it's because of the changes and the impact that it's made on me that I feel obligated almost to be able to share this knowledge base that Kathy Kolbe created and you know, bless her heart, we miss her dearly. She was an amazing human being that really revolutionized how people understand how they get work done in a drastic fashion. And I'm one of them. And so sharing that here on the show and, and as well on Innovate and Overcome and with the many people that we love to serve is just so powerful. And that's why I created, you know, How to Unlock Your Superpowers report that you can get at coachcanfield.com. That's an area where you can start to learn and explore not just Kolby, but other areas that are helping you know, you get that deeper understanding of your way of being. And the more you understand yourself, the more you can apply it to all the areas of your life that you have purpose, you have focus on. That includes your day-to-day relationships with your spouse and your kids. You know, knowing this kind of stuff has given me a great opportunity to recognize things in our relationship for my wife and myself. And so we have a Kolbe A to A report. And so when I've done something that I know I probably shouldn't have done, and I eventually am cognizant enough to go learn about it, I can pull out, you know, the A2A report and I can look at those things together and I can say, oh yeah, I see where I might have gone wrong here and what I might be able to do to correct it. You know, you have to be present of mind to do that, but it's kind of like, uh, in case of emergency, break glass. And I tell that for a lot of, uh, couples, you know, get an A2A report done, stick it in a binder, and when one of you becomes aware that you've done something you shouldn't have, or it's You're in a tense situation, pull that down, take a moment of reflection and review and see how you might approach things differently.

Yeah. And you know, a good warning sign to that is when your emotions spike internally, it's a time to reflect. It's a time to take a look, pull out that 8 report and say, hey, where do we miss it? You know, I feel uncomfortable right now. And through my discomfort, I probably didn't communicate my best. And so, I need to take a look, a step back, and gain some new perspective on how to go forward to, one, resolve what's been created through discomfort, through emotion, and recognize where I need to grow as an individual. So, that A to A report sounds like an incredible tool for that. Richard, thanks for coming on. And we're going to come back for one more segment on the inspired culture. It's been a pleasure having you so far. And look forward to giving the audience a few more nuggets and a couple great takeaways. We'll be right back. We're back with more on The Inspired Culture. Welcome back, and we have Richard Canfield with us, and we're going to be talking today about leading a culture where people want to stay and bring others. Richard, welcome to the Inspired Culture, and we're happy to have you back. Uh, what are your thoughts about this?

Well, uh, we all recognize, especially in the last 5 years, finding talent and maintaining talent has been a real challenge for most entrepreneurs. Um, the whole COVID situation, people working from home, not working from home, coming back to an office, not doing it. Some people need that office environment. Some people are really happy in the work-from-home model. It's created this hybrid world, and there's always this recognition that, you know, people who used to work in that common office setting, work, work setting, there was— that's part of where you got some of that culture. It was in those daily, you know, drive-by interactions. And as people shift to a work-from-home model here and there, we're seeing a lot less of that happen, and we're trying to facilitate or manufacture it through things like Zoom technologies and Google Meets and so on. And while it can be effective, it's never quite the same as that physical human interaction. And so we want to be able to create that. That's why I came up with a model I call interaction currency. Interaction currency is that energy that's created through humans interacting with one another. And those— that, that can be— that can charge your battery, or it could drain a battery, depending on the situation. And that physical element, we see a lot more of that. And so as AI and other robotic-type things seem to take hold as the world moves into the future, that energy that we have, I call it the human energy transfer, it, because energy cannot be created or destroyed; it has to go somewhere. So now that human energy potential is still available. And as we see things like that start to become more involved with us, we need to be able to maximize those human interactions so that we can put that energy to good use. Now, when it comes to teams and recognizing bringing people on and maintaining culture and growing an organization, if you're having a great culture and people love working there, their natural reaction is to tell other people about it. And look at it like this way. I like a great steak. You go to a great steakhouse. Well, when you have a great meal and you have good service, you're going to tell someone about it. You're going to refer people. You might leave a Google review. The same way that you would do that about a great restaurant is the same way you'll do that about your workplace. So if you're creating a cultural environment that makes people who are there rave about their experience, you know, We are all in the business to serve other people. Whatever your business is, you're serving somewhere, whether it's a product or a service, and then you're hiring people to help you accomplish that objective. Well, if you're in the leadership team, you need to recognize that you also need to serve the people on your team, and you need to serve them in such a way where you create the best possible outcome that makes them excited to be there. If they're excited to be there, they're going to tell other people that they need to come and join the organization. I know for, you know, a company that I work with, Ascendant Financial, it's where we help people with the infinite banking concept. We have a grow-from-within culture and a promote-from-within culture. So we're always raising people up. And because of that, we have a number of people that are always applying to work with us. It includes our existing clients and it includes family members and associates of people who are already in the organization. So it reduces the cost and the burden of finding external people. And it also creates a unique environment that we obviously are doing— something is working that's saying, you know, we're recommending people come and work here. So that's the type of thing that you want to create. It's the same way that you want great Google reviews to bring people to your business in the first place. You want a similar environment about bringing people to work at your organization as well.

Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. The Inspired Culture is all about what you just said too, and It aligns so well. You know, we believe that leaders today have a greater responsibility in leading and enriching their teams and the people of their organizations. And it requires something different. It definitely does. And the world's changing in this capacity too, slowly. But the reality is, is that if we're not leading and coaching and mentoring and really taking a holistic approach with the individuals in our organizations, if we're not doing that, we're doing them and the organization a disservice because we want to promote within, we want to grow within, we want to develop a bench of leaders. But a bench of leaders sits inside your organization, not on the outside. And in order for us to make that happen, we have to invest internally, we have to invest holistically. So, people are here, they grow in tenure, in time, and that gives you the capacity to have people ready to take the next position when it becomes available. When you think about organizations from a positional standpoint, a title standpoint, it doesn't mean you're a leader with a title, but it does mean that the higher up you go, the less positions are available. It's just the reality. And so a lot of times organizations have good people, but they don't have a place yet to put them. So they're in this dilemma of what do you do? What do you do between now and then to keep these people engaged long enough to place them in the position they're ready for when the business grows and scales to have those positions available? And that's the holistic approach where leaders can invest in their people to not just win at work, but win at home. They have the opportunity to support their own personal growth goals, growth goals and habits. We call them at INSPO Visionary Growth Objectives, where individuals have the opportunity to cast a vision for their own personal lives and achieve the goals that go with it. And so, as a leader, when you're invested in your people that way, what you're doing is supporting their wins outside of work, which, who isn't gonna wanna work with a leader that's supportive of you personally, as well as your professional development? Those individuals will have an intrinsic tie, deep roots, not only to the organization, but the leader that they work with, to where they will wait because they are fulfilled in the other aspects of their life, which you're encouraging and influencing them to win in. So I love what you shared there about that because, um, culture is so important. Um, intrinsically motivated teams are, and keeping people here, right? And so to your point, if I'm getting that experience, I'm going to have— I'm going to ask my friends to come to work with me and I'm going to refer my leader, the organization that I'm at, to say, look, this is a great, great place. You know, Richard, one of the questions that I have for you is what are some of the key elements that you see that are really important for people to choose as setting boundaries for themselves coming into cultures and organizations?

Well, you know, one thing that I find at least works in some of the organizations that I have the pleasure to serve with is creating common language elements. So, you know, circling back to the Kolbe Index, one of the reasons that Kolbe can become very powerful in a culture is if everyone has it. And for an example, we have an organization where they have a Google Doc, and that Google Doc has everyone in the organization listed. It has their Kolbe Index listed and has the top 4 4 ways that they go about accomplishing work, where they start the process by which they, they start work. And then it has a link to an audio that you can listen to that explains how that person thinks about work, whether there's an interview taking place with someone who's very similar. So if you don't know how that person's working, you can now listen to that. If you're gonna be on a project with them, you can come in with more knowledge about how they approach work that's different than you. So by doing this, What it's done is it's created this common language element of how you can communicate, which enhances overall communication. And it can almost be gamified to a degree. So we encourage members of our team to go and, you know, book a meeting with another member of the team at least once a month and have a Kolbe conversation, have some fun with it, learn about some of your difference and your uniqueness and how it shows up for you in the workplace. That creates a level of camaraderie, and it creates that commonality of language. And so when people need to advocate for something that they recognize is about them, it's easier for them to do it because everyone understands the language as well. And similarly, there's many other platforms like, like a DiSC or a Myers-Briggs or a Working Genius, as an example, that will help people do that. Whatever that is for you, have something that gives you that common element, and it allows people to discuss and advocate for what they need and how they think they can best help and serve. That to me is an empowering model that actually takes pressure off of leaders and it creates an environment of positivity and an energetic that can stream through the whole organization. A new person comes on, they're so curious to learn what everyone's talking about that they can't help themselves.

Oh, that's great, Richard Canfield. I love that. And I, I really like, uh, when you talk about having an index in the background to understand like type behaviors that create the opportunity for those types of conversations to take place. It's really equipping teams and leaders to be engaged next level, uh, with the people within the organization and on their teams. I, I think that's really, really a great point there. Is there anything before we close out? Is there anything else that you wanted to share about your organization at being an incredible coach that you are?

Well, you know, there's so much potential with bringing the Kolbe Initiative into an organization. It's great for teamwork. When you bring on a Kolbe Consultant to do something with, whether it's your leadership team or the whole organization, it's a very interactive experience. And it gives everyone a great place to see their differences and their commonalities and how they can work towards common objectives in different ways. So it really creates a great energetic in the organization. So I'd encourage people to consider that as something they bring into the organization. And it's also a lot of fun to just do. And there's a lot of additional elements around team mapping that you can do where you can see people on a grid, helps leaders understand how to place people, recognize potential issues and ward them off early. And that is a huge advantage to the leadership team as they move forward. Beyond that, I mean, at coachcanfield.com, you can go ahead and get an amazing report that you will learn all about how to create and understand your natural superpowers. I encourage everyone to go and swing by and grab a copy of that. And beyond that, I just love being able to serve where I can to make organizations better and the people that work with them happy and excited about creating great results.

Well, thanks, Richard Canfield. It has been a pleasure to have you on the show today. For all of our viewers looking in, go find Coach Canfield. He definitely comes through as a servant leader looking to take care of your needs, organizational needs as well. Uh, he would be somebody great to have on the team. So, uh, Richard Canfield, it was a pleasure in having you here today, and we look forward to having you back on the show sometime in the future. Have a wonderful day, everyone, and we appreciate you tuning in to The Inspired Culture here on NOW Media Television.