Hey guys, welcome to Executives Press. So we're
so glad you're here today. I've got a nice cup
of something tasty to drink. I encourage you
to sit back for about the next 18 -19 minutes
because we've got a special guest on today as
we do every Friday, Sheila Slick. is going to
join us. She has 25, over 25 years actually,
as a leadership strategist, a certified partner
of KEEP, and she is president of Five Milestones
LLC. And she is an expert in helping executives
streamline their success, but also help them
pay attention to the important things like, oh,
what might that be? Oh yeah, mental health. And
so we're going to talk today about the five milestones
to leadership mastery, how you can lead with
confidence. What's the difference in authenticity
versus authority? You know, what's the real truth
about leadership when it comes to that authenticity
authority matrix? How can you optimize your systems,
work sharper, achieve bigger? And Sheila's going
to leave you with a great affirmation to take
into the weekend. And Sheila, it is so great
to see you here today. Thanks so much. Tell us
a bit about yourself. Well, good morning, Dr.
Heath, and thank you so much for inviting me
to your show. I've been listening and I absolutely
love all of the episodes and what you're doing.
So a little bit about me. I've been a lifelong
entrepreneur. It's in my blood, fourth generation,
and married a soulmate that's also an entrepreneur.
So we were living in Dallas when at the age of
about in 1995, 30 years ago now. And we just
moved overseas and started our first manufacturing
company. Yeah. Don't have that much courage,
right? In this stage of life, I don't think.
But that led to our first, you know, co -founding
our first company. And then I joined my mother
and grandmother in the next decade in retail
jewelry. And that was really rewarding because
I learned a lot of family values, the culture.
And I had two of the most incredible mentors
in my life. But that's when the iPhone, you know,
this little gadget, well, it was actually the
iPod Touch came out. And I thought that's the
future. And I had always wanted a master's degree
because when you're in business, sometimes, you
know, you either need a mentor, you need information.
And I wanted more answers. And so that thirst.
I thought earning a master's will help solve
all of the questions I have. But I was a mother
and with three kids. And so living overseas,
coming back to school just wasn't something I
could do. So when this gadget got invented, I
thought if I can learn how to code and I was
about 36 years old, then I don't need a master's
because there were online courses. And so Apple
was streaming. one course out in Stanford. And
I thought, oh, you know, Stanford, Ivy League,
if they can do it, I don't need that master's.
And guess what? I did it. So I started uploading
and selling all kinds of educational apps. I
absolutely love math. And so I do the timetables,
I do books. And before I knew it, I got invited
to attend a hackathon for NASA. I was like, what?
by a local university. And I was like, a hackathon?
Like, I'm not a hacker. I'm doing these cute
games, educational games. And NASA, like, you
know, NASA that sends rockets to space, you think
I'm some kind of genius that can code something
for NASA? And I left. And they were like, Sheila,
we don't know anyone else in the country at this
point that can, you know, do this app. And so
can you just take the information and... Think
about it. Now, it's just a hackathon, a volunteer
project. And at dinner that night, I'm telling
the kids and my husband, you know, they really
think I'm really smart. I can do this. And the
kids said, Mother, you've always told us you
can't fail if you don't try. And you're not even
trying. And I ended up in the hackathon, of course,
with my children. And I reframed it as an opportunity.
to open up the computer and teach anyone that
wanted to see how you build these apps. Right.
And so the app was in the app store and NASA
picked out of about 7 ,400 participants, their
top ones to move on to the global nomination.
Wow. Ours for most inspiring. Now it's the global
honorable mention. So we. came in second place
in that category. So now I'm in a third world
country and this happens and it became like a
sensation. And before I knew it, I had to form
another company because I needed to do certain
programs in STEM. I had companies looking to
do apps and I didn't have to sell. And so then
that's when my third company was born. And fast
forward to now, we did return back to the States
about five years ago. No, seven years ago in
2018. And brought over those clients. So I formed
Five Milestones LLC because that's my next chapter.
So anything that I do revolves around the number
five. It's just my magic number. And that's where
I'm at. Oh, well, I forgot. to tie in the leadership
because I think we have a little bit of the science
in common. When I came back, I found the opportunity
to go back to school. So as a mother, as a business
owner, I went back and earned a Master of Science
in Leadership. And so that's what I tie in, my
entrepreneurship, my leadership, and my tech
skills. Goodness gracious, Sheila, what a story.
What a story. And to work with your mother and
grandmother in this, I mean, what a blessing.
There are not too many people that get that opportunity.
And then those that do get the opportunity, they
seem not to be able to pull it off, you know,
because there's the whole, you know, getting
along and synergizing. And some people just can't
get over that hurdle. Just really quick, how
did you tackle working with family? Without becoming
enemies to each other. So remember, the first
company was with my husband. And that was a bit
more challenging because we couldn't separate
the work from the home. And so those conversations
would come into the house, so to speak. And that
was a little bit difficult. With my mother and
my grandmother being three generations, the way
that we handled that, remember, it was a retail
store, is we opened up four. And so we all managed
our own stores as we grew the company. And what
was so beautiful about that was that by having
three different generations, we were catering
to three different markets and three different
segments. So you could walk into the store and
pretty much have something for everyone. Wow,
that is completely amazing. And again, my hat's
off to you ladies for being able to pull that
off. And I wanted to point out something. I put
out a post yesterday, and I won't quote it. You
guys can look it up. But I want you to realize
that while a lot of people were out there making
excuses, Sheila was out there making it happen.
And so while you're thinking it can't be done
and telling yourself, guys, all the reasons it
can't be done, other people like Sheila are getting
out there, and making it happen. How amazing
that is. Well, I wanted to launch into these
five milestones to leadership mastery. Share
with us a few of those milestones, if not all
of them. So before I share where this is going,
I am focusing right now on what I'm calling self
-leadership, right? Because we talk a lot about
leadership and we're talking about leading others.
And I have led organizations as a volunteer.
year, a chapter chair at SCORE. I have led employees,
companies. I've led teams, for example, in Hackathon.
And there's such a big difference, right, in
the approaches. But what they have in common
is that you first have to learn how to lead yourself
in order to be able to lead others. When we have
these life transitions, it's really important
to practice that self -leadership because you're
able to influence your own thinking, your own
feelings, and your own actions. And if I break
it down into five steps, it all starts with self
-discovery, self -awareness, taking that time
out of your every day. And setting aside, it
could be once a month or it could be once a week
or at least once a year and really doing a deep
dive into your own self -discovery. Where am
I at now? Then comes the second step, your vision.
Where do I want to be? And number three is plan
it, right? Everything needs a strategy. You're
not going to take that first step, which is your
fourth one. You have to implement. You have to
take action if you don't know where you're going.
And the fifth one is when we get feedback and
we reflect on what's working and what's not.
And because I love entrepreneurship, I always
love putting my business into my personal life.
So I think that's what really makes me unique.
Now, when you say putting your business in your
personal life, for example, what's that look
like? So a business plan, if you wanted to start
a business, right, or whether you want to do
a startup, the first thing you need is a business
plan. And so in life, the first thing you need
is a life plan, your next steps plan. And you
really need to learn how to practice adaptability
because everything is changing. Even as we're
having this conversation today, look at how technology
is evolving. And so you really need not only
to build, you know, resilience, but you really
need to learn how to adapt. Otherwise, you become
unrelevant in life and in business. A life plan.
Imagine that. How many years ago did you develop
your life plan? Because number one, most people
don't know what that is. So we should talk about
what that is. And then most people, they get
sidelined by thinking they're not doing it right.
They think that it's too late to do it for them.
My take on that is it's never too late to have
a plan. One of my favorite quotes is, failing
to plan is planning to fail. And so two questions
there. How long ago did you really, really see
the importance of developing a life plan? And
what would that consist of? So and I just did
a podcast episode because I do host milestone
moments in business and leadership. And I'm calling
it my next steps plan right now because I normally
do it on my birthday. Every year on my birthday,
I get that itch, that sense of renewal. Am I
doing what I was setting out to be? Now, this
was part of a capstone project as well that I
did when I was earning my master's degree. And
so. Right now, I am entering my next phase in
life. As that mother, I have self -identified
as mother first, whether I was a manufacturer
or retailer, a developer. It was always about
incorporating, you know, my kids and being a
mother first. And my youngest right now just
got accepted to college. My middle child. is
earning her PhD in science. She went straight
out of aerospace physiology in a biology. I don't
understand science like she does. And my eldest
is working with my husband in the manufacturing
company here. So I'm implementing it. This is
called build in public. I am still working on
that. And so I am differentiating my tech services.
from my own personal brand. And that is where
the Five Milestones Framework is getting put
in place. That is fantastic. Amazing. What would
you say to people that think that, look, I am
in my 50s or 60s or I'm in retirement. What would
you say to them when they think it's too late
to build this life plan, this business plan for
life that you're talking about? Well, in today's
episode that aired on my podcast, I even shared
some statistics that the Kauffman Foundation
showed that women over 55 are, after their careers,
they... tend to go into entrepreneurship. I also
shared on Twitter and I replied to one of the
younger entrepreneurs that we find in this platform
saying that if you haven't done it by 30, like
it's too late. And I was just like, oh my God,
I know exactly where I'm getting the data. And
I mean, like I ought to retweet it, but I provided
data from SBA and a few different sources because
if you do look into the data. At 50, you've got
experience. You have that wisdom, whatever career
you've built. You have more connections, probably
double than you did at 30. And you're most probably
in a much better financial position than you
were in your 30s. So I hope that answers your
question. It does. It does. I think there's so
many examples of continuing incremental improvement
throughout your life. One of the stories that
really inspires me is actually from the Old Testament
story about Moses, where Moses really didn't
do a whole lot. You know, he was just kind of
entitled until he was age 40. And then when he
was age 40, he had a bit of an awakening and
spent the next 40 years just kind of wandering.
And he really didn't turn into a leader until
he was in his 80s. You know, and I imagine that
didn't turn into a leader until he was in his
80s. And so the only thing that makes it too
late, I think, is you're thinking that it's too
late. Otherwise, it is not too late. Of those
five leadership milestones, what are one or two
of those that you find? are most difficult for
people, that really trip people up the most.
And for the audience listening, thank you guys
for being here. We've got nearly about 200 people,
and thank you so much for being here. Take a
look at Sheila's podcast. Take a look at Sheila's
account on X. We're streaming right now to Facebook,
LinkedIn, YouTube, my Mindset Masterclass. You
guys come over, join the Masterclass, school
.com forward slash mindset. School is spelled
S -K -O -O -L, school .com forward slash mindset.
and drop your thoughts in the chat. Richard,
my friend, thank you for the mic check warning
there. I know my mic might have been not very
optimized, but thank you for guys like Richard,
friends like Richard, that'll let me know about
that. But if you have questions for Sheila, drop
those in the chat. I'll bring those on the screen.
I know she would love to answer your questions.
Thank you for all the thumbs up and everything.
But back to the question, Sheila, what are a
couple of those milestones? that you think that
people have the most problems with? Well, the
very first one, that self -discovery, taking
that time to actually have a structured process
to be able to reflect because, you know, you
can do it in five minutes, you can do it in 15
minutes, but to really do a dig, you know. digging
deep in a deep dive if you're looking to make
a major change if you're looking you know for
that new career rather than just jumping into
the next one you really want to make sure that
you're looking for your strengths that you take
a few assessments that perhaps will show things
from different perspectives to reevaluate those
core values because they change everything changes
and so if you're not in tune with yourself At
the moment, then you don't know what you can
change. And it's so easy to live day to day and
practice that self -care. Now imagine taking
that time to sit down and do that deep dive.
And the second one would then be, well, how do
I get there? Yesterday in the episode, I absolutely
love what she said. And it was, you need community,
you need support. Because sometimes. By having
someone that you can bounce back your ideas to,
you're actually, you know, voicing out what you're
thinking, what you're wanting, what you're needing.
With my own sister, I think we had a conversation,
maybe about 90 minutes, and I said absolutely
nothing. It had nothing to do with business.
And we finished, she's like, oh my gosh, talking
to you was better than talking to my counselor.
And I just thought, but I haven't even talked.
All I did was listen and she vented. So a lot
of times people don't have just a place or a
person that they can, you know, vent that out.
And if you are trying to transition into something
new, what a better way to have a mentor that
can save you a lot of that guesswork. Yesterday,
I learned how to go from podcasts to having your
own channel, pretty much. Yeah, good for you.
Congratulations. Congratulations. Torsen, thank
you so much. We have some great questions here.
Torsen's asking, what were some of the hardest
challenges you personally faced? And so if you
don't mind sharing that, he asked for five, but
maybe just one or two. What are some of the hardest
challenges that you faced? Well, I can give perhaps
three examples. Number one, when I decided that
we wanted to move overseas because there was
opportunity, we made a business plan and it all
looked great on paper. And we were going to be
doing really well after three months. It was
three years later before we broke even. So lesson
number one is learn. that not everything goes
as planned, but if you stick to it and you keep
tweaking that, you can make it happen. That company's
30 years old right now. Number two is get out
of your comfort zone. When I talked about entering
this university where they're talking words I
had never heard like hackathon and NASA space
apps. And I had no idea. If you would have said
that I would have learned how to not only code
at 36 as a mom. through the internet at that
time and then have a software development company,
I'd be like, huh? So never be afraid to, you
know, try. Like I had told my kids, you can't
fail if you don't try. And in this stage in life,
that the best is yet to come. And not only is
it never too late, what you need to do is just
make sure that. You're taking that time to build,
you know, that life plan because it's always
okay, you know, to pivot. And AI is going to
do a lot of pivoting for a lot of people. So
there are many opportunities when one door closes,
another one opens. So don't be afraid to pivot.
Absolutely. Torsen says, wow, coding at 36, amazing.
Yeah, the, you know, mom coders unite. Torsen
also says in the chat there with the kids, salute
to the mothers of the world. Yeah, moms, moms
make the world go round, you know. So as I always
say, be unstoppable. And we have another comment
from Jeremy. And I really love this one about
the blindness of perspective. You know, perspective
bias is difficult to identify. And that's the
beauty of having a community, guys, is have a
circle of people. that you give them permission
to just be honest with you. And when they're
honest with you, don't make them pay for it,
right? You should pay them for that. But often
when people are honest with us, we make them
pay for it by shunning them or criticizing them.
Listen, if you don't want to critique, don't
ask for people's opinion. That's just acting
in bad faith. I have people that pay me to tell
them hard things. And if I'm not telling them
hard things, If I'm just giving them a mental
massage, I am stealing their money. I am not
earning my money. They pay me to tell them things
that no one else, including their family, will
tell them. And so have a group of people and
don't punish them for sharing their perspective.
Think of it this way. It's almost as if you ask
them, what does this food taste like in their
mouth? It's just how it tastes in their brain.
People's perspective, people's opinion, what's
shared is them saying, hey, I don't know, but
this is how this thing tastes in my brain. And
it's just information. And it's often useful
information. Not all of it, but are you better
off knowing about the termites and the walls
of your home? Or is ignorance really bliss? You
know, that river in Egypt, denial. And I think
that you're better off having this information.
Well, guys, we are running out of time here.
So thank you so much for joining. We've got about
250 people in the show today. Thank you, guys.
Take a look at Sheila's account. She does all
kinds of wonderful things. This is one of my
favorite interviews ever. She's so full of knowledge.
But Sheila, let's kind of get personal with the
audience just in this quick shot thing, just
a two to three second answer. Looking back on
your career. at your younger self, what's something
that you had most wrong about business and success?
That it happens overnight. Absolutely. And yeah,
yeah. Success is built slow, not quickly. If
you think someone built success quickly, you're
missing all their backstory. Number two, what's
one of your current biggest mindset struggles?
Because we all have them. So right now is defining
how I'm going to build my community because I'm
starting with a workshop. I'm going to do a post
that perhaps you can retweet. And it's a workshop
in April, and I'm calling it Spring Renewal,
Your Next Chapter. I love it already. It's free.
I have nothing to sell. I just want to meet other
people that perhaps by taking one hour out of
their time and we unite. I'll see what their
needs are, how we can continue being connected.
So for me, it's almost like research. It's free.
There's no course to be bought, nothing. I need
to just build that community. So I'm struggling
with where do I want to go with this? I know
what I don't want. That's awesome. And my final
question here before we get to that affirmation
to leave your audience with. is what's your current
top, best, most recommended mindset hack? Hmm.
Always look for opportunity in problems. Oh,
I love that so much. Yeah, and you know, I found
that you can't do that as long as you're catastrophizing
the problem. Guys, if you take nothing else away
from this, and Torsen had a great take on this.
He said... The lesson for the day is to believe
in yourself. Absolutely. But then also in that,
believe in your ability to tackle problems that
come your way. When you look at a problem, you're
going to have a negativity bias. You're going
to say to yourself, I can't handle it. I can't
take it. Look, that's normal. Don't beat yourself
up over that. But after that initial three to
five seconds, reset, say to yourself, enough
of this, and believe that you have what it takes
to address and to solve the problem. It may not
be how Sheila would solve it because Sheila's
not there. It may not be how I would solve it.
I'm not there either. But solve it the best way
you can solve it. Movement is always better than
freezing in place. You know, give yourself a
moment, think about it, and then believe in your
ability to solve the problem. Just one real quick
thing is I will have. a problem to address and
I'll be okay with thinking about it because I
know while I'm making my bed, making my coffee,
brush my teeth, whatever, my brain is still working
on the problem. You know, sometimes it takes
a bit for your brain to sort through options
to solve these problems. Well, Sheila, thank
you so much. Tell folks how they can get in touch
with you and look at all the great work that
you do. So my name is Sheila, S -H -E -I -L -A,
Slick, S -L -I -C -K. You can find me on social
media with that handle, SheilaSlick .com as well.
And I'll make sure that I tag you on my tweet
or on my post so that I can connect with your
audience. And thank you. That's got to be one
of the most marketable names ever. I did a double
take and I thought, did I get that right? Sheila
Slick, you know, wow, that's amazing. You guys
take a look, repost what she's doing there. And
finally, what kind of affirmation might you leave
your audience with? Something to kind of take
them into the weekend, get them pumped up. Think
about what you want out of life. And it's a great
time. Spring is coming up, whether you join the
workshop or not. And think about, am I where
I want to be today? Awesome. Guys, it's time
for some spring cleaning. Clear out the cobwebs.
Get out there. Believe in yourself. As Larry
the Cable Guy would say, get it done. Sheila,
thank you so much for being here today. I definitely
appreciate it. And guys, we will be back next
Friday with another wonderful guest on Executive
Espresso. Before that, we'll be back on Monday
for Monday Mindset Mojo. We got to have Sheila
on Monday Mindset Mojo. But Monday Mindset Mojo
is a long -form podcast. That's from 7 a .m.
Central Memphis, Tennessee time until 8 .30.
We have a panel, so you guys join us then. If
you want to be on a show, you got a story to
tell, reach out, let me know. Go check out the
masterclass, school .com forward slash mindset.
School is spelled S -K -O -O -L. If you want
to sign up for my newsletter, it is drheath .substack
.com. D -R -Heath, just like the candy bar, that's
right. drheath .substack .com. Sheila, thanks
again. Guys, thank you for being here. We've
got nearly 300 people here. Thank you for joining,
and we'll catch you next time. Have a great weekend.
Bye -bye now.