Pollinating Your Organization For Transformative Growth With Michael Frino And Katie Desiderio
You will know you belong in a good team if you experience personal growth with everyone else, all while hitting your set goals. Dynamic duo Michael Frino And Katie Desiderio are on a mission to teach everyone about organization development, which is the central subject of their book, The Beekeeper. In this episode, they share with Tony Martignetti how one leadership development program brought them to this career path and now changing the professional roadmap of other aspiring leaders. Michael and Katie also discuss the importance of supportive mentors, why personal growth cannot be fast-tracked, and how they turned their work into a rewarding passion.
---
Listen to the podcast here
Pollinating Your Organization For Transformative Growth With Michael Frino And Katie Desiderio
It is my honor to introduce you to my guests for this episode, Kate Desiderio and Michael Frino. Kate and Michael are both co-authors of the book, The Beekeeper: Pollinating Your Organization for Transformative Growth. Let me introduce both of them separately and then we'll welcome them to our show. Katie is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Beekeeper and she counts her blessings for the people in her life.
She guides her approach to work where her focus is on every organization's most important asset, you. Along with her work as a Professor of Management and tenured faculty member at Moravian University, Kate is a principal partner in the learning of proximal development and an authorized DISC partner specializing in leadership development and the advancement of performance through learning. She lives in Pennsylvania and is the mom of two girls.
Michael Frino is also the author of the book The Beekeeper. He has years of professional experience working for Fortune 500 companies in sales, leadership, and organizational development. He lives in Southwest Florida and is a girl dad, the father of three daughters. We've got a lot of girl dads over here. That's fantastic. I'm so thrilled and honored to welcome you both to the show.
Thanks for having us.
Tony, thank you so much for having us.
Looking Back
I always love having two guests on because there's something about the dynamic of seeing how two people work together. The fact that you wrote this amazing book together is remarkable. I got a chance to check it out and enjoyed it. Thank you so much. As we do on the show, I love to uncover people's journeys to making an impact in the world and how they do these amazing things.
They just didn't show up. There's a journey to getting there. What I want to do is explore the flashpoints that have revealed who you both are in the world. Along the way, we'll pause and see what themes are showing up and see how your separate journeys have brought you both together to do this great work. I'm going to start with Katie and turn it over to you. I'll let you start. What are some of the flashpoints or moments in your life that have made you into who you are?
There's a space of accountability to answer this question of how we turn the mirror to say, “Who am I? What shaped me? Who shaped me? What are the life events that have informed how I show up?” I always go back to as a child, I had a learning disability. I was in a space of, “You're a great athlete. You're going to be a great soccer player but you'll probably never do much in the academic space.”
It’s back to that and the people seemingly in college who helped change that mindset. That propelled a lot of what Mike and I do in the space of leadership development, identifying the people who see things in you that you don't yet see in yourselves or that you've primed yourself not to believe. Through having mentors playing soccer my whole life and college and moving into the professional space, I've given myself the liberty of continuing to discover myself.
Identify the people who see the good things in you that you do not get to see yourself or have chosen not to believe.
In the spirit of that, Mike and I met in our doctoral program where we studied Organizational Learning and Leadership Development. We recognized that even though we were thousands of miles away from each other in a virtual space, we shared a lot of common interests in human performance at work. Some things that aligned for both of us in the early parts of our lives propelled us to what we do for a living now but in other ways, it was us learning from each other. I'll turn it over to Mike to share his.
Very similar. I grew up in athletics. That was a strong foundation for teamwork. My journey here was a journey of self-reflection on reaching my peak potential. I don't think I was, in all candor, the greatest student through high school and college. I had difficulty grasping certain concepts but I wanted to commit to lifelong learning.
That's where I went on to get my graduate degree and doctorate program because I wanted to teach others and have aspirations to be someone who can inspire and teach others. That's where Katie mentioned that we crossed paths in graduate school and had a lot of similarities in what we were thinking from people and performance, and informed a lot of our research over the last decade that we've been publishing up until the most recent publication of our book.
Leadership Development Program
It's amazing. I hear these stories that are not very different. In this journey that you've been on, two people didn't necessarily see themselves doing the work that they're doing but also have a passion for wanting to make an impact but also not knowing that this was going to be in the spectrum of being able to do it in learning and development. What prompted you to think, “I'm going to go into the leadership development program or an organizational development field?”
Mine was my mentor. I worked six and a half years in corporate marketing. One of my mentors from college called me and said, “I want you to come back and adjunct teach undergraduate students.” I was like, “No way. I have no interest in doing that. Thank you, but no.” I then finally said yes. Driving an hour on Thursday nights to teach that three-hour class was transformative.
Tony, I know you do a lot of work in the transformative leadership space but it helped in that space of discovery. I realize how I can have an impact as my mentor did for me and the ways that I could give back. I found myself thinking about that Thursday night class more than I was in my marketing role at the time. I started searching for programs. It was the head of that program who I'm still very close to and I consider a mentor, Dr. Kopp, who convinced me to come to his program. I remember he spent an hour with me on the phone one evening talking about the program, its impact, and how to be an effective scholar-practitioner. I wanted to find a fit. That's what led me to Berry University.
I love this idea of having people who believe in you before you can step into that and say, “This is possible.” You had a believer in you. Mike, how about you?
I'm a sales guy. My jobs have always been in sales. I started in sales and I've been there for many years. It’s where I had my mindset shift and why I wanted to go back to school and do a little more learning about people and human performance. I always found myself migrating to more of the sales training side of sales where I enjoyed having people with me, teaching them, educating them, and helping them be better at their jobs. Also, thinking differently about what they need to grow and develop.
I found a passion there so I started exploring, “What can I do in this space if I love this so much? What can I do if I make this a career for me?” That's where graduate degrees help. They give you a little bit more perspective on some of the theoretical frameworks. The degree that we went for is a practice scholar-practitioner degree. It's nice because we're able to put some of those concepts into practice and learn how to do that. I was able to effectively transition into an organizational development role where I still get the opportunity to focus on people and wake up every day thinking about making people better.
There's something about what you're sharing, which both of you have shared, this sense of some people going through their jobs and saying, “This is great. I'm doing well.” They're successful and then they might uncover something they like but don't follow the lead. They don't continue down that path or even take it to the next level. Oftentimes, that's where we miss the real chance to uncover what we're capable of or what we're meant for. Seeing those little things that spark this interest and then taking that next step is what differentiates people from being stuck in a pattern of doing the same thing over and over again to living a life that is more aligned with who they are.
Tony, you're bringing up something so powerful for the readers and that's the reason that Mike and I took the approach we did in writing The Beekeeper, where the protagonist has this lens check moment. She comes across someone who sees things in her that she didn't yet see in herself. It’s that space of what we call the Pygmalion effect. Someone believes in you and then you start to believe in yourself because you lean in and you're willing to see it.
To your point, where Mike and I help each other as growth partners is that it's hard for adults to unlearn. We see what we see. We're comfortable where we're comfortable but how do we unlearn the way we've always seen or done it and look at things from a fresh perspective or, “Let me try it. Let me be curious and lean in to discover a little bit more.” There's a space for all of us to recognize that we don't know what's next when we leave ourselves open to discovering and then how we do that for the people around us instead of going through the motions.
You don't have to risk the entire farm on that next thing. You can experiment and try things out from there. Tell me more, Mike. What are your thoughts on this idea? As we take these experiments, how did you know that it was time to buckle down and realize that this is the path and thing?
It's interesting. When people believe in you, and Katie alluded to this, people tell you, “This is something you're good at. You have a skillset here. People enjoy connecting with you in this manner,” sometimes it takes those people, like mentors, to build you up and give you that perspective that this might be something that would be a good move for you.
Oftentimes, we don't look at ourselves and say, “You may love it but you don't know how to operationalize the thing that you enjoy,” and help work with and through others to say, “What can I do with this?” Many companies are very willing to look up talent in the organization and help them find something that they enjoy doing and create opportunities for them to stay in the organization.
Sometimes we think we have to go on these linear paths and ways and hierarchical approaches to business and moving up the corporate ladder. That's not always necessarily the case. If you bring a skillset or something to the table, sit down with people and leaders in the company to craft something that inspires you and gets you excited. There are roles for people to help self-author what they want to do so they can get up every day. It takes people believing in you to do that and showing you that this is something that you'd be good at.
Organizational Development
We're going to take this to the next level. It's one thing to follow a path but when you start to execute on moving in a direction, there are stumbling blocks along the way, particularly when you start to think about how to build a business around doing this work. I'd love to hear about your journey and if there are any additional flashpoints along the way that challenged you about how to bring this idea of organizational development out into the world and maybe some setbacks that you experienced.
In all transparency, Katie and I are still learning. The flashpoint is for us. We've never written a book before and had it go viral like it did. We've never anticipated such huge success and inspiring many people. The learning here is how you take a message, a story, and something that people find inspiring and create something that other people can model, see, or get the word out. We're in learner's mode on a lot of this stuff. That's probably one of the biggest flashpoints for me. As we think about our second book and what the publishers have asked us to do, these are the moments that are going to help in the future.
There's something about what you shared, this sense of starting with the heart of why you do what you do. You don't start a business and say, “We'll figure out what we're going to sell.” You start with a passion for what you do and then figure out how to build something around it. It's challenging to be out there delivering messages and doing things. To survive, you have to have that heart.
That was a place for Mike and me. When we decided to write the book, first, we pivoted from writing a traditional leadership book to a fable. To Mike's point, one space is for subject matter experts in organizational learning and leadership. In the space of writing a book, specifically a leadership fable, we have to show up with a beginner's mind and say, “How do we learn? How do we lean in with a growth mindset,” ask a lot of questions and be open enough not to show up and say, “We know. We have the answers. We're the subject matter experts.” How do we learn from our publisher, Wiley, who's been incredible and is still teaching us?
The space of the book is centered around our personal why. Mike and I are both fueled by personal growth and the growth of others. Keeping learning and growth at the heart of what we do is a shared purpose. It's a driver. There's a fuel there that I don't think any price tag could be attached to. That's why we chose to focus the fable on bees because bees are in the world to help the world grow. From a leadership perspective, how do we show up in the space of learning and growth and that we're encouraging that for the people that we work with and through but for the people around us to focus on that as well?
That is amazing that you shared that. First of all, a fable is not an easy thing to write. That is something that most people would agree with. It's almost like marrying up this idea of bringing high concepts but also bringing fiction into the mix. It's almost double the challenge. To co-author a book is something that I want to know more about. What are the big challenges that you face in coming together? You seem like you guys get along well, even after writing a book.
Katie and I went to grad school together. When we got our Doctorate in Organizational Learning and Leadership, it was probably five years later when we determined that we met up in person and went to a conference together to learn about our discipline and decided to submit a paper in an abstract. We've been writing together for years. We had our 10th Academic Scholarly Journal published on meaningful work in the Performance Improvement Journal in March 2024. We continue to try to influence the space.
For most people who maybe are friends or colleagues and try to write a book, it would be difficult. Katie and I have been doing this for years so we know each other's style with our strengths and opportunities to work together. I pull Katie in a lot and she pulls me in a lot. We bounce ideas off each other. I'll let her speak but it's been effective. We both have that same why and purpose of why we're writing. It naturally comes to life.
It goes back to a lot of people asking us, “How do you have time to do this? You’re parents. Your kids are active. You work full-time jobs.” That's another shared piece. There's this shared inner purpose of growth that's central. We call this the art of being proximal, keeping yourself and others at the heart of learning and growth. There's also what you need to be great in life. There's an important inventory for everybody to do that. For me, I get up early and get my workout in before everybody wakes up. I need that for me. I also need intellectual stimulation.
To have a growth partner that too needs intellectual stimulation, it doesn't feel like work. It's like, “Wow, we get to do this work.” What a gift that we get to work with these other scholar-practitioners, continue to learn, and contribute to the field in this way. There's a space of the perception that it never feels like too much work but rather a gift to be able to do it.
Working Together
I love the way that you share that. It's a gift but it also feels like you have to express that gift. If you don't, you feel like you're leaving something out. I have to use a strong word but you want to express that. If you don't, you feel like you're leaving something out. You feel unfulfilled. I want to delve into this idea that when two people come together, it is often one person who has a strength in one area versus another. Do you find that there are certain things that maybe Mike has a strength in versus you, Kate? Where do you come together and become the Wonder Twins' powers activate?
I love that, powers activate, that's a good reference. Tony, it's important to note that Mike and I are both certified in DISC. On the DISC map for the readers is D, Dominance, I, Influence, S, Steadiness, and C, Conscientiousness. Mike is a very strongly inclined DC style and I am an SI style on the DISC map with some line shading in D. We look at the world, prioritize energy, and come with different mindsets. The key for us is to leverage those.
Mike comes in with a more analytical lens of gathering data, asking a lot of questions, and being more skeptical about things. I'm going to come in more focused on harmonizing, making sure everything is threaded, we're pulling in perspectives, and we're effectively collaborating. For us to look at it, we bring different gifts to this writing relationship and the opportunity for us to produce something where we're using those lenses and using the difference to make something conducive for all different styles of readers. Thinking about that deep level of diversity makes us better.
Being Part Of The Solution
That's a two about us acknowledging. Over the years, we've been able to say, “I need your lens here. Can you look at this?” In the space of writing, Mike and I do a lot of collaboration. We do a lot of visionary mental mapping and looking at what's the story and thread but what's the so what. We don't want to do busy work. We're tied to and then we geek out, “Here are the leadership concepts that we want to cover.” We start to say, “I'm taking this chapter. You're taking this chapter. What are some of the things that we want to touch off on?”
We each go off on our research journeys for that chapter based on the tenants that we want to pull out and then we thread. It's a space of opening up dialogue, knowing the direction, but to Mike's point, we've been working together for years. If we tried to do this a few years ago, it would be a struggle because we're in the infant stages of getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, leaning in to get feedback and see the things we didn't see. Over time, as you build trust, you start to say, “Mike, I need your lens,” or, “Katie, I need your lens.” We're asking for it, which helps us in being highly productive in what we execute.
It speaks to what we started here. This is a journey. It's not something you all of a sudden are amazing together. You have to continue to hone the craft of working together. Even writing on its own, people don't start becoming amazing writers. They have to start with writing and knowing that it's going to be imperfect first until they start to see things get better. Before they know it, they're writing an amazing book.
Tony, it's probably the perfect time for us to give a shout-out to the editorial team at Wiley who continues to help us be better. The first draft of The Beekeeper is not what is published in the book. There's the iterative process but it’s the willingness for us to say, ”Good point. That was a good suggestion. We have to thread a little bit more of that in.” We show up with that beginner's mind to say, “Let me continue to learn.” We're doing the same thing as we're working on book two. What did we learn? How are we implementing some of that into this book number two?
The Beekeeper
I can't wait. We're going to get too excited about the second book. I'd love to have you delve a little bit into some of the key ideas. Touch the surface of The Beekeeper so that the readers can get a feeling as to what they can expect.
One of the ways Katie and I brought this to life and for a little backstory, Katie and I mapped out this book on the back of a pizza box in Chicago. We're both on business. We got together. We hadn't seen each other in a while. We started thinking about growth and how we can help people grow around us. That's what we care about, the development of human beings, and that's where the bee came into our mind.
You'll notice in the book, at a very high level, a lot of the chapters are bee mindsets of choosing who and how you want to be but central to the book is this concept that's brand new to the world, which is the art of learning to be proximal. This is not something that you'll find in any other kind of business book but proximal means closest to the center or closest to your heart.
What we encourage people to do is find a way to place themselves at the center of someone else's growth, your growth, and your organization's growth because if you can effectively do that, you will build more pollinators and people who understand how to help and influence others. That's what we need to help people see the world differently and help them see their potential. Someone is looking out for them and placing themselves at the center of someone else's growth. Katie and I do that for each other. We're growth partners. We help each other constantly. This art of learning to be proximal is a pretty high-level concept for people interested in learning about it.
I love this concept and part of it also comes to this place where we are in general, which is sometimes people feel a little bit disconnected. Maybe that's not the right way to look at it but feeling like no one's got them in mind or got their growth interests at heart. Leaders have that different mindset of saying, “We are keeping people connected at that place of seeing them and hearing them out that brings them more into the center.” Would you agree?
Yes. There's something important there. 1) Leaders need to pay attention. “I see you. I value you. I support you.” There are high contributions to the work that you do. 2) This is when we think about the tri-level of leadership, individual, group, or team and organization. The Beekeeper is at the individual level. You get to choose your bee mindset and choose who and how you want to be. Tony, you bring up something important. I go through this a lot. I teach graduate business courses and do a lot of consulting work. A lot of times, it's about people getting out of their way like, “Someone doesn't believe in me. Someone doesn't see me.”
Do they know you? How are you advocating for yourself? How are you asking for what you need? Sometimes that narrative gets out of our way and we create stories in our mind true or not that we start to unlearn, “Maybe here she would help me if I asked. If they knew what my professional goals are,” or fill in the blanks. In some of those ways, it's like, “How do we go back,” and then start to hold the pen to say, “How am I authoring my story?” I get to hold the pen to that. Nobody else. There are contributors but I need to be authoring the pages. Having that agency is something that becomes powerful.
You are the author of your own life. They may be contributors around you, but only you have the power to create something powerful.
I remember when I was younger in my career, someone said to me, “If it is to be, it's up to me.” Meaning, it's up to you. I love that. There's something about that which is to say that you can't rely on other people to set the path forward but they have to understand that you have to take your destiny into your hands. They need to hear why or who you are in that world and then allow other people to help you because they can't help you unless they know how to help you.
That's right. Tony, can we use that and we'll give you credit, “If it is to be, it's up to me?” That's a perfect message.
One of the chapters in the book is to be patient. I do think that this conversation we're having is important because it is up to the individual. Society has created this inevitably. Someone can watch, let's say, the Game of Thrones series, all eight seasons in a week if they want to. That's eight years of someone's life in a week. Oftentimes, when we think about learning and growth, people have this false sense of how long something will take because everything is so short. It's so quick.
You can get access to years worth of content in a very short amount of time but when you're going on a personal growth journey and developing yourself and learning, that's different. That takes time and investment. That can't happen in a short period. It may take someone five years to grow their career in an organization or grow personally and professionally and that's okay. It doesn't have to happen overnight. In the environment we're in, level setting expectations, and making sure people take the time to invest and then apply those skills, there's a patience that is missing from some of the people's leadership development.
I see that a lot. You take it into your hands but don't be so overly hasty. A lot of people throw out a lot of great effort too quickly because they feel like it's not getting the credit that it deserves. The reality is that maybe it is getting credit. It hasn't come to fruition yet and it needs to be watered a little bit longer before the seed can grow. We've got to use those analogies as much as we can.
We use the seed analogy a lot too, Tony. We appreciate that.
Tell me what you're most concerned about as we come into this period. Is there something that's a topic or an area that you want to dive into and maybe this is where you're going with your next book? What are some things that are concerning you at this moment?
I wouldn't say, Tony, that I have any concerns. I always look at them as opportunities for us to lean in and be part of the solution. That's a number one. Let's not sit back and perseverate on problems. Let's link arms and be part of the solution. For all of us, there's an activation of we could sit back and complain or we could start to talk about how we move ourselves and the people around us forward.
In the spirit of that, this is where we're going with book number two. A lot of times, you hear people say, “If you want it done right, do it yourself. I'll get it. Let me do it on my own.” That's not where we reach our big potential or optimize what we can do. It’s the space for us to see who the people in our lives that can help us be better. We call it our personal star system.
We should be building star systems on our teams as well so that we're brighter, better, richer, or stronger together. We don't have to have all the answers or be better than the person next to us. We have to complement each other's strengths and opportunities for growth. When we do that, there's strength in numbers of allowing ourselves. Mike and I do this, “Mike, you're so good at this. I need you to take this piece.” “Katie, you're so good at this. I need you to.” We have to ask. We have to acknowledge where our strengths are.
Let's not overly focus on the things we're not good at. Let's instead pull people in who are. Often, we fail in that space to ask for what we need, surround ourselves with great people, and think about who we're spending our time and energy with. What we give our time and energy to grows. I remember when I did this inventory years ago, I had to stop spending time and energy with certain people who weren't helping me be better and prioritize the time and energy with the people who were. It's been life-changing since I activated that space. For all of us, think about how we help each other. How do we learn together and shine better and brighter together?
Mike, what about you? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
What Katie said is a top priority for us and even the organizational development space about not going at things alone but in the environment, people are seeking opportunities to leverage their strengths. I see the challenges. Everybody's focused on what people could do better and the opportunities for you for development, instead of focusing on strength-based development. We're huge fans of strength-based development.
Let's take people's strengths, invest, double down on those strengths, and put them into practice in our organizations. Putting a plus talent, position, or opportunity is where we're going to thrive. I believe that if companies have a mindset of we're only going to develop people's weaknesses, then we're not going to be successful in the future. I see that as a huge opportunity in a real blind spot if we don't focus on the strengths.
Putting A+ talent in A+ positions and opportunities is key to building a thriving business.
Something about what you both shared aligns with a lot of the things that I think about. I wrote an article about the curation of experts. We always think about curation as being what museum people do, bringing art together. The reality is that as leadership professionals, we're curating ideas and expertise all along our journey. We don't have to be the ones who have to carry that burden of doing it all in-house. We can bring together people who have expertise. One of the best skills we can have is to be a good curator.
I love that so much and so well said. I'd love to read your article, too. I'm going to look for that.
Book Recommendations
Thank you. I'm so thrilled that we had this conversation. There are so many things I'd love to cover. We need part two but we do need to cover our last question, which is something that I have a lot of fun with. What are 1 or 2 books that have had an impact on you both and why? We get to double the fun here.
I'll go first with my first book and then Katie, maybe you can do your first. One of the books that has most resonated with me is the concept of Extreme Ownership. This applies to the individual group and organizational level at the tri-level. It goes down to what you said, “If it's meant to be, it's up to me.” That's a big one and that's what extreme ownership and accountability are all about. I always think as you're building high-performing teams, that's a book I would recommend.
I love that, Mike. It's a great book. I'm going to say two books but they're threaded together. Tal Ben-Shahar's book Happier is in the space of positive psychology of thinking about how we own our happiness. There's a psychological leg of people thinking, “I will be happier when.” “I'll be happy when I get promoted,” and that never comes.
It's about being present in your now. It's about creating and authoring a lot of the things that we've talked about. Tal is the mentor to Shawn Achor and his books, The Happiness Advantage and Big Potential, which have had a profound impact on me, my thinking, my priming, how I create habits, and how I set up the things that I want in the lens that I want to be able to see the world to experience happiness now.
Katie, I shared this book and we've talked about it a lot. It’s The Coffee Bean by Jon Gordon and Damon West. It was widely published and it's cool to be part of that. The way they tell their stories inspires the way a lot of fables are written. The message of being a coffee bean can resonate with teams or organizations. We've always talked about that in our leadership development space.
It’s such a great recommendation and theme for this conversation about transformation. The coffee bean transforms its environment and we get to be coffee beans, too.
Closing Words
It's a nice surprise. I love the books you've mentioned so far. Except for Extreme Ownership, which has been mentioned in the past, none of them have been mentioned on the show yet, which is amazing. We're almost 250 episodes deep or something like that. I love The Coffee Bean. It's a book that I remember reading. It's a short book but one that resonated with me. That's great to hear mentioned. I don't want this to end but we do have to come to a close. I'll start by saying thank you so much for bringing your brilliance and your stories and sharing yourselves with my readers. This has been brilliant.
To your point, this was an enriching conversation so thanks for having us.
Before I let you both go, I want to make sure people know where they can find out more about you. I want to make sure they can find your book because it's a brilliant book. I can't wait for your next book.
Thank you. We encourage people to go to our website. It's LeadershipFables.com. On there, you can follow us on whatever platform you choose. We have all our social links on there. People can get The Beekeeper on Amazon or any online book retailer of their choice and order through independent bookstores if they'd like. It's out there. May 2, 2024 is the first anniversary of our launch, Tony. We're excited. We are hoping to create more pollinators. For all your readers out there, if you're looking to be a pollinator, we'd love for you to get a copy and share it with someone. Thank you for the opportunity. It was great.
I'm so glad that we had this opportunity and that the readers have the opportunity to go out and become pollinators. That's a wrap. I want to thank you all for being on this journey with us.
Thank you.
0 comments
Leave a comment
Please log in or register to post a comment