Transform Your Culture

With Special Guest: Brian Biro, America's Breakthrough Coach and Bestselling Author of The ROI of Kindness Kindness has an image problem in business. Brian Biro has spent decades proving that image is wrong. In this episode, Meridith welcomes her longtime mentor Brian Biro, "America's Breakthrough Coach," to make the case that kindness is not a soft skill leaders can afford to skip. It is the foundation of trust, performance, and results. Brian traces his passion for kindness back to his own mentor, legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, and shows why the companies that top every industry, from Southwest Airlines to Starbucks to Kaiser Permanente, all share kindness as a core value. Brian introduces his ESPN framework for building people: deliver thanks with real Effort and energy, use the power of Surprise, be fully Present, and choose Now over "as soon as." He and Meridith also tackle the question every leader eventually faces: how do you stay kind while still holding people accountable? Through stories, including Coach Wooden confronting a star player over a broken team rule, and Meridith's own story of delivering hard feedback to a talented young executive, they show that real kindness means telling someone the truth because you believe in what they can become, not withholding it to protect their feelings, or yours. What you will take away from this conversation: Why the Pygmalion effect means what you focus on in your people is what you create in them The ESPN framework for building trust: Effort and energy, Surprise, Presence, and Now Why kindness and accountability are not opposites, and how to deliver a hard message with genuine care The difference between being liked and being respected, and why leaders who chase the first lose both Brian's closing truth: "The love we fail to share is the only pain we live with" If you lead people through uncertainty and want a culture that performs and holds together, this conversation gives you the blueprint. Connect with Brian Biro: brianbiro.com | Book: The ROI of Kindness https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianbiro/