Women Worldwide with Deirdre Breakenridge

Actor, writer, producer, entrepreneur, and storyteller Ivana De Maria is here to talk about the importance of communication through story. She believes that we learn from telling our stories and listening to stories, even ones that we may not agree with or that are different than ours. She feels so passionately about this process that she has created an app called StoryPlace that enables ordinary people to tell extraordinary stories.

Ivana grew up in the entertainment world and began acting, but she soon discovered that writing and producing would enable her to tell the stories that she wanted to tell. Ivana studied finance and law at Boston University and has attended several acting schools. She has starred in a number of independent films and TV shows. She is also a series regular on the TV series "Beauty and the Beasts" (La Bella y las Bestias) which airs on  Primetime Univison.

Show Notes

  • [03:21] Ivana grew up in the entertainment world her brothers are producers. She has always been in media and has always loved interpreting people.
  • [05:18] Ivana started as an actress, but she soon realize that she had stories that she wanted to tell. She then began developing her own content, and she also realized that we are living in a time when that is possible.
  • [06:02] She writes, produces, and then acts in with her own content. She then started producing content based on true stories.
  • [06:51] She now wants to find the stories that are worth telling. All around the world. Her app gives people the voice to tell their stories.
  • [08:26] Truth was lacking in social media. The real story is the egoless story.
  • [10:30] Being an entrepreneur can be overwhelming. Breaking things down into smaller steps definitely makes large projects more attainable.
  • [11:07] Even though the unknown is scary and a bit exciting, Ivana started taking chances on herself.
  • [11:57] Being an entrepreneur requires a lot of discipline and can be very difficult.
  • [12:34] people want to be a part of something that they care about, and this has given Ivana a strength to believe in what she cares about.
  • [13:07] Discipline, perseverance, and passion are three characteristics of entrepreneurs.
  • [13:47] She is the youngest of seven children. her mother led them by example, because it's not what you give your children it's what you teach your children.
  • [15:49] Ivana learned to be independent at a young age similar to how a stray dog can take care of itself.
  • [16:25] She is a lifelong learner and has a tattoo that says eternal learning.
  • [18:07] You can do a lot of different things as long as you are organized and true to yourself.
  • [19:47] She studied business and law in college. She knew the business side of things, but an app is different.
  • [21:25] StoryPlace is a free app. Ivana wants to solve the empathy deficit.
  • [29:01] A big part of StoryPlace will be teaching people the culture of storytelling and why their story matters.
  • [30:46] A person's opinion is only their opinion. Rejection shouldn't be taken to heart.
  • [33:15] 95% of everything that Ivana does is based on her instincts. It took her years to develop the skills to trust her own instincts.
  • [35:39] Each role she acted in gave her new perspectives. Light a flashlight on a wall, she wants her light and perspectives to fill the whole wall.
  • [37:09] Every story is a new perspective and makes us better people. Be able to acknowledge that there is a story different than years.
  • [38:43] Woman often commit to give 100%, but make a conscious choice of where those percentages will go. This is the definition of being empowered. Be intentional and realistic about where you will give your energy.  

Links and Resources:

Direct download: WW197.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EDT

Veronica Kirin is here today to talk about being intentional with your technology. Veronica is the author of Stories of Elders: What the Greatest Generation Knows about Technology that You Don't. This is a fascinating look into “The Greatest Generation” (born before 1945) and the last generation born before the digital revolution.

Veronica is an anthropologist turned entrepreneur. She is a Forbes notable graduate of Grand Valley State University and a 40 Under 40 Business Leader. She is the founder of GreenCup Web Design and an entrepreneur coach to LGBTQ business owners. She is known for her Self Care Through Scaling™ program, and she is the founder of the Fempreneur Forum. It’s her passion to help entrepreneurs scale their businesses to reclaim freedom and time.

Show Notes

  • [03:11] Veronica is still an anthropologist. Anthropology is the study of people. She is a cultural anthropologist which studies current people.
  • [04:15] Anthropology marries perfectly with entrepreneurship, because it teaches you to have insights into others especially those who aren't like you.
  • [04:26] To understand your target client, you really need to predict their needs and wants.
  • [05:56] Veronica's book is a bridge between anthropology and technology, as she noticed technology was starting to change her behaviors. She noticed she was sending texts instead of face to face interaction and also growing more depressed.
  • [07:39] The elders in Veronica's book have lived approximately a lifetime without technology. She wanted the contrast between these people and younger people who only know technology.
  • [08:19] People who grew up without tech have a completely different perspective on what is happening now.
  • [08:51] She discovered that the elders had a deep sense of intentionality, and they wanted to choose whether they wanted this technology in their lives or not.
  • [12:12] 25 is an important age because that is when the brain is fully developed.
  • [13:31] One of her favorite stories in the book is Edwin Gould's story who engineered the first spy satellite for the country. The leaps we have no show the amazing shift.
  • [16:16] Veronica did 100 interviews which amounted to about 8,000 years of stories for her book. She worked with an author coach which was really helpful.
  • [18:07] She was also inspired by the author Racheal Rose Steil who wrote Running in Silence. They became friends and collaborate on different projects.
  • [20:14] The book took three and a half years from inception to publishing.
  • [24:00] To get these interviews, Veronica drove 12,000 miles through 40 States in 6 weeks. It was a very stressful experience, and she learned how important self-care really is. It took her six months before she could start processing these interviews.
  • [25:51] She also learned to be more intentional about her technology use. She doesn't look at the phone first thing in the morning. She allows herself to walk away from the computer. Our bodies are designed to move and stop looking at screens.
  • [27:27] She also has tech free monthly brunches.
  • [30:51] Veronica used Kickstarter to fund her book and it became a staff pick. Technology has been critical in the production of her book.
  • [34:28] Digital marketing has played a huge part in the promotion of her book.
  • [35:42] Being an author is being an entrepreneur. If you don't have the marketing skills, hire someone who does.
  • [36:59] Having a coach and mentor is so important.
  • [37:37] To Veronica, success feels like moving forward and moving the needle. She also loves the energy derived from her client work.
  • [39:05] If you want to do something, just start. You have what it takes to find what you need and make it happen.

Links and Resources:

Direct download: WW196.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EDT

We hear a lot about the customer experience, but should you start with the customer experience? Maybe it would be better to start with the internal experience of your own people.

My guests today are Dr. Rachel MK Headley and Meg Manke they are senior partners at Rose Group Int'l where they developed their proprietary leadership framework. This allows leaders to solve team problems, address generational issues, manage changes, and address goals. They are also co-authors of iX Leadership: Create High-Five Cultures and Guide Transformation.

Rachel is a Mensa PhD scientist, a Project Management Professional, TEDx speaker, and is on the Council of Trustees for South Dakota State University. Meg is a culture and leadership expert with years of experience leading companies through transitions, mergers, acquisitions, and behavior-based training. I am so excited to have them here today to talk about iX Leadership and culture transformation.

Show Notes

  • [03:19] Meg and Rachel were in some of the same leadership groups.
  • [04:06] They realized that work shouldn't be so hard for people and started developing the concepts of iX leadership.
  • [04:25] Rachel had a company and was doing corporate consulting. She started noticing how some teams could thrive and some teams could be miserable even though they were under the same leadership.
  • [05:47] Rachel knew Meg was the person to partner with when it comes to culture, motivation, and connection. Their skill sets complemented each other.
  • [07:16] Meg and Rachel developed a lot of concepts right off the bat. They then decided to put it in an easy to digest book to make the largest impact.
  • [09:25] The book was for everyone. There is something in the book for every team.
  • [10:37] People make up the culture of a business environment, and team culture is difficult to shift.
  • [11:05] Shifting the culture and the mindset. We create the culture. A great internal experience is designed. It doesn't just happen by chance.
  • [12:14] You have to help people understand why the change is important for them.
  • [13:23] Organizations have to find the thing that it is to get people to fight for them. The leadership team needs to be passionate and then transfer that passion to their team in terms that they understand.
  • [15:19] Transparency is super important, because it develops trust.
  • [16:03] One of the biggest barriers is people's discomfort with change.
  • [16:21] If you understand the type of work environment your people prefer, then you understand how they move through change.
  • [16:55] People who like freedom jump on the change. Others may be more reluctant. The anxiety around change needs to be turned into excitement.
  • [19:50] Once enough people get on board with the change, other people will join them.
  • [24:09] Rachel thinks one of the fun things about having a partner is sharing highs and lows.
  • [24:49] Rachel wants to surrounded by people who disagree and challenge her on things. This is one of the reasons that her and Meg have a great collaboration even if they don't agree on everything.
  • [25:41] Meg thinks that they have their arguments curated down to a discussion of how to proceed forward.
  • [26:24] Even if they don't agree, they bring themselves back to their real goal of making an impact on the world.
  • [28:01] Recently two colleagues took the iX Leadership book into job interviews.
  • [29:46] One of the most rewarding things about being a female in business is that with work and perseverance we can do anything.
  • [31:20] One of Rachel's toughest challenges was lack of confidence and money anxiety. She left these thoughts behind. Her biggest challenge now is taking Meg on as a partner. The benefits outweigh the anxiety. The collaboration is really exciting.
  • [34:19] Your perspective seems to root itself in your current challenges. Challenges always exist no matter what level you are at. For Meg, making sure everything is moving forward is the most challenging.
  • [37:00] Rachel manages stress through music and singing.
  • [38:22] Running is Meg's stress buster. She also has her best aha moments during running.
  • [39:31] Advice from Rachel is to start small. Do something small but doable and build confidence. Don't be paralyzed by the fear of failure. Celebrate your wins.
  • [41:05] Advice form Meg is know your core values and what is important to you. You don't know, if you don't ask. Trust your gut and go for it.

Links and Resources:

Direct download: WW195.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EDT

Bob Burg is here today to talk about being a Go-Giver. Bob is a top-producing salesperson and former television personality. He speaks at conferences to huge crowds of 15,000 plus people. Many of his audience members have been influential people including a former president.

He is the author of sales and leadership books including Endless Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts Into Sales and Adversaries into Allies. He is also an author of the popular Go-Giver books which have sold over 800,000 copies. He was also named one of the 30 Most Influential Leaders by The American Management Association. Listen in, so you can learn how to up your sales by being a Go-Giver.

Show Notes

  • [04:21] Bob began in broadcasting and then moved to late night news.
  • [05:38] He then graduated into sales. He floundered for a while until he found books by Tom Hawkins and Zig Ziglar.
  • [06:25] He became interested in selling and having a system that would get him from point A to B. He also became involved in personal development.
  • [07:06] As he learned more about sales and became involved with personal development it eventually morphed into a speaking career.
  • [07:52] The premise of the Go-Giver is shifting your focus from getting to giving or constantly and consistently providing value to others.
  • [09:00] Bob's first book was about building relationships because people do business with people who they know, like, and trust.
  • [09:30] He has always enjoyed business parables because stories connect with people.
  • [10:04] Writing a parable is a work of fiction, so he reached out to John David Mann.
  • [11:46] This book has five laws.
  • [12:23] The laws of value, compensation, influence, authenticity, receptivity.
  • [13:28] Value means that both parties profit.
  • [14:37] The five elements of value are excellence, consistency, attention, empathy, and appreciation.
  • [15:13] Your focus should be on the value not the money.
  • [15:56] The law of receptivity is difficult for many people.
  • [18:24] Once you earn the right to receive, you have to allow yourself to do so.
  • [19:07] Bob's latest book is the Go-Giver Influencer. This is the third parable. It's about two people who have a great business collaboration but keep getting in their own way.
  • [20:20] It's really about how to get the results you want when dealing with others.
  • [24:23] One of the characters was loosely modeled after Bob Proctor. Other characters were loosely based on people they knew or knew of.
  • [26:56] Bob's biggest accomplishment are the sales of the Go-Giver.
  • [27:59] Bob's biggest obstacle in life has been being an OCD sufferer. His toughest business obstacle was getting up-to-date with technology.
  • [32:24] There is nothing about being a Go-Giver that is congruent with being a doormat.
  • [34:55] When you're looking to bring value to others you establish that reputation. You create a benevolent context for success.
  • [36:08] You can leave from anywhere but a culture comes from the top. You have to decide if you can thrive within the culture that you are in or if you need to find some other place to be.
  • [38:40] 10% is the magic number to get people on board then your ideas will really spread.
  • [41:49] Set a target in sales. Money is the reward for hitting that target. Your target is serving others.

Links and Resources:

Direct download: WW194.mp3
Category:Business -- posted at: 7:00am EDT

Mary Marshall is the new President of Forrest Performance Group, the nation’s most cutting edge sales and management training company. She is going to share her journey including how she was an instrumental leader in growing FPG into an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Company. She has also been instrumental in creating FPG’s Stevie Award-winning sales, customer service, and leadership programs.

Her background includes online learning facilitation, sales, professional speaking, and moderating. She helps change behavior by teaching FPG’s award winning programs. Today, we talk about fulling tapping into human performance to increase sales, performance, and profits. Mary shares a lesson she learned in a call center job that she hated until she learned to change her mindset. These techniques on changing her perspective still hold true today.

Show Notes

  • [03:35] Mary's first job was at the college call center asking for money. She learned so much. She cried in her first ten minutes.
  • [05:37] This job made her miserable. She decided to talk to the top salesperson and find out why he was so happy.
  • [05:39] Every day was wonderful for him talking to people on the phone, hearing their stories, taking something off their to-do list, and making them smile.
  • [06:14] This changed her whole trajectory. The next semester everything was wonderful for her. She went to work excited every day.
  • [06:38] She took this mindset into every sales job that she had after that.
  • [06:52] At FPG she began helping the content team and now she is president of the company. It has been an incredible journey for her.
  • [07:53] The power of reframing the mindset is amazing.
  • [10:06] If you don't believe you can't create an environment for yourself or others to believe.
  • [11:30] Beliefs are what hold us back from selling. It's our mindset and not deciding to yield or give up.
  • [13:01] Persuasion is pushing forward when you know the product is right for that person or company, by doing your homework up front as opposed to manipulation.
  • [14:49] Internalizing beliefs like people don't want to be sold to makes a salesperson think that there is something intrinsically wrong with what they are doing.
  • [15:38] People love to be sold to. They don't want to be sold to buy anybody who's unethical.
  • [16:29] To be successful sales release mindset issues that prevent you from doing things like selling on the phone.
  • [17:39] Mary shares the difference between working with individuals as opposed to teams when doing sales coaching.
  • [18:16] Skill training is great in a group framework. Some will act and some won't. This is where individual training comes into play.
  • [19:19] Find the leash that is preventing the salesperson from following through.
  • [19:58] One-on-one coaching can help change the limiting belief.
  • [24:37] Before Mary starts her day she thinks about the type of energy she needs according to the task or people that she is going to be dealing with. She wants to always be in the right frame of mind.
  • [25:54]  She also writes things down and practices preparing herself for her next task or sales call.
  • [26:22] Be present with who you are with. By preparing you can be grounded. Role play or have other people listen to what you are doing.
  • [27:30] The most important thing is to have a process.
  • [27:47] Mary uses the seven steps of starting strong with each person she sales too.
  • [29:12] The first step is to ask a triple binding question. Get people to make decisions as fast as possible.
  • [31:27] Sales and leadership isn't personal life or professional life, it is just life.
  • [32:07] Success for Mary is responding in the most loving and effective way.
  • [32:57] Her biggest goal is creating leaders for her company. She wants to create a space and environment that allows people to become leaders.
  • [35:19] Mary listens to as many books as possible on Audible. She also does a lot of learning on Growth Cafe. She is also on Wunderlist.
  • [38:04] Mary likes using social media to stay involved and excited with old neighbors that she used to have.
  • [38:41] People can't be successful today without connecting on social media.
  • [39:48] When you finally meet someone in person who you've known on social media for a number of years it's like meeting an old friend.
  • [40:17] Out of college, Mary went up to the president of a company that she wanted to work for who she saw at a party,  and his reply was we don't hire little girls as sales people.
  • [41:29] This fueled her to prove him wrong. She also started noticing people who actually believed in her, and she realized she had to let go of the situation with this man.
  • [42:26] Listen to people who actually believe in you. This is the fuel source that gives you the energy at the end of the day to do your job and go home and be a great mom.
  • [43:30] Find the person who is the most successful in whatever you want to do and do what this person is doing.

Links and Resources:

Direct download: WW193.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EDT

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