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Digital Transformation & AI for Humans
Welcome to 'Digital Transformation & AI for Humans' with Emi.
In this podcast, we delve into how technology intersects with leadership, innovation, and most importantly, the human spirit.
Each episode features visionary leaders from different countries who understand that at the heart of success is the human touch—nurturing a winning mindset, fostering emotional intelligence, soft skills, and building resilient teams.
Subscribe and stay tuned for more episodes.
Visit https://digitaltransformation4humans.com/ for more information.
Digital Transformation & AI for Humans
Emotional Intelligence: The Secret Key to High Performance & Business Growth
Let’s focus on the power of Emotional Intelligence: High Performance & Business Growth based on EQ with my fantastic guest Dr. Ron Stotts from Seattle, United States — an Executive Coach, Three-Time Best-Selling Author, International Speaker, and Harvard Business Review Advisory Board Member.
With over forty-five years of exploration into the understanding of people's limitations and greater potentials, Ron helps entrepreneurs and executives navigate the challenges of evolving into conscious leadership. He offers transformative programs that guide his clients in creating a truly inspiring life beyond anything they have ever imagined.
Dr. Ron reveals powerful insights on:
✔ Importance of EQ for High Performance and Business Growth
✔ Scaling 8- and 9-Figure Businesses While Staying Aligned with Personal Goals
✔ Success Stories: Emotional Intelligence Turning Struggling Leaders into High Performers
✔ Integrating Scientific and Spiritual Approaches to Elevate one' Inner Power
✔ Future of Behavior Change: Accelerating Without Burnout Amidst Rising AI
✔ EQ Integration for Balancing Professional Ambition and Personal Life
✔ Transforming Emotional Struggles into Catalysts for Leadership and Business Growth
✔ Practical Steps to Cultivate Authenticity, Empathy, and Impact through Emotional Intelligence
🔗 Connect with Dr. Ron Stotts on LinkedIn
🔗 Visit the site
🔗📚 Overscheduled by Success: A Guide for Influential Leaders Too Busy to Create Their Next Dream
🔗📚 Transformational Leadership: For Greater Success and a More Conscious and Caring World
About the host, Emi Olausson Fourounjieva
With over 20 years in IT, digital transformation, business growth & leadership, Emi specializes in turning challenges into opportunities for business expansion and personal well-being.
Her contributions have shaped success stories across the corporations and individuals, from driving digital growth, managing resources and leading teams in big companies to empowering leaders to unlock their inner power and succeed in this era of transformation.
📚 Get your AI Leadership Compass: Unlocking Business Growth & Innovation 🧭 The Definitive Guide for Leaders & Business Owners to Adapt & Thrive in the Age of AI & Digital Transformation: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DNBJ92RP
📆 Book a free Strategy Call with Emi
🔗 Connect with Emi Olausson Fourounjieva on LinkedIn
🌏 Learn more: https://digitaltransformation4humans.com/
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🔔 Subscribe and stay tuned for more episodes
Hello and welcome to Digital Transformation and AI for Humans with your host, amy. In this podcast, we delve into how technology intersects with leadership, innovation and, most importantly, the human spirit. Each episode features visionary leaders who understand that at the heart of success is the human touch nurturing a winning mindset, fostering emotional intelligence and building resilient teams. Let's focus on emotional intelligence and the secret keys to high performance and business growth. My amazing guest, dr Ron Stotz, from Seattle, the United States. An executive coach, three-time best-selling author, international speaker and Harvard Business Review Advisory Board member, with over 45 years of exploration into the understanding of people's limitations and greater potentials, ron helps entrepreneurs and executives navigate the challenges of evolving into conscious leadership. He offers transformative programs that guide his clients in creating a truly inspiring life beyond anything they have ever imagined. Ron, I'm excited to have you in the studio. How are you?
Speaker 2:Very good, thank you. Thanks for having me. I enjoy it. Looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:Very good, thank you. Thanks for having me. I enjoy looking forward to it Me too. Amazing. Let's start with telling a few words about yourself. Can you share something about your journey, about your philosophy, about your dreams and your experience?
Speaker 2:your experience? Yeah, you know, as a leadership coach, as an executive coach, I really found myself looking back at my own leadership and it seems rather accidental I jokingly call myself the accidental leader. I remember when I got out of the Marine Corps when I was about 20 years old, I went to work for a boat company and within, I would say within a month, I found myself at lunch, sort of I had a legal pad and I was going through and just how do we make this better? How do we design each of these stages of the boat and developing the boat so that the tools are there that we need, so that it's laid out in a way that's more cost-effective, and that type of thing. And I certainly wasn't doing that from any sort of intentional oh, maybe I'll get noticed or erased. That was just that's who I was, and so it was fun because I went into my boss to share this information, just you know, and he happened to be then there with the, the owner of the corporation, which you know was in a another location at the time and and they were so taken by what I had done and the efficiency and the you know effectiveness of it that they wanted to transform the whole setup and development of the boat.
Speaker 2:And what was really a fact? It was the next day this big limousine pulls up in front of the boatyard and they come in and grab me and throw me in the limousine and I'm going over to the bigger yard and meeting I'm in a meeting with I'd been there probably two months or two and a half months and everybody else in the meeting had been there 20, 30 years and they put me in charge of six different boat lines and became production manager and all that sort of thing. And there was no intention, it was just my being focused on the work. What would work out better? What would be better for everybody involved? What would work out better? What would be better for everybody involved?
Speaker 2:And I remember once I was at a party in Los Angeles. I was just moving up there staying at a friend's house and I'm not very much of a party guy at that time. I was going into the kitchen to get a little glass of juice I didn't drink at the time and as I was going through the kitchen there was a fellow on either side of the door and they were talking to each other and I heard they were talking about a particular work problem that they were having and couldn't come up with a solution for it, and I didn't think much about it.
Speaker 2:But as I was walking back out of the kitchen, I threw out an idea that turned out to be perfect for what they were meeting, and so they stopped and said who are you? So I explained my idea and where I was coming from with it and within a week I was executive vice president of Intergame Corporation. I was helping AT&T go through their divestiture back in the early 80s, and that's kind of how you know, how my leadership has, you know, developed. And you know I'm not recommending that for everybody, but what I am saying is I was always curious, I was always interested in how we could make things better, not only in terms of productivity but in terms of people.
Speaker 2:And really, you know, I heard Steve Jobs in a quote the other day it's like you've got to start with the client. You've got to start with your customer. What do they want, what do they need? And if you really kind of let that be your guide, then you won't be creating widgets and ideas and methodologies that are more what you want to sell than what people want to buy. And how you do that is by really becoming what I call a conscious leader, and that's one who's taken the time to heal, to become more self-aware and emotionally intelligent so that they can keep that bigger picture in mind, so they can keep the clients, so they can keep the workers, so they can keep everybody in mind, and really their job as a leader is taking care of all those people. And that allows us to bring that personal aspect into our work, into whatever we're creating, whatever we're trying to market.
Speaker 1:Your journey sounds like a fairy tale to me, and it's amazing that you could experience such exciting moments in life which were really literally life-changing, and not only for you, but for everybody who was sharing that space with you in your life. So it's amazing and I totally agree Customer centricity. For me, as somebody who has been working and leading data-driven, customer-centric business growth, it is absolutely crucial to understand the needs and the behavior behind and what can you give so that they get what they really want and what they need. That's a great reminder, Ron. Why is emotional intelligence such a crucial factor in achieving both high performance and business growth, particularly for senior leaders and business owners.
Speaker 2:Well, I think it's in alignment with what we were just saying. The more emotionally intelligent you are, the more comfortable with yourself you are, because when emotions come up, say you're in the middle of a board meeting and a couple of people really go at it, they get in an argument that does happen in board meetings and a person who's not comfortable with their feelings is going to get angry and try and stop it. Well, you get an emotionally intelligent, conscious leader. They're going to kind of watch it from a place of curiosity, because they know that when things get a bit emotional, real issues, real ideas, real challenges might actually come forward that are otherwise suppressed. And so they're going to watch this emotionally triggered situation from that place of curiosity, looking for well, what can I learn? What can this tell us in terms of what we really need to do, what we need to be, so that everything is enhanced and working better.
Speaker 2:So emotional intelligence just gives you access of not only your own capabilities but the sense of where other people are coming from, the comfort of allowing people to feel whatever they're feeling. You're more compassionate, you're more aware of what other people are feeling, so you're not pushing them when it might trigger them. You're really being more supportive and caring and it might trigger them. You're really being more supportive and caring and so they're less reactive, so they're more trusting, so you're bringing out the best in everybody. So emotional intelligence is just critical to all aspects of leadership. If you're going to, you know people used to that old top-down controlling style of leadership is just archaic. If you really are in business to make money and be more productive and make more profits, then become a conscious leader. Become a leader who is more self-aware, that has emotional intelligence enough to care about who you're creating something for, who you're creating something with, so that you're taking care of everybody, including yourself, much more fully.
Speaker 1:I love this approach, and it is so, but still, for some reason, it's far from being evident for so many leaders, both in the corporate world and those business owners who are trying to just push through by working harder, by being stricter, by keeping the ego as broad as possible and developing it even more, so that it becomes more of scarcity than willingness to collaborate, to co-create and enjoy the results all together.
Speaker 2:And that all comes from fear and feeling like they want to control. You know, what I watch is nobody wants to be out of control, but it's ironic when I'm working with people and I begin to explore what being in control really means to them, and so, when they're in a given situation in our work together, I say, okay, so you're doing that to be more in control. And they'll go, yeah, and so I have them really become more self-aware by okay, analyze what you're doing, what are you doing with your breath? And they realize, oh, I'm stopping breathing. Okay, so to be in more control, you stop breathing. And what are you doing with your mind? And it's like, well, I'm really trying to find an answer. I'm really struggling to find an answer and putting all my focus into that.
Speaker 2:What they end up describing is a process that they recognize and end up laughing about, because that process is one that they're actually out of control. They have no control over their mind, no control, no access to higher levels of thinking. They're not even breathing and accessing what they're truly capable of. So what they recognize, yes, they want to be in control, but they realize their pattern and habitual tendencies that they've grown up with, really their efforts to be in control are resulting in them being completely out of control. So that's when we begin to shift them. As they heal, they can learn to breathe, so they can be more curious, so they can be more present. That's when they get to experience. Oh, this is what real control is. Is me sitting in this more conscious place where I'm able to handle everything that's going on?
Speaker 1:That is amazing and, yes, this is exactly. It's so counterproductive, but still the natural reaction we are trained to looks like that that we start running faster, breathing faster, more shallow, and then we get so much going on in our head that it's absolutely impossible not to be overwhelmed by those processes. And, of course, it's not going to lead to more harmony or better results in the external world when there is such a chaos and intensity inside.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we often lash out at others, we often blame others. We often look at well, what's the cause of this, what are the circumstances, what are the people? Who is responsible for this? And that doesn't allow us to be responsible for our life or for the circumstances that we're in, you know? Again, that's another word, being responsible. It's like well, everybody wants to be responsible. But being responsible, the real meaning of that is you're able to respond appropriately, supportively, to everything and anything that comes into your life. That's what being supportive and responsible means. It doesn't mean you're controlling everything and lashing out and trying to limit everybody to play in the way that you want to play.
Speaker 1:I love that definition. You know that definition should be added into the handbooks of all the leaders on this planet and actually everybody because you don't need to be a leader to have that leadership role. Self-leadership is crucial, and each and one of human beings should be in charge for a certain level of knowledge and responsibility, according to your definitions. So I'm so happy that you mentioned it.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay.
Speaker 1:Good, Ron. You've been working with eight and nine figure business owners and leaders. What is your secret to helping them scale their companies while staying aligned with their personal goals?
Speaker 2:aligned with their personal goals I think their personal. I don't see any separation, to be quite honest with you, not when they're coming from a conscious, healed place, and so it's really. You know, my initial programs are about healing and focusing on themselves and healing themselves, and that's appropriate and necessary for everybody to really take that self-time so that you can really understand where you're coming from and heal whatever needs to be healed and learn to accept and love yourself on levels that you've never done before. But then it becomes an integrated aspect of everything that you're doing and should you know, that's what I see in my nine-month program is they're really just now. They're putting that all into action.
Speaker 2:You know, if they're in a tough situation and you know we're on a call and they're saying, well, this is what I'm struggling with now, all I do this is my giveaway here all I'm ever doing is breathing and being more present than where they are. I'm just being more conscious from where they are, and I don't have to be a business you know, amazing business person If I'm more conscious, I see the opportunity that's available within any situation that they're involved with, and so what I'm really supporting them in doing is okay, wherever you're running into in life is an opportunity for your growth and development. If you don't know the answer, that means you just need to breathe and look deeper within yourself to become aware enough so you can see the answer. And that's a difficult thing for them to understand initially sometimes, but once they begin to trust that, once they begin to recognize, oh, no matter what life presents me with, if I can breathe and be curious and present, then I'm looking for the opportunity in that.
Speaker 2:And what happens is, yes, I might see what I need to heal or what I need to take care of outside of myself, but that always allows me to really come up with the best solution, and that can be the design of a hinge that you need for a product that you're developing. It can be how do I solve this people problem that I'm dealing with? In terms of employees, it doesn't matter. I have a hobby, and it's designing and creating Japanese gardens. It's something most people don't know that I do so now, I guess a lot of people do Amazing.
Speaker 2:But you know, I had a fellow the CEO that I was working with in San Francisco, and he found out that I designed and created Japanese gardens and so of course he wanted a bigger, better, million-dollar Japanese garden in his home and I really just didn't have time, you know, I was so busy with clients and things. But he really wanted this as a gift for his wife and so I went to my backyard in Mill Valley, california, north of San Francisco, and just sat quietly and envisioned the space that he wanted me to build the garden in. It was an acre and part of the yard and I really envisioned the couple and I knew that a big part of it would be. This is for her development. She was very interested in meditation and personal development and I also saw that it would be a place where they could learn to connect and really become a more vital and loving couple. And so I just put that information and then I just sat in the quiet and invited that garden to be created in my mind. And so for the next half hour as I sat there quietly, I watched the 120-foot stream and coming into the 50-by-60-foot pond with the Turtle Island and the bamboo forest at the far end and the tea house. I watched it in detail just develop and finally to the points of the movement and the smells and the different sounds and feelings of the garden coming into play.
Speaker 2:And you know, I met with them the next morning, I shared my image and I walked them through the property and just kind of pointed it all out and I said, you know, it's, you know, and it was very expensive, and I thought they're never going to spend this much money. But it was like you know, it was a little over a, a little over a half million dollars for the garden that they wanted and I, jokingly as I was, they said, yeah, let's go ahead. And so, as I was leaving, I jokingly said, you know, we could easily spend a million dollars by doing this, that and five other things that I suggested quickly, not trying to sell them anything. I was over the top with what we were doing. They called me that night and said, yeah, let's do that, that's what we want.
Speaker 1:Amazing, incredible.
Speaker 2:The point is that here I was given a task that I didn't have time for, so I sat, accessed Big Mind, let that image come in Within an hour. I had that complete, never did put anything on paper. I had that complete image in my mind. Three months later it was completely built and finished. We won international awards for the design and for the technology of it. And years later, when I spoke to them, they just said, oh, you've got to come and see what it's looking like. And I said, no, I know what it looks like. That's you know. Of course I did go and visit just to reconnect with it.
Speaker 1:Unbelievable. It's absolutely unbelievable. Another fairy tale of yours.
Speaker 2:Well, it's not. It's a fairy tale of what we're all capable of. We're all capable of accessing those levels of thinking, those levels of creativity, those levels of being in relationship, creating organizations, developing organizations and ideas. We're all so, so capable, and it's just learning to access those rather than nurturing our fears. Nurturing, you know, and breathing into all of who and what we're capable of so we can create that amazing life that we want.
Speaker 1:It feels so good to be. It makes two of us at this moment here, and somebody who is watching us or listening to this interview can just get a reminder that it is crucial to tap into your inner power because we are so capable and what we call magic. Actually it can easily become something very achievable and become so natural and obvious as a part of our reality, of our life. It's only about understanding how to tap into that flow and stay in the flow.
Speaker 2:You captured it perfectly. That's exactly right, yep.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Ron. Can you share a success story where emotional intelligence helped transform a struggling leader into a high-performing one, leading to a more profitable business and happier life?
Speaker 2:Well, the truth is, there's so many that I'm trying to choose which one, because as you move through this process, that's what happens with everybody. You know, there was a wonderful woman that I had met. We were taking a workshop in Florida together and she found out more about who I was and what I was doing and so she signed up to work with me.
Speaker 2:She was a very capable, successful leader. I mean, she was doing extremely well with several organizations that she had. But as we began to explore what she felt she was struggling with, what she was limited by, what was causing disorder or dis-ease, if you will, in her relationship with her husband and with the kids and stuff. And she was struggling with a couple of significant people in her organizations, struggling with a couple of significant people in her organizations. And so these personal relationships were the indicators that she really started paying attention to and we began to explore and as she really recognized those, we began to recognize the similarities to relationships she had when she was growing up and the difficulties she had when she was growing up. And I don't want to get into the you know too personal notes of that, but it was really in her being able to explore those challenges in growing up for the first time, be able to really find compassion for herself, to be able to reconnect with that little girl that she was, to really reparent that little girl, if you will, so that there wasn't that disconnection within herself between the different aspects of herself and as she became more whole, self-accepting and loving herself and she recognized that well, not only did her vision of what she wanted to create greatly expand, but the way that she wanted to involve and support others in joining her began to expand and she really recognized her capabilities.
Speaker 2:She was also working with one of her businesses as coaching business people and she realized how much she was unconsciously holding back from that and she let herself open up to who she truly was. Of course she was able to offer people so much more and that business just took off. But then she had these other organizations that you know where she oftentimes would be in partnership with somebody, and so she cleaned up all of those partnerships because she didn't need to be in mistrust of them any longer, because she trusted herself, and so she cleaned up those. And you know literally within what a year, year and a half, all of a sudden, I think, she had three main significant organizations. She was just working less, but more effectively she was doing. She had a. Again, it's kind of personal, but she had this dream thing that she wanted to do. She wanted to well.
Speaker 2:I'll just say she was a member of the Christian community and she really wanted to bring that aspect of her life into one area of her work more significantly and really work with people and help them come into the business world and see that there isn't a conflict between different types of beliefs and understandings and and being able to take care of yourself and enrich the world at the same time.
Speaker 2:And so, yeah, it was just to watch her be reborn, to watch her blossom and really recognize who she was, what she was capable of, and then to see how that washed over through her three kids, which are just amazing, three lovely kids that now are thriving and to create these relationships where she's helping so many people. You know she also works with a speaking agency and and other things, and it's just to watch how she redesigned things and made it much more heart-centered, much more person-centered, much more, much more effective, because it gave people what they needed, not only for their own growth, but so they could reach others. And so I mean, in terms of enhancing her life, it was a tremendous shift. But also, you know, truth is she was just making a ton more money and helping a lot of other people make a ton more money.
Speaker 1:That's a nice by-effect, all that work right that's a really impressive example and I feel joy just from you describing that story and telling more about that destiny. I feel joy and happiness in my heart, not only only for her, but also for her family and everybody who was a part of her path, because it is amazing and I want to see more of such stories because, you know, the happier we are and that is what I believe and that's one of the reasons to why I do what I do the happier we are, the happier people around us can become, because what we spread around that's exactly what we have and it is something what creates a better world. We need more joy, we need more satisfaction, more fulfillment, satisfaction, more fulfillment, more smiles and more heart-to-heart connections for real.
Speaker 2:And that all starts with learning to love and accept yourself. Not looking outside of yourself for love, but looking within Now. When you look outside of yourself for love, then you need people to be a certain way to do certain things, and you know you're always giving up your power and letting them control your life, whereas if you just love and accept yourself, you can support others in doing the same, and then you're working to co-support yourselves on this journey of life rather than limit each other, so that you stay connected in some sort of limiting way.
Speaker 1:However, I would like to dive a little bit deeper here in the area of loving and supporting and accepting yourself, because I also meet some leaders and business owners who are so extremely egocentric, so narcissistic, that they misunderstood whole the concept of loving themselves. And it seems like it. It becomes quite popular as a trend to love yourself to the point where you don't need anybody else, you know and nobody's good enough for you. So how about just defining this love to yourself a little bit better, so that it doesn't end there with loving yourself even more, but just starts and leads to something more beautiful?
Speaker 2:Initially in that journey of learning to love and accept yourself, become more self-aware. It is an introspective, it is one where you need to kind of separate yourself sometimes so that you can really focus on yourself, take the time, giving yourself the quality time and safety, safe space to go on that journey. But I have never seen an example of where once somebody has really done that inner healing, once somebody has really gotten to a place where they're opening up their heart you know, all that armor that we put on our heart to protect ourselves as a child was probably appropriate, was probably necessary, but as we grow older that armor will kill us. We need to drop all that armor and open our heart so that we can breathe and access our fuller mental capacity also. And so it's really think in terms of the kind of the core point your relationship with yourself is reflected in your relationships with others. So as you fall in love and accept yourself, as you become more whole, authentic and able to be vulnerable and real with people, that allows others to really react in the same way. They learn to trust, they learn to open, they learn to be more connected with themselves and others. Your relationships develop out of your relationship with yourself, and so as you heal in love, you're going to create more love with others. You will.
Speaker 2:A relationship isn't about you know, there's a big game that everybody's playing. It's called the rescue, persecutor, victim game. And so when I was young, I was a really good rescuer. So I would find women who were kind of a victim and then it's like, okay, I'll rescue you if you'll love me, and they go yeah, well, okay, I'll be a victim if you rescue me, and then I'll love you for that. And we'll go through life trusting that we need each other in that limited game. And the problem I had I was really good at rescuing. So after a year or two they'd leave. They didn't need rescuing anymore. They felt whole and complete. So I was like, well, that's not working for me. So I recognized I really what I want is a relationship where we're both working together to bring out the best. We're both unpacking our bags together and helping each other deal with whatever's there. We're both on our individual journeys, but we're doing it together and helping each other on that journey. We're discovering and helping each other open up our heart, open up our mind, open up our consciousness and become the people that we're capable of being.
Speaker 2:It's a contract of love, not one of fear and limitation. It's a contract and agreement where, if you run into a taboo topic, you don't not talk about it. You explore it more deeply and see what's underneath that and in that process you reveal yourself to each other more fully, you connect more fully, you learn to trust and appreciate each other the pain within one another, maybe, and the healing process in one another. And as you make that connection, you fall in love with each other. But it's not on a limited contract way. It's a true unconditional love for each other way. It's a true unconditional love for each other. You know, with my wife and I, I don't think of, well, she has these issues and I have these issues. We have our issues, you know, and whatever she's going through, you know, is part of my life and I support her in those. Sometimes by stepping back, sometimes by stepping in, you's no right way to deal with everything and anything she's going through.
Speaker 2:Her father died a few days ago.
Speaker 2:I was so amazed.
Speaker 2:I'd been encouraging her because I had lost both of my parents some time ago.
Speaker 2:Her father was 95, so it had been a progressive transition, but I supported her in really paying attention during and with all of that transition, and by the time he died, there was just this deep, caring, love and appreciation for who he was, rather than this out-of-control hysteria that I see some people have with loss.
Speaker 2:There was just she had healed herself, she had healed and deepened their relationships. There weren't things that weren't said, because she had really connected with him, been able to share her heart and her feelings with him, and so when he died, it was this lovely transition. You know. Yes, of course there's some sadness, but it was more about just appreciation of what a wonderful human being he was, how much he has contributed to the world, and as a parent, you know, as a father, and so you know, it's that self--healing, that self-acceptance, self-loves, allows for those kinds of relationships, allows you to to deal with things that come into your life from a whole different place than one of oh, my god, I've been abandoned, my father's gone and I'm now all alone, or whatever other options that people select or focus on.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I'm very sorry to hear that it just happened, but nobody is living eternally, and that's another reminder, yet another reminder, that it is important to change something as soon as possible.
Speaker 1:So here and now is the best possible moment to decide to change something and step in into a better version of yourself and your life.
Speaker 1:And, as you mentioned exactly that, it is important to open up and just remove all those armors. Usually, when I work with people, I compare it with the rusty armors, so you know, the longer you have them on, the thicker they are, the raster they get and the heavier it becomes. You are not flexible anymore, you are not enjoying it anymore, you can't see or feel anything anymore and everything becomes, in a way, impacted by that shield and you disconnect from everything. What's around and what is coming in is not really what it is in the end of the day, which means that it impacts your life and all your connections, everything you are percepting and doing in a negative way and doing in a negative way. So it's so not worth to keep protecting this piece of rusty shield when actually the right way to embrace the situation is to just get rid of it, open up and get some fresh air and sunlight into your life right.
Speaker 2:Perfectly said, delightfully said Nice.
Speaker 1:Thank you. How does your mix of scientific and spiritual approaches elevate leaders' inner power, especially when they face overwhelming challenges or transformation? You just gave us an example of such transition in life, when it happens not exactly because you did something, but it just happens. So what is your view on that, that mix of science and spirituality? Because I know that you are deeply rooted in both and actually we see it as two parts of that oneness. We see it as two parts of that oneness but could you develop it a little bit?
Speaker 2:So spirituality and leadership or science, okay, thank you. Well, as I always say, I don't see any separation between the two. Science is just our, with our mind, we're trying to understand things. We're exploring and trying to understand things, what we're capable of, who we are, where we are, where we fit into life, and spirituality just does it in a different way. You know religion, I'm not really counting that but spirituality is more about that journey into silence, that journey into the light, where you get to experience the oneness.
Speaker 2:When you look at quantum physics they're really talking about. When they go down to the nth degree, they realize that there's really nothing there. They realize that if we're watching something, it affects the outcome of what we're watching. We begin to recognize that there's this interconnectedness of energy between all of existence. So you kind of slip into the awareness that, oh, maybe there's just a oneness and in that oneness we begin to experience our interconnectedness with everything and access a deeper level of trust of ourself. So our intellect, if we think in terms of just our educational intellect, that's one aspect of who we are. But we're capable of so much more, much higher levels of thinking than we traditionally access with just intentional thinking and problem solving. And so when you see your spiritual side and you recognize that science and spirit are really different ways of looking at the same thing, that allows those to be more fully connected, more fully appreciated. So one isn't threatening the other.
Speaker 2:I hear people talking about proving whether there's a God or not a God or something like that. It's such a silly conversation because everybody has a different sense or definition of God and God is just a know what. If you just let go of that word and recognize it's really all about consciousness, that the energy, that existence is nothing but consciousness and everything that's created is all just part of that consciousness, an expression of that consciousness. And as you explore that you see there's just this ultimate perfection that's going on. And as you really understand the oneness, as you really understand that perfection, as you learn to trust that, then you begin to see that maybe in that perfection, that everything that's coming into my life is perfectly designed to support me and opening up my heart and mind to become more whole and authentic in who I am, more connected with myself and others other than us, more connected with that oneness.
Speaker 1:I love this way of seeing it and your approach and your vision, and it is so needed today because I see that many leaders, technical leaders especially, they feel that that is the answer. They want to approach it Just, however, those different definitions, they stop them from coming closer because they might be misleading, they might replace the essence with something that has not so applicable reputation for those who are deeply into data, into science, in the logical mindset, and then it creates some kind of conflict instead of supporting the idea that everything is just different parts of the same picture, and it is not either or but. They are interconnected and they are already a part of your life, a part of everything you are surrounded with. This reality is built this way. You can accept it or you can not accept it, but it is there anyways. So I absolutely love it.
Speaker 2:I mean to be honest with you, one of my greatest joys with clients is especially the more advanced ones. They come to me with their challenges and their issues, perhaps at different times and different levels, but I begin by showing them the perfection of that in their life and how all aspects of their life are perfectly designed and fitting and relating with it together so that that growth can happen and they begin to go. Oh so this problem and that issue and this, you know, all of that is really designed to support me in continuing to evolve spiritually, you know, physically, mentally, in whatever all those ways.
Speaker 1:True, and sometimes it's only years later that we understand ah, that situation, it was so horrible at that moment, it brought so much pain. But now I understand why I'm so grateful for that experience and I wouldn't be here where I am if I wouldn't need to go through that at that moment. But when you are right in the middle of the fire, it's quite difficult to keep that cool, to understand that everything that happens is for the greater good, and sometimes there are situations, honestly, which are having other type of fruits as well, and that's also something to address, but in a different way. Ron, what are your predictions around behavior change and how can leaders speed up without burning out while AI, artificial intelligence and technologies are getting introduced in all areas of life and business?
Speaker 2:if we don't wake up and really begin to learn about and accept who we truly are, what we're truly capable of, then I think we're going to get left behind. You know, when you understand that the planet has. I think we've had five extinction experiences on the planet and the main creatures that were running the world before the extinction experience are not around afterwards. And I think that could happen with us. We could become just secondary, tertiary creatures, if at all, because we're not keeping up. You know, we were put on this world with incredible capabilities that we're not even touching, we're not even coming close to accessing them.
Speaker 2:And it's that lack of connection with all of who and what we are that's creating the destructive qualities that we see humans having and affecting the planet and other critters and everything, because we don't feel that intimate connection with ourself and others and otherness. So we have to, literally, for our own survival, for the species, for the planet, if you will, we have to come to a place where we stop living from fear, we stop living from our limitations and start opening up our heart and mind and living from who and what we truly are capable of, from that place of consciousness, from that place of love, from those abilities that allow us to create in harmony with nature and each other and just diminish the conflict. I mean, this conflict that I see us going through is all fear-based and that fear. I understand and appreciate that a frightened person wants to protect themselves and keep people out and limit so many things, but that's not the answer. The answer is learning to open up and heal and love.
Speaker 1:That's so true and I just hope that the conversations like this one between you and me it's going to help raising more conscious. It's going to help raising more conscious, or probably waking up more leaders to this conscious leadership and the critical mass will be reached so that we can step into completely different dynamics of development and connection between human beings and create something amazing altogether, without being removed from this game just because we didn't keep up with the pace and refused tapping into our talents, gifts and capabilities as human beings. I'm one.
Speaker 2:The purpose of my life.
Speaker 1:Seems once again that our purposes cross their path somewhere, and probably that's the explanation and the answer to why we are sharing this studio today, right, we have something to do with it. Unbelievable In your extensive experience. How can leaders transform their emotional struggles into powerful catalysts for growth?
Speaker 2:Simply put, by changing their mindset, by becoming more conscious. And you do that by healing the past, learning to breathe, be present and more conscious and aware, and it'll all work out. If you don't do it, it won't work out. If you do it, it'll work out. Fine, easily, comfortable.
Speaker 1:Simple, short and concise. I love it. That's very powerful and very efficient actually. And concise, I love it. That's very powerful and very efficient actually as well. So it's just about trying to apply it, implement it. To wrap up our fantastic conversation, I just have one last question what practical steps can leaders take to cultivate emotional intelligence, enabling them to lead with authenticity, empathy and impact, and how can they level up their mindset to match the game we are playing right now and this speeding up reality?
Speaker 2:That's more of an opening question than a closing one. Well, you know, take time in nature, take time with people you care about, take time with yourself and really breathe and just explore what you're feeling. Take time to really take a look and recognize what you truly want from life, what you want your life to look like. What do you want to contribute? What's your legacy? Take the time to be with yourself and really look more deeply and explore what you're doing here. Who do you want to become, who do you need to become to create that dream? And really look more deeply and explore what you're doing here. Who do you want to become? Who do you need to become to create that dream? What's your greatest aspiration? What do you need to breathe into and through to become that person who can create that?
Speaker 1:That's your life, that is so powerful and so amazing. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, your experience and this super profound, super deep advice. It just made so much sense and I hope it will lift up many of those who come in touch with exactly this conversation or some other conversations you and I have had, so that it helps them get in a better life and more enjoyable and brighter life. Thank you so much for being here today.
Speaker 2:Good wish, thank you so much for being here today. Good wish, thank you, appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on Digital Transformation and AI for Humans. I am Amy and it was enriching to share this time with you. Remember, the core of any transformation lies in our human nature how we think, feel and connect with others. It is about enhancing our emotional intelligence how we think, feel and connect with others. It is about enhancing our emotional intelligence, embracing a winning mindset and leading with empathy and insight. Subscribe and stay tuned for more episodes where we uncover the latest trends in digital business and explore the human side of technology and leadership. Until next time, keep nurturing your mind, fostering your connections and leading with heart.
