Building Stronger Teams: Jasper Maquindang's Guide to Employee Engagement

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My guest today is Jasper Makwiden.

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Jasper with over a decade of experience as a company culture employee, engagement and team building consultant, he has mastered transforming workplace environments.

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He graduated from University of Southern California with an executive master's degree in leadership.

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His holistic, data driven approach addresses unique challenges.

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He received Santa Clara Valley's 40 and under award for leadership contributions and served on JCU JCI's USA's executive board mentoring young leaders.

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Jasper's achievements include enhancing engagement, facilitating impactful retreats and providing executive coaching.

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Beyond his professional pursuits, he's an avid marathon trainer, business book reader and traveler.

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His commitment extends to volunteer work with the American Red Cross and building resilient communities.

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We welcome Jasper to the podcast.

Keith: 00:01:53

Well Jasper, welcome to the podcast.

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How you doing today?

Jasper: 00:01:57

I'm doing well, Keith, how are you?

Keith: 00:01:58

I am phenomenal.

Keith: 00:01:59

I'm so glad to talk to you.

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I'm glad you're coming to us from sunny La or smoggy La.

Keith: 00:02:04

I guess what depends on on the day.

Keith: 00:02:08

That is true, but it's good to have a conversation with you.

Jasper: 00:02:12

I'm excited to join you today.

Keith: 00:02:14

I love to ask my guests this question.

Keith: 00:02:16

What's the best piece of advice you've ever received that has resonated with you throughout your career?

Jasper: 00:02:22

Best piece of advice?

Jasper: 00:02:23

I would say there was a piece of advice about life itself and it's when you're traveling too fast you'll miss all that you're traveling for.

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And when you think about it, we live in a world of instant gratification where everyone is rushing to get the results we're striving for.

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And when you're just moving too fast you're missing out on the journey itself.

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I just remember growing up thinking to myself, okay, I want this, I want that, I want this, I want that.

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And then finally when I actually got this, that, this and that, I started thinking to myself, oh, what now?

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And then it just makes you realize it's all about the journey itself, the adventure, what you're striving for.

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For example, if you're trying to build a goal of increasing your revenue for your organization and you're just moving too fast you're going to miss out on the small details, the processes that really help your organization grow.

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So it's really about enjoying the process that you're currently in focusing on the now.

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That's really what's important to us, the present.

Keith: 00:03:40

So let me ask you a question.

Keith: 00:03:42

I love that.

Keith: 00:03:42

So how do you then as a leader celebrate wins in your organization?

Jasper: 00:03:48

Absolutely.

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Wins are absolutely important.

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And I, when you don't celebrate them, that could demotivate your team because they don't realize what they're working toward.

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But when you're with your team, some things you can do are during your team meetings.

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At the beginning of the meeting, you can put it as the first thing to the agenda.

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You can ask your team members, Keith, what's one win that you had this week?

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And then you can go around the table, and then as they share their wins, they realize the progress that they're making.

Keith: 00:04:17

Yeah.

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Because what you.

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What you celebrate, it tells you what would you really matter?

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Can what you measure matters?

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So that's really cool.

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I love that.

Jasper: 00:04:24

That's right.

Keith: 00:04:25

I'm curious.

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Think about in your life, who are some people who serve you as mentors or even inspiration for you along the way?

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What made them special?

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If you want to give them a shout out on the podcast, there's a chance to do that.

Jasper: 00:04:39

Keith, there are just so many people I need to think I might need the next hour just to do that.

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But there are.

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There are several people that I do want to highlight.

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The first one is for my alma mater.

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We have a entrepreneur mentorship program, and I signed up for it.

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And the mentor that I was assigned to, her father is a famous jazz player, and she taught me the value of staying true to your values, because her.

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Her father, as he went through his career in the music industry, so many lives in that industry were ruined because the trappings of success, when you reach such a high level, you can just live a life that isn't true to what you stand for.

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But her father put family first.

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So whatever he did during work, it was really to support his family.

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And he wasn't distracted by those trappings of success because his wife, his daughters, he wanted to make sure he left a very good and healthy legacy for them.

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And the next mentor I want to mention is as a member of Toastmasters, we do have a mentorship program as well.

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And the mentor I was assigned to, her journey is just simply amazing.

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She had survived cancer, and she uses that as an opportunity to show others that there's value in overcoming obstacles.

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And when you really push through, you can accomplish great things.

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And a third person I want to give a shout out to as a mentor is not necessarily a mentor in the formal sense, as the previous ones I mentioned, but I still look up to this person, and he's a speaker from the National Speaker association.

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And during the pandemic, I had set so many goals in life beforehand.

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And with the pandemic coming through.

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It just disrupted the plans I had for the future.

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But when I met this speaker, he had shared me the importance of getting back up.

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Brush your shoulders.

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Try again.

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That's not the end of the world.

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And that's just given me so encouragement.

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Encouragement to really stand up and try again.

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So these are three mentors that I want to highlight.

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Such great values that they've taught with.

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Taught me.

Keith: 00:07:06

That's so cool that you had all those people to share something different about their journey with you, because each of them had a certain special piece to your life that helps shape the direction and what you're going.

Keith: 00:07:16

That's.

Keith: 00:07:17

That's really.

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I'm glad you shared that.

Jasper: 00:07:20

Oh, yeah.

Jasper: 00:07:20

They've.

Jasper: 00:07:21

They really have valuable lessons that I've just learn from them.

Keith: 00:07:25

So think about your journey and experiences you've had.

Keith: 00:07:29

What led you to establish the family lead management consulting group?

Jasper: 00:07:34

Absolutely.

Jasper: 00:07:34

So my journey has been shaped by three different angles, and the first angle is leadership discovery.

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There's a memory that my mother had of me.

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I did not even remember what that memory was, but she shared it with me a few years back, and she told me that when I was probably the age of five or six, I said, when I grow up, I want to be a leader.

Jasper: 00:08:03

When I grow up, I want to be a leader.

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I don't even remember that memory.

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If you think about it, that's really neat.

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But when you reflect deeply at age five or six, what does a five or six year old know about leadership?

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Such an advanced topic for someone that age?

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I might as well said, mom.

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When I grow up, I want to study macroeconomics.

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It's an advanced topic for someone that age.

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But as I grew up, I realized there were various opportunities that fell into my lap.

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For example, at a young age, I was always encouraged to support nonprofits, help in the community, and volunteer.

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As I got older, when I went to college, I was involved in extracurricular activities such as student government and new student orientation, further sharpening what I'm learning about leadership.

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And then when I graduated, I landed a job in a travel company where I was quickly promoted to a team leader team supervisor position.

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And given that firsthand experience in leading a team, I was just inspired by what I did at the time.

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I went back to school for my executive master's degree in leadership to really learn more best practices.

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And then after graduating, I landed into a management development program for a Fortune 500 company.

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So I really had the opportunity to take a peek into how these larger organizations operate.

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But just looking at my leadership journey throughout the years, it's really taught me that leadership is about really serving others and helping other people grow.

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And that's the first angle.

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The second angle of my leadership journey is resilience.

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I remember growing up and I was maybe in second grade, I remember being diagnosed with asthma and I didn't know what to do at the time, but I realized people started putting limits on me, including my own family.

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They would keep me indoors for fear of pollen.

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They would shield me away from pet fur, thinking that an asthma attack might occur.

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All those things keeping me inside.

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And then I realized over time, I don't want those limits to define me.

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And then as I was growing up, I saw I was inspired by major goals, especially that of marathon runners.

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And I thought to myself, you know what?

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I don't want these limits to define me.

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One day I'm going to run 26.2 miles.

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And I knew it was not going to be an overnight magical formula.

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I worked my way up.

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I started with a five k, ten k.

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Of course, there were challenges along the way, but I took my time step by step.

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Eventually moved up to a half marathon.

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And then when I finally reached the 26.2 miles mark at the San Diego rock and roll marathon, I just felt the sense of joy and relief.

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So it's really that opportunity to really get up and persevere is that second angle that's defined my leadership journey.

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And the third angle is learning and development.

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I remember reading a non fiction book when I was a teenager.

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It was in Hawaii, and I was flipping through the pages and I realized, interesting, these are things we're not learning in school.

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And then I realized just this continual learning.

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I'm just picking up more insights and perspectives, and that's just really inspired me to continue in that journey.

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So these three angles have defined my leadership journey.

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So it's leadership discovery, resilience, and learning and growing.

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And based on everything I've learned from that, I just took the best practices.

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And now I absolutely enjoy helping, helping leaders and managers build stronger teams.

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So that's my journey.

Keith: 00:11:52

That's a great journey.

Keith: 00:11:53

I love that.

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And all those things have really influenced what you do.

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And I really appreciate, because that gives us a bigger backdrop of to how you got where you are.

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Because everything we do in life does somehow play out into what we choose to kind of guide to be a guiding force for us.

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I'm curious because a lot of people I've talked to always focus on how do you improve employee productivity?

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That is the biggest thing I hear from organizations and also engagement.

Keith: 00:12:20

So what inspired you from your journey, your past, to focus on improving employee productivity and engagement within organizations?

Jasper: 00:12:29

Absolutely.

Jasper: 00:12:30

For me, I've been through it.

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I've seen teams where employees don't necessarily feel the magic of their work.

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In other words, they're there for the paycheck.

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On the other hand, I've seen teams where, although the pay isn't great, they're finding the meaning and significance, and they're excited to do what they do.

Jasper: 00:12:57

And for me to take that experience and share that with other leaders, I'm finding great joy and enthusiasm as I'm really relaying these insights to others.

Keith: 00:13:10

That's so cool.

Keith: 00:13:11

You don't look like it, but you have decades of experience in leadership.

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What are some key elements that you believe create a thriving team culture?

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Because that's hard to do.

Keith: 00:13:22

How do you create that culture?

Jasper: 00:13:25

Excellent.

Jasper: 00:13:25

When it comes to company culture, there are two angle.

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Well, two factors to consider.

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The first is buy in and development from the leaders.

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And the second part is the culture itself.

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So I'll start with the leaders.

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There are four super skills for leadership, and the four super skills are public speaking, public listening, private speaking, and private listening.

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So public speaking is what many of us are aware of.

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It's for a leader to really share their message with others.

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And I know there are people out there who might say, public speaking, not really my thing.

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Why is it so important?

Jasper: 00:14:07

Well, let's put it this way.

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You don't have to like public speaking.

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You don't have to love public speaking.

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You can even despise public speaking if you want to.

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However, as a leader, there, it comes to a point where you have a message to share with others and to keep your team members inspired.

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You're going to be the one who will share that vision and purpose with others, and that's through speaking in front of your team.

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The second super skill is public listening, and it's having the courage as a leader to step aside and give other people the stage.

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And that's not in a literal sense.

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It can be in the boardroom, it can be in Zoom call.

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It's essentially letting other people speak and share their voice, because as a leader, as the saying goes, we have two ears and one mouth for a reason.

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And that's because we need to take a more active approach in listening to others.

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The next super skill is private speaking.

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And to some people that might, I know some people are thinking, wait, is that where you go into a room, lock yourself in there by yourself, and just start talking to yourself.

Jasper: 00:15:19

No, no, that's not private speaking.

Keith: 00:15:21

Yeah, that's something totally different.

Jasper: 00:15:25

That is something totally different in this case, as a leadership super skill, private speaking is the term I use for coaching and mentoring.

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It's those one on one conversations that you have with other people.

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And I call it private speaking because essentially those conversations are private.

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It's not fair to the other person to go out into the world and say, oh, hey, did you know that Keith said this and that?

Jasper: 00:15:53

No, no, no.

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As a leader, it's very important to really keep those conversations personal and private, because you get the opportunity for an employee or team member to share something that they would not otherwise share in public.

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And I.

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That's value.

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That's absolute value, and it's important to keep that within you and the other person.

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And the last super skill is private listening.

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And for private listening, it's a leader having the opportunity to learn about themselves.

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This sense of self awareness, it's having a leader learn more about what's working well for them and what they can improve on.

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For many people, private speaking can be done with meditation, really taking the time to just sit back and really listen to your senses within yourself.

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Another way for private speaking to occur is my recommendation is taking leadership assessments where you're actually seeing specific scores, results, and data on how your leadership is affecting other people.

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So these are the four super skills that really create a strong leader.

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So, again, public speaking, public listening.

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Private speaking, and private listening.

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And then once you supercharge your leader in that regard, it helps build a effective culture.

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And for building a culture, there's a framework I use called the core four mentor.

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And before I explain what those four qualities are, I'll give a breakdown of what core four mentor means.

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So, core, these are the foundational aspects of bringing about an effective culture.

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And then four.

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There are four areas to consider and mentor.

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When it comes to building a.

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An effective company culture, you want everyone to really promote this sense of helping another, helping other people learn and grow, just as a mentor would.

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So that is the core for mentor.

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And the four aspects spell life.

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Life.

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And the first aspect of life is listening, specifically active listening.

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You want all employees to really, as we mentioned before, to ears, one mouth, really listen to others and give other people that space to share what's on their mind.

Jasper: 00:18:29

Next is innovation.

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You want to give your team members the opportunity to experiment with new ideas.

Jasper: 00:18:37

Keith, do you know what the six most dangerous words are in any company culture?

Keith: 00:18:42

I don't know.

Keith: 00:18:43

No.

Keith: 00:18:45

No.

Keith: 00:18:45

I know what are they?

Jasper: 00:18:48

We've always done it that way.

Keith: 00:18:50

Oh, my word.

Keith: 00:18:50

We use that in the church, too.

Jasper: 00:18:54

We've always done it that way.

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And when you're sticking to the status quo, you're really leaving your organization in the past.

Jasper: 00:19:02

On the other hand, when you are promoting new ideas, you're giving your organization, your company, your team opportunities to move forward.

Jasper: 00:19:11

Next for F is futuristic.

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And that's not necessarily using the latest and greatest technology, although that can help in the sense futuristic is promoting the vision and the values of your organization, because when your team members know that they're striving for something great that will really motivate them.

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And lastly, e encouraging.

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You really want to build a support system within your team.

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You want to be someone that says, Keith, you got this.

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You can do it.

Jasper: 00:19:44

I believe in you because when you have an encouraging culture that really gives people the motivation to try things that they would not otherwise.

Jasper: 00:19:51

So lief life, breathe life into your organization.

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And that's what brings an effective company culture.

Keith: 00:19:59

As you described this, it kind of reminded me of, there's two clear breakdowns in your description here.

Keith: 00:20:05

One to me is the ability to cast vision and to lead by the leader, kind of stepping out before the rest of the team and tell you where you're going.

Keith: 00:20:17

But the second critical part of that is what I would, I guess you could call it emotional intelligence or relationship building, because you can cast that vision.

Keith: 00:20:27

But if people aren't buying into it, are you aware of why they're not buying into it?

Keith: 00:20:33

Where the disconnect is, and they're more likely to follow you if they believe in the leader.

Keith: 00:20:39

So am I kind of hitting what you're thinking about in those, in those two, those two breaks?

Jasper: 00:20:44

Right on target, Keith.

Jasper: 00:20:45

Right on target.

Keith: 00:20:46

All right.

Keith: 00:20:46

I get an a.

Keith: 00:20:47

Cool.

Keith: 00:20:51

Because as a leader, I run across that, too.

Keith: 00:20:53

You know, I remember as a young leader in my very first organization, my very first church, I walked in and I said, I got this really big vision for where we're going.

Keith: 00:21:05

And I laid it out there in front of people without the relationship part, and I watched the vision die in front of people and right in front of me, and I'm like, whoa, I just lost the entire room.

Jasper: 00:21:20

And then on the flip side, if you have that social part but don't have the vision, that can also cause some discrepancies.

Jasper: 00:21:27

So it works both ways.

Jasper: 00:21:28

But the example you shared, such a great perspective that you relayed.

Keith: 00:21:34

Yeah.

Keith: 00:21:35

So in the future, I went in again to try that again.

Keith: 00:21:37

This time I was like, you helped me.

Keith: 00:21:40

Where do you guys want to go?

Keith: 00:21:42

Like, well, we want to go somewhere.

Keith: 00:21:43

It's like, so are you ready for us to launch a vision together?

Keith: 00:21:47

So we actually, together as a team, developed a vision, and then it was, it was much more sustainable, and we actually got it done two years ahead of my schedule in terms of where this was going to go.

Keith: 00:21:59

So, like, I learned from the first time of bombing not to do that again.

Jasper: 00:22:05

It's those lessons that we learn such great values, and then when we get that opportunity to try again really moves us forward in a better.

Jasper: 00:22:13

In a better way.

Keith: 00:22:14

Right, exactly.

Jasper: 00:22:16

So I'm.

Keith: 00:22:17

Yeah, go ahead.

Jasper: 00:22:18

I would say my example, I remember working for a travel company, and we were trying to find ways to be more efficient.

Jasper: 00:22:26

And I would tell members, well, let's try.

Jasper: 00:22:29

Let's put things here.

Jasper: 00:22:30

Let's do this here.

Jasper: 00:22:31

Let's make this process look this way.

Jasper: 00:22:34

And then for my employees, they were with it, but that motivation wasn't there yet.

Jasper: 00:22:40

However, when it came to the vision, I developed a vision statement for organization, and that was, we help our clients achieve their dreams, their travel dreams, by getting from point a to point b.

Jasper: 00:22:55

And when my employees heard something like that, that really gave them a better understanding of what they stood for.

Jasper: 00:23:02

They're helping other people achieve their dreams.

Jasper: 00:23:04

And when you realize you're helping someone achieve their dream, that really gives you that sense of passion and motivation that you didn't experience beforehand.

Keith: 00:23:14

Exactly.

Keith: 00:23:14

I love that.

Keith: 00:23:15

So can you explain the concept of your fAm leadership?

Keith: 00:23:19

Because how does it integrate family values into your leadership practices?

Jasper: 00:23:24

Yes.

Jasper: 00:23:25

So when it comes to culture, this sense of family, it's that sense of community, sense of belonging.

Jasper: 00:23:31

I know, especially during the pandemic, there's this rise in feeling isolated, that sense of loneliness.

Jasper: 00:23:40

To build an effective culture, you want people to feel like they're part of something, because if they're an individual just focused on their own thing, it's not going to achieve the same results as a team working together as a cohesive unit.

Jasper: 00:23:54

So that sense of community and belonging is what's really going to help a culture take off.

Keith: 00:24:02

So I love the way you used the term family and talking about creating belonging, because we have seen in corporations today this idea of, I think, Dei and how Dei is supposed to do that, too.

Keith: 00:24:17

But Dei seems to, in my opinion, this is my opinion, create more division than it does the sense of family.

Keith: 00:24:25

I like that you use the term family because it really is about recognizing that we all have differences.

Keith: 00:24:31

We bring something unique to the table.

Keith: 00:24:34

But if we look at it as a family unit, then everybody is still valued.

Keith: 00:24:38

And I think that's what I sometimes see missing in the discussion of how we create belonging.

Keith: 00:24:43

If we don't approach it as family versus approach it as certain people deserve certain things over somebody else.

Keith: 00:24:49

If you did that in a family, I mean, I might have six kids.

Keith: 00:24:52

My kids are always asking me, which one is your favorite?

Keith: 00:24:55

And I say, I love you all equally.

Keith: 00:24:57

There are no favorites.

Keith: 00:24:58

They're like, no, you have to have a favorite.

Keith: 00:25:01

And it seems to me the same thing works in corporate culture too.

Keith: 00:25:03

If you seem to be picking favorites, you will alienate other people.

Jasper: 00:25:09

That's absolutely correct.

Jasper: 00:25:10

And when it comes to family, we may have some disagreements with our own family members, but we're still a family.

Jasper: 00:25:18

That's what makes that value in cohesion, belonging much more valuable.

Jasper: 00:25:23

And when it comes to that sense of favoritism, yes, that can alienate some people in your organization.

Jasper: 00:25:32

You want to show everyone that you're treating them fairly.

Jasper: 00:25:36

And if you're giving one person more advantage than the others, people can see that and they'll be less motivated to really work together.

Jasper: 00:25:44

But on the other hand, if you're giving everyone an equal sense of participation and that perspective in working together, they'll be a lot more motivated to help each other out.

Jasper: 00:25:59

So avoiding that favoritism will be helpful in our leadership journey.

Keith: 00:26:06

I love that.

Keith: 00:26:07

Let's talk about your team building because I'm curious, what activities have you used to help create that sense of belonging as you also try to enhance your teams as well?

Jasper: 00:26:18

Absolutely.

Jasper: 00:26:19

So a unique approach to team building.

Jasper: 00:26:21

I remember an early conversation I had with a retired entrepreneur.

Jasper: 00:26:27

I introduced myself, hello, mister retired entrepreneur.

Jasper: 00:26:30

I'm Jesper.

Jasper: 00:26:31

I am a leadership and team building consultant.

Jasper: 00:26:35

And he looked at me and he said, huh?

Jasper: 00:26:39

And that had taken me aback.

Jasper: 00:26:42

I was curious to know why he did that.

Jasper: 00:26:44

And I asked, mister entrepreneur, is there some kind of problem?

Jasper: 00:26:49

And he looked at me and he said, jesper, I hate people in your industry.

Jasper: 00:26:53

And I was taken aback.

Jasper: 00:26:55

I was thinking to myself, wait a minute, we're doing good service.

Jasper: 00:26:59

We want leaders to thrive.

Jasper: 00:27:01

And I asked the entrepreneur, mister entrepreneur, why do you think that way?

Jasper: 00:27:06

And he told me, Jasper, years ago when I was building my business, I hired people to help me with team building.

Jasper: 00:27:17

And we did.

Jasper: 00:27:19

It was great.

Jasper: 00:27:20

It was absolutely great.

Jasper: 00:27:21

We did trust falls, high fives, hugs.

Jasper: 00:27:24

Cheers.

Jasper: 00:27:25

You named it?

Jasper: 00:27:26

It was awesome.

Jasper: 00:27:27

But when we went back to the workplace, none of it was relevant.

Jasper: 00:27:31

And that made me realize, ah, that is an aha moment.

Jasper: 00:27:35

Because when it comes to team building, we want to develop something that is relevant to the work we do.

Jasper: 00:27:42

I mean, I'm sure there was value in chest falls and kicking and screaming at some point.

Jasper: 00:27:47

It brings up energy.

Jasper: 00:27:48

I understand that.

Jasper: 00:27:50

But when it comes to an effective team building activity, we want people to use something that they can bring back to the workplace.

Jasper: 00:27:55

So the activities that I use are really related to communication and making that more effective in the workplace.

Jasper: 00:28:05

So one of the activities I've done is having a jigsaw puzzle.

Jasper: 00:28:10

And instead of having people look at the box and see what that design looks like, I'll flip everything over and hide that design.

Jasper: 00:28:19

So they'll really have to work together and solve that puzzle with no image whatsoever.

Jasper: 00:28:26

But they'll have to work together to see what fits.

Jasper: 00:28:29

And after they solve it, we'll have that conversation to see, okay, what's really worked, what didn't work, which really gives employees the opportunity to have that conversation.

Jasper: 00:28:39

And when they talk more about their teamwork, they have more insights and perspectives to bring into the workplace.

Jasper: 00:28:46

So it's really opening up that discussion on how to be effective together.

Jasper: 00:28:50

And as I mentioned, I'm sure just falls, kicking and screaming.

Jasper: 00:28:54

That has its value in bringing up energy.

Jasper: 00:28:56

But when it comes to teammating activities, we want to have something that works in the workplace.

Keith: 00:29:01

That's great.

Keith: 00:29:02

I really hate jigsaw puzzles.

Keith: 00:29:07

That would be the worst things.

Keith: 00:29:09

My wife loves them.

Keith: 00:29:10

I can't stand jigsaw puzzles.

Jasper: 00:29:12

Flip them over.

Jasper: 00:29:13

Flip them over.

Jasper: 00:29:14

Without this design, try to work together.

Keith: 00:29:16

It won't matter if there's a design or not.

Keith: 00:29:18

I just do not like puzzles.

Keith: 00:29:21

I'm curious.

Keith: 00:29:21

You were a recipient of the Santa Clara Valley 40 and under award.

Keith: 00:29:27

What leadership contributions are you most proud of?

Jasper: 00:29:31

Oh, yes.

Jasper: 00:29:32

So for the Santa Clarita 40 under 40, it was the volunteer opportunities that I had done in my community.

Jasper: 00:29:40

So I've been a volunteer for their mecca and Red Cross at this point.

Jasper: 00:29:46

I've been a volunteer for them for a decade now.

Jasper: 00:29:49

So I've been with them for another contribution for my community.

Jasper: 00:29:55

I am involved in a nonprofit called JCI, and what it does is it promotes leadership development opportunities for young leaders under the age of 40.

Jasper: 00:30:07

And the projects that I was involved in, we have something called Sennis Helpers, where we collected toys from the community during the holiday season.

Jasper: 00:30:16

And then we'll wrap those new toys and redistribute them to children in less privileged families so they get that opportunity to really celebrate Christmas the way they could not do otherwise.

Jasper: 00:30:32

Another project was Operation Gobbler, where we're collecting different ingredients for Thanksgiving and distributing to families in need.

Jasper: 00:30:43

So it's really these volunteer opportunities that have given me these moments to really serve my community well, that's really neat.

Keith: 00:30:53

And I'm sure it makes such an impact in people's lives to have someone who doesn't have to pour into their life to care enough about them, to give the time and the effort and the skill set to be able to organize that for them.

Keith: 00:31:06

So that's really neat.

Jasper: 00:31:07

That's right.

Jasper: 00:31:07

And then when you see the smiles of the hundreds of people that you're affecting, it really brings joy back into your own life.

Keith: 00:31:14

Yeah.

Keith: 00:31:15

I'm curious for you.

Keith: 00:31:16

Looking ahead, what emerging trends do you see in organizational culture and leadership going forward?

Jasper: 00:31:23

I'm glad you asked this, Keith.

Jasper: 00:31:25

There are so many trends that are affecting company culture.

Jasper: 00:31:29

The first one I want to share is research that I've learned from Professor Scott Page from the University of Michigan.

Jasper: 00:31:37

And what he says is that teamwork is going to become much more important than ever in the future.

Jasper: 00:31:44

And he explains that by showing us that the easy problems are already solved, as we move toward the future, things will get more, a lot will become a lot more complex and sophisticated.

Jasper: 00:31:56

So, for example, the wheel that's already been invented, two plus two equals four, that's already invented, cars that's already been invented.

Jasper: 00:32:07

These problems have been solved as we look forward.

Jasper: 00:32:10

Cloud computing, sophisticated artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, climate change.

Jasper: 00:32:18

As we move forward into the future, these issues are becoming more complex as time moves forward.

Jasper: 00:32:27

No one person can solve these problems alone.

Jasper: 00:32:30

So when it comes to company culture, this sense of teamwork is going to be much more crucial because working together will get better results than one person working by themselves.

Jasper: 00:32:41

So that's the research on the value of company culture, of teamwork, and its complexity in the future for solving these problems.

Jasper: 00:32:52

The second trend I've learned is from Rohit Bhargava.

Jasper: 00:32:58

He is the author of the non obvious reports, and he introduced something called amplified identity, where more and more people want to be seen as individuals.

Jasper: 00:33:09

And we see this in social media, where everyone's posting selfies of themselves when you're scrolling every other post is a selfie.

Jasper: 00:33:18

And what that means is that as a leader, we're going to have to be much more intentional about ensuring people have a voice.

Jasper: 00:33:28

Since everyone wants to see it be seen as an individual.

Jasper: 00:33:31

There's this less there's less of the sense of groupthink.

Jasper: 00:33:35

So as a leader, we want to really make the time to really listen to others.

Jasper: 00:33:41

And then with these two trends combined, the way I see it, we're now co creating a world together.

Jasper: 00:33:52

So with the value of teamwork becoming more crucial in the future and people wanting to be seen as individuals, we now need to work together in writing each other's story.

Jasper: 00:34:03

So, for example, today on this podcast, we're co creating the show.

Jasper: 00:34:09

For example, you know, our conversation, it's good.

Jasper: 00:34:13

It's really sharing a story for you and then for you, for me, as we're working together in, you know, trying to write something together in our lives.

Jasper: 00:34:23

So that's how these trends really interact with one another.

Keith: 00:34:27

Well, that should be fascinating.

Keith: 00:34:28

Future ahead there.

Keith: 00:34:29

We'll see where this all ends up going.

Jasper: 00:34:31

Absolutely.

Keith: 00:34:33

As you think about the young leaders that are coming up today, what advice do you have for this next generation of leaders if they want to make an impact in organizations going forward?

Jasper: 00:34:43

Absolutely.

Jasper: 00:34:44

So what I'm learning about these younger leaders is a sense of vision and purpose has been really important to them.

Jasper: 00:34:53

Gone are the days where you can just give a task to a young leader and they'll instantly see the value on it.

Jasper: 00:35:03

They want to know that what they do really makes a difference.

Jasper: 00:35:07

And the advice I would give to younger leaders is to really step into that, embrace that, because that is a good thing.

Jasper: 00:35:16

Because when leaders embrace purpose in what they do, that brings a greater sense of meaning in the work that we'll see in the future.

Jasper: 00:35:25

So really embrace that sense of purpose, meaning, significance and vision, because that will bring out more work and output and solutions that really make a great difference.

Keith: 00:35:39

So here's a question for you as we wrap things up, and it's been a great conversation, what do you want your legacy to be?

Jasper: 00:35:46

My legacy.

Jasper: 00:35:47

For me, as I reflect on my life, my story is a story of perseverance.

Jasper: 00:35:55

And for me, growing up with asthma and then running a marathon, it's really that sense that I want people to know that if they really push forward and keep going, they can accomplish great things.

Jasper: 00:36:11

And I want people to know that there is a lot of value in keeping your head up.

Jasper: 00:36:16

So for those of you who are listening, if you're going through a challenging time in life right now, I want you to know that.

Jasper: 00:36:25

Keep your head up.

Jasper: 00:36:27

Keep going.

Jasper: 00:36:27

Keep pushing.

Jasper: 00:36:28

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Jasper: 00:36:30

So as far as reflecting on my legacy, it's really encouraging others to keep pushing forward.

Keith: 00:36:37

That's great.

Keith: 00:36:38

As we wrap this up, Jesper, what key takeaways or call to actions do you want to leave with the audience today?

Jasper: 00:36:45

Absolutely.

Jasper: 00:36:46

On my website, I have a complimentary assessment for your leadership skills.

Jasper: 00:36:50

And it's called behavioral elements.

Jasper: 00:36:52

It's on my website, and what it does, it shares perspective about what drives your behavior.

Jasper: 00:37:01

And that's based on four elements.

Jasper: 00:37:03

That is fire, air, earth, and water.

Jasper: 00:37:06

So for the fire element, these are the leaders who are inspired by competition.

Jasper: 00:37:12

Not competition in the bad sense, but competition in reaching the highest levels.

Jasper: 00:37:16

So, for example, for a fire, if you give a sales manager the goal of making 100 calls in a day, they'll go back up to you and say, keith, just 100.

Jasper: 00:37:26

Come on, I can do 150, maybe even 200.

Jasper: 00:37:29

Let's go.

Jasper: 00:37:31

That's fire.

Jasper: 00:37:32

That sense of acquiring and competition.

Jasper: 00:37:35

Next is earth.

Jasper: 00:37:37

These are the leaders who really embrace the value of staying organized, the sense of process and structure, because they really understand that when everything is running smoothly, that just makes life easier.

Jasper: 00:37:54

The next element is water.

Jasper: 00:37:57

And these are the leaders who embrace the relationships at work.

Jasper: 00:38:01

They know the connections bring them joy.

Jasper: 00:38:04

And that opportunity to connect with others, that's what motivates them.

Jasper: 00:38:08

And lastly, it is air.

Jasper: 00:38:10

And this is for this element.

Jasper: 00:38:12

These are the leaders who are inspired by creativity.

Jasper: 00:38:15

They love brainstorming.

Jasper: 00:38:17

They love innovation.

Jasper: 00:38:18

As the metaphor goes, throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.

Jasper: 00:38:22

And this is what motivates those heirs.

Jasper: 00:38:23

So four elements, fire, air, water, earth.

Jasper: 00:38:26

Behavioral elements.

Jasper: 00:38:27

Complementary assessment on my website.

Jasper: 00:38:30

It'll give you a better perspective of what drives your behavior.

Keith: 00:38:33

And see, those are all great because my favorite ban is earth, wind, and fire.

Keith: 00:38:37

So I can really resonate with those.

Jasper: 00:38:41

They have all the leadership skills within.

Keith: 00:38:43

There you go.

Keith: 00:38:43

All the leadership skills.

Keith: 00:38:45

So, Jesper, I'm so thankful that you came on.

Keith: 00:38:47

Can you tell the audience where they could connect with you and find you on social media?

Jasper: 00:38:51

Absolutely.

Jasper: 00:38:51

The first way to reach me is through my website, familyconsulting.com.

Jasper: 00:38:56

and the next way to reach me is LinkedIn.

Jasper: 00:38:58

Search for Jesper McQuending I absolutely love conversations about leadership development, personal growth, and team building.

Jasper: 00:39:07

If you want to have a conversation about those topics, happy to have them.

Jasper: 00:39:10

Again, you can search me on LinkedIn.

Jasper: 00:39:12

Jesper McUndang.

Keith: 00:39:13

You might want to spell your last name for it because that's a little hard to type in there.

Jasper: 00:39:19

I'll spell it.

Jasper: 00:39:20

M a q u I n d a n G.

Jasper: 00:39:24

Jesper Mukundang.

Keith: 00:39:25

So good to have you on, Jesper, and thanks for what you do and the energy you bring to this conversation and the impact you're having in the community by just giving yourself to places like the Red Cross and your community, those are lasting moments that most people sometimes don't understand how important it is for people like yourself to invest in their lives.

Keith: 00:39:48

So thank you for what you do.

Jasper: 00:39:50

Thank you.

Jasper: 00:39:50

Keith.

Jasper: 00:39:51

Really enjoyed our conversation today.