Crafting a Vision That Inspires

Speaker 1: hi I'm Melanie bar welcome to the she builted experience with Melanie you're here because you want to experience the life and business that you crave join me as I talk to women who have successfully built it a career and business that they love we dive into the topic of how they built it and talk about everything from

Speaker 1: when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so let's dive in Rosevelt too is a vision strategist a master narrative Builder a solver of audacious challenges and an ambassador of curiosity she is the founder of fire and Bridge an advisory firm that specializes in Vision strategy brand transformation corporate positioning and reputation management she works with change makers fire starters and Bridge Builders who are purpose-driven Leaders with bold ideas to transform their organizations Industries or our society thank you so much for joining us today rosabel please share with us more about who you are and what you do it's so much fun to be here I have an advisory business called fire and Bridge I work with leaders and companies on Vision strategy corporate positioning I do a lot of brand transformation work and it really sort of lies in the intersection of Communications business strategy change management it's a very unique business that you not very many people do this kind of work so I love the name of your company because as long as I have known you you have had two to three cell phones always working to put out fires for your clients and to help them overcome obstacles so I'm not sure if this was the intention of your company name but as long as I've known you you have been building bridges to get through the fire it's so hilarious you said that because I now only carry one cell phone thankfully good but fire and Bridge actually is a reference to change makers so the focus I'm working on with change makers who tend to fall in two

Speaker 1: that you mention that because definitely in my previous life or previous iterations of my career I've done so much crisis work that it makes a lot of sense can you tell us a little bit about the fires that you put out in your previous career and how you helped companies overcome obstacles I was had a commun a for quite a number of companies and before that I was working for some of the biggest Global prer agencies it seemed like a lot of times especially when you're in house that you are constantly fighting some fire some of them self-inflicted wounds but uh nevertheless it really is about protecting the brand of reputation of the company I have been involved in so many crises over the years that I can't even download you and all of them it would take us probably a week how long do we have to talk not a week you like to work with change makers fire starters and Bridge Builders who are purpose-driven Leaders with audacious ideas why do you think that is and how can your company help them articulate and communicate their Vision that's a great question I just really love bringing Big Ideas to life and solving complex challenges I've also been very conscious about doing good in the world and I feel like by working through these change makers I'm applying my super skills to help them do good so in some ways I am doing good through them I often work as cosos have a vague idea of a vision it's not very well formed or well articulated or sometimes they have way too many ideas and so I have to help them Focus what I do is I help clarify and co-create a compelling vision statement becomes their authentic North Star and what's fun is that oftentimes I go into and I have this big dream for them and then maybe their dream is a little smaller or sometimes their dream is huge and so it meet in the middle sometimes it's really about helping them focus and also applying something that is a little bit more realistic or credible or sometimes I want to push them a little bit further and they could have a bigger dream and so it's a really fun navigation and partnership that we go through this collaboration process of co-creation it's great that you can see what the client needs that you can see the big picture and you can see that they need help either narrowing it down or even like you said to be pushed because sometimes we need that yeah it's been interesting I mean I remember I worked with a client his name is David Collins and he's the creator and producer of queri and if you really look at the history of queri and how he started in impact it had it's had on the world I came into it wanting him to be this big huge bridge builder This Global thing and I realized through a lot of conversation with him that his dream is really actually helping one person at a time and so that was a case where I came home with a bigger dream but his dream which is helping one person at a time is a big dream he just does it to millions of people at a time but he's is helping one person so that was a situation where we kind of met in the middle you know we brought him a little bit higher and I came a little lower and we get in the middle he was a fantastic story it seems that helping one person sometimes can be that fire starter and then it spreads oh absolutely 1,00% so he taught me a lesson actually that 1% at a time is a change maker you are passionately focused on making bold ideas take root I love that this stems from your innate curiosity and how people think how do you think your curiosity helps clients and assist you as a leader I honestly consider my curiosity as a superpower it's what comps me to really dig in with clients and below the surface I really understand what are they thinking what's in their psyche what are their dreams what are their fears it takes a lot of open communication to do that I just really want to understand who they are as people and what motivates them that certainly is big part of why curiosity is so important to what I do you have to go into it in very non-judgmental way and in order to do this you really have to be open-minded you have to not bring any baggage to the table any preconceived notions and I do think as a leader we have to do the same thing we have to understand the people that we're leading and you know not bring these preconceived judgments and Notions and agendas to the table and curiosity it seems it fuels your passion to what you do because continuous learning inspires us totally everything I do in terms of that scratches my itch of curiosity can be everything from uh oh getness sometimes I just get in a rat hole reading where I read one article and then that makes me want to read another article the next thing I know two hours of pass by this is what I realized is that two hours of reading random articles is not doing nothing actually it is number one feeling my curiosity but also giving me data and information and touch points because along with that Curiosity comes very good skill of pattern recognition and pattern recognition is a situation where you can bring you recognize patterns in a situation or similar to something else maybe you and I have a conversation now and then a week later I'll have a conversation with a client and spark something that reminds me of something you and I talked about and I'll bring that to the table or watching silly TV shows or reading totally random stories so I've come to realize none of these things are actually waste of time they're all these things that help fuel my creativity and bring this pattern of recognition skills to life and I would think taking in all of that media can only help in what you do in communication oh absolutely one of my longtime clients is a company called EQ office they're one of the largest commercial real estate companies in in the US and I had been working with them for a while on their business strategy and I was asked to lead a halfday session for a management Retreat and the objective was to how do we bring this business strategy how do we teach them the business strategy and how do we apply it to their day-to-day job so that was the premise that we started with and I started thinking how I could do that in a way that was interactive and fun and not like me standing at a Podium lecturing to them right so I started thinking it's really about office space and office experience is really about alchemy right it's really bringing different elements to create the most inspiring workplace for people so I thought okay what else is alchemy and so I started just free brainstorming and I started thinking about game shows or reality shows and then I started thinking what else is alchemy I said oh cooking is alchemy what about a cooking show then I thought okay what what else I said baking okay baking is alchemy so I started thinking how could I bring this to life I took this concept of the Great British baking show married it with Shark Tank and created a gamified learning experience for them we created a situation where they had challenges we had like a panel of judges and we gave them each a you know we broke them in teams and the teams had to work with people they don't normally work with and thankfully this one was in person because you Cann not do this virtually then I was reminded by a lot of my friends doing having to do home practice for their kids I ordered a a bunch of craft materials like popsicle sticks cardboards people cut out stickers all sorts of stuff and then they were supposed to apply that strategy to a building that they were assigned to and the most hysterical thing happened which is they started creating these 3D models of buildings and then they turned it all into this little narrative and then they had to go before the judges and present their Challenge and it was so much fun and it really did help bring the idea to life so you think okay well that's so silly to watch reality shows but actually that was what sparked this interest or curiosity of how I could bring that to a work situation I'm sure they were so happy too to be doing something interactive and you even brought people within the offices together that might not normally talk to each other yeah and that was one of the best parts that they thought about it but the judging was taken very seriously though they did such a great job people are so creative about it I would love it it sounds really fun what makes you and your business good at solving complex problems and can you share a customer client success story I think curiosity is is very significant part of that and pattern recognition which we touched on I'm very practically strategic is something that one of my clients referred to me as because I have been a client before and I've always hated when agencies brought me these big ideas that were totally impractical and not really relevant to my business and so I really really try hard when I do this kind of work with clients that it is strategic and creative but also practical that it actually has practical implications for their business because has to connect with their business strategy it just can't be this free floating idea it's great that you've been on both sides because you do see the importance of being able to show and provide the path forward not just the idea absolutely being on all sides has helped tremendously because I've been in their shoes I've been on the executive teams and I fully understand the priorities and the pains and budget issues ETC so I've been in those shoes so I know exactly and understand exactly what kinds of things that they're dealing with and that also helps me I think be a very good advisor to them yeah you're able to solve those questions for your clients probably ahead of time knowing that those things are going to come up I think the thing also too is not being part of the company allows me to be more objective sometimes when you're inside the company you have a lot of tunnel vision it's really really hard to think big picture stuff because you're dealing with fires like all the time you know as we've talked about before it's so true sometimes you're in the weeds even at times when she built it I think okay what if this was someone else's company how would I look at this and would I advise them to do yeah so it's so good to have that outside objective yeah it really helps a lot there's really really hard to have objectivity when you're you're talking about your own company or yourself and I think in terms of really interesting example is a project that I did when I was working with a marketing strategy firm called kenam Collective but we were tasked with helping Blackberry turn their story around so what we did is we repositioned them from a smartphone manufacturer to an Enterprise security software leader and so that is literally 180 degree turnaround and so at the time when we came in they're they were just getting battered left and right by the media over their failing smartphone strategy and was a business they were starting to get out of and really moving away from that and moving into an Enterprise customer base which is a totally different customer and so what we did is we really tried to understand deeply what was in their core DNA that could be translated to a future strategy and what we understood was that no matter whether it was a phone or not it was the software that actually was the core of it it was the secure software um Blackberry phones have never been hacked and that's why they're carried by world leaders government institutions and whatnot just because of the security so what we were able to do is take the heritage of their security and bring that forth to a new strategy and then we reposition them and change their category that was probably one of the largest messaging projects I've ever had to deal with that's really smart though because security is important to everyone yeah I mean you picked a transition that would resonate with everyone yeah and that was part of the process where we researched and understand what the white space was but we understood I mean it's just that strategy become ever more important the more hacks you hear about on a global level that's taken down entire you know Hospital systems or entire city grids that need for security at the very root level has become more important in our world than ever as we have more and more devices so we were able to really lever those kinds of trends for their story Their audience shifted and I think that's Al another lesson too is that to be really clear about who your target audience is that I think a lot of companies they're so afraid of not leaving out any potential customer that their story gets so muddled because they want to throw everything in the kitchen sink so having clarity about your purpose in your target market is really really important so true and sometimes that takes a little patience oh it takes a lot of patience it's very hard to get to Simplicity it really is it seems like it should not be hard I would say amount of work but also heartbreaking conversations it takes to say okay no we're really going to just focus on this part of the story it doesn't mean other parts don't matter but this is the part we're going to focus on because this is your best and most compelling chance to tell your story but yeah it's really really hard so true and I think at times we have to get comfortable with letting go of some customers in order to make sure that we have the right ones completely true is that's also other conversations I have with clients is really about honing in on who the buyer is and who influences that buyer if a company is crafting their brand message or their brand message isn't quite clear what advice can you give for how to start to figure that out and how to begin to communicate it well the number one advice is keep it simple it's very very hard to actually keep it simple many companies are too broad they want to throw everything in the kitchen sink and I think they're fearful of even customers out but the more you throw in the more confusing your message gets it requires really strategically prioritizing which messages to put forth when I do corporate positioning I have very specific methodology that I use and I learned it at my last company Kum Collective and there's a whole book by the way dedicated this topic for listeners who are interested the book is called get to Aha if you're trying to figure this out interviewing customers or employees investors Etc is a very powerful way of starting the process because you really want to get a varnished view of the perception of the company and so again you know we talked before about really having tunnel vision right so it helps to get a really objective View Point as to where you're starting from and so I think that's a great exercise to start work and by the way I also recommend that you not do those interviews yourself because a you can't be objective and B people may not necessarily want to be as super honest with you so it is worth having someone else do those interviews for you and then I would say getting very very clear about why you exist um what is your North Star why are you here and who do you exist for so if you can get clarity on those kinds of things that's definitely a great start you're so right because you're even reminding me how difficult it can be sometimes to be simple to take it down to that one statement yeah that the world needs to know and remember yeah I read somewhere that the attention span of humans now is six seconds which is akin to goldfish I think about that when I'm posting the social media you have five to six seconds to get someone interested in what you have to say yeah it's also really challenging to do this with companies that are very technical or you're talking to science or something like they always want to be extremely specific but in reality when you get to that that level a lot of people don't listen anywhere because they don't really understand what you're saying or they're they've already lost their attention so the more simple that you can make it the better you mentioned that you started your business almost by accident and you are the only person that I know who in the past with clients would say I got another client and the wonderful thing is you have not had to really go look for them because so good at what you do your clients have found you I think it's so important you know you say you started it almost by accident you you made the leap and just launched sometimes overthinking can hold us back and you didn't let that stop you so can you share with us how your business came to life yes and actually I wouldn't say almost by accident it was just by accident but uh yes I started fire and Bridge in 2018 at that time I had just left kanam collection and since it was close to the end of the year my plan was that I was going to you know revamp my resume kind of take stock and figure out what I wanted to do I was either going to start a business around brand transformation which is which is challenging just because it's so specific or I was interested in potentially going back in house I think I ended up having two weeks off before former client called me and said well now since you're on your own we'd love it if you came over and helped us execute on the strategy you created that's you know don't know 100% how long I'm Consulting for and um they're like no no problem just you know I we really want you to work with us so I just started working with them and this was in October and then soon after somebody else called me and said our CEO really needs help with refining his message can you help us and then another call came in with another request almost exactly similar our board member says that we need some help and then after three or four of these I started thinking wait a minute I think I can actually make a business out of this and so it it's interesting because as I mentioned before this is kind of an unusual business it's not really something that's really that easily understood or common I started realizing this is a great lesson and the market told me what it wanted I think what's important we recognize that the universe is talking to us and that we should just say yes right and so I just kept on doing it and then next thing I know it was a business I think that's a lesson and especially now I think unless you're creating a physical product the barrier to entry creating a business is much than it used to be so much and you're right you kept continued to say yes which continued to lead to other opportunities I mean sometimes we don't even do that and we can hold ourselves back at times yeah you overthink a little too much oh am I prepared to do this or am I set up to do this Etc and then I just found myself so motivated and inspired by their stories and we talked earlier about these change makers and they were just out wanting to disrupt and fight the status quo or bring something new or make connections and I was just so inspired d by their heart and their passion and their stories that really made me think you I really want to continue doing this and I want to continue working with these kinds of people you can completely hear that you're living your passion too and it's probably fun to work with multiple different people doing different things it really is the great thing about having your own business is that you can structure it however you want to structure it and for me I love taking deep Dives and going on this journey with clients and being extremely collaborative and they almost all of them always become really really good friends just because that you know we really Bond over their story and I'm and also I'm such a huge fan of theirs that I really want them to succeed so much and so that becomes a big part of my motivation as well I ask this question at the end of every episode because I believe finding joy in what we do and in our everyday lives is so important magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy what is one tip that you can leave with us today about how you find and live your joy a big theme of our conversation today has been about curiosity I would go back to that as being my joy and that when I feel like I'm satisfying some part to my curiosity I get so happy I mean whether that it's travel discovering a new food um really getting to understand another culture that I'm not familiar with or getting really geeky on topics I might be interested in I was just watching a master class the teacher was Chris Voss who used to be an FBI hostage negotiator and the class was on negotiation and I started watching it and that next thing I know three hours later but it was so good I was so happy afterwards I thought oh my gosh that was so good I learned something and so just really being able to scratch the Curiosity which I think is really fun for me and you were probably taking in the negotiation skills that you will later use in your business yeah he role plays some of the things he role plays one where you know it's a father having a conversation with his teenage daughter talk about everyday life right so I thought well this is I definitely am going to incorporate some of his lessons another thing that I've heard from our conversation is you're open you're open to travel and you're open to trying new foods and you're open to new experiences and I just think that's a great lesson because sometimes we aren't always as open we don't always say yes as much as we should I think that's true the other thing I think it's really about being open-minded but also non-judgmental right and so I do often think that as women we get so trapped by shoulds right we should do this we should as a business owner we should want to scale if you're not married you should be married if you don't have children you should be you should have children I mean whatever it is right I I feel like society and media and peers and everything are constantly telling us things that we should do for me I really think it's you know really taking stock of what do I want to do and how do I want to run this business and what's important to me not what should be so true and such good advice thank you so much for joining me today Rosabelle you have built an incredible niche in business and I absolutely love the name of your company can you please share with our listeners how and where they can find you so you can find me at my website firebridge decom or LinkedIn under roosevel to if you are new to Sheil it we'd love for you to join us we offer Community memberships masterminds Innovative virtual events and meaningful connections to entrepreneurs and corporate leaders please also check out our Sheil it shop curated products from women-owned businesses who put their heart and soul into their beautiful and innovative products we offer Sheil it business Consulting and the Sheil it blog thank you to everyone around the world who joined today thank you to my editor Rich stalino please download And subscribe wherever you get your podcast and until next time together let's let nothing stop us from experiencing the life that We crave