Naomi

At 25, 26 years old, leading a group of adults that were in their late 30s, 40s and 50s, it didn't go very well.

Naomi

The team who had exceptional results really began to ice me out.

Naomi

I was really fortunate at that time that I had a senior vice president that I was reporting to.

Naomi

He took me under his wing and said, listen, you're going about this the wrong way.

Naomi

Leadership isn't about you being the smartest person in the room or you telling people what was best for them.

Naomi

Leadership is really listening to the team and helping to really remove obstacles for them so that they can be successful.

Naomi

Once I was able to win the trust back of that team, we actually won sales team of the year.

Ben

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Ben

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Ben

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Ben

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Ben

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Ben

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That's BeenLeads.com schedule.

Ben

Welcome back to lead the team with number one best selling author and in demand corporate trainer, Ben Fanning.

Ben

On this podcast, the world's most innovative senior leaders share their top success strategies to motivate your direct reports, cultivate your.

Naomi

Top leaders and accelerate your career.

Naomi

Let's get started.

Naomi

Here's Ben.

Ben

Hey there and welcome back to Lead the Team.

Ben

I've got a great one coming your way today with Naomi Brezzi, who is the Chief Revenue Officer over at rnl, a leading force and higher education enrollment, student success and fundraising solutions.

Ben

With a distinguished career that includes roles at Kaplan, Open Classrooms and other innovative organizations, she brings a wealth of experience in empowering leaders and building high performance teams.

Ben

She's a passionate advocate for women in leadership and she's committed to advancing opportunities for women and fostering equitable, inclusive pathways to success.

Ben

Naomi, welcome to Lead the team.

Naomi

Well, thank you very much, Ben for having me this afternoon.

Naomi

I'm excited to be here to join your podcast and to talk about all things leadership today.

Ben

Let's go.

Ben

So when was the time you faced a pivotal challenge in leading a team towards a difficult goal and how did it shape your leadership today?

Naomi

Well, I'll tell you about a time early on in my career that really shaped the leader that I am today.

Naomi

I started my career in banking on a trading Floor.

Naomi

And after being in that position for probably about two or three years, I had the opportunity.

Naomi

I was hand selected by the president of the Mid Market bank to lead a team.

Naomi

My first really big leadership position.

Naomi

I was leading a team of older men.

Naomi

I was single, I was a New York City gal.

Naomi

And I came in with the attitude, I'm going to show these men a thing or two and I'm going to really lead this team.

Naomi

It's going to be my way or no way or my way in the highway.

Naomi

And well, as you can imagine, at 25, 26 years old, leading a group of adults that were in their late 30s, 40s and 50s, it didn't go very well.

Naomi

And the team who had exceptional results really began to ice me out.

Naomi

And I didn't feel like we were really gelling.

Naomi

And there was conflict between myself and those that I was leading.

Naomi

I was really fortunate at that time that I had a senior vice president that I was reporting to, that I had went to and was lamenting to him that I was having these difficulties leading this team.

Naomi

And he took me under his wing and said, listen, you're going about this the wrong way.

Naomi

That's not what leadership is.

Naomi

Leadership isn't about you being the smartest person in the room or you telling people what was best for them.

Naomi

Leadership is really a large percentage of the time listening to the team and helping to really remove obstacles for them so that they can be successful.

Naomi

And when they're successful, you'll be successful and the organization will be successful.

Naomi

I hadn't had any leadership training up until that point and my SVP at the time and I decided that maybe getting me into a leadership course would be advantageous for all of us because I was selected as a high potential employee within the organization and they didn't want to lose me and they wanted me to be successful.

Naomi

So I took a leadership course and really came back with a completely different mindset.

Naomi

And as I have evolved through my career, and by the way, just to close out that story, it took me probably about six months to really win back the trust of that team.

Naomi

But once I was able to win the trust back of that team through listening, removing obstacles, listening to what their concerns were and where they needed help in the field, we were able to be again the most successful sales team within our group and we actually won sales team of the year.

Naomi

And when I went up on stage during President's Club to accept that award, I didn't go up there on my own.

Naomi

I invited my team to come up and celebrate with me.

Naomi

Because it wasn't me that led that team to success.

Naomi

It was all of us collectively that were successful.

Naomi

And we were all, we all earned part of that celebration, not just one person, but as that.

Naomi

How that really transformed me was that I really began to understand that leadership was about removing obstacles for people, really helping them to be successful.

Naomi

And that was further emphasized when I went to the Ken Blanchard company.

Naomi

I went to the Ken Blanchard Company at a time when I was going through some personal transition.

Naomi

I had recently gotten divorced and had moved from New Jersey to Charlotte with my 5 year old daughter and couldn't travel the way that I was and took this job at Blanchard kind of thinking, ah, you know, I'll take this job.

Naomi

It was at a giant, giant pay cut to myself.

Naomi

I don't know about these leadership skills, they seem kind of soft.

Naomi

And I'll do it until I get my feet under me here in Charlotte and figure out like, you know, how to move forward as a single parent with a young child.

Naomi

And so I kind of went into this position with this mindset and I got there.

Naomi

And one of the things that Blanchard culture is great at is they really put you through an intensive onboarding program.

Naomi

And I really began to see the way that situational leadership and the model that Ken had developed along with his other academic partner, how this could really change lives.

Naomi

And I learned the art of being a situational leader.

Naomi

It's not you can't lead everybody the same way all the time.

Naomi

It's how do you want them to reach a particular task or goal and where are they in their skill set and you lead that way.

Naomi

The other thing that I learned from Ken was to be a servant leader.

Naomi

You know the quote, leaders eat last in the army or in the military.

Naomi

And I really began to understand that if I wanted to be successful, and I saw certainly did want to be successful, that I had to shift the way that I was seeing my team and working with my team and understanding again, as I've said, it's about listening to people and it could be sometimes business, sometimes they just need a 30 second therapist about something that's happening in their life outside of work and a little bit of understanding and empathy and sympathy, but really listening to what they need, helping to remove obstacles, being authentic, being genuine in the workplace.

Naomi

And I have shared this with my teams throughout the year.

Naomi

Listen, we spend a lot of time at work, let's try to have some fun.

Naomi

But at the end of the day, your job doesn't define you.

Naomi

What really matters are those that sit around your dinner table with you every night.

Naomi

That's what really matters.

Naomi

So if you need to go to the doctor, if you need to go to a recital, a soccer game, if you need time off, if you need to care for an elderly parent, if you need to take a pet to the vet, do what you need to do, work will always be here and we'll cover you on the back end.

Ben

Well, so many good examples in there and what a journey you've had.

Ben

Naomi, take you back to that first job you had or a first leadership role when you had to lead the team of older guys in sales and you won the big award at the end of the year.

Ben

When you came back, was there one conversation that you remember you had that allowed you start to change things or was there something you implemented in that moment that really helped you after you got that leadership training?

Ben

Because it sounds like that was instrumental in making that big leap forward.

Naomi

I just really changed the way that I was showing up for the team.

Naomi

This is a couple of decades ago, so I can't recall if there was one particular conversation with somebody that I had.

Naomi

But I would say that it was just the way I had to change who I was and who I was showing up as a leader and my mindset and how I was showing up for work every day.

Naomi

And I really, I came back, I felt very humble, right.

Naomi

At 25, 26, I had a chip on my shoulder.

Naomi

I had a pretty big ego.

Naomi

I had just come off a trading floor.

Naomi

Not many women are on trading floors.

Naomi

So I kind of came from a very rough and tumble masculine environment.

Naomi

And like I felt like I was a master of the universe and I came with that attitude and that wasn't helping me.

Naomi

So I really had to come much more humbly.

Naomi

I probably apologized to individuals or to the team and I wouldn't be surprised if I said let's.

Naomi

I want to really, I want to be here to help you, not hinder you.

Ben

Oh, so good.

Ben

And yeah, what elite going to work for Ken Blanchard's company and that situational leadership model is powerful.

Ben

And I think it's, I mean it's really opened a lot of leaders eyes with that.

Naomi

I will tell you that when I went to the first conference with Blanchard again, I was still kind of coming in thinking it was probably my first month or two, like thinking, I don't know about this.

Naomi

I saw grown men stand and women stand in line for over an hour to meet Ken and get to the front of the line and cry and thank him because it had changed their lives.

Naomi

And something in me just clicked and I said, oh my gosh, there's gotta be something to this.

Naomi

Like you don't have this many people thanking you and being so grateful and appreciative of the books you've written and the teaching, unless there's really something to this.

Naomi

And I really began to see the power of it when I began to deploy it in my own household with my now elementary age daughter who is very bright and she would be bringing math homework home.

Naomi

And I'd be like, I don't understand what the problem is.

Naomi

You're smart, you should be able to do this.

Naomi

And I took a step back and I said, oh, we're reverting to Naomi's comfort zone and not what, what my daughter really needs.

Naomi

And I began to deploy the skills that I had learned in situational leadership with my own child doing homework.

Naomi

And it made such a difference.

Ben

I love it.

Ben

You apply it at home and then you start being able to find use of support at work and both worlds come together synergistically.

Naomi

Absolutely.

Ben

I say you really learn and then eventually she'll start using it with you and then you'll know, man, I was a great teacher of that for sure.

Ben

So what's your advice for those from underrepresented groups who are on a mission to get to the C suite?

Ben

Or maybe they're already there.

Naomi

I mean, I think it's really hard as a, as a woman who has been fortunate enough to.

Naomi

I've been, I'm very A type personality, I'm really driven.

Naomi

And about 10 years ago, somebody on my team had put the idea in my head that I could be CEO someday.

Naomi

And up until that point, I never really thought it, like maybe I did somewhere in the recesses, but I never really thought that that was going to be my pathway.

Naomi

And I said, you know what?

Naomi

Why can't I be in the C suite?

Naomi

Why can't I be on a board?

Naomi

Why can't I be CEO someday?

Naomi

And I really began to do a couple of things that I think really, really helped me.

Naomi

And this might sound a little bit silly, but I think you need to show up every day dressing the part.

Naomi

I know that I've worked from, I've worked remotely for many, many years.

Naomi

I have teams that work remotely.

Naomi

I am supported by teams that work remotely.

Naomi

And I've seen all gamuts of the spectrum between looking somebody that looked like they just rolled out of bed to somebody that looks like they're ready to go start the day and they're ready.

Naomi

So I think you really have to show up every day with an executive mentality, a leadership mentality.

Naomi

And you also have to, like, look the part.

Naomi

The other thing that I really began to take very seriously, and I had always taken this seriously, but now I was being very intentional, was building my network and really using my network wisely.

Naomi

And it wasn't just about catching up for the sake of catching up, but being intentional with how I was using my network.

Naomi

So I really began to build my network of leaders that I admired.

Naomi

LinkedIn has been a phenomenal resource for me to reach out to folks I have.

Naomi

I'm connected to probably more than my fair share of CEOs, college presidents, workforce development leaders, and executives.

Naomi

My career has kind of, over the last 20 years or so, really fallen into adult learning, workforce development, and higher education.

Naomi

And so I'm connected to CEOs from Fortune 50 to entrepreneurs, to ed Tech individuals, to college presidents, investors.

Naomi

And I try to be a resource for them as much as they're a resource for me.

Naomi

So really building your network, making sure that if you are reaching out to these individuals that you are using their time wisely, their time is very valuable.

Naomi

So those are two things.

Naomi

But I think, you know, as a woman that is an advocate for women in leadership and as being half Spanish, when I look around at the board tables that I'm in front of, I don't see people that look like me or come from my background.

Naomi

And I really think that's unfortunate.

Naomi

And I think that the workforce is really missing out on diverse talent that could bring another point of view to really help an organization grow.

Naomi

So in the last couple of teams that I have led and listen, I love men, I've been married, I date.

Naomi

But I've really been intentional about opening the doors up for other women to be leadership and people of color to be leadership, because I don't think that they always get the benefit of the doubt the way that my white colleagues do, especially my white male colleagues do.

Naomi

So I think you have to be show up with a mindset of growth.

Naomi

You have to bring value to your position every day.

Naomi

You have to really use your network intentionally, and you have to look and sound the part if you want to be taken seriously.

Naomi

You've got to be serious about what you're doing.

Ben

You're creating the world of your teams with intention, and I love that.

Ben

And it sounds like you've really had to deal with some tough work situations to be included.

Naomi

Well, I don't want to age myself, but in the early days of my career, some of the things that I've dealt with, some of the names that I've been called, some of, you know, my hard work that others have taken credit for.

Naomi

I didn't know how to navigate big corporations and have a voice to advocate for myself.

Naomi

My parents, who are amazing people.

Naomi

My dad was from the silent generation.

Naomi

My mom is.

Naomi

When she was a boomer, they went to one job and they did that for 40 years, and that was it.

Naomi

They didn't know how to help me navigate through very professional work environment and when people were being disrespectful to me, how to really navigate that.

Naomi

Unfortunately, and I say this with love in my heart for my parents, they would be like, well, Naomi, that's just the way it is.

Naomi

Like, that's the way women get treated in the workplace.

Naomi

If my daughter, who's now 19 years old and in college, told me some of the stories I had shared with my parents, I would have been like, hold on, wait a minute.

Ben

Give them a different playbook.

Naomi

We're not doing that.

Naomi

And this is what you need to do to remedy that or remediate that in the workplace immediately or where.

Naomi

Wherever she might be.

Ben

Yeah.

Ben

I mean, you.

Ben

You had to figure it out, and.

Naomi

You did figure it out, and it's.

Ben

Awesome that you're able to give that those and help accelerate the careers of other people.

Naomi

I really.

Naomi

I really think it's part of, like, my leadership philosophy.

Naomi

Our job isn't to step on people's heads as they're trying to come up the ladder, but to lift.

Naomi

Put our hand down and lift them up.

Naomi

And if I can do that for.

Naomi

For people throughout their career, I'm happy to do it.

Ben

Would you or your CEO be a good fit for this podcast?

Ben

If you know a uniquely talented leader who has a story to share and a message to deliver, then we'd love to host them on the show.

Ben

Go to benleads.com apply to fill out a quick form where you can let us know a little bit about yourself.

Ben

And my team will take a look to see if we're a good fit.

Ben

That's beneeds.com apply what's the one trait you wish you could instill in every employee?

Ben

And why do you think it's important?

Naomi

I mean, I think this goes from the board level to the C suite, all the way down to employees that might just be in their first job.

Naomi

To be authentic, to be honest, and to have a high degree of integrity.

Naomi

I Think right now, culturally, in the US it's very unfortunate that we're in a culture of you have to.

Naomi

If you make a mistake, you can't be honest about it, you can't be authentic about it.

Naomi

You have to cover yourself and kind of use a mishmash of words or magical math to get your way out of it.

Naomi

And I think that's really unfortunate.

Naomi

We learn by making mistakes.

Naomi

And if we can make mistakes and we can't ask for help when something is hard or challenging, we're just going to keep.

Naomi

Continue to make those mistakes over and over again.

Naomi

Honesty and integrity and trust in the workplace are for me, my biggest pillars.

Naomi

And when I'm looking to build a team or to join a team or a board, those are things that I'm looking for in those other people.

Naomi

I need honesty as from them as much as I'm going to give it.

Naomi

And I think we can deliver difficult news in a compassionate way that doesn't kill somebody's soul in the workplace, but brings them along.

Ben

So is this level of authenticity, do you believe it to be more nature or nurture?

Ben

Nature or nurture?

Naomi

Ah, that's a good question.

Naomi

I really never thought about it.

Naomi

I think that, I think we're taught, especially women, that we can't be vulnerable, that we have to be like, really tough and we have to be like the guys.

Naomi

I don't think we have to do that.

Naomi

I mean, in my current role, I showed up to my first town hall with my team of over 70 people.

Naomi

I own everything from customer success to the marketing.

Naomi

So I have sales and marketing and customer success and top of funnel all the way to growth and retention, the client journey.

Naomi

I showed up, really, I just told them who I was.

Naomi

And it was an interweaving of my professional career with some of my life challenges.

Naomi

And a lot of people said that they had never been spoken, not spoken to a leader, had never shared that honesty in their life story.

Naomi

And I think, again, we spend so much time at work, a lot of times our pathways in life aren't all that different.

Naomi

And I think it's okay to be vulnerable and to tell people who you are.

Naomi

And I think people appreciate that.

Ben

Yes.

Ben

Cool.

Ben

That's day one live activity.

Naomi

It wasn't quite day one.

Naomi

Maybe it was like week one, but it was, it was early on.

Ben

All right.

Ben

Early on.

Ben

Yeah.

Ben

Well, Naomi, just read your.

Ben

Send them your resume of all your great wins and why you're so awesome and why they should be so confident in your track record on this.

Ben

But it sounds like you gave them some of the not so big success as in the challenges and that that went a long way with them.

Ben

So.

Ben

So just kind of riffing on that.

Ben

What.

Ben

When is a time you had a twist or failure in your career and how to lead to your success or growth on down the road.

Naomi

I would say that one of the things that I did before coming here to, to RL was I, I was working for a company.

Naomi

I was really, really excited about the opportunity.

Naomi

I was, I was hired to build out the entire US operations, everything from HR to sales to marketing, the entire thing like president of U.S.

Naomi

division.

Naomi

And it was a very difficult position because of differences in business culture between the company I was reporting to and the task I was being asked to achieve here in the US And I was working a ton of hours.

Naomi

I was really beginning to feel burnt out and I was beginning to feel that there was a misalignment between myself and the CEO and the board.

Naomi

And this was quite worrisome.

Naomi

And I had been at a conference and had met with one of the lead board members and we had a really difficult conversation.

Naomi

And I felt in that conversation that I was spoken to in a disrespectful manner.

Naomi

And I didn't want to have a conflict, a face to face conflict with this person.

Naomi

And I wanted to be respectful of their position and my position.

Naomi

But I flew home like on a Thursday or Friday.

Naomi

And on Monday I called up the CEO and said, I'm really sorry, but I think it's time for me to like, give you my letter of resignation.

Naomi

I did this with no backup plan, no golden parachute.

Naomi

No, no, no plan.

Naomi

It was about a month before my daughter was going to graduate from high school.

Naomi

So I knew I had a big college payment that was coming up due in a couple of months.

Naomi

And it was probably the best thing that I ever did for myself to take a sabbatical and to really be able to spend time with my family, to really be present for my daughter and all of her senior year festivities.

Naomi

I knew that I would not have been able to have done that because of my travel schedule.

Naomi

To have a wonderful vacation, to spend time with my mom in the last six months of her life.

Naomi

I didn't know it was going to be the last six months of her life.

Naomi

She died unexpectedly.

Naomi

To read, to really find myself again, and to really think about what I wanted to do in the next iteration of my career, I had, I was very fortunate.

Naomi

Through my network, I had lots of.

Naomi

I had more than my fair share of opportunities and job offers, But I knew that a lot of them weren't quite right.

Naomi

And I waited for the one that I felt was going to serve me best in where I wanted my career to go and where I could serve that organization the best.

Naomi

And so that's when I ended up at R and L.

Naomi

Wow.

Ben

There's a lot of layers.

Naomi

I'm not, like, the kind of person that does things like that.

Naomi

I'm very analytical.

Naomi

Let me think about this.

Naomi

And my mom happened to be living with me at the time, and I got up from this office here, and I walked over to her bedroom, and I said, I just quit.

Naomi

And she was like, what?

Naomi

She's like, your daughter's going to college in a couple of months.

Naomi

What are you going to do?

Naomi

And I was like, I'll figure it out.

Naomi

But I know what I'm worth, and I know what I'm capable of, and I'm not.

Naomi

I'm going to.

Naomi

Naomi is going to define Naomi, not somebody else.

Ben

Dang.

Ben

So.

Ben

So was the.

Ben

What the person said in the environment, you just.

Ben

Were you just so outraged, like.

Ben

Like, I need to quit, or it be like, what was the.

Ben

Because that's a big change in the moment.

Ben

And a lot of leaders might say, well, I'm thinking about.

Ben

I'm thinking this may not be the right fit, but I want to start looking for a job while I have this one, Or I'm going to kind of plan ahead, or I'm going to save my.

Ben

Have a.

Ben

More of a plan.

Ben

And if.

Ben

Like, what.

Ben

How did you know in the moment, like, hey, this is.

Ben

This is what I need to do.

Naomi

So I love to work.

Naomi

I mean, I work a lot of hours.

Naomi

I work hard.

Naomi

And I just knew, like, there was a lot of other little red flags that were leading up to that, But I just knew that I could not tolerate having my alarm go off one more morning and having to come down to the office and feel like what I was giving was not valued and not appreciated.

Naomi

And I just felt like I deserved it to myself and to my family, to be authentic to who I was and not to allow somebody to continue to doubt myself and beat me down.

Naomi

And I just.

Naomi

It wasn't something that, like, it was very unusual, but I'm really happy I did it.

Ben

And, yeah, it's.

Ben

It's important, I think, for leaders, I'm taking away just to.

Ben

The more we can know ourselves and be true to ourselves.

Ben

There's a certain confidence in that.

Ben

And knowing that wasn't the right fit.

Ben

Knowing you didn't already.

Ben

I mean, didn't have your other thing lined up.

Ben

It wasn't like, oh, we'll take this job and shove it because I'm going to be making this at this other place.

Ben

Immediately.

Naomi

After that happened, I probably called like three of my most trusted advisors and I said, so this is what I've done.

Naomi

And they all kind of chuckled at me.

Naomi

But probably within about two weeks or so I was already interviewing.

Ben

Yeah.

Ben

Wow, the network showed up for Naomi.

Ben

It sounds like in full they did.

Naomi

And I'm very grateful.

Ben

But to your other point, you've been cultivating it for years, so don't wait until you're in transition to say, oh, I need to come up with a network.

Ben

I need to work on my network.

Naomi

No, and I'm always working on my network and always when I, yeah, when I, when I can help other.

Naomi

Connect other people to my network, I always say, listen, I'm happy to introduce you to this CEO or to this executive, but let's really make sure it's worthwhile of his or her time because I know that if I make that introduction and it's a waste of time, that's probably going to be a connection for me that I can't go to in the future.

Ben

Again, great, great advice.

Ben

Networking that actually works.

Ben

Make sure versus yeah, yeah, we get a lot of those too, where it's hey, you know this.

Ben

But to say, hey, this could this we.

Ben

I think this and doesn't.

Ben

Doesn't mean you're always going to hit a home run when you introduce people.

Ben

But if at least say, I believe this could be of value to you because of this.

Naomi

Right.

Ben

It lets them know, hey, when Naomi's calling, she's thinking through this first.

Naomi

It's got to be a two way street.

Naomi

And like one of the things I always ask my network if I'm asking for something, I always say, so what can I do for you?

Naomi

How can I help you?

Naomi

Is there something that somebody I can introduce you to?

Naomi

An investor, an attorney, a company?

Naomi

How can I help you?

Naomi

So I always make it a two way street.

Ben

All right, so starting to, starting to wrap this up, unfortunately, because I have a ton more questions and not a lot of time to do it in.

Ben

Why?

Ben

Why education for you?

Ben

Because you started out in more like the financial side in, in the center of the financial universe, New York City.

Ben

And then you go Kim Blanchard and in Kaplan and R L, it just seems like you've really has a special niche.

Ben

And what, what is it?

Ben

That's.

Ben

That's keeping you in this space that that's undergoing a lot of change.

Ben

I mean, tons of change.

Ben

Right?

Naomi

This is an easy question to answer.

Naomi

So when I was in banking and in finance, I really felt like, well, at, in the moment, it was great.

Naomi

I was making money to make money and I was gaining a lot of experience.

Naomi

I was exposed, I did international travel, I traveled all around the US I was exposed to a lot of executives that probably I would not have otherwise had an audience to.

Naomi

So I'm very, very grateful to that time in banking.

Naomi

And again, when I went Blanchard was like a turning point in my career.

Naomi

So when I went to Blanchard and I saw the power of adult learning in the workplace, and now I had a five year old, right, that was looking up at me, something in me clicked and I said, you know what?

Naomi

I don't want my daughter to grow up in a world where she thinks making money for the sake of making money, greed is not good.

Naomi

And this is, I am now in a profession where I am helping others and I'm doing that through education.

Naomi

So whether it's in the workplace, adult learning, workforce development, finding unique talent to place them in the workforce or through higher education, while I may not personally be working with these learners or these students or these folks seeking a job, my teams may not be working directly with them, but what we're doing and what we're providing is creating financial and career mobility for others so that others have the opportunity to buy a house, to buy a car, to send somebody to college, to take care of their aging parents, to have a wonderful vacation, to put a pool in the backyard.

Naomi

And I feel that like this is my calling in life.

Naomi

Going back to something that I said earlier, it's not about putting your foot on their head as they're trying to climb the ladder, but pulling them up and helping them to be successful.

Naomi

And I hope someday when I'm no longer here, that my friends, colleagues, but more importantly, but the most important person is my daughter, will look back and say, you know, my mom helped thousands and thousands of people to be financially and career successful through the work that she was doing with all of these amazing organizations she was, that were lucky enough to have her in a leadership position for them.

Ben

Wow.

Ben

Powerful response there and definitely attached to the greater why, the greater universal why.

Ben

To work in the first place.

Naomi

Yeah, absolutely.

Ben

So I've got an 8th grader and a girl, and what's your advice to her for college success?

Ben

Because you, you, you were, you've worked across adult learning, right?

Ben

Children like the whole gamut of education.

Ben

And, and I'm asking this question too, in the idea of college is changing, right?

Ben

The whole system is, is evolving.

Ben

What's your advice?

Naomi

How about if I give you a piece of advice, Ben?

Ben

Okay.

Ben

Give it to the parent.

Ben

That's even better.

Naomi

My biggest piece of advice to a parent that has a child that's probably going to embark on some kind of career pathing over the next couple of years is just remember, this isn't your dream.

Naomi

This is their dream.

Naomi

Your job is to guide them.

Ben

Don't tell me that.

Naomi

It's your job to guide them and to help instill the confidence as they begin to make probably some of their first and biggest adult decisions where they're going to go to school or whether they're going to go into the military or they're going to go into a trade.

Naomi

It's your job to instill the confidence in them that the choices that they're making are the right for them right now.

Naomi

And I would also say, and I shared this with my daughter, that, listen, just because you're starting at point A doesn't mean you're going to finish at point A.

Naomi

Life has many, many chapters.

Naomi

And you turn the page and it's a clean sheet.

Naomi

I started my career in banking.

Naomi

I went to adult learning.

Naomi

I never thought that was going to be the place that I was going to end up.

Naomi

I thought someday I would go back into venture capitalist or banking again or finance and retire really young with millions of dollars in the bank.

Naomi

But I found a passion I didn't realize was there a little bit later in my career.

Naomi

And I've had many iterations of that even in my career.

Naomi

So just instilling the confidence in them and the guidance, you can guide your kids.

Naomi

It's easy if you have an open and trusting relationship built already and a good foundation and they're going to do the right things.

Ben

Love that advice.

Ben

To the parents out there or if you don't have kids, to the.

Ben

Your nieces and nephews or your whatever.

Ben

Right.

Ben

We all have people in our lives that are younger, that are rising, that we want to see succeed.

Naomi

Absolutely.

Ben

It's just like, how do we not get in the way of that?

Ben

And I like this word guiding.

Ben

And some of that.

Ben

And you, you kept applying back.

Ben

You kept saying the word confidence.

Ben

Get in the confidence, get in the confidence.

Ben

And that's.

Ben

That's key.

Ben

They can get sometimes paralysis.

Ben

Analysis on, am I making the right decision?

Ben

Why don't you make the decision for me versus them?

Ben

Making a decision, owning the results, and knowing that they can make that decision ultimately right on their path.

Ben

And you're right, we don't really know how our career, I mean, man, my husband all over the place.

Ben

I'd be doing all this podcasting stuff.

Ben

It's a beautiful journey.

Ben

What's your parting thought for our listeners today, Naomi?

Naomi

Oh, gosh, you're going to put me on the spot here again.

Naomi

I would.

Naomi

I would say.

Naomi

Oh, hold on, I have to think about this a second.

Naomi

You have put me on the spot here, Ben.

Ben

That's good, because that's why I'm here.

Ben

Well, you've already.

Ben

One of the problems you have is you already said so many awesome things and great stories and insights.

Ben

It's hard to come up with another one.

Naomi

And I would just say, like, believe in yourself if you really have a dream, like, let me back up.

Naomi

Yeah, I would say just believe in yourself and, like, you know, don't.

Naomi

Don't allow somebody else to define who you are.

Naomi

You know, it's okay to make mistakes, it's okay to falter.

Naomi

It's okay to not be sure.

Naomi

But at the end of the day, we all have something valuable that we can contribute to the workplace, to society, and just keep on the path that you're going, as long as it's a straight and narrow path.

Ben

Naomi, thank you for coming on and lead the team, my friend.

Ben

It was fun.

Naomi

Thanks so much, Ben.

Naomi

This was a lot of fun.

Naomi

It's not often that we get to talk about ourselves for an extended period of time, and I really enjoyed the time together.

Naomi

It was really.

Naomi

It was.

Naomi

I felt like I really had to, like, be insightful about who I was.

Naomi

So thank you for bringing that out.

Ben

You didn't have to, but you did.

Ben

You're insightful and very generous and I would say vulnerable and transparent and authentic.

Ben

So thank you for that.

Naomi

Thank you.

Ben

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Ben

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Ben

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Ben

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