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“Follow the flow, follow the nudges, let go of ‘this is how you’ve got to do it,’ and trust.” – Anke Herrmann

Join Niiamah Ashong as he explores the power of pivoting, play, and trusting the process with Anke Herrmann. Discover how letting go of rigid rules and leaning into joy can unlock incredible ease and achievement.

Welcome to the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, hosted by Niiamah Ashong, Founder of Outlier’s Edge and Sherpa of the World of Difference. On this podcast, you’ll join other high-performing unconventional leaders and entrepreneurs (aka Outliers) as they talk about leveraging what makes them different to make a difference in the world.

–Check out the video episode on Youtube!—

Timestamps:

00:01 – Niiamah introduces Anke Herman
01:09 – Anke Herrmann: playful generosity
04:14 – Shaped by East Germany
06:07 – Willingness to make moves
08:06 – Pivoting based on circumstances
11:14 – Creating the dog project
13:02 – Valuing dogs’ wisdom, soul
14:04 – Example of creation process
16:10 – Process: client to product
18:17 – Always following same principles
20:40 – Reframing business like community
22:03 – Following flow, no agenda
25:10 – Incredible results from flow
28:27 – Synergy: systems and flow
30:18 – “In case of doubt…”
31:00 – Outsite: Try it out!
32:43 – Time capsule: Nature’s perfect

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“You have to be willing to take the arrows and the bullets because you’re gonna get plenty of them.”

Join Niiamah Ashong as he sits down with Anthony Raman to discuss the importance of making bold claims, thinking bigger, and embracing fearlessness in business. Learn how to identify your strengths and weaknesses and how to persist through frustrations with determination and willpower.

Welcome to the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, hosted by Niiamah Ashong, Founder of Outlier’s Edge and Sherpa of the World of Difference.

On this podcast, you’ll join other high-performing unconventional leaders and entrepreneurs (aka Outliers) as they talk about how they leverage what makes them different to make a difference in the world.

–Check out the video episode on YouTube!–

Timestamps

00:00:00 – Niiamah introduces Anthony Raman

00:02:21 – Anthony’s background in publishing

00:04:04 – Why Anthony started publishing

00:06:16 – Doing what brings you joy

00:08:25 – Advice on reading books

00:12:03 – Chasing success vs offering value

00:14:04 – 90 hour work weeks

00:16:15 – Scaling and frustrations in business

00:18:00 – Accepted vs unexpected wisdom

00:21:04 – Confidence vs arrogance balance

00:22:09 – Revising and editing books

00:24:41 – Evolution of what a book is

00:26:50 – Book as a marketing tool

00:28:18 – Collaborative writing process

00:29:46 – Defining a book in modern times

00:32:23 – Making bold goals and claims

00:34:14 – High ticket vs low ticket sales

00:35:49 – Importance of gratitude and feedback

00:37:50 – Extrapolating positive influence

00:38:51 – Website as a complex tool

00:40:30 – How to contact Anthony

00:41:03 – Time capsule question

00:43:13 – Reminder: it’s about the people

00:45:48 – Niiamah’s appreciation for Anthony

00:46:55 – Anthony’s openness to opportunities

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“We all supply what the next person needs, that we all have a definitive purpose here on this earth, and if we all step into that purpose, we’ll see a lot of the lack that we see dissipate.” Karina

Join Niiamah Ashong as he discusses the fear of playing medium and navigating leveling up with Karina Calhoun and Clara Angelina Diaz Anderson. Learn how to overcome your fears and embrace your journey to the next level.

Timestamps:

0:01 – Introductions
1:07 – Clara’s mission
2:49 – Elegant leadership
3:18 – Karina’s mission
6:55 – Playing medium vs small
9:54 – Navigating growth and leveling up
12:13 – Cultivating self-trust
15:43 – Changing language to level up
18:13 – Allowing natural growth
22:38 – Clara’s concluding thoughts
23:56 – Karina’s concluding thoughts

Continue in Outlier’s Edge World:

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“Most people actually have the answers already that they’re looking for, and if I can listen to what they’re saying, and then the next step is to listen to what they’re not saying and to find what that is and then reflect it back to them.” – Nat

Join Niiamah Ashong for insights on using your unique strengths, changing your personal narrative, and leading with authenticity. Learn how Dom, Nat and Dave have authored their own stories of impact and fulfillment.

–Check out the video episode on YouTube!–

Timestamps:

0:00 Niiamah introduces the conversation

1:50 Dom on data storytelling skills

3:11 Dom’s Data Driven podcast

4:34 Nat on his mission

6:26 Dave on Florida Beer Media

9:35 Using unique strengths and talents

13:22 Listening and reflecting back

16:39 Asking questions to understand needs

19:08 Stepping into the unknown

21:40 Understanding zoning laws for breweries

24:46 Sparking curiosity and asking questions

27:10 Importance of listening and reflecting

29:57 Changing stories we tell ourselves

32:57 Authentic storytelling and understanding audience

35:19 Asking “stupid” questions to learn

36:41 Perception checking technique for listening

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We live in a world whose diversity and how we relate to said diversity and differences also influence how we relate to power, leadership and authority

Come talk to us LIVE on Wed April 7th @ 8pm Eastern.

RSVP to claim your seat at the table: https://beworldjoy.com

Be Heard. Be Seen. Be World Joy!

Paul Kan, an explorer of possibility who is bringing a people-first approach to the hospitality industry, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about living beyond limits. He shares how he learned to stop resisting his disruptive nature and make it work for him, in his own life and in his work with restaurants, where he champions putting people before plates. What emerged is that no part of a person can be cut off without losing its gift: the flip side of anger is passion, and every emotion can be channeled toward what a person wants to create.

Episode at a glance

• Guest: Paul Kan, Explorer of possibility bringing a people-first approach to the hospitality industry
• Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
• Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released April 14, 2023
• Format: conversation, 47 minutes
• Topics: Self-knowledge, Coloring outside the lines, People before plates, The double edge of being an outlier, Anger and passion, Channeling emotion with intention

What Paul brought to the conversation

Paul Kan describes himself as a discoverer of possibility who doesn't color within the lines. He grew up in a household where the expectation was to fit in a box, and he left his corporate job after realizing the corporate ladder and the white picket fence were a limitation rather than the horizon. He wakes up every day asking whether there is a different way. Today he serves the hospitality industry as a disruptor, asking restaurants to see their people, not their food, as their most important asset.

What emerged

The central insight is that no part of a person can be cut off without losing what it brings. Paul Kan spent about 30 years trying not to be disruptive, and now he is learning to be in relationship with that trait and make it work for him. The same goes for emotions: pushing down anger also flattens joy, and the flip side of anger is passion. Niiamah Ashong took it further: global change needs access to every emotion, harnessed and applied toward the goals that call for it, and the two landed on a line from Paul Kan's mentor: it's okay to be angry, just not on people.

Questions this episode answers

Why should restaurants put people before plates?

Paul Kan says many restaurants focus on the food, the dining experience, the ambiance and the design, but not on how they treat people, in an industry often viewed as entry level and minimum wage. He sees a restaurant's most important asset as the people serving the food and running the business, and he asks what could be possible if the industry changed how it develops its talent and brings out the best in its people.

Can a leader's natural gift also be their biggest challenge?

Paul Kan says a person's gift is often also their biggest challenge to overcome. He spent about 30 years trying not to be disruptive and wanting to fit in, which felt like constantly fighting with himself, and he is now learning to be in relationship with that trait instead of resisting it. Niiamah Ashong calls this the double edge of being an outlier.

Why doesn't getting rid of a so-called bad trait work?

Paul Kan learned from a mentor that a person can't get rid of a part of themselves without cutting off half of their potential. When he pushed his anger down, he flatlined all his emotions and lost joy and excitement too, until he realized the flip side of anger is passion, the same energy. He applies the same lens elsewhere: nervousness carries the same energy as excitement, and once he stopped resisting being a night owl, he arranged his schedule around his most creative hours.

Can anger be useful for a leader creating change?

Paul Kan says no revolution or transformation ever happened because everything was peaceful and calm; it came from outrage that things need to change. He sees anger itself as neutral: it can be destructive or the catalyst for true change, depending on where it is channeled and the intention behind it. Niiamah Ashong noticed that the word outrageous holds the word rage, and that he can't bring outrageous effort to a mission without being willing to be outraged by how people are treated.

Why is forced optimism a problem in business?

Paul Kan says forced optimism is a downfall for many businesses, because it takes courage to acknowledge what isn't working, and there's no way to move forward from something that isn't faced. Emotions that are pushed down don't go anywhere, like a volcano or a shaken soda bottle, until they come out in a destructive way. Niiamah Ashong recalled a time his own joy became looking at the bright side when someone needed space for grief.

In their words

One of the best things you could do for yourself is really get to know yourself.

Paul Kan

You can't get rid of just one emotion, when you get rid of an emotion you get rid of all emotions.

Paul Kan

The flip side of anger is actually passion, it's the same energy, what do you want to do with that energy?

Paul Kan

Key moments

06:12 – Coloring outside the lines

09:52 – People before plates

17:14 – A gift that is also a challenge

20:18 – The double edge of being an outlier

21:21 – From negative to neutral to positive

26:34 – Anger and passion, the same energy

28:42 – Working with his natural rhythm

32:16 – The rage inside outrageous

36:56 – Authentic, but not on people

39:31 – The cost of forced optimism

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. Make a difference with your difference.

Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference

Continue into Outlier’s Edge World:

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Kristen Kosinski, who inspires people to live vision-driven lives and who started and led a clean water nonprofit, joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to talk about living on the growth edge. She tells how remembering a childhood dream led her to leave her network television career, travel abroad and find herself inside the vision within three days. What emerged is her approach to bringing a vision to life: declare it, take the next step even when it feels edgy, and trust the foundation being built underneath to support the leap.

Episode at a glance

• Guest: Kristen Kosinski, Coach who inspires people to live vision-driven lives; started and led a clean water nonprofit for 10 and a half years
• Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
• Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released March 28, 2023
• Format: conversation, 56 minutes
• Topics: Living a vision-driven life, Doing life afraid, Remembering a childhood dream, Arrival as a commencement, The bamboo and the quantum leap, Co-creating with something greater

What Kristen brought to the conversation

Kristen Kosinski describes herself as a human being on the green growing edge of becoming, someone who came to this planet to intentionally grow and who has been a student of personal development for 25 years. After 10 years as a network television executive, she started a nonprofit providing clean drinking water as a foundation to development and ran it for 10 and a half years as executive director; the organization brought clean water to thousands and thousands of people. Her mission now is to inspire people to live vision-driven lives and follow their dreams. Niiamah Ashong describes her presence as supernova energy, with a mama bear fierceness and a warmth in how she takes care of her people.

What emerged

The central idea is what Kristen Kosinski calls doing life afraid: when an intuitive hit feels edgy but important, say yes and do it anyway, because extraordinary goodness is often on the other side. Reaching the vision was not an ending for her but a commencement, a confirmation she was on the right track and a prompt to get curious about what's next. She uses the way bamboo grows to explain sudden leaps: years of small visible growth while an intricate root system forms underneath, then a quantum leap. When she describes co-creating with something greater, Niiamah Ashong connects it to his own long-held sense that serendipity loves him, and she names the pattern: declare the vision, take a step, and know you are not acting in isolation.

Questions this episode answers

What does it mean to live a vision-driven life?

Kristen Kosinski holds visions that are not her current reality, then asks herself what she could do today, where she is, with what she has, to move toward the life she would absolutely love to have. She says the steps that come are typically not comfortable; they require some courage.

What happens after a leader realizes a vision?

For Kristen Kosinski, being in the vision was a commencement, not an ending: a confirmation that she was on the right track. From there her job is to get curious about what's next, because a mission-driven life just keeps going, with each mission leading to the next.

How can someone reconnect with a dream they set aside?

In 2005, while working through a personal development process, Kristen Kosinski remembered a childhood dream of traveling abroad to work with women. The question she would ask anyone looking to remember what's real for them is simple: what would you love?

Why do big results sometimes seem to appear all at once?

Kristen Kosinski points to the way bamboo grows: an inch in year one, a few inches a year after that, then a huge leap in year five. All the while, an intricate root system has been forming underneath that can support the bamboo when it shoots up, the same way steps toward a vision build the foundation for the leap.

What does it look like to do life afraid?

Kristen Kosinski says she does something every day that scares her. Awake at three in the morning while creating new things in her business, she told herself she could lie in bed tied up in knots or turn on the light, get her notebook out and start writing.

In their words

I live a vision driven life. I hold visions that are not my current reality.

Kristen Kosinski

Being in the vision was just a confirmation to me that I was on the right track.

Kristen Kosinski

What would you love? That's it, because love is spirit, love is the infinite.

Kristen Kosinski

Key moments

03:08 – Supernova energy and presence

05:43 – On the growing edge of becoming

09:54 – Living a vision-driven life

12:29 – Remembering a childhood dream

13:30 – Going all in on the dream

16:37 – Inside the vision by day three

18:41 – Arrival as a commencement

21:45 – The question: what would you love

24:20 – Clean water for thousands

36:51 – How bamboo grows

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. Make a difference with your difference.

Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference

Continue into Outlier’s Edge World:

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Youtube | Website | Guild Community