The Critically Conscious Coach

My next guest, Shelly Brown, founder of ROI Mindfulness, believes mindfulness is not what we've all been led to believe. It's often seen as woo-woo weird and uncomfortable approaches. She knows it's a practice of rockstars, a practice that can transcend calm, a practice that trains our brains to embrace and extend time in the present. 

Shelly spent over two decades in the corporate world. She remains connected to her corporate roots as a speaker and webinar and workshop facilitator, inviting leaders and executive committees to frontline managers around the United States to a practice that trains our brains to achieve remarkable, calm, focus, and resilience. The end result? we can show up better for our lives and better together.

Show notes: coming soon

Today, Dr. AJ of AJ Rao, LLC and I talk about outdated leadership models, and how professionals from marginalized communities have internalized leadership models. Shownotes coming soon!

Today, I'm going to be speaking with Dr. AJ of AJ Rao, LLC about something thought-provoking. We're going to be talking about masculine and feminine traits, and the myriad of labels that are out there. I feel like those labels are really empowering for people who now have a way to articulate their human experience and be understood by the people who take the time to learn them. What's something you've noticed regarding people's perception of masculine and feminine traits?

Dr. AJ: It's so interesting that you phrased it that way. Traits and energies don't actually have gender. Over time, the stereotypes which have been created over the evolution of our society have led people to categorize certain traits as masculine and feminine, even if they have nothing to do with your gender expression.

By using those 2 labels, we actually end up falsely dichotomizing traits and energies that shouldn't be dichotomized; they're actually on a spectrum. That's where a lot of our current leadership stereotypes come from. When a woman is being confident and assertive, she gets called the B-word. A man does the exact same thing, and he’s called a powerful leader.

Read the show notes: https://defythestatusquo.com/2020/07/23/masculine-and-feminine

Ruthie: Yes, I'm very excited for this episode! I attended one of Dr. AJ’s webinars and she said the phrase, ”Disaggregate the data to find intersectionalities.” And I was like, “Yes, that's it! That's it right there!” I have a ton of data-minded people in my network and I’m really into this topic. I'd like to start with the value. So what types of things do you find when you disaggregate data?

Dr. AJ: Well, when you disaggregate the data you actually find that people are far more diverse than you realize, and that diversity is not being included. 

Read the show notes: https://defythestatusquo.com/2020/07/22/tearing-the-data-apart/

For our next segment, Dr. Aparajita Jeedigunta of AJ Rao LLC and I are going to talk about inclusion. The topic of this episode is that inclusion isn't a zero-sum game. Could you elaborate what you mean by that?

Dr. AJ: Absolutely. There’s this concern that by including more people, you're actually taking away power and privilege from those who already have it. Like when we talk about white privilege. There are white people who are not affluent saying, “I grew up poor.” I’m not denying that at all, but you're still white. There's still some privilege that comes with that.

Just like me being Indian American; people assume that my parents are filthy stinking rich, but they're not. I do have the privilege of having the support of my parents, a stable family structure and a commitment to family. Those are my privileges.

That's really where this “inclusion is not a zero-sum game” comes from. When we think of inclusion, we tend to think of these sacrifices and privileges, but it's not like that. The universe theoretically started from the Big Bang, and it's still expanding. The power and energy in the universe is still expanding. That's sort of how inclusion is. It's still expanding. By including more people, we don't destroy that energy. We just convert and amplify that power exponentially by adding more voices. It's not even linear. When we look at it like a win-loss, zero-sum game, we're just shooting ourselves in the foot.

Read the shownotes: https://defythestatusquo.com/2020/07/21/inclusion-is-not-a-zero-sum-game/

I’m really excited to introduce my next guest, Dr. Aparajita Jeedigunta of AJ Rao LLC, a social-personality psychologist and certified professional executive coach. She's also a published author, podcaster and a traumatic brain injury survivor turned mental wellbeing advocate. She helps ambitious working women overcome self-doubt and imposter syndrome to build thriving careers and thrive as visible business leaders who are seen, heard, valued, respected, and recognized.

She also consults and partners with corporate organizations to create custom-made, comprehensive solutions that help them break their silo cultures and create interconnected, inclusive organizational cultures where their talent can fully belong and thrive. Thank you so much Dr. AJ for being here with me today.

Read the shownotes here: https://defythestatusquo.com/2020/07/20/dr-aj,-building-inclusion-and-belongingness-into-company-cultures/

In this episode, Rob and I are going to talk about how automation and wearable tech can play a role in coaching. I was surprised when he recommended this subject to me - I can't say that I've consumed a single thing that connects this tech and coaching.

So if this sounds interesting to you too, definitely give it a listen!

Read the show notes: https://defythestatusquo.com/2020/07/16/how-automation-and-wearables-could-play-a-role-in-coaching/ 

I have a lot of coaches in my network, so in this episode, I wanted to ask Rob to give them some insight.

Like what qualities should a coach have? And should you be aware of working with newer coaches?

Read the shownotes: https://defythestatusquo.com/2020/07/15/the-power-of-working-with-a-coach/

Today, Rob Scott and I are going to talk about identity shifting, which is a huge part of his coaching methodology.

According to Rob "We're actually much more than we think we are. I'm here to tell you that you're a much bigger deal than you think you are. We tend to get locked down into specific problems, and life can feel very small. However, a big part of what we are is a bunch of unconscious narratives."

Read the shownotes: https://defythestatusquo.com/2020/07/14/identity-shifting-impossible-to-im-possible

Rob Scott is a master-level coach, and I'm really excited to have him on the show. He's the founder of Fundamental Shift, LLC. His work has influenced hundreds of thousands of people to shift their identities, achieving levels of success once thought impossible to reach.

He helps them evolve their consciousness and create profound changes in all important areas of life. His coaching programs take you through proven processes that will get you past your biggest, deepest, most limiting beliefs.

Read the shownotes: https://defythestatusquo.com/2020/07/13/rob-scott-the-identity-shifter