Dr. Charlene Rousseau, President at Envisionary Development Consulting

What is your favorite book?

My favorite books are fiction, Pride and Prejudice and non-fiction, Success through a Positive Mental Attitude.

What is your motto?

Motto: Live to empower the success of others. Nothing gives me greater joy because through empowering others, they don’t realize how much they give back to me in the happiness and growth it also brings to my life. I also live by Charles Swindoll’s words about attitude, I couldn’t say it any better: “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company … a church … a home. The

remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude … I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you … we are in charge of our Attitudes.”  

Who has inspired you recently?

I have many people who inspire me including my mentor, Assistant VP of the Performance Development Center at JM&A Group Consulting, Justina Davis, My Mom, Oprah Winfrey, My pastor’s Wife, Tara Darrell! I’m also inspired by Belinda and her mission to empower women and other minority groups through coaching and leadership development. This is an area very near and dear to me also. These are a diverse set of women who I’ve learned so much from related to discipline, focus, leadership, giving back, and empathy.

An unusual fact about you?

I don’t think this is considered unusual, but a fact about me is, I love to sing and even audition for American Idol some time ago and made it to the Hollywood round! That’s as far is I went though. I’ve also recorded a few songs with some other Jamaican artists, including Sanchez and Sean Paul! Alas, that was in a previous life.

Contact Charlene

Website: http://www.edcvision.com/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlenexrousseau

5 Steps to Overcoming The Fear That Comes with Big Changes

Have you embraced change to make yourself more successful? Dr. Charlene Rousseau is the CEO and President of Envisionary Development Consulting, a process improvement and performance management consultancy, and a woman of change.

Fear held Charlene back for years, but she didn’t let it stick around long. She made a decision to take a leap, leave the corporate space, and launch her consulting business. This was always her vision, but once she started working in corporate, it was difficult to stop.

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Adjust Your Thought Process

Charlene overcame this fear by adjusting her thought process. What was contributing to that fear? Anxiety about money and fear of failure were two major things creating this fear.

So she asked herself, what’s the worst thing that could happen? Charlene realized that if her business failed, she could always get another job. The worst case wasn’t that scary after all.

Looking at her fear from a logical solution, problem solving, and finding a creative solution is what helped her overcome fear.

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Find the Feeling Source

Where are the feelings of fear coming from? Not shying away, but embracing them and trying to understand them better is what will help you master them.

Dr. Gail Hayes,

When looking for an internationally recognized communicator who ignites the atmosphere with contagious enthusiasm and a passion for purpose, you have but to look directly at Gail Hayes or Dr.Gail, as others affectionately call her.

Dr. Gail is an executive leadership coach and has served as a contributor for Hufffington Post, Essence Magazine, MSNBC’s The Griot, Onyx Woman Magazine, Precious Times Magazine, More To Life Magazine, and several other print and online media outlets. She lived in Asia for over four years and in Europe for over ten years.

While in Europe, she served as a training consultant for Office or Personnel Management’s (OPM) European Training Division where she specialized in Office Protocol, Management/Employee Relations, Crisis Intervention and

Leadership.

She served as the first Black female law enforcement officer and fire fighter in Chapel Hill, NC. She also founded and served as the Director of The European Executive Women’s Forum, the 1st active European Network of the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE). In January 2016, NC Governor Pat McCrory appointed her to serve as a Commissioner on the NC African American Heritage Commission. In July 2016, she was appointed to the Leadership Council of the NC Institute of PoliticalcLeadership (IOPA). These experiences allow her to relate to diverse audiences. She produces and hosts the Handle Your Business Girl Television and radio programs. Her digital magazine, The Zone, will debut in 2017. She has also appeared on numerous media outlets including the QVC Shopping Channel, NBC’S My Carolina Today, Atlanta Live – TV 57, Total Christian Television, Denver Daystar, The Word Network, and Babbie’s House. She served as an On-Air talent for UNC-TV where she assisted with fund-raising campaigns. Gail also served for 3 years as the voice of the Motivational Moment on the KD Bowe Morning Radio show on The Sheridan Radio network in 35 markets and on Radio One Detroit’s The Karen Dumas Show’s feature, Purpose Point with Dr. G. Dr. Gail is also a professional vocalist who has performed in Europe, Asia and in the US. She is the author of over 30 books including One Minute Success Secrets for Women, The Power of a Woman Who Leads, You are a Daughter of the King, The Power of a Parent Who Leads, and the Handle Your Business Empowerment Series. Although she has lived on three continents, she is quick to let others know that her favorite place on earth is wherever she and her children can laugh and love.

Dr. Gail’s Quote

“If you don’t know who you are, you will never know what belongs to you!”

Her Favorite Book

Her Contact Information

Website: www.handleyourbusinessgirl.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-gail-hayes-4762291/

How to Embrace Change as An Empowered Woman

Feel like everything is changing in your life and you’re struggling to remember who you are? We’ve been there. Today I’m sharing wonderful tips on how to handle this change as an empowered woman from my friend, Dr. Gail Hayes.

Dr. Gail is an internationally recognized communicator and executive leadership coach very much acquainted with the experience of change. With her father in the military, she spent her childhood in Asia and later moved back to the U.S. before going back and forth to Europe and places all around America.

This constant change turned Dr. Gail into a veritable change girl. But while she was used to moving,

Adam Dudley, Business Coach, Author

Adam Dudley is the author of Clarity for Solos and a mentor, coach, and champion for solo and small business owners. He helps them to create high-performing businesses that empower their life’s work and liberates them to live as they choose.

Money Mindset

Human beings in our modern society seem to struggle with money in different ways.

Some are chasing money as a symbol of their fulfillment in life. Others are afraid of accumulating money based on personal beliefs that money is “bad” and some choose to spend it all as a proof of their commitment to succeed. It is always refreshing and helpful to explore how we value or judge money.

When you value money, you attract it, when you judge it you either repel it or misuse it. Tell us how money makes you feel:

1-How do you personally deal with money?

2-What situations did you experience which have shaped your relationship with money? Read Tony Robbins’ Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook

3-How do the people you spend the most time with interact with money? Do they judge it or value it?

 

Adam’s Quotes

“Ask yourself: “What can I do to improve myself by 1 percent, or even 1/2 a percent.””

“This is progress.”

His Favorite Book

His Contact Information

Website: http://www.clarityforsolos.com/

LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamdudley

Haven’t Reached Your Financial Goals? Do This to Change Your Money Mindset

Adam Dudley is an author, mentor, coach, and champion for solo and small business owners. He strives to help entrepreneurs create high-performing businesses that empower their life’s work and liberate them to live as they choose.

Early in his career as an entrepreneur, Adam acquired a number of mentors and learning opportunities that would change his life. As he pursued his goals, Adam realized he would focus on something with a great deal of energy, gain success, and then fall apart. For every goal there was personal sabotage and this is something Adam saw in the small business owners around him.

At the root of this issue was an unhealthy and dysfunctional mindset about money. With research into the new field of financial psychology, Adam found a financial psychologist with a PhD in the very subject. He soon began to learn what it was about his subconscious that caused him to repeat the pattern of success and loss. In this way, Adam faced a huge obstacle that was in the way of him becoming a successful business person.

Money mindset issues hit almost everyone from those of us struggling to the very wealthy. People with very little money and people with a lot of money may walk around believing that having a lot of money solves a lot of problems. The issue is often the reverse. They don’t know how to handle the challenges of having a lot of money. This can exist in all the levels not just the lowest level of economic means.

Do the Emotional Hard Work

Doing deep inner-work with a specialist can be challenging when you’re forced to look at things you’ve been avoiding. It took Adam 2 years of working with a financial psychologist to get through all his blocks over time.

A skilled professional can help you bring forth your subconscious and see the unproductive thoughts that are going on.

Maureen Bridget Rabotin, Certified Global Executive Coach

Founding director of Effective Global Leadership, Inc., Maureen is a StrengthsFinder © certified Global Executive Coach, an Intercultural Leadership Development Consultant and keynote speaker.  Author of Culture Savvy – working and collaborating across the globe (ASTD 2011) and co-author of  The World Book of Values (2013),  she accompanies her clients as they navigate the currents of globalization. With several years of managerial experience in global organizations, Maureen shares her knowledge of emotional and cultural intelligence and her passion for neuroscience to enable her clients to build bridges across cultural, linguistic, generation and gender divides. Her clients include FAO (United Nations), The Global Fund, BNP Paribas, Arcelor Mittal, Peugeot Citroen and Oracle.

I use this quotation now that I am older and can no longer sing my favorite song from “the King & I”:

Whenever I feel afraid, I whistle a happy tune

Change does carry with it an element of being afraid. We need to let go of what we have known, drop our security blankets and take a leap of faith into the unknown. No matter how fast we think or how slow we adapt, our brains simply don’t like change. As the saying goes: Practice makes perfect and that is exactly what your brain wants. It wants to know, understand, have its bearings, not be asked to second guess the environment. When you do so, you put yourself out of your comfort zone. Feeling afraid is the normal human reaction to self-protection.

I have had to change and adapt several times in my life. Some of the more ordinary changes of going away to college, leaving friends as I moved across town, to different States, then one day, moving to France after having flunked French in high school. Now that was a leap of faith.

In retrospect, those were the easy changes. My first career was in the medical diagnostic industry installing CT Scanners. That’s what brought me to France. It also became my life’s passion as machines started to open a new field of neuroimaging and influenced the field of neuroscience. We are only at the beginning of amazing discoveries and enthralling evidence of how our brain reacts to change.  So, I know a lot about change. I teach change management and coach clients on their limiting beliefs which hinder their adaptation to changing environments. I thought I knew it all until during a 5-year span, I was put on the change roller coast of all times – successive deaths of loved ones.

From a quick unexpected passing away of my aging father at 92 followed by an otherwise healthy husband just getting ready for our empty nest when I suddenly found myself in an empty house.  Then my brother, followed by my mother, both from illness which were worsened with what was most likely a broken heart.

Knowing that losing a loved one is considered one of the most stressful events a person can experience; I don’t have to tell you how stressful it is losing 4 in a 5-yr span. So, when the grief was harnessed, I turned to my change management theories.

Kubler-Ross curve may come to mind for some of you. This was originally the 4 stages of the grief cycle which was adopted into the change management industry as a way of introducing the emotional shifts during change. I looked hard at the time and the self-esteem axis. I told myself, just give yourself time. Don’t rush into anything. Time went by and I was still at the bottom of the barrel of unhappiness. So then I read up on what I know about neuroscience, especially the S.C.A.R.F. model of change which explains the push and pull towards or away from a threat zone which will impact one’s emotional stability. That confirmed what I was feeling, but didn’t make me feel any better. So I turned to the ADKAR method for resistance and need of communicating and coaching so I signed up to a widow’s organization which was not for me.

Diane Diaz, Brand Strategist

Diane is a self-proclaimed brand geek and 360Reach Certified Personal Brand Strategist. She uses her two decades of combined branding and teaching experience to teach executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs to unleash the power of their personal brands so they can be rock stars in their businesses.

Be Cognizant Of Your Personal Brand

Personal brand strategy is important to everyone regardless of whether you’re an executive, professional, entrepreneur, student, or stay at home mom. Everyone should be a steward of how their personal brand is received by their audience. Hence, your personal brand is YOUR opportunity to differentiate yourself from others in your industry. You are the one thing you have that your competitors don’t have. And your authenticity is what will make you stand out from others who may offer similar skills, products, or services.

Every single thing that you do makes an impression on how your audience perceives you. Each moment that your audience comes into contact with your personal brand is a touch point. And having personal brand consistency across all touch points is the key to a clear and consistent personal brand image.

Your personal brand tells a story. And if you don’t create that story, your audience will. So you should be the one in charge of crafting the story that your personal brand tells. And you can do this in so many ways in person and online.

Diane’s Quotes

“Consistency in your brand build trust.”

“Personal branding applies to everyone, student, parents, executives…”

Her Favorite Book

Her Gift To You

Visit her website homepage for a free Personal Brand Workbook

Her Contact Information

Website: www.thebrandteacher.com

Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/dianediazthebrandteacher

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/thebrandteacher/

Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/thedianediaz

LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianediaz

Instagram profile: https://www.instagram.com/thebrandteacher/

How to Cultivate Positive Change in Your Business through Personal Branding With Dian Diaz

Shifting your personal brand can actually lead you to greater success. While change can be painful, at the same time, it’s the only way for you to continue to grow. And if you don’t grow, how can you change things?

Dian Diaz, brand strategist and self-proclaimed brand geek of The Brand Teacher joined us on the Planting Seeds of Change podcast to share insights from two decades of branding and teaching experience that will help us creative positive changes beginning with our personal brand.

Trust Comes with Consistency

Personal branding is at it’s core making sure your personal presence comes through everywhere it touches your audience. Consistency with how you show up in your brand builds trust in your audience. That’s what draws people to you. When your brand is consistent and your audience gets the same messages wherever they encounter you, they’ll trust you and then want to do business with you. Personal branding is all about building trust.

Bring Forward Your Personality

Personal branding is important because people are doing bu...

Welcome back to PTSOC. Today we will tackle one of the biggest problem, energy drainer and stress factor in America the Blame Game.

iPEC report shows that 80% of people are at level 1 or 2 energy which mean that most of the thoughts, emotions and actions are related to one of the following circumstances:

* Victim mode: at the effect of others

* Anger mode: fighting against others or oneself

Both paradigms lead to blame someone or ourselves for what happens or do not happen in our lives. The energy we expel at those levels is called catabolic energy and can be defined as contracting and draining energy.

When you play the Blame Game you disempower yourself and others and choose to create a problem out of a challenge instead of an opportunity. Problem and opportunity are the two faces of the same coins. Why did we choose in our modern society to make our lives harder by unconsciously electing to be a victim of our circumstances and/ or others? What lead us to collectively accept to make excuses for our failures and our unhappiness by blaming others or our circumstances?

There are two main reasons:

* our lack of self awareness

* when we become aware, the courage to take responsibility for our own destiny.

In order to assist you grow out of this mindset, in this episode we will first prepare the soil and explore what the common signs of the Blame Game are.

Then we will redefine what challenges are and how looking at them for what they are will enable you to make the best of it.

Each challenge we encounter in life or at work is an opportunity to confront our biggest fear, strengthen our character, learn new skills. When I am working with my clients, it’s obvious at first that they have no clue about their own behavior and many believe they are not players of this Blame Game and well aware if who they are. This is what human beings do, they think they are what they think they are. The truth is, human beings are who they are. A couple questions further in our session and my clients realize, ashamed, that they exhibited the behavior and even enable it in others. The Blame Game, like Pokemon Go became viral in the early 20th.

Some have also been playing the Blame Game with themselves which is even more disempowering.

Preparing the soil

First of all there is nothing to be ashamed of here, as we want you to leave this episode empowered. The first step, preparing the soil, is truly about creating awareness.

Time to identify if you or someone in your entourage has exhibited the behavior.

If you have ever used any of the following, you have been playing the Blame Game.

* I have not the career I want because ….

* I am not in a relationship because …..

* My children are ungrateful because …..

* My company has no consideration for me or others….

* I would have done it if ….

* I did not get my promotion because of….

* I have no money because of ….

Life happens and all have created so many excuses from those events. The truth is, that your mindset create your experience of life. The more aware, the more in charge you will feel. Awareness require some work, and not the one you offer to your employer, a more complex one that supports us to reach our fullest potential: courage.

From.a place of ownership and responsibility, we make choices and not excuses anymore. Does it mean we live in Lalaland, of course not!!

Let’s explore the steps to get to this place of choices where the Blame Game is over.

Fertilizing the ground

Now that you have acknowledged your participation in this scheme, how do you play smart and get out of your own way and meet a tribe of truly successful people?

Practice observation and notice the Blame Game at work around you.

I am usually very optimistic, detached and poised. But on July 14th, on Bastille day, equivalent to the American 4th of July my country was attacked again. Fear for my family and then anger totally overwhelmed me. I don’t want to blame anyone, not even those perpetrators who certainly are either mentally challenged or who lost their humanness. I was angry because I felt powerless. One of the worse feelings ever. You feel paralyzed. At the effect of life.

Many of you have experienced this feeling and then choose anger because it feels better than being powerless. But you are still in a realm of what we call catabolic energy. A draining energy that sucks everything out of you if you do not pay attention.

So, I had 2 very short nights, and very long day before I chose to finally move up to energy levels that would not only make me feel better but also generate positive vibes for this world! A place where we all win.

So what do we do to channel the draining energy of victimhood and anger towards a more constructive energy?

First you want to prepare the ground. In this case preparing the ground would be to simply notice what is happening.

What thoughts are coming up repeatedly? What other feelings do those thoughts generate?

Stay in observation mode as long as needed.

When we notice, we tend to be more upset at first. If you find yourself there, you are in the right place. Keep going!

The next step is to fertilize the ground so we can then plant the seed of change.

This is when you realize where you are and imagine where you want to be. We want to feel at peace, have cleared minds so we can think, design solutions or focus on helping others.

Write down where you want to be, how you want to feel, think about the ideal situation. You do not need a journal, a simple piece of paper, a draft email opened if you are a multitasker or an app on your phone. This step will help you lower your level of stress, reconnect with your thinking capabilities, and help you see potential options.

At this stage, you are ready to plant the seed of change to shift your catabolic energy into a rejuvenating energy.

The seed you want to plant is the ideal or portion of it. Today in my case, preparing the ground was about identifying the story I was telling myself. Then fertilizing the ground was about thinking and imagining how I wanted to show up, support, and make a difference in this world. What could it be? How would it make me feel? And, what could be the potential outcome?

The seed, or what we call intention when aiming for sustainable change, I planted was about channeling my sense of powerlessness and my anger towards something that would make me feel good, empowered, and healthier mentally, emotionally and physically. I also wanted it to ideally impact others positively. So, I drove to home depot bought and literally set up a raised garden bed in less than 45 minutes, planted herbs in one corner of my outdoor patio, replanted all my other plants and ended by pressure washing my pathway and cleaning my windows.

The process does not end here when you are looking for sustainable change.

I felt accomplished, very positive, while I was working hard setting up my garden, my stress level lowered, my mind was filled with positive thoughts about the upcoming plants, then delicious, healthy and free fruits and veggies Yann and I will enjoy in a few weeks.

I can tell you as well I felt great as my body moved some muscles I did not remember existed, I already feel the soreness in my arms and my shoulders and most importantly I know I will have a restful night.

Mentally, I was given so much energy and creative ideas on how to help others as well and I am confident more will germinate in the next few days.

The fourth step in my process for sustainable change ...