1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:02,940 Robert Plank: Hey, everyone. We're talking with simonia, 2 00:00:02,940 --> 00:00:06,360 blasting game. She is a wife, mother, sister, aunt, friend, 3 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:10,500 entrepreneur and Child of God, and simonia is going to be 4 00:00:10,500 --> 00:00:15,240 talking to us about how to craft happy, healthy and sustainable 5 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:19,860 careers, how to be a superhero, how to achieve greatness, how to 6 00:00:19,860 --> 00:00:24,080 rise above those flaws, imperfections, obstacles that 7 00:00:24,080 --> 00:00:26,720 you can use to your advantage. Simone, you're glad to be 8 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:27,680 talking to you. Hey. 9 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:29,240 Simonia Blassingame: Thank you so much, Robert. It's a pleasure 10 00:00:29,240 --> 00:00:29,780 to be here. 11 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:33,560 Robert Plank: It is a pleasure to have you. And so you have all 12 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:37,280 kinds of crazy interesting things in the work. You have a 13 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:41,320 mission. You have a purpose. You are a speaker, you're working on 14 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,980 your signature talk. So what is your big idea? What has been 15 00:00:44,980 --> 00:00:47,680 happening in your world lately? What has you fired up? 16 00:00:47,919 --> 00:00:50,379 Simonia Blassingame: Right? So lots of things have me fired up. 17 00:00:50,379 --> 00:00:54,939 I am a very curious person. I love learning things. I love 18 00:00:54,939 --> 00:00:58,419 meeting new people. So lots of things fire me up, but the thing 19 00:00:58,419 --> 00:01:03,359 that sort of I've determined I'm most passionate about is helping 20 00:01:03,479 --> 00:01:07,439 women and focusing my energies and efforts on gender equality. 21 00:01:07,739 --> 00:01:11,519 And I've been thinking a lot about why that is. Some of it 22 00:01:11,519 --> 00:01:16,559 has to do with the fact that I was I went to an all women's 23 00:01:16,559 --> 00:01:20,099 college where I learned and appreciated sort of the first 24 00:01:20,099 --> 00:01:23,779 time the the benefits of sisterhood. Another reason is 25 00:01:23,779 --> 00:01:26,719 because I was in the military for 25 years. I was on active 26 00:01:26,719 --> 00:01:30,379 duty in the US Navy, and I retired after 25 years, which 27 00:01:30,499 --> 00:01:34,999 you all know is a very male dominated industry. So as a as a 28 00:01:34,999 --> 00:01:40,159 woman in that space, I had to to find ways to sort of be 29 00:01:40,159 --> 00:01:43,299 encouraged, encourage myself, and encourage others to follow, 30 00:01:43,899 --> 00:01:46,779 to follow me. So those are the things that are really light me 31 00:01:46,779 --> 00:01:49,479 up, and we'll talk about a little later. I hope this idea I 32 00:01:49,479 --> 00:01:51,879 have about finding the superhero in youth, 33 00:01:53,140 --> 00:01:55,120 Robert Plank: and I like your idea, and so just to make sure 34 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:59,380 that we understand what the current situation is, what's the 35 00:01:59,380 --> 00:02:03,240 big problem? Like, like, we've always heard about how women get 36 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:06,900 paid less in the workplace, or deal with all kinds of struggles 37 00:02:06,900 --> 00:02:10,080 and in the military, but you also hear that there is always, 38 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:14,340 like, some progress being made, but it seems to be very slow. So 39 00:02:14,340 --> 00:02:19,440 what is the current situation, as far as like women and where 40 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,160 they are and what sort of difficulties they're facing 41 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:22,940 these days, 42 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:24,980 Simonia Blassingame: right? So I will speak a little bit about 43 00:02:24,980 --> 00:02:28,160 the military in the sense that we have made some amazing 44 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:34,100 strides. I will say, out of out of most industries, the military 45 00:02:34,100 --> 00:02:38,720 really is probably one of the best examples about gender, pay 46 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:43,540 and equality as an example. So as a particular rank, I am going 47 00:02:43,540 --> 00:02:46,960 to be paid the same as my counterparts male. And it 48 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:49,480 doesn't matter, right? There are bonuses and things based on 49 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,900 specialty, but again, those are not gender specific. So in the 50 00:02:52,900 --> 00:02:57,220 military, as an example, you are definitely, we definitely have 51 00:02:57,220 --> 00:03:00,420 gender pay and parity some of the challenges they'll come in 52 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:05,220 with the recruiting of women in certain specialties and fields. 53 00:03:05,220 --> 00:03:08,580 For a long time, women were excluded from combat roles. 54 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:12,360 Well, most of those have been lifted, and now we can serve in 55 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:14,880 lots of different fields and communities. And so what we're 56 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:19,140 hoping to do now is introduce those to women and maybe sort of 57 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,880 pull back the barrier where folks you know now know you can 58 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,300 conserve openly in lots of different career fields to get 59 00:03:26,300 --> 00:03:29,540 more parity in some of the more coveted roles. Now what we find 60 00:03:29,540 --> 00:03:32,900 in the military is that some of your more combat based 61 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:37,640 positions, as an example, are the ones that go on and become 62 00:03:37,820 --> 00:03:42,700 the Joint Chiefs of staffs and the leaders and commanders of 63 00:03:42,700 --> 00:03:46,780 major units, and so having not been allowed into those career 64 00:03:46,780 --> 00:03:50,500 fields before, that would have stymied some of our promotion 65 00:03:50,500 --> 00:03:54,760 opportunity and sort of given us a ceiling. I was a restricted 66 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:58,600 line officer in the Navy and a Human Resources Officer, so I 67 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,500 spent a lot of time kind of studying the manpower and 68 00:04:01,500 --> 00:04:04,560 personnel situation, and that right now, I think, is an 69 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:08,820 exciting time for women in the military to think about military 70 00:04:08,820 --> 00:04:09,300 service. 71 00:04:10,260 --> 00:04:13,920 Robert Plank: And so as far as you personally maybe, when you 72 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:17,820 were coming up in the ranks, or you were getting your life and 73 00:04:17,820 --> 00:04:22,340 your career figured out, did you personally come across any just 74 00:04:22,340 --> 00:04:26,540 real, real difficult, I don't know, trials and tribulations. 75 00:04:26,540 --> 00:04:29,420 Were there any like places that you were like you felt stopped, 76 00:04:29,540 --> 00:04:32,600 held back, slowed down because of who you were at any 77 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:35,000 Simonia Blassingame: point? Oh, sure. And I would say almost 78 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:37,880 even from the beginning. I mean, one of my very first memories 79 00:04:38,060 --> 00:04:40,600 was being at my first duty station, and I had a young 80 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:44,620 sailor who is was probably about the at the enlisted pay grade 81 00:04:44,620 --> 00:04:49,300 six, level e6 had probably been in about 20 years, and he just 82 00:04:49,300 --> 00:04:51,820 wasn't vibing with me. He didn't like me, and at that point, I 83 00:04:51,820 --> 00:04:54,160 didn't know if it was because I was black. I didn't know because 84 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:57,820 I was a woman, or because I had been in on the earth as long as 85 00:04:57,820 --> 00:05:01,440 he'd been in the Navy, or some combination. Of the three. But 86 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,140 what I learned from that experience was I couldn't focus 87 00:05:04,140 --> 00:05:07,740 on the people who didn't want me there as much as I had to focus 88 00:05:07,740 --> 00:05:11,580 on serving and showing up and doing the very best in the 89 00:05:11,580 --> 00:05:15,480 situation that you know, that I found myself in and so but it 90 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:18,600 was also a very lonely time. Sometimes I would look around in 91 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:21,260 the room and there would not be another woman in the room, there 92 00:05:21,260 --> 00:05:24,800 would not be another black officer in the room. And so 93 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,760 you're constantly striving and thinking about, is this the 94 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:31,700 right place for me? Because I don't see representation around 95 00:05:31,700 --> 00:05:35,540 me, maybe this isn't for me. So I definitely faced lots of those 96 00:05:35,540 --> 00:05:39,140 moments in my career. I think one of the things that saved me 97 00:05:39,140 --> 00:05:42,280 the most is sort of tapping back into who I was, what my 98 00:05:42,280 --> 00:05:44,860 strengths were. I knew I had value. I knew I was bringing 99 00:05:44,860 --> 00:05:50,200 value to to the organization, but in order for that to to be 100 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:53,440 recognized, that I would have to show up. And so once I stopped 101 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:57,760 pretending to be the officer, I thought they wanted to see and 102 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:01,980 more about well, who, who am I? My career really did take off. I 103 00:06:01,980 --> 00:06:05,220 call it being a late bloomer, and once I sort of tapped into 104 00:06:05,220 --> 00:06:08,280 that, my career really did take off. And 105 00:06:08,280 --> 00:06:10,320 Robert Plank: I think that that's relatable for a lot of 106 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:13,920 people, because I think that that we've all gone through, 107 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:18,540 like jobs, businesses, activities that felt really 108 00:06:18,540 --> 00:06:22,100 thankless and many times, and even that situation you're 109 00:06:22,100 --> 00:06:26,060 mentioning there, of if you are just not gelling with someone, 110 00:06:26,180 --> 00:06:29,120 and you wonder, is it because of any of these things that I have 111 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:32,240 no control over? Do they just not like me? It can drive you 112 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:36,320 crazy. And then the the conclusion that you arrived at 113 00:06:36,380 --> 00:06:39,260 of, what kind of there's like the two parts of it, there's 114 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:43,780 there's serving and focusing on the people who do appreciate 115 00:06:43,780 --> 00:06:47,740 you, who you, who are helping, and also, in a way, embracing 116 00:06:47,740 --> 00:06:52,060 your uniqueness and letting go of that idea that that I need to 117 00:06:52,060 --> 00:06:55,540 blend in, or I need to conform. And you and I were talking about 118 00:06:55,540 --> 00:06:58,660 this a few minutes ago, about this, like superhero concept 119 00:06:58,660 --> 00:07:01,500 that you have of, you know, where in the cape and saying 120 00:07:01,500 --> 00:07:04,800 that, well, there's a there's a reason why I have these 121 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:09,420 strengths and weaknesses. And instead of trying to be a person 122 00:07:09,420 --> 00:07:13,320 that I'm not or a person that I should not be, then I should use 123 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:18,000 this concept of standing out to be this really incredible person 124 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,780 who does these amazing things and helps people. So can you 125 00:07:20,780 --> 00:07:24,440 tell me about the superhero idea that you have and how they came 126 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:24,980 about? 127 00:07:25,220 --> 00:07:27,800 Simonia Blassingame: Yes, I'd love to. So part of the origin 128 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:31,700 story for me started with when I met my husband while I was a 129 00:07:31,700 --> 00:07:35,180 student. And I'm a lover of capes in the fall, and I love 130 00:07:35,180 --> 00:07:38,180 the layered look and and I would often wear capes all the time. 131 00:07:38,180 --> 00:07:40,900 And my husband one day asked me about the meeting. And I was 132 00:07:40,900 --> 00:07:42,940 like, what meeting? And he was like, the Justice League, 133 00:07:42,940 --> 00:07:45,640 clearly, will you have your cape on? You must be on your way to a 134 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:48,280 superhero conference or a superhero meeting. And we 135 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:50,800 laughed about it, but that turned into sort of a running 136 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:56,080 joke. So at work, when I would run into a character at work 137 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:58,180 where they, like you said before, where the personalities 138 00:07:58,180 --> 00:08:01,740 wouldn't work jailing, I would call them my arch nemesis. And 139 00:08:01,740 --> 00:08:04,500 then we got into, well, let's start naming them. You know, 140 00:08:04,500 --> 00:08:07,620 what kind of a villain are they? Are they are minor villain or 141 00:08:07,620 --> 00:08:10,800 super villain, and then what kind of superhero am I going to 142 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:15,960 be to sort of combat that? And that's really where that story 143 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:19,380 came from. But if folks are in the listening audience, are 144 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:24,500 aware, and think about it when you think about superheroes in 145 00:08:24,500 --> 00:08:28,940 the comic books or the movies and TV shows that we know they 146 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:33,140 are themselves, but then they tap into some extra power that 147 00:08:33,140 --> 00:08:35,840 they have inside, and they become greater than they were. 148 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:38,900 They don't change. They don't become a different person, as 149 00:08:38,900 --> 00:08:42,340 much as they become an elevated form of themselves, and that's 150 00:08:42,340 --> 00:08:46,900 what I did. I used a lot of personality testing to tap into 151 00:08:46,900 --> 00:08:50,620 the things that I liked and didn't like. It helped me define 152 00:08:50,620 --> 00:08:53,500 which types of jobs I would go into, even though people would 153 00:08:53,500 --> 00:08:56,320 say, Oh, you have to take this certain assignment if you do 154 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,920 really well in this you know, it could be the queen maker job 155 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:02,940 that'll set you up for the rest of your career. But because I 156 00:09:02,940 --> 00:09:07,200 was now tapped into my personal compass, I also knew that my 157 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,920 personality wasn't going to lend itself well to that role, and 158 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:14,880 just as easily as I could be made, I could be, you know, I 159 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:18,180 could ruin my career as well for not performing well. And so I I 160 00:09:18,180 --> 00:09:22,400 learned to make decisions based on my strengths and not what 161 00:09:22,460 --> 00:09:25,400 other people thought were something else. I also didn't 162 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,180 focus as much on my weaknesses as much as I use my strengths to 163 00:09:29,180 --> 00:09:30,140 sort of mitigate that 164 00:09:31,159 --> 00:09:33,499 Robert Plank: that's interesting to think about as far as 165 00:09:33,559 --> 00:09:36,679 strengths and weaknesses, because, like, something that 166 00:09:36,679 --> 00:09:39,619 clicked in my mind a few years ago was someone mentioned to me 167 00:09:39,619 --> 00:09:43,779 that what makes superheroes interesting is the weakness, is 168 00:09:43,779 --> 00:09:47,679 the things like the the kryptonite, or like the Joker 169 00:09:47,739 --> 00:09:51,759 always messing up the Batman's day. And so when you describe 170 00:09:51,819 --> 00:09:56,499 this, this idea here of the like the superhero mindset, as far as 171 00:09:56,499 --> 00:10:01,559 using that to decide what, what path. In life to shake, or what 172 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:06,839 decisions to make. What comes to mind is that all these superhero 173 00:10:06,839 --> 00:10:11,819 like plots and stories, they involve like kind of courage and 174 00:10:11,819 --> 00:10:14,879 being like thrown into something, even if you're not 175 00:10:14,879 --> 00:10:18,779 100% ready, like the, you know, the chemical spill happens, 176 00:10:18,779 --> 00:10:22,339 where they they get, you know, irradiated, like there are, as 177 00:10:22,399 --> 00:10:24,979 you mentioned, origin story, where you just kind of get 178 00:10:24,979 --> 00:10:28,819 thrown into something, and then you figure it out anyway. And 179 00:10:28,819 --> 00:10:32,419 also, like, just this idea of, like the challenge, where 180 00:10:32,419 --> 00:10:36,019 they're always kind of figuring out how to control this power. 181 00:10:36,019 --> 00:10:39,079 Maybe the power only works sometimes, or there are 182 00:10:39,079 --> 00:10:42,039 limitations, or it's too much. So it's really interesting to 183 00:10:42,039 --> 00:10:46,179 think about that. It's well, don't always go for the that, 184 00:10:46,179 --> 00:10:50,859 like the miserable choice or the safe choice. Do what, what 185 00:10:50,859 --> 00:10:54,519 stretches you and what also might, might not always make 186 00:10:54,519 --> 00:10:58,119 logical sense, but is kind of the more like exciting, action 187 00:10:58,119 --> 00:10:59,739 packed thing to do, 188 00:11:00,220 --> 00:11:01,980 Simonia Blassingame: of course. And then it's funny, you bring 189 00:11:01,980 --> 00:11:06,180 up Batman and the Joker. They are one of the signature pairs 190 00:11:06,180 --> 00:11:08,700 that I talk about in my signature talk when I use my 191 00:11:08,700 --> 00:11:11,580 company is called sane leadership, Inc, and that's 192 00:11:11,580 --> 00:11:14,520 where I do my personal coaching and personality coaching, and 193 00:11:14,520 --> 00:11:18,240 speaking to many different groups for leaders, emerging 194 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:22,940 leaders, executives, about how to use and harness the superhero 195 00:11:22,940 --> 00:11:25,220 power. But one of the cool things about that particular 196 00:11:25,220 --> 00:11:28,880 parent that I talk about in my talk is that Batman uses 197 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:35,720 something to go against his arch nemesis, the Joker, at his 198 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:38,300 disposal. Because if you know folks who know anything about 199 00:11:38,780 --> 00:11:41,500 that story, I don't think we're giving anything away. Batman 200 00:11:41,500 --> 00:11:44,860 isn't inherently born with any special gifts, but he has some 201 00:11:44,860 --> 00:11:48,100 really cool toys at his disposal, and he got those toys 202 00:11:48,100 --> 00:11:51,940 from his allies, right? He has Alfred. He also has a great 203 00:11:51,940 --> 00:11:56,260 sidekick in Robin, right? And so he's tapping into something that 204 00:11:56,260 --> 00:12:00,660 he has access to, which is his allies to help him defeat his 205 00:12:00,660 --> 00:12:03,720 enemies. And so that's just one of the I won't give it all away, 206 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:06,240 but that's just one of the things we talk about in terms of 207 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:09,000 harnessing your strings and mitigating your weaknesses. 208 00:12:09,060 --> 00:12:12,900 Having somebody watch your six so to speak. Um, is definitely a 209 00:12:12,900 --> 00:12:14,520 trick of Batman's, for sure. 210 00:12:15,299 --> 00:12:17,039 Robert Plank: Yeah, that's interesting to think about. 211 00:12:17,039 --> 00:12:21,319 That, that we need to have that support system. It's, easy to to 212 00:12:21,319 --> 00:12:25,939 oversimplify and say, well, this superhero, this is just about 213 00:12:25,939 --> 00:12:28,819 this person, this this is just Superman. This is just Batman. 214 00:12:28,819 --> 00:12:32,839 But you're so right, they have a team of other people with other 215 00:12:32,839 --> 00:12:36,679 skills to to kind of sum up that, that hole there and and 216 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:40,839 also, you're another thing that comes to mind is that there's 217 00:12:40,839 --> 00:12:43,719 just, there's so many superheroes. I can't remember 218 00:12:43,719 --> 00:12:48,459 the total, but I think there's like 17,000 Marvel characters or 219 00:12:48,459 --> 00:12:52,839 something. And versus that, again, a huge universe, and they 220 00:12:52,839 --> 00:12:56,499 all have like, unique, uh, powers. And you think that after 221 00:12:56,499 --> 00:13:00,299 a while, you they'd run out of ideas, or kind of start to copy 222 00:13:00,299 --> 00:13:03,959 it, but there's always that uniqueness, and I imagine that. 223 00:13:03,959 --> 00:13:07,619 So you mentioned already that there's the benefit of, like, 224 00:13:07,619 --> 00:13:11,699 dealing with the villains, but then also there's, um, there's 225 00:13:11,699 --> 00:13:17,339 kind of the the the problem solved, of not over comparing 226 00:13:17,339 --> 00:13:20,179 yourself to someone else, because, like, we all have other 227 00:13:20,179 --> 00:13:22,759 things going on, and it's easy, like even you mentioned before 228 00:13:22,759 --> 00:13:28,159 how you weren't sure if the the conflict you dealt with was the 229 00:13:28,159 --> 00:13:31,579 age right. So it's easy to see someone who might be doing 230 00:13:31,639 --> 00:13:34,999 better than you and they're younger, but then you have to 231 00:13:34,999 --> 00:13:38,359 remember to kind of unplug and not play that comparison game. 232 00:13:38,359 --> 00:13:42,459 And so a lot of the these things in your superhero kind of 233 00:13:42,459 --> 00:13:46,179 analogy metaphor here, like, help to kind of shine a light on 234 00:13:46,179 --> 00:13:49,599 that. And like, kind of take things that it's easy to say, 235 00:13:49,599 --> 00:13:51,999 Don't compare yourself to others. But then you say, Well, 236 00:13:51,999 --> 00:13:55,239 would you, would you compare Batman to Superman? Well, no, 237 00:13:55,239 --> 00:13:57,459 because they have their own strengths and weaknesses. 238 00:13:57,459 --> 00:14:01,059 They're on their own path. They have their own purposes, right? 239 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:02,880 Simonia Blassingame: For sure, and I think that has been the 240 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:05,100 most important part of the journey, which is why I love, 241 00:14:05,100 --> 00:14:08,040 particularly mentoring women that are starting out in their 242 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:11,880 careers. And like the, you know, young, 20s, 30s, because you're 243 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:15,180 figuring things out. And oftentimes you go into these 244 00:14:15,180 --> 00:14:17,940 spaces again, like I found myself in, and you're not sure 245 00:14:17,940 --> 00:14:21,260 how to how to measure up, and so you're comparing yourself to 246 00:14:21,260 --> 00:14:25,220 other people and trying to imitate potential role models, 247 00:14:25,220 --> 00:14:28,640 or people who are in positions that you aspire to, without 248 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:31,520 understanding that maybe you should be modeling yourself 249 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:34,940 after the performance standards, if those are clear and outline 250 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:37,880 and making sure you line up with those as opposed to the people, 251 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:41,140 because the way people show up at work is based on their 252 00:14:41,140 --> 00:14:45,220 individual strengths. And so if you're I'm an extroverted type 253 00:14:45,220 --> 00:14:47,800 of person, and I love innovation, and I love 254 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:50,500 creativity. I love coming up with new ideas. I didn't I never 255 00:14:50,500 --> 00:14:53,200 met a boundary I didn't want to push up against, right? And then 256 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:56,800 there are other folks that are really compliance oriented, 257 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:01,020 really focused in on what they can see. Since. Taste, smell, 258 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:04,320 very focused on that. And so if I were watching someone with a 259 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:08,940 sensory superpower, I might be tempted to try to do it the way 260 00:15:08,940 --> 00:15:12,420 they do it. I'm just not wired that way. I just I can't and so 261 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:15,960 the danger of comparing yourself to other people is you're 262 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:18,960 comparing yourself against their strengths, and if those don't 263 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,620 match or align with yours, you're going to do yourself and 264 00:15:21,620 --> 00:15:24,320 your organization a disservice. You're you're never going to 265 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:27,740 measure up. It's more different. It's almost like when we talk 266 00:15:27,740 --> 00:15:31,160 about writing, if I wanted to improve my penmanship, I would 267 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:34,820 work on my dominant hand that I use, as opposed to trying to 268 00:15:35,060 --> 00:15:39,620 make my less dominant hand more legible. The easiest way to do 269 00:15:39,620 --> 00:15:42,520 it is just never try to sign with my less dominant hand, and 270 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:46,000 it's just faster and and we can move on. And so that's kind of 271 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:48,520 what I talk to people about when they're looking at comparison, 272 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:50,500 is thinking about your dominance. What are your 273 00:15:50,500 --> 00:15:53,980 dominant traits? And lean into those instead. 274 00:15:54,940 --> 00:15:57,580 Robert Plank: And I like that. I'm like that idea a lot, and 275 00:15:57,580 --> 00:16:01,020 that's come up a couple times already, of focusing on 276 00:16:01,020 --> 00:16:04,440 strengthening your strengths, not not necessarily on 277 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:07,740 strengthening your weaknesses, because that drove me crazy as a 278 00:16:07,740 --> 00:16:11,460 kid when I would have to take all these classes or be in these 279 00:16:11,460 --> 00:16:15,120 sports. And the only reason was, well, just to improve this thing 280 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:18,060 that you're bad at. Well I'm bad at because I don't like it. And 281 00:16:18,060 --> 00:16:21,800 so having heard that, it seems like you're giving us the go 282 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:25,760 ahead to maybe embrace the messiness of life, because it's 283 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:28,880 it's easy to say, well, here's all my categories, and here's 284 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:31,460 all my levels. Everything's perfectly balanced, and that 285 00:16:31,460 --> 00:16:34,640 doesn't sound like fun at all. What sounds like more fun is 286 00:16:34,700 --> 00:16:38,780 having more of a like a crazy, adventurous life, where maybe 287 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:42,400 you say these, these certain areas are not important to me, 288 00:16:42,460 --> 00:16:46,180 or not important to me right now, and I want to focus more on 289 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:50,920 having fun or this career or this hobby, is that on the right 290 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:55,720 track, as far as like being okay with an imbalanced life it is, 291 00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:57,940 Simonia Blassingame: and what you will find is not even so 292 00:16:57,940 --> 00:17:01,380 much as balanced. You will find what I call this thing called 293 00:17:01,380 --> 00:17:06,540 flow when we were kids, and I'm a parent, so I have exposed my 294 00:17:06,540 --> 00:17:10,020 daughter and my nephew to lots of different activities. Some 295 00:17:10,020 --> 00:17:13,200 they took to. Some not so much. And in those environments, you 296 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:15,960 ask them to try it again, do it a little better, because you're 297 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:19,080 in the process of growing and figuring out who you are and 298 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:22,520 what your likes and dislikes are, at some point they are 299 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:25,100 going to settle in in a thing where, for example, my 300 00:17:25,100 --> 00:17:28,100 daughter's not a sports person. She does like volleyball, and so 301 00:17:28,100 --> 00:17:31,100 we leaned into that. That's her sport, but she's tried soccer, 302 00:17:31,100 --> 00:17:33,920 and, you know, we talked about track, but she's not very fast. 303 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,620 So we did all of those things for her to finally find the 304 00:17:36,620 --> 00:17:40,100 sport that she liked best. Same thing for my nephew, he found 305 00:17:40,100 --> 00:17:44,740 himself naturally athletic, but he's lean now into golf. He's 306 00:17:44,740 --> 00:17:48,520 really a gifted golfer. And so the difference in that approach 307 00:17:48,580 --> 00:17:52,840 as a even as a mentor or someone to your mentee, asking people to 308 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:57,160 try different things, to see if they're good at it or like it, 309 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:02,580 or have any type of, you know, you know natural abilities is 310 00:18:02,580 --> 00:18:06,000 okay. You just don't have to stay there. You know, pretty you 311 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:09,060 know, pretty soon whether you're going to be into something or 312 00:18:09,060 --> 00:18:11,880 not. And so if you're not into spreadsheet, stop offering to 313 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:15,300 build those. If you hate attention to detail, then you 314 00:18:15,300 --> 00:18:18,540 can't be the secretary or the scribe in the meetings. That's 315 00:18:18,540 --> 00:18:23,060 just not going to fit for you. Find something else to do based 316 00:18:23,060 --> 00:18:23,900 on who you are. 317 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:27,800 Robert Plank: I like that a lot. Try different things, see what 318 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:33,020 grows, see what evolves, figure out what things are difficult 319 00:18:33,020 --> 00:18:38,060 but also fun, and also get you to power through the difficult 320 00:18:38,060 --> 00:18:41,440 parts and versus those things that just aren't working, versus 321 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:43,720 those things that that make you miserable. And it seems like 322 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:46,840 there's a lot of kind of, like taking inventory and 323 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:50,200 introspection. And so I want to kind of talk about how you've 324 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:55,480 mentioned that you now mentor young women who are kind of 325 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:57,880 getting started in their in their career and in the 326 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:02,280 workplace, and are you noticing a lot of like, similarities with 327 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:05,820 your own paths here, or do they have unique challenges or 328 00:19:05,820 --> 00:19:08,460 anything new that you did not go through? Like, what are kind of 329 00:19:08,460 --> 00:19:10,740 the similarities and the differences when you're 330 00:19:10,740 --> 00:19:12,540 mentoring this young, these young women? 331 00:19:12,900 --> 00:19:15,540 Simonia Blassingame: So it's a great question. So yes, there 332 00:19:15,540 --> 00:19:20,600 are similarities, which in some way saddens me in terms of the 333 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:23,540 space of change. For example, I was talking to a young mentee 334 00:19:23,540 --> 00:19:27,560 about a couple of weeks ago, and she was having some difficulty 335 00:19:28,100 --> 00:19:31,400 with some of her colleagues in the workplace, and she was 336 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:35,720 challenging or questioning whether she should speak up or 337 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:38,660 speak out. She doesn't want to be known as the one who's 338 00:19:38,660 --> 00:19:42,100 always, quote, unquote, got the problem. She's also a black 339 00:19:42,100 --> 00:19:45,100 female in the military, and she didn't want to come off as being 340 00:19:45,100 --> 00:19:48,040 angry. There's a lot of, you know, tension in the area, or 341 00:19:48,220 --> 00:19:53,860 post the George Floyd murder, and then now the trial, and so 342 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,400 she's very conscious about sort of race relations, right? And 343 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:00,540 she doesn't want to be the diversity coach for her. A 344 00:20:00,540 --> 00:20:03,720 group. She just wants to work, but so she was wondering, should 345 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:09,240 she say something or not? The thing that was interesting to 346 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:11,880 me, because I've had that experience many times in my 347 00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:15,780 career, they were in a group chat. Well, that wasn't a thing 348 00:20:15,780 --> 00:20:18,960 when, when I was coming along, so to speak, where you would be 349 00:20:19,140 --> 00:20:23,180 in this all the time information age where you were getting 350 00:20:23,180 --> 00:20:26,360 constant feedback, or you were finding things out about the 351 00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:29,660 people you work with because you were connected on social media. 352 00:20:29,660 --> 00:20:34,460 So I think that is a very new difference with this generation. 353 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:37,880 Is not something that I had to face. And I think it's even more 354 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:40,420 critical, I think, which is why I leaned into this coaching 355 00:20:40,420 --> 00:20:43,480 earlier, before it would say, you know, you could offer, hey, 356 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,600 just kind of stumble along, figure it out. But because 357 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:50,260 technology, things are happening so fast, I think it's important 358 00:20:50,260 --> 00:20:53,800 to reach out to people it's early, and to say, hey, let's 359 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:57,580 talk about how you're wired, whether this leads you down a 360 00:20:57,580 --> 00:21:00,660 path of which college to go to, what you want to major in 361 00:21:00,660 --> 00:21:04,380 mastering or what have you, knowing this upfront can just 362 00:21:04,380 --> 00:21:07,680 help you in your building blocks and build better relationships. 363 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:10,440 One of the other things I usually coach people on is 364 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:16,680 conflicts, dynamics, and I took this test late in my career, but 365 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:20,540 what I found from it what my hot buttons were, and that's not 366 00:21:20,540 --> 00:21:23,000 something we typically think about. What's the thing that we 367 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,520 call it pet peeves, but what's the thing that really gets under 368 00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:29,300 your skin? For me, what I found is I get really irritated with 369 00:21:29,300 --> 00:21:32,540 bullies. And so this when we talk, when I do the coaching 370 00:21:32,540 --> 00:21:35,720 about the superhero, we always go back to your origin stories 371 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:40,480 too. We talk about how you were raised, what experiences and 372 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,120 things sort of helped shape who you are and how you are, and 373 00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:47,680 because of an early experience I had in elementary school, really 374 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:52,420 cemented for me to be a person, to stand up to bullies. And as 375 00:21:52,420 --> 00:21:55,660 an HR professional, I really got a chance to do that a lot and 376 00:21:55,660 --> 00:21:58,240 act as a buffer between employees and employers and 377 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,560 managers and supervisors and what you know, to make sure that 378 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:06,300 people didn't abuse their power in those cases. And so now that 379 00:22:06,300 --> 00:22:09,360 I know that, you know, once I knew that, then I could be ready 380 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:14,460 to sort of handle the emotional rush of adrenaline that would 381 00:22:14,460 --> 00:22:17,820 happen when those situations would flare up before that I 382 00:22:17,820 --> 00:22:21,560 wasn't really conscious of it. And so things like that, I think 383 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:24,680 help people in these situations where you find yourself as 384 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:27,980 another or uncertain about the dynamics, knowing what your 385 00:22:27,980 --> 00:22:30,800 triggers are, what your hot buttons are, can certainly help 386 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:33,020 you navigate that in a smoother way. 387 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:37,220 Robert Plank: I like that a lot. That's That's an excellent way 388 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:41,560 of positioning this, like this thing that happens a lot, 389 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:43,960 because when, when you were explaining that, what came to 390 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:48,520 mind for me was I don't like laziness. Like, even if I feel 391 00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:51,760 like I'm being lazy, I'm really mad at myself, and I make sure, 392 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:55,600 like, if I have a down day in any kind of way, I'm like, I'll 393 00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:58,240 do double the next day. Like, I'm the kind of person where if 394 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,020 I go to put gas in the gas tank, I'm feeling that thing all the 395 00:23:01,020 --> 00:23:05,340 way up. Why? Why half ass it? Why be lazy? And so when you, 396 00:23:05,340 --> 00:23:09,060 when you mention this idea of the origin story, I like that 397 00:23:09,060 --> 00:23:13,140 labeling a lot, because it's, it's like a more, I don't know 398 00:23:13,140 --> 00:23:15,780 like a more, like positive context, because people talk 399 00:23:15,780 --> 00:23:18,660 about things like, well, childhood trauma, or the way you 400 00:23:18,660 --> 00:23:22,400 were brought up. And for some reason, what I imagine is 401 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:24,860 there's like childhood, like, way over there, and it's like 402 00:23:24,860 --> 00:23:28,940 decades ago, and then this huge gap, and then your adulthood. 403 00:23:29,060 --> 00:23:32,300 But like, the origin story that might, I mean, part of that 404 00:23:32,300 --> 00:23:36,440 might include like, like young adulthood or mid adulthood, and 405 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:39,980 it just seems like a more positive way of looking at it, 406 00:23:40,100 --> 00:23:44,320 as opposed to, I'm so sad. My upbringing was so difficult and 407 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:48,040 and it seems like if those those things that made you who you are 408 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:51,760 are your origin story, then there can be a payoff, right? 409 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:55,000 Because there's always the thinking of, well, if I had this 410 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,300 bad experience where I was stuck in this group project and these 411 00:23:58,300 --> 00:24:01,800 people didn't do their part, and I had to scramble in order to 412 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:05,280 save the day of I felt so overworked, but also like, like 413 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,880 not thanked. Then, instead of that being a thing that always 414 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:11,580 bugs you, you can say, Well, if that's my origin story, then the 415 00:24:11,580 --> 00:24:16,920 person that I like then grew into later can then fulfill or 416 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:21,320 fix that problem or or help others out with this problem 417 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:25,400 that I struggled with initially, and so it makes me feel more 418 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:28,820 positive about about my past or my mistakes, and it feels like 419 00:24:29,060 --> 00:24:33,020 I'm not just dwelling on the past, I'm saying what was the 420 00:24:33,020 --> 00:24:36,800 mistake in the future, and how can I maybe not even fix it, but 421 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:41,260 make it worthwhile, make the Difficulty back then worth all 422 00:24:41,260 --> 00:24:43,720 that hassle, all that headache, for 423 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:45,820 Simonia Blassingame: sure, like, just as you mentioned, because 424 00:24:45,820 --> 00:24:48,820 that's part of who you are. Now, when you work in projects with 425 00:24:48,820 --> 00:24:50,920 other people with deadlines, you want to know that they're 426 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:54,400 pulling their weight. So upfront is part of the negotiation and 427 00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:57,280 the agreement to go into collaboration with someone, you 428 00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:00,360 will have to talk about, what does it look like? Miss 429 00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:04,680 deadlines or or to not meet your expectations and and maybe 430 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:08,280 create clauses or phrases that say, if these things don't 431 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:11,580 happen in this way, we agree to part company, you know, 432 00:25:11,580 --> 00:25:14,640 amicably, and move on to the next right? And so now you've 433 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:18,780 built in a system that allows you to be true to who you are, 434 00:25:18,780 --> 00:25:21,560 you know, that's a button for you, and doesn't give the person 435 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:25,220 a surprise at the end when they haven't met your whatever it is, 436 00:25:25,220 --> 00:25:27,500 even if they believe it's unrealistic expectations, 437 00:25:27,500 --> 00:25:29,840 because you guys have talked about it up front, everybody's 438 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,660 come to an agreement, and so it's no longer a thing. And just 439 00:25:32,660 --> 00:25:34,880 like we talked about our favorite superhero today, 440 00:25:35,180 --> 00:25:38,480 Batman, he grew up, depending on which version you want, you 441 00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:41,200 know, knowing that his parents were were were killed, which 442 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,680 clearly is a childhood trauma, but part of his origin story now 443 00:25:44,740 --> 00:25:48,040 is swooping in and helping people who can't seem to help 444 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:51,100 themselves, right? And so that's just part of his origin story. 445 00:25:51,100 --> 00:25:56,020 Would he have become Batman had that not happened? Maybe, but 446 00:25:56,020 --> 00:25:57,400 probably not, right? 447 00:25:58,900 --> 00:26:01,500 Robert Plank: And so this, this idea you have is really making a 448 00:26:01,500 --> 00:26:05,280 lot of sense, because it drives me crazy when someone says, 449 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:08,160 Well, everyone's unique, because it makes me think that there's 450 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:12,540 no clear solution. There's no clear path to take. But what 451 00:26:12,540 --> 00:26:15,660 you've done here is you said, Well, yes, we are unique, but 452 00:26:15,660 --> 00:26:19,860 then based on this problem, there's this solution, or based 453 00:26:19,860 --> 00:26:25,880 on this attribute of your superhero character, then here's 454 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:29,960 this, this assignment, or here's this thing that you need to be 455 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:34,640 aware of to then, like you use your strengths, but also kind of 456 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:38,060 keep an eye out for some of those weaknesses that might have 457 00:26:38,060 --> 00:26:41,680 tripped you up in the past. And so with this, with this idea, 458 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:44,920 this concept, some of these things we've unpacked here. What 459 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:48,280 do you think people are really missing these days, when they're 460 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:52,300 trying to be their best self and overcome adversity? Is there, 461 00:26:52,300 --> 00:26:55,720 like a number one mistake in all your travels that you keep 462 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:58,540 seeing people make, that we all need to sit up and pay attention 463 00:26:58,540 --> 00:27:01,740 to you and not make this mistake? Well, you've 464 00:27:01,740 --> 00:27:04,200 Simonia Blassingame: actually already hit on it earlier in the 465 00:27:04,260 --> 00:27:06,900 in the talk, and that's comparing yourself to other 466 00:27:06,900 --> 00:27:11,640 people. Yes, we all have two eyes, two ears, a nose, a mouth, 467 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:14,880 but as we know, with all these common elements, we are 468 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:18,900 individual and unique, and so comparing yourself against the 469 00:27:18,900 --> 00:27:23,420 person with the wrong criteria, so to speak, can lead you down a 470 00:27:23,420 --> 00:27:28,880 very dark path of self doubt, envy, jealousy, not following 471 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:31,760 your purpose, not fulfilling your purpose, right, missing out 472 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:35,120 on, on doing the thing that you were brought to earth to do, 473 00:27:35,120 --> 00:27:38,300 right? And so I think I would say that's sort of the number 474 00:27:38,300 --> 00:27:41,140 one thing that's happening today, and a lot of it is due to 475 00:27:41,140 --> 00:27:44,620 social media, whether it's the Instagram photos or the Facebook 476 00:27:44,620 --> 00:27:47,800 photos, Snapchat or whatever, that is leading you to believe 477 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,680 that people have these perfect lives. You know, if you think 478 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:53,920 about people sometimes say you should never well, a coach of 479 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:56,140 mine just told me this the other day. Actually, you should never 480 00:27:56,140 --> 00:27:59,320 post the first picture you take, because it needs to have some 481 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:01,860 editing and the lighting. And I'm thinking about all the 482 00:28:01,860 --> 00:28:05,520 pictures that I've snapped and posted because I liked it, not 483 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:08,880 because I wanted other people to like it, and so a lot of people 484 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:12,360 are doing it for the likes, and you get confused. You don't know 485 00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:14,760 what that means. You don't know the intentions behind it, or 486 00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:18,600 people liking you. Are they laughing at you? Are they not 487 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:21,500 liking you because they don't want you to be celebrated like 488 00:28:21,500 --> 00:28:25,580 you could just wrap yourself around a horrible, you know, a 489 00:28:25,580 --> 00:28:29,180 web and get lost in that. I just think people, the sooner you can 490 00:28:29,180 --> 00:28:33,320 just take a breath. Won't call it lazy. I'll call it reflect. 491 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:38,180 Spend, spend some time every day to just reflect. Take time out 492 00:28:38,180 --> 00:28:43,000 to take one of these diagnostic texts, whether it be I focus in, 493 00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,340 like I said, on conflicts, dynamics and emotional 494 00:28:45,340 --> 00:28:48,460 intelligence, those were the two that helped me the most. I also 495 00:28:48,460 --> 00:28:53,620 do some work with another test that I reserve for, sort of my 496 00:28:53,620 --> 00:28:59,260 exclusive clients. And we dig into these very specifically so 497 00:28:59,260 --> 00:29:01,740 that people know who they are, and then they can go off into 498 00:29:01,740 --> 00:29:04,680 the world and do what they want to with the information. They 499 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:08,340 can customize it to their lives, and that has been most 500 00:29:08,340 --> 00:29:09,000 successful, 501 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:12,600 Robert Plank: interesting. And so what I'm hearing from you is 502 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:19,020 that we we need to be less caught up in in the the day to 503 00:29:19,020 --> 00:29:21,560 day. I mean, doing the day to day activities and work is 504 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:25,460 great, but also leave some empty space in there, like you said, 505 00:29:25,460 --> 00:29:29,660 to reflect, to think about things, to let things process 506 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:33,020 and so that way we can maybe break out of some of these 507 00:29:33,020 --> 00:29:36,980 cycles and not make the same mistakes and see new 508 00:29:37,100 --> 00:29:40,660 possibilities, opportunities. And what I've been getting a lot 509 00:29:40,660 --> 00:29:44,920 from our discussion today and from your answers is that many 510 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:47,620 times you just need to look at things a different way. And 511 00:29:47,620 --> 00:29:51,460 many, many times you don't have all the information. You look on 512 00:29:51,460 --> 00:29:54,460 Facebook, you look on Instagram, and up until now, you have these 513 00:29:54,460 --> 00:29:58,120 assumptions, but you're missing on this key piece of information 514 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:02,040 that a lot of people are doing a lot. Work just to make that that 515 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:04,680 perfect photograph. They might be spending half their day just 516 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:08,340 to post one photograph. And here you are comparing this 517 00:30:08,340 --> 00:30:10,500 photograph that you took 10 seconds to make, and you're 518 00:30:10,500 --> 00:30:13,020 thinking, Well, why is this? There's perfect every time, 519 00:30:13,020 --> 00:30:17,340 because you're seeing like, one of 50. So there's a lot of 520 00:30:17,340 --> 00:30:20,600 things to think about, and life is always throwing things at 521 00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,720 you, but luckily you can just like, take one each day as it 522 00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:28,100 comes to you, but as long as we, like, have a strategy and think 523 00:30:28,100 --> 00:30:32,000 things through ahead of time. And so now that you've given us 524 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:36,740 a lot of things to mentally chew on, how does someone know if 525 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:40,480 they're the kind of person that should reach out to you, and how 526 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:42,820 did they reach out to you? How do they contact you? And how do 527 00:30:42,820 --> 00:30:44,740 they take the next step here? Oh, 528 00:30:44,740 --> 00:30:46,240 Simonia Blassingame: right. Great question. So again, I told 529 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:51,040 you, what I do is offered and available to to everyone. I 530 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:54,040 mean, there's no there's no secret sauce here in terms of 531 00:30:54,040 --> 00:31:00,240 diagnostics, right? I do offer emotion intelligence testing and 532 00:31:01,140 --> 00:31:04,860 conflict dynamics, profiling as well. People who come in with 533 00:31:04,860 --> 00:31:08,640 other tests that they've taken, whether it be the disc or MBTI, 534 00:31:09,060 --> 00:31:12,540 those are readily available. I don't particularly, I'm not a 535 00:31:12,540 --> 00:31:16,500 practitioner of those exams, but those do help and sort of feed 536 00:31:16,500 --> 00:31:19,200 into the conversation. Happy to have one on one coaching 537 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:21,920 sessions if they go to my website, which is my name.com, 538 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:28,760 they should. We can set up a time to meet. I'll give you my 539 00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:32,720 contact information as well, so that people can send me a text 540 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:35,600 if they if they prefer that, and someone on my team will get back 541 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,540 to them as soon as possible. And that would be 678-948-6390, 542 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:45,100 Robert Plank: all right, and to make sure that everyone can get 543 00:31:45,100 --> 00:31:47,620 to that website as well, I'll spell out your name real quick. 544 00:31:47,620 --> 00:31:55,960 That is s, I m, o, n, i A, B, L, A, S, S, I N, G, A, M, E, P. 545 00:31:56,140 --> 00:32:01,200 Simoniablasting game.com is the place to go, like simonia said, 546 00:32:01,260 --> 00:32:05,580 If you have previously done diagnostics, bring those to her. 547 00:32:05,580 --> 00:32:08,520 She loves data. And it seems like just front from you, this 548 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:12,360 whole thought process here, you love, kind of using the data as 549 00:32:12,360 --> 00:32:16,560 a tool to then make, uh, kind of like maybe somewhat unique or 550 00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:19,620 somewhat emotional or somewhat thought out decisions. That way, 551 00:32:19,620 --> 00:32:23,480 we have both parts of the coin, right? You have the science of 552 00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:28,640 the test taking and the results, but then also the art of of kind 553 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:32,060 of weighing pros and cons and figuring out what the the next 554 00:32:32,060 --> 00:32:35,900 step is for for you, as far as doing better in the workplace, 555 00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:39,500 emotional intelligence, whatever a problem that you're trying to 556 00:32:39,500 --> 00:32:42,820 solve, and simonia blastinggame.com is the place to 557 00:32:42,820 --> 00:32:45,940 go. And in these last few seconds here, Simone, as we wind 558 00:32:45,940 --> 00:32:50,200 down, wrap up. Do you have any parting words for people here? 559 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:52,840 Or do you have anything that like you wish you'd you'd heard 560 00:32:52,900 --> 00:32:55,540 1020, years ago, anything like that come to mind? 561 00:32:55,900 --> 00:32:58,120 Simonia Blassingame: Sure. I just want to tell your listeners 562 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:01,500 and folks who are on this journey, these are already the 563 00:33:01,500 --> 00:33:04,620 right kind of people, right? You're already investing in 564 00:33:04,620 --> 00:33:07,860 yourself by listening to this podcast. But I want you to know 565 00:33:07,860 --> 00:33:12,000 that you are enough, that you are perfect the way you are, 566 00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:15,900 that yes, we all have room to grow, but you were sent on earth 567 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:20,720 for a specific person. And as we mentioned, there are 1000s of 568 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:24,800 superheroes in the Marvel universe, there are millions of 569 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:27,920 superheroes walking among stuff on Earth, and you're one of 570 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:31,280 them. So I just encourage you to keep learning, keep growing, tap 571 00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:34,700 into your superpowers. Show up the way we need you to, and 572 00:33:34,700 --> 00:33:37,640 bring your gifts and talents to the table, and I can't wait to 573 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:38,060 meet you. You.