August 22, 2025 • 38 mins
What does it mean to bring your authentic self to work, especially when spirituality is central to who you are? Christian F. Johnson tackles this question head-on as he shares his powerful RINSE method for maintaining focus and purpose in leadership.
Christian approaches leadership development as a calling rather than just a career. He positions himself as the "mic stand" for leaders – the essential support structure that enables their voices to be heard clearly while filling the crucial gap between a leader's personal brand and their authentic self. This servant leadership perspective shifts the focus from spotlight-seeking to empowering others.
For those struggling to identify their purpose, Christian offers practical wisdom: examine what naturally energizes you, notice patterns in unsolicited compliments, and identify what others consistently seek from you. These external signals often point to innate gifts that may not be immediately obvious. As he poignantly observes, "What are people going to you for? Chances are you have a gifting, a calling, something that's leading you towards those things."
Connect with Christian on LinkedIn, visit IamChristianFJohnson.com, check out his book "When You're Speaking but Still Silent," or listen to his Presence-Centered Podcast.
Meet the Host
Jay Johnson works with people and organizations to empower teams, grow profits, and elevate leadership. He is a Co-Founder of Behavioral Elements®, a two-time TEDx speaker, and a designated Master Trainer by the Association for Talent Development. With a focus on behavioral intelligence, Jay has delivered transformational workshops to accelerate high-performance teams and cultures in more than 30 countries across four continents. For inquiries, contact jay@behavioralelements.com or connect below!
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayjohnsonccg/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jayjohnsonccg/
Speaker Website - https://jayjohnsonspeaks.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jay Johnson (00:01):
Welcome to this episode of the Talent Forge,
where, together, we are shapingworkforce behaviors.
Today, I am joined by specialguest Christian F Johnson.
Welcome to the show, christian.
Christian F. Johnson (00:12):
Thank you so much.
I feel like I've officiallymade it.
I'm here.
I'm here with Jay Johnson, solet's go.
Jay Johnson (00:20):
We've got a shared heritage and a last name.
Here has got to be a greatconversation.
I'm looking forward to it.
So, all right, christian, tellus you know what got you into
the, what got you into the spaceof leadership development and
workforce development.
What brought you to this space?
Yeah, I'm gonna sell.
Christian F. Johnson (00:38):
I feel like to say I'm almost called
into it.
I know I'm starting off kind ofdeep like, but like it's, it's
just it.
You know, you look around andyou say like, okay, podcast,
let's just go with that.
Okay, I'm the person that says,if Jay Johnson has the
microphone, who is themicrophone?
Stand for Jay with themicrophone.
That perspective is what I'veseen.
(01:00):
I've seen amazing leaders,spiritually minded leaders,
powerful leaders, talking, doingwhat they need to.
Spiritually minded leaders,powerful leaders, talking, doing
what they need to do, buildingbrands, leading organizations,
so forth and so on.
But the support from the brandto the man, it seemed to be a
gap and so I kind of wanted tobe that gap filler because it's
what I needed and what wasprovided for me.
So I'm almost sometimes likeI'm the client, but that's the
(01:21):
part that it kind of called meinto Cause I was like, okay,
who's the who's the mic standand it was like you.
So here I am.
Jay Johnson (01:29):
I love it, I love it, I love the.
So, and this is something thatI found so fascinating and part
of the reason why I was reallylooking forward to this
conversation.
Let's dig right in spirituality.
A lot of people are reallynervous to talk about that in
the space of workspace, and I'msure that there's a lot of
leaders that have anxiety aboutsharing too much, not sharing
(01:50):
enough, not being true tothemselves.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?
What's your experience innavigating some of that space?
Christian F. Johnson (01:57):
Well, okay , so, first off, I am okay to
say this I come from aChrist-centered perspective, all
right.
But everything I share istransferable, okay.
So it doesn't matter what yourbelief system, so forth, these
principles are transferable.
But it's just that I think wemake it weird and it doesn't
have to be.
We honor each other.
Again, jay, you and I may seedifferent perspectives, but I
(02:19):
honor your perspective and youhonor my perspective, and I
think that if we can removethose things aside, it's not me
trying to convince you tobelieve the exact same way I do.
Actually, it's just theseprinciples that you can share
and that can help us, as theleader, to do what needs to be
done.
But I sit from that place ofpersonal development.
It's looking within and alignedto God, source beauty, life,
(02:41):
whatever name you want to callit right To make sure that we're
operating from our higher mind,if that makes sense.
Jay Johnson (02:47):
Absolutely.
You know, even even if we wereto take this straight down to an
organizational level, one ofthe things that is a value
proposition is hey, what is the,what is the higher power of
your organization, what's theNorth star, what's leading you
to be in that space?
And you know, to take that as aspirituality question, as an
(03:08):
internalized spiritualityquestion makes a lot of sense.
So how does, if I'm a leader,let's, let's, let's take this
concept I'm a leader, maybe I'vegot a strong set of beliefs in,
in whatever you know, whateverreligion it is, and I'm sitting
there and I'm feeling tension,christian, I'm feeling so much
(03:28):
tension I'm not sure if my teamis going to react negatively if
I'm being too much out there oranything else.
How do you coach me to maybelive into my own?
You know that inner drive, that, that inner sort of security.
What does that look like?
Christian F. Johnson (03:47):
well, first off, I'll say there's
three things that I reallyreally focus on, okay, and one
is destroying distractions,aligning with god, higher power
source, whatever, like I saidyou want to name it, and then
fortifying the focus.
Okay, so that's the reason whyyou can be coming to me like you
fill in the area, like this.
You're, you're scattered right,high, achieving spiritually
minded, realizing where I am.
I'm dealing with some thingslike so that's the area of the
(04:09):
space, but what I do is I walkmy clients through something I
call is the rinse method, and so, if you allow me to go into
there, right, I don't know aboutyou, but growing up for me, my
mom would say anytime you have athroat irritation, she would
say I want you to take warmwater and get some salt, I want
you to put that in there, swishit around in your mouth, and she
(04:30):
didn't say don't swallow it.
She said I want you to rinsethis and release it.
And that's where I took thisacronym from, and it's been
helping me out, because I was atthat place before I get to that
rinse method.
On March the 2nd, my lifechanged, okay, because I'm a
coach, but I'm also a speaker,and so I was coming off a
platform and this person said tome Christian, and they know who
(04:51):
I am, but I'll call them Bobby,okay, to protect their name.
They said, christian, it's hardto listen to you because you
don't sound like your authenticself.
You sound like you have thismimicry going on, so forth and
so on.
So I looked within to realizethat I had an unhealthy reliance
on the external validation ofother different things, trying
to be this leader, successful inthis area, but missed my core,
(05:13):
trying to follow the patterns ofwhat success was.
So I almost lost my voice andthis is where this thing came
into play.
I write the book called whenYou're Speaking but Still Silent
.
And this method comes fromthere because I'm going to make
sure that the man and the brandis aligning.
So when you're in thatorganization and you're
realizing I'm dealing with thesedistractions, I'm dealing with
(05:34):
these places, I'm dealing withthis posture, the Ritz method,
first thing is to recognize whatis distracting you from your
divine purpose, the reason forwhich you're there.
So if we were walking throughthis, jay, I would ask you a
question like what is the reasonwhy you felt like you were sent
to earth?
Jay Johnson (05:54):
Well, that's a good question, so I'm going to
answer that.
But I'm going to say I can tellthat my mom's approach, which
was the whiskey hot toddyapproach, maybe I should have
went to the rinse, no, listen.
Christian F. Johnson (06:02):
I'm going to the rinse as well.
Don't get me 100%, 100%, let'sgo Want to put a lemon in it too
.
Jay Johnson (06:10):
That's right, you know it.
Christian F. Johnson (06:12):
Let's go yeah.
Jay Johnson (06:15):
And I like that question, christian, because
it's something that I've put alot of energy into, and really
it started for me with trying todiscover myself, and I went
down a pathway of trying tolearn about behavior, to better
understand what it was why did Ido what I did?
Why do I feel the way I do?
(06:35):
Why do I think the way that Ido?
And it was in that selfdiscovery and through a very,
very long process of finding myown personal path that I
realized that there's a lot ofpeople out there that are asking
themselves the same question,and that's really why I got into
behavior.
Um, so why was I put here?
Honestly, yeah, helping,helping people navigate behavior
(07:01):
is honestly what I feel calledfor.
Um's what brings me energy.
It's what I'm passionate about.
I'm doing a podcast on it, youknow.
So I mean, it's one of thosewhere I've kind of fallen in
love with the idea of supportingpeople wherever they're at in
their behavioral journey.
Christian F. Johnson (07:20):
Okay, good , I love that.
So helping them to support themthrough their behavioral
journey, okay, if I'm hearingyou correctly, okay, so we would
go from there and say, okay,and again, not everybody that
comes to me actually canarticulate it that way.
So I salute you for that asbeing a leader who understands
the reason why they are here onthis earth.
Okay, so usually I take themthrough an area to get to that
(07:40):
point.
You know it, you got it Great.
Now my question is do you feellike you are fully operating in
that space?
Jay Johnson (07:47):
Yes, I feel like I am.
I'm going to say I'm operatingin that space about 90%.
Okay, and call this byintention a little bit.
I have usually pretty goodfocus, but I am a very curious
human being and I can veryeasily I mean, you might toss
(08:09):
out something about polar bearhabits and I'm going to start
talking about what it looks likeon the Antarctic okay, and that
has nothing to do with humanbehavior, but so my brain
definitely works in a verycurious state at all times.
So I would say that 90% I'mfocused on that.
I leave a little 10% forexploration of other things.
Christian F. Johnson (08:30):
Well, that's healthy again.
So that's healthy and that'sgreat, healthy and that's great,
and that's that's the powerfulfrom there, right?
So what we would do is we wouldtake that area, that focus for
where you are.
But we realized when, with Idon't know if you're you're
married, or or kids, or whateverthe case may be, but there's
all these distractions that cantake place, that that can
challenge us to come out of our,our, our superpower, so to
speak.
Right, so what you?
(08:50):
What I say, that's that's oursuperpower.
But those distractions I lovethe word right, cause when you
take the DIS, right, then youhave all those.
You know I'm disengaged, right,I'm disconnected.
When you remove all those, youhave traction, and then from
traction you remove the TR, thenyou have action.
So for me, the mindset is let'srealize that every distraction
is those things that are keepingus away from building that
(09:11):
traction to stay aligned in ourdivine right, that God action,
that reason for you dealing withthe area of behaviors.
So we got to recognize what isdistracting us from that purpose
, right, that's that R gettingback to that place.
Then the I is to identify whatthat assignment is, which we've
done, and here's the key righthere in the end, the end is
neutralizing those distractions,because neutralizing those
(09:35):
distractions by starving them,would you believe or would you
agree with me if I say, jay,that what you feed lives, but
what you starve dies?
Jay Johnson (09:47):
Yeah, one of my really good exceptional
behavioral elements certifiedguides always says where your
attention goes, energy flows.
Christian F. Johnson (09:56):
And it's 100 percent, 100 percent and
that's the same principle fromhere, by neutralizing those
attractions.
You know how many times we stayfocused, just like you said is
chasing the squirrel or whateverit is.
I'm curious.
That's great, but I have tostay from my center because when
people are coming in to listento Jay Johnson and like, look,
he's going to bring me somethingof the help me with the area of
the behavior, he's going tobring me a guest, he's going to
(10:17):
bring me power and insight andfor me, the way that I eat,
drink, speak, it all comes fromthat isness of my inner tugging
and I need to neutralize thosedistractions, start those, but
pay attention and feed what itis that I'm called and purpose
to, because that's what I'm torelease in the earth.
So, no matter in corporate orministry or whatever the case
(10:39):
may be, they are the bestemployees, they are the best
leaders, they are the ones thatstick around and even when I've
done with interviewing I used tobe a director of operations I
realized that the person who isable to see their purpose and
their assignment in the vision,they'll stick around much longer
and be much happier.
Jay Johnson (10:59):
Alignment's so important.
I agree with that.
So let me pause here, though,because I know that some of the
audience may have this questionin their mind like all right,
christian, but what about allthe other things that I have to
do Because I'm on this earth todo this purpose?
But I'm also a mom, I'm also achild, I'm also a sibling, a
(11:20):
friend, a spouse.
I'm also donating my time tocharity.
I'm doing this, I'm doing thisand I'm going to share with you.
It was a long journey for me toactually understand how to hold
on to my time and thennegotiate my time and to avoid
some distractions Probably madea lot of really bad choices, so
(11:42):
navigating that can be a reallybig challenge.
How do you help somebody say,okay, well, you can be multiple
things, but here's your purposeand here's how you get back to
it?
What does that look like foryou?
Christian F. Johnson (11:54):
Well, you know what?
I'm glad you kind of set me up.
I kind of just wanted to answerand say, well, that's the
reason why I would invite you toconsider hiring a coach,
because a coach helps to fasttrack those things that may have
taken you 15, 20 years.
You get to do life withsomebody like myself or whoever,
even if it's not me, to helpyou to ask the questions.
This is what I love aboutcoaching.
I'm going to go scripture for asecond.
(12:15):
Okay, from the spirituality.
Right, I look at the area ofone of the best coaches is God
in Genesis 1.
He says to Adam and Eve whotold you you were naked?
In other words, where did youget your information from?
And if that isn't a powerfulbehavioral question, right there
where we're operating and doingdifferent things.
And did I do this?
Because I heard Jay said it?
Did I do this because this iswhat the coach told me to do
(12:38):
this?
Because culture is telling methis, because I need this raise.
I did this, this is, or this is, from my center and operating
from this place, because Ialways say source knows.
And everybody has that Godpower, that God mind.
So when we get rid of the noiseright.
We're able to identify who weare and where we are.
We're able to operate from thatplace, and that's the true
place of success.
(12:58):
Yes, I am a father.
Yes, I am an entrepreneur, I'malso a musician, I'm a coach,
I'm all those things, but guesswhat?
The true of who I am and what Iexpress?
It's transferable, like myprinciples, jay.
So if you're in the area ofbehavior, guess what you got
kids.
Same thing, it operates inthere.
You're in business, same thing,it operates in there.
(13:19):
You're doing it in the podcast.
That's the area where you'renot spent.
No matter where you are, youtake it with you because it's
who you are.
The thing is the distractionsthat I talk about.
It keeps us from that place ofreally an houring in on what it
is that we have.
Sometimes we lust after whatsomebody else has, and so that's
(13:40):
my whole message is just be whoyou are Like.
There's so many duplicates ofeverything else.
There's only you.
Being your authentic self iswhat the earth needs.
So be, jay, and then we'llcontinue to move forward.
Am I answering your question?
Jay Johnson (13:54):
Yeah, I think so.
I, you know, I think about thequote be yourself, everyone else
has already taken kind of aconcept, you know and let's go.
You know when I think about,when I think about the aspect.
So all right, I'm looking backto 20 years ago and I still owe
you two more.
Christian F. Johnson (14:13):
By the way , sorry, I got the N.
I'm going to give them the Sand the E, so we'll get back to
that.
I got through the rents, I gotthe RI and I didn't forget y'all
.
Jay Johnson (14:21):
We're coming back.
Don't worry, I literally willgo back in circles, so I think
I'm distracted.
Christian F. Johnson (14:26):
You're good.
I got focus, so we're good.
Jay Johnson (14:53):
So you know I'm thinking about that that 20
years ago Jay Johnson did notknow what his calling was and
you know it was one of thosewhere, at that point in time,
maybe I wanted to be a lawyer,maybe I wanted to be a trainer.
I was current at that moment, Iwas a research assistant at
Wayne State University.
I was getting into politics atone point in time.
Thank you, I didn't continuedown that road.
Yeah, outside of religion beingnon-denominational, we're going
to call it political.
I'm just glad I got out.
That's all no sides.
But with that being said, whatabout the people?
(15:14):
And obviously, with a coach isprobably a much faster track.
But what about the people thatare, like I'm not sure what I
want to do, christian, like, howdo I, how do I determine what
has put me on this place?
Yeah, so again.
Christian F. Johnson (15:30):
Um, when we started, when I asked you,
you know what is your, thereason why you're, you're put on
earth, typically, if I hadsomebody say you know what, I
haven't really thought aboutthat Then the next question I
would ask is what is yourpassion?
And we would just go throughthat, like different things in
life.
So some, a lot of times, peoplethrow out their, their titles,
right, and I'm like, okay, let'sget past the area of the titles
, let's go a little deeper, okay.
(15:50):
So another question is good toask yourself or look at is like
the unsolicited advice or notadvice, the unsolicited
compliments or different thingsthat people say to you, right?
So for a while people would sayChristian, I just love your
energy, it's your energy, I justwant to be around you, it's
your energy.
I'm like what is that?
Jay Johnson (16:07):
that like it's those moments I call them.
Christian F. Johnson (16:09):
Yeah, thank you, man, I appreciate it.
So those are some like godmoments where it's like look,
universe, god sources.
It's like I'm showing you somethings, right.
The thing is, what are peoplegoing to you for?
So if they call you all thetime with a problem, what is
that problem?
Chances are you have a gifting,a calling, something that's
leading you towards those things.
You take all those thingstogether, sit with yourself or
(16:31):
chat GPT can even help you outwith this and put that in chat
GPT and say, hey, I keep hearingthis about myself, this is
where I am, this is what I'mfeeling, so forth and so on.
Um, what are, what is this line?
What are a couple of phrasesthat we see, and we start seeing
that all along, even from yourchildhood.
Right, I was a person thathelped people get focused.
I was a person that helped themalign with their higher power.
(16:54):
I was a person that helpedpeople get away from
distractions.
It's been my whole life.
But, like yourself, I've haddifferent businesses, different
things, doing all types ofthings.
But when I took the time toreally look within, here we go
and be honest with myself.
Jay, I was lying to myself.
I was lying to myself.
I was lying to myself.
So what is it for a coach, atherapist anybody if I'm not
(17:18):
going to be honest with myself?
And once I was honest withmyself about my frustrations, my
passions, what people come tome for, not what I want to be
known as, but even what peopleare manifesting in the earth
that I started paying attentionto it.
Say you know what.
Maybe this is something that Ihave, a super project, maybe
(17:38):
even my frustration.
I'm frustrated about this inpolitics.
I'm frustrated about this.
Maybe you have a gift and acalling to even help somebody
see that different perspective.
I would bet that you have afrustration related to behaviors
and the way people judge them,or they come from this area and
you said well, I'm not justgoing to talk about it, I'm
going to build a life aroundthis and even monetize from that
(18:02):
as well, which is a great thing, all right.
Jay Johnson (18:05):
I'm going to let you get back to the S&E in a
moment, but I mean, you're spoton right.
The part of the reason that Iwanted to get into law was
actually probably related to howI saw particular behaviors
within the law and what we couldactually shift in there.
Same reason I got into politics, same reason I got into
everything else.
So from bouncing back and forthI learned what I didn't like,
(18:26):
which then helped inform what itis I was actually passionate
about.
So I like what you're sayinghere.
Let me let me ask one otherquestion before you jump into
the S&E, because there's a lotof people out there and you know
, in thinking of, like theworkforce and everything else,
like that, helping people aligntheir passions with the mission
of the organization definitely agame changer for getting things
(18:49):
going.
But I think a lot of people, ifthey're asked that question,
like what are you passionateabout, they're going to say
something along the lines of mykids or they're going to say
something along the lines of myfamily, which is a great thing
to be passionate about.
But in many cases it's going tobe external facing and towards
maybe some other person, someother entity.
(19:11):
Some other aspect of that?
Is that aligned with that sortof inner aspect that you're
speaking to, or is there more toit, or how would you shift that
?
Christian F. Johnson (19:23):
Yeah, so, even so, if we're sitting down
and we're having a conversation,you're saying hey, man,
Christian, look, I just love mykids and I love my spouse and I
love this and I love that.
Okay, well, there's somethingbeyond that, right, I talked to,
I did a discovery call theother day and a person was
talking about that very thing.
He said you know what Just lovebeing a father that's?
I couldn't get off of that.
He was like I'm just a father.
Now, this is a leader of anorganization doing really well,
(19:46):
ok, top of their class, ok.
And he's like I just love beinga father and I'm like, ok, well
, what is it about the fatheringthat it is?
And he told me a story.
And he told me a story abouteven when his wife was pregnant
and he was dealing with thesethings.
And he said you know, one ofthe joyous things that I was
able to do was paint the room.
I said, oh, so you like takingthe idea, the vision, right from
(20:06):
there, and when it's birthed,you want to provide an
atmosphere for it to thrive.
Because that's all when hestarted talking.
If you listen to people, theyshare what's behind even the
title From the area.
It doesn't work.
Just being a father, that was aprotective side.
That was the area of takingnewness, taking things that are
raw form and putting themtogether.
(20:27):
So, as you listen and ask thedeeper questions, why do they?
Yes, you love your kids, they'reyour kids, but what is it?
What are some of your favoritemoments?
It tells you about those thingsand we try to box things in.
That's the part of spirituality.
That why I rise up.
We don't have to box them inLike it's a life.
This is a lifestyle.
Spirituality is not something Ijust do on a Sunday or Saturday
(20:49):
.
It's a lifestyle, and so,within that, what we are giving
by God's source universe, it'sfor every place.
So let's open that and embracewhat that looks like.
So now we bring that into thework.
If the mission is this, how do Iconnect to the fathering?
That may be leadership.
If you view a father as aleader of the house, right, that
might be a reason why they'regoing with this, or it might be
(21:11):
a pain point.
I grew up without a father, soI'm going to make sure that I'm
doing this and I'm doing that.
So you listen to a person'sstory, you start to pull out
things, or a coach can pull outthose things.
That helps them to align, and Iwould say I never saw how being
a father also had those sameprinciples and characteristics
here in this place, and now wemake room for them to be who
(21:32):
they are as it aligns with thevision, and move forward from
there.
Jay Johnson (21:36):
Yeah, no, I like that and I like the questions
right, Because these are thingsthat we could be asking in our
day-to-day work and listening topeople's stories, regardless of
what your leadership positionis, regardless if you are a
trained and certified coach.
We're human and we are designedto hear and understand stories,
(21:56):
and if you're having troublewith that, then by all means get
a coach that's going to helpyou navigate some of these
different things and belistening, because I think
that's so important.
All right, I'm, I'm done withthe detours for now, but I
reserve the right to jump backin there.
Give me the S and the E andlet's talk about it.
Christian F. Johnson (22:14):
It's your show, I'm just.
It's your house.
I take my shoes off.
If that's what you asked me todo, okay, but I love it.
Jay Johnson (22:23):
We're sharing this together Go for it.
Christian F. Johnson (22:25):
I appreciate it, man.
One thing if I could say beforethen look, here we go, I can
chase this little squirrel.
You made me think about this.
Please, if you're in a place ofhiring and you have teams and
things like that, like, showyour people that you care and
like, that part is a gamechanger.
Why, for me, a presence-basedcoach is what I come from, that
area Present meaning, present,but also presence by what I
(22:47):
carry, spirituality, so forthand so on, that double entendre.
But realizing that area ofsaying, like when a person
realizes that you value who theyare, they show up differently.
Like I get leading, but youdon't have to be a jerk, you
don't have to be this, you don'thave to be a jerk, you don't
have to be this, you don't haveto be that.
And if you do feel like that'syour place, then hire somebody
else who can care.
And then you consult with themand put them in that place,
(23:09):
because people are going throughso much that they can't talk
about, but they're carrying it,they're carrying so much pain
and distraction.
And if they're at a place wherethey can be healthy and they
wake up and they say, man, I'mgoing into the office or I get
to create them.
Do this Now.
I got to go to work.
I get to.
That's a different thing.
I get to show up on thispodcast and talk about my
(23:33):
passion, what I'm aligned with.
Look, I'm not getting apaycheck per se for this right
now, but looking at this area,it hits my heart and mindset to
say I will do this for millions.
I will do this just because ofmy care and my passion.
So I'm going to say I will dothis for millions.
I will do this just because ofmy care and my passion.
So I'm going to say care forthe people you are entrusted
with because they can tell.
They may smile in your face,but they truly know if you
(23:55):
really care about who they areand what they have.
It helped them to releasetheirs.
It's one body, many parts.
Okay, now come off of mypreaching soapbox, unless you
want to jump in.
Jay Johnson (24:05):
No, what you said is so true though, because I
remember it was during COVID andtwo weeks in, everything's
canceled All training, allface-to-face, all speaking
engagements.
You're a speaker too, so I knowyou know the pain, and, as that
happens, I'm sitting there andI'm starting to get depressed,
(24:30):
and it was one of those likehaving to go upstairs.
I'm like, oh, I got to goupstairs and work.
And it was one of those momentswhere I said that out loud and
I had to.
I heard myself say it and I waslike wait, I don't have to go
upstairs and work, I get to goupstairs and work.
And I started to shift thatlanguage immediately as, like, I
have an opportunity.
It's not that I lost all ofthese speaking engagements.
What I gained was time, and Ithink what you just spoke to so
(24:50):
beautifully was really shiftingthe mindset away from you know,
away from that idea of I have tobe doing this into.
Hey, this is what is aligned,and this is why it's driving my
sense of purpose.
So I really liked what you hadto say there, christian.
Christian F. Johnson (25:07):
All right, thank you, man S and E.
All right S.
We're going to strengthen ouralignment, strengthen your
alignment, okay.
So now that you've gone throughthe area, you've realized okay,
this is what I feel like mypurpose is.
This is how I'm expressing it.
I've identified what thedistractions are.
I'm realizing I'm going toneutralize this noise, so forth
and so on.
I want to strengthen myalignment, okay.
(25:28):
So for you, what would thatlook like?
We could talk through what thatmay look like, but for you, you
may do some area reading, right.
You may do some meditation.
You might do some breath work.
You might do some praying.
You might do some exercising,right.
You want to strengthen whateverallows you.
Here's one of my favorite oneswalking out in nature, just just
just in nature, just just beingout there, grounding yourself,
(25:48):
centering yourself right, butmaking sure that you are
strengthening the alignmentversus focusing on the noise,
right, right.
Jay Johnson (25:55):
I love it.
I love it Right.
She likes to join my podcastsevery now and then.
That's Revna, so yeah.
Christian F. Johnson (26:00):
I think Revna likes my energy, but
that's but that's cool.
You know we pick it up, allright.
But that's the part where I'msaying like, instead of focusing
on the distractions or all theDISs in our lives, like focusing
on that area that builds thattraction and that divine action,
and fixing your thoughts.
There's a scripture that saysfix your thoughts on things that
are pure, righteous, that goodreport, right, and then that
(26:21):
peace that's going to be.
It's beautiful.
Take the time you need to makesure that you're good.
So for me, I wake up everymorning and I choose gratitude,
something I can be grateful for,Even if it's like man, I took a
(26:42):
breath.
Or for me, my hot wife that'slaying next to me.
I'm like, oh, thank you, I'm sograteful that 17 years later
she's still laying next to me,so forth and so on.
Then I even come from that verystrength in my alignment.
I say, okay, I do somethingdifficult For me sometimes, Jay,
that's just getting out of bedsometimes, and for me I go down
to the bed, I go down to thetreadmill, and that's where I
(27:02):
call it walking in the spiritfor me, because I'm walking on a
treadmill but I have someinstrumental music in the
background and I am just at aplace of releasing what no
longer serves me.
Maybe I woke up heavy, Maybe Iwoke up frustrated, Maybe this
bill is here, Maybe I didn't hitthis goal, whatever.
And I'm at that place to makesure I'm strengthening my
alignment, releasing what nolonger serves me, because I
don't know who I'm going toexperience in that day or what
(27:23):
problem may arise.
But I need to not be selfishenough not to look within, to
align myself to the highest,best version of me, so that when
Jay needs me, I'm not givingmyself 50% of Jay, I mean 50% of
myself to Jay.
I'm giving Jay 100% becauseI've done the inner work to be
the best leader that I can be,so that when you eat off of this
(27:44):
tree, so to speak, the fruitthat you eat is very flavorful
and nourishing for yourself.
So strengthening your alignment.
And then E is executing fromthat place, from that place,
from that focus, that intention,that action.
What it is that you'rereceiving is no longer sitting
and just processing it.
You have the clarity.
It's time to do something withit.
We can't just pray and meditate.
Let's just come from a place ofreleasing that expression and
(28:05):
executing from our divine centerwith that focused action.
It's that place on a dailybasis.
I have to revisit those areasto rent and release what no
longer serves me.
That puts me into that place.
So hopefully for your audience,that will help them to get
aligned, stay aligned, get ridof those distractions and just
be at a place of fortified focus, because that's what's needed
(28:27):
in this earth.
Jay Johnson (28:28):
Rinse and release.
I love it.
So I'm actually living thatthis week.
On Thursday I'll be headinginto the woods.
I like to do survival trips,and what I mean by survival
trips is go into the woods, nofood, no water.
See, you know, five, three,four, five days are the short
ones.
Seven, eight, nine, 10 days arethe long ones.
(28:51):
You are a beast 10 days are thelong ones, you know there's
there's nothing more humblingthan recognizing our place in
nature, and I will tell you thatis a quick way to do it.
So, um, but I love what yousaid there, because you know,
each and every day we have notonly distractions, but we've got
emotions that come in and thatwe don't get control over.
(29:15):
We have things that areoccurring inside of the world
that are upsetting us.
We have things on social mediathat we read and immediately
turn our attention and becomenot the person that we want to
show up as.
And I think it's so importantthat we do rinse and release
some of these things away andsay is this really serving me?
(29:36):
So I really like this as amodel.
Let me ask you one more questionin relation to sort of the
spirituality at work.
At what level, when you start towork with you know whether it's
the leaders, whether it'sexecutives, whoever it is that
comes across your plate.
(29:56):
And I don't want to take thisfrom a place of shame, but I
think so often we as humanbeings are so careful and so
guarded to not try to offendsomebody else, right?
We want to be cautious.
So if I walk in and say and I'mgoing to use maybe my religion
(30:18):
is that of the ancient Egyptiansand I'm pretty sure that it's a
dead religion at this point intime and nobody really follows
it and I come in and I starttalking about it, I am going to
get some looks People are goingto look at me funny, right, but
at the end of the day, how doyou help somebody navigate
feeling that confidence or thatcomfortability to step into some
(30:40):
of that space, when maybethey're feeling like, hey, am I
on an Island by myself here?
Am I okay?
Am I safe to share these things?
And I use, you know, an ancientEgyptian religion?
Because whatever religionsomebody is, whatever culture
somebody is, whatever thatinternal dialogue that they may
be having, they may not feelsafe to bring that out.
(31:02):
How do you help them navigatethat safety question?
Christian F. Johnson (31:05):
Well, here's the funny thing is you,
like, gave the answer because itis really about relationship
and building a safe place.
I mean, that really is where,like you said, this is more like
a coffee chat that we're havingand we're inviting other people
to listen and participate right, but if I came in just off the
bat quoting scriptures at youand talking about this and
(31:27):
talking about you, you'd be likewhoa, whoa, whoa, what's this
guy?
So I mean, it's my job when Icome in to make sure that you
feel comfortable and hopefullythe audience does.
But I also am very clear aboutwhere I am.
If you look at my LinkedIn,it's going to be very clear that
I come from a spiritual,christ-centered perspective.
But I also would hope to seethat you don't see judgment.
You don't see me speaking down.
You see me speaking to my idealperson and speaking to love.
(31:50):
See, love, I think, goesthrough no matter what culture
and what race and what gender orwhatever.
It's love, right.
And so for me, my personalstory is I went through years
well, I went through a season,I'll say, of learning God beyond
religion, before I came to thisplace of where I am.
So I've had the honor of youknow, not only just reading the
(32:12):
Bible or the Bible of the Gita,or reading this and reading that
, and having all these amazingrelationships with people who
honor where I am and I honorwhere they are, and we can do
life together.
So it's that area where we canlearn from each other and it's
creating that safe place.
But for me, if I go into anorganization, I need to talk
with the CEO, I need to talkwith the executive director, I
(32:39):
need to talk with that personand hear what's going on
creating that space and as we'reable to talk, I can help gauge
that and make it a safe place.
But that does take skill, thatdoes take a team and it takes a
very thought and caringindividual or team that's
willing to deal with that and dothat.
But it's once you do that andyou create that atmosphere oh,
what a powerful place.
So I would say it's once you dothat and you create that
atmosphere oh, what a powerfulplace.
So I would say it's even worthit, if you don't have that, to
(33:01):
even consider it.
People are nervous because youdon't have to be offensive.
You heard me say before werecorded how much of this do you
want me to lean into, because Ihonor who you are and I honor
who your audience is.
So, at the end of it, I'm nottaking you through the Roman's
road.
I can do that on Sunday morningfor those in that audience, but
in this area of what it is, I'msaying, hey, if you can get
(33:21):
these principles of destroyingdistractions, aligning with your
higher power and solidifyingfocus, I think every religion,
culture and creed can cometogether with that.
Let's talk about that Now.
My stories may come fromtalking about Jesus, the Christ,
or Yeshua and Joseph, butthat's just a part of where I am
and you being open to that.
But if you're talking and youwant to talk about Muhammad or
(33:42):
you're talking about that, I canstill learn from there and I
think that's the part we need tobe okay with.
It might not be my preference,but the principles can be
powerful Absolutely.
Jay Johnson (33:53):
And I told you when you had asked that I said bring
it Christian, because I reallydo believe that people in their
authentic voice, in theirauthentic space, everybody,
everyone, every human being onthis planet has value and has a
right to believe and feel howthey want to believe and feel,
and I'm really glad that youbrought this perspective into us
(34:14):
today.
You know, I'll share with youreal quick before we wrap up
here one of my very earlyclients in my, in my training
career was the IslamicAssociation of Greater Detroit.
I'm not Muslim, but I wasbrought in to train their
students.
This was right just after 2001,just after September 2001.
(34:34):
And I was brought in to helptheir students learn to
communicate, learn to be able toessentially defend themselves
and deescalate conflicts.
As you can imagine and I was.
It was really interesting to meand this is now 24, 25 years
ago, but at that time I did.
I had people who were asking melike how could you go in there,
(34:56):
how can you say As-salamualaykum wa alaykum as-salam?
You're not Muslim, You're not.
And I said no, but I have aprofound respect for them, for
people in general, for people tobe able to navigate, whatever
their belief systems are, and Ithink that everybody has a right
to be able to communicate thatand we should all be respectful.
So I am grateful that youbrought in your perspective
(35:19):
today, that you were able toshare with us and the audience
some incredible tips and reallyawesome ways for us to navigate
some of these challenges.
You know, whether it'sdistractions, whether it's
finding our purpose, whetherit's bringing our authentic
voice and spirituality.
So I just want to say thank you.
If the audience wanted to getin touch with you, christian,
(35:39):
how would they reach out to you?
Christian F. Johnson (35:41):
100%.
Thank you so much, first off,for trusting me and my voice to
just speak life to this amazingaudience, and so I appreciate
you for that.
If they want to connect with me, I'm on LinkedIn, and so that
is Christian F Johnson.
You can go to my website, whichis IamChristianFJohnsoncom.
If you're looking for speakingand coaching.
(36:02):
My book when You're Speakingbut Still Silent is on Amazon.
Yeah, and I also have thePresident-Centered Podcast, as
you can check that out as well,and you can look that on YouTube
or any listening platform.
Jay Johnson (36:15):
Excellent, and we'll make sure that's in the
show notes.
So again, christian, I justwant to say thank you.
I've really enjoyed ourconversation and you do have a
gift of energy, my friend, so ithas been incredible to talk to
you.
Thank you, yeah, and thank you,audience, for tuning into this
episode of the talent forge.
We're together.
We're shaping workforcebehaviors.
Welcome to this episode of the Talent Forge,
where, together, we are shapingworkforce behaviors.
Today, I am joined by specialguest Christian F Johnson.
Welcome to the show, christian.
Christian F. Johnson (00:12):
Thank you so much.
I feel like I've officiallymade it.
I'm here.
I'm here with Jay Johnson, solet's go.
Jay Johnson (00:20):
We've got a shared heritage and a last name.
Here has got to be a greatconversation.
I'm looking forward to it.
So, all right, christian, tellus you know what got you into
the, what got you into the spaceof leadership development and
workforce development.
What brought you to this space?
Yeah, I'm gonna sell.
Christian F. Johnson (00:38):
I feel like to say I'm almost called
into it.
I know I'm starting off kind ofdeep like, but like it's, it's
just it.
You know, you look around andyou say like, okay, podcast,
let's just go with that.
Okay, I'm the person that says,if Jay Johnson has the
microphone, who is themicrophone?
Stand for Jay with themicrophone.
That perspective is what I'veseen.
(01:00):
I've seen amazing leaders,spiritually minded leaders,
powerful leaders, talking, doingwhat they need to.
Spiritually minded leaders,powerful leaders, talking, doing
what they need to do, buildingbrands, leading organizations,
so forth and so on.
But the support from the brandto the man, it seemed to be a
gap and so I kind of wanted tobe that gap filler because it's
what I needed and what wasprovided for me.
So I'm almost sometimes likeI'm the client, but that's the
(01:21):
part that it kind of called meinto Cause I was like, okay,
who's the who's the mic standand it was like you.
So here I am.
Jay Johnson (01:29):
I love it, I love it, I love the.
So, and this is something thatI found so fascinating and part
of the reason why I was reallylooking forward to this
conversation.
Let's dig right in spirituality.
A lot of people are reallynervous to talk about that in
the space of workspace, and I'msure that there's a lot of
leaders that have anxiety aboutsharing too much, not sharing
(01:50):
enough, not being true tothemselves.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?
What's your experience innavigating some of that space?
Christian F. Johnson (01:57):
Well, okay , so, first off, I am okay to
say this I come from aChrist-centered perspective, all
right.
But everything I share istransferable, okay.
So it doesn't matter what yourbelief system, so forth, these
principles are transferable.
But it's just that I think wemake it weird and it doesn't
have to be.
We honor each other.
Again, jay, you and I may seedifferent perspectives, but I
(02:19):
honor your perspective and youhonor my perspective, and I
think that if we can removethose things aside, it's not me
trying to convince you tobelieve the exact same way I do.
Actually, it's just theseprinciples that you can share
and that can help us, as theleader, to do what needs to be
done.
But I sit from that place ofpersonal development.
It's looking within and alignedto God, source beauty, life,
(02:41):
whatever name you want to callit right To make sure that we're
operating from our higher mind,if that makes sense.
Jay Johnson (02:47):
Absolutely.
You know, even even if we wereto take this straight down to an
organizational level, one ofthe things that is a value
proposition is hey, what is the,what is the higher power of
your organization, what's theNorth star, what's leading you
to be in that space?
And you know, to take that as aspirituality question, as an
(03:08):
internalized spiritualityquestion makes a lot of sense.
So how does, if I'm a leader,let's, let's, let's take this
concept I'm a leader, maybe I'vegot a strong set of beliefs in,
in whatever you know, whateverreligion it is, and I'm sitting
there and I'm feeling tension,christian, I'm feeling so much
(03:28):
tension I'm not sure if my teamis going to react negatively if
I'm being too much out there oranything else.
How do you coach me to maybelive into my own?
You know that inner drive, that, that inner sort of security.
What does that look like?
Christian F. Johnson (03:47):
well, first off, I'll say there's
three things that I reallyreally focus on, okay, and one
is destroying distractions,aligning with god, higher power
source, whatever, like I saidyou want to name it, and then
fortifying the focus.
Okay, so that's the reason whyyou can be coming to me like you
fill in the area, like this.
You're, you're scattered right,high, achieving spiritually
minded, realizing where I am.
I'm dealing with some thingslike so that's the area of the
(04:09):
space, but what I do is I walkmy clients through something I
call is the rinse method, and so, if you allow me to go into
there, right, I don't know aboutyou, but growing up for me, my
mom would say anytime you have athroat irritation, she would
say I want you to take warmwater and get some salt, I want
you to put that in there, swishit around in your mouth, and she
(04:30):
didn't say don't swallow it.
She said I want you to rinsethis and release it.
And that's where I took thisacronym from, and it's been
helping me out, because I was atthat place before I get to that
rinse method.
On March the 2nd, my lifechanged, okay, because I'm a
coach, but I'm also a speaker,and so I was coming off a
platform and this person said tome Christian, and they know who
(04:51):
I am, but I'll call them Bobby,okay, to protect their name.
They said, christian, it's hardto listen to you because you
don't sound like your authenticself.
You sound like you have thismimicry going on, so forth and
so on.
So I looked within to realizethat I had an unhealthy reliance
on the external validation ofother different things, trying
to be this leader, successful inthis area, but missed my core,
(05:13):
trying to follow the patterns ofwhat success was.
So I almost lost my voice andthis is where this thing came
into play.
I write the book called whenYou're Speaking but Still Silent
.
And this method comes fromthere because I'm going to make
sure that the man and the brandis aligning.
So when you're in thatorganization and you're
realizing I'm dealing with thesedistractions, I'm dealing with
(05:34):
these places, I'm dealing withthis posture, the Ritz method,
first thing is to recognize whatis distracting you from your
divine purpose, the reason forwhich you're there.
So if we were walking throughthis, jay, I would ask you a
question like what is the reasonwhy you felt like you were sent
to earth?
Jay Johnson (05:54):
Well, that's a good question, so I'm going to
answer that.
But I'm going to say I can tellthat my mom's approach, which
was the whiskey hot toddyapproach, maybe I should have
went to the rinse, no, listen.
Christian F. Johnson (06:02):
I'm going to the rinse as well.
Don't get me 100%, 100%, let'sgo Want to put a lemon in it too
.
Jay Johnson (06:10):
That's right, you know it.
Christian F. Johnson (06:12):
Let's go yeah.
Jay Johnson (06:15):
And I like that question, christian, because
it's something that I've put alot of energy into, and really
it started for me with trying todiscover myself, and I went
down a pathway of trying tolearn about behavior, to better
understand what it was why did Ido what I did?
Why do I feel the way I do?
(06:35):
Why do I think the way that Ido?
And it was in that selfdiscovery and through a very,
very long process of finding myown personal path that I
realized that there's a lot ofpeople out there that are asking
themselves the same question,and that's really why I got into
behavior.
Um, so why was I put here?
Honestly, yeah, helping,helping people navigate behavior
(07:01):
is honestly what I feel calledfor.
Um's what brings me energy.
It's what I'm passionate about.
I'm doing a podcast on it, youknow.
So I mean, it's one of thosewhere I've kind of fallen in
love with the idea of supportingpeople wherever they're at in
their behavioral journey.
Christian F. Johnson (07:20):
Okay, good , I love that.
So helping them to support themthrough their behavioral
journey, okay, if I'm hearingyou correctly, okay, so we would
go from there and say, okay,and again, not everybody that
comes to me actually canarticulate it that way.
So I salute you for that asbeing a leader who understands
the reason why they are here onthis earth.
Okay, so usually I take themthrough an area to get to that
(07:40):
point.
You know it, you got it Great.
Now my question is do you feellike you are fully operating in
that space?
Jay Johnson (07:47):
Yes, I feel like I am.
I'm going to say I'm operatingin that space about 90%.
Okay, and call this byintention a little bit.
I have usually pretty goodfocus, but I am a very curious
human being and I can veryeasily I mean, you might toss
(08:09):
out something about polar bearhabits and I'm going to start
talking about what it looks likeon the Antarctic okay, and that
has nothing to do with humanbehavior, but so my brain
definitely works in a verycurious state at all times.
So I would say that 90% I'mfocused on that.
I leave a little 10% forexploration of other things.
Christian F. Johnson (08:30):
Well, that's healthy again.
So that's healthy and that'sgreat, healthy and that's great,
and that's that's the powerfulfrom there, right?
So what we would do is we wouldtake that area, that focus for
where you are.
But we realized when, with Idon't know if you're you're
married, or or kids, or whateverthe case may be, but there's
all these distractions that cantake place, that that can
challenge us to come out of our,our, our superpower, so to
speak.
Right, so what you?
(08:50):
What I say, that's that's oursuperpower.
But those distractions I lovethe word right, cause when you
take the DIS, right, then youhave all those.
You know I'm disengaged, right,I'm disconnected.
When you remove all those, youhave traction, and then from
traction you remove the TR, thenyou have action.
So for me, the mindset is let'srealize that every distraction
is those things that are keepingus away from building that
(09:11):
traction to stay aligned in ourdivine right, that God action,
that reason for you dealing withthe area of behaviors.
So we got to recognize what isdistracting us from that purpose
, right, that's that R gettingback to that place.
Then the I is to identify whatthat assignment is, which we've
done, and here's the key righthere in the end, the end is
neutralizing those distractions,because neutralizing those
(09:35):
distractions by starving them,would you believe or would you
agree with me if I say, jay,that what you feed lives, but
what you starve dies?
Jay Johnson (09:47):
Yeah, one of my really good exceptional
behavioral elements certifiedguides always says where your
attention goes, energy flows.
Christian F. Johnson (09:56):
And it's 100 percent, 100 percent and
that's the same principle fromhere, by neutralizing those
attractions.
You know how many times we stayfocused, just like you said is
chasing the squirrel or whateverit is.
I'm curious.
That's great, but I have tostay from my center because when
people are coming in to listento Jay Johnson and like, look,
he's going to bring me somethingof the help me with the area of
the behavior, he's going tobring me a guest, he's going to
(10:17):
bring me power and insight andfor me, the way that I eat,
drink, speak, it all comes fromthat isness of my inner tugging
and I need to neutralize thosedistractions, start those, but
pay attention and feed what itis that I'm called and purpose
to, because that's what I'm torelease in the earth.
So, no matter in corporate orministry or whatever the case
(10:39):
may be, they are the bestemployees, they are the best
leaders, they are the ones thatstick around and even when I've
done with interviewing I used tobe a director of operations I
realized that the person who isable to see their purpose and
their assignment in the vision,they'll stick around much longer
and be much happier.
Jay Johnson (10:59):
Alignment's so important.
I agree with that.
So let me pause here, though,because I know that some of the
audience may have this questionin their mind like all right,
christian, but what about allthe other things that I have to
do Because I'm on this earth todo this purpose?
But I'm also a mom, I'm also achild, I'm also a sibling, a
(11:20):
friend, a spouse.
I'm also donating my time tocharity.
I'm doing this, I'm doing thisand I'm going to share with you.
It was a long journey for me toactually understand how to hold
on to my time and thennegotiate my time and to avoid
some distractions Probably madea lot of really bad choices, so
(11:42):
navigating that can be a reallybig challenge.
How do you help somebody say,okay, well, you can be multiple
things, but here's your purposeand here's how you get back to
it?
What does that look like foryou?
Christian F. Johnson (11:54):
Well, you know what?
I'm glad you kind of set me up.
I kind of just wanted to answerand say, well, that's the
reason why I would invite you toconsider hiring a coach,
because a coach helps to fasttrack those things that may have
taken you 15, 20 years.
You get to do life withsomebody like myself or whoever,
even if it's not me, to helpyou to ask the questions.
This is what I love aboutcoaching.
I'm going to go scripture for asecond.
(12:15):
Okay, from the spirituality.
Right, I look at the area ofone of the best coaches is God
in Genesis 1.
He says to Adam and Eve whotold you you were naked?
In other words, where did youget your information from?
And if that isn't a powerfulbehavioral question, right there
where we're operating and doingdifferent things.
And did I do this?
Because I heard Jay said it?
Did I do this because this iswhat the coach told me to do
(12:38):
this?
Because culture is telling methis, because I need this raise.
I did this, this is, or this is, from my center and operating
from this place, because Ialways say source knows.
And everybody has that Godpower, that God mind.
So when we get rid of the noiseright.
We're able to identify who weare and where we are.
We're able to operate from thatplace, and that's the true
place of success.
(12:58):
Yes, I am a father.
Yes, I am an entrepreneur, I'malso a musician, I'm a coach,
I'm all those things, but guesswhat?
The true of who I am and what Iexpress?
It's transferable, like myprinciples, jay.
So if you're in the area ofbehavior, guess what you got
kids.
Same thing, it operates inthere.
You're in business, same thing,it operates in there.
(13:19):
You're doing it in the podcast.
That's the area where you'renot spent.
No matter where you are, youtake it with you because it's
who you are.
The thing is the distractionsthat I talk about.
It keeps us from that place ofreally an houring in on what it
is that we have.
Sometimes we lust after whatsomebody else has, and so that's
(13:40):
my whole message is just be whoyou are Like.
There's so many duplicates ofeverything else.
There's only you.
Being your authentic self iswhat the earth needs.
So be, jay, and then we'llcontinue to move forward.
Am I answering your question?
Jay Johnson (13:54):
Yeah, I think so.
I, you know, I think about thequote be yourself, everyone else
has already taken kind of aconcept, you know and let's go.
You know when I think about,when I think about the aspect.
So all right, I'm looking backto 20 years ago and I still owe
you two more.
Christian F. Johnson (14:13):
By the way , sorry, I got the N.
I'm going to give them the Sand the E, so we'll get back to
that.
I got through the rents, I gotthe RI and I didn't forget y'all
.
Jay Johnson (14:21):
We're coming back.
Don't worry, I literally willgo back in circles, so I think
I'm distracted.
Christian F. Johnson (14:26):
You're good.
I got focus, so we're good.
Jay Johnson (14:53):
So you know I'm thinking about that that 20
years ago Jay Johnson did notknow what his calling was and
you know it was one of thosewhere, at that point in time,
maybe I wanted to be a lawyer,maybe I wanted to be a trainer.
I was current at that moment, Iwas a research assistant at
Wayne State University.
I was getting into politics atone point in time.
Thank you, I didn't continuedown that road.
Yeah, outside of religion beingnon-denominational, we're going
to call it political.
I'm just glad I got out.
That's all no sides.
But with that being said, whatabout the people?
(15:14):
And obviously, with a coach isprobably a much faster track.
But what about the people thatare, like I'm not sure what I
want to do, christian, like, howdo I, how do I determine what
has put me on this place?
Yeah, so again.
Christian F. Johnson (15:30):
Um, when we started, when I asked you,
you know what is your, thereason why you're, you're put on
earth, typically, if I hadsomebody say you know what, I
haven't really thought aboutthat Then the next question I
would ask is what is yourpassion?
And we would just go throughthat, like different things in
life.
So some, a lot of times, peoplethrow out their, their titles,
right, and I'm like, okay, let'sget past the area of the titles
, let's go a little deeper, okay.
(15:50):
So another question is good toask yourself or look at is like
the unsolicited advice or notadvice, the unsolicited
compliments or different thingsthat people say to you, right?
So for a while people would sayChristian, I just love your
energy, it's your energy, I justwant to be around you, it's
your energy.
I'm like what is that?
Jay Johnson (16:07):
that like it's those moments I call them.
Christian F. Johnson (16:09):
Yeah, thank you, man, I appreciate it.
So those are some like godmoments where it's like look,
universe, god sources.
It's like I'm showing you somethings, right.
The thing is, what are peoplegoing to you for?
So if they call you all thetime with a problem, what is
that problem?
Chances are you have a gifting,a calling, something that's
leading you towards those things.
You take all those thingstogether, sit with yourself or
(16:31):
chat GPT can even help you outwith this and put that in chat
GPT and say, hey, I keep hearingthis about myself, this is
where I am, this is what I'mfeeling, so forth and so on.
Um, what are, what is this line?
What are a couple of phrasesthat we see, and we start seeing
that all along, even from yourchildhood.
Right, I was a person thathelped people get focused.
I was a person that helped themalign with their higher power.
(16:54):
I was a person that helpedpeople get away from
distractions.
It's been my whole life.
But, like yourself, I've haddifferent businesses, different
things, doing all types ofthings.
But when I took the time toreally look within, here we go
and be honest with myself.
Jay, I was lying to myself.
I was lying to myself.
I was lying to myself.
So what is it for a coach, atherapist anybody if I'm not
(17:18):
going to be honest with myself?
And once I was honest withmyself about my frustrations, my
passions, what people come tome for, not what I want to be
known as, but even what peopleare manifesting in the earth
that I started paying attentionto it.
Say you know what.
Maybe this is something that Ihave, a super project, maybe
(17:38):
even my frustration.
I'm frustrated about this inpolitics.
I'm frustrated about this.
Maybe you have a gift and acalling to even help somebody
see that different perspective.
I would bet that you have afrustration related to behaviors
and the way people judge them,or they come from this area and
you said well, I'm not justgoing to talk about it, I'm
going to build a life aroundthis and even monetize from that
(18:02):
as well, which is a great thing, all right.
Jay Johnson (18:05):
I'm going to let you get back to the S&E in a
moment, but I mean, you're spoton right.
The part of the reason that Iwanted to get into law was
actually probably related to howI saw particular behaviors
within the law and what we couldactually shift in there.
Same reason I got into politics, same reason I got into
everything else.
So from bouncing back and forthI learned what I didn't like,
(18:26):
which then helped inform what itis I was actually passionate
about.
So I like what you're sayinghere.
Let me let me ask one otherquestion before you jump into
the S&E, because there's a lotof people out there and you know
, in thinking of, like theworkforce and everything else,
like that, helping people aligntheir passions with the mission
of the organization definitely agame changer for getting things
(18:49):
going.
But I think a lot of people, ifthey're asked that question,
like what are you passionateabout, they're going to say
something along the lines of mykids or they're going to say
something along the lines of myfamily, which is a great thing
to be passionate about.
But in many cases it's going tobe external facing and towards
maybe some other person, someother entity.
(19:11):
Some other aspect of that?
Is that aligned with that sortof inner aspect that you're
speaking to, or is there more toit, or how would you shift that
?
Christian F. Johnson (19:23):
Yeah, so, even so, if we're sitting down
and we're having a conversation,you're saying hey, man,
Christian, look, I just love mykids and I love my spouse and I
love this and I love that.
Okay, well, there's somethingbeyond that, right, I talked to,
I did a discovery call theother day and a person was
talking about that very thing.
He said you know what Just lovebeing a father that's?
I couldn't get off of that.
He was like I'm just a father.
Now, this is a leader of anorganization doing really well,
(19:46):
ok, top of their class, ok.
And he's like I just love beinga father and I'm like, ok, well
, what is it about the fatheringthat it is?
And he told me a story.
And he told me a story abouteven when his wife was pregnant
and he was dealing with thesethings.
And he said you know, one ofthe joyous things that I was
able to do was paint the room.
I said, oh, so you like takingthe idea, the vision, right from
(20:06):
there, and when it's birthed,you want to provide an
atmosphere for it to thrive.
Because that's all when hestarted talking.
If you listen to people, theyshare what's behind even the
title From the area.
It doesn't work.
Just being a father, that was aprotective side.
That was the area of takingnewness, taking things that are
raw form and putting themtogether.
(20:27):
So, as you listen and ask thedeeper questions, why do they?
Yes, you love your kids, they'reyour kids, but what is it?
What are some of your favoritemoments?
It tells you about those thingsand we try to box things in.
That's the part of spirituality.
That why I rise up.
We don't have to box them inLike it's a life.
This is a lifestyle.
Spirituality is not something Ijust do on a Sunday or Saturday
(20:49):
.
It's a lifestyle, and so,within that, what we are giving
by God's source universe, it'sfor every place.
So let's open that and embracewhat that looks like.
So now we bring that into thework.
If the mission is this, how do Iconnect to the fathering?
That may be leadership.
If you view a father as aleader of the house, right, that
might be a reason why they'regoing with this, or it might be
(21:11):
a pain point.
I grew up without a father, soI'm going to make sure that I'm
doing this and I'm doing that.
So you listen to a person'sstory, you start to pull out
things, or a coach can pull outthose things.
That helps them to align, and Iwould say I never saw how being
a father also had those sameprinciples and characteristics
here in this place, and now wemake room for them to be who
(21:32):
they are as it aligns with thevision, and move forward from
there.
Jay Johnson (21:36):
Yeah, no, I like that and I like the questions
right, Because these are thingsthat we could be asking in our
day-to-day work and listening topeople's stories, regardless of
what your leadership positionis, regardless if you are a
trained and certified coach.
We're human and we are designedto hear and understand stories,
(21:56):
and if you're having troublewith that, then by all means get
a coach that's going to helpyou navigate some of these
different things and belistening, because I think
that's so important.
All right, I'm, I'm done withthe detours for now, but I
reserve the right to jump backin there.
Give me the S and the E andlet's talk about it.
Christian F. Johnson (22:14):
It's your show, I'm just.
It's your house.
I take my shoes off.
If that's what you asked me todo, okay, but I love it.
Jay Johnson (22:23):
We're sharing this together Go for it.
Christian F. Johnson (22:25):
I appreciate it, man.
One thing if I could say beforethen look, here we go, I can
chase this little squirrel.
You made me think about this.
Please, if you're in a place ofhiring and you have teams and
things like that, like, showyour people that you care and
like, that part is a gamechanger.
Why, for me, a presence-basedcoach is what I come from, that
area Present meaning, present,but also presence by what I
(22:47):
carry, spirituality, so forthand so on, that double entendre.
But realizing that area ofsaying, like when a person
realizes that you value who theyare, they show up differently.
Like I get leading, but youdon't have to be a jerk, you
don't have to be this, you don'thave to be a jerk, you don't
have to be this, you don't haveto be that.
And if you do feel like that'syour place, then hire somebody
else who can care.
And then you consult with themand put them in that place,
(23:09):
because people are going throughso much that they can't talk
about, but they're carrying it,they're carrying so much pain
and distraction.
And if they're at a place wherethey can be healthy and they
wake up and they say, man, I'mgoing into the office or I get
to create them.
Do this Now.
I got to go to work.
I get to.
That's a different thing.
I get to show up on thispodcast and talk about my
(23:33):
passion, what I'm aligned with.
Look, I'm not getting apaycheck per se for this right
now, but looking at this area,it hits my heart and mindset to
say I will do this for millions.
I will do this just because ofmy care and my passion.
So I'm going to say I will dothis for millions.
I will do this just because ofmy care and my passion.
So I'm going to say care forthe people you are entrusted
with because they can tell.
They may smile in your face,but they truly know if you
(23:55):
really care about who they areand what they have.
It helped them to releasetheirs.
It's one body, many parts.
Okay, now come off of mypreaching soapbox, unless you
want to jump in.
Jay Johnson (24:05):
No, what you said is so true though, because I
remember it was during COVID andtwo weeks in, everything's
canceled All training, allface-to-face, all speaking
engagements.
You're a speaker too, so I knowyou know the pain, and, as that
happens, I'm sitting there andI'm starting to get depressed,
(24:30):
and it was one of those likehaving to go upstairs.
I'm like, oh, I got to goupstairs and work.
And it was one of those momentswhere I said that out loud and
I had to.
I heard myself say it and I waslike wait, I don't have to go
upstairs and work, I get to goupstairs and work.
And I started to shift thatlanguage immediately as, like, I
have an opportunity.
It's not that I lost all ofthese speaking engagements.
What I gained was time, and Ithink what you just spoke to so
(24:50):
beautifully was really shiftingthe mindset away from you know,
away from that idea of I have tobe doing this into.
Hey, this is what is aligned,and this is why it's driving my
sense of purpose.
So I really liked what you hadto say there, christian.
Christian F. Johnson (25:07):
All right, thank you, man S and E.
All right S.
We're going to strengthen ouralignment, strengthen your
alignment, okay.
So now that you've gone throughthe area, you've realized okay,
this is what I feel like mypurpose is.
This is how I'm expressing it.
I've identified what thedistractions are.
I'm realizing I'm going toneutralize this noise, so forth
and so on.
I want to strengthen myalignment, okay.
(25:28):
So for you, what would thatlook like?
We could talk through what thatmay look like, but for you, you
may do some area reading, right.
You may do some meditation.
You might do some breath work.
You might do some praying.
You might do some exercising,right.
You want to strengthen whateverallows you.
Here's one of my favorite oneswalking out in nature, just just
just in nature, just just beingout there, grounding yourself,
(25:48):
centering yourself right, butmaking sure that you are
strengthening the alignmentversus focusing on the noise,
right, right.
Jay Johnson (25:55):
I love it.
I love it Right.
She likes to join my podcastsevery now and then.
That's Revna, so yeah.
Christian F. Johnson (26:00):
I think Revna likes my energy, but
that's but that's cool.
You know we pick it up, allright.
But that's the part where I'msaying like, instead of focusing
on the distractions or all theDISs in our lives, like focusing
on that area that builds thattraction and that divine action,
and fixing your thoughts.
There's a scripture that saysfix your thoughts on things that
are pure, righteous, that goodreport, right, and then that
(26:21):
peace that's going to be.
It's beautiful.
Take the time you need to makesure that you're good.
So for me, I wake up everymorning and I choose gratitude,
something I can be grateful for,Even if it's like man, I took a
(26:42):
breath.
Or for me, my hot wife that'slaying next to me.
I'm like, oh, thank you, I'm sograteful that 17 years later
she's still laying next to me,so forth and so on.
Then I even come from that verystrength in my alignment.
I say, okay, I do somethingdifficult For me sometimes, Jay,
that's just getting out of bedsometimes, and for me I go down
to the bed, I go down to thetreadmill, and that's where I
(27:02):
call it walking in the spiritfor me, because I'm walking on a
treadmill but I have someinstrumental music in the
background and I am just at aplace of releasing what no
longer serves me.
Maybe I woke up heavy, Maybe Iwoke up frustrated, Maybe this
bill is here, Maybe I didn't hitthis goal, whatever.
And I'm at that place to makesure I'm strengthening my
alignment, releasing what nolonger serves me, because I
don't know who I'm going toexperience in that day or what
(27:23):
problem may arise.
But I need to not be selfishenough not to look within, to
align myself to the highest,best version of me, so that when
Jay needs me, I'm not givingmyself 50% of Jay, I mean 50% of
myself to Jay.
I'm giving Jay 100% becauseI've done the inner work to be
the best leader that I can be,so that when you eat off of this
(27:44):
tree, so to speak, the fruitthat you eat is very flavorful
and nourishing for yourself.
So strengthening your alignment.
And then E is executing fromthat place, from that place,
from that focus, that intention,that action.
What it is that you'rereceiving is no longer sitting
and just processing it.
You have the clarity.
It's time to do something withit.
We can't just pray and meditate.
Let's just come from a place ofreleasing that expression and
(28:05):
executing from our divine centerwith that focused action.
It's that place on a dailybasis.
I have to revisit those areasto rent and release what no
longer serves me.
That puts me into that place.
So hopefully for your audience,that will help them to get
aligned, stay aligned, get ridof those distractions and just
be at a place of fortified focus, because that's what's needed
(28:27):
in this earth.
Jay Johnson (28:28):
Rinse and release.
I love it.
So I'm actually living thatthis week.
On Thursday I'll be headinginto the woods.
I like to do survival trips,and what I mean by survival
trips is go into the woods, nofood, no water.
See, you know, five, three,four, five days are the short
ones.
Seven, eight, nine, 10 days arethe long ones.
(28:51):
You are a beast 10 days are thelong ones, you know there's
there's nothing more humblingthan recognizing our place in
nature, and I will tell you thatis a quick way to do it.
So, um, but I love what yousaid there, because you know,
each and every day we have notonly distractions, but we've got
emotions that come in and thatwe don't get control over.
(29:15):
We have things that areoccurring inside of the world
that are upsetting us.
We have things on social mediathat we read and immediately
turn our attention and becomenot the person that we want to
show up as.
And I think it's so importantthat we do rinse and release
some of these things away andsay is this really serving me?
(29:36):
So I really like this as amodel.
Let me ask you one more questionin relation to sort of the
spirituality at work.
At what level, when you start towork with you know whether it's
the leaders, whether it'sexecutives, whoever it is that
comes across your plate.
(29:56):
And I don't want to take thisfrom a place of shame, but I
think so often we as humanbeings are so careful and so
guarded to not try to offendsomebody else, right?
We want to be cautious.
So if I walk in and say and I'mgoing to use maybe my religion
(30:18):
is that of the ancient Egyptiansand I'm pretty sure that it's a
dead religion at this point intime and nobody really follows
it and I come in and I starttalking about it, I am going to
get some looks People are goingto look at me funny, right, but
at the end of the day, how doyou help somebody navigate
feeling that confidence or thatcomfortability to step into some
(30:40):
of that space, when maybethey're feeling like, hey, am I
on an Island by myself here?
Am I okay?
Am I safe to share these things?
And I use, you know, an ancientEgyptian religion?
Because whatever religionsomebody is, whatever culture
somebody is, whatever thatinternal dialogue that they may
be having, they may not feelsafe to bring that out.
(31:02):
How do you help them navigatethat safety question?
Christian F. Johnson (31:05):
Well, here's the funny thing is you,
like, gave the answer because itis really about relationship
and building a safe place.
I mean, that really is where,like you said, this is more like
a coffee chat that we're havingand we're inviting other people
to listen and participate right, but if I came in just off the
bat quoting scriptures at youand talking about this and
(31:27):
talking about you, you'd be likewhoa, whoa, whoa, what's this
guy?
So I mean, it's my job when Icome in to make sure that you
feel comfortable and hopefullythe audience does.
But I also am very clear aboutwhere I am.
If you look at my LinkedIn,it's going to be very clear that
I come from a spiritual,christ-centered perspective.
But I also would hope to seethat you don't see judgment.
You don't see me speaking down.
You see me speaking to my idealperson and speaking to love.
(31:50):
See, love, I think, goesthrough no matter what culture
and what race and what gender orwhatever.
It's love, right.
And so for me, my personalstory is I went through years
well, I went through a season,I'll say, of learning God beyond
religion, before I came to thisplace of where I am.
So I've had the honor of youknow, not only just reading the
(32:12):
Bible or the Bible of the Gita,or reading this and reading that
, and having all these amazingrelationships with people who
honor where I am and I honorwhere they are, and we can do
life together.
So it's that area where we canlearn from each other and it's
creating that safe place.
But for me, if I go into anorganization, I need to talk
with the CEO, I need to talkwith the executive director, I
(32:39):
need to talk with that personand hear what's going on
creating that space and as we'reable to talk, I can help gauge
that and make it a safe place.
But that does take skill, thatdoes take a team and it takes a
very thought and caringindividual or team that's
willing to deal with that and dothat.
But it's once you do that andyou create that atmosphere oh,
what a powerful place.
So I would say it's once you dothat and you create that
atmosphere oh, what a powerfulplace.
So I would say it's even worthit, if you don't have that, to
(33:01):
even consider it.
People are nervous because youdon't have to be offensive.
You heard me say before werecorded how much of this do you
want me to lean into, because Ihonor who you are and I honor
who your audience is.
So, at the end of it, I'm nottaking you through the Roman's
road.
I can do that on Sunday morningfor those in that audience, but
in this area of what it is, I'msaying, hey, if you can get
(33:21):
these principles of destroyingdistractions, aligning with your
higher power and solidifyingfocus, I think every religion,
culture and creed can cometogether with that.
Let's talk about that Now.
My stories may come fromtalking about Jesus, the Christ,
or Yeshua and Joseph, butthat's just a part of where I am
and you being open to that.
But if you're talking and youwant to talk about Muhammad or
(33:42):
you're talking about that, I canstill learn from there and I
think that's the part we need tobe okay with.
It might not be my preference,but the principles can be
powerful Absolutely.
Jay Johnson (33:53):
And I told you when you had asked that I said bring
it Christian, because I reallydo believe that people in their
authentic voice, in theirauthentic space, everybody,
everyone, every human being onthis planet has value and has a
right to believe and feel howthey want to believe and feel,
and I'm really glad that youbrought this perspective into us
(34:14):
today.
You know, I'll share with youreal quick before we wrap up
here one of my very earlyclients in my, in my training
career was the IslamicAssociation of Greater Detroit.
I'm not Muslim, but I wasbrought in to train their
students.
This was right just after 2001,just after September 2001.
(34:34):
And I was brought in to helptheir students learn to
communicate, learn to be able toessentially defend themselves
and deescalate conflicts.
As you can imagine and I was.
It was really interesting to meand this is now 24, 25 years
ago, but at that time I did.
I had people who were asking melike how could you go in there,
(34:56):
how can you say As-salamualaykum wa alaykum as-salam?
You're not Muslim, You're not.
And I said no, but I have aprofound respect for them, for
people in general, for people tobe able to navigate, whatever
their belief systems are, and Ithink that everybody has a right
to be able to communicate thatand we should all be respectful.
So I am grateful that youbrought in your perspective
(35:19):
today, that you were able toshare with us and the audience
some incredible tips and reallyawesome ways for us to navigate
some of these challenges.
You know, whether it'sdistractions, whether it's
finding our purpose, whetherit's bringing our authentic
voice and spirituality.
So I just want to say thank you.
If the audience wanted to getin touch with you, christian,
(35:39):
how would they reach out to you?
Christian F. Johnson (35:41):
100%.
Thank you so much, first off,for trusting me and my voice to
just speak life to this amazingaudience, and so I appreciate
you for that.
If they want to connect with me, I'm on LinkedIn, and so that
is Christian F Johnson.
You can go to my website, whichis IamChristianFJohnsoncom.
If you're looking for speakingand coaching.
(36:02):
My book when You're Speakingbut Still Silent is on Amazon.
Yeah, and I also have thePresident-Centered Podcast, as
you can check that out as well,and you can look that on YouTube
or any listening platform.
Jay Johnson (36:15):
Excellent, and we'll make sure that's in the
show notes.
So again, christian, I justwant to say thank you.
I've really enjoyed ourconversation and you do have a
gift of energy, my friend, so ithas been incredible to talk to
you.
Thank you, yeah, and thank you,audience, for tuning into this
episode of the talent forge.
We're together.
We're shaping workforcebehaviors.
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