Leaders Should Get It Right Instead of Trying To Be Right. Dr. Michael Gerharz, Leaders Light The Path

Dr. Michael Gerharz

Transcript
Dr. Michael Gerharz:

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Your positive imprint.

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What's your P.I.?.

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Today's guest.

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Dr.

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Michael Gerharz was raised in Germany.

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His mentor was a teacher that he had who evaluated his writing and

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communication skills with precision.

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And he found that clarity in his words made the the difference for

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him in getting his messages heard.

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He learned the art of communicating.

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Earning his doctorate from the University of Bonn, Germany, Dr.

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Gerharz moved into the world of executive coaching where he works with people

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wanting to change the world and helps them create slogans and the right words.

Catherine:

Dr.

Catherine:

Michael Gerharz can help you light the path by creating messages that

Catherine:

incite action and create movement.

Catherine:

Get inspired, identify your own voice and identify your own

Catherine:

positive imprint and become active.

Catherine:

I know it's hard sometimes.

Catherine:

And let me share a quote with you from the Greek philosopher Democritus.

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He said this around 485 BC.

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Very simply said.

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"Speech is the shadow of action".

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Well, my guest today says the same thing and here are Dr.

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Michael Gerharz's words.

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"When using words to help make change more WOW won't help.

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The WOW only makes your audience cheer louder with YAY.

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What a great show.

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But to make change happen, you want your audience to shout,

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oh, what a great idea."

Catherine:

Dr.

Catherine:

Michael, Gerharz welcome to the show.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Hello, Catherine.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

It's a pleasure to be here.

Catherine:

Oh, thank you.

Catherine:

And we've met, we've been talking, I've been learning so much about you.

Catherine:

You have this great insight into the world of leadership and words . That's

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such a great, not just a skill.

Catherine:

But it's an art to be able to bring that to others and to help them.

Catherine:

So thank you for that.

Catherine:

. Dr. Michael Gerharz: Thanks a lot.

Catherine:

Yeah.

Catherine:

And actually I stumbled into that by accident because well, I'm so sort of

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the most unlikely guy to stumble into the world of communication because , my

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background is a computer scientist.

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And when I tell people about the background, the most common reaction

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is a, surprised stare because I mean, aren't computer scientists supposed

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to be the pale guys sitting down in their cellar, hacking all the night

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through eating pizza and running away crying when someone speaks to them?

Catherine:

Well, apparently not.

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At least I don't identify with that sort of image of a computer scientist.

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And certainly my friends didn't as well, but yeah.

Catherine:

Nevertheless, what I, what I learned sort of the hard way was that yes,

Catherine:

communication is often getting in the way of bringing great ideas,

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brilliant ideas into the world.

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I've had my fair share of boring presentations and brilliant ideas fail

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because of boring presentations, which was one of the reasons that I took a detour

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and left the field of computer science to actually go on the route of asking myself

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and helping others to find the answers to 'how can I communicate my ideas in a

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way that not only I see the brilliance of it, but, but also my, my audience,

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my customers, the team I'm working

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with.'

Catherine:

That's so interesting.

Catherine:

And I want to get to what you just said.

Catherine:

And also the quote that I used in the introduction, because something you just

Catherine:

mentioned has so much to do with that quote, but first you are from Germany,

Catherine:

you were born and raised in Germany.

Catherine:

And so, you know, listeners being that this podcast is international it's

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so impressive and wonderful and fabulous to be able to hear a little bit about

Catherine:

culture and how life might be different in different parts of the world.

Catherine:

Or the same, because you know, we are all connected in some way today.

Catherine:

Certainly by communication and technology.

Catherine:

Yeah.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

I have three children.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

We have a dog, we live in a beautiful house with a garden.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

My kids are going to school.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

We have Netflix.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

And Disney + and enjoy watching those shows.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

We enjoy reading great books.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

We enjoy playing music and making music together as a, as a family going on

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

walks, um, through through the forests or, or at, uh, down at the river Rhine,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

which crosses quite nearby to my town.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

And that's how everyday life looks like.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

And of course, then there's the broader, broader situation that

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

everyone is experiencing currently of the pandemic, which restricts

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

a lot of what we can do here.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

Probably similar to what everyone else, um, is, is suffering in the world that,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

that limits the amount of connections that we can make physically by being

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

present in the same room, which on the same, at the same time increases the,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

the importance of making connections.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

In the ways that are available digitally via the internet.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

And that's actually something that I'm very happy about.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

The, for example, my kid, they have to live a much more physically distanced

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

life from their, from their friends.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

They meet a few of them, but not.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

A lot less than they would have would do in normal times, but they are in constant

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

contact and more modern technology brings us so close together that although

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

we live in totally different places, we can spend the time together having

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

meaningful connections, building strong bonds, and even having connections.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

Like the one that we currently do across the ocean, across the Atlantic

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Speaker:

ocean in totally different parts of the world and still feel connected.

Catherine:

When it comes to technology and communication and even pre pandemic, using

Catherine:

the internet has been a great tool to get to know people across the world that you

Catherine:

wouldn't normally, obviously otherwise.

Catherine:

So let's go to "speech is the shadow of action."

Catherine:

What you had talked about before we got into a little bit about yourself

Catherine:

and Germany, there's another quote.

Catherine:

So Ernest Hemingway, he said, "never confuse movement with action".

Catherine:

And I think that that's definitely what you're saying is, you know,

Catherine:

you have the movement happening

Catherine:

but where's the action.?

Catherine:

You take it from here and how you are helping to light the path for

Catherine:

people around the world with words.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Yeah.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

I mean, so many things have shifted in recent times and the internet,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

certainly it has play plays a major role in, in that, uh, in that shift

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

that we are seeing that empowers people who have an important story to tell.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

To be able to tell that to a large audience that wasn't even accessible to

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

the most successful keynote speakers, just 10 or 20 years back when a hall would

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

be filled by just a few thousand people.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And today I can publish a video on YouTube that reaches a hundred million people.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Just by the power of the words that I'm using and the story that I'm telling,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

uh, telling in that video, and this is something that we see happening today in

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

which has a huge impact on the role of communication for leaders and leadership.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

I mean, it was always the case that leadership is to a large

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

degree a communication process.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

That's one of the most important tools that a leader has, but, but the way

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

that we communicate has shifted a lot by this let's call it democratization

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

of being able to tell your story, because when a few decades back

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

so it's sort of in the times of our grandparents, it was sufficient to just

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

have the authority to speak it because leadership was still largely based on

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

the hierarchical level that you were on.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And you could on the, on the top layer, you could just command and control and

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

teams where we're expected to follow.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

When you told them what to do.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

That has changed a lot.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

I mean, our parents had sort of the try the curve and sticks model,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

where they use incentives to motivate people with external incentives.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Like let's call it either by force or by candy.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

So if you do three things very well, you get, get some sort of bonus.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Uh, but that's all external.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And what has shifted today is that we have an abundance of people who are

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

able to tell a story that, that we can choose to which stories we attach.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And today it is much more important than it has ever been to tell a story

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

in a way that resonates with what is important to the people that we are

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

trying to reach, that resonates with the values that they subscribe to

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

with what, what matters to their life.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And when we fail to do so, when we still just

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

consider giving a speech as giving it, rather than thinking that through

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

to the end, that is the purpose of a speech is not to give it, but to be

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

received by the audience and even more to incite action, change their minds so

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

that they feel inspired to take action.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And when you still get stuck In the stories that you tell from your own word,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

only bragging about the things that are awesome from your perspective and not

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

resonating with what what's important to your audience, relating it to their life

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

then you're going to have to confront a much more difficult time in the future.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Trying to resonate with what's important to people's lives will lead us to

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

much more valuable valuable team that then we would have if we just stick to

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

forcing them to what we want them to do.

Catherine:

I think that you've hit on some really important points.

Catherine:

And so I just kind of want to go through a couple of them and really dissect today

Catherine:

because you're talking about, uh, some of these important parts where reality,

Catherine:

everybody's reality is different today.

Catherine:

Not that it wasn't different, you know, in, in the 1800s or 2000 years ago.

Catherine:

Uh, but realities are different

Catherine:

and how do we reach those, those realities so that those people understand

Catherine:

as Democritus said and what you said, that's the first part of the, WOW.

Catherine:

But that's not the entire WOW.

Catherine:

Right?

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

You get right to the heart of the matter with that question.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

That is really the crucial shift that needs to happen when we

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

relate that to a great movie

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

that we are watching.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

What great movies do with us is that they allow us to live another person's life.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

A life that we would never be able to live ourselves, that we probably

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

wouldn't even dare to live there, but any way, by looking at that

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

person, we get to live that life.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

So and what happens is that, although we look at the hero, what we see is us.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And that's the big difference between a speech that resonates and one that

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

doesn't because the latter, although they might tell a similar story, the

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

latter, while talking to themselves, we never get through over that threshold

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

to seeing us in their story, because they are so focused on themselves that

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

they forget to, to open the door for us to project our life into their story.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And a few years back that that was sufficient probably when attention is

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

something that, that you can buy, like in the seventies and eighties, where

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

everyone was basically watching the same program and we could just buy the

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

attention of our audience by buying the advertisement slot before the news

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

or a large one pager ad in a magazine.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

What we needed to do because when attention is , when selection is , we

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

just need to be the one who's front, front, and center to their eyes, but

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

we don't have that situation anymore.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

So what we need to do is to to find a way to get the attention of people

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

who aren't willing to pay attention to something that has no importance for them.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And that means that that people who have an important story to

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

tell who have something who have a product that actually has an

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

impact on their life, who are, whose

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

style of leadership is actually attaching to what matters to their

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

team as a person has a much higher probability of, of getting through.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And that bridges back to where you started your question to, what do we need to do

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

when we want to shift that perspective and get from just telling a story from our

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

own limited worldview to telling a story that relates to our audience's lives.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And the thing that actually has changed a lot that today we need to actually level

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

up our ability to show and find empathy for others, to see the others and to

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

find the others, which is also in a way a very old finding it's, it's nothing new

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

that before talking, you need to listen.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And when you want to, when, when you want to reach someone, when you want

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

someone to look to see you the easiest way

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

to achieve that is to see them first, to give them the feeling of I see you.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

I hear you.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And when I do that, when I open the eyes for who is that person I'm talking

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

to, not the target group, but the person whose life I wanted to affect

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

for whom I've built that product to actually improve their everyday life-

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

who is that?

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

What are the things that they are struggling with so that I have

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

a chance of getting specific.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Telling stories about a life that they can relate to.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

They see themselves in so that when I tell my story, they look

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

at me, but they see themselves.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

That's where, where the most effective stories are to be found today.

Catherine:

I love listening to you and how you phrased everything.

Catherine:

You can get visuals and your words are the way you communicate.

Catherine:

It is just perfect for understanding.

Catherine:

And you mentioned the word empathy.

Catherine:

So not everybody has that.

Catherine:

How, as a coach in communication, how do you teach empathy?

Catherine:

Or can you teach empathy?

Catherine:

Well,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

first of all, I'd like to w get to what you mentioned

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

that well, not everyone has empathy.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

I mean, I, I tend to doubt that.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

There, there might be some medical conditions, like sociopathic

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

behavior that people actually aren't physically able to show empathy, but

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

that's the vast minority of people.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

The vast majority of people actually is able to feel empathy.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

If we are able to feel anything, we are able to feel empathy.

Catherine:

Oh, I like that.

Catherine:

I like that.

Catherine:

The

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

thing we are not used to is to look through different

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

so to say different glasses; to change our perspective; to actually

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

stand up from the table I'm sitting at and changing it around, for example,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Amazon uses for their product.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

That's probably one of the reasons why they're so close to what their

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

their customers actually desire is because they, in every meeting,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

they have an empty chair there, and that is reserved for the customer.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Starbucks does the same.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

They even have mentally added two chairs, one for the customers

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

and one for the employee.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And whenever a decision is about to be made, they will ask themselves, will that

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

make my employee and my customers proud?

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And if it doesn't, then there's reason to discuss that.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Then there's reason to ask yourself, 'why am I doing it if not for the people I seek

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

to serve?' And with the people that help me to serve those people, because those

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

are the ones that I should make proud.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And if I, if I manage to do that, the rest, especially the bottom

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

line will take care of itself.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

One of the most important things that I do when I work with clients is that

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

I first of all, listen to their story, try to have them say it in their own

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

words, without the marketing department intervening or without the public watching

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

whether every word is just perfect.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And then asking questions.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

That's probably even more important than the first one - asking questions,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

the obvious ones, the non-obvious ones, but also, and that's probably the most

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

important of all three, the two obvious ones, the ones that you don't ask maybe

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

anymore, or that your team doesn't dare to ask because you're the boss and they

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

don't dare question you or, or you just fear the answer of what happens when

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

the answer is not as we wish it to be.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

But that's actually necessary work.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

If we want to reach our audience, we need to ask the question

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

because they're asking it anyways.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And today choice is so wide that, that they go on to find an answer

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

that is more suitable to them than ours, that they probably won't like.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

So if we don't ask, our customers will ask those questions so that

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

it it's important that you are the first to ask you the question,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

how does it relate to my audience?

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

How, how is it perceived by them?

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And that's the third step that's really a consequence of, of those two, that

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

you change glasses, that you change seats, that you look at your own words

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

from another person's perspective.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And that's what I'm trying to do to be that sort of mirror for them to,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

to reflect upon so that they can see I'm not not the one who tells

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

them what, what are the right words.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

I'm just trying to make them see what their, what their words are doing to

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

the persons they are trying to reach.

Catherine:

That is just so phenomenal that we have people like you who have

Catherine:

the communication and the words because not everybody had, like you said

Catherine:

earlier, not everybody has the words.

Catherine:

And there are countless people in history that have talked about that, that, that

Catherine:

sometimes we have to be their words because they don't know how to put

Catherine:

what they want to say into words.

Catherine:

So let's, let's do talk about light the path and what you're doing, but first,

Catherine:

is there anything that you want to add that we haven't, that you weren't able

Catherine:

to share that you really want to bring into this conversation that we're having?

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

I'm totally confident in the way that you guide

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

us through, through that conversation.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

I'm super happy with, with how you extract the most important thing.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

So I'm just curious of where you are leading the conversation next.

Catherine:

Oh, okay.

Catherine:

Well, so now I want to talk about, uh, the world of perspectives

Catherine:

because you just raised some really awesome awesome parts of everybody's

Catherine:

reality or the perspectives.

Catherine:

You are a renowned international speaker.

Catherine:

You go to different places to speak, and it's not all going to be, okay,

Catherine:

this is going to be a medical group.

Catherine:

These are going to be lawyers, uh, et cetera, sometimes they're mixed.

Catherine:

So how do you get your perspective so that you're allowing still that

Catherine:

philosophical thought for people to narrow in on what the words are that

Catherine:

you are saying and accepting your ideas so that they can take action..

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Yeah.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

I mean, first of all, although we might be, might have very different occupations

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

and we might have different passions ranging from medicine to literature,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

to, to IT, to banking, to sports.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

In the end, we are all humans and as humans, we can relate to other humans.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And that is the first, the first crucial step that we need to take, that, that

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

we don't speak about, about products, about things so much then to speak about

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

what people do with the things, how people use the sort of sports training

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

that you were developing or how people are affected by the new treatment

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

that you've developed or how they are using the new software that you were

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

developing and how it changes their lives.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And so by relating it to humans and, and painting pictures of humans lives before

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

and after they encountered your idea, your product, your, your vision for the future

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

helps them to relate to them what they do.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And then of course, what's, what's important if you, if you really

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

want to, to get close to the people, reach out to them or engage

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

with them, interact with them.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Try to try to find out a little bit about the culture of that tribe

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

of people of that group of people.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

What do they care about?

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

What are their current struggles?

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Probably even read one or two magazines from them to find out what

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

are current problems that they're dealing with so that, that you can

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

find the empathy of how they look at things, how they look at the world.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And even probably if you have the chance to talk to some, many of them

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

so that you can actually find find the stories that they can connect to

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

because it is the, the things that they are dealing with in their daily lives

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

does that help?

Catherine:

Yeah.

Catherine:

Yeah, absolutely.

Catherine:

And that, that brings me to uh, quite another part of, of what you do so well.

Catherine:

So you talk about getting, you know, understanding their culture and we don't

Catherine:

mean culture specific, but they're what their interests are and, and, uh, what

Catherine:

inspires them, what makes them move?

Catherine:

So one of the things that you do is, you do put forth questions,

Catherine:

both in German and in English.

Catherine:

And if there's other languages, I don't know, but I know about the

Catherine:

German and the English and you ask the public specif very specific questions

Catherine:

about - I'll give one example because there's many, but I'll give one.

Catherine:

Books.

Catherine:

So you want to know what people are reading out there.

Catherine:

What types of books inspire them?

Catherine:

And you didn't ask the question of, you know, I'm looking for a, uh, a, I

Catherine:

just want to go out and read a book.

Catherine:

What can you guys recommend?

Catherine:

That's not how you phrased it.

Catherine:

It was what types of books are you interested in

Catherine:

that I might find an interest in as well and why?

Catherine:

You really wanted to know about me and what made me move and

Catherine:

so, and that was one example.

Catherine:

And I know I don't, I think I gave you Melinda Gates book.

Catherine:

I don't remember,

Catherine:

but I did.

Catherine:

Okay.

Catherine:

'The Moment of Lift.' Yeah.

Catherine:

So I think that hearing you and having you here, I am learning a

Catherine:

lot and your perspective on life and not just perspective, but your

Catherine:

professional work and your studies

Catherine:

really have brought you forward to where you're allowing others to have

Catherine:

their moment of lift and I think that's an incredible place to be.

Catherine:

So, and I certainly appreciate that.

Catherine:

So what are some of the other books that people, you know, brought to your

Catherine:

attention that inspired them or that, or even if it was a romance novel,

Catherine:

cause maybe they were inspired by the romance or the relationship in the book?

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Yeah, there were two, two actually novels that I read

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

recently that had a great impact on me.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

One was a German book.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

I'm not sure whether that's available in English.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

It's the translation will be at 'The Book of a Summer.'.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And it's about the person who who who felt that he wasn't living the

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

life who was a successful person.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

He was business owner, but who he felt that he wasn't living the life that

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

he was meant to live in, which was the life of an author of a writer,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

novelist, which his uncle was.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And through the course of the book, he found out profound truth about life and

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

himself that led to quite as I will put it, unusual answer to that question.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

I mean, there are a lot of books about pursuing your dreams and

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

how that's sort of the only answer that exists to that question.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

That yes, you should go for that truth.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

But he found actually a surprising answer to them that might be much more tangible

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

for a lot of people out there who just feel that there is that dream, but

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

would who also feel that it might not be that they are Picasso, who is solely

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

focused on, on his art or Hemingway who's solely focused on his writing.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

That's also not, not them.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And that was a very pleasing story for me.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And the other was by Celeste Ng.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

I don't know how her, her last name is pronounced.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

The book is 'Everything I Never Told You' that, which is

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

about sort of love going wrong.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

The love of parents for their children going wrong, which, and it's about

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

two parents who try to, to enable everything they didn't have during

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

their upbringing and their life and making that happen for their daughter.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And in doing that out of love

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

missing to see her as the person that she actually was, with the

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

needs that she actually had.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And that was a really moving book for me.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

That that was recommended to me recently.

Catherine:

Well, I'm so glad that you're diving into some of those books.

Catherine:

And I find my podcast when I meet people like you and others, I find

Catherine:

the people I have just so inspiring.

Catherine:

And some of the things that they say are, I will have maybe a paraplegic or

Catherine:

an amputee on the show and they say, that's not what identifies me and what

Catherine:

identifies me is the work, the things that inspire them and that they are able

Catherine:

to, you know, work and inspire others.

Catherine:

And, and that just really makes my day shine and makes me feel like I am

Catherine:

providing some great content to people.

Catherine:

Talking to you and, and hearing all of this has just been enlightening and

Catherine:

certainly will help me to improve as well

Catherine:

and I know my listeners as well too.

Catherine:

So now you have a podcast.

Catherine:

And so I want you to be able to share a little bit about that podcast because

Catherine:

it really is a fabulous podcast.

Catherine:

I love it.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Thanks.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

So to me it appears that I'm just thinking out loud.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Although, of course I try to make it concise and I deliberately

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

chose the format of two minutes twice a week because I feel that

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

we have an abundance of podcasts.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

We have podcasts that specialize on the things that we currently

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

do in diving deep into specific stories and showing the human side.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

But somehow, I felt that we have a lack of podcasts that do the opposite,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

that really are there to fill the gaps in- between those, those podcasts or

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

the way between here and the bus stop, where I just need that extra kick

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

before I dive into that meeting where I just get that extra stroke of, uh,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

let's say let's call it insight that that provides me with a different

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

perspective on the things that I normally do and makes me stop to ask myself,

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

might there a diff be a different way?

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And that's what I try to do to show you a way that might be

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

different from what you currently do and invite you to try that out and to have

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

a look at whether doing things a little bit differently than you'd normally do

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

that might just increase the impact and get you the influence that you deserve.

Catherine:

Well, it's been great.

Catherine:

So if you want to give the title.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

It's called "Leaders Light the Path"

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

and in any podcast platform.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

There is a website they can just, you can just visit leaderslightthepath.com

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

or visit my website.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

MichaelGerharz.com/podcast.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

You'll reach that podcast, but you also find that by searching for Leaders

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Light the Path on all the podcasting platforms from Apple podcasts to

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Spotify, Amazon music, you name it.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Yeah.

Catherine:

Okay.

Catherine:

And for the listeners, it is in English for the listeners.

Catherine:

M I C H A E L G E R H A R Z .COM

Catherine:

MichaelGerharz.com or LeadersLightthePath so, yeah.

Catherine:

And so now, Dr.

Catherine:

Gerharz are there any last minute inspiring words that you'd like to share?

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Yeah, yeah, probably about a thing, a

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

question that I stumbled across.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

When I recognize that this year actually is the, is going to

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

become the 42nd birthday of "The Hitchiker's Guide the Galaxy".

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Oh my gosh.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

Famous novel Douglas Adams.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

The radio show is actually one year older, but the book has been published 42 years.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And as you might know that the number 42 plays a major role in that novel because

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

it turns out that 42 is sort of the answer to the question, to the universal

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

question about life universe and the rest.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

The only problem is that nobody knows the answer.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And I find that to be a very timely observation because I

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

find that we are, we are living

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

in a time that's obsessed with answers with people who feel they are being

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

right and doing everything to, to, to maintain that status of being right

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

while 42 years back Douglas Adams has so beautifully and eloquently taught us

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

that it's sometimes much more difficult and I feel also much more worthwhile

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

to take a step back to ask, so what was the question actually?

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

What are we trying to find out?

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

And that it's, it feels like it might be a more, much more worthwhile goal to, to ask

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

yourself to, to, to pursue the journey of getting it right rather than being right.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

So to be able to ask the right question, rather than try to have all the

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

answers already, because in the end, we're all on a path and nobody knows

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

the answer to most things.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

The world would be a much nicer place if, if we try it more to get things

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

right, rather than to be right and fight for our positions rather than

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

shift perspectives and try to understand the other person's perspective.

Catherine:

Thank you so much for those words.

Catherine:

What tremendous insight and inspiration, and you've provided so much.

Catherine:

And I, I appreciate that you are providing this service to the world

Catherine:

and that you're painting a picture for us all into a better community and

Catherine:

better communication with each other.

Catherine:

Dr.

Catherine:

Michael Gerharz,.

Catherine:

Thank you so much for being here on Your Positive Imprint

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

thanks.

Dr. Michael Gerharz:

It was a pleasure,

Catherine:

your positive imprint.

4 Comments

  1. Gloria Robinson on 05/04/2021 at 8:51 PM

    Hi Catherine, read the transcript to this interview. Instead of listening to it the transcript showed up! That was the first time this happened! Interesting comment that communication can be done across the ocean with another and still a person can feel the connection.

    • Catherine on 05/19/2021 at 3:00 PM

      Thank you Gloria for reading this episode’s transcript. I do love the connections I make and that I bring to you from around the world. I love doing this podcast. Thank you so much for listening and reading these episodes.

  2. Terry T on 05/06/2021 at 4:05 PM

    Fantastic interview. He is definitely worth listening to. Using our words has always been so important, as you know as a teacher, and I’m delighted that you interviewed someone who expressed the skill of “choosing our words wisely”. Thank you for sharing this interview.

    • Catherine on 05/19/2021 at 3:04 PM

      Terry, Thank you for the comment and for listening. I’m so glad you enjoyed Dr. Michael Gerharz. Yes, yes yes!!! I do so agree with regard to choosing our words wisely. Those words fit the mold for what mom and dad always taught us—“if you can’t say anything nice then don’t say anything at all. Words cannot be taken back.” Dr. Gerharz and his work are truly interesting and very much needed in a world where words mean just as much as actions. Thank you again for listening!!

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