Nothing Is Everything, with Dr. Barb Rembiesa

Dr. Barb Rembiesa, founder and CEO of the International Association of IT Asset Management, shares how small, intentional acts of kindness can create outsized impact in leadership, business, and everyday life. Drawing on her experience building IAITAM into the world’s leading authority on IT asset management and guiding organizations through technology compliance, AI governance, and digital transformation, Dr. Rembiesa explains how “nothings” — simple actions that cost little time or money — can strengthen workplace culture, build trust, and deliver real ROI by restoring humanity to business. This episode offers practical insights for leaders seeking to integrate compassion, intentional listening, and purpose‑driven generosity into a sustainable business strategy.

About Dr. Rembiesa:

Dr. Barbara Rembiesa is the founder, CEO, and President of the International Association of IT Asset Managers (IAITAM), the world’s leading authority on IT Asset Management education, certification, and professional standards. Under her leadership, IAITAM has empowered organizations in more than 120 countries to manage technology assets responsibly, reduce risk, and maximize business value. A respected strategist, entrepreneur, author, and speaker, Dr. Barb brings over 25 years of experience spanning enterprise technology, compliance, and leadership.

Learn more at DrBarb.com.

The Action Catalyst is presented by the Southwestern Family of Companies. With each episode, the podcast features some of the nation’s top thought leaders and experts, sharing meaningful tips and advice. Learn more at TheActionCatalyst.com, subscribe below or wherever you listen to podcasts, and be sure to leave a rating and review!

LISTEN:

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR RSS FEED: https://feeds.captivate.fm/the-action-catalyst/

SUBSCRIBE ELSEWHERE: https://the-action-catalyst.captivate.fm/listen

__________________________________________________________________________

(Transcribed using A.I. / May include errors):

Host
Dr Barb Rembiesa is the founder and CEO of the International Association of IT Asset Management, the world’s leading authority on IT Asset Management, and the author of My Nothing is Someone Else’s Everything. Dr Barb, welcome.

Dr Barb Rembiesa
Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Host
So just before we dive into the book, let’s give a bit of your background. You actually started, founded and grew the International Association of IT Asset Management from nothing into, as we said, the world’s leading authority on IT Asset Management. What need Did you see that brought that association into existence? And how has that grown from those early years to today?

Dr Barb Rembiesa
IAITAM started, actually, back in 1998 there were, I was in the financial and tech field. I saw a lot of companies putting technology into their environments and really not understanding what to do with it. It was kind of a black hole. People were just throwing money in it. They wanted the newest, the greatest, the shiniest, but they really weren’t aware of license agreements and how they worked. And, you know, just all those pieces and parts of bringing technology into the environment, and then they started ending up with a lot of compliance issues. A lot of a lot of shops got shut down because they were out of compliance, because they didn’t understand license agreements and technology or how they were written. I equated it back then to driving down a road with no speed limit signs, and then getting pulled over and getting the speeding ticket just because they didn’t know. And I felt that if people were taught and they were educated, that they would really do the right thing, because a lot of them I saw were getting these compliance issues and not understanding why they it happened. And then that grew into the management of technology. You know, one of my sayings is, if you’re not managing your technology, you’re not managing your business, because there’s not a business out there in today’s world that can operate without technology. And it’s kind of funny, because we’re in the same cycle now that we were in 1998 but with AI, everybody’s trying to put it into their environment, but there’s no guardrails. There’s no best practices out there. We actually started I aim Association, which is international artificial intelligence Management Association, to do the same thing that IAITAM did back in 1998 and 2002 we did complete a 14 volume best practice library to help companies out there in the management of AI, and three certification courses to start with, one for managers, one for officers and one for auditors.

Host
Once again, your book is called My nothing is someone else’s everything, and it’s about the ways that doing tiny acts of kindness can have a huge impact on other people. In specific, we’re going to talk about this in a work environment and leadership roles. So just to set the table, what do you first mean by my nothing is someone else’s everything? What is a nothing?

Dr Barb Rembiesa
Nothing can be anything. We all have nothing to do. We have nothing to give. You know, it’s something that is very easy for us, or something that we really enjoy, that, you know, picking up the phone call and making a connection. You know, it’s, it’s simple for us to pick up a phone call or pick up a phone and make a call, but for somebody else, it could be everything, saying a kind word to somebody, you know they could, they could really need that at that moment. So it’s the little things that make a big difference in the world, in the job, in the profession, in your everyday life, and taking those things and really making sure that you’re actively listening, actively looking for things that you can do that are simple for you, but could be the world to somebody else.

Host
So you’ve got one pretty extraordinary example of this involving, like you said, a small act on your part which, at the right time, made a huge impact on a town in Kentucky. Can you share that story with us?

Dr Barb Rembiesa
Yes, that’s a. Lotts Creek, I overheard a conversation, somebody asking for a small donation. Something came over me. I don’t you know, I got that feeling, and I asked them if they had any technology, because the the school had nothing out there. Not only did the school not have any technology, but neither did the community. So I made some phone calls out to some of our provider members. They started sending in technology, smart boards, laptops, desktop computers. We were able to put them in the school, in the computer labs, create computer labs for the school, but we also put them in every house in that that community and what that did, and we didn’t know at the point, at that point that we were doing it, but later on, with covid, it allowed those parents to be able to work from home, which really, you know, that could have been devastating for the whole community. You know, going back to IAITAM, had we not started IAITAM when we did and did the training that we did for people when covid hit, it really could have been devastating to businesses all over the world, because they wouldn’t have been able to transition to the home environment the way that they did. But it was because those companies were managing that technology. They knew what they had. They knew who, who needed it, what, what needed to be used. And we were able to transition where other pandemics and things in the past would have wiped out a lot of companies, and we were really able to save a lot of companies.

Host
So that’s a pretty extraordinary example. What are some other examples of nothings that any of us can do, and how do we find those opportunities?

Dr Barb Rembiesa
So I listed many opportunities in the book, and I took the book, not as I wrote it, not as preaching, but as examples of things, and looking at the ripple effect, the impact of, you know, we gave the story whatever the story was. So there’s little things, you know, writing a note, saying a kind word, somebody buying somebody’s coffee in line. You know, they could be having a really bad day. You don’t know what’s going on in their life and and really, you don’t know what the impact of what you’re doing will have. But from talking to people, I can tell you somebody that had coffee bought form in line, it just changed their whole perspective for the whole day, or helping somebody, you know, an elderly person at a grocery store get their groceries to their car. You know, you really don’t know the struggle that they’re going through. And something that simple, and that’s something anybody can do, you know, a kind word, you know, just a helping hand. Or you could do the big things. If you have credit cards that have points on them, you know, you could use those points and buy somebody’s groceries at the grocery store. You know, often I save those to until I get that feeling in line and look behind me and see a mother with a small child, or somebody that you know has the list and calculating all the prices, and I’m able to use those points, and that doesn’t cost me nothing. It’s nothing for me, but to them, it could be everything. One example I had last week was a gentleman trying to buy his medicine, and he just didn’t have it for the month. So they started putting medicine back. And to watch that, you know, it was just heartbreaking, but I was able to scan those points and get what he needed for the month. It didn’t change the cost of the medicine. It didn’t change his monthly income. But for that moment, it was everything for him.

Host
You know, if you’re a leader in a business or an organization of any kind, whether it’s a you know, for profit or something else, what is the value of looking for nothings that you can do?

Dr Barb Rembiesa
Yeah, it’s incredible value. I mean, both personally and professionally. You know, we have something called IAITAM gives back, and we do different charitable events with the with the employees. And it, really brings the employees together, and they start looking for opportunities of what we can do, you know, during that month, you know, whatever month, we try to do something every month, but they start looking and bringing opportunities that we could do as a group, but also in their personal life. You know, they’ll come in and talk about, hey, you know, I did this today. Or, you know, I was able to do this because, you know, I wouldn’t have thought about it before. Or lot of times I find people are afraid to do things because of the reactions that other people will have, oh, I’ll look silly if I buy somebody’s coffee in the morning. Well, no, not really. Once they hear the impact that it’s had, then they want to do it more, because they actually see it as making a difference.

Host
So it’s one thing to do a nothing as a one off, but how do we make doing nothings a regular part of our lives, a routine or a business strategy? Energy that we can build around it. How do we start to form a habit?

Dr Barb Rembiesa
So you have to be intentionally looking for things and listening. I find a lot of times I’ll get that intuition going where I’ll see somebody and like, Okay, I need to do something here, or I’ll hear a comment, whatever, whatever it may be, I listen to the employees. I listen when I go outside. I watch intentionally for those opportunities. I’ve done this my whole life. It wasn’t until I read one of my good friend’s books, Andy Andrews, the noticer, that I was really able to put the habit of noticing things into my daily life, and it’s not a to do. Don’t make it a to do. Don’t make it something that’s hard for you to do. I had an example the couple days ago of a lady that was making chocolates, and she made some extra ones for a birthday party, and her response, you know, was, I just really love doing this. Well, that’s some that’s her nothing. She She loves doing things and giving them to people, you know, as extras in the basket. So that was her nothing, but to the person receiving it. It was everything. Because, you know, they were just shocked that somebody would do something like that for them, and that person happened to be a giving person, but has kind of backed off of it and and her response, by that little nothing that she did, was I really see now that I’ve kind of closed off and I’m I’m afraid to go out and do things, but now I really know that I have to. So it’s all about that. It’s about showing you know what you do and the impact it has on others, but it also has an impact on you when something like a nothing is done for you.

Host
Bringing it back to business leaders. What is the value, or the real, tangible ROI of these acts of kindness for a business? You know, how do we evaluate the time or effort going into this against the impact that we’re making?

Dr Barb Rembiesa
Well, you don’t have to use a lot of time to make an impact, but when you do these nothings, you know, something that’s really easy for you as a company to do, giving somebody a little extra time to pay their invoice, that one invoice is not going to impact your bottom line, or it shouldn’t. But for them, it could be everything as they’re getting things together, or they’re having an issue with getting a PO through and that really you’re bringing back the humanity into business when you’re doing things to try to help people as well, and that creates an environment where they’re going to want to come back to you. So actually, your ROI, we have members in 126 countries, and it’s like a big family reunion when we have our conference and everybody gets together, and that’s because we take care of them all year long. We’re concerned about the profession. We’re concerned about their professional development all through the year. And if somebody needs help. You know, they they lose their job, or you know they know they can come to us and we will really work to try to help them in whatever it is, what business or personal, you know, where they’ve just needed an error for a minute. That minute’s not going to change my business structure. It’s not going to cost me anything. But to them, it’s very important that they’re not seen as a number within a business.

Host
You’ve seen a lot of them over the years. But what do you think is the single most impactful nothing that you’ve experienced?

Dr Barb Rembiesa
Lotts Creek is definitely a big impact, both, I mean, my life and their life, and that’s really where the saying my nothing is somebody else’s everything came from. But there have been, I mean, you know, helping somebody get their certifications and them going on to be able to put their kids through college. Another gentleman was able to avoid layoffs and had like, seven kids, so, you know, that’s a big impact another one, when we were doing covid And we had given away some mobile asset management courses to help people mobilize and get the work at home. And the only thing we ask is that that they gave something back to the covid effort. There was one gentleman. The only thing he had to give back was he wanted to send us 2t shirts. That was a big deal for him. You know, they he just didn’t have a lot we worked with him, got him in the class, got the certifications, and now he’s self sustaining. He has a great job. He, you know, that’s a personal, personal one for me, because I watched him grow through the years and see what he’s doing now. But it was just that one quick act that that really made the difference. And I see that every day in my life and the life of others, what these small, little things, which is why the book came about.

Host
So speaking of that book, once again, let’s bring it full circle. How do we learn more about you and your other work in this book as well? And where do we find it?

Dr Barb Rembiesa
So it’s available Amazon, Simon Schuster, Barnes and Noble, or you can go out to my website, which is Dr Barb, D R B, A R b.com, and you can order it there. And there’s also a free workbook, if you order the book, that you can download from that site, just to help you navigate everything we do.

Host
Lots more to explore, so go there. Dr barb.com, and Dr Barb, thank you so much for making a little bit of time for us today.

Dr Barb Rembiesa
Oh, you’re so welcome.