Succeeding at Life

The world of business is experiencing a powerful shift towards a more empathetic and emotionally intelligent approach to leadership. CEOs are increasingly recognizing the importance of supporting their employees' well-being and emotional needs, and many are learning to embrace their own vulnerability in the process. While this may be new territory for some male leaders, it is nothing new for the many women who have been leading with empathy and emotional intelligence for years. In fact, research has shown that women executives are significantly more likely to consistently demonstrate emotional self-awareness and empathy than their male counterparts. This shift towards a more empathetic and emotionally intelligent approach to leadership is a positive development for organizations and their employees alike. By prioritizing emotional well-being and empathy, leaders can create a more supportive and inclusive workplace culture that fosters growth, productivity, and innovation. So whether you're a CEO or a team leader at any level of your organization, remember that embracing your own vulnerability and supporting your employees' well-being and emotional needs is a key factor in achieving success and building a thriving, fulfilling workplace.

Our guest on this episode is Adiasha Richards-Thornhill.  She is a proud Trinidadian. She is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, and the owner of Growth and Transitions Counseling located in Queens NY.

Her career spans a decade, and she is passionate about therapy that is deep, and aimed at healing the wounds beneath the surface. She works primarily with women to help them work through their trauma, heal from past wounds, and grow the skills needed to move out of surviving and into a life of full living.

She states "Everyone is talking about doing the work, finding inner peace, posting positive quotes, but What the Hell is that? How do you do the work?"

She is not just a therapist but also the Director of her private practice which has a team of licensed therapists that serve a wide demographic of people. She supervises interns, coaches aspiring clinicians, speaks at engagements and creates workshops.

Being from the Caribbean, she is also passionate about connecting with the community, reducing stigma and increasing the understanding and practice of mental wellness in the Caribbean community.

In this episode Adiasha discusses her motivation for choosing her field, some of the lessons she learnt along the way and her hope for how mental wellness issues are viewed especially in the Caribbean.

Our guest in this episode is Donna Every. Donna is the author of three inspirational books "What Do You Have in Your House? Surviving in Times of Financial Crisis", "The Promise Keeper" and "Arise and Shine" as well as an entrepreneurship book "The ABCs of Entrepreneurship - Tessa Takes the Challenge". Her articles have been published in numerous online newsletters and business websites. She was featured on the cover of Personal Excellence magazine for her article "Beating the Economy" based on her first book.

While her background is in business and finance, she discovered a love for writing a few years ago and enjoys the challenge of creating page turning books combining business and romance and now history and romance.

She has written eight novels "The Merger Mogul", "The High Road" , the page turning historical romance, "The Price of Freedom", her sweet rock star romance, "What Now?", "Free in the City", the exciting sequel to "The Price of Freedom", the third book in the Acreage Series "Free At Last", "Vaucluse" her new venture into fictionalized history and now her fourth book in The Acreage Series "Return to The Acreage".

Donna talks about her journey to becoming and author, the challenges that women in leadership sometimes face and her plans to for broadening what she is offering to the public.

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Julie Turney is a heart centric and people-focused HR Professional with over 15 years of experience in the field. She is the brainchild of HR@Heart Consulting Inc. a coaching firm she created after her second bout of HR burnout to help HR professionals to build their resilience agility while providing a safe place to recharge.

She is also the Lead Organizer of DisruptHR Caribbean for Barbados, Jamaica & Trinidad. She is the Host of the HR Sound Off Podcast Show and author of the book “Confessions of an HR Pro: Stories of Defeat and Triumph.”

She describes herself as being on a mission to connect with every member of the #HRCommunity and she is determined to clear up the many misconceptions that people have about the HR profession.

In this episode Julie talks about what it took for her to make the transition from being burnt out to being empowered and fulfilled. She offers some great advice and lessons from her journey.

OUR GUEST

Christal P. Austin, Pg. Dip., BSc. is a trusted public relations advisor with over 18 years of experience in the tourism, finance, agriculture and international development sectors.  She is presently employed as a Senior Public Affairs Officer - Media Relations in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Information and Public Affairs.

An avid creative, she won the Richard Stoute Teen Talent contest in 2001, copped the UNESCO award for prose during NIFCA 2004 and is the self-published author of the poetic anthology, Lyrical Lava - Igniting the Fire Within (2005).  She was top scorer in the Honey Jam all-female artiste showcase in 2011 and a semi-finalist in the NCF's Sweet Soca Competition in 2013.  2021 marked her 22nd year as a singer on the local hotel circuit.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Sector Management (Honours) from the University of the West Indies (UWI), a Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Administration (Merit) from the University of Surrey and is currently pursuing a Master of Philosophy in Governance and Public Policy at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies of the UWI.

This episode looks at the way that we see our talents and the value we place on what we can contribute to our organizations and the world around us. It draws on a blog post in Showcasing the Success Journey and suggests steps that you can take to shift the way you see your own capabilities.

Most people are stressed out by uncertainty. The challenge also seems to be that many people seem to think that it is only happening to them. It is not. It happens and it is perfectly natural.

In this episode I discuss three suggestions that can help you to cope better as you keep moving forward.

This feeling may never go away but the more you confront it. the easier it becomes for you to recognize it and over time you become more accustomed to dealing with it. In the end, that is progress too.

There is a very appropriate saying in marketing. Find your tribe and love them hard.

For organizations managers need to be clear about who your customers are and you need to fully understand what they are seeking to achieve by purchasing your product or service.  Developing this level of awareness allows you to provide a level of service that elevates the customer's experience with the organization. This puts them in a position where they are more likely to want to repeat their experience and/or recommend it to others.

Marketing is a holistic concept. To be successful an organization needs to think beyond advertising and promotion. Think also about the systems, structures and process. Two concepts to consider:

• The Service Triangle
• The Touchpoints With Customers

Marketing Tip #3

Sell without selling. Public Relations has an amazing return on investment for organizations which choose to employ it. There are easy options for any budget when it comes to PR. You can practice Corporate Social Responsibility at any scale.

Marketing Tip #2 

A little controversy can build some great awareness. We all need to learn how to use it to our advantage.

If you sling enough mud against the wall, some of it is bound to stick.

I have recorded a series of videos about marketing drawn from my experiences over the years.  I have decided to take that information as part of this podcast. This is the introduction to the series.

This is a recording of the LinkedIn Local Barbados Online Event featuring a discussion with Author Donna Every. 

In this episode she discusses her journey from being a business professional and employee to where she is now, being a full-time author and entrepreneur.  She emphasizes the attention that creative entrepreneurs should pay to the business side of their operations and the discipline that is needed to be a successful and productive author. She even discusses her role as a writing coach and trainer for budding authors hoping to perfect their skills.

This is the audio recording from Refuel and Re-Engage With Sonia, the LinkedIn Local Barbados Online Event from June 4, 2020.

It includes a discussion between Marjorie Wharton, Host for LinkedIn Local Barbados and Sonia Layne-Gartside, Coach, Master Trainer and Organizational Change Management Specialist. Their conversation centered around Sonia's book Workplace Anxiety: How To Refuel and Re-Engage.

People always ask me for tips on how to get things done. Not because I am so organized but because they are so stressed. Everyone keeps hoping for the magic pill that is going to help them to be able to get everything done but we have not found one yet. In this episode we look at some tips to help you cope. The areas covered are:

1. The Mindset Shifts That Are Needed
2. Some Tools and Techniques for getting things done
3. Ways of Managing Your Energy

We have no control over the time that is available to us. Therefore we have to get better at exercising control over ourselves and the choices that we make each day to ensure that we are able to achieve what matters most to us.

Throughout my career I have found that most organizations, regardless of their size, location or industry, and regardless of whether they are private or public sector, all tend to have one problem in common. That problem is communication. Therefore the one thing that any leader can do to improve their effectiveness is to become better at communicating.  In this episode we look at 4 keys that the leader can use to become better:

1. Listening more than you talk.
2. Being empathetic.
3. Understanding communication filters.
4. Having a clear objective before you communicate.

Communication is the lifeblood of effective human interactions. Getting better at it is guaranteed to help you be more effective in your personal or professional life.

Most CEOs and Business Owners have a problem. They are trying to figure out what it takes to get their supervisors and managers to be better in their roles. This episode offers some free advice to help senior managers and owners address this problem. We address four areas:

• Creating Ownership and Empowerment
• Building the Potential to Succees
• Moving Beyond from the Golden Rule
• Seeing What They Do Matters

Another step in the process to succeed and achieve breakthrough performance. For more information or support in getting your employees engaged and feeling empowered, email marjorie@btpcoaching.com.

People often assume that managers are the problem in organizations until they become one. Then they realize that they really are not mentally prepared for the role they are being asked to fill. This episode offers some insight into four areas:

1. The change in focus.
2. The emotional toll.
3. The Impostor Syndrome.
4. The positive send off.

As always the focus is on ensuring that you are able to find useful tips that can help you to achieve the results you want.

In this episode we talk about some key areas that can cause you to be ignored on the biggest professional networking platform in the world, LinkedIn. We look at how you use:

• Your Photo
• Your Profile
• Connections
• Advice on posting content

As always our goal is to help you improve your performance and achieve the results you want.

Have you ever had those moments when you are feeling drained and like all your efforts are failing? Well, you are not alone.

Our thoughts create our reality. Therefore whether or not we succeed in life depends on the thoughts that we have most consistently running through our minds. Change your thoughts and you change the world.

Introducing Marjorie and talking a little about why I am doing this.

My name is Marjorie Wharton and I am a coach, trainer and facilitator. My goal is to help people get their stuff done. I work with individuals and organizations to help them achieve the results they want.

Thank you for subscribing and thank you for listening to Succeeding at Life.