DAN SIMONS

This is the story of my long (and thankfully full) recovery from a concussion, including the practitioners and resources that have been essential in my treatment over the past six years. There are so many concussion myths that continue to be shared, even by doctors. If you or anyone you love has experienced a concussion, I hope my journey and the experts I met along the way will be helpful.   The Injury I had just carved a perfect turn, rocketed through the wake on the return, and was feeling the endorphin rush of what I was sure was my best ride ever. I’d only been wakeboarding for a few years, but it was a nice segue from years and years of snowboarding. Feeling truly in command of my board, my body, and the water, I remember thinking to myself, I’ve finally got this . I smiled at my son and one of his buddies in the boat, adjusted my grip on the rope handle, and positioned myself for another shot across the wake, knowing I was totally on my game. The tension on the rope, the push from my knees and quads to create the torque, and then BLACKNESS.   As I groggily lifted my head from the water, just in time to take a deep gasping breath, my brain seemed to be going through a reboot and a system check. OK, I’m breathing. OK, I can open my eyes. OK, I see the water. OK, I can feel my body. OK, my central nervous system is working, and it is sending off alerts.   It was as if I’d been watching a movie, mid-scene, and someone turned off the TV. I was having the ride of my life on my wakeboard, my buddy Mitchell driving the boat, our boys Cooper and O.T. spotting and hanging in the boat, and then, whack, instant blackout.   I managed to get my arm up in some sort of “I’m OK,” which I think probably conveyed “I’m alive” more than I’m OK.   As my mind tried to piece together what happened, they brought the boat around, and I could see from the look on the boys’ faces that their question was more than just, “Are you OK?” Later on, my son Cooper told me, “Dad, I wasn’t sure if you would ever walk again. That looked really bad.”   While I have no memory of it, I realize I must have caught a front-side edge in the water, effectively stopping the board, while my body, aside from my feet, which were locked into the board, continued to try to move forward at rapid speed. By the time my brain figured out to let go of the rope, I was accelerating like a physics formula with my upper body and head arcing directly down towards the water’s surface. Yeah, I know, I also think of water as soft. But when you hit it at a high rate of speed, it feels more like concrete.   Fast forward through a week of dizziness, headaches, and general mental slowness. When I returned to work and tried to really think, analyze, and focus, I knew I had a serious problem. I knew I had taken a blow to the head, but every day I had just presumed I’ll feel better tomorrow . My presumption was wrong. I had a concussion. A concussion is a real thing, and no amount of my immortality complex or alleged grit was going to send the concussion away. So, my concussion journey began. That was six years ago.   When I first wrote this blog in 2019, I was four months post-concussion and thought I was close to full recovery. Writing about it was therapeutic. But wow, was I wrong about so many things. Even some of the “experts” I was seeing at the time were misinformed. I have now fully recovered, and this is the complete story. What a journey…   My Symptoms Headaches, headaches, headaches. Three times, for the three types. I had (and had for 4+ years) headaches on the forehead, around the eyes, nose, and ears. I had the top of the head and all-over headache. I had the back of the head and top of the neck headache. For about 10 weeks, I had some version of one or more of these headaches 24 hours a day. They decreased in intensity over time, but it wasn’t until week 11 that I had my first headache-free hour . It was glorious.   Stamina. Very little of it. I’ve always been someone with a long battery. Getting tired or any form of worn out just wasn't ever part of me. The lack of stamina was in two forms: my ability to think for any long stretch of time was severely diminished, and my mind would just feel tired. This also seemed to create an overall weariness. I need a nap was the major feeling. Words. I had trouble finding them. I would stop mid-sentence as my brain searched the hard drive, sometimes taking a few seconds to find the word and sometimes just not finding the word and instead switching to a description of the word so Suzi or the kids could help me fill in the blank. There was a day, about eighteen months after the concussion, sitting in the living room with one of my kids, and I had to ask what our home address was; I just couldn’t remember it.  It scared me, and it definitely scared my son.   Thinking. Slow processing, the inability to synthesize information, and a general inability to focus, think, conclude, or decide. Balance. I had decreased ability to stand on one leg and do other types of physical balancing. I was very lucky that I did not have nausea, dizziness, or any sort of vertigo as an ongoing symptom. I know that many people do, and those can be some of the most difficult symptoms.   What I Have Learned Truth: Every concussion is unique, so there is no one-size-fits-all prescription. Truth: See a specialist in concussions and traumatic brain injury, who is immersed in the contemporary research (and ideally participating in it.) Many general practitioners don’t have the newest, best info, and sadly, even many specialists in concussion are not up to date on the latest research findings.  It can be hard to know who is useful and who isn’t until you’ve invested way too much time and money.  I have shared links to my full team below, as well as some additional resources. Truth: Understand it may be more than a concussion. It is commonly two things: concussion and whiplash, a brain injury and a neck injury. Presuming CAT scan and X-ray rules out anything bleeding or broken, we’re talking about an injury to the brain and a soft tissue injury in the neck, and potentially to the shoulders and back. Myth-busting: Do nothing, stay in a dark room. This is outdated and wrong guidance. Activity is generally the right medical advice. Myth-busting: Just rest, and it will get better on its own. While I suppose this can be true, I’m saying “wrong”; take your advice from a true expert, not the lore and legends of concussion treatment.   This site is an excellent resource about symptoms and initial basic care.   The Experts I Saw & Helpful Care I Received Lemme shout this from this roof – if you get a concussion, get in touch with the true experts. I wish I had found them in 2019 rather than 2024…but regardless, I’m grateful, because now it’s 2025, and I’m truly fully recovered.     Inova Concussion Program : The quarterback of my recovery was Dr. Melissa Womble and her amazing comprehensive concussion team. They oversaw my treatment, even helping guide the care I had from various other practitioners.   Traumatic Brain Injury Specialist: This could be a neuropsychologist, neurologist, or physiatrist with a specialty in traumatic brain injury and concussions. Not every neurologist is a concussion specialist. Let me say that again – not every neurologist is a concussion specialist. I would also say, don’t put your concussion care into the hands of a primary care doctor.   Physical Therapist : Dry needling, manual manipulating, and exercises focused on the vestibular system, whiplash, and muscle-tightness through the head and neck. I worked with District Physio . These PTs are really good, and they helped me a lot. Ultimately, the PTs who helped with my full recovery were integrated with the Inova Concussion Team and had remarkable nuance figuring out what my vestibular and ocular systems needed.   Neuro-Optometrist : Treating headaches related to vision and learning eye exercises to improve my fusion ability. Dr. Keith Smithson was amazing for me.   Cranio-Sacral Therapy & Massage : Treating headaches and stress from the impact; for me, any approach to the soft tissue work that makes a patient feel better, even in the short-run, is worth having in the mix.   Chiropractic : I did have some helpful treatments from chiropractors, especially relating to the whiplash aftermath. My favorites were:   Bodnar Chiropractic and Cedar Lane Chiropractic .   Botox : I also had some headache relief in years two and three from Botox injections into the muscles in the head and neck.   Mental Healthcare : I really gotta emphasize the mental health aspect of concussion – finding a therapist to help with the potential depression, anxiety, or PTSD is really valuable. Just as every concussion is personal to the patient, the mental health aspects are also unique to you. I’d recommend getting in therapy even if you haven’t had a concussion, but with a concussion, I think it’s a must. There’s no downside, and you can stop any time; but always better to start proactively than to struggle and have a deeper hole to climb out of. I definitely have my faves when it comes to therapists, but rather than list them, I’ll say try to find a practitioner who is integrated with the concussion specialist – when they work as a team, the patient gets the best outcomes. Certainly, Inova Mental Health Services is an amazing resource.   Note: I’m not providing the links or information on any of the doctors that I saw in the first few years, because while I made progress, I now understand enough to know those docs didn’t have the comprehensive solutions and contemporary science I needed...)   My Recovery Protocol For me, the initial recovery protocol was to eliminate social activities, preserve what brain power I did have for work and family, and severely restrict my work schedule. I spent lots of time listening to podcasts and audiobooks, rather than reading, because reading sent the headaches sky-high. I slept a lot more than usual, including a regular nap. I religiously took my supplements, followed the dietary guidelines, and as of week five, started exercising daily. My complete list follows. Supplements : There are definitely supplements that science supports; I’m cautious to give any advice about supplements, so I’m going to limit it to just one:  Migranol .   I will provide the reminder that supplements are unregulated; and ideally anything you take, be sure it has a third-party certification about what’s truly in it, or ask the company for evidence of their own testing.   Diet & Nutrition : No caffeine, no alcohol. Yup, none. I think the no alcohol is easy advice for everyone. I can imagine caffeine might be useful for some people, for me, I 100% eliminated it.   Exercise : Research shows that maintaining 25 minutes at 80% of your max heart rate helps speed recovery time. However, this is only true if this level of exertion does not trigger or worsen the concussion symptoms. There is a process to follow to build up to this level that should be directed by a health professional. I started exercising regularly again at 5 weeks, but at that point, I didn’t have the care and detailed guidance of Dr. Womble, so I over did it, and set myself back. I also had no understanding of the damage to my vestibular system, so until year 4, I was continuing to make things worse while I tried to make things better.   Sleep : Nap as much as desired during the day, but ideally keep naps to 30 minutes or less, so that you can still sleep at night. During my first 6 weeks, my naps were a lot longer, but it did make for some nights of difficult sleep. A true block of 8 to 10 hours of sleep at night is vital. This is when the real healing is happening. My sleep was a MESS for about 18 months, and it took me until year three to be substantially improved. Then, in year 4, with Dr. Womble and Dr. Wertz’s guidance, and Dr. Andy Galpin, I was finally able to solve my sleep problems. Limited reading : Whether on screens or paper, I had to cut my reading way back. My headaches were severely compounded by reading or any focused use of my eyes. This was quite depressing for me, as reading is one of my hobbies. I joined Audible, and audiobooks and podcasts became my best friends. By the end of year one, I could read without making my headaches worse, although my headaches stayed present daily for four years. Doing nothing is doing something : Accept that for the brain to heal, it needs to be resting. Not reading, not working, not thinking. Brain relaxation is a serious part of the recovery protocol. However, simply “doing nothing” is clearly the wrong advice when it’s the only advice.   Guided meditation : Twice a week, I worked with a private yoga teacher who led a 10-20 minute guided meditation; she was amazing and really helpful to me. I also periodically tried to do my own meditation. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. I wish I had found recordings of guided meditations I liked to do on my own.   And yes, I understand the hurdle of the cost of all this, the support and resources required to seek treatment and allow myself the necessary time to heal. But I needed my brain back, so that I could earn a living and be the parent, spouse, and person I want to be. The investment of money and time was a must for me, and I realize I’m incredibly fortunate.   By the end of year three, my brain power was back to normal, my memory was mostly normal, and I just had the headaches. I tried a bunch more things, saw more docs, but nothing worked. In year four, I was ready to give up and just accept I’d have these headaches for the rest of my life. But then, I heard Dr. Micky Collins interviewed on Dr. Peter Attia’s podcast – I was blown away by what I heard. I called the Medical Center at Pitt , and I was ready to drive up there and beg them to see me to help with my headaches – and I was told there was a doctor in the DC area that had studied and trained at Pitt in Dr. Collins’ program. I reached out to Dr. Womble’s Program at Inova and begged them to see me.  At first, they said they didn’t have a spot for me, and my initial injury was too long ago – but, after more begging, they saw me. Thank goodness, as Dr. Womble was the true key to unlock the final solutions. Her integrated approach of physical and mental, using a team of doctors who all communicate together in real time during the patient’s visit, was absolutely amazing. She and her teammates built a program for me, and that program was a winner.  Just imagine if I had of found them at month one instead of month 48. Perspective & Awareness Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is serious. Similar to mental health, the struggle isn’t visible like a cast on a leg with crutches or an arm in a sling. But make no mistake about it, it is debilitating. And just as real. Health is health, whether bone or brain, physical or mental. As hard as this experience has been for me, there is a silver lining. I will be forever more empathetic to those around me… as a friend, parent, business partner, and employer.   In our company, I will support anyone that deals with a brain injury. Now I understand that people with TBI may need the flexibility to work less or do a different type of work for a while. They may need help with financial resources or seeking treatment options. Their recovery will likely be shortened if they have the support and time to get better. And I’m adamant about helping people get to the real experts, for the right care. Gratitude Recovering from the concussion was not a solo affair. Not only did it take a team of specialists, I am fortunate to have an amazing group of people who supported my recovery. My thank you list, in no specific order:   Andrea, for sharing your knowledge and story with me, so that my journey could be less difficult than yours. Your optimism and realism were always in the perfect dose. Moc, I’d felt for you during your concussion journey, and now I know I’m able to feel with you… thanks for ensuring I took it seriously, and thanks for knocking me down to earth when you knew I wasn’t going to take it seriously enough. You were very right. Jackie, your words of encouragement and humor were a valuable part of my recovery prescription. Thanks for continuing to check in on me and care. The MofGP, your well wishes and visits made me feel missed and appreciated. Thanks for keeping my chair at the table. Suzi, being the spouse must really suck during this kind of episode, but you never seemed frustrated or annoyed no matter how useless I was or how much I complained, and you always stayed optimistic. Coop, Oli, Finn, I love that you guys were extra nice to me, quiet when needed, and accepted my limitations. Mike V., as a friend and biz partner, I can imagine it was disconcerting to have me on some version of the limited-use/disabled list, but your permanent, relentless support, and never a whiff of frustration was incredibly kind and helped me focus on getting better rather than extra-stressing about work. Daisy & Gina, for the work/home support combo, doing everything from organizing meds to meditation, and everything in between. Dr. Womble, for being my final salvation, when I was ready to give up and just accept I’d never be 100% again, you got me there. My whole team at work who stepped up big time in my absence and showed how well the show goes on without me. Updated June 2, 2025; originally written Dec 11, 2019

Reflections from the 2025 National Restaurant Association Show   The restaurant industry has always been about people – feeding them, serving them, creating experiences for them. But somewhere, somehow, the focus on “them” eclipsed the importance of “us.” Meaning, yeah sure, the customer is the target of our affections, but they should not be the only recipient of our hospitality, care, love, and support. Without all the people doing the work, the customer doesn’t exist, and neither does the restaurant. That’s changing; fast in some places, and slower in others. And I’m doing my part to accelerate the shift, and to ensure as an industry we never slip backwards.  This May at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago, I had the chance to share something close to my heart – and directly tied to the health of our businesses –  mental health in the workplace . My session, “A Capitalist's Motivation to Prioritize Mental Health in the Workplace,”  drew restaurant professionals, operators, and leaders from across the globe. The interest was real. The conversations were real. The need is real.  As an industry, it’s been common for decades to talk about staffing challenges, burnout, turnover – and we’ve tried to patch the holes in a variety of ways – sometimes with pain, fear, and force, and sometimes with bonuses, adapting our onboarding and training, better POS systems, etc. But we’re finally starting to look at the root of the issue: how our humans experience the workplace, and how the workplace culture we build either supports or erodes mental wellbeing.  I focused my talk on the business case for mental health – not just because it's the right thing to do (it is), but because it delivers measurable return on investment. When you support mental health at work, you don’t just reduce burnout; you reduce absenteeism, turnover, liability, and the costs of re-hiring and retraining. You improve retention, performance, and culture. It adds up.  And still, in too many workplaces, mental health is either ignored, parked in the HR department , or brushed off as a “personal issue.” That’s a mistake. Real leadership means naming the hard stuff, creating safety around it, and taking action. I shared examples from our own businesses – how we’ve built systems and conversations that support wellbeing from the top down and the bottom up.  At the conference, I also had some incredible one-on-one conversations with operators, managers, and team leaders at the Expo’s Expert Exchange. These weren’t surface-level chats. These were people ready to rethink how their businesses function and curious about how to bring humanity into the day-to-day without sacrificing profitability. (Spoiler: you don’t have to sacrifice a thing. Done right, you actually gain.)  If you want to dive deeper into this topic, here are a few other talks and pieces where I break it down further:  Creating Value by Prioritizing Mental Health at Work    Why Would a Capitalist Prioritize Mental Health in the Workplace    Conversation with Bershan  Shaw in partnership with YPO Presents:  Building a Wellness Culture within Organizations    The Largest Productivity Gain Most Companies are Missing   And soon, my TedX talk will be published  The National Restaurant Association Show is always a big moment for our industry. This year, it felt even bigger, not because of flashy equipment or new menu trends, but because of the people leaning in, asking better questions, and looking for better ways.  Mental health isn’t a fad or a trend. It’s a permanent necessity. It’s a strategy. And it’s one I’ll keep showing up for: on stage, in boardrooms, and in every restaurant I help lead.  Because when we prioritize people, the business takes care of itself.

It sucks when you really suck at something. Or that’s how I used to think. I hated the range of emotions connected to being a beginner: anxiety, self-doubt, and very often avoidance/procrastination. I am sure many of you can relate. But now, I’m seeing it differently. Rather than attaching mental angst and energy to my sucking, I focus on progressing through the I suck  space, reframing it to the necessary learning space on my way to the I can do this  and perhaps even  I can be great at this  space. While I have always loved learning and consider myself a lifelong learner, I have been impatient with myself in this initial learning space for something new.  Dr. Becky (an amazing sharer of knowledge about parenting, living, and learning; if you’re not currently a disciple, I recommend becoming one) talks about The Learning Space , which she frames as the space between not knowing and knowing. Her insights are focused on students and learners, as she guides them to understand that being resilient in this space generally feels messy and unpleasant – and that’s normal. I’m applying her lessons to my own adult path.  In the Fall of 2024, WTOP (a local radio station with millions of listeners) approached me with the idea of doing a podcast on entrepreneurs in the DC area, talking about their lessons and journeys. I was intrigued and agreed to do it. I knew it was a seriously legit opportunity to reach a huge audience, have (hopefully) valuable conversations, and share insights from fellow entrepreneurs for those on that journey or interested in that journey. I’ve had plenty of experience being a guest, being asked the questions, but I had very little experience in the host’s chair. We put together a team to develop the podcast, Founding DC . We set up a series of practice sessions with one of the team members role-playing as the guest.  During the first practice session as host, I sucked. I left the studio that day worried… here I am, sucking, and soon, my suck will be on full display . I thought about bailing; I wondered if there was some sort of cheat code; and then, I thought about Dr. Becky’s lesson. I admitted I cared, I admitted I wanted to do well, and I knew that I could go on the journey of leveling up. I dove in. I scheduled more practice sessions. I engaged an amazing coach. I spent time in the uncomfortableness of the learning space. And guess what? I don’t suck nearly as much as I did when I started. We’ve done four podcast episodes  and are now prepping for our fifth and sixth. And now, I am excited to do them. I am excited to keep learning. Whether or not I’m great, that’s for the audience to decide. The only thing I can do is treat it like a craft, get continuous coaching, allow myself to move and stumble through this learning space, and enjoy the process, even in the moments when I suck.

Partnering up with YPO and Bershan Shaw to share practical strategies for CEOs and business leaders to create healthier, more resilient workplaces. Watch our frank and oftentimes personal conversation about our own struggles, and how they have informed our business practices, including our reasons for building mental health support and transparency in business. We also share our wellness strategies to help your teams and your businesses thrive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha5RrMGv1qQ

Speaking at the DisruptHR meeting in Baltimore was a great opportunity to connect with HR professionals and share my Mental Health Playbook that moves mental health out of HR silos and into operations. As always, I share some of my own personal experiences, in part to role model de-stigmatizing mental health and in part to explain how mental health impacts performance, productivity, and the bottom line. This is a short 5-minute presentation, which is relevant for all biz leaders. Watch at link below, share with your colleagues, and let me know what you think.     DisruptHR is an information exchange designed to energize, inform, and empower HR leaders, business professionals, and community leaders who are interested in disruptive ideas to move workplace thinking forward, support talent, and compete better in the global marketplace.

Co-written with Julie Baron, LCSW-C, Julie Baron & Associates . Between the two of us, our qualifications include university adjunct faculty, licensed mental health clinician, business owners and entrepreneurs, including Founding Farmers  Restaurant Group that employs 1,500+ people (the majority under the age of 26), and parents of college-age children. The current playbook of academic institutions striving to provide mental health support for students is not working. Noble? Yes. Comprehensively effective? No. Instead, or really, in addition, academic institutions should play to their strength – affecting students in the classroom. This is where topics and discussions about mental health can be brought out from the shadows and normalized.   We hear the questions, from students, at school, at work, in clinical settings:                   Why do I feel like this? I hate this.                   I’m in shambles right now.                   I’m not making new friends.                   This place isn’t for me.                   I hate it here.                   This is all just too much.                   I feel so lost.   We see the social media threads with hundreds, thousands of posts and comments of parents saying: My kid has been at college for a few weeks and is really struggling. This is so hard. Any advice?   According to the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment, 36% of college students (and almost 60% of gender nonconforming and trans-identifying students) reported being diagnosed with anxiety, and 28% report being diagnosed with depression, which does not include the additional reports of students suffering with other mental health disorders. [1] There is an even wider subset who have no formal mental health diagnosis yet suffer in silence without seeking support. These vulnerabilities create an increased propensity for problems on college campuses, such as substance overuse, sexual assault, and academic challenges affecting graduation rate. Without needed mental health education and support, those most vulnerable and desperate are also at risk for suicidal thoughts, behavior, or attempts. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for teens and young adults, ages 10-34. [2]   These statistics are alarming and underscore the pressing need for proactive measures on college campuses. Though some institutions have existing “freshman seminar” courses, the education on mental health and wellness seems minimal to non-existent. We believe, and the research supports, that education on mental health, along with social connection offered in a group classroom setting, and additional mental health supports and resources, can: broaden understanding of self and others; increase empathy; decrease isolation; and offer a space for needed expression. Every first-year student should be required to take a course that incorporates these concepts and experiences. Normalizing transition-related stress, knowing they are not alone, and learning what to do or how to help others if concerns about a more serious mental health condition arise can offer comfort, ease stress, and may even save lives. These classes must allow for small group processing, open communication, and a space for sharing experiences. We imagine calling it something like, “Freshman Psych in the Mirror 101.”   Many colleges and universities have made efforts to scale up their mental health resources and study ways to implement more comprehensive mental health supports into the school cultures. These efforts are important and should continue, adjacent to initiatives to shatter the taboo that mental health cannot be talked about in an academic classroom setting. Many universities have both undergraduate and graduate departments of education, social work, and psychology with experts “in house,” who could be valuable in the research, design, and implementation of such a course. Failing to invest in leveraging the classroom experience to normalize mental health conversations and facilitate understanding of self and others, is fiscally and strategically short-sighted.   Let’s expand the topic of mental health beyond the silos of Student Services and get it into the classroom where it can become part of common discourse. Such a course has the power to offer strategic, actionable support, allow for bonds to form, and send our students back into the hallways and dorms with a chance at thinking, “Oh, I’m not the only one that feels this way!” Offering an opportunity for all incoming first-year students to learn about and practice managing hard emotions and experiences together can help everyone, with added benefits for those who may be struggling more than others. With the endorsement of the school and support from faculty, graduate students, or other student leaders to guide important learning, the message in the college culture would be clear: “We value the mental health and personal growth of our students, and we can learn together that struggling is normal.” Your Voice Matters. Help Make An Impact. If this blog resonates with you and you want to make a positive impact, share it and tag the university or college where your child goes or where you graduated. Post it on your social channels and in your parent Facebook groups. Share wherever you think it will get more eyes. Copy this link dansimonssays.com/post/a-call-to-action-for-universities-colleges  or click one of the social media icons at the bottom of this page. [1] American College Health Association. American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment III: Undergraduate Student Reference Group Data Reporting Spring 2023 (PDF). Silver Spring, MD: American College Health Association. Spring 2023. [2] Curtin SC, Garnett MF, Ahmad FB. Provisional numbers and rates of suicide by month and demographic characteristics: United States, 2021. Vital Statistics Rapid Release; no 24. September 2022. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc:120830

Because, from a financial perspective, it’d be foolish not to.    Conscious Capitalism DC (CCDC) hosted a recent gathering with DC-area executives focused on just that question: the reason business leaders need to turn their attention and their dollars to addressing mental health in the workplace. Working with CCDC Co-Chair Amanda Karst (Chief Operating Officer, AO People Partners), we brought together influential leaders and changemakers for an evening of conscious conversations. Here’s a 2-minute short video from the event: Mental health in the workplace, as many of you know, is always a critical business conversation to me. I  was excited to be joined by two-time NBA All-Star, Roy Hibbert , who gave a fantastic keynote, which you can watch HERE . He spoke about his own mental and physical journey as an elite, world-class athlete, and  the challenges he faced while playing at the highest level. Impactful keynote speakers can be hard to find. If you’re looking for an NBA All-Star and high-caliber human being with the ability to capture a room, Roy Hibbert is your guy. (You can reach him through danielle.cantor@famebb.com .)     Next up I shared my Mental Health Playbook , and the business reasons why every leader should want  to address mental health in the workplace, regardless of your field —  the business case is crystal clear. The dollars make the case; the humans make the dollars. While for some leaders, it is simply enough to want to help and support people, the raw capitalist’s motivation is compelling on its own. You can watch my full talk HERE .   Grace Aduroja-Kolker, Manager of Women's Initiatives at Williams & Connolly  and Executive Coach & Facilitator, was the night’s emcee. If you need an amazing person to emcee an event, reach out to me and I will connect you. After our opening presentations, she helped get us all started in a series of very productive, conscious conversations around delicious catered food from none other than Founding Farmers Co. Catering & Events. The roundtable discussions were focused on: (1)  How investing in mental health in the workplace creates organizational value? (2)  Current practices that are effective, and what hurdles get in the way of creating and implementing mental health support programs? (3)  Specific strategies and actions executives are considering implementing next to further advance mental health support? (4) How to measure the value and impact of mental health programs?      Aduroja-Kolker and Conscious Capitalism Board Member/Founder/Emeritus, Timothy Henry, helped summarize key insights and takeaways, encouraging attendees to continue the conversation beyond the evening and utilize knowledge gained to foster healthier workplace environments in their own spheres.     In the spirit of shout-outs to recognize what makes an evening like this possible, I’ve got to highlight the team at   Founding Farmers Co. Catering & Events.   As the official caterer  and sponsor  for the event, the food was fantastic and exceptionally executed !  (My bias aside, just ask anyone who was there.) Event planning and production was expertly overseen by my friends at LINK Strategic Partners . Additional direct funding came from these consciously led businesses:  AO People Partners , Congressional Seafood , Conscious Capitalism DC , and Shulman Rogers .       If you want to read more about why mental health in the workplace is much, much more than simply an HR topic, check out my blog HERE . To learn more about the Conscious Capitalism organization, check out their website   or learn more about our DC chapter events and how to get involved   HERE.

I sat down with the Michael Haft and Harrison Suarez to learn more about what gives Compass Coffee its true north. Check out our video (below or on YouTube) to learn more about these two entrepreneurial Marines, who are building a coffee empire in and around DC, dedicated to making "...real good coffee. Nothing fancy, nothing too crazy or hard to pronounce, just really good." We worked directly with Michael and Harrison to make our own real good coffee, our First Bake Blend, served only at Founding Farmers.

In looking for a successful 2024, here's a list of my top strategies ... or seeds to plant ... to help each of us become more successful business people. It may be no surprise that they will also help us be more thoughtful and caring humans. #1 Prioritize mental healthcare in your life and for your team. The single largest productivity gain staring us in the face is not technology, robots, layoffs, or new manufacturing methods. It is improving the mental health of ourselves and our workforce. Do this, and you can, and will, unleash a massive productivity gain. Smart business is built in a mentally healthy environment and in collaboration with every single member of your team. When your team excels, the company excels. That’s real business innovation. For more, read my blog, “The Largest Productivity Gain Most Companies are Missing,” and watch my Conscious Capitalism CEO Summit keynote address, “Creating Value by Prioritizing Mental Health at Work.” #2 Know what YOU need and get it. Map out your life and your schedule, and how you spend your time on your terms. If alone time is what fills your cup, then create, actually demand, that alone time. If there is someone or something that is sapping your energy when you are around them, or even not around them, then damn it, make the change, learn the polite but hardcore “no,” and jettison them, or it, from your life. You will create a world that fulfills you without all the excess that doesn’t. Cut out, delete, minimize the useless stuff and focus on YOUR “All,” what matters most to you. More details on how I work to manage my time so I can have my “All” at “Creating Your Own Personal Productivity Map” and “Go Your Way.” #3 Learn to listen more and talk less. Most entrepreneurs can work on their listening capacity. If you are one of those people who interrupts all the time… or feels anxious/impatient when others are talking, just waiting to get your point made… you are likely a poor listener and what I call an “expert responder.” Essentially, you are hearing what is being said while preparing your response. Listen to listen instead of listening to respond. If you think you’re a great multi-tasker who is deeply listening and simultaneously formulating a brilliant response, you are wrong, and you are missing the value created when you truly listen to listen, and absorb, and only after that, determining if a response is warranted and value-added. Consider how you can work on your listening skills by reading “Develop the Capacity to Listen, Not Just Hear” and “An Argument Against Multi-Tasking: The Jog That Restructured Our Company.” #4 Love. In my business, the people who continue to succeed, the ones who can move through even the trickiest quicksand and keep going and growing, have a common capability that isn’t grit, resilience, work ethic, or talent. It’s the ability to love and be loved. Sure, I know there are winners in business who love no one but themselves and are substantially dysfunctional with relationships, but these folks are the exception not the rule. So, I’d theorize to ignore the Musk’s and Trump’s of the business world and know that the data tells us those who can lead with a balance of head and heart are more likely to win long term. Explore more at “What Predicts Success?” #5 Do the work and tell the truth. An opposing and wiser view to the typical fake it till you make it biz paradigm. The real key to creating winning, impressive careers for yourself and your team is to stop faking anything. Dig deep. Do the work, which includes leaning into the pain and hardship when you make mistakes or aren’t good enough. Don’t try to fool yourself or those around you. Be honest with yourself and others and strive to be better. Every single day. Read a smidge more on my blog, “Fake It Till You Make It: Worst Idea Ever.” #6 Become a more conscious capitalist. It is NOT all about the Benjamins. When profit is your sole stakeholder, your north star, your moral code, you run the risk of destroying yourself, your career, and your profit. For the how and why, check out “The Capitalist’s Journey to Consciousness: Lessons from the Yellow Brick Road.” #7 And yes, ‘f-in UNPLUG from all the devices that buzz, vibrate, and bleep at you, including your Apple watch. This also means removing them from your view. Even facedown, your phone is calling for your attention. YOU decide when to check for emails, texts, and voicemails. Everyone needs to have a plan, a personal system, to manage their smartphone use. Read more about how to break up with your phone or at least reduce your phone addiction/compulsion at my blogs, “Who’s the Tool? You or Your Smartphone” and “Nine Steps to Making Your Smartphone Your Tool… Not the Other Way Around.”

Men, lemme get right to the point. I believe we need to get fluent. If something affects or will affect 49.6% of the population, we should understand it, right? If something affects every woman at some point in her life, then as humans who have professional, personal, and family relationships with women, we should understand this thing, right? Before I go any further, let me get my disclaimer out of the way. I’m male, I’ll never experience menopause myself, and I’m not an expert on menopause. So, why is a guy who knows so little about menopause writing about it? Because that’s exactly the point. I know only a little, yet I have several roles where I believe I’m compelled to know more and to talk about menopause. I’m married to a woman; I’m a father; I’m a business leader with over 1,200 employees; I advocate regularly about mental health in the workplace. I’d be negligent if I wasn’t talking about menopause. Here’s my quick mea culpa. I was essentially clueless about menopause. I understood it to simply be a phase that concluded the pregnancy years and included hot flashes. That’s it, that’s what I knew. Absolutely fair and accurate to describe myself as ignorant. My ignorance was more than just failing to understand the biological change, symptoms, causes, and effects; my ignorance meant that I had no idea what my mother, my sisters, my wife, and every other woman I knew around my age was going through. Here's another way to look at my cluelessness: imagine if I said to someone I love, “You’re going through this phase that affects your mind, body, and overall wellness, and it may become the dominant thing affecting you, and I’m going to just ignore it, not know anything about it, and not be supportive in anyway.” What sort of person would I be to say that to someone I care about? WHY I AM WRITING ABOUT MENOPAUSE At the most basic personal level, it seems like a good idea to understand what Suzi, my wife, will be and is experiencing. Seems like a good idea to educate my three sons on what their mom AND every other woman in their lives will at some point experience. Seems sensible to understand what has happened, is happening, and will happen for my mum and sisters. I also want to ensure my female employees know we care to understand and support what is or will happen to their mind and body. Seems sensible to educate my male employees on what is or will happen to 100% of their female colleagues. And it seems sensible if I want to effectively talk about mental health that I talk about menopause and hormones, since they can be so deeply intertwined. Hormonal changes, that is, changes in hormone levels, can wreak havoc on the brain and body. I learned this early on about menstrual cycles with my sisters and my mum; I learned more with my wife in our lives together, including during and after several pregnancies. (If you don’t know what I am talking about regarding menstruation, pregnancy, and postnatal hormone shifts, and you are in any personal or professional relationships with women, this is another area to do some learning.) And here’s the thing, hormonal changes aren’t just happening or going to happen to all women; they are happening and are going to continue to happen to all of us. Every day, we are learning more. With this knowledge, we have the ability to be more understanding of ourselves and others; and we are better positioned to deal with our symptoms and potentially treat the root cause. My intent with this blog is four-fold: normalize talking about menopause (and hormones); provide a catalyst for business leaders to learn more about menopause and add it to the list of topics where they can provide education and support to their employees; encourage other men to learn more; and be a conversation starter that people can share digitally with their families, friends, partners, and colleagues. SUBJECTIVITY, QUICKIE DEFINITIONS & MY IGNORANT ASSUMPTIONS Definitions and vocabulary are helpful, so let’s do a few quickies. When discussing menopause, it’s important to also know about perimenopause, the phase leading up to the final menstrual period. To paraphrase definitions from the Mayo Clinic, perimenopause means ‘around menopause’ and refers to the natural transition marking the end of the reproductive years. During perimenopause, the body's production of estrogen and progesterone, key female hormones, rises and falls. Many of the changes experienced during perimenopause are a result of decreasing estrogen. After 12 consecutive months without a menstrual period, menopause officially begins, and the perimenopause phase is over. The word “menopause” is derived from “mēn” and “pausa.” The Greek “mēn” meaning month, and the Latin, “pausa” meaning cessation or break. Conveniently and cluelessly, I had always presumed the word menopause legitimately was conveying, Men, ohhhh, you should pause (your intention), because I’m probably not interested. Seriously, I really thought that — and now I understand I was just falling into my own ignorant pitfall of thinking this phase experienced by a woman had a definition that would be about a man. Man-centric thinking, I know, I know. Also, during perimenopause or menopause, many may want their partner (man or otherwise) to keep their paws to themselves; however, that is not an accurate or appropriate blanket statement, and if anything, it just feeds into the ignorance (primarily of men) surrounding the topic of how to engage with a woman experiencing these pivotal phases. Also, I want to note that when I use a phrase such as “women experiencing menopause,” I am not intending to exclude or offend a person who may go through menopause but who no longer identifies as a woman. My perspective is this a human topic, so I hope my approach with terminology conveys my sentiment. WHAT I AM DOING IN ADDITION TO BLOGGING As a business leader, I’m bringing menopause up at work and reminding supervisors and colleagues that this is another topic on which we must be empathetic. The convergence of mental health, physical health, relationship health, and workplace performance means that we all have compelling reasons to explore, understand, and address the phases and symptoms of menopause. I hope you can share this blog with your executive team and your HR team to see if there are ways you can elevate and support the topic of menopause in your company. I believe it fits right in with initiatives around profit, productivity, and business goals. After all, we need our teams, individually and collectively, to perform at their best for the business to perform at its best. As a husband, I’m learning more and asking Suzi how she feels while being supportive of her journey with Hormone Replacement Therapy, HRT. (She wants me to say it has been an up/down/up journey but for her it is well worth doing now that she and her doctor have found the right recipe.) Maybe you can share this blog with a woman in your life to express that you’re on the journey with her, learning, and interested in knowing how to be supportive. I’m taking responsibility for learning more. I am also working to normalize this conversation amongst my family, friends, colleagues, and anyone who happens to read my blogs. I encourage you to do the same; together, I hope we can help propel the conversation forward to be more informed and stop the hush hush stigma and ignorance. Will you join me? TABOO OR TOO PRIVATE? Before I sign off, let’s do a quick review of any reason to not talk about menopause at home or in the workplace. … Pause. Pause. Pause. Well, that’s quick enough review — there’s no good reason. Wait, you think it’s too private? You aren’t comfortable talking about it? Let me try to convey this, albeit with some slight sarcasm: maybe human reproduction is somehow private, icky, or taboo? That’s odd. If you’re reading this, somehow a sperm met an egg and formed a relationship, and you arrived in this world through the vaginal canal, or maybe you bypassed the canal via Caesarian birth. That vagina and uterus, month after month, are part of this amazing biological cycle and function. Hormones are heavily involved, of course. It doesn’t have to be private, and it isn’t icky. This is just science and human biology. So, let’s push through the taboo if you’re stuck there, and I promise, I’ll abandon any judgment or sarcasm. I really do respect that for each person, this conversation has a range of comfort, discomfort, or unfamiliarity. I’m trying to draw you into this conversation, not push you away. I hope you’ll consider moving through any unease. I am certain the people you care about will be glad if you do. For more on menopause in the workplace, you can listen to an episode on the Anxious Achiever podcast where I was recently a guest.

Menopause is a human issue. One set of humans experiences it, and it just seems incredibly important that all humans get it. This includes business leaders, as I discussed with Morra Aarons-Mele on a recent episode of her Anxious Achiever podcast , "Want to Run a Good Company? You Can't Ignore Menopause Anymore." Anything that significantly disrupts your work becomes a work issue, which is one of the main reasons I have been on a mission to encourage discussion of menopause with business leaders everywhere. Give it a listen and share it with your colleagues and friends. Morra's book, The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower, was published by Harvard Business Review Press in April 2023. She recently won the 2023 Mental Health America Media Award. Also on the podcast was Amy Gallo , author of Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People) , co-host of Women at Work podcast, and contributing editor at Harvard Business Review . You can also read my blog on the topic, "Menopause. Men All Pause. Leaders All Pause."

I had the opportunity to speak with Michael Tingsager on his podcast, Hospitality Mavericks. Our conversation ranged from building a winning biz culture to mental health in the workplace to why family farming plays a key role in ensuring we have healthy food available and a balanced planet now and in the future. Give it a listen below or by going HERE . And let me know what you think. Hospitality Mavericks is a podcast developed to bring together the world's "Mavericks," or people who do things differently from the norm and refuse to cash out on their values by caring for their people, their communities, and the planet.