Micheal Pacheco 0:16
Hey, everybody. Welcome once again to another episode of the remarkable coach podcast as always, I’m your host, Michael Pacheco. And today with me, I have gloating champion. gloating is a keynote speaker, author, transformational leader who specializes in personal growth, leadership development, team building, and diversity, equity and inclusion. Her approach to this work is with honesty, authenticity, and vulnerability. And she’s a master at challenging and captivating audiences of all kinds in a way that forces them to take pause and listen from the heart. Something she believes we need more of if we want to make the world a better place. gloating. Welcome to the remarkable coach.
Glodean Champion 0:56
Thank you so much, Michael, thank you for having me.
Micheal Pacheco 0:58
Thank you for taking the time to chat with us here. I like to open the podcast as always, by inviting our guests to just tell us a little bit more about yourself in your own words, and what got you into coaching.
Glodean Champion 1:09
So I have been a coach all my life. I feel like even like when I can think of like, in my younger days, I was always coaching and advising, sometimes unsolicited, sometimes most times solicited. When I got into corporate America, I was coaching leaders, usually because I was the person that wasn’t afraid to speak truth in a way that could be heard, um, maybe not everything I said was fully accepted. But it got to a point where people will come back to me and say, Okay, remember when you told me X, you know, what did you mean by that? How could I do something differently. And then I got into Lean Six Sigma. And it was in doing that work, which is process improvement work, that I’d had the most, the kind of biggest role as a coach, because I had to coach the employees to understand and believe that they know the process better than anybody else, because they live in it every day. And also, to get them to believe that their voices and their ideas matter and would be implemented. And then I had to coach the leaders into understanding that the people in the process know that the process better than they do, which sometimes is a challenge. So after George Floyd was murdered, I didn’t know what was going on in this country, because I don’t watch the news. I still don’t watch the news. But I wasn’t watching the news. I was on social media. So um, my cousin sent me a text and said they were rioting in her neighborhood. And she lives in an area in Chicago where that didn’t even make sense that they were doing that. And I asked her why. And it was, like I said something blasphemous, like, What do you mean? What do you mean? And so anyway, she made me go look up George Floyd. And I found out about a mod Aubrey and Breanna Taylor. And just all the craziness that was happening in our country that didn’t feel like we were in 2020. And felt like we were in some other dimension and time. And I asked the universe, what can I do? Like what can I personally do to help affect change? And the answer came back love. And initially, I heard it kind of from this, you know, I can go tell people, I love them from a kind of superficial place. And then I kept getting, like, clarity on No, that’s not, that’s not the love, we’re talking about, like, this needs to be meaningful love, you need to be spread and teach love in a meaningful way. And then all of a sudden, these coaching opportunities started coming to me and I was like, I’m not I don’t want to be a coach. No, because, um, it felt like everybody became a coach during COVID. Right, like coaches popped up, and I’ve never been one to want to do what everybody else was doing. So I was like, How do I distinguish myself from everyone else? And then it became clear, like, it doesn’t matter. Like, your job isn’t to compare yourself to how many other coaches are out there. Or, you know, how, how you judge the fact that so many people became coaches, your job is to show up and help people become better versions of themselves. So like, I literally was getting people like asking me for coaching advice during this struggle that I was having. And then I finally said, Okay, I get it. So, I got certified and laser coaching so that I could, you know, get to the crux of the matter a lot faster. And, and because I had become the kind of answer are driven coach like I would wind up telling my clients what they needed to do to solve whatever the problem was. And laser coach, laser coaching helped me realize that it’s not my job to do that. For them, it’s their job. So just, you know, a shift, a shift in learning enough to be able to understand how to ask the right questions to help people figure out their own problems, and, and then be there to support them along the journey. So that was the long and the short of it. I love it. I love it. You
Micheal Pacheco 5:33
were you were called to it. And you didn’t have a choice. Pretty much. Short version?
Glodean Champion 5:42
Pretty much. Yeah. I started to say that. And then I was like it, he’ll be like, okay, so you want to say more?
Micheal Pacheco 5:51
Well, that’s great. And I definitely so I’ve been in this business marketing for coaches for quite some time now. And it was June of 2020, that that the market, just everyone would get laid off from their jobs. And that market kind of started to flood. And just because everyone else is doing it, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Right. Right. So I think you made the right decision. Yeah,
Glodean Champion 6:16
thank you. Me too.
Micheal Pacheco 6:18
Can you can you tell us a little bit more about laser coaching, what exactly is that.
Glodean Champion 6:22
So laser coaching helps you get to the root cause faster. So rather than having like, I feel like extended coaching engagements kind of peter out three months in, because there is a there is a way to cut to the heart of the matter. And it helps the coach focus on the issue the person is dealing with rather than making the person the problem, like helping people see the issue, and then how they’re contributing to that issue. is better than, you know, making sometimes I think what happens in coaching, at least when before I was like doing laser coaching, when I was in the other space. Leaders would have employees who complained about the way that they showed up for them. And rather than that leader looking at themselves, they always are not always, but they oftentimes wanted me to help them understand what was wrong with their employees. And I was No, this is this is internal work. And so helping people just not see feedback as punitive. So laser coaching, cuts to the heart of the matter, like I said faster, so that you can turn a six month engagement into a three month engagement and have the same results. Okay,
Micheal Pacheco 7:44
I like it. Tell us about your clients who are your who your clients Who’s your ideal client.
Glodean Champion 7:49
My ideal client these days are leaders that are leading diverse teams, leaders that have people from different ethnic backgrounds or gender or sexual orientation, who don’t feel like they’re connecting with their employees or their or they’re possibly saying the wrong things I’ve two programs. One is one is in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion space that helps leaders lead diverse teams, and be more inclusive, and kind of move through that, that discomfort of having to tell someone of color, give that give someone of color, some feedback that could be taken the wrong way. So like finding the right way to deliver that message so that it lands with the person in a way that they can receive it. And then I have another program that’s called Safe to ask. And that’s for leaders or anyone that works in a diverse environment, or is really, truly committed to moving through this divisiveness of race, and trying to build meaningful relationships with people who don’t look like them. And so safe to ask is just what it is. It’s safe for you to ask me questions that you wouldn’t ask someone else because you were you would be afraid to say the wrong thing. And what I’m trying to help people do is move away from that. I don’t want to say the wrong thing. Because then how do we ever come together? If everybody’s walking on eggshells?
Micheal Pacheco 9:15
For sure? For sure. Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. So can you can you talk a little bit more about this idea of, you know, the delicacy around giving potentially giving feedback that may be taken the wrong way to you know, bipoc or by color?
Glodean Champion 9:50
Well, let me let me say two things. One is I want I want people of color to not have to deal with with a white person’s discomfort even if that person is their leader or their current coworker, right, so it’s kind of like a double edged sword, I want people of color to really listen to what’s being said. Because sometimes people use language that is offensive, not understanding that it’s offensive. Or, or sometimes we look at how someone’s behaving, and we take on that behavior as if it’s directed at us. Like, I understand that when certain people get stressed out, they tend to micromanage. So like understanding your understanding who you’re dealing with, like this behavior isn’t because I’m black, it’s because this person is stressed out right now. And they don’t just micromanage me, they micromanage everyone. So for the leader who has to talk to someone, and let’s say that that leader is stressed, and not aware of how stress is, is driving him, or he’s gonna approach that that person from that place of micromanagement, right. And he’s not going to be paying attention to how that message is landing on the person of color. Because I think white people hear things differently than black people are other people of color, because of the whole construct of race and the way that we’ve been conditioned and engaging with each other. Right? So you might hear somebody micromanaging one way, and I might hear it a different way. Because added on top of that I’m a woman, right? So I’m a black woman. So it’s like a compounded thing. So leaders need to learn how to check in with themselves. Like, am I having this conversation with this person? Because it’s really necessary? Like, are you only going to that person to give them negative feedback? And then not always necessarily quantifying that that feedback is even worth sharing? Right? Because every everything that you hear about one of your employees, doesn’t mean you have to go back to the employee. Sometimes you need to check with yourself and go, Okay, that person is complaining, because, you know, I don’t know, somebody, somebody cut them off in a meeting, like, is that really something you want to take to your employee? Or is that something you can just give the person who’s complaining? The, you know, thank you for telling me and leave it there. Right, unless it’s something that’s continuously happening, if you’re getting the same complaints all the time. But I think what happens is, is it wouldn’t you would call it a micro aggression. But sometimes leaders focus on their employees of color more, and they give them that negative feedback, but they rarely say you’re doing a great job, you know, or any other kind of gratitude and appreciation. Does that make sense?
Micheal Pacheco 12:50
It does. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that sounds to me, like bad leadership. Frankly,
Glodean Champion 12:57
pretty much. But, you know, surprisingly, there’s a lot of leaders out there who think they’re leaders, I call them small pal leaders, because they haven’t quite like they’re still leading from either a place of fear or ego, which is a leader who leads from their heart and from a place of love, because then they’re thinking about them, they’re first thinking about how they’re showing up, before they even engage with their employees. Like I have leaders that that will check in with me or send me a text and go, I’m having a really bad, bad day. And I’m about to go into my team meeting. Can you give me some some, you know, guidance or some kind of support? And then like, yeah, that was the word I’m looking for. Thank you. I’ll send them some kind of silly, you know, text, or I’ll call them and just say, you know, check in how are you feeling? Because if you need to cancel the meeting, cancel the meeting. Like, if you don’t, you can move through how you’re feeling right now. cancel the meeting, and reschedule it. But if you have to go through with it, then set your intention for how you want this meeting to go. And how you want to show up so that it’s successful.
Micheal Pacheco 14:02
Yeah, yeah. How often do you have I mean, like, how often does that happen with with your, with your clients where, you know, maybe they’ve got their own shit to deal with? And they have to cancel a meeting because of that, is that pretty common? Or is that?
Glodean Champion 14:21
It’s rare. It’s rare. But you know, but I offer that as a thing, because I think people need to know that they have options, right? That I know, I know, leaders, I even know employees, you know, people that I used to work with, who would come to work when they didn’t feel well, they would come to work after having a death in the family. And it’s like you’re not even fully 100% here right now. So like, you shouldn’t be engaging with anyone you should be taking the time to be with your family or be with yourself or give yourself time to heal. So it’s not it’s not like a frequent thing, but people just need to know that that is an option, just like leaders get CC it on a meeting, and they feel like they have to go to the meeting. And I’m like, No, you can actually, if this meeting doesn’t have anything to do with you, and you think the person is either bringing you in to use you at some level of authority, or the message doesn’t the theme, the topic of the meeting doesn’t have anything to do with you, you can actually decline it. So, yeah, yeah, I
Micheal Pacheco 15:27
think that’s I think that’s super important, especially for leaders. You know, if you’re, as a leader, you’re expected to be making important decisions that that, you know, adjust the course of the whole organization. You know, I mean, I can speak for myself, I’ve got a seven month old, we just had a daughter in March. And she’s wonderful. And she’s, she’s wonderful and amazing. And there are nights where she doesn’t sleep very much. And when she doesn’t sleep very much mom and dad don’t sleep very much. So there’s been a few, I’ve canceled a few podcasts. And I’ve canceled a few team meetings, because I’ve gotten to three hours asleep, and I just there’s no way that I can show up
Glodean Champion 16:07
and be effective. Exactly what you recognize that because we that was your that was the thing you had when we were gonna meet the first time. I thought that was awesome. I meant to tell you that. I thought that was awesome that you did a self check and said, I am not I’m not going to be full on I’m not going to be my full self. So let’s just reschedule this for another time like that.
Micheal Pacheco 16:32
I’ve had to do that a few times. And I don’t regret it. Yeah, right. I’d rather I’d much rather, you know, reschedule that podcast, I apologize if it if it puts you or anyone else out. But when we can do it, I can show up and I can ask intelligent questions, and I can engage in intelligent conversations.
Glodean Champion 16:55
Exactly. Right. Yeah,
Micheal Pacheco 16:57
makes a better product. At any rate circling back to to you and your and your, your coaching business. Where Where do you where do you find your clients? How do you market your services?
Glodean Champion 17:08
Actually, I don’t, I will, I’m working. I have some coaching clients that come to me through word of mouth. And I have some coaching clients that I working with a company and I get assigned coaches, I like working with employees who they’re on their leadership development track. So that’s why I’m working with this specific company. Even though I’m working with leaders, they’re at the beginning of their leadership journey. And I love helping those leaders, new new and emerging leaders become great leaders, because they they don’t have the same baggage that of people who have been in leadership for a long time. And their title has now been attached to their ego and kind of definition of who they are. So you know, I’ve had VPS that couldn’t hear the message. A they were being forced to get coaching. And they didn’t really want to be there. Whereas a manager who’s who wants to be on the director track, and may have also been sent to coaching for for, for whatever reason, they seem to be more willing to receive the coaching because they understand that this is going to help them become better leaders so that they can get the the the promotion that they want. So
Micheal Pacheco 18:29
yeah, you can get them while they’re fresh while they’re eating.
Glodean Champion 18:33
They’re fresh. Right, exactly where they’re still moldable and can listen.
Micheal Pacheco 18:40
You, you mentioned in the in the kind of application process for this podcast, you mentioned something that that caught my eye and that I really resonated with me. You mentioned that you realized at some point that work life balance is a fallacy. Can you talk more about that? I’m curious to know your thoughts on that?
Glodean Champion 19:05
Well, because your life is your life, right? So how are you going to have balance at work and balance in your life as if those are two separate things. I think that’s part of the problem that people have in corporate America is they think they have this work self that is completely disconnected from themselves, like who they are outside of the office. I say this a lot. I do teachable moments. I’m on social media on Thursdays, like today, and I usually share teachable moments about in the space of diversity, equity and inclusion and how especially in that space, how people talk about creating diverse, equitable, inclusive spaces where people feel like they have a sense of belonging. On paper, they create that vision on paper but then they behave badly Behind closed doors, or when they’re at home, right? So that means that they have this belief that their work self can behave one way. And then they can behave differently outside of the office. And I just don’t, I don’t think we should make that distinction between the two, I think your life should have balance, you should have balanced with your work, you should have boundaries, you should have balance and boundaries with your family, and your relationships so that you always have time for yourself. Women, specifically with families tend to put themselves on the backburner. I mean, I don’t have a family, I don’t have like a family, you know, I’m not married or have kids. But even even as a single woman, I was giving a lot of energy to relationships, and to work and to whatever outside of me things that I was doing. And I would look up and, and be depleted and couldn’t understand how I got there. So I went on my own self love journey. And I realized that the only way that we’re successful is if we give ourselves time, like if we intentionally Sunday is my day. It’s my self love Sunday, and I take care of me on Sunday. And on Saturday, sometimes I sleep, most times I sleep in, right? Because because that’s part of this, that’s part of this balance, right. And when I am working, I’m working. I’m not, I don’t eat at my desk, like, especially working from home, you got to have boundaries. If I’m eating, I’m in the living room. This is my space. My office is where I work. My bedroom is where I sleep. And I know you shouldn’t watch TV, in bed. But that’s where I like to enjoy that. And you know, that way, at least in this space, there’s a balance, but it’s a life balance and not a work life balance. Does that make sense?
Micheal Pacheco 21:51
100%. I love the idea of taking work life balance and bringing in take kick that out and bringing the double B balance and boundaries, those that’s great boundary boundaries are so important. And that’s important. And in every in every arena, from your personal life, family life to your professional life. Yeah,
Glodean Champion 22:15
that’s great. Yeah.
Micheal Pacheco 22:17
What what is it? What does a typical engagement with you look like?
Glodean Champion 22:23
Say more. What do you mean? Like how,
Micheal Pacheco 22:26
when you’re working with a client? Are you working with them on a on like, so you do laser coaching, right? So it’s gonna be pretty short. Is that like a one month contract? Or is it is it? What does it look like? Usually?
Glodean Champion 22:40
I got it, it’s usually three months. Okay, specific goal, right. So if you want to be a leader that is more influential, then we’re going to spend that time only on that we’re not going to be trying to do 12 different things in this time period. So that you get and a lot of it is to do experiment, right? So if you’re an if you think you’re influential, but you’re hearing that you’re not. So what are the things that you’re doing right now that aren’t working? All right of those things? Which can you just take one out, and let’s try it for a couple of weeks and see how it goes. So if you’re the person who tells people what they want to hear, which, especially other leaders recognize that you’re doing that, so you become you lose less credibility, right, because they know you’re, you’re not speaking your truth. So if that’s one of the things that you need to get better at, then we’re going to spend two weeks on you speaking your truth, and everything I think that we do, and in the space of personal growth, create some level of discomfort. And this is going to be this should just be my mantra. Every time I speak. I feel like I say this, you got to get comfortable being uncomfortable. So most of my work is helping people get comfortable being uncomfortable. Sometimes we just sit. I haven’t done a lot of people, but I’ve done it with people that I’m recognizing are being performative, working with me. And I will just say, Okay, I need you to just stop for a second. And let’s just say here, 30 seconds, no talking. You can see him squirming. Then I’ll say Are you uncomfortable yet? And they’ll go I was uncomfortable when you told me to stop talking.
Micheal Pacheco 24:25
I was I was talking to help comfort.
Glodean Champion 24:29
And then I’ll say good. Okay, now we recognize that you’re uncomfortable. Let’s work with that. It’s just acknowledging, I think the if the more people can acknowledge I am uncomfortable right now. And I don’t like the way that makes me feel. You don’t have to tell everybody just say it to yourself. It makes me feel shake it off. Okay. All right. Like Taylor Swift. Yeah. Now how do I how do I take this discomfort and do something positive with it? So I’m doing Doing different exercises or experiments like that. Having people practice at home. Again, connecting home and sell a home in office. If you are someone who doesn’t listen, like that’s some feedback that you’ve gotten, started listening better at home. Stop talking so much. And listen, because your family is going to notice you and your family is going to be the one that’s telling you tells you the truth in a way that your employees won’t tell you, or your co workers won’t tell you. So your family is going to notice your improvement before anybody else does. Remember, I, I worked with an organization a year or so ago, and they had a annual event that they invited me to. And the employees spouses were coming to me and thanking me for helping their spouse and communicate better or listen better, because they can see it. Because they are being told to do it at home. Because again, you can’t separate. You shouldn’t you don’t do it successfully anyway. But even you shouldn’t even try to separate.
Micheal Pacheco 26:09
If you’re if you’re learning a people skill for your professional life, why would you not bring that into your personal life as well? So, yeah. What sorts of things did you struggle with? When you first kind of started coaching?
Glodean Champion 26:32
Biggest one is not self not feeling like I needed to tell people what they should do. Okay. I felt like if I saw that you were struggling with something and you couldn’t, you couldn’t get to it on your own. If I told you that would help, you know, doesn’t help. You can ask guided questions to help people get to that to that answer. But telling them doesn’t help them do the work. And that’s where that’s where the growth is possible. So that was that was hard. And I’m disconnecting myself from, from the results, like not being attached to the results, you’re we’re working together. And I cannot take it personally and I cannot be so attached that you didn’t do the thing that you said you were going to do or not if you said, but you know, we’re if we’re talking, you’re asking me for advice, I give you the advice, and you’re gonna do something opposite. That was hard for me sometimes to hear. I was like, what would you ask me for but, but then I also learned that the same thing was happening in my personal life where people would ask for advice. And then they didn’t always do the thing that I suggested. So in coaching, it helped me realize that I could be just as disconnected from those results as I can from thinking that the people that I’m advising me to do exactly what I said, which creates a better experience for for both of us, I think that sometimes, you know, we as human beings, give someone advice, and then we get mad if they don’t take our advice. But it’s like they have they have the will to make their own choice, you’re giving them an option. So see it as an option. That’s what I have to keep telling myself, you’re giving them an option. So stop feeling like, they’re not listening to you, you gave them an option, they made their decision based on the information that they had. So those are the two biggest things for me.
Micheal Pacheco 28:31
And also, I think it’s important to remember that we as human beings don’t like to be told what to do. We have that sense of sovereignty and that sense of individuality.
Glodean Champion 28:42
Right? But yeah, well, this is true. But I felt like if you’re asking me for advice, this is this was where I was drawing the line, you’re asking me for advice, and I’m stopping in this in this, I’m just talking about my personal life. You’re asking me for advice, I’m stopping what I’m doing to focus on you and give you attention, then suggest what you should do. And then you go do the opposite. I would get mad about that. So when I started coaching, it was still in my head that they should do what I tell them to do. They asked for my help. And so that’s why it was hard was making that making that distinction between what was really happening.
Micheal Pacheco 29:20
I think with with some other some conversations that I’ve had with other coaches, oftentimes, that’s where we’ll draw like this kind of line in the sand between coaching and consulting. Where coaching is you have to you have to draw the answer out and consulting. You can just tell them the answer. Very, very different things right. And there’s that separates them.
Glodean Champion 29:43
Yeah, very, very different. And I think that was part of the issue was I had been a consultant for so long. Okay. Yeah. I was used to, you know, yeah,
Micheal Pacheco 29:53
yeah. Like no, I get it. I’m I was a consultant for a number of years, and I’m a pretty Great consultant, I’m not the best coach in the world. And my wife has since stopped asking me for advice.
Glodean Champion 30:09
Well, I also, I also recognize that I’m making the shift from consultant to coach also made me a better listener. Right? Because in order for me to help you help yourself, I have to really hear what you’re saying and what you’re not saying. Because sometimes people don’t know how to articulate what it is they’re really trying to get at. And sometimes the root issue is underneath the thing they think is the issue. So if, if I’m listening, right, I’m hearing, I’m hearing better, so I can advise better and guide better.
Micheal Pacheco 30:50
I get, I like it. Tell me a little bit about the difference between personality and character?
Glodean Champion 30:59
That’s a great question. Um, personality, I believe is the suit, if you will, the outerwear character, is what’s going on underneath that suit. So personality is something that people lean into, as in this is who I am. So deal with it. People define themselves by their job. So I’m a lawyer. And that’s how come I’m always argumentative. And it’s like, no, that’s a personality, that’s a persona that you’ve created. Because it makes you feel a certain way. Character is something you get to develop, and reshape and redefine every single day. And character is about showing up as your best self, for the sake of those that you’re impacting character makes you care about how you show up for the people in your life, whether they’re your employees, or your co workers or your family. Right, so that you take that character is the thing that kicks in, when you are when you are coming home from a bad day. And you sit in the driveway for a moment to get present, that I’m going in the house right now. And I don’t want to bring this energy into the house and create havoc. So that’s that so I think care. That’s the distinction that I make. Building there’s a obviously definition of the two but I don’t go by that I’m going by how character and personality show up because that’s the thing I think people can connect with.
Micheal Pacheco 32:35
Yeah, that track so personality is like the the mask that you wear on the outside kinda.
Glodean Champion 32:42
Yeah. Nice. Yeah. And characters being able to take that mask off and, and not caring. Oh my god, I just had a flashback. I’m sorry. I was pointing to my high but then did you see Austin Powers? The one with Beyonce.
Micheal Pacheco 32:56
I can’t remember what was called million years ago.
Glodean Champion 32:58
So one of the characters had a mole on his face. And Austin Powers kept focusing on this gigantic mole. Oh, yeah. Okay, character is being able to be okay with that mole on your face. And not try to hide it. Right personality would try to cover it up in some way.
Micheal Pacheco 33:17
For those who don’t get that you’ll have to watch Austin Powers. Yeah, I can’t even
Glodean Champion 33:21
I can’t even remember that. The whichever. Anyway,
Micheal Pacheco 33:25
they’re all They’re all funny. Like Yeah. gloating tell us about some some big wins that you’ve had in your with your coaching and your clients.
Glodean Champion 33:35
Oh, so my last six clients got promotions. So when you go to have those found their voice, like they were afraid to ask for what they wanted. And they were kind of standing on the on the same line waiting for it to be given to them. And they found the courage to ask, and then all of a sudden found themselves on this on this track this development track headed toward promotion. So that made me really, that made me really happy. And one of my clients told me yesterday, how she appreciates having worked with me because she feels like she had been standing on the outside of her career watching things happen. And then now she’s like in the driver’s seat, and full control and she she feels the difference. But everyone around her also sees the difference in her and she’s having different relationships, which I think is is beautiful. I think any any client that I’ve ever worked with has had some level of transformation, be bigger, small and have become more self aware and self reflective? Not in a performative way. I have to keep saying that because we toss around authenticity a lot, right? But I feel like, I feel like authenticity can be performative. Whereas my clients are moving into that space of getting real, if that makes, if that makes sense. So I’d say those are, those are my biggest ones. I mean, I’ve had a lot, but I, those are the most recent ones. You
Micheal Pacheco 35:34
see, you just mentioned authenticity can be performative. And you were speaking earlier in the, in the, in our conversation about speaking your truth? Can you talk a little bit about the difference between those two things? Because a lot of people I think might hear speaking your truth and authenticity and think that it sounds like the same thing, right? Being being yourself being who you are being authentic speaking your truth? Can you talk a little bit about that?
Glodean Champion 36:04
Okay, so authenticity from the place of being who you are, means you have to really know who you are. You can’t be in this persona of I am acts based on what other people expect of you, because that’s not authentic, right. So if you’ve created this self that’s based on everybody else’s input, then you’re not really being authentic, you’re being performative in that role that you’ve created for yourself. speaking your truth means that when you’re in a meeting, and a leader says something that you know, is impossible to do, you’re not going to be on the sideline like everyone else, afraid to say that’s not going to work. Right? I remember when I was still in working in corporate America, I was a project manager, and I had this multimillion dollar network implementation to do. And everyone in my company was new at the company. And everybody was telling me that our client doesn’t like to hear no, like, don’t tell him no. And I was like, okay, but no, I’m not gonna do that. And we were in the meeting. And like, everyone is like, we would have these weekly project planning meetings, because there was I was just responsible for a portion of this multimillion dollar project, but mine was like, really big. And the client asked me to do something that I knew wasn’t possible. And so I said, I never say no, I said, I can’t do that. And he cut me off before I could finish my sentence, and said, Well, did anybody tell you? I don’t like to hear no. And I looked around the room. I said, everybody in here told me that, but did they tell you I’m not going to commit to something I can’t do? And he said, Oh, I said, so what I was gonna say is, I can’t do that. But I can do this. And then we can, whatever, whatever the thing was, Oh, yeah. And we, in that moment, that was the beginning of our relationship. We’re still friends today, only Morgan that company anymore. Because I spoke truth, right. And I think the other and I want to make a distinction, speaking truth with loving kindness. Because speaking truth through anger, does not land well, with people speaking truth through sarcasm, or speaking truth through some other divisive mechanism is not getting real means speaking your truth with loving kindness so that you can be heard. So I think that’s, that’s the difference. If if you are truly comfortable in your skin, and who you are is genuinely your design and you are living in you are living in your purpose, meaning that you are more committed to to being your best vert, the best version of yourself, then you are being authentic. But I think even in that space, you’re you’ve gotten real because you’ve gotten real with yourself to let go of whatever personas or creations machinations I don’t know, that you’ve created to be something else. Does that make sense? Yeah, no,
Micheal Pacheco 39:23
yeah, completely. And I and I think the other thing that you did in that conversation, and speaking as a leader, myself, leaders love this is you came with a solution. Right? So you spoke, you spoke your truth, you’re honest, like I can’t do that. Here’s what I can do. Right? And you offer you offered an alternative. You didn’t just bring him a problem. You explain to the problem and you brought him a solution. And that can can that can make all the difference as well. Especially for a leader you know, if people are just bringing them problems all day long and not offering alternatives or loosens, it can be quite, quite difficult for well, for everybody but stressful for the leader for sure.
Glodean Champion 40:06
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Micheal Pacheco 40:10
Awesome. Let’s see here. So, okay, we talked about your, your, your, your big wins, tell us about some times where you maybe haven’t met your goals where you’ve failed, and the things that you’ve learned from those failures.
Glodean Champion 40:28
Recent. So I, like I said, I’m working with the coaching company, for some of my clients, and they match you up with people. So you don’t have that initial kind of intake call to see if it’s going to be a good fit. So I was I was having my own intake calls before we actually start the engagement, kind of a 30 minute, you know, get to know each other, see if this is going to work. And I tell everybody, this before we get started, and I told this particular candidate, that this was, this was our meet and greet, and on and on. And this is an opportunity to see if this is a good fit. And if this doesn’t work for you, you know, I know that I’m not everybody’s cup of tea. So you know, you can make my feelings won’t be hurt. If this isn’t a good fit for you. Like him, I helped him understand the app and walk through the whole process. And he complained to the coaching company a couple of weeks later, that I wasn’t prepared for our call, like, everything they said, was punitive and made it seem like I didn’t know what I was doing. Right. And I feel like the point of failure was taking what taking all that feedback that I got, personally. Because I couldn’t separate what I had said to him directly from his take on our conversation, right? Because, you know, there’s three sides to every story. My slide is light and the truth of what actually happened. And so I as much work as I’ve done not to take things personally. I took it personally, before, I could hear that he just didn’t have the courage to say he didn’t work want to work with me, even though I gave him you know, I gave him an hour. Now you have been saying I want to work with her, I wouldn’t have been hurt, but the hurtful part was to add the untruths, right. That this that felt like they were discrediting me or questioning my capability and intellect. And I just, I had a problem with that. So that’s the most recent. And I’m calling it a failure, just because it was an opportunity to learn and grow. I feel like, you know that I don’t necessarily look at certain things as failures. But yeah,
Micheal Pacheco 42:59
what was your takeaway from from that, from that whole situation, that
Glodean Champion 43:03
that he was entitled to is, whatever he needed to do to get out of that he was entitled to his way of doing it right. Just because that’s not the way I would have done it. That’s the way it made him feel more comfortable. And it has anything to do with me. Right? If I was his coach, he’d never do that again, though, because I’d coach him out of that. Because that right there is performative authenticity has, as opposed to being real and just saying, I don’t Can I have another coach?
Micheal Pacheco 43:35
Yeah, he’s entitled to his shitty opinion.
Glodean Champion 43:38
Exactly. shitting me, but
Micheal Pacheco 43:40
maybe wouldn’t what are what are three books that you would recommend your clients to read? Know that you do actively recommend your clients to read
Glodean Champion 43:59
the alchemist Have a great one. And oh, there’s two of them by Brene Brown, but dare to lead is the one that gets me the most. And then my favorite Steve Farber wrote this book called Love is just damn good business. But I don’t know if I could pick one of Steve’s books. The first of his books that I read was The radical leap, which was written more like a fable if you will, a corporate leadership learning journey kind of thing. Sure. But I’d say love is right now lately, I’ve been recommending levers just damn good business. But then it’s got another one called greater than yourself, which is about leading mentorship and leading. Like you should be a mentor.
Micheal Pacheco 44:53
That’s great. If I may say so love is just damn good business is just a damn good name for a book. Right? Right. That’s so good. I was on after we hang up on this zoom call.
Glodean Champion 45:12
Excellent.
Micheal Pacheco 45:12
That’s fantastic. Good. And this is this has been great. Is there anything that we didn’t talk about that you would like to talk about that we just haven’t had an opportunity to touch upon?
Glodean Champion 45:27
No, not that I can think of everything. It’s literally everything. I think we had a really Yeah, we covered a lot of ground. I love it.
Micheal Pacheco 45:34
Love it. Awesome. Gordon, do you have anything that you would like to pitch or promote to our listeners and viewers?
Glodean Champion 45:45
Ooh, so many things. That’s like a loaded question. I’m gonna I’m gonna start with the thing that’s near and dear to my heart. It’s a novel my novel that I wrote salmon croquettes. And the reason that I’m that I think this is a, I wouldn’t even pitch it in any other in any other business space. But I have been told by so many people that this is a great learning tool. It’s the coming of age story of a young girl struggling struggling with her sexuality. It’s set in 1965, because it’s also historical fiction about the Watts riots. But what it seems to be doing for people is helping them understand how difference and can kind of I don’t know, I will say the best. The best review I’ve gotten so far said that my novel is a catalyst for change, greater understanding and love. I don’t know how else like that. What that was. All right. Beautiful. Yeah, I think it just it helps people, opens their minds and hearts and helps them be more appreciative and accepting. And then my cell safe to ask and leadership, development coaching in the space of for diverse leaders. Those are the two most important coaching programs that I’m actively sharing with people these days because we need to, we need to move through. We need to move through all this divisiveness of race so that we can be better for me and to each other.
Micheal Pacheco 47:25
And presumably, people can go to your website gloating champion.com. To learn more about those. Yes. Perfect. Will any is your book is it available on Amazon?
Glodean Champion 47:37
My book is available wherever books are sold. Barnes and Noble. Yeah.
Micheal Pacheco 47:43
Awesome. So we’ll get links to of course, your website will include links to the books that you recommended in your book as well of course, where can people find you on social media?
Glodean Champion 47:54
LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram and people keep telling me I need to do my teachable moments on Tik Tok. So I may I may start that so
Micheal Pacheco 48:03
I’m gonna I’m gonna double down on that you absolutely should. Oh, yeah, I’m gonna get on my marketing soapbox and say that you absolutely should. Tick tock is still a growing platform and you can get attention at a discount on tick tock. Okay. All right. Instagram has so many advertisers. It’s more expensive on Instagram, but tick tock, trust me,
Glodean Champion 48:24
okay. I received that. I will do that. I love it. You’ll
Micheal Pacheco 48:30
never regret it. Awesome. gloating champion. Thank you so much for for joining me on the remarkable coach podcast. I appreciate it.
Glodean Champion 48:37
Thank you. Thank you for having me, Michael. This was a great conversation. I love it.
Micheal Pacheco 48:41
And thank you to our listeners and viewers for joining us as well. We’ll see you guys next time. Cheers.
