In Episode 1110 of the Outlier's Edge Podcast, Niiamah Ashong coaches Adrian O Sealey live on air. Adrian is a police officer in Trinidad and Tobago, a martial arts instructor, a youth activist and a certified mediator who co-founded two youth groups, and the game he plays is positivity. The coaching takes his question of how to multiply himself toward the core group that can carry the work into other communities and make positivity contagious.
Episode at a glance
- Guest: Adrian O Sealey, police officer in Trinidad and Tobago, martial arts instructor, youth activist and certified mediator
- Background: co-founded a youth NGO and, in 2019 with colleagues in law enforcement, a youth empowerment group in Crown Trace; took part in the International Visitor Leadership Program in 2017
- Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
- Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, Episode 1110, released November 11, 2026
- Format: live coaching conversation, 43 minutes
- Topics: youth empowerment, preventive policing, gratitude as fuel, multiplying himself, finding a core group, making positivity contagious
What Adrian brought to the conversation
Adrian O Sealey plays a game of positivity from Trinidad and Tobago, where he is a police officer, a martial arts instructor, a youth activist and a certified mediator. He co-founded a youth NGO, and in 2019 he and colleagues in law enforcement founded a youth empowerment group in Crown Trace that brings young people in through sport, into trade and academic training, and on to employment, with programs for parents and senior citizens too. In 2017 the U.S. embassy recognized his work with a place on the International Visitor Leadership Program. He says he was once the young person who needed someone, and someone was there for him, so it's out of an abundance of gratitude that he goes above and beyond. He came in to multiply himself.
What shifted
Niiamah pushed past an incremental answer by asking what it would take to support 10 times, even 100 times, as many young people. Adrian named what makes a system work: the right people, a core group who share the vision and can be a force multiplier for positive change in other communities. Niiamah raised the possibility of empowering the young people in the programs to lead chapters of their own, and Adrian named his biggest insight as hope, with a belief that the answer will find him.
If you’re a leader ready for this kind of conversation about your own work, here’s where to start: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference, our coaching membership.
Questions this episode answers
What is preventive policing?
Adrian O Sealey describes proactive or preventive policing as preventing the hurt before it occurs, instead of the traditional approach of consequences after someone has already committed an offense. As a police officer in Trinidad and Tobago, he sees policing as a platform to connect with people every day and extend his reach beyond his own community.
How can a leader get young people to come to a mentoring program?
Adrian O Sealey's answer is that nobody can just walk up to a young person and offer to be a mentor; the work is to create systems so young people come forward. His group starts with sport, adds technical, vocational and academic training, connects young people to employment, and then has a core youth group speak for the program.
How does a leader multiply themselves?
For Adrian O Sealey, what makes a system work is the right people: a core group who share the vision and the passion. Niiamah Ashong pushed the question to scale by asking what it would take to support 10 or 100 times as many young people, and raised the idea of empowering young people in the programs to lead chapters of their own.
Why does meaningful work stop feeling like work?
Adrian O Sealey wears many hats, and he says that once the work becomes a passion it doesn't feel like work, because it's who he is rather than an obligation. He describes an abundance of gratitude as what motivates him to go above and beyond.
Why is developing people different from growing a crop?
Adrian O Sealey, who also farms, shares a lesson from his martial arts instructor: plant a strawberry and the harvest is a strawberry, but with people, what grows from the seed that's sown isn't guaranteed. That's why finding a core group who are already passionate takes time.
In their words
“You are able to prevent the hurt even before it actually occurs.”
Adrian O Sealey, on preventive policing
“You need to create systems in order for them to basically come to you.”
Adrian O Sealey, on reaching young people
“So it's about just making the positivity contagious.”
Adrian O Sealey
Key moments
00:00 – Welcome to the Outlier's Edge Podcast
00:48 – A Game of Positivity From Trinidad and Tobago
05:13 – Redirecting Youth to Unite
07:51 – Preventing the Hurt Before It Happens
10:01 – Meet The Urban Farmer
11:40 – Why Gratitude Keeps Him Going
14:35 – When the Work Becomes Who You Are
16:35 – Choosing Courage Over Comfort
18:15 – The One Thing: How to Multiply Himself
20:53 – Finding People Who Share the Vision
22:44 – He Loves Seeing Things Grow
26:00 – Create Systems So People Come to You
30:30 – A U.S. Leadership Exchange in 2017
32:45 – Making Positivity Contagious
37:58 – A Force Multiplier for Other Communities
40:50 – It Takes a Village
42:19 – His Biggest Insight: Hope
Enter Adrian O Sealey’s world
Adrian hopes that listeners who have a system in place, or who want to be part of work like his, will connect with him.
More conversations like this
- Finding Your Life’s Purpose with Les Watson
- Coaching the Father of the AI Assistant to Get More People Reading and Living His Book | Kevin Surace | Ep 1099
- Coaching a Three-Time Founder to Lift Sales Above the Bro Culture | Nicholas Loise | Ep 1098
About Niiamah Ashong
Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. The Outlier’s Edge Podcast is a live coaching show. Make a difference with your difference.
Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference, our coaching membership
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