August 15, 2025 • 23 mins
Caroline Biesalski welcomes listeners to Inspired Choice Today and introduces guest Jim Bouchard, who shares his journey of transformation and human-centric leadership. Jim discusses the role of a sensei in leading from the front lines and emphasizes the importance of authenticity in inspiring teams. The conversation explores the delicate balance between leading and following in business contexts, illustrated through a case study of guiding through transformation. Jim shares his current goals and projects, along with his contact information. The episode concludes with final reflections, a call to action, and a sponsor offering a free 20-minute breakthrough session.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Right?
Sometimes the simplest things touch the heartthe deepest.
Right?
Words of kindness when we're struggling.
Right?
Some encouragement when we when we thinkeverything's going bad.
These are small things.
Someone's example, I look I look at you and Isay, hey.
I wanna do what Caroline does.
You know, that those are the types of thingsthat happen every day.
(00:21):
Welcome to Inspire Choice Today.
I'm your host, CarolineBzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdziald
and powerful takeaways to fuel your journey inbusiness and life.
In each episode, I'll take you from oneinspiring guest to the next, blending their
experiences with my expertise to uncoverpractical strategies you can use right away.
(00:46):
Whether you're starting out or stepping up,stay tuned for insights and actionable tips
that make a difference.
And stick around until the end for a specialfreebie just for our listeners.
Hello and welcome inspired podcast community.
This is your new episode.
(01:07):
My name is Caroline and my today's guest is JimBouchard, and I'm so happy that he said yes to
our interview.
How are you doing today?
You know what?
I'm gonna change my answer.
I'm gonna say fantastic.
How about that?
Yes.
You're fantastic today, just like me, and Imanaged to pronounce your name.
(01:28):
This is fantastic.
I would like to introduce you to the audiencereal quick.
After overcoming personal challenges, includingaddiction and leaving school prematurely, you
transformed your life to become a black beltand sensei.
These experiences have equipped you to guideleaders in embracing human centric leadership,
(01:50):
emphasizing the importance of inspiring,empowering, and guiding their teams to navigate
today's complex challenges.
Welcome to the inspired podcast, Wow, JimBouchard.
Oh, it's my honor.
Thanks for your hospitality.
This is you.
And my first question for you is how did yourpersonal journey from adversity to leadership
(02:15):
influence your approach to human centricleadership?
Yeah.
It's it's funny you asked that because I usedto think that drug addict and dropout was a
pretty poor resume people dealing withleadership.
Right?
I came to find out it was a pretty usefulresume in in a lot of ways.
But one of the most important is, I I thinkwe'd agree that among a lot of things,
(02:36):
leadership is about transformation.
Right?
That's a leader's job.
It's one of the key responsibilities we have totransform ourselves.
At least the best leaders are alwaystransforming themselves.
Right?
Transforming their organizations, transformingthe people around them, transforming their
communities.
So, who better to talk about transformationthan someone that had to learn it in order to
survive?
(02:57):
And I did get to learn a lot abouttransformation when I was trying to change
myself from, if you wanna say it, a loser to aleader, from a drug addict to a black belt and
later to sensei.
And sensei de facto is a leader.
I mean, we can get into what that, you know,what that definition is all about and and so
on.
But that that's the short story.
(03:17):
That was, you know, that's how transformationreally set me up well to to help other leaders
do the same.
Wow.
What an amazing answer to start with.
I'm inspired already.
So leadership means to transform or to helppeople to transform their lives as well.
Of course, I would like to know your definitionor what is the definition of a sensei.
(03:41):
Yes?
You know, it's the the literal definition ofthat.
Most people will say it's a martial artsinstructor, and it's certainly used for that,
especially here in our culture.
Sensei literally means one who went before, onewho went before.
And I I think that's a terrific definition ofwhat a leader is all about.
(04:02):
Right?
Now you don't have to be any more than one stepbefore in order to be an effective leader, but
the the risk it it speaks to the responsibilityof sharing.
I I believe among above all other thingsleadership is sharing, a leader shares.
The rest of the conversation is about whatwe're willing to share and how we're gonna do
it.
But when you think about that, you know, that'sit.
(04:24):
If we if we're on the trip a little bit aheadof someone else, then it's I think not only our
obligation, but I think that's the whole joyand passion of leadership is to be able to
share it and help others guide them along theway because I went before.
Absolutely.
I never heard this before.
Thank you.
I learned already something.
(04:44):
So a leader who who is, one step ahead, ofcourse.
And I would add to that, you said leaders arewilling to share.
Of course, this is how other people learn fromthem, maybe to emulate, to to mimic, or I don't
know, but to share their awareness.
Would this be something they share theirawareness?
(05:07):
No.
I'm kinda glad you opened it up a little bitthat way too because it's it's not just the
functional part.
You know, certainly, I think some of the bestleaders are also very good teachers.
Right?
In teaching, that's when we're really gonna,you know, share our knowledge, share our
experience, or or in mentoring, we can talkabout that because that's what the word guide
is all about to to mentor others.
(05:28):
But it doesn't mean in fact, one of the bigchallenges today is getting leaders to accept,
leading from the front lines.
In fact, I had a young man.
I was speaking in Cuba a few years ago, and wewere talking about these things.
We were talking about failure and we weretalking about how how to figure out, you know,
how to take a different course.
And I said, well, you need to go down to thefront lines and ask those people, you know,
(05:50):
what are they facing?
What are they doing?
You know, learn from them.
Let them lead you because leadership hasnothing to do with rank or title or position of
authority.
Right?
And he said, well, like, it's hard for me to dothat.
And he had a valid reason.
He he said, they'll think I don't know what I'mdoing.
I said, but you don't know what you're doing.
Right?
(06:10):
In that case, he was a very competent person,but he like a lot of people these days, he went
to school to learn leadership and managementright out of school into a management position,
into an internship and then a managementposition.
And he didn't have the experience that thesefolks had on the front line.
He had had never done any of those jobs.
So I said you have to up you have to be openand allow them.
(06:31):
Sometimes I said because leadership is not somuch a fixed role as it is, you know, it's it's
a role that we occupy at any given moment, andthe best leaders are also good followers.
Right?
And so we need to know when to step aside andlet let other people take the lead so that we
can learn and embrace for them.
So you mentioned, you know, awareness.
What else can we be sharing?
Right?
Enthusiasm, passion, if you will, and we canget into that because I argue with people about
(06:58):
that a little bit.
But there are a lot of other things.
It's not just wisdom, experience, andknowledge.
It's many, many other things that go on.
Compassion, empathy.
You know, how many other things can we put?
We could we can and we do in our workshopsspend a lot of time making that list.
Right?
Absolutely.
I would add authenticity as well.
(07:19):
Authenticity.
Yeah.
Mhmm.
You you use the word to occupy the position orsomething.
I would say they leaders take initiative.
They do the right things without being told toor something.
I I heard this definition once, and I loved it.
Yeah.
Yes.
Mhmm.
No.
I knew we'd be singing in harmony.
That's exactly right.
(07:39):
I mean, it's, yeah.
It's it's a lot of things other than whatpeople will semantically confuse it with, which
is probably more it's probably more apt to usethe title manager if we're talking about
somebody who's controlling the technicalaspects of it.
Right?
Admiral Grace Hopper said, management is aboutthings.
(08:00):
Leadership is about people.
That's a very important distinction to make.
Both are important.
Don't get me wrong.
I mean, it's very important we take care of themanagement side of things.
But more important, I believe, at least asequally important, but more important to take
care of the people.
Otherwise, what do you have?
I mean, an organization is made of what?
It's made of people more than anything else.
(08:21):
Yes.
Otherwise, it is a building.
I heard this once.
Exactly.
Right?
Hotel or a company, then what is left is thebuilding, and it's not the company.
Yeah.
I used to say that tractor is not gonna driveitself, but I have to watch it now because
right?
In the AI world, yeah, we might have sometractors driving themselves, but we're always
gonna have some place where human beings aregonna have to be right?
(08:44):
You know, when people are afraid of AI rightnow and say, is AI gonna take take over?
Well, only if we let it.
Right?
There's plenty for us to do.
As much as AI can do for us, there's plenty forus to do.
So, yeah, we just can't abdicate our all ourresponsibilities to AI.
Right?
That was great.
That says a lot about the mindset of the personwho who says that.
(09:09):
Yeah.
Wow.
About yeah.
It is taking over.
Yes.
As as, long as we allow it.
Yes.
But we can take control and learn how to use itwisely, so to say.
Yeah.
Okay.
My next question for you is what strategies canleaders employ to inspire and empower their
(09:30):
teams amidst challenges such as technologicaladvancements and cultural divides.
Well, thanks so much for perfectly setting upour tagline right now.
Right?
Keep keep it human.
And it it is that simple.
It's not easy.
Don't get me wrong, but it is that simple.
We've got to keep it human, which means whatwe've got to prioritize, the reasons that we're
(09:55):
do you know, living our lives and doing ourbusinesses in the first place.
We do this to to make our lives better, to makeour community better, to, right, to help the
lives of our children and whatnot.
That's what it's all about, and we we need toalways keep reminding ourselves of that.
It's easy to get caught up in a lot of otherdistractions.
(10:15):
And I get it.
I I I you know, I've been in business most ofmy life as well.
It's very difficult not to let emergencies andthese other things get in the way, but it's
necessary.
If, you know, if we're about improving humanlife and and the quality of our lives, then
that has to be our highest priority.
Now that's why we keep using the worddiscipline.
I think you you you can hear by now, I'm not alollipops and rainbows kinda guy.
(10:38):
You know?
This is hard work.
When we're talking about inspire, empower,guide, these aren't just pretty words.
These we call them the essential disciplines ofleadership.
And by that, it means a meaningful andpurposeful habit, something that we need to
embed in our lives.
And we spend an awful lot of time in ourworkshops talking about that.
You know, for instance, you just asked aboutinspire.
(11:00):
How do we inspire people in in face of allthese different divides, technological divides
being one of them?
Well, first thing is we have to identify, youknow, how do we inspire?
How do we touch people's hearts, not just theirheads?
That's the simple question.
But from there, if we were doing a workshoptoday, we'd likely spend at least an hour just
talking about different ways that we connectwith human human with one another on a deeply
(11:23):
human level.
Right?
How do we touch each other's hearts?
What is it about my let's keep it in theworkplace, for example.
What is it about my job, my career that thatinspired me, that touched my heart, that caused
me to say, this is what I wanna be doing withmy life.
For god's sake, we spent 2 thirds of our of ourlives at work.
You know?
Isn't it always better when we're doingsomething we care about?
(11:45):
And the flip side of that, you know, asleaders, it's nice that Harvard Business
Review, I think November, December edition,they had some authors that did one of their
long studies.
I'm very grateful for it, but they theyparroted some words that I've been saying for a
long time.
Not to brag, but I've been saying this.
I've been preaching this message for a longtime.
People perform at their best when and only whenthey know their leaders care, their work has
(12:09):
meaning, and they have the chance to learn andgrow and develop.
So that's the type of environment we need tonourish.
Now I learned it from the streets.
I learned it from, you're trying to help peopleget the black belt and overcome your different
adversities they saw in their lives, but it thesame, I won't even preach it.
I'll ask.
Doesn't the same thing work in every situation,in every business, in every leadership
(12:31):
opportunity?
So so that's what we have to do.
And, yeah, touching people's hearts.
Wow.
It doesn't have to be grand.
We don't all have to be Martin Luther Kingevery day.
Right?
Sometimes the simplest things touch the heartthe deepest.
Right?
Words of kindness when we're struggling.
Right?
Some encouragement when we when we thinkeverything's going bad.
(12:53):
These are small things.
Someone's example, I look I look at you and Isay, hey.
I wanna do what Caroline does.
You know, that those are the types of thingsthat happen every day.
So what we're talking, the hard work is toidentify those things, and then how can we
replicate that?
How can we embed that in our leadershippractice?
What things can we do every single day, everysingle week, every single year that will touch
(13:15):
people's hearts?
And then how can you share that with others sothat it'll grow throughout the culture?
Like you said, simple, not easy.
Yes.
So true.
And thank you for sharing this.
I'm highly inspired now again but you answer,of course, and it's all about leadership, how
to inspire.
And I think my takeaway would be that we haveto inspire ourselves first, and then we can
(13:40):
inspire other people by being the example.
That sure helps.
Doesn't it?
You know, the only argument I would have thereis that sometime what I've learned is not and
this is not always easy either.
But sometimes when I'm feeling down, right,when I'm feeling discouraged, I have to make
sure that I stay open.
Right?
(14:00):
There's gonna be an experience from us.
Somebody else is gonna offer me someinspiration.
I I I need to be open to that.
Right?
I don't always have to be the one that goesfirst, and sometimes that gets magnified.
Right?
Sometimes, especially I isn't it weird thatcontra we feel contrast to a greater degree
than we feel stagnation.
Right?
So at my darkest moments, that's when I'venoticed somebody, you know, offered some moment
(14:26):
of inspiration, some small gesture.
And then, wow, that really magnified becausenow I'm feeling like I'm moving again.
And then that's something that we can build on,we can grow on, but it requires a lot of
conscious effort.
It it it really does.
This is this is hard work.
Not to be selling workshops, but that's what wedo in our workshops.
This is not just feel good stuff.
You know?
(14:46):
Let's just sit together for an hour and feelgood.
No.
Let's roll up our sleeves.
Let's get to work.
Let's figure out what we need to do to touchother people's hearts.
Yes.
And it takes a decision, and I'm glad you youmade this decision, and you are now here today
to inspire us.
Thank you so much.
And I I have one one quote in mind that fits towhat you just said.
(15:09):
It's in order to become a great leader, youhave to be first a good follower or something.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think Lao Tzu said that about 2000 years ago,and we still don't have it through our thick
heads.
Right?
Yeah.
No.
These things are important.
I'm glad I'm glad you brought that up.
I'm glad you went went to that.
It's yes.
(15:30):
Absolutely.
We have to be open to the experience thatpeople are offering us all the time.
Mhmm.
Otherwise, you're a dictator, not a leader.
Right?
Yes.
A dictator.
When only your opinion, matters also, and youare not open.
Yes.
Right?
And so, hey, sometimes dictators can get thework done, but, you know, is that how you wanna
(15:50):
live your life?
Is that how you want other people to perceiveyou?
Because, you know, we're talking about leader.
You know, what is a leader fundamentally?
It's somebody who has the ability to attractwilling followers.
Emphasis on the word willing.
Right?
People are gonna come along with me becausethey want to.
What's a dictator's truck?
A dictator's truck is fear, force, coercion.
(16:10):
Right?
Doesn't mean they can't get things done, buthow effective are they gonna be?
And then, like I said, if you if you're in thatmindset, just understand that people are never
gonna go be they might they might meetexpectations because they're afraid.
Right?
Or because you've kinda coerced them or trippedthem into it.
They'll they'll meet expectations, but they'llnever go beyond that.
(16:32):
They're not gonna put out extra.
You know, that's where the leader inspirespeople to go beyond expectations.
That's that's a that's a much tougher job.
Absolutely.
The famous extra mile.
I love this concept.
Of course.
I think it was Napoleon Hill.
Right?
The extra mile.
Could have been.
(16:52):
Yeah.
And you're not always gonna be loved along theway.
That's one of the tricks of it too.
Right?
You know, that's it.
I I don't know if you have kids, but every timeI talk to parents in in my martial arts life,
you know, 30 years running martial artscenters, believe me, I've met all kinds of
parents, and a lot of times they would come in,oh my god.
My kids are so angry at me.
Good.
You're probably doing a good job.
(17:14):
Right?
That's right.
Yes.
I have another question for you.
Can you share an example of guiding anorganization or individual through significant
transformation using human centric leadershipprinciples?
Oh my goodness.
The the the examples are everywhere.
I mean, they're everywhere.
(17:34):
Think about it.
One of the ones that I like the most and thisis funny because not generally accepted as a
personable human being, So it makes for a goodexample.
But when Elon Musk, was facing failure with theSpaceX, when his first SpaceX launches, he went
to his team and he pushed all the chips in.
(17:56):
Very interesting.
You can read his biography.
Very interesting story about this.
He he and he did risk everything.
All his Tesla everything that he had built upto that point, he put on the table.
So we have enough for one more launch.
And he that's what he brought to his team.
You know, he didn't slam the desk and demandresults and all this stuff.
And and he also knew we get off on a tangent onthis, but he also understood the value of
(18:20):
failure along the way in order to learnquickly.
So that was part of that culture too.
But in any rate, the important thing is he wentin front of his people.
He laid out the challenge, and he said, I Iknow you can do it.
I know we can do this.
Let's go do it.
And then, of course, the next launch was theone that that turned them around, you see.
So instead of being a dictator instead of justlaying down the law, issuing the command,
(18:43):
saying this is the end, he went to it.
But the reason I picked on that one is becausea lot of people would look at him and say, he's
not the prototypical, person who's be a kindleader.
Right?
Or somebody who's gonna hold your hand and crywith you, because too many people confuse it
with that.
Never mistake my kindness for weakness nor mysilence for ignorance.
(19:04):
And, yeah, that's that's the type.
You don't have to be soft to do this.
In fact, it requires great strength to do this.
And you're also gonna expose yourself to otherpeople's criticism, to other people's
disappointments, things like that, like I usedthe example of a parent.
Right?
Yeah.
This is not easy work.
It's not easy work.
I would say he's focused on his goal, and thatleads me to my next question about your goals
(19:30):
and intentions.
Do you set goals for yourself, and what is oneof your next projects?
I used to set more.
I'm getting old now.
Yeah.
You know, now, really, we're we're fulfillingone of the goals, and that's our human centric,
leadership network, the the keep it humannetwork.
(19:52):
And people can get to that just by going tokeep it human dot network.
Keep it human dot network.
In fact, if your listeners want to, if you gothere, there's there's a free membership there
that is a great place to get started.
And you can download, for free PDF copy of mymy last book, I e g, Inspire Empower Guide.
So that's all right there.
(20:13):
And that was a dream I've had for a long timebecause a lot of times when I spoke, you know,
a lot of times when I'm speaking, I only getto, you know, hang out with people for an hour,
an hour and a half.
Right?
We're not solving any problems there.
We're just starting the conversation.
So I wanted to have a place where afterwardspeople could come together and share their
ideas.
We already said leadership is sharing.
(20:34):
Right?
Share their experiences, share their challengesso other people could come in and say, hey.
You know, I've been there too, and we can workthings out.
Or like in the case of COVID, we're all sittingthere going, oh my god.
What do we do next?
Right?
But we're able to share that challenge and getthrough it together.
So that network has finally come together, sowe're really excited about that.
So my my goal right now, this could change.
(20:56):
It's changed many times in my life, but rightnow is to get that network stronger and just
continue to to go out and help people keep ithuman.
That's it.
Mhmm.
It's a big enough job.
Wow.
I love your answer.
Thank you so much.
Because you answered 2 questions in 1, and thiswould have been my my next question, my last
question about where can people find you whenthey want to reach out to you after listening
(21:21):
to this episode.
And you mentioned your website.
Of course, I put it in the show notes.
Now, also, your generous offer of free the freePDF.
I love it.
Thank you so much.
You have one follower, at least more.
This is me.
There we go.
And thank you so much for our interview.
Yes.
And now it's time for your final thought to theaudience, please.
(21:45):
The one I always like to leave people with isis what we've already covered.
And and I believe me, when I'm presenting, Iprobably say this 3 or 4 times in a
presentation.
Leadership is sharing.
A leader shares.
The rest of the conversation is and it'sseriously, the rest of the conversation, I
don't care if we're there for an hour or we'regonna do a workshop for a week.
Most of the conversation is what are we willingto share and how?
(22:10):
And that can go very, very deep.
That can go very deep.
So leadership is sharing, a leader shares.
I love it.
This inspires me to share more.
Yes.
Thank you so much.
Yeah.
Well, you're sharing a lot.
Thank you.
I mean, this is it's wonderful.
This podcasting world is wonderful because weget to have longer conversations.
(22:31):
We get to know each other a little bit better.
And, hopefully, this is our first conversation,not our last.
That's true.
We are connected now.
And, yeah, of course, we we keep in touch, andI see you in the next episode.
Thank you for listening to Inspire Choicetoday.
I'm thrilled to have you on this journey ofgrowth and transformation.
(22:54):
Don't forget to hit follow or subscribe to stayconnected and never miss an episode.
And here's something special.
Grab your free 20 minute breakthrough sessionwith me.
It's designed to help you kick start or levelup your business.
Just check out the show notes for more.
Until next time, keep making those inspiredchoices.
(23:16):
See you in the next episode.
Right?
Sometimes the simplest things touch the heartthe deepest.
Right?
Words of kindness when we're struggling.
Right?
Some encouragement when we when we thinkeverything's going bad.
These are small things.
Someone's example, I look I look at you and Isay, hey.
I wanna do what Caroline does.
You know, that those are the types of thingsthat happen every day.
(00:21):
Welcome to Inspire Choice Today.
I'm your host, CarolineBzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdzialdziald
and powerful takeaways to fuel your journey inbusiness and life.
In each episode, I'll take you from oneinspiring guest to the next, blending their
experiences with my expertise to uncoverpractical strategies you can use right away.
(00:46):
Whether you're starting out or stepping up,stay tuned for insights and actionable tips
that make a difference.
And stick around until the end for a specialfreebie just for our listeners.
Hello and welcome inspired podcast community.
This is your new episode.
(01:07):
My name is Caroline and my today's guest is JimBouchard, and I'm so happy that he said yes to
our interview.
How are you doing today?
You know what?
I'm gonna change my answer.
I'm gonna say fantastic.
How about that?
Yes.
You're fantastic today, just like me, and Imanaged to pronounce your name.
(01:28):
This is fantastic.
I would like to introduce you to the audiencereal quick.
After overcoming personal challenges, includingaddiction and leaving school prematurely, you
transformed your life to become a black beltand sensei.
These experiences have equipped you to guideleaders in embracing human centric leadership,
(01:50):
emphasizing the importance of inspiring,empowering, and guiding their teams to navigate
today's complex challenges.
Welcome to the inspired podcast, Wow, JimBouchard.
Oh, it's my honor.
Thanks for your hospitality.
This is you.
And my first question for you is how did yourpersonal journey from adversity to leadership
(02:15):
influence your approach to human centricleadership?
Yeah.
It's it's funny you asked that because I usedto think that drug addict and dropout was a
pretty poor resume people dealing withleadership.
Right?
I came to find out it was a pretty usefulresume in in a lot of ways.
But one of the most important is, I I thinkwe'd agree that among a lot of things,
(02:36):
leadership is about transformation.
Right?
That's a leader's job.
It's one of the key responsibilities we have totransform ourselves.
At least the best leaders are alwaystransforming themselves.
Right?
Transforming their organizations, transformingthe people around them, transforming their
communities.
So, who better to talk about transformationthan someone that had to learn it in order to
survive?
(02:57):
And I did get to learn a lot abouttransformation when I was trying to change
myself from, if you wanna say it, a loser to aleader, from a drug addict to a black belt and
later to sensei.
And sensei de facto is a leader.
I mean, we can get into what that, you know,what that definition is all about and and so
on.
But that that's the short story.
(03:17):
That was, you know, that's how transformationreally set me up well to to help other leaders
do the same.
Wow.
What an amazing answer to start with.
I'm inspired already.
So leadership means to transform or to helppeople to transform their lives as well.
Of course, I would like to know your definitionor what is the definition of a sensei.
(03:41):
Yes?
You know, it's the the literal definition ofthat.
Most people will say it's a martial artsinstructor, and it's certainly used for that,
especially here in our culture.
Sensei literally means one who went before, onewho went before.
And I I think that's a terrific definition ofwhat a leader is all about.
(04:02):
Right?
Now you don't have to be any more than one stepbefore in order to be an effective leader, but
the the risk it it speaks to the responsibilityof sharing.
I I believe among above all other thingsleadership is sharing, a leader shares.
The rest of the conversation is about whatwe're willing to share and how we're gonna do
it.
But when you think about that, you know, that'sit.
(04:24):
If we if we're on the trip a little bit aheadof someone else, then it's I think not only our
obligation, but I think that's the whole joyand passion of leadership is to be able to
share it and help others guide them along theway because I went before.
Absolutely.
I never heard this before.
Thank you.
I learned already something.
(04:44):
So a leader who who is, one step ahead, ofcourse.
And I would add to that, you said leaders arewilling to share.
Of course, this is how other people learn fromthem, maybe to emulate, to to mimic, or I don't
know, but to share their awareness.
Would this be something they share theirawareness?
(05:07):
No.
I'm kinda glad you opened it up a little bitthat way too because it's it's not just the
functional part.
You know, certainly, I think some of the bestleaders are also very good teachers.
Right?
In teaching, that's when we're really gonna,you know, share our knowledge, share our
experience, or or in mentoring, we can talkabout that because that's what the word guide
is all about to to mentor others.
(05:28):
But it doesn't mean in fact, one of the bigchallenges today is getting leaders to accept,
leading from the front lines.
In fact, I had a young man.
I was speaking in Cuba a few years ago, and wewere talking about these things.
We were talking about failure and we weretalking about how how to figure out, you know,
how to take a different course.
And I said, well, you need to go down to thefront lines and ask those people, you know,
(05:50):
what are they facing?
What are they doing?
You know, learn from them.
Let them lead you because leadership hasnothing to do with rank or title or position of
authority.
Right?
And he said, well, like, it's hard for me to dothat.
And he had a valid reason.
He he said, they'll think I don't know what I'mdoing.
I said, but you don't know what you're doing.
Right?
(06:10):
In that case, he was a very competent person,but he like a lot of people these days, he went
to school to learn leadership and managementright out of school into a management position,
into an internship and then a managementposition.
And he didn't have the experience that thesefolks had on the front line.
He had had never done any of those jobs.
So I said you have to up you have to be openand allow them.
(06:31):
Sometimes I said because leadership is not somuch a fixed role as it is, you know, it's it's
a role that we occupy at any given moment, andthe best leaders are also good followers.
Right?
And so we need to know when to step aside andlet let other people take the lead so that we
can learn and embrace for them.
So you mentioned, you know, awareness.
What else can we be sharing?
Right?
Enthusiasm, passion, if you will, and we canget into that because I argue with people about
(06:58):
that a little bit.
But there are a lot of other things.
It's not just wisdom, experience, andknowledge.
It's many, many other things that go on.
Compassion, empathy.
You know, how many other things can we put?
We could we can and we do in our workshopsspend a lot of time making that list.
Right?
Absolutely.
I would add authenticity as well.
(07:19):
Authenticity.
Yeah.
Mhmm.
You you use the word to occupy the position orsomething.
I would say they leaders take initiative.
They do the right things without being told toor something.
I I heard this definition once, and I loved it.
Yeah.
Yes.
Mhmm.
No.
I knew we'd be singing in harmony.
That's exactly right.
(07:39):
I mean, it's, yeah.
It's it's a lot of things other than whatpeople will semantically confuse it with, which
is probably more it's probably more apt to usethe title manager if we're talking about
somebody who's controlling the technicalaspects of it.
Right?
Admiral Grace Hopper said, management is aboutthings.
(08:00):
Leadership is about people.
That's a very important distinction to make.
Both are important.
Don't get me wrong.
I mean, it's very important we take care of themanagement side of things.
But more important, I believe, at least asequally important, but more important to take
care of the people.
Otherwise, what do you have?
I mean, an organization is made of what?
It's made of people more than anything else.
(08:21):
Yes.
Otherwise, it is a building.
I heard this once.
Exactly.
Right?
Hotel or a company, then what is left is thebuilding, and it's not the company.
Yeah.
I used to say that tractor is not gonna driveitself, but I have to watch it now because
right?
In the AI world, yeah, we might have sometractors driving themselves, but we're always
gonna have some place where human beings aregonna have to be right?
(08:44):
You know, when people are afraid of AI rightnow and say, is AI gonna take take over?
Well, only if we let it.
Right?
There's plenty for us to do.
As much as AI can do for us, there's plenty forus to do.
So, yeah, we just can't abdicate our all ourresponsibilities to AI.
Right?
That was great.
That says a lot about the mindset of the personwho who says that.
(09:09):
Yeah.
Wow.
About yeah.
It is taking over.
Yes.
As as, long as we allow it.
Yes.
But we can take control and learn how to use itwisely, so to say.
Yeah.
Okay.
My next question for you is what strategies canleaders employ to inspire and empower their
(09:30):
teams amidst challenges such as technologicaladvancements and cultural divides.
Well, thanks so much for perfectly setting upour tagline right now.
Right?
Keep keep it human.
And it it is that simple.
It's not easy.
Don't get me wrong, but it is that simple.
We've got to keep it human, which means whatwe've got to prioritize, the reasons that we're
(09:55):
do you know, living our lives and doing ourbusinesses in the first place.
We do this to to make our lives better, to makeour community better, to, right, to help the
lives of our children and whatnot.
That's what it's all about, and we we need toalways keep reminding ourselves of that.
It's easy to get caught up in a lot of otherdistractions.
(10:15):
And I get it.
I I I you know, I've been in business most ofmy life as well.
It's very difficult not to let emergencies andthese other things get in the way, but it's
necessary.
If, you know, if we're about improving humanlife and and the quality of our lives, then
that has to be our highest priority.
Now that's why we keep using the worddiscipline.
I think you you you can hear by now, I'm not alollipops and rainbows kinda guy.
(10:38):
You know?
This is hard work.
When we're talking about inspire, empower,guide, these aren't just pretty words.
These we call them the essential disciplines ofleadership.
And by that, it means a meaningful andpurposeful habit, something that we need to
embed in our lives.
And we spend an awful lot of time in ourworkshops talking about that.
You know, for instance, you just asked aboutinspire.
(11:00):
How do we inspire people in in face of allthese different divides, technological divides
being one of them?
Well, first thing is we have to identify, youknow, how do we inspire?
How do we touch people's hearts, not just theirheads?
That's the simple question.
But from there, if we were doing a workshoptoday, we'd likely spend at least an hour just
talking about different ways that we connectwith human human with one another on a deeply
(11:23):
human level.
Right?
How do we touch each other's hearts?
What is it about my let's keep it in theworkplace, for example.
What is it about my job, my career that thatinspired me, that touched my heart, that caused
me to say, this is what I wanna be doing withmy life.
For god's sake, we spent 2 thirds of our of ourlives at work.
You know?
Isn't it always better when we're doingsomething we care about?
(11:45):
And the flip side of that, you know, asleaders, it's nice that Harvard Business
Review, I think November, December edition,they had some authors that did one of their
long studies.
I'm very grateful for it, but they theyparroted some words that I've been saying for a
long time.
Not to brag, but I've been saying this.
I've been preaching this message for a longtime.
People perform at their best when and only whenthey know their leaders care, their work has
(12:09):
meaning, and they have the chance to learn andgrow and develop.
So that's the type of environment we need tonourish.
Now I learned it from the streets.
I learned it from, you're trying to help peopleget the black belt and overcome your different
adversities they saw in their lives, but it thesame, I won't even preach it.
I'll ask.
Doesn't the same thing work in every situation,in every business, in every leadership
(12:31):
opportunity?
So so that's what we have to do.
And, yeah, touching people's hearts.
Wow.
It doesn't have to be grand.
We don't all have to be Martin Luther Kingevery day.
Right?
Sometimes the simplest things touch the heartthe deepest.
Right?
Words of kindness when we're struggling.
Right?
Some encouragement when we when we thinkeverything's going bad.
(12:53):
These are small things.
Someone's example, I look I look at you and Isay, hey.
I wanna do what Caroline does.
You know, that those are the types of thingsthat happen every day.
So what we're talking, the hard work is toidentify those things, and then how can we
replicate that?
How can we embed that in our leadershippractice?
What things can we do every single day, everysingle week, every single year that will touch
(13:15):
people's hearts?
And then how can you share that with others sothat it'll grow throughout the culture?
Like you said, simple, not easy.
Yes.
So true.
And thank you for sharing this.
I'm highly inspired now again but you answer,of course, and it's all about leadership, how
to inspire.
And I think my takeaway would be that we haveto inspire ourselves first, and then we can
(13:40):
inspire other people by being the example.
That sure helps.
Doesn't it?
You know, the only argument I would have thereis that sometime what I've learned is not and
this is not always easy either.
But sometimes when I'm feeling down, right,when I'm feeling discouraged, I have to make
sure that I stay open.
Right?
(14:00):
There's gonna be an experience from us.
Somebody else is gonna offer me someinspiration.
I I I need to be open to that.
Right?
I don't always have to be the one that goesfirst, and sometimes that gets magnified.
Right?
Sometimes, especially I isn't it weird thatcontra we feel contrast to a greater degree
than we feel stagnation.
Right?
So at my darkest moments, that's when I'venoticed somebody, you know, offered some moment
(14:26):
of inspiration, some small gesture.
And then, wow, that really magnified becausenow I'm feeling like I'm moving again.
And then that's something that we can build on,we can grow on, but it requires a lot of
conscious effort.
It it it really does.
This is this is hard work.
Not to be selling workshops, but that's what wedo in our workshops.
This is not just feel good stuff.
You know?
(14:46):
Let's just sit together for an hour and feelgood.
No.
Let's roll up our sleeves.
Let's get to work.
Let's figure out what we need to do to touchother people's hearts.
Yes.
And it takes a decision, and I'm glad you youmade this decision, and you are now here today
to inspire us.
Thank you so much.
And I I have one one quote in mind that fits towhat you just said.
(15:09):
It's in order to become a great leader, youhave to be first a good follower or something.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think Lao Tzu said that about 2000 years ago,and we still don't have it through our thick
heads.
Right?
Yeah.
No.
These things are important.
I'm glad I'm glad you brought that up.
I'm glad you went went to that.
It's yes.
(15:30):
Absolutely.
We have to be open to the experience thatpeople are offering us all the time.
Mhmm.
Otherwise, you're a dictator, not a leader.
Right?
Yes.
A dictator.
When only your opinion, matters also, and youare not open.
Yes.
Right?
And so, hey, sometimes dictators can get thework done, but, you know, is that how you wanna
(15:50):
live your life?
Is that how you want other people to perceiveyou?
Because, you know, we're talking about leader.
You know, what is a leader fundamentally?
It's somebody who has the ability to attractwilling followers.
Emphasis on the word willing.
Right?
People are gonna come along with me becausethey want to.
What's a dictator's truck?
A dictator's truck is fear, force, coercion.
(16:10):
Right?
Doesn't mean they can't get things done, buthow effective are they gonna be?
And then, like I said, if you if you're in thatmindset, just understand that people are never
gonna go be they might they might meetexpectations because they're afraid.
Right?
Or because you've kinda coerced them or trippedthem into it.
They'll they'll meet expectations, but they'llnever go beyond that.
(16:32):
They're not gonna put out extra.
You know, that's where the leader inspirespeople to go beyond expectations.
That's that's a that's a much tougher job.
Absolutely.
The famous extra mile.
I love this concept.
Of course.
I think it was Napoleon Hill.
Right?
The extra mile.
Could have been.
(16:52):
Yeah.
And you're not always gonna be loved along theway.
That's one of the tricks of it too.
Right?
You know, that's it.
I I don't know if you have kids, but every timeI talk to parents in in my martial arts life,
you know, 30 years running martial artscenters, believe me, I've met all kinds of
parents, and a lot of times they would come in,oh my god.
My kids are so angry at me.
Good.
You're probably doing a good job.
(17:14):
Right?
That's right.
Yes.
I have another question for you.
Can you share an example of guiding anorganization or individual through significant
transformation using human centric leadershipprinciples?
Oh my goodness.
The the the examples are everywhere.
I mean, they're everywhere.
(17:34):
Think about it.
One of the ones that I like the most and thisis funny because not generally accepted as a
personable human being, So it makes for a goodexample.
But when Elon Musk, was facing failure with theSpaceX, when his first SpaceX launches, he went
to his team and he pushed all the chips in.
(17:56):
Very interesting.
You can read his biography.
Very interesting story about this.
He he and he did risk everything.
All his Tesla everything that he had built upto that point, he put on the table.
So we have enough for one more launch.
And he that's what he brought to his team.
You know, he didn't slam the desk and demandresults and all this stuff.
And and he also knew we get off on a tangent onthis, but he also understood the value of
(18:20):
failure along the way in order to learnquickly.
So that was part of that culture too.
But in any rate, the important thing is he wentin front of his people.
He laid out the challenge, and he said, I Iknow you can do it.
I know we can do this.
Let's go do it.
And then, of course, the next launch was theone that that turned them around, you see.
So instead of being a dictator instead of justlaying down the law, issuing the command,
(18:43):
saying this is the end, he went to it.
But the reason I picked on that one is becausea lot of people would look at him and say, he's
not the prototypical, person who's be a kindleader.
Right?
Or somebody who's gonna hold your hand and crywith you, because too many people confuse it
with that.
Never mistake my kindness for weakness nor mysilence for ignorance.
(19:04):
And, yeah, that's that's the type.
You don't have to be soft to do this.
In fact, it requires great strength to do this.
And you're also gonna expose yourself to otherpeople's criticism, to other people's
disappointments, things like that, like I usedthe example of a parent.
Right?
Yeah.
This is not easy work.
It's not easy work.
I would say he's focused on his goal, and thatleads me to my next question about your goals
(19:30):
and intentions.
Do you set goals for yourself, and what is oneof your next projects?
I used to set more.
I'm getting old now.
Yeah.
You know, now, really, we're we're fulfillingone of the goals, and that's our human centric,
leadership network, the the keep it humannetwork.
(19:52):
And people can get to that just by going tokeep it human dot network.
Keep it human dot network.
In fact, if your listeners want to, if you gothere, there's there's a free membership there
that is a great place to get started.
And you can download, for free PDF copy of mymy last book, I e g, Inspire Empower Guide.
So that's all right there.
(20:13):
And that was a dream I've had for a long timebecause a lot of times when I spoke, you know,
a lot of times when I'm speaking, I only getto, you know, hang out with people for an hour,
an hour and a half.
Right?
We're not solving any problems there.
We're just starting the conversation.
So I wanted to have a place where afterwardspeople could come together and share their
ideas.
We already said leadership is sharing.
(20:34):
Right?
Share their experiences, share their challengesso other people could come in and say, hey.
You know, I've been there too, and we can workthings out.
Or like in the case of COVID, we're all sittingthere going, oh my god.
What do we do next?
Right?
But we're able to share that challenge and getthrough it together.
So that network has finally come together, sowe're really excited about that.
So my my goal right now, this could change.
(20:56):
It's changed many times in my life, but rightnow is to get that network stronger and just
continue to to go out and help people keep ithuman.
That's it.
Mhmm.
It's a big enough job.
Wow.
I love your answer.
Thank you so much.
Because you answered 2 questions in 1, and thiswould have been my my next question, my last
question about where can people find you whenthey want to reach out to you after listening
(21:21):
to this episode.
And you mentioned your website.
Of course, I put it in the show notes.
Now, also, your generous offer of free the freePDF.
I love it.
Thank you so much.
You have one follower, at least more.
This is me.
There we go.
And thank you so much for our interview.
Yes.
And now it's time for your final thought to theaudience, please.
(21:45):
The one I always like to leave people with isis what we've already covered.
And and I believe me, when I'm presenting, Iprobably say this 3 or 4 times in a
presentation.
Leadership is sharing.
A leader shares.
The rest of the conversation is and it'sseriously, the rest of the conversation, I
don't care if we're there for an hour or we'regonna do a workshop for a week.
Most of the conversation is what are we willingto share and how?
(22:10):
And that can go very, very deep.
That can go very deep.
So leadership is sharing, a leader shares.
I love it.
This inspires me to share more.
Yes.
Thank you so much.
Yeah.
Well, you're sharing a lot.
Thank you.
I mean, this is it's wonderful.
This podcasting world is wonderful because weget to have longer conversations.
(22:31):
We get to know each other a little bit better.
And, hopefully, this is our first conversation,not our last.
That's true.
We are connected now.
And, yeah, of course, we we keep in touch, andI see you in the next episode.
Thank you for listening to Inspire Choicetoday.
I'm thrilled to have you on this journey ofgrowth and transformation.
(22:54):
Don't forget to hit follow or subscribe to stayconnected and never miss an episode.
And here's something special.
Grab your free 20 minute breakthrough sessionwith me.
It's designed to help you kick start or levelup your business.
Just check out the show notes for more.
Until next time, keep making those inspiredchoices.
(23:16):
See you in the next episode.
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