Episode Details

This episode of Gratitude Through Hard Times issues an unmistakable call to action: Join the crusade for workplace openness and compassion! Host Chris Schembra’s guest, Geoff McDonald, is explaining the business and moral case for making mental health integral to our corporate cultures. Why? Because beyond fostering top performance and competitive advantage, it saves lives. As a keynote speaker and business transformation consultant with decades of HR leadership at Unilever, Geoff is uniquely positioned to destigmatize the mental health challenges that are all too common in today’s noisy world. Having navigated a diagnosis of anxiety-fueled depression, he understands the paralyzing impacts and basic ingredients for restoring equilibrium. His experience was painful and frightening but, as Geoff shares, it was also an invitation to enable change and human connection. You’ll learn through this conversation how a combination of unconditional love and willingness to be vulnerable ultimately empowered Geoff, a UK-based native of South Africa, to open a global dialogue around mental health in the workplace. “Too often we have not focused on the concept of the health and energy of our people as a critical enabler of performance,” says Geoff. But we can reject stigma and isolation! Join us as Geoff outlines the steps we can take to bring more gratitude, kindness, quality of life and bottom-line results to our workplaces!

If you want to be further inspired by Geoff’s perspective on mental health and wellbeing as key indicators for thriving workplace cultures, check out his powerful TedX Talk, "Let's Talk About Mental Health."

If you’d like to learn more about Chris and his 7:47 Virtual Gratitude Experience or subscribe to our newsletter, please visit this link.

Click here to hear more fascinating conversations with Fortune 500 CEOs, professional athletes and entertainers who have shared their human stories about Gratitude Through Hard Times.

KEY TOPICS:

• If you could give credit or thanks to one person in your life that you don’t give enough credit or enough thanks to – that you’ve never thought to thank – who would that be? It has to be mom, in recognition of the unconditional she provided as Geoff’s baseline.
• Midnight, January 25, 2008: How a massive panic attack on the eve of his daughter’s 13th birthday triggered debilitating anxiety, a diagnosis and a transformational choice.
• The Power of Love: About the curative effects of both embracing his humanity and accepting the love Geoff’s family and friends offered through a dark passage.
• Four Ingredients that Healed Geoff’s Anxiety-Fueled Depression:
  • Getting a concrete diagnosis that integrated various symptoms.
  • Being authentic and forthright about the feelings he was experiencing.
  • Trusting the credibility and respect he’d built over 20 years at Unilever.
  • Working for a compassionate leader who had experience dealing with mental illness within his circle of family and friends.
• How Geoff empowered himself – and others – through openness and vulnerability.
• Common Conditions: Why depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges are just part of being human in the world today.
• Implementing the Cure: Why purpose is integral to creating workplaces that are healthy.
• About a Finite Resource: How pervasive burnout and pernicious stress erode the energy we need to fuel our teams and move mountains.
• Making Mental Health and Wellbeing a Strategic Priority:
  • Supports and energizes workers – a key ingredient for workplace success.
  • Enhances people’s lives – which is simply the right thing t