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Feed Your Team

A single sermon changed my trajectory, but not how you might expect.

My buddy Ben came along right when I needed him and devoted his Sunday sermon to the concept of communal dining as a trust builder. He detailed how the act of eating together - and not in the brown bag style but in the “everyone eats the same thing” style of family dining - is one of the fastest and most effective ways to break down barriers and build trust.

And the science supports this concept. Research from the University of Oxford, led by Professor Robin Dunbar, revealed that people who frequently eat with others experience higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction. Further research by researchers Ayelet Fishbach and Kaitlin Woolley found that individuals who eat the same food together are more likely to trust and cooperate with each other. In experiments simulating negotiations, participants who consumed identical foods reached agreements more quickly than those who ate different foods.

The 2025 World Happiness Report analyzed data from 142 countries and found positive relationships between the frequency of shared meals and levels of trust and reciprocity. Individuals who regularly share meals report higher life satisfaction and more positive emotions. The act of dining together appears to be a significant predictor of subjective well-being, on par with factors like income and employment status.

The reason that Ben sharing this changed everything for me is not that it “saved” me - but that it came when I was at the end of my leadership rope, trying to build a team that, at the time, was composed of highly talented, yet very individualistic and territorial professionals. I immediately planned and executed a series of team lunches that - wait for it - resulted in increased trust, collaboration, and productivity!

If you are looking for a way to build trust, build community, bridge divides, and heal wounds, apron up, get in the kitchen, and start cooking.

^{(this is an excerpt from my upcoming book “Feed Your Team” due out whenever I get it finished.)}

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Crisis Proof Your Business Lunch and Learn

I have launched a series of Lunch and Learns around the topic of Crisis Proofing Your Business. Each two-part session address the legal and operational steps to take to protect your life and business from a crisis, and how to manage the crisis when it comes.

We cannot prevent a crisis, but we can make our business crisis proof so that we rebound and get back to making money as fast as possible.

If you are interested in hosting one of these lunch and learns for your team, association, or networking group, Reply to this email and let’s get it scheduled.

The Speakers Collaborative

While we are taking the summer off from producing The Speakers Collaborative, we aren’t letting up on the goal to feature talented authors, speakers, and thought leaders on our stage and in our studio. Here are some amazing developments:

• Launch of TS Collaborative, Inc. - we have formed a non-profit scholarship fund specifically to provide full scholarships to United States Veterans to participate in The Speakers Collaborative. These women and men who have sacrificed for our country have stories that need to be told, we need to hear them, and their fellow veterans need to hear stories of recovery, transition, and growth.

• Site Selection for 2026 - The Speakers Collaborative is currently booking venues in four US cities for cohorts to launch in 2026

  • Houston in Quarter 1

  • Chicago in Quarter 2

  • Los Angeles in Quarter 3

  • Raleigh in Quarter 4

• New Cohorts - we enroll only 5 participants in each cohort. If you would like to be on one of our stages, reply now and let’s get your spot secure.

• Studio Sessions - Each week we go live with a half our conversation with speakers, thought leaders, and anyone else who wants to share their stories and receive content. These are live streamed and live forever on our Youtube Channel. Grab your spot here.