1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,160 Welcome to Milestone Moments, the show where we explore the journeys that lead to success. 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:14,000 I'm Sheila Slick, your host and founder of Five Milestones. In every episode, we will bring you 3 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:21,520 insights from the minds of entrepreneurs, leaders, and experts who will share not just their expertise 4 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:27,440 but the milestone moments that have reshaped their journeys and led to significant achievements. 5 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:33,120 So if you're looking for motivation, you're in the right place. Subscribe now and discover the 6 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,160 milestones that mark the path to success. 7 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:45,440 Welcome to another episode of Milestone Moments in Business and Leadership. I'm Sheila Slick, 8 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:52,880 your host. And today, my special guest is Stephanie Adams. Stephanie is founder and Chief 9 00:00:52,880 --> 00:01:00,960 Empowerment Officer of WNY People Development. She's also a facilitator, a keynote speaker, 10 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:09,360 an educator, a former elected official, an adjunct university instructor, and entrepreneur. She has 11 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:15,840 over 20 years of experience leading in training in corporate, nonprofit, and government settings. 12 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:22,960 She also holds an MED in multicultural education, and her professional affiliations include 13 00:01:22,960 --> 00:01:30,080 the Society for Human Resource Management, the Lower Cape Fear HR Association, and she's a 14 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:35,520 certified Forte communication coach. Welcome to the show, Stephanie. 15 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:38,880 Thank you so much, Sheila. I'm excited to be here. 16 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:41,920 I'm ready to cheer, cheer, cheer. 17 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:44,560 Let's do it. Let's go. 18 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:54,240 Let's go. So let's talk about that turning point because your trajectory is truly impressive 19 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:57,840 that led you to start WNY People Development. 20 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:06,960 So I have a very eclectic background. I started thinking I was going to be a teacher my entire 21 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:11,920 life. Elementary school teacher, that was the path. Got to college in about six weeks 22 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:18,880 prior to graduating. My supervising teacher oversaw one of my classes and she said, 23 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:22,640 yeah, you're not going to be great at this. I don't think you should be a teacher. 24 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:28,720 And it rocked my world. 22-year-old me had my whole life planned out, and here I am trying 25 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:32,320 to figure out like, oh my gosh, you're saying I'm not good at this. This isn't where I'm supposed 26 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:38,000 to be. And it turns out that was the greatest piece of feedback anyone ever gave me. And it 27 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:44,800 really started me in the reflection process very early on. I took all my graduation money. I flew 28 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:49,920 to Florida, not too far from you. And I sat by a pool with a margarita and I went, what am I 29 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:55,840 going to do with my life? And it started me thinking about what am I good at? And that was 30 00:02:55,840 --> 00:03:02,480 really where WNY started way back there. What am I good at? How do I lean into the strengths that I 31 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:09,520 bring? And what do I bring that supports others? How do I feel joyful? Where do I feel fulfilled? 32 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:15,440 And so I followed a path. I worked in education, not in the elementary class, but worked in career 33 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:20,560 and technical education and was recruited out of Philadelphia public high schools to work for 34 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:26,000 Johns Hopkins University as an educational consultant, which brought me to North Carolina. 35 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:31,200 It was great because I had the opportunity to provide coaching and training for administrators 36 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:37,760 and schools to help develop teams of educators to better support students. So I stayed close 37 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:44,080 to education. When I got married, moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, my husband and I 38 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:49,760 decided that we wanted to start a family. And with my previous job with Hopkins, I traveled a lot. 39 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:54,320 And as we know, you want to start a family, you got to kind of be there for that to happen. 40 00:03:55,040 --> 00:04:00,800 So I moved into the community college system and worked in student services and customized 41 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:07,520 training. That was when the light bulb went off. I was providing training for other companies, 42 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:12,960 but I was like, this is what I'm good at. I'm good at helping people succeed and find their 43 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:18,560 strengths. And I want to do this in a different capacity. That led me into the corporate training 44 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:27,120 space. And I stayed there for about four years. Right around that time, I decided that I wanted 45 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:33,520 to run for public office. And in my head, I could run for public office and I could win a seat on 46 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:41,760 our school board, work full time, be a mom, be a wife, have a life. I was wrong. I got into public 47 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:46,960 office. It took way more time than I anticipated. And so I decided to make the move out of my 48 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:53,280 corporate training manager role at that time to focus on the political piece. But during that time, 49 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:58,960 I said, you know what? I've always wanted to have my own training company. I have my own style. 50 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:04,160 I've been really focused on frontline leaders and all of the roles that I've had soft skills or power 51 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:09,600 skills, if you want to call them that. And I started, I used the opportunity of being home 52 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:17,040 outside of the politics, political side to write content and do my research, write my own content. 53 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:26,480 And I took about five, six months. I launched my company on February 29th, 2020. Not a great time 54 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:31,280 to launch an in-person training company when two weeks later, the entire world shut down. 55 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:39,760 So, but the reason I moved into that was I really felt like work needs to change and how we treat 56 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:48,720 each other, how we work to retain our people. And the secret sauce is the leaders. If we don't have 57 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:54,880 good leaders, that's how we lose our most valuable employees. So leaders, a lot of times get dumped 58 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:59,680 into positions and no one's ever taught them how to be a leader. They may have been really great 59 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:05,440 at turning that widget or creating these spreadsheets, but when you're in charge of people, 60 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:12,400 that's a totally different set of skills. So I really felt like my calling was to help others 61 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:17,680 develop their leadership competencies and do it in a way that's fun. I've worked in education long 62 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:23,040 enough to know, even as adults, we like to have a good time and science tells us we retain more 63 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:28,160 when we are having a good time, when we are laughing. So that was why I was like, I'm going 64 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:33,840 to do training and development my way. And here I am. I just celebrated my fourth anniversary as a 65 00:06:33,840 --> 00:06:40,480 business owner and we've got clients across the country and the company's just grown and I'm 66 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:49,440 having the time of my life, helping others be their best selves. I love it. So for those who know you 67 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:57,760 best, you're known as cheerleader Steph. I want to learn more about that nickname. Well, since I've 68 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:04,240 got a pom-pom here by the desk because I keep them close always, I am a 15 year cheerleader and a five 69 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:10,400 year cheerleading coach. So started in middle school, cheered up through high school, college, 70 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:16,160 even got a couple of years of pro under my belt. After my body got too old to flip, cheer, jump, 71 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:21,600 and all those things, I moved into coaching at the high school level and then coaching at the 72 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:29,520 college level. And you learn a lot about leadership when you are responsible for 2017 to 21 year old 73 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:34,640 young ladies that you need to have worked together to work towards a championship trophy. 74 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:40,720 When there's cattiness going on on the team, when somebody likes somebody else's boyfriend, 75 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:44,800 when someone is failing their chemistry class and their parents are going to cut off their bank 76 00:07:44,800 --> 00:07:50,960 statements, the drama and the things that come with getting people to focus on a single mission 77 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:57,200 of we're working together. I learned everything about leadership from cheerleading and that's 78 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:00,640 what led me into the next phase of my career, which I think we're going to talk about a little 79 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:07,680 bit later, but we'll get there. The short and long of cheerleader Steph, I am an eternal optimist. My 80 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:14,480 glass is always half full, not toxic positivity. I'm a realist, but I really, truly see the good 81 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:19,840 in everything. And I truly believe that we all need someone to support us, cheer for us and tell 82 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:24,400 us that we're doing our best and how we can support each other. So I really have kind of, 83 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:28,000 I'm always at my own cheerleader, but I'm also kind of a cheerleader for the world. 84 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:35,840 Well, I love how you've incorporated it into your brand and I'm going to go ahead and read this next 85 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:40,400 line that made me want to just jump through the computer as I was learning more about you. And 86 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:48,320 here it goes. Two, four, six, eight. Want to make your workforce really great. Bring in the power of 87 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:56,640 cheer. That's the secret. Cheer leadership provides actionable strategies to help individuals 88 00:08:56,640 --> 00:09:04,240 become more innovative and empathetic leaders. So can you share your core themes or your strategy 89 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:10,800 behind cheer leadership? Sure. So cheerleading provides highly applicable professional lessons 90 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:15,920 for leaders across industries. And I've grouped them into five themes. What I believe the workforce 91 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:20,160 of tomorrow needs when it comes to leadership. And I've seen this in my own leadership. I've seen 92 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:25,840 this in the clients that I work with and for and partner with through my company. Leaders need to 93 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:35,120 connect, care, challenge, celebrate and inspire their work teams. And I use the analogy of a 94 00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:39,600 basket toss. And if you're a non-cheerleader out there, I'll explain what that is. A basket 95 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:46,000 toss is a group of four people and a fit person jumps into the center and they throw them up in 96 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:50,640 the air. You've probably seen it at a basketball game. And when that person hits the air, they 97 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:58,560 execute a back tuck or a toe touch or some cool skill at the top. That is what work teams are. 98 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:04,640 As a coach, I would never at the first practice expect to put five of my cheerleaders together 99 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:08,800 that have never met each other, that don't know each other's skillset, that don't trust each other 100 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:15,040 to execute a basket toss on day one. But we do this with work teams all the time. We find our 101 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:20,400 high performers and we pull the person from sales. We pull customer service. We pull IT. We pull 102 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:27,840 somebody from HR. We say, here's the project. Deadline's Friday. Go. You can't expect a team 103 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:34,560 of people to come together and work and be successful without connecting first, which is 104 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:39,920 why the first theme of cheerleadership is connect. As a leader, you have to connect with your people. 105 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:44,640 You have to understand their motivators, their communication styles, what are their triggers. 106 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:49,360 But then you also have to facilitate that connection amongst your team. And every time you 107 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:54,800 lose someone, if they're laid off or if they quit, you bring someone new, you've got to reconnect 108 00:10:54,800 --> 00:11:01,600 again because the dynamics are going to shift. So in cheerleadership, I give very practical strategies 109 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:06,880 and activities that help leaders that maybe don't know, maybe they're not the best at connecting, 110 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:12,880 how to help them build relationships. And I like to use the term, I like to help leaders build 111 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:18,640 relationships before building stunts because cheerleading is literally the only sport where 112 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:24,240 you have to build on top of each other to achieve wow moments. It's the same thing with our work 113 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:29,280 teams. If we want our work teams to succeed and create wow moments, we need each other. We have to 114 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:34,080 lean on each other. And that all starts with the relationships that we're able to build and the 115 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:40,320 trust that we connect with each other. So we start with connect, we move on to care. You have to care 116 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:47,440 about what your employees want. And specifically now, my focus, I really am into studying the 117 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:53,040 multi-generational workforce. And when you look at millennial gen Z workforce in particular, which 118 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:58,000 baby boomers are retiring out, we're a couple of years away from the last baby boomer turning 65. 119 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:03,360 So baby boomers are starting to leave the workplace. Millennials are dominating the 120 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:09,600 workplace numbers wise. Gen Z is coming in in droves and they're changing how we work. And so 121 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:16,400 our leaders have to care about what they care about. Command and control top-down leadership is over. 122 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:22,160 You have to care about what your people care about. So understanding their motivators outside of the 123 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:27,600 office, understanding that people want to know that you care about their mental health. They want 124 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:32,240 to be comfortable to be vulnerable to talk about their mental health in that space and to know that 125 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:37,840 their leader respects that, supports that, and we'll talk them through it. So caring about people 126 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:44,160 beyond the PNL, because people are not numbers. People are not dollars. People are people that 127 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:50,800 have life experiences. That is much as we want to say, work is work and home is home. They're not. 128 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:56,400 They're fully intertwined. And especially after COVID, right? We were all sitting like this on 129 00:12:56,400 --> 00:13:02,320 Zoom watching cats walk in the background, children throwing up in labs. I mean, messy houses. Like we 130 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:09,040 saw all those things. Work and home are intertwined. So we have to care about that. The third is 131 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:15,120 challenge. Every leader's job is to help push their people beyond what they even think they're capable 132 00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:20,640 of. And a lot of times we lack confidence in ourselves. We don't believe that we have the 133 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:27,040 abilities or the skills to achieve something great. A leader's job is to help us get there, 134 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:31,680 challenge us to push past our limits, give us the support and the resources to get there, 135 00:13:31,680 --> 00:13:38,480 then believe in that person that you can be and do what you think was not possible. Celebrate. 136 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:45,760 I'm a cheerleader. We celebrate. That is like at the core of everything. I write a story in the book 137 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:51,120 that when I was a team leader, I had a team of four and they had to clock in and out every day. 138 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:56,160 So every two weeks I was cleaning up time cards and it was so frustrating as a leader. I'm like, 139 00:13:56,160 --> 00:14:00,240 you're adults. You got to clock in, you got to clock out. Like this isn't difficult. 140 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:04,880 So the first time one of my team members clocked in and out consistently for two weeks and I didn't 141 00:14:04,880 --> 00:14:11,760 have to make any updates, I put a gold star on his cubicle on Friday. Monday morning, everybody comes 142 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:16,960 in and they're all like, what, how did he get that? What, can I get one of those? Why did he get a 143 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:23,200 gold star? And I said, because I didn't have to correct any time cards. From then on, I was doing 144 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:29,040 a lot more stars to celebrate consistent clocking in than I was saying, hey, I had to correct your 145 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:34,320 time card again. We love to celebrate. We love a trophy. And so I give a lot of strategies on how 146 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:40,320 to do that because it doesn't have to be complicated. One thing I do like to mention about celebrate 147 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:45,600 though, within cheer leadership, everybody wants to be celebrated differently. Not everyone wants 148 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:53,120 to be on a stage and given public recognition, some people that's their nightmare. So finding out how 149 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:58,400 people want to be shown gratitude. Do you want a gift card from Starbucks or are you not a coffee 150 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:04,800 drinker? Do you want a timeout? You want to sit down with the CEO and have a conversation? Let's do 151 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:10,240 that. Finding out how people want to be celebrated is important. The last theme of cheer leadership 152 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:15,680 is inspire. Every great leader I've ever had has inspired me to want to be my best self, 153 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:22,800 has inspired me to want to take steps forward, has inspired me to take chances and take risks. 154 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:27,680 And that's what good leaders need to find in themselves. And I believe that you inspire by 155 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:32,800 setting the example. If you work hard, your people are going to work hard right along with you. If 156 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:36,480 you're vulnerable, they're going to know it's okay to be vulnerable. If you ask for help, 157 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:42,320 they're going to ask for help. So inspiring your teams to be successful and knowing that 158 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:46,880 you're on their team to help them achieve that greatness, that success, that promotion they're 159 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:52,480 working towards. So cheer leadership, connect, care, challenge, celebrate and inspire. 160 00:15:53,920 --> 00:16:00,000 Absolutely love it. So when we talk leaders, are we talking C level suite? Are we talking 161 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:06,960 front line? Who do you serve? I think cheer leadership is across, it really any leader 162 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:11,520 could benefit from learning about it and sort of checking themselves on it. However, it really 163 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:16,960 is geared towards first time frontline leaders. It just happens too often that we promote people 164 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:21,600 into leadership roles because they were really great at the job and they were not prepared to 165 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:29,280 lead people. And that's hard because people are complicated, people are messy. So you need to have 166 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:35,200 some skillsets and you need to have empathy and emotional intelligence. And those are things that 167 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:40,880 take time to develop in each person. So cheer leadership really is meant to provide a toolkit 168 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:46,560 for those new leaders to go, okay, I've got seven people on my team and I don't know anything about 169 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:50,880 any of them. Well, we're going to try an activity called wall to wall and it's laid out for them. 170 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:58,080 And it tells them how to step through it, questions to ask. I'm trying to make it easier 171 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:02,880 for leaders to become the best version of themselves because when they're the best version of themselves, 172 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:08,960 that's when their teams have positive impact and feel good and feel valued, feel like they belong. 173 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:14,720 Yeah, first time frontline leaders, but everybody can benefit from some shaking of pom poms with 174 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:20,240 cheer leadership. Do you bring them with you for in person? All the time. And when I do this in a 175 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:26,080 keynote, I always, the audience gets pom poms and there is music, there is movement and there is 176 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:32,480 nothing better than seeing, I will say more seasoned professional, maybe a little bit of gray 177 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:36,800 hair. They kind of look at you sideways when you hand them the pom pom and they're like, what's 178 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:40,880 happening here. And by the end of the keynote, they're the ones standing up and they're shaking 179 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:45,760 it over their head and they're dancing along with you and they're feeling the excitement and the 180 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:52,720 power and the joy that you get to be when you're a leader. I want to pump them. I will send one your 181 00:17:52,720 --> 00:18:03,440 direction. So what is your next milestone? The book January 18th, 2023. I naively thought I was 182 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:08,080 going to write a book in three days. I got an Airbnb down in Charleston and I was like, knock 183 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:13,360 this. I'm going to take some quiet time. I'm going to write a book. It took me about a year, but 184 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:20,240 with a lot of support, I had a great book coach. I did a lot of editing, reviewing, reflecting, 185 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:25,520 but I finally finished the book a few months ago and I'm working with Amplify Publishing and we are 186 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:31,280 in the final process. So it's really exciting. I just got my cover art email to me yesterday, 187 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:37,360 our first draft of cover art, and it is like really becoming real now. So the expectation is 188 00:18:37,360 --> 00:18:43,440 we'll probably release on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, all other bookstores early October, November for 189 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:48,560 the book to be physically available, but it will be available for pre-release sales early fall. 190 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:55,520 And in the book, will you discuss these strategies or does it have a different perspective or point? 191 00:18:55,520 --> 00:19:02,080 Cheerleadership is all about the five themes and it walks the reader through Connect, Care, 192 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:07,360 Challenge, Celebrate and Inspire, and it provides a roadmap of why do we need to do these things? 193 00:19:07,360 --> 00:19:12,960 Why is connecting important on your team? And I use stories from my coaching and cheerleading 194 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:18,240 experience as well as my leadership experience, and that's what I'm going to be doing. So I'm 195 00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:23,520 going to be talking about the cheerleading experience and that is sort of peppered in to talk 196 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:30,560 about the real life experience of what did that look like for me? One example of care is telling 197 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:35,040 leaders you have to take that extra step to let your people know that you care about what goes on 198 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:39,440 outside of their lives. I had a cheerleader that got an underage drinking ticket when I was coaching 199 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:43,600 and her parents lived four hours away. They weren't going to be able to come to court with her, so I 200 00:19:43,600 --> 00:19:48,240 was one of those things that I'm her cheerleading coach. I didn't have to be sitting in that courtroom 201 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:53,600 with her, but I cared and I knew she was scared and nervous and that was why I was there for her. 202 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:58,400 That's what leaders need to do. Our people need to know that they can lean on us, work related or 203 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:06,640 unwork related, and recognizing that what matters to them needs to matter to us. So I share those 204 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:12,800 stories and I provide strategies within each of those themes to help leaders understand how they 205 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:17,760 can better connect, better care for their people, better challenge their people, better celebrate, 206 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:24,560 and inspire. So where can my audience learn more about you or connect with you? 207 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:32,880 So the website for my company is WNYPEOPLEDEVELOPMENT.COM and then you can also find 208 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:39,440 WNYPEOPLEDEVELOPMENT.COM on LinkedIn. My personal LinkedIn is Stephanie Z Adams and that's 209 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:46,400 me with an F. You can also find WNYPEOPLEDEVELOPMENT on Facebook and Instagram at WNYPEOPLEDEVELOPMENT. 210 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:54,960 So before I wrap this up, what advice would you give to inspire leaders today to take action? 211 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:05,680 Company is WNYPEOPLEDEVELOPMENT and that WNY stands for why not you? And I live this. 212 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:13,040 If you don't do it, somebody else is going to. So if you want to go after that promotion, 213 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:17,440 if you want to write that book, if you want to raise your hand in the meeting and challenge 214 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:24,320 somebody that always has the last word on everything, why not you do it? Just do it. 215 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:30,400 Get out of your head and take action in whatever it is that scares you most because big risks 216 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:36,960 bring big rewards. I will attest to it myself every time I haven't taken a risk. I moved to 217 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:42,000 North Carolina not knowing a single person. I met my husband six months later because I made that 218 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:49,760 choice. I ran for public office, was top vote getter and had a very rocky four years thanks to 219 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:55,520 COVID. But man, I learned a lot and got to meet some incredible people in that process. I'm writing 220 00:21:55,520 --> 00:22:02,080 a book and I feel in my gut this is going to be the next big thing and I'm going to help change 221 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:09,440 work and make it better. Why not you? You've got to do it. Go after what scares you most, 222 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:13,120 what you aspire to be. Just do it. 223 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:17,120 Thank you so much for joining me today. 224 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:22,160 Thanks for having me on, Sheila. This has been great. I appreciate the opportunity. 225 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:27,440 I'm uplifted now. I want my pom poms. I'll send you one. 226 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:33,920 Thank you to all our listeners for tuning in for another episode of Milestone Moments in Business 227 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:55,920 and Leadership.