According to our guest, one of the simplest acts of kindness is active listening, and we’re excited for you to listen to our conversation with pioneer in positive psychology and multi-successful entrepreneur, Mac Anderson! Mac is the founder of Successories, Simple Truths, and Inspire Kindness, and we’re talking all about his personal and professional journey of championing kindness. Tune in to learn more about how Mac found his niche in inspirational quotes and is spending his “gun lap” creating a movement to amplify the power of kindness.
Mac Anderson has seen outstanding success in his varied career. Though he’s most known for his transformational work in the motivational products field, he started off as the founder and CEO of McCord Travel, the largest travel company in the Midwest, and part owner/VP of Sales and Marketing for Orval Kent Food Company, the country's largest manufacturer of prepared salads. After selling McCord Travel, he decided to take the leap and turn his passion for motivational quotes into a new venture: Successories, Inc.
As Mac says on today’s episode, Successories was a $50 million company before their nearest competitors even reached $1 million. The company evolved from a little quote book to custom brass plaques, and eventually landed on the breakthrough idea of combining beautiful photos with words to reinforce corporate values and personal goals. After a short break to take care of his health and try his hand at retirement, he felt that entrepreneurial itch again and took a motivational speaking opportunity with Premiere Speakers.
After a few years, he had another lightbulb moment and created Simple Truths. He stuck with what he knew best: corporate values in a bite-sized format. But this time, he was publishing books and creating YouTube videos to go along with the texts. Within a month of posting the first video, the Simple Truths channel was getting 200,000 views a day–and this was before viral videos and online influencers existed! Since then, the company has published over 150 books and continues to dominate in the inspirational and motivational content space.
Over the course of his career, Mac has authored or co-authored twenty-two books that have sold over three million copies. His latest project is Inspire Kindness, which is a movement committed to spreading kindness. Inspire Kindness donates 10% of their net profits to Kindness for Kids Foundation, a public charity that executes kindness campaigns in elementary schools so students are less likely to bully in middle school and beyond. Listen to today’s episode to learn more about Mac’s incredible story and how you can get involved with Inspire Kindness!
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[00:00:00] Anne O’Neil: Well, Hey, Hey GBLS! Wow, we have an amazing first guest on our show, and we are confident you know of his work. Mac Anderson is a pioneer in the positive psychology space, and a successful serial entrepreneur. He has authored or coauthored over 25 books, which have sold over 3 million copies and the titles include 212 The Extra Degree, The Dash, and The ROI of Kindness. His publishing company, Simple Truths, also created short videos for these books, which garnered over a hundred million views. You might know Mac from the company he founded that revolutionized what motivation meant in the workplace and personal lives.
You guessed it, he founded the remarkably successful company, Successories, the inspirational poster company. I'm sure you've seen a poster somewhere in your workplace or gym locker room. It even showed up in the hit series, The Office. Mac's latest endeavor is Inspire Kindess, where 10% of the product proceeds go to the Kids for Kindness Foundation, where they create kindness curriculum and campaigns for social emotional learning.
Our conversation picks up here after an introduction and discussing our Midwest connections. Enjoy hearing from Mac as he waves his kindness flag and reminds all of us that it is cool to be kind.
Thank you so much. I, you know, and that's why I was so excited to be here and talk with you Mac, because I felt like I've known you for years and years ago, having my little own successories journals and different artwork around.
And then, you know, as Barry and I were talking about having you on the podcast, I'm like, absolutely. And then doing a little bit of research. I loved your philosophy of, we are in the business to reinforce the positive. And I was like, this is our kind of guy to have on. So, and Barry you've had you, you worked with Mac, um, previously, why don't you share a little bit about your history together?
[00:02:05] Barry Gottlieb: Well like you, Anne, back back when my partners and I had our company everywhere in our company, we had all these posters. Had no idea who Mac Anderson was at the time, but we had all these Successorie posters everywhere. Whenever it was time to give one of our employees and award, I would go and I would order the different things that successories had, you know, team player, this, that everything.
And so successories was part of our company culture for a very long time. And then Mac and I got introduced to one another, because one day I was uh putting together, this idea that I had for a book, my TGIT, and I sent off a manuscript to Mac. And, uh, we've been friends ever since.
[00:02:58] Mac Anderson: That's exactly right. Barry and, and, uh, you know, right now I'm, uh, I'm working with a company called inspire kindness and I have to say that this may embarrass Barry a little bit, but he's one of the kindest guys I've ever met and he's a winner in my book. So, uh, he's done a lot of great things and he's made a difference in a lot of lives. So, uh, I'll, I'll set out there for you. You, uh, you really have made a difference.
[00:03:28] Barry Gottlieb: Well, I'm grateful for your kind words and especially coming from you because you have been inspiring and empowering people for years in many different ways. And I thought it would be great Mac, one of the things that I I'd love to dive into is how did you come up with the idea for successories?
[00:03:49] Mac Anderson: Well, it's an interesting idea. Um, and it evolved. It didn't happen overnight. You know, when I speaks, sometimes people ask that question. I said, I didn't wake up one night thinking, oh my goodness, I could make a living, selling motivational products. Uh, it didn't quite happen that way, but, uh, one of my favorite quotes, uh, in, in when I get overwhelmed, sometimes I pull it out is inch by inch life's a sinch and yard by yard life's hard.
And successories evolved inch by inch. But back when I, I had a company called chord travel back in the day in Chicago. And, uh, when I sold McCord, uh, I, a small recognition award company. And, uh, one of our customers was Ford motor company and their theme was motivation. And, uh, they had 2000 dealers there. They said, do you have anything motivational that you could uh, we can leave at each each plate and say, well, I collected motivational quotes over the years. Uh, uh, maybe we can put them in a little book and put your name on it and see how it goes. And, and, and they said, fine, let's do it. So the next day, I mean, the phone was ringing off the wall from, um, dealers that got the book and said, yeah, I want more copies of it.
Uh, I want to give it to my salespeople or in some cases, customers and. And I said, wow, people really do like clothes, just like I do. And, uh, so, uh, then I thought maybe, maybe we can actually sell this old book. So, uh, to find out it took a dozen books out to three different hotel gift shops. And I said, look, I'm going to give you these books if you'll sell them on this little plastic easel one at a time by the, by the cash register.
So, uh, came back a week later, they were all gone. In fact, they said they went usually usually when the first couple of days. So, um, you know, we, we went to different hotels, you have shops and, and, uh, and, uh, airport gift shops picked him up after a few months. And over the next two years, we saw 800,000 copies of that little book.
Halfway through, I said, no wonder people would want to put quotes on the wall. And, um, so, um, uh, to find out, I put a picture of a brass plaque in the back of the book. And, uh, on the order form next to it. And I said, look, uh, the book had 80 pages and there was a single quote on each page. And it said, if you want any of these quotes on a brass plaque, it'll be 1995.
So the phone continued to ring. They ordered a bunch of them. And then, so successories, uh, evolved from the little quote book to the brass plaque or what was our breakthrough idea? Uh, beautiful photos would words to reinforce corporate values and personal goals. So, um, it was, uh, it was an inch by inch process, but, uh, you know, it was an amazing thing because it's the simplest idea in the world, but I believe it or not, no one had ever done it. And we, we kinda owned that niche for, you know, for a long time. We were, we were 50 million before I nearest competitor got to be a million.
[00:06:58] Barry Gottlieb: What a great story. And I could tell now I know why when I sent you my manuscript that you actually read it, because at the beginning of every chapter, I had a motivational quote to start each chapter off. And now I know why I got your attention. I love it. That's fantastic.
[00:07:19] Mac Anderson: Well, I, I absolutely love quotes. I always have and to me, you know, if you're from the old school, uh, you know, when you had a camera, you to use to get it into focus, you had tweaked the lens. And, uh, all of a sudden it'd be crystal clear.
So to me, quotes are the same way. Sometimes it just adds some clarity to what you're already thinking and you say, wow, that's exactly how I feel. Uh, a little, uh, quotes to me have always been important then. I've made a living reinforcing that.
[00:07:52] Barry Gottlieb: I think it's great.
[00:07:54] Anne O’Neil: Well, I personally have to thank you for, you know, being kind of the foundation of how I got so involved in quotes. I don't journal that much, but I do have my own personal quote book and that started all the way back when I was 13 and 14. In the beginning of my high school career, I was talking to you a little bit about my basketball career, but my journal was the perseverance journal from successories a little five by seven.
And I think there's a picture of a guy who's running the stadium stairs and it's a great Ralph Waldo Emerson quote that says what lies behind us and what lies before us are. Compared to what lies within us. And that's what I had for the first full year of my high school careers, all the quotes and goals that I put into that successories journal. So you literally put me on the growth mindset path when I was that young.
[00:08:48] Barry Gottlieb: Great stuff, Anne.
[00:08:49] Mac Anderson: That makes me feel great. And I can't tell you how many people that I've been fortunate enough to be. Uh, you know, when they find out I was the founder of successories, they come up to me and share a story, uh, and similar to the one you shared about how one of our products made a difference and inspired them along the way. So, I mean, you know, that, that makes me feel great.
[00:09:13] Barry Gottlieb: So Mac, when you, when you decided to sell successories was it time to retire? I know that it wasn't, but I'm asking in your mind, was it time to retire? What gave you that feeling? Well, I got to do something else and you started simple truth. So how did you make that transition going from selling successories to now you're doing simple truth. Tell us a little bit about that.
[00:09:42] Mac Anderson: Well, you know, in my, uh, when I was 50, I was, uh, diagnosed with prostate cancer and a success rate at that point, I think we were doing about 75 million in sales. Um, but you know, it was one of those wake up calls for Mayberry that said, you know, you've worked hard, you've started a couple of companies and you've, you've gone the, uh, up and down the emotional roller coaster that entrepreneurs that go through it.
And I thought I would just, uh, uh, you know, smell the roses a bit. So I, uh, I decided to, uh, to sell the company, uh, ideas, retire for. About a year. Uh, my cancer was in remission. Thank goodness. And after, you know, after I retired for about, uh, uh, you know, a couple of years, uh, uh, Dwayne ward at premier speakers approached me and he said, Mac, I've been a fan of successories and, and you, you, you, you are an entrepreneur that started a couple of different successful companies.
Would you be willing to, uh, to, uh, allow us to book you to speak to different entrepreneurial groups and he on premiere speakers and, uh, so, you know, I said, well, you know, we'll, we'll, you know, I'll think about it. And, uh, and, uh, so he, he convinced me to try it and I said, I'll find out, see if I like it, but more importantly do they like me?
And I did it for about a year and ended up liking it and I got. Premier know that they could book me no more than 20 times a year. And they did. But again, after doing that for about a year or two, I, I. I got bored again and thought, you know what, I'm going to use some of my experience and maybe some of my contacts to start a publishing company.
And, uh, so I knew there had to be a niche because there are lots and lots of publishing companies out there. And, uh, so our niche was to create small, uh, gift books, books you could read in 30 minutes to an hour that would really, uh, reinforce, uh, corporate themes like teamwork and attitude leadership um, and customer service.
So, but no, no one, believe it or not, again, had ever done that had ever sold, uh, corporate values, uh, in a, in a small format. There were, there were those small gift books in, uh, in a hallmark for mothers and babies, uh, Christian bookstores, but no one had ever taken a concept like that to the corporate market.
So, uh, you know, we, we, we kicked it off and. One of the, one of the first books that we published, a very was one that, you know, well, let's call it the dash, making a difference with your life. That's the date you were born or the day she died, but the dash in between, or your tombstone, and it's about love and kindness.
And so it's a beautiful poem by Linda Ellis. I wrote the back end of the book to reinforce each verse of the poem by telling stories, uh, on giving examples. But, uh, we, someone had the idea to say, Hey, take that little, uh, uh, poem and create, uh, a video. This was, this was 15 years ago before YouTube, and, um, so I thought that that's a great idea.
So we, we put this, uh, this poem at 252, words. We set it to music. And it had a little slide they went through each verse, uh, and it was about almost three minutes and we sent it out. And, uh, um, all of a sudden we looked and saw, uh, Google would get, would track to see how many views you were getting a day.
And then within a month we were getting 200,000 views a day and we were the most viral thing hanging on YouTube. So Dan green, my partner and I talk, well, my goodness, you know, we got a, how could we monetize that? So we had an idea that at the end of someone watching the, the low days, a little movie, we put a little bubble that came down and said, Hey, you get this DVD free with the book.
Yeah, just click here. So, uh, all of a sudden, um, people were clicking and going to our website and saying, not only did we have the dash that they loved, and then we had other gift books and. So, uh, the bottom line is that over the next three years, a hundred million people watched our movies and millions clicked up site and discovered that we had books they had never seen before.
And, uh, that was our business model. So we sold direct to consumer. We didn't sell through bookstores, but, uh, uh, the good news is we, you know, we, we sold retail, uh, and, uh, didn't have to share those margins with the, uh, with the bookstores. But so it was, uh, it was just one of those things that, that, uh, every book we published, uh, from that point on, we had a little, uh, two to three minute movie, they went with it.
I got to publish books with the authors, like Ken Blanchard, Brian Tracy, John Maxwell of Stephen Covey of Zig Ziegler. Uh, I got to know a lot of people that were a lot smarter than I was, and, and hopefully I learned a little bit from each one. But, uh, um, so, uh, it, it was, it was a lot of fun. Again, we were, we were in the reinforcement business.
Uh, you know, I often say, um, you know, in a perfect world, you hear something once and, and never need to hear it again. But. When I speak I say, I don't know where you live, but my world is far from perfect. I have doubts fears and disappointments in my life, and I need things to bring me back what I really believe in.
And that's what the posters did. That's what the books did in a very engaging and unique way. So, uh, I love what Zig Ziglar said he told me one time, he said, Mac, people come up to me and say, Zig I got, I really liked what you had to say, but motivation doesn't last And I tell them bathing. doesn't either. That's why I recommended it daily
[00:15:44] Anne O’Neil: That's great. That's a great response. You know, you know, you just touched on that Mac about your, you know, phenomenal success on YouTube and then also your psychological business strategy of keeping things very short so they're memorable. And you were a pioneer in the entrepreneur space before, you know, the YouTube influencers and the world of Twitter and the 140 characters ahead of time.
And so, you know, a lot of people talk about these buzzwords and they share quotes, but your company is actually emulated that and embodied it. How were you able to do that with, throughout your companies and your charities to really be the work out there and be the message?
[00:16:26] Mac Anderson: Yeah. Well, we realized that, uh, you know, the, in, in the case of simple truths uh, it was, we, we accidentally stumbled across a, something. That really worked and this little poem, uh, 252 words, uh, struck a chord with people and they absolutely loved it. And, uh, they shared it with all their friends and all of a sudden, uh, uh, we had, if you didn't decide, when you clicked on the, you get the poem free with the book, the DVD, when you clicked on that.
And you went to our website. If you didn't buy anything, you could sign up for the newsletter and said, if you liked this movie, you'll get, you'll get a lot more like it. So people, our goal was to either get people to sign up for the newsletter or hopefully buy something along the way. So we had over a million people on our newsletter.
So every single time we published a new book. We had a little movie that went with it, we would send that out to the million people and they would again share it with their friends. This was before YouTube. And, uh, uh, it was when, uh, you know, and your emails, you may have had 50, uh, relatives and friends that when something went out and said, uh, this was from Barry guy, but they'd say, oh, Barry likes it.
I better watch it. You know? So, uh, that's what happened. And again, uh, much to our delight and surprise. Uh, over those next three years, a hundred million people watch those little movies and the millions and millions clicked on that. Um, and website either bought something or we're signed up for the newsletter.
So it was partially a lock, uh, that we discovered that, but, uh, you know, uh, we were the first to do it and we were the only company in the country, in the world to my knowledge. That was selling, uh, books via these short movies where you would click and, and go to the website as a result. So it was unique and it was different. And, uh, you know, it worked.
[00:18:30] Barry Gottlieb: You had all those great things going for you and, and look, it's okay for the audience to know you and I are both in our seventies, right? Anne is just a puppy, Anne is a puppy, still finding her way in the world. You've done all this, but yet even after selling successories. After selling okay. Inspire, not inspire kindness, but simple truths.
You called me up one day and you said, Hey Barry, I'm working on this new project that really is, I, I forget your exact words, but it's almost like, you know, your, your Swan song, you know, that thing that, that you want to contribute to the world, that the, and you might have even called it your gun lap, and that's what it was your gun lap.
And, and you've now created another company with Southwestern companies. And it's all about one of my favorite topics. Kindness. If the world only was filled with kindness, we wouldn't have the crazy stuff that's going on. So if you wouldn't mind share a little bit about how you got to the inspire kindness part and what you're doing there, because you're doing some amazing things.
[00:19:47] Mac Anderson: Thank you, Barry. Uh, you know, I did, I did so, uh, simple truth and, uh, and it was a. It was tough to do because I loved what I was doing there. And, uh, but I, again, I retired again. I, you might get the message. I've had trouble retiring.
But, uh, um, you know, uh, I, I thought about, okay, what can I do? Uh, I've had a lot of great experience. I've met a lot of great people and say, what can I do with my experience and my contacts to, to really do something else that would make it do. So I thought, you know, of the people I've met, the ones I loved and liked the most were, were, were the ones that were really super kind, uh, great listeners.
They were kind to their people, they were kind to their friends and, uh, just, just, uh, effortlessly kind. So, uh, I thought if I'm going to do something else, uh, I want to be involved with kindness. So that day, uh, I went on the website. I bought the name, inspire kindness. I thought, you know, if I do something it's, this is a good name.
And so the next day I wrote a little, uh, I said, okay, if I were to do something, how would I launch it? And what would I do and how would we make it different than anything that's out there. So I wrote a little, two page business summary and. And then about two weeks later, I was in Atlanta and I was having dinner with a friend and, uh, that I respected and I said, Hey, uh, you know, just, just curious, I said, uh, uh, take a look at this.
Uh, if you would, uh, read it's two pages and it's an idea I have, I just want to get your opinion and read it. And he said, oh my God. He said, He said Mac, he looked at me and there was a little tear in his eyes and I'm in, he said, this is what I want to do is in my, in my gun lap, and I said. what the heck is a gun lap?
And he said, you know, if people, uh, run a mile around the track, they run four laps. And then after the third lap, uh, they fire the gun. If you're going to win the race, you gotta do it in your gun lap. I'm going to make a difference in my life. I want to do it. in my guy lap. So he was 70, just like we are, uh, uh, Barry.
And I thought, my gosh, that's just a wonderful way to look at it. And I'm in my gun lap, and this is something that hopefully I can make a difference. So, uh, you know, we, uh, we, we, we started the company. We partnered with a company called Southwestern, uh, uh, out of Nashville. I've known the chairman of the company for years.
Uh, Henry Bedford, they tried to purchase successories and simple trues along the way, but it didn't work out when you heard that was starting something that, uh, involved kindness, he called and said, I love to partner with you. And so I was living in Chicago at the time and it gave me the opportunity to move back to my roots.
I grew up in a small town in Tennessee and, uh, uh, I, uh, had the opportunity if I did it to move back to Tennessee. And, um, and really get bothered at something that I believed in because I mean the world, as, you know, as both of, you know, it's kinda up for grabs and there's so much going on and kindness is, is more relevant than it's ever been.
Uh, and, uh, we need a lot more of it. So I felt like, okay, if I can make a difference. So we, we kind of created a line of products that, that we would sell and donate 10% back to. Uh, our, our kindness for kids fund, which would fund kindness campaigns and grade schools. So kids would be less likely to bully in middle school. So, uh, it was a combination of products and content and charity that, uh, that, that we, uh, we launched and it's been, it's been fun.
[00:23:42] Barry Gottlieb: This is Mac's latest book, which is the ROI of Kindness. It's the ROI of kindness by Brian Barrow and Mac Anderson. The surprising secret that generates longterm results. And it's the truth. It's amazing what kindness does in the long run.
[00:24:05] Mac Anderson: Yeah. You know, in the book there. I, uh, there've been a lot of books on, on on leadership and customer service, teamwork, uh, attitude, uh, that, that have been written in a lot of great ones by the way, but there's never been one written on, on kindness and how not only, it feels good to work at a place that has created this kindness culture, but it impacts the bottom line.
And, and we, we point out examples of companies that have built wonderful cultures around kindness and fun, uh, companies like Southwest airlines companies. Like Chick-fil-A. And, and how they done it. And have they become leaders in their industry by really promoting kindness, uh, as, as a huge part of their culture.
So, uh, we talk about, uh, you know, seven or eight different companies that have done it, how they've done it, how they continue to reinforce it and how they've all become leaders in their industry, but creating a culture of kindness, a culture of fun, and. And the same with Dan Cathy at Chick-Filet. Uh, a great, a great thing about Chick-Filet that I really loved it in the fast food industry.
They have 170% turnover on average, uh, and, uh, so they're constantly hiring and training people. And, uh, at Chick-Filet the turnover rate is 14% and. The, uh, the experts at Cornell did a study. And, uh, they said on average, uh, that saves Chick-Filet about $5,800 per person. But the fact that you don't have to hire people and train them, and then they hire someone else for that position, uh, you know, four months later.
So in the, in the, uh, in the chain itself, they estimated it's a. Uh, about $300 million. Uh, so it's an amazing, and they've created this culture of people love to work there. And as a result, I, they share this love with their customer, their passion for the products and the culture with the customer. And you go out feeling great.
I mean, not only is the food excellent, but the culture is even. So, uh, and do one quick story about Dan Cathy. He was in a, in one of the stores about four years ago and, and, uh, it was, it was pouring down rain and he watched the customers dash out to their cars and get wet. So, uh, the next day he had his assistant to send, uh, four umbrellas to every store, over 10,000 of them.
And fuck if it happens again and you see your customers, uh, running out to the car, just stop what you're doing and walk them out to the car. Uh, uh, and, and, uh, you know, things like it's little things that make a big difference and it really starts at the top is, you know, uh, uh, both Barry and Hannah. I'm sure you know that. And I mean her, her passion for the game, uh, and her love for her players. Uh, you know, trickle down to, to a great formula for winning games.
[00:27:19] Anne O’Neil: Yeah. There's, there's no doubt. There was, there's not very many people that were there better than, than Pat Summit. And we love to hear those stories because it gives such a great visual of what kindness looks like, you know, in action.
When we were talking about inspire kindness and the ROI of kindness, that's really why we wanted to bring you here. And why we created this podcast was to learn about how people are bettering the world and their communities through charities and nonprofits. And we're recording this, this podcast really close to international world kindness day, which is November 13th to every year. So what are you guys doing at inspire kindness um, for this holiday?
[00:28:00] Mac Anderson: Yeah. Well, we obviously are, are, uh, uh, promoting it to the people on our Facebook or email this, and we're selling, uh, we're selling products. We've got content on our website that talks about kindness and how it makes a difference. And, uh, you know, again, we're donating 10% of the sales of whatever kind is products that, that we have. Uh, back to, uh, to help schools create a culture of, kindness.
[00:28:31] Anne O’Neil: I love that. And I love your mission of, to inspire the world's largest kindness movement. So I know Barry and I both bought a couple of t-shirts and books and different things to give to our friends and family from it.
[00:28:44] Mac Anderson: Well, that's great. One more quick story. One at one of the kindest business leaders that I know that I've gotten to know over the years is Ken Blanchard. He wrote the one minute manager, but, uh, I, I spent a lot of time with can and, and, uh, he, um, I was out of this topic probably seven, eight years ago, and we were sitting around the conference table talking about things we could do together and, um, can get soft and said, you have to, excuse me, I've got something to have to do.
So, you know, we had about 10 people in the room and he leaves and he comes back and in about. And he's got this Spanish lady with him and he introduced, he said, I want to introduce you to Maria. And he walks in and he introduces us to Maria. And he said, the reason I left the room because Maria was here, her husband Jose died about a month ago, but I invited her to come in and I took a tape recorder around to every single employee and left what they remembered most about.
And, uh, you know, most leaders would feel like this was a waste of time, but, uh, but Ken Blanchard, uh, you know, is an example of someone who thought this is something I can do for my people. They've been great for me. And I want to give something back and, and he constantly did that kind of thing. As a result.
He's, he's revered by his fateful. They'd run through walls for him and. But, uh, it's just a great example of, of how it starts at the top. And it filters down throughout the organization. And, uh, you know, Canada is one of those people, again, that is Africa actually kind. And, uh, it's just part of his nature.
[00:30:30] Anne O’Neil: That gave me goosebumps.
[00:30:32] Barry Gottlieb: Great story. Thank you for sharing that story. Yeah, no Mac, everything that you've shared with us today is. One Pearl of wisdom after another Pearl of wisdom, I certainly hope okay. That we connect with a lot of people with this podcast so that they can hear you and understand that being an entrepreneur can be throughout your entire life. That being kind is certainly one of the keys to getting a return on your investment.
[00:31:07] Mac Anderson: Thank you very much for, for saying that. Uh, and I'm honored by the way to be a on your first podcast. And I think, uh, the two of you make a great team and I'm sure you'll have many, many more that are very successful, but, uh, one of the simplest acts of kindness, and I learned this from my.
It is to sincerely listen to what other people have to say. And, um, as a leader, uh, is totally underestimated. My opinion, Jim Cathcart, who's a friend of mine and a great definition for listening. He said, listening is wanting to hear, it's not a physical act. It's an emotional process. And he said, you know, most people hear while waiting to talk, but he said, you know, a simple two step process for listening is to listen, ask, listen, ask, and most people again, he said, use the other one.
That's here. Talk your talk. But. So, uh, I I've found that most great leaders are great listeners. They sincerely want to hear what other people have to say and you can't fake that. I mean, a lot of people think you can, but people can tell if you, if you're wanting to hear or if you're just, uh, you know, hearing while waiting to talk.
So, uh, I think he, and they did a poll. I heard this about probably seven or eight years ago. They ask a thousand people that bought, they had a great boss, uh, why, why they thought their boss was gray and over 70% said they are great because they're willing to listen to what I have to say. And, uh, so I think it's a, it's a wonderful quality that, that, uh, great leaders have. And I think it's underestimated in today's world, but it's one of the simplest acts of kindness, whether it's with your family or with your team.
[00:33:00] Anne O’Neil: Well, thank you for that thought, Mac. And in parallel to that, you know, listening to a few of your keynotes, you know, one of the things that I discovered is your incredible storytelling skills. However, what I really realized was it, wasn't just about storytelling from your own point of view, you would share about all the different experiences and people that you had learned from throughout the years. And so then we were able to own that story as well. Just similar to what you just shared. And I just wanted to thank you so much for that gift of learning and seeing what real true storytelling and being about the other person is really about.
[00:33:40] Mac Anderson: Well, I thank you so much. I mean, the best speakers that I've heard are probably the best storytellers. They can tell a story to make a point as opposed to give a lecture, to make a point. So, uh, you know, stories, uh, you know, you can, you can mix in a little humor, a little emotion and, uh, and have fun telling stories that help you make the point you're trying to.
[00:34:04] Barry Gottlieb: Absolutely. Mac, I hope that somewhere down the road, we bring you back on for another podcast in the future, because there's so many stories that you have that I know I would love to hear. And I'm sure now once our lead, our readers and listeners get to hear more of what you're doing, they're going to want to tune in. Again, this has been an honor for me. Thank you for being our first guest. Oh an hour, get busy living podcast. I mean, truly you've sit, you've set the bar very high for our, for our following guests. So, thank you.
[00:34:46] Mac Anderson: Well, listen, thank you and thank, Anne. Uh, and uh, I think again, you make a great team and I can feel your passion and, uh, you know, I wish you the best of luck and I'd be happy to come on again, down the road if you invited me.
[00:35:00] Barry Gottlieb: Awesome. Awesome.
[00:35:02] Anne O’Neil: We would love it. Thank you so much, Mac.
Well, thank you so much for listening into our conversation. If you have a GBL story in your life, share it with us on Instagram @getbusylivin_pod. We might just share your story on a future episode. And lastly, listeners of the podcast can get a free chapter of Barry's book: Brillian On the Basics. Simply go to www.getbusylivinpodcast.com to download it now. Well, thank you so much for sharing in the good vibes and giving back and GBLing with us.