The Bliss Business Podcast - Introduction to B.L.I.S.S

**SPEAKER_1** (0:03)
The Bliss Business Podcast, the show about empathy, connection, and consciousness in business. Today's episode is brought to you by Zero Company, your paid search, social media, and programmatic ad experts.

**Stephen Sakach** (0:17)
Welcome to the show. We've got myself, Stephen Sakach. We've got Ash Maher and Tullio Siragusa with us today. So it's often said that the kindest person in the room is the smartest. And what we want to do with this podcast is help you with finding all the obstacles and roadblocks and barriers against connection and empathy in business and within yourself and how we can overcome these. So with that, Tullio, who do you think this podcast would be for?

**Tullio Siragusa** (0:53)
I think this podcast is really designed for anyone who is committed to being a people-centric organization. So if you're a business that cares about people, whether those people are your customers, your employees, your colleagues, your partners, this is a podcast designed to talk about how can we spread more empathy in the workplace, spread more empathy in the world, how we can even spread more love in the workplace. What business impact does that have? There's actual some real great data that suggests it's not only just good for people, it's good for business. And of course, anyone who's committed to growing and becoming a better leader, a better human being, that's really what this is about. And we wanna hear from people that have their stories to share, just like we're gonna share ours today. And I'm really excited about where this will take us.

**Stephen Sakach** (1:48)
Ash, I see you got the puppy there.
How about yourself? Who do you see this podcast being for?

**Ashkan Maher** (1:55)
I see this podcast being for any organization that's trying to build a sustainable system into the future. I think we are trying to bypass certain obstacles that are self-sabotage within an internal organization, whether that's resentment in the workplace, way colleagues communicate with each other, the way typically issues could start to stem through resentment and problems start to stem in business that typically aren't really caught. They are problems that are planted like seeds. So if you're someone that's looking to build something sustainable and that's going to bypass that 10-year mark in your business, and you understand that it all starts with your people, then I believe that this podcast could definitely help you in building a more sustainable system through love and connection internally.

**Stephen Sakach** (2:43)
Yeah, I really think it is for anyone. I mean, if you're working at a company, there's usually some way that you're going to be able to connect with other people, right? No matter what position you're in, whether it's customers, whether it's your colleagues, you know, build authentic connections, be empathetic when it's required. So I think it's important for anyone. It's probably especially important, I think, for marketers, too, because they're the keepers and the tellers of your brand story, right? So if you can build humanity into your business and you can tell that story and you can authentically connect with your customers, you know, they'll love you so much they won't leave you. But having that authentic connection, I think it's something that can't be faked. So it really does require all parts of the business, you know, to be on the same page, to rowing in the same direction.
So, Tullio and Ash, when you worked at other companies, have you been in a situation where they've lacked that empathy? Tullio, what about you? What comes to mind?

**Tullio Siragusa** (3:51)
Absolutely. You know, I actually was part of an organization where some of these principles were part of the fabric of the company. And it was such a contrast that I didn't know just how bad it was, the alternative was. And in fact, one of the reason I became a Design Thinking Practitioner was because I was like, there's got to be a way to codify and help companies implement these ideas. So, you know, in an environment where it lacks empathy or a focus on people or what I like to call the command and control environment, you're just a cog in the wheel.
And sometimes, you know, you don't have a say on which way the wheel is going, how fast it's moving. All you can do is hang on. And sometimes you fall off and no one's there to pick you up. And so it feels very lonely, very stressful, very frustrating. And it's not like that just for all the employees, even the executives experience that. I remember as an executive in command and control companies, you just feel like you're constantly having to be switched on and you end up having this duplicitous sort of way of being where, you know, at the office, you wear one mask, which is the business guy, you know, and at home, you get to be loving and kind to your family. And those two are separated. And so it's exhausting, to say the least. But you don't know it's exhausting until you experience something else. So I felt as though after experiencing a loving kind, empathetic kind of organization, anything else just feels dirty to me. It's like, how can anybody operate that way? But it's like 99% of most companies, maybe not 99%, but it's way up there, still operate this way. And it makes people feel really disconnected, disengaged, and not excited to go to work. It just becomes something you need to do instead of something you're excited to do. That was my experience.