Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor. I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, where we help

leaders activate performance and engagement without burning out. I've been speaking to leadership

teams across industries about how to do this effectively, and I would love to spend time with

yours. Reach out anytime at Rachel at Lead leadabovenoise.com to inquire.

Hey, before we jump in to today's episode, can I ask a quick favor? If you're a regular listener

or even an occasional one and you have something to say about the show, I'd love it if you'd

leave a quick rating or review in your podcast app. Kind of the best way to help the show find new listeners.

And couldn't we all use a boost at work?

So one of my favorite things about hosting this show is getting to talk to real-life listeners

who reach out. I've had half a dozen or so of these conversations recently. And do you want to

guess the one thing that has come up

in every single one of them? It is morale. Like, it's low. In the past few weeks, I've talked to people

working in government, in health care, in tech, in retail. And while it may show itself differently,

reality is we are all struggling with a feeling of low morale

these days. You know, that blue, melancholy feeling that we're all here, but we'd kind of rather

be somewhere else. And this is a serious issue, like for our collective mental health, as well as

our productivity and our impact. Everything suffers when morale is low.

And one of the challenges I'm seeing is too many companies or leaders thinking it's about perks

or parties, when it's really about creating a culture where everyone feels valued and connected

and supported. And the best part, you don't need a huge budget or major initiatives

to make this happen. Sometimes the smallest shifts create the biggest impacts. I've had the pleasure

of working with teams in many of these same industries. And part of our work together has been to

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