Shock Your Potential

Empowering Naked Conversations - Sean Tyler Foley

“Art in general binds us together as a human society because we can see how others see the world through their art.” Sean Tyler Foley
Art has long been used to explain the uniqueness in the being of every individual. That every person is special simply because they are unique and have something to offer is an attitude that should be embraced to encourage and inspire self-expression. This is according to our guest today, Sean Tyler Foley, who through embracing his artistic self has been able to achieve tremendous successes in the world of performance. Tyler believes that self-confidence and self- awareness are very important when taking the stage. 
Sean Tyler Foley has been acting in film and television since he was 6 years old after his father passed away suddenly in a motor vehicle accident. He is an accomplished film and stage performer and has appeared in productions including Freddy Vs Jason, Door to Door, Carrie, and the musical Ragtime. Tyler is passionate about helping others confidently take the stage and impact an audience with their stories. He is currently the Managing Director of Total Buy In and author of the #1 best-selling book The Power to Speak Naked.
In today’s episode, we will be discussing more about how people can open up to have more open and honest interactions, and how people can embrace different kinds and mediums of communication to connect with people and have an enhanced understanding of the world around them.
Listen in!
Links to social media accounts
https://www.instagram.com/seantylerfoley/ 
https://www.facebook.com/SeanTylerFoleyYYC/ 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPaMWxi5lGc_msriWtO45eA 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/seantylerfoley/ 
https://twitter.com/DropTheMicSTF 
https://www.facebook.com/seantylerfoley/
I was born a performer and every time I tried to get away from it or hide it as an aspect of my life it always came back. [2:47]
I have had to embrace the fact that I am who I am and that is just where I have got to live. [3:01]
I found that I have always relied on the use of performance to be better in every other situation that I have. [3:10]
Performance has helped me be a better leader even in school to moving to start my business. [3:19]
I went to a fine arts high school and moved out to be on my own to pursue performance as a career which I later retired from at 25 years. [4:10]
The book came because I found myself giving the same advice over and over again. [6:43]
As a speaker the first thing that any promoter is going to ask is whether you have a book or a course. [7:09]
Every training or facilitation I have done is on film and so we took all of that and transcribed the audio then repurposed it into the book. [7:30]
When you read through the book it is the closest thing you can get to being in one of the training sessions with me and my team. [8:03]
It is the easiest and fastest way to respond to people who ask me for advice. [8:36]
There are three layers to the title of the book. [11:07]
The most upfront one being that I honestly want to empower people who work with me to have such confidence in their ability to take the stage because their message is what people will focus on and not what they are wearing. [11:11]
The next part of the title is having honest and tough conversations because it is the content that matters. [11:39]
The root title is about being exposed and speaking our raw naked truth and saying the things that we are afraid to say. [12:0]
These are the conversations that we are having one-on-one with our loved ones and peers. [12:23]
Saying the things, we are afraid to say are usually how we are going to move ahead and that is true leadership. [12:36]
Those are the conversations that I am trying to empower people to have. [12:44]
Ultimately, I am trying to facilitate the ability to have the self-confidence because that is what it boils down to. [13:45]
To have people know that their messages and stories matter and that that if they hold on to it, it will not be serving anybody. [14:00]
Commercial Break [16:30]
Art is universal particularly story telling particularly in the art that I embrace which is story telling. [16:50]
We have had as a human species an oral tradition for thousands of years, and it is how we have learned and passed down values. [17:12]
It doesn’t matter race, religion or orientation, you can go to the Louvre and have appreciation for these pieces work and art from around the world. [17:54]
Art in general binds us together as a human society because we can see how others see the world through their art. [18:38]
This gives me some understanding and some appreciation for where you are coming from and why you do the things you do. [18:48]
The most effective leaders are those who can tell a compelling story or who can give effective imagery to their mission. [19:10]
That is when you can get people on board and get them aligned in what you want to see accomplished. [19:23]
Advertising is another visual medium and true art form that I think is under appreciated [19:43]
That is why good ad copy speaks universally to your client base. [20:20]
Embrace your story because it matters. [24:34]
Authenticity is synonymous to self-awareness. [24:40]
……………………………………………………………………………………
Thank You to our August Sponsor!
Tired of the time and expense to get a manicure or pedicure? Try Color Street today!
Base, color, and top coats of high-quality liquid nail polish in each strip results in a brilliant, salon-quality manicure in just minutes. No dry time, smudges, or streaks, and your mani/pedi lasts up to 10 days. Color Street is 100% real nail polish, not stickers.
Learn More: https://www.colorstreet.com/bhroberts/party/2095611
 
 

Capturing Moments that Matter - Melody Paine

“When we spend time doing things that we love simply because we love them, it fills us for the things that we need to do.” Melody Paine
The universality of art is a reality that is felt by every individual. In most form of arts, it takes intentional keenness and experience to identify and bring out the details that make art unique. This is especially true in photography. Our guest today, Melody Paine, is experienced in this form of art, and says that in photography and filmmaking, the most special and memorable moments are always captured in the most ordinary of times and spaces.
Melody Joy Paine is a photographer and filmmaker for Imperfect Joy. She helps families craft visual memories that pull into focus the beauty in little details that they will want to remember most. She is currently studying under an Emmy-award winning filmmaker to build a new branch of her work called Kama Muta Films. She will work alongside her husband, David, to tell stories of how businesses have made an impact on individuals and communities by keeping their heart at the center of what they do.
In today’s episode, our guest will be discussing more about her journey to being a professional photographer and filmmaker, as well as the transformation that came with her getting into entrepreneurship. She will also talk more about the unexplored opportunities in photography and film making.
Listen in!
Social Media
www.imperfectjoy.com,
https://www.facebook.com/imperfectjoy 
https://www.instagram.com/imperfect_joy_ 
First, I want to talk about art being a core thing that is important to our lives and not just in the business for me. [3:05]
I have always embraced art and I started as a musician when I was in junior high, elementary school. [3:15]
I have always love being able to see the transformation of something and how it takes form. [3:50]
I have a bachelor’s degree in Biology and wanted to be a neurologist specializing in MS. [4:10]
The main reason I got into photography when my mother-in-law and my bother passed away shortly after my husband and I got married and everything got on hold. [4:20]
I decided to spend time at home with my kids because after that experience there was nothing more important than family to us. [4:48]
As a stay-at-home mum, I found something to do which was photography. [4:58]
I started doing it for my kids and family, and it evolved into something artistic and led into entrepreneurship all the pieces of running a business. [5:10]
I began in project photography which required everything to be perfect. [5:36]
I started feeling stuck because my perfectionism started getting in my way. [5:50]
I couldn’t get into my creative space because I constantly had to try to make everything Pinterest worthy [5:58]
I did a lot of bereavement work because that was where my heart was, helping people to heal because it was also the place where I was able to heal. [6:10]
One family called me up to capture the last moments of their 2-year-old son whose heart was failing and had to be taken off life support. [6:20]
For 6 hours I stayed with family at their son’s bedside and captured every moment because it was important for them to be able to remember their son in that journey. [6:36]
It was definitely the hardest bereavement session I had ever done. [7:00]
I edited and put together this gallery and it was the first time I saw the importance of the details. [7:24]
It was the first time that I saw an actual story from beginning to end through the photos. [7:50]
I sent it off and felt that in some way I had encapsulated this moment so that the family could go back in that moment in a way that was not as painful. [8:04]
I realized that I did not want to do that in the moments that suck anymore. [8:32]
So, I wanted to tell stories, let go of perfection and help people capture their ordinary moments that mean the most when they are gone. [8:45]
That is why I named my business ‘Imperfect Joy’ as a reminder to myself of what I am doing. [9:00]
One of the challenges I came across in this business is that people have so much accessibility to capture these moments on their own; however most people don’t see the joy in the moments in front of them until they are gone. [11:45]
Because I have experienced loss myself, and I have been in front of so many families, my art goes beyond the tools and encompasses the ability to capture perspective and details which are so mundane and ordinary for people to notice but make a difference. [12:14]
Before quarantine started, I had been working part time as a mum, where it started as a part time thing but became something really important to me. [14:10]
My husband and I then decided in January 2020 that it was time so he left his job to take care of the kids since it was not realistically possible for me to do both. [14:45]
March came and everything and everything was obliterated and all the plans were changed. [15:19]
I tried different things but they were not going as per to my standards. [15:34]
I also wasn’t really in warm market because a lot of people haven’t seen family seen and don’t know what they are or what goes into them. [16:30]
I am not doing film making where I can control everything, I have to work with whatever components that are there which vary and I have to roll with. [17:13]
With film making not being something new I felt like I was just trying to scratch the surface of something that wasn’t quite ready. [17:28]
There is market for it because of the value it brings both for businesses and families but right now it is really hard and that is why we are transitioning to businesses for those various reasons. [17:45]
Commercial break. [18:19]
There are different types of stories that can be told for businesses and what you are talking about is the impact story. [22:49]
What we want to find are businesses which intentionally have an impact on individuals and communities. [22:56]
It is not only good for the people who join in on this business and are impacted, but also for the business owner to see returns. [23:11]
There is a blending of what I had done in a new market and we are calling this Kamamuda Films. [23:30]
Kamamuda is a new term that was defined by psychologists for an overarching emotion. [23:46]
It is described as a sudden feeling for oneness or belonging and is likened to the reaction people have when they feel connected to a deeply moving event. [24:15]
Art being a journey of transformation and, I have had the frustration of being in the process but haven’t seen it come to life yet and being in between is sometimes a really hard place to be. [25:44]
We have combined the different skills we have with my husband and therefore I have the reminder every day that I am not alone in this journey and this struggle has been shared. [27:39]
In the pandemic I was part of a networking group of business coaches who did better in the pandemic. [28:15]
A lot of the messages that I got from them did not resonate with my situation because their perspective was not the same with the industry that I was in which was hit incredibly hard, and for a while I felt lonely. [28:32]
Now that we are starting to get back to people again, we are planning to do a community event for our grand opening. [29:15]
We want a place where we can show our first business film to our community with a story that is from a local business and give people a reason to gather and celebrate. [29:55]
If we can make progress in the relationships again, then there will be a lot more progress happening in our business as well and that was the biggest element that was missing. [30:22]
When we spend time doing things that we love simply because we love them, it fills us for the things that we need to do. [33:18]
……………………………………………………………………………………
Thank You to our August Sponsor!
Tired of the time and expense to get a manicure or pedicure? Try Color Street today!
Base, color, and top coats of high-quality liquid nail polish in each strip results in a brilliant, salon-quality manicure in just minutes. No dry time, smudges, or streaks, and your mani/pedi lasts up to 10 days. Color Street is 100% real nail polish, not stickers.
Learn More: https://www.colorstreet.com/bhroberts/party/2095611
 

Jack of All Trades - Master of One - Rahul Aggarwal

“You have to believe in people and trust them because the more trust you give the better people perform.” Rahul Aggarwal
When starting out, business owners are always forced to work with tight budgets to remain afloat. With such constraints, businesses have always opted to outsource tasks that are not within their core activities, and sometimes finding qualified professionals to do those tasks can be an uphill task. Our guest today, Rahul Aggarwal, is passionate about technology and the solutions it provides in managing businesses. Rahul has faced such difficulties in the past which motivated him not only to start an online professional talent outsourcing agency but also to go ahead and manage some of the world’s most talented professionals.
Being awarded as the Rising Entrepreneur of the year 2019 and Entrepreneur 35 under 35 in 2020, and Asia’s Most Promising Business Leaders 2021 by Economic Times, Rahul Aggarwal has cofounded Designhill and created a unique online marketplace to overcome the challenges faced by the business owners in outsourcing high-quality creative solutions and designers who have been looking for creative freedom. He’s a serial entrepreneur, passionate marketer, investor, advisor, and a firm believer in the concept of constant learning and growing. His astounding digital knowledge and impregnable business skills have led Designhill to be acknowledged as the Creative Startup of the Year 2019 by Entrepreneur Magazine.
In today’s episode, Rahul will talk more about what motivated him to start his company Designhill and how he has managed to grow it to be a globally recognized platform. He will also give us some leadership insights that he believes works well in managing people and businesses.
Listen in!
Social media handles;
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raggarwal1/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/A10Rahul
 https://twitter.com/Designhilldh
 https://in.linkedin.com/company/designhill
 https://www.instagram.com/designhilldh/
 https://www.facebook.com/designhilldh
 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoKjPhUAFttvUzQbx_JwOmw
 
I'm an entrepreneur and I started Designhill with my brother, who is also a co-founder and we live together despite having worked together for the last eight years. [4:15]
We started this business about seven, eight years back. We thought of it in 2013 but we ended up starting it in 2014. [4:40]
It was something that just got born out of the individual needs that we had at that point in time. [4:50]
I joined the family business and I wanted to get our branding organized since design was not something that was given a lot of value at the time, however, that's changed a lot in today's time and world. [4:57]
I was struggling to get a good agency or designer to get the business brand rebranded and have everything more consistent and quality. [5:14]
My brother was working as a freelancer, and he was having his struggles in terms of finding good clients, how to communicate with them, and getting paid on time. [5:24]
We happened to speak about our problems and we realized that this was not a local issue, but a global problem, and technology as an enabler could facilitate and solve that. [5:38]
Good design is omnipresent and every business needs it whether it's an online business or an offline business. [5:52]
When young or new entrepreneurs come with business ideas and concepts they are always vibrant and they look for something that represents that idea that helps them show that they are serious about what they're talking about. [6:29]
We as a company help these individuals and businesses to accomplish those dreams by facilitating or helping get their business on the ground. [7:05]
We have tried to have services that can cater to every kind of customer with every kind of budget because design is very important for the success of any business. [7:33]
When starting a business, you don't want to spend so much money on professional branding or with an agency or you don't even have the resources at the time. [8:49]
With design, it is always something that is always on the back of the mind as you are always thinking of acquiring new customers or getting more traffic on your website but you don’t want to invest in a full-time designer. [9:00]
That is where we come in or any other online platform comes in because we help you connect with the best in class people around the world. [9:17]
You might have somebody who might charge you a lot more maybe in us but a designer with an equal level of quality may be sitting in Australia or Brazil or India and they might be able to do a great job for you at probably 1/3 the price. [9:27]
I think that's the beauty of the internet in the kind of world that we live in today, that you really don't need to travel anymore and you can just get connected and get on a Zoom call with anybody from anywhere in the world on a click of a button. [9:43]
This allows businesses to experiment, explore, and understand somebody before making that commitment to hire them. [10:54]
Technology and platforms allow businesses to experiment to know different skillsets and get different options and varieties while working with different people. [11:40]
Sometimes you may have a particular stream or school of thought that this is how you want certain things to be done but get swept away with other kinds of options and varieties that people with different backgrounds can come up with. [11:53]
I think what the pandemic has done is it has sort of accelerated working online businesses that get coupled with work-from-home situations. [13:04]
I think that is wonderful because it not only gives people the opportunity to make that extra buck but also follow their passions and dreams. [14:10]
There's a lot of dynamism and flexibility that you get today with the kind of things that are getting built up. [15:00]
We have sold to more than 1 million businesses, marketing professionals, small and large companies, from all over the world and the majority of them come from the United States and Canada, UK, Australia, English speaking countries. [15:21]
We have over 300,000, creative professionals, designers, and artists who have their portfolios on our platform and sell their artworks, services, and merchandise. [15:38]
We have launched a platform called Print Shop last year where these artists from all over the world are selling their artworks on merchandise and we do shipping worldwide. [15:50]
Commercial Break. [16:50]
The dynamism of working has completely changed now and we were lucky enough that we were already a technology company and are using a lot of these online tools to manage and break down our processes for our daily communication reporting mechanisms. [18:10]
Having all these tools threaded with each other enables you to run your business on your mobile. [18:46]
I think technology adoption is really important and if you're able to break down your processes with the right tools you can scale your business because most of the things are already laid down in your tools and processes. [19:07]
From a leadership perspective, I feel it's really important to delegate and give ownership to your colleagues because you can't do everything on your own. [19:24]
You have to believe in people and trust them because the more trust you give the better people perform. [19:44]
We are all humans and we are going to make mistakes but as long as we are trusting people to do a good job and trusting them to be honest about their work, you will often find people overachieving. [19:50
We have to be successful very few times, it's good to fail many more times because then we know what not to do. [20:18]
We live in a dynamic world especially in technology and so many things happen every day. So we should always do that. [20:25]
Experimentation is something that I value and we do encourage our teams to experiment. [20:35]
As a leader, you should be a jack of all trades, and a master of one. You should know about all the facets of your business. [20:48]
Create micro-projects and make individual team members owners of each of those micro-projects or processes. [23:20]
We need to delegate and give ownership which is very important to do as a leader. [25:40]
Failure is something that we should accept warmly because it is going to be there daily. Success comes far and few and it takes time for success to come in. [25:45]
Be consistent and persistent as a business owner because you don't know what is around the corner. Success will come if you have the right intent; you just have to persevere a lot. [25:58]
At the end of the day, it's all about team effort and so you have to have a great team because you can't do everything alone. [26:25]
………………….
Thank you to our July Sponsor: Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being 
Imagine starting a long journey without a map…or even a clear idea of the obstacles ahead. That’s exactly what it’s like for entrepreneurs who start companies with a lot of passion, but without the financial expertise to grow and scale their businesses and create long-term wealth for their families.
Wayne Titus shows you how to find a financial adviser who can help you map a better journey. In his book, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being.  With the right adviser at your side, you’ll have the freedom to focus on what really matters to you.
Get The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being at Amazon.com and in the virtual bookstore on the Shock Your Potential app.
 

Evolution is Required - Joe Bernstein

“More people can be open-hearted and heart centered and that is a form of leadership that the world is aching for today even in the business.” Joe Bernstein
Self-transformation is not an easy journey. However, what is even more damaging is choosing to remain complacent and sticking in the comfort zone. Our guest today, Joe Bernstein has lived on both worlds and understands well the importance of changing oneself and aligning individual values to the realities that surround us. According to Joe, playing safe due to fear is not an option for individuals who want to be future leaders.
Joe Bernstein Founded Drop the Armor Wellness because he is on a mission to help other men feel the love and freedom that he learned to cultivate when his life fell apart in 2013. After learning to thrive romantically in response to divorce, losing 160 lbs without diets, and leaving his 1st career to build a mission focused business, he became LIT UP to help other men do the same. His clients are often successful business owners, executives in tech, top individual performers, leaders, creatives, entrepreneurs or anyone who wants a Lit Up Life. They are big hearted men that often feel stuck in their heads, stuck in their careers and desiring more social or romantic connection. Joe helps them to let go of overthinking and using stress as a motivator, to live a life rooted in a clear head, an open heart, and solid guts. He also leads transformational men’s initiations in the Mankind Project and is involved in Showing Up for Racial Justice DC Chapter Healing Team.
In today’s episode we will discuss more about how leaders can get pas their comfort zones to realign their values with their goals. We will also talk about why it is important to take risks to pursue greatness as well as to be open-hearted when communicating with people.
Listen in!
Social media handles
http://www.joebernsteincoaching.com/
 https://www.linkedin.com/in/joebernsteincepc/
 https://www.facebook.com/joe.bernstein.902  
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DropTheArmorDojo
 
I was raised pretty risk averse and my family was loving and very supportive. [3:36]
There wasn’t a lot of accountability and there was a lot of playing it safe. [3:46]
I embodied the beliefs of scarcity, fear and risk aversion. [4:05]
On top of that, we were caught up in the eighties trying to be really healthy but eating all the crap we were told was good for us and I was really overweight. [4:11]
I ended up embodying a lot of limiting beliefs and what we believe is what we create. [4:31]
By the age of 26; I was working at a retail job that I loved and thriving in my career but nothing else in my life was happening. [5:27]
Fast forward I dated and I found somebody and we got married, but that went downhill really fast. [5:47]
At 31, I had been obese most of my life and at the peak of my career without a college degree and out of nowhere, the woman I was with and who I thought I will be with forever decided to leave and everything fell apart. [5:56]
I had played it safe all along and just did the stuff that I thought was easy to get a comfortable life but that did not get me to where I wanted and everything fell apart. [6:45]
I had to make a choice between taking responsibility and learn about what had gotten me to this point in my life or continue on this path.[ 6:57]
The breakdown in my life was when I got an insatiable desire to learn about human potential and started actively reading and leaning on personal growth. [7:12]
Within a year I had lost over 100 pounds, transformed my dating life and had a lot of confidence in my social life and started performing better in my leadership roles. [7:32]
I was very connected with men’s work where I had worked in men’s organization to help men with emotional intelligence and leadership and so I decided to be someone who helps other men. [7:52]
Since then, I have been on the path to creating my own life, where every day I am excited to do what I do and what I spend my time in and I am really aligned to values. [8:08]
For me, shocking potential is really about helping men in that place where they got comfortable in life and are feeling stuck and not aligned anymore with their value.[8:23]
We are in this time where things have changed and it has been a wake-up goal for a lot of people. [11:18]
A lot of people are in a place of reassessing values and taking big leaps and to me that is what getting lit up is all about. [12:43]
More people can be open hearted and heart centered and that is a form of leadership that the world is aching for today even in the business. [15:54]
When the world changes around us and we recognize that our values have shifted, it can be really hard to claim the space. [16:57]
Things change in our lives and if we aren’t aware of how they have changed and make a shift in our priorities, then that is where we can feel really stuck. [17:44]
So many are conditioned to think they don’t have the power but if you are at your work, you do have the power to negotiate terms. [18:38]
Commercial break. [20:15]
We think about evolution as these big sweeping changes physically within a species, but reality is evolution for humanity because we are so conscious and intelligent. [22:45]
It is really about making small shifts all the time to be connected to what really matters. [22:59]
We are at a stage in humanity where evolution for leaders is required. [22:06]
The ability to understand our own values, feel, take responsibility and also communicate in a healthy way that is non-damaging. [23:13]
We are taught to lead based on force, scarcity and creating fear, efficiency but people do not want to be led that way. [23:48]
We cannot as leaders be cookie cutting anymore but understand individuals that we are working with on both sides of the transaction. [24:20]
When we are hiding what is truly important to us whether it is from us or others, other people feel that and they end up trusting less and responding less to calls for action. [24:48]
Leadership and emotional intelligence is the point where we are evolving to in order to help people experience emotional fluency. [25:50]
There are capacities that leaders need to develop and for me the two most important ones are courage and compassion. [28:31]
The future is not going to be led by a lot of the old strategies. [29:40]
There are only three choices in life, love or fear, courage or comfort, and creation or consumption. [31:37]
You can create the levels of mindfulness where you have awareness of your choice points and you will stack good choices that will lead you in life, and before you know it you will look back and your whole life will be different. [31:55]
……………………………………………….
Thank you to our July Sponsor: Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being
Imagine starting a long journey without a map…or even a clear idea of the obstacles ahead. That’s exactly what it’s like for entrepreneurs who start companies with a lot of passion, but without the financial expertise to grow and scale their businesses and create long-term wealth for their families.
Wayne Titus shows you how to find a financial adviser who can help you map a better journey. In his book, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being.  With the right adviser at your side, you’ll have the freedom to focus on what really matters to you.
Get The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being at Amazon.com and in the virtual bookstore on the Shock Your Potential app.
 

Unleash the Champ - Kyle Sullivan

“For every person that I have ever gotten an opportunity to lead, I ask them to always remember seven words, ‘I trust you,’ and ‘I believe in you.’” Kyle Sullivan
The leadership journey is not easy considering the numerous challenges that a person has to overcome and the endless lessons along the way. This experience can however be very different when a leader has a supportive and encouraging force in the form of a couch. That is what our guest today, Kyle Sullivan gives to his clients. He trusts and believes in the abilities of people which, according to him, give them the motivation to be better.
Kyle Sullivan is the founder of a company called Unleash the Champ, whose goal is to create powerful coaching experiences for successful people. Toe who are in leadership and want to discover the inner champion and be the best they could be without sacrificing the things that matter most in their lives. Kyle has more than years of organizational leadership and team development and has led thousands of people in the course of his leadership journey. Kyle strives to inspire people everywhere to unlock the cages they are in to unleash the champ within.
In today’s episode, our guest will discuss about his journey in leadership and getting into entrepreneurship. He will further talk about how leaders can grow their people by simply trusting and believing in their abilities.
Listen in!
Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kylejsullivan/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kylejohnsullivan1 
I started the company in July of last year. [2:30]
When I held my daughter for the first time, I knew everything had changed. [2:50]
I wanted to be present in time and not just give presents of things and had no clue how that was going to happen. [3:15]
I started working from home and I saw all the milestones in my daughter’s life. [3:45]
When our staff decided to go back to the office I strongly felt that it was time. [3:58]
My wife said to me that she thought I may be the last person to realize was you should be doing. [4:37]
That was the confirmation and I stepped off from being a pastor and I was 51 percent that this would work, and that was all I needed. [5:02]
The pillars of ‘Unleashing the Champ’ deal with your calling, your heart, attitude, mindset, and performance. [6:34]
When someone is questioning whether or not to do something, we look at whether or not that is their calling which could be or could not be what they are currently doing. [6:45]
The pandemic shocked all of us to see how quickly our world can crumble. [7:29]
My definition of success is getting to the end of my life with as little ‘what ifs’ as possible. [7:47]
People are getting into entrepreneurship and taking a bet on themselves at a rate that has never been seen before. [11:30]
It is producing some really beautiful things in the marketplace. [11:47]
Commercial Break. [11:57]
For every person I have ever gotten an opportunity to lead, I ask them to always remember seven words, ‘I trust you,’ and ‘I believe in you.’ [13:27]
We live in a society where trust has to be earned and I think that is BS [13:56]
We are placing people on a deficit and condition ourselves to look for things to confirm our bias. [14:04]
My favorite response to a question someone would ask me as their leader is, ‘you decide.’ [14:47]
We are used to people telling us what to do and barking orders and top-down leadership. [15:09]
I believe that you will make the right decision based on where you are at right now in your development, leadership, and ability. [15:40]
I come from a stance of humility saying that if this decision was made, obviously there is information that I don’t know that impacted this decision. [16:50]
The question, ‘help me understand,’ is the most disarming question a leader can ask that allows them to improve their leadership because it comes from a place of trusting and believing people. [17:25]
The tension is getting a leader to embody that. [18:51]
Typically, leaders get to places of higher-level management areas because they did it all and that was what was affirmed. [19:00]
In leadership, what gets celebrated gets repeated. [19:18]
It is a hard thing for a leader to admit they have been closed-handed and they need to now open their hand. [19:38]
When I first got into leadership, I was a bulldozer because I always had my way. [20:54]
As I learned more about emotional intelligence as I grew in leadership, my preferences had to be diminished for the productivity of the team. [22:01]
Most people I work with have solved the money problem, but have not yet solved the sacrifices that they took to get that success. [23:35]
Most often when people have incredible success professionally, when you peel the layers of the onion, they are not in a good place. [23:46]
I realized that the people who have incredible success would never go back to their pastor and say something is wrong. [24:10]
I hold the space for leaders to take the mask off. [24:28]
As a leader, you need to understand that you are not as important as you think but you are also more important than you think you are. [26:40]
In leadership when things go bad you are a mirror, when things go well you are a window. [27:07]
If you are a leader you are leading by choice, design, on purpose, and for a purpose, so work and live out of that so that you can unleash the champ. [27:22]
………………………………………………….
Thank you to our July Sponsor: Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being
Imagine starting a long journey without a map…or even a clear idea of the obstacles ahead. That’s exactly what it’s like for entrepreneurs who start companies with a lot of passion, but without the financial expertise to grow and scale their businesses and create long-term wealth for their families.
Wayne Titus shows you how to find a financial adviser who can help you map a better journey. In his book, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being.  With the right adviser at your side, you’ll have the freedom to focus on what really matters to you.
Get The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being at Amazon.com and in the virtual bookstore on the Shock Your Potential app.
 

Human- Centered Leadership in Action - Michael Solomon

“It is always about people first in service of your business goals.” Michael Solomon
Times have evolved and continue to do so, and so have people and as a result, the organizations that they work for. The changes have further been accelerated by the current pandemic which has forced organizations to rapidly adjust their behaviors to remain productive. However, moving forward organizations need to align their work policies to enable them to be aware and match their aspirations with the needs and goals of the people who work for them. This is according to our guest today, Michael Solomon, who further says that for employers to get and retain top talent, they should endeavor to show kindness to their employees by treating them humanely.
Michael Solomon is an established entrepreneur with a strong desire to help people, a sharp eye for business, and a commitment to making a difference. The six organizations he’s helped found — for-profit and nonprofit alike — share a common goal of improving people’s lives.
He began his career working with Jon Landau Management on several Bruce Springsteen tours, followed by a three-year stint at Epic Records and Sony Music. Then, at age 25, his entrepreneurial spirit took over and he’s never looked back, co-founding four companies — three by the time he was 30. Most recently, Michael Solomon is the author of Game Changer: How To Be 10x in the Talent Economy (HarperCollins; September 2020), which reveals the secrets to becoming a “10xer” for anyone in any industry.
In this episode, we will be discussing how recruitment and management of talent in organizations have evolved and what to expect in the near future. We will also be discussing how leaders can manage their people working in different modalities.
Listen in!
Social media handles:
Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelsolomon10x/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/10xManagement
Twitter - https://twitter.com/10xmgmt
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/10xmanagement/
There are so many things that we do in our lives that they can build us. [3:48]
Look for these moments to feel powerful and important in the world for yourself. [4:15]
Human-centered management is not focusing on the members of your team as cognitive machines but as human beings who when managed and treated in accordance with their goals and desires for their life, they become so much more than the cognitive machine. [:5:50]
Some people appreciate that but even more so there are people that demand that and they will not stay if it is not provided. [6:40]
There is a tremendous opportunity to shift the way to do things which if the competitors are not doing, gives you a competitive edge on bringing top performers. [7:23]
To take care of our team during the pandemic, we added a weekly check-in meeting on zoom that was not work-related, voluntary meditation twice a week, and monthly one-on-one between the people and myself. [10:18]
All this was in the service of we are humans and we are not isolated and we needed to do things differently and not act like everything was normal. [10:58]
10xers have similarities with millennials and Gen Z with regards to their wants and demands in the workplace. [12:37]
The biggest ones include their mission, what they value in the world and how they see themselves, and how their jobs fit into that; while the secondary one is they have career aspirations and if you are not able to offer them some path towards their career goal, they are probably going to be looking. [13:32]
We are finishing up a post about what we believe is going to be a tsunami of job churn in the next six to nine months as a result of market forces. [16:05]
Recruiters usually ask the salary requirement of their candidates but that is not really where you want to start. [18:05]
We build a tool that is available online called a lifestyle calculator where it has 24 different attributes that go into the job-life/compensation package. [18:40]
When somebody is done filling that out, we get to know what they care about across the board and what their priorities are. [19:15]
Commercial Break. [22:11]
The shift to remote working at the onset of the pandemic was so sudden and forced. [24:36]
The upside is that if you are a better manager remote or in-person, hybrid is going to give you the ability to succeed either way. [25:15]
The biggest challenge will be for companies who want to go back to the way things were and I would caution leaders to do it gradually because if done all at once there will be a risk of a mass exodus of employees. [25:25]
The hybrid version is where we need to end up. [26:03]
By hybrid, I mean remote versus in office, but I think there are more nuances where there are certain teams or performers who are better off in either one environment or another. [26:09]
Leaders need to contemplate and know their people, how they work, how they function, and then manage where there are. [27:10]
Before you decide either or, you have to determine the price of flexibility versus that of rigidity. [29:50]
It is about people first every time in service of your business goals [32:26]
………………………………………………….
Thank you to our July Sponsor: Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being
Imagine starting a long journey without a map…or even a clear idea of the obstacles ahead. That’s exactly what it’s like for entrepreneurs who start companies with a lot of passion, but without the financial expertise to grow and scale their businesses and create long-term wealth for their families.
Wayne Titus shows you how to find a financial adviser who can help you map a better journey. In his book, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being.  With the right adviser at your side, you’ll have the freedom to focus on what really matters to you.
Get The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being at Amazon.com and in the virtual bookstore on the Shock Your Potential app.
 

Tapping on to the power of CRM - Jeroen Corthout

“You can make every customer feel like they are uniquely valued and that they are not just a number.” Jeroen Corthout
Research has shown that CRM can be a golden tool for organizations if used effectively. Its value will however be determined by the quality of data that is entered into the system. The ability to have quality information on demand is the differentiating factor between the levels of success an organization achieves as a result of using the CRM. This is why automation of the tool is important as explained by our guest today, Jeroen Corthout. According to Jeroen, an automated CRM significantly cuts down the time spent on technical matters which frees people to concentrate on more important activities that directly contribute to the growth of the organization.
Jeroen is co-founder and CEO of Salesflare, an intelligent CRM built for SMBs selling B2B, mostly popular with agencies and SaaS companies. Salesflare itself was founded when Jeroen and his co-founder Lieven wanted to manage the leads for their software company in an easier way. They didn't like to keep track of them manually and built Salesflare, which pulls customer data together automatically. It's now the most popular CRM on Product Hunt and top-rated on review platforms like G2 for its ease of use and automation features.
In today’s episode, we will have our guest tell us more about the value of CRM to an organization and why an automated CRM is the most ideal choice for organizations to go for. We will also discuss more on how to have productive meetings with teams that are working remotely.
Listen in!
Social handles:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeroencorthout/ 
Website: https://salesflare.com
We started our company after using different CRMs. [3:57
I worked for a consultancy for a while that used salesforce a lot and it was my first CRM. [4:02]
I quickly learned that this was not very easy and it took a lot of work and was fully dependent on me. [4:30]
We had a software company and we had just come back from a big conference and we had a lot of leads that were interested to hear more about our software and maybe buy it [4:42]
We tried many systems but it did not work because we were not able to keep up with the expectations of the software. [5:17]
We decided to make a system that plugs into every single place where the data already resides and has the ability to pull it together on demand to do a follow-up. [6:23]
It is a system that is less likely to fail because it doesn’t depend on your discipline to fill it out. [6:38]
Our end goal is not that it automates stuff but for it to be a CRM that you can use which means ease of use, easy to understand, and not needing a lot of clicks. [7:05]
The software is automating a lot of things where it makes that very easy. [7:38]
We now have over 2000 companies using the software. [7:46]
It is important that you keep your CRM updated because if well kept, it can be valuable. [8:58]
Most companies do not succeed in that partly because most software comes with expectations that are difficult to meet. [9:09]
A lot of enterprise software is not very friendly to use and that is something we are trying to change. [10:07]
The first and basic outcome of using CRM is following up on your customers well and in an informed way. [12:02]
From our perspective every time someone says please close our trial we would find out what was going wrong that we could have done better. [14:33]
You can make every customer feel like they are uniquely valued and that they are not just a number. [17:17]
We differentiate ourselves and do better by building close relationships with our clients as a way to compete with other CRM players out there. [18:00]
Commercial break. [18:20]
Communication is key and you can do it through a system that takes away operational-tactical communication. [19:55]
We built a team where we value open communication and try to build strong relationships through building trust among team members. [20:30]
When people speak up, you accept the feedback then integrate it into what you do. [21:25]
In the past, we relied on being in the same room for meetings, before the pandemic and we had to rethink the way we do meetings after the onset of the pandemic. [23:55]
We have tried to limit meetings to have few people attending and then we share what was discussed with other team members in Slack which is our communication platform. [24:45]
When you select a CRM involve your sales team since they are going to be the bottleneck whether it is being used or not being used and whether you get any value from it. [31:52]
Train the users well on how to use the CRM but also go beyond the training to define how it is going to be used as a team. [32:43]
…….............................................................................……….
Thank you to our July Sponsor: Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being
Imagine starting a long journey without a map…or even a clear idea of the obstacles ahead. That’s exactly what it’s like for entrepreneurs who start companies with a lot of passion, but without the financial expertise to grow and scale their businesses and create long-term wealth for their families.
Wayne Titus shows you how to find a financial adviser who can help you map a better journey. In his book, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being.  With the right adviser at your side, you’ll have the freedom to focus on what really matters to you.
Get The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being at Amazon.com and in the virtual bookstore on the Shock Your Potential app.
 
 
 

Illuminating the Heart of Civility - Lewena L Bayer

“Going into every situation anticipating that there’s going to be something that you will learn whether you are going to use it right away or not.”
Coexistence requires that individuals respect and treat others with the dignity that they deserve. This means that civility is a fundamental component in the progress of any society. At its core, civility transcends the mannerisms, courteousness or politeness of individuals and includes how people impact others in their behavior and speech. Our guest today, Dr. Lew Bayer believes that “Civility is its own reward” and suggests that “In choosing civility, people find their best self, and in doing so, they experience the grace, courage, generosity, humanity, and humility that civility engenders.”
Lewena Bayer has been in the civility space for more than 20 years and has an international recognition as the leading expert on civility at work. With a focus on social intelligence and culturally-competent communication, the team at Civility Experts Inc – which includes 501 affiliates in 48 countries, has supported 100’s of organizations in building better workplaces. In addition to her role as CEO of international civility training group Civility Experts Inc. which includes The Civility Speakers Bureau and Propriety Publishing, Lew is Chair of the International Civility Trainers’ Consortium, President of The Center for Organizational Cultural Competence, and Founder of the In Good Company Etiquette Academy Franchise Group.
Most recently, Lew was selected as an International Advocate for Aegis Trust, a UK based organization focused on peace education and the prevention of genocide. She is also an Education Chair for www.globalgoodwillambassadors.org. Recently, Dr. Bayer has been assigned the privilege of being named Ambassador of Global Knowledge Exchange and a Master Educator in Global Teachers Academy.
In today’s episode, we will be discussing the role civility plays in building better work places as well as communities. Our guest will also talk more about the importance of being thoughtful and embracing differences.
Listen in!
Social media
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/dr-lewena-bayer-hon-234b7a11
Website: www.ingoodcompanyetiquette.com
Website: www.Highstyleimage.com
 
Civility is a measurable competency. [3:45]
We put it under this category of soft skills because historically that is where communication and ability to do well in social settings fit. [3:48]
Increasingly civility fits under the umbrella of relational skills. [4:04]
It generally incorporates social intelligence, cultural competence, systems thinking and continuous learning. [4:30]
We do everything from dining etiquette for university graduates all the way to civil etiquette. [4:37]
We started out as the etiquette ladies where we were doing courtesy camp for kids. [5:29]
At that time I understood that you can teach children and change their attitude which changes the way they interact. [5:56]
Over the years I have had a good fortune of aligning this with people and we currently have 520 affiliates in 47 countries. [6:36]
I have been consistently been encouraged and stunned when people find support and encouragement regardless of their status. [8:19]
When someone comes into our affiliate group, they have the benefit of all these people around the world with different perspectives. [8:42]
I have had the opportunity to co-facilitate that spark. [9:05]
We have affiliates who sign the paper and commit to the plan and started making payments three years later. [9:11]
Over the years I have held on to the belief that there is more good than bad in the world and that if people knew better, then they would be better. [11:20]
I find that we have to give people permission to be confident and experience what it feels like to be valued. [11:55
We have a global project that we are working on called work citizen and it is about sharing these teachings and knowledge. [12:14]
Respect is something we all equally deserve because we are human and in the planet. [12:53]
Each person has value, gift and contribution and we may not know it or be able to label it or even appreciate at that particular moment, but we have to acknowledge it. [12:59]
If we just started there, imagine how different our interactions would be. [13:10]
Civility can be as simple as knowing your neighbor’s last name. Civility starts at home. [13:58]
There is so much potential for good and it just a matter of believing that and making an effort to contribute in a way. [15:08]
There is a lot of lonely in the world because we are fearful and the fear is founded on the perception that differences are scary or people are inherently bad. [17:10]
Commercial break. [18:20]
It is very hard to see other people’s perspective if you are constantly in your little hole of mud. [20:31]
Going into every situation anticipating that there’s going to be something that you will learn whether you are going to use it right away or not. [21:04]
There is always someone who can use some support and therefore making an effort to offer it before it is asked for. [21:50]
Part of the civility definition is choosing civility as a non-negotiable point of character and the primary objective is to ease the experience of others. [22:00]
Leaders should take on the service oriented approach and see what they can do for somebody else. [22:14]
Don’t be too hard on yourself but everyday get up one foot in front of another and it is shocking how much you can get done. [23:08]
Realize that it is a privilege for people to give you their time and focus to listen to you, therefore you should acknowledge and commit to giving them something of value and show appreciation through your tone and demeanor. Otherwise that gift is not going to last very well. [24:25]
I invite everyone to bring their best self in every interaction and you will find that civility is its own reward. [27:55]
………………………………………………….
Thank you to our July Sponsor: Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being
Imagine starting a long journey without a map…or even a clear idea of the obstacles ahead. That’s exactly what it’s like for entrepreneurs who start companies with a lot of passion, but without the financial expertise to grow and scale their businesses and create long-term wealth for their families.
Wayne Titus shows you how to find a financial adviser who can help you map a better journey. In his book, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being.  With the right adviser at your side, you’ll have the freedom to focus on what really matters to you.
Get The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being at Amazon.com and in the virtual bookstore on the Shock Your Potential app.

Deliver the Best Work of Your Life - Ciara Dilley

“Finding your purpose by knowing your strengths and what drives you is important because that is what makes you unique.” Ciara Dilley
Navigating through the world of business as a founder is never easy and they usually need support at different levels to make it through. This is especially true for women because of the many roles that they play in their communities. Our guest today, Ciara Dilley, has been in the business of supporting women at levels and is convinced that finding your purpose and embracing agility goes a long way in helping business leaders to be resilient and navigate through challenges
Ciara Dilley is the vice president of marketing for Frito-Lay North America and leads the company’s ever-evolving portfolio of Transform Brands – including Stacy’s pita chips, Sun Chips, Popcorners, Off the Eaten Path veggie crisps/puffs, and the Baked/Simply portfolio of snacks. Ciara directly oversees Frito-Lay’s growth and innovation strategy to address this growing need and ensure consumers consistently have access to an array of options that fit their lifestyle. Whether it’s been the development of new brands such as veggie-forward Off the Eaten Path or the acquisition of innovations like Popcorners, Ciara is diversifying the wellness journey for Americans everywhere
Prior to joining PepsiCo, Dilley leveraged her experience in marketing, communications, and innovation to grow major international consumer brands within Diageo, Campbell Soup Company, and Kellogg Company.  Being a seasoned veteran with more than 20 years of industry experience and most recently recognized as a 2020 Media Post Marketing All-Star, Ciara is an industry pioneer in purpose-driven campaigns, having led several brands to make a measurable societal impact through campaigns that champion sustainability and support diversity and inclusion.
Ciara’s greatest passion is in furthering the economic empowerment of women. She is not only a mentor and a coach to several team members past and present but also leads PepsiCo’s support of female professional development through numerous speaking engagements and by spearheading the organization’s Woman Made initiative. Ciara also works closely with several thought leaders and organizations committed to advancing female entrepreneurs, including SKU CPG, Hello Alice, and The Boss Network.
In today’s episode, we will dive deeper into how to give back to the world by doing the best of what we do. More will also be discussed on supporting female business owners, finding purpose in leadership and why it is critical to having a happy impactful work life.
Listen in!
Social media
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ciara-dilley-305469b
I did law and German in college and I had no interest whatsoever in going into the business world. [5:00]
I started working with Diageo in the marketing department and it was an amazing grounding in brand marketing and what it means to build amazing brands. [5:22]
I also had a very huge fortune of moving to two other companies that were stellar in that area. [5:53]
It was during my time at Kellogg that I headed the innovation team for Europe that I started to get interested in this idea of wellness and how food companies could be more responsible to support consumers in their journeys. [6:02]
It was also during my time at Kellogg that I was being invited to act more as a leader and I started getting more heavily involved in supporting women. [6:28]
When I moved to Pepsi in New York about six years ago now, I started looking for ways on how I could get involved in supporting women. [7:22]
Along the way, I started doing both producing and selling, and supporting women. [7:41]
I was doing a lot of self-development on how I could become a better leader and the idea of purpose was just beginning to come on the radar. [7:57]
For me, purpose is the merging of what do you do functionally and what you like doing from a business perspective, and for me, I like selling healthier foods and supporting women. [8:14]
Purpose is not something you find overnight but is a long journey. [11:18]
There are certain things you are good at, and what do you love doing, and how can these two things come together to make you incredibly rewarded and happier. [11:46]
The third element that is the icing on the cake is how these things can come together and can make a difference in the world. [12:05]
In that area, large organizations can make a massive difference in pushing forward with the change that needs to be seen and being seen as educators and communicators in the area of doing good in the world. [14:45]
Consumers are becoming more and more interested in this area for many different reasons. [17:15]
It is an exciting time for the snack industry and we are always trying to do more to make it better in terms of availability and affordability. [18:14]
The women I work with in the Rise Project are the most resilient, hardworking, smart, change-makers I have ever met. [19:50]
Being an entrepreneur and having your own business is not an easy path. [20:12]
Commercial break. [21:45]
Accessing the resources from the Rise Project helped keep the lights on for the businesses owned by women. [ 23:07]
Women have suffered much more during the pandemic because often they had to take the burden of care. [23:22]
A lot of jobs that were lost were those held traditionally taken by women and therefore had a dramatic impact on the role of women in the workplace. [23:43]
However, it has empowered so many more amazing women to take the power into their own hands. [24:04]
There has been an overwhelming amount of financial support poured into this area particularly for women of color and justly so. [24:42]
We have also started to introduce them to ways of selling more of their product through partnering with platforms such as Amazon and Walmart. [26:27]
If you are not turning up, being you and the best of you in each and every day, that is not going to feel great. Authenticity is incredibly important [30:30]
Finding your purpose by knowing your strengths and what drives you is important because that is what makes you unique [31:00]
Some of the ways I have been able to develop myself over the years is through being agile and embracing progress over perfection [ 31:25]
Pursue what you love to do because you will be at your best when you do what you love and also seek to make an impact with what you do. [ 35:58]
………………………………………………….
Thank you to our July Sponsor: Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being
Imagine starting a long journey without a map…or even a clear idea of the obstacles ahead. That’s exactly what it’s like for entrepreneurs who start companies with a lot of passion, but without the financial expertise to grow and scale their businesses and create long-term wealth for their families.
Wayne Titus shows you how to find a financial adviser who can help you map a better journey. In his book, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being.  With the right adviser at your side, you’ll have the freedom to focus on what really matters to you.
Get The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being at Amazon.com and in the virtual bookstore on the Shock Your Potential app.

Influential Leadership - Alicia Hemphill

“We are only responsible for the part of the solution that inspires us and hopefully it will inspire somebody else” Alicia Hemphill
It is trust that forms the foundation of any form of relationship both professional and personal. The ability to be trusted and trust opens up grounds for people to relate authentically and transact at all levels. This is most especially true for leaders when they are dealing with the people who look up to them. These sentiments are echoed by our guest today, Alicia Hemphill who insists that leaders have to start by looking within to create the authentic self before they can go out to communicate and lead.
Alicia Hemphill is an executive in business and ministry, a best-selling author, life coach, and co-creator of the new historical game Ebony-Opoly “The Reconstruction Era”. She is VP of Regulatory Affairs at Oriel STAT A MATRIX, a medical device life sciences and consulting company. She is also the CEO and Founder of her own company, ‘Beyond the Limitations,’ where she coaches and mentors future leaders to reach that next level of performance. She specializes in strategies that impart change that transform challenging work environments and relationships.
Alicia is highly skilled at identifying mindsets that hinder successful career contributions that are debilitating to high-performing organizations and people. She helps others climb out of restrictive environments and helps set people and organizations onto a path that causes excitement and passion. As a speaker, she imparts wisdom and wit to her audience while sharing a unique viewpoint of leadership development, influence, and engagement that propels others out of the career rut.
In 2020, she founded EBONY-OPOLY, LLC and launched the first of many board games designed to instill a passion for history, wealth-building skills, and family fun for Black Americans. The game provides an interactive experience set in the Reconstruction Era. Alicia is on the Board of Directors for Covenant Daughters International Ministries and is actively mentoring the next generation of female leaders who have the mandate to transform their spheres of influence, communities, and families. She produces a show that airs on the Covenant Daughter network - WLPC.TV, ROKU, AppleTV, and Amazon.
In today’s episode, we will be looking at the importance of being authentic in leading self and others. We will also discuss more on the importance of positive feedback and also why leaders should always prepare before going in for meetings.
Listen in!
Social Media:
Website: www.aliciahemphill.co    
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/339370929976476
 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alicialhemphill/  
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Chesed92
I have been in the medical device field for about 30 years and I have been involved in many companies and many levels of the organization. [2:48]
My own business, ‘Beyond the Limitations’ was formed in that challenge of trying to move from one level to the next within companies. [3:01]
In this day of Covid, we are all separated from one another and so leadership becomes more than just something that happens just because I am your boss. [3:58]
As a leader, I have to influence, inspire, motivate and facilitate change for the benefit of the organization. [4:11]
I started a company called Ebony-opoly in 2020. [4:22]
In the cracks of adversity and challenging year, the things that are going to rise to the potential are great ideas that help benefit not just yourself but others in society as well. [4:35]
Ebony-opoly was born out of that desire to help African Americans understand their history and be able to respond to difficulties with knowledge and insight that will help elevate rather than continuing a downward cycle. [4:54]
We sort out to create a game that brought out a lot of insight and knowledge about how African Americans were able to overcome adversity in the reconstruction era and to be successful in starting their businesses and to excel. [5:16]
Entrepreneurs are those that find solutions in adversity. [6:31]
Entrepreneurs try to find what it is that would change a situation. [6:53]
We know that one of the challenges of African Americans is the depth of really understanding who we are as a people and the contributions we have made to America. [6:58]
Part of a solution was, awareness and understanding and the ability to be proud of your history. [7:24]
We are finding that it is not just African Americans that want to know their history, other nationalities want to know about our history too. [8:38]
We are seeing this as an opportunity to build up one segment of the population to educate another and hopefully somewhere understanding there will be a bridge [8:47]
The basis of our society and business is trust. [9:53]
I believe there is so much good in people and so the more we understand and see the good in each other the more the difficulties and challenges get balanced out. [10:07]
The more I am authentic with myself the more I understand who I am as well as what drives and challenges me and the more I can communicate that to people I work with. [12:24]
Everyone wants to be successful, do well and hear positive things about themselves and how they can contribute to the goal of the organization. [14:49]
For a leader, feedback is an excellent tool. [15:05]
Commercial break. [16:40]
I have learned the value of honest and effective communication. [18:50]
Communication in itself is one thing, but what are you trying to communicate? [19:00]
People rarely contemplate why they are showing up, what their objectives are or what it is that would benefit them, the client, and the engagement [19:25]
Know why you are doing what you are doing and be able to communicate your intentions, desires, and expectations. [19:45]
The ability to succinctly share, layout expectations, to determine if people and yourself are meeting those expectations are the skills set for this post-pandemic environment that we are in. [20:15]
If you do not care about what you are doing, the people, or the products, find another place that you care about, because it is going to show. [20:40]
Businesses should train their leaders to function not only when they are in the room together but also in a hybrid combination. [23:50]
It is going to take another level of skill and consideration to make sure that the whole room is engaged. [24:03]
The first few minutes in the morning instead of rolling out of bed and just jumping into the day, I spend the time reflecting on yesterday. [27:32]
Have a plan and an idea of the challenges that are facing you and how you may want to attack them. [28:05]
Take the time to positively reflect on yourself, where you want to go, and what you need to fix and making that an aspect of your everyday. [28:18]
………………………………………………….
Thank you to our July Sponsor: Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being
Imagine starting a long journey without a map…or even a clear idea of the obstacles ahead. That’s exactly what it’s like for entrepreneurs who start companies with a lot of passion, but without the financial expertise to grow and scale their businesses and create long-term wealth for their families.
Wayne Titus shows you how to find a financial adviser who can help you map a better journey. In his book, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being.  With the right adviser at your side, you’ll have the freedom to focus on what really matters to you.
Get The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Financial Well-Being at Amazon.com and in the virtual bookstore on the Shock Your Potential app.