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608. Today I Get To: Evolving with Purpose and Owning Your Voice · Daily Influence

• 0:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Daily Influence where our mission is to deliver a daily dose of positive influence that can uplift you personally or be shared within your sphere of influence.
• 0:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: While not every episode may directly apply to your unique circumstances, we strive to provide insights and inspiration relevant to most people's daily, weekly, and monthly lives.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether you are tuning in during the morning, noon or night, the daily influences here for you.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Listen, share, and embrace the power of influence in your life.
• 0:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Daily Influence.
• 0:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm your host Greculino and today I'm honored to welcome Cara Conway Love, a keynote speaker, lawyer, author and executive coach who helps professionals lead with confidence, communicate with impact and own their voice.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: With over 30 years of experience and law, education, and entrepreneurship, Kara has guided leaders to speak up, show up with executive presence, and build cultures where performance and purpose go hand in hand.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: She's the author of Love Your Influence, the creator's guide to negotiating brand deals, and is known for her story-driven keynotes that shift mindsets in power real change.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much, Greg.
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so happy to be here.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're so excited to have you.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you share a bit about your background and what led you to where you are today with our listeners?
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: Sure.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: So you already mentioned my background as a lawyer and about 10 years ago, I didn't realize it at the time, but in hindsight, about a year later, I really
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: I wanted to do something more and I always had this inkling of wanting to be an adjunct professor at a local college.
• 1:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: Kind of shining away from teaching law because I really wanted to reach younger students.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: So I started teaching business courses at a local college and I really enjoyed that.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And that led me into social media and being an educator on social media on a broader scale working with.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: Under premierers and creator, which is my background as a lawyer is more corporate commercial transaction type of work and this gave me an entry into being to reach more people and really share my story, my journey of pivoting my career now three and four times on my fourth, then I don't like to say pivot.
• 2:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: I like to say evolve.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: because it's a different mindset.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I really, I'm still a lawyer, but I've evolved into doing, you know, I heard a book and I am a speaker and that's not something I thought I would do 10 years ago.
• 2:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love the evolution of your career.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: It's amazing.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, you often say communication is an organization's greatest competitive advantage because people are at greatest asset.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: What have you learned about helping people unlock their own confidence and purpose through
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  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I think it matters so much to build confidence as, I mean, some people are born with more confidence and others, but so many people struggle as leaders to really communicate with confidence.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think the key is to really get in clear.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: on your own messaging and building the momentum and being we only need to take some risk.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: In many high, high-chiever state, silent, just because they don't know whether they should be leading in a certain direction.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: and really to avoid confusion and leading with clarity, people have to get clear on their own values and how they implement those values in their own organization or company or if they work for themselves, how those values relate to their own business.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: So I like to make sure that people understand where they're coming from first.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And then I find that their communication skills can
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  [SPEAKER_02]: their own values with where their business is heading.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: We love that here at IA, we're all about smart and we teach our clients about smart communication.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: So if you're specific in your communication with measurements, it's attainable and relevant and timely,
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  [SPEAKER_01]: you could do exactly what you're saying.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: I love that, it's so important.
• 4:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: In your keynote, on your voice, communicating with confidence, influence, and integrity, you emphasize how voice is not just how we speak, but how we lead.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: How do you help leaders ensure their influence stays rooted in integrity, especially when facing difficult conversations or decisions?
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  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I think it goes back to the last question about wanting to be, I mean, integrity really starts with self-awareness of knowing who you are, what matters to you, and how you can make an impact as a leader.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And the most difficult thing that I think people face is the competition from maybe colleagues, or if they're on social media, where, you know, what other people do, or even if they're a small brand or a service provider, what's the competition doing?
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think that once people realize that they have to be themselves and not other people, I mean, it is so much easier to be yourself than to try to be somebody else, right?
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  [SPEAKER_02]: It just makes so much more sense and it takes the pressure off.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And when you're dealing with difficult conversations, having that integrity to show up with your timing and your truthfulness and learning how when you become a better listener and a
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: learn what emotional intelligence is and how much that affects your ability to communicate.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I think that's where you get so much better at difficult conversations, because you have to be factual and clear and concise, but you also have to have empathy.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And that is a huge part of having difficult conversations.
• 5:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: That is so true.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you tell us about a moment or experience where you thought you made a positive impact on someone's life?
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  [SPEAKER_01]: One that reminded you of why you do, what you do,
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  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of it started.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, as a lawyer, I was a problem-solver.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I've always been a problem-solver in my whole life.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And people relied on me.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: A lot of people relied on me, but when I started teaching the college business courses,
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I thought I had severe imposter syndrome because I had no formal education experience.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: No, you know, nobody taught me how to be a teacher.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I was just told my first class, pick a textbook and just go for it.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: It was a business ethics class.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And I read that textbook two or three times before the semester even started.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I had every lesson planned out.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And I was learning as I went and it was exciting.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: But they're really key when I knew I was making impact.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: Was when students would come up to me outside of class or after class.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I need some help with this or what do you think about this or how can I do, you know, maybe that was a recommendation, but sometimes it was just more of a, not a, not a, you know, a personal emotional crisis, but a leadership issue or a direction issue.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: Like, how did you figure out what you wanted to do?
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  [SPEAKER_02]: So, so I really felt like I was making an impact once I started teaching.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And I still feel like that because I've been doing it on social media for such a long time.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And I get DMs from people both on Instagram and LinkedIn and people saying, what do you think about this?
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I just, or how should I do that?
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  [SPEAKER_02]: Or why did you do this?
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  [SPEAKER_02]: So that's making an impact because I'm helping people move their business forward.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: That's wonderful.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing that.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: What a ripple you're having on so many people.
• 7:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Your talk today I get to reframes burnout and responsibility into opportunity.
• 7:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: How can leaders in high achievers adopt that get to mindset to stay resilient and inspired in both work and life?
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, that's a great question and I love how my today I get to framework and have an impact on people because it's truly a mindset shift and looking back on my own experience of being burned out and not realizing until I was out of full-time law practice for a year and then I realized how unhappy I was because burnout doesn't always look like the traditional exhaustion.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, sometimes it's just boredom or bitterness or resentment about what you're doing or feeling stuff like today I have to go into work and I have this huge to-do list and I am not excited about it.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And the mindset shift is trying to find something more purposeful, more meaningful, valuable to you that you wake up each day saying today I get to.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: Like today I get to be on your
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  [SPEAKER_02]: is something that 10 years ago, I never would have envisioned the opportunity to do something like that.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: So I like to teach people how to stop running on autopilot and start thinking about what, what could I do differently if money wasn't an object if I didn't have responsibilities to everybody else?
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  [SPEAKER_02]: What if I could just do something for myself?
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  [SPEAKER_02]: What would that look like?
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And moving beyond that sort of toxicness that we sometimes feel out of obligation of having to serve others.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: That don't mean that to sound selfish, but I mean that to be more true to yourself and what your goals really are.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: Any top tips to help people do that?
• 9:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, by doing things like stop, stop waiting for the right time.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: Because if you really think about what it is that I want to do like in my case, did I, why did I want to be an adjunct professor?
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I thought it would just be fun.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I felt I had something to give back.
• 9:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it was very meaningful to me to have that opportunity to do so.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: But I think if people stop worrying about the competition.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: Really.
• 9:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, that whole what lights you up ID of what a what is it that would bring you joy, purpose, growth, you know, and and entrepreneurial spirit, business growth, you know, you can't just go out and arrange flowers all day if you're not getting paid for it, even though I mean, that's a hobby.
• 10:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: So the difference between a hobby and a business is the business you have to make money.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: So I'm not, I don't encourage people, don't click your job.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you know, if you need to make a living,
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  [SPEAKER_02]: You gotta keep doing what you're doing, but is there a way for you to do it with more peace and value that's aligned with what you want to be doing?
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  [SPEAKER_02]: What brings you joy about your job?
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  [SPEAKER_02]: Can you focus more on that?
• 10:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's great advice.
• 10:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: One of the top topics today is AI.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: How are you using AI and is it in communication, coaching leadership development?
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  [SPEAKER_01]: How are you using it?
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  [SPEAKER_02]: All of that.
• 10:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: All of that.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I use it all the time.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I have my own agents on chat, GPT that I've trained.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I have a lot of training data that I listen to a lot of podcasts to learn about it.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: Honestly, I use it every day.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: But, A, I can only get you.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And this is not novel.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't make this up.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: A, I can't shouldn't get you to more than 75 or 80% of where you need to be.
• 11:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: What I like to do is generate ideas, it helps me to plan material more concisely, like not just social media content, but even my presentations that I do as a speaker.
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: I have a lot of dialogue with it with AI,
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I will get it to a point where then I can take the product that it spits out and I make it my own because I like to use a lot of examples to demonstrate my ideas or what I'm teaching or talking about and my own life experience.
• 11:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: And if you train AI well enough about your with your life experiences with some of your own stories and your strategies and your frustrations and challenges and things you overcome,
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  [SPEAKER_02]: will help to integrate those ideas into whatever it is spitting out for you.
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then I used it a few weeks ago.
• 12:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: We had a recycling event here in Saratoga Springs, where I live, and I had an old computer.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And I didn't have time to go out and hire somebody to wipe it out.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't have to do it.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I used AI to wipe off two old computers.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: And I spent two days on it.
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  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it took me forever because one of them was really old,
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  [SPEAKER_02]: Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to recycle it and I really wanted to do that and not just toss it and I wanted to preserve some of the data on it.
• 12:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I even use it for things like that.
• 12:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, some people will use it for vacation plans and, you know, recipes and I think that's a lot of fun and I do that sometimes as well.
• 12:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I use it for things that I.
• 12:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: We'll go to YouTube for to learn how do I fix this or what I got a new little microphone how do I set this up I can't find good instructions online so it's becoming the new Google but again in terms of using it in your business don't let it you cannot spit out what it gives you you have to fact check it and you have to make it your own with your own stories and experience.
• 13:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's so true in such great advice.
• 13:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Carol, one message or words of encouragement, would you like to share with our listeners who aspire to make a positive difference in the world, whether in their teams or communities or families?
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I think the first thing is to really evaluate self, to become more self-aware of not just, the four pillars of emotional intelligence, of how you feel before you even walk into the room.
• 13:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think that that, you know, whatever situation you're facing, whether it's maybe a meeting with somebody at work, maybe it's a confrontational thing or maybe it's an evening out with friends of knowing how, you know, raising awareness among in your own mind.
• 13:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: and heart of how you are feeling about that situation and acknowledging those feelings because once we get over those feelings that can create self doubt, for example, acknowledging that I'm nervous about this or I'm scared about this or I'm excited about this, really acknowledging those feelings then we can frame how we approach the situation and we can make a greater impact based on
• 14:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: based on my life and professional experience.
• 14:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is so true.
• 14:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, thank you for reminding us that communication is not just about what we say, but it's about how we show up.
• 14:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then, integrity, we bring into every interaction.
• 14:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And your work truly reflects the heart of responsible influence and leading with intention and empathy and courage.
• 14:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Care of our listeners want to get in touch with you.
• 14:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: What's the best way to do so?
• 14:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Best way to find me is at Cara Conway Love on LinkedIn or Instagram and other social spethos in my two primary or send me an email on my website.
• 14:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's plenty of ways I'm out and about all the time and I think the one message that I recently heard of the conference was that people need to hear what you know and no one
• 15:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: And to the extent that you share your knowledge and your wisdom and your experience with people, they win.
• 15:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is so true.
• 15:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for sharing that.
• 15:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we'll put your information on the show notes.
• 15:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm so grateful you were able to join us today.
• 15:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Greg, for inviting me.
• 15:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's been a privilege to be here.
• 15:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I really appreciate it.
• 15:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's our pleasure.
• 15:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in to Daily Influence.
• 15:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: I hope today's conversation brought you inside an inspiration.
• 15:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: If it's spoke to you, share with someone who could use a little positivity today.
• 15:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And remember,
• 15:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Influence begins with the eye, take one small step today to own your voice, uplift someone around you and lead with purpose.
• 15:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Until next time, stay inspired and keep having a positive, responsible influence.
• 15:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bye-bye.