Hello everyone! My name is Ladek and my guest for this episode is Greg Rider. Greg is the Director of Corporate Compliance for the EmblemHealth family of companies. He has more than 20 years experience in employee training and development, with much of that time spent in healthcare-related organizations. In his role at EmblemHealth, Greg directs compliance communication, training, and other compliance governance functions.
In this ‘meditative’ conversation Greg and I discuss
00:00 › Start
4:52 › Breathe In—How Greg found himself in a space where he can discuss and advocate for Dharma and “embracing the now” in a professional setting, and what these mean, specifically for him
12:09 › Hold—Greg discusses why it has been hugely important for him to be able to “show up” completely at work, and how he supports others in doing that
17:19 › Release—Greg talks about how he handles situations where, perhaps, it might not be the best idea to put all of oneself on the table… and why it's sometimes a good idea just to remain silent (but not withholding)
20:20 › Reassess—Greg provides his insights into overcoming the fear of being “canceled” by colleagues, friends and family, and how being authentic has had an overarching impact across Greg’s business and network
29:15 › Embrace—Greg talks about the challenges of embracing the now on a daily basis and the need to go easy on yourself.
Subscribe for the latest news, practice and thought leadership at eLearnMagazine.com
Hello everyone! My name is Ladek and my guest for this episode is Greg Rider. Greg is the Director of Corporate Compliance for the EmblemHealth family of companies. He has more than 20 years experience in employee training and development, with much of that time spent in healthcare-related organizations. In his role at EmblemHealth, Greg directs compliance communication, training, and other compliance governance functions.
In this ‘meditative’ conversation Greg and I discuss
00:00 › Start
4:52 › Breathe In—How Greg found himself in a space where he can discuss and advocate for Dharma and “embracing the now” in a professional setting, and what these mean, specifically for him
12:09 › Hold—Greg discusses why it has been hugely important for him to be able to “show up” completely at work, and how he supports others in doing that
17:19 › Release—Greg talks about how he handles situations where, perhaps, it might not be the best idea to put all of oneself on the table… and why it's sometimes a good idea just to remain silent (but not withholding)
20:20 › Reassess—Greg provides his insights into overcoming the fear of being “canceled” by colleagues, friends and family, and how being authentic has had an overarching impact across Greg’s business and network
29:15 › Embrace—Greg talks about the challenges of embracing the now on a daily basis and the need to go easy on yourself.
Subscribe for the latest news, practice and thought leadership at eLearnMagazine.com
This is the eLearn podcast. If you're passionate about the future of learning, you're in the right place. The expert guests on this show provide insights into the latest strategies, practices,
and technologies for creating killer online learning outcomes. My name's Ladek, and I'm your host from OpenLMS. The E -Learn Podcast is sponsored by E -Learn Magazine,
your go -to resource for all things online learning. Click -by -click how -to articles, the latest in edtech, spotlight on successful outcomes and trends in the marketplace. Subscribe today and never miss a post at elearnmagazine .com and OpenLMS,
a company leveraging open -source software to deliver effective, customized and engaging learning experiences for schools, universities, companies and government. governments around the world since 2005.
Learn more at OpenLMS .net. Hello, everyone. My name is Ladek, and my guest for this episode is Greg Ryder. Greg is the Director of Corporate Compliance for the Emblem Health family of companies.
He has more than 20 years of experience in employee training and development with much of that time spent in healthcare -related organizations. In his role at Emblem Health, Greg Ryder directs compliance communication,
training, and other compliance -governance functions. In this meditative conversation, Greg and I discuss how he found himself in a space where he can discuss and advocate for Dharma and embracing the now in a professional setting,
and what each of these means specifically for him. Greg then discusses why it has been hugely important for him to be able to share... show up completely at work and how he supports others in doing that.
Greg then talks about how he handles situations where, perhaps, it might not be the best idea to put all of oneself on the table and why it's sometimes just a good idea to remain silent.
Greg then provides his insights into overcoming the fear of being cancelled by colleagues, by friends, by family, and how being authentic has had an impact across Greg's business and network.
Finally, Greg talks about the challenges of embracing the now on a daily basis and the need to go easy on yourself. And remember, we record this podcast live so that we can interact with you,
our listeners, in real time. So if you'd like to join the fun every week on LinkedIn or Facebook or YouTube, come over to elermagazine .com and subscribe. All right. Now, I give you Greg Ryder.
- Hello everyone, welcome to the Elearn podcast. My name is Lattic, as you've heard before, and I'm coming to you from OpenLMS. But this show, as I say so often, it's not about me,
it's about my guests, and I'm super excited to have Greg Ryder here today with me. Hello, Greg, how are you? - Hi, I'm great. I'm glad to be here, looking forward to our conversation and just sharing some of my experience,
strength, and hope. and whatever I can share about my journey to help you and your guests learn from it. And say, oh, remind me not to do that.
Oh, that sounds like a good idea. I think I wanna do that. - All right, fantastic. Great, as I always ask everybody, most people know I'm sitting here in Mexico City and we're having this conversation for posterity.
around, you know, the very top of October. Where do we find you in the world today? I am speaking to you from my office on Water Street in Manhattan down in the financial district,
and I'm looking out my window, and I can see the East River and Brooklyn in the distance. Wow, the East River and Brooklyn. It's been a long time since I've been up there. That's fantastic. Tell us who you work for,
like what, you know, put, you know... kind of position yourself for us. All right, you know, what's your role and what's your, you know, what do you focus on on a day -to -day basis? - Sure,
so my role, my job title was director of corporate compliance at Emblem Health, which is a regional health insurance company based in the New York city. So I cover a lot of what's called corporate compliance governance functions,
like compliance training. conflict of interest policies, but my passion is learning and development. And as you and I chatted just a few moments ago, I do a lot of time in my volunteer time and hours with ATD,
the Association for Talent Development. So I get to do a lot of fun stuff with them. I edited their handbook that came out a few years ago on talent development and training in healthcare handbook.
I also was the founder and leader of our LGBTQ employee resource group called Prism and at the time that we started there really wasn't a formalized DEI function so it was really grassroots and it was our group and the women's group that really were sort of laying the groundwork for what DEI looks like and you know just other employees like myself who stepped up in one to lead and help drive the company forward and
provide great experiences for our employees who want to do something more than their day to day work. So I've been to do a lot of work with that looking at the opportunity I get to talk about training development how we can apply that in our lives you know our topic for today is embracing the now discovery of Dharma how do we join all these disparate parts of our lives where a lot of our time is spent,
you know, what we get paid to do, but we all have so many other aspects of our lives and I know it's sometimes frustrating in technology where we're all driven by data and having to report,
aggregate, collate, do all kinds of stuff with data, like how do you, how do you sort of position... position and juxtaposition that altogether? So that's sort of what drives me and any different parts of my life,
and I don't have all the answers, but I like to be on this journey and learn from others and just sort of take time to stop and pause occasionally and have conversation with great folks like you.
You know, here's what I love. I love that you just told me that, you know, your focus is, you know, essentially compliance and governance. You're coming to us from a financial, the financial district in Manhattan,
you've got a suit and tie on. And our conversation is about Dharma and embracing the now, which, you know, that's just like, like for most people that's there,
you know, those are separate worlds. Like you should, you know, that we should, you should be on a beach. Oh, uh -oh. - I hear you. - Okay, great. It's all right. right. You popped it out there you popped it out there for a second I'm not sure what happens.
Oh, yeah, but anyway, so you know, I would think you know We when when people start talking about Dharma embracing the now these principles, you know You are not the person that most people think of being me The the leader the person who would be espousing this the person who's a champion for this which is I think it's fantastic Ted Ted,
you know, I'm not even sure like so the first question I have is take me on that journey of of How does someone like yourself who's got you know, this particular role that you're in right now? How does this become a topic for you?
Like where did how did you show up here? Good question. Um, it probably started when I was in when I was in college.
I You know, I was an education major and my my goal after graduating from college college was to be a high school English teacher So I had all the educational Ed site courses.
I did student teaching which was not Was not my Dharma. I was not embracing the now. I was trying to teach English to middle school kids and just did not work And I think that was sort of the beginning of the journey of education,
learning, connecting with others, and you know, and then eventually I think I landed a job in healthcare as a training development manager after I was downsized from AT &T where I was doing a lot of training and development with telemarketing.
and that's where I first got to get involved with employee resource groups. So I saw how using business, using passion, using connection with community could sort of all work together and at that point you know that was when AT &T was you know trying to get people to sign up for long distance and that was a little bit before cell phones.
I you know people think I'm you know I'm really a dinosaur when I tell them my first job with AT &T was how it was being a collection age and calling people to tell them they were pair of stew on their lease telephone.
Those were those plastic telephones that were stuck to your wall beside your kitchen table. And no earthquake or flood was ever going to remove that phone from the wall.
Nice. Nice. Hi there. I'm sorry to break into the show right now, but if you're enjoying this show, if you are challenged, if you're inspired, if you're learning something, if you think that you're going to be able to get something out of this to put into your practice,
do me a quick favor. Pause right now and just hit subscribe on your podcast player right now. It doesn't matter which one. Just hit subscribe because that way it'll make sure that you never miss an episode in the future. Thanks.
Now, back to the show. So, so what So you started this journey, and how are you, I guess,
tell us what is Dharma and embracing the now mean for you today? So you've come a long way, you're here, you presented this at ATD, I think about six months ago. What does that mean in your life right now?
So Dharma, which is this kind of I've taken from the book, you know, Think Like a Monk from Jay Shetty, and he was one of the keynote speakers at ATD's International Conference two years ago.
So when we talk about Darma, it's using our natural inclination to think that we're good at, our thrive mode to serve others. So for me, that's training development, it's connecting with other people.
It's communicating. It's it's helping people to sort of learn and be the best version of themselves. And then it's also this sort of this, I guess,
social justice, this, you know, my journey which is not, you know, wholly unique but, you know, other, you know, growing up in a conservative town of Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, realizing I was gay but didn't want to be and sort of processing through all of that. And then realizing that I can combine all those things.
So there's a part of compliance, which is about training and helping people do the right thing. I've got people that report to me. So embracing the now means being present for them and listening to what they're dealing with,
and what they're dealing with. -to -day work is to encourage them to help them put pieces together to help them Not get overly stressed and realize well Someone hasn't given you their revisions to the policy for next month's corporate compliance committee meeting It doesn't mean that your world has shattered.
Let's pause. Let's slow down What can we do to reach out to folks? folks? You know, we think about technology and data You know, we're so used to email and setting stuff back and forth and sometimes I Tell my team or I tell other people,
you know, pick up the phone You've already gone through 15 rounds of email Pick up the phone spend 10 to 15 minutes connect with someone Talk through your issues listen to their concerns what are their objections,
why aren't they responding to what you need, help them find the answer, help assist them with finding what they need. That's all part of this whole Dharma.
And then when I get to help plan, you know, ERG events like our National Coming Out Day, looking to external speakers, folks that are coming in and are helping to meet the healthcare needs.
of LGBTQ patients or other underserved members of our communities, all of that combines and it's being present, looking to just show up and say yes,
and how can I piece all these pieces together? And it's, I've come to see, and this is also something that Jay Shetty reasoned to have in his book. book, it's about looking at our lives as a long narrative.
Not seeing everything in isolation, not seeing every technology issue or problem, or trying to find or purchase or maximize an LMS. And then it's like,
this is what you're doing right now. What you do tonight with your kids or your boyfriend or your girlfriend. girlfriend or your husband or wife or your pets that's another chapter narrative of your larger narrative and how can you piece them together and how can you bring parts of yourself throughout all of that so you see it as like a tapestry you're not isolated and I think part of our stress is we think we're
like 50 different people and we have to be 50 different things. And when I show up for each of these things, I'm a different person. Can I, I want to,
yeah, I want to, I want to jump in there. Now, I think that's like, that's where I'm hearing like, like that's where my head goes because I, I know that that's been a part of my life,
right? So, you know, I am, I'm here, I'm a podcast host, I'm working for open LMS and this and that, you know, and then, you know, I played tennis this morning with LMS. a buddy of mine, right? And that's the tennis player.
And then I have other parts of my life that are either with my kids or with some buddies or with those kinds of things. And I know that I've compartmentalized those.
And there's definitely things like maybe I don't show up in my workplace where maybe I don't put things on the table. Have you found overall that embracing that,
you know, that piece and I leave embracing it now off the side for a second, but that within your organization and the people you work with to say, look, show up and be that whole person and all,
you know, sort of always allow that to conversation to happen? Yes. I think at core that is what DEI and these ERG,
and all of this work can do. It's not wholly about checking boxes and now that there's some regulatory aspects. Well, yeah, we make sure that we're recruiting a diverse slate of candidates.
Are you creating an environment that allows folks to show up and be their whole self? So for instance, when you're,
you know... know, maybe it works better for you to take some time between your tennis game and your first work appointment to sort of have that transition time.
And then maybe you add a meeting or you add some work time or email time at the end of your day to as a, you know, and then tomorrow morning,
you may shift your plan. and what you do and that's that's part of bringing your whole self You know, and I just know for myself You know later when I when I first came out in the workplace when I was working in Atlanta I thought that I had to be this person And everybody wanted me to be a matter if I wasn't that I Wouldn't be successful and probably at core.
They won't let me will do the good news was, and this, I mean, this is true for a lot of studies and things to talk about coming out by trying to stay in the closet,
whatever those closets may be, we're spending all this extra energy and stress to not allow ourselves to be seen,
but that's, that's making us not productive. it's making us more stressed, we're not able to embrace the now and show up for ourselves and for others and for Dharma because we've got all this negative,
stressful, strung out energy that is keeping us from being who we really are when we can just be present and be mindful of boundaries and be mindful of what is happening to us.
protocol are any individual situation but You know, and I think also the thing that I noticed sometimes in some of our environments that We think that we have to be perfect and we Sometimes lose track of being kind to others and giving each other grace It's really helpful.
So I would say generally I I don't know about making a mistake. And if I, if something happens that I think, well, maybe, you know, maybe I didn't communicate this clearly,
I just practice my response. And you know what? Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I didn't explain that clearly enough. But here's what I think we should do.
Or what do you think? And it's gone. You know, 10 minutes from now, I'm not even going to remember that I said that. Sure. - Sometimes people say, but no, no, no, no, you shouldn't have to apologize. I'm like,
it's no stress. You know, it's easier for me just to acknowledge that maybe I was wrong and move on than had these voices playing in the back of my mind, saying, well, why did you apologize,
that you probably were wrong and make sure you don't do it again? I mean, I don't have time and energy for that. I, you know, I don't have time to apologize. embrace the now.
I want to be present and part of that means learning how to quiet those voices. Now, I still have times when I do stress, when I get overly wrapped up, and I do worry about what people think,
but living our dharma and embracing the now means we get more and more used to not listening to those voices and not worrying about making mistakes. If.
If, if generally our whole life is that we show up, we do the right thing, we're known as a good friend, a confidant, a leader, an employee. If our track record shows that we're sort of living in that lane as opposed to someone who's constantly messing up and making excuses and manipulating,
then that's a different story. Okay. So, so to be there, I, I, because You almost kind of answered this question already, but I want to just ask it for the heck of it.
Are there any things or conversations you've had with either staff or friends or colleagues around in your experience where you said, "Hey, maybe let's not put that one on the table." Is there anything like that or is it situational or talk to me about that and then?
then the sub question there is then, how do we then continue to really maintain that 100 % authenticity? - It's, that's a very interesting point.
Yes, there are times when I've said or I realized, in fact, I shouldn't have done that or that probably should not be on the table, as you said. And I think,
I mean, one of the unfortunate things about that is, some of that just happens with experience and with trial and error. And that's another point of having to be perfect.
I know for myself, I need to allow myself and my colleagues and friends to just sort of learn and make a mistake and realize you're not always going to get it right. So I think that's part of it.
And, And the more we are in tune in sort of this more elevated mode of being, the more we learn to just sort of know and we can,
you know, how people say, well, I can sort of read the room or I can read a scene, I think that's part of embracing the now is just pausing and say,
okay, before I go into a van before I go into a party before I meet with someone before I meet 19 that may give myself a minute or two just to sort of observe and be quiet and not rush in that's why I like you know like when you and even for this podcast you know you and I had five or ten minutes just to sort of relax get the ground you know as opposed to me rushing in at two minutes of two and like I
can't get the set up We were like trying to get my books in my phone and I'm already starting off in a bad space Right. Yeah, it's just and you know all these things you're espousing. I mean there. It's all about mindfulness,
right? It's all about just taking that that that moment to be present be present and be from be mindful with what's happening um, I wonder have you Heard anyone or talked with anyone about about,
and this is top of mind for me simply because we're in the age of being canceled, right? I know that that was definitely a more popular term maybe a couple of years ago,
but it's still happening today. I mean, my wife and I just were working with our teenage son. He walked us through this thing that happened recently where it was just like we watched a kid get canceled.
Like we watched it happen. on this group chat. It was befuddling. We were just like jaw on the floor. And I think there's a huge fear around that. It's like if I put myself out there,
if I expose this kind of piece of me or if I say the wrong thing, then these things could happen. What are your thoughts around that? Good thoughts. Good questions.
I think, I mean, for me as I look at that, I think I have to do with our intention and with others' intention. And it sort of goes back to, generally,
am I seen as someone that wants to do the right thing and wants to say what's right? And so, unfortunately, we don't always give ourselves,
you know, we're quick to pounce on someone saying something that we don't agree with. So, um... need to allow each other space to say things.
And if people, if we're intent in trying to communicate and say, oh, I have a question or I don't understand it, can you help me? I think that's important.
And then, I mean, sort of like, I guess sort of the black and white, if you will, is that, you know, being being mean, being nasty, being hateful,
spousing harassment, spousing violence. I mean, those, you sort of have to just say that those things are just never good.
You sort of have to draw the line. If someone's trying to do the right thing, and maybe they said the wrong thing, I mean, um, um we we sort of have to sort of just listen and try to understand the point in what they're saying and then maybe off to the side like I said you know what you used um you know when you're referring to this person or referring to me I wrote you know these are the pronouns that I
prefer or that's not it that's not a term that people in my community really like to hear it has an unfortunate or hateful tone to it to it. That's how I think we can address some of those things.
But when you don't really know people and all that you know is what they tweet or soundbites, it's hard to really know what their intentions are.
So we almost have to sort of stand back and sort of say well let me sort of look at the longer, you know, the larger picture, where are they coming from? On the other hand,
if all we see are soundbites and folks that are just mean, spirited, mean, hateful, violent, blah, blah, blah, then that's a whole other thing. You know,
I think for me, I'm not going to convince people that are, you know, against them or get that are really against them. the ER, against people bringing their full selves to work or to their live.
I'm not going to change their mind. They're not going to change me. So I should focus on educating and being helpful to those who want to be educated, that want to learn.
And how can I bring change and healing and health and joy and positive things to those people within the the circle that I inhabit as opposed to trying to touch everybody in the world and trying to,
you know, contact all my congressmen and trying to do all this political stuff and then do all this stuff at work and then all my community stuff and all my work at the game and scores and be present for my dad.
I mean, it's just like, you know, that's not really, that's like embracing everything and nothing all at once. once Sure,
I just got I just got a little overwhelmed there myself. I was like, oh my lord So I didn't mean to put you in an overwhelming space I meant that in a good way so talk to me about about you know You know being present embodying the now,
you know showing up and being your full authentic self How has this played out in your? life in others lives that you've? You know either helped to lift up into this space or maybe some other Other people that you look to as mentors or stories that you can tell us about how is it impacted their workplace?
How has it changed the the outcomes that they have? You know not only at work But in there in their greater life and their family life and those kinds of things like what what tangible changes have you seen?
so So, I hate to start my comments with soap, but I did it nonetheless. So, I think just a couple of things that came to,
I mean, I try to be friend and just to be present for the younger, newer people like in my company.
I mean, one of the fun things about my job is I get to do... do a little compliance overview for about 30 minutes for every class of new hires. Give us a sense of how many people that is and when that happens.
Is that once a quarter? That's twice a month across all of our companies and it's anywhere from like 10 to 25 people. But in all of the jobs that I've had for the last 15,
20 years, that's always been a part of what I've done. right? so I get to connect so people sort of know who I am and then and You know,
so I think just general my my being is befriending and just and again because I'm not worried what people think You know sort of being this comfortable out friendly guy Who thought of tail to think and feel younger than my age just really helps me navigate the world and I'm able to be friend people.
I have, I just am connected with younger people, younger, younger straight guys, which is sort of like, I almost find that I am comfortable in my skin and healthy.
better connections with that demographic than I think with gay peers of my age and older. And that has helped me.
And I think that's part of us being open to sort of what they call intergenerational learning, intergenerational connection, realizing that because I'm older doesn't mean I have all the answers and I shouldn't expect everybody younger than me to always ask me for answers.
wisdom and just bow at my presence and say, "Oh, you've been on the earth so much longer. "I had so much to learn from you." And that's,
you know, and so I've had some formal mentoring with people in the company, you know, I talked about younger people. I've been a singing member of the New York City Gay Men's Chorus for 20 -some years,
and so... I signed up to be a buddy for new members and sort of showed them the ropes to what it means to be part of this crazy connection of 200 plus singing gay men in New York.
And again, I connect with the younger guys because I'm open. And then just trying to be open and connected,
you know, I recently I recently lost my mother and I was out. a family viewing, and my niece and my nephew showed up and I know they've had sort of a rough life.
And I was sort of sitting there in the corner and one of the daughters of my niece was just sort of sitting off by herself in the corner,
just sort of crying. I just walked up to her, I'd see her maybe once a year. And she was like, "Oh, my God." And I was like, "Oh, my God." And I was like, "Oh, my God." And I was like, "Oh, my God." I just held her and I said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry you're having a rough life." And I could just hold her for like 10 minutes and then,
you know, my niece came up and talked to her. And it's just a small moment that I could show up, get out of my head, get out of what was going on and just have five minutes of connection.
and holding someone. I didn't need to give them all the answers. I didn't say, "Oh, it's going to be all right." Just being present,
just being there. Yeah. Tell me about, I guess, tell me about the opposite of that. As someone who's been practicing this for a while,
someone who's been practicing being in the now, who's practiced gratitude, who's practicing this openness. What are the challenges there? You know, like where are the parts where you still struggle?
You get a little anxious, a little sweaty, a little nervous in that, you know, you're not sure what to do or, yeah, like what are the limps and the difficult parts?
I, I, I, well, I think just, just from a human perspective, if I'm having a bad day or if I'm just grumpy and I don't want to be bothered by anyone,
there's too many people around me in the sidewalk. I mean, that's, you know, so I don't, and that's fine. I mean, I just sort of had to accept that that's, I,
if I'm in a new situation, it could be anywhere from just sort of like going to a restaurant and finding that and just sort of thinking,
"Everybody here is not like me. Everybody here, they think that this older gay guy from the city, I'm in the country, they're looking at me,
they're saying things about me, they're going to say, "We don't like your kind here." I mean, that's just... you know, that's true in some areas, but I'm already sort of buying into and creating this reality that probably is not real.
And I'm just imagining the worst, as opposed to just owning myself, being present, saying hi to folks. And,
you know, in the world, if I'm in a meeting or if I'm approaching a situation where I may not feel like I'm completely confident,
I don't know that I have all the answers, I'm going to start feeling sweaty and go back to that place where I talked before. "Well, I have to be perfect. They're going to be upset with me. I'm going to get yelled at.
And so, I started to, I started to feel like I'm going to get yelled at. And so, I started this stress, this nervousness. I start projecting and being all these things that I'm claiming are true,
which may or may not be true, as opposed to just like, "Okay, you know what? I may be caught out, I'll honestly answer the questions, I'll tell them what I know. If someone asks,
you know, and I'll be truthful and honest," or... I will give whatever information is needed and not offer anything additional. You know, it's sort of like,
if they don't question why I didn't do it, then why do I need to offer? Right, absolutely, yeah. Why are you feeding into something that isn't already there?
I really like how you're painting it there. I talk with this with my family a lot as well about. what reality, what are we creating,
what reality are we putting out there in ourselves because our perception is what ultimately becomes reality for us. And so in this particular case,
I think you've really nailed it on the head with, if you're going into a new situation or a uncomfortable situation or someplace that you haven't been before, it's really easy like a task you're what picture am I going to paint,
you know, before I even get there, so that, you know, you can shape that outcome, right? Right. And then the other thing too is, I mean, I'm an advocate of this, and I generally do it not every single situation.
But if it is a situation that I'm not sure about, I want to make sure that I'm as prepared as I can be for that. And so,
sort of thinking like what answers, like what questions might they have and be prepared to provide an answer. And then this is just simple, maybe it's just close my door,
spend two minutes, just sort of look out the window, close my eyes and say, okay, something to be calm, I want to be present, something into the world. I talk,
you mentioned meditation. I've never really... gotten up to being able to do like long periods of meditation. I believe in it. It's, it's healthy. It's helpful, but I just have not been able to build a practice for it like I would like to.
But, but I don't beat myself up. And so whatever moments I can take just a few minutes to be calm and quiet, I think for me is it's helpful as formal meditation.
And that always helps prepare ourselves ourselves for those sort of wonky situations when I'm sure what's going to happen. I think that you just described a very good meditative practice right there.
Being consciously, well, just consciously taking moments to focus and be centered. That's great. So Greg, take me home. Take me home here. Like, what else is there anything around Dharma and embracing the now that I haven't asked you about or that you think is important to put on the table here for people about you know embracing trying this in their own life,
you know, bringing it into their teams or their organizations or their learning practice? Well, I think for me what's helpful and might be helpful for others to know that it is a process.
And, you know, I just, I mean, I started reading that, you know, think like a monk shortly after, you know, after J. Jay Shetty spoke at the ATD conference.
And it took me probably a whole year to read through the book, because I was just reading it in pieces, and I kept getting notes. So, you know, for me,
I just try to apply to apply passion to a lot of the DEI stuff. And then after I did some of that, that's when I started practicing.
practicing like just focusing on the now and how can I be more present and encouraging to my team. You know, part of it is I think acceptance is part of the whole formula.
So accepting that I may not be able to fully live my Dharma and I may not be able to embrace the now, you know, every minute of the day. But if I can find...
a few moments during the week Where I say oh, yeah, I was pretty present for that. I mean I was present for my kids I was present for my teammates I was present for my boss and rather than trying to keep thinking about what I was gonna say next I Shut my brain down enough to listen to what he had to say And to respond accordingly and if the next day I find my all stressed up up and tangled in knots,
give myself some, give myself a break and say, okay, Greg, you know, you're a little bit wonky and stressed out and squirrelly. That's okay, take a deep breath, move on.
And I think over time, when we look back, we can see that we're building sort of this Dharma practice, we're building a life for ourselves, where we are seeing more opportunities to come back.
our passion, our expertise, and our youthfulness. And we see more moments of embracing the now. And I think it's also, it's sort of an inside job.
It's something that I know that I'm intrinsically motivated so when I know that I'm doing more of it than I'm happier and I shouldn't expect all these people to say,
"Oh, Greg, you look really wise." and more calm. You know, are you embracing the now? Are you practicing Dharma? There may not be as much external validation that some of us may be used to in our lives.
So that's another adjustment that we may want to allow ourselves time for is to just know that when we're doing it and we see gradual increments of change,
then we should embrace it and celebrate that however we can. Fantastic. Greg Ryder, you have been talking with us about Dharma, embracing the now,
and absolutely wonderful conversation to have here in the learning space. You were in the compliance space, as you said, you know, it's something that we bring into our practice or can bring into our practice.
every day. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your super busy day to talk with us about this. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time, great conversation. Happy to have met with you and keep me in mind for other cool things.
Thanks. Speaking of which, I do not want to do you the disservice. How do people find you if they want to learn more about Dartmouth? The best way is to look for me on LinkedIn.
- Okay. - This is my name and I'm, I'm there. Greg Rott of CPLP. So that's the best way to connect with me there.
- Okay, fantastic. They'll do them. Thank you so much, sir. Have a great day. - Thank you so much. Bye. - Thank you again for listening to the either in podcast here from open LMS. I just wanted to ask one more time.
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