Today's guest on the Mads Singers Management Podcast is Dr. Erika Michalski, also known as The Consultant Barbie. She is the founder and Chief Encouragement Officer of Strategically Authentic, which loves helping people bring their vision and goals to life. With her unwavering passion for authenticity, she empowers people to show up as they are, see what they can do, what they are capable of, and leverage their skills so that they can move up to their next big thing. Dr. Erika will surely liven up your party as she loves strategic planning and is excited to share it with the world. 

Strategic planning - a fun party trick that Dr. Erika loves to death, is often put on the backburner by companies and business owners until the very end or when their problems start popping up because they have been ignored for too long. 

Although it's become a buzzword, being authentic will allow you to impact the people around you and the things you do, while chasing the same carrot as everyone else may seem ideal and more accessible. However, many will not feel satisfied when they reach their end game and feel like they wasted time and effort on something unworthy. 

Rather than giving in to what society dictates as a measure of success, we should focus on our direction. Often, we look up to other people we admire and try to emulate them, and while there isn't anything wrong with that, we would make much more impact when we show up as ourselves rather than imitating someone else. 

To be authentic, one needs to show up as they are, don't let others define your success, and while it's not wrong to grind for your goals, ask yourself these questions: 

1. Are you pushing because you want to?
2. Are you moving because you're supposed to?

Investing in your people is a must because they are the ones who will drive your business or even sink it. Regardless of whether they decide to stay or leave, it's essential to make people feel valued. 

Don't fall for trendy and generic professional development that you see being paraded around. Instead, spend time with your staff and see where you can take them from there. But before promoting someone, make sure that you will be able to communicate why you are doing that to provide them value and an opportunity to grow. Even the least interested leader will take up the mantle when given clarity on why they are granted that role. The same goes with delegation. Being given clarity and acknowledged will allow people to flourish more.

Key Learning Points:

1. Although it's not new, despite becoming a buzzword today, Dr. Erika says that your contributions will be most effective, and your existence will be most impactful when you show up as yourself, not as a deluded version of someone else. - 03:31
2. Dr. Erika says that authenticity invites you to be more reflective and intentional about your choices in your personal and professional life. - 04:09
3. Dr. Erika says that you are the owner of the direction you are going. - 05:21
4. Dr. Erika adds that authenticity is the decision to learn from other people but not necessarily emulate them. - 05:41
5. Dr. Erika says we have become weirdly obsessed with the idea of not being content with the things we have. - 09:43
6. Dr. Erika shares that if you cannot train your brain to the here and now, to be present, you will only be pursuing and not be content with what you have. - 13:32
7. Dr. Erika says that unhappiness comes when you no longer know who you are because you rely on other people's success metrics rather than your own- 19:34
8. Dr. Erika says that if your identity is tied to a singular point (being an entrepreneur or being someone's significant other), then it is not sustainable- 27:40
9. Mads highly recommends that businesses and entrepreneurs invest in their people, especially managers because most people don't develop their managers because they are not provided with the proper training and guidance. - 28:06
10. Contrary to the famous saying that the best salesman won't make the best sales manager or the best engineer won't make the best engineering manager, Mads believes that if someone has the skills and the personality to learn how to be the best engineer or salesperson, then they can also learn how to become the best manager with the proper training, tools, and support.. - 34:44

Resources Mentioned:

First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Boffman 

The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity―and Will Determine the Fate of the Human Race by Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E. Long

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant

Connect with Dr. Erika

Website

LinkedIn

Instagram