The Courage to Be

A Conversation with Emmie Faust - Business Growth Consultant

Emmie Faust has a rich professional background. She has set up, scaled and sold multiple businesses in the media and marketing space. She has saved clients hundreds of thousands of pounds and has generated millions in net profit for her businesses.

But in today's conversation, Emmie talks to some of the tougher moments, sharing very openly and with strength and vulnerability, the mistakes she has encountered along the way and what it took for her to recognise that her failures were critical to the overall success of her career. Emmie shares her experience on Dragons Den and what it meant to receive investment for a company that ended up failing. 

We hear about decisions Emmie has made over the years and quickly get a sense that her capacity and her courage to make tough decisions is one of her strengths. Emmie shares her experience in Google and what it took to leave the company after just 6 weeks. 

We delve into Emmie's experience with her Business Coach, in particular the mindset work that has enabled Emmie to own her story, her failures and her successes, as well as lean into her voice in a more meaningful and impactful way. 

Click here to find out more about Emmie. 

Connection or Rejection

Welcome back to this weeks bonus episode of The Courage to Be.

Have you ever wondered why you might feel good after certain social interactions and not so good after others? 

I could leave a conversation feeling energised and overall content in myself and leave another feeling drained and riddled with self-doubt. 

Why do you think this is? For me, it comes down to the story I’m telling myself when interacting with that person. 

If the story I’m telling myself is - this person is more than me and that I am less than them, that they have more to offer and I less to offer, I will fail to connect with this person. 

The conversation will be negatively influenced by my inferiority, I am less likely to show up as me and instead try to be more like them (a huge energy drain!). My goal (even if sub-conscious) will be validation rather than connection, which doesn’t feel great for either party.

Are you open to observing how you feel after different conversations and assessing why that might be? When you walk away feeling drained and bad about yourself have you placed that person on a pedestal? Have you assumed your less than that person? 

Our relationship with others starts with the relationship we have with ourselves. Understanding our own individual value, accepting who we are. 

As always thank you so much for listening and please do share if you think it could help someone else. 

 

The Courage to Be a Student

The inspiration for today's episode came from Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday, in particular the chapter on 'BECOME A STUDENT". 

Ryan talks to the importance of sitting in the seat of a student but more importantly, how the ego can prevent us from taking this seat. 

I share a recent experience I had as a student and how I too saw my ego come to the surface. 

Being a student takes many forms, having a teacher is just one. Being your own teacher is also a valuable vehicle for learning. Setting time aside for self-critical reflection, asking yourself what could be done better, what competencies could be developed and what skills could be honed. Also, the art of seeking and accepting critical and harsh feedback - a powerful teacher available to us all. 

Thank you for listening and please do share this episode with one other if you think it could help. 

Elizabeth Cairns - The Empowered Entrepreneur

Welcome back to this week's episode with Elizabeth Cairns, author of the Empowered Entrepreneur.

Elizabeth is a coach who works with creative individuals who have a strong desire to make an impact in the world. I myself have worked with Elizabeth and have experienced her brilliance first-hand.  My intention for today's episode is for you to get the opportunity to experience Elizabeth for yourself in some small way; her capacity to hold space, to support and nurture and to inspire through her wonderful articulation of the many insights that she has to share.

We cover a myriad of topics, from becoming a mother and stepping into a new way of being, right through to mothering and supporting ourselves along the way.

Elizabeth talks about self-acceptance and holding people in the highest regard.

We delve deeply into the topic of voice and the courage to use your voice. Elizabeth offers up some very practical and useful strategies around using your voice with meaning and impact.

"Using your voice is a responsibility. When we use our voice we hear our voice."

We discuss acting in line with your values - having that pulling rather than pushing effect when making decisions.

Elizabeth refers to "possibility filled energy". We hear about her experience of writing her book, the Empowered Entrepreneur, and her capacity to engage with the creative process and to somewhat disengage from the outcome. Elizabeth talks to the importance of the book being authentic and what she had to do to make sure that happened.

Click here to find out more about Elizabeth. 

As always, thank you for listening. 

The Myth of Productivity

Have you noticed how as a culture we have really grown to value and perhaps even obsess about productivity? In today’s episode my intention is to shed some light on why this obsession with productivity may exist and how challenging our definition of productivity could really help. 

I draw on the work of Celeste Headlee, Author of the recently published book Do Nothing: How to Break Away From Overworking, Overdoing, and Under Living

What does it mean to be productive? When did we begin to link productivity to hours spent on the job?

Apparently it stems back to the Industrial Revolution which fundamentally changed the way we work. Specifically, time became money - time did not equal money before this time. This also resulted a shift in mindset - that hard work is what makes you a good person. That hard work is what makes you worthwhile  and valuable has just intensified generation  after generation, after generation.

As always thank you so much for listening.

Please contact me here to find out how we can work together. 

 

When Your Self-Worth Comes From Your Career

In today's episode I talk about self-worth and what happens when your career becomes your whole identity, your greatest source of worth. 

How much value to you place on career achievement? How do you measure your sense of worth - what's your measuring stick? 

You may not even consciously think about what type of stick you use to measure your self-worth. But it's likely that, deep down, you know.

Thank you all for listening. 

 

 

A Conversation with Fiona Humberstone - The Brand Stylist

Welcome back to this week's episode of The Courage to Be. I am very excited to share with you a conversation with the best selling author and visionary entrepreneur Fiona Humberstone, also known as The Brand Stylist.

She's the author and publisher of the bestselling books How to Style your Brand and Brand Brilliance. She is passionate about inspiring entrepreneurs to create incredible brands. 

But, as always, on The Courage to Be Podcast, our conversation is little bit more than everyday business. I was inspired to invite Fiona onto the show after she shared a post entitled "Feeling Vulnerable".

On reading her post I was incredibly moved by her honestly, her vulnerability and her strength. We explore this experience in more detail and Fiona concludes "you're going to have times, like I do, when it's tougher than normal. But I think what that post [that vulnerable post] showed me, was actually it probably wasn't really things that I had got wrong. There was bigger stuff going on out there in the market."

Fiona's capacity to reflect and learn from past experiences is very apparent throughout this conversation "I think I probably always look for the learning in everything" Fiona explains. 

We talk about competence and confidence "when you feel inspired and creative and confident in yourself, you produce your best work and when you're producing your best work, that gives you this vitality."

Fiona believes in letting brilliance lead the way "as entrepreneurs, we've got two choices, you can either put all of your energy into learning algorithms, learning how to write direct sales copy, creating elaborate sales funnels or you can put your energy into being really good at what you do and you cannot do both."

Fiona shares her thoughts on branding, specifically for small businesses, explaining "I think our expectations as consumers are that we don't make any concessions for the fact that you're small in terms of your brand. You know, if you're making soaps, they need to look just as beautiful, if not more so than the stuff we can get on the high street."

Fiona emphasises the importance of Brand Clarity "it requires you to be quite brave, because to have clarity, you have to accept that you're not going to be all things to everybody. You can't appeal to everyone. You've got to really focus on what it is that sets you apart and what makes you different."

As always on The Courage to Be we talk about the critics and Fiona, in the wonderful way that she does explains "I don't not care. I really care about what people think, really deeply care and that can massively get in the way sometimes"

To connect with Fiona head over to thebrand-stylist.com where you can also connect with Fiona across her social media platforms. 

Can we be too Authentic?

Welcome back to this week's episode where I talk to authenticity and how it can hinder our success if we define it too rigidly.

I draw on the work of Herminia Ibarra [The Authenticity Paradox] who raises the issue that people can in fact be too authentic.

I talk about the benefits of expanding our definition of authenticity, how taking a more expansive look at authenticity enables us to think about our identity in a more playful way and leads to greater effectiveness. 

I ask "what has enabled you to get to where you are today and what is required of you to get to where you want to go in the future?" Do you need to introduce new ways of behaving, new traits, new characteristics to adopt an identity that will enable you to move to the next level. 

This is not about jeopardising our values rather being creative in trying new ways of working, new selves and new behaviours to get new results and greater fulfillment. 

We cannot think our way into a new identity. We must act our way into a new identity. And it's that action that can very often feel uncomfortable. 

 

As always thank you for listening. Is there an insight that has resonated with you here? If so please do share on social media with the #couragetobepodcast

 

 

Author Clare Josa: Ditching Imposter Syndrome

This week my guest is Author Clare Josa, the UK’s leading expert on imposter syndrome. Clare conducted a landmark research study in 2019 that shows how widespread imposter syndrome is and how it is potentially costing UK businesses billions. ⠀⠀

Clare explains “it’s hard to achieve your full potential if you’re constantly worrying that ‘they’ might find out you’re not good enough, don’t know as much as you should or that you got to where you are by accident.” 

 

I had so many aha moments throughout this conversation, finally a body of research to shed some light on imposter syndrome. Clare guides us through the five-step strategy she has created over the past fifteen years of mentoring women in leadership roles.⠀⠀

Clare gets straight to the point. As a former Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma engineer and former Head of Market Research for one of the world's most disruptive corporations, Clare brings decades of experience in creating breakthroughs, without the burnout

To find out more about Clare Josa visit:  

www.ClareJosa.com

www.DitchingImposterSyndrome.com

 

Or connect with Clare on Social: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/clarejosa/

https://twitter.com/clare_josa

https://www.instagram.com/clarejosa/

As always, thank you so much for listening and if you think this episode could help someone else please do share. 

The Courage to have tough conversations

This week's episode is about tough conversations; why we avoid them and how to more effectively have them.

It may feel natural to avoid difficult conversations at first, especially if you dread discord; they are uncomfortable and they are uncertain, but avoiding a difficult conversation can lead to negative outcomes. 

We can learn to have these tough conversations by taking the following steps:

Step 1: Reframe difficult conversations
Difficult conversations can actually strengthen personal bonds if you handle them well.

If you are a leader who routinely has the courage to have difficult conversations it could be a route to building trust with your team. 

If you have a culture whereby employees who avoid tough conversations and fail to confront their situation head on, it very often leads them to taking their negative attitudes elsewhere, which is not good for anyone (gossip and passive aggressive behaviour). 

Step 2: Prepare but don’t rehearse
It's important to prepare ahead of the conversation.  For example, if you are looking for a pay rise, do your homework on your worth. How are you contributing to the bottom line.  However, going as far as writing a script and rehearsing it could limit your capacity to hear the other persons point of view. 

Step 3: Be direct but curious
Lean into the conversation with an open attitude and a genuine desire to learn.
Respect the other person’s point of view, and expect them to respect yours.

Step 4: Reflect on your values 
Ask yourself, are you jeopardising by not having this conversation? We all know what it feels like not to act in accordance to our values - perhaps not having this conversation will feel worse than having it!?

Step 5 Recognise your Emotions
Anticipate the emotions that may come up (both for you and the other person). For example, if you are speaking to someone regarding a performance related issue and you expect they will feel a little defensive of even angry, consider where you have the conversation. Would it be best to stroll out of for a coffee and have the conversation in a more relaxed and neutral environment?

5. Don’t push it into the future any longer
Avoiding a tough conversation or pushing it further into the future is draining and unproductive. Restore your energy, take action, lean into the discomfort, befriend the uncertainty. 

Don’t ignore the tough situations you are aware of today, what conversation do you need to have?

And I'll leave you with some wisdom form the wonderful Brené Brown. Brené says that in the face of a difficult conversation, when we see someone in pain, it’s our instinct to try to make things better. We want to fix, we want to give advice. She says empathy isn’t about fixing, it’s the braver choice to be with someone in their darkness – not to “race to turn on the light so we feel better.” Brené says a response can rarely make something better. Connection is what heals.

The inspiration for today's episode came after I stumbled upon The Conversation Gap Whitepaper by Bravely

Bravely surveyed more than 500 full-time employees across the country—managers, individual contributors, people at startups, people at large enterprises, and everyone in between. They found that seven in 10 people were avoiding tough conversations in the workplace—just like what was reported in 2009.

As always thank you so much for listening, please do subscribe or share with friends so we can keep The Courage to Be podcast going strong.