Cultivating an Innovation Mindset with Vital Germaine

//What are the core values for an effective leader to keep in mind, especially when facing massive changes that impact business? Vital Germaine joins us to discuss what it means to have an Innovative Mindset that unlocks the best in your team.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Vital Germaine
• ENGAGEteams360
• Innovation Mindset book

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Transcript

Hey!  It’s Andrea, and welcome to the Voice of Influence podcast.  Today, I have with me Vital Germaine, and I’m thrilled to share him with you today.   Vital is a former Cirque du Soleil member and team leader.  He’ll explain that in more detail, I think.  And then he’s, in the last few years, has been doing a lot of motivational speaking and work with corporate teams.

So, Vital, it is great to have you here on the Voice of Influence podcast.

Vital Germaine:  Good morning, Andrea.  Thank you for having me.  Yes, I was a member, acrobatic performer with Cirque du Soleil for five years.  And actually, the journey into speaking began ten years ago, so times flies.  I’ve been already doing it that long.

Andrea:  That’s awesome.  Okay, we’re going to have a conversation today around your book, Innovation Mindset, and then applying it to kind of where we are today.  Just such an interesting time that we’re in, and so, I’m really looking forward to digging into that.  But first, would you share with us kind of a summary of…  I know you’ve got a nice big story, and I would love to hear some of that today and give the audience just kind of an idea of where you come from and how you got to where you are.

Vital Germaine:  It’s very interesting.  My background is very eclectic, which ties into the whole concept of the book Innovation Mindset.  And by the way, very quickly, there’s the equivalent… so, Innovation Mindset was written for organizations, very specifically.  The equivalent book for personal growth development is called Imagination Will Take You Everywhere.  They’re not identical, but they have some overlaps.

The story of Vital Germaine is very interesting, very eclectic.  I am a Belgian national with a British accent, born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who got to live the American dream by way of a French-Canadian circus. 

Andrea:  It’s fantastic.

Vital Germaine:  I have a lot of open mindedness in terms of embracing different cultures, different beliefs, and without giving away the whole book already, that is a fundamental component of the mindset of innovation.  It’s being open, but we’ll dive more into what that looks like, how do we stimulate that mindset, and how do we implement it in the workplace.  We’ll do a deep dive into those aspects.

Andrea:  Okay, I’d like to start with a question about just where you are right now.  Right now, it’s currently the beginning of 2021.  What has changed for you personally in the past year?

Vital Germaine:  So much.  So much has changed.  And I think this applies to almost everybody that our lives have been disrupted, turned upside down.  We weren’t prepared.  We didn’t know what to do.  We’re still trying to figure it all out because there’s still so many unknowns.  And the initial response is a bit of a knee-jerk reaction.  There’s panic.  For me as a speaker, all of a sudden, my industry disappeared in terms of live events.

And the immediate thing that we have to do is calm ourselves down and understand, “Okay, there is something new on the horizon, and all I have to do is sit back and just evaluate it from a place of confidence that I have the resilience, the ability to adapt to the new.”  And unfortunately, that is one of the biggest challenges humans – let alone organizations – face is the ability to adapt.

So, you get over the initial panic.  And now you’ve got to restrategize, rediscover.  “Is there a new passion, a new vocation that I need to build, or do I just simply tweak what I’ve already done?”  What’s happened, we’ve switched to virtual keynotes.  So that was the immediate transformation is, “Okay, how do I do what I do in a real life scenario with human interaction, looking people really in the eye, feeling that energy exchange, and how do I transform that to this little box?”  So that was the first thing to do.

But the principles of change – which goes to the book Innovation Mindset – apply across any form of transition that we experience.  And so, now that I’ve initially got over the shock – because I can write about it, but that doesn’t mean that I’m immune to the symptoms.  So, I did experience the shock, the resistance to change, but I’ve been doing this for so long, this is what I know.  And then eventually, over time, you regroup, and then you start implementing some of the philosophies of, “Okay, well, how do I adapt?”  “How do I reinvent myself?”

Andrea:  Hmm.  What do you think are some of the values or character traits…  I mean, you just mentioned a couple, really, but values or character traits, maybe besides resilience and, you know, just adapting quickly?  What have you found within yourself during this crazy year?

Vital Germaine:  So, the superpower in order to adapt successfully…  and it’s very simple, and I wish I could say it is this really complicated, elaborate thing that’s going to take you twenty-five years to master.  It’s very simple.  When we tap into our inner child, that is the superpower because when we are kids, it’s when we are our most resilient.  We are born creative geniuses.  We don’t have an issue learning how to walk.  There’s nothing that tells us, “Now, this walking stuff is not for me.”  We just keep doing it instinctually.  We just do it until we figure it out.

And then over time, programming, society, expectations, norms, beliefs, limiting beliefs tell us, “No, you can’t do this.”  “No, don’t do that.”  “No, you shouldn’t do this.”  In fact, kids hear, on average, I believe it’s 232 “nos” or negative comments a day.

Andrea:  Okay, say that again because that is a huge statement right there.

Vital Germaine:  Approximately 232 “nos” or negative comments a day.  “Put that down.”  “No, don’t do this.”  “No.”  So, think about it.  Over the course of a lifetime, by the time you’ve reached adolescence, your brain has been told no, and your genius just gets withered away.  Because each time you want to instinctually do something, be curious, you’re told no.  And then that becomes the norm, “Oh, I can’t do that.”  “I shouldn’t say this.”  “I shouldn’t explore that, or I can’t try this.”

And we’re told, “Curiosity killed the cat.  Don’t be curious.  Don’t go in Pandora’s box.”  And my philosophy is, “No, please go in Pandora’s box.”  Go in with reckless abandon.  Fail miserably, spectacularly, because it’s through that mindset of exploration and innocent discovery that we grow, that we innovate, that we remain relevant, significant.  The only challenge is it’s scary as hell.

Andrea:  I was going to say, from a parent’s perspective…  Okay, I’ve got a kid that likes to climb.  I cannot imagine having a kid that loves to do acrobatics and flying through the air and death-defying kind of things that you’ve done.  Maybe speak to me as a parent.  How do we get over some of that risk aversion when we’re worried about the person that might be taking that risk?

Vital Germaine:  You said that the operative word is fear.  We’re afraid.  So, think about it.  Your kid has this instinctual desire, interest, curiosity to climb.  That’s a powerful message because that’s what they’re driven to.  And so as a parent, there is the fine balance.  Well, if I tell him no because mommy’s afraid, I’m depriving that kid of becoming their potential.  That’s what they want to do.  They gravitate into that, and I’m telling them no because of my fear.

So, here’s the nuance.  As a parent, you’ve got to find where is that healthy balance between, “I’m scared, and I’m going to put my fear onto my kid,” and “I need to be a responsible parent.”  So, I’m not encouraging recklessness.  I’m not going to say, “No, go let your kid climb, anything and everything, and then one day, they fall, and they break their neck and you’re like, ‘Vital, you told me to.’”  I’ll use Cirque du Soleil as the example… 

Andrea:  Calling you from the ER, “You told me I could do this!”

Vital Germaine:  So, here’s sort of the parameters to follow, and I’ll use Cirque du Soleil process as the example.  We are trained and encouraged to defy gravity and stare death in the face.  Dangerous, as you can imagine, but it’s not reckless.  So, we are trained to fly off the trapeze, to jump on a trampoline, and there is a way of approaching the danger that is safe.  And when I say safe, you minimize…  So, in trapeze, you put a net because without the net, I’m not going to try to fly and do a double back twist and get caught in midair.  I’m not going to do it.  So, what do you do?  You prepare me for that trick.

So, for example, I’ll do the acrobatic trick, not at sixty feet.  I’ll kind of do it on the floor, and then I’ll do it into a crash pit, and then I’ll explore with it with a safety harness.  But you haven’t told me to not fly on a trapeze.  All you’ve done is taken precautions that I can learn and understand how to get to climbing on a bunk bed.  “No, get off the bunk bed.  You can’t do that.”  “No, honey, if you are gonna climb on the bunk bed, make sure that maybe you try this, and that you do that, and you take precautions.”  That’s the way that you navigate that risk.  So, I’m not promoting recklessness.

Andrea:  It’s good.  I think of how you apply this to a corporate setting, to a leadership setting.  It feels risky as a person who knows that you have an objective that you’ve got to meet, and to let go of control is what it really feels like.  I wanted to go into something that you said in your book.  You were talking about the difference between getting a perfect 10 in the Olympics versus kind of the artistic expression that you want to achieve in Cirque du Soleil in that kind of a setting.  Tell us a little bit about the difference there.

Vital Germaine:  That ties back into programming and rigidness, and gymnasts are striving for perfection.  Logically, we understand perfection is not attainable.  And so, what can happen in pursuit of the perfect 10 is a lot of the human elements are taken away.  So, in the arena of gymnastics, perfection might work. “Got to get the perfect product.”  But in the realm of the real world, humans, we’re emotional beings.  As a company, as a brand, when you design a product, there’s got to be a human aspect to everything that we do.  The brands that we’re loyal to, it’s because of how they make us feel.  That’s an emotion.

Because Elon Musk can design the perfect car, but there’s got to be something about his message.  There’s got to be something about Apple.  Apple designs sexy products.  That’s what we gravitate to.  It’s not the perfection of the design.  It’s the emotional aspect that it touches into.  And so, on that journey with Cirque du Soleil, it blew my mind because gymnasts are programmed, “Just be perfect.  Just go out there and be perfect,” but there’s no emotional connection.

And in the real world, again, you have to connect.  It means you’ve got to bring a part of you.  Who are you?  What is your brand?  I’m buying into you.  I’m buying into Steve Jobs’ philosophy.

And so, the part of that where it’s put human emotion into your story, put human emotion into your services, into your product, and into your culture.  Think of a culture.  I can give you all the policies, and I can treat you like robots, and you follow this policy.  And then you do this, and you’re robots, and you just go through the motions because you’re observing company policy, but it’s not organic.  It’s not real.  It’s not fun.  And then what happens is we become disengaged.

So, that example you shared about not going for the perfect 10, it’s all about connecting to the human aspect that makes us these unique entities on this planet.  So, again, just focus on the human element.  Perfection goes out the window.  It’s all about growth.

Andrea:  Okay, this is from your book.  “What if they ask their employees to show them their jump, instead of suggesting or telling them how to jump?”  So, in comparison to where you were before.  So even better, what if they didn’t even suggest a jump, but simply asked, “What could be done here?”

Vital Germaine:  Thank you for opening that door because it’s one of the most defining things that I share with organizations.  It’s a mindset shift.

Andrea:  So good.

Vital Germaine:  I’ll use people like Steve Jobs.  I’ll simplify it.  Steve Jobs is known for saying, “Why hire the right people, and then tell them what to do?”  Why do we do that?  And you’ve mentioned a word earlier – it’s about control.

Andrea:  Yeah.

Vital Germaine:  So, managers, leaders, a lot of them like to control.  And in terms of leadership, sorry, guys, but that’s outdated.  That is yesterday’s approach.  “You do what I tell you because I’m the manager, I’m almighty, and you’re going to do it this way.”   Cirque du Soleil, Steve Jobs, all the great innovators, what do they do?  They want to pull out the best.  If I want to get the best of you, I have to provide you a safe environment where you can express yourself.  I want to know your expertise.

If I tell you…  going back to the jump, if I teach you a specific step, you’re going to mirror that step.  And yes, I got what I needed, but the wealth of potential that you have as an individual, I didn’t even remotely tap into.  If I invite you to show me your jump, you’re going give me the best of you, and you’re going to offer things that were out of my realm of imagination.  “Wow, I didn’t know you could do that jump.  I love that jump.  Everybody, do that jump!  Let’s give it a try.”  It suddenly opens the door to exploration, creativity, discovery.  Again, it’s scary because where do you find that balance between you set your imperial guard free without it being chaos?

Andrea:  And it goes back to what you’re saying before about giving people the opportunity to grow in that.  I mean, this feels so risky, to let go of control, to give people a little more freedom to be able to explore like you’re talking about.  And like, how do you as a leader then… what are those steps that lead a kid to being able to climb their bunk bed, like we were talking about before?  So, what are the what are some of those things that we can do that would help us to slowly but surely, not be reckless, but move toward that letting go of control and innovation?

Vital Germaine:  There are a lot of things that need to be put in place.  And the journey begins with, first of all, who are you going to hire, and why are you going to hire them?  Cirque du Soleil explores the world to find the right talent.  Now, their approach to onboarding or recruiting is they don’t necessarily look for the talent with the right skills.  I’ll use myself as the example.  When I auditioned, I auditioned as just some kid from a little…  I mean, I grew up in London, but I also came from this tiny little town in Belgium, Blankenberge.  Nobody’s heard of Blankenberge, 15,000 inhabitants.  And I’m competing with New York City Ballet, Olympic gymnast national champions, but they were all perfect and rigid.

Crique wants expression, the willingness to try something new, learn, adapt, and take an idea to the next level.  But again, you’ve got to put certain things in place.  So, the journey for leaders begins, “Who you’re hiring?  Why you’re hiring them?”  I think it’s become an accepted mindset that people now – what’s the expression – hire for attitude rather than aptitude.  I can train you and teach you to learn the right type of mindset or skills for my culture.  If you’re really good at something but you’ve got the wrong attitude, you’re not a fit, and now there’s going to be problems.

So, you hire the right people.  Now, you’ve got to invest in those people to optimize their potential.  And again, Cirque invested a year in our formation.  And during that year, they teach us things.  But they don’t teach us anything, “You’ve got to do it this way.”  They just give us the tools, the support, and the resources.  There is an example in the book where I show on day one what happens a lot in companies.  You arrive at the company, and they kind of show you around, and they show you, “Here’s your office.  Here’s your cubicle,” and then you’re kind of left on your own.

Andrea:  It’s so true.

Vital Germaine:  You have not set your team members up for success.  How about I guide you, hold your hand, and make sure you clearly understand, “Whatever you need, don’t be afraid to reach out.  I will provide you with the resources so that you can achieve what the objective is.”  Now, providing resources doesn’t mean that you’re going to get everything that you want because you snapped your fingers and you get it.  But it’s giving you the confidence to know, “My boss, my employee has my back.”

So, “Cirque du Soleil, can we add a trampoline in the training room because I’ve got this idea that I want to work on?”  “Great, let’s look into it.”  “Yes, here’s the trampoline.  Go have fun, go explore.”  Rather than, “No, trampolines aren’t in our policy.”  “No, trampoline is too high of a risk.”  “Here’s the trampoline, here’s some safety precautions and safety procedures.  What do you need from us?”

Andrea:  It sounds fantastic.

Vital Germaine:  In the workplace, it’s a little bit harder, but the principles are the same.  Provide your team with resources, invest in them, train them, and listen to their needs.

Andrea:  What about when somebody has a great attitude, but they come in and for whatever reason – it might be their personal experience growing up or their last job where their voice was squashed – and now they’re in this new environment where they are encouraged to share their ideas and their voice, but they’re holding it back.  What thoughts do you have for that person?

Vital Germaine:  So again, as leaders, it taps into one of the aspects of creativity.  It’s being curious.  So, as a leader, I want to be curious about my team.  I’m going to use sports as the example.  I’ll use basketball – Phil Jackson and Dennis Rodman.  Dennis Rodman failed everywhere he played.  What did Phil Jackson do?  “I want to understand and know who Dennis Rodman is.  What inspires and motivates Dennis Rodman?”

But that takes having conversations.  It takes caring.  It takes listening and then, “Oh, Dennis, you’re out of your mind.  You want to go to Vegas and gamble for the weekend when we have a playoffs game?”  You know, what if that’s what Dennis Rodman needs, and if I allow Dennis Rodman to do that, I’m going to get the best out of him, then I’m going to adapt our policy.  “Dennis, go have your weekend, come back, and get those rebounds for us.”  Dennis Rodman is now empowered.

That doesn’t mean, again, completely letting go and complete chaos.  But you’ve got to know your people.  Understand what motivates them, what inspire, and the opposite happens.  There are some employees that are like, “Please don’t ask me to make a suggestion.  Just tell me what to do.”  Worker bees.  As a leader, you’ve got to be emotionally intelligent.  You’ve got to be acutely aware, “Who’s on my team?  What are their needs?  What are their fears?  What are their problems happening at work?  Why do they have a bad attitude?  What’s happening?  Why is their attitude this bad?

And again, I’m going to offer not just resources in terms of, “You need a big office;” emotional resources.  “As a human being, as a leader, what can I provide for you to make you feel safe, confident, heard, understood?”  Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.  Most leaders don’t bring that to the table because it’s not a part of our work.  Again, we’re focused too much on policy, and, “I’m going to make sure that rules and regulations are implemented.”  Go deeper!

Andrea:  I totally agree.  Yeah, it can be so much more messy, so much more time-consuming, and emotional and all of that, and yet what are we doing?  What is the point of our work if we’re not human, if we’re not tapping into those things?

Vital Germaine:  To your point, yes, it’s a lot of extra work, but the ROI, it’s worth it.

Andrea:  Exactly.  What’s the difference between instinct and intuition, and why should a person of influence develop that intuition?

Vital Germaine:  They overlap.  Instinct is an instinctual reaction to danger.  It’s an acute awareness.  Intuition is more a knowledge or wisdom.  And I’m going to go a little bit deeper on this one.

Andrea:  We welcome deep here.  Go for it.  Dive in.

Vital Germaine:  I’m out on the plains, and I see tyrannosaurus rex.  Instinct tells me, “Run.”  That’s instinct.  It’s this visceral mechanism that we have in place to keep us safe.  Intuition gets more into letting go of intellect, tapping into the wisdom, the knowledge of the heart.  So, the HeartMath Institute has done extensive research.  They come to the conclusion that ultimately, the heart sends stronger and more signals to the brain than the other way around.

So, ultimately, your heart is your core.  It’s what connects to the higher power.  Whatever you decide to call that higher power, the heart is the conduit.  We have access to everything.  I’m going to go even deeper now.  Energy doesn’t die.  Life is a cycle.  Things die, goes back into the ground.  Everything has a memory.  Every gram of matter has a memory.  You’re going to be like, “What is he talking about?”  It has a memory.

Andrea:  I’m thinking of “Frozen 2” right now, “Water has memory.”

Vital Germaine:  So, we are made up of atoms and particles that have memory, and it’s all interconnected with the universe.  So, we have access to this knowledge.  That is intuition, is just accessing that knowledge, and here’s the key component, trusting it.  We’ve all had that gut feeling.  We meet this person, and something is screaming to us, “This doesn’t feel right.”  “Oh, I should do this.”  We know that our intellect, our programming, our education tells us to be more logical.

In terms of creativity, when you are in your moment of genius…  I’m going to use athletes again. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Lionel Messi, when they are in the moment and playing, they are purely going on intuition.  They don’t overanalyze.  They don’t overthink.  They just do.  Nike, “Just do it.”  If you ask me, that’s what Nike’s telling you.  Be you in all your glory, and just trust that it’s going to be the right thing to do.  So, just go out there, and be you, and do it.  And again, it’s one of those really scary things, and I make a lot of decisions on intuition.

Now, I’m going to add another layer to this.  Intuition is confusing because it’s something so sort of out there that we don’t really know so there’s an element of reasoning that has to come into the equation.  I don’t make reckless business decisions.  Like, “You know what, yeah, I feel I’m going to invest two million dollars on this.”  No, I also do a bit of research.  But my gut tells me, “This is a good investment.  I like this company, and I’m going to partner with them,” and now I go do the research.  So, combine intuition with experience.

Andrea:  Mhmm.   When you think of intuition and that gut feeling, you also are contrasting that with fear.  How do you know the difference?  How do you know when you’re sort of gut feeling is from fear?

Vital Germaine:  It takes time to develop.  Now, the thing about intuition is, over the years, it has sometimes guided me down the “wrong path.”  I also have to embrace that, “I came down this seemingly wrong path, but it just taught me something that ultimately gets me to where I need to be.”  So, you’ve got to trust that.

Andrea:  And trust the journey then.

Vital Germaine:  Yes.  I’ll use Cirque du Soleil again.  Some person has this concept, “Okay, I’m gonna do a circus.  There are gonna be no animals.”  “Ha, you’re out of your mind!  What are you thinking?”  Deep down inside, he knows that’s the right thing for him to do.  And he’s laughed at, and he’s ridiculed.  And in the beginning, he fails because it doesn’t work.  But his intuition, his gut feeling, his guiding North Star is telling him, “This is what you need to do.  Trust this process.”

And if you look at all the greats – Tesla – all those great – Einstein – they all have an element of intuition.  “I have conviction.  This is what I need to do while the world doesn’t get it.”  And that noise – that external noise in terms of innovation in the workplace – we have to get it out of the way.  Now, the fun thing I’m going to add to this, we’ve got to be willing to fail.  You’ve got to eliminate that fear of failure.  Michael Jordan quote, “I’ve missed over 9000 shots in my career.  I’ve lost more than 300 games.  Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.  I’ve failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I succeed.”

So, if you are of a mindset or work for a company that is not willing to fail and take risks, you might be in the wrong company.  Risk and failure are a part of the journey.  That’s it.  Don’t fight it.  Embrace it.

Andrea:  You say, “Persuasion is getting people to do something you want them to do.  Inspiration is getting them to do something because they want to.”  So, you talked about persuasion, delivering this sort of short-term result and then you say that inspiration is emotional.  And then everything we do is based on our emotional response and our connection.  The most effective way to inspire change is to create the necessary emotional response, void of manipulation.  Policy doesn’t inspire action, let alone performance.  Being valued, respected and honored, drives performance.

When you think of where we are today, in the pandemic state of work, many people still working from home, what role do you think that persuasion and inspiration play now?

Vital Germaine:  So, for example…  I mean, there are many examples.  Persuasion, you’re working from home currently.  I’m your boss.  I can throw strategic, well-designed comments to get you to do the Zoom call.  “It’s good for the company.  It’s good for your well-being.  It’s good for your growth,” and I’m convincing you that it’s good for you.  And deep down inside, you’re resisting it.  You don’t really want to do it, and you end up doing it because you kind of have to, right?  I’m giving you a really rudimentary version of this.  That’s the manipulation.  I want you to do something for me.  So, I dangle the carrot.  “Come and get the carrot, short-term reward, short-term benefits.”  And I get you to do these Zoom meetings for our team.  And deep down inside, you hate it, but you’re doing it.

First of all, you’re doing it with resentment and pushback, and so I’m not getting the best out of you anyway.  If I find the reason to inspire you so that you now want to do it, because there’s value in it for you, then the journey is smooth.  And I’ll use Jonathan Haidt.  He inspired me to this philosophy.  He uses the elephant and the rider as the analogy.  So, people think the rider has the reins, and he has control over the elephant.  He can pull the reins this way, and the elephant is going to go…  That’s manipulation.  “I want the elephant to go this way, so I’m going to do this.”

The rider is the conscious mind, making the decisions, pulling the reins.  The elephant is the subconscious mind.  When push comes to shove, when the elephant decides, “I’m done.  I’m not going down that path.  I’m sick and tired of you putting your heels into my sides.  I’m sick and tired of eating your horrible, ugly carrots.  They taste horrible.  I’m done.  I’m not taking another step,” the rider has no more power.

If I can inspire the elephant to go down the path because it’s in the interest of the elephant, “Hey, there’s something down here for you if you want it, and here’s the reward for you.  But I want you to want it.”  And I can make that elephant feel good and proud about his decision.  Now, the elephant gladly walks down that path each and every time.  I no longer have to push and persuade and manipulate.

And this is what we do with our customers.  We give them short-term benefits, but the modern consumer is spoiled for short-term benefits.  Because I can go online and compare all the short-term benefits, features.  And I’m going to use now Nike as the example really to hit home what I mean by inspiration.  Adidas can tell you, “This shoe has super soft core foam, and it’s going to make you feel soft.”  And it’s great.  It’s a short-term benefit, and it’s a little bit cheaper than Nike, and you might buy it.

But what did Nike do with their slogan?  I think it was Bill Bowerman, in 1974, came up with “Just do it.”  That slogan, the whole Nike philosophy inspired people to feel more athletic.  So, because you’ve inspired me to feel more athletic, I’m going to go buy your shoes, and I’m going to go out there and do it.  You have been inspired by touching my emotions.  You’ve inspired me to take action rather than just bombard me with short-term benefits because they fade.

Apple inspires us because they make us feel good to be apart of…  I’m an Apple guy, but technically, I’m thinking back to Betamax and VHS.  It doesn’t always work, but if I look at the good brands that have loyalty, it’s because they inspired their audience.

Andrea:  I think that you could easily draw connections between that and good people who have had such great influence.

Vital Germaine:  I’m going to use the young poet [from] yesterday, Amanda Gorman.  She didn’t tell us what to do.  She didn’t dangle carrots.  She inspired us through connecting with her.  She connected with America, with the world through her words without having a specific call to action.  And, “You’ve got to be better people, and you’ve got to be…”  No, that’s not what she did.

Andrea:  So, Amanda Gorman from the inauguration.

Vital Germaine:  We would react who inspired a nation.  Martin Luther King inspired us.  The great leaders inspire us, and it applies to the consumer.  Inspire your consumer to want to do business with you.

Andrea:  Sometimes people who have been manipulated think that they’ve been inspired.   How do you know the difference?

Vital Germaine:  You don’t always, and the thing is there is no specific one-size-fits-all.  Manipulation sometimes looks like inspiration.  The outcome is the same.  We’re trying to get some action.  We’re trying to change behavior, but it’s the intention behind it.  As a leader, I can tell you and hit you up the head with my stick, “Go and do this,” and you will.  I still get the same response and the same reaction.  But because of my intention, because of my approach, the inspirational aspect, I’m going to get more out of you because you’re doing it because you want to.

Andrea:  I think that sometimes people feel the shame, and then they think that they want to do something because of the shame or because of the guilt or whatever.  And so, they’re manipulated with the shame and the guilt.  And so, then they think that they’re being inspired to do whatever it is that the leader wants them to do, or just having their ego stroked.  You know, you feel inspired because your ego has been stroked.  And yet, what’s the difference of a healthy kind of inspiration and that manipulative kind of inspiration?

Vital Germaine:  I will share another quote with you to answer this question about how to truly inspire somebody.  John Qincy Adams, sixth President of United States, says, “If your actions, inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.”  So, it all comes down to my actions, my behavior, and my decision-making.  It’s not necessarily what I tell you.  It’s the way I show up in life.  If you’re a dominant leader and I don’t like you, and I view you as a hypocrite, you lack integrity and sincerity, chances are you’re not going to inspire me.

Think back over the years.  Who has inspired you, and start analyzing why.  Because they lived with a level of authenticity.  There was something that they did that made you want to…  I’m relatively athletic.

Andrea:  Relatively?

Vital Germaine:  Pretty athletic.  I’m being humble.  But if I watch a video of some guy who has no legs but who is out there, that inspires me because I’m seeing action.  I’m seeing him defy the odds.  That’s inspiring, rather than a couch potato who knows all the technical messages, will go and do this workout because…  you’re not inspiring me.  Your actions, your values – that’s what inspires.

Andrea:  Yeah.  That’s good.  How can leaders inspire in this environment where there is less of an actual connection, that physical presence, or that feeling of connection?  And we maybe have to somehow achieve that emotional connection in order to inspire, but how and in this kind of an environment?  What do you suggest?

Vital Germaine:  So, now it goes to a little bit more technicality.  Because the way now to inspire…  Obviously, you can’t see how I behave because I’m at home, and then once this happens, that’s it.  We’re done.  You don’t see me anymore.  It comes to the realm of communication.  So, a lot of the wisdom that I share, some of it is personal experience, but I’ve also done extensive research to find things that, “Ah, that reinforces what I believe in,” or “I didn’t know that, but I’m going to implement that.”

There’s a gentleman by the name of Julian Treasure.  He breaks down communication into the acronym HAIL.  So, now we’re talking communication as a means of inspiring through this medium.  The acronym HAIL is this.  The H is for Honesty – “Is what I’m sharing honest?”  The A is, “Is it Authentic?”  The I, “Does it have Integrity?”  And the L, “Is it coming from a place of love?”  Not romantic love but a place of love, goodness, respect, honor.  If you communicate through this medium with those aspects… because you’re not seeing my physical behavior, but if I can communicate with that, I will connect with your heart.

Now, the other part of the equation is we’ve got to condense our communication.  Because there’s a statistic that, in real life, every eleven minutes, we have to change it up.  In this virtual world, apparently, it’s every four minutes.  So, if I want to engage my audience, engage my team, virtually, I’ve got to make sure that my Zoom meetings aren’t ninety minutes.  There are only thirty minutes, and we’re going to get straight to the point.  And what is that saying?  “I value and respect your time,” which is a part of the HAIL acronym.  “I’m coming from a place of love.  I respect you.”  So that’s a part of the way that we can still inspire our teams through better communication.

Andrea:  Okay.  You talk about purpose, mission, and vision.  Let’s say an organization has done some work on this purpose, mission, vision, and it’s maybe not yet permeated throughout everything.  But they’ve done this work, and then in the last year or so, they’ve been consumed with sort of this constant change and adaptation, and they’ve had no time or energy to devote to consistent grounding in those things.  I’m assuming you would agree with me that it’s important to revisit that to become much more grounded.  Why would you say that is important?

Vital Germaine:  The vision and mission are driven by the values of the founder, the president, or the philosophy of the company.  So that’s the North Star.  That’s what is the fuel and the driving force.  What tends to happen, where the disconnect happens is we formulate the perfect vision statement, right?  So, we re-evaluate, which is good, “Oh this sounds really good.  Let’s put it out there.  Send out the memo!  Let’s put a few signs up on the wall in the hallways.  And yeah, we can sit back, and we’ve built this great culture.”  That’s a part of the equation.  You’ve communicated the message, but now let’s go back to the HAIL acronym.  

Is that vision statement that you’re giving to your team members, is it really honest?  Is it authentic?  Does it have integrity?  And if it doesn’t, if your actions aren’t honoring those beautiful, scripted words that you carefully structured, there’s a disconnect.

So, what I’m going to encourage organizations to do is re-evaluate the weight of the communication of your vision statement, but more importantly re-evaluate as a leader.  “Do I embody those vision and mission statements?”  It’s the biggest thing that frustrates me when I deliver trainings and keynotes to Fortune 100, Fortune 500 companies.  “You’re saying this, but you’re doing this, and it’s glaring at me that there’s a disconnect because your people subconsciously saying, ‘BS, you’re a hypocrite. You’re preaching to the choir, but then you’re doing this,’” and it’s very hard to buy into something that is a lie.

Andrea:  It is so true.  I think this particular timeframe, maybe these few months here at the beginning of 2021 seemed to me to be just so key to looking back on the past year or so.  And saying, “How were we who we are, and how were we not?”  “Did we live into our vision and our mission and our values, and if we didn’t, what went wrong?  And how do we want to be in the future?”  This amount of stress and just feeling disoriented and whatever, we’re all bound to see some cracks in our integrity to our vision and mission and whatnot.

So, what a great opportunity we have right now to take a look at that and ask, “What are the cracks?  What are the things that we’re doing great, and how do we want to be in the future?  What if something happens again?  How are we going to respond in an even…” I don’t know, “…with more integrity even?”

Vital Germaine:  I’ll give Cirque du Soleil as the example of a company who for a while didn’t honor their core values.  So, in the beginning, their main objective was to provide innovative entertainment.  They were focused on creativity and innovation.  And then what happens?  Growing pains, now becomes a corporation, and there are board members and investors who want their money back.  

And so, “Now you know what?  We got to put out more shows, people! So, instead of spending two years innovating and creating this great show, we’re going to put one out every year,” and it becomes this mass marketing machine.  You are no longer performing with integrity and authenticity.  Again, it’s short-term rewards.  “Let’s get another shot so that our stakeholders are happy.”

Andrea:  Were they using the same kind of format?  Instead of innovating, they were just making adjustments to an already prescribed format or something?  It seems like that’s what you were saying.

Vital Germaine:  That’s exactly what happened.

Andrea:  Yeah.

Vital Germaine:  They started closing shows down because it was kind of like…  they hadn’t done the market research so their marketing strategy maybe wasn’t right.  They put out a show that was so similar to another show.  Give consumers credit.  They’re not stupid.  We kind of saw this in Orlando.  How many Cirque shows can I see?  So, it impacted them heavily.  They were experiencing 40% loss in profits at one point because they didn’t honor their core values.  We cut corners because we want to make a short-term profit.  Short-term thinking, “Let’s get the money today, and we’ll worry about it in five years,” or slightly longer-term thinking, “How do we, ongoing, keep our audience loyal?” and the only way to do that is to honor what you stand for.

Andrea:  What was the conclusion?  Like, what happened?

Vital Germaine:  Well, they went back…   Obviously, COVID has changed everything.  But they went back to the drawing board and sort of realized, “Wait a minute, we are no longer being the innovative company that we are.”  This is also the risk – they lost some of their initial team, all of that genuine creativity.  It goes back to the conversation at the beginning, “We’re gonna replace these people.  We’re gonna bring new people in.  But to those people that we’re bringing in, do they understand what we’re really about?  Have we communicated clearly what the vision is, and have we given them the onboarding process so that they understand what we’re about?”  Rather than, “Let’s just bring this guy in because he’s got a Harvard degree, but he doesn’t understand the essence of what we’re about.”

So, it always goes back to who you bring onboard, and why, and are they honoring the integrity of your brand?

Andrea:  Hmm, so many good things.  This has been a really fun conversation.  I knew it would be.  I just had this feeling.  Your book, Innovation Mindset…   Your books are easy to read.  And that is a huge compliment because it is hard to make a book easy to read.  I’m well aware.  And so, I highly recommend Vital’s books.  What else do you have?

Vital Germaine:  Innovation Mindset is basically the core of what we shared today.  The equivalent book, like I mentioned earlier on, is called Imagination Will Take You Everywhere.  Similar books, similar storyline, but a different approach because one is for personal development.  Innovation Mindset is purely for the leader, the culture, the organization.  It’s got a lot of breakdowns of action steps and roadmaps and things like that to help organizations become more creative, more collaborative, more significant, and more relevant.

Another book is called 3 Simple Steps.  That’s purely a personal development book.  You’ll read it in twenty minutes.  I believe it will change your life because it’s so simple.  The lessons are so easy to implement.  Then I’ve got two very personal stories called Flying Without a Net and Flying Without Net 2.0.  That’s all about attitude, and resilience, and overcoming challenges and obstacles, and getting up, and not being a victim of our environment.  So, they can help you.

And then the other one is called Reaching Higher.  This is now good for employees but also for your personal life – twenty-one ways to basically maintain a positive attitude.  Because right now, life can suck.  This is a tough time for everybody.  How do you get out of it?  How do you wake up in the morning, and still go and pursue your dreams and your goals, and be a generally good human being with a positive optimistic attitude?

Andrea:  And they can find you at your website, vitalgermaine.com.  And we’ll certainly link to that and then your social media as well.  Any particular social media that you suggest we follow you at?

Vital Germaine:  If you’re a LinkedIn person, don’t follow me on TikTok.  There’s nothing on TikTok for you.  So, for LinkedIn, I’ve got two websites.  There’s my “ENGAGE Teams 360.”  That is all leadership company culture.  “Vital Germaine” is both the leadership but also the personal development part.  Facebook is my predominant platform.  I do share a lot of inspirational content, and you’ll find some fun, entertaining stuff.

Andrea:  And your art.

Vital Germaine:  I paint, yes, as a hobby.  But my painting journey taps into some of the chapters of Innovation Mindset.  Think like an artist.  It doesn’t mean you have to create art.  But it’s the mindset of creation.  What do artists do to create?  I think that’s something like Chapter 28.

Andrea:  Okay, so, last word of advice for someone who wants to have a Voice of Influence.  What advice do you have for them?

Vital Germaine:  I don’t know if I can break it down to one pill, a blue pill or red pill.  A couple of things to get you there is, first of all, start being more introspective and understand what’s important to you; self-awareness.  What is important to you?  Once you’ve understood what’s important to you, now, you’ve got to start grooming, “How do I communicate that?”  In today’s climate with diversity, equity, inclusion, and everything that’s been going on, the biggest challenge is not necessarily what the message is.  “How do I deliver that message…”  Going back to inspire, “How do I deliver a message in a way that is authentic but maybe not offensive?”

So, understand what your message is, understand who the message is for, and how do I need to communicate?  If I’m going to speak to a French audience, maybe I have to put a little bit of a French accent or a little bit of wine and cheese.  You’ve got to adapt to your audience.  So, know who you are, understand what your message is, and fine tune and tweak the delivery of that message.  Content, structure, delivery, and then relatability.

Andrea:  Hmm.  So good.  Thank you so much for being with us today, Vital.

Vital Germaine:  Andrea, it’s been a pleasure.  It’s been an honor.  Thank you so much for the work that you do.  You do inspire people.

Andrea:  Thank you.

Vital Germaine:  One last quote, if I may.

Andrea:  Yeah, go ahead.

Vital Germaine:  “Change is hard at first, messy in the middle, gorgeous at the end.”  Robin Sharma.

END