Leadership Tool Showcase: Loyalty and Playfulness

Right now, corporate America is suffering through a crisis of loyalty. Disengagement, turnover, burnout, the “Great Resignation”—these are just a few of the fires that today’s leaders are trying to put out. What’s the spark that ignited the inferno? A pervasive lack of trust due to a failure to cultivate deep loyalty at every level of our organizations.

The time to build loyalty is now—before your people have checked out or jumped ship for your competitors. We draw on the experience of 23 high-ranking military leaders in developing the presentation for this showcase. These senior officers (primarily Generals and Admirals from all four branches of the military) have spent decades each learning how to cultivate the loyalty that makes for an elite, high-performing team. Using the 9 laws of Loyalty and instilling the Culture of We, we’ll help you apply what they’ve learned to your company and move you from a posture of reactivity to one of proactivity, so you can start focusing on the mission and stop being distracted by the petty obstacles that stand in your way. You will be provided with an organizational audit that can be used to take a pulse of your organization and identify quick wins to get moving in the right direction toward a loyal workforce, using proven techniques from the most loyal people on the planet.

In the second part of the program, learn about the transformative nature of play and how engaging in play can rewire the brain to function better in all contexts with the new Play Identity Tool. The Play Identity Tool first defines the 10 Play Identities and allows participants to reflect on their feelings toward play and to determine their 3 predominant Play Identities. Finally, the tool suggests 5 meaningful practices for each Play Identity in order to increase energy, reduce stress, identify hidden talents, and connect to play activities that bring joy and satisfaction. After, identifying potential barriers/obstacles to play, participants will create a plan for play.

Registration is required. Breakfast will be served. The schedule is as follows:

8:00 AM - 8:30 AM: Registration and Networking

8:30 AM - 8:45 AM: Opening Mindfulness Activity with Karen Newton, MPH

8:45 AM - 9:30 AM: Dr. Alfred Frager/Loyalty Presentation

9:30 AM - 9:45 AM: Break

9:45 AM - 10:30 AM: Daniel Montgomery/Playfulness Presentation

10:30-10:45 AM - Closing

Dr. Alfred Frager is a Talent Management and People Analytics leader that has worked successfully in the field for over a decade. In addition to his full-time faculty appointment at the University of Louisville College of Business, Dr. Frager is a Sr. Consultant for Leadership Reality where he helps his clients link culture, strategy, and learning. In his Leadership Development and Executive Coaching work, he helps his clients achieve sustained peak Leadership performance and maintain executive presence using evidence-based practice methods. In his strategic management consulting, he uses a Design Thinking approach to drive success and a culture of accountability using customizable solutions.

He is currently authoring The Culture of We: Lessons in Loyalty from the Battlefield to the Boardroom, that explores developing loyalty in organizations from the perspective of 24 one-, two-, three, and four-star generals from all four branches of our U.S. military. Through phenomenological qualitative research, the 9 laws of loyalty were born to help leaders in all types of businesses develop and sustain a culture of loyalty in their work and ultimately drive success. These tried and trusted methods that come from years of leading battalions of 60,000+ soldiers have been contextualized to the business world so that you too can employ these methods and develop a loyal culture.

Daniel Montgomery is a leader, innovator, and social entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of Leadership Reality Advisors, a leadership development company. In his work with executives, Daniel is known for his unique way of combining his artistic and intuitive talent with systematic thinking to help leaders use their own story, habits, and values to scale and succeed.

He is the author of 4 books, including How to Be Present in an Absent World: Showing Up, Paying Attention and Becoming Fully Human. In this latest work, Daniel, together with Dr. Kenny Silva and Dr. Eboni Webb, addresses the problem of modern absence and shows readers how to cultivate an empowering self-awareness in order to engage fully in every area of life.

He is currently co-authoring The Culture of We: Lessons in Loyalty from the Battlefield to the Boardroom with Dr. Alfred Frager and General Mike Rochelle, which examines the development of loyalty in organizations from the perspective of 24 generals from the US military.

Daniel’s passion is to bring work to life and life to work by building resilience, exploring curiosity, and infusing play, resulting in transformational learning and development in executives, businesses and communities.

Karen Newton served as Director of Health Promotion & Wellbeing in University of Louisville Campus Health Services from 2007 until retirement in 2018. She directed implementation of a resilience framework to support the academic persistence and personal wellbeing of UofL students. Karen added Koru Mindfulness courses, retreats and drop-in Relax & Refocus sessions to students’ stress resilience menu in 2015; these programs were subsequently adopted by UofL faculty & staff wellness programs, Medical School and School of Nursing. She collaborated with the Speed Art Museum Education Department to facilitate silent meditation retreats and to implement Slow Down at the Speed: where art meets mindfulness.

Karen now teaches Koru Mindfulness at the Earth & Spirit Center Meditation School, YouthBuild, Waterfront Botanical Gardens and other non-profits in our community. Karen has extensive training in Trauma Responsive Mindfulness. As adjunct UofL faculty, she periodically teaches her 14-week Mindfulness for Stress Resilience course in UofL College of Education, serves as guest lecturer on the intersection of resilience, trauma and mindfulness and she is collaborating with UofL colleagues to research to study the impact of Koru Mindfulness courses on the resilience of students in marginalized identity groups. She also serves as a Trainer of Teachers for The Koru Center.

Karen is a graduate of San Diego State University and completed her Master of Public Health degree in community health promotion and nutrition science at Loma Linda University, CA in 1981.

Host or Publisher U of L, Project on Positive Leadership