About Podcast
Joy isn’t just a feeling, it’s a business strategy. In this episode, we meet Marguerite Orane, CEO of Free and Laughing, Inc., a leadership coach whose unwavering commitment to joy has helped organizations thrive without sacrificing well-being. From running her family’s manufacturing business in Jamaica at just 23 to building her own coaching firm in Canada, Marguerite has consistently turned challenging environments into opportunities for growth, innovation, and fulfillment.
Marguerite shares how she embeds ease, grace, and joy into the DNA of organizations, creating cultures that drive both employee satisfaction and measurable business results. Through decades of experience from transforming toxic workplaces to guiding a boutique firm to its best financial year ever, she demonstrates the power of intentional leadership, hands-on engagement (going to the Gemba), and structured coaching frameworks like her J.O.Y. Journey of You program. Along the way, she draws on lessons from Harvard, family business trials, and even Stoic philosophy to show how leaders can cultivate calm, resilience, and fulfillment in themselves and their teams.
Key Takeaways:
- How to use joy as a strategic lever to increase productivity, sales, and creativity within your organization.
- Practical techniques for transforming workplace culture through engagement, respect, and hands-on leadership.
- Steps to align CEOs and leadership teams with culture-building initiatives to ensure sustained impact.
- Frameworks like J.O.Y. Journey of You and Nourish to Flourish for developing leaders and teams holistically.
- Lessons in resilience and calm during crises, including integrating gratitude and perspective to navigate uncertainty.
Join us with Marguerite Orane as she reveals how leading with joy transforms teams, cultures, and business outcomes while nurturing fulfillment and resilience at every level.
- Personal and Professional Growth: Explore Marguerite Orane’s transition from family business leader to entrepreneur.
- Power of Joy at Work: Learn how joyful leadership transforms workplace culture and success.
- Leadership Challenges: Key lessons from managing a business young and working with global clients.
- Employee Well-being: Understand the link between happiness, productivity, and success.
- Business Adaptability: See how resilience drives sustainable growth.
Special Guest: Marguerite Orane, Founder & CEO – Free and Laughing, Inc.
Location: Toronto, Ontario CANADA
Air Date: September 01, 2024
Websites:
- MargueriteOrane.com: learn more about Marguerite, discover her work, and read her blog.
- Coaching Programs: discover more about Marguerite’s leadership coaching programs.
Books:
- Forget It; What’s The Point?: Letting Go and Claiming Joy: a book by Marguerite Orane with a foreword written by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
- Free and Laughing: Spiritual Insights in Everyday Moments: a book also by Marguerite.
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius: Translated Into Plain English: A Roman emperor’s diary of difficult truths to help you live a better life: a book by David Stewart and Nancy Compton.
- Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius: a book by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman.
- Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World: a book by Laura Spinney.
Articles:
- Live, Work, and Lead with Joy: Marguerite’s fortnightly newsletter published on LinkedIn.
- Positive Intelligence: the 2012 Harvard Business Review article by Shawn Anchor that Marguerite referenced.
Producer & Host: Alicia Butler Pierre
Audio Editor: Olanrewaju Adeyemo
Sound Design: Sabor! Music Enterprises
Video Editor: Gladys Jimenez
Show notes: Erika Ve Revilla
Sponsor: Equilibria, Inc.More About Guest, Marguerite Orane:
Marguerite Orane is a speaker, coach, facilitator, author, and the founder & CEO of Free and Laughing, Inc. She began leading teams at 23 when she managed her family’s business consisting of a team of 70 woodworkers – all men, older than her and resistant to the idea of a young woman being their boss. But she did it and learned a lot!She earned her MBA at Harvard Business School. Since then, she has studied and honed skills in group process facilitation, strategy, transformational coaching, and mindfulness meditation. She believes in being generous with whatever she learns, sharing regularly through her blog, social media posts, and client-specific content curation.
Marguerite has brought joy and added value to organizations in the private, public, nongovernmental and educational sectors, including Cable and Wireless, TUI Marine, National Commercial Bank, City of Hamilton, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank, Inter American Development Bank (IDB), Caribbean Development Bank, the Government of the Netherlands, and the Government of Jamaica.
More About Host, Alicia Butler Pierre:
Alicia Butler Pierre is the Founder & CEO of Equilibria, Inc.. Her career in operations began over 25 years ago while working in various chemical plants and oil refineries. She invented the Kasennu™ framework for business infrastructure and authored, Behind the Façade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success. She is the producer of the weekly top 2% Business Infrastructure podcast with a global audience across 70+ countries.Alicia is also an adjunct instructor of Lean Principles at Purdue University and serves as the USA Chair of the G100’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises. The Process Excellence Network recognized her as a Top 50 Thought Leader in Operational Excellence. A chemical engineer turned entrepreneur, she’s designed and optimized processes for small businesses, large enterprises, non-profits, and government organizations alike.
More About Sponsor, Equilibria:
Equilibria, Inc. is an 19-year-old boutique operations management firm. We build the business infrastructure necessary for fast-growing businesses to scale with less pain. With a range of services and products, entrepreneurs can get the operational support and resources they need on demand. 