June 27, 2025 • 26 mins
Marina Morgan helps entrepreneurs, business leaders, and executives achieve both professional success and emotional well-being, aligning psychological principles with business strategies. This episode uncovers how understanding organizational psychology can lead to better decision-making and enhanced performance. Join us as Marina shares tips on creating high-performance habits and implementing diagnostics that drive business success while nurturing mental clarity and resilience.
Listen on Podbean:
https://brainworkframework.podbean.com/
Connect with Marina Morgan:
Company Website: https://www.themorganimpact.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinamorgan-sf/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mmorgan_sf/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D#
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mmorgan_sf
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 #entrepreneurs #psychology #resillience
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The reality is that maybe in one momentwhen you want to provide some change in
(00:03):
your company, the first thing that youneed to change as yourself, it's really
funny advice because nobody expected it.
So what do you expect?
Work harder, work more.
Okay.
Take care about your body becausethis is your main resource.
But the most important part that wereally need to think of authentic care
of is our ability to enjoy every day.
(00:24):
You are listening to Brainwork Framework,a Business and Marketing podcast,
brought to you by Focused-biz.com.
Welcome back to another episodeof Brain Work Framework.
With us today is the founder ofthe Morgan Impact, Marina Morgan.
She helps entrepreneurs, business leadersand executives achieve both professional
success and emotional wellbeing.
We're gonna be talkingmore about that today.
Marina.
So excited to have you on.
How are you?
(00:44):
Hi Chris.
I really appreciate you.
I'm so happy to be in here.
I love your podcast and your guests areso amazing and you really create very cozy
and calm space for the conversation andthat's why I really happy for invitation.
Thank you so much.
So I'm cool in inspiredabout our conversation.
How are you today?
What's going on?
I'm doing wonderful.
We had a great conversation earlier.
(01:05):
I wish we hit record 'cause you toldme so many great things about your past
history and what you've been doing andhow you got to where you are today.
So let me open up that question for you.
What were you doing before andwhat are you doing today and
how did that all come together?
Okay, great.
Thank you so much for the question, Chris.
Originally I'm from Russia and I wasgraduated as a master of organizational
psychology science more than 15 years ago.
(01:26):
And since then, I really developed mycareer in this field because I love it.
I obsessed with thatand this is my passion.
Business psychology and organizationis very interesting because this
is the system that people createand it combine their skills, their
talents, their relationship, theircondition, whatever you want.
And it's really interesting to divedeeper into it and since then I have
(01:48):
some kind of the dynamic blend or thecreative leadership in entrepreneurship.
My first business was washingthe windows in my native city.
There I was born and I was 8 years old.
It was really cool business and I stillthink it'll work amazing in whatever area
you can imagine because people need itand people don't want to do it by them on.
So when I graduated, I studied mycareer in the biggest steam theater
(02:12):
chain in my country as a head ofthe talent development department.
And since then, I develop in thistrack in cooperative careers.
I had a period, then I gotfired to open my businesses.
I worked on the radio.
I have my school.
I have a lot of different things andbefore I decided to move to United
States I was in the top of the careerexperience of the corporative career
(02:34):
experience that you can imagine inmy native country because I worked
in the biggest technological company.
There were 300,000 peopleall over the country.
Biggest amazing interest in contractsinside the country, outside international
and it was the company that engage ineverything that you are interested in.
TMT industry.
(02:55):
This is technology telecom and media, TMT.
And this company was thebiggest telecom provider.
Also we have a lot of different fantasticdigital solution for the business.
Whatever you can imagine.
Small business, huge business, industry,retail and we have really amazing
technological projects inside of it.
And also some media, some online cinema,theater, whatever you can imagine.
(03:18):
And there I was the head of talentdevelopment in the sales segment.
I was responsible for development thoseskills of our people that will bring
company money and when I created somestrategy, I need to prove that the
investments in this development programwill bring the money for our company.
And I was succeeding it.
I have several rewards on the marketfor the successful and result of project
(03:41):
and moving to United States when I'mliving right now was my goal or my dream.
I always know a lot about this countryand as well as I started developed
my career in the technological field.
Of course, we learn a lot from this side.
We read this book about the Netflix,about the Google, about the management
system here, about the talent developmentbecause all this culture of the
management was really new for Russia.
(04:02):
This innovative approach to it.
How to manage best people in the world.
I mean, most talented, mostinteresting, most powerful.
And one day I came herefor the business trip.
I created the project.
My idea was to develop the humanresource brand of our company
and to make our company moreattractive to the technological
talent for all over the world.
(04:24):
And at that moment it was yearbefore the political situation
changed, before this conflict.
That was absolutely awful.
At the period relationship betweenRussia and United States, we really
more or less good enough, I cansay nothing else will happened.
And I came here to the SiliconValley first time in my life.
I was 34 years old at that momentto met with the business partners
(04:45):
because in my company, some groupfrom IT department created a really
interesting framework to managementthat tech teams inside the corporation.
And the idea was how to organizethe management of these teams to
keep the spirit of the startupinside of the big companies.
This is really one of thechallenges for the company, for the
corporations, how to keep the spiritto inspire the amazing tech talents.
(05:10):
So I came here and my idea was toshare this framework with the different
professionals from Google, from Netflix,from meta and just to get their honest
feedback, how they think this works andI met with a lot of different people
here and we had a plan to create theconference here in the Silicon Valley.
The name of this frameworkwas the Karma Framework.
(05:30):
And the main idea was for example, weinitiative some project or some product.
We want to do it andwe create this circle.
We invite in the circle differentprofessionals from the company
who really needs and it doesn'tmatter what is your status, your
influence for the decision dependsof your real impact of the project.
And also, you are able to choosethose project that you want
(05:52):
to be in this framework reallyhelp to manage all this stuff.
They're flexible and it'sreally worked in amazing way.
We have fantastic results in our company.
We just wanted to scale in it.
So I came here.
I met with a lot of different peopleand I really remember when I sit
in the end through the ocean afterall this meetings, after visiting
different amazing companies here.
(06:14):
I really felt that I belong tothis place and I need to be here.
I need to move here.
And this feeling, I experienced itseveral times in my life and I really
trusted it and it wasn't a question.
Will I do it or not?
It was on the question, how will I do itand how can I do it as soon as possible?
So I decided to move to UnitedStates, the Silicon Valley,
(06:35):
to open my own company here.
And on my flight back I'mjust thinking, what will I do?
What will be my next steps?
And it was at the end of the Mayand at in the October I moved here
and for this several months, Ifinished my cooperative career.
I was in the best situation thatyou can imagine in my country.
I have my authority.
I had an amazing network.
(06:55):
People knew me and at that moment,I already can choose the company
where I want to work, the projectthat I want to work because I have
really amazing result of projects
with their most interesting technologicalindustry in all the market, not in the
Russia because all that is about the techis on the top for the last 10, 15 years.
But I really decided to startover and also I was in a
(07:18):
relationship for several years.
I decided we need to break up.
It was another aspect ofthat and I just came back.
I created several project thatcan help me to earn some money.
And it was project in Russian marketand European market and where I was able
officially work because when you're movingto United States, the period when you
enter the country and you're waiting foryour documents I mean, what will allow
(07:40):
you officially live here and work here?
You're unable to work here officiallyand typically the first document that
you got is your employment authorization.
Would allow you to earnmoney on this market.
So I took care about it.
And also, I had some kind of differentconversation with the lawyers.
How can I change my immigrant status?
My choice was AB one Visa is a visa forthe talented people because I have a
(08:00):
lot of proof for I'm really talented.
I really can provide some results.
So I moved here.
It was only one way ticket.
I didn't have some plan or somethinglike that because I really need
to make a decision very fast.
And you should know that Iworked till the last day.
I mean, my last work day inthe company was October 11 and
my flight was at October 12th.
So I finished everything that I can.
(08:23):
I broke up.
I had an assistant, she helped me totake care of all the stuff, apartment.
I just got two cases one luggage andalso one Kevin luggage and that's it.
And I decided I will buy everythinghere because there are much more better
goods in the United States market.
So that's how I moved and I cansay even obsessed about the neuro
physiological aspect of theirtalents, of their productivity
(08:46):
because it was very useful in my work.
As I told you, I workedin the business field.
That mean that I need tocount and I need to prove that
everything that we are doing.
We'll bring the results to the company.
I always asked all of my C-level managerto invite me to the strategic planning
and I also work as a facilitator forthe different strategy planning because
it's really helped me to understandwhat we need on the next step and how
(09:09):
can I prepare our employers to this.
And also in technological companies,your spendings for the employers
is the highest part of allyour spendings because they are
expensive and what else do you have?
You don't have some manufacturer.
You have only talented people inthe laptops and also the office
space where they need to work together.
And if you are not managing thiswell you will just lose your money.
(09:32):
And you investment in thetalents of your people.
This is the main investments that youare able to do in your business, hiring
the best talents and develop this talentsand keep them inside of your company.
So that's why I decided to create myown agency the Morgan Impact that the
meaning of this is that I hope that mypartnering with my client, my impact
will provide them some kind of resultof positive change that they really
(09:56):
want, that they really needs and I'mjust thinking about myself, like a
partner who bring this psychologicaland business psychological knowledge and
practices that will help my client toachieve those results that they want.
Maybe it was long answerfor your question.
It's a great answer becauseit really highlights what the
struggles and obstacles that youhad to overcome to even get here.
(10:16):
Something that you didn't even imaginewanting to do but then suddenly here
you are just uprooting your entirelife, changing a bunch of things.
Just saying, I'm gonna figure this out.
Starting something new and fresh but stillbringing all that past experience into
this new world, a new place where youcould build it for your own but something
you mentioned is, listening to yourself,you listen to your body or your mind or
(10:36):
your gut, it was telling you somethingthat you use as a compass to guide you
and how our mindset and our brain playsinto how effective we are as entrepreneurs
and business owners but also employees.
Those who want to try to improve thetalent and retain the talent they have
need to invest into their employees.
Make sure their mind is operatingat the best level it is.
(10:58):
So tell me more about this philosophyand bringing our mindset and the
brain all together to be moreproductive and more effective.
Absolutely.
Thank you for asking me about it.
I can speak a lot about this topic.
So the main thing that we needto understand that our condition
and our perception of reality.
Strongly depends of ourneurophysiology and we are not
(11:21):
worried because something happens.
The first thing, we have a highlevel of the cortisol inside of our
body and then our brain started tolooking for the picture that can
explain for us why am I worried and
another side.
If you get enough rest, yourneurotransmitter balance are really good.
You have enough or greatinsert and dopamine and all the
(11:42):
release that you can imagine.
You don't have some kind ofnutrition lack, everything fine.
You will not feel this and anxiety andeven if something awful will happen,
you will just keep your resilience andjust think, okay, this is the situation.
What can I do here?
And this is very importantto understand this.
The first thing is your condition andthe another thing is the situation where
(12:03):
you are, because I told you about it.
It was really helped me understandingbecause when I moved here, I didn't
have a plan and also I moved in October.
On February the war between Russia andUkraine started and the relationship
between United States and Russiabroke up just for several days.
I lost everything.
I was able to open my bank accountbecause I have some accounts in Russia
(12:25):
and also my YouTube, all my all myapps, my Apple apps, everything.
I lost it as well.
I had a Russian passport at that moment.
And for example, want to switch youraccount on the YouTube or on Google
to the Americans, you need to addsome payment method that's relevant
for the country where you are.
And I wasn't able to do it becauseyou're coming to Bank of America and
(12:46):
say, oh, I'm sorry, we can't openaccounts for you because you have
follow one document and it's Russiadocument and you really need to solve
all this problem at the mud moment.
You didn't expect it.
You wasn't ready for them andyou lost your bank account.
I wasn't able to get some Uberbecause my app didn't work.
You absolutely didn't expect it.
So anyway it was really helpful for methat if you are in a good condition,
(13:06):
if you're managing your nervous system,your body, feeling your health, you
will choose the best decision thatis available for you right now where
you are in these circumstances.
And the main priority here thatwe can really take under control
is our condition because honestly,we're unable to manage the reality.
It can be also these black swans.
(13:26):
The thing that you are didn't expect.
The reality of our life is thechallenges and change because it's
happened day by day and you are reallyunable to influence for all of them.
And when people trying to keep what'sgoing on in outside reality, under their
control, they really just decreasing thelevel of adrenaline inside of their body.
The only one thing that we are ableto control is our condition and our
(13:47):
perception of what's going on outside.
And we're really able to manage thisand if you are in the best condition,
in the worst circumstances, you willfind the best way to get out of this
or to find a really good solution.
Opposite situation, if for along time you didn't sleep well.
Your prefrontal cortex that really helpyou to analyze the reality and find
the best decision are really tight.
(14:08):
And you don't have enoughresources inside you.
You don't have enough vitamin D and thisis very boring things and entrepreneurs
typically don't like to think aboutit because we will like to think
about creativity, about innovation,about how we can create the business.
And when you understand that you reallyneed to take care about it, that you
really need to sleep longer time.
Oh my God, they hate them.
(14:28):
And I was absolutely the same becausewhen I was younger, I also think,
I hate the fact that I need tosleep because I want to work more.
I want to create more projectsor it is another part of it,
sensitiveness to the dopamine.
So even if you are in this condition andyour in the best circumstances, you'll
be unable to use them because you don'thave enough resources to integrate it.
So this is two factors of this.
(14:50):
The first one is the condition and that'swhy companies started to think more about
wellbeing, about how not to go now becausethey really understood that you can try to
motivate your employers in the best way.
You can create a lot of amazingdevelopment programs that will
develop your hard skills, softskills, your leadership skills.
You can reorganize the business processin a different way but if your system
(15:13):
organized in those way where most of youremployees don't have enough resources to
integrate everything, you will not win.
And that's what typicallywe're working on.
And what should companies now in 2025,what should they focus on giving to
their employees, to their talent,
to keep them happy, to keep themaround, to keep them at their best.
(15:34):
How should companies investinto their employees today?
It's an interesting and good question.
Let me start, if you will allow withimportant part for business owners and
for business leaders because you shouldunderstand that you are the source of the
organizational culture of your company
and doesn't matter if this isstill small company with the 10
employers or this is a big companywith a hundred thousand employees.
(15:57):
Even if you are creating anamazing system, you are writing
the best values on the walls.
Like, clients is everything for us.
Whatever you want, you can imagine it.
The reality will be that you'll bethe source of the real organizational
culture if you have some kind ofco-founders, all of you, a relationship
between you will influence for theorganizational culture of your company.
And the first thing that you should startwith is your own understanding of your
(16:21):
real motivation.
I mean, what's the reason ofcreating specifically this business?
What you want to achieve?
And most of my clients who are facing withdifferent challenges in their companies
they don't really understood theirreal motivation while they created it.
And that's important to knowit about yourself and also
the reality is that maybe in onemoment when you want to provide some
(16:41):
change in your company, the first thingthat you need to change is yourself.
And sometimes difficult enough.
Some kind of surprising information formy clients and for the entrepreneurs that
one of the amazing navigator in your ownself-management and the management of
your company is the feeling of enjoyment.
I want to explain it a little bit.
This is near science under this positionbecause our enjoyments have a strong
(17:03):
connection with our fin system and finsstimulate, provides them the dopamine.
This is the same chain.
They have some kind ofcorrelation between each other.
And if you want to have much moremotivation to achieve new goals, to
don't feel procrastinating or burnout,you need to experience the small
enjoyment day by day, and you need toenjoy their process of achieving all
(17:28):
those goals in the same level, like youare enjoying the results and this is
philosophy that you should understandand integrate in your personal life as a
business owner and as a business founder.
It's really funny advicebecause nobody expected it.
So what do you expect?
Like work harder, work more.
Okay.
Take care about your body becausethis is your main resource.
(17:49):
But the most important part that wereally need to think of authentic care
of is our ability to enjoy every day.
Some small things and the main advicethat I'm typically given for my
clients, specifically the businessowners is to create some kind of list.
What things enjoy me.
There are simple things like, forexample, we spoke with you today about
it, this few signs of the spirits ofthe air, the smell of the air, the bird
(18:12):
singing and the playing on the guitar.
There are simple things that'sreally give you this feeling.
You name it that you really want it.
You really need it.
And this is the the first thing you needto have this list and you need to take
care about have this experience every day.
Everyone is able to have fiveminutes per day just to go for this
enjoyment and another part of thisis to learn your system, to make
(18:36):
decision through the enjoyment.
And again, this is always surprising.
Most of my clients and I willexplain how does it work.
You should start withvery simple decisions.
Like for example, when you will cometo the grocery store, what is your
favorite grocery store by the way??
Ooh.
My favorite one is Aldi.
Aldi, okay.
Aldi.
Best deals.
We don't have this in the California.
It's actually from Germany.
(18:57):
Ah, really?
Yeah.
The two Aldi brothers created it.
There's two different ones,but that's my favorite.
Tell me about yours.
Just a sec. Let me finish mythought and I will answer you.
So next time Bonnie will come to Odeand you will come to any department.
For example, when the fruitand vegetables you can find.
So come there and for the second,just ask yourself a question.
Right now I want more and look on this.
(19:18):
And imagine the taste of an apple or thebanana or the orange inside of your mouth.
And those product that you will wantmore, just take it and try to use this
practice in the very simple decisions.
Like, what I want to wear today.
Jeans or slacks.
And just imagine thefeelings on your body.
What will you like more?
(19:39):
And only when you will feel thisattraction to this solution.
Choose it.
And day by day startedthis very simple decision.
Use this enjoyment scienceto make this decision.
I want to ride on the car or onthe bicycle or one just to walk
from my house from the office.
Just one second maybeeven half of the minute.
Imagine all these choices.
(20:00):
And then your body will say,here, you need to choose it.
Just choose it and in thisway, day by day, you will learn
your system to make a decision.
Keeping in the attention all the signs.
The reality is that our body alwaysknew what we really need right now at
that moment because there are a lotof different system inside of us that
analyze what's going on in our body,what we need, what's going on around
(20:23):
us and this is their personal thing.
I mean, somebody loveonion, somebody hates it.
And it depends of your chemical balanceor something like that and your system
to make decision for the enjoyment, inone day at the moment, then you will be
in the very tough circumstances or youwill be in the moment when you need to
make some kind of important decision fastand you will not have enough information.
(20:45):
You will al already know all yourpersonal alphabet of the choosing of
the best decision for you right now atthat moment and when you are able to
speak with yourself on this language.
Your chance to make a best decision ina situation when you don't have enough
information will dramatically increase.
And that's what helped me when I wasin different situation of my life.
I trust for my body because I havea good relationship between us and I
(21:08):
know my body language, what I prefer.
What is the gut feeling thatwe're speaking about here?
Also, in psychological fields existsthis phrase that whole body Yes.
When your brain, your heart andyour gut really agree with that.
And you just need to train it with thevery simple exercises, as I told you.
This is about the business founders.
Okay?
And answering for your questionabout what we need to keep in
(21:29):
our mind, managing our companies.
So I think that it's veryimportant to provide this
information for our employees.
That your condition means a lot.
And if you feel anxiety, it's notnecessary that the problem is you are not
there, you're not good enough or maybeyou are worried about the relationship
with your manager or with your coworkersor you worry about the product or project
(21:50):
or results or something like that.
The main thing is that youhave too much cortisol on your
system or something like that.
And we need to provide this informationfor our employees because knowledge
about it really help people to managetheir own condition in a better way.
So, as an organization, of courseyou can keep this work life.
I don't like the phrase workworklife balance to be honest.
I can explain why but you can takecare about the processes that they give
(22:14):
some space for your employees just tokeep themselves in good conditions.
And the reality is that most Americancompanies that I know, comparing
it with the Russian companies,they really take care about it.
Because Russia had a veryspecific management tradition,
I will give you an example.
It was really difficult to explainfor my American employee, my company,
and my coworkers because we have astrong cultural differences here.
(22:37):
In Russia, your positivefeedback is the only one.
You don't have a negative feedback.
The only one feedback that you can getfor your manager is negative feedback.
And if you didn't have any feedback,that's mean that you're doing
everything well and everything fine.
We try to change it.
I mean, that's why we used allthis Google, Netflix methodology
of feedback of management.
But there are also realities.
(22:58):
This is something in our culture wedon't really emphasize a lot, some
positive things over there relationshipwith the reality because there
were some cultural aspects of that.
And when I started to work with theinternational team, some of my employees,
I knew this thing about myself andI tried to say, you are so good.
You're doing this job wellbut I really need to learn it.
And back to the point, youare like a business manager.
(23:20):
You can take and care about thecomfortable workspace, about the
balance but you are unable to come intothe home of all of your employers and
put them in bed at 11 o'clock, right?
The only one thing that you cando, you can just explain them
that, this is our responsibility toprovide normal workspace for you.
Processes that will work,that will not destroy your
(23:40):
health or something like this.
This is our responsibilitybut your responsibility is
to take care about yourself.
We are able to providethe knowledge about it.
There are a lot of themright now in the YouTube.
You also can use my channelor Andrew Huberman channel.
There are really a lot of differentinformation and also you can invite
some professional in this area toyour company and just ask them to
create several workshops, what willhelp people to deeply understand
(24:04):
how it works why their condition isthe first and the interpretation of
this condition is always the second.
So that's the main advices.
You need to provide this informationfor employees but you are unable to do
it if you are not know it by yourselflike a business owner, and if you didn't
experience it on yourself, and if youare able to share it and you know to
(24:25):
scale it all of your organization.
Absolutely.
And it's so true for a lot of us, bothcompanies and individuals to focus on the
communication piece and know that thereare cultural differences on how we'd like
to communicate and prefer that to happen.
And beyond that, how we replenish ourminds and ourselves to be better, to
achieve more and just listen to our body,to be able to guide us in our decisions.
(24:46):
Now, marina, we only havea couple minutes left.
I wanted to ask, where can peoplefind and connect with you online?
And I believe you have a specialoffer you wanna share with us as well.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you so much for keeping your mind.
We prepare a gift for all your listeners.
This is the guide for theentrepreneurs that I created for my
clients but, everyone can use it.
In this guide, you'll find the informationabout the actual research, what is
(25:07):
the specific of the entrepreneurialbrain and entrepreneurial mindset.
Also, the list of the nutritions andmedical analysis that you need to
keep on focus because they're reallyinfluence for your productivity.
And those devices that we recommend.
What will can help you to track yourbody activity, your sleep routine and
everything that you need just to keepyour main resource yourself in a good
(25:30):
condition to changes, to challenges,to pivoting, to opening new businesses,
to tough negotiations, to everythingwith that entrepreneurs typical facing.
You can use it there.
And also you can connect with me viamy website, the morgan impact.com,
on the LinkedIn, Maureen Morgan.
You will find it easily.
And also, I am sharing all thisinformation on my YouTube channel.
Maureen Morgan.
Wonderful, and we'll have all thoselinks available down in the show
(25:52):
notes and the description so everyonecan get connected with Marina.
Marina, we appreciate your time.
Love your energy.
Everything that you're bringingto America, the corporate
world, it's much needed.
Appreciate all the effortsthat you're putting out there.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
The reality is that maybe in one momentwhen you want to provide some change in
(00:03):
your company, the first thing that youneed to change as yourself, it's really
funny advice because nobody expected it.
So what do you expect?
Work harder, work more.
Okay.
Take care about your body becausethis is your main resource.
But the most important part that wereally need to think of authentic care
of is our ability to enjoy every day.
(00:24):
You are listening to Brainwork Framework,a Business and Marketing podcast,
brought to you by Focused-biz.com.
Welcome back to another episodeof Brain Work Framework.
With us today is the founder ofthe Morgan Impact, Marina Morgan.
She helps entrepreneurs, business leadersand executives achieve both professional
success and emotional wellbeing.
We're gonna be talkingmore about that today.
Marina.
So excited to have you on.
How are you?
(00:44):
Hi Chris.
I really appreciate you.
I'm so happy to be in here.
I love your podcast and your guests areso amazing and you really create very cozy
and calm space for the conversation andthat's why I really happy for invitation.
Thank you so much.
So I'm cool in inspiredabout our conversation.
How are you today?
What's going on?
I'm doing wonderful.
We had a great conversation earlier.
(01:05):
I wish we hit record 'cause you toldme so many great things about your past
history and what you've been doing andhow you got to where you are today.
So let me open up that question for you.
What were you doing before andwhat are you doing today and
how did that all come together?
Okay, great.
Thank you so much for the question, Chris.
Originally I'm from Russia and I wasgraduated as a master of organizational
psychology science more than 15 years ago.
(01:26):
And since then, I really developed mycareer in this field because I love it.
I obsessed with thatand this is my passion.
Business psychology and organizationis very interesting because this
is the system that people createand it combine their skills, their
talents, their relationship, theircondition, whatever you want.
And it's really interesting to divedeeper into it and since then I have
(01:48):
some kind of the dynamic blend or thecreative leadership in entrepreneurship.
My first business was washingthe windows in my native city.
There I was born and I was 8 years old.
It was really cool business and I stillthink it'll work amazing in whatever area
you can imagine because people need itand people don't want to do it by them on.
So when I graduated, I studied mycareer in the biggest steam theater
(02:12):
chain in my country as a head ofthe talent development department.
And since then, I develop in thistrack in cooperative careers.
I had a period, then I gotfired to open my businesses.
I worked on the radio.
I have my school.
I have a lot of different things andbefore I decided to move to United
States I was in the top of the careerexperience of the corporative career
(02:34):
experience that you can imagine inmy native country because I worked
in the biggest technological company.
There were 300,000 peopleall over the country.
Biggest amazing interest in contractsinside the country, outside international
and it was the company that engage ineverything that you are interested in.
TMT industry.
(02:55):
This is technology telecom and media, TMT.
And this company was thebiggest telecom provider.
Also we have a lot of different fantasticdigital solution for the business.
Whatever you can imagine.
Small business, huge business, industry,retail and we have really amazing
technological projects inside of it.
And also some media, some online cinema,theater, whatever you can imagine.
(03:18):
And there I was the head of talentdevelopment in the sales segment.
I was responsible for development thoseskills of our people that will bring
company money and when I created somestrategy, I need to prove that the
investments in this development programwill bring the money for our company.
And I was succeeding it.
I have several rewards on the marketfor the successful and result of project
(03:41):
and moving to United States when I'mliving right now was my goal or my dream.
I always know a lot about this countryand as well as I started developed
my career in the technological field.
Of course, we learn a lot from this side.
We read this book about the Netflix,about the Google, about the management
system here, about the talent developmentbecause all this culture of the
management was really new for Russia.
(04:02):
This innovative approach to it.
How to manage best people in the world.
I mean, most talented, mostinteresting, most powerful.
And one day I came herefor the business trip.
I created the project.
My idea was to develop the humanresource brand of our company
and to make our company moreattractive to the technological
talent for all over the world.
(04:24):
And at that moment it was yearbefore the political situation
changed, before this conflict.
That was absolutely awful.
At the period relationship betweenRussia and United States, we really
more or less good enough, I cansay nothing else will happened.
And I came here to the SiliconValley first time in my life.
I was 34 years old at that momentto met with the business partners
(04:45):
because in my company, some groupfrom IT department created a really
interesting framework to managementthat tech teams inside the corporation.
And the idea was how to organizethe management of these teams to
keep the spirit of the startupinside of the big companies.
This is really one of thechallenges for the company, for the
corporations, how to keep the spiritto inspire the amazing tech talents.
(05:10):
So I came here and my idea was toshare this framework with the different
professionals from Google, from Netflix,from meta and just to get their honest
feedback, how they think this works andI met with a lot of different people
here and we had a plan to create theconference here in the Silicon Valley.
The name of this frameworkwas the Karma Framework.
(05:30):
And the main idea was for example, weinitiative some project or some product.
We want to do it andwe create this circle.
We invite in the circle differentprofessionals from the company
who really needs and it doesn'tmatter what is your status, your
influence for the decision dependsof your real impact of the project.
And also, you are able to choosethose project that you want
(05:52):
to be in this framework reallyhelp to manage all this stuff.
They're flexible and it'sreally worked in amazing way.
We have fantastic results in our company.
We just wanted to scale in it.
So I came here.
I met with a lot of different peopleand I really remember when I sit
in the end through the ocean afterall this meetings, after visiting
different amazing companies here.
(06:14):
I really felt that I belong tothis place and I need to be here.
I need to move here.
And this feeling, I experienced itseveral times in my life and I really
trusted it and it wasn't a question.
Will I do it or not?
It was on the question, how will I do itand how can I do it as soon as possible?
So I decided to move to UnitedStates, the Silicon Valley,
(06:35):
to open my own company here.
And on my flight back I'mjust thinking, what will I do?
What will be my next steps?
And it was at the end of the Mayand at in the October I moved here
and for this several months, Ifinished my cooperative career.
I was in the best situation thatyou can imagine in my country.
I have my authority.
I had an amazing network.
(06:55):
People knew me and at that moment,I already can choose the company
where I want to work, the projectthat I want to work because I have
really amazing result of projects
with their most interesting technologicalindustry in all the market, not in the
Russia because all that is about the techis on the top for the last 10, 15 years.
But I really decided to startover and also I was in a
(07:18):
relationship for several years.
I decided we need to break up.
It was another aspect ofthat and I just came back.
I created several project thatcan help me to earn some money.
And it was project in Russian marketand European market and where I was able
officially work because when you're movingto United States, the period when you
enter the country and you're waiting foryour documents I mean, what will allow
(07:40):
you officially live here and work here?
You're unable to work here officiallyand typically the first document that
you got is your employment authorization.
Would allow you to earnmoney on this market.
So I took care about it.
And also, I had some kind of differentconversation with the lawyers.
How can I change my immigrant status?
My choice was AB one Visa is a visa forthe talented people because I have a
(08:00):
lot of proof for I'm really talented.
I really can provide some results.
So I moved here.
It was only one way ticket.
I didn't have some plan or somethinglike that because I really need
to make a decision very fast.
And you should know that Iworked till the last day.
I mean, my last work day inthe company was October 11 and
my flight was at October 12th.
So I finished everything that I can.
(08:23):
I broke up.
I had an assistant, she helped me totake care of all the stuff, apartment.
I just got two cases one luggage andalso one Kevin luggage and that's it.
And I decided I will buy everythinghere because there are much more better
goods in the United States market.
So that's how I moved and I cansay even obsessed about the neuro
physiological aspect of theirtalents, of their productivity
(08:46):
because it was very useful in my work.
As I told you, I workedin the business field.
That mean that I need tocount and I need to prove that
everything that we are doing.
We'll bring the results to the company.
I always asked all of my C-level managerto invite me to the strategic planning
and I also work as a facilitator forthe different strategy planning because
it's really helped me to understandwhat we need on the next step and how
(09:09):
can I prepare our employers to this.
And also in technological companies,your spendings for the employers
is the highest part of allyour spendings because they are
expensive and what else do you have?
You don't have some manufacturer.
You have only talented people inthe laptops and also the office
space where they need to work together.
And if you are not managing thiswell you will just lose your money.
(09:32):
And you investment in thetalents of your people.
This is the main investments that youare able to do in your business, hiring
the best talents and develop this talentsand keep them inside of your company.
So that's why I decided to create myown agency the Morgan Impact that the
meaning of this is that I hope that mypartnering with my client, my impact
will provide them some kind of resultof positive change that they really
(09:56):
want, that they really needs and I'mjust thinking about myself, like a
partner who bring this psychologicaland business psychological knowledge and
practices that will help my client toachieve those results that they want.
Maybe it was long answerfor your question.
It's a great answer becauseit really highlights what the
struggles and obstacles that youhad to overcome to even get here.
(10:16):
Something that you didn't even imaginewanting to do but then suddenly here
you are just uprooting your entirelife, changing a bunch of things.
Just saying, I'm gonna figure this out.
Starting something new and fresh but stillbringing all that past experience into
this new world, a new place where youcould build it for your own but something
you mentioned is, listening to yourself,you listen to your body or your mind or
(10:36):
your gut, it was telling you somethingthat you use as a compass to guide you
and how our mindset and our brain playsinto how effective we are as entrepreneurs
and business owners but also employees.
Those who want to try to improve thetalent and retain the talent they have
need to invest into their employees.
Make sure their mind is operatingat the best level it is.
(10:58):
So tell me more about this philosophyand bringing our mindset and the
brain all together to be moreproductive and more effective.
Absolutely.
Thank you for asking me about it.
I can speak a lot about this topic.
So the main thing that we needto understand that our condition
and our perception of reality.
Strongly depends of ourneurophysiology and we are not
(11:21):
worried because something happens.
The first thing, we have a highlevel of the cortisol inside of our
body and then our brain started tolooking for the picture that can
explain for us why am I worried and
another side.
If you get enough rest, yourneurotransmitter balance are really good.
You have enough or greatinsert and dopamine and all the
(11:42):
release that you can imagine.
You don't have some kind ofnutrition lack, everything fine.
You will not feel this and anxiety andeven if something awful will happen,
you will just keep your resilience andjust think, okay, this is the situation.
What can I do here?
And this is very importantto understand this.
The first thing is your condition andthe another thing is the situation where
(12:03):
you are, because I told you about it.
It was really helped me understandingbecause when I moved here, I didn't
have a plan and also I moved in October.
On February the war between Russia andUkraine started and the relationship
between United States and Russiabroke up just for several days.
I lost everything.
I was able to open my bank accountbecause I have some accounts in Russia
(12:25):
and also my YouTube, all my all myapps, my Apple apps, everything.
I lost it as well.
I had a Russian passport at that moment.
And for example, want to switch youraccount on the YouTube or on Google
to the Americans, you need to addsome payment method that's relevant
for the country where you are.
And I wasn't able to do it becauseyou're coming to Bank of America and
(12:46):
say, oh, I'm sorry, we can't openaccounts for you because you have
follow one document and it's Russiadocument and you really need to solve
all this problem at the mud moment.
You didn't expect it.
You wasn't ready for them andyou lost your bank account.
I wasn't able to get some Uberbecause my app didn't work.
You absolutely didn't expect it.
So anyway it was really helpful for methat if you are in a good condition,
(13:06):
if you're managing your nervous system,your body, feeling your health, you
will choose the best decision thatis available for you right now where
you are in these circumstances.
And the main priority here thatwe can really take under control
is our condition because honestly,we're unable to manage the reality.
It can be also these black swans.
(13:26):
The thing that you are didn't expect.
The reality of our life is thechallenges and change because it's
happened day by day and you are reallyunable to influence for all of them.
And when people trying to keep what'sgoing on in outside reality, under their
control, they really just decreasing thelevel of adrenaline inside of their body.
The only one thing that we are ableto control is our condition and our
(13:47):
perception of what's going on outside.
And we're really able to manage thisand if you are in the best condition,
in the worst circumstances, you willfind the best way to get out of this
or to find a really good solution.
Opposite situation, if for along time you didn't sleep well.
Your prefrontal cortex that really helpyou to analyze the reality and find
the best decision are really tight.
(14:08):
And you don't have enoughresources inside you.
You don't have enough vitamin D and thisis very boring things and entrepreneurs
typically don't like to think aboutit because we will like to think
about creativity, about innovation,about how we can create the business.
And when you understand that you reallyneed to take care about it, that you
really need to sleep longer time.
Oh my God, they hate them.
(14:28):
And I was absolutely the same becausewhen I was younger, I also think,
I hate the fact that I need tosleep because I want to work more.
I want to create more projectsor it is another part of it,
sensitiveness to the dopamine.
So even if you are in this condition andyour in the best circumstances, you'll
be unable to use them because you don'thave enough resources to integrate it.
So this is two factors of this.
(14:50):
The first one is the condition and that'swhy companies started to think more about
wellbeing, about how not to go now becausethey really understood that you can try to
motivate your employers in the best way.
You can create a lot of amazingdevelopment programs that will
develop your hard skills, softskills, your leadership skills.
You can reorganize the business processin a different way but if your system
(15:13):
organized in those way where most of youremployees don't have enough resources to
integrate everything, you will not win.
And that's what typicallywe're working on.
And what should companies now in 2025,what should they focus on giving to
their employees, to their talent,
to keep them happy, to keep themaround, to keep them at their best.
(15:34):
How should companies investinto their employees today?
It's an interesting and good question.
Let me start, if you will allow withimportant part for business owners and
for business leaders because you shouldunderstand that you are the source of the
organizational culture of your company
and doesn't matter if this isstill small company with the 10
employers or this is a big companywith a hundred thousand employees.
(15:57):
Even if you are creating anamazing system, you are writing
the best values on the walls.
Like, clients is everything for us.
Whatever you want, you can imagine it.
The reality will be that you'll bethe source of the real organizational
culture if you have some kind ofco-founders, all of you, a relationship
between you will influence for theorganizational culture of your company.
And the first thing that you should startwith is your own understanding of your
(16:21):
real motivation.
I mean, what's the reason ofcreating specifically this business?
What you want to achieve?
And most of my clients who are facing withdifferent challenges in their companies
they don't really understood theirreal motivation while they created it.
And that's important to knowit about yourself and also
the reality is that maybe in onemoment when you want to provide some
(16:41):
change in your company, the first thingthat you need to change is yourself.
And sometimes difficult enough.
Some kind of surprising information formy clients and for the entrepreneurs that
one of the amazing navigator in your ownself-management and the management of
your company is the feeling of enjoyment.
I want to explain it a little bit.
This is near science under this positionbecause our enjoyments have a strong
(17:03):
connection with our fin system and finsstimulate, provides them the dopamine.
This is the same chain.
They have some kind ofcorrelation between each other.
And if you want to have much moremotivation to achieve new goals, to
don't feel procrastinating or burnout,you need to experience the small
enjoyment day by day, and you need toenjoy their process of achieving all
(17:28):
those goals in the same level, like youare enjoying the results and this is
philosophy that you should understandand integrate in your personal life as a
business owner and as a business founder.
It's really funny advicebecause nobody expected it.
So what do you expect?
Like work harder, work more.
Okay.
Take care about your body becausethis is your main resource.
(17:49):
But the most important part that wereally need to think of authentic care
of is our ability to enjoy every day.
Some small things and the main advicethat I'm typically given for my
clients, specifically the businessowners is to create some kind of list.
What things enjoy me.
There are simple things like, forexample, we spoke with you today about
it, this few signs of the spirits ofthe air, the smell of the air, the bird
(18:12):
singing and the playing on the guitar.
There are simple things that'sreally give you this feeling.
You name it that you really want it.
You really need it.
And this is the the first thing you needto have this list and you need to take
care about have this experience every day.
Everyone is able to have fiveminutes per day just to go for this
enjoyment and another part of thisis to learn your system, to make
(18:36):
decision through the enjoyment.
And again, this is always surprising.
Most of my clients and I willexplain how does it work.
You should start withvery simple decisions.
Like for example, when you will cometo the grocery store, what is your
favorite grocery store by the way??
Ooh.
My favorite one is Aldi.
Aldi, okay.
Aldi.
Best deals.
We don't have this in the California.
It's actually from Germany.
(18:57):
Ah, really?
Yeah.
The two Aldi brothers created it.
There's two different ones,but that's my favorite.
Tell me about yours.
Just a sec. Let me finish mythought and I will answer you.
So next time Bonnie will come to Odeand you will come to any department.
For example, when the fruitand vegetables you can find.
So come there and for the second,just ask yourself a question.
Right now I want more and look on this.
(19:18):
And imagine the taste of an apple or thebanana or the orange inside of your mouth.
And those product that you will wantmore, just take it and try to use this
practice in the very simple decisions.
Like, what I want to wear today.
Jeans or slacks.
And just imagine thefeelings on your body.
What will you like more?
(19:39):
And only when you will feel thisattraction to this solution.
Choose it.
And day by day startedthis very simple decision.
Use this enjoyment scienceto make this decision.
I want to ride on the car or onthe bicycle or one just to walk
from my house from the office.
Just one second maybeeven half of the minute.
Imagine all these choices.
(20:00):
And then your body will say,here, you need to choose it.
Just choose it and in thisway, day by day, you will learn
your system to make a decision.
Keeping in the attention all the signs.
The reality is that our body alwaysknew what we really need right now at
that moment because there are a lotof different system inside of us that
analyze what's going on in our body,what we need, what's going on around
(20:23):
us and this is their personal thing.
I mean, somebody loveonion, somebody hates it.
And it depends of your chemical balanceor something like that and your system
to make decision for the enjoyment, inone day at the moment, then you will be
in the very tough circumstances or youwill be in the moment when you need to
make some kind of important decision fastand you will not have enough information.
(20:45):
You will al already know all yourpersonal alphabet of the choosing of
the best decision for you right now atthat moment and when you are able to
speak with yourself on this language.
Your chance to make a best decision ina situation when you don't have enough
information will dramatically increase.
And that's what helped me when I wasin different situation of my life.
I trust for my body because I havea good relationship between us and I
(21:08):
know my body language, what I prefer.
What is the gut feeling thatwe're speaking about here?
Also, in psychological fields existsthis phrase that whole body Yes.
When your brain, your heart andyour gut really agree with that.
And you just need to train it with thevery simple exercises, as I told you.
This is about the business founders.
Okay?
And answering for your questionabout what we need to keep in
(21:29):
our mind, managing our companies.
So I think that it's veryimportant to provide this
information for our employees.
That your condition means a lot.
And if you feel anxiety, it's notnecessary that the problem is you are not
there, you're not good enough or maybeyou are worried about the relationship
with your manager or with your coworkersor you worry about the product or project
(21:50):
or results or something like that.
The main thing is that youhave too much cortisol on your
system or something like that.
And we need to provide this informationfor our employees because knowledge
about it really help people to managetheir own condition in a better way.
So, as an organization, of courseyou can keep this work life.
I don't like the phrase workworklife balance to be honest.
I can explain why but you can takecare about the processes that they give
(22:14):
some space for your employees just tokeep themselves in good conditions.
And the reality is that most Americancompanies that I know, comparing
it with the Russian companies,they really take care about it.
Because Russia had a veryspecific management tradition,
I will give you an example.
It was really difficult to explainfor my American employee, my company,
and my coworkers because we have astrong cultural differences here.
(22:37):
In Russia, your positivefeedback is the only one.
You don't have a negative feedback.
The only one feedback that you can getfor your manager is negative feedback.
And if you didn't have any feedback,that's mean that you're doing
everything well and everything fine.
We try to change it.
I mean, that's why we used allthis Google, Netflix methodology
of feedback of management.
But there are also realities.
(22:58):
This is something in our culture wedon't really emphasize a lot, some
positive things over there relationshipwith the reality because there
were some cultural aspects of that.
And when I started to work with theinternational team, some of my employees,
I knew this thing about myself andI tried to say, you are so good.
You're doing this job wellbut I really need to learn it.
And back to the point, youare like a business manager.
(23:20):
You can take and care about thecomfortable workspace, about the
balance but you are unable to come intothe home of all of your employers and
put them in bed at 11 o'clock, right?
The only one thing that you cando, you can just explain them
that, this is our responsibility toprovide normal workspace for you.
Processes that will work,that will not destroy your
(23:40):
health or something like this.
This is our responsibilitybut your responsibility is
to take care about yourself.
We are able to providethe knowledge about it.
There are a lot of themright now in the YouTube.
You also can use my channelor Andrew Huberman channel.
There are really a lot of differentinformation and also you can invite
some professional in this area toyour company and just ask them to
create several workshops, what willhelp people to deeply understand
(24:04):
how it works why their condition isthe first and the interpretation of
this condition is always the second.
So that's the main advices.
You need to provide this informationfor employees but you are unable to do
it if you are not know it by yourselflike a business owner, and if you didn't
experience it on yourself, and if youare able to share it and you know to
(24:25):
scale it all of your organization.
Absolutely.
And it's so true for a lot of us, bothcompanies and individuals to focus on the
communication piece and know that thereare cultural differences on how we'd like
to communicate and prefer that to happen.
And beyond that, how we replenish ourminds and ourselves to be better, to
achieve more and just listen to our body,to be able to guide us in our decisions.
(24:46):
Now, marina, we only havea couple minutes left.
I wanted to ask, where can peoplefind and connect with you online?
And I believe you have a specialoffer you wanna share with us as well.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you so much for keeping your mind.
We prepare a gift for all your listeners.
This is the guide for theentrepreneurs that I created for my
clients but, everyone can use it.
In this guide, you'll find the informationabout the actual research, what is
(25:07):
the specific of the entrepreneurialbrain and entrepreneurial mindset.
Also, the list of the nutritions andmedical analysis that you need to
keep on focus because they're reallyinfluence for your productivity.
And those devices that we recommend.
What will can help you to track yourbody activity, your sleep routine and
everything that you need just to keepyour main resource yourself in a good
(25:30):
condition to changes, to challenges,to pivoting, to opening new businesses,
to tough negotiations, to everythingwith that entrepreneurs typical facing.
You can use it there.
And also you can connect with me viamy website, the morgan impact.com,
on the LinkedIn, Maureen Morgan.
You will find it easily.
And also, I am sharing all thisinformation on my YouTube channel.
Maureen Morgan.
Wonderful, and we'll have all thoselinks available down in the show
(25:52):
notes and the description so everyonecan get connected with Marina.
Marina, we appreciate your time.
Love your energy.
Everything that you're bringingto America, the corporate
world, it's much needed.
Appreciate all the effortsthat you're putting out there.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
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