2565: Shaping Lives with Linda and Brian Schubring

LifeBlood: We talked about shaping lives, creating the conditions for people to become the best possible versions of themselves, the business case for doing it, and how to get started, with Dr. Linda and Brian Schubring, Founders of Leadership Vision Consulting and authors. Listen to learn how we all have life experiences that can’t be undone, but can be reconciled and built upon! You can learn more about Linda and Brian at LeadershipVisionConsulting.com https://www.leadershipvisionconsulting.com/, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lvcmpls, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/leadership_vision/, and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/leadership-vision-consulting/. Get your copy of Unfolded here: https://amzn.to/47WmgUs George’s newest book is available! Get your copy of The Meaningful Few here: https://amzn.to/4qA26X9 Feeling busy but unfulfilled? The Meaningful Few helps you identify what truly matters, eliminate distractions, and live with intention and clarity. Learn more here: https://www.mymeaningfulfew.com/ Thanks, as always for listening! If you got some value and enjoyed the show, please leave us a review here: ​​https://ratethispodcast.com/lifebloodpodcast You can learn more about us at LifeBlood. Live http://lifeblood.live/, Twitter https://twitter.com/ourlifeblood, LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/lifebloodlive, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lifeblood.live/, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNQ9Gc4mMwCHZKUHjbt0-qA and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lifebloodlive or you’d like to be a guest on the show, contact us at contact@LifeBlood. Live. Stay up to date by getting our monthly updates https://george-grombacher.aweb.page. Want to say “Thanks!” You can buy us a cup of coffee. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lifeblood Copyright LifeBlood 2026.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:42Speaker 01

  Brian and Dr. Linda Schubring are the founders of Leadership Vision Consulting. They're an organization helping leaders build positive team cultures. And they are the authors of the national bestseller, Unfolded. Welcome to the show, Brian and Linda.

• 0:56Speaker 02

  We are so glad to be here with you.

• 0:58Speaker 03

  Thank you for having us on, George. Appreciate it.

• 1:00Speaker 01

  Excited to have you on. Tell us a little bit about your personal lives, some more about your work and why you do what you do.

• 1:07Speaker 03

  Well, we have a unique situation where we are a husband and wife duo that are also the leaders, founders, and CEO of a consulting firm that has a global reach. We did not anticipate we'd ever start a company or much less work together in one. But, but here we are. And what I do appreciate about the opportunity is that we are able to come to the table with our unique perspectives, which happen to be very different. And in the work that we do with our clients, that difference in our perspective creates a space for people to have honest and open dialogues about how it is that they can best be the person that they are and pursue the dreams that they have.

• 1:50Speaker 02

  That's good.

• 1:50Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 1:53Speaker 03

  Honest and open dialogues, being the people that, who they truly are. It sounds like an easy thing that we should all be able to do that, but it's not necessarily.

• 2:03Speaker 02

  No, it's not easy at all. And we have found that in our practice, we share a little bit about who we are. We come to the table by talking about some of the hard things that we have navigated, or the, the, the ways that we have suffered. Oftentimes I will share the fact that I am a breast cancer survivor and oftentimes to survive cancer, it's not just you. It is, it is your loved ones that come around you, your communities, the people that you work with. And we find that the more that we share bits of who we are that make us human, the more people are invited to the table to step into places that they don't often pause and think about.

• 2:50Speaker 03

  It's almost like giving people permission, making it okay.

• 2:53Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:53Speaker 03

  Giving people permission and creating a place for it to happen. I think that there are a lot of well-intentioned leaders and executives out there who want there to be safe places for people to, to practice being themselves. But oftentimes we don't know how to create that, that space, or we don't know how to demonstrate what vulnerability looks like for ourselves. So we really try to create those spaces where people can feel not only that we care, but they're also able to express that they care for each other. Cause these are people that they, they are working with day in and day out for years and years on end. And oftentimes there's a relationship there.

• 3:35Speaker 03

  We, and we want to fan the flames of people growing in their relationship with themselves and growing in their relationship with other people.

• 3:42Speaker 02

  So when we say positive team culture, we are not just saying a bunch of people that smile and lean into everything that's hard with the, with a happy face. We say positive team culture looks like linking arms with people and saying, this is going to be hard. This is going to be maybe for a season, but we are ready to tackle it together because I know who I am. I know how I can lean on you. And when we hit hard times, this is how we, we can succeed and have that competitive business advantage.

• 4:16Speaker 01

  So my next question is, there's obviously a business case for doing this for, I don't know if the term is bringing your whole self to work, but being honest and vulnerable and having deeper relationships. You've been at this for, I think, 25 years, give or take. Is the message more, are people more receptive today than they were 25 years ago? How has that shifted?

• 4:40Speaker 03

  I believe that people are more receptive now than they ever have been. Yes, we've been doing this type of work for 25 years, and I really believe now that there are executive leaders who are feeling a greater threat to their people than they ever have before. There's, you know, when you think about what's happening around the world, geopolitically, socially, within people's families, there's a lot of tension there. So how can leaders create places where people can not only be productive, but how can they be more self-aware and perform at their best within threatening situations, whether that's corporate influences that are pressuring people, or even just how to get along with other people that are on your team?

• 5:26Speaker 01

  It does seem like we're on the knife's edge right now.

• 5:30Speaker 03

  And people feel that. They feel the pressure of that. They feel the expectation of needing to balance on that edge. And that's why we feel it's so important for us to pause and to ask questions about where are we? At what stage of our team's history are we at? Who are we working with? Who is working with us? Who feels like they're working against us? And how can we use that context in a positive way to promote emotional and professional wellbeing?

• 6:03Speaker 02

  And a lot of time, oh, go ahead.

• 6:05Speaker 01

  No, please.

• 6:06Speaker 02

  When I'm, well, when I'm thinking about some of the clients that we work with, some of them say, you know, I'm a little bit nervous to ask people to bring their whole selves to the table. And we, we take our, our lead from Brene Brown in her work saying, you have to have boundaries. You can bring your whole self, but you have to have boundaries as you do that. And we, Brian and I make a point of not exposing people and not, you know, inviting them to share their deepest, darkest secrets. Instead, we invite them to, to be known, to be seen, to be understood.

• 6:46Speaker 02

  Not just by each other, but oftentimes when they're saying things out loud, they're about themselves. When they're saying things out loud about themselves, they are learning new things and understanding themselves even better in those moments. That's the kind of environment of growth and transformation that we seek to build.

• 7:07Speaker 01

  Well, I love everything about that.

• 7:10Speaker 02

  It's hard work.

• 7:11Speaker 01

  For sure. That is, that is the work that we need to do. Or at least I certainly advocate that we do as individuals, but it's not clear how. I, I, I love talking about how Nike's slogan is just do it. It's great for selling sneakers, but if I don't know how to just do it, then I can't, you know, if I don't know how to do it, I can't just do it.

• 7:29Speaker 02

  Correct.

• 7:30Speaker 03

  Yeah, I love that because that phrase does not address how or with whom. And a lot of what our work is addressing is primarily where in with whom are you asking yourselves to be the fullest, most complete version of yourself? Because the where in with whom has an incredible shaping impact on who you are, how you show up, the stories you tell yourself and your willingness to self-accept who you actually are in the midst of all these pressures.

• 8:02Speaker 03

  One of my favorite poems is "The Missing Piece" by Shel Silverstein. And so often, we're looking outside of ourselves for answers, but it's really inside.

• 8:10Speaker 02

  Yes. Yes. The certainties from within. I think when there are uncertainties and chaos and change all about us and the external pressures are too much, we are inviting our clients, we're inviting the leaders that we are in conversation with to look inside to, to not just the labels of our identity, but where we come from and how we're wired and how we show up in the world and how we want to show up better in the world.

• 8:44Speaker 03

  And that's the backbone of the work that we do. We are really helping people understand that in the midst of all the, the noise and the narratives that surround us, the answers that we're looking for are usually found within first. And oftentimes, those places are often forgotten because the noise around us is, is so loud. We believe that our lived experiences and the meaningful relationships that are in our lives grant us the greatest wisdom to navigating the course forward. And oftentimes, people who are feeling so much pressure, stress and anxiety from outside pressures have a difficult time even finding the space or the time and identifying the practice to know who they are.

• 9:29Speaker 03

  And oftentimes, we don't even have the right people around us, or we're not listening to them because there are people that are inviting us for that self-reflection. But how is it that we become more familiar with that process of looking inward for the answers and then applying those answers outward?

• 9:45Speaker 04

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• 10:46Speaker 02

  So if I could I brag on Brian for a second?

• 10:48Speaker 03

  Please. This should be good.

• 10:53Speaker 03

  Not sure what's gonna be said.

• 10:57Speaker 02

  We pressed pause around 2022 and looked at our business. Brian had founded the company in the year 2000, and we had been wrestling with why our executive coaching had had skyrocketed so much. And and so he was looking at some of the data pieces. And then, as he does, he is writing feverishly every morning, just for his own sake, and sometimes for the sake of the clients that we that we work with. But that's just a tangent. He comes into the break room, which is our kitchen table in our house when we're working from home. He comes into our break room, and I am on a break.

• 11:39Speaker 02

  I am drinking my morning coffee, and I am not interested in a conversation at this point. But Brian pushes two pieces of paper across the table to me. And I was like, I don't want to read. He's like, just read this. Please read this. And I've set my coffee down. I picked up the paper, and I began to read, and I got choked up. Because Brian Schubring, in a short paragraph, had communicated why we do what we do, and why it's so difficult, and how do we step into it? Because the the top of the page read this sentence, and it's the sentence of our of

• 12:24Speaker 02

  our book. And this this sentence said, "There once was an origami crane who dreamed of becoming a paper plane."

• 12:34Speaker 02

  And as I read a little bit more and heard the story of this character who is a woman, this origami crane, I started to realize that this was the answer unfolded was this book that we were that Brian was writing and then I joined him in this idea of Brian's really began to unearth the potential and possibility of a dream. It began to cause you to look around to the characters in your life, to look around at the the characters that are and the voices that are living inside of us,

• 13:16Speaker 02

  whether pathological or not, and to look around at the playgrounds, proverbial playgrounds that that we live in, that we work in, that we grow in. And I brag about Brian because this dream was birthed out of who he is and the certainties that are within him. And that is to be an elite athlete, a mystic, and to to give the world an allegory or a story that you can see yourself in that can give team leaders and people of all ages some handles to look at transformation in another way.

• 14:01Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 14:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm proud of you.

• 14:04Speaker 01

  I'm glad that you picked up the piece of paper.

• 14:08Speaker 02

  Me too.

• 14:09Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 14:10Speaker 02

  Me too. I got choked up. I got a little tearful and and I thought this is this is a modern day allegory that that the world needs.

• 14:21Speaker 03

  I just feel that there are so many people that we have worked with for decades that for whatever reason, if it's a life change or an obstacle that they're trying to overcome, they sometimes don't even recognize themselves. They don't recognize their own behaviors. They're unfamiliar with their own feelings. And it's like a like their lives have been shaped by external forces. They don't recognize how they're even showing up in the world anymore. And what I and what I find myself doing in our work is Is reminding people that they have the ability and the agency to be any shape that they want, but it might take some work in unfolding and unlearning and unpracticing

• 15:02Speaker 03

  some of the ways that got us here so that we can be reshaped into whatever it might be that will really achieve the dreams that we're dreaming that are incumbent and relying upon the talents and ability and potential that's inside of us. And that's the beauty and brilliance that we're trying to invite people into through this allegory.

• 15:28Speaker 01

  Well, that is in fact, a very, very beautiful thing. I love thinking about different transformations. If it's the caterpillar into the butterfly, whatever it might be, and yours is an exceptional one. So I appreciate that. And so many of us just feel like we're, and whether we feel like it or not, we are just carried along by the currents of life and we're shaped by everything else. So then intentionally deciding what it is that we want. And I'm not in love with the idea of privilege, but that we are in a position to be considering those things is very much a privilege because we've moved past just mere survival and we can take a pause and actually think about this stuff.

• 16:06Speaker 03

  Yeah. That idea that you bring up, George, about privileges, you know, we, we recognize that there are, like in origami, there are significant folds in origami that you can never, like, once they're folded, you can never unfold it. However, you can work with those folds to create a bunch of different shapes. And whether we come from privilege or poverty, we still have the opportunity to use that shaping experience as a mountain fold or a valley fold that becomes the foundation for something new. How do we work with where we came from? How do we work with those experiences, recognize them for what they

• 16:49Speaker 03

  are, shaping, influential, not going away, and yet work them into who we are today? I can never undo some Of the folds of my upbringing, they're always going to be there. They're always going to provide dimension and substance to my life. However, I've come so far since then through, you know, the shaping influences of of my life. And I really believe that there are people out there who maybe just need an affirmation that it's okay to dream, to dream about yourself and to really believe that you have the talent and the ability to become something new through the

• 17:32Speaker 03

  help of the places that you're in and the people that are around you.

• 17:36Speaker 01

  That's beautifully said. Get to work with where you came from. That cuts every way. If you came from abject poverty, or if you're the son of a trillionaire, the daughter of a trillionaire, doesn't mean that it was easy. It doesn't mean that they don't need to do a bunch of work.

• 17:50Speaker 02

  Yes. And and that you need people. You need people alongside you that understand, that can give you the encouragement, that can help you in some of your transformation, that can help you in your unlearning and your growth and moving forward.

• 18:08Speaker 03

  And part of, one of the messages of the book that is central, of course, is transformation.

• 18:15Speaker 04

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• 18:17Speaker 05

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• 19:16Speaker 03

  And also, how is it that we can help and assist others? I really believe that there are people out there who want to help, maybe not know how. And there are two characters in the book. One represents wisdom. I think that there are a lot of lived experiences that we all have that are opportunities to share wisdom with other people that are looking for it. So where is it that we can help others learn through the wisdom that we've attained? There's also another character that represents the person that has put in the practice, the person that has quote unquote arrived, or they may seem like they're living the dream. How is it that we as leaders can also influence those who are coming up?

• 20:01Speaker 03

  Encourage them through the challenges and the changes and difficulties that they're facing? Cause we see the potential in them. There's a role for all of us, I believe, to be members among those around us and to contribute to the shaping of their lives in ways that are only unique to us. Cause I know that I wouldn't be where I'm at in my life. If it wasn't for a group of individuals that stood with me at intersections and added their own bend or fold to my life, and I wouldn't be here without them. What role do I play in the lives of those around me in providing that same shaping influence into their transformation?

• 20:39Speaker 02

  Good.

• 20:40Speaker 01

  I love it.

• 20:42Speaker 01

  So certainly this sounds like extremely valuable and important work. As you're, as a company, it's got a thousand people. I know you've worked with massive organizations and then those organizations that are smaller. For big organizations, how does, how do you even start to deploy this?

• 21:02Speaker 02

  We start a little at a time. We start with the leader that's passionate about investing in their people and the leaders that understand that they can invest in the bottom line and in their people at the same time. And it's usually those people that engage with us and we do some sort of pilot program or initial opportunity where we're walking alongside a group of chosen leaders. And usually what happens after that is it's contagious and it's what next? And how do we get in on the development as well? Not a checkbox activity, but a transformational activity.

• 21:46Speaker 03

  Yeah, the leaders who we partner with are the leaders that are already thinking about how it is that they can engage and create meaningful relationships with their people because they understand that's where the multiplied influence is. It's also the leader who understands the process that we are investing in people's potential. We are interested in their productivity at work and we're also interested in pushing them towards greater performance. So there's something about the work that we do that settles people down and also lifts them up, where they become more confident in who they are and more courageous in how they lead.

• 22:26Speaker 01

  You guys are good at this.

• 22:30Speaker 02

  Good at our jobs or good at the podcast?

• 22:33Speaker 03

  Is that gonna be in the podcast?

• 22:34Speaker 01

  I'm assuming that you are good at what it is that you do. You're certainly exceptional at expressing and putting words to really difficult concepts. And it just goes to the power of the story and allegory that you created. I think it's such a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful thing.

• 22:54Speaker 02

  There was an early, I want to say this, there was an early seminar that I was in, early 2000s maybe. And the challenge that we received as leaders was go out there and be poets and gardeners.

• 23:10Speaker 03

  Really?

• 23:11Speaker 02

  Yes. I don't think we've ever talked about this, but

• 23:13Speaker 03

  No, we haven't.

• 23:14Speaker 02

  The poets who give language to the experiences that we're having and the gardeners who are tending to the places and environments where we can grow. And that image of a leader really shaped how I show up when I was working in higher education, when I thought I was on the path to become a president of a small college. And then I met Brian and all my life changed. And the work that we do, we're seeking to give language to people. We're also seeking not to do the growth for them, but creating some of the conditions for growth to happen and leadership capacities to be grown and expanded.

• 23:57Speaker 03

  A language that doesn't limit, but a language that provides light. Language is a powerful tool to limit people's potential. We want to provide a, a language that is actually creating a light to illuminate the potential that's oftentimes right in front of people, but they don't realize it because they're looking over it. And that's why we are asking people to pause, to reflect, to look within, and to take some risks, to ask for help and to lean into some of the challenges that are there, because we believe that oftentimes that that uphill climb may look daunting at the beginning, but the perspective we get from the top is well worth the effort. And we believe that self-development is a journey like that.

• 24:42Speaker 01

  I love it. Well, Lynda and Brian, thank you so much for coming on. Where can people learn more about you? How can they engage with you? Where can they get their copy of Unfolded?

• 24:52Speaker 02

  You can get your copy of Unfolded wherever you find good books.

• 24:57Speaker 03

  Or probably bad books. We're sold everywhere.

• 25:01Speaker 02

  You, we have a audiobook edition. We have the print and we have it on e-readers. So wherever you, you get those, those good books, you can check us out on our website, leadershipvisionconsulting.com.

• 25:20Speaker 02

  Feels like lions and tigers and bears, oh my. So yeah, it's a long domain name. You can follow us on Instagram at @leadershipvision as well as @theshoebring's where you're hearing more about our unfolded journey. As, as we are talking about and encouraging leaders and teams to unfold, we are living that journey live time with every engagement that we are in, every life stage that we hit and almost every podcast that we are on. So people can check us out there. You can link in with us, Dr. Lynda or Brian Schubring, and we would love to connect.

• 26:02Speaker 01

  Excellent. Well, if you enjoy this much as I did, show Lynda and Brian your appreciation. Share today's show with a friend who also appreciates good ideas. Go to leadershipvisionconsulting.com and learn more about how they're working with, with organizations to build great, positive cultures. Find them on Instagram and LinkedIn. I will link all of those in the notes to show and then pick up your copy of Unfold. Is it unfold or unfolded?

• 26:27Speaker 02

  Unfolded.

• 26:28Speaker 01

  Unfolded wherever you buy your books. Thanks again, Brian and Linda.

• 26:33Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 26:33Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 26:34Speaker 01

  Till next time, remember, do your part by doing your best.

• 26:40Speaker 04

  GLP-1s are changing weight loss.

• 26:42Speaker 05

  My sister had amazing.

• 26:43Speaker 04

  The ideal treatment is.

• 26:44Speaker 06

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