543: How to Integrate Miracle Mornings to Transform Your Workplace with Eric Stranghoener

INTRODUCTION]

 

Hal Elrod: Hello, friends. Welcome to the Achieve Your Goals podcast. This is your host, Hal Elrod, and today you are in for a treat. I am telling you, one of the most genuinely thoughtful, positive, brilliant human beings that I know, Eric Stranghoener, he is someone that I met years ago, a couple of years ago, two or three years ago when they brought me in his firm, RubinBrown, which he is a partner of. They brought me in to keynote at their conference and then they started a Miracle Morning 30-day challenge nationwide with their team members at every level, executives all the way down to employees, everybody in between. And at the end of the 30 days, so many people spoke up and said, “Hey, why are we ending this after 30 days like this Miracle Morning, this is a lifelong practice.”

 

And these huddles that we’re doing, virtually every week, they’re really helpful like let’s continue. And now they’re on I think it’s a year and a half of doing Miracle Morning, I guess, you’d call them Miracle Morning huddles, but they actually have a RubinBrown, again that’s their company, a RubinBrown Miracle Morning community. And today, I wanted to bring Eric on because I thought, “Wow. There’s a lot of people whether you work at a company, whether you’re an entrepreneur, whether you are an executive or a CEO or an owner or a leader, or a salesperson, you name it, that maybe the Miracle Morning has impacted your life in a positive way. And so, you want to pay it forward and share it with others.

 

And specifically, Eric is going to break down not only his own journey. And again, you’re going to find even if you have no interest in bringing the Miracle Morning to your workplace, ironically, that’s what kind of the topic is where we head today in the interview, but even if you have no interest in bringing Miracle Morning into your workplace, today’s episode I have no doubt that you’re going to gain a lot of inspiration and insight from Eric. Now, if you do want to bring the Miracle Morning into your workplace and whether you’re, you know, like Eric is a partner at your company or as I talk about during my interview or during this conversation, how I, as a salesperson that had no real leadership in the company that I worked for previously, but I wanted to help other people. I wanted to help my colleagues.

 

And so, I formed a group called the, I think we were called the Ultimate Club or something like that. And I met with them every week for 52 consecutive weeks, and we all had our best year ever as a result of that community, that collaboration. And so, Eric is going to break down the entire thing for you today, how he brought the Miracle Morning into his company, RubinBrown, the challenges they faced, the wins. You’re going to hear some amazing stories of individuals and how it inspired the people in their organization to everything from lose weight to heal marriages to you name it. Just really inspiring outcomes. And Eric believes that the Miracle Morning is their competitive advantage as a company in terms of hiring, attracting, and retaining really quality individuals, talent, etcetera.

 

So, again, I think you’re in for a treat today. You’re really going to enjoy this conversation with Eric. I know that I did. And every time I talk to Eric, I mean, he’s one of the most genuinely positive, inspiring human beings that you’d ever meet. And I think I believe that you’re listening to this episode and I know I’m really selling it hard, but I just finished it and I was like, “Eric, man.” I literally sent him a voice text afterwards. I said, “Eric, that was one of the best conversations I can remember ever having on this podcast.” So, there you go. That was my personal feeling. That’s why I am so hyped up and excited to share this episode with you.

 

Before we dive in, I want to take just a minute or two to tell you about our sponsors that bring you this show every week. And we’ve got two sponsors. They’ve been with us for a long time. The first is Organifi. If you want to boost your nutrition, be healthier, lose weight, improve sleep, increase your energy, pretty much any physical-related benefit, Organifi makes the highest quality whole food organic supplements that I know. I take their Protein Powder. First, I take their focus supplement for focus in the morning. It’s called Pure. And that helps with lion’s mane and Rhodiola and bacopa extract and some other organic herbs to focus in the morning. Then I take their Red Juice before I work out. It helps give you that pump, if you will, increasing your blood flow.

 

Then I take their Organifi vanilla plant-based protein powder in my smoothie after my workout. And then there’s more supplement that I take throughout the day. I take their turmeric to reduce inflammation before bedtime. I’m probably missing a couple of supplements but you can see that I’m a huge believer in Organifi’s products. If you want to improve your health in the fastest, easiest way possible, head over to Organifi.com, O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I, Organifi with two Is. Organifi.com/Hal. Don’t forget the /Hal and then use the discount code ‘HAL’ my name, Hal,  20% off your entire order as a listener of the podcast.

 

And last but not least, CURED Nutrition. I call this Organifi’s cousin or twin because they also make high-quality organic supplements, but they utilize herbs, mushrooms, and cannabinoids, and adaptogens. Their focus is combining mushrooms, cannabinoids, and adaptogens to make these synergistic blends that are designed with the intention to support all aspects of the daily human experience. Whether you’re looking for clean natural energy, a relief for your everyday discomforts, or a reset button with a deep night sleep, CURED Nutrition has the answers for you. Head over to CUREDNutrition.com/Hal and use that same discount code ‘HAL’ for 20% off your order as a listener of the Achieve Your Goals podcast. Again that’s CUREDNutrition.com/Hal. Use the discount code ‘HAL’ for 20% off your order.

 

Without further ado, it is my great pleasure to introduce you to my friend, genuinely a friend of mine, Eric Stranghoener, talking about bringing the Miracle Morning into your workplace to transform your culture and the lives of every person who you work with. Here we go.

 

[INTERVIEW]

 

Hal Elrod: Eric, good morning, brother. It is good to see you.

 

Eric Stranghoener: Hal, good miracle morning. Excited to be together and looking forward to the discussion. Thank you.

 

Hal Elrod: Thank you for the good miracle morning. I missed that opportunity right there. Yeah, dude. I appreciate it, man. Well, we were just talking about you going on a trip with your 13-year-old son, which you do with all of your four boys, take him on a one-on-one trip. And I wanted to start with what matters most to you right now in your life. I was on your Twitter or your X bio and just simply says, “Husband, father, blessed.” And I really think those three words, I would guess knowing you for the last few years sum up what matters most to you but I’d love to hear it from you. What matters most in your life right now, Eric?

 

Eric Stranghoener: Yeah, absolutely. First and foremost, it’s my faith and that’s my foundation and then it’s relationships. And as you highlighted, family are at the top of that list. So, really have a big heart for people. And I’m blessed to have many different relationships and different aspects of life. And so, just trying to invest in those relationships every day and as you mentioned, certainly starts with my wife, Andrea, and my four sons.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. Fantastic. And don’t you coach? What’s your coaching role? I know you coach some of your boys’ teams.

 

Eric Stranghoener: I do. I coach primarily some football and baseball. Football is my real passion and it brings me tremendous joy working with an incredible group of young men. I like to say I have 25 to 30 additional sons, so to speak. And it’s a real honor to play a small part in trying to inspire them in their lives, so.

 

Hal Elrod: That is really, really cool. And how many of your boys are playing on that team or those teams?

 

Eric Stranghoener: So, I’ve really been with my oldest son, Cooper, on a four-year journey with his football team, have worked with my different sons in baseball as well. But the youngest two, Will and Wyatt, are twins and they are getting ready to turn nine years old. So, just as we wrapped up with one football team, we’re getting ready to start another journey. And very much looking forward to that. And my middle son, Luke, is getting ready to start some baseball here in the fall. So, they are all incredible young men. And just trying to help them find their unique gifts and talents and dream big and pursue their dreams with all their heart. So, it’s a real joy to be a part of that coaching experience with my sons as well as their teammates.

 

Hal Elrod: That is really cool. I have not gotten to coach my kids, which I can imagine, just imagine what that experience was like but finally my son is into basketball. He’s on a basketball team so I’m getting at least just that special experience of watching your child go from struggling at something and maybe not liking it to gaining skills and getting better. And so, my wife and my daughter, we go to his games every Saturday and it’s like the family is cheering him from the sideline. Yeah. So, it is a special experience. I wanted to ask you about something specific, which is I’ve heard you describe yourself as an eternal optimist. I’ve heard other people describe you as an eternal optimist.

 

In fact, so much so that I recently bought you a book called The Eternal Optimist by Matt Drinkhahn. And I sent you that, right, surprised you probably a couple of months ago. Just talk about that for a second. Like, how would you define that? What does it mean to be an eternal optimist? And how does that serve you?

 

Eric Stranghoener: Sure. Yeah. It was a tremendous gift that you shared with me, not only because of the title for the book and now I’ve made a great connection and friendship with Matt, but also something that really jumped out at me on the back cover was Matt talked about this term, recovering perfectionist, which I share that term with actually our Miracle Morning community here at our firm, RubinBrown, but I thought I just made the term up. It was off the cuff but it’s been part of my life journey as recovering from being a perfectionist. And so, connecting with Matt and having a conversation, that was really powerful.

 

But being an eternal optimist, for me, honestly, how I feel this morning, Hal, is today is the best day of my life. And granted, I said that yesterday and I plan to say it tomorrow but I have some real rock-solid truths that I base that statement and that mindset upon. And I know without a doubt, the best is yet to come. And so, those foundational truths that I have that can say that today is the best day of my life with confidence and I try to bring that energy into everything that I do today, tomorrow, and the next day because everyday is full of opportunities to love, serve, and care for other people.

 

Hal Elrod: That’s beautifully said but I’m going to be devil’s advocate for a second. How can every day be the best day of our life? And what if today doesn’t go well, Eric? So, what would you say to that?

 

Eric Stranghoener: Well, I would say it starts for me with I experienced a transformative shift in my perspective from seeking happiness to living with a mindset of joy. Okay. Happiness is dependent upon our circumstances, what happens to us, sort of the roller coaster of emotions and experiences throughout each day of this life. Joy is a constant. It’s a mindset. Joy is founded in the principle that it’s not about me and my circumstances. It’s about the opportunities to serve others. So, that’s really been a critical shift from seeking happiness to living with a mindset of joy. And I would add to that as well. I mentioned some rock-solid truths.

 

And those are, number one, I’m working to get stronger every day physically, mentally, and spiritually. So, the pursuit of that gives me confidence to be able to say that and those are things that I can control. Number two, I mentioned the importance of relationships, and I have more abundance of relationships and more people in my life today than I had yesterday, but not as many as tomorrow. So, the ability to continue to build relationships and try to impact and work with and serve others grows every day of my life. And then third and perhaps most important, and this is just my foundation of faith as I believe today, I’m one day closer to heaven than I was yesterday. And that’s as good as it gets.

 

So, that is how and why I’m able to say that every day. That is not to say that there are not challenges. I know there will be challenges today. But again, it’s trying to live with that mindset of joy and not just realizing it’s not about me. It’s really not. And the more we focus on others and not ourselves I think we can have that powerful perspective of joy in our lives.

 

Hal Elrod: I love that and everything you just described, it is a mindset. You have a mindset, right? Your mindset allows you to show up at your best every day and that no matter what happens, you see that you find the silver linings, you experience joy in the moment, all of that. And we’re so kindred spirits in that. I mean, I recorded a podcast years ago called How to Make Every Day the Best Day of Your Life. And it’s not based on what happens to you. It’s based on your mindset and how you show up. You can show up to the most difficult circumstances with the most empowered, tenacious, resilient mindset. And then therefore you make it the best day of your life because, yeah, it was difficult but, man, you should have seen the way that I showed up.

 

It’s like, dang, okay, I see where you’re coming from. Right? You mentioned joy and you give that distinction between joy and happiness. And I know that you use the word joy to describe, literally, your purpose in life. Why did you choose that word? You may have mentioned some of that what you just talked about but what does it mean to you? Why is joy the word that you use to describe your purpose?

 

Eric Stranghoener: Yeah. To me, Hal, it’s all about joy in the journey. Okay. And life is a journey. And you’ve written many books and I have not published a book yet, one day, but I think when I do, the title is going to be Joy in the Journey and just talk about experiences that I’ve had and perhaps shine a light on experiences of others who have been able to live with that mindset and make a positive impact on the world. But again, joy is about every human life is precious and every day is full of abundance of opportunities. And it’s a shift from ‘have to’ to ‘get to.’ And it’s that perspective that you mentioned.

 

And I think the aspect of a journey to and being a recovering perfectionist is it’s not this check-the-box activity or, “Oh, I finally made it,” or it’s not putting the ability to experience joy out there, “I’ll be joyful, I’ll be satisfied, I’ll be content, I’ll be happy when…” It’s focusing on experiencing it today. And that’s a continued journey for me. And I’m grateful for all the many wonderful people in my life that help me and support me in that pursuit.

 

Hal Elrod: Again, I love it. It’s a mindset. I learned that when I was 19, my mentor in my life at the time, Jesse Levine, he said, “Happiness is a choice. You choose whether or not you’re happy.” And it didn’t make sense to me because I go, “Well, that doesn’t make sense. Like, I’m happy when things go well and I’m not happy when things don’t go well.” And obviously semantics, happiness, joy, etcetera, and I like the way that you separate the two, create the different paradigm for each. But, yeah, I learned that when I was young. I was like, “Oh, happiness is a choice based on you choose to be happy even in the midst of the most difficult circumstances that you face.” And you are, you are a light. You exude joy, man. And I know that anyone that knows you would say the same. So, you are a, correct if I’m wrong, you’re a partner at RubinBrown, correct?

 

Eric Stranghoener: Correct.

 

Hal Elrod: And RubinBrown is one of the largest or it’s a national CPA firm, right?

 

Eric Stranghoener: Correct.

 

Hal Elrod: So, we met when you all brought me in to speak, and then I found out that, when you guys were bringing me in that your culture is called Be Your Best For Others. And when I talk about the Miracle Morning, I say, “Hey,” like, I literally close my Miracle Morning keynote by saying, “When I created this practice, I was struggling and I needed to turn my life around and it did that. But I’m still doing the practice years later. Why? Because it helps me be my best for others. It helps me be the dad that my kids deserve, the husband that my wife deserves.” So, when I found out that your culture, your company, the theme was, “Be your best for others,” I was stoked because I was like, “Oh, we’re so in alignment.”

 

Can you talk a little bit about the RubinBrown culture to be your best for others? What does that mean? And then I want to talk about how you guys integrate the Miracle Morning into your workplace.

 

Eric Stranghoener: Sure. Yeah. Be Your Best For Others is a really powerful concept. And it’s really we anchor our beliefs as a firm, as a team, as one firm working together in this Be Your Best for Others concept was just foundational to our culture, which really is about every single person that we’re blessed to interact with and serve both inside and outside of RubinBrown, our clients, our team members, those in our communities that we are committed to being our best, again, not for ourselves, but for others and the impact that we can make, that we approach every interaction, every opportunity, every relationship with the highest level of service, respect, and good intention.

 

And I think it’s really incredible and I was inspired by the tremendous alignment between what you created, Hal, and the Miracle Morning and what we strive to live every day as be your best for others, regardless of whether you’re at the office, if you’re at a client site, if you’re at the coffee shop or the gym, it’s really, again, a constant approach to daily life and interactions. And we’re not perfect by any stretch but we’ve got an incredible, inspiring energy as an organization to support each other and challenge each other to live with the principles of Be Your Best for Others every day. And the Miracle Morning really provided a spark for us to take that culture to many of our team members in a very personal and intentional way as they start their day.

 

Hal Elrod: So, I’m curious. Before Miracle Morning, what did you all do to foster, to nurture, and perpetuate that culture? I’m curious, like, what were you doing before? And the reason I ask that, well, I’m genuinely curious but also I’m thinking like a lot of companies, for example, they have a mission statement, right? And it’s like written somewhere. Maybe it’s hanging on the wall but it’s not really part of the culture. It’s like people aren’t really identifying with it. They’re not doing like there’s no practices or rituals to continue to bring that culture forward from the corporate level to the actual individual. So, anyway, I’m curious, if there was anything that you all were doing before you brought Miracle Morning in, what was that?

 

Eric Stranghoener: Sure. There have been a few different things, Hal. And I believe culture is incredibly dynamic, and it is not a check-the-box activity. It’s based upon the experiences that you create each and every day. Okay. So, having said that, some of the things that we’ve tried to do, in addition to making sure it’s on the walls and it’s included in a number of different communications that we have throughout the year at our organization, a couple of specific things I think we’ve done that were really helpful to helping us really move that culture forward and truly embedded in the lives of our team members, number one is we’re so passionate about it, we wrote a book, okay.

 

We have a series of books on our firm’s vision points with tremendous stories to really bring incredible perspective to what we mean, particularly for new team members that are joining our organization so they can start to have an appreciation for what we talk about with Be Your Best For Others and the elements of our culture and our values. The second thing is just sharing stories. We have communications that go on every month that spotlight different Be Your Best For Others stories, team members being their best for each other, team members being their best for clients, and feedback that we received from totally satisfied clients who experience that Be Your Best For Others culture as well as those in the community.

 

So, I think it’s the stories that really help the culture come to life and inspire others to seek to do the same. But when you came and spoke to us almost two years ago at our team member update, which is an annual event where we’re bringing all of our approximately 1,000 team members together in one physical location to have just a total immersion of culture. And you came at just the right time. And I say it was really like rocket fuel to help us take this to the next level.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. That’s amazing. I love it. So, I mean, what you’re talking about, I think there’s a lesson for people for whether in a business environment or even in our family environment, right, that you are highlighting people that are living your values, that be your best for others you’re highlighting, and then you’re sharing stories so that everyone goes, “Oh, wow, that’s what that looks like.” “Oh, wow. I could learn from that.” “Oh, I could do that.” “Okay. Wow. We’re really living this. It’s not just lip service.” So, I love that because I think that there’s such a foundational lesson there because we all learn from stories. It’s how we’ve since the beginning of time, right?

 

The Bible is a collection of stories. We learn best from stories because it engages both our right and left brain, right? Both hemispheres of the brain are engaged when we’re following along with the story. And then the lesson is embedded, which kind of switches over to the left side of the brain and you’re like, “Oh, okay, I’m going to chalk that lesson away for when I need it but I really understand the lesson because of the context that it was delivered in through the context of that story.”

 

All right. So, you guys were already being proactive in the culture and really implementing your values as a company, as an organization. Then I come in a couple of years ago, spoke Miracle Morning. And you all started implementing the Miracle Morning at a level that I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a company do. And what I mean by that is lots of companies, I speak in my speech with, “Hey, you all, let’s do a 30-day challenge.” Sometimes the company will lead that 30-day challenge, as I think you guys did but it’s been over a year. You guys have a Miracle Morning, a RubinBrown Miracle Morning community, which I got chills when I came on your first call and you introduced, I didn’t know that you had called it that.

 

And then you introduce, “Hey, welcome, RubinBrown Miracle Morning community.” I go, “Oh my gosh, you guys have a community, a Miracle Morning community within your company.” So, talk about that transition, and like what did you do? Yeah, I guess a transition or an adoption of the Miracle Morning practices into what you all were already doing. How did that begin? And then let’s talk about how you guys are sustaining it over a year later.

 

Eric Stranghoener: Sure. Yeah. And I’ll talk about the beginning but before I do that, I just want to say that we absolutely have a community. The community continues to grow stronger, and it’s some of the most extraordinary people on the planet that are a part of this RubinBrown Miracle Morning community. And it’s a real blessing and privilege to spend time with them every month, number one. Number two, I would say that the real key I think and perhaps again the lesson then the opportunity for other business leaders is this, there’s so much great content out in the world today. Quite frankly, I think you are one of the most impactful and important speakers in the world today, and just so grateful that you were able to share your inspiring story.

 

But it’s so much more than your inspiring story. You created something that is transforming lives. And so, here’s what we did. What happens is, is you have an event, you have keynote speakers such as yourself. Perhaps someone listens to a podcast and there’s this moment of inspiration. Okay. But what typically happens is it’s a gathering, it’s an event, and then everyone has that moment of inspiration. There’s a spark there but then they go back and they have a full schedule and meetings and messages and an email inbox. And there was that window of opportunity to truly implement transformative change that so often is missed.

 

And quite honestly, we just said immediately after you spoke that that was truly inspiring for our thousand team members and to try to capture that spark of inspiration, let’s provide something. Let’s create an opportunity to sustain it beyond just the one-time message and the one-time event. Frankly, we knew that time was of the essence. So, getting to some buy-in from additional leaders at the firm, we said, “Let’s send out a message. We’re going to have a 30-day challenge. We’re going to have a kickoff call.” Frankly, we’re not even sure how we’re going to approach it or what exactly we’re going to do yet but we know time is of the essence.

 

So, we did that and, Hal, we had an incredible response. Completely optional. Okay. Right? There’s no requirement, no obligation whatsoever. But if you were inspired and you want to make these changes and how you can be intentional to start your day to be your best for others, come to this kickoff huddle. And we had nearly 200 individuals at all levels of our organization from new team member recently graduated college to senior partners with 40 years of experience all over the country decide to sign up and join us. So, it was like, “Wow. We had this incredible response. We’d better figure out what we’re going to do.” But I think the lesson there is if you try to create the perfect plan, you can spend so much time building that, and then you miss that window of opportunity to capture that inspiration.

 

So, we had an initial 30-day challenge in January of 2023. And organically it has continued to build. We get together. We started with twice a week. Okay. These are virtual huddles because folks are located all over the country and we talk about your Miracle Morning practices, the SAVERS. And we highlight…

 

Hal Elrod: Real quick, twice a week? That is quite frequent. What days were you all meeting?

Eric Stranghoener: Yeah, we would meet on Monday afternoons and Thursday mornings. So, we try to provide. Again, we have multiple time zones, so we try to create opportunities that could fit within everyone’s schedule. Twice a week, I would put together a slide deck. We kick it off. We would have something called a team member spotlight, where we have an opportunity for others to share about their experiences and how they’re implementing the Miracle Morning practices. We have so much fun, Hal. There’s so much energy.

 

And I think one of the most powerful aspects of it is this is not come to this huddle so you can be a better or more productive team member of RubinBrown. Okay? It is a truly personal and professional holistic, being your best for others in every aspect and domain of your life. And there’s just an incredible, sincere, and genuine desire to support and challenge others to be their best. We have resource giveaways. So, we developed a recommended reading list from our community members so we would give away books. We gave away passes to the Ultimate Ninja Gym workout for the E in SAVERS, exercise, my all-time favorite. We gave away a laminating machine, which sounds crazy and silly, but this is so you can take your affirmations and your goals and you can actually take that piece of paper and laminate it. So, it’s something that you can carry around and you can spill your coffee on it. And it’s okay, so be with you the next day.

 

Hal Elrod: Yes. You generously sent me one of those laminating machines, by the way. So, I want to thank you for that.

 

Eric Stranghoener: I did. We have so much fun with it. And it’s not so much about the resources itself, but it’s just everyone feels the incredible energy and passion and commitment to help everyone be successful. And I think one of the foundational principles that we talk about almost every single time is that the truth, that comparison is the thief of joy. And your journey in this context of being your best for others and starting your day of the Miracle Morning, your journey is unique to you. But be inspired by others, learn from others, get ideas, but keep your eyes on your own paper, so to speak, and make progress that is meaningful for you.

 

We’ve had individuals who had goals for decades that this Miracle Morning Community inspired them to finally push through and overcome their fears because they heard other team members doing the same. We’ve had mothers of newborns who, sleep is precious to them, right? And so, their challenges are just how can I even just take five minutes to start my day? And we have other folks that are spending over an hour doing this. The point is not, one is better than the other. The point is every single life is precious, full of potential. And this can really provide inspiration to help you move your life forward in a positive way that’s meaningful to you.

 

Hal Elrod: I mean, it’s so inspiring to me, obviously, as the creator of the Miracle Morning, to see what you’ve done. You mentioned that 200 people showed up to the first huddle virtually, right? It was like a Zoom huddle across the country. It’s been a year and a half since January 2023. How often do you do the huddles? How did that evolve to maybe less frequent than twice a week? So, how often are you doing it now? And how many people are showing up a year and half later?

 

Eric Stranghoener: Sure. So, I would just say that this is something that, as far as I’m concerned, we’re going to continue for many years and decades, at least as long as I’m blessed to be a part of the team here at RubinBrown. And we’re continuing to, I would say, innovate and find ways to make it meaningful and get better. So, we have some folks that, and then initial January 2023, 30-day challenge, that gave them the tools and the resources and the support that they needed to then continue on with their Miracle Morning. And so, they didn’t attend the huddles after we’ve had new people continuously join.

 

So, I would say, on average, recognizing that we run into many, many scheduling conflicts, this is optional. And folks have a lot of different things you’re trying to accomplish in the day, but we have around 75 to 80 folks in a typical huddle. We have folks that are consistent and may not close to everyone, others that– it’s a little more sporadic. But each January, we’re doing a 30-day challenge. And then we continue with monthly huddles, the twice a week or 30 minutes. The monthly huddles are an hour. We’ve had in-person lunches in our offices.

 

Hal Elrod: I was at one of those.

 

Eric Stranghoener: You were. It was incredible. So much fun and so inspiring. So, we’ve had those, a chance for in-person connection, which I believe is so important and so impactful. We have also created a LinkedIn community where folks will post experiences, share pictures and ideas with a group in another format. And one of the most really remarkable experiences, I would say, that our community created through this effort is you spoke at our team member update in St. Louis in 2022. And then in 2023, we came back together in Kansas City and we actually had our group from all over the country began very early, before the start of that offer and meeting with a full Miracle Morning, all six of the SAVERS, led by different members of the community as the sun was rising in beautiful Kansas City, Missouri. And it was one of the most incredible experiences for myself, I know, for others. And we’re getting ready to do the same thing in Chicago just next month, where we can all come together in person in a very, very meaningful way.

 

So, one more quick note, just in the spirit of how do we continue to strengthen this and perpetuate this from years to come. Recognizing what I said about different experiences and even scheduling conflicts, we recently launched small groups. So, we try to align different members of the community in groups of three to four to let them connect on their own time however frequently they would like to really develop deep personal relationships with folks from different areas of the firm and different locations, but also talk about how they can continue to implement the Miracle Morning practices, because as someone who has been striving to always live, and I do the Miracle Morning every single day, 365 a year, but you need to continue to infuse it with new energy and different approaches to make it impactful for your particular season of life.

 

Hal Elrod: It’s fantastic. It reminds me, if anybody is listening actually, let me put this set up the context, which is you’re an executive, you’re a president of an organization. If somebody’s listening and they’re like, well, I don’t lead people necessarily, this reminds me, in 2005, going into that year, my goal at Cutco, it was my last year with Cutco, and I was a sales rep, right? I wasn’t a manager or a district or division. I was a rep. And I decided I wanted to have my best year, be my best, to have the best year of my career. And I thought, it won’t really be meaningful if I don’t lead other people to do the same thing, if I don’t pay it forward and help others and hold out my hand and pull them with me along the way.

 

And so, I wasn’t a “leader,” right? But again, I think the leader with no title, like Robin Sharma wrote the book about, like a leader is someone that helps other people, period. That’s what makes a leader. And so, for me, I reached out to all of my colleagues, probably 40 of people that were selling Cutco with me, across the country. And I created a weekly, every Sunday, it was called the Ultimate Club, I think something like that. And we had roughly 20 people on each of those calls. And every week, I would go down the list and say, “Hey, what’s your goal? What’s your goal? What’s your goal? How was last week? What do you commit to this week?” And I would provide a support, encouragement, accountability. One person would teach on each of those calls.

 

And so, the reason I’m throwing that out there is like, if you’re listening to this, you could do this in your family, right? You could utilize the Miracle Morning. If it’s helped you as an individual, this is about taking it from just being your own personal practice and sharing it with people that you love and people that you lead. And that I go back to the Miracle Morning began because I was like, I should share this with people that I love and people that I lead and share with my family, then my coaching clients, and then eventually, it became a book and so on and so forth. So, I just wanted to highlight what you’ve done and that people can apply this in whatever role that they’re in.

 

Eric Stranghoener: I couldn’t agree with you more on your philosophy and the application of what you just described of what it really means to be a leader. And we’ve actually seen folks at different levels, amazing team members at our firm, I would say, grow as leaders and whatever their respective roles through this journey, through this experience. As simple as it sounds, folks, in a group of, some cases, 100 people being able to become very vulnerable and share both their challenges and their triumphs in the spirit of trying to inspire others to grow and be better, that’s leadership. And I have been so blessed to have some people share with me one on one the profound impact that that experience has had to them. And all we’re doing is, and again, it’s not about me. It’s about the incredible people at our firm and within this community who are just willing to show up and be inspired and inspire others. In some cases, that’s listening and taking notes and then applying that your life. In other cases, it’s sharing a story.

 

I’ll give you one quick story of an example of impact and success. This was a huddle, actually, during our original 30-day challenge. Each huddle was, I’m thinking of new ideas, how we can make it really meaningful. And in this particular huddle, I organized a panel of different folks at different levels across our offices at the firm. And we were having this great panel discussion. I was actually happened to be visiting Nashville. So, I was scrambling to join the call after a breakfast meeting.

 

And then when we transitioned from the panel to the open forum discussion, which we always provide time for anyone who wants to share in each of these huddles, and a partner decides to open up and share his experience. And this is someone, just an incredible leader, wearing many different hats, actually had recently– this was, I think, really special, had recently been the leader of his own consulting firm that joined RubinBrown to be a part of our overall growth and impact story as an organization. So, working to support his team to continue to grow his aspect of the practice, working is part of our one firm organization. And he said, I’ve really gone all in and committed as part of this process to the Miracle Morning, and in the midst of one of the busiest seasons of my life and also being caretaker for my wife who recently underwent a procedure and needs quite a bit of assistance and as I’ve embarked on this Miracle Morning journey, she looked up at me the other day and said, “You know, there’s something different about you. I can’t quite say, but just your energy, your presence, and your love that you’re bringing in the home and what or how I see you’re interacting with the teams, there’s something different about you.” And he’s sure that impacts. And I just thought that’s incredible. And I think it speaks to the spirit of how we’ve tried to really support with be your best for others being our culture, growth personally and professionally.

 

And lastly, I’ll say we talk about inspired team members. And I feel like if we can approach our day being inspired, then we’re going to have great success as a business. And I really think that business can be a tremendous force for good in the world when you look about look at the amount of time that team members devote to their careers and trying to be good stewards of the roles of the organization. So, I’m really hoping that there’s even just one business leader that hears this and is inspired to implement the Miracle Morning Community concept with their organization.

 

Hal Elrod: I love it. It reminds me of a book I read years ago called The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly. Are you familiar with that one?

 

Eric Stranghoener: I have not read that one, but I will add it to our list.

 

Hal Elrod: You should add to the list. You would love it. But basically, the concept is, and it’s a parable, but it’s about a leader who is struggling in organization. And then he comes across a dream manager, which basically, it’s teaching you to find out what your people that you lead, that you work with, what are their dreams, and then support them in achieving their dreams, whether it is aligned with your work or it supports your work or not. And I’m sure I’m not probably describing it perfectly here. But what I recall was the idea that if you as a leader or as a parent, I try to do this for my daughter. Her dream is to be a professional actress. I have a lot of reservations about her being an actress, of being in that industry, but I realize, to be connected to her, I need to support her dreams and help guide her in steer. And plus, if I don’t support her dreams, I’m going to have very little influence in helping guide her along what hopefully is a really positive path.

 

But my point is this, when you differentiate yourself as a leader from just someone who is managing the person to maximize their productivity as it serves you and your business and your bottom line, people sense that. They see that. They go, he doesn’t care about me. She doesn’t care about me. She just cares about me making her money or doing my job well. But when you shift your focus, as y’all have, like when you’re integrating the Miracle Morning as part of your culture and you’re having these huddles and you’re serving and supporting and you’re telling these inspiring stories that are highlighting people in their personal life, in their professional life, well, what that does is it creates a whole different connection and rapport and level of trust with that person. It’s like, hey, a lot of us might be challenged to find really supportive, loving, encouraging, positive people in our personal lives. But if when we go to work, it’s like, wow, my boss cares about my goals and my dreams and my family and my kids and they’re supporting me in being the best version of myself in every area of my life, including the ones that have nothing to do with their bottom line, like I’m in.

 

And as I’m saying this, I’m reminded of something that you said, I don’t know, a long time ago when you and I spoke about this, probably six months ago, a year ago, you talked about the Miracle Morning being RubinBrown’s differentiating factor, meaning like that you were from– you said from when someone becomes an intern for y’all, you give them a copy of the Miracle Morning, like on day one. And I want you to articulate this, but basically, I’m reminding you the idea of that, that this is a right now, business is competitive. And you were talking about how the Miracle Morning is your competitive advantage in the marketplace of finding great talent.

 

Eric Stranghoener: We had a fantastic guest speaker. So, at times, we will invite guest speakers to our huddles. You’ve been so gracious to join a few of our huddles, as well, which was truly inspiring. But one of our guest speakers, after he joined and participated in our huddle, the next day, I was speaking with him and expressing my gratitude, and we were just reflecting on the conversation that we had. And he said, “You know, I’ve never experienced anything quite like that in the workplace setting.” And he’s a tremendous leader himself. He said, I believe the organizations that truly go all in in helping their team members grow and develop personally and professionally are the organizations that are going to thrive and have the most success going forward. And look, just to be clear, we are not perfect. we are on a journey as an organization with be our best for others, but we are striving to strengthen it each and every day and looking and finding new ways where we can help each and every team member at RubinBrown be their best for others. But I would tell you that, starting with the interest, we had a lunch with an interim group just a couple of weeks ago. And it’s an example of just the continual perpetuation of this element of the culture.

 

And one of the incredible partners that I work with said, who’s had many years of experience in her career, she said, “I just discovered this Miracle Morning concept and implemented this. At this point in my life, I can’t even begin to imagine things that I could have achieved, goals that I could have achieved if I would have started when I was an intern or in college or just beginning the career.” She was so passionate about it that we said, “Well, let’s start that process at the very beginning.” And we had a lunch, we had a discussion. We tried to make it very relevant and relatable to folks at that early stage in their career. And the response was incredible. And now, they’re invited to join the full community huddle.

 

But, Hal, one more example when you talk about just the aspects of leadership, I think it’s so important that, as been said many times before that we not only lead with our words and with a mission, but by our actions every day. And I think that’s something that our incredible community of this team members on Miracle Morning have strived to do. And I’ll give you one quick story in the great Miracle Morning framework that you’ve created, the E in SAVERS is exercise. And we had a team member that was very transparent and vulnerable and opened up in one of our huddles and talked about something that she was trying to do to make some positive changes in her life in that particular domain. And she started climbing the stairs, 16, 17 flights of stairs after lunch as a way to get exercise. And as often happens in these huddles and the spur of the moment, I said, and some others joined in and said, “When’s the next time you plan to do that? I’d love to join you.”

 

So sure enough, a small group of us gets together and we climb the stairs together. And in that moment and the relationships that we were able to build and demonstrate and be present and showing that support was just one small example of how we can show up, as you said, really taking action to be our best for others in a way that can inspire them to continue these positive changes. And I even have a couple of feedback quotes if we have time before the end that I can share about the impact from some of our community members of how their lives have been transformed through this as well, so…

 

Hal Elrod: The floor is yours, man. Please share.

 

Eric Stranghoener: So, here’s just a couple of examples here. Because I made my health important, I was able to make lifestyle changes that I want to stick with forever. Exclamation point. Here’s another one, by having intentional positive thoughts, it starts my day with joy, humility, and a sense of my own power to accomplish what I need to for the day. Wow. So inspiring. Here’s another one. I am so grateful for those who show up for the inspired guidance and dedication to helping me be the best I can be. Thank you so much. Here’s one. I felt more positive energy and more appreciative of my spouse. I was getting to work earlier. Fewer snoozes. Okay, again, so we’re not leading with and talking about just the work aspects, but there’s an example of where it made a positive impact.

 

Here’s one more. Thanks to the goal worksheet we received in December, I identified areas I wanted to grow in and wrote down measurable steps and posted them on my fridge. This group helped me stay positive and conscious of ways to get closer to my goals. Wow. Love and accountability, challenging but supporting each other to achieve our goals in all domains of life has been really impactful. And you are the inspiration behind that. And just very, very grateful to continue to support you in your mission and what you’ve created because I think, here’s one more quick thought for you, Hal, going back to joy, I think in a world where we have incredible technology, endless amounts of information, but so often, were consuming, consuming, consuming, consuming, I think what can help you be more joyful is to create more than you consume. Create more that you consume. And again, that’s at all levels at all seasons of life. In other words, as often has been said, it is certainly much better to give than to receive. And I think that can help others increase joy in their journey.

 

Hal Elrod: Awesome. Eric, I mean, you are an inspiration. I know you always acknowledge me and you acknowledge everyone, part of what makes you a great leader, but you are truly an extraordinary leader. Like, very few, if any, have ever taken this concept of the Miracle Morning that impacted you on a personal level, and then been so proactive to help other people. You’re one of those proactive leaders when it comes to going above and beyond, going out of your way to help the people that you love and lead. And I’ll just say your kids are very lucky to have you as a dad, man.

 

Eric Stranghoener: Yeah, it’s not about me. It’s just about trying to be a steward of the culture that we’re fostering here and a small role that I can play and just helping, again, others try to wake up to their full potential and, again, be intentional in how they start their day. I know in one of our calls I mentioned, there are approximately, what, 8 billion people in the world, okay? Eight billion people are going to wake up tomorrow and start their day somehow. Why not be intentional to start your day in a positive mindset with energy and inspiration to be your best in the service of others? If we can continue to help more people on that journey and to persevere through challenges and to focus on others before themselves, I think there can be just an incredible tidal wave of goodness in the world to make positive change at a time when we could really use a bit more of it.

 

Hal Elrod: Awesome. Brother, well, I couldn’t agree more. And I just want to remind anybody listening what you said earlier, which is imperfect action, that you literally committed to do a Miracle Morning huddle when you had no idea what you were going to do on that huddle. And if everybody’s listening to this, like, take action. Don’t just go, oh yeah, wow, what a great idea. And I could see how it’s transformed Eric and RubinBrown’s culture and that could do it for me and my family or my workplace. Really take action. Write down, commit that, hey, I’m going to schedule the first Miracle Morning huddle. Call it whatever you want. And then I’m going to schedule it, and then I’m going to figure out what I’m going to do. And that first huddle, it could be a lot of questions. And you can let people know, hey, guys, we don’t have a plan. We just know this practice can transform our lives as individuals and collectively, as an organization. Any final thoughts before we wrap up, Eric?

 

Eric Stranghoener: Just how that building on what you just said in that call to action, we’re here to help. I would be thrilled to help any business leaders who have an interest in pursuing a similar type of approach, to supporting their team members to thrive and be their best personally and professionally in the service of others. Would love to help. I know you would love to help too, so I extend that as an offer. And in fact, Hal, one thing that we might want to consider also is having some sort of event for the clients of RubinBrown to share the Miracle Morning in the spirit of trying to always be our best for our clients. So, that’s something that we can talk about offline.

 

But I’m just very grateful for the opportunity. It’s probably the most profound truth that has helped me personally to try to strive to be a better leader. It’s just going back to what I talked about as having joy in the journey and focusing on others. It’s not about me. Every single one of us has a God-given plan and purpose and just tremendous potential to make a positive impact. And that’s what brings me the greatest joy is trying to help others find that and support them. And like I said, there’s an offer out there to help, if anyone, we have sort of the starter kit, right? Because as you said, it was imperfect. Some things took off, some things didn’t quite go well. But we’ve experimented, we’ve tried, and we’ve created a thriving community to take our best for others culture out into the world. And I’m just grateful for the opportunity every day to continue to be a steward of that. And any way that I can help and support you, you’re a dear friend, and I’m grateful for the energy that you bring out into the world every day. So looking forward, lots more to come. The best is yet to come. That’s what I’ll leave you with. The best is absolutely yet to come. I can say that with 100% confidence.

 

Hal Elrod: Well, I’m with you. And I just have to say, you just made a really generous offer. If somebody wants to take you up on that offer, Eric, and get some guidance from you on how they can implement Miracle Morning in their organization, what is the best way to get a hold of you?

 

Eric Stranghoener: Yeah, just call me. Just call or text (314) 749-4179. Any time of day, I try to be responsive. So, again (314) 749-4179. Would be glad to take your call and look forward to connecting.

 

Hal Elrod: Oh, man, you just give out your cell phone. Amen, dude. I am so curious.

 

Eric Stranghoener: I’ll report back.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. What did you say?

 

Eric Stranghoener: I’ll report back on any call.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. No, I can’t wait to hear if people reach out. And that’s funny. A lot of people, they don’t reach out, but it’s like, hey, you just got Eric’s cell phone number. I mean, if you could have a conversation with Eric, like I just had, you’re an incredible human being. So, alright, brother, well, I appreciate you, I love you. Thank you for your love and leadership and faith and the way that you live your life, man. And until next time. I’ll talk to you soon.

 

Eric Stranghoener: I love you too, Hal. Enjoy the day.

[END]