Transforming Workplaces Through Radical Kindness (ft. Shola Richards)

Mic Drop

Guest Bio:

Shola Richards is a celebrated speaker, author, and workplace civility expert known for his advocacy in building more inclusive, respectful, and human-centered workplaces. After overcoming severe personal challenges in a toxic work environment, Shola dedicated his career to helping others navigate and transform organizational cultures through his speaking, writing, and training. His new book, Civil Unity, explores practical ways to foster civility and collaboration in even the most challenging environments. Shola’s work has been featured in numerous high-profile outlets, and he is sought after by Fortune 500 companies, educational institutions, and government agencies to help cultivate cultures of radical kindness and meaningful change.

Core Topics:

Turning Pain into Purpose: Shola shares his personal story of battling depression and almost losing his life due to a toxic work environment. He discusses how this breaking point became the catalyst for his mission to eliminate workplace incivility and improve organizational cultures.

The Case for Kindness in Leadership: Addressing leaders who may view kindness as “soft,” Shola makes a compelling argument that compassion drives better results, greater engagement, and higher discretionary effort from employees. He explains why focusing on human connection is essential for business success.

Ubuntu Philosophy in the Workplace: Shola dives into the concept of Ubuntu, meaning “I am because we are,” as a guiding principle for how teams and organizations can prioritize human connection, unity, and shared success over division and individualism.

Practical Tools for Civil Discourse: In a world increasingly divided, Shola provides actionable techniques for engaging in civil discourse, even around heated topics. He shares strategies for setting ground rules in conversations and reducing conflict by seeking common ground.

Resources:

Learn more about Shola Richards:

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube
• X
• Facebook

Learn more about Josh Linkner:

• Website
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• X
• Facebook

ABOUT MIC DROP:

Hear from the world’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing tipping point moments, strategies, and approaches that led to their speaking career success. Throughout each episode, host Josh Linkner, #1 Innovation keynote speaker in the world, deconstructs guests’ Mic Drop moments and provides tactical tools and takeaways that can be applied to any speaking business, no matter its starting point. You'll enjoy hearing from some of the top keynote speakers in the industry including: Ryan Estis, Alison Levine, Peter Sheahan, Seth Mattison, Cassandra Worthy, and many more. Mic Drop is sponsored by ImpactEleven.

Learn more at: MicDropPodcast.com

ABOUT THE HOST:

Josh Linkner — a New York Times bestselling author — is a rare blend of business, art, and science.

On the business front, he’s been the founder and CEO of five tech companies, which created over 10,000 jobs and sold for a combined value of over $200 million. He’s the co-founder and Managing Partner of Muditā (moo-DEE-tah) Venture Partners - an early-stage venture capital firm investing in groundbreaking technologies. Over the last 30 years, he’s helped over 100 startups launch and scale, creating over $1 billion in investor returns. He’s twice been named the EY Entrepreneur of The Year and is the recipient of the United States Presidential Champion of Change Award.

While proud of his business success, his roots are in the dangerous world of jazz music. Josh has been playing guitar in smoky jazz clubs for 40 years, studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, and has performed over 1000 concerts around the world. His experiences in both business and music led him to become one of the world’s foremost experts on innovation. Josh

is the co-founder and Chairman of Platypus Labs, a global research, training, and consulting firm. Today, he’s on a mission to help leaders Find A Way™ through creative problem-solving, inventive thinking, and ingenuity.

Learn more about Josh: JoshLinkner.com

SPONSORED BY AMPLIFY PUBLISHING GROUP:

Partnering with CXOs, keynote speakers, change makers, and other visionary leaders, Amplify Publishing Group (APG) is a leader in the hybrid publishing space with more than twenty years of experience acquiring, producing, marketing, and distributing books.

Passionate about ideas and voices that need to be heard, they're known for launching books that start engaging and timely conversations. At each turn, they have been at the forefront of innovation and have spearheaded a critical disruption of the publishing industry.

Learn more at: amplifypublishinggroup.com

ABOUT IMPACTELEVEN:

From refining your keynote speaking skills to writing marketing copy, from connecting you with bureaus to boosting your fees, to developing high-quality websites, producing head-turning demo reels, Impact Eleven (formerly 3 Ring Circus) offers a comprehensive and powerful set of services to help speakers land more gigs at higher fees.

Learn more at: impacteleven.com

PRODUCED BY DETROIT PODCAST STUDIOS:

In Detroit, history was made when Barry Gordy opened Motown Records back in 1960. More than just discovering great talent, Gordy built a systematic approach to launching superstars. His rigorous processes, technology, and development methods were the secret sauce behind legendary acts such as The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.

As a nod to the past, Detroit Podcast Studios leverages modern versions of Motown’s processes to launch today’s most compelling podcasts. What Motown was to musical artists, Detroit Podcast Studios is to podcast artists today. With over 75 combined years of experience in content development, audio production, music scoring, storytelling, and digital marketing, Detroit Podcast Studios provides full-service development, training, and production capabilities to take podcasts from messy ideas to finely tuned hits.

Here’s to making (podcast) history together.

Learn more at: DetroitPodcastStudios.com