Renzie Richardson – Trainer. Coach. Author.

Speaker1: [00:00:08] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for workplace wisdom sharing, insight, perspective and best practices for creating the planet’s best workplaces. Now here’s your host.

Speaker2: [00:00:31] Welcome to Workplace Wisdom Stone Payton here with you this afternoon, and you are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast trainer coach author Rienzi Richardson, a.k.a. Coach Re. How are you, stone?

Speaker3: [00:00:49] I am doing fantastic. I’m doing even better now that I see you.

Speaker2: [00:00:53] Well, that’s awfully kind of you to say, no, we’ve had this cooking for a little while. I’ve been so excited about having you come in the studio to talk about your work in general. It’s time that we that we caught up. But you’ve also got a book out. Go big, a boss attitude for success. What in the world were you thinking? Why did you stop and write a book?

Speaker3: [00:01:15] Well, I tell you, you know, we’ve been through and we’re still kind of going through this, this hiatus of, you know, what’s going on with the economy, what’s going on with, you know, this just the times that we’re in. So it gave me time to take pause and to think about and to reflect on all of those lessons that I’ve learned from my clients, what’s working and what’s not working. And I know that we give business owners and CEOs and entrepreneurs a lot of technical skills, but I feel that there’s a gap there. And so it gave me an opportunity to share stories about, you know, companies who started just like they did, you know? And what are those success stories and how do we take what we’ve learned and to learn how to be more resilience, to learn how to pivot when we need to pivot, but also just to grow and scale your company? Because what we’re doing is not about just having a business that we open the doors from nine to five. But I would think the bigger picture is, is that we’re creating jobs. We’re part of that ecosystem that sustain our communities. So I wanted to offer tools and resources to help people to see just not just the technical stuff that we do, but that we’re part of a whole ecosystem that has an impact on sustainability. So that’s why I wrote the book.

Speaker2: [00:02:32] Well, I can hear it in your voice. I can see it in your eyes. You must have this treasure trove of of intellect and ideas and expertize and inspiration that you’ve been able to draw from. Tell me a little bit about the work, who you’ve been serving and what you’ve been trying to, the value you’ve been trying to provide for them through the years.

Speaker3: [00:02:53] Well, most of my clients are women, minority owned businesses and veterans, and I serve everyone. But sometimes there are people that need a little bit of extra help. And so my goal is is when I work with women, veterans and minority owned businesses is to see if I can offer them the resources, the tools and the strategies that help them to take part in the economic economy, the economy that we’re in and giving them those tools. And a lot of times the focus is on the technical stuff. But MySpace is that is the mindset. Myspace is understanding what your strengths are and understanding, you know, those things that sometimes we get so stuck in our obstacles and things that hold us back. We get stuck there and it becomes the norm. What I’m saying is break that break that norm now more than any other time, is that you have an opportunity to take this time and the opportunity that we have in front of us. How do we grow our business? How do we scale? How do we create jobs in our community? How do we become a greater part of that, that ecosystem in in our communities? Because I think, you know, in order for us to have a bigger seat at the table, I think it’s all about job creation. That’s my belief. But there’s a lot that goes into job creation besides open the door from nine to five. There’s a lot more to that, and I’m here to fill that gap. That’s why I wrote the book.

Speaker2: [00:04:22] It must be incredibly rewarding work.

Speaker3: [00:04:27] It’s I call it, it’s hard work. It really is. I think, yes, I can give you a bunch of tools, but I love what I do, and I think everything that I do is to me, it’s hard work. It’s it’s taking a step beyond. It’s helping people and to connect with that inner space, sometimes that vulnerable space. But sometimes we have to go there in order to grow.

Speaker2: [00:04:51] So I got to know. Let’s hear the back story, how does one find themselves with this kind of career with with books, to their credit, with the level of reputation and credibility that you have in the marketplace clearly doing something that you find incredibly rewarding? What’s the the the back story? How did you how did you

Speaker3: [00:05:15] Get how did I arrive here? Well, I think if I go back and look at my my years in corporate for the the the earlier years, they were great. But when you hit that threshold or that point to where it’s time for you to take it to the next level, you know, sometimes that make other people feel uncomfortable. And so when I moved more into leadership, it’s a lot of the politics, the games and all of this other kind of stuff. And I’m saying, do I want to continue to work this way if it’s not being very, you know, I’m not getting a lot of satisfaction from that. But you also for me, it was a nudge on my shoulder. I kept getting that nudge. Say it’s time to fly, but you know, no, no, no, no, no, this is my safe space here. So but eventually, because, you know, I had a my health, you know, where I had to take a different angle. I had to do something because that stress was not good stress. So I took a leap of faith and there was a very, very wonderful doctor that I saw and he was just telling me, he said, I don’t need to prescribe you medicine. It’s not a pill that I can give you that for you to do or to take your your life, your dream to the next level. He said. You just have to have the courage to do it. And so that was that the leaping step for me to go, you know, to be where I am right now.

Speaker3: [00:06:40] But I’ve always loved helping people. I’ve always loved coaching. I was coach, I was an athlete, so I know what coaches would do for you. And so I just applied all of those lessons that I’ve learned as an athlete, what I’ve applied in corporate, and I created this platform where I wanted to help business owners and CEOs and entrepreneurs to say this is a starting place. But if you if you believe in yourself, you have the confidence and you can see and you have a vision for what you want to achieve. We can take that and put it into action and help you get to that next level. And so I love I love what I do, and I love when clients come to me and you know, they’re in the basement of their mother’s house or they’re in the. And then to say, now one of my clients, she’s bicoastal. She has a business here in Atlanta now. She also has one in California, but all before she couldn’t see herself being being able to grow and to scale at that level. So I love taking talent and even we come with talent, you know, as CEOs and entrepreneurs. But I love taking that talent and to use that talent to help companies go to the next level. But sometimes it requires us to be vulnerable and to step outside of our comfort zone. So but that’s what I love.

Speaker2: [00:07:57] Well, I can only imagine. I can only imagine the level of trust that you must have to cultivate. Just to get people to have meaningful practical conversations around some of these topics, I mean, how how do you create that kind of that kind of trust?

Speaker3: [00:08:20] Well, it’s, you know, it takes time, but one of the things I’m so grateful for is that through my clients and people who know me, they know me as a person of integrity, and I think I’m able to create a safe space where people can take off. You know, that mask to take off that, that that that outer shell that that they hide behind because that’s where the work begins. And that’s what I love about what I do. And sometimes we have to scale that, you know, like they say, pull the layers back from the onion so we can get to the core of who you are and leverage your strengths and understand how to leverage that. And at this level, it’s not that we’re getting work done because we’re doing it. It’s because we are influencing others to do the work. You know, I call it like the disciples, you know,

Speaker2: [00:09:09] Jesus

Speaker3: [00:09:09] And the twelve disciples. See what I mean? Yes, he was phenomenal, but he also had a team around him to help him to achieve all the things that he wanted to achieve and achieve. And that’s why I came up with the boss acronym. I think a lot of what we do, it’s not about religion, but I think it’s all about our spirit. You know, we’re built on spiritual strength, but that’s that inner side of us. That’s the inner in a part of who we are. But letting that represent who we are let it show up. You know, that’s what your employees are looking for. That’s what your customers are looking for. That’s how we make that connection.

Speaker2: [00:09:42] Yes. Ok, so what is the boss acronym

Speaker3: [00:09:45] Boss stands for built on spiritual strength.

Speaker2: [00:09:49] All right. So, so yeah. Speak to that a little bit more. The focus on spiritual strength that strikes me as unique. I was going to say a little bit unique. No, it doesn’t. Strikes me as a lot unique spiritual strength. Speak to why you chose to force this thing in that direction.

Speaker3: [00:10:07] Well, I think over the last couple of years with all of the things that we’ve been dealing with and the, you know, the being resilient, being able to pivot it, it’s more about the inner work are coming from within. To to understand what you need to do for your business, not just for your business, but for yourself. But it’s interesting. You know, a lot of us are out here. We’re about the hustle, the grit and the grind. But if you look at a lot of the successful CEOs, a lot of them, they believe, they believe in their spiritual connection to themselves. They. But do they advertise it? Do they wear it on their sleeves? No, they have a coach. They have a coach or someone who may be their mentor or someone who is their advisor. And they are comfortable connecting with who they are within their very but, you know, like you say, you never see a billboard. They say, Hey, I’m a very spiritual person. But truly, if you know the people and you can do the research and you can find a lot of the articles around a lot of these top CEOs, you know how they’re connected with the spiritual side of themselves and all of the things that they do in terms of their work community and their whole self?

Speaker2: [00:11:20] Yes. So these are observations that you’ve made over a very deep and rich career. You’ve you’ve codified codified some of these observations. What is the structure of the of the book? How did you lay the book out?

Speaker3: [00:11:35] I lay the book out by just starting with, you know that the mindset of entrepreneurs a lot of times entrepreneurs, they start with, sometimes you have to build a ship out of toothpicks. No, that’s

Speaker2: [00:11:50] Right.

Speaker3: [00:11:50] But but it’s the ingenuity. It’s the innovation. And in spite of the lack of resources, you know, we still get it done. But I wanted to to remind. I wanted to remind CEOs and entrepreneurs and those those business owners that even though we’re in a space right now, know if you want to call it the valley, whatever you want to call it, we can’t let this dictate who we are and who we become and what we do at this time, because it’s easy to fall into it. It really is. There’s a lot of reasons why I say, You know what? There’s no no reason for me to go to the office today. There’s no reason for me to reach out to the customers because it’s just a really dismal time that we’re in. But I’m saying that we have to rise above that and my goal is to help them to. I want to amplify their strengths. I want to amplify that. You know, all of the that they’re good about everything that they’re doing, but also those areas where they feel challenged or those areas or the fear of losing their business. You know, how do I remove those that mindset and elevate them to say, you know, there’s a silver lining here in order for me to take my business and continue to take my business to the next level? But we have to do the work.

Speaker2: [00:13:06] So. Was there a part of the book that came together particularly easy for you? Like on a Saturday morning and or a part of the book that you just really struggled with trying to find the right analogy or metaphor or storyline or something? Did you have something happened on either end of that continuum?

Speaker3: [00:13:26] Yeah, right. In the book, it’s easy to write about the good stuff, the positive stuff. But as I was, you know, I’m writing this book, but I’m also I’m feeling some of the my my stuff come up, you know, just because I’m a coach doesn’t mean that I’m you’re here. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, as I’m writing this book, it’s I’m having to also deal with some of the stuff that I have to work on every day. And that’s just part of my story, you know? And so understanding like, you know, while I’m writing the book, what are the lessons that I’m learning? You know, that I can apply to my business, apply to me as a leader to apply to me as a strategist, to apply to me, you know, in terms of how I help my clients. And so but I couldn’t let that be the focus of the book, right? But it was an opportunity to take this and and learn from those lessons that I learned from my clients, but also to apply them to me as well. So it was an opportunity for me to, I guess you say, not that I was looking for it, but it reminded me of the work that I have to do as I was writing the book.

Speaker2: [00:14:43] Yes, it’s it occurs to me that committing your ideas to paper like this and particularly committing them to paper and getting them out there for the public to to consume. Even if you did not sell a lot of books and I’m sure that you have and you will continue to do that, it must help crystallize your own thinking and make you a far better practitioner. Just. Is that accurate?

Speaker3: [00:15:10] Is that an accurate stone? That is such an accurate statement. And and thank you for saying that. Yes, it does, because it’s just like a coach. It’s if you think about some of the great coaches, Pat Summitt. She’s one of my great coaches and someone that I’ve always just admired. But if you look at as great as her game was, she always seek out opportunities to perfect her game. Ok, so she was someone that I really, really admired. And so no matter how you know, my customers will say and my clients have said, I love what you do, I love the results that I’m getting. I can’t rest on my laurels and say that that’s it. You know, I think perfecting your craft, perfecting who you are, what you do, your leadership. It’s a it’s a it’s a it evolves over time. It’s a constant learning. You’re in a learning mode if you’re receptive to the lessons you’ve learned and you want to apply those. And if I can learn something else that is going to help my clients, I’m open. I’m totally open to that. But yeah, right? In this book, I could see myself in some of the struggles that I had as a business owner starting my business. I can see also how I came out of it as well. The lessons that I’ve learned. And so but I just couldn’t let it just be totally about me and my experience. But looking at it from a broader scale and looking at people from different walks of life and how they started their business to struggles to turn around and you know where they are today in their business? Yes.

Speaker2: [00:16:50] So let’s do talk about the business side of things for a moment, and maybe you’re helping. It sounds like maybe you’re helping coach many of your clients do this through some of these same challenges. But my observation has been over the years, particularly those involved in professional services, that they’re practicing their craft. Some of them are writing books or doing radio shows or, you know, or they’ve got a YouTube channel or whatever. I know in your case, you were kind enough to share with me before we came on air that you had this wonderful young man in your life. Your grandson, heir?

Speaker3: [00:17:22] Yes, my grandson, heir. Yes, and that’s that’s part of it. Also, when we are, you know, when we own a business and you’ve probably heard this story, you know how we put in 60, 70, 80 hours a week and it has to be about balance. You have to have balance where you have time for family, you have time for friends. If you’re a spouse, you know, how did you create and carve out time to be that husband, to be that father? If you’re a mother, you know, how do you carve out time to take care of yourself, to be that mom, to be that, that, that wife? And that’s part of our balance in finding that balance is part of that inner, that inner spirit because you can’t. Carve yourself up and say, OK, you know, I’m just only going to focus on the work while I’m here, but I’ll put the, you know, I took the family away and I’ll deal with that later. People in our lives, they they become the fabric of who we are. Ok. And you can’t just pull the threads apart and think it’s going to, you know, stay together. It just doesn’t work that way. And a lot of times when you see that entrepreneurs, business owners and CEOs, if they’re there’s a disconnection or disengagement, we sometimes we want to disconnect that human side of who we are and focus on the business.

Speaker3: [00:18:47] But it just doesn’t work. It does not work. You can not serve others from, you know, from here outward. It starts from within. And so that’s I, you know, even with me having to find that balance when I’m spending time with my grandson earlier is that, oh my god, I forgot to send that email. You know how I you know, I need to pause this and go do a meeting with a client. But when I’m when I’m with him, I mean, I’m intentional. I’m very intentional about the time that I spend with him. I’m very intentional about the time that I take for myself. But all before, it was no big deal to work 60 hours a week, 70 hours a week because I love what I do. But when do we recreate ourselves and take time to re-energize, to recreate ourselves and put and feed ourselves, you know? And yeah, we feed others. That’s perfect. That’s great. But we also have to take time to feel ourselves as well.

Speaker2: [00:19:46] So, so what does a coach re engagement look like, particularly on the front end is where my real interest is at the moment. Is there this this soul searching discovery? What is it like in the early part of the of the engagement?

Speaker3: [00:20:05] Well, when you know, when a client comes to me, I want to get to know them is not just about doing the work, I want to get to know them. So the first part of the meeting is just connecting, having conversations, learning more about them, their lifestyle, their family, who they are as a person. And then from there, if I feel like I can help them, you know, I tell them about the 12 step signature coaching program. I tell them about, you know, my coaching style and what that involved. Because it’s not about you arriving with to, you know, to work with me at where you are. And this is, I call it baseline and then you still remain where you are. You know, after you complete the program. So I’m very intentional to let my clients know it’s about us, the two of us working together. Or if you’re in the group coaching program, it’s about working and being available and engaging and being present in that program because I take a baseline to say where you are and when you leave, I want to be able to say this is your baseline, but this is where you are now. And sometimes I push them, I push them because how do I know what I’m doing is working if I don’t give you an opportunity to apply it, right? Yeah. So I do. Sometimes I push them into a, you know, outside of their comfort zone to see if they’re applying the strategies that we’ve talked about. And that gives me insight to say, is there something that I need to calibrate here?

Speaker2: [00:21:35] So is the work confined to to business owners, entrepreneurs or do you find yourself also working with execs high potentials in larger organizations?

Speaker3: [00:21:45] Absolutely, absolutely. Because a lot of the work I say, human behavior is human behavior. Whether you’re a business owner or if you’re an employee, right, it’s that it’s that it’s on the behavior that I look at or sometimes those obstacles that are hindering people to take their career to the next level. But even now, you have so many people who are exiting corporate because you’re saying it’s just the only way to work, right? You know? And so with that in mind, you know, people are saying, well, if I have an opportunity to do what I really want to do and what I love, you know, how do I get started? What is there a platform out there to help me to get started? So two of my clients I recently took on, they are VIPs. There are VIPs in the corporate, but this pause has given them a time to reflect and to think about what truly matters. And so they’re wanting to take their expertize and look at how they can use it in a different way. So a lot of the coaching that I do right now for people who are thinking about exit in or transitioning out of corporate is to help them to explore, how do you take what you have, the skills and everything that you’ve learned over the last 20 years? How do you package that into something that you really want to do and how you can serve others? And so that’s where a lot of people are right now. Is, you know, saying, is this the only way to work? Can I do something that I enjoy and create more space for myself, you know, in terms of how I work, how I play and how I live? Yes.

Speaker2: [00:23:20] So let’s talk a little bit before we wrap about how to get the most out of the book. I know there’s there are insightful observations in the book. There’s counsel, but if you could just kind of share a broad stroke overview stone, you want to get the most out of this book. Do it this way. Do you have some advice on that front?

Speaker3: [00:23:44] Yes. You know, I I can tell you, you know, go read all of these articles and synthesize it and and come up with five points. You know that that you read in that article. A lot of the content that I wrote in Go Big a boss attitude for success. It’s it’s a roadmap. It tells you like, you know, with your employees, you know, what are some of the things that you can do to engage your employees to make them part of your your success stories, how to share your your dream? Because one of the things about growing and scaling your business is that if you’re trying to do it in a vacuum and, you know, hold it close to your chest and don’t let anybody know about it, how how do you share that? How will people say yes, I can get behind your dream. So it tells you some of the ways in terms of how you share your dream. Your why? Why are you doing this? How? Why does it matter to you? Because you want your team to get behind you? But throughout the book, it tells you the five key points are things that you can do to engage your team, to engage your leadership and to just make a difference. Make your organization a place where people want to come and where people feel welcome.

Speaker2: [00:24:57] And you mentioned a little earlier in the conversation there’s being exposed to the information and and bringing it in, but you need to go out and act on some of this stuff. Oh, so your head over the fence, right? Go get some data in and make some adjustments, right?

Speaker3: [00:25:12] Yeah, it’s all about action because it’s it’s only information if you don’t act you. And and here in the book, you can decide, you know, it’s broken out into chapters and stuff. You can decide where you are and what matters most to you and where you feel like you want to get started. But it’s a blueprint that will tell you, you know, here are some steps to take without you feeling like, you know, I have to start from scratch myself. But how do you take the information in the book? Utilize that information and apply it to where you are, you know, in your company and how you can. You apply it to yourself?

Speaker2: [00:25:49] Talk to me a little bit, let’s just as a completely hypothetical, let’s say that I know of a number two guy in the media company as experiencing some success, and it’s a little bit nervous about the growth. You have a chapter in here about managed growth. What might you tell that guy if he does in fact exist? What would you tell him to look out for? What should he be excited about? What should he be cautious about?

Speaker3: [00:26:18] Well, first and foremost, to really appreciate the growth, you know, it’s that’s in itself is something that is, I say to be grateful for. Is that growth? And it’s great. Oh, yes, this is great. The company is growing, but if you don’t manage the growth, what it’s just like your strength, something that is good for you. It can also become a weakness. Yeah, OK. So one of the things I would say to this person. Ok.

Speaker2: [00:26:49] Just purely fictional characters that were fictional.

Speaker3: [00:26:53] I would, you know, Les is great to have that. But now let’s take a look at what’s growing. Why is the business growing and what pockets are the business growing? Because now that you know that? How do you leverage that? How do you manage that? Do you want to look at how you can increase it even more? Or do you want to temper that to make sure that all of your systems are in place? All of the people that you need are in place. All of the resources that you need are in place in order for that growth to happen without, you know, it being, yes, you’re scaling. But now all of a sudden you crash. So it’s great to grow, but it can’t just you just can’t put it on autopilot. You can’t put it on autopilot. But I think it’s a great time to to take a look at the business. What’s growing about the business, why is the business growing and then how do you leverage that? And and you may have to decide, do I need to bring in additional resources to support the demand for what I’m doing and what I’m offering? And if so, what is the right? Do you wait till the last minute to do it? Or do you go ahead and create a plan now, you know, to say, if I need additional resources to support the growth, what are those resources that you need and how do you bring them into the organization in a way that does not disrupt what’s in place now? Ok. So I would suggest that now would be a great opportunity for you to look at what’s growing about the business and why the business is growing.

Speaker2: [00:28:26] Well, I’m really glad I asked for a couple of reasons. One, this reminder to be grateful. I mean, we’re so blessed. This is what we do for a living. We have these kinds of conversations. I mean, you know, it’s very comfortable living. It’s incredibly fun, rewarding work and to stop and be grateful for what. Yeah. So that’s a that’s a that’s a marvelous reminder right there. And clearly, this thing can get kind of get out of control in a hurry if we don’t think through what systems repeatable, transferrable processes, you know, do we need to have in place to the word you used was tamper to kind of temper the growth?

Speaker3: [00:29:07] Exactly, exactly. It would be ideal, I guess you say, idealistic, you know, with what was the guy’s name who played in the movie? Build it and they will come. Costner and Kevin Costner does that again.

Speaker2: [00:29:22] For James Earl Jones. They were both great. Both of

Speaker3: [00:29:24] Me. Yeah. You know, no, it’s it’s a little bit more than that. Do you like to think that way? But it’s a lot. It’s it’s more it’s it’s a lot more that goes into that because sometimes when we grow and we’ve seen this in the headlines where companies have been growing and all of a sudden they crashed, you know? Oh yeah, yeah. So, so so you have to manage the growth instead of saying, Oh, it’ll just happen on its own or just let it grow. No, no, you have to manage the growth. But now at this stage would be ideal. Like for you to go ahead and take a look at, you know, the company, what you need, what resources you need. Because the goal of it is that you’re growing, but you want to sustain that growth. That’s the most important thing is sustainability.

Speaker2: [00:30:12] All right, for those folks out there that don’t have their own radio show and therefore their own signed copy from Coach Reed of Go Big a boss attitude for success, where can they get their hands on this book? What’s the best way for them to get this thing?

Speaker3: [00:30:26] It’s a couple of ways. If they want to go to Amazon.com, you can do a search for the book by my name, Renzi Richardson. Or if you is on Barnes, Barnes and Noble, or you can go to my website. Bhf L Group backs that BHF L Group Backslash Shop, and if you go to the website, you will see my books as. Well, as the merchandise on the website.

Speaker2: [00:30:51] Well, Kothari, it has been an absolute delight having you on the show. Thanks for coming and visiting with us.

Speaker3: [00:30:58] Yes, I’m glad to be here because you know, your reputation is just, you know, I say, Oh my God, how’d I get on this show?

Speaker2: [00:31:08] We got a camera guy in here today. Did you get on tape that’s going on social media this afternoon?

Speaker3: [00:31:15] Yeah, but this has been fun and thank you so much. I really appreciate

Speaker2: [00:31:19] This. Well, it is absolutely my pleasure, and let’s do it again. Let’s don’t wait so long next time.

Speaker3: [00:31:24] And exactly, exactly. You know, because it’s been what about a year the first time we met?

Speaker2: [00:31:29] I believe far too long. We’ve got to do this more often we have to. All right. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Coach Re Mr. Lindsay Richardson with her new book Go Big a Boss Attitude for Success and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying We’ll see you next time on workplace wisdom.