EPISODE SUMMARY:
Alex is the heart and soul behind PEOPLEfirst Talent & Retention Consulting. Over the past decade, Alex has dedicated herself to transforming how we think about hiring and keeping top talent, all through the lens of company culture. Her journey in the corporate world saw her climb the ranks at an impressive rate, being promoted four times in four years! She achieved this by tripling hiring speeds, cutting down turnover rates, and getting the entire leadership team engaged in a culture-first recruitment process.
In 2018, she founded PEOPLEfirst, which has since earned the title of Best in Business for two consecutive years. Alex is also a best-selling author, sharing her insights on hiring strategies and the challenges of entrepreneurship as a working mom.
Beyond her consulting work, Alex is passionate about guiding the next generation. She leads a Career Development program at Northern Kentucky University, where she helps students discover their unique strengths and find the right career paths that bring them joy and success.
Along with PEOPLEfirst, she co-founded The Wellness Universe Corporate, a global initiative that integrates mental health and well-being into workplace culture for a holistic impact on people's lives.
Tune in and share your questions and comments about we can change the world through changing the workplace on our YouTube livestream or on our Facebook page.
https://www.choosepeoplefirst.com/
00:00:24.840 --> 00:00:37.385 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Good afternoon, my conscious co-creators. Welcome to another edition of the conscious Consultant hour awakening humanity. I hope you all are doing very, very well, this week.
00:00:38.169 --> 00:00:55.760 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: In New York City we kind of kind of got a touch of fall in the air. We're getting close to the equinox, so we're about ready to transition over from summertime to autumn. I I hope you caught my show last week. It was a wonderful show. We had a great guest.
00:00:56.083 --> 00:01:12.890 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: This week, of course, another great guest for you. And instead of talking more about the energetic kind of healing side of life, we're going to be talking more about really the business side of life today, but from a different perspective. I think you'll really appreciate my my guest today.
00:01:13.290 --> 00:01:28.740 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But first, st of course, as you know, those who've been who loyal listeners are out there know that I always start off reading a blog post from a couple of years ago. I'm just taking them in order. And today's blog post is entitled.
00:01:30.030 --> 00:01:37.630 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Confidence is not about one thing. It is about how we use our history to serve us.
00:01:39.210 --> 00:01:41.400 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Building confidence is a skill.
00:01:41.890 --> 00:01:45.389 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: for there are many ways to look at confidence.
00:01:45.710 --> 00:01:49.180 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We often do not think about where it comes from.
00:01:50.070 --> 00:01:52.579 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: or how or how do we increase it?
00:01:52.970 --> 00:01:59.930 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: One of the biggest problems is, we think, confidence is only one huge thing.
00:02:00.950 --> 00:02:04.209 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: The truth is, there are many types of confidence.
00:02:05.010 --> 00:02:09.600 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We may feel confident in one area of our life and not another
00:02:10.060 --> 00:02:15.479 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: having confidence in our career, but not in our relationships. As an example.
00:02:15.760 --> 00:02:20.560 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: we might feel that we are not a confident person in general.
00:02:21.060 --> 00:02:26.970 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: yet that general feeling is made up of lots of little feelings.
00:02:27.350 --> 00:02:33.749 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We can be confident in many ways in our life that we do not recognize or take for granted.
00:02:34.470 --> 00:02:36.360 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Are we confident to walk.
00:02:36.420 --> 00:02:38.559 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: to eat, to bathe?
00:02:38.770 --> 00:02:43.559 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Do you feel confident to drive a car or get around on public transit?
00:02:45.040 --> 00:02:49.370 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: How do we feel about being able to use a phone or computer.
00:02:49.660 --> 00:02:52.439 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: or even use a pen or a pencil.
00:02:52.690 --> 00:02:55.440 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We are not monolithic.
00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:01.660 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We are made up of many confidences and non confidences.
00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:05.740 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Confidence is specific to the task at hand.
00:03:06.070 --> 00:03:11.150 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and confidence can also be transferred from one skill to another.
00:03:11.970 --> 00:03:14.970 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Are you confident at learning a new skill?
00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:19.700 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Perhaps you learned how to fix your bike when something goes wrong.
00:03:20.390 --> 00:03:24.659 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Maybe now you can help someone change a tire on a car
00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:27.390 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: when you never did it before
00:03:28.930 --> 00:03:34.290 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: on the opposite side. Perhaps you tried your hand at a business, and it failed.
00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:37.350 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Now someone brings you a new opportunity
00:03:37.620 --> 00:03:44.290 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: because of your past experience. You don't have the confidence that you can be successful at it.
00:03:45.290 --> 00:03:48.960 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yet you feel quite confident at your job.
00:03:50.110 --> 00:03:59.860 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: When we stop approaching confidence as just one giant thing in our lives we can start to build our confidence systematically.
00:04:01.070 --> 00:04:05.680 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: for confidence is not about ability. It is about belief.
00:04:06.760 --> 00:04:09.650 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Do you believe you can do something.
00:04:09.990 --> 00:04:11.669 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: learn something.
00:04:11.680 --> 00:04:13.890 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: experience something.
00:04:14.520 --> 00:04:19.890 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: when we take inventory. Of all the things we are confident about in our life.
00:04:19.970 --> 00:04:23.199 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We can build our overall confidence
00:04:24.270 --> 00:04:32.140 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: if we come across something that we are not confident about. We can try to find something close to it
00:04:32.620 --> 00:04:34.760 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that we are confident about.
00:04:35.630 --> 00:04:43.519 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: We can transfer that confidence from one activity to another. The key is finding the right activity.
00:04:44.390 --> 00:04:48.089 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Confidence is not only about our history.
00:04:48.520 --> 00:04:51.820 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: it is about how we look at that history
00:04:51.830 --> 00:04:56.480 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and how we decide to use it to serve us.
00:04:57.450 --> 00:05:00.380 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So where are you lacking confidence?
00:05:00.810 --> 00:05:04.210 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Is there something else you are confident about
00:05:04.780 --> 00:05:09.950 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that you can use to help you build your confidence in it.
00:05:10.860 --> 00:05:11.890 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So
00:05:12.040 --> 00:05:32.099 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I I really can't take credit for the idea behind this. This comes from my dear friend Amana Guy, and the the inspiration for this was I had had gone through his confidence mastery program, and it was really a beautiful weekend. It was quite transformative.
00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:36.699 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But just that single concept, that single idea
00:05:36.870 --> 00:05:39.979 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that confidence is not one thing.
00:05:41.110 --> 00:05:44.689 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: when, when, when, when when it when he when he opened with that.
00:05:45.090 --> 00:05:47.749 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: it just floored me, I was like, oh.
00:05:48.520 --> 00:05:50.970 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: because, like everyone else in life.
00:05:51.190 --> 00:05:56.079 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: you know, I kind of think of either we're a confident person or we're not a confident person.
00:05:57.270 --> 00:06:07.099 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and so, by breaking down confidence into lots of little things instead of one big thing it was like, oh.
00:06:07.460 --> 00:06:10.969 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: it's not that I'm a confident or not a confident person.
00:06:10.980 --> 00:06:16.300 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I'm confident in certain things and not confident in other things.
00:06:18.210 --> 00:06:24.584 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: You know my father was a statistician. I've always been good at numbers and science and math, so computers.
00:06:24.980 --> 00:06:28.389 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: No problem. I can figure out computers really easy.
00:06:29.390 --> 00:06:31.060 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: you know.
00:06:31.622 --> 00:06:37.480 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I I drive a car. I don't. I don't own a car, but I've driven cars most of my life.
00:06:37.670 --> 00:06:43.990 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: but I'm not confident that I can like fix a car, or for broke down that I know what's wrong with it.
00:06:45.140 --> 00:06:50.640 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I've been a public speaker for many, many years, so I'm confident when I'm on stage.
00:06:51.229 --> 00:07:02.969 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But am I confident, when when I'm with a group of strangers who maybe are have more successful than I am, monetarily or in business, and probably not.
00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:16.320 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: You know I just had a wonderful deep dive last week with Aman and Laura Rubinstein. We did for the Evolutionary Business Council, all on AI and technology in the future, and where this is going.
00:07:16.680 --> 00:07:33.979 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and I'm familiar with AI. I. I use it a little bit here and there, but I saw these presenters, who like totally using AI for their whole business, and making like so efficient, and being able to do things in minutes instead of hours, and I was just floored by it.
00:07:35.260 --> 00:07:40.470 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Am I as confident in AI as these people are. No, they have a lot more experience than me.
00:07:41.700 --> 00:07:44.879 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Does that make me an unconfident person? No.
00:07:48.350 --> 00:07:49.830 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: you know I
00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:53.280 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: there are lots of things in my life
00:07:53.740 --> 00:08:01.139 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that I am not overly confident about. And then there are a lot of other things that I am confident about.
00:08:03.720 --> 00:08:06.739 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And so, finding this balance.
00:08:08.170 --> 00:08:14.860 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and and being able just to say that confidence is not about one thing.
00:08:15.330 --> 00:08:23.670 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: That was just a huge breakthrough for me, and that's why I I had to write this blog post after going through Aman's program.
00:08:25.190 --> 00:08:27.630 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: It was just so
00:08:28.520 --> 00:08:30.039 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: powerful for me.
00:08:30.940 --> 00:08:33.950 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And look, I mean again, this is his ideas.
00:08:34.640 --> 00:08:45.460 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: You should check out. You know his company. Success Road Academy. If you have an opportunity to to do his personal transformation work, you should definitely do it with him. He's he's amazing.
00:08:46.055 --> 00:08:57.000 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: He's a very successful businessman and a good friend, so so please don't. Don't think for a moment that I'm taking credit of this for myself, however.
00:08:57.740 --> 00:09:01.790 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: the one piece of this that I'm not going to necessarily take credit for.
00:09:01.830 --> 00:09:17.590 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: but that I did bring into it is from other teachers, and and from my teacher Armand. This whole idea of the stories we tell ourselves, and how the stories we tell ourselves really create our reality in our life
00:09:17.680 --> 00:09:27.070 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: marrying those 2 together. It's our stories around confidence. It's our stories around, you know, being good at something or not good at something.
00:09:27.390 --> 00:09:30.850 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And when we can recognize those stories
00:09:31.860 --> 00:09:36.469 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: right? Then we can shift them. Then we can change them. Then we can
00:09:36.730 --> 00:09:41.729 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: create new stories that can help us to be more confident around. Something
00:09:43.240 --> 00:09:46.959 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: so sort of bringing those 2 concepts together is
00:09:47.630 --> 00:09:52.459 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: something that I I did individually, so that I will take credit for.
00:09:53.050 --> 00:10:01.610 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So I I hope you like this blog post. I hope it was a bit of an eye opener for you as it was for me
00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:12.249 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: again. That's the title of the blog post is confidence is not about one thing. It is about how we use our history to serve us.
00:10:12.750 --> 00:10:20.810 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and of course you can always find my blogs on the talk radio website@talkradio.nyc slash blog
00:10:21.630 --> 00:10:26.510 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: as well as on my personal branded website, the conscious consultant
00:10:26.630 --> 00:10:27.830 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: dot com
00:10:29.290 --> 00:10:32.620 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: alrighty. I'll have another blog for you next week.
00:10:32.770 --> 00:10:40.659 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And now it is my extreme pleasure to welcome to the show author founder and CEO Alexandra Bowden.
00:10:41.280 --> 00:10:47.230 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Alex is the heart and soul behind people. First, st talent and retention. Consulting
00:10:47.340 --> 00:10:58.050 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: over the past decade, Alex has dedicated herself to transforming how we think about hiring and keeping top talent all through the lens of company culture.
00:10:58.190 --> 00:11:06.019 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Her journey in the corporate world saw her climb the ranks at an impressive rate, being promoted 4 times in just 4 years.
00:11:06.130 --> 00:11:13.929 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: She achieved this by tripling, hiring speeds, cutting down turnover rates and getting the entire leadership
00:11:14.070 --> 00:11:18.559 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: team engaged in a culture 1st recruitment process
00:11:18.830 --> 00:11:35.070 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: in 2,018 she founded people first, st which has since earned the title of best in business for 2 consecutive years. Alex is also a best-selling author, sharing her insights and hiring strategies and the challenges of entrepreneurship as a working mother
00:11:35.490 --> 00:11:51.339 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: beyond her consulting work. Alex is passionate about guiding the next generation. She leads a career development program at Northern Kentucky University, where she helps students discover their unique strengths and find the right career paths that bring them joy and success
00:11:51.510 --> 00:12:07.779 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: along with people. First, st she co-founded the wellness universe, corporate a global initiative that integrates mental health and well-being into workplace culture for a holistic impact on people's lives. Welcome to the conscious consult. Now, Alexandra.
00:12:08.260 --> 00:12:11.009 Alexandra Bowden: Thank you, Sam. Thank you for having me excited to be here.
00:12:11.010 --> 00:12:16.199 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: No, I'm excited to be here. I'm very glad that Melanie shout out to Melanie for connecting us.
00:12:16.686 --> 00:12:31.309 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So just quickly, before we go to our break? How did you kind of get into this idea of sort of human resources hiring like this whole aspect of the people side of business.
00:12:31.750 --> 00:12:32.440 Alexandra Bowden: Yeah.
00:12:32.620 --> 00:12:36.810 Alexandra Bowden: it was a really excuse me, it was a really interesting
00:12:37.930 --> 00:12:42.579 Alexandra Bowden: turn of events in my own life that made me realize
00:12:44.020 --> 00:12:45.360 Alexandra Bowden: and look at
00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:51.680 Alexandra Bowden: Hr. And business and culture very differently. And that started with me
00:12:51.790 --> 00:13:00.920 Alexandra Bowden: training to become a professional dancer. So I I used to dance professionally. I was living in New York City. I was trying to, you know, make it
00:13:01.363 --> 00:13:09.229 Alexandra Bowden: like many others before me and since me and I was not able to sustain myself, and I wasn't really
00:13:09.350 --> 00:13:18.940 Alexandra Bowden: enjoying the lifestyle of kind of that starving artist. It wasn't playing into, you know what I envisioned for my future, and having a family.
00:13:19.300 --> 00:13:28.460 Alexandra Bowden: And so, after years of devoting my whole life to something so disciplined and so myopic as dance.
00:13:28.880 --> 00:13:46.979 Alexandra Bowden: I really did not know what to do with myself when I decided not to do it anymore. And so, you know, in your opening, when you talk about confidence and the stories we tell ourselves. My whole story, my whole life was, I'm a dancer, I'm a dancer, I'm a dancer. And so when I'm not a dancer anymore. It's like, well, then, what am I? I have no idea. I don't know who who I am now.
00:13:47.060 --> 00:13:51.230 Alexandra Bowden: when I remove this quintessential aspect of my life.
00:13:51.450 --> 00:13:52.335 Alexandra Bowden: So
00:13:53.270 --> 00:14:12.619 Alexandra Bowden: you know, going through that discovery process and trying to figure out how the skills that I had built over the years could translate into a corporate setting, not having enough money to go back to school because I had this really fancy dance degree that I was paying, you know, a thousand dollars a month in loans for already and couldn't afford. So
00:14:12.690 --> 00:14:16.720 Alexandra Bowden: I I ended up finding a role at a marketing company
00:14:17.310 --> 00:14:29.260 Alexandra Bowden: and very quickly myself and a handful of others became. You know what they deemed as top performers, but we were not the profile of who they said they wanted to hire.
00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:43.060 Alexandra Bowden: and so when I started digging a little bit deeper and understanding. Well, you know, why are we looking for this profile? If our top performers are from, you know, Xyz, with different backgrounds. I realized that
00:14:43.070 --> 00:14:50.250 Alexandra Bowden: you know the way we're looking at hiring in this. This script or this very predetermined way, is just not
00:14:50.450 --> 00:14:54.040 Alexandra Bowden: not it. Like we're we're missing a huge piece.
00:14:55.180 --> 00:14:57.969 Alexandra Bowden: and then just bring my own element of.
00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:16.159 Alexandra Bowden: you know, thinking that I was going to sacrifice my dream for some soul sucking corporate culture and environment at a desk all day, and then, finding this organization that one took a chance on me, 2 built into me, and allow me to kind of pursue and grow and develop other strengths.
00:15:16.180 --> 00:15:24.000 Alexandra Bowden: and 3 was really enjoyable. To show up to every day, like everyone, was smart and capable and fun to be around and
00:15:24.356 --> 00:15:35.770 Alexandra Bowden: I loved what I did, and I didn't think I would find that again. After dancing, I realized there's something there. And how do I tap into that in other places? Because we all deserve.
00:15:35.920 --> 00:15:48.739 Alexandra Bowden: you know, to have multiple careers, and we all deserve to build our unique strengths and talents and have them, you know, kind of reflected back to us in an environment where we thrive.
00:15:48.740 --> 00:16:08.593 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Right? Right? Yes, absolutely absolutely okay. Wonderful. Let's take a quick break. And when we come back I wanna talk about like, okay, you had this experience. You're in this environment. What got you to kind of switch over and say, Oh, like, I wanna make this what I'm all about and what I'm gonna do.
00:16:10.870 --> 00:16:14.710 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Excuse me. When we come back from break. Okay.
00:16:14.710 --> 00:16:15.300 Alexandra Bowden: Great.
00:16:15.520 --> 00:16:35.039 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Awesome. So everyone, please stand. Stay tuned. You're listening to the conscious consultant hour awakening humanity. We do this every Thursday, 12 Pm. To one pm, Eastern time right here on talk radio, Nyc, and all over social media. And we'll be right back with our guest, Alexandra Bowden, in just a moment.
00:18:50.950 --> 00:18:58.609 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And welcome back. We're speaking with Alexandra Bowden, the founder and CEO of people. First.st
00:19:00.080 --> 00:19:14.419 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: You know, Alexandra, you you talk a lot about company culture and the environment. And it was a lesson I also learned at a relatively young age, because I just remember my 1st job while I was still in college. I was a bank teller
00:19:14.950 --> 00:19:17.229 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and working in the branch.
00:19:17.350 --> 00:19:22.919 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: It was a really interesting environment. It was almost like a little family.
00:19:23.390 --> 00:19:27.900 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and and and people were all very supportive of each other.
00:19:27.910 --> 00:19:30.719 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and it it felt really good.
00:19:31.373 --> 00:20:00.340 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And then I I transferred out into another department at that bank. That was also, you know, really good environment. And then I saw, like people were saying, Oh, you know, to get ahead in banking, you gotta change banks and stuff. You can't just move up inside one company. And I, I said, Okay, and I knew a bunch of people went to this other bank. So I went to this other bank. I got this job in the beginning. It was okay. And then I got transferred under this guy. I did not trust I was in this really like shark infested water environment.
00:20:00.440 --> 00:20:30.369 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and it made such a difference. And I was like, Oh, no, I'm not that this is not for me. I can't stay here, and I think I'm like in just over a year. In 13 months, I like, you know, found talk to a recruiter, and I was out of there, and it really was such a stark contrast to me, because it was such a big contrast of what it was like to be in an environment where you felt supported, and you could trust the people you with into an environment where I did not feel supported. I did not trust the people I was with.
00:20:30.390 --> 00:20:33.230 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and so I'm I'm curious.
00:20:33.850 --> 00:20:55.270 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: you know, having been in in this marketing company and and feeling like you enjoyed it, and like you had something after your dance career, you know, experiencing that environment is one thing, lots of people experience it. But what was it that got you to kind of put you on that path of like. No, I like, I want to make this my thing that I do in life.
00:20:55.870 --> 00:20:56.650 Alexandra Bowden: Yeah.
00:20:57.250 --> 00:21:06.360 Alexandra Bowden: I think it was a multitude of things. It was like building blocks. Because I also had experienced a lot of different working environments prior to then?
00:21:06.820 --> 00:21:12.099 Alexandra Bowden: Because obviously, I held multiple jobs, you know, while while growing up and building my career.
00:21:13.060 --> 00:21:15.609 Alexandra Bowden: but you know, I'd been with
00:21:15.640 --> 00:21:25.429 Alexandra Bowden: leaders that were toxic. I'd been with leaders that stole money from me, you know I'd been with some of those extremes, and then I was in this opposite extreme environment.
00:21:26.890 --> 00:21:44.180 Alexandra Bowden: Where I felt like, you know, it was out of a dream. But at the same time, that's how it felt for me. That was my experience within the organization, and I started having people over time coming to me and sharing different experiences within the organization because
00:21:44.210 --> 00:21:49.123 Alexandra Bowden: their particular leader didn't operate in the same way, right or
00:21:49.600 --> 00:21:57.719 Alexandra Bowden: You know, things were not consistent throughout the organization, or one thing was handled in a really poor manner that turned them off.
00:21:58.020 --> 00:22:01.899 Alexandra Bowden: And so I started becoming interested in.
00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:07.709 Alexandra Bowden: how do we drive consistency across an organization? So that culture
00:22:07.720 --> 00:22:13.459 Alexandra Bowden: is the same for everyone and works for everyone, but also in the question of you know.
00:22:14.260 --> 00:22:17.569 Alexandra Bowden: the culture might be a fit for one person.
00:22:17.970 --> 00:22:24.810 Alexandra Bowden: and objectively good, but not necessarily the right fit for somebody else. And so there's definitely, you know.
00:22:25.350 --> 00:22:29.609 Alexandra Bowden: when we talk about culture, there's there's the range there's
00:22:29.770 --> 00:22:49.999 Alexandra Bowden: for sure toxic cultures right? And objectively, toxic cultures. They're sure objectively strong positive cultures. But there's also a lot of things in between. And what I find most often is that culture is not felt throughout the organization in the same way, because there's no actual intentional plan.
00:22:50.750 --> 00:22:55.250 Alexandra Bowden: Of this is how we behave. And this is what we're driving through the organization at every level.
00:22:55.350 --> 00:23:11.440 Alexandra Bowden: And so, as I started building and solving these challenges, one off and trying to build an infrastructure and a system to create these things. I started seeing a lot of positive change. The other thing I saw was the leadership at the time. There was, you know, one or 2 people that I was coming.
00:23:12.730 --> 00:23:16.110 Alexandra Bowden: I was coming to, and they were causing blockages.
00:23:16.140 --> 00:23:22.730 Alexandra Bowden: blockages to changes that I knew needed to happen because they were not of the same value system or mindset
00:23:23.397 --> 00:23:30.240 Alexandra Bowden: and when new leadership came in, all of that shifted very quickly. So it began to
00:23:30.410 --> 00:23:31.689 Alexandra Bowden: have me, you know.
00:23:32.130 --> 00:23:40.259 Alexandra Bowden: forming a lot of questions in my mind about like, how do I systemize this for other organizations? How do I solve these seemingly common problems?
00:23:40.809 --> 00:23:47.730 Alexandra Bowden: And then, what really took that into. Now I need to go do this myself was more of a personal journey.
00:23:48.161 --> 00:23:50.219 Alexandra Bowden: I had my 1st child.
00:23:50.350 --> 00:23:51.520 Alexandra Bowden: and
00:23:51.770 --> 00:23:55.329 Alexandra Bowden: it was becoming a struggle to find balance.
00:23:56.059 --> 00:24:12.580 Alexandra Bowden: Wanting to deliver 200 for my company, wanting to deliver 200% for my child. Having to travel a lot. And I just realized, you know, if I'm going to be putting in this much energy and effort. Let me do it in my own way and serving a lot of different companies
00:24:12.620 --> 00:24:14.199 Alexandra Bowden: and really changing.
00:24:14.410 --> 00:24:18.259 Alexandra Bowden: you know. More lives for the better if I'm going to be away from my son
00:24:18.360 --> 00:24:28.060 Alexandra Bowden: than just this one company where I'm coming into, you know, consistent blockades with the same people, and I have very little control over what gets done.
00:24:28.462 --> 00:24:38.519 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: There was a gentleman who used to do a couple of different shows on the network Larry Sharp, who is an executive consultant coach.
00:24:38.820 --> 00:24:44.619 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and I remember he used to say that culture will eat strategy every day of the week.
00:24:44.990 --> 00:24:45.760 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and that.
00:24:45.760 --> 00:24:46.310 Alexandra Bowden: Percent.
00:24:46.310 --> 00:24:56.140 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And that organizations that were struggling. They're always looking for like some new strategy. Instead of looking at what's going on in the culture of the organization.
00:24:56.140 --> 00:24:56.680 Alexandra Bowden: Yeah.
00:24:56.680 --> 00:25:02.449 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And I I think maybe this is kind of related to what you were just talking about, that
00:25:02.500 --> 00:25:21.650 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: the culture really has to start come from the top down like the leadership really has to buy into the culture and buy into the way of of treating people and and the type of atmosphere, because if the leadership doesn't, then it's just never going to go anywhere. Is it
00:25:21.800 --> 00:25:22.520 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: right?
00:25:23.020 --> 00:25:27.090 Alexandra Bowden: Yeah, I mean it, can. It can start and it can die with the leadership.
00:25:27.824 --> 00:25:32.020 Alexandra Bowden: And I think the challenge people have is
00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:43.920 Alexandra Bowden: the filtering down and the creating consistency and habits. So when we talk about culture and the way we approach it, it's not some, you know, ambiguous thing. It's not some
00:25:43.940 --> 00:25:51.160 Alexandra Bowden: values being written on a page or on the wall. It's how do we operationalize behavior change?
00:25:51.180 --> 00:26:02.770 Alexandra Bowden: You know, it's change management. It's how do we systemize and operationalize building habits that make small shifts and changes over time. And it starts with the leaders.
00:26:02.800 --> 00:26:25.890 Alexandra Bowden: But you have to get everyone on board because it involves everyone. Everyone makes up the fabric of an organization, and as people evolve and change over time within that organization, the organism itself changes as you add people as you take people away, the organism itself changes, and so culture has to be very intentional, and it has to be systematized
00:26:25.890 --> 00:26:34.130 Alexandra Bowden: in order to feel the effects and the change, and and that piece is most critical, and also the most often missing.
00:26:36.040 --> 00:26:37.640 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: yeah. And also, like.
00:26:38.020 --> 00:26:45.980 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: you know, an organization like anything else. It's not a monolithic thing. It's made up of people and and people have different ways of doing things.
00:26:46.670 --> 00:26:53.739 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and my experience is, people usually don't like to change that much. So if there's a certain culture in place.
00:26:53.790 --> 00:27:22.860 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: and then someone like yourself comes in, and it's like, Hey, let's change the culture. We can make this a better place, even though we can improve things. I imagine you must meet a lot of resistance like, not just from the top, but like throughout the entire organization. So how do you deal with that resistance? How do you get past that resistance, even though people might know like, yes, this is something that that actually is is going to benefit everyone. But still there's going to be resistance.
00:27:24.310 --> 00:27:34.479 Alexandra Bowden: that really involves kind of taking it from a project management change management lens of you know we're going to do this incrementally and we're going to make a very clear roadmap.
00:27:35.102 --> 00:27:54.440 Alexandra Bowden: We also make sure that we have buy in from all levels at the beginning. So even though it's it's kind of starts and ends with the leadership team. Everybody has to buy in because we're defining behaviors that we want to see on a day to day basis. And if you know, Sally is just not that person, then
00:27:54.530 --> 00:28:00.029 Alexandra Bowden: Sally is probably going to need to go, you know, and it it feels harsh
00:28:00.581 --> 00:28:12.239 Alexandra Bowden: but we have something we call coaching up or coaching out. And at the end of the day, when we agree that this is what we want to create. It doesn't mean Sally's a bad person for not not fitting
00:28:12.910 --> 00:28:19.679 Alexandra Bowden: profile. It's just that, you know. Sally did great stuff up until now, but she's not going in the same direction that we want to go.
00:28:19.800 --> 00:28:29.810 Alexandra Bowden: and so we need to take a look at that. Maybe she's not the right person to carry us into this new framework. And so, you know, that's that's the piece that
00:28:29.940 --> 00:28:32.470 Alexandra Bowden: turns people's stomachs a little bit that they don't.
00:28:32.470 --> 00:28:32.990 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And.
00:28:32.990 --> 00:28:46.949 Alexandra Bowden: They don't expect to have to make those hard choices when they talk about becoming, you know, an intentionalized cultural workplace. And and you do you either coach people through the process, or you coach them out if they can't get on board.
00:28:46.950 --> 00:28:59.310 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Right? Right? That that just because they've been there for a certain amount of time, doesn't mean that they're necessarily still a good fit for the change that's happening, or where things.
00:28:59.310 --> 00:29:00.220 Alexandra Bowden: Correct.
00:29:00.220 --> 00:29:04.380 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And and that happens whether it's a positive change or a negative change, right?
00:29:04.380 --> 00:29:05.330 Alexandra Bowden: Absolutely.
00:29:05.330 --> 00:29:23.999 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Things change all the time. Environments change, the the the industries change. And so yeah, it's it's not an easy thing. I had been in positions in the past where you know, I had to fire people, and it's not a comfortable thing. Nobody likes to fire anyone.
00:29:24.440 --> 00:29:28.999 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: but sometimes it's necessary. But I think what
00:29:29.290 --> 00:29:40.260 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: what can make the difference is giving the person the support in helping them transition to the next thing, like I I did some seminars years ago.
00:29:41.480 --> 00:30:01.170 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: on how to start your own small business, that this outsourcing firm that this company hired the outsourcing firm for the people. It was laying off that if they were interested in in sort of becoming an entrepreneur like how they could get started. And I thought, Wow, like what a great thing. They're actually providing training to help people
00:30:01.170 --> 00:30:13.577 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: to sort of whatever the next thing is that they want to do. And yeah, sure, being being a business owner is not for everyone, but at least for those that were interested. They had access to some great information. So
00:30:14.080 --> 00:30:18.769 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: that I think that type of attitude can make a huge difference in
00:30:18.780 --> 00:30:20.970 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: helping people transition right.
00:30:20.970 --> 00:30:35.950 Alexandra Bowden: Absolutely and and honestly when it comes down to it, the way you bring people in, and the way you send people out says a lot about your culture. And you know you want to make sure that you're being consistent, and how you handle things and how you're supporting people, whether they're leaving you or joining you.
00:30:35.950 --> 00:30:42.755 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, absolutely absolutely. Okay. It's time to take our our next break when we come back. I'd like to talk about
00:30:43.330 --> 00:30:44.010 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: just
00:30:45.220 --> 00:31:07.390 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: sort of the the business environment in general, and whether it's more open to these kinds of ideas of culture and and and how it's treating people compared to the past like like, how have things since the over the time that you've been doing this? What kinds of shifts and changes have you seen in like? What direction. Are are we going? Okay, Alex.
00:31:07.550 --> 00:31:08.200 Alexandra Bowden: Great.
00:31:08.370 --> 00:31:23.670 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Awesome. Everybody. Please stay tuned. You're listening to the conscious, consultant hour awakening humanity. Our guest this hour is Alexandra Bowden, founder, and CEO of people first, st and we'll be right back
00:31:24.470 --> 00:31:25.650 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: in just a moment.
00:33:31.570 --> 00:33:32.165 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Alex.
00:33:33.430 --> 00:33:48.420 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I know I I'm sure you you're all on top of this. The reports of how many jobs in the tech industry have been lost, and companies laying off people right and left. And in the past, you know, the the
00:33:49.090 --> 00:34:12.629 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: the typical posture that companies made is when they were laying off people when times were tough. Hr. Was usually one of the 1st services to get cut. And I'm just curious, like in today's environment, where we're more competitive than ever before. Like almost every company is working on a global basis because so much is virtual. Now.
00:34:12.800 --> 00:34:19.720 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: do you find companies are more open to the conversation around culture, or less open than they were in the past.
00:34:23.190 --> 00:34:25.159 Alexandra Bowden: I believe that they are
00:34:26.190 --> 00:34:28.539 Alexandra Bowden: more open to the conversation.
00:34:29.150 --> 00:34:34.390 Alexandra Bowden: but they are still not as quick to invest in it.
00:34:35.031 --> 00:34:44.429 Alexandra Bowden: So that's a different thing, right? Because it's kind of being shoved down people's throats, you know. It's like culture culture. It's the buzz word of
00:34:44.590 --> 00:34:46.430 Alexandra Bowden: the last couple years.
00:34:47.031 --> 00:34:50.550 Alexandra Bowden: But it's still very ambiguous of what that means.
00:34:50.710 --> 00:35:05.450 Alexandra Bowden: and when it cannot translate quickly into dollars and cents, people have a hard time putting money towards it the same way with Hr. It's a nonprofit generating role, but you need. Hr, it's it's the glue of the organization. So
00:35:05.720 --> 00:35:07.830 Alexandra Bowden: they manage your people capital.
00:35:08.285 --> 00:35:16.850 Alexandra Bowden: and so when we don't have a clear idea of what to do with something, and there's no quick and easy fix, we tend to just shove it aside.
00:35:17.341 --> 00:35:23.170 Alexandra Bowden: or we shove it onto the plate of a person or a department like this is Hr's problem to solve.
00:35:23.190 --> 00:35:35.130 Alexandra Bowden: Well, Hr. Can lead it, but every individual needs to be working on it right? Because it's a people problem. So everyone in the organization is a person and needs to be working towards a similar goal.
00:35:35.628 --> 00:35:50.099 Alexandra Bowden: Just like, you know, business development and making goals within organizations, not just sales sales, makes the sales calls. They bring the leads. But if people are not delivering for the clients, you're not going to make your goals. So it's an everyone problem.
00:35:50.513 --> 00:36:01.189 Alexandra Bowden: And we like to relegate it to one individual or one team. And that's also where I think right now, an interesting discussion has come up where people are slashing de and I programs.
00:36:01.190 --> 00:36:01.610 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah.
00:36:01.610 --> 00:36:06.180 Alexandra Bowden: And that's simply because, you know, we had a lot of check the box
00:36:06.420 --> 00:36:12.979 Alexandra Bowden: programs in place or great, we put a D and I person in there, and they're going to fix the problems. Oh, they didn't fix the problems.
00:36:13.030 --> 00:36:15.340 Alexandra Bowden: Then why did we invest in this? It wasn't worth it.
00:36:15.340 --> 00:36:15.930 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And.
00:36:16.170 --> 00:36:29.959 Alexandra Bowden: Oh, it! It was a checks, the box solution, you know. We checked it off the list. But we didn't actually integrate something holistic to solve the core challenge versus addressing symptoms. So that's the big question and issue. I come up with a lot.
00:36:29.960 --> 00:36:31.370 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Right? Right?
00:36:31.540 --> 00:36:40.040 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I'm curious. Are there particular industries where where the companies are more open to work on culture than other industries?
00:36:41.960 --> 00:36:43.359 Alexandra Bowden: I find
00:36:44.460 --> 00:36:46.240 Alexandra Bowden: definitely tech
00:36:46.440 --> 00:36:48.920 Alexandra Bowden: definitely financial services.
00:36:50.390 --> 00:36:54.910 Alexandra Bowden: sometimes the more creative industries like ad companies or marketing companies.
00:36:55.100 --> 00:37:01.633 Alexandra Bowden: And I believe there is a correlation there, and you know I didn't run statistics on it. But I do believe, just
00:37:02.030 --> 00:37:21.110 Alexandra Bowden: you know qualitatively, that there's a correlation there between the more competitive industries versus the ones that are not so. For example, we find many manufacturing companies or you know, industries like that are a little bit more behind the 8 ball, or less interested in investing in culture
00:37:22.800 --> 00:37:29.520 Alexandra Bowden: and they're dealing with more hourly workers. You know, they're dealing with more people that maybe can seem a little more disposable.
00:37:29.610 --> 00:37:36.140 Alexandra Bowden: But in the professional services, realms, and particularly industries that have a lot of very competitive hiring needs.
00:37:36.515 --> 00:37:41.089 Alexandra Bowden: They're having to, you know, upgrade. And they're having to really compete on multiple levels.
00:37:41.090 --> 00:37:41.700 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Hmm!
00:37:44.580 --> 00:37:59.560 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: If there's someone listening to this interview, and and they work at a company, and and maybe they're not in hr, maybe they're just a met a middle manager or someone, and and they hear this talk about culture, and they feel like their company.
00:37:59.970 --> 00:38:03.610 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: you know, hasn't really even given it a second thought. Yet
00:38:04.030 --> 00:38:19.129 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: what can that person, as as a a worker in the company, do to kind of at least raise the question or raise the conversation around culture to to bring it to people's attention.
00:38:20.540 --> 00:38:23.200 Alexandra Bowden: That's a great question, Sam. I think
00:38:23.670 --> 00:38:30.070 Alexandra Bowden: sometimes the word culture itself is not a good place to start, because it feels fluffy.
00:38:31.270 --> 00:38:36.330 Alexandra Bowden: And so what I would instruct someone to do is, you know, find
00:38:36.900 --> 00:38:41.279 Alexandra Bowden: the right ear or a core group of people and start asking questions like.
00:38:41.290 --> 00:38:44.290 Alexandra Bowden: Are we all doing business the same way?
00:38:44.520 --> 00:38:47.369 Alexandra Bowden: Are we? Are we doing business with our clients
00:38:47.540 --> 00:38:55.970 Alexandra Bowden: the way that we want to? Or are we leaving up to people to decide how they interact with their clients and how we reach our goals.
00:38:56.475 --> 00:39:03.720 Alexandra Bowden: Because it really is a business solution and a business problem we're trying to solve. We're trying to make sure everybody is behaving
00:39:03.870 --> 00:39:10.720 Alexandra Bowden: in the same way. That doesn't mean you're the same person, right? But if we give an example of.
00:39:11.410 --> 00:39:13.760 Alexandra Bowden: how do we approach customer service?
00:39:13.810 --> 00:39:18.789 Alexandra Bowden: Right? Are we approaching it in a way where we agree? We're going to deliver
00:39:19.220 --> 00:39:21.669 Alexandra Bowden: above and beyond. We're going to deliver
00:39:21.790 --> 00:39:42.250 Alexandra Bowden: quickly. We're going to deliver accurately. We're going to do it in a way where we're solving the genuine problem and not just giving them what they say they want. So we're being consultative in how we're solving their problems, you know. Are we making sure that we are engaging in a friendly way and being proactive with our communication, like just defining
00:39:42.250 --> 00:39:56.200 Alexandra Bowden: how we interact under one category. If you can't do that off the cuff, then there's probably more there that you can start working with your leadership team on understanding, how do we do business? And how do we? How do we want to interact with each other every day?
00:39:57.540 --> 00:40:15.989 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: yeah, it. It's really just about, how do we show up in the world as an organization? Right? And and I imagine that's true, not just for for profit business, but nonprofit businesses as well, you know. Now, there's a lot of benefit corps and and other kinds. I I'm wondering.
00:40:16.760 --> 00:40:36.510 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: are there different culture considerations depending on the size of the organization? Like, if you're a small business versus a mid size business versus a large business, are are there different things that you need to take in consideration when it comes to culture? Or is it just kind of like the same, just on a different level?
00:40:37.300 --> 00:40:44.580 Alexandra Bowden: That's a great question. I would say. There are some things. So, for example, the bigger the ship, the harder it is to turn.
00:40:44.580 --> 00:40:44.950 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah.
00:40:44.950 --> 00:40:51.696 Alexandra Bowden: Right. So if you've got 15 people, it's a lot easier to have the conversation and make sure everyone's on the same page.
00:40:52.565 --> 00:41:20.050 Alexandra Bowden: And start putting change in place right away. If you have an organization of 10,000 people that's going to take a lot more planning, it's gonna take a lot more checks and balances. It's going to take a lot more systemization and rolling out and change management. Because you're gonna have more people that you know it's it's needs to filter down to that need to adopt it over time. And what are those checkpoints? To make sure we're adopting it properly? So it's definitely a bigger hole to
00:41:20.060 --> 00:41:45.140 Alexandra Bowden: roll that out at a much larger organization than it is for a smaller one, smaller ones going to be more nimble. However, what I would say is that the smaller ones are the ones that need to start considering it sooner, because every person they bring on board is going to have a significant impact on the culture versus one that's a little more watered down, and that that framework exists more heavily so it can be both
00:41:45.672 --> 00:41:56.600 Alexandra Bowden: but at the end of the day it is about driving behavior and driving habits and having a clear path and vision that everyone can can get behind. And and that's the same. Regardless.
00:41:58.470 --> 00:42:10.940 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: you know, little thing, I will. I'm kind of proud of the culture we have here at talk radio down Nyc. And and one of the things which I'd learned from someone a long time ago that I implemented.
00:42:11.140 --> 00:42:17.320 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: not necessarily from the beginning, but but for a number of years. Now, at the beginning of all our meetings.
00:42:17.350 --> 00:42:21.330 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: we go around the room and ask people what they're grateful for today.
00:42:21.700 --> 00:42:22.410 Alexandra Bowden: I love that.
00:42:22.410 --> 00:42:32.279 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And we start that. And and whether it's an internal meeting of just our staff, or it's getting our hosts together and and giving them updates. We have them do it, too.
00:42:32.500 --> 00:42:40.420 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So that that creates a certain feeling, a certain environment, a certain way of showing up that just
00:42:41.049 --> 00:42:45.270 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: is more supportive and and it and is more
00:42:46.090 --> 00:42:49.349 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: people first.st In a certain way, I guess you could say, Yeah.
00:42:49.350 --> 00:42:50.740 Alexandra Bowden: Yeah, exactly.
00:42:50.870 --> 00:42:53.140 Alexandra Bowden: That's a way that you've systemized. It.
00:42:53.430 --> 00:42:54.030 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah.
00:42:54.270 --> 00:42:54.680 Alexandra Bowden: Right.
00:42:54.680 --> 00:42:56.220 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I know I didn't think of it that way. Yeah.
00:42:56.220 --> 00:43:03.770 Alexandra Bowden: You have to find what you wanted. And you're and you're working it into your meetings. That that's a way to operationalize culture.
00:43:03.770 --> 00:43:06.984 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Hmm! Interesting, interesting, cool, cool, cool.
00:43:07.937 --> 00:43:34.599 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Alright, it's it's time for us to take our last commercial break. I. This is such a fascinating topic. I could go on with you for hours, but when we come back I would like to touch upon the wellness universe. But, like like, what was that all about? And and kind of? I'd love to get some reflections about, where do you see things going with culture, with all the changes happening, and I mentioned AI before. You know the the.
00:43:34.600 --> 00:43:35.020 Alexandra Bowden: Yeah.
00:43:35.020 --> 00:43:40.829 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Business is changing at at a pace faster than ever before. So I'm curious from a
00:43:40.860 --> 00:43:45.859 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: from a culture perspective where you see things going from here. Okay.
00:43:45.860 --> 00:43:46.450 Alexandra Bowden: Great.
00:43:46.830 --> 00:44:03.610 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Wonderful. So everyone, please stay tuned. You're listening to the conscious, consultant hour, weakening humanity. Our guest this hour has been Alexandra Bowden, founder and CEO of people first, st and we will be right back to wrap it all up and finish up the show. Stay with us.
00:46:11.380 --> 00:46:22.009 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: So, Alexandra, in addition to people first, st you have another passion known as the Wellness universe. Tell us, tell us about that. How did that come about?
00:46:22.010 --> 00:46:27.054 Alexandra Bowden: Yes, that is a baby I launched before I knew I was having my 3rd baby.
00:46:28.970 --> 00:46:31.578 Alexandra Bowden: So. Yes, yes, so
00:46:32.710 --> 00:46:38.030 Alexandra Bowden: That actually came. It came to me through my
00:46:38.080 --> 00:46:41.259 Alexandra Bowden: partner with the wellness universe, Anna Pereira.
00:46:41.500 --> 00:46:48.120 Alexandra Bowden: and she and her husband had owned and worked with different sports teams and other organizations.
00:46:48.330 --> 00:46:50.349 Alexandra Bowden: and saw how
00:46:51.930 --> 00:47:02.208 Alexandra Bowden: broken it really was behind the scenes. And ultimately, you know all of those those teams are are companies as well. They're organizations with people that run them in the background.
00:47:02.897 --> 00:47:11.819 Alexandra Bowden: So she started to realize, you know, there needs to be more here because what she had created with the wellness universe was really a incredible platform for practitioners.
00:47:12.350 --> 00:47:15.730 Alexandra Bowden: But she realized that there's a core problem.
00:47:16.256 --> 00:47:21.780 Alexandra Bowden: That needs to be solved. That is not done by one off practitioners. And that's where she brought me in.
00:47:23.506 --> 00:47:24.120 Alexandra Bowden: Because
00:47:24.500 --> 00:47:32.619 Alexandra Bowden: I, you know, like to have a holistic approach. I'm I'm not really interested in addressing symptoms. I really want to understand what is the core problem. And how do we fix it?
00:47:33.149 --> 00:47:40.110 Alexandra Bowden: So with the wellness universe corporate. What we have been launching is a corporate solution. For.
00:47:40.310 --> 00:47:59.819 Alexandra Bowden: like either sports or larger, more enterprise organizations where we can get in and evaluate, not just the individuals needs and priorities to get well or be their their best selves, but also the environment in which they're working. Ultimately, to me.
00:48:00.020 --> 00:48:05.409 Alexandra Bowden: if someone is doing their best, you know, to avoid burnout
00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:13.389 Alexandra Bowden: and be healthy, and have, you know, good emotional wellness and balance. But they're in a toxic work, environment.
00:48:13.500 --> 00:48:20.039 Alexandra Bowden: good luck, right? So you really have to approach it from both sides. And I think you know.
00:48:20.250 --> 00:48:27.469 Alexandra Bowden: Typically, when we talk about wellness in corpus solutions, we're looking at one size fits all again. Check the box
00:48:27.630 --> 00:48:41.159 Alexandra Bowden: you know, solutions of, we're going to do a steps challenge, or we're gonna do a healthy eating contest. And it's great that doesn't apply to those most vulnerable moments that people are having by themselves what they really need and want in their life.
00:48:41.524 --> 00:48:49.170 Alexandra Bowden: And getting them access to those resources. It also doesn't address the environment they're showing up in every day, and how that affects their wellbeing both
00:48:49.370 --> 00:48:57.419 Alexandra Bowden: internally and with their family at home. So this is a solution that hopefully will address with a psychological based tool
00:48:57.720 --> 00:49:02.920 Alexandra Bowden: both of those sides of the coin, and address it holistically.
00:49:03.455 --> 00:49:09.880 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, I I really appreciate that. Because I find in today's world.
00:49:10.490 --> 00:49:39.680 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: we so much relegate things into silos like everything's its own little thing, and and we don't often take a holistic view. We don't look at the whole picture. The whole person like even our medical system right? It's so good at treating symptoms, but not the whole person compared to like Eastern medicine like like you go to an acupuncturist. He's not just looking at one system. He's looking at your whole body and your whole thing. Not just a little piece.
00:49:40.400 --> 00:49:51.229 Alexandra Bowden: Exactly. And and that's sometimes we end up creating more problems. Right? When you use that analogy of our medical system, we people end up being on all sorts of
00:49:51.440 --> 00:50:07.199 Alexandra Bowden: drugs to combat. You know, one problem, and it causes another problem. And you just take another drug to fix that problem and then another one, and it just compounds when really what you might need are a couple, you know, lifestyle shifts, and then some support over here and a little support over there. If you're looking at it
00:50:07.290 --> 00:50:17.790 Alexandra Bowden: as the whole individual. And it's it's a problem we have, I think, because it's overwhelming and not. Everyone's brain works that way. I'm looking at my brain kind of naturally
00:50:17.830 --> 00:50:22.649 Alexandra Bowden: sees the force of the trees. You know. I I kind of view things in that way. But
00:50:23.190 --> 00:50:38.200 Alexandra Bowden: that's where I get excited about helping people break them down into bite size pieces and bite size steps. So it's not so overwhelming, because when we see that big ship that needs to turn, it's like I don't know where to start. And so it's easy to push it
00:50:38.220 --> 00:50:40.849 Alexandra Bowden: to the back burner and not make it a priority.
00:50:40.850 --> 00:50:41.460 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah.
00:50:42.060 --> 00:50:42.770 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: up.
00:50:43.310 --> 00:50:47.159 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: I I want. I want you to unwrap your crystal ball
00:50:47.599 --> 00:51:00.050 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: with what you've seen in all your years of experience, working with businesses. And and now we're at a point where business is changing faster than ever before in terms of culture.
00:51:00.050 --> 00:51:24.829 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Where do you see things going in business in general, for the next, you know, 5 to 10 years. Is it something that's becoming more important, less important? Is it something that you believe leaders will will really do more than just pay lip service to? Or is it something that most people leadership is? Oh, it's just a fad, and and we'll like you, said, check the box, and then don't worry about.
00:51:25.990 --> 00:51:28.390 Alexandra Bowden: Yeah, I think 2 things are gonna happen.
00:51:28.870 --> 00:51:38.129 Alexandra Bowden: I think a common thing that's going to happen is with the, you know, kind of quick evolution of AI. We're going to start
00:51:38.320 --> 00:51:47.989 Alexandra Bowden: creating more time for people. It's going to automate a lot of things. It's going to clear people's desks or reduce the amount of time it takes takes to complete tasks.
00:51:48.480 --> 00:51:49.660 Alexandra Bowden: And so
00:51:49.850 --> 00:51:55.069 Alexandra Bowden: leaders are going to do one of 2 things with that, they're either going to fall into the pitfall of
00:51:55.210 --> 00:51:59.889 Alexandra Bowden: great. Now we can downsize and be more lean because we don't need all these people to do these tasks.
00:52:00.110 --> 00:52:02.659 Alexandra Bowden: and that is going to be an issue
00:52:03.468 --> 00:52:10.830 Alexandra Bowden: or they're going to have more of a forward thinking understanding and realize. Now, we actually have time
00:52:10.840 --> 00:52:20.900 Alexandra Bowden: to focus on our human interactions, because that is something you cannot outsource. And I think we realize that from the pandemic right, like, there is nothing that can replace
00:52:21.000 --> 00:52:26.560 Alexandra Bowden: human interaction. And when we're talking about solving people problems, you need people for that.
00:52:26.560 --> 00:52:27.020 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yes.
00:52:27.020 --> 00:52:33.620 Alexandra Bowden: And you cannot use a robot for that, or automation for that right? So I am hoping that
00:52:33.910 --> 00:52:43.670 Alexandra Bowden: more leaders than not will have the foresight to realize AI can be a very powerful tool to reduce some of the workload and burden that our leaders have right now.
00:52:44.084 --> 00:52:45.850 Alexandra Bowden: Of trying to do it all.
00:52:45.880 --> 00:52:47.949 Alexandra Bowden: and therefore not doing anything well.
00:52:48.578 --> 00:53:02.500 Alexandra Bowden: And create the space to really focus on being a leader. You know, how do I pour into my people. How do I be intentional and strategic about it? But I think what might happen is that many companies are going to see that as an opportunity to go lean.
00:53:02.600 --> 00:53:12.329 Alexandra Bowden: and they're going to start cutting, and they're going to feel the pain of that, because at the end of the day we are working with and through people, and that should be our number one investment.
00:53:12.330 --> 00:53:38.599 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Absolutely, absolutely. You know, Seth Goding, the marketing Guru, he. He often says that like customer service is not an expense, it is a profit center, because the better you support your customers, your employees, you know the better environment you create, the more it pays dividends and loyalty and everything else. And it's a it's a shift of perspective. It's a shift in mindset.
00:53:40.270 --> 00:53:43.429 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: But before we close out the show I'm just curious.
00:53:44.116 --> 00:53:47.680 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Having started off as a dancer in your life.
00:53:48.620 --> 00:53:56.329 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: How has what you learned as a dancer serve you in being the CEO of people 1st today?
00:53:58.370 --> 00:53:58.870 Alexandra Bowden: Wow!
00:54:00.370 --> 00:54:04.879 Alexandra Bowden: I I think in a couple of ways one the discipline.
00:54:06.080 --> 00:54:21.610 Alexandra Bowden: I, you know, without the discipline of dancing, I think I'd be all over the place because I you know, Adhd, Brain, like I have all these big ideas and passions and the ability to pivot very quickly, but sometimes channeling. That can be a challenge. So the the discipline has helped me a lot.
00:54:21.942 --> 00:54:47.220 Alexandra Bowden: But I think one of the biggest takeaways I've learned from being a dancer that served me is being able to creatively problem, solve and think of things in a different way. And so I've become very open minded over the years, and I've learned that not everything is as it seems. And there's multiple ways to view things. And I think that allows me to serve a multitude of companies across industries and a multitude of personalities and leaders
00:54:47.825 --> 00:54:48.739 Alexandra Bowden: on their level
00:54:48.790 --> 00:54:59.379 Alexandra Bowden: instead of coming in. And you know, placing my thoughts and ideas on them of like, okay, let's let's try to understand where you're coming from, and and your unique position. And how do we take that and and work with that.
00:54:59.650 --> 00:55:15.610 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, beautiful, beautiful. Well, Alexandra, it's been a pleasure having on you on my show today. It's been wonderful if if our audience wants to learn more about you and your company, and and what you do? Where do they find you online? How do they get in touch with you?
00:55:16.140 --> 00:55:36.909 Alexandra Bowden: The best way to get in touch with me. You can contact me on Linkedin, or you can even visit our website. It's Www. Choosepeoplefirstcom, and we have some great resources and content we're putting out to even just start with and and dabble in or you can contact me directly I'm open to having a chat with anyone. I love this stuff so.
00:55:36.910 --> 00:55:46.869 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yeah, yeah, wonderful, wonderful. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And if you ever come back to New York City, let me know we'll get together for a cup of coffee or something. Okay.
00:55:46.880 --> 00:55:49.080 Alexandra Bowden: I would love that. It's my favorite city.
00:55:49.080 --> 00:55:54.799 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Yay, wonderful. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to come on the show.
00:55:54.800 --> 00:55:55.840 Alexandra Bowden: Hi, Sam.
00:55:56.100 --> 00:56:24.689 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: And of course, thank you, my loyal listeners, for tuning in each week. Without you there is no show. I so appreciate you all coming week after week, listening in downloading the podcast don't forget. If you missed any part of today's show, you can always catch the replay on talk, radio, Dot, Nyc and all over and Youtube and Facebook and Twitter and Linkedin. And you can find us in all the podcasting platforms, apple and Google and spotify Pandora. I heart radio.
00:56:25.030 --> 00:56:30.610 Sam Liebowitz | The Conscious Consultant: Thank you all for tuning in. Take care we will talk to you all next week.
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