October 3, 2025 • 27 mins
Join Alfredo Borodowski as he dives deep into the world of character strengths and how they can propel you to new heights in both personal and organizational settings. Learn how to identify and leverage your unique strengths to not only enhance performance but also foster a positive and purpose-driven culture. This episode is packed with actionable insights that will help you unleash your full potential.
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Textiful: Just text the word “positive” to 33777
Connect with Chris Troka:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-troka-3a093058/
Website: https://focused-biz.com/
Website: https://christroka.com/ #brainwork #framework #business #consultant #character #strenght #authenticity #potential
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
We need to move from the culture offixing to the culture of nourishing.
(00:03):
You have to compress much of whatI had shared today, moving from
fixing to culture of nourishingthrough positive psychology and
strengths and through purpose.
And the combination of positivityand purpose is so strong and
effective that will bring peakperformance naturally, not by force.
(00:28):
By manifestation ofwhat is best in people.
You are listening to Brainwork Framework,a Business and Marketing podcast,
brought to you by Focused-biz.com.
Welcome back to another episode.
With us today is a SeniorOrganizational Consultant with
Gozal Consulting Alfredo Borodowski.
He's an international speaker andauthor and a consultant specializing in
(00:49):
peak performance through the power ofpositive psychology, helping individuals
maximize their potential by leveragingthe character strengths in his equation.
Positive plus purpose equalspeak performance has helped
leaders and organizationsachieve and sustain their goals.
Alfredo, so excited to have you on.
How are you doing today?
Doing great, Chris.
Thank you for having me.
It's a rainy day in New York.
(01:10):
Apparently the springdoesn't want to come to us.
Then I was in Dallas at theconference, a hundred degrees
steamy, and then landed in LaGuardiaand where 60 degrees and raining.
The spirit is high.
Yes, the spirit is high.
Even when the weatherisn't cooperated for us.
And we definitely feel that downsideof the cold, rainy spring that hasn't
(01:32):
come to us yet, but it's still waiting.
But so excited to have you on.
We always like to ask ourentrepreneurs and consultants,
tell us about your journey.
What were you doing beforethat kind of led you into the
world that you're in today?
For me, there is really a before and afterand there are some people that have that
luxury adventure or in my case, big crisisthat cut my life in before and after.
(02:00):
And that for me happened at a veryspecific time, day and year, happen at
10 in the morning on June 19th, 2013.
Precisely.
Wow.
Yes.
When I was arrested, I was arrestedfor impersonating a police officer
(02:23):
and at that point I was a rabbi.
A rabbi of a very prestigious congregationin Westchester, very large congregation,
that was rabbi to CEOs from Prime Media.
Two executive by president ofParamount, the CEO of MetLife.
I had half of WallStreet as my congregants.
(02:47):
I have senior partners of thetop law firms in Manhattan.
Then I was on top of the world Chris.
and I also was working for a foundationand I had an office facing Central Park.
I would come every morning, put my feeton the desk, a coffee, look through
the window in Central Park, and comingfrom Argentina as an immigrant for
(03:12):
low middle class in Argentina, beingseated there facing Central Park.
I said, I made it.
That is the life.
The biggest you can go and I never thoughtabout positivity, about peak performance.
I was there.
I was the king of positivity andpeak performance until I was arrested
(03:32):
and lost basically everything.
And what happened tome is that I was manic.
I was taking the wrongmedication and antidepressive.
And a congregant of mine, a retiredpolice, gave me one of those shield
on family and he said, Alfredo, withthis one you will have no problems.
(03:54):
And then the problems began becausewith the mania and the wrong medication,
the shield and my grandiosity, Ibegan going around the highways of
New York telling people how to drive.
Until that morning of June, I showedthe badge to a young woman, and three
(04:17):
minutes later I had three policecars behind me and I was arrested.
I learned this a few monthslater, that lady was a fiance of
one of the policemen downtown.
Oh, no.
I was taken to theprecinct, straight to court,
(04:39):
was arrested, accused ofimpersonating police officer.
I was fired for mygreat jobs on that week.
Was hospitalized with suicidal thoughts.
I was diagnosed bipolar, whichI didn't know at that moment.
And because I was a rabbi of avery prestigious congregation,
(05:04):
the press made a circus out of meand they baptized the rabbi with
a new name, the Road Rage Rabbi.
The Road Rage Rabbi was on front pagesof newspapers from Japan to island.
It went viral.
(05:26):
I didn't touch anybody, no violence butyou know what more attractive than a
Rabbi impersonated the police officer.
And from there everythingwas down the hill.
I went into deep depression.
I have four cases againstme on different courts.
(05:48):
I couldn't drive untilthe cases were over.
My lawyer recommended that and I wason the couch in complete darkness and
no sense of future in misery until onemorning I feel an energy and I pushed
(06:10):
me to go up to my office and I walkedinto my office and on top of the desk
I found something that changed my life.
There I found a file, a yellow file.
I opened it and I read the topfive strengths of a test I had
taken on positive psychology.
(06:32):
Creativity, love of learning,curiosity, perseverance, and courage.
And something turned inside ofme and energy said, wow, Alfredo,
you have forgotten who you are.
And a month later, even Iwas even being depressed.
(06:53):
With court cases I went back to school,social work, and became a social worker.
And then an expert on positive psychology,making sure that everybody knows their
five top strengths because it's essentialto fulfill your destiny, to be yourself.
(07:14):
I can live the fake life.
My parents wanted me to be perfect.
I was perfect for them.
And what can you be moreperfect than a human?
A rabbi, A little God on earth.
I try to be the most perfectpossible human being by satisfying
(07:34):
my parents' grade for my perfection.
And it was until I was able todiscover my five top strengths of
positive psychology that I beganthe journey of being authentic.
And I imagine that many people listeninghave this problem of being shaped.
Not according to who they want to bebut a lot of pressure and people who
(07:58):
basically push them in a direction thatnow are wondering, what am I doing here?
And I want to make sure that everybodyknow the five strengths because that's the
way to open the gate to self-fulfillment.
I can tell you a lot of people arestruggling with that just being down on
themselves or they hit an obstacle andthey don't wanna persevere or they just
(08:19):
lack the spark or the drive to want to becreative or just any of the five that you
mentioned for you to be in such that low.
Point in your life to turn things around.
I know many other people who eitherwent through similar things or
they're just so down on themselvesthat it seems so impossible for
them to pick themselves up again.
This to be your message that youwant to connect with people, I
(08:41):
know our audience wants to hear it.
Incredible story here.
Tell me more about thepeak performance culture.
How you're able to bring thatpositivity using the five pillars there.
How does it work?
How can it benefit people?
Tell me all about it.
Put it in a simple way.
You have a leak at your basement, okay?
And you call an emergency planner,and the plumber comes with a lot of
(09:05):
knowledge and good intentions, andjust says, I forgot my toolkit at home.
You are going to go through life witha lot of good intentions and wisdom
and encouragement and motivation.
You don't have your toolkit.
You're not going to be able to operate onpeak performance and your toolkit are your
top five strengths of positive psychology.
(09:29):
The five top strengths are the oneswho you feel more authentic, motivated,
use naturally, and perform best.
And we know from studies that70% of people quiz do not
know your the top strengths.
Then 70% of people walk through lifewithout applying what they already have.
(09:57):
But because do not know thatthey have them, they do not apply
them to their full potential.
Then the first thing that peopleshould know are the top five strengths.
And we know also from various seriousstudies, these were done in New
Zealand with a lot of workers that
your top five strengths, youwill operate nine times more
(10:22):
effectively than not knowing them.
By knowing them, not applying them,just being aware, nine times more
flourishing, more effectiveness.
If you apply them 19 times, then peopleare walking through life operating
19 times below what they naturally.
(10:44):
Could do by being ignorantof what they already have
and that has to end okay.
And people had to knowtheir top strengths.
There are 24 strengthsof positive psychology.
Few more courage, love oflearning forgiveness, leadership.
(11:05):
That people have a different orderaccording to their preferences, according
to their experience, natural abilities.
And and it's amazing when you know them.
It's incredible that just by beingaware of what they are, or even just
a few, how much that can change ourbehavior and our productivity going
(11:26):
forward 'cause I know all these businessowners are trying to maximize their
productivity, but I feel like they'realways bogged down with the details.
They're just busy in their businessor something else distracts them
that they're not able to really focusand take action to get more results.
It's like they're spinning their wheels.
It's just a challenge for them.
There is no alignmentbetween strength and goals.
(11:51):
There must be an alignment betweenthe strengths and goals and you set
goals without knowing your strengths.
You go in all directions and then youfeel empty at the end because the goals
do not fulfill the core of who you are.
And when we are in a corporate culturewhere is so much about crisis and
(12:15):
putting out the latest fire, then youdevelop what I call a culture of fixing
instead of a culture of nourishing.
And we love to fix, by the way.
There is something aboutfixing especially to the males.
I changed the lightbulb, now I am fulfilled.
(12:37):
Then I put the nail there that I amfulfilled in the chair that was falling
a pot, we are fixers that we arelooking for a crisis to become one.
We can fix that thing, then we can fix it.
And then we go with a magnified glasslooking everywhere where we can fix
something and something must be broken.
(12:59):
When we know from positive psychologythat peak performance and efficiency
of the result of maximizing what works.
Now, clearly fixing givesyou power because you are
always fixing somebody else.
And then it creates a verypowerful relationship authority.
Instead of nourishing, you may feel thatyou're losing control over the other.
(13:23):
But we know that real peak performanceis maximizing what it works.
And I can see that when I go tocorporations, it take me two minutes
just listening to the CEO or tothe managers if they're on a fixing
mentality or a nourish mentality.
And if I can notice thatin two minutes, imagine the
(13:45):
people working there every day.
They've been saying it for months andyou found it out in two minutes and
that has to be tough for the leadersand CEOs to have that accountability
to say, here's what's not right, butwe can fix it if you're willing to fix.
Yeah.
We have this idea that tofix is to achieve a goal.
(14:06):
Usually fixing has to do withreturning the crisis to a normal
state but they never really fix it.
If they fix it usually isrecomposing returning to the prior
to the crisis type of fixing us.
I fix the pipe.
The pipe is not leaking anymore.
(14:30):
Nourishing is about building tothe next stage of development.
Then the fix mentality is going actuallystop you while you may have the illusion
that you are moving forward, while thenourishing, it takes sometimes more
work but it's going to move you forward.
(14:52):
And usually that's done
by creating a culture of strengthsand something I want to do, because
those listening may say, okay,Alfredo is talking about the top
five strengths you should know.
Then there is blindness, 70% not 18.
How do I know my top fine?
I tell you, and I'm going tomake it very easy for everybody.
If you are listening, takeyour phone, I give you
(15:18):
three seconds.
And text the word positive 233777.
Okay.
And I will send you the 24 strengthof positive psychology and a few
questions that will help you chooseand determine your top five strengths.
(15:41):
That's wonderful.
It takes 50 minutes, and thenI'm going to give you a couple
of exercises that you can use
to practice them.
And those who want to go a little bitdeeper, you can set a call without
string attached to discuss them, but youcan get them by yourself from a chart.
(16:05):
In 15 minutes by texting.
And everybody should know the strengths.
And should give them to theirfamily and friends the same chart.
I have discussion with your kids.
What your strengths are, who yourwife, what your strengths are, and
begin understanding what people aregood and strong at, and help them
(16:27):
get where they want to get basedon their strengths instead of going
against what they are good at andhave completely different life.
It's great.
It's funny because after learning aboutthe five pillars, knowing that there were
24, I was like, if only I could get a copyof that 'cause I know so many people are
willing to help themselves if they havethe knowledge, and that's why I appreciate
(16:48):
you sharing that knowledge and with thevalue first mindset where let me just
teach and educate people If you want thenext step that's available, but it's not
only just for you for business owners,but it's for parents, it's for kids.
These are things that we should beteaching and sharing to others, especially
if it has such a positive impact on us.
Teach that to other people.
Let them elevate andlift themselves up too.
(17:11):
Tell you Chris, the self-esteem.
It goes through the roof when you giveit to a kid to spouse, clearly when you
are on your next performance at work.
And you give it tosomebody working with you.
And they talk with each other about whatare your strengths and you begin assessing
(17:33):
somebody else on the positive and youbegin giving them task where there is
some kind of matching between the bestof the person and the best of the task.
It gives potentialize thingsagain, positivity plus purpose,
equal peak performance.
It's a two formula.
(17:54):
Absolutely.
And I know for all of our businessowners out here, it's great to
have the textile full resources.
Is there anything available online,the podcast, books, YouTube, or
videos that might be helpful forsomeone who wants to dive even deeper
beyond the tips that you share?
That's a timely question Chris.
There is something new on the market.
It's a revolution.
(18:14):
It's going to a game changer.
It's called the Purpose Factor.
It's a new instrument, justmaybe two, three months old.
That is the first instrumentto map the purpose of a person
and the purpose of a company.
What 10 years of research is an instrumentthat somebody can take in 25 minutes.
(18:43):
It delivers your reportof 49 pages on purpose.
Is the most comprehensive,detailed, accurate description
of a personal purpose.
It is amazing.
I work with instruments.
I work with the MeyerBriggs at Corporations on
Styles, personality styles.
(19:03):
I work with the Via Ball inAction, which is about psychology.
Now I am adding to the portfolio thepurpose factor and we get also the
purpose of per the person in the company.
And that's powerful combination,personal style, car character,
strengths and purpose.
(19:24):
It is new.
There are only like 200 peoplewho are certified on that
instrument in one of them.
Then I am glad to be a pioneerto be on the forefront of this.
I give in English, I speak Spanish.
I work also with South America,and I will so glad that the
Spanish version is coming out.
Then I will be one of the first ones tobring the new instrument to South America.
(19:49):
I think that's something that I candiscuss with people, if they get the
information that I gave, you can textme but that's new Frontier purpose.
And do not explore theirpurpose at the same time are
going to lose the core values.
The direction and all the efficiencythat AI can give you actually
is going to create a backlash.
(20:11):
We are seeing now spikeson depression at work.
As AI is being introduced, youdo not upgrade the human as
you upgrade the technology.
The consequences are going to bebeyond negative then companies that
need to invest and work on purpose andstrength as they incorporate technology.
(20:38):
I completely agree.
And I love that your resourcereally focuses on what I think is
just the biggest obstacle that manypeople face is the purpose, the why.
They just get stuck and they'reif they don't understand
their why and the purpose.
That gives them no direction and they needthat direction to take action so they can
feel confident in like, okay, this is theplan, this is what I'm working towards.
(20:58):
The fact that it kind of uncoversthat is that biggest first
obstacle that many people face isjust understanding the purpose.
Consulting with the company and as Ialways do before going to meet them,
I read as much as I could about thecompany and look at the website.
And at the very bottom of thewebsite, the last segment, they
(21:20):
were the core values of the company.
And with very nicegraphics, with the values.
And I said, wow, these values are verymuch the values of positive psychology.
And the company sold a new company.
They got it.
Then I led a workshop on strength andcore strengths of policy psychology,
(21:43):
and I asked how many people knewabout the core values of the company?
None, not even the CEO.
Not even executive, vice presidents.
They never scrolled down to theend of their own website and it
said, well, people are unmotivated.
That's what they brought me.
(22:04):
Lack of motivation.
And it said, clearly you hadthe values, you had the purpose.
You just ignored it andsaid, the work here is easy.
There are other companieswho never thought about it.
Now you need to rediscover who you are.
Just rediscover who youare or who you were.
(22:26):
And when we uncovered the top fivestrengths of each person at the senior
management level and then we compare theirtop five strengths of positive psychology
to the strengths on the website, therewere a lot of lines connected them.
And I tell you, the energy went throughthe roof was an alignment between
(22:49):
strengths and objectives to rememberwe talked about it, an alignment
between strengths and objectivesand the energy when all the way up.
Then we created a planto maintain the energy.
That things are sustainableand they have been sustaining.
That motivation going back to the values.
(23:11):
It is so inspiring to hear stories likethis because when you uncover those
individual strengths, it's like you'regiving them a voice at the table and
saying, how can you best serve us, butreally highlight and use all your assets?
And now they're excited.
One, they're listening to me, they careabout what I could bring to the table and
now they want me to take action on that.
And now you have this team ofpeople putting in their best assets
(23:34):
forward and now you're like, okay,is there anything we can't do?
Like that is such an unstoppable force.
That's a lot of momentum to get abusiness going and to even maintain it.
That's incredible.
Managed with the strengths, everybodyin the company comes unique.
Everybody unique has a set of strengthsthat brings to the table and we create
(23:56):
what they call a market of strengths.
That's your strength.
That's my strength.
Let's collaborate, new collaborations, newsynergies, all come out of that knowledge
or how strong I am and not the usualperformance of how weak and what the heck
need to improve what I am not doing well.
And by the way, it works very nicelybecause once you feel strong, you
begin working your weaknesses.
(24:17):
That's a natural progression.
But you begin with the weaknesses,you do not move to the strengths.
Doesn't work both ways because youbecome unmotivated and frustrated.
That is some good advice.
I find myself falling into thattrap, focusing on the negative.
What can I work on the bad stufffirst and I just lose all motivation.
No, you have to begin first in what works.
(24:41):
And that's a paradigmthat has to be changed.
Okay.
Had to be changed.
Absolutely.
And all of that really starts with uswithin our own minds and just learning the
information and putting it into practice.
But all of these aregreat tips and tricks.
Alfredo, I want to ask, is there anythingwe haven't talked about yet that you
wanna share with our audience here?
(25:02):
Well, we can spend lifetime talking truly.
That's not the problem for me.
But I tell you, I want toput things in one statement.
We need to move from the culture offixing to the culture of nourishing.
You had to compress much of what Ihad shared today, moving from it.
(25:22):
Fixing the culture of nourishing throughpositive psychology and strengths and
through purpose and the combination ofpositivity and purpose is so strong and
effective that will bring peak performancenaturally, not by force, but by
manifestation of what is best in people.
(25:47):
I love it.
Some great advice andtips and tricks here.
And we'll also have the number andlinks down in the show notes so you
can text positive 233777, you can getconnected with all of the great value
and information with Alfredo here.
Thank you so much for coming on andsharing your journey, the positivity, the
way you've been helping people, and howit can motivate people, especially when
they're stuck in this rut of just thesadness, depression, lack of direction.
(26:11):
How do we change that?
And I feel like this is a greatfoundation for a lot of those people.
Thank you, Chris.
And look, each time I go to show topodcast, I leave with a feeling that
at least one person, I have a lotof them, but we know the strengths.
Moving to the positive and the journeys.
And thank you for giving me a chance todo that and asking great questions which
(26:33):
is essential in this kind of dialogue.
Absolutely.
I appreciate it.
It's always great to meet other fantasticpeople and the fact that they're
sharing their time and knowledge withus just helps us as entrepreneurs.
It helps our audience and ifthere's any way we can work together
and have that mutual benefit.
This is what it's about, workingtogether, sharing knowledge, and
helping to lift each other up.
Thank you for being a great personand bringing that positivity
(26:54):
to the rest of the world.
We need more people like you.
Thank you, Chris.
Thank you everybody for listening.
We appreciate it.
Thank you so much.
We need to move from the culture offixing to the culture of nourishing.
(00:03):
You have to compress much of whatI had shared today, moving from
fixing to culture of nourishingthrough positive psychology and
strengths and through purpose.
And the combination of positivityand purpose is so strong and
effective that will bring peakperformance naturally, not by force.
(00:28):
By manifestation ofwhat is best in people.
You are listening to Brainwork Framework,a Business and Marketing podcast,
brought to you by Focused-biz.com.
Welcome back to another episode.
With us today is a SeniorOrganizational Consultant with
Gozal Consulting Alfredo Borodowski.
He's an international speaker andauthor and a consultant specializing in
(00:49):
peak performance through the power ofpositive psychology, helping individuals
maximize their potential by leveragingthe character strengths in his equation.
Positive plus purpose equalspeak performance has helped
leaders and organizationsachieve and sustain their goals.
Alfredo, so excited to have you on.
How are you doing today?
Doing great, Chris.
Thank you for having me.
It's a rainy day in New York.
(01:10):
Apparently the springdoesn't want to come to us.
Then I was in Dallas at theconference, a hundred degrees
steamy, and then landed in LaGuardiaand where 60 degrees and raining.
The spirit is high.
Yes, the spirit is high.
Even when the weatherisn't cooperated for us.
And we definitely feel that downsideof the cold, rainy spring that hasn't
(01:32):
come to us yet, but it's still waiting.
But so excited to have you on.
We always like to ask ourentrepreneurs and consultants,
tell us about your journey.
What were you doing beforethat kind of led you into the
world that you're in today?
For me, there is really a before and afterand there are some people that have that
luxury adventure or in my case, big crisisthat cut my life in before and after.
(02:00):
And that for me happened at a veryspecific time, day and year, happen at
10 in the morning on June 19th, 2013.
Precisely.
Wow.
Yes.
When I was arrested, I was arrestedfor impersonating a police officer
(02:23):
and at that point I was a rabbi.
A rabbi of a very prestigious congregationin Westchester, very large congregation,
that was rabbi to CEOs from Prime Media.
Two executive by president ofParamount, the CEO of MetLife.
I had half of WallStreet as my congregants.
(02:47):
I have senior partners of thetop law firms in Manhattan.
Then I was on top of the world Chris.
and I also was working for a foundationand I had an office facing Central Park.
I would come every morning, put my feeton the desk, a coffee, look through
the window in Central Park, and comingfrom Argentina as an immigrant for
(03:12):
low middle class in Argentina, beingseated there facing Central Park.
I said, I made it.
That is the life.
The biggest you can go and I never thoughtabout positivity, about peak performance.
I was there.
I was the king of positivity andpeak performance until I was arrested
(03:32):
and lost basically everything.
And what happened tome is that I was manic.
I was taking the wrongmedication and antidepressive.
And a congregant of mine, a retiredpolice, gave me one of those shield
on family and he said, Alfredo, withthis one you will have no problems.
(03:54):
And then the problems began becausewith the mania and the wrong medication,
the shield and my grandiosity, Ibegan going around the highways of
New York telling people how to drive.
Until that morning of June, I showedthe badge to a young woman, and three
(04:17):
minutes later I had three policecars behind me and I was arrested.
I learned this a few monthslater, that lady was a fiance of
one of the policemen downtown.
Oh, no.
I was taken to theprecinct, straight to court,
(04:39):
was arrested, accused ofimpersonating police officer.
I was fired for mygreat jobs on that week.
Was hospitalized with suicidal thoughts.
I was diagnosed bipolar, whichI didn't know at that moment.
And because I was a rabbi of avery prestigious congregation,
(05:04):
the press made a circus out of meand they baptized the rabbi with
a new name, the Road Rage Rabbi.
The Road Rage Rabbi was on front pagesof newspapers from Japan to island.
It went viral.
(05:26):
I didn't touch anybody, no violence butyou know what more attractive than a
Rabbi impersonated the police officer.
And from there everythingwas down the hill.
I went into deep depression.
I have four cases againstme on different courts.
(05:48):
I couldn't drive untilthe cases were over.
My lawyer recommended that and I wason the couch in complete darkness and
no sense of future in misery until onemorning I feel an energy and I pushed
(06:10):
me to go up to my office and I walkedinto my office and on top of the desk
I found something that changed my life.
There I found a file, a yellow file.
I opened it and I read the topfive strengths of a test I had
taken on positive psychology.
(06:32):
Creativity, love of learning,curiosity, perseverance, and courage.
And something turned inside ofme and energy said, wow, Alfredo,
you have forgotten who you are.
And a month later, even Iwas even being depressed.
(06:53):
With court cases I went back to school,social work, and became a social worker.
And then an expert on positive psychology,making sure that everybody knows their
five top strengths because it's essentialto fulfill your destiny, to be yourself.
(07:14):
I can live the fake life.
My parents wanted me to be perfect.
I was perfect for them.
And what can you be moreperfect than a human?
A rabbi, A little God on earth.
I try to be the most perfectpossible human being by satisfying
(07:34):
my parents' grade for my perfection.
And it was until I was able todiscover my five top strengths of
positive psychology that I beganthe journey of being authentic.
And I imagine that many people listeninghave this problem of being shaped.
Not according to who they want to bebut a lot of pressure and people who
(07:58):
basically push them in a direction thatnow are wondering, what am I doing here?
And I want to make sure that everybodyknow the five strengths because that's the
way to open the gate to self-fulfillment.
I can tell you a lot of people arestruggling with that just being down on
themselves or they hit an obstacle andthey don't wanna persevere or they just
(08:19):
lack the spark or the drive to want to becreative or just any of the five that you
mentioned for you to be in such that low.
Point in your life to turn things around.
I know many other people who eitherwent through similar things or
they're just so down on themselvesthat it seems so impossible for
them to pick themselves up again.
This to be your message that youwant to connect with people, I
(08:41):
know our audience wants to hear it.
Incredible story here.
Tell me more about thepeak performance culture.
How you're able to bring thatpositivity using the five pillars there.
How does it work?
How can it benefit people?
Tell me all about it.
Put it in a simple way.
You have a leak at your basement, okay?
And you call an emergency planner,and the plumber comes with a lot of
(09:05):
knowledge and good intentions, andjust says, I forgot my toolkit at home.
You are going to go through life witha lot of good intentions and wisdom
and encouragement and motivation.
You don't have your toolkit.
You're not going to be able to operate onpeak performance and your toolkit are your
top five strengths of positive psychology.
(09:29):
The five top strengths are the oneswho you feel more authentic, motivated,
use naturally, and perform best.
And we know from studies that70% of people quiz do not
know your the top strengths.
Then 70% of people walk through lifewithout applying what they already have.
(09:57):
But because do not know thatthey have them, they do not apply
them to their full potential.
Then the first thing that peopleshould know are the top five strengths.
And we know also from various seriousstudies, these were done in New
Zealand with a lot of workers that
your top five strengths, youwill operate nine times more
(10:22):
effectively than not knowing them.
By knowing them, not applying them,just being aware, nine times more
flourishing, more effectiveness.
If you apply them 19 times, then peopleare walking through life operating
19 times below what they naturally.
(10:44):
Could do by being ignorantof what they already have
and that has to end okay.
And people had to knowtheir top strengths.
There are 24 strengthsof positive psychology.
Few more courage, love oflearning forgiveness, leadership.
(11:05):
That people have a different orderaccording to their preferences, according
to their experience, natural abilities.
And and it's amazing when you know them.
It's incredible that just by beingaware of what they are, or even just
a few, how much that can change ourbehavior and our productivity going
(11:26):
forward 'cause I know all these businessowners are trying to maximize their
productivity, but I feel like they'realways bogged down with the details.
They're just busy in their businessor something else distracts them
that they're not able to really focusand take action to get more results.
It's like they're spinning their wheels.
It's just a challenge for them.
There is no alignmentbetween strength and goals.
(11:51):
There must be an alignment betweenthe strengths and goals and you set
goals without knowing your strengths.
You go in all directions and then youfeel empty at the end because the goals
do not fulfill the core of who you are.
And when we are in a corporate culturewhere is so much about crisis and
(12:15):
putting out the latest fire, then youdevelop what I call a culture of fixing
instead of a culture of nourishing.
And we love to fix, by the way.
There is something aboutfixing especially to the males.
I changed the lightbulb, now I am fulfilled.
(12:37):
Then I put the nail there that I amfulfilled in the chair that was falling
a pot, we are fixers that we arelooking for a crisis to become one.
We can fix that thing, then we can fix it.
And then we go with a magnified glasslooking everywhere where we can fix
something and something must be broken.
(12:59):
When we know from positive psychologythat peak performance and efficiency
of the result of maximizing what works.
Now, clearly fixing givesyou power because you are
always fixing somebody else.
And then it creates a verypowerful relationship authority.
Instead of nourishing, you may feel thatyou're losing control over the other.
(13:23):
But we know that real peak performanceis maximizing what it works.
And I can see that when I go tocorporations, it take me two minutes
just listening to the CEO or tothe managers if they're on a fixing
mentality or a nourish mentality.
And if I can notice thatin two minutes, imagine the
(13:45):
people working there every day.
They've been saying it for months andyou found it out in two minutes and
that has to be tough for the leadersand CEOs to have that accountability
to say, here's what's not right, butwe can fix it if you're willing to fix.
Yeah.
We have this idea that tofix is to achieve a goal.
(14:06):
Usually fixing has to do withreturning the crisis to a normal
state but they never really fix it.
If they fix it usually isrecomposing returning to the prior
to the crisis type of fixing us.
I fix the pipe.
The pipe is not leaking anymore.
(14:30):
Nourishing is about building tothe next stage of development.
Then the fix mentality is going actuallystop you while you may have the illusion
that you are moving forward, while thenourishing, it takes sometimes more
work but it's going to move you forward.
(14:52):
And usually that's done
by creating a culture of strengthsand something I want to do, because
those listening may say, okay,Alfredo is talking about the top
five strengths you should know.
Then there is blindness, 70% not 18.
How do I know my top fine?
I tell you, and I'm going tomake it very easy for everybody.
If you are listening, takeyour phone, I give you
(15:18):
three seconds.
And text the word positive 233777.
Okay.
And I will send you the 24 strengthof positive psychology and a few
questions that will help you chooseand determine your top five strengths.
(15:41):
That's wonderful.
It takes 50 minutes, and thenI'm going to give you a couple
of exercises that you can use
to practice them.
And those who want to go a little bitdeeper, you can set a call without
string attached to discuss them, but youcan get them by yourself from a chart.
(16:05):
In 15 minutes by texting.
And everybody should know the strengths.
And should give them to theirfamily and friends the same chart.
I have discussion with your kids.
What your strengths are, who yourwife, what your strengths are, and
begin understanding what people aregood and strong at, and help them
(16:27):
get where they want to get basedon their strengths instead of going
against what they are good at andhave completely different life.
It's great.
It's funny because after learning aboutthe five pillars, knowing that there were
24, I was like, if only I could get a copyof that 'cause I know so many people are
willing to help themselves if they havethe knowledge, and that's why I appreciate
(16:48):
you sharing that knowledge and with thevalue first mindset where let me just
teach and educate people If you want thenext step that's available, but it's not
only just for you for business owners,but it's for parents, it's for kids.
These are things that we should beteaching and sharing to others, especially
if it has such a positive impact on us.
Teach that to other people.
Let them elevate andlift themselves up too.
(17:11):
Tell you Chris, the self-esteem.
It goes through the roof when you giveit to a kid to spouse, clearly when you
are on your next performance at work.
And you give it tosomebody working with you.
And they talk with each other about whatare your strengths and you begin assessing
(17:33):
somebody else on the positive and youbegin giving them task where there is
some kind of matching between the bestof the person and the best of the task.
It gives potentialize thingsagain, positivity plus purpose,
equal peak performance.
It's a two formula.
(17:54):
Absolutely.
And I know for all of our businessowners out here, it's great to
have the textile full resources.
Is there anything available online,the podcast, books, YouTube, or
videos that might be helpful forsomeone who wants to dive even deeper
beyond the tips that you share?
That's a timely question Chris.
There is something new on the market.
It's a revolution.
(18:14):
It's going to a game changer.
It's called the Purpose Factor.
It's a new instrument, justmaybe two, three months old.
That is the first instrumentto map the purpose of a person
and the purpose of a company.
What 10 years of research is an instrumentthat somebody can take in 25 minutes.
(18:43):
It delivers your reportof 49 pages on purpose.
Is the most comprehensive,detailed, accurate description
of a personal purpose.
It is amazing.
I work with instruments.
I work with the MeyerBriggs at Corporations on
Styles, personality styles.
(19:03):
I work with the Via Ball inAction, which is about psychology.
Now I am adding to the portfolio thepurpose factor and we get also the
purpose of per the person in the company.
And that's powerful combination,personal style, car character,
strengths and purpose.
(19:24):
It is new.
There are only like 200 peoplewho are certified on that
instrument in one of them.
Then I am glad to be a pioneerto be on the forefront of this.
I give in English, I speak Spanish.
I work also with South America,and I will so glad that the
Spanish version is coming out.
Then I will be one of the first ones tobring the new instrument to South America.
(19:49):
I think that's something that I candiscuss with people, if they get the
information that I gave, you can textme but that's new Frontier purpose.
And do not explore theirpurpose at the same time are
going to lose the core values.
The direction and all the efficiencythat AI can give you actually
is going to create a backlash.
(20:11):
We are seeing now spikeson depression at work.
As AI is being introduced, youdo not upgrade the human as
you upgrade the technology.
The consequences are going to bebeyond negative then companies that
need to invest and work on purpose andstrength as they incorporate technology.
(20:38):
I completely agree.
And I love that your resourcereally focuses on what I think is
just the biggest obstacle that manypeople face is the purpose, the why.
They just get stuck and they'reif they don't understand
their why and the purpose.
That gives them no direction and they needthat direction to take action so they can
feel confident in like, okay, this is theplan, this is what I'm working towards.
(20:58):
The fact that it kind of uncoversthat is that biggest first
obstacle that many people face isjust understanding the purpose.
Consulting with the company and as Ialways do before going to meet them,
I read as much as I could about thecompany and look at the website.
And at the very bottom of thewebsite, the last segment, they
(21:20):
were the core values of the company.
And with very nicegraphics, with the values.
And I said, wow, these values are verymuch the values of positive psychology.
And the company sold a new company.
They got it.
Then I led a workshop on strength andcore strengths of policy psychology,
(21:43):
and I asked how many people knewabout the core values of the company?
None, not even the CEO.
Not even executive, vice presidents.
They never scrolled down to theend of their own website and it
said, well, people are unmotivated.
That's what they brought me.
(22:04):
Lack of motivation.
And it said, clearly you hadthe values, you had the purpose.
You just ignored it andsaid, the work here is easy.
There are other companieswho never thought about it.
Now you need to rediscover who you are.
Just rediscover who youare or who you were.
(22:26):
And when we uncovered the top fivestrengths of each person at the senior
management level and then we compare theirtop five strengths of positive psychology
to the strengths on the website, therewere a lot of lines connected them.
And I tell you, the energy went throughthe roof was an alignment between
(22:49):
strengths and objectives to rememberwe talked about it, an alignment
between strengths and objectivesand the energy when all the way up.
Then we created a planto maintain the energy.
That things are sustainableand they have been sustaining.
That motivation going back to the values.
(23:11):
It is so inspiring to hear stories likethis because when you uncover those
individual strengths, it's like you'regiving them a voice at the table and
saying, how can you best serve us, butreally highlight and use all your assets?
And now they're excited.
One, they're listening to me, they careabout what I could bring to the table and
now they want me to take action on that.
And now you have this team ofpeople putting in their best assets
(23:34):
forward and now you're like, okay,is there anything we can't do?
Like that is such an unstoppable force.
That's a lot of momentum to get abusiness going and to even maintain it.
That's incredible.
Managed with the strengths, everybodyin the company comes unique.
Everybody unique has a set of strengthsthat brings to the table and we create
(23:56):
what they call a market of strengths.
That's your strength.
That's my strength.
Let's collaborate, new collaborations, newsynergies, all come out of that knowledge
or how strong I am and not the usualperformance of how weak and what the heck
need to improve what I am not doing well.
And by the way, it works very nicelybecause once you feel strong, you
begin working your weaknesses.
(24:17):
That's a natural progression.
But you begin with the weaknesses,you do not move to the strengths.
Doesn't work both ways because youbecome unmotivated and frustrated.
That is some good advice.
I find myself falling into thattrap, focusing on the negative.
What can I work on the bad stufffirst and I just lose all motivation.
No, you have to begin first in what works.
(24:41):
And that's a paradigmthat has to be changed.
Okay.
Had to be changed.
Absolutely.
And all of that really starts with uswithin our own minds and just learning the
information and putting it into practice.
But all of these aregreat tips and tricks.
Alfredo, I want to ask, is there anythingwe haven't talked about yet that you
wanna share with our audience here?
(25:02):
Well, we can spend lifetime talking truly.
That's not the problem for me.
But I tell you, I want toput things in one statement.
We need to move from the culture offixing to the culture of nourishing.
You had to compress much of what Ihad shared today, moving from it.
(25:22):
Fixing the culture of nourishing throughpositive psychology and strengths and
through purpose and the combination ofpositivity and purpose is so strong and
effective that will bring peak performancenaturally, not by force, but by
manifestation of what is best in people.
(25:47):
I love it.
Some great advice andtips and tricks here.
And we'll also have the number andlinks down in the show notes so you
can text positive 233777, you can getconnected with all of the great value
and information with Alfredo here.
Thank you so much for coming on andsharing your journey, the positivity, the
way you've been helping people, and howit can motivate people, especially when
they're stuck in this rut of just thesadness, depression, lack of direction.
(26:11):
How do we change that?
And I feel like this is a greatfoundation for a lot of those people.
Thank you, Chris.
And look, each time I go to show topodcast, I leave with a feeling that
at least one person, I have a lotof them, but we know the strengths.
Moving to the positive and the journeys.
And thank you for giving me a chance todo that and asking great questions which
(26:33):
is essential in this kind of dialogue.
Absolutely.
I appreciate it.
It's always great to meet other fantasticpeople and the fact that they're
sharing their time and knowledge withus just helps us as entrepreneurs.
It helps our audience and ifthere's any way we can work together
and have that mutual benefit.
This is what it's about, workingtogether, sharing knowledge, and
helping to lift each other up.
Thank you for being a great personand bringing that positivity
(26:54):
to the rest of the world.
We need more people like you.
Thank you, Chris.
Thank you everybody for listening.
We appreciate it.
Thank you so much.
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