Next Level Tips with Olympian Lina Taylor

As an award-winning marketing and communications leader, Holly Humphrey had put her talents to work for some of the biggest companies in the world. But in late 2019, Holly decided to reassess and make the leap to start her own brand communications firm, HH Communications. In this interview, Holly talks with Lina Taylor about what it takes to make that jump!

With 20 years of experience working alongside global C-suite executives, she has managed strategic corporate sponsorships and brand programs for the Rio 2016 Olympics, Aspen Ideas Festival, International Women's Forum, Women Athletes Business Network, Great Places to Work Institute, World Bank Private Sector Leaders Forum and many others.

Her communications leadership and management roles in both the public and private sector include Americas Brand & External Communications Leader for EY (Ernst & Young), Americas Talent Communications Leader for EY, Public Information Officer for the City of New York Department of Homeless Services, and multiple positions at leading PR firms in both Atlanta and New York City.

Holly has also provided marketing and communications support for multiple nonprofit organizations. She has traveled extensively around the world for both work and pleasure.

At the intersection of science, business, and elite sports, two-time Olympian Lina Taylor helps leaders and teams create a culture of resilience, opportunities, and success. Learn more at LinaTaylor.com

With a powerful forward written by Marshall Goldsmith, Dr. Oleg Konovalov's book The Vision Code, demystifies the role of vision as a fundamental part of long-term success. In this episode of Next Level Tips, Dr. Konovalov and Lina talk about the difference between having a dream and having a vision, how to be prepared to stand up for your vision, even in the face of doubts, fears, and nay-sayers. In his book, The Vision Code, Dr. Konovalov writes from his own experiences of re-defining the circumstances of his upbringing, that "Vision is a decision to live differently, with greater purpose." He's assembled the thoughts of some of the greatest leaders of today on the role of vision in success and I highly recommend his work to anyone on the path to mastery.

Here's more on Dr. Oleg Konovalov:

Dr. Oleg Konovalov is a global thought leader, author, business educator, consultant, and C-suite coach.

Oleg is named among the top eight global experts in leadership and shortlisted for the Distinguished Award in Leadership by Thinkers50. He is on Global Gurus Top 30 in Leadership, has been recognized as #1 Global Thought Leader on Culture by Thinkers 360, is #1 Global Leading Coach (Marshall Goldsmith Thinkers50) and has been named as one of the Top 10 Most Inspiring Global Thought Leaders.

Having been named as ‘the da Vinci of Visionary Leadership’ by many leading authorities of our time, Oleg Konovalov is helping companies to create and execute their vision, maintain a strong productive corporate culture and achieve superior business performance.

He is the author of The Vision Code (2021), LEADEROLOGY (2019), Corporate Superpower (2018), Organisational Anatomy (2016), and Hidden Russia (2014).

His research identifies entrepreneurs’ and managers’ strategic needs in the areas of leadership. Oleg help leaders to become the masters of the future and achieve new levels of success.

Oleg received his doctoral degree from the Durham University Business School. He is a visiting lecturer at a number of business schools, a Forbes contributor, and a high in demand speaker at major conferences around the world.

Shawna Fisher is the Chief Financial Officer of HelpScout. She is an executive with two decades of progressive leadership experience within both venture backed technology companies and mature corporate environments. Her story begins with a defining moment, right out of college when she's interviewing to work for one of the Big Four accounting firms. Enjoy the interview and visit LinaTaylor.com for more.

Diaz Nesamoney is founder and CEO of Jivox - a company delivering a technology platform for personalized digital marketing. He has had two prior successful ventures. He was previously co-founder, President and Chief Operating Officer at Informatica (NASDAQ:INFA), which he took from a startup to a publicly traded company in 1999 Informatica pioneered data integration software as a category and is now the market leader with over $2 billion in revenue and a $6 billion market cap. Before founding Jivox, he founded Celequest and served as its CEO until early 2007, when the company was acquired by Cognos/IBM. Celequest introduced the market's first Business Intelligence appliance, a disruptive innovation that led to its acquisition.

To see more interviews with leaders in science, business, and elite sports go to LinaTaylor.com

What you'll hear in this conversation, is some great advice about the mindset you need to have in order to spot the opportunities around you that will take you to your dreams. The roads may be unconventional and less travelled but that is exactly what is needed sometimes to make the biggest breakthroughs.

Dr. Tara Ruttley has spent her career at NASA in Human Exploration, where adaptability is everything. She is also a neuroscientist and knows that the brain literally changes for the better when we have a new experience. We live in a limitless universe with seven different continents, nearly 200 different countries, more than 7 billion people, thousands of cultures, and hundreds of thousands of unique experiences, but mostly we stick to our daily routines. Yet even the tiniest bit of exploration (even in our own offices!) can make us better able to adapt to change, overcome fear and adversity, and improve creativity. Find out more about Dr. Tara Ruttley here: http://tararuttley.com/ 

Morgan Brown is the Vice President of Growth Marketing for Shopify and the author of Hacking Growth: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success. Morgan has spent his career helping companies of all sizes grow at the intersection of digital marketing and product development. He lives in the Laguna Beach area with his wife, Erika, three children and two small, loud dogs:)

Listen for the invaluable tips Morgan gives on how to take your career to the next level and the skills you need to be in the driver seat.

From marine biology to odd jobs in tech to now driving growth for world giants like Shopify and Facebook, Morgan Brown takes us on a fascinating journey of finding your “True North” and what it takes to succeed in the fast-moving world of tech.

I hope you enjoy this episode of Next Level Tips with Morgan Brown. Learn more at LinaTaylor.com

Tasha Danvers is an Olympic medalist in the 400-meter hurdles, one of the most grueling disciplines in the highly competitive track events of the Olympic Games. Tasha is also one of the most outrageously fun personalities you’ll ever meet - she is a motivational speaker and a coach, who believes that fun and high performance are not mutually exclusive - and she has the accolades to prove it! 

Tasha has the amazing ability to combine light heartedness with the exquisite determination of a champion. Listen to our conversation - and pay particular attention to her tips on how to perform at your best under extreme pressure. Also, and I won’t spoil this for you - you have to hear the story of the moment when Tasha discovers she’s expecting a child when she’s at the height of her career and what happens next….

Learn more about Tasha here: https://www.tashadanvers.com/

Check out her Olympic experiences on Airbnb here: The Danvers Experience 

“Having doubts about your success,” Guy Kawasaki says, “is NOT the test. The test is whether you can continue on despite the doubts.”

My name is Lina Taylor and I am the host of Next Level Tips.

Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva and the creator of Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People podcast. Guy helped the notion of brand evangelism enter the mainstream business lingo when he became the first evangelist of Apple, working for Steve Jobs.

We talk about that as a defining moment and the lessons Guy learned from that experience. We also talk about what it’s like now to work for the polar opposite: the young dynamic female CEO of Canva, Melanie Perkins, who’s digital company is empowering the world to design. I don’t know about you but I LOVE Canva - the very artwork you see on this podcast was designed with Canva!

Guy and I do not agree on everything - especially when it comes to the notion which Brene Brown has popularized - vulnerability - or at least, the role of timing as it relates to vulnerability. But this doesn't prevent us from exploring the work of Victor Frankle and his book: Man’s Search for Meaning. Here's a lesson on mindset, as it relates to success: 

"You don’t achieve success by pursuing success. You achieve success by having a higher goal."

I hope you enjoy this episode of Next Level Tips and my conversation with Guy Kawasaki. Please subscribe to Next Level Tips and share it with your friends.

Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva - the company that's empowering the world to design - and the creator of Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People podcast. He is an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley), and adjunct professor of the University of New South Wales. He was the chief evangelist of Apple and a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation. He has written Wise Guy, The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, Enchantment, and eleven other books. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from UCLA, and an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Through her ‘CLOSE the Gap’ leadership training, Lina helps individuals and teams – from senior leaders to young professionals – take their next big leap forward. With engaging story-telling and thought-provoking exercises, Lina shares how to set and clarify goals, sharpen your focus, overcome obstacles, shift for growth and encode an Olympic mindset in everything you do. Leading companies like Google, Pfizer, Deloitte, Amazon, EY, Twitter, Shopify, Intel, Airbnb and many others draw inspiration from Lina’s principles and her story of resilience, determination, and grit.

Hi everyone, I'm Lina Taylor and welcome to my new podcast Next Level Tips. Learn more at LinaTaylor.com

As a two-time Olympian and leadership coach for some of the largest companies in the world, I’ve learned a few things about setting and achieving big goals. It all boils down to this: making a choice in a defining moment.

What allows us to make the RIGHT choice - so that we get from where we are to where we want to be in our lives, in our career, in our relationships - are a set of skills that CAN BE LEARNED.

These skills - and the pivotal moments where we use them - are what I will be talking about in this podcast with world-renowned leaders in business, science, and elite sports.

The skills fall in 5 major categories that you will easily remember with the acronym ‘CLOSE’ - it stands for ‘closing the gap’ between where we are and where we want to be.

#1 C - stands for CLARITY

How do we get really clear on what we want to do and why is that so important to us. People like to use the word ‘purpose’ - how do you connect to that deeper part of you that infuses meaning into everything you do.

Much of the mental health issues we’re seeing in the world today are due to our disconnection from that deep purpose and here, we’ll explore how to repair and re-build that bridge.

#2 L - stands for having Laser-sharp focus

How do you break down big, complex tasks (like qualifying for the Olympics, launching a new business, or getting a big promotion) into small achievable steps that put you in alignment with your higher purpose and allow you to take action versus being stuck and feeling like you’re standing on the sidelines of your own life.

#3 O - stands for Overcoming Obstacles and turning them into Opportunities: challenges are inevitable, and I want to show you how you can use those very obstacles to propel you forward.

#4 S - stands for Shifting for Growth

As you face an obstacle or a fear, the awareness you gain - the learning that takes place - can lead you to Shift and grow in 3 different ways:

a) - persevere and stay the course

b) - pivot and make a chance, or

c) - let go of something ENTIRELY and walk towards your deeper purpose.

#5 E - stands for Encoding this mindset through a set of skills that will allow you to transform even the most dire circumstances.

My goal is to highlight and explain these skills through stories and examples - mine and other people’s - so that you - and your team - too can make your next big leap forward.

Because it wasn’t until I finally dared to take a chance on myself and show up, even when I was being denied opportunities, that I was able to create the life I always dreamed of, I believe in sharing the skills that ordinary people with ordinary abilities, like myself and my guests, use to achieve extraordinary results.

Join me on this journey and subscribe to Next Level Tips.

Thank you.

I'm your host, Lina Taylor, a two-time Olympian and leadership coach, and today I'm talking with Beth Brooke, a Board member at The New York Times and former Global Vice Chair of Public Policy at EY, where she was a member of the firm’s global executive board and global sponsor of the firm’s diversity and inclusiveness efforts. Beth has been named eleven times to Forbes "World's 100 Most Powerful Women" list.