Category Archives: Life-Relationships

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Episode 061: R&B star, Marcell Russell – Everything Comes Down to a Choice

Picture of Marcell Russell, with words "Everything Comes Down to a Choice"

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R&B Star, Marcell Russell shares his incredibly pragmatic insights on Life, Business, Wealth, and our most important asset – Time.

Marcell Russell is a man of many many talents. A minister turned professional musician, Marcell experienced a meteoric rise in the music industry. Having written over 800 songs, he became the most awarded independent R&B artist in the city of Baltimore, Maryland –Getting critical acclaim from BET, The People’s Choice Awards, and ECHOES magazine, just to name a few. In fact, the music industry nicknamed him “The Voice” – and he was The Voice BEFORE it was a hit reality TV show. Today, he’s the CEO of a 50 person financial services firm. As a minister, musician, and entrepreneur, Marcell’s insights on life, wealth, and business are unique and worth listening to.

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Episode 060: How to Transform Education in America with Sheri Smith, CEO Indigo Education Company

Picture of Sheri Smith, with words "the secret to changing education in America""

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FULL VIDEO INTERVIEW LINK – https://youtu.be/tJbKxXnVACY

Sheri Smith and I have known each other since college, and we actually worked together for several years while we were coming up professionally. She’s always impressed me as one of the smartest people I know. She’s done graduate work at Georgetown, she worked for Hillary Clinton for a time, and now she’s the founder and CEO of The Indigo Project, an education company that does extensive assessment and consulting work in the education space both at the high school level and college level. I wanted to have Sheri on the podcast for two reasons one because she’s a longtime friend and I’ve been wanting to catch up with her for years, and two because she has unique insight into the education system at large, and I think we all can agree that the education system needs to change, and I also think the pandemic showed the cracks and faults in the education system much more clearly. Sheri and her company have a unique approach to working within the education system to help change it from the inside out. Her method is unique, her perspective is hopeful, and her approach may be just what we need to change the education system from within. As kids and their parents are figuring out the new normal of education once again, this interview could not come at a better time. Interestingly oldest daughter took one of the indigo assessments for herself and found it to be mostly accurate and on point.

Now for those of you who are business leaders or you’ve already grown your children, you might be tempted to click away thinking this may not have anything to do with you. Quite the contrary actually. Assessments like the ones we’re about to discuss have relevance to everyone not just students. If you’re looking to unlock high performance from your team, this may be a compelling tool to consider regardless if you’re running a small start up or a Fortune 500 company. Self awareness is everything — it’s the key to humility, interpersonal relationships, effective leadership, growth and learning, and– top performance. For those in business, this interview will give you insight into the future of work – both the workforce and the kind of functions that is coming up now and in the next several years and decades.

After watching or listening to this episode you, if are interested in assessment services either for your high school or college student — or for yourself, or your company or business please reach out to me. I hope you enjoy the episode.

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Episode 057: Be Prepared for Anything with Mary Beth Simon (CEO, Niche Partner Consulting)

Life Preserver Ring with the title be prepared for anything

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There is a 100% probability that you and I are going to face death one day. Our mortality is a fact we don’t like to face, and often do little to prepare for until it’s too late. In fact, caring.com did a study in 2021 and found that 67% of American adults don’t even have a will.

Mary Beth Simon was preparing to retire from a 31 year career at Vanguard when her friend, Sue was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Sue asked Mary Beth to help her husband navigate the beneficiary process if she didn’t survive. Sue eventually passed away, and Mary Beth spent 3 months working with Sue’s husband to recreate their entire financial landscape. You see, Sue managed the finances and investments, not her husband. The pain of watching her friend pass on, and the pain of putting the pieces together of an entire life made Mary Beth realize that we all need to do a better job empowering our loved ones and business partners to take over for us in our absence.

Don’t miss this incredibly important interview it could save your family and your business.

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Episode 056: The Savvy Professional, An Interview with Rich Jacques, VP Intelligence and Law Enforcement, Noblis

The Saavy Professional with Rich Jacques

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Rich Jacques is in the top echelon of business leaders today. His incredible career spans decades and includes senior leadership roles at Belcan and Booz Allen Hamilton, where he spent 21 years. Today, he’s the Vice President of Intelligence and Law Enforcement at Noblis, a non-profit advisory company that specializes in cutting-edge science and technology solutions and independent research.

In 2020, Rich was named one of the Top 5 Executives in Intelligence Contracting by the Potomac Officers Club. And it’s no surprise, Rich is easily one of the most subtle, savvy, and intelligent leaders out there today.

Come and get an insider’s look at how the most savvy and sophisticated professionals think, act, lead, and move their careers and lives forward. Pull out your journal, and take good notes as we do a deep-dive into, “The Savvy Professional”.

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Episode 055: 28 Healthy, Fun, and Motivating Ways to Reward Yourself

Bowl of Strawberries

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I’m a huge fan of productivity, but I’m an even bigger fan of giving yourself rewards when you’ve really earned them like overcoming procrastination and taking action on something you’ve been putting off. What follows is a list of ideas to reward yourself in a healthy, fun, and sustainable way. Admittedly, these are small rewards that have particular appeal to me personally. So what may be a reward to me, may be the complete opposite for you. The idea here is to help spark your own ideas for good self-rewards.

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Episode 054: The Power of Story – Why The Stories We Tell Ourselves Matter So Much

Swim Race

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Before COVID, my daughters were both competitive swimmers. One day I was volunteering as a timer at one of their divisional swim meets. While standing in the lane getting more and more wet with every passing heat (i.e. a group of swimmers who are lining to compete for their race), I saw hundreds of kids line up to swim that day. There were two children in particular, both were the same age, both came from the same socio-economic strata, both had about the same athletic level, same team, same coach, and even had the same color hair. But there was a key difference in the two children.

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Episode 053: If You Don’t Who Will, with Annella Metoyer, Author of “Dare to be the Change”

If you dont who will with Annella Metoyer

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From Colored School in the South to Bank President, Annella Metoyer’s story is compelling, inspiring, and full of hard-fought wisdom. Don’t miss this incredible interview!

Annella Metoyer came from humble beginnings. Starting out in a colored school, Annella didn’t quite fit in due to the color of her skin, yet when she transitioned to a white (or integrated) school, she didn’t quite fit in there either. She faced daily challenges, yet remained ever curious, determined, and driven. She rose through the ranks of the banking industry to become the city president of one today’s major banks.

Her inspiring story is found in her #1 best-selling book, “Dare to be the Change”.

Annella has a unique perspective on leadership, race, diversity, and what it takes to be successful. She says that every challenge carries within it the seeds of an advantage. She has devoted herself to sharing her story of adversity, of hope, and tackling the fear that often grips us. As a veteran of the business trenches she has a ton of life-changing insights to share. Don’t miss this incredible interview where we cover leadership, coaching, communication, motivation, influence, and confidence.

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Episode 048: A Beautiful Death, with End-of-Life Coach, Maureen Kures, RN (46:28)

Picture of a lone leaf fallen on the water

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Maureen Kures spent 35 years as an oncology, hospice, and ICU nurse. This specialized work has given Maureen a unique perspective on life and death. She has seen first-hand the devastation that can happen when families aren’t prepared for death. So she decided to devote herself full time to helping families to prepare more proactively, and cope more positively with the transition of a loved one.

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Episode 047: How to Develop Thick Skin and Mental Toughness

Rough Hands Working Clay

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One of my observations of our current society is that we have lost the sense of thick skin that I feel we used to have. There is such a heightened sense of political correctness and hypersensitivity, that we have created “safe spaces” and have new labels like “micro-aggression” to insulate us from what someone would have called “direct communication” just 5 or 10 years ago.

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Episode 043: Leadership Masterclass with Col. Tom Connally (USMC-Ret.) (59:55)

Compass with the words "Leadership MasterClass"

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Col. Tom Connally, is a retired United States Marine Corps officer; He’s the Founder and President of Connally Consulting; and the author of the breakthrough leadership book, “Becoming a Leader – A Roadmap for my Daughter and the Aspiring Leader”. In this episode he teaches us everything we need to know about being an effective and successful leader.