Latest / Harder Than Life / Adaptability Over IQ | The CEO Skill Everyone's Missing

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Adaptability Over IQ | The CEO Skill Everyone's Missing · Harder Than Life

• 0:01
  Now at Lowe's, faster quotes start at the Lowe's Pro Desk. Got a material list handwritten on a sticky note or saved us a photo? Perfect. Bring it to us and get a quote in minutes. And if you don't see what you need on the shelf, we'll help you get it. You can access thousands of products beyond what's available in-store or on lowes.com right from the Lowe's Pro Desk. Build quotes faster and source the materials you need to keep your jobs moving. Just like that at Lowe's.
• 0:30
  People talk about reinventing yourself three times in your life. Bulls**t. You're going to reinvent yourself every goddamn year. What's your scarier, failing or playing it safe? Regret is my motivator. The feeling of regret will kill me. I was vice president, started an Israeli company here in the U.S. I'm leaving because I'm here to chase my dreams. My co-founder decided to take the money.
• 0:51
  throw me out of the business and I was left with completely nothing. That dark moment for me was also the biggest lesson in my life. And in hindsight, I opened one of the fastest growing private companies in America, changing lives by the thousands every year. And within a year, we already crossed a million. It's about being intentional. It's about being strategic. It's about being...
• 1:14
  the CEO of your life. You can't talk about some of these things from the wounds. You can talk about it from the scars. That, in my mind, is what adaptability is. This is an era of reinvention, so you better be ready to know exactly how to do it and how to do it fast and successful. Otherwise, you will be left behind.
• 1:33
  From becoming the first female commander in her F-16 squad to building one of the fastest growing companies in America, Alana Story is one of raw reinvention, fearlessly leaping, and unapologetic growth. Let's get into it.
• 1:49
  I am fascinated by your story. When I saw this come across, I was excited and I just want to know more. So I am going to start off a fan and then I'll actually start doing the correct interview. But you, before building one of the fastest growing companies in America, you were literally flying F-16s. What drew you to this path? I'm fascinated by this.
• 2:11
  Thank you. First of all, I love your show. So I've been a fan. I love your show. I'm always inspired. So first of all, thank you for having me. Well, the truth is I grew up back in Israel. So military was kind of a mandatory thing that we all go to. And I think I just got lucky to get to be in the Air Force to become an F-16 flight instructor. And that was an incredible...
• 2:39
  incredible path that set me up to so much learning so much wisdom. Yeah. I grew up really fast in those few years. You, you were in the military in Israel. Yeah.
• 2:53
  So I know boys at, is it 18 they have to join the military? Oh, boys and girls. I didn't know the girls. I just learned something new. I'm Jewish and my family's from Israel, so I didn't even know that. I was in Thailand and I was in a tuk-tuk with a bunch of boys in the military from Israel and they were on break.
• 3:14
  And they were fascinated by me. They're like, you're what? So I always admire that. Yeah, and we always go traveling to some really cheap places after the military. So you are already on the path. Like you already learned a lot. That's really awesome. So let's dig into that because I'm a huge fan of the military because it requires all kinds of discipline. And that's what started it harder than life. So what did the military teach you about leadership, fear?
• 3:44
  failing fast and ultimately what we're talking about is discipline. Ah, endless, endless, endless. I think first of all, when you put somebody at age 18 and, and you basically throw them in the water, right? Because it's, it's so much different than the grades and the, you know, like sugarcarning and growing up in, in home. And it's not college because it's not the safe zone and it's not the same principles at all.
• 4:12
  And suddenly you stand in threes and you have seven minutes to get your lunch and come back. And you're like, the whole thing is like, you know, discipline, first of all, was incredible. It's hard. It's hard. You know, there's hard work. You don't sleep at night. They make you run. They make you do things that, you know, you're not hard things. They're hard things. Right. Do hard things. Yeah.
• 4:38
  And then I think, but beyond that, I think some of the lessons I learned, and I'm happy to share maybe a couple, but some of the lessons will go with me for the rest of my life. Like I needed to train people that in general had a lot more experience than I ever will. And there's something about having these crucial conversations that was incredibly humbling, but taught me lessons for the rest of my life.
• 5:04
  Um, and obviously you always learn more from failures versus from successes. So if you want a, you know, a story about a fuck up, let me know. But, um, basically, you know, I do, but you said something that just absolutely like made my brain go, did it, did it, did it.
• 5:22
  You call it a crucial conversation, number one. Number two is you said you have to teach people. How'd you say it? That were better than you? Well, they had a lot more experience than I did. Isn't that what's wrong with this world? Like, we always want somebody to be good, but not better than us. You adopted at a very young age.
• 5:45
  two things that most people don't get, which is having tough conversations and working with people that are, that are better than you. Tell us how you did that. Um, so, so it was interesting. So for us, by definition, um, I mean, there was a little bit of a glass ceiling for women. We can go into the whole story, but I mean, women were not as equal at that point. Um,
• 6:10
  They are very equal now, but we were all standing on the shoulders of each other and trying to kind of break some glass ceilings there. They were very scared of women beyond enemy lines back in Israel. Like if we are captured and something bad happens. So our option was kind of to go as trainers versus to be combat pilots. And what was interesting about it is suddenly I find myself and I'll give you just an example, it was incredible.
• 6:38
  because I needed to, you know, this really senior commander comes in, he needs to go through training. You know, he's incredibly senior, but we don't have computers back then, right? I'm aging myself. This is like 96, right? Like 93, you know, we're just starting off. And
• 6:58
  I remember looking kind of like what he didn't last and I create a mission, we plan it, I train him, like everything looks great. And we train something called air to ground. So like how, you know, how do you bomb a certain place on the ground from the air, right?
• 7:15
  train, create a mission. You know, I give him feedback. Everything seems great, except for the fact that something feels off. You know how when you have a conversation and you know, like, oh my God, this is not going well. I don't know why. And anyway, so when I'm done with the feedback, he gets up, he's like really tall. It was a little scary. And he stands there very tall. And he says, honey, do you know who I am?
• 7:40
  And I'm like, I know his name. I don't know what else I need to know, right? And he basically says, look, when you were about six years old, I bombed a nuclear plant in Iraq. And to give some context for people, bombing a nuclear plant all the way from Israel in Iraq, this is still considered one of the most insane missions ever accomplished by an Air Force. So missing the fact that he was there is a really, really big flop.
• 8:10
  It was very clear that I didn't really know my audience. We didn't have that information. We didn't have computers. We had like pieces of paper, you know? But then I also realized now it doesn't mean that the feedback wasn't correct. It didn't mean that, you know, what I said wasn't correct, but it means that I said it in the wrong way. And if I only had known who he is and what his caliber is and what kind of missions he's accomplished, I would have said it differently.
• 8:38
  And I think that was just one example of how knowing your audience is one of the most important things that you can ever have. And if you do, you can move mountains and you can move people's minds if you say it in the right way. But. I love that. I'm fascinated by some things I'm gonna learn and I'm sorry for my ignorance, but how long has the IDF
• 9:07
  made women be a part when they turned 18? Um, so that's been pretty much from the get go. Um, I think what changed is initially we were able to do kind of more
• 9:20
  paper related, intelligence related roles. And slowly and slowly it became a little more being there in the front. And actually, if I'm being really honest, when Israel started, Israel were kind of like, or women were kind of like all fighting with the men and each other.
• 9:38
  And actually Israel took a backstand on the whole situation because there was a situation where a woman got beyond enemy lines. They were really scared. Like there's this whole story around it. And then they were like, OK, no, no, no, no, no. We don't allow women to be combat in any shape or form. And now it's coming back to women being able to be pretty much equal opportunity. So and how long?
• 10:07
  It's very cool because women are tougher. Just look at having babies. Y'all are tougher than us. I couldn't have a baby. I'm sorry. What, how long do they, is the initial required period? Is it four years? No. So it's like, so again, it's very roughly because it's keep changing. It was very roughly two years for women, three years for men. But honestly, if you want to be commanders and, you know, there's all these things, you always sign up more.
• 10:36
  Um, so the better roles you're going to get, the more you're going to sign up to a bigger, you know, a bigger time in the military. My husband was there for six years. Like it really depends. So I was there for about three and a half, almost four years. Four years, your husband's there. So you met your husband in, in the army? No, in school later on. Yeah. Geek school and electric engineering. I'm such a geek. How long has it been since you've come to America?
• 11:07
  So it's been about 20 years. So I started as an electric engineering. I started in Intel right off the bat. So I always laughed that they were so desperate in 96, they would hire anybody. And they hired me, I think, fresh from the military. So they didn't even care if I knew anything about coding. They just hired me so nobody else will. But I started kind of in Intel, but then I fell in love with being customer facing and
• 11:36
  anything customer facing back then in Israel, Israel is such a small country. You need to be in Europe or the U S ideally in the U S. And I had decent enough English to actually show up here. So, Hey, here I am. I was having a conversation with my daughter this morning. Cause she was asking me questions that I'm going to ask you actually, but she said, dad, why does the United States always protect Israel? And I said, you know,
• 12:06
  part of the issue is that Israel is only 9 million people. I have that right, or 9 million? Yeah, 8, 9, yeah, we're small. And then I looked at her and I said, do you know the population of Michigan today? We're in Michigan, so we're shooting from Michigan. And she said, no, and I said, 9 million. So basically, Israel has the same population as the state of Michigan. And when you put it in that kind of context, you understand why they make people come into the military. So I just, I want to ask those questions because Israel right now is the front and center. Yeah.
• 12:36
  And Israel's kind of getting a bad rap right now when I think it might just be the prime minister that won't leave. What's your take on all this? Without getting too far political, I know you've fought for them. What is your take of what's going on?
• 12:54
  If I'm being really honest, I'm insanely sad for what's going on. I think the government, it's not only the prime minister, I think the entire government right now of Israel is harming Israel in a way that is going to be really, really hard to get around it. Like, I think it's going to, it's actually...
• 13:14
  Netanyahu specifically, I think, has been destroying Israel very consistently for about 20 years. And unfortunately, he keeps being, you know, like voted for. Like, I don't know how it's possible, but it's using that very. And we're going to shift, guys. So I like talking about this. I want people to understand that this isn't a Jewish thing. It's not an Israel thing. It's a system thing. So Netanyahu is using some.
• 13:43
  well-known loophole that says anytime that there's a war and we're in conflict, he can stay in office. So that's what's going on. You can look it up. So I just kind of wanted to talk about it for a couple of seconds because I haven't had very many fighter pilots from the IDF on.
• 14:00
  And I love that. I think I'm just setting it up because you're very smart and you've been through literally some of the toughest times. So you not getting into much of the backstory, but you had a first startup that you that failed and you said it was the best thing that ever happened to you. Why do you say that?
• 14:19
  Well, not at that moment, but only in retrospect. You know, there's, you know, how Steve Jobs said that you couldn't, you know, you can't really put the dots connecting forward, but you can look at them connecting backwards. And it's funny. I sit here in Silicon Valley. Steve Jobs' basement is like right here, like right beyond. Like he's like literally a neighbor. And what's interesting about this is.
• 14:49
  is that you, like I did move kind of up the ladder. I was an engineer in technical sales and product management and architecture. Like I did all the type of roles that you could do pretty much in corporate. At that point, I will just give a little context. I was vice president.
• 15:09
  Started an Israeli company here in the U.S., basically from buying the printers and the routers all the way to five sites, multimillion dollar deals. It was an incredible route. But I was working for somebody else. And I was burned out.
• 15:27
  I couldn't do this anymore. And I remember a friend of mine came to me and said, hey, Lana, let's start a company together. And I was just like, suddenly my eyes lit up. Like, I remember that. It was like so incredible. And I was like, oh, my God, how did I not think of that? Like, I live in Silicon Valley. Like, why didn't I not think of doing my own thing? Like, that didn't even cross my mind. Like, I'm so embarrassed by it. But anyway, so...
• 15:50
  We did the whole Silicon Valley thing. We went to raise capital. They were valuating our little baby at $5 million. It was so exciting. I remember looking at the term sheet. We had three prominent Silicon Valley investors that wanted to put $800,000. I remember looking at the term sheet and just closing my eyes and thinking, how did I get this lucky? Obviously, it was time for me to leave the VP role that I was in.
• 16:19
  Um, and I wanted to make sure people don't, you know, not, not, don't think that I'm leaving because I don't believe in the company I'm leaving because I'm here to chase my dreams. So I told everybody about the company that I'm forming and the fans and how much you raise and all the good things. And within, that was incredible. Seriously, like within 24 hours, I...
• 16:43
  You know, my co-founder decides to take the money, throw me out of the business. And I was left with completely nothing. No job, no salary, no startup, no investment. And, you know, the worst part here is like your ego just goes crushing down. Like I don't like it's amazing how fast we forget all our achievements and we just keep crushing down. And we remember only this one failure. Yeah.
• 17:10
  And to be really honest, it was the first time, two things that I think will, you know, maybe anybody's listening will resonate was, first of all, my entire identity was always attached to my company, to the title that I had. Like, I was so proud of it. And that was my identity. Like, I didn't have anything without it. Like, this was me. So first.
• 17:34
  First of all, suddenly not having that identity was one of the hardest moments in my life. And I also didn't have clarity of what I wanted to do next, which was so daunting because I was the person like you said, like I always knew what's next. I knew the military. I knew the studies. I knew that, you know, like I always knew what's next. And suddenly I'm like, oh, my God, like, who am I? Where am I going? Am I looking for a job? Am I looking to co-found a company? Am I looking for revenge? Honestly, like I didn't know.
• 18:01
  It was the hardest moment in my life. And we can talk about why eventually became the biggest thing that happened in my life. But it was, man, if somebody is there, like it was the hardest thing that happened in my life.
• 18:15
  Now at Lowe's, faster quotes start at the Lowe's Pro Desk. Got a material list handwritten on a sticky note or saved as a photo? Perfect. Bring it to us and get a quote in minutes. And if you don't see what you need on the shelf, we'll help you get it. You can access thousands of products beyond what's available in-store or on Lowe's.com, right from the Lowe's Pro Desk. Build quotes faster and source the materials you need to keep your jobs moving. Just like that at Lowe's.
• 18:45
  I'm sitting here listening to you and I just, just, it's things are pop ideas are popping into my head and I'm replaying my life. And I'm sitting here saying, you know, at the time, if you're not failing, I don't think you're trying. Now I bet you, you're a lot like me.
• 19:01
  listen to this guys, the people that are listening to this, is when you're failing, if you're really trying, you probably immediately got right back up and start trying again, and that's what you call leaping. We're gonna get into that in a second. When you've done the leap and then you're getting your little quiet moment, that's when that ego starts.
• 19:19
  But if you just take that leap of faith, which is what I believe your leaping theory is, and jump right back in, you don't have enough time to let that ego speak. So you talk about leaping as a mindset and a skill set. What is your interpretation of my terrible interpretation that I just gave the listeners? Well, Kelly, I do think that we're very, very close. I think we are looking at a lot of things in a similar ways, and I appreciate that.
• 19:45
  Maybe I'll share a tiny bit of that moment and then kind of what is how I see leaping. So again, that was one of the hardest moments in my life. I couldn't sleep at night. I couldn't wake up in the morning. Like there was no purpose. Like obviously I was doing things but you throw spaghetti on the wall to see what sticks. Like I wasn't intentional. I wasn't strategic. I was, I think in hindsight, I was kind of in survival mode versus like more in the driver's seat of my career.
• 20:15
  And again, it took a toll on my family. I was snappy at everybody. It took a toll on my health. I gained weight. I was hospitalized. I was like, I was a mess. At that point, I was just like, who am I? This is not me, but how do I get me back? How do I find myself? And the interesting thing is in retrospect, I did leap again and again. I started a tech startup. It was actually acquired. I started investing in companies. I'm together with some of the...
• 20:44
  big investors here in Silicon Valley. I'm probably invested in over 100 companies today. I sit on boards, advisory, all the things. And what interesting, and you know, again, it takes you time to realize it. Wait, I'm actually doing the same steps again and again. I'm just getting better at those steps so that I can lead faster and higher. And I was like, where were these steps when I needed them? Like, it was just like, I was literally, seriously, Kelly, throwing spaghetti on the wall and hoping that something will stick.
• 21:13
  And, you know, and when I as a geek engineer, eventually a geek is a geek. So as a geek engineer, eventually I was like, wait, am I doing the same thing again? Again, can I, is this a pattern? Can this work, you know, to start Leap Academy and to help other people leap in their careers, right? And
• 21:30
  And it was incredible because, again, within a year, we were already crossed a million. And now we're one of the fastest growing private companies in America for two years in a row. So the same steps, and we did the same for the podcast, which Zoomed to top charts and talks to Richard Branson and Gary Vee, and all the president of Starbucks, et cetera. And it was like, these are the same steps again, again, again. We just get better at them so that we can leap faster and higher, right?
• 21:57
  And to me, it's that it's about being intentional. It's about being strategic. It's about being the CEO of your life, creating a portfolio career that is not just a paycheck, but the life that you want with the paycheck, but to continue reinventing, because this is an era of reinvention. Like every single person will reinvent themselves all the time. And if you don't realize that you're going to be, you know, it's going to flung in your face. So I think it's all about like that. I don't know if that makes sense.
• 22:26
  You give me so many questions. I think of 14 questions when you're talking and I'm not following it. Is that a good thing or is that a bad thing? You get me going because I know I'm going to run back what you just said for my audience because it just blew my mind what you said. And because I say this all the time, we all follow a pattern.
• 22:43
  And what you see, but I'm going to spoil this for you guys. She has this, this leap academies and eight week program, eight week program to help professionals build a portfolio career and a powerful personal brand. We're going to talk about what a portfolio career means in a second, but I want you to understand something. She's a fighter pilot. And what you, what most people don't know is fighter pilots follow pre-flight checklists and post-flight checklists.
• 23:07
  Why do we have checklists? Cause they work. So she's a bot. I'm gonna put her right on the spot and say, give me the checklist that you give people in your eight week program to win.
• 23:21
  This is so good, Kelly. I know I didn't even think of that connection. And it's probably true, right? I need, I need people to not just wow, wow, wow, like this, like, give me the confidence, like I need them to spell it out for me. One, do this to do that. Like, this is how my brain works. Yeah. So, so I'll tell you the action, like the very first thing is people have to get clarity on what they want to do and who they want to become.
• 23:47
  And that is really, really important because we're always wired, you know, and there's so many options on the menu and most people don't even think about it. So clarity is number one. And that took me two years, man. Like, you know, I want people to fast track this in a big, big, big way because clarity comes from action, not thinking about it. So clarity is key. The second thing is story. Like most people tell their story differently.
• 24:10
  according to where they've been versus where they want to go. If you think about it, and this is the biggest mistake, because if you tell it with complete integrity, not lying, but with complete integrity, just, you know, like emphasizing the right things according to where you're going, not where you are today, that opens the right time doors for you. Now, the third thing is like, how do
• 24:34
  that is opening the right opportunities, right? Again, according to who you wanna become, according to what you wanna be known for. And some people were like, but Milana, I don't have a brand. That's not true. You all have a brand. The brand is who you are when you're not in the room. What do people think about you? So you have a brand. The question is, are you controlling the narrative? Are you telling the story according to where you're becoming and what the opportunities you want? And the last piece is the hidden market because the coolest opportunity, Kelly, as you know,
• 25:03
  are not on job boards, especially mid to late stage career. It's not going to come from some Indeed or Monster or LinkedIn or whatever. Like it's going to come from who knows you, who thinks about you when they hear about this opportunity and brings you in, especially in a crowded market. So the question is, are you playing that game? Because especially in the portfolio career, public speaking, advising, board seats, consulting, coaching, like I can go on and on. These are all happening in a hidden market.
• 25:33
  So the more you're there, the more you can create, again, not just a paycheck, but the life that you want with a paycheck. You can land a job. But then what else are you building on the side?
• 25:44
  You can add to it public speaking. You can add to it advising. You can mentor in startup accelerators. I can go on and on. But the question is, are you creating ripple effects that in a snowball effect that just builds you to a whole different level? Or you're just creating all these isolary things that are like just spreading yourself thin. So if you do this well, like this will change everything in your life.
• 26:08
  Does that help Kelly? Let me just run by it one more time. Cause I'm not the smartest. Step one is clarity. Get clear on your, on who you are. Number two is you get your story of who you want to be. Number three was build the brand. Was there a fourth one in there? The hidden market. So play in the hidden market and the hidden market is where opportunities open your way. So who going to think about you when those opportunities open up and will they think of you? Will they bring you back?
• 26:35
  into the opportunity. And when you do, by the way, this is where you come into these discussions from a place of power. You can negotiate. You can, you know, that's where it's amazing. So that's what gets me excited. Yeah. This is so good. And then she...
• 26:50
  The name of the company says what you need to do first, which is take the leap, which is action. And she built that in the clarity. Guys, that's good stuff. And the hidden market is a really nice one. You find the people that can 10X you quicker versus you doing all the work, that's brilliant.
• 27:08
  Um, let me look through here. I mean, that's a fast track, right? I mean, for me, Kelly, I don't have patience. Like, I know some people are like very patient creatures. Are you my sister? I mean, like, seriously, like, I think we're going to get along. But I mean, it's like, I don't have patience. Like, I want everything yesterday. And if it can be faster and higher, I'm going to get along.
• 27:28
  let's go. Right. And for me, the whole like, oh, you know, you just got a director. Now you can wait 10 years until you move to a senior director or, you know, like the whole thing, or you want to start a business. Great. It's going to take you 20 years. Like, I want to go faster. And my big question was, how do we shortcut time and how do we tilt the scale of what's possible? Right. And for me, that was like about how do we shift everything so that you can create an incredible
• 27:58
  By working smarter, not harder. So we've talked about this portfolio career. I think you just went on it, but why is it the future of work? And explain exactly what it is. Yeah. I'm so passionate about it, as you can hear. So portfolio career, in the general sense, is just multiple streams of income, ventures, et cetera.
• 28:21
  Some of them are for income, so just create more income stream, just like you diversify your money and other things and investment. Why would you not diversify your career to have a safety net and to never lose everything and to not bet on only one thing? You do want diversification.
• 28:45
  But for me, it's not just about the money. Like sometimes you're gonna take opportunities because they help you grow your brand. Sometimes you can take opportunities because they help you feel better, be happier, whatever it is, it's, you know, it is more fun. It's something you care about. So sometimes it could be boards that maybe are not paid, but they're actually positioning you in a better way. And it's something you care about. Sometimes you're gonna mentor and startup accelerators.
• 29:10
  Because it opens doors to venture capital and investors. And you also learn about what founders care about. So you're going to grow your business faster. So it's really about playing chess.
• 29:21
  with possibilities. But the interesting thing is actually Reid Hoffman recently said, and he's the co-founder of LinkedIn, for those who don't know, he literally said that the future of work is all about, it's no more one career ladder to climb. It's gonna be all about multiple creative bets and ventures.
• 29:44
  I think we're probably one of the first entities to formally teach that. We own portfoliocareer.com. You know what I'm saying? I'm such a big believer because it's changed my life.
• 29:55
  And for me, again, it was that moment that was really, really hard and getting that clarity that I realized, like, I'm a little bored of this just one thing. And I can do that in my sleep and I can get hired again. And I, you know, I was kind of in the cloud data center world. And I'm like, I can do this again. I can do this in my sleep.
• 30:16
  This can't be all there is to my life. And again, it's one of those problems that you can't even admit it to your friends because theoretically, I made good money. I had a home. I had a beautiful family. Why are you complaining, Ilana? But I am complaining because I have a bigger vision for myself and I wanted more out of my life. And just realizing that I can create this portfolio changed everything in my life.
• 30:42
  So I want to gift that to any single person that is driven. Again, if somebody is not driven, this is the wrong form for you. Do not build a portfolio career if you're not driven. But if you do want something incredible for your life and the possibility that it opens up and maybe eventually, yes, creating more freedom and generational wealth and impact and legacy and thought leadership, whatever it is for you. And again, each person will think of success in a different way. But if you want more for your life,
• 31:12
  I can't think of a better way to do it. And honestly, also in this era when you can't really trust one career and, you know, there are layoffs and nothing is, you know, set in stone and adaptability, you know, is the only thing and your brand is your own currency that you can trust. Yeah, I think you better have a few more bets, not just one.
• 31:35
  in this time of AI, you absolutely need to do that. You going down the rabbit hole of understanding who you are and what you do. I heard a new one and I don't think it's new to you, but it's new to me. Everybody's heard of IQ. I think if you listen to me, you've heard of EQ, emotional intelligence. But what is this? You just said an adaptability quotient, AQ. Tell us what it is.
• 31:59
  And then I'll give you my take, especially because of AI, you're going to need to be adaptive because if we think we're going to put things down, pick things up and put them down every day, I'm going to write an AI bot that'll do that for you. So if you are doing formulaic things, I'm going to put you out of business. And there's a lot of companies we're doing right now because my background too, like you is it. So I own an it company.
• 32:23
  But we've actually called an AI cybersecurity company because we've gotten out of the basics. So why, what's adaptability quotient and why is it so important? Yeah. So, and for the listeners, if they're not sure what we're talking about, so IQ tests were very prominent, like about 40 years ago, right? And if you had IQ, then you'd be successful in life. And after that, like a few decades ago, IQ was a big thing. And Kelly, you talk a lot about it, right? And
• 32:51
  I think Richard Branson was one of the first people that said, hey, EQ is actually more important than IQ. You know, it actually gave a big green light to a lot of founders and leaders of companies, etc. And now if you actually check it like right this minute, everybody's talking about something called a Q, which is adaptability quotient in adaptability is because.
• 33:13
  this is an era of change with gig economy, with AI, with remote work, with everything that is moving at a pace that we've never seen before. There is no staying stuck anymore. Like if you're not moving forward, you're actually losing relevant at a speed we've never seen before as a company, as an individual. And if you don't continuously reinvent Leap again and again and again, you will be left behind. So the only way to bypass this is to be relentless about how do you adapt
• 33:44
  How do you experiment? How do you build entrepreneurship or intrapreneurship? We work with a lot of teams in corporates right now to really build intrapreneurship. Like, what does it mean? Because they're used to follow instructions. They are not used to being adaptive. They're not used to experimenting. They're not used to innovation. And if you don't have every single person in your team that's
• 34:06
  you know, go and market and sell for you. Like, even if they're not in sales, even if they're not in marketing, everybody should be ambassadors. Everybody should move fast. You know, it's like, if you don't take advantage of it, you will be left behind. So for me, it's more about how do you play a much bigger game and how do you consistently reinvent, leap again, again, again to stay relevant. So that's not even about getting ahead. It's about staying relevant and, you know, and having a paycheck, honestly, at this point.
• 34:34
  How many times have you reinvented yourself? I don't know. A lot. Give me a ballpark. Give the listeners a ballpark because I'm taking this somewhere. Ballpark. Yeah.
• 34:47
  So the interesting thing is if you would have asked me that about a decade ago, I would have said probably four or five. This accelerated so much now that I reinvent myself every few months. So I would say we're way above 10, 15 now. So that's the adaptability quote. And guys, you.
• 35:10
  you literally kill off the person you were and you become someone of it. And just going to a different level, different level. And it's, that's living. Ilana is living her life to a T that's why she's been successful. She is successful by every stretch of the imagination and keeps pushing.
• 35:26
  If you listen to the heart of the life show and you're an avid listener, you get this because this is what kind of pushes certain people away from me. That's why I gravitate to you because there are certain people that are just good enough is good enough. That ain't my kind of listener. That ain't my kind of people.
• 35:44
  I want everybody to keep growing and make this world a better place. That in my mind is what adaptability is and you must have it. And it takes IQ and EQ is what I would differ from Richard Branson is say, you need them all. And what's coming in the next year with AI is going to flip things on its head. And I'm excited and you should be excited, but only if you're adaptable.
• 36:13
  Yeah, if you're not scared of the technology, but you're actually leaning in and embracing it and understanding that it's actually, it's an enabler, right? It's an incredible enabler. Like I'm still wonder who's gonna be the first unicorn to be built on like one person with a few agents. Like this is coming. The only question- Explain that deeper, because I know what you meant, but explain it in English. Yeah.
• 36:39
  So guys, tell them what a unicorn is. Yeah, yeah. So in the startup world, there's an entity that we call a unicorn and a unicorn is a billion dollar plus entity. And it's basically, if you think about it, it's a company that if it's in the tech world, it's usually going to make somewhere around a hundred million. So it's going to be valued at over a billion dollars. So a hundred million a year. Right. And, um.
• 37:05
  Until now, that took obviously a lot of time, a lot of capital, a lot of resources, big teams in general. I would be very, very curious to see who is the person that's going to be at some point, like a single person that with AI, with implementing agents, was having all these agents do a lot of the work for them.
• 37:29
  will be able to create a unicorn. I will bet my life on it. I just don't know when it's going to happen and who is going to be, but it's going to happen very, very soon. One hour ago, I was in my tech company and I just said that very same thing. I literally looked because we're writing automation agents.
• 37:49
  That's all we do now. I focused a whole automation team and we're up to 30% of our tasks, daily tasks are automated and they're growing every day. Our goal is to be at 50% by the end of the year. And my team, they said 100%, but I'm like, it's impossible to do 100%. But I said, let's get to 80% after the first quarter.
• 38:13
  So what this means is things that we used to have to do manually are all automated through AI. Now somebody has to watch the AI. And I just looked, I go, you guys have heard about this, you know, billion dollar companies. That's going to start. I go, cause we're only 15 people and we're doing big dollars and everyone's like, well, what are we, how are we going to scale? I'm like through automation, through automation. We just had a very same, and it's, it's fascinating to see. And, and,
• 38:41
  There's no bounds, people. There's no bounds. If I told you something, I'm gonna do a, actually, I'm gonna do a solo show on the things that we've automated.
• 38:53
  Let's not bore everybody. Let's not bore everybody. Cause we're geeking out a little too much. Our propeller heads around. Um, you, we talked a little bit about reinventing, but I want to, what's your advice to someone who feels stuck and doesn't know where to start besides joining the leaping Academy? How can they in effect take the leap?
• 39:14
  Yeah. I mean, I think the very first thing that I would want to say to the listener, if you feel stuck, if you feel like you fill up that horse of success, I think the very first thing is to note that.
• 39:30
  that it's always going to be darker before sunrise. And I think many, many times we actually need to go through these very, very dark moments. And I would urge you to think about what is this teaching me versus why is this happening to me? Because, again, that dark moment for me was also the biggest challenge.
• 39:54
  lesson in my life. And then actually, in hindsight, I dodged a bullet like I could have joined as a co-founder to a venture backed company that went exactly nowhere and be there with, you know, a horrible co-founder that didn't appreciate me. And in hindsight, I opened one of the fastest growing private companies in America, changing lives by the thousands every year and creating, you know, I'm saying like it was the best thing that happened to me.
• 40:20
  But I think it's really, really hard when you're down to see it. So I would urge you, what is this teaching me? What is this teaching me? Why is this lesson here? So first of all, just embrace it. I think the other thing is acknowledge yourself. Sometimes we do need a little space for grace. And I think as high achievers, we want to just persevere through everything. I was that.
• 40:47
  And sometimes just stopping for a second and realizing, yes, you can't talk about some of these things from the wound. You can talk about it from the scars. And sometimes you need to wait a little bit until it scars up in order to start talking a little more about it. But once you embrace that, you know, yes, you know, you will be stuck. There will be down times. What is this teaching you? Now the question is how fast can you actually go?
• 41:15
  you know, put your, you know, CEO hat and saying, was that CEO hat? What, what, what, what do I want to create in the future? What, what kind of life do I want to create? Do I want to land a job? Do I want to switch industries? Do I want to get a promotion? Do I want to build a business? What am I trying to do? And with that in mind, what else is available that I'm not even thinking about? And I think, you know, if you acknowledge yourself, you give yourself a little grace, and then you get into the driver's seat. It's like,
• 41:45
  It's incredible to see what's possible. There's night as dark as just before dawn and give yourself a space for grace. I love that. I say it all the time. And the dark moments, what you were just explaining was EQ. When the darkness happens, sit in it, hold that, sit in your shit and hold that pose and listen to yourself.
• 42:09
  That's God talking to you folks. That's God saying what I'm teaching you a lesson and he will keep sending it to you until you learn it. Some of us never learn it. Don't be that person. She's telling you how to do it right now. Let's run through a couple of quick and easy questions. What's one badge of honor people wear in tech or hustle culture that you think is actually toxic? Yeah.
• 42:31
  I don't know if that's what you meant, but I think that we are in the, it's really cool now to raise capital. And it's basically like, how much capital did I raise? How much capital did I raise versus how much money did I actually make? And how much value did I make to the world? So I, you know, I come from the Silicon Valley, like raising capital kind of thing.
• 42:54
  It actually annoys the heck out of me that there's some companies that are doing so many companies are doing so much good and making so much money and, you know, impacting life. And then on the other hand, there's the companies that just raise a lot of capital and they are so proud of how much I'm valued and how much I'm valued versus like, well, what did you create from the world except for raising capital?
• 43:16
  And I think that there needs to be some balance. I think we lost the balance in the venture capital world. And I would love to see us get the balance back to actually generating value. That's what we're trying to do. That's a cheat code of life. Just generate value.
• 43:34
  And you will be fine. Mine, you know, I love asking questions that I just come up with and then answering them myself. You know what mine is? Passive income. You have to have multiple streams of passive income. If I hear that again, I'm going to kill the person that says it. Because there is no such thing as passive income. You are always working on it. Even if you're working on your mind to build that passive income, there's no such thing. So that's my two-second rant.
• 44:01
  Yeah. And the four hour work week does not exist. So let's spell it out. What's your most non-tech habit that actually makes you better at business? If someone listened to this, this, this is going to help them tremendously. Hiking, hiking, hiking, hiking. Is that nature? Nature, hiking. Hiking is my jam. Like hiking. Yeah.
• 44:23
  just puts my psychology in a whole different place. I need to close notifications. I can think of all my best ideas, hiking. I listen to podcasts. I listen to your show. I listen to like, I prepare things in the, like listening. It's incredibly powerful for me. I think people need to get out more and close all the, otherwise you're in the minutiae all the time and you don't have time to think. Put these down.
• 44:52
  Put these down. And, and, you know, I just came back from cycling in India with people like Richard Branson and Sarah Blakely and others, and just disconnecting a little bit and, and, you know, seeing other worlds and thinking, and it's just so powerful. So get out, get out. Yeah. Talk about the energy of, with Sarah Blakely and Richard Branson. I was going to go there. You've interviewed Mr. Branson and Gary V. What did they teach you about success?
• 45:22
  So first of all, I am very honored to speak to some of the biggest founders of the biggest companies in the world. Richard Benson and Gary, we have one of them, but we had, you know, founders of Airbnb and Zillow and Craigslist and Siri and like,
• 45:38
  endless endless so um first of all I think it's the best MBA of my life so you know and again the leap academy podcast is probably one of the best things that happened to me in my life and I feel like it's the school that I never had and and or you know except for the engineering school which I don't know when I'm gonna use that ever but it's like I think it's an incredible school and I wish more people um
• 46:06
  you know, would lean into these kind of schools, right? Because they're free, they're available. The things that you talk about, the things that we talk about, like it's incredible. What I learned about it, if I need to really sum up my entire podcast, hundreds of episodes, it's perseverance. Like I can't, like, it's like perseverance and tenacity. Like these are the things, like it's pretty mind blowing how eventually it all boils down
• 46:35
  Two, it was incredibly hard and I continued anyway. And I think if you understand this, and for me, it's almost like this jolt of,
• 46:45
  hope every single time I listen to these people because it's hard for everyone. The only question is when you can continue when everybody else stops, that's when you live a dream, you know, in a life of a dream that most people will only dream of. It's like, it's incredible to see, but that's the summary of my entire podcast.
• 47:06
  45 minutes in guys, you just got the gems. Just keep going. Uh, she said it's, she said that multiple times. If you've listened to this, the night is darkest just before dawn, it keep going, be persevering, uh, resilient. It, it gets hard. That's why it's called harder than life because if it was easy, everybody, everybody would do it.
• 47:27
  So I have a 16 year old daughter and I breathe everything into my daughter. And I just think that you are an absolute badass. And I, I, I'm one of those equal rights. I believe everybody is equal. What would you say to the woman who's overworked, underpaid and afraid to take a leap? Oof. Ah, man. So the very first thing I would say is, um,
• 47:56
  We are so good about getting other people to determine our value versus looking inside and realizing what we actually have to offer.
• 48:09
  And first of all, a jar cannot read its own label. If you need get get get help. Seriously, like I have six different coaches helping me with six different things. I have a coach for my business. I have a coach for the podcast. I have a coach for LinkedIn. I have a coach of the book like I can go on and on. Like if I needed to build Leap Academy to what it is today on my own, I would never have succeeded. Yeah.
• 48:35
  Definitely not at the level that I am. So first of all, like one tiny negotiation will already flip it on its side. So get the help that you need to feel valued, to feel the confidence, to feel like the badass that you deserve to be, and then go kick ass. That's it.
• 48:54
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• 49:25
  Take action. Okay. We're going to go. I put something together fun for us. We got one more question and then we're going to do a rapid fire because I, I love everything about you and I want the world to know who you are. What's a conversation. We're not having enough around adaptability, especially for women in tech and leadership. I mean, I think it's even just the ability.
• 49:50
  The need. Like, we don't even talk about the fact that you will need to. Like, people talk about reinventing yourself three times in your life. Bullshit. Like, I don't think we're talking about it enough. Like, you're going to reinvent yourself every goddamn year. So you better be ready to know exactly how to do it and how to do it fast and successful. Otherwise, you're going to be left behind. Even if you're in the same company, you're going to change functions. You're going to change technologies. You're going to change...
• 50:17
  Like the institutes, the colleges of the world are teaching. I know universities are teaching basic technologies that haven't been created, ideas that haven't been invented. Like they can't prep you for it. So the only way is to learn how to adapt and nobody teaches that. Like, how is that possible?
• 50:34
  This feels like a perfect place to plug you. And she did not ask me to do this, but I'm going to do it. So if you want to leap into your next chapter of your career, download Alana's free guide at leapacademy.com and join her next cohort of high-performing professionals building bulletproof personal brands and multiple income streams. We've danced. We've had a little bromance.
• 50:57
  brother, sister thing going on, go download that guide, leapacademy.com and find out how to make the next step. And then I want to ask you one more question. And then we're going to go to a rapid fire. If you were to give one last keynote, one more speech, what's the one message you'd want to leave behind? Wow. That's a hard one, but that's so good. I think the one thing that I will say is,
• 51:26
  To some extent, if I can do this, anybody can. Like I'm English is my second language. My network is not in the U.S. Like all my advantages back home became disadvantages when I came to the U.S. It was the most humbling year of my life. And it was amazing.
• 51:44
  And it's still there's imposter syndrome. There's like, you know, my husband still laughs at me that I can't speak, but I'm paid to speak. He's like, how is that possible? But I was like, but the truth is, if I can do this, anybody can. And to me, the only question is, what are you willing to do for success? That's it.
• 52:05
  You just combine what I would say. And I've said it a million times. If a boy from 8 Mile can do what I'm doing, you can too. So anybody can, if I can do it, you can. But then I would take it one more step that says, invest in yourself. Invest in yourself and do it early. I wish if I could teleport back, I would have started doing self-improvement, personal development at a very young age. Heck yes, Kelly. Look in the mirror. Go, go, go, go. And reinvent and be...
• 52:35
  You are your best investment. Bar none. Kelly, why did I not know this? Like I, I gave up 20 years of my life because I did not. Can I say that? I did not believe in coaches. I didn't believe anybody can need. I don't need help from anybody. I can do this. I am tough. I got this. Why? Why?
• 52:56
  I don't know. That's your, that's what you should be saying that over and over. You're right. I used to think that coaching therapy was a weakness. Yeah. Now I got coaches for everything. Therapy session. I have a new therapy today. Why? That's what we should have talked about the whole thing.
• 53:12
  Yeah. Talk about money. Talk about negotiating. Talk about the crucial conferences. Like, why did I like, you know, I was the lowest paid person in Silicon Valley ever, probably when I arrived. Okay. Nevermind, Kelly, go ahead. All right. Yeah, I know we, we digressed. I apologize. We just got our soapbox. I teed up a, these are rapid fire. Get one sentence to one to one word answer. And this one,
• 53:36
  I tee this one up specifically for you. What's just scarier, failing or playing it safe? Can I say regret? That's probably playing safe. Regret, regret is my motivator. Oh my God. Like the feeling of regret will kill me. Yes. You've probably heard this a thousand times from Sarah Blakely and everyone is it's,
• 53:57
  Regret is you're on your deathbed and you get to meet the person that you were supposed to be. And that's just, Ooh, that, Oh, that's so much. So playing it safe is canceled guys. Yeah. One word tattoo you'd give your younger self. Ooh, I don't know. Uh, unstoppable. Ooh, I thought it would be adaptability.
• 54:25
  Morning routine, non-negotiable. What morning routine do you do that's non-negotiable? Oh, shit. I wish I could say something very inspiring, but I actually just need my coffee. Hey, that's caffeine is, I say, I tell people I run on protein and caffeine. Most unexpected lesson from flying jets. Yeah.
• 54:52
  staying humble. We are so small against everything in the world. And just realizing that we can control only the things that we can control, you know, and let go of anything else that you can't control, be fanatic about the things that you can't control. And just realizing that, you know, there's such a bigger life to play and such a bigger thing to play in the world. So.
• 55:21
  You guys listen to what I'm about to say. And you're going to love this a lot. You either be humble or you will be. Oh yeah. That's it, man. Yeah. Some of it will make you humble. Yes, it will. Because I've been there and done that. Red flag in a leader you should never ignore. Red flag in somebody else's leadership or my leadership? Either one. In any leader. Yeah.
• 55:50
  Ego, not asking questions. By the way, I had that as well. Like I definitely had erred on the side of ego. So I learned my hard way. I would say it's adaptability is understanding that you're not always, you know, I changed my mind a lot because I'm given new data. Yeah. Oh.
• 56:10
  And it's probably related, by the way. It's interesting. They're related, the ego and adaptability. Ooh, dang. This is a masterclass. I needed to hear all this because I'm in the crossroads. We're getting ready to scale massively in 2026. Let's go, Kelly. Let's go.
• 56:28
  And we're just, I've called this right now. This is going to air next year. So by the time they hear this, Ed Malek, because they call it separation season. This is transition season for us. Like we are absolutely handing the baton on the relay race for next year. So that January 1st, we're running full sprint. So that's why we're doing all the automations right now. So good. It's so much fun. We got a couple, two acquisitions we're closing. It's insane. Man, so dope.
• 56:55
  One thing every professional should stop doing right now. Stop doing. Stop not taking care of your brand. Your brand is your currency. And if you want to just be, you know, the hard worker that hope that life will kind of bring you the opportunities, that is no longer relevant. So you better understand that your brand is the only insurance policy you have. Go do it.
• 57:21
  Stop making excuses and get seen. I like that. Public speaking or flying an F-16, which is harder? I don't think it's public speaking, but I think that's like what people want to hear. Yeah. But yeah, public speaking in a way that will actually move people's minds is not easy.
• 57:47
  It's work. And I bet you it is. I knew right away that would be your, that would be the scariest one. So let me wrap this up. Ilana Golan, it doesn't just teach reinvention. She lives it as you just heard from the cockpit to the C-suite. She's proof that your past doesn't limit your future. It launches it.
• 58:05
  If today's episode lit a fire onto you, head to leapacademy.com and start designing the career and the life you actually want. Until next time, keep leaping, keep leading, and keep living harder than life. Thanks for playing. Please rate and share this podcast. I'm active on all social platforms and love to hear from my Seagull supporters.
• 58:24
  Each and every episode is sponsored by my company, National Technology Management, the easiest and best IT company to do business with. Delivering peace of mind with technology every day, even simplifying cybersecurity. Visit TrustNTM.com for more info. Until next week, be harder than life.