E59 Sonya Price

Sonja "Dynamo" Price, known as the Career Whisperer, is a top career strategist, salary advisor, and leadership coach, dedicated to helping mid-level corporate professionals find greater meaning, achieve better work-life balance, and significantly increase their pay. With a world-renowned presence, she's graced stages worldwide, including the Women's Economic Forum in New Delhi, India, where she received an Honorable Woman of Excellence Award and Business World recognition. Sonja's insights have reached audiences on podcasts, radio shows, and prestigious events like the Project Management Institute and General Assembly. She's authored two books, "The Pivot Point System: 5 Keys to Transform Your Career, Health, and Wealth" and "The Infinite Leader: How to Increase Your Influence and Expand Your Impact." With a unique background that includes working with Tony Robbins and training with Al Gore as a Climate Reality Leader, Sonja is the founder of the Dynamo Career Accelerator, helping clients land dream jobs with companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Sonja holds a Master's Degree in Leadership and Organizational Development and is a Certified Career and Executive Coach, driven by her passion for empowering employees and conscious companies to shape a thriving future for all. When she's not transforming careers, Sonja enjoys skiing, playing piano, and diving into strategy board games. Tune in for invaluable career insights and tips that you'll wish you heard earlier in your journey, and supercharge your path to success, balance, and financial growth!

Connect with Sonja:
-Website: www.DynamoCareers.com
-Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DynamoCareers
-Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/dynamocareers/
-Twitter: https://twitter.com/dynamocareers
-LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonjaprice/

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Joshua K. McMillion | Founder MLC

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

You're listening to the Tells the Leadership podcast. This podcast is for leaders at any phase on their leadership journey to become a more purposeful and accountable leader what I like to call a pal. Join me on our journey together towards transformational leadership.

Speaker 2: 0:20

Welcome back to Tells the Leadership podcast. I am your host, josh McMillian, an active duty Army officer with over 16 years of leadership experience and the founder of McMillian Leadership Coaching, and I am on a mission to create better leaders, what I like to call a purposeful, accountable leader or a pal, and my vision is to end toxic transitional leadership in both the military and civilian workforce by promoting transformational stories and skills and impacting one million lives in the next 10 years, or by 2032. On today's guest I'm going to be sharing with you a transformational leader Sonya Price. She is a top career strategist, sales advisor and leadership coach for mid-level corporate professionals. Her mission in life is to support career seekers to have greater meaning, better work-life balance and significantly higher pay.

Speaker 2: 1:12

She is a world-renowned speaker and has spoken on many stages worldwide, to include the Women's Economic Forum in New Delhi, india, where she won the Honorable Woman of Excellence Award and was featured in Business World. She has spoken on many stages, podcasts and radio shows to include Project Management Institute, general Assembly and the Career Catalyst Group, and is a regular guest on I Heart Radio. She is a distinguished author of two books. One co-authored the Pivot Point System five keys to transform your career, health and wealth, and the infinite leader how to increase your influence and extend your impact. Let's go ahead and bring on Sonya. Sonya, welcome to the Tales of Leadership podcast. How are you doing?

Speaker 3: 2:00

I'm doing great. Thanks so much for having me, Josh.

Speaker 2: 2:03

Yeah, I'm excited and I said every single time, but I truly mean it Like we've got an opportunity to connect on the phone before and before we jumped into this. But thank you for taking the time and being intentional with me and then being able to talk about, I think, a passion that we both have, which is leadership. So start off with could you provide an overview for who you are to our listeners?

Speaker 3: 2:25

Yeah, absolutely so. I like to refer to myself as a career strategist, a salary advisor and a leadership coach, and what that means is that I primarily work with folks to help them upgrade and up level their careers. So for folks who are on the leadership track or want to move into higher levels of leadership, I work with them to help them identify like what is their overall career purpose and mission and vision and how do they actually accomplish that and bring that about not just in terms of title, but also overall level of scope and responsibility, influence and impact and the correlate compensation that should come along with being in that role as well.

Speaker 2: 3:11

Yeah, I'm excited to jump into all that before we do, because you have such a rich background and I always have people in here that have very military standards of when they how they define leadership. How do you define leadership now and how has that changed over the years for you?

Speaker 3: 3:30

Yeah, it actually has changed a lot for me over the years because I think in my early career I was kind of raised in that very authoritarian type of leadership practices.

Speaker 3: 3:43

You're probably very familiar with that, being in the military.

Speaker 3: 3:47

But I think in my earlier career, like that Jack Welch style of leadership was very popular in the corporate world and so it was very top down approach kind of do as I say, don't ask too many questions, look to the leaders to define the direction and strategy and let them poke holes in your plan. And that was very accepted 20 years ago and now things have dramatically changed and I think now how I would define leadership, or how I'd like to see leadership defined, is a much more conscious approach which is very authentic, very compassionate and much more enrolled in the team members world and having an understanding of what actually happens on a day to day basis and defining the rules for engagement based on who is in the room and the best way for us all to get along, work together and cause the results. So it's like still having like a results oriented focus, but ensuring that the people who are doing the work are actively engaged, that they care about the work that they're doing and that everybody's really enrolled in the overall mission of what we're up to.

Speaker 2: 5:06

I love that there's so many. There's one thing that you said that I think is a nugget, and I read this in Simon Sinek's books Leaders Eat Last, and he did a comparison between Jack Welsh and I can't remember the name of the gentleman the CEO of Costco, and it showed over time how successful each one of those individuals were. And then, especially after Jack Welsh stood down, as you know, the CEO of General Short Term. Jack Welsh exponential growth, but hit a plateau. And Costco slow, steady and continue to go, continue to go. You know, 20 years in and is still rising.

Speaker 2: 5:52

And I think the key philosophy is there and you hit the nail in the head and so it's such a beautiful comparison is that you can have an authoritarian style and lead with authority, which in my mind, focuses on the second phase of leadership, of how I see it as situational leadership, relying on your position to influence people, or you can empower people and lead with a servant heart. And then you also said that too empathetic, and you wouldn't get this from me. Maybe you do, but I think that that is one of the secrets of how I've been so successful in the military is because I call it hugs, humility, understanding and gratitude. I lead with those core values with everything that I do, and I wanted to make sure this will be a great podcast, because you've already dropped two pieces of knowledge and I wanted to share that.

Speaker 3: 6:45

Oh, I love that. I love your acronym Hugs.

Speaker 2: 6:47

you'll have to say it again humility understanding and gratitude, and then you could even, you could even do another one hugs servant heart.

Speaker 3: 6:56

So yeah, gratitude, that's, that's beautiful. I really, I really love that.

Speaker 2: 7:01

Yeah, you'll learn about me. I am a man coming up with acronyms.

Speaker 3: 7:08

I'd be curious. You know not to derail our conversation here, but I'd be curious to hear more about how that has shown up for you in the military or how that works in that type of culture and environment.

Speaker 2: 7:20

I love when people flip the script on me and start asking me questions. It started with me at a very powerful moment in my life and it was a pivotal moment in my life. I was getting ready to take over a platoon in combat in Afghanistan and I was the night battle captain at the time Very thankless job. And I was getting ready to take over a platoon that had had a major issue, a couple major issues. They deployed with 44. And when I took over they had 28. And I was going into that mindset with a lot of people that were.

Speaker 2: 7:52

I was going into that mindset with a very authoritarian mind of like I'm going to go in here and how can I add value to myself to pursue the jobs that I want?

Speaker 2: 8:04

And the first interaction that I had with my platoon and it still shakes me to the core today.

Speaker 2: 8:09

It makes me emotional when I think about it was a memorial for one of the soldiers in the platoon that I was getting ready to take over and I saw my entire platoon there and they were, you know, crying, very emotional.

Speaker 2: 8:21

If you ever been to a service members funeral, it's already a tearjerker, but when you do it in a combat zone, it's a much different feeling and I remember vividly sitting there thinking how selfish I was and that was a pivot point in my leadership journey and I'm blessed from the understanding that I learned it very, very, very early and I've always led with that and I will tell you that I believe that I can and I don't want to sound this manipulative in a way, but I can elicit better performance from people with being and leading with emotion, versus individuals who are very authoritarian. Because I think it goes down to an issue with me in the military is that there's directing and then there's connecting, and that's kind of a concept that John Maxwell has, is everyone thinks leadership is directing people to do X, Y and Z. In reality, it's connecting with those individuals and understanding what their strengths are and then allowing them to run with the football and achieve the mission, and then just being there to provide strategic level guidance and did that answer your question.

Speaker 3: 9:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great to hear a little bit more about your story as well. Yeah, yeah, it just struck me as an interesting acronym to you know, have hug or hugs in the military.

Speaker 2: 9:48

Well, so here's another one. So bad hugs. These are all the core values that I have, so boldness, accountability, discipline, and then humility, understanding, gratitude and a servant heart. So those are the. Those are my top seven core values that I try to empower myself and then my team when I come into an organization.

Speaker 3: 10:09

Right on, Right on. I imagine the folks who are on your team. I'm sure it's quite a blessing for them to have the opportunity to work with you.

Speaker 2: 10:19

I would hope so, and you know what I'm going to do one day. I'm going to bring on my boss that I'm currently working on tells the leadership, and I want to let her just give me unsolicited feedback how I did and your performance review over a podcast interview. Yeah, just put me on the spot. How can I be better?

Speaker 3: 10:39

That sounds great.

Speaker 2: 10:41

So start me off with your leadership journey. Where did it start for you?

Speaker 3: 10:46

Yeah, you know, so many years ago, when I graduated college, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my professional journey. In fact I did, but I just didn't know that it would make me no money. So I, you know much like you, I like interviewing people, and so I and I've always been like a lifelong learner, and and and so I thought I wanted to become a documentary filmmaker.

Speaker 2: 11:12

Oh, wow.

Speaker 3: 11:13

And you know I had been making some shorts and doing some different things. But then as soon as I graduated college, I was like hey, wait a second. You know, I got to figure out how to make money here beyond like waiting tables, which is what I was doing at the time and so I ended up getting a job working at a tech startup and it was probably one of the best first jobs that I could have had. And I was hired basically as a glorified admin assistant. But little did I know what that opportunity would develop into you for me, and I suppose I've always kind of been a go getter. And so, you know, the company was very, very, very small.

Speaker 3: 11:50

When I first got started, I was actually employee number two, and then we grew exponentially over the five years that I was there, and pretty much every time that we were hiring someone, you know I was always thinking about Okay, well, what does the company need? Where can I help us grow? I was always doing that. And then, you know, when we have the resources to hire someone, I just talked to the founder, my boss, and I would say hey, you know, why don't we hire somebody to backfill my position? And then I will focus on these things.

Speaker 3: 12:23

And so I just kind of effectively wrote my own job description for a number of years and by the time that I left there I was managing folks, kind of overseeing part of product development and you know, pretty major, pretty major component of the organization. So that was a really great first opportunity for me. And then from there I kind of bounced around a little bit and each and every time that I took on a new role or a new position I was increasing my leadership. You know a higher level title, higher scope.

Speaker 3: 12:55

you know bigger scope, greater, greater responsibilities, bigger impact, and I was also making pretty significant jumps in my compensation as well, and each and every time that I did that, first I had friends and family who were kind of coming to me on the side and saying like Well, hey, wait a second. Like how exactly did you, you know, shift from this company to that company? Or, you know, you went from this level to this level. You know, can you help me do the same thing? And so at first it was just kind of for fun on the side. I was helping coach people on their resumes and what to say in interviews and what kinds of jobs to look at and what the you know income potential might be.

Speaker 3: 13:38

And then I started getting referrals and referrals from referrals and I was starting to have this like part time business on top of a full time job. And so I did that for a number of years. And then at a certain point in time I kind of had this crossroads in my career and I had done a number of different things. I'd done product management, business development, you know, marketing. I got into consulting, I was doing like some pretty high level consulting for a while and and then just kind of hit this point I was between projects and I was burnt out and just felt like I needed a break, and so I decided to, you know, do my coaching business full time and it has grown immensely since that, since that point in time.

Speaker 3: 14:27

So I've been doing career and leadership coaching in its entirety for well over 10 years now, and I love it, you know, I just I came to this point in time that I realized that this is really my true calling, this is my passion, this is where I really feel like I get to make the biggest impact in the world, and I just find it so rewarding to work with folks and help them be able to do the same thing of helping them identify what's the next step in their career and how do they actually accomplish that, especially if, you know, maybe they don't have the exact background or work experience to move into what they want to be doing. How do they leverage what they have already done and be able to position and sell themselves in a unique way to where they really can, you know, jump up to higher levels of leadership?

Speaker 2: 15:14

and make more money too.

Speaker 2: 15:17

So there's something that you said there and I want to make sure that we we point that out because you went to the point of friction within the organizations and you chose to take on increased responsibility outside the scope of your duties and responsibilities. So I think as a leader, we have responsibilities and that's the duties that we have to fill, but then after the fact is the accountability. So if we fail to achieve those responsibilities, then we have to be held accountable for it. But you chose to go to those point of friction and that always resonates so deeply with me because I've had leaders tell me throughout my career as a leader you should be at the point of friction because that's where your team and other leaders need your guidance and input to get through those points. Those are tipping points on the battlefield, at least for us at Maneuver.

Speaker 2: 16:06

If we know there's going to be an issue at a certain point, there has to be a leader there to have effective command and control, and I love how you realized that early on in your career that you had to be at that point of friction.

Speaker 2: 16:20

But you also started to see exponential growth, getting higher and higher levels of authority, and that's where I really want people to understand is you are not going to achieve extraordinary results within the organization you're working for or within your life, unless you go to that point of friction and you are willing and able and capable of taking on that increased responsibility. Because with the title and with the money comes a whole other level of duty that you have put onto your shoulders. And that's one thing that I'm trying to end is toxic leadership of people that chase those titles and chase those salaries but they're not willing to put in the work because the money comes over the people. When that happens, I truly believe that is that people place money. But I love how you authentically found that and that was your path to kind of work through it. So what were?

Speaker 2: 17:19

some of the challenges that you had to face.

Speaker 3: 17:23

Oh, that's such a great question and a really good call out.

Speaker 3: 17:26

I'm glad that you kind of recognize that, because that's one of the things that I really coach a lot of clients on is if you want to get promoted into leadership or a higher level of leadership, most of the time it happens when you're already performing at that level.

Speaker 3: 17:43

So if you're sitting back and you're just waiting to be recognized and you're waiting for somebody to give you an opportunity, in my experience that very rarely comes. It usually comes when you're already performing at that level. So what I like to say is, if you see a job that needs to be done and nobody's doing it, take it on and do it in the right way. I mean, make sure that you have agreement and collaboration around that. But if there's something kind of above and beyond that you see that would be interesting or engaging for you to take on and this is what I did myself is that? I mean, like I said, I've just always kind of been a lifelong learner and kind of a go-getter. I'm like somebody who just I see problems that need to be solved and I try to help solve them.

Speaker 3: 18:36

And so if you're wanting to get promoted into higher levels of leadership be looking for those unique problems that need to be solved and try to find creative ways to solve them and do it in the way that's going to be most serving of the organization. So if it requires collaboration, make sure you're collaborating with people. If it requires guidance and input and decisions from higher up, make sure that people are aware of what you're doing. But for myself, I basically just continuously rewrote my job description. I was like here's what I'm doing, here's what I'd like to be doing. How can I be doing these things? I'm always going to take care of what's on my plate right now, but if I want to be moving to this level, how can I get myself involved or enrolled at that level? And sometimes that means that you may need to ask for a seat at the table, and so you ask what were some of my biggest challenges that I encountered in making this happen, and I was working in very large organizations. Sometimes you're just not going to, you're not automatically asked to come to a meeting or participate in the decision making process or whatnot, and so sometimes I had to raise my hand and interview and inquire and investigate to identify okay, well, where and how do these decisions get made, or how do we go about developing this strategy. Is that something that I can get involved with and how can I provide contribution as well? So it's not just like, hey, can I just come along to this meeting. It's like, hey, I'm aware of the problem that needs to get solved at this level. Here's the unique idea that I have. Could I come along and can I present this idea? Or can I come along and be a fly on the wall, sit back and listen and then, if there's an opportunity for me to get involved, are there some small pieces of this that I can start to take on?

Speaker 3: 20:36

And so then, just kind of like, piece by piece, step by step, you kind of move up and move up and get integrated. But then also the right people will start to know about you as well. And that's the other piece of this is that you really need that exposure, like the right people need to know who you are and what you're capable of and what results you can produce. And you're generally not going to get that promotion, you're not going to get the recognition until you can showcase your skills. And then they're like, oh, you know, why wouldn't we give this, this promotion, to her? Or hey, there's this new project coming on board. We need somebody to lead it who is the perfect person, the person who's already been doing this work all along.

Speaker 2: 21:20

All right team. Let's take a quick break from this podcast and I want to personally invite you to our private Facebook community that I call Purposeful Accountable Leaders or PALS. And PALS is a community dedicated to inspiring and developing servant leaders by sharing transformational stories and skills exactly what tells the leadership is all about.

Speaker 2: 21:40

My goal is to build a community of like minded leaders that can share lessons, learn, ask questions and celebrate wins when it happens, and my mission in life is clear I will end toxic leadership by sharing transformational stories and skills, and you will find countless transformational leaders in this group. Many of them I have had the honor to serve with in the military.

Speaker 1: 22:03

If you want to find a community that can help you grow both personally and professionally. We would love to have you. You can simply search Purposeful Accountable.

Speaker 2: 22:11

Leaders on Facebook or click the Leadership Resources tab in the show notes to join. I am looking forward to seeing you guys and continuing to grow together on our leadership journey. Back to the podcast Wow. So that embodies one of I told you bad hugs being bold, and it requires an individual that is bold and unreasonable in times when other people are passive and scared, and I love that. So there's a story in Ranger School that I've shared before, but there was a patrol in Florida phase of where I was a squad leader assigned within a maneuver platoon and we were doing company level maneuver. The platoon leader completely froze and the mission that we were on was beginning to fall apart. I've already recycled and I refused to recycle Ranger School again.

Speaker 2: 23:06

So I was like, okay, I'm going to carry this on my shoulders and I went to the PL and I started to tell him hey, do XYZ, XYZ. And then afterwards the RRI pulled me aside and he's like you stepped outside of your authority zone. Why'd you do that is because mission comes first and the platoon leader was freezing. I know he still was directly responsible for the mission, but I'm also the second in command behind the platoon sergeant and I have to be able to stand up when those opportunities present themselves. Because, if not, when the battlefield it's lives, but in the board room.

Speaker 2: 23:43

it's, you know, profit in the bottom line and it's just two different worlds, but the same kind of methodology of thinking about it. But I love how you said you have to do it the right way. There is a balance there and you beautifully sum that up. You made me think. A lot of people that you probably coach when you're starting coaching them have the mindset is that they're buried in the organization. They're just there and they just do the work. It's very monotonous, they're toiling all day. They're in the military we call it rowing, but you have to change their perspective to where they're not buried, they're planted and they can sprout up at any given time as long as they have the right opportunity and mindset and the right environment.

Speaker 2: 24:31

And yeah, all that was amazing. I loved it all. So what inspired you and you talked about this earlier on getting burnt out, and that's in itself scary, right, like to me, I've been in the military for 16 years. I've moved a lot and we were sharing that before. You know, I've moved 10 times in the last 16 years, but it's I know I always have a job right.

Speaker 3: 24:56

Crazy.

Speaker 2: 24:58

It scares me to think if I got out of the military to do something, what would I do, and how does someone like you, having a successful career, get out and chase their passion? What inspired you to go into coaching and how did you overcome burnout?

Speaker 3: 25:17

Wow. Well, I've always been an entrepreneur at heart. This is actually the sixth business that I've started. So you know, I've always kind of had a little bit of something going on on the side or, you know, some sort of side gig, some special interest of some sort.

Speaker 3: 25:37

The burnout really came during my corporate days. I was in consulting and was just, you know, really given it my all. I had a couple of different clients. I was always on a client side. You know clients when you're in the consulting world, clients can oftentimes be very demanding and, you know, make last minute requests like, hey, we need this thing for our 8am meeting tomorrow, you know. So there was always just kind of like one more thing, and I was doing coaching on the side as well.

Speaker 3: 26:06

So I mean, how did I overcome burnout? I wish I had some magic story to tell you, but quite honestly, I ended up taking a leave of absence from my job Just because I just really needed some time and space. And it just so happened that, you know, I was in consulting and I had a number of like. I just had this perfect, perfect storm where, like, my client projects kind of all ended at the same time, and so, before I was going to get assigned to some new client projects, I talked to, you know, the director higher level director of my team and just said hey, you know, I think I'd like to take a few months off. And thankfully they were very, very supportive of that and so I ended up taking a few months off and that, just that gave me that clarity for myself, like it gave me a chance to really reconnect with myself and identify, like, okay, well, you know, had to revisit those conversations of like, well, who am I and what am I here for and what do I really want to accomplish during my time on this planet and what gives me joy and passion and fulfillment? And I really love the coaching.

Speaker 3: 27:17

I mean, even when I was in consulting, I enjoyed coaching leaders, you know, as part of the part of the consulting work that we were doing. I really appreciated the time where there was just those like one on one conversations with leaders and they were just, you know, full authenticity. Hey, I'm feeling really stressed out about this, I'm not sure what to do, how do I identify, what's the next step to take. And so I just really realized that, you know, not only was I burnt out, but there's a number of other people who had similar or similar challenges in their career, and so it's like when you get to a time in space in your job and you, you just burnt out or you're at wit's end, or it's a toxic work environment, or they're not paying you enough or whatever like they're.

Speaker 3: 28:02

You know there's always going to be that point in time and it's like, should I do something else? And I came to that point on my own. But oftentimes when people come to me, that's where they are too is like what's next for me. So burnout is a real big thing and I feel like there's more and more and more burnout, like we just live in such a fast paced world these days and you know there's a lot of terms that are getting thrown around out there, like the great resignation and quiet quitting quiet quitting, quiet quitting, you know.

Speaker 3: 28:35

so burnout is a really big thing, but I think it's the responsibility really relies with each of us to identify like what do we need to take the best care of ourselves, and are we actively taking those actions? And if you're not, you know what do you need to do to, like, put better boundaries in place or to implement the best practices for yourself, and sometimes that might mean taking some time off of work just to you know, regroup and identify what is really the right thing for you to be focused on.

Speaker 2: 29:08

I think I found the reason of how you kind of found I came up with the word dynamo, because I keep, I keep seeing a theme through. This is bold, courageous, you know leaders. It takes, it takes a bold person to do that and I'm still struggling with that too is work, family, self. Those are the three buckets that I try to fill every day and for the longest time, me individually I've had a hard time pouring into myself because I thought it was selfish. I thought that, hey, leaders don't do that, leaders focus on individuals in the mission.

Speaker 2: 29:44

And then I quickly learned that I wasn't giving my family the best version that I could be, and my kids are at such a crucial age and and I'm going to look back and I'm going to be like man I sucked as a dad and, yeah, I may have achieved success and made the rank that I wanted to, but am I, am I succeeding in life? So kudos to you for taking that bold action and being able to develop that, that self awareness, because if you can build your cup up and this is probably one of the most overused metaphors, but it's true If you can start and fill your cup up, then you can give from a place of overflow. It's like a battery you can just share that energy with people and you can continue to do it and continue to do it. So that's awesome.

Speaker 3: 30:33

Yeah, thank you. Thank you. I just have to say I highly doubt that you suck as a dad. I think it's as a parent. You know you're always thinking like I could always be doing better. But I would just be careful of the messages you tell yourself because I bet, just knowing what I know about you and the short interactions that we've had so far, I would think that you probably have a lot to bring to the table for your kids.

Speaker 2: 30:59

Thank you, so kind of continuing. You started your coaching. What were some of the most impactful lessons that you learned throughout your career that you were able to apply to coaching?

Speaker 3: 31:14

Some of the biggest lessons I mean, I feel like we've kind of already talked about some of them of you know just getting very clear. Here's what I would offer up is get very crystal clear on what you want in your strategic career roadmap. You know like most of us work with organizations that are doing some form of strategic planning and we do that on an annual and a quarterly and a monthly and sometimes even a weekly basis.

Speaker 3: 31:47

But how often do we step back and actually do that for ourselves and our own career? And so you know, I've always tried to think about, okay, what are the short and long term career goals? It's really easy to be short-sighted and say, well, what am I doing right now and what's my next performance review going to look like, or what might my next job look like. But how often do we actually look far out into the future to say what I want to be doing five, 10, 15 years from now, and am I actively working on the right things right now to help align me to move in that direction? So I would definitely start with the strategic career roadmap. You know, if you want to move into higher levels of leadership, oftentimes you need to kind of move quickly. You need to find the right types of roles that will give you the responsibilities where you can cause the results that you desire. And then you know, identify is that organization going to continue to give you the growth opportunities that you're looking for, or does it maybe make sense to look somewhere else? And somewhere else could be a different team or a different department or an entirely new organization. But if you really want to progress into higher levels of leadership over time, I generally recommend that you change jobs, like every two to three years, and make sure that you're consistently and continuously generating the results needed to help you continue to, you know, move up into those higher levels of leadership or to move towards whatever your longer term career goal is. You know, like sometimes I work with folks and they say you know, eventually I want to own my own business. Okay, great, what are the skills that you're going to need to have to run your own business, and are you actively learning those skills right now? Or how can you take advantage of your current situation where you can learn some of those skills on someone else's dime, before you know you're doing it all on your own and it's your own capital that you are burning to run the show.

Speaker 2: 33:53

I love that. So there's a term in the military you probably heard it before but being comfortable, being uncomfortable, and there's, there's so many different.

Speaker 2: 34:01

You know examples that I could give you of how the army is made be extremely uncomfortable, but the amount of growth that I've experienced afterwards. And there's a book and it's called the A team and it talks about a concept of an S curve and I've used it several times. But anytime that we start something we always encounter resistance. But if we stay at it we'll see exponential growth. But then we're going to hit a plateau.

Speaker 2: 34:29

It's just natural we're going to hit a plateau again, and that's when we make a choice. Like you said, every two, three years, take a different job that stretches you, do you? Do you choose to stay in that comfort zone? Which complacency leads to contentment, and contentment and I bring it in the lens of being the military leads to death on the battlefield. So the most dangerous times in a military operation is when you're leaving, because you get complacent and that's where you allow things to kind of slip away. But you have to make a decision. Do you want to stay in that level of complacency or do you want to continue to grow, and I love that. So walk me through the services that you offer right now with your coaching.

Speaker 3: 35:15

Yeah, absolutely. If a client works with me, we work through three major phases and there's like sub phases inside of each of those. But generally where we start is we look at navigation, narration and negotiation. So first is navigation. That kind of refers back to that strategic career roadmap I was just talking about, of like, how do we get really clear on short, medium and long term career goals and you know what exactly does that mean.

Speaker 3: 35:45

So I look at decision making criteria and we get really kind of in the nitty gritty details of what would make a job be super fulfilling to someone. What is their personal decision making criteria and how do we rank, prioritize that so that we're focused on the right things for them. Because most people want to make more compensation so great, but how important is that in comparison to some of the other things like work, life balance or the company culture that you want to be a part of or the growth opportunities that may be available to you? So we get really crystal clear on what all of those things mean, including you know what's the right title, what's the right level, what are all the things that we're targeting Once, we get clarity on that.

Speaker 3: 36:26

Then we move into the narration phase and that's really helping a client know how to tell their story. So you know, in the corporate world we need resumes and LinkedIn profiles and you know all of that has to be keyword and ATS optimized. So you know, we do that for our clients but we want to make sure that once they actually start applying for jobs, that they're actually getting the yield rate of what they need. So once you apply for jobs, you want to make sure you're getting called for interviews. If you don't have the right resume or the right LinkedIn profile, you may not get called for interviews or you may not get called for the right interviews. We need to make sure that that's really super targeted. And then we also need to help folks know how to tell their story when they're actually in a networking or an interviewing conversation. How do they talk about them? How do they feature their past based work experience? How do they talk about the results that they've generated? You know what are all of the different things that they need to kind of have in place that they can tell really powerful work success stories about who they are and what they've accomplished. And then you know once you get an offer.

Speaker 3: 37:37

We help support clients with negotiation, which usually starts much earlier in the process than most people might think. I mean at least in the corporate world. I know in the military you may not have as much of an ability to negotiate, but you know there's usually several different stages of that and you need to know how to answer the questions when they come up, like when you're in that first initial screening interview and they ask you you know what are your salary requirements. How you answer that question can oftentimes pigeonhole you for the rest of the process so that then you're going to be interviewing and then they come back and give you the offer you need to know. You know how do you actually negotiate for all of the key elements of your total compensation and it's not just salary, there's a number of other things there's. You know annual bonus, there could be a sign-on bonus, paid time off, retirement contribution, professional development. You know there's a number of other things that go into that total compensation.

Speaker 3: 38:38

And you know oftentimes if we do things well, most clients will have multiple competing offers on the table at the same time so we can help negotiate them through. You know how do you kind of leverage offers against each other and how do you ensure that you're really ending up with, you know, the best job for you? And that's where we kind of circle back to that decision-making criteria of like, okay, you have multiple offers here, how are you going to make the best decision for you? You know, like, compensation is only one component of that decision-making process. How else, you know, what else are you going to decide upon? Because I find that most folks who make a decision purely based on compensation, without considering the other components, you know it may end up being a really amazing, great job. But if you're not looking at other things like work-life balance or company culture or the relationship with the direct hiring manager, you know, sometimes folks will accept a job and then three to six months later they're miserable again and ready to look, ready to look for their next opportunity.

Speaker 2: 39:43

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 39:44

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 39:45

Navigation, narration, negotiation. I love that.

Speaker 3: 39:47

Yep, thank you.

Speaker 2: 39:50

And I think it's so. So the first one, navigation, is critical and the military is called V-SIM. So vision strategy, execution and matrix that's the vision Strategy is the plan, execution is doing the work, and then matrix of the milestones to hold us accountable. To back to the vision Are we? Are we achieving the vision? Are we doing it? And I think that's key, like for me in my life. I set seven pillars in my life that are all focused on a 10-year plan and I want to grow intentionally in those and just kind of connecting it to what I do. It's a fun filled faith, family fitness, finance and fulfillment. Those are the 70 areas. They're all Fs because I like to keep it simple. Stupid. You're going to learn it about me is that I?

Speaker 2: 40:37

either put it in an acronym or I use the same letter starting with the words, and I love it. That allows me to keep a balance and whenever I move and I can, and I can pick a job and that's interesting too kind of getting to the, the narration, resume and then the negotiation. We just recently changed its talent management of how it acquires people and we have to go through an interview process. Never did this before 16 years in the military. This year was the first time I did it and I'm like I have no idea what I'm doing and I did 30 interviews and I was talking to generals and all these things and I thought I was doing great but no job offers were coming in until like right towards the very end and I kind of, and I kind of homed into and I learned, I learned the process of how to do it.

Speaker 2: 41:28

But I think that's so key for for service members, because you're wondering where that kind of connects. One day someone's going to put up a uniform and they're going to put on a suit or they're going to put on a jacket or or, or whatever it is. They're not always going to be in the military and I truly believe the reason that there's such high rates of suicide and depression is that people put that uniform up, thinking the grass is going to be greener on the other side, but then they quickly find there is no fulfillment, there's no purpose and they have no passion, and then the darkness creeps in. So what you do is powerful because it helps people, inspires people that's the definition that I define leadership is it inspires people to go get what they're worth, and I love that.

Speaker 3: 42:14

Wow, thank you. I think I'm learning so much about the military through you.

Speaker 2: 42:18

I'm trying to filter it so it talks to both worlds.

Speaker 3: 42:23

Yeah, no, it's great. It's great. Um, no, I've really enjoyed our conversations that we've had so far. It just you've given me a different perspective on on our, our service. So, um, yeah, it's just. It's cool to hear, it's cool to hear the the behind the scenes stories.

Speaker 2: 42:43

All right team. Let's take a quick break from the podcast episode and I want to share a leadership tool or resource with you, and that is resiliency based leadership program. The RBLP's vision is to create a worldwide community of practice committed to building and leading resilient teams. There's three different types of certifications that they focus on, and that is frontline supervisors, middle managers or senior leaders. So why do we need to build and lead resilient teams? Resilient teams are the key to individual and organizational growth, regardless of being in a military or in the civilian workforce. Building collective resilience teams exponentially increases our abilities to overcome adversity, adapt and then grow. And the bottom line up front, resilient teams are just stronger together. That's a fact. This is something that I am certified in and that I truly believe in.

Speaker 2: 43:35

The best part is it's probably a hundred percent free to you. So if you're in the military and you're active duty, you have up to $4,000 a year through the Army Credituling Assistance Program to pay for these types of certifications. That will help you in your military career, but also when you transition out of the military. And if you work in a civilian organization, you have direct education benefits or tuition assistance that can help cover the cost to this. So here is some facts for you guys. 99% of the people that go through this recommended to other people. 89% of the people believe, after completing this course, that they will be better compensated and have better career longevity along the way. 97% are more confident after completing this and their leadership abilities, which ultimately leads to better mission command or autonomy within the workforce. And this one is the most important 96% of people believe that it will increase trust within the organization. So if you want to learn more, you can go into the show notes or click the link resilient building leadercom and learn everything you need to know about the RBLP vision and mission and how to get started. And if you want to get started, use the discount code J-M-C-M-I-L-L-I-O-N no spaces or all caps, and this will be something that gives you an additional discount. And, yes, I do get compensated for this, but this is something that I genuinely believe in and is aligned with my core values and my mission of building more purposeful, accountable leaders.

Speaker 2: 45:10

Let's go back to the podcast. I love it, yeah, and that I'm humbled. So you mentioned something and I'm not good at this. How can I be or how can anyone? I don't want to be selfish. How can other people be a great negotiator? What are some of the key characteristics or attributes?

Speaker 3: 45:33

Oh yeah. Well, first of all, you really you want to do your research up front. So you want to be aware of what is the going rate, what is the range for the open position. You know, or even like you know, if you can't negotiate on the actual pay, are there other things that you could negotiate for? Did you negotiate for responsibilities or title, or you know? So it's like, first and foremost, you want to do your research to be aware of, like, what is that job and what is the pay range for that position, or what are the other things that you might want to negotiate for and what's the range of what's available. So you know, if it's compensation, you can definitely look online. There's tons, of, tons of sites and resources. You want to be really clear on what's the going range for your industry, for your organization or competitor organizations, and then that specific title, like the title and level inside the organization as well.

Speaker 3: 46:38

Then you know, throughout the process, you just you want to shine through the interviews, you want to make sure that you are going to be the number one candidate, because that's the person who gets the offer, and then, but you also want to, you know, be thinking about, like you know, as I said earlier, it's like be looking for the problems that need to be solved, because if you can showcase that you can actually help them solve the really big problems that they have on their hands, well then maybe all of a sudden they might be interested in looking at you for a different role. And that happens a lot, like that happened with me in my career. That happens a lot with my clients is that when you can approach the interview process where you're helping show them that you're actually capable of operating at a higher level, well then hopefully they bring you in at that higher level to begin with, or as a negotiator, you need to be well adept at showing them that you are capable of a higher level and to see if that's even possible. Because the higher the level that you can come in at the beginning, always the better. Because whatever salary that you agree to or whatever compensation that you agree to in the very beginning, that is the baseline of where all future comp increases will come from, because most of the time organizations will give you a percentage increase. So on an annual basis, if they're giving you a married increase or a cost of living increase, most of the time that comes in the form of like a 2%, 3%, 5% increase. Or even if you get promoted within the organization, they're still usually only going to give you a percentage increase, maybe like a 10% increase or something like that. So whatever you negotiate at the beginning is super, super important, and so if you can get into a higher level or a higher title to begin with, that gives you much more to grow on right from the get-go.

Speaker 3: 48:34

And then there's some other things of just when the offer comes to you, of always being grateful and appreciative of any offer that comes to you, but also asking them like oh, thank you so much for the offer. I always take time to review the details. So giving time in between conversations is also very important, because when you give time, that makes the other party a little bit nervous because they may be thinking, oh, what if they don't accept our offer? I mean, if you accept right off the bat, there's no room for negotiation. But if you take time in between conversations, take the time and then when you do come back, you want to ask always be grateful for the offer, but I'll say thank you so much for the offer.

Speaker 3: 49:20

I did have a few questions and I'm curious is there any flexibility in this offer? And that's usually how I kickstart the conversation, because how they answer that will be very telling of what direction the conversation will go from there. And asking if there's any flexibility it's not an aggressive tactic. You just start kind of opening up the conversation to see where can you go from there and then, yeah, there's multiple steps beyond this. But those are some of my really really really big tactics or strategies to initiate, to get the ball rolling and just make sure they're coming in at the right level, the right title, and then asking if there's flexibility in kind of moving forward from there.

Speaker 2: 50:09

Time is one of the hardest things, I think, for people to master, especially when it comes like coaching. And you know this, there's a concept called the pregnant pause and ask a question, and then I was always trained six seconds. Six seconds sounds like an eternity.

Speaker 2: 50:28

And that's a long time when you're in a negotiation, letting that kind of you know that tactical pause. So here's another acronym for you. So silence, take a tactical pause, observe and then pursue with purpose. So stop and I got that from it's called SLS, seals Halt. So when we do military operations we always take short halts and that allows us to acclimate to the environment that we're in All the senses and everything that's coming at us, to understand the area that we're in. But I could see that being a correlation with exactly this is that you have to allow the environment to kind of mature and then let that mature and then pursue with purpose exactly what you just did. I love that. So did you write two books? Are you in?

Speaker 2: 51:22

the process of writing a book and launching it.

Speaker 3: 51:25

Yeah, I've written two books. The first book is called the Pivot Point System five steps to improve your career, health and wealth, and the second book is called the Infinite Leader how to Increase your Influence and Impact.

Speaker 2: 51:42

And it always blows my mind because that's something that I want to do. It's what my vision board is writing a book and you've wrote two books, and it takes a special person, I think, to kind of sit down and write a book, because that's a commitment. How long does it take you to do that?

Speaker 3: 52:01

But well, so the first book is actually co-authored. I should have mentioned that. That was actually a really great way to get started. So there's a few authors on that book. We all kind of took a topic, wrote several chapters on it and then put it together. The editing of that was a little bit more cumbersome because we had several cooks in the kitchen. Some people did more work than others.

Speaker 2: 52:24

Sounds like my thesis.

Speaker 3: 52:26

Yeah, but it was great because I think it gave us all an opportunity to collaborate together and to get a book out there. The second book took a lot more time and it was a unique process. I had a whole one-note notebook. I don't know if you use one note, but it was just kind of like gathering all these ideas and then going through and just kind of writing it chapter by chapter and putting them together. So it is a cumbersome process. It is a very cumbersome process, although what I would say to anybody who wants to write a book now, it will be significantly easier because we now have all these great AI writing assistants like ChatGPT. That, I think, is going to make it significantly easier to write tons and tons of content. I think we also have to ask the question of how good is the content it's?

Speaker 2: 53:21

a great assistant.

Speaker 3: 53:22

I've been using it a little bit for some content that I've been creating and it's a great assistant, but you still have to put the strategic thought into it.

Speaker 2: 53:29

Yeah, I'm trying to brainstorm that and I'm really wrapped around the concept of it's called remarkable. It's a digital notebook and I figured I travel so much I could take that on a plane ride and I could doodle and then I could just do slowly at a time. But I love that you've wrote two books because that shows the level of passion that you have. What would be one key takeaway from each one of those books? I don't want to put you on the spot, but what would be one key takeaways that you would want to share?

Speaker 3: 54:04

Yeah, for the first book, the Pivot Point System. It's really just about making small pivots in your career and your career, your health or your wealth. Small changes add up to big changes. I think that would be the one super quick, easy takeaway from that book. The second book it goes through cascading levels of change and so it starts with self and then goes out to team, department, organization, community. Family is in there as well.

Speaker 3: 54:42

So it's like and you think about all of the different groups that you're a part of and the cascading effect of that, like how can you have more influence and impact? It all starts with self, so we were talking about this earlier. But it's like if you can have really great self care, if you can fill up your own cup so that you have overflow available to give to other areas, I think that's a really core component and for me there's a healthy amount of spirituality in that, and I think it's up to each of us to define exactly what that relationship looks like with our higher power or if we believe in a higher power. But I think we all have a higher self. So it's like how do you engage with your higher self and how do you make wise decisions based on what's best for you, but what's also best for those around you, in any type of group or organization that you belong to.

Speaker 2: 55:42

I'm going to have to read that because I'm reading a book right now about David Hawkins. It's called the Map of Consciousness and I'm really taking my time to walk through that because there's some like very detailed analysis there, but it's so true and I love that concept is that, if you want to and I hate the word balance, because I don't think in my mind balance is an attainium, because you will only ever achieve it in a certain period and then it will go away, and then you're always trying to fight to stay at that balance place so I like to think of it as fulfillment or harmony in life. How can you, in the season of your life, still be happy knowing that balance will never be achieved, like, maybe you have to spend more time with your family, or maybe you have to spend more time at work to be successful, or maybe you need to, how you did, devote more time to yourself, and I can't wait to read that book. Yeah, I'm excited.

Speaker 2: 56:43

And you said another thing too, that small changes lead to big results. And I had a leader said if you get the small things right, josh, the big things will just naturally fall into place. And there's a concept that I use in coaching and it's like these big, bold goals, like your 10 year goals. It's represented as an orange and then you have a mason jar. If you try to fit that orange in the mason jar, just go after that big goal. It's not going to fit. And if it does go in there, it's not going to look the same. It's going to be orange juice. But if you take an equal weight of skittles in that orange and you start dropping the skittles into that mason jar, eventually it'll equal the weight of that orange and you've achieved your goal and they look the same. But that's the concept, is all these steps that you had to do to accomplish that big goal that you had. So I love that. So walk me the next five to 10 years. What's what's left for you? Where do you want to take this?

Speaker 3: 57:45

You know that's funny.

Speaker 3: 57:46

I have been asking myself that very question recently.

Speaker 3: 57:50

I think what I one thing that I am really passionate about is just really truly knowing yourself, and so I've been toying with this idea for a while of like developing a new program that would be solely focused on how do you really truly get to know yourself at that deep, core level in a way that will help help you be more available, you know, in the world, to be a better leader, to have greater influence and impact, and so I'm a big fan of personality assessments.

Speaker 3: 58:25

There's a whole bunch of them out there, and I think that you know those can be really wonderful tools to help to get to know yourself better and then know. The application of them is a very important component of that, because you can get, you know, lots of interesting information about yourself, but how do you actually apply it and make it, you know, really meaningful and like an integrated component of how you live and how you live from your best self? So I've been thinking about developing that as a program and maybe even turning it into a bit of a mastermind, so that leaders can come together and, you know, learn more about themselves but also learn more about others and have, you know, great networking opportunities in that mastermind to really be able to bounce ideas off of each other and get advice and, yeah, kind of have like an advisory committee to help support them in what they're up to in the world.

Speaker 2: 59:24

Yeah, one book that I just finished and I love it is the Road Back to you, and it goes through the Enneagram and I can't burn the word Enneagram, enneagram, enneagram, and I read it and I'm definitely a one. So I am a perfectionist.

Speaker 2: 59:44

Okay yeah, and reading that book was, I hope, being an illuminating from the Enneagram perspective, because I too love, you know, psychological assessments. So I took Myers-Briggs, I took Gallup, strength Finders, but I think at the core of it, and especially as a leader, if you can discover how you communicate and absorb information, your personality type and then quickly learn how other people communicate and absorb information, that's the glue to build a relationship, and to build it fast is that? That's what allows you to do it. If you can communicate, and to where someone, the message will resonate. So what's your favorite assessment tool?

Speaker 3: 1:00:29

Assessment. You know, what I've really recently been getting into a lot is. It's called human design. I don't know if you've heard of it much, but it's intended to be like a combination of a number of different, a number of different things. It does take into account your time and place of birth and I am absolutely fascinated by it. It's a very complex assessment because there's so many like different. They call them gates and I might not get the terminology right, but I'm trying to learn a lot about it right now and it's very complex and really just completely fascinating. And I feel like I've learned so much about myself and particularly how to approach my work, and I have realized that I work way too hard. I'm definitely a bit of a workaholic and I think I'm entering this time and phase of my life that it's time for me to step back a little bit and, you know, enjoy the fruits of my labor and identify ways to work smarter and not just be like just in this hard, laborious work pattern all the time.

Speaker 2: 1:01:38

Yeah you're getting to that, coming back full circle, right is that you've achieved success. You're at that point of potential like burnout. How can I systemize and optimize and continue pushing forward?

Speaker 2: 1:01:51

So you're on that S-curve. It's time to make the next step. So, as we kind of wrap this podcast up before we get to the final show segment, you know, one question I would love, because you have such a unique perspective through leadership what was the one thing that just always stood out to you about leadership, or that you identify individuals that you coach that has made them successful, made you successful?

Speaker 3: 1:02:23

Hmm, oh, it's always so hard to boil it down to one thing I know. You know, I suppose I'd have to say, just like having genuine enthusiasm for the process. You know, like I was going to say, be coachable. But I think I think most people are coachable. I think it's more so about like having enthusiasm and believing that it's possible, you know so.

Speaker 3: 1:02:49

I guess you could kind of boil that down to mindset, but, but it's like the what is in the mindset. I always feel like it's it's more about who are you being in the world, what's your way of being and how do you approach your next thing. Whatever that next endeavor is is like are you enthusiastic about it? Are you excited about the possibilities and are you believing that it's possible, or are you full of fear and worried about how it might not go right?

Speaker 2: 1:03:18

Ooh, I love that and I'll share kind of a military story. And it's funny because most people don't think this. But some of the most optimistic, enthusiastic people that I've ever met share those characteristics and traits. In horrible times, like in the middle of firefights or right after a firefight, or you're out in a desert with a group of people for a very long time, Enthusiasm and I think humor kind of play in into that. But when you have people who are enthusiastic, it's a joy to work with them. They motivate you, they inspire you and they drive you forward. I love that and that that is a great lesson learned. So we're at our final go ahead. I'm sorry.

Speaker 3: 1:04:07

Oh, just to add really quickly, not to say that there's not a time and space to have grievances, you know, like something really horrible happens. I found for myself that sometimes I jump too quickly into the like well, let's move on, let's, let's get going here.

Speaker 3: 1:04:22

Sometimes you really just have to like stop, to acknowledge, like hey, something really crazy just happened, or like I am you know, I'm downtrodden by what just happened and really allow yourself the time and space to grieve it or just to like, feel those emotions and allow that to be there. But that can always be a private thing, or maybe it needs to be a shared thing. You know, maybe your team needs to come together to grieve together before you're like, okay, rah, rah, let's go. Team, let's, let's move to the next step. So that's been a big learning for me in my life of just really being able to acknowledge the full range of emotions of what happens and then and then finding, you know, that, the inspiration and the motivation to move forward from Like a new and different space.

Speaker 2: 1:05:07

You remind me of a story, kinda, when I was in command I lost two soldiers, one of which I was at the company when I was in Iraq. But when I first heard about the soldier passing away, you know, okay, I can keep together, I can go talk to my guys and I can explain to him, because I owe it to them to explain what happened to that individual. And then when I stood in front of that formation you know hundred and thirty people I start breaking down, crying and I couldn't control it and my first start almost came and got me. I pulled him off to the side and I was able to get it together. But I think that that was needed at the time because it helped the company heal and we were in a very decisive place because we were getting ready to potentially deploy.

Speaker 2: 1:05:59

You lose someone in the military. Everyone has a task and purpose in a job. So if you lose someone there's a huge impact on the team, not just from a mission standpoint but from a morale standpoint, because you're doing things you know, with guys and gals that push you physically and mentally beyond your limits. And that's so true. What you just said is that sometimes it doesn't matter what your career field is. You have to allow that those emotions to come and be a. But I think the key is is be authentic. Do it. Do it authentically. I love that.

Speaker 3: 1:06:33

Yeah, and people need to see that too. They need to know that their leader is a real human being that has emotions too.

Speaker 1: 1:06:43

It's time for our final show segment that I like to call the killer bees. These are the same four questions that I asked every guest on the tales of leadership podcast Be brief, be brilliant, be present and be gone.

Speaker 2: 1:07:00

Question one. So what do you believe separates a good leader from an extraordinary leader?

Speaker 3: 1:07:06

You know, I think it's really about having genuine compassion for those around you. Everybody is going through something in life and so being aware of who your people are and how they want to be led, you know, I think, as leaders, it's it's very well. Okay, you said be brief, so I'm going to be brief, but I want to I could dive into so much here because I think leaders want to lead in their preferred style, but oftentimes we have to identify how people want to be led and you know, and sometimes there's going to be a mix between the two so that you can cause the results that you need, but just like really being compassionate and understanding that your style may not be the best style for everyone.

Speaker 2: 1:07:56

I love that. Question two what is one resource that you would recommend to our listeners?

Speaker 3: 1:08:03

Know yourself. You know at the at the deepest, at the deepest level possible. So resources, you know, books and personality assessments. I mentioned human design. I'm really getting a lot out of that right now. I would say just about any personality assessment I think is very helpful to help people really get to know themselves at a deep and meaningful level.

Speaker 2: 1:08:28

So third question if you could go back in time and give yourself, your younger self, a piece of advice, what would it be, and why?

Speaker 3: 1:08:38

Don't stress out so much Like somehow it always works out. Yeah like, somehow it always works out. So get out there, have more fun, rest, relax, you know, and and don't work so hard and trust that it will all come together.

Speaker 2: 1:08:55

I love it. All right, final question how can our listeners find you and how can they add value to your mission?

Speaker 3: 1:09:03

Thank you so much. Well, I love helping people, you know, have the best career that they can possibly have in their lives, and so, if you would like to find out more about me, I actually just recently created my own assessment is. So it's a free career assessment. It's called does your work work for you, and it asks a whole range of different interesting questions and then gives you your own personalized output, and so you can find out more about that at my website, which is dynamo careers forward slash assessment. So it's d? Y in a m o c a r e e r s dot com. Forward slash assessment.

Speaker 2: 1:09:44

And all that will be in the show notes to win this podcast here, so that'll be very easy for you guys to find. Son you, this has been an amazing podcast. Thank you for being intentional with me with a little bit over an hour, but, like I'm not even joking, I could have probably kept going, because I have so many questions and I love talking about leadership.

Speaker 3: 1:10:04

Well, maybe we'll just have to do it again sometime.

Speaker 2: 1:10:06

We'll do a part to.

Speaker 3: 1:10:07

Yeah, there you go, there you go. This was super enjoyable. I got a ton out of the conversation. Thank you, josh, for having this show. I've listened to a lot of your episodes. You are an amazing leader, you're a great interviewer and I just I don't know. I feel very blessed and honored to have had the opportunity to be here, so thanks for having me.

Speaker 2: 1:10:26

That means a lot. Well, have a great night. Thank you All. Right, team, it's time for our after action review. Aar. That was Sonya Price, an amazing leader, a transformational leader. I like to call it purposeful, accountable leader.

Speaker 2: 1:10:42

So what are the top three takeaways you should have from this episode? She said a lot of amazing things and a lot of stuff that you know hasn't came up in podcasts before. The first one is are you willing to accept the responsibility? So leadership's a journey, that's not a destination. We need to be able to move frequently, but when we move, we accept more responsibility. Are you able and willing to accept the responsibility that comes with the pay? And that's a pivot point in a lot of people, because the toxic leaders that I've seen throughout my journey choose the pay over the people. You cannot take a role as a leader and be effective as a leader If you are choosing that job solely based on the pay, because you're not calculating in all the other issues that is going to face you. With increased pay comes increased responsibility, and remember, responsibility is your job, your duty description, the title that you have, but then you need to be held accountable if you can't perform your responsibility. So are you willing to have increased responsibility with the increased pay?

Speaker 2: 1:12:01

The second key takeaway here is move to the point of friction, and I've shared this in a couple other podcast episodes. But in the military, if you ever wonder how large organizations like platoons with 40 or so soldiers or companies with 150 or so maneuver on the battlefield, it's in small organic teams. But where does the leader go in those pivotal moments on the battlefield? They go to the point of friction. And what do I mean by points of friction? If there is a building that is a complex objective and it's going to take a very large amount of the combat power to clear, they will be in that building. They will be going to the place with the best overall vantage point, the high ground. They will be going to the places where there's a key phase line and they have to do a handoff, potentially, or a pass through through another formation. They are at the places on the battlefield or at work where individuals need their guidance and their wisdom. And that's important because leaders at that level have wisdom. You have wisdom. You have wisdom because you've lived through experiences. The important thing is do you know what those teachable moments are and are you applying them actively right now, because you have to. And the final key takeaway is what she shared and one of the key things that she does in her coaching, and that's the three end rule. So, navigation, narration and negotiation.

Speaker 2: 1:13:39

Navigation Step one do you have a vision? Do you have a strategy? Do you have execution? Are you able to execute that strategy? And are there key milestones? So, and it all comes back together Vision, strategy, execution, milestones Are those milestones accountable to the strategy?

Speaker 2: 1:14:00

And you have to be able to be intentional with those growth goals that you're going to be setting. You have to set goals that you want to grow in and your strategy, or you will not grow you again. It goes back to the first point. If you're just chasing money, you're going to be unhappy, you're not going to have fulfillment in your life.

Speaker 2: 1:14:18

And the second one narration. You have to be able to tell the story, especially when you're going into a new job or you're wanting a new job. You have to be able to do well in those interviews. You have to be able to speak effectively to your organization. You have to be able to communicate, both written and oral, and that is a key characteristic of leadership.

Speaker 2: 1:14:41

And the final one of that is negotiation. Everyone I don't care who you are is going to transition out of the roles that they're in currently, right now, and maybe that means retirement. But if you're in the military, you're going to transition out in the military one day and I have about a 95% chance that you're going to be working, because I know a lot of full-burg kernels that get out and work. So you have to be able to negotiate in life and I think that's key, because if you can't negotiate, then you're setting up future chapters in your life for failure. So, navigation, narration and negotiation hey guys, do me a favor If you've gotten any value out of this episode I say it every time, but I truly mean it Make sure you subscribe, make sure you rate, make sure you share this podcast to someone who is just starting out on their leadership journey.

Speaker 2: 1:15:27

Go to McMillianLeadershipCoachingcom. Check out the free blogs that I write every single month. Leave a comment. Let me know how I'm doing, both in my podcast but also with the blogs and the content that I'm providing to you, because I want to make sure that the content is meaningful and it's impactful. I'm your host, josh McMillian, saying every day is a gift. Don't waste yours. I'll see you next time.