“You need to surround yourself from an inclusion standpoint, with people who fill in the gaps and complement the skills you don’t have so that you don’t have those blind spots.” -Carice Anderson   Building a business is never easy, and yet we often make it so much harder for ourselves by believing we can’t be truly successful unless we are the ones doing everything. This kind of thinking only leaves us with skill and knowledge gaps we didn’t even know we had.   Being intelligent alone isn't enough. There will always be things we are drawn to and things we don’t like doing. What matters is the ability to recognize when we have gaps and fill them with people who complement the skills we lack.   Carice Anderson, a workplace diversity and inclusion expert and author, is this episode’s featured guest. She has spent her career working to understand why even after achieving so much academically, there were still so many gaps that could only be filled by the experiences of others.   She speaks powerfully about the need to build connections between people. To work on your relationships with others, not just in them. To think in the long term about people, not just in the short term to meet a deadline or push a product.   If you are trying to go it alone and finding that maybe you don’t even know what questions you should be asking, this is the episode to get you thinking about how a mindset shift might open up a world of possibility.   During this interview, you'll learn...

• The value of taking ownership of your client’s problems
• How to work on your relationships, not just in them
• The importance of creating a support network for success

To find out more about Carice, click here.   Connect with her on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook   You can buy Carice’s book here.   Time Stamps       01:42 - Carice talks about her career journey 03:52 - Learning to adapt when things don’t go your way 08:10 - Overcoming personal obstacles 11:13 - Carice talks about her book 15:28 - Working on your relationships, not in them 18:55 - Tips for building healthy relationships 25:40 - Introversion vs extraversion; creating connections in a different way 28:20 - Ownership, taking responsibility & initiative 33:35 - No one becomes a success alone, it takes a community 36:40 - Learning more about Carice