Karen McFarlane: 0:32

Hey Brittany.

Brittany S. Hale: 0:34

Hi Karen.

Karen McFarlane: 0:35

We're back, we're back, we're back, and for season three. So excited. Well, we made it past two seasons, which a lot of podcasts don't do, so you know we should celebrate ourselves for that.

Brittany S. Hale: 0:51

Absolutely, absolutely. You know what? This would have been a great time for us each to get a cake, and a candle and do that, but it's okay, that's alright.

Karen McFarlane: 1:03

I'll go eat some chocolate after this. Excellent, we should. We learned a lot from our first two seasons, and so we're supposed to always upskill and grow right. And so we have a new twist for our listeners this season for the E-word. So let's just remind them of what we were so we can talk about who we're going to be right. So if you've been listening to us, you know the E word standard for equity. It was the D in EEI that everyone ignored, right, right. But now we have learned from our past two seasons. We've grown together in sort of the topics that we're talking about, and we wanted to redefine the E word to be, I guess, greater than before, and so we have chosen a new word that defines the E word, and that word is, you say, it Eudaimonia.

Karen McFarlane: 2:17

There you go, eudaimonia Right. And now the listeners might be like, why that word? Okay, and what does that mean for the E word?

Brittany S. Hale: 2:27

Unless you're Greek or studied Greek, in which case I will say Yashu and Esharisto for listening. Those are the only two Greek words I know. That's it.

Karen McFarlane: 2:41

Well, now we have a few more words to add to the vocabulary.

Brittany S. Hale: 2:46

Exactly.

Karen McFarlane: 2:47

Exactly so, eudaimonia. It means living a good, flourishing and meaningful life through the pursuit of truth, virtue and excellence. Truth, virtue and excellence and basically that's what we're trying to help everyone do is live in their truth, right, live according to certain virtues that you believe in, but also, at the end of the day, strive for excellence, whatever that means for you Right, absolutely. And so eudaimonia is basically from some principles that are founded by Aristotle, yeah, and through that, aristotle has five intellectual virtues, and we're going to talk through the five intellectual virtues for you today.

Brittany S. Hale: 3:44

Yeah, before we get there. I just want to for listeners who may say, okay, where does this come from? Well, we're connecting the two. This really is scoping out from where we started, right, because these discussions were in service to the pursuit of truth, virtue and excellence. How do you show up at work, how can you create better leaders, better marketers, develop stronger, more authentic connections with your internal and external audiences and really just show up in the world in a way that improves it instead of takes away from it?

Karen McFarlane: 4:28

right, absolutely. I think that was the common thread. Obviously, we have our points of view on what's happening in the world and we share them with you for you to ingest and then apply to your own beliefs and thinking right, and that's really what we're here for. But at the end of the day, just like you said, we're all living in this one world and we have to interact with each other and we all have connections in different ways, and so, you know, this evolution of the E-word is really just tapping into that broader mindset and is a point of growth for us and, hopefully, a point of growth for all of you.

Brittany S. Hale: 5:06

Exactly, exactly and is a point of growth for us and, hopefully, a point of growth for all of you Exactly, exactly so.

Karen McFarlane: 5:16

Karen, you teased it. These virtues, let's tell the listeners a little bit more. Yeah, so we'll start off with one of them, which is practical wisdom. In Greek it is phrodesis, and that means the ability to make good choices in everyday life. So it's knowing what to do, it's knowing when to do it and how to do it ethically. Now, that should feel very familiar to everybody in terms of what we've been talking about for this. It just has a framing.

Brittany S. Hale: 5:43

Yes, yes, and I'm sure a lot of people are saying, oh well, why, why is it the E word? Just for ethics? And again scoping out ethics and service of what right? A greater life experience. Okay, Should we go into the second?

Karen McFarlane: 6:02

Yeah, why don't you give them number two?

Brittany S. Hale: 6:04

Number two is techne, or artistry, and it's the skill of making or creating something. Well, you're thinking of craftsmanship, creative expression, any sort of applied know-how, and I think about that very often when I think of any sort of bespoke products that you might buy or service that you might have. The intentionality behind it is really, really important, something that I think is very often underutilized.

Karen McFarlane: 6:44

Yeah, and I think everybody is an artist in their own way, right, if you're creating something, whether it be a physical good, whether it be you know, some digital good, whether you're just, you know, in your backyard you know planting flowers, right, there is some level of artistry that is applied. So this applies to everybody. You don't have to be a CEO or, you know, marketing director, like it's. It's everyone in the world essentially.

Brittany S. Hale: 7:09

Absolutely, absolutely. And in furtherance of the eudaimonia, before we were recording, I texted Karen and I said, hey, I'm picking lavender right now and my goal is to dry it out and infuse it with oils and all of these types of things and so going back to that sense of flourishing, having this meaningful life on multiple levels, Exactly.

Karen McFarlane: 7:42

I think that leads nicely into the third virtue, which is understanding, or in Greek that's pronounced nous. So that is really the deep intuition or insight into the first two principles that we just talked about, right Into practical wisdom and artistry, and it also means that you're instinctively recognizing truths or the essence of a situation. Right, so you are actively seeking context and, I guess for lack of a better word understanding of a situation before making you know judgments or decisions, and so that's something we all need to strive for, particularly in today's society, right, like we need to get various sides of the story, we need to do our research so that we can have a fuller and complete understanding of the situations in front of us.

Brittany S. Hale: 8:37

And I think this is something noose is something that is very often seen through kind of cynical eyes, because we can't necessarily measure intuition in a particular way. We may all feel it, but it may not guide us to the same place, and so, because it's not something that's easily measured, sometimes we throw it out. But when I look at news I'm thinking, okay, this is leaning into EQ, right, it's kind of moving into that emotional intelligence piece and thinking about all of the different ways that we can enhance our understanding of a collective experience.

Karen McFarlane: 9:27

I'm actually glad you pointed that out. I mean, you know that intuition or you're going with your gut. I mean, obviously it can have some negative consequences. But for people who do have that high EQ, such as cancer, the cancer zodiac sign since we're in cancer season, right there are times when you really do need to trust your gut, right. But you know you have to evaluate those situations and see if you need to provide more context around it.

Brittany S. Hale: 9:56

So I'm glad you brought that up and almost the exact opposite of it is our fourth principle, our fourth virtue, which is episteme Root word, epistemology, things like that. But it's this reasoned, proven knowledge based on facts and logic. Anytime you've heard people say feelings aren't facts, they're operating from a space of episteme and it's really scientific knowledge. It's what we know through study and evidence and repeatable processes, the whole scientific method of it all.

Karen McFarlane: 10:37

Yeah, and I think that all leads to our fifth virtue, which is philosophic wisdom, otherwise known as Sophia, and basically that's the easiest one to pronounce, by the way. Sophia, that is the highest form of knowledge, that's combining reasoning and insight, right. And then you, ultimately, when you are applying philosophical, philosophic wisdom, or Sophia, that is getting to a point of where you have a deep understanding of life, purpose and, hopefully, the entire universe. That one's a little bit, you know, we stretch a little bit there, but you know. But life and purpose are something that we all try to focus on or should try to focus on, not only personally but also professionally.

Karen McFarlane: 11:35

In marketing, we talk about purpose all the time In business, in terms of focusing on your purpose why do you exist in the first place? Right, and expanding what that means in terms of not only your customers but also your place in society. And again, that applies to broader companies but also your place in society. And again that applies to broader companies but also individual people. And when you add up these virtues and you're trying to get to that place, you're ultimately reaching eudaimonia.

Brittany S. Hale: 12:06

That makes a lot of sense, right, right?

Karen McFarlane: 12:11

I mean, of course we think it makes sense, we chose it right, but I hope the viewer thinks it makes sense. But, again, it's really just part of our own growth and understanding of how we want to show up for you, right, and how we want to show up for ourselves as well in this season of life, as well in this season of life, and so I hope that this resonates with everybody listening who's followed us before and who will continue to follow us, and as you experience this next level of growth for the E-word.

Brittany S. Hale: 12:44

Yes, and tell a friend, tell two friends.

Karen McFarlane: 12:48

Exactly, exactly.

Brittany S. Hale: 12:52

So watch, maybe even five Exactly Exactly, maybe even five Exactly. One friend that you think embodies each of the virtues.

Karen McFarlane: 12:59

That's a good idea.

Brittany S. Hale: 13:00

Tell them to listen to this episode and say you are Sophia. Here's what that means. You are Noose Such an episteme thing to say. Here's what that means. You are noose such an episteme thing to say. Here's what I mean.

Karen McFarlane: 13:18

I love that.

Brittany S. Hale: 13:19

Maybe we'll be starting to threaten we'll have our guests on that, you know there you go, there you go.

Karen McFarlane: 13:29

So there's a ton more to come in season three. This is just an introduction, so watch this space, subscribe, as Brittany said, tell a friend All right, and show up next time when we, you know, flow into this new framework of the E1. See you then.