Finding Belonging and Understanding, with Saiyyidah Zaidi

Saiyyidah Zaidi is the Amazon number one international bestseller of the book, Results: The Art and Science of Getting it Done. She's a certified business coach, a certified high-performance coach, faculty member, and tutor. She has a Master's in Applied Positive Psychology and Construction Economics and Management.

Saiyyidah was the first of the first 10 female fellows of the Association Project Management. She is currently finishing her Ph.D. in the Intersection of Identity and Intersectionality. She has lived around the world and currently resides in North London. She started her first business early on in life, with a lemonade stall at the age of eight. Her purpose is to help individuals pause, reflect, make progress, and live purposefully wherever they are in their journey.

What you'll learn about in this episode:

• Why it's important that others correctly pronounce your name
• How project management helps with belonging and understanding
• Why you should shift your focus to the well-being of other individuals
• What it means to create psychological safety in a space
• Why the words diversity, equity, and inclusion no longer serve us
• Why it is beneficial to go into spaces where you're different

Resources:

• Website: https://www.saiyyidah.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saiyyidahzaidi
• LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/saiyyidah
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/saiyyidahzaidi
• Saiyyidah's Book: Results: The Art and Science of Getting it Do

Being Different

Saiyyidah Zaidi is an author, coach, and conversation architect at the Centre for Belonging and Understanding. Her professional journey has had multiple twists and turns including careers in architecture and project management helping to build the skills necessary for her purpose. In this episode of the Intentional Greatness® podcast, Saiyyidah explains how being different serves us and the importance of showing up in spaces where you initially feel you don't belong.

Wasting Time

Saiyyidah spent seven years studying architecture, and at the end of those years decided to no longer practice. While she could have been stubborn or not given herself the grace to change course, she realized that she probably would not have enjoyed her life. You must allow yourself to lean in and ask, where is this landscape taking me? There is peace in surrendering to what's coming to you and allowing it to happen. Whatever leads you to that place is not a waste of time.

Choosing Words

Saiyyidah says that your words create worlds. If someone says "I love you" or "I hate you" those words mean something, not only in your head but your heart. Words have a DNA, specifically, the word diversity derives from the word divorce. It's difficult to create a world of inclusion when the etymology of it is related to divorce or separation. In our conversation, Saiyyidah discusses how to use our conversations to bring us together.