Decide for Impact

The Humane Marketing Show. A podcast for a generation of marketers who care.

In this episode, Erno Hannink joins me to explore how mission-driven entrepreneurs can make decisions that align with their values and create meaningful change.

We dive into the power of habits and decision-making, discussing how aligning choices with personal values reduces mental fatigue and fosters personal growth. Erno shares insights on the importance of courage, and how businesses can go beyond profit to make a positive impact on society and the environment.

Tune in to discover practical ways to build habits that lead to lasting change, both in life and business.

Here's what we talked about in today’s episode:

• How aligning decisions with personal values can help automate decision-making and reduce mental fatigue
• The impact of social media and news consumption on decision fatigue and mental health
• The importance of courage in decision-making, especially when aiming to create impactful changes in life and business
• How incorporating habits like gratitude and regular check-ins can enhance personal growth and communication
• How small, consistent changes in decision-making and habits can lead to lasting impact in our personal lives and the broader community
• Why businesses should go beyond financial success to consider their impact on society and the environment
• Erno's decision book, which helps improve the decision-making process by reflecting on the journey, not just the results

Free Info Session on October 9th.

Watch this episode on YouTube

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Intro with music NEW 2022: Hello, Humane Marketers. Welcome back to the Humane Marketing Podcast, the place to be for the generation of marketers that cares. This is a show where we talk about running your business in a way that feels good to you, is aligned with your values, and also resonates with today's conscious customers because it's humane, ethical, and non pushy.

I'm Sarah Zanacroce, your hippie turned business coach for quietly rebellious entrepreneurs and marketing impact pioneers. Mama bear of the humane marketing circle and renegade author of marketing like we're human and selling like we're human. If after listening to the show for a while, you're ready to move on to the next level and start implementing and would welcome a community of like minded, quietly rebellious entrepreneurs who discuss with transparency what we're doing.

Works and what doesn't work in business, then we'd love to welcome you in our humane marketing circle. If you're picturing your [00:01:00] typical Facebook group, let me paint a new picture for you. This is a closed community of like minded entrepreneurs from all over the world who come together once per month in a zoom circle workshop to hold each other accountable and build their business in a sustainable way.

We share with transparency and vulnerability, what works for us and what doesn't work. So that you can figure out what works for you instead of keep throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks. Find out more at humane. marketing forward slash circle. And if you prefer one on one support from me, my humane business coaching could be just what you need.

Whether it's for your marketing, sales, general business building, or help with your big idea like writing a book, I'd love to share my brain and my heart with you together with my almost 15 years business experience. experience and help you grow a sustainable business that is joyful and sustainable. If you love this [00:02:00] podcast, wait until I show you my mama bear qualities as my one on one client can find out more at humane.

marketing forward slash coaching. And finally, if you are a marketing impact pioneer and would like to bring humane marketing to your organization, have a look at my offers and workshops on my website at humane. marketing. com. Dot marketing.

Ep 197 intro: Hello, friends. Welcome back to another episode. Today's conversation fits under the P of passion of the humane marketing mandala. But also all the other P's because we're talking about making decisions. If you're a regular here, you know that I'm organizing the conversations around the seven P's of the Humane Marketing Mandala.

And if you're new here and don't know what I'm talking about, you can download your, One page marketing plan [00:03:00] with the humane marketing version of the seven piece of marketing at humane dot marketing forward slash one page, the number one and the word page, and this comes with seven email prompts to really help you reflect on these different piece for your business.

Before I tell you a bit about my guest today, allow me a quick plug for my upcoming business book alchemist program. The business book alchemist is a small group program for aspiring renegade authors who want to write a book that becomes part of their life's work. I've hosted this program for the first time last November and led a small group through creating their book outline, message and defining their ideal reader.

We are still meeting monthly to hold each other accountable on our writing. And one of them has already submitted a chapter to a multi author book. So if you've always thought that one [00:04:00] day you'll write a book, then maybe the business book alchemist is for you. And that one day is right now. The business book alchemist is for change makers and trailblazers before they are authors.

That's why we. call them renegade authors. They really care about the message more than about just being a featured best selling author. It's for first time authors who are looking to write a book that makes a difference. coaches, business, marketing, life, health, and more who want to write a book that becomes part of their life's work, and any other heart centered and service based entrepreneurs who are looking to write an authentic book that reflects their unique voice, experience, and insights.

So I'm calling it business book alchemist, but in the new approach to business. So this is not just a how to book to [00:05:00] do something in business, but it really is aligned with this idea of doing business like we're human. Or is aligned with bringing change to business. So those are the kinds of people that I'm looking for, for this program.

As you probably know, I've written two self published books about change, marketing like we're human and selling like we're human. And I'll be working on the finishing touches of my third book, business like we're human during the program. I wanted to share all of my learnings with heart centered entrepreneurs and aspiring authors, empowering you to write a book that becomes part of your life's work, because your message needs to be heard.

So, if you do have a message that needs to be heard, now is the time to become a Renegade author. And writing a book is kind of like having a baby. There is never the perfect time. But if you do it now, you'll be supported by like minded people [00:06:00] and way beyond the eight weeks of the program. Again, we're still meeting monthly with the members of the previous program.

And all you need to do to be part of that monthly ongoing community is Join the humane marketing circle. So join us now for a free info session on October 9th. That's 4 PM UK time. You'll find all the information. If you go to humane. marketing forward slash BBA. So business book alchemist humane.

marketing forward slash BBA. And the link is also in the show notes. Otherwise, you can also just send me a message if you have more questions. And yeah, I'm not sure if I'll host a program again next year. Maybe I will feel the calling to start a new book, and then I'll definitely run it again. So I'd love to see you on October 9th [00:07:00] for the free info session, and if you can't make it for that time, just send me a message and we'll find a time to talk one on one.

All right, back to today's episode. My guest today is Erno Honink. Erno is a sparring and accountability partner for entrepreneurs committed to creating sustainable, positive impact. He explores the nuances of decision making and shares his insight through articles, books. Podcasts, newsletters, and practical tools.

With a life mission to reduce social and ecological inequality, he's dedicated to empowering others to make meaningful, impactful choices in their entrepreneurial journeys. Here's what we talked about in today's episode, how aligning decisions with personal values can help automate decision making and reduce mental fatigue, the impact of social media and news [00:08:00] consumption on decision fatigue and mental health.

The importance of courage in decision making, especially when aiming to create impactful changes in life and business, how incorporating habits like gratitude and regular check ins can enhance personal growth and communication, how small, consistent changes in decision making can lead to lasting impact, why businesses should go beyond financial success to consider their impact on society and the environment, And finally, Erno's decision book, which helps improve the decision making process by reflecting on the journey and not just the results.

So without further ado, let's dive into this conversation between Erno and I.

Sarah: Erno it's good to have you on the Humane Marketing Podcast. Welcome.

Erno: Thank you, Sarah. It's

Sarah: good to be

Erno: here. Yeah.

Sarah: Yeah. It's good to be with you at a distance. We are one of those few [00:09:00] people who met in real life which is always nice, right? To have this human connection. And that was in in Coal this, this summer, earlier this summer.

So I thought. Why not follow up with somebody who's in the same kind of movement talking about inner to outer. And then I looked you up and you're talking about decision making decisions with impact. I'm like, Ooh, yeah, that, that makes for a good conversation. So let's talk about decisions. And I guess we're going to go into habits as well, because that kind of goes together, but let's start with decisions.

Like, I, I looked it up. It's something like 35, 000 decisions every day. Is that, is that possible? Like, do you, do you know that if, how that's been measured, but it seems like a lot of decisions every day.

Erno: Yeah, I'm not sure what the exact number is. I, what [00:10:00] the thing is if you look at the work of, um, book, what's his name?

I forgot his name. Daniel Lieberman. No, that's not the one. Atomic

Sarah: Habits.

Erno: No, it doesn't really matter what you have. You have what he calls system one and system two parts of your brain. Well, they're not actually parts of your brain, but that's how they respond. And it's, I think it's, it's just, everything is derived from, you know, habits is derived from that idea.

That what you want to do is whenever you have a decision to make that most of the decisions that you make are pretty automatic. Like if you count six plus one, you, you know, the answer, right? You know, the answer is seven and it's automatic. You don't have to think about it. Well, you actually do think about it, but you're not.

You know, you're not consciously thinking about the topic. And because it's been so ingrained into your brain that you know, you can instantly say the thing. And the [00:11:00] same happens, for example, by putting on clothes on in the morning for most people or you know, brushing your teeth because it's, Stuff that you regularly do at the same time after like, you know, something you did before that, that's related to brushing your teeth or taking a coffee, whatever it is, it's a very regular thing that we do.

But in, in, you know, in, in theory, they're all decisions, right? They're all decisions that we make. I'm going to brush my teeth. Teeth now, yes or no. Right. And, but if you think about conscious decisions that we really need to think about, that's really a conscious part that we need to think about. You try to minimize those because it costs a lot of energy of your brain.

And our brain already consumes a lot of energy in total of our body consumes the most energy that we do. And we want to try to minimize that, you know, by just automating decisions. And only think about the decisions that [00:12:00] really are difficult or important to us you know, like longer term decisions or you know, things that you are not, you don't know the answer to, you haven't ever seen before, new situations that you're in.

So, for example, if you see a line. your automatic decision, even if you have never seen a line, is to run as fast as we can. And what happens in your brain is it shuts down you know, this part in the front of your brain where you regularly, really consciously think because if you need to think about, oh, this is a line, so would he attack me maybe?

Is it, what kind of color does he have? How fast is he running? And all this stuff, if that's going to happen in your brain, by the time you stopped thinking and you made a decision, you probably already been you know, attacked by the lion and you have no time left. So all this stuff, you know, even if you haven't been in a situation, then sometimes we exactly know how to respond and you don't really think about it.

But there's other situations where you really need to think about it. And [00:13:00] it all comes down to like thousands of decisions a day. And that's why it's important to save energy by creating habits. And the most, you know, difficult part of course, is that we create habits that contribute to the things that we want to accomplish, that the things that we stand for, that underscribes our values and all these things that are important to us, that we really do make automatic decisions that really, you know, support us and what we really want to accomplish.

Sarah: Yeah, it sounds like there's two separate or different things. One thing is creating habits for, for the decision fatigue, almost like, you know, the small things, what do I eat for breakfast? I remember hearing Tim Ferriss talk about that back in the days when he wrote the four hour workweek book. And it's kind of like, oh, it's the same thing every day.

And that just takes one decision out of, away from your day, you know? Works pretty well [00:14:00] for me. I have my oatmeal every morning and it's just like, I love it. I actually look forward to it. And it's kind of like, Oh yeah, I don't have to think about it. And so the other thing we can then do is also build on habits because I eat my oatmeal.

That means that then after I'll have my tea and then after I'll do my yoga. So they all kind of go together. Right? So, so that's one thing and that it's great, but then. What you also talked about is the bigger decisions. And that's really what I want to talk about with you is, is like decisions for impact, right?

But they go together because I feel like if we spend or waste our time on all the small little decisions, then we probably don't have the time or the spaciousness to. actually invest and think about the, the bigger decisions that have a bigger impact. So, so let's go there. Like, how can we, how can we know [00:15:00] and identify what truly matters and make decisions from that place?

I think that's what it comes down to. Down to us, like, how do we know in the, in the inner development goals? One of the skills is the inner compass, right? So like, how do we go there and make decisions from that in their compass?

Erno: Yeah. I, I, and I just want to come back to it because It previously, I was referring to the book, thinking fast, slow, fast and slow.

This is by Daniel Kahneman. He passed away last year, earlier this year. But he had, he's done some great research on thinking and decision making. And I think thinking about the larger, more important things to us in life. Um, really you don't, you don't have less time to think about those things by being consumed of smaller things to think about, because in general, I don't think [00:16:00] if it's smaller, you don't think about it, but if you look at the inner compass, it gives you. A so, so what the inner Compass does to me, I, I wanna make this personal 'cause maybe it works differently for you, but if you, if you, if I used Inner Compass, I have like an idea, a vision, it's related to my values of what I want to accomplish in life.

What is important to me once are, you know, what's. What's the things that I feel is true or false or important, or, you know something that I have influence on, for example, right? So there's also, in my opinion, there's no real reason to be really busy about things you don't have influence on. And if you know that, if you know what your compass is, is if you know what your true North is, or your North star, then It becomes a lot easier to make decisions because what I do then is [00:17:00] whenever a decision comes to me, for example, if somebody asked me if I want to join this group or this team, or if I want to do this work or I want to work with this client, I can start by looking at my inner compass and that goes pretty fast.

Seeing if this really helps me if it supports the compass or it's just a different direction, or it will just pull me away from a compass and everything that aligns with it, that's, you know, that helps me to basically say yes in the, you know, as a starter. And then I can look into deeply. Do I have time for it now?

Does it, you know how much work is it? So all the other decisions that come after that, but the, so weeding out most of the decisions. By just looking at my compass, my inner compass, and seeing all the decisions that I have to make or questions that be asked to me or interviews I need to do which don't align with my compass, I can just say easily no to, right?

So that [00:18:00] already shifts so many things from my plate that that frees up time. These are not small decisions. They are all big decisions, but they free up time by just making very quickly, okay, does it align with my compass? My values? Yes and no.

And the other thing, which doesn't really help have to do a lot with decision making, but or maybe it does because we consume a lot of media every day. So we use social media, we see the news, we watch, we read newspapers, we watch, we listen to a podcast or we watch the news. So we consume a lot of media in general as humans every day with social media, even more than ever, I would say.

And also with social media by these algorithms the timelines are a lot influenced, biased. So they are biased with opinions of others that are like us. So people that we kind of trust or people that we [00:19:00] feel have similar opinions to us, we see more of those messages or opinions or whatever coming by.

And we kind of get like numb for those things, especially when we see a lot of news that's. Um, negative that's like about war or about floods or droughts, and especially when it's far away. We see so much negative news. So we kind of like become numb for those images. And at the same time we also become like fatigued from those, from that information.

It clutters up our brains and. The, the weird thing, of course, is it doesn't have a lot to do with our decisions, but because it's like, it's about, you know, frightening situations, about terrifying situations, like a war, or like you see people in the floods, you see cars flowing away in, in Austria, by a river that's [00:20:00] overflowing.

And then our brain tells us there is something really terrifying going on. And it goes like in sort of like, Fight flight mode and makes a decision, what can I do now? And in general, we can't do anything. It's far away. It, we don't have to do anything. There's not a lot that we can do, but it still, it fatigues our brain and that to me doesn't really have to do a lot with decision making, but our brain feels like it needs to make decisions and the, the best way to, you know, make this.

less of a burden to you is to avoid news or make the amount of news or media that you consume less. And the ones that you do consume that is related to your inner compass, for example, that's the information that you've, you know, you're really interested in, make that more. So make sure that you get. A wider perspective on the situation so that you have a clearer view on everything and just the negative part, but also the positive part and the, [00:21:00] you know less biased parts so that it all becomes more a really evaluated information flow that you can trust and think, okay, now I can merely make decisions.

Can I do something? What can I do? Thank you. And then you can think about what is it that I actually can do. And that, I think also helps you to become more impactful because it will tell you the things you can do. And that feels like I'm making an impact that feels also that you have, you know, less feeling that you're like Not able to do anything about it and just becoming fatigued from information without doing anything about it.

So to me, that is like a way of reducing decision making between brackets. Quotes, I would say, but. It's not really, you know, it's just a brain thinking it needs to make decisions. And there's really nothing to decide because you [00:22:00] can't do anything about it right now. So that I would say is going to help you more with reducing fatigue of your brain decision fatigue.

Sarah: Yeah. I love that you brought that up with the, with the media. It's, it's true. I didn't think of asking anything about that, but it's so related because it all Spaciousness and that's kind of like my favorite word these days and so we eliminated the small decisions because we created healthy habits. But then you're right.

Our brain is still bombarded with all the media stuff. So we need to also block that. That out. So then we just have this like quiet space where we can actually focus on the decisions that, that, yeah, that do have an impact. And, and the other thing you said that the decisions that we actually can control, right?

What's in our control and what isn't. And it's [00:23:00] true. I see my, I saw myself scrolling through YouTube with all the floods and, you know, in Eastern Europe and things like that. And it's, well, it's okay to be informed, but it's not okay to then kind of feel, yeah, frozen almost like. What do I do now?

Like I, it's, it's almost like you get into this mini depression and feel like everything I do is basically pointless because it's called, it's all going to shits. So, so yeah. Which isn't

Erno: true either, right? No, which

Sarah: isn't true. It's just like, yeah, exactly. And I remember I, I was Spending a lot of time in the sustainability field and it was like, just so negative, everything was, you know, that was being shared was negative.

And, and that's why I then moved to the IDGs, the inner development goals. Cause I'm like, I can't, if we're all burning out because we feel like [00:24:00] nothing can be done and it's all, it's all doomed, then that's not helping anybody. And so decisions for impact to me means. decisions coming from a good place, a healthy place, right?

So that's why I think your opinion about, you know, creating, creating barriers around ourselves to keep us sane and healthy and in a good space so that we can make those good decisions is really important.

Erno: Yeah, and I think to be clear, I, I, I do believe that we are going to shit. So I do believe that the way that we acting today as humans is just ending our lives as humans on the planet, right?

It's not ruining the planet, but the planet will continue to turn for millions of years when we've gone probably even do better without us. And that doesn't mean. That until that time [00:25:00] we can do a lot to improve our lives, right? So if we look, for example, at, you know, the floods and droughts that are getting closer to us, right?

We see floods in our closer in Europe, let's say, for example, we see floods that to spaces or places and cities that we've been on holiday and it. Becomes like closer to us. We see, Oh my gosh, I've been there. I've stood on that bridge. I've, I've walked through a town and the river was so quiet and, and, and nice.

And now look at it, what's going on. And but this has been going on In countries around, you know, the equator for, for many, many years, like in India, it's plus 50 degrees. It's sometimes unlivable droughts in Africa, Northern Africa for a longer time. And it's all due to the things that we are doing on the planet, like burning fossil fuels.

So if if you look at that picture everything that we [00:26:00] know from science, everything that we know that scientists have been telling us for years are true and you know we are just warming up the planet with burning fossil fuels. And right now it doesn't seem that a lot of people think that we need to change this or not.

At least the actions don't show it, right? So we, we, we keep supporting fossil fuels. We keep buying cars, we keep buying new stuff and working with plastic. So there's a lot going on that I believe. That will, you know, make this planet unlivable for humans and other animals. Which

Sarah: brings me to courage because I think courage is needed for any kind of change making and especially for.

You know, decisions with impact. So how can we encourage people to, you know, use more courage when it comes to decision making and, and stand up for their values and worldview?

Erno: I think it [00:27:00] has a lot to do with. Creating a perspective of what you can do as an individual. So if you believe that everything that's going on around you is out of your control, you can do anything about it, then you will just be staying and living the way that you do now.

You watching a Netflix and you just go to your sports and you just go to your office and do your work that you need to do, but to the, you know, the company that you work and you just think, okay, I'm going to live my life and I'm going to just You know, earn money and just continue the way that I do, because I don't see any way how I can change this.

So what we want to do is tell stories. I was going to say paint pictures, but I think telling stories is better. Tell stories, how we as individuals can make changes. And especially in relation to what is. And I'm thinking about the book, Saving [00:28:00] Us by Katherine Hayhoe, and she is a professor in climate and what she's telling in the book and saving us is about, you know, you normally would say saving the planet, but this is about saving the humans.

Right. So, and what she's saying is that she's. Sharing stories with groups of people talking about climate, but every time when she is in front of a group, she's translating that topic to the values of those people that she's talking to. So she's looking at the values of the group, the people that she's talking to, sees what is important to them in relationship to the climate, and then shines a light on that part of the topic.

So for example, when she's talking about to farmers, she's talking about droughts and talking about having you know, floods about crops that go to waste because there's no, not enough water. And then they understand, yeah, this is really going on. We've been seeing that in our own farm that this is happening right now and, and it, and then they listen to, so what can we do to change this?

And then you can give [00:29:00] them some steps to what they can do. On their farm to make changes slowly to overcome and at least change that situation. So to me, it is about a lot about telling stories and making sure it relates to the values of the people. So, because then you can, you know, you don't need a lot of courage to start working on this.

You just need the right coach. You just need the courage that fits with your values. And if it's close to your values, it doesn't cost a lot. It just. It's just another step of what you've been doing. It's not like something completely different that you're picking up now. Right. So I think it has to do with making visual.

What the small next step is for the person that's sitting across to you, what they can do as a next step. And then coverage is just, you know, it's just a small part of that.

Sarah: Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and that kind of brings us to, to marketing because, you know, you're on a podcast called Humane [00:30:00] Marketing. And so people could go, well, what does all of that have to do with marketing?

Well, it doesn't. Has a lot to do with marketing because storytelling and marketing are essentially the same thing nowadays. And, and so what humane marketing also stands for is to, yeah, to encourage change makers to talk more about things that, that matter and, you know, the, the values that they stand for and the, the, the world, their worldview.

It's all related. And if we bring that back to decision making help me out here. Like the, the decisions to, I think the decisions is, do I stand for something? And do I bring that into my, my work? Marketing that's what I always encourage my clients to, to say, well, make your worldview your niche.

So meaning [00:31:00] bring your worldview into your business, into your marketing and, and, and tell these stories. Yeah. That, that also can influence other people, not just to make them buy your stuff, but to make a change, right. That's in the end, that's what we all want.

Erno: Yeah. And the scary part, maybe he is, if you, if you bring a story to your world, which your world isn't ready for right now, or is not familiar with.

That's, that's a scary view, like making a decision. Do I want to incorporate that in my marketing? What if nobody likes it? So there's a lot of Well, there's the courage, right? Yes. That's the courage. But what you, but what you can do. Is if you, if you make, I like the phrase doing good louder, I forgot who would, who I first heard it from, but doing good louder means, so you, you, [00:32:00] you do something to improve your life, to improve other people's lives, to make like a a better future.

And and often it's a very, these are very small steps. There's small things that you do to make a difference. And, and we don't talk about it because we feel it's. It's small, it's like tiny, nobody really cares about that. But a lot of people don't know about this, what they can do. And they're looking for examples.

They're looking for how, how do I do this? And so if you talk more in marketing about the things that you already are doing as a company, not as a. Greenwashing thing, but as like real examples of what you're really doing. I think that gives people perspective of what they can do, like real life examples of how they could do this.

In their company, in their business, or as a private person, as a consumer, how they can do this. So to me yes, [00:33:00] painting a picture, telling a story to attract clients. Is attract people. I would say even better is a good thing. That's, that's, that's great. And I would say if you. Start talking more about the things that you're already doing that look very tiny and small to you.

Um, but other people have never heard about it. They don't, they don't know how to start there. They don't know what to do. Like there was this challenge in the Netherlands, which is buying no new stuff for a year. So it, it started really small with just a couple of people joining the challenge and what it did was bringing people along, because it's something that everybody can do.

They can think about the decisions they make about buying stuff, because if something breaks down, you need to buy something new or you, or you see something in you know, in Instagram or Facebook, whatever you see something, you know, you think about buying that. And [00:34:00] every time we do this and you're part of this challenge, you go like, okay, do I really need this?

And is there a different thing that I can do? If let's say, okay, I agree. I really need this because I've, I've just broken something. I really need the same thing again, because I need. This stuff in my life. Can I get it secondhand? Can I get it fixed? Right. So then by becoming a part of this challenge, looking at all these decisions, you can make like see small changes, which in the end reduces your consumerism, which has a great impact on, you know trash or plastics or, you know, burning fossil fuels.

There's a lot of things that goes into. Consumerism, it's, it's one of the biggest, um, classes of, of, you know, the, the shit that's going on today. I bring it really negative. So yeah, I think it has a lot to do with just being the example living, Like an example, not to be saying, Oh, I'm the best at this, but just showing how it can be done.

Sarah: [00:35:00] I like that. And it's, it's true. So many small stories where we think, Oh, well, I've been doing this for a long time. It's obvious. Probably thinking everybody's doing it. And, and yet you find out, no, they never heard of it. I hadn't never heard of the, a challenge like that. And it's a great idea because the minute also you get into community and more than just one person doing it, there's, there's just some different energy to it.

And it's, yeah, it's kind of the, the. The, the motivation the exchange of, of motivation that is really encouraging.

Erno: And I'm talking about marketing, right? If you, if you look at marketing as an organization, as a company, you can do the same, you can build like a community about around your company or your goals or your vision and do the same.

Just, you know, by sharing the stories, helping people to tag along and just do stuff like you do in the group. that do stuff like you do just grows and more people will become [00:36:00] like you because they do the stuff like you do and they like it a lot because they feel like. They are connected. They are a part of this group.

And that's what we all as humans, like, we need to be like part of a group of humans that we can feel related to. So if you are an organization or a company yes, please do spend a lot of your energy in marketing and resource in your marketing on building that community, setting an example and showing these examples so that people can follow you and not just to be like a leader as like an ego kind of thing, but be a leader.

As in like building a community and the people, you know, have examples how they could change and, and feel a part of this, right? So feel like I'm one of those people who's making a change and it feels good.

Sarah: Yeah. It's like, Belonging is probably this, the, the, the word that comes up and that's exactly what we're craving at this time because we, yeah, we just feel so separated and, and we're [00:37:00] basically numbing ourself with.

Buying and making all these stupid, tiny decisions that that are, yeah, taking up too much of our time as we're coming full circle in this, in this chat, I would love for you to share, I don't know an example. So you, you shared the challenge, but maybe an example of a personal decision that you've made in recent years.

That had a huge impact on, on your life or, or career.

Erno: It's of course, a very difficult question. There've been, there've been millions of decisions, right? If you look at like 30, 000 per day or 40, 000 per day, there's been millions of decisions that has made a change for me because I have what I call a decision book and a part of what I, you know, what I use in my, my practice and my coaching practice is if you have a.

A larger decision, a tough decision. You really [00:38:00] want to think it through. So the decision book helps you to think it through. It's, it's for free, so you can just download it and use it yourself. But the important part is that you write the stuff down, how you thought about the decision. What decision you made?

Why did you make the decision? What influenced it? What else could you have done? So, so everything are in questions in the decision book and the writing down and looking back at, you know, the decision making process. Afterwards, it's so important to improve your decision making process because a lot of people think if you look at the results of the decision, that will help you to improve the process, but that's not true.

The process isn't part of it in itself. So you have to decision making process. So you think about, you know, the decision, you think about everything that you couldn't do, what the effects are, and then you make the decision. And then you act. On the decision, but after that, a lot of things can happen in life and can make a lot of changes [00:39:00] to what's going on.

And you have no control over that, right? So there's stuff happening outside your control, but it influences your decision. Oh, actually the results of decision, but you don't control it. So, so this would happen. This could happen like a toss of a coin. What would be the result? But by looking back at the decision making process, like after a couple of months.

You improve the process by looking, okay, what could I have done differently in that process at that moment? And how would that maybe have impacted my decision? Not the results, but my decision. And I think that's one of the things that I feel is really important to me is by carefully examining which decisions do I need to write down, write out and completely analyze and then look back afterwards to see how I can improve my decision making process.

That's one thing. The other part is I, I, I've been mentioning this the last couple of months for a couple of times is [00:40:00] becoming part of the Inner Development Goals Network, especially the Global Partitioners Network. At some point I was asked to join the Global Partition Network. Team who organizes the meetings every month and by becoming a part of that team of how they the way that the team together organizes the events prepare for the events have discussions has taught me so much about.

Looking at people about being grateful about space for silence about asking how people are doing during the discussions. Because sometimes if you, if you look in normal business life, normal we don't have time or don't feel the space to really check how people are doing after something we had happened in a discussion, but here it's like in grind in a team and it makes so much of a difference of how The dynamics is [00:41:00] going on in the team and, and how I feel related to these people.

And that to me has taught me so much in the last two years that I think this may be, and it's, yeah, the weirdest thing of course, is that sometimes you feel like, because you ask this question, so how the decision has really made an impact and change that made an impact to you. The impact is in fact, really tiny.

But the results, if you stack them up, it's huge, but since it's like an everyday process or every week or whatever you don't notice it. It's, it's become like a new normal to you. It's become a new normal, how you respond. For example we do these check ins. And since we do them at every meeting, it becomes a very normal thing to do check ins at meetings.

So every time I have other meetings, I try to propose, it doesn't always happen, like do a check in. And what I see then, for example, one of the team members doing, [00:42:00] she's thanking the other people who've done a check in before her and then builds upon that. It's, it's a very different thing. And you could say difficult thing for me to do to thank people and be, you know, thoughtful about what they said.

And instead of just thinking about me, just thinking about them and what they said and just, and using that as a bridge to continue. And I'm trying to incorporate that in the way that I now communicate with people to be grateful and to be thankful. Saying thank you for what they do and it's, it's changed the way that I communicate it now so much.

And it's, and again, once you do that, it becomes like the new normal. It becomes so normal that you don't see it as a new thing or a new impact thing or like a great decision that you've made and how it changed your life. Because it's just, it's just a tiny thing, but it did change my life. I know that.

Now, and I see it [00:43:00] now.

Sarah: I love that. Yeah. It's really, it made you become a different person. And I, I think that's also the, that's the power of these decisions. And then the habits that go with it, because what you just described is a habit. Okay. Meeting, which we can begin with a check in. That has become a habit.

And so it's become part of who you are. Right. So, so that's, that's really, yeah, that's the outcome or the result. At the same time, I would say it's the impact because man, it's just like. Yeah, you're a different person than you were before. So, yeah,

Erno: yeah, definitely. Yeah. It's, but it, you know, if you, if you look at like from a very timeline point of view, you could look at it like it is, or let's say before situation after situation, right?

So you have the before, so you didn't know this. And after it's, it's like the new normal.

Sarah: Right.

Erno: In between that phase, you're, you're constantly thinking about okay, I need to do [00:44:00] the check in with this team and I need to thank the people who come before me even though this group isn't used to it and they may think I'm weird, but I have to do this to get into this habit myself.

Sarah: And

Erno: at some point it becomes like the normal and it's like, it's like a habit, like you just mentioned. So it's the new situation. And then everything before that is like, okay, this is normal to me. I have no. You know, it doesn't really stand out anymore. And it's, but it's, it's, it has hugely impacted my life, but it's, it's the new normal now.

So, so do you think, did it really impact me? Yeah, it did.

Sarah: Yeah. I love that. It's, it's, it's. It reminds me of the, you know, the, the little drips on a, on a, on a rock. It's like, well, it's just one tiny drip. Yeah. But over time, well, that can create a huge crater or whatever. So, so yeah, it really is very, very powerful.

And it, it, it shows that, that we [00:45:00] can change. So habits usually are kind of like criticized and people say, well, I can't change. I'm just Like that, right? Well, no, you, you can change. And so I guess that's the, that's the encouragement. I, I'd like to leave listeners with today that, yeah, you can make decisions that have a huge impact, probably not the week after, but just like Erno said, two years later, you're a different person.

And so yeah, thanks so much for, for giving us all this food for thought, Erno. Please do share again where people can find you and where, where they can find your, your decision book to download.

Erno: If you, I think the best and easiest way to connect with me is on LinkedIn. It's just Erno Honig, but you put the link in the show notes and the decision book can be found at ernohonig.

com. Just look for decision book there. And you find it and you can just download it, [00:46:00] you can use it as a PDF, I believe, you can use it as a, as a doc, as a document that you can just edit in your, your favorite word editor, or you can use a notion which is also a great tool I like I have a template for that too.

Sarah: Very cool. Well, thank you so much. I have one last question. I'm working on a, on a book called business like we're human. And I'm asking my podcast guests. What comes up for you when you hear business, like we're human, what kind of thoughts come to your mind?

Erno: The,

I think in general what we believe is the way that our economical system works today. That's like definitive, that's the only true economical system that we know, and there's [00:47:00] nothing else. And there's, this is the only right thing, right? So having like a gross national product looking at growth, endless growth also, you know, also in businesses, right?

So thinking about every year you need to add 10 percent to your revenue and to your profits and everything. So endless growth it's, It's everywhere. So this, and if you then think about the human part, as humans, we are not growing endlessly. We are, we have a lifetime to grow and then it ends. And what we do in that time is to pass on our knowledge to the next generation.

Right. We 12, we try to give them ideas, seeds. I would say, if you look at nature, we give them seeds to build their own Um, garden, their own forest. And I think that looking at that way of business is, is there's not always, we [00:48:00] don't always need to grow. We don't need to always think about making money with our business.

We can also think about how we make impact or how we support other people in our neighborhood. Or how we support our parents. And. I think we don't see that as business, but it is a part of our human life. It's about who we are as humans. So to me, I would say humans are closer to nature than to business.

And the way that we look at business is just. It's a couple hundred years old, so if it's that young, we should be able to change it to something that is more regenerative, more friendly. It takes more care about well being than about welfare. So to me, business is closely related to economics. And to me, that shouldn't be, business should be more related to [00:49:00] nature.

So that's what I think about when you just give me that line.

Sarah: Love it. Thank you so much. I might just mention you in the book. Thank you, Sarah. Thank you. Thanks so much for being on the podcast. It's been fascinating. Thank

Erno: you. Thank you, Sarah. It was great to be here.

Ep 197 outro: I hope you got some great value from listening to this episode. You can find out more about Erno and his work at ernohannink. com and look for his decision making book on his website. Talking about books, remember to join us for the free info session on October 9th if you have ever thought about writing a book.

You'll find all the info on humane. marketing forward slash BBA. And if you're looking for others who think like you, then why not join us in the Humane Marketing Circle? You can find out more at humane. [00:50:00] marketing forward slash circle, and you find the show notes of this episode at humane. marketing forward slash H M 1 9 8.

And on this beautiful page, you'll also find a series of free offers such as the Humane Business Manifesto, as well as my two books, Marketing Like We're Human and Selling Like We're Human. Thanks so much for listening and being part of a generation of marketers who cares for yourself, your clients, and the planet.

We are change makers before we are marketers. So go be the change you want to see in the world. soon.