Latest / Books4Guys / The Soft Skills Crisis | Nada Nasserdeen on Leadership, Confidence, and Emotional Intelligence

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The Soft Skills Crisis | Nada Nasserdeen on Leadership, Confidence, and Emotional Intelligence · Books4Guys

• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: But I go back and forth between Canada and Las Vegas.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: So Okay, cool.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Love Vegas.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Love Vegas.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's awesome.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: But no, Neta, I'm so excited to have you on the Books for Guys podcast.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: As I was looking at a lot of your background, and first off, thank you for taking the time because you do so many things.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: And one of my questions will be for you: how do you manage your time with speaking all over the world and working with teams?
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then you had four books that were released as a part of a series last year.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so it is so cool to see people doing amazing things like you.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it's I'm very proud to have you on our podcast.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate that so much.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: And it's an honor to be here.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for asking me.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think I um did you add, did you want me to answer that or did you want to come back to it?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I would love for you just to give have the microphone for a second and share a little bit about your story because you've started, you've started, and I want to make sure I get this right.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: So the founder of Rise Up For You, which is your platform that you're the founder and CEO of, you're a TEDx speaker, you're a best-selling author, you work with companies, you speak with countries all over the world.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I would just love for you to share just how you got started in this and just what drove you to creating this and putting your story and this mission out there.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a great question.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: And thank you for asking.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's been an incredible journey.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: My journey started as a performer.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: I used to do musical theater, you know, internationally around the world.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: And soon after doing that, I became an executive for an education corporation and a professor in the evening teaching freshmen and sophomores in college and community college.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: And in every industry that I've ever been in, whether it was education, performing, being an executive, it didn't matter.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: I always saw the same challenges.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: And those challenges were rooted in people's behaviors and their belief system that impacted like how they showed up.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so this was really fascinating for me because I started to see some of my employees, for example, that had three PhDs, you know, multiple master's degrees, super highly educated, but we had to let them go because they didn't communicate well, right?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_02: Or they struggled with leading their team, or they would just make stupid mistakes that I I always say like came from soft skills, which is, you know, the skills that we work with today.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I saw the same thing at the college level, you know, brilliant students, brilliant kids, they would rather take an F than raise their hand and ask a question because they lacked self-confidence.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: They didn't want people to think they were stupid.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's really where my obsession came from around like what does it truly mean to build be successful?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: And what are the skills that you need?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: Because the technical skills weren't it.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like it wasn't, it wasn't cutting it.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's where my journey around human behavior and soft skills began.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I became really obsessed with emotional and social intelligence and self-confidence for individuals and how to make an impact with your leadership, how to communicate effectively.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I kind of did it for a few years.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: I did it on my own, like in my job, right?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like I did it as an executive and I brought a class to the college.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: I went to the dean and I said, hey, we need to like create a class on soft skills because these students are struggling.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I was adding value in my own way, I guess.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then from an entrepreneurial perspective, that just kind of happened on accident, which I think a lot of entrepreneurs say, like, I didn't mean to build the business, but the business just happened.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, short story, within a matter of a few years, I lost my father to his sixth heart attack.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: I was 27 at the time.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: I went through a divorce that only lasted, my marriage only lasted three weeks.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: My husband said he wanted a divorce on our honeymoon.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I lost like all my money, my job, everything that I had worked for.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then a year later, my mom was diagnosed with stage four cancer and died.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: So by the time I was 31 years old, I had no money, broken heart from a divorce, burying my second parent, and I was getting groceries at the 99 cent store and I had a$25 a month budget.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so I always say that when you're in situations like that in your life, it's either gonna break you or it's gonna awaken you.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so for me, it was an opportunity for me to just kind of examine where I am, what I'm doing, and where do I want to go from here?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: Because I couldn't go any further down.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: Like I was at the bottom.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm like, we're only gonna go up.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_02: So I just I decided to start the company, Rise It For You.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_02: I knew nothing about entrepreneurship, but I believed in myself and I believed in soft skills and what we do and making an impact, and the rest is history.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: That's how I started.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Neta, there's there's so much to unpack there.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: So many great things to unpack there because I love what you're saying.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And there's probably not a better time in the history of humankind to be writing and putting the message that you are out there around soft skills.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Just it seems like post-COVID AI, phones, technology, people don't talk enough and work on these skills enough.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I love to I was gonna ask you kind of like how why you decided to break your kind of book series up into these four things, but each one needs its own focus.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: The more I looked into it and the more I thought about it, I was like, yeah, each one of these needs to be its own book because number one, there's a lot to talk about on each.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, sometimes there's things that people need to work on specifically.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they're okay at self-confidence, but over here the communication's not where it needs to be, or vice versa.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think it's really important that you did break them up the way you did.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Also, love you sharing your part of your story about the struggles.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: You've had a lot.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I was actually having this conversation with a CEO earlier today where we were talking about when your back's against the wall, you you either do one of two things, and the the high achievers, they figure out how to get out of that.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up what you did and what you're talking about.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I love because again, when people look at your LinkedIn or your social media, they may say, Neta's doing all kinds of great things, her life's been perfect, and we see the highlight reel, but they don't really know what you went through that triggered that drive to do what you do now.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Which leads to my just again, I love as I'm listening, I'm just thinking of these things in in real time.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, yes, what you're saying is so important and so valuable.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: But talk a little bit because these four books did come out last year, so you had them released pretty strategically.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Talk about your process of compartmentalizing and working on each one and what's your focus is with each of them.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a really great question.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: And so I would say that it kind of came on accident, but not really.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: Throughout the years of building the company, there's there were two things I always knew.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: One, self-confidence is like the biggest challenge in the workforce.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: And so even when I started the company, I would say I've spoken the most on self-confidence.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: Even my my first book that I wrote in 2020, I have, I actually have five books.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: There's a book that I wrote when I first started the company.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's more about the journey of closing the gap between your potential, but that's highly rooted in self-confidence.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: And so, like self-confidence has always been a thing that I've recognized most people don't have, and it really hinders them.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: So that's that was that kind of was always there.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: And then emotional intelligence, I knew was like the the most critical soft skill.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: See, there's a lot of soft skills, right?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: Like critical thinking is a soft skill, managing your time is a soft skill, motivation is a soft, I mean, there's a bunch of them.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: But emotional intelligence is really the mother soft skill, and pretty much everything falls under that.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I always knew that like these two were the ones, right?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: But then over time, when working with our clients and even me just building the business, what I realized is that there were other challenges in the workforce that were pretty clear.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: The the next one was transformational leadership.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: So a lot of companies were hiring us to teach emotional intelligence because their leaders were creating transformation and their leaders never got taught how to lead.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: They were just really great at doing.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: So that kind of sparked the next uh pillar, I would say, where I'm like, hey, we need to start teaching also how to be a transformative leader versus just being transactional, right?
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: Somebody that says, you do this, we have meetings, I have an open door policy, blah, blah, blah.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: But it's not really moving the needle and inspiring your team.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: And all along this journey, I've also recognized that many people struggle with communication.
• 8:57
  unknown: Yes.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: They sell themselves short, they leave money on the table.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: When they're talking to their CEO or executives, they don't know what to say, how to say it, the energy to bring to influence.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so influential communication and transformational leadership were kind of add-ons along the way.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so we were, you know, I've been teaching the material and, you know, everything was great.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: And then I actually, the epiphany came when I was talking to Geno Wickman.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you're familiar with him.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_02: Some of your listeners, some of you listening today probably are.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: He is the original founder of EO, right?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: EOS, the entrepreneurial operating system.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: And he did something that was quite brilliant.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: He took his pillars of the EOS system and he broke them into books to make them simplified and digestible.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: And that is, and he I had him on my podcast, and that's when I was talking with him, and I thought, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: Take the four pillars, self-confidence, EQ, leadership, influential communication, and break them out into their own book because that's how important and robust they are.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's kind of how the ecosystem came about.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: And now today we have full programming on every pillar.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: We have books on every pillar, and then we even have assessments on every pillar.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: Within 30 seconds, it'll whip out your score and your profile on that particular one of the four pillars.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: This is amazing because I've I've had people on the podcast who have almost specialized in a way in in maybe one of the pillars, and that's what they work on with clients or with people, but you guys have specialized in all of them.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm curious, two-part question here.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Is it other challenges with trying to implement each pillar?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm kind of asking this in a way of what's the challenge of getting a leadership team or a company to slow down and realize that maybe some of their leaders are struggling in these areas.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: And how do you get them to to maybe pause and have them go through and maybe learn some of the things that you're teaching so that they can then implement it and be better at their job?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm sure too, you're probably talking with some people that they may not think they have a problem.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you've got to somehow get them to in their own way and go, I do need to work on this because I see this now.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is that process like?
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, it the there's a lot of ways to unpack that, right?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: So one way is like, how do we in influence the individual that's in the room, right?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_02: Because sometimes individuals are in our room or they're in our trainings and their HR leader tells them to be there, right?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_02: Or the company makes it mandatory.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's like you are doing this class.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: And so when it comes to the individual, it's really about our trainers and our team using our emotional intelligence.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: So anybody that works for Rise Up for You has to be emotionally intelligent, right?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: We have to practice what we preach because we need to be able to influence them and show them that we're not trying to change you.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: I always say, whenever I do a training, whenever I start, I always say, my goal is not to change you today, but it's to provide you with more tools and resources that can make you a more dynamic leader.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: Because the reality is, is that some people love how you lead today, right?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: They, you know, for example, you might let's say you have an a really aggressive leader that cusses and like just is to the point.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: Some people love that.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'm one of those people, right?
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: I don't have time for fluff.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_02: I don't care if you cuss in a meeting.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: I just tell me what I need to work on.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: Where do I need to go?
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: What do you need from me?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: And like I can handle that.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: And then you have a lot of people that it scares them, it makes them function in fear.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: They can't they can they can't handle the pressure, they cry.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: And so I always say it's not about changing you, it's just giving you more tools and then teaching you the emotional intelligence around when to use what tool.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: So if you're in front of somebody like me that can handle the aggression and the high assertiveness, then do that.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: But if you know you're around a team member that feels uncomfortable, then now you have a new tool that can that you can bring out.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so the first thing we do is just let them know like, we're not here, we're not here to change you.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like who you are is great.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: Let's just add some color to it so that you can have diversity in how you lead.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: Now, when it comes to a company and an organization, and let's say getting them to invest in these skills, the leadership team has to have buy-in.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's there's no other way of saying it.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_02: Some executive teams are just dominating in their industry financially.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: And even if they know that their team might need this, it's not a priority for them because they're making enough money to offset it.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like it doesn't matter.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_02: And then you have other organizations that are also making great money, but they realize that they could be more optimal and even healthier as a leadership team and healthier as a as a culture if they did grow their team in these skills.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: I would say that it's about 50-50.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: Most organizations know that these are the top priority skills, but we need to influence them in investing in the skills.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: So we need to show them, hey, when you invest in these skills and when you invest in these leaders, you have better engagement, you have less turnover, your culture is more fulfilled.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: And now you have leaders that are actually leading versus having what we call key man risk, right?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: Key man risk, for anyone that doesn't know is when you have leaders that if they were to leave tomorrow, all the knowledge walks out the door with them and you're pretty much screwed.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: Right, like none of the other team members ever learned what they needed from them.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: And now you kind of have to scrap and start from scratch and figure out like, where is this?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: Who does this?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: And you got to start over.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think more and more companies are realizing the importance, and now it's influencing them on putting the investment towards their team so that they can create true transformation.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: And each of these four pillars can be learned.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I know you mentioned earlier that the self-confidence seemed to be the one that you coach on the most.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: But which of the four takes the longest for somebody typically to implement to where it becomes a natural part of them?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because I'm like, I'm going back and I'm still thinking about the person that's maybe a little hesitant and they don't necessarily know if it's an issue.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: How long does it take for somebody to buy in and and that pillar be a cup become a part of them as a leader?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the emotional intelligence one it takes the longest.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: So for for a little bit of perspective, the pillars go in order of difficulty.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_02: Self-confidence is the first pillar, emotional intelligence is the second, informational leadership is the third, and influential communication is the fourth.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's the hardest pillar.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's the hardest pillar.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: But all of those pillars fall under emotional intelligence.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: So in emotional intelligence, one of the competencies is self-confidence.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: One of the competencies is leadership, one of the competencies is influence and how you communicate.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: So they fall under it.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: But because they're so important and they're so needed and they're so critical to success, you have to break them out and do their own like robust programming, programming on it.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: But emotional intelligence takes the longest and you know, it's a lifelong journey, right?
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: Building self-awareness.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_02: And then the next phase is managing yourself.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: I always say, you know, self-awareness is you know the ice cream is bad for you.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm aware, I'm knowledgeable that if I eat this ice cream, it's gonna hurt my stomach, it's gonna make me feel icky, it's not good.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: But as we know, the hardest part is managing yourself around eating the ice cream, right?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: So putting the ice cream in your mouth, going to buy the ice cream, like that, that's the hard part.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: So there's different levels of emotional intelligence.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: And as you go through challenges in life, as you become fronted with certain situations, your emotional intelligence will be tested.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: And so you learn how to continue to build it.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_02: Now I have a lot of leaders that say, I feel like I'm pretty emotionally intelligent at work, but when it comes to my spouse and my kids, I lose my mind.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, okay, well, let's break that down, right?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's all connected.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so it is a very robust skill, very learnable.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: But I say that it's only learnable if the participant is willing to push themselves and grow.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad you brought that example up because I was just about to say, I'm not surprised that emotional intelligence is the hardest to figure out, because my wife is the one who pointed that out in me several years ago, where she really held me from a uh professional standpoint and at-home standpoint.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: I remember her saying, like, you're not you're not understanding, you're not figuring out what I'm saying.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: You're also doing that.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: You come home and you complain about someone that you're working with.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like you've got to be more in tune emotionally and figure out like why I'm feeling the way I'm feeling.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Same thing with the people you're leading.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I was one to push back.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no, I'm not in the wrong here.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: I am fine.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, did kind of come to terms with, okay, I need to put myself in their shoes and figure out the way why they're feeling the way they're feeling.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Light bulb moment.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, this makes things so much easier from a leadership standpoint when you do figure that out.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it's hard.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: It is so hard to get yourself to that point.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, and I'm thinking too, you're you're talking about people you say a lifetime to learn.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: We have so many young people that you said it earlier, they get put into leadership positions with really no formal training.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: They don't really talk about emotional intelligence at all either.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's just, hey, you're good at your job.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now you're gonna manage others to do the same job.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: And exactly that's really an impossible ask.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: Well, again, a lot of times we forget that these are skills, like these are actual skills.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: I always use, you know, because I used to be in education, right?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: I always use education as a perfect parallel.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: Think about the teacher that you had, okay?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_02: Think about the teacher that you had that was just brilliant in the skill.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like they were brilliant in science.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe you had that science teacher or that math teacher.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_02: They were phenomenal.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: Like you can tell they were a genius, right?
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: But you went through the whole year and you didn't learn anything because they weren't a great teacher, meaning they didn't know how to transfer the knowledge that they had to the class.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's the same with leadership.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: So most of the time when somebody is put in a leadership perspective, a leadership position, it's because they're really good at their job, right?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's why they were hired.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: They're technically good, they're great on a resume.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: But if they don't know how to transfer the knowledge and lead, then they're not a great leader.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_02: They're just really good at their job.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: And unfortunately, they have a bunch of people under them that are trying to figure it out.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so it really is two different skills.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's the skill of the job, whatever you know, you've been hired for, and then it's the skill of transferring the knowledge and empowering your team to then pass it on and pay it forward.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: Two totally different things.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: And so that that's really important when it comes to leadership is recognizing that you're really functioning in two different buckets and you got to be able to use both of them.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that you you're essentially, Netalina, you're creating systems to help with that transfer of knowledge.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're helping people figure it out, learn, advance, and grow in the pillar, but also be able in a systematic way transfer that knowledge to the next group of leaders that are coming up.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: So if you can get that implemented in an organization earlier the better, I would think, then you can keep yourself from having a lot of issues later on.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I think what you're what you've put together is fantastic.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's so many companies out there, so many things are changing fast.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: People are having to jump in and learn things quickly.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it takes there's that process of like we need to slow down and train properly so that we can avoid mistakes later on.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I just love I love your intensity behind it.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: I can see it like passionate in your eyes.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, I know what's wrong, I know what we can fix, like, let's go do it.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I just I and that's why you're having such a big impact.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's really amazing to see someone like yourself just like grab the bull by the horns and say, I know the the problem, I know the solution, let's go implement this.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, thank you.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: And it's working.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we're passionate about it, and I would say my my whole team is passionate about because we see the results.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we have a 95% repeat client rate, right?
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: So our clients, 95% of them, they will sign again and again and again because they see the transformation.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_02: And you nailed it.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: We put it in a way that can be um systematized, right?
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: And so, because one of the one of the pushbacks that I got when I first started the company from CEOs was how do we know these are gonna work?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: These are soft skills.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: How can you prove to me that a soft skill is going to create ROI and move the needle?
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so early on with building the company, I thought, okay, I have to show that soft skills can increase productivity, performance, and growth in a company, not only qualitatively, right, but also quantitatively with data.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why we built the assessments around it and we built a whole ecosystem around these pillars.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: So now CEOs not only see the transformation with their eyes, with their team, but then they also see the data of their assessments around Bobby Jane had a 60% in empathy when they started according to their team, because we always have their team assess them as well.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: And six months after programming, they're now at a 75%.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: They grew 15% according to their team in six months.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: So we've we've been able to do both.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's incredible.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Alina, only I got two more questions for you.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: One, it stems from because you've mentioned how great your team is a couple of times now.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: What do you look for when hiring for your team?
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: I know you were saying, like, hey, we got to be in emotionally intelligent too, because we're the ones that gotta, we're practicing what we're preaching.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: But what do you specifically look for when you're hiring someone to come work for your team and that is going to be a representation of you directly?
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_02: All soft skills.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's all soft skills.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_02: I look for, I basically look for the four pillars.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: I look for, is the team member confident?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: Do they carry themselves in a confident manner, right?
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: With presence and energy?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: Do they have a heightened level of emotional intelligence?
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: They don't need to be perfect.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: No one's perfect, not even me.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: But do they have a self-awareness or do they have a growth mindset?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_02: Are they willing to grow themselves?
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, do they have a passion for people and pushing people's potential and growing people?
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: And do they have a heightened level of communication?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: Meaning, are they a dynamic individual?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_02: Because half of this industry, and I and I talk with my clients a lot about this and our partners, half of this industry is how you deliver.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_02: So, like we can have the best content in the book.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_02: The content can be amazing.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: But if you have a trainer or a coach that's not dynamic, that doesn't deliver in an engaging way, that doesn't know how to inspire and empower, it's going to be a very boring training, right?
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_02: And so those are the things that I look for.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_02: All of our team members also have to get certified with our method.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: So, similar to the entrepreneurial operating system, we have a certification, we have a license.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: They have to get certified.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: Basically, they have to get the Rise Up For You power up degree before they can even apply for our company.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: Because one of the things that makes us unique as an organization is all coaches and trainers are trained on the same method.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody's bringing in just like random resources and YouTube videos and random, like we're all trained on the same process, which makes it very cohesive when we're working with our partners.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: No, and that makes a lot of sense.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it just seems like the soft skills, it almost seems like more companies should take the approach of hiring that way.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because things can be things can be, yeah.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: And and and I'm just thinking of people that like high achievers that I've worked with personally, they may have not been the most technically sound on a product or process, but my gosh, they could talk to people and they built trust and and they could figure out how to how to get the knowledge later.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking I even saw something the other day.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was like Steve Jobs who decided, like, hey, it's like the beer method.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Do I want to have a beer with this person?
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: If not, I don't want them here because no one else is gonna like them either.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, it's so simple, just to be liked and you can learn the other stuff later.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: I just I I think about that a lot, actually.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you're and you you reminded me of when I was a performer, my director used to say that.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: So when I was in performing arts and I used to go on tour, we would have hundreds of performers and and singers in the organization and dancers, but usually the tour only had about anywhere between 36 seats on the bus.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: So when you have hundreds of people in a room, but you only have 36 seats, the director used to say, it's not about how good you can sing and dance, because all of you sing and dance.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: I want to know who I can go camping with.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: Like who can I sit around the fire with and have s'mores and have good conversation and trust them and build relationships with?
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: And I started learning that when I was 19 years old.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I realized, okay, this is not just about how I sing.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: This is about can I build the relationship with the director?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: Am I kind to my cast members?
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: Do I add value?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: Do I help out?
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: And that has been a game changer for me as well.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: If nothing else, in this conversation, I hope people take that away from it.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: The importance of building relationships.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it sounds weird to say be liked, but being liked and finding favor with others and helping others and just being there at that skill is so important in life and your career.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: But Nettalina, I just have one more question for you.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: This has been, I could talk, I feel like I could talk with you for hours because I eat this up.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: I love this.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: I love sharing this type of positivity and just the whole message behind it.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I ask everyone this question that comes on the podcast just from a book standpoint.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I'm curious, you know, obviously there's people that are reading yours and they're going to be impacted by it, which is amazing.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: But for you personally, I always want to know what's a book or two that has meant a lot to you, personally or professionally, and what's a book that you love to recommend to others?
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, the book that I would recommend that I that I love a lot is called A New Earth by Eckhart Tolli.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_02: So that's a book that when I was building the business and I was buying my groceries at the 99 Cent store, I don't know, I can't remember why I got the book, but I had the book and I was reading it, and it really helped me understand ego and where ego can really derail you and also how to manage yourself.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember reading a piece in the I remember I was like stressed about money at the time, right?
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_02: I was like getting my groceries at the 99 Cent store, how am I gonna pay my rent?
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: You know, my parents were past, all these things were in my head.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I read in the book basically a line that said, you know, it takes just as much energy to stress about something as it does to take action around the same thing.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: And that book was just so many light bulbs for me went off.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember in that moment thinking, yeah, okay.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_02: The energy that I'm the energy and the inks that I have around stress, around money and food and paying my rent is the same energy and ambition that I could put towards like taking action and making it happen.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: And so that book for me was was awesome.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: I would recommend that.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: Great recommendation because no one else has ever mentioned that book before, and no one else has phrased that the way you just did.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: You can expend the same amount of energy stressing and worrying as you can fixing what you're stressing and worrying about.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh absolutely.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Nedalina, you you are incredible.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: You are doing, again, so many amazing things, and you have so many more things you're going to do.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many people that could be impacted by your team and the work you're doing.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm so glad you've got your books out there.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: We're happy to promote and spotlight them for anyone interested.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: But Nedalina, thank you for taking the time to do this, and I cannot wait to see all the amazing things that you continue to do because it truly is impactful and amazing.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate you.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_02: And just one last thing for anyone that's listening, if you want a little bit more free resources from us, like check out Rise Up For You.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: We have YouTube videos, hundreds of them.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_02: We have a podcast, and we have a ton of free resources on our website, riseupforu.com.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_02: You can go and click the free resources, and there's all kinds of stuff that are totally free for you to build these soft skills.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll make sure all of those links are in the show notes on YouTube and wherever to get your podcast.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to follow and find those resources, we will make sure those are available.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Netalina.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: This has been amazing.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much.