We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michael Neece a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, thanks for joining us today. Have you ever had an amazing boss? What did you learn from them? Maybe you can share a story that illustrates the kind of boss they were or maybe you can share your thoughts on what you think made them an awesome person to work for?

Jim Horn at Morehead Planetarium was easily the best mentor I’ve ever had.

When I started working at the planetarium, I moved into management within 12 months and started working closely with Jim. One of the other students in our care wasn’t acting appropriately, having talked to an audience in a depressed tone about personal things.

Rather than look at the situation and say he needed to be fired, Jim asked questions about the student. “What’s going on outside of work?” He taught me in this situation, and in many other, that the humans we work with are, well, human.

Working with Jim for a few years taught me that injecting kindness into all our interactions with everyone we oversaw, everyone we worked with, matters when weighing any decisions. In a sense, he set me up for understanding the fundamentals of what I wrote about in my book, “In Kind.”

Michael, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Our Future is Kind focuses on kindness-based strategies that: a) help leaders improve efficiency, innovation, and productivity by building trust within teams, b) assist anyone struggling with problems at work or looking to advance their careers, and c) build the world we want to live in, one kind act at a time. Primarily, it’s a professional keynote speaking business, but we also offer coaching and training related to these powerful strategies.

I started this business after spending decades in leadership roles across five industries. I observed many kind moments that lofted teams into success and satisfaction. And then there were all the unkind moments, like people yelling, undercutting each other, and self-serving employees bulldozing others. In all cases, kindness–or lack of it–turned corporate culture into the deciding factor in whether or not the business itself was successful and whether or not employees were engaged and happy.

Our Future is Kind paints a vision of the future we want to live in, one where everyone matters and kindness matters, with the simple idea: you can’t hit a target if you don’t know what the target looks like. (“You can’t hit a target that isn’t there!”) So that’s what we do. We define the future, and it’s one where kindness rules the day. I feel confident that as we mindfully aim for success and happiness through kindness, the result will be an amazing future where we, and our descendants, will all love living.

When someone reaches out to have me as a keynote speaker, I tailor the message to that group and give them a call to action with concrete strategies. If they want a workshop or some executive coaching, or copies of my book, as part of the service, we are happy to offer that as well.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Whenever I am forming a new team, I collaborate as much as I direct. It’s important that everyone gets a sense of the vision. It’s just as important for them to feel they own it as much as I do, so I make sure to select highly skilled, trustworthy people and then I listen. I listen a lot.

When brainstorming how to overcome an obstacle, I ask everyone to show up to the big meeting with three ideas at least partially developed. They can be ideas based on how others have solved similar problems, but they can also be silly, weird, unproven, or ideas taken from other industries. Then we go around the table and each share the most farfetched ideas we have to start with. It puts everyone into a happy and humorous mood and really gets the ball rolling for all the other ideas.

But the key is always thinking, “How do I get them talking and contributing more?” After all, I hired them, so it makes sense that I can trust and rely on them. Round-robins at the start of meetings, having regular one-on-ones, and reiterating our central mission and current goals keeps everyone upbeat and focused.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

I have been in various industries over my career. When I realized that what I loved in each job was serving others and giving speeches and writing helpful guides to inspire and teach them, I finally knew that I wanted to be a keynote speaker and author. I decided to strengthen and expand my skills in those areas. I also realized I needed to deliver on my promise to myself, so I had to have an exit plan from my previous career. And part of that equation was needing funding.

I went to a writing retreat, started writing a book about kindness as the key to success within companies and for individuals, and waited until I either saved up enough money to start my business, or my corporate role was eliminated and I was given an exit package. I was very lucky that I got the exit package and kind wishes from my managers.

In short, I invested in the skills I knew I would need, made friends and network connections related to what I wanted to be doing, and decided skill development as an investment in my future. That, plus planning to either save up enough over a few months to jump into the new business myself, or wait and hope for the exit package…that’s what funded my business.

And boy was the timing perfect. My book was released, then one month later my role was eliminated.

Don’t get me wrong – I loved my last job. The mission, the people, the work itself all added up to a great and honorable final role for me in corporate America, and I do miss it.

But I also knew my future needed funding, effort, and honesty and so I fed it all I could before the big leap!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ourfutureiskind.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelgneece/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelGNeeceAuthor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yournextkeynotespeaker/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@YourNextKeynoteSpeaker