Julie Anderson - Your Best Mind

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Text family to 442-22 for this free information today. Welcome to the Exit Coach radio show, the show for baby boomer business owners who are looking for cutting edge information as they plan their 3 to 10 year business succession and exit. Every week we interview top professional advisors for. Their best tips, strategies, and precautions so you can be well planned. And don't miss our one minute exit coach tip of the day on exitcoachradio.com. And now here's your host, the exit coach, Bill Black. Well, good morning everyone. Thanks for joining us today. It's a pleasure to have you with us. We're gonna have a pretty full line up today, but I want, before we get into that, I want to share with you that you can go to our audio library at Exacoachradio.com. And find over 500 different interviews on 35 different topics. It's pretty extensive. You can find 1 minute tips. You can find 20 minute interviews, you can find um accountants, attorneys, professionals of every rank that you can think of. In their advice and we're looking forward to having your your input for after you review that at excoachradio.com. So we're going to talk to our first guest now, and she is Julie Anderson from your Best Mind. Julie, welcome to the show. Thanks very much for joining us. How are you today? I'm fine, thank you for having me on. Great to have you, Julie. Tell us about your best mind. How did you get started with the concept for the company and how did you get started with it? Well, my journey into the brain, if you will, started about 20 years ago when I was studying psychoneuroimmunology, and it fascinated me about the science behind the psychology, as I like to call it. So I just started digging into everything I could, and about 15 years ago I created this format where I could then share. This very technical scientific information with people and companies and families to help them improve their relationships, and I named it your best night and it's just been a wonderful brain journey ever since. What types of clients do you work with then? Is it family businesses or is it individuals or a mix of different Uh, of, of all the above, a mix of all of the above. I have programs for families and parenting because when the parents understand what's going on in the brain of the child, it, it's greatly beneficial. Um, entrepreneurs, I work a lot with entrepreneurs and individuals who are trying to gain greater success in their business and in their relationships, and then I do a lot of corporate work with larger companies who need to increase their bottom line and improve communications internally and improve that structure of their business for a good, strong, solid working machine and help them to do that by using this scientific approach. What are some of the roadblocks you find along the way when you're working in the in the corporate sector with leaders who need to have better lines of communication with their say key employees? OK. Leads are great because leaders oftentimes are gifted in their general area. In other words they're gifted in the portions of their brain that are very focused on leading that are very focused on forward momentum. However, all of us have this tendency to default in the areas of our brain that we work best in, and this is out of science. This is PET scans and fMRI scans and these different things that show where we have our energy expenditure advantage in our brain. So we naturally default into those segments because that's, that's what's easiest for us. That's where we burn the least amount of energy. The problem there becomes that those that are we are working with or that we're leading, they could work out of a completely different portion of their brain. So if we're communicating and we're leading in one direction, they may not be getting it their brains literally may not be processing the information. The way we need them to process it and therefore our productivity decreases and our communication goes awry and then there's friction and nobody's happy with anybody and water cooler talk and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, so, so you might be speaking loud and clear in your language, but it's like it's as if they speak a foreign language and you're just not getting through to them to the point where they're going to respond back or it's going to be an effective communication. So what are some of the ways to break down those barriers? Well, first, when you understand the science behind the psychology of human nature and really are able to understand the reason why people love to have the reason why. It's it's just a common question that we always ask. And when you know the reason why, the reason why the male brain processes differently than the female brain, then now when I'm communicating with someone of the opposite sex, I can take that into consideration. And that's going to help for the person I'm sending the message to to get it. If I'm an auditory and I'm sending to a a kinesthetic, I have to help them feel it, not just hear it. If I'm a visual, I have to help the or if I'm a leader and I'm dealing with visuals, I have to help them see it as opposed to just hear it. So by taking all these different dynamics, people begin to understand. The reason why other people think the way they do, and it, it just helps to smooth out all of the communication and, and people stop disliking everyone in the office. I've heard that before that that the most important thing you can do to any type of a request is to add the word because or or explain why it's important and add that on, not just say what to do, but, but you know, if you can help me do this, it would be really helpful because this is, is that true? Is that, is that what we're talking about helping them understand the reason why? Absolutely. The brain works much better if it knows why. Uh, other than that, it just, you just feel like you're being driven. You just feel like you're being told what to do and it's more of a dictatorship feeling as opposed to a, a smooth running engine, you know, it, it, when you know why, then it's like, oh, OK, I understand where he's coming from, even if you don't agree with it, even if it's not the way you would handle a situation. At least you know where they're coming from and why that is what is going to work best from their point of view, and it makes it easier to do. You feel more included. You feel more a part of the team, and that it, it just, it makes it easier for your brain to wrap around the idea of what needs to be done. That's, it's very interesting and you know, it could be very helpful to somebody who's having trouble with somebody and that's kind of what we wanted to talk about today was dealing with difficult people and uh especially in the workplace. And so when there's something called the science behind the psychology of human nature, um, what is the science behind the psychology of human nature? Well, it really, it, you know, up until the last couple of decades, it was pretty much the Freudian philosophy was what drove a lot of understanding of people and what makes them tick. So it was how you were raised, who raised you, what were the issues that you might have had growing up, and this created the person you are today. What science is showing us that neuroscience is showing us is that it's not, that's only 50% of the picture, you know, the flip side of the coin. is literally according to, you know, what's coming out of the field they're able to identify that individuals tend to have certain areas of their brain where they work up to 1100 the amount of energy out of there, so they, they're just spending a lot less energy to work in that particular portion of their brain or less energy to communicate in this style, and that what that means is, is that there's a science behind the psychology of what people are doing. It's, it's that reason why that we talked about earlier, why this person is acting this way and it's not something I can necessarily train out of them or I can mold them to become something different. Now I understand the science. It's the way their brain is wired. So now I have to figure out, OK, how do I communicate with that or how do I connect with that? Mhm. And was their brain wired like that from birth, pretty much, or did they, did they learn some of those reactions or behaviors along the way? It's, it's both. You, you do have the, the learned behavior, for example, if I was a, a right brained individual by DNA that's coded in my DNA, if you scan my brain, that's where my energy expenditure advantage is, that's where I work the best, but I'm raised by very left brained individuals, then I may tend to act more like a left brainer even though my natural gift is in the right side of my brain. So I can learn how to do behavior, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's where I'm going to function the best, the most efficiently and the most effectively, which that goes into actually the hiring process and where you place the right person in the right right job. You want people that are gifted in their brain area that matches that particular job that you're placing them in because you want to, you want, you don't want high employee turnover. You, you know, you don't, they may appear to be a left brainer, but really they're right brainer so you want them in a right brain position. So it's kind of both, but, but they're definitely seeing that it's attached to your DNA. It is the wiring the way you are, you know, from the second you're conceived. Yeah, it's interesting because you're right. I mean, there are a lot of, obviously a lot of psychological tests or I guess they're psychological tests, but ways that you can categorize how a person's going to react in a certain situation. If those characteristics are going to be appropriate for the type of job they're, if they're going to be happy, in other words, at the type of job you're trying to put them in and effective, and then there are other learned behaviors like, you know, we all know people that, well, I'm from California here. I know people that have moved to Tennessee and you call them in a year and they've got this Tennessee drawl. They're learning behavior as they, you know, as as it's around. They're they're adapting and that's natural too. So it seems to me that if somebody's in a in a corporate environment, in a company environment where they they could be adapting to to behavior that they've been spoon fed for for years or, you know, where, well, the owner's always grumpy, so I'm always going to be grumpy. In other words, I'm just trying to figure out how much of that is. Uh, if the, if, if an owner finds that they're, they're having dysfunctional communications, I guess here's my question, could they point their finger at themselves and say I'm the cause, I could be the cause of that because I'm not an effective communicator, and I've I've spawned this. Absolutely, you always have to start with yourself. You always have to start by looking at. Again, we, we process on a default. we process where we work the easiest, what's auto automatic for our brain and for our personality to do. So if there is a miscommunication, if there's friction, if, if the company is unhappy, you gotta start at the top. Who's the leaders? What are they doing? Are they, am I communicating incorrectly or am I? Sending messages in such a way that they're feeling I'm upset or I'm angry or you know I could be very left brained and to the point, but sometimes that may come across tactful. I'm not trying to be mean, but I'm, but this is the way my brain works, so maybe I need to adjust the way I deliver the messages so that my personnel, they, they don't think I'm mad at them all the time. So sometimes it's just a simple switch that you can do, but you. You have to start with yourself before you can start identifying problems within the group. That is great input, you know, in another situation comes to mind, and especially in our listener group, Julia's age 50 plus business owners, a lot of them are thinking about succession management, right? So in a lot of situations what I'm hearing from people is, yeah, well, the, the successor managers, you know, I gotta go in. I gotta go in now just because I got to smooth things out with people. He or she is not a people person like I was. And so you know they're effective at financials and organization and operations, but the people aren't getting that warm fuzzy feeling. That's a, that's a potential recipe for problems in a work in a workplace, but it sounds like with the right type of analysis and exercises that they can help influence that person's behavior to become perhaps a people person. Is that fair to say, or is that just wishing and hoping? No, it's very, it's, we have a lot of techniques that we do, just simple little uh practices that people can do that help them to learn to communicate with the different brains and the way that the different brains function. But you're very right, uh, you can train them to stop and think. It's one of the tips that I give people. It's like use your brain. You've got to just take a breath real quick and think. About how am I sending the message and how are they going to receive it? Do I have to just simply add a few words, add a thank you, add a please, add how is their brain, you know, some brains are going to take it and run with it and be fine. Other brains are going to be more sensitive. It's all based on the way it's wired. Yeah, it could be as simple as what we talked about earlier, adding because to every statement, every, every order you give. Maybe you're not a because kind of a person, maybe you're a, you know, a dictator kind of a, uh, but that might not, you have to examine, especially for, for our listeners who are thinking about, you know, how do, how do I communicate and how does my success or management communicate and is there going to be a problem and should I recognize that early on and start working on that, you know, be cognizant of that up front it's very, very important because it could be the difference between a key employee staying with the company or saying. I'm, I'm never going to work with that person because they're a jerk. Exactly, exactly. And when everybody starts to be able to look at the brain personality connection profile and understand, I mean understanding is huge in any facet of your life. When you understand something, it makes you able to deal with that better, even if it's a tough. Situation you're still able to manage it and handle it better and it gives you a really big, it gives each individual the ability to step back and go, you know what, it's just, it's their opinion, it's the way their brain processes. It doesn't mean I'm a bad person. It doesn't mean there's something wrong with me. It's just that, you know, their brain is just communicating or working or functioning on a completely different level. And if I can figure out and understand that level, then maybe I can deal with it better. Well, let's say you got 1 leader and 50 employees and somebody's got to adapt. It's going to be a lot easier for that leader to to understand and adapt than expecting all the 50 employees to adapt to their style, although there's going to be some ego involved and some, you know, some hard decisions and stuff there. But this is a very important area because we talk a lot about the fact that It's, it's fairly easy to transfer assets from a one balance sheet to another in the sale or transition of a company. It's very difficult to transfer that leadership, that warm fuzzy that everybody might be used to for all these years to someone else who may have a completely different mindset and a different personality. So this is, this is really important. A work that you do and I, I, I want to, you know, really tell our listeners this is important. This is something that could make or break your company over the next several years, and you really need to start with some kind of a, an analysis and figure out is this, is this going to be an issue? So how do people start by doing that? What, what are some of the first things that you do with employers who are saying, I might have a problem here. Can you help me out? Well, the first thing is to simply explain to them what, what is a brain personality connection. So what are the different dynamics, and there's 5 main dynamics that make up the personality profile that we have. One is the nurture. It's how we were raised, the culture, you know, like just like you said, if you were raised in the South, your attitude, your even your speech, your please, your thank you, all of those things may exist completely differently than if you were raised in New York or out in California. There is that factor. Then you, then you look at the science, which is, are they an introvert, an extrovert, an ambivert? Do they communicate best through auditory visual, or kinesthetic modalities? Is it a male female, uh, you know, I'm not saying one's better or one's worse. I'm just simply saying the brains are structurally different in 12 main areas and that affects communication. And then are you the boss brain quadrant dominant? Are you the master coordinator brain quadrant dominant? Are you the nurture brain quadrant dominator dominant, or are you the innovator brain quadrant dominant? And this is just all that science. So employees or employers, company owners need to understand what comprises a brain personality connection. And then I move with them and help them to identify who the different dynamics are within their company and how to best fix problems that may exist and avoid problems that may pop up in the future based on this new information. Well, it's a, it sounds like a a very uh process driven system. First understanding, it sounds like just spending uh spending some time with you to understand how people fit into these different areas and have a better understanding of that. Is almost like getting an owner's manual to your key employees and their minds anyways and I think that's very important you know we say all the time that you know your best, your best assets go home every night and you and and yet how much time do do employers really spend trying to understand how to communicate with those best assets not much, not much so you it's so it it's definitely when you're talking about if you're if you're financially driven. Business owner, you have to understand that right now, according to statistics to Gallup polls, you know, 70% of US employees do not feel a part of the company. They do not feel engaged. They do not feel well communicated with. They're not happy, and that's costing billions and billions of dollars every year in lost productivity just because things aren't functioning well within the business. So if you can get this problem taken care of. From the get go you're increasing your bottom line immediately. I've heard that before, that that a huge number of employees aren't happy, but they're not so unhappy that they're going to leave. But there is, there are a couple things that you can do that might help them become happier, and part of those things would be communicating with them effectively. So it's very important. So Julie, you give speeches and put on workshops for business owners all over the country, right? I do, I do, yes. OK. And so are those workshops that help explain what we've been talking about and then put people through exercises so they can go back with some aha kind of material and say, OK, I'm going to start working on this. Are they complete workshops or are they a stepping stone towards working on an individual basis? We do, we kind of have all three, so I have shorter half day workshops that are focused on here's the bulk of the information, here's a comprehensive, um, you know, book that you take with you and here's a few, you know, we run a few little um exercises within the room and that's, that's all I can cover in this amount of time you can take it from here if you want more of my help. I'm here. Or I do full day workshops where there's a lot more interaction, a lot more specific pinpointed. This is a problem that you've, you've told me you're experiencing in your business. Here's how we can address it and here's some interactive activities that we can work on or I even go with I'll go all the way up to doing a consultation with the company leaders themselves and do one on one in depth work with them with a huge manual. And help them to identify within to put together a questionnaire so that they can identify within their company where everybody's going to fit best and who everybody is from a brain personality connection point of view. So I kind of cover the whole gamut and we'll customize whatever is going to be best for the individual companies. That's great. So the first step is for for our listeners to go to your website. And download a copy of Increase Your Bottom line through Improved communication. It's an ebook and it's available at your website, and that is at what's your URL, Julie, your bestmiline.com. OK, www.yourbestmiline.com. And you're also offering for our listeners that they could give you a call and or set up a complimentary 30 minute consultation, just talk about what their areas are and figure out if there might be a way you can help them, right? Absolutely, absolutely. And if you want the code, the ebook is listed on the website. I need to give you a code to put in so that it wipes the 399 out of there. OK, so, so email me and I'll get you the code or actually no just put in there, uh, put in the code for the show, put in the code exit radio. And we'll that'll be the code. I'll set that up as soon as I get off the line. Exit ratio. OK, so if you go to your bestmindonline.com and enter the code exitado, you'll have access to a free white paper, a free ebook rather, and be able to kind of figure out, you know, I need more information. Let's get the information. Let's figure out if we should move forward, and then you'll have access to call Julie Anderson at your best mind. And have her help you out, you know, it's so important to get your employee communications right and especially if you're thinking about your leadership and your future leadership, you need to make sure that they're getting it right. You do not want the business back with, you know, absent a bunch of employees who left because you. Left it in the hands of somebody who couldn't communicate as well as you could. So it's very important. So Julie, thank you so much for joining us today. It was very, very much a pleasure to talk with you, and I hope you'll join us again at another time and we can go deeper into some of these other topics. I know you have a lot of ways we can go here, so thank you so much for joining us today. It's been a pleasure. It has been my pleasure to be on the show. Thank you very much, Bill, for having me here. We're going to take a short break and when we come back, we're gonna have one of our um one of our uh all-star reviews before our next guest, so please stay with us. Just thinking about what will happen to your business if you're gone keep you awake at night? Will you get the price you need from your business to carry you through retirement? The BEI Network of Exit Planning Professions is the world's leading advisor network with the power to help business owners transition out of business on their own timeline and terms. Ask your most trusted advisor to create a BEI plan for you, or visit us at exitplanning.com. That's exitplanning.com. You're listening to Exitoachradio.com, the information station for age 50 plus business owners, where we're interviewing top advisors for their best tips, ideas, and precautions so you can be well planned. We upload new one minute tips every day. Exitcoachradio.com. Come listen for a minute. Thank you for listening to Exit Coach Radio.