Turning Challenges into Opportunities: A Conversation with Jay Maymi on Biz Bites

Turning Challenges into Opportunities: A Conversation with Jay Maymi on Biz Bites

 Turning challenges into opportunities. That’s the topic for this particular conversation with Jay Maymi. In this episode of Biz Bites, if you have ever been someone who has faced a challenge, whether it’s personally or professionally, whether it’s for you or it’s with your team, then you don’t want to miss this episode.

Check out some of these little excerpts before we get into the show. And I did all sorts of things. I always was. Involved in helping people, but I realised early on that was my calling it was doing something where another person Benefited from us meeting and it had nothing to do with money It was just seeing how they could have an improvement or enhance it in their life Because of what I could bring to them and then once you find purpose You can arrive at a place of peace because you know why you’re here and what you’re supposed to do.

People go through life as wandering generalities, never figuring out what I was called to do because they never took the time to inspect their gifts. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Biz Bites proudly brought to you by CommTogether, the people behind Podcasts Done For You because we’re all about exposing other people’s brilliance.

Don’t forget to subscribe to Biz Bites and check out Podcasts Done For You as well in the show notes. Now let’s get into it.

Hello everyone. And welcome to a special episode of Biz Bites because we have Jay Maymi with us, who looks like he’s a talk show host. He is an author. He’s a coach and he is driving lots of people too. I guess bringing out the best in themselves is a simple way of putting it. But Jay, firstly, welcome to the program.

Anthony, I appreciate you having me on the show. You and I connected for about a year now, and I think this is something that’s going to bring a lot of value to a lot of people. Yeah, I look forward to that. And I think I’ve done a little bit of an introduction, but I always love my guests to, to give their own introduction.

How do you describe what it is you do? I’ll just piggyback on what you started to say there. I am a radio talk show host. I’ve got a syndicated show called the Jay Maymi Talk Show. I’m going on the fifth season now. I’ve been an author and a speaker for the last 15 years. I also am a professional competitive bodybuilder.

I do that as well. Coaching, on the coaching side, I do more sales coaching and sales psychology training for those that are entrepreneurs, or just trying to find better ways to communicate a message with more effectiveness and style and pzazz. And I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was 13 years old, was growing up in Spanish Harlem trying to figure out ways to buy the latest, greatest sneakers.

I would go out and pick up bottles and cans for a nickel, trade them in for a nickel a win. At 13 years old, it flickered my entrepreneurial spirit and ever since then I’ve owned multiple businesses and I’ve had a chance to do a number of cool things that, that’s allowed me to get a real feel for people and how to help them best.

I definitely want to unpack all of those things about about what you’re doing to help lots of people. And we’re going to get into a lot of that stuff, but let’s, cause you’ve started with it. I want to ask you about that the your beginnings and that entrepreneurial idea. Did that have anything to do with family and things as well, or was that just you?

Sometimes when you are cornered in a situation that you have to figure out ways to survive, that’s when all of a sudden, whatever’s in your genetic DNA flourishes, it evolves, right? They say that desperation is the mother of inspiration, right? And sometimes when you go from a sense of urgency to a state of an emergency, You have to become very crafty and clever and creative at just finding ways to survive.

And at 13 years old, me and my brother, we were, I’m a twin, we were a product of adoption in the late 1960s in Spanish Harlem, New York City. It’s a very good, very difficult place to, to grow up. There’s no shortage of poverty and meagre living and all sorts of ways to get in trouble if you really wanted to make money, but the wrong way.

We didn’t grow up that way, our parents didn’t do that, but it was a difficult time. And my father worked three jobs, my mother was a stay at home mom. We didn’t have the luxury of all the cool things the other kids might have had. In order for us to buy those things, we had to go out and figure out ways to make money.

And when you’re 13 years old, what can you do? Except pick up bottles and cans. And so That sparked the reality, at least in me, that some people saw bottles and cans seeing poop and garbage. Me and my brother saw opportunity and profit. So it helped us understand that a person can look at one thing, the same thing, but two different perspectives and those perspectives are based on their environment, their surroundings, their upbringing, and necessity.

All right, I had to see those bottles and cans as a nickel. I had to see, I didn’t, I couldn’t see it as a bottle or a can. I had to see it as a way that if I collected enough of those bottles and cans throughout the course of the week, I could buy something nice. And then from there on in That’s the interesting thing, isn’t it?

That perspective that you have to have. And interestingly enough, having been, having had the childhood you did being adopted and living in a tougher area perspective is going to be is, has to be a lesson that you learn very young, isn’t it?

It sure is. And you have to grow up very fast and become very resourceful. Very fast. But you also have to understand what good decisions are and bad decisions are. Because in that environment you can make a decision not thinking it’s a bad decision, but it could be the worst decision you could make.

And I came very close to those decisions just because it was so easily to make. Living there and under those conditions. So it’s all about perspective, but with perspective comes discipline and wisdom. Hey, we hope you’re enjoying listening to the Biz Bites podcast. Have you ever thought about having your own podcast?

One for your business, where your brilliance is exposed to the rest of the world. Come talk to us at Podcasts Done For You. That’s what we’re all about. We even offer a service where I’ll anchor the program for you. So all you have to do is show up for a conversation, but don’t worry about that. We will do everything to design a program that suits you from the strategy right through to publishing and of course, helping you share it.

So come talk to us, podcast done for you. com. au, details in the show notes below. Now back to BizBites. Yeah, absolutely. You know what’s interesting about what you just said there as well is that, there’s someone who’s, we’re on the other side of the world to each other. And the images that we see of those harder areas is dominated by what we see in particularly in TV and film.

And they always focus on the negatives, don’t they? What we see is more of the, the people who do go off the rails. We don’t see a lot of the people who do and chat, who do change like you did. And when you look at that from, exactly, if you look at what TV portrays And the media portrays, if you’re on the other side of the world, peeking in over at our side of the of the globe, you’re probably going to get a healthy dose of all the negative stuff.

All the things that would cause anyone to say, I’ll never go there, or how could those folks live like that, or, and just a whole bunch of negative images. But there are a number of people that rise up through the garbage and are able to succeed because they do find positive avenues to pursue. It’s not all awful as it’s painted.

It’s not as bad, but the reality is it’s part of our own our own environment that you will find those types of neighbourhood and those types of people. That you see on TV. So with that change in perspective that you had, what was the point where you started to think beyond the sneakers and and what the next steps were for you?

I saw something I started to realise something in myself, Anthony, that I enjoy helping people. I really, and not because of the money, because you didn’t really make a lot of money anyway. But when I stopped with the bottles and cans, and I started to pursue something else self driven and entrepreneurial, it was doing taxes for people income tax returns.

As a 16 year old the only other option that at that time that people had was the typical H& R Blocks, and those are franchises around here to get taxes done. And they were ripping people off with charging high prices, and in a low economic neighbourhood, I thought to myself, what a great way to help my community.

I’ll learn how to do taxes, and I’ll charge them 20 bucks for a tax return. Because I knew those folks were struggling. That led me to becoming a personal trainer. Helping people. That led me to go on to do other things that, in social services, I was a social worker for a time. And then in ministry, then I did all sorts of things, I was always involved in helping people.

But I realised early on that was my calling. It was doing something where another person benefited from us meeting. And it had nothing to do with money. It was just seeing how they could have an improvement or enhance it in their life because of what I could bring to them. That’s still jacks me up today.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? Because you You hold on to this idea that really dates back to when you were a kid and is still driving you because it’s, it is that very same idea of seeing the nickels and not the dirty bottles. Correct. And it’s what you’re seeing in people.

Correct, correct. I think what’s important too, Anthony, is, and I speak about this often, once you recognize your calling, and people are, they can be challenged with that. Because they never take the time to identify their gifts. And, once you identify your gifts, it’s easy to determine what you’re supposed to do.

And once you figure that out, you find purpose. And then once you find purpose, you can arrive at a place of peace. Because you know why you’re here and what you’re supposed to do. People go through life as wandering generalities. Never figuring out what I was called to do because they never took the time to inspect their gifts, right?

But once you realise that, like I did, you tend to stay to the highway that you’re on. And I’ve often heard the cliche, hey, stick to your lane. You might have heard that when people say, hey, don’t do too many things, stick to your lane. I disagree with that to an extent. I say stick to your highway.

You can create multiple lanes. As long as it is on the same highway. My highway is of a helper, a teacher, an inspirer, an encourager. That’s my highway, and if I’ve got to create another lane that accommodates that calling, I’ll do it. It’s when you go off the highway to another highway doing something that you weren’t called to do, not gifted to do, no business doing.

That’s when you’re going to run into some trouble, right? But if you stick to your highway, once you understand what it looks like, I think the rest of your life can be so full of peace and joy because you’re doing what you’re called to do. I love that. And I think what’s interesting too is that I see it, not just personally, but in businesses that do it as well, where they get called off to the side roads and veer off in a different direction.

And often the lure is money and Ego. Yeah. And sometimes it’s just opportunity that they think is there that, that they’ll eventually get back onto the main road, but you spend so much time diverted off to the side that you don’t realise it. And and I find that fascinating how often you see that’s what happens and and bringing people back to their own purpose, and uncovering it.

I think, I don’t know if you’ve found this, but I often find that sometimes there are people that are on the right path. But they don’t know why. And it’s only when they reconnect with their purpose that it strengthens that ability to go down that highway and not get veered off to the side. They stopped chasing the shiny pennies.

Alright? If you know what your coin looks like, and you’re happy with it, you won’t, you’re less likely, rather, to chase the shiny penny that might look nice, but is valueless. Alright? And you’re right about, your point you make about businesses, that’s probably one of the challenges that businesses have, small businesses, entrepreneurs.

They’re quick to change, to chase the shiny penny. And it brings me to a quote from a a mentor and former guest of this program, Paul Dunn, who’s when I first heard him speak, said your career is nothing more than a collection of selected pivotal moments. And those pivotal moments, if they’re attached to your purpose are going to drive you down that highway, right?

That’s exactly right. That’s I can attest to Paul’s statement to be actually true, at least in my life. Yeah, it most definitely is for me as well. I find it I’ve come full circle because in some respects, because I started my career and in radio where you’re at and working in talkback radio.

And I guess I strengthened my skills in, in, along the way in terms of marketing and communication, but now bringing it back through podcasting and able to really join that back together. And I think that’s great. Yeah. When you can do those things, it just makes such a difference because you want to turn up every day.

That’s exactly right. And it’s not considered work if you really enjoy it. I don’t consider, and I’m sure you, Anthony, the same way. You don’t consider what you do work, right? It’s just an extension of what you do, that you love. And if it’s not one thing or another, you would find something else that can accommodate that same passion you have.

I know what work is. I’ve been there when I had a job in social work. That was work. I didn’t really enjoy it as much. I did it because I liked helping people, but I didn’t like the surrounding. That was work. What you and I do, if you enjoy it, it’s not work at all. Yeah. I know. I wanted to ask you about that.

The the radio side or the talkback side of things, how, first of all, how did that come about? But secondly, is that something that you could possibly have imagined as a 13 year old, that you would be on the radio? I did a little radio in college. So I did have that experience and I’ve always hosted shows.

And when I was in the entertainment world, I was an off Broadway actor. So I did all that. In my early twenties I did a number of films but radio was not something that I was on my radar, but it became part of my, it hopped on my radar of the worst possible times that I could have been offered.

The opportunity to go on radio was the month after COVID hit. And I had just moved to Dallas, Texas. I’d been in Dallas maybe 10 months, still trying to figure my way around. And I was doing a a Zoom networking meeting, because they had shut down the networking meetings. Everything was Zoom. And a woman approached me as a, send me a private message and she said, Hey, I’ve been watching your videos.

She’s a program director for 570 Cliff, which is a radio station in Dallas. Love to have a conversation. I thought she was trying to sell me air time or commercial time. And she said, Hey, we want to change the station. It’s a very conservative, old station. Want to give it a new facelift, add new energy, love your messages, your talk, your energy, your accent from New York.

And I thought to myself, who would want to listen to me? It’s, we’re just COVID. It’s COVID! And everything is shutting down. I’m in Texas. I don’t have a southern Texas twang. I’ve got a hardcore New York accent. Who’s going to listen to me? I’m a nobody here. But I just felt boy, if there was ever a time that people needed to be encouraged and inspired and uplifted, it was that time.

Two months later, I went on the air. In fact, wasn’t it something interesting, Anthony? July 15th, which is the 15th over here, I think it’s the 16th over there. Today makes my fifth year. Of being on air. I got on air July 15th, 2019. Wow. And today is the fifth year. Yeah. Happy anniversary. Thank you.

And for those that maybe don’t know the industry particularly well, that is a big achievement to get to five years on air, because there are plenty of programs that last weeks let alone months or years. It is a, it’s a great. Reflection of the fact that what you’re doing is resonating.

And I’m grateful. I look back now and I’m so thankful, Anthony, that I didn’t say no. To, to Lynn, who gave me a chance to come on the air. Because I’ve been personally impacted with the stories of people that I’ve met and spoken with. And I know that I’ve done the same for others as well.

It was exactly what people needed to hear my style of talk and my messages of inspiration and hope during that first year of COVID, which was very difficult, especially out here. I don’t know how severe it was in Australia, but it was pretty severe here. They needed. Something positive and it was just divine timing.

I can whilst I’m in Sydney I certainly have plenty of friends in Melbourne and I can tell you, I think they experienced the most lockdowns of anywhere. It it certainly was a very stressful time and a time that is, Forever changed the work environment, particularly, but also had a huge impact on people and what is important.

And I think that’s, I was going to ask you about that is, is we talked a little bit before about purpose. Do you think that has changed a little bit, that people have connected a little bit more because they’ve experienced this idea of being at home with family and separating themselves from that daily grind?

I think so. I think it brought to light. The need to recognize that no one’s promised tomorrow, right? No one’s promised the rest of today. Forget about tomorrow, we gotta get through today first. So it did, at least in my experiences, it gave people a chance to realise the value of how they invest their time.

And instead of the pursuit for promise and progress, the pursuit for family and the pursuit for what matters most needs to get equal attention, equal time. Because from one day to the next, something out of the blue, unplanned, never imagined, can wipe us all out in a way. And what good does it do to pursue something that you’re never going to arrive at?

I heard that a lot on air, heard it from friends, and I think that still resonates today with a lot of people. I think it most definitely does. I think by anyone’s measure, it’s interesting times in the world at the moment. There’s politics, there’s war zones, there’s financial crisis left, right and centre.

And it’s a challenging period. I know on the other hand, you’ve got people that will tell you that the most difficult times is when the most millionaires are made, and that’s definitely true, but that’s not, but there’s a lot of people out there who are definitely challenging.

Absolutely. struggling and how do you connect with those people? How do you want to, what’s the message that you want to start trying to deliver more and more of that you’re obviously doing on a day to day basis, but what is it that you want people to hear? I think that it’s important for people to recognize a couple of things and that’s a great question, Anthony.

The most important thing for people, I think, in my opinion, in my observations, is for people to recognize that whatever struggle they’re going through, they’re not the first one, they’re not the only one, they won’t be the first, they’re not the last. There is a commonality of struggles that the human race is going to face.

And if you’re going through something, maybe your business failed, maybe your maverick failed, maybe your kids are out of, or lost, or anything. There’s others that have walked the same walk and have gone gone through it. You’re not unique in whatever problems you’re facing. I think when the person gets to the place where they think that what’s happening to them, How bad, it could be awful, right?

However bad it is, if they think there is no escape from it because no one else can relate, that’s a dangerous place to find yourself in. So that’s the first thing I share with people. Whatever you’ve gone through, whatever you’re going through, I’ve been through it, other people have been through it. And they’ve gotten past it, so you can too.

The question is, are you willing to find the resources, the individuals, the coaching, the classes, whatever it is that you’ve got to get your hands on in order to get through that difficult challenge, whether it’s business or personal or whatever. Right now, one of the things I’m a big preacher of is get yourself in a good place health wise.

In a place of wellness and well being. And even if you’re in a tough place now, depressed, discouraged, you can find your way out of it, but you’ve got to locate the resources. That’s a big part of my message. It’s okay. and seek the resources and then be diligent about implementation. It doesn’t do anybody any good to read the book that tells you this is how you lose weight, this is how you build your business, this is how you become better at XYZ but you don’t implement any of it.

It doesn’t do you any good. In fact, you’re probably worse off than before you started because before you started, at least you had the excuse I didn’t have the knowledge or the resources or the book or the coaching. So you could probably get away with that. But if you have access to it, and then you don’t implement it, then that’s the biggest mistake you can make.

So it’s recognition and then the resources and the implementation. That’s my step, my three steps for progress. It’s such an important idea. Firstly, the idea of investing in yourself. I think this is a more modern trait and it’s still not as common as it should be. And whether you are employed or whether you’re a business leader it’s, I still believe it’s incredibly important to invest in yourself and, Whether it’s coaching or any other, whether it’s courses or whatever other thing you’re doing and to give yourself ultimately the resources.

And then, as you say, it’s the implementation is the hard part. And I think too often people Attend a conference is a good example and you get really fired up straight after the conference and the next few days you’re excited. And a week later, you’re bogged down in all the other work.

And two weeks later, you’ve forgotten about what the conference was even about. It’s very difficult to not be overwhelmed, to get, to have the implementation happening because you’ve got the small steps that actually make it possible to get there. Agree and I think the longer, you hit the nail on the head, Anthony, the longer you take to take those actions that require immediate response, the chances are, the greater the chances that you’re probably not going to get it done anyway, right?

And everybody knows that. Everybody knows that. But yet there’s people that still fall into the trap of delay and procrastination. And they find themselves a year later in the same place. In the same place. And I think that’s a human character flaw. And I think we all can be victimized a victim of that.

But if you’re diligent. And if you’re, and if you’re hungry Anthony, I think you do a lot of coaching you know this a lot of it has to do with how hungry you are for change, and are you really serious about seeing your situations change, or is it all lip service? And I think for a lot of people it’s lip service.

Oh, 100 percent it is. I think that’s the, it’s and one of the things that strikes me often in a lot of those environments is there’s a lot of people full of a lot of talk, and when you scratch below the surface, you find that they’re not as. They’re not as big and as as necessarily as far advanced as you would think.

There are a lot of people living off a lot of a lot of loans and not real money. And it’s, and I think pushing that aside and actually going back to an authentic self is such an important trait to be able to have as well as part of that process. You hit the nail on the head. You said beneath the surface, right?

So there’s a disease that I have called the disease of EDD and there’s many who have this disease unbeknownst to them. EDD meaning the Entrepreneurial Delusion Disorder. Ha. Love it. EDD, you know I said that one time on the show, and EDD stands for something else too, right? A medical, it’s a medical term.

The hosts on the show looked at me weird and said where’s, okay now where’s Jay going with this one? And I said, nah it’s not what you’re thinking about. It’s Entrepreneurial Delusion Disorder. It’s where they actually think they’re doing better than they are. They think they’ve got it all figured out.

They don’t need any help. They’re delusional, right? They want to do better, make more money, see see greater progress in their business, but they’re not willing to do what it takes to get there. You’re delusional. It’s a disorder. Those are probably, Anthony, as the most frustrating people to ever work with.

Because they’re just, they’re delusional. Absolutely. And the opposite is also true. In that People can be delusional in a sense of overwhelm that they just don’t know what to do. And they’re just see mountains in front of them and no way of climbing them. And so they just push themselves to the bottom of the mountain and just say we’ll look up at the others who are up there and that’s it.

And we’re not probably not going to get any further. And it’s just as delusional at that end as it is on the other side. I agree. I agree. Delusion. Has varying degrees. It does. Pick one. And I, it usually is something that people are struggling with, but, and we can all fall trap to that.

I’ve been there too. Sometimes, I wanted to change tact a little bit and talk a little bit about this idea of communication and leadership and helping people sell themselves and their credentials, because it’s pulling off the back of what we were just saying, but it’s It’s something that I think we share very much in common.

I do it very much through podcasts and helping people produce their own podcasts. I anchor it. They’re the expert and we allow them to give their stories, their credentials and everything through the art of the podcast platform. But where do you see as being the biggest issue in far as getting people through that barrier to wanting to communicate and what are the best ways for them to do it?

I can tell you that the, there’s. A lot of flaws, a lot of challenges. I’ll give you just a couple of them for the sake of time. I also help people, whether it’s write a book, get a prepare a talk, present. I get, I coach in those degrees as well. People that don’t want to, interested in opening up their own launching their own podcast or radio show, what have you.

And the one thing I recognize as an immediate challenge is they lack clarity. If you haven’t dialed in your message, now you can have sub messages and sub topics and that’s okay. I have many sub topics of topics where you can branch into a lot of different areas. But if you don’t have a central theme and are crystal clear on it, what’s your value proposition?

What is it that people can expect to get from you if they listen to your show? If they read your book? If they hear your talk? What is it they can completely expect to hear from you and that you’re going to be consistent in delivering it? What is it? And Anthony, if you ask that question, at least in my experience, my observations, when I do ask those questions, it’s rare I get a clear, concise answer.

Most people are all over the place. Now again that’s, they need help, that’s what coaching is about. But ultimately, that becomes their Achilles Achilles heel. They don’t know where they’re going. Okay? So that’s the first thing. Get crystal clear about your message. And then, who’s your audience?

Not everybody’s your audience. Not every book you write is for everybody to read. Ha, right? Who are you writing to? Who is your audience when you’re speaking, your show? Who’s the audience? And then once you identify that, the next big challenge, as is how do you market to them? You can have clarity of purpose and message and meaning.

You can be clear on delivery. You can know your audience. Wonderful! But then you’re stuck in a rut because you cannot fit, you can’t market in a way that it needs to be marketed to the masses. And that’s also incredibly frustrating as I’ve been there and you’ve been there and many people that we’ve talked to are there now.

Yeah, I think it’s such a an important idea that people forget is that they get, often you see that people will, they may get help to get you to those first two phases, but then for some reason, when it comes to actually communicating with their audience, they, Think they can either do it themselves or just don’t do it at all.

And nowadays there’s a massive reliance on automation, on AI. And so they think that’s doing the job for them. And you and I see it on LinkedIn all the time. And it only takes being authentic to actually be able to have a conversation like you and I are having today as opposed to the amount of people that are ticking a box and allowing you knowis to do all the communicating for them and not really communicating who they are and presenting themselves.

Because you can only do that if it’s you doing it. Correct. Yeah. And what happens on the other side of that, Anthony? And I’m glad you brought that up because I see that a lot on LinkedIn. People after a while, they pick up on it. And if people pick up, I know when someone is reaching out to me through a bot.

It’s not them. It’s a, it’s copy paste job through a bot. I can see the way that the writing style is and the spacing. It’s just AI generated. And okay, if that’s the route you want to go, that’s fine. But then, don’t get upset when the other person doesn’t respond in kind because they know that you’re being disingenuous.

And I’m not looking to build a relationship with someone that from the get go is being disingenuous. If you want to build a rapport, build rapport with someone, and if it means you’ve got to take the time to personally send a message or reply, because it’s what’s in your heart and your head and the way that you speak and the way that you write, if it takes a little bit longer, It’s worth doing it because you’re going to build an authentic relationship, or at least you’ll start with something that’s authentic and real as opposed to fake and phony and robotic and after a while people will smell that out anyway.

They most definitely do. And unfortunately we live in a world where there’s a lot of that happening and there’s a lot of scammers that are out there as well. And I think it bashes you around a little bit when you’re wanting to get to those real things. I think that’s the challenge is that it used to LinkedIn’s a good example where it used to be that you could, you would expect that many people did not check their LinkedIn account.

Sometimes for weeks, even months. So you’d send a request and suddenly sometime later they would actually respond, but it was genuinely them, even if it took them a long time. Nowadays it’s become more and more crowded with just so much rubbish that it’s, you’re actually having to cut through all of that.

But again, If you are genuine and you work out a way of spotting the people who are genuine, then you absolutely put yourself in front and in a position where you can form those real relationships and take things to the next level. And I find it endlessly fascinating who does and doesn’t cause I’m and I’m sure you have this as well where you know people And that it’s not them, that it’s, that responding I’ve had this with someone I know that responded to a post about a podcast that I’d done and said, Oh, they sound like a really fascinating person.

I look, look forward to finding out more about them. And I’m like, you introduced me.

Yeah, that was how it happened. You can laugh about those things, but it’s but that’s the hard part is actually cutting through all of that. So I want to by the way, I want to mention that we’re going to do a little bit of a bonus bit of content for those that will follow the link in the in the show notes, and we’re going to talk about seven common denominators of the extraordinary.

So we’re going to save that up for the bonus content. But just to finish things up with you, I just wanted to talk a little bit about what you’re seeing the biggest need is at the moment. What is it that business leaders particularly really need to be doing to be stepping ahead, particularly in such a, as we said, such a turbulent time in the world.

I tell you, there is two things that I have many conversations and talks with different companies. Number one, leadership. I think that an authentic leadership that displays a level of emotional intelligence. Alright? I think you have leadership today that is disconnected with its those that they Or working with, or leading their group, their company, their organisation, there’s a sense of disconnect because they are not going down and reaching down into the individuals who they are supposed to be leading, and that creates a disconnect.

And if you’re not connected in a way that you can be or should be, you’re never going to be able to resonate with those individuals to any significant degree. They’re never going to see you as a leader. And that’s a problem. Authentic leadership with emotional intelligence is in short supply. And companies are starting to recognize it.

They’re starting to pivot in ways to develop that kind of leadership, but that’s still far off. I think that’s one problem. The other problem is creating a culture that is supportive of each other. I think if you are in any, and listen, it could be a non profit organisation, it could be a a company, it could be anything, where there’s group dynamics.

Does everyone in that group have each other’s back? When you have each other’s back, and by the way that goes back to leadership, right? If you’re the leader and you create an environment that the employees or those who work there that are part of that group dynamic, they know it’s a safe place. No one’s going to come behind them and stab them in the back.

They can be open and honest with whatever it is that they are concerned about or challenged with. And they’re not going to be denigrated. If you create a safe place like that or no one’s going to rat somebody out to get a higher position and more pay, they’re That safe place where everybody feels like, hey, we’re all pushing each other up, that, that organisation thrives.

But it takes a strong leader to understand that. To create that culture from the get go. And what I’m finding when I speak to these companies, the bigger their company, the more the workforce, it’s like the Titanic. It’s heading for the iceberg and there’s no way to avoid it. All right, because it’s just too big and the captain is not at the wheel.

He’s asleep at the wheel, right? Leadership and a healthy environment, I think those are the biggest challenges of any, small business or large business, it doesn’t matter, I think those are the challenges that they’re facing today. They most definitely are. I think anyone who’s ever been employed or knows other people that have will probably be, nodding their heads at exactly what you’ve just said there.

That, that culture is so difficult to create though. What are the what are some of the tips to actually create a culture that, that doesn’t have all of those things that, Too often does happen, particularly that, the backstabbing and the wanting to get ahead and the, I deserve this and, Removing the self interest to the good of the business overall.

That’s a great question. I’m going to tell you what the answer is, and sometimes the answer is not the answer that people want to hear. If the environment is too toxic beyond repair, then some things have to change. And I’ve always believed in the philosophy, if you can’t Change your people.

And that might be the only way you can change that environment is the old fashioned way. You start from scratch. Out here, I’m being from New York, we have the New York Yankees, right? A dynasty in baseball. For a few years, they were incredible. Then, once some of the best players retired, they were pretty bad.

Management had to start from scratch. They had toxic coaching, toxic pitching. They got rid of everybody, brought in some new people, young people, with a clean slate. And they build a winning environment again. Now, the last few years, they’ve gone to the playoffs, they’ve made it to the World Series. Shy of making it to the World Series.

That’s what has to happen. Sometimes, in order to change that environment, if it’s too toxic. Little by little, you gotta start from scratch. And bringing new people that, that they’re clean slated. And they’re, whatever baggage they bring, Anthony. They’re able to check the baggage at the door.

And delete the blueprint. and start from scratch. Sometimes that’s what the doctor orders and that’s what has to get done. Yeah, I think it’s a really important point. And it’s one that, many people would be scared of very much that. Absolutely. Absolutely. And yet you’re right, though. The best examples are in sports teams, because we often see that because we demand so much of our sports teams that, there’s a point where they go.

There’s no fixing the existing roster. We’ve got to start again and rebuild from the base up. And that takes time as well. I think that’s the other important factor, isn’t it? Because it’s it’s unlikely that you can rebuild Get rid of a few people, bring a few people in and the next day, suddenly everything’s, going brilliantly because it’s not going to happen that way.

It’s going to take time. All right. And that’s a good point. And one of the understandings is time is going to pass anyhow. So if you stay in the current environment with the current leadership. Time is going to pass the same way in that environment as time is going to pass in a brand new revamped, remodeled environment.

The question is, as time passes in both scenarios, which one in the end is going to allow you to be in a better position? Because time is something that’s going to pass, it’s going to come and go. So yeah, you make some management changes, leadership changes, It could certainly delay by the time there’s a meshing of the people.

But how much more better off are you going to be in the long run because you took those early pains on the chin early on, right? But it goes back to what I said earlier. Is there an appetite? When you get to that level, is there an appetite to make those kind of changes? And often times there isn’t so the toxicity continues.

Jay, we could talk for a lot longer. There is a one last thing that I want to ask you before we get into that bonus bit of content. So everyone check the show notes for that. You’ve written a number of books, and I’d love you to just fill us in on the latest one. But also, I’d like at the same time to ask you what’s the heart moment that people have when they start working with you that you wish more people knew about in advance.

I think that aha moment was when people realized, number one, that at least when the kind of coaching and work that I do, it’s a safe place, safe zone. There’s no condemnation. I’ve been, because I’ve been an entrepreneur and I have my resume of experiences, good and bad. I can relate to a lot of the challenges they’re going through, whether it’s business or whether it’s emotional.

And that relatability gives him a chance to say, I can open up with this individual. I could have him speak to our group because he relates to, he’s gonna be relatable to our group. That for me becomes a time when I think people realize, okay. This guy, he’s going to understand. And the fact is, if you ever have an opportunity to speak in front of a group or one on one, if the other person doesn’t arrive at a place where they feel that you are relatable and can understand and are trustworthy, you’ll never get the opportunity to speak in front of them.

You might get by one time, but it won’t happen again. So for me the aha moment is when people realize, hey, this guy’s relatable and he’s energetic and he’s funny and he’s just got a very different way to position something that I probably already know I need to do, but through his lenses, I’m seeing it differently.

I love that. I love that. So just to wrap things up, do you want to just fill us in on the latest book that you’ve got? Cause you’re the author of a few. Sure. So the latest book was really a, it’s a great book. It’s been so far my bestseller. It’s called a 10 toxic traits that keep you broke, busted and disgusted.

And that’s a phrase that as we were growing up in Spanish Harlem in the seventies, It was a common phrase that, kids have their own languages and their own lingo and they come up with phrases that are appropriate to their own age group. And so we used to go around telling each other when we saw each other in, in just this downed spirit, countenance that looked upset, concerned, discouraged, disappointed bummy, just not really well kept.

We would say to that individual, why are you looking so busted, so broke, busted, and disgusted, or look at you, you look broke, busted, and disgusted. Had nothing to do with finances. It was just your, a person’s countenance. So I wrote that book because I, I’ve identified Traits that people exhibit that is causing them to be it’s not allowing them to live the best life.

They’re struggling in being able to find the next best version of themselves. Those traits rub people the wrong way. It handicaps their progress and they don’t even know they’re displaying these traits. They think they’re okay. Like procrastination is one of them. Excuse making is another one.

Delusional is another trait. And as people read the book, they’re going to recognize. I probably suffer from four or five of those traits. I know people who suffer from two or three of those traits. So it becomes a funny way to have self introspection. But I don’t leave people hanging, Anthony. I give them ways to work through those traits.

I give them exercises to develop their personalities, to be mindful of those traits so they can get a handle on them, so they can get to that next level in life or business that I know they want to get to. So it’s a great book and the reviews have been off the charts. Fantastic. I love it. We’ll obviously include links to how people can get ahold of that in the show notes.

Jay, you’ve been an amazing guest. We’re going to record our little bit of bonus content in a moment about the seven common denominators of the extraordinaire. Just in, in wrapping things up for the main podcast, I do deliberately note that I stayed well clear of the bodybuilding side of things.

If you give me a chance to visit New York, we’re going to work out and we’ll see how that goes. Yes, I definitely want to visit, but the workout bit, I might be struggling a little bit. Okay, no problem. Jay, thanks so much for being an amazing guest on the BizBites program and we look forward to catching your show on a regular basis as well.

And we’ll include links, of course, and how to get ahold of that. Thanks for having me on the show, Anthony. Hey, thanks for listening to Biz Bites. We hope you enjoyed the program. Don’t forget to hit subscribe. So you never miss an episode. Biz Bites is proudly brought to you by Podcasts Done For You. The service where we will deliver a podcast for you and expose your brilliance.

Contact us today for more information, details in the show notes. We look forward to your company next time on BizBites.