National team members Executive Director, Rebecca Emerson and Strategic Initiatives Leader, Dustin Brown sit down with Adam J. Salgat for an informative look into their lives. We learn how they came to work with Our Community Listens, the impact it has had on them and what we can expect from the organization moving forward.
We also spend some time discussing dream vacations, favorite fishing spots and which kind of jelly goes best on a PB&J. 😉
AI-generated dictation of the podcast audio
Please note that this transcription was completed using AI software. Occasionally, unanticipated grammatical, syntax, homophones, and other interpretive errors are inadvertently transcribed by the software. Please excuse any errors that have escaped final proofreading.
Adam:
Hello and welcome to the Our Community Listens podcast. My name is Adam Salgat and with me today, are National team members, Executive Director, Rebecca Emerson, and Strategic Initiatives Leader, Dustin Brown.
Today, we’re going to focus on the vision and mission of Our Community Listens, look a bit at what 2019 holds for alumni, and find out what drives these two caring and dedicated individuals.
Hello, Rebecca and Dustin. How are you both doing today?
Rebecca:
Good morning. It is a cold and blustery, wonderful day in St. Louis. We’re thrilled to join you.
Dustin:
Yeah, it’s good to be here. Thanks for having us, Adam.
Adam:
I must say when you say cold, what did your car temperature say, because up here in Michigan…
Rebecca:
Yeah, you got me. It’s not Michigan cold, it’s St. Louis cold. So, it’s maybe about 18 to 20 degrees. I know you guys have had a fierce winter, so, we’re fine.
Adam:
It has been a wild couple of weeks in January here up in Michigan … January, February. So, since you’re a little warmer, you’re warmed up, Rebecca, give me a little bit about the vision and mission of Our Community Listens and why you personally identify with it.
Rebecca:
Thank you so much, Adam. The vision of Our Community Listens is simply world caring. Literally, that is our mission statement. And that comes from truly human leadership and the desire of Bob Chapman and the team of Mary Lee Miller. Just so their principles of world caring and truly human leadership into the communities that originally they started serving for business and they continued serving as an outreach of just the impediments of what they believe. And so, what we do, our daily practice is to offer communication skills, training classes in truly human leadership engagement opportunities, whether that’s a continuous learning session, some new things we have brewing are on service. We offer those in educational centers, and civic organizations, and city governments, and fire houses, and police stations, and organizations like that, nonprofits across the country…
Adam:
Tell me a little bit about how you identify with our vision and mission. What is it that you love the most?
Rebecca:
Oh my goodness. I grew up in leadership, and I grew up professionally, my twenties, my thirties, and the things that come after that. I grew up in leadership, really believing in the value of the individual and that every single person is important to organizational success, whether that’s in higher education. And like we just mined that down whether that’s higher education, and we’re talking about everyone from the president to the faculty, to the maintenance, to the administrators, everyone in there has an important part to play in organization success. That’s the way my parents raised me. That’s what I’m doing. And so, when I heard Bob Chapman state in 2017, it blew me away that someone else had the same [inaudible 00:03:15] humility, and value and purpose that I did. And I just wanted to know more. I wanted to jump on his team. So, I started investigating and researching and joining the movement. I’m just blessed and thankful that this fits into my life work.
Adam:
That’s awesome. Well, everyone is very happy that you’re here and thankful that you’re tied in and ready to roll with everybody matters.
Rebecca:
I’m proud to be here too. It’s truly a blessing.
Adam:
Dustin, tell me what we’re doing to reach more people in the United States, and what we can expect in 2019 for our alumni.
Dustin:
Yeah. That’s a really good question, actually. We have been… OCL was a whole, and especially here at the national level, we’ve been focusing on bringing in new partners, and just kind of re-imagining what that looks like. We’ve recently kind of redone our process around that, and using a new model for how we partner with people within communities. And with that, we’ve actually started as of yesterday, bringing in people into a new application process, and it’s looking for communities and for people that genuinely care for one another, and they want to see other people within their community do the same. It’s a pretty competitive process. And in that, we really get to see people bring their best to the table, and see stakeholders within the community really come together and bring forth what they have to offer. It’s pretty amazing. So, more to come in 2019 and early 2020, with the candidates that we have right now.
And then if we look at the alumni, we have a really, really great team internal to OCL that is building out continuous learning sessions. They’re really working to make sure that we’re not just teaching people CST skills, but we’re diving deep and showing them what it looks like to apply those day to day in their lives, whether it’s relationships at home, with friends, with coworkers, just making sure that they really have an understanding, and understand the practicality of the skills that we teach. So, we’re building out a huge repository of CLS sessions and just any kind of resources that we can offer to help support both what they’ve already learned, and then what they’re experiencing in their day-to-day lives. So, a lot of that’s going to be available through ourcommunitylistens.org website. And then some of is going to be, maybe membership-based, we’ll find out.
We’re working on a few things, but trying to find a way to get those resources in the hands of alumni, and have it readily available in case they, they want to dive back in and look at it at their own convenience.
Adam:
That sounds outstanding. Just in case anyone out there… I’m not sure if Dustin did say what CLS stands for, but it’s Continued Learning Sessions, right?
Dustin:
Yes.
Adam:
Yep. So, trying to build an abundant… We’re building a glossary of tools for them to utilize, the podcast being one of them, right?
Dustin:
That is correct, yeah.
Adam:
Awesome. Rebecca, you touched on this a little bit, but tell me how you began to work with Our Community Listens and how this came about for you.
Rebecca:
Absolutely. So, as I mentioned before, Adam, my background is in higher education, psychology administration, marriage and family therapy. That’s what my graduate studies are in. I have doctoral studies in leadership. And so, when I heard Mr. Chapman speak, it just really resonated with me. I live here in St. Louis, we’re very renown as headquarters, international corporations headquarters. And interestingly enough, the headquarters is about four blocks from my son’s school.
And so, after I heard him speak, I saw the building for the first time, and I would drive by taking my son to school and think, “I’m going to work there.” And I’m not in manufacturing. My background is psychology counseling, and I think, “I want to work there,” and I’m not an engineer. And in my mind, this brick building on the corner there were huge machines, manufacturing things behind the brick walls, which of course now I know that’s not the case. But, about six or eight weeks after I heard Mr. Chaplin speak, I just already devoured the book. I’d gotten into this really human leadership… It resonated with the truest parts of my soul, that I always treat others, and how we have a responsibility to build the world to be a better place.
And about six or eight weeks, I opened Linkedin for the first time in a couple of years, this job popped up and said, “Hey, this looks like It’d meet your qualifications.” And it was five o’clock in the morning. So, I had to wait for a reasonable hour. So, I called my friend with me. I was reading Everybody Matters and write her the job description. I said to [inaudible 00:08:00], “This is for me.” And a letter to Mr. Chapman, and I put my resume together, sent Mr. Chapman a letter, and 26 interviews later, he’s like, “Please come join my team.” And that’s how I got started.
Adam:
It sounds like a bit of kismet.
Rebecca:
Oh man. Absolutely. It felt very… prickles falling down.
Adam:
Awesome. Dustin, I don’t know if your story is as electric, or as connected as… I’d love to hear it, because I’ve never heard it before.
Dustin:
Yeah, absolutely. It was a little different. So, my entire career up to the moment that I joined Our Community Listens was in the military. So, I worked in logistics for probably about nine years. Did pretty much everything you can do in logistics, and then got commissioned to be an officer. And I moved into actually culture change. So, I started working for one of the most brilliant leaders I’ve ever had, Darcy Lily. And she had just brought Our Community Listens and communication skills training to Scott Air force Base, and had started what was at the time, the largest program that Our Community Listens had.
And so, I had the privilege of going to take CST. She was one of those leaders that encouraged you to grow and develop. And so, when I took the course… instantly started asking questions about, what is this? Where did they come from? How can I be a part of it? Shortly after that, Darcy actually got hired by Our Community Listens, and retired from her military position. And shortly thereafter, I followed. I saw the position open up for Strategic Initiatives Leader, and I just saw an opportunity to help grow something that I was passionate about.
My whole… I was raised by my parents to be somebody that love people, and serve people, and care about people, no matter who they are. And this just spoke to me. I felt like listening was a missing piece for a lot of relationships, and I just wanted to help bring that to people in any way that I can. So, I am so happy to be a part of this organization, and I’m absolutely thrilled that Rebecca came to join us and is now leading us.
Adam:
Rebecca, now that you’ve been in the position since July, tell me what you love most about going to that brick building on the corner.
Rebecca:
Oh my goodness. Well, first of all, I have two teenage sons and I have to relate it back to them. My youngest son is 16, Nathan, and he loves all things like Marvel and Avengers and all of that. And when I joined our community lessons, because of my experience with him as a mom and going to teen Marvel movies, I thought that, “Oh my goodness. I have joined this team of superheroes.” Every person on our team brings just this unique flavor and skill set and ability and this passion. And together, they’re just dynamic and amazing. So, first of all, I’m just blessed and thankful that I get to be part of this team and get to just cheer them on and create a space where they can excel and do amazing things with each of their communities and each of their… roles. So, that’s the first thing.
The second thing, my wife did it back to my older son and gave him this night, collage freshman. He got to take this class in the summer before he went off to college, and I saw how empathy, and relating to people in a different lane, and really seeking to understand, seeking to listen and care for the other person at that point in need, I saw how that impacted him amazingly, as he transitioned in his life, from community high school students, and just regular old teenager, that’s doing this thing, to being someone who really seeks to be a dynamic leader, and really seeks to care about the person in front of him. There was an incident early in his college days. So, early fall, just some stuff happened at home, like happens. And his little brother told him about some things going on in our community and our extended family, and Gabe called, your college student calls, you expect what I expect, but generally there’s an ask for money involved…
Adam:
Or I’m coming to wash my clothes or…
Rebecca:
“Mommy, how are you? Can I have twenty dollars or a hundred dollars or whatever?” And I was waiting for it. And he called and said, “Mom, I don’t need anything, I just called because I heard that this happened. And I just remember this, whatever you want to say, mom, and we just want to be good [inaudible 00:12:32].” And that blew me away. I hear every week, either through emails, or phone calls, or letters, of lives touched, and communities impacted, whether it’s in a home or a business or a fire station or school, people are blown away. And this is touching lives in really true, authentic ways. It started in business. It leaks out to touch every area of their life [inaudible 00:12:57] for better. And I love that. That’s important. It’s authentic. And it’s something that I can really just get behind and I’m going to get behind.
Adam:
I can’t blame you at all. Dustin, is there a certain element or something that you identify with that you really enjoy most about your job and your responsibilities?
Dustin:
Yeah. There’s a creative aspect to just about everything I get to touch, and I’m somebody who’s written poetry, music. I used to draw and paint as a younger child. And I just love that I get to create, and then I get to do it alongside of people that care. That’s a big deal for me. I have to understand and believe in the ‘why’ for myself to get behind something, and really give my talents and my all to it. And everybody within this organization is part of the why. And I think that’s why I enjoy it because I know that I’m helping people. Sometimes, I might be hindering them. It just kind of depends on how things are going at the time. But, I know that everybody here cares about what they do and they care about one another, and it really just propels me.
So, it’s more about the people than it is the job. I’ll do pretty much anything if I know that the people behind it and the people that it’s helping are in need, or they’re genuine people that just want to do the right thing.
Rebecca:
Sounds like everybody matters, Dustin.
Dustin:
Well, I did write the book. Not even close.
Adam:
Let’s take a step away from the work responsibilities a little bit, and learn a little bit about you guys when you’re not at work. Rebecca, what’s some of your favorite activities, or… This is kind of an open-ended question. And I do have some more specific ones a little later, but, in general, what’s your day to day… some of your favorite things to do?
Rebecca:
I am a die hard band mom. I love going to football games. You hear my son playing the headband. I love going to jazz band concerts and all of those things, and I didn’t know that. We were home with this ginormous baritone saxophone that took up the entire back of my car. I didn’t know that this was going to become such a favorite part of my life, but it really does. And also, I live for soccer season. So getting to watch my older son play soccer, I’m the stereotypical soccer mom. I refuse to have a minivan, but I’m very much a soccer mom. I love festivals, and just cultural events. I’m a foodie, St. Louis has a great food scene. And thankfully I get to visit.. parts of the country and just returned from Charleston where like shrimp and grits is the thing. Oh my gosh. And then the other thing is I adore travel. Our family has two little girls that we sponsor in Uganda, East Africa. And I don’t get to see them every year, but I [inaudible 00:16:17] .
Adam:
That’s cool. What about you, Dustin. Favorite things to do? You said you used to write poetry. You still doing any of that or doing any art?
Dustin:
Yeah. The only art I do now is when I color with my children and that is… [crosstalk 00:16:35].
Adam:
… lines?
Dustin:
Yes. Sometimes, it’s actually very questionable. To be honest with you, I have some similar things to Rebecca. So, I’m a musician. I love writing and playing music. Whether other people like it or not, I love doing it. And so, I’d say that that’s my favorite pastime just as an individual, but I love spending time with my family. I have one of the most brilliant women in the world as a wife. And she’s just gracious and absolutely wonderful. So, anytime I get to spend with her is great. And my kids as well, I have two young sons, Landon and Hudson. They’re soon to be six and four and they are tornadoes. So, I spend most of my time cleaning my house and then they come right behind me and destroy it.
But, I love it. They keep me on my toes. They ask me a lot of questions. They keep me honest, because you just can’t make something up. They’ll call you on it. So, that’s about it. I love doing that. And one of my favorite things is just being around people, whether that’s my band mates, or with my friends or it’s my family. I love people.
Adam:
What style of music?
Dustin:
Yeah, it’s just acoustic rock. I mean, I don’t really know how to categorize it. I’m a singer songwriter, and I have some very talented musicians that have agreed to play music with me. So, I’ll take it.
Adam:
Tell me a little bit about a favorite childhood memory.
Rebecca:
Adam, I don’t know if at the time I thought this was fun and awesome, but I see it as a big part of shaping my character and who I am. My parents always had a heart, and they just gathered people, whether it was people who had nowhere to go for Easter or Christmas or Thanksgiving or whatever the big communal holiday is, we would gather [inaudible 00:18:27] I have another table to sit at. My parents would take us to the local homeless shelter once a month. It’s important to know that none of us can carry out singing… We’re all horrible singers. My dad would make us serve dinner at the shelter and then sing for everybody. And that was really cruel and unusual punishment for everyone to listen to us. But they were so very intentional about sowing interest. I care for humanity and acknowledgement of the value of other people.
And I think that was really something that resonated and stuck with me. So, that’s something I’m going to pass on, I work to pass on my kids. Another big thing that I enjoyed, I’m sure it’s part of… now, is my mom grew up in California and that’s where the family was, and I grew up in Ireland. So, not every summer, but as often as we could, we would get in a big old… driving across the country and go visit my grandparents. And I would read the whole way to California. My mom would say, we’re back from the [inaudible 00:19:31]. “Oh yeah, mom, that’s great.” But always loved to travel, always up for a road trip. So, I know that that definitely stuck with me as well.
Adam:
My sister… the sister that’s closest in age, four years apart, she’s a huge reader. And she would read everywhere. We traveled and I was looking out the window, and I would poke her and I’d grab her book and lose her page, just so she’d pay attention to me because I was lonely. So, I know those kinds of feelings about traveling and reading and being a part of that. And your member sitting in those back seats of the car and just spending time together.
Rebecca:
Oh yeah. Before seat belts were a thing. You just lay across the back window and…
Adam:
Dustin, what about you?
Dustin:
Well, it’s actually funny you guys talk about that. My family would always travel to Silver Dollar city, which is in Branson, Missouri. And that was our vacation, every year. Aside from fishing trips, which I loved and I still do to this day, but I remember being in the car and I was the one always staring out the window, talking, checking how many license plates I could find from different States, and stuff like that. But I will say for me, I don’t have a specific memory. It’s more a consistent tone that my parents provided. My dad is a very… I don’t want to say very organized, he is organized, but he’s just somebody who his word means something. And I remember growing up, if he said he was going to do something, he did it. And he always told us that if you tell somebody you’re going to be there, you better be there and you better be early.
And I don’t know if he said it in those words, but that’s what I got from it. And so, that’s something today that I believe in. I mean, if I tell somebody I’m going to show up at their house to help them move or whatever it is, I will be there. And my wife hates it because everybody else is okay with canceling. I do not like canceling, especially if it’s something personal, I want to be there for people. And I just believe it’s the right thing to do. And so, I thank my dad for that.
And then my mother was somebody who was just ultimately forgiving. Still to this day, she just has a heart. That is, it doesn’t have boundaries. And I love that. And I think that that’s something that I took from her, and happily stealing it and taking it. She gave it openly, but I just remember going to her as a child and just apologizing for anything, we both did. And we just love each other and forgive each other. And I learned how to forgive quickly and not to hold on to things. And it’s been very impactful in my life. And it’s helped me through a lot of things that I don’t think I would have gotten through without it.
Adam:
That’s awesome. So, we’ve talked a little bit about traveling. And one of my questions here is, a dream vacation, and you don’t have to go into too much detail if you don’t want to, but I’m going to give you two categories or two caveats on the question, a dream vacation with kids, dream vacation without kids.
Rebecca:
Very different.
Dustin:
Yes. I know that without, for sure. With is going to be a struggle. Rebecca, do you have anything?
Rebecca:
Well, dream vacation. Okay. So, we’ll just throw it out there, like time and money, all that. There’s no parameters, right?
Adam:
Yeah, no parameters. Do what you want.
Rebecca:
Perfect. Okay. Well, my older son is going to do an 11 week experience, a work experience in New Zealand this summer, and I’ve never explored that part of the world. So, if I were going to do dream vacation, I would want to, for the end of his time, when he’s already kind of gotten away, and then I’d love to go visit him there in New Zealand, and maybe swing by Africa, check on our little girls, spend some time with them on the way. And I love, and I’ve done this before with my boys, I love the richness and historical value that’s all in and around Rome. And I would love to just take my boys and stroll the streets around, and just absorbing the street and all of the famous people throughout history that have walked on those marble roads. I love to just think about them and observe them, and enjoy the arts and eat pasta and drink wine, and then go home and come back to work.
Adam:
Cool. So, you’ve combining the two into one trip in a way.
Rebecca:
No, that’s what my kids [crosstalk 00:24:08].
Adam:
Okay, with your kids.
Rebecca:
That’s the kid trip. By myself, it’s one of those Highland things where you have the little cabana out over the water, just like you and the hut on the water. And I don’t know, rainbows and dolphins and stuff, [inaudible 00:24:23] they come on that one.
Adam:
Okay. That’s totally fair. That’s the nature of the question. Dustin, go for it.
Dustin:
Well, I can for sure say without the kids, I know where I want to go. My wife would probably disagree until we got out there, but early last year… Well, not early, last summer in June, I had the privilege of traveling with the military to Alaska, and Alaska in June is otherworldly. It was actually a spiritual experience for me being there. And I would love to go back and take my wife. I’ve seen these pictures, it’s kind of like a little hut, but it’s like attached to the side of a mountain overheating water. And so, that would be ideal because I’m not scared of heights, but I am terrified of water.
Adam:
I live in the middle of the United States. So, you’re doing okay from that perspective.
Dustin:
Yeah. Probably not leaving, but I think that would be great. It’d just be a nice and peaceful sometime away. And the scenery is unmatched from what I’ve seen so far. With kids, that’s tough. With the age of my children, I would say, take them to Disney world, but kids don’t really like much from Disney. So, that’s a tough question. I’d probably take them on a tour of sporting events. They’re obsessed with anything that involves a ball or puck or stick. So, I think that’d be it. We probably hit up a Kentucky basketball game, San Francisco 49ers football game, and a Cardinal baseball game.
Adam:
Sounds good. It’s kind of my kind of trip. I wouldn’t mind that myself, to tag along. Guys, Rebecca used the term foodie, so I’m going to come back to her and we’re going to do a quick, a couple of food questions. Okay Rebecca, hamburger or hot dog?
Rebecca:
Hamburger.
Adam:
Okay. Dustin, hamburger or hot dog?
Dustin:
Hamburger.
Adam:
Okay. Bigger weakness, sweet snacks or salty snacks?
Rebecca:
It is salty snacks.
Adam:
You got a favorite?
Rebecca:
I have a favorite salty snack, but I can tell you at Thanksgiving, I will always go for another side dish instead of a piece of pie.
Adam:
Wow. Dustin?
Dustin:
The exact same, but I think my favorite snack is a white cheddar popcorn. I could eat bag after bag after bag and just watch myself grow.
Adam:
You probably would.
Dustin:
I’ve done it a few times actually, and then had to stop.
Adam:
Peanut butter and jelly. But, I want to know what is your flavor of jelly?
Rebecca:
Oh, all the way, great jelly. Like Welch’s grape jelly and it’s got to be crunchy peanut butter.
Adam:
Oh, crunchy peanut butter. That’s a good point too.
Rebecca:
Absolutely.
Dustin:
I think I’d go strawberry, but crunchy peanut butter. I like the texture.
Adam:
I did not even think about crunchy peanut butter, which… We didn’t…
Rebecca:
It was just like a bonus round, Adam, but we just threw that in because it was important.
Adam:
Let’s see, you mentioned, Rebecca, about your boys and loving Marvel movies. So, your favorite Marvel character.
Rebecca:
Ironman. Absolutely. I like that he’s really smart. And he’s a little bit, I’d say cocky on a podcast. He’s definitely got attitude. I like he’s got style, and then he gets humbled at the end, but yeah, definitely Ironman.
Adam:
Have you seen all the Marvel movies then essentially?
Rebecca:
It’s even possible to see them all?
Adam:
Oh, I’ve seen them all. Yes.
Rebecca:
I walked through several. I think they usually release a movie every May. And so, for years on end, my son, his birthday’s in May. So, the birthday party would be staying over Friday night, playing video games and running around crazy, sword fights and all those things. And then we’d wake up and go to the first meeting in the morning. So, the 10 o’clock show or whatever, take all the kids. And so, I have probably paid for all the movies, and I slept through a few of them in the theater.
Adam:
That’s good. I’ve I have seen them all. Most of them came out in my twenties when I was single. So, it wasn’t hard. What about you, Dustin?
Dustin:
Favorite character is probably Thor. I don’t know what it is about the fact that he has a hammer that he can just stick his hand now and then comes to him no matter what’s in the way. I love it.
Adam:
You guys favorite books?
Dustin:
Yeah. Mine would be Mere Christianity by C.S.Lewis.
Rebecca:
I’m going to stick with the C.S.Lewis thing. I devoured when I was growing up the Chronicles of Narnia and read those over and over and over again. Now that I have teen sons and they were going through their own assigned reading in English class, I’ve always just loved To Kill a Mockingbird. And it’s been fun with my sons having discussions around that.
Adam:
Night owl or early bird?
Rebecca:
I don’t know. I think being a mom and being in graduate school completely messed up my sleep cycles. So, I do weird things, like I’ll sleep… I usually wake up in morning and about two, three o’clock. I’m awake for an hour and a half, either answering or seeing emails. It used to freak out my team. Like, “You don’t expect us to reply right away.” So, I had to tell them, “Just because I do this, I don’t expect anybody else to.” It’s probably not a healthy pattern. And then I take a nap before work. So, my answer is yes, night owl and early bird, yes.
Adam:
Dustin?
Dustin:
I am without a doubt a night owl. I have a hard time going to sleep, and a very hard time waking up, unless I’m going fishing. In which case I will wake up at 3:00 AM and be wide awake.
Adam:
All right. Favorite fishing spots. The second time you brought it up. So, favorite fishing spot in your area.
Dustin:
Oh, there’s a place called Trophy Country. It is in Huntsville, Missouri, and we’re near Huntsville. Unbelievable. It’s like 22 untouched ponds and lakes. It looks as if nobody’s ever fished them and you catch, I mean, the last time we were there, there were five of us and we caught around 160 fish in a day and a half.
Adam:
Wow.
Dustin:
It was unbelievable. We’re going back in April.
Rebecca:
Yeah. Adam, neither of us were invited to a fish fry. So I got an issue with this.
Dustin:
Sorry about that.
Adam:
Well, I’d have a bit of a travel, but if it’s ideal with [inaudible 00:30:59] . Thank you both for sharing a bit about yourselves. It was awesome getting to know you on this kind of personal level, but let’s bring it back to Our Community Listens organization with a final question here. Tell me in a way that Our Community Listens has had a personal impact on you, or a professional impact. One or the other. Rebecca, why don’t you go first?
Rebecca:
Since I have joined our community lessons, professionally, I know because I’m in a place that cares about me, I’m in a place where I have truly human leadership, I have a personal… magazine, sizes the number three CPO in the world, caringly selling into my leadership and speaking into ways that I can improve as a leader. Sometimes, and, building things like, “Hey, you really do this different or do it better.” But always through that lens of building, I know I’m a better mom, because I’m one of those 88% of American people in the workforce that didn’t always feel valued and cared for or safe in their work.
And so, being in a work environment where I know that I can create it, I can explore, I can take a risk and it’s not going to come back. And I cut for it. It’s allowed me to show up more authentically and more powerfully the rest of my life, the other areas of my life. And so I really think that that’s what [inaudible 00:32:43] looks to do is put people those relational skills. They want to work with community organizations, churches, institutions of education, all of these things to create those veteran environments that people are able to show up more principally, both professionally and personally.
Adam:
That’s outstanding. And it’s good to hear that you made mention of, you know you’re a better mom because of the work you’re doing with Our Community Listens. And I think that is something that recently I saw a quote from Bob Chapman about that. And when we are treated well at work, we go out and we are better people in the world. And I think that’s awesome. That’s good to hear.
Rebecca:
So true. It’s so true. Our work environment has more impact… The person we report to at work as more impact on our health, than our personal physician does. And so, creating these environments of care are so vital to our culture because about 74% of all illness is chronic illness caused by stress. And a lot of stress is kind of workplace… So, the more we can come alongside organizations and help them bring that culture here, it’s just good for our culture, our society probably.
Adam:
Awesome. Dustin, can you touch on that a little bit? How our community lessons has had an impact on you personally and professionally?
Dustin:
Yeah. Personally, I’d say it’s in just about every conversation I have. Like I said before, I love people. I love being around people and I didn’t realize it until the last probably four years, but I loved talking at people. So, I’ve learned that there’s so many different perspectives out there and there’s so much to learn, because everybody has experienced life in a way that I haven’t. And that’s everyone. I mean, my brothers and sisters didn’t experience life the same way I did even in the same house.
So, I’ve just learned to listen to people more for the pure fact that understanding that people are valuable, and their experiences are valuable, it’s taken me out of my own head and out of my own body and allowed me to recognize the value in other people, and not just think that I’m all there is. Which is really something that we default to as human beings. We’re naturally selfish, in my viewpoint. And it’s not any terrible thing that we decided to do. I think it’s just part of who we are, where we’re looking out for ourselves. We’re always in our own minds, and communication skills training has just really helped me to kind of leave myself behind a little bit and focus on others, which is kind of priceless. And then I’d say professionally, the biggest difference is I’m not always right anymore. And so, before I had a really hard time admitting mistakes, or being willing to just say that I was wrong in a situation.
And because of OCL, I’ve recognized that there’s a lot of grace out there, and there’s a lot of people willing to give it and none of us are perfect. And so, working here has been great. It allows you to grow and… Together with people, you’re not just on your own in a silo. I get to witness other people make mistakes, just like I do. And we all get to grow together and learn from them. And I think that’s really valuable towards my career and towards my ability to lead people, recognizing those faltering points in myself and in others and realizing that the we all just need sometimes a 20th chance to do it right.
Adam:
I’d like to thank both of you for being part of the podcast. Is there anything else either of you would like to share before we go?
Rebecca:
Thank you so much for having this Adam, it resonates so much. And the thing is we all bring up [inaudible 00:36:50] everything we do more authentic… the better it is for our families, for our work.,, Thank you Dustin for being so authentic. Thank you Adam [inaudible 00:37:10] People are wanting to know how to get involved in our community… So, if you’re interested in having us in your community… into that application process.
Adam:
Awesome. Well, thank you, Rebecca, thank you, Dustin, both.
Dustin:
Thanks for having us.
Adam:
As Rebecca just mentioned, if you are interested in more information on Our Community Listens, visit ourcommunitylistens.org and don’t forget alumni, you are the message.
