Episode 66: You don't need a power blazer to look powerful with Majella McMahon
Jason Knight who is an outstanding graphic designer sharing his tools for creating more impactful workshop resources, and today I have invited a stylist on the show!
In the last couple of months I’ve been getting different types of guests on who can strong-hold our facilitation game. I had Julian Mather on recently sharing his advice about creating video content, Jason Knight who is an outstanding graphic designer sharing his tools for creating more impactful workshop resources, and today I have invited a stylist on the show!
I know that when it comes to speaking on stage, you want to give out your best impression and wear something that reflects who you are, but sometimes that’s difficult to create. You also don’t want to spend hours before each speaking engagement, thinking about which outfit to wear - there’s a reason why Steve Jobs wore the same outfit day in and day out; it was so he could use the energy in his brain on more complex tasks.
I met today’s guest through another previous guest, Petra Zink and we collaborated on a workshop in Brisbane last year on personal branding and communication. My guest, Majella McMahon spoke beautifully- she also writes beautifully too, if you’re after some inspiration on good copy on a website that really speaks to your target audience, then check out her website at thestyleryco.com. Majella not only commnunicates brilliantly in the written and verbal form but also with the way she dresses - she’s a stylist! And an absolutely brilliant one at that. I also follow her on Instagram and she posts wonderful images and captions to inspire you in the wardrobe department.
So there was no other person I wanted to chat to in regards to style.
Now a bit of a disclaimer, I know we have a gender split audience and Majella primarily works with women and style, so this conversation is skewed towards that, so sorry to the blokes out there! The good news is that her message is relevant to everyone, I also encourage you to listen in and I’m sure there’ll be some good nuggets for you as well.
Majella McMahon helps women connect their brand to their business in an authentic, powerful way, she shows women how to become visible, recognisable and SHINE and she facilitate the connection between brand, storytelling, style, outfits + imagery.
Reach out to Majella if you’re are looking for more confidence, a distinctive style (that makes you feel beautiful), to seek clarity in your career or business, or to become more visible and memorable.
About our guest: Majella McMahon
Majella McMahon from The Stylery Co is naturally curious about everyone. She is a Personal Branding Expert, Transformational Style Coach, Brand Image Creator and Fashion Stylist. She's intrigued by your motivations, goals, unique quirks, strange habits and crazy stories. She wants to hear it all. She wants to celebrate who you are and what you’ve achieved. And she wants to show you how to do that through your style, your words and your images.
IN A NUTSHELL - HERE'S WHAT SHE DOES:
Help women connect their brand to their business in an authentic, powerful way
Show women how to become visible, recognisable and SHINE
Facilitate the connection between brand, storytelling, style, outfits + imagery.
Resources mentioned on the show:
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Episode 65: How to facilitate for the 'Future of Work' with Pete Holliday
I don’t know if this is happening for you, but what I’m observing from people working in organisations is that time feels like it’s speeding up for them, they’re getting more work too do, they’re more overloaded and it feels like it’s only getting harder for them to keep up, leaving them feeling stressed, burnt out and wondering how things will ever get better.
I don’t know if this is happening for you, but what I’m observing from people working in organisations is that time feels like it’s speeding up for them, they’re getting more work too do, they’re more overloaded and it feels like it’s only getting harder for them to keep up, leaving them feeling stressed, burnt out and wondering how things will ever get better.
This is the new nature of work and the VUCA environment, VUCA standing for volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. I first learnt about the term VUCA from today’s guest, Pete Holliday, when the company I worked for engaged him to deliver leadership programs a few years ago. I invited Pete on the show because he’s out there, finding some great frameworks and solutions to battle the VUCA environment, using new ways to facilitate and help organisations grow.
Why does it all matter? I love the following words on Pete’s website: He said, ‘I see the same phenomenon everywhere I look. Our most trusted and important institutions – in business, healthcare, government, philanthropy – are struggling. They're confronted with the fact that the scale and bureaucracy that once created growth and stability have now become liabilities in an era of constant change.
Doesn’t that sum it up? Are you noticing the same things, whether you work in an organisation, or as a consultant as part of your facilitation work? Well listen in to hear Pete’s approach to the Future of Work and his facilitation tips as well.
** Submit your favourite Dice activity and win! Submissions close 16 June 2019**
About our guest: Pete Holliday
Pete Holliday is an Organisational Futurist & Business Agility Expert. He’s obsessed with assisting leaders, teams and organisations everywhere to upgrade their organisational operating system and adopt new principles of working. He is thoughtful, and he backs up what he says through the amount of reading and research he does on these topics.
He helps organisations suffering disruption become Fit For the Future and uses leadership, team and culture approaches currently in use by some of the worlds most progressive and high performing organisations.
Resources mentioned in this episode
Pete’s website: PeteHolliday.com
Connect with Pete Holliday on LinkedIn
Aaron Dignan’s book Brave New Work
Article: The 'How-To of Vertical Development'
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Clickhere to tweet your thanks to Pete.
Click here to tweet your thanks to Pete.
Episode 64: Facilitating events that make your heart pop with Lily Gros
Do you want to hear a really cool way of getting people to laugh the first few minutes they enter your workshop? Well listen in!
Do you want to hear a really cool way of getting people to laugh the first few minutes they enter your workshop? Well listen in!
This week's guest is Lily Gros and she’s the first French facilitator we’ve had on the show. Like me, she’s also recently left her job to pursue a full-time role in the world of facilitation to start up La Minute Facilitation, and I know she’s going to be incredibly successful after only spending a brief amount of time talking about her approach to all things facilitation in this episode.
Lilys passions is to enable you to detect your potential, nourish and activate it. She creates events that allow you to discover your potential. She also helps newbie facilitators across three areas of facilitation, and Lily explains what those three areas are and what they mean in this episode.
About our guest: Lily Gros
Lily Gros is a facilitator of laughter, audacity and happiness. She works with organizations, communities and individuals that want to create lasting impact to help them design and implement bold and impacting workshops, seminars and meetings.
With Edith Maulandi, she created "The Happy Bold" (Les Joyeux Audacieux), whose mission is to ignite happiness, boldness, authenticity and optimalism in individuals and organizations. Within The Happy Bold they organize debates, online challenges, events and a conversation game. Lily also facilitates seminars, workshops and meetings for organizations and communities.
From the first questions about the meeting to the gathering itself, she helps you to design a meaningful event that helps get the best out of the participants and create a unique and happy experience. And, to help create a new generation of facilitators, Lily created La Minute Facilitation : weekly videos, newsletters and training for newbie facilitators that want to develop their facilitating skills. She delivers online trainings (1 on 1 training and group training) available worldwide.
Resources mentioned in this show:
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Episode 63: Lifelong learning + creating magic on camera with Julian Mather
How did I find out about today’s guest? I was on the LinkedIn news feed and saw a guy, bringing out some incredible video content, some ‘how-to’s on how to use video effectively, and I discovered he lives in the same city as me, Brisbane.
Everywhere I look, every article I read, people are talking about video.
Have you noticed that?
And it’s true - if you post a native video onto LinkedIn, it actually gets 3 x as more views as regular content.
How did I find out about today’s guest? I was on the LinkedIn news feed and saw a guy, bringing out some incredible video content, some ‘how-to’s on how to use video effectively, and I discovered he lives in the same city as me, Brisbane.
When I did some more digging, I discovered this video guy, our guest today, Julian Mather had a simply extraordinary background and some incredible career pivots, seriously. I’ve never met anyone with such an interesting past.
If you think this podcast episode is only about videos, think again, there’s some insane life lessons that Julian weaves through his experiences and his stories, and on that alone, even if you’re unsure about video, is worth listening to. He also gives practical tools and insights into the future of work, and ideas on how to ensure we’re future-proof and employable. If you’re someone who has a facilitation business, it’s also nice to hear how long it took him to figure out his niche and his zone of genius… well, I certainly enjoyed him talking through the process.
About our guest: Julian Mather
Julian Mather is a career reinvention expert. It's not something he read about in a book. He earned his SMARTS by being an army sniper, a globe trotting TV cameraman, a magician, an online entrepreneur, a speaker/author … and he says, that he’s not finished yet.
He travelled the world getting a ringside view of life as a cameraman and after 20 years he had met so many VIP’s - very inspiring people - who were out there making a difference to the lives of others.
He’s achieved an awesome lot and is a maser of the career pivot, and was a fascinating bloke to interview.
Resources mentioned on this show
Julian's helpful video page: Get Video Smart (includes a link to his book, which is freeeee!)
Episode 62: 12 Rules for Facilitation: Part III with Leanne Hughes
I was inspired by Dr Jordan Peterson’s book, 12 Rules for Life, and thought I could share my thoughts, on rules or a framework that has helped me, and can hopefully help you as a First Time Facilitator.
It is here! The final part of my 3 part series for the '12 Rules for Facilitation’.
I was inspired by Dr Jordan Peterson’s book, 12 Rules for Life, and thought I could share my thoughts, on rules or a framework that has helped me, and can hopefully help you as a First Time Facilitator.
If you haven’t listened to that episode, no worries. You can listen to each of the 12 Rules series as stand-alone episodes.
If you are catching up, here are the 8 rules. If you’ve heard this before, I wonder how many you can remember?
Here we go...
Rule #1: Stand up straight with your shoulders back
Rule #2: Iron your shirt the night before
Rule #3: Give yourself a fake deadline (and convince yourself it’s real).
Rule #4: Finish at 5pm means out the door at 4.55pm
Rule #5: It takes a lot of work to look natural
Rule #6: Establish a cool-down routine
Rule #7: Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
Rule #8: Define what it means to ‘get into state’
As always, if you’d like to keep the conversation going when the episode’s over, you can head on over to the free Facebook group called ‘The Flipchart’ and share facilitation stories, tips, tools and what you’re up to!
Episode 61: How to use visuals to create more engaging workshop experiences with Jason Knight
As facilitators and trainers, we’re usually to not only deliver engaging and compelling workshops and conferences, but also develop the training materials and resources that go with it - the booklets, the Powerpoint deck, the handouts, the checklists.
As facilitators and trainers, we’re usually to not only deliver engaging and compelling workshops and conferences, but also develop the training materials and resources that go with it - the booklets, the Powerpoint deck, the handouts, the checklists.
It can get pretty labour intensive. I know it certainly does for me. And it calls on a pretty general skill set to do everything involved - the content development, creating killer slides and handouts, as well as smashing it when you deliver the workshop.
I thought I would call in an expert in design, a guy that has decided he’s going to share his graphic and branding genius to help facilitators and training companies, really drive engagement in their sessions, through the use of visuals.
His name is Jason Knight and he blends HR + Marketing together. He’s the founder and creative brains of Moved by Design, a design consultancy - specialising in UX and EX. He’s spent over 15 years creatively blending strategy and brand identity into powerful communications, for growing brands and engaging employees.
His company, Moved By Design, transforms boring L&D into a people-first culture where strategic, customised corporate learning and coaching builds talent, brains and businesses.
If you think your materials are a bit average and you want next level, listen in to this episode to pickup his ideas on how to improve them, and ways you can use design to really drive engagement in your meeting, your workshop or your conference.
Resources mentioned in this episode
About our guest: Jason Knight
Jason Knight is the founder and creative director of Moved by Design, a brand identity consultancy. He has spent over 15 years creatively blending strategy and brand identity into powerful communications, which has made him a finely tuned visual communicator. Since 2004 Jason has been the Creative Director of Moved by Design producing works for Oil Search, Ausgrid, Inghams, Bantex, Ray White, Holiday Coast Credit Union, Port Macquarie Hastings Council, and many more.
It’s seeing a business raise to new heights that drives him – taking hold of their true identity and inspiring the world around them. With a little magic and some careful planning, Jason works hands-on to directly improve a brand’s impact and customer conversion rate.
With a background in product design, graphic design and organisational development Jason has become a highly proficient creative consultant. He knows that a brand is so much more than a logo - it is the soul of a company – which is why he believes brands can’t afford not to have their identity strategically aligned and developed.
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Episode 60: Practical recipes for change with Dr Cathryn Lloyd and Andrew Rixon
What's your process for designing meeting, workshop or conference content? in today’s episode I’m interviewing two expert facilitators who have compiled over 80 activities to elicit story-sharing in workshops, in a book called ‘The Story Cookbook’.
What's your process for designing meeting, workshop or conference content?
in today’s episode I’m interviewing two expert facilitators who have compiled over 80 activities to elicit story-sharing in workshops, in a book called ‘The Story Cookbook’.
The authors are Dr Cathryn Lloyd and Andrew Rixon. Cathryn has appeared on the podcast before, in episode 52 and is a facilitator, educator, researcher, arts practitioner, and creative development coach. She is the Founder and Director of Maverick Minds, a company that specialises in creative learning experiences designed to shift your thinking, gain new perspectives and create positive change.
Andrew Rixon is a consultant, coach and educator with particular interest and passion for entrepreneurship and innovation. He’s the Founder of Babel Fish Group, a boutique management consulting company specialising in innovative approaches to leadership and change. Andrew has worked across diverse industry and organisations within Australia and internationally across the US, UK and Asia.
In this episode we talk about the importance, not only of story-telling but of story listening and story-sharing. We talk about questions you need to consider prior to designing a workshop, and through this interview, both Cathryn and Andrew share their stories on how they got to know each other, why they wrote the book, and how you as a facilitator, can use a resource like this to help develop your next workshop - whether that’s facilitating a one-hour meeting; or even a one-week conference.
On this episode you’ll learn
How you can use stories to facilitate outcomes in a workshop
The questions you need to consider prior to designing a workshop
The MIT for a story - and how you can use it to craft a story; but also use it to understand what hits
How leaders can use stories to influence change
What a great resource The Story Cookbook is, for first time facilitators!
Resources mentioned in this episode
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Click here to let Leanne know your number one takeaway from this episode!
Episode 59: 12 Rules for Facilitation: Part II
This week’s episode is a solo one and it’s Part 2 of my series, ‘12 Rules for Facilitation’. Two episodes ago, in Episode 57 I shared the first four rules. I was inspired by Dr Jordan Peterson’s book, 12 Rules for Life, and thought I could share my thoughts, on rules or a framework that has helped me, and can hopefully help you as First Time Facilitators.
This week’s episode is a solo one and it’s Part 2 of my series, ‘12 Rules for Facilitation’. Two episodes ago, in Episode 57 I shared the first four rules. I was inspired by Dr Jordan Peterson’s book, 12 Rules for Life, and thought I could share my thoughts, on rules or a framework that has helped me, and can hopefully help you as First Time Facilitators.
If you haven’t listened to that episode, no worries. You can listen to each of the 12 Rules series as stand-alone episodes. Each three-part episode has four rules.
The first four rules were:
Rule #1: Stand up straight with your shoulders back
Rule #2: Iron your shirt the night before
Rule #3: Give yourself a fake deadline (and convince yourself it’s real).
Rule #4: Finish at 5pm means out the door at 4.55pm
I’d be really keen to hear what rules you’d invent if given a chance. What are some things you really stick to, that are non-negotiable? Send me a rule you like to stick by when you facilitate, you can instagram me @leannehughes. I am a huuuge fan of Instagram and I love when listeners post their screenshots of the listening into the podcast and tag me. It makes my day!
As always, if you’d like to keep the conversation going when the episode’s over, you can head on over to the free Facebook group called ‘The Flipchart’ and share facilitation stories, tips, tools and what you’re up to! You can also sign up to the monthly newsletter called ‘The Flipchart, be great to see you on the list there!
Like this show?
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Episode 58: Hold your workshop outcomes lightly with Kirsty Lewis
Our guest today is really passionate about how learning is designed and delivered. She believes that good things happen when you bring likeminded individuals together from the world of training, facilitation and coaching to learn, to grow, to share and connect. She’s also here to support businesses who have a passion and desire to develop their facilitation and training talent internally.
Our guest today is really passionate about how learning is designed and delivered. She believes that good things happen when you bring likeminded individuals together from the world of training, facilitation and coaching to learn, to grow, to share and connect. She’s also here to support businesses who have a passion and desire to develop their facilitation and training talent internally.
Her name is Kirsty Lewis, and she’s the Founder of the School of Facilitation, based in the UK. She is the perfect person to have on this show for First Time Facilitator listeners, as in her business she hosts classes and events that bring new ideas, skills and ways to facilitate, train or design and works with corporates to design learning and coach in-house trainers and facilitators
On this episode you'll learn:
How boldly writing down a career goal changed her direction in life
Why she encourages facilitators to take care of themselves first: mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually
How she preps the night before and morning of a workshop
How she resets the energy in a room
Why she believes time on your feet matters (but you also need another essential ingredient
Systemic constellations: What it is, and how it can transformational for people when you don’t have the words to describe what’s happening to you)
How she differentiates between workshops and gatherings
Some of the common themes she notices when First Time Facilitators work with the School of Facilitation
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Episode 57: 12 Rules for Facilitation: Part 1
These are my 12 Rules for Facilitation. My non-negotiables. I started writing this episode when I was debriefing my 'lessons learnt' after facilitating a two day conference this week.
When you reflect on the workshops and conferences you deliver, each of us has a different style and a different way of bringing yourself to the party.
These are my 12 Rules for Facilitation. My non-negotiables. I started writing this episode when I was debriefing my 'lessons learnt' after facilitating a two day conference this week.
When I was brainstorming this list, I thought they sounded pretty similar to the rules that Dr Jordan Peterson’s shares in his book ‘12 Rules for Life’.
I thought it may be useful for First Time Facilitators to have a little compass, a little true north of their own, so I’m sharing what I think are the ‘12 Rules for Facilitation’.
This is a three-part series, the other two episodes will come out in future, interspersed by the interview style shows just to mix things up. Four rules per episode!
Resources mentioned in this episode
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Episode 56: The small truths of facilitation (and taking care of yourself, systematically) with Tim Pence
As I’ve explored in earlier episodes, when you’re up delivering and facilitating workshops, you’re not only using a lot of mental load, but it’s very much a physical job, too. Today’s guest recognises that and he’s a pretty cool system of checking in and making sure he handles that physicality, I’ll let him explain in the show how he does that.
As I’ve explored in earlier episodes, when you’re up delivering and facilitating workshops, you’re not only using a lot of mental load, but it’s very much a physical job, too. Today’s guest recognises that and he’s a pretty cool system of checking in and making sure he handles that physicality, I’ll let him explain in the show how he does that.
His name is Tim Pence and he owns a company called smalltruths. Tim is based in Melbourne, Australia and I met him recently at a ‘Train the trainer’ workshop in Sydney. On more than a few occasions he has been called the 'smiling assassin' because while he likes to have a bit of fun he never forgets that the reason why he's up on the stage is to challenge individuals/teams/organisations and drive performance outcomes.
On this show, we also explore neuroscience and neuroleadership and how it helps to communicate with people who need scientific data, storytelling, and Tim shares his advice for First Time Facilitators.
On this episode you’ll learn:
The career pivots that led Tim to starting his company, smalltruths
How, as an introvert, he developed the confidence to speak and facilitate in front of large groups
How he uses a system to track how well he’s taking care of himself
How Neuroleadership has helped him connect with technical members of his audience
The advice Tim was given by a professor, that helped him realise it was okay to give it a go in front of a room
Tim’s take on the key skills for fantastic facilitators
Why he values the CliftonStrengths tool and how he uses it to help individuals and teams
His advice for First Time Facilitators
About our guest: Tim Pence
Tim's entire career has focused on human development and performance improvement and he channels this in the areas of leadership development, culture change, coaching, personal diagnostics and targeted skill development.
He has worked with incredibly diverse populations along the way which have helped him to consider, reflect on and adapt to various perspectives
Before founding smalltruths, Tim was a Principal in the Leadership & People Development Practice at the Nous Group. Tim believes that his diverse career journey makes him well suited to contemplate life's 'small t' truths and help individuals, teams and organisations improve their performance.
Although Tim is an introvert he is passionate about facilitating and loves to be up on the 'stage'. His feedback forms regularly include comments about his effective use of humour and high energy to facilitate positive outcomes.
Resources mentioned in this episode
Tim Pence’s website, smalltruths
Screenshot this video and DM me on Instagram @leannehughes
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Episode 55: Facilitating once in a lifetime workshop experiences with Steve Sims
Today’s guest runs the coolest workshops I’ve ever heard of, no joke. And how does he embed learning at the end of these workshops? By making people practice the skills they’ve learn, when they rock up to Sir Elton John’s Oscars after-party.
Today’s guest runs the coolest workshops I’ve ever heard of, no joke. And how does he embed learning at the end of these workshops? By making people practice the skills they’ve learn, when they rock up to Sir Elton John’s Oscars after-party.
Not too many people can say that to their clients...But today’s guest, is a one of a kind guy.
His name is Steve Sims. Steve is the man who created Bluefish, a company that makes once-in-a-lifetime events happen for the rich and famous reveals to the rest of us his trade secrets for making things happen. With his help and expertise, his clients’ fantasies and wildest dreams come true.
Steve is the author of the Bluefishing: The Art of Making Things Happen, and he has a podcast of the same name. Steve has spoken at Harvard and the Pentagon, twice. Getting married by the Pope in the Vatican, being serenaded by Elton John, and connecting with powerful business moguls like Elon Musk are just a few of the many projects he has worked on.
I really wanted Steve on the show to talk about a few key things - the assumptions we have about asking for things, how confidence; and your approach can take you far and (literally) open doors. We also talk about the perfectionism beast.
If you’d like to join the conversation when the show is over, join The Flipchart, a free community on Facebook for First Time Facilitator listeners.
About our guest: Steve Sims
Steve Sims Steve is the visionary founder of Bluefish: the world’s first luxury concierge that delivers the highest level of personalized travel, transportation, and cutting-edge entertainment services to corporate executives, celebrities, professional athletes, and other discerning individuals interested in living life to its fullest.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Steve Sims Website
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Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
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Quotes of the show:
“I'm a great believer in keeping liability low.”
“The greatest growth comes from the greatest accidents.”
“It’s incredible to have people just be able to realize the rich people are poor people with a lot of money; things don't change, just that bank account.”
“I'm a great believer that perfection is a blue unicorn with three testicles; it doesn't exist.”
“I don't believe speakers should give speeches. I think speakers should have conversations with thousands of people or hundreds of people.”
Episode transcript
View the First Time Facilitator episode transcript with Steve Sims.
First Time Facilitator transcript with Steve Sims
Here's the episode transcript with Steve Smith from Episode 55.
Here's the episode transcript with Steve Smith from Episode 55.
Don't want to read it? Click here to listen to the First Time Facilitator conversation with Steve insteadE
Leanne Hughes: It is an absolute delight to welcome to the First-Time Facilitator podcast, the Wizard of Oz himself, Steve Sims Sims. Steve Sims, it's so cool having you on the show.
Steve Sims: It's a pleasure to be here.
Leanne Hughes: Thanks. But I guess you're a bit different to other guests that we've had on this podcast. So your main gig isn't facilitating workshops but when I thought about having you as a guest it was because you facilitate these once-in-a-lifetime experiences for your client so I'm really keen to dive into that.
I was watching your speaker's reel and someone in the audience puts up their hand and they ask you the question, you know: What drives you? What keeps you going? And you showed a really great story. I think that would be a really great beginning- if our listeners haven't heard of you. Can you tell us what happened when you were 11 years old with your mother walking down Bond Street?
Steve Sims: Oh yeah. You know you get those moments in life which you think are just going to be uneventful and an impactful and it's the smallest thing that can really just change your life. I was walking down a place called Bond Street and like every city in the planet they've all got that one Street where all the posh stores are.
And you've got Madison Avenue, Fifth Avenue, Bond Street, Barham Street. So there's all these different places around the planet where you wear your Gucci, Prada and all the other brands are on. Me and my mom walking down and I'm just a young kid and I'm holding onto my mom's hand and we're walking down the street and she stops and turns around on the corner of the curb and looks across the road into a Gucci store and in the window was a handbag.
Now, of course me being an idiot, you know I'm a little kid I'm thinking, “Huh, we're going to cross the road now!” and there was no traffic so I stepped off the curb to cross the road and she yanked me back and I was like, “What? Aren't we going across there?” and of course like you know I'm a little kid I don't really care by looking at handbags but I just thought that was what we were doing. So as we were so poised and staring at it and she literally pulled me aside she went, “No, no, no. I'm just looking. We don't go in there that's not for us.” and we walked off again.
Now, it was obvious she liked what was in the window. I don't remember the handbag, I do remember the store, I remember the exact window she was looking in but I just remember the kind of embarrassment / intimidation / fear who she had about walking into what it in all purpose is a bloody shop.
And it bothered her and I suddenly realized that she had been brought up on “them and us” scenario and basis and I just felt how bad that actually was and how sad that was and it was a daftest thing but one of the most impactful moments in my life.
Leanne Hughes: Hmm. So this whole “them versus us”. When did it really start? That's a great story from when you’re 11. Was at the moment that really changed your mindset like when did you start thinking that you could bring together at them and ask that you actually had, you could cross the line that you could be part of us. When did that sort of happen and play out in your career?
Steve Sims: Uh, it is kind of weird. It's like saying, “Hey, when did you realize that you had two arms? Or “When did you realize that you were left-handed or right-handed?” You don't, you just are. And as I grew up, I was ignorant and I think one of the advantages I had was that I was uneducated and ignorant to affluence.
So you know I live now in Los Angeles and we roll down Beverly Hills and every second car is a 2 to 5 hundred thousand dollar vehicle. It’s Rolls Royces, Lamborghinis, you know. It's constant and even without being in Beverly Hills, everyone's Instagram profile can easily show a 20 grand watch or scene on an aircraft or you know there's- we're bombarded now with people that are apparently more well-off than us. As an East London boy, I never had that.
So I also never woke up with the fear of it. So when I started doing- when I wanted to be more affluent, when I started doing door work and wanting to hang around with more affluent people and get him into parties and things like that, I didn't have a fear of talking to them because as far as I was concerned they were just the same as us, there was no difference in it and so I was very lucky. It’s like the kid that walks up and touches a hot plate. You know it's a hot plate but they're oblivious to it and they'll only going to find out once they touch the plate that it's hot.
With me, I was walking up to the front door of these parties, in these clubs, and these red-carpet events and just walking through the door because I had an air of an intimidation may be the ones are a little bit better. As a big ugly lad, I've done a lot of door work in my younger years.
You get these people when they walk towards a club there's a line-up on the left or there's a front door with the two doorman. Now, if you've noticed you get these people just walk straight through into the club, don't they?
Leanne Hughes: Uhmm.
Steve Sims: You’ve noticed that. When I stood on the door, as people walk to me, there'll be a natural selection. There will be people that go, “Oh, I have to go and stand in the line.” and then there be other people that go, “I'm not standing in that line. I'm going through the front door.” There's a natural Darwin selection then they do themselves as to where that's supposed to be.
Now, of course you get some idiots to walk up the front door and you can see they're not going to be spending a lot of money and you have to tell them to get in the line. But nine times out of ten you walk up the front door and you go, “Hi guys. How are you?” and you just walk straight you go, “Have a good time.” and you look apart and you're respectful.
You get to walk straight in and I noticed that. So as I grew up, I never had the intelligence or probably the overbearing saturation of what affluence was supposed to do to you i.e. intimidate you, scare you and make you desire it. I never had.
Leanne Hughes: That’s so refreshing. I'm just reflecting back on a moment in an airport. So I kind of did the same thing. I swore through this premium way line and I probably wasn't meant to be there but and I just walked through and they just let me in and that was the first time I recognized.
You're right, we do have these limitations and assumptions just from the way that we've been brought up in the way I guess society dictates things and to play by the rules sometimes but yeah I think I wasn't waiting. It was a huge line, I was tired and jet-lagged so I was taking every opportunity I could.
Can you let our listeners know like what is it about that era of confidence that you see when you were the doorman? Was it you know, they were dressed a certain way or was it just didn't hesitate that they look like they belonged in that front door, what was it?
Steve Sims: They weren't fearful, they were confident. And I think nowadays and sadly is getting worse. We're losing confidence because we're losing the ability to approach each other. I heard a horrible fact the other day.
There's some people spend more time talking to AI like Siri, Alexa than they actually do with their best friends. And I thought that was terrible because on average, most days people are talking into a phone or telling the Alexa to turn the heating on or put the music on, get your speak to your best mate maybe once a month and that's quite scary that that's what's happened.
So I noticed, if you were confident you just walked up into it, “Hey, how are you doing. All right if I go in?” Nine times that's it. I know me personally, I'll be like, “Sure, go in. Have a good night.” But it's the tongue that- it's the people that come up and they're like, “Hey, ah, yeah. Hi, I was wondering-” and you go, “Yeah. There's the line.” and you move on.
Leanne Hughes: That's cool. That's a really cool skill for all of us to get through those doors are both literally and metaphorically. You spoke about- so that's interesting about technology and how most of us are talking to sort of AI and BOTS and a lot more and I've heard you know were the most connected species has ever been on the planet but at the same time we're also the most loneliest so it's a really interesting mix.
Steve Sims: Yeah.
Leanne Hughes: So there is a value I guess in making this kind of approaches. Can you talk about I guess the first kind of big wish that you made that you gave to a client? Someone that came to you requested it. What was the first one that you made happen and then you thought, “Well, there's something in this.”?
Steve Sims: Yeah and it wasn't very big. Anyone that doesn't know me, I've got people married in the Vatican. I've sent people down on the Titanic. I put people on stage with our favourite rock band. But the first one that really mattered that sent me off in a trajectory couldn't be much smaller.
I was working in a nightclub in Hong Kong and I realized that as they say, “You are the five people that you hang around with.” I noticed the most of people that I hang around with are poor. So I thought if I start hanging around with more rich people, I will become rich.
So I started trying to communicate a lot more with affluent people and it was pretty rocky in the early stage. But as the doorman, I started to tell people where the best club was, what night was the best party night. So I started to build up a value in them knowing me.
And one night these guys came in and I've known him for a couple of months by then and they came into the club and they went, “Are you going down to the yacht party tonight?” Because I was really trying to network. I wasn't very good at it. I didn't talk to a lot of people but I was always showing up at these things and I said to the guys, “You know, what your party's that?” and they told me where it was and “I don't know. I don't know.” and I lamb into the club and you know that was it.
So I stood at the front door and I thought myself you know I'd spoke to my fellow, “Wait a minute. Look after the door a minute. I'm just going to try something.” and I went down to the yacht. Now they'd already told me where it was going to be.
As I walked up to the yacht, this is like about maybe two and a half hours before it opened up to the party and there's a girl there with a flipchart just by the deck as you go up onto the yacht. And I walked up to run away, “Hey. How are you doing?” I said, “You, you’re in for busy night?
Anyway my four guests are coming over this evening. I know you open up at like 9:30, I just wanted to know would you prefer they go here at like 9 o'clock or like 10:30 you know what would be better for you to avoid the ball neck?” and she just come on look to me a bit blank and then looks down at the flipchart and starts flicking through the flipchart.
Now the dump thing was I hadn't even given her the client’s name. She was just doing this because it was a knee-jerk reaction. If you notice and we talked about metaphorically. If you know it's the most people's knee-jerk reaction now is to actually hold that phone with both hands.
If you watch people go in and they order a cup of coffee, they order the coffee and then the next thing they do is they get that phone out and they hold the phone and they start looking through the phone. Have you ever noticed how holding the phone with both hands is the exact same position that a boxer has when they've got their guard up?
Leanne Hughes: Hmm.
Steve Sims: Okay. So most people now are walking around with their guard up. Now this girl was using the flip chart to come like gather her kind of mentality work out- what's going on? What’s this guy? Who is he? What’s he asking me? She was flicking through that flipchart.
I swear she's got of a phone then if she was back in the ‘90s they didn't have them but if she'd have had it should have probably done something with the phone. But then I turned around and again and I pushed a little bit further and I said, “Well, I don't want to get in your way because I know it's going to be a busy night for you.
I just want to know, do you want them here at this time or this time?” and then she turned around she went, “Ah, 10 o'clock.” I said, “Thank you so much. I appreciate it.” and then I went with empathy. “I know you're going to have a crazy night tonight and let's be blunt. People are going to turn up, they're going to party and they're not going to say thank you. So I want to say thank you.
You got four people coming in here, here's 400 bucks. Tomorrow when it's all over you can grab a bottle of wine, nice food and just be thankful it's over. And she was like, “Thank you so much.” and I was like, “Have a good evening. I wish you would be the best.” and I went to walk away and then she stopped me and she went, “Hang on a minute, what are the guests names?” and I gave them to her and she wrote them down on the front of her list.
Leanne Hughes: Oh, wow.
Steve Sims: So then I went back to the nightclub. Now bearing in mind what you're not aware of is I only used to make about 800 to a thousand dollars a week and I'm just giving away 40 percent of that to this girl for four people that I didn't even know was still at the club, it was a gamble.
So I went back to the club, the guys were still in there I walked up and said, “Boys, I've just pulled some strings for you and you're going to the yacht hide tonight.” “Oh, fantastic.” “You're welcome. It's 500 bucks each.”
Leanne Hughes: Hahaha.
Steve Sims: And they literally just paid up within a heartbeat and I went back out to the door and I realized I just made 1,600 bucks and I had solved the problem of embarrassment. You see these guys were successful, they were good-looking, they could afford, they could afford to buy the yacht but they didn't know how to communicate, how to ask and then more importantly how do we call from being denied entrance and so with me, I was the solution.
I didn't ever say who the guy’s names were. Now, the funny thing is that girl because I've shown that I've respected her time, I paid her for her time. She let me know every party that was going on that she had any kind of involvement with. So I now started building up a network of access and from the door I had a network of after on people that liked to party.
So I started putting two and two together when I stayed game people into other people's events then I started putting on my own events and then people were like, “Oh, yeah. That was a great event but can you give me a hotel? I don't know if you do travel. I'm like, “Yeah.” So I started doing travel and then before you knew it and the real thing people started going will it. “I want to do this but I want to meet so-and-so” or “I want to go backstage. Do you do that kind of thing?” I became the fixer, I became the guy that could. There was no word for it, I just got stuff done and I got it done but just charging them and I realized how easy people were to actually pay for things.
Leanne Hughes: That's unreal and I definitely need you in my life. But I want to go back to is that question that you asked the lady on the yacht. So you didn't rock up there and say, “Hey. I've got this four guests, can we go on the yacht tonight?” You asked what time and you gave her two options: 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. Do you think it's all about the language of the ask because you basically weren't asking for yes or no you were asking for a yes and what time. It was already in the question. Do you think that helped?
Steve Sims: 100%. I learned at a very early age. See, I'm a great believer in liability. You know if I'm going to have a fight with a guy I look at the guy and I go is he bigger is he leaner, is he faster than me therefore I can get hurt I'm not going to be in that fight. So I look at liability. If I'm driving an old car I'm not going to drive it fast because it could probably break or go wrong. So I'm a great believer in keeping liability low.
Now, when I ask a question, if I ask a question that gives you the ability to say yes or no, I'm increasing my liability of getting out so I don't want especially when you consider that “no” can be said to anyone in any country and understood as a refusal. Even if it's not in the same language, you can say no in Thailand, Germany, Russia and they will know that it's a negative and in some refusal. And nine times out of ten, bear in mind it's also the shortest word in history in our language. So if I go up to you and I go, “Hey, can I get four guys on your yacht tonight?” What's the chances I'm going to get a no rather than a yes?
Leanne Hughes: 100%.
Steve Sims: Bingo. So what I did was I lose that liability. I remove it by only giving you the ability to answer with an answer that I will accept. So I go up there and I go, “Hey, what time?” I go up to people now and I don't ask them, “Hey. I want to shut your museum down, can I do that?” “Hey, I want to send my clients backstage to meet Taylor Swift, can we do that?” I don't do that. What I do is what needs to happen in order for my clients to be backstage with Taylor Swift?
What are the steps required in order for me to get you to close your museum down on Wednesday afternoon for dinner party at the feet of Michelangelo's David? I ask a question there is only going to provide me- because if I say something like that, “Hey, what are the steps required for me to have your museum closed down on Wednesday?” If the guy or girl lips looks at me and goes “no” They’re looking like a mole one because they didn't actually speak in a manner that makes any sense to anyone.
Leanne Hughes: This is so funny. So recently, so I'm a fan of Dr. Jordan Peterson and he's in Australia at the moment on tour and I've completely failed. I mean now what I've just picked up from you is- so I reached out to his agent and kind of the ask words you know. I'll fly anywhere in Australia like how can I get an interview with Jordan Peterson, 30 minutes and you know what the answer would was it was a no. But now I'm just thinking of that and maybe those ways of reframing but also possibly not even going through the agent.
Steve Sims: Well, there's another. Okay, so let's take you another step. When you’re given a “no”, nine times out of 10 is because you asked the wrong question or you asked the wrong person.
Leanne Hughes: Yep. Yes.
Steve Sims: And again, look at the liability. You go- what’s an agent's job? Now, I live in Hollywood, okay. Agents are one millimetre above bottom-feeders you know. An agent's job is to do whatever they can to earn money off of talented people. That's the job of an agent. Now, a manager is there to look after the duty or the talent and the assistant is to make sure the talent is happy all the time but the actual talent agent themselves is there to basically contract and make money from the event.
If you walk up to him and you tell him or ask him for something which benefits him in no manner whatsoever then your liability and your chances of getting a no are huge. So in that situation for a start you were asking the wrong person, it may have been better if you asked a better question but I think by asking that person you were more than likely asking the wrong person already.
Leanne Hughes: Hmm. Yeah. I think you're right. I think it was deemed to a failure to start off with.
Steve Sims: Yeah.
Leanne Hughes: Hey. I can hear through, just through your voice you're very dynamic and I like, I mean I can imagine when you're in front of a stage or in front of a workshop everyone in that room is really paying attention to what you're saying cuz you tell stories really effectively. But I want to talk about your upcoming event the Speakeasy workshop which I saw. So what you're essentially doing is it's a two-day workshop, people fly into LA. What do they do in that workshop and what happens at the end of it?
Steve Sims: So we tried- so I'm the speaker. I've spoken at God countless events including Pentagon, Harvard and even jails. So I've done a lot of speaking, a lot of different entrepreneurial events and sometimes these aggravate me because you get speakers come up there they do a presentation which they've been doing since 1973 and there's no engagement with the crowd. There’s no connection, they're just running through the slideshow that running through that very polished presentation and then they go offstage and you're left with, “Well, what actionable advice did I get there?” I know the guy's brilliant, I know the girl launched a company now she's a billionaire and I know they sold it and I know they love to travel around Italy but how the bloody hell does that help me? So what I decided to do was to re-engineer a workshop and we launched something and it was the greatest growth comes from the greatest accidents. I decided last year, early part of last year to do an event and I didn't know where I was going to do it.
So I just put it out to my community. “I'm going to do an event. It's two thousand bucks for two days and it's in San Diego who wants to go?” and I had people going, “Who's speaking?” I'm not telling you. “Who's going?” I'm not telling you. “Where is it?” San Diego. You know I was as vague as that and I said there, “You know, I want people that are willing to take his shot. I want people to look at me, know who I am, know what I do and gamble on it.” You know gamble on me and I said, “You know, if that don't work, I'll give you your money back.”
Now, one of the reasons I was doing it that way was because one, I didn't know how many people would want to go. So we've got about 40 people going. So I thought, “Okay, I now know what kind of property I've got. But then I thought of myself, “What speakers do I get in? I've got loads of friends, I've got some very interesting friends in my Rolodex. “Who do I have walk in?” and then that's when it came to me. I'm going to reverse engineer it. So then everyone that paid for a ticket, we reached out to him we went, “Okay.
What do you do? Who are you? What’s your problem?” And I asked them what they helped that hurdle the hiccup was now, today that they would like solved in order to give them a productive rest of the year and going on. And so we suddenly started getting these, “Well I want to do viral videos.” “I want to launch a podcast.” “Oh, I don't know how to get a good accounting platform.” “How do I get people to book me more speaking gigs.” We had all of these different questions and then I went out to my people when I went these are the problems that I need you to speak at my event and solve.
And so now what I did was I had speak of agents literary agents about how to write a book, video people and I'm not about top shelf people in there talking about how to do a video, how to get the best audio you know. How did not spend a fortune on doing again Podcast studio put together. The difference between an omnidirectional mic and a dynamic mic. So we had people come along. They literally would give a presentation on who they are, what they do and how they do it and then go, “Right.
These would the questions I would ask let's get these solved now. What are you using?” and because the group was only about 40 strong, they could literally reach out go, “So who's doing this? How are you doing it? Let me solve that.” So by the time they leave the room, you haven't heard from a brilliant speaker, you've got your problem solved. Now, here's a funny little quirk to this. Are you still there?
Leanne Hughes: Yeah. I'm all is.
Steve Sims: Here's a funny little quirk that happened. So I wanted to get it videoed and recorded so I could share it on my Speakeasy Facebook page. The video guy let me down he didn't turn up. So then without realizing it the community suddenly started turning around going, “This is brilliant we never knew where it was going to be, we didn't know who was going to turn up and what happens here stays here because no one else will ever get it that wasn't in this room.”
So actually someone turned around and said, “This is like a Speakeasy you know. If you don't know the password to get in you're not getting in.” and we’re like, everyone knows I like whisky so I was like you know, “That's brilliant.” So we did a Speakeasy San Diego. The original one was a quarter, a speakeasy it was quarter of a verse mastermind but then we called it- we didn't know what the bloody hell to call it and then we did them we did three other Speakeasys’ last year including New York and then we've got one in LA which we are and it's next week. But we didn't, we- again didn't even tell anyone where it was until I think it was yesterday because we wanted to know how many people are coming, what's your problems watch your questions and it's really reverse-engineered or what a normal speaker workshop/ event should be and it's been gentlemen a great community as well so how many a great deal of fun with it.
Leanne Hughes: That's so cool and what's the event that culminates the hold sort of two days? There's a pretty cool party that everyone's off to I believe.
Steve Sims: So one of the things that I actually- you've been doing your homework.
Leanne Hughes: Well, he's my favourite artist. I love the guy so much.
Steve Sims: Alright. So one of the things that I like to do is I want to shake you up and get you into somebody else's sandpit. So what we're doing is we're doing two days of a Speakeasy where we're going to get your problem solved, introduce you to different perspectives, different growth, more family members which is what you'll gain within the entrepreneurial guests at the event and then after that we'll all get dressed up and we're going to serve Elton John's Oscar party with basically or the A-list of Hollywood.
So we did that last year in New York where we did two days in Soho, had a bunch of really cool cats come in and solve problems and then that evening we went to Sir Elton John's gala at Cipriani in Midtown. So it was the chance for you to learn all this information and then be sat next to the guy that owns the New York Jets or who owns the Rockefeller Plaza you know millionaires and billionaires so that you can see that just like you. You're having a conversation now with people that are one table have the financial economy of a small country and you're on that table with them and it's been a real eye-opener for a lot of people to actually come back from there and go, “You have no idea who I was talking in the toilet with him and then I was having this conversation about with so-and-so and Ralph Lauren was there and I was talking about is his new linen.” And it's just it's incredible to have people just be able to realize the rich people are poor people with a lot of money; things don't change, just that the bank account.
Leanne Hughes: Yeah that's a really interesting perspective. It's also probably the coolest workshop that I've ever heard of and this would be like episode 55, I believe. I think you've just won the coolest workshop ever. And that's definitely a party I wouldn't want to get too pissed at because I want to remember every moment. So I love as well-
Steve Sims: Yeah.
Leanne Hughes: Yeah with your approach. But the speakeasy how I guess a lot of the time when we run workshops we want to make sure it's perfect before we even you know put it out there to advertise so we'll spend a lot of time creating all the content and everything else and then like you said you might get people that actually want something a little bit different. They want to be involved with your community but they're after something else so it's a really interesting approach. I've got to ask you-
Steve Sims: I'll go interrupt there for a second. Tell me one thing that's perfect.
Leanne Hughes: Oh.
Steve Sims: You see. I'm a great believer that perfection is a blue unicorn with three testicles; it doesn't exist. So what I do is I have a saying that I drill through my kids and it's basically my mantra and I say, “Get going then get good.” and every day that I pull something out someone would go, “That's brilliant.” I'd be like, “Yeah. It's really, really, really good and I'm really happy with it but I bet you in two months’ time I'll find a way to be able to make you better.” So why do I want to wait chasing that unicorn that let’s be blunt, doesn't exist!
Leanne Hughes: Yeah and there's something really key in momentum isn’t then by putting it out they’re getting in the feedback.
Steve Sims: Oh, yeah.
Leanne Hughes: Yeah. It is sometimes I guess when your own as well working on your own business it can be tough because you think you're at your own worst critic sometimes as well.
Steve Sims: Yeah. Absolutely. So yeah, and you're the old paralysis by analysis. You'll sit there for years, you're doing a 400 page PowerPoint on how this could be brilliant and then all of a sudden you'll just keep second guessing yourself and getting in the way of yourself and someone else will just do it and then do it and fail and do it and get better and fail and progress and succeed. So what you're thinking about it someone else is getting all the education and actually building up a platform that you can't even compete with.
Leanne Hughes: Yeah. Actually, that's a really good point and how I got this interview with you a bit of background. So I heard you on Travis Chappell's Build Your Network a few months ago and I was like, “I need to get Steve Sims on my show.” but I let it sort of simmer and was waiting for the right time. Then I was out for a drink in Brisbane and I met this guy called Jus, who interviewed you on his podcast a marketing podcast and I said, “Oh, you got Steve Sims. I want to interview Steve Sims.” and he's like, “Well, let's just shoot a video now and send it to him over Facebook Messenger.” and I'm like, “No, it's too dark.” and all these excuses. Anyway, we did it and voila! I have an interview with you despise seizing that opportunity and it wasn't perfect, it wasn't a perfect video but it worked.
Steve Sims: Yeah. Yeah and Jus is a great guy by the way. It’s just one of these things that what would you have done that could have been better than what you did.
Leanne Hughes: Yeah. Well, I probably wouldn't have got around to it to be honest. There's so many other things on my-
Steve Sims: No, you wouldn’t of.
Leanne Hughes: No.
Steve Sims: You wouldn’t of. You've just sat that guy with, “Well my hair is not lie and hang on a minute, how do I do this? Oh, we got to get the lighting right.” I released a podcast and literally I was at an event and someone said to me with the people, “You know Steve Sims, you should do a podcast and I was like, “Yeah, that sounds fun. Yeah, that sounds cool.” So I just went online and I just posted online: “Shall I do a podcast?” and I got a bunch of people going, “Yeah. You should do a podcast.” I was like, “All right.” I got a microphone and I found a place in the corner of my garage that didn't have too much echo and I started calling up my buddies and started doing a podcast and I got to about the 18th episode and the first six were revolted they were all- but the daffy was had I not started, I'd have never been in able to be in a position to realize how bad they were and as they weren't even released then I was able to just remove them. In fact, I think it was like the 12th episode became the first one. I've got a better microphone, I learned the difference between dynamic and omnidirectional mics. You know I learned all of these things and now I have a podcast that I still do in my garage with a nice microphone and I just do it and I've got better and better and trust me the ones I'm doing now I quite like. By this time next year, I'll probably look back at those and go, “Oh, my God that’s rough.”
Leanne Hughes: Yeah and that podcast is the art of making things happen. So you sort of really talk about taking action which is what we've kind of just been exploring over the last few minutes.
Steve Sims: Yep.
Leanne Hughes: A lot of these skills as well- So you talked about you know effectively communicating, how to ask questions. You cover that in your online course, The Distillery. What else what other content do you cover if listeners want to sort of learn a bit more about these kind of key skills?
Steve Sims: Well, we try to put in there simple steps but also it's me doing the course, there’s no one else. So the whole premise behind it, the whole underlying theme is if an ugly bricklayer from London can be doing this with the Pope and Elon Musk, you're already out of excuses. So then I walk you through how to build up confidence, how would it look for impact, how to provide value, how to be irresistible in any conversation. So it's all about how to position yourself to get what you want while giving given the person what they want and that's what's in the course. It’s a 16 chapter course and we're also throwing off the regular videos in there.
So it's the kind of content that's constantly going to be growing. Whenever we do cool videos, we add another couple of videos. It started off literally as 16 videos and I think now there's maybe 24 in there and every month were adding more. So it wants to become a resource library, there's got to become your friend and when you join the distillery you also get access into the private speakeasy Facebook page and in there you get to mingle and communicate with different members. They post up what they like, they post up what they're frightened of. It’s a very open-naked environment where you could talk about things that bother you.
Leanne Hughes: Awesome. And we'll link to that in the show notes. Just on the on the topic of confidence, what is your advice for any of our listeners who are first-time facilitators, first-time presenters that are getting the confidence now just to step up in front of a room what advice would you give them?
Steve Sims: Are you about our speakers?
Leanne Hughes: Yeah.
Steve Sims: Right. Okay. So stop being a speaker and I mean that. I did a speech, I was the opening keynote for a big mortgage convention about two weeks ago and I would speak into their heads of this mortgage cooperation a couple of seconds before I went up on stage and they pay me well to be up on stage and I went up on stage and I went, “Hey, good morning. How I-” cause it was in the morning I was the opening keynote. I usually don't do morning speeches but I did and I said, “Hey, good morning. How are ya? I hate giving speeches.” and you saw the front line of the people that paid me to be up there go, “Oh, my God.” and I just I looked at the audience and I said, “I don't want to stand up here and tell you about how brilliant I am. I'd love to have a conversation with two and a half thousand people about how what I've done and do can make you brilliant. Now, if you don't want me to do that tell me and I'll run through a 90-minute speech and I'll tell you what the stories that make you giggling, you can clap loud two minutes like demented sea lions when I walk off. But I would love to make you better, smart or productive or more impactful. What do you think?” and that was within the first few seconds and of course they would start clapping. I got a standing ovation at the beginning of a speech.
Leanne Hughes: What? That’s amazing.
Steve Sims: It was brilliant. But the people that are paid me went from holding their hands and abs ticking like, “All right.” So the whole point is I don't believe speakers should give speeches. I think speakers should have conversations with thousands of people or hundreds of people but they should have conversations and in a conversation there are things that are a primitive from primeval to make that conversation work and that the first one is engagement and the second one is value. If you can engage someone in a conversation by entertaining, telling them jokes, you know whatever, wearing a funny hat, whatever it takes and then you can feed them with value that benefits them then you'll be on a stage every day your life for as long as you want to be.
Leanne Hughes: Hmm. That's wonderful advice and I've got to say I've had to move myself away from the microphone because I've been laughing a lot through this conversation. So I'm sure that humour has really served you well in your career as well and really opened the doors as well. I can tell you know you're very easy to talk to, very open and very funny which I think people love. So if our listeners want to communicate, find out more about you and you've got a ton of stories about I mean you've mentioned just very quickly the poet behind mask Elton John and there's plenty of other podcasts where you can hear about those stories. I just wanted to focus really on the confident side of things with you and the cool workshops you're running. So where can people find you?
Steve Sims: Well, I've got a website it's Steve Simsdsims.com. If you sign up for the newsletter you'll actually get one of my favourite videos called the chunk test and you'll also get a PDF which would be the cheat sheet from the book The Art of Making Things Happen: Bluefishing. So there'd be a couple of freebies that you'll get. But then you're getting notified of where my speakeasies are. You're getting notified of my new videos that I post up where I just throw rants about things that bother me or make me smile or make me happy or annoy me or tips and tricks. See I love failing, so I'll try different things and then I'll do a video going, “Hey, I just tried these three microphones. These two are shit. This one was brilliant and this is why.” and I will just do reviews on just the randomness kind of stuff I can.
Leanne Hughes: Awesome. I do follow you on Instagram so I love it. I love an occasion rant from right- instead of the perfect shot gym model. It's good having you, it’s a bit of a contrast.
Steve Sims: Did you see my Tai Lopez and Grant Cardone rant on the beach then?
Leanne Hughes: I haven't seen that one. No. After.
Steve Sims: Yeah. I was- I actually did a speech. It’s funny because in December I had a bunch of speeches in June and September and November of this year but I had nothing for the first part of the year. So in December my wife said to me she said, “Ah, people are bored of you already.” and then all of a sudden I got two gigs in January, three in February, two in March. So it took off. So at the beginning of January, I was actually in Mexico speaking to a high-level workshop down there. So I did a bunch of my little rants literally from the beach and if you don't like the rant you'll certainly love the backdrop and that's on my Instagram Steve Sims D Sims.
Leanne Hughes: Awesome. We’ll linked that as well. Steve Sims, it's been an absolute honour or just having you on the podcast and hearing all about the incredible workshops, the work you do, the people you hang out with and hearing a bit of your story as well. Thank you so much for your time.
Steve Sims: Thank you. I appreciate it.
Leanne Hughes: Cheers!
Steve Sims: Thank you.
[END OF AUDIO] 41:39
Episode 54: Team-Building: How to create appealing (and less eye-rolling) experiences with Andy Balzat
Team building. Love it? Hate it? Don’t really bother? It’s an interesting concept. I actually LOVE teambuilding and taking any opportunity I can, especially during work hours, to have fun with my peers. It seems though, over the years, team-building has got a bit of a bad wrap. The other week, I posted an article in our Facebook group called ‘The Flipchart’. The article was called ‘Stop wasting money on team-building’ and we had some interesting responses from the group. So what do you think about it all?
Team building. Love it? Hate it? Don’t really bother? It’s an interesting concept. I actually LOVE teambuilding and taking any opportunity I can, especially during work hours, to have fun with my peers. It seems though, over the years, team-building has got a bit of a bad wrap. The other week, I posted an article in our Facebook group called ‘The Flipchart’. The article was called ‘Stop wasting money on team-building’ and we had some interesting responses from the group. So what do you think about it all?
I love team-building - and I love what our guest today is doing in this space - it’s next level amazing. If you want to be in the team-building business, take a look at his site because you’ll be inspired.
His name is Andy Balzat and he’s the director and senior facilitator at Banana Life. Andy has the ridiculously adventurous background of a movie character. He’s taught snowboarding in California, climbed mountains in Bolivia, DJ’ed and played in bands around the world—and now he brings those unique experiences to Banana Life.
With a Bachelor degree in Business and Psychology, he's a creative thinker who’s happy to get his hands dirty to turn ideas into reality.
In this episode, Andy shares his experience working with organisations on creating effective, fun and appealing team building activities.
In this episode you'll learn:
How Andy started his company, Banana Life, and his comparisons between his original audience and current corporate clients
The craziest team-building activity he's delivered
His discovery process for developing team-building activities
How to quantify the effectiveness of team-building initiatives
Where Andy (and the Banana Life team) get inspiration for their next-level activities
His advice for business owners; and first time facilitators
About our guest: Andy Balzat
Leave your trust falls and group hugs at the door! Andy believes in the power of play. He understands that team building can sometimes feel like a forced activity that makes people roll their eyes and wish they’d taken a sick day. He’s passionate about crafting workshops, games and activities that enable teams to be surprised by the creative potential of their colleagues.
Andy is the owner of Banana Life (bananalife.com.au) a Brisbane based team building company. He has the ridiculously adventurous background of a movie character. He’s taught snowboarding in California, climbed mountains in Bolivia, DJ’ed and played in bands around the world — and now he brings those unique experiences to Banana Life.
With a degree in Business and Behavioural Science, his main interests lie in organisational culture, team development and group facilitation. His unique ability to combine technology, art and adventure into team building events has earned him a reputation as a one of a kind, event manager and facilitator.
Resources mentioned in this episode
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Episode 53: Team Coaching: How to help teams have the conversations they need to have with Steph Clarke
In a perfect world, we would be working alongside newly formed teams, newly promoted managers and helping to set the scene, create a team vision, purpose and values and define ways of working. The reality is, we’re usually called in when things are either starting to crack in a team environment.
In a perfect world, we would be working alongside newly formed teams, newly promoted managers and helping to set the scene, create a team vision, purpose and values and define ways of working. The reality is, we’re usually called in when things are either starting to crack in a team environment.
And it can be tricky trying to scramble together, and figure out what you’re going to do to help a team at this stage, and that’s why I’m talking to today’s guest. Her name is Steph Clarke and if you’ve been listening to this show for a while, you would have heard my conversation with her back in Episode 33.
As a team coach and facilitator, Steph creates more meaningful moments in teams to help them meet their collective potential. She creates an environment for teams to have the conversations they need to, and it involves going beyond the leadership retreat or the strategy day as she work with the team ‘in situ’ as they tackle the real work in real time.
If you’d like to join the conversation when the episode is over, and join fellow First Time Facilitators on my free Facebook group called, ‘The Flipchart’.
On this episode you’ll learn:
Some key differences between team coaching and facilitation
The importance of creating a shared language and vocabularly, to help individuals and teams articulate what’s required to grow together
Why team chaos is useful (and how it can help when teams work through chaos, collectively)
The questions Steph uses to help team’s find their purpose (and explore why it matters)
What people really mean when they say they ‘need to hold someone accountable’
Why it’s important for facilitators to notice the dynamics and explore what’s ‘unsaid’ in a workshop
How using visual facilitation (and ditching a powerpoint) can help you use more of the space in a room
About our guest: Steph Clarke
Steph is an accountant turned facilitator and team coach and pommy (that’s a Brit living in Australia for the uninitiated) based in Melbourne.
She loves finding tools, techniques and concepts that are proven and work so she can apply them and share with you and your teams. You’ll find that most of her workshops and facilitation combines the best of leadership theory, team coaching, the actionable science of behaviour change and habit building; along with the real life stories of her and her clients, to set your team up for success in effectively applying the lessons.
Steph hold qualifications and certifications in executive coaching, facilitation, LEGO(R) Serious Play(R) and a variety of diagnostic tools and methodologies. She’s also an experienced facilitator having delivered thousands of hours of training and leadership workshops to audiences all around the world.
When she’s not transforming teams you’ll find her in the pilates studio, in the kitchen, on a plane or hiding somewhere with a podcast, book or a great Spotify playlist.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Like this show?
Please leave me a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so I can thank you personally.
Click here to let Leanne know your number one takeaway from this episode!
Click here to tweet your thanks to Steph Clarke