Speak Up! Be Different! Be Heard!

Hello and welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am the host, Thomas Anglero, and my mission for this podcast is to share with you those private thoughts and reflections that I have being one of the top keynote speakers around the world on technology, motivation, and innovation. I hope you truly enjoy all the lessons I share, all the dots I connect that sometimes are just really difficult to get out but it's all for you. I truly hope you enjoy this episode.

Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero, and let me ask you a question: how often do you absolutely ignore the fact that what you're about to say in public is going to be possibly embarrassing? How many times do you just ignore the fact that no one else is talking but you just got to say something. Do you ever just go for it when it's awkward, when it's not the right time, when it might be embarrassing? You know, that's your moment to just absolutely stand out. But we don't do it. Think about all the stuff that's going on right now. Everybody's being conservative. Look at your friends, look at your family, look at your colleagues. People are not taking any risk whatsoever. You don't take any risk. And matter of fact, you think you're special. A lot of people think they are. They think they're different. And yet, because they don't do anything different, because they do everything like everybody else, because they stay within the same box, the same rules, the same regulations, the same, same thought patterns, you all end up being the same. So how the hell are you special? Have you done anything today to make you stand out from anyone else? And I'm not saying on purposely. But is it in your nature to not even to take in consideration what other people are doing? When you're on the train, do you look at other people and if they're using their mobile phones, do you have to use your mobile phone? Are you in the lunchroom and you have to buy what other people buy? When you see people wearing clothes or you go to a store, do you have to also buy it too? Are you a follower and you don't even know it? Who are you? What do you do to define who you are? When the hell was the last time you absolutely did something that you knew you had to do? You had said what you had to say. You had to exist in that moment. You had to exist. You did not care what the outcome was because this is it. This is who I am. Done. When's the last time you ever said that to yourself? This is it. This is who I am. Done? Have you ever, ever had that thought process? And why not? There's your culture holding you back. I'm not supposed to stand out. I'm not supposed to be different. That's by default saying you're supposed to be like everybody else and do like everybody else. So how the hell are you different than everybody else? You're not. Stop. What are you afraid of? You're afraid of existing. You're afraid of being you. Do you know your first name? Say it out loud. Do you know your last name? Say it out loud. There's no one else with your first and last name, most likely, unless your name is like John Smith or something equivalent to whatever country you're in. Why don't you act that way? I had a call today, had a conference call today with people in Germany, Switzerland, and Australia. And I was explaining to them how to be innovative in this time of COVID And God, I hope when this episode is heard, it's heard years from now, that COVID is long gone and an embarrassment. But we're in it now, so let me continue. And I was trying to explain something, you know, and I was like, these people have never heard me, they don't know who I am. I said, I'm just gonna be myself, I'm gonna go for it. And I talked about, you want to make a difference to people in your life, you want to make a difference to people you sell to, you're an executive, you're an experienced person with so many years of experience, and you, you, you're used to wining and dining your clients and all this crap, and so you want to make a difference today post-COVID after we've all been locked down? Real simple. How much love can you give your client, your customer? That's where you stand out. This call was on like Zoom, Webex, whatever, Microsoft Teams, same difference. Everybody was in a box. Of the 20 people on the call, only 4 people showed their video. Let me ask you some— this question: if you're on a digital call, a video conference call, and you don't open up your video, turn on your video camera, What have you done to yourself? You now don't even exist other than the text of your name. You by default don't exist. So you're saying in that meeting, let's say it's a group meeting, and you're wondering why nobody listens to you, nobody respects you. Nobody sees you, you idiot. Nobody sees that you're there. You chose not to be seen. Every time you're on a video conferencing call and you don't turn on the web— your web camera, you choose not to be seen. So why the hell should anybody Everybody listen to you. Would you listen to somebody who gives you advice who you can't see their face, you can't see their eyes, you can't see their emotions? In general, before we were all locked down, in general, if somebody called you on the phone and they just gave you advice, it'd be nice to hear it, but damn, I like to look into your eyes when you give it to me. You don't exist. I find that most people— I'm being nice because the number is more around 80%— let's say 70%. 70% of people on digital— on these video conferencing calls do not turn on their camera, and by default, you don't exist. You're not being included. I— when I'm having the call, when the call is over, I can't think of you because you were a box with text. I can't recall what you said. I can't recall what you look like. I can't recall that you turned your head in interest or in curiosity. I have to only recall your words, and if your words weren't so significant, then I don't remember anything you said, and therefore, by definition, you don't exist! You don't exist! Why are you taking yourself out, removing yourself out of reality by not choosing to exist? You are who you are. Exist! Stand up, say what the hell you got to say, turn on your video camera, and exist! Everything, we're all locked at home. Turn on the damn video camera. I don't understand why people are doing this. These were grown men and women, all with 20+ years of experience. We represented 4 or 5 different, maybe more than 4 or 5 different countries, and 4 out of 20 had their video on? And of those, not everyone spoke up. And those who spoke, spoke up passionately. At the end of this call, more than half of them, even the ones who did not talk during the call, said, "Thank you, Thomas. That was wonderful." I heard voices I didn't hear the whole call because they didn't talk. But for that one moment, they existed. They said, "Thank you. That was amazing." But they didn't talk the whole time. They chose not to have a presence. They chose not to make a difference. They can't get back that hour, an hour in which you could have talked about something from your heart, because the talk was about what do you feel, what do you think, how do you approach your customer, your, your, your, your client, how do you engage with them when your client's been locked up at home for so long, how do you make to get close to them, how do you build trust. It's a really damn important subject, and so many of them chose not to be part of it. How many conversations, how have you had today, last week, in this month, in your life, that you chose not to be part of it for whatever reason? You chose not to exist. Don't complain. To be in it, you have to be part of it. You have to contribute. You have to take a chance. You have to put yourself out there. I'm annoyed, not just because of that, but I'm annoyed because a very good friend of mine— I just found out about an hour ago that they just divorced. They made the choice of, uh, let's wait till the kids are 18 and then we're done. And we're going our way. We're not going to make an effort. The flaw today, people, is that people aren't making efforts. You have to make an effort. You have to make an effort. I want you to make an effort with everybody who's in your life, whether that person you live with them Or that person, because of COVID and the work situation, you only are with them, or they're only in your life through a little digital box. Make an effort. This is the way life is now. Make an effort. Make a damn effort. It's your life. Live it. Go for it. Be it. It doesn't cost anything. At the end of that hour of video conferencing, so many people thanked me, as I said. And I was like, wow, whole bunch of strangers at the end, respect. Now they want to call me and invite me into calls. They want me to travel when the travel restrictions are lifted. Fantastic. All because I said, the hell with it, I'm going to be myself. The hell with it, I'm going to exist. This is who I am. I don't care what the hell you think, but this is the facts. This is the truth based on what I feel and what I know. That attitude, but it's coming from my heart. You can't disrespect me on that one. You can have a difference of opinion, but yo, this is what I think. What do you think? I'll listen as well. But when the hell's the last time somebody heard your true original thoughts? Don't tell me thoughts that you read from a damn newspaper, heard from a website, or heard from another podcast. I want to know what were your thoughts after reflecting. Once you gather all the data and you reflected, what are your thoughts? When's the last time you have an original thought?

Got it?

I'm pushing you guys hard. Girls, whoever's listening to this, you know, your life, own it, baby. Look, no one— let me sum this whole thing up. Right now, with the crap that we got going on with COVID no one's taking risk. Therefore, when you speak up, by default, you will be part of the 1%.

Congratulations.

Everybody talks about the 1% got everything. You know how you can be part of 1%? Just speak your mind.

That's it.

Everybody's in fear, everybody's afraid, nobody wants to take chances, nobody wants to do anything wrong because they don't want to lose their job, they want to end up on that bad list. Let me tell you something: you don't say anything, then by default you're going to be on that list because the person who's putting together the list says, well, When's the last time you heard from her? When's the last time you heard from him? I don't know, they must be not doing much, contributing much to the company. Type, type, type on the list. But if you speak up, at least you got a chance. That guy, that girl, they got energy. We like them. They're part of where we're going. They got that passion, they got that energy and drive. That's what we need in this company now. Or, who's that person? How? We don't know that. I don't know that name. I don't know that name too. Whatever. Okay, just put them on the list. Do you understand your reality? Exist. Talk. Be you. Be you. Let me hear you. Listen. Share this with as many people as you know, people who you want to get fired up, who you want them to do something with their life, who's been too complacent in the past. If you were complacent before this whole COVID thing happened and you're complacent now, you're in so deep trouble because you didn't exist before and now you like exponentially don't exist. I mean, you're like beyond invisible. And I don't want that to happen to you. Share the word, share the passion. And the way you do that is come up with an original thought. That's really easy. What do you love to talk about? Talk about it. Call somebody right now, send them an email, send them a snap, shoot a TikTok video for whatever. I don't— TikTok still confuses me, and I'm still trying to figure that thing out. But do something to express yourself. And then send me a copy. All right, ThomasAnglero.com. I love you all. Go forth and spread beauty and light. This was an enlightful episode, high energy, and it's because I love you guys. Seriously, girls, all you, I want you to exist. It's worth it. It was worth it today. I went for it. It worth it. It paid off. I can't remember the last time when I spoke my mind I got in trouble. My other story, well, that was living with my parents. All of us remember that. Every time you spoke your mind to your parents, slap. At least if you're from the projects on Lower East Side, then that was pretty much it. But everybody else in the world had a pretty nice childhood. But yo, that's the way it was, and it's just a story. Go forth, love, hug, hug a lot. That was one thing I said today. I told everybody When this whole COVID thing is over, I'm gonna make a list of everybody I spoke to on Zoom, Webex, whatever. All those people who I became close to, friends through this digital world. And for the men, I'm gonna buy each of them chocolate, and women, I'm buying them flowers. And I'm gonna go to each individual one of them, find out where they are, where they live. Not to their office, where they live. Knock on their door and give them a hug and a present. That's what life's all about. This is Thomas Anglero. Take care. Until next time.

Thank you for listening to that episode. If you want to contact me, you can contact me on my website at anglero.com. And you can also subscribe to the newsletter, or you can find me anywhere on social media with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from you very soon.