September 15, 2025 • 24 mins
Dreams fuel every great business achievement, yet most organizations struggle to bridge the gap between inspirational vision and practical implementation. This disconnect isn't just philosophical—it's costing the global economy $438 billion annually in lost productivity through employee disengagement.
Jacqueline Boone, founder of Dream Academy, joins us to share her revolutionary approach to business transformation that begins with reconnecting leaders to their authentic motivations. Drawing on her extensive experience working with organizations ranging from solopreneurs to Fortune 100 companies, Jackie explains her "Heart Language" methodology that helps executives merge heart and head in business settings.
"We sort of keep our heart for our personal lives and check it at the door when we go into business," Jackie observes. This separation creates workplaces where people can't bring their whole selves, ultimately leading to burnout and disengagement. The solution lies in a structured pathway from dreaming to doing: first reconnecting with authentic leadership styles, then developing ambitious visions, creating concrete KPIs, and finally implementing tactical changes—whether updating digital marketing, redesigning leadership development, or enhancing customer success strategies.
What makes Jackie's perspective particularly valuable is her global experience combined with deep appreciation for Asheville's unique community-centered approach. Having lived in major metropolitan centers worldwide, she sees our region's collaborative spirit as a model for the future of business innovation. As she prepares to present "Leading the Innovation Revolution" at the upcoming Asheville Business Summit, Jackie invites listeners to imagine what's possible when businesses bring heart and community back into their strategic planning. Connect with her at thedreamacademy.co to learn more about transforming your organization through authentic, purposeful leadership.
Thanks for Listening. You may contact me or our team at https://billgilliland.biz/
All the best!
Bill
Thanks for listening. Please hit the subscribe button, leave us a 5 star review, and share this podcast. You can reach me at williamgilliland@actioncoach.com or at https://billgilliland.biz/
All the best!
Bill
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bill Gilliland (00:02):
Hey there and welcome to this week's episode
of Epic Entrepreneurs.
I'm Bill Gilliland, your host.
I am the principal at ActionCoach, business Growth Partners
and one of the founders at theAsheville Business Summit, and
I'm super pumped about our guesttoday.
But first I want to remind youSummit's coming up.
It's less than two weeks away.
(00:22):
You need to get your tickets.
You need to go to wncsummitcom.
We've got an amazing speakerlineup and I just want to remind
you that the speakers areawesome.
You're going to learn a lotfrom them, but where you're
really going to learn is inlunch and in the hallway and
when you're talking to otherbusiness people just like you
that are out growing.
(00:42):
So go ahead and get yourtickets today.
Wncsummitcom.
Now I've got one of thespeakers for the WNC Summit.
I am super pumped.
I have got Jackie Boone.
She is the CEO, the founder ofthe Dream Academy.
Now that's cool.
Yeah, welcome to the podcast.
Jackie Boone (01:03):
Thank you, Bill All right.
Bill Gilliland (01:05):
What the heck is the Dream Academy?
Jackie Boone (01:07):
Let's let people know seeing two things out in
the workplace and all of mytraining and working with
Fortune 100, 500 companieseverything from solopreneurs to,
(01:33):
again, these hugemultinationals all over the
world that either we would go tothese really nice retreats and
settings and leadership journeysand it was wonderful, and you
have sound bowl healings andvision boards, but there was
nothing practical of what toactually do with that
information.
How do you now build a website?
How do you now build your salespipeline?
How do you now manage up withyour leadership?
(01:56):
Or I would be in the oppositeroom and boardrooms of Fortune
100s and I just noticed that itwas all about the tactical and
the how and there was no why andthere was no vision.
It was just because everyoneelse is doing this, so we need
to get on this bandwagon, and soI thought you know what, we
need the bridge, we need the whyand we need the how, and so
(02:18):
that's why I created the DreamAcademy and our mission is all
about really helping create,dreaming up a better world
through business, so that we canhelp companies and founders
really get clear on their visionand their dreams for their
business and then have practicaltools to implement that with
digital marketing, leadershipdevelopment and customer success
(02:42):
.
Bill Gilliland (02:43):
So it all starts with visioning, is that right?
Jackie Boone (02:48):
Exactly.
Bill Gilliland (02:49):
Okay, so how do you get that out of the
businesses?
Jackie Boone (02:56):
Yes, that's a great question.
So for me it all starts withgetting back into your heart
something that we've sort ofrelegated.
We sort of keep our heart forour personal lives, for our
family, for our loved ones, andthen we kind of check that at
the door sometimes when we gointo business.
But when we do that we don'tcare as much about the people
(03:20):
that we're working with.
We are not invested as much.
That passion, that drive, thatall comes from your heart, and
so the book that I'm writing andfinishing right now is called
Heart Language, and so when Iwork with business leaders, it's
really about getting them backin their heart first, and then I
always say bring your head withyou, but from that heart place.
(03:41):
That's really truth.
That's really getting clear onwhat your next steps are, what
really matters to you, what yourpersonal why and your
motivation is, especially forfounders, so that they can get
clear on what they're dreaming.
And those dreams are alwayskind of almost like the steps
(04:02):
are already laid out before youand it's just up to you to take
aligned action.
Bill Gilliland (04:08):
I love that.
Yeah, I love that.
So I remember my wife talkingabout being in a workshop and
with her she was a high levelmanager in a management team and
I think there were six or eightpeople in the room and she was
the only one that was the heart.
Everybody else was the head andthey sort of divided it out,
(04:31):
and so it was tough for herbecause she was so it was
interesting.
So do you find that inbusinesses that most people come
in and it's mostly the head?
Jackie Boone (04:42):
Yes, absolutely, and I think that that's why
we're seeing, if you, I'm atotal workplace nerd, so I'm
always looking at the Gallupworkforce report that just came
out for 2025.
And it's showing decreases inengagement like the highest
amount of burnout maybe thatthere's ever been.
And for me, when you're notbringing your whole self to any
(05:06):
part of your life, if you're notbringing your whole self to
your work, if you're notbringing your whole self to your
family, to your relationships,to your community, then you're
always kind of operating at halfsteam.
So the idea behind it is toreally be in integrity with
yourself, and the root of theword integrity is wholeness.
So I see that again and againpeople bifurcating themselves,
(05:31):
so they're one person in theirpersonal life and they're one
person in work, and what happensover time is you burn out, you
don't have that same drive andthen you kind of start to almost
become a little bit of a shellof yourself and that's not
helpful for anyone.
It's not helpful for you as anindividual, it's not helpful for
(05:51):
the company, because thenthere's a lack of engagement and
high turnover, and then youjust end up on this kind of
wheel if you don't really knowwhat motivates you.
Bill Gilliland (06:03):
Yeah, the stats on engagement are shocking Very
high, yeah, well, I mean.
Jackie Boone (06:09):
Well, it's very low.
Bill Gilliland (06:10):
Yeah, the lack of engagement, I mean the way I
always looked at it was like ifyou had a canoe with 10 people
in it, you had two people thatwere rowing the right way, you
sort of had six along for thejourney.
They were kind of looking atthe birds and binoculars or
something, and then you had twopeople that were actively
(06:32):
disengaged, which is basicallylike drilling a hole in the boat
or paddling the wrong way,which is, I mean, it's
unbelievable to me that peoplecould work in an environment
like that and would want to.
So I mean, so how do you dealwith that?
I mean, obviously that's partof the deal.
Jackie Boone (06:52):
Right, and just to put some numbers to that,
because I think that that wouldhelp, I just pulled up the
report.
So last year the globalemployee engagement fell,
costing the world economy $438billion in lost productivity.
That's unbelievable.
So when we talk about dreams,you know and you might think
(07:13):
that that's kind of airy-fairyor woo-woo or why would we bring
dreams into business, but to meit's literally dreams are what
has propelled humanity forward.
It's conceiving of somethingthat has not yet been invented,
not yet been created, bothpersonally and as an
(07:34):
organization, and going for thatvision and holding that and
then getting people reallyexcited about that.
And there's a real cost to nothaving that vision, to not
having that care, to not havingthat engagement.
So you asked that care, to nothaving that engagement.
So you asked about how to getpeople engaged.
For me it goes back a lot of thecoaching work I do.
I do a lot of leadership andexecutive coaching and the first
(07:56):
step is really getting back topeople's why and I have a
training that I do and the firstsection is called Be you.
So it's really returning peopleback to their authentic self.
What is their authentic styleof leadership.
I do a lot of work with theDISC profile, because I really
(08:16):
like that.
I think it's a really goodworkplace one in particular.
Bill Gilliland (08:20):
Yeah, it's easy, it's simple, it's
straightforward, but it worksand it's in depth actually when
you get into it yeah.
I love that yeah.
Jackie Boone (08:30):
Especially for communication styles and
understanding where differentpeople are coming from, with a
lot of director, vp level,people in that kind of
mid-management phase of theirlife where they're in their 30s,
(08:53):
they're in their 40s andthey're doing really well, but
they're starting to kind of askthose questions, those bigger
questions about like, hey, okay,I've been on this path for 15
or 20 years and I've checked allthe boxes and I have the salary
and I have the things.
But now I'm kind of like well,what, what, what's more, what
else is there?
So, getting them back to whothey are authentically and then
(09:16):
from that place, really helpingthem through a guided process go
into their dreams, bothpersonally and professionally
and for the organization.
And then the next step isgetting really clear about the
vision, and that vision is thatcombination of now we take the
dream that's kind of like youknow, high in the sky and then
(09:38):
actually start merging it withlike what does that look like in
the next six months year?
What are the KPIs we want to hitwith that?
What does the organization looklike six months or a year down
the line?
And then there's the finalpiece, which is the tactical.
So what are the things thatwe're going to need to bring in,
are we going to need to updateour SEO, are we going to need to
update our website, are wegoing to need to reformat, are
(10:01):
we going to create a new hiringstrategy?
And those are those tacticalpieces, but the tactical piece
is number four and mostcompanies it's the only piece
and maybe a little vision, notthe first three pieces.
Bill Gilliland (10:17):
Yeah, no, it makes complete sense to me.
I mean, certainly, certainly,that's the way I've always
approached things.
You got to start with the dreamand you get the goals, and then
you've got to learn what yougot to learn, and then you make
a plan and then you backed on it.
So it seems like it's the sameexact thing.
So, yeah, I love that.
I love that.
(10:37):
All right, what are you goingto talk about at the Business
Summit?
Jackie Boone (10:42):
Yes, I'm very excited.
It's a brand new workshop, soit's called Leading the
Innovation Revolution and how toCreate what's Next, and it's
going to layer a few of thethings that we've been talking
about really with that visionand that dream, but then also
the practicals, weaving inthings like AI, weaving in
(11:03):
digital marketing, also weavingin some of the tactical pieces
of that of how do you actuallycreate what's next and what
Asheville uniquely has to offer.
Yesterday I was just so caught.
So, as a quick littlebackground piece, I've lived all
over the world.
We moved from New York toAsheville four years ago.
(11:25):
I grew up in Atlanta, lived inSan Francisco, I've lived in
Hangzhou, I've lived in Spain,so I've literally been all over
the world, but I always knewthat when I wanted to root, I
wanted to root in Asheville andI absolutely love it here Ever
since I was a kid, going to camp, and so one of the things to me
that really differentiatesAsheville, after seeing all of
(11:46):
these big cities, is ourcommunity and what can happen
when we really come together,and I think that that is the
unique thing that our businesscommunity and our community in
general has to teach the rest ofthe world, specifically in the
States, where everything isincreasingly polarized and
(12:07):
people are kind of in their owncamps.
The perfect example of this isyesterday.
I was walking a dog that we'retaking care of because we do
Rover on the side, and aneighbor told us that bears were
in the area, and so I said,okay, thank you.
And as I'm walking up the street, I hear this crunch and it's
(12:28):
this huge tree that has fallendown in my neighbor's yard,
completely blocking the road,and so I was like, oh no, this
is, this is not good.
Within an hour it wascompletely cleaned up because we
called the Swannanoa we live inSwannanoa the fire department.
(12:50):
They came, they cleared thatpart, and then neighbors, all
five of us got together becauseit's on a woman's land, that's,
you know, she's in her 80s, soshe doesn't need to be cleaning
up a huge yard, and and we gotit all cleaned up within an hour
.
I'm like that would neverhappen in Atlanta, that would
(13:10):
never happen in New York, thatwould not happen in San
Francisco or all these reallybig cities that we think of as
faster, but just you know,neighbors coming together, and
she gave us, all you know,spaghetti or jars of marinara
sauce.
So I was like this is exactlywhat we have to offer in
thinking about what's next forthe Asheville business community
(13:32):
in particular.
Bill Gilliland (13:33):
Yeah, I love it.
I mean, one of the things we'reexcited about is that we've got
international speakers andthey're all here.
They're all in Western NorthCarolina and most of them are in
Asheville, but we're all herein Western North Carolina, so
it's pretty exciting that that'swhat we've got going on this
year.
We decided to go that routerather than to bring in the
(13:57):
people from outside.
We'll likely do that in thefuture.
We'll bring in who we need tobring in, who we think needs to
be here.
But we're super pumped tohighlight Asheville talent,
because I know probably you'relike a lot of people in
Asheville and most of yourbusiness is not actually here
yeah, it's somewhere else, andso it's pretty cool.
(14:18):
Well, let me get your thoughtson something.
We have a tagline.
It's called BE EPIC and it's anacronym, and I just want to get
your thought.
I'm going to give you theletters and let me give me a
couple of sentences on each, oneach.
Well, it's actually five, it'sit's, it's two words and it's
only five acronyms, so it's alittle bit of a.
(14:38):
I don't know what you'd callthat, but anyway, so that's B,
bepic, so B is bring the energy.
What B, be epic, so B is bringthe energy.
What's your thoughts aroundenergy?
Jackie Boone (14:51):
Well, I think that it goes back to everything we
were talking about with the whatdrives you, what lights you up,
what motivates you?
And that's one of the questionsI always ask people what are
you most excited about thesedays?
Because if you have that energyand that passion, you're going
to give 100 hundred percent toeverything that you're doing and
you're going to be fullypresent.
(15:11):
So that's what I think of whenI hear that Love it.
Bill Gilliland (15:14):
You got to have got to be energetic to be fully
present.
Yeah, I love that the E standsfor education.
Jackie Boone (15:22):
Well, I love education, since I literally
created a company aroundeducation, but I think education
is about um, it's, it's reallyabout maintaining that sense of
curiosity until your last breath.
It's about learning.
I really do think that beingyoung and being old is a state
(15:44):
of mind.
I watched my 100-year-old, mygrandmother, lived to be 100,
and she ate ice cream every dayof her life except for Advent
and Lent.
And on her 100th birthday sheate ice cream that morning and
she had this like justexuberance and energy and
laughter and she had this reallydeep throated cackle.
That was amazing and she saidyou tell it on me now, sugar.
(16:05):
You know, because I wasvideoing her and she had the
light in her eyes of a six yearold and I remember that stood
out to me so much that she's 100, but she's still young.
You know, I never thought ofher as old and I think that
that's a big part of continuingto educate yourself, continuing
to learn.
Bill Gilliland (16:24):
Yeah, that's exciting.
I already love your grandmother.
Yeah, my grandmother.
Actually, I had a grandmotherwho lived to be 100, too.
That's kind of interesting.
Yeah, no, and same deal.
Jackie Boone (16:33):
She ate ice cream.
Bill Gilliland (16:41):
That's yeah, that no, and same deal.
She ate.
You know she was, she was onewho would?
You know she never worriedabout like I mean she ate
healthy, but she didn't, shedidn't worry about it.
She was not like concernedabout I mean she, she enjoyed
food and she ate what she wanted.
You know it wasn't, she wasn'ttoo worried about all that, she
wasn't stressed about, you know,having the proper diet or doing
the thing.
And you know, I do think one ofthe reasons she lives so long,
she lived in a house with an oldhouse that had very steep
(17:05):
stairs going down to thebasement and she went up and
down those stairs probably two,three times a day and I actually
think the stairs, just you know, gave her great cardiovascular.
She never, I mean, she didn'twant like she was running or
anything, it was crazy.
Jackie Boone (17:20):
So so the P, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, no, it's good.
So the P stands for planning,yeah, so I think that that
really goes back to strategy.
Once you get clear on thatdream and vision, now it's all
about I'm all about six-month,90-day action plans and really
(17:41):
starting with the end in mind ofwhere you want to land, and
then working your way back ofwhat do you need to do in order
to land there, knowing thatthings will change, things will
move.
So I think that it's importantto have a plan, but to also be
flexible to the needs of themoment as they present
(18:01):
themselves.
Bill Gilliland (18:03):
Love it, love it , love it, love it.
So the I is inspiration.
You're going to like this one.
Jackie Boone (18:07):
Oh yeah, I love inspiration and I feel like you
can be inspired anywhere.
I think that's the beautifulthing about life, and if you're
fully living, I mean nature.
One of the main reasons why Ithink a lot of us live here is
just the nature here is just.
I mean, it's one of the mostbiodiverse regions in the world.
It's absolutely incredible.
(18:27):
So, I think being around theplaces, the environments, the
people that inspire you and forme in Spire, it's the root of
that word it's all about breath.
It's all about bringing outthat excitement in you and
breathing really that life force.
Without inspiration, what do wehave?
(18:49):
Yeah, love it, love it, and theC is commitment is commitment,
commitment, yes, uh, so I was athree-time varsity athlete.
I was, I walked onto the D onecrew team at Boston university
and so I think, being an athletepretty young uh, even though
I'm not quite the same level inany stretch of the imagination I
(19:12):
think it teaches you commitmentand dedication, because if you
don't commit to that dream orthat vision that you're going
for and do the daily alignedaction and I specifically say
aligned because it's not justabout doing every action that's
a waste of time and energy andyou will burn out quickly.
(19:32):
It's really about being clearabout where you're going and
then taking daily, committed,aligned action.
Bill Gilliland (19:41):
Daily committed, aligned actions.
I love it.
I love it yeah.
Jackie Boone (19:47):
And coach.
I know you believe in action.
Bill Gilliland (19:49):
Yeah, yeah, we do, you know it's, we got.
You know, I had a client onetime who was, you know,
qualified for the Olympic trialsand track and I asked him one
time I was like, look, what doesit take, and what have you
learned from running and fromathletics that you can take into
(20:11):
your business?
And what he said was veryinteresting.
He said there's always better.
He said it doesn't matter,there's always the next level.
You can always get a littlebetter time, you can always.
The human body and the humanmind and the human work can
(20:32):
always do better.
And I just thought, wow, that'sreally true.
You know, there's not, there'salways, there's always the next
level.
It doesn't matter how good youare, there's just always the
next level.
Jackie Boone (20:44):
Yeah, I think that's part of the human
experience is growth, and a keyvalue that I really believe in
is excellence.
Bill Gilliland (20:52):
Yeah, no, I love it.
I love it.
So how does somebody get aholdof you if they would like to get
in touch?
Jackie Boone (21:01):
Yeah, the best way is the website, the
dreamacademy.
It's one of those funky, coolnew domain names.
I'm also on LinkedIn asJacqueline Boone and the Dream
Academy and on Instagram as ourhandle is thedreamacademy and
(21:23):
then also Jacqueline Boone, soI'm happy to connect with anyone
, and there's a contact form onthe website.
So if you need to reach me,feel free to reach out that way,
and I always respond to thoseoutreaches.
So I do pay attention.
It's not going to disappearinto some void.
Bill Gilliland (21:41):
Yeah, I think it's obvious that whatever you
do, you do it to a high leveland I think, like you say,
you're going to be found.
If you reach out to Jackie,she's going to get in touch with
you.
So that's awesome.
Look, this is fantastic.
Thank you for being part of thecommunity.
(22:02):
Thank you for what you're doing.
Thank you for participating.
I can't wait to hear it.
I'm excited to hear thisparticular workshop, because
it's really a workshop.
I know you're going to not thesame way.
We're going to make people work.
When you come to the businesssummit, don't expect to sit
(22:23):
there and be bored and just takenotes.
You're going to walk out withactionable steps on what you can
do to make your life better andmake your business better.
That's what this whole thing isabout.
So I'm super excited.
So thanks for being a part.
Jackie Boone (22:39):
Yeah, thank you so much, Bill, can't wait.
Bill Gilliland (22:42):
Hey, and remember, get those tickets.
Wncsummitcom.
Hey, and we'll talk to you nexttime on Epic Entrepreneurs.
Until then, all the best.
Hey there and welcome to this week's episode
of Epic Entrepreneurs.
I'm Bill Gilliland, your host.
I am the principal at ActionCoach, business Growth Partners
and one of the founders at theAsheville Business Summit, and
I'm super pumped about our guesttoday.
But first I want to remind youSummit's coming up.
It's less than two weeks away.
(00:22):
You need to get your tickets.
You need to go to wncsummitcom.
We've got an amazing speakerlineup and I just want to remind
you that the speakers areawesome.
You're going to learn a lotfrom them, but where you're
really going to learn is inlunch and in the hallway and
when you're talking to otherbusiness people just like you
that are out growing.
(00:42):
So go ahead and get yourtickets today.
Wncsummitcom.
Now I've got one of thespeakers for the WNC Summit.
I am super pumped.
I have got Jackie Boone.
She is the CEO, the founder ofthe Dream Academy.
Now that's cool.
Yeah, welcome to the podcast.
Jackie Boone (01:03):
Thank you, Bill All right.
Bill Gilliland (01:05):
What the heck is the Dream Academy?
Jackie Boone (01:07):
Let's let people know seeing two things out in
the workplace and all of mytraining and working with
Fortune 100, 500 companieseverything from solopreneurs to,
(01:33):
again, these hugemultinationals all over the
world that either we would go tothese really nice retreats and
settings and leadership journeysand it was wonderful, and you
have sound bowl healings andvision boards, but there was
nothing practical of what toactually do with that
information.
How do you now build a website?
How do you now build your salespipeline?
How do you now manage up withyour leadership?
(01:56):
Or I would be in the oppositeroom and boardrooms of Fortune
100s and I just noticed that itwas all about the tactical and
the how and there was no why andthere was no vision.
It was just because everyoneelse is doing this, so we need
to get on this bandwagon, and soI thought you know what, we
need the bridge, we need the whyand we need the how, and so
(02:18):
that's why I created the DreamAcademy and our mission is all
about really helping create,dreaming up a better world
through business, so that we canhelp companies and founders
really get clear on their visionand their dreams for their
business and then have practicaltools to implement that with
digital marketing, leadershipdevelopment and customer success
(02:42):
.
Bill Gilliland (02:43):
So it all starts with visioning, is that right?
Jackie Boone (02:48):
Exactly.
Bill Gilliland (02:49):
Okay, so how do you get that out of the
businesses?
Jackie Boone (02:56):
Yes, that's a great question.
So for me it all starts withgetting back into your heart
something that we've sort ofrelegated.
We sort of keep our heart forour personal lives, for our
family, for our loved ones, andthen we kind of check that at
the door sometimes when we gointo business.
But when we do that we don'tcare as much about the people
(03:20):
that we're working with.
We are not invested as much.
That passion, that drive, thatall comes from your heart, and
so the book that I'm writing andfinishing right now is called
Heart Language, and so when Iwork with business leaders, it's
really about getting them backin their heart first, and then I
always say bring your head withyou, but from that heart place.
(03:41):
That's really truth.
That's really getting clear onwhat your next steps are, what
really matters to you, what yourpersonal why and your
motivation is, especially forfounders, so that they can get
clear on what they're dreaming.
And those dreams are alwayskind of almost like the steps
(04:02):
are already laid out before youand it's just up to you to take
aligned action.
Bill Gilliland (04:08):
I love that.
Yeah, I love that.
So I remember my wife talkingabout being in a workshop and
with her she was a high levelmanager in a management team and
I think there were six or eightpeople in the room and she was
the only one that was the heart.
Everybody else was the head andthey sort of divided it out,
(04:31):
and so it was tough for herbecause she was so it was
interesting.
So do you find that inbusinesses that most people come
in and it's mostly the head?
Jackie Boone (04:42):
Yes, absolutely, and I think that that's why
we're seeing, if you, I'm atotal workplace nerd, so I'm
always looking at the Gallupworkforce report that just came
out for 2025.
And it's showing decreases inengagement like the highest
amount of burnout maybe thatthere's ever been.
And for me, when you're notbringing your whole self to any
(05:06):
part of your life, if you're notbringing your whole self to
your work, if you're notbringing your whole self to your
family, to your relationships,to your community, then you're
always kind of operating at halfsteam.
So the idea behind it is toreally be in integrity with
yourself, and the root of theword integrity is wholeness.
So I see that again and againpeople bifurcating themselves,
(05:31):
so they're one person in theirpersonal life and they're one
person in work, and what happensover time is you burn out, you
don't have that same drive andthen you kind of start to almost
become a little bit of a shellof yourself and that's not
helpful for anyone.
It's not helpful for you as anindividual, it's not helpful for
(05:51):
the company, because thenthere's a lack of engagement and
high turnover, and then youjust end up on this kind of
wheel if you don't really knowwhat motivates you.
Bill Gilliland (06:03):
Yeah, the stats on engagement are shocking Very
high, yeah, well, I mean.
Jackie Boone (06:09):
Well, it's very low.
Bill Gilliland (06:10):
Yeah, the lack of engagement, I mean the way I
always looked at it was like ifyou had a canoe with 10 people
in it, you had two people thatwere rowing the right way, you
sort of had six along for thejourney.
They were kind of looking atthe birds and binoculars or
something, and then you had twopeople that were actively
(06:32):
disengaged, which is basicallylike drilling a hole in the boat
or paddling the wrong way,which is, I mean, it's
unbelievable to me that peoplecould work in an environment
like that and would want to.
So I mean, so how do you dealwith that?
I mean, obviously that's partof the deal.
Jackie Boone (06:52):
Right, and just to put some numbers to that,
because I think that that wouldhelp, I just pulled up the
report.
So last year the globalemployee engagement fell,
costing the world economy $438billion in lost productivity.
That's unbelievable.
So when we talk about dreams,you know and you might think
(07:13):
that that's kind of airy-fairyor woo-woo or why would we bring
dreams into business, but to meit's literally dreams are what
has propelled humanity forward.
It's conceiving of somethingthat has not yet been invented,
not yet been created, bothpersonally and as an
(07:34):
organization, and going for thatvision and holding that and
then getting people reallyexcited about that.
And there's a real cost to nothaving that vision, to not
having that care, to not havingthat engagement.
So you asked that care, to nothaving that engagement.
So you asked about how to getpeople engaged.
For me it goes back a lot of thecoaching work I do.
I do a lot of leadership andexecutive coaching and the first
(07:56):
step is really getting back topeople's why and I have a
training that I do and the firstsection is called Be you.
So it's really returning peopleback to their authentic self.
What is their authentic styleof leadership.
I do a lot of work with theDISC profile, because I really
(08:16):
like that.
I think it's a really goodworkplace one in particular.
Bill Gilliland (08:20):
Yeah, it's easy, it's simple, it's
straightforward, but it worksand it's in depth actually when
you get into it yeah.
I love that yeah.
Jackie Boone (08:30):
Especially for communication styles and
understanding where differentpeople are coming from, with a
lot of director, vp level,people in that kind of
mid-management phase of theirlife where they're in their 30s,
(08:53):
they're in their 40s andthey're doing really well, but
they're starting to kind of askthose questions, those bigger
questions about like, hey, okay,I've been on this path for 15
or 20 years and I've checked allthe boxes and I have the salary
and I have the things.
But now I'm kind of like well,what, what, what's more, what
else is there?
So, getting them back to whothey are authentically and then
(09:16):
from that place, really helpingthem through a guided process go
into their dreams, bothpersonally and professionally
and for the organization.
And then the next step isgetting really clear about the
vision, and that vision is thatcombination of now we take the
dream that's kind of like youknow, high in the sky and then
(09:38):
actually start merging it withlike what does that look like in
the next six months year?
What are the KPIs we want to hitwith that?
What does the organization looklike six months or a year down
the line?
And then there's the finalpiece, which is the tactical.
So what are the things thatwe're going to need to bring in,
are we going to need to updateour SEO, are we going to need to
update our website, are wegoing to need to reformat, are
(10:01):
we going to create a new hiringstrategy?
And those are those tacticalpieces, but the tactical piece
is number four and mostcompanies it's the only piece
and maybe a little vision, notthe first three pieces.
Bill Gilliland (10:17):
Yeah, no, it makes complete sense to me.
I mean, certainly, certainly,that's the way I've always
approached things.
You got to start with the dreamand you get the goals, and then
you've got to learn what yougot to learn, and then you make
a plan and then you backed on it.
So it seems like it's the sameexact thing.
So, yeah, I love that.
I love that.
(10:37):
All right, what are you goingto talk about at the Business
Summit?
Jackie Boone (10:42):
Yes, I'm very excited.
It's a brand new workshop, soit's called Leading the
Innovation Revolution and how toCreate what's Next, and it's
going to layer a few of thethings that we've been talking
about really with that visionand that dream, but then also
the practicals, weaving inthings like AI, weaving in
(11:03):
digital marketing, also weavingin some of the tactical pieces
of that of how do you actuallycreate what's next and what
Asheville uniquely has to offer.
Yesterday I was just so caught.
So, as a quick littlebackground piece, I've lived all
over the world.
We moved from New York toAsheville four years ago.
(11:25):
I grew up in Atlanta, lived inSan Francisco, I've lived in
Hangzhou, I've lived in Spain,so I've literally been all over
the world, but I always knewthat when I wanted to root, I
wanted to root in Asheville andI absolutely love it here Ever
since I was a kid, going to camp, and so one of the things to me
that really differentiatesAsheville, after seeing all of
(11:46):
these big cities, is ourcommunity and what can happen
when we really come together,and I think that that is the
unique thing that our businesscommunity and our community in
general has to teach the rest ofthe world, specifically in the
States, where everything isincreasingly polarized and
(12:07):
people are kind of in their owncamps.
The perfect example of this isyesterday.
I was walking a dog that we'retaking care of because we do
Rover on the side, and aneighbor told us that bears were
in the area, and so I said,okay, thank you.
And as I'm walking up the street, I hear this crunch and it's
(12:28):
this huge tree that has fallendown in my neighbor's yard,
completely blocking the road,and so I was like, oh no, this
is, this is not good.
Within an hour it wascompletely cleaned up because we
called the Swannanoa we live inSwannanoa the fire department.
(12:50):
They came, they cleared thatpart, and then neighbors, all
five of us got together becauseit's on a woman's land, that's,
you know, she's in her 80s, soshe doesn't need to be cleaning
up a huge yard, and and we gotit all cleaned up within an hour
.
I'm like that would neverhappen in Atlanta, that would
(13:10):
never happen in New York, thatwould not happen in San
Francisco or all these reallybig cities that we think of as
faster, but just you know,neighbors coming together, and
she gave us, all you know,spaghetti or jars of marinara
sauce.
So I was like this is exactlywhat we have to offer in
thinking about what's next forthe Asheville business community
(13:32):
in particular.
Bill Gilliland (13:33):
Yeah, I love it.
I mean, one of the things we'reexcited about is that we've got
international speakers andthey're all here.
They're all in Western NorthCarolina and most of them are in
Asheville, but we're all herein Western North Carolina, so
it's pretty exciting that that'swhat we've got going on this
year.
We decided to go that routerather than to bring in the
(13:57):
people from outside.
We'll likely do that in thefuture.
We'll bring in who we need tobring in, who we think needs to
be here.
But we're super pumped tohighlight Asheville talent,
because I know probably you'relike a lot of people in
Asheville and most of yourbusiness is not actually here
yeah, it's somewhere else, andso it's pretty cool.
(14:18):
Well, let me get your thoughtson something.
We have a tagline.
It's called BE EPIC and it's anacronym, and I just want to get
your thought.
I'm going to give you theletters and let me give me a
couple of sentences on each, oneach.
Well, it's actually five, it'sit's, it's two words and it's
only five acronyms, so it's alittle bit of a.
(14:38):
I don't know what you'd callthat, but anyway, so that's B,
bepic, so B is bring the energy.
What B, be epic, so B is bringthe energy.
What's your thoughts aroundenergy?
Jackie Boone (14:51):
Well, I think that it goes back to everything we
were talking about with the whatdrives you, what lights you up,
what motivates you?
And that's one of the questionsI always ask people what are
you most excited about thesedays?
Because if you have that energyand that passion, you're going
to give 100 hundred percent toeverything that you're doing and
you're going to be fullypresent.
(15:11):
So that's what I think of whenI hear that Love it.
Bill Gilliland (15:14):
You got to have got to be energetic to be fully
present.
Yeah, I love that the E standsfor education.
Jackie Boone (15:22):
Well, I love education, since I literally
created a company aroundeducation, but I think education
is about um, it's, it's reallyabout maintaining that sense of
curiosity until your last breath.
It's about learning.
I really do think that beingyoung and being old is a state
(15:44):
of mind.
I watched my 100-year-old, mygrandmother, lived to be 100,
and she ate ice cream every dayof her life except for Advent
and Lent.
And on her 100th birthday sheate ice cream that morning and
she had this like justexuberance and energy and
laughter and she had this reallydeep throated cackle.
That was amazing and she saidyou tell it on me now, sugar.
(16:05):
You know, because I wasvideoing her and she had the
light in her eyes of a six yearold and I remember that stood
out to me so much that she's 100, but she's still young.
You know, I never thought ofher as old and I think that
that's a big part of continuingto educate yourself, continuing
to learn.
Bill Gilliland (16:24):
Yeah, that's exciting.
I already love your grandmother.
Yeah, my grandmother.
Actually, I had a grandmotherwho lived to be 100, too.
That's kind of interesting.
Yeah, no, and same deal.
Jackie Boone (16:33):
She ate ice cream.
Bill Gilliland (16:41):
That's yeah, that no, and same deal.
She ate.
You know she was, she was onewho would?
You know she never worriedabout like I mean she ate
healthy, but she didn't, shedidn't worry about it.
She was not like concernedabout I mean she, she enjoyed
food and she ate what she wanted.
You know it wasn't, she wasn'ttoo worried about all that, she
wasn't stressed about, you know,having the proper diet or doing
the thing.
And you know, I do think one ofthe reasons she lives so long,
she lived in a house with an oldhouse that had very steep
(17:05):
stairs going down to thebasement and she went up and
down those stairs probably two,three times a day and I actually
think the stairs, just you know, gave her great cardiovascular.
She never, I mean, she didn'twant like she was running or
anything, it was crazy.
Jackie Boone (17:20):
So so the P, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, no, it's good.
So the P stands for planning,yeah, so I think that that
really goes back to strategy.
Once you get clear on thatdream and vision, now it's all
about I'm all about six-month,90-day action plans and really
(17:41):
starting with the end in mind ofwhere you want to land, and
then working your way back ofwhat do you need to do in order
to land there, knowing thatthings will change, things will
move.
So I think that it's importantto have a plan, but to also be
flexible to the needs of themoment as they present
(18:01):
themselves.
Bill Gilliland (18:03):
Love it, love it , love it, love it.
So the I is inspiration.
You're going to like this one.
Jackie Boone (18:07):
Oh yeah, I love inspiration and I feel like you
can be inspired anywhere.
I think that's the beautifulthing about life, and if you're
fully living, I mean nature.
One of the main reasons why Ithink a lot of us live here is
just the nature here is just.
I mean, it's one of the mostbiodiverse regions in the world.
It's absolutely incredible.
(18:27):
So, I think being around theplaces, the environments, the
people that inspire you and forme in Spire, it's the root of
that word it's all about breath.
It's all about bringing outthat excitement in you and
breathing really that life force.
Without inspiration, what do wehave?
(18:49):
Yeah, love it, love it, and theC is commitment is commitment,
commitment, yes, uh, so I was athree-time varsity athlete.
I was, I walked onto the D onecrew team at Boston university
and so I think, being an athletepretty young uh, even though
I'm not quite the same level inany stretch of the imagination I
(19:12):
think it teaches you commitmentand dedication, because if you
don't commit to that dream orthat vision that you're going
for and do the daily alignedaction and I specifically say
aligned because it's not justabout doing every action that's
a waste of time and energy andyou will burn out quickly.
(19:32):
It's really about being clearabout where you're going and
then taking daily, committed,aligned action.
Bill Gilliland (19:41):
Daily committed, aligned actions.
I love it.
I love it yeah.
Jackie Boone (19:47):
And coach.
I know you believe in action.
Bill Gilliland (19:49):
Yeah, yeah, we do, you know it's, we got.
You know, I had a client onetime who was, you know,
qualified for the Olympic trialsand track and I asked him one
time I was like, look, what doesit take, and what have you
learned from running and fromathletics that you can take into
(20:11):
your business?
And what he said was veryinteresting.
He said there's always better.
He said it doesn't matter,there's always the next level.
You can always get a littlebetter time, you can always.
The human body and the humanmind and the human work can
(20:32):
always do better.
And I just thought, wow, that'sreally true.
You know, there's not, there'salways, there's always the next
level.
It doesn't matter how good youare, there's just always the
next level.
Jackie Boone (20:44):
Yeah, I think that's part of the human
experience is growth, and a keyvalue that I really believe in
is excellence.
Bill Gilliland (20:52):
Yeah, no, I love it.
I love it.
So how does somebody get aholdof you if they would like to get
in touch?
Jackie Boone (21:01):
Yeah, the best way is the website, the
dreamacademy.
It's one of those funky, coolnew domain names.
I'm also on LinkedIn asJacqueline Boone and the Dream
Academy and on Instagram as ourhandle is thedreamacademy and
(21:23):
then also Jacqueline Boone, soI'm happy to connect with anyone
, and there's a contact form onthe website.
So if you need to reach me,feel free to reach out that way,
and I always respond to thoseoutreaches.
So I do pay attention.
It's not going to disappearinto some void.
Bill Gilliland (21:41):
Yeah, I think it's obvious that whatever you
do, you do it to a high leveland I think, like you say,
you're going to be found.
If you reach out to Jackie,she's going to get in touch with
you.
So that's awesome.
Look, this is fantastic.
Thank you for being part of thecommunity.
(22:02):
Thank you for what you're doing.
Thank you for participating.
I can't wait to hear it.
I'm excited to hear thisparticular workshop, because
it's really a workshop.
I know you're going to not thesame way.
We're going to make people work.
When you come to the businesssummit, don't expect to sit
(22:23):
there and be bored and just takenotes.
You're going to walk out withactionable steps on what you can
do to make your life better andmake your business better.
That's what this whole thing isabout.
So I'm super excited.
So thanks for being a part.
Jackie Boone (22:39):
Yeah, thank you so much, Bill, can't wait.
Bill Gilliland (22:42):
Hey, and remember, get those tickets.
Wncsummitcom.
Hey, and we'll talk to you nexttime on Epic Entrepreneurs.
Until then, all the best.
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