CEO Best Selling Author And Coach Sony Shelton On Navigating The Ins And Outs Of Business For Ultimate Success (#259)

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast where you learn how to extract your business and personal Deep Wealth. 

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When it comes to navigating the ins and outs of business, Sonya Shelton has seen it all from successful startups with brand new ideas, to well-established Fortune 500 companies, Sonya Shelton founded Executive Leadership Consulting in 2007, from her passion for partnering with leaders and high achievers to create a clear vision and build work environments where employees are fulfilled and [00:02:00] completely committed to the organization success. 

She has captured her leadership tips and success stories in her number one, Amazon best-selling book You're an executive, But Are You A Leader? 

Having been an executive as well as an international speaker and consultant Sonya knows how to tap into lesser known, hidden practices that drive true leadership, her philosophy, background, and experience at a strategic, pragmatic, and multidimensional approach to making strong leaders.

Sonya serves on the Forbes coaches Council and as a Certified Master Corporate Executive Coach through the Association of Corporate Executive Coaches. 

Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. And are you ready for a loaded and rhetorical question? Good. Because here it is. Would you like to grow your business? Do you wanna accelerate how you get to bigger profits, revenues, and success? And I know of course you said yes. Well, You heard it in the official introduction.

We have quite the guests today. Number one bestselling author, thought leader [00:03:00] works. Fortune 500 down to the 10, to the 50, all those amazing different companies, she's here for us, a success coach, a business coach. She's gonna give us the ins and outs. So Sonya, welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast, an absolute pleasure to have you with us.

And you know, there's always a story behind the story. So, Sonya, what's your story? What got you to where you are today?

Sonya Shelton: Thank you. First, I wanna say thanks for having me. I'm really excited for our conversation. So my company is Executive Leadership Consulting and we started about 15 years ago. After a time when I had a career at the Walt Disney Company as the head of internal Communications, and it was a really interesting time. 

Nobody in my position had ever had the experience that I had, and no one ever will again.

We had a member of the Disney family. Leading a shareholder revolt against our CEO. So, Roy Disney was leading a shareholder revolt against our CEO Michael Eisner at the time. And imagine I was the head of internal communications, right? So it was like, [00:04:00] keep everybody focused and happy about working for the company.

Well, we're basically going through a divorce, right? So, through that experience I really saw, the best and the worst of culture, right? Disney's known for having a tremendous culture and to have that experience of when they're at their best as well as when they were at their worst, really showed me the power of culture and the impact to the organization, but also the impact to me as a leader.

what that happened, how I showed up through those stresses. And so I really got passionate about helping companies to create that great culture that I learned from Disney, but also recognizing, you know, how do they get through challenging times like some businesses are in right now, and maintain that culture in a way that's gonna continue to help them.

Jeffrey Feldberg: You know, Sonya, it's interesting that you mentioned culture because I know for us, a Deep Wealth and a nine step roadmap, step number two, X-Factors, that insanely increase the value, the enterprise value of a company culture is [00:05:00] one of those things. And so we'll get to your book in a moment and we're gonna tell all the listeners about that.

They should really get that. I love your title, we'll get there. But from a culture perspective, As you're coaching, as you're zipping in and out, all these different companies, what are we doing right as business leaders and the more successful companies from a culture perspective? And then when you're finished telling us that maybe we can flip it, where are we missing and perhaps not doing things as well as we should.

Sonya Shelton: I think a lot of companies care, right? I think most leaders care about their teams. They wanna have a good culture, they want employees to be happy, but maybe they don't understand how. And I think it's really starting with the definition of culture, right?

So I think a lot of companies in what they're not doing well is thinking that culture is perks, right? So are they giving free food or do they have activities that they can do or, or they're having, you know, get togethers and things like that, but that's not really what culture is.

So culture is really starting from what is your company purpose and [00:06:00] helping people understand that internally and externally. And then helping each individual connect their personal purpose to that company purpose. And then looking at your strategy your plans, your goals, and are, how are they connected to the purpose?

How are your processes connecting to your vision and your strategy so that employees are empowered to create more profitability by making your processes more efficient, right? And then ultimately, how are you organized? And do you have, who reports to who, how our decisions are made, what's your structure?

And is that all connected to your purpose? And then finally, it's passion. Are your people passionate about what they do? And are they passionate about your company? And are they connecting what they do to what you do as a company so that they can grow that?

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, so powerful. And for our listeners, were you listening? Did you pick up on that because Sonya, what you're saying does not show up in a spreadsheet. You know what will show up in a spreadsheet ultimately are the profits when you get it right, and those glowing reviews that you're getting online and the goodwill that's being [00:07:00] created out there.

But everything that you're talking about from the vision and the purpose and the passion and the personal purpose, going back to the company vision and purpose. I mean, I love all of that it's really a nice tie in because to really have that happen in the company, you need to be a.

And that ties into your book, and I love the title, You're An Executive, But Are You A Leader? And so few words that say so much with that, do you wanna give us a story behind the story about the book and what brought that to be?

Sonya Shelton: Yeah, absolutely. And it came from my own experience, as I mentioned, at Disney, going through what I went through and, and recognizing that, you know, honestly, I fell down on being a leader at some points through that process, as I was under tremendous stress as I was looking at the environment that I was in.

And I recognized, you know, with things that were happening to me. Sometimes people are using their title as a way to motivate or direct people rather than really leading them instead of pushing them, pulling them [00:08:00] forward and really saying, here's where we wanna go.

Here's what we wanna create. Let's do this together. Right? As opposed to pushing and being directive and using that executive title. So that's really what brought it to life. And it's, really designed for everything From front to back of the book is really designed for who I was as an executive and who I am now, in my own company.

Really looking at, what do they have time for? They don't have time to read a big book, right? So it's 50 tips. And it designed around creating one vision, one voice and one direction, and then a case study of how one of my clients implemented that tip. And then some coaching questions that I would ask if you were working with me.

So it's very digestible and kind of you can dive in based on where you are in your business and what you're struggling with and to really think about, you know, executives are and they want to be better leaders, but may not have the time for that leadership development. So it's really making it digestible for them.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And what I appreciated, Sonya, as I went through the book as the reader, [00:09:00] the very first part of the book I really felt you, you're just spot on with it because you're talking about and the title for the section is leading yourself. So, yes, it's great that you have the vision, the voice, the direction, and it's all going in the right way.

But really what you're saying, you know, symbolically, and then when you got into it, hey, if you're not doing it right for yourself, be the change that you wanna see in in other people. And so one of the questions that I wanted to ask you is, when a business owner or an executive or a leader comes to you and you're putting them through your system that you've honed in on over the years and that you refined, what would we expect to see?

What are you gonna be doing to really get us from where we are to where we want?

Sonya Shelton: Yeah, so our model is called Red Thread Leadership, and it's starting with why, right? So we agree with Simon Sinek in the importance of starting with why, and we do start with the leader themselves, right? What is your personal why? Why do you do what you do? How do you bring that why to life? And then what can others expect to you from you as a leader?

What do you ultimately deliver? [00:10:00] And then we take that through to the team. Why? Right? So for each member of your leadership team, what's their individual whys, then you know how to motivate them because you know what their why is. And then they know how to work with each other and how they can be complimentary as opposed to competitive, right?

Or creating conflicts. And then we look at, at the culture, we assess the culture, how you're. And then we go through what we call the five Ps. So starting with your purpose and what is your company purpose? How do you bring that to life? How do you communicate that internally and externally?

And then what is your plan? What is your vision and strategy and goals and where do you wanna go? And then looking at your processes, right? So as I mentioned, looking, getting more efficient with your processes your positions, who do you hire, how are you structured? And then ultimately how do you create passion in your organization?

Right? We look at working with clients, really assessing where they are, and then tailoring something to really build something based on where they wanna go and how they wanna grow so that [00:11:00] they can grow as fast as their.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so let me ask you this, because I know as a leader, as a business owner myself, I've always asked this question, and some days I'm better than others. Some days I, okay, yeah, got it. Other days I'm like, where do I begin? Where do I start? And so obviously as the leader, as the business owner or the founder, whatever the case may be, there is the passion there.

And we're always thinking, okay, how can I help the marketplace, my clients? How can I take the company to the next. But then when you go from the leadership to the team, and maybe they're in leadership positions, maybe they're not, but the team in general. You know, and I don't like the word employee because to me it's really not what the spirit is all about.

And it's more of a negative connotation, at least for me. But in my mind, I always ask, how can I get the team from the frontline person all the. To think more like a leader, more like an owner. And based on what you've seen and what you've done, Sonya, and where you've been, how would you give some advice to us of what we can [00:12:00] start doing for the team?

That they can think Really like an owner. Like a leader, someone who's even in the C-Suite.

Sonya Shelton: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's not one size fits all, right? All of us are motivated by different things and as I mentioned, we start with why. So when you understand why, What motivates people why they do what they do, then you can really tailor how you work with them and where you put them and really leverage that superpower and empower them to use it.

So it really is helping to set that direction and that's why we feel purpose is so important. When they're connected to the purpose, your team will actually help you create ideas about how to move forward. So it's not all on you. You know, Sometimes as founders and business owners, we put it all on our shoulders, right?

And it doesn't have to be because your team, when they understand the purpose and they're excited about it, , and your vision of where they wanna go. They'll create their own ideas and you can empower them to say, bring forward, I wanna hear your ideas. I wanna know how you think we can do this better.

You're closer to the front line. [00:13:00] How can we be more efficient? How can we increase our profitability? how can we doing things better? And you empower them. To come up with their own ideas, and recognizing that you might not always be able to implement them, but at least they know that they have an open forum to be able to share and help you get where you wanna go.

Jeffrey Feldberg: I know some terrific insights there, and you said something interesting. Let's circle back to that. So when we have a company vision and a North Star that everyone can relate to, I can tie my purpose into that. I understand that gets me all fired up, all passionate. I don't know about you, Sonya, most companies.

The vision or the mission, and they're separate. Sometimes people say, yeah, vision statement, mission, state. All the same. They're really not. in either scenario, oftentimes it's maybe even printed up on a plaque and it's hanging on the wall, and it's a waste of space. It's collecting dust. No one knows it.

It's all these fancy corporate talk words that nobody understands. It's, nothing that's gonna move the dial. So we know what's there and is likely happening. How do we do the opposite of that? [00:14:00] So when creating a, a vision and even a, a different kind of mission to support the. How do we make it real?

How do we get it that it's in, you know, the teams face day in, day out, and they're really living it. They know it. If you're to ask them about it they would tell you what it is.

Sonya Shelton: Yeah, absolutely. And that's actually a test that I do when I go into companies. At first I'll ask just five random people, so what's the company vision? See if I get. Relatively the same answer. And I think it's a little bit tricky because if they sort of parrot the same words, And they're not really owning it.

Right. But if they say it in their own words, so if I'm getting basically the same answer in five different sentences, then I know they really own it. So that's something that leaders can do. They can just ask, what do you think our vision is to test? How is it being accepted by the organization?

And I think you're absolutely right that vision these days, I think it's on a PowerPoint slide that lives in a folder somewhere, right? They don't, even if they're working remotely or hybrid, I don't even think it ends up on the wall anymore. and it's really how do they [00:15:00] bring that vision to life?

 So I say it's called Vision for a reason. You have to be able to see it. And one of my favorite examples, and the reason it's one of my favorites is because they actually accomplished it. And at the time they thought it was impossible.

And that was Microsoft's original vision where they said, we want computer on every desk running Microsoft software.

And they

Really achieved that. But at the time, there wasn't even a computer on every desk. Right. But you didn't see that yeah, as soon as I say that, you know what that looks like, you know what's happening. And that's why they achieved it, because every single person that worked for the company understood that.

They knew what the end looked like and they could articulate it. And every decision that they made was in moving in that direct.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, what a great example. And people give different terms to that moonshot or big hairy, audacious goal, BHAG or whatever. You know, It's gonna be, but it's visionary but it's also easy not to confuse simple with simplicity. It's a sentence. It's not all these wordy sentences that are there.

So moving [00:16:00] along with your system, and let's make a big assumption that we've got the vision down and it's something that's meaningful and it's a big one and it's firing everyone up. I'm going now to the many activities with One Direction, and I'm gonna put together just a few of the chapters, a few of the points, because I find, at least in, in my dealings, and you can tell me if I'm on base or off base, that a lot of leaders have problems with these two things that you separated out you should, and it was brilliant.

Number 35, empowering others and then 36 aligning systems and processes. And so all you type A personalities that are listening, stop what you're doing. Stop multitasking, listen up. We're going to hear straight from the source. So Sonya, how do we really empower others where we have a comfort level and we're not looking over our shoulders well, are they gonna do it right?

I could probably do it faster or better and that everything is aligned with our systems and our process.

Sonya Shelton: Absolutely. I think it comes down to measurements and metrics, right? So if you aligning those systems and processes to your [00:17:00] vision so that you are moving in the right direction and you're questioning all the time, could we do this better? Things are changing so fast in business today, right?

So that if we are doing things, if our processes are the same now that they were five years ago, We need to be looking at them again and saying, is this really the best way to do this? Are there other tools that we can use? And leveraging the team to be able to do that too, right? What are you guys seeing out there?

what is it that, you're seeing other companies do or you're reading about that you think we should try? And is there something that we could innovate and empowering them to do that without necessarily going off of those systems and processes. So helping them recognize the reason why those systems and processes are in place, and then empowering them to make it better.

And I think what just came to mind is one of the things that a lot of companies are dealing with right now is Our team members be back in the office. Right? And can they work from home? Can they not work from home? Companies are making varying decisions, and what I'm [00:18:00] hearing a lot of people say is, we're happy to come into the office, but when we come into the office, when we've had to work out childcare, we've had to work out the commute.

Right. We've had to do all these things to get there. We need to feel like we're there for a reason. But when I come into the office, And I'm on a, virtual meeting all day, right? Because some people are in the office and some people aren't in the office. Why am I in the office? Right? This is just an example of looking at all your processes and what's the reason behind it.

What's the purpose behind it? Do people understand why you're doing what you're doing? And do you know why you're doing what you're doing? Are you just following what other companies are saying or doing? Or maybe the way things always have been.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, Sonya, what a great point. And for the leaders and the business owners out there, it really goes back to culture. So you're asking your team to now come into the office and let's be open and honest about it. It's a pain in the, you know what but are we just saying, well come to the office because I feel better.

I know that you're there and somehow magically you're gonna be working. So really what I'm [00:19:00] hearing you say, if we're having people come back to the. Create the structure in the office that supports them of what they could do there that they couldn't do back remotely, you know, back in the home office, wherever they're gonna be working from.

Would I be correct with that?

Sonya Shelton: Yes, absolutely. One of our clients, we worked with them right at the beginning when things were starting to open and with the surveys with their employees to say, what do you. What is the best case scenario? And most people said, Vita, we wanna have both. We wanna be able to come together when we need to and be able to work from home when we don't need to come together.

We help them create this great system that worked for their culture and their business where they get together three days a month. Everybody in the company is there. They have all their team meetings, they have their town halls. The leadership team gets together on strategy work, right?

Everybody is together for those three days a month. The calendar is published for the whole year. Nobody takes time off during that time, and that's their time to collaborate and it's worked really well for them. So it's looking at, how can you be [00:20:00] innovative with. You're looking at this and really asking your team for feedback on what they want and what they think would be best for the business to grow as well.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, what terrific insights. So there we have a company that is as active as the team in saying, okay, how are we gonna make this work? How do we make your life value added and easier if you're gonna take the time and effort to come in? Let us make it worth your while. What a great mindset and what a rich culture they have as a result of that.

Sonya Shelton: Yeah, absolutely.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so Sonya, when we look at the business landscape, post pandemic. Everything changed and then, you know, it's kind of been there in the background, but as of late artificial intelligence, AI has just been front and center. And I know when this episode comes out, whatever we're talking about today is probably obsolete because AI has made leaps and bounds into other areas.

But generally speaking, let's talk best practices here. Now, you know, with what you're saying in the so early days, we're entering the golden era of AI where it can really make a societal and worldwide. [00:21:00] And, you know, a lot of thought leaders are saying, and it just I hit the floor when I heard this because it's really revolutionary.

Whoever figures out AI today, before the decade is out, particularly the backend systems, those are the companies that are going to rule the world for the next. Think about that and the example that was given was you know, when we started sailing the seas way back in the day, whoever mastered the seas, Ruled the world for the next century.

So AI is here, and we may not be the companies that are creating the AI platforms and the systems behind the scenes, but there's no reason why in our space, in our industry, we can't lead the way of integrating AI so that we can lead the marketplace for hopefully a century. But, for many years at the very least, I'd love your thoughts on that, of what we could be doing now, early days to begin incorporating this wonderful and powerful technology

Sonya Shelton: yes, absolutely. So I'll just share what we've been doing in our company and that's looking [00:22:00] at how could we use this, my whole team is playing with it and saying, how can I apply this to my job? We've found things like it can write a job description. if we're looking at how can we improve processes or we need a document process, right?

You can put in there, write a process for X, y, Z, right? And it's coming back and it just needs a few tweaks, right? So it's really looking at how can you really use this? I heard somebody say like, AI was built for business owners. Right, right, There's so many ways that we can use it to save time.

 And it's just a matter of being creative with it and testing, but also remembering that there's that human touch side of it, right. So it can't do everything we can do. It can do some things better in some cases, right. But there's that human side of it to say. How does this connect to our purpose?

How does this connect to who we are as a company? Especially when it comes to things like job descriptions and communications and things like that where it's putting your flare on it, but really using it as a foundation to be able to speed up processes and [00:23:00] help your team do things more efficiently.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Sonya, for our listeners, what you just shared I think is so valuable. So for the listeners, did you really pick up on that? Because what you did not hear is Yeah, just go to, you know, your favorite AI bot and do a copy and paste and you're done. No. That's not what we're doing here. Because the issue with that, I mean, where AI has.

I feel such potential for humanity, for society. I mean it's so big picture what I'm gonna throw out there. We all get the same answers. So we have an opportunity if the information going into it, if we can keep it clean. We all have the same answers from the questions that we're getting. So the fake news and the polarization of left versus right, we can make all of that or much of that disappear.

But the other side to the coin, there's always two sides to the coin to what you're saying. Well, If everyone's getting the same, And we're just doing a copy and paste, then there's no competitive advantage at that point. Your company sounds like every other company, but what you're saying is, Hey, let it do the heavy lifting.

Take the results, make it your own, put your own thinking and creativity into it. And [00:24:00] maybe it's that last 10, 20% that you're just doing the tweaking on to make something world class and unique. Would I be on base with that?

Sonya Shelton: Yes, absolutely. It's, kind of like saying instead of starting with a blank sheet of paper, you're starting with an outline and then you. Oh, I can take this outline and build on it. And sometimes, starting from the blank sheet of paper to getting something on the paper is what takes the most time, right?

Is thinking through what do I wanna do? How are we gonna put this together? And that just helps speed up that part of the process and then you can tailor it to be your own.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah. Some terrific things there. And you know, I'm gonna put you on, the spot. It's anyone's uh, guess right now. If you look out, I don't even wanna say 10 years because it's too far out. I don't think anyone has visibility of AI 10 years from now. But if you said the next 12, 24 months, what would you hope or expect to see with AI as it pertains to business?

Sonya Shelton: Yeah, I think there's probably two different things. I think what I expect to see is. People not taking that time and trying to shortcut processes and a lot of [00:25:00] sameness, right? And maybe some people losing some connection as a result of that. But what I hope for is that it is an opportunity to create more innovation and more freedom, especially for, for leaders to be able to. We can actually free up people's time to be able to work on more important, more valuable things and take care of some of those foundational things using ai. One of the things that I'm really concerned about is. Around the hiring process. So I've had even recruiters say, oh, based on my expertise, based on your expertise, you could write an interview for people and be able to bypass the whole interview process so that leaders don't have to hire people or have those interviews and take that time. And there are some ways of going about that. You know, there's some foundational questions. Those screener questions that can come from that. But there's that part of the culture and really looking for culture fit that an AI isn't gonna be able to get to. That you really need to be able to connect with somebody to see if they're a good [00:26:00] fit.

So I think that's my caution, right, is to look at remember the people side of your business as you're using ai. And there's a lot of great to it. I'm super excited about what it's gonna create, but also recognizing that there's some dangers to it if you forget about the people side.

Jeffrey Feldberg: A thousand percent. You know, It's that old maximum Sonya that you hire for personality, you train for skills, and at least as of this recording, who knows, maybe it'll change when this comes out or. But AI isn't there. for personality and assessing who we are, that's really something that you've gotta be in the trenches speaking to the people.

And after all, if you think about it, the people that you're hiring today, that's your company tomorrow. That's your culture. That is everything. You wanna make sure that you really get it right. And Sonya, let me ask you this. You know you're out there, you're with the movers and shakers, and you're doing your coaching, and you have your system, and whether it's a Fortune 500 or a Fortune five or a startup, the one common theme that's going on right now is we have all these distractions.

That are taking place, [00:27:00] you know, the apps on our phone to the emails, to the in-office meetings, to all these AI algorithms behind the scenes that try and grab our attention and stay on one site longer and, you know, all the stuff that goes on with that. And when you look at what's going on and then even when you take someone like professor Gloria Mark and she's at the University of California Irvine, her famous study.

One interruption and the interruption could be, you know, your phone going ding, or your email client making a, a sound, and you get distracted for five seconds. It takes you 23 minutes to get back into flow, back into that concentration, back into the level where, you should be. And so if you do the math, 23 minutes and we're only at work, or we're working remotely or in the office for a certain amount of time, it doesn't take many interruptions that we've lost.

So how are you working with leaders, their teams, their cultures, and in terms of strategies and tactics to really minimize those interruptions that we can get that deep work or the really, the flow and the creativity and just the smart work taking place.[00:28:00]

Sonya Shelton: Yeah, absolutely. And this is something that I'm really concerned about, that I'm seeing in a lot of organizations. And that's the increase in anxiety as a result of some the things that you're talking about. I think you know, all the distractions are part of it. And uncertainty that we're living in, because things are changing so fast, that speed of change, all of these things are contributing to a lot of anxiety.

So I've been looking at this quite a bit because. I think there was a study that, 94% of team members feel that they're experiencing stress at work right now. a big number, right? And we're seeing, especially in younger generations, just this rise in anxiety at work. And so I've really been looking at why is that?

Why is that happening? And it really comes down to two things that they're lacking. One is clarity. And one is focus, right? So both are contributing to what you're talking about, right? So it really is having that clear purpose and vision, having those clear goals. Where are we focused? What are we working on?

And it's narrowing those [00:29:00] areas of focus down to no more than five. Ideally three, right, three areas that your businesses really needs to win on, that everybody in the company is focusing on. Those three things helps to create that focus and that clarity. And then on a day-to-day basis, as you mentioned, really having that time for deep work.

And one of the things that, I work with when I'm coaching executives is we look at their calendar. What meetings do you not need to be in? What meetings could your team actually. And how can we start to free up some time to bring focus to that you're working on the most valuable activities, and then you block time for that.

And that is sacred time, right? so whether it's, you know, an hour or two hours, whatever it is that you need, at your prime time. So if you're a morning person, make it in the morning. If you're an afternoon person, make it in the afternoon. Really use that time where you have the most energy and can turn everything.

Right. So you turn off your email, you turn off, you know your chat functions and your text messages, your [00:30:00] phone, and you can really just focus for that period of time on the most important things. And it's amazing what happens where executives really recognize I have control of my time. It's amazing, right?

As leaders, we wanna be in service, in service to our customers and clients in service to our teams. And we forget that we actually do have control of our time and we can take that control back.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah, some great insights and advice is, let me follow up on that because in terms of the anxiety, which leads to mental health issues, which is not a good place for anyone to be. And then you put that into the business context and it just goes from bad to worse. So you alluded to this earlier, and it's somewhat of a general question and you could easily say well, Jeffrey, you know, it really depends on the company and the space that they're in and what they want to do.

Generally speaking though, if we looked at KPIs, key performance indicators, and what I love about KPIs, when you pit the right ones, it prevents you from confusing activity with. And to your point, distractions and [00:31:00] it just becomes very apparent with the KPIs, Hey, we're doing something right we're not.

And so like anything else, you can have too few or too many. But based on your clientele and the results that they've been getting since they've been working with you, are there some KPIs that, you know, Pareto's law that, hey, Jeffrey, these 20% of KPIs across different companies, across different industries are really getting them 80% of the results.

Anything that you can share with us of what our listeners should think about in terms of their own companies?

Sonya Shelton: Yeah, absolutely. I think from a people perspective around. Are they aligned to the vision and the direction of the company? Right? So, a couple of years ago when they were talking about the great resignation research was done on why were people leaving companies, and the number one reason was because they felt the company wasn't well led and headed in the right direction, part of that is if you as a leader, your leadership team isn't all aligned with where you're going, then that can create confusion in the organization, right? So [00:32:00] really looking at, can you measure how well aligned your team is? how much do they understand where the company is going?

And then I think the third is, what are those things that are really gonna move the needle to your vision, right? Those three areas of focus that I talked about. And how do you know that you're getting there, right? So if you can see your vision and your vision is clear, then you have those three areas of focus.

You should be able to measure them and know how well you're doing, and constantly not just communicating how you're doing, but celebrating along the way, right? So that a lot of anxiety comes from. Kind of feeling like we're on this treadmill and not getting anywhere. And I think because things are moving so fast and things are changing so much that is happening.

I've seen that happen in a lot of organizations where people are just feeling like they're running so fast and they're so busy, but they're not really getting anywhere. And they are, but they're not taking the time to stop and celebrate those small wins along the way to celebrate those milestones and see that they're making progress.

And just [00:33:00] take a moment to look back and say, look what we've done, right? And that can start to create more momentum as well.

Jeffrey Feldberg: What a great point. And again, it all goes back to having a culture that does this. So let me ask you this, because you're right, it's so easy. We get to the top of one mountain and we don't celebrate, okay, where's the next mountain we're gonna be tackling, and off we go. So what would be some tried and proven celebration tactics or systems that are, you know, low cost, easy to implement in a system that.

Hammer home people feeling good. We're actually celebrating. We're recognizing what we're doing. That just reinforces the kinds of feelings and behavior we'd love to see.

Sonya Shelton: Yeah, I think, at the end of the day, it really just comes down to authentic and heartfelt. Thank you.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Interesting. Okay.

Sonya Shelton: And, And you know, I think a lot of leaders think, oh, we need to have this big thing, and we don't have the money to do that. And it doesn't have to be that, right. I think, you know, the most, for me, the most valuable things that I've received in recognition have been handwritten notes.[00:34:00]

I still have some handwritten notes from past managers that I've had, or leaders that I had, and I've kept them and to remind myself, that of what that was like and of that time really. So it can be super simple and it's really coming from that place of authenticity and recognition of an appreciation of what they've accomplished.

And I think that sometimes can go much farther than a big celebr.

Jeffrey Feldberg: You know what's interesting in a digital era, we're going old school with a handwritten note. Doesn't take much time. Doesn't cost much money. But you know, To your point, hey, the ones I've received over my career, I've kept them, I still look at them, they mean so much to me. What a powerful tool.

And to your point it's got obviously gotta be authentic and recognizing what was done and be detailed enough. But what a great way just to recognize a team and or an individual and let them know, hey, keep up the great work. Really proud of you.

Sonya Shelton: Yeah, absolutely. And catching them doing right things, right? so it's not making it robotic. Send 'em a text or an email. Hey, I saw that you [00:35:00] accomplished this and I just wanted to say thank you. That was a great job.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah. Nice. So Sonya, just before we begin to wrap up with every episode, we like to have a listener walk away with really one actionable item. So before this episode's done, before our listeners go to their phone calls or emails, their meetings, to put you on the spot, it may be hard to choose one thing that, of all the different strategies and and tactics that you.

If a listener could do one thing though, starting today, that would begin the process of really moving the dial in a positive way for their business, for their leadership. If you had to pick one thing what do you think that would be?

Sonya Shelton: It always comes to starting with why, right? So looking at what motivates you, what motivates your team. If you don't know, ask them and ask them, why do they do what they do and what's important to them? And that's gonna help you understand how to motivate them. It's super simple to do.

You can do it.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Nice, Nice. Some great insights there. Well, Let me ask you this as the wrap up question. It's a thought [00:36:00] experiment. It's a fun question. I'll set this up for you. So think of that terrific movie Back to the Future. And in the movie you have that magical DeLorean car that will take you to any point in time.

And so now here's the fun part, Sonya. Tomorrow morning you look outside your window. Not only is DeLorean car there, but it's curbside door open waiting for you to hop on in. So you go in and you're now gonna go to a previous point in your life, maybe when you're a young child, a teenager, whatever point in time it would be.

What are you telling your younger self in terms of, Hey, Sonya, here's some life wisdom or life lessons, or do this but don't do that. What do you think that would sound like?

Sonya Shelton: First you put me back to my youth of when I first saw that movie. Yeah. It's a great movie. Yeah. I think I would tell myself to be present. Because I don't think that I would change anything cuz even the hard times have led to something amazing in the future and something that I've learned been able to help other people with.

And so I think I would tell myself just to be present, and enjoy the ride, and to [00:37:00] remember that those hard times are leading towards lessons that you can use. In the future. Right. And I think you know, especially as business owners, it's important to remember like that we go through some tough stuff, and we can learn from all of it and so can our teams.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Terrific insights. You know, It's a common theme that I hear a lot guests say, you know what, Jeffrey? I don't think I would change anything because if I did, I wouldn't be who I am today and where I am. Good times, challenging times, everything. It all played a role. So some terrific insights and advice.

And Sonya, we're gonna have this all in our show notes. For listeners who wanna reach out to you, they have a question. They wanna be in your coaching program in your. Where's the best place online that they can reach you?

Sonya Shelton: So I think our website, executive leader. Is the best place to reach. We have lots of resources there. I'm very active on LinkedIn. If you wanna connect with me, I do look at all the messages that I receive on LinkedIn and also on the website. And then I'd love to offer your listeners an opportunity to take the [00:38:00] masterclass on Red Thread leadership for free.

So if you're interested in learning more about how to create purpose and run that red thread of purpose through your organization, you can go to red thread leadership.com and you can take that class.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow. Stop the presses. What a gift. And for listeners, take Sonya up on that offer. We'll have it in the show notes. We'll also have the link to your books on, you're an executive, but are you a leader? Encourage all of the listeners, go get that. Read that, take the masterclass. Do something for yourself. Move the dial for you, your team, your business.

After all, society is depending on us as leaders, as business owners to solve those painful problems. Make it a better place. Sonya, it's official. This is a wrap. Thank you so much for your wisdom and your insights. And as you'd like to say here at Deep Wealth, please thrive and prosper and say healthy and safe.

Thank you so much.

Sonya Shelton: Thank you. 

Sharon S.: The Deep Wealth Experience was definitely a game-changer for me. 

Lyn M.: This course is one of the best investments you will ever make because you will get an ROI of a hundred times that. [00:39:00] Anybody who doesn't go through it will lose millions. 

Kam H.: If you don't have time for this program, you'll never have time for a successful liquidity 

Sharon S.: It was the best value of any business course I've ever taken. The money was very well spent.

Lyn M.: Compared to when we first began, today I feel better prepared, but in some respects, may be less prepared, not because of the course, but because the course brought to light so many things that I thought we were on top of that we need to fix. 

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Sharon S.: There was so much value in the experience that the time I invested paid back so much [00:40:00] for the energy that was expended. 

Lyn M.: The Deep Wealth Experience compared to other programs is the top. What we learned is very practical. Sometimes you learn stuff that it's great to learn, but you never use it. The stuff we learned from Deep Wealth Experience, I believe it's going to benefit us a boatload.

Kam H.: I've done an executive MBA. I've worked for billion-dollar companies before. I've worked for smaller companies before I started my business. I've been running my business successfully now for getting close to a decade. We're on a growth trajectory. Reflecting back on the Deep Wealth, I knew less than 10% what I know now, maybe close to 1% even. 

Sharon S.: Hands down the best program in which I've ever participated. And we've done a lot of different things over the years. We've been in other mastermind groups, gone to many seminars, workshops, conferences, retreats, read books. This was so different. I haven't had an experience that's anything close to this in all the years that we've been at this.

It's five-star, [00:41:00] A-plus.

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Deep Wealth is an accurate name for it. This program leads to deeper wealth and happier wealth, not just deeper wealth. I don't think there's a dollar value that could be associated with such an experience and knowledge that could be applied today and forever. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Are you leaving millions on the table? 

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