Podcast

Changing how we Solve Problems as Visionary Leaders

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Problem-solving is a learned skill which we all have to grow into. Today’s video talks of a new way to solve problems by choosing acknowledgement over understanding.
Video Synopsis and Additional Links
I’m watching a video right now that is based on two things: belonging and education. This video was talking about some of the challenges that are involved when it comes to identity and how some of our word choices can create some feelings of not belonging within education.

A Unique Approach

One of the panelists talked about choosing to acknowledge the challenges that are there but then move toward the vision of what you really wanted.  I thought that was really unique. He went on to mention Obama and it got me thinking a little bit about what he did that was able to create and bring people together in such a way.  So it just got me thinking about the distinction around acknowledging and understanding.

The Distinction

Where that has taken my mind is to a distinction around problem-solving versus possibility generated. I find that overall we are a society that really values problem-solving. We give it money and time in an attempt to find a solution. On the other side of things will be more like the possibility generated side of things which would be, okay I am creating something new in the world. It’s different from what we’ve already experienced it may not be a solution to a problem but a new way of looking at this that makes the problem that we’re all facing right now completely irrelevant.

My Approach

I am a problem solver and when I get into the problem-solving mode, I am constantly looking to understand why this is an issue. We typically can spend a lot of time just trying to understand the problem which is great. A lot of my coaching revolves around belonging. At the end of the day, I’m finding ways for leaders to feel more comfortable with whom they truly are so they can bring out their unique gifts in the world whether it’s in the workplace, society or a community. I really just work to help them be able to feel comfortable with all of that. When it gets down to it a lot of times where we can spend an entire hour looking to understand the problem and even in our understanding it hasn’t changed all that much. Maybe it’s because the problem itself even with the solution wouldn’t get us to where we really wanted to go.

Try This

Today I want to just bring this up here from a different perspective: what if we didn’t need to understand but instead choose to acknowledge and continue to move forward with that knowledge? I’m playing with this here so as to make sure that in our conversations based on how we move forward, we have as many tools as possible within our toolkit. From an inclusion standpoint, I want to be one of the people out there that can openly share a different way of solving problems. My way of solving problems is to make them completely irrelevant. Sometimes I choose to acknowledge something and continue to move on versus acknowledge and then choosing to understand it deeper. This is an emergent thought right now and over time it will continue to codify and see itself out there. In very real terms this is my school and I want to make sure that as these thoughts are coming out you get a chance to hear it firsthand. I’m really looking forward to your thoughts on this. On to your next frontier…journey on.
 

What Recurring Thoughts Drive You?

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“Yes, you can!” No, this is not the Obama slogan although the man had a point. We often find ourselves faced with recurrent obstacles that challenge our minds before we set out to engage. Today’s video talks of how to use those doubtful thoughts as a driving force.

 

Video Synopsis and Additional Links

Today I wanted to share with you how transformative the last few weeks have been for me. Lately, there’s been a shift which has come in terms of a recurrent thought. A question/statement that has been driving me for years.

One of the things you might know about me is that I have been a young leader who has excelled in a lot of things very quickly. I consider myself to be an outsider of most things that I do. It is part of the reason why inclusion is such a big value for me because I somehow learn how to thrive being on the outside.

To be honest it wasn’t that I learned how to be isolated and alone, no, I learned how to be different and almost protective of how different I am.

A Recurrent Thought

I have been able to integrate that in a lot of different ways but there was a question/ statement that kept coming to mind. This recurrent thought drove a lot of what I did. It drove me to see myself as an outsider and it has served me quite well up until this point.

Before I share this thought, I would like to just pause and give you a chance to reflect. What is that thought that keeps coming to your mind as you go out and pioneer in your own world or keeps you from pioneering?

For me, that statement that kept coming up is: “I am not supposed to be here”. This has done wonders for me because it has allowed me to be able to take a stance and say: “I am not supposed to be here and because I am here anyway, it is a bonus and there’s nothing I can do right or wrong”.  Today I want to give you a chance to reflect on your own recurrent thought.

A New Thought

Recently, I had two mastermind conversations where I got codes from my mentor twice in the same day and essentially what ended up happening was that I realized I no longer needed to try to be who I was.

A new sensation was born: “you can do that?!” That right now is the thought that runs through my mind and it has replaced the “I’m not supposed to be here” sentence.  To be honest I don’t know how it is going to change things because I feel like I’m coming from a different place. I feel that for this part in my journey this is the more empowering place to be. It’s will guide the way that I show up for each of you.

This is the first live video that I have made specifically within the Pioneer oasis as opposed to just generally outputting it out to the world because: “I can do that!” I am able to look at that and find areas where I can inspire and surprise myself and others.

As I exercise my freedom, my North Star is now pointing in the way that triggers that particular question, Why not:

  • Start a podcast
  • Have multiple means of coaching people
  • Make a retreat in Bali
  • Triple your income within two years of leaving your professional job

Question: “You can do that?”

Answer: “Yeah, yeah you can!”

I’m going to be coming from this place, pioneers because this is for you. As pioneers, these thoughts may be frequent and how we let them shape our world is important. I just wanted to give us a little bit of time to get some perspective on that.

Guide the Lens

What would be a more empowering thought that can help and guide what drives you? Guide the lens that you look through things? Leave a message in the comments. Let me know what your thoughts are and we’ll go ahead and continue to build on this.

The Gifts of being Triggered

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We are all unique beings with talents that set us apart. Unfortunately, some of us may not have discovered their strengths and today’s video looks to correct that.
Video Synopsis and Additional Links
I just had a wonderful coaching conversation where I was coaching a client of mine who is a pioneer. This is someone who is incredibly powerful and has 25 years of experience working in their industry. In our conversation, something showed up that has been recurrent in a lot of my coaching conversations with others. It made me want to come out here and share this message that is around exploring the gifts of being triggered. We live in a world where typically we are out there telling ourselves: “this thing triggered me”. We get annoyed, angry or hurt and we actively take the time to avoid it or get into the place where we just allow the triggering to take place. I have spent my whole life as an outsider and have been able to create a lot of success in leadership, growth, abundance, and joy. Things also trigger me and what I found useful for other pioneers is that when things trigger, rather than being defensive or angry about it, there’s a different stance that I take.

Look for the Gift in Being Triggered

Today I want to talk about the gift of being able to figure out your unique strengths. This thing gives you what I like to call that 100x impact (10 times a result for 10 percent of the effort). As a pioneer a lot of what you’re doing is shooting out, going forth and creating something new for people to explore and experience. You are creating something that others aren’t doing. That exposes who you are, what you know, your credibility and your confidence. It puts you in a place where you are visible and with that, you might experience fear. One of the things I like to do is to speak that fear into existence. The aspect of being triggered allows you to see something about yourself that you may not have even known. Presently I can easily be called on to give a speech at any moment: like “Niiamah there are these people here, give a speech”! I’ll be honest, for the longest time, this would annoy me because I would be like Why:
  • Do I need to give a speech
  • Can’t you give a speech
  • Can’t you do this
  • Does it always need to be me

What do others see in you

Do you have something in you which prompts people to keep asking the same things from you? Well for me it was speaking and out of these annoying situations came out my real gift. I realized that I can walk in at any given time, situation or topic and as long as I have a crowd I can just talk. Talking is not all there is, while it is an important part of my gift, there is something more. There is a way my message is received due to my connecting with the audience. I do not need to be afraid of getting in front of people and sharing. I can just give myself the space to really go forth and share a message from a place that is heartfelt, real and open. There’s something about that there that I didn’t realize was actually a unique strength of mine.

Evaluate Yourself

I want to raise your awareness around your triggers and to offer you a different way of looking at them. Rather than being upset because of the various ways you may be triggered, give yourself a chance by asking a different question. That is to look at the situation as someone shining a light onto your special unique gift. I have noticed that it is hard for us to actually see our strengths.  The fact that it triggers you says something. It means that it is important because there are a lot of things that happen around you where you just don’t even notice. That is a clue that you are stepping into what is actually a unique strength.

Dealing With the Triggers

Today I want to offer you a way to deal with those triggers. Whenever someone says something that triggers you, slow down and just say these two words: “thank you”. E.g. Thank you that feels good to hear or thank you I didn’t know that about myself. Etc. When people were saying things like: “when you walk into a room you light up the room” my response would be, “thank you, I have no clue what I’m doing. Would you mind telling me more because this seems to be important and I don’t know enough about it so I love to hear about it from your perspective”. This has transformed the way that I’ve shown up for myself and it has allowed me to now know that when I walk into a room I can do it with all the energy that I want. When i step into a room, I know I am providing service this is regardless of how dead quiet the room is. I don’t have to feel bad about it because I know that I am sharing one of my greatest gifts with them. I didn’t know this until someone told me.

A Different Approach

I want to offer this to you: slow down and see the gift in being triggered. As pioneers, we are leaders who may have risen quickly in our careers and at the same time, we may have this hidden feeling of being an outsider. If we don’t take the time to really absorb and receive the gift of what is triggering us, we won’t be able to reach our true potential. We won’t be able to see the true things that make us unique, and we’ll spend our time struggling to fit in. There’s a gift in being triggered and part of that gift can help you figure out what your unique strength is. Go ahead and leave a comment I would love to know any thoughts that you have from this video. Know that your journey is important what you’re doing is important. When people make you feel a certain way in their comments or requests, please pay attention to it. We need you to be more different we need you to be more you. Onto your next frontier…journey on

No need to Apologize

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This world is colored in diversity. Now more than ever, cultures are constantly coming together and new ones are birthed. Imagine how one dimensional the world would be if we all looked, thought and behaved the same. Today’s video talks of living unapologetically.
Video Synopsis and Additional Links
I am just going to dive in here and say: you don’t need to apologize for who you are. I find that this sentiment comes up a lot as I am working with different people. They will say something that is completely innocuous. This statement will often represent how they’re feeling in the moment, or how they see the world. This will then cause them to apologize and typically my response is: “you don’t need to apologize to me, I’m okay”. So today I wanted to get on here and just share this message because there is something that is beyond that. Trust me, Niiamah is not impervious to the apologies. The real reason why this is so important to me is that when it comes to it there’s an area of the apology that diminishes who you are or how you show up.

Showing up opens the floor for more

I need you to show up because when you show up it gives me the space to show up myself. So when you apologize you’re actually taking away space for the two of us. when you show up, we are both able to expand, grow and have a chance to bring out what we need to into the conversation. Now look if you do something really crappy towards me, please apologize because that is just good manners. However, the element of your existing, experimenting and finding out more and stretching yourself in different areas is no reason for you to apologize to me. In fact, you need to say sorry for not showing up authentically, not for being who you are. Here’s to your next frontier…journey on

Are You Hiding the Best Parts of You?

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In a world where bright stars and huge impact makers graze history books, one can get intimidated into feeling like they are not good enough. Today’s video talks of revealing your best parts regardless of the potential backlash and the limiting question “Who are you to…?”.

Video Synopsis and Additional Links

I have a question for you; is there something in your life that you thrive at but haven’t shared with the world? I recently had a conversation with someone who reminded me of an event that happened some time back. I was at work and we were working on a project for a client which was going to require our commitment through some late nights extending into the weekend.

Who Am I

The upcoming weekend was Martin Luther King Day. My manager said something that was pretty innocuous at the moment but it has stayed with me. She said: “we might have to work through the holiday weekend but let’s be real Martin Luther King Day is kind of a fru-fru holiday anyway!“

After that happened I just sat there dumbfounded. Look at it this way, I am a regular guy who is working towards building a business, I work with people and give my all on a daily basis. Here I am talking about joy, possibility, inclusion, and authenticity so if Martin Luther King JNR who had so much gravitas and changed the entire world can be considered fru-fru then who am I?

Hiding Behind Resentment

During the conversation mentioned earlier, I realized that was feeling some disdain and resentment towards myself and the people who were all over social media posting very vulnerable things. I’m actually very fortunate because I surround myself with people who are willing to share their truth to the world.

At that moment though, all that vulnerability seemed a bit much and that is really interesting coming from me. My friend came out and questioned my stance, asking whether I had a problem with the posts or was I really envious of them because they were doing what I desired to do but was afraid.

One of my strengths is the ability for me to help and support other people. While I’m doing that and building a business and my life, at times it all feels incredibly fru fru. I want to be taken seriously and I want to have a good time and that’s not always easy to do.

Not Holding Back

What are some of the things that you are great at, that you’re hiding and why? There might be clues as to why you might be hiding the best parts of you, for me, it was the word fru fru.

I dropped that little nugget there so that you can allow your strength to shine through the work you do. I’m excited to bring this through to 2019 because I know that when I come from a joyous place things line up for me. So I’m not holding back  and I am not hiding it anymore.

Leave a message and tell me what you are exceptional. What have you have been hiding/ holding back or just afraid to put out there for a fear of backlash. Maybe you know something that might require additional vulnerability just to show how great you are.

Here’s to your next frontier…journey on.

Give Yourself Some Grace This Year!

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In this fast-paced world, we set goals and work hard to achieve them, however, challenges come and the journey can get rough. Today’s video reminds you to give yourself some grace as you move forward.
Video Synopsis and Additional Links
As we start off the New Year, I have something in mind that is rather counterintuitive. I recently was part of an eye-opening conversation. It led me into a place where I now see the need to record some of my coaching sessions. This will give people a chance to explore for themselves and get the insights revealed therein. I will post this link soon. The conversation at hand, however, went to a very interesting place and what came up was the concept of giving ourselves grace. I thought that was very compelling especially now that we are starting out the year. This is the time when we’re thinking of resolutions, goals, and visions. We are coming out of the holidays and the physical season of winter, perhaps an internal season of winter as well where it feels like you have been hibernating.

Offering Grace

This is typically the season where there is a pull towards wanting to get a lot done because of the need to start the year off strong. I get it and trust me I will not mess with that energy at all. I don’t want to slow anyone down but at the same time, I want to offer the word grace back. Let us give ourselves a bit of grace as we:
  • Re-enter our daily routine
  • Look back to what we have done in 2018 or in the years prior.
Wherever you are right now, give yourself a bit of grace where you are able to say; this is where I am and this is what I need at this moment, and use that to continue going forward. This is easy, to be able to look back and come up with a list of:
  • All the things I didn’t get done
  • All the things I want to do (goals)
  • This is what I will do to achieve my set goals

My message for you Today

  • Slow down a little bit as you start off this year
  • Slow down as you move forward into what is coming up next for you
  • Take time to breathe into it all
  • Take time to enter it from a place of grace
  • Rest into your gifts and enter it from a place of grace
This is what came up during our conversation and I just thought it was it’s such a beautiful way of capturing: “resting into your gifts”. Give yourself the grace of not having to work hard in order to get the same results, if not better. Get in touch with me because I am very curious as to what this grace looks like for you as you start off your new year. If there’s one thing you can do to introduce more grace into the start of your year, what would it be? Here is to your next frontier…journey on.

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