Breakthrough The Challenges of Today & Tomorrow

Foreign. Welcome to our Brothers in Conversation podcast, powered by Jesse and Shondell.

Shondell, you are from Bed Stuy do or Die Brooklyn. That little town.

That's a little town that's Nothing like Hawthorne, Nevada. Population 5,000 cats and dogs. Break through the challenges of today and tomorrow. That's what we're talking about. April 2, 2020 Episode 20 Number 23 so let's just have a conversation about. Before we start talking about breakthroughs, let's talk not a whole lot, but a little bit about challenges of today. So where are most people challenged today? While we're on this call, Shondo, there are a lot of people that are experiencing some major challenges in their lives right now. And what's your thoughts about that?

I think people are challenged with fear.

Yes.

Anxiety, uncertainty.

Yes.

Hopelessness.

Fear, Anxiety, uncertainty, hopelessness. Even if you only had just one of those challenges, that would be a mouthful.

Yes. Yes.

You're saying that probably a number of those challenges are cycling throughout people in their lives on a daily basis?

Yes, I think so. And I, you know, I can. I can tell you that in my life, I've faced fear. I've faced uncertainty.

Uncertainty.

Right. You know, I've faced a lot of those same anxiety. Right? And I do remember when I became a single parent at 22 years old, I was scared. I was very, very scared. I was scared because, you know, of the uncertainty. Right? You now you got these four mouths you have to feed, you have to take care of. Then there's anxiety about, okay, what's next? What, what, what do I do? You know? And. And then what. What's what? Like, what's next? What's going to happen? Right? You got. There's a lot of things swirling around in your head, and it's like a freeway going nowhere.

What was the number one fear when you say before anxiety?

Let's.

Let's. Because people watching this, it's going to be extremely helpful for people watching or listening to this.

Okay?

You become a single father not knowing that's going to happen, and automatically fear takes over you. And just do us a favor, Shondal, go back in your mind. Go back to that time, if you can. Don't speak to it from Chandelle today because you're far advanced from all of that. See if you can ratchet all the way back. And what were the basic matters that were concerning you in relationship to fear? You were fearful of what?

How am I gonna feed my kids? Okay, how am I Will. Will I be able to stay in my career in the Air Force and take care of my kids. How will I emotionally provide to my young people? Will I be taking something away? Because now emotionally I'm a wreck.

And Shonda, let me say something here just so people know. I know Shonda's got a pretty good Internet source where he's at. I'm thinking that because there's such a major demand on the airwaves, this is not perfect, but I believe that because mine acting up. Well, let me just finish the statement because I want people. Because I want people to know that this is not you or us. There's a lot of bandwidth out there right now and people doing zoom sessions and video conferencing and lots of that we were not really prepared for, I'm sure. So at times you are freezing up and I don't know that there's anything we can do about that. So far your voice is still good, so that's solid. So I'm asking the audience that's watching us to just bear with us because there's all we can do on the bandwidth. We've got five GS over here big time. So, yeah, you're just sort of stopping where your dialogue is going and your voice isn't. But I want people to know if there's something we could do about it, we could.

Yeah, okay.

And then there's a sound that's going on that's maybe some signals or something that maybe we can mute. If we could on your side there too.

If I think if I mute, I'm gonna mute everything there. We'll see.

So. So let's go back to that fear. So the fear thing. Because there are a lot of people that can relate to this Shondell and. No, because someone. People see you as a pretty strong leader and they wouldn't think that you ever went through some of these things you're talking about. They wouldn't even think you'd be fearful of anything.

Yeah, well, you know, and. Well, that's. That's part of character building. So that's why I say, like you said, if I go Back to the 22 year old Shondell, I didn't know what it was. I didn't know it was character building. I didn't know what it was. I didn't know what was going on. So I don't. I couldn't tell you at that time if what I was. What I was thinking. Right. I probably wasn't thinking anything. I was nervous.

You didn't know what to think. Would you say when you Said I wasn't thinking anything. I think it was. To be honest with you, Shonda, I could be wrong. You correct me. I think you were thinking about everything and you didn't know what to stop and focus on. When you say I wasn't thinking about anything. I think you were thinking about. I think you were just being bombarded with all kinds of thoughts and all kinds of expressions. I think about everything. And you needed to ratchet back up and think about what are the basics that you need to be concerned with.

Oh, yeah, definitely. Definitely. And you got that freeze frame thing going too. But we're going. We gonna power through because people can hear us. I can hear you clear as day. I can tell you that right now, today, like you said, the Shondale. That's today would know how to handle it now. Right back then. Oh, my goodness. And I know that's why my captain came to me and said, hey, Chondell, I want to give you some help. I need to help you deal with this situation. So he gave me the opportunity to go through counseling.

Okay, fair enough. So let's. So that's really. Thank God for him, because he could. He knew that you were better than you. He knew that you were better than you could believe at the time because of. You were actually in what we're going to call crisis management.

Yes. That's a fact.

It was a crisis to you. And it was. And the fear that we talk about, it's the thing that most people. Most people don't get about fear. When you break fear down, if you ask people, if you're. If your guy would have said to you, shonda, what are you afraid of?

I don't know.

Most people couldn't answer what it actually is that they're afraid of.

I don't think so. And let me tell you this, Jeff. Let me just paint this picture for people, because I think when you go back to. What would that be? 1992, maybe, or 1990. Wow. 1990. So. So think about this. There was no. There was no you. There was no YouTube. There wasn't very much Internet that I can go and research.

Right.

There wasn't a Jesse. Right. There wasn't a coach. There weren't many. I don't even know if we had coaches back then or.

Right.

No one, Nothing. So just to put it in that perspective, it was like Flintstone. Right? It was just no resources really available, especially to us as men. There were no resources for single fathers. There were resources for single mothers. So it was really, really. That's why it was so scary.

And there were limited resources for single mothers. That's not like they were abundant.

Right.

There were long lines for that. So let's go back to the fear thing. So when you look at the fear thing, when you talk about the fear thing and. Hold on one second. I want to get rid of this. Give me one second, Shonda. Hopefully I don't lose us. I want to make sure that we have as few of interruptions as we possibly can. So let me get rid of that. That's going to put us back. There we go. Okay, so this less interruption. Sue, the thing is this, Chandelle. When you talk about fear, most people cannot really define it. They don't know. They know they're afraid, but they can't define it. And whenever we've done dealt with fear in our leadership programs that we. That we've done over the years, there's an acronym that you're very familiar with that when you hear it and say it, it's familiar, but it's so true. Fear stands for false expectations appearing real.

Yes.

You have a false expectation of gloom and doom. That hasn't happened. It hasn't happened yet. And that fear is escalated in you as though it's happening right now.

Yeah. Because it really is. It is false expectations. But at that point in time in my life, there was. I didn't know even know what to expect. Like you said, a lot of people don't realize they're scared. You know, I was having a conversation with somebody in my office the other day, and they said, shonda, why is it that fathers have a hard time? Why are there deadbeat dads? Right. I said, I'll tell you why there's fear.

Yeah.

And most of the guys that I talked to who were, you know, they mask it with masculinity. Right. They say, you know, well, you know, I'm tough and I'm not gonna let a woman chain me down with some kid and blah, blah, blah.

But really what it is, what they're.

Really saying is, I'm scared.

Right, right, right. It's my cheese mom. Not only are they scared, Shondal, you're right. They're scared. They're untrained, they're unprepared. It's premature. Meaning kids having kids before they even finish being kids.

Right, exactly.

So you've got a combination of all that that's like a Molotov cocktail. And so. And it gets perpetuated. And oftentimes they're mimicking what they see.

Right? Exactly. So fast forward to today. So I'm glad you said that, because think about all of these business owners today. All of a sudden you have this pandemic hit you. You're an entrepreneur, you fire, you're going vigor. It's a new decade. 2020 is here, and you go out and then bam, your doors are closed, right? Bam. There's a pandemic. Bam. Now they, I'm sure, are feeling the same fear, anxiety, uncertainty that I felt as a single parent. I know they are.

There's no doubt about it. And it's the brand new. These are people that have invested their entire life savings, that have done major, major loans, that have endured highs and lows in the market, and their businesses have survived. And then something of this enormity closes their doors against their desires and their wills. What happens to all of that investment?

Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, they don't know. And we don't really don't know.

And they don't know. And we don't know when this is going to be taken care of to the degree that we start finding remedies for these challenges. So we can. Right, so we can stop, you know, shut down all the social distancing and get back together and all of this. We have no idea when that we. I believe we're going to do that. I believe we're going to. Our scientists and our leaders are really working ot over time to figure this out. And once they figure this out, we need to cure for this challenging circumstance so they can bring more peace in people's lives. But to your point, between now and then, what are those businesses doing?

You know, right now? They're there, and I know what they're doing. A lot of them are asking questions. A lot of them are going to their chambers. They're looking for some sort of relief. I know that the SBA has put out a lot of relief packages. The legislation, Washington, D.C. has put out this huge, quote, unquote, stimulus package for the coronavirus. COVID19 and so a lot of those folks are looking for financial relief. Let's just say that the challenge is now, if you give me a million dollars, if I'm an emotional wreck, that million dollars will mean nothing to me.

That's a good point. That's a good point. So let's talk about that. If you're an emotional wreck, even if you have financial challenges, even if the savior for those challenges come in and you stay financially ruined. I'm sorry, mentally ruined, that's difficult. So this is an excellent time for us. I know it's going to sound like I'm losing it to say this, but this is a time we need to be more grounded, create the most positive mindset. Not fake positive, real positive.

This is real positive.

This is the time when we go searching for the news. Not news, but information that we need to have and what's going on and what are the breakthroughs and what are the challenges and that sort of stuff. Not be 1% locked on news with this negative, negative, negative, negative, negative. We know it's negative. We know it's difficult. Let's. We have to get ourselves in a positive mindset so that we can find the resources to keep evolving and growing. Your thoughts?

Yeah. On the radio last night, I listened to Congressman Horsford talk about everything that they did to help the economy recover. Right. So they came with these dollars. They got this $2 trillion package together. And he said, do. His advice to everyone is handle the things that you can control. You can't control. Right now. You can't control the coronavirus, right? Me or you, Jesse, we're not equipped to help. We're not in the medical field. So let the medical experts handle that piece. They can. And we can do what they're asking us to do. Social distancing, stay at home, make sure you wash your hands thoroughly. Right? Make sure you cough and teeth. You know, all of those rules we can control. Now, the one other thing that Jesse and Shondell can contribute, one, helping people work through mentally, emotionally, through this pandemic, especially because you and I have experience in the economic downturn or similar. But professionally, in your business, your Breakthrough Success Plan is perfect for this. And I told you that yesterday. Right. I'm going to share with everybody. I back our. Our conversations offline. I told you that this is the time when people have to access the Breakthrough Success Plan. And I know, I'm passionate about that, because what my captain did for me is what the Breakthrough Success Plan can do for others. I didn't get this way by accident. It was because I went through a programming where he helped me get rid of all the junk. That's right. Was in me.

That's right.

And helped me to now realize, if people want to call it your greatness, your nirvana, your space that opened up those channels for me to access, that, that's huge.

And you're 100% spot on because it's a virtual offering where they get, you know, if they buy into the whole thing, they would actually get, once a week, a brand new module that's going to help them figure out how to break their success plan to get more fulfillment, to get more income, to get more recognition at the time that we needed most to stand out amongst all the clutter and the crowd and all that. So you're 100% right. In fact, let me read something that Lisa put together for us. Our upcoming event, the Virtual Breakthrough Success Breakfast, connected with the Chamber. It's going to set us apart for success during these times of social distancing. This is no better time than the President to take advantage of this timeless resource, as you mentioned it. So when we talk about the Breakthrough Success Plan Breakfast, it's going to be a virtual offering. That's Wednesday, April 15th, from 9am to 10am and. And this is free. It's not going to cost anybody anything at all. And it's perfect for the Urban Chamber members and entrepreneurs and small businesses. So, number one, how to master the art of emotional intelligence and to help people take control of those situations that are very challenging. And emotional intelligence, that's something. They say that emotional intelligence is four times more powerful than iq.

And yes, it is. So why is that, Jess, for our audience, why is it four times more powerful?

Because nobody really cares how smart you are. They care about, do you get them? Do you understand them? Can you relate to them? Can you connect with them? Can you have a conversation with them? Can you make it not all about you all the time and add them into the mix?

And that one word, empathy.

Right.

And you be empathetic. Right. And that's a fact. No. And I'm gonna tell you how. And let's go back. And again, people out there who are listening. I asked Jesse years ago to help me with something. And the reason I asked Jesse to help me with something, because the Urban Chamber was in crisis mode.

Right.

I felt like everything that Jesse just said is what the Chamber needed to do. It was not about us as Chamber board members and all of that, or the elitist. Right. It was about the members. How do we connect with them, how you leave them feeling. That's where we started, right. On this journey of researching the Chamber. Urban Chamber today is totally different because we started with how you leave them feeling.

Yeah.

You were the first one at that conference when Ken Evans was two days or three days on the job.

Right, right, right. That's right. And that was very powerful. And that audience grabbed that message and they got it because I made them the focus. I wanted everybody in that room to feel like I was talking directly to them. Not. Not the audience. I'm talking to you.

Yeah.

And that was part of the concept was practicing and teaching and showing that concept. And that high living feeling concept does raise the level of emotional intelligence.

Yes, that. That's my point. And here's the thing that is exciting about all of this because. Because of that which happened when just 2012, maybe.

Let me see where we at. Yeah. They're about 11 or 12.

Because of that, in 2020, the Urban Chamber, when it was time for this, the urban chamber to react to the economic downturn, the instant reaction was to see how the small business owners were feeling, whether they were members or not.

Nice. I like that.

It was automatic.

And that's the concept. The high lilith feeling concept is a global concept.

Yes.

Just like the global challenges we're facing now. It's a global concept. And let me read another line and then you wait on this one. The second thing that they're going to gain is how to become an effective communicator to get what you want for self and others, what you need for self and others, and live the life that you deserve by design. You do that by talking about effective communication. What's the difference in your mind, Shondell, between just communicating and effective communication?

So it goes back to again and I had a great conversation about this again with an employee. Effective communication is a two way street. There's a win win situation. But the most important thing is if I'm communicating with someone, it is for me to listen, pay attention and respond to their needs, wants and desires. Well, in marketing we call that psychographics.

Well said. I love that. Shawna, when you talk about listen and then be able to respond. Here's another thing I like about what you say in that is when people. The hardest thing for most people to do, Shondell, in communication is to listen.

Do you know why?

Do you know why?

I know why.

Tell me why.

You know, to me, in my opinion, we're a lot. We're very selfish. Yes, we're very, very selfish.

Let me end with you. We're so selfish, you hit it 100% on the spot. We don't mean to be doing that to be negative or nasty. It's kind of part of the biology. Selfishness goes to the survival instinct. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

That's what's driving that selfishness. And so what's happening in most communication, chandelle, when we're like, even this one, you and I are dialoguing. You're on your. You're in your Space. I'm in my space. And we're creating, we're creating a powerful conversation and a connection for those people that are watching and listening. We're practicing even right now, because even though we have an actual physical distance between us, you can't tell that we're talking like in the same room. But here's the thing. What most people are doing when they're in a conversation, when they're in the so called communication stage, they're thinking about what they're going to say next.

Yes.

That they're not. They can't. So when we're listening, we. It's good to reaffirm what you believe you've heard because sometimes you heard it differently than what, how they meant it.

Exactly. And I do that all the time with Arlene. And I have, I tell her, repeat back to me all because what was that book? Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars. Is that it?

Yeah. John.

Yeah. Yeah. So I learned a lot from that. It was like sometimes you're saying things and they're hearing it and they're like, huh, you know, you get that look, you know, the look you get from Lisa. Lisa probably has that look too, right?

I do, but I, but I like you asked Arlene to repeat it. I will occasionally ask Lisa that, but more times than not I'll say, so let me check for understanding, see if I heard you correctly.

Yeah.

Then I repeat back to her what I believe I heard more times. I get it. Right. A fair amount of times. But sometimes I've completely missed it.

Right, Right. But that, that goes back to that, that's that human nature. Sometimes you just, you may have something on your mind, you may be wanting to respond and then you got to listen for clues. Right?

Right.

The key to all this is understanding.

People and having the desire to want to understand people. Having the desire to want to not just say what's on your mind. Communication is a multiple stream thing. It's people are community. People are probably communicating right now. If Lisa is listening to this and not doing some technical things in the background, people that have thought they want to share. I'm going to ask Lisa to come up and bring those to us and we can put those out there because this is this. Even people will communicate even beyond this. Once this gets posted on Facebook. Shondell people communicate long after this, which means that it's more than a one way street.

Yeah. And let me, let me tell you something like leadership. Who One person I thought was the, one of the best leaders when I served in the military was Colin Powell. Okay, one. What I liked about Colin Powell and what I always loved about Colin Powell. Colin Powell always said the most important people in the Air Force are you guys. You guys on the front line, you guys who are really making the Air Force work, you who are in the trenches. In a sense. I am here as a leader, really doing the strategic thinking and the strategic. But I need you. And he always wanted to hear no matter how much time it took. I remember when he came to Nellis Air Force Base and people were trying to rush him. You know how they do. Hey, sir, you got another meeting. Got another meeting. He was like, wait a minute. These are the most important people to me in this United States. I was so impressed and learned a big lesson that day.

That's huge. So he was. He was also living the highly feeling concept even back then.

Yes, even back then. Well.

That is so cool. That's a great story. Let me share a quick story. I'll do this Reader's Digest as much as possible. Is. We had. We had. I almost deleted this email that came in because I like to get rid of all the junk. I don't like my email to have thousands of email. I like it to be under 50 so that I could manage things effectively. Anyway, email comes in, I catch it, and this lady says, where in the world can I find the book how you leave them feeling. I need 20 copies. My boss is asking for this. It was a company, wasn't even in. It was this side of the coast. It was in a whole nother time zone. And she said that the president of our company has asked our senior vice president to get 20 copies of this book. And I can only see one used copy on Amazon.

That's it.

Well, I reached out to someone in Canada that I knew, I thought had a few cases, and she shipped those cases to me overnight. I got ahold of this client that was this. Well, someone that wanted to buy the books because they weren't a client. And I said, listen, I can get them directly from Canada to you, or I can get them from candidate to me. I can personalize them for all 20 members on your team.

Nice.

And then we can send out. So she chose that. So when they came into us, I personalized and I learned a little bit about each of them. And I personalized to each and every person that would be reading that book. Lisa wrapped the book. So it came wrapped with their name on the outside of it. Then Lisa and I went in the studio and she shot me. Shooting just A two and a half minute video addressing the teen who's about ready to read this book. And I memorized eight of the 20 names. I didn't even knew all 28 of the 20 names. And I spoke about them in the video, welcoming them to how you leave them feeling. Sent that to the executive admin and say when the books land, when you hand them out, send them this video.

Yes.

Now that's the highly feeling concept. Tell me what you think about that.

What happened, what it is. It is without a doubt one of the most wonderful and smart things that you could do is make sure people are emotionally connected.

Yes. Because I wanted them to know they matter. The book has been sold out for probably eight or nine, probably 10 years now. But I had this one little hope that someone had a couple cases because they had bought a number of cases.

Back in the day.

And to pull that off that company.

Yeah.

Let them get something that I no longer had possession of. Yep.

I think one, the fact that they had the possession, and number two, the fact that you took the extra step. Yeah, that's what it means. You know, you take the extra step. You could have just took those books and said, okay, I'm ship them out. Right. You took extra steps because you were focused on how you leave them feeling. I club my staff, the reason why they are hired to work with us at sumnu is because you first have to care about someone other than yourself. Now, if you have a client, like you have NV Energy, rtc, and you have, you know, these big clients, you're still. And I've told my clients this, I am not focused on you. I'm focused on your end user.

I love it. I love it.

I love it.

I love it, Shawn. And I love what you said to your team, that you have to care. Guess what? No disrespect, if anyone's listening to this or watching this and they practice customer service, no disrespect. It's a good thing. But customer service, for the most part is kind of a day of the past. We don't practice customer service here at Just Talk. You know what we practice? Shondell customer care.

Customer care. So I'm going to my brother from Hawthorne. He's being very generous. And you know what? Lawrence Weekley called him out. He's been doing this so long.

Did that Lawrence Weekly not call me straight up out. He said he'd been like this since he was a kid. When I knew him, there were six of them, and he wasn't even the oldest. But he acted like he was the oldest. How did he even remember all that stuff?

So I'm gonna tell it to you this way. I say customer service is passe. It is done. Here's what you have to do. You have to create a culture of caring.

Yes.

Have to care about someone other than yourself. Even the thought that the customer is always right, well, maybe sometimes they're wrong, but you can empathize with a person. And I told this one of my restaurant clients, a person might be wrong, but they may be walking in that restaurant and they may have just gotten bad news from somebody and they may have been kicked all the way walking in that door. But if you empathetically say to them, how can I help you today?

Correct. I love that empathy. And get this. When you said the customer may be always right, that's what we were taught. Here's what I like the customer. We've been taught that the customer's always right. Well, where we live from is the customer is always the customer right. That doesn't mean that they're right, but they're always the customer. To your point, even when they're wrong, you don't have to call them out for being wrong. You can step up and say, listen, I care about this situation. I want this to make this right for you. How can we make this right for you? That's not acknowledging that whatever they're doing is right or wrong. It's saying, how can we correct this?

How can I help? How can I help you? What can I do to make your day better? Right. All of those things. And, and, and, and when I say empathetically, don't make it a script like, you know, where you're spitting it out before.

No, no, no. Make it genuine and authentic. That's really good, Shonda. That's good. Lisa's just handed me a note. She may hand me a few more of these. She says Alan McLaughlin said. Alan McLaughlin's out of Florida. Alan McLaughlin. Outstanding real estate. Well, he's more than a real estate professional. He's got a lot of talent, this guy. But Alan said mental health is in front of financial help. No other comments at this time. Which is exactly what you said. Mental health isn't. You said that Alan said this and so did you. Mental health. If we are not together mentally, everything else is going to break down around to your point. No matter how much money you have or die. Right. We must get ourselves to the best mindsets, and that's why we're doing this. Breakthrough success. Breakfast Virtual program and offering the breakthrough success fund through that. Because how do we handle difficult situations? We're going to be doing that inside of this program and we're going to actually do some role plays. Shondell role plays are super powerful. We just got an opportunity to serve Southern Nevada Corporation, SNC out of Reno Sparks. It's a multi billion dollar company. It's great, great company. Look it up. If you've never seen what a bunch of ventures in space. And these people, they're just amazing. And we did some role plays using. We color coded that team the personality assessment and we did some role plays demonstrating the different colors. And you should have seen the power in that room when people experienced the role plays, those that were in the role play and those that were watching the role play. Because it's like replicating real life.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, and that's. That's very important. And you know, that's where you practice and that's where you get your, your, your instincts start to become better. Is when you role play that.

You do. Because. Because you're in it. It's like.

And you.

I, you know, I. In fact, you know what? I want to. I can't, I can't. It's private. I wish I could share with you because it's high security there. I wish I could share with you. If you could just see the, the responses in that room.

Right.

As a matter of that, if they were. It's like they were all involved.

Yeah.

So we're going to be doing that on.

On.

Even though it's gonna be virtually. We're gonna be. I can do it virtually too. So it's gonna be super.

You know, what's important, what's important for people to know is that. Jess, how long have you been doing this?

If you count years, It's. I'm past 36 years. If you count the hours, it's 40. In terms of doing all of this communication stuff.

Yes.

Over 122,000 hours.

So imagine. So I always go back to this is that people have to understand something. Is imagine if you are looking to change anything in your life, if you're looking to change your golf swing. Right. I'm not going to the dude that's standing next to me. I'm going to Butch Harmon, who has.

A school here, who was Tiger woods.

Coach at one time. You know, I'm going to that guy, right. Because he has the experience, he has the wisdom. He can help me to adjust. No. You know, you think of race car driving, you think of people like, you know, Dale Earnhardt and those folks who are iconic to show to give you that wisdom. Right, Right. So you start thinking about where you. Where do you get that? And I think what's happening right now. And no, no offense to anybody out there. And I faced this too, a lot of times. I've been in marketing and communication for WoW since 1982. Right before all this stuff, I was in it. So the one thing that I'll tell you is that people have to understand what comes with all of that wisdom and knowledge. My pastor just preached on wisdom and talked about how wisdom is really the separator.

Nice.

Oh, I love that separator. Because if you have experience, I would rather go. And being a military guy, I would rather go in battle with a person with experience than a person who is trying to learn.

No doubt. Oh, my God, you just gave me chills. What a great point, Shawn. Now that's a brilliant point you just bring to the to light. I hope all the listeners or people watching this are weighing in us connect with people that have that experience. And interesting you should say that because I'm going to challenge you. Not in a bad way, in a good way, because I know you. You always step up to the challenge in these moments of crisis. Leadership is really, really important. And I believe Mike French out of Canada helped me. Terminology is thoughtful leadership, not just leadership. And anytime there's something disruptive going on out there, shift s h I f t always happens. That's when the big opportunities happen. So. So for leadership, I'm going to explain what we're doing on the leadership side and I'm going to ask you for what you're doing so people can know. So on the leadership side of how we can serve with this, with what's going on out there, this disruption that's just disrupted every single person's life globally stripped bare.

You've never seen ever, ever.

You've never seen universal businesses globally shut down.

No.

So what can we do at just talk speaking coaching firm to really make a difference now? And this is the best time to showcase our leadership. Better now than before the crisis.

Right.

So Lisa Farrell came up the idea. Why don't we block out times on our calendar to give our best gifts and talents away.

Right.

So she put out on Facebook that you can. You can sign up for 15 minutes of a special fast track session on anything you want to discuss and we will help you with that. I can't get into the details of this because it's private, but we Helped someone recently that was so broken.

Yeah.

The foundation of that person's character was so broken that they sheltered themselves and secluded themselves from all. From everyone, even though they had a full, full family.

Sure.

Of kids and spouses and all of that. And they completely cut it all off, went to work and closed and shut up behind closed doors. And we decided that we wanted to help that. So we can't do it all the time. But the 15 minutes became an hour. Okay. Because I let that one go. I had to stay with it. We stayed with it until we helped that person understand. You have to understand that things are not as they are, but as you are.

Right. Right.

No matter what's going on out there, you've got to get it together.

Yeah.

And so that was our way and the message we received the next day from the power of that one single session, start to flip around all the things that need to happen to get right in those situations. So what do you think about that as a leadership, a thoughtful leadership offering?

I think it's brilliant. And here's why I think it's brilliant. Because that 15 minutes may have changed that person's life, their perspective, and helped them make a virtual breakthrough.

That's exactly what happened. You're such a sharp guy, Shonda. I can't talk about the details, but what you just said. I would love to, but I can't because I haven't been privileged to do that. But what you just said is exactly what happened. And without that, who knows what devastation could have to occur.

Because it goes back to, like. Like I was saying, you know, when you don't have those resources and when you have them now, you. You. You can really, really go to a different level.

Yes.

When people are talking about, you know, when I in. In. In 2006, Arlene and I had the opportunity to sit down with. At the Hundred Black Men Conference in Atlanta with Magic Johnson, Bob Johnson, you name it. Bill Gates was there. Right. We had all of these people, and they said, what is the difference? Right. What is the real difference between. Ludacris. Ludacris was there. What is the difference between the people who have that moment of breaking through and the people who stay in that same space? It is. What you just said is that moment when you can get over a hurdle.

Right.

And the hurdle can get bigger and you can jump that hurdle, and the hurdle can get bigger, and then you can jump that hurdle. Why? Because you have in your head already. You believe. You have a belief in your head that you can make it Happen. Here's what I'm telling people right now, Jess, and I'm going to be focused on the same token of what you're talking about. These are things that we've already. We already have been doing for, you know, the last couple of decades. Right. I'm telling people, reboot. Rebrand.

Nice. I like it.

I like it.

Because wave of doing things out there because you can create new ways of doing things because of the new wave that has hit us.

Exactly. There's a new wave that have hit us. Otherwise, you will become blockbuster. You will be that company that did not move out of that situation and move to where the. Where the situation has taken you. Like a lot of these barbers right now who are out of work for. Right. You know, I talked to my barber and I said, hey, now, you see, you can go mobile. You have customers, you have clients who have been with you for a long time. How good is that loyalty now as opposed to the barber who's sitting there waiting on somebody to walk in the door? If you're the barber waiting for somebody to come in the door, you're probably not getting much of anything right now.

That barber must be Twix.

Twix, absolutely.

Twix is a good one. I knew him when I had hair.

Twix is not my barber, but Twix.

Is a great barber. He's amazing. Hold on one second. Lisa's got something for us.

Okay.

She says another one from Alan McLaughlin. I don't know what it is, but I'm gonna read it. And a lot of it is in bold, all letters. Jesse, I just got off a call with 10 of our top agents in our area, and they said something relevant that resonated. And now he talks in all caps right now. Oh, who's this one? Let's. Let's decline this. Sorry about that. So let's see. He says, for those that will embrace technology moving forward, and those that help others understand this is. Is our world to some extent moving forward. They will receive the help emotionally and connect at a higher level. Talked about your emotion again, Shondell. Let's see, go back. They will receive the help emotionally and connect at a higher level than the past. Those that don't will die a slow mental death. Is this guy not reading from your book or what?

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. You know what? Because you have to adjust to what is now and keep adjusting. The magic of Disney is bigger than Mickey Mouse Railway. Yes. Right?

Yes.

The magic of Disney.

Yeah.

Think about this. You know, just two rooms over. Because of course, with social distancing, I'm in my office at home. I got a two year old in there itching to get in here and just hug her papa.

Right.

I got a two year old who had. Who loves Mickey but also loves the new characters.

Right.

But how does that happen? Right? Because think about what. Who is that? Who's that that wrote the note?

That was Alan McLaughlin again.

Alan McLaughlin. Think about what if, what if, what if Mickey, what if Disney did not embrace Technicolor? What if Disney did not embrace new technology in movies? What? They did not embrace the Internet? What if they just said, hey, we're standing firm.

I'll tell you, I'll tell you what. If they didn't, they would have become Blockbuster.

Exactly. Right?

When was the last time you walked into a Blockbuster store to buy a video?

Oh my goodness. I can't even, you know, I remember.

You don't have them anymore. They're gone.

I still see some of the. Well, not now, but I remember about maybe 10 years ago I used to see the writing, you know, where they took the letters off.

Right.

And it became something else. Right. It became an ice cream shop or something. But that is always the example even. I'm gonna tell you who else I'm impressed with. And, and remember in high school I fell in love with David Ogilvy. David Ogilvy, Babe Ruflip, advertising guy out of London. He is the reason why we do branding the way we do it today.

Nice.

He is the reason why people have emotional connections to brands.

Dove Soap, okay?

Dove Soap broke through. We're curvy, we're soft, we're one quarter cleansing cream. We're not soap, we're cleansing cream.

Right.

They shifted the body wash, you know, to you know, shampoo. All the things that they needed to shift, they didn't stay with the little curvy bar. What I'm telling people today, I'm do like my pastor do real quick. Jess, come here, let me tell you something.

Ok, all right.

Come here. Let me tell you something. I'm going to tell you that if you don't think about rebooting your brand today, you will be left behind. You will be Blockbuster. I don't care how much money the government gives you. If you don't deal with your emotion, your emotional intelligence, if you don't deal with the breakthrough success plan, I'm going to tell you, I hope not to drive through the McDonald's drive thru and see you serving me fries.

Nice.

I Hate to have that happen. I am telling people you have to reboot and you have to rebrand. It starts with you, the person, and then you have to work on your company. Not the logos, not the colors, not the name, not the tagline, the characteristic of your company. Right.

Well said. So we have to be willing to evolve, shift, and change because things are changing whether you like it or not. They're changing right now anyway. And so let's talk about this for a second. What do you think people can do right now during these challenging times we're talking about? This is all about breaking through the challenges of today. And we will be definitely. The breakthrough success plan is certainly a great opportunity for people to really do some wonderful things with. But what can they do even before that, like right now, what can they do to help improve the climate of their homes? Like a lot of people are, There are a lot of husbands and wives that are in spaces that. I used to be in a space for 24 hours. I used to be in spaces for 4, 5, 6 hours, 2, 3, 4 hours because they're working 8 to 10 hours a day with travel and all of that. And now they're all. They're inside because of the, the new laws and stuff saying that, you know, when they can go out and what they can go out for. So you tell me, what can they do right now?

So the first thing is get over the shock. Okay, first thing, I'm shocked because I'm out of my current, my previous environment. Now I have to be at home. I have to be at home.

Yeah. Essential versus non essential, whether you can.

Go out or not. Exactly. Right. But you know, if you're non essential, you're working from home and you're not used to doing that. Now you're at home. Now, if you have not spent a lot of time with your spouse, now is the time. Me and Arlene cooked dinner together last night. Typically, I'm walking in the door and she's fixing dinner. You know, we fix dinner, we go grocery shopping together. We, you know, we play Uno and we play phase 10. We play card games. Sometimes we, you know, we just sit around and talk. We listen to gospel music, we'll dance, we'll play around on social media together. So we find different ways and different things to normalize the situation. Right. And we don't spend all day on CNN hearing the death toll go up. That's not healthy. I'm telling everybody right now, it's not healthy for you to sit there and follow and track the coronavirus happenings. I'm not saying don't be aware, but it's not very healthy. Because what was the old saying with computers? Garbage in, garbage out. So you want to put more positivity. Your head.

I love what you said about that. And people have more. People have more positivity than they can realize sometimes. What Lisa and I like to do is we like to celebrate the little wins.

Yeah.

We don't just wait for the big win or the big contract or the big deal or the big client. We celebrate the little wins and we say, you know, let me share with what just happened. We have to celebrate this.

Right?

We. Let me share with this. This is something to. Wait a minute. That's a reflection. If it's really powerful, she'll say, wait a minute. We need to write that in our reflections area. That's a reflection. So we'll put what happened real briefly, what happened and the date and how we felt about it, so that whenever we're getting our butts kicked by life, we can go back and listen to those reflections. You know what I mean? We actually call those reflections. And that really becomes very, very empowering. We took it to another level. We usually do only mic drops. If we do a great point. When we do a great program and we know we've just brought it home for that audience, we do the mic drop, right? Yeah. Well, now we're doing mic. Now we're doing mic drops around the house.

Right On.

When something's really happen, I just take a mic and drop it and then tell them what happened. You know why? Because that raises your energy level, that raises your creativity. That allows you to not be stuck in gloom and doom. We must figure out how we can all work together and work to get beyond this.

Yeah. And I'll tell you what, man, I had a great conversation with Brandon Ward. Brandon Ward is new in the space you're in, right? And I want you to chat with him to give him some perspective. Brandon is watching us right now and listening to us. But I told Brandon what I love is him and his wife, they're posting videos with his family, having fun, having a good time, you know, just breaking up the day, right? And here. Here's what I know. And Lisa probably. I know Lisa have seen this before. My little granddaughter Riley, I call her Rise, right? Because she. She makes me rise up every day, you know, her little bossy self, right? She's wanting me to walk the dog. Okay, let's go walk Tiana. And she walks Tiana. But then she needs to tell me where to walk Tiana. So I get a thrill out of watching little Arlene and little Tiara show, you know, grow in this space where if the ep, if the pandemic wasn't happening, I probably wouldn't get that opportunity. So celebrate the little things.

Yes.

Have a good time with the little things.

That's important. Nice. Nice. That's really important. That's really, really important. And I totally agree with you, and I'm glad you're echoing that sentiment, because oftentimes we miss that, we don't think about that. And if those watching and listening to this program right now, should they decide to take us upon that recommendation, they will see the quality of their life shift because it brings a different nature to the space rather than complete forecasting of gloom and doom. Yes, these are tough times. Yes, this is a very difficult situation. Yes, we will figure it out. We will, at some point get beyond all of this. Now what? That's why the breakthrough success plan is so amazing. Because imagine this. We can help you with what we call signature branding. What is your personal signature? And how do you show up emotionally? How do you communicate with others and all of that? Then what is your leadership development? What are you doing? Not just leadership as an owner of a company, but your leadership. How are you handling leadership in your home? How are you handling that with your family? How are you handling that with your colleagues or subordinates or whatever? So that next pillar does that, then the next one after that is opportunity creation. Where those three pillars overlap, that's where you break through success. And that's what is being offered at a phenomenal, phenomenal offer. And just to help people during times like this, because when you put those three pillars together and you can connect, they can actually learn this on their own time.

Right, Right.

And then they can connect with us should they desire to. Once a week, once they get on that for a community call where there's maybe five or six or seven or ten others on this call all managing through different parts. We call that Shondell Community iq.

Right.

Because we don't. We don't serve it like we know everything. Yes. We spent some time in this. In this space, in this venue, and we built and designed this. But what about the power of people that are also going through a lot of the same stuff you going through? They share their wins and their challenges.

Yeah.

How do you.

How do you. How do you automatically bring organic thoughts and beliefs together?

Exactly. Oh, that's very powerful. Hold on one second, Shauna. I think Lisa has another one for us.

All right, Lisa.

Okay, here's another one that says the other point taken was we might never have the chance to help others battle the fatigue of work and home life forced together at the highest connection rate ever. And we are in the 70s without cell phones, when people and families came before work and technology. What do you think about that in closing?

Well, I think the biggest thing is this, is that technology is here. Right. Like I said, I started in the industry, in marketing, before Internet, before even. We were the first ones on the computers. So people doing graphics right now, we were the first ones in 1980s working on graphic design on computers. It evolved to today where you have all of these different programs that allow you to do that. So, yes, back then it was different. I say you do just like I just said what Brandon Ward does, right. With his family. You. You embrace technology. Go ahead and talk with your grandkids or your kids. Right? Brandon's doing it with his kids. I'm doing it with my grandkids. Right, Right. I don't think it's cool to do it with me. I don't care. I'm a cool person.

Right?

But I'm, you know, I'm saying embrace technology. Have fun, enjoy it. Right? Everybody's like, well, you know, you're on. You're on Facebook, you're on Twitter, you're on LinkedIn. Well, I am there because I am there to inspire others. I am there to not lead for me, but to lead for them.

You're really good with that, Shawndell. That's good.

Thank you. To whom much is given, much is required. You know, my faith is in Christianity. My faith is in God. And God tells me to serve. And God said, you got to give it. If you don't give this gift or talent, you're going to lose it.

There you go. If you don't use it, you lose it. Well said. I like that. Well, take a list as we bring this to close. The virtual Breakthrough Success breakfast again is April 15th from 9am to 10am Pacific time. And you can reach out to lisalissen nineesttalk.com, email her at lisalissen nineusttalk.com you can also connect through our. If you didn't get that, you can go to our website and you can connect through us there. You can go to the urban Chamber there. And this is going to be a free virtual offering for one hour of power. And that's it. So what's your takeaway from today's session? What did you like about Today's session of us sharing with the listeners and the watchers and the people on Facebook and all that. What's your takeaway for yourself and for them?

Well, my takeaway in reflection of where I came from and where I'm going, is this too shall pass.

I like that.

Now, when it passes, I want to leap off of a platform, not stand in the same place and stay where I was before. Remember the quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. That I live by? The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in times of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy. This coronavirus, COVID 19, is challenge and controversy, and this too shall pass.

Well, I like that some people. I like that a lot of people will think you're making it sound too simple and easy, but you're not. It is exactly as you say. And quite frankly, I believe things happen for a reason, even the terrible things. The one thing that I believe that this terrible tragedy that has hit us, it's going to have an opportunity to do, is for once to let us realize that we are all in this together and we are all connected. Yes.

Yes, we are.

So we like to close our broadcast with one thing that sounds a lot like what this whole broadcast was about at the end of the day. To create the best lives for self and others. It's all about how you leave them feeling.

Yes. Yes. Great job.

Sa.