Let's Think About It Podcast
Welcome to the Let's Think About It Podcast with Morice (Coach Mo) Mabry! Are you ready to break free from fear, doubt, and uncertainty to unlock your true potential? Join Coach Mo on a transformative journey as we tackle the barriers hindering your personal growth. In each episode, we engage in insightful conversations with certified coaches, career professionals, and thriving entrepreneurs. Together, we uncover practical strategies to overcome self-imposed limitations and cultivate resilience. Gain clarity, boost confidence, and thrive in the face of uncertainty. Coach Mo, an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) accredited by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and a published author, serves as your guide on this empowering quest for self-discovery and growth. Through mindfulness and mindset mastery, we empower you to navigate the inner critic and life's challenges to seize opportunities for success. Tune in to the Let's Think About It Podcast to equip yourself with the tools and inspiration needed to embrace uncertainty, conquer fear, tame the inner critic, and chart a course towards personal fulfillment. Start your journey to greatness today!
Let's Think About It Podcast
Understanding Your Executive Presence with Aletta Rochat
Dive into the world of professional empowerment with 🌟 Aletta, hailing from Cape Town, as she shares her expertise in Executive Presence Coaching. Join us as we uncover the secrets of persuasive communication and the art of becoming an influential team player through Aletta's guidance. Transitioning from marketing management to instilling confidence in individuals, Aletta provides insights into the core of Executive Presence. Together, we navigate the pitfalls of self-promotion and learn to highlight our unique talents, empowering each of us to stand out. This episode isn't just about theories; it's about taking courageous actions. Drawing from personal experiences in Toastmasters and the transformative journey of a research analyst, we explore the growth that comes from stepping out of comfort zones. Aletta emphasizes the importance of creating a supportive environment for clients to flourish, regardless of their backgrounds, from tech experts to tourism pioneers. By the end, you'll be equipped with the confidence to advance towards your goals, knowing that your inherent talent is ready to shine with just a little encouragement. ✨🚀
Welcome to the let's Think About it Podcast, where we embark on a journey of thoughtfulness and personal growth. I'm your host, coach Moe, and I'm here to guide you through thought-promoking discussions that will inspire you to unlock your full potential. In each episode, we'll explore a wide range of topics, from self-discovery and mindfulness to goal-setting and achieving success. Together, we'll challenge conventional thinking and dive deep into the realms of possibility. Whether you're looking to find clarity in your personal or professional life, or seeking strategies to overcome obstacles, this podcast is your go-to source for insightful conversations and practical advice. So find a comfortable spot, chill and let's embark on this journey of self-improvement together. Remember, the power of transformation lies within you, and together we'll uncover the tools and insights you need to make it happen. So let's dive in. Welcome to another episode of the let's Think About it Podcast. I'm your host, coach Moe, and I have another amazing, amazing guest. Her name is Aleta. Aleta, how you doing.
Speaker 2:I'm so good Moe, so happy to be joining you and your listeners here today. Very excited to be with you.
Speaker 1:You know I'm excited to have you here too, and one of the first things I ask my guest is where are you coming in from?
Speaker 2:I am speaking to you from Cape Town, south Africa, so a little bit further away from you and probably in a different hemisphere, but from the most beautiful city, one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's amazing. That's amazing and I'm happy that you're able to join us today. So, from my understanding, you are a professional executive presence coach. Can you tell yeah, can you tell my audience about your background and what exactly is an executive presence coach?
Speaker 2:That's such a good question, moe, because a few years ago I wouldn't have known such a thing existed. My professional background is marketing management and I'd always enjoyed speaking and presenting. It was just something that I enjoyed. But after working for a number of years and then taking time off to raise a family, one day I was a joke running away from my kids and looking for something that was just for me, and the idea that popped into my head was to attend a Toastmasters meeting and Toastmasters is a global organization that helps people develop communication and leadership skills and I just loved what I saw. The people there were so articulate and persuasive. I wanted to learn to be like them. So I became a member and, as time went on, got more and more involved in running the club and running a number of clubs and leading the teams in Southern Africa, and then being an advisor for Europe, the Middle Eastern Africa, and now I've got a global role as part of the executive committee on the board of directors of Toastmasters.
Speaker 2:And, to cut a long story short, people started coming to me for presentation skills training originally, and that's how I started off and then I started doing interview skills training and had tremendous results, but I always felt that what I was teaching was far more than just interview skills or presentation skills, and eventually I realized that what I was teaching people was what I call executive presence. It's your ability to speak up, to influence, to persuade, to get other people to listen, to be a dynamic force in a team, to persuade people that your way of thinking is worth consideration. So it's a whole multitude of skills, but so many of those skills are entirely wrapped up in the way you communicate. So I now do one-on-one coaching, I do group coaching specifically on executive presence, and I'm pleased to say that my clients just grow in confidence and as a result of that, they attract more opportunity to them and advance their careers. So it's a real passion project of mine. I thoroughly enjoy working in this space.
Speaker 1:I am smiling from head to toe because hearing that I know you're going to bring tremendous value today because my audience struggle with just that right. Maybe some people may not admit it, but there's times when we're in a meeting and they ask for input and we have these brilliant ideas right and we just we pause, we hold and we don't speak up, we don't put our ideas out there. Tell us about your approach to helping people basically get out of their own way and overcome such fears of speaking up.
Speaker 2:Mo, the clients I've worked with in many different countries, in many different industries. There's one common thread that I can almost guarantee someone who becomes a client of mine will bring to the table, and that is they struggle to sell themselves. And part of that is because society has conditioned us that we shouldn't be arrogant, we shouldn't brag about how good we are, and we tend to trivialize what we are good at. So when someone, for instance in an interview, says, well, why should we hire you? We kind of think, well, I don't want to tell them about that, I just want them to read my resume.
Speaker 2:That'll tell them all they need to know, but of course, our job in a company and a role is to bring those skills to life. So my approach to that is, first of all, to change the mindset. To my way of thinking, if you are good at something and it could be that you're a wizard with Excel spreadsheets it could be that you can motivate people. It could be that you're very analytical. So, depending on what skill set you've got, that's a God given talent. It's something that you are good at, and because you're good at it and you find it easy to do, or innate within you, you tend to trivialize it, so you don't appreciate how, what a big value add that can be. So the first thing I work with my clients on is to identify their superpowers. What do people come to you for advice for? How do you add value? And then to help you through a process where you find the language to articulate that so you can share that with someone else. Because, as you mentioned, if we've got all these good ideas inside of us but we don't share them, they never, you know, they can't help anybody else. And one of the key ways that we can unlock that once you've identified your superpowers and you can think of instances in the past when people approached you to help with those Excel spreadsheets or to draft a message for a marketing campaign, and you could make sense of it when nobody else could.
Speaker 2:The next step from that is to be able to share that with someone else. But the mindset you need to do that is I am a contribution, not I'm being arrogant or I'm bragging. I have a skill that's a God given talent and I can help solve a problem. Let me tell you how I've done it in the past and let's see how we can work together in the future. And I find that approach gives them permission to speak up in a way, and if you've done the prep, you've then got the language to articulate what you could add and how it can be a contribution to a team, a project, a company, a client. So that's the starting point. But once you get to that point where you can confidently share what you can add, the value you can add, it's easier to speak up, it's easier to position yourself as a solution to a problem and that's key to people seeing you as someone they need on their team.
Speaker 1:That's awesome and I love the concept around superpowers right, and people at times struggle with identifying what those superpowers are because they're conditioned to be an autopilot, to do what they're told to do. But they have this amazing talent. And when you work with your clients, I'm going to go a little bit deeper for you how do you even help them take that step and identifying what that superpower is?
Speaker 2:We start off, mo, by considering what do people come to you for? What do they say, Mo, I know you can do this so quickly and brilliantly. Please help us. Those are clues as to what others see in you, because often, because we tend to trivialize our own talents, it's easier to say, well, what do other people see in you? And let's start from there. So we do a bit of analysis, think of stories in the past where people have asked you to help out, and what impact did you have? And that's you build this kind of almost like a story bank of. These are instances in the past where I've added value, because people have recognized something in me that perhaps, maybe I just think is ordinary because I've always been able to do it. So that's the starting point.
Speaker 2:The second step, then, is to find the language to articulate that, because it's one thing to say, oh, I'm brilliant at spreadsheets, so what? But how does that add value? So one of the tools I found and it's a free tool that I promote widely is a platform called the high five test, dot com. It's H I, g, h, the number five test, or one word, dot com, and it's one of these personality profiles and you go into that, you answer I can't remember how many questions, but what I love about it, they give you your top five strengths and in the description of each of those strengths they give you the language and they will say, if you are, one of your superpowers is being a coach this is how you impact the team dynamics on a project. Or if maybe one of your, your analyst or your storyteller they've got a number of different things and this is how a storyteller can help a team or a project and that just helps give you the language.
Speaker 2:And then the idea is that you practice saying it Because, again, if it just lives inside your head, it's got some value, but only when you share it with others can you multiply that value. So then I take them through a process of when you say, you practice saying I'm really good at motivating people in a team. This is what I've done in the past and if it had an impact it had, I would love to have the opportunity to do that in this company, in this project or whatever it is. So it's, it's a key part of it. Mo is getting out of your head and getting it into the spoken word and practicing it in a safe space so that when you confronted with an opportunity to share it with somebody else whether it's a recruiter or a team member or who superior if you've done that prep then it's easier to say it. But to do all that in the moment with no preparation, is very difficult for all of us.
Speaker 1:Thank you for sharing that and I'm going to take it here too. When we talk about fear particularly professionals who are maybe looking to promote, who are looking to make that transition in their career, and they're carrying such fear or lack of confidence or that negative voice chirping in the air telling them you'll never get that job or you'll never be successful how does identifying that superpower really starts to help overcome the self judgment that people carry?
Speaker 2:Again, it goes back to that idea of, yes, I'm fearful, yes, I haven't done this before or it's a stretch for me, but if I want to be a contribution and I've got the solution to a problem, I've got to share it with other people so that I can help. I can be a contribution. So it could take the form of you volunteering for something that you've never done before. It could also take the form of you've seen all the data that the rest of the team has seen, but you spot a trend in the data that no one has spoken about and your choices are to keep quiet and that's not really going to help any of us. But if you can find a way to voice that, to add value to the discussion or change the trajectory of that discussion by saying what I'm seeing and observing is that there's this trend and therefore there's an opportunity, you can influence the outcome, you can influence the rest of the discussion. But we've got to get out of our own way. We've got to practice speaking up. We've got to practice sharing these ideas that live so beautifully, rent free in our head, but they never actually deliver any return on investment because we keep it in our head. So it's a practice. It's not something that you just read one page of a PDF and then think, oh, I'm done, problem solved forever. It's like a muscle you have to work and exercise to get better over time.
Speaker 2:So generally in my group coaching program, for instance, I work with clients for a year in a group because then we try things out and we test them and we come back and we get feedback and we try it out again, so that it's never done and dusted. It's a continuous evolution. But the beauty of it, mo, is if you overcome some of your fears and you start speaking up at meetings and you become more visible and your ideas are shared more wisely, it's one step up the ladder, and one step up from the beginning. You can see more than you could see when you started, and then you'll see opportunities that you've never seen before, and then you'll take it a bit further and you'll become more confident and you can see a broader perspective again. So it's a progression.
Speaker 2:It's not an event, but I truly believe in my clients' results. Bear it out that you just keep doing it, you keep growing yourself, you keep speaking up and you can't tell straight away whether today's meeting is going to be the one that changes everything. But it's that pattern of behavior that just over time you start seeing more opportunities. They were always there, but you couldn't see them because you weren't even trying. Now you start trying. You think, well, if I can do that, maybe I can do the next one, and in that way you attract more opportunity to yourself.
Speaker 2:But you don't have to do it alone. That's the big thing. There are lots of reasons out there to help you, and my viewpoint is always I want to give my clients pragmatic exercises. I don't want to give them theories and flow charts. I'll give them a few flow charts, but what moves the needle is not just understanding the theory, it's putting into action and then getting feedback and trying it again. So if I can get anyone into action mode, then my job is done, because that's where the magic happens. It doesn't happen in our head. Some of it happens in our head, but only when we voice it and share it does it translate into opportunity.
Speaker 1:Well said and what I implement with my clients is what I call reps of courage, reps of courage rocks. How are you going to build your rocks? And, just like you said, it's the action reps. Reps doing it over and over. And as you do it over and over, you build confidence and the more that you can exemplify little steps towards courageous acts, those are the reps, and the bigger your rocks get right. I love that concept and my clients love it as well. But us as coaches, we model the way and we walk, walk as much as we can Top into. When you first saw Toastmasters, decided this is what I'm going to do speaking up and speaking on the fly, writing speeches. That's what Toastmasters is wonderful organization. Tell me what that process was like for you approaching your fears to build your courage and share that with our audience.
Speaker 2:That's such an interesting story. After I joined and I had become a member for a few months and our club president came to me and said the person who's doing the PR for our club has had to step down. Can you help? And I've always been on who raises my hand first and says yes and then figures out what to do later. So I did that and I said yes, I'll do that. And I enjoyed it. I loved it. I was learning so much and I was enjoying it.
Speaker 2:And then one day I was looking for information on an event and I went to a website that was for all the clubs in Southern Africa and the information was out of dates, really severely out of date, and I thought you know, with my marketing background, I can help. So I'm very boldly and perhaps brazenly, put my name forward to for election as the Southern African PR person, and I was a very new toastmaster, so it wasn't as if everybody knew me, but I just went and you know I was elected, can you believe it? And I had to learn very quickly after that because suddenly I had to fill in those knowledge gaps because I was still new in the organization. But there were mentors and there was lots of information and training and that single act opened up so much for me. I got to know how things worked on a bigger scale. I got exposed to things internationally. We had our international president, a lady by the name of Pat Johnson, come out to visit our district that year and I got to plan her itinerary and travel with her.
Speaker 2:So that one act of putting up my hand and saying I can be a contribution opened up a world of possibility for me and I think just having that exposure made me realize how much toastmasters can offer. That I wouldn't have figured out by myself. So that was one step where I said yes, before I knew everything that was involved. But it really paid off and on some level being a volunteer feeds my soul. I really enjoy that level of being a contribution and making a difference by using talents that I've got for the benefit of the community that I serve. So that's one example and it just goes on from there. But so often it is just the first step is saying I can contribute. The second one is being brave enough to raise your hand and then be teachable or coachable after that, because you've never figured it out.
Speaker 1:We all deal with this type of fear and that initial response, as always, you know, don't, don't raise your hand, you don't want to ask a dumb question and embarrass yourself. That's the negative talk that I talk about. Share with us. You don't have to give any names. A success story and how you helped one of your clients.
Speaker 2:Gosh, I can think of so many. I'll tell you about a client who I bumped into the other day.
Speaker 2:She was a research analyst for a national chain of grocery stores very upmarket grocery stores A tiny woman and she was a trends analyst, so her job was to look at trends in the food industry worldwide and then bring it back and do presentations to the executive to so that they could be informed when they make their strategic decisions. It was a practice in her company at the time that everybody sat around a massive big board table and they sat down with their laptops in front of them and did the presentation, just seated. Now she was so small that nobody would have seen her head over the laptop, you know, she just wouldn't have seen it all. She'd be invisible. And I said to her you've got to stand up, You've got to have presence in that room and to give her a thousand percent credit, she was bold enough to do that. So, in other words, the norm was not to walk around the room while you're presenting.
Speaker 2:But she realized that to have impact she had to make eye contact, she couldn't try and peek over the top of the laptop screen.
Speaker 2:And she did that and she took many more suggestions of how she can make impact in that presentation to heart and she ended up having a wow factor. You know, I'd give her suggestions like I'd say well, that reminds me of when people have a bracelet on their hand and it has a slogan on the bracelet that reminds them of a mindset. And she took that and she ran with it and she created a bracelet just for that presentation, which blew that executive team away, and she really became so well known in the company through being bold enough to take her brilliant ideas but to present them in a way that resonated with people. That was different to the norm. So she had to be brave. She had, she was getting the coaching, but there's one thing hearing it, there's another thing doing it, and I give a hundred thousand percent kudos to her for being willing to be that brave. But the impact she made was profound as a result of that, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:That's amazing, it's a simple thing standing up and doing a presentation, but that was a catalyst for her becoming so much more than she had been in the past. So that just speaks to I can give you another iteration of that, if you like, a technique that I found very useful. Imagine you working towards a promotion and you really want to be in that next level, but you don't quite know how to get there and you hope that you've got everything. And you always hope that. I always wish that somebody would discover me. They would see my tremendous talents. I wouldn't have to do a thing that pluck me from obscurity and take me to the next level. Well, I'm still waiting. That didn't happen.
Speaker 2:But the technique I discovered is to say imagine if I was the CEO and I was looking at the same problem we're discussing around the table. If I was a CEO, what would be important to me? What data would I need? What would my concerns be, what would I need to be reassured about? And just that simple act of imagining yourself in that position already and from that viewpoint considering the problem immediately gets you out of the weeds and you start thinking bigger, and then you can bring questions or suggestions to the discussion from that level rather than just from the little piece that you've been doing, and it's an immensely simple but profoundly powerful technique. Imagine if I was. What would be important to me, what would I need to know, how would I need the information to be presented, or whatever the question is. Imagine yourself a level above and then consider things from that viewpoint, and that immediately allows you to elevate your executive presence and to ask different questions, make different comments, make different suggestions.
Speaker 1:And it's the difference between executive presence and arrogance.
Speaker 2:Executive presence is not about you. Executive presence is about you being a contribution. Arrogance is all about me, me, me, and you are here to serve me. Executive presence it's about us. I'm part of us, but I don't have to be in the spotlight. True executive presence is based on authenticity, not arrogance. Someone with executive presence wants to help the team, wants to help their co-worker, wants to help their company. Someone with arrogance just wants to be in the spotlight. It's not about value and it's how much I can shine. It's a completely different mindset. I'm not saying that you need confidence to have executive presence.
Speaker 2:Arrogance is something that rubs people up the wrong way very quickly. An authentic desire to be part of the solution and to be a contribution for the good of everyone is generally very well welcomed by everybody that you come into contact with.
Speaker 1:Yes, thank you for sharing that. I think that's very important because I can see how people can misconstrue the two and they limit themselves because they're thinking I can't have executive presence because I'm not an arrogant person. That's how they can possibly connect it. I appreciate you sharing the variance between the two concepts.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I think executive presence, to my mind, needs a good dose of humility. If it's not about you, then you don't have to be centre stage. You can shine the light on team members and other people who do great work. And you as the leader, that's my leadership style as well. It's not about me as the leader, it's about me empowering the team so that we get the best results. So I think there has to be a good dose of humility built in, and introverts often struggle with the concept of selling themselves and are terrified of being seen as arrogant.
Speaker 2:But an introvert can have a beautiful, quiet authority, and an extrovert as well. But introverts don't have to be the loudest voice in the room, but they can say one thing that really impacts everybody else. That's very powerful and that's executive presence. It's not needing to be the one with the microphone Right. The whole idea is that when you speak, people listen, yes, and if you do that right, then you'll be able to influence and persuade. But if you're just speaking and forcing people to listen, they might be in the room, but they're not listening to you.
Speaker 1:I agree, and when I think of the concept of executive presence, I think of servant leadership, being vulnerable and willing to serve those around you, and how you can bring value to those around you as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:As we start to wrap up, what value that you say you bring to the people that you serve.
Speaker 2:I think I create a safe space for them. I believe in them and I believe in their potential. I've never met a client who cannot improve, who cannot achieve their dreams. Whatever it is, and for each one it's a different journey. For one it's becoming less overwhelmed and more productive. For another one it's being more focused and getting things done. For another one it's speaking up and selling themselves. So everybody's got a different goal that they're aiming towards. But my goal is to create a safe space where they can be vulnerable and can ask for help and can go and try things out.
Speaker 2:One of the things I do with my clients is I give them a challenge. After we've covered a concept like, for instance, the art of saying no, we'll do a worksheet on that and I'll give them a process to follow and then I say go and do it and then record a video and tell me how it went, and then we share that within our community, because then everybody can support one another because they're all there for the same reason. So if I can create a safe space where people can try things out and say, well, it went really well, or that, gosh, some of it went okay but some of it not. That will help us all move together. So it's a community. It's not just me and one and one clients, it's me and them, but if they're part of the group coaching and they're part of this community as well, Well, tell us who is your client, the demographics of who you work with.
Speaker 1:That's so interesting, though.
Speaker 2:It's my ideal client are people who really have some established career. So they're not fresh out of university starting out. They've got a good few years I'd say between five and 15 years behind them. They've got a track record. They really are successful at what they do, but they've got the iron, the prize, which is ahead of where they want to be.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it's people who are making career transitions and want to help navigate in that. So they are aware that they've got something to offer, but they want a bigger platform or a new opportunity. And those are the ones and they also are aware enough, they've got enough self-awareness to realize that the solution lies within them. They're not waiting to be discovered. They're waiting to find someone to help them along the way so that they can create opportunities for themselves. Clients from all over the world everything from Finland to Jamaica, to Saudi Arabia, to Europe, to South Africa but they're common and they're all different industries Some in artificial intelligence, some in running their own business, some in gaming, some in tourism but the common thread is they know what they want and they're prepared to work to get there, and together we help them take those steps.
Speaker 1:So how do you, how do you help your audience reach out and contact you?
Speaker 2:One of the easiest ways is to reach me through LinkedIn. Aleta Roshat, a-l-e-t-a and it's R-O-C-H-A-T. I'm very active on LinkedIn and everything I do will be posted there, so reach out, connect and message me and I'll give you some links to put in your show notes as well. But LinkedIn is where I'm very active.
Speaker 1:Thank you for sharing that, any final nuggets words of wisdom that you would like to leave me and my audience with before we sign off.
Speaker 2:Mo, I believe implicitly that everyone has everything they need inside of them. If you've got a desire to get further, to make a career transition, to get that promotion, the reason is because the talent is there, living and breathing inside of you and you just need someone to help you bridge that gap, and it's more doable than you would ever imagine. But my greatest fear in life is having a conversation a year from now and not having done anything to solve the problem. So I encourage people just take action, the smallest action, but do that regularly, because if you do that regularly, you will make inroads and you will get ahead. And what you do for your clients and what you do for your listeners is part of that puzzle. So I'm so thrilled to have been part of what you are doing for your clients as well. Thank you.
Speaker 1:No, thank you, Aleta. I appreciate you so much and you brought so much value today that I see how my audience can benefit from it. Hey, I can benefit from it too, but thank you for walking the journey that you walk to help people that struggle with finding their own executive presence. Thank you so much. I appreciate you.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Ma, thank you for joining me in this episode of let's Think About it. Your time and attention are greatly appreciated. If you found value in today's discussion, I encourage you to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Remember, the journey of self-improvement is ongoing and I'm here to support you every step of the way. Connect with me on social media for updates and insights. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook at CoachMoCoaching, or LinkedIn at Maurice Maveri, or visit my website at MauriceMavericom for exclusive content. Until next time, keep reflecting, keep growing and, most importantly, keep believing in yourself. Remember, the most effective way to do it is to do it Together. We're making incredible strides toward a better and more empowered you, so thank you, and I'll see you in our next episode.