Flip the Box® with Shari Leid

Is your business aligned with who you're becoming?

Michelle Villalobos, a speaker, coach, and author, shares her journey of aligning business goals with personal growth. Her discussion with Shari Leid reveals how self-connection fuels energy-rich leadership and the importance of internal alignment in achieving true success.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Aligning personal growth with business strategy leads to authentic success.

• Self-connection provides clarity in choosing effective strategies.

• Energy-rich leadership emerges from internal alignment.

GUEST BIO

Michelle Villalobos, MBA, CSP, is a speaker, coach, and author of But I Want to Fly! For nearly two decades, Michelle has worked with high-achieving business leaders to align what they DO with who they (really) are, so they can lead, create, and contribute – without burning out. Michelle has delivered inspiring programs for organizations like American Express, Bacardi, Burger King, Gibraltar Bank, Lloyd’s of London, and Audi, and has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, CNN en Español, Lifetime TV, Forbes, Fortune, and more. She is a longtime member of the National Speakers Association (NSA), currently serves on the national board, and is a past Chair of the Million Dollar Speakers Group.

Website URL: superstaractivator.com

LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellevillalobos/

Facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/thesuperstaractivator/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MichelleVillalobosTheSuperstarActivator/videos

LINKS & RESOURCES

Flip the Box® with Shari Leid is for leaders and entrepreneurs who've built something impressive — and still feel disconnected underneath it all. Each week, TEDx speaker, 4x author, and connection coach Shari Leid helps you connect to yourself, your career, and your community using the Flip the Box® framework,  a four-step method for building real connection in any room, in sixty seconds or less.

CONNECT WITH SHARI

Website

YouTube

Instagram

To work with Shari visit ⁠⁠www.sharileid.com⁠⁠

The Flip 50: https://sharileid.com/flip-50/

For media inquiries contact Kourtney Jason at ⁠[email protected]⁠

For speaking engagements contact AAE Speaker's Bureau or email ⁠[email protected]⁠

Download the free Connection Audit App, a practical tool for evaluating and strengthening the quality of your personal and professional relationships.

Music by Viacheslav Starostin from Pixabay

I've been talking to you on this podcast for almost three years, and I realized I never actually told you what happened.

You know pieces. The divorce. The move to Dallas. The book, the speaking, Flip the Box. But I've never sat down and told you how I got from the woman who started this podcast in December 2023, scared out of her mind, to the woman sitting here today. A woman who actually likes her life, and likes herself in it.

This isn't an episode on how to get divorced or how to reinvent yourself in five steps. God knows it took me way more than five steps. It's the story of the space between there and here.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why familiarity has a way of disguising itself as security

• The invisible cords nobody can cut for you

• Keeping the peace vs. actually being at peace

• Dating after a 26-year marriage (and the fish. I still don't understand the fish.)

• Moving to Dallas and walking into rooms alone in my 50s

• Building a business when the results don't show up on Amazon Prime time

• How I realized I'd been living Flip the Box all along

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• You can know something needs to end and still be terrified. Both can be true.

• Keeping the peace and being at peace are two very different things.

• My life isn't sitting in a waiting room. I'm not waiting to be happy. I'm living.

• It wasn't one big decision. It was hundreds of really ordinary ones.

• The labels aren't the problem. It's the "so..." we put after them.

• You don't need to know how it ends. You need to know your next move.

THE FLIP 50

50 leaders. Five cities: Seattle, Chicago, New York, Nashville, and Dallas. 10 leaders at each dinner, then 50 days of putting the Flip the Box method into practice. Request a seat at the table or nominate a leader at sharileid.com/flip-50.

BOOK ME TO SPEAK

Planning a leadership conference, company meeting, or association event? My keynote, Flip the Box: A Blueprint for Human-Centered Leadership, gives leaders the FLIP method (focus, listen, ignite, play) to build trust and keep good people. Visit sharileid.com and click Speaking.

COMING FEBRUARY 2027

My fifth book. More soon, and you'll hear it here first.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Flip the Box® with Shari Leid is for leaders and entrepreneurs who've built something impressive and still feel disconnected underneath it all. Each week, TEDx speaker, 4x author, and connection coach Shari Leid helps you connect to yourself, your career, and your community using the Flip the Box® framework, a four-step method for building real connection in any room, in sixty seconds or less.

CONNECT WITH SHARI

Website

YouTube

Instagram

To work with Shari, visit www.sharileid.com

The Flip 50: https://sharileid.com/flip-50/

For media inquiries, contact Kourtney Jason at [email protected]

For speaking engagements, contact AAE Speakers Bureau or email [email protected]

Download the free Connection Audit App, a practical tool for evaluating and strengthening the quality of your personal and professional relationships.

Music by Viacheslav Starostin from Pixabay

You know that person who can walk into a room and irritate you before they've said a word? A two-word text, and you've already written a six-paragraph response in your head. We've all got one.

So here's my question: What if that person isn't actually the problem? Or at least not the whole problem?

My guest, Sam Osborne, has spent decades studying exactly that. Connection is easy to talk about when we like each other. The real test is what happens when we don't.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Why Sam's business card has a photo of his injured eye, and what it taught him: the brain fills the gaps

• The hidden cost of losing your composure (you can't unring that bell)

• Why you actually want an equal amount of support and challenge in your life

• The first step of the Demartini Method: name the trigger in three or four specific words. No story, no drama, no labels.

• How a lawyer used Sam's method before walking into court with the one guy who knows how to push his buttons

• What appreciation actually means (it's not what you think)

• My challenge for you: What have you decided is true about the person who gets under your skin?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Your brain fills in the gaps. You're not always seeing exactly what's in front of you.

• Get specific. "They're cruel" keeps you triggered. "Tuesday at 4 p.m., they interrupted me" calms you down.

• You're not erasing the costs. You're finding the benefits that balance them.

• Sometimes the box that needs flipping is the one we've put somebody else in.

  
  

THE FLIP 50

50 leaders. Five cities: Seattle, Chicago, New York, Nashville, and Dallas. 10 leaders at each dinner, then 50 days of putting the Flip the Box method into practice. Request a seat or nominate a leader at sharileid.com/flip-50.

COMING FEBRUARY 2027

My fifth book. You'll hear it here first.

ABOUT SAM

Sam Osborne is a speaker, author of about seven books, former high school teacher, and trained facilitator of the Demartini Method, developed by Dr. John Demartini, with whom Sam trains twice a year. He works with attorneys, advisors, executives, and sales teams on conflict, triggers, and composure, and delivers his program The Conflict Advantage as a keynote, breakout, half-day workshop, sales kickoff, and small-group or individual leadership advisory. His most recent book is How to Beat Imposter Syndrome and Be Confident. Coming next: The Conflict Advantage: Own the Trigger, Own the Room.

CONNECT WITH SAM

samosborne.net

Instagram and TikTok: @sam.osborne.speaker

LINKS & RESOURCES

Flip the Box® with Shari Leid is for leaders and entrepreneurs who've built something impressive and still feel disconnected underneath it all. Each week, TEDx speaker, 4x author, and connection coach Shari Leid helps you connect to yourself, your career, and your community using the Flip the Box® framework, a four-step method for building real connection in any room, in sixty seconds or less.

CONNECT WITH SHARI

Website

YouTube

Instagram

To work with Shari, visit www.sharileid.com

The Flip 50: https://sharileid.com/flip-50/

For media inquiries, contact Kourtney Jason at [email protected]

For speaking engagements, contact AAE Speakers Bureau or email [email protected]

Download the free Connection Audit App, a practical tool for evaluating and strengthening the quality of your personal and professional relationships.

Music by Viacheslav Starostin from Pixabay

If something big happened to you tonight, who would you call? Not text. Call. And the harder question: who would call you?

This week I'm taking on the friendship recession. In 1990, 3% of Americans said they had no close friends. By 2021 it was 12%, and the research since keeps pointing the same direction. Men have been hit hardest: the share with at least six close friends was cut nearly in half in three decades.

We blame our phones, COVID, remote work, and being busy. I think something else is going on. We've become incredibly good at protecting our time and increasingly bad at sharing our lives. So I'm going after some sacred advice in this one: "protect your peace," "if they wanted to, they would," "match their energy." Sometimes that's wisdom. Applied to every friendship, it's a performance review. That's not a boundary. That's a standoff.

I also walk through my FLIP method as a friendship practice, talk about why the friendship recession follows us to work, and leave you with one challenge: pick one person this week and give them a date. Because friendship doesn't happen in the word sometime. Friendship happens on the calendar.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• We're not experiencing a shortage of people. We're experiencing a shortage of practice.

• Good chemistry may be effortless. Good friendship isn't. It runs on repetition, inconvenience, and somebody deciding to show up.

• Boundary advice applied to every friendship turns relationships into performance reviews. Two people waiting for the other to prove it isn't a boundary, it's a standoff.

• Observation is not connection. Knowing what someone is doing is not the same as knowing how someone is doing.

• Not every connection needs to become a best friend. Dinner friends, walking friends, twice-a-year friends, and meme friends all count. Build a bigger table.

• The friendship recession follows us to work. Bringing people together is an event. Getting them connected is a business strategy.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Flip the Box® with Shari Leid is for leaders and entrepreneurs who have built something impressive and still feel disconnected underneath it all. Each week, TEDx speaker, five-time author, and connection coach Shari Leid helps you connect to yourself, your career, and your community using the Flip the Box® framework, a four-step method for building real connection in any room, in sixty seconds or less.

CONNECT WITH SHARI

Website: https://sharileid.com

The Flip 50: https://sharileid.com/flip-50/

Book Shari to speak: https://sharileid.com/speaking

Book tour, February 2027: https://sharileid.com/book-tour

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sharileid

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/an_imperfectly_perfect_life/

Work with Shari: https://sharileid.com

Media inquiries: Kourtney Jason, [email protected]

Speaking engagements: AAE Speakers Bureau, or email [email protected]

Connection Audit App: https://sharileid.com/flip/

Music: Viacheslav Starostin from Pixabay

In this episode, Maya and Shari explore what happens when we stop treating connection like networking and start building relationships rooted in trust. They talk about connecting across political and cultural differences, why common ground can open conversations that debate cannot, and how listening to experiences different from our own can reveal what we simply don’t know we don’t know.

They also dig into authenticity: what it really means to be yourself, why that can be more complicated for some people than others, and why authentic leadership starts with being willing to examine our own assumptions.

At the heart of the conversation is a simple idea: we don’t have to agree with someone to get curious about them.

Because you can’t hear someone’s story while you’re busy writing it for them.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Authenticity begins when you're not concerned about who you need to be.

• Connections deepen when we choose to listen to understand, not to respond.

• Building genuine relationships can be the key to unlocking career opportunities.

GUEST BIO

Maya Rupert is an author, political strategist, and social justice leader who has spent her career navigating the intersection of identity, power, politics, and belonging. She served as campaign manager for Julián Castro’s presidential campaign, senior advisor to Elizabeth Warren’s campaign, and campaign manager for Maya Wiley’s run for mayor of New York City. She is also the host of the NAACP Image Award-nominated podcast When We Win and author of The Real Ones: How to Disrupt the Hidden Ways Racism Makes Us Less Authentic.

Flip the Box® with Shari Leid is for leaders and entrepreneurs who've built something impressive — and still feel disconnected underneath it all. Each week, TEDx speaker, 4x author, and connection coach Shari Leid helps you connect to yourself, your career, and your community using the Flip the Box® framework,  a four-step method for building real connection in any room, in sixty seconds or less.

CONNECT WITH SHARI

Connect with Shari

Website: https://sharileid.com

Book tour, February 2027: https://sharileid.com/book-tour

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/sharileid

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/an_imperfectly_perfect_life/

Work with Shari: https://sharileid.com

Media inquiries: Kourtney Jason, [email protected]

Speaking engagements: AAE Speakers Bureau, or email [email protected]

Download the free Connection Audit App, a practical tool for evaluating and strengthening the quality of your personal and professional relationships.

Music by Viacheslav Starostin from Pixabay

What happens when disconnection costs more than we think?

In this episode, Shari Leid dives into the hidden costs of disconnection in our lives and workplaces. Discover how cultivating authentic connections can transform personal and professional interactions.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Disconnection carries significant personal and professional costs

• Authentic connection is a leadership strategy, not a soft skill

• Personal transformation requires moving from performing to authentic belonging

CONNECT WITH SHARI🔗 Website: https://sharileid.com/🎙️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6l3dcs6vtuNBFbKFcub5o7?si=f9ce0c8124ad42ed🎙️ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/flip-the-box-with-shari-leid/id1719915273

To work with Shari visit ⁠⁠www.sharileid.com⁠⁠

For media inquiries contact Kourtney Jason at ⁠[email protected]⁠

For speaking engagements contact AAE Speaker's Bureau or email ⁠[email protected]⁠

Download the free Connection Audit App, a practical tool for evaluating and strengthening the quality of your personal and professional relationships.

Music by Viacheslav Starostin from Pixabay

What if the identity you've been living isn't yours?

In this episode, Shari Leid and Anthony Trucks explore how your identity creates success and why redefining it can lead to extraordinary results. Anthony shares his journey from foster care to the NFL and how identity shifts have shaped his life and career.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Your identity, not your circumstances, determines your future.

• Achieving success often requires transforming your identity.

• Identity shift involves changing beliefs, thoughts, and actions.

GUEST BIO

Anthony Trucks is a foster kid turned NFL athlete and serial entrepreneur with one serious super power. Making “Shift” Happen. Remove the “F” and you get what it means. This is achieved by doing the “Dark Work” to access the power of identity, because you cannot have a dream above your current identity. Dark Work is how you optimize your identity for peak performance. After overcoming over 30+ traumatic life events, and navigating the identity shifts that followed, Anthony has come to be known as the leading expert in Dark Work to make an Identity Shift. Which is taking the difficult actions necessary to make a shift internally, to elevate how you operate externally, which in turn changes your life. With his unique coaching system called “The Dark Work Experience”, Anthony weaves together neuroscience, psychology, technology, and hard fought life lessons to help anyone with a desire for more in their life or career achieve any goal they want. Buckle up, It’s time to do the Dark Work to make “shift” happen.

Website URL: www.AnthonyTrucks.com

LinkedIn URL: LinkedIn.com/in/anthonytrucks

Instagram URL: Instagram.com/anthonytrucks

Facebook URL: Facebook.com/anthonytrucks

LINKS & RESOURCES

Flip the Box® with Shari Leid is for leaders and entrepreneurs who've built something impressive — and still feel disconnected underneath it all. Each week, TEDx speaker, 4x author, and connection coach Shari Leid helps you connect to yourself, your career, and your community using the Flip the Box® framework,  a four-step method for building real connection in any room, in sixty seconds or less.

CONNECT WITH SHARI

Website

YouTube

Instagram

To work with Shari visit ⁠⁠www.sharileid.com⁠⁠

For media inquiries contact Kourtney Jason at ⁠[email protected]⁠

For speaking engagements contact AAE Speaker's Bureau or email ⁠[email protected]⁠

Download the free Connection Audit App, a practical tool for evaluating and strengthening the quality of your personal and professional relationships.

Music by Viacheslav Starostin from Pixabay

How can empathy transform leadership and communication in high-stakes situations?

Retired Army Colonel Chris Kolenda joins Shari to explore the power of empathy in leadership. Chris shares real-life stories from Afghanistan, revealing a method to bridge cultural and generational gaps. Discover practical steps for improving understanding and collaboration in your own workplace.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Empathy forms the basis of effective communication.

• Understanding emotional and experiential backgrounds fosters collaboration.

• The FLIP method allows quick, deep connections.

GUEST BIO

Chris Kolenda works with leaders who want to end dependency and build team-powered momentum. This allows you to go from feeling trapped in day-to-day management to being liberated to create the future. He grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, a skinny and awkward kid, which made him a target for creeps and bullies. Determined to defend himself and others, he went to West Point and graduated near the top of his class. He served in the Army for 24 and a half years, leading an 800-paratrooper task force on a 450-day deployment to Afghanistan. His unit motivated a large enemy force to switch sides and become allies – the only example in the 20-year history of the war. You can read more about that in Jake Tapper’s bestselling book, The Outpost.

Chris has been a trusted adviser to cabinet-level secretaries, four-star generals, NFL Coaches, Police and Fire Chiefs, CEOs, and Executive directors. He holds a Ph.D. in War Studies and has authored three books, including Leadership: The Warrior’s Art and the award-winning Zero-Sum Victory: What We’re Getting Wrong About War.

Chris has appeared on major national news networks and has been featured on the front pages of the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. He recently undertook a 1700-mile bicycle ride to visit the graves of his unit’s six paratroopers killed in action in Afghanistan. The ride enabled him to establish the Saber Six Foundation, working with veterans to turn post-combat stress into growth.

Website URL: https://chriskolenda.com/

LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriskolenda/

Book: Leadership: The Warrior's Art: https://chriskolenda.com/leadership-the-warriors-art/

New Course: The 3-Discipline Leadership System: https://chriskolenda.com/the-3-discipline-leadership-system/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@chriskolenda

LINKS & RESOURCES

Flip the Box® with Shari Leid is for leaders and entrepreneurs who've built something impressive — and still feel disconnected underneath it all. Each week, TEDx speaker, 4x author, and connection coach Shari Leid helps you connect to yourself, your career, and your community using the Flip the Box® framework,  a four-step method for building real connection in any room, in sixty seconds or less.

CONNECT WITH SHARI

Website

YouTube

Instagram

To work with Shari visit ⁠⁠www.sharileid.com⁠⁠

For media inquiries contact Kourtney Jason at ⁠[email protected]⁠

For speaking engagements contact AAE Speaker's Bureau or email ⁠[email protected]⁠

Download the free Connection Audit App, a practical tool for evaluating and strengthening the quality of your personal and professional relationships.

Music by Viacheslav Starostin from Pixabay

What’s the best question anyone has ever asked you?

Shari Leid believes that the questions we ask shape connections far deeper than the answers given. In this episode, she shares insights and stories from her journey exploring the power of questions.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Connection is intentional, not accidental.

• "Tell me more" invites deeper understanding.

• Listening is key to genuine connection.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Flip the Box® with Shari Leid is for leaders and entrepreneurs who've built something impressive — and still feel disconnected underneath it all. Each week, TEDx speaker, 4x author, and connection coach Shari Leid helps you connect to yourself, your career, and your community using the Flip the Box® framework,  a four-step method for building real connection in any room, in sixty seconds or less.

CONNECT WITH SHARI

Website

YouTube

Instagram

To work with Shari visit ⁠⁠www.sharileid.com⁠⁠

For media inquiries contact Kourtney Jason at ⁠[email protected]⁠

For speaking engagements contact AAE Speaker's Bureau or email ⁠[email protected]⁠

Download the free Connection Audit App, a practical tool for evaluating and strengthening the quality of your personal and professional relationships.

Music by Viacheslav Starostin from Pixabay

How can retreats bridge the gap between personal and professional disconnection?

Dive into the world of retreats with Shari Leid and guest, Shannon Jamail, a seasoned retreat planner and owner of Retreat Ranch. They discuss how to create transformative and deeply connecting retreat experiences. From selecting the right venue to crafting an immersive environment, explore the details that turn a simple getaway into a life-changing event.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Understand the importance of venue selection and creating a unique space for retreats.

• Learn how in-person experiences can elevate connection in a digital world.

• Discover key strategies for marketing and organizing successful retreats.

GUEST BIO

Shannon is the founder and creator of the Mind & Body Complete Family of Companies, which includes her 46-acre retreat center, Retreat Ranch, just outside of Austin, Texas. She’s a best-selling author, podcast host, retreat leader, therapist-turned-mentor, and Champagne connoisseur (not officially, but she does enjoy a good bubbly).

With over a decade of experience hosting over 100 transformational retreats around the world, Shannon now also dedicates her work to helping others do the same-teaching passionate leaders how to design, market, and lead profitable retreats that create real impact.

Website URL: https://mindbodycomplete.com/

LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-jamail/

Instagram URL: https://www.instagram.com/mindbodycomplete/

Facebook URL: https://www.facebook.com/mindandbodycomplete/

Any additional links for show notes (book, course, podcast, resource): https://theretreatleadersplaybook.com/

https://theretreatranch.com/

LINKS & RESOURCES

Flip the Box® with Shari Leid is for leaders and entrepreneurs who've built something impressive — and still feel disconnected underneath it all. Each week, TEDx speaker, 4x author, and connection coach Shari Leid helps you connect to yourself, your career, and your community using the Flip the Box® framework,  a four-step method for building real connection in any room, in sixty seconds or less.

CONNECT WITH SHARI

Website

YouTube

Instagram

To work with Shari visit ⁠⁠www.sharileid.com⁠⁠

For media inquiries contact Kourtney Jason at ⁠[email protected]⁠

For speaking engagements contact AAE Speaker's Bureau or email ⁠[email protected]⁠

Download the free Connection Audit App, a practical tool for evaluating and strengthening the quality of your personal and professional relationships.

Music by Viacheslav Starostin from Pixabay