Andrea Johnson, transformational leadership coach,
intentional optimist.
Tell me about your vision.
Let's hear about it.
Well, it took me at least 50 years to figure out
that I didn't want to play by everybody else's rules.
And once I did, it took me another two or three years
to kind of figure out a general direction I wanted to go.
I spent almost 25 years in higher education,
which is a great pursuit.
I did administration operations, research administration.
I managed people.
I made sure clinical trials got put through faster
so that patients could have access to new medications.
I made sure that post-docs had what they needed
and that all the doctors were supported well.
And yet I still felt completely unfulfilled.
And I realized that part of it was I was born
to be more of an inspirer and more of a leader.
I just don't like to manage.
I have a really hard time sitting down with people
and having them say, yeah, I'm here to punch a time clock.
And if that's where they need to be,
that's where they need to be.
I don't need to be in their circle
because that's not the kind of person I want to be.
So my vision started about seven years ago
where I decided I needed to find out
what I wanted to stand for, who I was,
and how I wanted to move forward.
And about five years ago,
a friend introduced me to John Maxwell
and I became a certified Maxwell team,
disc speaker trainer and coach
and disc consultant speaker trainer and coach.
And I realized that this was an opportunity
to go into the same organizations
that I was trying to work inside
and offer them something from the outside
that would better their communication,
that would help them grow,
that would help them with their organizational structures.
And as I dove even deeper into the coaching side of it,
I realized that for me, for the last 30 years,
I started with Franklin Covey.
And I have from 30 years ago,
my governing values from when I read Steve Covey's book.
And that was the last exercise in it.
And I still have it laminated with packing tape.
And as I looked more at core values,
I realized this is the building block
that everything else is built on.
And so my vision is to help other people understand
that whether or not you live in a way,
as some people do, that already honors your core values
and you're not intentional about it,
or you've allowed your core values to be dishonored
for how many years and you're miserable because of it,
there is something in here for you.
Because if you're on this unicorn side
that kind of like has an idea of what your core values are
and you can live in a way that honors them,
I want you to be able to be intentional about it
because that it's like take it to 11, right?
It's like start at 10 and go to 11.
Whereas with people who are,
and I deal with a lot of people this way,
they're fed up, they're frustrated.
They're just, they realize everything that they're doing
is dishonoring who they are as a person.
Sometimes it means you change jobs.
Sometimes it means you build a different team.
Sometimes it means you have to confront conditioning.
So I talk about my ABCs, my assumptions,
my beliefs and my conditioning.
And starting with that building block,
that's the three-part framework that gives people
the opportunity to make changes,
make changes in their lives, in their families,
in their communities, in their businesses.
And so my vision is to start there
and just see how many people we can touch.
And it's truly empowering someone.
It's truly giving them the tools that they need
to be able to make decisions for themselves.
Okay, fantastic.
And we're gonna dive into that even deeper,
not just what's the story behind your why,
but I'm gonna pull from a little bit
about what I heard earlier when you told me about your vision.
You mentioned it took 50 years to realize
that you didn't have to follow these rules
that society or life or family set.
And you talked about the Stephen R. Covey book
having an impact on you.
And it sounds like it was somewhere before
that 50-year mark.
And then you've got this training with John Maxwell.
And so I capture the reality that,
okay, you're not throwing Stephen R. Covey's book
under the bus.
You learned some values.
I know.
Right, exactly.
I still quote it.
Yep, hang in there.
So I can see that.
And I imagine with the shift you've made
through John Maxwell's program
and really figuring out how to break free
of superficial rules through your own life discoveries,
you probably have a different type of appreciation as well
for what you learned in the past.
So I kind of wanna hear the story behind,
why do you do what you do?
Starting from what was so, I don't know, I guess,
what was so difficult without those first 50 years?
Because I know other people probably were
in that same type of boat or are in that same type of boat.
And why is it so important for you
to help other people get out of it?
Well, I was raised in a Southern evangelical culture
and I'm still a pastor's wife.
And so there's a lot of expectations that come with that.
There are a lot of rules and regulations
that come with that.
And when I teach core values
and when I help somebody understand their core values,
I tell them to look all the way back.
And when I look all the way back to even my mother saying,
Andrea, you were the definition of the strong willed child.
I'm like, well, looking back now,
I know that my top core value is freedom of thought.
And when somebody else is consistently telling me
what to do and how to think and how to be,
I look back and I say, that's where it all started.
This is where the conflict started over my own core values.
The problem is we want to fit in.
We want to be accepted.
We want to be a part of the group.
And when that group is very clear and defined,
it makes it quote unquote easy to fall into those rules
and principles for this very defined group.
And breaking away from that very defined group is difficult.
I've not broken away from Christianity,
but I'm just saying it's,
that's where some of that comes from.
And I look back at, there were specific times in my life.
I say 30 years ago,
I started my core values journey 30 years ago.
I have glimpses of when I would come up for air.
And I think, and I look back now and I think,
oh, I wish I had been able to pursue it then
because I had, I had come up above the fence
or up above the water line.
I was able to see an idea of who I could have been,
but it is so powerful, the conditioning that we have
that pulls us back under
or the fear that we have of stepping outside.
I grew up in Seoul, Korea and in the Asian culture,
they have sayings like,
and I think this is actually from Japan.
It's like the tallest blade of grass gets cut first.
So you don't want to stand out.
You want to fit in.
It's all about fitting in.
And for me, looking at what I believed I was supposed to do,
I just could not,
even though I would have these glimpses,
I would have, I would read a good book.
And I've read personal growth books since I was 18, right?
I mean, they started out as like spiritual personal growth,
but a lot of them were not necessarily
spiritual personal growth.
And so this is a battle or a journey
that I've been on a really, really long time.
And I think that not recognizing that I had the authority
to be able to say, this is who I am and it's okay.
While I watched other friends, my same age do that.
And I was insanely jealous,
at 18 or at 35 or at 40.
And finally, and the thing that was really the big catalyst
at 50 for me was that I lost my mom to breast cancer.
And so sometimes it takes a really big emotional thing
to put us in that crucible
where we have the opportunity to say,
all right, it's now more difficult
to continue doing all that other stuff
than to actually make the changes.
Wow, that's super deep.
Thank you for sharing that.
It's, yeah, there's so many,
there's so many people out there
who are looking for that path towards the freedom
from the rules, the ability to be self,
undiscover their identity.
So I appreciate you sharing that so openly.
And what's your goal for being on the show?
Well, one of my goals this year is being on 200 shows
because I do not enjoy social media.
I don't like it.
I'm 57, right?
It's like, I have a 15 year old adopted son
who thinks that I'm an old person.
And in there are ways in which I do social media,
but I gotta be honest with you, it's rough.
Don't exclude me.
I'm in your group.
I'm 36, but I'm in your group.
I don't, I rock the mic.
I'm a producer, not a consumer.
Well, and I do rock the mic as well,
but I also really do well in one-on-one conversations.
And so I know that I can get my message across
to more people by talking to people like you
when your audience can hear what I have to say.
And when I do my CliftonStrengths,
it comes out as relator is number one.
And there's a reason I can do that.
I can relate to people immediately.
So being on this show would be-
You're doing that in-person event too.
I'm also doing that.
You're like, you know, actually living in the world.
Like being in person too.
So that's where I would rather have my time spent as well.
And these one-on-ones are with people directly
because you can't get to depth
by just posting the six image in your phone.
Nevermind.
And there are benefits to having a lot of followers,
but when I have somebody,
like when I even send my emails out on a weekly basis,
almost every week I get a response.
And it's like that's, then I'm doing something right.
And so those are the things that bring me joy.
Those are the things that tell me I'm on the right path.
And one of my tenets of intentional optimism
is being present.
And part of that is realizing that people
are more important than ideas, things, or principles.
And so this is my way of living part of that out as well.
That's awesome.
And it sounds like it gives you a good stage
for your number one core value too,
that freedom of thought.
That's also fun.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions
as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is gonna get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show.
And thank you for giving us your time and attention.
Have an excellent time building out your vision
and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.