The Leader's Guide

So much of modern day marketing is about expanding brand reach and boosting sales. While these are powerful measurables in business, what kind of difference could be made if marketing was centered around people and relationships? In this episode Alex speaks with Scott Robertson who transferred 30 years of marketing experince into his own marketing agency RobertsonComm that is centered around just this. Scott Robertson calls this idea “higher level marketing” and he breaks these ideas down further in his best selling book “Just Stop It.” This shift in mindset has not only empowered his clients see massive results in their companies, but enhanced his own abilities as a leader.

1:10 - Who is Scott Robertson

5:18 - Branding and Higher Level Marking

9:50 - The four pillars of higher level marketing: story telling, building relationship, empathy, trust

15:40 - Building people centered marketing

19:30 - How do you communicate to your customers that you care about them?

26:30 - Higher level marking is about identifying client problems and working to make their lives better

Connect with Scott Robertson:

If there is one thing that remains consistent in life it is change. Every new change comes with its unique challenges but fear, uncertainty, and anxiety do not need to be among them. In this episode, Alex speaks with international speaker, author, coach, and podcaster Kevin McNulty. Kevin began his career in the United States Air Force advising military commanders on human relationships within their organizations. After a 20 year career, he left the military with the goal of implementing these ideas within his own company, Humadyn. In navigating his own transitions, Kevin McNulty wrote his book “The Gap Between Two Worlds” to help people lead themselves through difficult transition. 

1:00 - Who is Kevin McNulty

5:00 - Kevin McNulty’s path out of the military and into his private career

• Dealing with depression, anxiety, and a massive transition

9:50 - Understanding the Gap Between Two worlds

• Navigating seasons of transitions

12:00 - Transitions are inevitable - what are the first steps in recognizing/navigating a transitionary period?

16:00 - Embracing uncertainty within a transition - the “Foggy Zone”

20:30 - Understanding transitions as “Seasons of Life” with a beginning and an end

• “Either you shape your future or your future will shape you” - Kevin McNulty

26:30 - The most important step for anyone entering a transition, ESPECIALLY out of college

Connect with Kevin McNulty

When is the last time you thought about your dream? Not in your sleep - but one that inspired you, made you excited for the future, and gave you something to work hard for. In this episode, Alex spoke with entrepreneur and co founder of Axiom Wealth Solutions Katie Bargetto about what it means to dream in your career.

1:45 - Who is Katie Bargetto?

3:30 - What lead Katie to change her career path and pursue the entrepreneurial journey?

8:45 -  Why is it so important to have your end goal in mind when building a career?

• Learn to dream again to uncover what it is you really want

11:00 - What prevents people from dreaming in their careers?

14:20 - Breaking down your dream into the next important step

22:00 - Developing a personal vision plan

• Implement the dream into the process instead of the dream serving as the end result

Connect with Katie below!

Learning to manage our time is probably one of the most important skills that we can develop as people. And it is more than having a calendar or learning to time block. In this episode, Alex interviews Al Loveland who an expert in helping people enhance their productivity. After working for 15 years at Major bank, Mr. Albert Loveland learned that he had a passion for consulting and helping people properly invest time into their businesses and careers. He took that passion and started his company Strabo were he empowers  entrepreneurs, small business owners, and nonprofits.

3:30 - Why is it so important to find a work life balance and be conscious about the other aspects of your life

8:00 - Time investment, the key to maximizing your time and how it is different from time management

• The Art of Becoming through your time

12:30 - Begin with the end in mind, know who you want to become so you know how to spend your time

15:50 - When you know who you want to become, what are the next steps in better investing your time?

19:30 - Discipline is about choosing what you want most over what you want now

23:20 - How would your 20 year old self’s goals shifted if you started with the being

Connect with Albert Loveland

Have you ever caught yourself mentally drifting at school or work? How about taking 2 hours to do something that should only take 20 minutes? In this episode, Alex spoke with Focus Coach Tina Kramer who is an expert in just this, Focus! After spending a career teaching in international schools, she learned that the key to focus is understanding yourself as a perceptual learner. Now, she teaches focus to individuals all over the world and is filling in this gap in both educational and corporate spaces. Here is what we learn: 

0:45 - How did international teaching pave a path for Tina Kramer?

2:00 - What is perceptual learning?

6:40 - What are the gifts and the challenges of a perceptual learner?

9:00 - When you recognize that you struggle with focus, how can you start strengthening that skill/muscle?

13:00 - Understanding the relationship between seeing the pictures in your head and their organization

16:00 - The disconnect in sequential thinking and how it affects your focus

23:00 - Tina Kramer’s innovative sound device that combats spatial thinking and enhances focus

Connect with Tina Kramer:

Whether you realize it or not, you are constantly communicating information about yourself to other people. When there is intention behind it, this can be seen as your personal brand. In this episode, Antoinette Logan shares with Alex what it means to build a personal brand and how you can start uncovering yours. Ms. Logan began her career in cosmetology, shifted into financial services, and has since built a massive career in media branding and marketing. She has worked in radio, news, reality tv, produced her own tv show, and most recently, started her own marketing agency called “The AIM Agency”, a non profit for domestic abuse, and is in the process of releasing her new book.

1:00 - Who is Ms. Antoinette Logan?

2:40 - What is a brand has it relates to you?

4:00 - Why is it important to recognize the idea of a personal brand?

8:30 - What questions can you ask yourself to start uncovering your personal brand?

13:00 - Aligning your brand with your personal goals

16:00 - When you learn what you brand is, how do you begin communicating it to other people?

18:00 - What skills did Ms. Antoinette Logan develop to spread her brand around the world?

@askmslogan

When was the last time that you experienced something that felt like a major setback? How did you respond and how is your life different now as a result? In this episode, Alex sits down with published author, blogger, and aspiring mental health coach Kellina Powell. When she was a child, Kellina experienced an ear infection that left her without her hearing. Now, has an inspiring mission to serve as an advocate for the deaf community to create a more accessible and patient world!

0:35 - Who is Kellina Powell aka @deafqueenboss

2:30 - How Kellina turned being hard of hearing into her mission

8:30 - Developing patience within your communication, how to communicate with people who face challenges in their communication

11:30 - How do you push yourself to be in uncomfortable situations and be patient with the results?

16:15 - What do you want the people who are facing challenges to know?

21:00 - What drives you to be a mental health advocate in the deaf community?

When it comes to your work, what do you want to be known for? Is it a skill you have, people you worked with,  the way you showed up? Knowing this is one of the first steps to knowing your Niche. In this episode, Alex talks with Marlita Hill who is the best selling author of “Nail Your Niche.” Whether you are an employee or a business owner, knowing how you show up better than everyone else is essential!

0:40 - Who is Marlita Hill?

1:40 - What is a Niche and why is it important to know yours?

5:00 - Questions you can ask yourself to discover your Niche

8:50 - At its core, a niche should be about who you want to serve and who you want to be in your work. How does this idea apply outside of entrepreneurship?

16:00 - A niche bridges the gap between what you have and what they need

18:30 - How do you develop the courage to step into your niche?

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?

• “When I give to myself, I have learned that I show up as a better leader in my own life” - Stephanie Jones

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

Connect with Stephanie:

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?

• “we need to learn to reframe internal dialogue with ourselves to make it safe to fail” - Danielle Abbott

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

• “Managers delegate tasks, leader’s delegate decision making authority”

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!

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

• Check in With Emotions
• Communicate and Clarify
• Create We Solutions

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”

• Leadership = Influence

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"