The Leader's Guide

Typically, we view the holiday season as a time for giving but what if we decided to give every day for a full year? In this episode, Alex sits down with Stephanie Jones who, 10 years ago, embarked on a very unique journey that changed her life. She sought out to give a gift to another person for a full year. 522 days later, she learned the value of giving in a very deep way. Stephanie is a philanthropist, speaker, life coach, and author of the award-winning and best-selling book, The Giving Challenge.

1:00 - 522 days of giving - What sparked this journey for Stephanie?

7:30 - the immediate power of a 5 second gift

11:12 - How does giving shift the psychology of approaching difficult situations?

16:00 - Learn to be an observer of your life to expand your areas of gratitude

16:30 - How do you balance giving to yourself while focusing on giving to others?

22:00 - When you prioritize your life, giving and saying no becomes far easier

Connect with Stephanie:

https://givinggalbooks.com/

https://givingyourbestlife.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU5htLSkIns

Have you every attempted to step out of your comfort zone? There is nothing easy or fun about it. But what about expanding your comfort zone? This is where real, sustainable change happens! In this episode, Alex sits down with Leadership Trainer and Success Coach Danielle Abbott to learn what it takes to be comfortable in the discomfort. Danielle has spent her entire career in leadership and specializes in not just goal setting, but goal achieving through your personal values!

0:45 - Who is Danielle Abbott?

4:00 -  What are the key factors to assess when first approaching a struggling organization?

7:40 - What are the most important steps in learning to be comfortable being uncomfortable?

10:30 - Why is it important for leaders to create a space of psychological safety for their employees?

15:00 - Learn to expand your comfort zone by aligning difficult tasks with your core values

18:00 - Most people do not give up on their goals because they were too hard. They give up because they are too easy and do not align with their core values

23:00 - How do you balance healthy anxiety with pursuing goals?

Connect more with Danielle Abbott!

Who am I? This may be one of the most important yet complicated questions that we can ask ourselves. However, in the pursuit of the answer, we learn to live an authentically driven life of happiness. In this episode, Alex sits down with Nelly Caldeira, a Transformation & Communication Coach, to learn what questions you can ask yourself to start down this path. Nelly immigrated from Brazil and learned the value of true authenticity through her career as a Brazilian Zouk Dance Instructor and is now on a mission to help people live a purpose driven life.

0:51 - Who is Nelly Caldeira

2:25 - Why is authenticity so important in pursuing your goals?

4:30 - What questions can you ask yourself when pursuing authenticity?

“Before asking these questions, give yourself permission to change”

Questions to ask in discovering who you are

14:10 “How much authenticity do I incorporate in my strategy for success?”

15:00 Learning to allow your identity guide your personal boundaries

“Instead of aligning yourself with your goals, allow your goals to align with who you want to become” - Nelly Caldeira

20:20 - How do you navigate trusting yourself and the path you are on vs knowing when it is time to be flexible with your goals?

26:00 How Nelly’s immigrant story lead her to living a more authentic life

Connect with Nelly Caldeira

Instagram: @nelly_caldeira

Is there anything more valuable to invest in than yourself? Sometimes, this can be as simple as giving yourself the grace to work through challenges to set yourself up for success when you are prepared to overcome! In this episode, Alex sits down with Saket Jain who has built a mission driven career in tech, finance, real estate, and as an Operations Leader for Airbnb Headquarters. Saket's journey is not without challenges but he learned to ask one key question that empowered him to go from victim to victor!  

1:00 - Who is Saket Jain and what is his impact?

7:30 - How do you empower yourself to go from victim to victor through external challenges?

“Instead of asking yourself why me and why now, ask why not me and why not now?”

13:00 - Embracing your feelings to avoid toxic positivity

16:38 - How would you define an investor mindset and why is it important to develop

18:00 - 80-90% of your life is determined by what is in your head

23:20 - Learning the skill of opportunity recognition and knowing if they align with your why

Connect with Saket Jain

Leadership can be defined by your level of influence. This extends to teams, individual relationships, and even in your personal life! In this episode, Alex sits down with Ann Visser who is a John Maxwell certified coach, speaker, and trainer. Ann is a master of communication and more importantly, having pivotal conversations. Pivotal conversations create a shift or a change because something is not working which results in, you guessed it, influence!

1:05 Who is Ann Visser?

4:40 What does it mean to have pivotal conversations? The moment that changed everything for Ann

8:00 “[Leaders take control of pivotal conversations] to support their intentions and outcomes”

10:45 The 3 C in having pivotal conversations

15:45  How to develop We based solutions within personal and professional relationships

17:20 “One of the most important roles of a leader is to communicate the vision over and over again”

Connect with Ann Visser!

All roads eventually lead back to your finances. In this episode, Alex sits down with financial literacy expert Marci Grossman to discuss the importance of understanding the relationship between your values, where you are at with your finances, and where you wish to be. Marci also outlines key questions you need to ask when starting the process of becoming your own financial expert!

0:50 - Who is Marci Grossman

2:30 - What is financial literacy?

4:10 - What questions should you start asking with your finances?

7:20 - Developing an empowering mindset around money

10:20 - “Find what bring you joy” - money is a tool to bring you what is important

“Am I spending on my values or what is important to others?”

13:15 - What questions are important to ask when you are looking to expand your knowledge?

“Look for a friend that disagrees with you and an enemy that agrees with you”

17:50 - What is the best way to start setting goals around your finances?

“All roads lead back to your finances”

22:06 - Why is money such a taboo topic?

Connect with Marci below and check out her book "MoneyMarci’s Guide to Financial Literacy"

https://www.moneymarci.com/onesheet

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone where you forget about everything else going on? Rapport is about opening up a line of communication between you and another person and you can develop it with anyone in a matter of seconds! In this episode, Alex goes over two strategies to help you develop rapid rapport with anyone

0:30 What is Rapport?

2:00 - Matching and Mirroring - the key to getting comfortable with someone in seconds

3:30 - Paying attention to Physiology, Tone, and the Words people use

5:50 - Pavlov’s Dogs and Classical Conditioning to get people to like you

7:10 - If you are able to make others feel values and important, even in a short interaction, you will develop a deeper relationship.

In this episode, Alex breaks down the 7-38-55 rule of personal communication. This outlines the relationship between our verbal and non verbal communication and just how impactful each is when conveying meaning, emotion, and intention. Understanding this idea is the first step in mastering communication with any individual in any context.

0:55 - The better you are able to connect with the individual and their problems through your communication, the better you are able to manage a situation or relationship

1:35 Difference between verbal and non verbal communication; what you are trying to communicate vs what you actually communicate

2:20 Albert Mehrabian's 7-38-55 rule of personal communication

3:03 7% spoken words

4:55 38% tone

5:55 “Your tone of voice will immediately begin to impact somebody's mood and immediately how their brain functions.” Chris Voss, former FBI hostage negotiator

6:30 55% physiology

7:35 Hack to becoming a Master Communicator - the Golden rule vs platinum rule

Understanding your own personal values may be one of the most critical aspects in growing a business and growing yourself. In this episode, Alex sits down with Ken Hoffman, the former General Manager of Postino Annex and the current Area Director for Upward Projects, to discuss the values of one of the most influential restaurant chains in Arizona. Ken breaks down how understanding and living his personal values help him develop into the leader he is today and challenges every leader to ask a critical question: “How can you use your values to add the most value to the people you serve?”

1:20 - Who is Ken Hoffman?

5:10 - What makes Upward Projects special in the hospitality industry?

The Values of Upward Projects:

10:15 - Be Authentic and Humble

15:50 - Act with Integrity

18:15 - Bring Good Energy

26:30 - Get Extraordinary Results

30:10 - Achieve as a Team

38:10 - Inspire with Hospitality

The past several years can be defined by nothing short of wellness. Both on a personal level and within businesses, wellness is essential in building any kind of people centered organization. In this episode, Alex sits down with Dr. Julie Alvira to discuss wellness and how this shows up in the workplace. Dr. Alvira has dedicated the later half of her career to understanding behaviors, addiction, and corporate burnout and in this episode, she breaks down the key to recognizing the patterns/behaviors in you and your team and just how to resolve them to become a stronger leader.

1:10 Who is Dr. Julie Alvira?

4:35 The journey that starts with curiosity

5:50 techniques for taking a step back to build awareness

9:10 Burnout in the workplace - recognizing in self and others

15:15 Burnout and a detachment from your why for doing what you are doing

16:20 Performance failure /self critical burnout cycle

31:30 When you notice burnout, what can you do to support yourself and others?

24:10 Building awareness starts by asking  yourself “Why?”