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[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][divider line_type=”Full Width Line” line_thickness=”1″ divider_color=”default” animate=”yes” delay=”50″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]Author, entrepreneur and angel investor Brad Aronson joins the program to discuss the inspiration for his book, HumanKind: Changing the World One Small Act at a Time. Brad reveals how acts of kindness helped him and his family after his wife was diagnosed with leukemia, and also shares stories from his book about others who were positively impacted by acts of kindness.
To learn more about Brad, visit the links below:
Author of HumanKind: Changing the World One Small Act At a Time
iBook – https://www.books.apple.com
Author website
Author Twitter
https://twitter.com/bradaronson[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” text_align=”left”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”full_width_background” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” top_padding=”0″ bottom_padding=”7%” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” class=”custom-p” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none” shape_type=””][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”left-right” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][toggles style=”default”][toggle color=”Default” title=”Episode Transcription”][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” text_align=”left”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”padding-3-percent” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]Intro 0:06
Welcome to hidden human, the podcast where we explore the stories behind the business leader. Get ready to hear insights from business leaders speaking candidly about how they became who they are today, and the lessons they learned along the way. And now, here’s your host, leadership coaching speaker, Kelly Meerbott.
Kelly Meerbott 0:32
Welcome to this space where we’re where we reveal our personal humanity to reconnect with our shared humanity. Let’s begin our conversation with Brad Aronson, author, mentor, world changer and more, I’ll let him fill you in on all the amazing things he’s doing. Welcome so much, Brad, thank you for your time. And this incredible gifts humankind, which is an incredible book. And I encourage everybody listening to go out and get it, read it, spend time with it, absorb it, ruminate on it, and then take action on it. So welcome, Brad. Thanks for having me. I appreciate being here. Yeah. So did I miss anything in your title, author, mentor, role changer? I know. You’re an angel investor as well. entrepreneur. I mean, you want to add anything to that, you know, super important dad, husband, friend. Yes, the most important titles. And you know, let’s kind of get into a little bit what you and I were talking about before. And of course, shout out to our good friend, Tiffany tavarez, who connected us I mean, she’s amazing. And she’s been on the podcast. So, you know, we were talking prior to letting the cameras and mics roll that, you know, one of the things that Tiffany and I would get frustrated about prior to the pandemic, when we’re at networking beds, when was when people would walk up to us and be like, so what is it? You do? We’re like, Billy, that, that’s what you want to know about us. That’s just one small sliver. And you were you were getting into saying how awkward that was, when people would walk up to you, which is why I kind of pivoted, and I’ll tell you how I pivoted after I get your thoughts on just that whole, you know, situation. Something about that question just seems like a job interview question. What do you do? I mean, why don’t why don’t ask me like, what are you passionate about? What hobby Are you invested in these days? The most fun thing you’re doing right now, of course, with the COVID quarantine, there might not be tonnes of funds, things that everyone’s doing. But we have, like, really broad lives with a lot of things going on that are interesting. Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like what we do, like I said, is one small sliver of the pie it’s, it’s what we maybe dedicate our lives to, or, you know, just create money from and then we move on. I mean, your life is so rich. And I think unfortunately, we’re part of a similar club, where we’ve had people who we love that have been touched by leukaemia, my grandfather passed away, when I was 16 from leukaemia, and he was a doctor, so I think he probably knew long before he had it. And, you know, as they say, doctors are the worst patients. So unfortunately, I’m sure he probably gave up sooner than he, he had to maybe I don’t know, I’m speculating and, and maybe yearning for him a little bit. So talk to me about how this book was burst for you. I mean, I already know the story, but share it with the audience, because I think it’s very, very touching and moving.
Brad Aronson 3:41
So there were actually two inspirations for the book. The first was, I was attending the high school graduation of a mentee of mine. And she went to Girard college, which you probably know, even though it’s called Girard college is actually a high school. Yeah. And it was an incredible experience. I’m sitting next to this seven year old guy. And he tells me, I come back every year for this graduation, because gerar changed my life and I want to support these students. And the woman on the other side of me is crying and said that she thought her kid would either be dead or in jail. And here she is now at this graduation. And the commencement speaker was Marc morial, who’s a civil rights activist, and he’s talking about how this is incredible. Many of the all of the young people at Girard because of the neighbourhoods they came from it was expected that a huge portion of them one graduate high school, very few, if any, would attend college, and every single graduate had been accepted to college. This was momentous. And he said, when you look at the news tomorrow, you won’t see anything about this. Because the news often so often is covering the negative and they missed the positive and I get that newsrooms are stretched and you miss things like this. I couldn’t believe that was true. This was too amazing. So I wake up in the morning, check all the news.
There is nothing about Girard and I was really frustrated and then I decided, if I’m frustrated and I want this out there, I should start putting it out there. So I started writing about good news stories and people that inspired me. And then fast forward six months from then, six months later, my wife was diagnosed with leukaemia, so we are living a regular life planning our future. She has a swollen lymph node up here and we go to the doctor and the doctor says, Oh, you know, we should do a biopsy comes back, you have leukaemia, you need to go to the hospital, if all goes well, you’ll be out of the hospital in a month, and then your two and a half months of maintenance chemotherapy. So that that meant going back to the hospital four days a week, three days a week depends on the week for therapy, and treatment. And a few months into treatment, the nurses said you guys should really go to this conference for young cancer patients and their caregivers. Of course, we’re thinking like, every day we’re at the hospital. The last thing we’ll do on a weekend is go to a conference back
Kelly Meerbott 6:08
cancer conference. Yay.
Brad Aronson 6:12
Exactly. And, and but the nurses, anyone who’s been through healthcare knows the nurses are, they’re just always right. And they helped us get through treatment, they changed our lives. And we decided if they think we should go to this, we probably should. And there was a speaker there who had had the same treatment regimen is made. And the speaker said if you have two and a half years of treatment ahead of you, you need projects, because projects give you a purpose, project, distraction, and do while you’re in the hospital. So we all decided to come up with projects I was going to write in a journal once a day. Our son jack, he was five at the time. He didn’t know exactly what’s going on. But his project was to play wiffle ball every day for 200 days in a row. We did it. We did it. It could be raining. We’d be out there he’s wearing he loves the Phillies. I’m sure you do as a Philly person.
Kelly Meerbott 7:03
Wow. That’s an interesting story. But keep going keep going. And I’ll tell you what my affiliations are.
Brad Aronson 7:11
So we will we will circle back to that.
Kelly Meerbott 7:14
close the loop on that one
Brad Aronson 7:16
With all his Phillies gear we played 200 days in a row and for my project I wrote about all the kindnesses that were shown us so
Kelly Meerbott 7:24
So you know you basically were told by these nurses that changed your life which I’ve heard that story. I can’t tell you how many times to go to this conference because you needed a purpose and your wife was journaling, me I was journaling jack was playing wiffle ball. Like, well, let’s call it the UPS USPS kind of approach to that. Neither rain nor sleet, no dark of night, Jack’s out playing wiffle ball and you decide to write this book about kindness in the world. And from there, like it totally resonated with me, Brad, when you said like, I don’t ask for help. I don’t reach out like I’m the same way. And I had a coach recently who was like, Listen, you’re blocking abundance, because it’s a flow. And if you can’t receive, there’s no way you can give. So, you know, as you were getting into this, and you’re writing this and collecting all these stories about these small acts of kindness? What ended up happening? How did How does your world shift?
Brad Aronson 8:26
So it changed my perspective. Oh, my goodness. Why is this happening to us to Wow, like, we were so lucky that we’re having all this kindness. Yeah. You know, of course, you still are having days we were saying why me and this is? Right. But you can appreciate the positive. And then learning how to accept help was great, and realising that people want to help. And if you let them help, that is kind in and of itself.
Kelly Meerbott 8:58
Yes. Yes. And it’s like, it’s almost like when you don’t accept their kindness. Actually, let me drop the almost like, when somebody offers you their kindness and you push it away. It’s okay. So there’s two ways I look at it. One, you’re pushing away gift, two, you’re slapping God in the face. Because this is God coming to you and saying, here I want to be kind and help you as well. And I’m sitting here and actually it’s it’s stapled to my board, so I can’t really show it to you. But there’s a mechanical watch on my bulletin board that I keep because in the winter, like right around Christmas, I put up a bunch of stuff on Craigslist and offer up and all these things because it was just taking up space and I was like let me just sell it and see if I can get a little extra Christmas money. Well, one there’s a long story behind this and I won’t get into it but on October 20 Facebook shut down disabled my account after 18 years with no no explanation, including me finding Mark Zuckerberg his personal email address and Harvard email address and emailing him every day and saying, I didn’t violate community standards. So could you please tell me why. So, the reason why that’s important is my friend Jody put this bike that I had up on Facebook, and she came back to me one day and said, hey, there’s this guy looking to trade you for a watch. It’s not a good deal. What, what do you want? And I literally this little voice inside of me said, Give him the bike. If he wants it, that bag, give him the bike. So I went back and I said to her, tell him Merry Christmas, he can have the bike, but he’s got to pick it up tomorrow. And she came back and she was like, Okay, I’m gonna give him your number. Is that okay? And he came back and was like, why is it free? And I said, random acts of kindness, happy holidays. Well, he came and picked up the bike, I left it outside, you know, not no contact pickup. And I come out and the watch is literally on the railing of our porch. And I texted him, I said, You didn’t have to leave the watch. And he said to me, Kelly, I like being kind to people, too. And I was like, yep, that’s what it’s all about. So let me do you mind if I read a passage from your book? Is that weird for you? No, not at all. Okay, so in chapter I think it’s chapter eight. It’s again help me pronounce her name is Mr. Keyshia Mark Makita, markita story. And just her awareness like so. Marie, you set it up, set up the story. So some people have context about her
Brad Aronson 11:46
Markita as a kid was in foster care and move from home to home to home never had a steady home. In fact, she saw you know, her mom get killed right in front of her. And just a lot of trauma. In jail as a juvenile. Yeah, multiple times. And her way of expressing herself was punching people in the face because she didn’t know what else to do. Yeah, I go further. Is that a good setup?
Kelly Meerbott 12:18
No, that’s a perfect setup. So this is a point when markita is she’s she’s in foster care that third placement I believe and correct me if I’m wrong, jump in. Because this is your your story. And I don’t want to I want to make sure I honour you and her. But she she has this awareness after a major surprise from I believe it’s the principal, right? Is that the principal? It’s the warden. It’s the warden. Okay, so it’s, that’s even better. Okay, so here’s her awareness, everybody. Her unforgettable send off, also brought her an epiphany. Maybe she was worthy of love, despite everything she’d been been conditioned to believe about herself. Maybe there were loving and understanding people in the world who cared enough to look beneath the surface and see her potential. Why else would these people have thrown a party honouring the fact that she’s been she’d been brought into this world and this was a celebration or 50th birthday. What stuck with me not only was the awareness, but I believe the the insight into the conditioning, like she was conditioned to believe she was unlovable. So, you know, first of all, how did you pick up? Or how young were you when you believe you realise that there was all this conditioning telling us? The opposite was true? Meaning, like, you come into this awareness that they’re all they are these systems that are conditioning us to believe things that aren’t true? how young were you when you came into that kind of awareness that that that this was there and present?
Brad Aronson 13:59
So, you know, there were many different like, points in my life, I think, one turning point was a major earthquake in Mexico. And I watched it on the TV and I was brought up Orthodox Jews were religious, or religious Christ to lead the services in my temple. And it was that day that I said, Mom, I just saw all these innocent kids who got killed in an earthquake, my time is not well spent in temple, I should go out and just make the world a better place and do things. And that’s how I could make a difference. And you know, I’m not anti religion. I think people can have different views, but at 13 It’s such a concrete memory of seeing that and saying, oh, my goodness, my world has just been shifted. We’ve been doing all this stuff. Religion was a big part of it, and I need to go down a different path.
Kelly Meerbott 14:52
Yeah. And what did mom say in response to that.
Brad Aronson 14:55
Great.
Kelly Meerbott 14:57
Really, okay.
Brad Aronson 14:59
He was totally on board.
Kelly Meerbott 15:00
Alright, so let me tell you about Irene. Irene is my mother and I was brought up Italian Catholic. In South Florida. My mom’s Italian, my dad’s scotch Irish. We used to have priests to the house we used to, like I would read it bass and stuff like that. If I said that Tyrion she’d be like, You’re out of your minds, like, you’re 13 go, you’re gonna keep going to church. So how, tell me your mom saying First of all, yo, yo. So first of all, tell me about Joan. Like, what was she like, is a mother for her to say that to her son? And first of all, were you bought mitzvah at that time? Like, that’s a 13 is a is a is a key time and in Jewish culture. Right?
Brad Aronson 15:46
Right. So like my parents, so my mom is is not that religious, my father would just have my mom, okay, God, but she believes in a higher power. She she’s now she’s Buddhist, and very into kind of being, gratitude and being thankful. But she said, once your bar mitzvah, it’s your choice, if you want to go to temple anymore, or not. Wow. And she had always done lots of volunteering. So I’d seen her doing volunteering and doing volunteer work. So that was a natural direction for me to take.
Kelly Meerbott 16:23
I mean, you’re proving my point. So like, typically, what I say is between the ages of eight and 14, there’s some defining moment that sets you on the trajectory of what you do to lead today. And you’re you’re pointing to that. So let’s dig a little bit deeper. What did mom and dad do? First of all, for a living? What I know we hate that question, but let’s just kind of set context for the for the audience, we can ask because it’s the it’s in. \
Brad Aronson 16:50
We’ve already talked to each other a little bit. Right, right. So my mom was an office manager, okay. My dad was an attorney, he had his own law firm.
Kelly Meerbott 16:59
Gotcha. Okay. So I’m going to I’m going to kind of get a little bit repetitive here. But I think it’s worth worth it for the discussion. So tell me the qualities that you got from dad and the qualities you got from mom that you leverage in your life and work today.
Brad Aronson 17:15
So my dad is probably the nicest person I know. I would go to the grocery store as a kid and people would say, Are you Joe Aronson, son, he’s so nice, blah, blah, blah. He just is really nice, very easygoing. And I think, you know, I’d like to believe that I’ve gotten some of his kindness from him that that would be my ideal.
Kelly Meerbott 17:37
Okay, I’ve met you for what, like how many minutes and I can already tell you just from reading energy, like, your your dad’s son, honey, like you really are. It’s just it’s, I mean, is he still alive?
Brad Aronson 17:52
Yes, he is.
Kelly Meerbott 17:53
Is he proud of you?
Brad Aronson 17:54
Yes.
Kelly Meerbott 17:55
I mean, if you were my son, and I don’t have any kids, I’d be like, yeah, I won the jackpot, man. Like, not only is he kind did he sell his company to Microsoft, and but he wrote this book, I mean,check check. Like, that’s the trifecta. Right there.
Brad Aronson 18:12
Thank you.
Kelly Meerbott 18:13
Yeah. I mean, seriously, like, I’m just I’m, I’m in awe of you. And I can’t believe that we’ve run in so many similar circles. And it’s taken us this long to connect, but I’m just grateful that Yeah, so Okay, so mom makes transition from Judaism to Buddhism, which is a fascinating shift. And I’ll tell you, just to kind of
Sherile Turner-Myles 18:34
tell you my story a little bit, you know, after everything came out with the Catholic Church, you know, I, I’m loyal beyond a fault, like I am very, very loyal. But if you lie, or hypocrite and then try to cover it up, that’s what I now like, I that’s my cutting mine. And so, you know, after being so deeply aligned with the church, spiritually, I felt really rocked to my core when that happened. And I ended up leaving the church after I got married in in 2008. And, and honestly, I pray more, I practice gratitude more, I’m in a state of, like, let’s just call it universal flow more than I was when I was going to church every Sunday. You know what I mean? It’s like when you cut out the middleman and get aligned with a higher power, it’s like everything kind of clicks into place. So okay, so you leave the church at 13 years old? Where did where do you go then? Do you did you go to Mexico and and help or how did how did kindness express itself after that awareness at 13 years old?
Brad Aronson 19:40
So I was I’ve always been a very empathetic person. So someone was getting done. I was a kid who was always like, I’ll try to be their friend.
Kelly Meerbott 19:47
Yeah, me too.
Brad Aronson 19:48
And so yeah, I mean that we have that in common and my mom said, you need to volunteer somewhere. And I started doing this buddies programme. I would go to the community centre and hang out With kids who had some sort of family trauma, so a parent died or something bad happened in their family, they’re going through a lot of stress. I just played kickball with them tag. And it. It just fueled me more because I could see how unfair It was like these were kids that it just happened to them. Yes. The kids in Mexico and today I look around and I just see, I caught the zip code lottery. If you’re born into certain zip codes, you have much fewer opportunities, and it’s very unfair. Yes, this feeling is I’ve always felt I’ve been so lucky. And it’s not because I did things myself and I made it half of where I was born. And I want to give some of that back if I can,
Kelly Meerbott 20:43
you know, God, Brad, you are just speaking to my soul. I mean, like it for me, the awareness. Okay, so first of all, let me close the loop on the Phillies thing. So I was born in New York. I grew up in South Florida, and I relocated to Virginia in 2005. I was dating my husband at the time, and then we moved to Philly in 2013. We do have family here, but my teams are this Okay, ready. Red Sox, Bruins Celtics and the Miami Dolphins. And the reason why that is, is because my husband, and this is what I love about these teams that are older. And what do I mean by that? I mean, like, the Cubs, the Phillies, the the the teams that have been around for generations, the reason I adopted the Red Sox is because my husband has been a fan of them because of his father and his grandfather, right. And the South Florida connection is his dad grew up in Miami, so there’s the Miami Dolphins connection. But if we’re going to be really, really honest, I cheer for the underdog. So whoever is like the team that comes into the World Series, or, or the the Stanley Cup, or, you know, the NBA Finals, whoever is like, been losing all along, and who’s never won before. Like, that’s, I’m jumping in on the underdog. Like, that’s, that’s just kind of what I do. Unless our teams are involved, then of course, I’m going to cheer for them. So that was a lot. That was a long way of saying that. But you know, I just love how you put things, you know, the zip code lottery, and we could even go a step further and call it the skintone lottery. You know, I mean, you and I are both white folks, and and we’re all coming to this awareness, or at least the evolved in, you know, kind of enlightened ones, are really understanding what this brings as a privilege. And for me, about three or four years ago, I decided that in my business, I was going to partner and only align myself with women and minority owned businesses just as a practice. And what that’s done is just opened up a whole world of possibilities and learnings that have been just amazing for me as a human, but also this awareness that things aren’t fair. And I don’t know if you have this bread, but I get the sense you kind of do. When I see things unfair, it just like there’s this primal drive to level the playing field. Like whatever I need to do, whether it’s walk away from business, or kick open a door that was previously locked to people who are marginalised and don’t look like me, it’s like this sole focus to make sure that everybody has access, and that not only they have a seat at the table, but their voice is heard and listened to. Really. So I don’t know how that plays in for you. But that’s kind of like how it’s manifesting in my work.
Brad Aronson 23:49
We share that. That drive. Absolutely. driver for most of my life.
Kelly Meerbott 23:55
Yeah. Yeah. So okay, that when I was reading through your book, I’m researching you before we got on today. You know, what my thought there was a thought that came and I don’t it’s not formulate, so let’s just kind of play with that a little bit. But there’s this, you know, this word accountability that’s been been thrown around like a lot lately, because there’s been so much in accountability. So how do you think kindness and specifically human kindness and accountability work together? Or do they not? I think it’s a key component, but I’m just interested to hear what you think about that.
Brad Aronson 24:33
I mean, I, I think kindness should be at the core of what we do. Yeah. And for many reasons, and for anyone who doesn’t believe it, I will just say, research shows from a selfish standpoint, that if you’re kind, you will be a happier person. So we’ll just take that as like, let’s capture everyone in that hug. Yes, but but I think, you know, especially If you have some being able to empathise and put yourself in other people’s shoes, and being realising why you’re lucky to be you and realising that we have a power one day, every day, I mean, all, all we have to do is send a thank you note to someone we’ve made their week, probably. So we should be accountable to that power, and grab it and make sure that on a daily basis, we’re finding ways to make the world a better place.
Kelly Meerbott 25:31
Do you think we, as humans, and as humanity, as a whole are capable of rising to kindness, as you know, as a choice versus what lead and let’s just bring it up? Because it’s top of mind as a counter to January 6?
Brad Aronson 25:54
I think so.
Kelly Meerbott 25:55
Okay, tell me why give me proof because I already I already agree with you. But I want to I want to understand it, like from a different perspective.
Brad Aronson 26:05
I believe most people are kind, and they want to do good. And they often don’t know what to do. Right? Let’s take January 6 out of the picture of people who, you know, might might differ, right, but But of course, they certainly do different. Let’s put it that right.
Yeah. If I look at the fact that all of us. Alright, some told me the question again.
Kelly Meerbott 26:42
You know, all right, we look at all right, okay, so I was in the media, I started my career in the media, and you were being very, very kind. Media is a fear based organisation. That’s what they do. Like, I’ll give you an example. The first day I walked into the newsroom, the news director grabs me I’m, you know, 22 out of college, like so excited thinking, I’m going to be the next Diane Sawyer. And I will never forget this conversation. He pulls me into this crappy little office, and I’m just painting the picture. So you can kind of get the feeling of it with halogen lights that flickered almost, that we’re gonna give you a seizure. Like that was the kind of light it was that grey, just horrible thing. And he sits me down. He says, Kelly, there are two rules to local media that you have to remember if you’re going to make it in this industry. And I was like, Okay. And I’ll tell you after he told me, I was like, yep, this is not the industry for me. He said, number one, if it bleeds, it leads, meaning if the subject is bleeding, it’s in the first story. Okay, so let’s just put that there. The second one was, we need to scare our viewers enough so that they stay tuned in to the five 530 and six o’clock broadcast so we can get eyes for advertisers? And I was like, Yeah, no, this is not what I want to do with my life. And it’s, it’s sad, because then we look at something like your book, or some good news, which was, you know, an idea of john Krasinski, that took off, because we were craving this relief from the dark, you know, part of life. So I was just wondering, do you think we, as humans are capable of choosing kindness over everything else as an option?
Brad Aronson 28:30
Absolutely. I think a lot of people prefer kindness, but don’t know what to do. Yes. It seems so bleak that that folks get paralysed I hear all the time. There’s so many homeless people in Philadelphia, what can I do? There’s some problems in the school, what can I do? But when opportunity is presented, all those people tend to do things. So in our case, when Mia was sick, and we needed to help everyone stepped up people we didn’t even know. And I feel like I see that in communities everywhere. Yeah, because I write about good news. I get tonnes of emails from people with their stories. Yeah. And it takes something happening. And someone saying, here’s what we can do. And everyone is so excited to help and be a part of that. So I think, yes, we’re totally capable. We want to but sometimes we need a push, we need encouragement, because we feel paralysed by what’s in the media. And I think there’s also this push for more good news, as you pointed out, so looking just locally, the Philadelphia Inquirer now has a good news section. Because that’s what people want. And some good news became a huge success because people want to hear the positive. So I think it’s not there. And it’s not as pervasive as i’d love it to be. But people want it to be so it eventually will be pervasive.
Kelly Meerbott 29:55
And I agree with you because I so I did a little experiment and honestly, it was more fun. Even my audience in my email list. But during the holidays from December 1 to December 25, I did random acts of kindness calendar. And like the reason I call it random acts of kindness is because I was giving you ideas. And if you wanted to do day one through, you know, and just repeated all 25 days, I don’t care, you know, as long as you’re spreading kindness, and the feedback I got was unbelievable. Like, I had one woman who works for hold on the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, and she said to me, I took your programme and brought it to the youth programme in my church, and we did every day. Along with you. I had another one, another client of mine, who’s an active duty member of the military high ranking officer, who was like, gave me suggestions on random acts of kindness. I had another person who said to me, it just spread light when I needed it. And I was like, This is great. It was it was awesome, you know, to hear all of these amazing things and how kindness does extend. And I agree with you, I agree with you. I just wonder, you know, when I see things that are like mass hate, do we have enough in us as humanity? Meaning Do we have enough energy? Do we have enough love? Do we have enough empathy and compassion and capacity to love each other to lean on kindness? When things get tough?
Brad Aronson 31:30
I think a lot of the mass hate could be caused by people not knowing folks outside of their circle. Yeah, I can like it’s it’s you hate your Mr. Rogers quote is the perfect. You can look at this. If you don’t know someone who’s gay. It’s could be so much easier for you to hate gay people. Like I’ve seen shows where there’s people and they hate them. Then they meet someone and they realise, oh, my goodness, they’re just like me, and they’re human. And then it changes everything. So I think not knowing someone who’s different than you caught with anger and hatred. So I do believe by people meeting each other getting to know each other, listening to folk stories.
Yeah.
Kelly Meerbott 32:20
Well, yeah, I mean, like you in this example of markita. Like, was like, as I’m reading it, I’m like, Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God, she and she saw these horrific things. And, and then she has this epiphany, whatever, what ended up happening to her, like, how do you know how her story turns out?
Brad Aronson 32:40
I mean, it’s incredible. So after she had been through all this trauma, and was in juvenile jail for the third time, the warden comes to her and says, okay, Marquis, you got to come to the conference room, right? She hadn’t had a single visitor and her whole life there. And it’s only bad news when you go, so she’s trying to get out of it. She’s saying, I didn’t do anything. I didn’t do anything. She gets there. It’s a surprise birthday. It’s the wardens wife and a couple staff and they made her favourite cake. It was the first birthday she ever had in
Kelly Meerbott 33:11
Oh, Brad!
Brad Aronson 33:13
she started crying. And she said, she told me that changed my whole life. That’s when I realised I’m going to be different because people love me. So she became a social worker. She has a master’s in social work. She counsels kids who are like her, she’s getting another degree so that she could open a home for kids who need a place to live. And what I heard so much from the people I interviewed, like, markita Yeah, it’s the seemingly trivial thing. Who would have thought that a 16th birthday, in a jail with three people would change your whole life? But not only did it change your whole life? Now she’s giving it back and paying it back to other people? And that’s what she’s committed to. So it turns out to be incredible.
Kelly Meerbott 33:57
Yes. 100%. I mean, I love that. And so this brings me to my my other question. And I, I always kind of know what your answer is, but I’m hoping I like I’m not like I you know, there’s some awareness, obviously, but you we talked about trauma, and I noticed that you talked about that a lot. And I’ve been talking about that a lot in my own work, you know, as a two time sexual assault survivor, like there’s something very visceral, that changes you in these. And if you if there’s unresolved trauma, obviously, what I say is, you know, you’re wounded and you’re bleeding all over everybody, right? So what I was thinking is, Oh, my gosh, kindness can heal trauma. And I’m just wondering if you if you have the belief that there’s a lot of wounded people out there walking around that kindness and human kindness could heal if they just allowed themselves to accept that.
Brad Aronson 34:55
What is yes, I completely believe that And not only do they need to allow themselves like someone has to be willing to give that to them, it’s not all on on the person who’s mean that trauma. And I see it all the time. I’m very involved with some nonprofits that serve young people who have been through extreme trauma. That, that affects your brain and affects how you are affects how you react. someone loves you, and they show you kindness and they’re there for you. It changes everything. It changes everything. It changes your perspective, it makes you open, you’re able to move forward. But I, from what I’ve seen, the trauma is still there. Yeah. So it goes away. But you can have a productive way of dealing with it and kind of giving back in your own way.
Kelly Meerbott 35:47
Well, and I, I think, to your point, I think kindness takes the sting of the trauma, like it, it just does, it takes out. I don’t know how to explain how it feels, except that it feels like your raw open nerve when you’re traumatised, like that’s what it feels like. And when somebody shows you kindness, it’s like taking the electrical charge out of that open nerve. Does that make sense?
Brad Aronson 36:14
It does, okay. Okay.
Kelly Meerbott 36:16
So how did writing this book and this process change you?
Brad Aronson 36:23
So, it made me so much more appreciative of the power of these trivial acts of kindness. So it’s the first time I lived it myself, because of our family’s needs. talking to these people, so like markita birthday changed her life. Now this guy Luis, one conversation changed his entire life. And now he helps 1000s of kids. There’s this guy who someone gave them $20 when he was homeless, and he went on to do all this good stuff that has contributed over $2 million to other people. And when you look and you see that these little things have such an impact. You walk around thinking, what little thing can I do today? like yeah, knows where it’s gonna go. And I want to, I want to try to harness that energy. So you become focused on this mission of I want to do good today. It’s also easy. I don’t have to change the world to help 100 people I could find a little way to be kind improve someone’s life every day. Yes, that makes a difference and can even have a ripple effect.
Kelly Meerbott 37:31
Okay, so let’s talk about that ripple effect in your own life, how to change jeconiah How did this process change them?
Brad Aronson 37:38
So I’d say the book writing process didn’t impact jack that much because he was so young at the time five. I mean, I remember the school called us at one point. Yes, it’s a two and a half year treatment. He’s seven and a half, I guess at the end of treatments towards the end of treatment, and says, Hey, we want to let you know the school decided to do a fundraiser for leukaemia, and I had been decided by student council and it wasn’t to do with me, they just decided to do it. So we don’t know if your son will get all stressed when he hears about leukaemia and so we’re giving you a heads up, he’s going to come home and we’re rolling it out to the school. And he comes home and like he has this little box like they’re raising money for leukaemia like hey, so what’s that about? Because I don’t know, it’s like some charity, I think it’s a zoo or something that we’re raising money for. So he Luckily, you know, was was not impacted. And what the social workers told us is, at his age, if we kept his life as close to how it used to be as possible, he wouldn’t be impacted or feel trauma. And that was true.
Kelly Meerbott 38:41
Yeah.
Brad Aronson 38:43
So in Mia’s case, she had a mentor through a programme called Imerman angels. They match you with someone who has gone through the same cancer treatment you have and isn’t a similar stage in life. And that mentor had such an impact on her that she has been a mentor to countless other women going through leukaemia and she does not like to talk about leukaemia, she and I feel the same way. As far as like it’s done.
Kelly Meerbott 39:13
Yeah, let’s not bring it let’s not call it back into existence, shall we like,
Brad Aronson 39:17
right? But she feels so strongly about the kindness she saw that wants to help other people. So she says yes to every mentee they call her about. And I think collectively, like she and I see how these little acts make a difference. And we’re trying to like as a team, thinking about what we can do for other people and how we can kind of take what made a difference to us and share that with others.
Kelly Meerbott 39:41
I mean, Brad, so I told you my my paternal grandfather had leukaemia and you know, he was like a second father to me. So losing him was devastating. But, I mean, I don’t know if you if men have this problem, but when when women get older It’s harder to make friends. So imagine I moved to 20 in here in 2013. You know, I’m 44 Now, do the math. It’s too late in the day for me to do it right now. But my best friend Marcy Caudill, who she went to Clemson on a volleyball scholarship athlete like, is one of those people that kill you know, cleans our house with Meyers no chemicals like Kelly, you better change your mascara, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We were we work out together. And one day after class, she bent over to stretch and she got up and she said she felt like she was hanging upside down for about 10 minutes. Well, long story short, she ends up going to the doctors and they’re like, you’re just dehydrated. She’s like, no, there’s something wrong with me. They find a clot right here. And I guess when they find a blood clot, you would know better than I, I do. They they do a myriad of tests. And they end up finding out that she’s got a tumour like the tumour is here. And it’s caused by lymphoma or leukaemia, I can’t remember, because we didn’t like to talk about it. Our mission was and I don’t know, Doug, you may have to bleep this out. It was hashtag operation kill that motherfucker. Which was a tumour. So like, every time we’d be in class together, I would like pretend like I was at just zooming in on that tumour. And long story short, she ended up you know, being cancer free. But it for me, especially somebody in my age group who’s so healthy and so conscious about everything, from her environment to get that kind of that in her it was like, Wait, how did this you’re like, How did this happen? I don’t, I don’t understand. And, you know, just the trauma of losing your hair as a woman and watching her go through that. And, and you know, just trying to be a cheerleader and a hype woman it was, it was really hard to watch, you know, so I can understand why you wouldn’t want to talk about that in your household. And, you know, the media, I say, for for my best friend to know that there’s somebody out there like you another woman to help her through that. Thank you. So if you could tell her that for me, I’d really appreciate it. Um, but you know, if when I get people like you on on the programme, it’s it’s almost I don’t know how to say this, though. So I’ll just say it. It’s very refreshing because I feel like I’m speaking the same language. Like, if I go into a corporation, hypothetically, like Comcast, because we’re in Philly, right, and their headquarters are here. And I talk about kindness, and doing operating on a higher level of consciousness, which when I say that, I mean, being a good steward of the land that you’re on, being a good neighbour being, you know, kind to your employees being cut. They look at me like, I’m crazy. So I’m just wondering, do you think that we can get into a world like especially you being an angel investor? So you’re in tech, you understand this? Can we get people at these levels, the ones that hold finance, hold tech, hold media, all of that, to operate on a higher level consciousness? And if we can, what are the steps that we need to take to get there?
Brad Aronson 43:26
So I think we can, okay, employees are demanding it. Good. Oh, it’s one of the pleasant surprise about my book, is that I have companies buying hundreds of copies for all their employees. Awesome. And then I come in, and, you know, share some stories from the book, and we brainstorm about good things they can do and how they can make the world better. And it’s driven by a group of employees who are saying, we want to stand for something. And I see it in the nonprofits I work with as well. So deeply involved with hope works, and Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Kelly Meerbott 44:01
I know talk to me about that. I love that. So tell us more about that.
Brad Aronson 44:05
You know, what, as far as the company side, I see companies coming to us who really want to partner they want to change the world and their employees are driving it. So I think we’re getting there. Right? And employees are driving it and demanding it and good for us. As far as hope works, and Big Brothers, Big Sisters, it ties into what you were talking about earlier, where we have certain benefits either because of our skin colour, the families we were born into the zip code schools that we went to. And those are two nonprofits that are about levelling the playing field by making sure that young people who have tonnes of potential are given opportunities to reach that potential, when there might be unfair barriers in their way.
Kelly Meerbott 44:52
Okay, now, how do we talk to other angel investors because let’s be honest, Brad, especially here in the United States, nine percent of most investors are women, everybody else looks like you. Okay, so, and unfortunately, not everybody thinks like you. So how do we get them there? How do we get the people that hold the purse strings, to understand that they have to invest in kindness and in human kindness?
Brad Aronson 45:21
I think it’s our job and responsibility to do that. So, because like people that are my peers, I talked to them, and I push them. So, you know, I call my peers and say, Hey, what are you doing about diversifying your employee base? Because that’s really important. And in tech, tech is much more of a meritocracy than other businesses. You know, you don’t often need a degree, it’s like, can you code or not? And it’s my job to push people to think that way. And so part of it is, I have to take that responsibility, and push them. And there’s also organisations trying to do that. So in Philadelphia, there’s a group called the satella. Institute. Have you heard of them?
Kelly Meerbott 46:07
No, I tell me more about them.
Brad Aronson 46:10
These are CEOs of Philly companies who are committed to trying to bring basically bring more to our communities to do better in the communities. And I think the premise of bringing all the CEOs together is great, because they’re the ones who set the policies for their companies packed all their employees, yes, impact the community. So I think that’s a step as well, you brought up the biggest challenge I see. Which is, people tend to think pretty highly of themselves. And they therefore have a natural bias towards people who are similar to themselves. So if everyone who’s a hiring manager is a white man who went to an Ivy League college, they are naturally biassed that, Oh, well, they’re kind of like me, so they must be smart. And that’s an unfair thing. But that’s the bias we have to try to get through in many cases.
Kelly Meerbott 47:08
Yeah. And I love that you’re challenging your peers, because I’m not only challenging my peers being challenging my clients, and I was I’m laughing because Okay, so I’ve got like, I told you, I have this high level military contract. And I’m, I can’t tell you the branch of the military, but let’s just say they’re very high ranking officers and the military came to me and said, we think we need to pay attention to our servicemembers emotional well being Would you like to help? And I was like, absolutely. So you know, I’m saying things to guys like, okay, you’re an enlightened leader. What are you doing about diversity, equity, inclusion, sexism, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and I remember one of the guys I have is working at the Pentagon. He said to me, you’re putting a lot of weight on my shoulders, Kelly, and I go exactly, because you can shoulder it. And we need people like you. And that’s, I think that, you know, in the in the discussion of diversity, equity inclusion, I’d love to get your thoughts on this, Brad, that I read a statistic that 70% of white men, white, heterosexual cisgender men want to be part of the dei discussion, but feel like they’re not wanted. Do you feel like that?
Brad Aronson 48:24
I do, I feel like I’m wanted, especially because I can influence hiring. Yeah. And I think you can feel unwanted. That doesn’t matter. Just go and do it. Right. If in a company, you know, obviously, the vast majority of jobs in a company come from someone handing someone else a resume, hey, please look at this resume. Yes, is statistically the way most jobs get done. So there’s a company that’s all white people, then most of their connections are white people. And those are the resumes getting passed. And if you want to do something about it, go and expand your network, look other places for employees. Because first, that’s how you’ll find them. It makes your company better. If everyone thinks the same way your company, you’re gonna miss so many opportunities. So like, I think people need to just feel empowered, if you want to be a part of it, go do something about it, like, push. And it’s, you know, as simple as if you’re in a big company, and you’re a hiring manager. And let’s say a college degree is a requirement. always been a requirement. But really for your jobs. You don’t need a college degree. I remember I’ve seen tech companies where they require a college degree. You’re looking for someone who codes his college teaching them to code more than someone who’s sitting in their basement coding all the time. No, yeah. And we know that statistically, you’re you’re discriminating against or you’re making it more difficult for people of colour to get jobs if it’s based on a college degree as opposed to the skills you actually need. So you can go to your HR and say, Hey, for my hires, that’s not a requirement I need I want the best coders or the best, whatever it is. So, and I’m going off on a tangent with
Kelly Meerbott 50:10
no, no, no, you’re not. And I’m following you. And this is such a rich discussion. And I, yes, yes to everything you’re saying. And like, sometimes I sit there, Brad, and I feel like, Okay, I’m yelling in a crowded room, there’s a fire coming from outside. I’m like, yo, there’s a fire. And nobody’s listening. So when you say these things, I’m like, Yes, this is exactly what I’ve been saying all along. And it’s sometimes it’s, it’s, it’s either hard to get people to listen, or maybe I’m talking to the wrong person, meaning they’re not open yet. Like they’re not ready to receive that. So no, you’re not going off on a tangent. And it reminds me, so I and I know I’m kind of going circuitous here, but I think you’re kind of flowing with me, which is fine. Um, but as long as you’re okay with that, are you okay with that?
Brad Aronson 50:58
Absolutely. I’m loving it.
Kelly Meerbott 50:59
cool. I’m loving it, too. So after January 6, and I don’t mean to keep harping on that. But the way I approach things now, is I go introspective. I’m like, Okay, this happened. What have I done? Where is my responsibility? Where have I contributed to breathe life into this? And what can I course correct within myself? Because frankly, when I looked at all of this, this racism, I was like, Oh, god, this is huge, like, and it permeates everything. How in the heck am I going to get started? And I know that I was sitting there looking at it going, I’m stuck. So then I thought, well, the only thing that I can really control or take ownership of is my mind. And me. So let’s start with me first. Okay, so January 6 happens. And I’m like, Alright, there’s something I don’t understand what’s going on. And what is it? Okay. I don’t really understand this store trauma that happened on our land, the land that we’re living on right now. Let me enrol myself in a course of the Arizona trauma Institute called stepping into a future free of historic trauma. And I learned all about everything we’ve done to marginalised communities. And when I say we, I mean the dominant culture, the dominant white culture. And I was like, Oh, my God, what can I do to fix this? Well, I try to meet myself where I’m at. And what came to me was, I’ve got to feed the coaching community. And what that means is, there’s a lot of great coaches out there, that I’ve been coaching individually, that don’t maybe have the women on business, women owned small business, economically disadvantaged certifications at all these big organisations look for so they can get credit for their diversity. And I was meeting these amazing women, like, there’s this woman, her name is Mariah Broadus. And I said to her, how, how long have you been coaching? And she goes for years, and I was like, Wait a second, you told me you’re in higher ed for 22? And she said, Yeah, I said, Well, what did you do in higher ed? She said, I coach students, I said, so you’ve been a coach for 26 years, not for four. So what I’ve been doing is building this diverse coaching cohort, because I thought, okay, if I have access, right, just through these certifications that are not only and you know, this time consuming and expensive to get, why can’t I roll them up under my umbrella and go, Hey, Microsoft, you want to really do diversity, equity inclusion, right? Here are 18 fantastic coaches that happen to be women and people of colour that can help you, you know what I mean? So that, for me, that’s the way I was able to take action, and we’re still interviewing and putting people in place, but the the women and the people that are involved in this, Brad, I’m just inspired and blown back by in a great way. And I’m hoping that organisations see what we’re offering, you know, as a way to kind of lift everybody up, because my thought was, if I can feed these individual coaches that are doing great work, and we can not only feed them, then they can feed their families and heal their clients more, right? And create a support group for them, so that they can talk to me, like one of them said to me, wait a second, you have a cancellation clause in your contract. So I was like, yep, you want them here you go, you know what I mean? And that resource sharing, it’s gonna level the playing field. So that’s a long way of saying I think you need to start where you’re at, which is what you did you know, Mia gets diagnosed and you’re like, what can I do? I need a project, which to me said I really need to anchor myself back in my purpose and for you. It manifested as human kindness is that accurate to All right, you did. Okay. I mean, I just, I want more of this. How do we do more of this? Like, and I don’t want us I don’t mean this for the podcast. I mean, how do you and I put legs under this and really make a global impact? What is it that we need to do as leaders to perpetuate this?
Brad Aronson 55:20
Man, I think you’re doing the right thing. I think we have to start where we are. Yeah, we talked about how some people, and it’s understandable, get paralysed, looking at everything that’s around them. Yeah. But each of us has a sphere of influence. Yeah. And, you know, yours, obviously, through your business, you have such opportunity. And the businesses I’m involved with, I have opportunity. And, you know, being there to help to coach and people who feel like, I don’t know what I could do sign up to be a big brother, or big sister. And there you go. You’re helping a kid who obviously needs help. Yeah. And or needs extra adult, another adult in their life who’s gonna cheer them on? I think we have to take those steps. And then think about, okay, now, once we do that, where do we take it higher? And sometimes it just goes on its own. So I talked to someone who’s a big brother in our programme. And he said, Yeah, I’ve been a big brother for four years. And you know what, now all my friends are because they all met my little brother, like, this is awesome. And look what I’m doing. Yeah, he didn’t have to do something big. He’s just out there doing it, and it inspires all these other people. And then I meet littles who, because they had such a good experience. This one, this one guy, Steven, he’s been a big to four kids. And what inspired him was that his big changed his life. So this spiral that you could have by mentoring one person, and what ripples out of that is you don’t know the impact. So yeah, we won’t have a big impact. But let’s just act where we are doing what we can. Yeah. How that takes us forward.
Kelly Meerbott 56:57
Yeah. And I mean, you could even get more granular Brad, you could, I mean, I always say to people, what’s the norm in your household? What’s going on at the dinner table? That may be something you could course correct, right then in there, that it’ll change the trajectory? You know, and I mean, we you and I live on the mainland of Philadelphia, which is a very wealthy place, right? So I’ve heard over and over again, oh, I’m not racist. And then I’ll go to a house that has staff that’s staffed by a marginalised a member of the marginalised community, and they’re being treated not only by the family, but by the children, like garbage, what do you think’s gonna happen when they go out? So, you know, I mean, maybe it’s even more localised than that maybe even a smaller step is to look at what what’s the norm in your household? What kind of behaviour Are you perpetuating, whether it’s with your staff, or with somebody who’s delivering food? Or, you know, how can you be kinder? How can you lean into that kindness and, and spread it out? You know, I’m just maybe I’m completely missing the point or going off on a rabbit trail here. But that’s just kind of my my thought is to even take it a step back further, I mean, because you even though you buffer, jack, he was still in, like, he was still there. And, and feeling that energy from you, and Mia, which,
Brad Aronson 58:26
and kids kids see everything, you’re right, if you’re, and you know, part of that is if you’re out somewhere and someone says something that’s offensive, being quiet, sends a message to your kid, yep. Or if someone is mistreating someone, and you don’t do something about it, so you’re right, like and let’s that is where we should start in our own houses with our own selves. And our family and our extended family who might say things and we can have a conversation about it. Yeah, looking beyond there where we might have platforms where we could be helpful.
Kelly Meerbott 59:03
And, and I think to even take it a step further, Brad, I I think that even if you disagree with somebody doesn’t mean you have to hate them holistically. You know, I feel like that that’s where we we’ve gone kind of sideways in this country is like, maybe you hate the colour green. And that’s my favourite colour. That doesn’t mean I have to hate you just because you dislike green. But that’s, that’s what’s happening. So I just I could talk to you forever. I’m just there’s so many thoughts rolling around in my mind and then thinking about what we can create together. But I know you and I are wrapping up time but before I ask you, the one that the rapid fire questions that we use to close this, if you were sitting in my seat right now and I you were interviewing you, what question would you hope that I would ask
Brad Aronson 1:00:00
You know, I want you to ask what’s of interest to you? Yeah. And I’m not trying to get out of the question. I don’t hope for any specific questions like, I just want you to ask of interest to you so we can have a conversation and share. So yeah,
Kelly Meerbott 1:00:14
well, and I never plan these questions. I try to go with the flow and see where the energy takes us because I find that that’s more authentic. So you know, just for the audience sake, you and I have never met each other before today, correct? Correct. Correct. Okay, so and I’m glad I have a new friend, which is fantastic. But um, you what, Okay, so here’s a better question. What’s one thing that many people don’t know about you?
Brad Aronson 1:00:41
Ah, let’s see. I I invent crazy, crazy games. So right. Right now the big game in our house is Dudley ball.
Dudley ball is indoor football, where we have this little nerf basketball net, and I throw this little tiny football to jack and he has to get it in the hoop before I tackle him. The only rule there’s one rule in Dudley ball and it’s if you’re going for a field goal, you have to wear these insane crazy jumbo orange glasses they come out to here they’re like these huge classes. They look crazy. That’s the only rule to Dudley ball. So I am an inventor of insane games. That you know are a lot of fun and sometimes are quite often break stuff in the house. But luckily me is very rarely back about that.
Kelly Meerbott 1:01:36
Mia you’re an Angel sister, my goodness. And I definitely want to put mention we tell tell me the name of the organisation that me as a mentor of and how do we get out? How do we get in touch with that ifbthe audience wants to do that, though?
Brad Aronson 1:01:50
It’s Imerman Angels, okay, you can go to their website and they have all the info there. And you could call them on the phone. I’ve talked to them on the phone. They’re awesome. Very helpful.
Kelly Meerbott 1:01:59
And how do you spell is I Mmm.
Brad Aronson 1:02:02
I can’t remember to the one or two M’s.
Kelly Meerbott 1:02:05
Okay, we’ll put a couple But no, no, we’ll put it in the show notes. That’s okay. Okay, so here’s the rapid fire questions. You ready? Ready? Okay, so, um, what’s your favourite comfort food?
Brad Aronson 1:02:18
Favourite comfort food? Ah, ice cream.
Kelly Meerbott 1:02:24
Ice cream? What kind of any specific flavour or brand
Brad Aronson 1:02:27
raspberry chocolate?
Kelly Meerbott 1:02:28
From where?
Brad Aronson 1:02:30
You know what I wish I knew me buys it. It’s so great. I’m gonna have to email you, but it’s incredible. Hey,
Kelly Meerbott 1:02:35
email me. I’d love to know. Okay, if you were to pick one superpower that you’d love to have, what would it be?
Brad Aronson 1:02:43
Oh, I’d love to be able to heal people.
Kelly Meerbott 1:02:47
Okay, I’m following that question. Why would you want to heal people? Brad?
Brad Aronson 1:02:52
It would. It’s the best feeling when you could help someone and there’s so much pain out there. I mean, if I could just walk around and heal people? I would. I would love it. That would be awesome.
Kelly Meerbott 1:03:02
Yeah, well, I might feel that superpower for myself too. Because I that that breakthrough moment when people are like, and they get it it’s it’s the best thing ever. So I agree with you. Okay, if you were to pick one theme song of your life right now, what would it be?
Brad Aronson 1:03:18
Oh, I’d say I have a tiger because I’ve always loved rocky I mean that guy works his buns off. He’s the underdog I know you love underdogs.
Kelly Meerbott 1:03:25
Love underdogs.
Brad Aronson 1:03:27
I the tiger. I’m always pushing.
Kelly Meerbott 1:03:29
Yeah, man. And of course it’s Phil. It’s Philly. It’s a Philly theme song. So great. Okay, what songs are on your playlist right now?
Brad Aronson 1:03:39
So lots of 80s and 90s I love you know, maybe I’m stuck back in my past but I love 80s and 90s pop makes me smile.
Kelly Meerbott 1:03:47
Is there one song that you find you’re like anytime it comes on, you just automatically tap your foot to
Brad Aronson 1:03:53
you know, I’d love walk like an Egyptian for some reason. It’s more of like dancing like an Egyptian that we do in our house. But that is a song that we love.
Kelly Meerbott 1:04:01
I want to come over Brad I may have to like invite myself over a little bit. Okay, so what what books are on your nightstand right now? What are you delving into?
Brad Aronson 1:04:11
Ah, so I kind of look at my phone because yeah, please, I I read them all on my Kindle. So I don’t actually know the titles of many of them. Because you know, once you start reading them,
Kelly Meerbott 1:04:24
oh, yeah, you’re just it’s one after another.
Brad Aronson 1:04:27
Right.
So I can tell you I loved Here we are. So I’m reading Malcolm Gladwell, his book, what the dog saw. inheriting Edith, and I’m loving this audio book. I’m listening to that. It is the choice and it’s a it’s a Holocaust survivor book. And I didn’t usually like to read uplifting books and this was people said this is the most uplifting book It’s great, and I just am totally engrossed in this woman’s story.
Kelly Meerbott 1:05:04
Wow, I can’t wait to read it. Okay. What are you most grateful for in this moment right now?
Brad Aronson 1:05:11
Your conversation, this was a great conversation. I appreciate your time.
Kelly Meerbott 1:05:14
Oh my gosh, you are a gift your gift to humanity and your gift to us. So thank you so much. And I hope you’ll come back at some point or, you know, when when the gods per, you know, say yes, we can go and meet each other in person because I know you’re in Haverford, right.
Brad Aronson 1:05:31
I actually live in Philly.
Kelly Meerbott 1:05:32
Oh, gotcha. I’m in arbour. So like I’m right outside. So if you ever want to come to the burbs, let me know. Okay, so um, how can people get in touch with you if they want to hire you to speak or buy tonnes of your books or, you know, I don’t know, get you into invest, whatever, if they want to have a little Brad aaronson in their life? How do they get to you?
Brad Aronson 1:05:54
So if you go to my website, it has all the different ways to contact me. And it’s Brad aaronson, b ra D, A r o n s o n.com. And related to the book I should mention all the proceeds go to Big Brothers Big Sisters. So it is like a good karma passion project that hopefully people can feel good about.
Kelly Meerbott 1:06:14
Yeah, so go buy this book. Um, mother’s days coming up. It’s a great gift. I love it. I’m one of those people. That’s nerdy. And I was an English major. So I love doing this. There’s nothing like the smell of a good book. And this one is so beautiful. And it’s so well written then, of course, I’m kind of in love, not romantically with the author. So let’s just make sure we support him and give him a five star review and buy it as gifts and read it and spread it around. So, Brad, it is my distinct pleasure to say thank you so much for being here. I’ve learned so much from you. And thank you to our audience for listening. It’s our intention on hidden human to inspire you to go out and have authentic conversations to deepen the connections in your life. Thank you so much. Make it a great day.
Outro 1:07:22
You’ve been listening to hidden human, the stories behind the business leader. If you’ve enjoyed the episode, please subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. To learn more about Kelly and the services she provides. Visit you loud and clear.com thanks so much for listening, and we’ll be back soon with a new episode.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/toggle][/toggles][/vc_column][/vc_row]
