Latest / King Dems Podcast | Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights / From Global Health to Smart Business Strategies: Growth Mindset w/ Jennifer Cain Birkmose
Transcript
- 0:00Prayers for the memory of the dead God rest his soul.
- 0:03It's It's sad to see right prospects die young because of
- 0:09inadequate medical expertise or attention, but really it's.
- 0:14It's easy to say if you have not met a human being that has gone
- 0:20through that particular experience, but when you know a
- 0:24human being that's gone through that experience, it heats up on
- 0:28run for you. Back to what I've said from the
- 0:31beginning, your body of work, the work you know, you guys do
- 0:36in the health sector, you know public health, do not take it
- 0:39for granted. I appreciate it very, very, very
- 0:42much. First, they are leadership
- 0:44philosophies, right? And of course you have that
- 0:48academic background, right? And definitely it has an impact
- 0:52on your leadership role in industry.
- 0:55So yeah, how do you marry that which, which would I say
- 0:59strategies to your adopt, which are philosophies to your adopt?
- 1:03Yeah. So strategy, how do I use
- 1:05strategy in my job and how does that, how does academia inspire
- 1:08me? I think it's consistently having
- 1:10a culture of learning. And I will challenge you, my
- 1:15friend, to say that I think that, you know, we talked about
- 1:19is it strategy as a leader? Welcome to the Kingdom's podcast
- 1:23where growth mindset meets leadership and business
- 1:25insights. Get insights from top
- 1:28entrepreneurs, professionals and thought leaders.
- 1:31Visit kingdomspodcast.com. Fuel your mind.
- 1:34Your next breakthrough starts here.
- 1:37We are live. Ladies and gentlemen, you'll
- 1:39once again welcome to the King James broadcast and Diary of a
- 1:43CFO. And today I've got we'll meet a
- 1:47very, very special guest fighting out of Basel,
- 1:51Switzerland by way of the West Coast of the United States of
- 1:55America. Big welcome.
- 1:57Jennifer Kane, Burt Moss. Thank you for the invitation.
- 2:05Thank you so much. It's wonderful to be here.
- 2:07Oh, wow. So I guess during the
- 2:10introduction you were thinking, am I now a fighter now?
- 2:13Yeah. Where do I fight out of what's
- 2:15up? What kind of fights do I do?
- 2:17Well, definitely everybody is a fighter in life.
- 2:21If if you've seen a very many past episodes of this podcast,
- 2:25I've had a lot of fighters. I've had boxing world champions,
- 2:29I've had enemy champions on the show.
- 2:33And you know, it's a bug with mindset, leadership and peace.
- 2:37Less insights. So you are passing that.
- 2:40There's multiple feathers on their heart.
- 2:44And you are well deserving of an interesting intro.
- 2:49So sit back, relax while I give you flowers while you are alive.
- 2:54So today we have the privilege of welcoming an extraordinary
- 2:58leader who's carriers pants the boardrooms of some of the
- 3:02world's most influential health organisations to the vibrant
- 3:06stage of improv committee. Jennifer Kane Burkmas is a
- 3:10global health advocate, board member and Co founder of an
- 3:14innovative health tech startup with over 2 decades of
- 3:19experience transforming healthcare systems, advancing
- 3:23patient access, and shaping policy at the highest levels.
- 3:27From the World Bank and You HO to Johnson and Johnson Roche and
- 3:34the Gates Foundation's Medicines for Mandaria venture, Jennifer
- 3:40has built a legacy of impact driving change that touches
- 3:45millions of lives. She's also a gifted storyteller,
- 3:49a TEDx speaker, and a graduate of the Second City Conservatory,
- 3:55proving that leadership can be as creative as it is strategic.
- 4:00Get ready for an inspiring, entitle and yes, fun
- 4:05conversation as we explore leadership, innovation, mindset,
- 4:10and the power of laughter in building a better world.
- 4:15Ladies and gentlemen, once again welcome Jennifer Kane Burke
- 4:20Rose. You're welcome.
- 4:22Amelia wanted to host a webinar, but the tool couldn't deliver.
- 4:25Zooming out, she turned to Webinar Key, an expert solution
- 4:28for webinars. With seamless setup and
- 4:30intuitive design, she delivered the perfect webinar.
- 4:34Webinar host webinars like a boss.
- 4:38Wonderful. Thank you so the for the
- 4:40beautiful, beautiful and warm introduction.
- 4:42Thank you so much. Wow, you are welcome, and of
- 4:46course you are always welcome. I believe very much in speaking
- 4:49in the present tense instead of past tense.
- 4:52That ease. I believe very much in giving
- 4:54people their flowers while they are alive.
- 4:57I am not one to only give you your flowers where you're gone,
- 5:01because that's what most people do.
- 5:02They wait till you die until they say great things about you,
- 5:06appreciate your body of work. I'm not one of those people.
- 5:09You know, people tend to be right.
- 5:11I don't know why. As TNG with compliments and
- 5:14appreciation. And I don't think that is the
- 5:17right thing to do because good attitude, good behaviour, good
- 5:25impact should actually be appreciated.
- 5:28And yeah, you're very much appreciated.
- 5:30So talking about how it all started, the origin before all
- 5:37of your career evolutions, because it seems like you've
- 5:40lived different lives. So I would say you are the
- 5:44leaving example of the proverbial cats with night
- 5:47lives. But it's just that you you seem
- 5:49to have more than that night lives actually.
- 5:52So you learn transformations at the World Bank, WHO, Johnson,
- 5:57Johnson, Boucher and now health tech.
- 5:59So looking back at the key moments, right?
- 6:03What key moments actually define your career path?
- 6:07So what key moments to find my career path would be moments
- 6:11where I could do two things consistently.
- 6:15One would be to serve a mission, which is a mission to support
- 6:19people or patients truly find ways to have that big impact
- 6:24where I can help people truly. And on that mission as I switch
- 6:29from different, maybe working for different companies or even
- 6:31different sectors, always holding that mission vision
- 6:36close to my heart. The other career transition for
- 6:40me would be or guiding light would be when could I learn
- 6:45something? So I know that you're a passion.
- 6:48I know you're passionate about learning as well and cheering,
- 6:51right? You, you, you know what
- 6:54something I did not tell you is that you involved in that bill
- 6:58and then in the Gates Foundation work for Mandaria, right?
- 7:04I was actually involved in the global foreign, ran for malaria
- 7:10as well, and I was back in Nigeria.
- 7:11What a small world that's so. Exciting.
- 7:15What a. Small world.
- 7:17We share that fashion. That's fantastic.
- 7:20Yeah, so, so I've had about one time in, you know, the public
- 7:24health work, but what a lot of people know me for is my time
- 7:28with the week for accounting firms, you know, because that
- 7:30I've had the longest span of my career, like, yeah, about 8
- 7:36years, right. Yeah, with the public accounting
- 7:40sector. But before that there was public
- 7:42health and yeah, we did some work there and made some
- 7:45impacts. And that's one of the reasons
- 7:47why I'm not happy about the the new policy of quoting of the
- 7:51USAIP grant because that grant actually did a lot of, you know,
- 7:56it works for people, especially in yeah, vulnerable people in
- 8:02the less developed economies. So I come from Nigeria, I'm
- 8:05proud of my country. It's interesting and it's great
- 8:08to see the impact that your work is actually done for my people,
- 8:14right? It's it's all love and
- 8:15appreciation. So it's a small world.
- 8:18We know that we've at this point we've touched 500 million
- 8:22patients with our malaria medicines.
- 8:24Yeah. So it's it's.
- 8:26As from the medicines, the the LLI and the log, the lasting
- 8:29insecticides next that you guys also distribute is very
- 8:33impactful. Yeah, medicine.
- 8:35So it's all about, I mean, the the work of medicines for
- 8:38Malaria venture, we discover, we research, we discover, we
- 8:42research, we develop and then we have commercial partnerships to
- 8:45make those products available in like treatment, chemo,
- 8:49prevention, environmental control.
- 8:51So exactly what you say, the bed Nets.
- 8:53And we're constantly, constantly inspired by our researchers.
- 8:58And when I say our researchers, I mean the people that are
- 9:01inside the company, but also they, they work extensively,
- 9:05especially across the continent with different researchers to do
- 9:09open source discovery and also development together.
- 9:13So we're very passionate about making sure that the science is
- 9:16discovered on the continent, not only that the products go there
- 9:20to treat patients because they need them.
- 9:22Of course, we also want the capability of the science to be
- 9:25there and also the manufacturing of the products to be there as
- 9:28well. So we do a lot of these kind of
- 9:30partnerships also now with the African Union and that, you
- 9:34know, African Medicines Agency as it as it starts to take form,
- 9:38do a lot of partnerships there. It's really important.
- 9:41And what if again, what a great small world that we've both been
- 9:45involved in, right? Yeah, what a small world.
- 9:48But you know, something in addition I like I like to touch
- 9:52on is the the programmes of works that you you partner with
- 9:57a lot of when I say sub recipients of all your brands
- 10:01for that is the outreaches, the educational programmes, the
- 10:07seminars and workshops, right? They go a long way to make
- 10:12impacts right people in educating them in order to lead
- 10:18a better lifestyle. Because a lot of times these
- 10:22health initiatives are not just a function of medicine, of
- 10:27distribution of drugs, but almost so lifestyle changes are
- 10:32required in order to lead a better life.
- 10:36And you know, it speaks to a proverb that I would very, very
- 10:39much tell you to my heart of the Chinese proverb, as he gives,
- 10:42give a man a fish, he fed him for a day, but teach a man to
- 10:45fish, he fed him for a lifetime. So it's interesting how you guys
- 10:50give men fishes to eat for a day.
- 10:52And of course, you also teach them to fish in order to have
- 10:56them fed for a lifetime. Yeah, I mean to you're right.
- 11:01It's, it's not only about the pill, but it's about the system
- 11:04and it's about, you know, obviously treating patients who
- 11:08are sick. And also especially in West
- 11:11Africa, the work that we're doing around seasonal chemo
- 11:14prevention is saving lives for children who are 5 and under.
- 11:18And now we're even experimenting with children who are 10 and
- 11:21under. But we know that if we are are
- 11:24effectively dosing the, the medicines that we distribute, if
- 11:28we dose them strategically in advance of the season of the
- 11:31rainy season, we're going to protect those kids.
- 11:35And it is. So it's, it's a, it's a system,
- 11:38systemic environmental intervention that's saving kids
- 11:42lives. I think it's also really
- 11:44exciting to see the commitment of the organisation, not just to
- 11:48children, which is important, it's also to women and to
- 11:51specifically pregnant women. And many companies that develop
- 11:55medicines don't like to treat. They don't like to include women
- 11:59in their clinical trials because, you know, the for fear
- 12:02of having a pregnancy and what if the medicine.
- 12:04Sensitivity. Could affect, yeah, could affect
- 12:06the unborn child. We actually, because the risk of
- 12:10malaria is so much higher when a woman is pregnant, we've been
- 12:14developing medicines for women who are pregnant.
- 12:17Yeah, I love that. It means you're prioritising
- 12:19vulnerability over sensitivity and that's that's the right way
- 12:23to. 100% in fact, in June we launched a new medicine that is
- 12:27for women who are under two months pregnant.
- 12:31So right when you're learning that you're pregnant and you
- 12:34discover you have malaria, you can be treated because that's
- 12:37part of the most critical phase of infant development is there.
- 12:41You know, they're developing all their bones, essential organs.
- 12:44And we know that if they if those mothers are infected with
- 12:47malaria at those times and they're really at risk of their
- 12:50baby, that's these new medicines are really about protecting the
- 12:55mom and protecting that unborn child as it's developing its
- 12:58mother's womb. You don't know how our pathways
- 13:03are interconnected until you sit down and have interesting
- 13:08conversations like this. And the other thing is we always
- 13:13estimate the power of one person's voice to have vision to
- 13:17set the momentum in place for change.
- 13:21So if that's set the momentum in place to create an agency like
- 13:25this that actually has this massive global commitment for
- 13:28babies, for children, for mothers, to prevent them from
- 13:32dying or getting sick from malaria.
- 13:36So the power of the individual to have vision, to gather
- 13:40excitement, enthusiasm, and other people to put money behind
- 13:43those initiatives. There's so much that can be
- 13:46done. Voice.
- 13:48Yeah, it's, it's very important to, you know, to, to, to have
- 13:51the concern and OK, this, you know, it's crazy how much power,
- 13:59you know, an individual has to, to make an impact.
- 14:02And I also remember the teachers from Bible schools saying
- 14:05something and say, when God gives you a vision, he will make
- 14:09a provision. So if you have that vision
- 14:12right, you should always go worry and trust, but to, to, to
- 14:16make the provision. You know, you just talked about
- 14:18how the how the power of an individual is amazing coming up
- 14:22with a vision and, you know, showing up that enthusiasm, you
- 14:26know, creating teams, teamwork makes a dream work, but it's
- 14:31tattered with, you know, the vision of that one person.
- 14:35But God had to make the provision of these other systems
- 14:39and people and, you know, places and, you know, methods to come
- 14:44up together to to make it happen.
- 14:48And you know, God, or for whomever is listening, you know,
- 14:53the God that unites us all is working through all of us in
- 14:57their way. So it's not only just the
- 15:00individual, but it's the inspiration that might even be
- 15:02channelled through that which is divine that makes us all.
- 15:06So we are, you know, these energies and powers work through
- 15:11us in mysterious ways. What happen in in this world?
- 15:20Wow, so nice. Lead up to becoming a Co founder
- 15:26of Weaver Finley. I think this, this desire,
- 15:33passion, vision for impacts in global health.
- 15:37I'm not exactly sure the origin story.
- 15:40It was always there. And some of it has to do with, I
- 15:44think that because I grew up in a family where almost everyone
- 15:48was involved in some form of either healthcare delivery or
- 15:52patient advocacy, health policy, patient advocacy, We were all
- 15:57involved or activism, really activism in the service of
- 16:01others, in the service of the system, the community, the
- 16:04patient themselves. And I think that from a very
- 16:07young age, I was exposed to that and I was equally inspired and
- 16:11continue to drive that red thread through my own life.
- 16:14And so like I said, you know, you asked this beautiful
- 16:17question, which is, you know, what are the things that drove
- 16:19each of those career decisions that I had?
- 16:21And I think the ability to drive that impact mission and also the
- 16:25ability to learn. And I kept making those
- 16:28decisions. Yes, no, yes, no to each of
- 16:30those twists and turns of my own personal road and life journey.
- 16:35And when I was given the opportunity to be a Co founder
- 16:38of this company Viva Valet, which is a digital health
- 16:41company that serves older adults.
- 16:45For me it was absolutely a no brainer.
- 16:47It was completely clear that I should do this.
- 16:51Perhaps I was a little afraid and which made me think even
- 16:54more, I should be doing this. But it was so consistent with
- 16:59the mission of helping people who can't really help themselves
- 17:04or need a little additional support.
- 17:06And it was a chance for me to roll up all my experience, maybe
- 17:09my, you know, hard earned scars and my wisdom through the work
- 17:13and global health and find a way to apply those learnings into
- 17:18helping older adults who are living at home and wish to live
- 17:21at home independently. And finding ways to continue to
- 17:24deliver services, both physical or digital, that can support
- 17:28them so that they can live at home independently, with dignity
- 17:32and with confidence. Well, I, I, I love that word.
- 17:37Dignity. Nobody in life deserves to lose
- 17:41their dignity regardless. And Gallus award ease that they
- 17:45have done or hasn't done to them.
- 17:48Nobody deserves to lose their dignity, but in a world of rigid
- 17:54healthcare systems like, how do you balance policy expertise
- 17:58with innovation to drive that real change?
- 18:05Yeah, So I can even give an example of having worked in, you
- 18:09come originally from Nigeria. I've spent time in, I've spent
- 18:12time in Nigeria myself. I, I was there and I was working
- 18:16with your Ministry of Health and your Ministry of Defence
- 18:18supporting them in actually looking at health system policy
- 18:22and helping them create plans to deliver what they wish to
- 18:27deliver. Let me explain.
- 18:29So he said it's, you're right because these things are a
- 18:32little complicated, but let's make them very clear.
- 18:35So when you say, you know, a healthcare system is complicated
- 18:39and there's a lot of things that you need to do that's inside the
- 18:42healthcare system and there's a lot of moving parts.
- 18:45If you know, you know. What the outcome is, and so
- 18:49often what I do is especially like when I spoke with your, you
- 18:52know, deputy Minister of Health and I was working with other
- 18:54members of the Ministry of Defence who were trying to
- 18:57design the healthcare system for the, for the military.
- 19:01I really had them think about what is it ultimately that they
- 19:05want to achieve? Because often we think, how much
- 19:08should we spend? How many doctors do we need?
- 19:10How many hospitals do we need? How many clinics do we mean, how
- 19:12many, how many, how many, how many, how many means, what are
- 19:15the inputs that we're going to put in?
- 19:17What's the investment we're going to make?
- 19:19Well, we need to make investment.
- 19:20But I think before you do that, you have to stop and say, where
- 19:24do we want to go? Where's the destination?
- 19:26And that destination could be, I'm making it up, making it up.
- 19:31But it could be, for example, I want to reduce malaria by 50
- 19:34percent. I want to reduce malaria deaths
- 19:36by 80% of my country. Therefore I want to reduce
- 19:40transmission by 50%. And I want you know that to
- 19:45therefore have a 70% chance of reduce the chance of five year
- 19:52olds and under dying from malaria, for example.
- 19:55Or I wish to create a programme for patients with chronic
- 19:59disease like diabetes to have an increase in testing, to have a
- 20:03reduction in in disease or have a reduction in amputations,
- 20:07which is often an unfortunate thing that is a part of a
- 20:11patient that's not managed well who has diabetes.
- 20:13So you look at ultimately what is the thing I want to achieve
- 20:16and then you start to pull it back so in order.
- 20:18For that reality to be true, that outcome to be true, we have
- 20:21to start pulling it back. So that means that that patient
- 20:24needed to receive the right urgent care at the right time.
- 20:28They needed to receive the right treatment.
- 20:29The malaria patient needed the right treatment within that
- 20:31seven days of receiving their fever, right.
- 20:34That means that we needed to get the diagnostic in place quickly.
- 20:38We needed to have a clinic that was near them or we need to have
- 20:42some way for them to have a diagnostic which even could be
- 20:44remote. So what then?
- 20:46We need to make sure that our patients understand these
- 20:49things. So we need to either help with
- 20:52literacy, help with education on the ground up, and we also need
- 20:55to make diagnostic health seeking behaviour educational
- 20:59information about how to seek and receive care in a way that's
- 21:03accessible for everyone, language, culture, appropriate,
- 21:06etcetera. We have to pull it all the way
- 21:08back and then we say, all right, what are those things going to
- 21:11cost? Then we can start investing in
- 21:13the cost to run that programme for the diagnostics, the cost to
- 21:17run the programme for the physicians and the nurses and
- 21:20their and the Regional Health ministries and the remote
- 21:24distribution of bed Nets and the remote distribution of of
- 21:28treatments into these real clinics.
- 21:30So we pull it back that way. So you're right, there's a lot
- 21:34of moving parts. And I think always if we think
- 21:36about what's the end stop on our train, we're taking a train for
- 21:41health, what's the last stop on that road we're going to.
- 21:44Then once we get there, we arrive there and we think where
- 21:48do we get? How do, what do we have to do to
- 21:49get there first? Yeah, you remind me of the MDGs
- 21:57and SDGS, you know. Exactly.
- 21:59Looking at certain toll goals and starting with the end in
- 22:04mind quickly, what's would I say?
- 22:07Medical goal, maybe it could be the SDGS, it could be the MDGs
- 22:13or it could be some other like rightly right say normal global
- 22:20medical goals have you seen or worked on and you are impressed
- 22:26with the with the quality of work that was done to achieve
- 22:31that particular goal. So that's actually not so long
- 22:35ago I I worked with rare diseases.
- 22:38And rare diseases are very special because very often it
- 22:41means that they're rare, which means you don't have so many of
- 22:45them in a population. As the name.
- 22:47Implies, as the name implies, there's not so many people who
- 22:50have that disease and so it's often very difficult to provide
- 22:56access and treatment in a comprehensive way for people who
- 23:00have that rare disease. I was involved in being a leader
- 23:07in a international haemophilia consortium and we donated
- 23:12product into that consortium. We were able to disseminate,
- 23:17distribute and make accessible drugs to treat haemophilia.
- 23:21Again, that's like 95% of those patients are men and usually
- 23:26young men who are young boys, teenagers, early 20s.
- 23:32We were really working hard to make sure that those kids could
- 23:36survive into adulthood and that they could actually.
- 23:40Yeah. So that was a programme in like
- 23:43what, 35 different countries? And I actually got to go and do
- 23:46work with the, the, the International Haemophilia
- 23:49Federation in Kenya as well. So that was really inspiring
- 23:54because it doesn't matter if you're a rich person, if you're
- 23:58a poor person, if you're educated, if you're not.
- 24:01Haemophilia doesn't know class. Or highly vulnerable.
- 24:05Like that's what's disturbing to me.
- 24:06Like if you get a cop like yes, it means your your life could
- 24:10end. Like how now I'm I'm curious
- 24:12like how do you support them? Like what is it that you do to
- 24:15help them? You know, is it lifestyle
- 24:18changes? And you know what it it can
- 24:21happen. Yeah, so, so a person and man is
- 24:26generally it's a male disease. They're born without a clotting
- 24:30factor, a factor 8. So you asked me about
- 24:33haemophilia. So and you're saying you know,
- 24:36it's it's a disease where person is born without a clotting
- 24:41factor factor 8 that allows them to have a blood clot if they
- 24:45have a cut like you said or if they have even a bum or bruise.
- 24:50So you're saying that someone could die because they might
- 24:53haemorrhage, they might eat out. That's very possible.
- 24:56The other thing that was really terrible special for these young
- 24:59boys is that their joints, you know, just because you're, you
- 25:03know, you're playing football, you're living an active life,
- 25:06you're a kid, you're playing. You may bump your elbow and your
- 25:10knee or your ankle. And that bump would with Someone
- 25:13Like You and me who have adequate factor 8 will it'll
- 25:17clot internally and it's no big deal.
- 25:19Maybe you get a bruise, but basically it's still healing
- 25:23those kids or those people. The blood will continue to fill
- 25:28into the joint and it could damage the joint.
- 25:31And so it could make moving very difficult and limit their
- 25:35ability to walk around. And So what I would visit with
- 25:38several of these kids in Kenya, many of them and had major
- 25:42attacks like this, where their joints were having lots of pain
- 25:45and they had to walk with a, they had to be carried or they
- 25:48had to walk with a stick. And So what we were doing in our
- 25:52programme is we were providing the medicines that helped them
- 25:56avoid having those major crises, so it would help them survive
- 26:01into adulthood so they can have a healthy life.
- 26:04And I think constantly what we see is that we have consistent
- 26:09evolution of innovation that brings new medicines to these
- 26:14patients that will help them live longer and live healthier
- 26:17and less painful. And so as as you, you know, help
- 26:20them survive into these older years already the technology
- 26:24jumps and jumps and jumps and is more heat stable and is more
- 26:28long acting and is really helping patients have a better
- 26:32life. So that we're very happy to have
- 26:34been a part of that in Africa. Well, I guess for the first time
- 26:42on this broadcast, I've had to share the tier because what are
- 26:46you talking about? Just reminded me of a traumatic
- 26:49experience. I had a friend in secondary
- 26:54school, God rest his soul. His name is Oriyami Atali and
- 27:00very, very brilliant individual. And he I don't know if he
- 27:04probably was suffering from team of India, but last I heard of
- 27:10him worse, he went to play football, sustained an injury
- 27:15and. I'm so sorry that you lost him,
- 27:17especially at such a young age. So an early life lost.
- 27:21And for you especially a friend who is clearly special for you
- 27:26that you lost so young. I'm so sorry that you
- 27:29experienced that and you lost him.
- 27:32It's really sad and trust me, this, this person was brilliant.
- 27:36Very, very fine. It's crazy.
- 27:41People used to think myself and him would end up becoming sports
- 27:45journalists. Of course we we'd love football
- 27:48so much. We love to analyse sports.
- 27:50I know. Can I call myself a journalist?
- 27:52Of course you have a podcast. You're officially a journalist.
- 27:55Yes. And then we can talk about
- 27:58sports, you and me, and then we'll talk.
- 28:00We'll officially, we'll both be sports journalists on your
- 28:02podcast today. OK, OK, yeah, let's bring the
- 28:06childhood dreams. 3 But prayers for the memory of the dead to
- 28:10address the soul. It's it's sad to see right
- 28:14prospects die young because of inadequate medical expertise or
- 28:20attention, but really it's, It's easy to say if you have not met
- 28:27a human being that has gone through that particular
- 28:31experience, but when you know a human being has gone through
- 28:35that experience, it heats up and run for you.
- 28:38Back to what I've said from the beginning, your body of work,
- 28:43the work, you know, you guys do in the health sector, you know,
- 28:48public health, I do not take it for granted.
- 28:51You know, I appreciate it very, very, very much.
- 28:54And the, the work is actually a function of leadership strategy
- 29:02to achieve impact. So from the boardroom to the
- 29:06classroom at Interior, you've actually influenced the leaders
- 29:10worldwide. So what core leadership
- 29:12principles do you believe translates, you know, across the
- 29:17industries that you've worked with Let.
- 29:21Me make sure I understand your question correctly.
- 29:23What are the things I'm teaching at the university that I learned
- 29:26from you from? Yes, a, a mix of both, right?
- 29:30That is we, we, we can add the leadership, right?
- 29:34But leadership comes with strategy, right?
- 29:38And of course there are leadership philosophies, right?
- 29:42And of course you have that academic background, right?
- 29:45And definitely it has an impact on your leadership role in
- 29:51industry. So how do you marry that?
- 29:54And which are which would I say, strategies to your dot?
- 29:58Which are few philosophies to your dot.
- 30:01Yeah. So strategy, how do I use
- 30:03strategy in my job and how does that, how does academia inspire
- 30:06me? I think it's consistently having
- 30:09a culture of learning. And I will challenge you, my
- 30:13friend, to say that I think that, you know, we talked about
- 30:17is it strategy as a leader? Are you, you know, do you own
- 30:20strategy? Yes.
- 30:21And even more, even on top of strategy, as a leader, you're
- 30:25owning culture. And so the culture, a culture,
- 30:29what we say eats strategy for breakfast, right.
- 30:33So as a leader, you have you're in charge of food.
- 30:35Yeah, it's true. So we.
- 30:38I'm going to compel my friends to watch to watch this episode,
- 30:42OK, because there is something I always say that is eat it
- 30:47something from. Breakfast culture is for
- 30:50breakfast. And you know, as a leader, you
- 30:54bring the weather in every room you enter.
- 30:58So does that mean are you, excuse me, you have a choice
- 31:03Every day as a leader, you can arrive sunny, you can arrive
- 31:08cloudy. You can arrive rainstorm.
- 31:11You can arrive a snowstorm. You can arrive lightning.
- 31:14You know, you choose what's the weather that you're bringing.
- 31:17And that's another kind of metaphor for what's the culture
- 31:20that you're going to create. Very often culture you don't.
- 31:25It's difficult to see and identify it because you're
- 31:29inside of it. So like a fish that's swimming
- 31:32inside of a fishbowl, does a fish know that it's swimming in
- 31:36water? Fish is probably unaware of the
- 31:39water it's swimming in. So it's like you and I were were
- 31:43immersed in our culture and culture would be things like the
- 31:47collection of the ways of working or the language that we
- 31:52use together, or the lexicon even that we use, or the rituals
- 31:57and habits that we have on a daily basis, or the symbols or
- 32:01symbols we use to identify who we are.
- 32:04Your lingo, Your Dragons. And our values, so those are all
- 32:08the collection of what makes up a culture.
- 32:10And then that once you have that culture and you are operating
- 32:14inside your culture linked to your mission and vision of where
- 32:17you're going, what's your North star of what you want to
- 32:19accomplish, then you connect your strategy to achieving that.
- 32:23And so I think as a leader, we're in charge of all of those
- 32:27things as founders, as C-Suite. And I think also truthfully,
- 32:33it's leadership in every moment because there are people who are
- 32:37appointed as a title leader. And I think actually leadership
- 32:42is something that's just that dispersed through everyone and
- 32:47that you have a moment to be a leader every single day, even if
- 32:51you don't have the title of leader.
- 32:52So maybe the leader with capital L, who's got the name leader in
- 32:56their title, They're in charge of driving a culture.
- 32:59They're in charge of driving a strategy which is towards that
- 33:02North star that they want to achieve.
- 33:04And everyone has a role to be a leader every given moment, to
- 33:08step up in the moment of requirement, to do the thing
- 33:11that is important and is to do the right thing.
- 33:15I like that, you know, for, for me, I, I really don't like
- 33:17titles, right? Because, yeah, leadership for me
- 33:20is more about leading by example, collaborative
- 33:24leadership. What's important is not the
- 33:29example of your power, but the power of the example, right?
- 33:32To think about it, if your example is powerful, people
- 33:37always take your example so you don't have to boss people
- 33:41around. And that's why influence breeds
- 33:45impact, right? I would argue that if you have
- 33:48to boss people around, you actually don't have power.
- 33:53Yeah, that's the thing. Yeah, they are.
- 33:55Intimidating people and people in my, my history, you know who
- 34:00you are, you know who you are, right?
- 34:04If you acted like that in a room in front of me or my colleagues
- 34:08or in front of hundreds of people, you actually didn't have
- 34:12power at all. You are afraid and you are
- 34:16acting out of fear. And those are behaviours that
- 34:19were from your own fear inside, sadly.
- 34:22So I kind of want to, I kind of want to hold them and say you're
- 34:25OK, even though they might have done me dirty or done a whole
- 34:29bunch of people I know dirty, but they would stand in front of
- 34:32a room intimidating people. That's because they have a fear
- 34:36inside and so. Now you have earned you and by
- 34:40respect, I'll, I'll tell, I'll tell you something.
- 34:42You. You've.
- 34:43Earned it. You've earned it.
- 34:46I'll unlock. It well, thank you.
- 34:49And I have to say I'm not a woman of faith yet.
- 34:51I'm a woman who's extremely spiritual and I relate to this
- 34:54idea of the spirit that's channelling through all of us.
- 34:58And I, I, but I look to you as a man of faith and I, you know,
- 35:02from the scripts that you read and the text that you read and
- 35:06the practise and your, you know, culture of faith, you know, I do
- 35:09believe it's all about living with love.
- 35:11And so love your enemy, even if your enemy happens to be that
- 35:15really mean boss who made you cry before the meeting and made
- 35:17you stand up in front of everybody and pretend you aren't
- 35:19crying. Love them and forgive them
- 35:22because they're just afraid. Just love them and then know
- 35:27that you're going to keep going forward and doing the right
- 35:30thing. Yeah, you know something.
- 35:32But I, I always feel sorry for those kind of people.
- 35:35I pity you, right? Because I, I, I see this right
- 35:38in the real world. In the real world.
- 35:42There is something as I do believe in karma.
- 35:45I am the predator and you're the prey.
- 35:47I do believe in the. Real world.
- 35:49Even karma, and I've seen karma that those individuals, you know
- 35:56who you are you. Know you know that you can only
- 36:01make threats when when there's security there to save you.
- 36:06So I think the point is where you're you're going to pay,
- 36:09where do you pay? Do you pay upfront or do you pay
- 36:12afterwards? I think it might be more painful
- 36:14if you're paying afterwards because you're going to in the
- 36:18process of falling from grace. I think then that's that's when
- 36:24the the karma comes is yeah. And camera.
- 36:27Only from status. I think that's really, it is
- 36:30like if you've had that big job L with a, you know, leader with
- 36:33a capital L in your title, eventually your job is going to
- 36:38leave you. You might leave the job, but the
- 36:41job is also going to leave you. And those the status that you
- 36:45have in that role is also going to leave you.
- 36:48And you better get right with who you are inside, because if
- 36:51you're not, all those things that you never dealt with are
- 36:54coming back and. It's big time.
- 36:59And so for those people that I know, they're going to get their
- 37:02due, they're going to get their chance at dealing with all this
- 37:05reckoning. I love you, I forgive you, and
- 37:09you have your chance at experiencing your own pain.
- 37:12Yeah. Well, Speaking of breakfast, you
- 37:15know, there was a guy from some country, I'm not going to
- 37:19mention a country, and he was telling me, how do you know that
- 37:23I'm a gangster from this place? I'm like, OK, interesting.
- 37:28It's a country in Europe. I told him, hey, bro, I've been
- 37:32to your country. I've been to the capital of that
- 37:34country and I I know, I know the gangsters from there, right?
- 37:39You can't trust me. But have you been to my country?
- 37:42He said no. Like you've been to Lagos,
- 37:45right? Yeah, I told me.
- 37:47I told you something. Do you know what we do in Lagos?
- 37:51In Lagos, Nigeria? We eat gangsters for breakfast.
- 37:54You can ask Jennifer. She's been there.
- 37:59Yes they do. In Lagos, we eat gangsters with
- 38:03the. Side of okra soup I've seen it
- 38:06I'm. Telling you.
- 38:07With the side of okra soup and maybe a plate full of garden
- 38:11slug, it's a. Thing be careful.
- 38:16Be careful. All the cool kids in Legos are
- 38:19having that for breakfast, so. I'm telling you like, OK, don't
- 38:24play. Don't play with the people that
- 38:26are represented by this flag. Never, Never.
- 38:29No, I agree. I agree.
- 38:31It's never a good idea. It's never a good idea.
- 38:34It's we only end in tears. Yes.
- 38:38This is nice. You're having a good time here,
- 38:40right? Oh wow, I, I wish I had this
- 38:42side of Aqua soup. You know, it's it's it's, it's
- 38:44delicious. So.
- 38:46I will I I have to confess I did eat it on several occasions.
- 38:50Oh wow, So what? What was your best food today?
- 38:52I don't enjoy it. You don't enjoy Aqua soup?
- 38:55No, I have. I, I, I I have to be very
- 38:57honest. Yeah, I love the honesty.
- 38:59I didn't try I. Didn't it wasn't just I tasted
- 39:02it once I had I had many bowls because I I love.
- 39:05I think that's part of what's the exciting part about visiting
- 39:08other cultures is. Is did you try the seafood
- 39:10option? Seafood okra?
- 39:12What? What did you try?
- 39:13The seafood okra? No, I only had just the good old
- 39:18so fried okra. Give it to me day and night.
- 39:20I can't get enough of it. Fried, fried okra, yes, please,
- 39:24I'll eat it right now. Okra soup again, I had multiple
- 39:27bowls of it and multiple days and multiple meals thinking, oh,
- 39:30well, maybe it was just this restaurant that I didn't like or
- 39:32maybe at this place I didn't like.
- 39:34It wasn't my preference because the way that the consistency,
- 39:39the way that it. You know.
- 39:41Taste is OK, but it's the way that it's kind of gelatinous.
- 39:46Yeah. Jelly or slime It's kind of a
- 39:49slime. I mean you know, it's kind of a
- 39:51slimy soup, so I didn't love it, but what I did enjoy, I really
- 39:56enjoyed having the slugs. I thought it was great like I
- 39:59had a whole plate, many plates of slugs.
- 40:01I lot thought they were fantastic and please help me
- 40:05remind me. I think it's I want the white
- 40:11like porridge that's dry that you serve.
- 40:13That's. Oh, pounded yam.
- 40:18Yes. Oh God, yes.
- 40:20I. Literally eat.
- 40:22I could eat that every single day.
- 40:24It was slow. The pounded yam.
- 40:25That is a dope. Oh, I could have eaten that and
- 40:28I still could. Like, I could eat that today.
- 40:30I wouldn't. Like, I would have ordered that
- 40:32right now. I was so good.
- 40:35Yeah. I have a doctor friend of mine
- 40:37and you know, like what? Two other food, one beer.
- 40:40And he was like, oh man, I don't want to eat pounded yam.
- 40:43It's got so much, so much calories.
- 40:45It's going to make me feel heavy.
- 40:47So for a minute, tell me, I'm just going to order it.
- 40:51It's it's good, it tastes nice. It's.
- 40:53Yeah, the taste is bad. It's like.
- 40:55Comfort food, it's in the American South, we have foods
- 40:58that we call comfort food, which are all about like the potatoes
- 41:01with the fried foods. So the pounded yam is like
- 41:05Nigerian comfort food. Like I would imagine it's the
- 41:08thing that like, Mom, please make me pounded yam because I'm
- 41:12gonna feel loved. I'm gonna feel I'm gonna feel
- 41:15cared for by you and I'm gonna feel cosy.
- 41:18So give me that food. Like that's, that's the food.
- 41:22It's good. Did you try jollof rice?
- 41:25Which? Jollof Rice.
- 41:28I may have, I don't recall. The rice that is.
- 41:32Yeah, it's red. It's just like, yeah.
- 41:35Oh yes, Oh my gosh, yes, so good.
- 41:40Like every everybody likes that one.
- 41:42Good. I wonder why they would only
- 41:43give you awkward soup. But how about ecosy?
- 41:46Did you ever try something called ecosy?
- 41:48It's like yellow with like green leaves.
- 41:51It's a. Soup.
- 41:52Yeah, Yes. The yellow one, that one, it has
- 41:57a good consistency. It's yeah, the texture is yeah.
- 42:00I really like that too. I could eat a lot of that.
- 42:02The grape veggies like. Super.
- 42:04Yup, yeah, yeah, yeah. Veggies.
- 42:06And then there's another one that called an FRB row.
- 42:09That one is just, yeah, green veggies.
- 42:11It's pretty much a mixture of vegetables.
- 42:14And it can be quite hot. A lot of the things are spicy.
- 42:18So like, how do you cope with the spice?
- 42:21You just have a piece of bread nearby and you smile really
- 42:26large. Really something I brought back
- 42:30was the dried meat that was super spiced.
- 42:33Like so good, so good. I need to have some.
- 42:39Right now I have some. Have a bite, Have a bite, and if
- 42:45you're me, have a little piece of bread nearby that you can
- 42:48dampen the pain. But have a bite and enjoy some.
- 42:51Bread. Have some bread.
- 42:54Just be ready. Yeah.
- 42:56Show me the package. Hold it up.
- 42:58Let's see it. Yeah.
- 43:02Is that? Wait, hold it up again.
- 43:04Is that package blue? Is that package?
- 43:07Yes, it is something blue. It's wrapped in.
- 43:11Something blue. Yeah, that's so good.
- 43:15That's so good. This is what are you talking
- 43:17about. That's exactly what I'm talking.
- 43:19About I'm sorry, I'm going to send you some sweet alert.
- 43:22Yeah, yeah. You speak about a friend that
- 43:28you lost. And again, I'm sorry that you
- 43:29lost your dear friend when you were so young.
- 43:33And I lost a dear friend two years ago and he teased me about
- 43:38okra soup. He teased me about eating it.
- 43:41He just was so absolutely disgusted by the description
- 43:45that I gave of him. I gave him of that.
- 43:48And so when you brought that meat out, I think I remember
- 43:51trying that meat and giving him some.
- 43:52When I came back from my dear, he did not appreciate it at all.
- 43:56My this dear friend of mine died two years ago and he always
- 43:59sends me little messages in the colour blue.
- 44:03So for example, this book called Solve for Happy would be a book
- 44:05you would have loved. He shows up to me in the colour
- 44:08blue. And you when you pulled out the
- 44:10packaging and it was blue, I said, Oh my gosh, this is my
- 44:13friend giving me, you know, winking at me, winking at me and
- 44:18laughing. This is him saying a little
- 44:21message of I'm here. So thank you for visiting.
- 44:25Thank you for visiting our wonderful podcast.
- 44:27And you're right, Soup miss. I hope you're having open
- 44:31heaven, my dear friend. Probably.
- 44:34Yeah, hopefully, hopefully so hopefully so, you know, it's
- 44:39interesting and life how like certain moments like give you
- 44:44certain memories. But it's good to be open.
- 44:48And yeah, some people think being open is you've been
- 44:51vulnerable, but yeah, you're all human beings.
- 44:53Yeah, you're allowed to be vulnerable.
- 44:56Yeah, last time I checked, you know, we're not machines, so.
- 45:00Yeah, exactly. We are, we are emotional animals
- 45:05or animals driven by emotion. This, this dear friend of mine
- 45:08was also a neurosurgeon and like a brain surgeon for real life
- 45:13brain surgeon and the neuroscientist and he would say
- 45:16the brain is the only organ in our body that if my brain is
- 45:19sick, like if, if I, if my liver is sick, your liver won't be
- 45:23sick, but if my brain is sick, your, your brain could get sick
- 45:27too. And so this idea of the
- 45:29connectedness we have between people and the vulnerability
- 45:32that we have that could actually create vulnerability in other
- 45:35people. Or like we talked about earlier,
- 45:38leadership culture. I can bring improve the culture.
- 45:43Any given day. I can be a leader even without
- 45:46capital. Li could be a leader.
- 45:48I can be as someone who spreads joy and brings the weather as
- 45:52well. Mm, hmm.
- 45:54Guess what? Speaking of neurosurgeons, this
- 45:59is August, right? Yes.
- 46:02I think on September 1, we have a neurosurgeon from Stanford
- 46:10University that's scheduled to be on this broadcast.
- 46:14Okay. Well.
- 46:16Congratulations, that's so exciting.
- 46:18I can't wait to listen to that episode.
- 46:21Definitely. I'll let you do as soon as it's
- 46:22out. Yeah.
- 46:23So yeah, yeah, good luck to you. We have that apartment.
- 46:27Well, I mean, thank you so. Much for having to have yourself
- 46:30interconnected. Yeah, everything.
- 46:33Everything is connected. Nothing is accidental.
- 46:36Everything is by design and interconnected.
- 46:39So I'm so grateful that you have me on your show.
- 46:40So thank you so much and thank you for making me very envious
- 46:44about your little snack. Let's go.
- 46:47Very envious. Very envious, Very envious.
- 46:51You need to receive that Jerry again.
- 46:52Yeah, it will happen. I'm absolutely certain it will
- 46:56happen. There's no question it will.
- 46:57So yeah. But OK, my next question right
- 47:02now is, have you ever faced A relapse situation wherein your
- 47:08strategy is faced with resistance and how do you use
- 47:13collaboration or perhaps some improv to turn it around?
- 47:17Yeah. I mean, strategy is only as good
- 47:22as, you know, the people that built it and the people who can
- 47:26implement it. So you might have the most
- 47:28perfect strategy and you realise when it gets to implementation,
- 47:32you don't have the numbers, you don't have the resources, you
- 47:35don't have the capability. You know, you just when I say
- 47:38numbers, I mean numbers of people or the people who know
- 47:40how to do it. Look at what I have on my back.
- 47:44Push through. Yeah, yeah, there you go.
- 47:47Exactly. So there's some pain.
- 47:49There might be some. Everyone read the the words
- 47:51behind. So it could be that they're all
- 47:54those things in your team are not capable or it could be all
- 47:56the circumstances that drove the strategy have changed.
- 48:00And so I think every decision we make, we can only hope to make
- 48:03the best decision with the data that's in front of us, so that
- 48:06we can only make the best strategy with the data that
- 48:09informs it. And when that data changes, so
- 48:12when the circumstances change about the thing that they are,
- 48:16the thing that's outside of you, that you're trying to get or
- 48:19grow, etcetera, you got to change your strategy.
- 48:22And if you realise you've got the wrong people, then you need
- 48:24to fix the people, fix change, etcetera.
- 48:27And so the world of improv is very useful in that improv like
- 48:32business, same thing. We're both creating something
- 48:35from nothing always. So you develop a strategy in
- 48:39business, you develop a business itself, you develop a show.
- 48:43When you're doing a show in improv, entertaining someone,
- 48:47you get it. You start with nothing.
- 48:48So you get the suggestions, you gather data from the audience,
- 48:52you gather data from the market, whatever.
- 48:54And then you create something new.
- 48:56And in order to be able to be creating effectively and then
- 49:00making the thing, you have to be hyper connected with each other.
- 49:05In order to be hyper connected, you have to trust each other,
- 49:08you have to listen. And as an individual, you have
- 49:11to be hyper focused and you have to listen so and you say yes.
- 49:16And so you keep building everything as you go.
- 49:20So I think they're 100% interconnected.
- 49:23I have been running a comedy school here in Basel for the
- 49:26last four years and we perform on a, on a monthly or more than
- 49:31more than more often than monthly basis.
- 49:34And we're often coaching senior executives like yourself, like
- 49:37that, your listeners on how to use these tools of improv comedy
- 49:42and the tools of theatre improv, improvisational theatre to make
- 49:47something new. So it could be new business
- 49:49model, It could be how to have better executive presence.
- 49:53It could be fighting imposter syndrome, which makes you feel
- 49:56so unsure or afraid. Like we could talk about those
- 50:00people before who are yelling at people in front of large groups
- 50:03of large audiences. So these are things that can
- 50:07fundamentally support you in your leadership journey.
- 50:11So I'm so grateful to be doing that because it's it's fun.
- 50:14It's first of all, it's fun. It's just a heightened way to
- 50:18live, really. I, I, I love the fact that you
- 50:22talk about impulsive syndrome, right?
- 50:24And when you look at the Kingdom's podcast, it's all
- 50:27about #1 world's mindset. Yes to leadership. #3 yes.
- 50:33Inside mindset is very, very important to me.
- 50:37It's at the heart of the the body of work that I have put
- 50:41together. Mindset also influences your
- 50:44storytelling, improves about storytelling.
- 50:48Yes, you do. Basically a storytelling, but
- 50:51not just storytelling. Storytelling to create an
- 50:55impact. Yes.
- 50:57That's what's set to your power. But what?
- 51:00What would you say generally people need to do in terms of
- 51:05their mindset to adopt A growth mindset so that they can succeed
- 51:10at anything that they do in their lives, whether it's a
- 51:13business or sports, whatever it is that you do, Yeah.
- 51:19So I'm going to use the rules of improv to because I'm going to
- 51:23rely on that as my toolbox that I used to have my own growth
- 51:27mindset and that I often teach the growth mindset.
- 51:31There's not a lot. There's four of them.
- 51:34So rule #1 yes. And so yes means you say yes.
- 51:39It doesn't mean that agree. It means sometimes in the world
- 51:44of business, yes, I heard you. And I'm going to keep building.
- 51:48So keep using yes and don't use yes.
- 51:51But I'm sure you've been in lots of rooms where people say, yes,
- 51:55this is a great strategy. But right, we all know someone
- 51:58who's done that and it kills your collaboration, it kills the
- 52:01energy, etcetera. So rather say yes.
- 52:04And, and you can keep that, that mood light, you can keep the
- 52:08creation going. So that's part of the yes.
- 52:12And mindset is part of the growth mindset #2 listen 2 ears,
- 52:16one mouth, right? So listen for a reason.
- 52:22I tell people there are four language skills speaking, at
- 52:25least in reading, writing. Yeah.
- 52:27So say yes and listen with all of your ears.
- 52:31Serve. So don't be a diva.
- 52:34Serve other people. So as a leader especially,
- 52:37you're there to get the best out of your people.
- 52:40And it's you as the the glory that you have is rather
- 52:44irrelevant. You need to get stuff done
- 52:46through other people. So therefore you need to lift
- 52:48them and serve them. So lift them to their highest
- 52:51potential. Lift them, grow them, teach
- 52:54them. Know that without your team, you
- 52:58are nothing. So continue to serve as a
- 53:02leader. And then the last one is accept
- 53:04that you will fail and actually push yourself into situations
- 53:08where you can fail and fail with joy and know that you're going
- 53:13to fail and you're going to just keep building.
- 53:15When you fail, you realise one of the 99 things that that won't
- 53:20work. So now you've got, you know,
- 53:23you've got 100 tries. You get a failure for the 1st 30
- 53:27times. My gosh, you still have 7
- 53:29possible 70. Fail and fail fast.
- 53:33Fail fast. Get.
- 53:34Get up. Take yourself up.
- 53:36Dust yourself off. Keep going.
- 53:39Yeah, I love that a lot. And yeah, everybody who knows me
- 53:42knows that's what the life I am about.
- 53:45I'm never afraid to feel like I won't be the first person to
- 53:48feel or something. I'm not going to be the last
- 53:50person. So why am I sad?
- 53:52But each other is people who succeed at things that people
- 53:55who are good at many other things.
- 53:58Yeah, absolutely. As a clean slate.
- 54:01Yeah, but you got it, right. You got it.
- 54:03You got the four things. You got it.
- 54:05Go for it. Wow, it's been really, really
- 54:09great, you know, having you today.
- 54:11I've had a lot of fun and you know you, you are an inspiration
- 54:15to the younger generation. When we look at the show, we
- 54:19look at the demographics from the back end.
- 54:22On Spotify, majority of people who listen to this show or what
- 54:27to show are millennials between the ages of 28 to 44.
- 54:34The form about 75% of the listenership of this show.
- 54:40So you are speaking to young professionals, young
- 54:45entrepreneurs and you are making an impact in, you know, the
- 54:50lives of the people that are shaping the next generation.
- 54:54So it's it's a very big technology.
- 54:56I won't let you leave without, you know, you being a big sister
- 55:00to, you know, the aspiring young women out there.
- 55:05So what's your, your, would I say your advice right to young
- 55:11professionals, especially the females, right, who aspire to be
- 55:14in leadership roles, you know, in business?
- 55:18Yeah, I, I think the four things I said before, Yes.
- 55:22And listen, serve and fail, fail with joy and fail fast.
- 55:26That applies to you ladies as well.
- 55:28Now the other thing I'm going to say, gentlemen, look your ears
- 55:32now, ladies, girls, let's talk. The most important decision that
- 55:38you're going to make for the future of your career is who you
- 55:41decide to have as a life partner.
- 55:44Whether that is a charming man, a charming woman, a charming
- 55:49they, whichever, whichever whomever you're going to be
- 55:53partnering with the he, she, they, them.
- 55:57That decision you're making is the most important decision that
- 56:00you're making. And I don't mean that from like
- 56:02a sentimental, oh, how sweet. It's that that person is going
- 56:06to influence possibly where you live, how you live, if you have
- 56:11children together, the future of your genetic code that's being
- 56:14passed on. And also whether you're going to
- 56:17have help when you are having children and whether you're
- 56:20having a career. You need that person to be your
- 56:23Co pilot and your person who celebrates you and every
- 56:27decision you're making if you're if you're young.
- 56:29Microsoft is going to be happy with you Co pilot.
- 56:33Go by. Microsoft Co.
- 56:36Pilot this episode. Guys, guys, you, you need the
- 56:40president. It's going to be your GPT.
- 56:42Co pilot. But really, ladies, it's really
- 56:45important to find someone who's going to support you because
- 56:49you've you're here, you're listening, you're building your
- 56:52career, you're building your empire, you've educated
- 56:54yourself. Keep learning.
- 56:55Don't stop and know that the people that you surround
- 56:59yourself with, likely a romantic partner, will influence so much
- 57:03that you end up the opportunities you have in your
- 57:06life. So go get it.
- 57:08Choose well, choose wisely, and not that you shouldn't choose,
- 57:11choose for sure, but choose wisely and know that that person
- 57:15needs to be able to support you and all those decisions you can
- 57:18to go be the master of your life and master of your business.
- 57:21That's a good advice. In that case, quick fire around.
- 57:24I'm going to put you through the Pacific Ring of Fire at tell me
- 57:28the first thing that comes to your mind. 5 questions in one
- 57:30unit. SO1 book every leader should
- 57:33read What one book? One book that every leader
- 57:36should read. Emotional Business by Ravi Rao.
- 57:42OK. Emotional Business by Ravi Rao.
- 57:46Nice voice, the best advice you ever received in your career.
- 57:49Going. Keep going.
- 57:54Give up, just keep going. Keep going.
- 57:57Consistency is I. Think over the different over
- 57:59the different phases or seasons of my career.
- 58:02I think there's different advice that I received that helped me
- 58:05keep going. And I think it's really trust
- 58:09yourself like you are, you're, you're making all this up,
- 58:13you're driving all this. You are the creator of your life
- 58:16and trust that inner voice that you have.
- 58:19And I think often in my own life and many people I know, they
- 58:22didn't trust that inner voice. So trust, trust that inner voice
- 58:26because that's your intuition telling you what's good for you
- 58:28and what's bad for you. So trust that inner voice and go
- 58:33with it. Tea or something stronger?
- 58:36Coffee. OK, right now it's 8:00 at
- 58:39night. I am dreaming, and I'm not
- 58:41kidding. I'm dreaming of my coffee
- 58:43tomorrow morning because there's nothing.
- 58:46I love coffee. I could drink it all day, and if
- 58:49I the experience of the first coffee in the morning, double
- 58:54shot espresso, maybe with a little bit of coconut cream,
- 58:57pretty good. That experience of the taste,
- 59:01the texture, the feeling, the experience, the jolt from that
- 59:04first coffee. I wish I could be like that all
- 59:07day. I see.
- 59:10Say no more. I see.
- 59:12Let's. Dreaming about literally, you're
- 59:13not making one have a coffee right now because now then I
- 59:15won't sleep. But I want, I want, I want
- 59:17tomorrow morning's coffee right now.
- 59:21OK, so if you could have a coffee date with any three
- 59:25people, dead or alive, who would?
- 59:27Those people. Be any three people.
- 59:30Oprah Winfrey. Miss Oprah.
- 59:32Please Miss Oprah. She is like my North Star.
- 59:37I've had Oprah. Winfrey on this one.
- 59:40And I mean, really, I rehearsed the day that we're going to
- 59:42meet. I'm always like, Oprah, come on.
- 59:45It's a joke between you and me. No, Oprah, I know.
- 59:47Thank you so much. Thank you, Oprah.
- 59:50I know. But it's between you and me.
- 59:53I know, GAIL. I know.
- 59:54It's it's funny. But Oprah.
- 59:56Yes. So I rehearsed for the day we're
- 59:58meeting and we're friends. So Oprah, please.
- 1:00:01And then I'm going to say I mentioned when we were starting,
- 1:00:05I really love musical theatre. I really, really love musical
- 1:00:09theatre. And I would love to meet with
- 1:00:11Oprah and Lin Manuel Miranda, who is a playwright in America.
- 1:00:16He's from the, he's from Puerto and he no, so it's a Dominican.
- 1:00:21He's anyway from the Caribbean and he has written some of the
- 1:00:24most influential theatre pieces this Millennium, which are just
- 1:00:30great pieces of art. And they because of his pieces
- 1:00:33of art, he has inspired people to learn history in a new and
- 1:00:37different way and look at our current life through a lens of
- 1:00:41history that's unique for today. So I would love to sit down and
- 1:00:46talk to him and get his creative process and get his mission and
- 1:00:50vision. Would love that.
- 1:00:53And then I think the last one would probably be our dear
- 1:01:00brother Nelson Mandela. Truly.
- 1:01:04A long walk to freedom. As a leader, as a, as an
- 1:01:08activist, as a leader, as a man of God who is able to endure all
- 1:01:15he did he and watch his people, his colleagues, his community
- 1:01:21crumble and still have the fortitude to forgive and to turn
- 1:01:26a turn, a moment of which could have been potentially
- 1:01:30bitterness, anger, retribution into forgiveness, love and
- 1:01:33leadership. I would love to talk to him
- 1:01:35about that journey and just to be in his presence.
- 1:01:39There are people who have met him.
- 1:01:41I never got a chance to meet. I met Kofi Annan, who had that
- 1:01:44kind of vibe you've got. Kofi Annan.
- 1:01:49I met Kofi Annan and. He has something interesting.
- 1:01:52He's really, he had that vibe of like he's, he's a good person.
- 1:01:56So I understand that people who met Nelson Mandela had that
- 1:01:59feeling like you were in the presence of someone who truly
- 1:02:02was channelling love in a way that you could never, never not
- 1:02:07experience. I would, I would love to talk to
- 1:02:10him. Wow.
- 1:02:11Yeah, he passed. OK.
- 1:02:14The interesting stuff I'm going to confirm to you is that both
- 1:02:17Ian and Attisha, the same birthday with me, he was born
- 1:02:22April 8th, 1938 and I was born April 8th, 1992.
- 1:02:30So you're in the presence of greatness.
- 1:02:34So it's a passing of the bottom. And was certainly in the
- 1:02:40presence of greatness. That's fantastic.
- 1:02:43Yeah, wow. Yeah, have some like
- 1:02:45interesting, but they made Kofi Annan.
- 1:02:48Yeah, April 8. That's who you would be with.
- 1:02:51That's who you have a coffee with.
- 1:02:56Who you? Have a coffee I I need I need to
- 1:02:58find a a number of April 8 guys to have coffee with baby Robert
- 1:03:03Kiyosaki coffee Aden and I'll find one more OK myself myself
- 1:03:08that's threes 3. Yeah.
- 1:03:11That's three 2 is a company, 3 is a crowd.
- 1:03:14There you go, there you go. 4 is complicated, so 3 is better.
- 1:03:20That's complicated. OK, what's one word that sums up
- 1:03:23your life philosophy? Joy, joy.
- 1:03:30OK, I love that. Yeah, joy is.
- 1:03:34It's very important because joy is different from happiness.
- 1:03:36Joy is actually deep. Well, a lot of people tend to,
- 1:03:40would I say, mistake joy for happiness.
- 1:03:44They're two different things. Joy.
- 1:03:46Joy is deep. It's would I say it's more long
- 1:03:52lived or happiness is more short lived?
- 1:03:54Yeah, yeah, I love that bro. So now let me keep the joy.
- 1:04:03But you. Keep the joy, maybe.
- 1:04:04Maybe the happiness, the happiness is going out the
- 1:04:07window because it's it's the end of the show.
- 1:04:10But for me, it's love and respect to you, of course.
- 1:04:16Yeah, this has been a great time.
- 1:04:18Great impacts, great conversations, great
- 1:04:20connections. And you know, guys, guys out
- 1:04:26there, do the needful like, share comments, subscribe.
- 1:04:31And of course, I will keep working tirelessly to bring in
- 1:04:35great individuals like Jennifer Kane.
- 1:04:43And of course, if you don't, if you don't share it, if you're
- 1:04:47going to see me in your dreams and I'm going to break your nose
- 1:04:50like a birth mouse. Now I'm very afraid.
- 1:04:58Thank you very. Much you putting me on your
- 1:05:00show, I'm so grateful. It was a wonderful conversation
- 1:05:02do. You have anybody would have a
- 1:05:03shout to give a shout out to you.
- 1:05:06Anyone I want to give a shout out to?
- 1:05:08Yeah, I just think in the spirit of the older people we serve, we
- 1:05:13are here every day. We love serving you and it is
- 1:05:16just a delight to know that we make your life a little better
- 1:05:19every single day. OK, so love and respect to you,
- 1:05:24the audience and of course keep going for something in your
- 1:05:26life. Always go for something in your
- 1:05:28life. Conceive, believe, strive to
- 1:05:32thrive and go achieve. Bless you guys.
- 1:05:35For me it says goodbye. And of course, from Jennifer, it
- 1:05:38is good night.