1687 – Help In The Most Effective Way Possible with Cassa Grant

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0:58with us right now casa grant casa you are a leadership coach you are found on the web at casa grant.com that's c-a-s-s-a grant.com casa thank you so much for joining us thanks for having me josh i'm stoked to be here absolutely um so and you live part of the year in new zealand You also live in California. It's funny because I saw your New Zealand contact information. I'm like, you sound awfully American to me. Yes, I'm one of the ones that got to get lured over there by, you know, the hobbits, the short shorts, the cool accents. And my partner's a Kiwi. So I've been living there on and off for about six years now or seven years.

1:39Yeah. Oh, very cool. It's all true. It's wonderful there. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So share with us the work that you do and like who you work with and kind of the outcomes that you help create. Yeah. So, I mean, I work with offbeat leaders. That's part of what I say. I like to focus more on psychographics rather than demographics when I think about who I work with. I want people who have an identity of maybe someone who's a little funky, somebody who may have come into business in a roundabout way, but finds themselves going, oh, this is actually really fun, like me. and having this adventure with their business because that's who I am and that's who I find that I can help the most.

2:20So depending on where they're at and what stage of business they're in, it depends, like that's what we'll do is dependent on that basically, right? So that's basically who I work with. Does that answer that question? Well, yes. I wanted to point something out because I think it's quite brilliant that you work with in your branding. You say that you work with offbeat leaders, and I'm curious about that filter that you put in, because that's positioning, right? That's kind of communicating who you work best with. Tell me about that a little bit, because I think that that's, when I saw that, it immediately stood out, and I'm like, I love that.

2:59Thank you. I'm glad. Well, I started to notice who, and I think this is the interesting thing about niching. You have to go for what you're interested in, but you also have to notice who's attracted to you. And I started to notice, like I worked in Antarctica for years. I was an adventure travel bus driver for years and teacher for many years. So I have this kind of eclectic background, but it's more about, in retrospect, it's more about, I saw something I wanted to do and I went and did it. Right. And so people, I think get inspired by that. And the people who tend to be attracted to me are people who are like, Ooh, I want to travel or Ooh, I'm not somebody who necessarily got an MBA or maybe they did.

3:33I don't know, but it's more about how they think of themselves. And a lot of times actually the dark side of this is that it tends to bring up some imposter syndrome from people. And I actually, there's a lot of story. There's a lot of things we could talk about with imposter syndrome, but I think that a lot of it comes from this idea of some of these systems are actually not designed for people who are offbeat leaders, right? So we have to think about, well, how do we create spaces that include those people, but also feel included ourselves, right? So that has been a really amazing way for me to bring the right people towards me.

4:07Like, that's what I was telling you. I love my clients. I have such great clients and they are people like you who are like, Ooh, offbeat. That's me. I like that. And they don't think of themselves as this kind of state. I had this idea in my head of like, I call her Patty shoulder pads, but this like eighties business lady, when I started getting into business, I was like, who is this new version of me? I don't know what this means. And so it really helped me go, you know what, you can do all kinds of different things in business and be really, really successful. You can show up however you want in terms of your personality.

4:38And that's what has really attracted the right people to me by saying, by just coming out and saying that. Right, right. You know, and, and there's, again, it's so critical. And I think that the longer that we're in business, you know, the more, the easier is to realize that we're not looking for the wrong people. In the beginning, I think you're like, oh, I want to work with everybody. Right. Yeah. And then you go through the rite of passage, have a few bad clients. And then you're like, no, actually, I'm not sure I want to work with jerks, for example. Well, you start to realize that you get better results for a certain person who identifies a certain way.

5:14I'm not even going to say a certain type of person, but a person who identifies a certain kind of way is going to get better results. And so why not work with the people who are going to get better results with the work that you do? That's the goal is to help people in the most effective way possible, in my mind anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So what do you see right now? Obviously, we're talking about imposter syndrome. What are some of the other ailments that your clients might be communicating of where it hurts prior to their engagement with you? Yes. Okay. Well, I, there's three basic places where people come transitions, right?

5:50So they, they're just unsure. They, they know that there's a change, but they're not really sure where that change is going to take them. And they, they're not really sure where they want to go with the change. That's where, I mean, I think coach in general really helps with that. The other one is, is this it, right? So, I mean, I'm, I'm 43. I, you know, you do get some kind of, I mean, I guess you could call it midlife crisis, but it's more like I've done this much this far. I've laid this foundation. Is this where I still want to continue to move to, or should I pivot, figure out another direction or just to slightly change my direction?

6:22Right. Um, so that is a big one for people, um, communication. So, I mean, I, I socialized in branding for years. I was a copywriter and a brand strategist. And so that still influences a lot of my work. And so, you know, people were like, are people listening to me? I feel like you're not listening, or I feel like I'm not landing. And so, you know, we work on personal branding, but we also work on how to edit yourself because a lot of times people will just spew everything they think they know and the message gets completely lost. I'm sure you've seen that and heard that many times as well. So those would be probably the biggest areas.

6:59The other thing actually too, though, is my team's not getting the results I want. Like I have this vision as a leader. I want this to be a certain way, not, and it doesn't have to be like my way or the highway, but just like, why isn't the company doing the thing that we intended or why isn't the team showing up the way that we intended? Have we not given them this or whatever? So it can be, that's why I say consultant too, because sometimes there are aspects of my engagements where I'm going in and just taking a look at what's going on and then making recommendations and helping implement those.

7:29Yeah. I promise I'm going to ask some more business questions in a second. What were you doing in Antarctica? good question well as I mentioned I was a I was a bus driver I started I got my license when I was 25 and I drove this adventure travel bus all over the U.S. and Mexico and Canada and so I had my CDL for a long time and my friend had worked at on the ice in Antarctica for years and he was trying to get me to come down and so I came down as a driver I drove a bus with five foot tall tires like it's called a TerraBus. It's called Ivan the TerraBus. You can Google it. It's great. And that was how I first got down there.

8:07And then I moved into logistics management. So I started managing parts for the South Pole Traverse, our vehicle maintenance facility, all of these. It was a large department with very dynamic needs. So I did that for a couple of years there. So I was on and off down there for about five years total, three winters and three summers. Yeah. Oh my gosh. And I did, I just Googled it. Ivan the Terribus, that thing is a beast. It's a beast. He bounces along. It's pretty, I mean, he tops out at like 30 miles an hour, I want to say. It's a good day if you're going 30 and Ivan, but I mean, you see the tires and you can tell why.

8:42So yeah, it was an amazing experience and it was something that challenged me in ways that I had never been able to, how could you anticipate that? Right. And I think business is the same way, right? You get into business and you're just going, oh, what am I doing? Like I remember watching the first, my first winter, we, I was always working the flights in the airfield, watching a C-17 take off and thinking, have I made a horrible mistake? Like there's not another plane down here for six more months. And I was really nervous, but again, it just, you start and you start to see other people fail too.

9:14You know, there were people who really didn't do well. It's dark for five months of the year, give or take, when you're down there for the winter and people struggle if they don't equip themselves well. And so I do use that parallel a lot with my clients too, of like, it's all, it's about the tools. And I'm not saying there aren't other inputs that would affect how you respond as an entrepreneur or how you manage your team. But if you get, if you equip yourself with the right tools, like down there, it was take your vitamin D, use your happy light, get lots of exercise, eat well, all these things became non-negotiables because you really, there was a person in particular who really was not well.

9:49And he looked like a zombie and he'd be walking through the cafeteria, the galley. And just, I just, you'd look at him and think, oh, I hope that doesn't happen to me. Right. So, and I'm sure as entrepreneurs, we all have that experience too. Right. So it's, it's facing those fears while still focusing on what you, what your goals are and, and letting that experience shape you, but not scar you if you can, if that makes sense. You know, and there's a lesson there as well. You know, and when you think about if you're going to be, let's say you're going to have a season where you're going to be doing something hard, even if it's just a week, like, listen, this is going to be a really big push this week.

10:28And, you know, to make a part of, you know, or to prioritize self-care, to prioritize grace, if you're expecting or demanding a lot from your team to just say, you know what, as a leader, I'm going to need to show some extra care and sensitivity in this case. And by the way, I'm surprised. Like, so you wintered over. I've watched several documentaries on like living in Antarctica. So like I have so much appreciation for the winter over crew because that's, you know, and the mental health stuff and like that's all part of it. I was stationed in the Aleutian Islands and not nearly as extreme, but we didn't get sun.

11:14And all the buildings were indoors. We just seldom went outside. And you're absolutely right. You have to do like, so we learn wisdom, right? From other guides, people that have been there and done that a little bit longer. And we, we learn all of their, you know, their, their hacks or their, their, their recommendations. We are new to this. And I say, well, listen, there's probably some wisdom behind that advice. You know, so don't, so, so go ahead and prioritize that. But I, again, I think there's some wonderful lessons here. Yeah. And I think that, like you said, you can take, you can take what you want from experiences.

11:52And so if you're able to really glean these things that really helped you and look back, and that's actually one of the top things that I recommend that people develop in themselves is self is resilience and self reflection. how what did I learn from it how am I going to do things differently and then actually do it right because a lot of times that's the difference between information and transformation you might have this information but if you don't apply it you're not going to get that transformation and that's how you build wisdom frankly so um you know I can use those stories all all the live long day and I do because it really even though people haven't been to Antarctica or maybe some of them have um they've been in a similar situation I mean you see it a lot with sports extreme sports or I mean you know parenting there's so many things that the ways that this kind of trial and that's basically the hero's journey and storytelling of like you have a trial you overcome it and then you learn from it or you don't like I used to say well I still say Alanis Morissette says you live you learn and one of my friends goes sometimes you just live as long as you keep paying attention right so yeah I mean having that experience it definitely like I said made self-care not unnegotiable anymore.

13:02It's like you, you really do only have your health. And so I guess that's, and especially as a leader to your emotional regulation will really show up in the way that people respond to you. If you're not able to, it's not saying that you suppress emotions by any means, but if you're not able to let them pass through you, and so you can respond instead of react, you're not going to get the results that you want, right? So it's, it's understanding how to help people regulate those emotions in a way that's going to help them rather than hinder them. Yeah. So Cassa, talk about or share like how you work with leaders.

13:38What does that typically look like? How do you engage together? So someone might be listening, you're like, huh, I wonder if I should have a, you know, if I should have a leadership coach, like what? Yeah. Tell me more. Well, I have different programs depending on what a person's situation is. So essentially what I'll do is I'll meet with somebody for 15 minutes. And then if they seem like they're a good fit, and as you said, you want to filter people. And honestly, I don't do this because I'm like, ooh, I don't like you. It's more like I'm just not the right person for you at this stage. And so I kind of fell to do that.

14:08If they seem like a good fit, we do a first session together because I want them to really understand what the experience of coaching with me is like. So they can make an informed decision and I can understand which program to recommend to them, because especially for business, I have a business program and I also have a leadership program. So I won't really know which program to recommend until we do that first. It's a two hour session. from there I'll recommend the programs they can look at them I give them the full overview and they can decide which one seems like it's most appropriate with for them the leadership one we do four foundational pieces and then we start to do ad hoc so we look at their vision their values their strengths and and how they're interpreting things and then we also start looking at true value adding activities what is good what are going to be the needle movers because a lot of times I find, especially more as I do coaching is the thing that you think is causing the problem is might not be the thing that's really causing the problem.

15:05So we really dig into, okay, what will be the things that we're actually going to have this domino effect and solve a lot of your problems if you focus on it first. And then from there, you know, depending on where they're at, I mean, delegation tends to be a big one for a lot of leaders. So we might go into delegation if that's where they feel like they're struggling, especially if someone's telling me, I have a hard time managing my calendar or I'm overwhelmed. We're doing delegation. um conflict management communication storytelling all of these kinds of things so depending on what they need we just work on that those those modules from there and um it's kind of like a plug and play basically for the business one it's a little more set it depends on where they're at but it's looking at your business systems and really seeing where there are opportunities for improvement where you might have gaps where you might have holes in your um systems or your profit profitability or any of these kinds of things.

15:54It's like taking a good close look at that. So yeah, it just, again, it depends on where the person's at and where they think they're struggling the most, but that becomes more apparent in that first session. Yeah. Listen, I can just vouch, you know, for someone that is in a leadership position and you're flying solo and you don't have someone that you can go to and talk about your worries and concerns and fears and insecurities. It's tough. It really is tough to do that on your own. And what I find pretty consistently is top level leaders that are committed to performing and being able to show up day after day after day and be the best that they can.

16:32They're making investments there. And so I just want to throw that out there. But your website, casagrant.com, and I know you've got some resources that are pretty valuable that you've put together for folks. So for someone that's listed our conversation and they want more CASA, where would you recommend they go? Well, as you mentioned, on my website, I have a resources page that has different free, and I'm not even asking you on my list. Those are just there. So you can just have them. It's the five stories every leader needs, I think, would probably be most relevant to your audience. Boost your message.

17:06So I do focus on post-personal branding and storytelling, too. So there's some stuff on storytelling and how to really make sure that your message lands. but I also honestly I have to recommend my newsletter which is weekly it's called the Saturday success story and in it I focus on different topics every week that come up either in sessions or from social media that people have reached out to me and said hey could you write a newsletter about this so it could be things as it's basically confidence branding and leadership so I focus on and a lot of those interweave to be honest too because you can't lead others until you're able to lead yourself and it's hard to do that if you're not building your confidence and you're not, as I get said, having that self-reflective practice.

17:46And it's also hard to communicate that to others if you don't understand personal branding, at least on a cursory level. I mean, I used to be very shy of, I used to be very wary of the term personal branding because it sounded like, you know, Instagram influencer, but really what it is, it's about having that intention about who you want to be and how to communicate that to other people, because that's what the value of coaching is. This coaching came from sports performance, right? who do I want to be on the court or who do I want to be on the field and how do I get there and it's the same thing with uh with leadership or with running a business it's it's having that vision and then working towards it and as you say it's very inappropriate to be discussing some of these things with uh employees or partners or parents or friends a they don't really have the experience to be able to give you the kind of feedback that you're looking for and b especially in the case of the employee you're burdening them with things that are really well above their pay grade right And it also creates a schism in how that relationship manifests later on.

18:42So, I mean, I've worked with coaches for years and it's changed my life. And that's part of why I became a coach. I think it's a really powerful modality. Yeah. All right. Casa Grant, your website, casagrant.com. Again, wonderful conversation on leadership. I love it, Cass. I love your personality as well. You're a great follow on LinkedIn. Yes, I'm very active on LinkedIn. Yes, I love it. Yeah, you are. Connect with me there too. Yeah. Excellent. Excellent. All right, Cassa Grant. Again, thank you so much for joining us. Again, your website, CassaGrant.com. Thank you so much, Cassa, for joining us.

19:17Thanks, Josh. I appreciate it.

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