Have you ever thought about what has caused you to react to a situation in a certain way? In this Expert Insight Interview, Dr. James Justin Kennedy discusses his book Brain Reboot. Dr. J.J Kennedy is an author, neuroscientist, executive coach, talent management expert, and TEDx speaker.

The interview discusses:

• Learning how to manipulate the brain
• Emotional triggers
• Brain Functioning
• drChanging the way of looking at things

Self-awareness and Discipline

By training our brains, we can change our minds and be more emotionally in control. The primary factor in doing that is to become self-aware. Becoming self-aware is a long journey of discovering and accepting yourself the way you are. The next thing to do is to stay disciplined in changing the things that we are now aware of that need to change. Not everything in life comes immediately, and sustainable change requires discipline and dedication over a longer time. It is okay to have big goals, but it is crucial to start with small steps. Taking small steps builds momentum, which naturally brings the motivation to push forward.

Emotional Triggers

We all have emotional triggers which hold us back if we do not recognize them in time. There is a difference between emotion and feeling. An emotion is an unconscious reflex in an event. When we become conscious of the event, we get feelings about it. Emotional triggers play a significant role in how we think, perceive, and behave. Those triggers often come from people’s past, but they still manage to influence their present. By recognizing the triggers, identifying the roots, and working on them, we will feel better and be more persistent in making a sustainable behavioral change.

How Brain Works

Neuroplasticity, neurogenesis, and neuroeconomics are three processes related to our brain functioning. Neuroplasticity shows our brain’s ability to grow if we practice it regularly. For instance, to recover from traumatic injuries, store new memories, or learn new skills. With that comes neurogenesis, which is a rebirth of new brain cells. And lastly, neuroeconomics shows us how our thinking is a messy process influenced by our opinions, emotions, and previous experiences. Our brain can make simple errors only because we jump to conclusions thinking that we understand things based on our previous experiences.

Different Mindset

There is a skill set to teach yourself to get in a different mindset from the one in which your bias usually resides. You have to specify what you want to change and start with small steps. Many times those small steps include boring and routine things. However, with the constant doing of things that are for your benefit, you will start to feel pleasure in doing them. That is how you build sustainable habits.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Have you ever had that nasty feeling that you are a fraud while selling and wondered if you should continue doing it? In this Expert Insight Interview, Annie P. Ruggles discusses what many salespeople had experienced – sales avoidance. Annie P. Ruggles is a Founder and Dean at Non-Sleazy Sales Academy and host of the Too Legitimate to Quit podcast.

The interview discusses:

• Things that hold us back from a successful sale
• Getting rid of sales baggage
• Virtual selling

What Holds Us Back

We all experienced selling that did not feel right with our ethics and morals. Either we tried to sell it that way because of the pressure, or someone sold it to us that way. The key is to fall back in love with what you are selling. You have to believe that what you offer to people creates value because people can notice when a seller is ambivalent about it. People want to see the seller’s passion for the product or service. Thus, set your mindset to serving and creating value for customers, and everything will come easier.

The Sales Baggage

People do not always recognize that they carry sales baggage with them. For example, people coming from corporate sales trying to succeed as entrepreneurs must realize that now they need a different set of skills. What sales baggage does is tells us that we are not good salespeople. However, instead of letting our minds come our way, we can use that baggage to our advantage as a learning tool. For instance, sales calls can create discomfort and confusion if a customer asks you a question you do not know how to answer. Our natural instinct would be to start panicking and bubbling. However, it is a better solution to stay honest and say how that is not your area of expertise but that you will find someone who knows the answer. It shows a certain level of confidence to stay calm in a situation like that, and it builds trust with your clients. Showing that you want to help even if you bring another person also enriches the relationship with your client.

Virtual Sales

Some people feel anxious about virtual selling. However, your best-selling lines, questions, and other tricks you use to sell to people will still work online. Remember your strengths and use them online as well. Also, remember that there are still two groups of buyers – emotional and analytical ones. Thus, the online material cannot go more towards one group of buyers. It cannot be super factual because it loses the charm of storytelling, but it also cannot be too glamorous without facts. Thus, find a perfect balance of story and detail.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Many leaders are appointed, but that does not make them true leaders. In this Expert Insight Interview, Mary Jane Mapes discusses how to become a leader who encourages fearless participation within the organization. Mary Jane Mapes is a founder of IGNITE – Next Level Leadership program, an executive coach, and a leadership keynote speaker.

The interview discusses:

• The idea of fearless participation
• Self-awareness
• The importance of soft skills

Fearless Participation

Having fearless participation within the organization comes from having an authentic, self-aware, and very self-driven leader. This leader is courageous, trustworthy, does things only because those are the right things to do, and is not afraid to talk about the elephant in the room. That is the leader that other people want to follow.

Self-Awareness

Being self-aware is extremely important for a leader. Many times it happens that people do not perceive us the way how we perceive ourselves. We spend so much time trying to be someone we are not and very little time getting to know ourselves. But when we finally discover ourselves, we can be pretty extraordinary as well. The key is to spend quality time alone, in thinking and self-reflection. During that alone time, we can figure out many questions that we were asking ourselves for years. For example, we can discover which beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions prevent us from responding to the situation differently and why.

Today’s culture pushes us to put ourselves too much out there and discourages us from having time alone. But being able to take some time off from the world and do self-reflection can make a big difference in your life. Also, people tend to think that self-reflection means trying to fix yourself. Instead, it means that you are working on yourself to operate at your highest and your best.

Soft Skills

Earlier, soft skills were not considered as important as hard skills. But in today’s world, especially with everything being digital, authenticity, empathy, and good communication skills are extremely important. The research has shown that the most successful leaders are the ones who have genuine relationships with their people and a passion for serving them. It is always a two-way street. When people see that their leader values and respects them, they will also be passionate about their work and better performance. People can see when someone is real and when someone is just pretending. Thus, you have to have pure intentions and a mindset to serve your people in order to achieve higher performance at the overall organizational level.

My brand promise is to develop courageously authentic leaders who are capable of creating a culture of fearless participation….where all voices are heard, all inputs are valued and considered. Only then will people be willing go above and beyond for you as the leader and the organization, willing to give the best they have to offer.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Feeling pressured to live up to someone else’s expectations can lead to self-destruction. Thus, in this Expert Insight Interview, Adam Jablin discusses self-discovery and recovery through The Hero Project. Adam Jablin is a best-selling author, speaker, and transformational life coach.

The interview discusses:

• Finding yourself
• The Hero Project
• Being present and living in the moment

Self-Discovery

Destructive behaviors do not have to be alcoholism, drugs, and other significant dependencies. Our thoughts and other smaller habits can also have a dramatic impact on our lives. Those things can also create a double life where people look happy but actually are dying inside. What is needed is a recovery in every aspect and self-discovery. Becoming self-aware is a long and heavy but rewarding journey. Once we become aware of our capabilities and find what we want to do, our career, charisma, and confidence will rise.

The Hero Project

The Hero Project is an ongoing and unique project that enables people to reach living in a higher reality. What that means is that it teaches them to live their lives in another way. It is a very individual project which people have to experience on their own to understand. This project levels up how people talk, think, live, reflect on things, and experience what happens internally with them. It brings a certain level of synchronicity and calmness.

The key is for people to distract themselves from thinking only about their problems and take a break to focus more on themselves. Something happens during that moment of pause and silence. The more people obsess with what bothers them, the more they resist finding a solution. For example, obsessing about money will only prevent you from getting it. Thus, get everything in your life in order, and money will come. Same works for relationships, business, and everything else in life.

Be Present

Nowadays, there are so many external factors and influences that shape our reality and make us lose ourselves somewhere in there. Also, everyone is looking either in the past or in the future. People forget to be present at this moment. But, all we got is this moment now. The past is over, and the future that we imagine might never come. Thus, it is essential to have some time for yourself and bring yourself to be present and mindful.

It is a lifelong journey. Someone might be further on the road, but everyone is on the same pursuit of happiness, peace, and success. And, there are no shortcuts to reach them. Mistakes, failures, pain, and lessons are all part of the journey. For everything good in life, it takes time, effort, and hard work.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Gardeners must cut their plants to allow them to blossom in the future. Same works in business. Thus, in this Expert Insight Interview, Jessica Jones discusses the concept of scaling back your business to scale up. Jessica Jones is a Founder of Pivot to Growth company, and she helps executives and entrepreneurs to take control and scale up their businesses.

The interview discusses:

• Shifting a mindset
• Looking objectively
• Allowing delegation
• The process of letting go

Shift the Mindset

Businesses have their life cycle. They have birth, mid-life, and death. However, entrepreneurs usually attach too much to their business, and they do not realize that it is time to let it go. A company might have many different locations, but not all of them might be profitable. In that case, the key is to make a difficult decision and close the unprofitable ones so that the profitable ones can thrive. If not, then many resources are being wasted. You have to focus on what is working well. For many people, having multiple company locations means success, and their closure would mean failure. Thus, it is crucial to shift your mindset to thinking that scaling back can lead to long-term success.

Look Objectively

Any sizing down in business is disappointing for people because they get emotionally attached to work. If something does not create value anymore, we have to let it go to make room for new things that create value. Entrepreneurs tend to look at their businesses subjectively. But, without seeing things objectively, we get stuck in our heads and miss out on good opportunities. Thus, being willing to accept the change and paying attention to the upcoming things that can benefit the business is very important.

Allow Delegation

Another challenging thing for many entrepreneurs is to delegate because they are used to do everything alone. However, using some of the revenue money to hire someone whose skills can help your business to do better is beneficial. That way, you can free up some of your time to get new ideas, recharge energy, and find a work-life balance. However, the key is to let people do things their way and to let them fail. Only by trying, failing, and learning from mistakes, they grow. And once they grow, they can bring your company to an even higher level than what you have imagined.

How to Let Go

The process of letting go of parts of the business is hard and depends on the circumstance. Sometimes, the numbers clearly show that closure is inevitable. However, sometimes people have to weigh the pros and cons. But once they realize all the things they can do with extra time, money, and energy, they decide to let it go.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Last year brought lots of difficulties and uncertainty to everyone, but the beginning of 2021 does not mean that things will automatically go back to normal. Thus, in this Expert Insight Interview, Michael Licenblat discusses how to recreate momentum and motivation to continue growing. Michael Licenblat is a resilience expert, helping people to sell more in tough markets.

The interview discusses:

• Different perspectives of resilience
• Going back to fundamentals
• Three key points of sales resilience
• Understanding the psychology behind it

Different Perspectives

Resilience comes in different forms, such as bouncing back fast from setbacks, achieving something despite the difficulty, handling stress and pressure, being emotionally resilient, or having the ability to pivot. But ultimately, being resilient means being able to adapt, grow, and thrive no matter what life throws at you.

Back to Basics

People often confuse motivation and momentum. Being motivated pushes you forward when doing something, but creating momentum means starting it. We create momentum with many little steps so that motivation comes naturally. Recreating the momentum requires going back to the basics. That means going back to the simple things that we already tried, tested, and know how to do. We need to rebuild confidence in ourselves, and the way to do it is to be consistent in doing small things that we do well.

Key Points

We tend to be reluctant to do something when we feel that we are not ready for it. Thus, we have to remind ourselves that we create value for people and shift our mindset to serving people. Finding value in what you do will help you to recreate the momentum. But, to create value, you have to believe in yourself first. Thus, believe that you still have what it takes. Our worst enemy is self-doubt. Our mind works that way that when we feel threatened, it keeps us in our safety zone. However, feeling threatened keeps us from making the first move in moving forward. The key is to acknowledge the fear that we experience so that we can liberate ourselves from it.

Psychological Side

In sales, being hesitant to go forward is fear. There are two different approaches to take. One is a surgical approach in which making a mistake means that person dies. Having this approach in sales does not allow growth. Thus, in sales, we should embrace the second approach – the scientific one. Scientists test hypotheses meaning that they try different things until they achieve success. This approach allows you to fail fast and not to be afraid to continue to move forward. We have to be able to understand the fear and the psychology that stands behind it in order to achieve resilience in sales.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Roseann Capanna-Hodge discusses how to manage the stress and mental strain of working from home, as an individual, but also as a parent and spouse. Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge is a trailblazing psychologist with almost 30 years of experience. She is a pediatric mental health expert and the founder and director of the Global Institute of Children’s Mental Health.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The challenges of isolation and working from home
• The power of structure and routine
• The differences between stress and anxiety

Challenges of the Pandemic

Working from home and adjusting to a whole new virtual business experience can be quite stressful, especially if you have kids and your environment isn’t set up for it. Since this pandemic has started, many people have been forced into this exact position, many of them entirely unprepared.

From a mental health point of view, this has presented many challenges. Dr. Roseann believes that we were at a high-stress point even before the pandemic, and the isolation served as an exacerbator of the already difficult situation.

Having a Routine

We crave routine and structure. Predictability frees our brain from overthinking and continuously working on planning various scenarios, which allows us to achieve at a higher level. This is most apparent in kids. Your kids are stressed out mainly because they are missing their structure and daily routine.

One of the primary mental blocks to developing a routine nowadays is the fact that this is a temporary situation. We are not working on structuring our lives because we expect things to go back to “business as usual” any day now. The hard reality is that we don’t know what the future holds, and the more we delay creating a routine, the more stressful we become.

Stress vs. Anxiety

Many people think stress and anxiety are the same, but there’s a clear difference. Dr. Capanna-Hodge explains that stress is a reaction to something that our body perceives as a stressor. Our body doesn’t know the difference between good and bad stress, so to your body, almost getting in a car accident is the same as witnessing the birth of your child.

Anxiety, on the other hand, happens when something interferes with your daily life. It can result from long-term stress, but it is a distinct physiological process.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

Since organizations have a high-frequency change environment, organizational leaders should know how to convince their employees to embrace the organizational change. Thus, in this Expert Insight Interview, Anjali Sharma discusses organizational change and storytelling. Anjali Sharma is a Managing Director at Narrative The Business of Stories, working with government and private organizations to create unique solutions for their challenges using business storytelling.

The interview discusses:

• How to properly communicate the change
• Identifying the core of the problem to create a compelling story

Communication

Organizational leaders should anticipate the need for a change in the organization and find a way to inspire their employees to adopt it. The way to do that is in proper communication. Most people are reluctant to change. They start thinking right away about how it will affect them personally. The key is in telling a story with a positive impact on employees’ future growth.

When people prepare to introduce the change publicly, they usually practice saying what it is about, why it is significant, and its advantages. Then they focus on finding the right way to deliver those words. But usually, it looks very codified because the words they are saying do not come from their actual belief, but the practiced speech. The employees’ main concern when it comes to the change is whether they will adjust to it. So, the core of the company’s story should focus on what the company will do to provide a smooth transition for employees to the new way of doing things. The story has to hit employees’ main pain points to resonate with them.

Compelling Story

Many times, organizations focus on wrong issues or use inefficient solutions. For example, making a PowerPoint presentation about communication or getting a new communication software will not solve the communication problem. The solution requires going more into depth and investing more time. Sometimes the problem is slowly destroying the company without anyone realizing how serious the consequences could be. Often, it is not one big problem, but many little things that make a difference.

The real organizational culture lies at the lower level and not at the executive level. The deeper you go inside the company, the more information you will be able to collect. Talking with employees who work in lower positions and collecting their stories will provide you better insights into real company challenges. By finding the essence of the problem, you can tell a compelling story to employees to motivate them to do what they need to do.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.