May 6, 2025 • 25 mins
Change can feel daunting, especially in our careers, but it can also lead to incredible opportunities if approached with the right mindset. This episode invites you into a powerful conversation with Andrew Almazan, a seasoned leadership coach who shares his transformative journey from a corporate executive to an empowering mentor in times of uncertainty. Andrew brings a wealth of experience and insights, illustrating how we can thrive through change by embracing gratitude and maintaining the relationships that matter most.
Discover the importance of leaning into tough conversations and learning from transitions, as Andrew emphasizes that our mindset is one of the most powerful tools in our arsenal. Fostering a culture of gratitude not only supports individual growth but also enhances workplace dynamics. Andrew's relatable anecdotes and practical advice encourage us to reflect on our strengths and how to better leverage them during challenging times.
Join us as we dive into the art of navigating change, redefining success, and prioritizing what truly matters in our professional journeys. We're excited to hear your thoughts on gratitude and career transitions! Don't forget to subscribe, share with friends, and leave a review to help others discover these valuable insights.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and welcome back to the next episode of
Overcome Yourself, the podcast.
As you know, my name is Nicoleand I'm so excited to be here
today with Andrew.
Now, andrew, you are a coach.
You're a leadership coach, butyou have a very interesting
story where you were progressingin your career and then you had
(00:22):
to pivot and you had to learn awhole new set of skills.
So please introduce yourself,andrew, and tell us a little bit
about your story.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Absolutely.
Thank you so much, nicole, andappreciate you and your audience
taking a moment to listen tothe story.
I hope it offers some value,insights and inspiration for
anybody that is listening.
As you mentioned, I am aleadership and executive coach.
Currently I'm the founder ofBrave Leadership Guild.
Previously to that, I was the VPof people operations for a top
(00:55):
five media company in theautomotive industry and I was at
that company for over a decadeand it was amazing.
It was a great fun time full ofI mean awesome learning and
development opportunities.
For me, it's where I cut myteeth as a professional.
I worked my way from the bottomto the top of the organization,
(01:17):
starting out as a staff editor,so on the journalism side of
the business, working my way toeventually become the VP of
people operations, and you knowit.
Even looking back on it now itI have nothing, no remorse about
(01:38):
the situation.
It's just, you know, at a highlevel, the, like so many, ran
into some economic headwindsthat finally caught up after
COVID and, ironically enough, asthe VP of people operations, as
much as you know, creating astrategic way to develop company
(01:58):
culture and a strong bond crossdepartmentally bond cross
departmentally you also have tobe in charge of headcount
reduction strategies and thateventually ended with you know,
me and the senior leadershipteam really having to take a
tough look at all the existingpositions.
And you know my position was oneof those positions that
(02:19):
ultimately, you know I had tovote on in in terms of what was
in the best interest for thelongevity of the organization.
I was given an opportunity tostay in a different capacity,
but I also looked at that as apersonal opportunity to double
down on what my passion was,what my passion had been over
(02:43):
the maybe the last two and ahalf years prior to that,
leading up to that event.
And you know, on one end it wasa, it was a turning of the
chapter, but it was also.
It was also a moment where, youknow you hear about this a lot
where sometimes people end uphaving to take that leap.
There's that point of no returnwhere you have a dream or a
(03:06):
passion and you really do haveto.
I know it's cliche, but youreally do have to kind of burn
the boat sometimes and you canburn the boats without burning
bridges.
I will say that that's alsosomething I'm very passionate
about.
So I did that I burned the boatson my passion doubled people
the partners and my colleagues.
(03:26):
We had an intact relationshipas we transitioned through that.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
That's powerful because that's a scary, scary
junction to find yourself in.
So I find that to be like justvery incredible right and very
future focused.
Right, because it's very easyfor us to get stuck in the
moment where you're like, oh mygod, I don't have a job anymore.
(04:16):
What am I gonna do?
Versus this is a stepping stoneonto something, and I want to
make sure that theserelationships I can maintain
them, because in our careersthat's what we leave with right.
We leave with the relationshipsand the experience that we get,
(04:37):
and you never, ever know howone of those relationships you
know might come into play lateron.
You never know who in that pastlife right, because it feels
like a past life right Iswatching and you never know what
opportunities that can spark.
So thank you so much forsharing that with us.
Andrew, talk to me a little bitabout as a leadership coach,
(05:02):
about how we handle those bigchanges.
Like how do you maintain thatperspective?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
yeah, that's a great question and it's something that
I love helping clients with andnon-clients, just people I run
into.
Because outside of the I willadd, outside of the executive
coaching when I transition, I'mstill very much in the middle of
building my own practice to apoint where you know I can just
(05:30):
have that be what I do.
So on the side I still I gotback into craft brewing and I
work at one of SouthernCalifornia's oldest craft
breweries as an assistant GMright now oldest craft breweries
as an assistant GM right nowand which is which is really
awesome, because I get to stayintegrated into the aspect of
(05:53):
work culture and establishedteams and working within an
environment where you have, youknow, top to bottom
organizational structure.
I'm able to also have a provingground, so to speak, for some
of my training and developmentphilosophies and you know this
kind of leads into your question.
It's even in my past life as aVP of operations and even into
(06:18):
now, the fact that I have thisendeavor.
The most important thing I thinkwe can do as people who are
passionate about something andwe have a vision that we're
currently building is be fullytransparent.
Take a chance on being fullytransparent.
I think people will focus andput a lot of pressure on those
(06:42):
sorts of situations orconversations going right with
stakeholders.
I think we need.
We can't focus on what's out ofour control right, and how
people take that news is kind ofoutside of our control.
But what we can control is howwell do we articulate and
communicate the importance ofthis initiative.
(07:05):
How well do we block off thetime to reflect on why someone
might be worried, frustrated,feel like it's a conflict?
You know of our time, ourpotential productivity.
You know how much time did wethink about integrating that
into the conversation which isgoing to be a tough conversation
(07:27):
?
But just because you know thisis a, this is a life lesson
that's important to me too Ilove sharing with people is just
because a conversation or amoment is about to be tough,
that's never one of thedetermining factors of whether
we should lean into thatconversation or not.
Oftentimes the toughest thingsare the things that promote the
(07:48):
most growth for us.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I totally agree with that, and those conversations
can be very scary to have.
So it's very easy to be likeI'll do it later.
I'll do it later um but you'restill right?
no, no, but you're still rightbecause you know when those come
, when those hard conversationshappen, you know, um, something
(08:14):
happens, right, it's either thething gets fixed or we move on
from the thing.
You know whatever, like if it's.
You know, like, even if you'rea couple and you're having, you
know you have to have a toughconversation and either we fix
whatever is going on or we'renot a couple anymore or at work.
Either we fix the issue You'renot arriving to work at time,
you're not doing productivity orto happen.
(08:47):
And so I know, especially forour neurodivergent listeners,
that can be something that'svery important to hear, because
I know, I know it's really easyto push things off for way too
long because it's uncomfortableand and so being able to to go
into it with, you know, with amore positive mindset, a more
positive framing, right?
Sorry, sorry, I just went downlike three different tracks in
(09:12):
my mind, all right.
So I want you to talk to me,though.
My book is called OvercomeYourself, also this podcast, and
one of my biggest like lessons,one of my biggest takeaways, is
gratitude.
I had to learn to practicegratitude, so can you tell me
what role, if any, gratitudeplays in this process of having
(09:32):
hard conversations, of changingthese seasons of change that we
have.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Absolutely.
Yeah, no, that's great.
I love that you mentioned that,because gratitude to me is
really at one of the it's at thecore, and it's one of the
foundations to what I believe ishaving a great mindset, one
that looks at the world and seesopportunity instead of, you
(10:01):
know, circumstances that areeither holding us back, and it
also creates learning out ofchallenges and failure, right.
So when you have, when youchoose, I wanna me personally
and how I kind of look at it andshare with people.
When we talk about gratitude, Ido think it's a choice.
(10:23):
I mean, maybe some people havea natural proclivity to be more
positive.
Even then, I think it's still askill, right, and people can be
encouraged by that fact.
You can train that, you canadopt that mindset, and it might
not feel natural at first, butit's just like a habit, right?
(10:44):
You're creating those neuralpathways to pay attention to the
things that are going to maybegive you that, that dopamine,
right, and when you.
One thing I used to talk aboutin terms of still in line with
gratitude is when people wouldfail.
You know that's a great placeto see what the culture is of a
(11:08):
company or of teams is.
How do they, how do they handle, how do they meet, how do they
deal with failure, messing upmistakes?
It can be something superinnocuous like a small admin
error.
You can tell a lot about thedynamic of how people look at
failure just by how someone asupervisor or manager reacts
(11:31):
breaking a pint glass onaccident or pouring the wrong
beer.
And I think the best leadersare at a point where they've
done that exercise enough timesto where they can look at hey,
this is either me gravitating on, look, you just wasted 16
(11:53):
ounces of beer that we're nevergoing to get back.
Or hey, look, this is anopportunity for me to slow down,
take a moment with this staffmember and I'm going to equip
them with the knowledge to pourthe best pints of beer for
consumers moving forward.
Or, hey, that admin mistake.
If you're in human resourcesresources, there's a lot of
(12:14):
admin work, there's a lot ofcompliance to fill out and I I
used to work with my admin teamon that on the vp of operation
side and you know, and there's alot of deadlines and and
regulations that you get a lotof mail about.
Uh, sometimes you have to kindof follow back up and you know,
work through some errors, if anauditor comes in and hits you up
(12:36):
, but you can either getstressed, frazzled or you can
say, look, this is anopportunity.
Now we have tremendous insightabout what that regulation or
what that process wants, wants,and you're going to be such a
much more effective HRgeneralist.
Now, uh, and think about this.
(12:57):
It's like sometimes theseprocesses are quarterly or
annually.
You don't ever, you, you rarelyget these learning
opportunities.
So, um, that lesson was justpresented to you.
Take it and become moreeffective.
So, uh, that's more of a, youknow, a kind of a practical
example of me sharing somethings where I think gratitude
(13:19):
has, and a gratitude mindset hascome to light in my practice as
well as working with people.
And, yeah, I think it's just achoice.
It's your paradigm and how youchoose to look at reality,
because that's my last point onthat is choice.
(13:39):
The idea of choice is soimportant because all these
realities, to me they're real.
You know if someone looks at itnegatively, if someone looks at
their life and says it's notthat great, if you say that to
yourself, you know a lot oftimes, you know enough times.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Well, what your mind does is it finds evidence.
So if you're saying my lifesucks, your mind is going to
look for evidence that that'strue and be like you're
absolutely right because yourmind is a yes man.
And it's going to be like, yeah, you're right, yeah, you're
right, yeah, you're right, andit's going to find evidence for
whatever you're focusing on.
You're 100 percent correct.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
And I love that you mentioned that.
I think that's an importantpoint, nicole, because, like you
said, then if that's the case,why wouldn't anyone want to
create a life where their brain,their yes person, is looking
for all the evidence to say youknow, I'm going to be super
effective, success is justaround the corner.
I'm going to live a life ofimpact and provide value to all
(14:36):
those I love and care about.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Yes, yes, yes.
And then we have to learn,though, because, to focus on
those things on a micro scale,right, and it's just like you
were talking about when you makea mistake, how do you talk to
yourself?
When your kids make a mistake,how do you talk to them?
Right, are we focused onputting blame?
Oh, my God, you're so stupid.
(14:59):
I can't believe that youdropped this cup of milk.
Like.
You wouldn't talk to afour-year-old like that.
Like not, if you want them togrow up to be healthy and not
hate you, right, You'd be likeoh, we dropped the milk.
What do we do?
We're focusing on the solution.
Oh, we got to pick it up.
All right, we got to get a rag,let's clean it up.
Let's put some soap, because wedon't want it to get stinky,
(15:19):
right, and we focus on solutions, and so I think that's such a
good point, and it's not just inthe workplace that that comes
out.
You know, like in school, likehow are you with yourself?
Like, what do you say when youmake a mistake?
Are you beating yourself up orare you being like okay, how do
we fix this?
How do we have to build theneural pathways?
(15:45):
There's actually a littlesection of our brain that is
dedicated entirely to gratitudeand if we don't use it, just
like any other muscle, itatrophies like it's not going to
function.
So the only way that we canbuild it back up just like if
this muscle atrophied right,like if we have it in a cast
what do you got to do?
You got to work out and you gotto get those muscles strong
(16:05):
again.
Same thing with gratitude.
What do you got to do?
You got to work out and you gotto get those muscles strong
again.
Same thing with gratitude.
Right.
And so I think it's such a bigdeal what you said of the
perspective and seeing theopportunities, because that's
what, that's what I've noticedhas happened in my life and
that's the secret that I found,um, and it's what helped me do
the things I needed to do to getbetter.
Right, because I had, like avitamin deficiency.
(16:33):
But it was practicing gratitudethat said, hey, I'm worth going
to the doctor and telling themthat this is happening to me,
I'm worth getting better, likeit's worth it.
I'm worth it, and it wasgratitude that got me to that
point, right.
And so, even in the smallest,tiniest, whatever you can find,
even it's just the oxygen in theair that I can breathe.
It is the perfect combinationof oxygen, right?
Um, we can always findsomething to be grateful for,
(16:53):
and it is a choice that we haveto make.
Even when that little part ofour brain is not working like
it's supposed to, we still haveto choose to say, hey, I'm gonna
find three things.
And then, little by little, webuilt it up and, like you said,
we build those neural pathways.
Um, that's all in my book too.
Um, I, I talked about theneural pathways and stuff.
(17:14):
So awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
stuff like this is just absolutely amazing, andrew
yeah, and I, if I could, I justwant to add one thing.
You inspired a thought there,um, when you said sometimes you
just it can be something assmall as being grateful for
being able to breathe oxygenright, or there being oxygen to
breathe right, like sometimesyou do have to.
It's like.
(17:35):
It's like the metaphor, the ageold metaphor that every
influencer talks about withgetting into fitness or, you
know, getting hopping back onthat fitness wagon if it's been
a while.
Sometimes you just need to putyour shoes and have your gym
clothes folded and they're ready.
Some extreme people I know thatare trying to get back on the
(17:57):
wagon.
After a while they'll sleep intheir gym clothes and that's
just the first step right andall these little ways to gamify,
creating a new habit.
It's very interesting and Ithink it's.
It's awesome that, and I believein leaning into processes like
that that are personally goingto help somebody.
But what you said inspired themain point I wanted to share,
(18:21):
which was I believe sometimespeople just need to start with a
floor right, like there's a,there's a ceiling, and then
there's a floor of of like whatsuccess looks like in terms of
when, what we're talking aboutforming the habit of having more
gratitude, showing up with moregratitude, and I think people
(18:44):
tend to get a little overwhelmedwith the end goal, the end
vision.
Sometimes it's so audacious andit's like that.
I think there's also the partof the brain that wants to
protect you from you know alittle bit of, you know looming
pain and hardship.
That's going to come withsomething like that.
That's going to come withsomething like that.
(19:09):
But I think if you canestablish a floor and say that
hitting the floor is also thesame thing as me achieving what
the ceiling can foreseeably looklike too.
So let's start with just I canbreathe today, and then you'll
be having gratitude for sometruly audacious things If you
just keep going.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yes, I mean, I remember a time I was having
panic attacks every day.
So for me, success was goingthrough a whole day without like
not breathing, and for a longtime.
Then finally it happened.
I was like, oh my God, that'ssuccess.
And then my next success wasgoing through a whole day not
crying, and then I was able todo that, and so little by little
(19:45):
.
So now I talk about likegetting your book published and
getting your podcast.
But that's not where it started.
It started with I wasn't sad.
Today, for the first time inyears, I wasn't sad.
I, the smallest denominator,like the tiniest, tiniest thing
(20:10):
that you can find, and then justfocus on that and be grateful
for that, and then it'll grow.
It'll grow and you'll startnoticing more.
So I love that.
I love that so much.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
That's huge.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yes, so talk to me about how we can stay in touch
with you, andrew.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I do have a website where itkind of talks about my backstory
, my philosophy, my credentials.
You can visit that atwwwbraveleadershipguildcom.
I'm also active on Instagramand LinkedIn.
Linkedin is going to be undermy my personal name, so Andrew
(20:53):
Almazan.
You can look that up andthere's a links to Brave
Leadership Guild there.
But outside of that, you know,one thing that is really special
to me that I finished recentlywas I've taken my 15 years of
experience in American businessso far and what I wanted to do
was compile something free,value for people, and it's an
(21:15):
ebook.
It's a free ebook called theExecutive's Playbook for Better
Business Execution.
It's very intentional in termsof being like a long yarn of a
title.
I'm in real life.
If you ever meet me or on a Zoomchat, I tend to be very verbose
, super talkative and I like mytitles to look like it, look and
(21:36):
feel like that too, butessentially it's 11 real world
business cases that I led and Itake people through a
step-by-step roadmap andessentially what it is.
It's a playbook for people whowant to be effective people,
operations tacticians and changemanagement leaders.
(21:57):
So if you have something andyou're working in an
organization where you'releading your people through
significant change, significantchange initiatives that are
having an effect on multipledepartments.
This is sort of a free ebookthat I created to kind of
provide a little inspirationfrom a reading standpoint and
(22:20):
then as well as an operationstandpoint, because we try to
make it really simple.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I love that, so you learn about it, but you can also
implement it right.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
That is fantastic.
Thank you so much, andrew.
This has been wonderful.
But before we sign off, I wantyou to think what is like the
biggest, best tip that you giveto your clients, to your
audience?
Like what?
Is it that one thing that theyhave to know?
Your clients to your audiencelike what?
Speaker 2 (22:47):
is it that one thing that they have to know?
I think I think it's thebiggest thing that I I tend to
tell my clients, people I knowis double down on your strengths
, focus, focus on givingyourself the time and the space
to think about what those thingsare.
I know what, what projects,what project types, what sorts
(23:17):
of initiatives in your life tendto bring out like the hungriest
version of you, the mostpassionate, like you've got a
fire under you, and start to tryto draw a pattern, a through
line, of what those things are.
Because I think it takes alittle bit of work like that,
being very introspective butthen analytical at the same time
, because for the most part, welive such a busy life with, with
(23:39):
the modern day, you know,everything's so fast paced.
We're going through the sun andit comes up, and the moon comes
up just as fast, and it's justthis huge cycle.
So slowing down and kind oflike trying to find that pattern
, and then you can start tobuild a picture for yourself.
If you're somebody who enjoysbeing a part of an organization,
(24:01):
then you can start to lobbythat to your supervisors, to
your team.
Hey, this is how you're goingto get the best out of me If
there's a way down the line forme to be paired with projects
like this.
Initiatives like this, leveragemy talent.
Let's capitalize on what I'mgood at, and then, if you're an
entrepreneur and then you'rehaving a challenge trying to
(24:23):
figure out how you're going tomake an impact, you can then
apply it that same way too.
So I think it starts with that.
That's a core.
Fundamental is people coming toterms with and reflecting on
what are those things that theybelieve are their passions and
their proclivities, and doublingdown there.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
I love that and I always say look at what you got
in trouble for as a kid, becauseI always got in trouble for
talking.
I was too talkative, right andum, and that's my superpowers
and I get paid to do that and solean into, um, you know, while
you're doing your introspection,what was I getting in trouble
for as a kid?
For being the class, for beingfunny, for being too talkative,
(25:05):
for, like, always daydreaminglike what is that?
And there's probably somethingthat you love to do there that
you just haven't let yourself do.
Maybe it's puzzles and you justhaven't let yourself do it
because you're like, I'm anadult and adults don't color.
Yeah, they do.
There's adult coloring booksand everything right yeah,
that's a great one thanks, andwe're just big kids, right like.
We're just kids who grew up andwe still like to have fun.
(25:28):
So go have fun.
I love that.
I love that so much.
Andrew, thank you so much forbeing here with us.
This has been absolutelyfantastic and we will see you
guys next time On the nextepisode of Overcome Yourself,
the Podcast.
Thanks so much.
Bye.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Thank you.
Hello and welcome back to the next episode of
Overcome Yourself, the podcast.
As you know, my name is Nicoleand I'm so excited to be here
today with Andrew.
Now, andrew, you are a coach.
You're a leadership coach, butyou have a very interesting
story where you were progressingin your career and then you had
(00:22):
to pivot and you had to learn awhole new set of skills.
So please introduce yourself,andrew, and tell us a little bit
about your story.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Absolutely.
Thank you so much, nicole, andappreciate you and your audience
taking a moment to listen tothe story.
I hope it offers some value,insights and inspiration for
anybody that is listening.
As you mentioned, I am aleadership and executive coach.
Currently I'm the founder ofBrave Leadership Guild.
Previously to that, I was the VPof people operations for a top
(00:55):
five media company in theautomotive industry and I was at
that company for over a decadeand it was amazing.
It was a great fun time full ofI mean awesome learning and
development opportunities.
For me, it's where I cut myteeth as a professional.
I worked my way from the bottomto the top of the organization,
(01:17):
starting out as a staff editor,so on the journalism side of
the business, working my way toeventually become the VP of
people operations, and you knowit.
Even looking back on it now itI have nothing, no remorse about
(01:38):
the situation.
It's just, you know, at a highlevel, the, like so many, ran
into some economic headwindsthat finally caught up after
COVID and, ironically enough, asthe VP of people operations, as
much as you know, creating astrategic way to develop company
(01:58):
culture and a strong bond crossdepartmentally bond cross
departmentally you also have tobe in charge of headcount
reduction strategies and thateventually ended with you know,
me and the senior leadershipteam really having to take a
tough look at all the existingpositions.
And you know my position was oneof those positions that
(02:19):
ultimately, you know I had tovote on in in terms of what was
in the best interest for thelongevity of the organization.
I was given an opportunity tostay in a different capacity,
but I also looked at that as apersonal opportunity to double
down on what my passion was,what my passion had been over
(02:43):
the maybe the last two and ahalf years prior to that,
leading up to that event.
And you know, on one end it wasa, it was a turning of the
chapter, but it was also.
It was also a moment where, youknow you hear about this a lot
where sometimes people end uphaving to take that leap.
There's that point of no returnwhere you have a dream or a
(03:06):
passion and you really do haveto.
I know it's cliche, but youreally do have to kind of burn
the boat sometimes and you canburn the boats without burning
bridges.
I will say that that's alsosomething I'm very passionate
about.
So I did that I burned the boatson my passion doubled people
the partners and my colleagues.
(03:26):
We had an intact relationshipas we transitioned through that.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
That's powerful because that's a scary, scary
junction to find yourself in.
So I find that to be like justvery incredible right and very
future focused.
Right, because it's very easyfor us to get stuck in the
moment where you're like, oh mygod, I don't have a job anymore.
(04:16):
What am I gonna do?
Versus this is a stepping stoneonto something, and I want to
make sure that theserelationships I can maintain
them, because in our careersthat's what we leave with right.
We leave with the relationshipsand the experience that we get,
(04:37):
and you never, ever know howone of those relationships you
know might come into play lateron.
You never know who in that pastlife right, because it feels
like a past life right Iswatching and you never know what
opportunities that can spark.
So thank you so much forsharing that with us.
Andrew, talk to me a little bitabout as a leadership coach,
(05:02):
about how we handle those bigchanges.
Like how do you maintain thatperspective?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
yeah, that's a great question and it's something that
I love helping clients with andnon-clients, just people I run
into.
Because outside of the I willadd, outside of the executive
coaching when I transition, I'mstill very much in the middle of
building my own practice to apoint where you know I can just
(05:30):
have that be what I do.
So on the side I still I gotback into craft brewing and I
work at one of SouthernCalifornia's oldest craft
breweries as an assistant GMright now oldest craft breweries
as an assistant GM right nowand which is which is really
awesome, because I get to stayintegrated into the aspect of
(05:53):
work culture and establishedteams and working within an
environment where you have, youknow, top to bottom
organizational structure.
I'm able to also have a provingground, so to speak, for some
of my training and developmentphilosophies and you know this
kind of leads into your question.
It's even in my past life as aVP of operations and even into
(06:18):
now, the fact that I have thisendeavor.
The most important thing I thinkwe can do as people who are
passionate about something andwe have a vision that we're
currently building is be fullytransparent.
Take a chance on being fullytransparent.
I think people will focus andput a lot of pressure on those
(06:42):
sorts of situations orconversations going right with
stakeholders.
I think we need.
We can't focus on what's out ofour control right, and how
people take that news is kind ofoutside of our control.
But what we can control is howwell do we articulate and
communicate the importance ofthis initiative.
(07:05):
How well do we block off thetime to reflect on why someone
might be worried, frustrated,feel like it's a conflict?
You know of our time, ourpotential productivity.
You know how much time did wethink about integrating that
into the conversation which isgoing to be a tough conversation
(07:27):
?
But just because you know thisis a, this is a life lesson
that's important to me too Ilove sharing with people is just
because a conversation or amoment is about to be tough,
that's never one of thedetermining factors of whether
we should lean into thatconversation or not.
Oftentimes the toughest thingsare the things that promote the
(07:48):
most growth for us.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
I totally agree with that, and those conversations
can be very scary to have.
So it's very easy to be likeI'll do it later.
I'll do it later um but you'restill right?
no, no, but you're still rightbecause you know when those come
, when those hard conversationshappen, you know, um, something
(08:14):
happens, right, it's either thething gets fixed or we move on
from the thing.
You know whatever, like if it's.
You know, like, even if you'rea couple and you're having, you
know you have to have a toughconversation and either we fix
whatever is going on or we'renot a couple anymore or at work.
Either we fix the issue You'renot arriving to work at time,
you're not doing productivity orto happen.
(08:47):
And so I know, especially forour neurodivergent listeners,
that can be something that'svery important to hear, because
I know, I know it's really easyto push things off for way too
long because it's uncomfortableand and so being able to to go
into it with, you know, with amore positive mindset, a more
positive framing, right?
Sorry, sorry, I just went downlike three different tracks in
(09:12):
my mind, all right.
So I want you to talk to me,though.
My book is called OvercomeYourself, also this podcast, and
one of my biggest like lessons,one of my biggest takeaways, is
gratitude.
I had to learn to practicegratitude, so can you tell me
what role, if any, gratitudeplays in this process of having
(09:32):
hard conversations, of changingthese seasons of change that we
have.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Absolutely.
Yeah, no, that's great.
I love that you mentioned that,because gratitude to me is
really at one of the it's at thecore, and it's one of the
foundations to what I believe ishaving a great mindset, one
that looks at the world and seesopportunity instead of, you
(10:01):
know, circumstances that areeither holding us back, and it
also creates learning out ofchallenges and failure, right.
So when you have, when youchoose, I wanna me personally
and how I kind of look at it andshare with people.
When we talk about gratitude, Ido think it's a choice.
(10:23):
I mean, maybe some people havea natural proclivity to be more
positive.
Even then, I think it's still askill, right, and people can be
encouraged by that fact.
You can train that, you canadopt that mindset, and it might
not feel natural at first, butit's just like a habit, right?
(10:44):
You're creating those neuralpathways to pay attention to the
things that are going to maybegive you that, that dopamine,
right, and when you.
One thing I used to talk aboutin terms of still in line with
gratitude is when people wouldfail.
You know that's a great placeto see what the culture is of a
(11:08):
company or of teams is.
How do they, how do they handle, how do they meet, how do they
deal with failure, messing upmistakes?
It can be something superinnocuous like a small admin
error.
You can tell a lot about thedynamic of how people look at
failure just by how someone asupervisor or manager reacts
(11:31):
breaking a pint glass onaccident or pouring the wrong
beer.
And I think the best leadersare at a point where they've
done that exercise enough timesto where they can look at hey,
this is either me gravitating on, look, you just wasted 16
(11:53):
ounces of beer that we're nevergoing to get back.
Or hey, look, this is anopportunity for me to slow down,
take a moment with this staffmember and I'm going to equip
them with the knowledge to pourthe best pints of beer for
consumers moving forward.
Or, hey, that admin mistake.
If you're in human resourcesresources, there's a lot of
(12:14):
admin work, there's a lot ofcompliance to fill out and I I
used to work with my admin teamon that on the vp of operation
side and you know, and there's alot of deadlines and and
regulations that you get a lotof mail about.
Uh, sometimes you have to kindof follow back up and you know,
work through some errors, if anauditor comes in and hits you up
(12:36):
, but you can either getstressed, frazzled or you can
say, look, this is anopportunity.
Now we have tremendous insightabout what that regulation or
what that process wants, wants,and you're going to be such a
much more effective HRgeneralist.
Now, uh, and think about this.
(12:57):
It's like sometimes theseprocesses are quarterly or
annually.
You don't ever, you, you rarelyget these learning
opportunities.
So, um, that lesson was justpresented to you.
Take it and become moreeffective.
So, uh, that's more of a, youknow, a kind of a practical
example of me sharing somethings where I think gratitude
(13:19):
has, and a gratitude mindset hascome to light in my practice as
well as working with people.
And, yeah, I think it's just achoice.
It's your paradigm and how youchoose to look at reality,
because that's my last point onthat is choice.
(13:39):
The idea of choice is soimportant because all these
realities, to me they're real.
You know if someone looks at itnegatively, if someone looks at
their life and says it's notthat great, if you say that to
yourself, you know a lot oftimes, you know enough times.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Well, what your mind does is it finds evidence.
So if you're saying my lifesucks, your mind is going to
look for evidence that that'strue and be like you're
absolutely right because yourmind is a yes man.
And it's going to be like, yeah, you're right, yeah, you're
right, yeah, you're right, andit's going to find evidence for
whatever you're focusing on.
You're 100 percent correct.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
And I love that you mentioned that.
I think that's an importantpoint, nicole, because, like you
said, then if that's the case,why wouldn't anyone want to
create a life where their brain,their yes person, is looking
for all the evidence to say youknow, I'm going to be super
effective, success is justaround the corner.
I'm going to live a life ofimpact and provide value to all
(14:36):
those I love and care about.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Yes, yes, yes.
And then we have to learn,though, because, to focus on
those things on a micro scale,right, and it's just like you
were talking about when you makea mistake, how do you talk to
yourself?
When your kids make a mistake,how do you talk to them?
Right, are we focused onputting blame?
Oh, my God, you're so stupid.
(14:59):
I can't believe that youdropped this cup of milk.
Like.
You wouldn't talk to afour-year-old like that.
Like not, if you want them togrow up to be healthy and not
hate you, right, You'd be likeoh, we dropped the milk.
What do we do?
We're focusing on the solution.
Oh, we got to pick it up.
All right, we got to get a rag,let's clean it up.
Let's put some soap, because wedon't want it to get stinky,
(15:19):
right, and we focus on solutions, and so I think that's such a
good point, and it's not just inthe workplace that that comes
out.
You know, like in school, likehow are you with yourself?
Like, what do you say when youmake a mistake?
Are you beating yourself up orare you being like okay, how do
we fix this?
How do we have to build theneural pathways?
(15:45):
There's actually a littlesection of our brain that is
dedicated entirely to gratitudeand if we don't use it, just
like any other muscle, itatrophies like it's not going to
function.
So the only way that we canbuild it back up just like if
this muscle atrophied right,like if we have it in a cast
what do you got to do?
You got to work out and you gotto get those muscles strong
(16:05):
again.
Same thing with gratitude.
What do you got to do?
You got to work out and you gotto get those muscles strong
again.
Same thing with gratitude.
Right.
And so I think it's such a bigdeal what you said of the
perspective and seeing theopportunities, because that's
what, that's what I've noticedhas happened in my life and
that's the secret that I found,um, and it's what helped me do
the things I needed to do to getbetter.
Right, because I had, like avitamin deficiency.
(16:33):
But it was practicing gratitudethat said, hey, I'm worth going
to the doctor and telling themthat this is happening to me,
I'm worth getting better, likeit's worth it.
I'm worth it, and it wasgratitude that got me to that
point, right.
And so, even in the smallest,tiniest, whatever you can find,
even it's just the oxygen in theair that I can breathe.
It is the perfect combinationof oxygen, right?
Um, we can always findsomething to be grateful for,
(16:53):
and it is a choice that we haveto make.
Even when that little part ofour brain is not working like
it's supposed to, we still haveto choose to say, hey, I'm gonna
find three things.
And then, little by little, webuilt it up and, like you said,
we build those neural pathways.
Um, that's all in my book too.
Um, I, I talked about theneural pathways and stuff.
(17:14):
So awesome.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
stuff like this is just absolutely amazing, andrew
yeah, and I, if I could, I justwant to add one thing.
You inspired a thought there,um, when you said sometimes you
just it can be something assmall as being grateful for
being able to breathe oxygenright, or there being oxygen to
breathe right, like sometimesyou do have to.
It's like.
(17:35):
It's like the metaphor, the ageold metaphor that every
influencer talks about withgetting into fitness or, you
know, getting hopping back onthat fitness wagon if it's been
a while.
Sometimes you just need to putyour shoes and have your gym
clothes folded and they're ready.
Some extreme people I know thatare trying to get back on the
(17:57):
wagon.
After a while they'll sleep intheir gym clothes and that's
just the first step right andall these little ways to gamify,
creating a new habit.
It's very interesting and Ithink it's.
It's awesome that, and I believein leaning into processes like
that that are personally goingto help somebody.
But what you said inspired themain point I wanted to share,
(18:21):
which was I believe sometimespeople just need to start with a
floor right, like there's a,there's a ceiling, and then
there's a floor of of like whatsuccess looks like in terms of
when, what we're talking aboutforming the habit of having more
gratitude, showing up with moregratitude, and I think people
(18:44):
tend to get a little overwhelmedwith the end goal, the end
vision.
Sometimes it's so audacious andit's like that.
I think there's also the partof the brain that wants to
protect you from you know alittle bit of, you know looming
pain and hardship.
That's going to come withsomething like that.
That's going to come withsomething like that.
(19:09):
But I think if you canestablish a floor and say that
hitting the floor is also thesame thing as me achieving what
the ceiling can foreseeably looklike too.
So let's start with just I canbreathe today, and then you'll
be having gratitude for sometruly audacious things If you
just keep going.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yes, I mean, I remember a time I was having
panic attacks every day.
So for me, success was goingthrough a whole day without like
not breathing, and for a longtime.
Then finally it happened.
I was like, oh my God, that'ssuccess.
And then my next success wasgoing through a whole day not
crying, and then I was able todo that, and so little by little
(19:45):
.
So now I talk about likegetting your book published and
getting your podcast.
But that's not where it started.
It started with I wasn't sad.
Today, for the first time inyears, I wasn't sad.
I, the smallest denominator,like the tiniest, tiniest thing
(20:10):
that you can find, and then justfocus on that and be grateful
for that, and then it'll grow.
It'll grow and you'll startnoticing more.
So I love that.
I love that so much.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
That's huge.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yes, so talk to me about how we can stay in touch
with you, andrew.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I do have a website where itkind of talks about my backstory
, my philosophy, my credentials.
You can visit that atwwwbraveleadershipguildcom.
I'm also active on Instagramand LinkedIn.
Linkedin is going to be undermy my personal name, so Andrew
(20:53):
Almazan.
You can look that up andthere's a links to Brave
Leadership Guild there.
But outside of that, you know,one thing that is really special
to me that I finished recentlywas I've taken my 15 years of
experience in American businessso far and what I wanted to do
was compile something free,value for people, and it's an
(21:15):
ebook.
It's a free ebook called theExecutive's Playbook for Better
Business Execution.
It's very intentional in termsof being like a long yarn of a
title.
I'm in real life.
If you ever meet me or on a Zoomchat, I tend to be very verbose
, super talkative and I like mytitles to look like it, look and
(21:36):
feel like that too, butessentially it's 11 real world
business cases that I led and Itake people through a
step-by-step roadmap andessentially what it is.
It's a playbook for people whowant to be effective people,
operations tacticians and changemanagement leaders.
(21:57):
So if you have something andyou're working in an
organization where you'releading your people through
significant change, significantchange initiatives that are
having an effect on multipledepartments.
This is sort of a free ebookthat I created to kind of
provide a little inspirationfrom a reading standpoint and
(22:20):
then as well as an operationstandpoint, because we try to
make it really simple.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I love that, so you learn about it, but you can also
implement it right.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
That is fantastic.
Thank you so much, andrew.
This has been wonderful.
But before we sign off, I wantyou to think what is like the
biggest, best tip that you giveto your clients, to your
audience?
Like what?
Is it that one thing that theyhave to know?
Your clients to your audiencelike what?
Speaker 2 (22:47):
is it that one thing that they have to know?
I think I think it's thebiggest thing that I I tend to
tell my clients, people I knowis double down on your strengths
, focus, focus on givingyourself the time and the space
to think about what those thingsare.
I know what, what projects,what project types, what sorts
(23:17):
of initiatives in your life tendto bring out like the hungriest
version of you, the mostpassionate, like you've got a
fire under you, and start to tryto draw a pattern, a through
line, of what those things are.
Because I think it takes alittle bit of work like that,
being very introspective butthen analytical at the same time
, because for the most part, welive such a busy life with, with
(23:39):
the modern day, you know,everything's so fast paced.
We're going through the sun andit comes up, and the moon comes
up just as fast, and it's justthis huge cycle.
So slowing down and kind oflike trying to find that pattern
, and then you can start tobuild a picture for yourself.
If you're somebody who enjoysbeing a part of an organization,
(24:01):
then you can start to lobbythat to your supervisors, to
your team.
Hey, this is how you're goingto get the best out of me If
there's a way down the line forme to be paired with projects
like this.
Initiatives like this, leveragemy talent.
Let's capitalize on what I'mgood at, and then, if you're an
entrepreneur and then you'rehaving a challenge trying to
(24:23):
figure out how you're going tomake an impact, you can then
apply it that same way too.
So I think it starts with that.
That's a core.
Fundamental is people coming toterms with and reflecting on
what are those things that theybelieve are their passions and
their proclivities, and doublingdown there.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
I love that and I always say look at what you got
in trouble for as a kid, becauseI always got in trouble for
talking.
I was too talkative, right andum, and that's my superpowers
and I get paid to do that and solean into, um, you know, while
you're doing your introspection,what was I getting in trouble
for as a kid?
For being the class, for beingfunny, for being too talkative,
(25:05):
for, like, always daydreaminglike what is that?
And there's probably somethingthat you love to do there that
you just haven't let yourself do.
Maybe it's puzzles and you justhaven't let yourself do it
because you're like, I'm anadult and adults don't color.
Yeah, they do.
There's adult coloring booksand everything right yeah,
that's a great one thanks, andwe're just big kids, right like.
We're just kids who grew up andwe still like to have fun.
(25:28):
So go have fun.
I love that.
I love that so much.
Andrew, thank you so much forbeing here with us.
This has been absolutelyfantastic and we will see you
guys next time On the nextepisode of Overcome Yourself,
the Podcast.
Thanks so much.
Bye.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Thank you.
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