Leave Nothing To Chance

 

If you want to find your authentic self, you have to be bold and really recognize your value. Everyone is born with a talent or a craft and it’s your job to feed that talent. That is how you remain valuable. Join your host John Solleder and his guest Audrey D Lloyd as she shares more on her book, Bold: Rein in Your Mind, Reign in Your Career. Audrey is a change management and business transformation expert. Learn how to be bold and find your true innate gifts. Start living an authentic life today!

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Audrey D Lloyd, Author Of “Bold: Rein In Your Mind, Reign In Your Career”

It is my pleasure to introduce a new friend who is setting the world on fire in her industry, Audrey Lloyd. Audrey, welcome.

Thank you.

Audrey is a Change Management and Business Transformation Expert. She’s an ICF credentialed executive coach/speaker. She’s an inventor, a futurist and a universal citizen drawing upon her own tenure as a full-time employee and extensive consulting and coaching experience. She presents compelling reasons to believe in oneself and how to take strategic approaches to unlock our true brilliance.

She’s got a book coming out. It’s called Bold: Reign in Your Mind, Reign in Your Career. It’s a book about mindset, finding your authentic self and stepping into your personal power. Leading with your true and authentic self significantly increases your chances of success. She advances a compelling strategic approach, eliminating how to live, work, and thrive in an increasingly complex and uncertain world. She seeks to show that no single defining event will allow you to succeed. Instead, it’s an accumulation of your choices, your life experiences, and the actions that drive the true path to success. That is unique to you.

Audrey, first of all, welcome to the show. There is so much to talk about here. I’m not even sure where to start, but let’s start at the top. Tell us about the hundreds of hours. It’s over 500 hours to get some of the coaching certificates that you’ve achieved. You’re a Rutgers University graduate as well. Tell bit us a little about coaching and how you arrived at wanting to be a coach in the first place.

It’s been quite a journey. I’ve had a longstanding aspiration. I can remember it was New Year’s Eve 2014. I was at the Marriott in New York City with my sister and we were talking about life. I said, “The next phase of my life, I want to be a coach.” I help companies to transform. I love talking and helping people, and I want to go on that journey. I was looking for the right coaching program and right in my backyard is Rutgers University.

 

I had the conversation with the recruiter and I was in. I met the most amazing group of people from multiple industries. I learned a ton. I thought I knew a lot going in, but you learn pretty quickly that coaching is not what you think, but it is a lot of listening and following and going on the journey with clients to learn about them and help them to achieve their best selves.

It’s a minimum of 500 hours to get these certifications that you possess. That’s a lot of hours to do anything. In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell talks a lot about, “Repetition being the mother of invention.” Our moms told us that and their moms told them that. Talk about that a little bit. How did you start? Where are things at as we speak now that you’ve had all those with this experience?

Once you’re in the program at Rutgers, you take the exam when to get out, and then you want to be certified. At the entry-level, you have to do 100 hours and then to get to the PCC level, you have to get to the 500 hours. I approached it as a learning journey to help people, but at the same time to increase my craft in coaching. I participated in a number of international coaching partnerships where you coach people that are also coaches, but then I also had clients in the UK and Canada.

They always say start with people you know. I also started with people in the US and that branched out. It was a lot of talking and a lot of listening. After a while, once you get into 200 hours or so, you book them and get on the call with them, and you see the transformations that are happening in their personal lives. It doesn’t even seem like a job. It seems like you have a relationship, so you get on a call. For me, it passed by fairly quickly. It was a great journey.

Self-development is something that you encourage in your clients for them to grow. We’re trying to grow other people as well as ourselves. Let’s talk about self-development. Do you remember the first book that you had that light bulb moment? The first one, you picked it up or you tripped across it, or somebody gave it to you. What was it?

The book was by David Schwartz and it was The Magic of Thinking Big back in 1989, 1990 if I recall. I got it at Borders. It was cheap. It was $9.99, which tells you that that was quite a while ago.

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Anybody like yourself that’s successful, motivated, and growing can see the growth in people when you talk to them. I get this remarkable experience every week of interviewing people that are growing. Some of them are 80 years old, 20 years old and everything in between and men and women. Some are here in North America, Europe and even Asia, but one of the things I ask everybody is the following question and that is this.

They pull up to your house and they say, “We’re going to take you to a beautiful deserted island. You’re going to have plenty of food, water, sustenance and everything that you need, but you’re limited on what you can bring.” In addition to your Holy Bible or whatever you believe as far as spirituality, you can only bring three other books in addition to that.

Thick Face, Black Heart by Chin Ning Chu, 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, and then, Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

That’s quite a list, needless to say. Any reason why those three versus hundreds of other books sitting there at your library?

For Thick Face, Black Heart, I’ve had that book before 2000. I referred to it as my reference book for life. It has such great lessons on how to build character and has such wisdom in it that I find that I’m always drawing upon it. In my book, Bold: Reign in Your Mind, Reign in Your Career, I draw a lot of quotes from Chin Ning Chu. It’s so inspirational, deep, and full of such wisdom.

You’re verifying something that we talked to people about all the time. All leaders are readers. It works the other way. All readers are leaders. It shows because, like C.S. Lewis said, we sometimes read to know that we’re not alone and you pick up a book like that and you go, “I thought only I thought this way or only I was going through this experience or this frustration in life.”

 

You read and realize, “I’m not the only person that either has gone through whatever I’m going through or whatever the obstacle happens to be confronting it head-on.” Let’s talk about your upcoming book. It’s very exciting. Congratulations. I interview a lot of authors and have done it myself a couple of times as well. Talking about self-development personal growth. Bold: Reign in Your Mind, Reign in Your Career, and it’s going to be available, February 14th, 2022.

I’m looking at a date of February 14th, maybe before, but let’s say the 14th.

Where can they get it, first of all?

They can get it on Amazon. It will be available there. Let’s go with that because people remember that one.

Give me three major game-changers in that book when they read it.

Three major game changers would be what we learned from when we were in kindergarten, be yourself. Many times, it’s hard to find our authentic selves, but the book will help you to explore and to realize that you are already great. To delve deep to say, “What is authentic for me?” Authentic is not a brand. People often think authenticity is the way they wear their hair or fashion, but it’s around who you are at the core. What are your radar in terms of your innate skills and talent? That’s number one.

You need to utilize the gifts and talents that you have right now. Stop wasting time in not pursuing the things that you really want to do. Click To Tweet

Number two is that when you are truly your authentic self, you’re almost going to guarantee your success, even if it doesn’t necessarily work out for you. In the book, I talk about the pattern of success that you can be as prepared as you want to be, but it’s the timing also in terms of when the opportunity presents itself.

In the book, I talk a lot about Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Barack Obama, even people like Schwarzenegger and Madonna, that there’s a pattern to their success. They have craft, they’re authentic, and then there’s the opportunity that presents itself. Those are the three insights that I will say you would find in the book.

If Henry Ford was born in the 1950s or if any of the people you mentioned were born at different points in time, would they have been the people that were referencing that everybody says instantaneously, “I know who that is?” I interviewed somebody and we were talking about Mark Cuban. We said, “Talk about being born at the right time.” He capitalized on it. If you go, “I got this great product or idea,” but you don’t do anything. We know what that turns into. It’s moving forward on it. I know myself when I read. I don’t want to be disturbed.

Let me quantify that. Not only for yourself but for my readers. Einstein used 10% of his brain and so the rest of us would probably use it in 7% or 8% if we’re lucky, which means even in Einstein’s case, 90% of it was dormant from an activity standpoint consciously. When you go to sleep, after you read something that you say, “What did the author say?” More importantly, “What did they mean by what they said?”

I read Bold: Reign in Your Mind, Reign in Your Career at 5:00 PM. I go about the rest of my day in business and life. I go to bed at 10:00 PM. At 2:00 AM, I say, “What was Audrey trying to say? I didn’t get it when I first read it and I go back and I pick the book up and I read whatever it was.” What’s going to keep me awake at night to say, “I’m going to be a better version of me.”

It’s what I said. You have to start with your authentic self. When you show up as your true and authentic self, you’re almost going to guarantee your success. In the book, I talk a lot about this concept of bold is not necessarily that you’re colorful or that you are an extrovert. Bold is about you realizing what your innate talent and gifts are. Your characteristics, what makes you great.

 

I talk in the book about sometimes people miss their bold. They miss their bold because they’re trying to emulate or be someone else, and there will guarantee their success if they lean into who they are. In terms of what will provoke you and maybe make you think a bit, we waste a lot of time in life, not necessarily going after what we want.

In the book, I do talk about a subject matter of mortality that not a lot of books talk about. It’s almost like that book that was written, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. When the author talks about everything dies that we also do too. We waste time not pursuing the things that we want to do or think we have more time than we do have.

The book has this call to action to say, “You need to do this now. You need to utilize the gifts and talents that you have. You need to go after what you want. Also realize that, when you don’t realize you’re bold, you suffer because you have all this pent-up possibility in you that you’re not utilizing and tapping into. That’s what the book will provoke in people as well.

I want to be provoked. I want to read not only, so I know that I’m not alone, but I want to read, so I say, “I’m going to be better at something, whether it’s my craft, family life or spiritual life. I want to be affected by it.” Let’s talk about the three Vs, Vision, Value and Valued. Let’s talk about our vision for a minute. “How does someone improve their vision of themselves in a world that hasn’t been exactly getting people real optimistic?”

It’s like every time you turn on the TV. There’s something else horrific that is coming our way. “How do people get that vision for their future and try to eliminate some of that other stuff that holds them back because of circumstances that are way beyond any work control?” They identify what they can do.

It’s that mental model. If there weren’t any restraints or any restrictions, “What do you want for yourself? What do you envision in your head? What are you dreaming of?” Holding that mental model in place and actioning or taking steps to achieve it.

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Let’s talk about values because values and character are hand-in-hand.

I sum it up by saying, “What do you stand for at the end of the day?” We all have different values, things that we believe are true to us. Values are not morals. It’s not necessarily good or bad. It’s around, “What do I hold dearly? What do I stand for? What do I want to exemplify in the world? What do I want to allow into my life? What are the standards in which I’m going to present myself to the world and then look for in others, whether it’s an opportunity or in the things that I want?

What you’re describing there too, to some degree, would be like the old James Allen book, As A Man Thinketh. We attract what we are, not what we think we are. Let’s talk about the word valued because it’s a little different than values. It’s got some similarities, but talk about how we can be valued better in the marketplace and in our lives.

To be valued, it goes back to, “How do you want to be appreciated? If we talk about in the workplace, you can think about, “Do I want to be appreciated by being compensated?” For some people, that’s meaningful, but some people want to be recognized. Some people want to have opportunities to learn, maybe go to training, or to advance themselves. They want to be able to lead others. It’s about what you want to feel as if you are recognized for the talent you have and the talent you give. That’s like how you’re going to be paid back, in terms of how a company or individuals will appreciate you in the end.

We have readers of every demographic. Some weeks, as many as 30 different countries that people read this from. From Europe, Asia, South and Central America, and up here in the US and in all different age groups. Let’s say I’m in my 20s, maybe early 30s. How do I get myself more valuable to the marketplace to be more valued by whether it’s an employer or self-employed? How do I improve myself so that others identify, “That’s somebody I want to work with,” or if it’s in a corporate setting, “Somebody I want to get behind, build a team or a unit with,” or whatever it happens to be in any particular business?

In the book, I do talk about the seasons in our lives, almost like whether you live in an area that has four seasons, summer, winter, fall, etc. We have seasons in our lives as well. When you’re in your 20s and 30s, you’re not at the same place as when you’re in your 40s and 50s. Regardless of where you are in the season, this whole idea of being valued goes hand-in-hand with the value that you provide.

We talked about learning. When you have a craft, skill, capabilities, and innate talent, you always want to make sure you’re feeding it, and you stay hungry for knowledge. In that way, you’re always going to be valuable because you’re going to be current. You’re going to be relevant. When you are relevant and current, and you can help right through your talents, then it’s only fair that you look then to be valued, to be paid back for what you’re offering.

No matter what age you are that there is this equation that’s out there. “What do I give versus what I get?” To balance that equation is about you making smart decisions in terms of what you want, but also realizing that on the other side, there is someone there, an employee or a business partner, that they’re looking for talent and expertise. You want to be able to deliver on the promise by staying sharp and up on your craft.

That would apply to the older group. In the 40s and 50s, as we both know, people are living longer. It’s not unusual to find somebody working in some capacity even if they’re in their 80s or 90s, in some cases, but let’s talk about the 40s and 50s because that’s a demographic that to me anyway is lost right now.

We know the young people know how to work the iPhones and all the technology, and then the older people like me forget it. We’ve given up on technology. That’s why we have teenagers, but that group in the middle, that 40s and 50s, in some cases are still even developing their career. How do you coach them to be more valuable in the marketplace so that once again, they’re identified as somebody that people want to do business with and grow with?

In the book, I talk about the value equation, which introduces this concept of your vision, values and being valued, and it’s a decision-making model around, “What is it that you want in your life?” We talked about that vision being that mental model. The values that you put out there, you might say, “I only want to work for certain types of employers or certain types of people or partners that align with my values. I know what my value is in terms of my expertise in my innate talent. I know how I want to be valued.” You’re putting that together.

When you’re in your 40s and 30s, it goes back to, “What is it that you want? What do you want to attract into your life?” When you’re in your 40s and 50s, you’re in a different season than when you first started out. You feel as if you’ve paid your dues to some extent. You want to learn and grow, but maybe you’re not willing to sacrifice your sleep. Maybe you’re not willing to be on the road all the time. Maybe you have other objectives and other priorities that you want to put in that equation.

When you’re at that point, you need to think through, “What do you want for your life?” To try to attract that partnership by being honest, whether it’s in the employer or the business partner, or whoever you’re dealing to say, “I know what I want,” but it starts with you, knowing yourself and you knowing what it is that you offer in terms of your value and how you want to be valued as well.

Let’s go to the last category. The 60 and up group, it’s an interesting demographic now that I’ve joined it, which I wish I hadn’t joined it. I talked to a lot of people that are in their 60s, 70s, 80s that have a wonderful outlook not only on life because they’ve had the experience. Their meter for things is a little bit lower, maybe than younger people are. They’ll take less and they’re more honest, in certain respects in terms of what they’re looking for, but a lot of them are still growing and still want to grow. For example, I did a call with an 83-year-old guy up in Ontario. Every time I talk to him, he’s reading a new book and we’re talking about ideas.

Maybe you’re in the twilight of your business career or maybe you’re not, for that matter. Maybe you’re even starting something new. Maybe you’re venturing with one of your children on something. How do you coach them to say, “Maybe I don’t have the luxury of having a lot of years of production left, how do I compress that to take all of that apriority knowledge that I have for years in life experience, good, bad, and indifferent? How do I take that and capitalize on it and share it maybe with a younger business partner, be it a child or a stranger for that matter?” How do you get those people where they need to be in terms of their thinking?

Number one is to recognize that there’s a lot of wisdom that’s there. You can read all the books you want, but nothing beats real-life experience. My dad was in his 80s when he got an iPhone and is so hungry to learn and wants to be relevant so he can talk to his grandchildren and he can be on video. That relevance thing is where it’s at for all of us, no matter what age group you’re in. When you have all that wisdom later on in life, it’s to say, “How can I come in? How can I be relatable? How can I help in terms of where do I insert myself?”

You can’t understand that unless you understand the landscape. It’s like with me, if I’m talking about things that happened in the ’80s, not a lot of people are going to be able to relate to that, but there are things that happened too in the ’80s that still apply. I have to figure out how do I then bring it forward so that people can see that there is relevance and there is parallel. The thing to do is to say, “How can I help in terms of taking in and remaining curious? Learning is to be curious. Be curious to say, “How can I help in this current day based on the wisdom and knowledge that I have?”

I want people to know about the book. You were waiting for the cover to get to you. Did that arrive? I hope.

I didn’t get the cover yet, but it is going to be one of those career books that, when you see it, it’s the galaxy. It almost is going to remind you of Star Trek. It’s just galaxy. You’re going to see the Bold: Reign in Your Mind, Reign in Your Career, and it’s blue with the white stars and the crisp white writing. You’ll be able to recognize it for sure.

The title has so much power in it. It’s like when we first got together, I was like, “I love the title of his book.” Anytime you talk about being bold, it’s like you’re speaking to people who get up early in the morning, have the right outlook in life. It doesn’t always have the right direction, by the way, but they have that zest. They’re not sleeping in 9, 10 or 12 hours a day. They’re getting out of bed saying, “Let me get at it, whatever it is.” Whether it’s their exercise program, work, business, their family, helping out at the local church, or whatever it happens to be. I love that bold. Let’s talk about the title.

Bold is a combination of things. I was working on an inspiration talk. It was talking about utilizing your bold. Bold means different things. My bold is not your bold per se. Bold is universal. It applies to so many people and that it’s not a personality thing per se, but it is a mindset thing. It is you recognizing the talents and gifts that you have, your authentic self, and bringing that to bear that is bold and has a heart.

In the book, I talk about bold is bravery, being original, loving, and determined that encapsulates it, but then you hear reign in your mind, reign in your career, which is essentially around when you get your mindset, and you start thinking about, “This is a career book. A career is part of life.” When we’re able to get our mindset to say, “We want to live the best richest life. We want to show up, be vibrant, and be in this life that we can then reign in our career because we’ve got our mindset straight. We know our priorities. We know our value.” That’s how the title was born.

It’s a book that I’m going to read. I hope all of our readers are going to read. Most of our readers are in a direct-selling space, part-time in many cases, full-time in some cases. We all need that coaching. We all need that growth, especially these last couple of years, because everybody’s life has changed these last few years. Rich, poor, where you live America, Europe, Asia, it doesn’t matter. The game has changed, but we have to grow wherever we are. That’s what bold is going to do. I’m going to give you the last word here. What else would you like to share with our readers?

I hope that they will get the book and realize their bold. They will realize what they’re great at and use that to make the world a better place and to focus on how they can make a difference. Go through the exercises in the book that will help you illuminate some of the things you might’ve overlooked about yourself and get that perspective for it to be transformational in your life.

Audrey, this has been a pleasure and I wish you nothing but success. Continue to lead and to inspire. You’re an inspirational person. You’re somebody that’s a blessing to the people that you work with. l know some of the people that you work with as well. This is going to be successful and I hope as one of many books because you have a lot to share with the world. The world needs the message that you’re giving.

 

Thank you for the blessing thing. I’ll take it.

Thank you so much.

It’s been a pleasure.

Important Links:

• Audrey Lloyd
• The Tipping Point
• The Magic of Thinking Big
• Thick Face, Black Heart
•  48 Laws of Power
• Think and Grow Rich
• All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
•  As A Man Thinketh

About Audrey D Lloyd

Audrey is a communication strategist and change leader with over 25+ years of experience in communications, situational analysis, behavioral change, and over 10 years of marketing and branding experience. She brings imagination and vision, strong program management skills and end-to-end expertise in strategy, execution and sustainability. Over her career, she has worked with clients in many sectors – insurance, financial service, consumer goods, durable manufacturing, non-profit as well as pharmaceutical, with an emphasis on engagement and transformation focused on the people side of change. She is passionate and committed to developing strategies, programs and initiatives to mobilize people to deliver outstanding results. Naturally inclined to “meaty” and complex business challenges, she draws upon her rich experience to deliver innovative and collaborative solutions. She has designed and implemented numerous, successful programs globally at leading companies to guide behavioral change and adoption.

Steeped in the foundation and rigor communications as a discipline, she earned her undergraduate degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and graduate degree from Fordham University, along with numerous certifications in change management and digital and social media marketing. Her prior volunteer experience was previously with Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital in New Rochelle, New York, and currently serves as a strategic partner to the Get Together Group.