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594. Leading with Heart: How Positivity and Perspective Drive Real Change with Emily Tyler · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the daily influence where our mission is to deliver a daily dose of positive influence that can uplift you personally or be shared within your sphere of influence.
• 0:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: While not every episode may directly apply to your unique circumstances, we strive to provide insights and inspiration relevant to most people's daily, weekly, and monthly lives.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether you are tuning in during the morning, noon or night, the daily influence is here for you.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, share, and embrace the power of influence in your life.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Daily Influence, I'm Greg Kalino.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Today, I'm joined by Emily Tyler, director of development at Food for Greater Algin.
• 0:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Emily's journey has taken her through many roles, teacher, volunteer coordinator, program director, and now nonprofit leader.
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: but one thread ties them all together.
• 1:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Her commitment to showing up with positivity and responsible influence.
• 1:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Whether she's building programs, supporting her community, or inspiring her team, Emily's work is a reminder that leadership rooted in kindness and perspective can transform lives.
• 1:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm excited to dive into her story and the impact she's making.
• 1:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Emily, welcome to daily influence.
• 1:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Hi Greg, thank you.
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's good to be here.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thanks for having me.
• 1:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'd like you to share a bit about your background and what led you to where you are in your current role with food for a greater ultimate.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: My career started in education.
• 1:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: My degree is in music education.
• 1:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I taught for about seven years.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was somewhere where I was teaching somewhere where education wasn't well funded.
• 1:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's not an Illinois.
• 1:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: But and so I moved over to the nonprofit space and began coordinating a national volunteer program for high school and junior high kids who would take trips in the summer to serve in different places around the country and eventually became the director of that broader volunteer program that sent full time volunteers around the world.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: Peace Corps or AmeriCorps, giving full-time service, and I worked for that organization for about 10 years and I had a...
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: Then did a brief stint with a non-profit membership association.
• 2:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: But then I came here to a food for greater Algerian about two years ago.
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: I really connected with their mission.
• 2:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: The pantry feeds a lot of kids.
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I knew firsthand what that means for kids to go to school with full stomach, so they can learn and play and grow.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I just love it here, being out in about in the community, meeting folks, sharing the story of the pantry, what we do.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, that's how I got to where I am.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for sharing that.
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: In our IN Team Series, we talk about the responsibility that comes with influence.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: How have you seen your ability to influence others show up in the different roles you've had throughout your career?
• 3:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: I take that responsibility very seriously.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: I've always believed strongly in the power of walking the talk.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: teaching or influencing by example.
• 3:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: So of course, I don't always do this perfectly, no one does.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: But if I'm not willing to do the thing, whatever that thing may be, then I shouldn't ask someone else to do it.
• 3:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: Or if I expect a certain behavior or quality of work.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: I need to behave and produce work in the same way.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: The simple treat others the way I want to be treated thing.
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: I did this in the classroom with my junior high students and now in the board room and my community work and so I just really believe strongly in that.
• 4:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: I also grew up in a community that was very service oriented and so that put a lot of focus on helping and standing up for those in need.
• 4:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I began learning at a very young age what it means to give back and to care for those that are different than me.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: and because of all of that, I think influence has a lot to do with listening and listening well.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not always the one talking in a room and often can be the quietest one in the room because listening is an important part of how I lead, I think.
• 4:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: I grew up in a Christian community and so there's a quote that's attributed to St. Francis of a CC that became kind of words to live by for me that says preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.
• 5:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that idea of living living your beliefs.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you.
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you share a moment or experience when you thought you made a truly positive impact on someone's life, whether through your work, volunteering or even your personal life.
• 5:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: One that comes to mind pretty quickly, you know.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: We serve a lot of people here at the pantry and one particular day I was here after we had run distribution, distribution had closed.
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: When people come to the pantry, they're given a grocery cart and they can shop for their food.
• 5:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: So they don't just get given food that they may or may not like or eat.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: So usually when people come here, they get a grocery cart and they
• 6:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: But that day, we had finished up distribution, and I was the only person here, so was here by myself and Somebody came to the door and she said, oh my gosh, are you guys already closed?
• 6:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I said, yeah, we closed about an hour ago.
• 6:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: She said, oh my gosh, she said, I, my car broke down and I had to walk here and I'm living in a hotel close by.
• 6:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I just got more and more for a story.
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: And she, you know, her child had been diagnosed with cancer several years before and her husband had just walked out of the house one day once that diagnosis came through.
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so she, since then, it had just kind of been one thing after another.
• 6:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: And she said, I really just need some food.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And I said, okay, let's go do it.
• 6:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we went to the back and got her a box of things that she wanted, and since she walked there, we had to be careful about how much, you know, she had a roller cart to take with her, but packed up some things for her, and you know, she just was so grateful.
• 7:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: You all are literally lifesavers, she said, I'm sure you all have lots of stories like that
• 7:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: for sick-dance of your services?
• 7:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, we do, we do hear lots of a lot of stories.
• 7:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, that's the, I think,
• 7:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's something I read recently that kind of resonated with me about that, because we hear so many stories here and see so many people, but there's so much laughter here, and people are so happy and I just was reading something just last night that said laughter reframes fear.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: You can change my body, but not my spirit.
• 8:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, and that the day you lose humor is the day you surrender, the last free territory, your perspective.
• 8:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so, I just really, I love that idea that laughter is kind of a form of resistance in the difficult times.
• 8:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's so true.
• 8:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing that.
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: You've said that positivity doesn't mean ignoring challenges, but instead facing them with perspective and hope.
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: How do you practice that balance in your leadership and in the non-profit space?
• 8:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I really appreciate that question because I mentioned earlier that I don't
• 8:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: I know sometimes positivity can be seen as just kind of dismissive, that kind of shallow positivity.
• 9:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so when something's hard in life, the last thing I want to hear from someone is like tomorrow's a new day, or well, at least this, or let's focus on the positive, you know.
• 9:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because while I generally agree with those things, I believe it's important to sit, to sit in that discomfort of the tough times and face them and not to dismiss them with that shallow positivity, but work towards a positive outcome.
• 9:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm a big fan of anybody who knows me well knows that
• 9:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: I always mention Brine Brown.
• 9:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm a big fan of Brine Brown and her work and writing.
• 9:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I even have several of her quotes here in my office on the wall because it's so important to me.
• 9:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: But one of my favorite is that she says integrity is choosing courage over comfort.
• 9:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's choosing what's right over what's fun, faster, easy.
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's practicing your values,
• 10:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: People know me from my positive energy and my theory personality, but I can also be known for facing facing those difficult conversations and what I've learned that letting something faster in the workplace or with friends and family never turns out well, even if it's difficult in the beginning, talking about it and facing it is always better in the end.
• 10:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is so true.
• 10:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing that.
• 10:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: What you're saying at the beginning there about, you know, that phrase or that thing called toxic positivity, right?
• 10:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 10:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And like when you're a kid and your parents like, oh, I don't be okay.
• 10:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, at that moment, it doesn't feel like it's going to be okay.
• 10:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right.
• 10:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just having to acknowledge those feelings and feel through them and move through them.
• 11:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 11:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think, you know, there's so many big world issues today and it's, you know, just saying something like, oh, it's going to be better tomorrow.
• 11:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, for a lot of people, it probably isn't going to be better tomorrow.
• 11:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, so yeah, I just, that's an important piece for me too.
• 11:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 11:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Food for greater eligibility, such an important role in the community.
• 11:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: What lessons about teamwork and responsible influence have you learned from working with your volunteers or staff and partners towards your shared mission?
• 11:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I'm definitely inspired.
• 11:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: They leave by the community that supports food for greater
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: from the volunteers who are generous with their time to the donors who give generously and trust us to use their resources responsibly to feed as many people as possible.
• 12:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: Everyone's here to help feed people to send kids to school with full-time ease and assure that no one has to choose between medication for their aging parent or putting food on the table.
• 12:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: We have worked hard and we continue to work hard to earn the trust of that community here at Food for Greater Elgin, everyone here is committed to the mission and so it's a, you know, everybody has a unique piece of what they do and how they show up and all of that is necessary and needed.
• 12:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: They we between the 200 volunteers, the we have eight, eight staff members, 10 board members, and over 750 donors, it takes everyone doing their part.
• 13:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that's the, it really is a perfect example of teamwork.
• 13:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm a,
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: In my, in one of my former roles, we use the Gilmore Fraley working styles test and you're kind of you take a test and you're assigned a color there's four different colors and we would do this every year because our team shifted a lot and what I learned over the over time was just how important every single color if you don't have.
• 13:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I was very red and, you know, sometimes the habits of the blues would sometimes get on my nerves, you know, but I came to appreciate that, you know, that blues are very important to getting the work done or greens are also very important.
• 14:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: So building a strong team and valuing every person's contributions.
• 14:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: So true, that's a lot of people to coordinate.
• 14:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Are you using AI in your work?
• 14:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And of so, how are you finding it helpful or challenging in what you do there?
• 14:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Um, we, we are just scratching the surface here with AI, um, you know, we use it to help generate ideas a lot, um, but we haven't started using it clearly to its full capacity.
• 14:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we're, we're getting there.
• 14:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think slowly opening the door, but we haven't really started using it in bigger ways.
• 14:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And like, what message are words of encouragement?
• 14:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Would you like to share with our listeners who aspire and make a positive difference in their communities in the world?
• 14:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think, I mean, all of what I've said, care about people, listen to people's stories, and believe their stories, and keep laughing.
• 15:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Keep the laughter in there, so you don't surrender your spirit
• 15:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's great advice, Emily.
• 15:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing your story than your perspective with us today.
• 15:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Your reminder that positivity is not about ignoring challenges, but about meeting them with hope and perspective is such an important lesson for all of us.
• 15:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for the work that you're doing at Food for Greater Elgin.
• 15:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is powerful example of responsible influence and action, proving that when we bring good energy and intention into our roles, we create ripples that go far beyond ourselves.
• 15:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: If our listeners want to get in touch with you or learn more about your organization, what's the best way to do so?
• 15:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: My email address is etyler at ffge.org or our website is foodforgraderelgen.org.
• 16:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, we'll put that information to show notes.
• 16:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're so grateful for the impact that you're making and for inspiring us to keep leading with purpose.
• 16:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for joining us and sharing your advice.
• 16:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sure, thank you so much.
• 16:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: To our listeners, thank you for tuning in to Daily Influence.
• 16:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I hope today's conversation brought you insight and inspiration.
• 16:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: If it's spoke to you, share with someone who could use a little positivity today.
• 16:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Remember, small actions create big impact, keep showing up, leading and growing one day to time.
• 16:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Until next time, stay inspired and keep having a positive responsible influence.
• 16:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bye-bye.