Corporate Strategy
Corporate Strategy
Appreciation Series: Physical Contact
We explore physical touch as the final appreciation language and discuss its unique challenges in professional settings.
• Physical touch in the workplace requires careful navigation of boundaries and consent
• Unlike other appreciation languages, touch may function more as an enhancement to other forms of appreciation
• Cultural differences and personal backgrounds significantly influence comfort with workplace physical contact
• Reading body language and respecting non-verbal cues is essential before initiating any physical contact
• Self-awareness about personal hygiene and appropriate forms of touch prevents awkward situations
• Asking permission before physical contact shows respect and creates psychological safety
• Simple alternatives like waves or verbal acknowledgments work well when physical touch isn't appropriate
• Understanding that your relationship with someone doesn't match others' relationships prevents boundary crossing
Join us for our final episode in this series where we'll share afterthoughts and reflections on all five appreciation languages. We'd love your feedback on what you've learned and your own appreciation language – join our Discord through the link in the show notes!
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What was that? That was really weird. Did you see that?
Speaker 2:It froze everything when you brought him into this chat.
Speaker 1:It was really weird. And then I typed join and he didn't join. That was weird.
Speaker 2:That is weird. You know what it might be. The second, he came in and it was really ominous Huge strike of lightning, thunderflash, everything Whizbang. He came in and it was really ominous Huge strike of lightning, thunder flash, everything Whiz bang. It's about to pour, I think. So that usually means my internet service provider is about to absolutely crap the bed, so get ready.
Speaker 1:Good, I hope it happens right in the middle of the pod when you're saying something valuable and then I have fill in because I have. I have all the clues and understanding of languages of appreciation, yeah well you.
Speaker 2:You're the one who introduced this topic, did the research, read the book and then proposed it to your current workplace. So you're actually doing all the work here, you don't?
Speaker 1:really need me. I take all the credit. Do none of the work.
Speaker 2:Promote meote, me Promote me Please, please, all right, give me a vibe check. I feel like we haven't done one in a while. I got my pinky up.
Speaker 1:All right, I got a vibe check for you. Welcome back to Corporate Strategy Podcast. Get up in an email. I'm Bruce and I'm Clark. Vibe check, Clark, how you doing.
Speaker 2:Pinkies up. No, I vibe checked you.
Speaker 1:What about course strategy Podcast? Get an email.
Speaker 2:I'm Bruce, Don't you twist, don't you turn the? And I'm Clark, I gotta say it. I can't not say it. How you doing, clark, don't you twist? Turn these tables on me, bruce.
Speaker 1:I don't like you mixing things up.
Speaker 2:I don't like you forcing me to say Ann Clark every five seconds. I don't like you mixing things up. I don't like you forcing me to say Ann Clark every five seconds.
Speaker 1:I have control over you. You realize that, right. All I have to do is say welcome back to Corporate Strategy Podcast. I'm Bruce and I'm Clark. See, you have no power here.
Speaker 2:I can't not say it because you feel so wrong?
Speaker 1:You have no power here. I own you. Vibe. Check how you doing, Clark. Oh, I'm doing great. Yeah, I'm happy to be here. I'm so happy to hear it.
Speaker 2:So happy to hear it, you know. I don't like the way that you're talking to me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm talking to you like Also.
Speaker 2:Yeah, also, don't touch me.
Speaker 1:I'm going to, I'm going to, and you can't stop me. I know I'm going to do what I want to do.
Speaker 2:Please don't. I can tell you something that physical touch is not how I feel appreciated.
Speaker 1:Well, we are going to find out if that's true or not. We're going to find out, aren't we?
Speaker 2:I mean we kind of skipped the vibe check. But yeah, yeah, doing. Fine, I'm here, You're there. What do we do? It's Friday afternoon. A storm is about to come. It's got to be a quickie. We got so many different factors.
Speaker 1:You're fine, right, I'm dead, but let's just move on. Let's continue. It's not worth evaluating my sanity and wellbeing anymore.
Speaker 2:I'm looking through the screen at your, the death in your eyes that you're giving me. It's not even a smirk, not a smile, just death. That's all I can see.
Speaker 1:I might. I'm sorry, were you saying something? I I was looking beyond the veil. Uh, just I had a flash. I saw a pale rider on a horse. Uh, we were walking through the plains of sweden. There was a windmill. It's really weird. Uh, wow, did you give?
Speaker 2:a vibe check already. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's already all done. I told everybody you're fine.
Speaker 2:I said bruce is fine, his vibe check is true Toes are good, he's in the best of moods, he really loves everything he's done today and all of it was super productive, and he's ready to kick off the weekend. That's all. I think that's what you said that whole time. Be exactly what it said. Yeah, I agree, I agree, yeah, all right, well, cool. Well, I guess we hop in. You know, this is the last of our appreciation languages, the last one. This is it. I'm sad that it's over. I know, I mean, we could just keep making things up and like one day it will be episode 203 and we're on like love.
Speaker 1:Language 36 and at that point, who knows? Yeah, imagine how fun that would be. But yes, this is the last of five.
Speaker 2:This is the last of five and it is, physical Touch, arguably the most contentious one.
Speaker 1:Why would it be contentious? I don't understand what could possibly go wrong.
Speaker 2:People don't like to be touched. You know, when you looked at me, the eyes and you said, three times on the same episode, I'm gonna stroke my fingers through your hair.
Speaker 1:I didn't like my fingers through your hair.
Speaker 2:Let's not be weird, I would never stroke I don't like the verbs you use around me.
Speaker 1:That's what I could tell you yeah, physical, I choose the best verbs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, please don't use verbs when you're talking about physical touch. It might get a little aggressive. But yes, this is the last one. Physical touch Obviously not very applicable in a remote workplace. We still have another episode after this, so nobody gets sad that this is the last appreciation language we're going gonna have like an afterthoughts and a deep dive into a bunch of different things that came to mind for both of us as we were going through this. But physical touch. So why is it weird in the workplace, bruce? Why would physical touch maybe be contentious? Why would it be iffy? I think.
Speaker 1:I think it's. This one, unlike the others, is very similar to real life, right, like you don't just go touching your baggage handler at the local grocery store when they're putting, like, the peaches into a bag, you don't, like you know, put your hand on their shoulder and say, hey, bag boy, thanks, like it's weird. It's weird. It's's weird in real life, it's weird in a corporate place.
Speaker 1:I think physical touch is one of those things where it is a you know it is. It is used for intimacy with loved ones, it is used for, uh, closeness and comfort with friends and family. It's something that is not just invited upon by everyone, even like high five, right, like when you're, when you're at some kind of big event, festival, whatever, and people like handing out high five, like even that's weird because, like in a post-pandemic world, I think we're a lot more sensitive to contact germs, just, you know, any kind of transfer of potential bacteria. It wigs people out. So, like sure, I think. I think this one interesting because it's not so different from the workplace to irl yeah, yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker 2:It is interesting because it is an appreciation language as much as it is a love language, but like very, very different and I think I can see that, yeah, like people, people, this is the lowest one, right, like a lot of people don't choose this one, but it is one of the ones that people sometimes do appreciate and I think when you think about the different things I mean you said so many it's like it can kind of get awkward because it's like high fives and handshakes Handshakes are common in the business place.
Speaker 2:It's like you see somebody job well done, you give them a firm handshake, you stare them in the eyes. But I can think of like many times where it's gotten weird, where it's like you kind of go in for a hug and they like stick out a hand. Or you go in for a fist bump and they go in for a handshake and you're just like I just kind of feel awkward about it. Or you go in for a full hug and they go for a side hug and you're just like this got weird so quickly. And when I was thinking about it more, I was like you know this might be not my first, not my second, but it could be up there at like my third appreciation language which is interesting as I was thinking through it.
Speaker 1:So you know this about me, but our listeners probably do not, because they've never met me in real life. But one thing I love to do with people I'm comfortable with and people I'm just relatively familiar with is set them up for the old fist bump and, as they're coming in, grab the fist I just love doing it.
Speaker 2:I do do that, he does this, he does it all the time I do it.
Speaker 1:I do it all the time and I love the trip that sends people. It never produces a not laugh, never. It's just a funny thing to do. It's a fun thing to do.
Speaker 2:It's just like doing the thing where they go to give you like a high five. You give them the thumb and the palm out of a turkey.
Speaker 1:Or you thumb and the palm out of a turkey or you give them like squid, you know where, you go underneath their snail and you just like slide underneath their fist bump. It's just funny. It gets. It is fun. Whenever I'm at like corporate events or, you know, conferences, if I'm familiarly comfortable with someone, I always do it and it always produces a laugh. They love it. They love it. It's a fun thing to do. I don't know what it has to do with appreciation, but that's my thing. That's the thing that I do.
Speaker 2:Well, I think um like if you think back to traditional pre our generation, like the handshake, firm handshake, a stare in the eyes, a good shake and said Bruce, I don't like that you keep saying in the eye. Yeah, look you right in the eyes, bruce. Job on that project. I'm really impressed I go.
Speaker 2:That used to go a long way but obviously the hearty handshake, yeah, hearty handshake was such like a an act of appreciation back then, but it's kind of faded out over time due to, like everything you said, the way your generation thinks about and does things different, and also because of covet especially. It's like you don't really want to touch people anymore.
Speaker 1:But I'm going back to you.
Speaker 2:Know this I like to grab the shoulders you do, you love to like, just you know, to double hand on the shoulders.
Speaker 1:I don't do hands to hands, you know I, even though I like to do the the old, the old capture claw, they got hand on hand. That's how germs get past.
Speaker 2:But, you know, good old hands on shoulders, like half hug, yeah, that's safe, that's safe zone. So, when you think about this, like who and why does this go into appreciation, I think, when you think about people's backgrounds, I think a lot of people are, you know, their personal love might be physical touch and so like they might just feel loved that way, people that are close around them, like they're just more touchy-feely. There's a lot of people you know who are like that. Also, when you think about athletes, people who are formerly in athletics, it's very common to, like you know, hug each other after a big moment, to like have a dog pile when a big things happens, like it's very normal to sometimes even get a good old pat on the butt as you're running out there.
Speaker 1:I knew you were going to go there. I was waiting for it. The most HR safe of all of the options.
Speaker 2:Don't do those in the workplace, but I had to say it because it's true. But I think people who are athletes like this is pretty common Not to say they like it, but that's kind of how you get close to people and it's funny, as I think about athletics. There's this football coach that I like a lot and he always says this he's like the body craves physical contact.
Speaker 1:Why does he say that?
Speaker 2:Mainly because he's playing the football and they get very aggressive and he just likes the aggressiveness of sports and I absolutely love it. But I think there's something true to that. I think there's something human nature that, like creates physical touch.
Speaker 1:I mean, if you, if you boil down the human experience into like its base form, right, touch is a huge part of it. Right, cause you cannot create more humans without touch. So it is like a base biological experience. And you think about, you know how do you feed children. You know you think about rearing and raising children. There's lots of touch in the biological human experience, so why wouldn't that extend to the social experience? The handshake is weird because you know two of the most dirtiest parts of our body coming together as, as a form of sort of mutual touch. But what does it get us this? This is the thing I don't, what I truly don't understand. Like, yeah, there's a comfort to it, but how is it appreciation? How am I appreciating you with the hearty handshake?
Speaker 2:I think it is something to what you just said. I think it's innate in us, like it's part of the human nature, it's one of the five senses. Like I think it's innate in us to do that because it feels natural. And I think, when people, when you do these things, when you have that moment to like, let's say, you guys just celebrated a huge launch, everything's super successful, the team's jumping up and cheering and you give each other a spontaneous high five, some people appreciate that they're like I feel like I'm part of the team, I feel like I'm sharing this win with others, and the physical touch kind of adds to that.
Speaker 2:So it's something that some people feel like encourages the moment. Or when someone come over and gives him a handshake or a pat on the back or, you know, a grab on the shoulder and be like, hey, I just want to let you know I appreciate you. That adds an extra thing on top of maybe a words of affirmation, an act of service or something like that. And that is when people kind of take it that one step further. But it can get weird and I think, as someone who I, as I was reflecting on this, I was like I think this is something I do a lot and I didn't even really think about it where I'll shake my team's hands all the time. I'll come up to them and be like, hey, great to see you today, like something small like that.
Speaker 2:Or even going for a hug with some people I've been working with for a while, because we've built that personal connection and I think you know even fist bumps connected with people, and so I think for this one it's like really important that you recognize other people aren't like that necessarily, and you need to very much respect boundaries before you go in and do that.
Speaker 2:So, going back to what we talked about earlier, it's like you've got to observe, you've got to see if they feel more introverted, if when you guys are getting close together in a huddle or something, they stay a little bit further back, like respect their space and something that, as I was like thinking through this, I'm like how do you ask somebody if you're in like an exciting moment and you don't know?
Speaker 2:And I think an easy way to say it would be like for me I'd be like hey, I grew up playing sports. It was common for us to, you know, give high fives, hugs. I know not everyone appreciates that, so let me know, because I value our relationship and I think that's something you can super simply say to me, like are you okay if I give you a high five once in a while, or is that awkward for you? And if you make it not awkward and you ask before you do, I think it makes it okay and acceptable where they're like you know what? I'm not a hugger. I'd prefer if we just didn't touch, because I don't like germs and I'm like okay, that's cool, no worries.
Speaker 1:I like that approach. I like that approach. I think it's a very. It probably feels weird to think about saying it, but it's one of those things where if someone said that to me, right and like I don't even think you need to hey, I played sports thing. Because, like, I didn't play sports but I'm I give handshakes, hugs, fist bumps, the works, right it's. It's something that if someone says, hey, would you mind if I? You know like I'm, I'm big on on physical contact, just as as my. It's part of who I am, my personality, my, my expression of language and appreciation would be okay If I gave you a handshake or a hug. I'm like, absolutely bring it at, like it. It.
Speaker 1:There's a, there's a level of respect and comfort that I think comes from someone doing that to you, because they're basically saying like, hey, I care about how you think and how you feel. So it might seem awkward for the person saying it, but truly it's not. It's quite the opposite. You're creating a boundary and showing that you respect that person so much that you want to get their approval before doing anything like nothing more respectful than that. So, personally, I love that. I think that is the way to do it. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's and it's everything you just said. It's like you're showing respect to them by doing that, so it's not weird or awkward, or for yourself, it's like I personally want you to feel respected and I don't want to cross that line. So in order to do that, I'm asking for that permission, like we talked about in other episodes, and I think that's a really easy way to do it. And, to your point, the more you're talking about this, the more it does feel like that innate human nature to do something like this. Like think about you know, if someone is going through a tough loss or you know they had to go through something really hard.
Speaker 2:You know if someone is going through a tough loss or you know they had to go through something really hard, it's natural to like extend an arm, put it on their back, so that you show care and empathy, and I think that's really human. Like I think it's really human to do that. And I think that's when, even when you accept award, like usually you're called up to the stage or whatever. Maybe you hate that part, but usually whoever is giving you award like shakes your hand, says some nice things about you, and I think that's because it is innately human to connect that way, like it's fine, whatever you said, some words, but to actually like, touch and feel the warmth and know that you're like physically connected in that moment. It's like something uniquely human that, I think, shows that appreciation, or takes appreciation to that next step, that makes us feel like we're connected.
Speaker 1:I agree. I honestly I still struggle with the appreciation side of things because for me, this doesn't feel like appreciation as much as it feels like just general human behavior. Right, like I'm not linking the because I don't. When I, when I meet up with my team in person, I will give him a fist bump, give him a hug, whatever, and it's not cause I appreciate them, it's just, you know, it's that, it is that greeting, right, it's that, just the way we are. I don't know if I feel more appreciated, you know, like that's. That's what I'm finding the, the, the. The disconnect in all of this is it just doesn't feel like appreciation.
Speaker 2:It feels like comfort, feels like relationships yeah, you know, maybe one way to think about it, a hypothetical for you give it to me if you've been working for someone or with someone for a while, like Like you built this personal relationship, like you go in, you give them a hug in a group.
Speaker 1:It's so good to see you again.
Speaker 2:Versus someone who might be new and not really know you but still respects you, like you at some length, getting to know them better, getting to know their level of work, and then the next time like you're around you give them a hug too, because you guys have gotten, gotten that level, or you understand what each other does or the level of work that each other does and you're like respecting each other. I think a lot of people would be like, yeah, like I was kind of longing for that hug and I'm happy bruce went in for it this time because we built that relationship but to your point is that appreciation, or is that just?
Speaker 1:human. It's just familiarity and comfort. Right, that's just human nature. I just can't think of a scenario where a a hand I mean like yeah, the the going up on stage winning an award, getting a handshake but is that the appreciation, or is it the award itself? That is the appreciation? Right, you know, like it feels like it's a. It's a, it's an add-on, it's a downloadable content for the main game, but it's not the game itself, it's a pack-on, a microtransaction, if you will.
Speaker 2:You have to pay 99 cents to get this handshake from Netlify.
Speaker 1:The Hug DLC yes. It's not included with the base game.
Speaker 2:The more we're talking about it, it's like this is one thing that and maybe this is another vector on it that included with the base game. Like the more we're talking about, it's like this is one thing, that and maybe this is another vector on it that like elevates the appreciation of other, correct, yes, if the person is okay with that. Like it kind of brings human nature into making words of affirmation more impactful. Or if someone is doing something and you like go and help them and afterwards you like high five for a job well done. Like it really kind of just elevates almost your personal human relationship in that moment of doing an act of service or whatever the appreciation language is which is interesting to think about yeah, it is.
Speaker 1:It is a bonus. I do want to, or like, tangible gifts.
Speaker 2:Like if I were to give you a gift you'd be like oh man, that was so thoughtful, clark. And like then you go in for a hug. It almost is like a, it's almost like an additive to the other appreciation language, to your point rather than appreciation itself.
Speaker 1:It's not the main dish. I do think it's worth taking a brief aside and talking about the importance of self-awareness with physical touch. Yeah, what do I mean by that? One good personal hygiene, right? Yes, like, don't be reaching in for the handshake if you got one on your hand. If you just come out of the bathroom and you know your, your hands have been freshly, you know they have been freshly washed, but they're still wet. If you go over that hand, it's gonna be weird because you'll be like why, why is bruce's hand wet?
Speaker 1:Right same can be said for smells. This is important. Yep, when you are close, you can be smelled both breath and body odor. Make sure you are showering. Make sure you are close, you can be smelled both breath and body odor. Make sure you are showering. Make sure you are deodorized, make sure you brushed your teeth. There's nothing worse than going in for a handshake or a fist bump or whatever and you're holding back the gag sensation because that human being is disgusting. So please, please, please, be considerate of your personal hygiene and your just you, who you are, before you just start doing this. Right, like? It is definitely something that I think self awareness is key on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I actually I love that Because, yeah, it can get really bad if you do something like that and really awkward really quick. And I think the other side of that is like awareness as well, like you've got to read body language. If you're in a group of people and you're seeing each other for the first time and someone's standing like with their arms crossed, they probably don't want you to come over and give them a big old bear hug and like pick them up and like shake them like a, like a jolly old Santa Claus probably don't want that, right?
Speaker 2:so read the room a little bit. Read their body language, see how they're. If, even if you're in a moment of celebration, everyone's giving high fives, if someone's not interacting with that and getting engaged and sticking their hand up too, don't go over to them. Be like Bruce give me a high five and like get up all in their face, because that would be the most awkward thing ever You've got. To read their body language.
Speaker 1:It is important to understand your relationship with someone is not someone else's relationship with someone. Let's say you see two co-workers come and give each other a hug. That doesn't suddenly mean, oh, hugging is on the table. For me. It means no, they have a pre-existing relationship and they're comfortable with that you. They have a pre-existing relationship and they're comfortable with that. You are not them. You have to assess and do exactly what Clark suggested earlier and ask the question before going in for the physical contact.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have an awkward one for you, and actually we talked about this when we were talking about, like, sexism in the workplace and episode way back when this might get very but the handshake thing is sometimes awkward.
Speaker 2:I hope it's not just me. So I'm curious for you. Like, sometimes you'll go and meet groups and there will be a mixed demographic of people. You'll kind of give handshakes to people and then some people won't like extend a hand or they'll feel kind of excluded and exclusively. I've had this happen with, like women coworkers, where it's like I shake the guy's hand and like that's very normal, but then like the woman won't put out her hand or like I'll kind of skip over them, which feels so awkward and like I'm not doing it intentionally and I try to make a point to shake everyone's hand if I'm going to shake one. So I'm not excluding anybody. But that's one of those weird things that I don't know how you deal with in the sense of like if you're meeting a group and someone doesn't want physical touch, how do you still acknowledge them if you're shaking hands?
Speaker 1:I I have almost exclusively given up on the handshake. Like I mentioned earlier, I do like the fist bump and that's that's usually my go-to with everybody Doesn't, doesn't matter, uh, gender, anything. I, I exclusively do fist bump and most people go along with it on the off chant like I don't know, I don't know how I can read it pretty well, right, so like, if I'm, if I'm doing a fist bump, I know they're gonna fist bump me back, yeah. But usually I kind of read the introduction beforehand. Like you know, I'll do a wave and excited, hey, how's it going. And if I see them putting out hand, it's like okay, this, I'm gonna put out mine for the fist bump because I don't want to shake your hand, uh, for reasons mentioned earlier, they're dirty. So like I, you know I have mastered that and it is, it is non-exclusive for anybody and it seems to work great.
Speaker 1:I've never really found myself in that situation where it's like oh, excuse me, oh sorry, oh I don't know what to do. I've kind of got to read on it and that might be my fortune or my ability, but sticking with fist bump I've got no issue. Seems like most people would just want to go along with it for the most part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, and I think to your point. It's like, even if you're doing the fist bump thing or if you're doing the handshake thing, if, like someone's a little bit standoffish, it's like, hey, it's so good to see you, it don't extend something. But still acknowledge is, like you know, I work with a lot of different demographics, particularly in.
Speaker 2:Asia. Like there is a way to meet someone in a business setting and you've got to be respectful of that of like the handshake, sometimes even two handshakes, the taking of the business card, the reading of the business card in front of the person and then like acknowledging them as the individual, and so there's like a a respectful way to meet people in certain situations too. So I think, as you're meeting people or going through this situation, just keep in mind people will yeah, like culturally could be different, um, human nature could be different, and they might be more introverted rather than extroverted. And like you just have to be mindful of those things as you're going through these interactions, so you don't create awkward and potentially very uh weird situations between you and a group of people.
Speaker 1:Completely agree. Uh, and the culture thing is huge too. I've not run into the business card one, thank God, because I don't have business card. I mean, I do, but I don't bring them with me. I just chuck those things right into the waste bin, where they belong. And uh, you know just, it's weird, right, like you have to, you have to play every situation by ear unless you're already familiar and comfortable. I think it's especially it's you have to be on your best observation when you're in new environments, with new people, and just if. If you're not good at reading social cues, it's okay. It is always better to play it safe than it is to play it risky, right? Uh, you know just. Hey, how's it going? Yeah, little wave, I literally just did a wave for those who can't see me, which is all of you, but uh, that works little wave.
Speaker 2:That's what I was thinking. The second you did it. It's like all you got to do is like oh hey, john, nice to meet you. Like even if it's not you know any touch anything. Like you can just like give them a little wave, nod your head, like whatever it is, and like also acknowledge them by name, and I think that gets all the weirdness out of it, where you don't need to start like making out a hug versus a handshake. Like don't make it weird.
Speaker 1:Little wave is the best way to avoid any of this confusion whatsoever. It's universal, yeah, unless it's not, like you know, in some country that's in like Middle Eastern Europe, where the wave actually means go F yourself. Don't do that in that one specific scenario, but for the rest of the world, you're good, you're good 100% agree.
Speaker 2:Well, I think we covered it and to your point. I think it's to me and maybe our listeners feel different. But it is hard to see this as a primary appreciation language in the workplace and even just an appreciation language in general. It's almost like it's just additive, to add the human element to something that is appreciation to people who are willing to accept it. It helps you connect one level further because we're connecting as humans. I think that's where you and I are both kind of landing, and I'm right there with you. You kind of talked me into it, but I could totally see it as like a words of affirmation is great, but then a handshake after or something like that makes this more human connection between us and it makes it a little more heightened than it would be otherwise.
Speaker 1:It's especially useful as a threatening device when you have a podcast host and you want to verb your fingers through their noun. You know, whatever you can use that as an aggression.
Speaker 2:I think if you have to like report something to HR, the best way to report it is to say they said they were going to do a verb to my noun. That's all you have to say, and the red flags start popping and you're going straight to jail.
Speaker 1:Straight to jail. It's like how dare you, how dare you verb my noun?
Speaker 2:It sounds so much worse than actually saying any physical words that's good.
Speaker 1:Good, Be sure to use that. That's a corporate strategy. Recommends a Bruce bangers if you will.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's incredible. Well, I think we did it. Well, this is the last appreciation language. This feels like more like an add on or a curve, just like compensation for CAC. But we do have one more episode and this episode is really going to be kind of the afterthought. So the retrospective on the many five episodes that we've done so far, and I have so many like thoughts and just like random questions that I want to discuss with you and also just see what our listeners think. So I'm excited to break that down in the next episode.
Speaker 1:We would love your participation in this. So, please, if you've been listening, well, if you've been listening, you've made it this far. But please join the Discord. If you haven't already, you can go in the show notes, click the link tree, join the Discord, jump in there, go to the corporate strategy section of the Discord corporate fam and leave us some feedback. What do you think about this series Like? What works for you, what doesn't? What is your language of appreciation? We want to hear your feedback and we'll talk through it on the pod. So we would love your input on this for the last episode. Please, please, please, do that for us.
Speaker 2:And if you've told anyone that you'd verb their nouns and you don't want to out yourself, just put it in the confessions topic and we'll tell you. It's true as a corporate yeah, forward slash.
Speaker 1:Confess in the is it me or is it? Corporate channel is a great way for you to tell us all of the weird physical touch stories you've got that you are too ashamed to share with your real name is completely anonymized. And I mean completely, because even us, the moderators, don't know. We get a little little. Hey, anonymous person has submitted X and we do the rest. We just approve them all because they're all juicy and worth sharing. So put that in there. And hey, maybe you have a funny joke or meme based on something you've heard in this episode. Go to the what Do you Meme channel. Create a meme of what we've talked about today and we will read it aloud with Clark's mouth parts on the next episode. So please do that. Join the discord, join the fam. It's a good place, it's a fun place. It's a great place. We love it here. It's a safe place. It's not. That's the one thing it isn't.
Speaker 2:If you've listened to the show for long enough, you know that's not true.
Speaker 1:After we're through the Appreciation Series. I think we've got a couple of guest pods lined up. We do so stick around for that, but outside of that, just keep doing what we always ask you to do Share the pod, review the pod, love the pod and, if you feel so inclined, help me pay for the pod. This podcast was sponsored by me. Yeah, just him alone.
Speaker 2:I am not contributing financially to this at all. So if you want to help Bruce and get him out of the financial hole he's in and the credit card debt. Yeah, buy him a coffee.
Speaker 1:I'm in so much debt because of corporate strategy. Hi I got to take out another loan. The interest is gaining.
Speaker 2:The interest is loan the interest if you consider you're skiing fast, if you consider also that time is the most valuable resource and you spent so much time talking with me on this podcast. That's something you'll never be able to repay, no matter how I don't want to think about that right now do you want to maybe quit the pod?
Speaker 1:Do you want to make episode 169 the true last episode? I'll undo all of this. We'll go back to 169 and I'll do that.
Speaker 2:Unpublish, unpublish each one.
Speaker 1:And then we're going back to 169. That's it In the dust Gone. Make me think about my own mortality. How dare you.
Speaker 2:This podcast gets deep. People don't realize it, it sure do.
Speaker 1:It sure do, Well I know, it's Friday, I'm in a state of existential panic. You've got more meetings. Let's not belabor the point. This is another episode of Corporate Strategy the podcast giving an email. I'm Bruce and I'm Clark. See, every time, every time. I can't resist. Every time. It's a method of control. You know what else is under control. You, the listener, you're on mute, you can't say anything. I control all of you. We'll see you next week.
Speaker 2:Looking forward to it, Cameron.
