Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Speaker A: Opinions expressed in this episode are personal. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this streaming platform.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: Good day everyone, and welcome to another edition of let's be diverse. I am your host, Andrew Stout. This episode is dedicated to all my loved ones who supported me through this journey. Having a lot of conversations lately and one of the biggest things about me is I'm huge on building relationships, building rapport. I definitely think it's one of the most important things to me. I feel that it strives and drives any business. So today I thought I would be talking about building relationships and influence, and I'm so lucky to have as my guest today an amazing individual. Her name is Amanda Banks. Amanda Banks is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, host, organizer, former high level competitive athlete, media show host 2023 Nashville Emerging Leaders award finalists in education category and consultant and business leader. Their company, create and Innovate Solutions, LLC, helps individuals and companies build authentic influence through platforms, events and relationships. She has a strong track record in sales, marketing, brand development, healthcare and technology. She is passionate about her family, friends, as well as personal growth and development and believes every conversation is the opportunity to make a positive impact of the lives in others. She holds a bachelor's degree in business healthcare management and serves the community on the National Sports Council, Women and Sports committee and as well sits as an advisory board member for Austin Peay State University, lead her student athlete program. Amanda, I have to say, is one of the most inspiring, true gem individuals that I met and I feel again, I'm so lucky to have her on today. So let's welcome her. Welcome to the show. Amanda, it is so awesome to have you on here today.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: Andrew, thank you so much for the opportunity. I know that we've had some conversations off scenes, so I'm really excited to bring this to life and sharing this conversation with you and it's going to be amazing. So thanks for having me on the show.
[00:02:26] Speaker B: You're very welcome. I want to know, how are things with you? What's new? What's happening? Tell us it all. Give us the tea.
[00:02:34] Speaker A: Yeah, we're starting 2024, so it's January 6. We're recording this January 6, so I'm not exactly sure when it will be published, but there's a lot of energy and excitement for 2024. I felt like 2023 was the building block year for me and so 2024, my word is results. And so I'm coming into 2024 with a lot of energy and I've got a lot of really exciting things in the pipeline for this year. So good positive energy and exciting products and services.
[00:03:03] Speaker B: Oh, I love that. And I love your new word for January. Mine this year is possibilities. That's my word for 2024, just to see what I can conquer and what I can develop do in 2024. And it's exciting, all the ideas that are flowing through my head and just the possibilities of what we can accomplish. So I love yours as well. Yeah.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: I feel like there's a lot of intensity going into 2024. I think that a lot of us use 2023 as, like, an opportunity to put together, like, the frameworks of how we actually want to show up and serve. So I think a lot of us will see a lot of really incredible success in 2024. So I'm super excited to watch your journey and to see how all of that unfolds as well.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: Wow. Awesome. Awesome. Well, I'm glad to hear the things are going well for you. So exciting that we were just starting in the 2024. I can't believe I was just saying to somebody the other day that, I was saying new year, and I was feeling funny saying, last year, this is what we did, and last year was only, like, a few days ago. It's pretty strange to do that, but it's just something to get used to, for sure. Before we begin, Amanda, I know we, I talked about this offline and also on the phone a few times. I always have a fun question to ask my guests to get things going. Are you ready for yours?
[00:04:18] Speaker A: Let's go. I'm ready.
Bring it on.
You laugh, and so now I'm a little bit concerned, but bring it on.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: No, it's all in fun. I'm curious to hear your answer as well. So my question is, why do people say I'm giving my two cent when it's only a penny for your thoughts?
[00:04:37] Speaker A: I have no idea. Like, I could sit here and come up with some kind of pie in the sky answer, but I have no freaking idea why people say that. No idea. So I'm curious, like, what is your thoughts in regards to that? And maybe it contain a little bit of clarity on my end for sure.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: I would say when you think about penny for your thoughts, I think, for me, it's when someone says giving their two cent, it's like, I, maybe I'll use this as an example. I have a friend of mine who, when I talked to him on the phone, and I asked him, how was your day? And he says, another day, another $0.50, right? And then I say to him, oh, I made a. A dollar. So he's, oh, you made a dollar. What do you mean? I only made $0.50 today. Everybody doesn't feel like their salaries are high enough. So that's his little way of making a joke that he doesn't make as much as he thinks he would. So I think in that my long winded answer here is that when you say a penny for your thoughts, I think when you give two cent means that you're giving a little bit more rather than if it's a penny, you're giving like a small.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, there's always a mutual value exchange, right? And so if you're thinking in regards to that specific financial quantifiable number, you're talking about abundant exchange, and I'll pull it back to relationships because that's really what we're going to dive into. But when there are relationships between two people, whether it's personal or professional, the goal is always to provide abundant exchange. I think today in a lot of the relationships that we're in, oftentimes we're not even meeting, you know, the fair exchange component, meaning we're only doing enough to fulfill the goal or to fulfill the contract or to fulfill the relationship. But I do like the quantifiable measure, but it's all about providing abundant exchange, and that's how relationships continue to move forward. I love that.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: I hundred percent agree with you. So thank you for having fun with me. I just love doing those questions. I just think that it's a great way to get things going, have a little bit of fun. And until we get into the meat and bones, not that the meat and bones isn't fun, but I always get a good laugh out of the, out of it and it's a great way to get things going. So thanks for having fun with me today. Why don't we start off with you telling us a little bit about you, your story, and of course your why.
[00:06:57] Speaker A: Yeah, me, at my core, I'm a creator, I'm an innovator. I'm very passionate about people and relationships. I try to lead with kindness. So I think kindness is a really interesting approach when it comes to true leadership. So that's me at my core. I like to generate new things and create new things. Hence some of the cool projects that I've created and had the opportunity to work on. Personally, I'm a mom, I'm a wife. I love sports. So a lot of what we do in our household revolves around my daughter and the sports that she plays. And then professionally, my background is in healthcare and technology. So I did that for many years and really focused on enterprise sales and strategic partnerships, did a couple of really interesting roles, and learned a lot of really cool things. And then in March of 2020, my daughter's school got destroyed by the tornadoes that ripped through Donaldson. So I live in Nashville, Tennessee, in the United States. And right then, before COVID hit, we had some tornadoes come through, and it flattened my daughter's school. And by the grace of God, nobody was in that school. But that moment was a really pivotal moment in a lot of different ways for me professionally and having a pretty successful corporate career that I had no real interest in transitioning from that. I was forced into entrepreneurship in many ways. And since then, I've really been diving deep into entrepreneurship, and that's taken me in a lot of different exciting roads and new paths and new learning opportunities. And I've seen a lot of successes, and I've also seen a ton of failures. But professionally, now I'm the founder of a company called Create and Innovate Solutions. And really, I help amplify voices through platforms, events, and all sorts of other cool creative opportunities. So that's a little bit. We can dive in any direction that you want, Andrew. But, yeah, it's been a really interesting road. And like I said, I'm really excited to see what 2024 brings.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: So many things that I want to dive into, first of all, and I think this is a reason why you and I connected right from the get go. And that is when you said, lead with kindness. And I do believe that's super important, especially as a leader myself, I believe that if you lead with kindness, people will notice that, and then maybe they will continue, like, almost like a follow the leader type process where if you're leading with kindness, everybody else will lead with kindness. So I love when you said that. I also love to generate and create new things. I do believe, again, as a leader, we shouldn't be afraid to innovate and generate and create new things, because if we're afraid, then nothing will ever be developed. And, yes, you're gonna have some pitfalls. Things are gonna work out, some things are not gonna work out. But I think if you don't try, then you never will succeed, or you'll always have that wonder in the back of your head, like, what if type thing. So I definitely believe in that. The one thing I did want to delve into is, in your bio, I did mention that you were into sports. So I want to know for myself, and I'm sure for the audience, what sports did you play? Maybe you still play them in your pastime, but what sports were you good at? Or what was your jam, as they'd say?
[00:10:17] Speaker A: Yeah. So happy to dive into this. I was a very high level competitive gymnast at a very young age. So I was a level ten competitive gymnast, which for anybody that's listening, that doesn't understand, like gymnastics and some of the complexities around that at the time, there were level twos through ten, and then junior and senior elite, and junior and senior elite is what you see on tv. So Simone Biles is a very well known senior elite gymnast. And around ten years old, I became a level ten gymnast. And so that came a lot of responsibility, a lot of discipline. And as a former high level competitive athlete, I carry a lot of those skill sets and a lot of how I approach sports, even at a really young age, into my career as well. And so I do talk a lot on this topic of how to leverage your background in sports to see success in business. How do you carry some of the soft skills from your experiences there and translate that into the workforce? And it's definitely something that I'm still passionate about as an adult. Gymnastics is not typically a sport that you continue on unless you're Chelsea memel. So for anybody listening, Google Chelsea memel. She's crushing it. And she's a mom, and she's still doing very high level gymnastics. But it's definitely something that I love and I'm passionate about. And I use a lot of the lessons learned from that background and that experience.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: It's amazing that you just said that, because I was just talking to somebody the other day, and it was actually somebody who I had on as a guest. And she was in the music industry and she traveling band, and it looked like her band might become successful. And then her and her husband decided that they wanted to have children. So then they had their child, and then she said, okay, I'm gonna stay home. So she left the band, she stayed home with her child. And then for the whole year, while she was home with her child, she's trying to figure out what she was gonna do. She felt like she had to get into the adulting phase of her life. So she started looking around, and she had a friend of hers who was working for a company, and she said, I think that there's some sales positions here, and I definitely think that you would be a great fit. So she ended up applying, she ended up getting those positions, and then she moved forward. And then now she's currently gone from the sales position. She is now in an HR position. So I said to her, wow, it's amazing how you were able to transition from being a performer to sales to HR. And she was a little bit, like, dumbfounded where she was. I'm not sure where you're going here. And I said, so think of a performer perform. What does a performer need to do? So they need to build rapport. They need to be on all the time. They need to be great communicators. They need to be able to listen to what the audience is looking for. So listening to give a response, or listening with what I call listening with pause. So what does a salesperson need to do? They need to have all of those things. And then when you go into HR, which for me, an HR guy as well, you need all those things as well. So she was like, wow, I never really thought about that. But in reality, she took a career of entertainment to sales, to HR, using all those four things that I listed, and now she's a successful HR person with their company. So you can definitely leverage the things that you learned and take them forward. So I'm sure being a level ten gymnast, you talked about the things that you learned, and what I see there is definitely leadership, for sure. You definitely learned leadership at a very young age. And I'm sure some of the things that you learned at age ten, as in your career and in your business, I'm sure you take away a lot of those things as well.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: Yeah, there's good and bad that comes alongside it. I've done a lot of work with former executives and high level athletes, and there's good and bad. Right? So I talk a lot about perfectionism, and in gymnastics, it's all about perfectionism. And we will have transition moments in our life. We will have good and bad times, peaks and valleys within our career. And in gymnastics, I was conditioned around perfectionism. And so as an adult, that wasn't necessarily a great trait because it caused a lot of challenges. And so those are learning opportunities. So I've really become very comfortable with failure. I know in business and in leadership, we don't like to talk about failure because it's taboo. It's always bad. But I've become really comfortable with creating things, pushing, like innovation, getting things out there, and allowing myself the opportunity to fail. And I think that as individuals, if we're not failing, we're not trying. We're not pushing the envelope of what our skill sets are. And so your background, you do carry some of the things that you've learned or been conditioned in. And oftentimes those are areas of opportunity for learning as well. And that's manifested in a space where I had to overcome perfectionism. And I had challenges with public speaking and presenting and video cameras, even things like this, Andrew, I would have never done years and years ago. And it's because of myself being highly critical. And so those are areas of opportunity. Those are the biggest rooms of growth. And so now I use my voice to help paint light into different things and teach other people about a lot of the lessons that I've learned and experiences that I've had, and that comes through TEd and all these other things. But for anybody that's tuning in, there's good and bad to our past experiences, and it just is what it is. Those are sometimes learning opportunities.
[00:16:07] Speaker B: I totally agree with you 150% on that one. So what I want to do for you is today we're talking about building relationships that influence. What does that mean to you?
[00:16:17] Speaker A: Yeah. So there's a lot out there. So for anybody that's tuning in, like, social media has just amplified kind of, and curated this space where we're constantly, oftentimes comparing ourselves to something that isn't even factual. So, for me, building relationships and influence really has to do with what are your unique goals, core skill sets, and how do you leverage your authenticity and the things that you need to deliver into the world in a meaningful way. And the reality is, digital influence is actually really important. We do see, like, sometimes the first thing that, especially in HR, that people go to when they're evaluating a candidate is social media and LinkedIn. And so having a digital presence is really critical. But it's, how do you actually structure that digital presence to bring in and attract the right opportunities and to build relationships with the people that are in alignment with you as a human being?
[00:17:16] Speaker B: I love all of that. There's so much I want to dig into there.
I love the digital presence part. I do think it's super important that we show ourselves. Like you said, in HR, when someone is applying for a job, they will look at the social media and they'll see what that type of person is, how they project themselves, the type of things that they're saying out in the universe. And sometimes I feel like, okay, it's, yes, it's a good way to measure an individual, but I think getting to know an individual is building rapport with that person and understanding how they are. So, yes, you can look at the picture. You can look at stuff that they're saying and yes, maybe something happened or whatever is projecting what's happened to them. But when you actually get the chance to talk to that person. So if I judge what I, for example, from my guess, if I do look at what they put out and judge that, but where I actually feel if that guess is going to be good is we talk about soft skills. So I see the soft skills in the individual. When I speak with them, most podcasters will look at the content, I'll look at the soft skills and I'll see exactly what they project. Can they speak well? Are they sociable? Are they compassionate? I'm going to use some buzzwords here. Are they authentic, empowering? These are things that I look for in an individual. I can see what they are putting out there, but I will not get the full picture till I've had that one on one conversation with them. And I'm pretty good to see how someone is. It's amazing when you have a conversation with somebody and right away you get that instant connection and okay, this person is going to be a great fit. So I'm talking about podcasting. But yes, in the business world and HR, you can definitely see a good fit with somebody when you're having that one on one conversation, for sure.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: Yeah, it's interesting because there's influencers, right? So, like when we think about social media, oftentimes we think about influencers. And the intention with influencers is to get as much visibility to what they're doing regardless of what they're putting out there. Right. But true influence, I believe, comes from a thought leadership perspective. So you can hit on it a little bit. But this is why I absolutely love the TEDx platforms. As mentioned, I'm a TEDx speaker. I've emceed a TED event, and then I've also organized TEDx old Hickory. So I'm the organizer for that event. And the thing that I love about the methodology is everybody has ideas. That's true influence. Right? How are you going to use your idea to truly make an impact in the world in a meaningful way? And I'm happy to share a little bit about the event in August because it was so impactful for a lot of different types of reasons. But one of the things that was so beautiful about it is we had such a diverse crew of speakers, of committee members, of even audience members. And our speakers went through a process. I coached them for many months alongside my co organizer. And we had a first grade school teacher that had never spoken on a stage before. And then we had also had a couple of folks that had spoken all over the world. And so the reality is we all have gifts. And this is something that I'm really passionate about as well, is we all have gifts. And so for me, creating a digital presence really doesn't have anything to do with being an in quotations influencer, where your whole goal is to just generate, like, visibility, right? It's how can you use your unique skill set, your unique gifts, and how can you communicate that in a way that is impactful to other individuals? And so that's my methodology around that. And I think that influencing and relation relationships go hand in hand, because when you are communicating, you know, the things that you're truly passionate about, the things that you're trying to maybe even solve in your business or solve in the world, you're trying to help other people. It comes from a place of service, and you're ultimately attracting other people that are in alignment with that and developing relationships or opportunities that are in alignment with how you actually serve yourself, the world in a way.
[00:21:43] Speaker B: So I know we went into this a little bit, but I want to go a little bit deeper and thought in this. So how do we build relationships and influence and let's go within an organization?
[00:21:57] Speaker A: I have a strong corporate background, so my background is enterprise sales and strategic partnerships, not only building relationships within the organization, but also relationships outside the organization from a client to business perspective. So I have a lot of different methodologies, ideologies around this, just depending upon what the situation is. But it's critical to build those relationships internally for a lot of different reasons. Right? You spend most of your day working and collaborating with these people, but ultimately, everybody's there to hopefully do good, quality work and to make an impact, to serve and provide the products and services that the company is offering. So the only way to do that is to know, love and trust one another. Nobody wants to show up. And I've been in these organizations and I've maybe even contributed to some of this problem in the past, right. Just learning, learning how to engage in relationships and being newer into the organizations. But if it's a toxic culture, you can't provide your best quality work because you're always constantly living in fear. I have found some of the best, most successful organizations. Culture comes first. Really good, positive culture where it's not just top down leadership, but it's also everybody in the organization is seen valuable and is seen as a leader themselves. And that's how they show up day in and day out. So that takes time. I believe relationships and knowing and loving and trusting one another does take time. So to me, that also means being present, showing up, doing the things that you say that you're going to do. And that just isn't internally, that's also externally. So for your clients to build those relationships, are you doing what you say you're going to do? Are you delivering the products and services that you say that you are? Are you showing up and providing value to them consistently? So, Andrew, I'm happy to dive down this rabbit hole as deep as you want to go. My thought process, guys, is like, relationships are everything. Find ways, find strategies to build meaningful relationships, both internally as well as externally.
[00:24:06] Speaker B: So everything that you said there, what it makes me think of is whether you're a leader or even a co worker. We have that question that we get asked all the time, and that's how are you doing or what's new? And I think in our lives today, we go through this time where there's always something going on, there's always something happening. So you mentioned you and your significant other, your child is heavily involved in sports. You're always on the go. You and work, you're always on the go. You have events. You got this, you got that. I think something that's missing a lot lately and this goes into building relationships and influence, is that when you're taking time to ask somebody how are you doing or what's new, I think you have to be prepared for the answer that you're going to get. I'm not saying if you don't have time to not ask it, but what I'm saying is that if you're asking that question to somebody, be ready for the response. And I think you need to be prepared to listen with pause because you just don't know what they're going to tell you. And if you're asking it while you're walking away, that impact that you mentioned before is just not going to be there. So you need to take some time. And even if you listen a few minutes and even if you say, listen, unfortunately, I have somewhere that I need to get to. Please, let's finish this conversation later on today, I will come see you and we'll definitely finish this. And I think that it'll be a huge impact on that individual because there's that love, trust one another care factor there, for sure.
[00:25:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Caring is really critical and I want to share. So for the listeners, like, my approach is very tactical project management. That's like how I approach the things. And I've had the opportunity to work for some incredible leaders. I've had the opportunity to work for not so incredible leaders. And one of the leaders that I had the opportunity to work for when I was in my corporate background, one of the things that he did that was really powerful was he set time. And obviously, this was a smaller organization. So you can't do this in very large organizations unless you have a structure around it. But he took the time to individually meet with the people that reported to him for a set amount of time, and we didn't talk about work. It was more along the lines of, how are you doing? What are resources that I can do that I can continue to inspire and can encourage you? Here's the reality is we're all human beings. And I think COVID did a really interesting job. If there's any beautiful things that happened with COVID I think a lot of us had the opportunity to do a ton of soul searching. And I think that in our organizations and in our business, we have a really unique opportunity to lead. And I don't mean lead from a perspective of fear or toxicity or all of these things that I'm sure many of us have experienced, but it's lead from a perspective of how can I minimize maybe even distractions or obstacles or create pathways and opportunities to get you to a point to be your best self. And so I see a lot of incredible leaders and like I said, very tactically creating time and space to figure out how can I support this individual and provide the resources to where they're looking to go. And so this may be even taboo, how I share this, but with some of my clients, I very much share, like, I hope that you will outgrow me at some point. I hope that I can get you to a place from point a to point b where you need something that I can't provide to you anymore. And then at that point, I'm going to connect you to the resources that I know will continue to support your efforts. And I see that in organizations as well, is providing the opportunity for individuals to truly lean into who they are and what they actually want to accomplish in their lives, which is a powerful opportunity for leaders.
[00:28:03] Speaker B: So for me, that's leadership right there in a nutshell, knowing exactly what individual, what they need. Because there are some times where you are working with somebody and they need a little bit more, you may not be able to provide that for them. And you could be somebody that I'm going to hang on to this person as long as I can, and you might not be giving them the right information, it's not helpful for them. So knowing when to push that person on and that could go to an organization as well. There's nothing better than to have somebody hire them and work with them and then they move on to something else. There's nothing more powerful than to say, hey, Suzy was with me and now she's moved up to a higher position. There's nothing that would make me feel way better in that situation, for sure. Yeah.
[00:28:53] Speaker A: And that's ultimately like building those relationships. When relationships take time, they take attention, they take intent. So intentional focus and just being present. And once again, I think COVID has done a lot of different things, but one of those things is truly being present and showing up for individuals and living authentically. I think that people at this point want to know who they're collaborating with. Give me the real deal here. I want to know who you are and there's beautiful components to that.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: Absolutely. So I got a doozy here for you. I want to see what your thoughts are on this. I think it fits to what we're talking about today, and that is the role of constructive criticism. I want to know what your thoughts are and what you think or how it plays into building relationships.
[00:29:45] Speaker A: Yeah, so constructive criticism is really important. And once again, I said this word, but I'm going to lean into this word a little bit. It has to come from a place of. Of positive intent. So we don't talk, I don't think we talk a lot about intent in our organizations. I think that's something that is a very cool area of opportunity for a lot of people. Constructive criticism needs to come from a place of positive intent. Once again, this goes back to relationships. If you have a relationship based on the foundational trust components, constructive criticism is coaching, as long as it comes from a place of positive intent. As a former athlete, I crave that feedback because ultimately, constructive criticism, feedback, however you want to look at it, is going to push individuals that are open to that to get to a place where they maybe didn't even see that they were going. So for me, mentorship and coaching goes into that. And as a leader, it's our responsibility, one to lead with positive intent, but to also have that mentorship and coaching perspective of how can I help leverage my experience to take this person from where they are now to ultimately, where do they want to go? And it's not where I want them to go, it's where do they want to go and how can I help push them to get to that? But also to exceed things that they're not even seeing right now. And we have to have constructive criticism. It's a crucial part of everything that we do and how we are as human beings. It's just got to come from a place of positive intent, always.
[00:31:18] Speaker B: I love when you're talking about sports. So I'm a big sports guy, and I would say I'm a big leadership guy. And when I'm watching sports, especially individual sports, and you talked about gymnastics, I could see when you're watching gymnastics, they do their jump, whatever. And who do they go to right away? They go to their coach and they're getting feedback. When you're playing tennis, they're not really supposed to, but you can see their feedback and that they're giving whatever. The smile, whatever. It's so important if you're a diver, I see divers, they jump off the platform, and that's the first person that they go to see is their coach. And they're getting feedback. And I'm a huge believer in trust and respect, and I think if you don't have that trust and respect and you can't get that, you're not going to trust their feedback. So there definitely has to be that factor, and you can't get that trust without building a relationship with them. Super, super.
[00:32:19] Speaker A: Another thing, I do want to jump in here for just a second, because another thing that I've had to learn the hard way, this statement, it's not unique to me, but it's something that I really latched onto. And as a leader, clarity is kindness. Even if you're leading with positive intent, and if you are clear on expectations or even clear on things that you're seeing that may not be in alignment with what you're looking to get out of this individual or the work product or whatever it may be, clarity is kind. We have this saying in Nashville, called the Nashville no. And it's a situation where you'll be in conversations with a potential client or a potential partner, and they'll just string it along a little bit. And to me, that's not necessarily kindness, because as an entrepreneur, as a business leader, we need to have clear and concise direction. And oftentimes, no is the clarity that can bring kindness to our business, to where we can actually move forward and seek out other relationships. So as leaders, clarity, I believe, is kindness. And oftentimes difficult conversations are necessary. There's going to be challenges in any relationship, challenges in any business. But clarity is oftentimes not something that we provide. And I believe that's one of the kindest things that you can provide to somebody.
[00:33:42] Speaker B: So I love that you said that, because so people that know me have heard me talk about this to the end of the earth here, and you're absolutely right on clarity. So as a leader, it makes me think of right from the get go. So I hire you. Organization Amanda, and I say, we're taking you on. This is what you're gonna be doing. Welcome to the team. The first day you come in, I'm meeting with you. Obviously, we're filling out paperwork and stuff like that. I'm talking about a little bit more of the position. And you and I are having a communication building, trust factor conversation and word. And in that case, I am communicating my clear expectations to you of what I'm expecting from you throughout your time working with me. And I feel that is important. And I feel like a lot of organizations are missing, that they are taking their people. And here's Sarah. Susie, you're going to be spending time with them, and we're going to put your foot right in the door here, and we're going to get your right going. And then six months in, you're coming, and you're saying to me, like, okay, I've been here six months, and yes, I'm hired to do this job, but it hasn't been clarified what my clear expectations are of this position. I'm doing the job, but I don't really know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. So I think that's got to be something that's got to be done on day one. And all the stuff that you just mentioned before made me think of, yeah.
[00:35:15] Speaker A: I mean, we as. So when I say leader, I don't necessarily mean title. I think that everybody is a leader in their own capacity. It's a skill set that you develop, and we all have the ability to be incredible leaders. So as an individual, that's an employee, it's also important to understand and to set expectations for the employer and to say, this is the value that I'm looking to achieve in exchange, and this is the path that I'm looking to be on. How can you continue to support me? And I'll give you an example. As an individual, I knew that I wanted to continue to grow and expand in my career, so I asked for additional training. Oftentimes, it's all about money, and for me, it wasn't always all about money. It was about opportunity. And so what I was seeking was very different at times. And money is important. Good pay is very important, but I also wanted to be provided opportunities to learn. Put me with somebody. Put me with the CFO for a day so that I can just learn how they operate their business or what do they do for the organization. So it's not you as a leader in an organization, so say you are a C suite executive. It's important to set expectations. But as an individual that works for the organization, there's mutual value to be had, and it's making sure that you advocate for yourself. I'm huge about advocating for myself and seeking out opportunities to learn, and so it's on both sides. So I think that if you can have transparent conversations both as the employer and the employee, that's really powerful, and that sets a great foundation for everybody to continue to learn, build, and grow with one another.
[00:37:00] Speaker B: What you just said makes me think of a game. I might age myself here, but when I was a kid, I used to play following the leader.
[00:37:07] Speaker A: My daughter will be the best. Like, she is one of the best natural born leaders that I've ever said. And I'm the mom, so I can say those things. But a lot of what I have learned over the past several years has been modeled by the behavior that my daughter represents and what she stands for and how she carries herself. And she's a goalkeeper on a soccer team. There's a whole other conversation to be had about this. But as a goalkeeper, you are leading in certain capacities and making sure that the players on the field understand what's going on. And I see a lot of leadership skills through the eyes of even my daughter. So as leaders, we can learn from just about anybody. Right. It's just a matter of being intentional about understanding what type of leader you want to be.
[00:37:55] Speaker B: Yes. And I'm going to compliment here, I'm going to say that she's probably learned to be a leader because of, like you said, the things that you instilled in her. So you were a leader in the mom role. So whatever she's learned, I will say that was you and your partner that are a huge part of that. So that's where that comes from. So you brought her up very well. What I'd like to know from you is how do you think your hometown, where you grew up, shaped you into the person that you are today?
[00:38:28] Speaker A: Yeah, this is a really interesting question. So I grew up in a really small town outside of Nashville, and being in a small town, you're not exposed to all sorts of global thought, leadership and all of that stuff. I think that one of the key components or things that I've taken away from the hometown perspective is I wanted to outgrow that. I wanted to learn from people all over the world, different cultures. I became very curious once I graduated and I was able to expand. And even now, I'm very curious about a lot of different types of things. And that's because I saw firsthand just what it was like to not necessarily be exposed to some of that stuff. And so that's one of the components there. But I can say I've learned a lot from my mother. My mom and I are very close, and I have a lot of compassion towards her.
She's always supported the crazy ideas and always been there to continue to encourage and inspire. It's not necessarily a hometown. It's more or less having an anchor that will allow you to learn, grow, and fail, and always be there to support. So I try to replicate that and always learn from her about what it's like to be an anchor.
[00:39:43] Speaker B: I love the words that you use. Their outgrow curiosity. I could see that in you as well. Talking to you, the times that we've spoken, you're very curious, and I think that takes you to another level. And you talked about having your clientele wanting to move on and having to outgrow you and knowing what level they need to go. So those two words to me, hit a button to me, and it really makes me think of who you are as an individual, for sure. Any final thoughts today?
[00:40:15] Speaker A: No. I would just say, you know, for anybody that's tuning in, that what I'm saying resonates. I put a ton of free content out there. You know, I'm not the TikTok influencer, so I'm not going to be jumping around acting crazy, but I do put a lot of information out there and I try to deliver value. So definitely head over to my website, www. Dot amanda dash banks.com. I send out a newsletter. It was originally weekly. We're going to transition it to monthly, but definitely connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm super active on LinkedIn. In fact, I just launched a weekly audio room, which I'm super excited about, that's really geared towards people that are interested in using their voice to make an impact. So if you're an aspiring public speaker, if you're an executive that's being forced into public speaking, definitely join me on LinkedIn with that because it's going to be an incredible resource. And like I said, I put a ton of free resources out there, so definitely stay in touch. And I would love to just build the relationship and figure out ways that I can help deliver value.
[00:41:21] Speaker B: I love all that. My final thought was, I want to take the time to thank you for coming on today. You are a special individual in my mind, someone who is caring and compassionate and always looking out for the greater good of each individual. And I sense that five minutes into our first telephone conversation, and I feel like when you're building relationships and building rapport, it takes a special individual on the other end to build that and feel like you and I have built a relationship. And I'm excited for any listeners or anybody who connects with you because I truly believe that they're gonna instantly feel that connection right away when they connect with you.
[00:42:05] Speaker A: So, yeah, I mean, what you see is what you get. I'm not one way on camera in a different way on the next, but I'll say the same for you, Andrea. It takes a lot of courage and a lot of vulnerability to continue to build relationships. And I think that what you're building, I'm super excited to see all of the successes that you will have and even maybe some of the challenges that you will face and how you'll overcome those things. And I'm just really grateful that we've been able to share in this time and look forward to all of the highs and lows of what 2024 will bring and all of the fun stuff that we're not even seeing yet. So it's going to be an awesome year and I'm cheering you on, my friends.
[00:42:41] Speaker B: So thank you.
[00:42:43] Speaker A: Thank you again for this.
[00:42:45] Speaker B: I appreciate that. On behalf of myself and my guest, Amanda, I'd like to thank you all for listening today. Until next time, be safe and remember, everyone, that if we all work together, we can accomplish anything.
[00:43:01] Speaker A: You have been listening to. Let's be diverse with Andrew Stout. To stay up to date with future content, hit subscribe.
